Rape

Somebody please please PLEASE help me understand what I am missing here!
According to the Hudood Ordinance enforced by dictator Zia in 1979, - "a rape victim is liable to prosecution for adultery if she fails to produce four male witnesses to her ordeal"

Wiki puts it as - "A woman alleging rape is required to provide four adult male witnesses of "the act of penetration", and if the accused man is Muslim, the witnesses must be Muslims themselves. Failure to prove rape places the woman at risk of prosecution for adultery, which does not require such strong evidence"

and today after more than 25 years when Pakistan is trying to get this ridiculously absurd law changed , some wonder why!!!
BBC says - The MMA parties boycotted the vote, saying the bill encouraged "free sex"

at this point I want to bang my head onto the monitor in hope of simply understanding ... "how?"

Rape is the extremest form of violation and these people are making a joke of the whole affair.
I just want to scream out loud - really really loud - coz at this point thats probably all that I can do! I'm feeling sick to my stomach!
are these people even sane? don't they have daughters or wives or sisters? If I was a woman in Pakistan I would just leave ... or if nothing else have a few of these MMA folks, nevermind that they are mostly men, raped ... and then left to heal ... and then raped some more ... and then produce 3 witnesses - not 4 - at the Sharia courts ... lets see how that feels ... to be slammed for adultery on top of everything else that happened!!
I'm sorry - I know that was an extreme thing to say ... even inappropriate ... but thats exactly how I am feeling right now!
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

tell me I'm missing something and I've got all of this wrong ... please please please

one serving of culture please ...

Was reading Charu's post on why sex is evil in India and from there hopped onto Harini's post that Charu referenced and there I read this comment which is so simple yet so profound
Sriram says -
"What i am amazed by is how people so surely and so exactly know what is their culture. When did the last edition of my culture come out? Are they selling it at Crosswords?"

I could never have put it so well.
Seriously! whats all the fuss about our culture ... unfortunately (and fortunately) - this loosely defined word is probably the only reason why we are still a country while being the reason for many of our problems today!

the best Actor

This is always been a tough call where we grew up … India i.e. – if we were to go by popularity then it would be a close call between the ever-balding, Veerappan loving and “If you come today” crooning Rajkumar (that’s Dr. Rajkumar to a lot) and the rang-gaya-to-paisa-waapis, once a conductor (always a conductor … in buses i.e.), cigarette smoking, and tamilicizing every language Rajnikath (that’s Rajjini to many). Hey - lets not forget tathaiyya tathaiyaa Himmatwala, the haklya or running-over-people Khan and the rishte mein to Baap Big B.
OK Strike that … of all the above mentioned, Big B has always been the best … nevermind the Toofan’s, Ajooba’s or the recent abyssmal Mohabattein with Black and Karan johar sob storys! Amitabh was always one of the finest actors in India …
Of course when it really came to acting there was always Naseeruddin Shah, Anupam Kher and Kamal Hasan although the latter is kinda sliding down a self-obsessed patha – still that does not take away any credit from his acting talents.

But the point I am trying hard to get at(about time) is that I think (or "I feel" for some of u out there :P) that the best actor in modern Hindi cinema is Boman Irani. Yes u heard that right … he is by far the best actor in India … in the true sense of the word.

Have been watching a lot of cinema of late (and even before) and this chap has never ceased to impress. There was a brief period when Boman promised to disappear as the next comic Anupam Kher, but then he bounced back with a wonderful myriad of roles – positive, negative, funny, sad, evil, lively … the list goes on. For the uninitiated - Being Cyrus, Let’s talk, Khosla ka Ghosla are some of his not so popular films – but he has shined nevertheless.
Coming to think of it – that has always been a problem with Indians … and Indian Cinema – Brilliant movies like Main Azaad Hoon, Guna(Tamil), Aakrosh and many others - never make it big – and then “stars” have to come back to making the same run-of-the-mill tune mere baap ko maara main tera khooon pee jaoonga and two babes, which one to choose types stuff!

Still … in recent times, and even after Don, I have to say that Boman Irani is the best actor in India right now. u could not possibly agree more!

nothing to write

yet so much to say ...
am not feeling the urge to brain dump all the posts in my head.
Watched Borat. Splurged on NFS Carbon and Half Life 2 - have been playing for the past week now - more than worth the money. Watched "Bombay Calling" - nice documentary on the call centers in Bombay. Have been keeping up with BG Season 3 and after last week's stunning episode we watched the BG Miniseries all over again! Awesome. Have been Orkutting on and off ... discovered some more arty-farty pics of mine - will post some other time ... and hey - I think I finally figured out how to fly a kite - at least @the beach!