Nas & Damian Marley

I have got to thank my friend Karthik for introducing me to this artist. Song is beautiful, lyrics are blunt yet more truthful and innocent than anything I've come across yet. I have read these sort of lyrics before but maybe its the way its put that it now strikes me. I am the stereotype he speaks of. Shame on me!
enjoy the song.

[Nas]

Here we are...

Here we are...

[Chorus]

Sabali, Sabali, Sabali, yonkontê

Sabali, Sabali, Sabali, kiye

Ni kêra môgô

Sabali, Sabali, Sabali, yonkontê

Sabali, Sabali, Sabali, kagni

Ni kêra môgô

[Verse 1]

Some of the smartest dummies

Can't read the language of Egyptian mummies

An' a fly go a moon

And can't find food for the starving tummies

Pay no mind to the youths

Cause it's not like the future depends on it

But save the animals in the zoo

Cause the chimpanzee dem a make big money

This is how the media pillages

On the TV the picture is

Savages in villages

And the scientist still can't explain the pyramids, huh

Evangelists making a living on the videos of ribs of the little kids

Stereotyping the image of the images

And this is what the image is

You buy a khaki pants

And all of a sudden you say a Indiana Jones

An' a thief out gold and thief out the scrolls and even the buried bones

Some of the worst paparazzis I've ever seen and I ever known

Put the worst on display so the world can see

And that's all they will ever show

So the ones in the west

Will never move east

And feel like they could be at home

Dem get tricked by the beast

But a where dem ago flee when the monster is fully grown?

Solomonic linage whe dem still can't defeat and them coulda never clone

My spiritual DNA that print in my soul and I will forever Own Lord

[Chorus]

Sabali, Sabali, Sabali, yonkontê

Sabali, Sabali, Sabali, kiye

Ni kêra môgô

Sabali, Sabali, Sabali, yonkontê

Sabali, Sabali, Sabali, kagni

Ni kêra môgô

[Verse 2]

Huh, we born not knowing, are we born knowing all?

We growing wiser, are we just growing tall?

Can you read thoughts? can you read palms?

Huh, can you predict the future? can you see storms, coming?

The Earth was flat if you went too far you would fall off

Now the Earth is round if the shape change again everybody woulda start laugh

The average man can't prove of most of the things that he chooses to speak of

And still won't research and find out the root of the truth that you seek of

Scholars teach in Universities and claim that they're smart and cunning

Tell them find a cure when we sneeze and that's when their nose start running

And the rich get stitched up, when we get cut

Man a heal dem broken bones in the bush with the wed mud

Can you read signs? can you read stars?

Can you make peace? can you fight war?

Can you milk cows, even though you drive cars? huh

Can you survive, Against All Odds, Now?

[Chorus]

Sabali, Sabali, Sabali, yonkontê

Sabali, Sabali, Sabali, kiye

Ni kêra môgô

Sabali, Sabali, Sabali, yonkontê

Sabali, Sabali, Sabali, kagni

Ni kêra môgô

[Verse 3]

Who wrote the Bible? Who wrote the Qur'an?

And was it a lightning storm

That gave birth to the earth

And then dinosaurs were born? damn

Who made up words? who made up numbers?

And what kind of spell is mankind under?

Everything on the planet we preserve and can it

Microwaved it and try it

No matter what we'll survive it

What's hu? what's man? what's human?

Anything along the land we consuming

Eatin', deletin', ruin

Trying to get paper

Gotta have land, gotta have acres

So I can sit back like Jack Nicholson

Watch niggas play the game like the lakers

In a world full of 52 fakers

Gypsies, seances, mystical prayers

You superstitious? throw salt over your shoulders

Make a wish for the day cuz

Like somebody got a doll of me

Stickin' needles in my arteries

But I can't feel it

Sometimes it's like 'pardon me, but I got a real big spirit'

I'm fearless.... I'm fearless

Don't you try and grab hold of my soul

It's like a military soldier since seven years old

I held real dead bodies in my arms

Felt their body turn cold, oh

Why we born in the first place

If this is how we gotta go?

Damn

A Verdict on The Verdict

Religion and politics have been and till date are, a furor in India. Our nation’s history is stained with the bloodshed caused due to wars with religious or similar implications. From the Hindu kings to the Sultanate and the Mughals, it has always been a my-religion-is-better-than-yours contention. Politics is the hand that masters the puppets fighting over religion. It is also the root to the topic I would be discussing here with you- The Babri Masjid Verdict.

The history behind the Ayodhya Debate itself is one wrought with war. The Mughal invasion took into its own hands to eradicate Hinduism. The ancient temple (which is a recent discovery by the ASI) devoted to Lord Ram was demolished and was replaced with the Babri Masjid. 400 years later, it met with the same fate.

30^th September 2010. 18 full years after the entire fiasco with the demolition of the Babri Masjid in the supposedly sacred land, rumoured to be Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya, the verdict to one of the nation’s most long standing disputes was finally declared by the Allahabad High Court. The gist of the verdict, an equal division of the land amongst the three sects, one devoted to building the Ram Temple, the second being the Islamic society and the third a religious denomination of the Hindu society proclaimed as the “Nirmohi Akhara”.

Now what I pose to you is this, is this a verdict? Or is this a compromise so as to prevent any further rioting and to save the face of the present governing party?

India is a secular state and she has flaunted that particular claim with every chance given to her. This particular case was like a faulty cog in that system of gears running this nation. Since 1992, or rather since 1949, when an idol of Lord Ram was placed amidst the mosque, successive governments have failed to pass a notion which would have appeased the opposing societies. Had it been dealt with earlier, the demolition wouldn’t have occurred and 2,000 odd people wouldn’t have been murdered on the account of this religious conflict. So my point being, there was immense pressure on Dr. Manmohan Singh’s party when it was assigned with the duty to resolve this issue. One wrong move here would’ve meant the downfall of his party along with civil commotion and scene quite similar to the unfortunate events of the Gujrat riots.

Taking this point of view, in my opinion, this “verdict” was more of a compromise to please all sects and to show that the ruling party has the power to resolve major disputes like these without any hoo-hah and without relinquishing the “secularity” of the nation. This is a big issue because previous governments by the only other major opposition, the BJP has failed once in delivering justice. This notion would be supporting the latter half of the question posed by me.

In defense of the first half, we would have to change our way of thinking, while keeping the elements and occurrences of this 61-year long litigation, the same. The verdict passed was an equal distribution of the land. A chance for the Hindus and the Muslims both to treat the same place with reverence and pray to their respective deity while maintaining a peaceful and amiable, if not brotherly, environment. This would be in up keeping with the very concept of secularism. “Live and Let Live” be the motto, the government, in this light i.e. keeping the motive of being secular rather than keeping in mind the further consequences that the nation would have to deal with, would appear to have taken a stand and proved to their various critics that they can and have proved to be worthy of being called a successful regime. This verdict not only cleared the tension rising in many parts of India, it also prevented further upheavals from disrupting the daily routines of the multitudes and preventing any forms of violation directed towards or from minorities.

L.K. Advani mentioned of pseudo-secularism against the government for taking actions against Hindu idols placed in the mosque, a very dire accusation. Also, the very same Mr. L.K. Advani along with other high ranking officials from the BJP (opposition party during the 1992 demolition) were blamed for the outbreak of the riot in the first place. Mr. Kalyan Singh, Chief Minister of UP in 1992, had been accused of eradicating evidence of this conspiracy. To what extent these accusation are true, I would not like to state, but what is known for a fact is that, the BJP (a very much Hindutva practicing and preaching party, how much ever it may state otherwise) has been oddly nonchalant and dare I say, slightly supportive of the ruling. I made two conclusions out of this,

• The party has finally realized the concept of secularism and is fully supporting the ruling. (Even if it means that they admit that the Congress have succeeded where they did not)
•  Not creating havoc amongst the opposition due to the fact that it would raise old accusations again and fingers would point back to them.

I, with full hope, am assuming that it be the former showing the growth of the mindset of our leaders and also proving my point of how the High Courts’ ruling would show the Congress in good light.

All in all, whichever perspective you choose to follow, it is very apparent that the consequences of The Verdict are very much welcome. No tensions, no rioting, no intonations spewing hatred or discontent. Maybe the people have truly understood what secularism is, maybe that day has arrived when a Muslim and a Hindu would enter the same shrine hand in hand and pray without having to worry or think about his God or my God… Or maybe they just wanted an end to this feud.

Either way, peace reigns and The Verdict holds strong.

Mike Strickland. Respect.

One of the most beautiful versions of the infamous track "Canon" by Pachelbel. I like it till about 1.25. I'm not a big fan of jazz, but of those of you who just love the offbeat-ness of it all, i would seriously recommend you watch this! Enjoy!