Popular does not mean intelligent

Was on a flight the other day with a very popular actor. I had a bottle of water with me (pet bottle) that I had taken a sip from and closed tight while in flight. After landing in Chennai we all got into the transfer coach that would take us to the airport terminal. Had experienced this before and was excited to see the crushed effect on the bottle I was carrying. Happily I point it out to him presuming he'd revel in the joy with me but he opened his mouth. "Ah, you are implying that we too are getting battered by air travel just like the bottle but since we aren't plastic we cant observe it", said he. Alas, the orgasm of knowledge is so lost on him. Wanted to scream out to him - 'Air Pressure you nitwit! I took a sip of water in flight in an artificially pressurised cabin that was not equal to pressure at sea level so when we landed and the aircraft doors opened the atmospheric pressure crushed the bottle'. I did not however. I had a smile on my face. Tsk Tsk Tsk..

To kill or not to kill

I am against the death penalty and no, it has nothing to do with leniency or mercy. Throughout history it has been assumed that death is the severest punishment that could be handed down to a criminal but I want to present another perspective. I’m hoping to change people’s opinion on executing someone even if he is guilty of murder. I am not in any way compassionate towards people who never felt the same when they snuffed another’s life out. It’s that I feel death is too easy a way out for the perpetrator of the crime and in some cases death is exactly what the perpetrator wants. I agree that an ‘eye for an eye’ and ‘a tooth for a tooth’ sounds like the most logical thing to do and if it was my family that was harmed I too would probably cry for blood but for now I’m not overcome with emotion and therefore can think with a clear mind. So here is my proposition.

Take the case of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only terrorist who was captured alive during the Mumbai terror attacks. That little prick along with his comrades wrecked havoc on a prosperous city in the name of an illogical human concept called religion. Thanks to texts in the sacred books, it was possible for a bunch of anti-India, anti-‘anything but their religion’, anti-progress guys from across the border to brainwash Kasab and his mates, and to make them embark on what they thought would get them on a fast track to their god. We all know what then happened and now almost the whole of India is waiting to see him hang but I think that would be the most stupid thing to do. He came here prepared to die and to become a hero in the eyes of his fellow deluded nuts. Killing him will only get him what he wants and strengthen the position of all those who were instrumental in executing the terror plan.

I say keep the perpetrator alive for the rest of his natural life but keep him confined and isolated. Denying a man contact with a fellow human being will eventually drive him insane and he’ll beg to be killed. Every moment of his waking life he should remember why he has been incarcerated and as in the case of Kasab it will deny him his dream. He was eager to die and go indulge in his orgy as had been promised to him by his religious leaders. Seventy Two doe eyed virgins are supposedly waiting to f*** him till eternity. He is a healthy young guy and that would mean he should be around for at the least another forty years. Forty years of deprivation will force him to reflect on all the things he did and drive him nuts. What could be a better deterrent to prospective terrorists than the thought of having to jerk off till the lines on their hands wear out?