Ever Wondered How Valentine's Day Came About?

Let me tell you a brief history of why Valentine's Day shouldn't get the respect it's getting.

In ancient Rome, soldiers were forbidden to marry back then. Wait, dont hyperventilate! There's a good reason and logic to this, listen. When a soldier marries, his life is uncertain - he may die today or survive a war ending up a cripple.

Lets say a soldier dies in war. His wife and kids would be homeless and suffer till they die because no one wants to look after a widow that comes with a brood. And women had no rights back then. They were simply assets to men as breeding vessels.

Nobody wants them, nobody wants to look after them. So what happens? Poverty rates goes up, illiteracy rates go up, more social problems(women start engaging in crimes because they had no money to after their kids) and more diseases(women started to become prostitues to earn a living and spreading venereal diseases to the public, they dont have condoms back then remember?)

Hence, you have a bunch of needy dependant women on the governments hands and they take up a lot of money. (charity wise)

Hence, the Romans came out with a rule: Miles non licet nubere. It means A SOLDIER IS NOT ALLOWED TO MARRY.

This is a very good rule. When soldiers are single men, there wont be any unwanted widows, less crime rates and less new diseases being introduced everyday.

Father St.Valentine was a priest who married soldiers in secrets. He was an insipid fool who believed in the overrated 'power of love'. He thought he was doing a good deed by uniting lovers in their forbidden passion but in actuality he just made matters worse.

Even with the edict implemented there are still widows around, how? The culprit we all know as Father St.Valentine. The stupid man who went against a sensible law and had his comeuppance not long after(Thank God) He was beheaded in public. Yay!

Now, the soldiers are really pissed. They think a hero had been severely mistreated and decided to have a daycelebrating his 'noble' heroic death. The day he was executed 14 FEBRUARY became St.Valentine's Day and since then it had been a day for all clueless couples to celebrate. Yippie yay hooray for them ignorant imbeciles.

So, now do you at least uderstand why I laugh at couples who celebrate Valentine's Day?

20 Things Why Dogs Are Perfect

1. They love you no matter what

2. Unlike cats, they look at who gives them love and attention not who gives them better food.

3. Even if you give your dog away to someone else, he will always wait for you to come pick him up.

4. No matter what you do, dogs ALWAYS forgive. Cats would take revenge.

5. Dogs would protect you. They would give you their life to do that and expect nothing in return.

                                        The Saluki, my favourite breed.

6. Dogs are always grateful! They do this by sometimes bringing you their 'presents'. XD (a buried bone etc).

7. When we are feeling down, they accompany us - just by being there. =)

8. They can be your little assistant! If you are a forgetful person, you can train them to help find your things. They help you to fetch the newspaper, bark when there's a stanger at the door. Big dogs have been said to help to throw the garbage!

9. Dogs are beautiful, no matter their shape and size.

10.No matter what you race, age, deformity and what have you, your dogs loves you just the way you are.

Look at this beautiful bundle of poof! Pillow have flattened? Dont worry, look at that picture. Now you have your solution. =)

11. They so very much like children except that they stay innocent and happy!

12. They love it when you give presents. And whatever it is, they love it!

13. They love hugs!

14. They are always curious why you do what you do. Which explains why they follow you around in the house. =P

15. A dog would wait untill you come home. They are happiest when they see you!

                    Look at this beautiful creature. Didnt your heart just melt???


16. The like sweets, just like children! But it's fatal for them so make sure your chocs are in a place where they cant reach.

17. When they are gone, you will realize there is no one like them. =)

18. You cant have enough dogs!

19. Your dog will always be the most beautiful animal to you.

20. There's no love greater than a dog's love.  =)

Interlok by Abdullah Hussain - Pandangan Saya

Novel Interlok Karya Abdullah Hussain ini sememangnya menimbulkan banyak kontroversi dalam kalangan masyarakat India. Perasaan amarah yang tiada batasannya, peraasan sedih pilu bagi sesetengah, bagi saya - saya tergolongan dalam masyarakat India yang memang kecewa dengan pernerbitan novel ini kerana is menunjukkan lembaga penapisan untuk karya bertulis tidak diperuntukkan dengan ketat. Ia juga menunjukkan novel ini hanya ditapis oleh penapis yang berbangsa Melayu. Seharusnya, negara yang bermulti kaum seperti Malaysia perlu rekrut penapis yang terdiri daripada Orang Melayu, India dan Cina supaya pengeluaran buku boleh diterima oleh masyarakat umum. Apa, panel penapisan karya bertulis hanya terdiri daripada orang Melayukah? Ataupun panel ini tidak wujud langsung di negara kita?

Saya memang kecewa dengan reaksi dari kalangan masyarakat bukan India kerana ramai yang setuju dan gembira dengan pengunaan perkataan 'pariah' itu! Ada segelintir masyarakat bukan India menggunakan peluang ini sebagai alat untuk mebuli dan mencerca masyarakat India. Kumpulan yang sama inilah mempunyai perasaan animositi terhadap kaum-kaum yang lain. Mereka adalah orang yang extrimis yang perlu dididik tentang nilai murni perpaduan dan kerjasama antara kaum. Dah 50+ tahun hidup selesa bersama kaum yang lain mengapa perlu kecaikan tali perpaduan ini dengan menyalurkan buku ini kepada pelajar? Jangankan pula mereka ingat ini hakikat sebenar! Jangan pula mereka ingat buku ini sebagai satu propaganda untuk mencetuskan perasaan animositi terhadap rakan-rakan mereka.

Asal perkataan pariah membawa maksud yang amat hina. Dan penulis novel ini pula dengan senangnya menggunakan perkataan ini seolah-olah SEMUA masyarakat kaum India berasal dari kasta rendah. Penulis telah melakukan kesilapan yang amat besar. Tidak semua orang India berkasta pariah malah majoriti masyarakat India yang hijrah ke Malaysia pada tahun 1920-an berkasta baik. Bukan semua hijrah ke sini untuk bekerja sebagai buruh di estet ladang getah, ramai lagi yang berhijrah ke sini untuk bekerja sebagai guru-guru untuk sekolah vernakular Tamil dan kerani di jabatan. Ada yang mari ke Malaysia sebagai pegawai pengurusan. Keluarga saya adalah salah satu contoh. Nenek moyang saya merupakan golongan yang berpelajaran dan kaya - adakah kami berkasta rendah? Tidak sama sekali.

Semenjak orang India berhijrah ke Malaysia, sistem kasta telah pun tidak begitu lagi dipraktiskan. Dalam kalangan ortodoks, ya mungkin tetapi yang telah maju dan moden kami tidak mengambil serius isu kasta ini - malah kami tak pedulikannya pun!

Untuk membangkitkan isu ini dalam novel setelah ianya dilupakan memang menghinakan masyarakat kaum India.

Cadangan saya, tidak perlulah membakar atau ban buku itu tetapi saya berharap buku itu tidak lagi digunakan di sekolah. Sebagai buku stand alone atau sejarah memang buku ini bagus tetapi bukan sebagai novel sastera di sekolah.

What are we teaching our kids man???
Apa kata kita guna novel Salina karya A.Samad Said? Saya menerima review yang baik daripada cikgu BM saya yang juga berbangsa India. Malah, ada juga rakan-rakan saya(yang majorit bukan Melayu) mengatakan novel ini sangat menarik! Apa kata kita guna novel ini instead?

Segregation In Class: Does More Harm Than Good.

It is a typical custom in Malaysian school to have levels of classes for the super smart, smart, average and below average students. These students are basically classified according to their :

a) Intelligence

b) Behaviour

c) Financial status


The smart ones are in the better classes and the not so smart ones are all just sardined in the lower classes. Teachers absolutely love the students in first classes because they are quick to grasp knowlegde and motivated to learn. More often that not the teachers themselves would take pride in teaching the 'good' classes because they assume it proves that they are good teachers. The students oftentimes comes from well-to-do families.

The average ones are in the average classes with average teachers who scores average scores that have a healthy amount of motivation to learn. Basically they are also one of the easiest classes to teach because they are a very compliant lot. They also come from a mixture of wealthy and average families.

Well now the ones in the last classes are an interesting lot. They are the hellions of the lot, the ones who never does their homeworks, the delinquents that everybody hates and look down upon and oftentimes they come from low-income families. Any teacher would dread teaching this class because they have hell to dealt with. Rude students and what-have-you.

So here we more or less can predict the future of these students. The smart ones from the ace and average classes further their studies and become 'harapan negara'.

The ones from lower classes becomes 'sampah masyarakat' as these lot becomes involved in social problems.

It has always been that way how can we change this? Easy! Stop segregating students according to their intelligence, behaviour and financial status.

The ones from 'lower' classes suffer from social stigma of being considered stupid, useless and good-for-nothing. They are taken for granted that they will never come up in life and be a useful member of society. Every reckons they become drug-dealers or criminals of some sort sooner or later.

But dont we realize instead of letting their fate to be like that we could help them? I have always wondered why schools doesnt  distribute their students equally in a class. A typical Malaysian school have five classes for each form/standard. Why not we evenly distirbute the smart, average and weak ones in one class? This way we wont have hierarchy of social statuses and the weak ones would have the same opportunity to learn the same set of education delivered in the 'smart' and 'average' classes.

What really is focused here is MOTIVATION.
If you just chuck all the 'weak' ones all in one class, from would they get the motivation to compete with their peers since they all of the same group anyway? The teachers dont count because if they dont implement healthy competition among their peers than thats it, they go wherever the wind takes them.

People who are weak academically need to be with those who good in it so that they can realize that they need to keep up with these 'better students'.  They need a push to pursue education. They need to mingle with 'smart' people so they can know what they were missing out. What better method than to chuck them in a sea of 'smart' people. First hand exposure at how things really work-is it not?

The wanderer have not tasted life if he hasn't seen the greener side of the grass.

So, what I am really trying to say here is - if Malaysian education needs improvement, start with the classroom arrangement. Changes in small things result in big rewards.