Is this outrageous or is this extremely outrageous? Since when did the Department of Communication start giving out directives to block websites? And since when did India start being stupid like the Chinese and Middle-Eastern governments to start controlling what information people have access to? It's ridiculous, and I hope somebody just goes and pours a bucket of ice-cold water on the guy who got this idea. However, as for now, there are at least two solutions known to me: one is pkblogs.com which is a Pakistani website that allows people to access blogspot blogs; the other is a more comprehensive solution called Tor whose basic functionality is being an anonymizer, i.e., you browse the Internet not with your own IP address but as any random IP address and so you're hard to track down. The practical upshot of this is that you can access the Internet through a computer not being restricted by a directive from the f'ing ministry and you can access any website you like.

And I had taken these for granted:

• to freedom of speech and expression;
• to assemble peaceably and without arms;
• to form associations or unions;
• to move freely throughout the territory of India;
• to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India;
• to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business.

Anyhow, I hope that directive will be revoked or something soon when sense pops back into whosoever's head who passed it in the first place.

Meanwhile, the weekend was dominated mainly by Disney movies such as Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and Mulan. I enjoyed all three movies. Mulan was probably the funniest followed by Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast. I thought I had seen Aladdin before but I didn't recognize most of the dialogue, although most of the scenes rang a bell, which implies that I've probably seen it before… a long time ago… and also probably in Hindi. The other two I had not seen before… like most Disney movies. Disney cartoons have this emphasis on songs that I'm not exactly a fan of simply because I'm jaded with musicals in general thanks to an endless stream of Bollywood movies with song sequences every fifteen minutes… and not necessarily good ones at that. However, I did enjoy the music in some of the songs such as the main Beauty and the Beast title (which was nominated for a famous award or something but I don't care).

Eh, why is Govt. of India being stupid?

Labels: English