Halo

During most of my schooling my dad served in the "fauj". That's Indian speak for the Army. Capital A bitches. Artillery, Gunner and proud of it. If you don't get it, too bad.

He was part of the force that put an end to to the Sikh separatist movement. He had an AK-47 put to his chest because an overstressed idiot wanted 2 weeks of leave.

When I was 7 years old, me and mum moved to the-then pensioners' paradise Bangalore, India because Dad had been posted to the out of control Pakistan-India border. "Non-family station" - the posting was called.

He would call, once a week - Saturday 9 PM IST, at first to a pay phone 2 blocks down our house. Then, when our neighbor finally got a phone 9 years after the first application (fuck you Soviet inspired socialism), he would call there. Yes, that was life. I'd wait a week, to know if my Dad was alive.

In the meantime, life was about visiting temples, old sages and married couples, blessings from holy men and priests to keep the family safe. Fuck god. Fuck all that.

Do you know what its like to spend a week wondering if your father is alive? Multiply that by 5 years. That's equal to fuck god.

god didnt matter. The phone did.

So when you say fuck India, you're saying "fuck your childhood that you missed because your parents chose to protect your borders".  You're implying "fuck all the hours you spent alone tossing a tennis ball in the air because we're dissing the culture based on a few blogs that are no indication of the sacrifices the nation has made".

That's me. A well educated man, living a reasonably privileged lifestyle, hailing from a country of billions - with a history older than the written word. And you choose to disrespect everything my culture, my country and my civilization has achieved because you need a passionate story about divorced parents.

Congrats for being the echelon of evolution. Hope you have blast up there.

I asked...and I received

I submitted my blog for a review at Ask...and ye shall receive. I said in the submission form

A collection rants, embedded youtube videos and obscure references that are increasingly reeking of self indulgence. I'll try my best not to cry, but perhaps a kick to the nuts is what I deserve for all this writing.

Brilliant. Outstanding. Moving.
These were some of the words the reviewer didn't use in the review. Excerpts -

But the gray text on black background is hell on my eyes. I suspect "Thanatos" knows this and is just punishing us all, little death boy that he is.

and -

...you know what Mr. The World Is a Vampire? Go fuck yourself.

Wrapped up with a

But keep on doing what you've been doing the last couple of months only better, and post more frequently and more meaningfully, and I'll revisit this rating.

Full review here. Funnily enough, the comments section which often turn into flamefests, and are almost as funny as the review itself, indicated that some of the regulars there liked me (kinda sorta). Got this from the reviewer in the comments -

Thanatos, I may have been having flashbacks during your review. Sorry.

Oh well. All in good fun. I've applied some changes already, will work on this baby some more. Flaming finger or not, I'm still alive, yeah, I'm still alive ;)