The big confusion

Of late there have been some serious allegations against Australia for being racist toward Indian students. It's all over the place - on TV, in newspapers, on internet blogs, everywhere. Is it true, is Australia racist?

Since the incidents, more than a few people asked me about my time in Aus and if I faced similar situations - well I'm still alive and scar free ain't I? Each time i get asked this question I'd like to say - I did see a difference toward my race, but I also made some great friends there, who are in fact Australian. This lead me to my initial view point which is that there must've been some provocation from the Indians, or the attack was random and not targetted at a particular race.

However, I did some reading and found some interesting figures - 90,000 Indian Students in Aus, 5 attacks in the last month, 70 in the last year, and according to police, 30% of Melbourne suburb residents are anti-Indian.

Then, I heard about the rally at good ol' Fed Square, which ended badly with police getting involved. Even though the OZ police says no excessive force was used, cops apparently beat up people, and videos were quickly being broadcast over national TV channels all over India.

So one of the confusion points becomes - is media doing a good thing or bad? On one hand it gives us a chance to support our own kin, on the other, it could be seen as creating panic.

Most of these beatings seem to be muggings where the victim isnt cooperative which leads to their unfortunate fate.

The govt in Oz is guaranteeing adequate laws will be put into place, lets hope they live up to that promise. I did see my share of being treated differently there, but not by all. There is a video in the links below which says the exact same thing - Just because a few are bad, doesnt mean all are.

So are the attacks rasict? I don't know, but I'd like to hope not...

Here is what people are saying, and the news reports I read:

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ruebarbpie/entry/paradise-lost

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Attacks-on-Indians-Oz-plans-hate-laws/articleshow/4606876.cms

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indian-students-relive-horror-stories-in-Australia/articleshow/4606234.cms

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Another-Indian-student-attacked-in-Australia/articleshow/4608367.cms

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Australian-cops-punch-stomp-on-peaceful-protesters/articleshow/4606057.cms

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Racial-element-in-Australia-attacks-India/videoshow/4593166.cms

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Attackers-will-be-met-with-force-Australian-PM/articleshow/4604422.cms

Video Games - Yesterday and Today

The other day, I was talking to a friend about the fact that I am a die hard gamer and soon realised that I've been playing video games all my life - or atleast the part of it when Video Games were around.

I remember the first system that was out there - The Atari.

The Atari was a simple system, and played all the old favourites - starting with ping pong!

Ping pong was an instant rage. Moving those flat lines up and down the screen to to catch the ball was exilirating at the time.

Aside from Ping Pong, the Atari system had many other games that were worth playing, amongst racing little bunnies across a traffic-filled road avoiding cute death at every turn to boxing games with stick figures.

If you wanna see real progress, look at what the current Boxing games (Fight night round 3) look like:

I guess sports games were the first ones to make it to the gaming market. What came next you ask? Why I would guess it was the 8 bit consoles, which introduced a game that would become a household word in years to come. That game was - Mario Bros. 

The franchise was so popular, that it even inspired movies, and other games such as mario cart racing. Mario actually took a turn from Adventure to other genres with the advent of the N64. 

Now, Mario appears in various game titles, primarily made for Nintendo's proprietary system - the Wii. I beleive its Mario that inspired the genre of Adventure video games.

Another incredibly popular 8 bit video game that still exists to date is - Street Fighter.

Street fighter started in the arcades but quickly found its way into the homes of many on 8 bit consoles.

Street Fighter itself was a pleasure to play. Never before has you been able to pick a charector and pound the daylights out of a friend before. Especially no game where you could do flying kicks and throw fire balls.

This game too sparked a new genre of Beat 'em up games like Mortal Kombat.

But street fighter evolved too, and is still in the Game.

Heres what the newest street fighter looks like:

Another game that sparked the creation of one of the most popular genre's out there is a game called Doom. The first of the FPS breed (first-person-shooter) which was actually a computer game. 

I loved this game to bits. Doom I was legendary in every way, and Doom II was even better. The two came on 3 1/2 inch 1.44MB floppy disks.

Doom has opened doors to a variety of new games.

Every FPS and Horror Shooter finds it roots in Doom (and another game called Wolfinstien - both made by id Software)

Now days shooters are in my opinion one of the most Hyped genres in gaming. For example, Microsoft hold exclusive rights to it's shooter Halo to ensure continued loyalty to the Xbox(360) system. Sony's answer to this was to release a shooter called Resistance: Fall of man. The XBOX also has games such as the Gears of War series to increase the allure of said system.

The new kid on the block is KillZone 2.. 

Yeah. I'm a gamer. And I love it.

G

EDIT 30/3/2009: In a GDC talk Friday, author and Georgia Tech professor Ian Bogost explained how the iconic (Atari 2600) 1970s- and '80s-era video game console can be used for inspiration by today's game designers.

Slumdog Millionaire

Anyone who watched movies like Blood Diamond and Lord Of War was in awe at how poorly Humans are treated in that part of the world. Each one of us gasped when families were separated, men shot by child soldiers.

Each one of us that felt these emotions left with a sense of sympathy toward Africa. Those movies won awards too. Were they African films though? NO. They were American.

So the next time you watch Slumdog Millionaire, remember somebody in some other part of the world is probably feeling sorry for us.

We (India) did not win any oscar, except perhaps the Music score of A.R. Rehman. The oscars were won by the the cast and crew of the movie, who are mainly British.

Seriously, stop celebrating the fact that we won an award for having some of the worst living conditions known to man. Instead maybe find a way to fix some of the problems brought out by the movie. Or you can choose to revel in the pity of the world. Your choice.