Ok, Kalpana Chawla is dead. There will be others to take her place. The Indians should let it slide already. I mean, that's what you get for snubbing Pakis that one of yours went into the void before one of theirs. Leave her bereaved family alone. Don't fucking DoS her home and harrass her already saddened brother.

To Fox News, FUCK YOU! Also CNN. Did you read her brief on CNN? Bastards had to mention that she fucked up on the last mission. They talked about the hometowns of all the people, even the Israeli who isn't an American citizen, but wait a minute, no mention of Chawla's hometown in the USA or India. All that's mentioned is that she came to the USA to design planes but ended up going to space, where she fucked up with a satellite going awry. Maybe she SHOULD have stayed on ground and designed better shuttles, eh? Keep the immigrants out of the limelight and behind the scenes, eh?

Well, now that I feel a little better, has anyone wondered why we humans are so exuberant when there is a holiday? It's Chinese New Year here, and Gong Xi to all you Chinese people out there, but whats wrong with some people living in my block? It's CNY, not EOW [End of the World] Today I went to make some Maggi and watch Simpsons and the whole place was trashed. I mean trashed. Wait a minute. It's your new year. You get a four day holiday for it. Go, run to Chinatown and make merry. So many of my friends are doing the same. But no, some blokes wanna get drunk and then wanna make some food in that state, and then have a fucking food fight in the pantry. Hell awaits, mark my words.

On the lighter side, the photonic ramblings have taken a new twist. And since I SUCK at Hindi and proudly so, I put this in the public domain. Photon muttered something like

"Hathnii ke do pair Haathii ke do pairon se bad'e hote hain" {The two legs of a cow-elephant are larger than those of a bull-elephant}

Cypher nodded and said that he had heard about this saying somewhere. At that time Photon was too dazed or too embarrassed to confess, but after one day, the guilt of it nibbled at his heart. So Photon burst into the room, crying, confessing, pleading for forgiveness, that there was no such saying, that he had made it all up. We all forgave him and all, being the nice gentlemen we are, but Cypher still stuck his ground, maintaining that he had indeed heard the saying somewhere. Now, though Photon and Bahri said that they in their life had never heard of such a saying, and though the testimony of Mave and I was shadowy, us being Mumbaikars and all, neither had we. So, is there such a saying? And what the hell does it mean?

Addendum

India Today magazine reported that NASA had absolved Chawla, rating her a "terrific astronaut," and saying the accident had resulted from a series of small errors. Good work India Today.

Some additions from people:
..::Andrea
I watched this happening early this morning and then into the midday ... the astronaut profiles from AP, Yahoo and the networks kept on pointing out the mistake that happened on the her first trip. It began to grate on my nerves.
::..
..::
Bink
Being an African American, why does it suprise you that the news mentioned her mistake? She's a minority. It shouldn't be any suprise. Maybe as African Americans we expect negative feedback based on future and present tense examples.
::..
On reading Bink's response, I was tickled pink. Chris Rock once said that there's nothing more scary than "poor white people", especially as they'll blame "niggers" for everything. "Space shuttle blew up? Those damn niggers, that's what it was!" Listen to this.

In the meanwhile, the Iraqis are mighty pleased that the bird blew up, the bastards. Retribution is all fine, but you don't gloat over a dead enemy, just not gentlemanly, eh?