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Monday 26 September 2011

Travelogue-Bangalore (The Garden City)

I was in the Bangalore for the weekend with my fellow Nigerians and our wonderful Cameroonian host, Pascal.  Bangalore is probably the only Indian City where one will run into many Africans on the street. Even though, Bangalore is so organized, I still love my Hyderabad.  The clubs in the city close at 11.30pm, and the clubs require dancing license for people to be able to dance. Never heard of dancing license till I got to Bangalore.

Bangalore is not a city of natural resources or aesthetic monuments or Temples...all these the city makes up for with remarkable architectural designs. My eyes took most of the pictures than my camera.


Aldo

Chinedu, I, Pascal (Our host) and Feran
Olio Lounge


65ft Shiva statue
Colour blocking/riot any one join
Ulsoor Lake
Getting our the dolls
Partially put together, auto rickshaw aka keke  Napep


Off to the club
I burnt my feet at the temple and I was told slippers was not allowed in the club so had to wear Pascal canvas which was definitely not my size.








Brigade street
♥ Lara  from Incredible India

Monday 19 September 2011

Who is training our boys???

Who is training our boys,
Who is there to mould them into morally conscious leaders of tomorrow?
Who is investing in mentoring our boys?
What are we doing to our young men?

No one is there to guide them any more
No one to discipline them any more,
No one is there to teach our boys to be the leaders we require tomorrow.

Mothers have failed them, the society has forsaken them. They have no one to turn to and they have found solace is different kind of vices.

Our boys have become rapist, murderers, armed robbers, paedophiles, fraudsters. Our boys are completely lost and confused, they have become lazy and are weaklings of their own emotions.

We all heard the story of the rape, how five boys raped a girl for over an hour and recorded it, passed it on to their friends and people have sat down to waste one hour of their live watching the agony of a girl, mocking the sorrow of someone's daughter.

Rape on our campuses is not a new thing in Nigeria, particularly this manner of rape. The doom of the boys was that they recorded it and hopefully the girl will get justice is this our kwashiokor justice system.

We have heard various reason why the girl was raped, one says she insulted one of the boys and she was waylaid and raped. The other says she met one of the boys online, said dude has been paying for her bis and sending her money. She decided to visit him in school and bam, she was raped.

The first reason given is popular in our cultism filled campuses. We have all heard the gists, even though we never got to confirm them. Any girl who dares raise an eyebrow or talks back to the boys is punished with rape.

Some idiots are screaming all over the place asking why she would follow the boy to his hostel or where ever the incident occurred. In the second instance given is a betrayal of trust, I believe one of the basis of friendship is trust. For one who has more male than female friends, I believe the only reason I would follow a male friend to his house is because I trust he values our friendship. If this girl and one of the boys were friends, then her trust in him failed her.



 Ayo Shonaiya 

As Nigerians, our attitude 2 sex & women has jaundiced our view of rape as sometimes punishment but not a crime.


I cannot help but agree with the above tweet, I read some tweets and comments which said some girls deserves to be raped and one which says the rape should be a lesson to us girls.

I still stick to my belief that we are a nation of pretentious people filled with much venom in our veins. It is so sad that we have become an insensitive nation, a nation of people whose soul have become empty to the plights of victims of such vice. We sit down and point accusing fingers, till it happens to someone we know. then it will not be the victim's fault, because she is our own, our blood, it is then we call for justice. But when the victim is someone's daughter, we castigate her, call her name, curse her and forget that whatever happened is never her fault.

Yesterday, I had a discussion on the issue with some members of the Nigerian community here in Hyderabad, they  were able to download and watch 11minutes of the video and even have it stored on their systems. They were also of the opinion that the video did not tell rape and one question I put to them was can they as men sleep with a girl for over 1hour and not lose their energy. In this case we are not even talking of one man, we are talking of about 5men and you tell me the girl is not screaming, she did not put up enough fight.

In Nigeria, our men blame we ladies for wearing skimpy clothes. excuses such as the mode of dressing is what seduces them. At least in India, I know the ladies do not dress indecently, yet the number of rape here is alarming. I have read of more than 70years old women been raped in the nation's capital, abi is the old woman also provocatively dressed. In the so called Islamic Nations, women in hijabs are getting raped by so called rebels and then I ask again what entices a man to a woman is fully covered up. The worst of it all, men who rape children, what crime or what fantasy do this little beings evoke in a man.

Because some idiots will sit down to justify rape and blame the victim. People who justify rape are as wicked as the idiots who commits the act.

Our boys have become the evil we have to run from, they have taken over from the devil and are now the devil we are to pray against.

We need to start teaching our boys to be real men.
Someone needs to teach our boys not be weakling of their own emotions.
Present day young mothers and future mothers need to prepare themselves to teach their boys the right way.
The future does not need the weak, subservient idiots we have in our generation.

♥ Lara  from Incredible India

Wednesday 14 September 2011

Workplace Bullying

The news has been all over the web for a week now, Radio Personality, Olisa Adibua physically attacked a co-worker, albeit a junior staff of Beat FM. I read the young man's statement. I watched the so called reunion Video on Youtube and all I can see is the fear of a loss of livelihood in the voice and eyes of Dewunmi.

How much could Olisa be bringing in to the company that they cannot afford to sack him for this unruly and unethical behaviour of his. Celebrities in the US have committed lesser crimes and they have paid dearly for it. For crying out loud, the last time I checked he does not own the organization.

What is the Labour union doing about this and why is the Governor of Lagos not saying anything about this. He must have heard the news. Why is everyone accepting this mediocre apology from the Olisa and worse the Management of Beat FM should be ashamed of this charade.

The part that got me cracking is the part of we are best of friends like we were before, like seriously I hope the guy was not reading a script. I do not know the economic situation of the guy for him to have still continued to work in that organization without getting justice for what happened to him. As in there are plenty media organizations in the country. I hope Dewunmi knows he is entitled to compensation from the organization even though he has refused to press charges.

I have witnessed verbal attack in the workplace. I have been verbally bullied by a former boss before and I was so relieved when the project we were working on was over and I jejely left the organization. I have witnessed worse verbal attacks but never physical attack. I once asked a man who was verbally attacked by his boss why he could not quit and he told me I could only imagine quitting as an option because I was more or less still been fed by my parents. He had families to take care of, bills to pay, so quitting because his boss had verbally attacked him was no option. So I guess this is Dewunmi's situation, because I do not want to believe a gun was put to his head and he started yarning gibberish like he is doing in the video

I just hope Olisa does not remove someone else's eye or commit murder on the premises of Beat FM before they realise they should sack him.

They have said we should mind our own business, case has been settled internally. So I hereby 'me su onu' my mouth.

Incase you missed the statement and video, you can read and watch below.

Adewunmi Oyekanmi’s Official Statement

My name is Adewunmi Oyekanmi, news editor with the Beat 99.9 Fm.
An incident occurred at my work place within the early hours of the 8th of Sep 2011 between myself and another member of staff which has been blown out of proportion in the media.
I have been wrongfully quoted in various blogs and magazines, but this will be my first official statement and the last, so please disregard anything you might have seen, heard or read.
The incident in question has been dealt with to my satisfaction by the Management of Megalectrics, operators of The Beat 99.9 Fm, in a swift and conclusive manner.
The member of staff (Mr Olisa Adibua) with whom I had the altercation with, has duly apologized most sincerely and I have accepted, based on the fact that since I started working at the station, my relationship with the said party has always been cordial and friendly.
In reference to a purported conversation between myself and an undercover reporter, I’d like to state categorically that I have never had a phone conversation or granted any interview to any media or reporter.
What transpired was an internal matter which was leaked into the public domain to create division within our corporate entity. I refuse to be used as a pawn or be labelled ‘the voiceless or oppressed’.
Megalectrics, the operators of the beat 99.9fm employed me in the capacity of news editor in July 2010, and ever since I have had no cause to complain about the working environment, my colleagues or superiors.
We operate an open system where everyone is free to speak their minds, regardless of rank of hierarchy.
Once again, I’d like to reiterate that the matter has been resolved and the member of staff has apologized for the altercation we had.
In conclusion, I would like this issue to be extinguished so I can get back to my normal every day life, as the recent publications and rumors circulating have put a strain on my family and private life.
I would like to thank the management and staff of Megalectrics for the swift and decisive response to the matter. I would also like to thank everyone who showed concern. I’d like to reassure you that I am okay and in good health as is confirmed by my attached photo.
These are my final words on the subject.
Thank you very much and God bless.


♥ Lara  from Incredible India

Friday 9 September 2011

Travelogue-Indian Attraction: Araku Hillstation

Day 2 of the trip: Araku valley.


The train trip to Araku valley is the best part of the trip. Araku is about 115kilometres from Vizag and a famous hill stations in the state. I fell in love with the rich and green landscape. The train ride from Vizag to Araku took 5hours and in all we passed a total of 57tunnels, several bridges, rice fields, coffee plantations, waterfalls and valleys and numerous hills.

5:20am at the Vizag train station, waiting for the train to Araku, train arrived at the station at 6am and left 6:40am.






The Train interior















Borra Caves




♥ Lara  from Incredible India