Atheism Misinterpreted

Recently I read a blog post which said that believers are stupid and a counter post stating everyone should have a voice but in a rational way. Well I don't understand how difficult it is to let the believers believe and the atheists not believe.
After being a believer till my 8th grade I know the psyche of a believer and now that I am an atheist I know one feels. Atheists are just practical people who like to assert their practicality. Like a friend of mine says "there are people of two types in the world those who like chocolate and those who like vanilla" Even though it may sound like a juvenile example it is actually extremely true. Interfering in other people's beliefs is not a thing that a staunch atheist may do.
I personally like reading, talking , discussing about religion per se. Although I am not very comfortable talking about God. That space to me is totally non-existent and I would like to keep it that way.
I like to read up on religion so I can strengthen my belief in my beliefs and yes it is a never ending task...

COMMONWEALTH GAMES PUNE

BEING A PUNERI THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES NOT ONLY INTEREST ME BUT I WILL TRY AND KEEP ALL OF YOU UPDATED ON THE LATEST HAPPENINGS..
LETS START WITH THE PREPERATION THAT PCMC HAS PUT IN FOR THE CWYG
TO BEGIN WITH THE PCMC HAS AN OFFICIAL WEBSITE WHICH ALL OF YOU MUST SEE...
http://cygpune2008.net/press-media.html
http://cygpune2008.net/images/cyg-balewadi.jpg
The preparation is on full swing for the Commonwealth Youth Games which has to begin from 12 October 2008 in Pune, Maharashtra. This is the third Commonwealth Youth Games. The Youth Baton Relay ceremony will be done in New Delhi and will be flagged off from the North Campus of the Delhi University on 1st of August 2008 and will reach Pune on the inaugural of day of the event on 12th of October.Besides roads, public transport is also improving in the city.

Final touches were being given to a massive sports apparatus that has come up on a sprawling 153- acre campus, Shiv Chhatrapati City, the
venue of the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) beginning from October 12.

The week-long sporting extravaganza will be declared open by President Pratibha Patil, who will arrive in the city on October 10 on a four-day visit.

Around 2,000 athletes and officials will participate in the Games being held in Asia for the first time. All 71 nations and territories of the Commonwealth will be participating, Suresh Kalmadi, city MP and Chairman of the CYG Organising Committee, told reporters.

Sportspersons will vie for glory in nine disciplines - badminton, boxing, swimming, shooting, tennis, table tennis, wrestling, weightlifting and athletics.

The venue, around 20 km from the city, has been named after Chhatrapati Shivaji with a huge statue of the Maratha warrior mounted on a horse erected in the Games Village.

Considered a forerunner for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, the Youth Games in Pune will showcase India's readiness to host world-class international sports events, Kalmadi said.

The Central Government has sanctioned funds to the tune of Rs 500 crore for various works in the city which would have a permanent infrastructure to hold prestigious global sports competitions, he added.
PUNE AS WE ALL KNOW IS THE ESSENCE OF MAHARASHTRA AND IF NOTHING INTERESTING HAPPENS AT THE CYG I AM SURE AT LEAST THE CULTURAL SHOW PUT UP BY THE 10,000 PUNERI COLLEGE GOING STUDENTS WILL BE A HIT...
>>>MORE ON CYG

Faith!?..

Faith

“Please Aai please let me buy one of those balloons. I will not burst them I promise Aai please buy them for me”. Rati asked me for balloons everyday and like any other day I said, “No Rati not today, Aai does not have time now”.

I had a really tiring day today, Shyamji did not pay me as usual and so many clients did not respect my feelings. That is how I felt everyday though. I left Rati playing with her friends and I heard someone call me, “Padma make it quick Bhanuraj must be really angry. He wanted to see you urgently.

An hour or so later I left my kothi with a bruise. Everyday I left with a bruise, not all bruises are physical though.

It was always difficult for me to face Rati. I always felt like she understood a little of my secret. No one in the kothi had ever told her anything and she too had been rather unobservant.

Days passed and Rati always looked at me with admiration, I knew she still respected me but did not know for how long. When the abuse of the clients crossed all boundaries and became almost unbearable we decided to approach an NGO. There were instances when Sheena told me Shyamji had tied her to the bed and continuously raped her.

All of us had faced abuse at some point of our lives, but now we were standing up against it.

He was a well built man with very black curly hair, good teeth and an unpuzzled smile almost like he had expected to see us. “Vishwas”, he introduced himself. I knew he looked vaguely familiar but did not bother asking him if we had met before this. “I am your volunteer and I will be there with all of you through this”, he said loudly.

His enthusiasm was infectious and his smile vivacious. One could not help but fall in love with him.

Every time he walked into my kothi I offered him water. He always told me he liked this gesture of mine. We grew to be really good friends and shared a very plutonic relationship. I never thought he judged me nor did he disrespect me. Every evening Vishwas and I went for a walk on the beach. I treasured all those moments with him. He was like the friend the confidante I always wanted. He sat patiently listening to my experiences, supported me through court hearings.

Rati liked Vishwas. “Vishwas Kaka” she would say, and even if he was busy he would leave all his work and come to her. They adored each other.

And I adored both of them. “Vishwas Kaka please buy me those balloons”, said Rati. Vishwas never said no. “Rati which balloons do you want tell your Kaka, he will buy them for you.

The judiciary never took us seriously the respondent asked us questions like, “so Sheena how many men on average did you do in one night.

The judges laughed and the city laughed with them, but we still fought.

I could never forget that night, what I wore, what he wore.

“You’re beautiful…” The kiss that I had been imagining since the moment I saw him was far more in reality than it had ever been in my mind. “I want you…” None of us stopped ourselves after that. “I love you Vishwas”.

He did not reply, but I let it go. I loved him and now he knew it.

Three years, our case was still on a hearing in the court. He became more and more a part of my struggle as the years passed by. I could bear anything after all I had Vishwas on my side.

The court had summoned us saying an important notice was to be served. Sitting there on the benches of the courtroom I wondered what it was that the judge wanted to tell us.

The judge walked in. “I want all of you to take an urgent HIV test and defendant I want the reports by the 22^nd October. The court is adjourned.”

I will not say it wasn’t a shock but it was just a test and I knew what the reports would be. After all I hadn’t been an “active prostitute” since the past three years.

He stood in front of me, staring.

I don’t think he wanted to say anything. He owed me an explanation though and I wasn’t going to leave him without one. My throat was dry, I was paralysed with anguish. I tried in vain to cry out, the report in my hand.

“Padma I know what it is that you want to ask me.” I also know that when I tell you why I did what I did you might not believe me, but it is the truth. Padma I was a regular client of yours. I loved you for what you were.”

But you, had other clients that paid you more that I did.” His voice was shaky and his lower lip quivered. I was shocked not by what he was saying, but by what he felt. I felt for myself. He continued, “I wanted you to die with me Padma, we were meant to be together.”

“What are you saying Vishwas I would have been with you even if you hadn’t done that I loved you, I loved you with all I had.”

I asked him to leave. As he went forward, he began to smile. A smile that I had fallen in love with. Rati walked into the kothi soon after he left. Her lips were tightly and bravely set. Her eyes glowed with anger, there were tears in them. The respect that I saw in them for the past 12 years of our life had vanished

All I could here in the distance was, “buy me those balloons Aai, I promise I will take care of them.” “No Rati not now.”