Nirmukta » Creative Arts

Slideshow: Celebrating Everybody Bake Jesus Day Around The World

Editor — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:46:36 +0000

Everybody Bake Jesus Day was celebrated on July 3^rd, 2010, to protest the Spanish government’s violation of musician Javier Krahe’s freedom of speech. The event generated enthusiastic response on faceboo k. Scroll through the slideshow to see how folks around the world commemorated the day.

Videos:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Nirmukta Wallpapers and Print Size Posters For Free Download

Bala Bhaskar — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 01:38:10 +0000

Wallpapers: Click on image to view and download full size wallpapers.

Print Sized Posters: Click on image to view and download full sized posters.

The wallpapers thread on the forums can be found here.

The print size posters thread on the forums can be found here.

Atheist posters from a previous post can be found on the forums here.

All images are available for free download and use under creative commons license. All artwork is by Bala Bhaskar.

Aren’t You? Atheist Posters by Bala Bhaskar

Bala Bhaskar — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 01:39:11 +0000

These posters are inspired by an excellent interview by Dawkins for a news channel. What was different about this interview was that as soon as the interviewer said “….you are also an atheist”, Dawkins retorted saying “Aren’t you?”. This took the interviewer, who was actually quite well-mannered, aback, and started the trend of assuming people are atheists unless stated otherwise.

These images are presented free for download under Creative Commons, Attribution.

Bala’s work is being discussed further at the new Nirmukta community forums here.

I That I Protect : A Poem by Nalini Hebbar

Nalini Hebbar — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 07:23:39 +0000

Alone into this world I am born
With no name to call my very own
The womb that fatefully shaped me
And the eyes that lovingly peer at me
Are the ones that give me my identity
The ‘I’ that I so protectively preserve.

There is nothing in my world
That I don’t do for myself
Much more that I ever do for others,
Before the mind’s eye ‘I’ appears
In the long line of I’ s I’m just another I
Selfishly promoting my human cause.

Doing just what I want to do
To make it just the way I want it to be
Ahead of other I ’s in the human race
Working hard to overtake and conquer
With a cuss here and a shove there
Maybe an occasional elbow in the ribs.

I work shrewdly to earn my money
To feed my family and my pets
I safeguard my home and my assets.
Hard-earned-free-time and my money
I invest on those racing ahead of me
On the social ladder I wish to climb.

I selfishly demand and help enforce
Ethics that protect my things and me
I choose the lesser of the evils offered
To stay on the right side of the fence
I condemn the ones who cross the line
Because that looks good on my résumé.

I now question my altruistic hands
Do I help because helping feels good?

Is the human in me basically selfish,
Or is every human born selfish?

Where am I going on this selfish path,
This path that always leads back to me?

Ambiguity : A Poem by Nalini Hebbar

Nalini Hebbar — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:33:50 +0000

The universe is and will be

No mystery lurks in far away places

Wisdom changes, it changes you

You see different, you see new

All that’s there is here right now

Here and within deep inside

A mind it is that wanders beyond

Into the world and space without

A lonely journey amid shadows

Finds and fosters unseen friends

Destiny and doom both need a face

To thank and curse as life unfolds

The universe is and will be

No mystery lurks in far away places

BANGALORE SKEPTIC is Reborn as The New INDIAN SKEPTIC Magazine

Editor — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:13:57 +0000

Indian Skeptic is the magazine that reports on the Rationalism Movement in India. This movement is spearheaded by the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations (FIRA), under its president Professor Narendra Nayak. The magazine was founded and for many years published by eminent rationalist and debunker Basava Premanand, along with with Prof Nayak. That original Indian Skeptic was retired after Premanand’s death. Recently, a new avatar of Indian Skeptic was born at the 2009 National level FIRA conference. The magazine still deals with issues concerning rationalists and skeptics of supernatural claims, particularly in India. The editor and publisher of the new Indian Skeptic magazine is T.V. Manoj.

When Basava Premanand passed away last October, the monthly skeptic magazine that was founded by him was also laid to rest as far as the official records were concerned. No new issues had been published since September 2008. At the 2009 FIRA convention, Professor Nayak was reappointed as head of the organization. In his capacity as president of FIRA, Professor Nayak requested Manoj T.V. to revive Indian Skeptic magazine.

Manoj T.V. has been publishing Bangalore Skeptic for 2 years at this point. Since he has accepted Prof. Nayak’s offer, the magazine he now brings out will be called Indian Skeptic, but it will be more like a reborn Bangalore Skeptic in style and content. Here is Manoj in his own words:

During the 7th National Conference of Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations (FIRA), it was suggested (by Prof Narendra Nayak ) that Bangalore Skeptic should hence forth be published as Indian Skeptic and this was supported by other delegates of the conference . It should however be noted that this ezine Indian Skeptic is not a continuation (in the legal sense ) of the magazine published by Premanand, but a rebirth (!) or a new avatar (!) of Bangalore Skeptic, but surely upholding the spirit of Premanad’s vision of a secular India.

Though this ezine is not an official organ of FIRA, it will nevertheless work as an unofficial one! From the next issue onwards, there will be a column by Prof Narendra Nayak in his capacity as the President of FIRA. This will be in addition to his usual contributions that the readers of Bangalore Skeptic are familiar with.

T.V. Manoj

The new Indian Skeptic magazine can be accessed from here. It can also be accessed from the navigation tab above the site banner. Visit the new Indian Skeptic page now for the first issue of the year!

All published issues of Bangalore Skeptic magazine can also be found at this page.

Baffled I Ask: A Poem by Nalini Hebbar

Nalini Hebbar — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:47:06 +0000

Heaven too is caught up in political conflict

Devas and Asuras ever combating for power

Do Angels and Apsaras save us from troubles?

Lucifer just there maybe to haunt a nightmare

Are we hung by strings controlled like puppets?

Are these stories to help us realize the reality?

Good and bad virtues both we in plenty possess

Some use the bad to live luxuriously happily!

Lucky few use the good to live life in coziness

Those who don’t understand are the unlucky!!

No sins no punishments no devils no hells

We have in plenty human power-seekers

They are the evil devils that roam the streets

Out in the open broad daylight all squeezers

Of poor hungry stomachs & empty pockets.

Goodness, I admit, angelically good its sound

But it never won battles to bring in the slaves

It never found lands to plunder to feed greed

Slaves, treasures, land, power all need slays

Of innocent lives in bloodied murders cold.

History has seen the worst cold-bloodedness

Where sins found pardon in houses of worship.

The rich wash sins in the holy Ganga waters

To relive lives of wielding the wicked whip

Even the good turn bad to protect dear assets.

If we believe only good is good, we are fools!

The rich only get richer as their bad gets nasty!

Their sins as confessions can fill big temples!

Money they spend on pets can feed a country!

Lucifer, Asura, even hell would get the shivers!

Power makes countries rich & some deprived

Does God protect the rich and damn the poor

While Satan silently enjoys the game played?

If bad make the rich and good make the poor

What is good and what is bad? I ask baffled

Nalani Hebbar has been writing peoms since 2006. She also writes often at her blog.

Blind Faith: A Poem by Nalini Hebbar

Nalini Hebbar — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 09:48:32 +0000

Blind Faith

An unknown entity
An instilled fear

Fear brings comfort
It brings order.

‘Consequence’
The word calls for conformity

Thoughts often rearranged
Hearts taught to surrender

Till no questions asked
No answers sought.

The confused sheep comply
To unwritten laws of good and bad.

by Nalini Hebbar

I started writing poems on the 10th of May 2006. And have since been writing as if possessed. My first poem was ‘Poems Were Born’. I had a very spiritual feeling after which I just started writing. I am dyslexic and education was a struggle against all odds.

I am a Post Grad in Experimental Biology; I worked on my PhD for 6 years but discontinued after my marriage and the birth of my first son (I have two sons, 21 and 14). I read a lot before but never poetry…now I read nothing but poetry!!! I am an Aquaculture Consultant. My husband and I run a commercial Laboratory for shrimp farming, far removed from the world of dreams I often slip into.

I am very influenced by social causes and this shows in my poems. The spiritual oneness I feel with mankind, guides my mindset. I follow no religion and do not look up to any ethereal entity to guide me in life. My pain and concern about the role religion has played in spreading hate and divide in today’s world is recurrent in most of my poems.

Modern India is an amalgam of varied cultures, religions, languages and races that have integrated into a very complex but interesting way of life. Except for corruption, I love everything about India.

All my poems are on www.PoetryPoem.com/openmind. I also have a blog http://nalinihebbar-poetry.blogspot.com/

Atheists And Believers Finally Reach Consensus

Siddharth Singh — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 05:32:40 +0000

After years of debating over the Internet (they rarely debate outside), believers and non-believers have finally reached a consensus on something about God: God is incredible.

The Learning Curve is a comic strip published by Siddharth Singh. The above work was originally published here.