Saturday, March 28, 2020

Nadra Services Essay Example

Nadra Services Essay NICOP (National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis) is a registration document to be issued to a valid/legitimate citizen of Pakistan. Previously it was issued to overseas Pakistanis working/living/staying/studying abroad for consecutive time period of six months or possessing dual nationalities but now it can be issued to any citizen of Pakistan. †¢ Data Acquisition at Data Acquisition Unit (DAU) o Issuance of Token o Photo Capturing o Thumb and Signatures o Data Acquisition by DEO o Form Printing o Attestation Form Submission †¢ Data uploading to NADRA Data Warehouse Verification and Clearance from NADRA Data Warehouse †¢ Printing at Production †¢ Delivery of NICOP to NSRC or Address The POC program endeavors to provide eligible foreigners with unprecedented incentives to get back to their roots, while ensuring that the motherland remains tightly integrated with expatriates worldwide which includes †¢ Visa-free entry into Pakistan. †¢ Indefinite st ay in Pakistan. †¢ Exemption from foreigner registration requirements. †¢ Permission to purchase and sell property. †¢ Right to open and operate bank accounts. Data Acquisition at Data Acquisition Unit (DAU) †¢ Issuance of Token †¢ Photo Capturing †¢ Thumb and Signatures †¢ Data Acquisition by DEO †¢ Verification from NADRA Data Warehouse †¢ Printing at Production †¢ Delivery of POC CNIC (Computerized National Identity Card) is the core product of NADRA issued to a valid/legitimate citizen of Pakistan. It is a blend of state-of-the-art technology and well-defined business rules to guarantee its authenticity and validity. Every genuine, 18 Years and above, citizen of Pakistan is eligible for CNIC. CRC Child Registration Certificates is a registration document used to register minors under the age of 18 years. FRC Family Registration Certificates are documents issued to nationals of Pakistan highlighting the family tree structure of the applicant. Multi Biometric ID Card NADRA has developed a comprehensive system with Interactive Data Acquisition Web methodologies; acquiring, transferring, processing, archiving data producing ISO compliant secure identification documents. This system generates unique citizen identification numbers for entire population. The Registration system integrates biometric technologies such as Automated Finger Identification Systems (AFIS) and Facial Recognition Systems and is capable of providing identity verification to all integral Government departments. The system can meet any standards required by the customer, including ISO 7810 and ICAO 9303 compliant ID cards. NADRA provides integration services for all types of ID technologies as per the clients’ requirement including Smart Card, RFID cards, Java cards and microprocessor based cards. The end-to-end registration system ensures authenticity of individual documents through visual as well as electronic means. We will write a custom essay sample on Nadra Services specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Nadra Services specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Nadra Services specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer NADRA provides the following services to its clients: †¢ Evaluate possible technologies and solutions for the project . †¢ Develop a new Identification numbering scheme . †¢ Define technical standards based on requirements and evaluation †¢ Define system security standards . †¢ Undertake a system analysis and design study of the manual process,  to identify gaps in the system †¢ Perform Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) of the existing  procedures †¢ Develop data acquisition methodologies and identify data fields required to be captured †¢ Identify required technologies pertaining to: o Data Acquisition Data Communication o Data Processing o Secure Document Production Document Delivery components †¢ Design Data Backup and Disaster Recovery (DR) plan for the project †¢ Develop requirements for integration with other government bodies †¢ Identify Hardware Software to implement a state-of-the-art system Interactive Registr ation: NADRA has the ability to provide its clients with Multi-biometric Interactive Registration Centers that can be designed as a one widow solution that makes good use of latest data enrollment technology to gather data directly from the applicants thereby eliminating erroneous data processing. The interactive data capturing not only uses customized software for on-the-spot data entry, but also employs software that captures an individual’s photograph as per ICAO standards and biometric technology to capture fingerprints. The data gathered at the acquisition centers is sent directly to the Data Warehouse for processing and finally to printing of secured documents. NADRA has successfully implemented the Multi-Biometric National Identity Card System based on Teslin ® for Pakistan. Till date over 96 million citizens have been registered and over 68 million ID cards produced. National Data Warehouse: NADRA has established the National Data Warehouse to cater the influx of huge data. This central repository stores demographic and geographic data of the citizen and processes applicant’s records for the issuance of multiple secure documents after exhaustive verification through automated biometric facial and fingerprint recognition and verification systems. All the applications running in data warehouse are designed and developed in-house, which caters for all needs of automated processing, personalization and verification with minimum human intervention. Some of the data warehouse applications are: †¢ Phonetics – probably the fastest search engine which searches on the basis of names †¢ Family Identification – provide vertical and horizontal family linkages †¢ Verisys – web based verification system Registration Tracking – tracks applicant’s application through-out the life cycle of processing †¢ Disaster recovery and replication module Verisys The requirement of identification document for evidentiary purposes is incomplete without proper verification mechanism. Having developed the Multi-Biometric National Identity Card for Pakistan backed up by the large centralized national database in the world, NADRA has introduced an  easy- to-use access tool for verification of citizens i n the country named as Verisys. To verify the issued CNIC and avoid any fraudulent activities NADRA launched Verisys, which is an authentication process to provide online verifications of Pakistani citizens to the government, private and corporate sectors for bringing in transparency, validation, elimination of fraud forgery. This is a web-based real-time activity displaying the front and rear image of the CNIC with added hidden information for verifications. Using NADRA`s strong network infrastructure, a reliable and efficient mode of connectivity is provided to clients even in the remotest areas of Pakistan. Automated Border Control To cater for the need for robust identification and verification systems, NADRA has developed Automated Border Control (ABC) system which serves as a tool for law-enforcement agencies in eradicating illegal immigration and human trafficking. The Automated Border Control System is fully automated immigration control system linked with the central Passport server. It authenticates e-Passport, identity and other travel documents by performing on spot Facial Recognition and Fingerprint Identification with utmost reliability and efficiency. It also keeps the record of automated data verification, passenger travel history, flight information, destination, port-of-origin, nationality, verification log and officer’s comments. The Automated Border Control is fully equipped to cater for the following functions: †¢ Optical reading and identification of travel documents †¢ Identification of passenger through AFIS and Facial 1:1 match †¢ Validation of PKI by reading MRZ and 2D Barcode PDF 417 †¢ Identification of passenger data and UV images †¢ Matching with Blacklist and Exit Control List (ECL)

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Sibling Rivalry Essays - Sibling, Family, Kinship And Descent

Sibling Rivalry Essays - Sibling, Family, Kinship And Descent Sibling Rivalry Sibling rivalry will always occur in a household of more than one child whether through comparison, fighting, jealousy, or by other means. Parents and children both contribute to the rivalry. It will occur on a daily, weekly, and even an hourly basis. Sibling rivalry may become difficult and annoying to parents, but they must deal with it day after day. In definition, sibling rivalry is when one sibling or more compete with one another or try to emulate each other .Rivalry is different from fighting. It appears when children compete for their parents? love and attention (Faull 88). Sibling relationships can be a key to rivalry. An intense relationship includes love and hate, play and fight, and the teasing and mocking of each other. There are some questions on why certain siblings get along harmoniously and affectionately, while there are others that constantly fight (Dunn front flap). Siblings usually have a very harsh relationship when they are young. As they mature, they become better friends and start getting into fewer and fewer fights .Brothers and sisters sometimes work together to get through jams. Siblings occasionally team up to trick or get back at a parent in revenge (Faber and Mazlish 27-28). Aggression is very frequent in sibling relationships. In one study, 29% of behavior observed between siblings was hostile (Dunn 22). It is usually the older child being aggressive to the younger one, but the younger child may become increasingly aggressive as he/she grows. In one Canadian study, a family where the mother is very friendly to the second born at the eight month stage, the two children were very opposed to each other six months later (Dunn 98). There are many siblings that take their aggression to the extremes, and others who travel through phases of rivalry, then end in a close, loving relationship (?Sibling Aggression?). Plus, not all rivalry is negative. Birth order greatly affects the relationships between siblings. Frank J. Sulloway, writer of Born to Rebel, had this to say about birth order, ?Few aspects of human behavior can claim such generalizability (as birth order) across class, nationality, gender, and time.? Birth order is the ultimate cause of behavior; it is destiny?if not entirely, then pretty nearly so (Epstein 51). First children tend to accomplish more than their siblings do because their parents expect more of them. All children in a family behave differently because of the way they are or were treated by their parents and others. The first child is very bossy to younger sibs, and has strong beliefs about what is right or wrong, and how his younger sibs should behave. He/she does not let the younger ones get away with something they could not do at their age. The second or middle child does not expect to get his or her own way much. They learn to achieve what they want through indirect means. The third or youngest ch ild learns that the best method for him to get his way is by being nice. He frequently does what he wants and gets away with it because others do not notice (Ames and Haber 63-66). Sibling rivalry has many causes that both parents and children can bring about. Parents create rivalry problems by comparison and favoritism. They have to see their kids as separate individuals, and not compare them. The parents have to make sure that comparisons do not lead to them buying one thing for a child?s need, and then buying the same item for the other child even though he does not need it. There are certain types of comparison: positive and pressure. Positive comments can start problems between siblings (i. e. ?I see from your homework that you are a math whiz, just like your sister!? Kent 80). ?Children may feel resentful when parents push them into each other?s turf,? reports Kathy Thorburg, Ph.D (quoted in Kent 80). When a parent compares two siblings, it puts pressure in sports, school, and any other aspects of life on the younger child . Parents inadvertently play favorites with their children. The favorite child may not always be the cutest, smartest, kindest, or mo st thoughtful. It is natural to feel a preference to one

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

There is no set topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

There is no set topic - Essay Example The ‘naked self’ refers to Whitman’s metaphor his spontaneous blending or connection to the world he lives in. In particular, a representation of nature and America is perceived in the ‘self’ under his possession and by rhetorical naming, he enumerates acquaintances of humans and dispositions at the aim of making recognition to their worth by way of contributing to be part of his formation. Seemingly he puts this in a resonance that as he takes part of what others are, equivalently, his existence shares to them a part of himself. No matter how large and distinct the external world is and the other human beings outside of the individual self, Whitman persuades the readers to find the essence in collectiveness as bearing impact upon the singleness of a person. Just like a ‘self’ with a soul of its own, the collective co-existences surrounding form a network to the self so if seen as a whole, the collection is seen as one with a singular sou l that discerns every part of itself as every part is the self making up the breathing union. As he tries to raise a political stand on describing a ‘democratic self’, Whitman admits at having undergone a struggle of remaining part of a whole while invoking the freedom to acquire an identity which by nature stands different or unique compared with the rest.

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Types of Terrorism Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Types of Terrorism - Case Study Example Terrorism is characterised by use of violence indiscriminatively against civilians with intensions of gaining publicity of cause for individuals or groups. Bioterrorism is a kind of terrorism that involves the dessemination of any bioplogical agent, in its natural or modified human form and that agent has anadverse effect on the health of individuals. The biological agents here may include but not limited to bacteria, bacterial toxins, fungal toxins and viruses. This are sometimeds descrinbed as biological weapons and have been used in warefare in manay nations incliuding the United States of America. Bioterrorism is one of the most attractive weapon for terrorism because it consist mainly of the biological agents and hence less expensive dispite the fact that it causes wide spread panic and fear as well as the actual physical damages that they cause to the body. Bioterrorism has a wider and undiscriminatory impact if applied in millitary or warfare. Because of these reasons therefor e the use of biological agents may only be useful in terrorism. As observed by Guillemin (2001), the use of biological agents have wide range of limitations for their use in war since it effectsis experienced passsed the target groups and individuals. It is not possible to dissminate the biological agents such that only the enemy is affected and in most instances, even the friendly forces are affected by the biolofgical agent (Guillemin, 2001). It is therefore useful for the terrorits due to the ease of creating mass panicx as well as disrupting the society and their activities. As warned by Fong & Alibek (2009), there is potential power that the results and advanccements in genetic engineering is palcing on the hands of the terrorists in the future. In his study he has also indicated that the genetic technology would benefit the terrorists more thn it would benefit its intensions in the future. Bioterrorism also includes also those aspects of the use of bioloical agents to disriupt a wider range of the society and the peole living in the society. This does not mean that it must result into the deaths of the peole but it may result into wider impact on the economy in terms of economic losses and other impacts. For example, in the year 2001 and the year 2007, the United kingdom witnessed the a wide outbreak and spread of the foot and mouth disease. While this did not infect the humans, it resulted into serious econnomic damages as well as public concerns and panic. Bioterrorism therefore includes both the aspects economy as well as the health of individual populations and the impacts such as panic, infections or deaths. Bioterrorism is also different from natural outbreak. This is because the natural outbreaks are not engineered by anybody but occur naturally while bioterrorism includes the use of biological gagents that are directed towards an individual or poipulation. Anthrax oubreak is one of the impacts of the biological agents used in bioterrorism in many nations. Anthrax is caused by a spore forming bacterium known as Bacillus anthracis. It is non contagious and hence transmissiom from one individual to the other through contacts is not very easy. Bacillus anthracis was first use in biological warfare in in germana when the German working stafs were supplied with the anthrax bacterium and used it against the Russian Army in Finland (Guillemin, 2010). The most recent attack and outbreak

Monday, January 27, 2020

Looking At The Fate Of Romeo And Juliet English Literature Essay

Looking At The Fate Of Romeo And Juliet English Literature Essay Romeo pronounces these words right after having mortally wounded Tybalt, guilty of having just killed Romeos friend Mercutio. In a fit of rage, Romeo takes his sword and attacks Tybalt ferociously, killing him. This is the climax of the play, that will change inevitably the destiny of the two star-crossed lovers. Romeo realizes what he has done, now he knows he has to pay the consequences of his deed, his already dangerous love for Juliet is going to cause a compulsive chain of tragic events, bringing the two lovers to certain death. He defines himself as a puppet of the unpredictable destiny. Even from the opening lines, the audience is informed about the tragedy that is going to affect the two protagonists, establishing fate as a theme at the foreground of the play. The idea that tragic circumstances were decided from birth for these two lovers is suggested: from forth the fatal loins (I.i.5). This line together with, a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life (I.i.6) explains to the audience that destiny was what first brought them together and is what will eventually separate them. The Choruss opening speech is continually echoed throughout the rest of the play by other characters making direct references to fate. As Susan Snyder states: tragedy can be seen as a ritual sacrifice, in which the protagonist is both hero and victim, [], separated from the ordinary, but destined for destruction.  [2]   Even though Romeo defines himself as helpless victim of his fortune, there is much evidence of the important roles that Romeo and Juliet have in shaping and, in many cases, worsening, their destiny. After a careful reading of the play we can state that it is not just a question of destiny. Romeo and Juliet would have been able to save their relationship simply by using more acuteness, composure and resolution. The choice of means confronting Romeo and Juliet is not confined to a single occasion, they are given a series opportunity of choice  [3]  , but unluckily they always seem to choose the wrong way in which to direct their story. Again we find a metaphor relating to the stars, as if Shakespeare has chosen these celestial bodies as symbols for the fatality that lies over the whole play. But here we find the first of Romeos mistakes, he takes a decision without thinking of the consequences: he has read the list of guests that are going to be at the feast and although he is informed about the presence of Capulets, Montagues arch-enemies, he decides to attend in any case. As already mentioned, Romeo kills Tybalt out of rage, even though he knows it makes things all the worse for his current situation with Tybalts cousin, Juliet; but a far more basic instinct, the desire of a man to avoid being thought a coward prevails and Romeo is driven to fight Tybalt. While Romeo lacks composure, Juliets flaw is impetuosity. During the balcony scene, Juliet hurries Romeo into marriage by constantly questioning his love for her and saying things like, If thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow (II.i.143-4). The Friars flaw, which in the end had a big effect on this tragedy, is to be too impulsive. He offers to marry Romeo and Juliet, even though he knows there is a huge conflict between the families, probably hoping that the marriage would have solved all the rivalries. Moreover, we must remember that it is the Friar who gives Juliet the potion for suspended animation, which aggravates things even more. Even though the protagonists share many fatal defects, lots of things happen to their misfortune that is not their fault. First of all, Romeo and Juliet shared the unfortunate fate that they were from feuding families, putting their relationship in jeopardy from the beginning. Juliet expresses well this idea in her soliloquy on the balcony: Whats in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet [] (II.i.86-87). A second strike of bad luck is the fact that the Capulets, being a typical upper-class traditionalist family, had arranged a marriage between Juliet and Paris, against the will of their daughter. The scene in which Romeo finds out about the feast is another twist of fate. The illiterate servant of Capulets was given the job of telling people about the party. Since he could not read, he was forced to ask two strangers to explain it to him. Those two people could have been anyone, but they just happened to be Romeo and Benvolio. Another ironic fact is that Romeo went to the party because he was madly in love with Rosaline. If Rosaline had been there, and she returned Romeos love, then all the following suffering would never have occurred. Romeo was completely in love with another woman going to the party, which he only found out about in the first place through an adverse stroke of luck. Another example of bad luck is that Romeo never received the letter of Friar Laurence informing him about his and Juliets scheme because of the plague in Mantua, the city where Romeo went to stay after his banishment from Verona. The letter must reach Romeo in time so that he knows of the arran gement between Juliet and the Friar, but the city has been put under quarantine because of a plague. So Romeo never receives the letter and he is left unaware of the plan between the Friar and Juliet: Again we find the concept of fortune. The Friar curses this fate, the unhappy fortune, aware that the story of the two lovers has probably came to an end. Romeo is told by Balthasar that Juliet has died: Her body sleeps in Capels monument, and her immortal part with angels lives (V.i.18-19). These events are the last straw and they will lead to the demise of both characters. Obviously the fate is closely related to the concept of time. Timing, in fact, played the largest role in deciding if they would live or die. Many scholars have defined it as the lovers enemy, which retards his pace when the lovers are separated and accelerates it when they are together:  [4]   O lamentable day! O woeful time! (IV.iv.57) In the balcony scene Juliet hurries because the Nurse is calling her; if Romeo had arrived a few minutes later at the tomb, the tragedy would not have happened; moreover, if the wedding of Juliet and Paris had not been brought forward from Thursday to Wednesday the letter would have had more time to reach Romeo in Mantua; if the Friar had entered the tomb earlier he could have explained the situation to Romeo and no harm would have happened to anyone. These are only a few examples of the negative and mysterious force that seems to control the happenings. We can definitely say that Romeo and Juliet is a crossing of fortuitous events, coincidences and personal responsibilities, all masterfully managed by fate and time. The love story did not have to begin, the two lovers were not meant to meet each other, son and daughter of rival families. They both knew this, but they could not accept it, their love was bigger than anything else. What if it was the temptation of the forbidden which increased their love? Two teenagers, two rebels living in a sexist society made of wedding vows and past rivalry. They preferred to risk, but risking is a matter of fate, a cruel fate which brought them to a certain death. As said by Cassius in Shakespeares Julius Caesar  [5]  , The fault, [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦], is not in our stars but in ourselves (I.ii-139-40).

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Knowledge Is Virtue Essay

We define knowledge as the state or fact of knowing, familiarity, awareness or understanding, gained through experience or study and virtue as the moral excellence and righteousness. All of us have knowledge but not all the knowledge we have is the same, same with virtue. All of us have virtue but not all is practicing it. All of us have knowledge because it is a gift from God that we can keep and share to others. Through knowledge, one is also given the knowledge of understanding one’s self and what surrounds him. One can be taught about life through knowledge. Having knowledge is also having the ability to know what is right and what is wrong. With knowledge we can also do change or improvements. For instance, the knowledge of sickness, the more we know about our sickness, the more we know that it can be cured and by that, life our life is improved. We can make improvements through knowledge physically and mentally. We can identify problems and find solutions because of knowledge, but these problems is not caused by knowledge itself but from the individuals’ use of knowledge. By having simple knowledge about these problems, it already creates vision of solutions. Knowledge is a virtue that we should know what is good for us. Virtue is something that is good or something that is right. If we have done something that is not right, for example, if the knowledge of power is used improperly, it is not because of the mere knowledge already. It is because of the emotions that caused him to do that. If that’s the case, he doesn’t possess virtue. Knowledge is like the other virtues that we should keep and be reminded of always. We should use it not to seek advantage over others but to share it and make them a better individual. Through knowledge, we know how to understand and we know how to act right. We just have to use knowledge justly so we will know about virtue. Thus, knowledge is the creation of virtue. Knowledge is virtue.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

God of Small Things Quotes Essay

Extended metaphor: â€Å"Perhaps Ammu, Estha and she were the worst transgressors. But it wasn’t just them. They all broke the rules. They all crossed into forbidden territory. They all crossed into forbidden territory. They all tampered with the laws that lay down who should be loved and how. And how much. The laws that make grandmothers grandmothers, uncles uncles, mothers mothers, cousins cousins, jam jam, and jelly jelly. Rahel and Estha live in a society with very rigid class lines. â€Å"Commonly held view that a married daughter had no position in her parent’s home. As for a divorced daughter – according to Baby Kochamma, she had no position anywhere at all. And for a divorced daughter from a love marriage, well, words could not describe Baby Kochamma’s outrage†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Chacko told the twins that, though he hated to admit it, they were all Anglophiles. They were a family of Anglophiles. Pointed in the wrong direction, trapped outside their own history and unable to retrace their steps because their footprints had been swept away† The concept of â€Å"Anglophilia† is a big one in this book, from the way everyone fawns over Sophie Mol, to Chacko’s cocky attitude about his Oxford degree, to the whole family’s obsession with The Sound of Music. But it’s pretty clear that the thing they love also holds them down. When Chacko says their footprints have been swept away, he is making a reference to the way members of the Untouchable caste have to sweep away their footprints so that people of higher classes don’t â€Å"pollute† themselves by walking in them. Even though by Indian standards their family is of a relatively high social status, they are of a low social status in relation to the British. Pappachi would not allow Paravans into the house. Nobody would. They were not allowed to touch anything that Touchables touched. Caste Hindus and Caste Christians. Mammachi told Estha and Rahel that she could remember a time, in her girlhood, when Paravans were expected to crawl backwards with a broom, sweeping away their footprints so that Brahmins or Syrian Christians would not defile themselves by accidentally stepping into a Paravan’s footprint. In Mammachi’s time, Paravans, like other Untouchables, were not allowed to walk on public roads, not allowed to cover their upper bodies, not allowed to carry umbrellas. They had to put their hands over their mouths when they spoke, to divert their polluted breath away from those whom they addressed. (2.270) This quote speaks volumes about the experience of the Untouchables, and it helps us appreciate the kinds of deeply ingrained attitudes that drive so much of the prejudice and hate we see in the novel. Then [Baby Kochamma] shuddered her schoolgirl shudder. That was when she said: How could she stand the smell? Haven’t you noticed? They have a particular smell, these Paravans. (13.129) Like Mammachi, Baby Kochamma has a heap of prejudices against other social classes, and these prejudices run deep. By disparaging Velutha out loud and saying that his smell must have been intolerable, she tries to show just how high class she is. Mammachi’s rage at the old one-eyed Paravan standing in the rain, drunk, dribbling and covered in mud was re-directed into a cold contempt for her daughter and what she had done. She thought of her naked, coupling in the mud with a man who was nothing but a filthy coolie. She imagined it in vivid detail: a Paravan’s coarse black hand on her daughter’s breast. His mouth on hers. His black hips jerking between her parted legs. The sound of their breathing. His particular Paravan smell. Like animals, Mammachi thought and nearly vomited. (13.131) Again, we see just how deeply Mammachi’s prejudices run. She doesn’t see Ammu and Velutha’s relationship as love between two people, as it might look to us. As far as she is concerned, it is as low as two animals going at it in the mud. The idea of a â€Å"coolie† (lower-class laborer) having sex with her daughter is so repulsive to Mammachi that it almost makes her puke. Still, to say that it all began when Sophie Mol came to Ayemenem is only one way of looking at it. Equally, it could be argued that it actually began thousands of years ago. Long before the Marxists came. Before the British took Malabar, before the Dutch Ascendancy, before Vasco da Gama arrived, before the Zamorin’s conquest of Calicut. Before three purple-robed Syrian bishops murdered by the Portuguese were found floating in the sea, with coiled sea serpents riding on their chests and oysters knotted in their tangled beards. It could be argued that it began long before Christianity arrived in a boat and seeped into Kerala like tea from a bag. That it really began in the days when the Love Laws were made. The laws that lay down who should be loved, and how. And how much. (1.207-210) This quote is full of what might seem like obscure references, but what it’s basically doing is pushing us to think about what caused everything to fall apart for Estha and Rahel. Did everything come crashing down because Sophie Mol came to Ayemenem? Or do the events of the novel happen as a result of decisions, actions, and rules that were made thousands of years before any of our characters were even born? Do things happen for a reason, because they’re part of this huge plan, or do they just happen because the world is fickle like that? [Estha] knew that if Ammu found out about what he had done with the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man, she’d love him less as well. Very much less. He felt the shaming churning heaving turning sickness in his stomach. (4.245) We can be pretty sure that if Ammu ever found out that Estha was molested, she wouldn’t be upset with him. She’d be unbelievably angry at the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man, but she would never actually blame Estha. Yet, in Estha’s mind, what happened to him is his fault, and he carries it around as his shame Ammu touched her daughter gently. On her shoulder. And her touch meant Shhhh†¦.Rahel looked around her and saw she was in a Play. But she had only a small part. She was just the landscape. A flower perhaps. Or a tree. A face in the crowd. A Townspeople. (8.48-50) This moment turns the way Rahel understands her role at home upside-down. All of a sudden, things are totally different than they usually are. Rahel’s realization that they’re in a â€Å"play† shows us that everyone here is playing a part to some extent – they aren’t being themselves. Sophie Mol’s arrival topples over Rahel’s reality; she goes from being one of the leads to being the â€Å"nobody† in the background. Now, all these years later, Rahel has a memory of waking up one night giggling at Estha’s funny dream. She has other memories too that she has no right to have. She remembers, for instance (though she hadn’t been there), what the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man did to Estha in Abhilash Talkies. She remembers the taste of the tomato sandwiches – Estha’s sandwiches, that Estha ate – on the Madras Mail to Madras. (1.10-12) Rahel’s ability to remember things that happened to Estha and not her tells us a lot about their joint identity and how profoundly she understands him.