The Right to Complain: A Word on Women's Rights

This is a very hypocritical society we live in. A society that talks about equality, justice and human rights when all the majority of the people care about is themselves.

This blog however is not an argument based on religion or ethnicity. It is simply what the title says. "The Right to Complain".

I would like to quote a few blogs from the Huffington Post.

• No Headscarves In Schools, No Burqas In Public: Colorblind Racism In France
• French Burqa Ban Sets A Dangerous Precedent
• The Burqa Ban: Another Misguided Step Toward So-Called Equality
• What Not To Wear: Dictating Islamic Fashion In France

These are just few of the thousands of blogs you can find out there on the same topic. Speaking from a completely neutral point of view... Outrageous! Isn't it?

Muslims are accused of being extremists. But these blogs and the other thousands on the same topic, it isn't the Muslims denying people the rights of what they should be wearing. This is just logical. I am not even talking about religion right now. I am just talking about the basic human rights. There isn't supposed to be any restriction on what you want to wear. What's so bothersome about a lady wearing a Hijab? I am a 100% sure that all Muslims worldwide would agree with this. Great!

Oh, but there's more...

Chess star to boycott World Chess Championship in Iran over hijab

Female chess players protest wearing hijab at Iran world championship

This is about Nazí Paikidze, a 22 year old Georgian-American chess player participating in the World Chess Championship being held in Iran.

It's exactly the opposite happening here. Non-Muslims forced to wear Hijab. Iran volunteered for holding the Chess Championship knowingly it is an international competition and now imposes such a regulation on all participants. 

Nazí Paikidze is petitioning the World Chess Federation (FIDE) in a bid to change the host country of the women’s world championship competition from Iran. In her petition, she cites FIDE’s handbook in which it says one of the moral principles of the organisation is that it “rejects discriminatory treatment for national, political, racial, social or religious reasons or on account of sex.”

Volunteering for the championship themselves and then imposing regulations conflict with FIDE's own set of regulations and principles? Is that justified?

That was just the story of both the sides.This chess issue is pretty recent and I am seeing people losing their minds over the issue all over Twitter. But I have question to both the sides, the question about your right to complain...

Dear [People who support the first cause of banning Hijab],

Do you really have the right to complain?

If you think that's right, then why are you complaining now that the same is happening, only tables turned.

Dear [People who support the second cause of forcefully imposing Hijab],

Do you really have the right to complain?

Why complain about the west banning Hijab when we feel no guilt in doing the same to them?

I must also mention that during the Rio Olympics 2016, it was imposed that no one must be allowed to wear Hijab in Olympic Basketball which had a number of female Muslim participants. It is no hidden fact that people and especially women worldwide gave all their support to these Muslim women. Many petitions were sent to FIBA to allow the wearing of Hijab during Basketball.

#LetThemPlay: people petition to lift hijab basketball ban

That's exactly what I wish to see here. We should all respect others' values. There is no point in imposing your way on others. I extend my full support to the cause of Ms. Nazí Paikidze. And I hope more people do so.

Here are a few words from Nazí Paikidze's Twitter.

A message to the people of Iran:

I am not anti-Islam or any other religion. I stand for… https://t.co/Ur6lQ1Hxyw

— Nazi Paikidze-Barnes (@NaziPaiki) October 4, 2016

To all supporting our cause, please SIGN our petition and SHARE it. Thank you! Together we can #DefendWomensRightshttps://t.co/8gpcCzRCjY pic.twitter.com/KmDUKxcn9b

— Nazi Paikidze-Barnes (@NaziPaiki) October 4, 2016

Mother's Rosario

I have been thinking about this word "Rosario" and wondering what it is truly supposed to mean in this particular context. For those who are not aware of the context of this word, here's a little backstory on it before I go on to it's interpretation.

In a story about a virtual reality game, there was this girl, Yuuki, who was able to make the most powerful sword skill in the game, a sort of a combo attack. She was dying in the real world. She used to spend most of her time in the virtual world because her body was already too weak to go on in the real world. She even died inside this virtual world. Before she died, she passed on this sword skill to her dearest friend, Asuna, who was sort of a sister figure to her. She named this skill "Mother's Rosario".

“The name...of the skill...is "Mother’s Rosario"...I suppose...it can help me...protect Asuna...”

It was meant to keep her safe.

Rosario is not an English word and it took me a while to truly understand why she named this skill so. There are various interpretations but this seems to really make sense. The word is found to be pretty common in Italian and Spanish cultures. Oxford English Dictionary records Rosario as an obsolete alternative to the English word, Rosary. According to Wikipedia,

The Rosary (Latin: rosarium, in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses") usually in the form of the Dominican Rosary, is a form of prayer used especially in the Catholic Church named for the string of prayer beads used to count the component prayers.

I am not a Christian myself but I have read a bit about it. It seems like there the name of the skill very strongly symbolizes a "Rosary". A Rosary is set of prayers in the name of Mary. There are these set of beads bound together in a string which are used for counting these prayers. This little object is also called a Rosary. This specific set of prayers is recited in sets of ten called decades. So the string contains 10 beads with a special sort of bead called a crucifix at the end of the decade.

Yuuki's "Mother's Rosario" was an 11-hit chain attack. It symbolizes the Rosary with 10 hits representing a decade and then a finishing blow representing a crucifix.

Passing down the ability to Asuna was a bit misleading regarding it's interpretation. It got me thinking that the name had something to do with Asuna and was meant for her from Yuuki herself. But I eventually realized that was not the case. 

There were a series of questions answered by Kawahara Reki himself about SAO1 characters. Here's the one that answers everything.

Q. Please tell me the reason behind the naming of the OSS2, “Mother’s Rosario”.

A. It’s a technique based on the memento from my mother, a rosary.

There is another answer that I came across and I feel like I won't be doing justice not quoting it here.

Yuuki was a Christian herself, so was her family. Yuuki was infected and suffering from AIDS almost since she was born because of some surgery. The rest of her family got infected too by the time her disease was diagnosed. Even her elder twin sister died. When all hope was lost, her mother had nothing else to turn to, so she would pray. Although Yuuki was probably the first one to get infect, she still outlived the rest of her family. Even her parents died but she lived. It is not clear what kept her going. But Yuuki did realize what her mother had gone through.

There is nothing more powerful than a mother's love and prayer for her child. A mother who in her desperation prayed for her child to be safe. That was probably what kept her going. Yuuki didn't give up. She fought long and in the end, she was left with nothing more than memories of a mother who would have thrown her own life away if she could just so that Yuuki could live longer.

Such is the love of a mother.
Such is the power of a mother's prayer.
Such is the logic of personality that can probably not be comprehended.
Such is the meaning behind the most powerful skill in ALO3.

Such is a Mother's Rosario.

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1. Sword Art Online (SAO) - The name of the series in question.
2. Original Sword Skill (OSS)
3. ALfheim Online (ALO) - The name of the virtual reality game. 

Power of the King

Before I say anything else, let me state that Code Geass is my favorite series so far and Lelouch happens to be my favorite character. Ever since I watch the show for the first time, I was really fascinated by the chess themes in the show, whether it be chess matches or the symbolical use of it in certain situations. The power of the “King” for instance. Or the Black Knights.

I have seen lots of discussion in forums about chess in Code Geass, especially about the way Lelouch plays and his match with Schneizel in the 9th episode of the second season.

Throughout the series, Lelouch constantly follows the notion that the King must move first for the others to follow. Even during a chess match, he would mobilize his King first. That sounds pretty heroic and noble and suits his character but is that really a wise thing to do?

I myself am a chess player and frankly, I have never ever encountered any player that follows the same strategy. Neither have I ever tried to mobilize my King before other pieces. After all, protecting the King is the highest priority for a player in chess. But after a little research, I found out that such a kind of play actually exists. It is not very common. Extremely rare to be precise. It’s called the “Bongcloud Attack” or the “Bongcloud Opening”.

The strategy is based on mobilizing the King before any of the other pieces. But it is not a very easy move to make, certainly not meant to be for newbies. Only seasoned players can adopt this kind of play and win. The key to winning chess is to mobilize your pieces as soon as possible and acquire strategically favorable positions. Adopting the “Bongcloud Attack” may seem to put the user at a disadvantage since his pieces won’t be as much developed as his opponent’s. But the King in itself is a very powerful piece for those who are not afraid to use it. And it’s not me who’s saying it. Pick up any chess book and read the guide for the King. They would always encourage you to use the King.

As I said before, Bongcloud isn’t very famous. But those who know it love it and a lot of effort is being put into developing this style and perfecting it to become an all in all, a powerful strategy.

Here's is a link to a Chess.com forum for the Bongcloud Attack

I will be writing more chess analysis for Code Geass. Until then, stay tuned!

P.S. this was my first blog post ever. So please write your reviews. Feedback is greatly appreciated. What did you like and what you didn’t, just let me know.