Genetically Modified food for me?

As a Biotechnology student, I've come across the words 'genetically-modified organisms' ever since I've been studying into this field.
I happened to attend a couple of short films screened in my college's auditorium dealing with the same.
With the latest bt Brinjal that has come into picture and the approval of its introduction at the stake of the Indian government and other national authorities, we are facing one major question,
A dilemma-whether or not I, as a consumer, should opt for these genetically modified foods on my platter?!

The genetically modified Bt Cotton that has already been introduced in our agriculturally dominating country has proved to be quite the opposite of the so-claimed benefits it 'hoped' to bring along.
This variety of cotton seeds initially priced at almost seven to eight times than its organic counterpart, claimed to resist infection of plants by the American Boulworm: a major hindrance to the cotton crop.
Poor farmers had no choice but to reduce their costs of pesticide sprays and complied with this GM variety.
And what happened after a few years of rich blooms?
Minor pests posing threat to the crop. More water. More care taking that spelled more costs. AND damaged crops.
That led to several farmers committing suicides.

But what really is with this GENETICALLY MODIFIED food?
You cross an albino mouse with a wild type black mouse. You get a hybrid.
You cross a potato with a tomato, you get a Pomato.
There, keep the species same, and you cross to obtain variety of hybrids.
We are bright and smart with science.
Let's for heavens' sake be bright and smart with political correctness.

Let us preserve the right to choose what is served on our platter!
With the concerned authority approving the introduction of Bt (Bacillus thuringeinsis) Brinjal in the Indian market, who will know when we go veggie shopping: whether we are buying a GM brinjal or the normal one?
And why so?
simply because India has no 'labeling laws'!

These GMfoods are tested on a 90 days trials on mice. But the effects on consumption may linger to our forthcoming generations...

Isn't it too early to invite the GM foods in our homes?
Given the fact that they have no additional nutritional values, whatsoever; why should I as a consumer opt for a Bt brinjal or a tomato or okras?

Let us make informed choices and let us not subject ourselves to being guniea pigs, just like that. Are you a lab rat?
Greed and science don't make a great combination.

GM food on my platter!
IS IT SAFE???

Before it could flutter away...

Another lazy afternoon in these holidays. No agenda. My net connection was weak and I wasn’t enjoying the slow online surf. I found a small packet of plastic beads around and fascinated by the sill-oh-so-random arrangement (that I simply made by emptying the packet on my desk), I took out the camera.

But everything was already so well-planned: My digi-cam’s battery was discharged! With an instant frown, I kept the camera on a shelf right above my desk, popped in a toffee lying there, packeted the beads and started watching TV. I had forgotten all about this mundane do.

Later that evening, I spotted a butterfly on that shelf, very close to the camera.

It was well-balanced on my trophy placed there.

Yeah, it was a harmless butterfly and it seemed quite pretty. But I knew I wouldn’t think the same had it fluttered around. No, I hadn’t panicked yet and let things be.

I later learnt from mum that it lay on the shelf since morning. Investigations led to the fact that it had died that morning on the window sill and dad had kept it there, intrigued by its textures....

I just shook my head in disbelief.

I had missed a butterfly when I kept the camera? Missed it when I had the toffee?

Convinced that it “really” had passed out, I held it with a nervous grip:

Turned it over.

Eeks!

And realised it had asymmetrical wings!

Perhaps, it’s the most common and easy-to-spot butterfly.

But it’s pretty in its own special way.

And certainly, Prettier than this one:

The saga continues...

Perhaps, even before we were toddlers...till date.
(And if you read this some years hence, it will mean the same.)
When a lullaby didn't seem to work, we had Grandma tales and Aesop fables ruling most of our younger days.
They started the same: each time.
We never complained.
Sometimes, we enjoyed them so much that even the fact that we just heard it all through the previous night didn't create a stir. Well, probably we got so embedded into the words that we over-looked monotony. Or probably, for some of us, the words spelled 'haven'.

'Once upon a time....'
the saga continued.
Humour, thrill, mystery, adventure, romance, fantasy.
Everything followed well.

Often at my place, over late night nostalgic chats, my aunt reminds me of how eager I was as a 4 or 5 year old kid, to be the bed-time story teller.
And then I would start: 'Once upon a time, there was a boy....'
And I would virtually stop speaking.
I would get lost into my imagination ( I assume) and be brought back to reality.
'Continue!'
Gathering back the lost link, I would mutter, 'Once upon a time, there was a boy....'
And then lose track again.
'Oh yeah! We get it that there was a boy. What next?'
And then there would be similar fantasy-routes that I would trod on.
Sounds insane, I know.
But when I trace back, I guess, they put me on an imaginating spree.
'Once upon a time...'
And I had the whole world to explore.....
I had the power to fit in anything and everything I desired.
Oh no! I don't know anything about the boy!!!

A recent college festival had a story-telling event and a friend asked me to sign up for it. Instantly, the kid story-teller within me came alive and I politely turned down the offer.

I am sure, all of you'll have distinct memories following 'Once upon a time...'

When asked to pen down a few words describing short stories (in general), a colleague says:

No flowery language, no unnecessary details, no going around the point, no confusion.
We are going down to the bare basics of Story-writing. The quintessential intriguing story-line,
wild characters and a climax to a tale that leaves people convinced that the four most hard-hitting words in the
English dictionary are certainly, "Once upon a time..."

What say???