Category: Society & Culture

  • War against the machines

    Nope, this is not about arnie’s latest exploits…just thought i will give hinduism a break for a day and return to what i was shooting mymouth off, a couple of days back…I got a couple of notes from michelle and sapna, both forced me to think again, but….. Sapna says that if i am born with a silver spoon, i cant live without it, and its not that bad…true, i cant go lower, but arent i always trying to get a gold or platinum spoon, and at the end of the accumulation mania, isnt what is left a hollow feeling…my question, can we ever teach ourselves to be content?? michelle is right in saying that if it leaves her happy, y shdnt she be having a cell, a player and other consumer goodies, my answer is the same as before, then why are we always cribbing, and looking for an outlet like this….from a different angle, i think what i amtrying to say is, :-), arnt the machines killing our social interaction? i am not talking about the easiness, yes, they have certainly revolutionised communication, but about the quality of interaction.honestly, wouldnt i prefer a face to face conversation than a few sms, chat or a call….when we talk about the good old days of college/university, isnt that what we are missing, the human element, the direct interaction?? but we have easier means now- the net, a cell……and the worst part, in my view is time crunching…..hmmm, that would be tomorrow’s post….

  • Beware of the Hind-OozeI

    I completely forgot about poor Schumi yesterday, the elder one, that jackass montoya, i hope he fails to complete even a single race the rest of this season. he actually ran poor schumi out of the track, now objective analysers would say that part of it was schumi’s fault,but i am a fanatical fan, so i have rights…hehe
    now to where i left off yesterday…..the fanatical tunnel vision..any community, if it builds up tension for long periods is going to experience frustration and hence spawn militancy among its ranks. thats exactly what has happened here, right from the invasion of alexander, indians have always been the defenders, and mostly unsuccessful in their attempts, which explains why even when we have been aggressors, the exploits have been limited to what we now call the Indian subcontinent, because we never encouraged offense, and were therefore never good aggressors. yes, there are exceptions, but too few, chief among whom is Ashoka, and he got the tag of being an inhuman barbarian. I guess he knew that if he stayed a hindu, at some point of time, there would be a rekindling of his aggressive side again, maybe thats why he moved to buddhism.there were also exploits by samudragupta, but these are all exceptions to the rule.we never had the sheer grit that the romans or the mughals possessed, to invade,conquer and hold.At a later stage, maybe this is the reason why the non violent doctrines of gandhi had more supporters than bhagat singh or the subhash chandra bose, although the latter certainly had the charisma.(hell, i am most definitely a bhagat singh fan, at an age where me and most of my generation are preoccupied with a career and lovelife, the poor guy sacrificed himself for the country, and it was not the death of a guy obsessed with ideals, but a very calculated and bold death).and so therefore, i cannot blame the fanatical tunnel vision , it is only the backlash of a civilisation that, inspite of triggering the best of the science and arts we have, has been pummelled into submission by various forces.We still stand helpless when pakistan chooses to attack our parliament, hell, if the plo ever tried that, israel would wipe it out in a day, but we condemn the act and run crying to the international watchdogs who have a history of asking us to sort it by discussions and bilateral talks!!
    When the US chooses to reciprocate the taliban’s greetings, it bloody ctrl+alt+del afghanistan, and then goes on a prememptive strike on Iraq for wmd that were never there, (no, i dont support saddam), i can safely say that the total headcount, as far as attacks by pak on india goes, would have easily exceeded the figures of 9/11. kashmir easily gets around 20 people killed in a day by terrorists sponosored by the isi(pak’s agency) and trained in their camps, whose evidence is there for all to see, but NOT acknowledge. BUT if india launches an attack on its neighbour, it is going to have strong repurcussions from all around theglobe.I think it is this sheer helplessness that is gradually increasing the revebrations of hindu militancy in all its forms, from burning ofmissionaries to pulling down mosques. Thats part of what i call the Hind Ooze – the eruption of the dark side of a so far subdued community!!
    to be continued………….

  • Hin Dos and Donts

    today’s post has been inspired by simple simon’s blogpost about hinduism, which in turn has been inspired by someone else, so its almost becoming a chain.But first the routine work. Spare a prayer for Katherine Hepburn , who died at the age of 96.Also,check out this article for a 360 degree view on Beckham’s Real experience. Have included a new link, its a music band from my lil town, they are called motherjane, doubt if the website will impress , and no free music, but get hold of a cd if u can, the music is definitely worth it!!
    There are lots of statements i would like to debate on, but will start with the ‘definability’ of hinduism, it is , i agree, a way of life,now, but i dont think it was always like that.there was a time when hinduism could define itself, in terms of philosophy, practices in life, forms of worship etc. But, now, even i, as a practising hindu, (practising because i am not a passive hindu in terms of worshipping my 33 crore odd gods, i have my favourites, of course 🙂 ) cannot explain to another person what i, as a hindu, stand for. subjective idiosyncrasies not withstanding, i think every other religion has a thread, that creates a bond among its followers, which allows them to firmly define their religion. can we do it, i dont think so.so where did we hindus lose it?
    i guess, a long time ago, the time when hinduism became a religion that started assimilating tidbits from every other religion, there could have been political (read survival) reasons, but i cant justify that as an excuse. Now, the way i see it, the very aspect that has earned hinduism bouquets from everyone everywhere, its absorbing and forgiving feature, is going to kill it. Unlike Linux development, not everyone who modifies the source, has an interest in its survival.And that brings us to the next source of debate “is the fanatical tunnel vision” that is brewing in hindus worldwide justified??to be continued…………..
    manuscrypt for the day
    if god brings you to it, he will take u thru it.

  • Live Dead

    I dont know if it is done abroad, but it sure is a first in India. A crematorium in Gujarat is now using web cam and yahoo to transmit cremations live!! Its meant for Gujarati diaspora spread across the globe. Everyone everywhere is trying to get people to stay as glued to the monitor as possible.

    Read an interesting article on how the evolution of consumer durables in india directly affected the construction of homes and the arrangement of particular rooms.Once upon a time, long before Tv came in, the fridge occupied a prime place in the sitting room.People used to sit in their verandah, have a chat , show off their fridge and come inside for quick snacks. Then, when tv first arrived, there were only a few families who had them, so those which had got frequent visitors and conversations were held in the sitting room, while watching TV. Then tv became a household phenomenon and social visits got further reduced, and in the ones that did happen,tv came to be an unwanted distraction.so they made a family room upstairs where the tv could be kept, and then home theatres happened, and thats being shown off now. Its a cycle but why is it that most of these innovations have been instrumental in reducing direct human contact.
    i can honestly say, without attributing it to hindu fatalism (as westerners love to say) that what i knew to be humanity earlier is counting its last days. No, it is not about old values or practices, the very thing that spawned “for the sake of humanity” now makes it seem a misnomer.And i believe technology had a big hand in it. Yes, i have to have my system, mp3 player , my cellphone etc, but cant i live without them? my grandad could, to an extent so can my dad, and they all seem to manage and be happy without them.To borrow from the buffy musical that was shown yesterday, we seem to be going through the motions of life. Isnt that an irony when the only thing that we came down here for is to live?So when we cant enjoy while we live, when r we gonna do it? which brings us to everyone’s eternal question – is there life after death? will choose to answer the question in my later blogs ;-), maybe i can pick up a clue if i can get to see one of those live funerals!!
    manuscrypts trivia
    Got it from an employee evaluation “This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot”
    Thats it for the week, enjoy your weekend, folks!

  • Mondayne Thoughts

    Oh, ok, that was a bad example of wordtwisting, but full marks for trying, :-)…. canada was once again ferrari territory yesterday, and schumi kept his word of topping raikkonen, and i still believe raikkonen is only a flash in the pan….but i liked alonso yesterday, poor sod was driving a renault but again, full marks for trying!!saw two mahesh manjrekar movies over the weekend, astitva and hathyar, the former is to be remade in English and is titled “it rained that night”..and the last i heard of it , he is also playing a part in it, i think the one played by Sachin Khedkar, come to think of it, sush is playing tabu’s role…

    Another blast featured on rediff today by Varsha Bhosle, my, those are what you really call controversial, i think she would be a top contender for hate mails, but, but but, more often than not , i subscribe to her views (she mostly writes columns on secularism and related issues), she asks very pertinent questions on the stand of Muslims, in our dealings with Pakistan. In my opinion , what is wrong in us having a Hindu country , when there are so many Islamic nations around?Why do we insist on secularism, in spite of all the happenings around us? i think the tolerance that India’s majority population is showing, is seen as cowardice, and to be very honest, if you take away the political motivations in the backlash of several happenings (most recently , Godhra), i cant blame the guys who go around torching muslims, for the simple reason that except for useless political statements, no Muslim guy says he is sorry for what his comrades have been doing!! Meanwhile, our PM keeps extending hands, and ol Pervez keeps showing him the finger, albeit covertly!!Thats enough pro hinduism for now, check out the couple of new links i have added , parikrama and enya, two different genres of music, but definitely good…..check out the track ‘but it rained’ on the parikrama site, its got a stunning guitar piece at the end…after the song was released on the channels, i went around for a month asking all the cassette outlets for the album, and they hadnt heard of it…finally i checked the website (which parikrama had mentioned, but i thought was the album title) and found that the songs could be downloaded free!! To end today’s ravings and rantings , a forward i received, “a mom asks her newly wed daughter how her married life is, the daughter replies that its like British Airways, the mother is puzzled until she sees an ad of BA that says ‘7 days a week, twice a day, both ways” !!