Nov

In the name of God!

The death of Savita Halappanavar will be a clear example of why religion shouldn’t be mixed with politics and law. For those of you who hasn’t read about the tragic story of this 31 year old Indian woman, here it goes. On October 21st, she went to the University Hospital Galway complaining of back pain, she was 17 weeks pregnant at the time. The doctors after stating that she was having a miscarriage, refused to terminate the pregnancy. This was the same case through the three days of her agony and her repeatedly requesting for an abortion. Despite the fact that the foetus surviving is nil, the doctors denied her requests because the foetus still had heartbeat and they told her abortion was against the law. According to her husband, their justification being Ireland was “a Catholic country”, for which Savita replied that she is neither Irish nor a Catholic and got a reply that nothing can be done. Once the foetus’s heartbeat stopped – they removed the womb contents, but she was very sick by then. A week after she was admitted Savita died of blood poisoning.

If religion hadn’t come into the picture, she would have survived. What is ironic about this is that while reading about posts related to this issue – I came across the below picture in The Guardian.

I have always been against militant atheists, who take every chance in insulting a person who has religious beliefs. People in general do need beliefs irrespective it being a ‘God’, science or nature. But faiths should be personal, it shouldn’t meddle into government policies whereby its being forced on others. My usual stand was that change will be gradual and that children and young adults need to targeted for rational discussions. Since, old conservative people are not going to change because that’s how they lived all these years and it will be a waste of time to argue with them . So we simply have to wait till they die, go to their imaginary heaven and lead an eternal blissful afterlife in their fairy tale land. Change cannot come over a single conversation or a single generation and that is the reason I have always felt that atheists are usually very impatient and cold.

But the above picture made me rethink my stance, yes the old people will fade out eventually. But they keep spreading their religion and ‘philosophies’ to the younger generation. I mean that old woman in the picture - does abortion even matter to her? But it does for her daughter/grand daughter. This need for taking your ideologies and pushing it into the throats of others who aren’t even part of your institution and choking them is what causes all the issues in this world! If that lady feels that she is safer without abortion (which she wouldn’t need anyway), let her stick to her guns, she doesn’t have an iota of right to ask her own daughter to not have a voluntary termination. But a bunch of religious catholics organizing something like this and having a law passed where by an abortion can be done only when the ‘mother’s life is at risk’ and not even clearly defining the term, is plainly stupid.

Had this not happened, a young woman would not have suffered such a unnecessary yet tragic death. She would have gotten her abortion, maybe been depressed for months on the loss of her child. But eventually might have had a shot at having a family again. Doctors of University Hospital Galway, Catholics who were part of the pro-life campaign, whoever was possible for this anti abortion law to be passed – you have this on you. The woman in me overrides the agnostic free thinker tag that I usually carry, I hope that there is a God and that all of you will rot in hell – not for murdering a woman, but for the sheer stupidity that you are wrapped up in! Even my made up God will be more intelligent than what you claim to follow from your scriptures.

To this beautiful woman who lost her baby, who suffered in agony for days and who died for no reason other than your fucking ideology and religion!

191 days ago Short URL Comments

News

death of Indian Woman/Ireland's abortion case/Savita Halappanavar

Aug

Scrutinize Series: War on Drugs

The war on drugs is an issue that gets the constant spotlight in the media, the US government spends around $44 billion [1] every year in law enforcement, arrests around 1.5m people incarcerating up to half of them [2]. I usually glance through this news, without analyzing the issue deeply simply due to time constraint. But a lecture on basic economics, got me interested. This is what the professor said: ‘With a basic understanding of the demand and supply concept in economics, we can prove that ‘the war on drugs’ is a failure.’ I will first explain the problem from an economic perspective , and later go on to explain the process the government is taking in detail.

Here is my attempt at briefly explaining the concept of demand and supply, and the case study at hand.

The demand and supply graph

Interpretation of the above graph:

1. The demand decreases as price increases. That is, as a consumer if I see that the price of a product is higher, I tend to buy lesser quantity of it.

2. The supply decreases as price decreases. That is, as a supplier if I get less profit from selling a product, I will tend to find alternate products to sell, or sell lesser quantity of this product.

3. The intersection, of these two curves is where equilibrium lies, the demand meets the supply quantity and everyone is happy. When there is a shortage in the quantity (demand increases) the price of the good increases, similarly surplus causes the price to drop. Usually, this movement helps the market gear towards equilibrium.

For example, if the demand increases due to external factors, like income raise, or increase in the price of alternate products, then there will be a shortage of the product (as everyone would like to buy more), and the price increases which in turn encourages the supplier to sell more of the product which in turn reduces the price – thus edging towards equilibrium. If supply decreases and the demand for the product remains the same, the price sky rockets.

Lets define quantity in both perspectives:

1. Quantity demanded: The amount of a good that buyers are willing and able to purchase.

2. Quantity supplied: The amount of a good that sellers are willing and able to sell.

Usually, the slopes of demand and supply are relatively similar. But in the case of drugs, the ‘willingness’ of buying the drug is high, due to their addictive nature. The consumer will buy drugs, irrespective of how high the price is. This makes the demand curve for drug very steep. So, the graph will look like the one below.

Now, to sum up in a single statement, the government is reducing the supply. We should remember that the demand is still solid, its the supply that is being reduced by law enforcement.

The new supply’ curve in the graph, represents ‘the supply status after the war on drugs has started’. There is a new equilibrium point now, with the intersection of the quantity Q’ and price P’. Since the demand curve is steep, the actual change (reduction) in quantity is very less (orange area in the graph), compared to the increase in the prices(purple area). As we learned earlier, shortage causes the price to sky rocket – this (increase in profit) in turn encourages the suppliers to take even more risk and its a vicious cycle.

Here is an alternate case of trying to reduce the demand:

The Demand’ curve is the new reduced demand, in this case we get a new equilibrium point where the price P’ and quantity Q’ have both decreased, quantity even more so. As explained earlier, the decrease in demand, makes the suppliers to sell their product for lesser price and this discouragers many suppliers in doing this business which gives less profit for higher risks.

This is the case, economics puts forward to claim that the current ‘War on Drugs’ the US government is executing is a huge failure and it makes sense too. Now, lets see what exactly the government does.

History of the drug prohibition goes as far as early 20th century with the set up of the International Opium Commission[1] in Shanghai, which was followed by many more in the years to come. In the United States, the prohibition started with Alcohol in 1920 that went on till 1933[4]. The consumption of alcohol did go down during the first half of 1920, but this gave birth to the various criminal organizations including the ‘modern American Mafia’. This black market, also led to corruption within the police forces and the politicians. There was a larger consensus among the public that the elites had the freedom of having a drink from their private cellars which was stocked years before, but if the working class or poor did the same, they were arrested. Following a five page article on a leading newspaper in 1930, that said 80% of congressmen consume alcohol despite the fact that they were the ones who signed the prohibition. The democrats understood that the law was highly unpopular and decided to repeal it, Roosevelt after signing the amendment in 1933 remarked ”This would be a good time for a beer”.

The very first act that set the stage for the war on drugs is the Harrison Tax Act of 1914, that restricted the sale of heroin and was later used to restrict cocaine too. The next major event was the creation of Federal Bureau of Narcotics in 1930, that had the Marijuana Tax Act enforced into the framework, which taxed marijuana under the pretext that it will be a ‘gateway drug’ for heroin users. Later in 1951, the Boggs Act had minimum federal sentence for the possession of marijuana, cocaine and opiates. It was President Eisenhower who first called for war on drugs defining the parameters, and had the U.S Interdepartmental Committee on Narcotics established in 1954.

In 1969, Nixon announced Operation Intercept, targeting the Mexican imports in an effort to force Mexico to crack down marijuana. The intense searches, almost caused a shutdown of cross-border traffic as a result the operation lasted just 20 days. The more active role of the government, came in 1970 when Nixon passed the Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act (which was the formal declaration of the war on drugs) with the emphasis on the treatment of drug addicts especially heroin addicts. But policy makers changed their perspective of drug abuse as a ’disease’ that can be treated to law enforcement problems that can be solved by aggressive laws. The Drug Enforcement Administration, that was created in 1973 to coordinate the efforts of all other agencies, was an important step towards the actual execution of the Act.

In the 1980s the number of crimes rose 28%, but arrests in drug offenses alone rose 126%. Among these arrests, were the people with the possession of marijuana constituting the 4th highest number. People who were otherwise non-violent. It is estimated that $20000 is spent on each inmate every year. There are also the international operations that US executed and is still executing in Colombia and Mexico. Operation Just Cause that happened on December 20th 1989, where it invaded Panama claiming ‘combating drug trafficking’ as one of the four reasons for the invasion. As part of its Plan Colombia program, US gives millions of dollars every year as military aid, training and equipments to Colombia, to fight the left-wing guerillas and to curb drug trafficking. But the fact is that Colombia is in ruins, due to the drug wars. The rebels have high profits through illegal trade, they simply go into the rain forests to grow coca since they are being pushed out of the coca growing land. The herbicides and other chemicals sprayed by U.S affect not only the rainforest but also the health of the farm animals and children. The drug production in Colombia will not stop, until the war on drugs in U.S is stopped because there are huge profits in it (as discussed earlier, with the demand and supply concept).

The report of the global commission on drug policy says the following,

“The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world. Fifty years after the initiation of the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and 40 years after President Nixon launched the US government’s war on drugs, fundamental reforms in national and global drug control policies are urgently needed. Vast expenditures on criminalization and repressive measures directed at producers, traffickers and consumers of illegal drugshave clearly failed to effectively curtailsupply or consumption. Apparent victories in eliminating one source or trafficking organization are negated almost instantly by the emergence of other sources and traffickers. Repressive efforts directed at consumers impede public health measures to reduce HIV/AIDS, overdose fatalities and other harmful consequences of drug use. Government expenditures on futile supply reduction strategies and incarceration displace more cost-effective and evidence-based investments indemand and harm reduction.”

It also provides data that shows 34.5% increase in opiates, 27% increase in cocaine and 8.5% increase in marijuana consumption between the year 1998 and 2008. It also provides certain principles based on which drug policies must be formed like, considering drug addicts as patients rather than criminals, basing the success on the welfare of the individuals and society, taking in to consideration the diverse political, social and cultural realities, policies should also respect the rights and needs of people affected by production, trafficking and consumption. The report gives cases studies of countries (For eg, Switzerland) where this approach helped in the overall reduction of drug addicts. The rest of the report gives some recommendations as what needs to be done for instance replacing the criminalization and punishment of people who use drugs with the offer of health and treatment to whoever needs them. Also providing case studies where decriminalization of drugs didn’t significantly increase the number of drug users.

It is safe to conclude from studies ranging from economic, policy and medical perspectives using basic concepts, crude numbers & facts, research on medicinal values of marijuana that the present approach of ‘war on drugs’ is a huge failure and the system needs a complete revamp. That is after all the reality too, once the concept of ‘the forbidden apple’ is gone the temptation reduces too. Drugs should be decriminalized, drug addicts should be considered as patients rather than criminals and an individual’s right to choose what he/she wants to do with his/her own body should be left to the individual. After all aren’t we allowing cigarettes, fast food, saccharin, genetically modified crops, rBGH milk etc? Oh wait, they are from huge corporates who govern us!

References:

1.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Drugs#cite_note-frontline-8

2.http://www.economist.com/node/13237193

3.http://civilliberty.about.com/od/drugpolicy/tp/War-on-Drugs-History-Timeline.htm

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_United_States

5. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9252490

6.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/15/40-anniversary-war-on-drugs-cops-obama_n_877702.html

7.http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=2228&chapter=209438&layout=html&Itemid=27

8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Just_Cause

9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Drug_War

10. http://www.progress.org/fold155.htm

11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_Colombia

12.http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/56924096?access_key=key-xoixompyejnky70a9mq

13.http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/16/colombia-drugs-cocaine-trafficking

285 days ago Short URL 2 Comments

News/Politics/Scrutinize Series

Cocaine/demand and supply/economics/Heroin/Marijuana/policy/war on drugs

Jul

Yellowstone – The beautiful beginning

I promised myself that I will maintain a travelogue, during this trip to one heck of a place I had always imagined to be very beautiful and serene. The place that I have yearned to visit for years now, Yellowstone National Park. I remember the numerous times I have asked my dad the question “when are we visiting Yellowstone?”, since I was a kid. I don’t have a bucket list, but if I did have one, visiting this super volcano will be topping it. But, when the time did come, I didn’t fullfil my promise. I was so busy engrossed in the beauty and was too tired by the end of the day, that I forgot to maintain a written catalogue of my experiences. Instead of writing it in a small notebook, , since in a way this is my story of finally visiting the place of my dreams I thought of using this blog that I created a while ago to write short stories, articles etc.

A family trip it was, a road trip at that. We have always loved to travel by the road than by taking a flight for various reasons, especially because, its more about the journey itself, than the destination. We had a two weeks plan, Dad calculated the driving time to be at least 2 and 1/2 days just one way. The plan was to have 6 days allocated for travel, to give us a well paced drive with ample time for relaxation, spend close to 6 days in Yellowstone, and 3 days in Grand Teton National Parks. We had our very close family friends who accompanied us, this made the trip all the more enjoying and fun. I have always felt sad that I never hiked or rafted in the Grand Canyon National park, even though I have been there three times so far. So, I was determined to hike as much as possible this time, but the fact that it will be difficult for my parents to hike made me a little anxious about the trip. Nonetheless I wasn’t sure how we will be able to cover such a huge park, in mere 6 days.

Day 1: July 5th 2012

With everything all set to be packed in the car and go, I was still scrambling in the last minute with two major tasks. Making copies of MP3s for our long trip. Listening to songs, in a long trip doesn’t matter for me much, because I will be reading. To read a book, during travel and be distracted by thoughts while staring blankly at the fast moving trees, meadows, wildflowers, cars, and mountains is bliss. But for my dad who drives, and my mom who sits bored out since I don’t provide entertainment through talks, need good MP3s. And they wanted two more copies for friends. Finally, after finishing that, I ran around to pack my travel kit. I double checked, by mentally checking off things that I need, and the ones that I have packed. I always have the sense of leaving behind something important, every time I leave for a trip or move to a new place, I assure myself that everything is packed and there is nothing to worry about, well maybe a final check should do it! Finally, we started our trip at 1:25 PM to be exact, why I remember it? Because at 1:30 “rahukalam” starts, and my mom hates to start the trip during an inauspicious time. After, that it was just us, the A.R.R songs that I just recorded and Texas plains for the next 7 hours, with few random stops for breaks before we made it to Plainview, Texas [a name I feel, is justified ].

Day 2: July 6th 2012

So much, for double and triple checking the things I packed. I forgot to pack my toothbrush, I hate myself! The drive was much, like the previous day travel. With the texas plains, and little time through Oklahoma. But I was deeply engrossed in the book “India after Gandhi” I was merely in page 100, but I already felt I learnt a lot. The narrative history that Guha has portrayed is just amazing. The next state that we drove through was Colorado, during the times when we cross the “welcome to Oklahoma/Welcome to Colorado” etc, I keep telling myself how different India is from US. Every time we cross the border here, its the just the majority of the number plates, and the signs that claim the different state. The people, the food, the culture to the most part, especially for the non native eyes, is the same. The fast food chains, the gas stations, the coffee chains make it even more mundane. The sight of the dark clouds when we nearing Denver or was it after we crossed the city? I am not sure, but the possibility of rains, made me instantly happy. To have lived most of my life in dry cities, have that effect on me when ever I see bad weather. To drink coffe, at this time of the day, with the weather soothing was my only thought for sometime. To have introduced, a 13 year old to the amazing taste of caramel cappuccino adds to the magic and sense of accomplishment, the fact that he burnt his tongue in the process does not.

Day 3: July 7th 2012

I started reading the books, and the information I collected about Yellowstone and day hikes in various locations, immediately after the start of the last stretch of driving. The mountains and the rivers that we saw on the way, and the variety of landscapes in such short distance was mesmerizing! We miss these experiences when we take a flight to our destination! Special mention will be about the different colored rocky mountains, no wonder they call them “The Rockies” and a very beautiful river called “Wind River”. The beautiful sights, made my reading pace slow, the description about the hiking trails, gave me a vivid picture. And went about choosing the places and hikes that interested me the most. I was being overly ambitious, about the places and distance to cover in the next few days. I didn’t know if we ll be able to make it, but I did feel that we will enjoy it to the most. The enthusiasm made me walk around the hotel room without the thought of rest, when we finally reached Yellowstone hotel in Grant Village, within five minutes of our arrival there, I went for a lake side stroll. I saw a boat ramp, and thought maybe this was the place to come for the kayak tour we had booked. The lake was huge, and I knew it was just the ten percent of the whole lake that I am seeing her. After going back to the hotel room I wanted to start hiking the same day, since the sun will not set till 9 at least.

The first walk that we did was the lake side trail, that all of us enjoyed. My parents were a little slow, so the rest of us went on, and took a detour. After sometime I realized that we didn’t really tell them where we were heading, and I didn’t have proper signal in my phone. To top it off, it started drizzling and the temperature dropped, I read in the book that the lake has its own climate due its huge size. It evaporates during the day time so much, the clouds condense sooner and it rains almost everyday for at least half hour. I was tensed at the fact that my mom might be tensed, and that she might get wet. Since this was the beginning of the trip, I didn’t want her to get sick. After some frantic calls, and few minutes of confusion and numbing cold weather somehow we managed to reach the hotel in one group. My parents reassured me that they will be okay, even if they were on their own. I feel that there comes a time when we start feeling responsible for our parents, once that sets in there will be a slow transition which is inevitable. Anyway, after seeing the rain and feeling the cold I thought the sun will set soon, but the clouds cleared up within minutes and the sun was shining bright again. It was almost 8 PM, so my dad said we can do one more short trail before the sun sets set out to what can be called as a “stupid mistake” that I did.

I had the information of a board walk, for a mile that I thought will be quick. But, this is what I did after reaching the parking lot for the trail. I started walking down the first trail for which I saw the sign that said in bold letters “TRAIL HEAD”, without looking around to see if there were any other trails, or stopping to look at the name of the trail. Everyone followed suit, believing that I knew where I was going. The fact that I said, it will be stroll for just a mile, made none of them carry water. I just had a small 400 ml bottle, that I had with me for emergency. The 8 km hike with considerable altitude gain that I did in mere 2 hours without a single drop of water, in Singapore last year had taught me a lesson. The trail was beautiful with tall trees everywhere looking fresh from the rain that just stopped. We kept walking for a long time, we crossed the main road through which we came in the car, with the enthusiastic kid in the group asking all sorts of questions, me wondering why we are walking in a trail for a longtime on what seems to be a small hill, and rest of us asking me how long its going to be. My dad in one point said, the trailhead said “lake overlook” so maybe we will have to reach the hill top and we will be seeing the view on the other side. This made me a little anxious, because the walk that I had in my mind was a lakeside walk that gives a good view of the geysers in the West Thumb region. I also thought for sometime and came to the conclusion that the lake should technically be behind us and not in front of us, so I was confused even more.

The 5 year old who made it all the way!

We walked even faster, because it was close to sunset and we had to consider the return journey too. At almost the end of the hike, all of us were tired from the long unexpected walk only to see a steep climb to the top of the hill. Adi, the elder kid went on first I was closely behind him and in one point I stopped with sudden enlightenment and turned to see how it looked from here, and thats when I realized that the beautiful trail, gave a pristine overlook of the lake. I asked the rest of the group to do the climb, and experience the view. None of us had water till then, we were saving it once we reach the top. So we can have renewed energy to do the return journey. I felt that if this was the only hike that we ever do in the whole trip, I would be satisfied. Such was the beauty of the lake from up there. The return journey was easy, since it was downhill and each of us had our gulp of water and renewed energy from an amazing view. Once we came to the parking lot, I noticed that there were 5 trails in just that place. It was a completely different experience for me, with the non stop chatter of a five year old, and a thrilling time frame with the sunsetting. It was one of my personal favorite hikes in the trip, a surprise package, because none of the information I read had this treasure. Heck it is one of my favorite all time hikes, this reminded me that sometimes mistakes are beautiful.

Yes we made it! The success smile

The last interesting event of the day was the huge mud-pot gurgling in the parking lot, with a wooden fence and good pathway around it to see it from various angles. Just like the beaches and the creeks, I think geysers and mudpots show us how alive the earth is, only these show that the earth beneath us is dangerously active and ready to burst anytime. With my backache, thirst, sweat, hunger, and a huge smile within me I broke my promise of writing my travelogue. I took a hot shower, had an amazing dinner and went straight to bed.

More to come on this amazing trip, in the coming days. I will have the memories written down before they fade.

I have uploaded the shaky video that I took of the view from the top of the hill in my tumblr account ( I removed the audio, and added some random background music. I couldn’t bear to hear my voice in it )

http://theskepticisland.tumblr.com/post/28016647758/the-lake-overlook-from-the-top-of-the-hill

303 days ago Short URL 2 Comments

Travel/Yellowstone

Grant Village/Hiking/India After Gandhi/Road trip/West Thumb

Jun

Give Respect – Take Respect!

The statement “I am/We are offended” is all that I have been hearing/reading nowadays. Let me give you a small gist of what I am talking about here. Theists being offended by atheists’ “There is no God” statements. Atheists being offended by theists’ “silly, illogical belief system”. Student section getting offended about not having beef in their hostel menu, and the rival section getting offended about the other group organizing a beef festival, that seemed to scream out “in your face” opposing the “food fascism” that is going on. CSK fans getting offended, when others claim that their team managed all the way, because it was just lucky! Fans of other teams getting offended, about CSK entering Finals, and their fans insulting the rest of them. Government getting offended by the things that young people post on networking sites! Young people getting offended by Government’s decision to censor what’s being posted. Indian MPs getting offended by a cartoon in NCERT Class XI book, depicting Dr.Ambedkar on a snail named “Constitution”, and Nehru standing behind him with a whip. Muslims getting offended by Salman Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses, and the recent Jaipur literary festival fiasco. The Hindus getting offended, about Russia’s trial for getting Bhagavad Gita banned. Christians getting offended by the word ‘Hosanna’ in a song, they were also offended by a rationalist who debunked the ‘tears from the cross’ issue.

All of these incidents, make me wish that people were raised more like me.When I was a kid, my family used to tease me about my then favorite actor Vijay. The very first time, I was close to tears and they told me that I needed to be sportive. I couldn’t understand back then, why people would tease someone’s beliefs and hurt them. Then as time went on I realized that, they were merely stating facts when they were teasing me. Actor Vijay being my favorite hero was completely subjective. And I mastered the art of appreciating humour, even if it was about someone/something I like. Despite that, I was loyal to myself for the next 4 years. Then, something not so miraculous happened, I grew sick of his acting to an extent that I couldn’t bear him on and off screen. I stopped having favorites after that, I watched movies for entertainment, and I started being objective. The reason I state this is because, only when an idea/belief comes under ridicule, will we see its real value and strength. Only with others opinion will we get some objectivity in our highly subjective life style. My example might have been really silly compared to all the issues discussed in this post, but I sincerely feel that if kids were raised to understand the difference, and respect others opinion as much as theirs, we might turn out to be just fine. Also, in this constant hue and cry about being offended, I am scared if we are losing our sense of humour. So, I want to talk about some of the issues here, and how I interpret of it.

I will start with the more serious religion/caste based beliefs. First, lets go for the christians’ getting offended part(simply because it’s easier to dismiss). So they were offended by the inclusion of the word Hosanna in a song, and frankly I have no idea whats there to get offended about. I mean, I came to know what Hosanna meant only after I listened to that song, so don’t you think its actually marketing their religion here? Isn’t that what preaching is about? The next story is even more interesting, for the ones who didn’t read the editorial link I had, here is brief version. A church in Mumbai, had water dripping down from the feet the statue of Jesus nailed to the cross. Cocky ignorant people, believed that it was Jesus’ tears and they started to collect it, hoping that it would cleanse their homes. Why he would cry after all these years? I have no idea! This rational thinker, Sanal Edamaruku went there, found that it wasn’t actually Jesus crying, but an ignored plumbing problem! The poor guy was arrested for that, and is now facing a possibility of spending 3 of his years in a prison. Now to all those people, you guys should have actually been offended by your own ignorance. To believe in religion is one thing, to believe in superstitions like this is something else, but getting offended when your belief is proven wrong and wanting the person to be behind bars is a whole other level.

The Hindus, getting offended by “proposed ban of Bhagavad Gita”.There is a quote in the article that says, “To compare Adolf Hitler with Krishna is offensive” (Mein Kampf is banned there). The statement seemed to be funny somehow, I really don’t see many differences except maybe Krishna was supposedly a smart-looking guy with a charming personality and the fact that Hitler was real. Many, not so reverent Hindus might actually take up the book and want to read what’s really in there that Russians want to ban it. Thanks to the Russian trial and yes partly to your agitation, your religious text got more popularized.

Next stop, Muslims. You people realize that you are fired up about a book right? The fact that its, in English and in a good writing style that it will take only people with many hours of reading experience would dare to read it? We are in a world where, when a person says he/she likes reading books, would have mostly only read Sydney Sheldon, Jeffrey Archer, Mills and Boons, and other novels with a gripping crime/mystery/romance stories. Not to go off topic, but some stoop even low, they would go on an on about how fun it is to read books, but would have only read twilight series, Chetan Bhagat et cetera. Most people don’t seem to like heavy stuff (the kind of books that makes one think). If Christians and Hindus, keep whining and don’t understand that their religion is actually getting limelight, you guys keep whining and don’t understand that you are providing limelight for the book instead. I mean to say that, I never knew about Satanic Verses, till I came to know about this issue and I am more than eager to read it! If you think the book offends you, there is something really simple you can do about it, don’t read it. The fact that you keep screaming about the book offending you, is what’s making it more famous. And what’s more, calling on good Muslims to get the author and the publisher killed, is the worst of all! Though Rushdie wasn’t harmed in anyway, four translators of the book were attacked, including the Japanese translator who was stabbed to death in 1991.

Now to the culinary fascism, there was a beef festival organized in Osmania university by the Dalit student group and the leftists. While I feel that its a good thing to say, ‘no I wont compromise on your food fascism and I want my identity to be restored’, we need to accept that organizing such festival and eating beef is not being ‘modern’ nor ‘being radical’. I feel that people don’t find the root cause and address it, rather they protest blindly at the effect. I feel that, we need to address this to every child in our country through education. Make them understand to respect other’s culture, food choice etc rather than protesting in our colleges. There also seems to be reports, saying that there were political motives behind this movement, either way I feel that we need to create a platform to make people understand our differences rather than scream out and have a fight over it! To bring in violence into this festival made this highly controversial. “And why didn’t we have a pork festival?”, seems to be a legit question raised by many.

Final stop is the ridiculous trend thats been following in our country – getting offended by cartoons. Let me repeat it, CARTOONS, yes the ultimate form of satire. I think we are a rare group of people, who are afraid of laughing at genuine humor. The NCERT books, have cartoons in them, and for a student from a Matriculation/State board like me – this is super cool and awesome. The case(s) here are against some of the cartoons included in those NCERT textbooks that were drawn decades ago. First one, as I mentioned earlier is the Ambedkar Cartoon. The cartoon was created in 1949, and it was included in NCERT textbook few years back. Cartoons are meant to provide a humorous criticism, and we need not take it personally and scout about saying this insults our nation’s great leaders. Students should learn to do critical thinking, and not just blindly accept facts and figures given in the textbooks. Cartoons are a very good way to make them understand alternate viewpoints. And to even think, that this cartoon is being removed from the book is dis-heartening.

The Tamil Nadu’s DMK president M.Karunanidhi has demanded that the above cartoon be removed from the book too, to respect the sentiments of Tamils. And in this article, the DMK spokesperson has been quoted saying “Cartoons should not form any part of the textbook”. Ridiculous!

I feel that this is the exact reason, why we keep hearing the statement “We are offended”. We as a nation, though diverse cannot respect a different point of view. We either distance ourselves or agitate against it or lawfully ban it. I feel that the damage has already been done with the current generation. The education system is so screwed up, that we don’t analyse anything we read, we can’t argue without getting emotionally involved. We keep screaming that someone’s beliefs hurts ours. We have no tolerance towards wit and humor, even rationality for that matter. I feel that we can keep organizing hundreds of ‘beef festivals’, ‘literary festivals’ and many such ‘I-am-a-radical festivals’. And still end up not finding a solution for the problem, because we didn’t address the root cause, we didn’t address the system of education. To all those individuals, who were patient enough to read through this whole post, lets resolve to raise our kids as critical thinkers who appreciate humor, even if it is at their own expense sometimes. There is nothing wrong in respecting others beliefs as much as ours, as well as laughing at our own beliefs at times.

I would like to end with three great quotes:

“Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand” – Mark Twain

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it” – Aristotle

“Give respect. Take respect. Okay?” – Actor Vadivel in a Tamil movie.

348 days ago Short URL 18 Comments

India/News

Bhagavad Gita/cartoons/Religion/Satanic Verses/the beef festival

Apr

Einstein’s relativity and wedding bells – Part 2

Continued from PART I

… This is when those memories (1st two paras from part 1) come into picture. To people who don’t know me personally. I am still that kid! I may not steal tamarind/ or waste milk now(though I hate it even now), but I am still that same kid. The maturity I attained were all with ideologies/thought process, ask me to write/read/discuss about politics, administration, ideas, psychology, philosophy, feminism, agnosticism, current events etc. I will gladly do it with a glow in my eyes. Ask me to talk about undying love, couple of people sitting across each other ‘lost in the depths of their eyes’ I will either runaway or pretend deaf & mute or sometimes I just laugh it off! It’s not that I don’t believe in love or I don’t want to get married, but its about how the society and culture framed the concept of love.

I do understand all the practical reasons behind my mom and dad trying to make me say “alright I will get married soon”. I know that they love me so much, and want to see me get settled down soon, like any normal woman would. My point is that I am different from other ‘normal’ women. Most of my close friends have a hard time, accepting that I am a woman in the first place (long story!). I do want to fall in love and get married (or vice versa – this freaks me out, but hey I may not have a choice). Its just that I have a different concept of love. So, when my mom asked what I expect in the guy. I was blankly staring at her, and blurted out I want a guy like Joanna ( a girl, who was my college roomie!), my mom gave up on me! I tried to start explaining all of this to my mom the other day, and she reacted as if I said ”Mankista kingkista kingkisa payasaa” — simple she didn’t understand a word of what I said, it was gibberish for her. So here is my attempt at it again.

CAUTION : DON’T read on, unless you are prepared to be bored out of your mind! You will learn nothing out of it, unlike my other posts!

The following lines are addressed to the guy (out there somewhere, I pity you BTW) directly. If, you are just curious then read on. If you are guy, you need to understand that while most girls aren’t like this, there are few out there. So keep yourself prepared, you might end up with a slightly twisted version of the below lines, you never know. If you are a girl, see if I represent you in any of the below lines, if I do, then feel free to copy-paste in your expectations! I sincerely hope that I dont represent you though. Incase I do, good luck!

I want you to understand that I can be brutally honest sometimes. Like the time, when I blurted out “You have become so fat” at a girl whom I met after few months. Not understanding the societal norms or the fact that she said “No” only to hint me that I shouldn’t say the truth, I still went “Yes, you have put on considerable weight”.

I like taking care of myself with the things I can easily manage. By this I don’t mean “girls can do everything”, I have never ever tried to pick up my baggage from the baggage claim belt at the airport. I just ask for help, sometimes guys just help me even before I ask (no I don’t look extremely beautiful, I just look extremely thin!). But, that doesn’t mean I need you tagging along every time I shop, or go to the beach or a temple or do my usual work. I hate shopping BTW, more than an hour spent in shopping is a waste of time for me (yes, you do have something to be happy about!).

I am an extrovert and I talk nonstop on every issue on the planet (except sports!, I can maybe listen about it, but definitely not talk) with anyone who seems to be remotely interested. It doesn’t mean that I know them, ask me the person’s name and I will stare blankly. Being an extrovert, comes with a kick. I have A LOT of friends, since childhood. I am still in touch with most of them, so embrace it when I talk to/spend some time with them. I have no issues, with you spending time with your friends either (Yes, more stuff to feel happy about). Life will turn out to be boring, if not for friends. BUT, I sometimes get sick of talking and would go on a break. By this, I mean I will go into a self sufficient mode and stop talking to people unless absolutely necessary. It doesn’t mean, I have issues, it just means I need some escape from my extrovert self.

While we are at it, I need you to also understand that I am a spontaneous person, as much as I like to plan/analyze things I mostly do things which I feel like doing at that time. Like, when I learned to ride a bike from my uncle while coming back from school. He was supposed to be pick me up, but I wanted to try it (My mom screamed on and on about how we didn’t see if it was an auspicious time!). I hate planning every step of the future, I like to enjoy the present.

I am a free thinker. I will never get shocked about any events that happen out of cultural norm. Like , when my mom told me in a shocked tone that a widow of 40 years fell in love with a single guy around her age (60 something) and they got married recently. I din’t find anything wrong in it. My mom tried to understand why I wasn’t as shocked as she was, but then she realized it was me. Religion and culture, are interesting merely from anthropological perspective. Also, I strongly believe in not inducing my ideologies onto others, please don’t try to instill yours onto mine. For example, I wouldn’t mind you being an atheist or a theist, I will always take the stand of being an agnostic.

I am a single child, this would mean that I didn’t have siblings to fight with or share emotions with. So, I try to avoid fights as much as possible, if I do fight I quickly forget and move on. Like the time when I smiled at my old roommate during college once, and was wondering for a good twenty seconds as to why she didn’t smile back, but stared instead. I remembered later, that we were in a “I-am-not-talking-with-you-for-the-rest-of-my-life” phase (good for you, I will not remember arguments like usual women do!).

Above all, I FORGET a lot … Being absent minded is a part of me as much as talking is. I don’t think I can single out an anecdote for this, because there are just too many incidents! So, it shouldn’t surprise you if I forget your birthday, my birthday or any important dates, or any incidents that happen or you say!

All of these, were only to explain about me and how I expect to be understood and accepted as I am. It can also be considered a fair warning. As far as conditions about how the guy actually should be? As in characteristics, looks etc … I have none. So I think I am back to what I started!

I am done for now, if my aadhangam/confusion increases. I will have a part 3 in future!

“Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, and half-shut afterwards.”

-some random source on internet

“Next meet panlam” (until later),

Vaish

397 days ago Short URL 8 Comments

life

Apr

Einstein’s relativity and wedding bells – Part 1

Men marry because they are tired; women because they are curious. Both are disappointed.

-Oscar Wilde

Caution to the reader: This post is my rant! So proceed only if you are curious to know about a rather interesting (not!) phase in my life.

A year after I was born, once I got comfortable with crawling I get (more like stealing) my favorite snack all by myself(tamarind spread out on the front yard of our home in native). First glimpse at independence! One year in to school, and I learn the concept of friends, studying, discipline, punishment, report cards, how I suck at running, and even more. This one year was relatively more important, I had learned more than I did till then.

When I was in my 2nd grade, I learnt that I hate it when someone forces me to do something. In this case it was drinking milk, and eating dates. With the mind and maturity of a 6 year old I started chucking the dates under the fridge, “literally under the fridge”. I couldn’t think ahead of times, and once I had a good amount running done after my mom chased me around the house (I usually start running immediately, but she catches up with me eventually … like I say I suck at running!) after she found out about it. I learned never to do anything without a proper plan, that day. Result: One of the plants in our home got regular supply of milk for its growth, till the day we moved out! Proud to say my mom didn’t know till I told her myself years later. Sad, that it lasted only for about a year, since our new home didn’t have a backyard, and the frontyard was close to nothing!

What does all of this have to do with my topic? And what does Einstein’s theory of relativity have anything to do with wedding bells?Everything! I am pretty sure, every person, irrespective of being literate or not, understand the concept that time is relative. An open page article titled in The Hindu recently, triggered me to write this post. The article talks about how many women currently, want to have financial security, before they get married. I am going to talk about something completely different. I feel I wasn’t represented in that article, so I am representing myself!

Through out our lives, we are considered by parents as kids, we are kids when we take our first step, when we utter our first word, when we do our first mistake and when we do a million others over the course of time. We are kids while we are in school, even during college. And then after college, I have no idea how it gets established to our parents and people around us that, all of a sudden we are adults. That’s when the era of “When are you getting married?” or “What job are you doing? How is your career?” questions get blurted all around you. The harsh reality of life is, if you are a girl, you almost always end up with the first question! One more reason, I wished I were a guy!

We can’t really blame them, because our parents care about us so much and others are too curious about your life’s events. But my ‘aadhangam’ (concern) is, why have the questions sprung up within such short period? I am pretty sure, we didn’t have a “how to be a good wife/mom/family woman”, while at college. So how can a guy end up geting a sensible question, and not a girl? I understand that my mom had a 3 year old me at my current age, and I don’t even want to think about my grandma. I also understand that some girls from the same year in college are married already (I salute them, BTW!)

I would like to give few samples of how the mariage conversation goes between me and my mom:

Conversation 1:

Mom: Sweetheart, you will need to get married by 25, the astrologer said it will be difficult after that!

Me: It gets me freaked out to think about marriage so soon, I am only 23!

Mom: You are 24 now, we [Indians] say our current ‘running’ age.

Me: It doesn’t make sense, we should only say years completed. So 23!

Mom: No, people back there [India] wont see it that way, you are 24!

… Argument gets sidetracked to ‘the right way of stating someone’s age’ or I make it sidetrack to astrology, “he [the astrologer] said that I will be working in the field of chemistry (a subject that I hate the most btw), last time I checked I dont see any chemistry involved in data warehousing …” Win-Win for me!

Conversation 2:

Mom: Come over, and look at her (pointing at some actor on TV), she looks aged in this movie doesn’t she?

Innocent me: Oh yeah, she does look aged!

Mom: Exactly why I want you to get married by 25!

Me: ?!?!?! you have an awesome talent to connect everything to my marriage

There are zillion more ways my mom broaches this topic every other day, thanks to our friends and relatives. She draws even more enthusiasm from them. Please anyone who reads this understand that every statement of yours, about my marriage gets translated into a lecture for me, which with my 23 years of expertise I convert it to a funny conversation and escape.

Now coming to my dad, there were times when I felt sad that my dad saw me as a kid always. But I truly feel it was way better than, having my dad talk about my wedding. I never usually have funny conversations regarding this with him, because of two reasons:

1. I can’t side track him, like I do with my mom. He sticks to it, makes sure we come back to the topic even if its after an hour of me talking some nonsense, trying to make the conversation go away.

2. He knows me perfectly and exactly why I am postponing it [the conversation].

It’s difficult when someone understands what you are thinking, but they don’t understand why you are thinking that way. Like I have always said. I have the best parents in the world. They are the perfect mixture of parents and friends in the right way. They give me my space and they let me take my time!

I realize more everyday, that writing does keep my thoughts organized! I have more to say and say I will in PART II of this post.

397 days ago Short URL 4 Comments

life

Apr

Monsanto Chapter 1 – Introducing to you ‘The Psycho Monster’

Monsanto, I have decided will be my personal swear word from now on. If I think you are a psycho, a monster, a villain (female protagonists from the Tamil Film Industry, somehow tend to like you – should I rather term you as an anti-hero?!?), a vampire ( agreed I hate exaggerated romance in general, but Twilight just makes me want to throw up) — I will call you a monsanto. No, don’t google for the actual meaning of the word, you will be surprised why I would call you “sacred mountain”. Try googling just “Monsanto” and take a brief look at the wiki page. Since we all live in an information bubble these days, and I know it is time consuming to hunt for the information about the word I used, to offend you big time. I will give you a brief introduction, right here in this post.

To show you the extent of my “This is really, really creepy!” attitude about this whole Monsanto business, I will have to tell you how I came to know about it. I was googling about the Bt Cotton issue in India, I knew just the basics of it. So, I was just hoping for the regular corrupt business, scam, cheap politicians, poor ignorant people in the right mix. Similar to a commercial movie like ‘Vettai’, it’s just going to be different players in the same game. When I actually started reading about it on the Internet I could only react like this:

Because, it turned out to be like the movie ‘Three’ where the hero goes into Psycho mode all of a sudden, and you just sit there blankly staring, not understanding why exactly all of this is happening nor why you spent 11$ for a movie that seems never to end. So, you sincerely try to entertain yourself by laughing at the really wrong places. Unlike the movie’s lead though, Monsanto has been a psycho all the while. And you just cannot enjoy anything that it has been doing since its inception in 1901.

I became obsessed with it. I started reading about the company not restricting myself with the issues in India, I watched a lot of documentaries too. And this is what I realized: Monsanto, is a huge psycho monster. I am pretty sure that someone mentioned to me about this company some years back, because when I was reading certain articles it was Deja vu for me (Since my retaining capacity is practically nil, it must have just evaporated from my brain. I blame Chennai’s heat for that!). Let me start out by giving a brief introduction about ‘Monsantoland’. I will start having individual chapters for each of its success stories!

The company was started by a Mr.Queeny in 1901, in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, he named it after his wife’e maiden name (with this you would think he was a rather sweet guy!). Their first product was Saccharin (artificial sweetener), it was sold to Coca-Cola. It seems like he had some friends from India, always serve the sweet first and then go ahead with the rest of the food, and keep serving till the guy bursts! Then, during World War I, Monsanto was forced to create its own chemicals, since European Import was cut off. Sales crossed 1 million for the first time during this phase and it established itself as a leading chemical industry in US. It also started adding more products like caffeine, vanillin, sedatives and laxatives, one major drug that it produced was aspirin. It also diversified to manufacture phenol, an anti septic during WWI.

In late 1920′s the son took over the company. This was when it produced PCBs-polychlorinated biphenyls , translate it to poison, if you are a chemistry hater like me! This product had a lot of issues associated with it, it is a potent carcinogen (a complete chapter will be dedicated for this) and was finally banned in 1970′s. As you all know it, sons would be expected to extend and strengthen their father’s assets and he did it so beautifully, by diversifying into plastics, vinyl, rubber, pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides and other basic industrial chemicals.

During the World War II, Monsanto played a significant role in the research on Uranium in the Manhattan Project to develop an atom bomb, the chairman of the board was even present at the first test explosion. The 1940′s was also mainly plastics & synthetic fibres, one such product was Polystyrene (still widely used in food packaging) it ranks 5th in the list of chemicals that produces most hazardous waste as byproducts. It started manufacturing DDT, an insecticide in 1944, which was much welcomed (due to malaria transmitting mosquitoes), but was eventually banned in 1972. Following this, it also started manufacturing herbicides 2,4,5-T which contains dioxins (again, in general terms – poison). In late 1950′s it had many attractions, that mainly revolved around the virtues of chemicals and plastics, created in Disney’s tomorrowland (and that’s the way to attract the kids!)

Agent Orange, 2009, by J. Henry Fair

The next major villainy product was Agent Orange, this was produced by around 36 companies during the Vietnam War, but the major producers were Monsanto and Dow chemicals (another psycho corporate). But, Monsanto’s Agent Orange had the highest level of dioxins. The US military sprayed nearly 20 million gallons, during 1962 to 1971. More than 20% of South Vietnam’s forest was sprayed at least once, the main goal was to defoliate the forests and rural land depriving guerrillas the cover and to make the independent rural people move to US dominated cities, thus weakening the guerillas’ position even more. This contaminated more than 3 million people and 400,000 people were killed or maimed.

In 1968, the son (Edgar Queeny) dies, the crazy part is he left no heirs. So much for a company that quoted “We cannot afford to lose even a dollar of our business” in one of its confidential reports, regarding the PCB issue. It also starts to mass-produce LEDs, from 1968 to 1970 the sales doubled, and their products became the standards of the industry. It became a pioneer in the optoelectronics industry. it makes one wonder if there is anything that this company left untouched. That’s when the BioTech era comes in, for Monsanto. By far, the most freaky one!

In early 1970s, Monsanto started marketing and selling Roundup, it’s most famous product. It has been the number one selling herbicide till date. This is an “unselective” herbicide, which means it basically kills anything that is green. The label for this product was changed often, due to false information given like “bio-degradable”. Monsanto was also accused of advertising this product as safe , when in reality it wasn’t and after the lawsuit it was required to change it as “toxic for aquatic life” and “dangerous to environment”. There have been cases resulting in death of the person, after deliberate ingestion of Roundup from 85-200 ml.

The patent, that it acquired for Roundup was valid only till 2000, since Roundup was already accounting to 10% of its revenue, Monsanto was desperate for a new strategy to keep it that way. This is when it started selling Roundup ready seeds — Roundup Ready Soy beans and Round up Ready Canola. It had been concentrating on Genetic Engineering for some years now. This would let the farmers, to plant the seeds and spray the Roundup herbicide to the whole field. The weeds die, and the crops live. So, in short, they modified the seeds genetically to be resistant to roundup. Now this is a new invention, and for a psychopath like Monsanto, which claimed numerous patents on already existing grains (once patenting on crops was legalized in 1930′s), patenting its creation is only logical. So, it has patent rights for those seeds. Which would mean, a farmer cannot save the seeds for his next harvest. Monsanto, also filed many lawsuits on farmers, claiming that they have been saving seeds.

Now, the main issue with genetically modified food crops is that they cross pollinate. Introducing them in an uncontrolled environment, and letting other crops be contaminated is really not good for the future of our food. Industrializing agriculture already made 97% of food crops grown in early 20th century extinct. And, all of a sudden, Botany, the subject that made me sleep almost immediately, every time I start studying … danced in my mind, I could see my 12th grade book mouthing ” Ha Ha … In your face”. There was also another version of genetically modified crops that Monsanto manufactured, BT crops like BT corn and BT cotton. Yes, the reason why I started looking into Monsanto’s ugly life, in the first place. Every cell in this crop is engineered to have Bt, which is in essence an insecticide. So if a caterpillar so much as dares to do it’s slow, gravity-defying crawl on a corn plant, it’s dead! Monsanto, also wanted to monopolise the GM seeds game, so it started buying a lot of seed companies. It also owns 11,000 patents! (I will mention about the patent fiasco, in the later chapters in detail!). So controlling food, is what it all boils down to! Which freaked me the most, and that’s why I staring at my laptop like this: (yes, the picture is gender specific, this time!)

The company also branched out to ‘genetic manipulation’ of animals, rBGH (Bovine Growth Hormone), which increases milk production in dairy cattle. The hormone simulates IGF-1 (Insulin like Growth Factor) is a carcinogen that is associated with various forms of cancer like prostate, lung, colon and breast cancer. It has been banned in many countries, not in US though. The reason is,”Monsanto’s Revolving Doors”. This typically means that many of Monsanto’s higher executives/lawyers etc have joined the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and taken up many powerful Government positions, infiltrating the system.

I am pretty sure by now, you got tired of all the facts, and say “Alright, I get the point. The company was a psychopath, and you are offending me by mentioning that I am one too”. But what I really want is to create a swear word, that has a strong basis for a meaning, I am just sick of random words being invented with a zillion meanings attached to it over the period of time, by people who really don’t know what the word actually means. So I give the right to you, to scream the word “Monsanto” at person whom you think is a psychopathic devil! This way, we get the word spread and let off some steam without thinking twice if there is a child nearby.

Sources:

http://bestmeal.info/monsanto/company-history.shtml

http://www.monsantowatch.org/index.php?page=none

http://www.naturalnews.com/023254_Monsanto_PCB_toxic.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/11/11/us-food-monsanto-idUSTRE5AA05Q20091111

http://www.occupyforanimals.org/the-monsanto-monster.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundup_(herbicide)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0uls507hvM — world according to Monsanto – a documentary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnD-DiDRIJA – The Future of Food – a documentary

http://www.wanttoknow.info/deception10pg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange

http://perdurabo10.tripod.com/warehousec/id131.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto#rBGH_.28recombinant_Bovine_Growth_Hormone.29

411 days ago Short URL 2 Comments

corporates/Monsanto

Mar

420 days ago Short URL 1 Comment

Perspective

Feb

The idealist in me

“Idealist: One who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it also make better soup”

-Henry Louis Mencken

A year has swiftly gone by since my last post. I kept promising myself that I will start blogging again regularly. But it’s pretty hard to write when things around you change so fast and you can’t make any sense of it. The changes good or bad become a learning experience. Coming to think of it, I might have helped myself if I had resumed writing again. It makes my thoughts a little more organized. So, I wasn’t surprised when I realized that I am bored in my life and the routine that I am currently stuck in.

This is not going to be a promise, this is my realization that I looked at things differently when I used to write. Everything seemed interesting enough to write/analyze. Once I stopped writing, I also stopped noticing/observing in life. I want that part of me back and this is the way for it.

Life slapped me with some hard choices over the past year, which made me understand about myself tad more. I understood the difference between growing up, growing old and being mature. I also understood that I might (I am not sure yet) be an idealist. Never before have I even thought of that. I know I am a free thinker, I can accept sensible arguments. I even think of the same issue or topic from different perspectives just to see how well I understand something. But within me, in some corner is an idealist who wants to jump out. The idealist in me wants to pursue my passion without considering the practical implications. The free thinker in me is challenging the very ideals. So, who exactly am I? an idealist or a free thinker? I used to think they were mutually exclusive!

My first realization hit me, when it came to how I viewed relationships. Aren’t idealists usually romantic? Yes they are. But I think the idealist in me is different. I kept imagining how the world might be if (for arguments sake) I were God (I am an agnostic). And strangely, it seemed interesting. So I am planning to pen out a creation. A story? You might ask. Yes, but for me it seems too real and possible. Flawless? You might ask. Of course not, its me you are talking about. What seems perfect to me, might be completely wrong and even unimaginable to you. But it might be much better than how the world is right now! That is according to the idealist in me. The free thinker, will obviously be challenging every idea that comes out of the idealist. I hope I find a balance! Lets see.

451 days ago Short URL 2 Comments