Collective Decision

When anyone OFTEN talks about securing a "collective or consensual decision" to take an action, understand he is either

• not sufficiently empowered OR
• not a risk taker OR
• a politician by nature OR
• shies away from responsibilities OR
• has no guts to take a bold decision

Watchout! Cause he is an ally of collectivism, and not merit. When collectivism heads against merit, he will kill merit for the sake of collectivism. He would rather wait for the collective - which includes the jokers, bums and the wicked - and waste time for them to arrive at a "consensual decision", than take a timely decision.

PS: Guess Ayn Rand would agree to this :)

Frog in the well

Are you a frog in the well?

At which stage are you? Check this --> Click here <--- and let me know :-)

Maturity

Maturity: Ability to stand others' shit without reacting...

a.k.a partial deafness.

Tax on Income against the constitution?

Came across this interesting video, which argues that Income Tax is against the constitution. Not in India, but in USA - the country, which stands for personal liberty, and which has a sizable chunk of people who propounds the libertarian philosophy. The arguments put across in the video are interesting. It is amazing to see the drive, and the rationale behind the drive, to question the government on a 'taken-for-granted' item - i.e. taxation on a person's income. I wish in India too the citizens had the power to go and demand accountability from the MPs, MLAs and the Income Tax Department.

The video is a lengthy one - more than an hour ;-)

Hit me baby one more time

The couple with whom I was having the conversation appeared to be happy. Need proof? I saw the girl 'playfully' hit the guy a few times and then, threaten him to give a couple of 'tight slaps'. She would call him all sorts of names - stupid, idiot, donkey, monkey etc etc. To which he would giggle and continue pulling her legs. As an encouragement she would hit him for each of his jokes. Some of those 'hits' appeared to be painful ones. But then, I wasn't the one who was receiving those. and hence not the right person to judge its intensity. "Had it pained, that guy would have squinched" I thought. I did notice him skillfully morph a few squinches into laughter. But then, he is a macho, and her hits were probably feather touches!

The constant thrashing went on till we parted.

While heading to my friend's place, the bashing scene kept on replaying in my mind. It wasn't the first time I was seeing such scene. But the ferocity of this one made me think. During old days... that is, during the 80s, a guy hitting a girl was no news. It was definitely considered bad. But such incidents used to happen. Such incidents hardly surprised any. In the 90s, hitting a girl became a taboo... The society would look down upon such a guy. Come to the current decade: hitting the boy friend or husband is the fad of the town. Observe any couple for a while. Chances are high that you will see the girl hit the guy. It is the fashion!! You know! That is how a girl declares her legitimacy and power over the guy! You will see around the guy's neck an invisible board, which declares "punch bag of my girl friend or wife". It reminds me of the dialogue in the movie - He was a quiet man. It goes something like this...

It was easier in the past...
A man knew what it was to be a man...

Then something happened

We passed laws on decency
Lawyers became our shepherds
And what was once a fairly easy thing to understand became muddled in the bureaucracy of what we call 'being civilized'.

Women demanded equality and she got it
Not by getting everything the man had…
But by the man being castrated in the form of order.

I don't care what you say

This is not progress
This is not evolution

Yeah.. public display of hitting... that too in the name of love... is definitely not progress or 'being civilized'. Now, if you are a guy, don't bother asking a girl about what she thinks of hitting a guy. She would most probably declare it as 'cute' and 'loving'!!

There are many times when I've tried to picturize the reverse. That is, the guy hitting the girl and calling her 'donkey' in front of her friends. What could probably happen? Experts in girl psychology say that the world could split into two.

With all those thoughts, and a smile on my lips, I enter my friend's house. He was watching the television. Tata Sky's ad was playing on. The scene: Gul Panag is hitting Aamir Khan with a pillow.

The "Cross and Garlic" of Bangalore

Cross and garlic are used to ward off vampires, who normally disguise as ordinary human beings. Cross and garlic protect the place from a vampire attack.

Kannada Paksha Flag is used by businessmen to ward off goons, disguised as Kannnada patrons, from attacking their establishments. The Kannada Paksha flag is supposed to protect establishments, which fetch business for Bangalore, from the attack of hooligans.

Limitations

In the movie - The Great Debaters – prof. Tolson explain to his debater team how the black slaves were controlled and "utilized effectively" by the minority whites: by keeping the slaves physically strong but psychologically weak! That is, the blacks retained their body, but gave their mind to the whites!

A few days back, I got this fwded mail, which talked about how humans control the mighty elephants. Read it...

As I was passing the elephants, I suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from the ropes they were tied to but for some reason, they did not.

I saw a trainer near by and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away." Well," he said, "when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it's enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free."

I was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn't, they were stuck right where they were. Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

Isn't the message obvious? Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they are yours. Hence don't argue for it. Defy it. Make an attempt to grow further.

Heaven and Hell

When I was a kid, my mom used to tell me this story of "Heaven and Hell" to inculcate the value of being courteous and not greedy. She used to tell the story during our lunch/dinner. It was nice to see that same story, after many years, finding its way to my mail box.

Read and enjoy :-)

A Swami was having a conversation with Lord Shiva one day and said.

'Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like'.

Lord Shiva led the Swami to two doors.

He opened one of the doors and the Swami looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the Swami's mouth water. The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly! They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful.

But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The Swami shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.

Lord Shiva said, 'You have seen Hell.'

They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The Swami said, 'I don't understand.'

'It is simple,' said Lord Shiva.

'It requires but one skill. You see they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves.'

PS: Of course, being a Christian, my mom's story had a Christian background, with Jesus opening the door, and not Siva. But the rest... is the same...

Sheep

The slaughter house near my house:

The butcher grabs the front leg of one sheep and drags it to the slaughter house.

The remaining sheeps in the herd follow the sheep.

The butcher smiles at the herd that's following the sheep he is dragging.

The butcher pushes the sheep to the slaughter bay

The herd follows. Without any force they get into the bay.

After a few hours the butcher hangs the carcass of the sheeps in front of his shop.

Is there any other species that walks into death as obediently and silently as sheeps do?

The definition of sheep is “someone who would rather follow than make an independent decision”

Managing Expectations...

"Do you know the root cause of all rifts between people?" I posed looking at her, but not expecting an answer. The breeze was playing with the tuft on her face. She looked at me through the corner of her eyes... expecting me to answer.
"Expectations..." I said continuing my stroll with her.

It was long since we had caught up with each other. An evening stroll, we felt, was good to share the latest news, gossips and philosophies of our life.

"Be it work or personal life... one has to manage expectations to avoid rifts. You set meetings with customers... Why? To manage their expectations so that future relationship with them won’t go sour. Parents get angry with their kids when the kids go against their expectations. Spouses fight with each other because each one has a set of different expectations from other. Chinks appear in solid friendship because of improper ‘expectation management’...!"

I looked at her with the satisfaction of unraveling the universal truth (and secret) to her...

"Hmmm...” She paused… looking straight and not at me, she continued: “We are supposed to meet tomorrow for dinner?"
The breeze continued its rendezvous with her tuft.
"Yes" I replied
"Can I manage your expectation....? Can you expect me not to be there for dinner?" I saw the wicked-naughty smile showing its signs at the corner of her lips.

Time to stop lecturing my philosophies... I thought

Our Soul

Say "OUR SOUL" repeatedly...

Say it faster...

And listen to yourself...

Did you hear yourself saying arsehole??!!

OK... Now do it the reverse.

Say "arsehole" repeatedly... do it faster... and then listen! Did you find "OUR SOUL" in arsehole?

Next time you blurt arsehole (or asshole), and an undesired audience heard you say that, tell them that you said "OUR SOUL".

Jai Gandhigiri ;-)

Masala Movies

I like masala movies! In those two or three hours I get the chance to transmogrify to that guy in the screen who can sing, dance, kick-butts... All that at the drop of a hat! In real life doing all that is difficult. I truly know I possess the talent. But I can't do it at finger snap. Special venues and preparation are required. I remember quite well my friends praising my dancing skills at a party! Now... don't think that they praised me under the influence of alcohol. You can't say that until you see me dance. If there is going to be another party in the next two or three months, I'll invite you to watch me dance.

Anyways... the point is not how well I dance or sing or fight. The point is transmogrification... in those two-three hours and then... visiting the most beautiful and exotic places in the world with your crush; driving expensive cars, bikes and even planes; dancing with damsels that come from different continents; firing different types of guns at anyone with the license to kill... Phew... isn't that KHOOL...??!!

And then you have this misunderstanding cropping in between the hero and heroin, creating a rift between them. The problem could have been solved had they talked to each other. But they won't!! As the drama unfolds, impatiently I wait for myself to get into the screen as "me" (not the hero); all to have a chat with both the folks and clear the misunderstanding. Alas that doesn't happen. The drama would unwind ONLY to the scriptwriter’s tone.

Real life provides us the opportunity to be our own life's scriptwriter - the opportunity to talk to folks and clear the air of misunderstanding. How many time do we grab that opportunity? Not many times I guess. And often… because of that… the drama in our life takes a sour turn. So… what to do then? Purchase a masala movie ticket and transmogrify?! ;-)

It's not about the Bike

Read Lance Armstrong's "It's not about the Bike". His other book - "Every Second Counts" - appealed to me more

Linda Armstrong's - Lance's mother’s - character wowed me. To me, her character is much much stronger than Lance's.To bring up a child ALL ALONE in her teenage; manage her studies; and grow up the corporate ladder, without anything to prove to anyone but herself, requires tremendous amount of courage. Do you know what the litmus test of courage is? Carrying-on all-alone with determination, when the chips are down and when nobody cares about you. Lance didn’t pass that test. Linda did! In the hospital bed, before his surgery, to hide his courage Lance declares to his friends that he will fight and defeat the cancer. But he later admits that the declaration was to camouflage his fear. He had friends, his mother and his "declaration" to support his courage. Linda had none of those. (This doesn't mean that I don't admire Lance's courage)

One particular section of the book reminded me about the importance of presenting things in the right way:

Lance Armstrong had approached two hospitals to cure his cancer. Given below are the responses of the two doctors of the respective hospitals. You will see that the content of their message is the same. The way they put across the message is what differs.

The doctor in Houston: “I'm glad you are here. You will crawl out of here. I'm going to kill you. Everyday I'm going to kill you, and then I'm going to bring you back to life. We're going to hit you with chemo, and then hit you again, and hit you again. You're not going to be able to walk. We're practically going to have to teach you how to walk again, after we're done."

The doctor in Indiana: "You are in an advanced stage. The percentages are unfavorable. But this is potentially curable. Even-though you're in the poor-prognosis category, we've cured a lot worse. And we don't want the chemo to affect your lungs. This is to give you a chance later to recover physically and compete in cycling."

I think anyone can guess which hospital Lance chose for his treatment. Putting things across in a nice and polite way, and mixing it with hope, makes a huge difference.

Some other interesting quotes of the book are given below:

Lance Armstrong: Your past forms you, whether you like it or not. Each encounter and experience has its own effect, and you're shaped the way the wind shapes a mesquite tree on a plain.

Linda Armstrong: If you are going to get anywhere, you're going to have to do it yourself, because no one is going to do it for you. If you can’t give 110 percent, you won't make it.

A different perspective

While reading Shantaram I came across this ordinary, but interesting paragraph. It talks about a 19 year old slum dweller who resorts to theft.

The 19 year old states: I know someday I might get caught, but I hope not. I hope the Enlightened One is on my side. It's for my sister. I pray that no harm will come to me, you see, because I'm not stealing for myself, but for my sister. She will be married soon, and there is not enough to pay the promised dowry. It is my responsibility. I'm the oldest son.

So... Why am I sharing this?

A few days back, past midnight, I was awaken to a huge pandemonium in my neighborhood. The dogs were barking and people were shouting. When I opened my window, I saw a group of men pounding two teenagers and yelling "chori kartha hai!!??"... meaning "You dare stealing!!??". The teenagers were all in tears, hand-folded, squealing and involuntarily chattering "sorry sorry..." The drama continued for almost half an hour. While the drama was unfolding I was least sympathetic to those teenagers. In fact, I was glad that someone was thrashing them on my behalf. Call it mob psychology or whatever...

The next day, I forgot that incident and got busy with my daily chores.

A paragraph like the one from Shantaram can remind you about your limitation to put things in the right perspective before acting...

Interpret this...

There is this book in my hand... I'm trying to read it. But the contents are not clear at all. Everything in the book appears to be blurred out. I don’t know why. All I know is that I'm trying hard to solve a problem. And I know that the book holds the key to the problem and solution.

Suddenly some of the contents become clearer. It says "PSALMS 14"!! And I'm somewhere in the second paragraph of PSALMS 14!!

That is when I woke up from my dream!

I’m obviously puzzled by the dream. Bible is not my cup of tea. I have read only a few chapters of it. I have never gone close to PSALMS. I'm no great believer either. The pendulum of my belief often swings between theism and atheism; often passing through agnosticism. So why this dream??!!

I opened PSALM 14 and read the first two paragraphs. It said: Fools say to themselves, "There is no God!" They are all corrupt and they have done terrible things; there is no one who does what is right. The LORD looks down from heaven at us humans to see if there are any who are wise, any who worship him.

Now... the interpretation of the dream:

1. Theist: The dream is a divine intervention.
2. Atheist: Something has been troubling you off-late. The subconscious mind, which was brought up in the Christian faith, is responding to it by echoing your old beliefs.
3. Agnostic: I’m contemplating on the above two arguments.

Miracle!

I was chatting with my friend, who 'claimed' to have a recent breakup with his girlfriend

"Are you through with her?" I asked
"I guess so..."
"Do you miss her?"
He lifted his head, gave it a slight nod and said: "She is a poor sweet person". His tone said that he did miss her... perhaps badly
After a brief silence I asked: "So what's your decision? Are you gonna continue with her?"
He sighed and said: "I don't know. If some miracle happens, then yes... !"
I smiled and said: "You seem to hoping for a miracle. May be you should act. That will bring miracle to your doorsteps."

We all wait for miracles to happen. At times it is our own actions that create miracles in our own life.

Superstition

The Superstition goes that if there are cobwebs in your home, money will dessert you!

“Superstition... ah!” When I heard it first, I laughed at it...

That’s when my friend explained the logic behind the superstition: “What will you deduce about a person whose home is filled with cobwebs? Don’t you think that person is most LIKELY to be lazy and disorganized? What are the chances for such a character to keep accumulating wealth? Slim? The superstition is based on that logic...”

I nodded...

A small fight...

My sister was narrating an incident to me. It was about a friend of hers. Let us call that friend Meenakshi. Meenakshi was having a bad time at home - with her husband, to be specific - and badly wanted to vent her anger and lighten up her mind. My sister was her chosen outlet.

What struck my sister was the hatred with which Meenakshi narrated one particular incident - an incident that involved "ill-behavior" of her husband towards her parents. Meenakshi knew how much pain her parents were taking to see the couple in good shape. But her husband seemed to have lesser appreciation towards what her parents were doing. She felt that he was not respecting her parents. That infuriated her. Her hatred was visible in her words, expression and every cell of her body.

So, why am I posting this? This is for couples, who don't well-treat their spouses’ parents and siblings. Be careful. Right now, your spouse might be vending his/her anger somewhere else. And he/she has every right to do so...

Jew's Contribution...

The story goes something like this: The brave Roman General who defeated the Jews and occupied Jerusalem decides to give the vanquished a final blow that will shatter them completely. So he goes to the Jerusalem Temple to see the “Jew-GOD”, who is so dear and near to the heart of the Jews. His intention was to destroy the GOD (or GOD's idol) with his sword. With the sword in his hand, he goes and lifts the curtain or parokhet... and sees... NOTHING! How can he destroy something immaterial?! How to fight an idea with a sword?!

I think the most powerful contribution of Jews to this world is the concept of a GOD who is immaterial. Think about this. Can anyone humiliate a GOD, who is immaterial? Can they desecrate HIM? The believers derive the strength of their belief from the infallible and unconquerable nature of GOD. If that GOD “falls” to a human, won't that shatter the belief and the strength of the believers? It will! They simply won’t have the heart to fight the conquerors. The conquerors knew this and for ages they have targeted nothing, but the Kings, Heros and GODs. They knew that destroying those "objects" that are considered to be the personification of strength and prosperity, would take away the strength of resistance. It was one easy way to subdue the defenders easily. This is where the Jew's concept of GOD becomes so powerful. The conquerors can never destroy the “source of strength” or “hope”, also known as GOD. All because GOD doesn't have a material form! It is an idea. A concept. And how to destroy an idea or concept with muscular power?

This concept of GOD was later imbibed by Christians and Muslims. During my visit to Hampi, I felt sad seeing the temples destroyed by the Muslim conquerors. They desecrated the temple and destroyed the idols. They destroyed because they knew that the conquest would be complete and final. And it did work for them! But in that process they also destroyed the marvelous architecture :-(. Had the Hindus stuck to the concept of "Brahmam", which closely goes with the idea of immaterial GOD, we might have been reading a different history.

God's God - YOU??!!

Have you performed votive prayers (or rites) in advance, hoping God will grant your wish? What happens when HE doesn't grant you that wish? Do you get pissed off? What would be your next move? Stop performing those rites? If you do so, I would say you are exhibiting your impulsive side.

Why not do the opposite, which HE least expects. You did your rites and HE abandoned you when you needed HIM most. Make HIM feel ashamed for HIS deeds by NOT abandoning HIM. Continue your EARNEST & SINCERE votive prayers and rites. Show HIM that you have a higher level of maturity than HIM. You won't get many opportunities to play the role of God’s GOD. Do you? ;-)

PS: Extreme devotees, please excuse this post.