Ideas We Believe

Yes, I am proudly a Hindu and also a Nationalist. But its a risk today, the risk being targeted as an Islamophobic and an intolerant. And to a large extent, the fear is genuine, just misdirected. Well, I may have sounded judgemental in the past few lines, so, I would love to present my case. Hinduism is, arguably, one of the most complicated religions, because of the lack of a single discourse, multiple narratives and the argumentative nature of the texts. This, however, has made things simple for the people of the subcontinent, allowing for customisations to rituals and traditions. An excellent example of this is the cultural influence on the religious practises, or even better the inclusion of Jains and Buddhists to the mass umbrella of Hindu dwellers. However, the story has an ugly face over the last decades, namely the partition of India. This has exposed so many fault lines over the years and needless to mention the crooked politics that exploits these frontiers. The appease

To ward off political correctness as an unnecessity would be a blunder in the part of a rational being. Power at hand must be used to protect the one who is the utmost need of it, be that any form of identity. However, here is a thing about power, people don't give it up that easy. I usually dive into feminism when I speak of this issue. The need for equal opportunities for women was morally a very strong argument, and by no means could have been defeated. Only that power was never given to females to put forth their demand. it was only when people saw it as a political obligation and of course some rebellion, the change began to happen. What was expected next was that the movement would spread itself empowering women all over, but sadly that was not achieved. The struggle for equality remained the same, and the additional attention, power and control was hijacked by certain pockets of the movement (the feminazi) thereby derailing the process. This has been true to most cases wh

How do you access a dictionary these days? The Internet, right. Well, let's talk about the English language today. Mostly the era of emerging words, when urban dictionary, gets more clicks than the oxford one. I remember of days when my dad, would always look with disbelief at the pocket dictionary, constantly cross-examining the words with his dusty reference book of the '80s. Not all languages have seen such a shift in their word usage, rather many are losing out in the battle, leaving certain words only to the dictionary, but English has. In fact, there is some historical connotation to this new sport. The world war had crowned the U.S as the new power centre of the globe, giving it a scope to spread its culture over the nations. But, the U.S. had killed its indigenous culture long back like Australia. It had become the assemblage of the Europeans who wanted to move out of the nation-states. With the lack of an indigenous language, the U.S. went with an unusual choice,

Yeah, money. Wealth is a reflection of specialisation in society. As the roles get complex, its often required for a common and standardised means of exchange; that correctly values the services given, and rewards to be received in return. For a long time in the history of humans, the unit of wealth was something valuable, collected farm produce, or special pottery or maybe even rare metals. Even our mythos, often speak of the horses and cows being used as a unit of wealth. All of these related to something that was physical, useful and limited. But the potential of wealth goes beyond the basics of security and exchange, relating to the abstract concept of power and dominance. Over time this soft control that comes along with wealth has gained more and more importance. And with power comes, the insatiable lust to remain powerful. Governments and kingdoms attempting to accumulate the methods of wealth generation, keeping it, out of reach for the public. And social hierarchies came in

To be fair, its a hard time for mass media these days; especially for broadcasted media. The print media, as of now, caters to a class of people, who have the patience and intent to scroll through, roughly ten pages of small letters (thanks to the need for advertisement and page 3 models). But thankfully its market is not dead yet. There are people who value opinions and literature of these old pioneers of information. The cable/satellite TV does not so. It faces a herculean task of getting the smartphone-addicted adolescents and office weary adults to the tv screen, and hold them together with a story both fascinating and useful. And this is where the fall begins, in the battle for fascinating and useful; useful is generally the suitable bride, but the difficult one to chase. And when the facebook and google clicks are reducing the viewers of the TV media with every new click, Fascinating is the easy optionṣ. The script for the death of TV news was written the day fancy stories ab

A powerful line from the character, Ra's al Ghul, in the Batman Begins; " With Gotham, we tried weapon of a new kind - Economics". The prowess of the tool called economics is perhaps unknown to most, even the best the field. Sometimes the Nobel memorial prize has been given to two directly conflicting theories, just to remind you how well we can measure the success of economics as a science.  So today, I would love to describe how is this tool being employed in modern warfare. Of the most significant consequence of globalisation, is the emergence of multi-national agglomerates and institutions. Since the barriers to trade and money flow (both technological and ideological) are being lifted off by the day, businesses have expanded beyond frontiers and developed a new sense of world identity. Although nationalism, is at its peak, there is a clear sense of transfer of control to businesses all over the world, as they have a say over one of the powerful resources of the

The entertainment industry in India is waiting for yet another disruptive innovation, with millions of young users equipped with gigabytes of data every day, there is a new untapped customer base. Not particularly untapped since it makes do with pirated movies and free web series. But, there is an apparent lack of entertainment streamed towards them. Also, the shift from television sets to mobile devices, sets the stage clear for a change in content. the spikes in porn consumption and adult web series do speak of this unattended guest. The popularity of two platforms, mostly youtube and TikTok, have also helped in developing a new class of actors. To name a few Sumeet Vyas, Jitendra, Bhuvan Bam and much more. It has become apparent that the arduous task of going from one to another production house seeking a side role in a daily soap or movie, is on a decline. Not that, people won't get their debut at soaps and movies, but it seems easier to get a web series and keep working tha

Plunged into the darkness, the golden valley of India has no routes of communication with the rest of the world. J&K is experiencing the worst curfew of all times, as we celebrate the independence day. With leaders promising of the changes that the move will usher in, and opposition dazzled by the sudden turn of events, the common media has no means to breach the incommunicado.  I feel I can bet with some certainty about how the world looks at the Kashmir issue. Much similar to how we see the Rohingya issue of Myanmar, or Palestine in Israel (I know I have just pulled in ears of FBI). But yes, Kashmir is the Achilles heel for India's global image. And probably the biggest burden of the Indian army. However, a mother cannot just cut-off a child just because, it is in trouble. Primarily because of two reasons; one that we have a responsibility to help people of the valley and second that if such fate draws upon another state of our country, we would do the same, help them recov

The Notre Dame de Paris, vibrant and unique as it is, also boasts of millions, given in donation for the supposed rebuilding of the ancient architecture. Most of this amount can be traced back to the wealthy, the sophisticated, the luxury-seeking, just a handful of families around the world. To me, the question is not if this money could have been used in the welfare of the needy, because I stand by their right and discretion to spend their own wealth. But the critical question is, even to the creamiest strata of the society, religion does have a significant impact. Now, heading back to India. Although the ruling party made no apparent movement to suggest their affiliation to any religious body, the intellectuals (and somehow many of them liberals) did cry out loud that the politicians were using religion as their weapon of mass mobilisation. What they supposedly thought, was that such aggressive revelation would make people morally conscious of their choice and chose the otherwise

A beautiful facet of Indian mythology is its very nature of the presentation. Most of the stories are merely answers to intriguing questions, drawing attention to the basis of societal design and functioning. The narration merely presents a scenario to questionee. Quite different from other forms which build upon a higher than a human figure of the hero and dehumanise the villain. So, when mythology is retold, it must be open to new perceptions and interpretations. This by no means should be judgemental, rather a more encompassing exercise. But, the picture of modern society speaks a sorry tale. A place where, a constant and deliberate attempt is made to match between the protagonist of myths, to ensure just a mental pleasure or some other gains. This, however, comes at a cost, the cost of reason since most choose to accept the majoritarian opinion as for the truth. The shift, from dialogue to an authocratic discourses is at the heart of the atavism, I intend to speak of. Looking

“Power to People” At the heart of democracy lies this promise, a promise to give people the power to decide the course of their nation. In this new millennium, we believe it is the best possible thing to do. However, the major reasons why democracy is considered the best today is that it happens to be the choice of most developed nations. We have lived long enough in democracy that we would readily part with our powers. And it seems a dangerous step to take. But, if we look closer into the functioning of these developed countries, its the functioning of the institutions that actually contributes to its development. The interplay of judiciary, bureaucracy and elected government, in most cases decides the life standard. The irony here is that more independent these institutions happen to be, the better they perform. Which indirectly implies, institutions of bureaucracy and judiciary, need to independent from the control of legislature (the ones people happily elected). Coming to

I am not a fan of Bollywood movies, for most of those don’t sell good stories, they just brand actors. That is probably the reason why production houses spend so much on promotions. There is nothing wrong in that.  A majority of Indian movie watchers don’t step into the cinema halls to fry their brains on some twisted storyline, its more often a hangout, an escape from the already tensed everyday life. This a reason why generations after generations fall for fairy tales, everyone feels out of the world for some moments. A lie, so blissful that we find it hard to leave behind unless we run a risk of being a laughing stock. All this would prove to us why  fancy is the food of cinema, a motion picture of the daily life of the common man would fancy no one. But my complain today is not on viewers but filmmakers. It's easy to cash on popular stars. Easier to get some cars blown and hired fighters beaten up. But all these are Pabulum.  Your visitors will like the dish, but they won

“Treat”. Every time  I feel happy enough about my life to share it with one of friend , this pertinent nagging term pops up. And then  with utter shamelessness, I delve into a debate on how insignificant the achievement is . And this has happened so many times that I believe “treat” is the real “congrats”. But often I wonder, why is a treat so important. To start with psychologically, celebration is a vital part of success, it   imprints positivity of the achievement , giving us a sense of permanence of good events over terrible times. Most of the hard work behind success is not inspiring enough, its  only the joy after success which helps us pull through . Thus associating success with positive feeling builds the necessary repertoire. Not all of the reasons for a treat are personal. From social angle, treat is a celebration of collective learning. Though our struggles get personal, there is no point of success if you are the only one celebrating it.  Not all times, w

The sky is almost dark, saving for those last golden tinges that would fade in no time. As palm trees mark the oblivion, a muddy reflection forms the ground. Last few days were mostly rainy. So profound is our love for rain. And why would not we? Unlike most other seasons, rain are so tender. A drop of patience which is about to reach its final destiny. Every time I look at rain drops they remind me of a struggle. A journey that begins with summer in an aura of dry and burning heat. And in no time the drop loses its sources. The long carried identity of its mother. With the loss of identity a awakening awaits. The pleasure to reach out and bond. As our drop moves up and up the end less skies, it realises the futility of pride and the necessity to bond. This comes with age. Not until it is near to earth it agrees to meet with other wanderers of the new world. And finally all our drops reach the cold atmosphere. The coldness makes life dreary and lonely. As the youthfulness dies out,

Let's begin from the end. The concept of  ‘Chi’ . This as our dear Po realises lies in knowing the true identity of a person. The idea of chi is not finding a definition that fits you, rather recognising that true nature is a culmination of various personalities. Then comes the powerful concept of  inner-peace  or being at ease with oneself. As Po learns, inner peace is getting rid of the mental block, be it in the form of experience, disabilities or even fear. And once you are a master of your self, only then you can take up the most challenging task and do that with ease. Finally, the  dragon warrior . What makes one the dragon warrior? Is there a secret recipe? The answer is your belief  (funny is not it ? now do you believe in dragons ). Once you know what you are and you are in peace with yourself, the only step required is the complete believe that you can do it. You see it was never the superhuman abilities, Kung-fu is the art of mastering any skill, it's the  tr

Have you ever felt out of breath in a situation ?? Your heartbeat is rising and you are almost sweating. But the most surprising thing is that the fear is entirely irrational. Well, then you could have a PHOBIA. *(this a probability).* Why I decide to talk about Gynophobia today because we live in a world of varied emotional experiences and their irregular physical expressions. And gynophobia is no less than this. It can severely impair one’s work, social life or even everyday activities. So how do we identify the monster?  The symptoms are easily noticeable; these people tend to avoid direct communication with women, deliberately keep away from social occasions where they could meet up with one or even get terribly anxious when they are physically close to one. Another mark of this is an intentional omission in the address to women.  *(like the previous lines)* So what next?  Are gynophobics misogynists?  Are they gymnophobic and genophobic too? Well, there is a lack of ev

Welcome to an unknown psychiatric syndrome, which  cripples a lot of teenagers as soon as they move away from home.  If you still doubt my claims, I shall recommend you to peek into any ordinary college bitching about professors, courses or tests. The level of obscenity in all these are far beyond the actual intentions of the teenagers or so to say young adults (this sounds like an oxymoron). Often, my friends would say, their address to mother or sister is only  to trigger a sense of disgust in the listener because they are pretty immune to the other (non-obscene) ones.  Well, it could be the case, but we must look into this psychological behavior of this specific age group with some more caution. One of the first causes of these could be a severe restriction prevalent in the society when someone intends to talk about sex. This leads to two bad outcomes namely the first that the  teenagers get to know about stuff from highly unauthenticated and filthy atmosphere , which in turn ma

There is intricate relation between philosophy and religion. Something we have lost over time, probably because its tough for common people to comprehend and apply in lives. Here enters the main character : PREACHERS. What Preachers do is that  they interpret the religion for you, set out rituals and put in guidelines for everyday life. All this sounds non-harming and calm, but not always.  Because, some preachers do take hard stands. Why?? Because of personal experiences. That’s true with everyone.  Most of our logic, decisions and even prejudices are built on our experiences, something we can’t erase however hard we may try. What does that leave us with… A bias.  But in case of religious teachers, this bias is worrisome. Most people around the world are in search of hope, religion gives it to them. But also a bias of the preacher…. As these bias accumulates, the religion tends to become conservative and radical. This is what breeds the next level of terror;  people whom “religi

First of All, We all have issues with social media.   But then why is it that we are so attracted towards the devil. I feel the answer lies in an ideological change what came up along with the technological reforms round this millennia. The "millennial" or as they love to be referred are those who grew up in the 2000's. Innovation was shaking the commonplace, and there was too much respect for thinkers, leaders and "people who did different things". This was put forward by innovative ideas like 'everyone is special'. That gives everyone a dream to achieve recognition for what they think they are good at. These people are known to break the conventional rules and bring in energy and output. But in the long run drain themselves out. But there is a subtle advantage of discipline and conventional thinking. Though the chances of getting super famous are slim, so are your chances of being a terrible investment. Its kind of the safe investments. Which th

Corruption as in itself carries a lot of philosophical matter, but the one we see in everyday life is quite simple to explain. Or is it ? I had a discussion with an elderly couple who were on their way to their children in Bangalore. As the discussion turned to they voiced their concern on corruption becoming a hindrance to nations growth and why we need to uproot it. And his idea was.... "Lets stop the inheritance of property across generations. " Seemed a wonderful idea at first. It solves a lot of issues on the go. It would work as an  heavy blow to the rich lads who aim to survive on their dads bank account . Bringing in accountability into the system. It would also kill the attempts to pool all money for a better life of the children. It would simply  kill the desire to pool money  (if it is not for you …) Then when things were such rosy, I thought then why not. The answer was subtle and linked much to the organisation of our society. If you look deep,  its

To treat one human different from other just for his birth right is a crime. To force someone to do a job he does not will to o is a violation of human rights. But then it is important to note,  how we see freedom as an essential part of the human existence.  We are so attached to our privacy… So our society has become an open race, with stiff competition … Everyone dreaming to reach pinnacles of glory. We must appreciate if some people thought that,  freedom could be given up, to bring in organisation into society.  They felt freedom would lead to a lot of chaos… So t hey made a division of jobs and society, so that everyone does his own part and passes on the knowledge to next generation. However, it failed because : some jobs became coveted and others were looked down . This brought the Varna system, which was draconian and unfair. as  new jobs emerged ,  people wanted to break free  of these restrictions. competition showed a more progress than organisation once giv

As a remarkable gift of the human civilization, we have religions. But these divisions have nothing to do with whether god exists or why we need to pray……  Today when I stand up to Atheists, lets ponder upon why does the world as we know believe in prayers. Whether you pray or not is a multiplied probability of the three  1. Gods existence, him listening to you  2. The effort it would take you to pray  3. What you risk to lose!!!! I will now build up examples to show to you how the interplay of these probabilities shape our prayers. To start the belief in God. That in fact forms the very basis of prayers, but even those who do not believe in God will also have to admit that there are some happenings which our physics simply can’t decode (as in 2018). So we are left with two methods to approach this, we assume God exists and continue to do so……  t ill we are able to decode all of the universe design and unveil the future OR at least know there is no design at all .  The and

This post is  my ideology  on “Suicide” , a grave issue in colleges these days , and people who are sensitive to the issue …..  its not for you, Rat-Race  : In this capitalist world, we believe  anyone can achieve success in life by sheer will and labor , most of us dream to attain big. And work day in day out to achieve it . In the long run, wear ourselves out,  set emotions to less priority  and then become quite insensitive to our environments. We risk relationships, family for career.  Is the outcome as rosy as we dream ?? ………….Not always But when even after all this we fail to achieve our goal, we decide to end all this. Atheism  : When somebody rejects the existence of God, he sees   himself as the sole creator and destroyer of his fortune .  It does give us some control over us, but when  something terrible happens or calamity strikes , we just give up …believing   its beyond our means as humans to endure such pain. When we are connected to God, we see him as savior in dark

(  this is an experience of a first-year after the first semester, no offence.. ); Several weeks ago, most of my friends went sick with a very contagious disease:- coding.  And very quickly its distinct symptoms grasped them; people started ‘night-outs’ to complete their tasks, disturbing happiness the moment their code worked and taking up more online courses than they could manage. I was somehow immune to all this, even though my roomie was among the pioneer victims. I successfully resisted all his attempts to transduce the deadly symptoms. But soon the picture changed…… this was no disease rather an adaptive evolution, a must for people here so that you could find some recognition after your B.Tech years,….I was shocked and scared; tried hopelessly to contract the disease but the symptoms would evade away in just hours. oh! I actually sat down to try to learn Java……..ha…ha..ha.