EK CUP CHAI

After Dan Brown, it is James Cameron turn now! Looks like whether Jesus Christ was really a virgin (no pun intended) or not is a serious query! Valid query isn’t it? If Jesus Christ is proven to be a human, then all the crap about God will be disproved; and if he isn’t a human, then what ‘was’ Jesus is a question that will cost more time and money of the likes of James Cameron.

Some said that Jesus Tomb story’s aim is to gain fame and money. Or that the story was all cooked up for TV money, or just to spoil the image of Christianity. Well, all this even before the ‘documentary’ was aired. Great! They call it belief! And when somebody tells you that earth was spherical, well how do you break the belief?

But then, may be James Cameron and his friend Simcha Jacobovici are wrong! More than the very topic what surprises me is – Why are we so rigid about our beliefs, especially when it comes to God, Religion or as in this case God’s son? May be as humans our biggest gift was not just ‘curiosity’ and the ‘mind to find answers’. There is this ever pervading thing about ourselves - doubt!

But why are so afraid of our own doubts and adamant about our beliefs?

I think humans need lot of guts to doubt. Someone was always tortured or ridiculed when he/she doubted that Earth isn’t flat or when he/she doubted that neither Sun nor Earth is the centre of universe. Today it is the same, though we other humans have evolved from physical torture to mental torture.

We call the doubters names, we think that gaining money by hook or crook is their intention! Common lets check our premises here – we all want money and make money! I wonder if James Cameron needs money – I think his family will live a luxurious life with the royalties of Terminator and Titanic (if royalties really exist for movies)!

All James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici are trying to say is – “we present a case, and you try and solve it”! But who will do it? How will the most interested people want to solve this – through media isn’t it?

No wonder faith does miracles, but faith needs lot of reality checks otherwise there will be too many Jihads or too many torture chambers for the likes of Galileos, for their doubts!

Looks like I have new stories coming up for me. But they all look like the old ones. How? Well here is just a glimpse of what’s happening in India.

Our P.M. is going to struggle. Someone, called Qattrochi, has been arrested in Argentina, and the Government choose to give the information to the nation after ‘few weeks’.

Well who’s Quattrochi – he is an influential man, the mention of whose name stripped Rajiv Gandhi of Power in 1989. This gentleman is seen to be the key to solving the Bofors Scandal! Well ‘Bofors’!

What is bofors scandal ? Find here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bofors_scandal

May be the P.M. could have handled this issue, if were alone. But he has two more issues to worry about, non-samjhautha over “Samjhautha Express” blast and Inflation around the time of Budget!

Again, he could have sort the Inflation thing alone. But ‘together’ these problems look like they are going to be too much for anybody. I should say, the UPA government and Mr. Manmohan Singh should consider themselves lucky if they will hold to their seats till the end of April – 2007. Who knows what Sonia Gandhi can do to our P.M. But off late she has lost her form (forgot UP?)

Talking of ‘form’, looks like Saurav Ganguly is making the best of his ‘coming back to form’. He is going to be on ‘Koffe with Karan’! Well, who will he come along with Donna? (Or Nagma?) I think even this is going to be great oldish news. We all know how stars have used ‘media’ to make a strong come back!

Well sometimes I really wonder about the eternal relationship about entertainment, controversy and politics!

Oh! On the lines of controversy, I’ve just heard that people in Jalandhar have staged a protest against the film ‘Nishabd’. Problem – a love story between 60+ year old and and an 18 year old is against Indian culture. Well Old News isn’t ? Water, Black Friday, Fire you make a movie about ‘truth’ – and you are ready to face the ire! Well what next they will burn the effigies of Amitabh, Ram Gopal Varma, and as soon as they get a chance – will ‘watch the movie’ to say out that the movie is really BAD!

Hmm…looks like we have this great attachment towards our great old stories. Don’t we?
It will be fun to watch what happens in these oldish tales?

This one is a bit preachy, so be prepared please!

I was just wondering what to write on and suddenly read a blog which states that the biggest problem of our era is Illiteracy! As soon as I read that a film scene came to my mind. An inspector asks IG of Police what should be done to clear mafia in Mumbai! The IG says the problem is with the education system and it is only educating the masses that will bring the change. (later in the movie it is seen that the IG is transferred).

May be the IG character in the movie is correct. But, how far is he correct. And what should be done so that by the time everyone is educated, someone doesn’t kill someone else! Is there any solution. Nope. This again reminds me of another scene from the Matrix. A ‘program’, in the shape of human, says that human beings are like virus which uses all the resources and dies!

Though my springing back and forth between movies disturb you, question is why is any human being looking to kill other human beings, just for the sake of an imagined opinion! True we don’t really KILL people! But more or less there are people who kill a personality! How? In Small incidents where we say, “you are such a useless fellow” or say “he’s a freak”!

And for any kind of killing, many people say Illiteracy and lack of education is one of the major reasons. I disagree.

Well hundreds of religions educate the followers that their version of God is the ever pervading, and people who don’t worship HIM they will go to hell. Yet these followers coexist with people of other religions – Isn’t this education system a failure, because it cannot make other religion people see their version of God?

Some people think this coexistence as a failure and try to force other people into their religion – What do we call them – Terrorists or Fundamentalists! Are they correct?

If education given by a religion itself is so contradictory, then what kind of education have we had!

Look at India – for almost 60 years now we have had education and yet, India is a highly corrupt nation! Look at the US – every other marriage, that is 50% of marriage are broken and more are bound to be broken – And this as a result of education, with a history of around 200-300 years! Is our education correct? What importance does education, and literacy have then. Is it only education that is the problem?

I think the biggest problem of humans is not education, but in the attitude of wanting to be someone else – as a child you want to be ‘Abraham Lincoln’/’Rajiv Gandhi’, as a student you want to be an ‘engineer’, as a man/woman you want to be ‘help’ to your family with your money and fame! Always being someone else… always!

Can we be ourselves at any point of time? Can we travel along with a new person, without asking him/her what he does to eat?

No I’m not crooning Alisha Chenoy’s song!

I read a news item that India wanted its patent laws to be as good as International laws. So it appointed R.A. Mashelkar as committee head who would make sure that the laws matched and the patent laws are good. So far so good.But what happened next is something only possible in India.

The Mashelkar Committee submitted a report to the Government. And it has been found that some lines have been reproduced (read plagiarized) from the Intellectual Property Institute of the Oxford University. It happens only in India.

There is this joke I heard ‘n-number’ of times. You must have heard it to! Let me tell that to you. An American makes a thin ‘Pin’to show America’s Greatness. A Chinese makes a hole in the pin to show China’s Greatness. And then, an Indian writes/imprints “Made in India” to show India’s greatness. I wonder if such issues can be treated as jokes any longer!

India is known for its ‘lifting’. It is said that our Constitution became the bulkiest, because it was hugely ‘influenced’ by the constitution of many other countries. Not to forget many great ‘tunes’, film scenes, scripts and what not. So now it looks like India is trying to copy Patent laws as well.

May be it is good practice to copy. Companies like GE tell its employees that they don’t mind “shameless copying”. But of course they do pay for it. Is it really worth to plagiarize? I cannot say “Yes or No”. Because you see I’m already using a ‘News Item’ to create this post. But I’m trying to recreate it in one of the other way.

So how thin is the line between a patented item and a recreated one. May be to understand this concept, the Masheklar committee had to take ‘somebody’s help’!

But you tell me guys: Is plagiarism/piracy justified? It it is not - how the hell can most Indians use the pirated version of Windows (not to forget the ‘eternal’ MS-Office) and many other softwares? And if plagiarism is OK, then what good will Patent laws do to India?

Being born in India is sometimes more than helpful.

1. The great family:  I have to do nothing till I’m 25! My family will feed me, even though they sometime will curse me. Of course, not to mention, they will get me married to a sweet looking girl to change me!

2.The School: Ah School! I love it! From age 3 (or 4) to next 12-16 years, my school is my greatest asset. I’ll be cut off from the practicalities of life. I will be ‘told’ that there is only one or two ways of solving math! I will be told that competition and ranks are the most important part of life!

3. Voting:  No matter who I’m! No matter what I’m! As long as I’m mentally fit I can vote. Yeah I can vote for a packet of liquor, for some money or for simply timepass. More importantly, I can simply avoid voting!

4. The great family - 2 : My wife. She will not only get me loads of dowry, but also will make sure that she cooks for me, washes my clothes (including my underwear). When necessary she will also give her mangalsutra for my ‘drinks’!

5. The taxing system: If I don’t do any work, I will not be taxed. Also if I don’t work I can also warn the government (which I voted, not voted ) that I will go on hunger strike, raasta rokho whatever! And when I work, I will be taxed. So what is the government telling me? I know! You see no wonder I will need loads of money my wife brings me

6. Movies, Media, Cricket, Parliament and other Entertainment: Aha! My favorites! By doing nothing (to skip taxes) one sometimes gets bored. So what can one do. Watch TV, or escapist Cinema (Shahrukh Khan running behind Kajol near Egypt Pyramids) or simply see cricket!

7. Great Culture, Religions and Tradition: Aha! As a ‘man’ whatever I do is fine (As long as I keep the ‘main’ people satisfied). All the religions, cultures and tradition are behind me. I can give morality lessons – woman should be careful about their dress! Woman should cook food and keep home clean!

I can build temples and mosques anywhere on the road. I can create great ‘noise’ by having speakers attached to them. All this only in the name of Religion and Tradition.

8. Great Past and Great Future: India was a great land (2000 years ago) and India will be superpower (when…?) And in between I can do whatever I want. I can dream about the future and I can shit about past! I will easily forget what the past stood for, as much easily that I can only do nothing but dream!

So all in all India is a great place to be! There will be few people who will try to change this society. But you see we should be aware of them. If they say non-violence we should shoot them, if they say build companies, we should have these companies follow the great Indian reservation system! These people should be called the enemies of India.

In one news item today I heard that Gay marriage is made legal in New Jersey! Well, and as soon as I read that out, one person said “Yaakh! How can the US Government be so cultureless… ”
I couldn’t help but be surprised. After all, whom you want to copulate with, is completely left to your and the other person’s choice.

Anyways, later reading one Hindu magazine, I was more than dumbstruck. It said that the western TV is spoiling India with its shameless sex-culture. To avoid this kind of westernization, the magazine says that few pandits had conducted Ashwamedha Yaga (so called Horse Sacrifice)!

I don’t understand this thing about sexual morality these people talk about.

• Ashwamedha Yaga is one big long procedure, with which a king (or an emperor) show his superiority over others! A robust horse is offered prayers, and left free for around a period of one year.

• The emperor’s job is to simply take over all the land this horse travels, be it by fighting against kings of those lands or simply by making them his friends. In the end, when the horse returns, it is sacrificed with prayers!

• Now, the chief queen of the emperor has to enact the act of copulation. In simpler terms the chief queen has to mate with the dead horse, in the presence of other queens, and priests! Only after such a huge task the great Ashwamedha Yaga is said to be accomplished!

Well, so much for our culture. It still surprises me that people in India (irrespective of their religion) have this huge morality bullshit, especially when it is concerned with sexual relationships or anything related to the art of having sex.

They just don’t like to talk about it, learn it, discourage anybody talking about it and when the are irritated all they use is language that directly talks of sex. Words like bastard, f*ck etc are used in slang as if to despise the very act. But still India is second largest populated country. How did these people come into existence? By God’s grace or by human dark side!

I’m not supporting gay marriages, nor am I against them. I’m not in support for pornography, but tell me how is it possible to educate and learn sex without having a look at it? All I’m trying to do here is question the base on which these moral caretakers of our country stand on!

As the mood in Hyderabad gets somber with some early morning fog, it reminded me of a night, driving at around 03.00 am on Tank Bund, when it suddenly started drizzling. And what do I see on the roads? Few middle aged women and few men, with transparent raincoats that don’t cover their body completely. And what were they doing? Sweeping Roads. They were infact M.C.H (Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad) workers.

Yes, the MCH sweepers, whom we all despise when they ask money for cup of tea, were picking small pieces of paper, even though they were getting drenched! The drizzle didn’t stop from them sweeping, nor did the cold wind.

This left an indelible impression! But being a regular visitor to Ameerpet few things surprise me. Just visit Ameerpet, the abode of many would-be software professionals. Early in the morning, you will find a street like any other in Hyderabad. But come here in the evening, you will see exactly what Hyderabad stands for – Chaos!

All the would-be software professionals find it tough to carry their garbage to a dust bin. What they do is simply pick a pamphlet from any body and if they don’t like it, they throw it on road. It is not an exaggeration, if I say, one can hardly see the road as it is covered completely with paper! So much for Hyderabad – the ever developing city!

I still remember visiting a friend in Osmania engineering hostel! The students were so busy yearning to be engineers that they found it tough to keep their bathrooms clean!

Somehow with all this it hurts. No not me. But it hurts the effort put by the old sweepers, who can only work at night, braving all sort of hazards, including humans! Sometimes, I feel it just isn’t right to be an MCH sweeper. No body cares for them!

I didn’t want this post to be preachy. Please excuse me, if it is!

If we, were in Singapore, we wouldn’t dare litter! But because we stand in our own city, we litter it as it were our birthright! May be we don’t respect ourselves, or our cities enough. Hyderabad, or for that matter, India can never be a place like Singapore! Not because we are a land of dhoti clad ryots but because the ‘educated’ have never come out of “How does this one piece of paper matters?” frame of mindset.

My colleague offered me an idli! I had the Idli and Chutney! As soon as I ate the chutney I said, “so your mom cooked it”. And he asked me, “how did you know?”

Well we all know the answer don’t we: There is something special about mom’s food! Be it the special typical Dal, upma, tomato chutney, pakorey, samosa or be it the big fish or chicken biryani. All of us will vouch to say “my mom cooks ‘…’ absolutely great!”

Hmm… the mom’s syndrome is also unique to mom. I remember, one lady, who had 20 year old kids, forcing her mom to cook tadka-dal for her!

I know quite a few NRI friends, who soon after coming home, do nothing but eat mom’s food along with lots of Thums-up!  And within two months after going back, they start missing their mom’s food. Looks like they miss their mom’s food more than their moms!

But with all this one wonders, why even after thinking or missing mom’s food, why people, including boys and girls, seek careers and lives out of mom’s reach? If it is career that we all want, then why miss mom’s food? And if it is being with parents, family and friends, why think of a career away from them? Or missing mom’s food is just another way of telling mom, that she was missed or is it just another thing said to satisfy a mom?

Well on this note have a great weekend, and keep missing mom’s food

As a law student, Santosh Kumar Singh raped and then killed Priyadarshini Mattoo! He is the son of J.P.Singh, a former IGP of Pondicherry!

When Barkha Dutt, a famous Presenter and Journalist, said - as a woman she upholds the Captial Punishment of rapist and killer of Priyadarshini Mattoo, I thought, “Strange yaar How can one justify Capital Punishment!”

Today I hear some more strange news. There are all in all NINE people waiting to be hanged!

The Supreme Court ordered hanging of two people for raping and murdering an 18 year old. These two people were let off by the ‘village elders’ after a warning for these kind of deeds. And yet they did what they did! The Apex court said that they were sexually obsessed!

There is a person, called Mohammad Afzal Guru, who has planned the attack on Parliament – He is convicted and given Capital Punishment! He has appealed to the President and is waiting! Gulam Nabi Azad, Chief Minister of Kashmir has supported his clemency.

There was another court decision given today – three members of AIADMK party, Neduthezhian, Madhu and Muniappan, have been accused of torching a bus, carrying students. The students died, and the decision by the Salem Court – “hang them till death”

A married couple – Sonia and Sanjeev, killed her parents (an ex-MLA), her sister, her step brother’s family including children aged 4 years, 2 years, and 2 months!

If you see, in all the cases the Apex Court or the other courts have ordered the killing of the people. It will be a great relief. The newspapers will come up with titles like “Justice done for the dead!” And most of us will support these decisions!

But nobody cares to find, that in one or the other way almost all of them were related to certain power – power of police or power of politics! Neither Supreme Court nor the other courts will make “observations” about all this.

If a kid writes something on a wall, try to correct him and then paint the wall! What our system does here is - just paint the wall after killing the child. Tomorrow another child, supported with political or some other power, will do it again. But what is the main root here? Will our system try to find it?

There was some discussion happening somewhere about pessimism and optimism, and which one helps better? Let’s call the discussing parties(?) the optimists and the pessimist for our ease.

So in the discussion, wise words from Norman Vincent, Stephen Covey, Andrew Carnegie were blurted by the optimists. The pessimists said that even with all the positive thoughts, Andrew Carnegie and Ayn Rand had to live a lonely life in the end and asked why? Somehow the topic changed!

Later some said that pessimism brings out the best in people because they are looking for loopholes in their own works and some said it is the ‘optimism in their pessimism’! One pessimist used this chance to show that at the end, every optimist had to be pessimistic otherwise it would lead to over confidence (this is one of my favorite terms – over confidence)

And the talk somehow went over to Indian Cricket Team. Some said Indian Team will win the world cup, and some said it will not! The optimists showed India’s last world cup effort as an example, and pessimists said that last time was ‘Laaaa…st time’ and only recent ‘history’ was more important than anything else. One optimist really got angry and shouted that he will talk about optimism only after India’s ‘winning streak’ in World Cup! The discussion ended there!

I know cricket is a huge thing for many, but I’m hugely nervous now that ‘Cricket’ (and alas that too One Day Cricket) is going to decide few people’s idea of Optimism and Pessimism!

But on a serious note what is optimism? Is it simply positive thinking?

But how come one suddenly realizes that positive thinking is necessary in a situation? Isn’t it only when there is ‘negative’ influence around us that we tell ourselves, “this is the time we need to be positive” So what brought the negative situation! Isn’t life itself a combination of negatives - bringing out positives - positive actions bringing more negative actions - and then the vicious cycle!

Is talking about positives and negatives a vicious cycle? How does one break this ‘cycle’? (I understand …not with pessimism and optimism) Also another question…is it necessary to break this cycle at all?
I understand I’m going to receive a lot of flak for this post…but atleast someone will come up with answers!(now is that optimism in me?)