Routine

How do you think you will conquer the World?

" By showing respect to and following your daily routine, each second."

Early morning cycling, an effort which fuels discipline.

Got a better song than this?

"Summer 68" by "Pink Floyd"

Album "Atom Heart Mother"

"Would you like to say something before you leave 

Perhaps you'd care to state exactly how you feel 

We said good-bye before we said hello 

I hardly even like you, I shouldn't care at all 

We met just six hours ago, the music was too loud 

From your bed I gained a day and lost a bloody year 

And I would like to know 

How do you feel, how do you feel, how do you feel? 

Not a single word was said, delights still without fears 

Occasionally you showed a smile but what was the need 

I felt the cold far too soon - the wind of '95 

My friends are lying in the sun, I wish that I was there 

Tomorrow brings another town and another girl like you 

Have you time before you leave to greet another man 

Just you let me know 

How do you feel, how do you feel, how do you feel? 

Good-bye to you 

Charlotte Kringles too 

I've had enough for one day" 

PS: How we are surrounded by moments discussed above. 

New Age Relationships

There are very few ads which you like at the first instance you see them. They are slightly ahead of their time, if not a real portrayal of the present. It then gets even better when they get discussed by masses (become newspaper articles or long social threads), while you thought you were the only one who subtly and quietly liked them. 

              A new Airtel commercial has come up with a fresh idea of betting on the Woman Boss. 

The ad portrays, how these days, couples are handling life and relationship together. Girl, here, has been shown having an upper hand, being the boss, has brought out the issue of woman empowerment (an issue I was dealing with in my previous Job, though in rural India). The times now are such, that a woman can no longer just work but can even be a boss, a breadwinner, not just craving for an equal footing. Education has done wonders. Who would've thought of it a hundred years ago in India? The pallu/duppatta clad aunties and didis which were there a generation prior to mine, have now been, in fair amount, taken over by Jeans or Suited screen scrolling ants, busy doing something. Take no offence, reader, this doesn't meant the earlier ones weren't good or something. I am only stating the observations on the social metamorphosis I see. On second thoughts, it wont be wrong to ask whether if, the Boy were to get back home first, would be have done the same? How easy it is for the boy to welcome this change of status quo, of him being the Junior? Has our society been overburdened/altered by professionalism? How do we actually see 'time-for-each-other' as an issue these days? What about the Work Life balance?   

The ad entails a realistic optimism and brings out a fresh take on relationships these days! I wonder, who was the first person who really came up with this and what the team presentation discussion it would have generated.. 

Let us ask ourselves

The set, here, has a tinge of grave satire if not outright criticism towards a lot which is going on around us and which includes us. While we, as individuals, live and make all sorts of behavioral perceptions about the world and live to justify them, we fail to understand that these perceptions live on, even after we are dead. What importance do we give to the implications of our thoughts and mindsets can have a lot to answer about the problems we face today, as a race. I hereby attempt to figure out few fundamental questions we can ask ourselves, answers to which will generate nothing less than credos for a better world. 

Non-Philosophical (More likely to be implemented by this generation):

1. What/(Who) drives the world? Is it the Government or the Industrialists? Also, who makes the bigger impact?  

2. Why are people, in their respective firms or professions so excessively proud about their justifications to be where they are and what they do? 

3. Why do we love someone, even, if required, at the cost to hate(or kill) someone else? How then is the whole definition of love justified?

4. Why do most of the people depend on others for their live's progression and at times survival? What stops them from realizing their potential and their duty to solve their own problems? 

5. How do people believe in the claims of the 'History of Religion'? Is it this easy to be-fool humans or keep them organized under one specific belief-system, which will usually refuse to believe in other such systems? 

6. If every one is taught the ideals of honesty,love and integrity in schools why do people end up blasting airplanes, raping young girls and crucifying ordinary souls? What use is such a schooling system of? How can we match the wrong people with right ones?

Philosophical (Less likely to be implemented by this generation):

1. What is our Cosmic Context? It appears Physics is far away from providing validated answers, only axioms run the show. 

2. Is there any account of the problems humanity has created vs the solutions it has to offer? A road-map which shows where we are heading?   

3. If our birth is everything which defines us, what can be in store through our death? What if someone refuses to live altogether? Will he be any different from the best man(or perhaps the best raccoon) alive?

4. Why do people prefer ignorance over knowledge? 

5. If the only thing which Wars justify over the destruction they entail, is the protection of national sovereignty, then why can't we just get rid of borders altogether? Isn't there a tremendous possibility that such a trivial justification can pop up every now and then?

6. How can we have such a persisting inequality? Justifications aside. 

At the heart of The Capitalist(Growth driven/Wealth creation) Economy lies a fundamental worry, that which asks everyone to be concerned just about themselves(their self interest). Is Capitalist Economy, perhaps the best theory (ever) which actually explains animal behavior? 

While I ponder, the merciless killings, the exploitation behind the veil of economics, border shelling, majoritarian outrage and unfathomable resource usage across the globe will only continue to be a normal occurrence. 

Opportunity Costs

Of all those things that I don’t do
and the places I am not a part of, 

Were they renderings or debacles?
Self made shackles?

To my mind,
They weren’t an oblivion of choice
Nor the first of their kind,
They had turned into a behavior of prejudice
Perhaps, a renunciation of a kind
Which asked for a unintelligible price 

Of all the things I miss the most 

The tides of time which are long gone
Such, friends, are the opportunity costs.

Neeraj Pandey 

PS: A certain kind of ascetic behaviour has been discussed here which laments renunciation and lack of desire. 

"Shahid" The Movie and its Indelible message

"Pyaar hai dheh sa gaya

Hai kadar kahaan

Mann hai yaadon ka ek majmaa"

Its been a year or so I saw Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and I wondered, why it was not adjudged the Best Film at National Film Awards. I was so wrong.

There are movies which can stir and enrage you to a point where to not speak up is hardly an option.  Which can test your dormant conscience and make you believe that yes, there is injustice in society and that all’s not fair and what if, he were you? A Courtroom drama, with Human values, the city of Mumbai and picturesque Kashmir valley revolving around it, tied with reverberating background score is a Biopic of Late Shahid Azmi (played to perfection by RajKumar Rao), who took up cases for ordinary people who are dragged to court, outrageously put behind bars, tortured and questioned with disdain. People who had lesser means to prove the truth.

Let us believe, first, in the systems & institutions we've made.

This world*, which, quite mercilessly allows a person to only be on one side of *its propaganda. It cannot let him seek his own calling and if he dares to overrule the side he has once chosen or to build up on his committed mistakes, to fight for a rampant injustice he sees, which the world itself is oblivious to, the world fights back and stabs his nuanced, noble efforts to help re-build humanity. Oh gosh! To imagine all this to’ve happened to someone is horrendous.

Shahid Azmi makes two valid points,

We don’t have to consider an accused, a criminal simply because he is in a lock up for two years, if his arrest proves the point completely, what good is Judiciary for? 

Having said that, I wonder do I really believe in courts or do I decide on my own contempt? Actually, the accused, the moment he is publicly raided, arrested is then immediately put on trial by our societal opinions and media. We need to shun our contempt and let Judiciary do its task. Let us believe in our courts and not take laws in our hands. (Shahid Azmi gets shot at and dies in 2010 chiefly due to common people taking laws in their hand). :-/

The other point is actually his life. It is the society which enrages him to step into a terror (read fundamentalist) organization, especially in Islam, where its easier to do things for your religion, there is no doubt about it and especially at his age of 15 years. I remember how easy it was for me to think of doing anything that came to my mind. Then, it was easier to get convinced, who researched, who cared, enough? And still he came back and he got himself educated to a point of bourgeois acceptance. However, quite irrationally the society inflicted rage onto him via some disillusioned but acceptable fundamentalists. Not done! This is not done man!

I then, think the biggest problem this world is facing is nothing but fundamentalism, whichever side you take. Why can’t we see the other side, let them live their life and lead ours?  I am grief struck, so as to think, exactly which world am I living in?

Issues aside, I rated the movie 9/10 at IMDB. It, as a lot of good films, is slightly underrated in terms of its popularity. Can the readers, atleast, spread it out?

PS: Shahid won two Awards at National Film Awards 2014, with the Best Film Award, however been bagged by another masterpiece, Ship of Theseus. 

'Ankhon Dekhi' What makes it a good movie

This film is about a thought experiment which is so common that everyone wishes it to be done by everybody else. It signifies an intropspective, inbound phase in the lives of many people which can more easily be felt than can be expressed. It lies beyond Joy, Wonder or Amazement. It is something which defies comprehension. When a man(Sanjay Mishra), accidently but soulfully gives himself a chance to question things around him, all, big and small and accepts faith into anything but his own ability, such, is the theme of the movie. Spun around a Delhi middle class joint family which has more family members than the time to address them, all at once.

The most striking feature of the film is an attempt to make it end like the contemplative, dying protagonist who finally come to terms with a certain cosmic reality and wisely speakes till the end, like Kevin Spacey in American Beauty. That particular part though could have been much better, both philosophically and in terms of cinematography.

The rising attempts in Parallel Cinema

I've rated it 7.5/10, the film lacking mainly in the expectations it sets upon the audience in the beginning. However, the acting, the sets and the characters couldn't have been better. It is thus aptly rated at IMDB as well.

The way Bollywood has left us unassuming about expecting films that have elements more than just plots and stars is being continuously challenged in recent times. Films of the likes of The Lunch box, Dhobhi Ghat, I am Kalam etc have been praised and cherished by an increasing number of people.
A man who can more than be credited for creating these simplistic masterpieces back to back, Rajat Kapoor is one of the best thing which is happening to Bollywood and personally an effective reason to indulge into the genre of 'realism/parallel cinema' over the Friday flicks or the Blockbusters.
Having said that, I wonder, what makes this cinema parallel? Is it the Issue? The Ssar cast? Portrayal of reality over sensation? Music over songs? Lesser viewership? Lesser budget? What?
IMO, these are hardly any predicaments which may land a film in the vicinity of parallel cinema and be preserved over being watched. Also, what is Parallel to one can be mainstream to another, right?

PS: Drop in your emails in case you cannot download, shall share it over Google drive. (And sorry for open copyright violations, I'll try and make up with Rajat Kapoor & Manish Mundra) :) .

A piece on Nath Sect, Rajasthan

Intreaction with Nath Community at Kala Gora Temple, Sawai Madhopur

What goes around, comes around. I had recently put down William Darylmple’s Nine Lives. A book which talks about the nine community-based/localized religions, showing how fragile and virtually unknown they are to the common Indian, eg. The Rewari community of Rajasthan worshipping the Pabuji of Pabusar, was an interesting account, with the incumbents in a relentless battle to save the fragmented pieces of  an ancient, locally generated religious belief system. 

Kala Gora Temple, Sawai Madhopur

During my visit to Ranthambore National Park, I took time out to visit an acclaimed and ancient temple of Kala Gora. Carved into the steep ridges of Aravallis around 10 KMs from Sawai Madhopur Railway Station, is a small but colourful complex.  This Temple, one of its kind in India belongs to Nath Sect, a sub tradition within Hinduism. The two deities Kala and Gora (Goraknath) are two brothers, with the Gora being the famous Hindu god Bhairavnath, a reincarnation of Shiva and Kala his brother. Goraknath, a common man belonging to Nath community performed Siddhis to attain the highest order, Bhairavnath(a shaivism belief). Interestingly, Nimnath and Parsvnath (from Jainism) were disciples of Bhairavnath and are connected to the Nath Sect. This complex interlinkage of Indian religions(Hinduism and Janism, here) is something I need to explore more.

The two moortis of Kala and Gora present atop the temple complex at quite a height, gave a beautiful view of the old city and its surrounding mountain line. With only a little expectation in heart, I climbed up and entered into one of the most meaningful conversations I’ve had in recent times, with the Priest of the temple (Shiv Narayan).

How old is this temple? I asked. “Around 1200 years old”, He replied.
 
He then remarked with a question, “Why have you come here? There is no god, You’ve put your own money, taken the bus, you decided and you walked up till here. If it weren’t your will and effort you could not have reached here”. It was an unsolicited remark. I felt captivated by this unassuming, unorthodox way of welcoming anyone on a temple(unlike the usual priestly-sweet-talk).

With of Old Sawai Madhopur from Temple Complex

The stoical views he shared about his religious standpoint were strikingly self-centric, that god resides within and that the god should never be extolled and put to a higher level altogether. These are bold statements and having the whole community to follow them is even bold yet beautiful. He elaborated that a person of his sect lived on the edge of a sword, tight-roped, always, forever. Meaning, unlike the usual hindu community, they invite sufferings and physical pain in the process of attaining Siddhi. This seemed to borrowed from Jainism. The Temple, he told was the only place to attain Tantrik Siddhi for the entire Nath community and people from whole of the Rajasthan came to visit this temple.

Thoughts on Rama: He was on ordinary man who did a lot of common things, good and bad. He killed an animal for his wife. He killed Ravana and almost destroyed his entire clan and empire.  Exactly, what do you think remains of the original Lanka, like does the Ayodhya? His only great part was his obedience. If only every child obeys his parents the way Rama did, that’s what we can credit him for but the way and the moment we start giving them(Rama) a place above us, when we elevate their status to something that we cannot reach, that’s when we discredit our own existence. God is within us. Science has now and in our community it has been said for ages that the same constituents which make us, made the planet and this universe, made the God. Its all one, chemically.

Thoughts on Human existence: The right question is not why we exist, it is, given that we exist, what is the most important and meaningful reason we should be alive. No one has ever and can ever stop the cycle of creation and destruction. Its like the waves at the sea-shore, the way air bubbles are created. Some of them stay for a long time, you have to be that bubble and important one who stays for a while and creates meaning. Interestingly, there is no point questioning why the bubble is created. Humans are undoubtedly the most important race. They have consciousness, can differentiate, judge, create and destroy unlike any other creature.   

Temple priests, Shivnarayanji on extreme left.

Thoughts on Festivals/Diwali: Do you celebrate Diwali? I asked. Yes, when we are done with our field harvests, we take time out to clean our houses, paint them. It isn’t that ‘Ram’ came back or something like that, no! Though, I must say, community needs festivals to grow together, there is nothing bad is celebrating Diwali but not because Ram came back. It is me who has ploughed and I want rest and I want to celebrate.

Can we have something to take from this sect? Was this really a spin-off from Hinduism or stood on its or can now be attributed to have contributed to Hinduism as one of its constituent smaller religions ? Above all, I felt happy that there are sects, which can stand on their own and question what is written in sacred texts, as even texts were written by humans, like us.   

The flip side of Justice : Lessons from what "She" suffered

I was talking to a friend of mine, who lives in Delhi, about how she felt of the decision the Special Court brought forward on the 13^th Sept. She said, this was the best that could have been done to them of what they did (instant death, no sufferings). She said, ‘Try walking in a girl’s shoes in Delhi, you’ll get to know’. She wasn't wrong in her place and I advised her to make a habit of keeping chilly powder with her, whenever she moves out. Though I wondered, with the old quote in mind, ‘We kill people, who kill people, because killing people is wrong’. 

Why was it that she was so stubbornly satisfied by what she said? In fact, why was the whole country euphoric over the same judgment? Where actually was the whole world, when she was actually ‘suffering’? Why is it that our pseudo-wisdom keeps revenge the only way to get justice?

I don’t have words to describe how Nirbhaya was tormented. Maybe, Inhumane, Irrational I would term it. Inhumane for her, Irrational for them. Why Inhumane? Because we don’t see cannibals around. We don’t eat humans, we don’t kill them by slicing them into pieces. But then we do see people kill other beings (Animals), equally horrendously, eat them, cook them and in our hypocrisy prefer to over look the issue, saying its our food. As has been said very famously, ‘We call ourselves civilized but behave no less than barbarians, when it comes to self-interest’. Why Irrational to them? Because rape is one thing, killing is another. Rape isn’t inhuman, its one form of sex, brutally per se. It was irrational of them to have sufficed the rape in that manner.  

Jyoti(Damini), who lit a lamp for us all.

Unfortunately, whenever such an incident happens it results in such a societal rage, for once, questing then our reactionary conscience as well. Notably, whenever someone suffers such an atrocity, all s/he wants is the perpetrator of the crime to be punished. Why? So that the revenge is over. Where do we see justice in this, when all bad that had to happen has happened. And in the name of justice, all we self correcting puritans are doing is to commit more atrocities with a majority will. That’s inhuman again. Is such punishment a self correcting mechanism for society to reach Utopian echelons Or is it something else? Cannot we see that humanity breeds humanity? Cannot we actually make a man out of a beast? Cannot we, for once, remember what ‘He’ told us all? Ahimsa. What exactly is the euphoria for, when she is dead? How is it that, we have just accepted that rapes are perpetual epidemics? and that the rapists should be punished with no cap to severity? Why cant we talk it over with the vulnerable rapists? Yes, rapists are also vulnerable. They don’t rise up from underneath to just rape around. They are people like us, mostly uneducated, idol, trying to figure out cheap ways of having pleasure in this costly lifestyle. Its not that easy to just equate our upbringing with theirs. As has been said, ‘Every man is a product of his own society’. Remember the schools you went to, the restaurants your family took you to, the clubs, the functions, the morning prayers, the festivals. All that made you what you are today. Back to them, I think they missed it all. They missed the chance of walking on the sensibly civilized way. As a society, lets us tackle the problem down-up rather that top down. That can help reach the utopia. Revenge wont. There would be no lessons learnt, as we have no idea, who is having a chance right now, to rape whom. We simply don’t. Lets fix it the noble way, the Indian way. Amen.

The curious case of Patna porter.

Equality, Poverty, Needs, Resources. These are very important words we seldom use in our daily lives. The younger generation, my generation rather prefer to use Cool, No Yaa, TLDR, Cya, Hiking, Damn-it etc instead. No offense to the smartphone generation. But lets see how our indifference towards not referring to the former set of words (in our daily lives) have made us hugely ignorant towards the other side of India.
 

Somewhere in Motihari, Bihar

I got down at Patna Station few weeks back. There is some sort of heat, something closely associated with sweating which lingers in such areas. Its hard to describe it, maybe it is psychological but it exists. I was greeted by a set of minion porters (will be calling them Coolie now onward) , while getting down the train. I made myself to overlook their shouting, dropped down my heavy suitcase and started rolling it, my eyes fixed at the nearest over-bridge on the platform, wondering, how will I lift the rolling baggage. K. Meanwhile, the Coolie(s) followed me and I increased my speed. I knew, sparing, say 200 bucks, which usually is the charge everywhere wont make much sense. I hurried. He hurried and said, “Saab bas bees rupaye dedijiega.”  

I stopped and looked at him. He was frail, around 65 plus. I reached the over-bridge by then and had to decide now, at a snap. Couple of questions broiled up in mind, What do you get in 20 rupees? What could have made him work this hard for this less? Is there no market for him? Inspite of huge population, is this what the purchasing power is?Do Biharis prefer to be weightlifters when it comes to saving their 20 bucks? I thought of giving away 20 bucks to him, just like that. But then that would have left him being a beggar, inspite of his readiness to work. No, I had to hire him and I said yes, amused and saddened by this cheap price of being a real Saab.