Showing posts with label harmony. Show all posts
Showing posts with label harmony. Show all posts

Friday, February 25, 2011

The people never make sense

This is probably a rant.

Today something outrageously funny (yet disturbing) happened. As me and some colleagues were in a mall on a research/store photography visit, a young (college?) girl approached one of us to sell some tickets to some random rock/bhakti show. We showed no interest though she waited around us. Later on, on her complaint, her male friend decided to confront one of us accusing him of taking her pictures! Obviously he had not and considering that (no apologies for being blunt and direct as she was asking for it) she was hardly good looking and that she actually thought that she was worthy of being shot discreetly was creepy, hilarious and showed just how vain some people are- especially when they have no reason to be!

People in the city never seem to work with logic- for anything. I have not known anyone with a Blackberry who hasnt had software/hardware problems and yet thy defend it without being able to prove the absolute necessity of having one over any other smart phone. Or Apple fans lapping up iphones or similar products just on face value that the products heralded new eras in their respective  categories- without any real research or understanding about how other companies have overtaken Apple in many respects in similar products. The competition that Apple created only gives more choice to the consumer but the loyalists are like fundamentalists who are brainwashed and have horse blinkers on to see the whole truth- like the Nazis or any religious fanatic.

Speaking of which, all the "intellectual" leftist/libral/marxist bullshitters stay quiet when naxals and marxist terrorists capture or kill innocent civilians either to avenge death of their "comrades" (they should really stop using these words that have genesis in great revolutions) or seek their release. The same pseudo-intellectuals will protst when any rightist decides to do the same. And these same fakers stay quiet when "leftist" countries like China and Russia commit similar attrocities or infringe on human rights of their own people. Perhaps these modern day sycophants should stay i these beloved  countries as unprivileged citizens and experience all those restrictions firsthand. Never have they been able to give any convincing answers (economically/socially etc) for an eclectic nation like India and their questions are driven by ideas formulated years ago having little relevance in the 21st century. Again, more brain washed people.

Stereotypes aren't hard to find and these leftists play the role well. But so do book-snobs in almost a similar vein. The belief that reading a book enriches one experience more than someone who doesnt't couldn't be misplaced any more than placing faith in a idea relevant in the first half of the 20th century. The misplaced faith extends to the repeatedly annoying habit of these snobs to keep saying that the movie based on a book was not as good as the book- preference is subjective but they are quite objective in their stance. Gaining all their knowledge about life, places and events through reading seems to give them a complex of having superior  understanding of everything they have read about. On the contrary it only makes them passive and when faced with real life issues, most falter and try to take didactic approaches inculcated from all their reading. If only life were that simple, leaders would read a book to solve their country's problems, win world peace and have absolute knowledge of every single person from any particular tribe in any particular village in any particular region of the world. In an world of subjectivity, objectivity is only detrimental to the process of understanding cultures and situations.

There are way too many such examples to list here but the point is that we are always going to be surrounded by people who make little sense to us, or even themselves. Heck, people cannot even understand how deeply involved a biker I am or the reasons behind being so! I may not be perfect myself but at least I try to make balanced decisions and opinions without getting swayed by brand loyalties or half-arsed ideologies or words written by someone sitting in an armchair. I probably dont give a damn about most things but annoying people annoy me!

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Judgement Day- September 30 2010: My two cents about what it should be

Too much has been said anyway, so this is only about what I want. Wishful thinking yes,  but it stems from a hope for my country and for our generation.
This is the eve of the judgement day for the Ayodhya dispute. The Allahabad High Court decides tomorrow the fate of the issue that has been raging on for many decades now. An issue that shouldn't be an issue. Why should religion be such a big issue in the 21st century? Why should this supposed "dispute" be more important than any other issue, like say, education or poverty? Why should the parties involved get so much undeserved attention and publicity for something destructive? The reasons, also the reasons for halting India's progress in the modern world, is that people in India are too attached to religion, castes and what they call "tradition". 

If any of these fanatics or even what one could consider a "religious" civilian ever tried to understand history, they would know that traditions and religion have been very fluid and not one concrete entity. So what are they defending? A hollow and empty vessel- too much noise, little substance. In our country, most problems stem from people's attachment to these illogical beliefs, ideologies and self-imposed dogmas, from female infanticides, honor killings or even in the choice to be a vegetarian. The Ayodhya issue is created by politicians and jobless religious crazies bent upon trying to influence people on things that needn't be paid any attention. India has come far- the new generation is balanced in its beliefs and mostly knows how stupid these "issues" are. I hope this reflects tomorrow in the verdict. I hope religious fanatics lose on both sides and on the site, a school or hospital is ordered to come up instead.

Dont bother to comment if you want to teach me a lesson in "traditions"- 'cos that would mean that you have no idea what you are or I am talking about. Have fun living in your dark ages.