The ironies of appreciation

A great photo is the one that looks like a painting.

A great painting is the one that looks like a photo.

The list can go on. A great voice is the one that sings like an instrument, effortlessly and impeccably leaping between notes. A great instrumentalist is the one who plays like real voice, that you feel like hearing someone sing. A great father is the one with motherly warmth, a great mother is the one with fatherly protectiveness. A great friend is the one that treats you like family, a great family relation is the one that treats you like friend. A great leader is the one that understands labour, a great labour is the one that understands leadership.

Why did I write this now? I don't know, will come back to this when I know.

A sorry and a thanks we owe them

I woke up to some vedic chanting in a distant temple this morning. I'd forgotten to keep my alarm, but this was such a pleasant one! I sat to study but my concentration was slowly drifting towards them. I was thinking about one of the greatest classes of people this country has ever produced – the Brahmins.

Clear eyes, serene features, peaceful face - you can mostly spot them from a distance. Go to the US and people will tell "You vegetarians from India are really smart people". A Tambrahm is a popular term even there. You can't stop admiring Brahmins for their shrewdness. This country owes a major pie of its knowledge to them, for they were always the knowledge powerhouse of the Indian society. But their contribution is often undermined, for they're not the majority. Nor do they enjoy any kind of good will from the rest of the nation, for humans don't like someone else to remain at the top all the time.

They've struggled hard to reach here. They still keep struggling hard, unfortunately they don't often get what they truly deserve. They live in a country that is scrambling to achieve comprehensive inclusive growth and thence are forcefully discriminated for the so-called welfare of this society. Discrimination though, has been a necessary evil since time immemorial. Regrettably, it's an eye for an eye now! Remorsefully, the wrong eye! Still, just look around, you'll find them holding lead positions in government organizations, private companies, educational institutions and wherever little our discriminatory reward system has allowed them to enter into. We surely owe them the deepest sorry for what we're doing to them right now and an even deeper thanks for all that they've done for us so far.

I hope that one day the children of the brahmin family and the children of the tribe family can hold hands together like brothers and sisters, and step in to shaping India's future, spreading shock waves around the world.

All we moralists

It was during one of our Macroeconomics classes that the professor remarked, "If you keep aside the interest payment trend that Bush senior adopted, Clinton did a remarkable job. That's why you see all these lines go up in the graph during his period as President. You can't blame him for the past sins committed by others. Of course, he committed a different set of sins". And then the class erupted out in wild laughter. It's perfectly fine to crack a joke like this and it's also fine for everyone to have a good laugh at it. I laughed too. But I didn't like the ridicule filled in the laughter that I saw around. How I wish I was able to do this!

"Sir, if you may permit I would like to take one minute of the air time and talk to the class".
"Sure".
"On a scale of 100, let us subtract 50 points for Clinton for his sin. So, his chastity score is 50. Is that fine with everyone?"

Everyone agrees.

"Now each of you take a piece of paper and write 100 at the top. That's your score. If you've ever gazed at a girl on the road amorously, deduct 10 points. If you've ever dashed into an unknown girl with immoral instincts, subtract 15 points. If you've ever watched porn, take off 20 more points. If you ever fantasized a girl in your imaginations, subtract 25 points. If you had a girlfriend and indulged with her before marriage, subtract 30 points. If you've ever been intimate with any other girl other than your wife, subtract the same 50 points. Anyone who has scored above 50 can laugh now."

The class goes into utter silence.

I was not able to do this in class, but I've a place to tell all that I can't tell elsewhere - my blog!

Stay away from yourself, Stop living

1. Relations are material quantifications to an invaluable feeling called love. Stay away from relations.
2. Family is the first boundary that upholds such quantifications. Stay away from such fragmentation.
3. Marriage is an invention to fortify that boundary. Stay away from marriage.
4. Stay away from cruel people who can't equally love all the people in this world.
5. Stay away from vicious people who don't do unto others as they want others do unto themselves.
6. Stay away from spineless people who assume what they do is right because the majority does so.
7. Stay away from biased people who believe there's only one right thing.
8. Stay away from selfish people who are not bothered about the consequence for others.
9. You're the worst person you've ever seen in this world, stay away from yourself. Stop living.

I just realized that I am cruel, vicious, spineless, biased and selfish and that I uphold all kinds of materialistic boundaries and fragments. Darnit!