The picture on the left, that looks more like some coastal place in India is actually a picture clicked in the US by a friend of mine. The one on the right, that appears more like a National Park in the US, is actually something another friend clicked in India. The one in the middle is what I clicked a few years back when I was probably flying somewhere in the middle of these two countries. You will understand towards the end the correlation between these pictures and the post.
I've had numerous discussions with people about the Western and the Eastern world. Obviously, confirmation bias in me always put East ahead of West, only to change later towards neutrality.
Before I first went to the US, I warned myself about the shooting incidents there. But when I did my research, I realized the absurdity of my assumption. How many such incidents happen in the US? Compare it against 30,000 murders that happen in India every year, 100,000 thefts and 50,000 riots. Absolute numbers can be misleading, I agree, but India's per capita crime rate is not very pleasant either. And these are only the reported numbers. You and I know how much of information is "reported" in India. My information weapon was thence vociferously destroyed!
Once, I was talking to a friend against the US and told him - "I hate this place because I feel it's all about brain and no heart here. I am happier living amidst my loving people, even if it means it's a sub-standard place". He replied - "I think that is an extremely biased statement. How is it that you feel politicians and gundas occupying your piece of land, that you so dearly earned with all your savings of life only to be threatened for life when approached, is all heart and no brain?" Voila, my socialism weapon was destroyed too!
To another friend I said, "I like being in India where I can knock my neighbour's door if I need some help in the night, I can stop my car on the highway and ask for directions, I can give my house keys to a nearby shop when I'm going out, than being in the US only to find out that even if my house is on fire, I've to call 911 for help." The friend replied, "Yes, but I'm not exactly sure how everyone has an opinion about your life, seeming to know so much about how you've to live than you know it for yourself?" Ah, my community weapon was also destroyed!
To friend three, I said "I like living in India where I can stay with my parents and relatives, sleep between them, grow among them, and be bounded by love and affection than by comfort and quality of life, without the togetherness". The friend replied - "I don't know how you can say this when all of you leave for office before eight, reach only after eight, spend three hours on the road daily, and don't even have time to spend with your children, forget about having time to spend with parents and relatives." The last of my weapons, the family weapon was also destroyed!
With all my weapons destroyed, I realized I was just biased - listening to everyone around me, many of whom have not stepped out of their town, many of whom still think North Indians are dangerous or South Indians are cunning, many of whom don't even know how many states exist in the North East, many of whom still don't let the so called lower castes into their houses, many of whom think India is so close to nature when you can't even breathe fresh air.
If living in the US is wrong, then all of us Indians living in the city should probably be living in the villages that gave our grandparents to this world. If loving the US is wrong or marrying some other country is wrong, then none of us should love or marry until our parents have left this world. If asking a superficial "How are you?" is wrong, then asking a heartfelt "How are you?" is also wrong, if you can't do anything about it if the other person replies "No, I'm not fine".
US-India is a combination I've evidently discussed a lot about, so I just stuck to it, but this is largely true about any West-East discourse. I think it's all about perceptions. Not all of what the East thinks about the West is right and not all of what the West thinks about the East is right. The truth is, every place is unique, every person is special. Whatever does exist superficially, as long as the trace of love exists in everyone, this planet will continue to survive. Be it the "Everyone together" philosophy of the East or the "First You" attitude of the West, I think it's not Home, but the Heart that is the Best!
I've had numerous discussions with people about the Western and the Eastern world. Obviously, confirmation bias in me always put East ahead of West, only to change later towards neutrality.
Before I first went to the US, I warned myself about the shooting incidents there. But when I did my research, I realized the absurdity of my assumption. How many such incidents happen in the US? Compare it against 30,000 murders that happen in India every year, 100,000 thefts and 50,000 riots. Absolute numbers can be misleading, I agree, but India's per capita crime rate is not very pleasant either. And these are only the reported numbers. You and I know how much of information is "reported" in India. My information weapon was thence vociferously destroyed!
Once, I was talking to a friend against the US and told him - "I hate this place because I feel it's all about brain and no heart here. I am happier living amidst my loving people, even if it means it's a sub-standard place". He replied - "I think that is an extremely biased statement. How is it that you feel politicians and gundas occupying your piece of land, that you so dearly earned with all your savings of life only to be threatened for life when approached, is all heart and no brain?" Voila, my socialism weapon was destroyed too!
To another friend I said, "I like being in India where I can knock my neighbour's door if I need some help in the night, I can stop my car on the highway and ask for directions, I can give my house keys to a nearby shop when I'm going out, than being in the US only to find out that even if my house is on fire, I've to call 911 for help." The friend replied, "Yes, but I'm not exactly sure how everyone has an opinion about your life, seeming to know so much about how you've to live than you know it for yourself?" Ah, my community weapon was also destroyed!
To friend three, I said "I like living in India where I can stay with my parents and relatives, sleep between them, grow among them, and be bounded by love and affection than by comfort and quality of life, without the togetherness". The friend replied - "I don't know how you can say this when all of you leave for office before eight, reach only after eight, spend three hours on the road daily, and don't even have time to spend with your children, forget about having time to spend with parents and relatives." The last of my weapons, the family weapon was also destroyed!
With all my weapons destroyed, I realized I was just biased - listening to everyone around me, many of whom have not stepped out of their town, many of whom still think North Indians are dangerous or South Indians are cunning, many of whom don't even know how many states exist in the North East, many of whom still don't let the so called lower castes into their houses, many of whom think India is so close to nature when you can't even breathe fresh air.
If living in the US is wrong, then all of us Indians living in the city should probably be living in the villages that gave our grandparents to this world. If loving the US is wrong or marrying some other country is wrong, then none of us should love or marry until our parents have left this world. If asking a superficial "How are you?" is wrong, then asking a heartfelt "How are you?" is also wrong, if you can't do anything about it if the other person replies "No, I'm not fine".
US-India is a combination I've evidently discussed a lot about, so I just stuck to it, but this is largely true about any West-East discourse. I think it's all about perceptions. Not all of what the East thinks about the West is right and not all of what the West thinks about the East is right. The truth is, every place is unique, every person is special. Whatever does exist superficially, as long as the trace of love exists in everyone, this planet will continue to survive. Be it the "Everyone together" philosophy of the East or the "First You" attitude of the West, I think it's not Home, but the Heart that is the Best!
Sorry, the post became too long.
ReplyDeleteExcused :P
ReplyDeleteNice assembly and correlation of pics :-)
ReplyDeleteI liked this one. I mean after a long time something which was interesting :P:P
ReplyDelete-Bharathi.
Ya, I will write about Vidya Balan and The Dirty Picture in my next post, it will become entertaining also :)
ReplyDelete"East" and "West" is I think more "symbolic" of something underneath rather than the exact geographies themselves. So what is that something underneath is the question. From what I have seen of "East" and "West", that something underneath is what is called in the West as the "Pursuit of happiness" which is held in high esteem in the west. From my limited understanding, the creators of the declaration of independence document (http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/) had the proper intention while defining the "pursuit of happiness" as basically freedom, which is good.
ReplyDeleteBut over time, the "pursuit of happiness" is more and more getting interpreted as "pursuit of wealth/fame/success" . And that single narrow minded defenition of "pursuit of happiness" I would say can be attributed to 99% of what is not good today. Now, the traditional philosophical defention of that pursuit has been the correct defenition - as I mentioned, the declaration of independence in US seems to get it right, the Gita and other scriptures in our land gets it right, I am sure the wise men in all parts of the world has got it right - till now.
So, in summary, whichever land you find this twisted interpretation of this noble pursuit, you can attribute all the problems in your post to that land. And as you and me know too well, this modern interpretation of pursuit of happiness is no more restricted to one geographical location ! And the only way to fix it whatever be the location is to fix oneself and ones own interpretation of the pursuit. Otherwise very soon the entire world will take the modern defenition and the entire world will look the same.
Extremely interestingly, if you follow the Indian scriptures, before the starting of "Kali Yuga", I think history says that the "Dwapara Yuga" ended when it reached such a stage that the entire generation degraded and people started fighting with each other and I remember a story that says that they ended up shooting lord Krishna with an arrow causing his demise / return from earth :-). So, I dont know if there is a chance and we can "fix" the current Kali Yuga or Kali Yuga will have the same fate as Dwapara Yuga and then we start all over again !
Rgds,
Gopa.
How many interpretations for that one title...
ReplyDelete"East or West, Heart is Best"
a) Strike the middle ground (heart stands for center/middle), that's best.
b) Whatever arguments the brain may come up with for East or for West, the land which the heart (heart stands for our being, our soul..) is attached to, is the best for you.
c) If your heart is anchored to being good and doing good, it doesn't matter whether you live in the East or the West.
d) As long as your heart is capable of love, it doesn't matter which philosophies (east or West) you choose to follow in your life.
Which one did you mean?