I have been reading a lot about the gang rapes happening in India nowadays; or rather the media attention it has been gaining. I am stunned that every newspaper is able to find an incident or two every other day which make it to the news. The "related news" when you visit the news websites will take you down a very depressing and gloomy reality of modern India. Till a few days ago, there was nothing I took out of this news and most of the times even wondered why the Indian media keeps bring such news on to the surface when there is not much we could do but shake our heads in disgust and shame while continuing to read the hindu-muslim comments which ensue irrespective of the news item under consideration.
More recently, the delhi gangrape spurred a whole lot of articles online. The "juvenile" in the case gripped us more and we all unitedly believed and prayed that this so called juvenile not be pardoned and be tried and tested along with the other adults. All this, till I read an interesting article which talked about the other end of the spectrum. Interesting because the author dared to talk about the case from the other end. It talked about the case from the side of the juvenile (if at all) and how he has no hope for any real justice and how justice to anyone in this case will be blinded by our collective drive towards justice for the innocent girl. While I have no soft side for any juvenile or adult in this or any rape case, it got me thinking. What is the real cause here? Why do I keep reading such news? When will it stop?
I did not find any answers right away, but the thought kept me thinking in some part of the head with no real solace. Today, while having a long conversation with my friend, I was able to put some pieces together. Here is what I could collage together from all the reading that I had done. The reason why this is is real occurrence in India is because the situation itself is very "unreal" to the doer itself as one article put it. The question is why? The answer lies in another piece of news. Not the one about rape, but about tariff fixing for auto-rickshaws in Chennai which got people complaining and cribbing about how the rickshaw-wallas skip the meter. While I have been on the side of the cribbers back in India, I have more recently come to realize after meeting their counterparts here in USA that our poor drivers in India are underpaid and have very tough life on very tough lawless roads. Why is it that I was so blinded back in India while I see a more clearer picture in a newer country?
The reason is very simple. In India, my perspectives were based on the what we are conditioned to. Based on what percentage of the pocket-money/salary we could spend on transport after paying for the ever increasing prices elsewhere. Why is it that we never cared about the quality of life of the rickshaw-wallas? Because we were fending for our own. It was me first and then everyone else after that. "If I barely have enough to take care of my own needs, why would I worry about someone else?" The hatred that we have collectively built up towards the politicians and the super-rich is probably the same hatred that the poor (who are getting poorer) have towards everyone else who is not their kind. To them, the rest of the world is "unreal". It just does not exist.
So what is the real problem here? The real problem is the other news we keep reading about. Scam's, inflation, bribery, politics, etc. The list is endless. The wider our gap in between the rich, the middle-class and the poor; the more unreal the other worlds are to each of these individuals. The rich do not understand and probably don't care enough about the problems of the poor or the middle class. Like wise, the poor and the middle class are stuck in their own rut. We are so busy about our own problems that we have forgotten about and probably don't care about the problems we collectively face as a nation. Our problems are like the garbage problems that becomes the governments' problem the minute they leave our car windows. I am more and more convinced that the rapes in India are not the problem, but a very sad outcome to an even bigger problem; a problem that will and probably already is manifesting itself in many other forms.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Monday, October 3, 2011
The Astrologer
A field or rather a stream of study and science that has always fascinated me; Astrology. Having wondered a million times over, I never could figure how this science worked. Maybe they are all bluffing and extrapolating based on "reading" your social status and well being? Maybe; then I started thinking on a different train of thought recently.
Humans as we know have originated from other species, where a few of our ancestors took a different route. Meaning that at some point of time in life, there was probably just one man and one woman. Lets jump directly to the topic of solving this astrology puzzle. Knowing how DNA works and how DNA influences practically every single action of ours, its not that difficult to predict how the offspring's of the two will behave. Now many of you at this point will argue that there are a definitely many more combinations of offspring's that are possible. I completely agree and I promise I will come to that, but I will work backwards towards it, so hang on. Coming back, if we assume for now that the behavior or the DNA built of the offspring's is very predictable, then what we have is people with DNA's which are predictable to a very specific accuracy and then more such people with the same predictable DNA and hence predictable natures and behaviors.We can now very specifically calculate the effect the one individual on another and the resulting behavior of that individual on other individuals. Its like a butterfly effect that will exponentially keep affecting each other and keep growing.
Now let me go back many steps as promised to get rid of the "assumption factor" that I asked you to live by. Life on earth, billions of years ago has had a single point of origin. Some call it a chance situation that was favorable for the entity itself and others; not-so. In any case, if life did begin as a single point source, and if every life form has some DNA irrespective of how simple or complicated the life form or the DNA is, then the first single life cell did have some DNA to begin with. We now know a starting point and the effect of its environment on the living form based on its build of its DNA. This life form now undergoes mitosis, giving rise to two of itself which have very predictable behaviors, not just to the nature around it, but also on each other.
Going a little forward, we get life forms like bacteria, viruses and cell life structures whose behaviors and actions to the environment and to each other is known. Now we simply need to keep growing this predictable life form, undergoing adaptation to the nature that it itself influenced and to each other that all have a point source. Somewhere down the line, you reach the time where you have humans or human like species in very limited numbers. If you knew the point of origin, then you definitely will know how these few human like species will behave and influence each other and to their surroundings that they are in based on the very predictable and calculable ancestral DNA, to give rise to what even they would not know to be called the modern society. A society filled with billions of the same kind and others, influencing each other and getting influenced by the same butterfly effect. All tied together by a common string that they do not even know exists. It is like a butterfly effect, which might seem very difficult to comprehend and predict, but not so if you knew the starting point. It began as a single life form which was very predictable, and over a period of billions of years still gives a very predictable result, the lives, actions, behaviors, traits, successes, failures, basically all of the life time itself can be very accurately predicted.
Astrology would not be that difficult to comprehend if there is a way to perform this simulation, which probably assumes a lot of the factors to safely give you a neighborhood of your future life and present. All astrology needs is a record or some sort of knowledge of the beginning point of this chaos or simplicity, depending upon how much you know about the starting point. Its probably the same thing as the big-bang. But if you realize the subtlety, there is another impending question. Who passed on this information of the starting point?
Humans as we know have originated from other species, where a few of our ancestors took a different route. Meaning that at some point of time in life, there was probably just one man and one woman. Lets jump directly to the topic of solving this astrology puzzle. Knowing how DNA works and how DNA influences practically every single action of ours, its not that difficult to predict how the offspring's of the two will behave. Now many of you at this point will argue that there are a definitely many more combinations of offspring's that are possible. I completely agree and I promise I will come to that, but I will work backwards towards it, so hang on. Coming back, if we assume for now that the behavior or the DNA built of the offspring's is very predictable, then what we have is people with DNA's which are predictable to a very specific accuracy and then more such people with the same predictable DNA and hence predictable natures and behaviors.We can now very specifically calculate the effect the one individual on another and the resulting behavior of that individual on other individuals. Its like a butterfly effect that will exponentially keep affecting each other and keep growing.
 |
| A single primordial cell |
Going a little forward, we get life forms like bacteria, viruses and cell life structures whose behaviors and actions to the environment and to each other is known. Now we simply need to keep growing this predictable life form, undergoing adaptation to the nature that it itself influenced and to each other that all have a point source. Somewhere down the line, you reach the time where you have humans or human like species in very limited numbers. If you knew the point of origin, then you definitely will know how these few human like species will behave and influence each other and to their surroundings that they are in based on the very predictable and calculable ancestral DNA, to give rise to what even they would not know to be called the modern society. A society filled with billions of the same kind and others, influencing each other and getting influenced by the same butterfly effect. All tied together by a common string that they do not even know exists. It is like a butterfly effect, which might seem very difficult to comprehend and predict, but not so if you knew the starting point. It began as a single life form which was very predictable, and over a period of billions of years still gives a very predictable result, the lives, actions, behaviors, traits, successes, failures, basically all of the life time itself can be very accurately predicted.
Astrology would not be that difficult to comprehend if there is a way to perform this simulation, which probably assumes a lot of the factors to safely give you a neighborhood of your future life and present. All astrology needs is a record or some sort of knowledge of the beginning point of this chaos or simplicity, depending upon how much you know about the starting point. Its probably the same thing as the big-bang. But if you realize the subtlety, there is another impending question. Who passed on this information of the starting point?
 |
| Pictures from Univ. of Texas at Austin |
Sunday, October 3, 2010
The Hang Up!
The one thing that I think we all generally take time to master is the art of recognizing the genuineness in a person or rather seeking the true face behind the hidden mask. Everyone wears the mask, some for the fear of getting hurt while most for their own selfish gains from others. How to differentiate in between these two people?
Enter: The theory of "The Hang up". What a weird name? Is it catchy just for the sake of catching some attention? Well, I agree it is catchy, and it did not have a name till like 2 minutes back. But its a real theory, and its my own. Let me explain. It emerges from my observations back in India, where many people are not afraid to show you their true face. No politeness, no courtesy and no care at times. We all have these annoying callers on the phone, trying to sell us new cellphone plans, new internet, new insurance; right? Now towards explaining my theory, let me put forward a simple talk in between a typical seller and well...me.
Conversation #1
Caller: Hello Sir, how are you doing today?
Me: (Hating the small talk) Yes, I am doing good..tell me
Caller: I am calling from ABC Insurance and we have 3 new schemes.....(goes on about the schemes, while I try hard to interrupt), are you interested Sir?
Me: N.. (Yes, I did not finish the "o" of the "No" yet)
Caller: (Hangs up) Click./ Or explains why you should listen to him
Either case, he/she does not get the point or try to understand you. End of story
So what' so great about this so called call? It's simply normal. No, not to me. Let me give you another example of a call.
Conversation #2
Caller: Hello Sir, I am calling from XYZ telephone company, and we have 3 new schemes, do you want to know about them?
Me: Sure, tell me (Not that I am interested, but his courtesy makes me want to listen to it)
Caller: Scheme1.., Scheme2.., Scheme3..Do you like them sir?
Me: Well, actually I am pretty happy with my current plan and I don't think I want to change it.
Caller: Okay Sir, but in the future if you do feel like changing it, we have our service center at xyz road near you.
Me: Sure, thanks
Caller: Thank you sir, have a good day.
Now, most of you might have got my point by now. Every one hangs up in the end, but the way you do it makes a whole lot of difference to you. One leaves you cursing these cold callers and one leaves you kinda happy about a good conversation. Hence the name. The point being, why would I want to buy a product when they would not even spare you a few seconds to say "bye"? In fact, the way they treat me after I say no (if I got to ever finish it) is the way they will treat me when I am with them. To say, the way they hang up tells you what kind of an organization they are. Its such a good and clear way of choosing. I would think about the second caller's company/product some time down the line, but definitely not the first one. They simply cut me off their list. Their happy little greetings suddenly converted into something unpleasant. Why would you choose them, right?
The same extends to people. There are some who will simply abandon you and move on the minute they realize that you are not of use to them anymore, and then there are the ones who will still be nice to you even when they know you are leaving. Both will leave you anyways, but one will simply cut you off their list and they would not want to be nice to you again. The way they leave, makes a difference.
Makes you want to reject everyone who asks something from you just to judge them, isn't it? Though I am not saying that, there are smaller clues in the way people react when you are unable to make them happy. They way they treat you, the way they talk to you and about you to others, which gives out all your clues. And once you have mastered your art of reading these subtle little hints, you know what you have; a person with a heart of gold or a person with a custom gold plated heart. Happy Hang up!
Enter: The theory of "The Hang up". What a weird name? Is it catchy just for the sake of catching some attention? Well, I agree it is catchy, and it did not have a name till like 2 minutes back. But its a real theory, and its my own. Let me explain. It emerges from my observations back in India, where many people are not afraid to show you their true face. No politeness, no courtesy and no care at times. We all have these annoying callers on the phone, trying to sell us new cellphone plans, new internet, new insurance; right? Now towards explaining my theory, let me put forward a simple talk in between a typical seller and well...me.
Conversation #1
Caller: Hello Sir, how are you doing today?
Me: (Hating the small talk) Yes, I am doing good..tell me
Caller: I am calling from ABC Insurance and we have 3 new schemes.....(goes on about the schemes, while I try hard to interrupt), are you interested Sir?
Me: N.. (Yes, I did not finish the "o" of the "No" yet)
Caller: (Hangs up) Click./ Or explains why you should listen to him
Either case, he/she does not get the point or try to understand you. End of story
So what' so great about this so called call? It's simply normal. No, not to me. Let me give you another example of a call.
Conversation #2
Caller: Hello Sir, I am calling from XYZ telephone company, and we have 3 new schemes, do you want to know about them?
Me: Sure, tell me (Not that I am interested, but his courtesy makes me want to listen to it)
Caller: Scheme1.., Scheme2.., Scheme3..Do you like them sir?
Me: Well, actually I am pretty happy with my current plan and I don't think I want to change it.
Caller: Okay Sir, but in the future if you do feel like changing it, we have our service center at xyz road near you.
Me: Sure, thanks
Caller: Thank you sir, have a good day.
Now, most of you might have got my point by now. Every one hangs up in the end, but the way you do it makes a whole lot of difference to you. One leaves you cursing these cold callers and one leaves you kinda happy about a good conversation. Hence the name. The point being, why would I want to buy a product when they would not even spare you a few seconds to say "bye"? In fact, the way they treat me after I say no (if I got to ever finish it) is the way they will treat me when I am with them. To say, the way they hang up tells you what kind of an organization they are. Its such a good and clear way of choosing. I would think about the second caller's company/product some time down the line, but definitely not the first one. They simply cut me off their list. Their happy little greetings suddenly converted into something unpleasant. Why would you choose them, right?
The same extends to people. There are some who will simply abandon you and move on the minute they realize that you are not of use to them anymore, and then there are the ones who will still be nice to you even when they know you are leaving. Both will leave you anyways, but one will simply cut you off their list and they would not want to be nice to you again. The way they leave, makes a difference.
Makes you want to reject everyone who asks something from you just to judge them, isn't it? Though I am not saying that, there are smaller clues in the way people react when you are unable to make them happy. They way they treat you, the way they talk to you and about you to others, which gives out all your clues. And once you have mastered your art of reading these subtle little hints, you know what you have; a person with a heart of gold or a person with a custom gold plated heart. Happy Hang up!
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