Congress and India

I have tried largely to keep this forum a pace for intellectual debate and avoided politics, but more importantly it is a forum for things I feel strongly about, so I will deviate from this practice this one time. In fact, I started with writing a status on my Facebook page and decided this warranted a more laborious effort.

I have never been a big fan of 'Mahatma' Gandhi and similarly, by consequence of that choice, of the Congress. I, like a large number of Indians, have a feeling of resentment for the fact that Gandhi made us come out as a nation of ultra pacifists to the point of looking more like beggars with his brand of Satyagraha politics. I do feel that leaders like Sardar Patel, Subhash Chandra Bose should have had a bigger say in shaping the future of  India. From how the events unfolded, and the way that Gandhi-Nehru family has dominated the political scene for most of the time, it feels that India has been under the rule of a clan and makes one wonder how much better it is for us to be under their rule instead of our erstwhile colonial masters.

The only alternative I have seen (other than Janata Dal in the late 70s and 80s) is BJP. Hailing from Bengal, I find Left, with their focus on arresting any possible development, a despicable set of people. The BJP was obviously seen as a ray of new hope by Indians and hence given the vote during 1998-2004 under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee (ABV). As I look at it, India is a country with tremendous potential which was born some 60 odd years back. The problem was that being immature, having never governed a country before, the leaders did make some obvious mistakes and obviously have had members who are corrupt. Sadly, a political establishment with no corruption is not a realistic dream and a leader giving us that remains something to be seen only in Bollywood movies. The problem is not that Indians are more corruptible and so we end up having the more corrupt leaders, it is the simple fact that man at his worst is an asshole and he tends to take advantage of very opportunity to do any evil he can get away with. The problem is that somehow this mechanism to prosecute such worst of men has been a total failure. More realistically, I think having an establishment in which the major leaders are not corrupt and do not allow their juniors open ground for corruption and punishment for those stupid/unlucky enough to be caught is a fairly reasonable demand. With the way voting goes on and the multi-party system - coalition politics come into play and to a cynical mind it kind of legalizes presence of some corruption. Given that, I have seen that there were scandals a plenty during the BJP or rather NDA (the BJP led coalition) rule but these do not compare to the ones we have seen in the recent years with the Congress led UPA coalition. Also, interesting point to note is that the strong mandate Congress received made them less feeble to the whims of their partners. Still, we have seen the Hon. MMS looking the other way as the country is being plundered. I do believe that if it was only some junior minister from a coalition partner, things would have been different. I would not say that MMS benefited from the scams but then again he is more of a front to the matriarch of the Gandhi family.

Mythological Analogies

The more traditional and religious among us deeply believe in mythological tales literally. This, to the educated mind, is a rather difficult thing to do. As we see yes or no as the only two options, we tend to choose not to believe in our history, the way it is told. I seek to find a third way, a way made of reasoning and not merely trying to make choices.

I agree, in the way things are shown - arrows multiplying to 20 times, people flying etc., they are  not believable. Brushing aside everything is a mistake I would not do either - for what reason is there for people to write these epic tales in jest. They say that  truth is stranger than fiction and these tales are so complex and full of strange occurrences that it would seem more probable that they are the renditions of actual happenings rather than figments of someone's imagination. And there are too many half evidences to support these tales for them to be not true.

The thing most people don't realize is that there is a third answer, a more realistic and sensible interpretation of all these tales. For example there is mention of things like Brahma Astra, the description of which fits the modern day atomic bombs. In fact the descriptions mention of widespread environmental damage, infertility among people,  land being rendered barren etc. It seems more destructive than the atom bombs modern science has given to us yet. Most probably this refers to a fusion based atomic bomb. Similarly the relatively less powerful Indra Astra seems more to match in description to the modern day atom bomb. The description of ultimate warriors, archers hitting an arrow that multiplies manifold would perhaps be more likely be something like a automatic firing weapon possibly similar to ones we have today. Reference to warriors chanting divine words to summon these weapons is something similar to voice activation or perhaps even remote controlled delivery of missiles. When they speak of a Guru giving his favorite pupil these weapons, it smacks of a similarity to modern day nuclear proliferation. When the tales speak of immaculate conception with the sage giving the princess his fruit, it probably is just an attempt at censorship gone real bad.

The tales are enormous and the impossibilities described in them are countless as well, there is hardly any reason to justify such an enormous effort. It is suffice to say that there are many that we can find analogies to modern achievements, for the rest perhaps modern science has still a long way to go. It is easy to accept things blindly, easier still to reject them as unbelievable but hardest to uncover the true meaning of things.
I see it more as a case of the meaning of words being lost over the years.

Selfless

However much we may want to deny it, but fact remains that man is mostly a selfish creature and human relationships under all the sugar coating and emotional melodrama, are made of selfish intentions primarily. We may say that we love/care about our friends and family, but is it not for some gain or the other always! I won't go into how each of these relationships are for gain - we all know other than the rare exceptions there are sufficient reasons for our love. I tend to not take into account relationships we are born into - i.e. our family. I think trying to evaluate them is somewhat unfair and unrealistic. That being said, I am not saying that each of us has a sinister side that schemes and plots behind relationships on how to exploit them for gains. It is something that we do sub-consciously and often do not realize. So, basically, man is not structured to be selfless towards other people.

Life is the most complex thing there can be and as in all things relating to life in general, there is an exception - a 'but'. There are relationships from which we do not expect anything and in fact after a while we just want to give our everything to it. There are not many people who can claim to having such a relationship - and a person with even one such relationship should consider himself to be very lucky. The feeling you get from a selfless relationship is happiness that doesn't need anything to go your way or for you to gain in any way. You are happy just because the person exists and that there is a bond between you. It doesn't even need the person on the other end to reciprocate. Funnily enough, as mushy as this sounds - it doesn't have to be love. It can also be a platonic friendship too !!

This piece, unlike all my other pieces, doesn't seek to arrive at a solution for a problem or to convey my ideals  or philosophy. It is more of a celebration and acknowledgment of my good fortune on having such a relationship :)

First love

Ever the naive hopeless romantic, I have always believed that love happens once and so the term first love tends to not make much sense for men like me. Now I realize that it does and if you use rationale (which I am always accused of employing too often) you see why it is so. There are probably very few who do not want to attain their first love but it is the lucky few who can. For all others there is no other choice but to take the plunge again.
Whatever may happen the first love remains special - perhaps it is because it was the first time that we see  imperfections in someone as more dear to us than all things perfect. We believe sub-consciously that he/she is the most amazingly special and unique person. Sadly it is somewhat exaggerated perhaps and somewhat of an illusion as we discover one day when we fall in love again. Perhaps, at a sub conscious level, the impression forever remains and, whoever may come into our lives subsequently, we cannot manage to remove that first impression on our hearts making the first love hard to forget or transcend.

I have a similar example to give but it being related to sci-fi and robots will spoil the mood.. so I will refrain from telling it and end this here :)

Being good

Why does society expect us to be good at all times. Shouldn't there be a reason and a choice? I think this chain of thought is quite analogous to Ayn Rand's theory of objectivism but somewhat different. I am not saying that man has a right to think of himself and only himself. I personally think Rand is right logically but I am still queasy about seeing a world in which every man is following this line of thought. That is not exactly the issue. The issue is co existence. Assuming that Rand's wish is granted and man is allowed to be selfish (which he is in any case practically this day), we will see that people will have ill will towards the elite, the powerful who choose to be "selfish". They are expected to be "good" in the sense of helping the ones fallen behind, being polite, compassionate, charitable and what not. But the burning question is why ?!! Why should these things be expected from anyone. I mean the whole issue is that when getting something you don't deserve, you need to be humble. You cannot expect compassion just hope for it and appreciate if it comes your way. That is sadly lacking more and more in society and expecting things without deserving them is growing rampant.

Fighting

Fighting is inevitable and unavoidable - so I won't talk about that. I will instead muse on how to deal with these fights. We try to but cannot completely avoid developing differences with our friends and others occasionally but if we are reasonable in dealing with them, we can avoid making enemies and much of the hatred that follows. As far as I know, for most people - the idea is not to create troubles for others - we are too self centred to think about others even in this capacity. All we want is to make sure that there is not even a small dent in our ego. So we won't back out of a fight, rather like in a game of cards- we see the last bet and raise the bar a little. This can be somewhat contained if one of the people involved shows some restrain, but in cases when this doesn't happen situation worsens. So we basically have a self sustaining process - the escalation of fight. 
Another major problem is when you cannot restrict contact. There are situations which force people to work together or be together even when they hate each others' guts. In other cases limiting contact can lead to gradual cooling of tensions, but if that is not possible reverse happens - every act of your adversary seems to be against you, mocking you and is an irritant, as such enmity increases. The problem is there is no solution.. without expecting one of the people involved to show restraint which by most people is seen as cowardice. 
So yeah, I don't have any solution to the problem; just pointed out some obvious points 

Why I hate fervently Apple

For me Apple a few years back was a company that made premium laptops and music players and stood for impeccable quality. Thus I invested in a MacBook. Though it would be somewhat unfair to base on opinion on one personal experience but my experience with the machine was by far pathetic. It broke within 3 months, repaired easily but broke again after 3 months again (never to be repaired- well not for the next 15 months - the local apple store here in Columbus, USA refusing to repair it). Both times afflicting me with the loss of my precious data. Now that made me look at Apple as a company in a negative shade.
Now whatever be the reason of my change in outlook, I have found reasons aplenty to hate apple. Firstly the products are ridiculously overpriced - even admitting the fact that the quality is better does not make it reasonable for them to be so exorbitant. Then I realized that while Microsoft is painted as the villain and sued for "anti-competitive practices" for bundling their media player with Windows. It is disturbing that at the same time no one objects to the fact that Apple does not allow any other browser other than Safari for iPod Touch / iPhone devices and that it fucking limits the users to use AT&T mobile service. How can that be acceptable. Either buy a AT&T connection or pay 500-600$ more for an iPhone !!
Other than that not many people (other than the few sane ones) realize that iPhone is nothing but a glam toy. Their fan following is gathering cult proportions now, people saying they would buy anything that is sold by apple are plenty and it is very worrying to see how a corporate can mind control so many people. Their taking for granted this mass following is becoming more apparent with the launch of iPad. iPad is the most pathetic device sold for such a price. I mean if it were a very basic device for $200-300 it might make some sense to think of buying it. But there is obviously nothing innovative about it, just increasing the screen size of an iPhone and removing calling and camera functionalities. Added to that it comes for $500-900. Do they even think before charging for something.. why should anyone pay $900 for a shitty device that doesn't allow multi-tasking - why not buy a laptop instead. And how is it that other companies are able to provide a much much better product for a much lesser price. Yes I am mainly talking about the Adam device by notion-ink. Notion ink is a new company - a startup so it is somewhat unfair to compare them to apple but the sad part is no other decent well recognized company is standing up to face Apple and make a good tablet device.

COME OUT OF THIS EVIL SPELL AND DO NOT BUY APPLE !! TILL THEY SELL YOU SOMETHING SENSIBLE

Confidence Levels

I just realized there are three major levels of confidence. Given that - the funny thing is that no one actually resides in the one of the groups per se. People are always in between two levels. For me I won't say I ever was at level one but not quite at level two. Recently with more exposure, I seem to be progressing towards level three having reached level two comfortably.
First is actually non - existence of any confidence. This is when you know something but do not have the ability to convey it. You may be able to convey it to a kind ear - to a friend or when not under the glare of an expecting audience. Anxiety besets such people when forced to address a group and they fail to convey their ideas in a comprehendible manner.
The second level is the one most people belong close to, the better ones above it and the not so good ones below it. People in this level do not fear the group or audience. They believe that they are worth the group's time. The problem (actually not a problem, its pretty rational) is that they need to have something to share to be able to speak with confidence. So if you tell a computer engineer to address a group of management folk about a technology aspect - he might be very comfortable with the subject and not feel any pressure in facing the crowd. But if he is told to talk to the same crowd about his knowledge on investment opportunities, he will feel queasy. Or for that matter, it depends on the type of crowd too. So, if the same guy be told to talk about the same technology aspect but to a group of superior scientist, he might get a little queasy.
The third level is the power of indifference. The people here are either the most influential / powerful and occasionally the most absurd / obnoxious ones. They have a reasonless confidence. The only reason for their confidence is being themselves. They do not care if they know anything about the topic they are speaking. As long as they have their confidence they can speak or do anything, be as outrageous as they deem fit or useful. Such are the people who do most unreasonable things as they seem to have that sense of owning the world around them. Then again without such people there aren't many others who can take charge of a situation and manage things. Fact is there can be no single super human who can be right about everything and hence have that capability to lead all the people at all times. Since there is still a need for such a leader these people who are correct most of the time are the best bet. Basically they represent most of the elite class in any society and those who said 'the meek shall inherit the earth' haven't really met one of these folks.

Understanding

I have seen that reason and patience are generally enough to help understand almost any situation and solve any problem(s) arising out of it. That being said, there is one factor that we don't perhaps give enough importance - your interest in the matter at hand. We being imperfect are not supposed to function perfectly at any thing, so though reason and patience are tools enough for the job and assuming that the person in question has plenty of both - it is still sometimes not enough. The reason being that people fail to apply them. When there is a matter in which you are affected - there is a sense of fear which lets you see the worst of the situation and there is a sense of desire that makes you look at the most improbabable of possibilities. Thus reason is clouded by emotion. I guess there is nothing new or innovative about the idea - just that I experienced it first hand and it dawned on me that emotions enfeeble the reasoning in the best of us and no one can escape from this.

Why Rise Of China Is A Cause For Global Worries

I am one of those people wary of China's unrelenting march towards unopposed power. I won't say that I was among the first to notice and recognize the magnanimity of the occuring, but I did when I did. China has been under the global glare for decades regarding it's pathetic disregard to basic human rights and the subordination of personal freedom over what has been allegedly claimed as national interest. Earlier this was not a cause for concern or alarm at least since it did not affect anyone outside of China. Now it has changed, China is not going to remain isolated anymore. It has gathered a large amount of wealth over the years through efficiency in production and somewhat through misuse of it's people. However they might have reached the current state, fact is that they are now the biggest financial power and soon will be the greatest military power if not already so. And with this they are now spending it to build for them the best infrastructure possible. China is not lacking in any kind of resources - labor, minerals or skilled workforce. As such there is hardly any way of anyone overtaking them, India may have been smug about being the IT hub for the past 15 years but they never translated that opportunity to getting something big. India to this day remains an inferior state to Europe/American countries in terms of power, wealth and quality of life. China on the other hand is making some cities that good enough to shame the biggest cities across the developed world. This whole thing is fine.

The problem with the rise of China is that with it increases their influence and with this the developed western countries(and others as well)are left behind. Now as we all know that the record of China w.r.t. treating people humanely is very poor. The world follows the example of the leader, and as China takes over the mantle of the sole superpower in the coming decade or so, these other countries might be influenced to follow the lead of China. As such the  I fear a chain reaction leading to subordination of the individual to the state will become commonplace and 'acceptable' and lead to the formation of a draconian society world wide. For India specially as China becomes powerful, its 'friend' Pakistan might be helped to stand on it's feet again - which is a cause of concern to India. History has proved that Pakistan is obsessed with enimity against India and the more strength they or their friends gain make them more capable to do so unhindered. All this paints a very gloomy picture for the world over the next two decades or so.