ON READING Y B YEATS AND A CONFESSION

"For bringing in Vintage feat,
At just the time I needed it,
I know nothing if the question is mine
About Etiquette and all and Vintage wine,
But drink Vintage I love to do,
And just like the King
I enjoy The Vintage too.."

I, being an avid reader, often wandered in the world of books - the best dope for the introvert, quiet boy to hide into, to avoid the real world, to spend more time in the realm of dreams, & self-constructed fantasy world.

From a very early age I made a stupid set of "readers' rules", for myself, perhaps to increase my devotion, surrendering to the 'feet' to The World of Letters, and pray that more and more books, let not books fly away from my world ; (now I know that it was 'bribery' that I had sinned by.)

But I learnt the ceremonial acts watching my mother, as she would try to create an air of sacrosanct auspice, surrendering herself to the feet of her deity (or whatever represented the divine core that she payed allegiance to). (now I know that she had sinned of bribery too)

Coming back to the subject of this discussion, I would make my "rules of reading" quite strict to which i've been faithful all along.

One section of the queer legislation demanded if I'm reading a good book, I should be a faithful reader, and not get distracted - My juvenile idea of respect for books.

The first time I read the lines - I confess that I broke that "rule of faith" and that my eager perusal had a selfish motive. With every tingle of satiety that words provided, I thought of these eyes, and myself, sneaking out to remember my daughter, and not the gratification in a world where gentle words make rainbow colours and brittle notes of melody.

But the second perusal (which, I suspect, might be hosting Greed demanding Need-- maybe I wanted to commit the same sin again, escaping to hope for a reverie which shall be graced by my princess).
But this time Yeats had me on the mat.

Now that is what you call Sweet Surrender.

THE BOOK AND THE BOY

It was a Kolkata summer evening in the third week of April, 35 years back, when I'd got caught in a blinding dust storm aided by strong gusty Norwesters, that preceded a heavy downpour. I remember everything getting flooded quickly in the low lying pocket of the South Calcutta neighborhood I'd grown up in.

I'd taken shelter, deeply inhaling the smell of moist earth, under the portico of the grandest house in the neighborhood, and one of the oldest too. It belonged to a family one of whose members had the word 'Lord' prefixed to his name -- something that used to puzzle me more often than not because the school version of the word didn't agree at all with what I used to observe while coming back from school 5 days a week.

Minutes later a known face peeped out from the 1st floor balcony, calling out my name. A boy of the same age as mine, Shunu (Shaunak in the school register) came from the grand family (he felt grand about it too, and visibly so). Shunu had an enviable collection of books that were kept neatly stacked in his own room, and very often he used to gift me 10-12 minutes of 'book-gazing' with royal indulgence, when I used to go to the grand house in excited anticipation, a couple of days a week, during the dusky hours.

He told me to come upstairs, and I was in his room in a flash, instantly prepared for yet another gratifying set of ten minutes that was perhaps awaiting my arrival. That day he took out a book and let me feel the cover, for the first time ever (which was incidentally the last). Almost choking on my rapidheart-beats, with goosebumps all over, I touched the hard bound cover, 'feeling' it deeply, my fingers wandering over one of the most beautiful stormy sea-scapes I'd ever seen, that adorned the cover. I knew the famous name, and was thrilled to hear that the 'Lord' had gifted it to Shunu, on his grand-nephew's birthday.

At that moment I wanted to turn over the hard cover so badly, I really really wanted to..but the indulgent prince ruled that my 'book-gazing time' was over for the day.

At the age of eight, I was pretty much one of those archetypal quie, meek, unconvincingly gawky types, non-demandingly content with whatever gifts my parents got for me on a regularly biannual basis - birthdays and the Durga Puja. But that night I did ask my father, for the first time in my life, whether he would buy the book for me.

I wouldn't copy his answer word by word here because I might get biased if I try to qualify  paternal care and advice, but he did convince me quite sternly that it wasn't a good trend t all to 'ask' for gifts, leave alone such "expensive" ones, which were not supposed to exist in rented one and a half room flats, like the one we lived in.

Somehow the entire episode around that book stuck to my memories, that rainy dusk when I'd touched it, and that quiet night that felt so still after I learnt yet another truth -- I don't know why, because the episode doesn't have too many spoken words.

I've moved on from that rainy evening. I've traversed quite a distance over uncertain terrains to rech this very moment that finds me typing these insignificant pronouns and articles. And the book disappeared too from the conscious mind, being replaced by a variety of its lot, more illuminous lot.

Well, that was till thirty five years later. I was roaming around in a newly opened mall not very far away from my house in Mumbai. As I passed by a bookshop, I 'eyed' its interiors as usual (an old habit that has become a reflex). And I stopped still. In one of the racks close to the entry glass-door, under a template that read "Children Fiction : Adventure", there it was.. the name in prominent print, the letters reading from up downwards, oriented horizontally with a mild slope, as the book leaned lazily on its less illustrious neighbour with an air of dismissive royalty. Or so I felt at that moment.

I slowed down to let my family move ahead, and quietly pushed in through the glass door.

You know how it feels -- memories crashing down on you like the breakers on a lonely beach -- everything else in the universe stands quiet while the sound of the sea breaking upon the shore rules your senses completely with its eternal unrest. The damp moist smell, the dusty gale, the fading lights of that stormy evening came crashing upon me, and every single moment of that evening rushed past, of that silent night, right up to that last moment just before I had fallen asleep. As I stood before the cash counter to pay, I eyed the cover of my glorious purchase. The beautiful stormy sea-scape didn't fail to fascinate me one more time.

It happens. It happens to all of us -- Life is strange. Of course it is, and that adds to its charm big time. Yet some events, as a matter-of-factly, perfectly normal events, just happen, when you expect them the least. They churn your senses inside out, briefly before things get back to normal. But the 'strange' tag somehow gets attached to normal events. I find that more stranger than what intellectually gifted minds qualify life as, over vague, philosophical musings (much to my awe and empty-headed admiration).

As I said before ; It happens -- nothing remarkable about it. The night before last, as I proceeded to take the book from its row, I wanted to enjoy it, the spoils of my final conquest. But I stopped. I felt so afraid....

What if everything turns out to be a big disappointment? Shall everything be worth it -- every memory, every emotion I soaked in? And I've been thinking since..

I am not afraid at the moment. But I won't read the book. I'm sure that the magic that lies inside it is the same, it hasn't changed one bit. It is me who isn't the same anymore. That eight year old boy that I used to be once, who deserves the magic of the book, and whom the magic of the book richly deserves is no more.

The book doesn't deserve me anymore. And I don't want to disappoint it. Surely there shall be someone who shall be the deserving one. Let its magic wait. I'm sure it would want to.

RAMAKRISHNA : THE ETERNAL FLAME

Today, on the 178th Birth Anniversary of Sri RamaKrishna, I had shared a post on him by my learned friend Amitava Chatterjee - he has rightfully discussed the relevance of the great man's teachings against the backdrop of today - contemporary times. It is impossible even for the audaciously loud and nosy parker that I am (with my irritating, 'omni-pervasive' nose in every possible pie around) to script an essay on RamaKrishna. 

I'm not mentioning the headlines of today's newspaper but I guess in troubled times like ours, it is important to look, feel and learn with the correct perspective, and Ramakrishna's teachings are amongst the best to refer to while one does that. A couple of points come to my mind though, which makes the philosopher yet more nobly unique. As I think deeper, I remember how I, as a 4 year old child, had reacted to the element of Ramkrishna's presence in the adult world - that at home and outside, while as years passed by and I grew up hopping up school classes. I guess I can analyze why he was a always comfortable presence in the princedom of my consciousness.  

RamaKrishna is perhaps the only divine philosopher who neither needed any practical institutionalized support, nor did he end up summarized in any block of man's sectarian Religiosity. In fact his philosophy prompted the birth of an institution that fulfills social duties and has spread its global embrace over time. 
Man tends to associate anything spiritual with personalized divinity. A particular occidental, and rather popular perspective that grossly looks upon RamaKrishna as a Hindu saint or preacher is an immense misperception. It is here I think it reveals the theocentricity of man's restrictive spiritual character.  


The beauty of his philosophy in this context is successfully visible in the lineage of his followers which has survived over generations. I' ve observed that those amongst us, even at this moment, who follow his "form" of principles are not overtly religious, particularly ceremonial religion, whatever religion they might be from. This shows an evolutionary trait of our society that is blossoming over time albeit silently, without the archetypal fanfare, and rightly so. 


I think this is the biggest Unique Success of his philosophy, for what else can man's spiritualism attain greater heights by, than the inclusive evolution of its own form over time.
I feel the ever ascending glory that keeps emanating from his spiritual core. We are a blessed lot. The flame, leading kindly light, shall burn forever.

TRIVIA : AUTHOURS AND LIVES

Now that I'm thinking about stories at this very moment for a rather modestly small but new reason I came across a while ago, I remember what they say about you and me, that "isn't Life a story itself"? A grand story of many stories that we all carry, each his own....

And we go on weaving the story anew every single day as the moments that are to greet us, unfold before us. Words and thoughts add to the script that unravel the mystery of destiny as we come across each other living our own lives. Sad and happy, small and big - with these we give our story an entity that becomes its own, adding to every new page pictures and feelings - of Colours pale and bright, sounds in melody and in silence, happy smiles and sad tears.

The new pages never stop to unfold, with Hope for the 'morrow, yet desolate when sadness clouds your warm core of faith and fondness. We just go on scripting our own lives with what we are, what we did and what we will never be. It's actually in our own hands. Perhaps we all will accept that some day. It's all about waiting. We do. You and me.

DOES HINDUTVA MAKE ME COMMUNAL?

Hindutva for me is not a ceremonious religion but a philosophy - a great one about humanism that I discovered with time studying the Vedas and the Upanishads. These scriptures tell me to be a good citizen, love my own lot, be proud of my heritage as an Indian - from the land of the Vedas. It also tells me to stand up and express to point out what is wrong and unacceptable, because the Vedas contain no discrimination, no inequality, no intolerance except to that what is Wrong. And India is suffering for its politicians playing the communal card - the very fabric of an all inclusive society is getting destroyed.

I cannot accept my neighbour getting special treatment, persistently exploiting the system and getting away with it. He has to learn to coexist peacefully, and put man and country above religion. He has to follow the same law that I follow - it is the law of the land, and there is no excuse hiding behind religious identity (which has always been an overtly sensitive issue where it shouldn't have been so). If he finds the law unacceptable, he might as well leave the land.

Nobody and no religion enjoy special status in a secular country. Every religion should be tolerant to one another, and abide by a law which makes every social process equal for everybody. If that doesn't happen, I shall go on reacting to that what is wrong and protesting - if it is against any particular religion, so be it. If I have Vedic credentials, I shall fight for myself, for the rights of secular Hindutva and my equal stake in society.

I have never imposed my philosophy on a friend or a neighbour, but I am not willing to be imposed upon either. I'm grown up enough to care a hoot if my perspective hurts religious sentiments. I don't reside inside a temple or a mosque or a church. I live in my home and I have got the right to protect it from any sort of bias. And I am always willing to be corrected by Reason, not Rhetoric.

GOD FOR AN ATHEIST

Back in high school, I was lucky to have a couple of teachers of mathematics and physics who passionately taught much more that what was within the curriculum. As they ventured into the realms of the unknown, elucidating ideas and possible ideas that, in essence, went against what they were actually supposed to teach us, I used to sit mesmerized and fascinated. The world of science which they opened in front of me was a magical world of the universe where one's dreams could become realities, and fantasies could become scientific possibilities through concrete theories. And the fact that these teachers dared to teach, without any hesitation, outside the curriculum within their designated time-frames, revealed their sheer passion in their respective subjects and impressed upon my young mind the beauty and power of Freedom, the freedom to dream, think and hope.

Back home, a middle-class idea of the heavens had always existed freely in my mind since I was a child, as I grew up watching my mother spend her daily share of hours in front of photographs and idols of deities with religious and sincere regularity. I often wondered about the ambiguity that seemed to beseech my thoughts, when I wanted to believe in the Universe that I brought back from school, and in the Heaven where the gods of my mother's worship existed. Not that the ambiguity disturbed me a lot, but it definitely acted as a driving force that used to push me to know more ,about life and about knowledge itself.

It was stimulated further when the explosion of the rebel pseudo-idealism (that so typically afflicts every adolescent boy) led me to read Kant, Virgil and Vivekananda, leaving me dreamily wandering in the worlds of metaphysics and theology.(I offer my unconditional apology to the highly respected female mind who might be reading this and recoiling with feminine hatred from the unintentional chauvinism that might expose itself from my boldly declared bias towards the adolescent Boy. Honestly speaking, I had no inkling of how the mind of a teenaged Girl handled the adolescent splurge of idealism,a nd I would be blatantly lying if I said I understand a Woman's mind now..)

Since those magical years, the possibility of a school of thought which could perhaps pan Science and Spiritualism from a single, unbiased perspective continued to fascinate me. I remember how the wonderful discussions about the Vedas and Einstein's dimensions, astrophysics and the Bermuda Triangle used to romanticize my dusky evenings during those early years in medical college with goosebumps and emotional gratification.

I keep wondering about possibilities, the possibility of possibilities, the moral propriety of possibilities, that might nullify one day, the prevailing anthropocentric attitude of the human race to a degree of fanaticism, about its place and importance of its existential continuity in the known universe.

A disciplined, analytical study of the history of humankind set in chronological consistency, right from the primitive trees and prehistorical caves to the densely inhabited pockets punctuating today's metropolitan high-rises, reveals One Specific Issue whose urge to be debated seems to grow from strength to strength as man evolves from one era to the next. It has been passionately discussed and exhaustively too, of course in the light of contemporary, circumstantial relevance, by the the ancient Indian sages, the Greek philosophers, the Europian thinkers of the medieval Rennaisscane era, the neomathematicians and neophysicists, and scientist-researchers of quantum science alike. The issue seems to have invaded the mind of the common man too now that theoretical physics keep on peeling the mystery of creation and its relevance layer by layer, asking, "Can Science,Religion and God share a common platform?".

The 20th.century saw a profound change in Science as a subject, a change which was qualitatively unique. From the 'discovery' of the wheel to Benjamin Franklin flying a kite in a thunderstorm, man's quest for knowledge grew by leaps and bounds by an instinct which confronted everything he saw around him with the question "HOW?"

The question, universal and unconditional, was the same when followed in Time through humankind's history, from beyond the Greko-Roman era through medieval Rennaissance period to modern times. Following the passage of history through Space too, from the Indus Valley through the pyramidal monoliths of Egyptian sands to Mayan 'East Indies', the question remained unchanged. That was how science looked unto nature and man looked upon science. In the early 20th.century, an era which oversaw sweeping changes in the basic attributes of human ego, in religions, societies and political configurations, the ontological orientation of man changed too.The Aquarian age of Neo-Consciousness had arrived. Man's initial hesitation to take up the new mantle (after all habits, 50,000 years old, were to be shed for good) had its immediate repercussions too, pitting man against man in two world-wide wars of gigantic proportions. Though the brothers in arms ultimately called truce in episodic, fortunate moments when sense and conscience prevailed, the hesitation had been an expensive one. Seemingly to absolve itself from the sin of this moral indecision and inaction, humankind, in unanimous majority, decided to live in a new world order. The trends of Science changed too.( It would be pertinent to opine here that this change of 'Neo-Science' was as much the effect as it was as the cause of things in its relationship with those changing times -a point which sociologists should never forget.)

It now asked the question "WHY?"

And it asked so in the face of the common and the mundane, with a bluntly dogged determination never perceived before. It even questioned in the same vein, the perspective of the very science that it had replaced.

Mathematics and Physics have always shared an uncomfortable coexistence, a certain dialectical relationship. I don't know who once said,"Mathematics is the language of Physics", but now in 2013, when one can look back on human history to observe how man and his science has evolved, I would like to agree with him. Before philosophers got formally divided into 2 distinct groups-Mathematicians and Physicists, the great thinkers and men of wisdom walked upon our planet, helping human evolution whenever required. After this radical divide, physicists have long claimed that mathematics is a part of physics,and vice versa.

The debate has always been there, but the early 20th.century saw a symbiotic marriage between the two schools, and newly discovered data about us and our surroundings could now be expressed in clear and more comprehensible theories. The concept of the quantum world opened up a world where 'things' followed a radically different set of laws who seemed to nullify the tenets of classical science. Man opened up a new theological concept of himself and the forces of nature around him. This was when the exact status of God and His very relevance began to be questioned by science even though most scientists did not primarily intend to start the process. Man tended to reject mythological religion to embrace a religion of subatomic particles, curved space-time and a seemingly ever-expanding universe whose age was recalibrated, off the pages of religious books. It had a definite impact on the non-scientist common man's beliefs deeply rooted till now in remote antiquity and hazy traditional lineage.

But this temporal landmark in history did not result in creation of subsequent generations with atheist principles and agnostic perspectives. I have often wondered why. The fact that I am personally an atheist does not impact my commentary here as I do not wish to intrude upon the reader's personal beliefs and spiritual orientation - something which is an exclusive right every man posesses by the right of Living, as elemental as his right to Freedom.

Religion is not an aberration. It is a norm of human society and it has always been so. But it is here I would like to stress upon an opinion (which I believe is a fact which even the deepest religious person cannot evade). We have witnessed genocides in the name of religion. Not to repeat oft-repeated emotions about 'the riots' India has witnessed and been a victim of time and again, and phases of militancy (that has become synonymous with terrorism) which again has,and is proving to be too expensive for India and her citizens. Religion has been historically used to justify waging heinous wars and performing unspeakable atrocities on fellow men. The sheer ferocity of religious fanaticism of holy wars rivals the worst crime man has ever committed.

Believing sincerely in a religion bestowes upon man a responsibility which most of us do not realize or choose to keep silent on. Every religious person has to see that religion does not become an instrument to divide and kill where religion was 'devised' by the prehistoric man to sustain, survive and let live. Though religion, over the millenia, has been carried ahead to signify something totally different from what it was in prehistory, and assume predominant spaces of one's life to influence thought and action, the religious person Has to account for every crime that has been committee in the name of his religion. While the right to believe in religion has never been questioned or even opposed, it is by no means irrelevant to step in and point out when religion as a right encroaches upon a far more fundamental and significant right, the right to Live.

From what I have seen and learnt from life, I have always experienced a discomforting problem as far as religion is concerned. While priests can continue to chant incantations in Sanskrit and Latin that the common man hardly understands, the word "God" perhaps means many things to many people, and usage of words loaded with hidden, abstract symbolism only serves to mystify the issue more, and against the background of today's world order where genocides in the name of holy war has become a part of life, the existence of abstract cloudy concepts in the human psyche is more detrimental in the long run than whatever good things it serves a purpose for. There seems to be two Gods, and perhaps the time has come to differentiate between the God of Miracles and the God of Order. While the God of Order can reside personally in individual families, it is the stepping out of the God of Miracles into the streets of society that messes with man's right to personal peace and happiness.

Scientists mean the God of Order when they use the word "God". The atheist scientist would happily want to happily compromise with the idea that there Is a cosmic order that exists in Nature and the Universe - if it is Divine, so be it.

The upholders of Religion act around a God of Miracles, a God destroys the wicked Kauravas and the Pharaoh's troops, and avenges the True, thePure and the Noble. Well 'destruction' and 'avenge' should not principally be associated with a God that preserves life. This is perhaps the dilemma why religion and science, along with their illustrious representatives, fail to coexist in harmony. Also Science is based on a foundation of rationality that explains the occurence of reproducible events. Miracles, on the other hand, are rarely 'reproducible' and occurs only once in a lifetime, if at all.(I do not intend to hurt the religious-minded by saying so. Miracles do happen BUT they are outside the domain of Science).

I still haven't found out an interface where Science and Religion coexist symbiotically. Science has got the right to know why the God of Miracles favours victors in bloody wars, where it strives to prevent occurence of bloody wars, while it should not have, in principle, any dogma about accepting the presence of a Divine Order in the scheme of things. The God of Miracles has got one powerful advantage over That of Order. It explains all the mythology behind the purpose of man's existence on earth. On this question, the God of Order has remained silent, at least till date.

I am still searching.

INDIA SHAMED, BUT NOT ASHAMED

Well, it's not about choppers anymore. Chopper Deal just got promoted to ARMSGATE, It's all about INDIA. ITALY, SWITZERLAND are investigating which  ITALIAN & SWISS agents paid kickbacks to INDIANS. However INDIA is doing nothing to find out which INDIANS received bribes! I can't bear anymore to learn how INDIA IS GETTING SHAMED IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE WORLD! One has just got to log on to internet and check out the buzz in Wall Street, and the headlines in The Financial Times, The London Times as of today....

What do these facts mean to us? It means Indian citizens have systematically cheated. We have been meticulously cheated over the last decade of our tax money, our faith, our patriotism, our goodness, our emotions. The corrupt establishment has, in the name of governance, lied to us, misled us, and successfully sent us barking up the wrong tree. With corruption deeply entrenched in our governance, India's establishment has sent off its treachery to percolate through the maze of legislative and administrative mockery to greet us in lieu of our faith that we have put on it, for all the blood and sweat of citizens to keep our country running.

This entire system should be OVERTHROWN. Nothing, no democratic process can bring us justice because the sanctity of parliamentary democracy has long been breached, and it doesn't deserve to be trusted. The common Indian feels desolately hopeless and heart-broken. He has completely lost faith in the System. 

CHOPPER DEAL : INDIA DEMANDS ANSWERS

Corruption is becoming more and more brazen in our country. And when it is dug out of India's Defense establishment, the faceless common Indian feels hopeless, ashamed, heart-broken and insecure he wants to look up to the Army with pride and respect.

More than one aspect seems to be questionable to a simple mind. One can't understand the probable logic behind the defense chopper deal - only one company - Eurocopters - makes VVIP choppers which can function at heights more that 6,000 metres so they brought the height criterion to 4,500 metres ; All to avoid a Single Tender transaction! What happens when a VVIP has to visit Siachen and other high defense-posts (eg in Arunachal Pradesh)?

What is the priority of this deal : Multi- tender transactions or defense suitability? The country's security is directly related to this point.

Also while his name has cropped up in the list of the accused by the Italian Government, Ex Air Force Chief Tyagi is denying any involvement in this matter. Furthermore he declares that his cousins' names have come up, the surname being common - TYAGI. If that's the case, isn't is plain and simple Conflict of Interest? While a chief of a country's Air Force is in office, how can his family members be direct stake holders in Air Defense deals?

India demands answers today. After all the money is its tax payers' money and the establishment is directly accountable.

MY DIGITALIZED NONSENSE

As I, the archetypal couch-potato that I am, continue to watch on TV and the internet, the recent massively spontaneous mass protests over ageless abuse of women, gender inequality and moral policing of unwanted social fringes over new age cultural pursuits by young artists, I wonder in awe about the Collective Strength of us, Common Men and Women. It is a calming reassurance for cynical minds : Yes, It Can Be Done. Circumstances can be overcome.

I'm sure that against the backdrop of the internet 'renaissance', the eager anthropologist and the social observer didn't miss to neglect this definitive pattern in human behaviour that had been theorized by scholars decades ago, but was not believed in entirety.
This is because an ever- accelerating process of technological evolution (and thus enabling technological advancement) in the late 20th century had ensured one definitive sociological phenomenon -- our society got segmented into smaller (in size, not necessarily so in relevance or importance) institutions -- small and essentially Isolated, that allowed the same basic diurnal activities of the human species to be carried out. We call them Families, which provide the stage for the same 'acts and activities' to be carried out, to this day, to this very moment. (Well, the 'modes and modalities' in which the activities are carried out are quite different, but that, being a subtle variation, is not relevant to the present issue at hand.)

This 'isolation', in the context of quality or quantity, subjectivity or objectivity, shall always continue to vary, sometimes drastically. Though neosociologists claim that these  trends seem to indicate that this concept of 'isolation' shall wipe itself out, I have a point here to argue about and disbelieve it for good reasons.

I feel that the 'neo--sociological isolation' shall perennially continue to exist over turning pages (or e-pages) of geography and across slides (or pps) on demography, well at least till geography and demography shall cease to exist themselves.

I do agree fully that technological evolution did lead to the present social structure where glaring differences within mass or collective actions of human behaviour are much less prominent or directly observable in any given situation because the homogeneity of mass perception prevails over the heterogeneity of individual behavioral patterns (which dominate to affect our senses on any single day, anytime and anywhere at family levels). Yet I find it a paradox that it is technological advancement that is throwing exploring lights on community behaviour at the moment. We just cannot ignore the role of the internet in all the recent changes the world has witnessed.

There seems to be a new air of hope all around. One barely expected to witness the way people changed systems in the Middle East, from Tunisia to Egypt, where freedom of expression had been usurped almost as a historical tradition. Man shall continue to dream and new ideas will always flow in, as they had done over the last 50 years. What clearly stands out is Absolute Intent and the way people used it, the practical execution to bring down everything that is stagnant and decadent.

One of the strongest factors behind this is the Internet -- the way people have used it for healthy communication, in e-forums and social networking sites as they fought to dream and thus to fight on. Awareness has spread all over the world rapidly in its most unadulterated form. I think India's fairytale is a very strong pointer about how we should proceed tomorrow, to qualify governance and administration at any level and in any office being amongst the foremost priorities of them all..

The Egyptian revolution and the 'mould' its socio-politics chose to be impressed by, are not Causes. They are the Results (which I choose to perceive as unavoidable) of the Collective Consciousness of a group of people present in every cross-section of society, driven to secure unison by a variety of factors that they felt to prioritize in the same bracket. We all heard the barely audible pitch of voices accelerating to a crescendo, causing audible cracks in the glass that shattered away noisily in the palaces of the feudal elite. It was this Collective Emotion that spread digitally and was shared all over the world at the speed of light that hastened and strengthened the movement.

The prominent context which I'm trying to point out is the 'form' in which informations were dispatched and received. Almost a century ago, a similar need to spread and share valuable information had become absolutely imperative in European battle-fields where the First World War was being fought. Spread they did, in a hitherto relatively unknown technology which constituted of a manual exercise that printed a meaningful sequence of 'dots' and 'dashes' on a piece of paper, in a remarkably simple way that allowed transfer of information in incredible speed, zipping to and fro across continents and oceans, from one station to another in forms of electromagnetic quanta.

While the SPEED of 'actual' transfer (the physicality of the process) has remained almost the same, the time taken for the information to reach the recipient's brain and get registered to be comprehended in its fullest form has come down drastically. More important is the FORMAT. Through the world-wide-web, ideas are shared in virtual audio-visual forms which incorporate the factor of 'EMOTION' (which I believe you are fitter than yours truly to attempt to conceptualize) to the data -- and that affects the result in an entirely different scale, the parameters of which are not digitally controlled in concrete digit units - a factor which man dreams to control with more authoritative volition some day,

And THAT is exactly why the process cannot be withdrawn by itself or be self-controlled. Dreams and passions are shared now in the most elemental forms, the question of when or where exists no longer a question, and the echoes continue to reverberate to be manifested later, someday and somewhere else. So we have to Got to Continue to speak, listen to, learn, share and adapt to one and all, NOT ONLY TO SURVIVE. BUT TO LIVE .

But again, That is what Life is all about, isn't it? I shall be keen to know what YOU say...

Note : **(the concepts of androids, humanoids, avatars are beyond the current issue. Though it would be interesting to observe when overzealous fertile brains shall tinker about anti-corruptoids, fanaticoids, or nihilistoids, agnosticoids, even jihaditoids, over super-conductor receptacles containing hybrid consummables of siliconised caffeinoids)!!!**

PYAASA - PATRIOTISM

Days back, during a casual online hit chat, I and my recently introduced lady friend came to the extremely relevant to our contemporary times, now oft-trodden pasture of Patriotism. I am an Indian and live in Mumbai,(my dear friend resides in a foreign land) and so it wasn't long before Bollywood movies were invited into the virtual dialogue.I'm still feeling bad because I guess I startled her big time by replying, "Pyaasa", when she asked what were my favourite movies on Patriotism.

During any interaction of mine about country, pride, patriotism, idealism. (etc..you know the drill) elements of loud (and empty) rhetoric and jingoism frequently rush in fast which soon make it center-stage, pushing the actual topic off it. I'm trying hard and am hopeful that soon I'll fully realize the futility, the futility of playing host to vices like these,) and grandstanding should follow Content, and not precede it.

I'm disappointed that I couldn't succeed at least this time as the nonsuspectingly poor lady showed strong expressions, of shock and disbelief. Since then I am trying hard and since morning I've been doing that only. It's a tedious job - making a refreshed list which should contain national flags, wars and sacrifices and soldiers and firepower and bazookas and car pert-bombings..
Certainly not "Pyaasa'.

Old habits die hard. I am a bit disconcerted, so here I am once again having a problem in problematic times, searching an answer. Pleading for Help as always. This problem compels me to go back in time so that I remember a few things.

I was 9 years old. Our recently purchased television was in a wooden cabinet, which had a wooden double-door entry. Movies shown on Door Darshan on Saturday afternoon, had a crowd of curious audience, overawed and revelling in the magic monochrome melody that came out pof it..

One Saturday afternoon, it was 'Pyaasa'. Ma was visibly excited and happy, ready to watch an old favourite, and songs that perhaps used to make her reminisce of her emotions during her teen years...(she was frank about that trait with me in privacy). I didn't feel very deep though. But yes, what classics used to be composed in Hindi movies! The gems were immortalized - as we see around us today. Sometime during the movie, I went out to answer nature's loud call. On my way back, nature silenced for now, I was still outside the room when I heard a song coming out of the TV.   
It was Mohammed Raft's voice, lipped by Guru Dutt, his soulful eyes and his thin yet prominent and deep furrows that looked over frowned brows, eyes that were fatigued and sad, trying to hide an intense fire that raged on till his death. still don't know. At that age I could understand Hindi to an extent that could cover day to day demands of survival. I hadn't  understood many sequences in the movie, particularly why sad expressions persisted even after the saddening causes were taken care of (I was completely ignorant about complexities of the human mind, of  things fine and nuanced, if unchecked would  result in complications.) 

" KAHA HAIN,
JISSE NAAZ HAIN HIND PAR,
WOH KAHA HAIN,
KAHA HAIN
KAHA HAIN.......?....."

I still have goosebumps. It was an overwhelming wave of previously unthinkable courage, of Hope  that told me that there are many things of interest outside the world of books, paint brushes, cricket and school. It told me that one day I have to think deeply which shall direct the script of every day of the life I'll live.

Patriotism is not meant to be instilled in times of war and bloodshed. It is already there during Creation, it is there when a child is born, so that it can identify it as an intended suggestion already put so that no war and bloodshed take place. 

LETTERS TO MY DAUGHTER

"She tiptoed for sometime, then found out that it's a better option to let each of her entire foot carry her weight way. That way she found it easier to sway and twirl in rhythm to the beats she seemed to be listening to keenly. She was completely oblivious of what lay outside the little bridge where her feet follow in rhythm, to beats coming out of nowhere.

That day as she turned 2 years 6 months 10 days, did she try to dance? I don't know.

As I watched my daughter finding rhythm even in a blast of beats, I remembered that just the other day I'd found her discovering melody in a barrage of noisy notes that blasted out from those ever-enthusiastic amplifiers, ready to jump the gun on any festive day."

Dear Daughter,

Now that you read these words, I ask you : Do you love to dance? Do you feel the Freedom in Dance? Do you hum tunes still? You used to, you know..You were discovering the Feeling when Art reaches out to touch.

Go out and find your Belief. I might not there, but these words will be there with you forever.

Be good to people. Be good to life.. But never "too good" so as not to speak out your heart and mind, if you Believe : no matter who-what-where-how ever.

That is one Freedom everybody has as a Nature's child, which not even Nature can take away from you. Remember, you are a Free soul. Believe in your Freedom.

INDIAN DREAMS BREAKING

There used to be a time when the epic war movies of Hollywood used to seduce the hungry mind of the 6 year old boy that I used to be, asking my pride for sacrifice & martyrdom with stories of bravado. At night, as the South Calcutta neighbourhood slept in peace to wake up to yet another new day of coward compromise(or so it seemed) with the demands of middle-class reality, nocturnal wars raged on in my dreams..I used to be the hero of my own set of battles in my own war, fighting enemy soldiers in bleak trenches, walking with the same gutsy pride with which Alec Guinesse walked bravely, as he inspected the railroad being laid down on that historic bridge over Kwai, or with the steely courage that made Gregory Peck & Anthony Quinn bring down the demonishly massive gun crashing into the rough sea coasting Navarone.

My heart pumped in frenzied speed as I defended bridges with my co-paratrooper in war-torn French towns in the Atlantic coast till  fighter-planes appeared like flying angels on the eastern horizon at the break of dawn to bombard the faceless devils carrying ominous-looking flags flashing the cruel emblem of the Swastika, and kept Richard Attenborough and James Coburn imprisoned in the Nazi camps with audacious cruelty.
I did not understand the history and geogaphy of real war then..All I wanted to be was a brave soldier who would fight for the sake of glory, to defend the sacred tricolour which I had learnt to rever as a member of the brave assembly (assembled for no apparent reason) that constituted of like-minded friends in school and in the neighborhood.. We wanted to be in the uniforms in which our heroes saluted past the tricolour in thumping steps of perfect precision on a very special day in August,..We fantasised about driving those tanks that marched past a saluting president and flying those aeroplanes that glimmed in the silver haze of the morning sun of a chilly January winter day.

Those dreams did not die with us growing up.Years later I shivered with same passion when Charlie Sheen & William Dafoe fought in the tropical monsoon forests in Vietnam.  cried even as a precocious teenager when I saw Tom Hanks and Tom Sizemore going down, Saving Private Ryan who lived to tell the story of Captain John Miller who fought so that Matt Damon could go home.

But those dreams haved ceased to be. One has been continuously bombarded with drastic media exposes of Scams of all colours, shapes & sizes over the last years. Amongst other things,the phenomenon,of an unprecedented low depth continues to leave a very bad taste,of a novel obnoxity,in the mouth.The common Indian wonders with a hesitant insecurity about the "meaning" of, and the qualitative dimensions of the yardsticks of Propriety that guides the contemporary Indian society is proceeding to evolve.

It all started with the Commomwealth Games-an misadventure worth Rs.74,000 crores of which approximately 45% has been allegedly looted by the bigwigs of the Organising Committee.Though two big bureaucratic heads have rolled recently,the actual kingpin remains untouched to this very moment,and continues to represent India's hopes for a successful bid for the summer Olympics in eight years' time,bringing the country to Shame & forcing us Indians to kneel down,our heads hanging in helpless embarrassment.

The 2G scam followed : Rs.1,700 lac crores..

The next big shocker hit us even more strongly in the form of the "Kargil for Profit" scam as the media labelled it to refer to.The shock was a strong one as it involves the Indian Armed Forces, one of the very few institutions that has managed to keep itself untouched & unaffected since Independance, by Corruption-a chronic malady that has eaten its way into the collective consciousness of the country to its bare bones,and that has continued to grow in parallel proportions with the nation's growing mature over the last 63years.(Though none of us, from all generations, past or present can and should want to absolve our own self from the sin of letting the process develop to the extent of no-return, thus going into a vicious cycle, by repeatedly taking part in self-confessed farcical acts of mockery called "Elections"-there were corrupt people in the high offices of governance because they were elected by us in the first place,and repeatedly so.)

And now newly exposed villains have conspired to make Rape stand out as an ugly head of the Indian psyche. Much has been written, talked about, debated over the gruesome crime..And from this point my mind gets bitter and turn my words bitter fragments around an Ugly Truth. Generalized mindsets around Woman keep coming in ceaselessly, more so after the recent Delhi-Nirbhaya case. 
The President's son, Madhya Pradesh minister, Sharad Yadav, Education minister of Pondicherry - they are elected politicians, they are the legislators/lawmakers of India - their oracles have been heard. Skirts, overcoats, painted & dented women protestors, Laxman-Rekhas : this is the holiest of grail they can offer us.
And "godman" Asaram suggests a woman should "beg" and use diplomacy, chant some holier-than-shit-Saraswati-Mantras to be empowered with 'Suraksha Kavach's. He claims a fan following of 5 crore Indians.

WHERE ARE WE HEADING FOR? Do we even want to know?

Today I have grown up into a man who lives each day securing a selfish happiness through Compromise that seems to have become a part of my set of "virtues", the same coward compromise I silently loathed as a child once upon a time. I have successfully learnt to accommodate Corruption within my conscience. I don't seem to react to these media exposes anymore.

It is because I haved ceased to dream. I have ceased to provide room for the dreamy child I once used to be.I have learnt to barter and buy fragile peace & security for my family.People around me are happy with things as they are.

After all dreams lead one to nowhere.

I have learnt to say,"ALL  IS  WELL "..