India's future embracing Section 377

A scene from a TV show I saw a few months back

Channel: VH1

Characters: Chris Adams(American Idol 2009 ), Adam Lambert (runners up) and the VH1 show anchor.

Location: Studio in the US of A

Topic of discussion : The life of the idols beyond the TV show

Somewhere along the conversation a specific part catches my attention

Anchor to Adam : Is it true you have a crush on Chris ?

Adam(puts his arm around chris’s shoulder) : Yes, He is a handsome man..

Chris (just gives one of his heartbreaking cute smiles)

Camera man adds a fake twinkle in Chris white teeth and conversation goes on to discuss how Adam was glad he made his sexual preference clear while the show was still on air. The show ends and is a success for the channel, viewer level is high, the singers shake hands and life goes on for all….

Now picture the same scene happening in India.
Will such a scene get away with no ‘aftermath’?

Will such a scene get away without the church (and the church I refer to is not restricted to any religion) quoting quotations from the holiest books on how hell is reserved for ‘un-natural’ sex doers?

Will such a scene get away without the news channels flooding their ‘breaking news’ with ‘Gay Idol ‘ strewn all over them?

Personally I’ll have to say that maybe we will reach that stage at some point, but not in the near future.

Yes hail the country for rewriting Section 377 and keeping the Homosexual hope of an equal life alive. I will not exaggerate on the change cause I know that even though the ‘outcast’ criminal tag is off legally, I know life will not be all smooth sailing for them.

Every age or every generation comes with their own controversy, and for this generation homosexuality is a highlight. Not that I say that it din’t exist way before the Indus valley civilization days, but never has it been this much of a public song nor has the Indian society been challenged to accept it to the level of normalcy as it is today.

Let’s be honest with ourselves, are we totally comfortable with the same-sex concept?

Well if I was to answer that question I’ll say ‘Yes’, but with my own clause, and that would be that I’m totally cool with it as long as it doesn’t directly effect me. Now this directly effecting me could range from a lesbian making an indecent pass at me or my son coming up to me and proclaiming that he wanted to marry ‘Adam’. Now though most ‘unorthodox’ people wouldn’t admit this is where they all stand .

Off late suddenly every tom, Dick and Harriet is screaming ‘yay Section 377’ or ‘yuck Section 377’. With the recent change to that little law rule we are all going to see one thing for sure, and that is more and more people coming out of the closet, and the society handles it is one thing I’d like to see.

Homosexuality is going to be the new ‘generation gap marriage issue’. Now when the present generation accepts inter-caste, inter-religion, inter-country marriages, the gay and lesbian ones are going to be the unexpected challenge for them. How the church and temples with deal with this I don’t know, but they better gear themselves with more than just quotes, preachers and threats.

The Indian society will definitely have to see a lot of tears, hear a lot of curses, suffer a lot of heartbreaks, ignore a lot of ‘traditions’ , witness a lot of suicides over the gay issue. But change is inevitable and I guess someday all the aunties and uncles around will have to accept this new reality with a straight face. Maybe for all you know we could have new education and job reservations for the LGBT community and their kids.

The Indian mind will evolve for sure. The 1st time I heard of the very homo concept(I was barely 10) it seemed pretty weird to me, but with time the ignorance was removed and now though I am not one to vouch for the community, I’m one to say ‘You don’t know what they feel, so please shut and stop cursing them’. Today if my best friend suddenly realized she wasn’t straight or my colleague revealed he was gay I would not wince or call them queer.

So I hope and pray that so will the Indian society embraces homosexual relationships.

As for me if one day my son does proclaim that he want s to marry Adam and I loss the controversy battle all I can say is ‘I was expecting an Eve but I’ll try not to make a fuss about Adam’ ,and them keep praying everyday that my daughter does not bring home the ‘Eve’.

PS: The references are purely imaginary, I have no son or daughter now and my best friend is very very straight.

When Mathematical Equations Equalled to Falling In and out of love

Everybody falls in love with someone or the other at some point in their life. Back in school I had no time for love, as there were too many subjects to be dealt with.

In Science, Chemistry always remained a mystery to me. Somehow I could pick up Physics pretty fast, but Biology always gave me a headache.When it came to languages, English was a cakewalk, thanks to the 'Anglo-Indian' blood, along with the fact that I only spoke English at home. This blessing turned a curse when it came to the Indian languages I had to learn at school, as I never watched Hindi movies or listened to Malayalam songs. So even with private tutors to help me out these languages freaked me with their gendered inanimate objects and all.

History was alright as long as we were discussing revolutions, but dates, eras and dynasties were too confusing for me. Geography and civics meant swallowing whole and vomiting, fingers-crossed, whole.

But between all this there was one subject that came naturally to me. Something that most of my classmates slogged over, but I never had to give any effort to excel in. This subject was Mathematics, lovingly called Maths. My feelings and level of compatibility with Math back then was so strong that I can confidently say MATH AND I WERE IN LOVE AT THAT TIME.

Unlike my counterparts in school, I never went for tuitions or attended extra classes in math, but I managed to do much better than my expectations. In the beginning I was impressed with myself, but soon it became a habit I got used to. Now, I didn’t have a daily time schedule for math or anything, but I presumed math wasn't possessive to demand that from me. In fact it was the subject I spent least time with.

It wasn't an obsessive affair either, as most of the time I never did my math homework and ended up copying it from the usual "punctual dudettes" minutes before my math teacher was to enter my class. This never bothered math, moreover, it wasn't like I was cheating on it by spending that "quality time" with other subjects.
But whenever I did 'indulge' in mathematical sums I can tell you that I was totally into it and mostly I never let anything else 'disturb' me (well yeah mostly, c'mon we are all human). If there was a 'problem' I couldn't solve it did bother me and I would try and analyze different 'solutions' till something worked. My teachers believed in my math potential, and they never tried to come between us.

Even in my so called crucial 10th grade, I didn’t seek extra help. I remember one time my sister caught me reading math a day before my model math exam. She was horrified. She proclaimed with all the drama she is famous for, that I was going to flunk my exam for treating math like trash. Instead I got a 96 on 100 for that exam. You see how easily we connected. I wasn't scared, I believed math wouldn't let me down, and vice- versa. For the 10th boards I missed the perfect 100 by 3 marks. 2 marks I know how I lost, but I’ve spent many a night wondering about that rogue 1 remaining mark. It just didn’t add up.

Then I went on to my post matriculation years, the 11th & 12th grade. This was when things took a turn, for the worse. Math got complicated as the months passed, but I never gave it much thought. Differentiation made no difference and integration didn’t, well, integrate. My grades went down, people told me to seek help, go for tuitions, I hated the very idea of tuitions and was allergic to it, so I never listened.

But it’s not like I didn’t try. I agree I never paid attention in class, not that I think it would've helped. In fact I did something at that time, something I’ve never done before.

Before the 'oh-so-important' 12th boards I actually sat down and tried solving all the sums from my textbook all by myself. Sort of like when lovers who realize the missing passion try and talk it out patiently. Find the lost magic and all. But that’s when I realized my love affair was a mess. We HAD problems. I didn’t have the answer and like any lover in history I would not take the blame for it.
When the results came I got a pathetic 57 in math, not that I gave a damn. I was just glad to have passed. There was no burning chemistry between us, there was no love left….

Then college. Due to unavoidable reasons I missed almost a month of the initial classes. So for the fear of being the only one left behind, I pushed myself into giving ‘'that extra effort' for all subjects in the beginning. Somewhere at that time I think I revived the chemistry between math and me. A hint of passion, like static could be sensed, but not for long. I was soon back to my old self again.

By now things were really bad. I mean I just wasn't interested anymore. Maths got complicated with every passing day. We drifted apart to say the least. Now I could blame math for the coldness. It got complicated, it changed, 'It was no more the Math I fell in love with'. But all that would only be my sorry excuse for my shortcomings. Maybe I should've (could've) tried harder, I should've paid more attention, I should’ve sought help, I should've realized change was inevitable instead of being stubborn.

Things only went downhill from then, to the limit that my last encounter with maths was in my 4th semester and I flunked in that. Now it would be good to note it was my only supplementary in those 4 wild engineering years. Yes I did clear it in the next chance, but I wish things would've ended between us on a better note.

What’s saddest is that though I was disappointed with flunking, I wasn’t affected in the least that it was Maths. I blamed maths and I cursed it for my failure. But the disappointment ended at the failure. I felt no emotion for the subject I had such a raging affair with in school. It had become me, me and more me by now.

Today even for the simplest calculation I need to use a calculator. If you ask me if we would get back together, I’ll say a definite no. We have gone separate ways to the point of no return. Maybe like a real relationship if we had sought help at the right moment things would’ve been different. Maybe extra time spent would’ve worked.

But in the end of the day there are no regrets, and as life moved on I found more interesting things to indulge in. In the end of the day I can say is maybe nothing lasts forever but it was good while it lasted. :)

Will Another Hussein rule the world?

No your not wrong the previous hussein im talkin about is Mr. Saddam hussein, and you have to agree he did manage to piss (to put it mildly) the whole world in his own creative way.

The ‘next’, present hussein I’m referring to is none other than the ‘oh so stylish’ Barrack hussein Obama. Now why do I say he shall rule the world? You have to agree that the Americans do control (to put it mildly) the world in their own way. Take the movie world for example, every sensible regional actor’s dream is to make it to Hollywood, and an Oscar nominee is like ‘wowww’. Then don’t forget how the whole world is losing sleep because of the depressing meltdown of the already recessed US economy. So I hope you got my point now.

Coming back to the topic, I just have to give it up to the junior Hussein. With a name like that and in a country like that, given the current situation I’m sure he must’ve had a tough time reaching the top. I mean in the past one decade the Americans haven’t been the best of buddies with ‘Hussein’ in their name, and moreover the whole anti- terrorism campaign which definitely has been a test for American muslims, is just one of the little adventures Obama had to pass. the opposition did their own homework to advertise the Muslim side of Obama in their own style

The resemblance of the name ‘OBAMA’ with the celebrity terrorist ‘OSAMA’ (I say celebrity cause he keeps releasing these videos of himself from time to time, I wonder if he ever had childhood dreams of making it big in showbiz) is way too ironic and could definitely be a major turn off for most American gentlemen and ladies. Yes, I agree America is the most modern of all nations, but they can also be stupidly superstitious at times.

Now if you ask me, if I was American I would go for Obama. Why? He’s kinda cool (sorry I’m not big on politics), and I see a lot of potential in him. Then I also have to admit that I’d like to see what happens when America gets a black president (note, I’m not racist), oh I can already picture the joke they are gone crack over it ,sort of like the innumerable sardar jokes we had when Manmohan took over, its mandatory, and is bound to happen when normalcy is broken. Off course, I dint like his promise of seeing to the fact that America wouldn’t outsource their work anymore, but I’ll let that pass for now.

Yes he is a popular man, and the favorite, but no I wouldn’t put my bet on him, because the Americans are an unpredictable bunch. Remember the last election, when the much hated MR Bush got a second term, that was shocking. But if Obama does loose I’ll have to blame it ton his mixed race, mixed religious history and yes to his ‘Name’.

Now if this was Pakistan (note, I am not anti-pakistan) and the tables were turned then I’m sure the candidate would opt to change his name before getting to politics. No that’s not a fiction of my imagination, but I’m speaking with reference to the conversion of the Pakistani cricketer Yousuf yohanna to Mohamed yousuf, just to fit in. but then again this is America we are taking about, the free country where Democracy was defined by adorable MR. Arbraham Lincoln as being "for the people, by the people, of the people". So everything’s cool (hopefully).

But if he does win I’m pretty sure it aint gonna be easy ride. He will have work to do, pick up the pieces left and start repair, the reconstruction can go either way, nothing is certain. But I want him to win, as I believe he can live upto his promise of delivering ‘the change that America so needs’, and yes not only America, but the rest of the world craves for a change. Besides Mccain is the same old thing, white old man who talks boring.

So I wish you luck Mr Barrack Hussein Obama. But my piece of advise to whomsoever be the winner would be, please don’t screw up like your predecessor did. And you already have your hands full, there’s lot of work to do, so don’t mix work with pleasure. In other word’s, it would be sensible to not have an affair within the white house, you could do without the controversy!

I dont care too much for money, money cant buy me SATISFACTION!

Yes I know the real line goes "I don't care too much for money, money cant buy me love". But I'm thinking in a more general view, cause not everyone is looking for love. Moreover the search for love is all about being happy and satisfied, so I choose to replace the word 'love' with satisfaction. I know happiness is the right word, but happiness is just a higher level of satisfaction and though most people dont know what makes them happy, they know what satisfies them. So lets stick with the more familiar feeling of satisfaction.

Of late I've been in quite a dilemma, well just the normal confusion of the "just out of college" individual on career decisions (you know, what do I do?, am I up to it? Will I screw up?). On one side I want to go into writing, now that's my heart speaking. But I have heard too many stories of the writer who could only afford to live in the godforsaken hut and died of starvation and the journalist who came home from a dangerous assignment of reporting from a war field only to find that his wife had left him because he was never at home, and the checks he sent wasn't good enough to keep the family alive.

On the other side I could be an engineer, thats my mind speaking. This not only would ensure a heavy purse, but would do justice to my four years of turmoil in a damn engineering college, that taught me to curse and lie more than anything else.

In the last few weeks, the world has been losing it over money with the recession, bankruptcy, stock market collapse and what not. Now I am ashamed to admit that I haven't been too keen in following the saga, because it doesn't directly effect me. In other words I haven't invested in any sorta shares, not because I wasn't interested, but because I never had the money for it. Anyways the whole episode made me realize that money does make the world go round and round.

So I was talking to my friends about their own career options and what would make them happy. 99% had one obvious answer and aim in life, MORE MONEY. Whether it be starting to work, changing jobs, switching careers, higher studies, going into business, in the end all had just one purpose to serve MORE MONEY. These are youngsters with no specific financial burden on their head of the age group 20-23 I'm talking about.

They have forgotten (or choose to ignore) their passion, for money is a passion too, isnt it?
and a passion that comes with other perks too. No I'm not trying to act like the sensible, 'not greedy' youth idol here, because somewhere along the line I become one of them.

On the other hand I met an artist yesterday. This was part of an assignment I got during my journalism internship with the Indian Express. Now this guy was a real artist, the kind you read of in books, with the really long graying beard (he could put Santa to shame) and the white kurta with the matching white dhoti. Now he is no MF hussain who gets millions for every piece of his. But he is one with great talent for art, and equally low desire for money.

His work is awesome, and he knows he could make quite a living if he went for the kill. Now his profession barely manages to pay his bills, but that isn't a much of a problem for him. The passion for the art which he claims is a 'madness' and the satisfaction he gets when he indulges in it, is incomparable to all the diamonds and fame in the world.

As I leave his studio in which his masterpieces are plastered all over his walls, I cannot but feel envious of him. Envious of his talent and his love for the profession. Envious of the happiness and satisfaction he gets from it. And most of all envious of the fact that I cannot think in his levels, I am incapable of resisting the materialistic pleasures of life.

Sometimes its better to just shut up and sit quietly!

To combat the Energy crisis that the world is forced to face, the Indian goverment has decided to re-introduce load-shedding. In other words called power cuts. I hate the very idea of it, but no I'm not one to complain as I do realize the whole project is done in common interest of the nation and its future generations.

Now the authorities have also asked the citizens to cooperate in the mission by using electricity judiciously, which in other words means "turn off the damn computer when you are not at your desk and go easy on the AC”

Few days back the electricity board people in my locality forgot to switch off the street lights in the morning. Now a normal person with normal problems in life would've ignored this and continued with the chaos of the day. But not my neighbor.

My neighbor who is a man of right values decided to do something about this. He like a true hero called up the electricity board and notified them on the same. So what do you expect from such an act, I'll say maybe reward him with no power cuts in his house for a couple of days. No, the electricity board thought differently, they decided to punish my neighbor and his whole neighborhood for their stupidity.

Yes they instead of just turning off the street lights, cut out the electricity of the whole locality for the next 5 hours. 5 hours for gods sake, I don't know how I survived it. I mean with no computer or T.V (yeah I know I sound like a moronic slave to technology, but it was too sunny to go outdoors and I wasn't in the mood to read books).

My mom was upset cause she couldn't use the mixer to grind something she needed for a new recipe. My dad wasn't at home when the tragedy happened, though he won't admit it I sense it was good news to him (the logic is lesser the electricity used, lesser the bill he has to pay).

A Family in the neighborhood was renovating their house, they were using some electricity run. Hi-Tech machine to saw a portion of their staircase, this had to be kept on hold due to the power failure. Similarly every house had an interesting sob story because of the cursed power cut.

So I'm just wondering if the damn government was so irresponsible how did they expect us to act. What was going through their mind when they played this lame joke. Maybe they were laughing at us this time, but only to ensure that next time their pee brains with automatic controls forgot to do something they ought to the people who suffered the wounds on this fatal day wasn't going to notify them if it posed any threat to their existence.

In between all this I wondered what the 'Hero' was doing, did he regret the call? Did he try calling them again? Would the incident transform him from the calm gentleman to the angry old man? I don't know. But I do know that next time I notice the governments power being wasted on the street lights in broad daylight the 1^st thing I 'll do is to call my neighbor and beg him not to repeat his heroic act!

Things to forget this ONAM

This Onam I shall forget my poverty stricken and malnourished fellowmen and instead I shall spend generously on the 'ONASADYA'.

This Onam I shall forget the stink from the overflowing garbage dumps and instead I shall Enjoy the fragrance of the beautiful flowers that make up the 'POOKALAM'.

This Onam I shall forget the doors i have double locked for the fear of thieves and beggars and instead i shall leave it wide open for 'Mr. MAHABALI' to visit me.

This Onam I shall forget the political differences within the State and instead shall enjoy the Fake Communial harmony that fills the air.

This Onam I shall forget my Tee-Shirts that fills my wardrobe and instead I shall dress up in my 'ONAKODI'.

This Onam I shall forget my fav Rock songs and instead I shall Enjoy the "ONAPATTU'.

But this Onam I shall not forget to remember that tomorrow I will have to return back to reality!

DUMBER THY STUDENTS, SMARTER THE TEACHER!

Today is teacher’s day. So this post is dedicated to the teacher-student relationship. I have to admit it’s not a post that puts teachers in the limelight. If any teacher of mine gets to read this, please take no offense, for this is just an observation I have made through all the years of student life. Since I, till very recently was a student myself I think it’s entirely appropriate for me to speak on behalf of the students.

Every teacher needs to be a good analyst, because a major portion of a teachers working (and non working) hours is spend analyzing. Analyzing students, analyzing answer papers, analyzing changes in the subject etc. etc. Now time to time they do a self analysis to see how good they are in the business of ‘passing on the education'. Most of them have their own mysterious techniques for this process. Many rate themselves based on their student’s performance, and strangely a few on the under performance of their students.

They make sure that it’s almost impossible for someone to pass their papers. They teach in frequencies much above their student’s levels, making points just clear enough for the students to realize that the teacher knows his/her stuff but never getting it themselves. This phenomenon is noticed even in the best institutes of the world, famous for their well-regarded teachers.

I wonder what makes teachers this way, is it the sadistic nature in them or a superiority complex (though I never understood that word, I mean why would you get a complex for being superior?). Maybe they do it to encourage students to try harder or make them realize they have a long way to go. But most often (I speak with experience) what happens is these teachers are considered a big joke by their students. Students think “Screw it, anyways he/she’s going to flunk me, so why bother”.

Well maybe seeing your students fall badly makes you feel better about yourself. The student community is all cheers for you and would love to spread your name world wide, but if only we could understand what you were really trying to say.

PS: I thank all my teachers who helped me become a better person.

Fantasy Mike

' Only in America can a cute black boy with a big fat nose turn into a delicate pretty white woman with no nose at all'. That was just one of the many jokes i have heard about the rightly labeled 'king of pop' Michael Jackson. So the half man-half woman turned 50 this Friday, and how did he choose to celebrate it? He spend the day watching cartoons at home with his 3 children. Not a party fit for king, but atleast the kids aren't complaining.

Michael is said to have had a very trying childhood, controlled by
his dominating father. But he is a perfect example of a child prodigy. At the tender age of 6 he was lead singer to the band 'Jackson 5' and the media has been religiously following his life since the 'ABC' days. the band even had a cartoon series on them at the time.

The boy grew up to be a world wide star. His albums like thriller, bad, dangerous were instant hits. The music industry grew with Michael, but not the boy inside him. His greatest regret to this day is missing out on a normal happy childhood, which he blames on his parents. To compensate this he decided never to grow up, to relive his childhood as an adult.

He got an estate for himself, named it 'Neverland', converted it into an amusement park and filled it with zoo animals. He was constantly seen hanging out with pre-teen boys (which was another reason for controversy in his life). During his brighter days there was no one even remotely qualified to beat him at his job. To top it all he married Lisa Marley Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley. oh what a lovely fairytale it all was, until...

His life was filled with controversy and rumors. Even at the peak of his career, during his 'thriller' days there talks of surgeries being done 'to lighten the skin'. There were alleged stories that he was taking female hormones to keep up the pitch and avoid facial hair. then later to reclaim his 'male' title he was rumored to have transplanted some hair to own a Goatee (i shudder think where he got the hair from).

Then there was the great controversy over the child molestation charges. This really broke his heart (or him?), he couldn't take the limelight anymore. It converted him into the whining, weeping, hurt, abused , misunderstood victim. his constantly shrinking nose, and skin that gets paler by the day never failed to get the attention it deserved. The time he decided to give his 11 month old son a peak into the wild, horrible world by dangling him off a hotel window didn't go well with child activists. The man has had it rough for more than a decade now. During his crazy days he was lovingly referred to a 'Wacko Jacko' by the media.

But all things apart i do remember the good old days. I remember the time when no party survived without Michael's music. I remember the time when dance meant Michael's moves especially the moon walk, I've seen a million people, professional dancers included who have tried to imitate the moon walk, but none have got close to the master. I remember the time my sister and myself used to scream every time his videos were shown on TV (and we were hardly 10 then) . I remember the days when people believed a skin problem caused his color change and even sympathized with him. I remember the days he came for interviews with that infectious smile, when he didnt have to cover his nose (which is almost non-existent now) during public appearances. The days he had hit after hit, broke record sales and let his music do the talking.

So on his 50th birthday i was expecting him to do something crazy but predictable. Maybe come out with a new album or adopt a child or announce a world tour. But no, as usual he stunts us by doing something very unstar like by spending time with his kids. But the funny part is even that is news. Well what to say except that michael you never stop to amuse us, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

MR. CROW FOR NATIONAL BIRD?

Let me launch the two main characters of the scene ‘The crow” and ‘The peacock’. Now no Indian needs an introduction to the crow for haven’t we all grown up listening to poetry and songs about the mother crow and her cheerful little family. Day after day we ignore a million crows that happen to cross on our way and shoo them away on every opportunity we get. Then coming to the beautiful peacock which maybe only 5% of Indians have seen face to face, that too caged in the zoos and which today faces a threat of extinction. Now why bring these two drastically different creations of nature together? For we shall just look into the irony of the fact that the peacock is the national bird of India, when the crow is better suited for the title.

Statistically speaking how many of us have seen peacocks. The last time I saw a peacock was in my childhood during those few visits to the zoo that my father thought was necessary to teach me the diversity of nature. But in the end the total number of this beautiful gift of nature that I have seen is no more than a handful. On the other hand, I like many of my fellow countrymen wake up to the call of a crow and every one knows that the great ‘Kaliya’ is more than just an alarm clock.

The crow has done its share in garbage management for free. Thanks to the crow, many generations of Indian housewives dint need to worry about disposing the little food waste of the household. For all they had to do was to toss it into their backyards and trust our very own hero to do the rest of the job. If it wasn’t for the crow I fear to think what would happen with all those piling dead bodies of rats, unattended decaying garbage and casual trash disposed on our streets. Yes, I agree it’s disgusting to watch that bunch of crows fighting over a rotting carcass but in the long run many such bunches of crow have helped avoid many a epidemic from breaking out.

The crow also plays a vital role in a traditional Hindu ceremony performed for the benefit of the dead. Here, food is offered to the crow which represents the dead ancestors and the acceptance of this food by the crow assures that the ancestors souls are in peace. There is no doubt that the peacock is certainly a pretty bird and the elaborate courtship dance of the male, fanning out the tail and preening its feathers, is indeed a gorgeous sight. On the contrary the crow is a very ugly bird and there is no romance attached to watching a crow go on about its daily activities.

Symbolically the peacock represents an egoistic and stubborn bird, aware of its splendid beauty and too proud to include the other birds in its league for this very reason, while the crow represents a humble, hardworking, modest bird that’s got no complaints. The peacock is a delicate bird that needs to be protected and taken care of unlike the ‘rough Indian’ image, whereas the crow is a tough bird that can take care of itself no matter what circumstance it is put into.

So I would like to ask all fellow Indians, isn’t the ‘national bird’ or ‘national animal’ or national anything for that matter supposed to be the best around, the one that has given us enough reasons to be proud of it. Or is it just a beauty pageant crown given to the contestant that literally shines out in the crowd? I mean isn’t that contrary to all Indian teachings of ‘how inner beauty always beats outer beauty’ and ‘what matters is not what your made of but what’s inside and what comes out of it’. Growing up in India I have witnessed the great activities and thereby acquired a particular respect for the crow and think its high time we honored this legendary hero!

Imagine theres no Religion

"Imagine theres no religion,
it's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace..."
Ok those were just a few lines made famous by John Lennon ( yes the sober Beatles guy) in his song 'Imagine'. Now while we have that on one side, on the other we have people screaming Holy war, jihad, crusades, Holocaust, blah, blah, blah. So that led me thinking, why can’t we just have something in between.

Well talking about Lennon's lyrics I wonder if those were the great words of a realist who could see beyond time and pictured the perfect united world minus the religious controversies or was is just the words of an atheist trying to justify his decision. Growing up in a so called 'secular' country I've seen people of different religions living together in harmony and I've also heard of religious riots break out within the country. Now I've personally witnessed many a 'dialogues' that had every potential to erupt a small scale holy war. For instance take the words of the little boy teasing his Muslim classmate by saying 'hey Paki, are all your leaders terrorists?' or the jokes cracked on the ‘animal like Hindu gods’ , people swearing at the good catholic girl because some priest of ‘her kind’ was found to be a gay paedophile. Not to forget the innumerable ‘turbaned’ Sardar jokes.

Then I would also like to mention the evening talks between college students on whose religion and whose sect was right and whose was the most comical and absurd of the lot. No, this is not something restricted to the religious passionate ones, for even the atheistic Hindu, agnostic Muslim, the unbelieving Christian and the confused Buddhist does not stay away from these adrenaline pumped discussions.

The question is what makes people fight over religion when most religions preach love, brotherhood and compassion? Could it be because the same religions mildly say ‘defend your faith’? Now are we using this ‘defense’ as an excuse to fight or are we just using faith and religion as an excuse to lease the animal inside us. Yes I agree basically we are all animals, but then religion is a product of civilization right, so are we contradicting our ancestors and ourselves?

This ‘fighting to defend’ saga reminds me of the respected martial art, karate. Any idiot knows that karate is supposed to be a technique of defense and not attack, but then there’s no denying that 99% of those seeking to learn karate do it so that they can kick some ass!

Now lets think in Lennon’s frequency and try to picture a ‘religionless world’. I see an end to ‘swearing for god’, along with which I see emptiness, selfishness and an abrupt ending to everything around. We do have good people around, but there’s no denying that most of the ‘goodness’ and ‘selflessness’ comes from a belief of a life after death.

Yes every good deed is seen as an investment to the life to come, every sacrifice a bonus, every charitable contribution an insurance, every forgiving act as a compensation for our own mistakes. All these we do in the hope that the one above, the power, spirit, leader, father, judge, creator is watching and playing the role as the fair referee. Most charitable foundations and peacekeeping institutions do it in the name of god.

So what if suddenly we were to believe there was nothing of the sort and no judgment to come. I fear to think what would to happen to all the good Samaritans, would they think ‘I need to do my job immaterial of whether it’s going to be rewarded so that in the end I can say to my conscience that I lived a good life, or will it be ‘screw all, a bum or a saint is treated the same and rots to dust in the end, so might as well have a good time’. Well even theoretically I can’t imagine what would be the case.

Is that what our ancestors were doing when they created all those religions? Was it so that we would have a reason to believe in something beyond all this, a special friend we count on at all times, something to hold on too when the going seems tough and future looks bleak. If so it disgusts me to see how we have altered their plan to feed our blood thirsty appetites.