Reluctance

Its interesting to notice that there is such a longing for change and very little acceptance for the same. this is no blanket statement but its amusing to note that change is ridiculed and longed at the same time. it maybe the human need to exercise control, implying that not only do we want change we also want to control exactly what kind of change we want and where we want it.

that form of reluctance to change is still heard of. if you thought human reluctance ends there..READ ON. recently i had a lecture on Gandhi in college, it was about the father of our nation as spoken of by a biographer called Eric whose second name now i forget. anyway the lecturer was talking about Gandhi's sex life...not that i missed the curtain-fall silence in class. but the interesting thing happened at home when i shared this with my parents and other adults. they found it hilarious. In his time, Gandhi had been quite verbal about this aspect of his life; his journey to the vow to celibacy..but people i spoke to rejected the concept even though they had heard various manifestations of this idea of Gandhi.

it made me think about the Gandhi my father introduced me to as a little girl through books and stories. was it Gandhi the person or the Gandhi the propaganda? was the father of our nation becoming a projection without even knowing it? why is it so hard for people to accept that Gandhi was a human..and that like other human beings he had different dimensions to his personality..that he too is quite capable of erring?

if the hushing was because of the topic of sex..PLEASE!! don't even get me started on how sexually explicit the Hindu way of life is. our Shiva lingam, our carvings in caves and the biggest testimony of all..kamasutra!!!!

if the hushing was because of some sort of conditioning that we are put through. then that needs some thinking doesn't it? you know there is really something very interesting about the human mind. when we get some new information, or are exposed to something that is novel, we spend more time in trying to differentiate it and classify it into something than trying to accept it, understand it and absorb it..if there is a new actor in the industry..is he a comedian?is he an action hero? is he a melodrama king? if he isn't one then he has to be the other and if he doesn't fit..he is redundant..if that is not close mindedness then what is? if one is interacting with a space we cant identify with then she should either be a witch or be mad if she is neither???..well she has to be one of the two....it could also be our desire to make things simple..classification is often held synonymous with simplifying and filtering information.

there is something i have noticed in older people(again not making any blanket statements..its open to discourse)their experiences and life paves a shift in their way of thinking..it goes from being open-flexible to a linear way of thinking..its like moving on the road...from a junction to a one-way street...interesting are the ways of the man..

another thing..i might even be the older person i have described above..its probably the unidentifiable conditioning...or of course (the most comforting classification to all this)it could be bull crap!

poison on the table

Food is the source of human energy...all actions that we perform in a day depend on that energy generated from food. that is easy enough to understand. we wake up, brush our teeth have breakfast and that's how we get charged up for our day. unfortunately it isn't quite as absent from complexities as we would imagine.

food adulteration is not going to be a new term for anybody who is literate and reads the newspaper at least on a weekly basis. its a more common phenomenon than we would ever care to imagine(if it all we care to think about what is trashed down our digestive system). to make the food crop look bigger, better and taste superior (maybe sweeter) farmers of these food use pesticides and a lot of chemical fertilizers as it is. as though these chemicals did not sediment enough toxins in our body, sellers indulge in their own little killer process.

this is adulteration. with ground powders that we purchase, they may use chemicals to make the colour more appealing. with fruits, such as apples, they may use wax to give it that extra shine and blush. watermelons are injected with chemicals to grow to be bigger. why they indulge in such activity is obvious. they get more appealing products and since a consumer goes by the face value of the product he is definitely going to be lured with a perfect looking apple to buy it and eat it. this is definitely profitable to the producer.

Genetically Modified food crops are the next course of our last supper. given, the stress human population has put on the earth and her capacity to generate resources to compliment us; such crops made with scientific combinations that increase yield, reduce crop failure and curb cost of production. but is everything as nice as it sounds??

NO. a scientific intervention like this, that is going to come to our doorstep(table tops rather), requires extensive research and risk analysis. by the rule book they require seven years of research before implementing the GM food in the market. the first GM food crop they are going to implement is the GM brinjal. however this is not a well researched. the tests have been done on rats..and the results are not very encouraging...but its still going to find its way into the market..

its queer that a "for the people of the people" govt will even tolerate such insensitive scientific progress..but that's that. what is however encouraging is that the youth is not playing a mute role this time. there was a protest..and a temporary ban has been called on the introduction of GM foods till appropriate research is not brought to the table...

that's what is important. especially today when politics is spiralling out to be something more than just mere administration, holding leaders accountable to us not just through our votes but through our voice which is bold and strong. why did i write all this?? just to tell myself perhaps that what i have in me as thoughts and principles is perhaps more than just idealism.

college

A college is nice place . i mean not just the degree but the whole experience is worth taking....sumtimes you have nothing to do, at other times 24hrs arent enough. cafe is the greatest place in the whole wide world. you will always feel like a part of an intellectual hub in college. every sense of accomplishment is followed by a sense of incompetency and there is a desire to outdo oneself. there are friends and there are people: the known, the unknown and the oblivious. of course forget not the college...the building in red and white. m told i will walk ahed in life,luk back and wish for these days to come back...hmmm....(boy is re-living a bloodcurdling thought!) i like college..and the life it holds...in the building and in the students...

an ode to hegemony

It’s official. United States of America, the world’s finest hegemonic power is on its way out. By the looks of it, it’s going under and is not even trying to spare its allies from the mystery six feet under. Yes, there is time, maybe lots of it. But let us look at the country, we have left with us, when US bids a final good bye to the world.
Our Fundamental Rights-without which one can only imagine a crippled existence in a democratic polity like India-first, became popular in the American Bill of Rights. This is to imply that the link between India, globalisation and America is not only one of luxury but has always been one of political and social necessity. It’s not just that denims replaced khadi but that while I type, the computer has Thomas Jefferson in its memory and puts Motilal Nehru as a typo! Also, to sustain ourselves in the competitive man eater of a world outside, we had to shatter what we had within. Culture remains the gimmick of socialites and politics a pool of mud both hated and loathed.
They are all clichés. But like Mr Shashi Tharoor says, clichés are there because they are true! Every dream in the world is an American dream. No matter how many sociologists hail it as cultural synthesis, homogeneity is much of the reality. We need Richard Gere to tell us about AIDS, Oprah Winfrey to tell us about charity and George Bush to tell us how to chariot the world with the ace charioteer Democracy. Reminder mates! This is in a country where Ayur Veda blossomed, Asoka planted trees for the betterment of the people and Akbar ruled. What irony! India- where the world’s first communist government thrived under E.M.-is still said to be famous for its spices and yoga.
If you are boggled by those facts, all I am saying is that as a politically vibrant, independent nation, we have had limited exposure to the light of glory because of the hegemonic condition we have been growing in. but the predicted fall of the US, is just reluctant optimism saying “make way for a new king”. This leaves one question. Is US really diminishing? Not anytime soon. However the liberty of hegemony is not decorated with permanency. Of course there shall be a new super power, the world shall remain univocal perhaps garbed in the myth of multi polarity and this country then too shall fear the shine.

on inspiration

the toughest part of being young is getting inspired. this is more true for those of us who can not find inspiration within ourselves. (this is a little weird). there are so many achievers all around us and so many people fighting for existence. there are politicians, industrialists, parents, sports persons, activists and authors. but their shine diminishes when the fact that they belong to this ridiculous world dawns on me. Amartya sen is a great man. but he is a part of the world that looks down upon the poor and becomes a puppet for the rich.
so the thought, "what keeps me going?" what inspires this cynic to go on and beat life and suck-in the best of its tastes? as funny as it sounds..nothing has inspired me quite the way nature has. we live in her like a child refusing to leave his mother's womb. we are the other end of a thankless job-motherhood. while we are unceremoniously killing her, she patiently welcomes one creature after the other into this world. every 3 minutes a human, i do not know how many butterflies, plants birds and animals she welcomes with open arms.
this inspiration does not require personification. i can look up to her, without looking..because she is there all around, silently inhaling carbon monoxide and supplying oxygen. for someone who is less patient than a hungry child there is much to learn from nature. the beauty we never praise.

status quo

opinions or no opinions, freedom of expression or no freedom of expression, life or no life...every parent is freaky when it comes to their kids breaking status quo. Archana "you can not wear that shirt its not appropriate" archana "you cant eat without a table cloth" archana you can not go for a movie anywhere but PVR" ggggrrrrhhhhhhhh......(roars)
GIVE ME A BREAK!!
that is the pressure to stick to the status quo!
Status quo is a Latin term meaning the present existing state of affairs, or "the state in which". To maintain the status quo is to keep the things the way they currently are.
how you dress, how you eat, how you sleep, whom you marry, where you study, where you live, what number and kind of vehicles you drive, where you go for your vacations is all decided by status quo.
like in school, the cool guys went to the western music bands, and you were not allowed to think of the Indian choir as cool. this was because that is common perception "Indian music at school is not cool"
like at work, status quo dictates that you do not talk in an overly friendly manner to the office boy. that is not because you yourself feel weird about it, but because you have been taught from ever that you do not treat everybody unconditionally.
OH NO!! i am not going to change how the world has been running...but there is this tiny bird hiding under my nest of hair..and she says "what you like and what you believe in...is an expression of who you are. not who your forefathers were or chose to be" and i love that tiny bird...and maybe one day she will be forced to fly away from that nest to never come back but until then with all my naivete in place under my skull...i shall stick to my bird and not the bird of others.

ahem!

HI! i am trying to learn how to blog. it might not be rocket science..but still it surely requires..tact.....
usually young people under the age of 25 choose to isolate themselves from politics. governance dictates our existence in more ways than one, yet we choose to believe it is a puddle, if you throw stones at it..all you will get is a face splattered with dirt. but if you do not enter the water, you can not catch fish!! its okay to think that perhaps i can not make a whole lot of difference, but i think i am too young to either compromise with the situation by saying "it is okay..there is nothing i can do about it..might as well live with it" or to believe "it is a melodramatic twist of events that i do not want to look at"

and at the end of all this rambling...i get crowned a "kid"

SIGH! i really do not want to grow up...i am fine being.. ahem..ahem.... a kid