You must scrutinize

Located in an overwhelmingly primitive society like India -while Indians have highest estimate of themselves that doesn’t pass any scrutiny on any parameter, it is but natural that education system too is rather shoddy reflecting the limited intellect. Education is about compliance. Youngsters are prepared for exams -as answering machines, the more the marks better the performance, who then are awarded for being successful. These deviant ideas of success and failure gets replicated as the systems that perpetuates these get consolidated. Education is rarely about questioning or exploring new ideas. Since success is about asserting the system -that design these parameters, the successful therefore replicate the system. It’s about status quo. This primitive society would have putrefied in its own muck had it not been the intervention of outside forces. Imagine a society that stands to gain much from marauding invaders and colonizers.

Indians therefore generally work well as status quoists, safe keepers, charming mediators for the system. If ever, it is about safe accretion or else as assurance of everlasting gains. Almost all the CEOs -international or even national -taunted by some as civilizational success, are mostly those who played it well for the system. It’s about working for years within the system to gain confidence, about jockeying for position, about servility – keenly aware of hierarchy and power matrix, about safe bet for the investors. Unless it has exciting new research or vibrant ideas or possibilities I cannot even think of working in a system for more than few months. People who are trained to be successful are most dangerous to humanity. They are infected to do things without worrying about ramification or even the need. They do to gain, to please. This also has essential element of blessing connected to it. Religion therefore deeply entrenches these deviances. Power, money, position, so on becomes essential characteristics of success which then is worked as fortuitous blessing if pleased sufficiently. It’s a degrading loop that has kept this godforsaken wasted society busy. Imagine a religion that instead of opening to immensity of life reduces to binary of success and failure, and then cunningly positions as harbinger of perpetual gain. Imagine the crassness of it, and now imagine the mindsets that emerge from these.

Education is about learning; it’s about knowing and thinking on what you understand. Which in turn helps you to formulate your own ideas, it’s an assertion of your unique presence, this then contributes to evolve humanity. Societies that understand the value of education have produced better humans and have contributed immensely to progress of humanity. They have helped assert values of liberty and consolidate democratic institutions. Herds then appropriate these to misuse, vandalize and degrade into worst possibilities.   

Religion cannot be allowed to be expressed in educational institutions: There is a reason why uniform attire is insisted on in educational institutions. It’s an attempt at providing egalitarian space for children to explore and learn. Hindu bindi, Sikh turban, Muslim hijab…as also caste reference or regressive markers must be removed from child’s name during admission (I recall one class teacher in a school in Sagar -MP, that I studied briefly, made egalitarian attempt to remove caste references in names, it had funny outcomes though when students had similar first names -which is quite common, so we had sunil one, sunil two…Thinking back, this happening in impoverished, mostly illiterate caste exploited hellholes, that too four decades back is amazing. Obviously that remarkable teacher must been dumped. There is a heavy price paid by society to create gandhi) so on has no space in children’s life as a learner. Further, the onus is on humanity to insist on secular progressive space. It also opens up children to the realization that religion is not sacrosanct, and that there are evolved spaces and humane options.  

Ideally religion shouldn’t have any nurturing public space but then we don’t live in ideal place hence we need to tolerate these transgressions -this perversity has no reason to be celebrated as some multicultural expression or diversity. But yes, full face cover is an assault on humanity and a gangrene on soul. In a free society everybody has right but there are consequences too. There is a reason why societies are getting radicalized. Why is that normal people when they migrate to West (specifically UK) become radicalized? (the other day I was listening to ‘indian’ girl from Britain speaking rabid hinduism, eloquently ofcourse -british accent is an advantage in a subcontinent where people are scampering to learn English to showcase their merit). There are also attempts made to normalize religion driven patriarchy. Caste cannibals are using religion fault lines to position themselves as compassionate savior, at international level they pout as liberal (it’s easy to play compromised monarchy patriots looking for something to hinge for redemption). These segregatory values and dehumanization attempts have created untold misery to common people as also diverting from existential problems. Beware of herd controllers they degrade cherished values for immediate gain to position as liberal. They prey to cannibalize soul of humanity.  

Sinister attempt at ridiculous binary to create narration of religion. 

   Why do these people have to write? If they are materially comfortable why cannot they do nothing? This doing something is the biggest scourge of the times we live in. Look at Putin, CocaCola, Shell etc. It's a beggar's mind. I guess, doing nothing requires to be a human. The reason why they nurture systems to convert humans into herds.  The reason why herd controllers write these kind of nonsenses. It is an effort to note how they attempt to wrench the narration. And yes herd enjoy being herd but humanity pays a heavy price. Sisyphus repeated with awareness of the absurdity of existence. Also, what he did was not threatening anyone. It was a symbolism of absurdity of life and motif to find meaning.   

  

It's dreadful

With everyday life in the luxurious complacency of modern gadgets while catastrophic events played as entertaining shows people seems to have lost the sense of dread. Nuclear explosions are real. Radioactivity is dangerous. Aftermath harrowing that will last for many generations. This could easily trigger other life threatening events as we are on the verge of climate collapse. Be afraid. 

Putin threatening with nuclear bombs is a serious transgression and must be included as crime against humanity. While the shelling of Ukraine nuclear powerplant -that is blazing and could explode -the impact we are informed going to be ten times Chernobyl, is another wanton aggression. Meanwhile ICC and ICJ shouldn't be bothered by any jurisdiction. We have well passed all that. What is concern of humanity is concern of international court.  

(pic herein of painting drawn by Nagasaki atomic bomb survivor Kihara Toshiko as she recollects what she saw: "As we fearfully crossed a railroad bridge, my two brothers and I saw bloated red, blue, green, and purple corpses floating"). 

...

 

It is always an assault on humanity, and on sensibilities of being a human, when history repeats itself. It just shows how much systems are isolated from reality that human beings are not able to learn from past and move on to a better world. Though technologies have moved at breakneck speed societies are still living in caves. Some want to replicate template of past as if human mind has not evolved in last many centuries while others want to acquire and consume. Very few people are able to comprehend the exciting enormity of the opportunities contemporary world provides. It's simply amazing to be alive. Cyclical history also shows how few nasty crude people are able to control while majority are reduced to as either participant herd or spectator herd in some bigger scheme that they are incapacitated to comprehend. Pity this world.

Initiate prosecution ICC

 

International Criminal Court must take responsibility and initiate prosecution process against Putin based on compelling prima facie evidences in public space. ICC is quite active in prosecuting violent dictators in Africa -a geopolitically weak region. So now ICC will be scrutinized. It’s about “blue eyes and golden hair”. Ofcourse Putin has committed crime against humanity but evidences emerging from Ukraine doesn’t really show them in positive light -there seems to be entrenched racism. Also, as a faraway observer I am quite intrigued by Putin’s claim to “de-Nazify” Ukraine. There must be some substance in it for him to even suggest and expect it to stick. Charlatans are not stupid.

International community must make an example out of Putin so that no one will ever even think of enacting ventures like these without being aware of grave consequences. There are lots of wannabees across the world who are watching the international reactions and consequences quite closely. Putin is a done deal. Living too much in isolation of grandeur surrounded by sycophants he has lost the sense of reality. It was expected. It happens to all dictators, or else they become paranoid and are kicked out. The note of caution here is that Putin was vehemently against US-UK war on Iraq so when the leaders of these countries where not prosecuted for blatant crimes against humanity did it not embolden authoritarian leaders once they reached a threshold of control? If I have the power I can do anything and get away with it -mindset. It’s not confined to political leaders we see these exhibited through market wherein MNCs and moneybags do wanton destructions just because they have money and clout. It’s also seen in arrogance of money, power, position, at every level of society. Just that the scale and opportunities are lower makes it less destructive but these mindsets thrive. Lack of quality education while education is attuned to competition and acquisition creates adulterated minds.          

Meanwhile there is a strong international pressure against Putin. Russian economy is set to collapse. There is already substantial anger against Putin in Russia.  Widespread unrest is a possibility. Russian elites are one of the most corrupt -the reason why authoritarian Putin survived for so long (opportunists in West also help establish these corrupt moneybags as businessmen -all under the garb of liberal democracy), now when they start to feel the pinch the days will be numbered for the dictator. A country cannot survive in isolation in this deeply connected world. Its over for Putin, it’s a matter of time. Hopefully there is a revolt and he is evicted and, yes, prosecuted. Meanwhile international laws must be strengthened and institutions empowered. Russian invasion of Ukraine must be an occasion to reinforce international laws. Multilateral bodies like UN -that is made ineffective, must become representative and reflect the contemporary reality. Modern technologies like AI must be used to predict problem zones, enhanced peacekeeping mechanisms as also dealing with aggression. In short UN needs to be restructured and modernized. There is an urgent need for effective globalized collective action platforms and mechanisms. Less bureaucratic, more participative and vibrant to changing reality. It seems nobody is bothered. The future of humanity is hinged on globalized collective action. Handling of pandemic (vaccine distribution) and failing of climate crisis leadership shows some deeply disturbing value system. People are quite anxious and angry. The world really cannot be controlled by whims and fancies of few arrogant self-centered people.           

 

The puzzled woodpecker

 

These days the world blast into me

In sights and sounds of horror

Shrapnel hit aches that synapses cannot locate

Muted video of dreadful sights spills all over the floor

limbs, guts, blood 

paused.

 

Woodpecker on the palm rattles like a machine gun

puzzled at the midnight sun

Tree on the street corner takes the full brunt

Burning branches raised to sky

In a trance of great revelation

Taking in the last moments of closing eye.

The tragedy and travesty

International community has failed again atleast they could now work for complete cease fire. Meanwhile Russia cannot continue in UN nor any multilateral agencies (but then one cannot help bring the parallel of US-UK continuing even after attack on Iraq). What a mess, its always the common people who pay the heaviest of price. It's also failure of systems that leads to common people as fodder for bigger ambitions of sociopaths and megalomaniacs. If systems worked to enlighten people -assert their humanistic values, rather than convert them into haggling herds who are manipulated by controllers then they would be vigilant and work for better world. Democracy would have functioned as egalitarian expression. Each one of us nurturing regressive systems are complicit in deterioration that leads to such tragedies. Regressive system's grander worldview isolated from realities coalesces into producing horrible people as leaders. Market Capitalism and Religions are severely degrading societies, and is not allowing humanistic egalitarian systems to work and face the existential challenges.     

Crime against humanity

 Its also a failure of multilateral organization like UN that is least representative of contemporary reality.  Western leaders (expansionist NATO) are complicit too. These are not leaders but herd controllers haggling for power with characteristic ego that see everything disposable, an insatiable urge to acquire, grab and control. These are consolidated outcome of systems that are being nurtured. Its a byproduct of process that segregates and create the other. If you are actively participating in systems that insulates, isolates and dehumanizes then you are equally complicit. War happens when the other is completely dehumanized. Its a breakdown of care. Each death is a wail against systems that doesn't value human life and are least concerned about its impact on life on earth.   

WTF we don’t need this now

What a waste of energy and time. We don’t need this now. We have important things to work on. These are the kind of leaders we have produce when we give primacy to power, ego, greed, control, money and other superficialities. It’s a nation as business venture. These are what defines success in the contemporary world we live in. There is a stampede going on to acquire. These absurdities are what is taught as defining history and graded for future. How can one blame the leaders? 

War is an expression of entitlement of few over other. It’s an assault on humanity. It’s a gross violation of nature. What a waste. Despair. Cry.

History is iterative

 

History repeats itself first as tragedy then farce said Marx. How incapable must humans be if they are incapacitated to learn from experience or are unable to perceive their reality? Life learns from experience and every life form evolves with iterative involvement with its surrounding. Our senses are attuned to perceive. Every cell is open to experience the surrounding to survive. It learns, assimilates and grows. This diversity of life wouldn’t be possible if life was isolated from realities of its existence. Even mutation, the one that are successful hence replicated, is a not really a blind shot. It’s a sprint for survival that is very much hinged to existence. It’s a determined attempt to evolve, to latch the chaos, the potentialities and opportunities to survive and thrive. Life is in continuous iterative relation with its reality -immediacy of habitat and constancy of natural laws and limitations. 

History repeats itself if it is moving in a circle and is isolated from reality. History therefore can repeat if societies are incapable or are incapacitated to learn. This can only happen when societies nurture systems that insulate them from reality. Therefore, individually we perceive the threat while collectively the system makes us incapable to respond. We are incapacitated to trust our senses or use our mental faculties. If the reality becomes too oppressive we get into survival mode, it’s a short-term reaction to maintain the status quo that favours the powerful. The impasse Homo sapiens face is very much due to this disconnect. Religion and market are systems that worked for short term gains, its exaggerations and myth building enterprise are having serious ramifications with its overwhelming influence. Systems like religion that came into existence when humans rode donkeys, scooped water from nearest pit to drink, shat in the corner and sat around fire in caves open to elements, created myths to fill in the lack of knowledge and to feel secure while they perished from minor infections deemed as wrath, have become anachronistic nuisance that attracts dead minds and putrefied souls. Ridiculous holy books (that are understandings in its historical cultural context with some insights) have become sites for sickening sanctimony that attracts rabidity not seen in decent humans. The situation is dire. Humanity is on the verge of collapse due to ever encroaching signs of catastrophic reality that is framing the bleak future. The absurd show of grand conceptions cannot go on.          

For history to not repeat and end itself societies must invest on systems that are vibrant and attuned to senses and sophisticated to nurture the symbiotic relation with surrounding. It must evolve to be responsible and perceptive part of greater whole.          

 

Sculpting the social landscape

 

It’s a constant endeavor of controllers of institutions and narrations to convert human being into herds. The more unthinking they are the better it is to manipulate and control. This then takes the society away from social realities and contemporary crises. There is a reason why the power structures across the world have failed to address the urgency of climate crisis. There is a reason why media till recently tried to undermine, obfuscate and divert these existential crises (I was expecting the high-end British media like TheGuardian -that has wider audience due to colonial advantage and narrative control, to fail when it came to understanding movies like Don’t Look Up. And boy didn’t they mess up. The arrogance was typical). Self-assuredness of grip over herds and easy manipulated binaries leads to complacency. They really didn’t factor climate crisis would be this disruptive (likes of BBC taking their sweet time as they survey the scene for control). 

They are incapable to sense the reality of the situation since they are too preoccupied to manipulate the narration for control, as also showcasing themselves as some kind of saviour in this little world that they try to bludgeon us in. Facts becomes victim to narrative flair of emotions. Every news therefore becomes an occasion to control and manipulate, to give it the needed narration that seeks to undermine the reality. Systems that are hinged on this make-believe world consolidate the fake. Influencers like market feed this chicanery while religions ask us to strive. When you undermine the reality critical faculties of human beings get undermined. When senses are weakened, or told not to trust, the mind gets confused. The perpetual insecurity that follows is an indication of humans losing their grip into herds or are atomized as frustrated lives into escapism. They lose their capacity to use their intellect. As social landscape gets manipulated and sculpted in isolation it loses its vigor to face the reality. Systems failing to face the contemporary challenges is a clear indication of how much reality has shifted while herds are kept occupied in binaries of absurd and inane entertainments. There are reason why indigenous people -who are deemed primitive, are aware of the urgency. It isn’t a coincidence. Their society may not be as sophisticated to get the science and technology to travel to mars or edit genes but yes, they are well attuned to sophisticated world and natural systems that we are indelible part of. They know the waft of the dung and mind of the bird. It shouldn’t therefore surprise that science began its journey with this searing probe into reality. Somewhere down the line technology gave the herd their collective will. Its been downhill since. If we don’t become humans again, dismiss systems that dehumanize, and assert our humanity, reject vehemently and vociferously each and every attempt to undermine our being then it’s truly over for us. It’s a wake-up call.         

 

Wanted 

A threat to humanity 

Deeply saddened

****

The other shore

You will only know when you reach 

You sense in the presence

Ecstasy, and sadness

Glimpse the profundity of stars and flowers

And what connects

Getting the context

History is also about intersections. It has repercussions on contemporary world and interactions. I wasn’t aware much about Blacks and Jews and the context of intersectionality. Indeed, I wasn’t much aware about genocide of Jews either. I came to know about Concentration Camps in school history (most likely in 10^th or 9^th standard), it was a minor mention in international history. What I recall was me thinking it to be a place where people went to concentrate. One word that was drilled into me was: concentrate. I recall an English teacher (in KV Jaipur) who taught English in Hindi and used very few English words. And the word she used quite often was “concentrate” as she randomly hit notebook on the head of anyone giggling, talking so on. It was only later, in my 20s, I came to know about cruelty of Hitler, Nazis. Then I watched documentaries, read books, as also watched movies to get the full impact of the horrific events. I recall feeling extremely uneasy watching footages. What I wasn’t aware of was semantics used and the gravity and import of it, and recently I too have been keenly working on these usages and the contexts. Whoopi Goldberg incident is helping to get the grip. Last week I read Maus by Art Spiegelman that was banned in some school in USA by the Christian inspired administration (note I stopped using terms like far right/far left, no more fueling binaries. Looking for context of issues, and not polarization into baying groups). I immediately ordered a copy online. I am also reading much postponed Victor Frankl. Yesterday while thinking I recalled reading this (pic herein). It’s an instance of blatant racism on Black (Afro-American) by a Jew who had ironically survived the holocaust (ofcourse there is a context of him being paranoid about food/groceries but nevertheless there is something here). Black-Africans who were captured and sold as slaves have a history of horror and trauma of centuries that is beyond human imagination. And they still suffer and face discriminations, and what makes it singularly revolting is that it is because of something a human being is born with -the color of skin, and not because of believe system or voluntary choices. It is therefore is blot on humanity. It is in this context I find the rebuke of Whoopi Goldberg quite painful. There is a context that is being willfully neglected. It is much complicated than one cares.  

The more I read more I am convinced that Jew as a race is a construct. “Features” of Jews are caricatures based on prejudices that were generalized hence capitalized by Nazis to create the other. There doesn’t seem to be any other explanation however hard one tries. Religion is a construct, and any attempt otherwise is a violation of human right, a sinister attempt to segregate human, and negating contemporary reality. In the last few days I was trying to understand why this view a “profound ignorance”, none forthcoming. It is as if these are commonly agreed, understood and is a closed matter. Upstart like me has no business to poke, indeed not qualified or too insignificant. I keep an open mind. 

Controlling the narration

 

Religion is not a race. It’s a believe system. Nobody is born with, or into, a religion – if so then it is a violation of child’s right and restriction on humanity, a persistent threat. People are born into a race, into a region, into a gender. As societies evolve even these shouldn’t matter. Race, region or gender are insignificant in evolved society. What matters is worth of human. Worth of every life. Diversity then will be diversity of understanding, ideas, thoughts and expressions that contribute for better realisation.

Whoopi Goldberg is right when she asserts that holocaust "was not about race, but about man’s inhumanity to man" or rather human being’s inhumanity to another human being. We shouldn’t forget that women were also equally active member and facilitators of Nazis. Nazis "deemed Jews to be an inferior race" doesn't make it a race issue. Surely what Nazis “deemed” shouldn’t be point of reference for any discussion at all. Almost all Europeans in 1930s were Caucasians. So, it’s clearly about religion being used to perpetrate and justify genocide. The narration must be about how religion is the cause of misery, and how Nazis used it to create myths hence enemies among friends and neighbours. It shows the hold of religion and fiction on psyche of people that they could condone murder and extermination of innocent people whom they knew. It’s the depth of depravity and must be recognised with all its cruelties and facts. If ever Ms. Goldberg can be faulted it could be the tone (“it’s about them the white people”), and that accusation too is tenuous. She was just asserting the facts. We live in crude, crass and increasingly polarized world where nuances get lost in the din. Also, the attempts at hyperbolic extrapolation of events in 2022 to 1930s is dangerous distraction. The world has evolved much since 1930s in a way that was unthinkable even few decades back. Few Nazis in some corner of USA is now flashed all across the world. The contemporary complexities are different. Likes of Trump (one feels violated to even mention his name) were mollycoddled and nurtured by greedy crass media looking for eyeball catching histrionics without any concern for repercussions. While people were too tired of mainstream politicians manipulating and using correct meaningless words while they sided with rich and powerful, and status quoist abuse and lack of innovative involvement in systemic exploitations. That this con artist carries on blatantly despite breaking law many times shows how much the deep state is compromised. The role of dark web and BigTech were also not taken seriously (the gravity of which the policy makers at the highest level must have been briefed). Attention seeking manipulative algorithms have polarized and degraded democracies all across the world. They have severely undermined critical thinking, subjectified facts and framework for sane discussion or communication. While billionaires becoming richer during pandemic points to serious flaw in the system. Climate catastrophes seems to be least of concern indicating even bigger existential malaise.             

Religion is not race. It cannot be. It’s important to be aware of semantics used and narrative control, the context and complexities, and repercussion on contemporary world. Racism is an important matter and shouldn’t to be diluted. It has serious repercussion on contemporary world. There is an attempt to sanctify and fossilize religions into race hence identity. It’s a gross human right violation and imminent threat to humanity.    

A threat to humanity

Its about time that the world takes the threat of likes of Rupert Murdoch seriously. There are little versions of Murdochs all across the world, and these greedy psychopaths have severely degraded democratic institutions and are having debilitating impact on humanity. Stop him.   

On the other side of mob

It could be the skin colour, the otherness of thoughts or attire

The accent, a rumour, or plainly you in the wrong place

A gap to fill time

The thrill to enact, or a game to measure

Bludgeoned bodies on scales of argument

Blood as elixir of power

Color of the sea

 

Grey in the dawn 

Steely blue in sunny morning

Soft green of the day

Wild ochre in dusk

In the moonless night

frothing fringes mark the dark and the sane.

Some nights the moon melts

and lit planktons in blue green of the dreams.

Does the dolphin know the color of the sea?

Does he dream the color of earth?  

Does he dream? 

Book recommendation for the month end:

Obviously when they don't want you to read something they take you as herd. Human beings can take their own decision. Read what they don't want you to read. Think what they don't want you to think. Write what they don't want you to write.

The Thuggery

 

Shouldn’t it be Britishery?

The question here is where does the reference thuggery come from? How did it get into English? Thug in hindi means cheating, and is commonly used. There is no word as thuggery in hindi it’s a british creation. Thug gets its reference from medieval times when small time highway robbers looted and strangulated travelers. When Britishers started to colonize the region through East India Company they exaggerated these and portrayed them as blood thirsty monsters in the process the racist colonizing exploiters were positioned as benign protectors. Many of these highway murderers were classified as criminal tribes and the tribe members prosecuted for no reason. Studies points to these portrayals as mostly a construct -based on no empirical evidences, by cunning britishers with narrative control ably helped by caste cannibals -playing the traditional role of enthusiastic sycophants to power. Britishers therefore created Thug Department (the irony!) in 1830s to demonize and contain these threats. These small-time criminals were isolated from their socio-economic conditions into monsters who believed in divine sanction for killing as some kind of ritual. It’s quite obvious that the myth of divine sanction can only succeed socio-economic factors, it can easily be understood as an attempt to moralize their transgress. Thug narration was worked as metaphor of other -the unpredictable sinister natives. This gave colonizers a moral authority to justify acquisition and exploitations. After transfer of power Castetva forces instead of rectifying these grievous mistakes continued with these brutalities. Ganesh Devy (in a study conducted in as late as 2000) notes that some of these tribes continue to suffer from human right violations that in many cases go unchecked by the law enforcement authorities -the police, the continued teaching of the Criminal Tribes Act in the curriculum for police training is cited as a major reason. He claims that the police are “taught” to believe that they are born criminals, leading to their continued persecution in spite of legal safeguards against the same.

In a much reasonable narration thugs can be viewed as those who rebelled against the system of exploitation and exacted what they thought appropriate in their circumstance. Thugs did in open what squatters did inside sanctum. Thugs sacrificed humans while squatters sacrificed souls. The audacity of colonizers to classify thugs as criminal tribes while they themselves were racist murderous exploiters spanning the globe needs special attention. All these elaborate ruses were hinged on something called justice system that they conceived. These were meant to streamline exploitation while giving the semblance of propriety -which was to be taken as justice. These famously harmonized with squatter’s cannibalistic framework. Therefore, the critical and common-sense question of how justice can prevail in injustice system was never confronted. There is a reason why Indians took up to becoming lawyers and ended up serving the colonizers with gusto (one fellow even went all the way to South Africa). Even now the tardiest and one of the most incompetent judicial system on earth has lawyer luminaries many of whom control power at the top most level while the society suffer.

The question that bothers me though is why the word thuggery was accepted into English without any challenge. It shows amazing level of moral vacuum among Indian elite who actively connived to normalize these (ofcourse there are worst references from putrid pit into English which is as worse as racism but still normalized, these should be expunged at the earliest). Why is that racist colonizer Britain doesn’t have any reference in English that is concomitant with its past brutalities?

Why is thuggery a word in English while britishery isn’t? Boris Johnson represents the britishery. 

Grateful

   ...for helping to understand and insights during trying times in my 20s. Mindfulness. 

*Imagine if squatters and their depraved value system had not strangulated this region we would have such wonderful people amongst us here in India (what is nurtured now is parody of entitlements and arrogance, obnoxious self help gurus trying to play Zen masters with hilarious outcomes). Also, we wouldn't have to waste time and energy on regressive values and general crassness that one see all around. Ofcourse Buddhism is another system with herds who can create horrors in Myanmar, SriLanka, Cambodia...but if you are not a follower but an observer then there is enough space for syncing with being a human, awareness of existential absurdity and humbleness of present moment.  

What kind of religion is this?

 

We know that religions are source of untold misery and remain potently so. Christianity has actively participated in atrocities of colonialism, nurtured racism and had nudge and wink relation with Nazis. These institutionalized depravities happened till few decades back. It is a grim note for a religion that traces back to 2000years. Indeed, it was democratic secular institutions and rule of law based on egalitarian values of liberty that reined in religion. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that remnants remain. You see these expressed across the world (not that other religions are doing better. Religion by its very nature lacks humanistic apprehensions, its concerns are status quoist for system perpetuation controlled by entrenched interests) through daily nuisance that has consolidated into alarming proportion in USA. Humanity reels under onslaught of religions that reduces decent human beings into blood baying herds or the least segregating into competing forces without any concern for any reality or existential threats.

It is in this milieu of depravities that one reads about abuse of children in Churches. Then you read that the topmost functionary of the system i.e. Pope was involved makes you sick. The fellow Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict from 2005-2013) was fully aware of the atrocities. He was incapable, indeed incapacitated, to do what even a normal person would do in such circumstances. A grievous matter like child abuse should shudder any human being and instigate immediate remedial action. Unlike “woman abuse” which can be subjective and needs investigation since it involves adults -who can be scheming, children are innocent to the darker ways of humans. There really cannot be any crime worst than what is committed on children. It’s a crime on human conscience. That a religious head couldn’t make himself cognizant to even this basic human value speaks volume of the system.

Christianity in putrid pit: like erstwhile colonies Christianity spread with brutalities of colonialism. It was in a mission to civilize. Indian society being amazingly depraved that even brutal racist colonizers did end up giving contexts of civilizational values. Though flawed in many ways it did provide framework for democracy and help underpin alien values of equality and liberty into a ruthless society. Christianity -in its vigor to spread, opened up many educational institutions thus nurtured unanticipated values of knowledge to a primitive society. That ends there. Kerala is a prime example of how religions can severely degrade society -it’s a meeting ground for lowest denominator of every religions (even communism -which has become another religion with well-defined rituals of power) to cannibalize the herds while charlatan politicians squeeze benefits. It’s a putrefying pit that Indians -as they gain literacy, are heading to. Limited by their own limitations.

To be fair Kerala had religions landing up much before the other parts in the region. These are seen as some kind of achievement but the reality is they worked to segregate an already despicable bunch. In the early part of 20^th century there were many positives, and I am not here to elaborate these, it’s the contemporary concerns that matters. There is nothing charming about religions in contemporary world. Christianity in Kerala is nothing but another bunch of power broker haggling for their herds. They construct ugly monstrous structures in already densely populated region to awe the herds indicating lack of concern for contemporary reality and evolved nuances of living (huge temples and mosques are equally cringey and nauseating) and drill in miracle book that contains regressive anachronistic values and isolate from realities of life.  Kerala had the advantage of literacy that can be easily traced to Christianity but now its presence is regressive. As with everything in a primitive society religion has a control over media hence charlatans in political parties. Media outlets effortlessly identified caring interests of respective religion. Christian controlled media is quite powerful and influential meanwhile equally regressive for market driven concerns of putrid pit. They play beleaguered minority at the national level and pose as some exotic savior of secularism. These are the worst kind of people taking advantage of cannibalistic value systems that permeated into every aspect of sickening lives of herds from sanctum irrespective of religion. Christian media vehemently promotes caste organizations as part of news and shows enthusiasm for squatter’s world view as they assuage Christian herds of their special place in diversity. Degraded media is habituated to pose inanities as news. Wonder whether to call herd controllers and power brokers as journalists. They are known to openly align with Castetva congress working the narration of liberal secular saviors. A party essentially of bickering feudals. It must be reminded that it is such a deviant society that it was the only state in India that voted Congress even after brutalities of Emergency (now Hindutva has nurtured such deviant herd vote bank in north India). Such is the level of degradation. A congress “leader” (byproduct of nepotism) was quoted recently “Gandhi only said when somebody hits you on the left cheek show them the right. He never said what happens when somebody hits you on the right cheek. We will break their jaw”. It’s a veiled threat to Left party on campus violence wherein the ideas of awareness of politics in youngsters through education system is diverted by charlatans into puppets for political vendetta. Kerala finds the lowest denominator on every egalitarian attempt. Literacy is ineffectual to extricate humans out from herds. Meanwhile the 'communist' CM is in 'imperialist' USA for treatment. Now that the Kerala model has collapsed. Kerala capitalized on christianity and communism to rise spectacularly in 1960s and 70s but the primitive society just couldn’t work on itself. It now spews grandeur of putrefying pit to rally the herds.    

 

   

Commemorating Kumar Gandharva

 

Not into Indian "classical" music, actually don't even recognize it. Exposed to Carnatic music -that is ensconced in squatter's world, and with very rare exception I find it tedious and unable to connect -shows the quality and self assured arrogance that permeates the music. They are promoted by racket while 'folk' is alive and strongly connected to verve of life. There is a reason why western classical connects (not the high pitch singing though, I even went for paid sessions to understand but just couldn't connect to this one) sometimes brimming in tears -its searing and yes scary that you will be lost in a such beautiful world that you may not be able come back. Hindustani has much openness but trapped in "pristine purity" of cringe -the spiritual religion. Kumar Gandharva worked his magic by bringing in the subtleties of 'folk' into 'classic'. And really changed the syntax and aesthetics of music, context and narration. I wasn't aware of him until happen to land up in a festival on Kabir in late 1990s. When it comes to Indian music Kumar Gandharva is right there in a special place. The other day I was listening to him and realized it was his death anniversary. Humanistic prose of Kabir find voice through Kumar Gandharva and epitomizes everything that is human. These humanistic value system were severely degraded by Castetva forces and now passed onto Hindutva (and the worst binary projected through Islam). Religions are serious threat to humanity. Any system that seeks to nurture religion is therefore a threat to humanity. Religion can exist in sidelines but cannot be given primacy that is being appropriated for last many decades. It cannot be allowed to intrude into human identity. Religion is a pity, and really is woefully incapable to contain vastness of life. 

Ud jayega hans akela...is hauntingly beautiful rendition.

Imagine a world where language could listen

Words could understand

Say the things soul sense

And express itself in pause 

Imagine the words as breath itself

That gives life in prose, and music

Black hole 

There is a stillness that grows and summons at busiest of hour

Reaching the expanse of blue sky, envelopes the darkness of the space

Relating with random breeze, synchronizes with fireflies

Merges into the pastel yellows and blues of garden flowers

It presents in the most chaotic occasion as a drop of silence

Eating into loudest of noise, turning gibberish into music

Scatter thoughts into meaningless, memories into hallucination

Past into illusions

It exists, you can sense it, but is unknowable

Like a vortex in space time

When you know you cannot tell, if you tell it vanishes

What goes in cannot come out, if it comes out it’s not the same

Event horizon a realization  

Of living and dying into expanding still.

 

Night flowers 

Night flowers sway in the Milky Way

The meteor ignites an unseen stem

Painted and erased in haste

The canvas shimmers in countless ways

 Like clouded electrons they swirl in space

Mind is the nucleus filled with stars

 Kindles thoughts kept safe deep in time

Till the day dust settles

And arrange a new kind of life and form

    The memories are then packed in tiny gifts

           Left at the doorsteps of abandoned homes.      

They talk by flapping their meat

 

“They talk by flapping their meat at each other” is a line from a funny but incisive short story They're Made out of Meat by Terry Bisson. The aliens are describing humans, they are intrigued, one of them speculate “…they a carbon-based intelligence that goes through a meat stage." "Nope. They're born meat and they die meat…”.

This excerpt from their brief exchange:

"Spare me. Okay, maybe they're only part meat. You know, like the Weddilei. A meat head with an electron plasma brain inside."

"Nope. We thought of that, since they do have meat heads like the Weddilei. But I told you, we probed them. They're meat all the way through."

  "No brain?"

"Oh, there is a brain all right. It's just that the brain is made out of meat!"

  "So... what does the thinking?"

"You're not understanding, are you? The brain does the thinking. The meat."

  "Thinking meat! You're asking me to believe in thinking meat!"

"Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you getting the picture?" 

So when you watch the dimwits in media one can but think “They talk by flapping their meat”, ofcourse with no thinking meat, the brain. The meat is driven by money, greed, power, prestige, ego and entitlements. 

Meanwhile the unthinking putrefying meat in primitive society is working on “hindu seer” abusing “mahatma” gandhi. Hindu seer is such an oxymoron. Dictionary meaning of seer is “a person of supposed supernatural insight who sees visions of the future”. How can someone who has no connect with any reality but wallowing in primitive framework (read religion) lacking any basic human qualities hence incapable to even understand complexities of present see future? Future prediction and related BS is Indian speciality that emerged from sanctum led degradation to con insecure people – the beggar minded herds seeking tricks to get blessing. Using the reference of “mahatma” to Gandhi is in itself an abuse of common people and civilized sensibilities. It’s controlling the narration to work castetva narration as also self-justification for being in putrefying pit. Indeed check the “news” (when squatter bless news it is but natural for it to become views that is presented as godsend –like clever use of Sanskrit, which then easily replace news even if there were no facts to begin the news itself!) that is working to create caste vote bank/herd issues as if there are no important issue for a society that has amazing level of exploitation, corruption and challenges. The castetva narrations are nurtured with castetva herd controllers before elections to scuttle and control the herds. And yes, it was the colonial british (after ofcourse the squatter authentication) who fed these nincompoops to control and exploit the society. Pity this putrefying primitive society.

 Today morning I was hearing from blaring loud speaker wherein a squatter was humbly elaborating scripture (wonder how and why gita became prominent?) from local temple to herds. He assures “…of all the yogas, (-gyana so on) its bhakti that is superior” (these dimwits always have hierarchy of dealing “superior” “pure” never much attempts at understanding) meaning just become thinkingless meats, he also requests “…of all your earning give substantial portion to temples!” It’s a package deal. Somnath temple was ransacked 17 odd times every time the invaders (must be few hundreds riding all the way from Afghanistan –clearly brave and industrious but brutal) looted huge amount of precious items and killed hundreds with much ease and least resistance, and everytime herds collected money to rebuild and repeated to store precious things for invader's ease. The nincompoops were incapable and incapacitated to think and create strategies to defend. They were busy brutalising and cannibalising the herds. This in gist is the metaphor of this godforsaken society. Ofcourse now there is wherewithal to create grand stories and myth to replace history and control the present. Castetva’s version of Indian subcontinental history differs from Pakistan’s mullah version of the same history. Now let’s wait for Hindutva’s version. Meanwhile what is increasingly getting clear is that authentic history is the history of common people –how societies evolved to understand and deal with their surroundings, and not feudal wars and juvenile simplistic lazy narrations.    

Threshold of biomass

 

Of all the teeming biomass that atoms conceive through mindboggling journeys of miracle of life on earth humans have evolved its intelligence into conscious that synchronizes life’s system into astounding possibilities. Human life provides matter sentience, an opportune outcome of perilous odds. Humans sense the truth of the reality as they consolidate and evolve to survive and thrive. So the systems that nurture humans must provide all the freedom as also the latest means and understandings for the conscious to sense the reality. In most cases ideas, thoughts, understandings or discoveries happen in an incremental process but many a times path breaking, or disjointed to any narration as if a new stream of sensibility, has presented itself. Einstein’s theory of relativity or stories of Kafka are such examples. It superimposes into the known reality a new matrix. I was watching discussion between Foucault and Chomsky on this matter. Both are equally right while there are path breaking ideas and discoveries that produce cataclysmic shifts, as Foucault posits, there are also constant incremental additions. Indeed cataclysmic shifts are carried out using the semantics and tools of the accrued –standing on the shoulders of giants, as Chomsky the linguist argues.                  

There are reasons why paradigm shifting and path breaking discoveries and inventions happen in certain societies or regions. It has to do with how much a society has evolved. The threshold of biomass of humans to sense the reality and express is very much determined by socio-cultural factors which in turn impacts the systems that thrive and how much these provides independence for minds to explore and souls to dance. Sensing the threads that runs through the universe needs acceptance of silence and systems that nurtures and values contemplative space. It must value varied thoughts, free exchange of views that are built on logic of mind and illogic of soul. It must encourage inquisitiveness and consolidation of knowledge through understanding. Such society creates space for excellence which then percolates into every aspect of human expressions. Individuals too are not confined to narrow fields of inquiry as they seamlessly cross in search for understanding. As they reach the threshold of inquiry it starts to synchronize with expanding reality. Many regions across the world have experienced this. In modern times cities like Vienna, Paris or New York have seen spurt of expressions that significantly sensed the reality and helped in consolidating understanding for humanity. Even during restrictive ancient world Greece, Egypt or China etc. had provided such spaces that help consolidate human civilization by exchanging these into collective knowledge. Think of intellectual vibrancy during the period of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle or during the early period of Buddhism in Indian subcontinent – that saw many universities and libraries being set which latter shifted to East Asia, you will realize how much these matters and how much these have contributed to put foundations of evolved societies. As Foucault asserts it’s not about individuals but systems that nurtures these evolved ideas to be expressed, discoveries to happen and inventions to be carried out. Societies that lack these evolved attributes (essentially primitive) focus on individuals –who are elevated as heroes (or even god/incarnation). They wait for miracles, and work to build stories around these to assure its worth and myths of grandeur. There is a constant need for inane records to compensate quality. Lacking any framework that nurtures free minds and attributes that contribute to excellence –essentially expressions of heightened beauty, they seek to downgrade these.        

In the last few years something remarkable has happened. Internet has created virtual world. Real has shifted to virtual and with it distance has vanished. Though real world cities and centers of learning still hold sway virtual is consolidating and is set to make real immaterial in knowledge dissemination, exposure to liberal values, liberty and freedom, and experience of excellence of all of humanity presented through a click. There are also restrictive system like religion and market that have consolidated, and is attracting unthinking minds and herds, which have started to have detrimental impact. As has been the case through human history these have degraded societies, caused immense misery while wasting human lives into drudgery. It restricted humanity, isolated minds into dead habits and drained souls. It created barren lands of thriving primitives who have no contribution to humanity and seek to trap in dark ages, capitalizing on fear and insecurities. If humanity has to face the emerging challenges and evolve to new realities then it will have to keep its threshold for free minds much above herd reach. It must be aware of this ever present threat. It will have to therefore make every effort to restrain degrading systems. Diversity is crucial but it cannot be representation of regressive values and restrictive systems. These can only degrade and increase potentialities of problems. Diversity means diversity of knowledge, experience from diverse regions and challenges of different social realities, and not the least, diversities of ideas and approaches, these add to vibrant understanding and creates synergy for evolving into better world.                          

Wow that was spectacular!!

 

The launch

Will be watching live. Thanks to internet anybody anywhere in the world can.  Truly amazing.

James Webb Space Telescope by NASA/ESA/CSA is a crucial mission, as also quite complex with complicated deployments. Hope everything goes fine, and we will know more about the universe. Rooting for the mission.   

Also, don't forget to watch this movie Don't Look Up (on NetFlix). Based on truly possible events (truly happening events is probably a better description!).