Saturday, August 31, 2024
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Middle class moralism hops out of woodwork
Kerala surely is scenic,
despite high density of population and not very agreeable people, the greenery
is soothing. The reason why I prefer Goa since it is a much refined version of
Kerala -very likely because Goa had violent past that also led to severe break down of
regressive value system and later impetus of international tourism as also vicinity
to mega cities like Mumbai, and relatively sparse population, created a fairly open
society. Sequestered between mountains and ocean Kerala assimilated outside influences
into its regressive clutch. An incorrigible provincial mind despite constant
exposure to outside world. A materialistic consumerist society even evaluated literacy
into its utilitarian fold. I have rarely seen such desperation for wealth from materially
comfortable people, a pathological insecurity of souls that is in constant
dread of how they are being evaluated by equally depraved other -the society. Arrogance,
ego, pride, pettiness are defining factor of human relations while simultaneous
hallucination of grander version of themselves that the world is in awe of. The
complexities of pathetic is to be lived to understand. Except for my college
days I really haven’t spent much time in Kerala, I never really was comfortable
in this oppressive place. Possibilities of Communism and Christianity have well
passed its utility -the Kerala model, and now is a mask of ridicule that cannot hide grim reality. Hinduism and
Islam rarely contributed anything of value except these versions of competitive
regressive grand that is now a sickness, an increasingly violent sickness that has enthusiastic participation from communists and crude christian revivalist moralism. Best of ideas
have found the worst of possibilities (here I am not referring to creative expressions
of music, art and colours -contribution of religions is significant but has
reached lifeless impasse). Language binds but literature is still wanting and
withers into appalling standards of newspapers and mass publication with futile
expectation to carry atleast some minimum creative humanistic subtlety from
long exposure to literate society. It is an extended middle class lacking vibrant intelligentsia or sophistication, the best is always in fringe and seen as threat. The size of their house, money in bank, level of literacy, may vary but what rivets them is same, they watch the same thing, eat the same stuff, talk the same and dream, crave, the same. It is as if benefits of material comfort, tremendous possibilities of education and subtleties of life have bypassed them. An extended needy puritanical
middle-class moralism assimilated through worst possibilities of religions, lacking
any cosmopolitan glimmer despite material richness, astounding natural sights, confluence of religions/philosophies and uncommon social development. This society is caught dead flaking itself to
find its soul.
Entertainment is extension of this limited worldview. For last many decades they entertained the herd into grander versions of themselves in sickening patriarchy and depraved traditions, pandering to the middle-class oppressive moralism and normalizing brute violent patriarchs as saviors. Lacking crude flashiness that is seen among crass - in other part of the country, they produced compelling movies that consolidated middle class moralism in its persuasive everyday narration. Not denying there were rare flashes of brilliance but overwhelming patriarchal cannibalistic concerns crested the deal with dangerous outcome for wellbeing of society and needs of responsible humans. In the recent times lots of malayalam movies have taken up progressive themes but is still shackled in deeply dehumanizing degraded social reality hinged to appalling past. The aftermath of Hema commission (that ofcourse has initiated well-meaning soul searching, and yes guilty must be punished starting with exemplary speedy punishment to blatant heinous crime allegedly orchestrated by an actor on an actress) has unleashed worst of people in the social media who really don’t understand value of freedom. Poking sarcastic malayalee primed in middle class moralism morphs into deranged regurgitator spewing venom. They have come out of woodwork in hordes satisfying the primal urge to watch the rich and famous tumble. In this fall is collective resurrection of middle-class moralism of mediocres and essential defining characteristics of gleeful primitives. Malayalam film has nobody to blame but itself. They nurtured the slime. Fat slimy chickens have now come home to roost. Rule of law must catch these chickens and tandoor them.
*When I was in college we had college fest, and as is the case there was dancing and crap. Newspaper (ofcourse MalayalaManorama -repository of depravities) took it up in a big way and reported it as immorality of college students, the defining word was “koothattam’ -meaning drunk dancing -hence breakdown of social order! This was my early brush with sophistication of middle class semantics. There are trigger words for middle class morality that easily seep and grip the psyche of listener, the meaningful nod is an indication from the recipient of full import with all the seen and unseen contexts. This deluge of trigger words is what is seen in social media in last few days. These are shared and liked as middle class self righteous puritan muck seeks redemption.
Sunday, August 25, 2024
The sickness
White people in West have taken
the burden of racism -which they brutally perpetuated, but much of the world is
racist in varying degrees of brutality. South Asians when they are in West -essentially
gained from feudal system, whine about racism against browns but nowhere I have
seen shops referred to as brown hotels or brown homes, nor black homes or black
lodge. Ofcourse, english language has embedded racism hence dark is valuated as
sinister while white as fair but that doesn’t and cannot exonerate local racism
and value systems that nurture these. Forget humans even animals are not spared.
We are aware of white cows in north India, in here, elephant that are kept as props for degrading rituals are evaluated on whiteness! Imagine the sickness.
They have worked features of magnificence and white being important marker in an essentially dark-skinned region -indeed the same had much sympathy towards white
people hence evaluated higher hierarchy. The dark magnificent creature is not
only exploited but has been assigned hierarchy on the level of whiteness! It’s
a deeply flawed society.
Worst of these are noted in Tamil Nadu –a region that had much potential and was attuned to face realities of medieval times and thrived into east Asia, and how sinister forces worked to undermine egalitarian movements and reduced it into caste cesspool. Tamil movies had a major role in this degradation. Meanwhile Hema Commission has opened pandora's box in Malayalam film industry- they make relatively better movies but overall amazing level of mediocrity while pandering to social morass, regressive ways, feudal references nurtured as valued identity while patriarchy morph into modern as sexist fun. What is seriously problematic is the story and intention, incapacitated to face pathetic reality it hinges on mythical grandeur and crude expressions, ofcourse in recent times there is marginal shift -as people access better entertainment options, but still is overwhelmingly degraded. The idea of entertainment as complex and elevating is rarely understood and appreciated in primitive society. It always falls back on lowest commonest denominator and in Indian case it really is a pit. It is a sexist world no doubt, there are exploitations but allegations cannot be taken on face value. In the overwhelming attention seeking value system, where everything is seen as opportunity for branding, an actress making allegations cannot be put on high pedestal, also the social context of exceptionalism and entitlement that is nurtured cannot be negated. Assault is a legal matter and must be dealt accordingly and not in the realm of wild speculations as entertainment. Two factors become paramount; one is whether there is pattern of allegations -that is multiple instances blaming a person, is a serious matter. Hence one-off incident, maybe serious, must be understood in the context -chance of fictitious cannot be ruled out. Also, in a profession where physical involvement is common everything is subjective, and in Indian context situation is complex. The idea that women cannot be perpetrators doesn't stand the scrutiny of cannibalistic society. Also, there are lots of low talent manipulators trying to gain attention in high stake money churning glamour world. Attention is branding. Director Ranjit (who is extremely talented and widely respected) being treated like this is deeply disconcerting and doesn’t augur well. Voyeurs and hooters are having field day, tarnishing lives and muddling issue is not how you deal. Secondly, serious allegations of rape and child molestation must be dealt strictly (the actor against whom grave allegation of orchestrating assault is still able to act in movies while process of justice languishes is a sick joke on society). How are some able to control the system in their favour must be scrutinized. Is the film industry under the control of exploitative cartel? Hopefully these are unraveled and guilty punished. WCC has done remarkable work.
Saturday, August 24, 2024
Thursday, August 22, 2024
Lackadaisical system, scyophantic theatrics and britishery
Watch this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86LjZ0Gak2U
This is what I commented on the above video in the site. This in the aftermath of brutal rape murder in Kolkata. So, after brutal crime facilitated by horrible social values, insensitive police -there were cases against him on brutalities committed, appalling lack that led to his recruitment in sensitive role, apathy of hospital administration, worst of possibilities facilitated by system that led to heinous crime, and then in the aftermath criminal 'conspiracy' and worst of people, political posturing, hooligans unleashed to scuttle the matter, media drama ...and now the sterling performance at the Court. Quite tired of these incorrigible buffoons while common people are exploited.
"it's an absolute travesty on people of this country that apart from lackadaisical systems that they endure on daily basis now we see judges referred to as lordship, reeks of obsequious drawl. These ridiculous theatrics of british value system (britishery) further burdens what essentially is feudal primitive society (also note little details like difference in size of chairs -these crude nuances are passed on to common people/sycophants as reference of power display and hierarchy details cringe). Be professional and cut the nonsense. Refer to him as Mr. Chandrachud or a curt Sir or Mr. or Shri or something neutral without regressive context. They are not f*cking lords, they are appointed to arbitrate justice by carefully studying and evaluating facts (and yes we are also not interested in their unsolicited regressive views on matters which they are least competent). Also, look at the 'celebrity' lawyers who are paid ransom -that in itself is criminal, creating ruckus instead of working to get to the truth of the matter (also, unethically using his/her position to barter for position like RS member/minister). Disgraceful"
Sunday, August 18, 2024
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
Prosaic is now sacred
Life expresses. Every life is an expression
of wonders and experiences of millions of years of evolution. Life incessantly adapts
to its existential reality and relentlessly strives to survive. Survival calls for
peak commitment and acute awareness of reality and all the nuances it exhibits;
it cannot be substandard or lackadaisical involvement. Substantial part of specie's
survival gets imprinted onto DNA and is shared for better say in life while epigenetics
gives the maneuvering space for emerging reality. In this struggle for survival,
we see finest expressions of life eminently amenable to its ecosystem whether
it is the splendid colours of flowers, supreme skills of bats or exquisite baya weaver nests. Life rarely indulges in futilities of competition or extremes of
actions but invests in mutualism and sharing to optimize resources
and effectively deal with the complexities present. The improbable life syncs
with forces of nature to survive and thrive in the midst of cataclysmic chaos. It
is a miracle.
It is humans (the post-agriculture Homo sapiens) who have created a paradigm shift of life as indulgence and not mere survival. These spiraled into amazing artistic expressions and astonishing understanding of science through laws of nature. The benefits accrued led to luxuries and opportunities to invest time to investigate and understand better. The flip side here is -that is becoming dangerously apparent, very few humans carry this burden of existence that are indeed instrumental in human progress and amazing expressions while most become parasites wallowing in excess and laziness while some detach into postmodern (excellent theoretical inquiry -deconstructing power, but leaves chaos of relativism that instrument neoliberal grab landing into alternative truth -overwhelming simulated reality of virtual) nihilism. These majority increasingly lack connection with reality and use of critical thinking faculties (herd) create delusions and low standards of arbitration taking humanity further down the sinkhole. Ideals of liberty and freedom becomes captive to degraded expressions and juvenile assertion, they infect democratic institutions. Hence, we have this dichotomy of amazing progress and some brilliant people juxtaposed and normalized with majority of indulgent self-assured unthinking entitled wastrels.
Education is important to understand,
to be aware, of all the possibilities of existence. It makes us discerning ethical individuals. The reason why varied
subjects of study and expressions makes a vibrant human and a resilient society.
Quality education and nurturing society leads to awareness of one’s indelible
presence hence exploring possibilities and likely skills to express or indeed
not express. An evolved society makes these accessible to young and to everyone. Internet
has broadened the idea of society and reduced what is global hence multifold
the possibilities. So, can I be a Simone Biles or a Dirac or a Chekhov? It is a
wrong question. You can be what you want to be and what you don’t want to be,
and indeed not to fall in this limited binary of mainstream expression of toxic
success and failure. There are things valued that is not expressed and need to
be expressed, and yes there maybe things we don’t even know about and could be significant
expression in future (we really don’t know whether what is expressed is the
only way to define or not define meaning of life). What cannot be denied and need
to be understood is that the dedication to acquire skills, and having acquired
the basic skills, whether you have the wherewithal to chisel it to brilliance,
to make your indelible presence and stretch the human experience. And for that
you have to diligently study the masters in their areas of competence and acquire
necessary skills and expertise, explore and excel in your reality and add your unique
presence. It also a collective effort and responsibility to retrieve humanity
from hallucination -hyperreality, that create worst of possibilities, the overwhelming morass
of hedonist opulent slush submerging any reality of redeeming value.
Monday, August 12, 2024
Volatile situation and merchants of death and chaos
Bangladesh situation is still quite
volatile, hopefully it is normalized and democratic institutions are consolidated.
There are different versions of what is happening in Bangladesh, there is a
narration for public consumption that is drumbeated by bidders and then there are
sinister forces orchestrating from faraway places for strategic gains, opportunism
to consolidate power, personal gains from war and mayhem or indeed sadistic
pleasure -nothing really can be ruled out we live in a nasty world. These sinister
forces have no value for democracy nor human life (indeed life of common people
in many parts of the world have no real value in narration of strategy). There are clear
evidences that Sheikh Hasina had acquired authoritarian tendencies and
undermined democratic institutions, her unbecoming was playing narrow partisan politics
leading to shooting of hundreds of protestors -that indicated inevitable end of
her authority. That doesn’t however justify violent eviction unless there are larger
forces at work. As mentioned earlier there are bigger forces at play, for them every part of the world is scheme for control. Sheikh Hasina blames US -a
sinister plan to set up base, while many experts on these matter point to China
and ofcourse Pakistan (from which Bangladesh bifurcated) and network of Islamists -who have found safe havens in west and are constant source of degradation all across the world.
We will never know the truth, we really don’t know what are credible sources since
all are compromised and working on opportunism while stampeding to control the narration for bidders meanwhile social media is filled with conspiracy, sarcasm and personal abuse.
Meanwhile common people caught on the wrong side brutalized, democratic institutions undermined
while charlatans pose as saviors meanwhile hoping the situation to deteriorate -a well-trodden template.
What cannot be tolerated is inflammatory assertions by socalled leaders in India. Having lost power many are smarting in the sidelines to get relevance and claw back positions which they firmly believe as entitlement. Castetva forces promoted these wastrels as leaders as they were least threatening, and hence, valued for sycophancy (a template that easily infects Indians -from personal god to leader as personal deity), lacking charisma or any redeemable connection with Indian reality they expertise in manipulation, and as trained infighting crabs, to get attention from powerful for survival. They see every event as an occasion for oneupmanship to impress, unhinged by lack of power they are crossing line and entering into anarchism that pose threat to democratic institutions and integrity of nation. Any grievance can be dealt through institutional mechanisms -if they are tardy or compromised then you are equally responsible -we common people are facing these for decades (millions of public money was spent on commissions to functionally upgrade institutions, reports languish in dusty corridors of chaltha hai/paklaam chicanery). Wasted sidelined low intellect “leaders” can rant while sensation seeking market media can work narration of doom to hook herd. These can be ignored for theatrics but any statement by person holding responsible positions that actively pushes anarchy must be severely dealt under the rule of law.
Thursday, August 08, 2024
Tuesday, August 06, 2024
Must face rule of law
Monday, August 05, 2024
Bangladesh at the brink
India has serious problems, but
one will consider oneself to be fortunate to be born in this relatively
peaceful part of the world, enjoying much freedom, considering how tumultuous neighborhood
of India is; with dangerous expansionist authoritarian China, Army controlled islamist
nurturing fragile democracy in Pakistan, Islamist barbarian Taliban
ruled Afghanistan (though doesn’t share immediate border but quite close for
comfort), brutal military junta of Myanmar, perpetually politically unstable Nepal, relatively stable Srilanka
with hoary recent past…Bangladesh was a peaceful nation with functioning democracy. One
common factor in this densely populated region of Indian subcontinent is
complacent entitled ruling class characterized by feudal ways. Disparities are institutionalized,
they pit people against each other to distract and manipulate to extend their rule
and influence meanwhile institutions are degraded for status quo benefits. Most
of the problems can be traced to this value system that prevents percolation of
democracy. Freedom becomes pernicious idea as aware people are seen as threat. Slowly desperate people consolidate to revolt against the system that is making democracy meaningless and doesn’t
add much value to their life. It is generally the protesting youth who are able
to channelize their genuine grievances, and very soon it is taken over by sinister opportunist forces, and if democracy is fragile then the Army stakes it claim -as they are powerful and organized to easily fill the vacuum, or else if the herd are controlled by sinister religions (more organized
worst are possibilities) then you can expect further degradation. We have seen
the textbook case in Egypt. Popular egalitarian movement against dictator was hijacked by religion which in turn was quashed by Army -as agent of progressive but
essentially blackmailing the society. Pakistan and Myanmar are examples of army
and religion sharing and consolidating their power, this consolidated power is
easy to control by sinister outside forces who really don’t give much damn
about common people except maybe by activating some NGOs to bleat and make necessary
noise. As in the case of Balkans where bigger forces like US and Russia are
playing proxy war by fueling regional conflicts Indian subcontinent is fast becoming an arena of increasingly dangerous expansionist authoritarian
China and sidelined US. Weakening US is a danger to world since democracies are
fragile and needs support. China lacks value system that favors humanitarian concern.
US too has its selfish concerns but atleast there is semblance of democracy and
is relatively free and open hence can be challenged on human rights and ethics
and is indeed responsive unlike authoritarian China. US has vibrant civil
society who are genuinely concerned and enjoy all freedom and rights unlike
sinister ways of China. World should be concerned about growth of China. Should
China be allowed access to latest technologies that could be misused and carry serious ramifications for humanity? Democracy is not a choice it is essential for every human
on this planet. The value of human being is cherished by freedom. Expansionist China
has no pretension of democracy nor any concern for human rights. This in many
ways seems similar to colonial forces and US involvements across the world during much
of 20th century. But there is a qualitative difference with China as there
are no pretentions whatsoever (as also closed authoritarian regime that severely
restricts and abuses its own citizens), and that is a significant degradation and a scary prospect for the world.
Complacent entitled leaders in
Bangladesh tried to divide youngsters by favoring few to consolidate their ideology.
They were incapacitated to perceive the desperation of common people particularly the young as they unleashed brutal crackdown. Reserving seats
is expression of feudal value system, and to expand it arbitrarily for political
gain is amazingly short sighted. Quota is against open access to opportunity. Instead
of easy measures to divide and gain a mature system would focus to ameliorate
root cause and assuage people by taking logical compassion driven measures (it is
quite possible that India could see widespread
outburst against reservations -that is also seen as increasingly corrupted and made meaningless by lack of target and misused by consolidations, that
is being used by sinister forces for divide and gain at the expense of people.
Castetva forces are evil, and have cannibalised Indian society for decades. Beware).
When PM Sheikh Hasina cut short her visit from China few days back there were clear
indications that something was seriously amiss and that the sinister forces have used
student's protests to gain control, very likely with outside agencies working to capitalize
and control. This poverty ridden nation with large population and high density severely threatened by climate change is in increasing consolidation of Islamist
network. This doesn’t augur well for the stability of the region at all. What remains
to be seen is whether Army consolidates progressive forces and arbitrates to consolidate democracy
or is it going to degrade democratic institutions by nurturing islamists and
controlling power. Bangladeshis are much vibrant people and carry passion of revolutionary
Bengalis, and so will they be controlled by regressive forces or will they
fight to gain control needs to watched. Considering endemic poverty and desperation
the system is loaded against them.
Saturday, August 03, 2024
Bob Beamon declares it open
It is amazing to watch the best of people express possibilities of body. At the pinnacle of sport, the binary of winning and losing doesn’t make any sense and really doesn’t matter. The difference between the top few is quite insignificant. If you have done your best, you have done well. This doesn’t mean it is not about participation. You have to perform to your best. Which means best has to be good enough and an expression of collective possibility of human body through strive and excellence in chosen field. People finishing too far from the best are in the wrong place. Watching those in the zone pushing the boundary of possibility is a pleasure to watch. It is amazingly beautiful. I was watching Simone Miles. There was a glitch in the uneven bar, bend knees -just shows human frailty despite amazing capacity, and she slipped in ranking but covered with astounding floor routine (it was anything but routine). Though Andrade and Lee, and few more, were equally good, Miles stood out -she I believe like Beaman, Phelps, Bolt…is once in a lifetime talent. Pushing possibilities, a notch up, for humanity to catch, making the impossible normal, same when a precocious human took a bipedal step, sowed first wild seed to grow food, bold enough to look up at the stars to see a pattern and try to use his/her critical faculties to access speck of vast reality, to see rising water vapor and wonder the possibilities of energy that could drive tons of weight, with searing power of imagination and delicate choice of words “A moment -we uncertain step For the newness of night -Then fit our Vision to the Dark…” shifted the world a little. There are few people who stretch human imagination. Essentially these are not few they are many who work to create framework for this possibility, it's incremental mostly but once in a while, like a mutation, a leap is taken into the unknown for the world to cling to new possibility. So, to class it into binary of winning and losing is futile. It is a celebration of possibilities.
Researchers and epidemiologists have pointed to certain regions in the world for new type of viruses and
bacteria to evolve and cross over to human to trigger pandemic. There are some defining
characteristic to the region, significant being presence of high diversity and intense
channels of exchange of microorganisms. These lead to new possibilities of
microorganism to evolve and spread fast, sometimes leading to such evolution that completely break human immune system. These regions are vibrant with possibilities
of new. I vaguely recall while reading Pearl Buck (I picked from pavement sale)
there was mention on regions in the world with possibilities of new ideas and talent. A region
with diversity, essential openness to thoughts and ideas, and bizarre, these are
essential to abstract pathbreaking novel. Diversity is important ingredient, not
the degrading insipid diversity of religion nor status quo stale traditions (or
the cesspool diversity normalized by word defecating vermins) but vibrancy of thoughts from different races, regions, of world carrying fresh experiences, new
vitality of culture and understanding, and assimilating and creating new possibilities.
Such regions are treasured places for humanity. From ancient times (whether
Egypt or Greece, buddhist centers from India to China to East Asia) to medieval
times (in Europe like Vienna or later Paris) to modern (earlier London to later
NewYork), to point few centers that created such spaces. Libraries did reduce
the distance and time, but it is internet that made space and time meaningless,
it has consolidated collective human mind. The reason why humanity is living in
high possibility of new that was never possible. Novel ideas, original thoughts, unique creative
expressions, travels and ricochets across the world instantly entering more number of
minds than ever before. This with AI -like Alphafold, makes it accessible to
anyone anywhere across the world to take it up. Truly amazing.
**some Indians too have done exceedingly well particularly in shooting, archery and badminton, they may not have converted into medals but are in the zone of excellence, they gave their best and did well, that is what matters. Some faltered not in talent but psychological pressure -which unlike other region of the world carries aspiration of more than billion beleaguered people, so the competitors from China or Korea or US or Australia (to whom they generally lose) have no such mental pressure whatsoever. In this context the performance Manu Bhaker is stupendous, this youngster won two bronze and narrowly missed third. To put it in perspective only two decades back India could manage only one bronze in the entire game! Also note, most Indian participants come from extremely humble background so the expectation from these youngsters must be extraordinarily. Even after performing well, take for instance VijayKumar (silver medal at London Olympics), they are swiftly sidelined by mediocrity thriving careless system. The despicables in cash fattened Indian army found him wanting. Ideally Neeraj Chopra should show middle finger to Indian Army and quit. He may not realize that he has done more to Indian army than they can ever possibly redeem, it is well past emotional gratitude trap (Also, NDRF must have complete control of disaster management and rescue, and is upgraded into separate force, Army is meant to protect border and not to play savior during floods/landslide).
Thursday, August 01, 2024
Trees kill people!
This is the conclusion of pretentious
mediocre legacy media in the aftermath of major landslide that killed around
200-the fatalities keep rising as many are missing, injured hundreds and
left thousands bereaved and cataclysmically changed their life. To make such appalling
statements in the midst of human tragedy adds to ridicule gravity of crisis and
meant to mock people by entitled insular primitives posing as media. To be fair
the intention was to ridicule MadhavGadgil report -as they have persistently done
for last many years, it was preemptive attempt as the report gains credence
among people facing the fury of nature. A well-fed neoliberal lobby is working
to feed the greed, as also tighten their sinister influence over self-serving insidious
narration. This christian controlled media is quite influential in Kerala as it
runs many milch outlets and has a significant control over narration -which ofcourse
is weakening with rise of social media. They have major role in degradation of Kerala
into cesspool of pathetic, and its incapacity to capitalize literacy into
education, meanwhile also effectively using ‘minority’ status to play liberal-secular
savior with easy mix of wanton consumerism that pitiable people are addicted to.
Also recall that Church was very much against MadhavGadgil report and were
central to orchestrated protests. It is but natural that primal connection with
media will be displayed.
So what can we do except praying and upgrade fate, hence construct more churches, temples and mosques etc. Keep the herd distracted and isolated from reality with fun and frolic as news and entertainment, and when tragedy strikes bring out riveting stories of suffering with intrusive videos and pictures, and emphasis divine role of fate. Afterall what can we do when climate change is beyond us? We are trained to salivate at blessedness when crude amazingly mediocre attention seeking sundry buy latest fossil fuel guzzler luxury vehicle and is a news.
**When I was a kid one of the quiz
related questions was about largest selling newspaper in India, it actually
shocked everybody that this Malayalam newspaper from little state in south
India topped the list. And then teacher would ask ‘anyone from Kerala in the
class?”, and for a kid it was moment of pride, now increasingly clear misplaced, regrettable and sickening. It’s good that the readership and stranglehold of these
sinister legacy media is dropping and mostly confined to elder generation. Like
Kasturi&Sons they too can start investing in local kirana store rather than
playing high moral saviors. Except herd seeking career politicians and attention seeking parasites nobody takes
them seriously. Indeed, this degraded society has many media outlets oozing out of
putrid pits as diversity pus that infects readers into self-assured literate
incorrigible primitives.
Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Killer landslides
Madhav Gadgil is an ecologist, an
expert in his field, he did meticulous study of Western Ghats, spent years travelling
the region and came out with a timely report. The report (with other experts as members) is a bench mark on conservation
of Western ghats. So, what did the government do? They appointed former ISRO
head (to call these people scientist is an insult, don’t think these pitiable ritualists
understand significance of being a scientist), the fellow used space map/technology
to mark out ‘green area’ and worked his presentable report. Basically, it was a
hit job for the government without understanding of ground reality or any inclination
what he was doing nor implication of his con act. It shows ethical values of former
ISRO employee (and so the present govt even found him suitable, over competent educationists
active in the field, to prepare policy report on education, such is the influence
our man has built up over the years!). Not at all surprising since these people
are nurtured by government, politicians, deep state agencies hence they are all ready
for the job in lieu of power and influence (that also puts in context to his out of
turn promotions throughout his career). Today’s landslide that killed more than 100
people in Wayanad (Kerala) is very much result of wanton exploitation of
Western Ghat that likes of KasturiRangan facilitated with his shoddy deeply unethical
involvement. He is very much responsible for criminal negligence and should
indeed be arrested. A high-level committee must be setup to find out what are
the factors that led to dilution of MadhavGadgil report and who all were
involved in this criminal conspiracy.
*As for me I understood the significance of MadhavGadgil report, and attempts to undermine it, so cycled from Kochi to Goa discussing importance of report to school and college students. It was more than a decade back.
(a disclosure: even if there were no reports I would have still cycled, and found some other cause to get sponsor! Who doesn’t want to cycle in monsoon rain! -ofcourse now rain is dreaded, how things have changed in a decade, and how it could change in a decade to come).
Monday, July 29, 2024
When death is murder
Weapon of murder is callousness,
apathy, a characteristic disregard for human life. These deaths are not
accident or fate but murder by well-nourished system orchestrating against
vulnerable. Time and place keep shifting but the template of gross violation on
life continues. The play of blessedness and fate is iterated as eternal and a lesson.
A cyclical nature beyond our control, so it is cleverly posited as nothing to do
with corruption, greed or criminal negligence, even with evidence they are
brushed aside or undermined with alacrity, the sinister system is too seeped
into soul that it is incapacitated to be reformed. It is cunningly appropriated
as fate and an occasion to drivel into people their precarious existence. The
only option presented with much fanfare and testimonial from sideshow celebrities
and attention seeking dopamine is to better your fate. Here too are charlatans
ready with ritual of solutions to fleece. Since fate is death and misery while
blessedness is money and power so this stampede to acquire, capture, grab, by
whatever means. In this skewed degraded system, that conceives every occasion
as an opportunity to make money and increase power and influence, majority are
fated to be crushed while few emerge as winners to be emulated as lessons on
inspiration. There is rarely any moment of self-reflection since critical
foundation of society (religion/tradition/market/culture/relations/elders) is
compromised and streamlined to serve these aspirations of success. Thus, the
richest beggars and most powerful beggars are compelling role models for
aspiring beggars. They provide meaning by compulsive exhibitionism of their
shallow vacuous lives to enthusiasts incapacitated of any discerning skills or
nuanced understanding whatsoever. This self-consuming loop is fed by institution
under the garb of freedom and choice. These infect every aspect of life whether
education, entertainment, art, spiritual or leisure. Nature, environment,
humans, animals, are transactional in this worldview and its value to be
assigned in the matrix of benefit. Every possibility of better human being is
reduced and aggregated to means of intense social mobility of gathering power,
money and influence. This journey, the desperation and final accomplishment of
goals, is what makes life story simple and easy to understand. Complexities and
vibrancy of living is rarely attempted, if ever, as minor sideshow, detour,
character fault, to main story -established life pattern. The mind is cherished
in juvenile, intellect celebrated in adolescent glories. What possibility do
you see of such a society?
Three youngsters drowned (few
days back one was electrocuted) and died horrible deaths trapped in shops tailormade
to lowest evaluation of education. They were milch end of horrible operators
including greedy authorities, irresponsible administrators, fleecing property
dealers and hawkers of short cut knowledge. Almost three decades back I was in
the same situation. I stayed about 100m away from the scene of tragedy, I know
the place very well, the horrible value system and transactional objectified
deals of greed, abject neglect, an overwhelming sense of insecurity at every
turn (carefree youthfulness probably helped). Water clogging and drowning the
area is not uncommon in this place (I recall a neighborhood boy washed away in
the drainage few feet away from where I resided -an intensely polluted, noisy
and congested locality, it affected me deeply and I really couldn’t sleep for
few days until they found the body -essentially skeleton about a week later,
had a sense of closure), so the claim that those who constructed new posh glittery
building, as a façade to churn money by trapping the hapless, were not aware of
recurring flooding in the area and so conveniently allowed basement into paid libraries
of death trap are deceitful awful people an essential abstraction of
characteristic values that define these cesspool of humanity -not that all are
nasty I knew some wonderful people too but these were almost always exceptions.
I too was an extremely vulnerable
youngster very much enmeshed in the degraded system, a simple pawn with no inkling
of sinister forces at play. Not much reading, brought up in simple worldview,
good thing for me was unlike other youngsters I really had no much aspiration (it
wasn’t really thought driven but since I was messed up and would get things
wrong hence the idea of trying within the defined didn’t work, and what I liked
didn’t matter), when people were planning future of going abroad and corporate
jobs I took the decision of moving to Chennai (then madras) ostensibly for
‘career’ but really I was tired of sunset at beach and wanted to see sunrise
every day and that is precisely what I did! Those were my motivation. Very soon
I realized “preparing for competitive exam” was an excellent strategy to immune
oneself from surrounding, so from ‘preparing for MBA’ I stumbled upon ‘preparing
for civil services’ quite accidently and found that it was long drawn out hence
perfectly suiting my singular struggle to be left alone. I was quite a slow
reader but what I read I found extremely interesting. Frankly I wasn’t into any
matrix of power aspirational career or ambition to prove ‘intelligence’ that
motivates these kind of career but somehow along the way reading became a motivation
(lot of time in the name of ‘preparation for exams’ suited me immensely which
slowly but deliberately led to serious reading, quite surprising shift since my
recent obsessions were war comics), very soon I forgot about these exams and
was reading beyond, and so shifted to compelling world of fiction, and soon
realized I had lot to read meanwhile searched for reading related jobs and then
finally to part time jobs that didn’t consume me (now that itself is another
parallel struggle of skilling in public speaking, play act so on). Concentration
was not a problem but shifting it from making spitbubbles, and let it land on
page and rounding the random word, to reading was a challenge! Soon reading
became central to my being, and for about three years I was just reading and
reading the better and best. I used to shock people by saying “man you can
murder someone if you want but don’t forget to read good book a week, and when
you read good books you realize murder is futile, a waste of time!”, everybody
is in existential mess. Realizing appalling limitedness of Indian writers, I
was into best of the world, soon became a discerning reader. It is about this
time I got the urge to write. I never really got a sentence right in my life,
and I messed up everytime and so very soon gave up the idea of writing as too
farfetched unachievable framework (framework are nuanced understanding and
works on increasing probables unlike binary crass ideas of target or goal), but
the urge to write was strong (it is not to be mistaken for motivation and fall
into regrettable self-help industry cliché), very much fueled by overwhelming self-assuredness
of mediocre Indian writing, and so I wrote a paragraph every day and compared
with master writers so on. So, from reading, to writing, to public speaking, as
also interacting with strangers was a struggle, I somehow worked it fairly
well. I took up jobs that gave steady income for daily expense without
consuming time, and gave me lot of free time to explore as also gave impetus to
pursue jobs that were entirely new and interesting. I even tried HR related
nonsense called personality development. I took it for fun and soon realized
they pay huge amount but found it stale, superficial and against my value
system. I stumbled into Civil service interview only a decade back, and found
it immensely interesting as it needed depth of knowledge (as also suited my
middle age increasingly bored mistaken for stern demeanor). This helped me to channelize
the latest innovation, expand my understanding and finetune my reading. I also
realized that like ‘preparing for exams’, after certain age, people voluntarily
leave you alone! It is extremely gratifying in an intrusive crude society,
ofcourse the context shift is from hopeful to hopeless that never really
bothered me.
The intention of writing these is
to show that apathy by responsible makes life miserable for vulnerable, it
leads to death and misery. Vulnerability leads to anxiety hence the system must
not only be responsible but empathetic. A primitive society degrades and restricts
choices for youngsters, it straight jackets life into narrow degraded deal. It makes
it immensely difficult, therefore takes enormous effort, to find oneself. Most
are not able to and gobbled up by insouciant negligence, many are oppressed in
the weight of the struggle and taper off into vacant life. In rare instances
the oppressive system can create positives. I never ever thought I will take up
writing (and people around me still don’t know I do write), and I am able to
express myself the way I want to is immensely satisfying meanwhile tighten some
screws and hit some nuts to work the complacent.
Saturday, July 27, 2024
Longue vie à la France!
Olympic opening ceremony was one
of the best in the living memory. Contemporary, elevating freedom and fun, fierce
individual assertion in a classic French way that makes it endearing and will
be remembered for a long time to come. No staid choreography -that is reflection
of authoritarian order, but lively chaos of life on river and monuments. Idea of
France is a defining idea of humanity, and to assert that in such energetic
carefree way is what defines human life. This is also what sports is all about.
Liberty and freedom are indelible hope for future that stand against limiting feudal
world and restrictive religions. Pièce de resistance was ofcourse spectacular scene
of beheaded Marie Antoinette, shocking and hilarious –a constant reminder of sinister presence of feudal values that
degrade our ideas of just world and threaten our hard-won ideals on which
humanity is hinged. French people condemned monarchy to the dustbin of history, flourished in new energy of freedom and with it breached sacred narration of feudals as status quo settled space for social progress (what it created was cesspool of ascriptive exceptionalism and exploitative value system). Emulation of last supper was counter narration that very
much reflected contemporary assertion of individual choices and a firm statement
on diversity against authority cultivated by sacred mainstream icons. It also reminds
us that how liberty and freedom is being restricted and really cannot be
counter narration but celebration. We can imagine a world without religion and
border. We can imagine diversity of lively choices that defines what it is to be
human. Longue vie à la France! May they assert their values and define humanity
for better deal and a beacon for hopeful future. My only concern was that they could
have included valuable indigenous voices from French speaking regions.
Meanwhile usual social media outrage
and rage loop of lowest denominator attention seeking industry was alive with
ridiculous and wasted. Some calling it satanic, lucifer, pagan, garbage, and
what not, ofcourse with detail analysis in well exploited template of conspiracy
theory for herd to munch on. Worst of the people were triggered. Mediocre castetva media
in India too showed its tentacles (sample herein) linking nutcases to create
narration that align with their ‘pure’ worldview. They have also found ‘pure’ allies
in feudal Britain to fight hindutva! They are charmers and movers of degraded sinister
world. Beware.
Friday, July 26, 2024
Monday, July 22, 2024
Dangers of divine rights and coronation
US is a flawed nation. But despite
its horrible flaws it continues to be one of the few spaces on earth which
values democracy, liberty and equality -how much of it is practiced can be
debated but structure is intact and intend is valued. Much of best human endeavor originates
in US hence to a large extent path of humanity’s progress and hope. US remains a
significant nation and indeed a positive presence despite the horrors. It is
for no reason that much of the world wants to, and continues to, migrate to US
as it provides opportunities and freedom. It provides the best of the world,
and ofcourse the worst of what a liberal progressive society can bring. Open societies expects responsibility and awareness to sustain, and this is where it is collapsing.
Neoliberal hedonism can give impression of liberty and freedom but it is severely
limited and sets the rot. Rule of law is collective will that comes with
awareness of duties of citizens, or else we get violence and police overreach,
there is general lack of trust on individuals and institutions which gives way
to authoritarian rule. Neoliberal hedonist values breed pernicious nihilism
that is mistaken for individualism. It leads to alienation and regressive
collective consolidation. Lulled into alternate reality, consumerism sedated
reasoning faculties, fantastical grandeur that opulence presents creates vision
of chosen people, abstracting worst template from religion for atavistic consolidation.
In a very riveting way, you could trace Huxleyian indulgence consolidating
into Orwellian nightmare. Lack of awareness and irresponsible ways also means
they are incapacitated to fathom the loss, the irretrievable nature of collapse.
It happens when all the breathtaking human progress, unique context of
evolution, is lost in daily inanities and bickering. Degradation of democracy
is a loss to humanity. This becomes critical considering that much of world is deeply
enmeshed in primitive swath -the evertightening grip of uncouths that is also
actively nurtured by opportunist manipulators in liberal world. Democratic institutions,
defining values of human progress like freedom, equality and liberty, are constantly
being threatened, weakened and compromised, not only by fascist forces but also
by dangerous liberal posing debauch persistently undermining ideas of diversity
by encouraging regressive as collective identity. Semantics of primitive horrible
past is being carelessly used to forever freeze narration and condemn humanity
into recurring hell. Trapped in a fantastical alternate reality they are incapacitated
to glimpse the profound progress all around nor are equipped to realize spectacular
opportunities to evolve and understand. Exciting possibilities and hopes of
future are lost in limiting intellect and instead constructed past becomes dreamland of
perfection. Insatiable neoliberal wanton greed and omnipotence of opulence gives
way to visions of mythical grandeur of past devoid of any context or care. From this putrid cesspool the calls
of revivalist con artists gains credence.
The foundation of US is consolidation
of republic that defeated monarchy, the british monarchy -theatre of absurd is
still kept intact as a tribute and sustenance to feudal values across the world.
US, despite problems, stands as beacon of democracy and liberty. Recent ruling
by SCOTUS giving immunity to charlatan Trump invokes medieval concept of divine right -an exception
not meant for common people, this british value system is a severe assault on progressive
ideas, liberty and equality, it is an affront to modern world we live in. Now, anointing Kamala Harris as successor without due
process is another blot on democracy. Democracy is not about coronation with
cabal of nodding elite, blessing media and hooting plebs. Democratic party is in increasing
danger of becoming like Republicans in their pursuit of power.