Faithology

State Of US Economy

2010-09-27T21:40:00.001-04:00

Reflecting on economy,

Nearly 1,500 hedge funds closed their doors in 2008.
Since 2007, there have been 295 bank failures.
US Debt totals $14.078 Trillion excluding GSEs out which is another 6 Trillion

Proposed Remedy to make things better -
Businesses to Cut costs and do layoffs so that they can make profit
Print and Put more money in peoples hand so that they can consume more
Tax people more to make more revenue for Govt to pay for govt spending
Give free healthcare to millions of people

Something is not right, isn't it?

How about do some innovation, produce more useful things, find new markets and rationalize spending? But thats old school...... BTW back in India SENSEX is again testing 20 K levels

सिहांसन

2008-06-28T00:12:00.002-04:00

माझ्या मते सिहांसन हा चित्रपट आज पर्यंत बनवलेल्या चित्रपटांमधे सर्वोत्कृष्ट राजनीतीक चित्रपट आहे.
It should get all the awards it are given to a political drama,

Here is a link I found on YouTube,

सिहांसन

UP

2008-06-15T17:46:00.002-04:00

Its subject my interest for many reasons. For me its a state which is always in news for bad reasons. Its a state which produces number of politicians which always come up with innovative ideas in polity. All these idea finally become another episode in Indian politics because of fact that all these ideas had malafied intentions. Or so it looks like right now....

I also have special interest in this state due to BSP. The reason I keep following up on this issue to find out how come in a state where such a string Hindu nationalism exists (so demonstrated by Babri demolition) a Dalit Government came into existence and manages to survive.

Yesterday I went to many English and Hindi newspaper websites and tried to find how bad/Good are the news in the state. To my surprise there was almost no bad news. Meaning in Dainik Jagran I went from City to city ... like 12(pages) * 4 or 5 (cities per page) and I couldn't find a news which you would find in state where there is numerous law and order issues.

This can only two things, either law and order has improved significantly or such things stopped becoming news. Who knows what is the case? I would really like to know ....

Ochlocracy

2008-06-15T17:15:00.003-04:00

It is Rule by majority. A civil system which enforces will of majority on society.

In other words, Mob Rule. Now for all my Italian friends, mob is easily mobile crowd. A crowd which can be easily manipulated for certain cause.

Wow.. confusing for me. So what was democracy again... According to Lincoln, civil system of the people, by the people and for the people.

So what is the difference?

Lets see, If democracy was to become ochlocracy, it will be like

"Of the majority, by the majority and for the society"

So now the only thing I can think makes them different is, Will of Minority (Society - Majority) and mutually agreed principles to do that using Rule Of Law.

A big eye opener for me. That means what majority thinks matters in the system but so does equally matters thoughts of monitory. Not less. Onus is on majority to protect the interests of all. Now that is what makes this system more viable and durable of them all.

Now if we look at India, how should we categorize it?

Is there is rule of law? Yah... for most people. But them all implementation of law is subjective, isn't it?

Is the will of minority protected? Lets see... There are rules to empower Women, Dalit but there are no rules to protect guys. If someone doesn't like what press says they burn the offices.

So it is safe to say that India is partially functioning or developing democracy, for last 60 odd years.

More about this later. But one point to note, in US women got right to vote in 1920's while in India they always had that right. Indira Gandhi was first woman operating head of the democratic world. On the same note while Blacks were segregated and got civil rights in 1960's. Dalits in India got the legal right in 1950 but are still virtually segreggaed. But this para was diverging from the original point.

Think about it. In democracy Will of Minority needs protection from rule of law and courts. In India how many such cases get registered and closed. Supreme court itself bashed Modi government for its anarchy during the recent riots but people of Gujrat elected Modi again. So its safe to say Gujrat is currently under ochlocracy. Its doesn't matter what Muslims think in Gujrat. But then in US Many states allow Gay/Lesbian marriages despite 90% americans think its bad. So that speaks for itself. (This should in no way be misconstrued as my support for Gay community)

Lastly, Civil Disobideince technically is also form of Ochlocracy. In other words, Ochlocracy can be Birth of Death of Democratic setup. All depends upon the society.

MAYA

2008-06-07T18:55:00.003-04:00

No.. this has nothing to do with Mayawati or Maya memsahab so, beat it.

Recently I read a lot about space and UFOs and things so I thought I will write down a thing or two about what read.

Mayan civilization is somewhere in South America. Its a lost civilization which was very advanced and no one knows what is the cause of their disappearance. These people were very knowledgeable and advanced .. they had paved roads.. they had drainages ... irrigation... They were VERY civilized. Reminds you of something.. Mohanjodaro .. Harrpaah... No its not just that. These people have created things that exist today and confuse people even till date.

I do not know relevance of Atlantis in this but I think there is some kind of relation. Anyways...

Mayan people built things that amaze people till day. They created a shape of Monkey with its tail tied to a branch or they created shape like bird Phenix which can be seen only from sky. Confusing thing is they could no go so high so who were they trying to show it to?

If you have seen recent movie, Indiana Jones and Crystals skulls you will hear vague reference to this theory. Aliens came and taught earthly mayan people that time about civilized way of living. These drawing were done to help them for landings. Well who knows.. but there level of knowledge was weird for sure.

One more thing about this culture is really weird and stuck on me... Its about the subject of the movie, the crystal skull. Michelle Hedges was real life Indiana Jones for old america. He went around america to find different Islands and civilizations. He and his daughter found a shining crystal skull in 1940s when they were excavating one of the Mayan sites. His daughter Anna Michelle hedges found it and kept it until very recently. She dies last year. Her husband now is showing that skull to the whole world which otherwise not subject any scientific testing. Only testing that was done before last year was once by HP labs where they concluded that light could pass through that skull with some kind of special way.

Here are the facts known about the skull.

Its made of quartz SIO2, exactly the same material of semi conductor chips.

No tool of Mayan time could do that. Or they had so advanced tools which even today we do not have.

There more than one such skulls. Rumors say 13.

People say they are discs of some kind with lot of data stored in them. Who knows?

So thats about the skulls.

Important thing about Mayan culture is their calendar. People say all the predictions made by this calendar have come true. Its very accurate. how did they get knowledge about astronomy to build such a great calendar. Unfortunately this calendar ends in Oct 2012 where this calendar predicts Apocalypse or pralay like scenarios. Weird coincidence that earth comes to the center of the Milky way which according the History channel guy creates possibility of change in polarity of earth, causing huge upheavals etc etc. Strange.. Hunh.

You haven't read all of it. These mayan people had gods for all kinds of weather. Sounds familiar to my Hindu friends. Well don't be surprised... Mayans claim they came from the fourth tribe in Nagaland. Beat that... They are arranging cultural introduction sessions etc with them.

Now... I will leave you your thoughts. Questions?

UFO

2008-06-07T18:25:00.002-04:00

Unidentified flying objects, something that amuses me these days. Anything that is unidentified and is flying .... becomes UFO.

I went across internet reading all about it. I have become UFOlogist myself. Man this stuff gets to you. More you read it more you believe it. I have seen few hundred videos and few hundred photos of it on net. Things are so astonishing and yet so confusing.

There seems to be common agreement that UFOs exist. What are they? There is lot of argument about that.

Now that I have seen enough of this, here what am thinking. There seems to some kind of unsystematic attempt from someone to confuse the issue. On the net, there is lot of junk that gets mixed up with genuine unexplainable events. So this mix really makes hard to read the real things. Trick about making genuine conclusions is about getting to genuine evidence. Have theory and try to mix it up with what really happened. Then build a story.. Thats what science has been all about.

So... there is no reason for anyone to believe that earth is the only habitable planet. In fact its very presumptuous for anyone to think that they are the only way organisms can exist. On earth itself you will find some living beings that do not need oxygen. All I mean is.. ours is not the only way things can exist. So given how incredible things are around universe its only matter of time that we figure out that there exist some kind of living beings somewhere. Its very improbable for this not to happen.

Now after laying down some bottom line theory, lets see some practical examples. Going by latest, UK recently released lot of footage an files where they encountered very unique UFOs (presumably alien spacecrafts) which then were kept confidential from public to avoid panic. You see this and you will find that lot of it is undeniable evidence that we do not know all. While we may guess some of these things with some kind of earthly relation some of it is really weird.

Another interesting evidence is the one release by Mexican army. Its first time a countries army acknowledged something like it.

Lastly I always get amazed by the footage of a "thing" jumping parallel to land in Himalayas detected by ISRO scientists.

Now you can see all three with million other things on internet.

Now conspiracy theory is why so much rush for space these days.. Like you went to moon in 1960's its been almost 50 years. Never been so much rush rush after 60's that everyone want to reach out in space. US, Russia, UK, India, China.... Everyone is planning mission on Mars sometime in future. What changed recently? No one knows.

Anyway with so little knowledge about such a vast issue its very hard to draw conclusions. But if you assume that there exists aliens and have been visiting us like in Mayan culture then they are may be not a hostile species. With the comforting thought I will continue with my research now... You watch out for my future posts on this subject.

M. I. A. GOD

2007-12-29T00:25:00.000-05:00

I was watching the news today. Its amazing to see that its been already a year since the shocking truth about Nithari came out. Mahendra Singh Pandher and Surender Koli were two names really made all of us wonder context of being a human. It was so shocking that I did not want to read any more about it. I am writing this blog today as I am better state of mind to reflect upon the incident and its status today.

Last year around this time over period of a week shocking truth about deaths of more that 30 kids came out in a very shocking way. Parts and pieces of bodies were being found as police kept investigating. No one kew for sure how much or how many. Sometime after that there was news on TV about the whole thing was conducted. Most striking was the confession from Pandher in which he said that he could not sleep at night. He needed a boy or a girl. Koli used to find victim around the house and bring the kid home. Pandher then used to rape the victim. Then Sunrinder used to kill the victim in the bathroom and cut it to pieces. then fill it in a bag and throw it in the drain near the house. Some time later the one newspaper published photos of the bathroom and you could still see the blood marks. So imagine this ... these guys used to use this bathroom everyday after they did all which I just mentioned.

So it makes me feel like a sick ado to repeat all that here and make you read it. But I feel its necessary to refresh our memories. Impact of an event on our mind does not last long unless reminded continuously. Now Pandher and Koli are under trail and investigating agencies are finding it difficult to file charges against Pandher in rape and murder. SC has forced them to file these charges in this issue. I think system of India owes to these little kids who died a fair and just trial. I also think that the investigation should reveal all the truth and should leave any legal loopholes for Pandher to escape. It will be really sorry situation if we find out that these guys got out of maximum punishment because investigating agencies did not do their job.

I appeal to sensitivity to every individual who is investigation this case ... Please do something. Make us believe that our system works. I am bit pre-judicial about who should get what in this case.... but if all of it what came in newspaper and media is true then..... Justice needs to be done. Justice should be open and maximum. I hope not to see any more Pandher's and Koli's in my life. My heart goes to parents of the kids who are lost in this tragedy. May their soul rest in peace.

These kinds of events make me feel, if there is a god... what was he doing?

Verdict

2007-12-23T15:27:00.000-05:00

Today Gujarat election results came out. I think most of us knew something like this is going to happen. One way or other Modi will survive. But amazingly no one thought that he will actually thrive. Not me...

Gujarat and Modi has become symbolic in today's Indian society. He is the powerful guy that Ayn Rand always keeps talking about. He has the idea which is far away from reality and has support to implement it.

You know what is most amazing... Gujarat had huge turnout of voters. They came out to vote and decisively voted for him in power. Now what does it tells us? I think it tells us that people want him in. They believe in him to do something more than anyone else. Let this not confuse you to think that everyone thinks the same way.

Modi rules because of the very principal to which his entire moditva is opposed to? He is authoritative, he is popular and he does not believe in basic values democracy. Yet 50+% of total voting people vote for him. What about the rest? Just because he managed to fool more of the society which is easily enragable by false sense of pride or is stuck on feeling that one section of society needs to be massacred in the interest of progress? Caution, there is another 40 odd percent people who do not believe so. They are all Gujratis.

This is not the first time that one individual has managed to fool the electoral. You know that saying "You can not fool all the people all the time". Here Modi does not have to do that. All he has to do is to fool 51% of the electoral (or 1% more than the Congress) couple of more times.

Sadly so Modi is going to use this opportunity to invalidate his brand of divisive politics in which he has ignored Supreme court, caused social conflicts, blocked Media etc. He will make people of Gujarat believe that he is on their side.

Why do I think Modi is more dangerous that other politicians?

Most of the politicians are in this fields out of self serving interest. They are making money and trying to grow their power field. At certain point they are willing to join the main stream as long as all their needs are met. For country like India that has been the trend. Modi and his likes are little different. They are not in here by self serving interest. They are driven by ideology which is not serving them as individuals. Its their belief. It comes out when they speak, when they act and when write.

How many times do you have seen Modi budging from his statements? He would not budge at any cost if he believes that this serves his ideology. I am no expert on Modi but this is what I think from what I read and see about him.

He has used Lalus strategy to communicate with locals where he uses extreme vernacular slang to appease and connect. He uses development to connect with NRI Gujarati's. No wonder you have them spilling champagne over his victory.

This reminds me one scene from Star wars movies..
"This is how liberty and freedom is lost... with thunderous applause"

The choice of Gujarati people made future pregnant of division. Get ready.. Modi will move to national level ! Plague of his ideology is about to hit to all of us. I hope the better judgement of rest of the India and 40 % of Gujarati s will prevail !!!

God bless us.

जय महारा‍ष्ट्र

2007-07-08T10:08:00.000-04:00

शेवटी एकदाचे मराठीत ब्लॉग लीहिणे सुरु झाले. लाजीरवाणी गोष्ट अशी की हे सोफ़्ट्वेअर एका कानडी माणसाचे आहे. आज मी बेळ्गाव वरचा हक्क सोडुन देत आहे.

ही टंकनकला शिकायला अजुन बरेच दिवस लागतील. काना, मात्रा, वेलांटी, जोडशब्द ई. टाकायाला बराच वेळ लागतो.

बाकी टायपींग सवय झाल्यावर. जय महाराष्ट्र !!!

1st Aniversary

2007-07-04T08:42:00.000-04:00

On 18th of July 2007 faithology will complete one year. During this year I have created many posts most of which were boring for me when I tried to read them later.

My favourite for last year is .... I don't think I have any. I liked the letter to editor because of the paradox that got created due to missing information. It was like a practical joke. In coming year I plan to add more posts. May be some point of time all this will start making sense.

For next year, I think I will concentrate more on real things like market environment. Now I have made this blog unmoderated for comments so I should get ready for some commenting from readers (There are no readers currently) So I would try to get few readers.

Next year I hope brings some more hope.

Illusion and Hope

2007-06-24T20:18:00.000-04:00

Illusion is usually not a good thing to happen. Illusion of anything gives us an impression of something which is not there. If you are very thirsty we get illusion of water... if we are very poor we might get illusion of money.

By design illusion is creation of our desire in times of adverse conditions. Well illusion translated in Hindi is Maya. Of course there are other meanings of Maya but I think this interpretation suits current blog. Then mistress of illusion will be "Mayawati".

I think we are getting into illusion of dalit upliftment. The illusion is created by the mistress herself. Whole of India is Gung Ho about UP results. I myself was shocked and for some part hopeful about the changes this might bring. But given the state of things I realized we always set the target are very low. Once we exceed those targets we pat ourselves with extra-ordinary work.

Now lets see, How far are we really into this caste battle? Someone recently wrote me about helping my community, sharing with community... My feeling for most part was of reluctance. Not because I did not want to help but because I have started to think the situation is near to hopeless. While a dedicated life and work might bring about some change I feel I am not made for it. So many people have just died to bridge this divide and no change has come about yet. Even if there is some, a very minimal. Couple of weeks scores of people died because Gujjars wanted themselves to be added to ST list. I mean what is this !!! Why would one want to get benefits that are meant for someone who is helpless. Then there are these Meenas who seems to be enjoying benefits which are not meant for them.

Within Dalits there are very specific range of people who enjoy the benefits of the SYSTEM. While the benefits of the system have been limited, the fall points of the SYSTEM have been a wall of glass that has been created between high castes and lower ones. Now one can start arguing on each side but at the end of it.. we are back to square one. And I think it will be not a be overstatement if I say we are even worse than 60 years ago.

There was recently an outrage of upper caste students over implementation of reservation in IIT , IIM and for post grads. They went to court and court put everything on hold till next year. So even court does not enough info to decide.. Does the court really not? The reason quoted was the old census of OBCs can not be used to make decision on reservation.... And Govt is saying there is no way they can state no of OBCs with any certainty !

Its so screwed. Lets look at it. We are divided in our religion, in four varnas. (I could not beleive Gandhiji supported this. What was he thinking?) Then there is Open, SC ST, OBC, NT, EBC, VVBC, EEBCs, Dalit Chistains, Muslim Dalits..... Now they are talking reservation for Economically backword higher castes as well. Constitution has provided for Affirmative action but ... our political system has screwed it over completely.

Talking about affirmative action in the world of privatisation Tatas, Murthy and others has stanchly opposed to do anything fo lower castes. So much for corporate governance and privatisation. They just don't want take these people in mainstream.. or put it other way they have nothing to do with these social ills.

Lastly we still have dalits being burnt, thrown out of school, denied basic human rights. There are numerous examples about .... Someone might say the frequency has gone down. Do not forget.. we were 37 Cr at Independence. Now we are 110 Cr.

I don't have to be politically correct. Win of BSP in UP with Mayawati at helm is another event in political history of India. Everyone is hopeful that something good will come out of it for Dalits and Brahmin's. I hope there hope they are right !

Mistress of Illusion has burden of our Hopes. O God, give her wisdom and let her succeed. Amen !!!

My Maharashtra

2007-06-23T12:44:00.000-04:00

Recently I wrote a letter to Maharahstratimes editor. He was graceful enough to publish it. But while doing that he translated my letter in Marathi.

Emotions of what I was trying say in English were kind of lost during translation,

===================================================================
Dear Mr Editor,

Congratulations on completing 45 years!!! Since my childhood I am regular reader on Ma Ta. Its like reflection of Maharahstra. Every morning I read it even if I am out of India since 7 years.

How do I feel about Maharashtra?
I have done my studies from Marathi medium. PL, P K Atre, Sawarkar, Tilak, Kusumagraj, Mirasdar, Inamdar, Shanta Shelke, Sane Guruji etc were bread into me since my shildhood. In the wave of westernization I felt that spirit of marathi is lost somewhere. In my school they always told how should we protect marathi. All that talk was lost in BPO, IT and globalization … Now I see with lot of TV channels etc promoting Marathi programs I get better feeling about evolution of Marathi Spirit. Tamasha which is connection line of Gramin maharashtrat also getting life again. I saw marathi awards this time and many reputed actors were dancing on marathi songs was really heartening feature.

I also think that we lack political leadership with vision. I think Shivsena does not have any vision. Pawar is no more interested and enthusiastic. Congress is as usual indifferent with our progress. That’s the onlu reason why AP, Karnataka and Gujrat are racing ahead. We need CM like Modi or Naidu. I think bramhanism is strongest in Maharashtra. Pune which was cultural leader was never inclusive of all the layers of society. I think that should change for better cultural growth of Maharashtra.

I think power crisis and corruption are things to deal with on priority. I also see meteoric rise of BSP in Maharashtra in upcoming months.

God knows when the Konkan will become California or Bombay will become as clean as NY or Shanghai.

Lot of thoughts come to mind but I think this is enough for now

Congrats and thanks for keeping the Marathi’s together

===================================================================

No complains though !!!

Nostalgia

2007-06-23T12:19:00.000-04:00

These days every weekend I open music India online website and listen to Mohd Rafi songs. Its amazing experience for me to listen to these songs. So many songs are just masterpiece. "Aa lag ja Gale Dilruba..." the way sings make my heart go boom boom.... ! Or when he sings "Kar chale hum fida jano tan..." makes me cry.

How can god be so cruel to our generation? He created Lata, Asha, Sahir, Majrooh, Hasrat, Naushad, Indivar, Lakshmie-Pyare, Shankar-Jaikishan, O P, S D, Kishore, Manna De and many more in previous generations and left us with AR, Gulzar and Sonu. Of course there is , Sameer and Himesh (yaak).... But I will rather not talk about them.

However... I wonder the golden era of music would ever revive itself. I want the generations to come to be lucky to experience themselves with this immortal magic. They don't have to live with REMIXed versions of the greats. Not that I have anything against REMIXers.

I think values have changed over the years. So as the taste of music. Earlier music was more melody based. Now is the jet age. Everyone needs fast beats... I think old has to make way for new. But then I feel somethings are just eternal... Music is ageless. Why would the babies will dance to the new tunes? Music is connection between different classes, castes, cultures, genders...

I guess I am just not able to handle this evolution of music very well. I just love the old stuff. I get really offended if someone piggybacks the golden oldies. Some incapable guy using some electronic instruments... trying to use old magic.. just for money. For me its just unethical. But again meaning of ethics have changed over days. I feel like old school boy in music world. Not that new ones are not good but the element of corruption just leaves me unsettled.

As usual I am hopeful that "Naye daur me milar hum likhege nayi kahani.. Hum Hindustani"

SETI

2007-06-10T23:31:00.000-04:00

Believe me I have lot other issues pending in front of me but somehow I got on to this subject. And like my many other bad habbits I try to get max info before making informed decision. But I usually forget basic about information. A lot of it and very contradictory can be very confusing? That's exactly what happened with me.

OVNI (Objeto Volador No Identificado) or UFO was something I read about recently. Actually recently I have started viewing lot of videos on Internet. I wanted to see a very old TV serial from 1988 UFO. I couldn't find that but I came so many videos and projects that confused the hell out of me.

SETI is search of extra-terrestrial intelligence. Well that's one of the funny things I came across during that time. I also came across Aurora, an astronomical phenomenon. I always thought its a Punjabi surname.

Just to get around what I came across.. There is a project being run by some Americans. Its called project Disclosure. Lot of people from US armed forces who has seen or at least they believe that they have seen it were giving their experiences and were ready to testify before congress. The people included CIA high ranking officials, Army people etc. It was very hard to ignore them. There is 16 episode documentary on YouTube. I watched it and suggest you do so as well. Also there is a site for UFO videos.

During this time I saw literally few hundred videos. Spent three days just watching and reading these. This material included stupid things, hoaxes, illusions and some weird stuff from Mexican army.

As I have mentioned all this was very confusing. I thought is there really someone out there? As we are trying to reach them are they trying to reach us? What if all this is really true? Did something really happened in Roswell New Mexico? What is area 51?

I wish I get all these answers in this life. For now I hope they are out there and are having good intents. As the bog name suggests, its all about logical belief. In such a big universe, we are the best living deal any planet can get? Are we really gods ultimate creation? BTW the UFO sites have lot of mentions about Hindu mythology and Vimana culture from ancient India. But that's for some other day :)

Compass

2007-03-24T23:49:00.000-04:00

Today has been the longest of reading I have ever done in my recent life. Its been reading for last 7 hours ....

Today's study includes different subjects China, Chinese Politics, Mao, Naxals, Communism, Karl Marx, Feudalism, Agrarian, Rightist, Leftist, ASHA, AID, Promise of India, Vigil online, Sandeep Pandey, Magsaysay..... Actually I was trying to study the word Naxalism and Maoists. Its shocking but we can connect them all. Even if we are so closely dealing with all these words its very complex to imagine that they have very close inter relationship. Some more research on this issue will qualify me to write a blog. But that is for another day.

What I found today is something called political compass. After visiting this site I appeared for a test which gave me where do I stand in political terms. I wrote this blog because the results were very happy for me. I stand right with Gandhi, Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela....

Always wondered what do they mean when they say some one is leftist, or right wing person or liberal or authoritarian. I think I understand clearer now .....

I suggest if you read this blog please take this test. All the questions you always take stand about are asked here and will give you fair idea about yourself.

Good end to great day....

Feudal Mistake

2007-03-24T20:20:00.000-04:00

I had a very lengthy argument with my wife and a close friend of mine last weekend. I was especially pissed of at the fact that he called relation between a Hindu father and his son in India is FEUDAL in 95% of cases.

I was thinking they have a very outrageous perspective of Hindu (Indian) family. Now that its over week I thought I would do some research on the feudal ways of doing things.

The facts that I found would definitely make all of us to see the whole discussion in new light. I found few facts about feudalism which actually made me think ... what a confusion a misplaced word can do? Although all he meant to say that the father is dominant figure in the family he labeled the relationship feudal.

Now few facts about feudalism.... Its used when there is no central dominating ruler. There is a lord, fief and vassal. VASSAL agrees to LORDs dominance in exchange of a FIEF. Vassal in most cases is free to behave at his will as long as he pledges his alliance with the lord and does the duties for the fief as assigned by the lord.

Now my friend wanting to say that father is dominant in the family and calling feudal was like.... Now can safely say funny !!!

I wonder what the word would be ... May be dictatorial !!!

Well few more things about feudalism. Its type of society in medieval Europe. Although they are many semi-feudal things that exists in subcontinent, they were never fully feudal. It also turns out the term was coined in 17Th century days after the medieval period was over. Its also one of the most controversial terms amongst the historians. There are many definitions of feudalism and some of them think that this word should be thrown out of history books.

What a mess I got myself into when I thought of doing this research !!! Well ... I still think viewing father son relation in the light of dictatorship is ridiculous.

Wonder what provokes such thoughts .................!? I can just agree to disagree and leave it there.

Feudal... is basically pledging alliance on basis of exchange.

If I see father son relationship in that angle.... I feel ugly.

Another Gandhi

2007-03-24T12:25:00.000-04:00

Nothing more entertaining for me than a very good movie. Black Friday was OK. Its more like a documentary (Pardon my limited knowledge in categorizing the films) What caught my attention the most is the Gandhi's words from the movies punch line.... "An eye for eye would make the whole world blind"

I was trying recall the incidents of the day of bomb blast. Everything is like very faint.... 1993 .. I was in my graduations. Everyone just recovered from riots and mess surrounding it. The blast I thought was really the biggest thing ever could happen to India. Well I was very immature then (I mean more than what I am now) I thought this might start of a war or something.

From last couple of months I have been hearing about the Bombay blasts case and the results of its trial. The trial documents seems to be hundreds of pages. Its one of the biggest running case in the legal history.

Frankly before watching this movie all I was aware that few people got together and sought revenge on something that happened to them earlier. Few names were thrown around in newspapers. I never believed that was the complete story. Nor today I believe that the movie or the book covers truth from all sides.

Now, years after that happened I saw this movie I feel a bit annoyed and confused. Annoyed from the angle that chief perpetrators of this crime still fly free. Confused from emotional angle. Thirteen years from what actually happened our legal system is finally is able to conclude who did it. Means why does it takes so long?

I always think of Gandhi as someone who is worthy of copying of, following in his principals. "An eye for an eye.." really is one of his most valued teachings. It basically teaches you that revenge is no solution. I have derived solace from this teaching on many occasions in my life. Its very hard to follow. It is very hard to forgive a responsible person or group if they cause you inconsolable damages. It does not ask you forgive it asks you disown harmful ways. You have a right to protest against an event or individual or group if you do not find your self on right side of it but it asks you not use violent means to protest.

How useful is his teaching is today's world? First there was babary and then riots and then Bombay riots and then Godhara and then July 2006 Mumbai train blasts ..... This is like never ending carnaige. Some side has to wisen up.... We have to learn to live together.

In this group of billion people there is strong desires between groups of making each other submit to their wills. Tolerance is losing value very quickly...... That's basically what Gandhi always tried to ask... Tolerate ! It might not be beneficial to you but it would be the best policy in long term. Make no mistake... tolerance and cowardice are two different things. How many of us actually tried to talk through this problem? Always these problems are discussed on philosophical level and conclusions are drawn. Not many of us actually lived through the Ailes of these people and tried to understand their lifestyle. Mutual respect comes from mutual understanding. Mutual understanding comes from mutual knowledge..... In this society there is silos of people who does not talk about each others lifes and issues. They do not tell each other what do they expect of each other. This has become a society of survival.

Its not always the survivors who tell you the story of life. Did Gandhi had to survive to make a great nation? The ones who survived are always assumed right. Those who died are never there to tell their story. I must tell you story of any society lies in the way people died to make this society survive and not in the way survivors thoght the society should run. All our freedom fighters wanted this to be great nation. In our story survivors are people who took tough stands against one another. Leaders who did wrong things... They will always sing songs of mayhem for coming generations. What should we expect of them or ourselves? What should we be doing? Its the Godse and likes of him have survived to tell us the right things. Where are the likes of Gandhi to teach us how he was and is right? People always asks relevance of his teaching... I always think that is very silly of them.

We all will have to answer this question some day or other... Not One group is not ready to move from its position. One who moves makes other a winner. Losers and dead have no values in this society. You will have to live and win to tell the story.

There are many black weekdays are to come if we do not understand what Gandhi was trying to say. Thankfully we had someone who could leave us this value when we see what other people did when they had to undergo similar situations. They killed thousands... destroyed countries.... imprisoned hundreds.... It all sounded right at that time.... Today they are in even bigger mess than we are. Situation is really dire for all of us. We need another Gandhi !!!

Hero

2007-02-25T18:36:00.000-05:00

It was early summer evening in 1995. I was travelling in local train with my college friend. He was carrying his brothers marriage cards for distribution. We were travelling back to our college.

I got into some kind of discussion about cricket with my friend. I started telling him about a cricket match that I played. I was telling him with lot of emotions and he was carefully listening.

It was a local cricket tournament. A 12 over match. Zatpat cricket on tennis ball. We entered with a team of boys from our apartment complex. We were like very junior in that tournament. Somehow we managed to submit 12 players.

That was our 11. 3 Were from my Family. Two Dhumals... Two Chandodes.. One Thombre... 4 locals. It was a very dusty ground. I never played in any tournament before. Most of us did not. The entry fee was 52rs. That was not the problem. We had three bats. My elder brother was captain. he always wanted to be :( We won the toss and chose to bat.

Our opening pair was lost in first over itself... Junior dhumal and my younger brother were our men. Our situation became very dire when we were 14 for 4. Then my elder brother went in to play. After hitting couple of shots he was out. We sent our imported player and he got out on first ball. This made our situation look like real worse. We sent elder Dhumal in but on other end some local got out. That left us 19 for 8 with me batting on 9th number. Myself and Senior Dhumal I played steady and we could make 43 runs in 12 overs. (Not so bad after all. We lost in like 8-9 overs.)

But while telling the story I changed it a little bit.

I told him we batted second. I also told him that we needed lot of runs of last over. My brother brought me water and asked to save the honor of the complex... And I hit those winning runs. I was the hero.

My friend was really impressed. We got down of the bus and we were walking towards the hostel I realised that he forgot all the invitation cards in the local train in which we were in when I started telling him the twisted story. He was very upset with me for telling such a story which got him completely engrossed. He got really mad when he was told by my elder brother that this never happened.

We both still have a good laugh about it. I still wonder why do we all want to be heroes !!?? Why can't we be just happy. I think my twist(read bluff) to the original story was also because one of the hopes to be a hero. Too bad I was very good at telling it but very bad at hiding it !!!

Faith

2007-02-08T01:06:00.000-05:00

What a word? I always think. I am penning down some of starting thoughts about this series. I might write million blogs on this but this will first of those million....

I always have this debate with people. Is Faith logical? Simple question.... I think we can spend ages arguing about it one way or other. And the question will not be answered? In maths I have seen if there no direct proof any formula they will use indirect method to prove it. For now I will use this approach and see I can get somewhere... Why should you read this.. well you have nothing better to do I guess !

Lets define Faith.

In very abstract terms, Faith is set of beliefs to make living. Ugh.... Is it right? yes,,, no.... may be.... don't know? No comments?

Some of these beliefs can be seen in reality but then some may not be. So... this does not mean that civil life is not possible without faith. It is possible... But faith is one established way to lead civil life. With faith can you be uncivilised? Oh sure you can be! Look around you. And BTW no question is a stupid question !?

I see birth of faith taking place somewhere in between from the extreme fear of unknown to undying desire of survival. Have you ever observed, anything known is never part of Faith system? And not everything about the faith system is always known. I know there certain overlap between these two statements .... That overlap is the one we will try to figure out.

If you see something that is definate to happen(which we don't want to happen), we just start praying. We HOPE something changes and end result reverses itself. Weird isn't it? While logical result of something to happen was 100% (unless something changes) ... We hope some unknown change comes and changes the the logical result.

So FAITH brings HOPE. Hope of something unknown... Which will add to current scheme of things and Logic changes. So we use FAITH to change LOGIC.

Sometimes we pray when everything is going good... We say, Oh god keep the things this way.. don't rock my boat. If something is going good logically it will remain good unless something changes. That something we don't know of we are afraid of it. We don't want that unknown to change things from the way they are.

So FAITH brings FEAR. Fear of unknown. Which if we add to current scheme of things logic changes. We again does not want this logical scheme of things to change the wrong way.

So again, FAITH brings HOPE and FEAR about CHANGE in LOGICal conclusions...

If you see faith, hope, fear and logic are human things. Change is real. Change is natural... Change is about evolving. Everything changes.

Change brings hope and fear. Change creates new logics above old logics. Change is when known is very measurable... when unknown is infinite. To deal with infinite we need Faith. A infrastructure to cope up with change no matter whether it is helpful or harmful.

So faith is a tool to deal with change. Very logical, isn't it !? I will write a lot about this. But for now.. I stop here

BPD

2007-02-06T23:54:00.000-05:00

I have recently heard few IITians came together and have formed a new party which is going to work for progress of India. Very impressive by all means. The name IIT, can give you a very impressive job profile. Discarding that and joining one of the most challenging fields of India where the future is uncertain.... Extremely impressive. I have some concerns though. (Which I usually have BTW)

What does make this party special? - Its because its by IITians. Cream of the society. Is that it? As literate people come to this field we expect our politics will become cleaner. That's general expectation. Any guarantees? None.... right!? Its been on more than occasion that people with proven clean history has come together and formed political outfit and ended up fighting over the share of the Pie? I have read what this gentleman has to say. Doesn't look like a deeply thought out party. Not getting good vibe. May be its just me !?

I believe, way into social service comes from people. Gadhiji was from common family. Even if he came back to India he spent lot of time going about India. Same is true with most of the politicians who has become famous. Nehru .. spent lot of time writing discovery of India. As recent as Kanshiram was no IITian. Of course education does help getting deeper perspective. In todays world politicians even though they are corrupt have usually came from grass root level.

So what am I trying to say? Bottom line is an effort has to be well thought and dedicated. India is a country going through lot of transitions. Lot of its learned population leaves outside India. Many changes in India are driven by the people who are sitting out. Even though society within India appreciates that this can be only catalyst of change but the change itself.

These days I have seen lot of simple things have become huge news. Young and teens are talking and doing things just because they see them happening on the medium presented to them. Most of the mediums are either promoters or followers of whats progress (The way they perceive it a progress) BPD has gotten so much attention as it is one of those things that has not happened before.

Here are few questions I am trying to find answers for, who has said IITians can be better politicians than current politicians? Jayram and Jetly come from premium schools of India. I do not see them making any value addition to current Indian political system. Since when IQ has become agent for political change? I can think of somebody from Social sciences or political sciences gets welcomed like this. Is it the fresh smart blood in politics that we are trying to welcome? Is it the new talk of the town which we middle class (urban netizens) do not want to miss? I don't know what it is.

How much of social service these BPD founders have done so that citizens of India should put their faith in these people? Are we just trying something new as the oldies have screwed the things thoroughly. Most annoying thing for me... Why do we always are looking for somebody from other level of society to do something? Its very hard for me to agree that just because somebody is and IITian will become a good leader. I prefer to wait. I am not sure if everybody will agree. People just so fed up with current system they can go for anything new. And anything new will be only improvement.. I would not blame them. I want BPD people to succeed but I will not certify them as successful right now.

I wait and hope. Good luck to them !!!

Fluid "Mark" Mechanics - Old Entry

2007-02-05T17:25:00.000-05:00

There are very few subjects I could study during my Engineering. Fluid Mechanics.. I was reading A’s blog. he reminded me of Sabnis, Rao and whole set of characters. I really hated SDD (Structural Design and Drawing). Did you guys notice? All subjects which were pain in neck were always like twins. (Except Applied mechanics. But me being from Civil branch I had to deal with whole family of it. ) Math 1,2... SOM 1,2.... SDD 1,2..... FM 1,2.... TOS 1,2But of all these pains, I some how liked Fluid mechanics 1 from SE. So I during our PL (Preparation leave. this was one of the first few acronyms I started using in English apart from GT, BHMB etc... Keep in mind I have studied in Marathi) I concentrated on this subject. Studied hard.. those vortices... there kinetic Energy.. how it got formed etc etc. I also was very much enjoying it. I went for paper.. This time around I thought I cracked it pretty well.After a month, came the result. My heart was beating really fast. It happens for every result. Thats just me. Always in panic. A and L came from Pune University. They told me that I am not all clear. I got ATKT (.. another acro) came. For me like heavens have fallen on my head. Its not that I flunked for the first time. But when last time I flunked I had BABA JAYKAR for my help. So I got grace of some 10 marks that time. I was expecting some bad news on TOS(not sure but then I thought BABA will take through that subject. But .... I was like shattered. I had to imagine my fathers disappointed face (yet again...). This was one thing could do consistently well. I was thinking I screwed that one as well.Then came the marksheet for SE. Patil was giving away those. With broken heart I took the marksheet. (Beleive me I was almost in tears.) I was flanked by my roomies(A and Chau who were planning to dump me but they got change of heart after the results). I had a look at that makrsheet and could not believe my eyes. I got 14 marks in FLUID MECHANICS.I started laughing like crazy. I was babbling.. this can not be happening. I can not get 14 in FM. Something so screwed up here. Patil was looking at me like he saw some crazy person. Then... I made decision. I will recheck(50 Rs, 30 days return period) and revalidate(300Rs and 3.5 months return period) the paper. Turn of events of during the re....check... validate taught me some lessons which I will never forget.My father had someone known in University. He got the numbers checked. The numbers were confirmed to 14. I kept waiting to hear from university. i was confident of passing but my seniors kept telling me that " Once Screwed ... always screwed". But my heart would not budge. The exam was like 10 days away and I still did not hear anything from University I started studying again. One day before the exam day I went to University.... They were telling results of RECHECKING.... I saw my paer. It had 28 marks written on it..... As I did not have any official communication from University I had to go for exam. On my way back I received letter from university. I got letter from university saying there is change in my marks. The university now said that I have 28 marks in FM. So with Babas help I was officially pass now.Few days before the exam result was to be announced I got Second letter which said.... I got 54 marks in FM as result of REVALIDATION. After this Exam results were announced .. This time I had 66 marks. I WAS PISSED TO THE CORE. Now I went to University... The repelling clerk now tells me that I had choice which marks to pick up for my mark sheet.Those taunts from More, Bhadke, Nawander.... The humiliation of being called fighter jet... University numbers get arranged like All clears first then ATKTs... meaning there some nurds with whom you to attend those tutorials... (Actually Rao madam story from A's blog reminded me all this) More of that later...This story sound funny now. Believe me.. None of this was funny. I wonder if its still like this there !???

Dreams

2007-02-04T21:43:00.000-05:00

I always wondered what will do if I had a million dollars !!! In childhood I have written lot of essays like "If I were to be a Prime Minister" etc etc. None of my teacher ever asked me to write me an essay.. What would I do if I had a million dollars...

To start with I will have to get that million. I always think how would I get the million..

Here is an idea... I will buy bunch of penny stocks Like 5 Cents ... I will invest $1oooo. That company will do something ... and the stock will become $5 in 2 months. It has happened. So I make something like million... Simple !

What will I do with this million? Invest??? Start new business??? Give it to my family??? Give it to friend??? Start a charitable organisation??? Invest in political outfit????

Say I invest in stocks. I can not make lot of money but I might end up losing it all. If I decide to start new business. This money will give me good start but will not help me in long run. Give it to family.. Yeah... that sounds somewhat useful than other ideas. They will use it for getting some of their wishes fulfilled. But then all the million will be gone. Charity.... That's a fashion. I will make waves for some time but the fisssssssssss... Gone. Politics ... can use it right way? NEVER !!!

So what will I do if I had million dollars? Well million will not be enough to do anything. I will need that undying will to do something special which will leave lasting prints. This is possible with a dollar, a million, a billion or a trillion or nothing !!! Am I asking a lot? I don't think so.

Prince Amit and Gaddha

2007-02-04T21:04:00.000-05:00

I am smiling while I am writing this post. I feel very guilty about this smile but I can't help it.

Some time ago like 4-6 months ago I saw a very moving story .. There was a very poor boy got stuck into 52 feet deep bore well hole. I could relate to this story. In my childhood when I was playing outside I saw a a boy 3 year boy playing with me drawn ed in one of such orphan digs where rain water got collected. I thought this "Prince" is very lucky to get such a coverage. I left after watching news. I switched on news after like 10 hours this time I was just amazed by the scene... There was a special running on prince.. " Prince ne biscuit khaya" " Prince hil raha hai" Prince made movement" There were animations running explaining how Prince will be rescued. Also there was CM on the site. I mean... whole nation was just watching Prince. I told my wife about the media activism. At the same time I drew her attention to a story where some of the army people died fighting in Kashmir. This news was running as banner after every 10 minutes. After two weeks I also saw a program "The Last Word" They were discussing how a simple story was blown out of proportion. All the experts agreed... Great discussion.

Today.. I saw and thought "dhak ke tin pat..." Another little boy Amit was stuck in gadhha and whole nation was watching his rescue. I was thinking what the heck..... How can they do this? These people make money out of everything... They show the story, they analyze it and agree that its wrong and make money. And then they do same thing again.. Whats the point? I am learning capitalist society morals. But sometimes socialist in me looks at this life.... and feels out of place.

Its not saving Prince or Amit or covering its analysis that makes me upset. I think something is not right. Can't point out anything specific but something is not right in all this process. I can feel it in my guts. I believe it!

Scale Change

2006-12-28T16:00:00.000-05:00

I recently read an article on Financial times on scale change in India. It almost spoke my mind.

I am overjoyed at living in the world where at this young age I have seen things changing so fast. I remember clearly how valuable was 10 Rs. I also remember how difficult was to get Marathi channel, the only other channel except DD. These things sound from other age now.

Channels are in hundreds if not thousands. Cars in abundance... Ironically there are no roads to drive them. The sell of generators is up because light goes out every other day. Contractors still pay commission to get the work from PWDs. The work is in so much abundance that the contractors also don't mind much. There are way too many planes and not enough new airports planned. Still now the airports in Delhi can not deal with FOG so as the airplanes.

I feel this is all new money with lack of direction. There should be vision attached to this money. I am just happy to see Bollywood making 700 Cr business in one calendar year. I like it when Tata's bid for corus. I hate to see the same Tatas doing compromises with ULFA in Assam for tea estates or taking land at cheap prices in Singur.

But then I think life is not always Black and white. There are shades of Grey.

Best part it is all of the progress is happening now and I am the witness. Quite a joy !

Have you wondered ever, if we could find faster mode of transport we may be visiting Moon and Mars frequently? Funny as it sounds today may be reality 10 years from now.

Who knows?

Phoolan

2006-08-22T00:23:00.000-04:00

It was really hot. If I recall correctly, it was summer of 2000. I had to get down at Dhualpur for training. The area was kind of scary. All these people with those white/colored turbans... Blank stares... started really making me wonder, did I do the right thing by saying yes to this training. Well whatever... I was here now.

First time in my life I saw people with guns on horsebacks. Kindof thrilling but scary at the same time. I walked on the streets of the town. Found the whole town kind of very edgy, slient but edgy ! I was having feeling that something will happen anytime. I am a casual dresser but for that town I was kind of over dressed.

I finished that nasty training and was kind of worked out. Thought of resting and taking a cup of tea in the hutish hotel. While I was sitting there I saw something...

I saw a woman being dragged by a man and while other man sitting next to me commented out loud. The woman was crying loud and man was dragging her with all force. I usually mind my own business. In that town it seemed like golden idea. However the curiosity prevailed over common sense. I asked the commenting 'gentelman',
"Sir, What was that about? Kind of cruel isn't it?"
The 'gentelamn' gave me that 'Oh you stupid city people!' look. He said unwillingly, "She is paying for what she did."

"Whats with the dragging...", I said. The 'gentelman' said almost annoyingly "This lowcast woman was having urge. Fighting with higher caste unnecessarily. Thakurs will not leave her now" That kind of took me by surprise. It hurt me even more because of the refernce to lowcast. But with I minded my own business and left the place. It was time for train to Zhansi..

I was kind of upset with what I saw. I read about such things numorous times but this is the first time I saw it. The ugly woman with dirty cloths.... Her yellings... really loud.... voice was kind of very thick.. Annoying to my urban taste. The man was OK... clean cloths... moustaches... white turban.... Very sharp eyes.. almost like an sword. I did not know what was exacly going on and was not sure who was right and who was wrong... So I started guessing.... It sounded like a upper caste and lower caste trouble. Like thousands others... I thought only few of them could stand up and do something about this nonsense. First and only name came to my mind was Phoolan.

Phoolan was humiliated, morally and physically. Her angry outburst created one of the ultimate survivors India ever knew. Not sure it happened that way or she was responsible for it or mix of it. I was imagining this woman getting raped by some 15-20 people for like 30 days. And then she gets up and kills the sharp eyed upper caste guy.. and his family! May be he had kids.... he was like 45 so his kids must be around 20.. young guns.. juts married. who knows.... Then the same woman going after the entire upper caste town. Gosh that sounded horrible .. But what about her... she lost life, husband kids.... A very gastly crime was committed. Something needed to happen. Like Phoolan did, this woman should have been bringing about a revolution...Showing the world how upset she is. I also wondered how would it look like if she became a very famous Daku like Phoolan. She would surender and then become a political person. She would all over media..... She would become another idol for the long opressed lower castes. She would lead a wealthy and healthy life. Would she remember the 20 year old son who was out of Dhaulpur that day...? I guess not ... and ultimately he will probably shoot her. Just like Phoolan.... ahhhhhhhh..... Thats no so good .... I thought !

My sleep was broken due the brakes the driver applied to the train. Saw outside the window. I was on outer of Zhansi. What a dream.. I thought .... I mixed up two womans just because of one incident I saw. Thats kind of crazy. But end to the dream was not so good but then what should she have done? What should phoolan have done? I still wonder about it sometime...... What a crazy thought... I don't even know what was the dragging for.... Stupid me !

What is Faithology?

2006-07-18T18:27:00.000-04:00

Its Logic and Faith coming together.

I believe essence of human existence is from either faith or logic or the combination of the two.

Central idea of this blog to abstract life from the angle of faith and logic. In coming blogs an attempt will be made to look at life in this abstract perspective. It will be in form of short stories, analysis, discussions, experiences and inferences thereof from two different angles.

What will get if do this which has been done million times? Well... first of all I will feel better. And then.. we will see.