Aarasii VIII

Generally wise men of religion have long hairs and flowing beard; attired in loose robes they are impressive with prayer beads in hand evoking a sense of deference in lesser mortals. Lamas on the other hand are exceptions; they have their heads and faces fully shaved. Of all the religions I least dislike Buddhism for encouraging debate. The self realization is achieved through intense debate and questioning. Even though they don’t say it but God is completely irrelevant in their scheme of things therefore no handed down wisdom as ‘word of God’; there is no intermediate space between death and rebirth therefore no ‘heaven’ or ‘hell’ concept and Nirvana is complete dissipation of existence. Buddha must have been a hell of a persuasive communicator to have convinced masses to convert without performing any miracle.

 Two lamas lived in a cave near Mansarover lake in Himalaya. They had mastered their body to respond to extreme climate and to cope with hunger for long duration as such physical pain was no longer an issue with them. They did not talk and went about their business of seeking Nirvana in their usual way of meditation and arguing with self. One exception was the full moon night when they opened up and talked.

Years went by, while lamas kept improving their control of body but hit an invisible threshold in their spiritual quest. They were not making any progress……Once Shakyamuni passed by the lake, made a brief stay at the cave. The two lamas did everything to make Buddha comfortable and hoped the enlightened one would resolve their dilemma. One full moon night when there was no wind and everything was deathly quiet, sitting at the edge of the lake the lamas started discussing utter futility of their effort while Buddha looked at them bemusedly. Suddenly he said,

‘Look at the reflection on the lake you look like hunters.’

 The lamas were surprised, immediately looked at their reflection in the lake. In that bright moon night they were astonished to see their reflections resembling those of tribal hunters. They uttered in unison,

‘How is this possible?’

 ‘But you are hunters seeking deer of knowledge’, said Buddha, ‘but always hitting a mirage.’

‘Quite so Enlightened One, why is that?

What do you desire most?

Lamas thought for a long time then one of them said, ‘Nirvana!’

‘Yes but lesser than that what you covet?’

They scratched their head but couldn't come to any definite conclusion. Buddha said ‘

 ‘You see a hunter is an intense person. He has a focused vision. And his focus is his prey. If he wavers from his focus he will not catch the prey. You also have focus but it is not intense focus. What you covet most other than attaining Nirvana is this very night when you are able to converse. You spend time of the month trying to unravel knowledge but all the time eagerly wait for this night. This distraction in our focus is the invisible threshold you hit.’

‘What should we do Buddha?’

“Never confuse objective with means to achieve it. Rigid rules are the bane of your undoing. Remain quiet if it helps you in your objective not because you have imposed a restriction ….”

After giving this advice Buddha left them …….

The Great Gatsby

The first time I read this novel in some distant past I enjoyed its plot and forgot all about it except the hazy outline of the narrative. I someone asked me, have I read the celebrated novel I would say yes indeed and would tell him yeah there was this inscrutable guy throwing lavish parties from money he apparently earned from dubious operations.  Then I noticed this novel freely available on the net about two years back read it again.  This time I loved the language of the novel and admired the author’s great perspective of looking at things absolutely unemotional way e.g. ‘I was in the war, tried hard to die but couldn’t succeed’. 

And recently when the movie created so much buzz I read it again ….

This time the novel appeared to be inspired by movies …It seemed like crisp, cleverly written screenplay. Then it occurred to me the novel was written almost a century back so it is the other way round. Our great screenplays of movies are inspired by this novel.   

Are we waiting for someone to die?

Humiliation, in particular in public, affects us in varying degree. Some find it beyond a threshold and succumb to temptation of finality; an answer that ends all. And then we act; institute committees, thunder indignation, mouth platitudes until the gory episode fizzles out of memory.

Many of us are in some ways better than our creator because we tolerate dissent. Bullying from position of power is quite common feature of humans. Our God is regarded as the ultimate bully therefore the ritual of worship. If He is not a bully than what is the rationale of worship? The scene replicates in real life. The men in powerful position bully, some with arrogance and some in subtle ways. I write this piece because I suspect possibility of unfolding of a tragic drama about to happen. A dismayed student confides to his sympathetic teacher about his dilemma and the teacher senses seriousness in his issues and forwards his email to the head of Institute. The head sees frivolity, lack of effort etc in the concerned student and makes his email public with his own opinion and some ridicule. A communication meant for a specific person goes into public domain without his consent because a smug know-all gentleman thinks he knows better. The issue snowballs as community of students begin to take sides over the manner of handling the episode by the head of the institute. The hapless student is discussed/analyzed and opinion aired in public domain! Does anyone know if he wants to be discussed? Worst the sensitive teacher who finds fault in the handling of the incident by head is dismissed for some flimsy reason because the matter spills over public domain in which the head of the institute was criticized.

Can’t we expect some tolerance for disagreement from the head of a premier Institute? Not just any institute but an Institute that deals with humanities!

Are we usually waiting for someone to take his life before corrective measures are taken? Often it is only a possibility but should we take such a possibility lightly?        

Case of XN – XX

We all like cryptic motifs. In fact cryptic motifs which are tantalizingly near unraveling yet not quite obvious keep us glued to the subject as most likely in this case you would want to decipher what XN - XX stand for. X as you all know represents unknown thing or person and N represents an unknown integer (n would represent a rational number) XX of course in DNA language is a female of the Homo Sapiens species.

Now I am stuck in an intractable dilemma that refuses to resolve. And it pertains to fallibility of humans and philosophy of redemption. We punish people for their crime, not deliver justice to the victim. In recent upheaval surrounding the gang rape of Delhi girl we hear cacophonous chorus rising from the multitude ‘only death penalty to the perpetrators of this ghastly crime can be adequate justice to the victim’ which is erroneous reading of modern jurisprudence. At the crux of modern justice system lies right of an individual to mend his ways and rejoin the society. This however is not entirely true, in rarest cases deterrent also is considered part of modern justice system. Now dilemma arises in a case of a zombie like individual who is smitten by an ordinary law abiding innocuous girl leading her inane life oblivious to the world at large. Suddenly her world is shattered by this individual hell bent of starting a relationship with her in which she has no interest. The man is snubbed and dismissed on several occasion but he persists with obnoxious stubbornness. Eventually he is humiliated in an effort to dissuade him from anymore advances. The man is now a possessed individual; threatens to throw acid on girl’s face to defile her forever to avenge his humiliation. The dilemma unfolds now. The girl did not start this episode, she had nothing to do with that individual and yet she now leads a life of prisoner in mortal fear of this man. This girl represents XN -XX: the unknown prisoner (Prisoners are identified by a number)

The question is, can we incarcerate this individual merely on speculation but a morbidly real one that he will carry out his threat and let him to go about his business until he commits crime? If we allow that then we make the girl a prisoner of mortal fear not at all of her own making.   

Fiscal Cliff: Beginning of End Game

The Americans face a daunting dilemma as the year approaches end. At the end of year 2012, the spring that was holding uneasy equilibrium will snap, all the tax breaks in force will disappear coupled with spending cuts, will most certainly lead to another bout of depression. A depression will be bad for people, jobs will disappear therefore buyers will disappear kick starting a vicious cycle of surplus inventory leading to shutting down of part production therefore more jobs. But it will not be good for the debt laden country either; depression doesn't create wealth growth does therefore a lose lose situation much like situation in Europe  where unbridled borrowing saw collapse of several economies.  America is sitting on a mountain of debt and the exigency of a Democracy is such that leaders seek soft solutions, are partisan to their constituency having one focus that is to get reelected. Only a true leader with staggering confidence in his ability to convince the people can swim against the current and impose harsh policies.

                                         

We know what goes up will come down, America has been on top for a while the signs of fatigue are clearly visible. Predictably ‘Fiscal cliff’ will be dealt with in easy way out solution; the sense of well being would be extended for some more time but the doom will be brought so much nearer home. Whoever thought Soviet Union will collapse so dramatically, it wasn't the military weakness that led to its downfall, it was their bankrupt economy. I guess we have reached a state where all wars will be stalemates and we see it all around us, the Iraq, the Afghanistan. Even though these nations stood no chance at all against the might of the axis of coalition yet there has been no emphatic win, you can well imagine how the war would have played out if these nations had been more stubborn and endowed with, let us say, a perceived lethality of North Korea. It will be economy that will be the new paradigm of drift a nation takes. I don’t see any capable leader, least Obama, who will set in motion policies that will rectify flaws in its economy of living off borrowing. The economy will sink this Goliath. Unfortunately there is no reason for the enemy of US to celebrate, when Goliath falls it will shake the earth and with that the whole world will suffer.        

Joy Shooting in Newton and Gang Rape in Delhi

The repetition of history has gone much beyond farcical; it is now a combination of directionless anger and dumb bewilderment. The multitude is venting their frustration coming out in numbers and protesting at a formless monster. This time therea is no convenient dartboard in sight for them to shoot their darts; not the government, not the police and not the leaders. They are dumbstruck, deep down they know they are themselves responsible for this tragic state. For too long this has gone on desensitized, it happens to people in TV, or fellows shown in newspapers; remote and faraway. Now it appears that the horror is staring them a little closer for comfort.

Once I was engaged in a spirited debate over cooperative living. My contention was, “Ethical behavior is hardwired into us else cooperative living would not be possible and the cases of lapse were aberrations’. An expert on evolution intervened and suggested, ‘We are likely to be opportunistic if there is little chance of getting caught and the reward substantial’

I can’t say about the play of psychology in the case of joy shooter but the rape is significantly a case of chance that they will not get caught and if they did even then they will get away scot free. The perpetrators acted in complete disregard of fear of law, the staggering sense confidence committing crime in a moving bus in a city crawling with policemen all over tells a nasty story. It is time harsh punishment is meted out to individual and made example of. It will be unfortunate for these fellows to but who said world is fair, they took their chance and got caught in a whirlpool of emotions running very high so they have to pay the price for their felony, albeit a very high price.  

We can’t discuss capital punishment in isolation, the moral pressure of society, state of safety apparatus and how primed a society is; all contribute to behavior of the criminal. The enormity of capital punishment in an evolved society and a society seeped in medieval morality is not the same. If the right to redeem one belongs to criminal then an honest citizen also has right to life and dignity. Is India primed for this? Why is a rape considered such a heinous crime, largely due to moral repercussion heaped upon the victim by the society. These are conflicting paradoxes that confront Indians. Yes incarcerate them for life but it is not enough, something more graphic and macabre to jolt the psyche of criminal minded is needed, chop their hand too; bad luck if they happen to be the ones to be made example of. A permanent reminder for those who throw acid on hapless victim is necessary.   

If the gun is holy cow for the Americans then rein in the bullets. Without bullets the Gun would be toothless tiger. In addition make the person owing Gun equally responsible of crime for letting it fall in the hands of minor.

Deadly Game: Euthanasia

We all know death is finality of life and the prospect of facing it, the biggest fear of our life, yet we don’t spend sleepless nights mulling over its eventuality. For death is something that occurs to others; to people in TV and newspapers. Even on rare occasions when someone close is stricken we are shocked momentarily, rue loss of close one but never fear death striking ourselves, it still is somewhere far away…..... . As a little boy I used to think that fellows in sixties would be living in mortal fear of dying but as I approach sixties I see no sign of fear, only the death looks as fudgy and pushed further away. Yet specter of dying overwhelms us.   

But there are people who wish to die. The ones stricken with crippling illness, people who have lost all hope and people who find living an impossible chore. There is something hardwired into us to fear death and defend life, even a terminally ill person, who may not live another day, if suddenly assaulted will defend himself with all available means at his disposable even though in leisure he may contemplate dying all the time. So in nutshell death frightens us only when we see it coming now. Most convicts in death row may experience its debilitating horror. So is the first knowledge of incurable disease like cancer or Aids numbing to us. We sometimes secretly wish to die sitting in armchair without any warning ..

Euthanasia is a raging debate, I have nothing to say for or against it but I have a design that would be humane to the fellows who have become vegetables in life. The thing is if death comes unannounced and without pain then it is the most desirable option to have. Therefore if we can emulate death in controlled way as it comes in real life then it is the most acceptable form of euthanasia. Take for instance a terminally sick person who has six months to live; this fellow may live more than six months or may die in a few days therefore if we can implant a lethal capsule that activates on a randomized date between now and a time when the life becomes unbearable for this fellow then we give him an option to live a healthy life that emulates death’s unannounced nature. Every fellow who is not well or crippled or has reason to dislike life can be given this option and also he/she can dictate the period over which a randomized date occurs. .. Surely this is a better way to die than live languishing on an armchair.