Residing in a hostel has taken a heavy toll on my capability of rabid sarcasm, especially because I am surrounded by gentle people of the genteel class. Having been brought up in a rough and tough environment where every word you uttered was subjected to intense scrutiny as if you were undergoing training for diplomatic service, it is very difficult to suppress the smile that appears on your face as the innocent people around you speak unknowingly of the meanings you glean out of those pearls of 'wisdom'.
So I find myself among little angels and slightly mischievous angels, and I, being a devil's advocate, find that I cannot really relish my company. It is always straight talk, not the intellectual tomfoolery of words I indulge in. A little solace is obtained during one of the History classes but otherwise, life has become a barren land; a picture in black and white in straight lines with no scope for even a shade of grey.
It is not the food that I miss. The milk here conforms to the Agmark and ISI standards, and the diet is balanced, and to my taste. But I feel starved of the sense of comraderie I used to feel at my home, my school and in my college; those endless discussions about topics which verged on absurdity, those statements which were the results of fleeting instances of brilliant insanity - all good old memories which help me survive in this desert of goodness and regularity.
The person who said that it was better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven was clearly exaggerating it. That statement shows lack of experience in succumbing to temptations, especially the intellectual ones. He should have known.
Sunday 11 July 2010
The Football Menagerie
I wish I were an octopus. Or a parakeet. Or whatsoever animal that supposedly has 'psychic' powers to predict the outcome of football matches. Whew! Am I tired of seeing that ugly eight-legged creature again and again!
My theory about it: that poor octopus selects whichever container has maximum food. For the first few games, the decisions of octopus coincided with the outcomes of the matches. After that, the prophecies of the outcomes became self-fulfilling as they began to subconsciously affect the players. So the octopus begins to get a 100% success rate.
I sincerely wish Holland wins today. For the sake of rationality!
My theory about it: that poor octopus selects whichever container has maximum food. For the first few games, the decisions of octopus coincided with the outcomes of the matches. After that, the prophecies of the outcomes became self-fulfilling as they began to subconsciously affect the players. So the octopus begins to get a 100% success rate.
I sincerely wish Holland wins today. For the sake of rationality!
Monday 5 July 2010
Happy Hartal
So we are celebrating the second hartal in a week against the decision to decontrol the petroleum product prices. This hartal too, like other previous ones, is going to be a 'massive hit', as they say. Mind you, while the rest of the country is going to reel under the effect of 'Bharth bandh', we in Kerala will be having a mere 'hartal'. The bandhs are formally banned in Kerala since the High Court verdict.
Why are hartals successes in Kerala? It is because the average Malayali is a perfect mixture of laziness and cowardice. S/he will not go out for two specific reasons:
1. This is a day you get to enjoy. You can see long queues in front of the Beverages Corporation's liquor shops and poultry stores on the day before the hartals. No one wants to venture outside to spoil the 'Marx-given manna' of a holiday.
2. You fear for your life/vehicle/property. We are so used to the sights of broken glasses of the KSRTC buses and burnt down vehicles that appear on the news channels in the nights of hartals that nobody even thinks of risking their precious four-wheelers. Now, even the state-run KSRTC is not an exception.
The matter of the fact is, Kerala is dominated by two sectors - agriculture and services. Agriculture cannot be very much affected by these hartals. The people who work in the services sector are only thankful to get a day all for themselves, given that most of them work for six days a week rather than five. The hartal, therefore, comes as a relief.
The only vehicles that seem to ply today are the vehicles of the ISRO, the firms of the Technopark and some mopeds. The life in the state is 'paralysed', as the Malayalis want to celebrate a day with the liquor bottles they are so fond of. They have little real concern about how the common man is going to be affected by the price rise.
After all, in a state where crores and crores of rupees are spent on conspicuous consumption, in a state where even the lowest strata of the society indulges in blatant consumerism, how on earth is a few rupees' increase in prices of petroleum products going to matter?
P.S: I know that the price rise is going to affect the Malayalis more than the people of any other state as we are dependent on others even for the food we consume. As the ultimate consumers in the great market of India, we are the ones who are going to be fleeced the most. But these hartals or bandhs are not going to force the Centre to change its decision. It is hell bent on cutting its deficits to find funds for its social security programmes. So these are perfectly useless ways to waste our time, money and energy. Still, who cares as long as we get a holiday?
Why are hartals successes in Kerala? It is because the average Malayali is a perfect mixture of laziness and cowardice. S/he will not go out for two specific reasons:
1. This is a day you get to enjoy. You can see long queues in front of the Beverages Corporation's liquor shops and poultry stores on the day before the hartals. No one wants to venture outside to spoil the 'Marx-given manna' of a holiday.
2. You fear for your life/vehicle/property. We are so used to the sights of broken glasses of the KSRTC buses and burnt down vehicles that appear on the news channels in the nights of hartals that nobody even thinks of risking their precious four-wheelers. Now, even the state-run KSRTC is not an exception.
The matter of the fact is, Kerala is dominated by two sectors - agriculture and services. Agriculture cannot be very much affected by these hartals. The people who work in the services sector are only thankful to get a day all for themselves, given that most of them work for six days a week rather than five. The hartal, therefore, comes as a relief.
The only vehicles that seem to ply today are the vehicles of the ISRO, the firms of the Technopark and some mopeds. The life in the state is 'paralysed', as the Malayalis want to celebrate a day with the liquor bottles they are so fond of. They have little real concern about how the common man is going to be affected by the price rise.
After all, in a state where crores and crores of rupees are spent on conspicuous consumption, in a state where even the lowest strata of the society indulges in blatant consumerism, how on earth is a few rupees' increase in prices of petroleum products going to matter?
P.S: I know that the price rise is going to affect the Malayalis more than the people of any other state as we are dependent on others even for the food we consume. As the ultimate consumers in the great market of India, we are the ones who are going to be fleeced the most. But these hartals or bandhs are not going to force the Centre to change its decision. It is hell bent on cutting its deficits to find funds for its social security programmes. So these are perfectly useless ways to waste our time, money and energy. Still, who cares as long as we get a holiday?
Sunday 4 July 2010
Democracy goes to the dogs
'We agree to disagree', this seems to be the motto of mankind today. Take any issue today - from environmental protection to caste census, the world is so divided into polarized opposing camps that any consensus is impossible. And unfortunately, this is the time the world has to act if it has to survive.
What is it that causes such divisions in the society? It is not as if conflicts are products of modern age. They have existed since man was born. And the leaders have dealt with them, not always effectively, but dealt with them nevertheless.
Today, however, we see leaders who are spineless, who bend to populist pressures (instances of political leaders coming out in support of khap panchayats for the sake of a few votes) and who are, if I may say, so bereft of leadership qualities that I cannot but marvel at my fellow beings who made them leaders. Has democracy become a bane?
It appears so that indeed it has become a bane. The movements in support of khap panchayats, Tea Party are all perfectly legitimate democratic movements. So was the National Socialist (Nazi) movement too. Indeed, it is fair to remark that democracy works well as long as the leaders have the charisma to make people go through the necessary ordeals or the people are sensible enough to understand what is actually good for them. However, that no longer seems to be the case in any country now.
Take U.S for example. Everyone knows how hard it was for its President to pass the health care reform bill. He may even lose the next elections because of that. A perfectly sensible President becomes unpopular within a few months since he entered the office. Compare it with the case of its former President who was re-elected in spite of leading his country into a perfectly useless and dumb battle.
Or take the case of India. Politicians of all hues are coming out in support of the antiquated, outdated and mindless institutions known as khap panchayats. In case you haven't read, they want the Hindu Marriage Act amended to suit their wishes. And quite unfortunately, there is quite a good number of citizens who agree with them on this. So, who knows?
Now take the European Union. It somehow scraped through the last crisis. And Merkel's popularity in Germany has nosedived. So much so that the recent Presidential elections went into the third round, thanks to her rebellious partymen. Now, Merkel had to support the EU. She had no other way out. Yet she is being crucified for some decisions that as the Chancellor of Germany, she was BOUND to take.
Everybody blames the politicians whenever something goes wrong. Being a politician is a very, very thankless job, especially if you are sincere and honest. And dictators, no matter how terrible they are, always find admirers. Call it 'the incurable lure of absolute power'. Just look at the Chinese, North Korean or Cuban rulers. Or even the Russian President. They are subject to far less criticism than the U.S President, the German Chancellor or the Indian Prime Minister even though the last three are doing far better jobs in the face of more severe challenges.
Democracy works well and good in a country where citizens are sensible, intelligent and well-informed. Sensibility went to the trash bin the day social networking was invented. Intelligence had already been out of fashion since the age of teevee began. And somebody called this the 'The Age of Information' but I think they missed out the 'Mis' that came before the last word.
I hope I will survive this.
What is it that causes such divisions in the society? It is not as if conflicts are products of modern age. They have existed since man was born. And the leaders have dealt with them, not always effectively, but dealt with them nevertheless.
Today, however, we see leaders who are spineless, who bend to populist pressures (instances of political leaders coming out in support of khap panchayats for the sake of a few votes) and who are, if I may say, so bereft of leadership qualities that I cannot but marvel at my fellow beings who made them leaders. Has democracy become a bane?
It appears so that indeed it has become a bane. The movements in support of khap panchayats, Tea Party are all perfectly legitimate democratic movements. So was the National Socialist (Nazi) movement too. Indeed, it is fair to remark that democracy works well as long as the leaders have the charisma to make people go through the necessary ordeals or the people are sensible enough to understand what is actually good for them. However, that no longer seems to be the case in any country now.
Take U.S for example. Everyone knows how hard it was for its President to pass the health care reform bill. He may even lose the next elections because of that. A perfectly sensible President becomes unpopular within a few months since he entered the office. Compare it with the case of its former President who was re-elected in spite of leading his country into a perfectly useless and dumb battle.
Or take the case of India. Politicians of all hues are coming out in support of the antiquated, outdated and mindless institutions known as khap panchayats. In case you haven't read, they want the Hindu Marriage Act amended to suit their wishes. And quite unfortunately, there is quite a good number of citizens who agree with them on this. So, who knows?
Now take the European Union. It somehow scraped through the last crisis. And Merkel's popularity in Germany has nosedived. So much so that the recent Presidential elections went into the third round, thanks to her rebellious partymen. Now, Merkel had to support the EU. She had no other way out. Yet she is being crucified for some decisions that as the Chancellor of Germany, she was BOUND to take.
Everybody blames the politicians whenever something goes wrong. Being a politician is a very, very thankless job, especially if you are sincere and honest. And dictators, no matter how terrible they are, always find admirers. Call it 'the incurable lure of absolute power'. Just look at the Chinese, North Korean or Cuban rulers. Or even the Russian President. They are subject to far less criticism than the U.S President, the German Chancellor or the Indian Prime Minister even though the last three are doing far better jobs in the face of more severe challenges.
Democracy works well and good in a country where citizens are sensible, intelligent and well-informed. Sensibility went to the trash bin the day social networking was invented. Intelligence had already been out of fashion since the age of teevee began. And somebody called this the 'The Age of Information' but I think they missed out the 'Mis' that came before the last word.
I hope I will survive this.
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