Phobia

Susan Jeffers said, “Feel the fear and do it anyway.” One feels free when he/she moves beyond the fears of the mundane world. The inherent indelible sentiments ingrained in the spirits of men is that of fear. The esoteric scientists would psychobabble bewildering the laymen to the very urge; for they are of the opinion that life throbs and blood flows in the veins due to the elemental oxygen. Well coming back to philosophical grounds such elaborate and concise definition proves to be a misnomer. The real test between a living entity and a non-being one is the feeling of fear. It is only the flower which fears being atrophied and not the rock sitting stolidly on the roadside.

Fear is your compass towards growth, says the antique wisdom. The ones who fear actually live, others merely vegetate. Where the heart is throbbing with life comes the fear of grave. Of what on the face of this earth could a corpse be afraid of? What comes in a package with fear is insecurity. The more successful a person becomes the greater are the chances for him to fall from his seat of prestige and consequently higher is his insecurity. A millionaire is tormented by insomnia but what about a ragged riff-raff? Fear is the emotions expressed at the very crescendo of life! Often it is our experience that the polarities go hand in hand complementing each other!

With the lust of life one realized death, with great freedom great responsibilities, the rise of sun is but followed by the gloomy night! Paradox is what life is! Yet the positives and the negatives aspect to it. Having already discussed the lighter side it is time to traverse through the darker one. Fear depending upon the outset of an individual takes the form of a daunting challenge or a dismaying obstacle leading to a debacle. The veracity of the avowal lies in the life of successful individuals. Steve Jobs, the owner of Apple, was unemployed and fired from his own company at the age of 30! Alert Einstein was regarded as a crackpot by his teachers. Bob proctor the teacher of ‘the secret’ at his inceptions was a mere nothing. All these people had a life full of fear. The fear of not having enough to eat, the fear of failing, the fear of not being competent enough. Only a man who in their shoes been, could tell us actually the tons of fear that these individuals went through. The mediocre mind in a seeming quagmire would yield, and let the ‘fate’ overpower him.

The reason that only 3% of the total population turns to be a success lies in the fact that they choose to live in a milieu of fear. “The secret of getting ahead is to get started.” The airplane burns almost one fourth of its total fuel just to get the balls rolling! Most of us are ready to take the giant leap which exposes us to insecurity. The very urge to be secure, or to be pragmatic and to ‘play safe’ is the deterrent. There is a lot of fear in going past the hardwired norms of the society, there is a great fear in not being a sheet of the herd. The unknown always seems to be indomitable from a distance. But “the moth who in the holy fired burned and became one color with the flame, only he could tell, who never to tell returned, what fire is.” (Bible) Those who fear, fear love a monotonous stereotypical life full of regrets!

Fear is also an element of relationships. The reason why the earth is bogged down with so many broken hearts is fear. The fear of being ditched, the fear of cuckoldry, the fear of intimacy and so on. Until the two individuals remain as two separate entities meeting on the surface no love can blossom. It is only when the two spirits weld together that the fear will dissolve. And fear being a negative has no existence – so you cannot just drive out with a magic broom! Fear is simply the absence of love! Of course there may be chances of the other cheating on you, taking your undue advantage or humiliating you, but one has to take the risk, of exposing oneself absolutely as he/she is. Only in the acceptance of the fear does one transcend it! Intimacy and love are but the shadows of this prime acceptance leading to external, serenity!

The interpretation of fear may be diverse. The total no of permutations possible in this universe are virtually infinite! But what could be the ultimate fear? The fear of death. All the toil, all the efforts are an attempt to live. But the ground reality has remained pretty much the same from untold centuries. Death knocks at the door and all is finished. When talking of fear it is the most important of the points to make!

Living the life to the fullest accepting the feat and going beyond it are all the preparatory phases to get ready to eat the last fear, death. The enlightened masters have ever been iterating the ultimate truth of the eternal self! Traversing the multifarious experiences of life both good and bad alike makes one eligible to face this final fear of death. For not overcoming this fear would mean a chance lost at this beautiful inn or gym whatever one may choose to say. And the vicious cycle of births and deaths continue! The last abode of the battle with fear ends at dropping the feat of fear itself in all its forms and avatars - the greatest of all the achievements, the achievement which ideally cannot be called an achievement!

A Journey to the Lands of Discovery

It was a fine day when we headed off to the strange lands of knowledge. 6^th December 2011 the day when we had a field trip to the Civic Centre and to the Nyari Filter Plant, Rajkot. It was an academic expedition led by our history and civics teacher, Vibhuti Mam.

We boarded our buses at around 10:45am. All the thrilled and excited hears left the school campus. The Civic Center welcomed us with its peaceful and calm environment. It was situated right below the Rotary Midtown Library, a place where many of us visit often. But surprisingly none us had any clue about the Civic Centre! The place was surrounded by a huge square boundary, with quite a few trees here and there. The board hanging just at the entrance of the office read, “Every person visiting here, be it a commoner or a noble, are all respectable. It is we, who are dependent on them not they.” This particular line was the symbol of their vital duty and their role in our lives. We gradually entered the hall of peace. We could hear the Pitter-Patter of our own shoes. The whole area was covered with various pesters and banner spreading awareness. In the heart of it lied the sitting places if the people who came in there. This could be directly related to the court of an emperor. A little away, right to the black metallic chairs lied the official working area of the members. The Civic Centre included a Call Centre, for receiving, forwarding and registering complaints made, located at the North-East corner of it, and a tax ‘Collecting Machine’ at the mouth of the office. We were welcomed by the highly learned, qualified and experienced member of the office. We were then allowed to take our seats. Silence spread over the place once more as we settled. This hush was broken, when the personnel spoke up. We were briefed about the working and the functions of the civic centre. Some of the inquisitive minds were filled with curiosity whose thirst was quenched by the person addressing us. After the discussion we were taken to see the working of the Tax Collecting Machine in the groups of 7-8. The registration, processing and the resolution of the mock complaint was also witnessed by us. It seemed that the bright faces admired the rigorous work of their countrymen and were proud to be a part of! The technological advancements have marched forward within a last few years and would continue at a faster rate, to enlighten India. We finally left for our next and the last station for the day which was the Nyari Filter Plant, thanking them for spending their precious time for us.

The filter plant was a place near to our school. This was a place which was beyond ‘The Box”. We had visited this place just to brush up our G.K. It was a large flat ground on which the whole of the filter plant did stand. The place could be classified as an Eco-friendly one as it was covered with trees all over it. The water from the Nyari dam is brought through pipelines to plant where first of all, Chlorine is added. (As a disinfectant and an odor remover) All the water coming from the dam is let into 2 huge tanks, where most of its algal as well as larger physical impurities are eliminated. Then it is sent into smaller room like structures which is the site for the removal for mud particles, gravel etc. (smaller suspending impurities) Then some advanced purification (at the chemical level) occurs which finally leaves the water absolutely safe and portable to drink. This water is much more safe and cheaper in comparison to the Bislery water! (15,000 L per Rs.800) One of our friends had even tasted the purified water. Afterwards, we saw the huge reservoirs of 20,00,000 L which stored water and then were sent to people of Rajkot via huge and Titanic pumps!

On a larger scale it was a great enjoyable as well as a learning experience.

          

The Pier Glass - Short Story

A shower of sparkles mitigated the dawn. A low rumble seemed to engulf the pacific nature. The earth trembled as the lofty body levied its full weight and moved on. A long whistle sought to alarm any possible trespassers in its length of territory for the penalty of such an offence could be none other than heralding a dreadful demise. All the hustle was evanescent and soon was dominated by the titters and tears of the multifarious gobs as they gushed in and out of the train, depicting the vicious reality of life!  

I rubbed my eyes and sat huddled in at the seat gazing out at the baffled world. Coming back to my senses I realized that the terminus of our errand had come. Right to my side slept my mother winded and twined intricately in her 'white quilt' that she had received as a gift during the marriage from her parents. Excitement was tickling every nerve of mine. I shook my mother and whispered in her ears, "Mamma get up fast! The much yearned moment has finally arrived, it's time to rejoice every moment now!"

My mother was fast asleep out of the excessive exhaustion of the night before. She worked at a call center in the heart of Khakhra a port city located on the West coast of the India, just below Mumbai. To cope up with the standards of living and maintaining ones dignity is no more a cup of tea. Long and stressful working hours accompanied by low emoluments are the two most intrinsic features of the present day private corporations. Everyone wants to reap the rice; whether or not they had been the janitors of is but an entirely indifferent tale! This very race of paramountcy like the savaging fire has besieged and ravaged the humanity! And though it remains the trait of life and the law of nature - 'The fittest survives and the rest perish'! For a little family like mine, capital would be one of the greatest barrier.

Mrinal, my sweet mother could faintly hear what I was saying. I tried to wake her up once more. I said to her, "O mummy get up now, we're in Granny's village." The mention of my granny had an enchanting effect on her. A pulse of nimble and exhilaration passed on from her head to the toe. Ah! The deepest eternal relationship! In no time my mother sprang up and gathered all the luggage. 

Meanwhile I absent mindedly picked up a magnificent steel thermos and started to scrutinize it from all the angles. I would turn fourteen come 6^th of this month. I a cute girl full of enthusiasm and zeal for anything and everything, am very inquisitive and like to ponder and reason for all that don't suite my fashion. I was imbibed in my own world busy opening my magic-casket! Meanwhile it is remarkable to observe my frantic mother. Losing a valuable possession at the inceptions of a day signified bad omen and an ill fate as laid down by the ists and was all that the children like me had ever heard but indeed the roots of it penetrate deep into the materialistic world! Thus my mother's turmoil was totally justified.

My mother sighed at the very sight of the thermos flask. A light cuff left the remnants of her blow. My adorable cheeks turned bright crimson with shades of pink lost in patches. The incessant cascades of saline waters paved the path for the agitated ripples of my fragile heart! My mother turned heart-sore at the sight but what else could a woman working the whole day long, catering to the needs of her family and taking take care of her children have done? She put all her comforting powers and the cornerstone of a woman's heart into action. After all there exists no mother who could see their little ones in long faces!!!

Finally love combated and won o'er the momentary resentment and acrimony. Both of us pushed our way out of the train through the gobs of riff-raff. I with my sparkling little eyes examined our companions as we walked up to the station. The railway station was a bleak shabby place. The area all around was covered with the vestiges of eatables, bottles of water and all other litter that one could find at a dump-yard! The walls merely passed muster and seemed to have shed its flamboyant overcoat, just like the snake. Intricate designs in red were not out of place o'er the walls, for the local men cared a little, until they could make some room for fresh air in their mouths and expel the filthy liquid produced by the Paan. My mother and I reached the threshold of our little ambition, Raigadh. My mother asked me, "Can you spot your uncle"? I the merry angel rolled my eyes along the horizon. In an instance I figured out a tall slim man with a bushy black beard standing near the parapet, from the station. The ecstatic little voice of mine cried out, "Ya mamma there he is!!!" pointing to the youth. Both of us couldn't resist moving forward at the sight Shankar, my uncle. Shankar too was waiting for this noble moment desperately. My mother hugged Shankar.

The jubilance was apparent through the mirrors of heart! Where emotions dominate, peace must prevail for the mortal words fall short of expressing the eternal love! Even though the natural lenses are connoisseurs of this mesmerizing mortal motley mead, are but yet neophytes to the intrinsic mettle! The most essential elements of life can neither be beheld nor can be touched in contrast to the illusive avarice that all cease to seize! However they can be felt and sensitized. Perhaps the abstractions of these underpinnings of nature was destined to shield us from our own greed, malice and collusions! The intimate bonds of love that brothers and sisters, parents and their children share is at the pinnacle of this so-called world which we know a little about. Unconditional love out-powers even the most lethal weapon! True love deals in no logic nor does fish for any meticulous traits and therefore is the most chaste and cherishable feature of all the existing glory and splendor! It altogether would be a different story and in no condition would suite the mood of the scene should the 'ambitious devils' of the probable third dimension be anatomized.

Meanwhile I grew a little envious and possessive about both my mother and my uncle! My mother was my life while my uncle too loved me no less. He lifted me up and held me in his arms and started talking innately. He asked, "Hey how are you, my child?" I almost retorted and said, "I'm fine uncle. The whole year long I spent quarrelling and combating with the everlasting days just to ensure to be here by yours, Mamami's, Granny's and Subhash's side. And after all here we are! And do you remember that that… garden you were talkin' about the last time we did chat? O that we visited it this time!" He promised to take me there. On and on went our conversations as we tramped on to home.

Finally we reached a petty spot in the outskirts of Raigadh. The alleys were all in their lush green petticoats embroidered with fine aromatic blossoms that made a lofty show! The mellifluous chirps of the sparrows and the Koyals filled the air. The sun was right up struggling hard to pervade through the unwieldy black clouds. I puffed in the magnificence of the magnanimous! The icy breeze gently lifted my tufts up, swayed them in the air and cautiously placed 'em onto my innocent elegant checks! A heralding heaven indeed!

A crooked broken wooden fence ran all around the little home. The patches and loopholes were all guarded by piles of thorns bought after cutting down a few cactuses and other thorny bushes which without any scruple reflected the moral implications of the worldly life! We reached the vestibule. The wooden gate was swollen up with moisture and fungal outgrowth could clearly be seen. An old woman sat near the gate peering as far and wide as she could. I taking long and agile leaps ran towards her and landed into her lap. Maa as we called her, kissed me and embraced me to her bosom.  In came my uncle and mother. 

Maa called out to Subhash, "Subhash, where are you? Come up quickly, do you know who has come?"

Subhash with a smile on his face, and a hammer striking at his heart came running out of the house.

Maa spoke up again, "Will you not take the blessings of your aunt?"

Brother obeyed. And off he went to bring a wooden bed weaved around with thick white ropes like a cob-web! Uncle and mother took charge of their new possession. I pulled my brother's hand and whispered in his ears, "Hey let's go in the backyard!" Witnessing this mammi remarked, "It is interesting to note how children want to be in their own world, out of the haunts of almost everyone which is the probable reason of their chasteness!"

Subhash was overjoyed for I had finally arrived. We started to chat.

Subhash looked right into my eyes and spoke up, "Really nice to see you after quite a while. How are you? Have you planned anything for us to do this vacation?"

A dog just happened to pass by and eavesdrop our conversation. Subhash was very congenial and compassionate towards animals unlike the other local folks who get the vexed at the sight of the poor little harmless creature. Wagging its tail from time to time it came running to him. Subhash caressed it. Could heavens be more joyous than such a true love? Fishing for that that isn't at the moment allows for the betters of it to be drained and the eternal quest for a frugal more that was already there seeps in! Soon it glanced at me and started to sniff at my toes. I too was a little skeptical about the nature of dogs due to the strange tales that I used to hear from my neighbors. Subhash consoled me and grabbed my delicate hands to shoo away the fear of our new comrade. This very 'experience of mine' shrouded my ignorance. Taking a due notice of this Subhash chuckled and said, "Animals are so loyal you see, they don't have such a weel-developed logic as we have; for logic always intervenes in the affairs of love!"

Subhash applauded me thereby encouraging me and continued, "What are your future plans and ambitions?" I was bewildered at the question as most of the teens and lads are and perhaps Subhash expected this! Not expending much time on the topic he quickly diverted the discussion. He pulled out a few marbles out of his worn pocket. I immediately said, "Aww… This is my all-time favorite! Let's have a round." The game turned out to be very interesting.

It was ten past the noon. I was able to hear faint rumbles which was a sure indication of hunger. I said to Subhash, "I'm hungry now. Let's go to maa."I scuttled through lodging and sat in granny's lap. Subhash took a place near her mother. He then revealed the fix I was in. After a short conversation we moved to our 'heaven' and prepared for lunch. An auspicious day or special people at home would always mean delicious meals! Puris and Sheera lured and watered my mouth, a lucrative offer indeed! They seemed like Manna-Dew to me! After all it was the contentment and thrill that made me happy more than any other aspect!  Every now and then either Maa, Mami or Mama would infuse me with a little more might to have more. A prominent feature of the countryside where possessions and possessiveness is far beyond the wildest of the wild thoughts.

After finishing our lunch we decided to take a nap. I tried to sleep in my brother's room. The excitement of that charming place tickled my nerves and somehow didn't let me snooze and snore. Just then a shrill tremble was accompanied by a creaky sound which suggested the opening of a rusted wardrobe. Yes it was Subhash. He tried to abate the noise as far as possible but it was not possible even for a vocational guy to nick a thing out of it without waking up the owners! The cupboard contained a pile of books and clothes all clubbed together at various places. I imagined him locating and extracting a book from the heap. From the partially shut eyelids I noticed him holding a paper in his hands and moving towards our bag. He cautiously opened it up and pulled out a book that lay surrounded by the Sarees of my mother and put the sheet in. All this while I kept watching him in amazement but couldn't seize a bit of what was happening. After Subhash left, I lifted myself up and removed that book from our baggage. It was none other than my diary. I pulled the sheet out of it and glanced through it. The contents matched with the traits of a speech being delivered by the ministers at inauguration of some coveted monument! And then I turned stern and examined each phrase fastidiously. On and on started the brook of wisdom percolating from the perch!

"A speech by Mr. Nath at the 'Royal commission Hall'

Hello friends! It fills my heart with pleasure unspeakable to come at this podium and address my fellow countrymen. Teens and parents all lend me your ears. We all reside in the same country and are bound by the same ties of Love, Trust and Reverence. Each one of us wants to strive towards success and pave the path for the betterment of our nation. But things just don't happen as we want them to in the practical life, isn't it? The expenditure always exceeds the earnings and so is with the life! There are so many expectation out of a single man in this hectic world where life has merely become a race. And then comes a challenge and a failure in a single package which is labelled as success that at times ravages all the hopes and crushes the spirit! But let us understand this naïve fact that something that originates in the mind must find an end in its native!

The explicit reason behind the production of 'well-schooled' yet devastated and unemployed multitude is that we from day one are taught to obtain good marks by hook or by crook. There's a little emphasis laid down for the imagination! Marks dominate our thinking and has led us to bulldozing the teachers for it, taking to unfair means or simply overloading the life with tremendous pressure. Grades have become the identity of a student, which indeed does not have a commanding share o'er the real life!

The mesmerizing matrix that we all love to be attached with is indeed the outcome of the marvelous power of the human brain! Exploring the un-explored and the quest for the un-known has ever since been the prime motive of mankind!

Education is a valuable asset. But looking at the present day world we all are taught right at the inceptions, to be at pinnacle; to be a pupil scoring above 90s. To have 15 subjects and scoring 92% is simply awe-inspiring! But alas! No one seems to be interested in developing that 'contemplative attitude'. The call of time is not to work like donkeys and score the maximum but is indeed to introspect and understand one's own self rather than simply following all that others have to say.

Of course this does not mean that I am running down the importance of the elaborate studies and the determination that should be overwhelming in a student's mind. Knowledge is never futile; it would surely be of some use in the course of life. If not directly for ourselves than for others! Knowledge is the ultimatum of human life. Understanding the world around and acquiring some fundamental knowledge is utmost necessary.

But not all can to do wonders in the field of mathematics or arts or politics nor were they born for that! Variety is the spice of life! And indeed owing to this multifarious expertise we are able to celebrate our lives. Running behind everything reduces one to an abject deficiency of everything, but focusing on a single target makes the life more viable! Most of the youth today are baffled and perplexed as in 'How to setup the life' even after reaching the threshold of the real life!

This lack of decision making and the act of not allowing the brain to simply venture out and explore the beautiful world then leads to a miserable plight that the majority of the people live in today. Stagnant waters becomes a breading house for millions of creatures! A body-part unused gradually becomes of no use! Similarly leaving the minds intact and plunging into the race of paracmountcy leads to no terminus! Being passionate about that one idea and thinking day in and day out about it is what actually is needed. From kindergarten we are taught to score, but we do not know what the hell to make out of it! The work well begun is half done. Beginning with the end in mind clears all the haziness and leaves behind a crisp and a clear image. How soothing would it feel to watch a movie from a scratched disc?

On and on would then the dismal life trip by in stammers and simpers! How ironic the life becomes! Exploring and developing the thoughts is of utmost importance. Even an 'A+' on the report card has no binding effect until the aim of life becomes clear and one puts in unflinching efforts, shows utter dedication and rigor and builds up undaunted spirit. Perhaps that 'A+' was not something that was required at all but was simply the quest of a 'lost aspiration'!

Across every petty corner of this ever-stretching frontier can one find gobs of riffraff gobbling away the bounty of nature without a tinge of cognition, sauntering day and night, aimless, worthless! A mere burden to the motherland! Had these sequestered, staggering, quiescent groups been striving towards a common terminus, would the mankind be the brawniest and affluent! The ripples caused by a stone dropped in the midst of a pond is sure to hit the shingle. Every little action of ours has an effect in and around us. Idealness thus is not only a friendly evil to ourselves but to all the others that co-exist. An empty head is a devils home! The prime motive of our lives should be to assist anyone and everyone in any manner that we can, be generous and to be congenial and yet not become arrogant; i.e. remain down to the earth. Reaching the summit only implies to the fulfillment of that motive which again should be our revered duty. Simplicity is the most attractive and precious ornament that can be worn and is priceless for the ones who know its worth as well as who don't!"

I stopped at this point and switched to a pensive mood. I closed my eye and took a deep breath. Soon Subhash's question started to whirl in my head. Before I could muse much about it faint whispery voices blew with the winds and echoed in my ears. They were none other than that of my mother and maa. I heard my mother talking to maa, ".... as if I was some kinda terrorist dwelling in the house. She's always after my life, trying ruin all that I do. She does not miss a single chance to pull my legs. "I imagined maa nodding and then her voice spoke, "Yes Mrinal. All of this isn't something contemporary. Your mother-in-law, I and every single woman of our times has passed through such bitter and awful conditions." My mother seemed to have spoken with a sigh, "Maa many a times I feel that 'Love' has simply turned into a word appearing at some torn and uncouth page of the dictionary which is sparsely opened!"

All of a sudden everything in front of Shanta turned vague just as the acquaintances sublime from the memories as the time creeps on! Instinctively she drew her hand up to the pair of eyes and felt them moist and humid! Just then a feathery little sphere rolled down her rosy cheeks and landed upon the paper and then the other fell proliferating the influx! The blue ink on the paper spread staining it and obliterating the letters around it. Her nose grew crimson and an array of drops spanned the lengths and breadths of her forehead. Shanta explicitly flipped the page of the book she was reading. The title on the next page read '17.4.99'.

And there comes a stolid and impassive deep manly voice penetrating through the door almost shattering it to pieces. For a moment Shanta was out of her 'existence' and didn't hear him. But an instant's delay could have resulted into a catastrophe concluded Shanta for it was the menacing tone of his husband. Nimble evoked by fright opened the door and a stout man heaved expletives at her like pots and pans. The man bubbling in anger flung himself and jeered at Shanta for being so late. Shanta stood there for a minute but found it better to be out of his sight. So she scurried towards her room and took a glance at the foggy pier glass as the prophetic words of Mr. Nath and her mother resounded in her mind. A fusion of images of Subhash and that 'unforgettable day' swayed through the gallery of her mind. Her attempts to clean the mirror proved to be futile until she realized that the pier glass portrayed a mere reflection of her own sobs and sniffles! 

Nationalism and Patriotism - A different outlook

Parrots have the exceptional capability of sermonizing, if trained to. But can it be called intelligence? It is a mere imitation. Wherever there is imitation, one thing is certain that there is no use or development of the cognition. It is remarkable that each one of is endowed with a mesmerizing BRAIN AND HEART, however making a use of it is not everyone’s agenda! 

Well first of all to copy or blindly follow what others do or have to say is the greatest degeneration. Hell would be right now and here! It is the very loss of freedom that is bestowed to us. Experience is the only tutor. The idea of nation has been fed into our heads by each and every person around us, But does it mean that we have to accept what others have to say? There is something known as intuition which is the key to bliss! To be faithful to the nation is something that has been taught to us and it has been coming down through many generations. So it is ultimately a rotten idea that must not be accepted without proper understanding.

From where has this idea of ‘MY’ nation come in? Did any of us know that we belong to a particular nationality? Moreover do we REALLY belong to some country? What is a nation? What is all this fuss about? Well from the very childhood we are taught that we are Indians, people across the globe have hammered this very idea that so and so is an Indian, Pakistani, Arabian, American etc. At the end of the day we all are humans, than what is the need to make such a hocus-pocus about it? It is the birthplace which decides our nationality. No child/adult is given the opportunity to completely change his/her nationality! Once you are born, you may travel, become a citizen but your nationality has been fixed, nothing can be done about it! Now birth is a mere accident. I by chance am born in this particular piece of land, it may not have happened so! So a child born in Pakistan would be conditioned to hate other nations or at least would want to see his/her nation the strongest among all! This is fanaticism. We always want to possess something or the other. The idea of nation is nothing but the projection or our ego. That very ego wants us to be superior to others. When we say we like possessing money it sounds odd in the social fabric but the nature has to find some way out! So we found out lucrative nouns like nations, religions, wives, husbands etc. This is ‘mine’ and it is the best! At the very root it is the same ego but yet we accept and take it for granted when someone is very patriotic! There’s no opposition. What happens when an ant bites? There is intense agony, where does the ego vanish? Even the little ant has the potential of taking us out of equilibrium! 

So the conspiracies and murders are projections of the subtle disharmony prevailing within all of us, but that has never been our concern at all! Indeed we have not time to reflect back. If at the right moment I don’t heave abuses after an hour all the anger is going to be drained away in some sewage! But the moment is never caught due to the past experiences and the ambitions of the future.

We are worse than little kids fighting over petty issues. Have you seen little kids doing kitta-billa, how idiotic it looks! We laugh at them, but who’s gonna laugh at us, when we are fighting for clothes, and pieces of lands? All the madmen in the mental hospital are going to consider the doctor to be insane, isn’t it? Is it really good to fight for a piece of land? And we fight not only for a piece of land, but for a piece of cloth with a few color strips on it! What else is the flag? And we become ready to die for the country, the flag, nation objectives etc! Have we ever known what it is? But to think is a sin for people! We may call it a motherland, fatherland, bro-sis land whatsoever, that is of no importance. It is deep down our own malice and hatred that is brewing and is wanting to erupt out, whether we accept it or not. Why do we enjoy watching martial art movies, why is a boxing much of such a great importance to us? It is simply because we have all the vices lurking inside us but the mask of civility is deceiving us. We can decide for ourselves to be civilians or FREE individual beings!

People tend to 'respect' their national anthems an and gather on the Independence Day or republic day but then when it comes to actual practice who cares? Indeed it was simply a lofty show! 

Where has this barrier come from? The birds migrate in the varying seasons from country to country, the winds blow across the globe, the oceans span the continents, where is the demarcation? The whole of the existence is perfectly it ease but we are adamant enough to create troubles for our own selves! It is only in the minds of sick people. These are totally illusory boundaries that have no existence. And all the scientist have found only a one thing, that this universe is endless! We have known no end to it, even the earth itself is nothing and we talk of nations! A mere non-sense, crap! Our minds are so limited! Have you ever heard Buddha or Ramkrishna talking about nations? Indeed all the mystics have never been into that filth, they had only things to teach, the realization of the self! It is only that we talk about it.

Secondly why do we identify the murders as ‘Pakistanis'? How can we label all of them as brutes, do we them all? Until and unless we don’t comprehend each and every person living in Pakistan we cannot use the word Pakistan.

What do we get out of killing and bloodshed? They killed 5, we kill 50, they kill 500 what’s the point? When we want to get rid of a tree forever do we go on cutting the branches and trunk or do we UPROOT it? And moreover if go on cutting the branches they are going to grow even more wildly! The real problem lies in the psychology; the actions are simply the manifestations, what of it? It is immaterial! I cannot blame the examiner if I score low, it is out of question!

Until and unless the very idea of ‘MINE’ disappears nothing can be done or nothing can be said. If I’m injured while playing a game I’ll myself have to drop out. And what power can I have with a limping leg to be able to stop the game?! The imbecile game is going to continue unto eternity, but there’s no point in it! The question is not of any revolutions, it is of rebellion with THE SELF!

The whole system of army training destroys the seed of humanity and never lets it flower. There is no provision for question, belief is all! It is just the physical growth that occurs and whatsoever little mental growth is there goes to a wrong direction. There is no ‘regeneration’ of the individual! ‘Obey to order’, hell with it, I’ve got my own consciousness! They are simply fanatic suiciders! Life is such a precious cup of elixir, how can we afford to lose it for something that we don't even understand! What is politics, what is nation, why is there a conflict, what is aggression, what is all this phenomena! They say fight for freedom! What a parody, it’s like a robber looting all the wealth and in disguise saying that go to the police station and file a report! What is freedom? Most of the politicians and the population wants everyone to fight. What happens when we are on the way to school and someone fights? We stop, encourage and reap the most out of it! Indeed we become the fuels of the fire! What is that catches our attention? The unconscious will to become violent, which civility doesn’t allow us. However disgusting the past may be we are at least acquainted with it and want to cling to it. None of us will think of dropping out of the game. The whole world is immersed in it then why should we stand apart? There is the fear of losing what ‘I’ have!

We all condemn war but then what? All that we do is get into the same old scenario! If I wait a little, think a bit, rationalize and find out the profits and loss would I be able to kill? Certainly not! I may spend my life killing everyone in the honor of defending the country, but at the moment of death, Why did I fight, what was the meaning, what is a country, who am I, who suffered, what happened? Everything becomes hazy and there is NO ANSWER!!! 

So whomsoever becomes a soldier is going to face such circumstances! If I have decided to be in the game, I’ve no choice but to abide by the rules and regulations! Being sad is a mere ignorance. From thousands of years all this shit has happened and it is going to continue, what’s the point being sad? If I decide to kill, I have to be ready to die and if some chauvinists kill me, that’s absolutely justified. I find no reason to mourn! Of course the world is not going to stop from the way it functioning but I've got a choice to make! This is how the game moves on. We don’t become sad when we kill in "Vice" city (what great names we have for our games!), isn’t it? What’s the point over here?

Moreover analyze the feelings, is it sadness, or something totally different? Sadness is just a mask that is hiding behind the old filth of the cunning mind! It is simply all the wickedness that is in us that compels us to think in such a way. The mind is very decisive. We talk of compassion but then look at the fallacy, our nation should surpass all others, we have to kill! This love is simply the obverse of hatred! So our sadness is fanaticism and ego! This is hypocrisy! Feelings are not the faculty of mind at least. Only the rationalistic approach can be to die and kill. Love never indulges itself in something as shallow! And there is a vast difference between ‘love’ and so called love that everyone refers to day in and day out!!! 

To me the very idea of nations and patriotism is neurotic! Just think about it, some country is rich in minerals, some other in something else etc. If all collaborate then what's the point. (I accept that its not goona happen. Even the nations have failed, have people really changed, are they not against each other?) Just try to sit down for 5 minutes and become thoughtless! There’s no need to be so worried about the whole universe, we cannot even control our nervous system! The world existed well before us and will continue to do so, and it does not need any help of ours! So the feeling of misery cannot be justified! We may say that if whole of the population of a nation comes down to peace than other nations would invade and ravage the beauty of it!!! Theoretically seems to be legit. But we cannot even change the hearts and minds of the people in our own little family, is the country supposed to be changing? Things have remained as they were! One out of a thousand grasps it and the rest are anyways going to continue their way, so why waste the precious energy and lovely life that we have received? 

What is patriotism? What is love? What are nations? What is life? What is death? What is all the fanaticism and bigotry about? Well living life with partial or no knowledge (experience) is death itself!!! What could be more annihilating? Where else and in which other hell fire do we want to burn in? Is this not enough?

Love

The rain drops chaste as its origin fall from the eternal vastness, rest upon the steep slopes ready to flow down, pacing swiftly ahead, meeting other brooks on the way, obliterating obstacles, mingling with mud, meandering but moving and ultimately emptying into the cosmic reservoirs. An intricate mystery understood by none! Atrophied of love, this mesmerizing world have been desolate and gloom would lay predominant. Love is the universal heartbeat with which every soul throbs. As the air flowing from the East to the West and the mighty waves ramming against the shingle, "Love knows no bounds". Perhaps the epicenter of every teen is love and sex.

Yet it is a great to pity to see a prodigious amount of hypocrisy brewing about every niche. The only sin possible in my eye is to deny your own inner calling. Not to respond to its impetuous urge causes all sorts of complexions. The typical stereo-typical society has certainly enthralled the budding minds with their ‘perverse impossible ideals’. The condemnation of sex and love puts one at war against one’s own energy – and a double minded man is unstable in all his ways – as most of us are, trying to fish for a relationship and at the same time shying away from it!

The dictionary has fallen into the hands of masochists’ vectors who have marred one the most beautiful words. Trust, fidelity and ‘chastity’ have been reduced to what is called virginity in a bawdy language. A deeper psychological insight reveals jealousy, the offspring of insecurity. We have tried to captivate love/sex and channelized it to a single person. But can you enclose breeze in your first and still expect it to be fresh? And so is with sex and love!

Today is a world where you can ping your fiend sitting right at the North Pole in a mere fraction of a second. We have become a global village but with this contraction in a virtual sense have our beings also started to contract only to be reduced to a malodourous trickle? A branch severed from the trunk hurts both equally – men and women are no exceptions! Peace is but a dream until ‘these complements’ do not merge and melt into one another, unconditionally, having casted off all the trash of untold centuries. It is time to tickle the ‘vast unused network’ of billions of electrical connection of our biological computer……..

Relationships, Love and Sex

Let’s TAKE A WHILE TO 'THINK' AS we all love to say it! Relationships, 'love', sex etc is a part of life. Why can't we accept it? Yes sex is not great by itself but in itself it is! True, but we have to go rung by rung, 'there are no SHORTCUTS in life.' (Elders say this I'm simply quoting it, please don't pounce on me!!!)

First of all love is the intrinsic quality of the mettle! On one hand whole of the society wants people to love their parents, teacher, elders etc. Love cannot be extended to anyone and EVERYTHING. We are limiting love. We are in the stagnant waters and say that it stinks, pretty cool, isn't it? Now we all talk about unconditional love and so on and so forth but look at the parody, we ourselves are limiting the love and conditioning at every point in time! "Is this your age? Are you still so mature enough?" What does this signify? Love is an object that has to pop in after 18 or 21 according to whatsoever the imbecile law has to say. Love is something that is highly horrendous for teens and all then all of a sudden ‘that love’ has to be extended only to ONE AND ONE ONLY PARTNER! The LOVE has to be very different in quality for brothers and sisters, between parents and their children, between teachers and students, all the other relations that exist! We defined love, oops, sorry have we ‘DEFINED or DEFIED’ love? Love has remained the dictionary, that’s all! Teens are not normal people, they grow horns- they must be some sort of beasts! Love has been reduced to abject poverty. It is being exported and imported! We say there has to be an age to love, but do we have any specific age after which you start eating? No it's a part of the whole; that cannot be! Love is the innermost that expresses itself whenever an opportunity arises (indeed it is always there) if ALLOWED. On one hand we want people to love and on the other hand we're condemning and limiting love. There is a split in our minds too, and that is being imposed on everyone! "You have to love" - love cannot occur, it is simply a flowering in the absence of hate. Love cannot be cultivated with plough and a pair of ox! Thus it is totally absurd to control love, the moment you start dictating or going against we destroy love. How does grass grow? You have to nurture it, wait for it to grow - you cannot pull into long blades! If you go on dictating love you uproot it right there! So this whole idea of condemning teens for love is totally a shit. And as such you want love for your nation, you want love for materialism, how is that possible when we ourselves go and uproot love. It’s like expecting a mango after cutting the tree! We are poisoning the food and when it passes down the tommy doctors say it is food poisoning! Love has to have certain arenas and certain moral obligations to be fulfilled! Huh, is this is a part-time money building machine or what?

We say that love is 'useless matter'. How can love be coined useless? However we must be referring to the folly of 'so-called love', but how has it arisen? When can real love arise? Just because people down the ages have been hammering on the heads that 'love is useless pot of shit, it is a sin'; we have taken it for granted. One thing must be noted here that whatsoever is natural cannot be damned and even if it is we'll be in a thick soup! By that logic whole of the existence is a sin. ‘What is the need to admire a flower it is as much a sin? Why do we eat fruits? It is all sin. Why do we admires peacocks dancing, it is a sin?’ So in short nothing on the earth could be but sin. So how can you place flowers on the heads/feet of the gods and goddesses, it is a sexual organ and not call, it sexy! The religious people are all lot of real-life pornographers than! Consider a dam. Immense water is descending unto it, due to heavy down pours. If the doors aren't open the dam would burst due to the pressure, it is bound to happen. You cannot go against nature. We can use up all the energy in combating but we will be forced to go with the wind. We can surely REPRESS NATURE but we cannot DESTROY it. Intellectually we may say love is the hindrance, we may do whatsoever in the day, but in the night? Why do people go mad about dreams? We go on pressing what is innate, and somehow it has to come out. Once the door is open, it oozes out through every nook and corner! It cannot be shut ‘without opening the other door’, can it be? People suffer of wet dreams (nocturnal emissions), why? 90% do because of repressions! Why do we need to flow against the current? Nature will assert itself whatsoever we do, there's no way!

Teenage is a part of life where the root energy of life is developing. You hinder it and it asserts itself in other ways, may be anger, jealousy, greed and so on. It is a topsy-turvy expression, but we have done it by our own hands! Mind becomes disturbed when the natural course is disturbed, we just can let it flow and the sky will change by itself.

 Why have we to say that boys and girls cannot love each other? This is really strange, I mean everyone PASSES THROUGH THESE STAGES OF LIFE and nobody accepts it normally! People talk of following your own conscience but when the actual practice has come into picture, we don't allow it to happen! We follow someone else's dictates! You may argue that it is a simple INFATUATION and not love. True but infatuation is the first rung to the ladder of love. You are breaking the first step and telling us to jump on to the terrace, how is it possible? There must be a step by step process. What is god - That which is! How can you ignore that which is? Nature cannot be ignored; it is none of your ‘Maya’! If it was than for the enlightened one hunger, thirst, pain would all disappear, but it is not so! Ramkrishna died of cancer and was he not the greatest living example of all the ‘holy scriptures’ and the beyond? Love if not insulted can express its grandeur in many ways that are even beyond the scope of imaginations or cognition! But there has always been hocus-pocus and thus nothing ever seems to be in order.

We say that love is something non-materialistic. No, love of this kind is something which is the most materialistic, the most mundane, it knows no divinity. It is simply there because of the pull of nature, we are simply like slaves. It is totally object-oriented, there is no subjectivity. How can we say that it is im-materialistic? If it was I’m-materialistic, than it could have been divine, there is no third alternative. And by that chase, we are even denying something that is divine! This is an intricate circle! ‘Behavior and pretension’ are the obverse and reverse of the same coin. Behavior is nothing but the shadow of pretension. They both occur in turns and give momentum to each other. Hence it is endless. It is the bases to thing to say that 'your behavior should be apt', because behavior itself is very gross. Behavior is simply the by-product of either a belief or an experience. If the behavior is because of experience then and then it is true, everything else is a mere pretension. So it is not at all feasible to say that pretension or behavior is at the ebb! Something more grievous has gone wrong, unless you won't put it right, it's gonna nag you forever and a day!

Who are heroes and heroines, if we were to blame the bollywood/hollywood for our downfall? They simply are people like you and me. They have all the ambitions that we have, they are our peers! They have got the same mind. So if we find a fanatic movie, it is just an expression. You may go on cursing an abuse floating in the air but until and unless you fix me it's not going to help a bit! Films are expressions of repressions! So please don't abuse films or heroes and heroines, because we are no different, we are the same sheeps of the same herd! None is to be blamed but our own selves! Be it Swami Vivekananda, Kabir, Buddha or Osho – Everyone has only one thing to say!

Wastage is a very relative term. You may find me wasting time on some neurotic phenomena, but that's because you've surpassed that level. People go on saying the riches are futile, but for a beggar... he thinks that the bowl is full and he is standing with an empty one!!! Until I don't experience that it is garbage I’ll not drop it, are you getting me? Adults have been torturing themselves from ages and hence they want their children to suffer. There is no love, you may call it so, but deep down just ponder over it is a mutual arrangement, a vicious circle. If I have ever loved myself, then possibly I may be overflowing with love so the remnants are showered upon you, but otherwise it's not possible. Adults have not been able to love themselves, so they are imposing, dictating their sub-ordinates, as simple as this. It is a thirst for power, to control, to rule. it is nothing but ego! You may want to coat quinine with sugar but it makes no difference, whatsoever!

Non-violence is the key to success. Then why are we so adamant to fight nature, in India - A Gandhian nation? Virtue is only skin deep, unless it descends through experience. You may go on talking for centuries but what of it? Relationships, 'love', sex etc is a part of life. Why can't we accept it? Yes sex is not great by itself but in itself it is! True, but we have to go rung by rung, 'there are no SHORTCUTS in life' (elders say this I'm simply quoting it, please don't pounce on me!!!). The path to the divine is of course is through nature, you cannot carve it, because anything carved will only be but an illusion, a hallucination! If we stop harassing nature, and flow with it 90% of FUTILE EXPENDITURE will stop and we will be able to channelize our energies into greater depths and heights and soar to the summits!

Let girls and boys mix with each other freely, open up the curtains, and see the splendor of it. Don't make a fuss about love because none of us know what 'LOVE' is. Acceptance is the way. SO LET'S STOP CALLING UGLY NAMES. As such we have not been able to achieve anything in thousands of years by that bullshit, so why not try something new? There's no fear of losing, as we haven't achieved anything! So let's move on! Talking about compassion, love, god is simply a teddy bear in the hands of kids. But these kids have a great command in the society and call themselves adults! If we really want to be THE BODHISATVAS we must REALLY BECOME KIDS AND NOT PRETEND! In pretensions we forget our original face altogether, it's a perilous game! Let's follow our hearts and not the mind, because it will keep on doing blunders as it is borrowed and each part of it will contradict the other! 

Report Writing

An on-field experience of being a professional

  

Satish Ghosh,

Baroda,

21^st December, 2015

The medieval India was known for its exquisite architectural designs, flourishing kingdoms and material wealth. Indus Valley Civilization or the Harappan civilization was the biggest at its time, and historians and archeologists have ever since been in the quest of expanding their knowledge about it.

Kotdi a small village in Rajasthan according to the recent researches was supposed to be once a homeland of the Harappans. My team and I were appointed by the 'society of archeology' based at Mumbai to investigate the remnants of Kotdi. It was 6^th of April. The scorching heat of the mid-noon practically burnt us alive. The summers are tormenting and one must equip himself with cotton clothes, enough of lemonade and body spares of course before leading an expedition in this region. The only route available is via the local bus - the personal vehicles cannot march through the interiors of Rajasthan. It took about fifty odd minutes to reach our destination starting from the railway station. We were a little dismayed to see the barren land with sparse vegetation. To work in the atrocious weather, digging the land with right tools is a mammoth task if one has been a visitor for the first time! The land being rocky at a depth of 20meters Mark-3 Ploughs and small-head hammers must be used. Hand gloves are a must in addition to sunglasses to not only protect ourselves from heat but also dust. The area in our jargons is arduous, so it took roughly about 2 weeks working at the rate of eight hours a day!

Nonetheless the people were quite welcoming. Their little huts serves as a boon to us. Their cuisine is extraordinarily luscious! Men are identified by their baritone while females had a little eccentric accent. We were aided in all possible ways. It is their service that has made this field trip successful. Mr. Manoj on behalf of the entire community opined, "Well sir it is our moral duty to support our country."

"Please welcome our group of prolific researchers." was the first statement that I heard upon our return. And then an applause. Our presentation included various snap shots, short clippings and a few live sample of the 'yet unidentified objects'! To sum it all up the trip was a great success and everyone was thrilled - having gained knowledge of this place Kotdi! 

Report writing

You have been sent by the public works department to investigate an accident on a building site. You visit the scene and speak to various people. Rour meters below the ground level - use of inferior materials - safety precautions - pipes burst - laborers in trench - some unconscious - two dead - site foreman inexperience - reported leakage - building contractor denies leakage - support from neighbors.

The tottering complex of fancy

Hinddeep Purohit,

Rajkot,

22^nd December 2014

Fear, uncertainty and discomfort are the compasses towards growth. With each step forward there are a million chances of falling and failing. The star plaza that was the vision of 2020 unfortunately collapsed the last night around 8.30pm. It was reported that the mishap was more a result of the incompetency of its builders.

Being a prominent member of the public works department I was asked to investigate this tragic event that took place near Jhangir Road. A chat with Mr. Kureshi the supplier in charge of the raw material revealed the pioneer cause behind the accident. He said, "In an attempt to lower the cost of the building a compromise was made on the quality of the raw materials used." To name a few, the steel rods were not of sufficient tensile strength, the cement was not of a desired quality and the framework quite brittle.

The underpinnings of the building, four meters down the ground level was not appropriately balanced. The PVC pipes that ran around the building were old and the gas lines prone to leakage. The intensity of heat and pressure that the pipes could withstand fell short by a small margin. The foreman in charge had just began to tread on this journey and thus was quite inexperienced. He wasn't aware of the pitfalls and the precautionary measures. Although when I questioned him he said "we had arranged for all unforeseen calamities that could befall us. For instance a backup power system, an elementary firefighting apparatus etc." However the contractor firmly denied the leakage of any kind which is obviously supported by the witness - neighbors.

A loss not only in terms of money and matter but also men was a significant drawback. Two were dead and a few working in the trenches were unconscious. Thus we see that a grand dream before it could incarnate by the human patronage, perished to the sand! It would take almost a decade for the losses to full its own void - be it for the foreman or the laborers. 

Report Writing

Place - how you get there- time of your visit - best season - weather natural surroundings - special attractions - place of interest - transport facilities - activities and entertainment available - lodging facilities - food local people - souvenirs - handicrafts - costs

The abode of the angels

Hinddeep Purohit,

Rajkot,

17^th December, 2014

It was half past seven when I landed up in the dreamland known to the world for its torrential downpours - Cherapunji. Being the month of April 2013 it was a perfect blend of the icy fangs of Himalayan cold and the atrocity of summer's Loo - indeed an apt season for tourists.

Indian Railway service is the most widespread and extends its dominion in every possible nook and corner of the nation. I boarded the train and headed for Cherapunji. As I stepped into its heart the vivid imagery almost blinded me! The freshness of the milieu, the coolnes of the breeze, the gentle warmth of the sunrays, the lush green landscapes was simply enthralling! In the lap of Mother Nature was peace ineffable!

 Being a tourist centre I must elicit places of attraction. A perennial stream west of the Khasi hills due 4KM from the heart of the town is a must visit. The gurgling of the sweet water lifts our spirits. Garo and Jaintiya hills are the best of the hill-stations that I've ever visited with adequate lodging facilities and hygienic food. However the terrain being rocky and the topography uneven the transport services hardly pass muster. Moving from place to place is an uphill task in this hilly region! The hotels are quite welcoming, with affordable rates. Modern facilities and a decent standard of comfort zone. It also must be said that the local folks are humble and sympathetic towards 'strangers of the neighborhood." We also find a theatre with an average of three shows per day. Just in its vicinity there's a market flooded by handicrafts of all forms, complexities, sizes and prices. The plethora leaves its visitors awe-struck! Such is the glory of this little heavenly place!

Report Writing

Tournament - two reputed teams clashing-twist and turns - good twist and turns - good team work - some appreciable individual contribution - audience well entertained

Mumbai vs Delhi Due - the daunting Challenge

Satish Ghosh,

Baroda,

21^st December 2015

Amidst this commotion of hectic life people need a few breathers. Sports is an arena which rejuvenates all classes and age groups irrespective of all the social barriers; a kind of catharsis. Yes, this refers to the Football match that was held in the indoor stadium, Delhi on nineteenth of December.

Various teams across India had participated in this legendary tournament. This much awaited tournament took on a fierce outlook, crashing and knocking out all other teams save the two which were to enter the finals. Mumbai Indians and Delhi dare-devils - the cream of India managed to crack the semi-finals.

Millions of spectators were found hanging on the edge of their couches, with their fingers crossed, eagerly awaiting to behold the final outcome. It was not until the completion of the first half of the match that the first goal was scored by the dare-devils. Both the teams were exceptionally splendid in terms of their defense and nullified the furious kicks of their opponents. "It was a mammoth task for us to predict the destiny of this match. Our experience of these many odd years refused to aid us." said the coaches of both the teams. The referee couldn't afford to ben an eyelid for a second's delay would overturn the fortune. Mumbai's team took on altogether a new avskills required to win. Isolated players, tar after the first goal was scored. Passing is the most essential of the skills required. "Scattered individuals however capable and however well-meaning, are powerless singly" said Lala Lajpat Rai. The second half-brought in a totally new coordination among the players of the team. It actually sent jitters down the spine of all the spectator alike.

It was the last fifteen minutes of the match that would decide the team that would win the trophy. Both the teams seemed to be exhausted to their boots but yet they persevered. It was at this critical moment that the attacker - neil, Nitin and Mukesh - charged forward as though they were a funnel shaped tornado showering over Garo, Khasi and Jaintiya! But accidentally Mukesh tripped over and it was declared a foul. The hearts of Mumbai fans were thumbing heavily as Neil came to the forefront to take the free kick. The entire stadium was muted with domes of silence. A minute after there was an explosion of joy; cheers and applause had filled the space as neil scored the goal. With the score of 1:1 there was a tie. This was the time when whole of the India lent its ears, the networks of all televisions, social networks and radios reached to its threshold. Four of the penalty kicks went blank. The final shot of Neil once again won the 'V' of the olive leaves for Mumbai!

The chief guest Mrs. Trivedi congratulated neil, awarded the team their trophy and boosted the morale of the Daredevils. She opined on behalf of the audience of the whole of the country, "In the history of Football, never before have we seen such a stiff competition, such great valor with highly erratic twists and turns. It has been a great appetite for us all!"

Superstition and you

The curtains of oblivion have been drawn upon mankind from time immemorial. Right from the clergies in the citadel to pundits, puritan and Maulavis each one of them has sucked out even the last vestige of intelligence from men. The orthodoxy of religion is well known to the so-called educated gentlemen today. Not a single person would leave and opportunity to let down the snobbish behavior of our forefathers.  The 21^st century is marked by the drastic gallop from a religion oriented, perverted society to an intellectual, scientifically oriented one. The very word superstition sends forth a million electrical impulses across the body in a fraction of a second practically saturating every nodes with Acetyl choline! However it is not surprising enough if more than ninety percent of the influx contains atheistic ideas. But was superstition only begotten by the Bishops? Well there is much more to it - ice-bergs always seem a tiny spec from a distance but indeed are menacing lofty dare devils!

Superstition must be understood from the very root. We must treat it as though it were a noun and not an adjective used to describe or condemn something or someone. Superstition is a name of the phenomenon where one willingly retracts his/her faculties from the truth without the least urge of any investigation. One can be said to be superstitious if he/she accepts all sorts of inputs without employing his own 'sword of discrimination'!  Swami Vivekananda has beautifully coined this phrase it goes something like this: "Keep the sword of discrimination on your head even while you go to bed."

Superstition sets into the life of little boy as early as his pre-teen. The mind of a pre-teen is excessively sensitive just as a photographic plate is. All the impulses are stored in it with ease. The programming virtually becomes hardwire! The stern brow of the parents or the condescending attitude of the teacher turn the evolving mechanism off forever. A child if allowed to grow as if he/she were the first person on the earth not knowing about anything at all - would inquire exhaustively and never fall prey to the vicarious spell of the blood sucking parasites - 'the tantrics' as we put in. However 'tantra' is not something to look down upon. The Sanskrit word simply means to 'follow a certain procedure'. But when the underpinnings are so shaky how do we expect it to turn to be a sky scrapper? People are being fed like a microchip! The creative facet of his personality has gone to ashes!

But is it really a microchip? Well perhaps we don't know anything. It is a great shock to read Valdamar Valerian's series of books known as 'Matrix'. The five humongous volumes of Matrix have tried to analyze these facts - is man a machine or not? It is not a co-incident if some of us found the movies series 'Matrix' rather spiritually oriented. After years of active research and unflinching efforts David Icke come up with this marvelous 'Conspiracy' Theory. According to this theory here is the presence of an illuminati society in the world which consists of a handful of members - as low as 5000-6000 in a word of 7.8 billion! This society governs the world right from the politics to the daily chores! Ronald Regan, George Washington have all been thought to belong to this blood line. The charismatic innovations of the Babylonians was no accident - Illuminati was at their disposal!

It was said that the earth was dominated by the aliens who captivated the human race. The double helix structure of our DNA and all the scientific intricacies involved serve as the microchip. Ordinary men cannot overcome the limitations dexterously pre-configured in the human machine. Men was thus born to serve the aliens and hence is bound, fettered in veracity despite the illusions of this free will.

Therefore in light of this elite and esoteric knowledge the very idea of superstition is diluted. Superstition can exist only if one is free to act - it is imbecile to say that a robot is superstitious! It indeed is worthy of a millions derides!

It is fruitful to return to the quotidian plane. It is not good to dwell on theories howsoever viable they may be - theories are not always the fact! Religious beliefs and sentiments, commandments and superstitions - all of it is but trite!

With the advancement in science and technology men might have stopped attending the Sunday sermons but on the contrary he has become a puppet in the hands of scientists. For instance have a look at this: Scientists have discovered that, "90% of the people would be convinced if it is said that scientist have discovered that…."! The television, media, advertisements, social networks and the list goes on to ad-infinitum. Are we not moved by what goes on in the virtual world? Without any sort of eagerness to it out how easily we get gulled! The exponentially increasing phishing attacks, identity thefts, bluesnarfing etc what does it indicate? A trap for gross fools - who gets swayed by the lucrative offers that are made, in the end just to get robbed off to penury! It may not be palatable to find out that frauds occur chiefly because of superstition! It may seem bizarre but 70% of our issues wouldn't have ever sprang up if we remained alert which is an obvious way to avoid all forms of superstition.

The very sloppy attitude of ours is the one who plays the real mischief. There are no gains without pains! Nothing but void springs out of a void, 'so something must be done in order to get something done'! And to embark on the journey towards truth is a risky affair which requires great valor and perseverance. But there is no point in expecting such magnificent qualities from a couch potatoes! It is very easy to fall prey to superstitions of all kinds and then toss the ball of blame to the court of every single men living or dead whatsoever!

Superstition in its varied semblances is self-consuming. Whether I trust a pope that may pop off at any unseasonable fraction of a second or a celebrated doctor it's pretty much the same. Only confusions and commotions can result out of a life full of superstition. Buddha is reported have said, "Be a light unto yourself" as did all the enlightened masters of the untold eras. It is only through the spirit of willingly accepting the challenge and exploring the world in all its shades be it as tartly as cud or as treacly as Manna-Dew. It is in this unbiased period of inquisition and experiencing that one learns. A double minded man is unstable in hall his ways. The call of the spirit is always to become an unadulterated individual - a virgin Marry untouched by the crap of the external world! The voyage towards this ultimate can never begin without first placing all that belongs to trash in its pertinent place!