What is this blog about?

Well, why write it? What's the use? Who's going to read it? And who gains what out of this blog? And why now?

To be honest, the first and foremost reason is, it would be ridiculously stupid and crazy, if I just talk about all the thoughts going through my brain, in my room to myself. So, I needed an audience. Hmmnn..... I do have a few friends, (not many to be honest) who would give me ears, and argue with me, for the kind of things I think about, and the kind of ideas I generate from the knowledge I had gained by being alive all these 29 years. But, I am not satisfied with the answers I get from my friends alone. I want more. I want more perspectives, alternate theories, more life experiences to be discussed, and from everyone, rather than from my chosen friends. And all my friends are male gender of our species. I never got the ideas/perspectives of other genders. I don't know about the ideas of a woman, with concerns specific to that gender. Worse still, I don't know - almost nothing - about trans-gender persons.

This blog is about 'IDEAS'. Ideas which you always wanted to discuss, but somehow hindered by the society, and discouraged not to take up. Ideas which could have enhanced our life. Ideas which challenge everything, including yourself. I want this blog to create new debates, transaction of ideas, shatter all the taboos, at least within my circle of friends and acquaintances. This blog is mostly about the questions that have popped up in your head, but told by your peers and elders, when asked, to 'SHUT UP'.

Think about it.

How did we change, from a civilization which worked on mathematics on helio-centric model as early as 400 BCE to a stupid group of kids whose sole aim of studying mathematics is to get a good job from a well-paying 'Corporation'?

How did we change from, great art to 'maan ada mayil ada'? yes, the same shitty TV show I never watch, and millions of budding(?) artists watch with hope(!)....?

How did we change from great debaters to microphone/paper-weight/chair - throwing parliamentarians?

How did we reduce Hinduism, a great set of philosophy to Hinduism, a mere stupid religion fighting the Abrahamic religion for numbers, ultimately generating Hindutva terrorism?

How did we go from 'Vatsayana' to innumerable cases of rape, and worse, marital rape? Why is 'sex', the physical act instinctively coded on everybody's DNA, essential for the survival of our very species (next to food), is a matter of taboo?

Why? What? How?

These are the questions I want to discuss with this whole wide world of web. Questions which were answered early, but time has erased. Answers which made the 'powers of to be' less comfortable. To challenge the self-proclaimed authority, To challenge yourself.

If you want to know who is responsible for all the degradations which has plagued our society, look around, ask everyone, but also look in the mirror.

Am I honest? Do I have the intellectual courage to question myself? Do I have the courage to say 'sorry' and correct myself? Do I have the open-mindedness to see things around subjectively, not just objectively? Do I have the moral competence to make judgments myself, instead of relying on some authority? How to give authority to someone to run this society? How do I choose?

These are questions, I have noticed, people are afraid of asking. Many think, they are liberal-minded, yet preserving their culture, with fair knowledge of how the system works, and how to work around it for survival....!

How wrong that turned out to be..! One thing I have noticed about people is, they confuse life vs being alive. Confuse life-style to survival. Confuse wealth with success. Many don't even know what happiness is. I see people around, who think and treat 'happiness' as some drug-induced state of mind.

The way I see it, every individual, not just a generation, has the obligation to make things easy and better for the next individual and the next generation. Otherwise, I wouldn't be enjoying all these things I enjoy now, if it wasn't for individuals who worked to make this world a better place to live in. With my respects to those, lets sort out all the issues for ourselves and for the future generation.

At this point, I need to tell you the details. Who am I? What do I believe in? Why do I want to live? How do I want to live? Well, that's a long story to cover in one post. So, I would rather give a brief introduction about my past, in my next blog, and as and when I write blogs on issues of importance for me..... you'll get to know.

This blog is not about complaining, whinging, whining, mud-slinging, self-pity or my own sad story. And don't think of me as a wry person, who sees things in black&white. I am as much fun-loving person as any. You'll find humour too in my blog. This blog, again, is about discussion of ideas. This blog is about seeking answers. And the first step to get the best answer which benefits everybody is,

ASK THE RIGHT QUESTION.....

So, I request all the people with 'intellectual' honesty and courage to actively participate in this blog, write comments, help me refine the ideas, and ultimately make me and yourself a better person. Unless we work on the individual level, we won't be able to appeal to society, get them to think... because, society is nothing but a collection of individuals.

As for people who think, they know everything, well, I know you wouldn't come back after reading this blog, for fear of losing, what I call, 'illusion of certainty'.

Nothing is certain. Nothing is absolute. Everything is relative.

WILL COME BACK SOON.....

Patriotism...??

These are the two postings I posted in the forum 'Atheists', discussing about 'Patriotism'. I'll discuss this in detail in the future...

The first one...


Patriotism, can be accepted if it is taken as a cultural, ethnic identity. But, not as a divisive force as religion.

Cultural identity of the past - the one which tells, from which civilization you come from - can be a good thing, as humans' natural tendency is to identify yourself with a set of ideas and norms. Humans always have this in-group, out-group division. It's just the part of evolutionary make-up which was imbibed in us as a part of the survival instinct. This can be broken only if you trust the next guy absolutely, regardless of his identity. This is achievable, but hard, I mean real hard.

But, patriotism is not a part of cultural identity. Its just the jargon of some political blood-suckers.

Patriotism, in my opinion divides humans, and instead of serving the theoretical purpose of dividing nations into boundaries for political management of the people of that demographic, it invokes hatred, and let people turn a blind-eye for atrocities happening in other countries.

Take African countries for instance. Thousands are dying everyday. Is patriotism helping the cause. NO. Why? That's not my country....

But, in a country like India, when Mumbai is attacked, people in Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and other major cities feel sympathetic and panic that, they may be next. This is what patriotism has achieved. Unite people by fear. You are susceptible to fear not because you oppose/support the ideologies of the terrorist, but you know you may be attacked next, since you are in the same nation. I hardly see any beneficial thing out of patriotism.

Patriotism, like religion, has the potential to divide people. Otherwise, we could have easily said, you keep your own god to you, and I won't bother, and there simply is no reason for a group called, "Atheists". Is it?


And now the second one......written two days later....


I want to re-iterate the point I had written in my previous post...

"Patriotism, like religion, has the potential to divide people. Otherwise, we could have easily said, you keep your own god to you, and I won't bother, and there simply is no reason for a group called, "Atheists". Is it? "

The idea of nation is a geo-political one and it was okay when all the ethnic groups were living separately. But, now with the entire international community getting closer and unified by this new globalized consumer culture, patriotism is getting increasingly irrelevant.

I am against any idea which has the potential to divide people. But, any idea which has the function of letting people identify with, and organize for the betterment of the entire society, is more than welcome.

Please don't confuse Cultural background from Patriotism. If Patriotism is a good idea, then India should be united and peaceful. But, sadly that's not the case. Look at Kashmir, North-Eastern states, Telangana, Maharashtra/Karnataka, and more importantly water sharing issues between Tamilnadu and Karnataka.

Hypothetically, if it is a single state (say the border includes region in Tamilnadu and Karnataka into a single entity), the entire issue would have been solved by this time. There wouldn't be so much hatred and no killings and no farmer-suicides. If someone from Tamilnadu or Karnataka (most of them are not even from agricultural background - many had never even watered a plant) can hate the other just because they live on that side of border, even inside a single patriotic entity 'India', then imagine the divisiveness triggered by patriotism in a international scale.

Well, we may know the difference between patriotism or nationalism, but many people don't. That's why I reject all the ideas which even has the 'potential' to divide our species.

What's wrong with calling ourselves humans? Can't we shed all the other ideas which creates false-pride and ultimately hatred...!!!

Tamil Culture...!!!!!

I don’t hate god/gods. I can’t hate something which doesn’t even exist. Even though, I have recently come to even hate the 'idea' of a creatonist god/gods, what I hate even more are the priests and preachers who claim to be the agents of god/gods. These are the ones that deceit people, make them stupid, and not let the people think for themselves. Well. for one, there's so much to be gained from stupid people who 'believe, but don't think': power, money, control, et al. So, its understandable, that these priests/preachers would do anything to have the people under their spell.

But, there are two different sets of priests/preachers. One kind, where they themselves believe sincerely what they preach. People like, Gandhi, Richard Harris, Vivekananda, Ramana, Osho (initially at least), to name a very few (well, I don't know much). I disagree with them on many accounts. But, I don't hate them. In fact, Gandhi is one of my favourite personalities.

But, I hate people like these scandal happy guru's who do what they do, for the only reason - to exploit people. I hate them so much, and the idiots who follow them blindly.

But, the recent set of events has made me laugh like anything. Here's a male guru, who goes to bed with a woman, and someone films them and posts on the media all over. If anything, its a serious case of "breach of privacy". I think, Ms.Ranjitha should at least sue the media for "breach of privacy"(assuming she is not the one who filmed this and gave them to media). What did she do wrong? Even if you take into account this male guru, who calls himself "Paramahamsa Nithyananda" and his preachings of celibacy, and control of mind over material pleasures and the hypocritical deed of breaking those himself; there is nothing wrong in what Ms.Ranjitha did. Why does she need to be treated like trash? And why mention her as 'actress' every time the media notes it. They (media) are giving the impression that, going to bed with a divorced ex-actress is more sinful than it would have been with anyone else.

And, the following riots are plainly stupid. It simply shows that people haven't learned anything from the past. And, what is this cry over "Tamil Culture"? I don't know what Tamil Culture is! These are the same people who voted for a guy, who had gone to bed with more than one woman, to be their chief minister, And, lakhs of Taxpayers' money is wasted on security and travel costs for every time he travels from one wife's house to other wife's. Maybe, they voted him, because the other choices were even worse according to Tamil Culture...!!!!