Now, Howzatt!
Now, you know why we’re cricket crazy!
It’s only there that we can decimate
The demonized nation
It’s only there we can feel we won.
With ugly bald-headed monsters blaring
Into our ears an unintelligible blabber
Around this fifth-year festival of ‘democracy’
Leading us to believe what the ‘real issues’ are-
Instructing us about what our priorities should be-
Showing us empty unfinished concrete buildings
Of statistics which seem to show us
We are becoming invincible.
We know they are fooling us but we have no choice
But to throw them back to power for lack of an alternative.
That is why we give our hearts to the exploits of Dravid and Pathan.
We think and believe that here is the true sign of our nation shining.
Now, please don’t tell us they were ‘fixed’ matches.
Our dreams would shatter. Our hearts would break.
Please let us keep our beliefs, however false they may be.
We have got used to living in a make-believe world.
We have reached the Orwellian 1984.
16 Jan 2007
Dangerous is the lie we tell ourselves
“O Sancta Simplicitas! How strangely simplified and falsified does man live! One does not cease to wonder, once one has eyes to see this wonder”- Friedrich Nietzsche (Beyond Good and Evil)
We all agree that we are always deceiving others, and as T.S.Eliot said, we ‘prepare to meet the faces that we meet’. Even Shakespeare has compared life to a stage and people as merely actors continuously acting roles. But the story of deception doesn’t end here. Some of the greater deceptions we practice are subjected against our own selves.
We are constantly telling ourselves lies that suit us; lies that make life convenient for us and lies that help us feel nice and happy. A chain smoker I know seems to need cigarettes like we need oxygen to breathe. He refuses to believe that every cigarette is cutting his life short and protests that he would die if he didn’t smoke. He is lying to himself.
Obesity works much in the same way. When some obese people take recourse to suggestions that it is hereditary, they are lying to themselves..
When we want to feel good about ourselves, we tell lies like, ‘ we are putting in our best, but aren’t getting the results’ or ‘there is no time, I am so busy’. We are unable to blame our complacency, our inhibitions or ourselves. Each blame is justified like this. When we subscribe to a particular ideology, we convince ourselves of its infallibility and refuse to accept flaws in its premises. George Orwell brilliantly exploits this psychological possibility in his brilliant novel ‘1984’. Truth in his society of 1984 is the picture the government has cleverly presented and there is no evidence of any fact that makes it uncomfortable and so no one knows what is actual truth. People can only verify truth through government owned documents and every piece of information is cleverly and efficiently doctored to suit convenience and protocol. So, here, the people in power decide what you should think and this is called ‘double-think’. There is ‘ thought-police’ that monitors people’s thoughts 24x7 and any person thinking divergently is effectively eliminated in order to create the ‘perfect’ government and the ‘perfect’ governed.
Kierkegaard, Sartre and Heidegger condemn self-deception as bad faith, an inauthentic response to the anxiety produced by contemplation of human freedom. When we deceive ourselves, we are abandoning ourselves to chance and to others. The cocoon of lies we weave around us may make us feel very secure, but we become incapable of intimacy and we lose our integrity.
Shakespeare says in Hamlet Act I Scene iii
‘To thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not be false to any man.’
“O Sancta Simplicitas! How strangely simplified and falsified does man live! One does not cease to wonder, once one has eyes to see this wonder”- Friedrich Nietzsche (Beyond Good and Evil)
We all agree that we are always deceiving others, and as T.S.Eliot said, we ‘prepare to meet the faces that we meet’. Even Shakespeare has compared life to a stage and people as merely actors continuously acting roles. But the story of deception doesn’t end here. Some of the greater deceptions we practice are subjected against our own selves.
We are constantly telling ourselves lies that suit us; lies that make life convenient for us and lies that help us feel nice and happy. A chain smoker I know seems to need cigarettes like we need oxygen to breathe. He refuses to believe that every cigarette is cutting his life short and protests that he would die if he didn’t smoke. He is lying to himself.
Obesity works much in the same way. When some obese people take recourse to suggestions that it is hereditary, they are lying to themselves..
When we want to feel good about ourselves, we tell lies like, ‘ we are putting in our best, but aren’t getting the results’ or ‘there is no time, I am so busy’. We are unable to blame our complacency, our inhibitions or ourselves. Each blame is justified like this. When we subscribe to a particular ideology, we convince ourselves of its infallibility and refuse to accept flaws in its premises. George Orwell brilliantly exploits this psychological possibility in his brilliant novel ‘1984’. Truth in his society of 1984 is the picture the government has cleverly presented and there is no evidence of any fact that makes it uncomfortable and so no one knows what is actual truth. People can only verify truth through government owned documents and every piece of information is cleverly and efficiently doctored to suit convenience and protocol. So, here, the people in power decide what you should think and this is called ‘double-think’. There is ‘ thought-police’ that monitors people’s thoughts 24x7 and any person thinking divergently is effectively eliminated in order to create the ‘perfect’ government and the ‘perfect’ governed.
Kierkegaard, Sartre and Heidegger condemn self-deception as bad faith, an inauthentic response to the anxiety produced by contemplation of human freedom. When we deceive ourselves, we are abandoning ourselves to chance and to others. The cocoon of lies we weave around us may make us feel very secure, but we become incapable of intimacy and we lose our integrity.
Shakespeare says in Hamlet Act I Scene iii
‘To thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not be false to any man.’
15 Park Avenue
‘15 Park Avenue’ is a film by Aparna Sen on schizophrenics. Are ‘they’ in a delusion or does each person merely have a different notion of reality?
When one looks into a kaleidoscope, the same light brings out different patterns based on how you see or perhaps what you want to see. The Hindu notion of reality as an illusion is brought out subtly. The film points out that not only does a schizophrenic seem to be running after something, but also in a way, we all are. The doctor in the film points out that reality is relative and that what more people accept as real is more real than individual perceptions of it. Much in the same way, in language, convention plays a major role in deciding what meaning we assign to what word. The word ‘chair’ for example brings out the image of something to sit on only because a majority of the English speakers have decided to. People call it ‘kursi’ or other things in other languages. The word ‘chair’ doesn’t inherently mean the thing it stands for. It is only our collective notion. If we all decide to call it ‘raich’ or ‘ chacha’ from tomorrow, the new word will represent the concept of the chair. Another interesting thing in this context is the fact that the sounds or letters in a word don’t constitute an idea in segments. That is, the word chair doesn’t represent anything called hair though it has all the letters in it except ‘c’.
The story of the blind men who interpreted the elephant as a pillar or a fan and ‘saw’ the same reality differently because they felt only parts of it and not the whole, is also interesting to note in this context.
It is what we see that matters and not what is.
‘15 Park Avenue’ is a film by Aparna Sen on schizophrenics. Are ‘they’ in a delusion or does each person merely have a different notion of reality?
When one looks into a kaleidoscope, the same light brings out different patterns based on how you see or perhaps what you want to see. The Hindu notion of reality as an illusion is brought out subtly. The film points out that not only does a schizophrenic seem to be running after something, but also in a way, we all are. The doctor in the film points out that reality is relative and that what more people accept as real is more real than individual perceptions of it. Much in the same way, in language, convention plays a major role in deciding what meaning we assign to what word. The word ‘chair’ for example brings out the image of something to sit on only because a majority of the English speakers have decided to. People call it ‘kursi’ or other things in other languages. The word ‘chair’ doesn’t inherently mean the thing it stands for. It is only our collective notion. If we all decide to call it ‘raich’ or ‘ chacha’ from tomorrow, the new word will represent the concept of the chair. Another interesting thing in this context is the fact that the sounds or letters in a word don’t constitute an idea in segments. That is, the word chair doesn’t represent anything called hair though it has all the letters in it except ‘c’.
The story of the blind men who interpreted the elephant as a pillar or a fan and ‘saw’ the same reality differently because they felt only parts of it and not the whole, is also interesting to note in this context.
It is what we see that matters and not what is.
10 Jan 2007
Obituary
“Well, we’ll have to purify the body by sprinkling ‘Gangajal’ on it. My wife’s aunt had brought it from Allahabad after paying Rs.50/-. Dinkar, you should participate in the events with full devotion. Only then will her soul rest in peace. We will have to pay Rs.500/- to the undertaker. They’ll arrange for the wood too. I’ve asked for sandalwood to be used. I know it’s costly but then it’s one’s last journey.
Don’t forget to give Rs.650/- to the driver. He has brought your wife’s relatives from Nandivaram. It’s fair enough. Everyone knows how far away that place is. I just don’t like people who keep saying money is important. After all money is only a tool in one’s hand. Don’t let money be your master, says the Bhagawad Gita.
Have you spoken to the priest about his fees? These days they charge you through the nose and they don’t even know the mantras properly. I bet he has not read the Maitreya Upanishad.”
“It’s called Taitreya Upanishad, not Maitreya...”
“ What difference does it make as long as you know he hasn’t even read it. I remember the priest who had performed my appa’s rituals. He was a pundit in the Vedas and Upanishads. His presence in the house would have sent appa’s soul to swargam. And he charged such low fees. Things have become so costly these days.”
“ But, haven’t the incomes grown too. Why don’t you see the glass half full?”
“ How can one, after we have lost all the land to those low-caste fellows? My blood boils whenever I see Krishnan walking head held high in front of me. So much arrogance. No humility.”
“ Why didn’t you give away some of your humility along with the land?”
“Okay, okay, it is time for the ceremony. Remember to wear that 2000-rupee dhoti. Let people know you are an IAS officer in Delhi. And ask your wife not to forget that Kanchevaram saree she bought the other day.”
“But...”
“ I know, you’re feeling bad because of the sad occasion. It is sad for me too. I can understand. But you see. People are people. You can’t change them. I’m sure you don’t expect people to see you in a cotton lungi. Don’t you remember 2000 people will be coming including people from my office? It’s not for nothing that I have hidden the fact that we have taken so many loans. My father always told me – keep your face even if you have to give your life away. I follow it till this very day.”
Don’t forget to give Rs.650/- to the driver. He has brought your wife’s relatives from Nandivaram. It’s fair enough. Everyone knows how far away that place is. I just don’t like people who keep saying money is important. After all money is only a tool in one’s hand. Don’t let money be your master, says the Bhagawad Gita.
Have you spoken to the priest about his fees? These days they charge you through the nose and they don’t even know the mantras properly. I bet he has not read the Maitreya Upanishad.”
“It’s called Taitreya Upanishad, not Maitreya...”
“ What difference does it make as long as you know he hasn’t even read it. I remember the priest who had performed my appa’s rituals. He was a pundit in the Vedas and Upanishads. His presence in the house would have sent appa’s soul to swargam. And he charged such low fees. Things have become so costly these days.”
“ But, haven’t the incomes grown too. Why don’t you see the glass half full?”
“ How can one, after we have lost all the land to those low-caste fellows? My blood boils whenever I see Krishnan walking head held high in front of me. So much arrogance. No humility.”
“ Why didn’t you give away some of your humility along with the land?”
“Okay, okay, it is time for the ceremony. Remember to wear that 2000-rupee dhoti. Let people know you are an IAS officer in Delhi. And ask your wife not to forget that Kanchevaram saree she bought the other day.”
“But...”
“ I know, you’re feeling bad because of the sad occasion. It is sad for me too. I can understand. But you see. People are people. You can’t change them. I’m sure you don’t expect people to see you in a cotton lungi. Don’t you remember 2000 people will be coming including people from my office? It’s not for nothing that I have hidden the fact that we have taken so many loans. My father always told me – keep your face even if you have to give your life away. I follow it till this very day.”
Mountaintop
High above the tormenting turbulence
We reached the Himalayan highs
With stoical pines staring motionless
At the poignant silence all around,
All solemn and deadly still.
Even the restless winds have been
Reined in to an eerie chilly numbness.
We, winding up snake roads from tail
To hood and up to down, thank God
The sun shone bright to remind us that
We still were in the same planet.
Our feeling-awe, astonishment, discomfort
Nervousness- all rolled into a gaping
Mouth and widened eyes and nostrils
Yearning to suck more of the freshness
We may run out of after a week.
(10,000 ft above sea level, 11 Kms before Chail, H.P.)
We reached the Himalayan highs
With stoical pines staring motionless
At the poignant silence all around,
All solemn and deadly still.
Even the restless winds have been
Reined in to an eerie chilly numbness.
We, winding up snake roads from tail
To hood and up to down, thank God
The sun shone bright to remind us that
We still were in the same planet.
Our feeling-awe, astonishment, discomfort
Nervousness- all rolled into a gaping
Mouth and widened eyes and nostrils
Yearning to suck more of the freshness
We may run out of after a week.
(10,000 ft above sea level, 11 Kms before Chail, H.P.)
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