LOVE or HATE.

There were several instances that have spun over the wheel of time in the recent past that has my grey cell triggered into contemplative mood once again. "Over the years I came across several situation and decided to choose Love over Hate and that's why I'm here". This statement made by our own Allah Rakha Rahman at the Kodak theater while collecting his Second Oscar for his composition 'Jai Ho'. There is profound depth in the statement he made on the stage. The second instance that have occurred within a fortnight of such Joyous occasion is the attack on Sri Lankan cricketers while on their way to Gadaffi stadium to play the second test. While its difficult to see any analogy between 2 incident, I found an underlying current of collective human emotion that drives beneath the 2 incident, The word 'Love & Hate' as Rahman uttered says it All.
The most simplest and purest of Human emotion that's present in any individual irrespective of his age is Love. It's a feeling that Human is born with and gets reflected in every activity he/she pursues. It requires no training to Love someone whom you never know. It's the most spontaneous of the human emotion that erupts from within and encompasses all who are near. Love is the basis of all human emotion. In fact every positive human feeling has it origin in Love. Dedication, Devotion, Discipline and Determination owes its origin to the presence of Love in individual.
If an individual loves his work, it gets reflected in his determination and dedication to the work he does. If the individual loves people around and avoid hurting other by any mean, it get reflected in his disciplined attitude. If the individual loves the Almighty it get reflected in his devotion. So any good human trait that one can thinks has it foundation laid on Love. The purest, unsullied emotion of Love has woven intricate and simple incidents in Human history, that depicts its ability to achieve ones destiny against every odds. Love for one's brethren irrespective of the origin, which in fact is the need of the hour is Non-Violence is all about. Mahatma Gandhi stood for Non-Violence(Ahimsa) that was because he loved the people around him. You just can't hurt a person if you Love them. Loving as an emotion is not limited to the people we are aware or Know. In fact it spread beyond the realms of our relative, parents and friendship. The greatest Living example in the contemporary world Mankind had ever seen was Mother Teresa. Her Love for the weak, week after week was the living testimonial that Love for an individual outside your nearest neighborhood can make the greatest difference in the life of people. If Love is the Zenith of the Human emotion, then Nadir is Hate.
Hate is the basis of all the weak and negative trait that can be found in Human. If you hate others then you are jealous of his success, you become angry at there demeanor. But an aspect which surprisingly is so different between Hate and Love is, It's easy to Love people you never know, But its so hard to hate people you never knew. Revenge is the form of hate but its a repercussion of action against an individual who Hurt you. But to hurt other whom you never encountered in your life is the greatest danger Mankind is facing today.
My belief that Terrorism is outcome of revenge against some foreign occupation, Religious Intolerance,Governmental policies, Economic Disparity and list is endless, got thwarted when we see terrorist attack people indiscriminately, without FEAR and LOGIC. To Hate others you never know, you have to train them diligently ensuring that their thinking defies every norm of logic and reasoning. That's the reason the terrorist aren't emotional and trained only to kill, irrespective of the creed, nationality and religion. Fighting and killing your enemy(Only in War & Battle) at least make sense because of some demographic or economic disparity. Being Jealous, envying someone whom you know also make a bit sense, since you can't withstand their success. Being angry at someone is acceptable who haven't behaved well with you. In all the above cases you are aware of your so called enemy, But the way the Terrorist are trained to Hate, they know not their targets identity. Thus the possibility of feeling remorse after attack is remote, wherein in any other vengeance there is every chance the individual might seek pardon or request amnesty. But the future doesn't look bleak as the present may be, where every nook and corner of the world is infected with Hate resulting in Terrorist activities causing harm both the people and property. The remedial solution are endless, but permanent solution can only be replacing Hate with Love, If one is trained to Hate others; effort need to be put to teach people to love others so as to ensure a beautiful legacy of mankind has to survive into the future.
Thus Love and Hate as 2 emotion are a quite a powerful force that can drive mankind to achieve greatness or doom.

In Love

When Separation agonizes the Mind,
You Know you are in Love.
When you compromise your Happiness for theirs happiness,
You know you are in Love.
When your dream are no more yours But Our's
You know you are in Love.
In solitude when you think of none, but only them,
you know you are in Love.
If you Lust not for gratification, but for Intimacy,
You know you are in Love.
When you trust None, But Only One,
You know you are in Love.
When pain and Fear dissolves in their Presence,
You know you are in Love.
When Heart takes precedence over Mind in making decisions,
You know you are in Love.
Now you Know you are in Love,
Not Because you choose, But it Chanced.

May Be It's Written

So Jamal are you ready for the final question for 20 Million rupees. So you know the answer, No I dont, But i will still play, because it 'may be written'. This is how the final tense scene is shot in Slumdog Millionaire. Hmmm a sort of movie might be nominated for the Oscars and has won already 4 golden globe awards for best direction, best screen play, best motion picture and best original score by our own A.R. Rahman.
Did the movie strike the real cord of slum dwellers, could it capture the the hardship faced by inmates of the slum, or was it fairy tale journey of the Jamal written on a backdrop of destitute society. Well I have no intention of answering the question, nor as a serious film watcher could the quality of direction or music score really appall me. Movie making should be a culture, rather a business. It should portray a obvious message at the end of show and most important if it can ever get the grey cells working then the very purpose of movie making has reached it very goal. This movie might be classified as a good entertainer, while for the West it might end up showing India still as third world country and plethora of problem among which Poverty, Corruption & Malfeasance still dominates our daily routine. There is One aspect which strike mine grey matter for sure, is the dialogue which keep uttering through out the movie, "May Be it's Written".
How do you perceive this statement is very important, It has a very deep hidden message buried in it. There is a sanskrit sloka which goes as," Taena vina trunapi na chalathi" which means 'Not even the blade of grass moves without my will'. It's a gem of a statement which separates the Theists from Atheists. For the devotee of Almighty its a great truth that strengthens his belief. But a pessimist can view this as reason for not being active enough to carry out his duties and work, after all there is nothing in my hand, and simply utter 'sab kuch upar wale ke haath main hain'. But this missing logic which everyone misses is, 'Results are not in our Hand, But We are very much responsible for our Action'. Lord Krishna taught this greatest truth to Arjuna in his Universal message to mankind in Bhagvad Gita. We are bound by actions and cannot escape our duties and responsibility. The flaw in the reasoning if everything is Written why Bother?, The Answer to this fallacy is Our approach to work is not good performance but good outcome. The Theists approaches this statement as, Whatever happens is always for good, for it is willed by the God, But the greatest pitfall can be If good things are happening around him, He will always praise well wishers and thanks God. But the moment event around him turns ugly he curse his ally and accuse God of playing false with him. The statement,' It's the will of God' are or those who don't elate during happy times and get dejected during failure. The one who keeps his balanced composure both during Happy & Sad times is the One who really can say, "May Be It's Written".
After all Results are consequence of Action, but response to be Happy or Sad is our own Decision. And the one who keep the balanced state of Mind (Stithapragnya)during Joy & Sorrow never falters. Thereby winning his shot of 20 million rupees at the end.

Breached Wall: UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Just out of the Blue, in a response to one of the earlier blog I had written about a breaching wall, I'm writing a epilogue to earlier article. As per say the article has no relevance to any real story, but just is a figment of my imagination.

Well no dismantled piece of edifice leaves a happy tale to finish,
and usually leaves the inmates with a sore heart of losing his
valuable possession. A wall that has been breached hoping someone will
come to reside there permanently has come as a serious intimidation to
me, not knowing that someone who came so soon is also leaving back
from the same breached door.

Heart as you know is a single seat room, where there is place only
for one to sit and drive the body. Until you are alone it's your
conscience who drives your decision and life. But then there someone
else later who takes that place and steadies your journey of life.
Well I guess I was confident that few months had really given
me the free pass to your life. Not knowing that the place has been
occupied by someone else some time ago. How could I claim for
a spot there, when the seat is already reserved for someone else.

Though I haven't come to terms with myself and I hope I might soon
be able to reconstruct the cracked walls. But as said by someone, "Failure is all about acknowledging that you have lost". I still believe Im in contention for the seat. For it's my firm belief that decision you have made is more of prejudice than bare reality. Well I hope when you leave the portals of my vision you really feel the
lacuna in your heart and realize that you have missed a major part of your heart back with me and left for your destination ahead in your life. And I pray that these wonderful memories just doesn't becomes stock of grey cell in your upper compartment.

Finally I would end with the fact that I'm starting to rebuild this wall, but leaving a small aperture open just for you which will ever wait for you to occupy the seat for whom I had initially kept it empty.

INDIA EXPOSED.

Post 26/11 attack has exposed India's weakness & inability to anticipate terror strike of such an large scale conspired by the foreign elements on the Indian soil. Foreign elements has created havoc in the country time and again that has been completely forgotten or ignored. In fact over the last few years there was surprisingly attack in almost 15 major cities around the country. Amidst all the terror strike committed on Indian soil, the one that occurred at Mumbai was the most heinous and dreadful. It was an attack that had been well planned and people trained like combats for the maximum damage and casualty. But at this juncture the efforts of our Policemen, NSG commando's are worthy of praise for the courage taken in order to eliminate the terrorist from the Hotels ensuring that as minimum of hostages were lost.
The last several years has been a witness to the rise of Extremist terrorism seen in our soil for the very first time. Surprisingly the enemy we were tackling for the last few decades just at the borders are no more a threat than the ones seen attacking us at the heart of the country. The account of lost lives & damaged infrastructure has been monumental arising from terrorist strike across the country. But whats surprises me is the astronomical failure of the government in repeatedly avoiding occurrence of such a attacks on the society.
The Joker in the movie The Dark Knight comments, When citizens are hurt by criminals, there isn't much fear in the society, where in if a high profile individual is targeted the society is inflated with tension. Imagine the similar type of response if had been possible after any bomb attacks that had been carried out earlier I guessed there would have been every possibility the society & the government would have taken more proactive steps.
Apart from planned training, brainwashing, religious intolerance, unprofessional, non committed, careless and irresponsible bureaucrats & politicians are responsible for the messy situation the country has landed into. The immediate consequence could be soon seen by rolling heads in the government incapable of handling the position they represented. So were the long list of high profile ministers letting lose & cheap words unworthy of there caliber and position, invoking the wrath of people across the country. Colossal failure of the country was exposed when a bunch of 10 armed people took the country at ransom for more than 60 hours. The collective failure of every unit was easily witnessed during the horrendous event. The Media had it own share of blame to carry which covered the interviews of the elite suffered but neglected the poor traveling at the other heritage center CST. Aam Aadmi voice was lost in oblivion where in the elite were exclusively covered even at their homes. The news channel and its anchors were busy showing the charred tables & broken crockery at the Hotels. While others were showcasing the live actions taken by the NSG commandos, forgetting that the greatest disaster that occurred at Munich 1972 Olympics was primarily due to live telecast of armed action by snipers that were viewed by the terrorist and who in turn finally killed the 11 athletes.
The dastardly attack has completely exposed our country inability to take proactive decision on preventing of any such future possible attack. Desperate situation doesn't require desperate response. Polarized society will only end up weakening the momentum require to solve the crisis. One thing for sure for me is that series of such attack has clearly shown us all of that, We might be a Soft Individuals, But we have also become a Soft Target.

Religious Intolerance.

I ever wondered whether being born as Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or Jew ever took me closer to God. If this wasn't the case why is the world hell bent on converting someone from one religion to other, and again reconverting them back. If a conversion to a religion is the ticket to long lasting peace, then I think the converters are forgetting the major clue. It's not the religion but the practice of your religion will take you closer to GOD, and grant one self everlasting peace and Happiness.
As the saying goes, The door of the Heavens opens for you for eternal joy and Bliss. But everyone forgets the preface to the quote, being a righteous man will you the get your share of bliss and happiness. Of late religious conversion is on rampart in Indian society. The country being secular has given the rights to its citizen to choose the religion he like and practice his culture without hesitation. The oppressed lower caste Hindu who have been tormented by the rich upper caste for ages have chosen to change there religion when provided an opportunity by the christian missionary. I wonder just by changing your religion does one get rid of all the difficulties of his life, Then surely just one religion would have survived over the centuries. Nobody has realized that suppression in lower caste arises due to economic factors and low illiteracy. Thus any organization want to really provide succor to the oppressed they should have ensure by providing them with education and employment opportunities. As Lord Jesus said, if you give fish to hungry, you feed him for the day, but if you teach him to fish, then you feed him for his life. Thus for this reason the christian missionary should be praised that they have set up school in the remote corners of the country, where government has failed to reach its masses. But if they think that by bargaining education and resources with their religion, they are mistaking their work ethics. Conversion & Reconversion has off late resulted in series of violent attacks on the majority & minority citizens of the country. Hills of Kandhamal which would have hardly striked anyone's sight on the Indian Map is now making headlines around the world over the issue of communal fight between the 2 groups. Though the reason between animosity between the 2 group though both initially belonged to lower Hindu caste earlier, has been fueled by the fact one group after conversion has a better literacy and influential position. The killing of a holy seer which has led to escalation of violence in the entire state of Orissa and as a result has affected the minority living in the other state like Karnataka. The situation is more of a political issue rather than a mere religious matter.
The reality of religious conversion being hidden amidst rubble's of political & economic disparity is the fact people are not converted by force or will, but driven to despair by living in a discarded society with no self respect and financial constrain. The people apart from promised a place for themselves in heaven from following a certain religion are given a identity in the society. It's this condition that makes them convert to different religion. Though there are various governmental law that need to be abide while conversion takes place, ensuring that conversion in not forceful & against there will. But the matter still remain untouched whether conversion gives you the peace and happiness which remained elusive when you were someone else, or was it just a route taken to avoid the societies neglect, poverty and desperation.

IT's not NORMAL Anymore.

Last evening as I called up my aunty to check out how she was, the moment I heard of Delhi serial blast. She told me, that she was fine and things were back to normal soon. People were in fact also flocking to the bomb sites near the 2 famous busy markets of Delhi, to know how the situation looked.
The media ensured that the entire nation was aware of the new disaster that striked the country once again by covering the entire incident immediately after the blast till late night including live press from the Home minister, Chief Minister and other important dignitaries. The live response of entire nation echoes just one sentiment that whatever the terrorist do to steal the peace and normalcy of the country, we shall not budge, get afraid, and we will be back to our routine. It looks the serial blast have become a weekly affair in the country. Thus the citizens feel there is not much to be scared of. If you are unlucky then you suffer at the hands of the cruel fate, else we just end up speaking few words, how incompetent the federal government has become, that it is unable to provide security to its citizen.
The silver lining of the entire cowardice incident carried out by the terrorist that it has failed to induce fear in the heart of the citizens of the country. Though the attack has been carried out by a group of individual, it doesn't really matter to which group they belong to, what I fail to understand is in such attack those who die do not belong to any peculiar group. So the very purpose of fighting such an insurgency really serves no purpose. On what ideology are these incidents carried out, result is just destruction.
The media is holding debate amidst top politicians, whether to implement stringent anti-terror laws to uphold safety of the citizens. Some group is interested in training specialist for post attack investigation to avoid future attacks. Few other claims that we need to improvise out intelligence bureau so as to track the terrorist and pass on the necessary information to others. Some request others not to blame a particular society/group while the investigation is going on, though the indication invisibly points towards them. All these measure will no doubt help to solve if not completely avoid any future terrorist attacks.
Amidst all this turmoil there is certain change that's happening in the mindset of the INDIANS. Though we claim we are brave to face any such attack by the insurgent on us, that they can break our resolve to lead a routine life with peace and happiness. Deep amidst these claims, fear has found its root and we try to hide it by living a routine layman life. Else we wouldn't have become so remorse, for we pity only when we are helpless. This feeling of helpless has arisen from the seeds of fear, which is covered by our feeling of superficial existence. Thus when we speak that despite the serial bombing in my town, our life has been unaffected, it’s because we are helpless not knowing what to do, and say life is just normal. But the truth remains; life is no longer NORMAL anymore.