satyamev jayate!!

Aamir is an amazing man! I think, I missed the word 'actor' in the last sentence. Obviously, that was for a reason. He could have lived his life without thinking about creating a TV program named 'satyamev jayate'! But, he did. More than that, he didn't just restrict his act by thinking. I am not in the right position to judge his activities, but I see 'greatness' in him. Not a lot of people at his position, would do something he did. I would like to address him as a very 'determined responsible human being'! I'm inspired by what he has done as a social commitment to the country. There might be people who had sacrificed more than he did, there might be people who is still working much harder than what he is doing, but the kind of influence he can make in areas like this will be tremendous. 

I think, there is a reason for such a big praise from my side. Let me expose some personal secrets. I was almost thinking the same thing he is doing right now. 'Make the people see the world!'. It looks like he is doing what I have imagined in my life. When I am at a very high level of ego,self-respect and pride, I used to imagine of things I could have done. That thoughts had a lot of 'what ifs'!( What if I could hire an auditorium and invite people to hear my speech, in which I could explode my thoughts on life, ethics,self-righteousness  and selflessness. ) What Aamir is doing is much more effective( Yeah, no one can survive my ego and pride, as what others call!!). As a citizen of this country, I was disappointed by the way many people and things move around here. I was disappointed by many things I have seen and more than that, I have seen people who are desperately trying hard to hide from those realities. I wouldn't say that being a selfish man is a crime or a little unethical behavior is going to be a crime, but does it really hurt me if I choose to do things which might not come under my responsibilities, but still  I choose to be responsible(obviously, if I could). 

I am not always right and when I watched the first episode of 'satyamev jayate' TV show, I was stunned by hearing the stories of female foeticide in India. I couldn't think of how immature and selfish those people are. I do not think that they can just remove those people from our country, our only choice is to educate them on 'how to love and feel'. I feel pity about them and it must change by any cost. They do not need punishment, they need help. Help to save themselves from their own blind eyes. I honestly, believe that a lot of areas requires this kind of help to get motivated. May be, this program can bring some differences.

I know, there are people who would say that 'we should adapt to our situations'. But, I believe that we are the cause of these situations and sometimes, getting adapted is more like avoiding responsibilities. We have our choice and I believe that Aamir has chosen his. I do not know whether this initiative is going to be a grand success, but I honestly wish if it could. I seriously doubt whether this video will receive as much views as the "kolaveri" song had received. This is not entertainment, an entertainer doing some serious stuff. Life is not always about entertainment, accept it! support it!

Sincerely,

Raghu

Can you demotivate me?

A small story of a demotivated kid!! When I was small and immature, I had an experience. It was a time when I was doing 7th grade or something. Me, my dad and some others were in a discussion about some random subject and at some point, we were discussing about the area/diameter of a circle and an old man asked me something like this "Have you learned about circle in your school?". With all due respect, I said something like this "Of course not, but I know the formula of the area of a circle". He began to criticize me, as if it is my mistake that the area of a circle is not included in the syllabus of a 7th grade student! He 'demotivated' me with some harsh and provoking dialogues and at a point he asked me a question, "Are you getting angry at me?". I should have acted weird and survived with a smile. It is a fact that it had affected me a little, as I still remember that incident even after 10 years.  Today, I'm 'big' and mature(ahem!!) and I have a different policy (it can be wrongly interpreted as a survival policy). As far as you believe that 'you can't be nothing', no one can demotivate you for any reason.

Actually, is there something called 'motivation', 'demotivation', 'negative' or 'positive'? Everything comes under the category of 'facts'. I am a pathetic singer and I have no problem in admitting it (preferably by not singing. Why should I risk your comfort?). There are a lot of things in which I am not confident about, admitting them seems to be a good idea rather than giving others unrealistic expectations. Now-a-days, I can see things like this in our media. Let me take an old example( I should have used this example before. Pardon me for not being updated to media), when Indian cricket team was going to Australia for tournaments, the Australian team captain will probably come up with a fight with words through the media. The Indian captain responds, coach responds, or may be even the sweeper in an Indian cricket ground may respond which will eventually help some journalists to have their food. But, why would he(Indian captain) respond to such issues? Even if there were no record of an above average performance in Australia, the Indian captain would respond like "We will thrash Australia" and probably they would get thrashed by Australians, which will be food for the entire media for months! I know, I am a little pessimistic, but pessimists seem to be truthful. If you are confident of your abilities, be a pessimist. Indian captain should have shut his mouth and gave some surprises to Indian cricket fans when they get back. With no expectations, a small victory can make a lot of effects.

If we watch closely, you could see people who would demotivate you with your surroundings. There was a friend who used to make comments on almost everybody, who have a different native place than his place. The comments will be about your area or their behavior or their culture etc. "Oh! Are you from 'abc'? People of that native won't behave good in public". He deserved a lot of punches on his nose! Why can't you just ignore him? If it was me, I know that I always have a choice to be different from my surroundings and I always have the choice to behave good in public even if I am coming from a place where people who couldn't behave good in public. I definitely do not have the responsibility of my native place's behavioral habits. The point is, they are just playing with your confidence and if you fall for it, you have just lost one good opportunity. The confidence plays a major role in what you are. Sometimes, 'demotivators' are some people who are desperately trying to outsmart you with the knowledge or skill they have. You will have your unique knowledge and skills too.For every single human in this world, the skill and knowledge he do not have outsmart the skills and knowledge he have. So, there is no point in getting demotivated by those desperate people, no one can outsmart you in being you! 

NB: You can follow me if you are ready to fall on a rock on your pointed nose, just because you ignored a very valuable, logical and intelligent 'demotivation'!

Sincerely,

Raghu

Getting uncivilized and saving earth

I've already talked about the idea of getting uncivilized and saving earth here. I'm a little concerned about the subject as I'm a bit more enthusiastic and disappointed about the destruction of the mother earth. Honestly, I didn't do a research to see what is happening on our earth but, I have watched some documentaries which made me believe that I have no other choice other than believing it. Humans are the most intellectual creatures on this earth for sure, but my analysis (supposed to be unbiased) on the human intellect is not on how smart we are but it is on how effective we are. We have computers, technology, space explorations etc in our list of achievements, but deep down in our achievements and exploration there is a story of disappointment( at least for some people). We are destroying the planet! A lot of essential things we use, a lot of essential technologies we implemented, there are some incurable disasters hidden inside. I have a belief that there is nothing to negotiate about these facts, these are real facts.

Nothing is really special about us, except the brain. We are good at inventing tools and machinery, but do we outsmart everything we see on this earth. This earth is a beautiful thing and it does have a perfectly balanced algorithm to allow things to stay how they are. This is the real reason why I believe that there is no valid reason to be an atheist. A computer is really complex, it is hard to believe that what I am seeing right now is just a unique combination of 0s and 1s, which obviously makes an illusion that we are looking at actual facts and figures. But, deep down inside, they are just 0s and 1s and the combination of those 0s and 1s is the existence of a computer. When I looked at myself, I see a much complex algorithm. I'm just a combination of molecules. Just as we see a computer as 0s and 1s, we could look at ourselves as molecules. Not everything in our human body is explained or proved. The defense mechanism, reproduction, brain, energy utilization etc are truly a miracle. If we are still proud of what we did, just realize how smart our nature is.

Consider a movie, with all the things that have happened on earth of length 24hours( its a lengthy movie, I am bad at maths and I couldn't find anything better than this). Human race evolved at the last 4 seconds of the 24 hours. Which means for the majority of the earth's age, earth survived without humans. But, in the last 4 seconds we have a list of achievements. No!! Consider the last second (which means 50000 years. I'm bad with fractions too. I would like to take the example with 200 years), in the last second, we made tremendous changes on the face of the earth. We made a lot of animals to disappear and increased our participation to our maximum. We covered land with chemicals and plastics. We destroyed the ecology by provoking global warming. Actually, it is not really hard to see the after effects of what we are seeing right now. It is an indisputable fact that our average temperature is rising year by year in a dramatic way. But, still we are running behind luxuries. People advice to save energy and save life. We are not doing it. Even if we do, I do not believe that we are going to make a dramatic change without reducing the population(Usage of energy is more dependent on population rather than the level of usage of each person on the planet). We are blaming our government for not providing energy(sometimes, clean energy) and there will be a time when we could not blame our government for not providing enough facilities. We are running behind solutions, but I doubt whether they are actually solutions or just an attempt to reduce the effect of a disaster.

When we were at our stone age, we had nothing to be proud of but we could live a life without affecting the other creatures on this earth. I am not saying that we wouldn't survive, but I am thinking about a 'fair survival'. Some economists says that the earth is still healthy and safe and I believe that there is no reason to believe it. Some others says that economy is fragile and I believe that the entire economy is built on a much fragile environment (Can you build a building without a ground?).We hear what we want to hear and we can find reasons to neglect if that is what we like to do with our lives. Any one can break an argument and that is what we are seeing right now. I have watched some documentaries regarding the subjects and I am truly inspired by a video "The yes men, we fix the world"(It is quite interesting also, if you are not a passionate economist). I do not believe that we own anything in this world, it is better to think that we rented some place to live in though we are not paying any rent. It is better to avoid destroying the rented place. The time has come to outsmart ourselves. 

Sincerely,

Raghu

NB: I feel like I have re-written my previous post. I will be happy if you could recommend some sources for this subject.

Me and the Jan Lokpal bill

I've been promoting the Jan Lokpal bill in my buzz and facebook for a while. Later, I came to realize that I've no clear idea of what this bill can do in this country. This thing is really making some move over the internet anyway. The reason behind my promotion is a fact that I really like to see the demolition of corruption from this country. As far as I see, Jan lokpal does have something to do with it. I was astonished to see the number of promoters for him in the internet. It was more like a new game is being released in fb. But, beyond a joke there is something good in such a move because there were still communities posts like finding 0s in a huge number of 1s or like if you support a stupid thing or else comment if you support another stupid thing other than this.

It is some kind of nice to believe that people who are so 'busy' doing such things really cared to respond in such issues. I believe that the number of participants will be higher if the real idea of making such a bill is properly communicated among the public. At present, I do not know whether I really support him or not as I came to hear some astonishing criticisms from some other people. I can't make a decision just by seeing a website over the internet who helps to write emails to the prime minister. Today, when I just searched about the bill over the internet I came to see an article which says that it is unconstitutional and dangerous. (read here)

I'm not against the bill for sure. The real victory of Anna Hazare is not in making the government accept the bill, but it is in making changes in the pessimistic thoughts of a large number of people who believed that 'one man can do nothing' in this country. I've seen a lot of people who say rubbish about Indian politics and politicians and I couldn't exactly go for a debate as I couldn't find a solid reason to believe in the opposite way. This is a part of an Indian dream for many of the Indians and it is definitely positive. I was thinking about a small push that could change the entire country and the Jan Lokpal Bill might be a beginning of it. No matter what happens by the bill, I am confident that it will never make things worse.

Sincerely,

Raghu

Is it too good to be not human?

Sometimes, humans believe that they outsmart everything in this world. Recently, I searched in the web for a word 'humane' and found something like this:

hu·mane  (hy-mn)

adj.

1. Characterized by kindness, mercy, or compassion: a humane judge.

2. Marked by an emphasis on humanistic values and concerns: a humane education.

source:the free dictionary

I believe that the word has came from the much more sophisticated definition of 'being human'!! It definitely shows that the words kindness, mercy, compassion, etc are supposed to be there in a human. In every situations of life, we analyze and find a solution for our problems in life. What would happen we were able to think of a non-human humane thought? What if I were an alien from outer-space? I do not support the concept that we outsmart every living thing in this world.We are just an animal with a better brain. We could have found some fairer conclusions if we could think like a non human. If I(the alien) come here for a visit, what would I see? "A very large number of animals in a specific species(human) is destroying the entire planet". 

This can be seen in many other aspects as well. We come to our conclusion or decisions by our human brain and I would like to remind you that there are some other horizons which are to be taken to our considerations before we take our decisions. A day might come when we realize that everything we were so proud of were not as good as it seems. A day might come when we realize that the earth and all the living things were so safe when we were not here. Even though we believe that we were fair to everything in this world, our civilization might have changed the entire concept of being fair (Using detergents can cause pollution, will you stop washing your clothes because of that reason?). We are just too addicted to our weaknesses. Making our lives easier is just one example of our tendency to get lazy. We might say that technology has changed the speed of our lives but, have you ever thought of a condition in which you ask yourself a simple question 'Why did I change the speed of my life?'. It is an unanswerable question for me. If there is an answer, I do not believe that the answer will worth enough for what we have done. We changed the course of the earth by doing inhumane methods, but the word 'humane' means kindness, mercy etc!!

Sincerely,

Raghu 

Sensible selfishness and the process of money making!

I've been using the phrase 'sensible selfishness' for a while. In my view, selfishness is sensible if I can justify why I am a selfish man. A simple 'almost valid' reason will do. People talk a lot about corruption these days. Somehow, I can almost adjust with some of the issues with police and government offices as far as issues like '2G spectrum' is still on fire. Everybody is expecting a prosperous and luxurious life in this world(well, most of us). Making money is the only way to achieve it in this world and as we all know, human needs are unlimited. But, what is the real point behind exporting our money to swiss banks?

Actually, I haven't searched for any new information about the swiss bank accounts of Indians. But, I feel some immature aspects in the tendency to export money to Swiss banks and I may not be completely truthful to real concept of Swiss banks. As far as I know, these banks do not give interests to your deposits and the only good thing about this banks is a fact that they will not reveal your personal details to anyone. So, depositing money in those banks is equivalent to digging a hole on the earth and depositing the money in that hole. Switzerland will have some benefits for sure. I am not rich, but if I had some 'black money' in my hand why should I give my money to make a better Switzerland?  I think, I know some concepts about money that many others do not know. I highly recommend the readers to correct me if I am wrong. Money is not really the currency we see, it is a measurement of human efforts of people. I make money by doing job and I exchange these money to meet my requirements. That is the basic concept of money. Depositing money in Switzerland is just like lending the value of the human efforts of Indians to Switzerland for free. 

We Indians have a huge tendency to conserve money and it is expected to be a very good reason behind the successful tackling of recession of recent years.I have seen people worshiping money in some Malayalam films. But, money is just paper(or may be cotton) if it is not exchanged between people and I think some people are unaware of that. If you bury your money (considerably a huge amount) somewhere and take it out after 10 years, there will be a considerable change in the value of money and it is definitely a loss. I tried to think like a man who has deposited some money in a Swiss Bank and found a very absurd reason to deposit that money. But, before I talk about it, I want to tell a small story from my own life. In my childhood, me and my friends used to play a small game using the pictures collected from match stick boxes. The boy with the largest collection of pictures is supposed to be the king of the game. I used to hid those collection in a safe, 'not easily accessible place' to avoid theft. But, one day I forgot the place at which the pictures were hidden and I lost the entire collection. At that point, I thought it was better to give them to my friends so that they can use it for a use. It was definitely better than losing the entire collection. Today, I do not regret for that 'terrible loss', but if I knew the place where I hid, I could tell my friends that I have a good collection! Unfortunately, it won't make any sense after it is lost!!

Actually, the black money in Swiss Banks are just like that. After this much of issues and disputes, I really do not think that the depositors can easily access that money with a peaceful mind. It is just like money hid in the earth and forcefully forgot about the mark on the ground. It is better to recover the entire collection so that it can be used for Indians or else, it would be a loss to the depositor and the country itself. The only thing which is benefited for the depositor is that he can secretly say that he have a huge amount of money in Switzerland that he never used or needed and be proud of making that money useless and enjoy seeing a huge number,if that satisfies him. Sensible selfishness is the point to be noted here. I can accept the thefts which are done for survival, even I can accept the thefts which are done for living a luxurious life than anyone in this world. But, what is the point in stealing something and keeping it at a place where none of us can be used or benefited. They really lack the sense in that kind of selfishness, isn't it? Anyway, the policy of Swiss Banks never made a sense to me either, it is better to put up a board in front of their banks like this

"Stolen money will be accepted"

Raghu

NB: I am not a billionaire and I do not have an account in any Swiss Banks!

Vegetarianism

What is the difference between a vegetarian and a non-vegetarian? In my view, conceptually there is no difference in being a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian! Both are taking lives! If you cut an onion, you are taking the life of that onion and if you cut the neck of a chicken, you are taking the life of that chicken. So, what is the real difference that could possibly make by being a vegetarian? I'm almost a vegetarian and in my life, I've seen some eyes of astonishment when I say that I have tried to be a vegetarian. All the animals in this world is in need of food for their survival. It is nearly impossible to live a life without killing anything on this earth. But, there is  huge difference between killing an onion and a chicken in my life.

I'm a man who can almost justify every single thing in my life. So, this blog is going to reveal the reason behind my vegetarianism. First of all, I am brought up as a vegetarian in my life. None of my family members are known to take non-vegetarian food (I can't assure anything about the 'new generation' as they are not expected to reveal everything they do in their lives. Life is supposed to have some sort of secrecy, I accept!!). In the past, taking non-vegetarian was a mistake among us! At this stage, there are people who comfortably take non-vegetarian food as a part of modernizing their attitudes and lives. As I am not good enough in adopting and modernizing my life without a valid reason, I almost remained to be  a vegetarian in my life. But, this is not the real reason behind my vegetarianism. I can comfortably tell that I should have tried to be a vegetarian even if I am born in a non-vegetarian environment (like a butcher's family).

Recently, I came to know about the 'butchering process' of my area. It is said that the cattle are butchered in a very inhumane method. They use a hammer to hit the cattle on its head to kill it. It surprised me, because I was never heard of any issue regarding this subject as I used to give a little better priorities to issues like this than rapists or politics. I have seen the head of cattle in public places where butchering is supposed to be a common scene in places like Malappuram in Kerala and people like Maneka Gandhi were supposed to be active against such issues. Or is it just me who have a wrong feeling about doing such things? (I purposefully removed the words 'in public' with the last sentence. If you can't do it in public, nothing is different when you do it in private as well). For those who do not know much about slaughtering house, I would like to share a video which shows the pathetic 'slaughtering process' in some foreign countries and unfortunately, our condition is far more worse than this.

It feels like I have a solid reason for being a vegetarian. But, there can be a reason for me to be a non-vegetarian as well. If I am stuck in a place where there is no vegetarian food, may be I would become a non-vegetarian as it can be a matter of my own survival. But, if you ask me to take a choice between vegetarian food and non-vegetarian food, I will choose vegetarian. I cannot support this injustice just for the taste that will fade away in a few minutes. I remember the findings of a friend who expressed his astonishment when I said that I am a vegetarian ' I do not survive just because I want to eat, I eat because I want to survive'. That is not completely right about me but, it is possibly the best justification for any vegetarian.

Sincerely,

Raghu

NB: 'God created all the animals to meet the human food requirements*!'

*This is a joke because some people are still not laughing :).

A world cup for patriots!!

I'm writing this post just because I came across a little serious discussion with my friend about the subject cricket and patriotism. Actually, I have a feeling that we are playing a lot with emotions rather than we play cricket in our country. I have already written my views about the sportsmen in this blog(read here). The current trend in sports is definitely not healthy to us. I have heard that "Cricket is a religion in India!" ! I regretfully hate to hear that, because it affects my view of religion as well! The way we give priorities to the things we do in our lives is little weird! Unfortunately, it applies to me as well. I like cricket(mostly watching)! We are moving beyond the limit of the game.  If cricket is supposed to be a religion in India, it is not supposed to be called a 'game'!

What is so special about cricket? I do not know! Cricket has grown too strong in our country, very strong! A game need not be this important to us. At the same time, other games are almost completely neglected. It is pity to hear that we couldn't manage to find a descent football team from our 1 billion people. It is heard that BCCI is rich! richer than ICC! It makes a lot of money from the cricket fans. It will be advisable to promote other sports through the money of this 'little over enthusiastic cricket fans'! All sports are equally important! Everyday, I am noticing some of the most important comments about cricket in the social networking sites. When it come to cricket, there is some sort of patriotism in everybody's mind. But, game is just a game and we should never give this blend of patriotism to it.

A few days before when India won against Ireland, I said "Ireland has played really well!". I was trying to be honest! Being a team which has just entered into the cricket world, it was a very fair performance! I liked the performance and tried to appreciate it. But, some of my friends didn't like it(a few others liked it though!!). I received a tweet mentioning me which included some sort of patriotic words in terms of cricket! And today, I saw some other tweets that mixes the British history with Indian cricket team (an appreciation to Bangladesh for their victory against England!).Do Indian cricket team represent us? If so, it is time to interfere! Some people(including me) believe that BCCI has failed to find one more specialist bowler for our team and if you can do something, you must act now! As far as I know, I do not have much to do about it! :(

Let's take the patriotism into focus! What is patriotism? The love towards one's country! There are much more relevant patriotic heroes in India who deserve a little more appreciation than what they are receiving, soldiers who died for our country! A life is worth a million times more than a century in the field. I know, they are not so good in being exhibitionists or glamour freaks, but still they deserve some appreciation. Give priorities according to the relevance and after all, cricket is still a game!

NB: What if I could stop using Indian flag and the name of the country from the team jersey, in my view it can be used for much more sense-making activities.

Sincerely,

Raghu

A teacher's responsibility!!

A few years before, I made a terrible mistake when I was riding a bike. I did something which might cost me my life. It was a funny incident also. But, whats relevant is not what I did but what I have learned from it. A man watching my weird act responded something like this "Who taught you to drive?". It is a funny fact. I did a mistake and the one who is blamed for my mistake is the teacher who taught me.I was too young and too immature. I was not permitted to drive that bike as I never had a license at that age. But, from that day onwards, I considered 'teaching' as the most responsible job in this world. I was disappointed to hear some words from my friend "Responsible job? What is special in it? Just go to the school, come back from the school and that's it! It is just an easy job!"

I still remember some words of an another friend saying "Look at your marks, man!! If you continue like this you will end up being a 'school teacher' or something!". It was a time when I nearly stopped learning anything (studies) and my scores proved it and for that lazy, irresponsible fellow, my friend offered a much sophisticated  job, teaching!. It sounds like a joke to me now!! For the last few years, I've been a fan of a guy who said that teacher a stops learning when he gets his job. I believe that he is right but, that is not the way it should be. Actually, no one can ever stop learning anything from their lives. There is something to learn when you sit idle at your home doing nothing. How can a teacher stop learning anything from his life? The only curse of that profession will be a very wrong belief that teaching is the job for those who can't learn efficiently. If I look at some more examples, I've seen people people who has tried for a job for a long time and ended up being a teacher! The most senseless decision! Teaching is a smart job which requires talent and knowledge. If you believe that you are not talented or a bad student, never go for the teacher's job. Students can make jokes about you (I really meant it, you will become the 'sardarji' of that school!)

Everybody is a teacher in this world. No one can predict how we inspire or influence people around us and we are unknowingly following the path of a teacher. But, teacher has got a much more complicated responsibility. In my native, there is a teacher who is well renowned for his 'entrance coaching'. He began a school for coaching students. In his view, a student should learn at least 13 hours a day to make his future safe. Unfortunately, I was also a student of his coaching center. He was very strict and harsh to his students. What disappoints is not his strictness but his ill-mannered harsh words that was being used during his torture   of his students. I haven't met him because I rarely went to the class and stopped going there after one year. I heard a lot of stories about his manner from my friends at that time. If it was today, I have a plan to react against him. I will use the same harsh ill-mannered words in-front of him by saying that he is my role model of my life. I'm a student for the last 17 years of my life and with such a long experience, I made a decision about one thing, I will not let my child go to that coaching center for any reason. A teacher is supposed to be a role-model or a guide for his students. In some aspects, some teachers are like this, they will turn out to be the villain of the story and they will  teach a very important lesson by saying "you should never do like this!". I've seen a lot of them in my life.

Some people believe in one thing 'Strictness is the only way to success'. Some parents are proud to say that their children are studying in the most disciplined school of the area. In my personal opinion, that doesn't matter. In my view, discipline is the outcome of knowledge and wisdom. So, it is better to search for a school that provides knowledge and wisdom rather than running behind strictness. When I became free to think and decide, I never thought of any discipline from my old school or college but, I've heard of some people who says that I'm disciplined. Whatever I learn, I am doing what I like to do and such an activity does not have anything to do about discipline! For me,the words 'self-analysis', 'self-realization', 'wisdom', 'knowledge' etc made a better sense than the word 'punishment'. Education is supposed to make sense to our lives not to destroy its purpose!

I think, I've written somewhere in this blog that 'media acts like a teacher to the society!'. Lets make an analysis!! I've seen a movie called "Race" in Hindi. It was a thriller with unexpected twists and turns! It was my friend who recommended it to me.  I really enjoyed it. Today, I have a different thought. Every movie is supposed to have a message for his viewers and the message of that movie is really weird. The story is about two brothers. A brother cheats the other and killed him and in the climax, the dead one came back and killed his brother(Sorry, I forgot a fact that even their wives did the same as well). Everything was so negative! It was a good example of how a brother should never be. That movie is doing a teacher's job and whatever we learn from it the responsibility rests on its creators! Lets take another example. Rajnikanth movies movies have a usual flow. I've watched Sivaji a long time ago. During the intermission, the story was that, Sivaji has turned to nothing from a very high condition and he had just 1 ruppee in his hand. After the intermission, he changed the whole scene with that single coin and destroyed the evil power(villain). What is the message in his movie? Whatever happens in life a man can win anything if he have a good heart and determined mind. We cheered for the "Race" and we considered Rajni as a joker(Rajnikanth jokes are spreading very fast through our mobile phones,isn't it?) Rajni's movie might look like a cartoon movie but, I respect the message he conveys. So, the point is simple. You cannot blame your teacher for everything, what you learn depends upon what you extract from their lessons.

Sincerely,

Raghu

NB: I highly recommend a movie "school of life",  directed by William Dear regarding this subject!

An Indian Dream!!

I always used to consider myself as an analyzer in my life. Today, I realize that those were not really analysis but, criticisms. Am I not patriotic in this world? Why do I always take subjects which might depress or demotivate people? I've already thought about some serious social issues in India which do not require a good reference in any place("Attitude can change in a split of a second"). Media is the way through which people realize and understand the world. Today, it looks like they are determined to over-expose their news as a part of aggressive expansion of their own business. What are we doing? We are really good in blaming ourselves! I'm not here to criticize or demotivate or even to make a comment on what or why we are a little disappointed with the present condition of India, bu, I need to have a personal belief that I got a plan to create a better India. I do not know how far I'm going to express what I really need to express. At present, I'm trying to express thoughts about a better India.

All I'm thinking right now is a fact that we need to recheck the way we are looking at ourselves. What I've found in my life is a fact that I always used to have a reason to blame everything. I'm not always a positive thinker. I need to change the way I look into things. I need to categorize the information that I'm required to accept and that I need to ignore. I think, many of us are really good in blaming ourselves and enjoying the same. I live in Kerala and I used to crack a joke during many occasions, "Kerala is god's own country with devil's own people". Whenever I talk about some social issues or harthals or whatever, this joke is a usual one which I've accidentally copied from someone else. People like me are everywhere, waiting for their opportunity to blame ourselves and thus to make fun of ourselves. There is a perfect solution for such an insult. We need to stop providing opportunities for them to speak. We are not completely wrong, but we are accidentally doing something which results in a very negative effect. That's where we need to change.

How do we measure development of a nation? Financial terms? In my personal opinion, no one should analyze a country with its economy because it is fragile. We are developing since the stone age and still didn't qualify to gain the name 'developed nation' among the other nations. I think, we need to redefine the term 'development' here. Some people have already defined development  as a process of importing the civilizations of the foreign countries (who claims themselves 'developed'). Do we really have a unique face of our own? I still wonder why we consider ourselves 'under-developed'. Development doesn't mean that we should have highways like the west or we should have pubs and bars just as Americans or anything that the other countries possess. My idea of development is how far we are capable of withstanding difficult situations. India has already developed when we began to think that our nation is a representation of 'unity among diversities'. It can handle almost everything like it did before.

In this very conscious dream, I do not dream about big cities or big highways or even some better industrial units. I am thinking about making some sense. What if we could create some sense which no other country has made so far. Lets take the example of pollution.What if we could bring zero-emission vehicles rather than getting proud of owning a hayabusa at home? What if we could bring our destroyed forests back rather than creating ugly polluting concrete forests? What if we could bring  an end to all non-biodegradable wastes in the country? These are not completely difficult tasks, there are huge possibilities, which are essential for our survival(I watched '11th hour" today and these sentences are the results of its inspiration). We are well civilized and cultured. Indian civilization is well-renowned for its sense-making. We were the sense makers of the history. Our culture and its depth are immeasurable. The knowledge we had in  our past are still astonishing(may I call  it envy?) some of the foreign countries. The only change we need right now is the change in angle at which we are looking at ourselves. We have to regain this 'rich-knowledge' and get back to what we were.

A few days before, I happened to see a report on the the level of intelligence quotient. More than 30% of our population has above average IQ level. I noticed it in facebook and I commented on it like this "Intelligence is meaningless without a place to apply it!". The present condition of India is not that bad, but it could be better if these intelligent people's intelligence is utilized properly.  We are supposed to change something here and it feels like we are nearly at chaos just because of the same reason(intelligence)! People are guided and motivated in a very different way right now. Lets take the example of movies, why do we always get inspired of movies which resembles the foreign culture? I've seen people clapping hands and cheering when they hear the 'forbidden four letter word'(you know what that word is!) in a Malayalam film. I've seen some Malayalam movies which are purposefully copied some Hollywood movies. It looks like, we have lost our face on this earth. We have lost our uniqueness in the world. That is what we need to regain. Stop importing civilizations, create your own if you need to!

I do not want to claim that I'm completely right about what I've written here. I do not want to claim that this post is the only unique post that refers about Indian dream. But, what if I could make some people realize that they are supposed to dream? That is also an achievement!

"People says that it is too easy to be a bad man in this world, but I realized that it is not so tough to be a good man either.All we need to check is the outcome of what we did and the words 'good' and 'bad' doesn't really matter if we could make our inner-mind believe that it is 'good' or at least 'fair'!!"

Sincerely,

Raghu

NB: To be continued.;)

I'm my greatest fan!

I'm inspired by a scene in the movie "Bluffmaster"!! Actually, I didn't watch the entire movie but, I saw a scene where a man doing his own 'aarathi' in front of a mirror! According to him, the world's most respectable person is himself! Many people used to consider it as self-praising but, I got some justification and I'm trying to express here.

Recently, I watched a programme where two teams of Argentina fans and Brazil fans were having a quarrel(an almost fight) about the world cup football! Both of them claims that the world cup will be theirs!! This time, I am a fan of Korean team and the same day I claimed that I am their fan, they lost their game with Portugal(7-0) and yesterday, they are out of the world cup!! Why did it happen?? It happened because, I got nothing to do to make them play well. I'm not in their team selection, I'm not their coach and I'm definitely not their player and I got nothing to do about it. It was just a wish! May be, any team other than Argentina or Brazil can also win the world cup! It can happen I got experiences! In the last world cup, every single team lost their games when I started supporting them (I supported Germany in the final)!! I believe that they are coincidences as I got nothing to do to make them play well. What is the point?? Showing our support can be accepted but, I can't really support this weird quarrels. I cannot find much room for it as everybody is ignoring themselves.

I believe that the true energy of me comes from myself. The true inspiration of my life is when I believe in my own powers. Looks like everybody is supposed to be their own fans! I remember a boy, who used to play cricket with me during my childhood days. The interesting thing about that boy is that he always used to do his own commentary for his game.For some eg:- "Well batting Stanley", "well bowling Stanley, "What a great catch Stanley!!". I still remember his disappointed funny face when he lost a game with small children like me(According to us, he was an aged man)! He is self-praising but, its the most effective motivation!

I didn't really mean to say that everybody must stop appreciating others. My justification for me being my greatest fan is a fact "I know exactly what I'm doing". The person who know my capabilities is me. I'm the only one who can control or outburst what I do and I'm unique as every single human in this world. No one can just be nothing! No one can just be an exact copy of someone else. I'm motivated by many things in others' life but, I will never try to be like them as I perfectly know that I can just be me! My suggestion: You can show your 'honest appreciation' to the one who deserves it but, never mix it with 'honest jealousy' and forget the real part of yourself!

Sincerely,

Raghu

Why should I break the rules?

An advertisement has been receiving a lot of attention from me for the last few months. It was an advertisement from Kerala state government! Interestingly, Kerala state government is writing off a lot of malpractices of our people in Kerala. Kerala government is arranging an offer for people who cheat on paying taxes. The people who haven't paid enough tax for land are expected to pay a huge fine of lakhs but, Kerala government is giving a discount of about 90% for them. I am thinking about the condition of those who paid enough land taxes! They are fooled!! They lost their money!! The advertisement is like this "Mega offer, you need not pay 3,00,000 fine for faking tax for your land transactions,just pay Rs 3000 instead." I still can't understand why people are not opposing such a disastrous offer. I think, there is no one who is eligible to file a case.

I always used to notice some people who are so proud of breaking the rules. I can't support the sense behind "rules are meant to be broken!". People hate rules, I accept but, these rules help us to survive! Without rules, the world is at complete chaos! Rules are created to develop a fair environment for everyone if it can't be promised; they are expected to be broken!! If the law about land transaction is making non-sense, they are expected to be changed. Wrong is always wrong even if it is followed by a billion people.It is not a good justification for breaking the rule. A law to support cheaters in a place where majority cheats cannot be considered as fair!

We are living in a democratic world and knowingly or unknowingly our leaders represent us and if they are not making a well balanced rule, we are responsible too! The most complex thing in democracy is a fact that our control over the rules are in our own hands! But, this freedom is mostly misused by our own people. This is the reason why we need a better rule to control our own people and we are not expected to hide from the responsibilities to create some! Rules are created and meant to be followed as breaking them can be unfair to many around us! Still some rules are broken just because some believes that those rules are not applicable to them!

Never feel so proud when you break some rules around you. They are created for you or may be for your own protection. Breaking rules can't be considered as heroic while following some sensible rules may be considered as an honor! It is not a must that someone should implement some rules to apply it in your life, you have an opportunity to create your own!

faithfully

Raghu

Defining humanity!

A few years before, when a train accident happened in Kerala, people were talking a lot about the helping mentality of some fishermen who helped to save a lot of lives. They got a lot of publicity from the media. I value their efforts! I value their dedication and I was proud of them until I happened to watch a program in TV where a fisherman abused a renowned paper for not publishing and congratulating their efforts! It may be a unique fisherman but, I do not believe that I should expect some publicity by wearing a mask of humanitarian! If I could meet him now I will ask a simple question “Are you ready to die for publicity?”. Today, it feels like he is not completely wrong! If someone believes in his own efforts and commitment towards the others, they deserve some reference and appreciation! But, humanity is supposed to be a part of every human in this world but at present, it is not! Yesterday, I heard about some news about a lorry which killed 2 men which is then driven away without even a mind to provide them proper medical support!

Humanity has nothing to do with selfishness but, inhumanity can’t be defined without selfishness! A humanitarian need not be an unselfish person! If I happened to see an accident and gave some more priorities to my car rather than helping them, I am inhuman! It is a usual case now-a-days; I have seen it in the movies and life! I got just one thing to remind them! They need not pray to god for any help from anyone if they are in the same condition because, you do not deserve to get help! I have seen people who used to call humanity as foolishness! I remember some words from an acquaintance “A wise man will not go for any help!”. I still do not know how he defines “wise” but, that wise man will never make any sense to me! Is it better to be selfish?

In this world, people are getting used to learn from experiences! It is just like they are waiting for some things to happen for taking a better choice! Until it happens, everything is just a game! I have seen a photo in the news paper recently! In that photo, there are 4-5 people who are fighting hard to take pictures using their mobile phones! It seems like they are in a fight to get a perfect shot on something! I astonished to read the description which says that they were trying to take a photo of a man who is fighting for his life under a bus! Rather than helping him, people are interested in taking his photo! This is not a unique incident! Recently, I saw a report about a bus accident which killed about 10 people in Kerala. A newspaper reported the pathetic condition of ambulances and fire forces who were trying to reach the incident area because of the crowd which is assembled to take photos of the bus which is nearly destroyed by the accident. What is human intelligence? It was not a Hollywood movie stunt; it was an accident where many people were fighting for their lives! What is common sense? They learn only if their or their closer ones are in trouble! How many of them remember our pledge? “All Indians are our brothers and sisters”, isn’t it? Every Indian should be your brother or sister and it makes us relatives! Let patriotism do the work..

About humanity of different regions, I always used to notice that our rural areas are still strong in spreading love! When I was in Delhi for a small trip, a car driver told me about a fact in Delhi “You will be dead if you can’t walk into the nearest hospital after an accident. Don’t ever believe that someone is going to help you to get there!” Why is it applicable to Delhi only? Delhi is a metropolitan city and it seems like it is cursed by this ‘insane mentality’ which can be applicable to many other cities also! If we consider villages, they are a lot better than cities! At least, they will get you some water to drink! Does intelligence and knowledge make man crazy and selfish? I just want to say that knowledge or intelligence need not be a barrier to show humanity!

After a long analysis, it feels like I should support people who wear the mask of a humanitarian today. At least, they did what they are supposed to do even though they aim publicity as a result! Media is doing a lot of work to reveal such incidences and I must appreciate their determined effort! I can’t estimate their result but, they are trying to make some sense! Humanity is a special word which is applicable only to humans because we got brain and intelligence! We are not humans if we can’t find humanity among us! If I honestly consider it as a truth, it is already time to count the number of ‘real humans’ rather than counting the number of tigers in India!!

Faithfully

Raghu

Why should I believe in god?

I do not know why but, many people define me as a communist whenever I start speaking about god!! So, I think it is time to redefine god for the second time in this blog. I am a person born in a Brahmin family who never used to visit temples or do any rituals which are supposed to do by our community. Today, some people define a communist as a person who does not believe in god! I do not know much but, basically I do not like to hear that I am a communist just because I externally look like an atheist! I consider myself as agnostic instead! Yes, I really do not know whether a god exists or not.

Why do I look like an atheist? I look like an atheist because; I really hate to do meaningless activities. If I am going to a temple, I feel so artificial in the way I behave. I will worship as others are doing it there. I always used to feel that I never worshiped my god with my true heart! So, if a god really exists, it will be the hardest thing for him to accept. I have a lot of examples for people who used to do many meaningless things. I have seen a person who used to be a follower of god on his birthdays and leads an atheistic life afterwards. I really hate this way of worship! I am not going to a temple just to make my family or my native people aware that I am a follower of god! I am misguiding them but, I really do not like to do it. Today, I believe in one thing, today’s concept of religion is bundled with misguidance and business! The main problem of today’s religious beliefs is a fact that it is not properly described or derived so that the true meaning of religions are still unaware to its followers!!

Why there are religions in this world? Consider the condition before religions in this world! If I kill someone and nobody is aware that I am the culprit then, I will not be afraid of the consequences! If someone says that god is going to punish me for what I’ve done. I will get afraid of the consequences from god so that I will be a little kind in the way I am. It is really easy to be a bad man in this world but, religions have successfully controlled people to several extend!! Today, we can feel the change! Today, religious beliefs are getting weaker and weaker so that people in this world are forgetting many important facts like humanity, kindness etc. My father always used to talk about lessons from religious stories but, how many of our people are aware of the lessons from those stories? Today, TV and films have a great influence in people but, in olden times, it was stories which influenced people. So, the best way to influence and force people to lead a successful and meaningful life is through these stories. Even today, grand mothers used to narrate stories and morals to small children just because it is the best way to reach the minds of the people. I know a little about Hinduism as I am a Hindu. So, my father used to say that “you can read mahabharatha just as an action thriller or you can read it by learning its lessons or you can consider it as a puzzle where it includes a lot of wisdom, yoga and many things which are meant to motivate people to do the right thing!!”

I am also aware of a lot of sensible customs which are implemented for health, protection of nature etc. So, the aim of religions is to enlighten the people. In Europe and other western side, it started as Christianity..In Arabia, it may be started as islam…In India, it may be started in the form of Hindus. The reason for this discrimination is a fact that many of the rituals in these religions are suited to the climate of the region. In Arabia, people used to wear long dress which covers their entire body to survive in the huge wind blows! In west, people used to wear tie and coats to survive in the cold. But, these two costumes are inevitable parts of these two religions in India too!! I think, it represents their origin. It is not a matter now. I just wanted to say that there is no point in fighting against each other just because their implementation is started from different regions! All religions are built to make some better sense among people!
A god always made a better sense to us. It is an indisputable fact. In Hinduism there is a belief that the end of the world will be with a flood where we are hearing about over melting of ice in both poles our earth which may result in floods! It may happen!! We are already seeing a senseless world which is described as “kaliyug” in Hinduism. So, our problem in this world is our intelligence! We believed that we are intelligent but, really we are nearly sinking our own ship! We are well known about it but, still we are running behind money, power and entertainments. If religions were still strong in this world with its true sense, the world will certainly be a better place than this! It is a powerful weapon against ignorance and selfishness.

You have the right to choose whether to be a follower of god or not. If you are an atheist you have to make sure that you can make a better sense than a god! If you are with the god’s side you have to make sure that you are grasping what god is trying to implement! You can act like a man who is atheist or you can be an atheist itself and I can assure you one thing, a god will not punish you for not being a follower of him because, revenge is a human nature and it is not suited to him. If you are capable enough to say that you can always be a perfect man in this world, take a mirror and address yourself as the god! I know, no one can take that responsibility just because “perfection is just an illusion”. But, god is perfect!! I know I can’t make it. So, I will always be a lover of god in my inner mind even though I look like an atheist!!

Faithfully

Raghu

How to provoke a war?

How to provoke a war? This post is going to reveal the ways in which a war can be provoked! A few years before I got a dvd of the movie "The Alexander" and became a fan of him. I even created a community for him in orkut(It had nearly 800 members).Recently, I saw a movie "schindler's list" and deleted that community at the very moment!! After seeing that movie, I can't be a fan of a man who loved wars!! Today, I hate Alexander.!! A war is not what we see and hear from TV or newspapers. The real story is always bad! I know, I am not eligible to say something like this but, I used to write what I never used to say or do but, what I really like to do.

A few months before I saw some comments about India-China collapse in facebook. I was really surprised by the attitude of Indians who commented there. The discussion was about Chinese activity against India. I was really astonished to see some 'forbidden four letter words'(I know, I need not explain) which may inspire any Chinese citizen to take gun against India!! Some of them were calculating the amount of armour and the number of soldiers available in both countries, some others believed that Chinese army is much stronger than ours and even analysed the war will be over after some serious kicks on Indian side(A three letter forbidden word can also be used instead of "side")!! For that comments I commented that a Chinese soldier is always a "Chinese" soldier and beyond quantity we give priorities to quality. But, I added one thing "We have our pride and we should not provoke a war as our army is just for defence!". Once, my cousin told me about a great fact in Kerala. "The most outstanding firework in Kerala's point of view will be a firework which creates louder noices! We never used to face wars or anything of such sorts. It may be the reason why we like this tremendous violence!!". It is right.. We are away from dangers of war even if we are nearly facing a war against pakisthan. Sorry, I would like to make a small correction in the above sentence "I am away from...." . We used to hear a lot about wars in India. But, one thing is clear, none of them affected me.

If a war is going on in Kashmir, I would say "It is in Kashmir, we are far away from it!!". (I know, our capital is not so far from Kashmir). I do not know why this happens but, I consider this as India's fall in unity!! But, when it comes to entertainment, we have a strong unity between us. (Especially in sports.). I used to notice that we have a separate page for sports news in newspapers and every incident will be reported in detail regarding the game. But, I have seen a small column of news which says about the death of a soldier in Kashmir due to enemy gunfire. But, when it comes to a soldier of native state, the priorities may differ. I think, we should not give different priorities to different people in India as everybody is 'Indian Citizens'. So, a person like me in Kashmir who has seen enough war may talk different things regarding a war. If I am responsible for provoking a war, it will be a disaster to some others. I would like to remain in peace whatever the condition is.

The reason why I deleted the Alexander's community was a movie "Schindler's list", which is a must watch movie for all war lovers in the world(A must watch movie for George W Bush). It was a heart-breaking picturization of Nazi's cruelty against jews. No one is expected to watch that movie unless you are ready to sacrifice at least one night's sleep!!

Everybody likes to live in peace and we should maintain it. But, in some conditions, I used to feel that a mentality for a war can be seen in many people around us. My college used to face a lot of problems regarding seniors and juniors where our principal used to remind us that "We are cultured people and fighting in streets like this is an animal nature" and some scenes in discovery channel and animal plannet reveal that many animals are violent in nature. But, we are humans and we have a god given gift "brain"!! So, we have to prove that we are using it! A war is not a problem solver, it is the problem creater as we are inventing a lot of tools and equipments of unimaginable power using the unimaginable power of brain! None other than us used to have such great power!!

I figured out something from the movie "AVATAR" recently. Actually, the people in "Pandora"(Sorry for everyone who hasn't watched the movie) were wiser and stronger but, they tried to live a life closely related to their nature. I think, it is time to think like that. Animal fights were safer than the human fights!Human fights even destroyed a lot of animals as well.Imagine if a third world war begins and results in the human extinction. Imagine that we are in front of god who asks "I gave you brain to think, what have you done with it?".And at that condition, our probable answer will be "We fought and destroyed everything", which will be the most shameful thing in human history. So, we should avoid it.

I know, some of you are here to study 'how to provoke a war' through this post. Sorry for the disappointment!! But, this post is really meant for people who likes war and that is the only secret behind the title of this post.

(NB: This post is dedicated to Osama bin Laden and George W Bush!!)

Raghu.

A victim of changes!!

A life in this world depends on the choices we make. What forced me to write this is my change in attitude towards my life. Recently, some of my friends have been notifying me about my tendency to support both sides in a contradiction. Let me be clear about my intentions of writing this blog. The real intention behind this blog in its early stage was to prove that I am a good comedian (I know this is the first joke). But, it changed a lot now. Now, I do not have an idea of where I am heading towards. Everything is inert and ambition-less. Today, the reason why I still post new posts is nothing. I have some ideas and I still got no other ways of communications. I always expect some criticisms from this blog as I believe my subjects are worth criticizing. I am not always right. Everything I write here is a good example of what I am not and it must be the reason why people who personally know me kept on asking me whether this is really me or not. I received some comments about this blog from my relatives and friends confirming it.

From birth to death every human being is subjected to changes. Everybody is a victim of changes in their entire life. If I relate this tendency to this blog, I could say that I do not have any intention to stand with any side. Many of my friends used to convince me to stand with one side but, I used to think about the consequences and I always used to say that "Everything is none of my business".I used to think "why should I bother?". But today, I feel like I was wrong. I have some businesses in this world which is bundled with some responsibilities to choose from some available options. I think the entire world have some similar tendencies. The world is just like this just because the majority believed they can't change their worlds. A life is not with what you do with yours but, it is worth living only if it can influence the surroundings. It can promote changes in everybody's life.

Consider my condition, in this post the most appropriate person who needs to get criticised is me. So, if you check my previous blogs, you can feel some sort of "leg on two boats"(an old malayalam saying) mentality. For example, if I am writing a post about "god" now, I may say like this: "I do not want to prove that god really exists or not. It was a mystery throughout my life. It doesn't matter even if there is a god or not as far as I am right!". In the above sentence you may not be able to figure out whether I am an atheist or not. Simply, I support the both atheist and non-atheist!! Because, I believed everybody have their own rights and wrongs!! No one can be easily convinced to change their views.I think, giving a reason for not choosing anything in life for the same is a mistake. I call this blog as the result of my "unproductive thoughts". In my life, I need not care about many of the subjects I wrote in this blog. I need not think about sportsmen, role model, any social issues. I got a lot of problems in my life which deserves a lot more attention than this. But, I didn't...It is all about choosing the right choice in life! I am the best example of a "total failure". So, never ever try to imitate me.!

I've seen the selfish mentality of people around me and I swear I am one of them. I'm not the only one who has some tendency to stay away from responsibilities. Today, I'm still hearing a story of my college mate who met with an accident and struggled to get help from others. What is the mentality at that condition? Selfishness?? I think, it is not. Because, if you are not helping others how can you expect some help from others? It is the mentality to avoid risks and the tendency to follow others. I still believe selfishness is not a mistake but, we have to give rise to a "sensible selfishness"! There is no change in this mentality just because there are no role models. I always have a tendency to do what others are doing. Majority have some similar mentality. If majority can change their views, automatically others will follow. It is time to give rise to a mentality who feels honoured if they get an opportunity to help. I think, many of us have mentality to change but, none cared to start a change by their own. I know this because; I am the best example for this.

Its time to influence people around by being a good role model to all. I remember a jewellery advertisement in TV. One girl just stood up and said she wants to be a role model to this entire world and the receivers of this small speech claps their hands by seeing her jewels. I felt so irrelevant to use a subject like this in an advertisement for jewels. To be honest, all she said in that advertisement inspires me except the jewels. But, the advertisement was expected to promote jewels! I expect some changes over here.


I know this post is a collection of some random thoughts of mine. I know it hasn't reached the way I expected but, I have changed a little recently. This is how it is revealed!!

Raghu.

A mask of what you are not!

Once, my English teacher made a remark about students in my class. "Everybody is wearing a mask of what they are not!". It was a truth!! I wonder why everyone including me is behaving like this... In this society, we have some responsibilities. I think someone defined this type of responsibilities as "manners"!! And we act like what we are not and makes a good impression with what we are not. The teacher's explanation about his philosophy is making a little sense here.In the school, we may behave different when teachers are not around us. When we were in the school, some teachers used to complain about the need of showing respect to teachers. We were advised to greet teachers whenever we see teachers in my school and nothing is different in my college also. No matter what we feels like, even if we are facing the ugliest morning in our life, we are supposed to greet our teachers "Good Morning"(preferably with a smiling face) when we see them in the school(A recorded voice can do better). For some teachers, a good student is a student who wishes the teachers in a polite manner(Unfortunately,I felt so).

The same thing can be seen in many aspects of our life. I doubt whether it is a show off or not! But, it created some illusions about the views of many people. The unit of measurement of behaviour of us depends upon creating illusions like this. I felt like I am cheating and for every such activity, I have an artificial look. Many people used to say that the character of a person depends on what he study from his family. But, I cannot support that fact because, my behaviour in my family and in public are different. I used to act so weird in my home while I used to act a little "descent" in the public(Or may be viseversa.It depends on how far you know me!!)..

I searched for the exact meaning of the word show-off in the dictionary. It says that the verbal meaning of the word "show-off" is to Display proudly or act ostentatiously or pretentiously. If I analyse this, being proud of what you are is not a mistake but, being proud of what you are not is a mistake. We have to know ourselves to behave like what we are!! I have a friend, who used to be a normal man. But one day, he changed his hair style, he pierced his ears and many of us laughed at him. And there was a rumour that everything he do is a show-off!! I felt a little irritated to see him at the first time but, later I realized that many of our fellow college mates was doing the same thing. I think, this matter is a small fight for survival for some people. If everybody is showing off what they are not by creating an illusion of what they can never be, we are supposed to take part in that competition. I think I am facing a similar problem now!

Beyond all these, there is an another dark part in this subject. I have seen people who are really proud of being a jerk! For some example, "I was a naughty guy in my child hood and I kicked my teacher once", "I troubled my parents when I was doing my SSLC", "I am a born trouble maker to my native"... Those people are so proud of being a negative character. And I can see a heroic-adventurous view in their narration. I had a friend before, who was just like the above narration. Actually, he was not a real villain but, he used to convince that he is a villain. The primary objective of these people is to create a good impression about themselves(The most frequently used word in their narration of their own story will always be an "I"). But, I felt so bad about this kind of show off...

But, if an advertisement comes with a caption "We are the best" can I say that they are doing a show off? If a candidate in an interview says that "he is the best", can I say that he is doing a show-off? If an honest student says that he is really good in studies, may I say that he is doing a show-off?. In this world, you see a lot of films, I used to notice one thing. The hero will not do anything bad. May be he will be wrong but, he will never be bad!! So, behind this tendency we used to have an intention to make others believe that we are good and we like to be a good man in the society. So, a show-off of such sort can't be mistake.

In some aspects, our world is full of illusions(Looks like I am stuck with the word "illusion" now-a-days. I found a reason too, that's what I used to do and see in this world). But, what is the problem with creating an illusion if you can hide the reality forever! Such illusions can create some sort of ability to develop confidence! Show-off in such situations is inevitable. But, I think, show-off without intention can be avoided!

Faithfully

Raghu

An illusion of safety!

Recently, I heard about a wonderful thing about my homeland. Kerala is a place where there are a lot of boundaries. One of my friend said that it is a place where people care for a lot of walls. Just because we just care for the safety of our belongings.I do not know how far your belongings are safe with you if you are under an attack of some professional thieves. We know that if someone who is so determined to take something from you by force, our best safety measures may not be good enough to defend it. But, we used to create an illusion of safety around us so that we could live peacefully.

Nothing is safe in this world and we all know it. It is the reason why insurance companies still exists in this world. But, we used to try to be safer. We used to invent some mechanisms which can assure better safety. Consider a news about a car driver who got stuck in a car by malfunctioning of its automated door locking facility followed by a fire due to short circuit. He was dead because of the car's safety measures!! I think we should have an insurance for our "luck" too.. Luck is a great way beyond your assumptions. Life is always uncertain even if we got some good plans and the reason for this uncertainty is "Not everything goes according to our plans". There is a risk factor in every job in this world.

We can neglect everything except life insurance. I noticed some people who used to find reasons to avoid using helmets during a bike ride while the same people used to have a protective covering for their mobile phones along with an extra tag!! If there is a facility to insure your mobile phones, they may replace your damaged or lost mobile phone with a new one. But, none of our life insurance companies can offer you a replacement to your life. They can help your family by some money but, there are some things money can't buy(Courtesy to mastercard!!:)).

I had a friend before, who was a rash driver. I remember the day on which me and my friend took his bike to my college which is nearly 140 kms away from our native. He was just recovered from an accident at that time and I just wondered about his ability to take sensible decisions while he drives. I was totally impressed by the way he drives. Later, when I took my bike to college, I asked for his company!! It was a disaster. I never knew that my old Kawasaki 4S Champ could reach upto 90kmph. I nearly got killed at least half a dozen times at that single journey. Later, within few months that friend of mine passed away in a bike accident and that was the most dreadful experience of my life. It was a sudden realization of a fact, many of us including me were riding bikes just as we play a video game. There is a difference, in the game of reality, there is no "reset button".

There are laws which compels bike riders to wear helmets but, I still can't understand the secret behind the law which compels to wear helmets only for the driver of the bike. Does it really mean that the unlucky person(maybe an always unlucky person!), who sits in the back seat deserves to die? Or is this law just meant to identify the driver which created the accident?? Nothing makes sense to me except corruption!! In my case, the law about helmets can't even guarantee an illusion of safety in driving bikes.. But, it creates some illusion of safety in getting rid of traffic police!!I remember an advice from my cousin at this situation, "Be alert as if none other than you knows how to drive a vehicle on this road!"

There are a lot of things which deserves a lot more than what we do to make them safe and I feels like I need not criticize them all. In my view, never be afraid of any such unsafe situations But, we have to be alert of possibilities!

Faithfully

Raghu.

An impression from our medias!!

I always used to feel that media is the strongest thing which determines the thoughts of a country. It is the best tool to spread the thoughts. I used to think about the real effects of our media. Media is the way through which we know the outside world. I feel like this post will be similar to a speech of our former president A.P.J Abdul Kalam. And I remember a lesson about his views in which he narrates the present problems of media. I accept that our media have done some remarkable work in charity, politics etc. But still, I feel that they are concentrating more on negative part of our country. I can feel a "business mind" behind every report.

Media is really exploiting our people's interests now. Just consider advertisements, I used to note the theme of every advertisement. If you watch closely, it is really funny to narrate. If the product is expected to be marketed for male youngsters, the theme of the advertisement will be concentrated on 'impressing girls'. For some examples: face cream, deodorant(axe),tooth paste, Buiscuits(hide and seek), sun glasses,soft drinks,clothing, engine oil (castrol) etc. Please do not get astonished to see the last example, now-a-days the only thing in the advertisement maker's mind is to 'market the product effectively' so that even engine oils can impress girls. If we consider female youngsters, the only aim of advertisers is to make girls believe that anyone can be a celebrity by using that product. If we consider some household products, the only aim of the advertisers is to make the viewers believe that their product can make anyone smart(Now-a-days even the whiteness of the shirt can make a child smarter or even sharper!!). Some of the health drink companies claims that their product increased the growth rate of children. I advice them to stop using it as it may lead to gigantism!!I guess it can happen, isn't it?

I do not know how far these advertisements are honest. I do not feel so honest about it as I fall under the category of male youngster and I am still single(okay, my next try is with some engine oils)!! And about my previous experience, I used to drink health drinks in my child hood and my mother used to wash my white uniform with some specified washing soaps which offers smart kids. But, I am at normal height with below average 'smartness'.

Let's move to cinemas!!! Recently, me and my friend saw the movie "Race" . I made a comment about that movie "The most rubbish movie I've ever seen". But, my friend didn't like it. He said that it is really a good movie as its story have a twisting nature and it is a good entertainer too. I accept that story of that movie is really exciting but, I cannot accept the message from that movie. A brother kills another brother, a girl friend cheats boy friend etc. are some of the incidents in the movie. I think the hero in the movie can be a 'virtual role model' to the enthusiastic viewers and at some condition, we do not have the power to discriminate real and fantasy. We used to adopt latest trends from movies and the present mentality of the people is not so far from the story of that movie. Media have the responsibility to avoid such possibilities.

About newspapers!! I used read two newspapers at my home. When budget was called in kerala, I was confused by the headlines of both newspapers. One newspaper says that "Farmers in trouble" and the other newspaper says that "Farmers at heights". What should I believe? Even though these two newspapers are controlled by different political parties, I must reach to a conclusion, right? And the condition in Kerala was really honest as in the second newspaper. The farmers used to reach the very high branches of trees to hang themselves to death! What should be the assumption of farmers from that news?

I would like to change the present condition of our country. I would like to create an advertisement of a tooth paste which says "We bring you a toothpaste which will be useful to brush your teeth". I would like to write a story for a cinema where there is no negative characters. I would like to start a newspaper which is not supported by any political parties. Just stupid dreams, isn't it?? Who cares all these things?? ("Whatever the condition is, we should stand with the majority")

"faithfully"

Raghu

Why do we fight for a separation?

I've already written about unity and existence in a post before. And I guess it is the right time to write about it. What forced me to write about this subject is the recent issue of creation of a new state in India called "Telangana". And news are spreading about the demand for a lot more states like gurkhaland,Harit pradesh etc(read here for more). "Why do we fight for a separation?" This question made me to think a lot about human nature. Actually, in a post before I have written about the concept of "one world one country". I thought it was only me who thought about the same concept but, really astonished to realize that even the same concept is there in the movie "paa". But, still it is nearly unthinkable right now.

In my assumptions, I feel that even though we used to say that we are the brainiest creature in the world, we have some similarities of many animals as well. I've heard about the life of lions, it have some specific ways of territorial concepts. The head of the pride will determine a certain area which is not supposed to be trespassed by other prides. They are the kings in their specific area and they will fight the trespassers. Who taught lion about this greedy, egoistic discrimination? I think they need not have a teacher as it is their nature. I think, we have a similar nature too. In this modern world, we have begun a tendency to get privacy from many things. In my state, if we look into the increasing number of families and decreasing number of average number of family members in a family we can reach to some assumptions. Basically, we like to live with some privacy of our own. In earlier times, we used to see a lot of families which include a large number of members. Today, just as our national issue, we will fight for our ancestor's results of the sweats and begin a separate life.

Actually, the reason why we think like this is because of the 'taste of freedom'. We are getting rich and we are nearly capable of leading a separate life without the support of others. We are getting selfish. I think democracy is forcing us to think like this. I remember a remark of my neighbor "I am the king of my family and I do not want anyone to interfere". Everybody or many of us including me are trying to make others believe that we have influences in many things and we are the kings of some areas. It is becoming a human nature according to the influences of the outside world.

I do not know why we behave like this but, I cannot find a reason to talk against this tendency. I feel like India is a country with 28 small countries. At the same time I do not want to say that a tendency to separation is not good for our country. But, we should avoid fights along with conserving human rights! It is better to satisfy with different states rather than motivating a fight in a single state. Nobody can force everyone to think alike or live alike. If anyone does it can be called as an autocracy! Anyway, I hope we will not give up our unique view of our country ("Unity in diversity") by motivating unwanted separations!

"faithfully"

Raghu