Transmogrified

Do not go gentle...

2011-05-14T15:07:00.010-04:00

In June, last year, Christopher Hitchens was scheduled to talk at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge MA about his memoir 'Hitch-22' which had been published a few months before. I was excited. This was my chance to get listen to one of the so called "four horsemen" in person. We went to the theatre in the evening only to be told that the event was cancelled. I was disappointed. The announcement was a bit cryptic because no reason other than 'unforeseen circumstances' was given for the cancellation. In the weeks after this, news came out that Christopher Hitchens has been diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. Perhaps that was the reason why he decided to cancel his talk, who knows? What we do know is Christopher Hitchens is dying. We all are really, but in his case the process is being accelerated by cancer. In the year since the world has known about his ailment, Christopher Hitchens has exemplified not only how to face looming death with grace but also how NOT to give up on life.
Here is Hitchens, talking about cancer and mortality with CNNs Anderson Cooper, talking about his diagnosis, prognosis and his thoughts on prayer and belief:

"I had been knowingly burning the candle at both ends... and it gave a lovely light"...how quintessentially Hitchens! Of all the people I have read, no one can match Hitchens in their mastery over the English language. He can speak as eloquently and forcefully as he can write. When deployed against an opponent in a debate, his masterfully crafted words have the resemblance of an artillery barrage or a surgical missile strike targeted to demolish his opponents arguments. His latest article - 'Unspoken Truths' in Vanity Fair, about losing his voice to cancer, therefore touched a chord:

Deprivation of the ability to speak is more like an attack of impotence, or the amputation of part of the personality. To a great degree, in public and private, I “was” my voice. All the rituals and etiquette of conversation, from clearing the throat in preparation for the telling of an extremely long and taxing joke to (in younger days) trying to make my proposals more persuasive as I sank the tone by a strategic octave of shame, were innate and essential to me. I have never been able to sing, but I could once recite poetry and quote prose and was sometimes even asked to do so. And timing is everything: the exquisite moment when one can break in and cap a story, or turn a line for a laugh, or ridicule an opponent. I lived for moments like that. Now, if I want to enter a conversation, I have to attract attention in some other way, and live with the awful fact that people are then listening “sympathetically.” At least they don’t have to pay attention for long: I can’t keep it up and anyway can’t stand to.

He goes on to discuss how other famous writers and poets have grappled with the loss of their voice. The whole article is worth reading, so go read it.

I must say that watching Hitchens combat cancer, death and mortality, more importantly watching him live - truly live - and fight the good fight; and continue fighting it even when the odds are stacked against him, serves as a great example for the rest of us. It reminds me of the poem by Dylan Thomas:

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Hoping you get better Hitch!

Earth Day poem

2010-04-25T17:42:00.004-04:00

Well! The weekend is almost over but Earth Day was two days ago on Thursday, April 22, so here is a poem on that theme. I stumbled upon it because of a link posted by a friend in a comment on a previous 'poem for the weeekend' post. This one is called "Earth Song" and is actually a part of a larger poem called "Hamatreya" by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Earth Song
By Ralph Waldo Emerson

...Hear what the Earth says:--
'Mine and yours;
Mine, not yours, Earth endures;
Stars abide--
Shine down in the old sea;
Old are the shores;
But where are old men?
I who have seen much,
Such have I never seen.

'The lawyer's deed
Ran sure,
In tail,
To them, and to their heirs
Who shall succeed,
Without fail,
Forevermore.

'Here is the land,
Shaggy with wood,
With its old valley,
Mound and flood.
"But the heritors?--
Fled like the flood's foam.
The lawyer, and the laws,
And the kingdom,
Clean swept herefrom.

'They called me theirs,
Who so controlled me;
Yet every one
Wished to stay, and is gone,
How am I theirs,
If they cannot hold me,
But I hold them?'
When I heard the Earth-song,
I was no longer brave;
My avarice cooled
Like lust in the chill of the grave.

This is why I love poems - they have a whole lot of meaning packed into them. Here are four short verses which simultaneously remind us of our mortality and in comparison to the scale of a human life, the near perpetuity of Earth. It reminds us of the real nature of our relationship to our planet (How am I theirs, if they cannot hold me?). It ends on a note which I think is the right message for Earth Day - "Cool thy avarice". I won't harp on. Read it and meditate on it. The full poem "Hamatreya" is here.

[Image: Photograph of the Earth taken on December 7, 1972, by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft at a distance of about 45,000 kilometres (28,000 mi). Popularly known as "The Blue Marble"]

A poem for the weekend

2010-04-17T11:14:00.013-04:00

I stumbled upon Taylor Mali's poetry because of a link to one of his poems posted by a friend on Facebook. For this weekend, I am posting one of his poems that I liked a lot.

This one appealed to me because it's about a topic that I have strong feelings about. Are you irked by people who frequently use "like" and "you know?" and "ya'know what I mean?" while speaking? R u mad @ ppl who wrt lke dis? (Especially when there is no 140 character limit?). Well, then you will like this poem:

Totally like whatever, you know?
By Taylor Mali

In case you hadn't noticed,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you're talking about?

Or believe strongly in what you're saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?

Declarative sentences - so-called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true
as opposed to other things which were, like, not -
have been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don't think I'm uncool just because I've noticed this;
this is just like the word on the street, you know?
It's like what I've heard?
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?

What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally . . .
I mean absolutely . . . You know?
That we've just gotten to the point where it's just, like . . .
whatever!

And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness
is just a clever sort of . . . thing
to disguise the fact that we've become
the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long, long time ago!

I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.

Taylor Mali is a poet who emerged from the Poetry Slam movement. The Wikipedia article on Poetry Slam introduces the concept as:

A poetry slam is a competition at which poets read or recite original work (or, more rarely, that of others). These performances are then judged on a numeric scale by previously selected members of the audience.
Typically, poetry slam is highly politicized, speaking on many issues including current social and economic issues, gendered injustices, and racial issues. Poets are judged not only on the content of their slam but the manner of delivery and passion behind their words.

It seems to me that because of this background Mali's poems are more akin to "performing arts" than literature. To truly enjoy one of his poems, you have to see it being performed. So here is a video of Taylor Mali performing his poem "Totally like whatever, you know?".

Another hilarious one by Mali - "The impotence of proofreading":

More videos of Taylor reading his own poems can be found here. Some of his poems here

On Prayer

2010-04-11T21:09:00.010-04:00

No! This is not a rant about those who pray or those who exhort others to pray or even about the one(s) to whom people pray to. These are my thoughts about prayer, how they have evolved over time, what prayer means to me and why I pray sometimes. That's right, I am an atheist and I do pray sometimes.

I grew up in a moderately religious family. My parents taught me to pray. We had a very beautiful 'Devaghar' (देवघर), a traditional altar where all the idols and photos of idols of gods are kept, one made out of sandalwood, which if I remember correctly was later mistakenly painted over with oil paint by an uncle. Every evening after dark and before dinner, mother lights the oil lamp and incense sticks in the Devaghar. Then she would make us (me and my sister) sit there and pray. It was during these evening prayers that I learned the most commonly known Sankrit shlokas (श्लोक), mantras (मंत्र) and stotras (स्तोत्र). I learned to recite by heart the Ramrakshaa (रामरक्षा), the adhyayas from Bhagwad Geeta, the Atharvasheersha (अथर्वशीर्ष) and the Maruti (Hanuman) stotra. We also learned to recite "Shubham Karoti Kalyanam" (शुभं करोति कल्याणं) a hymn to the lamp and the Manache Shloka (मनाचे श्लोक) composed by Sant Ramdas. We learned to recite all the Aartis - devotional songs sung after the pooja ritual.

We prayed in the school too. Before the classes started, everyone would gather on the school grounds. We would stand in a line, ranked by height, an arms length behind each other. I was one of the shorter guys and would always be near the front of the line. One of the teachers in our school played the harmonium beautifully and would lead the prayers. We had a prayer assigned for every day of the week and they were all printed in our individual 'diary' (a small book to record exam results and other progress) for reference. Even though the official language of instruction in our school was English, all the prayers were in Sanskrit or Marathi. The only English prayer, a little one that we recited at the end of the school day everyday before rushing out of the class, went something like:

"We give thee thanks, almighty God, for all the gifts, we have received, this day."

After my Upanayan Sanskar or Munja (मुंज) ceremony as it is commonly known in Marathi, my grandfather taught me the Sandhya Vandana ritual. The Gayatri mantra, one of the oldest of all mantras is taught during the Upanayan. I used to perform the Sandhya ritual until the 10th grade. For some reason I gave it up later on but I still used to pray every evening. I used to visit the local temple fairly regularly too.

During my undergraduate studies in Pune, I read a lot about Indian philosophy. I read "Geeta Pravachanay" (गीता प्रवचने) a commentary on Bhagwad Geeta by Vinoba Bhave. I read Swami Vivekanand's writings on Raj Yoga (The Patanjali Sutras) and Karma Yoga. I read the "Geetai" (गीताई) - Vinoba's beautiful rendering of the Bhagwad Geeta into Marathi. I read an anthology of Vedic hymns. I read some of the Upanishads and their translation. I read parts of the Bhagwad Geeta in Sanskrit. I still have my copy of Bhagwad Geeta with Marathi translation published by the Ramkrishna Math. My mother bought it in a book fair for me. In those days too, I regularly recited my prayers in the evening, though not quite everyday .

So what did all this mean to me. Well, earlier on it was a ritual drilled into me though not a boring one by any measure. The stotras and mantras are quite melodious and it is fair bit of a delight to recite them in the right tone and rhythm. The Bhagwad Geeta is supremely mellifluous and a joy to recite once you learn to read and split the words at the right places and use the right 'chanda' (Vedic meter) for each shloka. Later on as I read more of the philosophy behind it all I was more inclined towards the Bhagwad Geeta and the Upanishads and used to recite them instead of the prayers. Over the course of time my outlook has changed. I really used to believe that there is someone or something out there that you can pray to, that can respond. I don't anymore. But I still pray sometimes and I wish to explain why and to what (if anything) do I pray.

Prayers come in many different flavors. The stotras are typically poems expounding the qualities of and singing the praises of a particular deity. They also are often full of exhortations such as "one who recites this stotra everyday is bestowed with knowledge and wealth". Then there are some prayers which are sort of a direct demand to a particular deity (often Lord Vishnu or Goddess Laxmi) for health, wealth and happiness. The prayers from the Bhakti tradition are more or less devotional songs praising the deity. The shlokas from Bhagwad Geeta or the Updanishads expound their particular philosophies. The Vedic hymns come in a lot of different varieties too, falling in one or the other categories above.

In my opinion, in its most basic form, a prayer is a way of wish-thinking and thanks-giving. Life is a random draw. Everything around us (including our own body and mind) is governed by a complex web of causes and conditions. I don't mean to say that nothing is predictable. We have certainly come a long way in understanding natural phenomena and the functioning of our own bodies in accordance with the natural laws. However, in the course of each individual life there is enough randomness, sufficient unpredictability, a fair number of 'chance' events that can have significant influence on the course of that life. Compound this with the fact that we have evolved as agency seeking organisms. We are constantly looking for a causal agent behind events, even when there is none. This is reflected in the fact that most cultures have deities associated with natural forces of wind, water, air etc.

I think prayer is a mechanism to cope with this dual reality of the seemingly random courses of individual lives on the one hand and our desire to seek out someone or something as the 'cause' of events in our lives. Most commonly that something or someone is supposed to be a god or gods. But does it have to be that way? Do we really need to pray 'to' someone? I think prayer serves to fulfill one of our basic needs. We are social beings. When we a friend, relative, companion or a complete stranger provides us aid and comfort in times of need, we thank them. It is a bonding mechanism. The need to express gratitude or seek help is a result of our evolution as organism living in family groups. When 'life' deals you a tough hand, you wish for a better one. When you suddenly draw a winning ticket out of the blue, you wish to thank someone. But think of what 'life' means here. There is no single entity called 'life' out there which is determining the course of individual lives, although a lot of us wish and believe there is. 'Life' is a metaphor for the complex web of causes and conditions that lead to a particular event. There is no single 'agent' called 'life' there that can accept our thanks or fulfill our wishes. It is an artifact of language, a convenient label for the thousands of unseen causes. Nevertheless our desire for expressing our thanks or wishes for whatever 'life' deals us is a fact our existence, our humanity.

For me, reciting a prayer is an outlet for this desire. It is solution for a completely natural and human condition. I am fully aware and convinced that there is no one on the other end of the line. I do not, therefore, want to sing praises of a deity or demand fulfillment of my wishes and desires from a deity. I do however wish to express my thanks for the small and large gifts of life. I also wish to express my desire that things get better for my loved ones and for everyone else. I am not expressing my gratitude 'to' someone but I am expressing it quite sincerely nevertheless. I am not demanding a better deal 'from' someone, I am simply making a wish that things be better - an empty one if you will, but a heart-felt one just the same. I expect no returns other than the solace that this bring to my own self. I harbor no delusions that someone is recording my prayer in a universal database and will reward me if I am good and punish me if I am bad.

That is why some of my favorite prayers now are the simple ones. They are the ones which don't overtly appeal to a deity or if they do it is in a playful jolly spirit rather than a beseeching tone. I don't pray everyday, partly out of a fear that a daily treatment may end up reducing the remedial effect I seek from it. I may be wrong on that count, who knows!

So there it is! That is why I pray. In due course I will post some of my favorite prayers most of which are Sanskrit shlokas. I posted two of them earlier which are one of the playful ones. Share your prayers with me if you will.

A poem for the weekend

2010-04-10T11:46:00.007-04:00

This one is an excerpt from Philip Appleman's poem titled "Five Easy Prayers for Pagans".

1:
O Karma, Dharma, pudding & pie,
gimme a break before I die:

grant me wisdom, will and wit,
purity, probity, pluck and grit.
Trustworthy, helpful, friendly, kind,
gimme great abs and a steel-trap mind.
And forgive, Ye Gods, some humble advice -
these little blessings would suffice
to beget an earthly paradise:
make the bad people good
and the good people nice,
and before our world goes over the brink,
teach the believers how to think.

I like all the five prayers from the poem, especially the one to Shiva:

3:
O Shiva, relentless Spirit of Outrage:
in this vale of tearful True Believers,
teach us to repeat again and again:
No, your Reverences, we will not serve
your Gross National Voodoo, your Church
Militant – we will not flatter the double faces
of those who pray in the Temple of
Incendiary Salvation.
Gentle Preserver, preserve the pure irreverence
of our stubborn minds.
Target the priests, Implacable Destroyer –
and hire a lawyer.

Grow up or die!

2010-04-04T20:06:00.003-04:00

A little bit of Easter Sunday sacrilege. I saw Bill Maher's documentary- "Religulous" today. It was OK, not great, OK. I was surprised how blunt Maher is with a lot of religious wing-nut types. Fortunately no one pulled a gun on him but he did manage to get thrown out of the Mormon temple in Utah and the Vatican. I guess he was going around with the full crew and so could afford to go out on the limb a bit. What I liked the most was the closing monologue in the documentary. The transcript is below the fold. You can also watch it here.

"The irony of religion is that because of its power to divert man to destructive courses, the world could actually come to an end… Plain fact is, religion must die for mankind to live. The hour is getting very late to be able to indulge in having key decisions made by religious people. By irrationalists, by those who would steer the ship of state not by a compass, but by the equivalent of reading the entrails of a chicken.

George Bush prayed a lot about Iraq, but he didn’t learn a lot about it. Faith means making a virtue out of not thinking. It’s nothing to brag about. And those who preach faith and enable and elevate it are intellectual slaveholders keeping mankind in a bondage to fantasy and nonsense that has spawned and justified so much lunacy and destruction.

Religion is dangerous because it allows human beings who don’t have all the answers to think that they do. Most people would think it’s wonderful when someone says, “I’m willing, Lord! I’ll do whatever you want me to do!” Except that since there are no gods actually talking to us, that void is filled in by people with their own corruptions and limitations and agendas. And anyone who tells you they know, they just know what happens when you die, I promise you you don’t. How can I be so sure? Because I don’t know, and you do not possess mental powers that I do not.

The only appropriate attitude for man to have about the big questions is not the arrogant certitude that is the hallmark of religion, but doubt. Doubt is humble, and that’s what man needs, considering that human history is just a litany of getting shit dead wrong. This is why rational people, anti-religionists, must end their timidity and come out of the closet and assert themselves. And those who consider themselves only moderately religious really need to look in the mirror and realize that the solace and comfort that religion brings you comes at a horrible price.

If you belonged to a political party or a social club that was tied to as much bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, violence, and sheer ignorance as religion is, you’d resign in protest. To do otherwise is to be an enabler, a mafia wife, for the true devils of extremism that draw their legitimacy from the billions of their fellow travelers.

If the world does come to an end here, or wherever, or if it limps into the future, decimated by the effects of religion-inspired nuclear terrorism, let’s remember what the real problem was. We learned how to precipitate mass death before we got past the neurological disorder of wishing for it.

That’s it. Grow up or die."

What Kind of World?

2009-01-24T15:31:00.002-05:00

After a long break from blogging (again!), I engaged in a bit of narcissistic behavior today by re-reading some of my old posts and the comments on the posts. So, I was reading 'The Science of Religion' and this is a continuation of the chain of thoughts provoked by godfusion's comment on that post and my reply to it. A majority of people believe that there is an intelligent entity that created the universe and drives - as in actively controls - it. The three monotheistic religions are based on this fundamental idea and have each added a string of richly imaginative ideas to this basic concept. Ideas like praying to this 'creator' entity (they call it God), or ideas of heaven and hell, ideas like the 'messiah' or 'prophet' who is the creator's agent or messenger on earth, ideas about the second coming (or tenth if you believe in the Dashavatars - literally 10 avatars - of Vishnu) of messiahs etc. These people are "Theists". Some people leave it at the 'created' phase. This entity created the world with all it's laws and then let it run and evolve on it's own. These people are Deists. Furthermore, some people believe that after creating the universe the creative intelligence relaxed, kicked back with a couple of bottles of Yeungling lager and watched the creation unfold. These people are just kidding! They can't possibly know the mind of the creative intelligence which doesn't interfere in their universe let alone know what he did after creating the universe.

Anyways... jokes apart... this raises an important question: IF there is a creative intelligence that can create and drive a universe, what kind of a universe would IT create? Would that universe look like the one in which we exist or would it look different? Imagine yourself to be a super intelligent being that is capable of creating the universe (and I mean the UNIVERSE.. not just puny little Earth or puny little Sun.. the whole enchilada... all the things we know and all the things which we as of now don't know!). What would you do? What kind of a world would you create? Now I know that this is a daunting question. Our intelligence is of course NOTHING compared to that of the 'Great One' who created the universe. So we can't possibly answer the question in any meaningful way. So lets just try to answer a set of mini questions based on what we do know:

Using the intelligence we have been give, we have figured out within a great degree of certainty that the universe popped up (quite literally we are told by those in the know) ~ 13 billion years ago. Our own star 'the sun' and the solar system formed around 5 billion years ago. Single celled life appeared on our planet around 3.8 billion years ago. Modern humans arrived on the scene approximately 120000 years ago. So if the 'theists' are right, why did it take the 'creator' such a long time to bring on his 'chosen beings' into the game? Furthermore it took another ~117000 or so years for the humans to reach a level of sophistication good enough for the creator to start sending his agents down to tell us the great news about Him. Lets assume this seemingly improbable set of events did happen, the question then arises, why send so many many different agents down, each with his (and note the curious preference to male messengers here) own version of the story? Why not create a species that gets the right message in the first attempt?

Another commenter asked me about the anthropic principle. As I understand it, the anthropic principle suggests the following: "The fact that we (intelligent humans) exist suggests that there must be some law(s) as yet unknown at work which fine tuned the universe such that intelligent life would evolve in it at some point in it's history". In its essence it is a guide for future researchers to look for law(s) that explain the fine tuning of the fundamental constants. However there is great deal of argument about it and some use the anthropic principle as a clever disguise for the "design argument" - "the fact that humans exist means that the universe MUST have been designed with us in mind". The 'MUST' opens the door for the designer. Lets say this is in fact true. It still doesn't explain the preference for "humans" that is beings on this planet in this solar system. How do we know that the designer did not have some carbon based intelligent life (as yet unknown to us) based on some planet in some solar system in the Andromeda galaxy in mind?

I believe that opening the door for a creator leaves more to be explained about the nature, intelligence and intentions of the creator, than what the existence of the creator explains about our own world. Accepting a supposedly benevolent, active operator behind the universe raises even more questions than it answers. So shouldn't we apply Occam's razor and just let go of such ideas.? How about a simpler explanation? In the words of Don Rumsfeld - "stuff happens".

The Way They Were

2008-11-09T16:11:00.005-05:00

As I followed the 2008 presidential election campaign in America, I realized that the campaigns are in-part also a big battle of egos. Each candidate not only believes that his/her position on the issues is the right choice, the right direction for the country; but also that they are the right person to lead the country in that direction. In one way this is a highly egotistical claim which each presidential candidate is trying to convince everyone else of. Almost two years of constant campaigning to this end must inevitably be a transforming experience, changing the person completely.

Now that the campaign is over, the candidates have to face the results. In the case of John McCain, he has to face his defeat in a bitterly fought contest and its effect on his party and his own political career. In the case of Barack Obama, he now has to face the immense responsibility of leading this country in times of immense difficulties both at home and abroad. John McCain and Barack Obama are in a way completely different people from what they were a couple of years ago. In the backdrop of these facts, I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at these candidates as they were before they got wrapped up in their respective campaigns.

Starting with John McCain: I have said that I used to like John McCain. From what I recall, he really was kind of 'straight talking', right of the center guy who was not afraid to spar with people in his own party on important issues. Here are some clips of Jon Stewart interviewing John McCain. The first one is back in 2002 before the Iraq war started. The second one is just after the state of the union speech in January 2004. What I like about John McCain in these clips is his candidness. He speaks his mind and he doesn't try to spin much. This is the John McCain I would have liked to see more of on the campaign trail.

Like most other people, I had not heard much about Barack Obama until he gave the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic convention. Back in August 2005, Barack Obama made an appearance as the guest who plays 'not my job' game on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, the NPR news quiz - one of my favorite radio shows. He talked about his views on important issues such as 8th grade graduation ceremonies. As I listened to the show again today, I couldn't help but think that this guy has a great sense of humor and is very witty. You can listen to the clip here.

This other clip is of Barack Obama on Monday night football back in 2006 where it seems like he is about to announce that he is running for president:

I guess we won't get to see this lighter, funnier side of Barack Obama more often now.

Vignettes of Hope

2008-11-05T02:55:00.002-05:00

America has voted. Barack Hussein Obama is the president elect of United States of America. I am happy that my cynicism about the American electorate, particularly in relation to the racial issue, has been defeated. I was following the results all night and here are some vignettes from a night full of hope.

Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic posted a note from one of the readers of his blog. I felt it is very beautiful. Here it is:

Nothing in my life has actually changed in the 30 minutes since it was announced Obama will be our next president. I have the same bills, the same amount of money in the bank, my dishwasher is still broken, and my 5 month old beagle won't stop peeing on my carpet. Everything in my life is exactly the same as it was 30 minutes ago; and yet I feel as though everything is different.

I feel so much hope. I feel so much pride. I feel like my one vote was a single drop of water in a great Tsunami of change. I feel like I was one of a million voices screaming in the night, " I love my country and I'm taking it back!" I'm so proud of the country that I love and have so much hope in my heart that we can together heal the wounds that have been such a source of pain and anger to us all.

I know Obama isn't going to fix the economy overnight, I know he won't be able to provide healthcare to all Americans by February '09. I know Obama isn't a Messiah who four years from now will have turned this country into a fabled utopia. But I also know Obama will make moral decisions. I know Obama will try to unite where others try to divide. I know Obama will help to make America the beacon of hope it once was to others. I know that at 27 years of age, I witnessed one of the most important and hopefully glorious chapters in American history.

I know hope.

The immense sense of soaring hope and the firm anchor in reality are both vividly evident in this person's comment. Thank you for voicing a shared feeling with such clarity.

In last few weeks, I was anxiously following the race in Pennsylvania and Ohio. This American Life covered the Obama and McCain campaigns in Pennsylvania in one of their episodes - Ground Game. For anyone interested in grass-roots political campaigns, this is a must listen. It featured the town of State College, PA (where I lived and studied for six years) and how the students campaigning for Obama are conducting huge voter registration drives. It featured a student volunteer named Kaycee (hope I am spelling the name correctly) who was the most active and most successful in getting students registered. It featured the union leaders in Pennsylvania who are persuading their fellow workers and union members to look beyond race, get past the animosity and vote for Obama based on the issues that they care about. I am listening to this episode again tonight. As the networks called Pennsylvania for Obama tonight, I can only imagine the joy these volunteers must have feel at the end of a successful campaign. Their HOPE was vindicated tonight. Oh! and Centre county went for Obama by 11% margin tonight! Go Nittany Lions!

When I was in India, the image of an "American" in my mind was always that of a 'white' man or women. This image was reaffirmed in so many subtle ways - through the movies, the images of American Presidents and other American leaders. After coming to this country I met and got acquainted with many Americans who didn't fit the stereotypical image and were still very much 'American'. What excites me about the Obama presidency is the fact that it will change this image of the typical 'American' for so many people including many Americans themselves. As the world sees a man of color as the president of America, going about the business of governing and decision making just like any of the previous presidents, somewhere in the subconscious the prejudices will start to melt. Barack Obama's face on national television will do more to remove lingering doubts (often based on unfounded fear) and deep-rooted hatred of people based on race and color of skin, than many other overt programs and campaigns to fight racism everywhere. That alone in my opinion will be a great achievement.

This is my hope today.

Election Woes

2008-10-26T20:31:00.005-04:00

I know it's a clique, but a picture is truly worth a thousand words. This presidential election is causing a lot of anxiety in my mind. It would take a lot of words to explain it all.. thankfully there is PhD comics.

These two strips explain my anxiety perfectly:

I am not a US citizen, so I can't vote in this country. However I work in this country legally and I pay taxes here. There are many ways in which the result of this election can affect me and my life directly. More importantly, for however long I stay in this country, I would prefer if the country is led by people who cherish the same ideals as I do. In this election, it means that I am hoping for a Obama victory.

I doubt it will happen. I still feel that a majority of this country will choose McCain and Palin. McCain would have been palatable but Palin is simply a disgrace. I used to like McCain before he made a U-turn on almost everything he claimed to believe in. Some of the U-turns too would have been OK with me. I come from a country full of flip-flopping politicians. However the most egregious one by McCain was the flip-flop on his views about the right wing God-nutters - the very people whom he called agents of intolerance a few years ago. To top it all, he went ahead and chose a God-nutter to be his running mate. And not just any odd God-nutter, a God-nutter who subscribes to one of the most extreme brands of Christianity that are out there. Her brand of Christianity believes in speaking in tongues, believes in witch-craft, believes in magic healing, does not believe in evolution by natural selection (although that's kind of par for the course for God-nutters), believes that rapture is imminent and will happen in her lifetime.

I don't believe that experience is the most important quality needed to be the President. No single person can have all the experience that will prepare him or her for the job of leading the USA. What is more important I believe is intellectual curiosity, the ability to seek and weigh different opinions on issues, the ability to make decisions by analyzing the implications of the various options. When I see Sarah Palin in the two interviews she gave, I see a lack of these very qualities. To me, it means that she will make judgments based on her ideology - which in her case happens to be extreme right wing religious ideology. It's not just her ignorance of issues, it's her pride in her ignorance of issues. It's not just her lack of intellect, it's her contempt for intellectuals. Elect McCain and Palin now and four years down the line, you will find Palin running for President.

The election still seems pretty close when you see the picture in the battle ground states. So the anxiety will continue for 8 more days. After that, I will either be glad that the country chose a reasonably intelligent guy over a pair of 'maverick' God-nutters or I will take solace in the fact that Jon Stewart and Bill Maher will have no lack of material for the next four years.

There are many who have said the things I have tried to say here with much more clarity and force. So I point you now to some of of my heroes:

Sam Harris: When Atheists Attack

Christopher Hitchens: Vote for Obama - McCain lacks the character and temperament to be president. And Palin is simply a disgrace.

Mavericks for Mediocrity

2008-10-05T00:32:00.004-04:00

The more I watch the presidential election campaign the more depressed and afraid I become. Things have been going down-hill for a while now since John McCain selected Sarah Palin to be his running mate. Then came Sarah Palin's two interviews, first with Charlie Gibson and then with Katie Couric. Then there was the debate with Joe Biden. It seems to me that the politicians - especially the Republicans - have convinced themselves that most of the people in this country are dimwits who can be swayed by fluff.

Now, to be fair, the democrats are not a whole deal better, but predominantly the peddlers of mediocrity are Republicans. Consider for example the issue of off-shore drilling. John McCain and Sarah Palin have reduced it to a three word "mantra" - "drill baby drill". It is not "drill drill drill" by the way, as Sarah Palin promptly pointed out to Joe Biden in the debate, the right words are "drill BABY drill", as if it's a magic spell which looses it's effect if you don't say the right words. The oil-fairy won't give them any money if they don't get the mantra right. I think they believe that the voters in this country can be convinced about a lie if you convert it into a neat little sound-bite and repeat it over and over again. I don't blame them... it has worked for the last eight years. Consider the following examples from the not so distant past.

"Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction" (He didn't)
"Saddam Hussein caused 9-11" (He didn't)
"Tax-cuts will help the economy" (They didn't)
"We need less Government" (perhaps, but why are you running for a Government office then?)

If sound-bites like these, devoid of any analysis - any critical thinking - any logic - any substance at all is all that takes for the voters in this country to be swayed into voting for a candidate; remember it worked twice in last eight years; then I have no doubt that John McCain will be the next President of the USA.

I notice a strong anti-intellectual, pro-mediocrity streak in the McCain-Palin rhetoric. The "real enemies", we are told repeatedly, are "east-coast-elite" and "Washington insiders" (John McCain for example.) and " the liberal media". The best people in the country, the crème de la crème, live in a place called "small town America" and have names like "Joe Six-pack". All the women in small town America are either "hockey moms" or "soccer moms". Small town Americans are big on "family values". Perhaps it is because I have spent most of my time here in a liberal college town in the middle of Pennsylvania and the rest amidst "east-coast-elite" Bostonians, these caricatures seem a bit too distant and shallow to me. Furthermore we are told that small town Americans prefer candidates who they can "identify" with, someone who they can go hunting with (they love hunting), or have a beer with. It does not matter to small town Americans what these candidates think about important issues the country faces, they just want a "Joe six-pack" or "Hockey mom" like them in office. Apparently the last two times they elected a Joe Six-pack to the Oval office, things went spendidly. As far as I can tell, Sarah Palin does indeed believe in these crude generalizations of the American electorate which don't quite stand up to even the most simplistic analysis. I am not so sure whether John McCain himself truly believes in them, perhaps he doesn't, but he peddles them with equal glee and enthusiasm nevertheless.

Most of these caricatures are obviously code words to appeal to a very particular group - the mythical "base" of the Republican party. The "small town America" is composed mainly of evangelical Christian extreme right wing of the Republican party. The "family values" they cherish include among other - an opposition to a woman's right to choose abortion, opposition to equal rights for homosexual couples, opposition to "affirmative action", opposition to immigration and a wish to turn America into a Christian nation. Everyone is in on this game. Everyone knows this, I just wish that they were simply honest and open about it and stop speaking in code.

The more nefarious thing about the McCain - Palin campaign though is the deep anti-intellectualism. Their message to all the Joe Six-packs in America is, "Don't be like those college educated, east-coast-liberal-elites. They are the enemy. They are what is wrong with this country. They are the ones to blame for your woes and they want to take your guns (Joe Six-pack likes his guns more than anything in the world) and your God away from you." With this platform, any nuanced rhetoric is treated as "waffling" or "flip-flopping". Thinking with brains (like most normal people do) is for those elite liberals, Joe-six pack and his leaders think and make decisions based on their gut instincts. They make decisions in a swift second and pack it into a neat sound bite. Critical thinking is for sissies. Take off-shore drilling for example. Most experts (including those in George W. Bush's administration) have said that it would have no immediate impact on oil-prices or price of gasoline at the pump. Furthermore it would do nothing significant to make America less reliant on foreign sources of oil. But that doesn't matter, Joe Six-pack wants answers that he can easily memorize and anything more than "drill baby drill" is just too much to remember.

This tactic has worked before for George W. Bush and it may as well work for McCain - Palin. In four more years (irrespective of who wins the election this November) we may be seeing Sarah Palin again, this time running for President. If the portrayal of Americans in this crass way is what she really believes (which I think she does) then I think it represents a grave danger to the future of this country. The country is in further trouble if she actually believes that "east coast elite" are the source of all woes in this country. Another dangerous quality she reflected in the debate is the denial to look back and learn. "Say it ain't so, Joe, there you go again pointing backward," Palin said in the debate. "Now, doggone it, let's look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future.", she said before starting to ramble on about something else. Joe Six-packs of small town America, consider your selves warned. As George Santayana put it, "Those who refuse to learn from history are condemned to repeat it".

Critical thinking, a curiosity about how the world actually works, an openness to learn, receptiveness towards new ideas and imagination to think new solutions is what is required in future leaders of America (or any other country for that matter). Instead we are getting "gut instinct" which more often than not, turns out to be pre-cooked, ideological answers to every question. Instead of admiring education and intellectualism, we are told that it is the problem. Instead of receptiveness towards new ideas we get scorn and ridicule for the other views. I pity the Joe Six-pack who may get his "maverick" leaders elected to the highest office in the country only to find that his job has been shipped to someone in China, India or some other country in the world where learning, education, intellectualism are valued and admired, not scorned and ridiculed. If that happens (or perhaps when that happens) he may as well realize that the prosperity in this country is a result of the "ideas" which were a result of rational thinking, reason based discourse and profound intellect of the founding fathers of this country who were indeed the "east coast elite" at that time.

Most Americans think that terrorists driven by a hateful religious ideology are the greatest threat to the country. A greater threat to this society is a culture that has started to ignore the value knowledge, intellect and education. A culture that values sound-bites over reason based discourse. A culture that seeks quick answers rather than well-thought-out solutions that can actually make a difference. A culture that ignores history and fails to learn from it. The strength of this country lies in it's productivity and it's capability to innovate. The world is itching to take over America's lead in these domains. Where ever and when ever it is possible, this is already happening. The big corporations and companies know this and they are not going to stay here for the sake of some Joe Six-pack if Joe is unable or unwilling to learn long division.

The greatest threat to this country is not some Mullahs and their followers in some country in the middle-east or Persia following some bizzare bronze-age ideology. The greatest threat to this country are the home grown "Mavericks for Mediocrity" and their Joe Six-pack followers. They will continue to erode America's leadership in the world with their "shoot from the hip", "gut instinct" leadership.

Gustav Looms - Thoughts on the eve of a potential disaster

2008-09-01T10:20:00.002-04:00

On August 29, 2005 hurricane Katrina slammed into the gulf coast a bit east of New Orleans and devastated the city along with several other communities in Louisiana, Mississippi and few other southern states. Almost exactly three years to the date, hurricane Gustav... a category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of approximately 115 miles per hour (185 kilometers per hour) is taking aim at the coast of Louisiana, predicted to make landfall slightly to the east of New Orleans.This makes it even worse because this would bring New Orleans into the path of the westward sweeping arms of the hurricane and a predicted 10-14 feet storm surge.

Lets just think about the numbers here before I go into my thoughts about the impending disaster. The density of air (at standard conditions) is about 1.2 kg / cubic meter. Air slamming into 1 square meter of a surface at 185 km/hour will exert a sustained force of ~ 1.59 kN/m^2 which is about 0.23 psi. That sounds awfully small. Assuming that a normal person standing erect has a surface area of about 5 ft^2 facing the wind, it means that (s)he will be subject to a sustained force of 166 lb. (That's almost equal to my own weight slamming into me continuously). Make whatever you will of that small calculation.

As I saw the Katrina disaster unfold three years ago, my thoughts ranged from disbelief to anger to disgust. In my own country - India - which is far poorer than USA, natural disasters claim thousands of lives every year. Almost every monsoon there are disastrous floods along the Gangetic plains. There are occasional cyclones along the east coast. Even now, devastating floods in the state of Bihar are wreaking havoc in countless lives. As ashamed I am of the pathetic response of the governments (both state and central) to natural disasters in my own country, I was even more disappointed at the response to a natural disaster by the governments in THE RICHEST country in the world. I could not believe that all the warnings, studies and predictions were willfully ignored, evacuations were not planned and well executed, safe shelters were not provided to those left behind. None of this was impossible to a country which has landed people on the moon, it was simply not done. Looking back, one could not have expected more from the government of George W. Bush, which can hardly boast of sound planning and foresight as it's forte. To any one who would like to differ, I have a two word response... "Iraq War". On the same note, the response of the Louisiana state government as well was not very well coordinated and executed badly. There is much to be said about the response after the disaster - the search and rescue effort and the recovery efforts - but lets not go into that now.

This time around, things seem different. Mandatory evacuation of New Orleans seems to have worked well ahead of the storm. Residents in the coastal areas have learned their lesson. The levees and other defenses against flooding are probably strengthened too after Katrina. So this storm may not turn out to be such a disaster in terms of loss of human life (Let us all hope so), although disruption of normal life due to property damage may yet be severe and unavoidable.

Human reaction to natural disasters is always quite surprising to me. What makes us rebuild homes on land struck by a huge earthquake? What makes us rebuild houses and schools that were drowned and washed away by a hurricane three years ago? I guess in part, people do it because they don't have a choice. Where else would they go? It's their home, they have lived there their whole life, they have a natural bond with the place. Perhaps a hope too that lightening never strikes the same place twice - which as it turns out is not quite true. This to me is a sign that we as a species are very bad at estimating probabilities. The chance of an earthquake happening in the same place with same intensity in the life time of an average human being is very different that the probability of a hurricane striking a coastal are twice in the life time of an average human being. Yet human response to both disasters can be very similar. Even with full knowledge that disaster may strike them yet again, people go about rebuilding their lives in the same place.

This is OK I guess as long as we learn some lessons from past disasters and use the power of human creativity and imagination to prepare well for future disasters. Building communities in low-lying areas prone to severe flooding for example takes a large investment in building well designed coastal defense system. Such a system is a public good and can be provided most efficiently by government spending. Yet we do not see that kind of investment and planning going into rebuilding of New Orleans. All we have seen so far is more of the same. Natural disasters are unavoidable. Failure to learn from history and a failure of imagination while rebuilding in a disaster prone area is a human created "disaster" that is completely avoidable.

Anyway... I am rambling a bit now. For those who are under Gustav's gun... seek shelter, stay dry and stay safe.

Check It Out: The Science of Religion

2008-06-29T16:27:00.006-04:00

In 2003 Richard Dawkins gave the Tanner Lectures at Harvard University. I spent most of the afternoon today listening to these lectures. Richard Dawkins is one of the many contemporary scientists I admire a lot. I have read many (if not all) of his books, including the most recent one - The God Delusion. I admire Dawkins primarily because of his knack of explaining complex ideas in a clear and logical fashion. I admire him even more for his polite yet forceful arguments against religious extremism, in fact religion itself and against irrational, non-scientific ideas like 'creation science' and 'intelligent design'.

In the first of the two lectures, Dawkins talks about the science of religion. The Darwinian framework of evolution through variation and natural selection is the most elaborate explanation we have to explain the evolution and diversity of life on earth. Any phenomena that have survived for millennia in human populations therefore beg an evolutionary explanation. Religious beliefs have appeared and continue to appear independently in human societies across ages in all parts of the world. The ubiquity of religious beliefs in human society makes it imperative to explore the evolutionary origins of such beliefs. Dawkins focuses exclusively on this topic in the first of the two lectures. Dawkins has devoted a full chapter of his latest book - The God Delusion - to this topic. I would urge anyone who is interested in this subject to listen to this lecture.

In my opinion this topic is of utmost importance today. Religious zealots are wrecking havoc in every part of the world. Islamic extremists in the middle east, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other parts of the world; fundamentalist evangelical Christians in the USA, fundamentalist Jews in Israel, fundamentalist Hindu groups in India all want to impose their particular religious world view and way of life upon the society at large. Many, if not all of them are using violence to terrorize people into submission. Only by understanding the evolutionary origins of religious beliefs can we begin to treat the virus of religious extremism and perhaps some day cure ourselves of all faith based propositions.

In the second lecture, Dawkins talks about the Religion of Science. A common retort of people of faith against science is that science itself is a form of religion. They point out that the core hypothesis of science, that the universe is governed by a set of laws which we can reveal through careful investigation, is a faith based proposition in itself. Albert Einstein is quoted as saying, "The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is at all comprehensible." There is profound mystery, wonder and awe in the universe. There are befuddling questions such as why are the laws of that govern the universe the way they are? Why do the fundamental constants of physics have the peculiar values they have? Dawkins draws out the stark contrasts between the scientific, - evidence based - world view and the religious - faith based - world view. He concedes that there may be questions which science in principle cannot answer but he lands firmly against the proposition that the scientific world view IS in itself some sort of religious world view.

The whole series is available in mp3 format on Dawkins's website which is a worthwhile place to visit for anyone interested in evolution, reason, atheism etc. There is also a seminar with Dawkins, Steven Pinker and Keith DeRose as a follow up to the lectures.

Happy listening!

Hinduism: An Open Source religion

2008-06-20T00:04:00.003-04:00

Hinduism stands apart from the three organized, monotheistic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam and other major religions - Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism etc, as a weird sort of religion. All these other religions have a central defining entity. Judaism, Christianity and Islam have their prophets and their sacred books. Sikhism and Jainism have a line of sacred religious teachers but one or a few among them are considered most sacred. Buddhism has its founder - Gautama Buddha. Hinduism is a bit quirky. There are many books which can be considered sacred texts, the Vedas, Upanishads and the Bhagavad Geeta being the main ones. There are many Gods and Goddesses to worship. There are many schools of thought and traditions to follow. In fact, variety seems to be the single and most important defining quality of Hinduism. Hinduism is adaptable, versatile and most importantly it is an 'open source' religion. You can choose a flavor of Hinduism that suits your taste.

Let me just elaborate on the 'open source' bit. The Linux operating system is an open source operating system. The 'kernel' or the central component of the operating system is an open source component released under GNU-GPL for any developer to modify and re-distribute. Similarly the 'kernel' of the Hindu spiritual thought, the central idea of Hinduism, in my opinion, is a state of consciousness which can be experienced and freely interpreted by any human being. It is a spiritual experience. I am using the word spiritual a bit casually here. By spiritual, I do not mean to hint at something supernatural; although most traditional interpretations have a supernatural component. By spiritual I mean something relating to one's subjective consciousness, an experience that is available to oneself alone. This state of consciousness may correlate with a certain state or states of the human brain. This spiritual experience is termed variously as samadhi, awakening, enlightenment, nirvana etc. For brevity, I will here forth address this state as the 'samadhi'.

We know this for sure - in ancient India there were many people who followed a variety of contemplative traditions. Many people must have experienced samadhi in the course of the numerous mental and physical regimens they undertook as a part of their meditative practice and probably even under the influence of hallucinogenic substances (such as the mythical Soma) . Even though they experienced it, they were not in a position to know the neurological basis of it. All of the information we have about the nature of samadhi is from the descriptions of it, by people who at one time or another experienced it. Since samadhi is a state of consciousness accessible only to the individual experiencing it, we have no way of verifying that the experience indeed took place. But many, if not all, of the people claiming to experience samadhi seem like stand-up guys and gals. So we can safely say that some of them were indeed telling the truth. The numerous descriptions of samadhi have some common and recurring themes such as:

The experience of a complete dissolution of the 'ego' (an 'I' separate from the external world),
A perception of oneness with the external world
A sense of profound bliss.

Most people who claim to have experienced samadhi describe it as a life changing experience, something that arouses the feelings of love, empathy and compassion in them changing their world-view in a radical way. I believe that it's this unique state of consciousness that is the kernel - the central concept - of the religion that was later on termed as Hinduism.

Like Linux, there are many distributions built around this kernel. By different 'distributions', I mean the different interpretations by different people, applying a combination of logic and metaphysical conceptions, to explain the various aspects of the samadhi experience. I think there were two important reasons for the emergence of such a variety of interpretations. In ancient India there was no single religious authority or single dominant school of religious thought. Differing ideas and debate between different schools of thought was often welcomed and promoted by rulers and elite in the society. Secondly, samadhi is a purely subjective experience. Even today we can only image and record in some detail the state of the brain of a person who is undergoing a meditative experience. As of yet there is no way to externally induce such an experience reliably. So the people who experience samadhi lacked the tools for understanding the physical and neurological basis of the experience. That combined with intense and profound nature of the experience, as judged from the lofty descriptions, must have evoked the idea that there must be something mystical behind it. The Hindu interpretations are not the only one which try to explain samadhi. Both Jainism and Buddhism arose as a result of prolonged contemplative practice and the experience of samadhi by their teachers. The distributions which broadly fall under the label Hinduism interpret the samadhi state in one particular way.These 'distributions' form the various schools of thought in Hindu philosophy.

The people who composed the Vedas believed that there is a soul (the Atman) that animates our bodies and that survives the death of our bodies. They also believed that natural phenomena were imbibed with souls as well. Hence a plethora of naturalistic gods and goddesses such as Agni (the god of fire), Varuna (the god of rain), Usha (the goddess of dawn) etc. When some of the Vedic philosophers experienced samadhi, they interpreted it thus - they ascribed the feeling of oneness experienced in the samadhi to the merging of their personal soul with the soul that pervades all of nature. They termed this soul that pervades all of nature as the 'Brahman'. This metaphysical idea of a Brahman is an important part of the 'Vedantic' interpretation of samadhi.

Contemporary Hinduism is a giddy mixture of this particular interpretation of that unique state of consciousness, along with a bunch of other baggage such as:

Other metaphysical hypotheses such as the laws of karma, rebirth of the soul etc.
A number of creation myths.
Belief in an amazingly large number of of gods and goddesses, each with their own rich and colorful mythology.
An equally huge number of rituals, rites and superstitions.

The reason I call Hinduism an 'open source' religion is because its central idea, the interpretation of the samadhi, is not controlled by any central authority. One is free to re-interpret to one's own liking. One is free to promote one's own interpretation. One is free to label one's interpretation as the most authoritative, most logical, most perfect interpretation. The history of Hindu philosophy reveals a number of such individuals and groups who chose to interpret the samadhi state in their own peculiar way. They squabbled, they argued, they constructed complicated logical arguments to refute the interpretations of the 'other' groups and establish the authority of their own interpretation. The Samkhya, Dvait (dualist), Advait (non-dualist), Vishistha-Advait (qualified non-dualist)... all these different schools are nothing but elaborate logical and metaphysical expositions of the samadhi state. Adi Shankaracharya's treatise on the Brahmasutras for example provides refutation of many different schools of thought and promotes Shankaracharya's own interpretation of Samadhi, the nature of Brahman, Atman, etc. All the schools of thought that are broadly termed 'Hindu' agree on the point that samadhi is the 'joining' of the Atman with the Brahman. Their disagreements stem from their ideas about the nature of Brahman and Atman.

How, one may ask, can one achieve this state? How can one achieve samadhi? There are many ways of doing this as well. One may follow any one of the many paths towards experiencing the samadhi state. Since samadhi is the joining or the yoking of the Atman to the Brahman, the Sanskrit word 'yoga' which means yoking is used to describe the various paths. One may follow the path of devotion (Bhakti Yoga), the path of asceticism (Raj Yoga), the path of knowledge (Jnana Yoga), the path of action (Karma Yoga) - each with it's own prescription for achieving the supreme union of the Atman and the Brahman. There is never a dearth of mystics, sages, god-men and god-women in India, each claiming to have experienced the samadhi and giving their own for achieving it. New age paths like Siddha Samadhi Yoga, Art of Living etc. mostly comprise of traditional ideas repackaged and distributed through modern marketing mechanisms.

The choice of gods and goddesses to worship is my favorite aspect of Hinduism. If you are the nerdy type, you might like Ganesh - the elephant headed god of wisdom. If you are a gym loving health freak, you might want to worship Hanuman - the monkey god endowed with amazing strength and the ability to fly (like Superman but better because Hanuman is supposedly Chiranjeevi - one endowed with eternal life). Then there are a number of goddesses. Laxmi (the goddess of wealth) may be worshiped by one and all. Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and Durga (or Shakti), the goddess of energy are equally venerable. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva... the trinity... the foundations of Hindu mythology are eternal favorites among devotees. So are the many incarnations of Vishnu, Krishna and Rama being the most preferred of them all. There are of course many rituals and rites you might choose to observe to please or placate your preferred god/goddess. You may choose to enjoy the beauty of many of the devotional songs (the Bhajans and Abhangas) or devotional dances. You may indulge in meditation and chanting. If you so prefer, you may also choose the almost sadomasochistic acts of worship like sleeping on a bed of nails or standing for days on one leg.

In many respects, Hinduism is like and operating system for your life. It is a way of life. You may choose your own favorite 'distro' of the Hindu operating system, your own favorite path, your own favorite deity and still call yourself a Hindu as long as you subscribe to the central idea - the concept of the supreme Brahman. The gods and goddesses are all manifestations of the Brahman. The various paths all lead to the union of the Atman with the Brahman. The Brahman itself is something beyond all concepts. According to the "Advait" school, everything after all IS the Brahman, including you.

Thou Art That!

Hara-Kiri by Democracy

2008-06-03T23:17:00.006-04:00

I'm emerging from a long break in blogging. So if any of you have still kept my blog in your feed reader... kudos to you for your patience and many thanks!

This is the first time around that I have followed the presidential nomination process in this country closely. Last time around, I paid attention only after the general election campaign had started. My political views are more on the liberal-Democratic side and even more so on the 'cynical of all politicians' side. Last time around the Democrats in this country picked John Kerry as their presidential nominee. Initially I felt that Kerry had a good chance to beat George W. Bush. But he fumbled a lot in the campaign. He failed to make a logical case about his opposition to the Iraq war after having voted for the resolution to authorize the use of force. The Republicans picked on this and portrayed him as a flip-flopper. Apparently, changing one's opinion in the face of new evidence is a character flaw in this country. Then he failed to respond aggressively to the swift-boat veterans for truth campaign. Compared to George W. Bush, Kerry's military record looked unbeatable. But Kerry failed to aggressively hit back at the swift-boat campaign 'shmear' and this, in my opinion, created enough doubts about his record in the minds of many independent voters. The rest is history. Bush/Cheney won by a 2.3% margin. The funniest thing I remember after that election was Jon Stewart's comments on The Daily Show about Bush's swearing in ceremony, which for your delight is embedded below:

(The punch-line, if you care, is around 2.00 min. into the clip. I am not ashamed to say that I was among the people who 'solemnly swore')

This time around, I have been following the Democratic and Republican nomination contests closely. The Republicans, because of the way they choose nominees (winner takes all delegates in most states), have ended up with a clear result very early. The competition for John McCain was not all that great. There were many candidates in the Republican race who were touted by the media as 'clear' front-runners but who were kicked out in the first few rounds, leaving Republicans to ultimately choose between war-hero and long serving US senator John McCain and the utterly ridiculous, Mr. 'I don't believe in evolution by natural selection', god-nutter, Mike Huckabee.

But this post is not about the Republican race. It's about the race for the Democratic party nomination. As I write this, the results of the last two Democratic primaries are coming in. Hillary Clinton finished her speech some time ago thanking all her supporters but saying that she will not be making any decisions about the future of her campaign tonight. As I am typing these words I am listening to Barack Obama's victory speech in which he claimed the democratic nomination. As I listen to the dizzy chants of "Yes we can!" I am filled with a feeling of both hope and fear.

Barack Obama has great oratorical talent and equally good speech writers. He has successfully inspired a lot young first time voters to root for him in the primaries and caucuses. His campaign carried out amazing grass-roots activism that finally resulted in his winning the democratic nomination. My cynicism of politicians forbids me from making any predictions about the kind of president Barack Obama would be if he indeed wins the general election, but I can safely say either of candidates this time around would be better than George W. Bush and 'Dick' Cheney combined. My hope is that Barack Obama goes on to win the general election in November.

My fear is that the Democratic party has committed 'hara-kiri' by democracy. Democratic party has this "everyone gets a trophy" type nomination process which proportionately allocates the delegates in each state to any candidate who wins more than 15% of the votes. This led to a lengthy and divisive nomination race. The nomination process chosen by the Democratic party is not like the general election, where the candidate who wins popular vote in a state carries the entire state in the electoral college. The Democratic party system is further complicated by an utterly undemocratic concoction called the 'super-delegates' who get to make up their mind irrespective of the popular opinion.

The candidates vying for the nomination in the democratic race were historical. Hillary Clinton if nominated would have been the first woman to lead the ticket. Barack Obama is the first man of color to be the presidential candidate of a major party in this country. The race between these two has left the democratic party deeply divided. Democrats further complicated things by first stripping the states of Michigan and Florida of all the delegates just because these states decided to have early primaries. Then, few days ago they divided the delegates among Clinton and Obama but gave each delegate from these states only 1/2 vote in the convention. The whole thing was ironic given that it was the "Democratic" party going though all this drama. Now that Obama has won the nomination, there is talk about unity in the party. I am afraid that it is a bit too late to achieve any unity after such a long and bitter infighting.

The thing I am even more fearful of is the fact that in the frenzy and enthusiasm created by Obama's charisma, people are not looking at the bigger picture. Sure he has run a great grass-roots campaign... sure has has been able to raise huge amounts of money from a record number of donors... but he has a long way to go to win the general election. Every time I hear talk about the enthusiasm and energy created by Obama's campaign, I remind myself that just four years ago 51% of the people who voted in this country thought George W. Bush is the right choice to run the country. This was in the light of a preemptive war that was turning out to be increasingly disastrous and dangerous for this country AND the world at large. It was also in the light of the amply evident incompetence, stupidity and arrogance of the Bush administration. I am not convinced that suddenly a majority of this country will wake up and vote for a black man with no military background, very little experience in the Senate and almost no experience in an executive position. Perhaps I am being too cynical. Perhaps, not unlike the swing of a pendulum, public opinion in this country too swings from the delusion of electing Bush/Cheney in 2004 to the giddiness of voting for 'hope and change' 2008.

I am afraid that this country is still not ready for a black man to become the President. I am afraid that racism will rear its ugly head in this campaign. In many places it will be utterly blatant. However I am afraid more of the subtle racism...that some people will cloak under the guise of "leadership experience", "military experience" or any other reason they can find to vote against Obama. I am not alleging that everyone who votes for McCain is a racist. Most of the people who voted for McCain (and will vote for him in the general election) in my opinion will truly believe him to be the right choice and for the right reasons. But I am afraid that there are just enough people in this country who won't vote for Obama simply because of his race...no matter what his stance is on the real issues such as the economy, health care and national security. They may be a minority... but remember... 2% of the voting population is enough to tilt the scales towards the McCain camp.

I think Barack Obama's association with Jeremiah Wright is also going to hurt him. It is one of the things that annoys me about Barack Obama. What was he thinking associating with such a lunatic pastor for 20 years? I am guessing there are going to be many people who will be thinking likewise. I am sure many people will conveniently ignore all the crazy things uttered by some lunatic evangelical Christian leaders in this country. I am sure many will also forget that John McCain, who once called these god-nutters 'agents of intolerance' is now wooing them to secure the religious right-wing vote.

For Barack Obama to win the general election, the Democratic party needs to stand united behind him. Barack Obama needs to successfully convince enough independents and "white working class" voters to vote for him to win crucial states in the general election. The sum of all my fears about this election is that the divisions in the democratic party will not be healed soon enough, and this combined with the subtle racism and other factors will result in Barack Obama losing the general election and John McCain becoming the next President.. and that will be a tragedy.

Right to Information Act: A Primer

2008-01-13T00:24:00.002-05:00

On October 13, 2005, the Right to Information (RTI) act came into full effect in India. In the two years since its implementation, the act is undoubtedly helping to bring a measure of accountability to the hopelessly inefficient and irresponsible Indian bureaucracy and bring to light the corruption and mismanagement of public resources by the government agencies at all levels. The main reason behind writing this post is to educate myself about the act and its implications. This is an ongoing learning exercise and I will keep adding information to the post. Tons of information about the act, its provisions, history is available on the WWW. My effort is primarily to collect scattered pieces, summarize and put it in perspective.

Contents:

Brief History of the RTI campaign: India is a democracy. The government is supposed to be "of the people, for the people and by the people". The people then should have the right to access information about the functioning of the government. This "right to information" had been recognized by the Indian Supreme Court as a fundamental right by noting in a 1975 judgement[1] that "[the people] ... are entitled to know the particulars of every public transaction in all its bearing". However without the RTI act, there was no mechanism through which the people could meaningfully exercise this right. Access to information was governed by laws based the archaic Official Secrets Act of 1923 passed during the British Raj. The demand for an RTI act started coming largely from activists and citizen's groups involved in rural development activities. The implementation of public schemes in India is riddled with huge amount of corruption. However the people affected by this corruption had no means through which they could get information regarding how public resources are utilized. Even in day-to-day governance people have to face indomitable wall of bureaucratic ineptitude and corruption to achieve simple things like getting a passport, an electricity connection or a ration card. In most cases an expectation of a bribe is behind the delays, dodges and disinformation regarding progress of applications. The passing of the RTI act gave a simple but powerful channel to get information and use it expose corruption and improve governance.

The campaign for the right to access information was initiated by an organization, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan (MKSS), in Rajasthan since 1990. This campaign arose from their efforts to access government records while investigating wrongdoings in wages paid to laborers working on publicly funded schemes and malpractices in the implementation of Public Distribution Scheme (PDS) through which essential food grains are available to people at subsidized rates. An article by Rob Jenkins and Anne Marie Goetz [2] summarizes MKSS's role and motivation as follows:

...This led to greater awareness of other malpractices which local workers had observed first-hand, but had no method of documenting. These included inflated estimates for public-works projects, the use of poor-quality materials, and over-billing by suppliers. To combat these forms of fraud, it became clear that access was required not only to balance sheets, but also to supporting documentation which could be cross-checked by workers organised through the MKSS – for instance, employment registers and bills submitted for the purchase of materials.

MKSS invented a novel way of enforcing accountability through "Jan Sunwais" (Public Hearings) where records of wage payments and detailed accounts of public works were read out in public in front of the concerned citizens. After a prolonged campaign and lot of resistance from bureaucracy initial success came in form of order from government of Rajasthan in 1997 to allow photocopying of records related to development work conducted under public schemes. By 1996 NGOs and groups in other parts of India involved facing similar issues had come together and formed the umbrella organization - National Campaign For People's Right To Information (NCPRI), and started a nationwide campaign to pass the RTI act. Some of these organizations are Samarthan in Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, Parivartan in Delhi, Bhrashtachar Virodhi Jana Andolan (Peoples Campaign against Corruption) led by Anna Hazare in Maharashtra. On the state level RTI acts came into effect in 9 states starting with Tamil Nadu and Goa in 1997 to Jammu and Kashmir in 2004. In the meanwhile the freedom of information act was passed in the parliament and became a law in 2002. This act was severly criticized to be extremely dilute and for having no effective power due to numerous exemptions to the disclosure of information. The right to information bill was tabled in the parliament in December 2004. The culmination of the struggle by NCPRI and associated organizations was the passing of the national RTI act of 2005.

Provisions of the act: I will no go into the detailed scope and provisions of the act in this section. The Wikipedia article and many other sources explain this in great detail. I will on the other hand try to summarize what I think is important in the scope and provisions of the act. First of all the act is quite broad in its definition of "information" that can be sought by citizens. For example, citizens can demand "samples of materials of work" under the RTI act. The act covers all constitutional authorities including the executive, legislature and judiciary. It also applies to any institution or authority created by an act of the parliament and any private institution that receives substantial financing from the government. This makes the act very broad in its scope as well. Certain types of information, such as information pertaining to national security etc. is of course deemed outside the scope of the act and may not be available

How to file applications?: Here too I will avoid going into details of the process as it is explained clearly in the Wikipedia article. If interested you can also watch one of the videos below by Arvind Kejriwal to understand the process clearly. The thing I liked the most about the process of filing RTI applications is its simplicity. Anyone who has tried to obtain a passport or a driving license etc. in India knows that simple things require a lot of tedious paperwork. In comparison an RTI application can be filed on a single piece of paper, it can be handwritten or in some places can be filed electronically. Another salient feature is that the citizens do not have to explain why they are requesting the information. The act also has a clear time-line defined in which a response can be expected and redress sought. The simplicity of the procedure is important to bring the act within the reach of the illiterate and poor citizens.

External Links:

Government Websites
[1]Right to Information act.

NGOs and Organizations
[1] Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan (MKSS)

[2] National Campaign For People's Right To Information (NCPRI), India

[3] Parivartan

[4] Samarthan

[5] Association for India's Development (AID)

Videos
[1] MKSS video(41 min.) about the RTI campaign [A shorter version (16 min.) of the video]

[2] Arvind Kejriwal of Parivartan talks at AID - Bay Area chapter. [Talk: part1, part2; Q&A: part1, part2, part3]

[3] A video (59 min.) introduction to Maharashtra RTI act (in Marathi). Includes a talk by Anna Hazare of the Brashtachar Virodhi Jan Andolan.

[4] Arvind Kejriwal of Parivartan talks at Asha - Univ. of Florida chapter. [Talk, Q&A].

[5] Talk by Arvind Kejriwal - Provisions of the Act (12 min.), How to draft an RTI application? (3 min.)

[6] Common Man's Empowerment (45 min.) - Introduction to Maharashtra RTI act (In English).

Articles
[1] Wikipedia article about Right to Information act.

[2] India Together: RTI section. (There are many interesting articles on India Together about the campaign as well as the implementation of RTI)

[3] Writings by Aruna Roy and others on MKSS website.

References:
[1] Supreme Court of India Judgement on 01/24/1975 [link]

[2] Accounts and Accountability: Theoretical Implications of the Right-to-Information Movement in India, Rob Jenkins and Anne Marie Goetz, Third World Quarterly, vol. 20, no. 3 (1999), pp. 603-622. [link available through MKSS website]

Mount Pemigewasset

2007-09-20T00:52:00.002-04:00

The White Mountains of New Hampshire are part of the Appalachian mountain range. In New Hampshire the White Mountains National Forest covers a major portion of the north eastern part of the state. More than 100 miles of the famous Appalachian trail, 48 peaks with an elevation of 4000 ft. or more, innumerable waterfalls and ponds and trails... all of this makes for endless opportunities to hike, camp and go wild in general.

Mount Pemigewasset (Indian Head) was my first hike in the White Mountains and I loved every minute of it. Mt. Pemigewasset is located in the Franconia Notch state park. The trails starts from the Flume visitor center which is located just off of exit 34A on I-93. Its a nice, quick 2.5 hour drive from Boston. Travelling northbound, after you pass Concord, NH; the highway becomes a toll road. After this there are a couple of rest areas near the highway. The very first rest area gave an opportunity for some interesting observations and snide comments about New Hampshire in my mind (I was travelling alone so there was no one else to develop the theme further).

In most states, the license plates have some "motto" or "tag phrase" on them. In New York it is "The Empire State", in Massachusetts it is "The spirit of America" and in New Hampshire it is "Live Free or Die". Now, that is a catchy one... very inspiring too. For me, driving along America's endless highways is the perfect expression of the "live free" spirit. Rest areas along roads serve the purpose of giving the drivers a place to relax a bit in their journey. Everyone knows that taking a break serves well to avoid the "die" part while "living free" on the highways. So... going back... in the very first area in New Hampshire one will find a "New Hampshire Liquor and Lottery store". After a bit of Google search I found that this is a state-run, tax-free store. In New Hampshire, I guess the state has decided to make both the options in their state motto easily available to the drivers coming. Here, my fellow drivers, is a rest area where you can not only rest and relax but also avail yourself of some nice liquor... so that you can "live free" or "die" (or kill someone else) while you drive drunk. What a neat idea!

That aside, the hike up the trail reminded me that by being lazy, avoiding exercise and eating junk food I had become devoid of the kind of strength and stamina that is dearly needed to make up to the top. The trail itself is fairly moderate. It is well trodden and very easy to follow because of the blue blazes. The foot-hold is good and it's not too rocky or steep or slippery at any point. The distance to the top is a moderate 1.8 miles and the elevation gain from the parking lot is about 1250 ft. So in all respects this is a moderate-to-easy hike. At one point on the trail, while resting on a rock, sweating profusely and worrying about having enough water (I had also made the mistake of forgetting one of my water bottles in the car) I was seriously thinking whether I should continue or just head back. I continued nevertheless and what a good decision it was.

The views from top of Indian Head are amazing. There is a spectacular view of the Kinsman - Cannon ridge and the valley in between to the north and west. To the south one can see a good part of the Pemigewasset river valley. Since a picture is worth a thousand words here are some pictures.

Indian Head

Endless mountains

View of the Pemi river valley and the highway

On the way back, on a pretty lonely portion of the trail I heard the "knock knock" sound of a wood-pecker. For once, I was able to spot the bird. It kept hopping from tree to tree but it was gracious enough to hang around nearby, not be scared and carry on its knock-knocking while I changed the lens on my camera took a couple of snaps. I noticed that it kept hopping on to those trees with the white bark (they are Birch, I think) which make a good camouflage for it. I thought was very neat. Here are some of those snaps. (click to see a bigger image).

Lessons learned:
1. Eat well, exercise and stay in shape if you want to beat the trails.
2. Even when you don't follow lesson#1, the rewards of all the sweat, pain and self-loathing are sweet and sublime.
3. While lesson#2 maybe true, following lesson#1 and "always being prepared" helps... so don't forget the water bottle in the car.

Happy trails!

Technorati Tags: Hiking, White Mountains

Beantown Ho!

2007-06-11T21:33:00.002-04:00

To those who visited these pages during my four month long hiatus from blogging - many apologies and many thanks for your interest. The beginning of the new year brought many changes to life. Between graduating (read: being kicked out) from grad. school and looking for a job, time was not to be found for blogging and wandering.

The most recent stop on my journey has been Beantown - home of the Boston Brahmins and the Red Sox. In the past few months of gainful employment I have realized the true value of the lazy days gone by. As another friend who recently graduated (as in REALLY graduated... degree and all) and joined a job put it, "...days of not brushing till 11 in the morning are over".

As I have done so in the past... I do promise to resume regular blogging henceforth.

Here's to new wanderings!

P.S: What do you think of the photo above? I have never loyally followed any sports but I find the Red Sox fandom here in Beantown amusing and interesting. Last weekend on Michael Feldman's Whad'ya Know (broadcast live from PennState), a communications professor from Penn State was talking about how the sports stadiums are the new "cathedrals" of the 21^st century. He has also written a book about it. If stadiums are the cathedrals then sports is the new religion. In this town, loyalty to the beloved Red Sox is akin to the holy covenant. I will try to blog more about this and other fascinating facets of Boston.

P.S2: The title of this post was inspired by the Calvin and Hobbes book Yukon Ho! The Yukon Song from that book is one of my favorite poems.

More Elephants...

2007-01-29T23:47:00.000-05:00

More elephants in the family:

Shimba is the latest member of our elephant family. We fostered Shimba in September 2006. He was just two months old baby at that time. Shimba was found near his dead mother trying to raise her up. His mother's trunk had been severed (probably after being caught in a wire snare) limiting her ability to forage. That and the fact that she had just given birth to a baby bull elephant had weakened her and probably was the cause of her death. Click here to read the full story of Shimba's discovery and arrival at the Nairobi Nursery run by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Shimba is a healthy and playful baby now and is in good company and care.

The other elephant member of our family is little Lualeni - who has been mentioned on this blog before. Lualeni has now graduated from the nursery and has been transferred to a group of slightly older elephants (the Ithumba unit) living in closer proximity to her ultimate destination - the jungle. She is enjoying the mud baths, wading in ponds and the great green salad bar over there.

Media Coverage for David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust:

In a previous post I wrote about the BBC documentary titled "Elephant Diaries" about the elephant nursery operated by Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. The BBC team went back to film an update [read more] on the documentary in July '06 and "Elephant Diaries II" will air on the BBC sometime soon.

Sky News also ran a story about the elephant nursery on January 22, '07. You can watch the video clip here (you may require Windows media player 10.0). The clip features Shimba along with other baby elephants - Lesanju, Lempaute & Gladessa. Dame Daphne Sheldrick - the founder of the nursery - talks about the impact of ivory trade on the elephant conservation efforts in Africa.

Please learn more about the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and support their efforts in any way possible.

An elephant sanctuary in the U.S.:
While browsing the WWW I recently discovered that there is an elephant sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee. The sanctuary was founded in 1995 by Carol Buckley and Scott Blais. The mission of the sanctuary is to provide a natural habitat and care for sick, old and retired circus and zoo elephants:

The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee, is the nation's largest natural-habitat refuge developed specifically to meet the needs of endangered elephants. It is a non-profit organization, licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, designed specifically for old, sick or needy elephants who have been retired from zoos and circuses. Utilizing more than 2700 acres, it provides three separate and protected, natural-habitat environments for Asian and African elephants. Our residents are not required to perform or entertain for the public; instead, they are encouraged to live like elephants. (read more)

The use of animals for entertainment in circuses is a cruel practice. I have mixed feelings about keeping animals in zoos as well. However, The Elephant Sanctuary's mission is admirable because it finally gives these elephants a chance to experience life in a natural habitat, a thing that was robbed from them when they were captured. The sanctuary serves a very important role in conservation and education.

Visit their website or watch an informational video [11 min., plays in RealPlayer] about The Elephant Sanctuary. You can also watch the "Elecam" which is a live video feed from the sanctuary.

Other Elephant news:
:: In a recent study elephants in the New York zoo passed the "mirror test" [video] for "self awareness". Elephants now joint humans, apes and dolphins - the only other mammals who possess such awareness.

:: In bit of older pieces of news, another study found that elephants remember - or rather recognize their own kind among the dead - a trait that was previously thought to be uniquely human.

:: Stale news (but interesting nonetheless): Scientists used to think that there were two distinct species of elephants - The African Elephant (Loxodonta Africana) and the Asian Elephant (Elephas Maximus). DNA tests have revealed [article link] that there are two distinct species of African elephants - the African Savanna elephant (Loxodona Africana) and the African forest elephant (Loxodonta Cyclotis). The forest elephant was previously thought to be a sub-species of the African elephant. Out of these the Asian Elephant is classified as endangered while African Elephant is classified as vulnerable species on the IUCN red list.

Here is a quiz question before I sign off..
How do you distinguish between African Savanna elephant and the African Forest elephant?

Technorati Tags: Elephants, Conservation, Africa

Republic Day

2007-01-26T12:07:00.000-05:00

Every year the 26^th of January is celebrated as the Republic Day in India. Today is India's 58^th Republic Day. While India gained political independence from the British empire on August 15, 1947; we formally adopted a democratic constitution and became a Republic on January 26, 1950. There is a curious bit of history behind this date. The Indian constitution was drafted by the Constituent Assembly, which was the body of elected representatives that governed India since independence. The Constituent Assembly passed the Indian Constitution on November 26, 1949. January 26 was deliberately chosen as the formal date of adoption of the constitution because it was on that day in 1930 that the Indian National Congress had symbolically declared "Poorna Swaraja" - complete independence- from Britain.

In some ways the Republic Day is more important than Independence day in my opinion. It was on this day that we chose the path we would take as a nation. We committed ourselves to the ideals of a liberal democracy. We chose to become a nation governed by laws - not men. Half a century later much remains to be done to fully achieve a true democracy in India. Politics in India is still dominated by caste equations, religion based vote banks and by parties which - while participating in the democratic process - are themselves highly un-democratic and governed by "supremos" and "high commands". When we adopted the constitution, we decided that India would be a "Sovereign Socialist Democratic Republic". The word "Secular" was added to that list later in 1976. Most of the socialist policies implemented since independence have been counter-productive and have posed a great impediment to progress in India. After India began dismantling some of those policies in the 1990s, India has seen significant economic growth. Secularism too has a long way to go in India.

During this period India has fought five defensive wars against it's neighbours (1947, 1962, 1965, 1971, 1999). There were internal threats as well. Pakistan has waged a proxy war with India by fostering and sponsoring terrorists in Kashmir. There was also the separatist militancy in Punjab in the 1980's and early 1990's. Regional threats such as the ULFA separatists in Assam continue to operate even today. The 18 months from 1975-77, when Indira Gandhi declared national emergency and suspended civil liberties, was perhaps the only time when India came close to wavering from the democratic path. In spite of all these threats and shortcomings, India has managed to remain a democratic country. This I believe is a significant achievement. The fact that we have managed to hang together as a democratic country in spite of the multitude of differences in our country is in my opinion a huge asset for India. It is common nowadays to compare India's progress to that of China's in every aspect. Some believe that political freedom in India will prove to be a great benefit for India vis-a-vis China in the long term. I tend to agree with that line thought to a certain extent. Economic and political freedom go hand in hand. China's economic prosperity with the lack of political liberties is bound to create a clash. While China has the challenge of managing that clash in the future, the challenge for India is to bring the benefits of democracy and economic liberty to her poorest citizens.

Republic Day for me also evokes fond memories from my childhood. We used to go to school dressed in a clean uniform early in the morning for the flag hoisting ceremony. The best part for me used to be the sweets distributed at the end of the ceremony. Then I used to run back home to watch the Republic Day parade on the TV. The Republic Day parade on Rajpath in Delhi is celebrated to honor the war heroes and display the military might and cultural treasures of India. It is a great sight to watch the columns of soldiers marching in perfect harmony. The tableaux from various states follow the military parade and display the motley cultural traditions in India.

Today as India continues to grow economically at a spectacular rate, let us all renew our commitment to democracy and work to fully realize the democratic values that are enshrined in our constitution.

Jai Hind!

Technorati Tags: India, Republic Day

FSM sighted

2007-01-25T22:42:00.000-05:00

Blessed be!

His Noodliness - The Flying Spaghetti Monster - has been sighted blessing a Volvo in the parking lot in front of our building.

Since my first post about His Noodliness, the Church of the FSM has grown widely. The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has recently been published in book form - you know - like the Good Book. The followers of the church or "Pastafarians" believe that the world was created by the Flying Spaghetti Monster and that the increase in global average temperature in the recent decades is due to a decrease in the number of pirates.

If you are interested in seeing more photos of FSM sightings you can visit this Flickr group. There are some great pictures there. Here is one that I particularly liked taken by Yoshi...

You see something like this and you can't but help believe that the world truly must have been created by the super intelligent Flying Spaghetti Monster!

Technorati Tags: FSM, Flying Spaghetti Monster, Pastafarianism, Religion

Check It Out: The Library Thing

2007-01-15T16:13:00.000-05:00

The Library Thing is one of the most useful finds on the internet for me. For a long time I was looking for some kind of software to catalog all my books. After a good amount of searching on the WWW I found the Book Collector, which is a stand alone desktop application in which you can catalog your book collection. I used it for a while... in fact I entered all my books into the database (including my Marathi books). The software was good, it had features like entering books by their ISBN, classifying books by genre etc. However after a motherboard and hard drive crash I lost the whole database (and learned a good lesson about backing up data).

Things were in that state for a while even after I installed a new motherboard and formatted my hard drive. Then while browsing through some book reviews, I came across a link to The Library Thing. It is an online community of bibliophiles which allows you to catalog your book collection. But it is much more than that. You can...

enter books into your database by simply entering the ISBN
tag your books
write and share reviews for books you have read
discuss books and related topic on the online groups
search for books similar to the ones you have read
share your library on your blog or website through blog widgets

... and much much more.

The service is totally free, but the free account lets you enter only up to 200 books. The yearly membership is $10 and lifetime membership is $25. So far I have really enjoyed the service and I recommend it to anyone who loves books. Although I am still using the free membership I am thinking seriously about the lifetime membership!

Also check out these cool blog widgets for my library:

The tag cloud for my books:

Technorati Tags: Books, Library, Book Collection, Library Thing

New Blogger...

2006-11-29T16:10:00.000-05:00

Recently (I mean in mid-August actually...) Blogger introduced a "beta" version in which you could connect your Blogger account to your Google account. I was in fact a little late to try out this transition, which was probably good since I avoided all the initial bugs and glitches which early transitioners faced. The new beta version has some features that I had wished for in a previous post on this blog.

In the beta version I can now attach "category" tags to all my posts. This was one of the features I (and I am sure many other Blogger users) had wished for. Most other blog hosting websites have had this feature for a long time. Curiously, Blogger calls these tags "Labels" instead of "Categories", probably to distinguish itself from other sites, but it essentially does the same job. So you may notice "Labels" I have attached to the post at the bottom of the post (along with Technorati tags). Clicking on a label will take you to all the posts that are categorized under that label. For example click on the "Elephants" Label to see all my posts in that category. The Technorati tags are actually similar to labels, except that clicking on them takes you to all the posts tagged by that... well.. "tag" on Technorati.

The beta version also has a better template management interface through which you can make changes to your blog template. This has a user friendly interface to change fonts and colors and to add page elements such as blogroll, linkroll etc. It also includes a better way of adding and updating blogrolls and linkrolls. This is another thing I had wished for. Using this interface I can also display all the categories and number of posts filed under each in the sidebar. There are only a limited number of templates that are available with the new interface though.

I have upgraded my other blog "Oorjaa" with these new features. It was much easier on Oorjaa because there were only a few posts to take care of. There are a couple of new posts on Oorjaa too... so please take a look at them. I will be upgrading this blog using the new interface pretty soon... once I decide if I should change the look of the blog or not. If you have an opinion on whether "Transmogrified" can use a bit of transmogrification in terms of the looks itself, please leave a comment to that effect. I also need to update the blogroll and linkroll.

There are still some bugs and glitches in the new version though. I noticed some while writing the posts on oorjaa after I upgraded it. For example, when I try to insert an image into the post it gets inserted at the top of the post by default instead of being inserted at the present cursor location. The spell checker (always a good thing to do before posting) is horrible. It highlighted stuff in my post in all the weird places, sometimes highlighting half of one word and half of the next, for no apparent reason. Also it messed up all my links. So finally I had to use Word to do the task. Hopefully Blogger will get to resolving these soon.

Another feature I have been using for some time now for both of my blogs is "Google Analytics" to track the traffic. It is much much better that other traffic monitoring sites that I used previously. It give me much more relevant information regarding the traffic. Here is a snapshot of the geo-location of visitors for the month of November for example (click on it for a larger image). A bow of gratitude to each one of you who helped to put a tiny dot on the map! Keep coming back.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Blogger Beta, Google Analytics

Bodhi Vakya... "Centrism"

2006-11-15T17:16:00.000-05:00

Bodhi Vakya means 'words of the enlightened one'. I think everyone has little glimpes of enlightenment at one point or another. Some may call it the "aha!" or "eureka!" moment. Often I come across little gems of sentences that carry profound wisdom (Buddhist panna, Sanskrit pradnya). I would like to think, the person was having a glimpse of enlightenment while writing them. This is a continuation of the previous "Bodhi Vakya" series and somehow it is also a continuation of the theme of the previous post.
~~~

The recent election here in USA has led many people to conclude that the country has voted strongly for a "centrist" position, as opposed to the bitter partisan rivalry and polarizing ideological stances. Almost all political parties are driven by some ideology. The ideology serves as the starting point for defining all (or most) of the party's position on social and political issues. More often than not, solutions derived from one or the other ideology are hardly the "optimum" solutions for the problem at hand. However it is often observed that people are keen on adhering to their ideology more than solving the problem in a reasonable amount of time. As a result the optimal solutions are often dumped in the thrash can.

People adhering to extreme positions often paint "centrists" as having "no ideological spine". Centrism is also portrayed as the position in which you go in whichever direction the winds are blowing. My own preferences and opinions lie sligtly to the left of the center if you need to know... but here is a piece from an essay that I recently came across, that tries to define the "centrist" position more formally. So here is the first Bodhi Vakya.. from Jason Scorse of Voices of Reason..

I want to reframe centrism as the political philosophy that takes the best ideas of all political persuasions instead of simply being viewed as either watered down liberalism or conservatism. In addition, centrism should be viewed as a philosophy of governing that is concerned primarily with societal outcomes, and less so with ideological purity. It is a more humble philosophy that allows for unintended consequences, continually updated assumptions, and the sincere desire to take into account opposing viewpoints. (read the full essay)

The second emphasis is added by me. I think it defines the "centrist ideology" if you will. This reminds me of Buddha's "middle way". Buddha was a very practical person and througout his life he refused to answer any questions regarding the metaphysical descriptions of reality. He reiterated that he was more concerned with alleviating the suffering here and now, in this life. There is a fable in which a lay person asked the Buddha to explain to him the "true nature of reality" before he could accept his teaching. The Buddha answered, "You are like a person who has been shot by a poisoned arrow. Before the doctor cures you, you insist on knowing the exact composition of the poison, whether it is slow acting or fast acting, the name of the person who shot the arrow, his family background and other questions of such nature. These things have nothing to do with your suffering here and now. All you need to do is to try the medicine the doctor is about to give. If it works you can find the answers to the rest of the questions yourself". The Buddha's middle way was concerned with "outcomes" rather than abstract concepts. Similarly a centrist position should be concerned with societal outcomes rather than ideological purity. This then is the official definition of the centrist position that I accept hereforth. A bow to Jason for penning it clearly.

It also reminded me of this paragraph from John Kenneth Galbraith's "The Good Society". So here is the second Bodhi Vakya for today...

Anciently and still, the economy has been defined ideologically. There is liberalism, socialism or capitalism; the speaker is a liberal or a socialist or is for free enterprise. He or she favors public ownership or, as in recent times, privatization. These are the controlling rules within which we live.

There is in the present day no greater or more ardently argued error. In the modern economic and political system ideological identification represents an escape from unwelcome thought -- the substitution of broad and banal formula for specific decision in the particular case.

Left - Right, Liberal - Conservative, all of these serve as labels that people have conjured to define and differentiate one ideology from another. The reality as always is somwhere in between. The only label that defines reality well is "gray", neither black, not white. So when it comes to solving problems, it is best to keep the labels in the closet and wear the hard hats.

Technorati Tags: centrism, ideology, philosophy

Podcast Mania

2006-08-21T14:23:00.000-04:00

For two years now, sans TV, the radio (NPR mainly) and the Internet have become our main source of news. Since our local public radio (WPSU) airs NPR only in the morning and evening for some time (and classical music the rest of the day), I began listening to NPR online. This led to discovering a lot of interesting programs and eventually to podcasts. The list of podcasts kept changing for a while as I kept finding more and more interesting ones and dropping some that I didn't like. Now the list has stabilized a bit and I have settled into a sort of weekly routine of podcast listening. So I am posting the list of my favorite podcasts about nature, environment, conservation etc. for all of you to try them out. I have given links to the RSS feed for the podcast at the end of the little intro to each one of them. If you enjoy listening to something that is not on my list please let me know through the comments. So here goes...

1. Living on Earth (via NPR): This weekly NPR program has some really interesting stories from across the world and covers a wide range of environmental issues. From time to time they also have special features. It is through this program that I learnt about David Sheldrick Wildlife trust (program link, trust website) last year and that's how we ended up being the foster parents of little Lualeni. I also came across the story of Radiator Charlie and his heirloom tomatoes through LoE. One of their special features that I really liked was the documentary (link) about Wangari Maathai, the Nobel prize winning Kenyan activist; and her Green Belt movement. [::RSS feed ::]

2. Living Planet (by Deutsche Welle radio): This program features environmental issues in Europe (mainly) and the world. Every week they also have a feature about interesting events and issues related to the environment. The most recent one that I enjoyed a lot was about a solar powered tour boat called "The Serpentine Solar Shuttle", that has recently started ferrying tourists in London. [::RSS feed ::]

3. GLRC Environment Report (via NPR): This is a weekly roundup of environmental news and developments across the US by the Great Lakes Radio Consortium. Every week there is also a feature story from the Great Lakes region. [::RSS feed ::]

4. Allegheny Front: This is an excellent environmental news program featuring stories mainly from Western Pennsylvania. It is broadcast weekly on public radio (WYEP) in Pittsburgh and is also available as a podcast. [::RSS feed ::]

5. Inside Renewable Energy: This weekly podcast by RenewableEnergyAccess.com features news and interesting developments about renewable energy issues across the world. [::RSS feed ::]

6. Pulse of the Planet: This podcast has interesting "two minute sound portraits" of the planet earth. I really like these because each one of them is a surprise. One day you are listening to sounds from Erie county fair and on another day you are learning about Wrens from Ecuador. [::RSS feed ::]

7. Earthwatch Radio: This podcast is produced by University of Wisconsin- Madison. It too consists of a short two minute tidbit about science and environment everyday. It's like having a small "information chicklet" every day. [::RSS feed ::]

8. Natural Selections: This is a short 5 minute program produced by North Country Public Radio. Each week the hosts discuss some topic from the natural world. [::RSS feed ::]

9. Nature Stories Podcast: The podcast sponsored by the Nature Conservancy has some interesting stories from the natural world every week. [::RSS feed ::]

10. Organically Speaking: This podcast features interviews with people who share a passion for natural and organic lifestyles. The interviews are not on a specific schedule but each one of them is very insightful. I like the most recent one with Michael Pollan, the author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma". [::RSS feed ::]

I am looking for some good gardening podcasts but I haven't quite had the time to hunt for them. If you know any good gardening podcasts, do let me know. Apart from these environment related podcasts, I also listen to "The Changing World" [::RSS feed ::], from BBC and PRI. It has these amazing radio documentaries on emerging topics across the world.

That's all folks. Happy listening and do get back if you know 'bout other interesting stuff to listen.

Technorati Tags: podcasts, environment, nature, conservation