The Vanity in Masochism

Kaaga sab tan khaaiyo mera chun chun khaiyo maas
Do naina mat khaiyo mohe piya milan ki aas

The claim that "I" is more than the physical. The claim to a love that resides entirely in the eyes that await it. The claim to possess a pain that is greater than any -- physical or imaginable. The audacity to state readiness for these claims to be tested. The vanity in the masochism that is love is Sufi poetry.

The attraction gene

Another supporting example for the consciousness of the Whole. Attraction is fractal. The Whole is attracted to Itself.

Ooty trip

A stream on the way back

Abstract Consciousness

A swarm of a thousand selves, each with a hue and glow of its own creates a brilliant dance, like the shimmering of a gentle lake in the early morning sun. A diamond dazzles but for a moment, and indeed that ephemeral dazzle is the diamond. "Diamond" is not a stone. It is a concept, a name for something much greater. As we go up in the ladder of abstraction, a diamond is brilliance. Abstractions interacting lead to yet "higher" abstractions, and from the instantaneous we progress towards the eternal. From a shimmer to brilliance, from attraction to love, from thought to understanding, from existence to consciousness, from consciousness to meaning. Semantics reside in relations between symbols. And these relations are themselves symbols. Syntax defines structure, and when a structure is able to represent parts or the whole of itself, the structure gains intrinsic meaning, that is, it acquires an awareness of self.

The dance is continuous, flowing. Watching it in parts, one sees abrupt changes, but from the right level of abstraction, it feels natural, like the flutter of a light white skirt in a gentle breeze, complementing the serenity of her calm face on a worriless morning.

It is when I see this form of Her in the continuous dance of my Self, that I give the name "bliss". And there does not exist any enlightenment beyond it.

I am the shimmering lake, and in that instance I am It. Eternal, Formless, Limitless, Conscious of my Infinitude.

Maati Kudam Karendi Yaar

Yet more blasts. The dance continues. Lives are lost. Initial fear, followed by frenzy, followed by Mumbaikars showing resilience, proactiveness and unity, followed by passive anger at the state of politics, too many words, too little action.

Assassinate all suspects, empower RAW. Finish the follow-through atleast. The soil dances a meaningless dance. What is the meaning of all this you ask? No meaning, only syntax, and whatever meaningless meaning comes from complex interplay of syntax.

Kudos and my condolences to all Mumbaikars. The show must go on, and the spirit must soar.

Getting Value out of the Investment Game

If your trust is based in fundamentals, if your eggs are spread wide across diverse baskets, if every entity whose stock you hold produces and sells something that you'd buy with confidence if you had the money and the need/desire, if the rise of your portfolio has been gradual and sustained, if you spend your own time researching and investing at least a good part of your own money, then market crashes are a time to buy, cautiously picking the birds that are pulled down for a moment but look strong enough to take flight soon.

Investment is a delicate dance, performed on the edge of a cliff in sporadic storms. If thy fingers are nimble, play on, and make a show to remember. What value do stock market investors add? Their collective mind, evaluating our production mechanisms. Stock markets act as Quality Assurance measures taken to ensure healthy economic growth.

My Little Paradise

The little known village is in a little known lap of the Himalayas. It is called Nunoori Behli, the local pronunciation for Nunoor Valley. Sainj, a tributary to the Beas flows right in front of my land. Plum , Almond and Apple grow wild here, littering the ground. The local neighbors are simple people. Living in raised wooden homes that creek even under the lightest feet. The sun comes up from behind the thick, lush foliage, pouring drops of radiance over this valley of slow life contrasted against the rush of the river. The water is pure, drinkable straight from fast river, sweet to taste.

The short way to reach is a wooden rope-bridge that gets washed away every few years because of flooding. When the bridge is not there, the walk is about 4 kilometers. 4 kilometers of blissful strolling on foot-wide meandering paths drawn by the erasable pencils of local feet.

There is peace here. My idea of paradise. We own a small piece of land. Some day I'll build a small home here, for the times when nothing but solitude gives solace.

Gender Equality and Dignity of Labour

One of the most pertinent issues pertaining to gender equality is who engages in what vocation. Before equality of social status based on equal working opportunities is aimed for, one has to aim for a change in how people think about vocations.

For example, being a master chef is not as "respectable" as being an engineer. We club our ambitions based on how much money a particular vocation gets us. While this is somewhat understandable in a country like India (where the primary concern has been bread-winning), this difference of perception regarding different vocations leads to some of them being classified as "unambitious" or "lower".

This is so to a lesser extent in countries like the U.S., where dignity of labour is (somewhat) higher compared to here, for all vocations.

Once our attitude towards the "status" we associate with various vocations changes to one of equal respect for skilful execution of whatever vocation one is interested in, it will be easier for people to be satisfied working many jobs that we currently consider "odd".

What happens now is that males, being more assertive by nature, unilaterally make the decision of being the bread earners, because there is a "shame" in doing house work for the male. If dignity of labour is achieved, such a shame will diminish, and everyone will be more willing to take up a variety of new kinds of jobs.

I believe a good cook is more respectable than an average doctor or engineer or businessman. respect should come from how good you are at whatever you do, rather than from what you do, howevermuch inept you might be at it.

The problem is not that women are confined to do house chores, but that house chores are looked down upon as menial jobs.

I don't have an exact solution for the problem of raising dignity of labour overall, but i strongly believe that in dignity of labour lies the answer to gender-, and even caste- equality.

A connected point is: you'll always find that there is relatively more gender equality in economically developed nations. Why is this so? Because even the so-called "menial" jobs pay quite well. Chefs and often even janitors come and go in their own cars and have decent homes. I've seen this first hand. It is a pitty that I have to use expressions like "even janitors use cars" as if they are not entitled to. This is not to say that developed nations are ideal. Stereotyping of vocational preferences is very common there too.

The point is that once a certain job has respect (through it being paid well for, or otherwise), it ceases to be thought of as a job as menial as it is seen as in less fortunate circumstances. So people in general are more willing to take up these vocations, and so things like homemaking are seen as respectable occupations. Then, all (men and women) find homemaking (or cookery, or interior design etc.) a more satisfying occupation. In this case the division of labour will be based more on ability rather than the status it brings to people.

Since abilities differ between genders to some extent, even though there might be a statistical skewedness in which gender takes up which kinds of jobs, both genders will be happy, because they will have chosen what they are good at, and doing that they will be able to earn and maintain respect, which really is what "equality" is all about. Mutual respect.

Scepticism (versus?) Traditionalism

Science (and analytic philosophy) - the forte of the sceptics - starts with its own set of axioms for which no proof is possible. Yet science (for the most part) tries hard to show that whatever it assumes is falsifiable at least in principle. The difference between this and religious tradition is that religion does not attempt to show its assumptions as falsifiable. In fact, it asserts the infallibility of its axioms and sticks by them.

The question is, given that the above is the difference between how sceptics and how traditionalists respectively think, which tool is useful when (if at all)?

On the Proposed Increase in Educational Reservations

Everyone is talking about the proposed increase in seat reservations for "Other Backward Castes" at the premiere educational institutions in India.

There are enough people trying to attack reservations and I'll not go into all that. I'll simply give an alternative solution to the disparities in Indian socio-economics, and argue that the alternative is better than the current reservation system.

1. Concentrate on primary education. Make the fee structure depend on household per capita income (richer parents pay more). Using the excess money that is gotten from rich kids, make room for kids from economically and socially downtrodden families. These EXTRA seats in PRIMARY EDUCATION can be partially reserved on a caste/region basis. The excess money from rich families is used to give free education to those below the poverty line.

2. After this, all children go through the same education, same exams and so forth. And the subsidies and fee-less seats continue.

3. Bring tuition centres under the government's LOOSE control, create a "Coaching Centre Tax" for kids with a particular threshold family income - the rich kids. The money from this tax is used to give "coaching scholarships" to economically and socially backward students). Since all get equal opportunities early on this way, they can (and should) compete fairly and squarely.

4. At institutes of higher learning, again, competition for ADMISSION should be purely merit based (see above points for assurance that all have a fair opportunity to do well in entrance exams). Once admitted, the fee structure again depends on the student's family financial
background. Rich kids pay more, and the money is used to fund THOSE poor kids who, given the above fair chance, have been able to secure seats based on merit.

Advantages
1. This is easily enforceable because the Income Tax department can provide detailed income records that can be used to determine exact fee structures.

2. If a majority of poor people are of "lower" castes (I don't have data on this, assuming it is so...), they automatically benefit from the FINANCIAL reservations as described above.

3. All who graduate from quality institutions can be trusted to have atleast the ABILITY to build the nation well. (Merit is preserved)

4. Rich people of "lower" castes cannot exploit the system.

Disadvantages (compared to current reservation system):
I can't think of any. Maybe you can point out.

Remember, those meritorious enough to deserve to study at our premiere institutions ARE a minority. The task is to find all these meritorious ones from all backgrounds and encourage them. Rather than to discourage the ones who can readily prove their mettle already.