Life After People

I watched a documentary called Life After People, which explores the scenario when all human life disappears from the face of this planet one day. It delves into how Nature would react to such an event. It was shown that Mother Nature would eventually reclaim what was hers, and slowly and steadily, in a matter of 10000 years, almost every trace of an intelligent life form would be wiped out. The Earth would be green to hilt, the oceans teeming with life, and every other species except the Homo Sapiens lived happily ever after. My heart rejoiced at the end of this hypothetical yet quite possible episode. It was mentioned in the show that the possibility of us evolving again was bleak, as its first occurrence was a rather fortunate accident for humans (unfortunate for the Planet). In short, the existing chimps might not evolve into the ubiquitous omnipotent human with astonishing brain power, but would be limited to a species with a fair amount of interaction and control with its surroundings. I am not a misanthrope, but sometimes my thoughts are rather misanthropic. I wish to live a full and healthy life, but the chances of it bearing fruition seem gloomy, thanks the havoc wrecked on mother earth by its most intelligent son. I vividly remember the scene from the blockbuster Matrix, where Agent Smith , an AI sentient sentinel delivers the following dialogue to a captured Morpheus,

“I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure”,

and I sincerely believe it to be true, except that I definitely do not wish to be a bloody battery for machines. Our species did not just spread to the entire planet and is consuming every resource the planet can offer, we wage wars, we kill each other, we kill other species, we pollute, we over-populate, and our entire existence seems to be out of sync with nature. The technological advancement that we are so proud of is mostly ungreen. While I am absolutely, indubitably and irrefutably in awe of our brain, the ability of think does have its side effects.

We as a species have evolved to such an extent that we not only interact but more or less control our environment which has taken a severe toll on the natural order of things on planet Earth. Our quest for survival has put to an end the very existence of many species and the others are in imminent danger. Sometimes, I wonder where our civilization is headed with all this incessant development and advancement which does ease our lives in the short term but creates new problems in the long term. Electricity was an electrifying invention, but didn’t it lead to the burning of fossil fuels? Splitting the atom was a momentous event, but isn’t that the greatest threat humanity faces today? One slip, a genocidal maniac ends up with a nuke, and oblivion for a part of humanity. Quite obviously, every thing can be used for good or bad. A knife can be used to chop vegetables or human heads. But what is the collective goal of our civilization? Is our existence fuelled just by the need to do so, the innate genetic programming which drives us to eat, drink, sleep, breathe, copulate and ultimately die? Hindu philosophy has an answer for it called Salvation. But let’s adhere to the materialistic world alone, what is the answer then? I often cogitate on how the greatest gift we have, our brain, could someday be responsible for our obliteration. It’s quite a paradox. But at then end of this tirade against my own kind, the inevitable truth that faces me is that Life for us is indeed precious, because it comes at a great expense.

I have been Tagged

I have been tagged by Indian Home Maker. So here it goes.

I am: a human, humane, a believer, a thinker, a dreamer (day and night), and an Indian.

I think: a lot, about many things, almost everything under the sun, retributive justice, democracy, quantum physics, the plight of Indian women, literature, history, religion, Computers, movies, etc. etc.

I want: right now, a better job, in the near future, to lead a peaceful life in my country without facing any hostilities from the “Locals”, ultimately, Salvation.

I have: a home, a family, friends, 3 meals a day, a job, citizenship of a democratic country, all my limbs and organs, and I am exceedingly grateful for all of these gifts.

I wish: to live in a united India, to see the complete annihilation of China on all fronts (metaphorically speaking) and to lead a healthy and fulfilling life.

I hate: cats, most of the Indian politicians, China, Indian communists, pretentious and ostentatious people, religious fanatics, intolerance in general, impoliteness, Casteism, rapists, paedophiles, the dowry system, certain aspects of being Human, the list is endless.

I miss: Manipal, not my childhood, not my schooldays, just Manipal, where I spent the best part of my life, my college days; trees in my hometown of Patna, don’t get to see a lot them these days and playing cricket matches as I used to in my teenage.

I fear: living in a divided India, not being a good son, asthmatic attacks, getting married to woman who loves Saas-Bahu soaps, sways to Reshamiya, loves contemporary Indian cinema (starring the likes of Emraan Haashmi and Mallika Sherawat), is disrespectful to my family and does NOT read at all!

I feel: exhilarated when I see natural beauty, proud at events like the successful launch of PSLV or development of Eka, the 4th fastest supercomputer in the world, depressed when I see everyone going for an MBA (in lieu of higher studies in their own fields) for the big bucks, disheartened when people like Raj Thackeray are hailed, guilty and sad when I see the extremely poor, and on cloud nine with a rainbow around my shoulders when I finish a good book or a movie.

I hear: Rock n Roll of the 60’s and 70’s, A.R. Rehman and everything else that my ears approve of.

I fantasize about: doing an RDB on the mother effing scum bags ruling and ruining India, becoming a vigilante serial-killer, being Marcus Antonius, General of the famed Roman Empire under Julius Caesar, going back in time to be an eye-witness to the wars of Ramayana and Mahabharata, and WW II.

I crave: for knowledge, of everything in and around me and my soul mate.

I search: for the meaning of Life, the purpose of our existence, Life beyond Earth (if I had the resources).

I wonder: how different things would have been had people like Bhagat Singh, Azad and Bose been alive and in power after Independence, had Hitler won the WW II, had India been not partitioned, had I been a girl, had Mr. LPY not been in power for 15 years in Bihar and when the hell will I meet my soul mate.

I regret: doing certain stupid things as a child, procrastinating in my college days, drinking more soda than milk and not learning Sanskrit ( How will I explore my Hindu Philosophy ?)

I love: Mahapurush Bhagat Singh, son of the Nation(if Gandhijee is Mahatma Gandhi- Father of the Nation, then Shaheed Bhagat Singh is a Mahapurush and the son of the nation) , India, my family, freedom, Hindu philosophy, trees, peace and solitude, the company of my friends, Google, the internet, books, movies, rock n roll, computers, coding, food, dogs.

I ache: for my soul mate.

I am not: a male chauvinist pig, a religious fanatic, a criminal, a vegan, an advocate of Gay marriages, a crime-fighter by night, a person who can adopt a child and raise it as his own, a big fan of Himesh Reshamiya, Emraan Haashmi, Anu Mallik, Mallika Sherawat, Mahesh Bhatt,Rakhi Sawant, Ekta Kapoor, desi reality TV , Indian news channels .

I believe: in humanity, in violence and non-violence, in God, in extra-terrestrial life, evolution, the big bang theory, capital punishment, karma.

I dance: when the music persuades me to do so, and in my own whacky style.

I sing: Often to myself, but no better than a donkey brays.

I cry: Sometimes, after I saw RDB and TZP, when Mumbai was ripped by blasts again, when I flunked.

I don’t: like to shout at or be impolite to someone and expect the same, like to wait, like to travel alone, like to hurt anyone’s feelings, like being bossed around.

I fight: when my sense of justice has been offended.

I write: to pen down the thoughts bubbling in my head, to express my self, to blow off steam, even just for the hell of it.

I win: when I don’t give up

I lose: when I surrender

I never: eve-tease, had beef, had a girl friend, tried to kill myself.

I always: am trying to improve my vocabulary, try to know more about everything around me.

I listen: like a good listener.

I can usually be found at: Home, as college is over and I am eagerly awaiting my date of joining.

I need: love, warmth, peace, solitude, food for thought, work that interests me, good music, movies and books.

I am : Kislay Chandra

I am supposed to pass the tag to someone else, and I am not really sure who reads my blog. So its an open invitation. I pass this tag to any reader of my blog who is willing.

Anglophobia

Goddamn the Brits. They screwed us and did a great job of it. I remember my history teacher telling me so in class X that we owe a lot to the British as they were the ones who introduced India to modern technology. Did they do that out of pity for the brown and scrawny Indian native, in an effort to ameliorate him? Or did they do that out of a purely selfish motive, to rule us even more tenaciously? They built roads and bridges, laid down telephone lines and railway tracks, for the “benefit” of the poor and downtrodden Indian and shouldn’t we all bow before the queen and hail her in unison. The “exemplary” education system that we were introduced to was designed to produce literate clerks who would understand and obey orders of their English masters. And that education system still prevails. Learning by rote seems to be standard method of imparting education. Apart from a very few institutions, the rest are still enslaved by it. What percentage of Indians encourage their progeny to pursue careers in a field which interests them rather than the one which is the most financially rewarding? How many schools teach in a manner which encourages free and rational thinking, which inculcate into the students to question and to explore every damn thing around them, and not to take things at their face value? I remember through my own personal experience, the treatment doled out to the students who asked “stupid” questions like, “Why does + stand for addition and – for subtraction” or “Why do like charges repel and unlike attract”. On the surface these questions may seem stupid to the superficial learner but they indicate that the enquirer has an inquisitive mind. On a side note, isn’t the mighty British economy built on the Indian wealth those buggers exploited, raped and plundered out of our country? They owe us a lot of money!

Almost every major problem that we face today can be traced to Brits. They divided us on the lines of religion, caste and language. The North-South divide and the nonsensical Aryan Invasion theory was a part of their diabolical design. Through the aid of their stooges, both foreign and Indian, they destroyed our culture systematically, by sowing the seeds of doubt in the Indian mind, and today many Indians question its authenticity, and dismiss it because the west does not approve of it. Ramayana and Mahabharata have devolved into mythology instead of the history they are. It was Chanakya, the great Indian philosopher who gave the theory of “Sam, dam, dand and bhed” and how beautifully was it used against us. Deceive, inveigle and obfuscate, to the hilt!

Over the years English has become my primary language, Hindi, my mother-tongue has become a second-rate citizen. I watch movies made in Hollywood and other parts of the world, the very thought of watching a contemporary Indian movie (with a certain exceptions) makes me cringe. The music is listen to is mostly western, the clothes I wear are western, the TV-shows I watch are all American or English, thanks again to the quality of Indian TV. I look up to the west for confirmation, being an Indian. How sad is that? What part of me is, in a pure and unadulterated manner, Indian? There was a time when anything imported bore the seal of excellence for the Indian mind. At least, things have changed on that front. It seems that most of my identity has been shaped and influenced by the West and has become pseudo-western. But I guess my heart is still Hindustani. But it is indeed depressing and deplorable. India did free itself from the shackles of the British Colonial rule, but the west still rules us. In our thoughts and our actions. It is the modern colonization. The birth of the coke and pepsi drinking, burger and pizza eating, English speaking generation, for some of whom the ultimate goal is settle and abroad and become a part of the West. We speak a macaronic tongue. There was this rickshaw-Walla who did not know where the “sachivalay” was, but jumped into action as heard the word secretariat. Similarly, a watch-man who did not understand “phatak kholo” but did open the gate when he was asked to “open the gate”. Hinglish is in the air. I guess most of the other Indian languages are spoken in a similar fashion. Do we Indians have our own identity? The Germans do, the Japanese do, the English and the Americans most certainly do, what about us? The apparent fact that I am expressing my distress in English bears witness, ironically, to what I said. The British unequivocally made a horrible mess before leaving, but I do realize that my thunderous diatribe against them will not solve any of our problems, but can't we all learn from our past to not to dance to the tunes of divisive poiltics .

An Angry Indian

It seems as if I am losing my identity as an Indian, and the identity borne out of association with a region of India is being forced upon me. Are there people willing me to accept as an Indian first, by virtue of my being on born here, and then label me as per my “attributes”? The ongoing Maharashtra VS North-India spat has shaken my belief in my concept of India as one nation. I chanced upon a forum called Mutiny.in where people were having a very animated and intense debate over this issue. The issue is indeed a very complicated one. Mumbai IS groaning under the weight of so many people. But the migrant workers just cannot be thrown out of the city. The violence used by MNS cannot be justified. The official death toll is still in single digits, but for how long? A street hawker’s arms were chopped off; a man lost his life to stone-pelting. It is foolish to suggest so, but could all this lead to a civil war? The crux of the situation is the fact that if an Indian is not free to live and work in any part of India, it would imply that the rights of the Indian citizen have been usurped. And on a side note, the Pakistanis and the Chinese must be ecstatic over all this infighting. I do wonder why the media is not focusing on the source, the root cause of all this mayhem. The jackasses who have been ruling UP and Bihar for the past 10-20 years. The railway minister who is being hailed by the media like the financial genius of the century, why do people forget that it was under his regime that the state of Bihar was rotting. When asked about why he couldn’t work the same magic with Bihar, his reply was that the state lacked the potential to do so. I can never ever forget that. These politicians, the public servants, the representatives of the poor and the downtrodden deserver a part of the attention, at least. The media should shed some light on these great leaders as well. What else was the poor worker supposed to do? Not just the worker, people from all the classes moved near and far , to foreign countries, to Delhi,Kolkata,Bangalore,Gujerat,Indore and of course Mumbai. I was born and brought up in Bihar, but I studied in Manipal and I most certainly am going to work outside my home state. God help me if I get posted in Mumbai, the way things are, it seems that I will mauled or murdered for being a Bihari. People in this forum were discussing whose state produced more freedom fighters, and whose contribution was more significant, it was absolutely pathetic and ridiculous! And of course, what the hell is North-Indian? Or a South-Indian? I thought I was an Indian. Coming back to the burning issue, this has become one hell of a political circus where nobody seems to be coming up with a realistic, pragmatic, implementable solution. This is just a part of the picture. Apart from unrest in Kashmir and North-East, and the naxalites and the home-grown jehadis, there is a new kid on the block, the armed Gujjar who wants to be treated as a ST. India must be the only country in the whole wide world, where being a part of a community officially labeled as backward has its privileges. The genius, who came up with the idea of reserving seats in the premier institutions on the basis of caste, and not the economic status of the student, has done his country a great service. He has ensured that half of the graduates of these institutions would be sub-standard. He should be given a Nobel Prize for imbecility, if there was one. Why don’t these profound thinkers work on improving the primary education system, why don’t they reserve the seats for the under-privileged in the better schools so that the need for reservation is eliminated? I bet if I could figure out the why part, the epiphany would be nothing less than orgasmic. How hard is it to understand the repercussions of implementing a system, which ensures the admission of a rich kid from a backward caste but denies it to the poor Brahmin? Poverty has no caste or religion, the pangs of hunger are equally excruciating, so is the agony experienced on being denied an opportunity. And how can I forget about the dragon breathing down our neck, China. I do not understand why we fail to see beyond Pakistan, why is the Indian mentality so Pakistan-centric when it comes to enemies. I remember being told to treat India’s victory over Pakistan in WC 2003 as a win in the finals, that it was as good as winning the world cup. We have a history with Pakistan and there is a reason for the enmity. What reason did China have to invade us in 1962? The 1962 Sino-Indian debacle, thanks to political leadership, makes me writhe in agony and shame. It was a war that could have been won, but was lost. An unpredictable enemy is the most dangerous of all. China keeps bullying us, keeps denying us a chance to get a permanent seat in the UNSC, questions our claim over Arunachal Pradesh, but the government wags its head in unison over the Tibet issue for China. Why Oh Why? What is the government afraid of? Another war? Total annihilation of India by China? I cannot disagree that China is a powerful enemy, but is any country in this world powerful enough to make us dance to their tune? Are we a nation that spineless? I sincerely hope I am wrong. I cannot forget the horrendous incident when BDR killed 15 BSF soldiers, and then mutilated their body beyond recognition. Why the hell did a nation like India tolerate a barbaric act like that? What infuriates, incenses and humiliates me the most is that the perpetrator was a poor, pathetic and weak nation like Bangladesh. We freed those ungrateful bastards and this is what we get back. Bangladesh has now become the new breeding ground for anti-Indian extremists. The political establishment of this country seems to be too bogged down by their vote-bank politics to take concrete measures. The 6^th pay commission was nothing but a slap in the face of the armed forces. If the soldiers defending this country do not come first, who does ? The IAS officers ? Or the old farts polluting the Parliament and the Legislative Assemblies ? There is a dearth of more than 10,000 officers in the armed forces . How is this deficit going to be compensated for ? By reservation , I guess ! God save my motherland !

End of an Era

8^th September 2003 was the day I came to Manipal to start my journey as a student of engineering. Owing to my year back, it has been more than 4 years since. And now, I have to leave this wonderful, beautiful, idyllic paradise (for me) in a few days. I shall be bidding my dear Manipal adieu on 6^th of June, 2008. These 1734 days (to be precise) were the best, the golden days as I like to call them. I doubt whether any other place in this wide world would ever mean so much to me. Time alone can answer that, but for now I am deeply in love with Manipal. The metamorphosis from an oversensitive, immature and ignorant teenager to a relatively mature latitudinarian can be ascribed to Manipal and Manipal alone. Before coming to this place, I had the knowledge of the English Language and was fairly capable of expressing myself on paper, but when it came to speaking, I would get lost. Thanks to the multicultural multilingual atmosphere of Manipal, I am fairly fluent in oral expression. This is just one the many things that changed me for good. I made the best of my friends here, and a wide variety of them too. I had a first hand glance at the multifarious India. My taste in books, movies, music and food, my outlook towards life, in fact my entire weltanschauung was moulded here. The clean, green, pollution and population free environment is nothing less than a utopia for me. The freedom and isolation from the wicked world was almost like a hospitable womb. A person coming from my background can ask for nothing more. Add to this the fact that MU has one the most happening campuses in India. What else does a student need? A good education as well, but what the hell, you can’t have everything, can you? To be honest, it was average at worst. But I still don’t regret coming to this place. And I never will. I pity those miserable fools who came to Manipal and left this place just with a degree, and no memories or friends. And I positively loathe those people who claim to hate this place. I simply cannot fathom how anyone can hate Manipal. As I am about to leave, I wish I could visit all those places I used to frequent once again. I sincerely wish that Manipal could be personified (preferably as a female), so that I could profess my undying love for her, tell her how badly am I going to pine for her, embrace her, cry over shoulders and kiss her goodbye. But alas, I will have to contend with one last look at Udupi Railway Station. I love you Manipal and I shall love you forever.