Name Association

Paris- Eiffel Tower

New York- Statue of Liberty

London- Big Ben, the grand old lady (the queen)

India- A congested road with dilapidated cars, honking at the cow insouciantly chewing cud and the humble stray dog resting on the sidelines.

Stereotypes and name association have confidently propagated such an image for the simple reason that it’s true. The more cosmopolitan among us would scream murder and try to disassociate themselves, while the “intellectuals” would propose wild Chindogus that are just that and the nonchalant would just sigh it away. The stray dog however has recently been the cause of a bit of black humour among these circles.

The recent opening of the Delhi Airport was a matter of National pride. The state-of-the-art facility was commended all over. Emirates was kind enough to send their big-boy jet -the A380 to mark the occasion. The new retractable ramp was waiting for its esteemed guest to dock while officials and the usual soiree of airs and accents were waiting to greet the dignitaries. However, the humble stray decided to make its appearance, delectably on the approach road to the ramp. What ensued was a comical ruckus of officials running around the dog, trying to shoo it away, while a hierarchy of screaming took place starting from the CEO to the groundskeepers.

Another pleasant appearance of the stray dog was when a bunch of officials for the Commonwealth Games discovered that their living areas were not exactly empty. It seems that the previous tenants ‘the strays’ were not given their appropriate notice periods. But as they were good upstanding Indian strays they heeded to the shooing away and moved out.

The reality that our thundering economy is not inclusive and our neglect of the little things would somehow wreak havoc on our grandiose plans seems to be symbolically represented in these scenes.

Are we responsible? - Part 2

“[God] is the greatest democrat the world knows, for he leaves us “unfettered” to make our own choice between evil and good, he is the greatest tyrant ever known, for he often dashes the cup from our lips and under cover of freewill leaves us a margin so wholly inadequate as to provide only mirth for himself at our expense…”- Mahatma Gandhi

In my last post I came to an abrupt ending about how God is responsible for everything and we couldn’t hold anybody accountable for their actions as they were pawns in a bigger and grander plan. The theory seemed plausible as it appealed to your abstract mind and it also went along with the delusions which we have come to accept, until I mentioned the serial killer and the paedophile. Suddenly, a Pandora’s Box opened, filled with emotions that engulfed the abstract mind refuting to qualify it.

Let’s revisit the issue again. We established the actual absence of freewill as our decisions would be based on our prejudices, genes, upbringing and many other variables, moreover, the options we choose from, is also not controlled by us leading us to believe there is some higher power that has authority over it.

Is that entirely true? If we look closer at each decision, we realise that the decision to choose between right or wrong still lies with us. If we can decide between right and wrong aren’t we then, partially responsible for our actions? I also talked about how each decision inadvertently becomes a factor for a future decision. Zooming out into a more macro view we can conclude that an eco-system then becomes responsible for its own actions.

Recent research has pointed out that religion and its offshoots were evolved as a necessity for the human race to survive because it set the rules for distinguishing right and wrong and also encouraged to work for the common good rather than for the ‘self’. The common good often included the good of the ecology too. Many civilizations have long perished (ecocide) as a punishment for ignoring the common good.

The question of God’s existence still remains unanswered. Everybody has to have delusions to keep them going, the more deluded they are, they more happier they seem to be, but don’t be deluded by our apparent inability to control the future

“Choose to believe never inherit it”