Categorization...below, level, better and... - 17/08/06

Back to writing again after months. Why? Probably because I take GRE in some 20 days and I need to write a couple of essays in there.
So, is this a last minute attempt to hone my writing skills?...Guess no<wink!>.

"Equality" is such a funny word. There are so many connotations attached to it. When you talk of equality you could be talking about social equality, you could be talking about economic equality, you could even be talking about mathematical equality. But are any two things ever equal? Are any two situations ever equal? Are any two people ever equal? The way we measure equality is by weighing certain parameters attached to inanimate things and then by comparing if those two parameters are equal in numerical value or not. With the advent of fuzzy logic even that is a thing of past now . The more the  number of parameters we consider, the more accurate we get to measuring equality. But if we were supposed to consider two or more objects or situations in their totality and then judge their equality, wouldn't we be required to measure "all" the parameters attached? Can we ever do that? We can now break atoms into smaller particles, but are we sure that those are the "smallest" particles? In theory, definitely not. It would be reasonable to say that all we can ever conclude is that two objects or situations are equal within a given margin of error.

Now, if there are so many difficulties attached to measuring the equality of an inanimate object, can we ever hope to measure the equality of men? "All men are born equal" this happens to be the premise of a lot of political ideologies. Did they consider that the innate rights of child born to a president are drastically different from those of a child born to a couple of destitute parents who spend their nights on the pavement? And when I spoke of political ideologies I wasn't just talking about socialism and all of its disfigured sisters. The American constitution when laid down had the following as one of it's cornerstones

"We hold these truths to be self-evident,—that all men are created equal." - Thomas Jefferson

I wonder how did he come to that conclusion. Anyway, this is not an article on political science so I'll stop bullshitting here. The point of this article is not to establish the implicit fallacy in the above reasoning, that has been done long ago by people of greater asperity. So, the point of this article is... read on!

No matter in which condition people are born they grow up to be very different. The only one equal to a person is his/her own self. Add to it the fact that equality is a scale which depends heavily on perception. Even if we were to discover a procedure of measuring the equality or any quality of a person, I bet that procedure would take into account the fact that what may seem red to me could be green to the person sitting next to me. Now with that in mind for me it becomes practically impossible to ascertain the equality of two people. So, I give up trying to consider people equal. All of the crap till now was for those who might have disagreed with me had I begun with "All men/woman are not born equal, they certainly grow up to be unequal and they definitely appear unequal to me."

My perception of people is like rungs of an infinite ladder. Some can be assumed to be at the lower rungs of the ladder, some maybe around where I am and some maybe above the ladder. Remember that the distance between the rungs of the ladder can never be quantified. Or if you like consider the real number line with numbers from -inf to +inf. And if you happen to think that there are two people standing at the same number, try subdividing the number into decimals and I am sure at some point you will notice that they are different.

So, these are normal people. People whom you have assessed and though you might not have been able to assess them totally you have a fair amount of idea of the category to which they belong. But there might be (a) people (person) whom you chance upon at some point of time in your life and who leave (s) you zapped. Zapped like lying on a block of ice and trying to figure if you are burning or freezing. That person could be someone you knew about, someone who was known to you, someone who was a mixture of such opposites that you are left baffled! Can you ever come up with a category for such a person, I cant. Can you ever get enough of such a person, I cant. Such people are very rare, like a rainbow under water. Like a brilliant scientist who was mad.

What do you do when you meet that person and you are told "I demand a category of my own...where no fucking soul gets to stay...which completely belongs to me and which never ever gets rated." You write a post in your humble blog trying to explain that your "categorical skills" are that of a mere mortal and that you are too wasted trying to "discover" to ever attempt to do such a foolish thing. Oh! and ofcourse you tell the person..."YOU ROCK!!!". [:D]

 

Down with reservations - 12/04/06

Reservations are nothing but a way of creating another social divide in a country whose multi ethnic, economically divided demography has given the politicians an easy way to manipulate people. When after coming into the so called modern age every Indian at his or her own level tried to emerge from the mind set of the feudalistic caste system, it was hailed as the beginning of a new India. And this was decades ago, or so I thought.
I have come across some threads that say Reservations are necessary, that they should be given on the basis of finances and not on castes.
I say reservations are shit. Reservations are undoing what education has been trying to do for the past 100 years-Create a society free from the vices of social division. The goal of achieving social justice can never be satisfied by creating unequal opportunities. And as for those who say, that reservations are in place because of the wrongs done by our forefathers against the lower castes, all I am gonna say is, watch lagaan (even the movie makers understood this), this is not 18th century for god's sake. I say down with reservation of every kind. They are another way to divide and rule. Tell me WHO DOES'NT UNDERSTAND THAT! Why do we have to appease any section of the population?
When written in Chinese the word crisis is composed of two words, one reperesents danger, the other represents opportunity. This is our opportunity to not only stop this 50% reservation from happening but also to do away with whatever reservations exist in their present form. I say DOWN WITH RESERVATION!

Having said all that, you have to hand one thing to this culture of virus that we generally call the politicians of India. Like a bull dog they have sunk their teeth in and just won't let go. Over generations they have been able to maintain this remarkable will power, to not let go and try to do everything in their power to stop this country from moving ahead. And power is one thing they have no dearth of. They are a funny lot. More than half of them have one leg swinging over their graves. One sneeze and they have to be admitted to the hospital for a risk of heart failure. Senile decay has set in each and every one of them. What's worse, the one's at the top echelons are living their lives in their own times, according to clocks which are atleast 25 years too slow. Hey all you medics out there, fuck HIV, please make something to inhibit the growth of this virus-culture aka Indian politicians. They are all set to wrap n pack us and deliver us straight to the morgue.

I can write pages upon pages on this. Spitting poison all over the place is easy but there's absolutely no point in venting anger uselessly.

Royally conked -9/04/06

Just when one starts to think that things are finally moving in the right direction. Just when one begin's to get the feeling that all this bullshit notwithstanding something good is going to become of this country. Just when one thought that the bulky elephant of the world's most populated democracy had started to jostle after years of prodding, somebody shot it with a tranquilizer. Just when you thought that the wheels were finally in motion, somebody comes and throws a jumbo size spanner in them.

That somebody in this case is ofcourse our respected Union Minister of Human Resources Development Shri Arjun "Piece-of-horse-shit" Singh. Even after reading about his recent political stunt it somehow does'nt sink in. How can an educated person, and by education the requirements in this matter stand at only Vth class pass, make such a decision. Not to mention the fact that India's most educated politicians, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam & Dr. Manmohan Singh have given their consent to it. The missile man of India and the financial seer. One has to wonder, how ? Alright I am aware of the fact that being a democratic country when you come down to it, it's just a game of numbers to decide who wields the political clout for the next five years. But even then, the guy who sits in that position of power is a human after all. How can he make himself so distant from his own conscience that even after doing such a filthy thing he gets up every morning and defends his actions? And to think that people like V.P Singh the mother of all such bastards has come out in open appreciation of his ideological ally. Well that atleast is not surprising, after all are they not patients suffering from the same brain disease?

I had read an article sometime back. A series of questions put to an American economist (I forgot the name) who's one of the brains behind the Chinese success story. When asked about the change in the Indian scenario vis-a-vis the constant growth rate of 8% he replied that "it was because the Indians had finally discovered a way of bypassing their sick and corrupt system by satelliting the business over the head of bureaucrats directly to the US, which the whole world knows as outsourcing". I guess he underestimated the the sickness that ails India. If a student could burn himself in New Delhi in protest to the implementation put forth by the Mandal Commission, I would'nt be surprised if we see a 'Rang de Basanti' transfrom from reel life to a real life incident and we find someone doing in the HRD minister instead of the incharge of Defense.

In a country run by engineers, where engineers teach, where engineers are managers, where engineers double up as almost everything, this new reservation policy is only going to add to that pool of engineers which are classified as unemployed. Makes one wonder, is the doomsday approaching, will we see a black day in history very soon,is there any point in staying in this country anymore? Will all these fleeting glimpses of glory, of becoming a developed country, of becoming an economic powerhouse, of simply becoming a country where it's citizens would want to stay, just remain fleeting glimpses and be forgotten as dreams?

If this is how a mature politician behaves and thinks then the first amendment that the constitution needs is to allow 5 year olds to contest elections. Their baby charms would be a much better cause to vote for as compared to these shitty policies.

 

Stuart Kent - 4/04/06

My stay in Canada has been remarkable so far. One of the people who has helped a lot (unknowingly) to make it so memorable is Stuart. He's the complete antithesis of what you'd expect from an american male. At 30 years of age he's living with his mom defying the age old laws of hollywood which compel almost every teenager to break away from family. He's very friendly, a tad shy and is completely oblivious to his sense of humor. Don't believe me? Ask Rakshit [:D] This post is dedicated to this amazing guy and the splendid times I've had with him so far.

One of the most memorable times that we spent together was when we went to the bar last time.We left home at around 9:30 on a saturday night after eating a pasta mixed with a sauce of lean beef. Oh and the beef was special.Stuart had told me that the packet which weighed 700 gms in total had been stamped incorrectly.He figured that the contents column (which says how much of each ingridient is present in 100 gms) said 20% fat in 100 gms and there was 700 gms of beef in the packet. So there was 140% of fat in the whole packet,which after some gruelling math he calculated exceeded the weight of the total packet. Hence proved that the stamping was wrong. Needless to say I was awestruck. I had just seen a genius at work, unaware of his own potential and the difference that he could make to the society if given a chance. I had just witnessed what I had only read in books so far. No one can beat the Americans at maths!

The bar we had decided to go to was 3 kms from Home, Waterloo's oldest bar/lounge called Etho's Lounge. This was my second outing to a bar and the first with Stuart. We ordered our drinks and were half way through our quota for the night when I noticed one of the greatest things about this guy. He needs to go to piss thrice before he can finish a 200 ml bottle of beer, when asked about this almost supernatural talent he said in his usual dismissive style-"No one ever buys alchohol, we only rent it" Needless to say I became an instantaneous fan. After I'd had 6 shots of vodka and Stuart had had 9 bottles of beer( oh! he's fast), the bar was beginning to get empty and we decided to head back. They have a saying about waterloo's weather here. It changes with the blink of an eye. When we left the bar the temperature was 4 degrees below zero. Inside 10 minutes and not even half way home we were caught in the midst of a snow storm with the mercury dropping to -13 and compounded with the wind chill factor, the temperature had become -25 degrees effectively. Needless to say both of us had our asses in trouble. Each and every exposed part of our body was frozen both literaly and figuratively. We did'nt have any gloves and the poor guy did'nt even have a hat. Never the less, these absurdities of nature were not enough to daunt Don "The Stuart" Quixote.I then heard one of his favourite quotes which were later to aquire international fame. I had in my buzzed state reminded him that we were in severe danger of getting a frost bite, to which he replied-'Who the fuck cares?". Murphy smiled on his bravery and nature called. After looking around for 5 minutes he decided to take a leak in the open. Being an observant soul as he is he knew and told me that there was no way he could be caught for "Indecent Exposure" on a saturday night. And even if the risk existed I am sure he would have taken it because of the mountains of courage that he hides inside his lean frame and not because of the pressure in his bladder. How do I know he's so courageous? Come on guys, do you really think letting it out in that kinda temperature is a thing for the weak hearted. What if you are a little buzzed [:D]. For the rest of our way back Stuart was a little quiet than ususal and I was glad. One of his biggest assets is his art of conversation. He has a habit of ending his sentences with "eh?" forcing even the people in the most melancholy moods or in the most extreme weather to reply. Not that his conversations are boring, I think that's his way of making sure that the people don't remain awestruck and come out of their reverie which they are bound to fall into time and again given his amazing reasoning abilities.

Thawing is a phenomenon which occurs when you come from a very cold place to a relatively warm place. Body tries to adjust to this sudden change of temperature and the blood rushes towards the brain thereby bringing a feeling close to that of virtigo. Thawing takes place in all the exposed parts of the body and Stuart had warned me before about it. He had said-"Don't worry if you feel a little nauseated when we get home. It's just because of the drastic change in temperature. I won't feel it coz I'm used to these temperatures." And he was so right, he never felt a thing. All I heard all through the nights were shouts from the basement echoing on the second floor-"Damn! My ballz!".

And so ended one of the most memorable nights I've had in Canada. A night during which I basked in Stuart's knowledge of the American continent. He freed me of my foolish notions that US of A was the most developed country of the world. He told me that Canada had long ago beaten the US of A in each and every sector of the economy. And to top it all his reasoning was based on solid facts. Was'nt Canada the largest supplier of timber in the world? Was'nt timber needed by everyone to make paper? Was'nt paper needed to make tissues? Even China had started to buy timber from Canada. US of A had been beaten in the race long ago. Which world was I living in? What if they had the biggest oil companies, what if they were the most advanced in technology, what if they had the largest number of patents, what if they were most rich scientifically. All these facts which I tried to put in front of him were refuted by the single most important factor. Canada is the world's largest timber supplier and as for all other things ...yeah you guessed it right.

"Who the fuck cares!".

Having said all that I must mention here that the above post was written in a lighter vein and should be taken as such. Funny or not Stuart and his mum are the best people I have met in Canada so far. All the crap that we keep hearing about americans being cold towards people from the Indian subcontinent is horse shit. They are absolutely wonderful and unbelievably friendly. I am living with them as a PG and after the initial period of formality was over, I've never felt like an outsider in their midst. If I were to come to Waterloo, Canada again after this stint, I would prefer living with them rather than anywhere else.

 

The beginning-2/04/06

The art of writing is a gift very few are born with. The rest like me try to aquire a proficiency in it, for like all others this is also a talent which if aquired will only benefit. This first post on this page is merely an opener. I have absolutely no clue as to what I am going to write about. So here goes (most probably nothing).

I have been an ardent reader all my life. Starting from those almost mandatrory reads by Enid Blyton, Franklin Dixon, Alfred Hitchcock and the likes, I've been fortunate enough to have had an opportunity to appreciate the works of many a writers out there. Becoming a wordsmith has never been my ambition but none the less it would be good if I could improve my scripting skills even a tad bit. Modesty is not my forte so that's one thing which would'nt be in excess here.

April's started and spring is just round the corner. I am really looking forward to the spring in Canada. Ever since I came to Waterloo, I've been hearing one thing very consistently-" You did'nt choose the best of times to come here dude. Wait till spring comes." When I came here I was really looking forward to some hardcore snowfall. Having lived in the plains of India I had never actually seen it happen. But after going through the temperatures of 22 deg below zero, after seeing snow fall relentlessly for 4 days and 5 nights without a break, after having slipped umpteen times in a new form of precipitation (new for me atleast) called freezing-rain, I decided I had had enough of it. The initial charm had worn out and the monotonous whiteness, damp weather and chilling winds had started to become pretty irritating. When in november last year I had decided to come here, I could'nt have seen this happening. But well I guess it's human nature to always look forward to a change even if we don't know what it would be like. The grass is always greener on the other side..no? So after having experienced one of these "mild" canadian winters I find myself looking forward eagerly to the spring. The defiance of mercury not to fall below 5 for the past three days is an agreeable sign or am I speaking too soon?

I'll find out soon enough. Off to bed now ..my landlady's threatened to barge through my door tomorrow morning if I am not decent and at the breakfast table by 10 :-( Tomorrow's a sunday!!!

 

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