Cacoethes Scribendi

Shocking Indifference

I was browsing PG and a few orkut communities yesterday in the hours following the Delhi Bomb Blast. And was taken aback by the indifference and triviality of the discussion surrounding these blasts. A typical conversation ran like this -


A: Hey. Heard of the blasts in the capital?
B: Ya. I happened to be in the same place exactly a week back.
A: Oh yeah? Bunch of morons behind it, i suppose.

And then the conversation invariably veers towards inanities like the weather, Diwali, cricket et al.It's almost as though we are making a conscious effort to blind ourselves to the reality.Even if someone does comment on the issue with some seriousness, it is with an air of detachment and helplessness. Common diatribes generally include criticism of the government's revocation of POTA, nasty comments on minority appeasement, possibility of a foreign hand among others.
Most of these hackneyed analyses are superficial at best. They do not really probe deep into the causes of terror.

The most disconcerting thing is the obdurate unwillingness on our part to address the issues involved in terrorism head-on. Had that not been the case, we would, by now, have found answers to the following questions -

Who are these terrorists?
What are they aggrieved about?
Why do they almost invariably hail from a particular community?
Why does this community suffer from a deep-seated sense of victimhood?
What's the role played by their faith in shaping these deleterious ideologies?

There can be NO meaningful discussion on Terrorism which does not attempt to answer each one of these questions.

Some of these queries are taboos in public forums owing to their political incorrectness. But yet, it is very important that we ask them. The sad thing is that nobody seems to be asking them.
A typical response that one gets upon asking these questions is -

Hey. What's the point in asking them. Think of solutions. This is a law-and-order problem, not a religious one.

This is sheer escapism. We are dealing with individuals who don't fear death, leave alone being apprehended. You can't have cops in every nook and cranny of a huge metropolis, can you?
Moreover, these queries are by no means counter-intuitive and prejudiced as many would suppose. Even if a group of Martians were to pay a visit to Earth, they would most definitely ask the same questions upon reading the newspapers!
It is indeed a misfortune that the public discourse on terrorism in our country is bereft of nuances. Those who seek answers to the stated questions are branded as communalists, right-wing nutcases, majoritarians, fascists and what not.
For fear of being labelled thus, a number of well-intentioned thinkers remain aloof from such polemics. As a result, we are not able to define the problem of terror that we are faced with. Without having understood the problem, there is no way we can embark upon finding a solution.

Strange

Ever wondered why so many publishing houses are named after Birds? Heron, Penguin, Bantam, Pelican......

Labels: books

The muck of our society

I guess everyone would've heard by now of EYE-EYE-PEE-EMM's foolhardy attempts to muzzle the blogosphere. There's more to it than meets the eye as sordid facts are being uncovered by the hour.

Found this link to an interview of His Holiness Malay Chaudhri, the reprobate founder of this egregious empire based on avarice and chutzpah. When asked by the questioner about his economic agenda, this is what our man has to say -

An accelerated rate of growth of GDP is possible through a well-planned income distribution policy, which ensures uninterrupted growth of purchasing power in keeping with increased national income.

As such, policies should be advocated, which ensures redistribution of growing national income in favour of bottom 80 per cent. This will not only enhance growth of GDP from the current around seven per cent to 14 per cent in the coming years.

Can't help laughing.Sounds Stalinist, doesn't it? I doubt if even Sitaram Yechury would have the gall to puke like this. Sad, that the task of exposing these self-styled academics devolved upon disinterested bloggers.

Evolutionary Wisdom ?

In the South, we have this age-old custom during dussehera of staging a doll-exhibition called golu in Brahmin households. The most common exhibit being the depiction of the ten incarnations of vishnu in the order of chronology. When i was looking at them, I was struck with the similarity between the sequence of incarnations and the theory of evolution.
Matsya(fish)-->kurma(tortoise-amphibian)-->varaha(boar)-->narasimha(half-man/half ape)-->vamana(dwarfed man -with stunted growth)-->parasurama(axe wielding primitive man)-->Rama(just king-epitome of goodness)-->Krishna(worldly-wise--Machiavellian cunning)........

I felt like shouting 'eureka' upon discerning this pattern.. Could it be possible that our forbears were cognizant of the evolutionary pattern of life?
Or is it just a mere coincidence(which seems very very unlikely)?

If indeed they were aware of it, it opens up so many vistas of thought. Did they know it because of rigorous empirical study(which, again is unlikely), or was it the result of the collective memory of the human race(nay.. living species) residing in this part of the world.

Pour in with your views.

Labels: mythology

Pin-up Poem

I get depressed very easily these days. Especially on Sunday afternoons in the immediate aftermath of a poor mock and faced with the prospect of work on the morrow.
These mocks can hurt your self-esteem MAJORLY, more so if you are of a sensitive-type like me.
Luckily enough, today I chanced upon a nice litte verse penned by the incomparable PG Wodehouse which should definitely lift one's spirits no matter the gravity of the situation.

Here it goes......

Put all your troubles in a great big box,
As big as any box can be:
Put all your troubles in a great big box,
And lock it with a great big key:
Crying never yet got anybody anywhere,
So just stick out you chin
AND
Jam all your troubles in a great big box
And sit on the lid and grin.

Pin it up somewhere in your lair.