Ideas are Immortal

Another routine debate on religion versus science (I am getting better at it, as a result). And this time it wasn’t about the evidence, but ethics.

‘If religion is purged, who will teach moral values, imbibe ethics and hold people accountable for their actions’, was the question posed.

Firstly, I was keen on knowing how religion supposedly accomplished these (apart from my own limited personal, religious experience).

The natural, yet artificial answer given was  – ‘Fear of God’. People would curtail from doing bad because of the fear of God and the impending punishment. Ironically, all that the all-pardoning deity would have in store for the sinners would prevent them from wrongdoing. This well instituted belief of the existence of heavens and hells for the righteous and the wrong-doers, respectively, according to all their theories prevents people from doing wrong – a moral policing in place, in the name of God.

Even before I could take this ludicrous argument to debate, the whole big conundrum of this perception that is ubiquitous made me realise the ghastly reality, yet another time. This peril is deep rooted and wide spread.

The claim that religious people are in some holy sense of being holy are more righteous when compared to the rationals who dispel the existence of God, is a notion being perpetrated for a long time now. As a corollary to this claim, also the baseless accusation that the greatest villains of humanity have all been “atheists” is something that has to be countered.

The most convenient example theists delve upon is Adolf Hitler and his Holocaust murders. While this gory incident of human annihilation is hard to fathom to any human, a claim that Hitler was an atheist and hence he committed these atrocities is ridiculous – he was a Roman Catholic, and because he was religious did the animosity against the Jews, the antisemitism rose to maddening heights in him. This is nothing but a purely religious prejudice.

This being the fact, although there is no supernatural power admonishing atheists, what binds them to sanity and to live a sensible life?

“You are not not afraid of anything, so how can you remain obedient?”, is what the theists ask atheists !

Again this interrogation is absurd, to say the least, but, because it was posed I shall try answering it.

• I do not go kill another human being, or rob someone to impoverishment because I have a well developed social consciousness that can very well gauge what is right and wrong, without religion having to tell me how to discern them based on biased metrics.

• I empathise an ailing human, not because I hope to score off points and increase my chances of making to the fictitious heaven, but only because I find it obligatory and more of a responsibility on my part.

• I help someone in trouble, not because I expect the cycle to go one full round and when I am in trouble I would be served in return, only because I am a social being.

• I do not worship a religious deity or the God because I might better direct those resources (money,time and effort) in directly impacting a person in need.

• I am at awe of nature not because a religious text personifies Mother Nature as another deity and imposes stringent mannerism of worshiping her. I am at awe of her because I simply understand the role she plays every moment in my existence.

• I do not pray because, I know I am responsible for myself and no super power can do what I am supposed to for myself.

• I simply do not shrug away my responsibilities, because I hold only myself accountable.

The way Science is perceived is as if it is void of any emotions or values at all. I fail to see how this could be possible. And Douglas Adams has already encapsulated this expression handicap of mine effectively:

Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?
Douglas Adams

The awe and responsibility Science bestows us with, with its wave of cognisance is unparalleled and no amount of religious preaching can match up to the grandeur one feels to stand on the platform of rationalism.
Likewise, no amount of elucidation can clarify what we rational disbelievers, the atheists feel.

Morpheus in The Matrix, says something quite apt about the Matrix ,

Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.
Likewise, for rationalism 🙂

Sweet words and a soft voice, good nature and calm demeanor, witty words and geeky acts, meticulous planner and passionate efforts: Not because we have to eulogize you each one of us is reminiscing you on these lines, even otherwise when you were with us these were your attributes which we would ‘gossip’ about you.

It still hasn’t sunk in, or would never sink that you will no longer be here with us.

Rasinesh, we will miss you – this untimely demise of yours has left all of us in a wave of skepticism and for sure it still hasn’t fathomed.

I remember our first interactions, way back in 2008 when I was still a student studying in BMSIT. You were to do a hands on session on Drupal and I pestered you with hundreds of mails to get the LAMP stack running on those computers. I did never notice a hint of hesitation from you in hand holding the novice that I was. The first discussions we had, elaborating on the role of IT in today’s society and the essence of Free Software in this change have engraved into me and I then looked up to as a teacher.

When we got onto the same platform and we started working for FSMK, soon I realised you were better as a friend and a teammate. Our discussions about the FSMK website, your ideas for it as on today stand incomplete – we will bring life to those. I also realised that you were one of the Swecha trained activists, and you had played a pivotal role in the formation of Free Software Movement Karnataka.

Our discussions of mild politics, and literature, internet issues and technicalities of FSMK have enriched me and will find no one else to fill that lacuna now, I apprehend.

The one thing that I personally was deeply comfortable discussing with you was, no matter how trivial I needn’t have found it to be trivial and could go on and ask you about it, and you would with the same earnest sincerity and the sweet words help me out.

A silly anecdote I seem to remember is when I was discussing with you my article on Angry Birds,and my confession that I had never played it, you LOL-ed out and instructed me with the rules of it and taught me tricks to play well, giving the background of the game and the technicalities.

I am saddened for sure, but I keep telling myself that is not what I should feel about you – I will perpetuate all the lessons learnt from you, tell your inspiring story to younger enthusiasts and live with your fond memories.

All said and done,

Dear Rasinesh,

The vacuum you leave behind is irreplaceable.

Rasi

My little bird, one that stands out in the herd;
Tender toy, my personified joy;
Colour pot, and everything else that I forgot;
Slippery fish, my enticing maach dish;

Flowing river, these days my first and foremost endeavor;
Serene ocean, also that youthful fantasy potion.
Silent hum, at times the melancholic hymn,
Whispering damsel, I’ve already called your ears – seashell.

Warmth of my dawn, bliss of the dusking sun,
Darkness of night, that tinge eluding at twilight.
Sometimes heat of midday sun, next moment
you are that most gentle breeze.

Taste of water, when I’m thirsty;
First morsel of food when I’m hungry,
Can’t relent that you cause me my migraine,
Can’t complain, for, you are also my Novocaine.

Snippets of poetry in my scribbling pad,
Ideas unleashed in my blue note pad.
Complemented gray matter of mine,
With surplus in you that could fill other nine.

Inspire my reality, instigating each and every dream;
Oneiric oviyam, colouring my world with your neelam.
Won’t believe me, you are a precious girl,
Will defy you, see how I treasure this pearl.

Sitting in a public transit bus, drowned in my reading, I hadn’t noticed their conversation. A pack of veterans from rural Karnataka were discussing some matters, and I hadn’t bothered eavesdropping into their conversation, which seemed animated with vividly expressed emotions, depicted as regular modulation of their tones and bursts of laughter.

The bus conductor, after a while sat with the group and broke into their conversation. Apprehending a commotion (which gets nasty in buses), I interrupted my reading and gave heed to what was being spoken.

The conductor started  off with a gentle intrusion (to my grave disappointment, in this case) and politely said that he would be putting forth some points, which might offend the ‘well learned’ veterans ( I saw the mock, they didn’t).

It seemed that the veterans before interruption by the conductor, were vehemently discussing casteist, sectarian politics, bragging about their caste and the pertaining vote bank, which drive the political machinery in many states of India, and Karnataka is still plagued by it.

The conductor calmly and passionately (which is in simultaneity difficult for me) started admonishing them for propagating divisive ideas and flaunting narrow mindedness. “There are only two kinds of people – good and bad. What are you people talking of caste, language or religion, or for that matter any other pseudo stratifications? In the end, don’t we all become one with nature with no difference?”, he said and I was glad that I was listening to him.

Doing good according to him was the only religion, or the way of life. If you do good to people, people are good to you – simple rule of nature to live in the community. Further, don’t you realise that the politicians are only using you people by dividing you on these lines,while they mint exorbitant amounts of money?

I was silently observing this discourse, amused at the understanding this sensible man had manifested. A parallel comparison of the other ‘learned urbanites’, who would invent many more excuses to disintegrate society were running in my head. Yet again, my understanding like many other rationals, that academic qualification never can be a metric of a person’s education was demonstrated and that made me happy.

The veterans seem to save their skin by nodding like a herd to the contradicting preaching that the conductor was giving them.

Talking of the bigger picture, if only everyone were as sensible as the conductor, or at least as patient as these veterans to give heed to what was being said, the world would of course be a better place, which unfortunately is a distant illusion.

This time it is not about the book.
Reading the memoirs of Isaac Asimov, and knowing him has in a way shown a portion of me to myself, and has enabled me etch out a better me in his image.
I haven’t read any other works of Isaac Asimov and might not want to read any of his works of Science fiction even in future. His memoirs are simple chronicles of an avid writer, and what he wrote is not of consequence to me, for he wrote what he wanted to write and as a natural law anything done passionately would make the world stop, recognise and acknowledge. Further, I love reading memoirs, and I, Asimov must be one of the best autobiographies ever written.

The few pages I read from his memoirs daily were as if I were sitting with a senior but amicable friend, who was in the most entertaining manner narrating his story, for me to listen and drown into his life.

It was quite emotional towards the end of the book – like him, I too did not expect that The Asimov could die, but now the detachment of not having to listen to his story in his own words is also bothering.
I miss Asimov.

Isaac Asimov apart from being this genius, encyclopedic person, was a simple man who was mad about only two things in his life – writing, and his love – Janet. And that is so much what I aspire to be. Write and be madly in love.

Asimov was also an influential speaker, and a portion of his career he taught biochemistry and would go on to be the best lecturer. He was columnist in many magazines, newspapers and not to mention about 480 books he had published in his lifetime.

Seeking inspiration from a role model like Asimov and the pursuit of these traits in me will hopefully make me satisfied of the life I will go on to live.

Isaac and Janet Asimov

All I ever try doing is to keep people around me, the close ones, happy by being the best of what I could be, and maybe it is not just chance that everyone I end up relying on has their own motives and excuses to take me down and ride me into the worst of my state of minds.

While there is a diaspora to which I am not able to cater to their expectations because these expectations are simply irrational; there also seems to be another diaspora which feels my expectations of them which are just at the edge of being trivial to be exaggerated and find it impossible to comply. Well, of course I will tend to think I am right they are wrong. But then it is not in vain to be conscious of my vain, that I have been right most of the times!

In the end, all this internal chaos is deteriorating me and I end up wasting myself! Sometimes I so wonder why do I crave to grow so dependent on these few and want to live relative to them. But then, it has its own grander ramifications which is the essence of life. The trouble is heralded when these rough patches become more frequent than the enticing green pastures! And I sometimes so get repelled by these and might end up being a hermit!

But then it is only verbose exaggeration of the confusion I am now deeply facing with. Nonetheless, things will get back to normal, and will become abnormal without me having played any part but only being a victim, and that is worrisome!

It has to do with the way I perceive others I think. Although I am not an outright altruist, I at least have the basic courtesy to anticipate the consequences I might be imposing on others, in most cases because of my actions, but sad as I know it to be, not many look at me that way 🙂
Well, it seems that I am nicer than them, but it seems to be costing me heavy!

PS: Another instance of me resorting to writing, seeking solace and in the end it makes me feel better.

I have actually trained myself to have a memory that today is dismal in certain regards, but impeccable in others. I am glad, for I only remember the coarse details and not the trivialities which would in the end have not much of an impact on the whole nostalgic sensation.

Names, are important and like I always justify my forgetfulness of names, I only remember a name if you’ve made an impact on me. There are too many acquaintances for me to log their names, for no consequence of importance. If you are important to me, and I have forgotten your name (which hasn’t been the case until now), then it is worth a complaint, not otherwise. And another aspect to this name problem is the lack of identity most of these names carry. When I or any of us remember a name,of course, we don’t remember it by mapping it to the meaning of the word, but to the traits we want to remember in that person. For instance, I would expect that most of you might map my name either to writing, free software, or off late to signals and teaching 😛
I give you tangible options to register me in your head, and of course you ought to help me with such cues!
You got an incentive to get better now – getting into my contact book!

Dates – phurrr (thanks to masakkali:P )! Usually to infuriate my mother I say that I don’t want to be bound by time, and hence wouldn’t follow date too! Although it isn’t pragmatic, I end up remembering the number as the date, but miss the day of occasion. There are numerous such anecdotes of me having thought the date was not the day! Can’t blame me either, time is relative and my time is formless! 😛
Makes me feel eternal!

Getting to places: If you have been lucky enough to get a ride in my two wheeler, you would know that my road instincts are horrible. It might not be the best thing to let my instincts guide me through the routes instead of landmarks, but it consumes too much of effort and practice for me to learn a route. My navigational skills are worse, for I have a malfunctioning compass somewhere within me. Not a big problem, prompts me to use public transport as much as possible.
I reduce emission from my part, and buy more time to read!

Tasks, when forgotten hurt the most. This is the only thing I am concerned about. I get into numerous commitments and I usually try to deliver on time. With an amnesic attack, I usually am found susceptible to firing from my task masters!
Although now I am shamelessly glad about the fact that people do come to me knowing that I might forget and hence take extra precautions to keep me reminded about the tasks!
Reputation as an amnesiac – buys me more time!

Reading & writing: I read quite a lot, and I might be able to quote verbatim from any book I read not more than a few sentences. I would still remember the entire flow and gist of the books, for, I would have assimilated that portion into me. It helps me because when I do write, I do not want to have the influence of the writing style of other people I read, at least not consciously !
I forget my own writing, and even a week old post I might have written seems amusing and pleases me immensely to realise that it was I who wrote it!

This being the bad side of the story, my memory is awesome when it comes to words! I rarely have forgotten a new word and its meaning, or even the spelling except for the eternal confusion of “ie” or “ei”! Not just words from literature, technical jargon too sticks with me like dirt (bad simile, but conveys well!).
Remembering words is a gift sometimes, for, I can use them effectively and I happen to remember the context of my rendezvous with the words vividly and hence helps me use them effectively, instead of misusing them.

While it might not be a real good robe to wear – amnesia, I am only selectively amnesic and it is fun, and somehow makes me more interesting than a solid state memory device of 64 GB capacity 😛

Witgyaan (wit+gyaan) is another of my phrases which I came up with to manifest the missing trait that today’s education has become. One erudite person I interact with says,”Education is not knowledge, it is the capacity to gain knowledge” – how true!

If we look at our education system, starting from the KG to PG, even in the Ph.D, the whole notion of education is contorted. While laurels in academia is what is given immense importance to, there is very little understanding, or even cognisance about the true purpose of education.

Creating narrow automatons out of the inherently versatile humans has off late become the well sanctified notion of education. Well beyond killing the curiosity of learners, it is also in a slow poisonous manner killing the society itself.

Because I am deeply aware of the system in India, I am critiquing the flaws as I perceive them to be present here. Unless I myself do not experience the education systems elsewhere, I’ll have little to either support or discard the systems outside our own.

The joy of learning has been systemically replaced with monotonous and excruciating practise exercises. Attempts at breaking this monotonous stagnancy is, as expected, welcomed with hostility and conceit. A pristine vista of what education could be has been made oblivious, and a foggy, futile perception is being perpetuated.

Adding to this contortion is the imbalance: courtesy of commodification of education. For instance, the newer ‘international’ schools which boast of alternate means of learning are so exorbitantly costly that it is even beyond the imagination of a common working Indian. This being the case, I have nothing but disgruntle against these market gimmicks and will of course be concerned about the public education system. It is of quintessential importance for us to strengthen our public education system from its roots.

Without portraying this post of mine to be a mere crib-log, I do have some macro suggestions which when I am faced with the right opportunities will be implemented, to reset and amplify this contortion.

Firstly, a paradigm shift in the perception of education and equalising the importance of all domains is necessary. Technology might be driving the world (and to chaos), but it doesn’t mean we neglect arts, literature, sports or other non-capitalist domains.

The cliched ‘system must intervene’ holds true even here, but that only after we have played our roles. The society must endorse all the organs of its intellect equally, and nuture them for the benefit of common good. It must provide incentives for non-technology pursuing learners so that the imbalance is normalised.

My own personal decision of wanting to turn towards academics has been and still continues to be digested with grave skepticism. The domain I now have passionately chosen – teaching, unfortunately in India is taken up rarely out of passion, but mostly due to compulsion, and for many as recreation. This is unhealthy, of course. And what else could we expect out of a rotting tree – blooming flowers and refreshing fruits? Of course not! Brace more villainy .

Providing impetus to all the domains, holistically, and making learning as the incentive for education, and not other secondary ramifications are some of the grand and grave requirements of our times.

Education system is the neural network of the society and we are voluntarily dumbing it down!

As I have grown being what I am today, I have encountered many amazing people who surprise me every time in their own terms. Of these, only a handful have been able to multiplex themselves into me, and made impact on my life. The only criterion that I have been conscious of to allow these minds to be able to influence me is the intellectual resonance, and in very rare cases immense affection.

It is interesting for me to note that the ones I have let close to myself are all in some way or another very much like me – either in their outlook of the world, their rationality or their sensibilities, but in most cases they satisfy all these and hence are only a handful.

The other rarity of attributes that I look forward to in my peers , rather when I was looking forward to nothing, they have come and swept me away by showing unbounded affection, and I have of course granted them whole heartedly intimate places in my life. For some lucky reason or something for me, these few angels have entered my life, unleashing a dam of affection, and are willing to absorb my melancholy for my own sake. As yet there have been just two to be precise who fit this category and I miss the second person, immensely 🙂

The nature of these two category of people although is extreme, there is very little difference in the roles I have let them play in my life. Fortunate I have been to have known these mindful hearts and  the heartiful minds, helping me drive through the crests and troughs of my mild struggle that is in my life.

The only thing that I repent of all my childhood, and that I could have averted is that I did not read – read books!
The only thing, now, when I am able to earn and it makes me happy about it is that I can buy books – loads of books!

I started reading late, really late. The dusk years of my teenage is when I started reading. In effect then, I have wasted at the least ten years of my life without reading, and that is a big lacuna, which I am trying to compensate ever since I late-started, by reading and also by scribbling my own words and daring it enough to call it as writing.

The reading I speak of in this post is not the newspapers, magazines or academic books – those of course I have been doing, but of the books which are tunnels into the minds of some of the greatest thinkers ever, a lens to look through the worlds as envisaged by the most radical of people, the scribblings of those strikes of geniuses, and the word play of some deeply adorable people. These when encapsulated in a book, and the experience of flipping each of the pages and reading them is one of those irreplaceable pleasures of life.

Being lost in reading is again a bliss only a few lucky ones can savour. To know not the passing of time, the changing ambiance around or missing buses in commute : It is a gift to be able to drown in books.
The constant dilemma of giving up the current slow read for the sake of the latest inclusion in my collection, is the toughest to fight against and I succumb to it most of the times – although I do get back to the previous one. There have been only two or three books which I have taken up and still not completed reading them.

The dizzying blossom book house, Bangalore

And it is not that I read anything and everything! Reading trash literature is showing disrespect to the act of reading itself, for it encourages more people to write trash. While I intend to keep this post positive, let me not delve into the nature of this trash literature – that critiquing I shall save for another future post.

First book (non fiction)

The first book I to took up for reading and assimilating into me was The Seven habits of highly effective people by Stephen R Covey. Although now it seems silly to me, I think it was a good start and I did assimilate somethings into me. If not anything principally, the word ‘paradigm’ stuck to me from this book. And it is one of my favourite words.

First book (fiction)

The Alchemist was I think the first fiction book I ended up reading and ever since I have tried almost all genres and still would resort to non-fiction as my favourite, unless it is something extraordinarily written, about which I will have more to say in the next paragraphs. Paulo Coelho’s only book I have read is The Alchemist and I remember it for the simple narrative and soothing literature throughout. That I did not pursue more of his books would manifest my perception of the fantasy – destiny – fate tales which are written in a wide variety.

Best book (non fiction)

Non-fiction as a genre in its entirety is what I relish. I aspire to write something vague at least in the near future and as I see myself, I would be comfortable writing non-fiction.

In this regard, there are quite a few books which are my favourites. Memoirs as a whole are the best literature to me. And The Motorcycle Diaries, as expected of me is my favoruite book. This is a book I love it for its simplicity and the transparency that Ernesto Guevara exhibits, for us the readers to witness the birth of Che in him.

Best book (fiction)

Although fiction is harder to write than non-fiction, fiction works impress me lesser, because maybe they leave me less inspired. There is abundant inspiration in them, but the fact that it is not real somehow weakens their impact in me. It might seem silly, but I think I subconsciously end up being skeptical of the inspiration I could absorb in these works.

Nonetheless, there are some works of geniuses which are hard to be immune to. I would have two books to mention here:

1984 by George Orwell : I think it is one of those really agonsing books one could ever read. Negativity throughout, yet so believable. The details of the dystopia Orwell brings to life leave one stirred and disturbed. Deeply moved by this book, I did write a piece myself about the future of the Internet.

The Picture of Dorian Gray: This book maybe because it is the only novel by Oscar Wilde and that I am such a big admirer of him. The book is garnished with some of the best lines ever written and one cannot  be more witty, and at the same time as sharp at criticising the society as Oscar Wilde.This masterpiece is again, not a happy story, but I think I prefer negativity in fiction and inspiration in non-fiction. This book is one of the best fiction works ever written.

Most powerful book

I did not want to fit this book in any other category than being the most powerful book I have read, and it did have tremendous impact on me. Made me stronger, independent, rational and left me confused.

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, for all the bashing it gets is still one book I admire not for the individualist principles she preaches in her works. But for the strong portrayal of characters she etches out. I have aspired to be the Howard Roark, and the John Galt, but not as the ruthless ones she portrays.

I like to look at myself as an individualist at mind, and a socialist at heart. Now this might seem super contradicting, but I think I like the blend and it has immensely bettered me in all regards.

As a person, I would of course never want to compromise on my abilities for whatever reason, but I will use these for the world around me to get better. That is the individualist at mind and socialist at heart in me.

Love books

Not the romantic books I speak of, but my romance of books. I barely noticed this obsession in me, but when I could look up and take notice of it, I already had a tangible collection of varied literature – had grown obsessed over it and now I treasure it.

I will forever be the puritan and can never let go the the tangible books for the electronic versions, at any cost. Another small nuance of my reading habit is that I never like to let go a book I have read myself. So, I do not hire books from libraries – the sensation of that separation is bad for the reader in me. Appending to this trait is also my reluctance to borrow books, and the couple of books I have borrowed have not been returned 😛

Until for long I was very hesitant to lend my books, but now with the new diaspora I interact with it has become necessary and even with my frail memory I keep track of them and never miss one!
So, if you have one of my books, I know you have it and if you are done reading do return it to me 😀

Reading, and now writing are as I see going to be my companions through all phases of my life, and with every lesson I learn about the weaknesses of dependence I rely more on these sources to yield me respite, motivation, strength and just the fuel to carry on, not just carry on but to propel like I always do.

Ideas are immortal, but they are kept alive through reading and writing.

The Mantra : ideas are immortal