How 'Satyamev Jayate' affected me

Today (July 29th, 2012) was the last episode of Amir's show 'Satyamev Jayate.' For the last thirteen weeks every Sunday morning, I waited eagerly to watch this show, I can only compare this excitement I had with only two TV shows from the past 'Ramayan' and 'Mahabharat'. I am sure many people liked this show as much as I did and there must be few (or many) who didn't like it and must have their own reasons for it. I watched this show with my family, especially with kids, I wanted them to watch it to understand what problems Indians and Indian society face even today, what are the burning issues in Indian society, and also I was interested in their reactions to it.

Frankly, Amir's show didn't tell us anything new. All who spend their life in India know that these problems exist in Indian society (some of them are worldwide issues like child sex abuse, alcoholism or drug addiction, domestic violence, excessive use of pesticides, etc.). So, if it didn't say anything new then what was so special about this show? For me, the special thing was their presentation. The way Satyamev Jayate's team did the research for each topic, their selection of topics was very interesting and the way they presented the issues on the show was unique. This was not done on Indian television before. Mnay of the issues were really sensitive like female foeticide, malpractices in medical profession or manual scavenging and can generate quite angry and passionate reactions in India but they all were handled in very balanced way. Amir is not the first Hindi movie star who came on TV, many big stars debuted on TV and were very successful in whatever shows they did, but his show was totally different than all other shows from the past. It was a very rewarding experience, sometimes it took me back to the chawl where I grew up, sometimes it took me to my village in Uttar Pradesh (UP), sometimes it showed me the problems I faced in my own family, it was a very unique experience for me. I have seen or experienced most of the issues or problems discussed in the show that's why I can relate to them and maybe that's the major reason I liked this show. Many times I cried while watching the show, and many times I got angry after listening to victims' stories, but this show also gave me a lot of hope. The show also showed me that people want to change and many people are working to bring that change. 

In the last episode, they showed many examples where people or organizations working selflessly to bring that change. The main message it gave was that we can bring change, it's easy to blame the system, politicians, or fate for the problems we face. It's easy to expect that someone will stand up and raise their voice against these issues or that future generations might be able to solve these problems as they are better equipped and well informed, but it doesn't have to be someone else, we can fight and try to solve all these problems. We all can fight against these things together and win, and we can only win if we fight together. The change or fight has to start with a single person and that is me. If I am not prepared to raise my hand to fight then I don't have any right to complain and don't have any right to expect that others might solve these problems for me so that my kids won't face these issues when they grow up. This is the major difference between this show and other shows, it not only raised the question but also offered the solution and told me that 'I can be the solution'.

Thanks a lot, Amir for making this show, and thanks a lot to your team for its efforts and research. I know that shows like this can't bring change or revolution in society but they can definitely catalyze it, they can initiate the discussion and create awareness that can lead to revolution and it can bring that change. This show has done its job and now we have to do ours. Only greed, lust, and desires can not dictate our behavior we need to think beyond all these things. Humans are a result of millions of years of evolution and we need to behave like an evolved species. 

Thanks for reading and please share your opinion.

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)  

How to handle criticism?

We all like to hear good things about ourselves. We all like to get praise from our colleagues, our family members, and our friends. Praise or good words from others make us feel happy, increase our confidence, make us feel that we are doing something important, and in many ways motivate us to do the things that can generate more praise. But not all the time we get praise, many times we have to face criticism, directly or indirectly and there comes the problem. Many people can not handle criticism properly, they take it as an attack on their personality or behavior. It is also true that for many of us, it's easy to criticize others but very difficult to praise them or digest criticism directed at us. If we ask any person to list some shortcomings of people they know they can list many but they might struggle to list a few good qualities of them. We tend to find fault with others very easily. It's very easy to criticize, I think it comes naturally to many of us but at the same time, it's not that easy to accept the criticism. Why are we so unprepared when facing criticism?

I think that there are two ways to motivate people. First is a positive way where you motivate a person by praising them, and saying good things about them which makes them feel confident and instigates positive feelings in them. The second way can be called a negative way, where you criticize them, show them their drawbacks, and try to encourage them to overcome them or challenge them to prove you wrong. Both ways have their own pros and cons and it depends on the situation or person which one will work best. It's easy to offer criticism but often very difficult to accept it and not all the criticism is intended to motivate. Is dealing with criticism that difficult? I don't think so, it's not that easy but definitely we can use criticism directed towards us in a positive way. It's a free service offered to us by people around us to show our shortcomings and chance to know what we lack to become a successful person. It's also an indication that people around us are noticing us and also thinking about us which is very good.

Criticism can be used like an antivirus program where others scan our system and let us know some bad traits of our personality, then it's up to us to clean our system by removing them or if we want to have them with us, it's our choice. We also should be very careful and sensible while criticizing others, our criticism should be able to help another person to improve his/her behavior. Criticism out of jealousy or anger doesn't serve any purpose other than spoiling our relationship with the person we criticize. Most of the time our first reaction after receiving criticism is to get upset or angry or both. These things inhibit our rational thinking process. Instead of thinking about why we got this negative feedback, we put all our efforts into giving a fitting reply to that person. And it starts the next round of criticism from our side, and the game begins with no player getting benefit out of it.

The process of criticism can be compared with boxing training or practice. You want to give a punch so that the other person realizes his weakness and works to improve it but don't want to knock him/her out. So, it's not like a real boxing match but like training. But the truth is that rarely people can control their emotions once they get angry and start criticizing others and very often people turn this into a real boxing match and try to knock out each other. We are not here to make scores even with each other but to help each other and make ourselves a better person. It's very necessary to maintain this balance while criticizing others so that our boxing practice doesn't turn into a real boxing match. Criticism is a double-headed sword so we should use it very carefully. Once we realize the importance of this very effective tool we should use it to make things better for us as well as for people around us. Remember that everyone has to face criticism in their life at some point. Great political leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, or many other great personalities like Jesus or Buddha faced criticism in their lives at some point, but it didn't make them weak or killed their confidence rather it made them strong and more determined in their efforts to achieve their goal. We should learn to take criticism positively and also offer constructive criticism to others, by this we can help each other to develop into better people.

Thanks for reading and please share your opinion.

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)  

Why so much fuss about Gays and Lesbians?

Recently I read a few posts about this subject (gays and lesbians) at Speaking Tree, a forum on the web edition of Times of India that deals with spirituality and related subjects. Even today, homosexuality is considered a taboo subject in India. Not only homosexuality but anything associated with sexuality or human sexual behavior is rarely discussed in any open forum in India or even within a family. Things are slowly changing since the globalization of the Indian economy. People are becoming more aware of these issues, and sections of society that were suppressed for centuries are now becoming more vocal about their rights and are demanding fair treatment in society. Movements started by homosexuals and transgenders are examples of this. I think in India it's a really hot topic nowadays because of so many things. This issue came into the news recently when various courts made some judgments in favor of gay or lesbian couples. This generated fierce debate among people at various levels mainly at online forums and social media. The discussion everywhere is about the validity of these types of relationships and many also believe that it's all because of Western influence. I am surprised to see very primitive thinking about this subject. I discussed this thing briefly in my post about marriage, I personally believe that marriage is a legal pact between two individuals who want to enter into a legal relationship and these two individuals can be from the same or different sex (note that traditionally it was people from different sex, male and female). I came to know about this issue (about gays and lesbians) or this type of sexual orientation very late in my life (only when I came to the USA) but when I came to know about this, I studied this subject in detail and tried to understand this issue and related things. I was lucky to meet some people from this community and all people I met till now are wonderful human beings. I didn’t feel in any way that they are a threat to our society or culture, I wonder why people think like that.

I also see people projecting gayism as some type of disease or addiction like drug addiction or something. Really? I am still trying to find out on what basis people say that. There is a lot of information available about what factors dictate sexual orientation in humans and there is a lot of research material available to read. None of them project it as a disease or addiction. Many people who criticize this type of sexual orientation have a feeling that they are doing some service to humans by trying to eliminate this group. It is the same mentality that makes people think that it’s their duty to convert people from other religions into their own religion as they totally believe that their own religion is the ONLY right way to live human life. Human sexual orientation or behavior is a very complex subject and I don’t think any religion or scripture deals with this subject, so using these books as a reference to deal with these types of issues is totally wrong. It’s like using a physics book to solve some complex biology problem.

We all need to respect and tolerate each other's opinions as well as choices. Whatever is allowed by law of land should be respected and followed. In a democracy, everyone has the right to express their opinion but stereotyping any community without any reason or targeting them for no fault of theirs is wrong. I hope people will get over this prejudice against certain sections of society and learn to live in harmony. After all, we all are different and have different likes and dislikes. Let's live and let others live.

Thanks for reading and please share your views.

Reference:

1. Homosexuality in India

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_India

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)  

Rajesh Khanna-the first superstar of Hindi cinema

Today on 18th July Rajesh Khanna died, he was 69. He is considered as the first superstar of Hindi cinema. I don't belong to the generation who witnessed the superstardom, or hysteria he created among his fans, his movie career was already on the decline when I was born. I watched his movies on TV (on the Indian national channel Doordarshan) but only understood his magic during my teenage days...then I understood why he is called as the ultimate romantic hero of Hindi cinema. Many of his movies like Do Raste, Kati Patang, Aradhana, Amar Prem, Safar, App Ki Kasam, Bawarchi, and above all Anand are just amazing. I still listen regularly songs from these movies and even though he was not the singer or music composer of these songs his personality is an integral part of these songs..for example, Manna Dey sang very beautifully the song 'Jindagi kaisi hai paheli' in 'Anand' but whenever I listen that song all I remember is image of Rajesh Khanna (Anand) walking on the beach with his chappals in his hand....he was unique combination of style and acting. Most of his movies that were released in the 80s and 90s were flops and I don't remember any of them but it was not important because whatever movies he did during his golden era (1969-1975) were enough to show what he was...he was already on the decline when I started watching movies but movies from his golden era made me realize why he became the first superstar of Hindi cinema.

"Anand' is one of my favorite movies and I think it's his best. I don't think anyone can match his performance in Anand...that role was just tailor-made for him or I think he was born to play that role. I am from the generation who adored the angry young man, Amitabh and witnessed the rise of the Khan era, but there was a special place for Rajesh Khanna. For me, he was a unique combination of Dilip-Dev-Raj (Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, and Raj Kapoor), and I think he is the only superstar where all his good movies are also his super hit movies...very few stars are lucky enough to achieve this in Hindi cinema...his off-beat movies like Bawarchi and Aavishkar were also very successful. Today he left us but he will always live in our hearts as the king of romance and our first superstar...I remember one dialogue from his movie Anand...आनंद मरा नहीं, आनंद मरते नहीं...people like Anand never die.

Thanks for reading.

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)  

Is God really so insecure?

This article is not about God, everyone has their own understanding of the concept of God. There are many religions out there that tell us different descriptions of God and its powers and all this has created a certain image of God in people's minds. I want to talk about the general concept of God and its attributes which are more or less the same in most organized religions. I am not going to discuss specifically any particular religion or faith. If we look at the normal way of preaching in any religion we are told about some superpower that supposedly created us and the universe around us and also controls our life and surroundings (the entire universe). This concept of God as a creator and controller of our universe is common in most organized religions, the description of God or its qualities differ slightly from religion to religion.

We are the most dominant animal species on this planet and also the most curious one. We don't know anything about our about our future but we are very curious to know about it. Many times we don't know the reason for many things happening around us but our mind is curious to know why a particular thing is happening, is there any reason behind it? We have created many concepts and theories to satisfy our curiosity and these theories helped many people to feel that they can get answers to many of these questions which trouble their mind. All these theories or religions and their hypothesis about God or the origin of the universe or the purpose of human life helped many people to get peace of mind, and control their anxiety about uncertainty in life. We all need some direct (laws) or indirect controls (concept of morality, God, sin, etc.) to check our behavior so that we don't behave like other animals and maintain peace in our civilized society.

Most religions believe that there is a creator of this universe who controls everything related to this universe. This statement is difficult to prove but it can be considered as a harmless assumption. They further say that we need to please this creator and serve him (yes, him). So far it's fine, then there are only certain ways one can please their master and if we don't do this or follow rules set by him there will be serious consequences (like charring our body in fire, some inhuman tortures, there are very graphic descriptions of these punishments in many scriptures). The problem is all religions claim their God to be supreme and the only controller of the universe and one should only worship him (most of them are male gods). If followers worship any other God then they have to face those harsh punishments either during their current life. If not during the current life, then after death, and if you escape that then in the next birth. The threat looms continuously, so better to comply with their rules and follow their path. Now the big question is, can a kind, merciful, loving God behave like some ruthless dictator? Then what is the difference between God and so many insecure dictators or dictatorial regimes? After all, if there is only one god why he is so insecure about his position, why he is scared about competition? Do people even think about these things?

If a ruler, any government, or a person forces citizens of their kingdom or country to follow certain rules that are concerned with their pleasure, and if they force their ideas of what is right or wrong then they are called dictators. Do we mean that God is also another dictator? Who is kind only to people who please him and ruthless with others? If not, then why do these commandments, rituals and many of these scriptures sound so threatening? We don't threaten our kids to burn in fire if they fail to say good morning to us every day, but try to forget your daily prayers and check for the consequences in the rule books of any religion. How come God can be so cruel to his own children? Please think about it. Does God need to be so insecure and ruthless? Why the picture is painted as kind and loving on one side and ruthless, heartless dictator on the other side? If this is the best description the organized religion can come up with for their brand ambassador, they need to modify it. 

I honestly believe that all this propaganda was a well-thought-out marketing strategy by organized religion to sell their product and create a loyal customer base. No doubt that this was a very brilliant marketing strategy, a masterstroke. I think it's one of the best marketing strategies used to date. I see Apple using a similar strategy very successfully to dominate the market, no doubt they have great products and they used this strategy to their advantage to establish their brand and conquer the market. They want their customer only to use their product, and their software, and buy apps only from them. Their customers should walk on the path paved by them any other things are not permitted but rather are prohibited. Sounds very familiar with what organized religion tells us to do. My only suggestion is to think over what we are being told to do or to follow. Question others and our own hypothesis, get satisfied with the answers you get, and then only accept the things. A teacher from my daughter's philosophy class told me 'Don't be sheeple (sheep people), be people.' Don't get herded in a group, don't accept anything blindly, don't get bullied by anyone but have your own opinion, learn to respect others, and examine, and analyze things before you accept them.

Thanks for reading and please share your views.

Reference:
1. http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/god-and-i/why-should-a-god-be-so-insecure

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)  

Why and how dowry system started?

Just the mention of the word 'dowry' raises many eyebrows in India, it's a very common practice. Everyone knows that it exists and is practiced widely but still no one wants to talk about it and want to pretend that it doesn't happen in their family. Many movies, and documentaries have been made, and many articles have been written about this issue, all this was to educate people and stop this practice. This is one of the reasons a female child is considered a burden on the family, and it's also responsible for female foeticide in India. Torture of brides for dowry is one of the very common reasons for domestic violence in India. Many times this torture ends with the death of the victim either by suicide as she cannot tolerate the torture inflicted on her or murder where greedy people involved in crime (most often in-laws and husband of the victim) kill her so that they can trap another victim to satisfy their greed for money. The problem of dowry-related torture and deaths is still serious and there is work going on at various levels to educate people about this issue. So, my question is if this system is so evil then how come it's still going on? Why educated or uneducated, rich or poor people are indulging in this practice? How did this whole system of giving and taking dowry start? Is it another case of something that started with noble intentions but people exploited it for their selfish purpose?

This whole issue if we trace its roots again leads us to the patriarchy and men's desire to control women. From ancient times kingdoms and properties were inherited only by the male child while daughters used to be married in another family of equal or higher status so automatically moved away from their own family. Even in scriptures and all ancient stories there are mostly examples of the male child as heir to the family, inheritance of ancestral estate used to exclusively go to male offspring. After marriage females leave their own families and live with their in-laws, this event automatically terminates their rights to claim any share in their father's property unless there is no other male in the family who can claim the inheritance. So in this social structure, females were totally deprived of any share in their father's property or income, and they were totally dependent on their husbands after marriage. I think to solve this problem system of dowry might have started. Dowry must have been nothing but a one-time payment of a lump sum amount from a father to his daughter approximately equal to her share in their ancestral property. As the daughter doesn't claim their share in the father's property after her marriage, this arrangement was very convenient to provide her some support and relief (a way out to nullify the injustice done to them). But like many other traditions and customs, this custom was not at all a remedy for this gross injustice done towards daughters. Instead of giving them their due share in ancestral property, this shoddy arrangement was made which had many loopholes and didn't help to solve the problem but rather became a big problem itself.

There is a law in India that entitles women to have an equal share of their ancestral property. A recent amendment was done very recently in 2005 to remove gender discrimination. Even now, either because of total unawareness or social and family pressure, most women don't claim (or are hesitant to claim) their share of ancestral property. If they show courage to claim their share then their demand is not entertained, family members and other people call them greedy, and selfish and force them to withdraw their demand. But if the same treatment is given to a man, then it's injustice. A share in ancestral property is considered a right for men but a privilege for women. Did someone say double standards? Women need to stand against this unfair treatment, they need to oppose this dowry system and demand their equal share in ancestral property. Asking for your rights is not greed. If one woman stands for this others will get courage but if they keep quiet because of social pressure then this system will continue like this and they will be victimized to milk money as this has become a major source of income for many families. This is one of the reasons for the preference for a male child. Because even if he won't manage to do anything in his life his marriage can fetch some money for his family. The original intention of the dowry system might have been to provide the daughter her share of her father's ancestral property, this is not the case anymore. People now demand dowry like they demand ransom money. There is no limit to how much a groom's family can ask. It doesn't even depend on the financial situation of the girl's family. We need to break this mindset and women need to liberate themselves to have equal status in family as well as in marriage. Let's stop this practice which has plagued Indian society for so long and give girls their true rights which they need and totally deserve.

Thanks for reading and please share your views.

References:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_Succession_Act,_1956

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)  

Nostalgia-my golden childhood

This post was triggered by my recent discussion with my friend Vishnu, we were talking about our childhood days and various games we used to play as kids back home in India. He is from Parabhani and I am from Pune. I feel our generation is unique which has seen a huge shift in lifestyle, we did not get shocked after seeing television sets or refrigerators or radio. We knew about them, but all these were rare possessions, very expensive. They were prestige symbols like the BMW or Mercedes of today. We did not have any game consoles or video games and whatever games came were very primitive compared to games we get today but we had a plethora of games to choose from. I don't know who invented them or from where they came, and their names used to be different depending on geographical locations but one thing was common they all were extremely entertaining and made our childhood special. Yes, the lack of landline phones, cell phones, cable TV, video games, amusement or theme parks, and many things without which today's kids can't imagine their lives made our childhood extremely special. It is difficult to believe but I am sure many people from my generation will agree to this. 

So, the question today's kids will ask is without all these 'essential' tools of self-entertainment and time pass how did we as kids entertain ourselves and pass our time? The beauty is we never got any spare time in hand where we had to think about how to pass or kill the time. We never complained to our parents that we were feeling bored and didn't know what to do. Rather, a lack of time was the problem. We never had enough time in hand to finish our last Gilli-Danda (or Vitti-Dandu in Marathi, many consider this game as the origin of cricket), our last cricket innings, or our game of marbles, and many other things. Parents literally used to drag us home from the ground to send us to school or feed us our dinner or lunch, so busy was our childhood. Unbelievable. And that too without all any of these fancy things.

What can I say about those games that we used to play, I don't think I can do justice in describing the amount of fun, excitement, and entertainment they brought into our lives. In my neighborhood, very few families can afford to buy toys for their kids, and if they buy, the moment other kids see it, it used to become public property. But toys were never generally bought, they were created by kids. Girls were not obsessed with Barbies or any other commercial dolls, they used to make their own dolls from household items, and many of those dolls used to get married in a mini-marriage ceremony (in UP they call the marriage of Guddi and Gudda). We used to pluck fruits from trees to eat them and steal them if required (mangoes, tamarind, Awala, Jamun, Peru, and many more). Our creativity used to be at its peak during all those adventures. Many of our games like Kabaddi, Gilli-Danda (require just two sticks, one big and one small), Lagori (needs just a softball and pile of stones), Langadi (where you try to catch a bunch of players while hopping on one leg), game of marbles (only requirement is bunch of marbles which were dam cheap), Bhawara (spinning top), required minimum or no (as in case of Langadi) tools to play them. Then there is a cricket..obsession in India. We never used to watch cricket as much as we used to play (nowadays the equation is reversed). Those tense gully cricket matches, intense fights to win 25 paise match (Indian quarter, less than a penny in US currency), that tension, drama, excitement, those fights over run-out decisions (every run-out decision used to be controversial), tremendous sense of achievement after winning the match or frustration after losing it. All those incidents are part of our memories. I am sure everyone from my generation has many stories like this.

As I said our generation is unique, we saw technology taking a huge leap. The technological revolution also happened during our parents and grandparents' generation when TV, radio, and telephone were invented, and man landed on the moon. However, none of these discoveries became part of normal households because of so many reasons, mainly because those things were very expensive and were not marketed so aggressively. People lived their lives as if these inventions didn't exist or thought they were luxury items only made for the rich and elite. Sugary soft drinks were there in the market during our childhood but we used to get them only on very special occasions they were not substitutes for drinking water. Chocolates, toffees, and lolly pops all were there and we used to eat them whenever we got the chance (I am sure people remember Eclairs) but they never became a reason for health problems. 


My generation saw technology slowly entering our lives and then taking control of our lives altogether, The refrigerator came and it substituted an earthen pot which was used to cool water during summer days (I am sure people will agree with me that water from that pot used to taste much better). Water heaters substituted old water heating systems. CD or MP3 payers substituted tape recorders. DVD's removed VCR and video tapes. Computers, cell phones, video games, the internet, and so many things entered our lives and substituted one thing or the other. One can debate if it was for better or worse, but our generation embraced many of these things with open hearts. We all used many of them for the first time, our generation was the first to play video games, the first to use cell phones, satellite TV, or cable TV, and many more things. Most of them have enriched our lives and made us better, and more comfortable. I am not complaining about them but at the same time, they kicked out many things from our lives. Sometimes when I look back, I miss some of these old things. I know my kids will never understand why I miss them, what was so special in those games, what was fun in stealing fruits from neighbors' trees, these things look so primitive in front of today's video games. Those games make your hands dirty, and there was a safety hazard in some of them, we never used any precautions while playing cricket or Gilli-Danda, but still, they all are special. I will play them with my kids to show them how much fun one can get out of it. I am not dwelling unnecessarily in the past, I know these games will soon be part of history and one can only find them in some history books, but they will stay with me forever, they are part of me.


Thanks for reading and please share your views.

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilli-danda

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagori
3. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/now-officially-a-sport-langdi-takes-giant-leap/562024/

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)  

How are humans different than other animals?

We humans are one of the many animal species that inhabit this planet. Like other animals or living things on this planet, our species (humans) also went through many evolutionary changes, and faced many challenges and difficulties to survive on this planet. We did a great job in not becoming an extinct species despite having limited physical powers compared to many other animal species that inhabit our planet. Many species physically much more powerful than ours, very dominant when they existed on this planet (like dinosaurs) are now extinct. We only see their skeletons or models in museums. What makes us so special? We not only survived so long on this planet but are now the most powerful species of this planet. Humans literally rule over this planet.

I am not going to go into too much detail about genetic differences or similarities between humans and other animals, there is a vast amount of information available about this topic, I have listed a few links in the reference section which specifically discuss this topic. To the best of our knowledge, humans are the only source of documented history of this universe. Our civilization started like other animals, we used to live in herds and used to behave like most of other animals, and still have many of those characteristics, we also eat to survive, reproduce, and do many things like other animals. We have physical needs like any other animal and also show physical changes like disease, old age, and death like other animals. But, and this 'BUT' is very important, our mental needs or our mental capabilities are totally different than all other animals on this planet. We have more developed brains compared to other animals and this fact has given us tremendous advantage over other animals and is the reason for our ability to dominate this planet.

We have unique abilities of thinking and imagination. This ability of imagination adds a unique dimension to our thinking. Many animals can only think about the things that they see right in front of their eyes, they cannot imagine the things that don't exist, and they don't worry about their death. For example, lions don't worry about why they can't fly, but we humans do, and that's the difference. Most animals feed their babies until they are capable of getting food on their own, but we humans not only worry about our kids' future, we even worry about our grandkid's future. This is because we can imagine what can happen to them if they don't have a home to live and food to eat. This ability to imagine is the reason for most of our progress and also many of our problems. This ability of imagination has helped us to overcome so many of our physical limitations. It helped us to design airplanes to fly, ships to sail, and even space shuttles to visit other planets. There is no limit to our imagination. The same imagination forces us to blow problems out of proportion, we can imagine a space attack by aliens, and our ever-growing desires are also the result of this imagination. If I have to choose one thing that differentiates us from other animals it will be our ability to 'imagine.' Animals just have needs, but we humans have both need and greed. Our every relationship has an element of some selfishness in it, no matter what relationship it is and with whom it is.


I don't think there is any special purpose for human life, there is no special reason for our existence on this planet, it's just a random event and a biological phenomenon. We came into existence and evolved similarly to any other species. We are not different than any other animal on this planet as far as our origin and evolution are concerned. We all fight in this world for survival, many times we behave in a selfish manner like other animals, we try to protect our possessions, mark our territories, and attack our fellow humans when we perceive them as our enemies. We call all these things our 'animal instinct' and we all have this. What differentiates our feelings or behavior compared to other animals is again our more developed brain. We have formed certain rules and regulations to live life. We have some dos and don'ts. We have developed concepts of morality, justice, equality, and equity, with the help of these things we train our mind. This training helps us to behave in a civilized manner, show compassion towards our fellow humans, force us to overcome our selfish feelings and do many things that other animals don't do naturally. Whenever we overcome this animal instinct and do anything, we call it a selfless act, an unconditional love because we are not thinking only about ourselves or not expecting anything in return. This is a human behavior.


It is our thinking that differentiates us from all other species on this earth, it controls our behavior (good or bad). It gives us strength or makes us weak, makes us kind or cruel. Most of these qualities are present in most animals but they can not overcome their intrinsic nature or animal instinct totally but we can. A lion cannot stop hunting on their own and become vegetarian or a deer can not suddenly start eating meat and start hunting, but humans can change their habits if they want. We can domesticate many animals by giving them proper training and teaching them controlled behavior but these animals cannot pass on that information as a culture to the next generation because of the limited ability of their brain, we humans can and that's how we built this civilized society which we see around us. Once again our developed brain made all the difference. Yes, we are animals but 'special animals' on this planet, we have learned to control our animal instinct and that's how we discovered humanity. 


Humans can go beyond themselves and do many acts but if we look into the core of it we do everything to make ourselves happy. Whether it's a mother's love towards her child, charity, or any other noble act, people do it because they want to feel happy, and satisfied. The human brain craves happiness and most of the acts are centered around generating happiness directly or indirectly.


I feel lucky to be a human, I love my planet and my species. I truly believe that we humans can make this planet a wonderful place where all species can live in harmony. We can do this by using our intelligence, at the same time we have the power to destroy everything because of our greed and selfishness so the choice is always ours. With great power comes great responsibility. Be responsible, remember, humans control the fate of this planet.

Thanks for reading and please share your views.

References:

1. http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/faq/compgen.shtml

2. http://www.actionbioscience.org/genomic/hhmi.html

3. http://www.nigms.nih.gov/Education/Factsheet_GeneticVariation.htm

4.http://www.eupedia.com/forum/showthread.php?25335-Percentage-of-genetic-similarity-between-humans-and-animals

5. http://realtruth.org/articles/090806-002-science.html

6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)  

Long live USA, my second home

Today is the 4th of July, Independence Day of the United States, it's a federal holiday and I am enjoying it in my apartment while writing this post. On July 4th, 1776 USA declared its independence from the UK. I came to this country in 2003 after finishing my education in India, almost 10 years now. This place has been my primary residence since then, I call it my second home. This country is called the land of opportunities, many people around the world dream to visit this country or wish to come and settle in this country for a better life. This country welcomes its visitors or immigrants with open heart, many people come to this country as visitors and then settle here to make it their permanent home (many come legally and unfortunately some enter illegally also). The post is not about the USA or the story of independence, I am trying to look back at my journey so far in this country, my first encounter with this wonderful country and its lovely people.

Before coming to the US I had a very vague idea about this country mostly from what I watched in Hollywood movies or in the news and you can see how naive I was. The first time I saw a real airplane was when I went to Mumbai International Airport to take my flight to the US. I was really excited and also traveling for the first time alone, that too out of the country. My first airplane journey was uneventful except for the first time I ate non-Indian food. It was a Delta flight and they offered Kiwi with lunch, this was the first time I saw it. I didn't know whether to eat it with its skin or peel the skin before eating the fruit, my fellow passenger helped me with this dilemma and showed me how to eat Kiwi. This was just the beginning of many first-in-life things that I was going to witness in this country. I landed at Newark International Airport in New Jersey and passed the immigration check etc. without any problem. Again, this was the first time in my life that I was conversing only in English and didn't speak any Hindi or Marathi for almost 24 hours. My English was manageable but not very fluent (still it's not great but much better compared to what it was 10 years ago) and people at the airport did a great job in understanding all my answers. I boarded the train to go to New Brunswick and it turned out to be the wrong one (which doesn't stop at that station). I had to get off the train at some station and I was shocked to see that there was no one on the platform. People who travel by train in India can understand why I was shocked. It's not possible to imagine an empty platform in India, even at midnight platforms are full of people, and here it was empty at 5 PM! I was the only one with my luggage standing there. Fortunately, one fellow came and I asked him about the next train and how to reach my destination, it took some time for him to understand my English and also for me to understand his (accent problem!) but finally, I boarded the right train and reached my destination. The initial journey itself was very interesting and prepared me for many new things that I was going to encounter.

So far my journey in this country is enjoyable and full of great learning experiences. I learned how to communicate in English. I gave my first public presentation about my research, learned to drive a left-hand drive car, bought my first computer, and also lost my first valuable possession in life when that laptop got stolen from the lab, my first digital camera, the first time I saw a real bathtub and used shower, and many things like this the list is big. But that's not an important part of my experience in the US. I think anyone from a small town visiting this country must have had a similar experience, so even though it was special for me I don't think there is anything unique in it. What I like most about this country is the attitude of its people and their culture. Yes, the US as a country does have its own culture. Somehow I had an impression (and many people in India also think like this) that only old civilizations like India, China, and Romans have their own culture and Western civilizations are all about money, and physical comforts and don't have their own culture or traditions. But I realized that it's not true, the reason for the phenomenal success of this country in many fields is because of its work ethics, social and economic policies, and culture. I can only compare things with my own country as I didn't stay in any other country. Some things that impressed me are religion and law are separate here, and no one is treated differently just because of their religion. The social status and financial independence of women are much better compared to India. People are more tolerant towards each other's views, it's not that they don't have difference of opinion (just listen to any debate on TV you will get an idea) but I never heard of any communal riot in the US. They don't kill each other because of differences of opinion (at least in their own country). The quality of primary education in public schools is amazing and it is free for everyone. Reading, one of my favorite hobbies is valued tremendously in schools and society. I just love the public library system here. People read a lot that's why books are also produced in that proportion. One can get almost any book from any country if one wants to read it, the book collection of many university libraries is amazing. I started reading English and Hindi books after coming here otherwise I only used to read Marathi books. 

There are many things that I learned here and they helped me to become a better person. My Indian upbringing taught me many good things and this country added so many other valuable things to my personality. Coming to the US was definitely a turning point in my life and I believe all my experience here has definitely contributed to making me a better person. I really thank this country, all my amazing friends in this country who directly or indirectly taught me a lot of things and its people.

Thanks for reading, your comments are welcome.

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)  

What is the definition of beauty?

Humans are beauty-conscious and this definition of beauty differs from individual to individual. We all (or most of us) love to see beautiful things around us and also appreciate their presence. The definition of beauty changes drastically from person to person and I think that's why it's said that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Therefore, one thing is clear beauty is a human made concept like morality or religion, etc. It's different for different people, it depends on how you look at things, what is your perspective, and how you relate to things that you are looking at. There is no standard definition for beauty, one can say that whatever appeals or pleases to your mind is beautiful for you.

Today I see obsession in females about size zero figures, high heels, and many other things that are supposed to make them look beautiful. The same thing is true with men who want waxed bodies, looking like those Greek statues. To cater to this mentality there are almost racial advertisements selling fairness cream that try to say that having fair skin means more beautiful compared to dark skin? Nothing wrong with being fashion-conscious or having a desire to look beautiful but it's a problem when you stereotype the term 'beautiful' and pressure people to fit in that description. All this so-called glamour and aggressive advertisement on the internet and television has changed the concept of physical beauty totally. Females are starving themselves to look thin, boys are taking steroids to look muscular, and high heels to a certain extent are okay but if you look at some of the high heels girls wear nowadays it's impossible to imagine standing after wearing them I wonder how people walk after wearing them. Our definition and conception of beauty are heavily conditioned and influenced by the images we see on posters, magazines, advertisements, and movies. We only think a particular body shape, color, or height is beautiful all other is substandard and should be altered by whatever means possible to match those so-called standards to qualify as beautiful. Even if we look at the images of most gods and goddesses in India, they never look old, they are all in so-called perfect physical shape and are visibly attractive.

Everyone has to find their own comfort zone, with which they are fine with their weight and looks. It should be a healthy weight range, it should not be 20 kg above or below the recommended body weight for a person's height and age. The concept of fair skin being more beautiful than dark is so ridiculous and racist, I hope many people who think like this get over their extreme obsession with fair skin, it really sucks. Many girls in India or in some Asian countries suffer just because of their skin color, they fail to get a proper match in the marriage market. A fair-skinned groom fetches a better price in the same market compared to dark dark-skinned groom just because of his skin color. Apart from the dowry problem, there is inherent racism involved in such match-making exercises.

Beauty indeed lies in the eyes of the beholder, but some companies and their allies are trying to prejudice the vision of that beholder and they are getting quite successful in this. I feel that's not right. For me everyone is beautiful physically and I have not seen an ugly person in my life.

Thanks for reading and please share your views.

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing) 

Why religion is not a separate subject in school curriculum?

Religion is such an important part of many people's lives. According to many people, it plays an important role in maintaining social harmony (but in reality many times it also creates disharmony). Then the question is when there are so many subjects in school like history, maths, chemistry, physics, biology, and social studies that students study in very much detail, why religion is missing? All these subjects are part of the regular school curriculum throughout the world, but there is a very little information about religion in the school books. Why? Why do many intellectuals and governments do not feel comfortable allowing discussion of religion in schools? Why do they feel it's not necessary to teach kids about various religions and help them to choose the one which they want? Most of us give them the freedom to choose their profession, the field they want to pursue their interests, or any hobby they want to pursue, so why is proper training and choice not given when it comes to religion. It's not that kids are too young to understand the complexity of religion. There are special religious schools where one can get enrolled at a very young age and even make a very good career out of that knowledge (like Madrasah, Church schools, and various Muths that kids attend). So, it looks like a very conscious and deliberate decision not to include religion as a separate subject in the school curriculum. It is offered in many universities but not in schools. Kids learn about almost everything during their formative years in school but don't get a chance to learn anything about religion systematically. They get all the information about religion from their family which is totally biased towards the religion the family follows.

I often wonder why it is so? Kids are taught religious traditions and rituals by their parents and other family members, they read many things related to their family's religion and sometimes about other religions but they never study systematically the history and social impact of religion on humanity. We all study World Wars I and II, how many people died in those conflicts, freedom struggle stories about many countries, the development of various civilizations, and many other things. We study them as a part of our history. But somehow there is not much detailed information provided about various religions and their progress (at least in Indian schools where I studied). In the books that I studied in my school days, there was only a little information about how some of the religions originated (like Jainism, Sikhism, and Buddhism) but nothing special about their struggle and conflicts. I am not a fan of organized religion, I think it has created more rift between people than uniting them, but I didn't know this when I was in school. I also know now that none of the major organized religions were formed by the person who is credited for their creation, Jesus didn't start Christianity, and Mohammad didn't start Islam that people practice today. They just gave some message that they thought might benefit people around them as there were so many social problems at that time. After their death, their followers wanted to propagate that message and formed an organized movement that turned into what we see today, religion within a religion. In my school days, I knew approximately how many people died in each world war, when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed, why Hitler was defeated, and many other things but nothing much about religion. 

I don't have any answer for why religion is not taught as a separate subject in schools. I don't even know if it should be there or not, but I am curious about what other people think about this issue. If religion is a uniting force and it teaches us peace and compassion about fellow human beings then it should be taught in schools. If we think that it divides us, and preaches hatred towards people from other religions then also it should be taught as it will force us to think about what went wrong with this institution which was supposed to bring us together, and try to rectify those mistakes. Let me know your thoughts about this.

Thanks for reading.

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)