How to remain physically active during the pandemic

I don't think anyone imagined that 2020 would turn out to be the way it has been so far. None of us expected that a pandemic would grip us so hard that the entire world, even after 1 year since its discovery, is still trying to figure out how to deal with it and there is no definite timeline about when we can go back to our pre-pandemic lives. One of the many challenges we face is how to remain physically active when many regions place restrictions on public movements, gyms are closed, the outdoor options are heavily limited, we are shopping mostly online, and many of us are working from home. Regular physical activity is supposed to be an integral part of our lives and it is also important to remain healthy, more so in the age where we can spend endless hours in front of a screen without exhausting our options. We don't need an excuse not to move, we have many, rather, we need an incentive to get away from screens, and the pandemic made things more difficult for us.

Like many, I also faced the same challenge, more so when winter arrived as I don't enjoy the cold weather and refrain from going out in the bitter cold. So, the challenge is how to remain active with all these obstacles. One solution I found worked for me very well is to set hourly or bi-hourly targets rather than daily targets. There are a couple of advantages to this approach. First, the hourly targets are not that huge, a target of 15,000 steps per day looks like a tough target and requires planning the entire day carefully, and if we are at 7k steps by 7 PM we may give up and not try to score the remaining 8k steps as it looks too much to achieve in a short time. However, 1000 steps per hour is a comparatively small number, even if we score 500 in that hour it's not that difficult to make up the remaining 500 in the next hour. Also, planning an hour looks easy compared to planning the entire day. Second, as these targets are relatively small we can choose to perform them while watching some show or talking with someone on the phone. This allows us to multitask, we do not have to set up a separate time to exercise, and we can talk to someone while we walk or watch our favorite show or movie while doing some cardio. Finally, achieving our target every hour keeps us well on track to achieve that bigger number at the end of the day or even exceeding it rather than losing our motivation and giving up as we lag behind the task because we planned an exercise slot which we miss every now and then due to some excuse. 

I understand that this approach may not work for all, and some of us need to find our own method to remain physically active. The point is we all need to be mindful of the changes unique to us and adapt accordingly. Also, our home design, immediate surroundings, type of work, familial situations, and even the weather might present their own challenges and we need to maneuver around them. For example, I live on the ground floor, and to achieve my target of climbing 10 floors per day I need to climb to the first floor of our apartment complex. I am sure that in the beginning, upstairs neighbors must have been wondering why they heard footsteps every now and then without anyone showing up. We need to invent new ways to adapt, innovate new ways to remain active indoors, and make use of technology to achieve our tastes more efficiently. No doubt this pandemic has presented unique challenges for us, but we are more than capable of dealing with these challenges. We know the challenges, some are personal and some are social. We all need to invent and adapt. Be creative and be supportive of the people around you. Remember, our individual challenges are unique and so will be our solutions.

Thanks for reading and please share your opinion about this topic. 

A tale of two bar exams

This year has been a crazy year for me not only because of Covid-19 but also because of the bar exams which I have to give. I gave two bar exams in a single month (October). First was the Connecticut State Bar exam, the first-ever online CT Bar exam, and the second one was the Patent Bar exam, the one which applicants have to pass to practice before the USPTO (the United States Patent and Trademark Office). Both exams are considered extremely complicated and tough. Normally they recommend 500-600 hours of study for the state bar exams and 150-200 hours of study for the Patent Bar, that too with very expensive bar prep courses. The point is they are not easy, and the applicant's professional career depends on passing those exams. 

The Patent Bar exam is a multiple-choice exam with 100 questions and the applicant needs to get 70 of them right to pass the exam. The exam is given at designated exam centers. The applicant has to book an appointment in advance within the USPTO's provided deadline (90 days from the day the application is accepted). Due to the pandemic, the USPTO was kind enough to make the deadline flexible as many exam centers were closed, and it was not known when they would open. When the centers finally opened, applicants were required to wear masks for the entire duration of the exam (6 hrs, two sessions of 3 hr each). The only issue some applicants face is the speed of a computer and the quality of MPEP (it's an open book exam, MPEP is the book on which the exam is based). When we are giving a high-pressure exam where time is critical, a delay of even a few seconds adds to the pressure. At some exam centers, the resolution of the pdf file of MPEP is not that great. Apart from this the exam is well designed and tests your ability to remember things from MPEP and search MPEP for required information quickly and accurately.

It was an altogether different story for the state bar exam. Normally, the state bar exams are conducted in person, and they are conducted over two days. However, this year due to the pandemic the state bar examination committees of various states including the Connecticut Bar Examining Committee decided to conduct a remote bar exam, the first remote bar exam in the history of the bar exam. By any standards, it was not an easy endeavor to take. In some states, thousands of applicants take the bar exam, and conducting a proctored exam using artificial intelligence proctoring was not an easy task. Plus there were other concerns like the security of question papers, internet connectivity, AI's bias in proctoring, computer availability with proper specifications to give the exam, and many more. There were multiple townhouse-type meetings conducted by the CT Bar Examining Committee members to listen to student grievances and to their credit they tried to answer each and every concern raised by the students. First, they eliminated the requirement of an internet connection during the exam, this was a big relief for applicants like me. My apartment does not have uninterrupted wireless connectivity and I am sure there are many who have the same problem as me. I was worried that if my internet connection gets interrupted I might be disqualified from the exam for no fault of mine. It was a big relief for me to know that an internet connection was not required during the exam. Applicants could download the exam up to 3 days before the exam and have time to submit their exam up to 3 days after the exam. They also waived the computer registration fee which is collected even during the in-person exam and also offered to pay for the hotel room accommodation for applicants who did not have a private space to take the exam. According to me, this was a great gesture by the Examining Committee as this was a genuine problem for many applicants as many live in apartments or houses where there is no secluded spot where they can take a lengthy exam without any interruption. The exam happened without many issues, it was a tremendous effort on many levels. Definitely, it was not easy for applicants as well as the examining committees to go through this process, but all of us did. I applaud the efforts of all candidates who passed and also those who didn't, they all put in their best efforts, some it worked, and for some, it will work next time, but we all were witnesses to a historical event.

This experience was unique. The preparation process even with the help of prep courses was very rigorous and demanding. It required a lot of commitment and discipline from my side. I could not have done this without the support of my family, friends, my law firm, and my mentors. They all played a crucial role in motivating me and encouraging me to take up this challenge. Of course, our age, stage of life, familial, and situations create their own challenges, these challenges are different for different people, and that's why our struggles, as well as our achievements, are unique. I am glad to be done with these exams and I hope anyone reading this will derive some inspiration that will help them to go through this rigorous and challenging process. 

Thanks for reading and please share your opinion about this topic. 

Commingling is India's strength

For the last few years, there has been an ongoing debate about India becoming an intolerant country, especially because of certain reported incidents against minorities and the growing popularity of the Hindutva ideology which propagates a homogeneous identity for all Indians. This perception may or may not be true, but they made me dig deeper into the question, was India a tolerant country in the first place? India has a history of casteism, and communal riots, and was the ideal place to implement the famous strategy used by British rulers called "divide and rule." How does tolerance fit into all these, what is the reason for the perception that India is a tolerant country? The reason is India's diversity, the presence of almost each and every religion or sect, and much more. Most of India's provinces have different languages, food habits, dress, festivals, literature, and cultural attributes, and some of them have their own movie industry that can even compete with Bollywood. Of course, there are many commonalities, Hinduism is a majority religion, and skin color and visual appearances are similar except for the northeast region which gets ignored in each and every aspect. All these aspects make India a very interesting case to analyze. Many places in the world are diverse, the US or Europe does have a diverse population where different people from different parts of the world coexist. However, there is one major difference between India and other places. India is neither like a melting pot where people from different places come together and begin to mix and form one homogeneous identity, nor it is a place where individuality or privacy is valued to give separate space to each and every identity so that they can thrive without being threatened by the majority.

Indian society either intentionally or unintentionally allowed the comingling of different religions and cultures, that is why I said that there are many differences as well as similarities. Different states of India despite being different borrowed food habits from each other, and their languages have common origins, even the most popular organized religions like Judaism, Christianity, or Islam the way they are practiced in India is different compared to the rest of the world. This comingling did not threaten the existence of any religion, they all exist and occupy their own space in Indian society so far. Britishers took advantage of this diversity by using the tactic of "divide and rule," either by creating the perception that the majority is threatened by the minorities or the minorities are under attack by the majority. The strategy worked and even after independence is used by different political parties at different times to reap political dividends. 

India survived all such attacks so far, especially because of the uniqueness of India where diversity was considered as its strength, not a weakness. However, in today's world that mostly thrives on a unique identity this obscure, not-so-uniform, multireligious, and multicultural identity is projected as something weak or nonindigenous, and not unique. This perception is solidified by the rise of Hindutva ideology where being Indian means something homogeneous, definite, and deeply rooted in traditions of Hinduism. This narrative fits with most of the neighboring countries of India which are mostly homogeneous societies with a single religion dominating, social, political, cultural, and legal space. India was unique among all these countries specifically because of the reason that there was no easy way to define its identity. It was not a Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, or any other religious or non-religious identity that defined India, it was at the same time all of these and none of these. I never understood this uniqueness until I left India and I don't think many Indians understand the value of this even today, that is why most of them agree with the propaganda that such a hybrid identity needs to be transformed into something definite and uniform. That's why I now feel that tolerance was not India's uniqueness but commingling was, this is because comingling is a step further than tolerance. Tolerance is when we tolerate our differences and decide to coexist despite those differences. Whereas commingling is where we not only tolerate the differences and coexist but despite our differences exchange and borrow each other's practices and incorporate them into each other's traditions and culture as our own, and still maintain our identity without being threatened by the presence of another. 

This is not to say that tolerance is any better than commingling, or vice versa. I am aware that my impressions could be completely wrong and someone can offer a better explanation than what I offered above, I tried to articulate what my current understanding is about this issue.

Thanks for reading and please share your opinion about this topic. 

Failure can be an option

We all want to succeed. Mainly because we are taught that success is the most desired outcome of any activity in which we voluntarily engage, this is true for both, our personal and professional lives. We are taught to stay away from failures, as they hurt our careers, and our image, and make us less desirable entities. However, even though failures are not desirable, they are inevitable, especially for people who take risks or proactively seek new challenges and want to get out of their comfort zone. Failure is not easy to handle, not just because it is not on the list of desired outcomes when we start but also because we are not trained to deal with failures. We are not even taught to expect failures, even if someone predicts or suspects failure we label that person as a pessimist, a naysayer. These are just a few reasons why many people think that failure is not an option. However, failure can be an option, should be an option, and is an option, especially when we want to tread an unknown terrain.

Success or failure, both teach unique lessons, many of these lessons are exclusive to each other, what we learn from success cannot be learned from failure and vice versa. No doubt, success has its own charm and teaches us a lot, at the same time, failure has its own ways to enrich our lives. The lesson here is we need them both to experience our life to its fullest. If we fear failure, the first drawback is we become risk-averse, we try to be overcautious about everything. Being cautious is necessary and is a good thing, but being overcautious makes us fearful of every unknown aspect of life. One has to strike a balance between caution and risk, it can be different for different people, but too much of one thing is not good. Also, it is important to remember failure can be an option and is an option if we are willing to learn the valuable lessons that it provides. Without having the ability to learn lessons from failure and moving on we might only repeat the same mistakes resulting in the same results again and again.

Our fear of failure stops us from changing the status quo, challenging traditions, traveling unconventional paths, and being a risk-taker. To be a risk-taker does not mean to play with fire, that's stupidity. There is a difference between being adventurous and being stupid, there is a very thin line, but there is a line, and it's important to understand that. People who take risks or let's say dare to do something different are prone to fail. There is a reason why many don't try to break the conventional mold or try to travel a less-traveled path, there is a risk of failure, and many are not willing to face that risk. Apart from teaching us humility and the fact that there can be other factors apart from one's hard work that contribute towards the final outcome, once we make failure one of the options we open many more avenues for ourselves. If we do not worry about failure we are more prone to try new things. If we start considering failure as one of the possible and acceptable outcomes we will be more fearless in our approach, we should be able to put our 100% effort and not overly concerned about the final outcome. These things are only possible if we accept that failure can be an option.

Thanks for reading and please share your opinion about this topic. 

The myth of zero emission vehicle

While studying "Environment Law" I came across the term "Zero Emission Vehicle"  (ZEV). The first question that came to my mind was, is it even possible? Can we consume energy without emitting anything? What happens to the energy that we consume? At least, the energy that we use needs to be converted into some other form of energy. The overhyped advertisement of ZEV's created a question in my mind, is "zero-emission" just a catchy phrase like "chemical-free" to attract customers, or does it really mean what it says? It seems that the main purpose of using this phrase is to create an impression in the consumer's mind that the vehicle they are driving is not emitting any harmful gases, that is, it is not doing "any" damage to the environment. These so-called zero-emission vehicles run on some type of batteries. Technically when we use energy stored in a battery they do not emit any harmful gases the way fossil fuels do (for example, carbon monoxide). However, if we analyze it carefully, batteries need to be manufactured and then recharged every time they get discharged. Each of these processes consumes electricity or some other type of energy, they use different chemicals to manufacture batteries, and these chemicals are manufactured in different process plants that use conventional energy sources. The electricity used by batteries might be produced by the process which results in some kind of emission of the very harmful gases which the battery purports not to emit. Therefore, indirectly these batteries do cause emissions which we do not see while driving these vehicles but they do impact the environment. Emissions caused by the use of batteries may be comparatively less than the emissions of fossil fuels, but this does not mean that there is a zero-emission. This means the phrase zero-emission vehicle is an advertising gimmick, just a catchy phrase with no real meaning behind it, designed and used to grab the customer's attention.

Thanks for reading and please share your opinion about this topic. 

It is not difficult to be happy

We are made to believe that the ultimate goal of our life is to be happy. No doubt, there is merit in this message. Happiness is a formidable aim to have, a happy world is also a healthy word. However, the definition of happiness is different for different people. The problem is once we are convinced about the message of the pursuit of happiness, we are taught how to be happy, we are almost brainwashed to instill a definition of happiness in our media from different sources. Some common definitions of happiness include having a dream job, a big home, a loving and beautiful life partner, obedient and successful kids, social status, vacations at exotic locations, and whatever other luxuries the market has to offer us. It is hard to resist these impulses, the projected picture is very tempting, ultimately most of us get drawn into this thinking about manufactured happiness and start chasing it. Let me be clear that there is nothing wrong with chasing these things if you really want them and enjoy them. However, I see many people who chased these things and achieved most of them and still were not happy. Based on this I concluded that it's not easy to be happy, especially if you don't know what you are chasing will make you happy or if you are borrowing someone's idea of happiness rather than searching for your own desires.

The next question is, whether it is easy to realize what we really want or where our own happiness lies? The simple answer is, no, it's not. This is why it's easier to accept whatever definitions and ideas of happiness are offered to us by media or movies rather than dwelling on a difficult quest to find our own calling. Media houses and movie makers have their own commercial interests, both are very expensive enterprises to run and need a lot of cash flow to sustain their operations. Therefore, many businesses and commercial enterprises use these mediums to serve their purpose, and who are their targets? Of course, common people like you and me. We are consumers of content delivered by these platforms, in a way we need these things to fill our need for entertainment or fulfill our intellectual or social needs. In this process, we get bombarded by various messages that subtly try to tell us what it means to be happy. Most of these ideas involve chasing something grand, something valuable, simplicity is not deemed as a virtue but a sign of boredom. The end result, we live in a consumerist society. There is nothing wrong with being a consumer, actually, whether we want or not we are going to consume something. The problem is we are not being consumers but are being designed in a particular way to consume certain things. It is not easy to resist these temptations. The main reason why it is not easy to resist is that the advertisements and other messages are prepared after a lot of research about human psychology and behavior. We feed a lot of data from our side into this system to make it better and stronger day by day. 

Is there a way out or we are trapped to the point of no return? There is definitely a way out. We must be conscious of our actions, and always ask a few questions like, why I am doing this, do I really want this, is there any better way I can spend my time, am I going to be happy after doing this, if yes, how long? Questions like these won't guarantee that you won't fall for any temptations but they will minimize the chances. It is true that it's not easy to be happy, but it's also true that by taking some simple steps it's easy not to get tricked into getting trapped in a vicious cycle of chasing that ever-elusive happiness that never comes. Once we remove all the noise around us we can focus on the real signals from our mind and embrace what we really want without being influenced by what markets or society wants us to do for being perceived as happy. The choice is ours, whether we want to be actually happy or want to be perceived by others as happy. It's not difficult to be happy if we search for that happiness within ourselves rather than somewhere else.

Thank you for reading and please share your opinion about this topic. 

You are the author your own life, make it interesting

Whether we want to be a writer or not, we all write at least one story, the story of our own life. Whether we want it or not, we are the author as well as the main protagonist of that story. It's like directing a movie as well as playing a lead in it. If we look at our lives this way, then why not try to write an interesting book or make an entertaining movie for ourselves. Also, we don't have to worry if the story we are writing is interesting to others or not, make sure it's interesting to us, if we like it, most probably, others will also love it. 

The next question is, how to make our story interesting. It depends, we need to first search for what we find interesting. We must try to find our interests, try to search for what we like or what are our ambitions, and chase them with full force and commitment. As I mentioned in one of my blogs finding our own passion is not easy for many of us, but if we keep on searching we are bound to find something which we like, something which we feel is worth our precious time. We all can do certain things like taking risks to pursue our passion once we find it, we can help others, stand behind ones who need help, be happy to see others succeed, try to make positive contributions to the society around us, spread love and compassion, help people in need as much as you can, talk to someone who is feeling lonely, frustrated, or depressed, be kind, and above all don't forget that we are here for only a short period, so, try to make most of it. There will be some pages or chapters of our book that only we will know and we don't want to share them and that's totally fine, don't worry about these chapters. But remember, every aspect or shade of our life is important, it might be a lesson for others and might save them from going through the same trouble that we went. Not only our success but also our failure, not only our joy but also our sorrows are part of our story and they all make our life interesting. The reality is that every life is interesting in its own way, the only difference is some stories are told and some aren't. That's why make sure you tell your story, most of us are not going to end up with a commercial movie or a biography released, we need to communicate our story. This is where technology comes to our help. The Internet is a great tool to communicate our stories. There are many bad side effects of the internet and social media but at the same time, there are many good effects. The availability of a platform to communicate with people all over the world is one of the advantages the Internet offers to most of us. Please don't hesitate to use this opportunity to tell your story. You never know, someone somewhere in the world might get inspired by your story, might feel connected to it, might see his or her own reflection, and feel happy that there is someone very similar to him or her. Be assured that someone is waiting to read your story, provided you are willing to tell it.  

Thanks for reading and please share your opinion about this topic. 

Four types of political participants: Which type are you?

Generally, it is assumed that there are three types of political participants: supporters, opponents, and independents. But I feel there are four, based on what I see on social media and in real life, I divide supporters into four groups. According to me, the four groups are as follows:

1. Hardcore supporters: These are the core base or the most loyal voters of any political party. These people support the party no matter what, they believe in the ideology of the party and are the most conservative core of the party who up their loyalty to the party and its leaders ahead of anything else, even their country. These supporters don't care whether the acts of their political leaders are moral or immoral, they are not bothered about corruption, internal democracy, nepotism, dynasty, or anything happening within their own party, that is, they don't see any difference between their religion and political affiliation. Many of them are willing to die or kill someone for the sake of political leaders and parties.

2. Hardcore opponents: These are the ones who oppose some political party no matter what. They do not see any merit in any of the actions of their opponents, their whole purpose is to attack the opponent, no matter what. This habit creates an amazing spectacle where someone is attacking another for doing the same thing that they did when they were in power.

It is no surprise that these two groups often include the same people, that is, hardcore supporters of one party are often hardcore opponents of their opposition. These are the people who flock for rallies, they participate in communal or other riots, defend their leaders no matter what, or attack their opponents no matter what. Nowadays some of them even become party spokespersons and appear in TV debates to create some drama and excitement for their support base.

3. Loyal supporters: This is an interesting category. They are the type of person who might question the party that they support, might oppose some of their actions, or occasionally even express dissent, but in the end, they stand with their party. They cannot see themselves supporting any other party. They are not the ones who participate in riots or physical alterations for their party, but they are the ones who justify these things as much as they can in their posts on social media or TV debates. Some of them are labeled as "intellectuals." These people design very interesting and intelligent rationales to justify the support and actions of their party. Many of these do not have mass appeal, but parties need such people to look mature and sophisticated, and these people also need some platform to broadcast their views. Some loyal supporters are the silent ones, they really do not bother to comment or say much, if they do speak or comment, they do it occasionally, but as far as their support is concerned it is solidly aligned with one political party.

4. Independents: These people do not have any fixed political ideology. They do have their principles and ideas but the problem is that they cannot find a single party that subscribes to their ideas. These people like some ideas from each political party but disagree with some core ideological issues of each party. They often offer their support based on what they feel is the most important issue for them during that election cycle. These are also the people who get trolled by the hardcore supporters of every party because they are bound to criticize each one of them at some point.

Now, the most interesting part, political parties do not care about the first three groups. You might ask, Why? Aren't they the most loyal supporters of the party? Yes. However, parties know where the loyalties of these three groups lie. They know that hardcore supporters and loyal supporters are not going to leave them no matter what, and hardcore opponents are not going to join them, no matter what.

Therefore, ideally, independent players can be game-changers, a difference between a win, and a loss. However, the independent players in this game matter only when their support matters in deciding the result of crucial elections. If hardcore and loyal supporters considerably outnumber hardcore opponents and independents combined, why the heck any party will care about the independents, as they are not required to win any elections. For obvious reasons, the party will entirely focus on catering to their support base (the current situation in India).

However, if the opinion of independent voters matters in deciding key elections (like the senate or presidential election), then the parties will try to design their campaign that does not drift too much towards either right or left (the current situation in the US).

The readers must understand that this is not a scientific analysis or hypothesis. It is quite possible that people can switch their political allegiance if they want and whenever they want. So, which type of political participant you are? Remember, it's not an easy analysis, many love to declare themselves as independent, but fail to behave like independents when it matters.

Thanks for reading and please share your opinion about this topic.

Discriminatory traditions and my battle against them

The topic of discriminatory traditions is not limited to any particular country, region, or religion, it is a widespread phenomenon. Almost all cultures and religions of the world have traditions or rituals that are openly discriminatory on its face. The discrimination can be about gender, marital status, or something else. Even today, many of these traditions are still followed with the utmost respect and dedication. There are many who find some value in these traditions, many also believe that there is nothing discriminatory in them, some even think that these traditions need to be protected just because of what they are, age-old traditions. While there can be some intelligent arguments to justify them or some need-based justifications for their existence, personally, I have not found any logical justification to rationalize most of them. I have been battling against these discriminatory traditions from the moment I became aware of their blatant discriminatory nature. One important disclaimer before you read any further, I was born and raised in a Hindu family and spent three decades of my life in India, hence, all my personal experiences are related to discriminatory traditions belonging to those two identifiers, this does not mean that such traditions only exist in India or Hinduism. People who are familiar with similar traditions in other religions or countries should feel free to comment about them, in this post, I am going to stick with my personal experiences.

I have already written about one such festival Karva Chauth. However, Karva Chauth is just one of many festivals where discrimination based on marital status exists, many others exclude the participation of widows. I personally witnessed this discrimination because I saw both my grandmothers not celebrating any of these festivals. Both, my paternal and maternal grandmother lost their husbands early in their lives, they spent most part of their life as a widow because the second marriage was out of the question for them. I know stories of quite a few widows who lost their husbands in their early twenties (some even before that) and spent the rest of their lives as a widow, but I don't know a single man who was forced to live as a widower because he lost his wife so early in his life. This impacted me really hard. There are many festivals in India that only married women whose husbands are alive are supposed to celebrate. Just a few years back there used to be a blanket ban on widows to participate in any so-called celebrations, thankfully, this has changed now, but still, there are festivals that widows are not supposed to celebrate just because their husbands are not alive. The irony is that most of these festivals claim to be about love between a husband and wife, but hardly there is any participation of husbands, and if at all husbands participate, they do as if they are some revered entities to which their wives need to be grateful or worship them just for being what they are, a husband. The sole purpose of most of these festivals is to make a wife pray for her husband's well-being and be thankful that her husband is still alive. Therefore, one of the justifications offered for not allowing widows is that as their husband is not alive widows don't have any use of such a festival. People don't even realize how insensitive this justification is. it must also be noted that there are many such festivals where a wife is supposed to celebrate the existence of her husband. But I have not seen similar festivals where a husband has to perform any ritual for his wife's well-being or be thankful for her being alive, nor men are barred from any social gatherings or forced to dress any differently based on whether their spouse is alive or not.

Also, these festivals are celebrated by many: educated and uneducated, rich and poor, in cities and in villages, within India or abroad. The appeal and popularity of such traditions are really widespread. Many men and women who celebrate these festivals know women within their own families who can't celebrate such festivals because their husband is no more. These people feel bad for such women, but that's it, they do not think that these traditions are in any way discriminatory or insensitive. Even the women who are at the receiving end of these traditions don't feel that they are being discriminated against, these women blame their own misfortune or bad karma (if not this life then from their previous life) for their fate. I never saw my grandmothers complaining about the discrimination that they faced on countless occasions in their lives. They just blamed their fate, nothing else. Most of the victims are not even aware that they are being victimized, and this is the saddest part. 

My battle against these traditions started when I became aware of their discriminatory nature. As a child, I was not aware of discrimination in any form, not because it was not happening around me, but because I was not sensitized to detect and fight against it, I was taught obedience and respect. However, the training of obedience and respect did not stop me from opposing them since I became aware of the discriminatory nature of these traditions. I am trying to change them within my own family. Honestly, most of my attempts have been unsuccessful so far. I have no shame in accepting my failure and I am very well aware that there is a strong possibility that I may not be successful in changing any of these in my lifetime, but this doesn't deter me from fighting my battle. I don't participate in any such rituals, some of them are celebrated within my own family, I am not part of it, I oppose them, but the reality is that they still continue. There is also a possibility that one day things may change, and people around me might agree that I have a point, whether this will happen or not I don't know, but I know that my battle against such discrimination will continue.    

Thanks for reading and please share your opinion about this topic. 

 

True nationalists recognize and work on drawbacks

It is not hard to notice the rise of nationalism among the social and political circles of different parts of the world. Nationalism has become the new political mantra to succeed in most of these parts. A stereotyped image of nationalists is propagated and even accepted in most places. True nationalist is supposed to do the chest-thumping about their country, shout from their rooftops how theirs and only their country is better and superior to all others. They are also supposed to protect their country's history as a glorious one and defend even some discriminatory or oppressive periods by galvanizing with some justification or even by twisting facts. Finally, the most important duty, they need to vilify anyone who does not agree with their views, if possible, brand such dissenters as anti-nationals. Is this what really nationalism means and what nationalists must do? The answer is an unequivocal NO.

True nationalists do not shy away from the drawbacks or weaknesses of their country. No doubt, they are proud of their country's achievements and try to highlight them wherever and whenever possible, but they also recognize and work on the drawbacks. Without diligently recognizing and working on the drawbacks no nation can become a real superpower or leader of the world. Singing praises about past glories while completely ignoring present realities is a perfect recipe for failure. Loud chest-thumping and shouting that their country is greatest might create a notice, a social media trend, or a media buzz, but it will do hardly anything on a ground level to change any realities. This is dangerous for a developing country like India, where a lot needs to be done, as well as for a developed nation like the USA, which needs to keep up its pace ahead of other countries that are trying hard to catch up with them. When people get into the habit of only reciting past glories and hiding or ignoring present problems, they enter into a dangerous illusionary zone that blindsight them to real challenges. It takes tremendous courage to accept as a society that we committed a mistake and be willing to rectify it, it's not easy. But courageous and just societies dare to accept their mistakes, correct them, and move forward.

History should be remembered and lessons should be derived from it so that we do not repeat the same mistakes, but the real challenges always reside in the present and future, our eyes and ears should be open to those challenges. Also, people need to remember that not every criticism is meant to demean or hurt, many times listening to criticism offers an opportunity to improve ourselves. So, nationalists or non-nationalists please honestly try to recognize the drawbacks and weaknesses of your country and work on it, this is the only way your country stands a chance to become a truly great nation. This is an extremely hard path, but this is the right path, all the very best.

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