Jas Personal Blog
Posts tagged Experiences
Religion or Fanaticism?
Dec 28th
Its 2:30AM over here right now, but that’s not the thing that’s troubling me. Few hours ago my idiot box started blazing with the news of assassination of Benazir Bhutto; that my patrons is the news which is circling in my head. What would you call this? Terrorism? Fanaticism? Islamic violence? I had gone through the net and these are the terms that are been linked with this news.
Gone are the days when a religion was needed to guide the people in life, to answer the inborn curiosity in a human about its own existence, about ‘why’ and ‘why not’. The fear of unknown had called for the concept of god, to ascertain that there is a supreme being. This gave in to the urge to make others conform to one’s own views and ideology. We have now come to a stage where we see the fanaticism on rise.
Few days back it was hindutva being a concern, after Modi’s iconic rise. Today its Islamic fundamentalists, few years ago it was khalistan and there will be lot many. A closer look and you will realise that all these had a similar DNA, a common thought process. So much that the commonness is much more than the commonness of these people along with other religion mates. An observation decent enough to say that all these people are from same religion – fundamentalism. This religion is mostly followed by uneducated lot who like to take religion word by word and have no clue about the crux of their own religious text.
If you are another of my lot, then this ‘fatwa’ issuing trend must have got you by now. There are so many and some are incredible ones, that one wonders if they are against the ‘sinner’ or for the publicity of issuing authority. The latest fatwa I heard was a girl for talking to a guy not from family and that too on a phone! I really wonder if Koran really prescribes this. So in case the Islamic scholars haven’t realised this, there needs to be a movement by learned to eradicate this self-interpretation; no one else can push the knowledge in the heads of these fundamentalists.
Lets turn ourselves to shiv saniks, I would really love to know what is the vision statement of this group. Every next day we hear about some destruction or other on name of religion, but then I again come to same question – was the religion teaching about destruction ANYWHERE? or did it talk about the construction? If you really want to do something then do the betterment of public in infrastructure, development or public well being. Open as many hospitals in name of Hindutva or Jehad and let people understand what better way of life does their religion preach. But the restraint, the compassion that is involved there is difficult to come by and cracking bones, killing people is easier. So I would believe here that majority of people who are fundamentalists are just chickens who chose the easier path in life where one is just required to mug up the teachings without knowing the real meaning. Its like being lost in a labyrinth and chanting a statement taught to you by your father, not knowing that the statement which one is chanting actually translates to “take the red door to walk free”.
Would like to wrap up with a couplet that has really hit me inside -
Logon ko zindagi lag jaati hai ghar banane mein;
tumhein ek shikan na aayi bastiyan ujarne mein?
Why is man a social animal
Dec 10th
I was in class second or third when I would have read this eternal line of insignificant significance at that time, “Man is a social animal”. Since then we have read it on the walls of our schools, from our parents, in our sibling’s books, on our bookmarks and god knows where all. But all that matters is that it got etched in our minds inseparable like our skin.
It has been almost twenty years since then and I still am astounded at how deep is the meaning of this line. I don’t question the statement but I question the very much need for the same. Why is man a social animal, why is it that we feel the primal need to socialize as we feel the need to feed. If it has brought happiness to mankind it surely has brought the curse of pain even more on us. Look at our relations, show me one relation which has not inflicted the pain on an individual. Irony is that generally its not that a person is wrong or has sinned that the pain comes, its just a conflict of two individuals trying to express their own set of beliefs and mind set. So that is the reason we see so many fights where both the sides are right in their own but still wrong or catastrophic or incorrigible in other sense.
Let’s take two scenarios, first one (the only one that I will discuss) where the person is having a stereotype in mind and hence that creates a prior barrier in communication, like Americans are money minded, Asians are secretive, North Indians are aggressive, Keralites are lecherous etc etc. These stereotypes pre-program the stimulus of an individual, unlike a fair ground where you try to understand a personality; but at the same time they are helpful many times in times of dangerous situations. But once we come to know each other then the stereotypes should pave the way for newly learned personality else it comes out as taunts and abusing.
Coming back to our social selves, what comes out as the most complex part is that investment that an individual does in these social contacts. When you fall in love, you get a whole new social baggage from other side. Irony is that love is guided more by need to be loved, cared and security than a rational choice. So many may say that best part about friends is that you get to choose them yourselves, I don’t agree. Love just happens.
Most of relations will survive if distance is there, the yet another peculiar characteristic of us humans. The closer we get, the more negatives we find; the farther we go the more we remember of the good times. I guess the distance aggravates the emotional needs of above said love, care, affection and security; and the closeness brings in the personality specifics, the stereotypes. So I have come to a conclusion after trial and errors that one needs a personal space in every relation, be it your spouse, parents, siblings, friends or relatives. Inability to quantify these limits will always play a devil’s advocate here.
To wrap up these erratic musings, I present one more alibi for my question – Why is man a social animal – the pain. That is the biggest side effect of socializing. Irony is that the pain inflicted by these separations is not just limited to emotional but it oozes out to become physical. It’s surprising to see in your early twenties that how these relations can make you a power house or a rotten silhouette of your normal past. The solitude, the fear and the glumness that creeps in is analogous to a death of near one, good enough to turn you to being a handicapped. Still as they say, the life goes on. So one should pick up one’s emotional luggage and move on, keep walking. The billion dollar question then is, if one can?!
And we come back to the square one, why is human a social animal? Wouldn’t it have been lot more better had we been just animals?
Tagged!
Oct 21st
Tags, even if you try to evade them, friends will somehow make you have them.
1.Pick out a scar you have, and explain how you got it.
Ever tried making rockets in your childhood? Well I did (had written about it in my post earlier). As it they say I blew it up, just that am not saying literally, but actually! Science learnt at the cost of a scar on left hand 
2.What does your phone look like?
Looks what a typical Chennai guy’s would! My own went cuckoo, iPhone hasn’t come to India… so I got the spare one I had at home!
3.What is on the walls of your bedroom?
well well, they dont allow anything on walls of a guest house, do they? 
4. What is your current desktop picture?
Well I like nice deep eyes, got a pic of a girl having it after I added some angel wings via Photoshop. Some time Monica Bellucci does come in for a while
5. Do you believe in gay marriage?
Just a question, why do they need a marriage! I thought they had some other needs! Well love comes in all forms as they say
6. What do you want more than anything right now?
I gotta admit, its a nice punjabi style squeezing jaadu ki jhappi! being away from home in festival time surely has an impact on one
7. What time were you born?
It was dark hour, unsuspecting world was asleep foolishly; parents were unaware of the wreck I was going to cause in this world and Devil was shouting “Eureka! Eureka!“
8. Are your parents still together?
Well, just one question from my side now! The person who prepared this question, is he/she really that dumb, or this is a special effort?
9. Last person who made you cry?
Wrong channel to talk about her
10. What is your favorite perfume/cologne ?
I have somehow started liking Chanel’s Allure Sport. Liked Tommy Eau de Cologne also, though never bought one.
11. What kind of hair/eye color do you like in the opposite sex?
Hair – any color, eyes should have depth; they should speak the silent language I know
12. What are you listening to?
Gayatri Mantra chants coming from in some tent, the loudness of Dusshera celebrations and prayers have just started with “Allah hu Akbar” in background voice. (There is a mosque nearby) – That is Hyderabad!
13. Do you get scared of the dark?
No, until i see a true horror flick in loneliness ;but am angered at dark intentions.
14. Do you like pain killers?
Nopes, medicines aren’t for me. Pain gets bearable only if endured.
15. Are you too shy to ask someone out?
LOL, yeah! Never indulged in these things 
Maybe should have!
16. If you could eat anything right now, what would it be?
Mom’s hand made food!
17. Who was the last person who made you mad?
My best friend’s gf! Its a tough job for us guys I guess
19. Is someone in love with you?
Umm.. someone who trusts me and love me… I don’t think so!
And I tag Pooja, La Membre avant-garde !!
Peekabo in life
Oct 13th
As I start the ‘bike’ of my thoughts lets talk away our time, you see the people say that sometimes it happens in life that you have to take a path that you never ever imagined walking, well I register a denial (don’t really like the orthodox way of saying I beg to differ!). It has been 26yrs for this dinky soul of mine loitering around over here, and I have found myself time and again to be in the same situation. So lets strike off the sometimes, that will make us all feel justified.
Kick! *gurhrhrhrhr..* Ah finally the bike starts! Before talking to you out over here I have been trying since last week. Anyway where was I? You mean where? Two months in Chennai, and well, here I come to Hyderabad now. It has exactly been 1.3 months over here and I really can’t tell where the time has went. In case you have a girl friend and friend like a girl friend who won’t accept that, then you surely know where the time is going, not for me. It has been a same routine for me to wake up lousily, get ready by 9am, stuff myself with Andhra breakfast that is provided and then walk to the office. Yes you read it right, I walk to my office.
My office – its just about 3 kms from my home, the road starts from the garden of guest houses, slowly touching the ‘secret lake’ – Durgam Cheruvu, taking turns as the waist of a plump 50 yr old; finally leading to an uphill trail turning like an old spring. Even though the trail is uphill, you won’t sweat easily as the breeze swiftly takes it off you with its comforting fresh and cold grazing touches. 30-35 minutes and I reach my destined ergonomic chair.
Gear 1, I apologize for another sharp turn in topic, first gear is usually rough; lets talk about the festive season. Ganesh Chaturthi, then Ramzaan, now Id-al-Fitr, Navratras have started, Dusshera is in pipeline and who can forget the grand Diwali which ofcourse will be followed by birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. Lets admit, we Indians have come in festive mood now, work hurts. What the heck, we will even celebrate Christmas and New Year! Its nice to be in Hyderabad at this time, Ganesh Chaturthi was celebrated in huge manner with Indian Twenty20 riot fueling the celebrations, and then Haleem of Hyderabad brought every newspaper to talk about it. I have had it here, but had it at a wrong place and hence got beaten at taste. Let’s see what is special here for Id.
Gear 2, Wow its quite smooth, more like self switching to 2nd! So talking about all these festivities make me miss my nears and dears ones, those who care for my existence and I guess by this definition I bring my foes in too and yes, I will miss them, the challenge has gone outta life without them, there is no fun if you don’t get competition, no? But its a long long time since I go back to home, its even after Diwali so that makes me to spend the Diwali and New Year over here, its nostalgic. The smell of crackers in air itself is quite strong enough for me to go nostalgic. And with Id here on corner, I will surely miss the Meethi id of north. Here it’s more of non veg treat but above there for us it meant seviyyan and given the foodie I am, it means a lot!
Gear 4, bloody damn! Skipped the 3rd gear! Now you know the kind of jerk you get when it does this! And why not, alongside the festive celebrations, the idiot box has suddenly been showing the news about Indian government saving themselves from early election and putting N Deal in cold storage. That surely is a mood killer. Like the ones outside these Haleem shops, all politicians are like fanatic dogs, running here and there having no idea about the deal. See this -
Most of left still living in socialist world of USSR era, I am already hating to hear their laughs! What have they done to their own states, ruin them? No corporate is coming to these states as there is a strike every now or then, the comrades have always been notorious for accumulating wealth for self, Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi depicted that nicely. If they have an idea of what they are opposing it makes sense, but as truly nominated as headless chicken, left surely is a party living in 1950s. TO argue the deal they question why the PM didn’t visit Middle East and why India didn’t shout at Saddam’s death?! What a ludicrous train of argument! Most of these politicians are plain bastards! Am sorry for the strong words but they are just that! India, a democratic country ! Who will produce the electricity in coming years from cow dung maybe!!
My bike has stopped, the left tyre has burst, maybe that’s why we never got in 3rd gear! A gear too fast! Left cerebrum is for logic they say, but the bike of thoughts is anyway not working, so … what the hell!
Serendipity ‘Acquired’
Aug 29th
How many times has it happened that you are reading about something rare or you just heard about it and suddenly you see it happening in front of your own eyes? It may not be a Déjà Vu for all you can guess, but maybe…
Well something like this happened to me this Friday. Was reading a post about Serendipity from my friend’s blog on Friday morning and just then a call came from my roomie who told me that he had got his tickets booked for Bangalore for weekend and zooop! it was BOTH of us who were going now. Only prob being there was no ticket available in train!
I decided to take the bus way, anyway am not really a train guy having traveled in Indian railways for just four times now. We reached the place to buy bus tickets but was shocked to hear that no ticket was available, not a single ticket! So what to do? Plead to TT? abandon the plan or what?
As I staggered along the pathway a 26yr old guy came to me and told that he had an extra ticket, only for one person as his friend had to change at last moment. Also he had a return ticket too and these tickets were booked normally and hence were a lot cheaper than the bus fare! But the serendipity dint end here, i got to meet some good friends just coz i went with these guys; managed to be back in time and not to mention the goodies and the time we shared !
Ah… Wonder if I should thank Pooja for her blog entry on Serendipity that i read in the morning!
Chronicles of Chennai
Aug 22nd
The day we went to a ‘Punjabi dhaba’
Finding an authentic north Indian cuisine in Chennai is not very easy task. You may find many dhabas, which have cropped up in city in last two years due to many north Indians coming here for professional reasons. But the preparation still will have a chettinad flavor. Reason is very simple, just take a peek inside the kitchen, there won’t be a north Indian cook! The remaining story will be clear to the southies who have eaten a dosa/uttapam etc in Punjab or who have had a parantha or butter chicken in south! What you get is a fusion experiment; the dish part is duly gone.
Nevertheless last weekend we decided to try out a dhaba, plan was to goto a famous one – Dhaba Xpress; but then for the autodriver we picked, a dhaba was a dhaba was a ‘dhaba’; so here we land in some exotic and the chronicle saga started!
The owner must have been some marketing maniac; you could see his picture everywhere in all different poses welcoming us to his wonderland! Alice as we were, we fell. When menu came we saw this very similar face by now on the menu too. Er… wasn’t it getting too much?! When the waiter came to wait upon us, the conversation flowed as post viewing menu:
We: We will order a dal fry and…
Waiter: Sir you want it to be fried? In that case you should order Dal Double Fry
We: What is the difference?
Waiter: Sir the dal fry is not fried but the Double Dal Fry is fried
We: (!!) Then why is its name Dal Fry?
Waiter: It’s just the name sir
We: Ok!! Then make one dal fry (now looking more curiously at the menu…) and what is this ‘Punjab di beer’; if it’s the fruit beer (apple juice with soda) we will have it.
Waiter: It’s mathha (buttermilk) sir
We: But there is a Mathha also available in your menu!
Waiter: Yes sir, that is served in glass, in ‘Punjab di beer’ we serve it in bottle. Do you want it sir?
We: (!!) No, no… It’s okay. We will have xyz and Rajmah Punjabi, make sure its properly cooked and is less on masala (we dare not try anything with masala in name itself!)
Waiter: Sir in that case you should order Rajmah Masala
We: But we don’t want any masala in our Rajmah!
Waiter: Sir Rajmah masala is not spicy, but Rajmah Punjabi is
We: (!!) What kind of menu is this? Jo hai who nahi hai, jo nahi hai wo hai? (Reminding us of Govinda’s movie, “Jo chacha hai na shaab, wohi bhateeja hai; jo bhateeja hai wohi chacha hai shaab”)
Anyhow we kept our date with the food there and somehow held the ground; then in the end the waiter comes
Waiter: Sir lassi? Beer Punjab di? Mathha? Kuch lenge (would you order something)?
(we deny with forced smiles)
Waiter: Sir, kuch to Punjabi lijiye! (have something that is Punjabi)
Waiter: Sir you want it to be fried? In that case you should order Dal Double Fry
We: What is the difference?
Waiter: Sir the dal fry is not fried but the Double Dal Fry is fried
We: (!!) Then why is its name Dal Fry?
Waiter: It’s just the name sir
We: Ok!! Then make one dal fry (now looking more curiously at the menu…) and what is this ‘Punjab di beer’; if it’s the fruit beer (apple juice with soda) we will have it.
Waiter: It’s mathha (buttermilk) sir
We: But there is a Mathha also available in your menu!
Waiter: Yes sir, that is served in glass, in ‘Punjab di beer’ we serve it in bottle. Do you want it sir?
We: (!!) No, no… It’s okay. We will have xyz and Rajmah Punjabi, make sure its properly cooked and is less on masala (we dare not try anything with masala in name itself!)
Waiter: Sir in that case you should order Rajmah Masala
We: But we don’t want any masala in our Rajmah!
Waiter: Sir Rajmah masala is not spicy, but Rajmah Punjabi is
We: (!!) What kind of menu is this? Jo hai who nahi hai, jo nahi hai wo hai? (Reminding us of Govinda’s movie, “Jo chacha hai na shaab, wohi bhateeja hai; jo bhateeja hai wohi chacha hai shaab”)
Anyhow we kept our date with the food there and somehow held the ground; then in the end the waiter comes
Waiter: Sir lassi? Beer Punjab di? Mathha? Kuch lenge (would you order something)?
(we deny with forced smiles)
Waiter: Sir, kuch to Punjabi lijiye! (have something that is Punjabi)
And we couldn’t help laughing that he himself testified by saying this that we haven’t had a Punjabi meal at all!
And thus ended a great lunch of Punjab, should we expect another Manchurian invention*?
* – Manchurian was developed as a fusion of Chinese and Kolkata cuisine, by Chinese who had settled in Kolkata, India.
