The century of the self

Just finished watching Adam Curtis's documentary about the history of psychoanalysis , public relations , Freud and how all of them define the world as we know it today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCu1jBLbthk&feature=share

The 4 hour documentary was too much of a information overload for me and so I decided to start writing down a blog on it so as to be able to wrap my head around all the ideas that the documentary talks about.

Here are a couple of themes that I thought were important in the documentary

The documentary focuses on two studies about what actually drives humans to do things a certain way in life . Hundreds of psychoanalysts have worked on this over the last century and there are two predominant theories -

1) Humans are actually driven by the irrational desires such as sex , power and other animal instincts. Very few of them have the consciousness to be aware of these underlying desires and are able to overcome them to make rational decisions. Freud proposed this theory and he came to believe it more and more after seeing how people behaved during the world war . Nothing else could justify soldiers burning women and innocent children alive in gas chambers, other than the fact that most of people in the Nazi Germany were driven by a irrational desire for power over other humans. Freud and his followers believed that until and unless masses were not taught how to control these irrational desires there would always be a possibility of them being driven by these desires which would eventually lead to a unruly state of affairs . Based on this philosophy a bunch of psychoanalysts set down to the task of understanding the dark side of humans and exposing it so that they can be aware of it and avoid these desires from playing out in the open.

2) Anti - Freudians believed in exactly the opposite philosophy , the animal instincts that humans had were a part of being human and they should be embraced and not shunned. This was the start of the hippie generation of the 60s where open sex , open expression of emotions was encouraged. Each individual was considered a separate entity and the individual's desires were paramount in ensuring his happiness and as a result happiness of the entire society. People were asked not to suppress their emotions because only then would they achieve the ultimate liberation. The post 60s era till now has been focused primarily on the individual and his desires , they are no longer considered as irrational desires.

The interesting part of the documentary was actually how all of these theories have been used by the Big American Corporations to influence people's irrational minds to promote businesses.

During the Freud era , led by his nephew Edward , public relations came into being for the first time in the corporate world and with that came the world of advertising. Cigarette ads that showed men as masculine and lingerie ads that brought out woman's sexuality . The idea was that although people would not like to say openly, they actually were driven by their hidden sexual desires when purchasing items.

Then came the era of individual self in the 60s and the corporations then took on to that bandwagon . Corporates catered unique items to unique individuals so that they could use it to express their individuality. These liberated souls believed that they were making these choices out of their own thought process but in the background the corporate was actually working on their minds to convince them that only by carrying around certain material objects could people express their individuality.

The influence of the PR did not stop with corporations , it even went into politics , politicians started using statements that would appeal to the inner desires of the masses because that is the only thing that seemed to sell . Great ideas such as universal health care or increasing taxes did not go well with the new individualistic people , because they believed that a idea was only worth pursuing if it was going to give them individual happiness. So no matter how much debt the economy was in , increasing taxes was something which never got any votes from the masses , from their individual perspective , it made no sense.

So why d0 I think this documentary was important ? It is because each one of us in our own way is trying to find a meaning to being human and find the right way of leading the most fulfilling life but the problem with that is there are a lot of forces lurking out there which can influence what your chosen path in life is. If you believe Freud and think you should not let your animal instincts rule you , you can actually end up suppressing them instead of getting rid of them and unknowingly your hidden desires can still continue to rule your life.

If you are a part of the other camp which believes in the power of the individual you can fall prey to instant gratification because in the shorter term that might seem to guarantee maximum liberation.

Lets take a example , there a lot of theories on how humans are not monogamous creatures and the society is actually forcing the idea on us . As a result of forcing marriage on people we force them to suppress their desire to have sex with multiple partners which eventually shows up as frustration in other areas of life .

The other side of the story is open relationships were you have sex with anyone that you feel like getting involved with. Although this guarantees immediate gratification , it mostly does not guarantee a manageable social structure.

Same holds true for journalism , what should you present in newspapers. Sensible journalism that does not show all the crap that happens in the world or show all the crap that happens around and pitch it by saying that people are intelligent enough to choose for themselves.

We are all a product in some or the other way of the 1960s individual, consumerist generation and like the recent collapse of the economic system showed us , just catering to the desires of the masses although maybe a great PR stunt but in the longer run is good for no one. We need to think about these questions deeply , look at the hidden influences in our lives and see which way should each of us lead our lives .

The Gandhian legacy !!

Over the past year or so I have been keenly aware of the power that is being vested on the common man all over the world to finally come out and make his word heard . Power to mark a change is shifting from the hands of the select few to the masses . It all started in Egypt , then came Iran , Libya and finally India .

It feels great to watch history when it is being created rather than try and imagine it through videos , books or movies. As I was watching the protests in Egypt and Iran , I was wondering if India would ever have a such a revolt and if so what would it look like . The difference between these regimes and India is that the former were dictatorial regimes where the common man had very little say and every little attempt at freedom of speech was curbed down . India on the other hand is very different , we do have freedom of speech , ours is not a dictatorial regime and secular forces rule in India , there is very little Moral policing if any .

So my first thought when the Anna Hazare phenomenon hit India was that the realization that the power of change lies with the common man has finally hit India and as I watched with great interest the unfolding of this massive change phenomenon , one thing that struck me was the Gandhianess of all of it . And I am not exactly talking about the Satyagraha part of it here but the fact that a protest could be done in a peaceful manner and the fact that democracy and freedom of speech still prevail in India. Leaving aside the one stupid attempt by the Govt. to arrest Anna Hazare , overall the change was brought about only by the power of language and discussion and not by the use of military power. And no matter how much we blame the Indian govt on most accounts , I have to give them the credit for keeping up the spirit of democracy and not resorting to the use of military power to kill the protests . We might not think of that as a big achievement but if we were to just look around ourselves , most of the world right now is under shackles of a few power hungry people and things like peaceful protests are a far cry for most of the people around the world . Any attempt to protest usually would either land them in jail or have the death sentence written over them.

This reminded me of something that I read in the Biography of the Myanmar leader Aung Sang Su Kyi long time back . She was asked why was she resolving to the methods of non - violence in her country when it was clear that it was not bringing about a change in a quick enough manner and why was she not considering overthrowing the current regime by the use of power and she replied " I do not want to set a precedent where people would think that use of military power is the only way around any problem in their lives , that was the issue with the earlier revolution in the country , all the power was put in the hands of the military and eventually the military came to believe that might is stronger than anything else in this world".

So on this day my jubilation is more about the affirmation that democracy and peaceful protests are the one and only way to ever bring out a every lasting change in any system and we have to thank our Father of the Nation for having set this precedent for all of us .

Awareness vs Sensitivity

Yesterday was one of the days when you sit down for dinner with a bunch of new people and you are thrown into a totally new world of possibilities and ideas that you never would have experienced before. Karin's ( my host ) place is always the abode for great learnings and good food .. and yesterday was no different . I met Vipin and his wife Bhavya , along with Karin , Bob and Paul , with my special guest of the evening , Nimisha , who had decided to finally give Minneapolis a chance after 3 years of begging and pleading .

Sachin usually arouses a reverence , curiosity and extreeme desire to imitate in a lot of people . Now why the hell am I talking about Sachin , coz for me any grass root social worker evokes the same set of desires , partly due to my life long desire to be one . My love for Math , as I explained to Vipin yesterday is the only force that is stopping me from taking up that path .

Ok , not trying to divert from the topic , as soon as I learnt that Vipin is a social worker who works with child abuse and child rights , I fell right into the groove of asking my zillion questions . How does it work , why did he choose it , how difficult is the system , what methods do they employ etc . Vipin graciously skipped Karin's lovely dinner and answered all my questions .

I decided if I have to do justice to the learnings yesterday , I got to put them down in the blog so that I remember the words later on .

The main theme of Vipin's experience was how people often confuse awareness from sensitivity particularly in respect to human rights . He gave a really good example . Awareness is when you eat a chocolate and you know that throwing the wrapper on the road will dirty the road , sensitivity is actually when you do not throw the wrapper down and instead put it back into your pocket because you realize its your responsibility to make the road dirty .

Vipin went on to explain that when you see the plight of the children , you are really moved and you want the police officers and the government to immediately take steps to move it . Unfortunately it does not work like that because the other side does not share your sensitivity towards the issue and there could be a lot of reasons for them to behave that way . One is that they are just cold hearted and such things do not affect them , another could be that children cases dnt get them much mileage(votes) and thus little chances of promotion and lastly it could just be that they are busy and do not have time to handle this case right now .

Vipin said there are lot of social workers and other people right now who get really let down by the insensitivity on the part of the civil servants but the important thing for them to understand is that they cannot make another person sensitive to anything , all they can do is increase the person's awareness and hope that one of these days something will happen which will increase the person's sensitivity towards the issue . So he works a lot on training social workers on how to use Law and Psychological techniques to increase the awareness of police inspectors etc . He says you have to give examples that bring the story close to an officer's heart , only then can you expect a real change . One of the most heart wrenching examples was of a young girl who had been in a sexual abuse case , she kept getting interviewed again and again by everyone out there , no one seemed to have the sensitivity to understand that each time they asked the girl the story , she would have to go through the pain again . Finally Vipin shut the ACP's mouth by asking him to narrate his first night to everyone out there , the ACP was taken aback , he got angry because the question was inappropriate . That was when Vipin got back at him and asked him if your find it inappropriate to talk about it , how on earth do you think the young girl who has been through such a painful experience talk about her story . That was the precise moment when the awareness in the ACP turned into sensitivity.

He went on to give examples of a lot of children and the challenges that they face . How children on the railway stations once they become part of gangs and get used to the life on the platforms do not want to go to rescue homes and study any more because all they see the benefits of their current lifestyle and no matter what you cannot convince them that this will not last in the longer run . A typical day in the life of these railway kids goes something like this , they will all gather in one corner with a load of bread , butter and jam , share it with each other and throw the rest to the monkeys . Wondering where they got this food from and why do they throw it away. They get the food from the early morning Rajdhani and they dnt really need it because there is another train coming in at lunch and another one for dinner .

Another example he gave was of unthought govt policies . The govt realocated a slum on the banks of yamuna because it was causing the city to look bad and polluting the river . They gave them new homes some 50 miles away but it so turned out that most people who used to work as maid servants now had to travel 100 miles everyday which reduced the number of houses they could work in and inturn their income . There was no school at the new place so the kids stopped studying and as a results child abuse and assault cases went up .

We then moved on to the topic of NGO boom in India , it turns out that 20 NGOs work on the same railway station in Delhi . It is pretty clear that instead of causing a positive impact these NGOs just end up creating a havoc . The kids are also really smart ,they know which NGO to get food in , which one will give money etc . No sustainable change can be created in this way .

There are a lot well intentioned people out there , not as much as the ill intentioned ones , still enough to cause a change . But the problem is that one man's idea might not be the best in terms of creating a sustainable change and in the long run can cause more damage than good .

However meeting people like Vipin is always a inspiring thing , as you realize how much difference each one of us can create in this world if really put our heart to it.

Are we doing enough ??

Reading about the recent campaign in India against corruption , the freedom movement in Egypt and the struggles in Libya , I keep coming back to the same question , are we doing enough to make sure we are making this earth a better place for each one of us .

I believe I do contribute in a small way , I care about recycling , tutor English and volunteer at a couple of places ,but there is always a lingering question , given my capacity is this enough or do I need to do more ?

We as a generation are better poised than any other generation before us to create a lasting change . Also I think the need to be a part of the change is higher now given the fact that if we dnt step up efforts to do things like conservation of the earth , the earth might no longer be a feasible place to live .

Before I get into things we are not doing , I think we need to spend some time on things we are doing / ought to be doing

1. Giving 100% to our jobs . It is said that even if a sweeper gives 100% to his job , he has done his part in making this earth a better place . So as long as we are genuine with the work that we do we are already doing our parts.

2. Charity begins at home . A lot of people get involved in volunteering because it gives them a ego boost , makes them look better than their peers . Volunteering done for egotistical reasons would most likely cause more harm than good . So I would prefer being a person who just works on making him/her a better person overall , because a happy person at home can lead to a lot of happy people outside . So as long as we are working on making ourselves better people , taking good care of our families and helping out friends again I believe we have done our parts in making this world a better place.

Now what are we not doing right , our parents as a generation did not have excess of time , money or technology. Their entire lives were spent earning money and taking care of their families . Our lives are not like that , we have access to a lot of time , material wealth and smthin called social networking . But are we making the most of it is questionable .

We , the younger generation are slowly becoming a generation of excess , we party a lot , big houses , better clothes , flashier cars , alcohol , exquisite food , five star travels etc . I am not here to judge anyone , as I am a part of the same gen X . And all said and done fun has to be a integral part of our lives . But all I am trying to question here is how much of this excess is worth it ?

Would our time and energies be well spent if we were to spend more time say helping to teach kids near our house , cleaning up the garbage close to our houses , learning more about indian scriptures or helping out at campaign like that of Anna hazare . Some how these ideas seem to have slipped out of our collective psyche and I think it is time each one of us think about what roles are we playing in making this earth a better place , because one thing is for sure, time is running short and before we know this place we call mother earth would have been mauled to such an extent that we can no longer get it back .

So let us all be thinking of it today and in the days to come .....

Disclaimer ..this is not my article but found it to be wonderfully true ..

"

BEING IN TWENTIES - SOMETHING It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now. You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met, and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you don't recognize is that they are realizing that too, and aren't really cold, catty, mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you. You look at your job... and it is not even close to what you thought you would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you. Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't. One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward. You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you. Or you lie in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough that you want to get to know better. Or maybe you love someone but love someone else too and cannot figure out why you're doing this because you know that you aren't a bad person. One night stands and random hook ups start to look cheap. Getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic. You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision. You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life for yourself... and while winning the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender! What you may not realize is that every one reading this relates to it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out. Send this to your twenty-something friends... maybe it will help someone feel like they aren't alone in their state of confusion... We call it the "Quarter-life Crisis."

Go Green !!

As a kid I used to be such a pest if anyone was to drop a chocolate wrapper on the ground instead of in the dust bin ...i would glare down at them to pick it up and if they did not I made sure I gave them the guilty eye before picking it up myself and dropping it in the dustbin . Today in the morning walking along on a trail in a state park I saw someone had dropped a big McDonalds To -go bag on the side of the road . I picked it up and walked for a mile or so before I could find a dustbin to dump it in . I have always been a conservationist at heart picking up a few litters here and there and dropping them .

This year the conservationist in me has decided to do smthing about the litter we generate . Initially when I had come to the US I remember stopping into a friend's office and asking him to explain smthing , he took out a A4 size paper , wrote something on it and then threw it away . I instantly remembered the struggle we had to go thru to get A4 papers in during my undergrad . Understandably the latter situation was not due to some green ethics but basically due to lack of availability . Still it points to a important message , back in india we were not wasteful in our ways and would use/reuse things .

As more plenty has entered our lives so has wasteful spending . No wonder US is the biggest consumer on earth . I hardly find anything being recycled in this country . Tailors , cobblers , bartan waali all those classes of people are totally absent here . The idea is to just throw away smthing once you are done using it , or even if you dnt like it . Food , clothes , shoes , furniture , cars , this idea applies to all of it . And ya how I can forget my favorite topic plastic "Plastic water bottles" , seriously why does anyone on earth want to buy water . I still remember the days when we used to carry a bottle filled with water to school , well not here ... thirsty - grab a water bottle . A statistic I once read said the amount of water bottles american consume in a year can be used to make a road from the earth to the moon !!!! And ya adding to it the To Go culture ....a paper bag , 100s of napkins , plastic spoons , forks , big plastic pop cups etc etc

My idea has been to try and cut one plastic spoon , a plastic bottle and plastic bag at a time . I keep my own spoons and cups at work so that I dnt have to take a plastic spoon , carry a shopping bag each time I go shopping and my water bottle everytime I go out . Also trying my hand at recycling as much of trash as possible at home . I would in no way say that this is enough but it is first step . I guess it mostly a gift from my mom who has been a stickler for recycling ever since we were kids .

I did pick up a few books on recycling here and there and surprise all the things mentioned in it were all the things which we have seen our mom and grand mom's do at home . Although in their case all those ideas came up because of a entirely different need , a need to make do with what little they had available , in our time although the need is different the ideas still hold true I guess.

I strongly feel there is need to educate each and everyone around us about how our wasteful ways are impacting the planet earth and ya this is the only one we have so we better get it right this time around because as you guessed there is no second chance on this one.

The new age women(NAW) ...

Sitting in a group of people talking about women , you surely know what side I am on . I am always on the side of new age women , debating her responsibilities , her rights to freedom etc etc .

I was recently reading a book "Mother Pious Lady " which obviously warrants a new blog soon. I started thinking about what is definition of the new age women . We always find ourselves saying the NAW is the one who gets to choose what she wants in here life , she is no longer guided by what the man, in short the society thinks she should do and that is what defines her .

But if we were to closely analyse things ,is that really true ? I was just looking at all my fairer sex around me and analyzing what all of us spend the maximum time doing . The answer was right there staring at me - Shopping and looking good !!! . Beauty parlour visits , hair straightening , buying the new cute dresses in town , dieting ,gymming to get into the socially approved sizes and the list goes on . We are all pretty familiar with the sequence by now .

When we think of arranged marriage events of yester years where the girl was decked up in her best of finery for when the boy's family comes to visit her , asked to do a catwalk in front of prying eyes of the elder women of the boy's family , I am sure all of my friends "The new age women " can hear their inners churning with anger . Why are women being treated as show pieces , we the NAW will never stoop down to such levels . If a boy has to like us they should like us for what we are , the arguments are countless and never ending .

If we were to stop for a minute and look at all that we the NAW are doing the arranged marriage catwalk every day , every minute of our lives . We buy a new ( shorter!! ) dress every week , we do not allow ourselves to put on a ounce of weight , and at the end of the day all of us vie for same the approving looks from Non fair sex of the society .

USA is supposed to be the country of equal rights , men and women are equal , there is freedom of dress , speech etc . However the women have to come to regard meeting the societal standards of good looks also as one of their rights . She cannot face her partner without make up , the less is more now , showing some portion of the body is not enough , more needs to be shown each time . Even the lady who has all cures for souls in troubles , Oprah seems to offer the same mantra to women , high heels , color coded hair , tight clothes which you cannot breathe in , that is what is needed for you to find the real you .

Unfortunately I find myself getting to be a part of this race more and more everyday . I was once getting pictures taken for the so called shaadi.com and someone commented , pose delicately like a girl atleast for the picture otherwise no guy is going to marry you !!! . So is that all that is there to being a girl , posing delicately , wearing clothes that are super models have specified will be regarded as feminine , being size zero .

There is something that at a deeper levels makes us all feminine , our love , care , intuitiveness , the strength of character , our ability to place our families before ourselves . I hope our future role models can be so that we start to considerhoning these characteristics more important than

looking like some physically impossible divas.!!

Turkey - Two lifestyles was the heading of a article i read in the morning today . Immediately the numerous discussions I have had for the past 1 year with my lab mates one Turkish and one Iranian came flooding back to me .

Both Turkey and Iran are Islamic states but no where else can you find such stark contrasts in how the same religion is being followed by 2 different nations . The turkish lead processions in their country when they found out that there were chances of a fundamentalist becoming the president . People took to streets bcoz they feared that their secularism was being jeopardized ....people resent a woman wearing a scarf bcoz they think it a threat to their ideas of secularism and modernity

And then on the other end stands iran , where the moral police are enforcing women to wear head scarfs bcoz they believe that unless religion is not imposed on ppl they may go wrong . Secularism is unheard of in these areas . Boys cannot talk to girls , alcohol is banned . The government has taken it on themselves to teach the people how to lead lives which are the proper muslim way of life .

Two sides of the same coin you can say , on one hand people are afraid that their govt may become fundamentalist , on the other hand the govt believes that fundamentalism is the only way .

To end on the rite note ..i like this quote which one of the guys in Turkey said

" Some people worry Turkey is in danger, but I think people who are used to modern life will never return to the age of ignorance "

This quote stands true for a lot of fundamentalist groups in India too , who believe that globalization of India is destroying us and our culture .







http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6596933.stm

HIV AIDS

My first confrontation with the problem of HIV aids was back in India when I worked with my fellow rotractors to increase awareness in truck drivers regd HIV aids . Till then I was pretty much like many other Indians trying to tell ourselves that the problem is not there . It is kinda justified in the situtation that we are in too , ppl in india have so many other things on their mind that they do not have time to bother about HIV till actually harms someone . It was then that I realized at what rate HIV was taking over us . What was most shocking was that the main cause of HIV was not unhealthy use of syringes , that is the main reason of HIV the world over , it was unhealthy sexual practices that were leading to AIDS in India .
I had almost forgotten about HIV till I met this wonderful lady from Tanzania , Susan . Susan is a student in sociology and her thesis is about how gender relationships in Africa are being affected due to the widespread of HIV AIDS . Gender relationships in Africa are almost similar to those in India . A woman is not considered feminine enough if her husband cooks etc . What is more important is feminity means not having you sexual preferences and subjecting to your husband or sexual partners will .
Susan is trying to study if AIDS epidemic in Africa has finally instilled a voice in African woman wherein they can go and tell there partner to go use a condom or some from of protection . It is amazing how a epidemic had the capability of changing gender balance in a entire civilization .
I plan to follow Susan's dissertation at close quarters bcoz this is the first time I am seeing epidemics from a sociological point of view . I feel we sometimes fail to see history when it is being built by our side . I am sure to follow this one bcoz no matter good or bad , HIV sure is going to bring changes to our society .

Think Media .

Over the past few days I have been thinking a lot about how the media is making us think . I am from India , one of the world's biggest democracies in function and now I stay in the US which is another one of the world's most successful democracies . We are believed to have the freedom of thought , speech etc and we believe that our opinion is our own and nobody can tell us what to do but it seems like we can be told what to do .

Recently saw one of bbc's documentaries about why US went to war in Iraq ? The reasons not withstanding what caught my eye the most in the documentary was that an entire nation of free thinking people could be convinced by a carefully planned publicity program that war was the way to go about it .

And then yest I went to the movie Sivaji . The movie sure had a story but who was bothered about that . All that mattered was the whoses and the washes ..(thats the sound that you get every time Rajnikanth moves a bone in his body ) . Here again the carefully planned publicity program made sure that the a movie which no where stands up to the cadre of good movie making ...is right now making crores in 120 countries all over the world .

Public opinion ...public's opinion or opinion which is potrayed to be coming from the public ...

well its for the media to decide and tell us so that it can be called our opinion ....

RSS

Due to certain unavoidable circumstances I could not update the blog on time..:-) ...last friday went to watch a documentary movie on the RSS ..( Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh)..

First thing that struck me about the documentary was that it brought back memories of India ..stayin here you get so used to the place that you hardly realise that you are away from India ..it seems like you are still there ...then we saw the roads , autos , people talkin in the bihari english ..:-)..made me feel nostalgic...

Now coming back to the movie.. .the movie basically potrays RSS as a fundamentalist Hindu organisation ..the director uses his characters in a very directed manner to get his message across...the characters opposing RSS are the high society thinking class people and the other facet is just shown by some lower income not very intelligent people who get into RSS ...so that itself makes the argument lopsided in the beginning ...

The initial part of the story shows how the people in RSS were all brainwashed to go and break the Babri masjid ..the sad part of it is that no one seems to regret it ..the argument that they use is that anyways Muslim's dnt need a place to worship ..that Babri is the sacred place of Hindus and its nthin wrong if they want to put up their holy shrine there ..so the muslim's should give the place back to the hindus..

Why dnt these people understand that its not the place but the feeling which makes the difference..whatever happened was history and lets just let it be ...
The RSS people actually think they created History when they broke down the temple and they are actually proud of it ..

The movie shows RSS leaders as preaching hatred of other religions instead of love for our own religion ..it shows RSS leaders making really degrading comments about christainity and islam ..
This is how terrorism is bread i suppose.. by preaching hatred ..rather than love ...
This is not what hinduism is all about ..it is one of the most tolerant religions on earth ..and if the RSS wants to uphold Hinduism it better concentrate on making people retain their tolerance..

The movie also shows a very human face of fundamentalism ..little children are reared into this ideology ..the children go there only to play but these subtle messages which are put into their head then stay with them life long ..

It ends with glimpses of the Godhra carnage ..which acc to the director is a organised attempt by the RSS to take on the Muslim massses..

I agree the movie is lopsided in its argument but then it has some degree of truth too..the beauty of hinduism is in the fact it is all encompassing ..fundamentalism doesnt fit into its scheme of things ..and we should all strive to keep it at that ...

Division of species

People who have read Ayn Rand must be aware of the distinction she makes about intelligent people , people who run this world ..and dumb people who are parasites on the forementioned class ..till now i thought this was only a philosophical aspect of life ..but acc to the following article it seems genetics is also headed this way ..check this out ..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6057734.stm

India explained

Ever tried explaining the Indian caste and dowry system to a chinese ? That is exaclty what we did over dinner yest . A bunch of us i.e indian students trying to explain the implications of caste system in modern India to a my friend Yunli from China over dinner .

But how do you explain the deep implications that caste system has over our minds to a person who has never been exposed to a notion like this . Why have we after so many years of independence and education not been able to ward off this stigma of caste system from our minds .
She asked us all a very simple question .. How do you know a person's caste ..? If a person travels very far from his native places and changes his name ..no one will be able to know his caste then rite ? Seemed logical but how do we tell her that caste is something which we are born with ..we cannot just cut it of from us like the umbical cord ..it sticks to us until death ..

Even now educated youth in India believe in commanding hefty sums of dowry ..where does all our education go then ..

all our stories of our increasing gdp , outsourcing etc ..will be a sham until we cannot address all these basic issues that plague us ..