Pick up my Guitar and play

These are heady days….days of especially headstrong winds of change…..not least because they affect me….or better, affect the few avenues in the labyrinth of the world that concern me.
The world of humans is a bizarre place…by far the most intricate and multi-faceted , yet outrageously wasteful biological , socio-cultural and technological ecosystem of all species , meant ultimately , only to sustain that Darwinian rat race called survival.
Morality….theology….art…culture….all radically different from that crazy little helix that works ceaselessly, mindlessly ; ensconced in its little cell….yet ultimately lies at the heart of all creation…be it biological or otherwise.
At certain times…one , each with a set of impoverished 46 XX or XY , is wont to feel distant and aloof….a tiny fragment amidst matters of far greater importance.
Yet at other times one feels at the centre of it all, and why not…if the universe (by which I mean the memetic universe of man , not the cosmic one) is infinite , then each of us is at the centre…the veritable arachnid from which a vast web stretches out…each move of the spider, shaking even the most distant strings…..and conversely…any influence , even on the furthest edges , transmitted to the inhabitant in the centre.

I sit beside the fire and think
Of all that I have seen,
Of meadow flowers and butterflies
In summers that have been.

I sit beside the fire and think
Of how the world shall be,
When winter comes without a spring
That I shall never see.

For there are so many things
That I have never seen,
In every wood, in every spring,
There is a different green.

I sit beside the fire and think
Of people long ago,
And people who will see a world
That I shall never know.

As people would have me believe…..these are the days of history making presidents …. upheavals …… markets …computers ….some say days of terror…some say days that are better.
I wonder…if the sum total of all this…..makes my life happier…and then I smirk. Happiness indeed !!! What on earth was I thinking.
At most times I was wont to be Benjamin the donkey….remember…. “Windmill , or no windmill ; life will go on exactly like it has , and that is…badly.”

I can already discern someone making eyes at me…. “Sour Puss” was it ?...or perhaps “little piece of sunshine”….but little hobbits who sway between “Tookishness” and “Bagginsism” can hardly be blamed.

Barack Obama is already my favourite political personality , at least among the ones that I have heard of till date….and this because of one statement of his -
“Given the increasing diversity of America’s population, the dangers of sectarianism have never been greater. Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.”
Religion and God , I fear (indeed I know) will not die away till the last human on earth ceases his miserable breathing. However there is some hope that in the future there may yet be a day where such outrightly ridiculous, unscientific and delusional affiliations would be limited to a purely personal level….or at the very least , that they may be completely segregated from the administrative , logistic , professional and social commitments required of an individual as part of a community or a state.
In other words….the day when any proforma for personal particulars / bio data ceases to have a column titled “Religion”.
Maybe my hopes are too premature and ultimately misplaced…yet such words from a political statesmen are music to the ears…that have grown accustomed to holier than thou eulogizing by all and sundry.

Well , people tell me that we’re in the midst of a recession….the greatest economic meltdown in three quarters of a century. Companies declare bankruptcy , and masses of people all of a sudden find themselves out of a job …. I am mighty unschooled in markets and such things but one thing which always struck me , whether it be recession or a global economic boom is that, after all isn’t there only so much to go around. How long can a community subsist on writing programs , creating softwares , building computers , evading taxes ( and helping others do the same) and investing resources (what these may be I cannot fathom) to generate so called wealth out of sheer nothingness it would seem (or is it). Everything about the ‘markets’ seems a basic violation of the principles of thermodynamics to an unschooled person like me. Earth…wood…water…and stock….are after all limited…and at most times Malthus makes total sense….they cannot live forever, can they ???
(Shyam , if you read this…please explain).

These days , every few months , it would seem ; the snooty upmarket urban Indian is shocked…….when his own security and survival flashes before his eyes. The last such was when smoke and flame bellowed from the famous turrets of the Taj Hotel. An unquestionably barbaric act……but then you do not expect anything else from individuals who have ceased to acknowledge the principles that form the foundation stones for human civilization. However if the act per say was villainous , the knee jerk reaction that followed was downright absurd.
And at the head of it all was that all-powerful social virus of the technological age – the media. The Indian Media – and its cumulative single mindedly dastardly whorehouse , has made a mockery of all possible norms of ethics, honesty and value systems , never better borne out than in their actions during and succeeding the Mumbai horror.
The media….print or electronic…hardly ever gives you what you should hear…it doesn’t even give you what you want to hear. What it dishes out is a dangerously potent cocktail, meant simply to arouse passions at the expense of any kind of logic or scientific reason. It eats into society like a canker ….dividing it regionally , communally , economically , professionally , linguistically and in every other divisive nature possible ; with one and only one objective : to strengthen its own self and make itself indispensable to the masses. The basic behavioral pattern of selfishness and self above all else is epitomized by the media , ironically a system that is supposed to be working for the masses irrespective of bias or prejudice.
Nothing or no one creates more unrest in the society than the media….neither violent acts of terror , nor controversial movies , nor vitriolic comments made by random individuals….but the manner in which the same are processed, packaged and fed to the unsuspecting crowd in a maliciously ingenius honey coated psycho-toxin.
Facts of any kind are conspicuous by their absence, and what emerges is a garbled up fictitious account more suited to the desks of B grade movie scriptwriters. The other thing the media breeds is decadence and phobia…and worst of all by proffering its own ‘shining’ example encourages an ignorance of basic scientific norms , in exchange for outrightly ridiculous and atavistic mumbo-jumbo.
So much for the media , it is of course an accepted bed-fellow of the highest bidder……what of the rest…. People held hands…..held up posters….lit candles ( a novelty in the Indian context….can anything we do for once cease to be inspired from films.)….and retired into the comfort of their homes.

But from where I stand….ol’ Pete was dead right -

The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that's all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they are flown
In the next war

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again.

There's nothing in the streets
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Are now parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

Life

If you consider....life really isn't sacred....human life none more so than any other.....however , the way human society is structured... it is imperative that human life be deemed sacred and precious.
The sanctitiy of life is actually a delusion on which the bastions of society are based.

Long Road Out of Eden

A long pending post..... stuck in some corner of my D drive for more than a month...driven out of immediate memory by other incidents...... but finally managed to sit and pen some words down.

I’d gone out for lunch to “China Grill” on the 15th of August. It’d been a particularly hectic morning with lot of pending work and I was looking forward to a couple of their delicious Bloody Marys along with their exquisite Szechwan Prawns. However, even as I entered, the notice on the doorway , struck me with a ferocious oxymoronic punch.
“On the occasion of Independence Day….Dry Day will be observed….no liquor will be served.”
It was sad…and intensely funny at the same time. “Independence Day” is observed with such outrightly illogical restraints on an individual.
We have the gall to call ourselves independent , when everything we think, speak or do , contradicts the very roots of freedom. We are happy to accept our existence the way it is…..
….In an overwhelming fear of a tyrannical GOD , seemingly waiting to strike us down, were we to waver but for a moment from the so-called path of righteousness.
……constantly being dragged down into the earth by downright absurd , atavistic and unscientific socio-cultural fetters.
….. a society where every thought of the common man reeks of indoctrination…every action , one of blind subservience.

The media, in its demonic incarnation , is writ large over our lives. We are subtly commanded on how to move….eat…drink…dress….and think. The desire to think for yourself is a banal sin…..the attempt to break free from societal norms, an almost criminal endeavour.
We are slaves….to the society : slaves to status quo.
Under grossly twisted concepts of morality, this status quo comforts us….
….. “at least , my life is not worse off for it”
….. “I have a tough life as it is….the boss screws my happiness at work…..family life is a Tull personified – love’s in the gutter…sperms in the sink”
….hence….at least don’t ask me to think for myself.
….. “after all , God made me in his own image…and hence of course I cant be expected to think.”

Sincerity…..in any form whatsoever, is conspicuous by its absence. Totally unworthy pretenders are raised onto sky high pedestals…and the likes of me and you kneel before them in ecstatic, yet undeniably moronic adulation.

We are slaves to history…. Content forever to revel in the stale memories of some distant event .
We are the worst possible excuse for intelligent life….. willingly allowing our brains to be held hostage by that bastard meme of civilization called Tradition.
Indeed…..

People are crazy and times are strange….
I’m locked in tight….I’m outta range….
I used to care….but…..
Things have changed.

On Survival....

Life is all about survival….and as hideous as it sounds….if you do not survive , nothing else really matters does it ? We humans make extraordinary loud talk about having broken free from the primeval animal instincts. Even most moderate theologians, who’ve submitted to the theory of evolution, retrace all their acceptances in the loose statements of the kind.
“Agreed, man evolved from monkeys…but the distinguishing moment was when god breathed soul into a man…and thus distinguished him from all other animals.”
……and thus it is, that humans are supposed to be extraordinarily different (behaviorally i.e.) from all other species to have ever inhabited the earth in a few billion years of its existence. Then there come your way scenes such as this which make a complete mockery of the so-called altruistic, philanthropic, and ‘herd-benefit-nature’ of humans.

The photograph , which made headlines and shocked the entire world, shows an obviously malnourished ( high grade PEM) child in famine stricken Sudan, crawling desperately towards a UN food camp , with no other human in distant sight with its movement being traced and stalked by a vulture. The carrion bird awaiting the oppressive sun to drain the last dregs of energy from the child , so that it might make an uncommonly large feast…and perhaps feed its own starving younglings as well.
….and the entire scene witnessed and captured on film for posterity by a photographer, who then fled the scene…..the child was never seen or heard of again. Kevin Carter, the photographer, won the Pulitzer prize for his efforts, but took his own life a few months later in the wake of global condemnation against his so obviously inhuman action ( or should we say , the lack of action).
It is , of course , extraordinarily easy and oh-so human to follow the rest of the world in condemning Carter….but as stark and poignant as the scene may be….it merely moves me to a sardonic grin, at yet another example of mankind having failed to live up to its boast of ….well….humanity , shall we call it. Ultimately, everything is about survival. Of the child’s and the vulture’s intentions, there can of course be no doubts….. Mother Nature at its barest…a tooth and nail struggle for existence.
But what of the man…..is it really a different scenario for him….. all would say , he is no different from the vulture, hunting for a prize feast , and ultimately grotesquely inhuman….but I’d venture , that even as the bird , when faced with nature at its ugliest , he’s merely followed his natural instincts. Instincts honed over generations , from the ape… the reptile…the invertebrate ….back to the bacterium ancestor whose genes in some form or the other had passed into him. As with the vulture, all he sees is an opportunity which would give him (and his family) better scope and longer duration of feeding (by virtue of the photograph).
Many would say that the analogy is not applicable, as his chances of survival are not significantly affected were he to help the child, even after clicking the photograph….a point which merely strengthens my argument. The argument that the actions of Carter were not well-thought, calculated, cold and unemotive antipathy….but merely a numbing of all higher human neural centers and a response to the law of the jungle……of which we still retain stronger roots than any of us would care to comprehend or admit.
It is all very well to rain criticism, but place others in Carter’s position, and I’m willing to take a wager, that most people would act in a similar manner. Some of the most powerful images from history have been of disasters….wars, floods, famines, genocides, earthquakes etc . ….and those that have captured the same have won renown and repute , but I scarce think any of these people would have stopped to address the subjects of their photographs…..maybe to use their shirts to bandage a bleeding limb , or perhaps give a sip of water from their flasks.
Somehow all the childhood notions of morality, humanity, sense of duty seem to take beating when confronted by such stark scenarios….and while not all behaviour may be akin, I scarce think it is wise to predict, let alone condemn…..

After all…. “Let him not vow to walk in the dark who has not yet seen the night fall”….and human reactions in the dark , are best not predicted.

Musings in Imladris

Exhausted to the last sinew , you lie staring at the richly carved wooden beam in your room at Rivendell. The arm feels right with life again.

There were dark days....old willow trees , lying naked among cold treasures at the feet of forgotten wights....knives in the dark....and Horses....especially horses.....the last memories are of horses.

The Valley of Imladris knows no darkness and in the heart of the Last Homely House , one may find rest and healing.

.....but already the scouts have departed , and eventually they will return.....alas it seems that it might be well into December before they do.

"Its all your fault , Frodo , my lad. For waiting till my birthday to set out. Funny sort of way of honouring it , not the day I'd have chosen to let the SB's into Bag End."

At times you wonder at Frodo , in the council....but Hobbits have the habit of surprising the wisest , not to mention themselves.

"Bill, you fool, " said Sam "You coul have stayed here and 'et the best hay till the new grass comes up."

.....On that last day , Bilbo gives Frodo the Mithril Shirt and the elven-blade 'Sting'.....and in front of the December fire , breaks into a slow chant....

The road goes ever on and on,

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the road has gone,

And I must follow if I can.

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way.

Where many paths and errands meet,

And wither then , I cannot say.

In Reverence of Heroes....

The Beijing Olympics has reaffirmed my rapidly dwindling faith (for the moment, at least) in human endeavour. Throughout our lives, indeed in the entire motley comedy that is human civilization, if there has been one constant , its been the desire to look up to heroes. To have faith in a seemingly indestructible , immutable force that can never be expected to falter….One who shall deliver the goods against a lifetime of odds.
(Perhaps one of the reasons why the concept of GOD is such a successful meme in human society…a virus that feeds of the insatiable human need for a deity to adulate.)
So, from Achilles to Einstein….from Jesus Christ to John Lennon, we have had over the course of history people, who at their zenith have held the rapt attention of massive sections of the crowd; awing all and sundry with the enormity of their deeds.
Alas , in the modern age of cynicism , suffocating ingenuity and overbearing in your face theatricality, such heroes are all to few and sparse.
All the modern day icons (or the so-called ones)….. are but paper statuettes….raised onto an exalted pedestal in a solitary sundown…..and ripped to shreds within a tenth of that time.

Our political figures…… uninspiring and untrustworthy
Writers….. Unimaginative
Media…..well , villainous.
Musicians and Poets….. long dead.
Thinkers…… ah , kidding…. One is not meant to think for oneself these days, is One?
Amidst such stifling mediocrity….it is only the sportsmen and their deeds of surpassing physical endeavour that really ignite passion.
Agreed… the Saidar of sport has been tainted by the oily murk of match fixing and doping…..there has been in recent times a visible decline in sporting achievement……The Tour was a sham….and the hitherto invincible Federer had his heel cruelly pierced by the unerring forehands of a Spaniard in overtight shorts and sleeveless T-Shirts. (For all the Rafa fans , I can only say…that to a Roman…Hannibal will hardly appear a hero.)
I was honestly not too enthusiastic about the Games……never perhaps has my judgment about sport been so drastically wrong….and, boy…am I glad about it.
A marfanoid American with an albatross arm span jumped into the pool….and emerged the greatest Olympian of all time. Opinions will vary and the likes of Nurmi , Zatopek , Owens, Nadia , Lewis…not to mention Spitz , will all feature in the debate. Whatever may be the outcome , the exploits of Phelps provided a welcome throwback to the age of heroes and that of legends ( albeit with a little help , most notably from the admirable Jason Lezack). It was sheer poetry….reminded me of the Rohirrim at cockcrow, on the field of Pelennor….
“ and then all the host burst into song and they sang as they slew for the joy of battle was upon them.”
(There’s something about the name Michael you know…..just consider the sheer number of true sporting Gods who’ve borne it…….Jordan , Schumacher , Johnson and now Phelps.)
If Phelps created a symphony in the pool, a lanky Jamaican caused a bloodbath on the sprint track. The Bird Nest stadium in Beijing provided the a suitable setting – a throwback to the Collosseum of Rome . and in stepped the mighty gladiator Usain Bolt , and simply annihilated and outrightly humiliated all opposition in a manner that scarce will have been witnessed in the history of the Olymics. (I have not seen Jesse Owens at Berlin ’36 , but I doubt even the Ebony Express could have afforded to slow down over the last 10 m , running almost sideways, arms raised in celebration.)

It was not merely the historic treble of the 100m, 200m and 4x 100 m relay in world record times , but so dominant was Bolt , that the all the opposition admitted an utter helplessness in being able to match his times were he too keep up form and fitness.
These games more than any other in recent memory, have celebrated human endeavour. Citius , Altius , Fortus ….. was never more applicable. In the likes of Bolt and Phelps , we have heroes to compare with any age from the past.
….and what with a certain ‘striped’ American staging a quiet recovery from knee surgery, there’s hope for the world yet.

Love Song to a Stranger....

erased...to ward off misconceptions.