Amusing Evolution

I came across a disturbing news report in the morning daily a few days ago: A 55 year old man rapes a 4 year old. Unfortunately, it is a shame to admit that it wasn't so disturbing as the first time I had read similar news a few years ago. But, it got me thinking on what the world has become or is in the process of becoming. Increasing rape cases is one of the problems that perturbs India. There is chaos and severe human cruelty in Gaza. Just last week, a Malaysian flight was hit by an air missile apparently from Russia (also apparently unintentionally). Every corner of the world is confronted with problems created by humanity and this is a humble attempt to try and analyze what and why all of this chaos is happening. This is truly a rough post, written in one stroke as my thoughts flow--so, I haven't exactly made an analysis and there is not a guarantee of a conclusion, but I wonder if there is an explanation for such an occurrence.

I have two primary reasons to believe that humanity is capable of the best and the worst :

(1) Humans have the ability to make choices unlike many of the other creatures on the planet.

(2) Humanity has evolved from monkeys to apes to some human-monkey like creatures to the Homo Sapiens to present-day modern man living with luxuries. All the Science around us wasn't born out of nowhere. Man has studied Science (of all kinds) and manipulated it to his advantage and use, putting in the process his thoughts.

I just looked up the meaning of evolution on Google and out of the two definitions that Google showed me, I choose to report the following here: the gradual development of something.

Now, to think about development, I see how current generation thought process has evolved, for instance. I will not do the boring science talk that most people come up with when we talk about present day developments. How about the Human Being? Picking Brokeback Mountain or Milk as movie examples that showed the early-days-journey of Homosexuals, today they have rights and are warmly accepted by most part of the Society. This is development, indeed or evolution if otherwise termed.

The British ruled India for 3 centuries! Now, that's a long time and I wonder, (if perhaps) back then, did they even realize that they were being ruled by foreigners. After all, the Maharaja was simply replaced by another form of anarchy, to them. For the most part, they were unaware of their rights. Maybe the concept of rights was even foreign because the trust and respect to the Maharajas were utmost. Today, we fight against the Government for our rights. Introduction of Right to Information Act 2005 (India) is a fantastic example of the result of such a struggle. This also is evolution. 

Parents supporting their children who become victims to human crimes is also evolution, in contrast to the old ages when the victims were hushed to honor the prestige and the pride of the family. Philosophers and Scientists of the 16th and 17th centuries were threatened to be killed, or in many cases, killed if and when they made a hypothesis that did not resonate with the higher authorities of the Church. Ironically, in many cases, they were proved to be right in the later centuries. Today, we are planning a mission to Mars, another planet altogether and keeping the word "impossible" out of dictionary. This is evolution too!

The disturbing question: Is the rape of the innocent minor mentioned in the opening of this post, evolution too? I have read and heard of several cases of child abuse--I wonder if that falls in the evolution too.  Consistent (abrupt) bombing incidents in some countries that is reported of now and then (in contrast to organized wars in the past for a reason they thought valid), the man who beats up his wife regularly assuming her to be weak (Women were at a lower position perhaps in the olden days, but not today), human killings for greed of excess wealth/money (Money was only a means of livelihood, really long ago), all of these events-- are they part of the evolution process?

One aspect common to the incidents from the beginning of this post until so far is : FREEDOM. Not the freedom that the society or the community or the Government or the law has given, but the freedom that we have given to ourselves. Whether it is the freedom to ask our very own parents why they made a certain decision which we ascertain as a wrong doing (the positive) or the freedom to light a fire on another human being (the negative), eventually, we have made a pact with ourselves that we are going to give ourselves the freedom to do something that we feel like doing.

So, after all, it looks like I have a conclusion: The process of the evolution of human thinking and behaviour is a function of the FREEDOM that a human being keeps giving to her/himself. 

And like I mentioned, I am not going to attempt on the correct extent of freedom that one should give to oneself, but certainly, it looks like I made a successful analysis without a hypothesis (atleast I think so).

P.S: This is truly a one-time rough post that I have written on a random, boring Sunday afternoon. I have thought of several cases in my mind (even if I have not mentioned all of them here), but it looks to me like I have a decent conclusion. Please share your comments and feedback, if you have an opinion on this topic.

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005

Domestic Violence is defined appropriately in "The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005". I will not go into the details of how many women of our country are suffering at the hands of men, in different forms. However, the more unfortunate fact is that most women are either not aware of the laws that exist to protect them or even worse, are not aware that they are suffering at the hands of "criminals" as defined by the law. They do not realize that they are becoming the victims of domestic violence identified as criminal offence by the law. In other cases, women do not want to step forward to expose the "criminals" (as defined by law) for reasons they think are valid. My appeal to all such women : You are a person. You are an individual and you have the right to lead your life the way you wish. Nobody, I repeat, Nobody has the right to control your life. If a partner cannot live up to the definition of the word, then that person is not worth one bit of your time. Be aware that the law defines a person who subjects you to "Domestic Violence" as a criminal and delivers punishment to such a person, if you wish so.

Below is the list of clauses (exactly and word-by-word as defined in the Act) in brief. This will give an overview of the extent of harassment defined as "crime" by the law and the "related penalties/punishments" to the "criminal" (as defined by the law)

Definition of Domestic Violence:

Definition of domestic violence.-For the purposes of this Act, any act, omission or commission or conduct of the respondent shall constitute domestic violence in case it -

(a) harms or injures or endangers the health, safety, life, limb or well-being, whether mental or physical, of the aggrieved person or tends to do so and includes causing physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal and emotional abuse and economic abuse; or

(b) harasses, harms, injures or endangers the aggrieved person with a view to coerce her or any other person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any dowry or other property or valuable security; or

(c) has the effect of threatening the aggrieved person or any person related to her by any conduct mentioned in clause (a) or clause (b); or

(d) otherwise injures or causes harm, whether physical or mental, to the aggrieved person.

Breathing Life into Life: Connecting with the nature

Ever since I grew up and remember the time that responsibilities of my life started to prevail-things started to get chaotic in my head. I would always look for ways to release the thoughts running at a million/second. Our poor head is a really small space for so many thoughts to fit in and actually be dealt with. In fact, a million thoughts running in heads is very common for most people in the current world resulting in mental stress and in turn, physical stress as well.

The 21st century lifestyle we all are living has indeed built another mini-world inside our heads where we live as who we actually are. For some other people, this mini- world may be a list of to-do things they are yet to execute and how to execute them. The point is: Our minds have become like computer programs- a list of instructions/statements running continuously and we are hypothetically executing them in our heads or even worse-analyzing how to execute those things that are not anywhere happening in the near future. Even Christopher Nolan implicated through Inception that minds could be manipulated and there is no boundary to the imagination and power of the human mind.

I believe that it is difficult to have this load running continuously in the head and it reduces our productivity. Getting things done: The art of stress-free productivity is a fantastic book on proper management and utilization of our own resources. That apart, I have figured that connecting with the nature has helped me heal myself emotionally and relieve my mind off the burden of the chaos of thoughts.

I believe in God, I do. But in the form of the Universal cosmic powers that surround us all the time. To be more precise, the natural elements apart from the Sun, the stars and the Universe such as the components of our planet Earth-The land, the oceans, the wind, the rivers, the hills and the trees-All of which we see with our naked eye every single day of our life. 

In this kind yet cruel world, where crime happens at a more rapid pace than the pace at which criminals get convicted, these elements are the truest witnesses to everything happening in the world.

As a small example: Assuming your car/vehicle broke down and there is no public transport to go to work and you are forced to walk the road on a hot, sunny day with a temperature of 41°C. You have to admit that you will be relieved at the sight of a tree. You quickly run under the tree, and feel the solace of your life, don't you? Even if it is for a short while, it feels Godly to have gotten shelter from a natural something that is not even asking anything in return, selflessly serving you while it absorbs the sun's rays. You might argue that it needs the Sun for its photosynthesis, but did you think about the fact that it needs water as well for its photosynthesis and it's an orphan on the road-so do you know if it received its share of water for the day?

This may be a slightly childish example but I intentionally gave a simple demonstration such as the above to put light on the fact that we tend to take things around us for granted. I have no opinion about worship at religious places, but you can find the Universal power and God through nature. And connecting with this universal power of the natural elements around us has helped me relieve my mind.

I go on adventure trips such as hikes, treks and rock-climbing, scrambling with a group or individually every now and then to connect with the nature. And the feelings I possess during and post the trip is very hard to describe in words. It is to be experienced if you are truly in love with nature, like me. I consider them as my God, because they listen to me.

Whenever I stare at them in silence, I can feel them, feel their power, know that they see me, that they are listening to me and will make things right for me. Such feelings have no explanations or justifications and are simply to be experienced.

What will you get out of connecting with the nature? (Because it is human nature to wonder, as Dale Carnegie correctly pointed out : What's in it for me?) A relief! An unbelievable relief of mind.

Whenever the mind is chaotic and you close your eyes, you will see a traffic jam of thoughts. If you connected with the nature, and then closed your eyes, you will see nothing and sense only peace.

One can only realize the power of connecting with the nature. How to connect with the nature? Go visit some natural, scenic place in some remote area. If not anything else, sit in a place (such as the terrace of your apartment/house)- Don't talk, Don't think and just stare at the sky or a tree in silence. As you practice this, you will begin to feel a sense of calm prevail in your mind, in your heart and in your body. I assure you- that is the most beautiful feeling you will have ever experienced.

Breathing Life into Life-Highway

This post is not a review of the movie Highway,to be precise. As such my intention is to share my feelings about the message the movie delivered, but I would like to take a moment to reflect on the movie- perhaps, with rational directors like Imtiaz Ali, Bollywood has evolved into making movies that actually are influential more than being just an entertainer. The screenplay, direction and locations were fantastic. More phenomenal however, were both the actors--specially Randeep Hooda and not because he was looking really hot in that rugged look of a Haryanvi, but because he had to deliver most of his emotions through his facial expressions and that, my dear friends, is very tough for an actor playing a protagonist with limited dialogues.

Thanks to Imtiaz Ali-I got to see a fant-abulous movie
after a really long time!
picture source:musichitzz.com

That apart, by the end of the movie, a very obvious thing struck me- Life is short. Veera, in the movie, was living all her life affluently and having the ultimatum luxuries of life--yet, she was suffocating & unhappy. There are many times in life, where we sense that something is wrong. The feeling of discomfort at the thought of that "something wrong", the fear to face it or the fear of the resulting consequences. And yet, we either fail to assess the serious impact of that situation on our life or even worse, do not realize the existence of that discomfort as constant denial has made it part of the subconscious.

This situation could be implicated in anybody's life in any phase. For instance, there could be this person taking all criticism from the one and only best friend but does not speak up for fear of losing the friendship. There could be the obedient child, who knows that the particular decision his/her parents made for him/her is not good for them but has made it part of their system to believe that parents are the best-decision makers for them. An employee having to be a sycophant to his boss for reasons valid to him/her, to get a promotion or a raise. All these hypothetical people in the hypothetical but real situations in life, tend to feel suffocated but tend to just go on living the same old way.

Break Free! That's the first thing the movie told me. No matter what situation of discomfort/uneasiness/unhappiness in life, be bold enough to come face to face with it, for starters. Whether you want to bring about a change or not is secondary and has nothing to do with  facing-head-on your discomfort, suffocation and that "something is wrong" feelings. In fact, it is crucial to the well-being of the mind that you understand what it is feeling rather than to dismiss it, deny it and push it into your subconscious where it only accumulates until one day it bursts out.

If all this was too hard to understand, all I am saying is begin to do what Veera does at the end--Break free out of the discomfort & Just do it. Now, I am not indicating that you must pack your bags, grab a chunk of money from your bank and start a business in the hilly North Indian region-- I know we all have jobs and families to take care of, and such endings in the movies are, in most cases, hypothetical (Although I am not ruling out the possibility of the occurrence of such an event).

But when you start tackling your inner discomfort, and begin asking questions to yourself about what is wrong, that's when you begin to get answers and locate the reason/s for that bad feeling. The next thing you need is courage to do what it takes. I will discuss that, in yet another post of mine--but this is the first step to being at peace with yourself.

Because the real joy of living is not breathing and surviving but experiencing your existence every moment by doing things to breathe life into life. 

When at the Airport...

I have hardly been to the airport a few times now (for boarding flights that is) and every other time, the tiresome process of immigration, luggage check in and security check in, blah blah just wears me down totally. Back when I was a school kid and hadn't been to an airport as of then,  airports were supposedly huge hallways with infinitely long escalators and large elevators where you can get to click pictures with celebrities Although it's an altogether another issue that I have never recognized any of the celebrities I personally saw till date (BELIEVE ME! Their faces on and off the camera are a major contrast). 


But Airports, for me now really are about waiting in long lines for all sorts of formalities and having to ask at least 10 people for directions, especially if you haven't been there before and all the more especially if you are in one (like The Miami International Airport) where the employees do not know the directions to certain important points in the area and getting completely exhausted by the end of all this only to ironically having to take an 8-12 hour flight or maybe more beyond that. Not to mention the overly-expensive food and drinks at the airport food courts.

The Washington Dulles Airport-One of the finest I have seen.
With large direction boards & help desks at critical locations, it's
very convenient to go  from one corner to the other

Hardly few visits and I have so many experiences and stories. Some of these suggestions may be obvious, but they are not-so-obvious when they actually happen to you. London Heathrow Airport, one of the prominent stops on USA-India travel- I saw more Asian people than the English.It was almost dawn when I landed and I don't know if it was the half-asleep-half-awake condition (Yes, I'd rather use these four words than the one word "hypnagogia" because the latter sounds like some kind of illness to me) but I do remember asking the official where to head to next (without telling him I had a connecting flight, perhaps? So what! He should have asked). I ended up standing in the immigration line for almost half an hour till my eyes suddenly caught a board in the corner with the words "connecting flight" and the respective direction. So, in the airports, especially for the first time goers, 

Watch out for the signs & direction boards. Not all the airports have large sized direction boards and signs, but they will certainly be there!

Had it not been for the three hour gap between my previous & next flight and if bad luck had struck me enough for a very long security line, I could have missed my connecting flight. So, make sure you are going in the right direction and if you are not sure, ASK. Ask 10 or even 100 times. You would rather look like a paranoid fool than miss your flight and get stranded in a country where you don't have a visa to.

Wear as less jewelry/accessories as possible. 

Chances are you have to stand in a huge box with your arms spread wide and if you are to go in there, you will have to take off all the metal accessories. Since I was already too tired, I took off only a few that were too obvious (Yes, I do wear a lot of those in general). But when I entered the box, it made an annoying sound and the 5 foot 11 inches broad-shouldered security woman in her British accent gave me a 5 minute lecture on the importance of taking all the metal accessories in all international airports during security checks.

Make sure you have all duty-free items and NOT end up paying huge fines in customs.

I had checked up the list for both countries. Check it for every international travel & check YOUR bag. If you are carrying an old bag, make sure you've thoroughly emptied it. An American co-passenger told me he once ended up paying $500 for an orange which he had got as prasadam from a temple in India, but had forgotten about it altogether. 

DO NOT LOSE your passport and boarding pass at any cost. 

Make sure you are ALERT not to leave these two "gold pieces" anywhere. (They're a lot more precious than Gold when you are traveling-Believe me!) Be paranoid and check every 5 minutes whether you have those two in hand. If you are a relatively careless person, then I recommend that those two strictly be in your handbag, even if you have to take it out multiple times (Yes, you have to show those two every now and then to some or the other airport official)

Once you frequently begin to do a to-fro international travel, it will still be tiresome and full of hassles, but you are at least familiar with everything. Try not to have two flights with a gap of really long hours, otherwise you might have to sit and write down some crap, like I just did! A malayalee aunty just came and sat next to me after learning that I was Indian and has started to talk something in Malayalam. I can't make out fully what she is saying, but I could try, right? (The little that I can understand is because I know telugu). Besides, there seems to be no other way other than trying to understand an unknown language to kill the time till my next flight. I already took a trip of the entire airport. Gosh! I really don't like the airports!