Black and White

How could I do it? I wouldnt want the world to know. I couldnt just ask for it in a store teeming with people...I would hate to make it public. And thus, I often found myself looking out for not-so-populated medical stores. That day was no different. It was about 8PM...a chemist shop in Janakpuri, a residential area of New Delhi. I had noticed that there was only one customer in the shop. When the chemist had asked me what I wanted, I had pretended to read the instructions in a bottle of cough syrup. I waited for the customer to leave so I could ask for my stuff. The chemist asked again "do you want some cough syrup?" I replied in the negative. Gearing myself to ask for it, as I turned around, I realised that the original customer's place was taken by two young guys. I fidgeted. The chemist sensed a feeling of discomfort in me. He first walked towards some "women only stuff". I shook my head. Next, he looked at me and walked towards a pack of condoms. Gosh!! No, that was not what I wanted. I could feel myself going a deep crimson, er...deeper shade of brown. The young guys were smirking. I squealed aloud - "Fair and Lovely". Gosh, was I embarrased or what?! I loved my complexion - it had a fair share of melanin, but I loved it. However, something about this cream offsetted the oily nature of my skin. I could kill the makers of the cream for naming a cream as such. This was of course much before I discovered the oil-free moisturisers. Thank God for alternatives.

The First Time AI Went Awry

God # 1 spoke “I can’t stop laughing!! And yes, I know it’s no laughing matter but I can’t stop laughing” “The robot is trying to replicate itself” “I had never thought it would come to this!”

God # 2 spoke “ I had cautioned you!! You thought it was fun when you were actually playing with fire”

God # 1 spoke “I had have to end my game, right? You just sit back and see how it plays out - they will themselves end it for me”

The God-son understood nothing so he asked his brother, “Brother, what are they talking about? What is a robot? Who? Why is papa laughing so much?”

The God-son’s brother said, “Long ago papa wanted to play a game. So, one day, for a lark, he started making animals…starting from the tiniest to the big ones and then finally what he called man. The man he created was first like the other animals but slowly he made them walk erect. It was really funny to watch the first two legged creature walking. We had had a good laugh at that time. And then he put some intelligence into the two legged creature. He - God himself - had no idea what he had done and how it would lead to the game going out of control, out of hand! What was worse was that this character, the man, created out of a recreational activity by God # 1, began doing the same - began playing the same game. Man began to think and behave like the creator! And created the robot. Exactly as what God #1 had made zillions of earth years ago and had named his robot, man. And now man had started experimenting with Artificial Intelligence - feeding it into the robot.”

The Godson’s brother continued, “Naturally, it’s a cause for worry. But you know how dad is. He never worries. For he knows everything. He knows the beginning and the end. However papa is saying that since he had started a game and created things as an act of fun, he had have had to end the game. While it is scary to see man, created out of papa’s recreational activities going awry, what is heartening is that the intelligence infused into man, several zillions of earth years ago, seems to be fading. This means that his end is near. Which is how it should have been. For, man is the first instance of an experiment with artificial intelligence that went awry. With man having gone awry, he himself will end his own game.”

From Heavens Above

As an immortal revered soul, she looked at the people she had once been part of. She had christened herself the K soul. Times had changed. Change was a constant so this wasn’t surprising. The cyclic ways of the universe were now known to her and while the cyclic end itself was predictably the same, the means was always different. And it fascinated her. 

The place where she had once lived as an earth being was being lit with a millions lights. People were celebrating her earth son’s homecoming. A zillion years after it had occurred. A zillion years after all of them had ‘died’. When alive, no one had cared. Her son had lived in the forests for 14 years. No one had bothered to stop him. The son who, in order to honour his father’s words, had left for the forest. And the father, her husband, had died in grief - grieving and longing for the very son who had walked out to honour the father’s words. The son could have rebelled if he had really wanted to, and taken care of them. This is how she had always felt. But then, those were different times. Emotions of love were not as strong an emotion as the emotion around keeping and honouring words that came out of the mouth. Her son, in renouncing the state and embracing the forest life, had fallen victim by to his stepmother’s blinding love for her biological son, and who out of this blinding love had manipulated her way through to her husband’s mind. She had been conniving enough to drive out K soul’s son, the heir to be, into the forests. Sadly, she was just a means to the end - the end of so many including her own husband. 

From the heaven above, K soul’s vantage point, she could clearly see that the world of humans hadnt much changed. Women continued to manipulate. Humans had degraded to unimaginable levels - everyone from rulers to the ruled, were  conniving and outsmarting each other for their own selfish needs. Little realising that this was being driven by the law of the universe. It was only a means for the yug to end. 

K soul floated back in time to her earth life. She remembered how her earth life had been shattered when her husband had driven her son out of the land into the forest, and how utterly lonely and cornered she had become after her husband too had  died. She had been relegated to someone not even worth enquiring about after being left alone with no one to call her own. Her other sons, not from her womb, although they loved her, seemed to have been in some kind of remorse that they never came near her. They seemed to somehow feel that they had been responsible for their brother’s decision to go to the forest, and were filled with guilt and remorse. So much so that they wouldn’t come near her. Nothing was the same as before. And it was so ironical. Her husband had chosen to die when he should have stopped his son from going to the forest. The son who shouldn’t have left his ageing parents had even taken his wife along. And also his brother. The brother who, blinded by his love for his elder brother, hadn’t blinked an eye before deciding to leave for the forest with his brother. It could well  be argued that he was the more selfless son who probably didn’t get his due for all the sacrifices he made. After all, he had sacrificed his bodily pleasures and left his wife behind so his ailing parents had someone to take care of them. Or so K always liked to believe. She didn’t want to believe that he could have done it because he didn’t care for his wife. It had occurred to her more than a couple of times that this woman too had suffered the ignominy of being the wife of a devoted brother who could see no one but his elder brother. It had also occurred to her that the daughter-in-law could have thought of them as being not only selfish, but also heartless. 

K soul recalled, with amusement, how later, her son came to be known as the good ideal son and how stories about a destiny that had been pre written for him to wash away the sins being committed in the forest, began to make the rounds. The only sin that she remembered was of that evil man who had tried to lure away her son’s wife and for which, thanks to her son, an entire city was completely burnt down killing many good people in the bargain. Had her daughter-in-law not insisted on having her way, and not gone with her son, none of this would have happened. Her soul mind smiled again as she saw that the dynamics in the human world hadn’t changed much. Family too was a distant cry from what it was when she was an earth woman. The concept of family was shrinking to include just the husband and the wife. Perhaps the seeds for such a family had been sown during her earth life. Regardless, and all of this aside, what amused her most was the festival of Lights. Lamps were lit in every house. Some prayed for wealth as they believed prayers this day brought wealth, while some celebrated her son’s homecoming - even after so many years. She remembered how when her son had come home from exile, she had distributed wealth among all - untold wealth among all. She had in fact made her son do that. He had anyways lived in the forest, and had, after all, learnt to have no need for the riches. Besides, she wanted him to gather some good karma after he had become the cause of his father’s death. However, truth be told, when he had returned home after almost a decade and half, her happiness had known no bounds - a thousand fireworks had lit up her mind and soul. Far beyond any physical firework. She had said to her maidsmate, “mere Deewale nikal rahe hain, mann mein Umang jhoom  utha hai, dimaag ki bathiyaan jal gaye hain, Mera beta mere paas aa Gaya hai”

The fireworks were in her mind then. It had transformed into a Festival of Lights. 

From heaven above she watched the human drama. 

Real Life Soap Operas…

Two real incidents had the nation glued to the TV these last few weeks. The story of two sons of the soil - one, a Union Minister’s son, who was arrested at sloth speed for being involved in a gruesome incident in which peacefully protesting farmers were mowed down but the politician-son needn’t seem to need to lose hope as he will be innocent until proven guilty and he, from accounts that are unfolding, might just be proven non-guilty and let off, evidently for want of evidence. Evidence not withstanding.

Almost simultaneously, another son of the soil, this time a Bollywood actor’s son was arrested at break neck speed for carrying and supplying drugs for which there was no evidence from most accounts, but for which the star son it seemed, needed to be worried as he began to be pronounced guilty even before being proven guilty, as the highest investigative authorities in the country ran helter skelter to gather evidence, evidence which seemed so suspect. 

If these were incidents from a silly mindless Bollywood movie, one would have laughed out loud and cursed the story writer for not having credited the movie goer with enough intelligence, however these were real stories being reported on prime time TV and which had the nations glued to those screens. The stories were capturing the imagination of the people in the country. 

 It wouldn’t be far from truth to state that there is a strange feeling of fear - one that tightens it’s grip especially as a strange understanding begins to dawn: the union ministers sons incident seems to remind one of the days of oppression by rulers including the last of the rulers, the British where any voice of protest was brutally silenced like the Jallianwala incident that had happened a 100 years ago,. And the star sons incident didn’t seem much different from the those regimes where one hears of people being picked up arbitrarily and subjected to untold miseries. 

These are incidents may even look like soap operas. Like some mafia-don stories of fiction. However, these are real incidents happening in a very much democratic country, which prides in the intelligence of its people, including those in the vigilance departments. 

Since writing this article, the star son has been let out on bail. Even as the star son is let out, and one is happy for him, there are thoughts that go out for the many in jail who are languishing for reasons that too could be debatable. 

Hope lives. Because democracy lives. 

The MnS phenomenon

Whether or not one is a supporter of MnS (Modi and Shah), the duo has emerged as nothing less than a phenomenon. Prior to the elections, Pulwama not withstanding, even hardcore Modi supporters could be heard discussing the possibility of a hung parliament. The best guess stopped at a Modi led coalition government, and that too one that would just about scrape through. But when the election  results were out, Narendra Modi proved that he along with his right hand man, Amit Shah were nothing less than a phenomenon. A phenomenon that will be studied long into the annals of history that is yet to be woven by the future that lies ahead.

Although Modi is obviously bold and exhibits egotistical traits, and has also exhibited Machiavellian (going to about any levels to maintain political power) and narcissist traits, he cannot be seen as someone possessing the dark triad. So what is this phenomenon called Modi?

Is it the times we live in? Times are no doubt such that the aspirations of every individual, rich and the poor, are high. Everyone is hungering for more and aspiring for the skies. And, Mr Modi, seizing the opportunity, has successfully projected himself as the one person who can help fulfil these aspirations.
Or, is it a case of identity crisis with a vast majority of Indians wanting to identify with someone great and at the same time someone who is like them - an awakening of the majority of Indians to a  deep sense of inferiority complex that they may have nurtured due to the schism that existed between the haves and the have nots, only to realise that these were to be weapons of pride that they made it despite and inspite of everything - just like Modi. The inferiority complex, which made them feel 'lesser' somehow until the chaiwala fakir spoke to them extolling them to identify with him - the Prime Minister no less, was turning into a superiority complex. He was encouraging them to think beyond the boundaries they had perhaps set for themselves - if the chaiwala could become a PM, anybody could become anything. And what better way to thank him and hail him as a hero than to place their faith in him - do exactly what he asked them to do - vote for him for a second term. After all, he was also promising to lead them all to the place that they so deserved.
Or is it simply a moment of reckoning. Where people have had enough of all the politicians thus far and the falsehood that they have all exhibited so brazenly, and are now deciding to do things they way they deem best. And they show this by electing Modi and how.

Analyses could be a plenty. The fact remains that everyone has gasped at the resounding electoral victory of BJP, one that has been undeniably charted by the Modi and Shah combination - MnS phenomenon. What is surely there for all to see is the amazing gift of the garb that Modi has - where every word he speaks overwrites the words he spoke, such that the earlier words are clean forgotten and the present is all that remains. For example, his Modi 2.0 victory speech was undoubtedly a great statesman's speech, but it also wiped away all those acrimonious mud-slinging speeches by him during the run up to the elections where everyone right from historical figures to assassinated Prime Ministers were not spared - a jingoism that brought the electioneering discourse to a new low, an abyss of sorts. In doing so, Mr Modi also makes it difficult for the more discerning ones to understand the man. Be that as it may, Mr Modi will surely go down the annals of history as perhaps the best political orator India has seen.

As regards Mr Amit Shah, he doesn't need to prove that he has phenomenal organisational skills - so much so that wattsapp jokes about President Trump seeking his services for the US elections are now doing the rounds. Between Modi and Shah, winning seemed to be all that mattered. The means they may have employed is something that would need to be studied for a long time to come to make sense of it all.

India under Modi 1.0 cannot be said to have made any phenomenal progress, not in the least like the phenomenal victory that the party had seen. In fact, the economic story of India for the most part of Modis five-year term, as observed by many economists could be seen as being one of missed opportunities although the swatch bharat abhyan, which along with the Ujjwala scheme, were indeed both important and much needed and the government needs to be given due credit for this. At the same time, the same could be said of the society - inspite of the swachh and ujjwal schemes, the society seemed to have been becoming a shade dirtier/ darker through acts of lynching and the likes. Thankfully, better sense prevailed.

India under Modi 2.0 will need to be seen. Everything has remained the same. Prime Minister Modi will be continuing as PM after his resounding success in the elections. And his right hand man, the party president will be beside him to guide him through thick and thin just like before. The one difference will be that Mr Shah is now an elected representative. Whether all of this bodes well for the country or not, time will tell.

Oh My Dog!

 

Coffee table discussions in India about a hafu with Indian blood who having won the Ms Universe Japan is having to fight the prejudices of a country that is still, as it seemingly emerges, very proud of its race in all its purity, makes one cringe because India itself is not a land that is free from prejudices, especially of the racial kind. And this could well be because of the colonial rule that it was subjected to. Interestingly, the racial prejudice extends to canines.

Let me talk about the incident that happened just a few days ago, which set my mind thinking at multiple levels.

I used to, in all my humility think of all those people walking their dogs - the beagles, the labs, the pugs, why, I even have a neighbour who owns a pair of Chihuahuas, though I have never quite seen them being walked or even carried around – as pure and simple dog lovers.

My impression of dog-walkers took its first beating when I had, a few years ago, overheard some people discuss keeping a dog not for the merits of the “keeping of a dog” but for the “snob value” that it apparently carried. It was not too difficult for me to unravel this one – it turns out that while a mongrel – the local Indian breed comes free of cost, one would need to pay upwards of a lakh or two for the “right breed”.

However, an off-the-cuff remark made snidely to someone about the “Indian mongrel” that the person owned made my eyes pop out. For the person at whom the jibe was targeted was a genuine dog lover as had been exhibited by the very act of adopting a street dog, a pub – an Indian mongrel of the Pariah variety – as it lay helplessly yelping on a cold winter evening, at the mercy of inclement weather and territorial beasts of its own species that would have mauled it to death, and bringing it home to love and safety.

To the less initiated, the Indian pariah is acknowledged the world over, as being highly intelligent and easy to train – the latter is an obvious fallout of the IQ. Their survival skills as well as adaptability, which is common about any average Indian being I suppose. An interesting fact about the Indian Pariah is that, according to a recent Nat Geo film, it is perhaps one of the first domesticated dog breeds ever. Another interesting fact about the Pariah is that the Bakharwal, an Indian Pariah variant, is perhaps the only known vegetarian dog.

But then, do the merits of a dog really matter when it comes to racial profiling? Indians, however much we may be in denial, but our deep rooted fetish about light-skin, and our instant liking for anything foreign (light-skin) as being God’s boon to mankind,  saying what ‘kismat’ or in this case, ‘dogmat’!!

Equating dogs to status symbol, well that is an altogether different topic and a funny one at that. That you are wont to do what you would when you see someone at the wheels of say an Aston Martin or a Bentley, to someone holding a beagle or a lab – meaning brand the person in your mind as “elitist”, as belonging to the upper echelons of the society or the privileged society – would perhaps make you curl up with laughter.

Up until now my eyes, which used to look at all those people who walked their dogs with something of awe and admiration for the kindness that I thought they bestowed on animals now yearn to look at the quirkiness, which atleast some of them unknowingly exhibit. And my own walks have begun to become quite fun.

Are We All Becoming Less and Less Humane…?

 

Is it that the Kevin Carter syndrome is there in all of us? Are we all in some sense standing mute witness to the injustice, maybe not capturing videos or photographs like some do, and hence those who do, they in so doing, exhibit the syndrome in all its grandeur, while others, suppress theirs.

The apathy building up in the country is increasingly evidenced through incidents as were reported in news channels this week showing the unfortunate incident where a husband had to carry his dead wife’s body for some 10 km because he couldn’t afford a vehicle, and the hospital refused him an ambulance service to ferry the dead body of his wife. This was followed by another shocking video of an old 80-year old’s body, where rigor mortis had set in, was shown being broken into two so that it could be packed into a gunny bag and hung on a bamboo stick so as to be taken afar - just two videos among the many that have almost sort of become a series in itself. And scientists could well probe to see if there is indeed a recessive “Kevin Carter” gene (for lack of a better term) and if it isn’t becoming dominant in all of us.

Apparently these happen all the time in villages and it is only now that these are being captured on videos and being telecast. Apparently, in fact, the Orissa government had recently launched the ambulance scheme precisely to address such issues, which obviously needs much to be done.

The above videos had come up just days after the video showing a man being hit and run by a light vehicle, the driver of which had come out to check if the man was dead, and then was simply seen  driving away, and this didn’t end there. The hit and run case had another twist, the dead man on the road had another beast of a human – this time a rickshaw puller, who stopped his rickshaw in the middle of the road, only to come and steal the dead man’s mobile.

Prior to this, there were videos that were shown of dogs that were flung to death by to-be doctors – for fun. Around the same time, some 10 year olds had burnt to death little puppies – also for fun. These had given rise to raging debates among animal lovers and understandably disturbed people and people help groups about what was going wrong in the society.  

What was shocking was that all the above mentioned incidents were captured on video, which led one to wonder if whoever was capturing the videos weren’t guilty of exhibiting the Kevin Carter syndrome.

But like all topics of discussion, these too were temporal in nature. With time, new tides of topics washed away the old ones, giving space for new.

Reflective of a deep rot that is setting in. An abysmal lack of apathy in people. We are becoming a part of a growing set of people where compassion is becoming a thing of the past. You hear of increasing number of people say things like, “I don’t have the patience to sit and understand…; I can’t stand emotional melodrama…”

A 2011 article in the American journal, Scientific American had reported that empathy levels had been declining in the last 30 years, with the same journal reporting a ‘steep fall’ in the last decade of the same decline period. Not sure if there are many more studies or valid statistics to fall back on, but what is happening around us seem to be clear warning bell.

Human beings were different from animals because of three virtues – patience, emotion and empathy. All three are being lost. Lost to a world that is increasingly becoming focussed on individual goals.  

Whether it is the society that is to blame or the individual, it doesn’t matter – almost like the proverbial chicken and egg story, what does however matter is that we awaken to the dangers lurking within us and at least awaken the human in us.