My first word cloud

A new year is just around the corner. I take pride in being part of the community of dynamic movers and shakers, the unsung heroes of the world- the teaching fraternity. Last night, as I was looking back on what I had achieved this year, all I could see were a few faces- a shy one, a mischievous one, a sad one, a troubled one and so on. All these lives have meant something to me. They have transformed a bit of me.
I remember a girl who loves to read. she used to sneak a book inside her desk during the evening preparatory time. I often ignored her. I knew she was not good in many subjects but I never had a heart to tell her to close that wonderful imaginary world of dragons and start studying. Maybe, her grades have not improved. Still, she finished big, fat and thick books..
And then there was one student of mine who would not study at all unless he sat with me. And more often than not studying turned to chatting about dogs, turtles, snakes and rocks...
Here is my first word cloud that I learnt to make. The words in this cloud says all about what my students have achieved or are in the process of achieving, if not today then tomorrow surely. 

Ayn Rand and Her Brand of Selfishness

              'The man who does not value himself, cannot value anything or anyone.'

Much is being spoken about these days- that we have to be selfless, devoted to the cause of others and their upliftment. It is the most spiritually attainable goal in one’s life. Anyone who works towards making his life better is looked down upon because he is not human if he cannot shell out his hard earned money for food and blankets for the beggars. He cannot drive his car daily if he cannot be empathetic towards the poor living on the pavements.  However, we forget that if we are selfish then and only then there can be a change. Ayn Rand has been criticized for too long for upholding this simple truth.

That selfishness can be a virtue has been condemned by the people who think that helping others and devoting their life for others is the only fulfilling task of man on earth. If anyone reads through the novels of Ayn Rand, he or she might think of her rotting in hell – like her protagonists who create chaos in a seemingly functional world.

Ayn Rand is probably the best example of a person way ahead of her time, a martyr to the collective hypocrisy of a society. When she argued that man should live to promote only his happiness, it was received with utmost derision. People claimed that the society would become decadent and hedonistic in its pursuit of individual happiness. They did not understand the superiority of the virtue of selfishness- To be thoughtless and harm others cannot be in your self- interest. That was not the selfishness that Ms. Rand was speaking about. To be selfish, she urged people to devote oneself completely to reason- not faith, not moral and societal obligations- to achieve the highest in one’s life and to make all sorts of sacrifice needed to achieve that- that was her philosophy- “Every man builds his world in his own image. He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice.”

Many people have interpreted her ideas to suit their selfish purposes. She never endorsed anarchism and contrary to popular belief, she was not against the government also. She accepted the government for what it should be- providing and creating best possible environment to achieve individual perfection. And individual perfection was her idea of selfishness- created and fostered by creativity, and as applications of the role of reason as man's basic tool of survival: rationality, honesty, justice, independence, integrity, productiveness, and pride. “Do not ever say that the desire to 'do good' by force is a good motive. Neither power-lust nor stupidity are good motives.”

 Yes, she was against the standard of values dictated by man and society- Here too her reason was that ethics that is forced on a man can never promote and prosper ultimate good in society because it is forced upon the free will. She was the modern advocate of Aristotle’s concept of “Free will”. Any knowledge other than that perceived by your sense perception is a knowledge forced on you by the society for its own purpose. She did not believe in the concept of emotions, intuitions and ethics as a source of knowledge. Existence of one’s own self is a reality- it cannot be bound by irrational ideals and thoughts.  That is why, she vehemently opposed the idea of modern altruism as coined by Comte. Greater good cannot be achieved in a society ruled by mob mentality- for a cannibal society, this would tantamount to one individual’s protest against eating human flesh. So a person going against that tenet would be looked upon as a nonconformist and creator of chaos. If we think deeper, this chaos is needed in a society to shift from its selfish motives towards collective good ultimately. Modern altruism finds fault with the money system- they see it as a creator of divide and class system. But Rand says money is the necessary tool to bring change- to what end you wish to bring the change is your purpose in life. Again, to reiterate Rand, harming others and selfish acts of destruction cannot be in the self interest of individuals- without going into the morals, ethics, value system provided to a person, simple reason and rationality will force the person not to do it. Because if he does that, he will not be able to exist himself.

Photo courtesy-www.quotessays.com

 ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” If according to modern altruism, we believe in donating and devoting for the cause of others, not to have a desire for self-fulfillment, I dread that we remain slaves to the first part of this proverb… It cannot lead to greater good since we have not ignited the spirit of selfishness in him- we have not taught him to achieve anything, to take pride in his work, to question, to create something intrinsic to his nature in the face of opposition.

So the virtue of selfishness as promoted by Rand is the highest virtue that can be achieved in life. A life should be completely devoted to reason and its choices- ideals and principles should not be coated in words and standards of evil and good. The evil of the society is that it has, through stories, legends, actions handed down by parents that doing anything good for your own self is evil while giving money and blankets to others is good. Any reasonable man would agree that to sacrifice his life for some strangers’ well being cannot be the be all and end all of his existence. Altruists will argue that without this moral code, there cannot be any global consciousness. But to quote Rand, reason, purpose and self-esteem should suffice to promote universal good- you do not need to sugar-coat it by moral codes, ethics. Because ethics itself is spawned by the hypocrisy of society- it is a servant to the greed and power of society- a hegemonic rule over the power of reason and egoism of individual.  The question is whether a man should live life according to standards set by another individual- whether his existence is subservient to the whims and conduct of others. If it is only reason that we answer with, the answer will be no- irrespective of time, society and emotions. “Man—every man—is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others; he must live for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself; he must work for his rational self-interest, with the achievement of his own happiness as the highest moral purpose of his life.”

Geography of the minds

Whenever there is a hint of terror in our great land- India, some historians and elite intellectuals start beating the drum of “Hindu-Muslim unity”. They trace back to Akbar’s marriage to Hindu princesses; the support and fight beside each other during the Great Mutiny and how Gandhi created a secular front in the largest political forum of pre-Independence- The Congress party. It is true that the common mass of India, its teeming millions in rural areas have lived in harmony with each other. However, if we look at even such minuscule societies with a magnifying glass, the harmony at best can be termed as cohabitation and amicable relationship. The Muslims of India have been, through the years, made to believe in a land- “ of milk and honey”, “of the most holiest of holy”- PAKISTAN.

Surprisingly, the land now so geographically entwined in the world map is less than 100 years old. There is no mention of Pakistan in any written religious or secular records. So the question arises- Where did this land originate? This brings me to an interesting concept- the geography of mind…or psychogeography.

 Psychogeography as defined in 1955 by Guy Debord as "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals." Quoting Karl Marx, Debord further says- “People can see nothing around them that is not their own image; everything speaks to them of themselves. Their very landscape is animated.”

The term is relatively new and deals with a specific political and physical manifestation of post-colonial times.

The idea of a land is first implanted in the minds of people and it creates such powerful imagery that the idea endures for thousands and thousands of years until the political conditions favour towards making it into a reality.

4000 years ago, a book proclaimed- “To you I will give you Canaan, as the portion you will inherit” Psalm=105:7-Bible. With this began the pursuit of a nation to strive against all odds to create and cut out a physical reality out of a dream contained in a book- So powerful is the dream that at every Passover Seder, the Jewish diaspora ends the feast with the prayer- saying "Next Year in Jerusalem!" The birth of the nation state of Israel is a modern miracle. Never before or since there has been such a history where the people inherit a land after being banished from it for 4000 years. It is a miracle due to the tenacity of  a people to hold on to a dream in the face of  immense persecution through centuries- from the days of Moses to the First Crusade, then through the banishing of English Jews, to the days of Black death, and in recent times, the isolation of Jews in Russia. In this respect at least, Hitler had nothing new to offer. He just framed the old words of hatred in new literature and words and policies. Throughout this time, the nation was kept alive only in the words, religious practices and the customs…. Israel first resided in the minds of Jews long before there was any semblance of it on world map. Then in 1882, the first Jewish settlement was built in the land of “milk and honey”. On 14^th May, 1948, Israel became a land on the world map. It can be thus celebrated as the first successful project of Psychogeography.

There is another much closer instance of a land born from an image and an idea endured in the minds of the people.

“Our brave but voiceless nation is being sacrificed on the altar of Hindu Nationalism not only by the non-Muslims, but also, to their lasting shame, by our own so-called leaders with a reckless disregard of our protests and in utter contempt of the warnings of history.” So begins the pamphlet that has shaken the history of South Asia and still continues to play a vital role in world politics.

Choudhry Rahamat Ali was born in a Gujjar family in undivided India. In 1933, far away from the “voiceless nation” across kalapaani, he gave Indian Muslims a vision- a land most holy, carved out from the oppressed land that they were forced now to share with the Hindus. And he asked- “Are We to Live or Perish Forever?". 

Unlike the fate of God’s chosen people in Bible, however, Muslims of India already had a land to live in. So, the zeal and the seed of image of this land had to be powerful enough to want to find fault and hate for the physical reality of the land they were living in and henceforth covet the land of dream. To implement this, Rahamat Ali focused on the politics of the land and the freedom struggle. He gave the flesh and skin to this imagined land-

“Pakistan' is both a Persian and an Urdu word. It is composed of letters taken from the names of all our South Asia homelands; that is, Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh and Balochistan. It means the land of the Paks – the spiritually pure and clean.”

“They (the Muslim Delegates of the Round Table) have accepted, without any protest or demur and without any reservation or qualification, a constitution based on the principle of an All-India Federation. This acceptance amounts to nothing less than signing the death-warrant of Islam and of Muslims in India.” From then onwards, Indian freedom struggle had two characteristics- overthrow of the British Raj and to find a way around the “death warrant”. And on 14^th August, 1947, Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah successfully saw to this “unprecedented cyclonic revolution which has brought about the plan of creating and establishing two independent Sovereign Dominions in this sub-continent. As it is, it has been unprecedented; there is no parallel in the history of the world.”

The antiquity of Ramayana can be traced back to 4^th century BCE.  It is thus much older than the Bible. The story is well known not only in India but in the entire South Asian subcontinent. The benevolent prince going to exile with his wife and brother, the fighting with the demon king and the destruction of his land followed by the banishment of the wife and creating a just kingdom.

Even in this age of Agni missiles and Bluetooth, there are villages in India where the evening entertainment consists of the priest reciting from and explaining the various chapters of this epic to the masses. According to Hindu mythology, Rama is the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, whose specific task was to kill the demon king Ravana and establish a kingdom where common people would be living happily ever after. Whether the common people really lived happily in these 11,000 years, there is not much evidence of. However, there are quite a few references as to the description of this rule or Rama Rajya- This was the time when people lived happily in harmony. There was absolute peace as every other king had accepted Rama as their sovereign ruler; there was no war or disease or hunger. Justice was true and dealt an honest deal. People, moreover, were wealthy and lived a holy, pious life emulating Rama.

Such is the power of this imagery of the Prince and his almost heaven like kingdom that it endured in one of the finest minds of our time.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born to the fourth wife of the Diwan of the small princely state of Porbunder in 1869. The family deity worshiped in this household was Rama. There was one Rama temple where little Gandhi used to visit with his mother. It was this petite, illiterate, nondescript woman who sowed the seed of nonviolence and endurance of the soul in Gandhi. As Prof. Ramachandra Guha says- “Mohandas’s mother introduced him to the mysteries- and beauties- of faith.” Gandhi believed in creating a nation out of India based on the highest standard that can be reached by any nation- a Rama Rajya where there would be no inequality of caste and wealth; where people would live in small self-sufficient units without coveting others’ land and people in perfect harmony with the natural flora and fauna. “My idea of Village Swaraj is that it is a complete republic… There will be no castes such as we have today with their graded Untouchability….. Here there is perfect democracy based upon individual freedom.”

So strong was Gandhi’s belief in Rama, that he himself emulated Rama in several of his acts. On 2^nd March, 1930, Gandhi wrote to Viceroy Irwin about his plan for civil disobedience movement- “If my letter makes no appeal to your heart, on the eleventh day of this month I shall proceed with such co-workers of the Ashram as I can take, to disregard the provisions of the Salt Laws.” This was exactly in accordance to what is written in the epic- that Rama released Lanka’s spies and even announced that he was going to attack Lanka the next morning.

In recent years, there has been a lot of controversy over the true meaning of Rama Rajya. Without arguing for or against any of those, it can be said that the idea of a peaceful, wealthy, happy and just nation is the Utopia that is appealing to a Muslim illiterate farmer and a Hindu college professor alike. So the idea of Rama Rajya lives on in the minds of the people. However, whether we can see a physical manifestation of such a land on the world map in future will depend largely on the way we wish to create it. The ability to create and understand abstract ideas is unique to us only. Hence our living space is both abstract and concrete. What we achieve is what we dream of first. Thus if ever we wish to see a Rama Rajya will depend on the path chosen to arrive at it- through violence and dogmatic persuasion or through acts of benevolence for greater good.

What do Bengalis get during the 5 day frenzy of Durga Puja?

Some pseudo intellectuals have often questioned the sheer madness that surrounds Durga Puja celebrations in West Bengal. They argue about the money spent during the Puja; the amount of energy “wasted” by the people; the traffic, the crowd, the gimmick… in fact everything that creates the madness. This is my humble reply to them.

On the day of Mahalaya, Sealdah station is swamped by dhakis the drummers who are an integral part of Durgotshob. This is the only time they can feel proud of their tradition and skill. They earn 10,000 to 20,000 during these 5 days. Rest of the year, they earn a meagre amount by working as migrant farm labourers. Durga Puja keeps their art alive. Many have even flown to San Francisco, Berlin and London.

Photo courtesy- www.mumbairock.com

Shola grows wild in marshy waterlogged areas. This seemingly abundant plant provides livelihood to almost 5000 craftsmen- the Malakars of the shola Pith craft.

Photo courtesy- www.biolib.cz

The milky white stalk of the plant is painstakingly processed for months to produce the intricate decorations that adorn the Durga idols all over West Bengal and in Kolkata.  Due to the hype and so called “gimmick” of these 5 days, the craft has now seen a revival. Many villages namely Banshberia, Moukhali, Hattala,Rangaberia, Chaitanyapur and Muldia have started shola works.

Each year, a sleepy suburban town near Kolkata creates a Disney like magical world through their “tuni bulb” light works. Great personalities, animals, circus clowns, peacocks, “Mayurponkhi nouka”, “thakurmar jhuli”, characters from”Abol Tabol” comes alive on the streets of Kolkata.

50,000 people work in this trade. The best prize for “alokshajja” goes to the Puja organizers. The puja committees set aside almost 5 lakhs for these unique light works that will add to the popularity of their theme and Pandal. Not only in Kolkata, there is a huge rising demand for these light works in far off Gujarat, Mumbai and Ranchi. Their work is now appreciated all over the world. The most famous being the giant peacock barge at 2003 Thames Festival.

Media reports that the total expenditure in Durga Puja is growing at a 30%. More than 2 lakhs artisans of different crafts and art make their annual living from this festival.

Apart from this, the five day celebration provides almost the entire year’s income for other craftsmen- zari workers, Natun gram’s Wooden owl makers, dokra workers, the pandal makers and of course, the 260 units and 9000 patuas from Kumartuli. 

And, for those who are still sceptical about the worth of this Puja for Bengalis, here is a thought. It is a tribute- to the indomitable courage of the people of Bengal- those middle class households who save each penny throughout the year to visit a new place, go for a tour in Rajasthan, Gujarat, to the hills of Himalaya and North East;

It takes courage to smile through the debts, rising price of everything that is needed for a decent living, to say no to bribe even when an extra 500 would buy a much needed medicine, to live a deprived life even when there is easy money available if only they say yes to a decadent wish or a corrupt request.

These 5 days, Bengalis renew their spirit, their hope and prepare for the grind that awaits them for the next 365 days. They take pride in small achievements- a bike, a rise in salary, a gift of a jewellery to their mothers and wives, a computer for his son or daughter and other little dreams that make no sense to others but for them, it is just an inch forward to a better life, a reminder that their lives are not worthless. So, yes, Bengalis get a lot from Durga Puja.

Our Brain Holds the Key to Our Connection with Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence

Our Brain Holds the Key to Our Connection with Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence

There has often been a conflict in two philosophies of life- The East- with its over emphasis on religion asks us to live a pious life so that we can have a less painful afterlife while the West –with its overemphasis on science, reasoning and consciousness asks us to live our life the way we choose to with complete disregard for an afterlife. One believes in death as “the irreversible cessation of all vital functions especially as indicated by permanent stoppage of the heart, respiration, and brain activity: the end of life”, the other believes in continuation of soul.

In all ancient cultures and even in all the tribal cultures all around the world, death is looked upon as a part of an ongoing process- it is just a stage in the journey of soul.

Modern science has only recently woke up to the fact that it does not completely know the functions and mechanisms of human brain and human body.

It seems that “god” (extra-terrestrial intelligent species) made humans in their mirror form. And surprisingly, with serious effort, a person can break the barrier of body and material consciousness. Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a psychedelic compound that resembles the basic structure of neurotransmitters. When ingested, DMT is able to cross the human blood-brain-barrier, allowing it to act as a powerful hallucinogenic drug that dramatically affects human consciousness. Those who have taken DMT speak of similar experiences- of meeting or seeing spiritual and/or alien spirits.

The best examples of such encounters are found in Shamanism practised by Amerindian tribes of Amazon basin. Out of millions of plants, only a few plants in Amazon produce DMT. The brew prepared from such plants is called Ayahuasca- Aya- meaning “soul” and Waska meaning ‘liana” essentially- “ liana of the dead or spirit liana.

First “miracle” – DMT is produced in human body although its function is unknown to scientists. Is it the key to unlock the barrier and meet our true ancestors coded inside our body just like we do for our robots now. Many indigenous people claim that the name of the plant that could produce DMT which can be utilised by our bodies without the enzimes breaking it down- was given to them by spirits of the plant itself in “dream time” usually the days of origin of that tribe.

Second “miracle” – Irrespective of who drinks the brew, the experience is similar- hallucinations about god like beings, intelligent spirits and most important of all- spirit of Ayahuasca- a sort Supreme Mother. Such hallucination causes a reality switch in the person. That is why ayahuasca has been used to cure drug addiction, mental diseases by the shamans from ancient time.

Third “miracle”- Brain is the key to our connection with these true ancestors- It seems that our near death experiences alter our personality. Those who have near death experience become more altruistic, less materialistic and more loving. Such change in personality happen in relation to what is needed for an all-round growth of individual- So who determines this change? The brain, according to science is dead for the 10 -15 minutes. So where does the body and brain get this signal to change? Considering the aftereffects, the near-death phenomenon seems to stimulate the brain hemisphere that was not previously dominant. There is also an observable movement in the brain, structurally, toward data clustering and creative invention - as if the person was developing a more synergistic type of neutral network –involving the brain as a whole and not just as two separate hemispheres-.There is now established historical evidence that many people who have contributed significantly to the betterment of our society had near death experience- Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Queen Elizabeth I..

Scientists are now working to find the importance and behaviour of particles that could have momentum and energy but no mass- ie our souls. Photon particles can be a case in point.

Till we find irreversible proof from science, let us believe that our true ancestors gave us all the power to do good, heal the earth and do wonders and miracles. We have ruined that blessing with our doggedness and our faith in our invincibility. Let us rewind the track of progress just a little and give Earth little breathing space.  

Read more at-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s42vuf0ahU8- Graham Hancock- The war on consciousness- TED Talk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyltryptamine

http://dreamherbs.com/helpful-articles/stories-of-near-death-experiences/

http://www.dailyom.com/library/000/002/000002527.html

http://www.dailyom.com/library/000/002/000002527.html