Games we play

CWG is like typical indian way to doing things, in fact our story of independence was thing similar to this. we start badly, no body believed we can survive a decade. we some how pull up when needed. i am sure we games will go well. all is well, that ends well i guess.

Games

Naming

am a new born father of daughter. Before the natural realization of the father hood,I am forced into a lot theoretical and practical ways of raising child in global world. She is not just my child she belongs to the world, yes agreed, so she should have global name her name should fit into a passport, should be easy for god damn American to remember and pronounce. Earlier you can manage the elders who want to name child after a god, or star or ancestor, just call them old and keep them quiet. Now how would you respond to the so called practical guide to naming your children on global terms.

Flood Relief at Cuddalore

It is usually not a good exp when you attend a relief work. More than the actual damage, govt apathy etc, what bothers me is the role and mindset one has to have to undertake such work. We went to a village some 40KM from chidambarram, which had a population of around 300 to 400 hundred families, it took us nearly 2 hrs to organise the crowd. Finaly we couldnt even distribute to more than 50 people, we had to leave fearing stampede. Crowd followed us for nearlly 10 kms running and incycle to get some breads, chapathy, bedsheets.

What can one do in such situation.

The question of Brahmins

My views on Brahmins have always been changing. There was a time I believed or rather interested in brahminism and took some pride in being one. I believed in great ideals of a Brahmin and but for the caste all is well in it. I believed they can contribute much to India, I believed they lead the front in overall development. I had all examples who have led such life, made impact in ordinary people’s life. I believed the Dravidian rhetoric is mere hatred ness, I wanted to tell the world that we are not responsible for the caste, I had all arguments, we are judged harshly by contemporary politicians.

Today more I understand, more I listen, I am convinced that hatred ness is deep and genuinely innocent. I remember one of my friends telling me this, “ today Brahmins marry non-brahmins get out of traditional jobs, more progressive, but then they have left others in darkness of what they have preached for years” in effect the change in the attitude, the so called progressiveness has not helped the cause of so many dalits. I believe it has not helped. It may take another century before an ordinary Indian can think beyond caste, modern world has too much to offer that one doesn’t necessarily rely on the community support. Brahmins can in a way get the best of both tradition and the modern without being castist. I do genuinely believe that many of my Brahmin friends go beyond identity of the caste, (of course the reservation can keep the tension alive). I know of guy who vehemently opposed reservation, but has been supporting and running schools and supplementary centres in slums and rural areas. This seems to be contradiction at a superficial level. Many of the reservation grievances come from personal loss rather than caste prejudice. I also know of many activist Brahmins, I wonder today whether they can actually bring about the change, can they be real friends of the needy. I am not sure,( there is some thing in quantum physics that says the moment the observer watches the particle it displaces). The same is true with Brahmins involment in any thing makes it his movement rather than the people movement intentionally or otherwise.

what do they do. may be we should voluntarily not occupy government offices, not run NGOs, not make policies etc. stop all the intellectual activities. and for sake of millions of people just let them do what they want. as gandhi says for the sake of nation we can sacrifice brahmins.

to be continued

Educated People in Politics

there seems to be a general feeling, that the politics will redeem for good if educated people vote and enter politics and politicians like other streams should have minimum qualification. I dont know how such thougts can be accepted as universal wisdom with out discussion. Other day i was watching CNN IBN, Rajdeep was wondering how come in the twenteith century india can have an MP who doesnt know how to press correct buttons in the vote of trust, and he was ashamed that they were our leaders. I am simply aghast with such remarks which is so insensitive to the millions of indians who are illiterate, poor. MPs are representatives of the people and their aspirations, so its natural that some MPs and MLAs can be uneducated better unschooled. I dont know how the educated can be true representatives of all indians.

Anyways in real it is the educated babu lok who run the government, i am not very sure of their greatness. There is also feeling that the unschooled population are corrupt, ignorant and bringing down the country. such feeling doesnt help.

Freedom Individualism and love

How long can we be bad boys, how long can we bear the macho cross, think about the day when we will spend only for ourselves, have sex without guilt of corrupting and responsibilities, have less heart attacks, live longer, like all women. How many lives will you take and sacrifice in protecting small tissue. Freedom lies in not being police.

Dress and Freedom: No doubt freedom to wear the dress we please is freedom, but do we deserve it. I think going by the arguments of some students we don’t. Every body agrees to code, most say short skirt and bikinis should be banned not jeans and t shirts, so we are not talking about freedom of choice, students fighting for jeans in Chennai would be a misfit in Delhi short skirts, and so on. So the fight is about choice of dress not about freedom. Mr VC is old fashioned and importantly he was a man, that is all. Whom should we support the VC or the students, I prefer to keep equidistant, freedom to be traditional is also freedom. One last word, you can be heretic in academic circles, but never in students. Conform or perish.


The arguments: Some arguments, if we can vote can’t we choose dress, why should girls wear traditional, who can define culture, what is tamil culture, when people follow many traditions.

Counter arguments: If I can choose what you read, if I can choose the syllabus, if I can correct your papers, if I can give you grade cant I decide on the dress. Well one can argue that they don’t have competency, so are we.
Having dress code need not be traditional need not be antiwomen, many business schools follow rigid dress code, which are formals not traditional, women are allowed to wear shirts and trousers not jeans, dhothi, and kurtas. They have more rules for men than women, if you are not convinced ask a marketing guy.
This is stretching of dress code arguments. If one feels VC’s speech chauvinistic, pl refer the argument above. In fact the first victim of dress code was a boy from a jain engineerging college.

No one can define culture including historians, anthropologists, linguists, but we do it for our understanding and identity,to find common grounds. Culture is not found in scriptures, but by choosing scriptures, society by choosing its hero, god and scriptures defines its culture. It is fluid, it changes, but it is always there. Just because it changes, and some or more scriptures point otherwise it doesn’t mean it has no culture. If tamils believe kanaki to be their heroine and ram to be their hero then they are, it doesn’t matter, Krishna had 1000 wives and sanga women were highly sexual. But it is altogether a different question whether one should accept one culture. Best example is language, for us tamil alphabets are what we have today, no one questions by citing the epitapts of sanga period. Culture is finding common traits of particular people not about differences. So it is possible to define culture, to celebrate it, chastise it. The best and safest Case study for this would be brahmin's cultural differences and changes, but still you find some brahminical culture. Hope this would not be disputed. if you then you are in self defeating quagmire.

Danger lies in quoting and counter quoting from history, because it doesn’t prove the other is wrong and second what if you don't find quotes. To decide on morals we need not seek evidence in the past, something is wrong or right not because it is found in history but because it is truth.

Freedom, Individualism and love: In my understanding individualism for many is not driven by ideas, it is restricted to creating comfort zones. That is why there are more suicides in france and finland, and the UK worry about growing number of senior citizens. As long as we need love from others, fighting for rights alone will not work. It is the dependence on others that lead us on compromise on rights. Empowered women, men and children by its very nature anti family (strictly in cultural terms). We all know this, but we still flock to make one (strictly evolutionary). We are trying to bring balance. So if you are a person who wants a family, decide on how much you can compromise, know the degree can vary, when you know this your right would make sense to you.