Chennai floods and the Paris attacks - Is it fair to compare?

People have been comparing and complaining about the lack of media coverage over the Chennai floods and the Paris attacks. Is it fair to compare these two? Let's see.

Paris was an attack on freedom. An attack on culture. An attack on people. A result of an artificial irrationality, hatred. We have no one to blame, but, ourselves. An entirely man-made disaster.

Chennai is not an attack on freedom, culture or people. It is not a result of an irrationality or hatred. It is a result of nature's fury. Of course, accentuated by human greed. But, primarily, the work of nature.

Now, do you think another Chennai floods scenario can be avoided? This can be answered by answering the question, "can man stop nature"? The answer is NO. We cannot stop nature. We can probably handle such a scenario, better. That's about it, though. No way, we can prevent such a natural disaster from happening, again.

If you think nature is evil, well, it is a necessary evil.

Now, do you think a Paris-like attack can be avoided? YES! How? By realizing and admitting that religion needs reform. Man needs to change himself. To move away, from irrationality, superstition and the likes, towards reason and rationality.

Religion needs us. We don't need it.

If the Paris attacks received more media coverage, I for one, am happy. It shows that we are really concerned about a man-made crisis, arising out of an outdated set of bad ideas and rules, also created by man, which we are still struggling to shrug off (As George Carlin said, there's no invisible man looking at you, and judging you, from the sky).

The more they cover such artificial atrocities, the more people will realize, that religion is not as peaceful, as they think it is.

If you think religion is evil, well, it probably is. But it need not be a necessary evil. If we put ourselves up to it.

Chennai and Paris aren't the same. Yes. Lives were lost. But the connection ends there. Paris was an attack on humanity, by humans. It deserved the coverage, that it got. And, if the coverage helped people realize how twisted religion could be, and dissuade them from becoming fanatically pious, blind gun-toting, grenade-throwing zombies, it was a victory.

Chennai, being my hometown, holds a very special place in my heart. The Chennai floods may not have received enough worldwide or even India-wide attention. It is unfortunate, to say the very least. What would be truly depressing, though, would be a scenario, wherein, the people of Chennai didn't get enough attention.

But, thankfully, this does not seem to be the case, as the people of Chennai themselves, along with the NDRF, Army, Air Force, Navy, people from the neighboring states, and all such Good Samaritans, have extended a helping hand to get over this horrific crisis. Twitter and Facebook are testimony to this. The no. of posts and tweets citing how people have helped out family, friends, neighbors, strangers and even stranded animals is phenomenal!

The magnitude of such positive, random acts of kindness is so staggering, it is hard to believe, that man who is so capable of doing so much goodwill, is also capable of committing crude, violent acts of terrorism.

If people want more coverage of the Chennai floods, I sincerely hope, that they show more and more of all these arbitrary acts of generosity and caring, rather than people suffering. Suffering is much too commonplace. It is here, there and everywhere. Suffering is like God. It is omnipresent. Suffering is here to stay.

Goodwill, affection, caring, love are all so rare, they deserve to be shown. Broadcast it live on television. On movie screens. Wherever you can. Show Chennai in its full glory. Even though it, stands in ruins. Beauty is after all, in the eyes of the beholder.

A dime to kill for!

My words do not rhyme,
Not because it is a crime,
But due to a lack of time,
And the lousy clime.

You feel for the slime,
And snub the sublime,
All that I want is a dime,
For, I am in my prime.

Nonetheless, I will climb,
With a bottle of lime,
I will be stained with grime,
But, I hear the bells chime.

Marriage

The bride is one who must sway the broom,
The bride is one who must purge the gloom,
The bride is one who must save her womb,
The bride is one who must never fume,
And for error, there is no room.

The groom is one who must not presume,
That the bride is one who sprays perfume,
The groom is one who must not assume,
For, marriage is but the impending doom,
And for error, there is no room.

The way of life!

When you were a kid, they told you all about life.
When you were a teen, they told you to keep away from strife.
When you were earning, they told you to get a wife.
When you were away, your wife needed a midwife.
When you were old enough, you inevitably went under the knife.
When you were too old, the speculation was rife.
When you were dead, they played a fife.

"An idle mind is a devil's workshop"

Or is it?

This is a controversial proverb if one asks my opinion. I will try to justify my stance on this supposedly "tried and tested" proverb. A proverb is a proverb because its tried and tested. But there are a few instances when people accept things without questioning them, of which this proverb could be an example.

It is not known to me, as to who coined the proverb. It could be Thomas Alva Edison or Albert Einstein or Mahatma Gandhi or the Devil himself. I would like to know who coined it but thats beyond my reach as of now. If Edison did come up with it, it is fair to the come to the conclusion that he had a great sense of humor. Why? What else can one think of a man, who advocated 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration as the way to attain great heights? I, for one, am sure that if he advocated it as historians proclaim, I am sure that he followed it too. And if that was indeed the case, I guess Edison would have had very little time to be idle.

I have a strong feeling that whoever came up with the proverb was idle him/herself (that is why he/she has come up with such a wicked sentence) or just came across a few instances when people who were idle, actually committed actions which could have been only conceived in the Devil's workshop(if the devil or the workshop or both do exist!). Or this could be just another case of a coin having 2 sides to it. For instance, my mind which was idle till now (though I am supposed to be working) is now thinking about the proverb and the various ways in which it could be interpreted. While I could and might be misinterpreting it, it does not necessarily mean that I am doing something sacrilegious. In fact, this piece of work(art!) could turn out to be something momentous. Hence, I can safely conclude that I am doing something useful, which definitely is not something that comes out of a devil's workshop. While I have considered the lone case of my mind tending to veer away from the "standard practice", I am pretty sure there are lots more people out there who would readily agree with me. An idle mind necessarily does not lead to a disaster.

I have even come across a story were a man who remains idle, both physically and mentally (now, that is what I call tough!) is considered to be enlightened and is literally worshipped by the people who know him. It is just part of Indian folklore, but remaining idle is one of the toughest tasks without a semblance of a doubt. In fact remaining idle, has indeed become part of world folklore. Sadhus remained idle(physically) for years on end to attain the feet of God. Even in terms of mental idleness, they could not afford to think of anything else but God. Therefore it can be considered that they were mentally idle as well, because they had nothing else in their mind except the thought of God.

When one is said to be idle, it is that state when that person is doing nothing which interests others, though he/she might be doing something significant in their own minds. Idleness generates, when one has nothing to do, or when one tends to be unresponsive to the work of another, or even worse, dismisses someone else's work. One tends to "unlearn" things which are deemed "bad", but actually stimulates his/her interest, because the society or the people around him/her brand it to be a waste of time. When this happens, the person obviously feels demoralized and tries to throw the thought out of his brain, though he likes it. This leads to a state of temporary idleness, because he's forced not to think about the thing, which he wants to think about. Slowly but surely, the person forgets the thing, if it does not get a favourable response. If it were to be assumed that, it was the only thought in his/her mind, and if the thought has been taken away, then the person has attained perfect idleness.

Idleness is beyond measure. There are no units which cane be used to measure how idle a person is. Rather it can be grossly quantified as idle, more idle and very idle. While these can be considered tending towards perfect idleness, it is not perfect idleness. Perfect idleness is that state of idleness, when one can think of nothing. One only possesses a blank mind; a dark,saturnine cave without any rays of light molesting its perfect darkness. This state is literally impossible to achieve, because it involves driving out thoughts which one loves and hates.

What I feel about idleness is that, it is a sure shot way of achieving enlightenment. I feel that it has been a closely guarded secret, which I have stumbled upon, and I will reveal it to the world if I can. In fact, people have actually been dissuaded from considering idleness as a profession by proverbs which criticize idleness. It is a fact that idleness drives out our desires, however crass or humane they might be. And as Buddha has professed, enlightenment can be achieved only with the surrender of our desires.

While it is true that idleness can lead to some positive aspects, it is also true that idleness can trigger some unwanted, violent or aggressive reactions. Remaining idle for a very long time induces frustration in the minds of some humans. And as we all know frustration leads to anger, and anger, to loads of other dangerous deeds. While humans are more susceptible to the negative side of idleness, it is not true that idleness always leads to malice. It is too vague a generalization, that has been made by one of our forefathers, which some others liked, and propagated it like a wild forest fire.

Try remaining idle for 5 full minutes, if you read this. You will know how tough it is. I am pretty sure, your fingers will fiddle with the mouse or with themselves. Your mind will start thinking about your long lost first love or about something else that is weird or creepy enough as the afore mentioned thought. You might probably be rocking your chair up and down, and you WILL actually notice it if you are trying to be idle. Being idle is really tough. And God (if he exists) loves people who perform and survive doing tough jobs!

I was idle, and look at what I came up with... A full-fledged essay on idleness!!!



PS: I do not have anything against Edison. It is just that I am assuming that it was Edison who coined it. In fact, I offer my profuse apologies if his soul is hurt by this article. I once again reiterate that Edison was a great man who probably had nothing to do with this.

SWAT-AT-SIGHT

Well, do I thank God or do I thank Darwin's Theory of Evolution for the brilliant hand-eye coordination that I possess especially when it comes to swatting mosquitoes??

Never mind, I dont wanna cause a furore between the believers and the non-believers... Moreover, I have more mosquitoes swirling over my head now...

I guess there can be one more constructive debate on this issue... Is Man better than Machine?? In this case I would always prefer the former... In my tumultuous 21 years so far , I have never heard a mosquito screaming for death, because of the "Good Knight"... Forget the screams, I have never even seen a dead body of a mosquito killed by the "Good Knight"... No wonder I hate ambiguous names nowadays... A really "Good Knight" for the mosquitoes...

I am a man on a mission nowadays... Armed with my hands and eyes, I swat mosquitoes at sight... I am planning to make this a movement... Called the "SWAT-AT-SIGHT" movement...

The pros of this unique movement include :

1) Reducing the population of a dangerous creature.
2) The satisfaction of being a serial killer, especially when u swat more than 10 a day.

A few cons to make my movement a bit more realistic...

1) Blood spattered over your hands when u swat a particularly fat one...
2) U might think its a waste of time...

But then, I love being a serial killer... A serial mosquito killer... To experience the same satisfaction, please be a part of the "SWAT-AT-SIGHT" movement...

High?

Me posting after a long time. My previous blog has been put to rest. RIP. Though you can browse through the old posts there. This will remain the domain for my new posts. You are welcome to post your valuable comments here. Well, time to go through my post i guess...

There lays the nectar,
A grimy, old bottle of wine,
It is but a vector,
Of the minds of swine.

The glasses raised in cheer,
Makes their heads light,
While all I do is fear,
The light head's might.

The wine, was smooth,
Sweet, and treacherous,
Pretending to soothe,
But the body went tremulous.

The throat went warm,
As it made its way down,
Bearing nothing like harm,
Rather they were doing the clown.

There were the guffawing lads,
The austere colonel,
The rare but inevitable cads,
And the dog in the kennel.

Everyone save a few,
Soon, were having a kip,
Despite the cat's mew,
For, that, was the effect of a sip.