Are we there yet ?

It was extremely unsettling for me and for many Indians when Glenn Beck made the ugly remark about Ganga which goes as following :

“you know that one big river they have there that sounds like a disease? Come on, it does. I mean, if somebody said, ‘I’m sorry, you have a really bad case of Ganges,’ you’d want Cipro”

There are so many things wrong with that quote that even a minor thing like lack of grammatical correctness comes across as preposterous. But then again, we are talking about Glenn Beck, the cry baby of Fox news who is famous for quotes like :

“We’re giving our freedoms away. The American experiment was about freedom. Freedom to be stupid, freedom to fail, freedom to succeed. “

Well, of all the “freedoms”, he certainly has emphatically exercised his freedom to be stupid. But we have to get the context straight and it gets uglier.  This comment came as a footnote during his “cerebral” conversation with Karlyn Zimbelman, who recently underwent a successful hip replacement surgery in India at a fraction of the cost it would take to perform the same in the States. Certainly Mr.Beck could not take the fact that money could not buy intellect because if that were the case, Keith Olbermann would be on every program in Fox.

The truly disturbing news is not that bad when we see the inferences.Besides the snide knee jerk comments about India’s cultural heritage, Glenn Beck is not shy to reveal a seething anger and a dismissal of India’s growing position globally in health-care and macoreconomics along with the more famous IT outsourcing. A retrospective understanding states the obvious. It is difficult to contemplate the fact that tedious research and world class education is clearly not enough to win the global game . In Nandan Nilekani’s “level playing field”, it is more an exercise in sheer enterprise and perseverance that is swaying the trade winds (cannot resist the pun) today. In the wake of this understanding, I guess we can reluctantly let Glenn Beck get back to his miserable life this time. Denial always precedes acceptance. We have waited 62 years to move from dismissal to denial. We can wait a bit more to move from denial to acknowledgment.

Here is a video of Beck apologizing for his stupidity:

Well Beck, if you need to apologize, at least act sincere.

Khudahafeez
K.

 

The irony of absolutes

In my humble opinion, most of the problems we face today stem from one simple assumption; the assumption that the index finger needs to always point to something. That it has to point at someone else, or at ourselves or the sky above. All our thoughts, actions and interactions are based on this undisputed axiom. We prepare hard for the exams and wait for the results. We either wait eagerly for a good result or brace ourselves for a bad one. How do we prepare for an exam which yields no result ? Why do we have to assume that since our morals are right and tangible, they are built on  values that should be right?

Most of the times when things go wrong, we look at means to either fix them or forget them . When we realize that we were wrong, we use the trusty old index finger. Either the situation forced us to commit something undesirable, or it was the fault of someone else, or if we are magnanimous enough, it was our fault.

 But there is no purpose in events. There is no good/bad. There is nothing to point at and call it a fault. Because, there is no fault.Sadness after all, is just a different degree of happiness. Discovering that life is ambiguous is the true path to inner peace. No amount of planning can prepare us for the future as we have not conquered the dimensions to predict the future.

Sometimes, things are just there. Sometimes a dark alley is what it is.. a dark alley. Ambiguity is by far the greatest absolute in life. As insignificant as life may seem at the moment, in the true sense of ambiguity, it is also special. To quote Bill Bryson :

“The atoms that congenially flocked together to make life on earth are the same ones that refused to do it elsewhere.”

 

Gandhi says

The greatness of Gandhi was in his simplicity. We all know that! Some of those quotes borne out of his simplicity are so profound that I just had to share them:

• The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
• There is more to life than simply increasing it’s speed.
• God is conscience. He is even the atheism of the atheist.
• If by strength is meant moral power, then a woman is immeasurably man’s superior.
• No power on earth can subjugate you when you are armed with the sword of ahimsa (non-violence). It ennobles both the victor and the vanquished.
• Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
• Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love.
• A ‘No’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.
• The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
• I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
• One needs to be slow to form convictions, but once formed they must be defended against the heaviest odds.

My favourite :

When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it–always.

Khudahafeez

K.

 

Why do you think you exist?

Glancing back on my twenty five years of life, I see I have come pretty far in my career considering the fact that we could not even afford books while I was in college. I can even boast that I am a good son and a good brother. But then again, when i asked the haunting question to myself :

 What difference have I brought with my existence?

Sadly then answer to that has never justified my conscience.

In Islam, we have a concept called Amanath. Amanath means that Allah has handed over everything in this world  to each and everyone of us as Amanath(roughly translates to safe keeping) . We are answerable to Him only on one grounds :

What have you done with your Amanath?

Two important questions that need to have morally acceptable answers. My soul search for the answers is still on……

Khudahafeez
K.

 

 

Random thought at the train station

TIME : 8:45 AM . DAY : Monday. PLACE : Jam packed MRT train in Singapore

Humanity never ceases to amaze me .

I remember the concepts of crystal lattice taught way back in school . About how atoms are packed  in body centric cubic and face centric cubic arrangements . You know there are rules in the way atoms are arranged but people tend to find their own way of arranging themselves – a confluence of warm touch and cold shoulder .

I was in the train to office. It is a daily struggle to achieve puctuality and today I surprisingly seemed to have come close to accomplishing it . I look around at the flurry. People were tightly packed . School kids  busy cramming for the D-day with a book in one hand and bag by the shoulder not to forget the big black framed goggles at such a young age . Businessmen smartly dressed with an air of nonchalance , newspaper tucked under the right arm and laptop bag in the left. Women holding on to the bars or sitting crosslegged and pouring into some interesting read. It is a fast paced life and every day is a struggle for survival . In this turtle march , you watch your own back on the way to the sea.

Then the train stopped at one of the busiest stations . People thronged the stations and were pushing in . The doors were about to close and a few were yet to board . In a few moments , life rushes in  and for a few seconds the air changes.  The ones near the door huddle up . They know that the ones yet to board are getting late . That their bosses will yell at them if they are not on time . That they are juggling family life and time with kids with work. So , come on in buddy . We will adjust . The tight lattice finds space for a few more people before the doors close.

Humanity never ceases to amaze me .