It's All the Same - Act Now

As time goes by, nothing much has changed in our lives

The human mind adjusts as our surroundings take a dive

We let our frustrations and feelings pour

And let our fingers type out an extempore

We wish for the darkness to pass

We hope for our mental peace to last

But who wants to stay in one state of peace

When we're constantly hunting for things to grieve

Who wants to pray in a state of chaos

In a made-up spiritual trip, counting our loss

But when were times any better or different

This pandemic has just paused our hate to accumulate

Rise up, rise up to the occasion now

Fire up, it's time to stage your show now

For times will change and the lines will cross

And everything will remain as it never was

Justice - Bleak Idealism or a Right worth fighting for?

It slithers from one broken tree branch to the other. The sound of dry leaves breaking under its smooth skin is so faint that it cannot mar the happy delusion of the creature trying to suck out some left out nectar out of a dead flower. The journey of a hopeful bud had to end as the last meal of a creature, unaware of its imminent demise. Whether the snake gets to devour the insect, the insect gets to suck the flower’s nectar, or the flower gets to be plucked by a beautiful dame, one thing is clear – none of this is or can be motivated by the idea of justice. 

Justice is not something that we inherited from nature. It is something that was developed by humans alone, because our consciousness dictates that a civilization without justice will dig its own grave. Further, if your tribe includes only 40-50 people, it is imperative to maintain justice lest there will be no future of that tribe. However, as the size of the tribe increases, so does the pretence of justice. Moreover, the fear of evolution coming to a standstill is also diluted when the count of tribesmen in a civilization increase. If tribe A is not given justice and therefore, ends up perishing, tribe B has no problem with it because they can ensure the evolution of civilization.

However, the reason why justice even came to be is to counter ‘Might is Right’ philosophy. It does not make sense in any way to question whether the weak should get justice or not.  Justice is a concept which was devised only for the weak and the voiceless. If everyone could ‘fight’ for justice, justice as a societal concept would hold no meaning. Then, justice would be a personal issue. It is part of the ‘social contract’ because peace is the only way forward and justice can be ensured only through peace. Implementing justice requires power for which we have police and the government.

Going with the assumption that justice is NOT an inherited concept for humanity but a devised concept to ensure survival and evolution, it is embarrassing that most of us indulge in victim blaming. Once a criminal is nabbed, everyone wants quick fix solution of death – but swift justice can never ever give voice to the voiceless. It just reaffirms the belief that justice is only for the powerful. The only way to get justice is by a vulgar display of power. “These criminals deserve this”

The only thing that this does is dehumanize a group of people. Once, as a society, we agree that ‘Mr. A’ deserves to be killed, we deem him and people like him less than others as humans. A divide like that will just increase the number of categories which aren’t ‘equal’. When America was dealing with school shootings there was a strong voice in PMRC which demonized heavy metal music. Now, once that is accepted as a norm ‘Kids who listen to heavy metal music shoot school children’ it becomes so easy to keep at bay, the idea of Justice for the artists because they are not musicians anymore, they are ‘harbinger of destruction’.

I do not believe that revenge as a personal emotion is a bad thing. The need for revenge is our primal instinct and it cannot be suppressed for an extended period. However, once revenge becomes a collective emotion instead of a personal emotion against the dehumanized, that’s a sure-shot way to anarchy.  

I’m writing this article to show my dissent against the encounter of Vikas Dubey. It should not have happened. The politicians and civilians trying to mask this as some great victory of the police forget that police are there to implement the law. Law is there to ensure justice. And justice through law can come only and ONLY by strength. If you’re weak, you will kill; if you’re strong, you will nab the criminals and break the nexus of crime. Norway is a brilliant example of this. Now, I’m not naïve enough to compare Norway and India. Both are VASTLY different countries, culture and most importantly, have very different populations. But we could learn from Norway’s outlook on crime and criminals. Their jails aren’t the bleak houses of suffering and anguish that so many of our jails are. The idea is not to punish the criminal, it is show them that they can lead a life as rational members of society capable of performing their civic duties, without indulging in crime.

When a criminal is murdered as a criminal, the voice of people who support crime, who support violence gets even stronger. The voice of dissent against the murder of a criminal will always be more violent than the voice of dissent against the murder of a policeman not because the life of the former more important than the latter, but precisely BECAUSE the support for the former, the criminal, ONLY comes from violence, whereas the support for latter, the policemen, comes from a trust in law, order, justice, government and all the tenets of the social contract a peace-loving society must adhere to. Since the support for the policeman does not come from violence, the dissent against their murder will also not take a violent shape.

When we laud the murder of any human being – criminal or otherwise, we’re killing the idea of justice for the weak, justice for the poor. That kind of justice is dependent on the powerful supporting the weak in seeking revenge. That kind of justice will only encourage those who support criminals like Vikas Dubey to create more haters of policeman. I wish I could make this as clear to you, my dear reader, as it is in my mind – I DO NOT support violence, I DO NOT support crime and I BELIEVE that justice through the legal system is the only kind of justice that is worth anything. A criminal justice is an insult to a society that calls itself inclusive, secular, open-minded, peace loving and progressive. 

I want to touch upon one more topic before I close this article. If you’ve stuck around this long, thank you for being tolerant of my opinions mentioned above. A lot of times when people use the word ‘racism’, they end up making some error in using the word in the right sense. Some may link racism to ethnicity, others to religion, even other to language and so on and so forth. And every time someone makes that mistake, they are attacked for not understanding the problem of racism, for diluting it by using the word ‘racism’ frivolously. There may be some things that I’ve said above that might be factually incorrect – maybe Norwegian jails aren’t as great as I make them out to be (my source is a documentary on black metal where noted black metal musicians recorded their albums from a jail cell, successfully), maybe the things that I spoke about tribes is not really the genesis of justice and so on. But as with the ‘frivolous’ use of the word ‘Racism’, I leave you with the following two questions:

1. Are the linguistic technicalities more important than the dissent against discrimination?

2. Are the examples and analogies around the concept of Justice more important than the conversation itself?

Thank You.

Rebellion - Treacherous guide to an examined life

Rebellion -> Critical Thinking -> Ability to filter out information from garbage

As soon as we enter teenage, the one constant feeling most if not all of us have (depending on our situations) is that of rebellion. Suddenly the well oiled hair seem too "champu" or dorky, the clothes we used to wear down-market, the rules we used to follow - an encroachment on our freedom and so on.

It is very important to feel those emotions and more because without that, it's almost impossible to develop critical thinking about anything. If you can't question something without guilt or hesitation, you can never fully understand it, therefore never fully support it. Rebellion affords you the ability to question whatever information is fed to you and critically evaluate whether or not the information is garbage.

In our teenage years, we have enough energy to spend time on arguing over topics like religion, patriotism, culture, morals and more. The older we get, the busier we get with less and less time to spend on these seemingly impractical topics that may not have any utility for you in life. I mean, when you have to submit your thesis, get a high paying job, find the right words to appreciate your loved ones or sustain a business empire - your patriotism or your religious will, under normal circumstances, will not be of any great significance.

For example - Consider a 40 year old grocery store owner who prays to Goddess Laxmi every single day before opening the shop. At the age of 13-14 this grocery store owner could have questioned the relevance of praying to Goddess Laxmi and the tangible difference it may make on his/her life. However, with time, the degree of his/her argument against praying the Goddess would significantly reduce because there are more pressing matters to attend to. And therefore, if you don't rebel against the idea of praying to a Goddess everyday, you will never fully be able to support the belief behind it because your deed wouldn't be backed by spirituality - they would be backed by a combination of blind faith and exhaustion (you'd be too exhausting with life in general to spend energy on questioning something which has been believed by so many for so long).

Rebellion -> Forced Disobedience -> Slave to existing notions

However, just as important as it is to question everything between the age of 13 to 19, it is imperative to identify and contain rebellion without a cause - disagreement for the sake of disagreement. If the rebellion is against an ideology or a geography or a race, then one will rebel with complete disregard to the subject matter of discussion. 

To program your brain into believing that all kinds of rebellion is good and therefore seeing no difference between rebelling against the notion of women not being allowed to vote and rebelling against having a healthy routine is dangerous. 

A teenage should never let go of critical thinking which is a result of consistent rebellion for a decade, but the teenager, as they reach adulthood, must ensure that rebellion is based on breached personal principles. That is the only way in which one can lead a life truly free from the clutches of Hypocrisy.

When your rebellion is a function of external stimuli and not internal analysis, the freedom which rebellion is supposed to provide is turned upside down. Where earlier the rebellion allowed the rebel to expand their perspective, if not controlled, the rebellion will make the rebel a slave to the opposite side of his/her "enemies".

And the loss isn't restricted to that. When rebellion is based on anything other than internal analysis of a situation, it creates a strong belief of "Us vs Them" sentiment which is a sure-fire way to destruction.

For example - Consider a 16 year old student who believes that rebellion is his/her duty and therefore, if his/her parents tell her to, let's say, get the cheapest vegetables for groceries or complete their homework, (s)he feels that a law of freedom has been violated and it needs to be protected no matter the cost.  

Had the rebellion come from internal analysis, the student would have rebelled against the former because health of the family is being put in jeopardy, but not in the second.

Further, if in future the parents were to suggest something which is favourable for the student as well, it would be forsaken by the student just because of the fact that the same is suggested by the parents. Thereby making him/her a slave to the opposition of whatever his/her parents tell her.

Furthermore, consistently forcing his/her brain to rebel against whatever is instructed by his/her parents would create a very strong "us vs them" sentiment in him/her which would lead to a vast generation gap between the parents and the child - without any real reason for it.

In conclusion

Rebellion guides us through the seemingly incomprehensible jungle of information in examining our lives, our actions and the collective conscience of groups of people and humanity as a whole. However, too much of it can recede our minds into spiraling down a rabbit hole, coming out of which is a herculean task.

Perhaps, Rebellion is like hair oil, after all. Too little of it, and your hair will be undernourished and you'll face hairfall and scratchy scalp  for eternity. Too much of it, and you'll attract enough mosquitoes to make your every evening a living hell.

Choose wisely.

Credits

I would have never thought in this direction had a very important friend not pointed me into this direction. Although I met this friend when I was 22/23 and by that time, I was already fully engrossed in rebelling against anything and anyone, he showed me the folly in that line of thinking for which I will forever be grateful. This one is for you - Ajit.

Blame

Who's to be blame for the shortcomings of your life? Who's to be blame for defining those achievements as my success which I never even wanted?

The blogger in me blames the poet in me for being too Idealistic, 

The chartered accountant in me blames the blogger in me for being too fuzzy, 

The poet in me blames the musician in me for expanding my perspective,

The musician in me blames the cynic in me for never believing that effort could ever materialise into something,

The list goes on and on and on.

I'm sure that for most of you this line of thinking wouldn't be strange because we all exist in various capacities. We are scientists, cooks, financial planners, comedians, singers, teachers, philosophers and so much more at various instances in life. 

Under normal circumstances, in choosing one, you have to reject the other aspects of life so that you can "give your all" and "beat your expectations" to "achieve success*"

* Terms and Conditions apply

It is one of the toughest decision in our lives to cut out parts which seem to not be going anywhere. Charles Bukowski famously said "Don't try" which has largely been interpreted as "If you have to try to try something, don't try. If you have to take conscious effort in writing poetry, don't try. If you have to take conscious effort in maintaining human relationships, don't try."

In not trying, one gets closer to things that (s)he is innately interested in and willing to spend their life on. Those are the times when the impact of your life, at least in your young age, is most palpable.

It is a tough decision because of the infinite potential of life to be so much - there are billionaires, exceptionally strong, beautiful, bold, courageous, sensitive, empathetic, philosophizing men and women out there that force us to rethink our next course of action at every step and if these actions aren't taken in time, to regret our inactions. 

It is easier to live in a culture where the freedom of choice isn't made for you. A society that can afford the freedom of failure is one that grants the greatest level of satiety its members. 

I have always been afraid of failure and I continue to be. It's not the fear of failure itself that is the problem, but the fear of justifying that haunts me every day. In feeding this fear, I have learnt to play the blame game - a delusional endeavour where you find problems in solutions you don't even have. Greed, jealousy, contempt, arrogance, ego.. they are very raw human emotions and they have immense value - not only in today's world of cut throat competition but also in ancient times where life wasn't as complicated. It wouldn't be wrong to say that if necessity is the mother of invention, greed is, at the least, the kickass aunt that strongly pushes you towards it.

The trappings are in the blame game; one which is harder to avoid than any other trap under the sun. That is because taking responsibility is hard, asking difficult questions, demanding answers, demanding change and monitoring that change is goddamn hard! 

So you blame your bosses for being insensitive towards your personal life, you blame your ex for a heartbreak that lingers on forever - allowing you to put every inefficiency on the shoulders of a dead relationship, you blame your parents for presurrizing you or not presurrizing you or not guiding you enough and so on and so forth.

Since we live in such an interconnected society there are bound to be problems we face, which weren't caused by us. If you're blaming somebody else for a problem you face, then you have to relentlessly make them realize it and ensure that you don't continue to face those problems. Otherwise blame is simply a tool for escape, because real life has absolutely and irreparably defeated you.

You are allowed to blame someone, you are required to complain about your problems because if you don't, the changes the world is inevitably going to see will not consider your inputs. And who'd want to live in a world like that, right?

One needs to blame someone based on investigation, based on merits and not due to bottled anger which cannot be exposed. Because blame without intervention and eventual change, eats you from the inside - making you feel cowardly and worthless. 

Be resourceful with blame, be thorough with blame and ultimately - be relentless in demanding a change.

I'm still struggling with this. However, I have changed bit by bit over the past 2/3 years of my work life and I'm sure it will continue changing as time passes. And if it doesn't, what do I blame it on?