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Its either Atheism or people just don’t care anymore

Posted by Ritesh - 24/03/10 at 08:03:03 am

My neighbors were talking about how a temple recently had a meeting to discuss the fall in the number of visitors and donations. This was surprising considering religion is one of the biggest industries in India is now seeing a decline. Tirupati, a religious destination, second only to the vatican in terms of donations received, has seen a sharp decline in the number of visitors and donations. (blame the telengana debacle also for this). In the metros there is a sharp increase of people who are turning atheists and there is also a significant number of people who don’t have any incentive to be religious anymore. In the older times, a typical Indian office would be characterized by a gigantic Idol of the Lord that had a Lamp and incense sticks burning all day. There was the infamous cash box or the safe, that was worshiped everyday as well. Most managers had big pictures of the various Gods and deities and it was always a good idea to spend a fair amount of the company’s budget on a religious celebration (something like a Gana Homa or a trip to not so close Temple).  Being religious had serious incentives when it came to being on the favorable side of your Boss or promotions.

Lets move to 2010. Most offices are characterized by large glass and wood facades, plush and contemporary furniture and central air conditioning. Idols and Photos of deities are replaced by an abstract art painting or some motivational poster. Company budgets are spent on a either short adventurous trips or on expensive wine and dining. I would dare someone to suggest going to Tirupati for their team outing. Nobody discusses religion primarily because of a multilingual , multicultural and multi religious nature of most teams. There is absolutely no incentive in being religious ( at least in companies like mine; I don’t know about the strong Brahmin dominated 100,000 plus employee companies). All in all, religion is not as inter twined in our society as its used to be.

Here’s another thought, exposure to literature from around the world, videos of people right from eminent scholars like Carl Sagan, Richard Dawkins to standups like George Carlin have changed the way people think about religion. Consequentially, we have a growing population of people who are questioning indoctrination and age old beliefs. Then there are the others, who between their farmville activities, twitter, youtube , facebook and pub/mall hopping, dont find time to be religious. Why would they? It pays more to have seen Susan Boyle in Britain’s Got Talent than being religious in today’s social circle.

Most people who used to cash in on the religious phenomenon are being hit bad. Lets take the million dollar Agarbatti (incense) industry. Agarbatti served a dual purpose, apart from being a symbol of worship, it would also serve as a room freshner for many people. You cannot even dare light a match, let alone an agarbatti, in a modern office. Add to this that most premium agarbatti makers (like the one shown below) cashed in primarily due to exports and metros. So what do they do? Market agarbatti as a natural room freshner? Nah, Room Freshner sprays would beat them by a long shot. So they go make an advertisement. The one which has very satisfactory scientific explanations about the divine phenomenon. Surely, even the divine is based on some scientific principle, even if its weakly rooted in fact.

Fair women, dark men – a dying prejudice ?

Posted by Ritesh - 10/12/09 at 06:12:17 am

I recently was part of an interesting debate about “Obsession with looking/being fair and impartiality based on color” and here are my thoughts. A fellow colleague even pointed me to this book  Fair Women, Dark Men : The forgotten roots of Racial Prejudice. (Yes, I pinched the title from it) The book documents the findings of an antho researcher who studied different cultures and their preferences when it came to skin color.  Here are some of the interesting results:

• Although virtually all cultures express a marked preference for fair female skin, even those with little or no exposure to European imperialism, and even those whose members are heavily pigmented, many are indifferent to male pigmentation or even prefer men to be darker.
• The author reports that out of 51 different cultures in the anthropology profession’s famous Human Relations Area Files, 44 cultures favored lighter complexions on either only women (30) or on both sexes (14). In only 3 cultures was fair skin preferred on men only, and in just 4 cultures was darker skin desired.
• Lighter ladies were favored in many countries with little exposure to Western beauty standards, such as medieval Japan, Ethiopia, Aztec Mexico, and Moorish Spain, where the dominant culture was darker skinned than the conquered natives.

Of course, my first thoughts were : could this all be social class prejudice? Well, my claim is that the answer is not so simple. My colleague made the point that preferences based on color were more of an evolutionary trait rather than a  product of social sanction. Even though  I am no expert on evolution, I would think evolution would ensure (genetically) passing of only those traits that would aid in survival. All characteristics of human beings  like the ability to walk on our hind legs,  herbivorous diet, even the gestation period points in that direction. Could preferences of color be another similar trait? I have read about men preferring voluptuous women and women with wide pelvic bones, because they see them as fertile and being better equipped for child birth. This is something that seems like a characteristic passed genetically. But color based preferences .., I dont know.

I will quote Jared Diamond when he says, the whole world looks at life/society through western goggles, primarily because they were the ones that first to put indigenous technology to use. Would the preferences have been different if people from the sub saharan region of Africa were the most wealthiest, technologically equipped and the most powerful people on earth. The balance of power, at least in documented human history, has always been in favor of western civilizations. Given that people from western societies were the first to explore the world via the high seas, they could have very easily exported a powerful social prejudice.  The fertile belt, where most of modern civilization is said to have originated, lies mostly in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean region. These regions are surrounded mostly by Africa and the middle east, most of which are tropical and are home to people with relatively darker skin tone.  Its not hard to imagine that “different looking” people were treated as hostile and alien and eventually this turns into social prejudice.  Could this be a simple explanation to a very complex question?

I quote:

In the classical world calling a woman white or fair was a compliment. People were more ambivalent about color in men. In the Old Testament Ham saw his father drunk and naked and was cursed with darkness. This is the biblical theory of the origin of human races. Thousands of years later original Christians were Medeteranians/Semites of an intermediate color between Northern Europans and Africans. “Ethiopians,” as they called black Africans, were used as the symbol for ugliness and sin. An early Christian wrote “What is more lowly, what is more like Ethopia, than our bodies, blackened, too, by the darkness of sin?” Satan would often appear as an Ethiopian. The black woman was the antithesis of beauty. A story reaches us about monks wanting to turn themselves off sex. They were encouraged to think of something disgusting. One thought of the Ethiopian woman.

Given that our societies are becoming muti-racial it will be interesting to see what will be of these preferences. My take , even if evolution did have a part to play, our generation must get over such prejudices and hopefully aid evolution( a sort of induced evolution) to rid people of this preference. It will be interesting to hear some of your thoughts on this topic. Comment away.

The Typical Independence Day

Posted by Ritesh - 15/08/09 at 05:08:00 am

Disclaimer: I love my country and am not not a patriot. I do not disrespect the freedom fighters, the nationalist spirit or the fact that we celebrate I day.  This post must be treated only as a vent for my anger against the stereotypical Independence day.

The typical Independence day in India reminds me of Bill Murray’s  movie Groundhog Day. A day filled with events so stereotypical that it is worth documenting and ranting about.  Here is what my Independence day looks like, for now and probably forever.

1. Parents get up early in the morning and switch on Doordarshan to watch the Independence Day Parade. I remember how they ( and me) would sit and watch the entire telecast. Until that fateful day Hon H D Devegowda gave the National address, my parents actually watched the Prime Ministers address. You just got to credit HDD, his speech changed the paradigm in my house.
2. This is followed by Flag hoisting & Patriotic songs near an Auto stand or a circle near my house. I even happened to live next to a school where eager parents would watch their kids (who are sulking and pissed that they have to do this on a National Holiday) do the march and sing the National Anthem. A chief guest, usually ex – military, cop or a politico will harp on for about 20 minutes about the Nationalism and likes whilst the kids slowly pass out either cause of them waking up at 6AM and not eating anything or …, well you figure.
3. The enthusiastic local communities are also more than eager to organize an Independence day celebration. The Flag pole which sports the Karnataka flag all through the year (not to forget the posters announcing job openings, English speaking courses and the new beauty parlor down the road) bears a festive look, decked with flowers and fruits. The community is usually a small enthusiastic bunch like the residents of a flat,  the local autodriver community or the daily visitors of Sri Tirumala Bar. Loud speakers announce the neighborhood of the ceremony and proceedings.  After the rendition of the  whole play list of Kannada patriotic songs about India (which is about 3 and half songs ), songs about Karnataka -Kannada follow. This is right about where you get confused whether the event is to promote interests of nationalism or parochialism. Well it could be just the lack of enough songs about India in Kannada. It could also be  attempt by the local (usually unemployed) youth to collect money from residents and the local politico in the name of I Day celebrations and show their loyalty to their real master, Sri Tirumala Bar.
4. Some flag poles  get other artifacts hoisted as well. Take this one for example.
5. You will find the roads filled with hawkers trying to sell tri-colored merchandise. Yes, the very same merchandise which will grace the local bins and the gutters the next day.
6. Afternoons are usually complete only after the screening of the dubbed Tamil movie Roja.
7. A recent trend has been spamming people with Independence day messages. Be it facebook or twitter. If you have been online long enough, you will know how the same mails repeat themselves over and over. The very same pictures and quotes. Well, its patriotism. No matter how repetitive and beaten down it may be.
8. Late afternoons, well nobody cares, because most are sleeping.
9. You will usually find most channels playing movies which invoke nationalist pride. JP Dutta probably makes movies, like border, knowing it will be aired on at least two days in a year. Then there was Pukaar, Lagaan, more recently – Rang de Basanti and the newest addition being Slumdog Millionaire.
10. It all ends with a showing of the Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum starrer Independence Day. Yes, its very essential to watch invading aliens and the president say those priced lines, “Today, we celebrate our Independence day” , followed by the music Dan da da .. da Daan da da da.

Yep, that about sums up Independence day for me.

And then I graduated ….

Posted by Ritesh - 31/07/09 at 11:07:16 am

I am happy to say that I graduated again. This time with a Masters in Information Technology. Two years spent at IIIT-Bangalore was probably the best time of my life. I met and studied under some wonderful professors, made lot of friends and learned a whole lot about a lot of things.  My reason for joining the Masters program was very simple, I realized that I didnt know a lot and needed to at least start somewhere. It was supposed to the answer the question I asked myself time and again. What I wanted to do in life. I was certain that I would have a clear answer by the end of two years. Instead, after masters, I find myself more confused than ever about what to do. I realized what I missed out on. I also realize , and accepted, that I don’t know a lot in terms of anything. My thirst for knowledge has grown ten fold; my interests in varied domains have increased as well. Anyway, this was supposed to be a happy post about my graduation, instead, its turned into another morose self introspection. This was the first real graduation I have had and I must say, I made the most of it. Hope many more graduations follow   Here are some photos from the event.

Bangalorean

Posted by Ritesh - 17/07/09 at 04:07:24 am

Whenever I meet non Bangaloreans, I am always asked a bunch of questions: “Sweater? Is it that cold outside? “, or here’s another favorite: ” can you explain  why you wear socks while wearing sandals “. The answer lies hidden in socio-cultural trends that have emerged from the colleges and homes of Bangaloreans. This post will hopefully try and demystify all that.

Let me start by describing the typical Bangalorean (B- for short). A typical Bangalorean is rare yet mystical combination of traditionalism and post modern fundamentalism. Both these traits, the typical Bangalorean will adopt given the appropriate social setting. Most B-Girls can pull off a very traditional Silk Saree and an evening dress with the same level of comfort and confidence. The same with B-guys pulling off a Kurta, Dhoti and Suit with the same elegance. Most B’s, especially those raised in Brahmin households, have dabbled a bit in Classical music, Indian classical dance or art in their younger days. Most have then deserted their cultural skills citing reasons as diverse as lack to time to just, “it was not cool in college”.

As kids, specifically the generation that was in school in the late 90’s, B-girls and boys were treated to a mix of cultures. The  onset of cable television did bring a powerful dose of globalization to urban India; parents made sure that amidst all the cultural chopsuey, their kids held on to their traditionalist values. Which is why most B’s grow up with a multicutural influences and practices.  Most B-kids can relate to watching the Mahabharath/Ramayan on TV as well as watching Remington Steele, Knight Rider and Wonder Years. The result of this cultural mishmash was the multitude of cultural fads (read popular culture) that influenced the youth during the late 90’s. These cultural fads were purely a result of the amount of infusion of global culture in the households of the kids. Take for example the places I studied during the late 90’s. Different groups of Individuals had different heroes and role models, and each group followed a different cultural norm. Its not hard to figure out that kids from different cultural tastes didn’t mix much but, there really wasn’t too much tension amonst them either. Each one was happy knowing the other was, in some way, not their type. Here are some of the cultural groups that I can readily think of:

1. There were the Americanized kids who lived like the kids from Wonder Years or SweetValley High; these were probably the ones with access to cable, imported paraphernalia and whose parents shared multi cultural tastes themselves.
2. The traditionalist kids were the ones that watched regional movies, didn’t realize the importance of branded clothing and tended to abhor the Americanized kids. Their parents probably didnt allow them to access  Euro-American television or magazines and worse yet, portrayed the same as a form of evil.
3. There were the liberals who believed in both schools of popular culture,and  who experienced a mix of both these cultures. Most of these kids didnt need to rely on popular culture as a mark of identity.
4. Then there were kids like me, who didn’t know what the f* they were doing.

One thing I have to unanimously agree on is that B-kids are very well read. You will find kids in high school influenced by the works of Wodehouse, Forsyth, Alistar Mac Lean,Crichton,  Agatha Christie, Dickens and Sheldon to name a few. Enid Blyton doesn’t help with the clarity on popular culture either, if anything, the famous fives and secret sevens have just ruined it for most of us. They would do unthinkable things and we would be left wondering about our miserable and non adventurous lives.

Certain things don’t excite B’s. Bollywood for example, just doesn’t excite us. Yes, there are the occasional Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik fans, but why settle for these when you can watch Kevin Spacey or Brad Pitt. We are also not very into sports. Cricket still is the most popular but you wont find the same level of fanaticism as the rest of India. Exhibitionism, of wealth and prosperity, is also not a very strong characteristic of B’s. B’s dont like over paying for South Indian food. Nothing more than Rs 30 for a dosa, but yes, Dal Fry can go as high as Rs 150. Technologically we are very sound and learned. Most have interacted with computers from the early 90’s. Enough said, let me answer those questions I asked.

Why do I wear a sweater? Most B’s do. Take a look around. Given the general chill in the air, most B’s have a wide variety of warm clothing. This includes sweat shirts, sleeveless sweaters, cardigans, jackets etc. All we need is the weather to be remotely close to “not hot”.

Why do I wear socks when I wear sandals? most B’s start riding a two wheeler once they are out of school. Bangalore is also a very windy city, so there is usually a lot of sand and mud on the roads. We wear socks for ergonomic reasons. Not because its cool, but because it keeps our feet clean, esp when we ride. It also saves our legs from looking like a zebra’s hide due to the exposure of the open parts of our feet to the sun.

More to come …. But do reply with other traits that you think are uniquely Bangalorean.

All that glitters is immoral to own

Posted by Ritesh - 03/05/09 at 05:05:57 am

To have gold is to be in fear, and to want it to be sorrow.

Then why is it that people are so attracted to it. Gold and diamonds have time and again been responsible for some of the worst wars in the history of mankind, and yet, people long to own it. A visit to any jewellers shop on a weekend should be enough to understand how crazy people are about this yellow metal. 

 

 

 

 This got me thinking about why gold was what it was. Some of the earliest records of human history depict how people adorned themselves with gold. It was a symbol of wealth and prosperity. Countries still speak of Gold reserves and I am sure, every one’s heard of Fort Knox. Its viral. History shows gold as being the symbol of affluence, society doesn’t treat buying gold as being morally wrong and the effect of this is the craze that surrounds gold. Indian traditions, as with many other religions I am sure, mandate gold  offerings during certain ceremonies and rituals. Such is the value attributed to the ownership of gold. And why is Gold expensive? Because it is so hard to get. 

One hardly realizes that every gram of gold probably has a very unfortunate story to be told. Mining tops the list of the most dangerous professions in the world. Along with being the most dangerous of the professions, its also the most hazardous as almost every miner is plagued with a variety of diseases specific to miners. Same goes with diamonds and other precious metals. I don’t need to explain the perils of people in African countries and the famed conflict diamonds. 

And, I don’t buy the argument that by not buying gold we are denying people a livelihood. I can make the same argument about prostitution and I don’t think that’s morally acceptable. A lot of people believe about diamonds and jewellery being cursed and I think its more than fitting given so many lives are lost in the process of procuring them. The next time anyone buys gold or any other precious metals, think of these facts.

Rains and the society

Posted by Ritesh - 25/04/09 at 07:04:36 am

Rains are common sight in Bangalore. Ever since the day I started travelling by myself, I distinctly remember being stuck in the rain. I was stuck yesterday for more than an hour and it got me thinking.  Rains are a great leveler.  

 

I am sure many relate to the image above. It usually starts with the realization that its going to pour.  The feeling of cold dampness in the air, hitting you whilst you try and race to your destination. This is usually accompanied by strong winds raising dust and debris from the road. Winds so strong that you see people meandering around the straight road in order to hold the wobbling two wheeler steady. 

 And it pours. Slowly at first, giving you a hope that you might actually make it to your destination with just a couple of wet spots on your shirt. Unfortunately nature doesn’t comply and lets it rip. This is followed by a frantic search of  the surroundings in hopes of finding a shelter. The problem here is that, more you hope of beating the rain with your superior driving, lesser is your chances of finding a good spot under a shelter. Most good spots are usually taken by people who seem to have been perenially standing there. Then there are extremely good spots, places where you can bite into a morsel or two whilst you wait for the rain to stop. In Bangalore, these are usually road side bonda or chaat shops and some times small hotels, that are more than ready to receive and service the stranded incidental customer. 

Then there is the company. A varied mix of people that will be a part of your life for a short time and will be forgotten within the hour.  This is where you relate to your position in society. The place where boundaries of caste, education, race and gender are diminished. For example, yesterday, I had the pleasure of sharing a small awning on the street with a mechanic, a young mother and her new born baby, a worried father who couldn’t believe that nature and fate had together let him down, a budding guitarist from eastern part of India, a woman who was dressed as a nurse and couple of people I couldn’t recognize because they felt it was too embarassing to remove their helmets while they waited under an awning for over an hour.  No, there was no food, nor was there any reprise from the winds that would blow a good helping of rain onto our unprotected selves. But there was goodwill. People who tried their best to help protect the young baby, giving the mother tips. People who gave a restless individual a polyethene cover, who decided that,  it would be better to brave the rain than stand helplessly . People who would enviously look at passing cars, often letting out a soft sigh as if indicating a sense of displeasure about their current state (envy is probably the most prevelant of the emotions amidst the Indian middle class, blog post on this soon). People who were more than ready to have a political debate about the recent elections often claiming superioirty of infrastructure in Bangalore, forgetting that they were stranded under an awning. There were no politicians or engineers or doctors. There were just people. Stuck in the rain.

Voter’s Dilemma

Posted by Ritesh - 17/04/09 at 06:04:39 am

Time for electing a new Cental Government and I am yet again puzzled by the dilemma that shrouds over my puny mind during every elections. I dont want to take any names, so lets just name the two major political parties A and B. My constituency has candidates from both these parties. Party A’s candidate sounds very promising but Party B is power in the state. Here’s the dilemma, given the structure of our political system, it becomes essential that the Centre – State relationship should stay healthy. It should be too given the policies that the centre holds control over. Since party B is in power, rationally, knowing the bigger scheme of things, I should’nt be voting for party A’s candidate as party A at the centre will mean disconnect in the dialogue between the centre and the state. And thats not good. But party A’s candidate is the best person according to my judgement. How do I solve this problem?

Reboot

Posted by Ritesh - 11/04/09 at 03:04:33 pm

A certain trigger got me thinking about our virtual identities and there were things that I couldn’t take a stand on. The first being that of boundaries in our lives. Fifteen years back, at least in India, we had to send out snail mails or greetings to all my relatives during festive seasons. The mail was more to serve as an update mechanism, a pretext to talk. My relatives would usually call back to acknowledge the receipt of the mail and then exchange updates on each of our families lives. This intrinsic need to discover and exchange information, fast and reliably, was the reason social networking sites and email saw such great adoption. What’s happened now is that we (or should I say, I) don’t recognize boundaries about our life. I am talking about people like me. The overtly public  beings who wish to tell the world about every happening in their life via a lifestream of sorts ( read twitter, blogs etc). I don’t think it even matters if there is someone on the other side who is interested in what I have to say.

Where do you draw the line when it comes to your real life vs your virtual life. Are modern day technologies upping the exhibitionism quotient in people like me? Where does my public life end and where does my private life start? Even though most of my lifestream updates usually tend to be knowledge sharing bits of information, usually interesting artifacts I find on the net or general thoughts. I starting to feel people are taking it the wrong way. I have a belief that a system is what controls actions of people. If blogs and twitter didn’t exist, would I still be the person that I am? This post by itself is a sort of a strangeloop if you think about it. What started as a forum for expressing my views on topics on everyday life has turned into frighful medium for exhibitionism. Will I stop ? Probably.  Will it affect my life and its priorities?  Definitely. I will still continue to pour my opinions on the web about certain artifacts, because thats what the internet is all about; diminishing information asymmetries.

Pink is the new Black

Posted by Ritesh - 16/02/09 at 02:02:12 pm

Given all the controversy about shipping of large quantities of pink undergarments to my fellow comrades, I would like to point out that my comrades were not deterred. If you notice my costume, I would say some elements are almost off pink, and in this twisted mix of satire and symbolism,  I have created a character to reflect the modern Indian  psyche.

Symbolic protests work well in certain situations, and it might have worked this valentine’s, but people are far from done with this issue. What the ignorant public has done is turned a self proclaimed saviour of Indian integrity into an internationally acclaimed figure. On the one hand are the people who are sending underwear to protest, on the other front, a sympathetic crowd is silently supporting the cause of AntiUnIndianism. Karnataka’s very own Chief Minister has expressed his disbelief, and I quote

Is it a crime to talk about religion? Is it a crime to infuse patriotism in young minds?

Whats wrong with this whole incident? A bunch of angry people beating up and  harassing women in public, an act which receives national attention and increased underwear sales; Has anyone asked what happens to the exact same people when they go home to their spouses. It took close to 4000 pieces of undergarments to protect the rights of about a dozen women, imagine how much the people would need for  ( by my rough calculations) 378 Million ladies. Anyone considering investing Jockey?

Someone told me that the law takes domestic violence seriously and books men who beat up their wives. I have heard otherwise. Most people I know say they sympathize with the man rather than the woman, mostly because they are spouse beaters themselves. Claim being, “when the hormones start acting up, you need to beat it down”. Whats more, the great Indian code of conduct, the manusmriti – the book most Indians claim to live by, makes beating your wife seem almost like a man’s fundamental right. Are these the values that we are trying to save in this amoral society ?

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