Thursday, June 19, 2008

There is nothing called Good or Bad

The concept of something being good or bad is only materialistic. It doesn't exist as such like rock, water, sky, trees, humans, animals etc. When you point to a rock, people around the globe will agree with you. Water here and everywhere is the same. You see a tiger and the world sees a tiger with you. But what you consider is good may not be the same for others. What you consider as bad and forbidden may not be the same for others. In-fact others may find it good and accepting.

To make you the thing more lucid let me tell you a recent incident that happened with my family.

We own a top floor flat in an apartment back home in Bhubaneswar. We have rented the flat since my mom got transfered to a place on the outskirt of bhubaneswar. One day I got a call from my mom who said that she had come to know of the apartment society authorities nod to construct a mobile tower on the rooftop of the apartment. She then explained to me all of it.

It so happened that the like every apartment, our's also has a society and there is a president and general secretary of the society who are responsible for the maintainence and upkeep of the apartment and fellow owners. Recently an upcoming mobile company approached the society for construction of a 1.5 tonne mobile tower on the rooftop and paying a rent per month for the same. The society president had circulated a notice asking about the reaction of owners on the same and found out that majority of the owners have no prejudice regarding the tower. So they gave their nod to the mobile company who stashed the steel struts on the roof and started laying out the earthing. While all these construction activities were going on on the roof, our tenant called my mom and informed her about the case. Mom was surprised as she was never apprised of the same. Mom then called me and asked how will the mobile tower affect us.

First of all, its a 1.5 tonne ponderous structure and the apartment is already 15 yrs old. A mobile tower of such magnitude is definitely going to affect the stability of the apartment. The average life of the building will reduce by 10-15 yrs. The building is already deteriorating and this tower would be a complete disaster.

Secondly, the mobile towers emit deleterious radiations. They impose severe health risks esp for pregnant women and senior citizens. Building a tower in the middle of a thriving city life is no less than a disaster.

Thirdly, the mobile tower would need a generator to power it 24hrs a day. The generator would be put in the rooftop also its also enormous putting an addition load of half ton on the building. Also the generator would be vibrating all the time and with it, the apartment. Imagine the safety threat from the apartment when it carries a 2 tonne weight on its head and all the time vibrating. The vibration would further reduce its life to another 5-8 yrs.

There were other issues also. We were all shocked as how could they allow this inspite of the severe life risks it confronts us with. Are the president and general secretary unaware of the repercussions? Isn't there anyone owner who is educated enough to assess the danger? More shocking was that none of the top floor owners were aware of the circulation and only came to know about it when they(mobile company) were punching holes in the roof. All the top floor owners decided to oppose the move vehemently. I flew down to Bhubaneswar for some days to assess the situation myself. I attended a meeting called by the society members to sort out the issues. I came to know a lot about the inside story of the case in that one meeting. Everything was already there and I just had to observe the people to know whats going on in their mind. The general secretary esp was strongly in favor of the construction and was repeatedly stating that they allowed the construction only after having the consent of the majority. Some people were just sitting idle. The mobile company's representative were mute spectators and only hoped that the constructions to go smoothly without roadblocks like us.
Well here's the inside story that I believe.
The mobile company saw a good move to stand a tower on our apartment chiefly because it was in the middle of the city and a very posh area. They approached the society authorities. The president may be reluctant. They then apprached the general seretary and must have paid him some money to become a supporter. He then persuaded the President. It may be true that he circulated a notice asking for consent of flat owners. The owners living in the lower floors must be apathetic towards the construction since they are not going to be affected directly and moreover they found a reduction in maintenance money a good deal and thereby gave their consent. Before the notice reach the top floor they already have the majority so they thought worthless to ask the rest who infact would actually be affected with the construction. Nothing much is left after you have the majority consent. Now we come into the picture and we don't allow the construction to go on so they are pissed off esp the general secretary who has already enjoyed the bribe and must now see to it that the tower is erected else he would have to cough up the money he took which is impossible for him.
Amid all these things I was constantly vexed by the thought that why someone would go ahead with the construction when it clearly seems fatal. It is a bad thing to do. But if it is a bad thing then why would any one do it. If I were in place of the general secretary I would not have done it then why did he do it. Then I came to realise a universal truth. There is nothing called a bad thing or good thing. What I consider is bad may be for one thing or the other , the general secretary believes is good thing. He has his own reasons and I have mine. My whole family thought its bad and general secretary's family thought it is good. The perception of what os good or bad varies with people to people. If suppose I beat you and you may think that beating someone is bad but if I think the same then why would I beat you in the first place and since I beat you that definitely suggest that I didn't consider it bad.
I may think that extortion is bad, the police may think the same, many others may think the same and I am sure a Don also thinks the same but still he does it. Why? Because he thinks it is good! If you were a gangster and you realise that killing and looting is bad then you are no more a gangster, right? Thats what makes people different.
Imagine the chaos it would bring. The superficial concept of good or bad. To eradicate such chaos, judiciary is created. The task of a judiciary is to distinguish between a good and a bad. The judiciary comes to a decision looking into various things like the repurcussions, the cause and result of an action.
well, thats the thing!

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Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Women..........The most beautiful thing ever created

It would be hard to imagine a world without the creater. Woman, the one of its kind. We are blessed to have her around. They are in many forms, mother, sister, wife, daughter, friend. In every form they are no less than a mystery.

Woman, an epitome of beauty. Their eyes can never match ours, their breathtaking smile, their smooth cheeks and their hair making designs on their face, the face so glowing and so perfect. Their brows are so mischeiveous and forms any expression with so much ease. Their anger only enhances their beauty. I am no talking no nonsense. I have always been an admirer of beauty. I am always fascinated by it and no one else has ever intrigued me more than a woman's beauty. It is simply majestic.

It happened one night when I was going home in a auto and midway joined us a woman. She must be 26-27 yrs old she was beautiful. Her skin was gleaming in the night. Her hairs were dancing, kissing the winds and she was constantly tucking it behind her ears. Her eyes were dark and glancing the night outside the auto. All the time she was looking outside and I was captivated by her, looking at her all the time, admiring her. I wanted to kiss her, embrace her. Her nose was straight and perfectily suited her face, infact added to her beauty. Her ears were pierced and the ear-rings were teasing me. Her lips were the ultimate and were as if giving the finishing touch to a divine creation. Those luscious lips were dropping seduction. The finer cuts in the lips blended with the lipstick were a harmony. Oh My God! She was simply a goddess. I could never forget her face less spoken the best about her body. She exhibited vibes and yet she was silent, sober, calm. Thurr Thurr Thurr and the auto continues to thrumm.

I had to get down at my stop and I know how I regretted it.

It was not the first time that I have seen a creation like this but this one remained persistent. I cannot recollect other such encounters but I am sure I have seen many damsels before. Everytime I see one, I could only ponder about their existence, their beauty. Ah! what a thing!

Their beauty is not restricted by race. Women across the world are beautiful whether its japanese, Americans or Indians. Women serve special purpose in the world. They are meant to be calm, delicate, soft and in return were bestowed beauty. The men were meant to be strong, aggressive to protect the women and their beauty. This is the law of the nature. Everyone has its share of place under the sun. Noone intrudes on other's territory. Men and women were meant to live in harmony.

I have always respected women. I have high regards for them. I admire them from the core of my heart and I like them. One of the reason being the pain they endure throughout their life. Beginning at the puberty till 50 they undergo periods. Its painful, dirty, and monthly. It makes me wonder why the prettiest thing in the world anathematized to this. In India esp, the women are molested more than anywhere else. People don't want girl child owing to an absurd belief that women are burden on the family and its only that a male will be able to support them in their old ages. Its bizarre to note that whats actually happening is antithesis to what they believe. But inspite of that, killing of girl child is more prevalent in Indian villages.
One must feel lucky if she is a girl and she is alive, has got parents. But its not over yet. As soon as she grows into a teenager, she is put into restrictions. She can't be outside late in the evening, she must have an escort wherever she goes, she can't afford to be caught talking to a boy of her age (else she is dead), she has to learn the cooking and household choirs. She is constantly under tremendous fear of rape, the most dreaded antisocial act in the society and born because of males. One can harldy imagine in a state of being raped or worse, gang raped. How terrible! The males must feel lucky that they are not born as girls. They should put themselves into a girl's shoes. Then only will one learn that the society is such a bad place for women. I am reflecting about the Indian society.

It would be better not to mention the agonies felt by the rape victim. The problems are not over even if you abide by the safety rules. Another biggest challenge in India for women is marriage. Rarely the love affairs culminate into tying the knots. In most of the cases there comes the caste barrier, social status barrier, religion barrier. The boy is threatened by the relatives of the girl, murdered sometimes, in some cases they don't even spare the girl, called honor killing.

Such problems are very commonly seen in Indian villages. The people are full of orthodoxy. They are rude and barbarians. They would blame the girl if some other caste boy is in love with her and she loves him. They would rescind their marriage plea. The panchayat would pronounce a punishment for the girl which would include rape by panchayat members, then paraded nude throughout the village and finally burned or drowned. The women is always the unfortunate victim of fight between two adversaries. The common way to inflict pain and terror into the enemy camp is to rape their women. Being born as a girl in an Indian village is the last thing you would wish for.

Few months back I had read an article about the torture inflicted upon a family in a village in India where two families were involved in a fight over properties. Members of one of the family attacked the other, raped their women (the men were not at home), beat them with iron rods mercilessly and killed them. They then dumped the dead bodies in a canal. When the bodies were recovered, the most horrible thing was that the iron rods were thrushed into their vaginas. The mere thought of it would send shiver down your spine but think of the ones who actually endured the act.

Don't think the misery is over even if you escaped all these and you are well settled into married life. Then comes the ugly face of dowry. We Indians are particularly infamous for this. I abhor the dowry seekers. They are such a waste. They are no better than beggars. If the girl comes from not so affluent family, her married life is doomed. She will be beaten, harrassed daily by her inlaws sometimes even burned to death. They treat women as if they are the waste on this Earth. Pathetic. One of the strongest reason for me adoring the western life and regretting being born in India is because of the ugly society that is so much inclined towards the males and inferior towards women.

One place where women edge men is motherhood. It must feel completely different giving birth to life. For them the years of suffering is nothing in front of motherhood. I feel the blessing of motherhood cannot commensurate their pain in India. If the new born is a girl, it becomes a curse. But I agree that it is they that make us fathers. We can never really know a mother's pain, emotions, feelings. We boys can roam around the city in the night without fear, we can be half naked and not be ashamed, we can lift gargantuan objects, we can fight people and animals alike, we can undertake the most daring adventure alone, we can pee at the walls or tree trunks, we can travel in jam packed buses and trains and not worry whose hand is on my shoulder or whose leg is on my lap, we can not be afraid of being raped, we don't have to undergo the pain of periods and labor, we may be strong, daring and manly, we cannot be worried about our exposure of innerwears and there are countless other things we can do and we don't need to worry but we can never become a mother. We can never feel like being a mother. We can never produce life alone.

One must understand the purpose behind the creation of female. We both may be different in our behaviour but we deserve equality. Men must pay respect to women and pledge to protect them and women must help men in areas where they fail. The universe demands this coordination. We humans only differ esp males.

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