The Order of the Crutch

I know. Its not the usual me to write such mega serial type topics on this blog. People are much used to me bitching about something like religion, technology, politicians & governments. Its okay, for a change lets see if i can say something useful and make sense too without F’ing the hell out of people & things that just turn me off.

Off late i notice around me the amount of failed marriages or relationships are quite staggering. Most of them are the traditional amma appa paathu panni vechcha arranged marriages but love marriages are no exception either. Running around trees, holding hands like as of they were atomically fused from birth and scribbling love notes on facebook & twitter, what not? No difference. Everything is down the drain hole and it seems people get tired off each other quickly.

Now i know what you are expecting. You expect me to say we are not biologically programmed for a one man + one woman relationship, which i will but then I’ve said it already so many times i do not want to repeat myself and sound boring. What I’m about to discuss is the social aspect of a relationship or lets say the courting process in human beings.

Human beings are very different from other animals. The amount of “Social” exercise that we involve in is staggering. Any other biological race that would compete with us in this “social” experience would look like a mole in front of a mountain. It is this “Social” dimension that separates us from the other kind. I fail to understand why or how but somehow we humans seem to be pretty comfortable with a single mate for a lifetime (exceptions are plenty) and we actually progress far better on this scale with even more bio diversity compared to animals that have multiple mates every mating season depending upon capability i.e., fertility, strength, environmental circumstances etc., It is extremely fascinating to see that this single mate ritual is something natural selection has supported and has worked for us pretty well. Yet, we see it slip so easily, it all seems like the probability of a withered petal from a flower tree landing on another petal or in the dirt.

The idea of a one man = one woman is not bad, in fact its good simply because it removes confusion, chaos and violence from the picture. Any race devoid of confusion, chaos & violence will survive better. Its self explanatory why there are close to 7 billion of us today on planet earth. Credit that mostly to do scientific progress but also due to the nature of us becoming less violent by the day. Don’t believe me? Watch the TED video below:

The point here is this. Relationships of today are on the verge of a major evolutionary change. Traditional expectations in a relationship is killing that very relationship.

Due to my lack of knowledge in terms of how relationships work outside of India I’m going to stick purely to Indians and Indian families. The days of “Kall anaalum Kanavan, Pull Anaalum Purushan” is dead. Education & empowerment of women killed it for good. The possibility of the man overpowering the woman is reducing very rapidly by the day and it shows in the amount of divorce applications pending in court and how the numbers almost double every decade. While divorce rates are still the lowest in India (& Sri Lanka) the rate of growth in divorce is not really the lowest. Women are extremely happy to walk out of a bad marriage. Now consider this, if a woman in India can walk out of a marriage which has so much social pressure attached to it, non matrimonial relationships are far more easier to walk out of. The time of the man “keeping the woman” is here. Of course, thanks to the largest genocide on planet earth we Indians are committing openly without any remorse, the gender ratio is as mucked up as it can be compared to anywhere in the world.

People seem to get into relationships initially enthralled by the experience. There is sparks flying everywhere and there is fun and there is romance. None of them care about the commitment portion of it. In my opinion commitment should only come into a relationship on how actively you are trying to engage your love in your life. Expecting to enforce commitment in a relationship is a disaster for any one. This is precisely why relationships fail. There are these imaginary moral values that come from nowhere that dictate how silly fantasies in life can be denied on the basis of commitment.

To me ‘experience’ is like a big beautiful mother hen. The ‘commitment’ thing is like the small chickens that follow the hen. The ‘experience’ is the mother of all things. Wherever it goes, the small chickens of commitment follow. This applies to all relationships, specifically very much to what happens between a man and a woman.

Stopping the rant for a moment, i will say i get so thrilled to be in the presence of people who value the ‘experience’ of the relationship. I have a few cousins, my best friend & another acquaintance i know of that fall perfectly into this category. It is such a harmony when you see them interacting. The best part is they disagree in half the things they come across in life, they could show the middle finger at each other, yet laugh it off right after putting that finger down and figure out what’s best for them. It deeply pains me to say, such relationships/couples are a rare find. Its like browsing through a backup CD that is about 7 years old and finding the DOS version of “Prince of Persia” or “WordStar 4.0”. There is no joy in explaining how wonderful it makes you feel to be around such people.

In layman terminology if i were to equate this with an example its like a man and a woman going to the ice cream parlor and sharing a cone of ice-cream. You walk into the parlor, you buy a cone, any cone and you sit down and finish the cone and walk back home and cuddle into bed. This is the ‘experience’. Now lets revisit the scenario. Man prefers to sit at home and catch up with India vs. Australia T20 match, woman wants to go in for ice-cream post dinner. Man & woman go, woman wants cornetto, man says cornetto sucks and wants feast. Woman complains of sudden cold like symptoms. Neither have ice-cream, rather ‘share’ the ice-cream and come home empty handed.

I know this is not a very good analogy but then i hope you get the drift of what I’m talking about. The moment a man &  a woman have nothing to talk about (this includes an argument/disagreement) from then on its all just about commitment. Commitment is like a brick wall. It is static. It expects loyalty & sincerity and does not want to change. Experience is like the bamboo stick. You can bend it to make a roof or stretch it to make a wall lining. Experience always changes, it adapts to situations and people and environment. Experience is all about the moment, commitment is all about keeping the possibility of having these moments forever without ensuring the possibility of such moments to occur in the first place.

I just felt like writing this post today since I’ve  been postponing it for almost 3 weeks now. Now that I’ve gotten this out of my head and heart and poured it here i think I’ll lay to rest and hear from you all.

~fin~

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I’m tired of explaining things on twitter and chat so i decided i will write a blog post to consolidate my thoughts and present it in an orderly and clear manner without any confusion.

Preface:

M.F.Hussain the great artist whom many people are brooding over, his loss of Indian citizenship and want him back, is my subject for discussion. People are pissed off that the Hindu religious right over reacted and made him decide to give up his Indian citizenship for a Qatar one. People demand that India should extend an offer to bring him back and offer an apology as well. People claim that
“Art” and “Freedom of Expression” is above everything and no one has the right to not get offended. Artists should have no boundaries or restrictions and that they should be beyond offense & hurt.

Foreword:

I have no religious beliefs. I’m an outspoken atheist, no not the Karunanidhi kinds who love to blaspheme forward caste Hindu gods. I blaspheme all gods. I don’t care who gets offended and who does not. To me all god is blasphemy material and i will blaspheme things to death. I do not care who blasphemes what god and who gets offended. Blasphemy is a victimless crime. I do not support someone not to be offended at all.

Main Summary:

My Objective of this article is to strike a logical balance. We all know that India has blasphemy laws. Even though it sounds like stone age, yes in this country one cannot offend religious sentiments of another and get away with it. While i do not support this law i have to live with it for the time being until it is thrown to the dustbin like how criminalizing gays was trashed recently. It is in this context my argument is going to be. I’m all in support of freedom of expression. It should be applicable to all. Freedom of expression is not Selective. It is applicable to one and all. Just like how i love to call Mohammed a Pedophile, someone else should also have the freedom of expression to call Lord Shiva a murderous bastard. I cannot cry foul when someone else insults Shiva whilst i insult Prophet Mohammed or Vice Versa.

The Material:

I would like to show some of the images that MF Hussain drew that erected violence and criticism across the nation.

A fully dressed Muslim king and a naked Hindu Brahmin. While the Muslim king is shown in a dignified manner the Brahmin is butt naked. Brahmins are respected across India for their religious significance in the Hindu Dharma. Insulting a Brahmin Priest is equivalent to insulting a Imam or a Bishop.

Lord Hanuman and Goddess Sita both shown naked. Additionally the naked Sita sits on Ravanan’s lap. Sita is a symbol of chastity and divinity according to Hindu’s. So much that mythology states that she could not be burnt by the flames when her husband Rama asked her to take the test. To depict Sita sitting butt naked on a naked Ravanan’s lap is nothing short of insult.

Draupadi shown naked. Whilst one can dismiss this is as not so bad it still could offend people nevertheless.

Goddess Parvati depicted naked. Additionally i see her carrying or touching a naked vinayaka (her son) as well. What does this mean. She is aroused by her own son?

Goddess Saraswati depicted naked.

Goddess Lakshmi painted naked on Lord Ganesh’s head. Again compromising positions of gods and goddesses that may provoke anger.

Goddess Durga shown in an union with a Tiger. Notice how the anal sections of the human woman and the tiger collide in the drawing suggesting a copulation.

Here are some images the same person(artist) drew, in this case they are either Muslims or Christians…

Muslim poets Ghalib and Faiz shown properly and fully attired in a nice way

A fully clothed Muslim lady. Simple and elegant drawing. I don’t see how this lady could be a Muslim, maybe she does not have a bindi, thats why?

A painting of MF Hussain’s mother – properly and fully clothed.

Mother Teresa shown fully clothed.

Hussain’s daughter painted fully and properly clothed.

A properly and fully-clothed Fatima, the Prophet’s daughter (from one the innumerable number of women he raped/impregnated or forcibly married).

My Conclusion:

It is distinctly evident from MF Husain’s work that he likes to play spoil sport with Hindu items and he treats his own Muslim brethren and Christians with respect. When i say Hindu i refer to the followers of the religion called “Hinduism” that it is known today. It is evident that if MFH paints a picture of prophet Mohammed he would not have his hands to wash his rectal cavity after taking a dump, the next time around. The same can be said if he paints a picture of Mother Teresa in a bikini or say naked.

1. I’m happy that he has the balls to blaspheme against Hindu Gods. I don’t care, god does not exist and insulting a non existing entity is not a criminal offence in my opinion. Like i said earlier, blasphemy is a victimless crime.

2. Applying the same logic Christian & Muslims gods don’t exist as well. Hence offending their gods should not be a big ass problem as well. Unfortunately no, in this country secularism means bashing the majority to appease the minority. We all know what Taslima’s Burkha article did and how many lives were lost because someone wrote something about a piece of clothing & commented on a religious text from their personal opinion.

3. Just as Muslims & Christians have the constitutional right to feel offended (ironically) so do Hindu’s have the right to feel offended if someone depicts a mother god and her  son god to be copulating or performing sexual deeds to each other.

4. To bring back M.F. Hussain or to apologize to him would be hypocrisy. If M.F. Hussain deems an apology and needs to be brought back to India and given safe custody and citizenship then i demand Salman Rushdie to be awarded $100 million dollars and an apology for his work being banned. I also propose that we compensate Dan Brown and Sony Pictures with a $500 Million cheque and apology and we will screen “The Da Vinci Code” all over again in all theaters and govt. offices and public places across India.

5. It is pretty obvious neither will we allow “Satanic Verses” nor do we tolerate The “Da Vinci Code” movie. Both of them are an item that indicate “Freedom of Expression” and “Artistic Expression” as well just like MF Hussain’s paintings do.

6. If we cannot tolerate one, then the other cannot be tolerated as well.

7. It is hypocrisy and unfair to say that someone can offend Hindu’s and not face the consequences but Muslims or Christians should NEVER be offended at no cost even if they outrightly offend the Hindu’s.

I don’t care for Muslims or Christians or Hindu’s. I do however care when one of them is being subject to insult to appease the other or question one of them while they insult the other will generate violence and commotion. Everyone is equal in the eyes of the law, even if that law is stupid to claim one cannot be offended at all (on religious grounds) like how it is in India.

M.F Hussain is no holier than Dan Brown or Salman Rushdie. Nor is he exclusive from the Danish Newspaper who were brought to their knees for publishing a silly fucking cartoon. For all i care, M.F Hussain can go to hell. I care less. Let him practice his “Freedom of Expression” by painting Mohammed in Qatar, if he has the balls to. If only he can play around with Islamic or Christian figures like he does with Hindu figures and then demands that people should not feel offended, i would consider him to be a true secularist and would voice my support to bring him back. Until then, let him scramble in the desert and drink crude oil for time pass. He is a mere perverted Muslim prick who wants to offend Hindu’s and take cover under the blanket of “Art” & “Freedom of Expression” and play politics with our skewed idea of secularism which applies only to Muslims & Christians while Hindu’s can be offended and abused without any question.

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I thought i would write what we discussed today so that we can stay on the same page. The Safe Road’s awareness project is all about one thing. Making people realize the importance of safe and quality roads. Roads are a critical component of our public infrastructure. Roads are fundamental to our everyday survival. No matter who is in power, what government is ruling, the requirement of safe and usable roads is a fundamental need.

Sadly, as far as Chennai is concerned we have seen our roads deteriorate big time, especially post the last rainy season due to the floods. What’s more ironic is the effort that we see from the government body(s) to repair and restore such roads which is hardly visible.

Even if roads are repaired the quality of the repair is so bad that it makes little difference. An apt example would be the brand new road leading to NIFT and IT Expressway from Ascendas. The road has been laid recently but its not flat, there are so many variations on the levelness of this road and major drainage lines which are risen above the road level and the new tar laid over it to accommodate it leading to a huge hump like a mountain that is dangerous when driving in the night, since streetlights don’t work consistently here.

So what can we as small timer citizens do about this? Well, for once we can get our act together and make people vote. We can highlight this issue to everyone on the roads and make them approach their zonal/ward office to lodge a complaint about the poor quality of roads. We need to capture the attention of the common man to make him act.

So how can this be done? The idea is simple but is not without risks:-

1. Get a can of red paint/paint spray.
2. Spray a circle around potholes, road problems, ditches, uncovered manholes, illegal speed breaker… you name it.
3. Take a picture of this.
4. Have an exhibition of these images.

The red paint will get people to notice the problem. It acts as  deterrent and people can stay away from potholes and other problems on the road. Flyers can be handed out to educate people on what they can do, where they can lodge a complaint, when we paint the roads.

Sounds as easy as it may, as good as our intentions are it is not without problems we can do this. The law may find the red circles as a nuisance issue. More importantly, this may bruise the ego of politicians/govt. which may lead to potential issues/problems.

No process is without its risk, change does not come easy. Our forefathers died in the process of getting us freedom from the British. I think its just to say we can risk being yelled at or be questioned for mischief if we can change our roads, make them safe and create awareness.

We will have a meeting to discuss this on the coming Saturday 21st of march, 2009 at "The Madras Terrace House" at 6 PM.

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