Patriotism is not a prerequisite to live in a country II

I have been asked few questions on the previous topic.

 

Can or should a nation give preferential treatment to those who love the nation more than others?

In my opinion, no modern nation should start measuring patriotism in its people. Patriotism is not a set of marks you get in an exam, or an identity that you can wear. It is a state of emotion that people share- like love, hate, anger. A person can ask in a relationship, ‘prove that you love me!’ but a state cannot deny someone a teacher’s job because his love-for-nation quotient is 38 which is less than 50 that is required to get that job.

 

To many Indians, who have been told that patriotism is a virtue, the fact that patriotism is not measured or is not used in making decisions on individual’s rights and opportunities can be a bit discomforting, as seen by the questions raised in the previous blog. 

There is a case where India gives sops to freedom fighters. In those cases, it is not a measure of love or patriotism, but it is recognition of job well done, such as winning accolades for a country in a war or at Olympics. One can win gold for a country and not be patriotic. One can be a soldier and not be patriotic. That’s why there were so many Indians in British Army protecting interests of British Empire far and wide, in Iraq, Egypt, etc. Gorkhas of India continue to serve Great Britain.

Can we give special treatment to patriots? Shall there be new lanes for patriotic people, seats reserved for patriotic people, or jobs allocated for patriotic people? Shall we start kicking out unpatriotic people out of the country? If so, where do we send them? To which country? What if someone hates India but chooses not to love any other country? Should every human profess faith in some nation or another?

 

Holding a passport of a country is different from expressing one’s love for that nation. This is where a relationship between a nation and a citizen is different from relationship between two individuals. One can break a marriage citing lack of love as a reason. You cannot do the same in a relationship between a nation and a citizen.

 

Love is personal, not a legal mandate. Also, can’t someone love more than one person? Does loving your mom automatically make you hate your dad? Does love for another nation automatically make you unpatriotic? Can’t one football fan support more than one team? Can’t you be living in India and still support Poland or Kenya? 

The dilemma is when the other nation that Indians love happen to be Pakistan, which according to many Indians, is an enemy. So, is there a legal sanction or an official document that says Pakistan is an enemy? Do we create rules on how Indian citizens should treat their enemies? Why do we have trade or bus routes to Pakistan if that country is an enemy? Is loving one’s enemy or making positive overtures towards that enemy legally restricted? If that is the case, do we see any of our fights within our country or outside subside or exacerbate? Is the designation of enemies confined to international politics and not national politics? Can Karnataka declare officially that Tamil Nadu is an enemy? After that, can you still speak Tamil living in Bangalore?

Feelings are personal, not a sanction of a state. Emotions are personal, not a sanction of a state. Yes, we are all guided by our feelings and emotions. We get angry, sad, and ecstatic, as people. We love, hate, dislike, adore and abhor, as people. To say that at a certain point of time, the collective conscience of the nation is reflected as sum of all emotive reactions of its people at that time which in turn decides the legal sanction is quite absurd.  

We are already traversing that idiotic path, and we do not even realize it. Kingdoms and nations have put to death people for professing faith in another religion. Women were convicted of witchcraft and were burnt at stake. Such things happened on this planet before, and yes, they can happen in India too, where people will be measured by how well one chants National Anthem to get into IIT. Then the marks will be given on the exactness of the words sung, the accent, the intonations, and pitch, the decibel, and they are used as measure of one’s patriotism.

A modern nation has to distance itself from such emotive measures, such measures of anger, one’s measure of loyalties, one’s measure of love or hate. They are subjective, personal, and completely invalid parameters to mete out the duties of a state towards its citizens.

 

However, choosing a political leader based on his qualities, which are not measured legally, but could be focus of attention of the people who vote him, are all part of a democratic process. Choosing a leader because he is seen as a better family man, because he served in the army, because he is seen as a patriot, because he is seen as an honest man, are all subjective topics that can sway the mood of people into voting him to power. However, that leader cannot be disqualified from contesting under the grounds that he is not a better family man, or less of a patriot.

An ordinary citizen cannot be measured by his love for the country, a measure of his honesty, a measure of his anger levels or hatred levels, as far as his negotiated rights are concerned.

There cannot be a reward program for hosting better feelings, or carrying out certain basic duties. A citizen cannot be given preferential treatment just because he respected rules better than the other. We do not, and we should not have such mechanisms to reward people who are just doing what they are supposed to do, like always stopping at red light, or putting the trash at the right place. On the other hand, the state can give you punishment for crossing the red light. In the same way, we have laws for convicting people if they inflict direct harm to a nation. 

Apathy cannot be construed as hatred. No action is taken against those who look at the trash on the road and still fail to pick it up. His apathy is not a direct measure of disloyalty. A state should not treat a person differently when doling out justice in a court of law just because he did not display his patriotism in the appropriate manner. Someone who has not expressed his patriotism overtly in a certain way as prescribed by certain nationalists does not automatically become a traitor. 

Indian State cannot go to every newly born child and measure his patriotic levels to grant him citizenship. A person can be a citizen of a country by virtue of being born in this country. He could grow up to like Poland or Kenya. If he wants to migrate to that nation, he can do so. And the current legal system allows for that without branding him a traitor. While the kid is growing up, he could still get into a school without discriminated against just because he loves Poland. When he is about to get into college, no question is asked to measure his level of patriotism to decide his admissions status.

 

While the state sanctions different treatment to its people based on certain physical attributes – such as a physical handicap, identity status – such as belonging to land of Tamils, economic status – such as earning less than certain amount of money, there is no criteria for measuring one’s emotive levels, such as how much love, how much hatred, how much pent up anger, or how much patriotism.

And most important point – the relationship between a nation and citizen is not subject to reciprocity. All citizens have the same rights and duties, irrespective of their patriotic levels. A nation has to mete out its duties even if that citizen hates that nation. The modern legal system is designed to protect citizens from whims and fancies that come out of arbiter’s emotions and feelings. 

Just because a citizen has not done his duties properly, not stopping at red light, or trashing the place, does not automatically disqualify one from a citizenship. There are many duties Indians citizens are supposed to abide by. But there is no legal sanction against all inaction. Emotive issues are usually left out of legal sanction. 

A nation has to protect its citizens, no matter what, and that protection is not decided by a measure of patriotism of those citizens. Let’s say there’s a bus full of people hanging on the cliff and the state has to rush a crane to lift them. The state will not and should not decide the fate of the people based on the collective sum total of patriotic levels of the people inside it. The fact that they are Indian citizens, a legal identity, is good enough for the state to respond. It cannot say, ‘Oh! That bus consisted of unpatriotic people! Hence we let it fall into the crevasse below’. 

You can do that in a relationship, but not as a state. In a relationship, you can say, I don’t want to help you out with your hospital bills because you hate me. As a nation, you cannot say, I don’t want to give you education or employment because you love Poland more.

Patriotism is not a prerequisite to live in a country

This discussion took place many years ago. I was living in USA then. A German girl who had recently moved to US said, ‘If you don’t like this country then you should just leave this country’, as a part of the ongoing debate where many international people were discussing the US foreign policies. The person to whom this was directed at said, ‘I don’t think you need to love the country you live in’.

What followed next was my own investigation into this. As a young boy, I always thought I was patriotic. Even now, when the national anthem is sung, I go very sentimental. It never fails to move me. In reality it reminds me of my childhood. I realize that it is nothing to do with a song or to do with patriotism. I had the same emotions running through me when I watched Taare Zamee Par. I think most of us love our homelands. It is more to do with nostalgia than anything else.

But does that mean I should love my country to be living in a country? Can I not love my country and still live in that country? These are interesting but serious questions because this is one of the reasons cited by many Hindus of Hyderabad to discredit the Muslims of Hyderabad, stating that some of Muslims of Hyderabad support Pakistan during a cricket match. They ask why these Muslims do not go to Pakistan since they love it so much.

Is it a prerequisite to love a country to live in that country? Should this love be tested?

I ask myself, am I patriotic? When I was a kid I didn’t have these questions. I always believed I was an ardent patriot. There was something glorious in supporting one’s nations and defending it against all its enemies. Those enemies were everywhere. Every foreign nation that invaded us or intended to invade us, all those people who looked down upon us calling a ‘third world’ country, all those who put USA and UK stickers on their motorbikes. There were many enemies living within who constantly cited ills in this nation- they constantly criticized this nation.

But then I grew into a boy and then into an adult. One of the sad outcomes of that growth is that there is a good chance that you mature up, start seeing things in a broader perspective. I started assuming that everyone around me outgrew the childish notions. I thought by now, everyone around me, the people of my age and older, had outgrown the belief in Santa Claus. To my amusement and to eventual dismay, I realized that most adults around me continued to believe in Santa Claus. They stopped learning and growing long ago and they don’t even realize that. What more, they were even ready to die and kill to defend their Santa Claus against all detractors. To say ‘Santa Claus doesn’t exist’ has become a traitorous act.

I realized that I was not a patriot in the ‘conventional’ sense as defined by most of my fellow Indians. I did not accept everything my country did was right. I was ready to criticize it and find faults with it. Should one support one’s country in all its actions to be patriotic? Even if it kills a million of its own people? Even if it jails people without giving them due judicial recourse? Even if it tortures and maims people on the name of protecting us?

What does it mean to criticize a country, berate it, talk ill of it? Why is burning one’s flag punishable by death? Why so much hullabaloo when someone doesn’t sing a National Anthem or when someone keeps their foot next to a flag in a picture, or when someone floats it upside down by accident?

Why should Muslims be forced into singing Vande Mataram? Why can’t people fight for a separate state? Why is it important to support India’s military action in Kashmir? What is so patriotic about all these things?

Why don’t I have a choice to sing or not sing Vande Mataram? Why can’t I criticize my nation’s military action on its own people? Why can’t I defend someone in the court of law even if he is an alleged terrorist?

Who are you to tell me that I am unpatriotic Indian? Who are you to tell me that I should leave this country? Did you take test on patriotism? Who decides what patriotism is?

A nation has certain duties towards its citizens whether those citizens like, love, hate or abhor that nation. No preferential treatment should be given to those who love the nation more than the other. No discrimination can be meted out to those who have expressed hatred, anger, or downright ill for the nation.

This nation is not built for housing patriots. And there is no prerequisite to be a patriot to live in this nation.

Indian Teachers and Judges

When I was growing up, I had a mortal fear of the school and the teachers who were lurking there. That could be the possible reason why I skipped most of my schooling. That’s also the reason why I learnt to study on my own to learn new topics. I spent most of my childhood staying home playing with my brother and in the process invented many games and contraptions, and read lots of books.

I had a series of bad experiences with various teachers at different ages and my father was brave enough to confront them each time. Thanks to my Dad, who was ahead of his time in many ways and believed that these teachers were up to no good if they had to resort to caning the student each time he failed to do his homework, I had a balanced childhood. I didn’t have to put up with idiotic teachers for long. Either they were booted out or I changed schools.

It was given that teachers would act like masters while students would grovel like slaves. Teachers berated the kids, humiliated them, mauled them up, beat them to pulp, insulted them in front of everyone, and sometimes stripped them to make a point. Fortunately for me, our family resorted to protest, beat up the teachers in return when necessary, and changed schools. I did not have to succumb to the pressures of the society which said ‘it was all OK to endure the humiliation’.

When I was in my B.Tech, we had some teachers who demeaned the students at every opportunity they got. They talked about your caste, they mocked your dress, and felt obliged to speak about your personal habits and traits. Some of these professors insulted girl students, and threatened them with dire consequences just because they talked to boys. One teacher resorted to throwing your lab report out of the classroom. As the guilty party you had to walk in front of everyone to retrieve it. Sometimes, if he is in a good mood, he would throw it once again, till you feel you are hopelessly humiliated. The whole college looked like a feudal setup, where students behaved like slaves or bonded laborers while the teachers behaved like the kingpins and the landlords. The teachers felt they got a divine right to berate a student on any topic- it doesn’t have to do anything remotely associated with academics. The whole exercise was to make you feel very inferior, as if you are ball of shit, a worthless pile of dust.

When I went to USA for my MS, my advisor asked me what I liked and what I wanted to do. It was something that I was not used to. When I blurted out an answer that was a cliché, he asked me once again, ‘what do you truly like, provided there were no constraints, no expectations? What is it that you want to do?’ I confessed that I needed time to think about it. I went back to him a week later and told him what I wanted to do. Later on, I got used to asking myself, ‘what do I really want to do?’

Indian TV has many reality shows nowadays. Sometimes I get to watch them. The judges are not different from the kind of teachers I had while growing up. My rules on Indian Idiocy can be applied here. In India, age is same as knowledge, and knowledge is same as wisdom. Hence, all the judges are automatically more qualified, more talented, more knowledgeable and wiser than any participant. They take the opportunity to berate, humiliate if necessary, and insult the participants.

Sometimes the kids go home crying. The exercise has not changed. The idea is to make you feel bad about yourself, so that you lose the little confidence you have. You are supposed to go home with the tail between your legs.

Indian teachers continue to demoralize, demotivate, and extirpate all confidence from young Indians. India needs brave, bold and confident new generation youth and that is not possible unless we solve the root cause – and that is to with our education system, not the syllabus, but the way teachers treat their students.

‘What’s your problem, man?’

Few days ago, we were walking on a very ordinary by-lane when a biker with a blared a really loud horn just next to us even though there was nothing in his way; and he kept doing it incessantly even though there was not much stopping him from moving. One of us suggested, ‘Hey! There’s nobody on the road. Why keep honking like that?’ To which he responded quite angrily, ‘What’s your problem, man?’

That incident epitomizes the attitudes of Indian when it comes to their stand vis-à-vis their freedoms and duties. In India, freedom is defined as, ‘I have a right to pee, wherever I want, even if it is right here in the middle of the road, and you can’t stop me from that!’

Why are you throwing that garbage on the road?
‘What’s your problem, man?’

Why are you crossing the red light?
‘What’s your problem, man?’

That answer over a period of time will explain almost everything that is going wrong with this nation.

One of the incidents that is permanently etched in my memory and which seem to have fueled my interest to write this blog happened when I had just moved back from US after living there for nearly a decade. I was riding a scooter to my work when someone in a luxury car parked his car right on a street that was narrow completely blocking the traffic. While there were horns blaring from all sides because the traffic stopped on all sides, the owner of the car in a business suit got out of the vehicle, opened the trunk and nonchalantly took his stuff out, and started walking away impervious to the misery of fellow travelers around him. Funnily he parked the car right under the sign which said ‘No Parking!’

Being stuck right behind him, I couldn’t move. When he was walking away I showed him the sign and said, ‘No Parking here!’ To which he gave me a reply, ‘Are you a policeman or what?’

I get really annoyed by many such idiotic actions and I often wondered why I get flustered by such incidents. One day, on my way to office, I decided to notice things and register such incidents.

The first one came within few minutes. An autowallah stopped right at the entrance of a traffic junction to get some people on board and kept negotiating with his potential customers, the whole traffic came to a standstill in the junction. What I expected from him was that he should have crossed the junction, moved just 10m ahead and stopped, so that he was not such an inconvenience to his fellow beings.

The next incident came at the next junction. While one side of the traffic was allowed by the policeman to merge, a guy in a Honda City kept pushing himself from the perpendicular side completely stifling the traffic by his bold moves. What that guy could have done was just wait a minute or two to allow the traffic to flow smoothly before jutting in.

Within a minute, came the next incident. A rider on a motorbike with a helmet on – feeling invulnerable just because he wore a plastic thing on his head - juts into the main street from a side street without looking, turning or glancing at the traffic on the main street and calmly careens himself into the traffic without realizing that a car almost hit him.

The answer to most of this absurd behavior is, ‘What’s your problem, man?’

Though I described only few incidents from Indian traffic, these behaviors can be seen in all walks of Indian life. In many ways, Indian traffic explains a lot about Indians. The traffic in India is a snapshot of all the things that is wrong with Indians. It is anarchy in action. Of few things that bind all Indians, their traffic sensibility is one of them.

All I wish for is little courtesies and little concerns. That is all we need to make this country a better place. Parking the car at the right place so that it does not obstruct the traffic even if it means traveling an extra 100m, or waiting for a minute at the traffic signal, little turning of the head while entering the traffic, etc, do not require a huge change in each of us, but put together they can bring a revolution in India.

Indians and Darwin

If Indians are well-versed at one particular field of Science, it is Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. We believe in ‘the survival of fittest’ concept like no other culture.

‘How come you got a seat in a premier institute?’
‘It is the survival of the fittest since we got trained in a premier tutorial.’

‘But you got that contract because your uncle is the big man!’
‘It is the survival of the fittest since we belong to a superior clan.’

‘But you got that license because you paid your way in!’
‘It is the survival of the fittest since we are rich.’

‘But you got that seat because you jumped lines.’
‘It is the survival of the fittest since I am tough and brash.’

‘But you got that deal because you cheated!’
‘It is the survival of the fittest since I am smart enough to cheat others.’

Indians love Darwin’s theory. This is one Science they all know by heart.

Though they are same folks who run from one temple to another because Lord Ganesha’s idols drinks milk, or stay home because it is a solar eclipse, or rush to drink sweet water from the sea, when it comes to Darwin’s theory, they are completely abiders of its theory.

They are in awe of Charles Darwin as if he is an Indian, and include his theory of evolution into pantheon of other Indian sciences, such as Vedic Sciences, Astrology, Palmistry, Vaastu, and Numerology.

They see ‘merit’ as another by product of Darwin’s Theory and embrace it like no other culture. When asked how come there were only 3 women judges in 60 years of existence, Chief Justice of India said there is no provision for including women since the positions are based on ‘merit’. That’s our interpretation of ‘the survival of the fittest’, where the race is open for everyone to compete as individuals without making provisions for inclusion of different groups.

Even corporate India believes in ‘survival of the fittest’ theories as long as it conforms to their selfish needs. A well-known Indian software company on one hand talks of ‘survival of the fittest’ showing their aversion to employing lower castes, but at the same time, keeps going back to Indian government for sops, concessions and tax-breaks, citing the reason they are not able to compete with global players.

Indians and Stampedes

In a stampede that happened in Jodhpur yesterday, nearly 200 people died. Stampedes in India are quite common. There are many places in India which draw lots of people into extreme small confines; either it is temples, places of pilgrimage, or jewelry store during festival, or a new movie of your favorite hero.

Recently, I went to visit a tourist place. After the event, we all had to walk out and there was a narrow passageway to take care of thousands of people who wanted to exit at the same time. The crowd was a moving at a slow pace since the narrow exit allowed only few at a time. It was jam-packed and the bodies were touching each other. All of sudden some young boys egged by a rough woman who seems to be their mom or aunt started shoving and pushing because, may be they thought such pushing and shoving would make the crowd move faster, or may be, they wanted to get ahead of everyone. Whatever it was, very soon, people started to lose balance and people were falling over each other. For me, who avoids crowds as much as possible, it was frightening. It was suffocating. We were pushed from all sides, making it difficult to breathe or stand. I came close to experience a stampede, but then for some reason we got out of the passageway and the inevitable got averted. During those brief seconds, I felt that I could die there. The force of humanity can suffocate you and kill you.

At the Chamunda Devi Temple in Jodhpur, hundreds died in a stampede.

Eyewitnesses talked about some pushing and shoving in the queue by some pilgrims for an early darshan. The authorities rejected reports of any bomb scare and denied any instance of eve-teasing led to the stampede.

Greed and myopia, those essential attributes of Indians, comes into play here. Stampedes happen because a certain group suddenly feels an immense urge to jump the line and move ahead just to gain few inches of ground, and in the process, they shove others, which acts like a domino effect, toppling everyone. When thousands of people are gathered into small spaces, who are all supposed to stand, such pushing and shoving can cascade into an effect of concrete wall falling on us killing and trampling everyone in the process.

Certain amount of self-discipline, and certain imposed discipline helps here. Most of the times, we lack both of them.

In the same newspaper, I saw the picture of Mecca where thousands were praying. The picture in the newspaper showed lines after lines in an order. How come some places do it while others don’t?

I get paranoid when I am in crowds. Recently I went to a place which was on the fourth floor and housed more five hundred people and there was only one exit/entrance for the whole floor through a stairway. There was no fire escape. If for some reason, a fire broke out, many would die in stampede in an effort to get out.

There’s a school nearby where I live. Everyday I see hundreds of young children huddled into a school that has only one, extremely narrow entrance/exit. The school has constructed wall on all sides to ensure kids stay within. I keep thinking, what would happen if a fire broke out, or even if there is a false alarm, how can so many kids get out of this building which has only one narrow exit?

We hear of many cases where people get choked to death because there was no escape. Most Indian trains and buses have no provision for exiting in case of fire. People die because there is no way out. Though we hear of hundreds of cases, we still do not make provisions for ‘what if this happens?’

I see this attitude everywhere; either it is road building, hotel building, or a product building. ‘What if’ scenarios are never taken into account though we face those situations again and again. Stampedes in India are going to happen again and again, because the people do not pay heed to safety, and the administration does impose the discipline either.

Indian Moral Code

Many self-appointed groups in India are now defending what is called Indian Moral Code. Well, we know about Legal Code and Penal Code, but what is this Moral Code?

India’s idea of democracy is interpreted as the rule of majority where majority can impose its ideas, notions, dress, language, and habits onto others. If these others do not acquiesce, then it is forced down their throats. They get things done by popular movements. They can send millions of SMS to get their favorite cricketer acquitted.

They also feel obligated to come up with a set of rules, traditions, and habits which are considered morally superior and they give it a name called Indian Moral Code. This Moral Code derives legitimacy from all sections of the society because it promises to protect Indian Culture, dignity, morality and sacred traditions. It gets legitimacy from patriotic and religious groups at the same time. The way a State imposes its Legal Code and Penal Code onto Indian citizens, these upholders of Indian Moral Code impose their morality onto everyone.

When Sexy Shriya donned a revealing dress for an evening outing, some Tamilian organizations believed it was against the sacred and honorable Tamilian traditions. When Khushboo and Sushmita Sen talked about women’s sexuality, marriage and virginity, the upholders of Indian Moral Code rose up to challenge them.

In small towns of India, this is even bigger problem. Most girls get their freedoms restricted by their own families, and where necessary the mohallah people, who are out there to defend Indian Moral Code from getting sullied. When I attended a well-known engineering institute in India in 90s, girls were restricted from mixing with boys. Some professors took up this task to punish the girls who were seen talking to boys by deliberately failing them or giving them low marks. All this they did with great concern and care for upholding Indian Moral Code which is more sacrosanct than the marks these girls received.

In many Indian towns, couples are targeted by youth, social outfits and sometimes the police force, for seen together. The fact that they held hands or were seen hugging is good enough for these people to act.

In a rare show of solidarity, which happens in India only when it comes to imposing idiotic notions, both Hindu and Christian organizations in South India cracked down on people who were seen as ‘violating the moral code’.

According to THE HINDU, there have been many such cases where some groups resorted to ‘punishing individuals’ who ‘violated the moral code’. Hindu outfit Bajrang Dal, and a Christian outfit, Social Action Committee, and some members from Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD) took it upon themselves to defend the unwritten Indian Moral Code. To do this, these groups targeted young men and women who were seen together, especially if they came from different religions. THE HINDU writes [emphasis mine]:

In one case, a young woman was attacked because she went to the house of a young woman from a different community. The Bajrang Dal has claimed responsibility for seven of these incidents.

The district head of the organisation, Sudarshan Moodabidri, claimed that the outfit had “solved” over 200 cases in the last two months where Hindus were “caught” committing the “immoral” act of interacting with members of other communities.

Mr. Moodabidri said, “Sometimes it becomes necessary to use force. Fear of such action should deter such misadventures. Girls reform themselves once they are thrashed and humiliated in public, but boys are tougher to control.”

These groups even carried out a ‘joint operation’ in one case proving idiocy is the most common binding factor for all these upholders of morality.

Moral Code in colleges

These days it’s fashionable for many colleges to proudly impose a dress code on its students. There are many colleges in India who don’t allow jeans and t-shirts for girls. The code prohibits them from wearing sleeveless and tight-fitting clothes as well. They strictly enforce wearing Indian salwar kameezes. The principal of such colleges proudly wear this ideology as a badge since he knows the kind of audience he is talking to. Parents gleefully admit their kids to such schools believing they are contributing to upholding of the Great Indian Moral Code.

"We are only trying to ensure that students dress decently and modestly, in a way that befits our culture. A dress code will also pre-empt harassment of women students," says Dr. Viswanathan, Vice-Chancellor of Anna University.

LHC, Big Bang: Mega Instrument

Progress in Science and Technology went hand in hand in the last five hundred years. That’s why you often see these two words clubbed together. But they are two different things. One can develop technology without having to understand Science. For example, one can develop a wheel or a rudimentary microscope without understanding Newton’s Laws of Motion or Laws of Optics.

First came instruments (or the technology) that helped people make more scientific discoveries. Measuring time with precision using different types of clocks and allowed people to make accurate observations paving way for Laws of Motion. Invention of microscope and telescope spawned many other branches of science - Physics, biology, medicine. Bunsen Burner helped chemists. Steam Engine spawned transport and Industrial Revolution and at the same helped in framing Laws of Thermodynamics. Invention of Printing Press helped in dissemination of knowledge thereby allowing many people to embark on pursuit of Science, and as well feed onto each other to make incremental progress. Printing Press also helped in bringing other social changes – such as Reformation and French Revolution.

Scientific discoveries and theories in turn helped in making technological innovations, like radio, telephone, television, dynamo, etc. Without better instrumentation, scientific theories would not have come forth so easily. Without science, we would not have made better technology.

Today, we see one of the biggest scientific instruments built – LHC – Large Hadron Collider.

LHC is the largest machine in the word. It is the largest particle accelerator and world’s largest refrigerator. It is the fastest place on the planet where particles will travel at 99.99% the speed of light. It also creates the emptiest space in Solar System where ultra-high vacuum is created. It has the dubious record of being the hottest places in galaxy while maintaining temperatures colder than outer space. It will record temperatures more than 100,000 times hotter than Sun’s core and at the same time has a extreme cool temperature of 271.3°C (1.9 K). It has the most powerful supercomputer in the world called Grid, where more than 100,000 dual layer DVDs will be recorded every year. It has the biggest and most sophisticated detectors on the planet, where 600 million proton collisions per second are recorded. It has precision instruments that measure intervals of few billionths of a second, and distances of millionths of a meter.

Quest for knowledge, to know how the Universe works, has set in motion the greatest contribution of mankind called Science. When Copernicus and Galileo asked questions about the workings of the Universe, it set in motion a revolution in human history. That curiosity to know how, what and why, has helped man discover, invent and create things unimaginable few hundred years ago. Man can now fly, go into space, go deep into oceans and earth, can now travel at speeds faster than sound, be connected with anyone on the planet in a moment, watch TV, freeze food, all because of that curiosity to know how the Universe works.

This experiment, called the ‘biggest experiment’ of humankind is another step in that direction- to unravel the workings of the Universe. We need to understand that not all instruments give the results we are looking for. That’s the whole idea of Science- we try though we fail many a times.

As we increase our understanding on the Universe works, we push ignorance into a remote corner. No longer can rudimentary telescope help us in making new discoveries. We need bigger and better instruments like Hubble Telescope to see farther into Universe. No longer can we use rudimentary cathode tube experiments to know the behavior of particles. We need bigger and better machines like LHC.

Big Bang: I have become a believer!

For many years I have been an atheist and a strong opponent of religious blind beliefs and superstitions. Sadly, I have ridiculed the power of mantras, prayers, and rituals that help humans in their daily life. I have spent hours writing many blogs denouncing Vaastu Shastra, Astrology, and other ‘sciences’ calling them (wrongly) ‘pseudo-sciences’.

All that is changed now.

I understand enough physics to appreciate the ongoing Big Bang experiment conducted by CERN using LHC. There is a clear danger for the whole Universe because of what we as Humans are doing on a small planet in some remote corner of an insignificant galaxy. After all, Humans have the power to negate the work of God all in one go by conducting this ‘biggest experiment’ of human history. These dumb scientists do not know what they are playing with. God has so carefully constructed this Universe with his own ‘two hands’ and we are all set to undo his great Creation; of course he has hands because he has made humans in the image of himself- he would look like one of us if we were to meet up with him some day. We have become an arrogant lot, trying to equate ourselves with God, trying to get a place next to him. Didn’t God punish us before when tried to reach him constructing the tower of Babel? Our God is a jealous God. He doesn’t like it when we try to reach him or surpass him. He will punish us for that.

This whole experiment is bad for us. Either we will destroy the Planet Earth and all humans within it, including our savings, our gold and jewelry, and the Mercedes car parked outside the home, OR God will punish us really bad for trying to understand him or recreate what he has created 13.5 Billion years ago. Either way, this experiment will spell doom for all of us. And these stupid scientists are to blame for that.

Fortunately, I have changed my belief systems before God decided to punish us. I am now an ardent believer of God, and I completely support all the pujas, homas, rituals, being conducted in India to protect us from impending destruction.

Thanks to so many considerate and altruistic religious Indians, who have put the safety of humankind before their ulterior motives, who have prayed for our well-being, spending money on grand rituals, I feel very safe now. I feel that the eventual destruction will be averted since these kind Indians have beseeched God and pleaded on behalf of all humans including those wily sinning scientists intent on destroying the Universe.

I have come to understand the power of astrology, the rituals and prayers, and I am entirely convinced that these prayers alone, and not the foolishness or the incompetency of the scientists, have averted a great danger posed to entire humanity and the Universe.

I have become a believer. Please pray, please conduct more rituals. I thank all those people working at MNCs for showing so much sympathy and support to these pujas. I am very happy that you were all enlightened for so long. I realize the importance of the college degrees that you earned and the science classes that you attended. I join you today. I feel happy that I am in the company of such enlightened and wise souls.

All those government officials, school going kids who have skipped work and school the other day, I completely understand why you have done what you have done. Either you feared it would be the last day of the Universe and hence decided to stay home and watch the last collection of your DVDs or you felt that it was your way of telling the God that you are very upset with this experiment that could possibly destroy Earth and hence you have imposed a bandh on yourself to protest. Either way, thank you!

This LHC experiment is no trivial thing. It is a big thing. First, it is a big thing because it involves $8 Billion. That’s a big number. Second, it is to do with another word that starts with Big called ‘Big Bang’. This experiment will try to simulate the conditions that existed during first-trillionth of a second after the creation of Universe where particles did not yet assume mass. These experiments may end up creating mini small black holes that will swallow our earth. The problem with black holes is that they are Black, and Black is synonymous with something sinister and evil.

Christians have long believed that there will be a doomsday and they have been waiting for it. This whole Big Bang thing is an anathema to them. There are many things Christians know which others don’t. First, God took only six days to create this Universe and it was done only few thousand years ago. Second, God will punish humans for supporting these stupid scientists who keep annoying God again and again with theories like Heliocentric Solar Systems, theories of Universe, etc.

Muslims know for sure that world will end one day. If it is LHC that is going to do the job, so be it.

Hindus for long have believed that the whole world is balanced on a razor-thin string in a very delicate balance where the harmony between humans and everything around them keeps the Universe stable. This experiment will cause a disturbance in that delicate Universe and upset the balance leading to a potential destruction of the Universe. This is a real danger. Ask any expert on Hinduism, he will tell you this.

Thank you, Aaj Tak, the great Indian TV Channel, for having instructed Indian viewers how some miniature black holes will suck up entire earth. And Thank you, Chhaya of Sarangpur, for committing suicide to create awareness of impending doomsday. You qualify for the Darwin Award.

Bandhs, Strikes, Protests and Holidays I

India’s romance with strikes and bandhs is quite unique. Gandhi pioneered the concept of non-cooperation. He had a principled stand on this issue. He reasoned that British Government that was ruling us at that time was not representative of Indians. They were not elected nor selected by the Indians to represent us. There were many instances which clearly indicated that rulers were a different set of people unrepresentative of India. He reasoned that Indians have a moral obligation to refuse to accept some of these laws since they are detrimental to the well-being of Indian people. There were some rules and impositions that were outright discriminatory, subjugating the Indians, affecting their dignity and moral. According to him, Indians have a conscientious obligation to contravene them.

Gandhi saw immense potential in this argument, but also knew its power and its extent. It can easily lead to anarchy if it goes out of control. Gandhi was still a believer in the system and tried his best to work within the system. He was careful enough to let people know that this non-cooperation has to be practiced with utmost restraint, within generally agreed principles that he laid out. Gandhi stuck to few key rules. He was not ready to inflict harm onto others. He was not ready to impose it onto others. His non-cooperation meant – ‘O! You ruler! You cannot touch me! You cannot make me do things your way!’ It did not mean – ‘I will harm you! I will take revenge! I will obstruct, destruct and attack you!’ He was clear that this non-cooperation is something you impose onto yourself – not onto others. You cannot force others to cooperate with you in your non-cooperation.

When Gandhi introduced this into India it was a revolutionary practice in the history of mankind. This principle was great in theory. But when put in practice, even Gandhi faced immense problems. Though his followers were trained in all the rules he clearly laid out on how to carry it forward, there were many occasions his movement went out of control. In one such case, 22 policemen were killed by the protestors in Chowri Chowra.

Whenever Gandhi saw that his followers took it beyond the scope he defined, he called off the protests and the entire movement to the utter dismay of many of his followers who were looking forward to deliverance of freedom from British. His common refrain was that Indians were just not ready for that freedom they are seeking.

We inherited many of his practices and continue to use them even after British were gone. In some way, Indians are obsessed with Gandhi. Even those who strongly detest him conveniently embrace his practices. We have rath yatras, fasts, and jail bharo programs. We have hadtals, and non-cooperating protests.

But we have diluted his practices conveniently to suit our purposes. Going to jail is not a shame, but it is a matter of pride – since Gandhi went in and out many a times. So, we see people going to jail gleaming in pride – even those who have killed an animal of endangered species, or got caught while taking bribes, or got convicted for tax evasion. They earn the respect and sympathy of fellow Indians, because they all see it as an act of great sacrifice, the way Gandhi and his followers did during British Rule.

One of the derivatives of Gandhi’s legacy is bandh. Though Indians are ruling themselves now by voting their representatives to power, we still think in colonial mindset. So while we embrace Gandhi’s practices, we completely forgot his rules. In fact, his rules died with him.

The modern definition of bandh is quite different. A bandh no longer means ‘we will stop functioning.’ It means, ‘we will also stop you from functioning!’ Gone are the days when we are not supposed to pull others to cooperate with us in our non-cooperation. These days we impose it on all and sundry causing lot of inconvenience to others assuming it is our democratic right to bandh.

Bandh is the most commonly used weapon in India to show one’s dissatisfaction with the way things are. A bandh calls for a stop on all work. The people who call for bandh feel it is their right to impose it onto others. Shops are forcefully shutdown, companies are shut, and government offices are closed, and so on. We have all kinds of bandhs- Bharat bandh, State bandh, Rail Roko, Rasta Roko, etc. Nowadays, any group can call a bandh for any reason whatsoever. Even the government in power can call bandh on itself! That’s the funniest thing I have witnessed lately. We have made a mockery of this instrument.

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