Who Did You Vote For?

(!) BE CAREFUL in interpreting the following post. The view expressed below is infantile. I no more hold the same view about voting.

(Worldly man’s conversation with the philosopher)

It’s Election Day. Who did you vote for?

None.

None? What do you mean..?

I don’t vote.

You don’t vote? And the reason being..?

Personal ones.

What kind of a person are you, whatever will happen to the country! Are you, tell me, how much have you studied?

Excuse me. What connection has it with voting or not voting?

Connection it has! Are you educated? How much have you studied?

Well, in that case, more than you. Is that enough?

Acting smart, huh?

Nope.

Don’t you ever realize it’s the responsibility of every Indian to elect for the country?

Of every Indian, yeah, but I am NOT an Indian.

Ha! Not an Indian. Then what are you? A PAKISTANI?

I am NOT an Indian, nor a Pakistani, nor an American, nor a Russian. I am just one of the creatures born on the face of the earth and I would like to be identified as just that.

And who feeds you..?

Not you!!

India! Which land you live on? India. You live here, feed here. You can not run away from your responsibility as an Indian. You ARE an Indian!

Man, you see that dog? It lives here, feeding on this land. Does that make it an Indian too?

Of course, it IS Indian.

Okay. As you just said it’s the responsibility of every Indian to vote, then why doesn’t it pain you when the dog does not vote? Why not make it vote?

Are you insane? Or are you kidding me? Do you have manners to talk with elders? It’s a dog! You see? An animal. They don’t have to vote, if I must tell you!

It’s an animal, right. Let me tell you something, sir. You humans suffer from a disorder to assume things, to take control. You guys never ask, just assume for the entire world and effect the decisions. Why do you assume that I am one of your kind? I am an animal, too. I would be ashamed to be a human.

Ashamed to be what? You think being just an animal is better than being a human? Is that what you mean?

Yeah.

Insane!!

Not insane! They do not war. They are not rich or poor, all equal. They do not starve and die of an essentially human thing, poverty. They do not get depressed. They do not suicide. They do not have to work their ass out for earning money which would only further complicate their lives. They need not God, to forgive them, for they never commit a sin! They don’t play your-country-my-country game. They do not invent things which would enslave them. And they have never, NEVER EVER, put the entire existence of the world at stake for their absurd living.

Humans are the most intelligent creatures, don’t you forget that! We have made the world inhabitable!

The world had been inhabited by thousands of creatures for millions of years long before the humans showed up. The God had already made the world most inhabitable. Don’t mistake humans with the God. As for your intelligence, one of these statements is true: Either humans are NOT intelligent; or intelligence is an evil thing.

What are you talking? Non-sense.

Your entire life is non-sense. No wonder you are quite unaccustomed to sensible talk.

Sensible talk, huh? Then why not live the sensible life? Why live the “absurd” human life? Taking the benefits of being human, and when it comes to contribute to the humanity it becomes “absurd”.

You know what, as I already mentioned, you humans suffer from a disorder to assume for others, to control others. Who on earth, you think, decides who will live as what, I? No, it’s YOU, and your kind!! Will you, tell me, will you let me live with my natural freedom? I will eat wherever I want to eat, sleep where I want to sleep. Won’t pay money for a thing which nature has made for use. Will YOU let me have those “privileges”? NO. You will put me in the jail. Kill me! That’s you! The controllers.

Sounds like you are a gone case. I am wasting my time talking to you.

Yeah.

Don’t vote!!

How Poverty Can(not) Be Removed?

There is no solution to the problem of poverty. As long as humankind is poverty will remain.

Every sane person today considers poverty as a problem, and would like to contribute towards its solution. Some believe they can do so by being a part of economic development of the underprivileged. They would want to provide free education to the poor, so as to make them productive to earn. Some would want to provide food, clothing and financial help or support to the poor to reduce the extent of poverty. There are many ways seemingly good people are contributing today, thinking it would remove poverty one day. To give you my opinion on it, I pity their attempts. Be it economic development of the underprivileged or financial help and support to the poor, they are all lame approaches which can never remove poverty. I call them “lame approaches”, because they are not really solutions to the problem, but masks. By doing so, you can only mask the poverty, not solve it. For removing the problem one has to study the root cause of it and then attempt to curb it from there. So for a change, stop following the crowd and do some real analysis.

First of all we will determine what is called poverty. There are many definitions of poverty, but here we will take the most rational one. Poor are not those who live below poverty line as stated by the government. Poor are not those who have little or no money and few or no material possessions. Poor is one who can not have the basic necessities of life. Thus, my definition of poverty says –

Poverty is the state wherein one is unable to fulfill the basic necessities of life.

Now in today’s world of disparities the term “basic necessities” is subjective. For example, for the people living in the forest of Africa who have no importance and use of material possessions only adequate food is basic necessity of life, without which they would be considered poor, whereas, for me living in the developing country like India television, cell phone and washing machine are basic necessities of life, without which my life’s quality would be considered poor. If you are in the developed country as the US then even a car is a basic necessity. Thus, the definition remains the same, but in different worlds its implications are diverse.

After understanding what poverty is, now let’s move on to find out its root cause. Like many other of our problems poverty too is essentially human phenomenon. There is no poverty in animals. It shows that in nature’s care no one is poor, but every one is equal. Imagine the primitive stage of humankind where humans lived almost naturally. There is no poverty, no different classes, and no difference in standard of living. There is complete equality throughout. That is because when nature creates lives it places enough resources to support lives, and as long as every one is using one’s respective share of resources no one is left without resources and poverty can not arise.

What happened then which gave rise to poverty? When humans got intelligent they developed hunger for social power and desire to control. It gave rise to the tendency to possess more than others, to impact others’ lives and attain control thereby. Humans started collecting and possessing more resources than their natural requirement. This led to scarcity of resources as people started possessing others’ share of resources. When something is scarce it is valuable. Thus, scarcity resulted in value of resources; and when resources become valuable they no more remain just resources, they become wealth. For the first time thus, wealth came into existence. Those possessing wealth became rich, and those whose share was snatched became poor. Different classes were thus created and different standards of living came into existence.

This happened, because intelligent humans, by nature, can not live without the hunger for power and desire to control. Equal standard of living is not acceptable to human nature.

We learned the root cause of poverty. Now consider the present day situation. Unlike the early stage described above, today we have inserted the element called money as a connecting link between resources and the consumers of resources. Resources are no more directly available for consumption. First you have to earn money, and then you can get the resources in exchange of money. Without money there is no access to resources. So, instead of directly possessing resources today’s humans want to possess money. Wealth is changed in form. Money is wealth today.

The so-called economic development is aimed at providing income opportunities to every one. Assuming that one day the whole world will be economically developed, every one will be earning enough money to fulfill the basic necessities of one's life. Yes, poverty will be removed through the route of economic development. Every one will have enough money. That means no different classes, no difference in standard of living. But dear fellow humans, is that state of equality acceptable to your nature? If it was, then wealth would not have been created on the first place, poverty would not have been born. Equal standard of living, meaning adequate income to everyone, goes against the very purpose of existence of money!

Humans have already proved throughout history that they can not live with equality. So the entire exercise called “economic development” is futile, as far as solving poverty is concerned.

As for the provision of financial help to the underprivileged, it is not just lame, but ridiculously lame. You can only help others when you have more than your natural requirement. Do you have the courage to accept the truth? When you have means to help the poor, it means you are already the root cause of poverty that you are lamely intending to solve!

Poverty is not a problem, but paradoxically, wealth is. Poverty is an outcome of “creation of wealth”. How can something be solved which is not a problem on the first place!

I ask humankind: In the world that you have made around you, can you stop desiring to be wealthy? Can you chuck the hunger for power, control and possession? When these questions are answered you will also know whether poverty can be removed.

Is it Right to Own an Animal?

UPDATE (May 2011): As I see it now, this article is written with a very limited knowledge and understanding. I have grown significantly since then. The readers should know that I no more consider the article important, and as such, comments on this article will NOT be replied to.


This article might give some pain to pet owners, because it tells why we should not keep a pet. In fact, I believe it’s a crime, a sin, to own an animal; even if that is in the form of a pet. Here pet does not mean your street dog which you occasionally feed and take care of. By pet, I mean that animal which you "buy" from the market; exotic breeds, which are shipped across the world from their natural habitat.

It is not right to keep a pet.

My first point is that humans do not have the right to own a creature. Just as we humans would not think it fair to be controlled by some other powerful creature; it is not fair that you control any other life. Every creature has a right to independence, just as we human like to think we do.

Many of the pet owners are under a grave misunderstanding that they are giving the creature a better life. They are so caring, and they think if their pet did not have an owner like them then it won’t be such happy in its life. I would not blame those pet owners for such thinking, for it seems they really have good intentions towards the other creature. The problem is with human thinking. Humans always think small. Let me tell you one thing straight. Humans are living the most miserable, most destructive and the worst life on this planet. Tomorrow if the world is fully destroyed (which has already started happening) the reasons lie in thoughtless human activities like pollution, global warming, and relentless exhaustion of resources (not to mention inter-human fights, and wars!). At every step of the life humans are defying Nature’s laws and making their own life and the whole world worse. This clearly shows that humans, despite having so-called intelligence, can not even understand themselves, their own world, their own wants and desires and what is good for them. How can they ever imagine that they understand what is better for the other creature? First we have to be the best species on the planet then we can think of giving some other a better life. God is the creator of all, and He gives everyone the best lives. Humans should not look at God's world with their own spectacles. When you think you will give some creature a better life you defy God’s will. It means an insult to God, because God has already given the best setting for every creature. It is when humans have stepped out of the God’s world and taken control in their own hands the world has started paying the cost.

Just imagine, how can you decide what is comfortable for the animal? You like sleeping in bed. Does that mean your dog likes it too? What about its desire and the right to be with its own species? What about its sexual instincts? It should mate when you want puppies; or starve of sex if (God forbid!) you don’t want puppies! It should go out and play when your schedule allows. Should eat when you eat, sleep when you sleep. These are just some examples. There are countless things that don’t go common for human life and animal life that we humans are not even capable of imagining.

Some pet owners say their pet likes their love and the comfortable life they have given it. But even if a pet likes the life you are giving it, it is harming it in an indirect way. Comfort is something that everyone likes, and the same might be the case with your dog. It might love living in your house comfortably. But if you think deep you should understand that comfort makes one weak. Just look at ourselves. How weak we are today, compared to our primates. This is because we have done away with the natural struggle of life like, the struggle of looking for food, protecting ourselves from predators etc. Today we are living a very sophisticated life and so no need for such exercise. Even if we have become weak today we can more or less live with it because our life does not require that physical power anymore. But the animal that you own is not a human, and the life you are giving it is not natural for it. You should understand that the species needs the ability to struggle with their natural environment. By giving some creature a comfortable life you are changing its composure from what is intended for it by Nature. It might like the comfort, but it is not good for long survival of the species.

In truth, most of the people keep a pet for their own entertainment and wellbeing or because it’s in fashion. Whatever the case, I believe if you leave the creature in its natural setting then there can not be a better life for it. Humans just have to broaden their perspective. Nature is great. By defying Nature we are suffering. Take this as a lesson and do not deprive another creature of its natural life.

Why Do We Study?

Today I want to talk about education – about the purpose of exams, and the purpose of studying.

I have been seeing this every year that people would start studying only some days before the exams as a rule, as if that is the only season for studying. And that's not just it. The problem is that they think they need to study only for there are exams. In worse cases I have seen they would get a set of important questions and study only those questions as that would be sufficient to score enough marks which they desire. And in the worst cases I have seen them buying exam question papers from illegal sources, and be free of all the toil of studying and preparation.

This makes me wonder why do we actually study. I study to gain knowledge. And I believe there is no "season" for gaining knowledge. I recently gave final exams of M Com degree. I would say I studied that course because I wanted to gain knowledge of that field. After attaining the knowledge I could identify myself as a master of commerce (as the degree suggests). The important thing to note here is that the knowledge gives me the title and not passing the exams. I would be a master of commerce even if I do not appear for exams. Only if I understand all the matter in the course books I am it. Exams don’t really matter.

However, it is through exams that your knowledge is tested and only then you can claim the title. So exams are necessary to test you before certifying. But those people who study only from exam point of view should ask themselves that even after passing the exams, even after scoring good marks are they really worthy of that title? Of course, it will ensure a career for them, earn them respect; but in truth, do they really deserve it? They have studied only those portions which were going to be asked in exams, so they scored well. But what about the knowledge? Knowledge is lapsed.

I believe if something is given in your course books then it has to be studied with full efforts at understanding it, no matter how unimportant it is from exam point of view. Only then you truly deserve the degree. And there is no season for studying. When you are genuinely interested in some thing you can study it throughout your life, everyday! Even if exams are not there you will study as long as you want the knowledge.

They are not true knowledge seekers. They think education is just a tool that has to be used for securing career, and they want to use it just as much as required for attaining their mean objective. They don’t really desire to be enriched in mind, which is the basic purpose of education.

Remember, you should not study for there are exams. But exams are there to ensure that you have studied everything. So when you keep such attitude of studying only for exams you actually make the very purpose of exams void!

• Is it a Matter of Shame to Not Know English?