Politics divides Business Unites.
Thousands of trucks are waiting to enter Nepal at the Indo-Nepal border. There is acute shortage of petrol and diesel and other essential commodities in Nepal. Traders on both sides are suffering huge losses. People in general are helpless, all because of politics.  North Eastern states of Manipur and Nagaland go through the same helplessness every now and then, all because of politics.
If we go back to our villages we will find that farmers, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, weavers, shop keepers and carpenters etc depend on each other for their livelihood. There were times when a village was a self dependent unit by itself. Since the villagers depended on each other, they lived in cohesion and peace with each other.
History is a solid proof of how trade and business developed friendships between nations.  As time passed, politics over shadowed business. As long as there was the relations were formed on purely business interests, there was amity between nations. The moment politics started influencing business, division among people started on political lines and later on communal lines.
For its own benefit, politics divides people on real or imaginary lines. It can be on communal or cast or color or creed or language basis or castes within cast and communities within community basis. Like there were dalits, then mahadalits or other backward casts (OBC) and now extremely backward cats (EBC).Now Jats, Gujjars, Patels and even Brahmins want to be included in OBC and EBC. The main qualification is number of votes involved and how than can influence the political arithmetic.
For a businessman or trader all are equal as long as they can pay for the goods or services. The only qualification is paying capacity now or at a later date. National boundaries do not matter. Eating habits do not matter. Dressing preferences do not matter. What matters is reasonable profit and ease of business.
If Governments encourage International trade and business, people will live in harmony and forget their differences. National interest has to be protected but unnecessary restrictions should be done away with.
Let there be more business and less politics.  

IT’S RELIGION THAT SEEMS TO BE NEEDING ME.
The recent events dubbed as intolerance have led to award wapasi, (I am sad that it has been borrowed from ghar wapasi )  and now, as Amir Khan says, ‘thinking of leaving the country’. There must have been some reason for him to say so. Unfortunately the so called ’intolerance’ is disguised as  religious threat where my religion is better than your religion prevails. When someone says his religion is better than other religions, it is implied that he is trying to say ‘leave your religion and come to my religion’. Religion is synonym with God  because there can be no religion without God. Whenever we talk of religion, the concept of God or Prophet or Messiah or Lord creeps in. The two are inseparable. This therefore means that my God is better than your God. This is besides Gita’s advice ‘stick to your religion, even if it is not as you want it because others’ religion is unknown and fearful‘.
A lot has been said about religion and God. Opium of the masses-said Karl Marx, If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him-said Voltaire.
I was born as Hindu and I am happy about it. I would have been equally happy if I were born as a Muslim or Christian. I would have been, at the same time happy had my forefathers converted to any other religion. We are as born and nothing can change that not even conversion. No religion or God is needed to become a good human being.
Hinduism, if we can call it religion because we are also told that it is way of life and not a religion in the literal senses, perhaps only religion which has not grown by conversions from other religions like Islam and Christianity. On the contrary, mush against the tenets of Gita, Hindus have converted to other religions and it continues. Most of the people who converted were poor and of low castes. They were victims of exploitations by the upper castes. Still Hindus remained and prospered and never thought of increasing their  numbers by conversion from  other religions.
Now some Hindus want to increase their numbers by ‘ghar wapsi’, return of converted people to their original religion, Hinduism. Some have even suggested that non-Hindus should leave the country as this will help reduce the population. The other side of the border is stretching its arms to welcome people who want to cross borders. Leaving one’s country of birth is not easy and not at all if one is forced or advised to.
Humans are being treated as numerical units to help in increasing numbers of opposing sides. I f I put myself in this tug of war, I find myself needed by all religions. I am not being treated as a human but a commodity or an unit that has no other option but to be either on this side or on the other side. My opinion is of little consequence.  All these years, religion was my shelter in times of my needs, now I am getting enrolled as shelter for this or that religion.  Religion seems to be needing me more than I need it.



 

CONTROL IS ILLUSIONARY

Have you ever tried to control things? What a silly question?

A whole life is spent in doing so. We live under the false notion that we have the power to control everything but if that be the case why do things go out of control? It is because one cannot control anything as he himself is under the control of someone else. Every day we come across situations going out of our control. Only yesterday we were under the impression that everything is under control. We forget that what we call control is nothing but temporary relief. 

Things change too fast and what appears to be right method of control proves to be too weak to handle the changed situation, because there are more uncertainties than we are incapable of predicting or foreseeing.

In order to get out of this helplessness we read jokes. We know the jokes are on us and on our helplessness, only the names have been changed, and that is why we enjoy them. If someone tries to collect jokes from all over the world, groups and communities, he will possibly be surprised that there are the same jokes told in different words in different parts of the world. All jokes put together will not even make a table book. This is because problems everywhere are common and tools of control are as weak here as at any other place. People there are also under the control of someone else.

I

t is generally said that one generation earns fortunes by sheer hard work and foresightedness, second generation enjoys the fruits and adds a little and the third generation squanders it away. There are very few families with wealth and fortunes for generations. Be it our bygone Rajas and Maharajas of Hindu era or Nababs and Badshahas of Mughal era. Where are they and where are their fortunes? They too thought that everything was under control but that was not to be.

There is a hidden message in this and that is try not to control, try to laugh away.

  

  

   

Whatever I change I am still left with me.
Let me start with a quote  to say that  “ in the beginning, as young,  I thought I could change the world. Time passed, I got married and I thought let me start with changing my wife. And then some wise man told me that before you change anything, change oneself.”
That is the toughest job I have in hand. I am not talking of outwardly changes, which I could do very easily. I grew mustache, took a few snaps and kept them for posterity. I grew beard, took some snaps and spread them all over the net including in V. I have kept long and short tresses, even gone bald to see how I look and envied at my own appearance.  I have had a cowboy hat on my head and VAS lovingly nick-named me ‘Cowboy’. I changed many attires and even wore Khadi.  In short changing physical appearance was so easy.
Not only that nature helped me having many avatars as a new born, toddler, teen, youth, elderly and now silvery. It was a process and I take no credit for that except that I tried to stay and look young as long as I could and still do so. It is another matter that a silvery antenna on my head  and wrinkles on face reveal the whole plot.
I am not even talking of appearing what I am not. From my post one may wrongly assume I am some Vedic intellectual or some body with some brains but believe me when you meet me you will find that I am none of that. I am so ordinary and feeble who can be easily overlooked.  I have however, been successful in projecting what I am not.
I have changed cities, houses, neighbors, friends, acquaintances, jobs , habits, you name them.  
What I have not been in a position to change is ME. I am a sum total of envy, hypocrisy,  greed, ego, anger and revenge. I could not let them part my company. Or may be they do not want to part company at all. One part of me aspires for sweetness, fairness and equality and the other part, more dominant,  wishes the opposite seeking only gains at the expense of others. Ratnakar, later named as Valmiki, thought he was doing all this for his family and rightly so because who else will take responsibility of his family. As a householder it is my job to protect and provide for my family by whatever means, good or bad, possible. I have tried to justify my all wrong doings with this logic.
It is original ME that always keeps me company. I have tried every which way - books, spiritual cravings, rational journeys-  but failed to dump ME. I have entered into an agreement with ME and that is - I will not try anymore to change ME and ME will help me keep the façade and not expose me. We both seem to be doing well. Even my shadow, that walks and sleeps with me, is helpless onlooker.
I envy the realized souls or should I say I do not trust them at all. They too are as weak and feeble when put to real test. This give me some gratification at last. I am not alone. But…. A BIG BUT…

 


     

FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS - THE TUG OF WAR.
Feelings as per dictionary  are - sensation, sensibility, emotion and/or  sympathy. Thoughts as per the same dictionary are- power or act of thinking, idea, opinion, judgment, notion, purpose, contemplation, care, concern.

Clearly feelings are related to heart and thoughts to mind. If we accept this we can also say that there is a never ending conflict between heart and mind. We can also replace them with soul and brain. Most of the time both see things differently.  Both feelings and thoughts are like banks of the river that never meet. Both are separated by water or sand or both.  One is  pure and selfless, the other  is wishful and calculative.

In fact one works better in the absence of the other. When one holds his new born child in his hands, there are only feelings of love and affection  and thoughts of how and from where he will provide for the child come later.

At best or worst, there may be a mixture of feelings and thoughts.  When one doles out a coin in the hands of a beggar the mixture of feelings and thoughts work at cross purposes. One want to hand over the coin because there is feeling of sympathy for the poor fellow. Other says it is a nuisance and must be done with as quickly as possible.

Some times feelings dominate and another times thoughts dominate. Very rarely both agree on something.  Speaking a lie is sin- tells us the heart but it helps survive, says the mind. Not only this we try to justify this by saying that a lie is not a lie if it does not harm anybody but helps some one.  We try to glorify it.

We all face this dilemma of existence.