Teachings vs. Rituals

Blog XVIII of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

Any religion consists of a set of teachings and a set of rituals. While the teachings are THE most important thing in any religion, rituals are the means of achieving/assimilating those teachings.

Teachings are the very crux of any religion. In any religion an enlightened/sacred  person is one who has understood it. These teachings represent the very reason for existence of any religion i.e. to explain one's existence and also to guide one's actions to inculcate the sense of right and wrong. These teachings are highly static in nature in the sense that they are rarely changed if ever over the religion's history.

Rituals on the other hand are very dynamic and change often over a period of time. Rituals are built in for the benefit of huge masses not all of whom are fit enough to acquire the teachings. Fitness here could refer to wisdom, patience, judgement; qualities which are necessary to realise the essence and relevance of these teachings. Not surprisingly though, these rituals are taken to be more important than the teachings by many people because for them that is much more comprehensible and simpler to do. For ex. it is easier and much simpler for Buddhist people to rotate the khor (prayer wheels) with Buddhist mantra on it as a ritual. But it is only few wise people who go on to realise the meaning of the very deep “Om mani padme hum”.

Therein lies an irony for any religion, it cannot expect all of its followers to fully understand the teachings and hence has to come up with certain rituals in keeping with contemporary cultural beliefs to carry their legacy forward. I am sure the person who came up with Sati ritual did it because it conformed to then prevalent male-dominating societal structure. Bible was not written by Jesus Christ but by a Christian committee that wanted to have a codex to pass on over the generations. Vedas represent a similar intent by Aryans who performed sacrificial rituals while chanting Vedic hymns. Today these rituals are performed symbolically as animal sacrifice is socially taboo. Prophet Mohammad declared Kaaba to be the most sacred place because that was where the initial battles were fought between earliest Islamic followers and other tribal religions and retaining control over that place was essential for Islamism then.

So to reiterate, rituals are important only in that they are tools to attain pure teachings. But it is important to remember that it is the teachings that embody a religion. That is why a person can not follow rituals and still end up understanding the essence of any religion. Unfortunately, many religious heads and organisations could take offense at such a description for any religion but I am sure that people who followed this model must have been considered worthy of being disciples by the very founders of these religions.

DISCLAIMER: Above are my personal thoughts on what is the essence of any religion. Examples have been presented in support of central argument and disrespect to any religion/scripture is purely unintended.

Some Childhood Memories

Blog XVII of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

It is hard to believe that I am only halfway through my Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series. One of the goals of this blogging exercise was to be able to relive some of the oldest memories I had and to store them before they get lost  in the daily humdrum of life. So this post is going to be about some of the oldest memories that I have presented in order in which I could recollect them for this article.

• I mentioned this in a previous blog, this is what constitutes the earliest memory of my life, I walk out of kitchen towards my mother (perhaps my mother was calling me for some time) who is having her evening snack. Before I know (perhaps she asked me something also), I get a resounding slap (perhaps that is what awakened my brain from its cognition slumber !). Papa tried to console me and after that I do not remember much.
• As a kid (relatively speaking !), almost all of my classmates had short names (basically an informal name by which one is called in homes because the real name is over-proper and better suited for records). However I was always referred to by my full and proper name and although I never felt as if it made any difference I remember one day after returning from school, mummy called me for the first and last time as ‘Shubhi’. Had I known the phrase then, I would have said “you made my day mummy”.
• In school, we used to play a game where we would create buttons (no Java was required, a circle with an alphabet inside would suffice) with each button representing an action for ex. ‘C’ for Chunti (pinch), ‘K’ for Kick. One day I thought of ‘K’ for Kiss, my she-neighbour clicked it, clearly I had inherited my shy genes early on. Nothing happened afterwards.
• Speaking of kisses, I would kiss my mother every time she cooked one of my favourite dishes (even then I had a flair for non-veg.). Mummy would brush it off although I knew that she used to be very happy inside.
• I don’t remember where I got this concept from but I continue to follow it even till today. Every time I pray, it would be for the “peace of whole mankind”.
• I was a late child (procrastination in genes ?), as a result there are very very few childhood memories of both my siblings being in home. The one that I remember is where I am swinging on my hands between my brother and sister’s beds.
• As with any non-veg. eating family, we would have leftover bones. Instead of chucking them off, Papa would take me to a nearby park where he would let me feed it to a dog that Papa called ‘Moturam’ (fat dog).
• My brother shaped my academic goals early on. During a routine evening walk (which would normally culminate in an Eclairs or a Tintin/Asterix/Tinkle book), he apprised me of IITs and entrance exams.
• I was able to handle stress and was a  go-getter very early on.
  Mummy: “It is raining, no playing outside today.”
  $(after checking rain):  “Rain has eased a little. Should i go now ?”
  Mummy (sarcastically): “Why not ?”
  Clearly having lost the intended sarcasm, I had already fled for playground.
• Speaking of rains, I had memorised a poem to chase away rains. The “Rain rain go to Spain”  phrase I thought was particularly effective in sealing the deal. Poor Spanish people, but I was praying for their peace !
• Sandhya (my she-neighbour): “When we grow up, we would marry each other.”
  $: “Sure, I would talk to Mummy.”
  $ (Later in home): “Mummy, I have decided I would marry Sandhya”
  Mummy: “Alright”
  Needless to say, Mummy never heard from me any further in this regard. Sandhya today is happily married and a proud mother.
• First hit song that I can recall from school functions: “Gali gali mein firta hai” from Tridev.
• While my Papa is a man of few words, he had perhaps deepest influence over me. Looking back now, I was always copying what he did. I got from him a deep love for nature, passion for travelling, fierce sense of independence and ahem ability to be a man of few words.
• Amit, my best friend would come to my home every Holi. Both of us pretended year after year that we did not have any colour on us but would invariably hurl a balloon or smear gulal and gloat in happiness for the few milliseconds before other person replied in kind.

DISCLAIMER: Most if not all of these memories are from my childhood days. Please view them from the eyes of a 3-10 year old’s innocent eye.

How I got evangelised by an Imam

Blog XVI of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

PROLOGUE: As a young boy (relatively speaking, I am young now as well), I remember reading a Ramakrishna Paramhansa story where he explains to his disciples how different religions represent different paths leading to the same destination. Each of these paths leads to the same divinity and hence each religion deserves equal respect.

***

On a foggy January evening, I entered DEL only to realise that not only was my flight delayed but that I would also miss my connecting flight from DOH as a result. Hence I was checked in at a hotel in Doha for one night. Being the travel lover I am, I decided to go out on a night walk. Not only did Doha seem interesting but being the first Muslim dominated country that I had ever visited, I was curious and appreciative of different city sights such as a host of rugs, jugs and chandeliers in malls.

From a distance, I saw what looked like an impressive spiral building, no surprises then that I found myself headed in that direction pretty soon. It turned out that this building was a mosque. I went in only to find out that it had closed few minutes ago. With nothing else to do, I was looking at various exhibits in lounge when I was approached by the Imam of mosque. Initially, conversations went well and he actually praised the quality of my ‘Urdu’ not realising that I was speaking in Hindi.

However from here, conversations went from good to worse. Having come across a Hindu, perhaps Imam found it fit to indulge in a bit of evangelisation. What started off as an innocent conversation about origins of Islam ended up in a thesis on superiority of Islam over all religions. If anything, Imam only ended up accomplishing exactly reverse of what he wanted. Later that night, I came across some very interesting architectures including a building that could change colours but needless to say I left Doha, Qatar with a bitter after taste.

***

EPILOGUE: few months later, I was having lunch with a friend who happened to be Muslim and explained how in Islamic religion it is taught that their religion is the only way to divinity which explains why Imam reacted in the way he did.

DISCLAIMER: Above is a real life incident that happened with me. No disrespect to any religion/person is intended.

Haanv Amchigele Ulloche

Blog XV of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

Coming on the heels of my post about how nationalist emotions manifest in globalisation era, this post is quite coincidentally similar in its theme especially considering I started jotting points for these two posts separately.

Translated from Konkani, the title of this blog post means “I speak Konkani”. As is apparent from my surname for those familiar with Indian naming patterns, I belong to Mangalore, a small but now rising city in south India. Although I was born and brought up in the capital city, New Delhi, because of which my daily interactions involved a fusion of various other languages and cultures, my upbringing was always rooted in Konkani culture. I talked in Konkani with all of my relatives, enjoyed delicious Konkani cuisine at home and attended religious-cum-social events organised by GSB Samaj, a Konkan society.

However as time passes by, admittedly I get fewer and fewer chances to wield my Konkani or get abreast with my culture. So much so that it comes as a pleasant surprise when I am apprised of it. Few months back therefore, when while corresponding with a close friend over email I read the following lines, I was all smiles. The friend in concern is also Konkani although I was not consciously thinking of her as one.

“…you are the only Konkani guy i [have] known all my life apart from my brothers…”

Nationalist colours amidst globalisation

Blog XIV of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

In this era of globalisation and alien naturalisation, it is surprising and sometimes funny to see in how many different ways, nationalist colours are manifested. Here’s a brief compilation for Indians:

• Listening to Indian songs especially old ones while at work or during nightly project submissions.

• A funny yet warm sense of recognition on seeing another desi.

• Craving for Indian food especially the junk types at unearthly hours.

• Taking video of your first preparation of gulab jamuns.

• Performing puja and celebrating Indian festivals.

• Using Indian flag for your user icon.

• Touching feet of your Chinese professor as a mark of respect.

• Catching up on the latest Indian movies and then playing the songs on a loud volume to let neighbours know.

• Playing cricket in parking lots and living rooms.

• Checking cricinfo for latest Tendulkar scores.

• Speaking in one’s mother tongue on the first available instance.

• Using bharatmata to make calls back India.

• Attending A R Rahman concerts on weekends.

• Preferring Maggi noodles over Top Ramen (even though Maggi is not an Indian brand).

• Lamenting about dismal state of Indian football (read as soccer) team amidst World Cup soccer tournament.

• Adding Garam masala in pretty much any preparation.

How I almost ended up being a rickshaw wallah

Blog XI of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

Here’s an anecdote of how I almost ended up being a rickshaw wallah (rickshaw driver). Well actually the story is not so complicated as before. While on a trip, we found a desolate rickshaw standing by itself in Ludhiana. Needless to say we had a lengthy photo shoot afterwards.

When I returned back to office, I sent an email to my group with subject “Goodbye” and body like “It was nice working with you folks but I have decided to leave ST to start a new venture. Please take a moment to give me your suggestions regarding this new venture.” and attached this photo. Needless to say we had some laughs over this especially since few colleagues did not check the attachment and actually believed that i was leaving.

DISCLAIMER: No rickshaws were hurt in the making of this photo. For complete trip photos, click here.

How I almost ended up being a web developer

Blog X of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

This one is as real as it gets of all the “How I almost ended up being a..” blogs and would come as a big revelation to my friends. Back in India, while I was in NSIT first year (2001), I had got a so-called scholarship to attend a NIIT course on various web and software technologies. While I enjoyed programming and web development as a hobby, never could I have imagined that seven years later the same knowledge would help me offset my academic/living costs as a part time student worker and later as a graduate assistant at TAMU. But things got even more interesting in May 2009 when after finding it difficult to find an internship, I gave a serious thought about opportunities in this new direction. I already had a patchwork resume (obsolete now) that I had used for campus jobs.

Initially, I did not put my full force behind this effort and hence was surprised to see interest from a CA startup (perhaps because they did not know what they were looking for). Soon, I seriously pursued an opportunity at a local portal which called me in for an interview (yes, right in Bryan). Few web programming questions and a personal presentation later, I was offered the position of a summer intern. Things were all looking upwards until I gave the whole matter a rethink and decided that now was not perhaps the right moment to enter this new arena.

For all that we know, I might one day end up switching lines and writing a “How I almost ended up being a hardware designer” blog but till then..

How I almost ended up being a flight steward

Blog IX of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

Since some of my past blogs have got quite mundane, for my next three blogs, I would share anecdotes of how I almost ended up choosing a different profession. The first one is a flight steward (there is no such thing as an air host).

On a chilly February morning, Snowy, Tintin, Calculus and Haddock discuss how they must do something special for their approaching graduation. While we could eat out, stay late into night but we could not find the ‘centre piece’ in our plan. Then Tintin whipped out a newspaper ad showing how AHA (Air Hostess Academy) was doling out tickets for a concert by Strings. Attending a concert was high in our lists but the catch was the tickets were only for people willing to join AHA for their flight stewardship training programme. There seemed to be no other way to get a ticket (or at least that is what we thought then). So we came up with a plan.. :-)

Next week, we found ourselves waiting in a line to be interviewed at AHA. Snowy met a old man who asked him only two questions, name of Indian PM and count of states in India. I hope they have stricter questions for the pilot but suffice it to say, Snowy was through to the next level. However, shockingly nobody else got through and the next round required the presence of parents as well. Needless to say Snowy’s mother had a tough time understanding his son’s sudden ‘change of heart’.

So next week, Snowy and his mother were back again for next round of interview. Clearly, general knowledge figured high in the list of things that flight stewards should know because Snowy was asked EXACTLY the same questions again. (Next time when you look at a flight steward, ask him the same questions and see his response !) The results were announced almost immediately and surprise surprise I had crossed the last hurdle of being a flight steward..umm I mean getting the concert tickets.

From here things get complicated, Snowy somehow needed to get four tickets without enrolling in the training programme. He took Tintin’s help in this. They came up with an ingenious idea. There are two branches of AHA not so far away from each other. They went to first branch, came up with a story of how Snowy could not pay anything until the concert date ohhh but he could do with some concert tickets. They removed all marks from the offer letter and repeated it another time at second branch and we had four concert tickets in our hands.

Five years have elapsed since that day but even today when I look at this photo I think, boy, we look so happy to have won our one way ticket to flight stewardship, who could have thought we two would end up being something else.

DISCLAIMER: The author does not recommend such an act since it constitutes a fraud howsoever harmless the end goals might have been. As it turned out, there WAS a way to purchase tickets for concert outside the AHA scheme.

Education education everywhere, not a learning to drink

Blog VIII of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

I am amazed again and again by how much education goes into the making of many of us and yet how little a percentage of those learnings do we retain when time comes to exercise them. It seems as if in this information explosion, the sane voices end up being suppressed by the babble of warmongers and irrationality.

The trigger for this blog is the recent controversy over construction of a mosque near Ground Zero. While it is understandable that common public get emotional about these issues, what is truly appalling however is when their supposedly enlightened leaders go ahead and make comments along similar lines.

Fact #1: Events of 9/11 were conducted by terrorists.
Fact #2: Incidentally these terrorists were Muslim.

Fact #3: USA has chosen to be a country of religious freedom.
Fact #4: Islam is one of the many religions that have a right to that.

There is NO reason why Muslims should not be able to open a mosque near Ground Zero. Any comments trying to justify the opposite are a veiled attack on the religious freedom and democracy. Any national leader making such comments should be seriously reprimanded by pushing him/her out of mainstream.

And for those who understand only in analogies, Hitler was a devout Christian who went on to perform ethnic cleansing during Holocaust. Should “faithful German people refudiate (read as repudiate)” construction of any church in the vicinity of Berlin and Holocaust camps because it is an “unnecessary provocation” to Jews ?

PS: Another disturbing trend is when the media is more concerned about the grammatical correctness of their leader’s statement than its politically correctness.

three things about USA

Blog VII of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

Today, I would like to talk about what I feel are three good and three bad things about life in USA. These are based on two years of my experience in USA measured in comparison to two decades of prior experience in India. Since I have spent most of my time in USA in academic life, there might exist a skew (although the points presented are generic in nature) in addition to my own socio-cultural offset. I am keeping the good points for last (following US style).

three bad things about living in USA

• health system: many may deny that this problem exists at all (reminds me of a designer saying “it is not a bug, but a feature”) but American health system is in a mess, period. For a developed superpower like USA, it is unthinkable that managing health expenses is a scary nightmare for many of its citizens. It defies common sense to give away health system into the hands of private players who are more concerned about meeting their margins than taking care of people’s health. All non-emergency cases need to wait for an appointment which means that if have an acute pain in your stomach, you simply cannot rush to the doctor. What’s more, Americans have come to accept it as part of the system when in reality it is a flaw.
• individualistic society: this is perhaps where my opinion gets skewed by my upbringing. We Asians are brought up in relation-oriented societies where an individual’s worth is also measured in his/her relations within the society. In USA, such a society exists only in professional circles where networks are important. Outside it, in personal lives Americans are more like pigeons who fly out of their nests as soon as they can. Mind you, Americans are not in any way less caring about their family, it is just that their culture is such that senior people are often left to fend for themselves. The health system problem means that many of these seniors are found dispensing grocery bags in stores like Wal-Mart and HEB to meet their rising medical costs. Another aspect of such a society is visible in the scarcity of inter-city public transport systems.
• democracy: no I am not a communist, the problem with US democracy is that there is too much of it. It is visible when issues that are either trivial or should have been quickly dealt with are deliberated over for months or years. Health discussions, financial recovery, construction of a mosque are items figuring in this list. To be fair to USA, this is not a problem per se of this country but rather of mature democratic systems in general; that they are susceptible to excessive fragmentation of opinions. Freedom of speech is an inalienable right but when fools start speaking and get to share limelight, then it is an abuse of this right.

three good things about living in USA

• infrastructure: This is perhaps the most visible and most stark difference that many of us must have felt in US and also might have been a main reason for us coming here. Things happen in US much faster and opportunities are plenty. People can easily go about following their dreams than ‘what sells’.
• sense of freedom: being an individualistic society has its benefits too. People have a complete sense of freedom and can do anything without the need for justifying it to anybody. This imparts an independent streak to their personality. This also means that people can wear, speak, listen what they want to, without the shackles of stereotypes coming into play.
• standard of living: ask any Asian why they want to get settled in US and this should summarise their response in majority of the cases. Indeed the living standard that many of us enjoy here (assuming I should ignore my living standard as a student) is far better than what they could expect back in home. Although it is unfair but if I were to indulge myself in some foreign exchange wizardry then my first part time stipend at TAMU was MORE than my my first full time salary at ST. You pay taxes at home but do not see any change, here you pay a heftier tax but you can see where it goes.

These were my points, I would be glad to know what people think about them or if they would like to add any new points..your comments – to take a cue from Americans - “would be highly appreciated”.

DISCLAIMER: Please note that this article is a personal opinion and individual experiences may vary.

Losing my Virgin-ity

Blog V of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

No this is not about  my non-existent escapades. Sorry to have disappointed you. For the 2% of folks who are still interested, please read on.

Friends and relations are central in my life and a mobile phone comes handy in making a call to that ‘long lost’ friend. Of course, you can also let Facebook manage your re-connection frequency but I prefer to add that personal touch. Imagine my joy therefore to have got my first mobile phone back in 2005. No more excuses of not being at home, I could simply turn off my phone !

Being the BIG cheapskate that I am, my handset models have been very frugal till now, often at the receiving end of jokes of how a thief would return me a better phone while trying to steal my phone. My response till few months back was that I did not need a better phone. That viewpoint however got changed as I increasingly felt the need for staying connected to Internet during my extended travel periods for map, email and other info. The photographer in me would also scream now & then for a mobile camera. The music freak in me had enough of me listening to ringtones (I still do that though) and FM to satisfy my musical appetite to-go.

And that’s when I broke my smart phone virginity by ordering LG Rumor Touch. The blog title is a double play on the fact that I have Virgin Mobile as my carrier in USA. Initially I was thinking of iPhone and Droid but then the cheapskate in me kicked up and found a phone that could offer comparable services at dirt cheap prices. The extent of my naiveté in dealing with smart phones was visible when I was trying to locate the method to decrease the phone ringer volume in my system menu…only to realise that there were two volume control buttons right on the side of phone.

Another beautiful life

Blog IV of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

Thread A: Remember the time travel enigma, what happens if one day you see a person who claims to be you from future. How would you know for sure ? I am sure you would ask for some personal detail of yours that nobody else would know of. What if you were asked to identify a person who lives life in a way identical or similar to yours ?

Thread B: Human gazing being an active interest of mine (when you are an introvert, this thing comes in handy), sometimes I would spend time in a public place watching people go about their daily lives. Grim faces break into most lovely smiles on meeting their friends and people who seem gay (in literal sense) would conduct gloomy conversations indicating some underlying serious nature. Quite often I come across people whom I call “another beautiful life”. I generally identify them as people who do not seem to have any air around them (not speaking literally), seem content and at peace with life (not talking of facial expressions here) and would appeal to you for no apparent reason.

Wrap-up: Previously I deliberated over what good character could mean. Not far away from that is the definition of a beautiful life, a person of good character going about the daily routine of life, at peace with the surroundings and inner self. There are so many beautiful lives that one comes across, it is almost a pity that one cannot be friends with all of them.

Inspiration: is due to all those beautiful lives who have come across my life, some of them I am lucky enough to have as my friends, others have been subjects of my observation.

Disclaimer: Lest you should think so, this blog is not induced by my situation in previous blog, I had this thing in my mind for quite a while now.

Will you be my friend ?

Blog III of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

This is the thought that has been bubbling in my mind for some time now. Having recently shifted my base with no close friends around, for past few weeks, I have been busy trying to find new friends. The fact that I am an introvert, shy and look like a very-serious guy is not helping me at all in my efforts.

This is not the first time though that I am going through such a phase. In the past also, when I newly joined NSIT, STM or TAMU I had to go through similar phases. I have come to look forward to them because after every phase come some new friends. The beauty of this life (and I would talk about this in next blog) is that you keep meeting some very interesting people and forge relations with them that hopefully shall last for your complete life. Every time when one thinks that perhaps his/her friends list is full, one comes across another gem of a person. Right now, it is my time to be patient and look out for friends.

My list of attempts for finding friends include forcing myself to not eat in my cubicle, go out and socialise, giving smiling faces to passersby (probability increasing exponentially with decreasing distance from home/office) and using some existing friends. Trying to balance existing distance relations and forging new ones is never an easy job. Hope I succeed in it again !

PS: If you live in surrounding areas and are looking for a nerdy friend to help you fix your PC and network problems (cannot think of any other VP for myself), please contact me.

You know you are back in India when..

Blog II of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

Here is a list of real-life situations you would find yourself in only in India. You know you are back in India when..

• ..stewardesses welcome you with a big grin and a Namaste.
• ..you simply cannot make out which lane of the road are you in.
• ..you hear your name being pronounced correctly.
• ..on hitting the road, the first thing you realise is the persistent honking.
• ..on asking for drinking water, a security guard gives you his own bottle.
• ..on asking for a public urinal, a transport official directs you to a staff-only restroom.
• ..a custom officer lets you breach the security cordon for a bribe.
• ..your friends and relatives enthusiastically take you to the ‘newest’ mall for window-shopping.
• ..you have to fight your way in & out of public transport.
• ..you hear a blaring sound on public system announce “Kripya yatri gan dhyan dein..”.
• ..you find spices and oil in your dish like water in a fish.
• ..you realise that people in the same bus stop are speaking in at least five different languages.
• ..you can spot street side sellers standing 3 feet into the road.
• ..your well-wishers hug you as if you were/would be gone for years.

DISCLAIMER: This blog article neither opinionates nor attempts to interpret above situations. It is subject to reader’s own opinion as to what might have been the underlying reasons.

Thirty Blogs in Thirty Days

Since my last blog entry, a big change has happened in my life. If my life was a car, then this would have been equivalent to a gear shift. And as I make this shift from academic life into professional life again, time is ripe to bring in many other changes in my life.

One of those changes would be amount of time that I devote to my leisure and non-technical activities. Academic life especially at postgraduate level is tough on your schedule. It is equivalent to working 10-12 hours daily in a regular job with no leaves to take and no weekends to spare. And to make matters worse, academic work does not proceed at the rate of your regular job. You can encounter wrong turns, dead ends and what not.

One of the things that I have been wanting to do more often is blogging. Unlike what the gap to my previous entry (4 months) might suggest, I have not been running short of things to blog about. In fact I have been maintaining a list of topics in my to do list. And to kick-start my re-blogging I thought why not take a cue from Morgan Spurlock and start a Thirty Days series of my own. So for the next thirty days, I would attempt to write a blog every day till the next thirty days. If things get tough on weekdays I would hopefully cover it on weekends.

$P