Death: The Dissection

I read somewhere, in the whole recorded history there were only 11 days when people were not fighting any war in any part of our planet. So, thousands years of history and 11 days of peace. Still an achievement! If history is studied carefully or not so carefully; it is apparent most of the conflicts have arisen due to religions. Wise people say fighting over religion is very idiotic since the underlying teachings of all religions are the same like peace, love etc. etc. I won’t know about that. I have not really read any religious text, not even my own religion Hinduism’s texts. Actually, especially Hinduism’s texts because like everything else in this religion, there are indeterminate number of texts too.

From whatever I have heard, I can say, there is another common feature in all religions. Gods in all religions rule in heaven and they don’t die. Whereas, we creatures of earth, we have to die. I don’t know any aliens personally so can’t comment on their death. Our life is very tiresome it always kills us earthlings in the end.

What is this death? Doctors tell us all organs of our body stop working at death and after that our body starts decaying. Doctors have a way of saying obvious things using fancy words. Religious leaders and priests tell us our soul leaves our body in fact some researchers have found the weight of the soul to be around 800 grams. It’s not that difficult to calculate you just subtract post-death weight from pre-death weight of a person, then repeat the exercise for a sample and then take the average. The difficult part here must have been duping the funding agency in thinking that this is a real and useful research! Philosophers discusses and argues then argues and discusses about death. The Marxists of course think we all with our bourgeois life are already dead.

Death has been dealt again and again in fiction, movie and other media. The subject about death widely dealt in media is adjustment problems of friends and families after demise of a person. But very few have gone to the territory of questioning death. Among the recent literatures the Harry Potter series dealt with it a little. According to the great wizard Dumbledore death is a well deserved rest after a fulfilling life.

But, for normal person on the road, what does death mean? May be death is a kind of final good bye. In various phases of one’s life we are close friend with different people. Then sometimes they leave sometime we have to leave. While leaving there is always exchanging of phone number and addresses with great promises of keeping in touch always. For sometime it’s like that then changes of time and place take toll on relationship and people outgrow each other. After few months or years there will be no communication at all and gradually the person will fade in memory as well. Then we reach a point where there is no connection to old friend and there is no scope of ever having one.

Death is somewhat like this with few differences. Sometimes you never get to say good bye. Definitely no exchanges of phone number and address. The loss of connection is sudden and final. And there’s absolutely no resurfacing. These days, old and long forgotten friends are sometimes resurfacing, thanks to modern day phenomenon known as social networking in the internet.

If only we had known where we are going after death then we could exchange addresses. May be this exchange is the very reason, why we don’t know our whereabouts after death. Because death gives us complete break after a hard life. In case, rebirth theory is correct then death gives us the total chance to “move on” to start from the “scratch”. Nature provides us a clean slate which can obviously be not possible with lots of baggage from past.

Suppose there is no God, no afterlife, no judgment, no incarnation then why does death come? The logical explanation would be, without death, only birth will explode the population, creating imbalance in our planet. This finally may lead to destruction of our planet. May be death helps in evolution as well. Birth of new improved beings from the ashes of death of old.

After industrial revolution, there’s no looking back for science. Now it’s at pinnacle, everyday is a new discovery. Great age and time for humanity. But too much truth sometimes can kill the mystery, fantasy, imagination and romance. Hundred years ago, moon was so romantic. The love poems are crowded with comparison between lovers’ anatomies to moon. Now one would think twice before comparing his girl friend’s face to a dry area full of holes. In fact, a face like moon is sounding like a face full of acnes!

 
There are only very few mysteries left keeping the romance alive. Death is one of those magic, romance and unsolved mysteries. Death is still the not uncovered shroud.

Dreams II (CHRONOLOGY OF DREAMS: the early years)

Do very small babies have dreams? They definitely see dreams in their sleep, which mother has not felt a taste of heaven by seeing a lingering smile on the face of her sleeping baby. But having a dream, I don’t know. May be they dream their mothers will hold them, nurse them whole day without doing anything else. May be they dream their Papas will take fewer pictures of them, family and friends of family will stop staring them to decide whom they resemble, strangers will stop poking them, they may be able to touch the toys hanging in the cradle. May be some more. With certainty we can only say if babies start talking some day with advancement of science.

After growing up a bit (say from 2 to 4 years of age) they may dream they can watch cartoon or whatever they like whole day without papa and mama changing the channel or they can eat chocolate and instant noodles whole day. It is so easy to dream when you are a small kid. This may be for various reasons. Firstly, you don't think anything is impossible, for instance you can dream to become a dog because you think that is perfectly feasible. Secondly, your friends and family don’t laugh at your dreams. The more impossible your dream is the more awe inspiring you will be among your friends and the cuter will it be considered by your family. Thirdly, on practical side age is on your side, you really have lots of options.

Then you grow up a bit (from 4 to 8 years of age) and certain dreams will be eliminated. Suddenly you are aware somehow it is not possible to become a dog or an alien. However, you still think you can be a Spiderman you just need to find a radio active spider and the rest is as easy as pie. Your friends and family start having a faint smile (if not a full on laugh) at some of your dreams hence you start feeling hesitation and even shy talking about some dreams. For instance when everyone clearly can see you have two left feet you are scared of saying you can be a dancer. And after some time the dream of becoming a dancer is totally off your list. Still you have dreams for yourself.

This is just the beginning of fall of dreams. For some unfortunate souls this leads finally to total absence of dreams, and curse of an empty and hollow life.

Then comes the pre-teen or tween years (from 8 to 12 years of age) and may be the first step towards adulthood. You and your parents start taking your career and studies pretty seriously.

As a teenager you almost stop dreaming out of the box. May be there are a few ones which are not really unrealistic it's just you want to be a singer instead of engineer or you want to take languages instead of sciences. Most of the times these dreams are crushed by elders without any remorse. Very few teenagers and/or their parents are brave enough to go in the untrodden path, to follow the dream of heart. Given all kinds of hardship and impossible to achieve scenario generally teenagers won't even accept it themselves forget about telling others about out of box kinds of dreams. Still you have dreams for yourself.

This is also the time when reality of your socio-economic conditions start to hit you. If someone is from a poor family he/she knows the limitations of his/her dream. It takes a Kalam to dream big in this kind of situation and I am sure there are many Kalams out there, but not as many as I would like to be. Then if a girl is from a repressed family she knows she has no scope for a career or love. All she can dream about is a grand wedding, nice mother-in-law or understanding husband may be. Still there are dreams.

Then comes twenties. The most crucial and now or never time in one’s life. Career is all that u think. A career to save yourself or your family or the world. You may also think about finding an ideal partner and settling down. No time for frivolous dreaming. it's time for practical dreams.

Here, some people may take a stance on a certain dream leading to rift with parents. This certain scenario may arise when your dream partner may not be the ideal partner for you as dreamt by parents. Besides this, in rarest of rare case people may dream a real dream. Like I remember when I was a kid this young girl from my neighbourhood did not want to marry instead she wanted to open an NGO for less privileged people. The parents were initially shocked but finally supported her and even donated property for her cause. Now opening NGO is so common and such a high profile thing. But back those days we did not know what is the meaning of NGO and those people who leave a real career to help less privileged ones always supposedly starve to death themselves. In 1980’s a young girl from a small town, hailing from middle class and high cast dreaming and achieving this dream has less probability than finding an alien. Afterall in 1980’s so many people spotted aliens especially in USA and Europe. Whereas, in 1980’s, in our small town no other young girl had this dream not even in 1990’s. I don’t know what is happening there now.

Everybody in their twenties may not dream big and unusual but still they have some dreams for themselves. My point here is whatever your dream is, lame or wild, it always keeps you ticking. It gives you a reason to wake up in the morning. Every morning you are excited to wake up because you have something to look forward to. It keeps the spirit in you alive without which you would be dead.

Usually twenties is the time when dreams for some people start to die. This death leads to unhappiness, depression, substance abuse and many worse stuffs. For some this happened because they reach their peak early and now they are left with no more dreams. Whereas, for some other the realization that their life is nowhere going according to plan and nothing is in their hand.

This is where they are wrong. There are always scope for more dreams, you just have to meticulously develop it for yourself after all you know yourself best. Well did not mean to sound preachy, only want to convey the information I have tried it so can you.

What have I learnt from ‘murder mysteries’

I love to read books and am partial toward the genre of fantasy and murder mysteries. What is common between these two? Both kinds are fantastic dealing with magical and supposedly unreal things. After all in how many cases a limited number of people gathered under one roof all having a motive to kill the person who ultimately gets killed. There is always this awesome detective whose mind works like magic and she/he can magically solve any kind of twisted murder mystery. I will deal with fantasy some other time now will deal with murder mystery.

I am obsessed about murder mysteries. I love to read them, watch them and talk about them. The more murder a story has the better it is for me. My eyebrows arch (actually I would love to single eyebrow arch in Amanda style from ugly betty but sadly can’t) and I silently scoff at books having only one murder. So u r giving me a murderer who can murder only once, hah what a wuss! I also don’t like all these accidental or hot blood murders. I like my murder to be well planned and cold. How I became this blood thirsty? I have no idea. May be some shrink will say I saw a fish butchered when I went to market with my father or something to that affect.

Pointers to help you not being murdered

I am not saying I have read all the available murder mysteries or I have seen them all. In fact I hope not because then there won’t be any more left to read or watch. Still I have read and seen much to have a fair amount of idea. I can guide u to save your life or to recognize the murderer if you are living in a murder mystery. What? you want a guidance for real life? What do I know about real life murders, after all the only real life murder I know about is that of a fish! If you are a fish I can only tell you to avoid being murdered avoid being end up in the fish market. If you are not a fish then sorry I can’t help you.

1. First and foremost, never ever keep a paper cutter or a stiletto or a dagger of oriental design on your table, you will definitely be murdered with it.
2. In real life good habits, punctuality, orderliness may take you a long way but in murder mysteries exactly these qualities will get you killed. The murderer knows what time you will be where and where u keep what. For instance say everyday in on which you always keep your oriental style dagger; and everyone is instructed not to disturb then. Boy I can say you r just a sitting duck just a time bomb ticking away to be killed any time or as soon as you can find a suitable murderer. What? Your family has 5 people crammed in a two bed room apartment? You are definitely not living in a classic murder mystery, where people live in big isolated houses and sorry mate I can’t help you there.
3. Never attend a house party nor stay in a hotel which is in some isolated area like on an island or a snowy mountain. With limited number of suspects, these are ideal backdrops for murder mysteries.
4. There should not be practical jokes nor any games related to murder because these harmless leisurely acts generally end up in real murder!
5. The unlikeliest person is always the murderer. The probability of a person being a murderer directly proportional to the impossibility of his being the murderer. There is every chance that the officer investing the murder is the murderer. (spoiler alert) Reference: Agatha christie’s Hercule Poirot’s Christmas.
6. After a murder is committed in one of these house parties or isolated hotels, and then someone asks you to meet at some lonely spot at midnight for sleuthing or for giving some information, never meet that person even if she is your mother. After all, your mother is one of the unlikeliest persons to be the murderer, hence there is every chance she is the one.
7. If you find something to be odd or you have a plan to trap the murderer then never confide it in one person, your confidant/confidante is positively the murderer who will kill you at the first opportunity. To avoid being killed if you are living in a murder mystery, then always tell everything to multiple numbers of persons.
8. After the murder, if someone else has to tell you something, ask the person to cut the chase, and come directly to the point. Because in murder mysteries this person generally tries to tell you something but then never get to tell you due to various reasons
• She (yeah in most cases it’s a ‘she’) calls you up but you are out. If calls you in cell then bad connection.
• She never gets any time alone with you
• She first said that’s odd or something to that effect and then when you ask her what’s odd she will not answer you definitely because she would think it is not significant

You coerced her to tell you and other people immediately what’s the matter unless of course if you are the murderer! If she does not tell the discrepancy she found to multiplte number of people then she is the next murder victim.

Now some pointers to save yourself from serial killers.

9. The serial killers are extremely patient. They can patiently wait till you commit one small mistake. So one small slip like keeping door ajar for two minutes and boom, you are gone. Why should he pursue you so long just for killing? Well may be you remind him about his nanny who would not let him take more than a couple of candies on one day.
10. The serial killers are very knowledgeable about religion, astrology, astronomy etc. as we have learned from innumerable American books, movies and TV series like Seven, DaVinci Code etc. So anyone you know obsessed about the above things you just stay away from him.

In case you are thinking, it’s so sexist of me to refer the murderer as ‘him’ always let me clarify I think women are also equally capable to commit murder. It looked very funny when I saw he/she and him/her throuout!

Pointers to murderers for not being caught

If you are a real life murderer then I think you are doing a great job without my help. However, if you are a murderer in a murder mystery the following points will definitely help you.

1. There is always a detective or a consultant whatever you call him like Great Sherlock Holms, Hercule Poirot, Father Brown, Shawn Spencer of Psych, Monk etc. etc. These guys generally have 100% track record however they look and sound like buffoon. Unfailingly every time they solve the crime still the law enforcement personals don’t take them seriously and make fun of them (God knows why). However, you don’t go by their buffoony and be very careful of these guys.
2. The above mentioned investigators may ask you seemingly non significant and non related to crime kinds of questions but never answer those because in some long-winded way it’s your confession!
3. These experts sometimes do crime recreation and always invite all the people present at the original murder. Never ever go there because these recreations lead to capture of the killer.
4. Never talk too much even though you feel like boasting. Because the more you talk there is more chance that you will slip.
5. Never be smug after all this is a murder mystery your fall is always the end. Hence if you are murderer in a murder mystery, it’s wise if never commit a murder al all!

I hope I have made your life easier if you are living in a murder mystery and if you are not living there then hopefully this has made your life easier by giving some light moments!

Equal opportunity

Long time ago all policymakers and intellectuals were talking about equality. Then one fine day suddenly they  realised equality is not possible without equal opportunity. How brilliant of them to have this common sense finally! 

However, statistically and practically speaking there can never be equal opportunity for all the citizens of the world or a country or even of a state. Because of many reasons, some of which I have given here.

• In real life there are innumerable, may be unlimited number of variables. It's unlimited because the number of factors determining the opportunity is, among other things, a function of time.
• Some of the factors are due to the implicit obstacles which are not only difficult but sometimes difficult to remove. For instance, given everything else equal, a person living in Delhi will have better opportunity than a person living in Sambalpur, Orissa. This problem can be solved by making Sambalpur Delhi. Fine theoretically there is a solution but in reality it will take take lots of money, time and attitude. Even if it is achieved there are hundreds and thousands of Sambalpurs in India. There are some other implicit problems which can't be so easily taken care of. For example there are places more prone to natural disasters.
• There are some other factors are not that easily recognisable.
• Some factors are subjective

Our statesmen, policymakers, social service people etc. etc. want equal opportunity for all or at least give slogan that they want it. Them and us, we all together can always strive to be as close as possible to equal opportunity for all but achieving it in an absolute sense is impossible. Just like geometrically it is impossible to make a point manually. The moment we put a point on paper or any other surface we can't help it but give it some dimension whereas by definition a point should be dimensionless.

Plato had said there is a real or perfect 'point' somewhere (may be in paradise) and whatever we make is always a concept or an idea of point. May be there is equality of opportunity in some Utopic place here on earth at best we can have a concept of equal opportunity.

May be all the elites know it's impossible to achieve equal opportunity or equality but still they never shy away from giving an empty slogan. The sad part is an idea of equal opportunity is achievable to certain extent if the roads are not blocked by empty and rhetoric slogans. May be the elites are just interested in the slogan to achieve more than equal opportunity for themselves!

An ode to 18 month old Aura

Sometimes she can play with her food
Sometimes she can get dirty
Sometimes I can let my hair down
I guess sometimes she can play with her food

Sometimes she can fall and rise on her own
Sometimes she can cry and cry and scream
Sometimes I can let my hair down
I guess sometimes she can play with her food

Sometimes she can sit on the dirty floor
Sometimes she can eat food from ground
Sometimes I can let my hair down
I guess sometimes she can play with her food

Somedays she can be just her without imposed pretensions
Somedays she can be just a baby without any other identity
Somedays I can let my hair down
I guess somedays she can play with her food

Death: Afterlife

Death is always so fascinating. Over the ages people have been intrigued by the question what happens after death.

An atheist believes death is the end there is/most probably nothing after it. However, most of us never want to believe death is the final end. We don't want to know for sure nothing has left of our dear ones after their demise. I can vouch for this. We always like to believe they are somewhere there. Without believing this we can't go on leading a normal life after losing dear ones. We console ourselves by thinking they are up there watching us.

May be this started just as a defense mechanism but over the years it became the norm. this gave rise to so many rituals all over the planet done for the departed souls; pyramids of Egypt, ancestor worshiping of china or the shraddh at Benaras by Hindus.

Among the modern religions there are chiefly two kinds of schools of thought. Firstly, there are semitic religions: Christianity, Islam and Jewish. They believe each person is judged and then accordingly banished to hell or awarded heaven. Before judgment sinners and non-sinners wait in the same place, sometimes called 'Hedes'.

On the other hand the Indian religions like Hinduism and Buddhism don't believe in the real existence of a hell. Although there is calculations and measurements of sins. depending upon the committed sins human beings and animals get reincarnation. Obviously the status of present life is inversely proportional to the sins committed in past life. the sin balance is checked after each birth and when it is zero a person is awarded with 'Moksh' or eternal paradise. In case you are a non hindu and wondering about the difficulty of all these calculations of all living beings for each births then relax we have an expert mathematician named Chitragupta taking care of everything! 

Hence in case these religions, although there's a heaven but hell is right here on earth. We suffer for our sins in previous lives through a miserable hellish life.

Is there really a hell or heaven? There's no solid proof yet. But each and everyday we experience hell and heaven. Our life is a combination of hell and heaven.

Every moment we know consciously or subconsciously death is coming for us. Still we take life quite seriously. I mean noone says why bother with a job, maintaining a lifestyle, getting hyper about children's board score after all everyone including their neighbours going to die. we go on with our chores as if we and the chores are here permanently. This is the 'Maya' or illusion. without Maya there could not have been this world with so many splendors. Isn't it miracle of life!

Dreams I (Introduction)

First thing first, hence let me clarify, this piece does not talk about Sigmund Freud kind of dreams which you see with your subconscious mind while sleeping. This piece is about the dreams you see with your conscious mind and open eyes. You may say it is about ambitions and aspirations but it also goes beyond common ambition and aspiration. Ambitions and aspirations are probable and somehow achievable but dreams may be probable may not be probable, may be achievable may not be, in fact dreams may be highly unrealistic.  

Some (which constitutes a small minority) openly talk about their dreams, some secretly dream, some vehemently deny to have any dream, some don’t have physical time to dream, some don’t have emotional time to dream, some scoff and laugh at others’ dream but each one of these people has dream, may be hidden under many layers.

So many writers, thinkers, poets and modern day pep uppers (or in other words self help and chicken soup for soul book writers) have written about dreams. Now it’s the confession/warning time. This piece also may become selfhelpish in part. At this stage I don’t have any clue how this will shape up. You may say I m trying hand at ‘streams of consciousness’ however here we are talking about my streams of consciousness (which is funny considering the fact that I m non-conscious or subconscious most of the times! About that we will talk may be some other time.). Still I will try to be gentle that is to be minimal preachy.

Coming back to our topic, all these writers, thinkers etc. mostly concur every human beings must have dreams or we r dead within. We hear so much blah blah about dreams and surprise surprise (or not) those are mostly true can be verified by yours truly’s experiences. That will come later. First let’s do a chronology of dreams, as in dreams in chronological order of our life.