Pretender

After a long leave of absence, here  I am finally returning to update my blog. For readers who are wondering why I deleted my blog, well there are a lot of reasons for that and the explanation is reserved for another post.

The title of this post may remind you of a popular song by 'Foo Fighters' called 'The Pretender'. Well, I am not going to review the song or find philosophical interpretations for it. Due to inherent need to write something and to document my observations of humanity and this crazy world we live in, this is one topic which has been riling me up lately. Pretentious human beings.

The world around me is full of pretenders. People pretend they know stuff, they know what they are doing but actually they don't. When we were kids, we thought adults knew everything and they knew what they were up to. We couldn't wait to become adults. We were so wrong about it. After growing up to be one, the shocking truth hit us, even adults have no clue what they were doing. They mindlessly(like my blog) work 9-5 jobs, come home, pay bills, loans manage finances etc. This happens every single day every year. If a programmer had to describe this schedule, he just has to put a loop.

 do
 {
      fn_mindless_work(0);
      input(food);
      output(waste);
      time_sleep = 8;
 } while(death==1)

I recently realized that everyone in my university are also a bunch of pretenders. The professors pretend that they know stuff but they actually don't. I am surprised how little knowledge they have about latest technologies. I am also shocked by their "jugaad" attitude where they care less about giving knowledge to students instead, they give marks. Well, students pass subjects and get good grades without actually understanding what the subject is all about. Engineering has become the bane of education in India.

The students around me, my own classmates are pretenders. Lazy, dim-witted, unmotivated, they pretend to be "studying well" in college. Well, I see around for myself and I know what's happening in the background. A lot of cheating(themselves), short-cuts, last-minute studying which somehow incredibly works well for them.

Being in this pretentious system, I am guilty of becoming 'one of them'. Getting sucked into this plastic life, it has left me unhappy and demotivated. I am trying to pull myself out, but it is proving to be quite difficult. So I have decided to wait it out, trying to be myself, not changing myself because the system demands me to or because of someone else. As David Grohl from Foo Fighters sang, "What if I say I will never surrender?" That's what I am living by. I will not surrender to this.

College is a weird place.

Cheers.

Sweet Memories- 9/12/2011

9th December 2011. This date is very special to me. One of the most memorable days in my school life. It was the first time ever, my batch students came together to put up a massive musical production. Charlie and the Chocolate factory. The production was based on Roald Dahl's children's book by the same name.

When they first announced that we were going to put up this performance for our annual day, we all laughed and mocked it. We thought it was impossible to imitate such a glorious peace of work on stage. Immature as we were, us students were cynical at first. Whoever knew that this goes on to become a glorious success a few months later.

The Journey to the show was an adventurous one. Numerous practice sessions, people were segregated and divided into different groups according to their interests.  We slowly gained interest because of constant motivation from our music teacher Deepak Lazarus and our English Teacher Usha Kamath Ma'am. They helped us grow, learn new talents and different ways of the art. Right from scriptwriting to developing props and stage mechanics. They managed to organize a complete show with almost 200 students involved.

Personally, this was quite a memorable experience for me. It was the first time I sang for a choir. Even though my knowledge of music was quite good, I learnt more about music and choir singing being part of one. I discovered that I can sing tenor and melody, something which I never thought I would do. Also, the experience of going to the recording studio to pre-record the songs and dialogues for the final day was exciting.

There were numerous times when we all did mistakes, 'juggled' on stage, 'misdirecting' our dialogues, many times when DL(Deepak Lazarus) got furious by our behaviour. But all those things were a learning experience. Working as a team and working together helped us come out of our shells. Thank you to our coolest music teacher DL for being patient with our naive ways and our adolescent behaviour. Thank you for sticking with us right through till the end. Thank you for showing us a whole new world of arts and showbiz. Thank you for bringing in music to our lives, showing us the beautiful world of music. I still remember that quote in his music room which said, "When words fail, music speaks". More importantly, thank you for being that cool friend with whom we could hang out after school.

After four months of hard work, planning and practice, we managed to put up a successful show. More than the show itself, we took a lot into our lives. Friendships were forged, talents were recognized and more importantly, the spirit of teamwork.

In the end, Charlie bucket won a chocolate factory. But Willy Wonka got something even better-a Family, and one thing was absolutely certain. Life had never been sweeter. That's exactly what came out of this show. The whole batch became a family.

Ignorance and awakening

When the whole country was debating whether Aamir Khan wants to leave the country or not, whether the country is intolerant, all this time, a state called Tamil Nadu was being ignored. Yes, our country debates on completely senseless stuff while ignoring the issues at hand. No wonder India was voted as the world's second most ignorant country,
South-East monsoon, what our geography textbooks taught us was just routine rains which occur during the months of November and December and it is also called 'retreating monsoon'. What our geography textbooks didn't mention is the El Nino effect. Well, doesn's significantly impact our subcontinent monsoon but this year, it has had some effect. Ever since the start of November, Chennai, the city of the sun, was enveloped with black rainy clouds. While this is usually welcome in Chennai as it sees little rainfall throughout the year, these rain clouds gave Chennaiites an unforgettable thump.
When the rain clouds burst, it rained continuously for 3 days and 3 nights. The rains filled up lakes and reservoirs and flooded majority of the city. A major part of the city was submerged in water. About 1 million people were stranded with no power, no access to clean and fresh water or food. It was termed as a disaster and it was a serious emergency.
Well, like all Disney movies, this story doesn't have a sad ending. The people of Chennai were incredibly self-sufficient. Rescue and relief work was in full swing. Thousands of volunteers came out, braving the heavy rains to rescue stranded people. The Indian Army and the Navy joined the operations. Fast action was taken and the situation was managed well. Surprisingly, the state government were utterly useless. They didn't do even a bit to help their own people. It was the youth of the city, the volunteers who came out to help. Leaving behind everything, religion,gender, class,status, equipped with hope and belief, they joined their hands together to fight the floods. Unity sprang into action when disaster struck.
Moreover, the sense of humanity prevailed. In the end, humanity won. Not money, not power. It took a disaster for people to realize that. People of Chennai, always known to be friendly and kind to each other proved it here. This also awakened many to more serious issues. Also, we got to know who the real heroes are. The ones which we see on the screen are fake. Real heroes are the ones who give their services to the people. The real heroes are the ones working in the Indian armed forces. No matter what the situation is, they will be there to serve the people. The Indian armed forces, don't get enough respect for what they do for the country, They need to be recognized and awarded.
Lastly, I am proud to say that I have faith in my generation. The youngsters who volunteered had kindness and generosity to help in times of need.

(For those who are wondering about the article about India being the second most ignorant country in the world, here is a link. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/the-top-ten-most-ignorant-countries-unaware-of-their-countries-demographics-a6761541.html)

Press-titution

Yes, the title is trying to be suggestive  and I intend to keep it that way. What brought me to this profanity? Well, it is the India media. Of late, following a few news channels and newspapers, I've noticed a lot of whoring around activity by the media. Not literally of course. The above term suggests that someone who claims to be unbiased but they actually sell their morals/ethics for money. Such is the state of the current Indian media. It has become an expression of media-cre(pun intended) activities.

Just recently, Bollywood actor Aamir Khan was involved in a controversy because of one statement which he uttered. The media misinterpreted his statement and reported differently. This caused a huge uproar among Indians and the social media. 

Another incident where Rahul Gandhi was slated to deliver a speech and discuss matters about youth and the country in a college in Bangalore. The reason he chose this particular college(Mount Carmel College) is because it primarily consists of young women who are majoring in different fields in social studies and economics. This honourable man wanted to discuss about issues faced by women in the country and how the young women can bring about changes. According to insiders, his speech was tailored well to suit an audience of young women and he managed to put across his point eloquently. But the media, who were not allowed during the session disagreed. They have stereotyped this particular man based on his past and have misreported this very interactive session. The media misconstructed his words and shamed him publicly trying to bring about humiliation with headlines and hashtags like '#RahulStumped', 'Rahul's speech backfires'. All they want (the media) is some kind of sizzling news which will keep their channels running and TRPs soaring. Doesn't matter how they achieve it. 

I must add that India is not the only country which faces this issue. Every other country's media does the same thing in one way or another although it may not significantly impact the integrity of the nation, in India, it negatively impacts it. The rise of crimes, intolerance and various political spats are  consequences of media misinterpretation and misinformation. 

This issue has been there for quite some time in the world. Even fiction has portrayed this issue. For example, in the Harry Potter series, the reporter for The Daily Prophet, Rita Skeeter is notoriously known for altering original opinions and misconstruction of people's words. This actually had a major psychological impact on the protagonist, Harry. 

This has been a quite a big problem in our country as the majority of the population rely on media for information. This type of unethical media culture has affected the opinions of people. People's opinion on politics and democracy is now heavily influenced by the media. The media controls what you see and what you don't. The media trains the minds of the innocent to suit to their needs. In this way, the media can abuse this in many unethical ways many of which are currently happening right now. 

There are few independent agencies which fight for pure and ethical journalism. Even though they get suppressed by the giants, they still manage to survive and keep fighting to survive. Think Quibbler in Harry Potter. These reporters are brave in this journalism war and I am positive that they will eventually win. Until then, we have to continue reeling under hypocratic and blasphemous journalism.

This is the murky side of media. The ugly truth we are living with. There will be a change, but the change should be done by the right people. As Darth Vader says and I quote, Do not underestimate the power of the dark side. 

May the force be with those who are fighting. 

PS: Comment below with your thoughts on this issue. Because people's opinions matter whether they are right or wrong.  

PSS: For anyone who is interested, here is the link for the Open letter by one of the student who was present at the interaction session with Rahul gandhi. http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/mount-carmel-students-open-letter-%E2%80%8Erahulstumped-enthusiasts-36340

International Men's Day

A day which has gone unnoticed. A day which is as important as International Women's day. I do not intend to glorify the status of men or boast about the achievements. I just want to raise a few social issues which the "un-fairer" sex endures everyday.

Social issues

Being a guy who has gone through childhood and teenage years, I elaborate on one main issue every boy faces. From trying to figure out their masculine identity to taking up responsibilities. All these are heavily influenced by societal stereotypes. From a very young age, boys are taught not to cry. It was considered weak and society attached this stereotype that men shouldn't cry and keep all their emotions bottled up. This affects the person in the long run. Men who cannot open up start having mental issues and other psychological issues which may aggravate to suicides. When I was in primary school, among our peer group, boys were considered to be less disciplined and mischievous. This general stigma was applied to every boy in the classroom by the teachers. Also, classroom injustices like punishment for boys and wavier of punishment for girls were other discriminations which I faced. Growing up as a teenage boy, being trapped in a limbo between maleness and what is expected of by the society.

Right from the childhood, the male child is considered to be an aggressive species. Yes, it is true that men are aggressive, but that is usually testosterone induced aggressiveness. That doesn't mean males can't be as caring as females. Males are considered to be emotionless beings and are expected to stay that way everywhere in the society. What they don't understand is that men are also humans and humans have emotions too.

In many countries including mine, Men are considered sexual predators. As a consequence of wrong doings of a few mentally unstable people, the country's entire male population are considered to be rapists. Being a young guy in a country like this is quite difficult where every woman looks at you with an impression of you being a sexual predator. This is something many young men go through everyday. Being labelled as a rapist/molester by the society. Young men are now scared to approach girls even to flirt harmlessly only because they are characterized to be a rapist.

Legal issues

Numerous laws are unjust to males. Right from marriage laws,divorce laws and child custody rights. I don't want to elaborate them. But to summarize them, it leads to the male suffering. If there is no equality in this, how will we ever have peace?



Yes, many wars were fought in the past because of males. Many mass destruction weapons were built by men. But we are all humans, and humans make mistakes. Many wars were mistakes and many wars had reasons behind it. Whatever may be the achievements of males in the past, you have to know that there were millions of hard-working and determined men behind it.

Men have withheld the pillars of society, Men have protected, braved and worked to keep up families, countries.

Being a man is not shamelessness. It is something to be proud of. We have our unique traits which gives us a certain identity.


We shouldn't fight for men's rights separately. We need to fight for equality. Equality for everyone, regardless of race, sex, religion and country.  We are after all humans. We need to live in peace and harmony to survive for longer years. Instead of fighting for our differences, we need to accept them. I think it is important that we do not lose hope in this day and age. There are people out there, both men and women who wants to correct this idea of sexism, The concept of equality. We just need to raise awareness of these issues and together, we can fight this injustice. For me, International Men's day is not about the male gender. It is about the ideals of equality and another push to the peaceful world that we all aspire for.

Peace.

Dark Times

Waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of rain pattering the window, I hear voices. Voices screaming in agony, in pain. The howling wind carrying these screams. Some screams were accompanied by sounds of gunshots. I walk outdoors. I feel the raindrops, falling like bullets. Every drop hurting my already aching body. I look around me, vision slightly blurred. All I see is chaos. Chaos everywhere. Masked men wielding guns, shooting at innocent people. The rains cause floods which threaten to wash away everything. People, possessions and dreams. The air smells of mud and hot lead. Blood is sputtered everywhere. The terrifying men then proceed to blow themselves up. The bombs detonate and a large area is destroyed. The survivors run for their lives. The floods consume the survivors. Enveloping everyone and everything in its path.  All this I witness helplessly, without any way to save them. I see people perish, right in front of my eyes. I hold out my hand, try to scream for them. No sound. Only my mind screams. The louder I scream, the voices in my head becomes louder. Then suddenly, silence. Silence everywhere. I look around. Devastation. No one around. Not even one breathing species.

I wake up in the comfort of my home. There was a deafening silence. I contemplate what happened. It was still dark outside. I turn on the news. The news channels were blaring about the terrorist attacks in Paris. Meanwhile, local news channels blared about the floods. The cyclone which consumed the city of Chennai. The City which is always in her toes, came to a standstill. The city which fell to the enormous power of nature. The City may have fallen. But the people never gave up. Thousands of people braved the rains, relocated, helped others to safety. Thousands stranded, thousands of homes water-logged. But the people never gave up. They strived harder to survive. 8000 km away, a city called the city of love, armed men shot at the audience of a rock show. The media labelled it as 'The Bataclan Massacre'. The Politicians started calling war on ISIS. The French sent warplanes to bomb Syrian cities. The U.S followed through.

Why do we want this? Why are humans interested in killing each other? Hasn't France taught them love? Why can't we give peace a chance? Why war?

As John Lennon said, " All we are saying, is give peace a chance."

Peace.

Schadenfreude

        Before you think that I have converted to a pro-nazi activist, let me shoot that thought down(no pun intended) and explain to you what the title means. It is a sadistic pleasure someone derives when something goes wrong for others. I am too lazy to google the etymology of the word but it is clear that it was derived from German. Anyway, this term has come to relevance in my observations of the world around me and I desire to jot down my opinions about it here. Honestly, I didn't know that this word existed before this. I came across this when reading some nerdy comics.  Obviously, I knew the concept but I didn't know the specific term used to describe it. 

        Right from our teens, we have all seen how cruel and selfish the world is. It is a known fact that the moral well-being of the people has gone South. We can't point fingers on anything particular which results in this. A lot of factors have been involved collectively to bring the world to such a state. That will be unnecessary to elaborate here. Schadenfreude-ing(is that even right usage?) is one consequence of the above. For some reason, people find joy in misfortune of others. A simple example is that when someone trips over something and falls, bystanders laugh at the helpless victim. Another example which is also a rampant problem in schools all over the world is bullying. Yes, bullying is also a psychological syndrome where the bully portrays this behaviour.
        Lately, what I've realized is that people around me were schadenfeudeic(wrong usage, I know, but you get the point). It might be shocking to note that my own teachers, classmates and friends have  been behaving in this way. I don't blame the others because some may even do it unconsciously. I was blind not to realize this and I have fallen prey to this phenomena quite a few times. It took some time to understand my problem and now I have figured out how to avoid such situations. You can say I have been awakened(refer previous post). It is a difficult thing to handle when one is a victim of bullying. A lot of emotional strength gets sucked out and the person is left alone in disgrace.
        Ultimately, I just wish that the world will not plummet to a new low. It leads to a lot of other problems and wars. Eventually, there will be chaos everywhere. I wish people will keep their moral foundations strong and help others build their moral foundations.

Reader, please note that this post is not about the psychological implications of schadenfreude. I just wanted to highlight some major moral issues in this society and I used that word as the title because I found it fancy :P