The trappings of knowledge and beliefs

I was on the road, gliding on the bike, early morning, looking at people around. The human difference. The thoughts rolled out. Some from the previous night. Thought, if people are not the same within a city, the differences between nations would be far more. ya, humans would be humans every where, but yet division lines would be bolder!

Then the axe fell on poor America. (its not always about wealth!) I thought then what is America doing in Iraq, a foreign land to them. Not talking but at war. Why would it go to war with a foreign culture? (That is what usually happens, but hold on)

I felt something is wrong. Not the war! Something else!

I thought then, why has America been involved in so many wars. Iraq, Afghanistan and others in the past. (With none does it share its border, lucky!)

What made two cultures collide? What made them bother each other so negatively? Ya, it could be oil or....., but I have a different story.

I fight with people I know but not with strangers. I don’t engage with them, so when to fight. Ya, there is the odd event of someone overstepping over someone, or some other squabble for space! (Here I just mean physical?) But that’s about it. But there are no gun shots! In Most cases!

Similarly, here there are stranger nations quite alien to each other but throwing bombs on each other. Zombies! Or, is it because human beings have a fantasy, as the movies show, that they’ll have to fight against aliens from some other planet.

No jokes. Something’s wrong!

America, the land with finest of universities, many laureates. Smart people don’t want to waste their resources in quarreling and put their peaceful beautiful life in chaos and disarray. But still it did!

And, I guessed they were trapped in knowledge and beliefs and values. They may have had the highest of values, and they were trapped in it.

Freedom, human rights and democracy are all truly valuable and America thought itself the leader and took the responsibility of bestowing it everywhere.

But cultures are different and not all may be as enlightened as Uncle Sam. Not all may value the finest of human values and yet can be in harmony with self and others.

Our knowledge is incomplete without knowing what we don’t know. And maybe this is real ignorance.

Why would the Middle East people hate the western world had the west let them live. Different attitudes need to be respected. As Raul Castro said, ‘if the American government really wants to advance relations with Cuba, I recommend they leave behind the conditions of internal governance that they are trying to impose and that only Cubans can dicide’

But the trappings of knowledge and belief go deep and reflect in many social norms. Think homosexuality. The latest burning battle!

If only we could come out of what we know, we could know more!

Happy riding!

A set of aspirations

What would shape India? I guess it would be set of aspirations.

Reading an article about the scene on emerging entrepreneurship in India got me wondering about the budding entrepreneurs. And on second thought, thought may be if individuals can learn something from it.

It was their aspirations that I found curious and funny. Funny because size mattered so much!

The aspirations were simple and numerical, and therefore clear cut. As in, a real estate developer wanted to be among the top 3 in the industry by 2013.

Even more clearer was that of an infrastructure company that wanted to be in the $10 billion dollar group.

A multiplex entrepreneur wanted to have a multiplex in every district of the country. I found this particularly interesting!

But, I am sure the one that would come closest to our heart would be an aspiration of an old businessman who wanted a one lakh rupee car!

And there would be many more aspirations tuned to these aspirations. (How many can be among the top three?)

And yes, we may want all of this. Homes, schools, roads, hospitals, multiplexes, cars etc.

But it also amazes me how these aspirations would shape our lives. And probably when we look into the mirror, we would see these aspirations.

My visit to the mumbai zoo

I recently visited the Mumbai zoo – also called Jijamata Udyan, wanting to see the different corners of the city. The last visit was some time when I was very small.

The zoo though having nice greenery as it’s also a botanical park, is nonetheless a very suffocating place. I felt. It won’t take much of empathizing to know what the animals in the zoo might feel.

Imagine a snake having to live in a place not bigger than our TV carton, but then that’s what zoo are all about. How about a duck having no water to paddle. There were so many instances like this.

I wondered at the large cages and now wonder who terrorizes whom. Animals looked quiet sad. And seeing them i remembered slavery. Have we not abolished slavery? So why keep these animals in such bondage. And then there were people making funny noises, some clicking photographs with an elephant in the background.

The zoo needs to be shut, and the animals need to be rehabilitated. Why do we need a zoo- for education, entertainment, tourism – all these arguments seem to be out of time. Regarding preservation, I’d say – please don’t use Mumbai to preserve animals in this fashion.

It'd be great if peacocks could dance, deer’s could run, ducks could paddle, monkeys could jump and elephants could walk freely, may be in the forest, and may be in a sanctuary. Fortunately we have a national park in Mumbai.

I hope, this is my last visit to the zoo, anywhere in the world!