Ooooh.... Mystery!

No lifestyle, Just literature! Beginning next Sunday, I'll bring you a small thriller/mystery story. Maybe in 2 parts, maybe in 3. I don't know. Haven't really decided! Looking forward to writing it and presenting it to you folks! Take care!

I wish it was love!

I can’t get any sleep,
For my dreams are wrought with you.
And the fact that my head is so full of you,
Is as annoying to me as the flu.

You have a profound effect on me,
And you are always on my mind.
And this feeling that you give me,
Is definitely one of a kind!

Something intense is about to happen,
I can feel it has already begun,
And my life has turned all miserable,
And what’s gone out is all the fun.

I wish that it was love,
I wish that it was some girl.
But sadly, it’s just exam fever,
Which has my mind up in a whirl!

I fear the fact that the exams approach,
Like some many headed monster unknown.
And I too feel, like any other student,
That I’m simply about to be blown!

So many subjects, so little time,
I wish I had studied some more.
But I thought my time was better spent elsewhere,
So now it’s going to be really hard to score!

Oh Almighty! Just this one more time!
Please just let me pass!
It’ll all change, from the start of next sem,
From now on I’ll be the topper of the class!

The Science of Religion!

Religion. It has intrigued me since I can’t even remember. More wars have been fought over religious differences than any other. Religious conspiracies are an all time favourite of thriller fiction. Many awesome writers like Dan Brown, Alan Folsom and others have created spine tingling thriller stories revolving around religious conspiracy theories. Dan Brown, in particular, can create marvels. His novels, especially The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, blurred the boundaries between science, art and religion.

But then probably, these 3 were never very different to begin with. Some of the greatest minds of all time were ardent believers in religion. Many great artists, architects and creative geniuses were keen students of religion too, and this reflects in their work. They have left many references in their works, some obvious and others not so palpable, and that is why their works are still admired after all this time.

Now science and religion also have existed together before the idea of either was actually conceived. No one can tell when religion came into existence; the same is true of science. Maybe their definition has evolved over time, but science, religion and art have existed ever since the human being has.

So maybe I got a little carried away; what I basically wanted to talk about was how religion and science are not as different as we have always been told to believe. Even though many a great scientists & philosophers have been exiled or murdered in the name of religion, there are many incidences where our religious scriptures have been in consistency with science!

Let’s not venture too far from home; let’s just focus on the Hindu scriptures for the time being. Now we might have heard a lot of stories in the Hindu mythology, particularly the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Now at first glance, we might dismiss them as stories, but on closer inspection, we see some really mind boggling revelations!

Consider Ramayana. We all know about Ravana. Yeah, he’s the guy with the 10 heads. Fewer among us know about his “Pushpak Vimana”- a vehicle made from flowers that could fly. Now looking past the strange name and the fact that it was made from flowers, it’s a vehicle, which could FLY! And all this was recorded in scriptures that date back to I can’t even remember when! A similar case happens in Mahabharta. There was this guy, Samjay (my mom told me his name, my knowledge of Hindu mythology is passable at best), who recited the whole battle of Mahabharata, which was happening so many miles away. Now maybe you might differ, but this sounds a lot to me like LIVE television. And these scriptures are centuries old. Astounded? Join the club! Maybe the saying “history repeats itself” has a more literal meaning than we realised!

Science is not the only thing hidden in these scriptures. Reading through these fabled tales, you’ll see the logic embedded in them. Take the simple example. Lord Shiva, the legendary god, has a snake as his ride. One of his sons, our dearest Ganesha, has a mouse as a means of transport (don’t laugh please, I’m not making this up, it’s all written in the scriptures). Now his other son, the less famous Kartikeya, rides a peacock. The astute reader must’ve already figured out by now- mouse, snake, and peacock. Oh my God! It’s a food chain!

Now you can find many more similar examples and incidences in these scriptures. This really makes your mind turn, right? I mean, how can people who exited centuries back even IMAGINE these kinds of things! While some questions probably can’t be answered right now, we can safely assume that these religious scriptures are merely not a collection of abstract stories. They are rooted in logic, and they pave way for the future. Maybe that was what different religions were created for. As a way to understand nature, to understand life itself. But over the centuries, these religions have distorted into something else entirely- an unexplained way of life, a collection of mythological tales, an assortment of idols to which we pray every morning, not even realizing that they are just symbols which characterize different traits in humans!

So yeah, a debate over religion never gets old, and I’m sure I’ll be back with some more opinions over this one. But as of yet, I leave you in peace! Bye!

To group or not to group?

This Sunday, I took part in an online debate. The topic of the debate was an intriguing one- why do people segregate themselves from each other and form groups? Are these groups really necessary? Or can we all just merge together to form one big, single group? I guess what the debate coordinator wanted to convey was that these groups- different religions, different nationalities, different ethnicities, all these do more harm than good. And he raises a valid point. Wars between these groups have been occurring since time immaterial. All these groups strive to establish their superiority over others; they all try to subjugate one another. Civil wars, territorial wars, & religious wars have hampered the advancement of human civilization time & time again.

Now, while I agree with him that these groups have waged wars to prove their supremacy; but his proposal that the very notion of these groups should be scrapped seems ludicrous! These groups characterize an individual; these are an integrated part of the one’s personality. If there are no groups, the very idea of individuality is lost! How would you distinguish between two people without splitting them into groups of some sort? And although the coordinator was right (to a point) in saying that these groups don’t define a person- that we don’t need to feel bound to our family name, our religion, or our nationality- but how can we have an identity without having something to identify ourselves with? It is more practical to suggest that these groups should try to respect each other and live in harmony than to suggest the idea that they amalgamate to form one group! While we can hope that someday Muslims and Hindus might come to accept each other, that all the past differences might be forgiven and forgotten; we just can’t hope for a scenario where Hindus & Muslims will just unite to form and big and reasonably amicable family! Not only does this seem absurd, this is not a setting that promotes freedom of expression.

If we have a great big group where everybody is similar, what am I to do if I want to be different? That is how new religions sprung up in the first place- people were not satisfied with what the older religions were professing. A new train of thought was adopted. Right or wrong doesn’t matter; some people just think a little differently than others! This is how cultures diversify; how new traditions, new ethics come into the picture. This would’ve been seriously difficult had we been part of a big single group.

Consider this argument as well. If I am a writer and want to grow as a writer, am I not better suited to an environment where my associates are writers too? So in short, is not beneficial for me to form a “group” with like-minded people? Or in fact, won’t this group be formed without me even meaning to? This is advantageous to my interests and is not detrimental to anybody, so groups help us to grow as people!

Taking the case of Palestine and Israel, as we discussed in the debate, we can see peace talks happening between the two countries. But then again, these peace talks aim to cease the mutual hatred between the two countries, not to try and integrate the two countries! Maybe sometime in future this hatred would dissipate completely, but Israel and Palestine are two very different countries with different culture, so we just can’t expect them to unite.

So yeah, though this debate was left unfinished (dinner calls!), what I deduced from this article was that I am not the only one who believes that these factions are an essential part of our life. And that we should strive to achieve harmony and equality between these groups, not to try and merge these very dissimilar people! And kudos to the coordinator, he single handedly took on all of us!