Piecemeal peace

 The world is literally going to pieces. Would you agree with this assertion? Yes, indeed! The world IS heading in that direction. Two huge wars are looming large yearlong at least. Hopefully, Mr. Trump would fulfill his promise during the election rallies, and stop wars as he asserted then.

Wars, however, are not alone in breaking the world peace to pieces. Multiple are the causes behind its piecemeal destruction, and beyond the usual typical culprit, that is, dirty politics and greedily ambitious politicians. Since the COVID epidemic unified the world in to victimhood, mental peace of most all people has gone for a toss. It fragments multiply the moment one sneezes, coughs, chokes a little longer. The pulmonary tract tractions mental peace now!

What can better such a condition? In its infinite wisdom, the UNESCO suggests that it can be science, and I suppose thus is involved its practical application, namely, technology. Can science and technology truly lead us toward peace? Can peace thus get a piecemeal chance?

Yes and no! Yes because pure science is the base of many a technological gadgets that create better health, better communication, better entertainment for the masses, and better modes of knowledge and wisdom for the cognoscenti who then explore better and deeper the principles that govern the very universe, within, that is, in every mind, as well as without, that is, beyond the known boundaries of space and time.

No because most human minds are terrible. They would use promethean powers the frankenstein way, and create monsters who mollify the very concept of peace. The history of the world is full to the brim with examples that can prove this truism valid zillion times! 

Well, it is not the mistake of science and/or technology that they are thus misused. The mischief monger is the human species. Human beings need to be humanised if peace is to get a chance to prevail. May be, more meditation centers and multiple yoga days are needed the world over! What say?

Pratima@Peace is piecemeal/Peace can be full/If permitted is the criminal/not peurile intentions foul!!!

The killer disease

 Fear kills. Want proof? There is this rather crazy story wherein a non-poisonous snake wants to prove the point to a cobra. They bet on it, apparently. What must be the wager? 'Curious' question all right! Yet it need not detain us right now. Let us continue with the story.

Both of them float in the river. A swimmer dives in. The cobra bites him, but he sees the non-poisonous snake floating nearby. Nothing happens. Soon another swimmer jumps in. The non-poisonous snake bites him. He sees the cobra floating nearby. Convinced that he is a victim of a cobra bite, he dies of a 'fear'ful heart attack immediately.

THE dis-ease that causes similar trauma in a patient is cancer. It kills at least half of the patients out of sheer fear. The treatment is both painful and costly. So terrifying is the cancerous reality that the ghoulish pictures of oral cancer can stop anyone fron tobacco abuse of any sort.

Certain cancers can be curbed. In fact, with the latest medical technologies, many can be controlled, reversed, made less life- threatening. In fact, with proper medication, the patient can lead a normal life without any relapse.

Most often, cancer kills because it is detected at a later stage. By then, it has spread all over. The collateral damage within the body is huge, and hence destructive. Cancer is a bother, moreover because it is an auto-immune disease. It is as if the body rebels against itself, and then preposterous is the growth of the cancerous cells.

Oh, yes, despite many an "Anand' and a 'Majboor', there is NOTHING remotely romantic about cancer.  Sure life is a stage, as says Anand, and the villain in the 'drama'tic show is  cancer. Hence the urgent need on the cancer day to create as much awareness against it, its causes, its cures as is human(e)ly possible!

Pratima@ India is slowly but surely turning in to the world capital of life style diseases such as diabetes, blood pressure AND cancer. To avoid SUCH pandemics with hugely high mortality rate, advances such as the gene therapy ARE important. Much more needed are  life style changes such as healthy food and lots of exercises including 'pranayam', 'onkar' and stress management, I suppose. 

Education, anyone?

 The title of our blog today must surprise you. Well, let us begin with the relevance of the title. November 11 happens to be the National Education Day in memory of the first education minister of independent India, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad. 

On this august day, let us discuss a little the 'what', 'how'  and 'why' of education today. Initially, i would like to assert that world wide education is at cross roads currently. Why, so? Well, traditional definitions and modes/methods of education are coming apart.

Now not only textbooks but the Nirali kind of 'guides' also are not much help because newer technology like the Chatgpt, with its newer versions by the day literally, has revolutionised the very notion of knowledge. Now knowledge is ready-made. 

Every which way! Earlier with the Google, students had to at least look through/browse some ten websites to decide what to copy-paste! Sure it was mere information, moreover. It was neither knowledge nor wisdom.

The current situation is much worse because the Chatgpt creates the information for the student who can submit it as an answer to an assignment without even once browsing through it. Unfortunately, students busy with the social media trivia choose such methods to submit their assignments, thus finally to get their degrees. Such a practice seems to suit most all disciplines! Hence the title of our blog.

The technology has reduced, nay, taken away the relevance of many a professions, moreover. The list is too long to be included. Sure, newer professions, too, emerge with the newer technology. There is always, however, a lag between the institution of formal education and such demands which puts a question mark on the concept.

Current insistence on STEM subjects at the cost of Humanities is yet another problem area. It creates individuals who are hyper egoistic, competitive in a mean, jealous way, and vicious in their ill-treatment of anyone whom they choose to think of as a threat. A simplistic example of such weirdos would be the recent road rage murder in Mumbai.

Hence the need for a very balanced education that creates a specialist who is a decent human-being and a good citizen, and not merely an acquisitive jealous meanie! Hope the NEP emerges as a viable solution to this dilemma.

Pratima@"The education process should always be an evolving process," says Sadhu Guru.

Dea(r)th of golden opportunities

 There was a birthday bash in the extended family circle. Aai's elder brother's only son, Vivek, was celebrating an important landmark in his life. Hence there was this 'evening with music' programme. In attendance was an impressive orchestra.

The group was headed by Mr. Bhuruk, well-known for his ability to croon Kishore Kumar songs. Not only he, the lead singer,  but the entire ensemble was absolutely talented. There was this 'dholaki' player whose fingers literally danced on the dholaki. There was this brilliant saxophone player. The performance by the entire group, the female voices included and all the percussionists, was undoubtedly beautiful.

Sure the volume was loud. That could be easily adjusted. Professionally perfect was the performace. Yet would they get the opportunities they hugely deserve? That question troubles me each time I watch all these t.v. shows as well. Kids to adults, many many times, in these shows and competitions emerge truly talented candidates.

Sure there is huge hype. Yet some angel dust must fall, right? What happens to those hopes when there are very few golden opportunities? Much worse still, due to the advent of technology, there are auto tuners, for instance. Extremely ordinary perfomers may thus attain star status. 

In such a bleak scenario  wherein most performers do not even know the ABC of classical music/dance, what happens to the genuine truly talented individuals? What to do when there is dea(r)th of good opportunities? That is  the question!

Pratima@Sure the caste, region, groupism kind of  considerations vitiate the results  (of the talent shows) as is often seen. Given such 'hunts', such dea(r)th of equal  opportunities, wither/ weathered the future of the genuine?

 The same story in academics, in the publication industry as well! Dea(r)th of  golden opportunities hurts/hunts the truly talented! Ah, yes, the Sushant Singh sad saga! No wonder, Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead" haunts still!

Mirror, mirror, on the wall

 Remember the catch phrase of the wicked stepmother in the fairy tale "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"? Yes, it is "mirror, mirror, on the wall/who is the fairest of them all?" Till Snow White has not grown up, the mirror always gives her the answer she loves. When the mirror soon tells her the truth though, all hell breaks loose.

Well, the fairy tale is not exactly our theme though. The stepmother's obsession with beauty that is at the center of the fairy tale, that is our topic today.  Why? Well, the Google is running a story entitled "The Most Beautiful Women in the World". I browsed through it, and found it most disappointing.

Oh, no, the stuff is politically most correct. Yes, there are black women; there are Latinos; there are Indian beauties, too.  Yet I found the article horribly boring. Why? Well, all these beautiful woman belong to the entertainment industry. They are either actresses, singers or models. 

Extremely sad this fact is! The underlying premise behind such a choice is that women are nothing but eye candy! It, moreover, implies that the world begins and ends with the entertainment industry! Even within that industry, there are brilliant women directors, superb cinematographers, creative script writers/lyricists. Why are they not beautiful? Why such passive idea of beauty? Why is beauty skin deep and make-up thick?

How come an author is not a beauty? How about a scientist? A thinker? A philosopher?  Well, such women are not only traditionally beautiful. They have a tremendous personality. They ARE extremely beautiful what with the intelligence, maturity and creativity just burnishing through. Even look at the political leaders. They exude a certain charisma!

And how about the ordinary  woman? These days even the Swatch women turn up for their so-called lowly work more decked up than the actresses, et al. Yet their kind of beauty due to and despite hard work is special, too.

A housewife, a mother, a teacher/lecturer, all of them are beautiful, and far far more than the typical ideal flaunted by the entertainment industry. Just look around, and you would find zillion examples!

Pratima@Sure one should be clean,  neat and proper. That basic fact adds hugely to the presence of a person, right? 

Right is right!

 Remember Paul, the Octopus? Yes, the same one who was a sensation during the 2010 World Cup? As it is, passions run high when it is a football match. As for the World Cup, the stadium is literally charged; both on the field and off the field, that is, in the stands. 

Dashed difficult it is to guess who would win. Anything and everything can happen in those ninety minutes and, at times, beyond. Paul, however, used to predict the result of a match before it began, and his success rate was phenomenal. Twelve of his fourteen predictions were right, and both for the host country, Germany where Sir Paul, Herr Octopus  resided.

Why do I remember that joke taken most sportingly then, as his strike rate flooded the market with wise parrots, genius doggies, and what have you?  Significantly, all such animals are much better at predicting the future results than the psephologists!

Interesting is this fact. The psephologists are highly educated. They have the latest technologies to help them. Statistics is literally at their finger tips. Yet they lack the animal instinct when it comes to predict the election results, the voters' mood. 

Election after election, country after country, the poll forecasts regularly go wrong! What I find rather funny is that they never accede their defeat gracefully. In fact, at times, candidates might; but the psephologists, never! 

They would always say that the pendulum swung too far right which is to be interpreted as the death of democracy. In my opinion, nothing can be further from the truth or more wrong because in a democracy, by definition, the people's mandate matters, the voters' decision is final.

Never do the Nostradamus-es of psephology accept this fact as it would mean acceding their defeat, their wrong judgement! Instead they quote the far right! Hardly right, right? Hence the title of our blog today!

Pratima@ Why does psephology fail? I suppose the sample they analyse might not be adequate. Their premises might be prejudiced is another possibility. May be, it is sheer election  or the voter fatigue. Most often, however, their right is not right, and they end up accusing the far right! 

Fraud n victim

 Victimising others is a sadistic streak that the crooks use to trap the gullible. The modes are aplenty. The lowest common most denominator of all such tricksters and fraudsters is the veneer of truthfulness.  Currently, however, the online avatar of fraudsters is rampant, and one needs to be extra careful with such wolves in sheep's clothings.

Why all this pontification? Is that your question? Well, just now I woke up to find an email by one Flo Williams who thanks me for using PayPal, and  promises me that the goods I ordered are on the way. It is a bill for five hundred dollars. The country I cross-checked is east-central Virginia. The city can be Richmond, but need not be.

Very interesting it is! For one thing, I never ever order anything online.  If at all I were to thus order, I would always use the COD payment method. Interestingly, what I have ordered from which shop where is not mentioned at all. But the invoice is perfect.

The best part of the whole transaction is that I do not even ever transact the pay pal way! I do not even have any such account. Obviously, it is some online fraud. 

My first reaction was to write back to Ms Flo Williams that she is mistaken, and that I do not have any pay pal account nor have I ordered anything online, and surely not from the U.S.

Then I thought the better of it. I would show the receipt to my brothers. If further there is any e-mail, I intend approaching the cyber police. Hopefully thus at least one gang of cyber criminals would get caught, right? In brief, in this era of Bitcoins and what have you, every 'pal' is suspicious, especially because people could go to any extent for fleecing, for free 'pay' ! 

Pratima@" 'Pals', pretending to be friends, are actually foes in disguise" is the moral of the story!