by Amrit on 2nd September 2010
When we lived in Nauroji Nagar (it is a small government-servants colony between Safdarjang Enclave and Sarojini Nagar, New Delhi) there used to live a family of one brother and three sisters. The last time when I saw them (more than 12 years ago) all three of them were in their early 50s. Something I was reading today reminded me of them. None of them got married. I don’t know what was their story or why they chose to live together like this.
Today I was just wondering what if they had sexual needs? Of course they could easily have had sexual relationships with other people and continued living with each other, but what if they had a physical relationship with each other? I am not talking in terms of having kids because that could lead to genetic problems in the kids. What if they indulged in sexual activities making sure that none of the sisters conceived?
Our society has moral problems with brothers and sisters having sex but more than moral it is a medical problem. If this problem is taken care of is it alright for brothers and sisters in such conditions to have sex with each other? I remember all three of them lived very isolated lives (but I’m not sure about that, maybe they were very happy and my social condition made me think that they were not) and if they were really isolated and lonely wouldn’t it be okay to find comfort in sex (sex can definitely provide lots of comfort) with each other if they made sure no kids would be born? When I talk of making sure that no kids would be born I mean that all the medical conditions are removed that give rise to conception. I know this is a taboo subject and very few would like to discuss it.
by Amrit on 31st August 2010
I just quickly browsed through this article that talks about a resort that encourages you to bring along your virtual girlfriend and enjoy a nice weekend there. I read about virtual mates a couple of years ago and at that time it seemed strange but no longer. I think it is perfectly alright to have a virtual girlfriend or boyfriend. They can be a perfect company if they are highly interactive. It can be a no-strings attached relationship that you can fully customize, including attitude, behavior and of course, looks.
I’m not talking about the psychological effect of such a companionship because I wonder if such a research has been done but it would be a nice way of spending time for lonely people who somehow find themselves without mates. I have many friends from my special school who would simply love to have such a relationship.
Since you can already make love and experience orgasm virtually this must be the last obstruction. The best thing about having a virtual affair is that you can switch off your device whenever you feel like.
by Amrit on 17th August 2010
Personally speaking, I’m not in favor of expressing views that are not directly concerned with me and that too from thousands of miles away but since I am coming across so many views and counterviews on whether a mosque should be allowed near the 9/11 bombings or not I thought, well, let me do some vocal thinking.
First of all I’m not clear whether it is a mosque or a cultural center they are talking about. If it is a cultural center then I wonder what the point of opposing it is. A cultural center — if it is actually a cultural center — is a good place to raise awareness and reduce animosities and chunks of misinformation floating around. It may bring people from different races and creeds closer. In fact such a cultural center would be a fitting reply to the perpetrators of the bombings. Just because the idea of this cultural center is coming from Muslims it shouldn’t be opposed.
What if it is a mosque? Frankly, I have no idea what to say. I have no objection to people building mosques but — and I may be wrong — it may end up sending the wrong signals to those who support fanaticism. It’s like, “Our religion and approach eventually triumphs; we first brought down the buildings and now there is a mosque there.” It may end up being the greatest symbolic victory for terrorists.
I am not saying that since a few Muslims are fanatics so the remaining ones must live under restrictions — religious or social — but a mosque at or near ground zero will definitely send wrong signals and encourage more Muslim youths to take up arms against other religions and ideologies. This is such a simple thing and I wonder why nobody is talking about it. This has got nothing to do with freedom of expression or practicing religion, this is common sense.
Even for a while if we ignore the “sending a wrong signal” point, why many people may be opposed to this idea is because most of the Muslims — and this is a sad reality — don’t vociferously come forward to denounce the violent side of Islam but when it comes to participating in token gestures like building mosques and religion-centric cultural centers all of a sudden they develop loud voices. I think this is the basic problem: this duality. It is so uncommon for the Muslims to protest against violent Islamic acts that whenever they do it becomes a news. If they openly and routinely oppose violence like everybody else does they will automatically become a part of the global society and consequently people of other faiths and religions won’t look upon them as some race quietly condoning violence or promoting it.
I would also like to make another suggestion to my Muslim friends. Just as they support the idea of building mosques in non-Muslim countries they should also put pressure on Muslim countries to let people from other faiths build temples and churches in Muslim and Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, etc. This way it will become a two-way approach rather than always demanding without giving. If Muslims want to be embraced they must also learn to embrace.
by Amrit on 15th August 2010
Kite flying used to be a major part of the Independence Day celebrations when I was a kid. Strangely I never experienced the same phenomena once we left Lajpat Nagar.
I remember I could never fly a kite because for that you need both your hands free; when the kite is struggling to get up you rapidly need to pull the string using both the hands and then at strategic moments you have to release it. There are then quick successions of pulling and releasing until the kite is up in the air comfortably gliding on the air currents.
As I always had to hold a wall or my crutch with one hand in order to keep standing it was physically impossible for me to get the kite up. One of my friends used to fly the kite and then hand me the string later on because then it is easier to manipulate the kite.
We had a very naughty kid living in our line, and once he challenged me to have a kite fight with me. In Hindi it is called patang ladana: while flying kites you try to cut each other’s string. The one whose string is cut loses the contest and also the kite. When the kite comes to the ground whoever catches it owns it. There is a famous Hindi movie on the concept called Kati Patang.
Anyway, since it was not possible for me to rapidly pull the string or release it depending on the situation, I was in double mind. Those days I used to have a best friend. In fact I had a couple of very good friends and one of them was always there to get my kite up in the evenings when we normally went to the roof with our kites. So one of my friends prompted me to accept the challenge because none of us liked that naughty kid.
I accepted the challenge and soon that kid’s kite was up in the sky scurrying around with great speed and noise. He was known as a great kite flyer.
I balanced myself properly with my back firmly stuck in the place where two walls meet, holding the string tightly in my left hand. I could either release the string or I could use it like a saw by wildly flailing my arm. It was a windy day. On windy days you can move your kite extremely fast in various directions by pulling the string with force. That’s what the kid did. His kite was at quite a distance from my kite but it approached my kite with great speed as he kept on pulling the string. When I knew that his string would take just a few seconds to clash with my string I simply released my string and my kite started losing altitude as if the sting of my kite was already cut. After the swoop his kite started rising upwards with a sharp inclination and his string missed my string narrowly.
After reaching a certain height he directed the nose of the kite downwards and dived towards my kite. At this moment I stopped releasing my string and stretched my arm forward as much as possible. Since I had been releasing the string for a long time and then I suddenly stopped releasing it, the kite trapped a current and started rising upwards with good speed. Now that kid’s kite was coming down towards my kite and my kite was going up towards his kite. He was pulling his string furiously and he was already glancing sideways at me with a smile of victory while my friend stood behind me cursing in excitement.
At this particular moment my sharp eyesight was the only upper hand I had. I had the confidence that I would be able to see the exact point where both of our strings would meet. Just half a second before that I needed to pull my arm backwards and if it didn’t work it wouldn’t work it all. I did exactly that.
Just when the strings were about to meet I pulled my arm backwards with such a great force that I fell on the ground. My friend was laughing and clapping with uncontrollable happiness and that naughty kid was pulling fast to salvage as much string as he could. With the string cut, his kite was gradually going down. Since I had fallen my friend had taken over and held the string with one hand while trying to help me with the other.
by Amrit on 2nd August 2010
Actually, schools can be a big problem but it is the system that fails the students and not the schools — they’re simply accidental villains. The problem is there are very few people interested in education whether you see from the perspective of teachers, students, parents or the society. It is just a perfunctory exercise that we all have to go through just because everybody goes through it. We never educate ourselves in the real sense.
Life gives the real education but by the time we begin to receive it our intellectually receptive muscles have already been atrophied by the faulty education that we receive in the institutions and at home.
The education system shouldn’t revolve around making us into mathematicians, engineers, doctors, managers, or even teachers. The education system should work towards building a strong base of principles. They should inculcate a value system that turns us into righteous human beings.
Instead of teaching the subjects schooling must teach us how to decide what we want to learn. It is a tragic waste of time to simply learn physics, math and economics without actually learning how to care for your fellow human beings and strive for a better world. This may sound like an idealistic talk but actually it is very practical. All the misery in the world today manifests because we cannot differentiate right from wrong. This is the sort of education that we actually need in our schools.
by Amrit on 28th July 2010
For a couple of months I have been having strange, disturbing dreams. To understand them better I started reading “The Interpretation of Dreams” by Sigmund Freud. According to the portion I have read so far dreams mostly show whatever is happening in your life during that particular time. Another intriguing thing is that the entire sequence of a dream may be triggered by your ongoing sensory experiences. For instance, if your ears are listening to the sound of the alarm clock you may see somebody in your dream screaming or you may see something causing lots of sharp noise.
Similarly, if one of your feet is hanging in the air while the rest of your body is on your bed you may dream of hanging down a cliff, about to fall. If you have covered yourself with a blanket and one of your limbs is uncovered you may dream of being naked or exposed.
These may be valid reasons for some dreams but not all. I mean why do our dreams build entire sequences just around one physical sensation and that too when the sensation has just occurred and the dream sequence is quite lengthy? For instance, today I dreamed that Alka and I were in a building that I have never seen before. It seems like we have a row of rooms embedded inside the wall of a tunnel. Lots of activity is happening. Then I want to pee. The toilet is not inside the house. I have to get out of the room and walk to the common toilet. While I’m walking towards the toilet my main concern is that it shouldn’t be wet as my crutches slip on the wet floor. As the push the main door I observe that there is lots of water on the floor and many people with their muddy feet have used the toilet and made it very dirty. I wake up and realise I need to pee.
This incident has no resemblance with my current experiences but yes, when we used to live in Lajpat Nagar we did have a common toilet outside of the house and it was often dirty, consequently, restricting my access.
So I wonder why our subconscious weaves full-fledged plots just to cater to a single feeling.
I haven’t read much yet and I know lots of new literature on dreams is available on the Internet as well as in different books. But I would like to read Freud first because I have had the book for many years with me, although right now I am reading the PDF version. After finishing this I will do some extra research on my own. I want to know what my dreams portend.
Many years ago I read Carl Jung’s book that, although was based on his life, primarily talked about his experiences with his dreams and many of his dreams brought him predictions. Before the outbreak of the First World War his dream had already shown him the signs. Freud on the other hand — according to what I have read up till now — is mostly dealing with the scientific side of it, which I’m not interested in much. I know dreams bring you messages.
by Amrit on 25th July 2010
If you think what we get and don’t get depends on fate – the circumstances life throws our way – I agree to an extent. थोड़े फूल हैं कांटे हैं जो तकदीर ने बांटे हैं उनमेसे हमको हिस्सा हमारा मिल जायेगा . But I don’t subscribe to this philosophy completely, although I do believe everything in life is random (in bigger scheme of things you’re not even sure if the sun is going to rise in the morning). Think it this way…
You are standing at a bus terminal and hundreds of buses are leaving for different directions. Throwing yourself at the mercy of your fate means hopping onto any bus and let it drop you anywhere. Controlling your fate means consciously deciding what bus to catch and where to go. And this is where the difference between those who let fate handle them and those that control their fate manifests.
Does fate leave you alone when you have chosen your bus? No. Suppose you wanted to go to destination “A” and the bus breaks down on the way. All the buses passing that way go everywhere but to “A”. What do you do? You can either catch one of those buses and see what awaits you, or you can start exploring other options that can take you to “A”, irrespective of what obstacles you have on your way. You can take ride on different vehicles going to “A”. You can start walking.
Life is a collection of random events – call them vehicles – and if you sit on the back seat you call them fate. It’s no use not believing in fate because you alone don’t control your life. Those who seem in command of their fate simply act and react strategically to the randomness they encounter.
by Amrit on 8th July 2010
I was just going through this Motoral Charm review at Mashable and noticed the text and images in the promo graphic:
“Still recovering…too many parties” caught my attention. As a professional I’m all the time writing promotional copy for various clients and notice these subtleties as a habit. In almost all phone advertisements the target audience seems to be a demography constantly organizing parties, get-togethers, discussing their dates, trying to hoodwink girl friends or boy friends, exchanging sweet nothings, or just acting smart ass. Nothing of substance seems to be happening through their phones. They are not shown studying, working, helping each other, or engaging in activities that have a meaning.
To be fair not all ads are like that. Some of the Airtel ads are really great, but then Airtel provides the connections, not the gadgets; so may be it’s about services and products.
Smaller handset companies, on the other hand, do cater to a segment that seems to be doing normal things like traveling to school or college, living in another city and talking to parents (and vice versa) or getting useful information from the net for a job interview.
So it might be that people that buy expensive phones are simply whiling away their time while people buying cheaper phones actually work. At least that’s the image being portrayed.
by Amrit on 6th July 2010
Would you? I mean, assume there’s a person — a stranger — in the room who you know is going to die soon and before dying there is a 100% chance he or she is not going to see anybody else or talk to anybody. I don’t mean you specifically shed your clothes in front of that person…you just don’t mind entering the room after bath with nothing on, or changing your clothes or simply taking your clothes off on a very hot and humid summer day.
This is a hypothetical question and of course you may come up with oh this can’t happen or that can’t happen or why would I be in a room with a stranger who is about to die, etc. Valid questions, but I’m just interested in the part: would you feel OK to be naked in front of a person who will die without telling anybody that he or she saw you naked?
by Amrit on 5th July 2010
Here’s an interesting take on how the earth will look after 5000 years, but the article actually talks about what will we become after 5000 year if we don’t destroy ourselves by then.
In 5000 years we won’t require our bodies to live. If mortality and immortality are biological concepts, does this mean we’ll become an immortal race? But why no body?
With advances in technology we’ll be using our bodies less and less. See this video for example:
And this is a very small example of how very rapidly we’re reducing the amount of work our bodies have to do. If we can do this in say, 100 years, imagine what we can do in another 300 years. Although evolution takes its own time, in 500-600 years, and even earlier, we’ll figure out how to live without depending upon body, and even without depending upon machines. The above article says that there will come a stage when we’ll derive energy from the nearby galaxies and control the surrounding solar systems. I don’t think by that time we’ll need to get energy. Our consciousness will produce (I know it defies the first law of thermodynamics but I’m not talking in that sense) on its own.
So what about sensory experiences? Two partners can already enjoy sex with each other (remember that Arnold Schwarzenegger movie?) by simply wiring their brains together even while sitting (or lying, or standing, on in the padmasan position) half way across the globe. So if sex can be enjoyed this way, I’m sure other sensations can be experienced too.
