IS OUR CIVILIZATION JUST PRETENCE?

IS OUR CIVILIZATION JUST PRETENCE?

A few days ago, I saw this drama “Blackout “on Channel 4 TV. It was an hour-long sketch depicting the scenario following a total electricity failure due to a cyber-attack on the national grid. The whole of Britain was affected. The grid failure lasted for only seven days. Because of our utter and total dependence on electricity, even for the essentials of human life such as water and food, it created a harrowing state of affairs with almost total breakdown of law and order, water and food supply, hospital and transport networks.

What affected me most was the rapidity with which most people regressed to prehistoric animalistic behaviour, shedding all pretence of a civilized society. All notions of kindness, charity, hospitality, sharing and caring for weak and sick went by the window. Thieving, looting and wanton selfishness became commonplace. Thank god, it only lasted for seven days and the sanity and civilization returned.
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It poses a very serious question. Is our civilization just pretence? A facade?  A mask?  It seems at the very primary level we just behave like an automaton programmed by DNA. At the very root, is it just coded for self-preservation at any cost? Are all other qualities just to achieve that one aim?

This metamorphosis from an angel to a devil does not just happen in individuals but also affects the nations and states. At the mere whiff of a disaster, the human rights are the first to be eroded by even the enlightened and rich societies. The draconian anti-terror laws have started violating the basic rights of individuals at mere suspicions in even the most liberal of countries. 

Does it mean that we should all turn barbarian and abandon civilization because it is so thin and brittle? Should we start teaching our children to trust no one and care for none but self?  Certainly, the odd of our survival will be much higher; but at what cost? I would not like to live in such an anarchic, chaotic and selfish world.

 No, I think, we should nourish our civilization with even more care and concern precisely because it is so thin and brittle. We have created our civilization; it is not the natural state of affairs.  We should not take it for granted. Even if it means enduring some pain and loss, we have to uphold the basic human rights and rule of law to avoid regressing back to anarchy and barbarism.

PASSWORDS: AN ESSENTIAL BANE OF MY LIFE

I switch on the computer in the morning, it whirs in action with tiny blinking yellow light, A big blue screen opens with a white rectangle in the middle and then everything stops. It refuses to go any further, like a stubborn donkey until I write the password.

And this is just the beginning of this password business. Every few minutes or so you open a programme or a web site, you are asked to input the magic words.

Every time  I put the user IDs or passwords I look sideways and behind, even th- -ough I am in my study and no one is around, at least, no one hell bent to spy on

me. However, it is good to keep this habit, least you get robbed by likes of Alibaba. If the Sardar (captain) of the forty thieves was careful and looked around before shouting his passwords, he and his mates would not have been killed and their descendants would still be here running “legitimate” mafiosi businesses. 

Until I was half a century old, “passwords” were not parts of my world. They existed only in mythology, fairy tales and spy thrillers. They had nothing to do, even remotely, with the running of the day-to-day life.

Now they have become ubiquitous and made life as difficult as it was for the Pandavas during their Van Prawas. The Yaksha did not let them pass to the lake to quench their thirst until they answered his questions correctly. Thank God, now a days, at least, you are not poisoned and killed if you do not get your passwords right.

Moral of the story, Ladies and Gentleman, is that, do input your passwords accurately and do not let anyone else get a wind of them.

However annoying and frustrating these passwords are, treat them with due respect. Your wealth and health both depend on them! 

WHY GIVE A RELIGIOUS OVERTONE TO A FIGHT AGAINST INJUSTICE?

The news coming from Syria is shocking. The photos and videos of children suffering and dying from the toxic poisonous gas make one seriously sad. The unrest that started as a political rally against injustice has metamorphosed in to a grim sectarian war. Each faction is trying to outdo the other in the ever-increasing inhumane atrocities. It has taken a religious overtone that is increasingly threatening to involve the surrounding nation states.

No religion or their sects ever teach violence, deception and indiscriminate killing but still that is where time and again many of their followers are lead to by their leaders.

The greed of a few people for power, influence and money is always behind this sudden emergence of ultra- religious fanatic behaviour. The fight should be against that person or persons but it is a terrible folly to attack his religion and even a greater mistake to use the religion to attack him. All religions and their various sects are essentially good and teach almost similar things, then, why there is ever a need to fight one another in the name of religion.

Everywhere in the world, a few charismatic people in their selfishness and greed invoke the name of religion to justify their actions, accrue public support, and perpetrate heinous crimes.  It is a person or a group of persons who become corrupt, unjust, greedy and commit atrocities. The grieved people should revolt against them but should not do the same mistake of using religion for their purpose.

 Doing so is counterproductive. Because then the fight completely deviates from its original objective.  It becomes a fight between two religious ideologies rather than a fight against the original injustice which most of the times is left unresolved.

 Many innocent people are killed or maimed and the criminals of one or the other side continue exploiting people and plundering their nations’ assets. Sadly, that has been the story in the West in past and is now repeating itself in all the developing and underdeveloped countries.

These problems cannot be solved by other countries, however willing. Unless majority of the people in these countries develop the faculty of critically appraising the motives behind the edicts of their leaders, this sad state of affairs will continue.

MAKING MARK ON HISTORY: A FUTILE AND UNDESIRABLE AMBITION?

Last month we went to Flint, a small seaside town in North Wales. The town itself is not very pretty. The ugly scars of haphazard industrialization and effects of economic downturn are quite evident. But the sea side is very nice with long walking tracks and tidal beaches. 

Also there is Flint Castle. Edward I built this castle in 13^th century. It had been an important player in influencing the medieval history of Wales and England. 

 

 Edward built it to stamp his authority on Wales and thwart any rebellion. Since then it has changed hands repeatedly and each time preceded by bloody and violent fighting. In its hay day, it would have been bustling with activity, its corridors and grounds full with aristocrats and warriors.

Now, it is in ruins, does not look like much more than a cluster of stone walls surrounded by a dry shallow ditch like dry moat. How the mighty fall! 

 Kings and Queens like to put their marks on the blackboard of history with indelible ink. But Time erases everything sooner or later.  People in their pride forget that and repeat this folly time and again. Most of the great ornate castles and forts all over the world were built with money levied from the poor tenants or looted in the wars with the sole purpose to get oneself remembered for centuries to come. How much better the world would have been if they could have suppressed their pernicious desire!

Ultimately, Nature takes over and reduces their great monuments to rubbles. This thought appears depressing, counterproductive to high achievements and desire to make one`s mark in history.

Looking at it in another way though, it is quite liberating and very positive. One does not have to do things in order to be remembered in perpetuity. You do what makes you happy now in your lifetime rather than for being remembered in distant future. 

People spend great amount of time and money trying to influence how others perceive them rather than doing the right things. This actually shackles their creativity and freedom. Purge this desire and you will be free.

WHY ARE WE TURNING OUR HOMES IN HIGH SECURITY PRISONS?

 “Have you put the alarm on?” asks Bibha every night just before going to bed. She is not talking about the alarm clock. No, it is about the house security alarm. 

It has infrared motion sensors in every room and corridor and contact sensors in every window and door. It is a fairly average alarm, nothing fancy.  Before putting the alarm on, one checks that all the windows and doors are properly locked, not just shut. This chore is repeated not just at the bedtime but every time we leave the house, even in the daytime.  If we are to go away for a few days to visit family or on a holiday, we put the lights in some rooms on a timer. They automatically come on at certain times in the night to give an illusion that the house is not empty. We tell the neighbours to keep an eye on the house while we are away.  It is not just us, every house in this neighbourhood has the same or similar arrangements.

 You will be forgiven to think that this must be a very high crime area with burglars on rampage, and no effectual policing. But you will be wrong. The crime rate here is low, the law and order situation is good in comparison to many of the developed countries.  

Then why do we still feel so insecure and turn our houses into high security prisons? 

I think there are two main industries who have created and are fuelling this mass paranoia.

The foremost is the insurance industry. In order to get out of paying the claims, the insurance companies are gradually putting more and more hurdles in our way. We have to have proper metal locks on the windows and five mortises BSI approved locks on the doors, at least three locks on sliding patio doors, a working house alarm preferably with 24 hrs monitoring. If one does not have these, the cost to insure one’s house will be more than what the house is worth! If any of these locks and alarms were not applied correctly, they will not pay a penny! These things used to be only for mega rich people, now it is for everybody. The coffers of the insurance companies are overflowing.

 The media including the press is the next culprit. They report every tiny crime in big detail and paint it as a major law and order failure. 24/7 news on TV makes great visual impact. Each incidence is reported and discussed in grand detail and repeated ad nauseum.  They hardly report the good outcomes of thousands of police investigations undertaken every month but highlight even their minor shortcomings. The journalists compete with each other as to who can feign greatest disgust at the law and order situation. The reason for this bias: bad news sales far better. To increase their market share each media group tries to outdo the other in this race. Result is obvious, increased sense of insecurity in the populace.

Of course, ultimately it rests with us. We have allowed them to exploit us. We have got habituated to buy and collect more and more (most of which we do not need). On top of this, we have developed an almost pathological attachment to our possessions. This is what has made us so insecure and vulnerable.

SHARING THE GENE POOL: I AND THE FLY

Yesterday I was reading a book after having a nice lunch. Suddenly a fly came in and landed on my book. With the same suddenness, it flew away. I continued my reading but the fly kept on barging in and out at the periphery of my visual field. I ignored it, as the book was very engrossing. The fly must have felt aggrieved at my neglect and it started flying past my ears.

 This irritating buzzing sound is one thing that I cannot bear. It is not loud and not shrill but still it produces a reflex shaking of the head, shrugging of the shoulders and sends a shivering wave down the whole body. It is a vestigial form of the same reflex, which grass-grazing animals produce to shake flies and birds off their backs. If I had a tail, it would have moved ferociously. It is amazing how a tiny creature can arouse such a big response. Probably it is imprinted on our DNA from the days of flying dinosaurs. 

The intrusion became so frequent that I could not ignore it any more. I put the book down, looked up and around but now could not see the fly. After a few minutes of thorough surveying, I spotted the fly at the window. It was knocking at the glass pane as if trying to get out. Though irritated I was still feeling kind, did not wish to squat this little bug.

The window was locked and the key was upstairs so I opened the door and tried to shoo the fly in that direction. But the fly kept on coming back to the glass pane and getting hurt.  For the fly, glass pane must have seemed a better option than the open door.  The flies, as you know, do not have a concept of transparent glass. If the mind does not know, eyes do not see. This is true for us human too. We commit the same mistakes time and again in spite of obvious warnings. No wonder a comparative Genomic Analysis research showed that the fruit fly shares two thirds of its genes with us.

I could have gone upstairs and brought the key to open the window. But my compassion to the fly was not big enough to counteract my reluctance to spend that many hard earned calories.  So I decided to swat the fly, not out of spite or cruelty but because of my kindheartedness to prevent the fly getting repeatedly hurt.

I took quite a few swipes with the book I was reading but the fly successfully evaded my attempts. The tiny brain of this fly was outsmarting my much bigger counterpart. How could it calculate so fast the force and trajectory of my swipes and apply successful evasion tactics? Not for nothing, they say “Never underestimate your enemy, however small.”

I had to do some cool thinking. The reason for the success of the fly was that its actions were a well rehearsed involuntary reflex where as mine was a poorly thought out voluntary action. I needed help. I took out my phone and contacted my trusted friend Google, who is not intelligent but knows a lot! Inputting “how to swat a fly” came up with about 6,910,000 results in 0.20 seconds. What a fast reflex!  It told me that flies have 360 degrees vision and can take off in any direction on sensing a threat. It reflexly takes off in the direction opposite to the direction of the approaching threat.  Therefore, it suggested that it was best to approach from behind the fly and aiming a bit further.  Aimed with this knowledge I approached the fly again. This time I won.  Power of Google!

Instead of reading my book, I went back to the screen on my phone to see President Obama swatting a fly. Did he succeed? See for yourself http://youtu.be/5rbUH_iVjYw

Once at the screen, I went to check my E-mails, and then looked at the Face Book, then the newspapers and so on. I spent a good few hours. I know it is not good for me but like the fly, I cannot conceptualize that threat yet.

GETTING LOST IN THE DREAMS: adding flavours to plain and boring sleep

I saw this dream last night. I am going to a hospital where I used to work many years ago.  I am late and hurrying along the different corridors, finally I come to a lift and take it but it only goes up to third floor. My operation theatre is on fourth.  I know how to go there but cannot figure out the exact stairs to take. I take one and arrive at an open roof. To go to my theatre I have to jump through a very long and narrow gap in the wall. I hesitate but as there is no other way, I finally jump and make it to the other side.  Then I realise the theatre entrance is on the other side. I panic and I open my eyes, relieved that it was just a dream.

I see this dream quite often. The place where I am going may be different. It could be a shopping mall, a school, a cinema hall etc. One thing is always there that the places seem very familiar to me as if I have been going there often as a routine. I know the way but cannot somehow find it. In the dream, I also know that the same problem has happened before but I found my place eventually.

Of course, the dream is never this coherent. Halfway through, places intermingle, the level and nature of obstacle change, the urgency to reach the place and the reason to go there alters. The people around me look familiar as if I know them for quite a long time.

When awake I do tend to reflect on the meaning of the dream and I do think of some quite satisfactory psychoanalytical explanations. A man’s lifetime experiences are so varied, that one can rationalize almost anything. Explanations of dreams by others always seem to be based on the experiences of the explainers rather than the dreamer.

Do the dreams really mean anything or are they just the background noise in different areas of brain, which normally do not reach the level of consciousness?  During sleep, these impulses breach the threshold of cognition. One probably sees just random things in the dream but the mind fits it into some sort of a story that makes perfect sense in the dream but feels very bizarre when awake.

You can say that the background noise in the brain does depend on the bits of memories one forms when awake, thus making the dreams related to our wakeful hours. Whatever the truth, one thing is sure; the dreams do add some interesting flavours to the otherwise plain and boring sleep.

WHAT IS THE TIME NOW? A QUESTION, IMPOSSIBLE TO ANSWER

28 March 2013

 Today I got up in the morning, looked at the clock that hangs on the wall opposite our bed, it was showing 9 O’clock. Usually I get up around 8 O’clock. I did not want to get up late as an old colleague of mine was coming to see me at around 10 AM.  I ran down to the kitchen to have a quick cup of tea. While the tea was brewing, I glanced at the kitchen clock. It showed 8:10 AM. I thought it had stopped, but it was ticking all right.

    A narrow strip of sunlight was coming through our window. Yesterday morning when I was making tea, I had remarked to Bibha that the strip of sunlight was falling exactly in the middle of the microwave oven. I looked at the oven; the sunlight was at the same place.  According to this, the clock in the kitchen must be right.  I almost called Bibha to bring the bedroom clock down so that I can correct the time, but I remembered the clock upstairs was radio controlled. It corrects itself syncing with the time signals from The National Physical Laboratory in Rugby.

The penny suddenly dropped! British Summer Time must have started last night. The bedroom clock has automatically moved one hour forward. I had lost sixty minutes of time.  In reality I have not lost any time, it is just an illusion created by the clocks in collusion with 1916 British Summer Time act.

 Can we ditch the clocks? Can we perceive time without them?

We can physically perceive only a present event, so any notion of time has to be measured from a past or to a future event. Past exists only in our memory and future only in our imagination. Both can be very deceptive. That is why same time interval appears longer or shorter to different persons or at different occasion to same person. When one is bored or not enjoying the present event, time seems to pass slowly; and when one is enjoying the activity, time seems to pass rapidly. Time as we perceive, is really a construct of our mind, nothing more.

I should make it clear here that we do not really perceive time but only passage of time. A train has now moved to “B” from “A” and soon it will get to “C”. What separates past (A) from the Present (B) and the Future (C) is time. We perceive time only when it moves. It is like air. We do not perceive air; only wind i.e. movement of air. But air is there. And so is Time. Since we came into the world, air was there. We have developed with air always surrounding us. That is why we do not perceive air as such. However if we move to or from an air free environment, we will notice the air, for example coming out from underwater swimming.

We cannot perceive time as such because there is no time free zone in our universe. Space and Time form the very fabric of our universe. Clocks actually do not measure time, they are just ticking along, same as me or you, or everything else in the universe. The time deduced from the position of Sun and other stars does not measure time but just gives an indication of the movement of the earth. And like my clock if the movement diminishes or increases, we get wrong time. All these clocks can only measure passage of time, not the time itself. Luckily, time only moves in one direction in our universe.

 So what is the time at present? No one can tell, as it cannot be measured!

AN IRRATIONAL REFLEXION ON A PRAYER

I had a teaching session for medical students last Wednesday. It was to begin at 9am. The road was very busy, a bit more than usual rush hour crowding. I reached the hospital at about five minutes to nine.  The car park looked full. I got worried. If there was no space in the car park, I would have to come out and to find another parking space somewhere in the side lanes. This could take at least another quarter of an hour.  I do not like being late.  I continued towards the farthest end of the park, praying to God “let there be at least one free space”. As it happened, there was one space right at the end. I looked up, thanked Him and hurried to my class.

This, I am sure is an experience many of you must have had. On reflection, it seems very childish, requesting God for a space in the car park, a seat in the cinema, good marks in the exam, promotion in the job etc. What was I thinking! Has God nothing better to do. His attention is much more required by the millions of people suffering due to war, famine and flood. The patients suffering from serious illnesses need His miracles infinitely more. And here I am asking God for such trivial things, Is there no limit to my selfishness!

People ask God’s help to decide which lottery numbers to choose and which car to buy.  Certainly, president Obama needs His help more urgently in making the decision on whether to help Syrians or continue killing Taliban.

God’s domain does not just have humans. He surely will not ignore the prayers of billions of battery chicken and sheep waiting in the slaughterhouses. And what about problems and miseries in other worlds on other planets in this vast universe?

When I asked God for help in securing a parking space for me, was I truly expecting Him to do this or was it just a habit created by my cultural background. It feels very foolish and silly now but at that time in the car park, I was really expecting it. 

MULTICULTURALISM: TOLERANCE VERSUS ACCEPTANCE

There was a discussion yesterday on the radio about multiculturalism in Britain. It was quite a lively affair. Two words kept on popping up, tolerance and acceptance.

One of the guests representing the mainstream culture said “in Britain, multiculturalism is thriving well. The majority community shows a great deal of tolerance towards other minority cultures”.

 The lady who was representing an ethnic minority reacted to this quite forcefully and said “there lies the problem! You tolerate us but do not accept us. That will never bring harmony and equality. That will only come when the majority community learns to accept us.”

I did not hear the whole broadcast as I had already reached my destination and had to get out of the car.

However, those two words, tolerance and acceptance, kept of bugging me. Tolerance to me means that even if you do not agree with some principle, you still respect the right of other people to believe in it. Whereas acceptance means you accept that the particular principle is true and hence you should also believe in it.

“I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.” This quote assigned to Voltaire does, for me, define what tolerance is. This should be the foundation of multiculturalism, not acceptance.

Acceptance, if you come to think of it, is antithesis of multiculturalism. Everybody believes that their way of life or their way of practicing their religion is right for them. Otherwise, why will they subscribe to it? But if one group of people insist that their views, their religion or their way of life should be accepted by all others as right for them as well, then there will be no multiculturalism. It will be monoculturalism, or in other words, a dictatorship.

In a thriving liberal democratic society, different political parties do not have same ideologies and priorities but they have tolerance for each other. If you insist on acceptance, then there would be just on party rule at best or one man rule at worst.

In a multicultural society if communities tolerate each other, most of the people will live in peace and harmony. At the extremes of each society, there would always be a collision. Extremists always insist on total acceptance of their views by all others.

Practicing tolerance is far better than insisting on acceptance. This is my view but I will gladly tolerate your views!

CELEBRATING FESTIVALS: BUY OR NOT TO BUY

CELEBRATING FESTIVALS: BUY OR NOT TO BUY

New Year started the day before yesterday. I have now recovered from the excesses of the celebrations of Christmas and New Year. A long ten-hour sleep last night was all that I needed.

 A good part of the last 15 days was spent in the shopping malls finding gifts and bargains. I actually did not buy much, only what I deemed essential.

Now that I am back to my normal self, I thought it would be a good time to bring back the contents of my cerebral rumen and chew on them. Two words in particular needed more softening, much & essential. How much is much and what is essential? Really, there was not a single thing in my shopping that could be even remotely classified as essential to my existence. Forget about existence, not essential even for my comfort. Moreover, what is another additional Eue de Perfum or aftershave, if not much? But at the time when I bought these, they did not seem so frivolous. I actually felt happy and clever spending the money on the bargains!

Truly speaking shopping malls, supermarkets and shops are the only places now, which feel full of happiness, joy, light and warmth during festival seasons. These places are keeping the festivities alive. 

But Capitalism has to extract its profit. With the help of sleek advertising and media placements, the businesses have made the celebrations of Christmas and New Year synonymous with overt consumption. We have turned consumption into a necessity, and sometimes that is how we specify ourselves. It is same with other festivals like Deepawali, Easter, Eid etc.

The shops do their best to entice you in and not always with honourable means. There are big bargain banners outside and inside the shops declaring 50 to 70% discounts. They are only partial truths if not outright lies. Deceit is at their heart: very big bold letters for “70% off” and tiny microscopic letters for “up to” or “selected lines”. 

But hey, they do blast free Christmas songs and make white bearded, red-coated Santas appear two weeks early!

Happy New Year, keep consuming!