Prejudiced You - How to test your biases

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We hate apartheid. We hate racism. We hate slavery. Or do we? We have laws in the books categorizing such behavior as illegal. This may ensure eradication of biased behavior from the social scene. However, if the seeds of discrimination are stored in our thoughts, they may grow the poisonous fruits as the rain of hatred pours.

We, the pseudo-intellectual, the so-called liberals, more often than not claim to have surpassed the boundaries of discrimination, discrimination based on gender, race, color, caste, or even nationality. We say not to have preferred one over the other under the influence of our irrational biases. It feels good to know oneself as unbiased, rational, free of prejudice. But that's the description of a super-human and very unlike us. A beautiful self deception.

On The Safe Side Of Wild - How to ensure safety on a trek

Courtesy: torturedsquid.tabulas.com

The loving, caring image of mother nature and its intoxicating beauty conceals the dangers that lie in its lap. "Dangers" may not be the right word here because nature is not in conflict with humans, its merely indifferent to our feelings. Wilderness is as unconcerned to our pleasures as it is to our miseries. On one side lies the fragrance of life, on the other entrapments of death. Painting nature in dark and bright is purely subjective depending on where we stand in comparison to other constituents. Death of an organism may be horrifying for it, but life saving for other starving organisms. Perplexed in its attraction, our mind often ignore this indifference towards us and if we do not watch our steps, we might fall prey to the traps that lie in darkness.

Cause of Misery

 
The cause of all misery in human life is that it asks for answers where there exists none. Optimistically, it provides lucrative opportunity for those in the business manufacturing answers.

Be Wolf

Make a sheep of yourself and you will soon find a wolf nearby.
- Old Russian proverb.

Misquoted

Quotes on the walls, cars, t-shirts, provoke my mind to respond. Few such responses are worth sharing.

Quotation: Jesus Loves You.
Response: No, thanks. I ain't no gay.

Quotation: Jesus died for you.
Response: I never asked him to do that. Why blame me now?

PS: I don't wear Khaki shorts. I didn't demolish any mosque.

Unlucky Luck

Superstitions are unlucky for me.

Financial Ad(VICE)

Received a call from Wellwisher Broking, my stockbroker. A sweet voice emanated from the other side.

Caller: Hello, am I speaking to Ravi Ghosh?
Me: Yes, who is that?
Caller: Sir, I'm calling from Wellwisher Broking.
Me: Okay.
Caller: Sir, we have received a recommendation for Boombust India Pvt. Ltd.
Me: Thanks, but I don't want to go for anything now.
Caller: Sir, 100% it will be up sir.
Me: Aaaa (after a look at the watch and my tea cup, some time left for wasteful use). Is it a buy recommendation or a sell?
Caller: Buy sir.
Me: Humm...
Caller: Sir, it is trading at Rs 364 now and the prediction is within a month, it will go above Rs 450.
Me: Thanks (tea over by now, time to move), but I'm not interested in buying anything now.
Caller: Sir, would you like to buy after the market crash?
Me: Yep sure, but first let it crash (with a grin).
Caller: Sir, the market is going to crash soon.
Me: Are you sure?
Caller: Yes sir. We have received report from our head office. Crash is imminent.
Me: Then why are you giving buy recommendation for Boombust now?
Caller: Aaa... Umm... (some confusion in voice). Sir, we have got "strong buy recommendation" for that.
Me: But if the market falls, it will also go down, right?
Caller: No sir. It will be above to Rs 450 within one month sir. Do you want to buy sir?
Me: Thanks a lot for the advice. I'm don't want to buy it right now.
Caller: Sir, you have Rs X idle in your account. Do you want buy some other scrip?

I was speechless, wondering what a dumb decision it would be not to buy Boombust Pvt. Ltd.

Related Post: Is the Uptrend Over?

Feeding The Fucklings

Amongst the glitter of Commonwealth Games, a piece of news that received media attention was India's 67th rank on Global Hunger Index. In its atypical ways, the media, be it print or electronic, dedicated most of its time and energy on finding where India stands compared to its peer. "India ranks below Pak, China on hunger index" dictated Times of India. Catchy headlines are not the complete information. We got to dig deeper to unearth the truth.

Fuck Off BSNL

While rambling on BSNL website, I found two words quite interesting. They were "fuck off." Someone seemed to have sneaked into BSNL website. With a shaky hand, unsure what the link "Details" had in store for me, I clicked on the link. And here it was a message of frustration and something that would instill fear among the security paranoids. Was it a virus? Was it a Trojan?

Ram Must Leave - Who owns Babri Masjid and why

How far should we travel in the past to deliver justice? To what extent the injustice of the history can be undone? That was the root question of the conflict, the conflict of Babri Masjid. Unfortunately, no court could answer it.

The Logic: The claim of Ram Lalla Virajman, the Hindu group representing Lord Ram (!), over the Babri Masjid land is based on the fact that there existed a temple where the mosque stood now. They claimed the temple was devoted to Ram, which is also supposedly the birthplace of Ram, was destroyed by Mir Baki Khan around 1525 CE and a mosque was constructed on its ruins. Archeological Survey of India has testified their claim to be true to the extent that the mosque was built on ruins of a temple. However, it had no means to confirm whether it was Ram's birthplace or not (no evidence of delivery room was found nor any surgical equipment).

I dispute not their claim about the existence of the temple or Babur's attempt to promote Islam. But can this fact be enough to annihilate what is standing and revive the old structure?

How To Be A Rich Nation - Ways to eradicate hunger and poverty effectively

"Poverty-stricken hungry people of the motherland should look at the Forbes List of Richest and be proud of the 49 Bhindians out there, whose personal wealth account for 31% of Bhindia's GDP."

The "would be" Prime Minister of Bhindia took a long pause with a grin and then continued further. "They should feel proud that the motherland has produced such riches. The pride would suppress their hunger. The pride would turn their skin tolerant to the rain drops dripping through the torn tarpaulin. The pride would come as divine knowledge for their pot-bellied, malnourished children, even in the absence of primary education."

Another long pause and then he concluded, "Eradication of the hungry and poor, is the motto of our party." Roaring claps by hired men (for a packet of biryani) reverberated the sky, clouds of dust covered the midday sun as the men rush to collect their biryani packets.