Kashmir - India, Pakistan & China Border Story

Disclaimer: All names used here are a work of fiction, any resemblance to people living or dead will just be a coincidence.
 
Part#1 Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, (Territory Yellow)
You inherit some property from an uncle (say Mr. Singh), whom people thought you are not close too, but you felt a sense of attachment with him.
The relative left you a house, while some one (let’s call him Ali) else expected to inherit the same property. Ali thought since he and Mr. Singh lived nearby and often visited the house, he has a better claim to the house. So when the will was read, Ali quickly went to the property and started living in one of the rooms.
 
What do you do?

1. Leave the rest of the house for Ali? Well that is just plain foolish. # Accede Kashmir
2. Leave the claim to everything? and let it be vandalized?              # Free Kashmir
3. Claim for the complete property?                                      # Current situation
4. Leave status quo and allow both parties to use the resources.         # you get to use the extra bathroom, Ali get acces to your kitchen!

   #Learn to co-exist
 
Part#2 Askai Chin, (Territory marked Grey)
It turns out you get another inheritance (not sure if this means you are second time lucky or unlucky). A piece of land next to the house from part#1.
This time you get a property which was disputed, the original owner was forced to vacate the same property (Tibet) and there were 2 claims, Mr. Chang and you. Basically it was a fallow land not really good for agriculture or anything else. So time passed by and no one really cared, until the day one of you blinked. It became a prestige issue, and in your rush you tried to use force to justify claim. To your surprise the Chang hit back and you were overwhelmed (all you saw him was doing Tai-Chi, but he hit you back with KungFu). You were alone and young, helpless and defeated. But you have your ego and said you decided not to give up. You logged a claim in the court, the process is slow and practically in a gridlock. Both the parties now claim it and none will do anything about it. Now you have learnt Karate and both you and Mr. Chang know it is useless to fight over what is better, KungFu or Karate.
 
What do you do?

1. Leave the claim? Open invitation to others to something similar?  # Accede Askai Chin
2. Ali et friends, Mr. Chang finds one of you other property attractive too (#Twang)
3. Claim for the complete property? You know you may never get it.   # Current situation
4. Leave status quo and allow both parties to use the resources.     # both parties get to use it for picnic, #tourism #trade #Learn to co-exist

Part#3 Territory acceded to China by Pakistan (Territory marked Brown)
Since both the parties Ali and Chang are not at good terms with you, they decide to get together (enemy's, enemy is friend)
Now Ali wanted to buy a new car, and borrowed money from Chang. Ali tried but could no repay Chang. Chang is a friend, but a true business man,
He knew that you have some friends living nearby (read Central Asia), and to cut your access to them asked Ali to give away a part of the disputed house.
 
What do you do?

1. Leave the claim? #Foolish again!
2. Claim for the complete property? It is not Ali's to give away.   # Current situation

Animal Farm - Book Review

"All stories are equal, some are more equal than others"
The novel is a short sweet story, which revolves around a farm and its animal. But to beauty of it lies in the message that it carries, What impresses me most about it, the foresight of the author to predict what communism leads to in a non ideal world. I say non ideal world, because "Communism" as a concept is amazing. The thought of every one treated equal and no one rules anyone else, is amazing.

But the novels does a great job in explaining what happens in the real world. It also takes a satire on the society, which has a a very short lived memory. Each of the animals depicted in the story reflects a section of society.

• The horses and chicken as hard working individuals, a cog in the nation building. who is not aware of its own strengths. Who is taken for granted and even though has some of the biggest contributions to the society. He is neglected an forgotten, unappreciated.

• The pigs are compared to the ruling elite, who are at the 'top' of the society. It is not that their contributions are minuscule, but manage to oppress the commoners.
• The dogs represent the government machinery, which implements the laws on the society. It is the one that legitimizes the use of force on the society. It does things for no reason. Same is the case for soldiers, they fight politician's wars.
• Humans are compared to autocrats. Is autocracy better than communism, is a question well posed by the book.

The book also touches upon some points about nation building, and how the societies are manipulated by the rulers.

• To unite people under one rule, Society needs a common enemy, if they don't have one, the politicians creates it.
• To get the most of the resources, Society is shown a dream of better future.
• Propaganda: Tell a lie long enough, and it becomes the only reality

Kuch Khoya Aur Kuch Paya

Abhi itney saal nahi hue, main apney chotey se shahar main rehta tha. Agar jyada dramatic nahi kahe, to bhi wo R K Narayan ke Malgudi se kuch thoda he bada tha. Log ek doosrey ko jantey they, pehchantey they... fast food ka matlab keval, gali kinarey ka "chowmiene" he tha. Pizza abhi tv advertisement main he they, aur super markets bade shehar ka bukhar.

Par kuch saal baad main ghar aaya, aisa nahi ki main itney baras ghar nahi aaya, saal main 2-3 baar main aa he jata hu, par is baar, main Holi, Diwali ya New Year nahi par chutti manane aaya tha... iss baar kuch alag tha, mere shehar main mere dost nahi they, sab naukri ke liye abb bade shahr main he rehtey hai. Waise bhi in he un main se ek hu. Jo apni roti kamaney ke liye bade shehar main rehta hu. Kher is baar mujhey pehli baar aisa laga ki shayad mera koi dost shehar nahi hai. Bada shehar naukri deta hai, par apney nahi. Mere bachpan ka shehar ghar deta hai naukri nahi.

Shayad aisa pehli baat hua ki main apney bachpan ke shehar main sirf apney pariwaarn ko janta tha.. baaki sab anjaan, bilkul us bade shehar ki tarah, jahan main sirf apney kuch doston ke saath rehta hu. Aur us shahar main wo he mera parivaar hai.

Badey shehar ki nakal main, mere bachpan ka shehar apne aap ko bhool raha hai. Nayi dukaney ban rahi hai, jo wo har samaan bechti hai, jiski hume 10 saal pehley koi jaroorat nhi thi. Fast food chain khul gayi hai, aur kuch retail super market bhi, meri Ma ko lagta hai, ki unka shehar abb retired logo ka shehar ban gaya hai. Aur yeh sahi bhi hai... par pata nhi, mera shehar kaun sa hai.

Wahan sadkey wahi hai, shayad khaddey thodey badal gaye hai, padosi wahi hai, pur uncle auntie ke hair color badal gaye hai. Gaadi wahi hai, par scratch thodey se naye hai. Aankhey wahi hai, par chasmey thodey badh gaye hai. Pata nahi kuch badla gaya hai, ya kuch nahi badla hai, par ab mera shehar, kahi kho gaya hai, abb main ek bagadiya sa ho gaya hum, bade shehar ki bheed main gum sa ho gaya hu. Nahi maloom jyada paya hai, ya khoya hai... pur ha, main kahi kho gaya hu.

If evil had a purpose, what it might be?

What is darkness? 
..........Is it just not absence of light?

What is sadness?
..........Is it not the absence of happiness?

What is loneliness?
..........Is it not the absence of a company?

What is poverty?
..........Is it not the absence of richies?

What is evil?
..........Is it not the absence of good?

Does darkness have a purpose? or just a result of lack of light?

So why do you think evil has a purpose? If it could be just the absence of what is right.

Where is here?

One thing that travels faster than the speed of light is mind, 

• It can wander in stars,
• Jump planets,
• Take you to places,

but where ever it takes us, it takes us further away from 'here'.
So where is here?

Here is the place where you we in in flesh and in mind. If the mind wanders, we are not here. The process of being in present always is a hard one to practice, even harder to hold on to.

In very simple words, every one say "Work hard, Party harder"; It is nothing more that saying stay where you are, If you are here, stay here. If you are working then work, if you are on a holiday, let your mind stay there.

Contrary to what people may argue, it is not to say to kill creativity. If you want the mind to wander that is fine, and it is perfectly normal. The root of the evil is when it does not stay there. Often called as lack of concentration. If an individual is here, in the present always he is called "<sanskrit>Sthir Chit</sanskrit>" which means his soul is stable, and is also said to be the best form of worship.

What is Success?

"Success is a delusion, and so is failure. "

• If you think you are successful you have already lost it, (read no more)
• If you think getting money/finding love/job/car will make you successful, you could not have got it further wrong.
• If success is to prove your worth to others, that is a wrong answer too.
• If you think that success needs an approval from others, that is a wrong choice again.

People tend to think that success is like walking to top of a mountain, and all you have to do is to keep climbing up to the summit. But they forget that it is not the end, it cannot be the end, because no mater how high a mountain you climb you will have to come down. 

So does achieving your dream, means nothing? Lets look at this objectively. Let us say you have a dream to be a millionaire by the age of 30, and you make it, Do you think it will make you happy? In most cases what you will want is to make 10 million by the time you are 40. So what happened here is that, you tried to hit a moving target, and your definition for success changed. It is not anyone's fault, It is how the human mind works. 

Lets try another example, one social worker wanted to feed the poor and he managed to adopt one village and changed their life for good, but now he wants to do more (which is perhaps very good), and the society will laud him, some even citing him to be very successful, but he thinks he can do more or perhaps could have done more, so success still eludes him.

So what is success? We can think of some of the attributes of success:

• Success is just a state of mind, which like everything else is dynamic.
• Success is delusional, the more you achieve the more you want.
• Success is a personal opinion, You may find 'The social worker' to be successful, he may find the job is still half done.
• Success is subjective, A kid in third world country might find it as a big success to be able to go to school, while in a developed nation it is taken for granted.
• Success is not the opposite to failure, While this is not the right place to define failure, it is good to know, the 2 outcomes are not the same as 2 faces of a coin, One can be successful and a failure at the same time, "Successful entrepreneur, miserable father"

Trying to define success now (in geeky terms):
Success is a observation of a state of mind, the entropy of which is lower than the current state of mind, but not zero and the frame of reference is biased.

In plain English, It is ones idea of being an ideal world, the place where one wants to be with the thought that getting there will bring him/her to the race line, only to discover that it is just another pit stop.