Are you happy?

Are you happy? If you honestly answer this question, with no politically or intellectually correct formulations and formulae, I believe there is some reason to read on.
What is this something outside each one of us which seems to pull us so much so that you want to cease to be yourself, and be subsumed in some other identity; yet not be willing enough to absolutely forego the individuality or ‘ego’? You always wanted to be something else. You are not satisfied with what you are at any point of time. There is something which tells you about something further, just across the mountain, something like a promised land, something like a mirage which keeps moving even as you advance.
Now, one could argue that this is the innate urge for perfection. Conversely, it could be that shameless materialist within you seeking something outside all the while, without realizing that peace and contentment is within you. You can subscribe to any of these views depending on your ideological presumptions, philosophy of life and inherent biases, but the question remains unanswered: are you happy? If your philosophy of life doesn’t give you happiness or contentment, what worth is it to you…or is your Philosophy of Life for mere academic consumption?
Ultimately isn’t every shade of philosophical thought a pretext to rationalization of life? Rationalization, justification and reconciliation of ones urges, needs, selfish deeds, motives and all those subtle unexplainable elements which determine human behaviour is cleverly secured through ‘philosophy’. This is not to denigrate philosophy but to try and understand the utility of philosophy.

Coming back to the question; are you happy… the answer would be predicated by what philosophy you subscribe to. The sad fact is that the dominant philosophy of popular culture is one that values ‘success’ as its desired goal or objective which incidentally is hammered into the cognitia of everyone from childhood. Success here would connote not mere materialistic success but a wider entity. Consequentially, a subscriber to popular philosophical thought would see the terminal value of success as the sole rationalization of his life and deeds. And resultantly, failure signifies a breakdown of philosophy and hence lack of rationalization of life and effort. With the breakdown of rationalization of the apparatus of life, one ends up being discontented and unhappy.

Now, how common is success? Life is not so generous. Not more than 2% of all human effort would result in success if one seriously thinks of it. To those who felt 2% is pessimistic, let me suggest that even 2% is quite an overestimation. Of all the cumulated desires, urges, wishes, aspirations and the resultant efforts indulged in by an average human being, is it not true that bulk of these go unsatisfied? And in such circumstances, should a philosophy that has as its terminal value an attribute available only for 2% be the norm? What about the 98% which seeks to rationalize failure? The popular philosophical thoughts of the day give him no room for rationalization or justification of his failure. He is doomed. He is sad. He is discontented.
To be happy, you need a philosophy of life that justifies and accepts failure, if not eulogize it. To put it bluntly, winners do not need to philosophize. It is the losers who need a philosophy. A philosophy which ignores 98% of humanity is not worth its name.




(The snap is of a school child in Katekalyan, Dantewada enjoying her mid-day meal. She was happy.)

Capitalist Blogger

People who came over here would've found that I was away for a while. Others who did not come over to find that out deserve no acknowledgement from me. To hell with them. I was really busy over the week.I didnt update my blog for long. I've valid reasons and excuses my friends...

Last week, one of my friends bought a Mercedes E class. He didn't know to drive it properly. Since I'm well accustomed to driving Mercedes since childhood,I offered to teach him. But I often get confused with the gear handle of my BMW with that of my Merc... it was a very difficult task for me.So this kept me very busy for so many days...I hope u wud all sympathise with me.Life is indeed very difficult. Especially if u belong to high places.

Meanwhile, my latest ipod fell into the jug of imported vintage french beer when I bent forward to take my gold chain which had fallen across the kashmir carpet in my private bar. I really really hate ipods that smell beer. Just when I was going to throw it from the fifth floor of my small house, my conscience pricked me. I decided to auction it for charity.I really wonder what a wonderful place this world would be if everyone thought and behaved responsibly like me. But yeah, it is always difficult to behave responsibly. Life is indeed difficult, more so when u are high among the highest. And as u know, as a hi-fi person I'm next only to the famous diamond mearchant, Varghese Patwari.

Btw,I had to urgently pay a visit to the plantation estate as well. The bloody workers there were demanding a wage hike. This was the 7th time they were demanding a hike this year. I always knew that they were born greedy. So I never listened to their earlier 6 demands. I won't mind their 7th either. Greedy beggars. To hell with them.
On the way back I gifted Rum bottles to the Union leader as a token of respect.He wrapped it in the pages of a Communist Manifesto to hide it from the gaze of dirty drunkards who wud do anything to get it.

That night I had a decent party at my Bunglow with classic champagne flowing all over.Boy it was fun. But thats how hectic life is. Very difficult indeed.

Until yesterday, I had to tend to the stream of celebrity guests who had come to see my new dog's kennel. With a higher pedigree dog comes higher responsibility. The bone-warming function was conducted by Bejan Bonewalla, the famous astro-palmist and leggist. It was morning 3.30 when the last guest departed. Still I managed to attend the afternoon seminar on Food Crisis in Guatimala. Its not impossible to do so many things and yet be a blogger.But yes, life is indeed difficult for people like me.

Losing Bachelorhood

It was sometime in the early 1990s, when I was in the 6th or 7th grade that I actually understood the gravity of losing bachlorhood. Our beloved Edwin sir, who taught us malayalam, used to wear white shirt and white dhoti/mundu. On one fateful day, he came to the school without wearing mundu. It was quite a scene.
Those without perverted mindsets would've understood that he shifted to pants and jeans. The mundu-era had ended for him.The next week on, he started wearing T-shirts too...something totally unexpected of a puritan like him.It was something like Pt.Bhimsen Joshi singing rap.Those who knew Edwin sir were baffled.We kids, nevertheless enjoyed the transition.
The reason for the change:He got married.
In our school, we had a friend by the name of a South Indian deity, whose abode is not accessible to women.(I'll not name him considering the risks involved.)However, he was very much found in the company of women, especially during the college days.Everytime I met him, his girl friend was brand new.The final news that came in was that he married yet another girl(ie. none of the 10-15 ex-girl friends) of the junior batch in his college.A Punjabi kudi.
His second love was beer.After marriage, he totally quit beer.ie.complete avoidance of beer. Instead he took up Vodka.
The reason for the change: marriage.
Another guy who did his masters from a well reputed Institute in India went to the US to make money.He felt as if he were the moon, up above the earth, viewing the earth from a distance..detatched from it..no responsibilities..nobody to question..and lots of money.One fine day,he was forced to marry by his parents.Immediately he started blogging.
Another friend of mine, two days after his marriage, sent me an urgent SMS. He wanted me to buy a recharge coupon for his cell phone.That was strange request. He is holding a responsible position in the government and draws a decent salary.Its I who used to ask him to buy this and that, given my then status as 'unemployed youth of India'.Anyway, I bought the recharge-talktime coupon and sent him the 'secret number' by SMS.Then I called him to verify the position.I was greeted by an Airtel "aunty" who told me in Kannada that my friend is 'out of range'.Boy..he is in Karnataka!( For the uninitiated and millions of my international readers, KARNATAKA is our neighbouring state. And btw, if you don't know yet,'we' live in KERALA.)So thats why he wanted a recharge coupon from some one in KERALA. Fine.So far fine.
Later,the real shock came when I was told later on that he was in Bandipur with his wife for honeymooning(no word like that?But its apt, na?)Now, the point is that this is a guy who is mortally scared of snakes, frogs, cats, dogs, cows, mosquitoes,house flies,deer,giraffe, hippos,horses, rhinos, rats,bats,lizards,antelopes,elephants, lions, tigers,leopards,oxen,centipede,millipede,all varieties of worms,and above all ants.Certain varieties of plants also manage to scare him. And this guy takes his newly wed wife for honeymooning to Bandipur! Of all places, Bandipur! Rediculous.
The reason for the new macho-make over: marriage.
In short, marriage alters life. Some changes may be as drastic as a change from beer to Vodka. Other changes may be silly like shedding mundu for jeans.It could in rare cases stimulate blogging. Whats your view on this...?
P.S: None of the perons mentioned here are real or living.If anyone finds any similarity, kindly keep it in your own mind.I assure you, its not you.

The Communist Blogger

Dear friends,
I was very busy for a while..
Meanwhile, I reformed. I've become a born again marxist. I gave up beer and whisky. Religion is an intoxicant. So I gave up Christian Brother's rum too. Now, I drink only Romanov Vodka. Purely secular.
My favourite colour is red and favourite food is 'parippu vada' and chai.My official mouth piece is beedi. I love lungi, especially the tied up version.( Neo-colonial capitalist studies estimate that 70% work time is lost in communist kerala as a result of the tying and retying of the lungi.) I regularly rinse my mouth with party slogans and eat boiled red rice.
I own quite a few industries (to create workers for the revolution) and business establishments in the name of the party.I'm a poor man basically. You could either address me as a poor fisherman or as a humble farmer. The choice is yours.
I firmly believe that one day, there will be a final revolution. Then all capitalists would be flushed out of this world.Only the workers will survive.People who think this is similar to the Final Judgement day are either capitalist imperialist spies or revisionist traitors.Anyway, for that day to come, we have to unite and address our daily slogans to St.Marx, our prophet.
Btw, we are facing certain Y2K like problems when we consider the Dictatorship of the proletariat.For instance some of us may have to leave our beloved work and become rulers. And as a rule, we hate rulers. So we'll kill them.That would be a perpetual problem as we'll kill all workers that way.Secondly, once we kill all the managers and owners of the industries, who will pay us wages at the end of the day? Anyway, all such issues could be dealt with at that time.The Polit Bureau is actively considering this issue besides next month's Bandh and hartal.
Our prophets, St.Marx,St.Lenin,St.Mao and St.Stalin are infallible, therefore always correct. We have other comrades waiting to be beatified. Once they are declared as Saints, their books shall be taught in the party study classes.
Guys, no more time for small talk....we've to rush to the next junction to throw a few urgent stones on the nearest bus. We need to register our protest against the imperial agression in Iraq. Bush will be terrified after this protest march.

1100 years of solitude

This is a surreal narration with a tinge of magical realism. Children may seek parental guidance.Parents may seek their children's guidance.

Once upon a time, there was a young boy called Mukesh Batliwala who lived in a forest near the village. Similarly, there lived a lion in a village near the forest. One fine day, the boy decided to go out to the village in search of water and cocacola. The climate was really hot (unlike in Shimla). In the forest there lived a small family of 23 members. The youngest in the family was Ursula. Her mother’s name was Brihandala.
Meanwhile, the Sensex had gone on to new heights from where the girls’s father was finding it difficult to get down without a ladder. But the lion was keeping a keen watch on all proceedings. (You must remember that the local hunter, Shikari Shambhu was out of station). After sensing the gravity of the situation, Newton initiated a dialogue process with all concerned parties to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution, which would also respect the rights and aspirations of the Kashmiri people. Suddenly, the father fell down along with the Sensex. Mukesh and Ursula had also fallen in love by this time. Meanwhile, the lion was caught in a compromising position along with a local bar waitress which led to mass resignations from the bar council. NDTV had indeed made an impact.
By then it was over 1100 years since Mukesh Batliwala had gone out in search of water and cocacola. He had become very aged and the cocacola ads had become too complex for him to understand. Suddenly he saw ants carrying a bottle of Mineral water along the ground. “Ursula….”, he shouted and fell down. And he was no more.