Musings Own Thoughts

 While there is no doubt in my mind that the loudest voices heard in public and even private spaces are the ones proclaiming pessimism, danger, scaremongering and misinformation. However, as a student of Vedanta I also believe that left to oneself humans are fundamentally good and are capable of acts selflessness which are beyond ones imagination. The problem I face today is that this belief and faith in humanity is shaken to the core when one discovers the immense amount of hatred, suffering and violence we see all over  the world.  The very fact that these voices are becoming mainstream and louder to the extent that the discourse on all platforms is promoting division and disharmony is making me pose the question of the title of this blog. The times we live in are increasingly referred to as Kalyug or dark ages and the discriminatory abilities of most us are poor if not non existent. This is evidenced in many ways in the way we act in our daily lives. I will touch on as...

Come winter and marriages will take place as an annual ritual, déjà vu events with the vows of unending fidelity and eternal love. While this happens the reality of more than 70% of such events ending in messy divorces is an ignored statistic. A question crossed my mind while witnessing the ceremonies of marriages is that is it possible that these over the top celebrations are a kind of assurance that the memory bank of the celebrations and the effort, expenses keep the marriages intact for as long as possible. The contract and institution of marriage is in reality a  commercial transactional contract with legal safeguards to ensure property and assets get transferred and remain within the family.  Human behaviour is governed by a herd instinct and we are mostly living superficial lives conforming to societal norms without much questioning. Most of us take birth, play in childhood with toys and trinkets fulfilling our desires, and soon encouraged by adults learn to say my doll...

 Does this name strike a bell or a cord in any of us from the Indian common folk? Probably not but the name Aurangzeb is as well known as Dara Shikoh is unknown. In the present day of an increasingly polarised Hindutva agenda Aurangzeb is a name used almost as a slur or abuse for reasons which seem justifiable. Had  his assassination not occurred Dara Shikoh would have been an object of veneration and Aurangzeb would have been an unknown person, certainly not the puritanical radical Islamic emperor who hated and persecuted Hindus, imposed taxes and promoted a radical line of Islamic extreme religion. To understand this we must try and decipher the Mughal empire and how it influenced India and conversely how India influenced the Mughal rulers. While this blog is not a scholarly piece on the Mughal rulers, the popular narrative that native India was a homogeneous society under foreign rulers for centuries including about the last 150 years under British rulers were all bad for I...

 There is no doubt in my mind that economic reforms have accelerated India's progress and absolute poverty as I have witnessed in my childhood seems to be absent and is at least not visible on the streets and bustees of urban and rural India.  The socialist model where all are forcibly labelled as equals and wealth is forcibly redistributed seems logical but has failed miserably. The main reason I guess is that when creators of wealth are forcibly made to give up most of their earnings to the state for redistribution to the poor and jobless, they lose their drive to create wealth. On the flip side if the jobless are given doles which are enough to live in decent comfort without work they will be happy to live a life of mediocrity without striving to improve their condition.  Markets by their nature, especially free markets dealing with private goods, inevitably lead to an equilibrium of supply and demand and this leads to a fair price and the usual double thank you moment...