Reported from a Play School in Town

The other day the wife went to pick up kiddo ,who is all of 2 years and a month old, from PlaySchool. She had this conversation with one of the moms who were there waiting to take the toddlers home.

Other mom : This school is not up to scratch on development of kids. My kid is not able to speak a single line in english.

Wife(amused and also proud on our own kid chips in) : Well my kid is yet to speak a single line in any language for that matter. But it is fine. He is happy doing stuff he likes. As he likes animals he identifies them when you show pictures or on TV and can even tell the difference between a dog, wolf and a fox. I guess kid will turn out ok.

Other mom ( Ignorant of the amusement replied politely in the vein of a "3 Idiots Boman Irani school of thought") : Oh! that's nice. He will grow up to become a Veterinary Doctor I think. 

Wife ( Stumped at the reply manages to smile and say nothing) .. Eh ! Eh ! (Mind Voice : Lady maybe you buy your kid ,who is 2 years old  , a Wren & Martin and train him to speak english. Maybe make him watch prime time news on BBC. Poor kid has no idea at the kind of pressure you will heap on him through his childhood.)

Where are the playgrounds???

Seeing some of the reputed schools in Chennai this was the question that sprung to my mind. Some of the schools that earlier had grounds for the students have built new blocks in the space. How will the students express themselves in the abscence of playing fields?

I have studied in a school where there are nearly 30 odd playgrounds. Looking back on those days I realize that most of my character developed in the playgrounds rather than classrooms. I was really pained at the trend these days in city schools of not having playgrounds. Does this happen due to high cost of real estate or has the basic mind set of the people changed? Do the parents and educators increasingly think that having playgrounds is not necessary in a school??

Fear, God and Godmen

As stated in my earlier blog, Man lives in eternal fear. Most mankind need support to tide over that fear. Only his faith can help him, but in truth that faith is highly abstract and profound. Over the ages thinkers have tried to understand and give a form to the faith. This quest has lead to formation of all the philosophies of life and death. Gods, religions, theologies, holy books, ways of life, constitutions and social philosophies are all attempts to make faith less abstract by the man who was afraid of the formless faith. A person learns to assuage his fears by believing in some kind of form for his faith. For instance a Hindu sees a temple or a muslim sees a mosque and feels that within them lies the power to control all his/her fears. It is this need for faith by man that has led to the building of the institution of god. In his insatiable need for control, in most cases the "god" has been given a human form as man sees in the form an image of himself.

I believe every person should be free to give a form to his faith. Every man should invent his own wheel in this regard. In truth, right from birth a child is taught to believe and put the faith on the "god form" decided for it by virtue of the situation of when, where and to whom the child is born. The irony here is that the small phase of life in which a human being is incapable of sensing that fear, is used by the people around to repeatedly remind the being to fear everything around. Maybe it is because all these people are afraid of the small baby who is not afraid. As the child becomes more and more scared they say that the kid is growing up. Mankind has successfully established an elaborate apparatus to teach its young ones to fear, but has woefully failed in giving them the devices to overcome the fear. Within this elaborate appatatus a person can find his faith when he opens his mind and accepts his fear as being an integeral part of him.

It is also true that in this quest of every human to find his faith he comes across a lot of conspiracies and mirages through design of fellow men. We have instances of groups of people bound by ideologies into cults and groups across all cultures. Some of these ideologies leave a positive impact on a being's state of fear while some others crush the spirit and leave them defenceless against the fear. The powerful instruments in the elaborate apparatus are sometimes wielded by men who want to play god and in their hand they become dangerous weapons which destroys people who unwittingly place their faiths in these wrong forms. In the Indian culture this has led to proliferation of sadhus, godmen and other elements who interpret the vast knowledge of this culture to suit their needs. In the vedic way of life where there are millions of gods, numerous demigods and countless texts the spiritual journey becomes a virtual minefield.

As I have mentioned earlier, man created the "god form" in his own image through his vanity. This has assisted countless charlatans to assume the status of "self declared" gods made easy by the Hindu philosophy. How difficult is it for someone to accept jus one more god in the face of over a million that is already there? So a bait is set to feed on the fear of mankind. A promise of a shortcut to master the fears is enough to draw in people who are willing to test the waters. Pronto, an ashram is set with a set of disciples and we have a godman who promises nirvana. In the western culture the apparatus is defined in a more rigid manner leaving less pitfalls for an individual. But the holy books of bible and quran become a very powerful weapon for those who chose to prey on the minds of others. Alarmists and doomsday prophets abound in the christian domain. Restrictive and militant interpreters abound in islam way of life.

In the end it is choice of the individual to express his fear in ways that is suitable for him/her. The acceptance that it is not wrong for a person to be afraid will go a long way in helping that person from misplacing his/her faith. Whatever be the explanation, stay away from placing faith on fellow mortal men. Sadhus, Saints, Godmen etc are all sure ways to doom. It is a great deal if we can find human beings that we can love and trust. Faith??? NO WAY....

State of fear

Man lives in a state of eternal fear. Why is this so??

Over the ages evolution has occurred by a process of survival and selection by nature as Darwin said. But when seen in a microcosm life exisits when an entity takes control of a very small bit of the universe. It ceases to exist when the control is lost. A single celled life controls its small bit of universe. As life takes higher forms the entity tries to take control of bigger bits of the universe. Predators marking their territory, birds making a nest are all attempts at taking control. The bigger the extent of control that the organism wants to exert, it develops a greater propensity to fear for that control to stay. If you observe the world a bit more closely you will realize this point. Mankind being at the forefront of evolution as we would all like to think, has the tendency to try and control every single thing that he can perceive. You can see that everywhere. People want to control weight, complexion, traffic, speed, other animals, fellow men/women, products people buy, channels people watch and the list just will go on endlessly. Every man/woman wants the world/universe to behave exactly as he/she wants. In short mankind wants control to be absoulute and everyone wants to be God. As a result the fear of losing control is also eternal. Every single action that is happening in the world is a result of people trying to take control of whatever they feel is not in control. They fear for it every single moment of their life.

Man is identified through the way that fear is expressed. When man is able to channel that fear he ends up being "successful" or in terms of a relative statement the fellow mankind see him as someone who has achieved greater control on his exsistence than themselves. Hence that man has less to fear and hence considered "successful". When man panics because of the fear he starts requiring assistance to overcome the fear. I would term that assistance as "Faith" in something. That faith could be religion, violence, gluttony, drugs etc. Man tends to fill himself with whatever he chooses to be his faith to crowd out the fear that he has.

Over the ages man has tried to find the right kind of faith that can keep him in balance. But in the end finding the right faith has become a source of fear for man. I wish all of you to find the right faith and become less fearful (meaning more successful).

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As thought by me after watching a regional channel making an expose on one of the Godmen thriving in the country. What makes people to get to such state??

Put your faith on anything in this universe other than a fellow man. Remember he is in the same state of fear. A rock will do more to assuage your fear. There is more merit in idol worship, even though it seems insensible.