What do you call someone who is extremely proud of his religion? One who cannot tolerate any other religion… or one who has prejudices about other religions?? We live in a progressive society which advises us to look down upon religious fanatics. Most people do so at least for the sake of being politically correct.
Now, what about someone who is extremely proud of his country? One who despises people from other countries? Sadly, we call him a patriot. Xenophobes are often passed off as stalwarts of nationalism and patriotism.
In this age of information super highways and globalization, isn’t it time we do away with those imaginary boundaries which separate your nation from mine, or ours from theirs?
We see groups of people fighting against each other. Americans against (terrorists from) the rest of the world. Indians against Pakistanis. Palestinians against Israelites. Chinese against Indians. X against Y.
It took centuries for civilizations to realize the folly in dividing people based on religion. (On second thoughts, have we really done that yet? Am I wrong in saying the religious tolerance we see around us these days is only skin-deep?)
Will I be crucified for stating the fact that dividing people based on nationality is as good or as bad as dividing people based on religion?
Looking forward to an immediate tomorrow where the national boundaries will give way to four or five continents and then a not so distant future when we all will be citizens of One World.
Personal Update: Sometimes silly things like being able to pee at ur will seems like a war won on its own, when you go thru ‘terrific’ conditions :_). Reference: So far, we didn’t have access to the development area doors allotted for us. Each time we wanted to even pee, we had to wait for someone else to open the doors for us. So finally after umpteen mails to and fro, when we were granted access, we celebrated by peeing away to our hearts content whenever (and no…not wherever) we wanted. :_)
Proverb: A cleavage should be treated like a sunset sight. You just take a peek, and shdnt keep staring at it!!! :_))
Friday, May 05, 2006
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35 comments:
it will not lemme leave a comment...
I loved the proverb...
-Thanu
(Got this as a mail from HRH Thanu... Just trying if I can comment!)
Thanks Thanu :_))
Thanks Karram :_) Nice to know u liked it.
Alexis, just wanted to see how it feels :_))...
I added the proverb to let my friends reassure they've reached the correct blog :_))
But isn't it a custom more honored in the breach than in observance :-)
well, what shd I say?
have it? falunt it...
saw it? Enjoy it...
rite ;_)) ?
hmm .. the proverb suddenly put seemed to jar the thought process while readin the rest of ur post ..but den men will be men and they should be allowed to be so (werent we talking about tolerance towards each other and that includes the sexes too !)
Neways well written and nice thoughts ..but it can be extended to each and every aspect ..what is required is tolerance in every sense of the word ..
I beleive that the true war that one wins is over himself ..by overcoming anger , selfishness, pride etc . When u got control over urself the rest just follows .
los desperados..avidunnu jeevanode thirichu varande ;;)
@Alexis:
I didn’t want my friends to ring me up with the news that my blog is hacked =))
@Shruti:
Yes… tolerance is the word… the ability to appreciate differences… to know there are is not just right and wrong, but also shades of right, and multiple rights as well…. Coming to think of it, I still believe there are no rights and wrongs… there are only view points, ideas and opinions… and the view points of the majority is naturally perceived to be right.
Thanks for being so understanding, I mean that ‘men will be men and they should be allowed to be so’ was a treat to my eyes. =))
@Poison:
la mirabelle :_D
I play safe... always... ;_))
vow.. I also believe there are no rights or wrongs .. and certainly no blacks and whites too .. humans are shades of grey .. and appreciating differences and accepting them makes one more mature and understandin ... to be able to accept someone the way they are and give them all you have ( mentally , emotionally and physically ) unconditionally ..to reach that state of human existence is what makes life interesting and the struggle worth it ... ( hope I am making some sense )
P.S. - Even when a majority percieves something to be right ..doesnt make my individual right a wrong .. as I tell some people close to me .. why dont we let people be ..and let them make their choices..in life ..they will learn from it ..who are we to interfere ?
on your proverb, no comment!!
wish you peeing frredom now!! :)
u have covered so many things in this posts, religion, wars, international problems, "sunset peeking", peeing, anything still missing from a probable list of topics??
@Shruti:
Cant agree more with what you said… Sense?? Yes it does make sense…
Our society is getting more and more compartmentalized. Evn the social circles we hang out with are getting hand picked… a sense of ‘us v/s them’ is getting deep rooted everywhere… and as you said, it applies to all walks of life – religion/politics/sex
Its always better to let ppl take their own decisions… there is no point in suppressing the urge/thought to do something… if you are good enough, try to control the though process… once you reach a certain maturity level, your final decision will turn out to be the best one/the most beneficial one… its all about reaching that maturity level…
(guess I am going wild…lemme stop :_))
@Venus:
The queen refraining from making a politically incorrect statement =))
Thanks for your wishes… you will only realize the importance of it when you go through it… :_)
Well, another topic? Ok… how about “Venus highly appreciative of ‘Venus’” ? ;_))
dude, u know, people watch sunset with binoculars?? ;)
and the watching part lasts ranging from 15-30 mins?!?!?!
So, what is your definition of "peeking" at sunset now??? :P
wild ? nop ..its interestin to know other viewpoints ..as many times we miss out on imp learnings becos we tend to see it from our vision only and who knows whether what i know is enough or not .. i dnt knw when i will reach a stage when i can say i know enough abt life ,,,but the quest for tht keeps me goin ..
U make sense .. no point in supressin .. unless we fall and get hurt we wont realise truths tht might stare at our face ..also I feel eevry moment we live on this earth brigns a new realisation ..a new dawn .. in our lives..and slowly these things unite to make us what we are ..today if i reflect abck on the shruti of 2001 ..i wouldnt recognise her.. yep some things in life are turning points / milestones ..those are the most interestin ones ..
Yes Venus, that was a logical error. It should have been glaring sun and not sun set... I had realized it after publishing, but then decided against changing it. :_)). Thanks for pointing that out.
Shruti,
as they say life is a journey and not a destination... and every day, every hour is something new – a brand new lesson/experience. with every new experience, you learn something new... So that should mean there is nothing like knowing enough about life...
again as they say, change is the only constant thing in life. Even I have undergone transformations, ones which were not too drastic... I too am able to differentiate the stranger who was me five years back, and I know how much different I am now.
Stumped
Men tend to go philosophical when they get the freedom to pee!!
Geo is talking abt one world without boundaries, coz he wants to extend his H1-B visa indefinitely.. :D
And about the proverb: As far as I think, a sunset is something you can watch for hours (well, not exactly.. as long as it lasts) :))
And now... The stage is set..
Thiruvaathira thudangatte...
:D
Wow..Geo at his serious best. :)
Good post. What made you write about the religious and politcal divide all of a sudden?
And man!! You smart developers do have it tough. And here I was thinking your life was a bed of roses.
But glad to hear that you won this battle. :)
ya true life is a journey and the only thing constant is change ..we as individuals need to fully explore these sayin with all their depth adn meaning ..understand . learn and I hope tth one day when we have learnt enough ther is a destination too ..somewher .
@Rat: aa stump maatti vechittu kali thudaratte :_))
@Kiron: what was the size of the sample space you observed to reach this conclusion? :_D
@Sand: ha ha ha… if it’s One World, then what Visa, why Green Card ? :_D
and for the proverb, errata already published above :_)) rukavat ke liye khed hai/ho/hou…
@Rat: aa thithi thaara thithithai thithoo….oh sorry…maarippooyi… ithu oottam thullal aanalle :-?
@Quills: :_) Not that serious, ma’am…that’s why I added those last two item numbers… :_))
bed of roses ? for us developers? You hav a lot of misconceptions abt us…. life is tuff out here :_))…
@Shruti:
destination
ok..I am learning and I stand corrected. :)
@geo
There is no need to analyze any big sample space. Just reading this post is more than enough :D
It's quite easy for us to philosophise about one world and no boundaries and make lofty statements about tolerance. I once had a similar discussion with a kashmiri friend of mine. I asked him something to the effect of 'why do we fight over a small piece of land and kill so many ppl?'And the reply was very poignant. 'Would you let a stranger take over your house in the name of tolerance? Where will you go then?'
@anonymous- tolerance doesnt mean giving up what is rightfully urs ... ( ofcourse we can leave the sharing concept aside for the time being ) but it certainly does mean not killing each other in the name of religion / or snatching someone's else's belongings( religion being just an example it can be xyz anething ) .. fanatisism in any form ..even the belief that what ur doin is only right ( example of a self rightious police officer who takes justice in his hands - simple to relate to very common in hindi movies ) is a kind of extremesism and intolerance towards others..
We need to let people be as they are and treat each other as u would treat urself ( one world )
@Shruti : Even i am all for letting people be..
but as u said 'what is rightfully urs'... when both sides think that a piece of land is rightfully theirs...that's when problems arise..we call it intolerence...but i don't think the answer is that easy and simple..
anyway wud love to know what george thinks about what I had to say...
This is the problem when we treat links of a chain in isolation. Incidents with ‘heavy’ historic baggage associated with them should be treated with ‘due’ respect to history.
My take on the issue you mentioned is here. Hope I am clear.
did ur tag :)
I too completed ur tag ..dnt ask me why ...???
wow..!! great post..!!
very true.. "vasudaiva kutumbam" proclaims bhagavath gita. ( the world is a large family..!) the phrase also appears in panchtanthra also..
Thank u madams for the tag work..
Anu Chechy, thanks :-)
yea... vasudaiva kutumbakam....guess thats what i meant...
geo cudnt agree with u more...i am really demoralized that religion is today more abt identity than abt god! after babri masjid happened...for the first time in life i saw that my friend was a hindu/muslim/xian though it didnt matter to me.
aliyo, after the second last para am reminded of mohanlal in manichithrathazhu..."ithinumaatram mootram ninakke evidannaada"
saw ur old classmate vinoo varghese today...he wuz talking abt u and did give me a lot of spicy details of ur cet life!!!hehe.
all i cud comment is, nalla one one and half "pandi manja" great going dude!
Jiby: aliyoo
pothane kandalle :-?
ellaam oru compromise-nte porathu pokaam... onnum porathu vidalle
ambrocia, kalavara, south park evideyaannu vechaa nammakku settle cheyyaam :_))
Jithu:
You colorblind moron, this is gold, G-O-L-D.... the royal color :_D
excellent dream geo..i wish all of us dreamt the same..but power corrupts all. so its not just countries and continents, we have division in every possible sense..sad but true.
on another note, peeing at your will is not a great idea..you lose control man.
hihi.kidding..you are such a fun guy.
btw dost, onnum thonnaruthu page thurannappozhe kannu adichu poyathu kaaranam onnum vaayikkan pattathathukondanu mattu comments onnu idathirunnathu :p
is this about the freedom of speech?
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