A RELIGION AS I SEE IT !

HINDUISM IS –THE WAY I SEE IT

Not that I am wise enough to write about a topic as vast ,as sacred , and as deep as Hinduism ,but hey it s an era where the democratic India has offered me with the liberty of freedom of speech. So ,I will write to content my crazy , petty heart . Hinduism …mmm it s one of the most talked about and revered religions ,partly because of it s ancient aura and mystic ways and to an extent thanks to the publicity created by a few political groups!! Whatever it be , it is one religion that has a high position in my heart and I believe that it is one of the most grossly misunderstood and misinterpreted religions. Having said this I have created enough credibility and space for myself to deal with the subject and yet create leeway for any mistakes I make in dealing with it.:-) .

To begin ,it is necessary to create an understanding on what is this religion ? Where did it s need arise ? Not that I am an atheist ( I am a strong believer ) ,but on some primitive research , there is enough evidence to show that all religions are but manifestations of the Nature ,The Sun (Supreme source of energy ) in particular and all the rites and rituals involve around astronomical observations. No wonder then that all the contemporary religions have so much in common .So can we say that religion is ,but a set of rules that was set forth by our very wise ancestors, based on astronomical observations ,which bring about a cultivated lifestyle ? Maybe yes , maybe No .. What is explainable through science is but just a drop in the Ocean ..There still exists so much of darkness that we need a bacon of torch to lead us through ,and this comes in the form of religion – in the form of faith in a religion.

Now coming back to our favorite topic , Hinduism – It pains me sometimes to listen to people who proudly acclaim to have understood Hinduism and abuse it citing their ostensibly superior reasoning capabilities. For instance I recently heard a person I admire say that our religion is not very apt because the great epics of Mahabharat portrays lot of guise , and tricks and cheating that Lord Krishna does in the name of Dharma ! I am unable to comprehend the inferiority in these great epics ,the illusion lies in us- not the epic . What we fail to understand is that –HINDUISM is a way of life , It is Sanathana Dharma – A set of rules by which if the whole world lives , there would be bliss and happiness .

The epics are not absolute truth – they are just means of educating people on ways to lead life . The main theme of Mahabharat is of Good triumphing over the evil inspite of all odds against them. Krishna is a symbol , a symbol of our purity and conscience ,which when followed undeterred will lead us to success . The Gita or the Vedas describe the existence of four genres of human beings – One “ Passively good- like the pandavas” , other”Actively good like Lord Krishna” and ones who are “actively Bad- like the Kauravas” . Now one might argue as to why Kauravas are actively bad when they too possessed positive traits like compassion and generosity ( Karna and Dhuryodhan s story) .. This is where the symbolism comes into place – It teaches us that the avarice , and anger are so strongly negative that they are single handedly capable of ruining the empire inspite of some humane traits . It teaches us to stay away from greed , anger and bad company .

Coming to the part where the ever righteous King Yudhistra gambles away his kigdom and wife- Many might argue that how could a king who was considered so righteous do such a thing ? Here again is the lapse in understanding – the lesson actually that is to be sought that no matter how good you are ,if you indulge in gambling and bad habits,you will have to suffer the consequence as the pandavas had to do .Here lies the beauty of the great epic s symbolism- that the laws of Nature are equally poised .

But one of the best part in the Mahabharat I believe is the Bhagvad Gita.One of the non subscribers argued that it was but rubbish as it denied individuality –It made arjuna the slave of Krishna .. Lamely seeing , maybe this would be the impression one gets , but again ,on deeper inspection into the symbolism- Lord Krishna is the charioteer who controls the horses and reins them –He is the symbol of our mind ,and the horses our body – the body does what the mind wants it to do . This is where Krishna (our mind) shows the “Vishva Roopam” and portrays that our Mind is all powerful and that when we have a controlled and clever mind , we can win every battle in life .And the deaths of the mighty warriors of the kauravas is nothing but the triumph of virtues over vices .(the kaurav army is a symbol of Adharma – the vices in all of us)

The epics are full of teachings if we are ready to follow them – They are full of examples on how to lead our lives in unison with ourselves. It shows to respect women( Draupadi vastra haran) ,but again the paradox is that some people see it as ill treating women ,which they proudly proclaim has been coming along since eons ,deftly misunderstanding the actual meaning of the episode! This is the lameness to which we can go !

The strength of symbolism in Hinduism is amazing .. The Shiv Ling symbolizes the confluence of the two sexes.. Our very famous and favorite God –Lord Ganesha is a confluence of all the virtues that one must possess to attain heights – His large ears symbolize that one must listen more and talk less .. His one side broken tusk ,and snake belted to the stomach symbolize control over desires and emotions. Hanuman symbolizes how in spite of being strong and powerful one needs to be faithful and humble..

The PETA sympathizers would be pleased to know that Hinduism ,by assigning several animals as mascots of the 3600000 gods talks about the protection of the varied wild life.

Right from snakes to cows are all considered sacred .. even trees are protected ..such is the fabric of this religion.

It is insane to talk about this indisputably great way of life without properly understanding it .

I would like to narrate a small story that happened when Swami Vivekananda went to Chicago to the Congress of religions , where he took the whole world by storm .

In the hall filled with the top heads from all religions , there were peole who came ,who spoke about their religions and went – finally came the chance of our torch bearer ,Swami Vivekananda was called upon the stage to deliver his speech. When he reached the stage to collect the Gita (the religious text) , there was a roar of sneer ,looking at the small text ,that was placed somewhere below all the other fat, thick religious texts .. But Swami Vivekananda was undeterred – He carefully removed the GITA from the bottom of the pile and addressed the crowd thus: “Dear brothers and sisters of America- True that this text is small , but did you realize that all this while it was in the bottom , it was carrying the load of all the other religions? Do you realize that this was the Base (literally) for all the other books—such is the greatness of our religion that it can tolerate the rest of the religions-in tolerance lies the greatness of Hinduism” .. the overwhelmed crowd gave him a standing ovation and rest is history .

meri pehli tankhwa

MY FIRST WAGE

October 30^th 2006

Soest, Germany.

It was yet another of those cold bitter windy starts to the day. The nasty music of my 5 euro sagem , which I had started to cultivate a strong irritation against started shrieking , desperately trying to wake me up. After two or three snoozez I finally groped out of the bed . It was 5:00 A.M as the dull display of the Sagem showed . damn it ! I was so happy at my Engineering college , lavishly waking up at 9 and then skipping breakfast , and royally entering the class at 9:30 .. and now here I was getting my butts kicked around in some God forsaken land at 5 in the morning ( or do I call it night as there was still no evidence that the solar ball that was shining in other parts of the eastern world even wanted to look towards this village in Germany) . Still , pulling myself up, in all desperation and curses( this is how my day started every day of the first month in Deutschland- how inspiring !!) I quicky pulled on my shoes ( I sleep with the socks on!) Heights of untidiness it may occur to you , but when your arse is on fire like this and the pollution free Europe thankfully doesn’t add to your woes of making the socks stinky, I guess it was a good idea to take the liberty to sleep with the socks on. I would then hurry to the washroom, brush and rush to the kitchen to make my breakfast . ha ha .. what a breakfast it was!!..I would empty into a bowl some flavoured cornflakes and add the ready milk from the fridge to it – no sugar! I shudder even now when I contemplate on how I managed to eat that in such a disgustingly freezing weather , but as they say .. when you are pushed to the deapths of the ocean and you know nothing about swimming , even a small blade of grass will seem like a god sent rescue!.

I finally rushed out of my apartment ( it was a well furnished three room flat , with wonderful facilities for a poor student from India , but sad that I had little time to experience thy luxury) .While rushing down at jet speed I performed the usual ritual , ring the bell of the neighbour , for this was his alarm to signal that he should get going too .He had to leave to office at 6.15 , a leisure half an hour more than what I had.

So I rushed to the basement , dragged up the cycle ( geared cycle with front disk brakes-another luxury which the ordeal made un lucrative ) and punched open the front door , brr.. it was as cold as it could get .. Some degrees below freezing ,accentuated by cold dry breeze . It was ghastly , with not a soul in sight , dark as the gallows and silent as a lake .. I mustered all the courage ( actually I had little time to think about anything apart from surviving the onslaught!),and now was the most difficult part .. I had to remove my gloves for an instant and fix the light in my cycle .. it was not fuctioning properly , so I had to do this every time I started it . The moment I removed the glove, my hands would become numb and it felt like one hard tap , and it would break like a brittle metal.I carefully rubbed my palms , fixed the light and desperately pulled on the gloves . Now was the part I enjoyed to an extent , The cycling I had to do till the Bahnhoff (the railway station) It would be aloof and calm , at 5.30 in the morning .if you are from a country like India , where be it at 2 in the morning or 12 mid night , there would always be people around the roads ,mendicants,steet urchins , party goers ,sluts .. someone ,somewhere would always reassure you that you are not the last person living on this planet! But life here in this small village called Soest in Western Germany was totally alien to something called crowd .Never the less , the silence and beauty of the lonesome roads and the still trees impressed me and inspired me to keep on pedaling till the small lights of the bahnhoff in the distance would slowly start appearing nearer and finally I would be there.

Here after disembarking my bike(cycle) and securing it to one of the poles there , I ceremoniously entered the small bakery attached to the station . It was here that I could finally see homo sapiens .. the girl behind the counter , Petra , a lady in her early thirties I reckon , was so professionally sweet .. She would sharply , crisply , yet with one of the biggest smiles wish me “gutten Morgan ..Wei gehts heute” (good morning , how are you today) . No , not that I was one of her core customers and saved her business or something , it s like in this land , these basic courtesies of wishing are followed quite faithfully , though the “How are you” was on a personal recognition front.I smiled back , wished her (though it used to feel strange initially to wish strangers , I gathered or rather mastered the cold wishes quite quickly) and said “Ein schokoladen brodchen,keine fleich , keine gross , Bitte” in the amateur german that I had picked up.Now this was going to be my lunch , Except for Thursdays and Tuesdays when I had the liberty of ordering pizzas from the office(just one flavour- tomato mit olive), this is what I had to devour for my lunch! A chocolate bun , without meat ,medium sized, everyday!! Only when one comes out of his comfort zone does he realize the cosiness of the comforts. In India ,when there was abundant food for breakfast , tasty dosas and pooris, I skipped them and here I was hopelssly struggling to survive starvation and eating buns on a daily basis for breakfast !. this is also the time when your character and ideals are tested , I was so temped to start eating Non Vegetarian , I even reasoned to myself that this would be my survival strategy ,after all what are ethics for when the body perishes, but somehow , I managed to hang on to my traditional principles and ethics and decided to live on some stupid chocolate chip bun and pepsi.

Once at the railway station , It was an experience of sorts , everyone whom I would see, old man , young man , kid , pretty girl , old lady , hot teenager ,would wish me ! again coming from India , where if you wish a person once , you strike a conversation theron and sometimes develop to become best pals!! It was very tough to see that girls whom I would have craved to talk to just say a “gutten Morgan” smile and leave as though we were strangers again . Damn this land .. In India, especially the place from where I hailed (Tamil Nadu) girls never gave hope ,never even looked at men!! But here all these sexy bitches were like making me build huge wonderful castles and then wham firing canons at them!! Ridiculous but some experience I confess.

The next hour would go in traveling , I had to change two trains and then finally make to the finish line by a bus . Now this was another very interesting part of the journey, because here was the driver who became one of my closest friends.. he even bent the German law for me . I was allowed on most days to travel without tickets. Kruger was one of those Germans who had traveled a lot , outside Germany . He was a sailor , and had a Portuguese wife . He was also the only person in my whole day, apart from Mr.Koffman,my boss and Anaika , his secretary who spoke English.. so the easy bonding. He would tell me stories of his times as a sailor and of how beautiful Norway and Portuguese were and how he detested the winters in Germany and the conversation would always come to his favourite topic- Indian women . I showered praise on Indian women quite abundantly and the conversation would go on until I had to get down at my office and say “tschuss!! Gutten tag”(bye .Good Day) .

Once into the office , there were horrendous tasks that I was asked to do . As an intern from a respectable college in India I never imagined myself doing the kind of things that I had to do here . I was assigned to a man called Mucke (his nickname) . He was a thourough man . A man with whom anyone would love working . He was the typical German built .. sturdy and energetic ..tough from the outside but soft from within. He liked the idea of an Indian student coming all the way to Germany for internship , so he treated me like his younger brother , but still the task in hand was far from pleasing . I was to assist him in packing and sticking shipping lists . Man o Man .. And did he work like a dog. If there is one person I respect even today as the most faithful and efficient worker I ve seen , it s him . He seemed to be in his late forties and his job was to pack the thermocouples and heat sensors in a cardboard box ,weigh them , stick appropriate documents on them and dispatch them to the entrance , all of which he used to manage single handedly before I was asked to help. I still wonder whether I was of more help or trouble , because initially , the language barrier made us do crazy things like acting out every word, sometimes hilarious but sometimes desperate!! ,but the two months in the dispatch and warehouse department , now when I look back seem like the most valuable lessons of my life.So though I was initially overwhelmed with grief that ..here I was ..doing something that blue collared workers would do in India when I came with a dream of working with the auto majors (the likes of Audi , VW!!) . But life is a wonderful teacher, stern at times ,but very valuable teachings these were. Here I learnt dignity of labour, I learnt how to clean the workspace after I am done , and here is again where I learnt to respect hard work.

So after a backbreaking work of a day , I was all exhausted by body and drained of enthusiasm . I once again started feeling low for having come all the way to this cold ,alien land and doing what I had to do in the shopfloor when I dreamt of working in plush offices!

Just then the most incredible thing of my life happened. Clara, the Office personal assistant came towards me , smiled and handed me a paper to sign into . I was curious, but pretty much done for the day with zilch energy to strike a conversation , so I took up the paper , which looked like some official document . The only thing that was in English was my name .The Deutsch in it made me feel dizzy ,all I could read was that it had some amount written on it and some other high fi official stuff in german. I turned and asked clara what it was with the most questioning gesture I could make so that she understood my German. She gave a huge glaring smile and said in English “ Mr. Pavan – congrats this is your pay slip:” . I read it over again and it made sense this time surprisingly . The nebula of language barrier vanished ,I felt like hugging someone . I thanked God for my first Salary slip –which read “Mr.S.G.S.Pavan,son of Mr.R.Swaminathan, an intern from Sastra university ,India … ….. 500/ -Euros per monat. I felt at the top of the world , for a moment I just couldn’t hear the fan, the trawler, the machines. everything was shut out .It was a really accomplishing feeling , after all the ass whipping I had to go through , felt like I had been more than compensated .

That night I called home and told my dad “Dad –your son earned his first income today(though it was more of wages)” and I could literally feel the happiness in his voice.

Love is a Chemical Reaction

LOVE IS A CHEMICAL REACTION.

A very meaningful quote says “ Life is like tennis , U first serve and it all begins with love all !!”.The truth in the adage can make sense only when you experience the “butterfly effect”!! The word love can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure(I loved that meal") to intense interpersonal attraction ("I love my girlfriend"). This diversity of meanings, combined with the complexity of the feelings involved, makes love unusually difficult to consistently define.

Never the less as the latter definition of the emotion seems more apt from a college magazine s point of view , we shall dwell with it in more refinement.

The moment we hear the word love, a touch of romanticism is expected in dealing with the subject ; like Shah rukh khan s dialogues or Richard geres moves flood our thoughts . But hey .. hold on ..apply brakes to your imaginations ,because this article deals with the tough fact of life- the fact that in Quantum Physical terms , we are just Energy and in Biological terms, our emotions are but mere chemicals and ions getting transmitted through the synapse of nerves.

So what actually happens when Cupid shoots his arrow on you ? When you see that one amazing person with whom you instantly fall in love ( love at first sight ..huh ..whatever that means!) How is it then that butterfly s roam in your stomach s and poems flow through your mouths ?

This is what happens !!

Recent studies in neuroscience have indicated that as people fall in love, the brain consistently releases a certain set of chemicals, including pheromones, dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, which act in a manner similar to amphetamines, stimulating the brain's pleasure center and leading to side effects such as increased heart rate, loss of appetite and sleep, and an intense feeling of excitement.So when we see that person whom we are attracted to , the naughty chemicals start working and we feel a sense of pleasure ,and if we are lucky enough , we can sing a duet in Switzerland (in our dreams of course..hey we are mere MBA students, it s recession time .. Switzerland for a song is what Bollywood people do , not us!)

Anyway , here s the most amusing part :

Research has also indicated that this stage generally lasts from one and a half to three years. So no wonder ,if love is an arrest warrant , marriage is the death sentence because by the time one loves and marries, the body grows immune to the chemicals and brushes them aside !!So love and build a relationship within three years lest it fade away !! Yeah , truth is bitter at times! , but here s when it gets more bitter :

In 2005, Italian scientists at Pavia University found that a protein molecule known as the nerve growth factor (NGF) has high levels when people first fall in love, but these return to previous levels after one year. Ha ha .. So it s finally just One year if you are lucky enough .

Now before the sentimental and emotional people follow up and make a mess of me , it s time to say that “hey , these are what researchers say , I don’t subscribe to them , cause even if it is just for a year or half.. It s worth having that feeling !! after all .. all good things come to an end , and so do the chemicals that romanticize us and turn us into the characters of a Mills and boon”.

Spirituality and Quantum Physics

Quantum Physics and Spirituality!

I was sitting there deeply contemplating on the relevance of a topic on which I could give a write up for our I5 magazine ..I thought of everything from the latest Terror strikes , MRA camp , The rat race in MBA , the Financial depression but finally decided that I had very little of erudition to take a stand on any of these independent topics. Instead I have decided to give a write up on a subject that is the base of all other topics and crux of all issues that Man experiences . In all humility I must first confess that the views presented by me are very primitive as I am but on the beginning of the road to the ultimate destination of Mankind – “The reason of our existence”

It would be foolish of me if I would present the entirety of the great truths that several sages and great philosophers took eons to build in a single page of some college magazine, never the less I would like to share with all a few succinct ideas.

Since we are the enlightened few who have had the advantage of attending school and studying a wonderful subject –Physics, I would like to physically J , rather Quantum Physically deal with the experience of life.

What are we? Where do we come from? And where do we go ? These are questions that are finally needed to be fought with. Though Darwinism is a view, I would like to propose a different take on it.. “We are nothing but Energy” – This is the crux of VEDANTA . This is the crux of Taoism, This is the core of all Zhuan Falun, and interestingly, or rather alarmingly, this is the base of QUANTUM Physics !!.

The spiritual teachings deal with the existence of Prana within us, which is the Life source of the Energy( wave form ) . It is this energy, which after the perishing of our body goes into unison with the source which we call as the Creator.

Max Plannk stumbled upon the idea that proved that all matter was made of waves and they possessed the energy given by E=hc/Ϡ, and soon Schrödinger showed with a wave expression that all matter could be described in terms of waveforms that can be given by the equation :

Louis de Broglie's realized that standing waves exist at discrete frequencies and thus energies is obviously true.

Erwin Schrodinger discovered that when frequency f and de Broglie wavelength y were substituted into general wave equations it becomes possible to express energy E and momentum mv as wave functions - thus a confined particle (e.g. an electron in an atom/molecule) with known energy and momentum functions could be described with a certain wave function.

Finally the genius of our times even Albert Einstein proved while describing the photo electronic effect that matter is made of waves and waves had a particle nature.

Also equating the E=mc^2 to the general conservation of energy princliple to energy of waves given by E=hc/Ϡ, we can equate mass (mass being the property of matter to Ϡ, nature of wave)

Thus, proving again, that matter and waves are dual.

So what does this show – It proves that we human beings ,the species called Homo Sapiens who take so much pride in the word “I” , we who kill each other on the name of Religion , We who waste away the precious moments of our life in toiling to stay ahead in the rat race are nothing but mere waves forms, who have all emerged from the same source – the infinity and will again go into unison with the same source ,blissfully following the law of Conservation of energy “ Energy can neither be created nor destroyed it can only be transformed from one form to another” just like the Sanskrit shloka says : “ Like a snake wilts it s skin and grows a new one, our soul migrates from one cover(body) to another while the essence of our existence , our soul remains indestructible like energy”.

Now that we know that our soul is indestructible , why this journey ?It must be pretty much evident to people with even a speck of reasoning that since the material possessions do not come along with us, nor do our identity that we create after much of sweat and toil , what is our purpose in this universe? Where do we fit in? Here again PHYSICS and VEDANTA come to the rescue, as Vedanta and Geeta propose, there are billions of world within each of us and we are all powerful . Our mind is the strongest power in this world – It is very true that “I think therefore I am” Just as philosophy says that by controlling our thoughts we can master the universe, consider this:

The Newton s law of gravitation , the strongest law of nature states that every body with mass M1 attracts every other body with mass M2 to itself with a force given by

F = GM1M2/R^2

So how does this help us to achieve what we want through our thoughts?

Our thoughts are frequencies (as can be seen by neural equipments : beta and gamma waves) these frequencies will definitely also have a particle nature as proposed by Einstein and all of quantum Physics, so the situation in hand is that our thoughts are like particles and so are other thoughts and other materials in the universe, So just like Newton said, these attract the things we want to attract with the force given by Newton s equation. This would mean that we could attract wealth, health everything we want and truly rein the universe if we knew to control our thoughts!

Now that we know that we are energy and are all powerful in this universe, capable of attracting whatever we want, we may want to try it, as even I have tried. It works in most of the cases and proves how Prayers are heard and the universal truth responds to our needs. So are we equipped with the highest order of truth?

Well, not really, because there was another revealing discovery that was made by a great scientist called Heisenberg – The Uncertainty principle, which explains fate!!

Wipe your tears off

ARE NT WE ASHAMED OF OURSELVES ?

It shames me to write about it now on the backdrop of a burning ,agitating and helpless nation on the wake of the recent seizure on her financial nerve, but I shall never the less give vent to my emotions on it now, because our nation wakes only when we are shaken awake and hence the best time to blog about it would be before Sehwag s hair implantation takes the front news again!!

Terrorism or not , I am not informed enough to decide .. Religious fundamentalism or not .. we are not in a position to take a call on it .. “Violent upraisal of the oppressed or not , None of us have the right to decide” , but whatever we call it , this venomous serpent has the poison to sting the nation to paralysis if not to a fatality.

So as patriotic citizens and educated ones , let us try and awaken ourselves to the reality ..the reality of the Universe-“ call it the Newton s third law or cause and effect relationship”, somewhere down the line when we are affected, it means that we as individuals have affected the cause too . Hard to digest , tough to reconcile with ..but TRUE. “Reality bites ,but this is Reality”. The fact that this spurt of anger and action would soon die down ,be forgotten by all of us who are not direct victims of this act of cowardice is what gives the courage for an act like this.

Whenever there is an attack , one gets to realize that there is a motive even higher than money.. higher than religion.. higher than even Life .The motive that motivates the millions of sons to abandon their families , their money , their reasoning and eventually their life for a cause , a cause they believe is the sole motive of their existence. What drives them ? where are we getting disconnected ? It is difficult to contemplate about the murderers of infants and innocent citizens of our soils with a humane perspective. It is almost impossible to go beyond the hatred to try and reason out that there might exist a reason even beyond the ones of Money.. religion and brainwashing that is fed upon us day in and day out by the responsible media and Governments .

Why am I being a proponent of a truce ?!? well .. it s kind of tough to see the reasoning behind it , but the only thing that comes to my mind is :: “what else can we helpless people do ?” we can’t build a fortress around us and defeat the very purpose of staying alive .. what else can we do ?.. can we retaliate . “ It s easy for someone like me sitting in the confinities of a secure ( supposedly secure) MBA college and write that we must deal with it tactically and humanely , but the only reasoning I am trying to make is that “ An Eye for an Eye would leave the world blind” I know .. I know , very seldom youngsters subscribe to the idea of such old fashioned gandhism in our X generation . this is for those who are inspired by the Peace lyrics of rock bands .. taken from the song by IRON MAIDEN which is apt for the present situation:

liberty or death, what we so proudly hail
once you provoke her, rattling of her tail
never begins it, never, but once engaged...
never surrenders, showing the fangs of rage

So yes, there is a grave problem .. what is the problem ?? “Is it ..Terrorism… Religious fundamentalism ??,..” no these are just the symptoms and one cannot cure the disease by handling the symptoms .. “ heavy security may alleviate the attacks but will not solve the problem:” .. “No , being more vigilant might stop a casualty or two but will not cure the disease” . The need for the moment is to go back to the fundamentals of our NATION which has survived unphased the acid tests of British rule.. the torments of the Natural disasters .. the fangs of religious fanaticism . The cure is in Taking pride of who we are and what we stand for :The cure lies in reviving the India of the dreams of Mahatma Gandhi or Akbar ..

The cure is in revisiting the culture of our yore the biggest gift of Humanity “ THE GIFT OF TOLERANCE” . We might need to, for a moment forget(for our own benefit.. I know forgive would be too big a word) the scars and move on into creating an atmosphere of mutual trust . This is my idea ( being a student , drilled into my encephalon is the style of proposing the suggestions in points , so I will take the seriousness of the situation as grave enough to get the mob s attention in spite of having not laying forth the ideas in a paragraph!!)

Let us first start respecting the views of our aggressors and sympathize with the wrong doings that we have done in their lives – be it the rapes in the North East by our respectable army or killings in the valley and the insensitiveness with which we deal the issue of the motive of a terror attack.. Let us become more aware of them. Let the media point out the shamefulness of these acts of cowardice that we commit and then try and reason out the vicious circle that we create.

The only way this could be done is by being more sensitive to these issues and listen intently and again trying and creating a nation wide urge to express solidarity with our brothers in the North East or the valley ... “I understand that anything against our army is deemed unpatriotic ..and unfair as it is the Army which stands by us when the insensitive and morons across the world want chaos , but it is better to rinse the stain before it gets scathed.

We in our college like all others were discussing on what we could do to show that we care about our existence and ruled out black bands or mourning as symbols of protest or solidarity . . These acts will do nothing .. nothing to solve the issue , nothing to soothe the victims either , so I trust that the plan of action could be : Since so much of the terror is attributed to be driven by religious fundamentalism , the religious heads of the nation should not only strongly condemn and hang their heads low on the issue but come and show that they really care.. by reaching out to the victims, creating a fund for the victims and sending a message that if there are people who donate for jehad, there are more of us who donate to stop the injustice. There must be a national level solidarity among the clerics that they would every time issue a fatwa against the terrorist and among the saints that they would every time criticize and blaspheme the traitors of the religion who kill others.

If we are not ready to treat the aggressors as humans who have been tried and severly ill treated or oppressed throughout and only subscribe to the media which portrays only a one sided picture of what we want to see .. which shows the aggressors as mere animals inflicting harm for their material pleasure we are grossly mistaken . If we tend to disbelieve that that the resentments and terrorism is created due to the grave circumstances people are put through , we have “NO RIGHT AS INDIANS TO BE PROUD OF THE MANBOOKER PRICE WINNER ARVIND ADIGA – who tells the story of an oppressed but determined person who in an urge to break his shakles of servitude and slavery cold bloodedly murders his beloved master who was as timid as the lamb because of what the master s relatives do to him and his family” – how powerfully and truly portrayed are the emotions of a normal human being .

It is for us to decide whether we would be proud to live a life of a State that would not compromise on it s strong stand on sensitive issues or a Nation that is sensitive to human emotions and serves well the doctrines of Democracy and Secularism and eventually triumph over the darkness of human intents.