Honnasiri's Catch

Having a rich culture is a boon, and a rare one. There are fewer countries, each time you count them, that seek to preserve theirs in all its glory. A deeper look into most of these cultures can convert this boon into a bane that parades right under our noses. This comparison can be simplistically defined as a western / western whitewash vs. a century / millennia-old preservation. It can also be classified science / reason/ logic heavy vs. a collection of arbitrary habits that add colour to the variety of ways people live. They made sense in a setting that has been preserved from a long time ago, that sometimes can just be cute and antiquated today, and it may or may not be realistically holding out as a sensible lifestyle against the tide of change. If the latter is your thing, what you are is blindfolded. You are, thereby, blind to everything except those things that define your cultural 'fold'. Just not your eyes, but your mind too. The blindfold over your mind keeps it wor...

Career hazards are a part of every job. A lot of times, they make it worth the risk. If you manage to cross over, it's certainly worth it, and it makes trying (without succeeding) worth the effort. Politics, too, is a career. With the shuffle of people back and forth once they get into inner circles, it certainly isn't a vocation they just end up finding themselves lucky to do. It has prep and reward involved—all which any politician should feel guilty about as long they are doing their jobs. And like every organisation and industry, there is competition, and not just the healthy type. Since the chances of them having a honourable merit-based in-organisation hierarchy in politics is low in India, there is  confrontation, which has now become the standard. It's like all politicians are trying their best to be champions in limbo (the game), outdoing one another when one sets a brand new low for inter-political and personal respect for colleagues and peers as humans—defamat...