Honnasiri's Catch

It's that time of the year again: election season. When a politician's worst fear comes alive, and they outdo themselves to prevent it from happening using many methods, sane and insane. Some of these include foot-in-mouth, out of context, talk to the hand, the clarification and many other such methods. There are so many there's a dedicated dictionary that has documented the old and the new ones we know of. Check it out here.  But they aren't the only ones to blame. Everyone's also gets wagging, tongue or not, when they see the banners come out, roads decorated sans occasion and their politicians getting some sun. Now we all make hay when the sun shines, so let's talk about everyone else reveling the sun too. Let's keep the conversation balanced with truth.  To start with, the news. This is one of those times when it's blooming season for them. Then there's the extra party party: everyone who isn't important enough to be a part of their fav...

Nationhood is very much like parenthood with the disappointment, or happiness, of children choosing their own ways when they grow older. All of us have common historical identity. We all studied in the same schools, learnt the same history, had almost similar cultural influences... we're the same bunch. We practically grew up in the same, albeit, large house. Hers is the typical Indian family with a lot of children. Just like any children who grew up together, we made our adult choices of inclination towards one side. Our own situations compelled us to make our choices with clear conviction, however ridiculous, including the one to stay away from politics completely.  Like any happy family that accepts its own siblings, despite differences, we ought to do exactly that. Whatever we stand for and fight for apart, we're still one big happy family. Slightly irritating, maybe, but nonetheless. When in a tight spot, we help each other out in brotherly & sisterly love. At ho...

Coming from We have no rights... In this age of rising consumerism, there is a strange sense of what's due to us — in the services these Pvt. Ltds. provide, from their very stated purpose and motive to exist and thrive to the freedoms and sops that are freely expected so that a favourable economic system is available for their growth (of course, not forgetting our benefit as well *sly wink*). A capitalistic society considers the rise of industry the foundation of its prosperity, but a more objective look will show you that we are creating a monster that we are breeding our complete dependence on. It will become its own and will control us. It's like a stilt house on a river that's poorly built but which we yet insist on additionally supporting because of the convenient, mostly blind short-term attention span that we exercise with things like success, aspiration, achievement and glory. Most obsessions over these concepts are by people who haven't been imbibed with...

You raise up your head And you ask, “Is this where it is?” And somebody points to you and says “It’s his” And you say, “What’s mine?” And somebody else says, “Where what is?” And you say, “Oh my God Am I here all alone?” - Bob Dylan, Ballad Of A Thin Man What's mine? Well, what indeed is? As a matter of fact, what's ours? How does it become ours? In the politics of grabbing to keep, this becomes a pivotal moral question. Furthermore, what should we be able to expect without question and pay back to the givers in person-to-person, customer-to-company and inter-family relations? In all the demands we make with these, there are never rules set. They are always based on reciprocation — kinda like if-we're-in-this-together-it-has-to-be-give-and-take. Kinda like we just go with the natural limits of how far we can go with how much we are getting back, and we do that with equal sanctity for the other person's kickbacks as much as we protect ours with. Tha...

In the last two posts( 1 & 2 ), I've spoken about a contributive economy - one which is created by the dynamic of individuals contributing to it, as opposed to just filling spaces that are vacated and being cogs in the ever-growing cyclic machine of the world today. Being a contributor in this economy is rather difficult, despite the noise and jargon the majority of educational institutions in this country make their sales pitches on and the  horn that the majority of the corporate world blows every so often. A contributive economy is one that is constantly original, in the sense that it only starts at the individual's conviction with what he injects into it (and which  plays out collectively, with each one contributing with this principle always intact). He shouldn't necessarily be playing by the rules, unless: 1) The economy serves/has been serving the interests it exists to serve, better than with the method of the individual. 2) The economy has less down...

Man's an animal. We've gone the old academia route to actually establish and tell our children that, way when they are in school. Before they can make a full and complete choice how, and what, they want to make of themselves in life. As this post will prove, even before they can see the potential of humanity otherwise. We layer on that teaching of good moral values and teaching that we must be human - because after all that's what we are. The truth is that, whether man is a animal or not, man has become one. One with a tie, suit and a business plan. One with a developed knowledge and intelligence that masks his animalistic instincts and gives them a shine before turning them into accolades that generations that follow must aim for. One that has made himself into a self-industrious robot to do more, more and more... more, more and more... more, more and more... and more like that... always and ever more - else life is meaningless. We have become that which our natural f...

We, in morality replete India, are full of taboo phobia - either because we are soft (which we are) or we know that others are soft. Wait, no, not soft. Sensitive is the politically right term (and sometimes haughtily arrogant ). When you dig deeper, you also find that we also make the active (or silent) choice to be the product of ourselves. We are like that only types . We just are, we take it way more seriously than we ourselves will possibly admit or imagine and you have to respect that. Otherwise we shoot you down. Another thing we really love is our dislike for bad words. We just outright hate some words. British, America, Western... Add to that 'foreign' - the one that the F in FDI stands for in the most recent bad word dislike phobia outbreak that has occurred. It's not so much about the pros and cons. It seems like the phobia that the British instilled into us when they cushioned themselves in on our bounty and threw us out after. Modern diplomacy indeed is forg...