How is that a bunch of good for nothing bigots who have contributed nothing intellectually, culturally, economically or socially except to serve as dead-weight on the ankle of India who is in a mortal struggle to free herself from debilitating social evils and systemic problems get to decide on what others should or should not do? How is it that they have a right to be outraged when people don’t take their god or gods or prophets or whatever seriously? Why is that their sense of outrage at books being written or words spoken more important in the eyes of society than the outrage of the common man at having his freedom to enjoy what he likes, to travel wherever he wants or his right to personal safety violated?

Anyone can believe in anything. That is up to them and their right to do so is something that is worthy of protection by every member of our society. But, to think that everyone should respect what they respect as a result of their beliefs is a mistake and  if such desires are indulged it can do immeasurable harm to the intellectual and moral fabric of our society. If the government is going to accept that no ideas that can “offend” people can be disseminated then where are we going to find material with which we can evaluate, understand and question ourselves? If intellectuals, artists and activists have to operate under the yoke of religious bigotry and blackmail by pre-modern  organizations, then what hope do we have as a society of progress and enlightenment?

If the government is worried about the hurt caused to people why doesn’t it take into account the outrage that the decent, hard-working moderate majority of India feels on seeing their fellow citizens of talent, ability and erudition threatened? What about their hurt at finding out that the government won’t be willing to side with them in a confrontation with violent bigotry? What about their opinion on books and movies denied to them because it is offensive to someone else?

What is this “offense” or insult anyway!? I have the right to say no to anything that can happen inside my house or be exposed to without my express intent. I shouldn’t be allowed to decide what others should read, what others should write, what should be available on the book-shelves of India, what DVDs and CDs are available for purchase, what audio can be distributed, what can be there on the internet etc. etc.. If there are outright lies being published under the guise of fact, I can challenge them in court with a request for evidence.

There is a silent, faceless enemy among us, stalking our future. It fills the dark deprived recesses of our society and uses the cover afforded it by the ignorance and helplessness of the masses. The authorities think that they are “playing it safe” by forfeiting every challenge thrown its way. They think that they are doing the people a favor by allowing them to be lead by people with a divisive and communal ideology motivated by political aims and personal ambitions. Every time the people in charge, whose responsibility it is to know better and safeguard our values and true legacy take a step back and shy away from confrontation, they are simply setting themselves up for a bigger challenge in the future. The stakes will be higher and giving up might not be a  tenable option then…

The government does not ban every book, movie or painting that offends any number of people. Only when there is a threat of violence does it rush to oblige the demands made of it. What does that tell people who are taught to be intolerant? That if you ask nicely no matter how reasonable you are no one is going to listen to you. But, if you are going to make a lot of noise and threaten to unleash death and violence then whatever you want will be given to you. When civil rights organizations, authors’ guilds and decent people request the government for lawful protection the government has a moral obligation to listen. Else, eventually, the only people left with options will be the ones prepared to kill and once everyone realizes that, we will be only a stone’s throw away from anarchy and bloodshed.

The constitution sadly provides protection(Section 295A of the IPC) against criticism targeted at religious ideas. But, what about injury targeted at more universal ideas like freedom or expression, right to criticize and right to question? Are they not worthy of at least as much protection as old fairy tales? Reading the First Amendment to the US constitution was an instructive experience for me. It cannot be the business of the government to act as the protector of religious dogmas.

It is not enough that the government does not ban anything, it has to step in and use its muscle to protect people when rights are under attack. We have no issue with deploying massive forces against our own people. We don’t mind it when government machinery and money is put to use to maintain and service pilgrimage routes and to help people make pilgrimages. When there is an individual being threatened we must not think in terms of his security. It is our own freedom that is under attack. Nothing can be more precious and worthy of defense than that.

I read today in the morning paper that the authors at JLF read out passages from The Satanic Verses as a gesture of resistance. Individuals showed courage and vision that is worthy of emulation by our country. People like them are the ones who keep the flickering flame of hope for this country burning.

It was a book which in many ways espoused ideas that were completely different from mine. The idea of irrational optimism and the notion that when you set out to do something that you are “destined” to do, then everything will fall in place smoothly is something that I have always found contrary to my experience. The idea that the universe somehow wants us to succeed also doesn’t hold water with me.

I don’t believe that the universe or this earth or for that matter, any inanimate thing in it cares about what our destiny is. It is something that is up to us to find out and even when we do that it is not a choice which can be verified on the touchstone of luck. It is up to us at every single point of time to judge whether we made the right choice. Whether we did something that we might regret in the future. Whether the path we have chosen will bring us happiness and fulfillment.

When I see someone whine about how everything, even “God” is working against them, I feel a little bad. I think the truth that chance is blind and doesn’t discriminate between people is something that should allow us to see things with a certain detachment. All we can do is skew the odds in our favor with hard work. It is also important that we learn to enjoy the process of achieving our ends as much as the ends themselves. All great people did that, and I don’t believe that true success is possible without such an attitude. Also, with such an approach to life, I don’t think it is possible to fail. Chance can do all it wants to do, but if we enjoy playing the game as much as we do winning at it, then there is hardly anything that can go wrong.

Sometimes, I feel that I am not good enough to do what I do, but then I think, at least I have the heart to put in the extra effort. I would be absolutely lost without that. Besides, I enjoy spending long hours thinking and turning around stuff inside my head. I might be a little slow with the results. But, at least, I enjoy getting them…

The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.

John Powell

There are a lot of trekking and photography enthusiasts in our team and I often used to listen to their exciting stories and salivate over their stunning photos. But, I never got the chance to go with them some place. Finally, they had a plan to go with their regular group to a new trekking destination(usually, they go to the sharavati valley) and I joined in with them.

I was a little apprehensive as I was in an unfamiliar group and I knew only 1 guy in the group of about 20 people. Plus, I don’t understand Kannada. But, my colleague Raghu very soon put me at ease and I was soon feeling like I was part of the team. We set off by about 10 from Bangalore and reached Nagarhole Park by 5 in the morning.

After freshening up and having coffee we set off on our way to the Abailu Anti Poaching Camp. On the way we stopped at a place for breakfast and to pick up supplies and stuff.

After a bumpy ride we came to the start of a trail and from we got off the tempo to make it lighter and easier to drive on the broken terrain and walked to the camp. It was a wide open space in the midst of the forest and there was a small building there with a few rooms, a kitchen and a toilet. There was also a small hut and a campfire spot. We settled down there and after a while set off for the Karekkadu waterfalls. A couple of forest guards were accompanying us. We walked along a wide path for a while and after that we turned off the trail to the right and into the jungle. The climate was perfect. There was a little stream that we had to cross along the way we washed our faces in it.

After walking for about an hour we came to the edge of a bigger stream. We hopped along its edge and after making a turn, we came upon one of the most awesome sights that I have ever seen. There were a couple of pools made by the steeply falling water and then there was the precipitous mouth of the falls.

I was suddenly feeling very jittery and just sat down on a steep rock inside a cave and watched as all the others got into the water. Then Sampath, the guy who organized the tour came along and said that I should take a dip in the water and relax.

Thankfully, I followed the advice and very soon I was again calm and cool. I sat for a while under the pounding weight of the cascading falls and imagined all my jitteriness being washed away by the water. I then got out and lay down for a while in the sun.

By then, the guides had bought along our lunch of rice and sambhar and we ate it. After that we walked back to the camp. I felt that the trek was a little too short compared to the awesomeness of the fall. Anyway, I spent the rest of the evening trying to learn something about photography from the others.

This was the first time I was with an experienced group and looking at their expensive equipment and stunning photos of birds and wildlife, I could see that they knew a lot. In many ways this was the trip that I learned the most on. That afternoon I experimented with my point-and-shoot. Night approached and we had a fantastic meal of chapathis, sabji, rice, sambhar and payasam. When the time came to sleep, I and Raghu decided to sleep outside. Sampath warned us that it would get pretty cold in the night. But, we insisted. I had only a thin sheet to cover myself with and initially that was enough. After a while I suddenly woke up and realized that a chilling wind had blown my namesake blanket off. After that things started getting pretty brutal. In the dead of the night we were discussing about the most scientific way to reduce the surface area and stuff. All of it was useless since the sheet that I had did not cover me head to toe. I waited for the dark hours to pass in a fetal position hiding from the wind behind my backpack. Eventually some guy went out and restarted the campfire. I had that idea before. But, I was not confident about executing the plan and living to enjoy it’s fruits.

I dumped all my carefully prepared defenses and ran to the fire. As I felt the warmth flowing into me I realized just how vulnerable man is against one of the most elementary and arguably benign of nature’s forces. After breakfast Sampath came along and we narrated our tale to him. He asked me whether I thought that it would have been better if I had listened to him. I thought for a while and suddenly I realized that I did not. It was a difficult experience. But, it was a new one and in hindsight one that I consider to have learned something from.

The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.

John Powell

The next day we trekked about 10 kms to Abailu, through thick forests…

and wide open grasslands..

On the way we spotted some deers and birds. The landscape was very inspiring.

I tried out some stock tricks that I knew with my camera…

There was a bunch of the most pristine pools that I have ever seen in my life. Edged by steep rocks and neck-deep. The water was too cold for me to stay in it for more than 20 mins. We got out dried ourselves and trekked back to the camp.

We spotted a lot of deer, birds, wild dogs etc. on the way. After reaching the camp we set off for Bangalore. On the way we dropped in on the Bandipore National Park which was a bit of a bore after Nagarhole.

On the whole, it was an amazing trip and I was able to witness first-hand for the fast time the passion and zeal of these people and the amount of time, effort and money they devote to it. I picked up a lot of lessons and valuable experiences from this trip and I will always cherish them.

Here is the link to the photos shared on Google Plus.

Thomas Jefferson

Image via Wikipedia

These are some of the books I bought very recently. They are Randamoozham by MT Vasudevan Nair, The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger, The Meaning of it All by Richard P Feynman, Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant and Feynman’s Lectures on Physics. I have not read any Malayalam novels till now. My malayalam reading was strictly restricted to Catechism and very rarely newspapers. I recently realized that I was missing out on some classic works whose charm can never be captured by a translation.

One of my friends recently happened to mention that she found malayalam novels to be better than English ones. While I did not agree with that I could understand why someone would think that. A language is not merely a tool for communication. It is, in a manner, a representation of a particular culture and way of life. Of a particular style of thinking. Of a particular way of seeing things. Closely tied to the geography, food, culture, values and sensibilities of a particular people.

A work written in a language conveys depths of information that are visible only to the people who are from that culture or have deeply studied it. No one can relate to the ideas and understand the subtle meanings that the author tries to convey as well as a native speaker of that language. This could be the reason why a person would consider books written in his/her language better than books in other languages.

Sometimes, it is not just the language that matters. People tend to have a bias towards authors from similar surrounding as themselves. For example, God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy is a book that I simply adore. Obviously, it is a very well written book that has a captivating style. But, over and above that, when I read it I remember my childhood in Kerala and it brings back memories of the rural lifestyle in my state. These recollections make the experience a more enjoyable one.

I have received some recommendations for some more must-read malayalam books. Planning to acquire them soon! Any recommendations that you might have are welcome!

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This was, to say the least, simply shocking for me. You could tell that the guy was pretty depressed but trying to grasp the “wisdom” that his elders were trying to inject into him. They recounted tales of how they had suffered because of their dark skin and how they had to use loads of “Fair and lovely” in their teens to ameliorate their condition and all.

I cannot simply grasp how people in an educated society can think in this manner and place a premium on fair skin over any other quality. How can such a literally skin deep quality take priority over lasting and deeper qualities like professional aptitude, character and intellect? Why is black or dark skin considered to be a bad quality? Why do people automatically assume that fair skin is equivalent to beauty?

Do they think that by perpetuating the same kind of petty injustice that they were subjected to will somehow make their suffering worthwhile!? Is it not more prudent to use one’s experience to understand how pointless this kind of behavior is and try and excise such tendencies from our family?

I have also had my fair share of pity for being dark. Relatives used to express their sympathy for my predicament and finish off by alluding to the sliver lining that I was at least fortunate enough to be not born as a girl. Initially, I too accepted their point that dark skin and looking okay don’t go together. But, I could see pretty girls everywhere and all of them were just as likely to be dark as fair. But somehow a lot of people don’t agree. They simply say, “oh! athu karuthatha”, as if somehow that straight away meant that the person was disqualified from being considered pretty. Eventually, I figured out that I don’t have to agree with others when it comes to subjective things like beauty. I also decided that I would never let anyone tell me what/who is beautiful and why so.

I am not a big fan of judging people by appearances. But, it is kind of understandable if some people are naturally predisposed to like people with a pleasing appearance. It is also possible to digest the fact that for some people looks matter the most. But, what is sometimes in doubt, at least for me is whether we intrinsically consider black to be less beautiful or is it something that social conditioning and childhood experiences inculcate in us. Maybe the association between dark skin and labor in the sun and our malayalee tendency to consider manual work as something less respectable is the reason for our disdain for dark skin.

Whatever maybe the reasons that our elders had for assuming that dark skin meant that you were from a socially backward section, those reasons no longer exist. But, like all the other superstitions and irrational little quirks, this prejudice too prevails in our society. It is hard to fathom the negative impact this has on young children and people of marriage age, especially girls. Discrimination is always deeply resented and the hurt it causes is doubled when it is in the name of something the value of which is purely notional.

Cultural specifics like these can never be fought with law or persuasion. The changes should happen within ourselves. I believe that when it comes to this particularly pointless discrimination our generation wields the power to end it once and for all. We can start by not allowing skin color to influence the choice of our mates with whom we will hopefully spend a lifetime together. By not making our kids feel uncomfortable about their bodies unless they are treating it badly and setting themselves up for bad health in the future. We can teach them to understand that people are complicated and beautiful and help them appreciate the deep and meaningful qualities that each one can possess.

There is no use blaming cosmetic manufacturers or movies or ads or the media in general for the situation. They merely sell products that we want to buy. Unless we change our tastes they are going to keep on reinforcing such self-perpetuating and irrational prejudices in our society.

Image by karthys via Flickr

On top of Kundadri

Last week, I saw an article in The Hindu about how Hulikal had overtaken Agumbe as the place receiving the most rainfall in South India. I had heard a lot about Agumbe(famous for the King Cobra) and a wish to see that place where the Malgudi Days(Serial) was shot was always there in my heart. I decided that last weekend was a good time to go there. Immediately, I called up KP and asked him whether he wanted to join me. After that I did a little bit of research online and booked the bus tickets. There is only one direct bus to Agumbe from Bangalore and back. On Friday, Febin too joined us and I got a ticket for him too.

It had been a long time since I had gone somewhere and I was pretty excited about the trip. After trawling the blogosphere I came up with the name of one Kasturi Akka who arranges stay and food for people who visit Agumbe. I called the lady up and arranged for our weekend stay.

On Friday night, Febin managed to get us an entry-level SLR and I was very happy about that. The bus started at 10 and reached Agumbe by around 7. It was very foggy and cold the morning we got there. We quickly made our way to Kasturi Akka’s house which kind of defines Agumbe as it is one of the largest structures there and almost certainly the oldest. I was pleased to see that the place was not very touristy and everything was calm, quite and sleepy(just as I had imagined it). The house was the one in which Malgudi Days was shot. It had that aura that comes with age and the gentle character of its inhabitants. We learned later that it was around 127 yrs old. We went inside and were treated to the sight of a big nadukalam and living quarters surrounding it. We went and met Kasturi Akka who seemed to be the head of the family and introduced ourselves. After freshening up we had a breakfast of idlis and then set out on our way to the Barkana Falls view point.

Just landed in Agumbe

View Point

We got to the start of the trail by Auto. On the way we had to register ourselves at the police station which is near the Agumbe stand. We started to walk along the trail. It was a good refreshing walk and we passed a couple of meadows and small streams on the way. After a few kms we came to the view-point. We could see Barkana Falls from a distance and we could see that it was pretty impressive. Also, it was deep inside the forest . we had initially thought that the trail would take us to the waters. We were a little disappointed when we saw that it was just a viewpoint. After that, we did something incredibly stupid. We thought that if we walked through the forest, we could get to the waters. After trying that for around 1 hr, we realized that we were disoriented and the forest was too thick to proceed. KP kind of saved our lives by leading us out by following some branches that he had the good sense to break on the way. On the way back, suddenly what must have been around a million crickets suddenly started going crick-crick-crick. I never imagined that crickets could be so loud. It drowned out every other sound and we couldn’t hear even ourselves. It was a little unsettling coming on top of the fact that we were a little lost.

on the way to the view point

a something KP spotted on the way. Any know what it is?

Barkana Falls view point

Jogigundi Falls

Jogigundi Falls

But, thankfully, we made our way back to the trail and then back to the main road. On the way back, we took the diversion to Jogigundi Falls. After a short trek we got to the base of the falls which looks like a calm swimming pool. We had a pleasant and refreshing dip in the water. Afterwards we made our way back to the house and had a quick-lunch. After lunch we went on a walk to the sunset point nearby. It was along the state highway and all the vehicles passing by stop there. So, it was very crowded. We hung about for a while and then returned. After bath and lunch we were talking to a family member. He said that there was temple nearby which was around 800 yrs old. We were interested and we went with him to the temple.

Rajarajeshwari Temple

It was one of the best memories of the trip for me. There was some elaborate pooja going on and I too walked along with a dude who was holding up some statue around the temple a few times. There were pretty lights and clanging bells and it was a nice experience. It was then that I realized a profound truth. No matter which God you believe in or which religion you belong to there is something deeply special and magical about a place of worship. It is this. The closed eyes and bowed heads all around you gives you such a great opportunity to check out all the pretty girls gathered there at your own pace. Being surrounded by so much natural beauty was truly uplifting. When the pooja got over, we got some stuff to eat and a beetle leaf and areca nut to chew. Afterwards we walked around in the night and talked about our day and plans for the next day.

Kundadri

The next day after breakfast, we caught a bus to Gudikere. From them we tried getting an Auto to Kundadri circle. But there were none. Luckily a guy came along in a van and he gave us a lift for 100 rupees. The place was around 8 kms from Gudikere. From the gate, we could see the big mass of rock that Kundadri is and the little temple perched on top. There is a road to the very top. We walked along it and after a long climb some sections of which were pretty steep, we got to the top. The view from there is breathtaking. More than the view, it’s the solitude, peace and the calming influence of the unobtrusive temple that strikes you. We relaxed for a while and took photos of the surrounding vista. I noticed that in Agumbe, there was very little tourist crowd even in easily accessible places and I soaked in the enjoyable solitude as best as I could. We walked back down and on the way we took some shortcuts through the forest cover and shorted some turns in the road. We were just in time for the 11:15 bus from Kundadri circle to Gudikere. From there we got back to Agumbe.

stairway to heaven

KP relaxing after a tiring climb

Onake Abbe(pronounced 1KB)

After lunch we set out for Onake Abbe falls which was the highlight of our trip. The trail is through a forested area. In Agumbe, vegetation is very prolific because of the heavy rains and because of that trails don’t remain very clear. The walk was an extremely pleasant one and I thoroughly enjoyed the greenery and cool refreshing air which reminded me of Kerala. In places plants had covered up portions of the trail and while walking through them we were very wary of snakes. At the end of the trail there were steps cut into the rock which lead us down to the falls.

Steps leading down to the falls

As we were walking along the trail we could seem some light to our left. We had thought that we were walking along the side of a road. But when we stepped out of the foliage, to our delight we realized that we were at the very mouth of the falls and there was a a breathtaking view from there. The place was completely clean and there was no one there. It was a dream come true for me. We walked along the meandering stream that made the falls, took a lot of photos and then had an enjoyable bath in the ice-cold water. This was supposed to wrap up our trip and relax our aching bodies.

We stepped out of the foliage and this is what we saw!

KP on the edge

crystal clear waters and only us to enjoy it!

This photo was widely considered to be the most interesting of all the photos we clicked. I present to you, “Bhootham, bhaavi, Narasimham!”

KP in "Narasimham" mode

KP is like a mermaid.:-). The moment he touches water, he loses the ability to stand on his two feet and starts slipping and sliding around. Swimming would have been a good option if he knew how to. So hanging on to rocks for dear-life is what he generally does.

After cooling off we hurriedly walked back as it was quickly getting dark inside the tree cover. We would have loved to witness the sunset from there but did not think it safe to do so. After washing up we went out for a walk since the bus was supposed to be at 10. We came back at 7:30 and Kasturi Akka’s son reminded us that it was time for dinner and that we better hurry. I was a little surprised. I told him that the bus was only at 10 and that gave us plenty of time for dinner and stuff. He then told us that there is only one bus to Bangalore and it leaves at 8. We were shocked to hear that. We quickly rushed up to our rooms and packed everything, went down, gobbled up some dinner and KP ran to the bus station. Just as he was reaching there the bus was starting to move out. It was a little bit of unwelcome excitement. But, I later realized, it would have been uncharacteristic of me if everything had gone smoothly. So, yeah, had a pleasant trip back home.

Looking back, what most touched me about Agumbe was the old world charm, the slow calm and simple life of its people and the warm and genuine hospitality of our hosts. We were treated like family and it felt truly special to be in that house bursting with stories to tell and nothing to hide.

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It was an insightful, light, engaging and exciting book.  I have read similar books before. Like Phantoms in the Brain by Dr.Ramachandran and Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan. The book was funny in a very subtle way and featured a lot of DIY experiments. It was also a very unique book.

Most books that deal with paranormal phenomena simply give natural reasons and explanations for allegedly supernatural occurrences. But, that is not the main aim of this book. This book instead tries to focus on one of the several reasons that are generally considered to be the reason behind such things. Human fallibility. It tries to look at why our brains mislead us and the possible reasons for the existence of such chinks in our cognitive abilities. So, it is essentially a book more focused on understanding ourselves than anything else.

Our tendency to protect our ego, our beliefs and our self from perceived dangers, our ability to see patterns, to weed out unnecessary information and focus on the essential etc. are abilities that are necessary for our day-to–day life. But these same abilities and gifts can, given a set of conditions mislead and fool us. The book exploits these incidents to try to gain a deeper understanding of the inner workings of the brain.

The  part where the nature of free-will is analyzed was wicked-cool. The idea that one section of our brains is tricking another section into thinking that it is in control was interesting. I was really impressed by the way our brains carefully build up and preserve the illusions of consciousness and sense of agency. The book details how one can muck around with these things by oneself and some of the experiments described were very exciting.

There is one another chapter that really struck me. It dealt with how cults arise and certain personalities manage to gain absolute and total control over a huge number of people. I have witnessed this phenomenon in real life. Almost all of us have. I have always been doubtful of the claim that you can control another person using hypnosis and make him do things that he does not want to do. This book too is deeply critical of that idea. But, it goes on to point out that by studying cults one can learn a far more effective method of controlling other people. The tragic Jonestown incident is described in some detail to describe how such methods work in real life.

Very often we fail to realize that we are surrounded by and soaked with stuff that are so intricate, beautiful and mysterious. We don’t notice these beautiful things and don’t make an effort to understand and appreciate them. The book tries to explain the need for a more critical outlook on things and how it can lead one to a deeper and more meaningful appreciation of the world and it’s workings…

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I love the smell of new books!

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