Jay Lakhani: Religion and Science

"Science and/vs Religion" is a hackneyed combination of words at this stage of life when I am through so many school-essays, debates and speeches. YET, when I came across this 1 hour long video on a bright saturday morning, I found myself compelled to sit through the entire presentation.

Aam Aadmi Party: Making an unethical stand?

I oppose the 'do not pay your bill movement' by Aam Aadmi Party(AAP).
If one wants to protest high electricity bills of a monopoly provider, it is okay to stop paying bills as a form of protest. So far I am with AAP.
However, one should be ready to face consequences by accepting disconnection and other punishments under existing law. That is the pain one must endure if one wants to protest effectively in a peaceful manner.
Not paying bill and refusing to accept the non-payment-penalty is anarchy. Satyagraha/Asahayog means deliberately breaking the law and then accepting the punishment for it. Breaking the law (however 'wrong' the law may be) and avoiding punishment is criminal behavior.

Tibetan Buddhism hits me. Thanks to Times Of India!

In past 1 month, thanks to Times of India, I came across 3 brilliant articles influenced by Tibetan Buddhism. I found all the three very soothing:

http://timesofindia.speakingtree.in/spiritual-articles/science-of-spirituality/little-mind-big-mind: People familiar with ramkrishna order will recognize the 'ripe-me' and 'unripe-me' context.

http://timesofindia.speakingtree.in/spiritual-articles/science-of-spirituality/are-you-getting-richer-or-poorer: Written by a karmapa. The tone is conversational. If somebody can get a pointer to all the writings of this 'karmapa', please send across.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Meditation-on-the-move/articleshow/15145996.cms: This is the 3rd major line of meditation that I have found interesting.

Aamir Khan, Satyameva Jayate and Me

I have watched 4 episodes of Satyamev Jayate. I am loving it because all the topics have been close to my heart. Coincidentally, the first four episodes align with my views and concerns as well. I hope I will be able to like the show even if the show projects an opposing view.

Sometimes though, a few things do seem awkward. Amir Khan's dialogue delivery jars once in a while and he sounds preachy. Sometimes, the victims/survivors are awkward in front of camera. I do not like when they show the audience wiping tears or exclaiming shock. I switch off when the song starts towards the end. However these negatives fail to dampen the entertainment I derive from the show.
Yes, 'entertain' is the right word. The show does entertain me. I itch to share my thoughts about the topics highlighted in the show. I share my thoughts with my wife, with my friends who care to listen, and of-course this blog. For a while I forget my personal worries. I have also sent a couple of SMSes for topics I felt strongly about. I am not a habitual TV-show participant. The last time I responded to a TV-programme was when I sent a postcard to Surabhi (The Siddharth-Kak/Renuka-Shahane show). So this show has indeed stirred me up.
So thank you Aamir Khan for using your celebrity status. Yes, some/most(?) topics are cliche but the underlying problems are still plaguing us. It would be unfortunate if we stop talking about an unsolved problem just because it does not sound smart anymore.

Female foeticide is NOT the problem

Female foeticide is NOT the disease. It is just a symptom. The actual disease is something else and is deeply entrenched. I have no solution for the disease but it is necessary to be aware that the actual disease is more worrisome than the symptom. It is however okay to do something about the symptom till the real solution is obtained.

The real disease is girl-child-disinclination. Female foeticide is the extreme form of girl-child-disinclination. Not all folks who abhor girl child can actually kill the foetus. Killing needs an added level of cruelty. I want to discuss about the broader issue of disinclination rather than the narrow scope of female foeticide.
People who dislike having girl-child have reasons to do so. I list three of them below:

1. Dowry: If a girl child means liability to pay money/land/gold, one can hardly be expected to be happy about it. I know about a few communities in India where dowry is truly looked down upon. For all the rest, dowry remains a big reason to abhor girl child. Can one really blame the girl's parents for this?
2. Security in old age: For last few decades, in urban India, girl's parents spend the same as boy's parents in education/upringing. After marriage it is considered okay if boys look after their parents financially or stay with his parents. However, girl's parents do not have the same right on their daughter's income. Daughter's income is considered rightfully as her in-law's property. I am not talking about law here but the social norm. This is also a reason to abhor girl child. Can one really blame the girl's parents for this?
3. Unsafe environment: Indian cities are more unsafe for girls. So having a girl child is more anxiety than having a boy. Is it okay to blame the parents who want to avoid this anxiety?

I do not have solution to address the 3 issues pointed above. Law cannot help. The entire society and our age-old-traditions/thinkings are responsible for this situation. Some of the traditions need to be discarded but that takes time. May be generations.
In the meantime, it is okay to use law to raise the bar of female foeticide. Girl child will still be unwanted but at least they won't be killed. The girls will grow up under overt/covert neglect but that is better than dying as foetus.

Mercury in Compact Fluoroscent Lamps(CFL)

CFLs contain mercury which makes them hazardous to dispose. Once a CFL reaches end-of-life, dumping it in general dustbin is a dangerous thing to do. Mercury getting into food chain is bad.
In India, it will take a while before mechanisms to recycle CFLs materialize. Till that time, users can store the used CFLs at home. A small box should do, as CFLs last long and it is unlikely that an average household accummulates a truckload of used-CFL.
My consciousness about this issue has been raised by following links:
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article2910689.ece
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/article2574395.ece
http://www.mnn.com/your-home/at-home/stories/5-ways-to-dispose-of-old-cfls

Buying an apartment: My experience

The first question is whether to buy or rent. There is a mature rent vs buy debate out there and I respect all the points for and against. I still went for a 'buy' decision because of an emotional reason. It is not easy to change a house like one changes a fridge/washing machine. I tend to develop emotional 'roots' in a house, in the shops/vendors/restaurants/libraries around the house, in the sunrise I get to see from my bedroom balcony, etcetra etcetra. Changing a house due to landlord's diktat (even when I have no need to shift) is painful.
Once I decided to buy, I bought my apartment when it was nothing more than hole in the ground. From that point till I got possession has been a tale of pain, humiliation, despair, depression. I finally got my apartment but I never look forward to buying a property ever again in future(if I can help it).
Since then, I have suggested everybody to buy only ready-to-move-in properties, be it from builder or from earlier buyer. There are some learnings which I want to share.
Pros of buying ready-to-move-in property:

1. In Bangalore, there is a saying: "Whole of bangalore is disputed territory". This adage can safely be extended to any Indian city. One never knows when a piece of land is declared illegal or disputed. One never knows when an ad comes up in newspapers cautioning hapless customers about the disputed nature of the property and hence stalling the construction. The name/reputation/size of the builder is immaterial here. However, when you are buying a ready-to-move-in property, you are sure that most of legal disputes are already sorted out.
2. There is an argument that in a ready-to-move-in property you miss out on the opportunity of doing civil alteration. This argument is a weak one.
   All the civil alterations (like extra-loft/cement-shelves) I did turned out to be unnecessary. The builder and architects generally do a good job in designing the floor-plan and structures. An amateurish intervention (like I did) in a well thought out plan brings forth unforeseen chaos.
   For example, I asked for a loft. It gave me storage but made a critical bulb-point useless. I could have used lot of innovative furnitures to make extra storage. There is no dearth of furniture shops with innovative designs.
   Another alteration I requested was for cement shelves. I thought I will save on cupboard costs. After I got possession, I found out so many affordable and beautiful readymade almirahs. However, I had to give them a pass as my cement-made-shelves came in the way. I had to buy a suboptimal furniture which fits my cement shelves. I am now seriously thinking of bringing down those cement structures which were put up on my request (and money) in the first place.
   Long story short, civil-alterations/electrical-point-alterations in an under construction property sounds exciting but is actually not for amateurs like me.
3. In a ready-to-move-in-property, what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG). Never underestimate the power of WYSIWYG. In my apartment complex, there are flats whose main balcony is ruined because of a super-structure which possibly strengthens and beautifies the overall building look. The building does look good but I feel for the poor souls whose main balcony projects into the super-structure. There is no way, the affected flats could have figured this out when they were buying holes in ground. Nor is builder at fault because he never explicitly promised about anything which lies outside a flat. The problem is again our amateurishness. We look at the hole in ground, we look at the colourful brochure, we look at one model flat and we think we know how our flat will look. That is not true. An experienced construction professional may surmise the final appearance from drawings but not amateur buyers. This problem does not arise in case of ready to move in property.

Cons:

1. One pain of buying ready-to-move-in-property is the legal/paperwork. There is an established infrastructure for buying under-construction property. However, for buying ready-to-move-in property, there are additional apprehensions of getting duped. There is fear of buying a property which has already been sold to N-customers earlier. If reliable broker/lawyer-services can be found who help in buying ready-to-move-in properties, that will be great.