Principia Unlogica

Ek baar ek ant ghoomi ghoomi ja raha tha. Usko ek pasta mila. Ant ne pasta se kaha "hello pasta, kaise ho?" Pasta ne kaha "mein theek hoon, tum kaise ho?" Ant kaha "muzhe bhooki lagi hai" Phir ant ne pasta khaya. "Yummy yummy, thank you pasta" Ant park gaya!!! :)

The other day I got sucked into an argument on "Women opression in Muslim society and how women there are brainwashed into a woman-opressing religion" and found myself demonstrating that it is not just Muslim religion that opresses women, most of the major religions have, till recently, condemned women to a second-citizen stature. Which made me wonder about the why of the situation. There are medically established physical differences between men and women. Bodily, men are stronger and more capable of physical work than women are. Hence, for the hunting-farming societies at the orgin of human economic growth, men were of more economic value than women. Secondly, women spent most of their adult life in child bearing and child rearing, physical and mental demands of which effectively removed them from taking on any significant economic role in the family or important role in the society. All these firmly established men's prominience in the social structure while a woman

Pakistan is at an interesting point. Gen. Musharraf declares an emergency purportedly to deal with Taliban loyalists in the north, but spends much of his strength in hammering down the judges in the south. Bhutto barks appropriately, but where is the bite? US makes a big noise about democratic elections and holding back the funds, and in the same breath, also says that no military aid will be cut - well, military is the one imposing the emergency for which you are threatening to cut the funds. Looking back for the past six months, it is clear that the Taleban or Al Queda is re-grouping in Afghanistan and North Pakistan. They have been keeping the NATO and Pakistani forces busy with 'attack weakpoints and withdraw on retaliation" and more importantly, they have also won skirmishes against Pakistani forces. This is, in part, an unfortunate result of US moving to Iraq immediately after Afghan war and 'outsourcing' the war to NATO and Pakistani forces. Lack of focus on dis

I can hear the kid playing with closet door. "Babu, door se mat khelo, bau ho jayega". Have you heard philosophers wonder about things like - your ears hear things, but what is it that actually makes you listen and then go ummm... consciousness. Had they all had kids, they would have figured, a timeout threat helps humans listen very well. Anyways, doors aren't life threatening enough to yell out, so ignore. Minute later comes the expected SOS - "mamma.. mamma.. atak gaya" Aparently, he is inside the closet, the door isnt opening. I rescue him and figure its really time to install all those kid-safe door knobs that the alert parent in me had brought over an year ago - atleast in the restrooms so that he doesnt lock himself in for a water play time (yuck!). So, I head off to the garage to dig the locks out. After a minor archaeological venture, I find them and return, ofcourse, to find that he has locked me out. Voila! This time, I have the house keys with me. I

I am reading Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintainance and loving it. Its online at http://www.design.caltech.edu/Misc/pirsig.html . Though I would suggest that you buy the book. You probably would want to read it twice atleast and it will make a good addition to your collection. It is about a motorcycle trip the author takes through US midwest-north and his musings. Goes into philosophy. I finally also got around to buying Guns, Germs & Steel . It made a good read. It propounds a theory that tries to explain current social and economic differences between countries/civilizations by tracing back their roots to when these civilizations discovered farming, artistry, society, war meachanisms. It is a very interesting read. The only gripe I have is that it kind of glosses over two big civilizations - India, China. Also middle east civilizations. Basically, it deals with smaller and older civilizations and leaves it to the reader to apply those conclusions to the larger ones. Well, o

There was a time when trekking, hiking meant a race to the top. Well, not necessarily a race, but at least an impatience to reach the top as soon as possible... The other day, me and Arul went for a small trek. He probably examined every stone, walked through every pile of leaves, scraped mud with every stick, saw, heard, felt, thought... Sometimes, enjoying the journey is almost as important as being focussed on getting there. And is as much fun too.