The world is all in black and white. And according to me, brown, yellow and any other possible color too. I am not talking about environment here; I am talking about race; Racism to be precise, of color, religion and all possible denominations.
I was reading an article in the New York Times about the US presidential elections that delved in detail about the color of Barack Obama’s skin and his Muslim middle name, all the while emphasizing that he was Christian. Apparently, the article claims that people in the Arab world and Muslim states are excited that Obama may become the next US president. And all the excitement because Obama’s middle name is Husein.
As I thought of the article, a pattern started forming in my mind about various articles written by the global media, the actions of people and reactions of politicians and governments to the same. A pattern of separation by race, by color, religion, by social status.
I guess we, human beings, like to think of ourselves not only as better than the rest but as better than one other too. If we map conversations, we will realize that there is so much need to differentiate. America has color, while we have religion, caste, geography, etc., etc., etc.
The key question then is, how right is one country OR a set of people in terming others racist. In my opinion, most of us are racist at heart. There will be a few, who do not differentiate, but then they are evolved souls and if all people across the whole world were so evolved, we would be living in Paradise, won’t we?.
I have so often heard people in India or Indians living in the US, or elsewhere in the world, refer to Africans as kallus, the Orientals as chinks, the whites as goras, and Pakistanis as bloody Pakis to cite a few. And I am sure people from other countries will have their terms to depict people from different parts of the world.
If all this is not being racist, then what is. In India, we call people from the south as Madrasis, from UP and Bihar as Bhayyas, so on and so forth…the list is endless. And we still get offended when people from other parts of the world call us racist; this trend applies to people across countries.
As a reader your question would be, where am I going with this line of thought? To them I say nowhere. I am just trying to understand all the brouhaha over the term Racism when 99% of the world’s human beings are racist at heart. Therefore, do we take offense to being labeled a racist because we believe the allegation is unjust and a lie, or is it because it is the universal truth that 99% of us are closet racists and we feel offended and go on the defensive because we are living a lie?
It’s for you to look into your hearts and find the answer. And believe me, 9 of 10 times the answer that comes from our heart may jolt our conscience.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Laughing Gas
These days Gas is king. And for now I am not talking about the byproduct of an inefficient digestive system. The government did not want to but had to hike prices of petrol, diesel, and LPG. The Opposition knows the government had no choice but will protest the hike. Businessmen do not want to harm the poor, but will have to for self-preservation takes precedence over Nation. So where does it leave the common man? In a Gas chamber, I guess.
That was the serious part of the story. But there is no point in worrying about it now, is there? For there is very little that people like you and me can do about politics, largely a preserve of the demented mind. The only time we come into play is once in five years, when he the humble politician barges into our building, knocks on our door surrounded by 8 to 10 ruffian looking men, and demands our vote. It is our franchise, but their right, you see!
So I resort to humor in trying to find ways of how we can solve our Gas, as Oil is called in America, problem. This may sound crude to most, but one way is to recruit people with ample gas reserves (read ability to pass wind at will) and use them to fill our LPG cylinders. We can call it HPG, or Human Personalized Gas. Anyways when gas burns, it rarely stinks. These cylinders can also serve as stink bombs that we can throw at politicians to tell them how much they stink. But I am not sure if it will work, for pigs thrive in slush, don’t they?
Maybe housing societies in Metros can erect sheds in their compounds and rear cattle. This will be dual purpose: a) daily supply of milk, b) Gobar (cow dung) gas. Maybe we can even collect cattle urine in a big covered pit. Over time, it will emanate fumes similar to public toilets in Mumbai. We can use those fumes to fire our burners in the kitchen.
A city like Mumbai must be generating huge amounts of human waste on a daily basis. The city already has the Dadar Malpravah Prakriya Kendra (Dadar Waste Recycling Center) where human waste is converted into potable drinking water. And that water is supposed to be cleaner than that which runs through our taps. Water aside, maybe we can look at ways to convert the huge amount of human waste into gas, and add a dash of perfume, if needed.
Here the migrant population could be of great help; opponents of migrants to city, this is mainly for your consumption—the information, not the gas. Mumbai has at least 7 million people living in slums or on sidewalks. I can see a huge opportunity here. We can build a few more Malpravah Prakriya Kendras for harnessing their bowel movements to our advantage. I can taste water and smell gas already. And the migrants can be paid to defecate in customized toilets. It will be win-win situation for everyone. We will get gas and water, the migrants will get money to crap—I think that would be a first in the world—and we can walk on streets and sidewalks without the fear of cutting cakes daily.
If I apply my mind to it, I can come up with many more such ideas, but I guess there is a limit to how much crap readers can digest. So I end with the thought that if I cannot change the world, at least I can laugh it off. Laughter is the best medicine, isn’t that what we have been told since time immemorial?
That was the serious part of the story. But there is no point in worrying about it now, is there? For there is very little that people like you and me can do about politics, largely a preserve of the demented mind. The only time we come into play is once in five years, when he the humble politician barges into our building, knocks on our door surrounded by 8 to 10 ruffian looking men, and demands our vote. It is our franchise, but their right, you see!
So I resort to humor in trying to find ways of how we can solve our Gas, as Oil is called in America, problem. This may sound crude to most, but one way is to recruit people with ample gas reserves (read ability to pass wind at will) and use them to fill our LPG cylinders. We can call it HPG, or Human Personalized Gas. Anyways when gas burns, it rarely stinks. These cylinders can also serve as stink bombs that we can throw at politicians to tell them how much they stink. But I am not sure if it will work, for pigs thrive in slush, don’t they?
Maybe housing societies in Metros can erect sheds in their compounds and rear cattle. This will be dual purpose: a) daily supply of milk, b) Gobar (cow dung) gas. Maybe we can even collect cattle urine in a big covered pit. Over time, it will emanate fumes similar to public toilets in Mumbai. We can use those fumes to fire our burners in the kitchen.
A city like Mumbai must be generating huge amounts of human waste on a daily basis. The city already has the Dadar Malpravah Prakriya Kendra (Dadar Waste Recycling Center) where human waste is converted into potable drinking water. And that water is supposed to be cleaner than that which runs through our taps. Water aside, maybe we can look at ways to convert the huge amount of human waste into gas, and add a dash of perfume, if needed.
Here the migrant population could be of great help; opponents of migrants to city, this is mainly for your consumption—the information, not the gas. Mumbai has at least 7 million people living in slums or on sidewalks. I can see a huge opportunity here. We can build a few more Malpravah Prakriya Kendras for harnessing their bowel movements to our advantage. I can taste water and smell gas already. And the migrants can be paid to defecate in customized toilets. It will be win-win situation for everyone. We will get gas and water, the migrants will get money to crap—I think that would be a first in the world—and we can walk on streets and sidewalks without the fear of cutting cakes daily.
If I apply my mind to it, I can come up with many more such ideas, but I guess there is a limit to how much crap readers can digest. So I end with the thought that if I cannot change the world, at least I can laugh it off. Laughter is the best medicine, isn’t that what we have been told since time immemorial?
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