Musings about Hindutva and Secularism

It's been an amusing watching political reactions post the election results of 2019. On one side there is this repulsive Amar Singh, who changes colours faster than a chameleon, talking about how he kicked Manishankar Aiyyar's butt back in his hay days, and on the other side there are likes of Shashi Tharoor musing about the results in as honest terms as the suave diplomat in him allows himself to.

THE SHASHI THAROOR INTERVIEW

Just sometime back I watched Karan Thapar interviewing Shashi Tharoor about Congress' debacle in the 2019 election. 



I like Karan Thapar for the pointed questions and his ability to shoot point blank. It's a treat when you have an erudite like Tharoor responding from the other end. It makes for a very entertaining and a very thought-provoking discussion.

While for a long time I myself have been wishing to see a Congress lead by Shashi Tharoor as a capable and much needed opposition to Modi, as Karan Thapar kept suggesting all through the interview, I am as 'optimistic' about it happening, as either of them are. 

That aside, what troubled me towards the end of the interview was the standard hate-mongering about RSS and Hindutva. I have been hearing this for a long time, from this pariah-making industry, and this time I decided to note down my thoughts around this. 

HINDUTVA AND SECULARISM

In the interview, they sound so worried about how Hindutva is dangerous, how it will "destroy" this multi-cultural country, how it's against the Nehruvian ideas (while simultaneously being 'intolerant' to an alternative school of thought that Savarkar presented - and why). But at the same time they are either completely unaware of, or are unwilling to acknowledge, why so many people in the country, who, by the way, believe in live-and-let-live or 'वसुधैव कुटुंबकम्', and who would have voted BJP to power, do not associate Hindutva with the negative connotations that these people are so hellbent on projecting. 

The fact that Hindutva rose as a response to counter the hardline presented by political cults of Islam and Christianism, seems to be nowhere in their conscious. Neither does it seem to register with them that Congress' idea of 'secularism' - appeasing religious vote-banks - has been laid bare time and again, may that be way back in late 80's in the Shah Bano case or as recently as in defending triple talaq. They never seem to acknowledge that it's the RSS that's been pushing for common civil code for so many years, and it's the congress and the muslims who are opposing it, and having it their way for so long. The Indian populace may not be as big an 'intellectual' as they are, but they are smarter than what likes of Karan Thapar seem to assume. They catch these double standards and that's what they have rejected. 

That's also why people seem to resonate with Modi when he says 'the veil of secularism has been lifted from those who were hiding behind it'. Secularism, lately, has become the idea that pretentiously denounces everything that can cause even slight inconvenience to religious 'minorities' (Common Civil Code, Triple Talaq et al), and upholds everything that undermines Hinduism (Shabarimala, Hindu Terrorism et al). And while one can endlessly debate for or against it, people have acknowledged this disparity and double standards, and have expressed it through their votes. 

There are scores of intellectuals and journalists who wouldn't say a word about the train that was audaciously set on fire, burning scores of people, including women and kids, to death, but would endlessly go on denouncing the anger that boiled over into the unrest that followed. Remind me why there are hardly any 'intellectuals' or journalists who are critical of muslims when they commit a religious crime. For all the wrongs that you associate with Hindutva, it doesn't kill you for being critical of Hinduism 24x7, despite being a Hindu yourself. Try doing that with Islam, and in no time you will have to go hiding like a Salman Rushdie or a Taslima Nasreen. 

The moment you have muslims (and these so called 'seculars' or 'liberals') denouncing the wrongs that (other) muslims do, as vociferously as Hindus do when some overzealous Hindus commit a religious crime, the Hindutva that these people fear of so much, will dissolve in thin air. 

PARTING THOUGHTS

In this context, what's really dangerous is that these so called intellectuals, who look upon themselves so highly and who consider themselves as the torch-bearers of the secular cosmopolitan thought, either aren't cognisant of this, or are just plain unwilling to acknowledge it. 

So far as they keep up beating around the bush like this, Hindutva will keep gaining momentum, and people like me, despite being secular and liberal in our thoughts, will not find any fault with it. After all, if true secularism is never to see the light of the day, and if it has to be a political cult that rules India, I would much rather prefer it to be the one that I belong to, and one that I have confidence about in having scope for inclusiveness for any other religion. I definitely don't want to live in a Bangladesh or a Pakistan of yore, thank you very much. 

ती गेली तेव्हा रिमझिम

Today, I learnt, is birth anniversary of कवी ग्रेस (Poet Grace - A Marathi Poet). Someone sent an old poem as a message on the social network. That started a chain of events that lead to this emotions-dump.

The poem was - ती गेली तेव्हा रिमझिम. It brought a lot of emotions, feelings with it. It's one of my all time favorite songs, sung by Deenanath Mangeshkar (here on youtube). Suddenly I was on youtube re-listening to the song, umpteenth of a time.

Then came the next one - भय इथले संपत नाही. Another one from ग्रेस. This one is a gem in that there is no fixed meaning to the song. It's like Schrodinger's Cat. The meaning changes as per the background, sensibilities, emotions and feelings of the reader. Here is a thread with interesting discussion about different meaning of the poem. 

Then a couple more - मालवून टाक दीप, चेतवून अंग अंग -  this one, this time, from another grand-master of marathi poetry - सुरेश भट. Sample these lines - 

हे तुला कसे कळेल, कोण एकटे जळेल

सांग का कधी खरेच, एकटा जळे पतंग

If words ever carried power to change the world, may that be of an individual at the least, these poems are living emblems of that power. 

तरूण आहे रात्र अजूनी, राजसा निजलास का रे - another grandiose masterpiece from सुरेश भट. 

Any mind sensitive enough to gauge the meaning and the depth of intense emotions in this song, will have its eyes welling up. Sample this - 

सांग ह्या कोजागिरीच्या चांदण्याला काय सांगू,

उमलते अंगांग माझे … आणि तु मिटलास का रे?

Simple words, combined to create such a highly potent mixture. This is golden. 

A few more of these -

सुन्या सुन्या मैफिलीत माझ्या

भातुकलीच्या खेळामधली राजा आणिक राणी

.

.

.

Here I am sitting high up in one of the hotels on the MIT campus, the American institution that I always had highest regard for, observing the beautiful Boston skyline, overshadowed by clouds, sipping coffee and listening to these timeless classics that bring with them the essence of the home - the sensibilities, emotions, ethos of the very Marathi culture that I grew up in.

All sorts of incoherent thoughts crowd my mind. Like how these mavericks who wrote, composed and sung these songs, formed some of the best 'startups' in the yesteryears of glory of Marathi arts. Startups - because this is how a great startup team forms - all mavericks in their own domain - the best writer, the best singer, the best composer - and what you get is the best product - a timeless classic that will last generations on end. 

Had they have a big enough market, they would have enchanted the world with their artistry. If only the world knew/understood Marathi …. If only पानिपत (Paanipat) hadn't happened …. if only Abdali didn't have शतुरनाल …. Better yet, if only we were better prepared …. 

Too late … too incoherent …. 

"…. and then there was an impedance match … resonance followed …"

               -- Unknown

Nirvana

... a bass boosted Rehman unleashed through the 5-channels, typically focusing on the sub woofer and beating the shit out of it, sending you into a tizzy as you discover some beats, and some notes from the upper band, unheard so far, and the collective effect of the air and the floor subtly vibrating together due to the force the sub woofer beats at ..... boy o boy! What a morning! Pure nirvana!!

I say put these Islamist inhumans into a room, and make them listen to this Rehmanian bliss every morning on a well tuned system - anything from Roza to Bombay to Dil Se to Taal will do - and they will start to realize how beautiful life - that they are so intent on taking out in bulk - can actually be! Tie that up with Nusarat Fateh Ali with lunch and Ghulam Ali with dinner ... आणि वाल्याचा वाल्मिकी व्हायला वेळ नाही लागणार. I didn't even realise but all three of these gem of artists, incidentally are Muslims themselves. What an irony! 

5 top class artists taken out in one shot, what a loss Charlie Hebdo! Given the time it takes for an artist to learn the trade, groom himself, develop his individual style, develop his thinking and then collect all dots together - taking 5 of them out just like that, is a loss impossible to recover from ever. 

Civilians, sportsmen, scientists, businessmen, pregnant women, school girls, school children, historical art, artists ... nothing much left in the world now, is there? 

Why I support AAP and Kejariwal

For long, I had been etching to write about AAP and why it still matters despite all its misgivings in the recent past. This question on Quora - Why do AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) volunteers follow Arvind Kejriwal despite his taking so many U-turns? - just gave the right trigger that was necessary to pour those long held thoughts down.

Given the excessive emotions it raises, I had become a little reluctant these days talking about politics and especially about AAP. Those who think for themselves need not be convinced, and those who don't can't be anyway. So it's pointless talking or arguing about it sometimes. But since it was Quora, where I tend to love the answers from its thinking community, I felt I can expect a higher emotional quotient, and objective and decent opinions/arguments pro/against.

Not only did I answer that question there, but decided to share those same thoughts here as well. WARNING: It's quite lengthy. 

I can't say about others, but talking about myself, I can tell why I support AAP. 

At this point in time, irrespective of the follies, mistakes, U-turns (perceived and otherwise) of its leaders, AAP is the only party with a clear agenda to not allow any tainted/criminal elements in its politics. Even though those elements can bring them votes and money. This is the only party which (from what I know) raises all its funds through public participation, and hence doesn't need to fall for the quid-pro-quo that's inevitable when you get funded by lobbying industrialists. 

Why cleaning politics is necessary? Consider this - You overtake someone driving on the road, suddenly the guy gets worked up, beats you up, and you can't do anything because he has 'connections'. Powerful at that. This is a real incident that happened in Mumbai a month or so before Loksabha elections. Instead of guessing which party that guy might have belonged to, take a guess which party he most likely would *NOT* have belonged to - Congress, BJP or AAP? Your guess is as good as mine.

In a country where democracy is just another means to get voted to rule and loot people; in a country where political high-handedness and 'connection' power-mongering is rampant; in a country where wealth is concentrated with a select few, who, in turn can call the shots using the wealth and get richer; in a country where regional, religious, sectarian, caste-based propaganda can be successfully used to turn groups in vote-banks; in a country where the root the root of all evil *is* - being ruled by the evil itself, isn't it about time we clean our politics before anything else? 

The middle class is taught from childhood to stay away from politics; reason, and we have taken this for granted, - politics is for the crooks not for 'us'. We have had generations arguing 'if everyone say so, good people will never get in, and politics will always remain for crooks'. Everybody argues, nobody, including me, acts. Everybody wants someone else to wash the dirty laundry. "शिवाजी जन्माला यावा, पण शेजारच्या घरात; आपल्या नको." (Translation: Shivaji should be born again, but at the neighbors' house, not ours). 

In 2011-12, during the height of scams, movements, and Congress' high-handed attempts to crush those movements, the despair in the air was pretty palpable. "इस देश का कुछ नही हो सकता" (Translation: This country is never gonna change). The politicians who ruled the country will never take a step to clean the same system they thrive off. 

But then one man had the ambition and willingness to fight this one-sided battle to clean the system. He did take the plunge, built a party out of people with credible backgrounds and from the same middle class that used to run away from politics. The party won considerable seats on the basis of clean-politics agenda, in Delhi elections, and all of a sudden, those, like me, who were pessimistic about any change in Indian politics, started dreaming about a cleaner and fairer political system. 

But then Loksabha elections were closing in and both BJP and Congress, feeling nervous and threatened by AAP, used all their might to unleash systematic smear campaign, propaganda and FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) against AAP. That Kejariwal is another Congress, that Kejariwal 'took' Congress' support, that Congress is trying to divide BJP's votes through AAP, that AAP's game-plan is to bring Congress to power, that AAP is not fielding any candidates against Sonia Gandhi, and so on. So fierce was this blitzkrieg that even educated people who are supposed to discern true from false, fell for it wholeheartedly. Unfortunately Kejariwal and AAP being new to politics, and despite realizing that the 'system' will try every trick in the book to get rid of any attempt to cleanse it, fell prey to their own inexperience and mistakes that were immediately and effectively blown out of proportions, damaging their own cause and reputation further. Meanwhile all attempts to demean him/AAP were in full swing. Choking him from all sides, trapping him, and then calling him भगोडा, ridiculing him beyond decency, slapping him - they tried it all, and to a major extent succeeded in generating huge uncertainty and doubt about AAP. 

Though BJP got a majority in the elections, watching this FUD campaign from sidelines, I lost complete faith in them, and despite being a very pro-Modi, not more than an year ago, today I stand completely disillusioned by BJP. Those who are familiar with the history of Linux, will not find it difficult to draw parallels to the FUD campaign that Microsoft ran against Linux in late 90s. They did gain considerably in the short term, but Linux didn't go anywhere, and in fact thrived in the later years to this date - because the fundamentals and philosophy of opensource that it was based on, had the potential to survive the test of time, since it resonated with, and empowered people at large. 

AAP and its leaders made mistakes, did face foot-in-mouth many times, but nothing as serious as the amount of flak they receive/d. AAP didn't allow filth in, didn't let money power decide, and didn't play vote-bank politics - those are good enough reasons to look forward to better days for these fine folks who were trying to bring about a change, for which India probably was just not ready and patient enough. 


Good luck to Modi, at least he seems to have some quick-fix approach for the country back-broken over many years by Congress, and so far he seems to be making all the right noises. But for a long term, my support will always be for a party that tries to address the root of all evils in India - filth in politics. And with likes of Yedurappa embracing Modi openly, I don't have any willingness to park my hopes on BJP. 

The Two-Face and the Arm-twisting

India lately has been outraged by this Devayani Khobragade saga, and the in general high-handedness of US. A lot of people, even from the affluent IT sector, who hold almost daily interaction with their american counterparts, and hence nurture a soft-corner towards US if not a very pro-US mind-set, stand highly annoyed and disillusioned about the way this Indian diplomat is treated for paltry reasons.

The perception of fuck-the-business-if-no-respect-towards-India is quite palpable in at the people I observed. So i decided to pen down my own perspective vis-a-vis American arguments.

What's this visa fraud all about?

Here is a link, that details the 'fraud'. In short Khobragade promised ~$10/hr, paid about half of that and tried to suppress that afterwards. That's all there is to the 'fraud'.

What about the Blackmailing Angle?

Going by this timeline of the Khobragade case as published by Times of India, one is inclined to wonder if this is really a fraud as touted by holier-than-thou United States of America, or if this is a gross overstepping of jurisdiction by US authorities in general. Especially since the Indian HC had issued restraining order on the maid, while the US authorities kept neglecting complaints and information since July.

What treatment was she meted out?

• Handcuffed in front of her school-going children
• Strip searched
• Cavity searched
• Confined in the same cell as drug addicts

Doesn't she have diplomatic immunity?

Well, the US says she doesn't. To quote their state department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf -

"Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 
the Indian deputy consul general enjoys immunity from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts only with respect to 
acts performed in the exercise of consular functions. So, in this case, she fell under that specific kind 
of immunity and would be liable to arrest pending trial pursuant a felony arrest warrant."

Hold on a second there, lady. Raymond Allen Davis killed 3 pakistanis working under-cover sometime back. Yet, under the same Vienna Convension on Consular Relations, you argued he perfectly enjoyed diplomatic immunity, even though he had killed 3 people in a foreign country, despite being some administration attache to the embassy (or under-cover CIA agent?).

I take it - paying $6/hr less than promised by a Depuly Consul General of India, is a wayyy graver crime than merely killing a few here and there in a foreign country by some administration attache of US embassy.

So grave, that not only is she denied any diplomatic immunity, but is strip searched, cavity searched, and confined in the same cell as drug addicts.

What does US media say?

This WaPo author - Swati Sharma tries to tone it down saying similar/worse treatments were given to other Indian diplomats as well in the past. Then why so much noise this time? So past wrongdoings justify present ones? Is that what you are trying to say Ms Sharma?

She states drug-offenses are minor in US. And under-wage charges are as grave? Are you sure you guys have got your priorities right there?

This post in TOI quotes some NYT post about Indian reaction being unworthy of a democratic govt. Excuse me? Now you will teach us about what is democratic and what is undemocratic? The same people who disregarded the whole world, even the UN, and attacked a sovereign country of Iraq - destroyed the whole country, killed its people - for what? A baseless mirage of WMDs - that were never found there.

The same people who run Guantanamo Bay, are now lecturing the most tolerant country in the world (nothing to be proud of really), about human rights violation in underpaying of a maid by a diplomat.

Opportunist Indians, in the US itself, keen to prove how 'american' they are, are using this unfortunate incident to lecture India about how it's wrong about siding with the diplomat. What they seemingly fail to understand is it's not about the diplomat. It's about the country. A diplomat represents his/her country. Faceless. So insulting, humiliating a diplomat is like insulting, humiliating his/her country.

Under-currents in the Social and National Media

While the general perception is that of anger and outrage, there is this section of not only national, but even the social media, that's busy digging out Khobragade's and her family's alleged links to corruption. What is it that you are trying to prove? That she was all corrupt and hence deserved to be humiliated by some foreign country for the graft she committed here, while she was representing India as a diplomat?

If at all true, try her in the Indian courts for those charges. I don't see any point in confusing the humiliation with India's internal business.

What Next?

While initially people were quite happy with the Indian govt showing some spine and taking some strong actions, soon it's becoming clear how sincere they were. The Delhi elections have shown that the Indian electorate is not some fool that you can deceive by mere posturing before elections.

The banana republic, that India has become due to these spineless and corrupt rulers, busy siphoning out tax payer's money through whatever outlet available, doesn't have the willingness and guts to say and do what's necessary.

Over the time, the mellow govt will meekly surrender, accept these insults and will get back to what they are good at - money-making; while the self-respecting neo Indian youth will keep licking these invisible wounds resulting out of such uncalled for arm twisting. Sad thing it is, but a fact, that we are not an Israel yet.

Update [Thu, Dec 26, 2013]:

Further to this, here are a couple of more blogs that throw some light on different aspects of the story.

• Swagato Ganguly interprets Preet Bharara and his possible intentions in this interesting read - In Khobragade's hounding, an ambitious brown man assumes white man's burden

• Peter Van Buren, former US foreign service employee, and now a whistleblower, analyses graver wrongdoings by US Embassies around the world, including but not limited to underpayment and abuses of domestic help by their own diplomats; exposing yet again the double-standards of holier-than-thou US - Diplomatic Abuse of Servants: Not Just for Indians

Midnight In Paris

I just watched Midnight In Paris - a movie written and directed by Woody Allen. It just reinforces my respect for the guy's creative genius. I had seen his Annie Hall, and though that movie didn't have a 'story' per se, it had clicked big time because of the character detailing (including their eccentricities), dialogues, realism and goofyness of the protagonist. 

Midnight In Paris is like a second installment in many ways. The themes and details of both the films are totally different. But within first ten minutes of the film itself you start seeing glimpses of Annie Hall 'isque characters, eccentricities, subtle shades of each characters, and you immediately appreciate that it's not a usual movie with loud hints and mannerisms, but a classy one with subtle treatment and a Woody Allen stamp on it. And I don't mean it in a cliched way. 

The movie uses time-travel, but that's not the point of the movie. Real thing is the fantasy of what would happpen after such a time travel. It's not about time-travel, but it's about what happens when a wannabe author, who likes to engage in nostalgia, finds himself in the middle of the age in the past which he likes to think of as the golden age. 

Don't we all have the tendancy to indulge in the bouts of such nostalgia? Don't we think of the 50s and 60's and 70's when the world was a simple place to live, when there were not much vehicles on the street, when there were no overloaded communication devices to attend to, when there used to be gifted authors, gifted musicians, singers, when one could attend to those Maifils/Katha-kathans/Sabhas when legends like Atre, Savarkar, P L Deshpande were around? Don't we think the golden age was when the Indian Freedom Movement was gaining momentum? when you could intermingle and get inspired by the like of Chaphekar brothers, Savarkars, Bhagatsinghs, Sukhdevs, Bose, Azads, etc? 

The movie is not about time-travel, it's not about a love story between characters of different era either, though there is subtle one going on. It's actually and really about the craving desire that we all have about how the current era we are living in, sucks, in comparison with some era in the past. 

The crux of the movie comes when this girl from past (1920s), with whom our protagonist is in love with, goes to some era in her past (1850s), which she thinks of as a golden age, and the guys from that era think some other era in their past (rennaissance) was the actual golden age! An intriguing reminder to us all that the grass can be greener on our side as well, from the perspective of some other side. The strength of the movie is how subtly this very message is conveyed. No preachings, no pedantics, no in-your-face dialogues. Just a subtle transition and it makes one think. 

There was this one scene I really liked in the movie. Gil, the protagonists, asks a lady guide in a theme park, if it's possible for one person to love two women at the same time. He gives a reference to some artist in the 1920s, and she says "well, he loves both of those women differently!". He startles, gathers himself, and says - "well, yeah, I forgot you people (the french) are more evolved in this department." That was bang on! Exactly how I perceive them to be. Going by the French movies I have watched so far, or the French characters I have seen so far, I have come to have similar opinions about those people. 

The movie is a gem. I especially like the goofy yet intellectual treatment of the topic, which, probably because I have come to like Annie Hall so much, seems like having a Woody Allen signature on it. I somehow manage to relate to both these characters (Woody Allen's from Annie Hall, and Owen Wilson's from this Midnight In Paris) a lot. 

Aside from this, I feel, had Woody Allen been not as old as he is, he would have acted in it himself instead of Owel Wilson. Like he did in Annie Hall. And he would have done even more justice to the character, not because Owel Wilson was bad, oh no, but because I think he made that character for himself (or keeping his character from Annie Hall in mind)

This one will sit there along with Annie Hall as one of my all time favourites, for sure.

Why People Choose Java over Python

I love Python for the freedom it gives to a developer, and for the way it allows one to concentrate purely on the business logic part of the solution, rather than on the nitty-gritties of the language. Coming over from C/C++ world, it's a breath of fresh air, no matter how much you love C/C++.

Despite all this coolness, this awesomeness of Python, and this black-magic-like problem solving ability that it offers, it's heart-breaking to see the adaptability of this superb language staying much lower than it deserves to be. The industry is still banking on Java for addressing its requirements.

Over some time recently, I have been trying to understand what makes people prefer Java over Python for new development, despite Python being such an excellent choice.

So from whatever little I have understood about the technological landscape so far, here are some points (without any priority as such) that I could put together, as to why java might still be a go-to rather than Python -

• Java is compiled while Python is interpreted. When you want to deploy a webapp on a third-party web host, with Python you have to deploy all your source on the server, while in case of Java, you deploy compiled bytecode (classes and jars). And though bytecode reverse engineering may not be impossible or uncommon, it just makes access to source-code much more difficult, as compared to Python where you have to deploy production source-code as it is. People are paranoid about exposing their source code.
  
  CPython / Jython / IronPython might offset this shortcoming to a certain extent, but then this is an added layer, and it might come with its own set of drawbacks, limitations and bugs.
  
  
• A Java webapp, when deployed under an app server like Tomcat, allows request pooling and hence will possibly be more responsive. For a WSGI/mod-python/FCGI hosted Python web-app on the other hand, all requests result in a new fresh invocation of the interpreter and it will be, I suspect, much slower in comparison with a request-pooled instance which can maintain its state.
  
  
• The biggest thing, in my opinion, that goes in favor of java, is the huge ecosystem, of proven tools (development, debugging, profiling, build-management, documentation etc) and frameworks, that has been developed around it over the last decade or so. And 'proven' is really the keyword here.
  
  
• When it comes to language constructs, Python doesnt enfoce anything. It's a come-all-do-all language where even following OOP paradigm is *voluntary*. for exmaple, encapsulation, which is a very important OOP building block, is not enforced. It's voluntary. You can use _underscores_ and __double_underscores__ if you will to specify class variable accesses, but then there is no restriction on their being accessed from outside the class definition - private/protected/public notwithstanding. So chances of a developer making a subtle but critical mistake are much more than say in java.
  
  Managers, product owners, and anybody for that matter, want to have the peace of mind that the software development process they are overlooking, will have stringent checks in place at the grass root level itself, so that a subtle mistake from an inexperienced developer wont go on wreaking havoc on production.
  
  Java to a large extent has those checks.Pointers, or rather lack of it, was one of the reasons why it gained acceptance above C++ after all. Java enforces OOP paradigms. It has static typing as opposed to duck-typing or dynamic-typing in Python. Due to enforcement of OOP, it opens up large possibilities for development methodologies, like interfaces and contracts, which, though possible in Python, will be bypass-able, due to its weak OOP support.

Again, to reiterate, I have jotted this down as per my understanding of the technological landscape. I am nowhere near being an expert in either Java or Python, and I do not claim to be one either. So there might be some errors in the way I perceive these things, and if you spot one, please point it out.

With that, I open it up to you guys. I am sure there will be lots of viewpoints as to why Java clicks, since we have such a large experienced Java population here. And there will be counter-points as to why Python clicks despite these points or why some of these points I mentioned aren't valid anymore. So let those viewpoints flow.

Apple:Hype::Poteto:Potato

The more I spend time drooling about a Macbook Air or similar apple laptop, the more I realize that it's more hype and less substance (in comparison). Of course Jobs had a taste and Apple has added some quality tweaks in the hardware-software parts, apart from the synergy between OS and the underlying hardware, since they own both. Everything is sleek and chic and minimalist and beautiful and perfect and top class etc etc. Or so they say. They? who? Apple fanboys mostly, and then some people influenced by sheer deluge of oh-so-awesome reviews, many of which are posted by those who buy Macs because (they think) it makes them look cool and sets apart. I was/am partially influenced as well. Jobs was afterall one of the sharpest and shrudest salesman of all time.

Macbook vs Others

The hinge of my netbook got broken recently, and that was enough of a reason for me to get engrossed in one of my favourite-most pastimes - looking for a new netbook/laptop. I came across and was impressed by the specs of this ultraportable - Lenovo (previously IBM) Thinkpad X220 - when I was looking for something powerful, yet small and light. This 12" 1.5kg intel core-i3 runnning laptop fit the bill perfectly. It felt like exactly the thing I was looking for. Feature-rich, small and light-weight, yet very rugged, lots of ports, verry good battery life for such a loaded configuration and less than $888 (starter). There was just nothing wrong with it ... but for the dated looks. But even my Palio's dashboard has dated looks, so I have learned to dig under the show-off elements. It came across as one of the most practical ultra-portables ever. So out of curiosity, I checked what people were saying about this. And lo behold, I came across this Thinkpad X220 review on Engadget.

More than the scintillating review, which was equally all agog with the performance, the best part on the engadget review post was the comments section. There was a hillarious war that took place between Apple fanboys and IBM old-timers. And the later literally destroyed the Apple fanboys. There were some very informative, some very hillarious and some highly scathing remarks from both sides, mostly from the IBM'ers and I found their views very sound and balanced. The conclusion I found was simple, Apple is not the only company which makes well thought out, one of its kind machines - a view smartly propagated by their fanboys. But even IBM also makes some really really well thoght out, rugged products, catering to the needs of a different creed (the programmers, the engineers) that I identify with more, than I do with the Apple crowd.

While Apple gadgets are excellent and well designed beyond doubt, what I have started to realise is that they are also subjected to some real high marketing hype, which is like some kinda (unintended) FUD, generated through those users who "want to buy laptops which matches with their clothes and shoes". Or sometimes through those who are switching from Windows to Mac platform, and have obviously got impressed.

Mac OS X vs Ubuntu

Taking a clue, I tried to find out how someone who has switched from Linux to Mac, finds the new envioronment. And I was so lucky, I came across this blog-post by a programmer who switched from Ubuntu to Mac out of curiosity. If I had gone on to switch to Macbook, it would have been a Deja-Vu vis-a-vis this blog. So very similar a condition. I read with interest. And there I came to know that I wont have much to expect from Mac, except for some jazzy new UI luxury. Till the novelty wears out, that is. The fact that a long time Ubuntu user who was a programmer and hence a power user himself, finds Ubuntu to be the ultimate programmer's OS, after spending time on both sides of the fence, and returns back to Ubuntu, was enough of a testimony for me to start removing Macs from my wishlist, slowly but certainly.

वासुदेव

वासुदेव आऽऽला वासुदेऽऽऽऽव आऽऽला होऽऽऽऽ
सकाळच्या पाऽऽऽऽरी हरिनाम बोला

खणखणीत आवाज.पण तितकाच सुरेल. लहानपणा पासून कित्येत वासुदेब बघितले, ऐकले; पण असा सुरांची जाण असलेला पाहिल्यांदाच. सकाळी ६-६:१५च्या दरम्यान गाढ झोपेत असलेला मी खाडकन जागा झालो. त्यानं उठा पांडुरंगा म्हणेपर्यंत झोप डोळ्यावरुन पूर्ण उतरली होती. एकदा वाटलं पटकन ध्वनीमुद्रित करावं आणि youtube वर टाकावं पण आळस आडवा आला आणि मी गादीवर लोळत त्याचं गाणं ऐकत तसाच पडून राहिलो.

आवाज इतका खणखणीत की त्याला माईकची गरज नाही. गाणं म्हणत म्हणत तो दूरवर गेला तरीही त्याचा आवाज येतच होता. जून्याकाळी, राजा-रजवाड्यांच्या काळात, ज्यावेळी माईक किंवा amplifiers नव्हते, त्या काळात असता तर ह्याच्यावर वासुदेब व्हायची पाळी आली नसती कदाचित इतका सुंदर आणि standout आवाज.

(वासु)देव करो आणि हा वासुदेव कुणा जाणकार (आणि 'पोहोच' असलेल्या) माणसाच्या कानावर पडो.

Power, Religion and Social Inhibitions

I have been wondering this for quite sometime now. Why do we have such a huge premium on morality? Where does it connect? Why is a girl/guy who sleeps around, looked down upon with disgust? It's just a physical need. What's wrong with satisfying it? Do we look down upon people who eat dinner at one restaurant and sweets from another? Why do we have this big taboo surrounding anything related to sex? Are we as a society so immature that we cannot handle openness about sexuality? Are we bound so much by religion and religious preachings that we haven't thought about alternative way of life, and fear that way might lead to chaos? fear of the unknown?

We are a land where Kamsutra originated. We are a land where Khajuraho was sculpted. Our Ramayana and Mahabharata are ripe with stories with hidden references, like Ahilya's story, and Yayati's story, Indra's lust, Kamdev's adventures etc. Considering all these, it's difficult to understand why we have inhibitions about sex and sexuality? Are we being controlled under the pretext of religious preachings?

All the powerful and creative people behave uninhibited. May those be actors, diplomats, celebrities, musicians (case in point is an 'illegitimate' child of a Sitaar maestro), sportsman. I wont even mention politicians.

Why then only the middle class considers that staying 'pure' is a way to save the culture? Europeans had a culture as well. The French, for example, come across as some of the most outgoing and free-est people when it comes to openness, sexuality and life. French directors have been handling taboo subjects way ahead of their times, since the mid 20th century. The subjects were controvertial, and sometimes tilted towards soft core porn as well. But they had the openness and courage to try it. Their society didn't burn them for that. And despite this, their culture isn't going anywhere, and is as intact as it was before.

I have an inkling that these probably sound like randomly hewn fabric of crude thoughts, but when you see an Emmannuel exploring her sexuality, or when you see some Dreamers enagaging in acts that border on incest, or a when a Laure lets go off social inhibitions and engages in exhibitionism and free sex, you can't help but appreciate the ahead-of-its-time boldness of French cinema, and lament the fact that even a simple and practical concept like live-in relationships doesn't find acceptance in our society.