Human 2.0

Recently i read an article(click here) which gives a beautiful insight to actual facts put up rationally without any favourism of any kind. This is particularly important with refernce to recent terror attacks in Mumbai. Though its about Muslims but fundamentalism isn't patented for a particular religion. With the evidences of Hindu terrorists seeking the line of terror laid by their so-called enemies, its has now become very important to debate the role of RELIGION in present human society. 

It is important to debate the about the "character of all religions" when its evident that majority of crimes against humanity are committed using different religions as an excuse. Obvious and instantaneous logical solution is to CRUSH ALL RELIGIONS; which might not be practical. 

The evidence is clearly visible if one picks up any history books and start finding an excuse to go for war in any part of world. Religion was used to bind a certain group of people who were taught that "others" must be killed for thier opposition to your religion. 

But even if we suppose that all religions are crushed away ,then an important question arises :are humans prepared for the vacuum created by absence of religion? 

Don't we need a mental evolution apart from physical one which made us a dominant organism on this earth. 

We should prepare for human 2.0 version which will understand and maintain logical pathways to live life on this earth.

Against endoresement of Hindu Terrorists by general Hindu public of India

(written after malegaon blasts)

Finally fundamentalist Hindus come face to face with thier dualities.

Uptill now they have been very comfortable about illustrating how Islam is fundamentally violent but now they find themself in the same gloves. Uptill now it was so conveinet to associate the word "terrorism" with Islam and hence lash out on its violent teaching and feeling the pride in proving that "we are better".

Now it is not.

This will be inconveneint ofcourse.

This inconveneince can result in two kinds of reactions.

First, find excuses and try to justify that "what we did is not terrorism".

Second, Identify the fact that "we did the same as we have been blaming others but now we gonna stop behaving stupid".

I guess its not difficult to clearly see one of the point of view in any discussion around this topic.

While one reaction allows "double standards", the other one meausres facts objectively using the slogan "support for acts of hatred is terrorism". Simple enough.

Malegaon accused were driven by "hatred". So are kashmir terrosists and LTTE, PLA, HAMAS, Ku Klux Klan and numerous others around the world. To be precise,ALL OF THEM.

All are alike in thier aims, operation and final end.

All terror organizations started with "local" problems. All of them justified thier acts of violence as an end to justify the revenge against "others" who have been killing "thiers brothers and sisters" since years.

Then in later stages they go out of control. India lost control of LTTE. Pakistan lost mujhaheddin groups. CIA lost Taleban. RSS will soon loose control on Hindu terrorists.

This is simple to understand because the poeple who start this violence are very deeply committed to thier "cause" and to certain extent, they have a sense of morality, but people who follow up, are those who crave only for "power". The ambulance-chasers. Also when the above mentioned "cause" is based on hatred, then one gets tremendous public support in a majority irrational society. Bigger the casue of hatred, bigger the demon.

The "new Hindu awakening" will have disastrous effects in future because every society based on hatred for "others" collapse under its own weight, since it presents a fertile ground for people who misuse this power for thier own personal gains.

I dont see any political party at present which is capable of preventing this catastrophy unfortunately.

The root cause is the concept of religion when interpreted as a means of living rather than as a philosophy in its purest form. Every religion preaches dharamyuddh, crusades and jehad under various covert names.

Try out answering this one: No religion preaches violence but more than 99% cases of collective violence are based on religion. Why?

I wont give answers. Answers lie deep inside where we are rational. Where we are pure. Where we love humanity. Where we do not distinguish humans based on irrational systems made by our forefathers. Where we do not shun reason and dance on irrationality. We all have answers and we must find it soon if we wanna live in prospering India instead of having a civil war soon.

झंडा ऊंचा रहे "हमारा"

हिन्दुस्तान किसका हैं?
एक झंडे ने दूसरे से पुछा

एक था लाल और दूसरा था हरा
जैसे ही दोनो को टकराया गया
दोनो ने एक ही सवाल पुछा
तू बड़ा की मैं बड़ा
और यह हिन्दुस्तान आख़िर हुआ किसका

लाल बोला की मेरे लोग कहते हैं
हिन्दुस्तान हिंदू का
बाकी सब "बाहर के लोग" हैं जिन्होने इसे लूटा
तभी हमें सिखाया गया की इनको सबक सिखाओ
सदियों का बदला मिनटो में लेना हैं
इसी बहने थोडी राजनीति भी हो जायेगी
मन्दिर मस्जिद बने या उजडे
कम से कम कुर्सी तोह मिल जायेगी

तभी हरा झंडा बोला
अरे! यह तोह मुझे भी सिखाया हैं
बिल्कुल "इसी अंदाज़" में समझाया हैं
की हम हिन्दुस्तान के मालिक हैं
हमनें हिन्दुस्तान को यह रूप दिया
वरना हमसे पहले यह छोटे टुकडों में आपस में लड़ता था
अब वही शान्न्दार और जान्न्दार ज़माना वापस लाना हैं

तभी वहां से एक सफ़ेद झंडा निकला
बिल्कुल सफेद
इनके पास आया और बोला
हिन्दुस्तान तोह मेरा हैं
तेरा भी और तेरा भी और बाकि सबका भी
किसी एक का हक कैसे हो सकता हैं
कौन कह सकता हैं की वोह आदम की पहली संतान हैं

तब सब झंडे चुप होके सुनने लगे
पहली बार लाल और हरे झंडे साथ साथ खडे थे
और लड़ नही रहे थे

सफ़ेद वाला बोला की कोई बताएगा की पहला हिन्दुस्तानी कौन था
सारे झंडे सोचने लगे
काफ़ी सोच के एक लाल वाला बोला
शायद आर्य पहले आए थे
तोह हरा वाला बोला, ओये द्रविड़ तोह उससे भी पहले थे
तब सफ़ेद वाला बोला की पहला इंसान तोह अफ्रीका से कहीं पहले ही आ चुका था

फिर सब चुप
एक "समझदारी" भरा सन्नाटा
फिर "नासमझी" ने उस सन्नाटे को तोड़ दिया जब
एक लाल वाला झंडा बोला तोह क्या हुआ
संस्कृति तो हमारी ही सबसे पुरानी हैं
बाकि लाल वालो ने ज़ोरदार हामी भर दी
तोह सफ़ेद वाला फिर बोला
संस्कृति तोह हजारो सालो से बदलती रही समय के साथ
क्या यकीन के साथ कहोगे की
अपनी जंगलों में रहने वाला पूर्वजो की संस्कृति
और तुम्हारी संस्कृति में फरक नही होना चाहिए
क्या हजारो साल में कुछ नही बदलना चाहिए

फिर एक हरे वाले ने हूक लगायी
यह सब बेकार की बात हैं
हमें तोह आज से मतलब होना चाहिए
आज में जीना हैं कि बीते कल की कबर पर लेटना हैं

कुछ हरे वालों ने हामी भरी और हैरानी की बात
कुछ लाल वाले भी बोले की शायद बात सही हैं

फिर सफ़ेद वाले ने कहा
तोह आज में जीना तय हुआ
कल जो बीत गया सो बीत गया
कल के बेवकूफो की गलतियो पे आज क्यो नाचें हम

तब एक लाल वाला बोला की
लेकिन एक सवाल तोह फिर भी रहेगा
"लाल और हरे का अन्तर कैसे मिटेगा?"

फिर सब चुप
काफ़ी देर चुप्पी रही
यह चुप्पी एक जवाब बुन रही थी
वोह जवाब जो सारे सवालो का हल होगा
बस सी एक जवाब को ढूँढ रहे हैं अभी तक वोह सारे झंडे

पर इतना सब समझने के बावजूद
अभी तक लड़ रहे हैं लाल और हरे झंडे

-- संदीप नागर

वार्तालाप

आजकल कुछ अजीब सी हलचल हैं जीवन में
पीछे झाँक कर देखता हूँ तो पिछले हालत मुझसे बात करते हैं
मुझसे कान में फुस्सुसा कर बोल जाते हैं
सारे ख्वाब जो मैने देखे थे उस समय
कुछ पूरे हो गए और कुछ अधूरे रह गए
और वोह पुरानी बातें जिन की वजह से
मैने अपनी ज़िन्दगी यूँ बनायी और यहाँ तक आया

पर एक सवाल ने पिछले कुछ दिनों से घेरा हुआ हैं
की इस सब के बीच
कब और कैसे मैने अपनी आप को दुनिया से काट दिया
वोह सब जरूरी भी था क्यूंकि
बुरे हादसों की याद भुलाने के लिए
और आगे बढ़ने के लिए
मुझे ख़ुद को काटना पड़ा
पर अब इस मंजिल पर
कुछ अकेलापन महसूस होता हैं

पर फिर भी अकेलापन तो हैं पर "अधूरापन" नही हैं
यही सबसे बड़ा सच हैं जो सहारा देता हैं

अगर मैं सब समझोते कर लेता तोह अकेला तोह नही होता पर अधूरा जरूर हो जाता

साथी मिले न मिले
पर पूरा होना बहुत जरूरी हैं

शायद सबसे जरूरी हैं
खालीपन एक खोकला इंसान बनता हैं जो किसी और का सही मायनों में साथी भी नही बन सकता

अकेलापन अभिशाप नही हैं पर खालीपन जरूर होता

भाई कहता हैं की मैने अपनी सब तरफ़ काफ़ी कड़ी दीवार बना रखी हैं

सही कहता हैं, पर हैरानी यह की कोई नही जो इस दीवार को भेद सके
पूरी दुनिया में क्या कोई नही

ऐसी भी कोई ख़ास दीवार नही हैं
सीधे साधे से उसूलों का ढांचा हैं जो एक सीधा साधा सा इंसान चाह रहा है भेदने को
मुखौटे वाले इंसान नही भेद पाते

एक पूरा इंसान जो अकेला भले ही हो पर अधूरा न हो

एक ऐसा इंसान जो दोस्ती और रिश्तों को दुनियादारी से अलग कर देख पाए
जो सिर्फ़ ईमान से ख़ुद से यह कह सके की मैं ख़ुद में पूरा हूँ
की भले ही मैने गलतिया की हो कभी
पर मैने उन्हें ख़ुद सुधरा हैं
और फिर नही दोहराया हैं
और यह कह सके की मैं समझता हूँ की "मैं अपनी आप में एक पूरा इंसान हूँ"
और एक पूरे इंसान को "और पूरा" बनाने की औकात रखता हूँ

खैर, अब अधूरापन काम की जिद्दो जहत में डूब कर ख़तम हो जाएगा

और मैं फिर से ख्वाब सजाने में लग जाऊँगा

पर यह सवाल वही का वहीँ रह जाएगा

Making of a rebel

We all encounter mysteries in our life. Life itself is a mystery for most. Then i start to question, whats certainity? We are certain about many things. I have been certain about everything that i have done uptill now. But what's certainity in the light of so many mysteries.

To answer this question i went back to the days when i didnt "knew" many things, that is childhood. I idolized my father and took whatever he told me as the final word. He taught me about the ideals, the way to live life etc etc. Also my mother never objected to any of them so i guessed that both meant same. These concepts went in deep to the core. They eventually made me when i grew up. I grew up a truly secular person in all respects. Secularity here means "not distinguishing" differences based on irrational concepts. 

But then somethings chaged over a short period of time when i left my home.

I became athiest when i could not find any "reason" for existence of the concept of God. I became rebellious when i was expected to "follow trends". I opposed any form of non-secular ideology which was supported by my family during gujarat riots. I became independent when it concerned my own life. 

I started learning psychology to understand humans and the way they behave. It was a great surprise to me that there existed patterns in human behaviour. They key word was "security". Humans, irrespective of geographical, national, ethnic affiliations strive for security. Whoever promises them security, they would go after him. 

The troubling part is that every security has a price. Most often its individual liberty. To be precise, its Individuality.

This is where I started to get my final conclusions. I started to get to know why i could never assemble in thier groups, why i always felt that there is something different between them and me.

This was the making of a rebel.

अन्दर वाला बन्दर

आज एक अजीब बात हो गई
कई दिनों बाद ख़ुद से फिर बात हो गई
अन्दर से वोह बोला, वाह बॉस खूब खेला यह खेल
मस्त रहा अब तक तुम्हारे फलसफे का ज़िन्दगी से मेल

दुनिया को खूब चलाया तुमने पर कब तक चलोगे
कभी न कभी "उन" जैसे ही बन जाओगे
मैं बोला की तुझे लगता यह मुमकिन हैं
तुझे कभी लगा तू मुझसे अलग है

वोह बोला की बॉस मान या न मान
एक दिन तू पकडेगा कान
और बोलेगा की मैं थक गया हूँ
फिर यह बेकार का झमेला क्यों

क्यों न अभी फ़ैसला हो जाए
क्यों बाद में रोया जाए

मैने भी सोचा की बात ठीक करता हैं
आदमीं एक बार ही मरता हैं

तो क्यों न आज ही बात साफ़ कर लूँ
या तोह जी भर के जी लूँ या अभी मर लूँ

उसने समझाना शुरू किया की भाई दुनिय में बड़ा झमेला हैं
तू २२ साल का था तब समझता था की यह सब मेला हैं
और तू खड़ा खड़ा तमाशा देख लेगा
ताली बजायेगा और चवन्नी फेक देगा

पर अब जब जमाना आखिरी चवन्नी उठा कर भाग चला
और तू रह गया खड़ा का खड़ा

अब खली जेब और खली पेट कैसे जियेगा
जीने के लिए क्या अपनी फलसफे का पसीना पिएगा

मैं बोला की बात तेरी बड़ी सही हैं
मेरी भी अब सुन जो मैने कही हैं

जीना सिर्फ़ शरीर का नही होता
हर आदमी ख़ुद अपना फलसफा हैं ढोता

ढोने से पहले ही यह बात साफ़ हो गई थी
वोह तारिख भी हिसाब से ४ मई थी
जब मैने ख़ुद से वादा कर लिया था
ख़ुद अपना फलसफा सिया था

खूब सोचा था उस दिन की आज के बाद पीछे नही देखना हैं
बस आगे जो आए उसे पीछे धकेलना हैं
जितना शक्क और शुबा करना था उस दिन कर लिया था
अन्दर जो भी था सब मार लिया था

उस दिन तुने जनम लेकर मेरा नया स्वरुप बनाया
पुराना चोल फेक यह रूप बनाया
उस दिन से आज तक अपनी ही धुन में हूँ
दुनिया से क्या करना जब मैं सिर्फ़ अपने ही मनन में हूँ

दुनिया तोह सिर्फ़ जरिए हैं अपने आप को खुश करने का
"वोह" जो कहते हैं "जीने" का
खुशी के लिए जिया और गम को मार भगाया
जो सही लगा उसे गले लगाया

यह सही हैं की दुनिया बेवकूफी की पूजा करती हैं
उनका उल्लू बनाओ तोह आप पर मरती हैं

पर यह सब तब जरूरी हो जाता हैं
जब दुनिया के लिए जिया जाता हैं

यहाँ तोह अपने से ही फुर्सत न मिलती
मनन में दुनिया की कोई कलि न खिलती

ख़ुद से ही सारी आरजू और ख़ुद से ही सारे इनाम मिल जाते हैं
दुनिया को बस मेरी चवन्नी और कुछ ताल मिल जाते हैं

तोह अब बता की दुनिया कैसे मुझे तोड़ पायेगी
कैसे रुलाएगी और कैसे सताएगी

वोह कुछ बोला नही बस मुस्कुराता रहा
मेरा चेहरा बस मुझे आइने से निहारता रहा

उसे और मुझे यह बात समझनी बहुत जरूरी थी
यह जंग अंदर की हैं बहार की नही

-- संदीप नागर (१ सितम्बर २००८)

Ostrich !

Humans and Ostrich has (atleast!) one common feature.

Sticking their head into seemingly safe territory (sand in case of Ostrich) in the face of Danger.

It has obviously disastrous consequences. You get run over by danger since it doesnt care for you blanking your face into mud. Only way is to face it head on.

This "seem to be" most difficult when one confronts poeple (s)he loves. But universe doesnt care for your conveneince. One has to do the RIGHT thing or else live the life of a coward where you pay price eternal for impotence worshipping.

Be Human. Stand Tall.

Life on earth

They told me this long ago
when i was ready to set and go

living on this planet is quite easy
just fool others and look busy
humans come in many races
each man has many many faces
don't trust anybody for they will cheat
and celebrate your downfall as their own feat
irrationality rule their head
they treat you well only when you are dead

they tried to infuse every negative feeling in me
but they failed to every point whatever it be

I still feel love for humans, after these many experiences
and still don't understand why they erect so many fences
Its stupid to hate them for what they are
I rather pity them when they go war

Fear run them most of the time
hence they prefer to stand in rather than outside the line

Its really amusing and enjoying this way
For i know for sure, i am on "my own" way

-- Sandeep Nagar (10/07/2008)

why do we attach "problems" with "population"

Sandeep Nagar
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While preparing for my interview for Indian Air Force, one of my trainer asked me in a mock interview, "How do you propose to solve the problem of large Indian population". I answered that ,"Its not a problem, its a potential opportunity. It has become a problem due to mismanagement of large human resource"

And its still true after 6 years. No doubt i never cleared that interview!(just joking)

India has the largest pool of human resources for any business you can think of. For as low as 10 vacancies, you find a few thousand applications. Government needed to concentrate on creating opportunities. Instead, they restricted them by their laws.

Any rational man can identify India as a hub for Asian market. If you do business in India, you can do all over Asia. Its better connected by air, water and land to almost every country than any of its counterparts. Moreover, you will never need to look out for recruiting people. Marketing skilled labor can be one of the major attraction to boost Indian economy. Moreover India has better relations with Europe, Africa and America than its counterparts which can be encashed if we provide proper infrastructure to upcoming industries.

If everything is obvious, why don't we do it. Because we are Irrational. We are ready to kill each other for an unknown entity (GOD) when provoked by brainless maniacs but we wont stand for our right as a citizen. Intellectual class like to see everything as problem. I use to see NDTV "big fight" when i was in India, and it surprised me that most of the time, commentator use to just state problems while replying for questions (of course related to a problem!). They discussed problems. They rarely discussed Solutions.

I identify a country by its state of mind. By those standards Indian state of mind is to associate everything with the word "problem". Instead if we would try to work out solutions, it can emerge as one of the fastest growing nation since we have almost every natural resource that this growth would demand.

sorry state of research in India !

I am an ex-PhD student from India and i finally decided to write something about the way India approaches the field of research.

I wonder how many people give a serious thought about the fact that we are a premier country to supply scientific human resource to developing countries and we still are so backwards when it comes to scientific research.

We took 23 years (1984-2007) to make an aircraft (LCA) when aviation just completed its first century and that too by assembling foreign parts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAL_Tejas). We always get second-hand accomplishments when it comes to semiconductor technology. We still lack state-of-the-art fab (fabrication unit for electronic chips) in this country (http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?id=503240). When world is moving forward towards 45nm technology, we are struggling to get 130nm technology and that too IMPORTED. We manage world's biggest software industry but when it comes to making a big adventure into software research, our companies shy away from that. We still count upon CV Raman, Chandrashekhar and Hargobind Khurana to get Nobel prize for their research and two of them did their work outside India. Open up any volume no. of scientific journal and you would find at least 10 articles with Indian names but very few from Indian Institutes. 12% doctors in USA and 36% of NASA scientists are born in India (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2853178.cms). We rarely see a headline which says that this act was performed first time in the world by an Indian in India, whereas its so common abroad. Indian Research Journals have such low impact factor ratings that even Indian scientist don't want to publish their research here(http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/dec102000/1513.pdf). Two Indian Journals crossed the mark of 1.00 impact factor in 2004 when we have when we have journals with impact factors crossing 50.

When one has to counter such statement, they have few ready-made names to count upon. Names who actually fought anti-research environment and did good job. If one closely studies the success stories then one can easily find that system never contributed in a positive way. Dr. Abdul Kalam's autobiography is a shining proof.

Let me illustrate what i mean by anti-research environment. The field of research is based purely on creativity and innovation. One has to be innovative to see whats new and then to create that into a product. For PhD s, its the thesis. Everything depends on your approach. First you seek someone who already knows much about the subject (an animal we call "guide" , as if we are sheep!) to know about the subject. He can illustrate you "what has already been done". Then its your job to find a new phenomenon in that subject which has not been discovered.

The very first mistake is usually done here. They depend too much on Guide. They expect him to do things for them. This is partially an outcome of spoon-feeding educational system. Anyway, now guide provides this service most of the time, but every service has a cost. This cost comes up in for of "submission of self-esteem". You do whatever (s)he says. Unfortunately we have a whole generation of guides who did the same when they were PhD students and hence its obvious to justify their own actions in wake of their inner call. Once you submit yourself, you loose the creative abilities.

Up till now, i discussed everything at an individual level. Coming to national level, most of the projects are alloted on basis of contacts rather than actual scientific abilities. All interviews and presentations are staged bullshit. All recruitments are staged bullshit. These statements comes from personal experiences. Everybody in scientific community knows this and uses it without saying a word.

One needs to have "good contacts" in order to get a project. It doesn't matter whether you have shown any capability which is required. My Indian PhD project was alloted to a my guide, who knew nothing around the central idea of project. He use to come to me for preparing his presentations!

"Butt-licking" is one of the most favorite way to do PhD work if you know nothing. If guide demands to run a DC motor with an AC current, butt-lickers would run to make these connections. Majority of PhD students in universities cannot clear the basic examination for lectureship (National Eligibility Test). Amongst them, most of them have taken admission in PhD program because they had nothing else to do after completing their masters.

And what do you get, if you refuse to do all this. My scholarship was "somehow" delayed for a while YEAR. I had to wait for an year to make experiment on an instrument, since the man who handles the equipment didn't had "good relations" with my guide. My friend (who follows the same) has to do a court case to get signatures for his Final Viva session to be held in department after submitting his thesis around one and half years ago.

All these cases which i told you in above paragraph belongs to those people who has cleared a national level examination and claimed national scholarship.

Now what do you expect us to do in India. We seek some other lab. Surprisingly, its mostly outside India. Readers will not find it hard to reason out why!

Present status of research needs to be improved. In last few years, thanks to a scientist president, Government has increased the inflow of money in research. But this has to be managed properly and in a professional way (Deadlines should be dead-lines. Extending a deadlines does not justifies its name). India needs to change age old higher education policy and introduce more do-and-learn themes rather than rote-and-learn theme for educating youth. Also, it must be wisely understood that research is a kind of investment for future progress. Indian media should also highlight Indian achievement just as they do petty criminal cases or political scandals 24X7. Media has to show much mature outlook towards researchers as they are the backbone of scientific progress. With a huge population, India can become self sufficient if it choose to. Mis-management of human resource should be killed and efficiency should be the basis of making government policies.

I believe that private sector is the key to improve research situation. Private sector can develop a competitive research community as proved by foreign companies like IBM, Intel, AMD and others. This has worked well for the field of biotechnology. It can work for every field.

I hope that reader will understand that this article was written with clear intentions to portray the challenges ahead. We can do better if we rationalize our approach as we did in our golden era.

Author is pursuing PhD at Sweden finally...