– Freedom and Democracy

Last updated on: December 26, 2005 at 1:47 pm By Desh Kapoor

I am not sure where this story came from but I will narrate a version of it anyways.. There was this guy - lets call him Mr. Smith - who was walking down a street in London waving and punching his hands in the air with no worries or concern! The people in front of him would run away lest they be hit. Eventually his freely punching hand hit a person - lets call him Mr. Jones - on his nose and he started bleeding. Mr. Jones reported Mr. Smith to the police. Mr. Smith was caught and produced before a magistrate. The Magistrate asked Mr. Smith to explain himself .. and he said that "Sir, I am free man in a free country with all the freedoms - how can what I did be wrong?" Read more

– Indian Budget AIrlines

Last updated on: December 23, 2005 at 12:50 pm By Desh Kapoor

In this visit to India.. part of my mission was to visit a Indore - a small town in a central state of India .. Madhya Pradesh. Unfortunately for me, I booked my ticket on Air Deccan - a budget airline.. if you ever have a choice in India for domestic travel - DONT EVER .. EVER get on to this airlines! The ordeal started as soon as I entered the airport. Ostensibly, the flight to Srinagar had been cancelled.. so what do you think the irate passengers did? They started almost rioting.. tried to shut off all the other counters so none of the flights could be checked into! I just dont get this!! There is nothing unusual about flight cancellation.. and even if its an inconvenience.. still why start fighting others? Read more

– Muta Marriages in Islam

Last updated on: December 20, 2005 at 10:56 pm By Desh Kapoor

Having brought something that is abhorable in the "Hindu system of society" .... let me bring something that is equally disturbing from the Islamic society.. called the M'uta system of Marriage. I am not sure of the veracity of this "tradition" or religious practice that originates from the Prophet's time... but it would be interesting to know what the well-read Muslims think about this? Here is something on what the scriptures and the Prophet said on this marriage. The Sunni authorities agree that mut'a was permitted by the Prophet at certain points during his lifetime, but they maintain that in the end he prohibited it completely. In contrast the Shi'is maintain that the Prophet did not ban it, and they cite numerous hadith from Sunni as well as Shi'i sources to prove this. Having established its legality, they then devote tremendous care and attention to defining its legal status and all the rules and regulations connected with it. Read more

– "Human flesh smells like rawhide and tastes like pork"

Last updated on: December 20, 2005 at 9:21 pm By Desh Kapoor

Nauseatingly curious travelogue of an American lady who came across an "American Aghori" from Houston - now settled in India - who survives on flesh from dead bodies! He goes on to speak on the taste of flesh of babies vs older people... Determined to discover what led an American from a wealthy Texan background to immigrate to India and turn to cannibalism, I began to probe Nath about his past, something he was rather less eager to discuss. From the rambled stream of consciousness that spurted from his mouth, I made out that a history of drug taking and selling combined with a failed marriage and a few prison stints in a variety of countries had warped Nath’s consciousness to the extent that he thought cannibalism an acceptable practice. In short, he was clearly insane but appeared to be fairly harmless and grateful for any company. Read more

– Blogging mistakes..

Last updated on: December 20, 2005 at 7:15 pm By Desh Kapoor

Here are some tips that I got from All about blogging site.. my site is lacking in quite a few areas.. and I think I intend to improve upon them in future: Content: 1. Not posting frequently enough. (Recommended: 2-3 times a week.) - This I do 2. Content is not focused, and the target audience is not clearly defined. - I write on various things - Indian, world and US politics; business and spirituality... should I break up my blog in different areas? Maybe... Read more

– New York halts! Strike starts…

Last updated on: December 20, 2005 at 7:09 pm By Desh Kapoor

Terrorism.. Power Outage... and strikes! New York is fast turning into a city that can be held to ransom if any of the basic services is brought to a halt.. and as we have seen in the last few years.. there are various ways to do that!! Subways and buses ground to a halt Tuesday morning as transit workers walked off the job at the height of the holiday shopping and tourist season, forcing millions of riders to find new ways to get around. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who had said the strike would cost the city as much as $400 million a day, joined the throngs of people crossing the Brooklyn Bridge in the freezing cold as he walked from a Brooklyn emergency headquarters to City Hall. Other New Yorkers car-pooled or rode bicycles. Read more

– Unlearning Instinct!

Last updated on: December 16, 2005 at 2:49 pm By Desh Kapoor

When I started learning how to drive I was conscious - deliberate - and in "presence" of every action. But now I drive instinctively. So the deliberate experience became "instinct"! The question that have now for myself is if I can acomplish the reverse? Whatever that is "instinctive" to me ... can I bring it under the "control of my presence". Can I add in the element of deliberate? or in other words - the question is "Can I unlearn?" ~ inspired from the words of Swami Vivekananda "Instinct is Degeneration of Voluntary Action" Read more

– Evolution and "Intelligence' debate

Last updated on: December 16, 2005 at 2:49 pm By Desh Kapoor

The current debate of Evolution and Intelligence is the mos stupid! Vivekananda said Evolution presumes Involution and Involution presumes Evolution as a necessary consequence. How can Evolution progress without an inherent factor of "intelligence" propogated - call it DNA or whatever. ..And what use is "Intelligence" if it does not result in growth, improvement and Evolution? Moving from a lower to higher plane of existence and consciousness? So, essentially Evolution is not complete without "Intelligence" and "Intelligence" is not complete without Evolution as a future play! ~ Read more

– Is Environment Conservation a stop to Evolution?

Last updated on: December 16, 2005 at 2:49 pm By Desh Kapoor

Is conservation our attempt to tamper with Evolution and danger it forever? If Natural Selection theory is treated as gospel then we understand that existence moves from lower to higher level - then by giving the lower organisms - lower existences - a better than natural chance and probability of survival then are we not tampering with the future of our evolution? Are we not guaranteeing survival of the "not-so-fittest"?? On the other hand, if Intelligence and Consciousness is considered true then we have an element of "evolution" or growth - from lower consciousness to a higher consciousness. So as more and more humans replace the animals and other lower organisms, does it not mean that consciousness is finally getting a shot at greater evolution and has at least shifted as an aggregate at a higher "orbit of consciousness"? By encouraging sustained life of animals are we not restraining - artifically - the consciousness to lower levels? Read more

– Vivekananda on Evolution

Last updated on: December 16, 2005 at 2:48 pm By Desh Kapoor

Here are some of Swami Vivekananda's quotes: - Each involution presupposes an evolution, and each evolution an involution. - What we call instinct in men or animals must therefore be involved, degenerated, voluntary actions and Voluntary Actions are impossible without experience. - The child is the man involved, and the man is the child evolved. - The effect is cause manifested. There is no essential difference between effect and the cause. - without the fund of already existing experience, any new experience would be impossible, for there would be nothing to refer the new impression. Read more