Ask the dust

I loose my mind in a glimpse,
Love with a blank head and open heart.
In the time of the Butterflies,
Dreams fly high up in the sky.

She said - Forget your internal strife and your reason!
Believe in destiny and I did.
I was in the peace and a state of happiness.
And I was only thinking that she did not ask for my life.

"Why and what happens to me? "
I quoted a prose to answer this mystery.
"Ask the dust on the road and the falling leaves, ask the mysterious God of life; for no one knows such things."
Then, I smiled.

She gave me nothing,
Yet, all worries she took away
Only shared her presence for few moments.
I thanked her out of sheer joy.

She laughs at my dreams,
I dream about her laughter.
Within my heart,
a secret blossoms where dreams may go.

To thine own self be true

Have you ever seen from the top of mountains to the valley and other peaks across or enjoyed never ending boundaries of ocean from the shores. They are irresistible and fascinating view binder. They give us the glimpse into the infinite.

Me

Life is born out of love.
All life is a progression, one moment inspiring the next and so on.
Live with love.

Failure, I love this term.
Carve for success and failure will follow you.
Live without care for past or future.

Enjoy the present in every aspect of life.
Try to put extra effort and everything slip out of hands.
Be effortless and natural.
In a moment, you will learn to love or love to learn.

Be a rebel, not to escape present.
Be a rebel, not by the desire to prove yours mettle in front of others.
Be yourself and do what you love,
You will become a rebel.

Go towards the inclination that you love.
Leave the security and Risk the life.
Lifestyle will change and style in life will come.
Live in the infinite...

My World

“I am ok, you are ok, the system sucks”.

This is the world that surrounds me.

Why do so many Indians put up with mediocrity and aren’t even embarrassed by this? F Easier, I suppose, to ignore the boos. Few may be frustrated but exception proves the rule.

I cannot tell you how annoying those “patriotic” types are, that applaud everything mediocre India offers ranging from Bollywood to the IITs, and get upset when you don’t appreciate what is “made” in India. And Icing in the cake comes when they justify each sub standard quality with the phrase TII (This is India).

The root cause of dearth of maverick rebel in India is: (1) Educational institutes are too inefficient to encourage an individual (2) Family & Society has such a crushing hold on people who want to build their own institutions and inspire others with success stories.

Good Intention is ok, Debate is necessary, but both are not sufficient, MUST be followed by action. Debate is powerful and often the initiator of action (which might be undertaken by a subset).

Dear Readers : Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.

Meri Udaan

Ek Udaan Kab Talak Yun Kaid Rahegi
Rokon Na Chodh Do Ise,
Ek Udaan Hi Sapnon Ko Zindagi Degi
Sapnon Se Jodh Do Ise.

Purani Dalilo Rasmo Ko Sabhi
Abhi Se Kahe Alvida,
Badaltey Dino Ke Tariko Se
Seeche Hum Naya Gulsita.

The Bigger Picture

We need role models who can bravely give voice to what people had been wishing- but not daring to say for many a year. My intention Is not so much to ‘assess' the society and civilization in few words, but to understand what the our traditions might mean concretely to its protagonists. If you don’t know the why, you can forget about figuring out the how.

A true questioning spirit is usually introspective in nature, not accusatory. Verified doubt is scientific and it lays the foundation for merit-based trust. The advantage of a questioning spirit is that it is the opposite of an inquisition. Huge majority of society have internalized the myth that the authority is capable — and willing — to solve to problem of poverty. This is one of the greatest binding assumptions that imprisons the development. To become free from this notion is hard because it is in the interest of those in authority and few in power to perpetuate these false beliefs. People, an individual changes the world for better, not the other way round.

Bigger Picture By Sharmista Chaudhury: Inclusive growth is the new buzzword in B-School curricula.

"Bad Management Theories are destroying good management practices". by Sumantra Ghosal.

Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment by Sushil Yadav

India should accept climate change flow obligations, ask for superfund: Jagdish Bhagwati

The Management Myth : Most of management theory is inane, writes our correspondent, the founder of a consulting firm. If you want to succeed in business, don’t get an M.B.A. Study philosophy instead

RISC — Rural Infrastructure & Services Commons : RISC proposes the establishment of rural hubs with established infrastructure and fee-based user services that would be sustained by patronage from many surrounding villages, accessible by bicycle. Each hub would provide economic opportunities for India's rural population and the potential to seed a larger urban center.

The Logic Behind RISC and RISC at XIMB

Special Parliament Session to Debate Poverty (Must Read Article)

It is useful to remember Finagle’s Law, a corollary to Murphy’s Law. It says that when a job is fouled up by someone, anything they do to make it better only makes things worse. The government is the last agency to figure out what went wrong and why. And in the end, when they try to fix the problem, even if well-intentioned, they just make it a great deal worse. (Via Atanu dey)

On Education

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity



Richard Dreyfuss on Education



George Carlin - Education and the Elite

Cinema and Me

I become movie lover in my college days. Pulp Fiction, Saving Private Ryan, Million Dollar Baby, Se7en, Escape from Alcatraz and Shawshank Redemption introduced me into the world of quality cinema. I remembered DVD of Al Pacino movies brought on rent while bounded by the charm of The Godfather.

I became aware and thunderstruck of the power of ideas with the movie V For Vendetta. Recently, Inception gives me huge back up in my plan. As it reaffirms my faith that blog can be a mass awareness tool based on the power of Ideas. I am still not sure of seeing this blog as an open source of Idea. Originality is covered up with the plagiarism just to bring require impact in the reading.

Initial articles were written with the deep passion that anyone will be inspired to bring change someday through the help of it. It was more hope in power of literature than an idea. Mole placed into an estranged society and turning against his employer was my secret plan to destroy authoritarian society. Slowly, I saw foolishness of my dreams. I realized that if you work hard in this country and believe in yourself, you'll die alone and under appreciated. Genius never gained any recognition and died almost unknown as they had shown in the movie 'Pyasaa'.

When I announced my likings of an offbeat films, I was labeled as creative by my friends. They didn't even look at my incapability of being artist. World cinema expanded my knowledge exponentially. As translation is a more intimate reading in isolation and so subtitles is little less rewarding experience but watching movie for a different cultural flavour is intimately joyous.

I have a strong urge to dissect and get to the bottom of issues, not willing to be led by popular sentiment. We shouldn't decide everything by polling the masses. Just because most people believe something doesn't make it true. This is the fallacy called argumentum ad numeram: the idea that something is true because great numbers believe it. If this is the case then 20 trillion flies eating shit can't be wrong.

I am still a open-minded movie-lover whose first (and often only) instinct is to see something good or useful in a film. I am a aware audience of passing decade that has shown rise of Aamir Khan attributed to his willingness to work by taking risk and team spirit. SRK lost his touch with coon young man as theirs own by coming into larger than life character. Looking at Indian Cinema in all these years, I wish India to have produced some directors who could have captured our imagination and brought crowds to watch cinema of world standards. I don't see too much movies any more but the taste of good cinema still ponders over in my heart. Here are three important web link on cinema.

The Original Wasn’t Better by Prof Amardeep Singh.

Best Feature Films With Country of Origin India and At Least 100 Votes on IMDB with including all Indian languages.

Best Hindi-Language Feature Films With At Least 100 Votes on IMDB.

On Entertainment addiction of Indians:

Shatranj ke khiladi ("The Chess Players") is a Hindi short-story written by Munshi Premchand. The story depicts decadent royalty of Central North India. It is set around the life of the last independently ruling Nawab ruler Wajid Ali Shah and concludes with the British annexation of the Nawab's kingdom of Awadh in 1856. The two main characters are the aristocrats Mirza Sajjad Ali and Mir Raushan Ali who are deeply immersed into playing chess. Their desire for the game destroys the competency of the characters, and makes them irresponsible in their duties towards their families and society. They derive immense pleasure in developing chess strategies and ignore the real life invasion by the British. Their city Lucknow falls to British attackers as they are busy playing a game of chess.

Blind Faith : Irrationality

Irrational behaviour happens due to social and emotional biases. People are very much less rational than is commonly thought and it may be attributed to obedience, conformity and peer pressure.

Its often that North Indian come to Chennai and criticize every cultural and social norm. West European or American traveling to India and disdaining from poverty, chaos and dust. A religious and deeply conservative person being shocked by the open culture of Las Vegas.

Why does all these three events happen?

This happen because all want the whole world in their own image – this is their identity, to which all alterities must – they so wish – yield. Even they migrate to different culture, the idealism and self glorification of their ancestors comes with the baggage. These culturally uprooted persons in a economic stable society can afford to and became source of more intolerant ideologies. They supports back to the roots with a very closed realm of their identity and remain unaware of the dynamic changes back home.

Let us take example of Pakistan. Proliferation of extremist thought and jihadi groups started in 80's Pakistan and there was emergence of the middle class supporting military rule in the favour of economic stability. Zia was celebrated as one of their own in 80's by similar Pakistani group that today blames him for all wrong deeds. These are prime example of irrational behaviour where initial conditioning has retarded the curiosity and questioning nature of the human being. Hence, irrationality appears when a person refuses to move to another set of beliefs even the proper reason is given in the first place. Static system of beliefs lead us to the path of irrational behaviour.

People behave ethically all the time without relying on myths and religion. The comfort that religion brings to an individual comes at a terrible price. Probably the majority of wars in our history have been fought over religion. Ahmediya sect killings is clear example of ethnic cleaning in the name of religious (Islamic) purity. Human life sanity is clearly violated for an old school of thought.

Let us take example of U.S.A. Tea Party baggers genuinely don’t see the contradiction in their opposition to welfare state with taking state aid with one hand and jacking off angry pseudo-libertarian mobs with the other, much in the same way that some Wall Street people genuinely can’t see the problem with their company, say, taking $13 billion in bonuses in the same year that they accepted $13 billion in state bailouts. You wave a pitchfork at them with little post-its of the relevant figures taped to the ends, and ask them to confess – and they can’t, because they literally don’t see your point.

Patriotism is also such a irrational belief system. In words of Emma Goldman: We Americans claim to be a peace-loving people. We hate bloodshed; we are opposed to violence. Yet we go into spasms of joy over the possibility of projecting dynamite bombs from flying machines upon helpless citizens. We are ready to hang, electrocute, or lynch anyone, who, from economic necessity, will risk his own life in the attempt upon that of some industrial magnate. Yet our hearts swell with pride at the thought that America is becoming the most powerful nation on earth, and that she will eventually plant her iron foot on the necks of all other nations. Such is the logic of patriotism.

Hubris, ignorance and apathy among the privileged are a potently destructive mix and a sure recipe for disaster. A society or nation degrades in civility once a set of beliefs are not evolved with the time. Even people have developed an acute consciousness of their own pain but their senses have become dulled to the suffering of those others who does not share their belief system. Irrationality is born out of such static system of beliefs where no reasoning has been applied to challenge ongoing traditions.

I am ending my search on the blind faith here only. When people are free to choose what type of discussions they want to have, they often gravitate toward an equilibrium that is easy to maintain but one that no one really enjoys or benefits from. Hence, it is hard to argue in the case of blind faith . While breaking the taboo has two effects. First, there is the domino effect, which applies to other taboos. Then – and even more importantly – a complete way of thinking has finally been pushed aside. And we evolve as more humane and rational.

Love

OSHO talks about the fundamental human falacy on Love with great clarity. “You are Love” , sais OSHO. “The basic fallacy that you are carrying within you is that you always loved somebody. This is one of the most significant things about all human beings; their love is always for somebody, it is addressed – and the moment you address your love, you destroy it. It is as if you are saying, “I will breathe only for you — and when you are not there, then how can I breathe?”

I was believing in idealism and true single love (that is non existential in nature) but both were like day dreaming for an impractical guy. I was waking up each day on the wrong side of bed and think about my failures in personal life. Pain's rooted deep but it passes on surface, after all. It's passing now but an ounce of love was rooted deep in soft corner. I was searching for the true love who can stand by me. Then, I read Osho's discourse on love.

I love, because my love is not dependent on the object of love. My love is dependent on my state of being. So whether the other person changes, becomes different, friend turns into a foe, does not matter, because my love was never dependent on the other person. My love is my state of being. I simply love.

If you cannot love yourself, you don't know even the taste of love or what love means.

Love yourself, so that all your loving sources become open, all blocks are removed. And if you can love yourself -- with all your frailties, with all your weaknesses, with all your errors -- you can love anybody in the world. You will have tremendous compassion and understanding, because you commit the same mistakes; the same are your errors, the same are your frailties.

If you love deeply, by and by you will become aware that your love is becoming more and more meditative. A subtle quality of silence is entering in you. Thoughts are disappearing, gaps appearing -- silences. You are touching your own depth. Love makes you meditative if it is on the right lines. Meditation makes you loving if it is on the right lines.

And if you relate, and don't reduce it to a relationship, then the other will become a mirror to you. Exploring him, unawares you will be exploring yourself too. Getting deeper into the other, knowing his feelings, his thoughts, his deeper stirrings, you will be knowing your own deeper stirrings too. Lovers become mirrors to each other, and then love becomes a meditation. Relationship is ugly, relating is beautiful.

These lines have calmed me down. I am not a right man for a struggle with the reality as it flows out of control. Life is so weird and absurd. I don't know about the future and have only vague idea of my past. Now, I don't even want to know future or remember past. I was trying get over with any form of the love in order to be free. I am living the moment. I am becoming an escapist whose mantra is ‘turn-on, tune-in and move-out’to next venture or zone of curiosity.

Bill Maher on Larry King Live

Bill Maher realistically criticise what is wrong with the U.S.A. !
The People Are Sick!" - Part 1 of 3



The People Are Sick!" - Part 2 of 3



The People Are Sick!" - Part 3 of 3

Changing Times

A Day Trip to My Alma Mater : One of the best memoir and evaluation done by alumni on IIT system.

The Disadvantages of an Elite Education : Our best universities have forgotten that the reason they exist is to make minds, not careers. - By William Deresiewicz

what do *you* want to do?! -- Author points correctly that forget science, everyone should be prioritizing their activities and asking themselves - is this *really* something *I* want to do?!

Amusing Ourselves To Death : PBH: Huxley Vs. Orwell: Infinite Distractions Or Government Oppression?

My Wishlist of Reading : Yayaver on Flipkart

Reality is both good and bad depending on our view. Torture, suicide and terrorism are the three blind mice of our era with no one knowing clearly which of them is leading us astray. And all of them are born out of religion. They have played a major role in the grisly battle between terror and retribution. Similarly, prostitution is only product of repressed sexuality and marriage without love.

What happens in the initiative of an individual to change society ? First people will ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they feel insulted and fight you, then you win.

Graveyard is a place is full of people who thought that the world can’t do without them. But the world goes on with new ideas and lives. It will go without me also. The black sheep was waiting for turning into suddenly the dark horse. The ambition disappeared and with that black sheep will remain true to its natural form.

Fierce critical interrogation is sometimes the only practice that can pierce the wall of denial consumers of images construct so as not to face that the real world of image-making is political - that politics of domination inform the way the vast majority of images we consume are constructed and marketed.

Communism, Revolution and State

The Communists say that there are the only two means of establishing communism. The first is violence. Nothing short of it will suffice to break up the existing system. The other is dictatorship of the proletariat. I quote here an old premise of political theory: for a state to be functional and effective, it must retain a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence. I am in love with opinions of Emma Goldman on the goals, ends, means and values attached with the revolution. I am reproducing her views with the help of wikiquote.

What is Cause of revolution?

I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from convention and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy. I insisted that our Cause could not expect me to become a nun and that the movement would not be turned into a cloister. If it meant that, I did not want it. "I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everybody's right to beautiful, radiant things." Anarchism meant that to me, and I would live it in spite of the whole world — prisons, persecution, everything. Yes, even in spite of the condemnation of my own closest comrades I would live my beautiful ideal.

If I can't dance, it's not my revolution!
If I can't dance, I don't want your revolution!
If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution.
A revolution without dancing is not a revolution worth having.
If there won't be dancing at the revolution, I'm not coming.

Do the end justifies all means ?

There is no greater fallacy than the belief that aims and purposes are one thing, while methods and tactics are another, This conception is a potent menace to social regeneration. All human experience teaches that methods and means cannot be separated from the ultimate aim. The means employed become, through individual habit and social practice, part and parcel of the final purpose; they influence it, modify it, and presently the aims and means become identical.

This perversion of the ethical values soon crystallized into the all-dominating slogan of the Communist Party: THE END JUSTIFIES ALL MEANS. Similarly in the past the Inquisition and the Jesuits adopted this motto and subordinated to it all morality. It avenged itself upon the Jesuits as it did upon the Russian Revolution. In the wake of this slogan followed lying, deceit, hypocrisy and treachery, murder, open and secret. It should be of utmost interest to students of social psychology that two movements as widely separated in time and ideas as Jesuitism and Bolshevism reached exactly similar results in the evolution of the principle that the end justifies all means. The historic parallel, almost entirely ignored so far, contains a most important lesson for all coming revolutions and for the whole future of mankind.

The great and inspiring aims of the Revolution became so clouded with and obscured by the methods used by the ruling political power that it was hard to distinguish what was temporary means and what final purpose. Psychologically and socially the means necessarily influence and alter the aims. The whole history of man is continuous proof of the maxim that to divest one's methods of ethical concepts means to sink into the depths of utter demoralization. In that lies the real tragedy of the Bolshevik philosophy as applied to the Russian Revolution. May this lesson not be in vain.

No revolution can ever succeed as a factor of liberation unless the MEANS used to further it be identical in spirit and tendency with the PURPOSES to be achieved. Revolution is the negation of the existing, a violent protest against man's inhumanity to man with all the thousand and one slaveries it involves. It is the destroyer of dominant values upon which a complex system of injustice, oppression, and wrong has been built up by ignorance and brutality. It is the herald of NEW VALUES, ushering in a transformation of the basic relations of man to man, and of man to society.

Its first ethical precept is the identity of means used and aims sought. The ultimate end of all revolutionary social change is to establish the sanctity of human life, the dignity of man, the right of every human being to liberty and wellbeing. Unless this be the essential aim of revolution, violent social changes would have no justification. For external social alterations can be, and have been, accomplished by the normal processes of evolution. Revolution, on the contrary, signifies not mere external change, but internal, basic, fundamental change. That internal change of concepts and ideas, permeating ever-larger social strata, finally culminates in the violent upheaval known as revolution.

The period of the actual revolution, the so-called transitory stage, must be the introduction, the prelude to the new social conditions. It is the threshold to the NEW LIFE, the new HOUSE OF MAN AND HUMANITY. As such it must be of the spirit of the new life, harmonious with the construction of the new edifice.

To-day is the parent of to-morrow. The present casts its shadow far into the future. That is the law of life, individual and social. Revolution that divests itself of ethical values thereby lays the foundation of injustice, deceit, and oppression for the future society. The means used to prepare the future become its cornerstone.

It cannot be sufficiently emphasized that revolution is in vain unless inspired by its ultimate ideal. Revolutionary methods must be in tune with revolutionary aims. The means used to further the revolution must harmonize with its purposes. In short, the ethical values which the revolution is to establish in the new society must be initiated with the revolutionary activities of the so-called transitional period. The latter can serve as a real and dependable bridge to the better life only if built of the same material as the life to be achieved.

Nothing would prove more disastrous to our ideas, we contended, than to neglect the effect of the internal upon the external, of the psychological motives and needs upon existing institutions. 

Please also read through B R Ambedkar's essay on Karl Marx and Mahatma Buddha.

Love, Reality and Satire

I love cinema and books. What genre in them ? Rather than looking for entertainment element, I love calm, almost hypnotic and intense films or books. I like them as they give me insight of human nature. With experiences of interactions with different minds in the society, cinema and books have helped me to understand human behaviour. Love, reality and satire are three words that has captured me from a long time. I will state about them further here in mine blabbering.

Satire is only tool through which taboo topics and events can be investigated and offer the audience to experience both laughter and discomfort, sometimes simultaneously. It the best of all mass entertainment that has grown of our natural ability to laugh on our tears. Wit and humor combined with knowledge form the basis of satire. Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality. They reflect bankruptcy of ours belief system that we hold very dear despite of its negative impact. The inherent strength of the content matched with cheeky presentation can only awake humans from a state of apathy.

I have started to drop all sort of beliefs that make person behave like irrational. When one inquire about some issue to others, one raise a question about others opinions and deep down disturb his/her belief system. Doubt is the best way to gather knowledge. Unless not doubted to full satisfation of curiosity and extent of pre-existing knowledge, no one embed the information into his/her knowledge bank. That is why search for good teacher is necessary because information provided about reality first may be wrong.

Family and Society constraint the thinking of humans and tend to make one believe that first answers were only correct one. This static state of knowledge prevents expansion of person's consciousness and mind both. Reality is dynamic in the nature and can't be understand by the person stuck in the traditions and deeds of past generations.

This led to the labeling of the person under an identity. An individual trapped in an limited identity will be exploited by authoritative state or religion. It also constraint a person's open interaction with another individual belonging to different belief system. The dilemma of choosing between integration and emigration from mainstream & picking either freedom or security are most tough of all decisions for an individual.

Labels such as society, culture and religion are superficial in nature and they take away the basic freedom to redefine ourselves with each passing moment. Only an individual exist deep down in all of us. An individual that always love and is ready for rational debate in the matters of traditions. Love is a small margin that somehow separates magic and rational method. It is beyond rationality yet best of all human emotions. Reasons are weapons to uncover mask of hypocrisy but only love can raise moral awareness level of an individual towards everything.

Familiarity is not necessarily the same thing as understanding or empathy. Reality is taken in very limited perception by innocent people who only seek for basic needs of life, hopes for better future and a little entertainment. The innocent people became victims in the fights of identity and ideologies that forced them to take sides in this warfare. When such long abuse of power is corrected, same victims become oppressors and confrontation of belief system is generally replaced by an opposite violence. This violence is generated by the lack of understanding of both sides and a strict affiliation to their own set of values.

Louis D. Brandeis remarked correctly that the greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding. Tyranny of one belief system over other has been born out of ignorance, superstition, bigotry. The free expression of the hopes and aspirations of a people is the greatest and only safety in a sane society. That is the only evolution for becoming more humane can be attained by us.

Many politicians are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim. ~Thomas Macaulay

Revolution and State

I was reading Emma Goldman's view on revolution that are based on her observation on Russian revolution. They are indeed astute and written with intense understanding of the failure of the communist revolution to turn into just state.

The inherent tendency of the State is to concentrate, to narrow, and monopolize all social activities; the nature of revolution is, on the contrary, to grow, to broaden, and disseminate itself in ever-wider circles. In other words, the State is institutional and static; revolution is fluent, dynamic. These two tendencies are incompatible and mutually destructive. The State idea killed the Russian Revolution and it must have the same result in all other revolutions, unless the libertarian idea prevail.

Revolution is indeed a violent process. But if it is to result only in a change of dictatorship, in a shifting of names and political personalities, then it is hardly worth while. It is surely not worth all the struggle and sacrifice, the stupendous loss in human life and cultural values that result from every revolution. If such a revolution were even to bring greater social well being (which has not been the case in Russia) then it would also not be worth the terrific price paid: mere improvement can be brought about without bloody revolution.

In its mad passion for power, the Communist State even sought to strengthen and deepen the very ideas and conceptions which the Revolution had come to destroy. It supported and encouraged all the worst antisocial qualities and systematically destroyed the already awakened conception of the new revolutionary values. The sense of justice and equality, the love of liberty and of human brotherhood — these fundamentals of the real regeneration of society — the Communist State suppressed to the point of extermination. Man's instinctive sense of equity was branded as weak sentimentality; human dignity and liberty became a bourgeois superstition; the sanctity of life, which is the very essence of social reconstruction, was condemned as unrevolutionary, almost counter-revolutionary. This fearful perversion of fundamental values bore within itself the seed of destruction.

Witness the tragic condition of Russia. The methods of State centralization have paralysed individual initiative and effort; the tyranny of the dictatorship has cowed the people into slavish submission and all but extinguished the fires of liberty; organized terrorism has depraved and brutalized the masses and stifled every idealistic aspiration; institutionalized murder has cheapened human life, and all sense of the dignity of man and the value of life has been eliminated; coercion at every step has made effort bitter, labour a punishment, has turned the whole of existence into a scheme of mutual deceit, and has revived the lowest and most brutal instincts of man. A sorry heritage to begin a new life of freedom and brotherhood.

My idea of the revolution is to have individuals as free as possible and responsible. Neither need of law nor of any law establishing agencies. It will be academically wrong to quote Osho here but he pointed very correctly about authoritative nature of state and rebellious nature of revolutionary in the case of Russia.

Trotsky and Stalin were enemies, enemies in the sense that Joseph Stalin was never a revolutionary. All he wanted deep down was to replace the czar and become a czar himself -- and he became it. He became the worst czar that has ever existed.

In Russian history the worst czar was Ivan the Terrible, but he was nothing compared to Stalin. He poisoned Lenin, he killed Trotsky, and he went on killing other great revolutionaries. He was satisfied only when all the great revolutionaries who were responsible for the revolution were finished. He replaced them with people who wanted law and order, and society and organization. He created the greatest establishment ever created, and with such strength that the whole country became a concentration camp.

It is very difficult for rebels and seekers to remain rebels and seekers. They will be rebellious even if the revolution has happened. Any revolution is bound to create another kind of establishment, and the authentic rebellious man will again revolt, revolt against the revolution he himself has created but had never thought would become an establishment. The authentic rebel never becomes part of any establishment.

The problem is that the rebels are very few, and the retarded masses are so many that unless every individual is a rebel, an establishment is bound to follow. The rebel is bound to fight against his own revolution, which is turning into a new establishment. Up to now no revolution has been able to succeed because the moment it succeeds it starts becoming another establishment. The people who had power change, but the people who come in their place are more powerful. And it is more difficult to change them, because they know all the strategies that they have used in changing powerful people. So they will not allow any of those strategies.

For seventy years in Russia there has not been a single rebel, because you cannot just become a rebel in a single moment. To be rebellious needs a certain understanding, a certain alertness, a certain unprejudiced mind. Russia is the only country in the world where revolution is impossible, and this is a very strange situation. It is the country where revolution succeeded on a great scale. But the moment it became a success, suddenly the water turned into ice; it became the establishment. And the rebels who are authentic cannot be tolerated anymore by the same group who changed the whole society.

I now understand meaning of the popular slogan 'Be a Rebel'. Rebel spirit can't be enslaved by false prizes, consolations and medals. Rebel seeds for future generation and always is crucified by society for freedom, for individuality, for expression, for creativity and for not becoming part of the establishment.

Governing India

Atanu Dey holds nerve of this country and analyze correctly about hurdles in the path of development of this country. In his article : The Perverse “Right to Information” , he pointed that information should be routinely available rather than being exceptionally provided.

All information of public interest should be available to the public as the default. No special effort should be necessary for a citizen to know what the government is doing with his or her money.

It is time we stopped congratulating ourselves about how wonderful the RTI is and started realizing that we have degraded ourselves to the point where we are actually grateful for the few scraps of information that is thrown our way in response to considerable groveling in front of those whose salaries we pay.

Atanu Dey continue further his roar in the article: "What Holds India Back " , that the Indian government is the greatest barrier to India’s development.

To summarize: Control of the economy does two things. First, it reduces economic activity and consequently growth. Second, it gives rise to rent, which then attracts the most criminally corrupt to gain control of the government. Rent-seeking rather than good governance becomes the sole aim of those in government. The criminally corrupt are not competent to make good policy given that it was not their public policy brilliance that brought them to power. Besides, good policy generally entails a reduction in government power and control of the economy. So why would they do it even if they were advised by others who know better.

I agreed with him. There is a huge rhetoric implementation gap while following grow first build later model that is widely followed in India.  Looking back at the history , we observe that there were labour reforms with industrial revolution; 16 hour workdays, unsafe food, little education for the poor, and working conditions has brought communism today in the world. Also, capitalism came to Europe before democracy and in India its reverse.

As the economist Pranab Bardhab pointed out, the left in India while taking aim at the dictatorship of proletariat has given us the dictatorship of salariat. Protections and job safeguards of the worst sort - the kind without accountability are looting government offices. Take example of our schools only. Government policies have funded schools, not schooling. The child issues are neglected as they can't vote or raise their problem. The biggest barrier in decentralizing the power over to local bodies has been teachers union.

I am not opposed to the free economy in India. We have a first wave of pro business reforms in 1991 rather than pro market ones. Indian citizens has not got economic rights only few rare opportunities. Still, the micro and macro economics of a nation converge via its culture; this cultural convergence within nations causes economic divergence among them.

It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong but not quite agreeable methods are adapted in confronting bad habits by government. Our institutions and conditions rest upon deep-seated ideas. To change those conditions and at the same time leave the underlying ideas and values intact means only a superficial transformation, one that cannot be permanent or bring real betterment. It is a change of form only, not of substance, as so tragically proven by Russia. We have to develop mentality that pitches reason and debate rather than organized hooliganism to challenge those ideas with minimum violence.

OSHO on WISDOM and PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy, the very word, means love for wisdom, and they have nothing to do with wisdom at all.Wisdom happens only through meditation; it never happens by collecting information. It happens by going through a transformation. Wisdom is the flowering of your consciousness, the opening of the one-thousand-petaled lotus of your being. It is the release of your fragrance, the release of the imprisoned splendor.Real philosophy has nothing to do with thinking; on the contrary it has everything to do with transcending thinking, going beyond and beyond thinking, going beyond mind, reaching to the pure space of no-mind. Out of that space something flowers in you. You can call it Christ-consciousness, Buddhahood, or whatsoever you like. That is true philosophy.

Ten Issues - 7

1- How America Can Rise Again : The simplest measure of whether a culture is dominant is whether outsiders want to be part of it Any great nation can be judged on two parameters : continued openness to immigration, and a continued concentration of universities that people around the world want to attend.

2- (Hi)Story, Truth and Nation: South Africa is facing the process of developing a new identity for itself and its people, and to deal with its past. Jyoti Mistry looks at the meaning of nations and the nation state in examining this process of creation of a national identity. Story-telling, history and memory play vital parts, particularly in South Africa, in building this "whole". In a story that has no end in sight, she looks at how a country is dealing with its past and stepping into its future.

3- A virtual counter-revolution: The internet has been a great unifier of people, companies and online networks. Powerful forces are threatening to balkanise it. The future of the internet is looking bleak;

4- Power, privilege, corruption, hypocrisy : There is nothing to be proud of India's ranking in the Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index 2009. The country ranked low also in the Bribe Payers Index among emerging economic giants.

5- The Economics of Monogamy and Polygyny : Overview of the the economics surrounding marriage institutions by professor Marina Adshade who teaches a popular undergraduate course called "Economics of Sex and Love," in which students apply the analytical and statistical tools available to economists to examine human sexuality.

6- Creating scientific culture : The first step towards an African culture of science is to make science relevant to local people, says development expert Oyeniyi Akande.

7-Loving the enemy: Al qaeda version of west - 9/11 organizer Khalid Sheikh Mohammed exploited his trial to remind the court of its own human rights obligations, while Osama bin Laden's video statements include appeals to religious pluralism. Al-Qaeda's use of liberal categories is central to its rhetoric on war and justice, writes Faisal Devji.

8- Language, Poetry, and Singularity: A joint Arab-Jewish identity seems an impossibility given the current political situation in the Middle East. And yet it was a reality, exemplified by Arabic-speaking Jews and their writers. In his extensive essay Reuven Snir investigates the complex history of Arab Jews.

9- Fellows Friday with Sunita Nadhamuni: Water and sanitation are among the most crucial issues facing India today, Sunita Nadhamuni notes in her interview with TED. But while these problems are daunting, Sunita says India’s many innovations in managing water can teach the rest of the world a thing or two.

10- An Open Letter to Manmohan Singh : Not everyone is happy with the working of our appointed prime minister due to his apathy towards corruption and the issue becomes large as an IAS officer wrote an open letter in Livemint journal - The government has lost all credibility with the people, and the buck stops with Manmohan Singh;

Quotes:

“The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion” - Henry Steele Commager

"Political tyranny is nothing compared to the social tyranny and a reformer who defies society is a more courageous man than a politician who defies Government." - B. R. Ambedkar

The Buddha said: ‘If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way.’

Overviewing Society

1- Human Values Unite, Religious Values Divide!

There are many different initiatives to strengthen the dialogue between cultures and religions, but they have not let to the desired results. The prominent Palestinian professor of philosophy Sari Nusseibeh see the weak points of such dialogue.

Nusseibeh: Whenever we talk about such a dialogue, we only ever mean the dialogue between the monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and we never speak about the relationship between Buddhism and Hinduism, where there aren't any very serious problems. On the contrary: Shintoism was originally the dominant religion in Japan, and when Buddhism came from China, the Japanese didn't give up their Shintoism, but became Buddhists as well and united the two religions.

The problems seem to emerge primarily between Judaism, Christianity and Islam, because they are so similar and have the same origin. Buddhism and Shintoism could co-exist precisely because they are so different.

The solution lies above all in the abandonment of all religious fanaticism, and in our orienting ourselves on human values, and not on religious values, because everyone can agree on the former. And if a religious principle is in conflict with a human principle, then we have to uphold the latter. That's the only way we will come to mutual acceptance.

2- ‘The Social Network’ and the case against intellectual property rights

Ideas — in this case, an online student network — bear none of the qualities of property. They are abstract and intangible. They don’t exist in any physical sense. If another thinker has the same idea, the original thinker is not suddenly deprived of access to the idea; it simply multiplies.

This is not the equivalent of stealing your friend’s apple. It’s the equivalent of having an apple exactly identical to your friend’s appear in the palm of your hand. Your friend still has his apple.

Defenders of intellectual property protections will object to your apple on the grounds that its existence lowers the value of your friend’s apple; your friend won’t bother to grow apples if you can obtain yours for free. This creates a free rider problem, they allege, in which nobody grows apples and there are none to be copied.

But such thinking ignores that fame can be as compelling a reason to produce something as fortune.

During a legal hearing, Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg makes the ultimate statement against intellectual property rights, asking, “Does a guy who makes a really good chair owe money to anyone who ever made a chair?” If people value Facebook and the system that made its development possible, the answer should be a resounding no.

3- The Others Talk: Women's issues, sexual issues, female genital mutilation, virginity problems and "honour killings” are all related to patriarchy and class. Rape is the result of the lack of dedicated societal attention to the safety, respect, and prosperity of women in peace time, as well as in war. That is why empowering women is so necessary to preserve and reform our culture.

Here is an inspiring lecture in which "Kavita Ramdas talks about three encounters with powerful women who fight to make the world better—while preserving the traditions that sustain them." On her bio page is this quote: "Being a philanthropist doesn't mean necessarily writing a huge check. It can mean mobilizing your community to start asking questions." Kavita Ramdas directs the Global Fund for Women, the largest foundation in the world supporting women's human rights across all borders.

Passing thoughts on Higher Education

I always have a idealism that education brings erudition and clarity in ideas; empathise and understand, lead and act to bring changes. And educational institutes catalyses this happening. I feel privileged to become a part of the ITBHU in 2004. It was feeling of eliteness and ecstasy of qualifying IIT JEE after dropping out 2 years post intermediate. Now, IT BHU is on the verge of conversion into IIT. ITBHU has potential and it will always have potential if the attitude of authority remains same despite of effective converted into IIT.  BHU is ranked as top most university in India and IT BHU ranks in top 10 technical college of the country. Still, I can see the slow and orthodox behaviour of the authorities in day to day work. I started thinking about institutional aging and condition of universities in India.

Intellectual license permit raj is there in our all universities that is why we are out of world rankings based on any parameters. Universities are merely a passing-by station for most of the students. Our educational institutes has a large shortfall of teachers and a lacklustre administration. Indian college are social slums of the intellectual where action is resisted in favour of status. Initiative and experiment may led to wrong results, that is the way administration of the colleges are run overall. Andre Betellei notes, this approach has turned or universities into mere ABC factories, degree giving institutions whose primary focus is not education but conducting exams.

The truth is that the desire for change has to come from the top of the institutional pyramid. A rule of thumb for efficiency standards is that they should be 'tough' but not panic inducing'. Time and space is needed to react with new initiatives. When the best will not accommodate for inclusive policies and behave like elite branded model for market economy, its decay starts at the moment only. Flexibility to adopt new academic models and inclusion of lesser social and economical privileged scholars have to be incepted in our educational institute.

Let us go ahead and make our universities with Asian first and world latter in the similarity of Bologna movement that shake up the European academic centers. Latin America has 1980's as its lost decade due to bad policies despite of having a quite young population; India has large young population. The shortage of job is most combustible driver for social change. The failure to meet the needs of a vast young population can lead to instability and political rebellion against government. The push factor of economic forces with the pull factor of education can bring a lot of change to our educational institutions.

Knowledge and University :

The prime task of the university is to ensure the radical autonomy of the practice of knowledge. Without the autonomy of knowledge and education, the social world would necessarily be limited to the brutal reproduction of power and economic coercion. In other words, the university must be driven by political logic and not by economic logic.This means the radical autonomy of education.

Knowledge without education is impossible. Education without institutions is impossible. And knowledge is also impossible without an ethos of knowledge, without freedom of thought and a community of thought. Is there a contradiction between these axiomatic conditions? Is it possible to strike a balance between education and the common work of conception, co-thinking and invention? In other words, can we find the right balance between the "community" of knowledge and the "institution" of knowledge? In a philosophical critique of the pragmatic reduction of knowledge, Boyan Manchev defines the university as "locus of the unconditionally political". Read further in Theses on education and the experience of critical thought.

Three Weblinks on Higher Education:

1- The Unsecret Shopper Goes Shopping: Iowa State University - The idea of “shopping” for a college or university seems pretentious on the surface, unless you’re Bill Gates or Kate Gosselin, both of whom could buy Drake; Look at universities fees and their offerings as they are retail stores.

2-The Science Network (TSN): Its mission is to build an online science and society agora, or public square, dedicated to the discussion of issues at the intersection of science and social policy. By engaging a diverse community of concerned constituencies in conversation, on and offline through signature meetings, video programming, and in developing partnerships with public television stations, TSN is creating a scientific no-spin zone - a trusted destination free from the tyranny of the sound bite.

3- Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admission? : College should be a cultural journey, an intellectual expedition, a voyage confronting new ideas and information. But as Tuition charges at both public and private colleges have rising high, admissions are becoming tough for common man.

Thought of the Day:

Our society, throughout school, college, and life, conditions people to treat failing as something to be ashamed of, not as a learning experience. This breeds a subconscious but intense fear of failure, since it's now associated with shame/humiliation. This obviously leads to risk-aversion in the vast majority of the population. The key message here is, 'failure is a stepping stone, not a tombstone'.

Identity and Intolerance

I was reading a review of Amartya Sen's book 'Identity and Violence'. According to the reviewer, the book argues for the reasonableness of the violence of identity. Quoting few paragraphs of review here will be necessary to form basis of mine essay.

"He (Sen) takes aim at what he calls the 'solitarist' approach to human identity, which sees human beings as members of exactly one group. In a related vein, Sen criticizes the solitarist approach to civilizations. Influential texts like Samuel Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order" take a drubbing for assuming monolithic Western and Eastern civilizations.

The originality of this critique is that it eschews trite appeals to the common humanity of those in savage conflict. Instead, Sen invokes the myriad identities within each individual. Because all of us contain multitudes, we can choose among our identities, emphasizing those we share with others rather than those we do not. Sen acknowledges, as he must, that such choices will be limited by external circumstances. Still, to concede that identity choices are constrained is a far cry from the claim that identity is destiny.

The strength of Sen's argument lies in its intuitive nature: "In our normal lives we see ourselves as members of a variety of groups." Its weakness lies in its failure to explain why, at critical junctures, we disown that knowledge."

I am puzzled by such intricate relation of identity, tolerance and violence while going through this piece only. Identity is the one of the basic cultural aspect that is inherited and believed by an individual in any society. Most of our identities can be communal, religious, regional, ethnic, national and even sectarian in the nature. Belonging to fanboy clubs or to the political party establish ours identity in the society.

Christianity, Judaism, and Islam as religions based on sacred books, all want the whole world in their own image – this is their identity, to which all alterities must – they so wish – yield. This monotheistic vision has led to the crusades, holocaust and many wars among the believers. Even in the today’s Europe, with its increasingly bland, homogenized culture, there is little room for those who want to march to the beat of a different drummer. Whether it’s Muslims who dress differently, or gypsies who want to live according to their traditional way of life, more people in the West are insisting that they don’t want to live with communities who do not conform.

While the eastern religions celebrate diversity, they have their own pitfalls. Despite of several years of co existence, there is an unwritten rule of not mingling through marriage of one religion or caste. The caste system by associating certain identities- upper caste denominations like with power and privilege while disempowering untouchables has in fact institutionalized violence on a daily basis in Indian society.

There are beliefs attached to the institutions that each one perceives regarding 'others' those who don't share their customs and perceptions. The idea of untouchability, the idea that woman is a temptress and inferior to man, and the idea that homosexuality is a mortal sin that is punishable by death, are not benign private beliefs. So is not the idea that apostates, blasphemers, and unbelievers can, and should be, exterminated. Even few victims of such nonsense beliefs became part of mainstream, fewer raise their concern. Most of them are done muted by institutional propaganda.

Basically, tolerance is not practising someone else’s rituals. It is taken as accepting someone else ritual should have same respect as yours. Tolerance is a tool to defuse violent religious conflict and reduce persecution of cultural, racial, ethnic, and sexual identities. Tolerate is not to affirm but to conditionally allow what is unwanted or deviant. Heavy with lofty norms and consolidating the dominance of the powerful, tolerance sustains the abjection of the tolerated in such societies . The core differences are never resolved even after passing of long time and co existence does not solve the problem.

Identities such as developed, developing and backward have played a key role in the shaping of economic and social policies in formation of modern world with all the negative consequences of such policies being brushed aside as a trade off for achieving prosperity or civilizing others. That is another aspect of the violence and exploitation done in the name of the cultural supremacy and development.

Book Reviewer ask us few questions about identities that are still unanswered in my mind : Is it because human cognition tends to trade in binaries? Is it because violence creates identity as much as identity creates violence? Is it because human beings fear the choices or solitude a more cosmopolitan outlook would force them to face?

Blind Faith - Denialism

Continuing our exploration of the blind faith, this part of essay will focus on Denialism. First part of the trilogy was on Prohibition. Generally, Denialism is taken as choosing to deny reality as a way to avoid an uncomfortable truth. It is much more than that. Denialism is not simply the knee-jerk refusal to accept the truth, it is a deliberate and often sophisticated attempt to create a kind of pseudo scholarship.

Attacks on scientific consensus employ the simulacra of scholarship and a deceptively readable idiom. Those who debunk the deniers tend to be old-fashioned rationalists or committed activists. Neither group are particularly well suited to looking at the deeper reasons behind denialism, warns Keith Kahn-Harris. We can better read about denialism in this essay Unreasonable Doubt in much precise analytical way. Just quoting one paragraph here -

But one of the most serious failings of a rational, scientific enlightenment is its propensity to be turned against itself, as when a firm scholarly consensus is attacked in the name of scholarship. You can find this subversion of enlightenment in quasi-academic claims that there was no Holocaust during World War Two, that other genocides such as the Armenian genocide never happened, that man-made climate change is a myth, that HIV does not cause AIDS, that evolution is a lie. More broadly, you can find it in the attempts of vested interests – industries, politicians and elites – to refute inconvenient scientific findings.

Basically according to this mindset, one should not introspect and work towards seeking constructive feedback of one's actions and instead find similar faults of others and indirectly justify ourselves. This holds true from nation to individual. Conspiracy theories blooms in such environments led by elites turning backs to any sort of criticism.

Let us take example of or suicide bomb attacks in Pakistan recently. But, instead of seeing the cause of the terrorist acts, the Denial Brigade of Denialistan assert that this must be the doing of anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan forces, or of elements within the regime, such as intelligence agencies. The basic strategy is to mention the names of India, America and Israel for any wrong done in order to fuel the revulsion that already exists in Pakistan against them and to discredit the other argument not by presenting valid arguments but by presenting excuses. The complete denial of failing of Pakistan as a nation due to Talibani and Wahabi forces has already created a havoc situation in Pakistan. State of Denial And Apologetic Defense by Raza Habib Raja clearly describe the situation denial has created in a nation form on the religious faith only.

It is evident that the more one deny own moral and ideological failings, the more aggressive and prominent the physical expressions of our inner most religious and ideological prejudices and hypocrisies become. As this attitude leaves practically no space to the liberals and silent reformers. A failed state doesn't allow any grown-up internal debate, or any appeal against the divine edict. This will swiftly accelerate to an even more failed state and then a rogue one because its limitless paranoia and self-pity must be projected outward.

The tendency to blame external elements for all problems can only be countered by efforts at transparency and seriousness about conflicts. I would like to end this by dedicating the following quote as David Aaronovitch explains in his excellent guidebook Voodoo Histories: "If it can be proved that there has been a conspiracy which has transformed politics and society, then their defeat is not the product of their own inherent weakness or popularity, let alone their mistakes; it is due to the almost demonic ruthlessness of their enemy."

State Violence

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty. It is a privilege that must be earned before it can be enjoyed. It's a quote by a 19th century English cleric and writer, Charles Caleb Colton, which can be found in his 1820 publication "Lacon, or Many Things in Few Words, addressed to those who think".

When a state become involved in any cultural or physical warfare, the identities of people began to change in the public. New symbols have to be waved loud and pertaining to exhibitionism. There is always persecution of people with different opinion that party high command found is seen in every communist nation. Ethnically targeted state repression in Balkan countries where Slovak, Czech, Muslims, Serbs Croats and Roma people are targeting each other based on demographic strength. While the worse form comes in the military dictatorship where authority exploit the majority for their like in Burma and North Korea.

There is nothing to compare with the courage of ordinary people whose names are unknown and sacrifices pass un noticed. The courage that dares without recognition, without protection of media attention is a courage that humbles, inspires and re affirms our faith in humanity. They are the carriers of endurance and struggle against unjust system.

There is an intimate and indissoluble link between intellectual and political freedom. There will be no security for dissidents and their families as long as freedom of thought and freedom of political action are guaranteed by the law of the land. We want to have public policies with a view to promoting an open, secure political system based on confidence and credibility. Those believed in intellectual freedom and justice should be vanguard of democratic movement.

What about democratic Indian state in violence against minority ? Let us take the case of state of Gujarat . Majority of voters are Hindus and they have chosen Narendra Modi due to his efficient application of administrative policies and communal polarization of votes. Despite all his baggage and hate agenda, Narendra Modi may have been the first politician to demonstrate his voters how market works better than any corrupt subsidy system. But what is the choice of minority, either to die in hunger like BIMARU states or with communal hatred in the most prosperous state ?

Richard Holbrooke said with reference to the Yugoslavia of the 1990s: Suppose elections are free and fair and those elected are racists, fascists, separatists — that is the dilemma. Nationalism on the wave of such parties need to be resisted, for they promote daydreaming and they blur our idea of justice, equality and fraternity.

If bad people with the state power hurt someone I love, how far would I go to punish criminals back? I assume that I will go for non violent path through judicial courts initially. If I will have no option left, surely will take arms against repression. And thus will betray my own stand in the power of non violent means, this is mine personal dilemma.

A Question on Islam

Why "moderate" Muslims almost never admit that Muslim terrorists are doing acts of terror in placing their supreme faith in the Islam ?

I will explain this with a fallacy what is called the “No true Scotsman” fallacy, a fallacy of equivocation and question begging. Here it is, from Thinking about Thinking (1975), by Andrew Flew:

Imagine Hamish McDonald, a Scotsman, sitting down with his Glasgow Morning Herald and seeing an article about how the “Brighton Sex Maniac Strikes Again.” Hamish is shocked and declares that “No Scotsman would do such a thing.” The next day he sits down to read his Glasgow Morning Herald again and this time finds an article about an Aberdeen man whose brutal actions make the Brighton sex maniac seem almost gentlemanly. This fact shows that Hamish was wrong in his opinion but is he going to admit this? Not likely. This time he says, “No true Scotsman would do such a thing.”

When faced with a counterexample to a universal claim, rather than denying the counterexample or rejecting the original universal claim, this fallacy modifies the subject of assertion to tautologically exclude the specific case. That is what done by liberal Muslims all over the world on the issue of Islamic terrorism.

In the debate about Islam, all the points are taken from Koran only as it is some sort of scientific journal updated to the latest version daily. No question has been raised on the authority and validity of the Koranic palms written in 600 AD. Instead of quoting Koran as a source of universal wisdom in a logical debate, Koran should be openly, freely and publicly subjected to the kind of historical and philological scholarship. Some interpret it to preach peace while others interpret it to preach hate and both the sections are convinced about their interpretations. There is such manipulation of language and such massive double standards, that goes beyond sound reasoning ground.

Few liberal Muslims often quote the Koranic verse: 'There shall be no compulsion in religion'. For a Muslim wishing to leave Islam this is simply not true. Even few victims became part of mainstream, fewer raise their concern. Most of them are done muted by institutional propaganda. Islam reveals itself as a closed system that precludes any critical thought about itself, as well as any fair and honest dealings with non-Muslims.

While all the dogmas of the religions have been suppressed by society's need to embrace materialistic needs and custom of their non Islamic neighbours, Islam has a great tendency to exclude even after hundred years of co existence in a diverse society. Islamic institution forces Muslims to go back in ghetto on the criterion of piousness and purity mentioned in Koran set as per dark ages. And there is no distinction between teachings of the Koran and the anachronistic 7th century Arabian tribal customs.

Observing a rise of radical Islam in diverse societies, Christopher Caldwell, a journalist reporting on Muslims in Europe concluded : "It was not just that young Muslims were assimilating too slowly into European culture as the generations passed, it was that they were dis-assimilating." What we are witnessing today is a shift from a Muslim to an Islamic identity. The religious self for individual Muslims is being shifted from the private to the public realm. Rather than encouraging their next generation to integrate in the society, Islamic institutes today seek to insulate them from secular values. Some of these young people become quickly radicalised, and seek clarity in the black-and-white world of religious extremism. Unfortunately, too many of them lack the education to realise that ultimately, no set of beliefs or values are inherently inferior or superior to another.

While Islamic fundamentalism is a reaction to political corruption in Islamic nations: modernizing movements failed to provide their citizens with the fruits of modernity and instead developed into authoritarian-style regimes. The only place for resistance and opposition has been the mosque. Nevertheless, the decision to oppose modernity in the form of the West is a sign of weakness.

I personally assume, Muslims as individuals capable of accepting cultural norm of others very easily and Islam as an institution going towards reform very slowly. Still question of dis-assimilation of Muslims from mainstream for separate identity remains. It will lead to coexistence of Muslims in a nervous society that suspects every devout Muslim of being a potential terrorist.