101 Ways to Get Educated

There are more than one ways in which one can get educated. This is a list which I found on the net... pretty inspiring and insightful !

1. Grow enough grain for one loaf of bread -- and make and eat the loaf
2. Answer ALL the questions of a 3 year old for a week
3. Spend a day alone in a wild place
4. Follow your trash to its final resting place
5. Collect food and blankets and spend a day giving them to homeless people taking the time to stop and talk about life
6. Help in the birth of a lamb, cow, or horse
7. Visit a slaughter house (try to withhold judgment)
8. Organize a rite of passage ceremony for an adolescent, someone at mid-life, or yourself
9. Switch genders for the day
10. Build a house (your own, or for Habitat for Humanity)
11. Ask a low rider how the lifters on their car work
12. Apprentice yourself to someone you've always wanted to learn from
13. Take a picture of you and all your stuff in front of the place where you live. Compare it to the pictures in Peter Menzel's Material World
14. Read the sacred texts of another tradition
15. Imagine your most delicious relationship and then go first
16. Work for a week on an assembly line
17. Spend a week without stepping in a car. Pay attention to how your town looks from a bike, bus, or sidewalk
18. Exchange tutoring with a teenager - math or bicycle repair in exchange for Web browsing, skate boarding, dance, or ??
19. Go to someone else's church, synagogue, or place of worship
20. Go on a vision quest
21. Take a dance class from a different culture
22. Interview the oldest person you can find; record the conversation
23. Interview a child
24. Imagine a day in your life 15 years from now
25. Plant and care for a tree
26. Ask yourself, "What if everyone in the world behaved the way I am behaving?"
27. Get the names of the favorite books of your dentist, grocery store clerk, mother, co-worker, and your minister/rabbi/priest or spiritual guide. Read those books
28. Pretend to be someone else on the Internet
29. Trace your water supply back to its source - and follow it down the drainpipes to its destiny
30. Finger paint
31. Spend a day in a neighborhood where you've never been before - without carrying any money
32. Ask your friends, and your ex-friends, to anonymously send you a list of your five best and five worst character traits
33. Live for a day off your garden
34. Channel surf for an evening; ask yourself what about the programs is drawing people
35. Be quiet for 5 minutes per day; increase gradually to 20
36. Ask a young person what's on his or her mind and heart, and listen (don't try to 'fix it')
37. Figure out when and on what part of your dwelling the sun's rays fall at different times of year (for extra credit: calculate the photovoltaic potential of your roof)
38. Take a year off
39. Read a foreign newspaper
40. Meditate on the life of your unborn grandchild
41. Talk to the janitor
42. Assume that everything is your responsibility, if not your fault
43. Examine a handful of compost or rich soil under a microscope
44. Go without food for three days
45. Watch a child being born
46. Write a creation myth
47. Visit an observatory, and look at the stars through a big telescope
48. Map the creeks, streams, and rivers in your watershed
49. Choose six jobs that interest you; find someone to interview for each and spend a day working alongside them
50. Watch a snail
51. Find out what percentage of the world's financial wealth is owned by the top 50 corporations, and how much by the 50 wealthiest people
52. Visit the emergency ward of a major hospital
53. Sleep outside under the stars
54. Discuss these questions with a friend : If the Universe is finite, what happens at its edge ? If it's infinite, how did it get there ? If the Universe started 15 billion years ago, what was there before it started? Does time go on forever ?
55. Visit a spiritual healer
56. Find out what the clerk at the grocery store is thinking about
57. Follow your electric wires to the source of the electricity
58. Learn to line dance
59. Spend two hours with a counsellor exploring your life
60. Pick three trees of different species and spend an hour meditating under each one
61. Go on a week-long solo journey by bus, bike, or foot to a place you've never been; listen to the people you meet
62. Learn how to build a wall
63. Fall in love
64. Take a bicycle to pieces and put it together again
65. Visit a Native American reservation and talk with the people you meet about their past and future
66. Learn how to give a good massage
67. Spend a day watching a state or provincial legislature at work
68. Calculate how much carbon dioxide your family is adding to the atmosphere each year
69. Ask a good friend to share the most important lessons he or she has learned about sex and how to make love
70. Perform menial or repetitive work at a job that lasts at least a week
71. Read primary sources on history, science, social science (that is, avoid the authors who are interpreting the work of others)
72. Carry all your trash around with you for a week. At the end of the week, weigh it all
73. Write an episode of one of the current top-rated sitcoms on commercial TV; explain the story line to a friend
74. Repair a damaged relationship
75. Start that band/garden/book/art movement you told yourself you'd always do
76. Throw the biggest party you can; try to get someone from every decade dancing
77. Ask your parents about their relationship
78. Refuse to do meaningless work for one week
79. Offer to help your child's teacher
80. Admit that you don't know and ask for help
81. Tell people how you are really doing
82. Go to a punk rock or hip-hop show
83. Sell your car and go to India
84. Seek out a friend of a different race & class
85. Ask people what they are planning to do about the year 2000 computer bug
86. Calculate the total miles traveled from the towns labeled on food cans in your pantry
87. Ask a kid about divorce
88. Teach yourself to play guitar
89. Go to the industrial section of town and see how much free stuff is available (go dumpster diving)
90. Make a movie about your neighborhood
91. Visit the nearest creek once a week for a month and notice changes along the banks, in the water flows, in the pools
92. Collect dumpling recipes from around the world; throw a dumpling party
93. Imagine yourself looking back on your life at 90 years of age: what are the highlights? Who has been most important? What do you wish you had done?

Now go out and do those things, thank those people and live those highlights.

Individual Moral Progress

Unbiased Analysis always reveal that a ‘cherished tradition’ is neither cherished, nor a tradition; its a easy and popular myth propagated by powerful ones. Once we create movements sought to challenge the power not just of social practices eventually they will challenge political order too. There is term used ‘Heckler’s Veto” that has been seen more in democracy mode of governance. Essentially it means that the state refuses to allow freedom of expression out of fear of someone else’s reaction. That is the one lethal aspect that holds moral progress of the whole nation.

People judge individuals by whether they comfort you or unsettle mentally and emotionally. So, it is always easy to look for the coziness and intimacy that is inherited in the established tradition, even it is wrong one. As the total rejection of old will lead them into unknown emotional landscape with no peers around them. Only Diversity and open communication can challenge our morals based on culture. Yes, the truth hurts. But the damage caused by a twisted tradition has a deeper, more lasting impact.

Most of the people clings to moral arrogance in the name of honor and pride of family, caste, nation even at the cost of lives of others. And they are ready to sacrifice for that code of honor. A disturbing truth - When a man does something for himself his actions are performed within certain limits – limits set by the jealous scrutiny of others. But let a man set out to sacrifice himself and do good to others , and the normal limits vanish. He can become completely ruthless (the injustices done by idealists, patriots, saints and crusaders are far greater than those done by the worst tyrants). Look in our sacred books : Its not the achievement but the sacrifice that made Ram worthy of worship. No religious book praise love between two humans, it gives value to valor, courage and sacrifice for a greater cause.

Or society consists of three class : 'Traditional Conservative' as majority, 'Operational conservative yet theoretical liberal' and 'Ultra- liberals' as minority. What if even one is on the side of evil but believe in the righteousness of cause on the basis of faith ? That is the path of our traditional ones seeing things in more black and white. That makes a capable person dangerous is his/her conviction. However ultra liberals are immune to social pressure. Either due to wealth or grooming in open thoughts. However, Individual thinking is partially bounded by to the consequences of collective insanity. The buffer between conservatives and liberal provides an atmosphere for adaption of new idea.

As we know that the number of people willing to change their views in the face of evidence is much too small. Then, how is moral progress has been made in the past ? When we get used to something, it loses its shock value, it loses disgust value and now you are just much more open. That is the simple way of change. The fear of revolutionary change always led public to embrace tradition and theology. Hence, reformation is the way  of gradual and painstaking process. It can only be built-up through dialogues and struggles even it is usually termed as heresy by traditional pundits.

In closest friends, only Shreyash and Chandan, with whom I can shared highly controversial social and non- aesthetic ideas. I have observed that living a normal life in itself is one of the biggest challenges. Because there is no such thing as normal for any time and place. While rejecting extremist right and left political views, and I try to take a flexible position, although having a rather pessimistic, view of the society. I have question relevant and validity of values what has been taught to me by school, family and even friends. It may be called day dreaming, but that is however unsettling, new ideas has came inside my head through curiosity to explore new terrain of values. It has involved painful process of ignoring epidemic of ignorance in friends, family and society willfully. I have taken part in a survey on morals [Source] whose result is published below.





Man learns a lot more while he is traveling or reading. A open mind can hold two opposite views in mind at same time and understand dichotomy of the situation. I am enlisting four simple ways that opens the path of liberal thinking to an individual.

1- Diverse set of material in reading is must. Otherwise, books become propaganda. Through words, sometimes books have disturb the comfortable & comfort the disturbed state of mind.

2- Self Imposed Solitude takes away peer pressure and the limelight. One critically look at his knowledge and world around again with patience in that period. That is a rare thing to do.

3- Exile away from home gives most insights about tolerance of others values. Hostel Life and Travel thus make people more mature and open to new ideas.

4- Last way to chart on the path of liberalism is sarcasm and comedy. Make fun of everything/everybody that is sacred, powerful, or stupid.

August 21, 2013 is Blue Moon

August 21, 2013 is Blue Moon. The phrase 'Once in a blue moon' has come to mean something that incurs very infrequently. So is my birthday that happens only once in a year. Life is looking okay for now. Off the job, well, not quite smooth. I have seen now 28 years of life of details.

The perennial question from childhood in my mind is - Is it merely an accident of birth that led to one person having huge wealth and other condemned to poverty ? The search for the answer of this question has made me an idealist in this practical world. To argue with one's own kin and friends for the ideal of fairness is difficult. One has to drop imposed morality and biased faith for one's own. I try to explore the issues of social hierarchy, religion, loyalty, corruption, sexuality, war, crime, and punishment by becoming morally ambiguous. I am ready to inherited cultural values if they are not respecting human rights. Even I have been rubbing with the comforts, the ragged edges of reality are forever pierced in my heart.

The things we admire in men; kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And traits we detest; sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first, they love the produce of the second. - John Steinbeck

We are the choices that we made. Sometimes good and other times bad. Mechanical engineering was out for me because of my inability to grasp technical concepts at engineering and lethargy. That left me with job in IT sector but I came to conclusion that negative choices are always the worst choices. I never feel to be such out of place and failure as in the engineering sector. The privilege of failure must not be taken away because to have continued success gives birth to mediocrity. It is the struggles and perseverance that has made me much strong today. Today, I am thankful to bad ones for widening my experiences.

No one ever owns up youth or the women he loves. But there is great mystery in love as it doesn't obey our expectations. Sometimes love is unrequited and unfulfilled. I may be a loner but definitely not a monk, voyeur or hermit. But this desire is like abyss. I am not even sure now what is true now in love. Let me not dwell into ancient evenings and distant music of past. Alas ! they are gone. I am ready for the new encounters, passions and sufferings in the love.

I have so many layers in memory, that I can peel away a few in the words. I had acted like another person so many times yet I was coming to the term of my real self slowly. Even self is dynamic notion but I was more of myself in recent years. Personal identity is an enigma, fragile & tenacious woven by threads of choices and inheritances. I assume that we all are held together by wisps of memory, few strong and mostly feeble.

The pace of life is unhurried nut not slow. While others plan, I dream. Yes, there is chaos in the dream but its worth it. I am happy to take the path of my heart without giving up for trend, instant relief and gratification. Notion about me by others is impossible to change. I do not sulk about missing out but get excited by what lies ahead. With growing age one owes responsibilities, more burdens, more obligations and also comes our ability to deal with the complexity. I don't know what lies ahead in the womb of future. Let us play between serendipity and causality. Life is strange. That is for sure. I am doing what I assume as right.

66 Years of Independence

15th August comes again. With each passing days, India seemed to less shining and more as the great land of Al-Absurdistan. I am ranting on Independence day because we are not bothered about freedom, justice and fairness. The goal of development can't be achieved without securing these premises.

When are we putting aside petty political fights and begin focusing on the real problems that threaten our nation ? India is a capitalism encased feudal societies where people hide their prejudice behind a mask of newly coming material wealth. We are amnesic of the issues to be addressed with utmost importance for voices are hushed up or ignored in the media due to business interests or political pressure. We accumulate huge foreign reserve and emphasizing stock piles in food grains. An obsession with government jobs that give access to social and economic security without any accountability.

India possesses a range and quality of intellectuals that perhaps only few developing society in the world can match. They are considered both brilliant and scholar. But it is the lack of courage to call a spade a spade holds us back. People lack certain level of individuality to take a stand on serious matters of concern. There is no moral decline of the whole society. Our morals were always like this but it is now they are exposed in the public face.

There are lot of martyrs involved in our struggle for independence and rarely we remember them. There's no going back now. Our independence somehow was not the birth of an open mind in Indian context but only reformation through the western weapons of ideas. We as Indian rarely see ourselves as part of perpetrators and carriers of an unjust system. Sixty years of idealism, emergency, socialism, caste reservations and liberalization followed, has been bringing about the end of feudalism and the rise of equality and a new social order. Rising inequality disturbs me to a great extent. One look at human history is enough to prove that eventually it is always the freedom and inclusive institutions that has build up great nations.

It is very important to ask a simple question before making any decisions - Progress for Whom and on whose cost? Capital investment into infrastructure, Industry building or Subsidy demands sacrifices. But those who are making and those who progress are not the same set of people. I am not a communist but can 't accept an hedonistic version of America. I belong to a nation whose identity vividly unfurls in a maelstrom of violence, riots, discontent and poverty. In the end, we all want civilized, just and equitable India. I dream of India to be more humane rather than exotic and incredible.

Hard Times

Once a good economy crumbles, results go wrong, inflation hurts more frequently and GDP rate turns slow. Read these three articles to understand, how India has been ruined by Congress !

Blog Post 1 - All confusion apart, I strongly feel that the Congress (I) must not come back to power in 2014–directly or behind the scenes. They must be made to sit in opposition and lose big time like PPP did in Pakistan. That should be our first priority.

Let India not become Bihar of 1990s where you could be incompetent with impunity because you were sure to come back to power with the caste equation in your favor. There was not even any attempt to perform; there wasn’t even a pretense of integrity. Let India not become Jharkhand of today either where lobbyists rule and voters suffer–again without an end in sight to the nightmare.

Blog Post 2 - A story of destructive governance and citizens who did not speak out.

Blog Post 3 -If patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, there is nothing like appearing to care for the poor to divert attention from the arduous, painstaking task of building public institutions that are critical to implement the provision of public goods for the underprivileged. Instead, progressive legislation has become a substitute for building the state's implementation capacity to do even the most basic of tasks. Indeed, it is undermining it - if you can barely do three things well, adding five more will undoubtedly ensure that everything is done poorly.

There has always been a gap between public policy and public will ; But performance of UPA is really bad and the scorn is well deserved on them !