Beginning of a Level Playing Field?

Primatologist Fraans de Waal, in his book, "The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism among the Primates", argues that we believe in God because we are moral rather than we are moral because we believe in God.

 In other words morality has evolved over time as we have. De Waal says, "there is little evidence that other animals judge the appropriateness of actions that do not directly affect themselves, yet, in their behavior, we recognize the same values we pursue ourselves.

Strange, for isn't the same behaviour common to people these days? I mean, we as a species are increasingly becoming less and less concerned about the appropriateness of the actions of others ("Let him/her do whatever they want to...what's it to us?") and more concerned about ourselves, our actions, achievements, disappointments, etc.

So, are we slowly but surely becoming like the primates? On the return journey to complete the full circle? To help Him create a level playing field on Earth? ;)

My Current Muse...

Chill Madi...the post title is just to catch your attention! ...it's "The Immortals of Meluha", by the way :-) ....I can actually call it my current muse, come to think of it...in fact, I can say that for most of the books that I read (I read only good books! Hmph!) ...coz till I have read the book (whichever one I'm reading), I tend to be completely absorbed in it...tend to keep thinking about it even when I'm not with it...look forward to being with it...and completely forget almost everything else when I'm with it...and simply love to completely forget almost everything when I'm with it...and love to hear what it says to me...and feel happy as I keep turning the pages, for I'm going forward, knowing you more...and sad at the same time, coz I have a page less to read...

Humbug and Blah Blah!

Have taken to reading books again, after a long time…I guess one tends to rebound to books after any major “gear-shift” in one’s life…now I’m not going to go into the details of the clutch and which gear, etc. Just be happy with the books I’m recommending! J

In the last 6 months, I must have gobbled, what, 6-7 books…all of them, awesome! Since I am a late follower, I think most of you reading this would have already finished them off too…

The first one I got my hands on (after “The White Tiger”, I think) was ‘The Kite Runner’ – a very famous title and an absolute must-read for someone who can remain engaged to a book. The most striking thing I noticed about it was the honesty with which the author describes his journey – the honesty with which he realizes his cowardice, selfishness, courage, indecision…and all the negativity which any normal you-and-me probably don’t have the guts to admit even behind closed doors.

Went on to read “The Six Suspects” by Vikas Swarup (the gentlemen who wrote ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire?’) – simply amazing. One must congratulate Vikas for managing to hold the rein so tightly over the six different life stories and the ploy to bring them together under one roof. The agility with which he can slip into different styles of writing for each character speaks a lot about his abilities as a writer (considering this is only his second book) and instills that much more life into them.

I was going through that sad phase after completing a very good book…had almost started to name the extra time in my life as “incompleteness”, when I bumped into “Eclipse” by Stephenie Meyers. I’d seen the movie and thought oh well! What the heck…

The addiction to the book was such that I immediately went on to complete the prequel (yeah, I’d started reading from the 3^rd book in a 4 part series!) “New Moon” and the sequel “Breaking Dawn” (and in between, caught up with the new movie as well ;) ). Now the only one left is the first book, which I’ll complete asap!

Am currently reading “The New Collected Short Stories” by Jeffery Archer and oh! What a refreshing change…Jeffery Archer is truly a magician when it comes to story-telling!

2 States - With an Old Monk in my hand...

This is one book where (for once) I wished I was also given in to the passion that so many of my XL friends swear on - Old Monk

It brings back the days of campus...the entire setting of college life, of placements, of the jitters, the joys, the sorrows...CB has a great style of writing...very easy going. He seems to be one of those who can choose the exact words for his thoughts and express them in the same way. It helps to put one in his shoes...and in my humble opinion, it's the best state a writer can put his readers in.

A great story (which, I read somewhere, is based closely on his real life) which portrays the change in the thoughts of the Indian youth while choosing his life partner - especially when both of them belong to different states. Kudos to CB for choosing such a topic and being able to portray it in such a truthful and lucid manner.

Krish is one of the most believable characters I have come across recently...coming from a dysfunctional family (and I believe most families in India are dysfunctional to varying degrees ;) )...especially those parts where he was putting questions to himself...

Just a few observations which I made while reading the book...(no offence to anyone)

1. To be able to go thru an "inter-caste" marriage, you need to be detached to quite a degree from your family, esp. in the case when parents are opposing the marriage

2. It's easier for a girl to say "We are through" than a boy, even though she might suffer as much the boy. I believe that girls are more practical than boys when it comes to these relationships, and this probably stems from that

3. There is nothing better than choosing your life partner and marrying her, if you are the one who can build and maintain such relationships. I feel this is great because I find all this too difficult. You know yaar, I am not the lovey-dovey types...

4. There are lots more, which I don't recall right now...and some that I cannot write...moreover, I haven't been able to complete the book to make more "striking" observations :P ...and I don't think I will be completing the book.

All in all, a great read for the youth. And a MUST READ for those narrow-minded parents of today's youth - this book is to show all you guys out there that your children are NOT the dim-wits they seem to you when it comes to choosing their life partners. True, at times they may make mistakes, but considering every case to be a mistake is simply naive and prejudiced. You don't even know how and how much you guys are changing his/her life. You don't know what you are bargaining for by doing all this. Appreciate the fact that today's youth is also as conscious about making a family as you are, and meaning of the word "family" is the same for both you and your children. So give them a chance.

To Believe or not to Believe...

I was once having this rather interesting conversation with a client of mine some days ago on - believe it or not - life after death and whether there is anything called re-birth! The client believes in all this big time and said that she had had a dream where one of her deceased relatives was telling her how it was up "there". I've also read a couple of instances in magazines about cases where a certain person had died and was reborn with evident marks of the earlier birth...I find the subject quite fascinating...

During the conversation, she mentioned an author in this field, Dr. Brian Weiss. She said that he is an absolute authority on this subject in the current time and highly recommended his research..

Seems like an interesting topic :) Soch raha hoon padhunga...

"The White Tiger" - A Must Read

Been reading an amazing book currently – “The White Tiger” by Arvind Adiga.

After a long time, a book that shows a true and clear picture of the Real India without any direct gaali-galauch on how this isn’t right and that is wrong…and doesn’t preach about the so-called morals of living. It’s admittedly a little bitter in places (justified) with a pinch of dark humor to add to the flavor, but after a while, the book makes you see the world (and a murder) through the eyes of Balram Halwai, a chauffer (and the murderer).

Arvind has a knack of coming up with some very witty one-liners which keeps the tempo alive. (Throughout the book, Balram is talking to the Chinese Premier and “educating” him about India prior to his visit here.) “Mr. Premier, you don’t speak English and I don’t speak English, but there are certain things that can be said only in English” –one of my favorite one-liners :)

Arvind’s sarcasm and scorn on the Indian Life is well brought out; the passion in expressing what he wishes to never losing tempo.

…and if you want to tickle your brain-buds a little more, read it with the accent that Russell Peters uses when he is mimicking Indians. The fun really starts then! ;-)