Demonetization... Let the sanity prevail...

Well, politics is something which usually doesn't make it to my blog... But an exception can always be made when a strong government makes the lesser known words such as 'Surgical Strike' and 'Demonetization' as the top-trenders overnight...

The social media has gone berserk... The news channels have got the sigh of relief as they won't have to create artificial news items for at least few months, all thanks to NaMo...

Photo credits: qz.com

A lot has been said about positive impacts of the decision and the nationwide support which is really commendable...

However, there are few things to highlight from a different angle... (I am neither a Modi-fan nor am I anti-Modi)...

Demonetization to curb black money and corruption is a great theoretical tool... However, the actual outputs are yet to be seen...

There are high probabilities that the smart people are getting ways out of this dodgeball game successfully. The others who are not able to figure out the ways, are either burning or flushing down the black money... But due to the humongous amount of tax and penalties (tax plus 200% penalty), no black money hoarders will come in front to surrender... In such case, all such money will not come to the government and will be rendered useless... Government is not likely to get benefited out of it...

An argument is made that even if the money doesn't come to the government, its destruction will reduce the corruption... Well, this is again a doubtful reasoning... Because corruption doesn't lie in money, it lies in mentality... So even if this so called economic detox may temporarily make the bribers out of money to bribe... But it is just a symptomatic relief... and not the permanent one...

If the government tries to find out the roots of the problem that why a person tries to save tax, it is very evident that the disproportionate assets have their roots in disproportionate taxation system... The ridiculous 10, 20, and 30% income tax slabs mean that if someone is working hard and earning high, they are doing it not for themselves but just for paying higher and higher taxes... It is disheartening to see that the taxes paid by honest working class people are used to build free houses for the people who illegally occupy lands and create (and recreate) slums everywhere throughout the country... 10% of a high-salaried person is proportionately higher than 10% of a low-salaried person... As simple as that... This unjust system taking 30% income tax from high-earning individuals plants the seeds of evil ways to save taxes in the minds of the citizens... If these tax slabs are normalized for all, there will be a real economic balance...

People act from perspectives. Salaried people who are least impacted are welcoming the decision of demonetization... The ones who are impacted may or may not be saying it out loud but they are kind of pissed off... The fact is each one of us is biased depending on our own situation in current scenario...

When we talk of the 'patriotism' of the 'common man' standing in long queues... Well, not to undermine the spirit of a common man, but the fact is, it is 'imposed patriotism', not a voluntary one... Human psychology to take the credit of the situation comes down handy here... In simpler words, most of us who are praising the decision despite enduring the pain, are simply boosting their egos by conveniently proclaiming themselves as the most patriotic creature (consciously or subconsciously)...

The most worrisome part of the whole process is that there is no genuine opposition... RaGa and Kejri are not taken seriously by anyone for obvious reasons... People have revalidated their verdict of electing Modi as PM by hugely supporting Modi's decisions... It is good to see the highest majority of the country having similar opinion... Till now, it's all good... I see the problem when the people start following a leader so religiously that they don't even want to listen to any reasoning against it... I have seen Modi-fans slamming and condemning anyone and everyone who even tries to open their mouth against it even with logic... I see democracy being a bit suffocated somewhere...

All in all, we the commoners of India, even if we are not sure of the outcomes, will give a benefit of doubt, and will support our elected PM in such well-intentioned decisions... But I urge to my fellow citizens to not blindly support any leader... Let's follow the voice of reason... Let's learn to live with a logical opposition as well to keep the authorities in check... Please let the democracy prevail... Let the sanity prevail... 

'Happy'ness or 'happening'ness?

The more I think, the more I grow. The more I grow, the more I realize that - we, the man/woman-kind (not to be gender-biased here :-P) are funny creatures...

The heart wants joys which enrich soul, whereas the brain considers practical aspects, material stuff, and rationality... This is an age-old story, honestly nothing new in this which can make my blog more interesting (well, more interesting than it already is ;-) )... Therefore, this post is not about the heart vs. brain duals which we all face on a routine basis.

As many intellectuals/spirituals would put it, let's call it 'mind' now on... the entity which takes joint decision of heart and brain... the peace-maker, and the storm-creator... The thing which makes us or breaks us... The one which gives us a unique identity...

Now, what the mind needs in life? The unanimous answer would be 'happy-ness' (the spelling error is intentional - inspired by a movie 'The pursuit of happyness')... So, it sounds simple, we should do what makes us (or our mind) happy... True... But does the same thing makes us happy throughout our life? May be Yes, may be No...

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In a similar dilemma, there is a guy, who lives by the sea... and is a fisherman... As a small boy, he struggled a lot learning the art of catching fish... It gave him happyness to learn catching fish... Every day he struggled to get a breakthrough till one day when he finally learnt and mastered the art... And that was precisely the point when his happyness started to vanish... Few years down the line, the same thing doesn't give him happyness anymore, for he has already learnt the art of fishery... and what he does now every day is just a mundane routine...

After a thorough brainstorming, he somehow realizes that his was the passion for 'learning' the process and not the 'process' itself... Even though he used to face new levels of frustration and challenges, and hit rock bottom everyday while learning, it gave him happyness as something new was 'happening' in his life everyday...

Now as a seasoned fisherman, he just does the task as a chore for it is no longer a 'happening' thing for him... He even gets frustrated with his not-so-passionate attitude now because he feels the same urge of fire within himself which ignited him while he was learning... but sadly it is missing now...

There is this metaphorical fisherman in almost each one of us (except the rare species who has the passion for the 'process' and not just 'learning' the process)...

We struggle to be happy, and eventually get bored of stagnant happyness... We claim that we know our mind best when it will be happy or sad, and we do know it the best... We do know that it is the pursuit which makes our mind happy... But despite knowing, we fail to make it 'happening' enough for our mind to stay 'happy'... We live the rot routine till we get rotten... We are funny creatures, the most evolved yet the most primitive... Isn't it?

Lost and found the festivals...

So, at some point in time, there is this guy... an average bookworm as a child, an enthusiast as a youngster, and a relatively calm intellectual as a matured person...

The guy having spent all his childhood and adolescence in home town, one fine day goes out for studies and job... He loses himself in the cultural diversities that India has to offer... and in the process he finds himself... The initial homesickness turns into sense of global belonging... He is probably the happiest the way he is right now...

But soon as the clock ticks, this 'right now' becomes 'sometime back'... The guy is now back to his hometown, which probably is 'the best thing possible' as his family and local relatives would have him to believe... The guy struggles to believe so as always... probably due to lacking rationale or real-time experience of the things being as fantastic as they used to be in his childhood at home...

But somehow he sticks around... He tries to believe that at least the festivals would be the same as they used to be way back in his childhood... But he is mistaken... There come the festivals Rakhi, Navratri, Diwali, Makarsankrati and so on.

As they say, change is the only constant... He notices that the festivities and the aura has changed over years... but nonetheless, the festivals are being celebrated... Still, somehow the guy is not excited as much as he wants to be by the festivities around him... He is afraid that he has lost the youth within him, which he doesn't wanna let happen at any cost... He tries to figure out why...

And he realizes that probably not the festivities but his festivals are CHANGED... The things which gave him childlike joy have been replaced... He is enthusiastic about some other things now...

Photo credits: http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1253558/images/

The child burning crackers has probably grown up finding that sound noisy... The child who was keen on flying kites has grown up to be wanting to fly himself... He now fantasizes himself climbing mountains, doing skydiving, cliff jumping, and a whole lot of crazy stuff... and of course, taking Selfies during that...

He has grown up realizing that may be he doesn't want the calendar to decide his festivals... Rather he wants to decide his festivals and mark them on the calendar...

This guy is a social outlier on a social 'normal curve' if not a social outcast... He lost and found his festivals his own way... Did we? :-)