Do we really crave certainty?

Uncertainty is most commonly cited as the main source of worry and anxiety in our lives. ‘Fear of the unknown’ is a commonly used phrase. Why, then, do we fear death the most, when death in the only certainty in life? May be because of the uncertainty of when?

So is certainty the solution? Is full certainty going to be the source of ultimate happiness? I am afraid not. If all things were absolutely certain – imagine a situation where you know the complete schedule of your future – life would be boring; where is the joy of living in that?

My hypothesis is that certainty is desirable in things required for basic survival. The definition of ‘basic’ may vary from person to person – for some, certainty of food or shelter is enough; for some, certainty of monthly paycheck is bliss; for some, certainty about love and care is essential. It depends on where one is placed in the hierarchy of needs.

What about certainty in terms of results of our efforts? What if there is a knowledge bank, which tells me – if I follow such and such plan, I will get such and such results – life would be so peaceful, no? I doubt it. If all our efforts are destined to bear the desired fruits, then I fear the fruit won’t be valued much (basic demand-supply theory – the fruit is just too abundant).

On the other hand, the uncertainty surrounding the result keeps us on our toes. Uncertainty then becomes a source of creativity – would the plan work, how do I test it, should I tweak it – questions like these create a sense of dynamism.

If the plan eventually does work, we would feel a sense of ownership of not just the result but also the ‘tweaked’ plan – one more way to do it, adding another possibility to the already existing ones - which is now our contribution to the knowledge bank. And that, I believe, feeds our self-worth, for the joy of living is in the joy of giving.

PK – the Concept and the Controversy

Amid all the brouhaha, I watched the movie ‘PK’ last night. In my opinion, the movie doesn’t contain anything so offensive that warrants such forceful protests seeking a ‘ban’ on it. The few scenes involving an actor dressed as Lord Shiva, which were mentioned in some TV debates, were not disrespectful to Hinduism. However, if one watches the movie for the sake of getting offended, that is quite another matter.

What the movie does is to offer its viewers some ‘food-for-thought’ regarding the role of religion in one’s life. Instead of taking a stand against any gods or religion, the movie denounces the commercialization of religion by the self-styled godmen who claim to act as messengers of god. In the land of Sant Rampals and Nirmal Babas, this message might threaten such godmen who use the ‘fear of god’ to exploit the commoners.

While the alien PK expresses bewilderment at the seemingly contradictory traditions of various religions of India, the major attack is on a Hindu godman claiming to be in direct communication with the Almighty. This has prompted some to tag the movie as anti-Hindu, as if the fraudster baba was a true preacher of Hinduism. The key reason why the film focuses on a Hindu baba and gods is that it needs to connect with the audience, which is largely Hindu.

If one looks back at the history of religious traditions, Martin Luther’s Protestantism in opposition to Roman Catholic Church stands out as one of the strongest movements against religious orthodoxy. The consequent Age of Reformation was a precursor to the Age of Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution in Europe. The resulting economic growth converted the ‘barbaric’ European civilizations into a region of economically developed nations.

Although the Renaissance movements looked up to ancient Greek and Roman glory as a source of inspiration, the thrust was not on revivalism of age-old concepts. The socio-religious reform movements of 18^th and 19^th century in India too utilized evidences from ancient scriptures, but were targeted at elimination of existing social evils such as sati. Some contemporary practices too, prevalent in the name of Hinduism, need reasoned scrutiny and reforms. The current Indian society is in need of another round of socio-religious reformation, not another revivalist movement.

While the Protestantism movement could reform Christianity through a direct challenge to the highest Christian authority of the Pope, the absence of any such central authority in Hinduism presents a challenge. One approach might be to initiate a series of bottom-up movements (such as this) within the various Hindu sects, against their respective decadent practices. As Vivekananda equated ‘service of the God’ with ‘service of the mankind’, the intention and purpose of religion needs to be reoriented in that direction.

As PK says in the movie - let us accept and have faith in the God that created us and the universe, and reject the Ones that have been created by some of us for our own convenience and selfish reasons.

Live Life King Size!

हर पल यहाँ जी भर जियो,

जो है समां, कल हो न हो|

A road accident yesterday brought an abrupt end to the lives of four youngsters from IIT Delhi; that too when they were on a journey celebrating friendship and creating memories. Tragic incidents such as these make me want to believe in the theory of ‘rebirth’. The only way I can find solace is to think that these beautiful souls, who have left us in mourning, will bring laughter and happiness into some other lives.

I didn’t know them closely; one of them was just an acquaintance. Nonetheless, the terrible news brought back the realization that how ephemeral life is and how precious our moments in this world are. It is so pointless to waste these precious moments holding negative thoughts in our minds towards the people around us. A wise man once told me, "Wherever you go, the thing that will matter the most will be the people around you."

So, the best way, I believe, to pay our respects to the departed souls would be to celebrate this gift of life. Let us use our time here to spread happiness around us and bring smiles to as many faces as we can. क्योंकि, बाबू मोशाई, जिंदगी बड़ी होनी चाहिए, लंबी नहीं |

"Forever" - Really?!

"Friends forever". I could never understand how long is 'forever'. As per laws of the universe (or Gita), everything that has a beginning has an end. But, how close/far that end should be. Death is an obvious option, and of course, "till death do us part" is a common oath taken with another social contract (marriage), but friendship is meant to be free from all such bindings. So, as all things are meant to end sometime, friendship too has to have a similar behaviour - an ascent to the peak, then stagnation for sometime there, followed by the inevitable fall. Why so? Because priorities change, and so do affinities. Therefore, as one friendship wilts, the seeds for other ones are sown. Then follows a competition which ends in survival of the fittest. God-damn you, Darwin!

Denial and Sacrifice

Often in life, we face situations when circumstances play villain in denying us some things which we would so much love to have. But, there are other instances in life when we show great will power to keep us away from something which we otherwise love, for something else more important and more lasting. That act of sacrificing fills you with a sense of gratification and satisfaction for your control on your mind and senses. But, then very rarely a combination of these two occurs - when we go a long way to settle our minds to sacrifice somethings, but then the villain circumstances deny us that sacrifice too. This phase of "denial of sacrifice" is the most painful, because you are stripped of the satisfying feeling of sacrifice, and strangely even the things sacrificed earlier by you don't taste that sweet.

PS: A vague representation of some recent incidents through abstract ideas. A cryptic post which only some close people can decode.

Facebook - Connecting people, Killing action?

In the current times, it would be difficult to find a person who has internet access but doesn't have a Facebook (FB henceforth in this blog) profile. Lately, FB became the third most populated 'place' in the world after China and India with over 400 million users. [1] But, as I see FB (and many do agree) that it's just a waste of time. Apart from the possibility of connecting with long-lost friends with no possible recovery of contact otherwise, FB just features shitty apps (I too was addicted to Farmville some time back), fraud quizzes (though some people feel happy that FB knows them so well) and who-likes-what, and who-is-friends-with-who, etc etc! So, it gives some losers enough reason to remain glued to their screens 24-7 (been there, done that).

But, does it end here? Is it just a wastage of time? Didn't I ever participate in a discussion as a series of comments on a status update, or share my inner thoughts through my status updates? Though FB gives power to broadcast your thoughts, but generally it's more of a virtual identity which people create so as to gather maximum number of 'likes' or 'comments'. It is not at all uncommon to find people check their FB profiles moments after they connect to internet, and update their status to reflect "What's on your mind?". After all, when was it so easy to express yourself! Too easy to be a cause of inaction in 'real' life? Yes, I'm talking of posts which though invoke opinions when thought about, but the result of the thought process is nothing more than a series of comments. Because it is so much easier to write a few lines on your status update and initiate a chain of comments, it kills the urge to act when and where it really matters. It's not just about cases like Ayodhya verdict or CWG, which aam junta like us have no control over. But, this is relevant to our own local problems (local to IITD), which nobody from outside is going to come and solve for us. Problems as basic as lack of drinking water or poor mess food in hostels. When we all know that raising these issues on Facebook won't make a difference, but troubling the concerned authorities would, yet it feels satisfying to have registered our discontent on some public forum. Such instinct to take the easier way out has extinguished some sparks which had the potential to grow into a large fire if fanned the right way. May be, it is the path and not the destination itself which guides our decisions after all.

When should the Bidding end?

The day started out normally as it has been for about 8 weeks now - Getting up, leaving for Microsoft Research and working on the same project from morning till evening (night). Lately, the difference is me reaching office as late as 1 pm, due to the longer sleep required after the evening football (playing, not watching) sessions. Lately, the difference is me still confused where my intern project will lead to, because of some unorganized mentoring. Lately, the difference is me not happy at the place which probably is the dream for some of the best in my stream. This difference is that I wanted to write myself out this time. Not because I don't have people to talk about it, because I am lucky to have them and I've talked my heart out to them, but I wanted to talk about it to myself. So, I want to pour out some of the thoughts my mind has entangled itself into.

One thought that troubles me is our decision-making process about our goals and the path we take to strive for them. One such process took place when my intern started here, when 3 researchers and me sat for a 'brainstorming' session for hours to find a project of my interest. But, the session failed to churn out an intern topic that interested me. One possible reason could be my misplaced interest which was to do something that involved more than pure coding, which involved actually going out to the field to study how the technology we develop is being used, which could make my stay here different from that at IIT Delhi, which could make it meaningful to be a part of Technology of Emerging Markets group. So, at the end, I agreed to start upon a project for the sake of my internship half-heartedly, and throughout my stay here I've thought, what if I would have taken more time to decide. Now, the internship will end in a few days and won't have a strong influence on my future, but the issue still troubles me because of the 'what if', because I'm standing at a stage where the crucial decision of my career path needs to be taken, because I would certainly like to avoid the regret of 'The Road Not Taken'. So, how much time, patience and energy should we spend on actually finalizing the decision, so that it doesn't cross the optimal limit when we start wasting those resources on deciding and not executing the decision? How do we hit the best trade-off between the two conflicting motives? When should the Bidding end?


Meanwhile, a Ted talk in which Dan Ariely asks, "Are we in control of our own decisions?"