Introspection Illusion

We have a very strong belief that what we think is based on more sound reasoning than what others reason. It gives us an illusion which justifies our actions to us. Since there is no direct connection with others, we are unable to understand the reasoning behind what they are thinking. The difference in the thought process of two individuals leads to misunderstanding.

Our thinking, our reasoning and thought processes are governed by a lot of situations and conditions. Even two people living together since birth will develop different ways to approach a problem. The reason behind the different approaches might be very well explained by The Butterfly Effect; there might have been slight deviation in experience of one of the individuals and the seed to a different path would have been sown.

Introspection illusion, as it is popularly termed, has not only led to minuscule fights, gruesome murders but also to wars between nations. The false just of our actions make us take a stand on our action and our next action is considering our current situation and past experience. The other person, who becomes the receiver of our actions, accepts our actions and words wearing the cloak of that person’s experience and situation. The major difference in the platform the two individuals the standing, creates friction.

As an individual, it is nearly impossible to eliminate the illusion, but one can just broaden the horizon of the semblance and take it close to reality. Understanding others thus plays an important part. The more we are aware of the cultures others follow and the circumstances they have been through, the better the relationship would be.

THERE'S NOTHING LIKE ANYTHING

There's Nothing Like Anything - This certainly can be the most baffling and intriguing punchline. Let me start with defining, the word 'ANYTHING' - Anything is an indefinite thing, i,e something vague or not clearly defined or stated. This removes any possible boundary or paradigm we humans have created and thus nurtures creativity. Creativity is always smothered by the so called rules and regulations and the prototype these rules create.

 

Anything does not has a standard, it does not has an epitome, neither it has any precise definition. It's vague, it's as explorable as philosophy and as limited as a well. For humans, anything is a vast open field, where they are open to do what we want. We can convert it into a play ground or turn it into a farm land or into an industry we can be as vague as creating a space station. It will all depend on the creativity.

There's nothing like creativity. There's nothing like learning and the best part of learning is letting an individual be creative because we all know that we can not teach something to a person, we just need to ignite the passion and fire towards a particular job and 'Anything' will  foster the creativity.

Anything breaks perspectives, it allows individuals to view things they way they want to view in any number of ways. Its like looking at the stars and allowing one's creativity take leaps and bounds to visualize as much as   one wants.

Certainly we have seen the most remarkable and innovative people think of anything. They think by breaking boundaries and creating a whole new world of possibilities. Certainly, there's nothing like anything.

Bandstand - A Second Perspective

Once again, I got an opportunity to come down to Mumbai. This time I was putting up at Bandra, near Bandstand. For most of us, Bandra and Bandstand are known for only two things, super stars, and love making couples. When my friends came to know of my stay, most of them suggested me to go and enjoy at band stand – enjoying meant, watching the couples make love – others grinned at my loneliness amid the passion. Now one thing is pretty sure, Bandstand has become a public symbol, which won’t let any couple feel guilty of expressing love in public over there.

It was not long ago, when I read a quote on Facebook and it caught my eye, “In India, you can piss in public, but cannot kiss in public”. Initially I fiddled the quote, branding it a gender biases quote. Lately did I realize that we Indians have problem with public display of affection, PDA - what most of my friends call it.

The funny part of Indian lives is, we may easily find couples having a fracas in public, but would rarely find a couple romancing in public. I am astonied to feel that we are hunky-dory with the bombarding negative emotions but are wary of the most rustic positive emotions.

Being intimate is the greenest emotion – an emotion which is the most primitive one, an emotion which leads to one of the purest processes of life – generating new life. We live in a culture, where we consider physical intimacy a sacrosanct act, an act worth ostracism. We discuss it, laugh on it, crack jokes on it, watch it, but don’t admit that we practice it.

Recently came an end to an enthralling T-20 Cricket World Cup and there too, something struck my eyes. The jubilation by West Indian team was different. People were amazed to see a team, playing The Gentlemen’s game, dancing and enjoying in a rustic fashion.  Once again, the dance became the talk of the town, because the behavior was unexpected on a cricket ground.

There’s no problem with the dance, or with the dancers – read players – but, the problem lies with the viewers, who would shy away from dancing in public. Parallelly, the problem doesn't lie with love making couples, but the viewers. If we see our ancient sculptures, we would find engraving of dancing and love making couples. This gives a breath to the thought that there has been a time when these things were openly acceptable but, because of a change in mindset, they have disappeared. 

The Why of Hindu Marriage

A traditional Hindu marriage is formation of a bond between two families and it is the duty of the boy & the girl to be the base of the bond. The newlywed couple has to do the samudra manthan by being like Mount Mandarachala, the churning rod and Vasuki, the churning rope, and churn out affection and happiness to friends & family and give way to a new beginning.

The wedding embarks a new phase in lives of the boy and the girl - they are transcending into manhood and womanhood respectively. To make this shift memorable and smooth for the bride and the groom there is celebration in the families. Gifts are exchanged and valuables are gifted to the newlywed couple so that their initial path may remain streamlined even under the shadow of early jitters.

India has been an agricultural country, so, one of the most holy processes - marriage - finds a lot of allusion to agriculture. The marriages generally takes place, after the chatur maas, i.e post the four months of rainy season, i.e a time which heralds the beginning of new crops and prosperity to the farmers and thus helps bring Lakshmi to the family.

There are various rituals that take place in a Hindu marriage and every ritual has its own meaning. The marriages begin with engagements. Traditionally, the parents decided the prospective spouse for their child  thus engagement became the ceremony, when the boy & the girl see each other and meet and greet with the family members.

Between the marriage and engagement takes place ladies sangeet. it is one of the most prominent and enjoyable ceremony. As the name suggests, its a celebration time, dedicated specially to women. During the sangeet, the female members of the family have a merry time together, by singing, some romantic, bawdy, fun filled songs. The main purpose of this ritual was to make a conscious shift in the mind and heart of the girl from the phase of girl to womanhood. The ladies would playfully tease the bride with the the incoming introduction of new romantic phases in life and make her ready for every type of physical & emotional pleasure that awaits her.

The ceremony just before the marriage is anointing the couple with haldi and chandan. This is mainly done by the ladies of the families. The main idea of this is make the bride and the groom attractive for the wedding night. By hosting this ceremony, the society give a green signal to the physical relation between the bride and the groom.

After anointing the couple with haldi, comes the process of applying hte mehandi paste on the hands on the bride. Mehandi function fits in place to abide by the Solah Shringaar suggested by Lord Lakshmi. Now a days, the mehandi function is couple with dance and a cock-tail party, to enjoy the last day of the bride's bachelorhood. This concept of clubbing cock-tail with mehandi, came to existence because of the western intrusion of Bachelor's Party.

Once the bride and groom are prepared, they are asked to invoke their Gods and ancestors  This process is of utter importance to the bride since she is making a shift and is transcending from one family to other. She has to now take the responsibilities of the new family.

Just before the marriage rituals take place, the family members, invite the Gods - Avahan - and then the couple worships them and then the Gods are allowed to go - Visarjan. The guests are given the status of Gods, thus the groom and his family are welcomed with utmost respect. The groom is then given the most valuable gift - The Bride.

The Groom comes along with a long procession of his friends and family members, in the most boisterous manner. This is supposed to represent the long and eventful procession of Lord Shiva. The groom's face is generally covered, so that no one casts an evil spell on him. The drinking and dancing - even in the most irresponsible manner - embarks the last day of  carefree behaviour and the groom heralds the end of irresponsible behaviour.