The Laughing Mask — We all need one

Some people laugh always
some people laugh occasionally
most people hardly laugh, but
all people are in the same ship

there is no man who is always happy
there is no man who is always sad
all we got to do is to change expressions, and
laugh everytime we get a chance

at times, for a class of people
who hardly get a chance to laugh
there’s another piece of advice, which says
laugh at your own misfortunes

happiness or sadness is your choice
either you treat the situation with happiness
or you treat the situation with sadness, so
it all depends on how you view it

life is short but there’re lots to do
in course we get to meet a lot of friends
they laugh while you laugh and they cry while you cry, and
everyone’s happiness is mutually inclusive

if not for your sake, but for your friends around you
if not for yourself, but for your near and dear
whatever may be the sorrows that abound you, please
hide them all and use this laughing mask

a smile can change everything around you
a smile can change your foes to friends
a smile can change even the unchangeable, so
if you cannot smile, at least use the laughing mask

my laughing mask is not real
my laughing mask is not something that covers your face
my laughing mask is not a physical mask indeed, but
it is just a change in your character

learn to welcome tough times with happiness
learn to welcome misfortunes with a smile
because you cannot reach the rose without crossing the thorns, so
develop your own laughing mask

Oh!! Oh!! How much burden at such an early age . . .

Stop! Stop! And I am just 3
and this bag weighs my weight X 3
my backbone is so slender and my shoulders are soft
and me carrying this bag, does it sound soft?

I want to run, I want to play
I just want to be with friends
but why are they not allowing me out
and forcing me to read all these books

Botany, zoology, chemistry and physics
EVS, geography, history and civics
last, but not the least, comes the tough mathematics
should I read all these just in my standard six?

Too many subjects and heavy loads of books
Oh!! Oh!! How much burden at such an early age . . .
do I have to study all these subjects at this very small age?
can’t I just choose the subjects that I like most?

This burden makes me hate education
and at cradle I started fearing my future
if this is the burden at such an early age
Oh God!! – How is my higher education going to be?

The education system needs a change
it should have made me love education
as a change, the burden should considerably reduce
and the framers for education should open their eyes

Knowledge should be effectively inculcated
through games, songs, drama and pictures
education should be made practical
and usage of books should be considerably reduced

Libraries should be the source of books
and my school bag should start weighing less
for books should only be used for reference
and knowledge should be acquired from practical work

These were my feelings when I was a kid
but I did not have the capability to write
now I have the capability to do that, so I do
and people!!!, save the slender backbone of children please . . .

IT Vs. Agriculture: Who is the real winner and who is the real loser?

The development in IT (Information Technology) in the 20th century is remarkable. No doubt, the advancements and inventions in the field have been great and we have crossed several milestones in IT development in India. Education has reached far interior in the villages of our nation and people in India have started to come out to the cities for higher education and have even started going abroad for advanced studies and research. This development in the field is definitely something we need to be proud of and India stands first in getting out-sourced jobs from other nations.

On the one hand, we have seen the remarkable development in the field of IT. But on the other, we have not noticed what’s happening to the food bowl of India. Agriculture is happening only in villages and it’s from there the whole nation is getting the necessary food. Owing to the recent changes in the climatic conditions, global warming, and monsoon failures, more of the village dwellers have started to relocate to cities in search of some other profession. Most of the cultivatable lands are becoming residential areas and apartments are being built in those lands of agriculture.

We have already started to import food stuff for our basic needs and if this situation lasts for another decade or two, then we may have to fully depend upon imports for our everyday food. When this is the case in India, we need to see what’s happening in other countries and is it the same situation elsewhere. The answer is no. In other countries, the technological improvements have been effectively used in agriculture and they have increased the productivity and quality of food. They have invented several modern techniques to handle drought situations in agriculture and how to effectively use water.

What happens in India is something sick. People move from villages to cities and settle down in the cities because they have facilities there. The population in the villages is coming down and the cities are overflowing with no space for people to even move around. This situation can be compared to the blood circulation in our body. The impure blood comes to the heart, gets purified, and then gets back to other places of the body to serve its purpose. In a similar fashion, the educated people in the cities should go to villages and start implementing their knowledge in agriculture and improve the agricultural standards in India.

If that does not happen, the situation is similar to how the human body will become if the pure blood is not circulated to other parts of the body and stays in the heart itself. The heart will burst not being to hold all the blood and the rest of the body will die without blood to keep them alive. It is high time we educated people should start realizing what is necessary to improve Indian economy and start contributing toward agriculture. Agriculture is not to be considered as something below our grade of work. Instead it is the backbone of our country and let’s realize that and start contributing toward it.

If we win in IT alone, then we might seem to be winners, but we would still be down at economy and will always be a developing country. Let’s start implementing IT in agriculture, improve the technologies used in agriculture, increase food production simultaneously, and become the real winner.

Am I losing . . . ? or Am I gaining . . . ? Am I taking the right decision?

25 years since my birth and especially the school and college days
the so-called bachelor paradise-like life where fair is foul and foul is fair
oh!!! I am losing all that freedom and am going to become a family man . . .
am I losing . . . ? or am I gaining . . . ? Am I taking the right decision?

spending time with friends and knowing not what to do
roaming about the streets on my bike with always a friend on the pillion
oh!!! I may not go out again with friends like that and am going to become a family man . . .
am I losing . . . ? or am I gaining . . . ? Am I taking the right decision?

wow!!! those fast bikes, those fast rides and tours with friends
and racing each other on the southern highways with the thrill filling the hearts
oh!!! I may not be able to drive my bike faster any more and am going to become a family man . . .
am I losing . . . ? or am I gaining . . . ? Am I taking the right decision?

since childhood my mom stays worried about me and now she has found a substitute
the girl whom I am getting married to is purely my mom’s choice of what she wanted
and will I be able to do all that I had been doing all these years?
hmm . . . might seem like I am losing; but I am actually gaining!!!

all the thrill should stop at a stage and all the play should come to an end
there are times when we need to be serious and think of people who depend on us
it’s high time I have to identify my responsibilities and become a successful family man
I am losing the thrill and play; I am gaining responsibilities; alas!!! and that’s the decision!!!

thrill and play give us happiness; but is that happiness true? That’s a question . . .
truth is always sour and is never pleasant as we have seen it in many cases
if thrill and play is not giving us true happiness, then what’s it that gives it?
it’s fulfilling of responsibilities that gives us true happiness

now I have started the search for true happiness
and I have people who will depend on me for the rest of their life
it’s high time I have to stop all the thrill and play I had been enjoying
I have taken the right decision though the path is not going to be that pleasant always!

it’s my transition from a bachelor to a family man
and it’s time to say good bye to all the fun that I had in my life
it’s not that I will not be having fun in my family life
but this fun is different with added responsibilities in everyday life!

the time has come for me to hate what I loved
the time has come for me to love what I hated
I am losing just the illusive happiness and I am gaining the way to true happiness
Aaha!!! I am happy . . . I am making the right decision!!!

. . . Devotion to God: Where to draw a line? . . . These are just my views

Whichever religion we may follow, may it be Hindu/Muslim/Christian/any religion for that matter, we have people who spend different proportions of time praying to God. There are several views depending upon the length of time being spent and the space being occupied by religious workers in constructing worship areas for their God(s). I would like to give my own views on various issues pertaining to these factors. I would like to start by saying to everyone that I am not partial to any religion and I am speaking in a single sense taking God as one.

God gave us the whole Earth to live in, and when there are God’s creations suffering without place to live in, do we definitely need to construct so many worshipping areas for God? God will definitely not prefer that. In those days, worshipping areas were constructed by occupying so many acres of land that could have been effectively used for agriculture. I don’t mean to say that God does not need a place, but not so vast as it could have been used effectively for serving the poor, physically challenged, and mentally challenged, and according to me service to such people is equivalent to service to God.

In South India, especially in the southern states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, etc., you can see worshipping areas for God at least in every street. I don’t mean to say that’s wrong, but when we are already running short of places like libraries, hospitals, physical fitness centers, etc. that are needed for the growth of mental and physical ability of people, why should we concentrate too much on spiritual activities? Of course, spiritual living is also necessary, but not at the rate of a worshipping area in every street that too one for every religion.

We need to remember one thing: “A healthy mind in a sound body.” Rather than spending most of the time in worshipping areas, we can effectively use the time that we have which is considered to be precious than anything else. Once time is lost, it cannot be regained. I have seen a few people who spend most of the time, and at times, the whole day in the worshipping area expecting God to show the right path. But they seldom take any effort to improve their status by putting in hard work to learn some skill and master it. Spirituality is definitely necessary, but that’s not the only quality one can have.

Spirituality is an added quality and one should maintain a sound health, a sound mind and a life with neat habits. Those are the ones that will make the spiritual life also comfortable. Instead of spending hours together in worshipping God, let’s spend just few minutes to remember God and thank God for whatever we have with us as God’s gift. That should be sufficient and God wants us to effectively use the gifts that have been given to us. Among all the gifts given to us by God, the most previous one is time and let’s not utilize all the time thinking only about God.

I don’t mean to say worshipping areas should not be there. Even though God is omnipresent and we all know that, we need to have a dedicated place where we can worship God. This is something like though the whole house is ours’, we need a dedicated dining room where we can have food and a bed room where we can sleep. So, we need to bring this awareness within ourselves and think upon it for a second if we really need so many worshipping areas within a single locality. The big job that we have now is to bring this awareness among other people and show them what they have to do.

In major cities, this awareness has started spreading and the government has taken steps to remove worshipping areas that were constructed by religious workers using encroachments wherein the land actually does not belong to the worshipping area. Such encroachment areas can be effectively used for constructing libraries and other public-welfare clubs that can be of more help to the public. Let’s have minimal worshipping areas and try to do something that will help the majority of the public who are helpless. I hope everyone takes this in the right sense.

Where is the mass killing happening? In Vegetarianism or in Non-vegetarianism?

To tell something about myself, I call myself a vegetarian, but to speak the truth, I am not. By meaning Vegetarian, I have a different understanding on who is called a vegetarian. I shall not totally kill another living being for my food and that’s my concept of a vegetarian. I drink milk which is an animal product, but I am not killing a cow for that sake. I have egg, but I don’t kill a hen for that sake? A few people may ask . . . an egg might be source of another chicken. But the egg that’s prepared in a poultry farm cannot have a chicken in it because the hen is made to lay egg scientifically. If one person is ready to have milk, but refuses to have egg, then that person is having some age-old opinions about eggs which were once sources of chicks. According to me Non-vegetarianism is nothing but killing another life for your food.

Even plants have lives. If you eat onion/potato/spinach, you are going to kill the whole plant to have it because those are the roots or sometimes the whole of a plant. But if you are not going to have them at that time, definitely its life span is going to end and the plant is going to die with very few days left. But that’s again similar to killing a hen for chicken because in both the cases you are killing a life before its lifespan is over. Still, we feel it is not wrong in killing a potato/spinach/onion plant for food but we feel something is wrong in killing a hen for chicken. What makes us think so? It’s the response that we get for the killing. When we kill a potato/onion plant, it does not respond with a sound/feel of pain. But a hen when being killed cries for its life. Or any animal that is killed for food cries for its life out of pain.

Now let’s discuss the actual question. How many plants and animals are killed for food? Do vegetarians kill the most number of plants? Or do non-vegetarians kill the most number of animals? Let’s take for a single meal in a vegetarian’s house, if the dishes are going to be potato fry, spinach pudding, and some onion sambar for 5 members. In 1 kg of potato we will have at least 10–12 separate potatoes, in 3 bunches of spinach we will have at least 150 separate full spinach plants, and 1 kg of onion will have 8–10 separate onions. So, a vegetarian kills 170 lives for a single meal. If a vegetarian is going to deny this fact, then the concept that plants have lives shall definitely be proved false. Can a Vegetarian deny this fact? Not at all; and this fact can never be denied.

On the other hand, in a non-vegetarian’s house, if the dishes are going to be chicken curry, mutton briyani, and egg masala for 5 members. To make chicken curry for 5 members, you will just need 2 full chickens (at the max), not more than 1 goat for a mutton briyani, and a few eggs for the egg masala and according to my concept egg is vegetarian. The number of lives killed by a non-vegetarian is at the max 3 for a single meal. Now if you compare this with the vegetarian’s case, a non-vegetarian actually kills less than a vegetarian. There are exceptions where there are so many vegetarians who have other vegetables which are just products from plants and the whole plant is not killed. But majority of vegetarians definitely have potatoes/onions/spinach and so I have taken this into consideration.

To conclude, there’s no point in calling him/her to be a pure vegetarian if potato/onion/spinach or any vegetable for that matter is going to involve the killing of the whole plant for food. If a person is going to be called a non-vegetarian because a non-vegetarian food is something related to flesh-eating, then there’s an argument for that too. What is a plant made of? A plant is also made of cells, tissues, and similar elements that make the flesh of a hen or a goat. May be the appearance is different. When you cut a mango fruit, the juice that you get is not something synthetic or something without life. Those tissues are also substances that had life before the mango fruit was plucked from the tree. The color of the blood might be different for plants, but that does not mean they don’t have blood.

Mass killing happens more in vegetarianism than in non-vegetarianism when taking into consideration the number of lives killed. So, a vegetarian may just be called a vegetarian because he/she is eating vegetables. But they cannot be considered to be non-flesh eaters because of being vegetarians. Vegetarians can no longer say that they are not killing for their food. In fact, they are the ones who kill the most number of lives than non-vegetarians. Hope you all got my point of argument. Comments on this invited because this topic will definitely have a lot of comments I guess. It is a topic that will have a lot of contradictions in opinions and view points. I am ready to face any argument for that matter and the great battle on vegetarianism vs. non-vegetarianism begins.

. . . the unseen authors

3000 BC . . . is that when paper was invented?
there after they started writing books
then later they started publishing books
but was there quality? That’s the question

readers expected quality in books
publishers were bound to satisfy the readers
are authors giving such quality materials?
if not the authors, then who are those unseen authors?

appropriate spellings, clarity in sentences,
consistency in the language and style
are authors giving such quality materials?
if not the authors, then who are those unseen authors?

pages ending without orphans, pages starting without widows
extracts in a similar style with their appropriate sources given in detail
are authors giving such quality materials?
if not the authors, then who are those unseen authors?

figures with appropriate captions and labeling
illustrations with their appropriate whereabouts
are authors giving such quality materials?
if not the authors, then who are those unseen authors?

landscape and portrait tables with 40 rows and columns
similar column and row heads with consistent style in captions
are authors giving such quality materials?
if not the authors, then who are those unseen authors?

front and back matters are zero error zones
running heads and chapter titles are zero error zones
are authors giving such quality materials?
if not the authors, then who are those unseen authors?

we are the ones who give you that quality
its we who make the authors feel guilty
of all the errors that they have committed in their manuscripts
it’s we THE COPYEDITORS . . . the unseen authors!!!

Beware Beware . . . Where is the world heading to . . .

Beware . . . Beware . . .
where is the world heading to?
when money’s in the thrown
and love has ceased to exist

poor mothers of those days
are the only ones to preserve love
for the sportive mothers of these days
Beware . . . are already behind money

fathers being the bread-winners
has now become out-dated
mothers’ trying to capture that place
Beware . . . I don’t know where it is heading to . . .

when fathers were the money-makers
the mother is there to love the child
when mothers are also money-makers
My God . . . who’s the kid’s love-maker?

love was sown in our parent’s hearts
they still have traces of it in their heart
if we don’t sow love in our child’s heart
Beware . . . you’ll have no love in future

am not against mothers’ money-making
but where’s the love-making happening for your child?
is it all happening only at the child-care centers?
Beware . . . you’ll then have to be at an oldage-care centers

of course . . . money is needed for today’s lifestyle
but there are other things that we need to remember
there’re few things that money can’t buy
that’s the mother’s love toward her child

mothers are busy competing with fathers
and fathers are fearing about loosing their thrown
Beware . . . Beware . . . you’re loosing something more
that’s your child’s love when you’re old

Sickness Lover

Energetic was my feel,
since my childhood till that day,
when I first met a girl,
with my parents by my side.

Just a half of an hour,
was the time that I spent,
when she was no exception,
for a similar feel I had.

Cruel should these people be,
thought I about my thickest pals,
to tease us when we had to talk,
and make us feel embarrassed.

Distance kept us separated,
from seeing and talking to each other,
and the only way for us to understand
each other is through the mobile phone.

More sickening it was at times,
when I tried her number again and again,
and she failed to attend the call for some reason,
for she was away from her mobile at times.

But slowly I started to like that feel,
of waiting for her to pick up the phone,
and that’s where I started to realize,
the medicine for sickness is to love it.

Frequent trances shook me first,
made me feel there’s nothing around,
the only thoughts that ran my mind,
were those of the days when we’d be each others’.

When I thought for myself how I had changed,
I found that I had never been so strange,
it seemed to me like a sickness struck,
but I realized I’d become a Sickness Lover.