Love-Hate

Re:Vishal's post here about Ramachandra Guha's reasoning.

Why do we hate Gandhi and Nehru so much? Guha says they are the essential "fall guys" facing the music. I have a different opinion. I believe the answer lies in psychology and not sociology. Our textbooks heap praises on Gandhi and Nehru almost to the point of sycophancy. We grow up almost believing that they were the gods with no reproach.
However, we start seeing their shortcomings once we leave school.

There was an experiment in which the control group was given only positive information about a particular behaviour. The other group was given both positive and negative information. It was found that the group given both sides of the information tends to retain the learning / behaviour better.( This was described in Chapter Memory/Learning of "Introduction to psychology" by Morgan and King, but I can't get my hand on that book right now)

All the policies that were touted as brilliant strategies in our text books seem shallow at their very best. We become more prone to hate them, than we would have been if only their shortcomings were also described in our text books.

It is no coincidence that most voices against Nehru-Gandhi have been raised of late when (a) Information to their shortcomings became more accessible because of the internet and (b) The harm done by those early measures became evident with the surge in economy after LPG. ( Even trying to imagine an average guy in My father's generation criticizing Nehru-Gandhi is impossible)


PS: If anyone has an ebook, I would be grateful.

PPS: I own the hardcopy, so I dont think I'm infringing any copyright :D

Another saturday night

Oh boy! I take my hats off to all you girls out there. I have no idea how you manage to go shopping for that long a time without breaks, but a saturday shopping trip left me nearly drained. And weren't the sales girls everywhere having the day of their lives! The one at supermarket said something in very fast German and when I asked her to repeat, she started giggling. (Yes buggers that means you are getting all the chocolates that you've asked for- if they survive me until thurday that is )
Then in Berlin, comes the turn of the ladies in the perfumes shop. Not just the ones at the sales counter mind you! Looking at my forlorn face almost everyone burst out laughing, not giggling or smirking. For having gone through this trouble, I better not hear any "smells like goat's urine" comments back home.
If only some of those who were laughing were not aunties, I might have taken a little more amicably to their laughter. Having borne all this in silence, even dignity, I was hoping for a nice little ride home. A beautiful brunette who seemed to be scribbling something into her diary across the seat in the compartment seemed like a decent compensation for all the trouble. But did that squad of 6 policemen, each with an HK MP5 SMG have to come in just then, before I could even butt myself in?

That was the end of that I guess. If this were the US, I'd probably have posted a witty (or pathetic) craiglists "Missed connections" ads that might have got to the best of list and atleast amused a few ( or just got trashed).
Atleast thats one of the few ways to pass time here on saturday nights, other than playing videogames, watching online TV, doing the usual "intellectual junky" stuff and trying to read as much news as you can i.e.

It's another saturday night and I ain't got nobody
I've got some money 'cause I just got paid
Now, how I wish I had someone to talk to
I'm in an awful way

I got in town a month ago
I seen a lot of girls since then
If I could meet 'em I could get 'em
But as yet I haven't met 'em
That's how I'm in the state I'm in

Oh,
Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody
I've got some money 'cause I just got paid
Now, how I wish I had someone to talk to
I'm in an awful way

Another fella told me
He had a sister who looked just fine
Instead of bein' my deliv'rance
She had a strange resemblance
To a cat named Frankenstein

Ooh, la,
Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody
I've got some money 'cause I just got paid
Now, how I wish I had someone to talk to
I'm in an awful way

It's hard on a fella
When he don't know his way around
If I don't find me a honey
To help me spend my money
I'm gonna have to blow this town

Oh, no
Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody
I've got some money 'cause I just got paid
Now, how I wish I had someone to talk to
I'm in an awful way

-Cat stevens

Where is your mind?

"I open my mail two weeks after they have arrived and I find that the problem is already solved".

I don't remember who said this, but I just love it. We've all had our share of problems, but having problems is not the problem.(excuse please). And yes, we've all had our share of "melodramatic queen" incidents. But I guess we do(should) grow out of it.

I wonder if the so called teenage angst is limited to teenagers. Stereotypes help us paint with brushes "teenagers", "that time of the month" etc. but the worst thing is when the most rational amongst us feel entitled to something and on not getting it enter into an abyss of self pity and or anger and regress back to those "drama queen" times.

We do take ourselves far too seriously. A step back and a walk in another's shoes is all that is required. Hindsight is 20/20. And most of the times, the things we agonize over seem absolutely worthless in hindsight. For all the evolution of our brains we haven't developed pre-emptive hindsight.(foresight I know, but this sounds better).

Nor has science been able to come up with a cure for this all pervading angst. Although not 100% effective a pill known as "kick up the backside" seems to work in most cases. Yours truly is not modest enough to deny that he is one of the better exponents of this kick, both metaphorically and literally, and that if his services are needed, he is only one call away.


Oh btw,

Teenage Angst

Shine the headlight, straight into my eyes.
Like the roadkill, Im paralysed.
You see through my disguise

At the drive-in, double feature,
Pull the lever, break the fever
And say your last goodbyes.

Since I was born I started to decay.
Now nothing ever ever goes my way

One fluid gesture, like stepping back in time.
Trapped in amber, petrified.
And still not satisfied

Airs and social graces, elocution so divine.
Ill stick to my needle, and my favourite waste of time,
Both spineless and sublime.

Since I was born I started to decay.
Now nothing ever - ever goes my way

-Placebo

PS: "Where is your mind?" -Pixies/Placebo - OST of fight club.