Superstition and you

Recent new report of bald men being targeted for ritual killing in Mozambique as superstitious belief is that the head of bald men contain gold and as on date 5 men have been killed and various body parts and head taken for ritualistic purpose ( Read the report here) .This news made me think of the common superstitions that is being followed by many people in our society be it in India or in other parts of the world.

Definition of Superstition: A widely held but irrational belief in supernatural influences, especially as leading to good or bad luck, or a practice based on such a belief.

Image Courtesy: Google Images

Superstition has been in this planet right from the early days of man and each tribe had a witch doctor that would carry out rituals and tell the tribesmen of the good or the bad times that is going to unfold. Then it went a step further when the witch doctors were consulted for any action that would be taken by the chief of the tribe. This is prevalent even today and I know of eminent personalities in various field who would not take any new decisions without consulting an astrologer to check if their actions would ensure success.  

Almost everyone in this world indulges in superstition now and then so that they may get through their life or achieve a goal and if the belief works out then would keep continue in following that irrespective of how irrational that belief is. In my personal opinion we should not allow the rituals and superstition to rule the way you lead your life but then I personally know so many people that I have come across who are extremely superstitious. Superstition may stem out of the fear of uncertain life that is unknown and certain belief may provide comfort and guidance in facing the future. A common superstitious practice that is being followed by most people is reading what the stars foretell in daily newspapers or to hear about the day as per your star on the TV (Astrology). My mother-in-law each day at 7 am will sit down in front of the TV and keep listening to this and then would advice to other family members on actions to do or not to do.

Lot of people in this world thinks that they are not superstitious but subconsciously may do certain actions in their life that is superstitious for example clinking glasses while having drinks. Logically we would imagine that highly educated and rational people would not believe such thought, but then they are also drawn into Superstition. Each person may have a different superstition … like Sachin Tendulkar would wear his left pad first as he believes he would do well if he does it. Similarly the current sensation Virat Kohli wears the same pair of gloves he wore when he started scoring well. Lot more examples are there and am sure you also know such things and I am not penning them all down for this blog would not end. Here again I have personally come across some of my friends who are superstitious and quite fussy about the same even though it may seem quite silly.

Here is the list of well known superstition that is followed for ages 

1. Friday the 13^th – Psychologists have even come up with a word for how you're feeling – paraskavedekatriaphobia, or fear of Friday the 13th. This superstitions comes from the time Jesus Christ’s Crucifixion that took place on 13^th day a Friday.
2. Fear of the number 13 stems from the above and this superstition is so widespread throughout the world that you would hardly see a 13^th floor in buildings, 13^th floor button on elevator or the 13^th row in the airliners.
3. Left palm itching means money is coming and right palm itching means you would meet someone new.
4. Walking below a ladder means bad luck so it is avoided
5. Keeping fingers crossed is supposed to bring good luck… no wonder we say we are keeping our fingers crossed when we are waiting for some results.
6. Having a horseshoe on door frame brings good luck
7. Black cat crossing your path also is supposed be bad luck
8. Dog howling at nights means bad omen.
9. Never give a purse or wallet empty..need to put some money before gifting.
10. In Russia if a bird poops on you or your car or your property means that it bring you riches… more the poop more the riches I suppose
11. Never light three cigarettes with a single match 
12. And many more …..

So friends are you also superstitious??? Share your comments and I would love to hear about them.I leave you all with a song by Stevie Wonder- Superstitious  (Courtesy YouTube)

  

Nickname- Fond memories

Many persons in this world would have nicknames and be known by that name only within the circle of friends and close relatives instead of the official given name or pet names. The nickname to a person may be given to them by their actions or looks or by shortening of their given name or place they stay and may sound silly to hear yet once it is stuck, it remains almost for the lifelong period. I have come across some interesting nicknames during my school and college days and some have interesting background as to why the nicknames were kept. By the way I too have a nickname from the school days and presently only few of my school friends still strike a connection with me using that nickname. I would write in a bit detail of my nickname in ensuing part of the blog but right now would share few nickname I have come across in my life and the reasons for them

 Khundak (meaning angry)….. My schoolmate named Sriram was only known by this name   for he looked angry always

   Chakku – Short form of given name Chakarapani

   Jingly – Do not know the reason for this but from the time I met Jaishankar in class 9 and I have    known him by this name only.

  Baandu (circular open container used for carrying cement slurry on the head)  We friends had gone to a place on visit and one person who had used the rest room forget to flush the toilet and when the next person visited it he came back and said he would need baandu to clean that shit J … this name stuck to the first person from that day

   Poonai (meaning cat) --- Having brown/ green colored eyes and my wife known to her family member by this name.

    Mental (mad) …a friend just after college who used to do odd things when people least expect it and the other friends just christened him by this name…even today nobody among the circle of friend call him by his given name.

    Squadron Leader (Rank in Air force) – A friend who had retired from forces is only known as this to all of us till date (Most have forgotten his given name)

Other than these I have come across so many nicknames given to various personalities who have been named for their exploits or actions by the public and has nothing to do with the fond memories of I have of the few listed above.

Image Courtesy: Google Images

Now coming to my nickname, I used to be an avaricious reader and at an young age I started reading westerns after having graduated through Enid Blyton's, Biggles, Hardy boys and so forth. My favorites western authors were were J T Edison, Louis L Amour, Max Brand and Oliver Strange. One day in my 9^th Class my school bag was raided by the teacher and she found a novel shown in the image here by Oliver Strange named “Sudden Outlawed” and she gave a lecture to me having bought such a book to school. From then on couple of friend christened me as “Sudden” and this was the name I was called throughout my next three years in the school by friends. I was thrilled by this as the fictional character Sudden aka James Green was a hero in Wild West and was lightening fast with the handgun, reason for the nickname. 

Even to this day few of my friends know me only by Sudden not my real given name Ramesh. I also use another nickname on my photographs and blogs “Engram” which means Engineer Ramesh

Preserve and Cherish our Planet Earth

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.Our posturing, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

-- Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994

A profound and a powerful statement by the author and an astronomer, inspired to write the book “Pale Blue Dot” after seeing the picture taken by Voyager 1 a space probe in 1990 while leaving our solar system on the suggestion of the author. It is now 23 years down the line and there has been no change in the posturing of the humans, the same self importance, greed, plunder, killing and mayhem continues without any thoughts of saving this small dot of the universe, the earth.

The people of this world needs to pause and ponder on the above statement, for we have only this earth to live in at this point of time and no other suitable planet is available to migrate even in the distant future in spite of the immense technological advancement. So in order to ensure that our future generation’s lead their lives like we have done, we all inhabitants of this planet need to take steps to prevent the degrading of the already fragile environment urgently instead of bickering on unwanted materialist values. Read here . Read Here The blog i wrote  recently about the planet heading towards disaster 

Happy Environment day friends and i hope everyone ones sees this the way Carl Sagan wrote.

Information Courtesy: Google/ Wikipedia: - An interesting Whatsapp video from a friend showing the image of the earth taken from Voyager triggered me to search for Pale Blue Dot and pen few line in addition to Carl Sagan’s message to the humanity

Get out of the Prison .....

Reaching a milestone in couple of months and I will be 60 years old and officially a senior citizen of India. I am really excited that I would have completed one cycle of life as per Vedic time system. In Hindu system, the years are named and there are 60 names, on completion on the 60^th year, the New Year starts with the first name again and the cycle repeats. No wonder they say once you are 60 years old you are a child once again. Most countries the employment retirement age is 60 yrs but then not everyone in this world are lucky enough to enjoy the peaceful retired life doing the things that are dear to one.

I would surely love to get away from modern day rat race that has been part of my journey throughout my adult life but alas the family commitment does not allow me to call it quits even though my heart wants me quit it and pursue my love for nature and wildlife. I am taking a sabatical break from employment this month end and not sure what the future holds for me and if it does not work work out then it it is back to employment.  A quote by a 13^th century mystic from Persia by name of Jalal Al Din Rumi comes to my thoughts and are quite apt in my present context

“Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?”

Thinking retrospectively there are so many things that I could have done differently but then I have lived my life crawling through it and I have enjoyed it as it unfolded and there has been disappointments, illness, sadness, exhilaration and contentment . I would be dishonest in stating that I have had no regrets it life, there were regrets but then I have learned to overcome such thoughts and lead a comfortable life taking care of the family commitments.

Let us see if I will be able to get out of the prison as mentioned in the quote…. and yes the door is open and it is for me to step out. Wish me luck friends!!!!

Our Planet is heading for a disaster !!

This morning President Trump announced that United States of America is pulling out of the Paris climate accord and stop all climate change mitigation which was supported by his predecessor citing dumb reasons that the Americans are being burdened by it and it is a plot by India and China to strip Americans of Coal jobs and so forth. It is his ego as he wants to do away with various decisions taken by previous President Obama and this being one.

A status by my friend on Face book is quite apt and is reproduced below

“What was announced today was based on sheer arrogance and ego of one individual, with the ego kindled by a greedy media! People who applaud that, are either exhibiting willful ignorance or don't care because possibly they think they would be dead before the effects get worse!

It's damn, our children and theirs who are going to be burnt or drowned or blown away!

I would sincerely hope that the world unites and goes forward!”

And he is correct in saying this 

For those skeptics who would say that this planet can sustain the plunder and damage done by humans the climate change is real and will have far reaching and unimaginable consequences unless each and everyone in this universe unite and take steps to avoid the catastrophe that is surely going to be released in times to come. The impacts of the climate change is seen by extreme weather conditions that are taking in various parts of the world be it extreme cold or hot weather conditions, super storms, drought, floods melting of snow caps on mountains , breaking of Antarctic ice and so forth. Scientists conclude that the earth’s temperature would rise by 4 deg C over pre-industrial level  by 2050 (as on date it is at around 1.5 deg) if the current rate of carbon dioxide is discharged into the atmosphere.

The greenhouse gases accumulation traps the heat in atmosphere instead of radiating it out to space thereby causing the warming of planet, sea level rise and other violent weather changes. For 650,000 years the carbon content in atmosphere did not exceed 300 ppm (parts per million) but now it is reaching 400 ppm and this increase is just in last 100 years see the image and I am sure it is quite  alarming that the humans are bent upon surely ending the race at the earliest. Paris Climate accord aims to limit the rise of earth’s temperature to less than 2 deg C over the pre Industrial levels by reducing emissions due to usage of fossil fuel and encourage use of clean and renewable energy. Each country has to contribute especially the major polluters America, China, India, Russia, Europe

In the name of development fossil fuel is being used extensively by various countries but then President Trump needs to look into the 2015 data & figures for America’s per capita carbon dioxide emission stands at 16.1 ton and total of 5.2 kilotons compared to India’s 1.9 ton and 2.4 Kilotons. China’s total emission is double of USA but the per capita emission is 7.7tons. His argument is that climate change is hoax and the countries that are asking America have collectively cost America trillions of dollars through touch trade practices and in many cases lax contribution to critical military alliance , he actually meant about India and China in particular. His decision has applauded by the Republican Party but not been accepted many Americans who are aware of the real danger being faced by this planet. Few states in USA have pledged to follow Paris climate change mitigation in spite of their president’s decision.

Each one of us on this earth are responsible for the future of this beautiful earth and let us all do our bit and I hope that the President of USA also realize his folly and rejoins this fight to save humanity.  

Beef Ban -- Religious Conspiracy or plain foolhardy decision????

The central government has issued a rule banning the sale of cattle including cows and buffalos to slaughter house though out India has sparked protests and intense debates in non-Hindi speaking belts i.e. in North East and Southern states. It is said that this ban has been enforced to appease the Hindu conservatives who have been advocating that beef should not be consumed as Cow is considered holy and sacred. The fundamental right of the people that is guaranteed by the Constitution of India is being trampled by the Government of India by issuing this order is quite surprising. Enforcement of this rule would mean that India’s export of beef which stood at the second place behind Brazil will plummet down and the entire beef industry in India is going bust and livelihood of millions of people in this industry destroyed. Chennai High Court today has issued a Stay order on the ban and we will have to wait for the reactions from those who want the ban.

It is hypocritical for the Hindus to claim that Cows are sacred and beef eating was perpetrated by the conquering Muslim clans. It is recorded in ancient Indian scriptures that Brahminical communities consumed beef and also certain Hindu gods like Indra and Agni had preference for beef. So when did the Hindus change their stance on the cow being sacred and has to be revered???.  Delve deeper into history and you would notice that it was after the advent of Buddhism, the followers were appealing to the public to convert to Buddhism. One of the reasons given to convert was protection of cattle and wealth that was needed for agricultural economy. Brahmins felt the threat to their Bramhmic values from Buddhism was severe and were losing their grip on the low caste people. In order to regain the upper hand had to forego various practices and sacrifice of cows and eating their meat was one of them, and was then successful in banishing Buddhism from India. It was during these time that the Brahminical ideology took up cow as a sacred animal. It may be interesting to note that Buddha’s reason for calling to stop cattle sacrifice was based on reasoning that the cattle would be of help in agriculture and economy only and he did not turn a vegetarian and was not a cow worshiper. Despite the rigid stance taken by Brahmins to project cow as mother and being sacred,  the followers of Buddhism continued eating flesh including beef and so too the low caste people. As the Brahmins were dominant during the times of Mughals, Barber specifically asked his son Humayun to respect cows and avoid cow slaughters. 

Image Courtesy : Google Images

I think it is enough of history lessons now here … the ban slaughter call by the RSS & Hinduvatas has been going on for quite a long time but was not imposed nationally till such time the central government issued a rule recently. This in turn has affected the people who are used to eating beef as you would not be able to buy legally now. The type of food consumed is an individual’s choice and this cannot and should not be enforced by the Government of secular India. Tamasha’s is happening in various parts of India especially in Kerala & Bengal where beef festivals were organized in defiance of the ban, moral policing by Hindu groups by beating up beef eaters or cattle transporters and so forth, protests in Chennai and beating up of a PhD student at IIT Madras for having participated and eaten beef is the top news now a days in India. 

It is very sad to see that will of few is being imposed on entire country and we call ourselves largest democratic and secular nation. Is there a conspiracy behind these actions to divide India on basis of eating habit or religion will come to fore in days to come. I hope some sanity prevails among the leaders instead of making such a big hue and cry on this issue … few even demanding to name the cow as a national animal. Most do not know their history well and it was because of it had to resort to writing about ancient Hindus in patches( Lot more extensive write up is available on Google for people to look up about this)

For the record I am a Hindu Brahman and do consume meat but not beef and the reasons are that I do not like the taste of it. I have no issue a Hindu if somebody else in my friend circle have beef at the same time I have my meals unlike the hardcore Hinduvatas who get riled up with frothing mouths the moment they hear the word BEEF.

Wildlife Photography and Post processing ---- Few thoughts of then and now

A lively discussion about photography on a friend’s face book timeline made me pen in few of my thoughts. What I write here are my opinion and observations.. Not meant to hurt anyone’s feelings

Gone are the days when very few wildlife photographers in India were struggling to get decent image of animals in their habitat as it involved lots of hard work, hardship and had to face dangers in the forest not to add in the expenses for the films, travel and so forth. In the event they did get their dream shot their only medium to showcase their images were newspapers and magazines or exhibitions that they held to raise fund for their next sojourn into the forest. 

Advent of electronic media and social media networks has spurred an increase in the number of wild life photographers who are generally brash young professionals with lots of money to spare who splurge on high end cameras, and big lens. By the way high end cameras and assortment of lenses does not guarantee better images if they are not aware of the basics of photography. A creative photographer can take a great image even with a mobile phone since the end product depends on the composition of the image and the knowledge of photography in general. 

Most of the current day wildlife photographers are being driven by peer pressure to get one up on the other person who has posted an Image on the various social media network.   Be it wildlife, landscape or the street photography there is an intense unseen competition to get a “wow” image on your face book page. Please note my stress on most… as I do know very good photographers exists among the current lot who carry out their photography out of pure passion and are hardly bothered about the responses they get on the social media networks.

Another trait I have noticed among the current day lot is that there are no dearth Ego issues... and they are very quick to belittle other photographer’s images either the way it has been captured or post processing done. During olden days one needed a darkroom, chemicals and other tools to do the post processing but now all is done with a click of the computer mouse. One needs to understand that all images captured by anyone is first processed within the camera itself based on the manufacturers setting so nobody can quote that no post processing is done . Coming to the post processing the images on a computer where does one draw the line on this aspect. In my opinion there is no issues in doing all the processing required just to make the captured image look good as the individual had envisaged the shot. This may involve even digital manipulations, but then those images would not be accepted for photojournalism or photography contests.  Few persons are gifted with good knowledge of creative processing and I have seen them use this tool to bring out “Wow” images that only can be in our dreams and is acceptable to me as long as they do admit to having digitally altered instead of palming of as shot images. 

I do know my statement may rake up intense discussions  but then here is a quote for you all from a 13^thcentury mystic from Persia  named Jalal Al Din Rumi  and  I do believe holds good for everyone in whatever field it may be.

“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy”

Enjoy your photography hobby earnestly and I am sure you would feel the joy and fulfillment of capturing your images without any thoughts of what the society or the virtual friends on social media networks think of it.