Even as did it, I was asking myself why I am doing it ... I am not one who can claim to have done too many "random acts of kindness".
Last night, as I waited for my cab, in the pleasant drizzle presented by the beautiful Bangalore climate, I saw a very fiesty lady resisting the extortionist proposals of some auto-rickshaw drivers. They wanted Rs 50/- to drive her to her destination 200 mts away. Though she was arguing in Kannada, a language unknown to me, I admired her willingness to stand and wait in the rain, for a fairer deal, than give in to the circumstances, and perpetuate and condone the behaviour of those auto-drivers. Though I have thought of doing helping people out many times before, I never have. What moved inside me, I may never know, but I picked up the courage (those of you who know me, will know I need courage to do such things), and asked her if I could drop her off till the gate of the premises. She smiled and thanking me, gratefully, accepted my offer. We didn't have a conversation ... we didn't exchange credentials ... I don't know who she was, and I don't think she knows who I am. In 5 minutes, with a "Thank you Sir" "You're welcome. Take care", my random act of kindness came to an end. I felt nice. It still feels nice.
What moves one to do such things? How do some do it more than others?
Showing posts with label musings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label musings. Show all posts
Friday, July 30, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Why are we here?
Why are we here?
Lets start by asking the same questions about somethings around us. If I was to ask, "Why is that house there?" or "Why is the wall there?", one would tend to respond talking about the purpose of these structures: The house for someone to stay in, and the wall to mark a boundary. Likewise, Why is money there? Why is the government there? and so on and so forth. All of these responses pertain to the purpose of the objects.
Here is another set of questions: Why is Mt Everest there? Why is the solar system there? Why is the river there? Now, how would one respond? Suddenly, the same syntax connects to a different meaning and one tends to respond with the causes, rather than the purpose. So, because the Indian Plate went and hit the Euraaisan plate - slam bang .. lo and behold there was Mt Everest. About 13.73 ± 0.12 billion years ago a big explosion cause the creation of the Solar System. Melting ice and rain water collect and forge a way from a ground at a higher altitude, to a location at a lower altitude, usually merging into a larger waterbody, that is how the river is formed.
Why do we respond to the same question differently? Why can't we think of a purpose of the existence of Mt Everest? The solar system? The river? Some of you right now would even be getting your answers ready ... atleast for the river ... if not for the solar system, while Mt Everest's purpose would be a bit difficult for most to conjure up. All these natural occurring phenomena are generally explained away by their causes rather than their purposes. The existence of man made stuff is usually defined by the purpose.
We too are a part of nature, and yet constantly try and define our existence by our purpose rather than the cause ... Why does the human being try and do that?
If we were to look at ourselves as a part of nature, and our existence is defined by Darwin's theory of evolution - based on natural selection.The stronger wins, the adaptable wins and the weaker and the rigid looses. While Darwin's theory brought us here, what could be our future, if we were to perpetuate it ... the weaker of us would loose ... the stronger win. Some of you would light up and say ... That is life! Isn't that way we conduct our human interactions ... and our Politics? While Darwin's theory, brought is here, I am not too convinced that it is the best way to lead into the future. Not just for you and me, but also not for mankind.
Here are some lines by Richard Dawkins for you to think about ... "For good Darwinian reasons, evolution gave us a brain whose size increased to the point where it became capable of understanding its own provenance, of deploring the moral implications and of fighting against them" ... "Stand tall, Bipedal Ape. The shark may outswim you, the cheetah outrun you, the swift outfly you, the capuchin outclimb you, the elephant outpower you, the redwood outlast you. But you have the biggest gifts of all: the gift of understanding the ruthlessly cruel process that gave us all existence; the gift of revulsion against its implications; the gift of foresight - something utterly foreign to the blundering short-term ways of natural selection - and the gift of internalizing the very cosmos."
Now ask yourself: "Why are we here?"
For those interested in knowing what got me thinking this way, I was listening to a very interesting podcast from Radiolab. Here is the link In Defense of Darwin? ... and incase you want to download it and listen to it at leisure, here is the link In Defence of Darwin?
Lets start by asking the same questions about somethings around us. If I was to ask, "Why is that house there?" or "Why is the wall there?", one would tend to respond talking about the purpose of these structures: The house for someone to stay in, and the wall to mark a boundary. Likewise, Why is money there? Why is the government there? and so on and so forth. All of these responses pertain to the purpose of the objects.
Here is another set of questions: Why is Mt Everest there? Why is the solar system there? Why is the river there? Now, how would one respond? Suddenly, the same syntax connects to a different meaning and one tends to respond with the causes, rather than the purpose. So, because the Indian Plate went and hit the Euraaisan plate - slam bang .. lo and behold there was Mt Everest. About 13.73 ± 0.12 billion years ago a big explosion cause the creation of the Solar System. Melting ice and rain water collect and forge a way from a ground at a higher altitude, to a location at a lower altitude, usually merging into a larger waterbody, that is how the river is formed.
Why do we respond to the same question differently? Why can't we think of a purpose of the existence of Mt Everest? The solar system? The river? Some of you right now would even be getting your answers ready ... atleast for the river ... if not for the solar system, while Mt Everest's purpose would be a bit difficult for most to conjure up. All these natural occurring phenomena are generally explained away by their causes rather than their purposes. The existence of man made stuff is usually defined by the purpose.
We too are a part of nature, and yet constantly try and define our existence by our purpose rather than the cause ... Why does the human being try and do that?
If we were to look at ourselves as a part of nature, and our existence is defined by Darwin's theory of evolution - based on natural selection.The stronger wins, the adaptable wins and the weaker and the rigid looses. While Darwin's theory brought us here, what could be our future, if we were to perpetuate it ... the weaker of us would loose ... the stronger win. Some of you would light up and say ... That is life! Isn't that way we conduct our human interactions ... and our Politics? While Darwin's theory, brought is here, I am not too convinced that it is the best way to lead into the future. Not just for you and me, but also not for mankind.
Here are some lines by Richard Dawkins for you to think about ... "For good Darwinian reasons, evolution gave us a brain whose size increased to the point where it became capable of understanding its own provenance, of deploring the moral implications and of fighting against them" ... "Stand tall, Bipedal Ape. The shark may outswim you, the cheetah outrun you, the swift outfly you, the capuchin outclimb you, the elephant outpower you, the redwood outlast you. But you have the biggest gifts of all: the gift of understanding the ruthlessly cruel process that gave us all existence; the gift of revulsion against its implications; the gift of foresight - something utterly foreign to the blundering short-term ways of natural selection - and the gift of internalizing the very cosmos."
Now ask yourself: "Why are we here?"
For those interested in knowing what got me thinking this way, I was listening to a very interesting podcast from Radiolab. Here is the link In Defense of Darwin? ... and incase you want to download it and listen to it at leisure, here is the link In Defence of Darwin?
Saturday, February 20, 2010
My Name Is Khan ...
... and I am not a terrorist.
I am forced to make a posting today. Last evening as I was watching the movie, memories of the past flashed past me.
Sadly, not too long ago, someone close to me commented "That guy is a Mosi (ref Muslim) and whenever he needs help, he gets more of his Muslim friends to join up". While it saddened me, I wondered whether it was thoughts like this that forced the gentleman in concern to rally like minded people around him in times of need. As a facilitator, who conducts sessions about diversity, one of the first things I was taught was that whether we like it or not, we have tendencies to be biased and these thoughts are reflected in our behaviour - verbal and non-verbal.
When I am sitting in a bus, with a vacant seat next to me, I am expectantly eliminating people I would not like next to me ... bias has kicked in.
When I am at a Hotel, and a shabbily dressed person walks in ... boom bias has kicked in.
When I walk upto a Customer Service Desk of any service I have availed to make a complaint, and I see a pretty face smiling back at me - boom bias again (This situation is something that is acknowledged by a lot of service companies who gun for pretty faces and nice voices to handle customer complaints - who would like to scream at Priyanka Chopra -metaphorically speaking- for his shirt being burnt, bill being inflated, service being disconnected).
While that is one side of it, here is another ... In one of my previous assignments, I was assigned workspace amongst a couple of Bengalis (my countrymen who speak Bengali). And everytime there was something to be shared between them ... the obvious choice of language was ... You guessed it - Bengali. The same experience with Punjabis, Tamils, Malyalees ... the list goes on.
On a yet another assignment, this time in Philippines, I was facilitating a session for a group of very bright Filipinos. and from nowhere a babble started, and I just could not follow them. I asked my co-facilitator, a Filipino herself, what was happening, and was told that the discussion had moved to the language of their comfort - Tagalog. It was during one such conversation that I was reminded of a "Culture class" I had once attended. We had been told "Never use your native language (Hindi) in the presence of foreign delegates".
It brings to mind a statement made by Pooja Bedi ... where in she took on the Shiv Sena, saying ... why are we so bothered about the Indians facing discrimination in Australia, when they (Shiv Sena) are discriminating against Indians here in India (ref Mr T vs SRK) (Ref Pooja Bedi's Blog : I cannot comprehend ... and Pooja Bedi: Peace can't be achieved by violence).
Such incidents made me realise that "Inclusivity" is a "nice" word. Its good to talk about ... but not very easy to follow.
How would you make a difference ... My name is Khan ... and I am not a terrorist.
I am forced to make a posting today. Last evening as I was watching the movie, memories of the past flashed past me.
Sadly, not too long ago, someone close to me commented "That guy is a Mosi (ref Muslim) and whenever he needs help, he gets more of his Muslim friends to join up". While it saddened me, I wondered whether it was thoughts like this that forced the gentleman in concern to rally like minded people around him in times of need. As a facilitator, who conducts sessions about diversity, one of the first things I was taught was that whether we like it or not, we have tendencies to be biased and these thoughts are reflected in our behaviour - verbal and non-verbal.
When I am sitting in a bus, with a vacant seat next to me, I am expectantly eliminating people I would not like next to me ... bias has kicked in.
When I am at a Hotel, and a shabbily dressed person walks in ... boom bias has kicked in.
When I walk upto a Customer Service Desk of any service I have availed to make a complaint, and I see a pretty face smiling back at me - boom bias again (This situation is something that is acknowledged by a lot of service companies who gun for pretty faces and nice voices to handle customer complaints - who would like to scream at Priyanka Chopra -metaphorically speaking- for his shirt being burnt, bill being inflated, service being disconnected).
While that is one side of it, here is another ... In one of my previous assignments, I was assigned workspace amongst a couple of Bengalis (my countrymen who speak Bengali). And everytime there was something to be shared between them ... the obvious choice of language was ... You guessed it - Bengali. The same experience with Punjabis, Tamils, Malyalees ... the list goes on.
On a yet another assignment, this time in Philippines, I was facilitating a session for a group of very bright Filipinos. and from nowhere a babble started, and I just could not follow them. I asked my co-facilitator, a Filipino herself, what was happening, and was told that the discussion had moved to the language of their comfort - Tagalog. It was during one such conversation that I was reminded of a "Culture class" I had once attended. We had been told "Never use your native language (Hindi) in the presence of foreign delegates".
It brings to mind a statement made by Pooja Bedi ... where in she took on the Shiv Sena, saying ... why are we so bothered about the Indians facing discrimination in Australia, when they (Shiv Sena) are discriminating against Indians here in India (ref Mr T vs SRK) (Ref Pooja Bedi's Blog : I cannot comprehend ... and Pooja Bedi: Peace can't be achieved by violence).
Such incidents made me realise that "Inclusivity" is a "nice" word. Its good to talk about ... but not very easy to follow.
How would you make a difference ... My name is Khan ... and I am not a terrorist.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Au Revoir
The French language has exposed me to some niceties of human nature ... its not that I have lost faith in the English language on performing this simple yet elusive task ... but its just that this particular phrase has stuck with me for longer than I expected it to.
"Au revoir" simple transalated is the farewell greeting that the French exchange. A deeper understanding of the culture and the language gets one to see the sentiments in the words being used. "Voir" translates to the verb "to see". Hence "Au revoir" could be transalated to "Till we see each other again" or "Till we meet again". No good byes ... no so long ... no fare wells ... only a promise to meet again.
"Au revoir" simple transalated is the farewell greeting that the French exchange. A deeper understanding of the culture and the language gets one to see the sentiments in the words being used. "Voir" translates to the verb "to see". Hence "Au revoir" could be transalated to "Till we see each other again" or "Till we meet again". No good byes ... no so long ... no fare wells ... only a promise to meet again.
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