The Biggest Superstition of all times- GOD.

“He loves us all. He is kind and great. He sees us through our bad times. He is omnipotent, all powerful, all knowing, benevolent and graceful. Our lives have been pre-ordained, and there is a perfectly good reason for all the suffering, which god shall reveal to us in the afterlife. Have your faith in god, and all will be well. Take his hand! And you shall be in his kingdom for eternity!”

As I wrote that I was beginning to feel this benign feeling of calmness spread over me. I was beginning to feel that I am taken care off. By the third sentence, the sharp edge of my sarcasm began to wear off. Boy! I must say that the lure indeed must be great. No accountability, no need for soul-searching, no existential angst, no worries, just you and bottle of wine in the kingdom of heaven. I would take that any day over an all expense trip to the Hawaii. That is if I was dumb enough to think there was any truth to this preposterous idea.

“I am an aetheist," and I proudly avow my inclinations. That being said, I would like to rant on a bit about my belief (my convictions really). On the issue of god and his kingdom, there are two brands of fools on this planet ( I am not totally sure, maybe it’s three, and may recall this statement on being subjected to any form of inquisition ). There is the average ordinary fool and there is the extra-ordinary fool. Let us examine closely these two broad classification of the species homo sapien.

The ordinary fool. Well since a vast majority belong to this class. You may be it, but maybe not…The kind who is very pragmatic, as long as something works, doesn’t care for changing anything… believes what he reads…does very few things to reason his beliefs…very likely to say things like “I felt his presence”…and most importantly “very uncomfortable at his beliefs being questioned”…Religious fanatics, the priestly class, terrorists, and a lot of average ordinary folks…

The extra-ordinary fool. Well, this class would be the atheists. Going to all lengths, to remove from their minds any hope of a divine answer to this mess of creation. No jingling bells, harp slinging angels, or white fluffy stuff in the afterlife, just dreary and slow decomposition. Whats the fun in that??? No fun at all, but I do believe a lot of truth.

I remember a time, sitting on a bench in HohenSalzburg, a elderly woman and I got into a chat, she was a teaching at a missionary school and took her views on the afterlife very seriously. She carefully, yet authoritatively asked me about my views on what awaits me in the afterlife. I melodramatically replied, “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. And that’s it.” With great dismay she told me that I should reconsider my views on life and the journey afterwards. I thought I heard fear in her voice, fear for my soul.

Fear, is the mother of most superstitions. The need for our intelligent species to explain that which cannot be explained, urges us create intricate stories of all sorts. I was once told by a colleague, that the value of religion is not in the conception of gods and the mythological stories therein, but the moral values taught in these stories. So, according to him, someone thought of a clever way to teach moral values…but posterity took the stories literally and made one big mess. I agree with him, however not on the assumption that all scriptures were written to teach values, I do think some of them were actually meant to be explanations for the universe. Immensely creative as some of these works are, they are just fiction and equivalent to early man’s bestsellers.

Through centuries, there’s been a need to define god. On an individual level, this was required to quench the eternal questions with simplistic axioms. On the societal level, this had strong political repercussions. People who believe in the same fate can unite more easily. Thus there is no doubt that many military generals have exploited this. The raging lines of war even in today’s world are often on the same line that divides differing religious ideology. I will not explore the political consequences of people’s perception of god. I will only explore the individual’s search.

People shy at the thought of not knowing their fate, so here is a brilliant mechanism wherein they are provided an illusion of knowing. And what they know is guarded by a thousand years of dogma and the veil of the unimpeachable. What is never questioned can thus never change, and it is this immutability which transcends GOD to the upper strata of human conscience. People draw comfort in knowing with certainty that this world is but just a small part of the greater journey, helps alleviate the sorrows of poverty, grief, hunger and loss. I can only envy the piety of a poor man, for it is his soul’s food. But the piety of an educated bloke is contemptible. I guess the habit of deluding ourselves with false hope is an incorrigibly human habit. ‘God’ is this false hope. There is however one phenomenon, relating to this superstition, that I find immensely disturbing; the habit of abnegating responsibility of things done in the name of ‘GOD’. Many people absolve their sins and assume forgiveness. That’s nothing but forgiving yourself, but since we would be exposed to ourselves as being unrepentant and selfish, the forgiveness acquires divine scale and becomes instantly more appropriate. Who would not love a person, who will forgive you for all your sins? Who will not embrace such a god? Who will not bleed for one so merciful? What could be more attractive than believing that all your suffering is by the will of this magnificently benevolent person? Its all too easy. Just a product of the human endeavor to be escapist, and find the easy way out, just a way to be lazy and not tax your mind with the unanswerable. However, to me it seems a lot that is branded as unreachable is reached, a lot which has no explanation is explained. And yet people stick to their dogma. And finally, the idea of god creating man in his own form is nothing but human obsession with creating the creator in ‘human’ form. People should get over themselves…this species is transient…just a stepping stone to the next rung on the evolutionary ladder.

The cheapest bottle of beer!

It was race day! Monaco circuit! Enigma in bangalore ...and i had just put away my 5th fosters ...and all i paid for all five was 40 ruppees...and no it was not stuff they pulled out of an expired lot... just that 'Strange Brew', bangalore's recently launched music magazine, had come up with a new promotional stint for metal heads and beer drinker..buy their magazine for Rs. 20 and get two fosters at chosen few pubs in the city on race day... I bought a couple...

One great moment in the nacant life of Psychrome ...
when there was a power outage...they were actually shouting our 'WAR CRY!!'
I almost cried....

At the venue, more magazines were bought, a page was reomoved and the magazine discarded promptly....we even got a couple free... our fisrt perks of being in a metal band..tee hee...
all in all great fun.... MUST READ THE MAGAZINE THOUGH....

Religion, science and me...

“Take this book. It has all the answers.”

There was a famous gentleman who taught maths in the Italian town of Padua, and of a certain religious text (which happens to be the biggest bestseller of all times) he had one notion which has struck me as, what I can best describe as ‘bold’.

“Written by the ignorant for the ignorant”

This gentleman was Galileo Galilei. It is possible that I am not qualified to quote this long deceased man, for I had to look up the spelling of his name. But, I am qualified to endorse what he said. For I immediately felt a kinship to him, when I read this, whether a person of his stature would feel a similar kinship to me is doubtable. Coming to the issue I did want to address, I wanted to write about the brilliant propogation of the scientific backwaters that is conducted by some religions. That, religion and science, are not bossom buddies, is an irrevocable fact. There was a time when great thinker hesitated to express their views in fear of contradicting the words of this bestseller. For the curious soul, I would like to mention that this bestseller is yet to make its appearance in paperback.

Many people say that the story in this book….you know what… we will give this book a name…lets call it ‘The older promise’ (which eventually was broken by a newer one). Yes, where was I? Ahh..the stories in the book…so some people say that they are only allegorical, but some take it quite literally. I am one of those mere mortals who fail to see the greater message…You can call me an infidel..or something like that…I have always wondered how could you fit all the species in the world on a boat…and sometimes I have wondered which has more truth to it…Jurrasic park or ‘The older promise’. The latter is relevant because if the world was created in seven days….then that leaves very little time for evolution…(Damn Mr. Darwin, that blasphemer!!! How could he suggest that men and monkeys are related. We don’t even look alike!!!)

There was a science book I once read and it spoke of the dating of matter using half lifes of certain radioactive substances. Unless there is some heavy-duty dilation and contraction of time going on, ‘The older promise’ is off by a few billion years when it comes to the concept of genesis…but we all know that time passeth at different speeds in the house of the lord….


Science cannot explain everything, the point is it doesn’t try to…it’s a constant work in progress. There was also once a wide held belief, because ‘The older promise’ said that the earth was at the center of the universe. Along came, Copernicus and blasphemed and then some…what do you know the earth is but an insignificant speck of cosmic dust. The third rock from the sun. Facts upheld have fallen…the book will yet never fall..or will it?

Not exactly A patriot

Its well within the realm of the irrelevant to debate the concept of nation and how its nationality extends to one born on its soil…But, I will pretend that I am no stranger to arguing the unarguable. I have felt at times, a lack of affection on the land on which I was born, and this lack of love was ostracized by those who were certain that I owed something to plot of land in rajender nagar where I was born. The reactions have varied from a mild annoyance to the militant kind. But I have been bright enough not to express my views so plainly that I arouse mass hysteria and get killed or vehemently enough for someone to label me a traitor and hang me for treason…that would be imprudent on my part. Not to mention that dead people seldom debate….

India is an ancient nation. This statement can be best qualified by a historian, but I always thought that India with its present geographical boundary did not exist till the time of independence. The fact that some people saw the opportunity to forge a great nation at that time is a great credit to them…to say that India as a nation is constant and old as time seems, to me, far from the truth. One of the first great nations to emerge which remotely resembled the country of India, appeared under Ashoka, and even then there were differences…Everything is evanescent…the concept of worshipping that which seems constant can only be human perception, in which case I should be allowed to form my own.

We, the proud people of India, are quick to boast of our heritage and cultural diversity…
And yet when faced with a diverse cultural group, many are hostile… A common experience for me was to notice, in college, people of the same ethnic background stuck together, not only that, but to preserve the hurt ego of one of their members, militantly confront another ethnic group. The brutality of the communal riots are well documented. As far as I am concerned, the cultural diversity is primarily a result of our isolation from each other, and is a boon to the tourism industry, but beyond that I don’t see it as a necessary bounty to the nation.

If I were to say something sharp regarding the history or the present attitude of the people of this nation, no doubt, those who would be inflamed by it, feel no qualms about passing remarks about other culture. I dismiss this attitude as short-sighted.

World religions

Jesus, Mohammed, and Buddha- all of these men spawned what were to become world religions. If the numbers of their followers are added then we get more than half the world’s population. The story of the conflict of Christianity and Islam makes an interesting tale…spawned in two cities not very far from one another. The might of the followers of these two religions have clashed since the birth of Islam, and do so till now. Whether this conflict is primarily a conflict of nations or of ideology, I do not know…


"To maintain that each of these leaders is equivalent is not to argue from tolerance but from ignorance. In comparing Jesus with them, we discover a number of unique features in Jesus' life and ministry."

I read the above concerning the three subjects of my essay at a site for promoting Christianity…and I was amused…This was no doubt written by a man whose erudition far exceeds mine…It was interesting for me during the course of my research that roughly 4% of the people of the world are atheists.

Buddha is the oldest among the three. He was born roughly 600 years before Christ. And Buddhism spawned from Hinduism, whereas the other two spawned from Judaism. Buddhism had little conflict with either of the other two religions…

Religious fervor, a quality which emerges quickly and causes much damage, has many roots. Some can be traced to the current leaders of religion, and some to the originator themselves. I sometimes wonder how many Christians know when Jesus was born. Or why he is called Christ? I am in awe of the religion…and a hundred questions swarm me…what feeds a religion, I ask. The greatness of these men or the lack of greatness of their followers…for the sheep the Shepard is the lord. A metaphor so commonly used by the pious- Jesus the Shepard of men. I find it difficult to think of myself as a sheep- whether it be metaphorical or real. It also pains me that I am surrounded by people who like to think of themselves that way…There is sometimes a thin line between tradition and the perception of reality. It takes for a thing to be repeated through a few generations before someone starts believing it to be the universal truth…For example…Christmas was originally not celebrated on the 25th of December, but how many Christians will vow that Jesus was born on this day?

To claim that one is a son of god would be a truly audacious statement; that is if one was lying. The only man in history to claim that he was the son of god…it is odd though that the inmates of certain institutions feel that way today. It is well possible that their feeling that way got them where they now live…

Was there only one prophet in history to be executed? Was crucifixion a rare site in Judea under roman rule? Was there only one roaming prophet? Is it divine to walk into a city where all religious prophets are not favorites with the government and have a feeling that you are in danger? Is it divine to feel that one of your associates will betray you? Certainly wouldn’t be the first example of betrayal or paranoia?

To claim that there exists only one way….is interesting…for the lack of a better word. For almost 2 billion people to believe it…hmmm…sheep and shepards….it is odd that how we admire these men for their courage to question what is accepted. To think for themselves and to contradict what has been holy for eons…Isn’t it tragic how we try to immortalize and stagnate the perception of one individual because we cannot think for oursleves. A supermarket for religion: pick and choose, extra toppings, 10% off, ours is the best…These are marketing paradigms often used by the institution that these men begot.
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The bane of the intellectual

The forever striving have little time for the subtle joys of life. They sometimes don’t see it, and more often, having seen it, forgo it. They create an atmosphere that can be best described as malignantly stirred. Those of less vigorous disposition find themselves spontaneously agitated in the subject’s company. Why the need to stir up a storm when there is none…

Possibly belonging to the class of storm stirrers, I have always felt that people like that don’t create storms but see one before others…This quality of foresight enables them to play out various scenario and perhaps find the one best suited for themselves and for their peers. At this point, such a person will find himself being thrust into a position of leadership. This quality comes at a terrible price. The bearer is often shrouded in a cloud of despondency. To see so much truth can indeed be burdening. But is it the truth they see, or do they see their own fears and like a dark prophecy set out to realize the worst. In which case, such individual are but more a menace than beneficial.

To see everything, and to question everything leaves one feeling extremely cynical and at the same time very full of musings. To introspect each of one’s action, can be a task for a greater portion of one’s life. But where does all this lead. Firstly, it leads to misery, and if fortunate then to self-realization. But like a socialist ideal is forever trapped in the vice-like grip of a command economy, such a person is often trapped in his own miserable conclusions about his own existence.

So is there a point or a direction to such intellectual pursuits?

Class, Techies, and me

What is the story of civilization if it isn’t the story of class struggle? Blood has been shed and forgotten, just to be shed anew… Every morning, I take the bus to work…and though sometimes I imagine myself surrounded by highly intellectual and highly educated people…I most often liken my being to a labourer being herded into trucks and asked to break rocks all day…

As George Orwell put it in his book, 1984, the high, the middle and the low. Which class of people, I belong to beats me. Whether the question is relevant or not is a different issue altogether, but since I am driven to write about it, I will assume its relevant enough for me. In the Indian context, I find that an engineer is somewhat of a dull creature…devoid of any recreational pursuits…driven solely by his desire to …umm…code. It appears to me that people are bent over backwards to be technically proficient…whether it appeals to them or not, I will not comment on. A profession of your own choosing will make you happy…is what I had heard when growing up…I find it difficult to swallow that so many of our fellow countrymen are driven to engineering because their heart desires it.

My batch was full of people wanting to get into management…To this regard I want to share an experience with you…Once preparing for his MBA interview, a batchmate asked me to test his knowledge on engineering issues…lest they ask the same of him in his interview…among other questions I asked him ‘How does an aeroplane fly?’ .The question was met by silence, one could always argue that it is not in the domain of an final year electronics student (one of the toppers) to know such redundant details…or could one??…my point being …a B.E. is worthless…the skill set required to do most of the work in the present scenario can be taught in two years…or less….

Out of place and out of scope, the two great descriptors of the mammoth majority of Indian engineers…
Creativity is often, a word they have their last encounter with, in school…A relic of a forgotten childhood…The masses sing praise for the regiments of able engineers passing out every year…But I see an army of shovel wielding blue collar workers…typing away incessantly with their legs chained to giant balls of steel…with a salary enough to make him stand proud among the vaster army of farmers and labourers…but too little to give him anything he really wants…Yes I am the middle…never the high