Improve your CQ (Curiosity Quotient)

Psychologists are unanimous that THINKING OUT OF THE BOX (TOB) considerably improves the "success percentage" of a person, irrespective of the vocation that he or she is pursuing. To improve the ability to think out of the box, one needs to acquire two skills: [1] An innovative approach to problem solving & [2] Developing sharp curiosity.

Let's see how sharp your curiosity is? Now be truthful and assess yourself on the following questions.You do not have to read any text book in order to answer these - they aren't from any academic syllabus. Your IQ may be high but do you possess a matching CQ? If you do, nothing can stop you from reaching the "Mount Everest" of whichever profession you are in.

Here are the questions!

[1] Why do we use the term 'by-heart' when the information that we memorize resides in our brain?

[2] Why are communists called 'leftists'?

[3] Why can't we tickle ourselves?

[4] Why is a drawing room called so?

[5] Can animals commit suicide?

[6] Why do we say touch wood?

Now check your answers and give yourself one mark for every correct answer (& a zero for an incorrect one). If your score is 5 or 6, congratulations - your CQ is above average. If it is 3 or 4, well - you need to be more curious, so keep asking questions about everything that is happening around you. If you score 1 or 2, maybe curiosity is not your cup of tea.

At the end, I have asked 2 more questions - Do send me your answers to these!

[1] In our everyday language, we speak of the brain as the center of our faculty of reasoning and of the heart as the center of emotions and personality traits. The idea about our heart being an emotional decision maker is of course not true - it has been floated & nurtured since times immemorial by poets and literateurs in spite of clear proof that the brain itself has two halves that take rational and emotional decisions respectively. We somehow continue to attribute activities performed unconsciously to the heart (since activities involving conscious efforts or reasoning are attributed to the brain). Therefore when a person memorizes something, he is said to have learnt it "by heart" though the information is stored in the brain.

[2] In ancient times, there used to be three divisions in the British Parliament. RIGHTISTS : those who believed in GOD & religion. LEFTISTS: those who did not believe in GOD. CENTRISTS: those who believed in a secular government. The terminology has continued since then.

[3] Research has proved that an element of surprise is essential in order to feel "tickled". When we tickle ourselves, we anticipate our own actions and the element of surprise is missing. This is not so when someone else does it to us.

[4] In the olden days, while males and females in Britain used to have meals on the same dining table, the men wanted the women to leave, once the dinner was over, so that they could have their cigars and wine. The women used to then "withdraw" to a certain room to allow the men to do so. The room was thus originally called "withdrawing room" for many decades before the "with" got dropped (as so often happens to words) and it started getting referred to as the "drawing room".

[5] Psychologists say that the act of suicide means destroying self identity. Since animals have no self identity (and hence an ego) they cannot set about to destroy it. Hence animals cannot commit suicide.

[6] The expression has its origin in Christianity. It has been derived from the wooden cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified. "Wood" was therefore considered holy and was thought to possess divine capability to protect your good luck. .

2 more questions for you: I await your answers.

• Why do we give a "red" carpet welcome? (& not a "green" or say "blue" carpet welcome)
• Why doesn't a cell phone have a dial tone?

C h e e r s !!!!!!!

You ought to know this

For those of you who asked me to recommend good books - please click on My library to browse through a list of my all time favourites. Out of the thousands that I have read, I have posted (& keep updating) book - titles and brief comments / ratings of those books that I have tremendously enjoyed. At present there are 69 titles in my list.

R K Narayan (elder brother of cartoonist R. K. Laxman & famous for "Malgudi Days") is an author whose books I just love to read. I specially like the way he re- tells stories from Indian mythology. In his own words, he remains faithful to the original text without commenting on the happenings. Today, I intend to share with you, ( in R K Narayan's own words), the mind boggling assumptions and time frames on the basis of which all these epics have been created.

[1] Brahma, the four faced GOD and creator of the universe, rests on a bed of lotus petals in a state of contemplation and by mere willing, creates everything. He has his own measure of "night" and "day". In the 12 hours that he is awake, he creates the Universe. When Brahma falls asleep, there is total dissolution of everything. Brahma sleeps for 12 hours, then wakes up & the business of creation begins all over again. Please remember, one hour in the life of Brahma is different than what it is for us mortals.

[2] Brahma himself is mortal (now that surprised me no end) and his life span is equivalent to 311,040,000,000,000 human - years at the end of which he is dissolved and nothing is left of the creation or the creator.The sun & stars are put out and oceans rise in gigantic waves that close over the earth. Ultimately even the waters from this deluge evaporate & a tremendous darkness and stillness take over. That is when the supreme GOD emerges. He is called Narayana or Ishwar. The entire cycle of creation and dissolution of the universe is equivalent to just one twinkling of the eye for Narayana.

[3] The universe created by Brahma always passes through four well defined yugas. Each yuga lasts for 1 crore and 8 lac human years. These yugas, as you probably know, are: [a] Kritayuga: Righteousness prevails universally in this yuga. [b] Tretayuga: Righteousness is reduced by one-quarter but sacrifices and ceremonies are given greater emphasis. There is a gradual decrease in austerity and men act with material objectives - no longer doing the rites with a sense of duty. [c] Dwaparyuga: Righteousness is now diminished by one-half. Ceremonies are multiplied, goodness declines, diseases and calamities make their appearance. Some study all four Vedas, others only three, some two and some none. [d] Kaliyuga: Righteousness, virtue & goodness completely disappear. Rites & sacrifices are abandoned as superstitions. Anger, distress, hunger and fear prevail. Rulers behave like highway robbers - seizing power and riches in all possible ways (sounds like the time we are presently living in)

Now that's as grand as anything else I have ever heard.

Friends, what do you think? Should all this be believed or dismissed as flight of imagination? I await your verdict.

Atheist Bus Campaign

An event which surprisingly has not been prominently reported by Indian newspapers or by our news-hungry-'anything will do' - TV channels is the exponentially growing support that the "Atheist Bus campaign" is getting in UK, USA, Canada and Europe.

What is this campaign?

Various associations of Atheists in UK decided to advertise their viewpoint (just like the church does - exhorting the faithful to follow religious rituals) by purchasing advertisement - space on municipal buses in London. Appeals were sent out to non - believers to coin interesting slogans and also to individually contribute whatever little they could, to finance the campaign.

Richard Dawkins - the famous biologist, admirer of Charles Darwin, author of the best seller "The GOD Delusion" and a self proclaimed "campaigning atheist" announced a matching contribution to the money that was collected from the public. The fund raising had a modest target of Pounds 5000 through public donations. What followed surprised everyone including the organizers. A collection in excess of Pounds 1,00,000 was a clear pointer towards a chord that the appeal had struck. Instead of carrying out the campaign on 40 buses, it was eventually carried out on 200, much to the chagrin of the church who opposed the idea tooth and nail. The church even complained to the advertising authority about how the campaign was in bad taste and would hurt the religious sentiments of many. The adjudicating authority rejected the complaint saying "freedom of expression" was more important. For your information over 80% of the population in UK comprises of believers. (The figure is close to this in USA where in addition, over 90% of the population believes in "miracles". Do you know that USA is the only country which prints "In GOD we trust" on their currency notes?)

We have to give credit to our present government about the way it has handled (till now) the issue of "gays"and section 377. It appears that we as a nation are finally 'coming of age" - but I am sure that if this bus campaign ever comes to India, no municipal corporation would ever take the risk of their buses getting burnt because of such blasphemy.

What were the Slogans?

The two slogans used till now are as follows:

[1] There is probably no god! Now stop worrying and enjoy yourself.

[2] You can be good without god.

The campaign has now spread to USA (Chicago), Canada (Toronto) and threatens to enter Europe and Australia in spite of bitter opposition from the church and local governments.

Thinking logically, the campaign should be welcomed by Hindu majority India because Hinduism is one of the very few religions in the world that officially accepts atheists in its fold (Brahaspati is the presiding deity of atheists, according to Hindu mythology).

Can I have a prediction from all of you about the fate of such a campaign, if it indeed comes to India?

Can you figure this out? (Edition 4)

The series of "Can you figure this out" always gets the maximum reactions from readers - here's the fourth edition। The previous three can be accessed from the archives (Nov 9th 2008, March 22nd 2009 and April 5th, 2009).

• Why is our religion called "Hindu"? Most people to whom I asked this felt that the word must have come from the "Hindu-Kush" mountain ranges in the North - some felt that it has its origins in "Hindi" or even "Hindusthan". The fact is that all these words have been derived from "Hindu" and not the other way around. The real story borders on the comical. Apparently when the Persian army had camped on the banks of river "Sindhu" before invading India, Alexander asked his General the name of the river. Now in Persian (फारसी) language , स is pronounced as ह . So the General promptly told his master that they were on the banks of river "Hindu" - and then it was decreed that people who stayed in the land that lay beyond river "Hindu" were HINDUS.


• How did India get its name? Once again many feel that the name is derived from Indus which is the anglicized version of "sindhu". Our country was named India much before the British started their rule. It got its name because the country was the largest exporter, of the colour "indigo".


• Did you know that Lord Hanuman had a son? Ramayan tells us that Lord Hanuman had actually fathered (unknown to himself), a son - मकरध्वज. Apparently when Hanuman was in flight, his perspiration fell into the open mouth of a crocodile lazing below in the water. The perspiration was so potent that it impregnated the crocodile and unknown to Hanuman, a son was born. Later, when Hanuman was sent by Ram to save Lakshman who had been captured & kept in the netherworld (पाताल ) by Ahi Ravan, Makardhwaj who was guarding the entrance to the kingdom fought so valiantly with Hanuman that the latter was perplexed how anyone could survive the onslaught of his might. After defeating Makardhwaj with great difficulty, Hanuman was mightily pleased that it was his son who had so stoutly resisted him। Lord Hanuman howerver continues to be the most favourite GOD of the "bachelors".
• Did you know that the epic "Mahabharata" contains reference to every conceivable situation except a "divorce"? It has tales of men with many wives (Arjun), a woman with many husbands (Draupadi), women who have sex before marriage (Kunti), women who are unfaithful to their husbands (beheading of Renuka), women who need a man only to have children (Uloopi), women who want men only for pleasure (Urvashi), men who dress as women (Brihanalla), men who force themselves on women (Jayadrath), husbands who are comfortable with their wife going to other men (Pandu), men who become women (Bhangashavana), men who have mistresses ( Dhritrashtra) but none where men have divorced their wife। Does this mean that the concept of divorce is alien to Indian culture? Vyasa, the author of Mahabharata proudly claims that "what is not there in Mahabharata is not there anywhere"
• Why did anti-women practices like Sati, Dowry and now female foeticide take root only in India? Its not as if other religions or cultures have not had their gender biases - the church for example burnt 60,000 women on the stake - branding them as witches. Islam continues to treat women as second class citizens. Since it is men who have written religious codes of behaviour, it can be understood why they institutionalised the secondary status to be meted out to women. While Sati was nothing short of murder (induced through religious fervour), female foeticide is a direct result of the bizarre Hindu belief that it is only a son who can give you मोक्ष by lighting your funeral pyre. What pains me is the fact that none of our so called saints ever proclaim that these practices are wrong.