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Life After Death

I gave this speech on Life after Death in March , though I received the VCD only  recently. I have uploaded it to my account (named Prakash Shesh) on You Tube and am giving you a link to it, below. Rotary Club of Nagpur had a record attendance of about 150 that day and as was expected, the speech generated a lot of debate . I am sure you will enjoy listening to it. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbvc6uJXZCU

Do let me have your comments - you can post them on the you tube channel itself.

Religion: Do the minuses exceed the pluses??

Most of us swear about the efficacy of our religion. Ardent followers of religion are unanimous that it makes you emotional to the point of crying with pleasure, gives immense happiness and peace of mind and also throws light on the purpose of why you are on this earth. It guides you in your difficult times, gives solace when you are heartbroken and tells you that your journey is not really complete when you die. It teaches you to live a good and ethical life with high moral standards, asks you to love thy fellow human beings and promises that HE will not disappoint you if you pray honestly, ask for HIS forgiveness and recognize that the path of your life has already been charted by HIM. Religion also promises that you can woo the almighty if HE has turned away from you so that you can regain your place as a loyal follower in his flock. So strong is the "mind share" that religion enjoys in the minds of its followers that even those who do not agree with its principles are scared to walk away and risk losing their identity.

Alas - if only all these were TRUE!

Now let's look at the flip side!

[1] Why have most of the wars in this world been fought in the name of religion?

[2] Why does religion induce in its followers, a "trance" - terribly inhibiting their powers to use the brain?

[3] Why does it refuse to subject itself to what I would call a simple "third party audit'?

[4] Why does it profess hypotheses that it wants others to disprove?

[5] Why can't it accept that far from being divine, all religions and their supreme deities are so obviously man - made?


Have you ever wondered why the animal kingdom has no GOD? Do you see lions or crows worshiping a supreme power (of their own)? Human beings have far superior brains and are thus capable of creatively defining ideas that otherwise have no back-up evidence. 


The concept of an all powerful leader (God) must have been born from the time human beings started living in communes. Every group of human beings has a leader who is powerful and who enjoys special perquisites in return of protecting the clan. Members of the group look up to the leader to provide succour and offer him goodies to seek his benevolence and shape their destiny. The concept of God is obviously inspired from this social behaviour of human beings. This innate need was channeled into what now appears to us as formal religion with its unique "life after death" idea associated with the structure of rewards and punishments. What a massive delusion?


There is an argument that says that even if God is a virtual concept, it does give solace to millions who  otherwise would not know how to lessen their sufferings and dream of a happier future. According to the placebo effect you can link any effect with any cause and get a success rate of about 15% so why not allow these 15% (at least) to take advantage of this delusion in stead of educating them about the futility of expecting continuous benefits from religion? Doesn't this sound like a doctor administering anesthesia to a patient who has broken his leg so that the latter does not feel the pain?


There is however one great positive that cannot be taken away from religions - they generate un paralleled commerce benefiting so many individuals. If religions somehow vanished from face of the earth, bankruptcies would increase.

Dissection of last fortnights' Delicious news

[1] Reebok fined for misleading butt-enhancers

The famous shoe manufacturer had to dish out 25 million US dollars (125 crore Rupees) for falsely claiming that a particular model of theirs helped the wearer develop a perfect posterior. The model was appropriately called "Easy Tone" (was it expected to make the butts be "easy" on the eyes of the beholder?). Reebok, while paying the penalty was defiant: It said, "Settling the fine does not mean we agree with the allegations - we have received overwhelmingly enthusiastic feedback from thousands of Easy Tone customers". That surely is a perfectly diplomatic half - truth because for them to have agreed to this public humiliation, they must have received overwhelmingly negative feedback from maybe millions of Easy Tone customers.

One fact that emerges from this sordid episode is that perceived beauty - spots on the female anatomy seem to be moving from the front to the back. What else can explain why so many females fell prey to the claims of Easy Tone? The "Miss World" and "Miss Universe" contests will probably make it mandatory for the contestants to now submit in their portfolio, photographs taken from behind. All cricket crazy Indians have always known how even male players from West Indies are gifted in this department - just look at a batsman taking stance to receive the next ball and you will know what I mean. When last heard, Reebok was collecting statistics about the widespread use of an earlier version of the Easy Tone model sold in these island nations to butt-ress their claim that these shoes can indeed make the wearer butt-ilicious. Meanwhile Bollywood siren Vidya Balan expressed surprise about why it was necessary to buy an expensive pair of shoes (making dubious claims) when comfortable padding was available at a fraction of the cost - she should know since she is reported to have used it while essaying the role of Silk Smitha.

The Indian statistical association confirmed that according to the Placebo effect a reasonably high success rate of 20% can anyway be achieved (in enhancing posteriors) by just intently staring at Jenifer Lopez's well endowed assets in a photograph (from behind of course) - they opined that this method was so much better for Indians who could not afford Easy Tone shoes. The Communist Party of India condemned this capitalist exercise of Reebok pandering to rich & well rounded butts when most Indians had to go around with concave (worse than flat) bellies.


[2] Divorcees can retain surnames


Under Article 21, it has now been confirmed that the wife has a fundamental right to use her post marriage name / surname, even after divorce. Many Indian women use joint surnames after marriage - so a Nilima Deshpande after marriage to a "Deshmukh" becomes Nilima Deshpande-Deshmukh. Now imagine she gets a divorce and retains her married surname and then marries a "Pathak". Does she now become Nilima Deshpande-Deshmukh-Pathak? What happens in South India where there is no surname. Does Vyjantimala Govindrajan after divorce and marriage to Veerraghavan become VGV. Thank God Elizabeth Taylor was not born in India - after six marriages, her name would have been .... well you get the point ...In India it is popular to change the first name of the wife so Nilima Deshpande could become Sujata Deshpande-Deshmukh and after the divorce maybe Rakhi Deshpande-Deshmukh-Pathak. I think this is an excellent system to completely cover up your earlier identity. I have always been wanting to know if  the law allows a husband to acquire the surname of his wife??


[3] Aga Khan the spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims pays divorce settlement of US$ 80 million (400 crore Rs)


It has always surprised me why Aga Khan has never married any woman from amongst his own sect - the above mentioned divorce was with a German Princess and it was his second divorce. I fail to see any spirituality in all this - do you??

[4] Mexico about to create law that allows 2-years contract marriages.

Increased divorce rates are apparently forcing lawmakers to create these short term contract marriages. The couple needs to look ahead only for those two years and then decide if the contract should be renewed. I am sure there would be a notice period built into these contracts so that if one of the partners locates another soul-mate (what a parody of the word) before the current contract expires and is not patient enough to wait, then he or she could pay off the current partner in lieu of the early termination of the contract. Joining bonuses from the new partner would automatically follow. I guess Mexican HR consultants now have new business opportunities. Next on the agenda is probably a limited period contract between parents and their children. Are we in India going to continue with our super long term contracts for सात जन्म (seven rebirths)?

Interesting conversations

I am sure all of us have taken part or heard conversations between believers (B) and non believers (NB). I am presenting to you different types of conversations that usually take place.

The short one

B: Do you know that P = Q ?

NB: Can you prove it?

B: Why don't you disprove it?

NB: But you said it was true, so prove it!

B: Ha ha - prove it wrong friend or else accept that it is true

The classic one

B: I think X = Y

NB: But we have absolutely no explanation or evidence to support this

B: It has been divinely ordained

NB: But even in a court of law, they require evidence

B: Friends, we are talking about something much much above these trivial institutions.

How dare you compare HIS wisdom with that of a mere judge in a court of law

The most popular one

B: Don't you feel the presence of the Almighty, all around you??

NB: I tried my best but I really do not experience anything out of normal.

B: There must be something wrong with you. Only those who have true faith & surrender to the lord are able to feel HIS presence.

About omnipotence

B: Don't you know that GOD is omnipotent and infinitely powerful?

NB: Oh! Does that mean GOD has decided what is going to happen in your future?

B: Of course! We live only according to HIS will.

NB: But if he has decided your future, this means that he cannot change it - so how can you call

HIM infinitely powerful?

B: No HE can change it if he wants to

NB: But that means HE is not sure whether HE is going to change it or not.

B: Oh these things are beyond your puny intelligence. Let's talk of something else.

About omnipresence

NB: Where is HE?

B: Oh HE exists everywhere

NB: Then why do you want to go to Tirupati to worship Balaji - you can do so right here in the Balaji temple in our town.

B: No but Tirupati is a more auspicious location

NB: But I thought you just said that HE is everywhere. Then why is his temple at Tirupati more auspicious than at Nagpur?

B: Oh you don't understand what spirituality is all about.

NB: What has this got to do with spirituality?

B: There is no point in talking to an illiterate like you.

About our purpose on earth

NB: Do you think all of us have a pre determined purpose of getting born on earth?

B: Of course! HE has sent us on earth with a specific purpose

NB: What could have been HIS purpose in case of the people who got killed in the tsunami

B: Oh HE works in HIS own mysterious ways.

About prayers

NB: Why do you pray so often?

B: To pay my respects, ask HIM for success and happiness & to reduce my hardships

NB: But HE has already decided to give you those hardships so why will he change HIS mind

now just because you are pleading through your prayers?

B: But I must regularly pay HIM my respects by worshiping HIM?

NB: Does HE demand worship and prayers? And will HE listen to only those who pray?

B: Everyone is equal in HIS eyes.

NB: So why pray? If your intentions are good and you are leading a good moral life, HE is

watching you and will automatically reward you

B: I am not going to continue this pointless discussion.

NB: Ok, how are you sure that HE is listening to your prayers?

B: Oh, he has HIS own ways of letting me know about that.

NB: But then if I pray how will I be sure that my prayers have reached HIM? I need some

advice from you because you have been regularly praying to HIM.

B: You start praying first and you will start receiving HIS signals.

The bizarre one

NB: How does HE decide when two competing devotees want their wishes fulfilled?

B: HE ensures that the more pious one succeeds?

NB: If that is true, how are politicians and their cronies able to corner most government

contracts?

The clincher

NB: Do you really think that HE will look after you?

B : Of course HE will. He is powerful enough to take care of all his creations

NB : If he is really all that powerful, why do we lock temples. Can't HE look after HIMSELF?

Have we created GODs?

Though it didn’t strike me then, the best definition of GOD that I ever came across was in my sixth class text - book of Moral Science. It challenged the readers to think of any object that came to their mind. It then asked us to find out how that object came into existence. If, for example, you thought of “chair” as the initial object then “wood” would be the answer. The author then asked us to continue this exercise of going backward to find the cause of each effect. Thus ‘wood’ came from the ‘tree’ and the ‘tree’ from the ‘seed’ and so on. It then went on to define GOD as that “effect” which has no “cause” (the uncaused cause). This backward regression argument sounds so incomplete today - if there is indeed an omnipotent (all powerful) and omniscient (present everywhere) GOD, there has to be an even more powerful creator of such a GOD. Where is HE or SHE?

Any discussion on GOD usually gets caught in the controversy of whether GOD exists. I am going to skirt that issue because to my mind, it is of no consequence. For the believers, the question is superfluous and for the rest it is a pointless exercise because no one from the other camp is listening. Let us agree that this idea of a powerful CREATOR OF EVERYTHING seems to give solace to many. Like a wag once said, “atheists do not know whom to thank when something good happens to them, inexplicably”.

I have never been able to get cogent answers to some of these mind benders!

Why do GODs have to be married?

In Hindu mythology Vishnu has a Laxmi, Shankar has a Parvati, Ram has a Sita. Now marriages are socio-legal sanctions required by us humans to procreate. Why on earth would GODs require these? “Marrying GODs” is therefore a distinctly "human" idea.

Do GODs require “job descriptions” to manage their subjects?

Bramha creates, Vishnu preserves, Shiva disposes, Ganesha looks after all cerebral matters, Yama is the funeral director and so on and we are further told that they never transgress into the others domain. Don’t you see the human touch to this division of labour? Was it necessary for GOD to have so many assistants (or his own facets) if he was all powerful or is it that a human author created this organizational structure out of his or her own experience of how things are run on earth?

Why are even GODS, male chauvinists?

One can understand humans being male chauvinists but why GODs? Can they be unfair to half their creations (females)? While wives of all GODs are depicted as home-makers, (though they possess tremendous mystical powers) the GODs themselves go out and do the “mans work”. Barring a few exceptions (like Maa Kali) all godesses are made out to possess womanly qualities of love, softness & compassion. Please note that amongst human beings too there are a few exceptions like the Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi who did a mans’ job to achieve martyrdom. The similarity is striking. Someone appears to have used all his imagination and “earthly experience” to probably create GODs and Godesses to resemble the human race.

Why should GODs have their favourite eatables?

Time and again we are told that GODs are ethereal. How can they then have any bodily needs like hunger or sleep (in many temples, the resident GOD sleeps in the afternoon and devotees are denied darshan during those hours)? The system wherein a particular GOD likes a particular eatable seems to have been created with other motives in mind – so clearly “human”. Let us extend the logic a little further - with crores of devotees feeding all GODs so many sweets (as prasad) shouldn't all of them have got diabetes by now?

Why are GODs so fallible?

Hindu mythology is replete with examples of GODs granting a boon to even a villain who chose to pray hard with the sole and evil intention of getting that boon to trouble his fellow beings on earth. Are GODs so gullible that they could not see through the intention of this kind of devotee? Or is it the human authors’ wish to propogate the message that even sinners can pray and expect salvation, which has prompted such a picture to be painted? It seems so stage - managed, like a Hindi film.

The more you think about all this, dear readers, the more you will get convinced that GODs must indeed have been “created” by a human being. Otherwise, why would have so many qualities specific to humans, got attributed to GOD? There is no doubt whatsoever that this is the most popular creation of the human mind – in fact the best to date. The concept would not have survived the test of time, otherwise.

The ultimate "career" for all of us !

Are we not all "working" towards a position where we may not have to "work" anymore? Don't we dream of a world where students will pass without appearing for any examinations; salaries would be paid to employees without their attending office; managers would rise up the corporate ladder with no accompanying increase in accountability and of the ultimate utopia - a customer accepting whatever you dish out to him (or her) without complaints and giving you repeat sales irrespective of whether your product (or service) achieved whatever it was supposed to.

Don't be startled if I say that I have found a vocation that can give all of us a stranglehold over our customers without so much as lifting the little finger. Like all super jobs, achieving proficiency in this one will require hard work and a re-orientation of your priorities. You will soon realize that it is a small cost to pay. To top it all, we could "enter this profession" irrespective of what we are currently doing !

Once you hook a customer, it is for a lifetime (unless you are horrendously clumsy)

Which other industry will offer you this benefit? You work your backside off first to get a customer and then continue doing that to retain him. Here the customer will be with you for generations (his and yours), unless you are really incompetent.

The customer hardly understands what you "sell" but doesn't seem to mind at all

Won't some of you give your right arm for such customers? It is like giving to a customer in India, an owner's manual written in Arabic, without raising any protest whatsoever.

There is no after sales service here

Do I see a sparkle in your eyes? No warranty period blues here and no annual maintenance contracts, too. The customer keeps on demanding your service, regularly.

There is no recession in this industry

Customers never reduce their budget for this service - never mind the recession. There have in fact been instances when outside hardships and monetary crises increased the demand for these services. In normal times too people happily buy this service. You won't get a better example (coaching classes come a poor second) of perennial demand.

The customer blames himself & never the service provider, if results are not as expected

Which marketing person will not want such customers? Marketing theory, in this case, is made to stand upside down, with sellers having no accountability whatsoever.

Do I see derision on your face & serious doubt if such a career could ever exist? I too felt the same, initially - - until I saw what the purohit who comes into all our homes to perform marriages and hundreds of other religious rituals, starting from the innocuous "satyanarayan ka paath", does. He happily goes about his duties in Sanskrit, a language which most of us do not understand. We look up to him for spiritual guidance and hence he can never go wrong. We never ask him why we lost that profitable tender even though a massive pooja to propitiate the evil spirits was carried out as per his advice. We are equally enthusiastic to perform the next pooja on his recommendations to keep the appropriate "planets" happy. The guy has taken over this job (like family doctors, we all have our family-purohits) from his father and his son seems destined to take over and be the RSP (Religious Service Provider) to your children.

I have never seen such complete "hold" that any marketer has had over his clients. Thank God the RSPs don't have a trade union of their own and none of them seem to have studied business management to exploit these inherent advantages in their profession. If someone can channelise these services professionally and efficiently, we are sure to see the birth of the next "super-industry" after IT.

Celebrating Anniversaries

We Indians are a celebration - oriented people especially of the kind that means a public holiday. The holiday is generally more important to us than its cause. Anniversaries (both incoming and outgoing) are our special favourites. We are so busy celebrating the holiday that most of the times we forget to sincerely remember the person in whose name we got that holiday - and the principles that he / she stood for. There are of course those government sponsored functions (conducted early in the morning) to perfunctorily reminisce about that great person - so that everyone could spend the rest of the day like a "proper holiday".

MG is undoubtedly our biggest icon but how many take it upon themselves to tell the children in the house at least one or two inspiring stories from his life (one does not really have to wait for October 2nd to do so). Unfortunately, most of our generation (born after MG died) cannot recall appropriate stories because no one took us through this routine when we were kids ourselves. Reading MG to pass the "history" paper at school is different than remembering his innovative thoughts. For example, [1] How would he have reacted to the tremendous corruption that we find in all walks of life in India? [2] Could he have suggested a method to deal with terrorism? [3] Would the increasing divorce rates and westernization of our moral standards have troubled him? [4] Would his habit (of inflicting "pain" on himself - say by fasting) have succeeded in bringing about reconciliation amongst the warring groups or in the creation of some public good? [5] Would he have approved of the never ending "reservations" policy in the field of education or employment?

Alas, instead of ruminating on any of these, we are only busy in first dusting and cleaning his photographs & busts and then in planning how the extended weekend (due to the holiday) should be best spent. Isn't it a travesty of our calling him a 'Mahatma'?

We do the same to LBS (who shares his birthday with MG). Apart from his "mysterious" death at Tashkent, our younger generation knows nothing about the dynamism of probably the most morally upright prime minister of India.

The right way of "celebrating" such events would be to personally do something to perpetuate the ideals of the person whom we are remembering on that day and of course it is best to start with oneself. Give up a "bad" habit (smoking, drinking, laziness, egotism, casteism, superstitions or something similar) to experience the pleasure of sacrificing something you were unable to overcome all these years.

Remember, "fasts" or "shunning non-veg. food on a Thursday" or "attending a flag hoisting ceremony" are just not enough to allegedly "purify" yourself.

If you must, then celebrate anniversaries by improving yourself a little bit and by teaching kids around you to learn doing the same.

Comic Interludes in newspapers overflowing with scam - reports

From the time that they started reporting about scams with such regularity, reading a daily newspaper has become quite boring. One wonders if it is the number of scams that has gone up or are more scams getting unearthed (or is it BOTH?). I believe all newspapers have a full fledged "editor-scams" working overtime to keep pace with the frenetic activity taking place around us. It was therefore a big relief to read some genuinely comic news - am sharing the mirth with you.

Astrological signs have changed due to wobbling of the earth. The earth apparently wobbled a little while rotating around its axis and expert astrologers feel this could lead to a change in the sun and moon signs ( राशी ) allotted to us poor mortals. Do you realize that your forecast for tomorrow, predicted by your favourite quack, could now apply to your driver? So don't take that (you are entering a phase of cordial relations with your spouse) very seriously. Astrologers who had barely recovered from the irresponsible act of astronomers who a few years ago, had discovered new planets, could not however explain why this "wobbling" itself could not be predicted. In spite of so many studies indicating that astrology has no statistical significance, it is indeed comic to see people giving it a "life defining" status. So please continue to stay indoors during राहू काल and oh yes, to avoid constipation, visit the toilet at an auspicious time recalculated for your newly changed राशी.

Priest at Tirumala temple steals gold ornaments donated by devotees. So finally nemesis caught up with those who have been plundering GOD's wealth. The priest was candid enough to say that he had sacrificed a lot for the deity and thus did not consider the robbery as a crime but a just return for his years of सेवा. On getting caught, he must have surely wondered where his भक्ती fell short. So much for hypocrisy of the highest order. I have often wondered why temples are locked at all. If the lord cannot protect his own property, how can he look after his devotees.

Union Bank of India opens a lock-less branch. The bank opened a new branch at शनी शिंगणापूर (in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra) and decided not to lock any doors or their safety lockers, because the town is supposed to be protected from robberies by no less than शनी देव himself - no house in the village has doors and no robberies have been allegedly reported. When last heard, local police were planning to officially complain to RBI because apart from this "open" branch contravening banking regulations, they expect it to be a big "law & order" headache. So much for the faith that the official machinery has in the policing abilities of शनी.

Nagpur Traffic police notices no reduction in accidents at road junctions where वास्तू शास्त्र approved pyramids had been buried. Adopting a bizarre solution, the traffic authorities had resorted to burying special pyramids beneath some "killer" road junctions where accidents did not reduce in spite of their best efforts. Predictably, nothing changed except some "egg on the face" of the traffic police. I hope the experts who advised this move are punished and their names prominently published so that the public at large does not get duped. We must thank our stars that the CID is not resorting to using planchets to talk to the spirits of dead victims in their bid to find out who murdered them. I think CBI should not be allowed to close the Arushi case unless they talk to her spirit.

Kerela high court asks if the "divine" light (मकरविल्लकु ) at सबरीमला temple is man-made? It appears that this magically appearing light has been robbed of its "divinity" because it has now been admitted that some tribals have been lighting it for many years. As an interesting sidelight, the chief minister belonging to the atheistic communist party has already declared that he will not order any investigation that would hurt the faith of a large population of devotees. So we now have a new norm: It is alright to maintain the delusion of millions instead of recognizing a truth that stares you in the face. So women will continue to be debarred from this temple and devotees will continue to throng at the annual festival after supposedly "purifying" themselves through abstinence from meat, liquor and sex - only to happily continue sinning thereafter, until the next festival. I have never understood why only "believers" can protest about somebody "hurting their faith". Can't the other side protest about this persistent foolishness "hurting their intelligence"?

Come to think of it, isn't religion the biggest scam of them all ??

For more wholesome entertainment, click the following link and hear Pat Condell demonstrate how not to beat around the bush - he is absolutely superb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4dSiHqpULk

Corruption Busters

We are in the middle of a new season - the scam season. We first had the CWG mess followed by the "ideal" आदर्श ghotala, soon eclipsed by the Yeddy game [ at least this time it was the चड्डी वाले (RSS) who exhibited their expertise in Bangalore] finally to be dwarfed (as if to demonstrate that UPA could always surpass anyone else) by the 2G story that literally proved that in India, money can be made out of thin air (ordinary man's nomenclature for "airwaves bandwidth spectrum"). The Supreme Court's statement about "something rotten in Allahabad high court" was so "minor" an event in comparison that the baddies in उत्तर प्रदेश are all set to avenge this humiliation (how can others usurp our number one position in generating scams) by soon exposing something bigger related to Provident Fund deposits. If CM Nitish Kumar had not "emasculated" Bihar by developing it so handsomely, we would have had an enjoyable tussle for the number one position in this कौन बनेगा scam पती contest.

Genetic research will probably show that just like Indians are more prone to diabetes, we must be carrying a "corruption" gene that makes us "obsessively helpless" when it comes to succumbing to monetary temptations.

Jokes apart, will we never be able to cure ourselves of this disease??

I have come across many intelligent suggestions made by various agencies and individuals & I mention them for your perusal. All of them are easy to understand, some of them are easy to implement (provided we have the will to do so) - others will require constitutional amendments which are not impossible. The biggest impediment in implementing these would of course be our politicians who will most definitely oppose "cutting their own feet". The Congress party has made suitable noises through the presidential speech but their ability to walk the talk is suspect.

1. In all ballot papers for elections at all levels, let us create an alternative - "none of the above". If this "wins", all candidates appearing on that ballot paper will be debarred not only from contesting the re-election which will take place but also the next election in that constituency.
2. If a certain minimum number of voters in a constituency demand, they should have the power to recall their elected representative through a referendum to be conducted within the constituency.
3. No government orders for goods and services should be placed except through a public e- tendering process.
4. Entities that win government tenders should not be allowed to re-sell these or resell the companies through which these tenders have been won for a period of five years. This will stop the sham that presently goes on about the actual bidder wanting to exit the scene by creaming off the premium without actually implementing the project.
5. All powers of allotment of government land should be withdrawn from state Chief ministers. Instead, suitable committees comprising of captains of industry, representatives of NGOs and prominent citizens should supervise such allotment. Prior public notification of such proposed allotments should be published to invite objections if any.
6. All land records in the country should be computerized on a war footing.
7. The police department should be divided into two distinct sections; [1] Law and Order & [2] Crime investigation - CID. Only the former should be supervised by a political minister. The latter should report to an independent authority outside the purview of legislature.
8. The CBI similarly should not report to the home minister but to an independent authority making it the fourth pillar after the legislature, judiciary and the executive.
9. All lawyers should compulsorily serve as judges for one year in a bid to reduce the huge backlog of cases clogging our courts. Once this is achieved, we should be able to close a criminal litigation within 6 months and a civil complaint withing maximum 18 months.
10. Political parties should be treated as entities subject to compulsory auditing. Tax deductions should be extended for donations made to political parties. Elections should be state funded with each party depositing requisite amount of money for each of its candidates.
11. All contractors bills for Public Works carried out should be cleared only after verification of the work by a committee comprising of experts & also including citizens in whose area the project has been carried out.
12. Those charge sheeted (though not convicted yet) for criminal complaints should not be able to contest elections either for the state assemblies or Loksabha. If political parties get their opponents enmeshed in criminal complaints to debar them from contesting by taking refuge under this rule, the affected party will then also go out of its way to un earth criminal past of their opponents. This may actually lead to reduction in number of tainted candidates on both sides (a thorn being used to remove another thorn).
13. The ruling party will be able to appoint key ministers only after they are publicly interviewed and approved by a select committee of professionals in a televised interview.
14. Corruption cases above a certain threshold should be fast tracked. Names of those who are being investigated should be available on a public web site. Officers who misused their public positions and against whom charges have been proved should be debarred for life from operating as public servants apart from being liable to make good the financial loss that they caused to the exchequer.

Was Lord Ram really born?

I have read Ramayan with great interest and think it is one of the most arresting story about the tribulations that a person can face in life. The enchantment that it weaves around the reader is unparalleled and no other story has survived the test of time as this one has. But it is a story.

1. Though Ramayan was written by Valmiki, he admits in his story that it was actually dictated by Lord Vishnu much before Vishnu took birth as Ram. This means that all that happened was divinely ordained. Only those who have blind faith (all faith is blind because it has no evidence to back it up) will therefore believe that Ramayan actually happened. If it is indeed a historical fact, why is it not taught to us in "history" classes in India - a Hindu country. No department of "Ancient history" in any university has been able to collect enough evidence which would stand the test of academic scrutiny. My view therefore is that until some evidence is found, we need to treat it as a story.
2. Authors, when they write stories, liberally make use of the geographical environment surrounding them. For example if I were to write a novel, you may find Ramdaspeth, Dadar, Sitaburdi or even Connaught Place mentioned in the story. When many years later, people find that these places actually existed, this in no way proves that the characters of my story were real. Sholay, as a movie had an extremely riveting storyline and was shot on location near Bangalore. Many years later if we do locate a "Ramgarh" which resembles the location of the shooting, should we start believing that Gabbar Singh actually existed and maybe declare a national holiday on the day on which he was killed because that signified the triumph of good over evil?
3. The same argument holds good for the various dates and तिथी mentioned in Ramayan. It is claimed that Valmiki has outlined astronomical details which could not have been done by a layman. If this is indeed true, it does indicate that Valmiki was probably an expert in astronomy. But this is extremely surprising because even Galileo (born much after Christ and who is hence definitely less than 2000 years old) was persecuted because he correctly postulated that the earth went around the sun which was exactly the opposite of what the bible said. How the human race did not know about earth going around the sun as late as about 500 AC (After Christ) and still make correct estimates of planetary positions 5000 years BC (before Christ) , is intriguing.
4. I also find a disturbing trend amongst believers to brush aside information from the same source book (Ramayan in this case) when it does not suit them. Valmikis Ramayan mentions that Ravana's age was about 20000 years (converted to Roman years from units prevalent in those days) when he was killed by Ram. How could this be possible?
5. In mythological texts (not necessarily Ramayan) many sages ate beef - but find me a believer who will accept this.
6. Coming to the NASA photograph, the bridge like structure has been "carbon dated" and found to be over 3 lac years old. NASA has categorically denied that it is made of stones that once floated on water (for this to theoretically happen, the stones will have to be filled with gas lighter than water) and there is no indication that this technology existed then. But faith will make the stones float on water - you don't require Physics for it. Maybe we can find some evidence of a very superior scientific race that populated the earth at that time but until we find that evidence, can we not keep our judgement in abeyance?
7. The recent Ayodhya judgement while suggesting a seemingly acceptable tripartite division has been found fatally faulty on two counts: [a] How can a deity be a litigant in a case? - the repercussions of this line of thought are un imaginably frightful; [b] On what basis can the learned judges say that Lord Ram was born at this place? Imagine what would happen if each religion starts insisting that their faith be given legal sanction.

The conclusion is obvious. Don't start believing that mythological stories are true - at best extract a "moral" from them (if there is one) and inculcate that in your personal life without insisting that everyone must do so.

Do we need GOD to be good?

Most of my acquaintances and friends (including my mother) think that without GOD, our society would slide into a chaos - people will loot with impunity - most social norms would break down and that eventually we will slide back to what we were thousands of years ago - uncivilized. The concept of GOD, according to them, is holding us back from this anarchy. Do you agree with this prognosis?

[1] GOD is not IPC (Indian Penal Code).

Even the Indian Penal Code has not been able to stop increases in murders (the per capita murders in India has been rising in spite of IPC allowing capital punishment). Majority of those who commit crimes do so in spite of being ardent believers of GOD (in any form). Each jail in India has special places of worship. We have to accept that believing in the existence of a divine power has not at all discouraged these perpetrators of crime. We have the classic example of 9/11 where the crime was carried out because of GODs wish to punish the infidels (at least that 's what the terrorists were made to believe).

[2] Is the rate of crime higher in predominantly "atheistic"countries?

Actually quite the contrary is true. The civic consciousness, law and order problems, rate of crime, empowerment of women, public health, child mortality, gender equality and of course economic growth and the overall development measured by the HDI (Human Development Index is used by UNO to rate nations on the basis of economic and non economic indicators of growth) is much better in these "atheistic" nations (Norway, Sweden) than countries like USA or India both of which predominantly believe in GOD. The absence of GOD (statistically in the minds of majority of their population) does not seem to have created anarchy.

[3] Are believers better than others in taking ethical and moral decisions? Psychologists can assess the personality trait of an individual for (1) integrity and (2) ethical /moral behaviour. I was fascinated (& so will you be) to read about the conclusions drawn by Hauser and Singer's study (Page258 of "The GOD Delusion" by Richard Dawkins) that there is no statistically significant difference between atheists and believers in making moral judgments.

We obviously do not need GOD to be either good or evil.

"Statistics" could be the answer to this problem...

Let us accept it. Most people are scared of mathematics - some succumb to this fear before graduation while others, a little later. Like they say हर आदमी की एक कीमत होती है; in this case every person has his threshold of tolerance beyond which he wants to be "liberated" from the tyranny of numbers. Statistics is the बाप of mathematics and even those interested in the latter could run scared of the former. Would you however believe if I say that statistical theories actually rule our lives?

Hypotheses in physical sciences like Physics & Chemistry are LAWS because they are always true (100% probability). The law of gravitation, for example, works the same at all times of day and night and at any place on the globe. There are however hypotheses in the fields of medicine or social sciences like psychology or sociology where laws may not be true 100% of the times but could still be recognised as "laws" ( remember, anything that happens with more than 50% certainty has the potential of being called a "law").

My hypothesis is that most of us are full of superstitions mainly because we haven't understood statistics.

I rate "superstitions" as one of our top problems. Just imagine - without superstitions we would not have had [1] our caste system; [2] the practice of सती; [4] खाप पंचायत and honour killings ; [4] Dowry deaths; [5] Female foeticide; [6] Belief in numerology, astrology, palmistry; [7] Gender bias against women; [8] Child marriages; [9] Religious obstinacy.

A dictionary defines "Superstitions" as beliefs without any evidence (or shall I add, statistical evidence). It is obvious that when we operate under the influence of superstitions, we suspend our power of analysis. Then fearing being branded "illogical", we stretch ourselves to justify our actions, fully ignoring what "statistics" is telling us.

[a] Statistics tells us that the possibility of a couple getting a son or a daughter is really 50% and depends on the chromosomes from the husband but mothers - in - law (even in TV soap operas) continue blaming the wife for not giving them a son. [b] Psephology is a decent statistical tool to predict election results but our politicians would continue to seek blessings from diverse dieties and assign their success or failure to them. [c] People continue to match horoscopes before marrying their children, ignoring the statistical fact that workability (or non workability) of marriages depends on a host of factors, other than planetary influences. They conveniently ignore all those cases where marriages failed in spite of this horoscope matching [d] People continue to have faith in homoeopathy though statistically, its rate of success is no better than that of a placebo. [e] People continue to believe that "regular prayers" to GOD bring them success, turning a blind eye to the fact that in almost all cases, the prayers did not work - hard work did. [f] So many of us strongly believe and insist on others believing that a moment or a day or a particular month is auspicious to start or perform a particular activity. [g] Belief in the existence of an ALMIGHTY power controlling all of us and this world is deeply entrenched in the mind of so many, without any statistical verification of the thought (at least someone over the last tens of thousands of years should have been able to prove the existence of such a power instead of just saying that" it has to be experienced" or "you need to be devout" in order to experience it).

I think statistics should be made compulsory right from middle school so that all of us understand that there is always a possibility of something happening in a given set of circumstances and we should not jump to the conclusion that that is what will always happen. We should not create a relation between an input and an event ( A implies B) unless this happens often enough to have statistical significance.

What is wrong with us?

Three happenings in the recent past have saddened me as I am sure they have, countless other fellow Indians. The way India managed and weathered the last two years of economic recession and the brightness with which many non resident Indians are shining all over the globe had for once given credence to Dr. Kalams' dream of our country getting counted as a role model (albeit in the next few decades). These events certainly deflated that pride.

1. खाप Panchayats in Haryana:

In obviously what is a no brainer, "same - गोत्र " marriages cannot lead to genetic defects that could occur in off-springs (due to "in-breeding") because of the simple fact that the present generation is very far removed from the original ऋषी (the name of the gotra is the same as that of this sage) from whom the lineage started. These खाप पंचायत in Haryana are ordering newly married couples to be ostracized or even killed for not obeying their ridiculous diktats of not marrying someone staying in even the same village. What is more disturbing is that there is no up surge of anger amongst Haryanvis who otherwise are hot-blooded enough to spill their anger on the streets. To top it all, two Members of Parliament (one of them Mr Jindal who is a part of India's progressive youth brigade) have come out with meaningless and mushy statements (obviously keeping their vote banks in mind) about how we must respect our traditions. Frankly I am perplexed - can India shine brightly with a prosperous state like Haryana being so outdated and callous in its public beliefs? Or is this a new strategy to give a scientific flavour to what essentially is superstitious nonsense or at best illegal flexing of political muscles. Who knows, we may next have a demand from Rajasthan to re start the practice of "सती "?

2. Antics of Shibu Soren in Jharkand

He becomes Chief Minister with BJP's support - then goes and votes against them in the no confidence motion against the Congress government at Delhi - asks for forgiveness when BJP threatens to withdraw support in Jharkand - first agrees to step down and allow BJP to form the government with its own CM - then turns around and says both parties will have CM by rotation for 28 months each and finally says he won't vacate the seat for the BJP. What surprises me is the absolutely spineless response of a national party like BJP just for sharing the spoils of office. If the "Hindutva" brigade cannot shun मोह (lust for power in this case) which Hinduism calls upon its true followers to achieve, aren't they being as hypocritical as they accuse their opponents to be?

3. फतवा from Deoband about not working in banking and insurance sectors.

The presumptious फतवा about Muslims not being allowed to work in both these sectors (because it is against the shariah) is another ridiculous attempt to impose fake religiosity over the common masses who understandably dare not openly criticize these interpreters of faith. There were some sporadic public calls from other Muslim clerics about the non tenability of this फतवा but what remains etched in the mind is the threat received by Mr. Javed Akhtar (may his tribe grow) who is the only Muslim atheist that I have ever heard of.

Don't you think India is moving back to medieval ages, at supersonic speed??

Being religious could be injurious to your (mental) health

Contrary to popular belief, religion can induce hallucinatory behaviour - please pay careful attention to the following classic symptoms.

[1] You may suspend the usage of your intellect

Normally, you will use this to carefully analyse every decision that you take - for example (a) Painstaking research about which cellphone to buy; (b) Credit history of a guy before lending him money; (c) Studying effectiveness of your earlier advertisements before releasing new ones. When the same person is however in the "religion" mode, he just stops using his analytical ability & allows himself to be lead by the nose, as if in a trance - for example believing that (d) you could be reborn as a dog in the next life; (e) you could absolve yourself of all sins just by confessing or taking a holy dip in a river; (f) certain moments are more auspicious than others.

[2] You may believe that bribery is an acceptable way of getting things done

While there is a stringent law in place against giving, abetting or accepting UTT (popular term amongst sales persons meaning "under the table"), religious people cannot be arrested for doing this, as the other party has never been identified. So you have people offering gold and cash to GOD to get in return, at least a part of their wish list (an offspring, wealth, business, success in an examination or as in Chennai, a mundane visa to USA)

[3] Your obsequious loyalty may reach the heavens (pun intended)

Those of you who have had dogs at home, would easily recall how delightful it is to be welcomed home at any hour with that love lorn look in the eyes of your pet (a spouse is no match except maybe during the first few months of marriage). This is what I call 100% loyalty and yes how you love his groveling for biscuits or whatever... Now just imagine yourself symbolically to be the pet and then start pleading for favours from the supreme entity that religions want you to surrender yourself to. The pet just doesn't know any other way of getting its rewards but human beings do - but would still not make use of any of these alternatives.

[4] Virtual reality cannot get you your daily bread

Psychologists recommend "positive thinking and optimism" as traits that would improve personal productivity but these cannot be used to acquire hardcore skills like flying an aircraft or becoming a surgeon. An interesting research has demonstrated that predominantly "atheist" nations (large enough statistical samples) far outclass "religious minded" ones on every parameter of economic development like GDP growth, improvement in health standards, reduction of poverty, empowerment of women, reduction in child mortality etc. The reason looks obvious: while the atheists have no one to "fall back upon except themselves" to perform, others depend on GOD to do most of their chores.

[5] Your fear of the unknown will increase manifold

Do ghosts frighten you? Are you fearful that all your actions are being entered in a balance sheet by someone who will one day (conveniently after your death) ask you to explain and then allot you an abode that is commensurate with your net positive (or negative) worth? Have you convinced yourself that our solar system and other galaxies cannot but be controlled by some "powerful entity" (read GOD)? The major strength of any religion is that it cleverly operates on the basis of hypotheses that cannot be disproved. Moreover, anything that cannot be explained is attributed to that supreme power. Now how many discoveries in the last century (which were earlier attributed to the divine power) were indeed found to be so? ZERO! All that has happened is that a new set of unknown things are now attributed to the divine power. The burden of proving any theory normally lies on the one who propounds it - here it is exactly the opposite - the burden of disproving it lies on the non - believer and until that happens, the believer happily keeps behaving as if it was the ultimate truth. Religion instills such an acute fear of ostracism amongst its followers that most of them turn completely robotic and pliant.

[6] You will stop expecting "accountability" from others

This is natural because religion is not at all accountable for whatever it promises and still has no "customer dissatisfaction" (to use a marketing term). Imagine that you bought an air-conditioner which did not cool your room. Will you blame your ill - luck and just go to the same shop and buy another one hoping that it will work this time? Religion expects you to keep doing that until "one of the units does cool your room" - then it turns around and tells you - "see I intervened with the the shopkeeper to give you a working piece ". It remains completely silent on why it did not intervene all these months - and you of course are so grateful and overjoyed at having got the right AC that you now start praying for a car.

Religious preachers never tire of quoting how flowing water is purer than stagnant water. In the last few thousand years, there hasn't been a single new thought added to religious philosophy (stagnant) while the world outside has innovated in leaps and bounds (running water). Neither its preachers nor its scriptures are likely to withstand rigorous and independent scrutiny - a threshold that any philosophy has to cross to earn its stars. Human beings must have got genetically mis-wired (some software somewhere got mis programmed in the process of evolution) for so many of them to behave in the weird manner that they do when it comes to "religion".

It would actually be a good idea to post a statutory warning outside all places of worship that says " Beware! Entering may increase delusional behaviour"

How sinful is your nation?

Recently, I came across an interesting British research report that compared nations according to their "sin" (पाप) index. A nation obviously is perceived to be as sinful as its residents. Analyses like these can never be very accurate and could appear a trifle unfair but this could be said about most studies that are conducted over such a broad canvas. Don't we use the HDI (Human Development Index - comprising of economic, health and empowerment indicators) to assess how developed a nation is?

The "sin" index apparently comprised of seven deadly sins: [1] Lust; [2] Gluttony; [3] Greed; [4] Wrath; [5]Pride; [6] Envy; and [7] Sloth. Each of these parameters carried ten marks and a higher score was considered more sinful. The socio - economic indicators used to measure these attributes make interesting reading.

Lust was measured by the per capita spend on pornographic material and average time spent on viewing this. South Korea was the top scorer here. I wonder how we would measure this in India since officially no pornographic material is available for sale or viewing (unless we track the sale of कामसूत्र) or measure the per capita rate of lustful ogling done at public places. Since very few Indian women lodge complaints of sexual harassment at the office - we would not be able to track that too. If India was included in this study, we will surely come out to be the least lustful nation in the world - not quite how things are.

Gluttony was measured by the per capita expenditure on high calories fast foods. USA came out the most sinful on this parameter. Since almost 40% of our population cannot even afford one full meal per day and since we are the second most populous nation in the world, we will surely score very low on gluttony. Our अतिथी देवो भव् culture has however trained most of us in the well to do segment to force - feed a guest until he surrenders with a loud burp.

Pride was measured by the per capita number of plastic surgeries. India is bound to come out very "virtuous" on this scale too. Maybe we could use the per capita dowry demanded by the grooms' family or the per capita honour killings ordered in Punjab or Haryana as an indicator of personal pride.

Sloth was measured by the number of holidays and absenteeism. We are on our "home ground" on this one. I don't think anyone will be able to beat us on this.

Greed was measured by the proportion of population earning less than 50% of the median value. Wrath was measured by the per capita incidence of violent crimes like rape, murders and assaults.

Envy was measured by the per capita incidence of car thefts, robberies and burglaries. In India this indicator would be so misleading. Maybe we could measure it by per capita personal loans taken to buy luxury goods - a large number of such loan cases are initiated because of jealousy induced by neighbours buying similar items.

Australia was adjudged the most sinful nation (score 46 out of 70) according to this study. If India were to be included in such a survey, I am sure we will come out to be the least sinful unless of course hypocrisy is included in the list. But even then we have this unfair advantage of bathing in the river Ganga and starting with a clean slate all over again. We can indeed never be displaced from our "exalted" status.