To Hell

is all we would go towards.

Heard in a hindi-dubbed version of Vertical Limit -
"Jews kehte hain ki Jesus ko maanoge to nark mein jaaoge.
Isaaii kehte hain ki Jesus ko nahi maanoge to nark mein jaaoge.
Catholic kehte hain ki Pope ko nahi maanoge to nark mein jaaoge.
Matlab, kuch bhi ho, mujhe to nark mein hi jaana hai."

Well, the writer could included some more of world's religions. Alas,
he/she chose only two/three.

Isn't it strange that one who - saves our lives while we are hanging
precariously over a cliff, lends us a helping hand in our
times of extreme needs, lives a life of kindness and compassion
towards all - WILL go to HELL only because he doesn't happen to belong to
the faith we deem as right?

Sounds ridiculous, right? Yet, why is it so goddamm difficult for people
to understand? Why?

I am really really really upset today.

Kitna Badal Gaya Insaan.

It is funny how easily 'tolerance' is mistaken to be 'submission' to other's ideas. Indeed tolerance is defined by one's characteristic dislike of others which is marked by an overwhelming feeling of compassion that suppresses and to a great extent controls one's dislike from taking precedence over one's thoughts.

Yet, to us, it must always be clear that tolerance of our actions and thoughts does not indicate our acceptance and certainly not appreciation. It therefore becomes important for us to ensure that our actions and views remain right where they exist - on the boundary between others' compassion and dislike.

Obviously, it will be extremely difficult for us to cross over to others' territory of compassion entirely because that would entail shedding our beliefs and accepting theirs, but we should not take the tolerance of others for granted and try to push back their boundaries of dislike further, for that would result in fierce retaliation and redefinition of the boundaries more in favour of the feeling of dislike and, in extreme cases, obliteration of the other.


ps: Goa witnesses its first communal riot.


pps:
duusro.n ka dukhadaa duur karne waale'
tere dukh door karenge Ram!
kiye' jaa tu jag mei.n bhalaaii kaa kaam
tere dukh door karenge Ram!

Simple, enchanting, honest philosophy. I wish everyone followed this.

Douglas Adams

Something inside me compelled me to dedicate at least one blog entry to the second greatest humourist I have encountered in my literary expeditions. (The first one is PG Wodehouse to who I will probably dedicate an entire blog someday. But that, I guess, is already done by many).

I cannot even in my entire linguistic capabilities elaborate on the kind of humour that Douglas Adams deals with.

Go read "The Ultimate Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy" if you haven't already. :-)

p.s. - "All it takes to fly is to hurl yourself at the ground... and miss."