Musings

1. True globalization is not just free trade, but also free movement of labour (humans).
2. There is a difference between secularism and pluralism. Hinduism is pluralistic in essence. So, technically Hindutva is not truly secular. However, pluralism embraces good of all participating religions to evolve a better society; it does not fight them. Therein lies the secret of peace, harmony, and prosperity.
3. Hindutva (or Hinduism) (or, Indian religio-cultural system), nay, all Indic philosophies are essentially pluralistic, i.e. they believe that multiple paths exist to the same reality. That is why many philosophies could co-exist in this country. One could be polytheist, shamanist, monotheist, monist, agnostic, and even atheist and yet be part of the same religio-cultural system. Existing theories could be challenged, debated, modified, accepted, rejected because there was space for everyone.
4. A pluralistic system mandates that all participating philosophies agree on the basic non-negotiable principle of pluralism, i.e. there exist multiple and equally valid paths to the same reality, or God.
5. Philosophies that do not accept pluralism as a basic tenet cannot become part of a pluralistic system. Either such philosophies tend to overthrow the system, or are thrown out by the system. In fact, if all participating religions agreed on the principle of pluralism, there would be no need for 'conversions', because all religions would be equally valid. 'Conversions' imply rejection of pluralism.
6. Religions that do not understand pluralism will be very uncomfortable with a pluralistic system. The Indian religious system had nurtured various religions to co-exist peacefully for thousands of years. Accepting pluralism goes against the fundamentals of most major non-Indian religions. It will kill those religions altogether. That is why they will be uncomfortable.
7. Stupidity attracts more stupidity. Not ignoring stupidity gives it legitimacy.
8. It is difficult to keep bias away from interpretation.
9. Sometimes, a system deliberately chooses to allow Type 2 errors in order to avoid Type 1 errors. In this case, the system allows for later review and correction of Type 2 errors.
10. Every time people talk about their rights, they need to be reminded of their responsibilities.
11. The fundamental question about Uniform Civil Code is 'who decides what is right?' This code gives rise to the possibility for the Government to impose a certain system of morality on the population whether or not the latter agrees with it. Unless, the government draws the basis of Uniform Civil Code on some fundamentally non-disputable moral axioms, the code can be abused by the government, whether the current, next, or the future ones.
12. When something becomes an article of faith, it is best to sit back and not argue over it.
13. It is our responsibility to be not swayed by opinions of others, but to constantly seek the truth, howsoever uncomfortable it may be, and howsoever opposed to our inherent biases it may be.
14. There is a difference between knowing the right things and doing the right things.
15. It is impossible for human societies to eliminate differentiation. However, discrimination can and must be eliminated.
16. When there is an equally valid shortcut to a certain path, people will always choose the shortcut.
17. It is important to distinguish between design problems and implementation problems.
18. Every prostitute was once a virgin too.
19. हवस एवं घृणा की भूख कभी नहीं मिटती है।
20. It is difficult to keep bias away from interpretation
21. Victims of religious riots should never be identified by communities. For every story of a victim from one community, another story of a victim from another community will be spoken, and this leads to greater polarization and discord between the communities.
22. One can question an intelligent person's ideas, but one cannot question the person' intelligence.
23. 'Open Secret' is a wonderful tool to disguise and propagate speculations as truth.
24. Easiest way to eliminate hardliners (or, for that matter any political opponent) from political space is to discredit them with stories, real or otherwise, of moral/ financial/ ethical corruption. Once discredited, it is easy to put them out of public memory.
    At the same time, it is important to check any budding hardliners (or, political opponents) on the fringes before they gain a wider audience.
25. In the land of crooks, the first person to be hanged is the honest one.
26. Unsolicited help, unsolicited information, and unsolicited advice must never be offered.