The Preachers

The title to this passage might seem a little abstract at first look. What can i possibly mean by Preachers? Well, it means exactly what you are thinking, the one who imparts religious instructions to the society. So, what do I want to write about them ? Well, for this I would have to develop a context for you to understand how I ended up writing this particular piece.

Lately, with this ongoing Narendra Modi hype in India, I have been quite interested in understanding the dynamics of Indian Politics which had never really caught my attention earlier. On reading about several of his achievements in Gujarat, about both sides of Na-Mo rule during Gujarat riots and a great muslim support he has in Gujarat, I felt pretty impressed by his personality. But what this Na-Mo wave made me think was whether it was possible for a single man or just a group of men to bring swift and fundamental changes in India. I realized that it is quite difficult to bring about radical changes in the system through a political setup. Politics comes along with a lot of addendum and that makes it difficult for one person to do some real good. To remain in power the person-in-charge has to keep in mind the benefits of all factions of his government. Given all the democratic rights, people will rebel against anything they feel might cause them harm in the short-term, sometimes failing to understand their long-term impacts. During this time while I was contemplating about these thoughts I got an opportunity to visit Jodhpur, the sun city in Rajasthan. Our 'Acharya' was residing there for a few days and my family decided to visit him to gain his blessings.

Frankly, I believe in God but I am really skeptical about the idea of some intermediaries, such as, Acharyas, Pandits, Maulvis, Padre, etc. Sometimes, I fail to understand how by touching the feet of these learned men can bless my life as though they possess some magical powers. I bring this specific point as there was a separate full-hour session that was just meant for people to touch his feet when I was in Jodhpur but this also made me realize the devout devotion of public towards these leaders.

Now, I have digressed enough to set the base for my pitch. I am in search of a force strong enough to bring radical changes without fomenting a rebellion in India and during this time I happen to visit the leader of our religious community. There, my mother told me that our new 'Acharya' has brought about some important alterations regarding the social functions held in our society. People follow his ideas without question and similar is the case with other saintly figures in India (there are quite a few of them). Our holy figures preach about several things related to our religion and people try to imbibe them in their lifestyle. But I have never heard anyone really stressing on some very vital points, on how to live in a community, on how NOT to judge people by their family name, on how NOT to belittle someone else based on his caste, on how to be more tolerant of the religious beliefs of others. I wondered, if our leaders emphasized on the importance of this behavior will it really affect our community?

Religious followers will be happy to listen to the instructions of their leaders and here was my answer to the force strong enough to bring change. What can happen, if our religious leaders came together to eradicate some very profound problems in Indian society. Whether rich or poor, most of the Indian population follows a particular guru and will tread the path along with him wherever it lead. Can we use this religious blindfold to show light to our Incredible India?

How music relates to our lives?

There are so many attributes to a person’s daily life that blend into our routine and we get used to it. However, when such an attribute dissociates from us we realize it’s importance. Music is one of these aspects of life. The ubiquitous nature of music makes us oblivious of its elemental necessity in our lives. The notes of music are so entwined with us that it is hard to imagine our life without it.

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. A famous 20th century composer said that there is no noise only sound.[1] Ranging from the chirping of a bird to screeching of tires, sound is produced from a multitude of sources and music gives an interpretation to each of them. It has been proven that music enables us to work better, feel good and live life resourcefully. I was trying to figure out, why music affects us so much and this is what I have gathered from my perception of music.

The common elements of music are: Pitch, Rhythm, Dynamics and Sonic quality.[1] Dividing my analysis into these components, it is easier to understand how we feel good on listening some notes, how our mind automatically gets attracted to a particular note when we are in certain kind of mood and so on. Now coming to our first section, Pitch, which refers to the harmony of music that can relate to the peace of our mind. When our mind is frustrated and we feel confused, we are attracted to high pitch music. On the other hand, when we try to extract our mind from this discomfiture, we try to listen to some slow music like Ghazals(a poetic form consisting of rhythmic couplets and refrain), which have a low pitch.

Further on, we get to Rhythm that is more perceivable in terms of its ability to affect our lives. Rhythm is directly related to the orderliness in our work. A good rhythm leads to an organized behavior else there is chaos all around. For example, our work is systematic when in a silent atmosphere because there is an imperceptible cadence in silence, whereas if there is noise of children or traffic around us, the job at hand is characterized by certain level of disorder.

The third constituent is Dynamics which plays a key role in deciding the essence of our living. When we point someone out as having a loud personality, we might make that judgement based on their tawdry attire, their overzealous nature and garrulous conversations. Such characters often would have the liking for loud music too. The reverse can be said about people who are reserved. We would rarely see someone with a quiet nature to be listening to a death metal band while he is alone. Surely, in front of others one might pretend to like some activities to be part of a group. Sonic quality seems to talk about the overall packaging of these three components and hence, would cover similar aspects as have been discussed.

All these notions have been developed as a means of my own understanding of human nature and how music plays a crucial role in building our personalities. We can use music as a tool to enlighten our lives, calm our nerves when we feel distressed, pacify us down when we feel overexcited and boost our spirits when we feel low. We just need to be in the groove!

Has technology modified our youth's primitive human tendencies?

Pre-Script: There are a number of advantages associated with the prevailing technologies that are discussed here, but this article is not meant to elicit them but to put forth the flip side of the coin.

This era is undoubtedly defined by the gadgets surrounding us and internet that connects them all. From its prenatal stages in ’80s where it used to connect a few american computers for military and academic purposes to the motley functions it serves for billions across the globe, it has grown like a virus(pun intended). The cliched ‘part and parcel of daily life’ phrase cannot be more appropriately used for anything else than this. The latest trend of social networking has given a tremendous boost to the usage of internet. With an increased demand due to this, there has been better and improved supply from such service providers. Its not wrong to say that the most affected group of individuals is the youth.

Having pointed out this, I would like to get back to my question. What primitive human tendency do I refer to here? These are the basic sensory functions, vision and touch. The former is more easily perceivable with reference to the question. With most of our time associated with our gadgets, we rarely see around to learn the nuances of worldly wisdom. While we are busy typing in our messages on whatsapp, we miss the road we travel. While we are busy taking photographs and uploading them on Google+, we forget to let the beauty of the landscape behind us, sink in. While we check in a hotel on facebook with several friends we forget to see the problems of our friends. Through each and every real experience, we learn a lot more than these e-experiences we have.

I don’t say this from my own doing because I am on the other side myself but I say this by looking at my parents. None of us would contend this fact that our parents were much better off at our age to face worldly problems than us. With all the years they have gained upon us, I never see myself with that kind of knowledge when I reach their age.

Going on to my next point, touch. With all our connections developing through messaging services and social networking sites, the physical contact between people has become minimal. The hug between friends has been replaced by a comment on their status, holding hands with a loved one is displaced by a smiley, the handshake between strangers has been superseded by friend requests. Relationships grow and decline online without the people concerned ever meeting in person. With two friends sitting in the same room and chatting with each other on facebook, the situation looks really grim. (Remember the pre-script of this article before you contend these points in your mind)

I recently read a book which said that every great thing is great as long as you use it judiciously and then you see it gradually becoming an evil for the world. Well, this is where we start seeing the unprecedented ill-growth of internet. Growing aggression due to addiction with technology [1], dependency on these telecommunications, and the growing inability to interact in person is just the beginning. As my current status stands, I am no better than a normal internet, technology and gadget addict youngster. But I hope to change that soon. Till then you can ponder over the gravity of this problem from this image.

FREE ‘NO WIFI’ ZONE
Free WiFi is available almost everywhere we go. People are constantly online, busy with their electronic gadgets all the time. Kit Kat have seen an opportunity to give people a break. So instead of offering Free WiFi like every other brand, the company created a Free No-WiFi Zone. A big sign with a small WiFi jammer that blocked all signals within a five meter radius. People was also encouraged to read a newspaper, a real book or have a genuine conversation again. All while munching on a Kit Kat.
Literally giving people a break!