This article is specifically meant for the 4-year undergraduate students of the entry batch of 2006.
The biggest tragedy of being a "MATKA" is that you have to wait here and wave good bye to all your mates , wish them luck and then envy them for their unencumbered lives. Some people do think the other way round but as the saying goes the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. The past four years have been worth a lifetime. Met the best people, forged everlasting friendships and had a gala time. Here I was spoiled and spanked at the same time.
The word reminiscence brings back memories: first nite out, first shot of vodka, first paper dance.... More than memories it’s faces which flash-back in my brain: again and again. My roommate, my lab mate, my bed mates, my DotA mates: most of them are gonna leave me. After my continuous pestering, several of them have agreed to the idea of having me as a permanent guest in their apartments and a parasite to their liquor. But still, it’s going to be a tough time without you guys.
BEST OF LUCK ALL OF YOU PASSING OUT BASTARDS. BE SURE TO COME BACK NEXT YEAR TO PICK US UP. YOU ARE THE BEST! (*sob-sob*)
Tumhara Pyaara
GAVRI
Saturday, April 23, 2011
RELIGION, GOD AND NATURE
I was born and raised in a conservative Hindu family; my parents being ardent followers of a renowned religious preacher. I was schooled in a Missionary School and then thrown into a cosmopolitan environment at one of the biggest metro of the country. During this span of my life my concept of “me” has changed dramatically. The following paragraphs follow a line of thought that I have developed till now and seem most appropriate to me at this instant and it won’t be a big wonder if it changes tomorrow.
The answer to the question “Who am I?” is answered differently by different religions. Therefore in order to believe which answer is correct we must start with which religion we believe is correct. Thus it is natural to start this discussion with religion. The world as of whole is governed by two set of norms: Political and Social. Political Norms are the set of rules and regulations that a particular state and its citizens are supposed to follow. These are dictated by Constitution and enforced by judiciary. Social Norms are another set of rules and regulations that is generally dictated by scriptures (Gita, Quran etc) and is enforced by Society.
If we imagine different religions as different kingdoms from the medieval history a lot of things start to make sense. The kingdoms have God as a king, the preachers as generals and the followers as common footmen. The soldiers have never seen the king but they have endless faith in him. Only the generals seem to know and hear from the king and pass down his orders to the soldiers. As a child I often used to wonder why things like religious riots, religious conversion does exist. An act of conversion is like invasion and various techniques are applied for attack and defence of a religious stronghold. Each kingdom thinks that by invading foreign lands they would be able to bring those people under the jurisdiction of their holy (superior) king and those people would be uplifted. Also it would increase their army base as well. People who think that their king is no good and that another one will provide them food and shelter often change their loyalties.
During the course of history, numerous religions have been born; some have survived, some have merged with others, some are on the verge of breakdown and some have been completely annihilated. Now we come upon a natural question: which one is real one; the true king... who is the real God that we are supposed to follow?
Now imagine a God. What qualities do you expect in a God? The first is undying or immortal : God cannot die. Hence our God should be same as the God of the first caveman. It should have existed before the first living form took shape. So anything that is supposed to have a birth date cannot be God. An obvious inference is that it is something that existed before anything. So can something come from nothing? Second is it should be same for all humans: black or white, Indian or American, Muslim or Christian. I would like to extend this to animals and aliens (if they possibly exist). A famous saying goes that God has made human in his own image. I would state other way round that human has made his God in his own image. Had the evolution path gone hay ward and had cows taken our place as the prime living being, I am quite certain that Gods would have had figure of a cow. So consistency in space and time constitute the relevant and important properties of God.
So what is it that satisfies these two criterions? Nature. The tiniest bit of earth that we see was here before everything else in some form or the other. They were here before the Big Bang and would be here after the Big Contraption; maybe in different form and states. Thus Nature is God. The land, the water, the air all these are parts of God. But material alone is insufficient to create life. Just as combining a heart, a brain and other organs over a skeleton and wrapping it up in flesh won’t create a living being. There is a “force”, an order, a soul that drives a living being. Similarly there must be some force driving these changes as well. That force though invisible is, has been and will be there in all time and space. Let us call that force “Spirit”.
Thus God has two parts: God the Body: Nature and God the Spirit. Just like us... a body and a soul. Thus there is a piece of God in everything in entire existence and together they form God. Thus we are part of God and he is part of us.
The corner stone of any religion is respecting your God. So what does my faith say? How do I respect my God? My God does not require sacrifice. He demands respect for both his body as well as his spirit. Since we can sense the spirit though our normal five senses, we ought to respect God’s body: the Nature. A crime against Nature is a crime against God. Every untreated sewage drain is like injecting our God with syringe of poison. Every piece of plastic is a germ on Gods body. So till when can we expect we can continue to harm our Gods body? We are part of it and will perish with it as well.
P.S. With the before said statements about religion, reader must not interpret that there is no need of religion. A society without religion is like a state without laws. But like laws they need to religion needs to evolve and address present problems.
The answer to the question “Who am I?” is answered differently by different religions. Therefore in order to believe which answer is correct we must start with which religion we believe is correct. Thus it is natural to start this discussion with religion. The world as of whole is governed by two set of norms: Political and Social. Political Norms are the set of rules and regulations that a particular state and its citizens are supposed to follow. These are dictated by Constitution and enforced by judiciary. Social Norms are another set of rules and regulations that is generally dictated by scriptures (Gita, Quran etc) and is enforced by Society.
If we imagine different religions as different kingdoms from the medieval history a lot of things start to make sense. The kingdoms have God as a king, the preachers as generals and the followers as common footmen. The soldiers have never seen the king but they have endless faith in him. Only the generals seem to know and hear from the king and pass down his orders to the soldiers. As a child I often used to wonder why things like religious riots, religious conversion does exist. An act of conversion is like invasion and various techniques are applied for attack and defence of a religious stronghold. Each kingdom thinks that by invading foreign lands they would be able to bring those people under the jurisdiction of their holy (superior) king and those people would be uplifted. Also it would increase their army base as well. People who think that their king is no good and that another one will provide them food and shelter often change their loyalties.
During the course of history, numerous religions have been born; some have survived, some have merged with others, some are on the verge of breakdown and some have been completely annihilated. Now we come upon a natural question: which one is real one; the true king... who is the real God that we are supposed to follow?
Now imagine a God. What qualities do you expect in a God? The first is undying or immortal : God cannot die. Hence our God should be same as the God of the first caveman. It should have existed before the first living form took shape. So anything that is supposed to have a birth date cannot be God. An obvious inference is that it is something that existed before anything. So can something come from nothing? Second is it should be same for all humans: black or white, Indian or American, Muslim or Christian. I would like to extend this to animals and aliens (if they possibly exist). A famous saying goes that God has made human in his own image. I would state other way round that human has made his God in his own image. Had the evolution path gone hay ward and had cows taken our place as the prime living being, I am quite certain that Gods would have had figure of a cow. So consistency in space and time constitute the relevant and important properties of God.
So what is it that satisfies these two criterions? Nature. The tiniest bit of earth that we see was here before everything else in some form or the other. They were here before the Big Bang and would be here after the Big Contraption; maybe in different form and states. Thus Nature is God. The land, the water, the air all these are parts of God. But material alone is insufficient to create life. Just as combining a heart, a brain and other organs over a skeleton and wrapping it up in flesh won’t create a living being. There is a “force”, an order, a soul that drives a living being. Similarly there must be some force driving these changes as well. That force though invisible is, has been and will be there in all time and space. Let us call that force “Spirit”.
Thus God has two parts: God the Body: Nature and God the Spirit. Just like us... a body and a soul. Thus there is a piece of God in everything in entire existence and together they form God. Thus we are part of God and he is part of us.
The corner stone of any religion is respecting your God. So what does my faith say? How do I respect my God? My God does not require sacrifice. He demands respect for both his body as well as his spirit. Since we can sense the spirit though our normal five senses, we ought to respect God’s body: the Nature. A crime against Nature is a crime against God. Every untreated sewage drain is like injecting our God with syringe of poison. Every piece of plastic is a germ on Gods body. So till when can we expect we can continue to harm our Gods body? We are part of it and will perish with it as well.
P.S. With the before said statements about religion, reader must not interpret that there is no need of religion. A society without religion is like a state without laws. But like laws they need to religion needs to evolve and address present problems.
We Did It .. BSP TROPHY
We did it! We fucking did it!
It has been 5 years and so much has changed ever since. When I came into my first year, we literally had nothing to boast off in BSP, heard of things of something known as a board which publishes magazines and then distributes it, and that the people should contribute to it. I didn’t fall into the trap, at least at that time.
It was Abhinav Bhardwaj who tilted the hilt. As far as the story goes, the big man started the so called culture of BSP in Kumaon. Before his time, we had not won a single BSP trophy in its 5 years of existence. So, this man took the initiative of turning the tide. He worked pretty hard, coming from behind to the front aided by his partner, Amit Sharma. Together, they scripted history, winning the first ever BSP trophy for Kumaon. And then, there was no looking back.
My story started when one of my batch mates refused to carry on the responsibility and it was given to me, which I accepted (after a lot of bribe). It was tough job in the beginning, but with Tejeshwi, it never looked dull. We used to work together like brothers and we, with the help of the Big Daddy, built the strong pillars of BSP in Kumaon, ingraining the BSP culture in the incoming batch. Honestly, we did this, because we were very ambitious, and wanted to get the trophies with the highest margin ever. Nothing was enough for us. But we were just two of us. To realise our dreams we had to tap into the recourses of the incoming batch which turned out to be one of the most talented one. We never knew that this would actually convert itself into a strong culture. As I went on the BHM Night stage to lift the trophy, I had never thought that the seeds that we had sown would reap fruits for many years to come.
Then, the two schemers stepped into our shoes. By now, BSP trophy had not remained just a trophy for the common room shelf. It had become a passion, a proof of our dominance. By that time we had built up with reputation in the institute. PP was formatting more than half the publications even before he became a BSP rep. They had a lot on their shoulders and a lot was expected out of them. I remember the elaborate strategies that Shubho and PP used to come up to win the trophy, a new one every other day. Making and breaking friends, fighting with the bosses, end moment jitters, everything was tried & tested and the results were fruitful. We won it for the third time in a row.
By then, we thought we had perfected the art of winning. But we still had more to learn. Fresh blood pumped into BSP. Dipu and Prasad, both were like the opposite ends of a rope. Constantly fighting it out with each other, which they still do, they made us ponder over our decisions. But they worked hard, together; really hard. Just when the race was about to get over; things got bitter. The entire SC wing was full of crying people, who were swearing to make people bleed for each drop of their tears. They won the trophy, but lost it too, more so.
They, however, took their revenge and that too in style. Two civil engineers, Smit and Aayush joined the party, in the ever so important fifth year. We were one step away from the big bang, the sealing of the trophy. We did not know if this theoretical idea had any practical meaning, but it was enough to drive them both to try their best. We taught them everything we knew. I personally ended up writing articles for the first time in my life, thanks to the hours of coaxing and convincing by Smit (He came in on pretext of smoking Hukkah). I could not throw him out, however hard I wanted to, because I was supposed to help them. But it did not turn out to be as bad as I thought and here I am writing one more. They stole the show by a margin that we earlier thought insurmountable.
This BHM night when they climbed that stage to pick that trophy up, and later while cutting the cake, there were tears in all of our eyes. We had written our part of the history and I am sure we wrote an impressive one. Now we have got new cubs in our den and it’s time for old ones like me to retire. Ankit, Aalekh and Avnish, do make us proud.
Truth becomes myth, myth become stories, stories become legends. This is one of those truths which will turn to a legend sooner or later. The symbol of this legend will be found in the common room of this legendary hostel, forever. Thank you guys for making me a part of it.
It has been 5 years and so much has changed ever since. When I came into my first year, we literally had nothing to boast off in BSP, heard of things of something known as a board which publishes magazines and then distributes it, and that the people should contribute to it. I didn’t fall into the trap, at least at that time.
It was Abhinav Bhardwaj who tilted the hilt. As far as the story goes, the big man started the so called culture of BSP in Kumaon. Before his time, we had not won a single BSP trophy in its 5 years of existence. So, this man took the initiative of turning the tide. He worked pretty hard, coming from behind to the front aided by his partner, Amit Sharma. Together, they scripted history, winning the first ever BSP trophy for Kumaon. And then, there was no looking back.
My story started when one of my batch mates refused to carry on the responsibility and it was given to me, which I accepted (after a lot of bribe). It was tough job in the beginning, but with Tejeshwi, it never looked dull. We used to work together like brothers and we, with the help of the Big Daddy, built the strong pillars of BSP in Kumaon, ingraining the BSP culture in the incoming batch. Honestly, we did this, because we were very ambitious, and wanted to get the trophies with the highest margin ever. Nothing was enough for us. But we were just two of us. To realise our dreams we had to tap into the recourses of the incoming batch which turned out to be one of the most talented one. We never knew that this would actually convert itself into a strong culture. As I went on the BHM Night stage to lift the trophy, I had never thought that the seeds that we had sown would reap fruits for many years to come.
Then, the two schemers stepped into our shoes. By now, BSP trophy had not remained just a trophy for the common room shelf. It had become a passion, a proof of our dominance. By that time we had built up with reputation in the institute. PP was formatting more than half the publications even before he became a BSP rep. They had a lot on their shoulders and a lot was expected out of them. I remember the elaborate strategies that Shubho and PP used to come up to win the trophy, a new one every other day. Making and breaking friends, fighting with the bosses, end moment jitters, everything was tried & tested and the results were fruitful. We won it for the third time in a row.
By then, we thought we had perfected the art of winning. But we still had more to learn. Fresh blood pumped into BSP. Dipu and Prasad, both were like the opposite ends of a rope. Constantly fighting it out with each other, which they still do, they made us ponder over our decisions. But they worked hard, together; really hard. Just when the race was about to get over; things got bitter. The entire SC wing was full of crying people, who were swearing to make people bleed for each drop of their tears. They won the trophy, but lost it too, more so.
They, however, took their revenge and that too in style. Two civil engineers, Smit and Aayush joined the party, in the ever so important fifth year. We were one step away from the big bang, the sealing of the trophy. We did not know if this theoretical idea had any practical meaning, but it was enough to drive them both to try their best. We taught them everything we knew. I personally ended up writing articles for the first time in my life, thanks to the hours of coaxing and convincing by Smit (He came in on pretext of smoking Hukkah). I could not throw him out, however hard I wanted to, because I was supposed to help them. But it did not turn out to be as bad as I thought and here I am writing one more. They stole the show by a margin that we earlier thought insurmountable.
This BHM night when they climbed that stage to pick that trophy up, and later while cutting the cake, there were tears in all of our eyes. We had written our part of the history and I am sure we wrote an impressive one. Now we have got new cubs in our den and it’s time for old ones like me to retire. Ankit, Aalekh and Avnish, do make us proud.
Truth becomes myth, myth become stories, stories become legends. This is one of those truths which will turn to a legend sooner or later. The symbol of this legend will be found in the common room of this legendary hostel, forever. Thank you guys for making me a part of it.
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