Home - India V America

This is the debate that must keep raging in every "desi in amrika''s head. I am no stranger to being in this quagmire too.

And it gets worst once you get out( at least somewhat) of the academic rigmarole. In the initial months of a typical desi student settling down in america, he spends so much of his time thinking about the day to day worries, say like making a few dollars, thinking about your career and so on, that the debate of "India V America" is pushed to the back of your mind.

But then there comes a stage when you start feeling more at ease with your daily grind, and then the debate starts kicking up.

Where would I want to be 10 years from now ? 5 yrs ? 2 yrs?.Would I want to be cruising to my office in my BMW convertible on some American Interstate ( of course assuming that I have a decent job ;0) ), or would I want to be driving my motor-bike or riding a train in the monsoons of India ?

America has given me so many things and offers so many things in the future. There is comfort. There is independance. There are tremendous career opportunites.

But then, there is that Indian in me too. The call of family and friends. The need to be among bustling crowds and noise. The irony of feeling so much at ease in so utter a chaos - that is India.

Sometimes I feel that comparing being in India or America is like the comparision between watching a cricket match at Eden Gardens or at Lords.

India is like the chaotic, noisy, disorganized crowd at Eden Gardens. While America is like the strawberry eating, one-hand clapping, organized Britishers at Lords.

And it is so hard to take one side and stick to it, as both the sides have their positves and negatives, and I wont even get into the details of those.

What a typical desi would say when asked this question is that " I will stay here for some time and then return home ". But can that work ?. After becoming acclimatized to the cosy american life, can someone adjust to being in India ?

Well, I guess the answer depends on mainly 2 variables. How long you stay in USA and what the situation is like in India when you decide to go back. The longer you stay here the harder it will be to go back, but then since India itself is becoming transformed so rapidly, one might as well be able to easily adapt there - even if you spend a few years here.

And then there is that dark question that you try not to think about. What if you decide to go back to India and then are unable to adjust there. what happens then?Well, but I m sure 'not liking to be in India' - that would be a very improbable thing to happen, or would'nt it ?

So should I just spend a couple of years here and go back to sweet India, or stay here some more for a green card ? Do I want to do that ? or could I stay on even more than that ? or much much more ?

Can we reduce this all to just a debate about whether you want to have a good home (i.e. Be in India) or have a good office (i.e. Be in USA). ?
[ Well I understand that it 'could' be possible to have a home in USA or one 'could' do cutting-edge important work in India ...but lets just ignore that for sake of discussion ]

Well, It is so satisfying for you and your ego to do great work, earn great money, in a great environment on a great day at a great office. But then at the end of the day,-- after all is said and done -- when all the dust settles down -- doesnt everybody just want to be - home sweet home ?

Or then, should one just step back - and look at the world as a big global village - and not be bothered by such trivial changes in locations by a few thousand miles ? ?

Aaaah well -- time will answer all the questions !!!

I am thinking - I am GOD

What do people think ? Why do they think? How does what they think affect what they think ?

Thinking is such a complex topic to talk about. Even when i think about talking on thinking, I am actually thinking about thinking.

What is a thought? Is it some neurons that are fired randomly in the brain ? Is it a physical phenomenon ? Or would you atrribute to it some meta-physical value ?

Can some-one stop from thinking ? But if that person has stopped thinking, how does he know that he has stoped thinking ? Can someone 'think' he is not 'thinking'.

Think about this question - what is it really like - to meditate ? Meditation is described as 'directing your thought' rather than 'absence of thoughts'. [ The Bhagavad Gita and the Vedas does talk about "directing your thoughts" towards the concept of bramhan. ]

But consider why we need not 'think' this way ? If you are directing your thought only in one direction, then doesnt that mean that you are NOT truly understanding the world in its "entirety" ? Are you not missing so many things ? Arent you becoming a vegetable ?

Was not the concept of "brahman" founded in some human thought ? It is ironic that the "concept of brahman" would have not even originated had it not been for someone "thinking" of different things - thinking of Brahman. Then why do "Yogis" "think" of GOD and only GOD ?

Could it be that it is wrong to "direct your thoughts" and it is more appropriate to just "let your thoughts be " ? Say, Forget brahman. Forget everything else. Forget all rules. Just let your thoughts explore.

May be the only reason the ancient people "invented" the concept of brahman was because "exploration" of thoughts causes bewilderment in people. It causes them to explore new things, which in turn leads to them to being scared. There is this inherent human nature to detest anything that is "new" and unexplored and be afraid of it. ( I could totally diverge the topic to "why is it 'not ok' to be scared, but i will spare you from that for now. )

Could it be that after the experience gained by these "scary experiences" - humans decided that it was better to "categorize" and to "limit" the knowledge of what they see and what they feel feel. That could be why humans need to insist on the concept of a central "GOD". Something universal but constant. Just so that the mind has this one direction that it thinks it is leading to - the mind is no longer bewildered into "ever-new" or the "nothing".

But may be we are just fooling ourselves ?

Consider this - GOD would never have been born, had us humans not thought of him. So doesnt that mean WE ARE THE CREATORS ? We created GOD in our minds - through our thoughts ! We created this perception of the world that we have !

Doesnt that lead you to the conclusion that "the human thought is the real GOD - the real CREATOR " ?

Hmmmm ...but wasnt this all "thought" by me ?

Enough of meta-meta-thinking ... back to my mundane existence :)

Of Search and Re-Search

I have heard the word "research" being thrown around by the so called intellectuals so much, that I start to wonder what is research ?

The word research, by itself means "re search" i.e to search again. Doesnt this mean that the very word in itself, lacks originality ?

Let me make it more clear. Most of the so- called research that I see being done is nothing but searching through existing work and a 'putting together of borrowed ideas".

The world is full of such people who live in a delusional world of grandeur. They think themselves to be intellectuals just because the combine they ideas of a person A and a person B.

I think there is a need for differentiating true seminal work from these "copy-machines".

I know that people would argue with the "standing on the shoulder of giants" retort, but then there are still truly original thinkers. These, my friend, are the true intellectuals. Imagine conjuring the concept of gravity right from nowhere, or thinking of making machines that fly. How about thinking of space-time continuum or thinking of the existence of electromagnetic waves.
Personally, I would have much more respect for minds that seem to derive ideas from the "grass root" level, rather than ones who have a great understanding of two complex phenomenons and knows how to make them work together.

It is refreshing to come across ideas, that even though may seem wrong, follow a new direction.
Thus, I would give more credit to the discoverers listed above, than say, the inventor of the light bulb or the telephone.

So, have we seen a decline in such "original intellects' ?. Or is it that most of the good ideas have already been taken by the people of the past ?

We can never know, but one thing is for certain. It is becoming increasing apparent that the term research should refer to "where to look for ideas" rather than "to think of some ideas" .
Ok. Enough of such topics on the blog for now. I pledge to make my next post a little more on the ludicrous side.