Strange beastly tales from then and now

Then

A five year old child is crying and refusing to go to sleep. The mom gives up and passes the parcel to her mother. The grandmother rocks the child on her lap and starts telling him a story. It is a strange tale of beastly battles. It is a story from a long time ago. The Asuras were mighty and powerful evil lords who fought with the Devas for control over the dominion. The Devas were the sublime and gentle lords with innate goodness. The night the child refused to sleep, the grandmother recounted the strange tale of the Asuras and the Devas. The Asuras and the Devas were always fighting each other to dominate the world, or rather all the worlds. However, due to a strange twist of fate, the Devas lost supremacy and shared control of the world with the Asuras. At this time in history, the Asuras and the Devas discovered the nectar of immortality deep down in the middle of the cosmic ocean. The only way to get it was to join hands and to churn then ocean. So, the Devas and the Asuras made an uneasy pact and they prayed to the Lord to help them churn the ocean. There was no big rope that one could use to churn the mighty ocean. The Lord sent down his confidante, a serpent king named Vasuki. He was a long serpent and agreed to be used as the rope to churn the ocean. The Asuras and the Devas churned the ocean seeking the nectar of immortal life, Amrut. There were many skirmishes in between, but finally the nectar was found. Once the nectar was discovered, the Asuras and Devas fought over it and many more lives were lost fighting over immortality. The little child was fast asleep by the time the nectar was flowing. He dreamt of the glorious battles between the Asuras and the Devas, he believed in the heroics of the good, he was enamored by the fight between good and evil, and by the eventual triumph of good over evil.

Now

A five year old child is crying and refusing to go to sleep. The mom gives up and passes her woes to soothing sights and sounds of the television. It is a strange tale of beastly battles. It is a story from the recent past. The Middle East had just discovered black gold in the seas. The western world was keen to help with technology and expertise to extract the oil riches for mutual benefit. The two powers made an uneasy pact to help churn the oceans for the nectar of prosperity. There were many skirmishes in between, but the oil was found and prosperity reigned. Overpowering greed lead to a fight over the control of the riches. The world fought over it and many more tears were shed fighting over prosperity and happiness. The little child was fast asleep by the time they struck oil in the rigs off the coast. He dreamt of technicolor battles between the good and the bad. His definitions of good and bad shaped by his own side of the world. He was enamored by the fight between good and evil, and he dreamt of the triumph of good over evil.

Forever

The stories are the same forever. The drama is the same, and the dharma is the same, good over evil. The beastly tales will never change, only the players will. Once it was Draupadi being humiliated by the Kauravas in the Mahabharata. Now, it is another Draupadi being molested by the beasts of Guwahati. How can man be so barbaric? Evil lurks in the dark corners of your own mind. The evil is in your beastly impulses. The good is in your sublime control. The battle between good and evil is always fought in your own mind first. The Asuras are the materialistic impulses, the Devas are the sublime signs of moderation, and you are the storyboard....Strange beastly tales forever.

Wow, these God particles......

July 4, 2012 - It is the big day when the proof of the God particle is shared with the world. Scientists at the CERN have close to demonstrable proof of the existence of the God particle as we have come to know it or the Higgs Boson as it prefers to be called. Some trivia I picked up as to why it is called Higgs Boson as opposed to Higgs bottom or Higgs bosom is due to an India connection. Boson it is because Higgs proposed the existence of this particle based on some early particle physics principles laid down by Satendra Nath Bose, and the Bose somehow leads to Boson. 

Now, the idea is not to sound knowledgeable, but neither do I want to exhibit my extreme ignorance of this phenomenon. So, I read up on this God particle. Well, I get it that the Universe came into being as matter was formed, that matter gained mass because of the God particle. I grew up thinking God made man, but somehow thinking the God particle did that is close enough. So, that is easy. Now comes the difficult part. So, you are telling me that electrons, protons and neutrons have mass but photons don't. Why would something as crazy as that happen? Oh, because the quarks and the leptons came together because of some energy field. Must be some energy field like a Beatles concert for everyone to come together, right here...wow, these God particles must be something. Well, anyway, my day goes on with no flashes of extraordinary. It does not have to be extraordinary just because someone found the God particle...

I had enough of the God particle and its mystery, so,  I decide to do something less stressful than think about that. I am in New York on the 4th of July and want to soak in the NYC experience on this American Independence day. So, I say to myself, let me walk down Broadway, the whole length to Times square. I get to further ahead of Lincoln center and start to walk down towards Time Square. As I start to walk, I notice that I am pretty much the only fool on a hot afternoon going down that path. You would expect New York to be crowded so I wonder, I am going the right way? I stop to ask and the unfriendly person I meet, he nods his head curtly. I carry on down the road and as I pass Lincoln theatre and some more, I start seeing other folks all walking down that path too. Not too many but there are people now on this road. Great.... I think we are like quarks and leptons, we move in seemingly aimless ways. And I walk some more before I need a break. I stop by the sidewalk cafe for a Corona and some eats. I watch the people go by and I realize that the foot traffic is picking up. Yes, and they are all going the same direction towards Times square. These people look like floating particles illuminated in the sunshine, like God particles....I laughed off what the Corona was trying to do to me and continued my walk. The traffic grew and I hit this sea of humanity in Times Square. In joy, in celebration, I see milling crowd, I see a mass of humanity as One. I see flashes of extraordinary, I see joy, I see oneness, I see extraordinary. Because I found these people, these God particles. Illuminated in the sunshine, illuminated in joy, these God particles.....wow, these God particles must be something.

A Shahrukh Khan moment?

I was passing through airport security, and the officer said "Sir, can you step aside for some additional screening?". I did as I was told, but in those few seconds, my mind raced through a whole lot of "why me?" conditions. It is not the first time this has happened to me. And so I wondered momentarily, what is it that I have done that auto selects me to the additional screening. Is it my color, is it my nationality, is it my name? I quickly shut that inner whisper temporarily and go through the formalities, it is not half as bad as it sounds and the officers are courteous and professional. But, it does leave you with that niggling thought, why me? I remember the media frenzy some months earlier when Shahrukh Khan was detained by airport security and I guess this is the same thought that went through Shahrukh Khan's mind at that time. Why me? Is it my color? Is it my nationality? Is it my name? And here I was having a Shahrukh Khan moment, well almost.

How much do we all love playing the victim, sometimes the victim of an unjust, irrational system and at other times the victim of our own nationality, color or race. We play this game all the time, some through the media and others through the inner recess of their own mind. Why me? Why not me? And it replays like the much abused breaking news channel, in your mind's emotional TV watched by that Big Fat ego of yours. Really, what joy do we have in playing the victim? It is just our Big Fat ego telling us that we were not treated right. Our Big Fat ego paints a picture of ourselves and how the world should behave with us. The laws of probability apply everywhere,  the world does not always behave the same way with us. And when that happens, we turn on our emotional TV and sulk in front of it. We have our own Shahrukh Khan moment, well almost.

Actually, I was having a pretty good time right before Mr. Big Fat walks into the room and says that is not how one should be treated. Really, Mr. Big Fat, how do you know? After all, we are a series of probability events, right from our birth through every moment in our life. We are a walking talking probability equation, and any thing can happen at any time. We are random samples in a large population, a larger design. We will always be, so Mr. Big Fat, why do you spoil the moment with your false pretenses. You take a big bet on a best case scenario, but remember, there is a probability of occurrence and it can go the other way. When the hypothesis goes the other way, don't sweat, don't rant, just move on to the next table. Move on to the next pack of cards, the next roll of the dice. You ain't no victim, you are just a random sample. No one is taking a potshot at you. No one is mocking you. You are not that important, there are bigger puzzles to solve. And that Shahrukh Khan moment, well no thanks.....not anymore. I walk through security without a sulk. In fact, I thanked them for their professionalism.