Life - What it means to you

"So...What do you want out of your life?" I asked myself on a dark night standing all alone beneath the shining stars on the terrace of my flat. So many things just ran through my mind. A lavish ivory house in a far off land with lots of greenery around, a small pool with palms surrounding it, a horde of cars and bikes, a beautiful caring wife, a number of lovely kids who never grow and remain as charming and naughty, a smile of pride and content on my parents face, delicacies, gadgets, status, fame and whatever luxury that exists in this world, I just want it for myself.

"How selfish of me!!" But isn't everybody out there as selfish as me. Isn't everybody constantly just thinking about himself and wanting exactly the same things as I want. Isn't this the reason for all the malice and vice in the world where everybody is just concerned with himself. People commit crimes for money, killings for faith. The world is full of thieves, murderers, rapists, pedophiles and psychos. I ask again, "Is this what we call Life ?".

Kudos to our ancestral intelligentsia who really discovered the secret of 'Life' and very subtly left us with this materialistic world, their sole aim being to entangle people in its vicious ways. But this was important to keep the gullible in check. They created gods, religions and money. And see, how these 3 things keep us busy throughout our lives.

To be really frank 'Life' is to "be born, reproduce and die". This is the basic truth of life. Have a look at the animal kingdom, isn't it what they do !! .And this is necessary to keep this world alive. We are animals too but since we are born as humans, shouldn't we respect that? Shouldn't we live like humans? But see how we have complicated things.

Life was always meant to be a simple and wonderful experience for everybody. But some of us are not that fortunate. So shouldn't the fortunate lend a caring shoulder to their needy brethren? Can't we make this earth a wonderful abode for all, an abode free of crime and vice.

I believe I am fortunate enough and will surely beautify my abode, this earth and make it a memorable experience for everybody who takes birth here. This is what life means to me now.

What about you ?

The Uneducated Literate

So you call yourself an educated citizen. Ok lets find out how well educated you really are. Just answer the following questions:

1. Have you ever wanted to know somebody’s surname to ascertain his caste or religion or background?
2. Have you ever mocked someone’s disability?
3. Have you ever broken a traffic signal intentionally?
4. Do you believe in getting things done by hook or crook?
5. Would you hurt somebody mentally or physically if the party does not support your view?
6. Would you ruin someone’s life for no reason?

Well, if you have come along till here with a ‘NO’ to all the questions above then indeed you are ‘educated’ otherwise you are an ‘Uneducated Literate’.

The ‘Uneducated Literate’ is a special class of people who have been to school/college, know how to read and write, but their minds haven’t evolved. They are engrossed in caste-ism, petty selfishness, destruction of self and others, and usually have an inflated ego. A few examples: The recent Gujjar-Meenas clashes for SC status, or the so called demonstrations against Saddam Hussein’s hanging where the mob injured innocent by-passers, the calls to ban Orkut, harassment of artists for depicting some gods in paintings.

Where is the end to all this? Why aren’t we evolved yet to decide what’s good for us and others in the long run? The reason is our view of education and how we define its purpose. Does education only mean churning long books, regurgitating them in the exams and fetching good marks? So anybody who is a topper or scores good marks is better educated than others. Should it actually end at fetching good marks?

Indeed ‘NO’. Education is meant to help a person evolve and liberate his mind from the narrow shackles bounding it. Only then can we imagine and realize a beautiful world in its true sense.

So if you are still an ‘Uneducated Literate’….its time to get ‘Educated’