Saints Should Always be Judged Guilty Until they are Proved Innocent

Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent, is a famous line by George Orwell. The case can be applied to our current prime minister (who knows for how long), Manmohan Singh. He has been, from the beginning of his career at the UN, considered as a man of incredible intellect and a down to earth, no frills kind of person. People of such brilliance are inherently proud and shrewd, but such characteristics cannot be associated with Manmohan Singh. The question arises that how someone with so many things remain a saint? And have these properties led to his current situation of a lame duck prime minister?

A classical paradox emerges when we look at the above statements. How can a saint who is already down to earth fall down from a position of power. Let's look deep into the mind of our prime minister, maybe we can find answers to problems that the current government faces. Why Manmohan Singh failed as a leader? He had the basic ingredients of being a great man like intellectual prowess, power courtesy Sonia Gandhi, in a way she granted him prime ministership on a silver platter, and a nation which was egging to be directed in a direction of being a superpower.

Well it cannot be denied that this man gave India its growth story, an outlook of a country ready to take on the world. All that has gone to waste with situation of the world economy. Policy paralysis, bad governance and what not, Manmohan Singh government has an image of a cranky old lady who is out of her mind, in the minds of the people. Is Manmohan Singh done with the world or simply he does not care? Did he let people around him mislead him or he wasn't in the driver's seat at all? A study in blue it might be called in the future. What do people with power want? More power, is  the general theory but in this case it is not to be. Where has the power gone and how did it come to this? This can be considered as a classical case of how to lose power and that too immense power.

This can also become a study in black when you look into investigations in the Coal Scam. Did Manmohan Singh, in his prime become so lazy as not to check on what was being done by A. Raja or did the number one know what the number two was upto? Number always knows what number two is upto and it hasn't been proved otherwise anywhere in the world. If we study Manmohan Singh's characteristics then we get to know that the man so unpolitical and professional is not capable of doing a crime of this magnitude. Did the power corrupt him as it always does? Is there a dark side to an otherwise bright character or is it just a dark spot? Let's read the first line of this article once again.

Being Old in a Young Country

In India, we live in a country where 75% of our population is under 40 years old. We are a young country, full of youthful energy. But where does this leaves the 90 million strong (?) old population? The question mark that I have put is because of the obvious fact that the old are not strong and need all kinds of support. The main question is that are we, in our abilities and also the government in its abilities, providing the support and quality of support that needs to be provided to the elderly? The answer is a clear cut no. Time has come when we need to do some serious introspection and take this cause to another level.

The global scenario in case of the elderly is that all the developed nations have a fairly large number of elderly population. Japan is almost considered as a nation of the elderly. This is because of lowering birth rates, increased cost of living and government regulations in countries like China. As India moves towards the path of growth that will be driven by the youth that is existing in our country, are we virtually sitting on a time bomb of elderly population? What are we going to do when this young population grows old? Are we ready for the challenge and do we really care about our elderly?

It has been some time since we started moving towards nuclear families. This led to elderly living a more independent life. The rich gave their parents a new home to live in and the not so rich gave them the old age homes. To get into an emotional grind, the effect on the psyche of the old is not good. In the times of supporf they are left on their own. Some families care greatly about their parents and grandparents but the others just forget them in the chores of the busy day to day life. About 35% of the elderly population above the age of 80 is living alone according to the 2011 census data. It should be understood that living alone above the age of 80 is no easy task, mostly there is no work to do and there are ailments, diseases, doctors and hospitals. Along with these there is also loneliness to deal with. Statistics show that about 30% of the elderly population is employed. This helps in getting a living but does not helps in warding of loneliness.

Government has instituted measures to address the problems, but the implementation is almost nil. Number of elderly living below the poverty line has also been increasing steadily. There are a lot of yojnas to address this problem but there is no implementation. There is a great need for a public campaign to generate awareness on this sensitive issue. According to our traditions we have treated our parents as our gods. What changed this? Why have we come to this day when we have even stopped caring about them? There is a need for some serious introspection.

Perceptions and Opinions

I thought of continuing Me and My Experiments with Human Understanding series but have finally decided not to use that title again because Experiment is a strong word and in the past people have confronted with me for it. Also, experimenting with humans is banned until you have proper permissions. This thought leads me to the current topic of discussion (yes, keep looking for this on the Facebook page). How much perceptions and opinions matter?

The line between right and wrong fades away when we bring the words, perception and opinion in the fray. It becomes one man's opinion against other man's opinion. We formulate our opinions on the basis of our perception of a particular situation or a thing. Now how we perceive is totally dependent on our brains. Brain makes a perception on the basis of experience and knowledge. So effectively, our ability to make right or wrong opinions totally depends on our brains. But sometimes, when what we think are right opinions lead to decisions, they may be catastrophically wrong for some. Consider Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, both parties took right decisions according to them, which corresponded to some opinions, but in the end what happened was very wrong. I will put out some questions here, do right or wrong even exist? If they do, who has the ultimate authority to decide what is right and what is wrong?

I think I have the answer for the second question but not the first. Reading Freud, Jung, Marx, Plato etc., I came to know that I am not the first one to think about this and obviously I am not. The concepts of Law and Government was created only to decide on this fact that was is right or wrong. And thus somethings which were considered right in some traditions like Sati, Child Marriage, Corruption etc were deemed as wrong. While making excess money was considered right. But, what wrong is corruption for a poor sweeper whose only aim is to earn only as much so that he can feed his family? Rules and Laws were created to drive something called collective perception. So, according to this, if we collectively believe in something, it makes it right. While some believe that something which goes against human suffering should be considered right while others considered that to achieve something right we must go through suffering.

Another question is how much can we get away with this argument of opinion and perception? And the truth is, all the arguments with others can be won on this basis, or at least they can be deflected. "It is my opinion and I don't care about what you say!". This is very much acceptable but how about an inner conflict, what side to take? If we can't decide if right or wrong exists, how can we take sides to anything?

My ultimate aim of writing this is to find a way to escape this argument. How can we eliminate right and wrong and opinions and perceptions from our discussions? Can we still find solutions to problems without our opinions? Will not having these affect the quality of our decisions? I will be creating polls and discussions for this. Do provide your comments.

Facebook page link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Incremental-Observations/104787302906058

What The Hell Happened!

Hello readers (if any). I don't know what just happened now. I just woke up at my home and found out that my world has changed absolutely! I remember that Diwali had just gone by and everything was hunky dory. But now, I observe things at my home that baffle me. Apparently, I have a new phone, and there are 3 extra phones in my home. The whole structure of my bedroom has changed and lot of other things too. I ran to my sister and asked her that for how long I was out? What I get in reply are few scorns and a grimace. I had to force it out of her but finally I got to know. I was unconscious for a year!

I only thought that it was a dream. I don't live in my house anymore, I live in some other city. Well you can call it a city or a warehouse or even a dungeon from the future. In this place, you go in as organic matter and become something devoid of carbon. You become a part of a machine, a very big machine indeed. This machine may be called IT sector, economy or even country. I observe that my friends have also become some parts of this machine in some place or the other. I live with other parts and somehow am in sync to do one function or the other.

While the machine gets the fuel, its parts may only get some amount of lubrication that too only if they are lucky. And if they don't, they tend to become rusty. And as you might have come to infer, by this shallow opening, I have become rusty too. But wait a second, didn't I just say that I just woke up? Welcome to the whole new lot of weird! Expect a post every week now. 

Pigeons - No Peace This Diwali

The Unstrange - Chapter 4

Links to previous chapters (reading in order necessary):
Prologue: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/unstrange-prologue.html
Chapter 1: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/the-unstrange-chapter-1.html 
Chapter 2: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/09/the-unstrange-chapter-2.html
Chapter 3: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/09/the-unstrange-chapter-3.html
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Matt opened his eyes. It seemed like a long time since he had done so. The light in his eyes was incredible. It took him a few minutes to totally open his eyes without cringing. He could see the thick branches, which came out of huge trees. The top of the forest was so dense, with intermingling branches and leaves, that no light of sun could pass through. Matt was lying on the ground, staring at the ceiling which was made up of far reaching thick branches of huge trees. He tried to sit up, it certainly took a huge effort to do so. He noticed that his arms were as thin as sticks, his clothes were all dirty, torn and frayed, the depth of his ribs ended in a small cliff where his stomach started and there was blood on his jeans just below the knee on the right leg. He looked around and fear gripped him. He was sitting in the middle of what looked like a graveyard turned upside down. There were bones of various shapes and sizes, full skeleton of birds, skulls of various animals, some bones very small and some of unimaginable sizes. They were everywhere Matt could see. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. The dread was so great that he sat there frozen. Where was he? What had happened? Where were the others?

If getting up was difficult then walking seemed almost impossible. There was no strength left in Matt's legs. But he had got to get away from that place, which in no way looked safe. He wouldn't dare shout out loud for others, there might be some things in the forest that he would not want to attract. He started walking, taking very small steps, one at a time. He was trying to remember the events that took place before he lost consciousness. The memory was patchy, but it was slowly all coming back to him. For now, he was mostly concentrating on his steps. Strength was returning in his legs, the stiffness was slowly subsiding. The floor was full of undergrowth, there were thick bushes on the ground. The roots of the trees were sprawling from everywhere. Even an able bodied man would have found it tough to walk. Matt was hardly managing. He was going to the east, where he knew that according to the Death Zone area, the boundary glass wall was there. But, obviously, this was not the Death Zone of the Jatinga, it was some other Death Zone and it were the bones that scared Matt. He wanted to move away from them as soon as possible. He kept on walking for sometime, one bird skeleton or the other would make itself show time and again, but now it was pretty much clear except for the great forest which didn't seem to have any end. The forest look old, very old indeed. The trees were gnarled and knotty. The air was still and the silence was deafening. Matt, couldn't hear anything except his own footsteps, sound of which was magnified. He thought that he surely had made enough noise to wake any animal, if there was any, in the forest.

Matt was very weak. He had realized that no food or water had passed his mouth for god knows how much time. He was thirsty and starving. He could not walk for long, suddenly he fell down, breathing hard, after what looked like two miles. He had tried calling for his colleagues, but his throat was raw and his lips were parched. Whatever sound came out of his mouth would not travel very far. He needed water. The ground beneath his face looked moist. There might be a stream flowing nearby, he thought. But there was no energy left in him to even move a muscle. He was not sure that he would even live for long or not. There might be some clues in his memory of how he ended up here and how he could get out, he thought. "I must remember" he said to himself. 

It had all began with "the discovery". Just after Matt had been inducted to the project, there had been the incident, when the dawn happened at the dusk. The ground shook horribly. It was the worst earthquake that Matt had witnessed, for he had witnessed many. The earthquake lasted for 4 hours, varying in intensity from time to time. He came to know from others that the earthquake was new, it had not happened before during the previous incident. The event had caused an enormous amount of excitement in the camp. Everybody was running around, seeking correspondences. Matt became the busiest person on the camp, since it was his domain. A visible change had occurred in the center of the zone. The geometry of ground had changed. Small plateaus, about a feet high, had formed. Some trees in that region had been uprooted. This had prompted Matt to immediately order fresh satellite scan of the area. It would be crucial to know what lies beneath the ground. It looked as if something had grown inside the ground.

The event had thrown the focus from above the ground to below it. Satellite pictures of the composition of the elements of ground came and the results were shocking. There appeared to be a 4 to 5 Km deep hollow space in the ground starting at a depth of around 3 Km. This hollow space was not present before. Plus the scan showed that the hollow space had large amounts of Silicon present in it, larger than what is present in the soil. It virtually ruled out the possibility of presence of something gaseous. The only way to find out what was present there, was to drill. Drilling was initiated. It was a deep drill, it took days to reach even a tad closer to the starting point, and when they reached it, their drill got stuck. It turned out that the silicon heavy compound was actually a liquid, a dense and extremely viscous liquid. The big drill had been caught in the liquid and wasn't able to rotate. because of the viscosity of the liquid. It was withdrawn, without wasting anytime. What came out was even more interesting. The top of the big drill was covered in what looked like some crystal. As if the crystal or the glass casing has been formed for the drill. They came to know that the glass had been liquid because of the tiny and rotating fissures that were formed on the surface of the glass. Peculiar things happened after that. The glass was so strong that it wouldn't cut with normal saws. Scientist immediately drew a conclusion that the glass was actually diamond. Matt had a strong reservation to this because the satellite scan had suggested an abundant presence of the element Silicon whereas diamond is made up of Carbon. Diamond cutters were introduced and the glass was cut. When the properties of glass were tested, the results proved that it was not diamond. But the glass was highly unusual, although there are many varieties of glass almost none is found in the ground, the elemental structure was very complex and was unlike they have ever seen before, and it was not like normal glass which breaks in sharp shards, it cut like it was iron, grainy.

The discovery of glass had generated much excitement. The properties of glass resembled the properties of diamond and so would the cost. Special ceramic testing machines were installed. Special Indian government officials were now constantly present on the camp. A decision was taken by them to extract the glass. It was a scientifically tough decision to make. The glass would have to be taken out as oil is extracted from the ground but because of the viscosity, it might not come up with suction. But where there is greed there is a way. Cryogenic suction pumps were installed, correct medium pipe size was selected, drilling began again but this time on a large scale and out of the Death Zone. The plan  was to drill to the bottom of the glass reserve from the side and start extracting the glass from the side so that the inherent pressure of the glass mass helps in oozing out of the liquid. Matt on the other hand was concerned about the various questions that the discovery threw at them. Where and how did the glass come there if it wasn't present there before? What the hell was that earthquake about? And how these extraordinary events were happening in this 2 Km square area of ground only?

Matt had crawled for about a hundred meters, for he had no energy to walk. There in front of him was flowing a very tiny stream of water. His heart leaped at the sight of water. This gave him all the energy to stand up and walk up to the stream. The water was cold, initially it burned in his mouth. Once he got used to it, he drank to his fulfillment. Matt felt as if blood that was earlier frozen, had started to flow in his veins again. There was some magic in water. After drinking it, Matt felt as if he had a meal after a long time, he felt energetic. Little did he know about how messages traveled over in that land. Matt started walking again. He was lost and he needed to leave the forest. He could devise only one way of getting out, that is to travel in the direction where the trees grew least and it actually worked for him. The trees were starting to thin out, the forest cover was lessening. Now, the memory was all clear in his mind except the last part.

Drilling into the ground to extract the glass triggered something nasty. On the twelfth day since the drilling had started, the drilling was almost complete, the suctions pipes were simultaneously being lowered in. After everything was complete, the suction process were started. The pumps, powered by same technology as the jet engines, started rolling, creating a storm in the forest. Ten minutes after that, the ground started to shake vigorously  It was unlike anything Matt had experienced before, the vibrations were huge and pulsating. Rocks started to rip out of the ground and fly in the air. Matt was right in the middle of the zone as his experiments were with the change in soil properties. He couldn't stand on the ground. All around him the ground was pulsing, there were strong waves that were generated from the ground which was sending everything upwards. This time the sky turned dark. Matt was caught in the eye of the storm, if he would have moved an inch he would have been tossed off by the pulses that were coming from the ground. Then there was a roar in the sky, and light tore through it. The light was violet and excruciating to the eyes, Matt could no longer keep them open. The next time he opened them was in the forest on the bed of bones. Matt knew that his memory was not yet complete, something very horrible had happened after that, but was like a forgotten dream or more like a nightmare.

Matt came out of the forest at the sunset. Before him lay plains full of greens and he was struck with the feeling that he was now not at the same place as he should have been. There seemed to be no one around for miles upon miles. He kept on walking. All the energy that water had given him was now spent. He was very tired and looked for a shelter to spend night in. He found a small ditch where he would be well hidden from the cold winds that were now blowing. He had lived in forests before and knew how to kindle a fire and dry wood was available in plenty. He lied down and fell asleep almost immediately. His dreams were disturbing, there was a huge roar and the ground kept on jumping. There was sounds of people screaming, running away from him. Many were tossed up and fell away with a crashing thud. There were stars in the sky, the stars appeared a lot big, there was no ground in sight now, he was lost in stars and there was no air to breathe. He woke up with a start. A hand was covering his mouth. There were many men standing above him, there faces were covered in black cloth, only eyes were visible. The man that covered his mouth let go of his mouth and pinned his arms and legs to the ground, he was strong, very strong. He was saying something to Matt, but Matt didn't understand the language. All the men around him, looking golden in the light of the fire, had some kind of armor covering them. The armor was shinning in the fire light but it was no metal. The armor was transparent. The man said something to another ferocious looking man. A command was delivered from him, and Matt's head exploded with pain and darkness took over him.

The Unstrange - Chapter 3

Links to previous chapters (reading in order necessary):
Prologue: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/unstrange-prologue.html
Chapter 1: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/the-unstrange-chapter-1.html
Chapter 2: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/09/the-unstrange-chapter-2.html

The night was dark and thunderous. Every now and then the voluminous void of the darkness was broken by the blue and purple lightening and revealed a vision that made Kara feel like a speck of dust in the forest with thickest and tallest of trees. The dark clouds were like black fire, thundering with such ferocity that made Kara feel that the dark flames were going engulf the whole world. There was a bird flying through the storm where no normal bird would dare to fly, and Kara was sitting in it. Just a few minutes back the pilot had announced that they would be facing a lot of turbulence as it was the monsoon season. Mary was sitting beside Kara, her face was white and she was clutching the side rests of the seats very tightly, she didn't like thunderstorms and specially when she was in air. Kara on the other hand intended to look out through the length of the storm. She always loved watching anything nature had to offer. This was the first time she was flying through the thunderstorm. Gazing out she saw, far away in the sky, there was a small cloud which was shinning a little, or was it a cloud? She was trying to focus on the point, but it was far away and dark. Just then the sky was illuminated with lightening and she saw, to her amazement, what looked like a man. Just then Mary grabbed her arm and said,

"Will you shut that window? It's killing me!"

Kara turned back to look out, searching for the same spot, but it was gone. Nothing else was to been seen, except the dark grey clouds and shimmering lightening. She lowered the window shade. Obviously, her mind was playing tricks on her. Last two days had been full of hectic packing and running. Their camp was bundled away and sent to the US, since now they wouldn't need the equipment, while the essentials were kept. Peter had briefed her about the her next assignment and it was not much. He had told her that she had to go to India for a top secret project called Ayaan. This was the same project that her previous partner and mentor had worked on, during which he had died in an accident. He also informed her about the curious message she had received and its negative frequency. He said that they are looking up that negative frequency message is even possible or not and how only her Sat phone caught it. There was a third set of information, which  Peter was in two minds to share or not, it was regarding the location of the origin of the message which was a place in North India only. He had given her the coordinates. Peter had given her a task, he wanted her to investigate about this place and also told her that it might be related to project Ayaan. He then told Kara to pack everything and send the laboratory to the USGS, as all the equipment would be provided to her by the project officials in India only. She had to take a flight next day from Melbourne, Australia to Kolkata, India.

Kara was now pretty sure that she had imagined the voice on the phone to be Matt's as she had imagined the man in the sky. Peter had sent her anyway to the source of the message because there was a requirement and it served many purposes. It was an emotional moment for Kara because now she would be working with the ghost of Matt as she would inherit all the research that Matt had done and continue on the yet unknown job. Also, her mind was on that phone call all the time. If it was not Matt then who from India knew her name, and would call for help. She had never been to India before. She longed for answers. 

Mary had decided to accompany her, although, Indians didn't want her but Peter had insisted that she would be allowed to accompany Kara for the last man he sent died on the project and India doesn't have a good record for women's safety. Indians had reluctantly agreed.

They landed in Kolkata about an hour later. There was a crowd outside the airport for reception of arrivals. Kara and Mary had to wait for some time, for a fight had been started between taxi drivers which was resolved when few policemen came and diffused the situation. Then there it was, there was a man in whites, standing at the end of the row, holding a board which had Kara's name on it. "Welcome to India, madam" he said to both Kara and Mary, repeating it twice. They were escorted to a white Ambassador, which had "Government of India" written on a red plaque.

"Where will you be taking us?" Kara asked the driver.

"A short way madam, just to the nearby defense airfield." the driver answered.

"Looks like we are flying again. And I don't like it." said Mary.

The short way, took about an hour, for there was a massive traffic jam on the roads of Kolkata. "This is normal madam, it is still not the peak hour." Her driver mentioned when the guests looked irritated. Finally they reached their destination. There was a man standing near the airfield, dressed in a blue suit. His features were sharp, he sported a mustache, he must have been around 35 years old.

 "Welcome to India Ms. Johnathan, Ms. Clark. I am Ravi Kumar from Ministry of Science and Technology, India. I hope your journey was pleasant. (Mary had something to mutter here). Forgive me for being rude, but we must at once go to our charted plane as it is going to rain soon." With that he turned and headed straight for the nearby hangar, there a small aircraft was waiting for them. They entered it, Kara was surprised by the richness of interiors and was quite impressed. As soon as they got seated, the plane started to move.

"Now tell me Mr. Kumar, tell me everything about the project." said Kara.

"Well your dedication is commendable Ms. Johnathan--"

"Call me Kara." interrupted Kara. 

"Kara, but it is considered rude in India to discuss matters of import until and unless the guests are well fed and comfortable. You have had a long journey Ms- Kara, once we are in air and you are well fed, I will tell you the things I am sent here to tell you. For it will be good to know for you that we are going to Silchar in Assam, that is the nearest place to our work site where we can land this plane. For Now you can put your mind to rest." said Kumar, with a smile on his face. His baritone made the words look menacing.

After that Kumar asked them about their journey, for which an exciting description was given by Mary,  who obviously didn't seem to be afraid now for she told everything about the thunderstorm. After that, when they were in air, they were served with food which was good.

"Now that you have eaten, we must discuss some things Kara. As you know, you will be working on project Ayaan. Now, as stated in your agreement it is a top secret project, you cannot disclose any information to anyone outside your team, not even to your family. So I must warn you, that any disclosure will lead to your termination for this project and as well as your agency and you will be blacklisted. Is  this clear?" inquired Kumar, with a stern expression.

"Pretty much" answered Kara back, as all these things were clarified to her by Peter earlier.

"Very well. Now, 25 years ago, we located a place called Jatinga which is located in Assam. A peculiar thing happened there, every monsoon, a lot of birds would die. There were some explanations given by scientists over a possible cause for this, but nothing was concrete. Then three years ago, an even peculiar thing happened. A small area of the forest just lit up, in the middle of the night. It was day on a 2 square kilometers area and pitch dark in the rest of the forest."

Kara and Mary were blown away by this. There were a several questions asked by them about the possibility of such and event, but Kumar won't tell then anything.

"I am not the right person to tell you all about this Ms. Clark, but I appreciate your curiosity. This is just an initial brief, you would come to know the details at the site itself, where we are heading right now. Now, this event has happened 3 times after that. So, your task would be to assist the team led by Dr. Vinay Malhotra in uncovering the truth about this "Death Zone", as we call it. All your questions will be answered by Dr. Malhotra himself." said Kumar, finishing his brief. It was also implied that he would say no more and his part, for now, was complete.

They landed in Silchar 15 minutes later. It was pouring. They were shifted to mini jeep which was covered. It was an hour's drive from Silchar and the scenery was amazing. The fields were full of greenery and the small mountains were covered with layers of green. After all it was the evergreen part of India. The forest was full of trees which were lined along the road. The road turned to a muddy one 40 minutes into the journey. Now the forest was even more prominent and felt untouched, except for the muddy road. The rain had stopped. The arrival included issuing of a pass to both Kara and Mary so that they were authorized to perform their duties without any restrictions. Then they saw the most amazing thing, there was a  very high glass wall erected around a huge area of about 2 sq. kms. in shape of a cylinder. Dr. Vinay Malhotra was there to receive them. "Welcome to the Death Zone" he said smiling, ironically.