Posted by: thoughtsunparalleled | November 6, 2009

Being a Kannadiga on Nov 1st- By Abhishek Iyengar

Karnataka Celebrated Kannada rajotsava on November 1st, Ah! Well very proud Kannadigas did repent the fact that November 1st was a Sunday and they were ripped of one calendar day holiday. Anyway “Kannada maatadu, Kannada usiraadu.. Kannada alavadisu.. Kannada na belasu..” Well great poets and writers stressed upon. The marking of start of the state Karnataka from Mysore holds high regards in the minds of authentic Kannadigas but spare a thought “Is kannada Rajostava today remains just a celebration?” ah! Go deeper and think you will find the impact even today almost after a week of rajotsava.

Our activists have taken the celebration day to different terms! The very symbolic and meaningful Karnataka flag today acts as a Security barrier for all the flashy glassy buildings. Talk about Stone proof glass for your own buildings then take our Karnataka Flag paste on the glass shield and voila! Here you even a Tsunami cannot destroy the glass shield. Many IT companies, Shopping malls and other buildings resort to such kind of activities, but why? I mean we all know the reason or the implication behind it but the real question is “Is it required?” The fear of “Kannadism” is something that can actually break the zeal of real “kannada patriots!”

November 1st, almost all the city’s theatre houses fear to screen non-kannada films, Ya right! Huh! ‘Being a Kannadaiga’ or ‘Being Kannada’ is not “Watching Kannada films” Alas! Our activist can understand that majority of Kannada films are only remake of other language films, who is the real culprit here? The theatre owner or the very creative Kannada film industry?  Autos zoom in with Karnataka Flags flying high only if they had realized that the smoke they emit using kerosene kills of Karnataka or even the path they drive on easily can reduce half of Karnataka’s population.

Fighting out politics when relief work was the main priority or counting the number of seats using an abacus is all what the people who are accountable do, Not screening Kannada film on Nov 1st or not hoisting a Kannada flag on top of the buildings is not a sin against “Being Kannadiga”, The real sin lies in the blood of the people who try to increase tensions by spreading riots and rumors. None of the greats from past in Karnataka called for any violence or riots, be it Kuvempu or Dr. Rajkumar; all that they said was to encourage and spread Kannada; so lets do it, The important deed that we should be doing on November 1st is to teach children the history of Karnataka, Kannada, the richness in the language, encourage people to learn the language, create an open forum where they can try and do something w.r.t Kannada or Karnataka. Use the stones to write on the board rather than to throw, Use the language to teach and talk something better rather than use at one. Use the energy to add to the glory of the Karnataka flag rather than keeping it as a “GLASS defender” hoist the flags spreading a sense of proudness rather than creating a environment for fear.

Kannada rajotsava is for our better, our development not for other’s misery! I hope atleast now that people will spread and safeguard our flag and our respect.

Posted by: thoughtsunparalleled | November 3, 2009

The Change!-Service vs Product By Abhishek Iyengar

Well, this is the first look into the experience one gets when he moves from a Service industry to a product industry! Well The incidents and experiences are completely my own, any resemblance to any organization or any incident is purely co-incidental and not intentional!

For more than 3 years I did spend time in finding out the best proxy that can be used to access one simple website called “Google.com” huh! before that! The basic thing that differs when it comes to Product industry is “Code of conduct!” They way these company function is very western and have there own way of working!

First day as I step into the company I found a precious jewel that was missing from past 2 years! My mother was finally relieved when I told her “You need not remind me the hand kerchief” Yes!! huh! There was toilet papers kept here and use them to your own discretion! No one to question or no one to remove them! there were plenty! and what was extinct from past 2 years suddenly gushed into me as flood! Well I know that I did use them on the first day to my discretion! ah! finally free from those old cheesy “Save trees” “Be green” was all gone!

My constant search for change took me to the heart of the infrastructure, massive building with countless floors and an amazing interiors did make me uncomfortable especially when i spent my previous years in a more factory’ish style, or a Cyber Center style! The lifts here work! and act as an important means of transportation! Quickly I noticed that I was the only one wearing Formals! huh! Finally! No need of irritating full arm shirts and decently tuck in trousers! ah! You wear what you like! unlike the previous school’ish environment where they used to inspect the kind of polish applied too.

The Security guards in service industry are your real BOSSES they restrict you, argue with you and cut you down! yes even the appraisals might be affected for a simple reason that you are entering the Parking lot without an helmet and security guard reports it directly to the CEO! what crap!! Don’t be too shocked too if he takes down your employee number, well here BYE to all you are always have that air and there is that distance always maintained. ah! yes there is no PT period in any product industry! PT period? well Imagine the days of Service industry where you had to wait for the clock to tick 5.30 to touch your Table tennis bat! err! uff!

From laptops to docking stations, you get what you want in any product industry unlike where you fight for a company pen and sign at hundred places in the service industry! Well that’s the way it is guess! Things here in product environment come to your place expect the cabs or the buses unlike the times in Service environment where you literally fight out for things to happen! be it a phone connection or even a simple access card change! Every damn request there goes to the CEO and every thing in Service industry has a tag called “Cost cutting” which is felt and visible to the least level! Of course the same might be as well applicable to the latter but atleast not felt by the lower level.

From coffee to range of snacks and biscuits, there are plenty to offer as compared to the days where we used to literally struggle for that one ‘Plastic coffee cup!” From Unlimited internet access to struggle to find out the ‘best untraceable proxy’ Service industry stands on Darwin’s theory of “Survival of Fittest” with changing economic conditions and deteriorating market Service industry is better renamed as “SURVIVAL industry”

Well these are just my initial inputs, as days are far ahead and words never fall short especially for me! I will surely come back with more real time incidents which draws huge lines between Product and a Service Based industry!

Posted by: thoughtsunparalleled | October 27, 2009

East is Ours! By Abhishek Iyengar

An IIT professor in delhi killed a young 18 year old girl form east! The brutal killing happened after the professor’s proposal was rejected by the girl from the east!  I was watching the interview of one of the girl’s friends on Television; Scared, graveled and tensed she uttered “We don’t feel safe here!” huh! what hurt me was the word “Here”. I am sure we all have our preference with respect to cities to live! and completely understand the point that our home state comes on top in our priority charts! Be it delhi or Mumbai or even any other western or norther frontier parts of India, we feel that we belong to India but the tome used by the young lady did not signify this same feeling.

I think it is right to some extent, just imagine us, for us “Chinkis” as we call them always pathetically always come from either nepal or external world! for most of us even Manipur and other eastern states sound external! thanks to our politicians that many youngsters feel India is all about MUMBAI, Delhi and now Bangalore! Somehow we do not largely account the people form the eastern world! The girls are looked on in a bad way and the boys are always considered as Nepali or Tibetian refugee. With physicalities resembling there might have been chances of such mis-conceptions but these mis-conceptions are slowly turning towards inducing a larger outlay of Fear in these people. The tears of the female counterpart who was killed really invoked my feelings against eastern state people.

They are here or in any other state for the same reason as to why we are there, Yes! food and occupation, They are here to work and they have every right to work anywhere in India as they are a integral part of India. With raising tensions between the Ind0-Sino border issue and also the Dalai Lama Arunachal Pradesh visit issue, things like this can errupt into a different wave or even into a volcano! they are as much as citizens of India as any one are, then why to look at them at a different angle? Why to hurt them? This unseen issue which is under the wraps of political turmoil might soon change its direction if we all don’t realise it. Lets stop ill-treating these people, lets pray for their safety and protect them in our lands if time araises.

Posted by: thoughtsunparalleled | October 23, 2009

Radio Indigo’s Engage- By Abhishek Iyengao

City based Radio Fm channels are often tend to create the awareness and other publicity stunts, Well another feather int he cap is Radio Indigo’s “Engage” an awareness created to Save TIGER, Being Citizen of India I take pride of having Tiger as our National Animal, completely agreeing to the point that TIGERS are becoming extinct but completely baffled by the Promos and other adds that is running on the radio to save tigers! To be frank it is pathetic!

Well lets take it from scratch, celebrities or “So-made” celebrities come on air and extend their support to the project, be it “Charu Sharma” Ya right! or ‘Anil Kumble’ or even Biocon giant “Kiran majumdaw shaw” Now explain me this! I am a normal citizen staying in Bangalore struggling to get out the idiotic traffic with a hope that I reach my destination on time and not die in between because of all the polluted air i breath or get caught by a non-nonsensical traffic police who thinks that his pocket is asking for more! Now Listening to the radio, I support the project, But what next? what can I do? is there a plan or a solution? is there anything that is framed so that citizens like us can do something about it? No all that a METRO citizen can do is to text message telling “I SUPPORT” and end up paying chunks of money to the service provider, and we call it a SUPPORT! Or is it that We got to start taming the wild animal! go to Bannergatta park pick yourself a tiger and start taming at house! Well if that was feasible then believe me, robbery would have been a fossil by now! or is there nay other way?

Absolutely nonsense! theme music with perfect sound mixing and an amazing voice to go with it wount serve the purpose of “Protect TIGER” The real awareness has to be in the ares where they poach tigers, I had been to Bandipur recently which is otherwise called the “TIGER RESERVOIR of INDIA” Intially i was very skepitcal of going to the forest of Bandipur as i had grown up listenning to the stories of “Killings” in Bandipur, It was only later I realised when i landed in the middle of the forest that TIGERS are hard to see nowadays there, may be various reasons starting from climatic variations to.. well I am not too sure about the reasons to pen it.

Project Save Tiger has to propoganded in these areas, If only RADIO INDIGO WAS HEARD in the thick forest of Bandipur, Sitting in the AC room and propagating SAVE TIGER in bangalore is absolutely a publicity gimmick! or if it is really needed in METRO cities, then a solution should be propaganded.

Nelson Mandela qouted in one of his speech “Solve the problems which is right in front of you!” For bangalore and Radio Indigo there are several problems to tackle with, be it the “Proper use of Flood relief Fund” or “Metro construction” or “Traffic congestion” etc etc. You can only come out with a solution if you have undergone the problem or atleast witnessed it. All in all Publicity can take to any means when it comes to bringing fame! and for RADIO Indigo all that i can do sitting here is to stop using leather goods which i dont use it anyway!

Posted by: thoughtsunparalleled | October 21, 2009

Unnai Pol Oruvan- Kamal Hassan’s latest Movie!- By Abhishek Iyengar

The remake of ‘Wednesday’ in tamil drew lot of eyes! UTV’s first major venture into Tamil film industry had a great backing! Kamal Hassan known for his own style, creativity and uniquness found something really worth in remaking a hindi film! Well Unnai Pol Oruvan- was the result of increasing intelligent audience, Gone are the days where film makers can fool people with idiotic one liners and stupid tree scenes. People now  need logic! ah! ya right!

Being an Ardent fan of Kamal, watching this film was inevitable! Banking on the fame the hindi counter part had got! I knew the film’s in out and out butI scouted the movie only to see Kamal hassan and Mohan Lal’s acting! Though late this is what i though of the film very frankly!

Mohan Lal was an absolute disappointment for me atleast! I mean the guy is a great legend, no doubts about that but the character in thsi film needed more firm! and stern outlook! Anupam Kher in hindi nailed the character to perfection! He was decisive and looked the part! On the flip side Kamal delivered a perfect 10! No Second thoughts but the man pulled off the role up his left sleve as smoothly as he could! It matched the temper, the character, the energy levels were high and there were no loop holes in between!

I loved the part where Kamal hassan’s calls up the Police commissioner and says “Mr. I.G. Mara, I am sure you have the heard the State of the art checkoslovian plastic explosives!” Now thats what I call as an Intelligent film!

The technicalities of the film could have been imporoved, The use of artificial sim cards, Router hackings and other system hassles could have been more prominent just to attract people! The fight scnes could have been more crispier but they were definately watchable! The Characters of Sub-Inspector and task force inspector have deliverd what was expected! The TV reporter’s character was bit tonned down, what was surprising for me in both the languages was the simple point that there was no other TV channel covering expect the one chosen by the protagonist, Now who will not believe that media wont rush to the spot when they hear about a bomb in a police station reported on their counterpart channels!

Another important thing to be noticed is the local politics involved in the film, surprisignly the character played by legendary actress lakshmi as the Chief Secretary of TN was absolutely not nesscary, for most part of the film lakshmi so called Chief secretary is not seen and the actress has been under utilized literally! There was no need to dub the voice of the real CM of TN on the phone when the chief secretary talks thus showing that South Indian films are some what biased to some or other politicial parties. The lines where Lakshmi tells that “Ayya i wil handle because no stranger can speak to CM like this easily” was absolutely not needed and was very cheesy! The chief secretary being over courteous to the CM was again way too much and it is a very well know fact that beaurocracy is not a small position according to our Democracy!

The sarcastic fight between Police department and IAS was just an added effect which was really not needed. If you are game to watch an interesting intelligent movie coupled with Kamal’s acting then surely catch this movie as i assure that you will not get bored! however do not expect much out of it at the same time!

Posted by: thoughtsunparalleled | October 7, 2009

Maiya’s- Jayanagar By Abhishek Iyengar

Yesterday! after a days of hard work in office ya right! I went to have lunch at Maiya’s Jayangar, Well knowing very well about the fact that Maiya’s is just a offset clan of MTR, I expected another SAGAR in making! huh! Situated right after the Jain temple (location courtesy- Bharath) in Jayanagar opposite to jayanagar bus stand, the building did look like a SAGAR externally! The 2 storied building has a serving halls on both floors and it is only after we were pushed to the second floor we realized that this hotel was buzzing with people! What else you can expect in bangalore? anyway!

Carved out of MTR’s hype and fame I thought Maiaya’s was not going to live up to the mark! come on! For any Bangalorean MTR is like a temple of food! and having personally interviewed Jagadish Maiya and Hema Malini Maiya (CEO, MTR- old one) I always knew that MTR was known for its simplicity and authenticity! Soon I entered the hall and was directed towards a 2 seater! table obviously i was with my friend! The first thing that shook me was the Hospitality, was lot more polished and grace! This was definitely an edge over the older version, There we no waits, no fights and no greasy faces, the operations seemed to be smooth and clam even though one can see a same type of crowd!

The Menu was simple, Special Meals! there are also normal meals available and don’t be surprised if you end up thinking the difference between the two expect the rates, I was very excited and curios to see the way meals was served, remember the whole MTR fame was in stake keeping aside all the business and professional differences!

I was very surprised to see the legacy of silver tumbler juice to be continued here err! the only change was the old grape juice was now replaced by an appetizer drink which every one of us would have drunk in our house, The look of the silver tumbler made me regain my hopes! The juice immediately followed by a cute small cup of non- artificial soup! No regrets there asthe soup keeps your stomach wanting for more! This was soon followed by course of Palyas or veg curries, the very authentic BELE Palya took the center stage or should i say center of the stomach! Not before the very MTRish pooris were served and yes it was unlimited with Allogadde palya (potato curry) The taste was finger licking and the service was mind blowing except for their own limitations!

The coarse of pooris was immediately followed by “vegetable bath” and the very own “raitha” Now this was definitely a bid to follow the tradition I guessed, the look was too MTRish and the taste did match up! if you are full by now then hold on! as you will be served 3 different kinds of sweet by this time and followed by the potato chips(again self made) and Sandige (fried papads) The white rice is served hot and the style of pouring ghee was kept as it is! even though 8 out of 10 refused the ghee! The Samabar and Rasam tsated delicious and the curd almost looked like an ice cream! If you are done by now then hold on as you will be served everything once more ofcourse left to their own choice and stomach! but once this is finished you will served one more sweet and if you on special meals then you will be given the authentic “Fruit Salad” To wrap it the beda (indian style) raises your taste buds! and of course the afternoon sleep.

As you get up with great difficulty to wash your hand, you will be surprised to see that the handwash is also an exact replica of main MTR where you press the pedal by leg to wash your hands! and all this will cost you 130 rs /- per head! Now The main resemblance is only noticed when you come out and see the stone benches  set up for on goers and regulars to have a seat and chat sipping the fresh coffee! Now coffee DAY! beat that! All in all Try having a meal at Maiyas and i am sure if you are ardent MTR fan you will be not dis appointed! for sure! And you will be loaded with extra happiness because there is no much wait time here!

Its a complete THUMBS-UP for MAIAY’S certainly a restaurant to look forward and finally something decent than the SAGARS!

Posted by: thoughtsunparalleled | October 6, 2009

American******- By Abhishek Iyengar

The ‘*****’ there don’t signify any censored word! Infact being from a typical computer science graduate, all that i meant was to say American (anything)..uh! confusing? here you go!

Early 1990’s saw a steep increase in the way Hollywood films were showcased and filmed in India! The early rise of Rambo to the Mission Impossible series did leave a hard impact on Indian audience, the taboo of English film being vulgar was slowly removed off the blue and English Motion pictures was now more accepted in an average Indian house! The Jurrasic parks made their way into Indian cinema halls, The “Bay’s day out!” was an adorable insight, the terminators and predators kept every one on their seats! The “Evil dead series” rose the fright nerves, as the mood slightly shifted, the Indian market saw a new trend emerging and this new wave was caught by something which was shocking and too sudden, there  came the “American PIE” series!

“Sex, Sleazy and Beer” added to the School and college life! The American series stole every young hearts! Hot babes, sleazy moves and the hungry humor gave that perfect break! people loved it guys adored it, girls hated it even though they watched it in secret! parents regretted at it and leave alone the grand parents huh! it was a new wave and as Indian cinema watchers took a new direction they had more in their way!

The American Pie’s followed by their own list of series but this advent was followed by series of typical ‘College-sexual-screwing-beer’ films such as “Road trips’, ‘Boat trip’, “Euro trip”, “American massacre”, ” American College”, “American Kids”,  “American Youths”, “American Hottie” , “American Desi” blah blah blah! and ya not to forget my personal favorite “the girl next door!” hundreds of films were released and their only banking was the asian-indian market, some of the biggest clunker of films rose to fame here, theaters were filled with people, moreover the CD or the piracy industry made millions out of it! Even today any normal CD shop guy banks on English films such as these! So what is that is great in these films? is it the girls? the sexual inspirations? or the the humor attached to sex? well the perspective might be different! but the gateway to success is now known!

Another answer might be the inability to see any indian movie coming out to break the ongoing supremacy! Even though India film industry is lot more bold now! some where down the line a Film like “INDIAN PIE” might be rated as “B Grade” and might cause huge censor problems! and very few known actors in industry like to associate themselves with films like these!

It was rightly said by one of the famed Hollywood directors “We can make 100 films like Jhodha akbar, but some where we take that back step in filming one American Pie….”

The reason i wrote this article? Well! I watched yet another one” AMERICAN POOP…” and ya if you haven’t caught this one! then do it right now! it is yet another fun filled usual movie…….

Posted by: thoughtsunparalleled | October 5, 2009

Different Philosophies – By Sriharsha

I am having a debate from a long time about the principles of different religions. I have tried to solve this by reading some books. But still the doubt exists in me as to weather everything is created by man or if all the principles are true. I’ll try to mention the basic differences what I understand in the following…..

Hinduism: when we take Hinduism, it has a very vast and ancient history. As I have understood, there are probably two different opinions in this itself. First as told by sri sri shankaracharya, god is in every living and non living thing. God is not to be found outside us. Its within. But on the contrary, some gurus like sri sri ramanujacharya propound that what is present in us is just aatma, but there is another supreme soul called paramathma into whom we all will have to go. This theory is also seen in bhagavadgeetha. Overall, in Hinduism, the main belief is that the god is present inside us and he can be seen nowhere else but only through self realization.

Though hindus seem to worship many gods, all the gurus and great people of Hinduism argue that there is only one god and he is not in any form but the god is formless.

Islam: coming to islam, though I have very less knowledge about religions other than Hinduism, I will try to explain here whatever I know. Basically, they believe “Allah” to be their god and “mohammed” to be his messenger. According to this philosophy, humans are entirely different from god and god is separated from other beings on earth. They strongly believe that idol worshipping is a sin and god is formless.
One thing I have observed is, many practices in Islam for example, “polygamy”, “jihad”, etc which were told by “Prophet Mohammed”, was basically relevant for the medieval arab countries. What I mean to say is for instance, “jihad” was required to be included as a practice because mohammed had to resist the arab attack for Islam to survive. Also, “polygamy” was recommended as the population of muslims during that period was very thin and needed to be increased.

Christianism: the belief about god is very similar to islam here. The main difference being that Christians are idol worshippers contrary to muslims. They believe that “jesus Christ” is the son of god. They believe god to be supreme power and he is different than humans.
Many beliefs of Christianity probably which were developed slowly through different generations have been proved wrong for instance the church maintained that earth is flat and not circular. But scientists later proved it wrong. These things were propounded by some people in church and not by Christ himself though.

Jainism: this is another prominent religion about which I have read recently. Its main prophet is “Mahaveera”. According to this, humans’ life span is decreasing from generation to generation and once it will end up being 10years.
I know only this much about this religion. Another thing in this religion is that they believe in “Ahimsa” which means that no living being has to be harmed.

Other than the above mentioned religions, there are many others like Buddhism, Sikhism, etc. But as I cannot recall much about them and also because I don’t want to drag it more, I’ll conclude this blog.

Why I am discussing these things and what I really intend to know is only one answer. Basically all the religions in the world are both unique and similar in their own way. Infact many beliefs and practices are shared by these religions or have been borrowed by other religions. Many other beliefs are unique in these religions. Even with such diversity, we get to see people proving that their respective religion is correct. We have also witnessed that god is really present and we can learn about him by following any religion.

But again, many beliefs in all religions are baseless and created by humans. Only some are true and they indeed lead us to god. What I want to know is, if it is true that we can understand or atleast hope to know something about god, which religion is the best and if all religions lead to one god, how to decide which belief is authentic and which is man made?

I know that this million dollar question can be answered properly only by few people and is indeed very difficult. But whatever time it may take, I will be searching for the answer to this question probably till I am living as beyond that none of us know what will happen.

Posted by: thoughtsunparalleled | October 1, 2009

We are BUSY!- By Abhishek Iyengar

Bangalore cares! city based NGO, organised a never before event called “Sneha Santhe” at HN kalakshetra on September 27th and 28th, It was a week end and the entire city was enjoying the long holiday, atlast finally! but what was a complete fizzle was the event! reason- WE ALL. We were all very busy to attend!  ya right! yuk!! more than 25 NGO’s serving for different social causes came together on a single platform on the occasion of JOY of GIVING, and set up a huge exhibition, displaying various handmade crafts, stalls exhibiting the hidden talents of people from NGO, and what’s more ? there were truly amazing performances by the children and people for NGO. Spastic society children came together to “sing off” their tears, there was a blind people band proving to all of us that dis-ability can lie only with in one’s heart! It was a complete 2 day event with the last shows on both the days being the fund raising shows!

Enough mailers, sizzler’s, Ads, news paper inserts and other marketing were done priror to the show, everything was set and done, and only people who disappointed all those lovely children were WE THE PEOPLE! yes we were all very busy to attend the program as it dint have SONU NIGAM singing the most EVER GREEN songs or it did not feature any ANGREZ band singer trying to sing err! to shout! It only had pure souls trying to tell the society that “even we are EQUAL”

It has been the same case most of time, some of the most pure charity shows go haywire only because we don’t endorse them! We all look for galmour which is quite right! but always? thats not fair! We rush to stupid cricket matches that happen between unknown nations, states and now clubs and make sure that the stadium is buzzing till end, what’s more we never miss a film on week ends be it boring or idiotic! Palace grounds is always full with hundreds of Melas, house hold sales, exhibitions and what not? We make sure that no temple in our city is left careworn! All the ganesh pendals are full always even thought some of the most idiotic songs are sung through the orchestra. When we can make such shows a massive hit why not programs like SNEHA SANTHE? all that the poor souls wanted was your kindness, encouragement,  supporting words, money be damned! No one asked for any kind of donation or money! it was all free and yet we turn our backs towards it, we never care for such events. We always want known faces to be there, we always look for that OOMP factor! alas! if only we realize that if we can make SANIA MIRZA a super star over night then for sure those kinds from different NGO’s who are fighting for their right in the society!

“BY the people, FOR the people, OF the people” our country’s democracy always emphasized on people, we are probably the strongest force onearth and if we come together then there can be no other force to beat us.

“WE are responsible for THEM” Franklin Roosevelt vented out this line in a famous assembly hall speech! We break and make things, when we can make people like SRK, Amitab Bachan, Then i am sure we can make the same to the children of various NGO’s.

Wishing for a better society! and hoping for a grand success for events like SNEHA SANTHE of Bangalore cares!

Posted by: thoughtsunparalleled | September 30, 2009

To Drink or Not to Drink – By Sriharsha

There are so many names to it. Whisky, Vodka, Brandy, Beer. But collectively it is called as alcohol or liquor. With our Bangalore getting more trendy and “Westernized”, the alcohol consumption also has become more and more. It starts with college and stays till death.

There are so many reasons for someone to start drinking alcohol. (I will just say start because it’s seldom stopped!!!). When I drank beer for the first time, the taste was disgusting and it smelled like a gutter. I wondered how people get addicted to such a thing. I didn’t know about the fantasy world it carries you to. But I must say the hangover is a torture.

In India and especially in the old fashioned orthodox families, it is considered as a sin to drink alcohol. I didn’t understand the rationale behind this attitude. Hence, I tried to do some research and see if any particular reason was there behind this.

Then after I read some books and thought a lot about it, I interpreted the reason. Alcohol removes the alertness from mind and you lose control of your own mind. But our ancient sciences have always emphasized on having control on one’s own mind. That’s been the basis for any kind of meditation and also for all religious and spiritual rituals. It’s believed that the man’s soul itself is god and hence should be kept clean and pure.

It can also be said that if the mind is not in one’s control, the person can do something disastrous and under the influence of alcohol, he becomes lazy. There can be many other interpretations but I thought these were the most rational ones.
Though the reason for abandoning it was a higher level one, in India as new generations emerged, alcohol consumption was treated as a sin and the person who does that, a sinner. The person who drinks alcohol would usually be a villain in the eyes of the children of a family.

But fortunately or unfortunately the attitude of Bangaloreans is fast changing thanks to the globalization which is making us more broad minded and open for new ideas.

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