Tag Archives: Humanity

Aren’t you one?

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An incident occurred in a friend’s office lately,

It was a Friday,

People were asked to come dressed in traditional attire,

Happily, he took out a pathani suit,

Thinking how handsome he would appear to the world,

And there he was,

All decked up,

Feeling confident about the kind of persona he exuded,

Then came a reality check,

“Aren’t you joining us for the Friday prayers (namaaz)?”-asked a group of colleagues who were passing by on their way to a mosque for the Friday prayers.

“I think there is some confusion. I am a Hindu and I don’t know how to read namaaz“-he smiled back with utmost humility.

He understood that his attire was being mistaken as a form of religious identity.

How many times, it might have happened,

That we have preconceived notions about the people,

Be it on the basis of attire,

or

Be it the manner in which one speaks,

Our mind somehow tends to refuse to grow beyond these very biases and prejudices,

Which can have major consequences,

Of course, on this occasion, though,

It was taken in good regard by both the parties involved,

Yet,

I wonder, would it have been the same if the situation was not cordial,

What if, one were in the midst of riots,

Would it have got the same kind of response?

Humanity, being the core of what we all are,

I guess, it’s high time one tries to think over and above the notions,

Which seem to have found a place deep inside the very manner in which we think.

Source for the Image: https://twitter.com/samiriqbal_/status/1446445433547526152

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HRs!

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Well, let me put a disclaimer right away, it’s not a take on human resources departments around the world, 

For those who don’t believe me, wouldn’t take that chance ever, for my dear wife is herself an HR, dangerous territory to tread upon.

Jokes apart, 

Simply put its the Horse Sense that am referring to, going by the famous folklore that seems to have inspired generations. 

Paraphrasing what it is: 

Few centuries back, there was this horse who had this sense, 

Come on, it cannot be as lame as this! 

So, the master wanted to take the horse to the field, 

Though the horse which loved to graze, wasn’t up for the same, even after being pulled from all sides.

A maid in the household who happened to be watching this, came up to the horse, put her maternal finger in its mouth and slowly took it to the place where the master wanted it to be, 

As always, moral of the story: if you want someone to do something you got to make that someone want to do that something! 

Coming back to the human resource departments around the world, they say the biggest challenge is to keep the employees engaged and bring out the best in them.

Why, what and how, guess you are smart enough to figure out how to arouse that eager want and motivation to accomplish that very something!

Source for the Image: https://thehorse.com/112472/too-much-pasture-can-lead-to-laminitis/, https://www.lucidchart.com/blog/what-does-hr-do

One on One with God!

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It’s not often that you come across a philosopher of sorts, and when you do, you tend to cherish the moments that you spend with the likes.

The conversation could range from anything to everything, but one thing that tends to remain constant is, that all discussions, even though, they might look weird, tend to have their origins in science.

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And one such conversation, is what, I would want to share with you today:

Philosopher (P): Have you ever wondered, what if your destiny, if it exists at all, leads you to a place where you didn’t get that chance to go one on one with the creator?

Me: No

P: What if it didn’t allow you to question Him about the reason behind making you go through all the hardships that you happened to suffer throughout your life?

What if it didn’t allow you to go to Heaven or Hell, depending on your karma to meet your loved ones, in an environment where everything’s perfect?

What if the very science or non-science behind your existence is not what you might have believed in? 

What if it’s all an illusion and a combination of reactions to make you believe that what you are is what you are not?

Me: What if?

P: 🙂 . Would be not feel cheated?

Me: Probably yes!

P: Do you want to feel like that?

Me: No

P: Do you believe in Homeopathy?

Me: Yes

P: Do you think it cures?

Me: Yes

P: Have you seen this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0Z7KeNCi7g)

Me: No

P: Why do you think I am speaking to you about the same?

Me: May be (you have gone mad ;)) you want to tell me something?

P: Well, yes and no, yes because I want you and for that matter everyone to think on the basis of sound evidence, and no because, I don’t want you to follow me blindly. 

Me: How does it help?

P: That you need to figure out yourself. 

And that is where our conversation ended.

Though, with the kind of obvious resistance to the questioning of the beliefs that I had been conditioned to develop over a period of time, and with this philosopher suggesting to get rid of all beliefs and making scientific evidence as the basis of all thinking, didn’t really go along with the very essence of me, yet I decided to give it a shot.

Don’t know whether it would be the be all end all solution to every woes that our human race tend to experience, yet I believe it’s worth trying.

After all, if we weren’t exploring, were we actually living?

Source for the Image: https://www.shutterstock.com/search/faith

Does being Apped means losing Humanity?

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Evolution is inevitable, but have you ever wondered that we would evolve so much so as to have our entire lives and generation apped.

Ya, that’s the buzz word. Possibly anything that you can think of at the moment has been put as a service/product which can be accessed through an app. It was only yesterday that I came to know, that an app exists for funeral services as well for those who are not able to make it in time for the last riots of their loved ones.

Can you believe it? An app for a funeral service? Ironically, on one hand, where it is extraordinarily funny because of our socialization process, the way we all have been brought up in India, on the other, being apped means lot of convenience.

It means the time that earlier you might have so called wasted, can now be utilized for more productive work, though I still believe the entire concept can be questioned.

We are spending more than 70% of our time, either on our laptops or our mobile phones. Our real life conversations have gone down.

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If I were to picture a typical ITied family, you would see the husband and wife doing something on their respective IT platforms and the kid, who might have just been introduced to the likes, would be trying to add friends on Whatsapp or Fb.

What we earlier referred to as the family time has now got transformed into IT time. Father doesn’t seem to have time to spend with his kids, wife or parents. The wife, especially if she is a house-wife seemed to have found some abode in the arms of the virtual. The kids love the alley of the technology that they seem to be racing into.

The only ones who are left out in this entire ITionization or Appionization or whatever you might want to refer to as are the parents of the grownups or the generation that gave birth to the so called successful techies.

I know, some of us, would want to argue, that IT has helped us remain connected with our parents. At least we have an option to either do a skype or video calling sitting somewhere in US.

I just wonder, when we were young, and when we needed our parents’ attention the most, be it being fed when we were hungry or be it when we craved for their attention when we were hurt, if our parents were to come and tell us that they were appified, I bet we wouldn’t have liked it.

It’s our time, it’s our physical presence, it’s us providing the much wanted emotional support and attention, that our parents need the most, when they become old.

Where on one hand, it’s good to learn new things, keep oneself updated with what’s happening, on the other hand, we should try not to become so ITied or apped, where we tend to lose the very essence and foundation of humanity and love.

Source for Image: https://twitter.com/appstore

Being Human

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I have taken this title from Mr. Salman Khan’s Foundation to express a point that seem to have got lost and seems to have got confined to a particular section of our society.

A couple of days back, I was browsing through Facebook when I came across a couple of lines that my dear friendDeohad written on the plight of animals in our country.

To give you a background on the same, Deo and I have had innumerable discussions on the same topic. To bring out a revelation, personally, I am a bit scared of dogs, so whenever a dog tries to come near me, I tend to back off from its territory bestowing on it the right to enjoy the fruits of right to territory (as humans would like to put it).

On the other hand, Deo, as any other animal lover, would play with the dog or make sure that the dog is given its full due for being born on this planet Earth.

When I compare my behaviour to Deo’s I can’t stop myself from wondering as to what is it that makes me so scared of dogs? What is it in me as an individual which has resulted in me becoming averse of the same?

Is it because of my genes, which has been transfered in my family from generations and  which makes me genetically averse to the animal ? or Is it because I have had some bad experience in the past with the animal? or Is it because I have seen some dog going after its prey, which at times happen to be humans?

Whatever might be the explanation of my fearing the animal, does it give me any right to take out my angst or frustration on the animal having seen a dog in my neighbourhood? Worst are those amongst us who hit a dog or any other animal with a stone or stick for no reason whatsoever.

Does this kind of behaviour reflect on our personality suggesting that may be we humans, who are supposed to be the most evolved amongst all species are losing the very touch that makes us who and what we are?

Is it a reflection on the increasing hatred and intolerance in our society? Is it an indication of the increasing individualization and self-centredness? Is it because we have become so selfish that we don’t want to share natural resources and their benefits with anyone?

What we must not forget though is, that we as humans are the only species on this planet who can make a real difference by bringing a small modification in the way we perceive our nature and in the way we have become so used to the consumptive style of living.

The question that needs to be addressed is:

“Do we really want to behave like humans?”

Source for Image: http://aboutnicigirl.blogspot.in/2011/01/being-human.html