What would Kalpana Chawla have seen from her space shuttle?

Have you ever wondered what a soul observing our planet from those gaping skies above would see?

Let's make this uncomfortable. We humans, time n again, keep on passing judgements on the various speices around us - dolphins are "intelligent" mammals, leopards are "savages", monkeys are socially advanced....blah blah blah!! We just love assigning these attributes and playing God :).

For once, lets put us under the microscope. What do you think an alien observer's judgement would be? Let's add the most interesting dimensions - time and evolution.

My vote - We are primeval!! Downright "junglee".

My reasons:

1. Have you ever seen a speices which bickers so much with its own members? And that also so incessantly?
   
   Even the most vicious and savagest of animals co-exist in harmony. They establish might once and that's that!! Sharks, cheetahs, raccoons - don't go around eliminating fellow predators. (A poser. Why did the great white kill the hammerhead?).
   
   And humans, we have a tendency to come up with the most ludicrous of reasons to just embed a bullet in someone! "She called me drunk..", "I didn't like him.", "He was wearing a turban."
   
   
2. Right from dogs to crocs, animals mark their territories and then the sole aim of their lives is to just defend this territory - irrespective of whether a threat is real or perceived.
   
   Humans - exact same behaviour!!
   
   Take physical territory. In historical times, the sword decided the proprietery of land. Physical aggression and barbarism were a part n parcel of that life.
   
   Today's world - what has changed? Only the manifestation of aggression. Instead of physical aggression, it is a wielding of power thru a few pieces of paper with heads of various famous men printed on them - economic aggression.
   Breach the tacit economic equilibrium, you are bound to cause an uproar!!
   
   
3. In other animals, members of a group trust each other. There won't be sniding undercurrents and backstabs in the darkness.
   
   Humans - We haven't been able to trust each other since eons. And I don't think we are about to change for all our planet's worth in the next 1000 years.
   
   
4. I think the Creator intentionally didn't program humans to practice two critical virtues - Equality, non-hypocricy. Had he by chance given us these, we might not have had such a vibrant history!!
   We have discriminated among Men and from this discrimination stemmed some of the most abused "isms" of modern history - colonialism, feudalism, communism, slavism (okay, that was a cheap trick, but you get the point :) ).

So, at the end of the day, humanity works on the law of the jungle - might is right. Just that in Africa, the might is of AK47s, in USA it is of "billion and trillion $". From a green jungle, the arena has moved to a black jungle of death or a grey jungle of warfare.

Not saying that all that has happened is bad and that we are the scum of the universe ;). Just that when seen thru a critical eye removing all the frills away, you get an idea of the true rate of progress of the human race. It's nothing that I feel proud of!!

Think about "what can be" or "could have been". Unfortunately, "what is" seems like the other side of the magnet.

And yet, there is still Hope. And that Hope, ironically, is us! Conservationists, peace brokers, economic experts who genuinely led to wealth distribution among their people, reform thinkers have borne the beacon thus far. Hopefully, we'll keep it burning so that our kids won't see the same sight as this.

This Hope is the one thing that preserves this miracle called "Life" on this planet :).

Adios,
Harsh.

Hello Darkness my old friend..I am back with you again!

Well, off late have started kayaking every weekend. It's good fun.

Placid water, nice weather, early morning breeze...Row away, make your own wake!!

I can draw a parallel from my kayaking to my life as well. Unfortunately, the parallel ends at the fact that I am the sailor.

The winds are not as gentle, the current not as placid. The boat not as steady.

1. The first lesson I learnt on the kayak was that however hard you may want to think that you are in control - reality is starkly different. I have broken all my delusions about being in complete control of my life. It's a fundamental realization of apocalyptic proportions - it's broken thru all previously held beliefs, thought processes, action plans...everything.

2. While rowing, you have to be careful when rowing among a group of kayaks - ripples caused by others can easily topple you.

Similarly, been a rough week for me - and I don't know which whirlpool I stirred to cause the swirl. Relations strained at work. Incessant workload pressure, ridiculously long working hours for making presentatios. Stress in general as well on other fronts - Mom's not well, Dad needs me, questions on decisions I made, am about to make - some of the old demons which I had quelled returned.

Repeatedly found myself marooned away - like a lone survivor finding his way to land.

3. On the kayak, you can't keep rowing endlessly. You have to take breaks, else you gonna burn out your arms real fast.

Had made a plan to visit Langkawi this weekend. Had to cancel that for a hoard of reasons. Now am beginning to feel I shouldn't have cancelled the trip.

I need a break...a long one. Want to be cut-off from the world, from those million chores and issues that I need to attend to. Feel like just scurrying off one weekend - no mobile, no internet...nothing!

Just me, my thoughts and some introspection on where the hell I want to take my kayak.