You ask me why ? Here is why

So you come to me and ask me why and I don t seem to be able to give you a reply. Its because I cant say it to you just like that. I know if I do you would like that, but I cant. That is not to say you wont get to hear it ever. So here is to you..

"Its because there is an enchanting entrancing aura around you. I can actually see it. Too alien to recognise yet too familiar to go unnoticed. It pulls me to itself. and I cant help but be drawn to it. and its so comforting to be around you. To see you.
But seeing is not important. Eyes are overrated and have after all so little to tell. Its the field, the zone that when I find myself in, there is no feeling like it. A lot of things, a lot of times have happened before but never this. This is different. this is more real. Its more powerful. and this doesn't seem to go away. Not that I want it to. I want it to stay. I want you to stay.

But I know it is not to be, it cant be. I realise that. But that wouldn't stop me from wanting it any less. In fact it makes it all the more better. What a lovely feeling this is. "

Brute Strength versus Mental Acumen

So I am watching this medieval fantasy show on television these days. In it it is shown how badly women are treated because they are weak physically and how stronger men are kings and weaker ones their servants. Arguments quickly heat up to become duels and end up in bloody wars.

Which is in stark contrast with how things are these days. It does not matter how strong you are physically , if you cant top score in your SATs(I arbitrarily chose this as a measure of intelligence, the test is irrelevant, the point I is important) , they won't take you into college. and when that doesnt happen you wont find a good job, girls will not look your way and your life will not be that amazing.

Why do we call ourselves more civilized now? Why should mental acumen be given more priority than physical strength? Well some people are physically stronger "naturally" and while others are smart "naturally". When was the time exactly when humanity decided that "oh well lets start valuing smart more than physical strength now". The pro brains people argue that "well you see my boy! because strength is just there its inborn either you have it or you don't but you can try and become better at SATs of course"

But nothing could be farther from the truth, brains like strength and MANY other things are simply inherited. Even ones ability to put on hard work is genetically wired. There is no point in giving one more importance than the other. and the part where you can become better with hard work applies to both the things. You can eat well, exercise, run ,do crunches, train combat to become stronger physically just as you can take SAT classes, cram vocabulary, become a maths guru.

And then it makes me wonder, what if in another 200 years, humanity will come up with something new that it values really much more. Not brains , not strength but something else. and then those humans will look upon us as medieval emotionally stunted dwarfed backward barbarian people who valued smartness more than that other thing. It will be fun to watch. 

A tale of two cities

So I have had the good fortune of exploring at some length two of the finest cities of the world. Berlin and Lahore. I say the names in the same breadth because I feel these two cities have alot more in common than what meets the eye the first time.

In both the cities , the more you live , the more you begin to like them. Both are big burstling metropolises. Both cities are rich in history architecture, and culture. In both the cities there are parts of towns that just dont seem like they belong to the city. Both have big beautiful gardens. Both of them have expanded outwards to envelope another smaller town "Shahada" is to Lahore as "Potsdam" is to Berlin. Both have a forest nearby "Changa Manga" in Lahore and "Grunewald" in Berlin.

In fact if we look at these pictures( first Shalimar Garden Lahore, Second SanSoucci Potsdam), we see both have terraced grounds. and Infact the first time I saw San Soucci I immedialtey remembered where I had seen this before.

and then there are the food streets in Lahore

  and in Beriln.

and then there is this overall feel of both the places. You have a love hate relationship with them and they grow on you. But truth be told I would have to live in other cities as well to be able to find out things about them but so far. I like the cities I have lived in. :)

On Nationalism

In the long ever expanding list of things I don't like in people, there is something I want to solidify by giving it a blog entry.

I dont know how dictionaries define it and I hate paragraphs that begin with "Dictionary defines this term term bla bla" , so I will just give you own definition. Nationalism is the pride one has or feels for being born /raised in or related to a specific geographical region which is mostly a country.

Part of the problem I have with it is hidden in my definition of the term itself. Being proud, of the country where one was born in is nothing different than being proud of being born in a certain other way. Its like saying I am proud of the fact that my bone structure is in a certain way or that my eyes are black or blue or proud of the fact that I am likely to acquire a genetically inherited disease.

and what has nationalism really given us as a people anyway. Some war raging national heroes who have won us wars and done good in combat. The sheer pointlessness of this whole concept is intriguing. I wonder who ever came up with the idea. and why stop at nations. Since we are dividing people based on where they "hail" from. Why not choose states or provinces then why not choose cities and then why not different localities between cities. I must concede here that in the course of writing the last 3 or 4 lines I am beginning to realise that we do have a sort of "pride" for our states/provinces cities and neighbourhoods as well. I wonder where it comes from and why

National pride and patriotism has no place in the world. We are all one people and its high time we start acting like one.

On Humour

Two things tell you lot about people.

1. How people tell you a joke
2. How people take a joke that you have told them

I think humour has to be the most underrated of traits we have as a specie. Because come to think of it. In intra human relationships all we ever mean when we say "I get along quite well with him/her" is , I like his/her humour and he/she likes mine. that's all there is to it. No "oh we have things in common to talk about", "we like the same things". NO. All there is to relationships is that you understand each others humour. Simple

Accordingly there is a lot that can be determined about a person from the way he/she smiles and laughs. Take for example this picture

Well the woman looks reasonably happy about something. and yes the laughter appears to be contagious. Now take the following picture of our cousin.

Whats great about laughing is that it transcends our specie. That means that its intertwined in our systems as animals. and we naturally react well to it. Its as simple as rocket science you see.