Book Review: Why I am a Hindu

Why I am a Hindu
-- Shashi Tharoor

As expected from Shashi Tharoor and the Title of the book, considering his political affiliations, the book is more about politics of a religion, than the religion itself. Despite that, he did a good job of presenting evolution of millennia of Hinduism into Hindutva of the last few decades. 

Being an irreligious person, I don't identify myself with any of the 3 types/sections of Hinduism that the author presented.  The first one being, the Hinduism that many people I know (my parents, friends and relatives) follow, which is not hostile towards any other religion and doesn't mandate them to be very serious about their religion itself. A typical example would be something like follows; A Hindu friend of mine, who is religious (strictly fasts on particular days of week, totally honours sacred thread that he wears etc.,), was surprised to know a couple of weeks back that Rama (he does worship Lord Rama) was not an incarnation of Lord Shiva, but of Lord Vishnu. They just vaguely follow what their parents passed on. Some are more intense than others.

Next type that the author discussed was, Hinduism of the great souls of Hinduism, from Adi Shanakara to Vivekananda. It includes interesting compilation/modification/re-invention/expansion done by these great souls, as they felt was good or the need of the hour in their times. Adi Shankara's Advaita, Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita, more liberal and reformist movements by Sri Narayana guru and Basava, more nationalistic movements by Vivekananda and Gandhi are some of the things that makes it a good read.

The final section takes the cake - Hindutva of Sangh Parivar. The divisive, militant and extreme religiosity proposed and promoted by Savarkar, Golwalkar, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya etc., all associated with RSS. The main criticism that the author had against the philosophy of this section of people is, coming up with random and imaginary lines in the history and evolution of society, and claim ownership of land/culture based on that, where as the land and culture themselves have borrowed and imbibed so much from different religions and cultures for thousands of years (I could totally identify myself with that line of logic).

What makes the book worth reading is, it presents a good overview of Hinduism of ancient times, Hinduism of yesteryears and today's Hinduism/Hindutva. Though some of the arguments that the author presented may sound politically motivated, there are facts and figures in the open for readers to cross-check, ponder, and make their own informed opinions. 

Book Review: Sapiens

Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind

-- Yuval Noah Harari

It's the story of thousands of years of Human evolution, from the days of fights between Homo sapiens and other species of Genus:Homo - like Home erectus and Homo neanderthalensis, till today, the day of making bionic arms that can be controlled by thought, the day of growing organs of our choice on organism of our choice, the day of playing almost The God. While telling the story, the author had maintained a constant thread in the backdrop that explores whether a particular change/progress turned out to be for the larger good - reduction of human/animal suffering! 

The author presents several turning points in human history. The first one being, the day sapiens figured out that "a large number of strangers can cooperate successfully by believing in common myths". The myth that not all are born equal, whether the comparison is between different sapiens, or between a sapiens and a neanderthal, or between a sapiens and a Tiger. The day sapiens found the mythical glues for a group/religion, they found the way to be the masters of creation. He presents a parallel between the role of an alpha male in a group of Chimps and Catholic alpha male - The Pope.

There is an interesting take on Agricultural Revolution. Though domestication of wild animals and plants is a game-changer in several ways, author argues that it's a grave miscalculation by sapiens. As per that argument, it's not the man that domesticated wheat, but it's the wheat that domesticated man. Wheat made an extremely hardworking man out of a forager, a hoarder out of a nomad. And, sapiens fell in the trap of luxury.

Once Agricultural Revolution gave sapiens enough to eat, their hunger expanded beyond food. They started growing in numbers, as there was enough to feed more and more. They also grew in terms of density. As higher density needs more glues to hold them together, sapiens started imagining more and more orders. Imagined hierarchies were claimed to be natural. Even Aristotle argued that slaves have slavish nature. A single priest could do what a thousand soldiers couldn't, to keep peace. In the imagined order, sapiens in the upper echelons often maintained that, "There is no god. But, don’t tell my servant. He may murder me". Religions, religious missionaries and evangelism helped in spreading these imaginations. 

Sapiens needed a universal trust system to work with other sapiens from remote corners of the earth. They invented money, the only trust system created by humans that bridges almost everything. 

Scientific revolution, that followed Cognitive revolution, Agricultural revolution and Unification of Humankind, was the latest turning-point. Acceptance of ignorance opened the doors for exploration. Money facilitated the research, marriage of science and empire laid the foundation stone for scientific expeditions. Empires funded explorations, explorers paid back in terms of new lands to expand the empires, new opportunities to expand trade. This led to an even bigger alliance - The Military-Industrial-Scientific complex, that was behind the dominance of Europe during colonial period. Sapiens invented credit, and growth that's tied to credit, and in turn Capitalism.

The author ends with larger questions like, whether millions of years of evolution as community members is leading to alienated individuals? After so much of evolution and so many revolutions, have we found the path to happiness? Is delusion happiness? With the fruits of scientific revolution, whether Intelligent Design is going to be real? By man, the God!

Bhutan Diaries

Paro Valley

Wanderlust and Marathon Odyssey chose Bhutan to be the next destination. Bhutan, a mystic Himalayan kingdom that measures its progress by Gross National Happiness, instead of Gross Domestic Product, stands out in several ways.

Our visit started at Paro, the only place in Bhutan with an international airport. As the country, that's full of valleys and beautiful landscapes, doesn't have any flat-land at all, it must have been hard to find  a place for large planes to land. Paro valley is the widest among the places that we visited. Even at that width, landing and take-off were predictably turbulent. The flight from Delhi (via Kathmandu) to Bhutan gave us a chance to have a peek at some of the tallest peaks in the world - Mount Everest and Kanchenjunga.

Though the country appears to be stagnated in time, when it comes to the facilities for tourists, not much has been left to be desired. Good hotels, high-end cars, English speaking guides and drivers, make it easy and comfortable for tourists. In fact, almost all the people that we interacted with, spoke good English. The king seems to have mandated that English should be the medium of instruction in school, to make it easy for them to interact with the world. Except Indians (who are treated as special in Bhutan), foreign tourists have to pay a minimum of 200/250$ per day to visit Bhutan. This amount takes care of a minimum 3-star Hotel, a vehicle to roam around, guide and driver, permits to trek/ride/visits, all meals etc., Apparently, 1/3rd of that amount goes to social welfare schemes by the Govt. The number of tourists within the country at any point of time is controlled by the Govt. through permits.

Punakha Dzong

On the day of our arrival, we visited the Dzong in Paro. Dzong is the most prominent place in every town of Bhutan. It's a fortress with a complex structure that doubles as accommodation for monks and local administrative office (Monastic Body still holds a lot of power). The bigger the village/town/city, the grander the Dzong. Some of the areas of prominent Dzongs are off the limits for tourists and even for locals. Only Royal family and high-ranking officials can visit. They apparently believe that a monk who united Bhutan, several hundred years back, is still living in Punakha Dzong, and serve him food every day. 

Bhutan International Marathon was started 5 years back and is still a low-key event. There were 200+ runners for Marathon and a bit more Half-Marathon. The base for the event was in Punakha, a small town, 150 KM North-East of Paro. Marathon started 30 KM east of Punakha. The start point was up in hills with freezing temperatures, and Marathon course was largely down-hill from there. The course goes through some routinely beautiful hills, valleys, streams and villages. Finish-line was next to Punakha Dzong and in scorching sun.

Taktsang Monastery

We did a small trek to Taktsang Monastery close to Paro, the day after the Marathon. It's one of the most sacred buddhist sites in Bhutan. Apparently, the monk who introduced Buddhism to Bhutan had meditated at this site, several hundred years ago. It's again a complex structure, on the side of a cliff. It takes a couple of hours of good trek to get there. First half of the trek can be done using ponies as well. Despite the tired legs due to previous day's run, we decided to climb up to recover from the run. There is a cafe half-way that serves as a pit-stop. The second half of the trek is mostly steps, with some mesmerising views of cliffs and the monastery. The monastery itself doesn't have anything interesting to explore. It's like any other Dzong that we had visited. But, the trek and views were worth it.

Gross National Happiness

We were curious about this Happiness thing, and did quite a lot of chatting with our English speaking guide to understand how does that work. Population of the entire country is 750,000 (around 6% of Bangalore). Govt. seems to do a survey every year that covers each and every one of them, to know their top 3 problems and work on them. They could be access to hospital, quality of road close to the place where they live etc., Sounds quite simple and easy. They didn't have much exposure to the world, due to lack of TV/Internet (until a few years back) and lack of education to get work anywhere else in the world. Their bureaucrats, doctors and lawyers are also trained/educated in India or Sri Lanka. That's the story till now. But now, they have access to TV/Internet, and are exposed to the world. Youngsters seems to be already vulnerable to drugs. Economy, that's largely dependant on Hydel electricity (sold to India) and Tourism, doesn't seem to be flourishing. Not many things are manufactured with-in the country. With these conditions, it would be interesting to follow the progress of their Gross National Happiness project.

Book Review: Serious Men

Serious Men - Manu Joseph

Serious Men falls under one of my favourite categories of good books -  Books that can be read in transit airports and in red-eye flights (Not that I spend a lot of time in those conditions, just to emphasise that how much I despise those, and how fun those books must be). It's a debut fictional novel that won several awards for the author, who was a Journalist with New York Times and Hindustan Times.

The protagonist is a Dalit clerk who lives in Mumbai slums and works in a Brahmin dominated research institute. Emphasis on the qualifiers - Dalit/Brahmin, is of paramount importance. While the self-important and routinely casteist researchers are busy with the great questions of universe - whether there is life outside of earth, is Bing Bang Theory a Christian conspiracy to leave space for the God to create it etc., intertwined with their greater egos, the street-smart Dalit clerk silently observes them, and works his way to exploit the system to balance out the injustice (that be believes had been done to many communities), to create a genius out of his ordinary son. 

 I haven't heard about the Author before reading this book. I was watching Shut Up Ya Kunal series by stand-up comedian Kunal Karma, when I bumped into an interview with the Author to promote his latest book (Miss Laila Armed and Dangerous). I found him very witty and expected him to be great at satire, and picked up his first book. I was not disappointed. Besides the satire, I loved his attention to detail and his style of describing ordinary events with the ease of a seasoned writer. I read that this is going to be a movie soon. But, I can't tell whether I had just read a book or I had watched it in its entirety. 

10 years of Cycle-to-Work in Bangalore

It's 10 years since I started cycling to work in Bangalore. I bought a Hero Octane 26T on Jan 8, 2008. Covered a distance of 10 KM between home and office in 50 minutes, on the following day. Never considered any other way as the default mode of commute-to-work, since then.

Despite the repeated warnings/advice that I get from friends about pollution, being vulnerable to accidents etc., the 10 years of riding has been largely event-less. I tried several pollution masks. None of them were comfortable to get the breath required while riding. So, got rid of them. Medical reports don't point out anything bad, so far [Not touching any wood]. Not sure about any internal or slow damages. There were just 4 nasty falls in 10 years, and none of them involved any other vehicle. They are due to, either skidding on a slippery patch because of rain, or some gravel laid in the middle of a road during night.

The journey stared with an entry level MTB - Hero Octane 26T. I didn't have any knowledge of cycles at that time. I just went to a shop on the way home and picked up one that's looking good, with dual suspensions. After a year, I upgraded to an excellent MTB - Merida SUB 40 MD. With disc brakes and exotic looks, it used to get quite a lot of attention, and eventually succumbed to it. I lost the Merida within a year, while sipping coffee at a Cafe Coffey Day. Replaced it with a sleek Road Bike - Trek 7.2 Fx, while visiting the US, thanks to Blue Coat. Have been riding it for the last 7+ years. 

Current Bangalore traffic is terrible, compared to the day I started riding in the city. Being a morning person, ride to work has always been fun. I have been starting my morning ride at 5:30 am, for the last 3-4 years. En route office, I spend an hour at a Cross-Fit gym. That's easily the best part of the day. Bangalore is blessed with slight and pleasant chill in the morning, almost throughout the year. A lot of bakeries would be open at that time that serve some quick coffee/tea. Even, traffic is largely irrelevant in those hours. Year over year, I see a stark difference in the quality of my evening rides, though. It's on a constant decline. Anytime after 5 pm is bad. I tried up to 9 pm. Bad roads (though same roads as in the morning, evening rides get pushed to sides of the roads), bad foot-paths (yes, I ride on them, as long as I don't block pedestrians), automobile exhausts, practically everyone on the road in a hurry to get home etc., are the culprits. Though there were days when I got irritated with all these, the irritation never lasted the night and nothing much changed.

The evening ride usually ends with some admiring looks from kids playing in the apartment, when I enter with blinkers and in flashy dry-fits. A 5-6 year old kid stopped me once to inquire the class that I am in, and the school that I go to :-)

It's almost a no-brainer in Bangalore to ask someone, why they cycle-to-work. It's the fastest way to commute in many parts of Bangalore. One-way distance of around 10 KM is manageable by any healthy adult. Most of the offices have bathrooms to fresh-up (That's been one of my requirements for accepting a job offer from a company). So, that's not an excuse.

Though a 10-12 KM ride in the morning and evening may not contribute much towards calorie burn and fitness, it's definitely liberating and fun!

Book Review: Why We Believe in God(s)

Why We Believe in God(s) - A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith
- Thomson, J. Anderson

Every atheist would have wondered many a time, why people believe in Gods! Why is it difficult to appreciate the 'fact' that we are risen apes and not fallen angels, despite indisputable scientific evidence!

The author, an American forensic psychiatrist, discusses the potential psychological reasons behind people believing in Gods. He claims that after reading the book, that arms extended worshipper not only looks foolish, but also looks infantile. And, I vouch for the veracity of his claim :-)

There is a popular quote by Douglas Adams - Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too? On a similar note, atheists might often wonder why believers are so omnipresent? The author convincingly presents several experiments that establish our bias to interpret unclear evidence as being caused by some agent, almost always a humanlike agent, and our ability for self-deception, which is crucial to religious belief. One of the strongest arguments supporting the later claim is, most of the believers live their lives as if there is no God. 

He establishes psychological similarity among the belief in super-nature, craving for sweets and fast-foods, having sex, our groupish nature and the sense of security that it brings, which is so inherent to us etc., Most of these are life-sustaining adaptations by our ancestors that are passed on over and over, for generations. As the survived reproduce, the tribe of the adapted flourished. A few generations later, those who subscribe to these ended up being the majority. These adaptations have something to do with our brain cells. It's experimentally proven that these cells explode with delight causing intense pleasure, when one pursues such adaptations.  Besides, there are 'do-it-again' centres in our brain, which made us do these things, that give us intense pleasure, again and again. Chanting, dancing, praying, singing, music fall in this category, which are so intertwined with several major religions. He also argues that our bias to over-read purpose is another major reason behind our gullibility, which helped religions flourish.

Apparently, without any knowledge of neurochemistry, our ancestors managed to come up with a combination of activities that stimulate and boost neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine etc., which induce brain activity. And, they tied these activities with religion. 

There is a popular argument put forth by some of my believer friends, when I wonder, why some of the chiefs of ISRO follow this ritual of visiting Tirupti to seek divine intervention with a model of the rocket that they are about to launch - it's the psychological benefits that such rituals bring. Now we have a scientific explanation for that - Our brains have some precautionary vigilance systems that get triggered to take actions to allay our anxiety. Religions use precisely these mechanisms that allay anxiety due to the harsh world around us. Our ancestors lived through much harsher world. We inherited their mechanisms.

A quick read that gives a good insight into the scientific reasons behind some of the madness that we see around us, in the name of God, religion and super-nature.

Book Review: The Religion War

The Religion War
- Scott Adams (The Dilbert guy)

Thanks to Facebook memories (on-this-day feature), one of my 4 year old book review popped up a few weeks back - God's Debris by Scott Adams. A comment for that review made me pick the sequel of that - The Religion War.

Author takes us to an imaginary time in future, where just 2 large religions are left in the world. All the countries are aligned with one of these 2 religions. Supreme leaders of these religions virtually control military power of all the countries that subscribe to their respective religions. Avatar, the protagonist of the story, firmly believes that the universe is nothing but probability(as portrayed in the previous book). As he has reasons to believe that these 2 leaders are extremely smart with their moves, he plays the game of probability to know their war moves against each other. Loaded with this knowledge, he gets access to these leaders and also manages to bring them to a table to discuss the situation and avoid the imminent extermination and annihilation. As the probability of his failure to convince them that there is a better option than extermination and annihilation is significant, he works on a plan B in parallel. 

He engages one of the best brains in the world, who also has access to all the information, to find one person who has the power to influence every single person in the world. He figures out that finding that person is the single most important task, based on the following rationale. Everyone has at least one influencer in his life, someone who can change their mind simply by expressing an opinion that is different from their own. We may not be consciously aware of the influencer always, as we rationalise some of our arguments/opinions so much that we often make them our own. He fails to find that person. But, in the process of failing, the best brain he engaged opens up all kinds of communication channels among people across all countries. These channels were hitherto monitored and completely controlled by the supreme leaders. The free, always open and easy to use channels make people of both the faiths communicate freely and understand that irrespective of the religion, when it comes to basic questions about life, they are all same. This realisation kills the irrational animosity between people of different faiths, which is a basic ingredient for these supreme leaders to reign. They soon lose their ground and the world becomes liveable again.

The conversations between Avatar and the supreme leaders make great reads. Avatar rips into age old irrational beliefs like, Certain places can be holy - In a universe in which nothing is fixed, how can a place be holy? If it's about the dirt and rocks at that particular place, they can always be transported and make another place holy; Rational arguments about faith often hurt believers - That's the problem with clarity, it often hurts; People often scream that they are not delusional - Unless one is like Dr. Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory (who claims to be so smart that if he were ever wrong, he would know it), a delusional person may not be aware that he is delusional; Finally, the very irrational Faith - Seeing some results from prayers is not faith. Faith by definition is believing in something without any evidence whatsoever. If someone argues that they have faith, because they see faith working, it's just a very bad way of doing science.

Scott Adams presents these arguments in his inimitable style, making it a worthy read in every way.