day dreaming

can you imagine a perfect world? No seriously, can you?

not just a simple "i would always be happy in a perfect world", but the nitigrities of that world. what would you do in it? what would other people/institutions be like? those who have tried it know its not that easy. we are so used to chipping away at the rigid realities of day to day life, that even our dreams can't easily break free of them. 

but its a fun exercise. at least you know what you are aiming for. and for those of you who are crazy enough to go after their dreams, its the only compass which can keep them on course. so go ahead, conjure up something for yourself. i must warn you though. its fun to get in (a dream world), not easy to come back. :)

one dream comin up..

for me, people have been most impressive so far. i wouldn't want them any different in the dream world. or maybe i am not creative enough :P what i would like different are a few social institutions that we have built up over the years.

Courts of Law (Justice)

ya, they are black and bleak, nothing dreamy or romantic. but they are mostly what differentiates us from our savage counterparts/ancestors in the animal kingdom. In my dream world courts will be impartial, accessible to everyone and reasonably quick. the law itself will be based on the non-aggression principle. the police will just be enforcers of the rule of law, and nothing else. thus everyone will be safe as long as they do not harm anyone else. That is all i want from the black robes. and yes i have been reading 'to kill a mocking bird' recently. here is a  beautiful excerpt from it.

But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal - there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution, gentlemen, is a court. It can be the Supreme Court of the United States or the humblest J.P. court in the land, or this honourable court which you serve. Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal. 

Government (the need for it)

survival of the fittest? Nah. more like prosperity of the fittest, survival of everyone.

There must have been in a time when your survival/prosperity depended on how fast and accurately you can throw a spear.  we have come a long way since then. physical strength might have been replaced by the ability to produce but, the law of the jungle still holds. so the smart/hard-working guys make it big, as they should. but those who can't produce anything (due to ill-fate or choice) shouldn't be left to just die. Government will exist to give them basic things like food, shelter, education and medical care.

other than that the government will just take care of public property and its usage, it will not produce anything. it will do town planning, contract out civic works like water supply, roads, etc. contractors will collect their dues from the consumers directly, where ever possible.

the government will be necessary but unimportant. no one institution will have the power to steer the whole country according to its will. power corrupts, and that much power corrupts absolutely. Instead the fate of nation will literally be the sum total of what its citizens make of their own. good or bad.

Government (the people in it)

democracy is nice, but representative democracy is stupid. no one person can represent a million people. he can represent a mob (hence we have mobsters in parliament) but not individuals. in my world there will be no fulltime politicians, but there will be some compulsory 'political service' for everyone. :P

people won't be voted into office, there will just be a random draw from among responsible citizens (responsible: no history of harming anyone and who produces something for a living, anything from a painting to a cryogenic engine is fine). ofcourse there will be a panel (comprising of eminent people from different professions) to help out if need be. 

people will vote to decide the broad policy regarding utilization of the natural and public resources. 

democracy is not outsourcing the difficult stuff to some elected guy. democracy means everyone will have freedom and liberty to do whatever they wish, as long as they don't aggress.

Family

in my world parents won't try to 'give their kids what they did not get' and kids wont take their parents for granted. parents wont pass on their prejudices and kids will question everything that their folks taught them. i can keep going but i already wrote a whole freakin play on this one :P

Marriage

wrote about that too ;)

Work

oh ya there will be work in my dream world, and lots of it. i am always surprised by the amount of satisfaction a hard day's work can give you. ofcourse it won't be something as rigid as a 9 to 5, and it certainly wont be tangential to your life's pursuit.

and did i mention that katrina kaif will have the hots for me?

damn!

निषेध !

a friend suggested that common maharashtrians should put up their opinions about what the sena is doing. his reasoning was decent. (most muslims are not terrorists, but the moderates keep quiet, so the image building rests in the extremist's hands.) not that i needed a reason :P

एक पक्का पुणेकर असल्याने ह्या विषयावर 'मत' मांडायचा chance मी सोडू शकत नाही. तर...सरकारचे डोके ठिकाणावर आहे काय?! मी ह्याचा आणि इतर सर्व गोष्टींचा एकदाच काय तो जाहीर निषेध करतो. परत परत प्रत्येक छोट्या मोठ्या बातमीचा निषेध करायला लावू नये. (आम्ही broadband चे bill भरतो)

honestly speaking, i really don't understand these so called social issues. you see, i come from (and roam about) in a class which is not bothered much (or so we think :P) by these issues. some times when we are bored of cricket, stock market and the weather, we tend to talk of them. social issues make for interesting conversation topics (especially if they are alcohol soluble) but never turn into action items (dude, i have got a life of my own to take care of !).

i hope this will change. not for the sake of the underprivileged or the society in general (whatever that means). but for my own sake. 'cause it has been my unfortunate observation that the people who can look beyond their material needs, tend to be happier.

that guy

आज सकाळी मी (मस्त नहा-धो के) बँकेत गेलो होतो, home loan ची चौकशी करायला. १५ मिनिटे दयनीय नजरेनी त्या clerk बाईंनकड़े बघितल्या नंतर finally त्यांनी "हं तुमचा काय?" विचारलं.


मी: home loan ची चौकशी करायची होती.
बाई: काय करता आपण?

मी: electronics engineer आहे. (software सांगायला लाज वाटते म्हणून :P)

बाई: वडील काय करतात?

मी: doctor आहेत.

बाई: कितीचं loan पाहिजे?

मी: ५-६ लाख, म्हणजे २-३ वर्षात repay करता येईल असं.

she smirked, put the pen down and looked at me with a look that said "what a loser. इथे सगळे ३०-४० लाखांची loans घेतायेत, आणि हा घाबरट इतकी चांगली नोकरी असताना पण ५ लाख मागतोय."

बाई: इथे २० लाखाच्या खालची होत नाहीत. दुसऱ्या branch ला जा.

getting expensive homes and huge home loans seems to be the in thing right now. and it certainly makes economic sense in a developing city like Pune. but i couldn't get myself to do it. i wonder what it takes to sign on a paper which makes you commit to doing a particular task for the  next 20 years of your life.

i guess it might have something to do with our self worth. commitment makes us do stuff. once we commit to being parents, no matter how difficult it gets or how bored/lazy we feel, most of us _will_ try to be good parents for their kids. once we fix ourselves a nice juicy e.m.i., we will keep showing up at our job, no matter how much we hate it, just 'cus it pays good.

and then, many years from now, when we are old and done with all our commitments, we will look back and find that we raised our kids well, created property worth crores for them. and feel that our lives were worth their while. peachy.

but what about that guy who won't commit to this default stuff (family and property)?. the one who waits stubbornly to find _his_ own path. there is that huge risk of not finding it at all. when this guy turns old and looks back all he will find is a life spent unshackled and in the search of meaning. poor soul.

my only fear is that instead of pity, i might end up with envy for him.