Mind u Read

Over the last few weeks Facebook has been bombarding me with notifications that my friends support the Free Basics platform. Then started the circus about how bad this is for all of us, with most people showing their concern on various platforms, by sharing videos and articles mushrooming by the minute, all trashing the Free Basics platform. In their opinion, internet is a democracy that shouldn’t be tampered with. They say Facebook is acting as a gatekeeper, a dictator, building an internet that is a silo of the larger internet, furthering its business interests in the garb of doing social good for an unsuspecting audience. According to them, Facebook is nothing short of an evil imperial emperor. I find most of their arguments very cute…they remind me of this line from the movie Seven Samurai: “What's the use of worrying about your beard when your head's about to be taken?” Forget the ‘about to be taken’ bit; in our case not many realize that the ...

I love Maggi noodles. Government says it’s harmful. Nestle's been saying it’s safe. Who do I believe? I was home alone, and hungry one night. A pack of Maggi stared at me from the kitchen shelf. Not knowing what to do, like a new age selfie kid (am I really one? maybe) I asked folks on Facebook to help me decide – to eat, or not to eat.  You can view that post here - click to read The answers were many. Some serious, many in a lighter vein, but all of them set to certain patterns. Patterns dictated by how seriously they took the threat of Maggi having an impact on my, or for that matter anyone else’s health. If I were to classify the answers into 4 broad categories, this is how they would seem. Pattern 1: Risky for your health. Don’t eat it. Pattern 2: You’ve been eating this for ages, nothing happened till now. Eat it. Pattern 3: You’ve been having worse. For instance Delhi air pollution. You are doomed anyways. Pattern 4: It is all...

What is this Dancing Car? That was one question my son was repeatedly asking while we were watching the movie ‘PK’.  Though old enough to grasp basics of the world around him, the concept of a dancing car in ‘PK’ was alien to him. No wonder, the child’s curiosity kicked in and the above question followed. There was no convincing answer to give him. Similar is the state of PK, our alien from outer space. His childlike curiosity constantly questioning the world around him; learning answers the hard way – much to his bewilderment and our amusement. PK questions many aspects of our world, but there is one thing I am particularly keen to explore further - the conclusions he arrives at during his quest to reach god. God exists, but a medium (religion & rituals) and messenger (god men) to reach god are unnecessary. Is PK right in saying so? Maybe…but his childlike innocence can’t be a good enough reason to completely believe him. How can ...