Just a click away !!!

It's a hard days night, the first of the 15 of my penance... and it happens...

I get a friend message on FB from a stranger and I send him a message saying we haven't met ... and then accept it.. go through his images to get to know him better. I get a reply "We don't need to meet to be friends on FB" a few messages go front and back.. I feel a git groggy and go to sleep.. Next day morning I go to his profile and I need to add him as friend !!!

I later figure out that deleting a connection is just a click.. Just a click...

Friendships - Deleted with one click

Relationships - Changed with a click

Just one tiny little click....

We sure have advanced as a species.. things that were once to die for are now nothing more than the "click" of a mouse....

Makes me wonder....

Woooo Makes me wonder .....

Mistaken Identity ?

Who are you?

The first answer that pops out is:

I am Prasanna Jayashankar (or whatever your name might be)

but then when one thinks about it it's just a noun that was assigned to one even before one was able to understand what it means. So how can such a noun define ones being ?

I am a south indian brahmin an Iyer (whatever religious / socio economic / family background you come from)

But what choice did one have in that matter ? One does not choose where he/ she is born! neither do/ can we choose our socio economic backgrounds or families. So once again how can this define ones being ?

One more common answer is

I am (and you state your designation and occupation)

But is that all that one has to identify ones self. A designation and a position in an organization ?

A job is what one does to make ends meet. Unless you happen to be one of the lucky few who have found their true calling and are lucky enough to be doing it for a living and making a living out of it. I am not just my job I'm sure there must be more, I hope there's more....

It seems to be a simple question, doesn't it ? "Who am I ?" and yet men have wasted away trying to find an answer to this one.

Is ones name, ones family or ones job all that there is to a human being. I'm sure there is more... I hope there is more.

Who am I ?

Am I the one with no emotions, the one who is calm all the time, the one who is always well thought through and measured in his approach. If yes then that would just explain the mask I have chosen to wear ? Not the underlying thought that created that mask in the first place.

I realize i won't have an instant answer to this, that this is just one of many stops I shall have on this trip of self discovery and that I am not alone in this journey. These are the only things that I can draw upon for solace at this moment.

There are many of us who are on this journey......

Remember "You are not alone."

Gay Marriage

There is now and has been for some time a raging debate on the validity of gay marriage and on weather or not it should be allowed in our societies. In the Indian context the de-criminalization of the act of sodomy is hearalded as a great step towards the accpetance of gays as part of the society well here's my two cents on that....

Marriage can be defined as a legaly recognized relation ship between two individuals where they share their lives and come together in a bond of love.

Now if we look at marriage from this angle it is definitely not a gender dependant relationship as companionship can be experienced by two individuals of the same gender and so can sexual pleasure.

There are many homosexuals who chose to spend their entire lives in the "closet" for fear of victimisation , shame or just pure ignorance. In this process they enter into wedlock with a hetero sexual partner and end up not only ruining their own life but also the life of their partners (if i can call them that). A spouse that does not love you with all their heart is a pain that is unbearable (or so I hear). a better alternative would be to allow gay couples to marry so that these lives are spared.

More over it does not violate the premises defined above for a marriage based on love and companionship.

Now... Here's what cooks my noodle...

Marriage was evolved as a social institution to provide an ideal environment for the begetting and upbringing of progeny.

The objective of marriage here is not companionship, sexual pleasure or any societial obligation but the evolutionary duty of begetting progeny in an environment conducive to a good upbringing. A perspective that puts the existance of the species as the primary perogative for the relationship.

This is whrere I am stuck with a conflict and thats where I choose to leave you today.....