Balajhi, I wrote that post immediately after reading Times of India. I am sorry that I said some of the things that I did. It just shows what happens when you say things when you are feeling emotional.
Chandrayan is a remarkable achiement, there is no doubt about that. But let's look beyond that.
This is what I read in Times of India, page 10.
Kalam is reported as stating, "It (the landing of MIP) will help in the mapping of various elements like aluminium, magnesium, and uranium on the lunar surface and will make moon our next station for the Mars mission", and then also, "I visualise that in another four decades, earth, moon and Mars will have economic and strategic importance". He has said much more than this, it all makes sense, but I am not quoting them here because they are not relevant to this post.
Now, is moon the place to take our nationalities? Are we going to compete with one another for a slice of the moon? Kalam's words, "I visualise that in another four decades, earth, moon and Mars will have economic and strategic importance" sound ominous.
What next? Bombing India/ Pakistan/ Iran/ Israel/ USA/ Russia from bunkers on the Moon? Strategic importance!
Does this not sound loony?
Forgive me, emotions.
I strongly feel that the moon belongs to us all (Ha Ha). Anything that has to do with moon and mars should be done in the name of mankind, not in the name of nationality, with its cometary tail of fanatical patriotism (Our Flag is Flying on the Moon!- As if you have conquered an enemy country. Does the Moon deserve this insult? Flags and nations are here, not over there. Let's not cut up everything because we ourselves are divided.)
We should be taking the lead in uniting the people here in the scientific enterprise which will profit the whole of mankind. But to plant our flag in the hopes of claiming a slice of it is idiotic, regressive and will definitely lead to armageddon.
We should not be wasting our resources, and our future, on this.
Instead, there are these issues that I find in the same newspaper:
"Lamps help Bill Gates' jet take off" (maintenance work)
"City mayor nabs corrupt burial ground workers" (They demanded Rs.3,800 to cremate a body)
"Fight in Engineering College hostel over beef on the menu" (North Indian students rough up the hostel warden, Tamil students gang up against them. The clash leaves 2 persons injured, and one is in a serious condition)
"PIL seeks to insulate students from caste politics" (In this case, BC vs SC)
"40 held for stone pelting" (They wanted to increase the frequency of buses)
"Sexual minorities still sidelined, say activists" (Gays and transgenders complain)
"Contempt notice against Corporation Commissioners" (Garbage dumping)
"School students stone government buses at Usilampatti" (Caste conflict)
"Tapping oursourced, says pleas in HC" (DSD Technologies Private Limited advertises in its website that it taps phones on behalf of the police of various cities and the coastal security)
"Pandey alleges torture by ATS" (Malegaon blast)
"RSS to cash in on majority backlash" (Malegaon blast)
"Naxals engage cops in 24 gunbattles; trigger 2 blasts" (Elections in Chhattisgarh)
This is news today, in The Times of India. In vernacular press, it gets much worse.
These are the real issues. Not the strategic importance of Moon, the mining of lunar minerals, Man on the Moon, Mars Exploration. Good governance is what matters to people.
Not superpower dreams ("Strategic expert K.Subrahmanyam said the lunar landing placed India on a par with space powers like the US and Russia"). Let US, Russia and China pay the price for their pride, we don't have to join them.
If we are speaking about science, when did an Indian scientist living in India come up with a breakthrough in Maths or Science? C.V.Raman, Ramanujam and Subramaniam Chandrasekhar were products of the Raj.
We are going from bad to worse, but still we are buoyed up by stock markets and rockets to Moon and Mars...
Will we ever wake up from our dreams?
Hayden was wrong to call India a "Third World Country".
If he had read the newspapers, he would have called us "Third-rate Country", and he would be justified in that (Pawar, the BCCI and now ICC strongman, a central minister, seasoned politician, is supposed to have perjured... He seems to claim ignorance. Will this happen in any developed country?)
There are no answers, right?
Just dreams... Wishful thinking, self-deluding dreams.
I wrote a detailed reply but I was robbed off by the broadband. May be it's good.
ReplyDeleteSelf deluding? Dreaming of uniting people in the world is the highest order of self delusion, though I would love to dream that way too.
Hayden is simply silly. I can understand, you got carried away by your emotions.
Thanks balajhi, for being so understanding.
ReplyDeleteNo hard feelings, okay?
This is not personal.
Regards,
No hard feelings Baskar and I know it's not personal. But then as an Indian I strongly disagree with some of the points you were trying to make.
ReplyDeleteEmotion and Reason are seen as separate entities. Now see this.
ReplyDeleteAn under-aged prostitute steps out of the train. She has just escaped her tormentors. She notices some people gather around the television set perched on a lofted piece of wood fixed to a chamber. The people; tea-seller, businessman, scientist and others clap as Chandrayan reaches the moon.
The girl claps as well. Seeing such happiness around her.
Emotion, reason.
Hi All
ReplyDeleteThis is Anand (Balaji's friend)
After reading this post, it simply reminds us of our country's misplaced priorities list. We still have 30% of our population earning less than a dollar a day for their livelihood in our current sceanario of inflation.
we still dont have proper infrastructure in place to improve overall economic development and our reason behind it is not enough money.
But we do have money to spend on Asian Games/commonwealth games .I read an article which says that the money we spent wayback in 1982 for Asian games would have been sufficient for us to build the Golden quadrilateral that was implemented as late as 1998.
Welcome Anand.
ReplyDeleteHope you do post here.
I agree with Kartikey.
Reason tries to separate itself from emotion, but it is merely a pale shadow of emotion. Emotion suggests, and reason follows.
Balajhi, I know you are 100% Patriotic. I only hope you are not blinded to our faults.
Regards to you all!
That's an excellent analogy Kartikey.
ReplyDeleteHi Anand, welcome. Nice to see you here. I understand your point and concerns. We got to strike a balance between growth and development.
Anand we are looking forward to your pots
ReplyDeleteWelcome Anand, do post something when you find time (I guarantee we all will read it, and post comments ;).
ReplyDeleteLooking at the budget, Chandraayan and MIP are acceptable and is an achievement. Somebody on TV said it was just as expensive as a bolllywood high budget movie. It is indeed a lets-do-it-so-we-know-we-can, and me-too thing. I guess the sole problem is the media hype and lack of balance;
Thanks a lot for your invitation.
ReplyDeleteThere are more than five or six contributors here, and three or four administrators.
We will talk about it and respond.
I am grateful that you noticed us...
Regards,
Sorry.
ReplyDeleteTen authors and three administrators, soon to grow into four.
We will get in touch with you Richa
ReplyDelete