Hypocrisy

Humans as a race are not reliable. There. I said it. You've probably been thinking it anyway, but I had the guts to say it out loud. We as a race are plain and simple selfish. Our self preservation reflex will make us do things for our own selves way before we actually do something for someone.
Don't agree with me?
Feel like you're actually a person who gives to the needy?
No. Honestly speaking, you're not. You're actually more selfish than other people in that case. Cause think about it. You gave money to that beggar when you had no dirth of it. Would you have given money if you had less of it yourself? Simple answer- NO.
I'm not saying you have to be poor. I'm just saying you had less at that very moment itself.
Lets say you're going home, you see a beggar. And you feel you're a nice guy who's always been kind, so you'd probably say 'Yeah. I'd take out my wallet and give him money'. Great job.
But here's my question. You're a teensy bit hungry and you're left with 30 bucks only on your way home. That 30 bucks will buy you a plate of momos- something you've been craving since morning. That amazing taste of steamed momos, piping hot on a plastic plate, served along with that spicy-ass red chutney. You know what? You feel like cheating on your diet, so you also want that creamy mayonnaise along with it. You'll dip that steaming momo right into the middle where the two chutneys meet and put it straight into your mouth. Bliss right? Totally.
That's what you wanted. But look into my eyes and tell me honestly. Would you see that beggar and give him your 30 bucks?
I know you. You won't. Go ahead- say yes. But you won't. The momos were just an example. Replace it with something you really crave and answer me then.
And its fine. Completely fine. Nobody would. They'd rather say "Bhaiya paise nahi hai" than make that sacrifice. That's just us as humans- we'll think about our own selves first.

Take another instance. A boy asks a girl out cause he really likes her. She also likes him, but doesn't agree to the date as she foresees this relationship getting serious, and her parents will not agree to the relation. So if it has no future, why give it a chance? A flower that won't bloom anyway, why let it grow? Best to chop it off and let it die.
But here's the thing. She didn't say no cause it has no future. She said no, cause when that point in time will come, when she has to separate from the boy, that moment she will feel a hell lot of pain. To spare herself from that emotional pain, she decided to not get attached in the first place- just so she doesn't have to feel that heartache. Self preservation strikes again.

There are no deeds that humans do that are actually kind in its truest sense. Even giving to the poor is a selfish deed. Most people will boast that they gave something to a needy person. And that makes it selfish. They want people to think they're kind, and that's why they did it.
According to psychology, a drowning mother will try her best to save her child first. But when she starts to lose buoyancy, even she will use her child as support to push herself up, and only then try and save the child.
These instincts in us are evolutionary, and they obviously come to us naturally. This self preservation has managed to keep us alive as a race for half-a-million years. But the thing is we do not require it anymore. We are no more living in jungles where we need to protect ourselves from anything. We do not need to keep ourselves alive by hook or crook. Society is our new jungle now. This world that we've successfully created for ourselves is very different from what our survivalist ancestors had. We do not need those same instincts anymore. What we need is people looking out for each other. Putting your wants and desires below the need of others. People sharing, being kind, thinking outside of their own self interest. That is how we can survive this new jungle. Its the only way forward. Its the only way we'll survive. Think about it.

Why I love the Beatles

For the longest time, I've been a Beatles fan. 

They literally gave birth to the music we know and love today, revolutionizing everything back in the 60's. Nobody has been able to duplicate the same music till date. Their shows had girls crying and fawning all over them. Some might call them sappy love songs, or their later music as drug induced tunes, but it inspired a whole generation of musicians to pick up their guitars and rock some tunes out. What is so great about their music you ask me? It might be simple and easy, but its what the music makes you feel is what counts. You listen to their early love songs and you'll miss your lover even if you never had one. You listen to their later music, and you'll yourself start tripping without drugs. You listen to their songs about their hometowns, and you'll miss a place you've never been. Emotions, feelings, a rush of dopamine, chills down your spine - that's what Beatles music gave me and an entire generation of rock music fans.

Children at that time rebelled against their jazz music loving parents to buy Beatles vinyl records. And they themselves grew up and introduced their children to the world of Beatles music. 

A whole generation woken up, becoming independent, challenging societal norms, taking drugs to feel at one with nature, basically making their own decisions on how to live life on their own terms- just from music. 

Music has the power to change people, and the Beatles proved it. After their break up in '64 they went on to make their own music, which even by itself is greater than most of the crap we listen to today. 

With the only surviving members who are still active in the music industry (Mccartney and Starr), the Beatles legacy lives on through them and their children, who also joined the music industry. The death of Lennon and later Harrison shook the world and made all musicians come together for one simple thing - MUSIC.

10 best Websites for sex workers

Sex work is a rather controversial subject as far as our country is concerned. A lot of countries have legalized this business and even recognize the sex work industry. However, in a place like India where people think twice before doing something (hindered by the thought “Log kya sochenge”), it’s a far more dangerous subject to breach.

Most sex workers will say they’ve come into the trade by default, but did not want to get out of the industry later due to the ease with which you can earn money. According to them there’s lesser skill required and more money involved. India has a rich history as far as prostitution is concerned, with kings and emperors having various consorts even after being married. The work of these prostitutes doesn’t just revolve around sexual activities; there are a lot of other things they do focusing mainly on their clients’ satisfaction.

Trafficking is a major problem in this industry due to the illegality of the business. Young girls are kidnapped all over the country and put into this business by force. What legalizing this profession will do is a lot of ‘terms & conditions’ will get attached to sex work. For example, to be a taxi driver, a license is required, a membership with the Taxi Union is required, a commercial vehicle license is required, and so on and so forth. Similarly, when a person wants to come into the sex trade, a license will be required, a health card of some sort and other things just to become a sex worker. That will make sure the person is coming into this willingly, and also health status will be taken care of side by side. In a similar fashion, the United States took care of illegal marijuana by legalizing the drug. There are no health issues regarding it, and also makes sure users have access to safe strains of the drug. Just like that, the safety of sex workers and clients will be ensured if the profession is to be legalized.

All said and done, prostitution is still an illegal profession in India, and sex workers are usually branded. Countries like Netherlands where it is legal, sex work is a highly sought after business. Here are 10 best sites for sex workers.

1.       http://www.bayswan.org/

 

This website has loads of information regarding sex work, their legal issues, video tutorials on how to become a sex worker, brothels you can join among other things. There are also updates on their upcoming protests and rallies, and even research articles by sex work activists. However its mainly for European and American sex workers looking for help.

 

2.       http://www.nswp.org/

 

This one is the Global network of sex work projects undertaken by the UNO all over the world. It has info regarding all projects going on globally for the betterment of sex workers while promoting health and human rights.

 

3.       https://apnsw.info/

 

This is the Asia Pacific Network of sex workers. Its just for the continent of Asia, where main members include India, Indonesia, Thailand among other countries. Similar to the previous one, it will have information on all the projects for sex workers, but indigenous to only Asia.

 

4.       http://www.saafe.info/main/index.php

 

Standing for Support And Advice For Escorts, this website will have discussion forums warning sex workers about various sexual diseases, areas or clients to avoid, or even ways to protect yourself from clients. Furthermore you’ll find ads by sex workers or even agencies willing to recruit. However, this site is only for Northern Europe, mainly England.

 

5.       http://ashodaya.org/

 

This site is run by Ashodaya Samithi, a community based organisation from Mysore, India. They have funding from Avahan, Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and focus on helping sex workers in Karnataka with various local, health, legal issues they may be facing. They also work with Homosexuals and transgenders. So if you’re in Karnataka and have problems being gay or transgender, feel free to contact them. They have various peer educators and community counsellors to help you out. Their site is currently under work.

 

6.       http://durbar.org/

 

Durbar is the organisation functioning in Sonagachi, the largest red light district in Asia. Based in Kolkata, this organisation has a membership of 65000 sex workers, all registered to make sure there is no trafficking in their area. This website will list in a detailed way all their projects and protests to help sex workers, be it male, female or transgender. They offer medical and even legal help to sex workers on the eastern side of India.

 

7.       http://ainsw.org/about.php

 

 

Stands for All India Network of Sex Workers, this site is actually an amalgamation of all organisations working in India for the benefit of sex workers. Its an organisation with a member panel made up of sex workers, and they are usually selected by voting. They decide on various constitutional issues regarding sex work. You can contact them for any help and they’ll direct you to the organisation nearest you.

 

8.       http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Sexualhealthtopics/Pages/Sexual-health-hub.aspx#

 

This website is a help to all sex workers across the world regarding sexual health. It will give information concerning sexual organs and various diseases, and will even direct you to the nearest doctor according to your symptoms.

 

9.       http://www.yamigupta.com/

 

Run by Yami Gupta, this site will access to sex workers looking for work, agencies looking to hire, and even clients looking for specific things. All rates and areas will be listed, and users can get connected to their desired people.

 

10.   http://www.wcd.nic.in/

 

This website, Women and Child development, run by the Indian government, started a programme for the welfare and rehabilitation of sex workers. Logging on, female sex workers can get the benefit of upto 20000 rupees per month if they wish to be rehabilitated from sex work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vivid

  He pulled me along as if I was weightless. My heart drummed inside my ribs, worn out due to the continuous running, coupled with the fear cooped up inside me. My muscles ached throughout my body as I ran along my dad in the dark alleyway. A cat scampered away as the sound of our shoes pounding came closer to it. My dad took a sudden turn into an open doorway and entered a nightmarish courtyard.

  The building in front of us was ancient with all the paint almost peeling off. Moss grew on the outer wall facing us. All in all the total impression it gave was of a haunted deserted building straight out of a horror movie. My dad broke the rusted lock open and we ran inside. We entered one of the rooms and hid behind the filing cabinet.

  I heard a crash as our pursuers entered the building. They had rung our doorbell when we were having dinner. My dad saw then through the window and ran, taking me in his arms, through the back door. My dad had promised that we would practice after our meal. He had discovered my prowess, what I was destined to have, after being invoked with electromagnetic gamma rays. Apparently it was there inside me, but it came out because of those rays. Pyrokinesis; the ability to conjure, manipulate and control the fifth element: fire. It had first happened when dad was lighting the fire and the fire got disbanded. It spilled onto the carpet and the carpet caught fire. Suddenly it fizzed out. I don’t know how that happened, but I just thought it should and it did. It was like I had willed it to stop.

  Since then I have been a part of this secret. If those people found out about me, then I would be experimented on and used for the wrong purpose.

  But they found out about me and reached us that night. And now, we were running just to save our lives.

  “They’re coming”, I whispered, and he nodded tensely. He stood up and pushed me away. He prodded me towards the open staircase and said to me, what would be the last words I hear from him, “Run”.

  I looked at him one last time and ran up the stairs, until I reached the top floor. From there I jumped onto the branch of a tree and climbed down into the shadows. From my safe place I could see my dad dying. He was being tortured by those men. One man walked up to him and grabbed his head. My dad got immersed in deadly convulsions. I saw him twitch for one last time and he lay still. From there, I knew I was orphaned.

  Tears ran down my cheek and my throat went dry. I remember the time when those street boys would make fun of me. I used to go running up to my dad and cry on his lap. Those boys would tease me and call me a baby. Suddenly it hit me. I opened my palm and released a flow of energy. A ball of flame appeared on my palm calmly. Those boys used to call me names and laugh at me.

They weren’t laughing anymore.

  I turned back and disappeared into the darkness, with my heart throbbing with revenge coupled with a desire to kill. I found a deserted spot for the night and lay down. All of a sudden a police siren shattered the silence of the night. A car stopped in front of me and a kind voice called out “are you alone son??”, “where do you live?” After each question I thought here it comes. He was going to get out of his car and catch me. But he just opened the door and came towards me. I couldn’t take a risk.

  A ball of flames engulfed the man, and he ran about as his clothes were on fire. The car exploded. I had already reached the cover of the forest by that time.

 

I had to stay in hiding. Police would catch me and take me to those men. I had to hide myself. But while I was hiding, I had to formulate a plan for the fate of my dad’s killer. The main killer was a guy who was completely bald he had a scar on his right cheek. He was going to die.

 

                                                       *       *      *

 

  He was the chief executive of the Branch of Secret Experimentation, which was under the Governmental Secret Services. Only a few people knew of its existence, mainly the people who worked under it. He was completely bald and had a scar running down his right cheek. He was specially sent for from Africa. At this moment, He was speaking to his secretary about the latest case of the boy with mysterious powers.

  “We have to get hold of that boy. Think of how it would help the country. We can fight wars; we could even manipulate his skill into other people, and what not. “Order the search warrant right now”. The secretary went to carry out the orders given. The chief lit a cigar and grinned to himself “but the boy’s power shall be mine”. The cigar fell off his hands as an explosion caused the window to shatter into pieces. The security alarm went on, flashing red. The chief ran up to what was left of the window and looked down from thirty floors above. The main gate was completely unhinged and crooked. The security guards lay burning, dead.

  The secretary ran into the room shouting “are you alright sir...”He looked at the broken window and said “it’s an attack sir, and an unexpected missile of flame hit the front gate. All the security cameras are destroyed. But the ones inside are still intact. He switched on the monitor in the room. It showed a person blasting guards out of his way with his palms ablaze with fire. His eyes had an orange glow.

                                                       *       *      *

  Most of the floors in between were deserted. The flame inside me was pulsing to come out. It was easy for me to burn my way to the top floor. On the thirtieth floor there was a door at the end of the corridor marked with CEO. I kicked it open and looked inside. There was a man sitting on the chair, but it wasn’t the man I wanted. “Where’s the black guy, the man who killed my father?” I asked him. He didn’t respond, but instead turned towards the window. I walked forward and readied my power, when suddenly a huge pair of hands grabbed my head.

  I was in agony, mentally. It was like the flame inside me was destroying my brain. I twitched continuously, trying to get free. I was sure I was about to die, just like my father before me. At least I would be reunited with him. As I let the darkness envelope me, I suddenly found myself clutching the bedpost and panting hard. Oh my god, it was just a dream! I was just a normal guy!!

  I got up from bed and got ready for school, thinking about the lovely story I had to tell my friends. I went down for breakfast after packing my bag. I saw my dad, alive and kicking, as healthy as a horse. GOD, dreams can be so realistic! I sat down at the table with my plate of oats. My dad lit a matchstick for the gas stove. The newspaper lay on the kitchen slab, on the other side of the room. I looked at the flame and suddenly it was on page one of the newspaper, eating it up. I looked at my dad and smiled..

in cybertronic somnium

I opened my eyes and blinked twice. It was a Monday, and I hated Mondays. It was the beginning of another boring week. Another week full of biology, maths, chemistry, all the stuff I’d done by the time I was six. You see, my parents, they were scientists working with Military Arms and Ammunition Department of the government on some new technology that they’d said would change the world. My dad was the leader of the project. He code named it ‘meta-materials’, a substance kind of like the invisibility cloak I’d read about in the Harry Potter books. Metamaterials are artificial materials engineered to have properties that may not be found in nature. They gained their properties from structure rather than composition, using small inhomogeneities to create effective macroscopic behavior. He had just found out about a new material that had a negative refractive index. So far their approach to the field of invisibility was to install micro-cameras at one side of a board, and on the other side, micro-screens to play what could be seen through the cameras, so from one side it looked like the board was invisible. But what my dad had found that night was much different- it was nothing in short of a miracle. He had successfully tempered the polymer through a self-contained nuclear reactor, and he had finally created what he had been working on for the last fifteen years. He had made his robe of invisibility. He had called me from his lab in Ohio (the only place where a lab of such proportions could be built), and he had literally screamed into the earpiece that he and mom were making their way back home to celebrate their success. That was the last I’d heard from him, and I never heard from my parents after that.
I slowly got up and made my way to the bathroom to do my morning duties. I washed the grease from last night off my wrists and dressed for school. I looked at myself in the mirror. A sad, depressed looking boy stared back at me. The simple truth? -I missed my parents a lot.
I went downstairs into the garage and checked on the car engine I’d fixed last night. Robot|)/-\|) would be dropping me to school like every day. I checked its battery charge to make sure that it could work through the day. Since my dad had been a scientist and had a lab of his own in the basement (which I used now), the neighbors didn’t suspect anything wrong. They just assumed that he was working at home. It dropped me to school every day. The car, I’d programmed to sense the speed limit, traffic signals, and other cars. Its circuit was based on the map of the city. So all I had to do was enter the destination into the car radio (which was actually the user-based interface between me and the car), and put Robot|)/-\|) into the driver’s seat, and we’d be off. The car never broke any laws while driving, so we were never caught by the police. I remembered the first time I’d put the car into action, it couldn’t sense the red light and it kept driving. A cop caught onto us. I’d screamed into the command microphone for the car to stop.
The cop stopped his moped behind us and slowly walked to us while checking the plates. I rolled the driver’s window down and switched Robot|)/-\|) ’s emotion plate to positive. Immediately a creepy looking smile came onto its face.
It disgusted me to see a replica of the greatest dad in the world, my dad, made into a thing that looked like him, talked like him, smiled like him, but didn’t love me back like my dad did, didn’t
tuck me into bed and talk about astronomy, nanotechnology, mathematical progressions and whatnot to put me to sleep. But Robot|)/-\|) was required, and it played an important role in my present life.
The cop came up to its side, and the micro cameras I had installed in place of the irises scanned the badge and the gun, and played the cop-recording of my dad’s voice –
“How can I help you officer?”
“Can I see your license and registration, please?”, replied the young officer.
“Of course”, I said and dug into the dashboard compartments. The officer looked quizzically at Robot|)/-\|). “You see, he’s really forgetful”, I replied to his looks.
Robot|)/-\|) continued to smile into the cop’s face. The cop shook his head and took the papers from me. He looked them over and said it seemed to be in order.
He signed a ticket of 200 bucks over to me which I paid him. We’d got off that day, but all the time my heart was beating fast inside my ribcage. I was actually afraid that the policeman would be able to hear my heartbeat race, and suspect that something was wrong. But fortunately nothing happened then.
I was thinking about all this when I was brought out of my reverie by the beeping noise coming out of Robot|)/-\|). My hands quietly checked over its body. I brought out the fried chip and looked over it. I remembered, after that escapade with the police, I’d read through my dad’s notes on artificial intelligence (AI) and put them to work. I had to create a system ‘that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of success’, or so said the notebook. So I created an algorithm that imitated the step-by-step reasoning that I used when I solved puzzles or made logical deductions. I talked to myself and meditated to know the human mind better, or more importantly, to know myself. So I came to a plausible conclusion and I designed a system that initiated deduction, reasoning, problem solving, knowledge, commonsense, planning, learning, language processing, motion and manipulation, perception, social intelligence, creativity and general intelligence. The biggest hurdle I faced was cybernetics (brain simulation). But the algorithm solved it. After that, Robot|)/-\|) would wave and greet the neighbors, pick up the mail, talk to people on its own, et cetera.
It was basically dependant on the chip that I was replacing in the slot behind the ear. Getting equipment for all this was always easy. My father used to have a running account with the different government supplying agencies and they dropped the tools and other machinery at the doorstep. Robot|)/-\|) picked them up and signed for them. You see, according to the government, my parents were alive and were still working on the project, albeit, from home. It continued to draw on my father’s various allowances and salary on my behalf for food and other necessary items required in the house.
I replaced the chip and switched it on.
“Hello, son”, it said to me in the weird-copied voice of my dad.
I sighed and went to the kitchen for breakfast. Robot]\/|()|\/[ fixed me up with cereal. Out of the two robots, the easier programming was of Robot]\/|()|\/[. It only had to cook food for me, keep the house clean, wash my clothes, and do my homework. After all the work I had to - keeping the robots up to date (which also includes the car), continuing my dad’s work for the government to maintain the illusion, I just didn’t find time to do kid’s stuff like homework. So I’d programmed Robot]\/|()|\/[ with basics required in class 8, and she’d do my algebra, rational numbers, fractions among others. Plus, they were all linked to my smartphone, always in my pocket.
I started eating my breakfast as I watched Robot]\/|()|\/[ pack my bag for the day. My parents, when they were alive, didn’t socialize much, didn’t go out much, so maintaining secrecy was easy enough for me. Once in a while, Robot]\/|()|\/[ would hop in the car & go shopping for groceries. It was a peculiar life I was living, just so I wouldn’t have to go live with my grandparents. It wasn’t like they were cruel or something, it was just that life wasn’t the same with them. They were old fashioned people and their ideas were backdated. Food in their house consisted of mashed potatoes and boiled beans, hardly appetizing for a teenager like me. They didn’t like my studying all day long, and if truth be told, they didn’t appreciate my genius. The fact that my IQ was 227 was something they couldn’t digest. Hence my life was the way it is now. The morning after the day my dad called me last, the police came to my house. I was capable of living alone by then, thanks to my mother’s self designed burglar alarm around the house. The cop who came in explained to me –
“Listen kid, sometimes life doesn’t go the way you want it to. Sometimes you lose the people you love most in the world, but it’s just because God needed them more than you did…”
That’s when I knew I was an orphan.
The rest of the words drowned in a sea of noise in the silence of the house. I couldn’t begin to comprehend what had just happened. I had lost the two most important people in the world. I couldn’t believe that I’d never hear my dad come home and say, “I just flew in from Ohio, and boy, my arms are tired!”, or my mom come in, hug me straight and ask me: “Did you do your homework every day?”……
Their plane had gone lost above the Atlantic Ocean, above the famed Bermuda Triangle. The Social Services man told me that I would be sent to live with my grandparents the very next day. That night, with weepy eyes, I created clones of my parents with my bare hands. I had to do it. I had no choice.
The next day the morning newspaper carried an article about how two leading scientists had escaped fate in the Bermuda plane crash. It omitted names so it wouldn’t draw attention to us. The police were satisfied and I stayed at home, and I have since then.
I picked up my bag and walked to the garage. I sat down in the car, a normal BMW from the outside, but an intelligent and learning cybertron from the inside. I called out to Robot|)/-\|). Robot]\/|()|\/[ gave me my lunch, and we were off. I logged my smartphone to the mainframe at
home to continue last night work. I just couldn’t get it. I knew I was supposed to create something that could bend light rays around itself, but how to do it?
Suddenly, a car swerved onto our lane and crashed into our bumper. Our BMW couldn’t do anything as it was entirely the other driver’s fault. He started shouting at us, so Robot|)/-\|) said: “Sorry”, and drove off! Maybe it was time to teach Robot|)/-\|) some aggressiveness. I loaded clips from the movie ’Never Back Down’ into its memory space.
A mean looking expression crept onto the features of my father that I’d never seen before. It grabbed my neck and started squeezing all of a sudden.
I couldn’t breathe; it was choking me with an inhumane strength. I scratched at its neck where the ‘shut down’ button was located. Its programming was overloaded as it is, and I had just added a new emotion.
I was seriously panicking now…..I couldn’t reach its neck……I was dying at the hands of my own creation……I was scrabbling at its arm…….but it didn’t feel like an arm anymore……….it felt smoother….this was getting confusing now….I couldn’t go on…
My eyelids fluttered open.
DEAR LORD IN HEAVEN!! THAT. WAS. A. DREAM. My god!!
Dreams can be so realistic….
I got up and recalled everything. My parents were still in Ohio, working on their project. Everything was safe and sound. Dad had called me last night and screamed “We’ve done it, son! We’ve finally made it! We’ll be back by morn. A party is in order for me and your mother’s achievements”.
I made my way to the bathroom. That’s when I heard the police sirens. I ran downstairs and opened the door. A cop sadly looked at me and said to me gently: “Listen kid, sometimes life doesn’t go the way you want it to. Sometimes you lose the people you love most in the world, but it’s just because God needed them more than you did…………”
This couldn’t be happening.
This was an exact repetition of my dream.
I reeled back and sat down. I saw the Social Services man come in, and I said to him: “I’m not going to live with my grandparents. My parents are alive; they are just lost. They’ll be here”.
Saying so, I went into my room. I already knew what I had to do, and also, what I shouldn’t do…


















Post Script- The title ‘in cybertronic somnium’, is actually Latin for ‘The cybertronic Dream’.

The Kush

Through the leaves of apathy
I spy the fierce bark of my generation 
A wretched blob of uppers and downers 
Chasing phantoms in fancy suits 
The tree grows limp 
Cloudy skies cluster overhead
In the throes of chaos and anarchy
A generation at war with itself
I'm just in love with hash
Just check if you have some cream
Where do you think you're going?
On the road to rebellion
We're not so different, you and I 
I only wanted to see where it leads
So we're here. And now what?