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  • Are you a Hindu Atheist? God have mercy on you

    Are you a Hindu Atheist? God have mercy on you

    With the rise of atheists in secular societies, an important question is: should atheists read theology?

    If you are a knowledge seeker, but have intentionally shunted out reading of theology due to being an atheist, I would definitely recommend reviewing such a decision. I’ve seen voracious readers say, “I’ve read so many books, what’s next? There are no more good books in my wish list, but don’t recommend theology because I am an atheist.” Read it; you will thank me later. It is analogous to travelling the world to get more perspectives. Just like travelling to Vietnam doesn’t make you Vietnamese, reading theology does not make you religious. In fact, if you are into the study of patterns, you will like these concepts. It will definitely feel like taking the brain to the gym, and it will positively impact your performance in other walks of life.

    I don’t believe in one “personal god”, so that makes me an atheist, but I still believe that the “idea of religion” is a worthy human pursuit. When humans encountered things that were deterministic, they put them in science books, and when they encountered something abstract and philosophical, they put it in theological books. Every civilization has tried to approach this question of existence in its own way and in that process they “figured out” something and penned down their thoughts in such a way that the benefits of that high philosophy could trickle down to the masses without having to do deep study, hence the regimented prayer timings and other ceremonies. Religion is a culture’s answer to the philosophical questions that man faces. It’s literally an encyclopedia written by our ancestors while trying to juggle with the nature of existence. In that sense, I would give some credit to every religion for attempting to explain it in its own way. In addition to the metaphysical aspects, the Abrahamic religions have a political aspect of materialistic self-preservation and propagation that makes these religions lethal towards other groups, unlike Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, which are pure theologies and have pure philosophy (Shruti) and separated political aspects, like in Chanakya Neeti and Manu Smriti. What makes Hinduism even better is that it is a crowdsourced repository of information which keeps getting edited with new data every time our civilization progresses.

    I remember Subramanian Swamy saying Hindus congregate at festivals like Kumbh, but they don’t realize that the real benefit of congregation is to create a sense of unity and show the strength of our civilization, and whatever spiritual benefit you get is just a trickle-down effect. It’s not because the rivers, gods and temples emanate magic that you go there; you go there to represent yourself as a part of a large civilization. One for all and all for one.

    Doval has said, “Old religion used to say, if you don’t believe in God, you are an atheist; new religion says, if you don’t believe in yourself, you are an atheist.” Understand the deeper meaning of this on a practical level. You are an individual, you have individual interests. You are also a part of a group and you have collective interests. The bigger the group, the stronger position it has in any negotiation, the stronger it is, the more dividends it yields for the group, and by proxy, the more dividends trickle down to you as an individual. Even if you are an atheist, your individual interests are intertwined with how well the group does. No matter how loudly you scream that you are an atheist, when you are walking in a Muslim locality, for them, you are just another kafir and you will be given the same treatment that is meted out to other Hindus. In that case, you don’t have a choice of stepping out. Now that you are sure that you will anyway be made to pay the price of being part of a group, then why not make sure you also gain the dividends of being a part of that group? The group becomes stronger when you are a part of it, and you become stronger when you are a part of the group; this might in fact reduce the chances of you facing attrition in the first place. Being an atheist is the worst bargain you can make for yourself. You get all the cons of being a kafir and no pros. No matter whether you are atheist or not, you have to foot the bill. If you are a practical atheist who believes in hard logic, then I hope you see how bad this logic of atheism is. When you say that you are an atheist, you aren’t really signing yourself out of the group, you are only signing out of the benefits of the group.

    Even if you don’t want to go to temples and chant prayers, go to Kumbh, Akshardham, Jagannath Puri and witness your civilization alive and ticking. Don’t chant mantras but do read high philosophy. It will definitely make you a better person. Don’t confuse deterministic science with indeterminate philosophy. When existential crisis hits, even the best of scientists commit suicide. Both science and philosophy have a place in Hinduism. You need both to live a wholesome life. Atheism is for those Abrahamic religions which have a history of persecution of scientists by the Church and clergy. Hinduism never antagonized science; it has always assimilated it.

    Image Source:
    http://s3.amazonaws.com/theoatmeal-img/thumbnails/atheism_big.png

  • Currency demonetization is a bad or at best no impact idea

    Currency demonetization is a bad or at best no impact idea

    The recent decision by PM Modi government to take out Rs 500/1000 notes out of circulation has caught the media and the whole country into a frenzy. The policy seems to be the government antidote against the issue of black money in the economy.

    The main reason behind this demonetization decision is to cut down the black economy in the country and dry up the illegal funds of those who have collected it over the years. So if you have large unaccounted cash, it is as good as piece of paper beginning November 8.

    The government is acting on the premise that there is large amounts of black money in India and it is held in cash. This gives us two scenarios in the wake of this decision-

    1) There is really large amount of black money in the economy. So if you take this money out of economy, it will hit the economy hard post this decision, thus making demonetization a bad decision

    or

    2) There is no large amount of black money in the economy and there would be no impact on the economy. If this is the case, then it hardly makes sense to demonetize.

    Having seen how an average medium sized business operates in India, one should lean towards the first scenario that economy will be hit hard by this decision. There are large number of inefficient and unseen taxes on businesses, which makes them less productive and also makes it essential for them to engage into unlawful activities to keep the business running.

    So who might have large amounts of cash sitting at their place? Just think of any neighbourhood shop which does not give a receipt for your purchase, the owner there might have generated some amount of black money. And if the amount of black money hoarded by them is really high, expect them to fire their employees and shut shops in the wake of this decision.

    One of the sectors which is supposedly flushed with large amounts of black money is the real estate sector. The real estate sector has not done well for the past two years and it might get hit even more post this decision. There might be many people with white money, who have invested in unfinished projects, and they would lose all their investment because the real estate company cannot complete the project now.

    Also, the whole exercise seems a bit futile once you take into account that the government has decided to reissue new Rs 2000 notes. The rules of the game i.e. the discretionary power with the babus, have not changed and those who earlier collected Rs 500/1000 notes will now switch to hoarding money in Rs 2000 notes. So, this will have no impact on the future generation of black money.

    So, what should you make out of this policy? Brace yourself for a rude shock if you really believed that black money formed a significant part of Indian economy. And if you don’t get this rude shock, then it was just an empty noise without any substance and black money was not even an issue to begin with. Black money is a symptom of the inefficiencies and bad laws in the economy, which forces a large number of businesses to cut corners to remain viable.

    P.S. 1- The article only dealt with the economic issues of black money and some people will point out its impact on terrorist infrastructure or future state elections.

    P.S. 2- There is 3rd scenario not mentioned above, if you believe in super powers of black money hoarders- they have large amounts of money but they find a way to fool Modi government.

  • Donald Trump will be the next POTUS

    Donald Trump will be the next POTUS

    Donald Trump surprised everyone and defeated Hillary Clinton to become the next President of the United States. The rise and win of Trump can be simple explained by the fact that he promised change while Hillary offered “More Of the Same”. While the plebeians heard this message, the elites in the ivory tower ignored the message and tried hard to continue with the old system.

    The parallels will be drawn with Modi’s win in 2014, as he too defied all the odds and all the negative campaign against him, while he just chanted- “Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas”. Trump almost seemed to have borrowed from Modi’s template when he kept saying -“Make America Great Again”. While Hillary had nothing new to sell other than her being the first woman to run for the President’s post as candidate of one of the two major US political parties, Trump gave a message of positivity. And the people accepted the latter.

    US is on cusp of demographic transition with number of white kids born in US already below 50%. It is a changed country and white men have voted probably for the last time before demography hits them finally in the next elections. So, it is just the beginning of identity politics in US and it will only get worse. Identity politics is part and parcel of democratic system and there would always be politicians who will take benefit from it.

    If Hillary Clinton can use her women card, Trump just trumped her with white card. But apparently in the insane world of leftists, only they are allowed to create identity boxes and no one else. Only such cultists can be proud of their own stance while ridiculing the others for their own position. Look at the below excerpt from New Yorker, the liberal elitist magazine, to understand how some identities are important for the author, but white men endorsing their identity is somehow disgusting.

    In any case, the noise will die down and the world of politics will go on as usual. Trump or Hillary, one person can only change so much. So, lets take the time to congratulate the next POTUS with below video, which shows he just did not get lucky and had clearly worked for the position he won today.

  • Civilization and barbarians

    Civilization and barbarians

    Why do you create riches if the enemy waiting behind the lines will come and take it all away one day in the future? Would not you have been better if you had invested that time in building defence and keeping the barbarians off your territory?

    Let me start by retelling early recorded Chinese history. There was once a confederation of nomadic tribes which the Chinese referred to as Xiongnu, known as the Huns today. The most famous person of the confederation being Attila the Hun who sacked the eastern Roman empire. This retelling is about Meha the Hun, an ancestor of Attila, who was able to unite the various tribes into a strong Confederacy. Meha, a brave and capable general went on to raid China repeatedly. Basically these Nomads lived off by plundering the Chinese who had a far refined culture, way of life as well as developed systems of governance. All the Huns did was bide their time and look for a perfect opportunity to attack and plunder and take away whatever they could, be it women, gold, silver, horses etc. Many would now find parallels between the Afghans and the Huns, which is true, both lived on plunder. Now let us come to the present times, Hindus are today working hard, earning money, trying to build a civilization, rather rebuild it as some of the readers may point out later on, while Pakistan or certain sections of our society are simply biding their time. They are not bothered about poverty or well being, they know they can always snatch what they like from others when the opportunity arises. Does Kairana ring a bell?

    Civilization is a delicate thing. To protect it we must strive to destroy the barbarians at the gate, at all costs. Humanity or other forms of opiates which stem from universalism or similar doctrines, should be neutralised as soon as possible and never let these problems prolong as time only strengthens the barbarians at the gate.

    When the barbarians arrive to plunder our civilization, refinement, superior ways of life will count for nothing! Seize the opportunity and smash the enemies into oblivion. Compassion is a value your enemies do not share.

    How to revive the Hindu Kshatriya spirit

    Image Source:
    http://villainstournament.wikia.com/wiki/The_Hun_Army

  • State of Right wing media in Bharat

    State of Right wing media in Bharat

    The state of right wing media is very fluid in India right now. The market is already showing some signs of consolidation with the acquisition of OpIndia by Swarajya.

    One thing which you can take away from the discussion is that there is a big potential in this market and there is big scope for rise of new portals, both in English and local languages. What is needed is a genuine effort to popularize the ideology and help each other grow.

    Right wing is a big tent now and is growing fast after Modi’s win with the rush of turncoats to identify themselves with the new winners. On most social policies though, there is not much difference between any of these media houses- all follow western liberal constructs and find it valuable for Indian society without evaluating the current rot in western societies.

    But traditions are equally important and what we need is rational defence of the old wisdom and not give in to the unabashed hedonism promoted by most mainstream media houses under the guise of individualism.

    PS: Some portals missed in the above podcast: HinduPost, Jagruk Bharat, MyIndMakers

    Image Source:
    http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/09/15/article-2421411-1BD759F2000005DC-174_634x430.jpg

  • Data shows no significant increase in pollution due to Diwali

    Data shows no significant increase in pollution due to Diwali

    The liberals are in outrage over Hindu celebration of Diwali. Since they could not find any other problem, they are outraging over some fumes caused by crackers during Diwali celebration. The irony gets lost over these arm-chair liberals who sit in AC during the whole summer, travel in airplanes and gas-guzzling SUVs, but leave no stone unturned to lecture the unwashed masses on protecting environment.

    This is what Livemint said

    The data shows that pollution levels this Diwali were far more dangerous than last year. As per the SAFAR data, last year after Diwali, the PM 2.5 levels were 428µg/m³ which was nearly six times the safe limit.

    A newspaper which prides itself on reporting finance news does not even know the concept that air quality has too many factors and it is foolhardy to compare last year with this year’s level of pollution. A cloud cover can increase pollution much more than any Diwali. Or a small rain can reduce it to unimaginable levels.

    The above figures are taken from a service which tracks air quality in real time. So what does the above figures show? There is no significant difference post Diwali i.e. Monday 31st October 2016 and the days preceding Diwali. So pollution levels were in dangerous territory the whole week before Diwali. The overall AQI hovered around 500 both before and after Diwali.

    It is obvious to anyone who understand even a little bit about air pollution that one day of Diwali will add hardly anything to the overall pollution levels in big cities, which get choked due to vehicular pollution as well as other factory emissions.

    The data punctures the narrative on high pollution levels due to Diwali. There is not much change in pollution due to Diwali even compared to previous week and the increase is definitely negligible in the overall pollution levels in a pollution sink-hole like Delhi. So, liberals can go and whine while we heathens will continue to celebrate our festivals with great pomp.

  • Indian Diwali in Fiji: festival of life

    Indian Diwali in Fiji: festival of life

    Growing up in India, Diwali was my most favourite festival. India, truly a land of festivals, has something to celebrate every other week. A few holidays have the entire country — all age groups and all religions — in their grip, as does Diwali. It is also the loudest and the brightest of celebrations, thanks to the bursting crackers and shimmering lights.

    So when I left India as a young girl, excited to be a world traveller, the one day that I missed my homeland the most was Diwali. Every year I longed for the bright and the “real” Diwali. I have now spent about half of my life outside of India. And for years I waited for a Diwali that matched the memories of my childhood, when the preparation started not weeks but months before Diwali.

    I lived in Botswana and the US before moving to Fiji. One year I even spent a few days in London during the Diwali season. In Botswana, since the Indian population was sporadically spread throughout the country, I never got the feeling of a consolidated community like we have in Fiji. The artificially created Diwali in the US seemed more like a high school function, only with a higher presence of grown-ups. Yes, there were streamers and catered food, and we did dress up one Saturday evening to gather in a school or community hall to commemorate the passing of Diwali — but we did not exchange homemade sweets, nor did we contemplate for weeks the colour of our Diwali outfit with our friends, nor did I ever hear of “Diwali cleaning.”

    Oh, how I craved the long extended Diwali preparations of India that continued for weeks, and the actual celebration that lasted for almost four days. The day before Diwali, when we “almost” celebrated Diwali, was labelled Chhoti Diwali — “little Diwali.” On Choti Diwali, we dressed up just not as bright as for Diwali, we had fireworks just not as loud or for as long, we ate special sweets just not the ones being offered to the deities. We were preparing for Diwali.

    So not until the Diwali of 2006, which I celebrated in Fiji, did I feel the thumping of my heart for the festival of lights with the same intensity as it did in India. The Diwali of 2006 almost replicated the Diwali of my childhood. Just like the Diwali of my childhood there was also a building up to the final celebrations — slow, gradual, extended, and with much anticipation and hope.

    Although there were no Ramlilas being staged, I first felt the warm electric spark of Diwali when the lady at the Hare Krishna restaurant, right across from USP, dropped the plate she was serving me in to rush to the balcony. “What, what happened??” I asked, panicking. “Oh, she loves fireworks!” exclaimed the other hostess as she ran out as well. I followed the eager spectators, nearly tripping on the side tables. I shared their joy as they revelled in the faint sounds of fireworks about half a mile away — and just smiled in reminiscence. The bursting joy, the cracking sounds, the fragrant memories, the flickering magical lights of the Diwali of my childhood had returned. That was almost three weeks before Diwali.

    Slowly, over the next three weeks I would see symbols of celebration spring up — bhajans replaced boisterous Bollywood songs, the stores in Suva were beginning to sell Diwali paraphernalia, diyas in all sizes and colours, family-size packets of incense, camphor and other puja material were on display. Special hand-painted Ganesha and Lakshmi adorned the sales windows of Indian shops. Bright lights went up on houses and shops, temples decked the idols in new and even brighter clothes, visitors to temples had increased — and there was a general air of happy anticipation around. And something that I had not witnessed anywhere else but in India: Diwali ads on Fiji TV.

    I knew then that I was in for a memorable Diwali.

    That I was invited to the nine-day affair of Navratras — when women dance in temples for nine straight nights — was surprising enough, but the fact that I had invitations to the celebration at three different venues was unbelievable. Even in Delhi, where I grew up, I had never attended a Garba dance. I chose to attend the function at the Lakshmi Narayan temple in Suva. Almost three weeks before Diwali, women of all ages were already dressed in their finest threads. These delicately and richly clothed women danced with such poise that I almost forgot to take pictures.

    The Suva Indian Association, almost a week before Diwali, had a celebration at the Kshatriya Hall on Devoux Road. But it was the morning that set the celebration as typically Indo-Fijian. Instead of busily ironing sarees, reading newspapers or watching morning cartoons, men, women and children were gathered the morning of the celebration to cook food for the evening. The food we ate that evening was cooked by people who had known each other for decades. I overheard stories of new brides who were now mothers of twenty-year-olds. Being an outsider and a newcomer to Fiji, I had nothing to share but all to imbibe. That morning in Suva, I got a whiff of that long-sustained Indian community in Fiji. And that evening, when I saw young Indo-Fijians dancing along with Fijian and Chinese children, I knew that this small island country is not just maintaining the old but working very hard to incorporate the new and different into its present.

    The day before Diwali, I was in town and was awestruck to see almost everyone on the street dressed in bright clothes. That day was one of the most memorable shopping days for me. I got served by women clad in silk and chiffon and adorned in intricate jewellery. The bank teller, the hostess at the restaurant, the helper at the shoe store, and even the woman selling me vegetables were all dressed like Bollywood actresses. The Diwali fever had spread to non-Hindus as well — Fijian women wore salwar-kameezes, Muslim women wore shinier hijabs that matched their outfits. It really was not a religious holiday. Diwali seemed synonymous with celebration.

    Image: One of the stores in Suva, Fiji decorated for Diwali
    Representative restoration image generated because the original image was not embedded in the supplied HTML.
    One of the stores in Suva, Fiji

    The Diwali day itself was just as busy, bright and boisterous as I remember in India — phone calls from friends, gifts, boxes of homemade sweets, Rangoli outside the houses! And it is a national holiday! Finally Diwali was Diwali, celebrated on the actual day with great pomp and show — complete with the sound of firecrackers and the smell of gunpowder.

    Later that evening, my friend Kirti, who is an Indo-Fijian, took me for a Diwali drive to see the lights and we took plates of homemade sweets to our neighbours. We visited her parents and ate delicious homemade food, and we took pictures.

    In Fiji that year, I became a ten-year-old again — excited at every sound, smell and taste of Diwali, and yet sad that within a few hours it would all be over. So I kept awake till late, listening to the firecrackers. I lay on my couch with the contentment of a well-fed, well-gratified person — for my craving for a real Diwali had been appeased.

    But it was months after Diwali, when I truly acknowledged what a unique experience I had had, when in mid-December I saw a sign at the Prouds in Suva. The sign, bright and red, pasted on the window where a huge idol of Ganesha was displayed, simply said: “We wish you a Merry Christmas.” And to the memories of my ideal Diwali, another image of the beauty of unity in celebration, regardless of religion, had been added. Only in Fiji.

    Written by Charu Uppal. Originally published October 28, 2016 on Yuga Parivartan.

  • Why Pakistan’s destruction is necessary for India’s survival

    Why Pakistan’s destruction is necessary for India’s survival

    Is united Pakistan good for India?

    The carving out of Muslim Pakistan in 1947 has given it the legitimacy of carrying out Jihad against Bharat on behalf of Ummah since the past seven decades. Sometimes on its own or other times as a ploy used by west, Pakistan has been a continued nuisance against Bharat since its inception. The existence of Pakistan continuously reminds Muslims of the struggle that they have been raising against Kafirs in the Indian subcontinent. This includes many of the those who live in Bharat but sing paeans for the Muslim Pakistan. So breaking down of Pakistan is important to send clear message to this fifth column.

    To understand loyalty of Muslims to Ummah, one needs to go back and recount historical examples. One such interesting story is related to Jinnah. Jinnah was actually the lawyer hired by the Khan Of Kalat who was the monarch of Baluchistan during British rule in India. In the name of lawyer’s fees Jinnah asked the Khan to give gold equal to the weight of Jinnah and in exchange Jinnah would argue the case for the independence of Baluchistan based on technicalities, and it won’t be included into a newly created Pakistan. As reported here:

    Before the partition of India and Pakistan, Balochistan consisted of four princely states under the British Raj. These were Kalat, Lasbela, Kharan and Makran. Two of these provinces, Lasbela and Kharan, were fiduciary states placed under Khan of Kalat’s rule by the British, as was Makran which was a district of Kalat. Three months before the formation of Pakistan, Muhammed Ali Jinnah had negotiated the freedom of Baluchistan under Kalat from the British. Discussions were made about Kalat’s relationship with Pakistan as it was formed.

    This was obviously a ploy. Jinnah took the gold, stalled the case until his army could prepare for a full invasion of Baluchistan and once they were ready, they invaded, kidnapped the family of the monarch, made him sign instrument of accession and Jinnah kept all the gold which he had taken as lawyer’s fees, like a true Muslim. Not to forget, Jinnah was a very highly educated member of British India. Moral of the story, doesn’t matter how highly educated a Muslim is, be it doctor, engineer, barrister, prime minister, a Muslim never ceases to be a Muslim due to education. He remains a Muslim, first and always. Musharraf also has similar story. He was actually an Indian from an elite Indian Muslim family who migrated to Pakistan very late after the creation. So all those who say that Indian Muslims are a different breed than Pakistani Muslims and their loyalty must not be challenged, you have a great counter example called Musharraf.

    As long as the nation of Pakistan exists as an alternative for Indian Muslims to look up to, as an ideological model for a functional Islamic state and as a flagship destination for Muslims of the subcontinent and as a functional place of refuge for all anti-India elements to hide in, after committing crime in India, India will always face an existential threat. Pakistan will always provide the mental comfort of being the “Plan B” for any Muslim in the sub-continent who wants to start over afresh. In essence, Bharat will always have to strive to undermine this nation to show that the idea of an Islamic riwayat within the Indian subcontinent was an inherently flawed concept. The idea to Islamic Pakistan bound by Islamic brotherhood has less credibility now given that it has already failed once during 1971, and it will hit rock bottom once again, when Baluchistan splits apart.

    As long as people know that there is another rat hole to run to, after messing things up in India, they will always give step motherly treatment to their motherland. It is our responsibility to dismantle Pakistan and send a clear message to the 170 + 180 + 120 million Muslims of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh that you cannot have a safe haven in South-Asia. There can be no parallel Islamic model operating in the Indian subcontinent. We will break you until you are nothing more than vassal states of a Hindu Bharat.

    Breakup of Pakistan is especially important to the Muslims of India as it will send an unwritten message that there is no more any “Plan B” to migrate to. So if you were thinking of dodging taxes, planting bombs or burning saints, thinking that you could escape to Pakistan, that hotel-cum-lodge has shut down now. You will be brought to book, not by Indian army or RAW, but by a simple hawaldar of Mumbai police and brought back in a second hand police van to face trial not in the supreme court as an international celebrity terrorist, but as a chillar chindi chor arrested from the neighbouring vassal state of Baluchistan, Sindh, Bangladesh, just like we do for Jihadis hiding in Nepal right now.

    There will be no more Dawoods produced in India as there will be no more Pakistan to hide in. This is how we need to approach the problem in the short run. But fiberals might cry- Ohh, but Pakistan has nukes. Well, the nuke problem can only be sorted once we are clear on long term strategic goals, which should include further breakup of Pakistan into smaller states and then integration of those states back into the Dharmic fold later. The thousand year civilization clash will not end in our lifetime, so we should plan long term.

    Image Source:
    http://nation.com.pk/blogs/29-Apr-2015/pakistan-a-disintegrated-nation

  • Who is a good boy?

    Who is a good boy?

    Modern youth is confused and doesn’t know what it wants in life. There are many fancy names floating around for this phenomenon, mid/quarter life crisis, existential crisis, existentialism, fatalism, nihilism.

    On a practical level, it is also a function of the gender roles we are slotted in. The females are breaking free of their traditional roles with slogans like “women don’t belong in the kitchen” but unfortunately men are neither aware nor willing to break free from theirs, nor will the modern society allow them to do so. The traditional male gender role is still that of a provider who works in an office and a man’s worth in society is still benchmarked on the money he earns.

    On an abstract level, the turmoil that upwardly mobile youth is facing is that we are climbing the Maslow’s pyramid too early and hence stumbling across the question of “what next?” which is the trigger for all forms of existential crisis. A person who has climbed the first three steps of the pyramid and ensured that he has enough resources so that he will never starve to death will start looking for sublime sources of validation like the definition of a meaningful, eventful or fulfilling life.

    The need is to get into a variety of things like national security, martial arts, video games, religious geometry, dharma, paragliding, rifle shooting, solo long distance bike trips and recently even aquarium designing. Just consume a variety of content, get involved in various activities and communities and keep the brain stimulated.

    We have to stop the jinx of letting society define us as a good provider and start redefining the meaning of life with us at the focal point. Do things for ourselves instead of finding actualization in being a better provider and acquiring the paraphernalia to advertise to the world that we are indeed doing well.

    Wah beta wah, IITian ban gaye? Wah beta, MNC mein job lag gaya? Wah, 17 hours kaam karte ho, extra time bhi karte ho? Piles hain? Wah wah, fir toh bahut workload hoga? Excellent! Wah, wah beta nayi car le li? Naya ghar? Badhiya hai, you are such a ‘good boy’. Now marry my daughter and be a good provider for her.

    A good girl does whatever she wants and a good boy does whatever enables him to pay for the good girl’s wants. That is the current Indian dream we are chasing.

    We need to stop grooming young males in our society to conflate their self worth with their earning potential, otherwise we are only presenting ourselves as a magnet for the wrong kind of crowd who will file fake 498A cases and empty out bank accounts within no time. What young males in India need the most, is a spine. Unfortunately, it’s not available on Flipkart, so we will have to grow one ourselves.

    Disclaimer from YP

    The growth of such opinion among men in India will destroy us just like it destroyed the west. And the men are not to be blamed for thinking this way, the society has been too harsh to them and will only get worse with further changes in marital laws. They are already feeling estranged by the nonchalant attitude which the political establishment has towards them.

    Image Source:
    http://ayay.co.uk/backgrounds/animals/dogs/good-dog-jack-russell-terrier.jpg

  • Evolutionary banter about pre-marital sex, stress and divorce

    Evolutionary banter about pre-marital sex, stress and divorce

    Brothelwood has always taken upon itself to promote degeneracy and the open promotion of promiscuity and one night stands is the natural step forward for such an organization. The new movie Befikre will be just another addition to the long list of movies made to hollow out the remaining cultural norms of an already decaying civilization.

    So what made premarital sex such a taboo in the civilized world?

    Premarital sex is very harmful in pair bonding and leads to unhappiness and divorce. It does affect men and women differently though. The divorce risk goes up for every partner that a women has ever had. The below figure is reported from a survey on American women and it can be easily seen that divorce rate goes up from around 5/7% for women with zero partners before marriage to almost 35% as they reach 10+ partners. (Funny part- The study is named counter intuitive trends in the link between pre-marital sex and divorce rate! Well it was never counter intuitive for civilizations of the past.)
    The above trend also holds true for happiness and not just for marriage. Women with more number of sexual partners also report lower happiness. Similar studies are well documented around the internet and are frequent point of talk among the western red pilled men. While the men do not show similar decrease in happiness or increased divorce risk as compared to women, there are negative impacts on men as well. The negative impact on men usually comes in the form of handling breakups. Men often seem stoic and indifferent but relationship breakup hits them harder. So, the consequences for men appear more devastative in the short term, which are nevertheless important and should not be ignored. Actually men face higher chance of falling into depression and substance abuse post divorce as reported here and here. Let us add the third fact here- Women initiate almost 70% of all divorces.

    Although the psychologists can give varied answers (or non answers) to the above, but digging into evolutionary biology can give insight into all these puzzles. Lets highlight some evolutionary facts-

    1. 20% of men ever passed their genes compared to 80% women, so average female have been biologically more successful than average male. See here and here.
    Recent evidence for male deaths in different tribes

    1. At the end of wars, while adult males were killed, women were taken as prisoners of war
    1. Women’s sexual market value decrease as they age (decreased beauty, reproductive value), while it is reverse for men as they get richer and powerful

    So, how does it all fit together to cause decreased happiness for women (with large number of sexual partners) in the long run? While at the same time causing depression among men after breakups and divorces. Point 1, goes towards showing that women are the more valuable of the two sexes due to their contribution to the formation of next generation. So a few top tier men are sufficient for mating with most of the women. This had been true for most of human history before society became more egalitarian and monogamy was enforced in one way or the other. But this imbalance still shows up in modern law and social sciences, as otherwise there is no reason to fund very few studies on problems faced by divorced men. To give example from Bharat, there is almost no media coverage on abuse of laws like 498a against men, further enforcing the viewpoint that eggs are expensive while sperms are cheap.

    Point 2 is important to understand the docile nature of women as compared to men. Since women were often captured in wars due to their reproductive value for the invading tribe, they escaped the fate of men from the losing tribe as the latter were almost always killed. The women who easily forgot their native tribe and surrendered to the dominance of new tribe had an easy time surviving while those who were steadfast in defending their native tribe would have had difficult time in surviving. Either they would have been killed for making too much nuisance or they might have killed themselves due to emotional pressure. This essentially means that current females are selected from the set of docile females, who were able to switch their loyalty. Men on the other hand survived only if they fought well and dominated their enemies.

    Point 3 is very difficult to swallow for many people and they would come up with all kinds of explanations to refute it. There are other qualities in women that men would look up before marrying but youthfulness is one of the most important ones. This can be seen in the study done on data from the dating website called OKCupid. Read here.
    a1
    Men’s age is on the vertical axis, while women on horizontal. The pink numbers represent preferred age of women.

    Results from this study show that 20 or 21 old girls are preferred by men of all ages. The above graph also overlays the top two quartiles (25%) of ratings given by men, shown in dark and light pink i.e. the top 50% of ratings. You can see young women (below 27) capture the top 25% ratings. To quote the author-

    the male pattern runs much deeper than just a preference for 20-year-olds. And after he hits thirty, the latter half of our age range (that is, women over 35) might as well not exist. Younger is better, and youngest is best of all, and if “over the hill” means the beginning of a person’s decline, a straight woman is over the hill as soon as she’s old enough to drink.

    Of course, one can come up with few counter examples here and there but that do not change evolutionary facts that reproductive value drive male choice for younger females. On the other hand women almost prefer men of their own age.

    Now let’s put together these evolutionary facts together to explain the unhappiness of women, stress in divorced men and high divorce rate initiated by women. The unhappiness of women and divorce are closely related. Since women lose their sexual market value over time, it means over time the quality of males they attract goes down due to competition from younger females. Since premarital sex is no longer a taboo and marriages are often delayed, this essentially means that girls start having sexual encounters from an early age up until they get married. Somewhere around 24-25 years a girl might have best chance of getting married given optimal financial stability and fertility at this age, but from 25 onwards increased financial ability cannot compensate for ageing.

    So as a woman ages, she has to increasingly settle down for a lower quality mate than her previous encounters. This results in unhappiness later in life due to previous experiments (mistakes) and lost chances of settling down. The disenchantment naturally goes up with the number of sexual partners as it further delays the marriage as well as increase the baseline expectation of mate value (due to more experiment) to compare the present mate with. This is nothing but reflection of The Paradox of Choice, arising due to negative emotions arising from missed opportunities.

    Men on the other hand do not face similar problem as women. Men’s attractiveness to women comes primarily from their status as a provider, which essentially means how rich and powerful they are. Although, there are other factors but a 30 year old male is usually richer and does not lose mate value as fast as women. So, large number of sexual encounters for men do not translate directly into negative emotions from missed opportunities later in life as there are no missed opportunities since the quality of mates they attract actually goes up as they age. But there is another significant factor at play here. Go back to point 1 in evolutionary facts i.e. only 20% of males ever passed on their genes. In a free sexual market, it is the top males (alpha) who corner a large and significant part of this market. This can be seen from the study on American individuals as reported in the table below.

    a1

    While a lot of women lie in the middle range, it is top 33% men who have large number of sexual encounters which accounts for more sexual partners than the bottom 67% together. So, in a free sexual market, a large percentage of men would not have any experience to look back upon and face the same missed opportunity conundrum as faced by an average women or if they have experience it would improve over time before their sexual market value slowly fades away.

    But what explains the presence of post divorce/breakup stress among men? Go back to point 2 and culling of men during wars. Evolutionarily, men hardly ever survived the loss of their female partners. It was men who were sent to die in wars or engaged in hazardous activities. This is reflected even today by lower life expectancy for males due to their engagement in hard labour industries. Add to it the above point 2 on survival of women after being captured by enemy. While today’s females are descendants of the survivors of past females, who learnt to suppress their emotions of death of kith and kin and accepted dominance of new tribe, men were almost always killed or failed to pass on their genes. So, men did not learn to suppress their emotion that arises from loss of a partner. While men did grow out of love of an old partner but it was never about snapping of ties at the drop of a hat. This explains why so many men take to substance abuse or contemplate suicides post failed relationships. The same stress can be spotted even among men who lose their wives and are less able to deal with the loss of spouse. This lack of evolutionary experience in dealing with spouse loss also explains how stable marriages help men.

    This brings us to the last part of the puzzle- why women initiate more divorce than men? The same reason which explain post divorce stress among men, also explains why men file substantially lesser number of divorces than women. Looking again at points 2 and 3 of our evolutionary facts explains choice of women. Since women have been selected for bearing emotional loss of their mate, they are better prepared evolutionarily to handle post breakup problems and deal with their emotions. Coupled with the explanation for large sexual number of partners leading to unhappiness due to The Paradox of Choice, modern women are unhappy in their marriages. Since, they are unhappy and are better adapt at handling fallout of emotional stress post divorce, they go ahead with the decision. But since their Sexual market value keeps falling with age, they fail to attract higher value mate and get caught in the vicious cycle of regret spell due to missed opportunities.

    A smart society with strong cultural norms understands how evolutionary algorithms can ruin the happiness of men and women unless society puts some checks and balances on the lizard brain. The decay of west should be a wake up call to all sane societies. Question is- will Bharat rise to this challenge and stop the spread of degeneracy being served right into their living rooms under the grab of liberalism and modernity by Bollywood?