My Thoughts on our Existance and Future

When I was in grade 3rd or 4th I would often think about the Brhamand (universe) and its infinite nature. Since then, have certainly evolved my thinking. I agree this may not have happened had I not had bread on the table and a shelter to sleep. Having said that here are some of my thoughts:

"First of all I'm a die hard Optimist. The reason of my optimism comes from the fundamental premise of the Being & Nothingness philosophy. Had we not evolved to be Humans (specifically the Cerebral Cortex) there would not have been any discussion. This leads to the whole subject of 'Conciousness' that has been delved into for thousands of years by our ancient sages and more recently by likes of Deepak Chopra and others. I've often wondered if Dolphins ever think about these matters, they certainly seem to have an evolved Brain - so do Dolphins also have a 'Conciousness' ?

Any way now that we have this collective 'Conciousness' lets look at the following thoughts: the evolution from nothingness to where we are today is extremely magical and beautiful. The Stars, the Galaxies, the Birds, Trees, insects flowers.. simply amazing.. there is beauty, roit of colors, heat, cold, rain, thunder, mountains, rivers and seas.. Comets and black holes.. I often say, if you want to find God just randomly select any 'one sq ft of ground in a forest or for that matter even a garden and you will (with your own naked eyes) if you look carefully and long enough - be able to find at least few dozen species of plants and insects in that one sq ft of ground..

Now there are two differences here: In the Animal & Plant Kingdom the so called voilence (which is a term created by Humans) is ony necessitated by evolutionary compulsions. A Lion only kills if he is hungary. A parasite plant sucks the sap from its host tree since that is the way the parasite evolved to live (by the way it was termed 'Parasite' only by Humans, else it would have remained nameless doing its thing for another million years..). AND evolution was not by a unitary Will.. evolution is just the random selection .. so this notion of right and wrong is alien to Life itself till such time Homo Sapiens evolved..

Secondly the history of last known 20 to 40 thousand years of Humans has amply demonstrated the average collective net-sum resilience of an amazing and immence growth (with the biggest growth being the sheer populations of Humans).. 8 billion or so now. Growth in ideas, in science, in culture in medicine, in cosmology, in astronomy, in every field.. The most recent book I've started reading - 'The Beginning of Infinity. by David Deutsch' has an amazing connotation to this discussion:

Throughout history, mankind has struggled to understand life's mysteries. This stream of ever improving explanations has infinite reach, according to Deutsch: we are subject only to the laws of physics, and they impose no upper boundary to what we can eventually understand, control, and achieve. In his previous book, "The Fabric of Reality", Deutsch describes the four deepest strands of existing knowledge - the theories of evolution, quantum physics, knowledge, and computation-arguing jointly they reveal a unified fabric of reality. In this new book, he applies that worldview to a wide range of issues and unsolved problems, from creativity and free will to the origin and future of the human species. Filled with startling new conclusions about human choice, optimism, scientific explanation, and the evolution of culture, "The Beginning of Infinity" is a groundbreaking book that will become a classic of its kind.

Obviously above discussions have relevance at a higher plane of abstraction. You still need to be concerned about the poor man or the Birds that are getting extinct or the Global warming, or the corruption in India or the hunger in Africa or the terrorism etc etc.. the list goes on..

But for each one of us on an individual basis as Rabindra Nath Tagore said 'Ekla Chalo Re' we have to understand the powerful significance of our existance in the cosmic fabric and the amazingly alive Earth in this cosmic fabric of space and time.. and then ask ourselves how can we firstly cherish and then help to contribute to this Cosmic Evolution in our own small way.. I have grown to worship LIFE itself and the Cosmos on which this LIFE thrives.. I do believe in the collective destiny of a Positive force of Nature.. I do believe we can 'be the change'. Recent developments of Arab Spring have strenghtened my beliefs. In our one lifetime we have seen seemingly impossible happen.. just while we were born the Man landed on Moon.. We saw the falling of the Iron Curtain and the end of Cold War.. We saw the Berlin Wall fall, we saw the resurgence of India as a Powerful economic participant on the Information Technology space.. We saw a black man become the President of United States.. the list goes on..

So friends, if we are breathing this air, lets take a vow in front of the Cosmic Creater that we will try and help to improve this cosmos, this earth in our own small way, so that our future generations, including the flora and fauna and LIFE itself, will remember us today with a fond rememberance.

When I was a small boy - Maria's School

I'm still a small boy. But there was a time when I really was small. Doors, gates, walls and houses all appeared huge, just like in the world of the Lilliputians.. I am not sure how I felt then - but based on what I have remembered all this while, I used to feel alive, mesmirized, as if I'm Alice in Wonderland. I used to live in a nice house in the trans Gomti area, considered new and modern by Lucknow standards. I used to go to the nearby school, which was run by a white woman called Maria in her house just three or four houses away from us. We used to refer to it as Maria's School. She had a lovely daughter with blue eyes, a year or two elder to me. I was four or five years old. I have distinct memories of playing Ring-a-Ringa-Roses in their green Lawn. They celebrated Christmas with great fervor. She had an elder son who used to play with me. We used to play hide n seek and hide under their beds. My Dad n Mom used to leave me at their place when they had to go out for shopping or a movie. When Maria moved out of that house she sold her belongings. The silverware that continued to remain in our home for next thirty years, a few spoons or forks may still be lying around at my Mom's were hers that my Mom had bought from her. We always refered to them as Maria's cutlery - the Italian woman.