Pornos

I have a weak memory, particularly when it comes to my distant past. I remember only a few significant events, everything else is quite fuzzy. I don't particularly remember my school days back in Kerala(my grandparents raised me till I was about 8[3rd Std]). I distinctly remember being a "nice boy" during the early school years, used to cover my ears when the backbenchers cracked "dirty" jokes. After that, the next significant milestone I remember is one of friends describing to me, the whole process and how a sticky white liquid was involved(this is probably 8th or 9th std and he even gave the liquid a name :). I hadn't seen the act explicitly till then, so all I could do was just imagine the new, weird, disgusting use of our urinary organs.

Then, one day, after returning from an easter mass(yes, I was an unquestioning christian then) late night(>1am), I somehow ended up sitting in the front eating dinner in front of the TV and the rest of the family were sitting in the dining room(some altercation I believe). I switched to the local cable channel and what do I see ? There is this old man, completely naked, a young lady, completely naked. Both are doing some sort of exercise together. Then my brain corrected, "that's not exercise you dumbass!!", they're all mixed up and into and over each other. It was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen till then. My tiny brain just couldn't comprehend it. I felt like vomiting(This, I hear, is one of the common reactions). I am not sure If I realized it was sex right there or If i discussed it with friends to confirm. But that was my first experience of a pornographic movie, often called BP(Blue Picture ? Bad Picture ?) or Blue film or pondy or a porno or .....

I also remember gathering money to go to Internet cafes just to visit those 'sites' to see what it is like. The curiosity is so overwhelming during those years. I used to memorize the site names that friends told me about, it used to be so scary. There were plenty of other kids like me in the adjoining cubicles, equally(if not more) excited, looking at the computer screen, almost salivating.

Flash forward to present. I hardly know a guy who hasn't watched a porno. A few are sort of obsessed. Some watch them once every few months/weeks(when they're in the 'mood'). I know married people who watch and exchange pornos(they ask bachelors). I have heard of dads who watch porn at night. I know guys who despise pornos but secretly watch them every now and then.

The important thing to remember though is that the way most people have sex is not even remotely the way pornos show it(at least that's what I have heard). Pornos are just one of the safer ways to satisfy the natural,evolutionary urge that men/women have. Too many pornos and you might go over to the darker side, considering females are mere sex objects and that according to me, is just not healthy. I remember hitting the gray border line when I just couldn't talk to females without looking at their boobs(very frustrating).

I am no guru but it seems to me that If you let pornos shape your expectations abt your future/current sex life, you might be in for a shock(alteast a mild one). The experience is totally dependent on the participants. Some like to make sweet love, some like animality and aggression, some have fantasies, some find it disgusting, some treat it as a chore, some have crazy fetishes and what not. I don't know if I can ever engage in what people call "casual sex". Sex is more than just the physical activity(that's the ideal in my head, only time will tell how it will turn out to be), it's about love and giving pleasure to each other and enjoying each other's presence.

Now, the funny part is how most parents don't know that their children watch pornos. Or may be they do and they ignore it ? They probably know all about the 'bad' sites on the internet and magazines and CDs/DVDs. I remember this 6th std kid asking me during some casual chat, "hey, you got any porno CDs". This is why it's so important for parents to have the "sex talks" before their kids get all the wrong information from other mediums. It's so bad that the society depicts sex as some kind of taboo. We, as a society, should be more open and transparent abt sex. The more secretive and restrictive and sinful it is portrayed as, the harder it is for the younger generation to understand it from the right angles.

12 Random things about me

(01) While studying at vjti, I used to download movies on vjti's public servers from home and then take them home.

I used to help the professors manage some of the servers and i had full root access to them :) So, All i had to do was ssh to the machine remotely and start torrents and direct http downloads under rate/size limits(coz there was a system that monitored bandwidth)

(02) I easily get addicted(sort of) to food stuff:
Sugarcane Juice, Wada pavs, Milk drinks, Cashew nuts, Subs.... you name it

(03) I am an agnostic atheist and I am anti-religion.

I am an agnostic because I don't assert the non-existence of a God with 100% surety, but at the same time, practically speaking, I am an atheist because I reject the notion of the supernatural and a creator God with a very high surety level(but <100%).

(04) VJTI was the first place where I actually cheated in exams.

Used to cheat in my mid terms coz I was never prepared. Opening up text books to copy, copying from others' papers, etc. Don't remember cheating in the *real*(the main exams at the end of the term) ones though, but have helped people with answers.

(05) I am very bad with places and routes and directions

I find it difficult to visualize and remember routes and directions. Part of the problem could be genetic coz my bro shares the same problem.
Also, I never really understood why i was being made to study geography during school days, hated it and nobody corrected my impression(a wrong one) that it isn't essential. So, in general by spacial cognition sucks because I also find it difficult to imagine certain things and need to write/draw them to make sense.

(06) I am shit scared of public speaking

Always been scared of it, still am. Just before i am about to speak, it starts with the loud heart beats, as if its gonna beat its way out of my ribs. Then, a while after the initial start, my throat and lips go dry. In rare cases, my cheek muscles twitch involuntarily in weird ways. eye contact was tough earlier, but now a days i kinda manage(like a sprinkler :) ). and then rarely, i go *completely blank*[ i have no clue what to say next] for a few seconds.

(07) I used to shamelessly copy assignments while @ VJTI.

Once, I remember copying the roll number and the name of the person who gave me his assignment to copy :D

(08) I was afraid of dogs and insects till abt 2 years ago, now not as much.

Now i love killing roaches and barking back at dogs :)

(09) I cant talk comfortably on the phone

I find it awkward to talk on the phone with strangers and with people i am not close to or ppl with whom i haven't talked to in a while or people i don't like talking to. I hate the awkward i-'ve-got-nothing-to-say pauses, exchanging pleasantries,etc. I hate the way the ears get warmed up while talking on a cellphone.

(10) I find it difficult to talk to chicks[comfortably], particularly when i find them attractive.

Junior college and early engg colg days, i had to consciously make sure i don't look at their boobs at regular intervals. lips and the forehead are weird places to stare at, so now I'm trying to aim for the eyes and am getting good at it.

(11) I've never had a close female friend in my whole life(except may be one)

(12) I harbor this feeling(like every other guy?) that i am never gonna find a women i like and hardly any women is ever gonna like/understand me.

Religion, Tolerance, Intelligence

My temporal intelligence is not up to mark and since this happened a few weeks ago, I don't remember all the details exactly, but here goes. It started with my tweet on how I hate attending religious events and was wondering how to avoid being invited to them without sounding insensitive or offensive or weird. I got a reply from a supposedly "over thinking" (as per her blog profile) girl purporting that being non-religious implies "tolerating" all religions.

I am not sure what it means to "tolerate" a religion ? Recognize it ? Respect it ? Not be distasteful in public about it ? .....

OK, lets try to look at it from the perspective of a deeply religious person. Wouldn't it be difficult for a person, who *literally* believes every word in their scriptures, to respect other religions? Most religions dictate their god to be the "real" god and the others to be false ones. Each one has their hell. All Christians are going to the Islamic Hell and All Muslims are going to the Christian Hell :) Whenever a devout Muslim looks at a Christian or a Hindu, he/she thinks he/she knows they are wrong, they are all Kafirs or Infidels to him/her. Same is the case for Christian nut cases, they want to "save" everybody from the Christian hell by helping them accept Jesus as their savior(conversions?). And given their belief systems, it is absolutely OK for them to think so because that's what their scriptures say and they believe every word of it. But most religious people aren't like that, they pick n choose. Is there a Christian who can claim to obey all the 10 commandments to the word ? Don't we all lie sometime or the other? So, can you be devoutly religious and still be tolerant/respectful of other religions?

Now, for a non-religious person / non-believer, most supernatural religions appear the same. They are organizations showcasing blind faith, superstition that usually expect unquestioned respect for authority. But the underlying question is, Do we need to respect every possible idea/belief that people come up with ? Don't we laugh at people(at least a little on the inside?) who think eclipses are evil or black cats crossing your path can fuck with your future or who believe in tantriks or who claim to see ghosts? Do we respect the idea of religious terrorism? or that women shouldn't be educated and shouldn't enjoy equal opportunities? or the idea of child marriage ? We know some of these ideas are silly, some are just not worth our time, some are bad and some are good. We know terrorism is a bad idea because its destructive and violent and has no rational justification. Do we want to live in a society where individuals are allowed to murder? rape ? Of course not! and that's how we come up with some of the basic laws(trivial way to explain, i know). We come up with our morals with a similar process. Some of it is innate. Some of it is part of the Zeitgeist, i.e, it keeps on changing as time passes. It was *ok* to have slaves in earlier times, not now! Of course, not all decisions are that easy, but my point is that we have been doing it ourselves, because, we can!, as a society. So, what's so special about organized religion?, its just another idea(a redundant and dangerous one, ready to be misused). Why give it this untouchable position if all other ideas can be contested, scrutinized, criticized and be laughed on when needed. Can you, as a believer in the supernatural, reason logically about your belief? If you can't, you ought to be subjected to the same criticism that all ideas are subjected to.

Most organized religions based on the supernatural have a notion of a supernatural creator God. But the funny part is that, God is something that doesn't even have precise and a commonly agreed upon definition. Every religion, every sub sect and every person has a different view(Don't think so? read the "God & I" column in TOI or just ask people around you). Even without a precise definition, its an idea that has no real reasoning, let alone proof. The assertion of the existence of such an entity opens up a chest of many more questions that are unanswered. The problem is that we still don't fully understand our own existence and the universe in which we exist. Our early ancestors were incapable of explaining it conclusively(even we can't do it). They needed something or someone to shoulder the responsibility of explanation because the human mind is at peace when it's convinced that it understands things around it(even if really doesn't). They applied analogies like "Every complex thing we make has a designer(us), so the nature and us are probably designed too?". They invented all sorts of supernatural beings to explain stuff. What they didn't know was that they were just transferring the responsibility, they haven't really explained anything. So, the religions we now have, are just refined versions of the guesses and stories that our ancestors could come up with. That's the best they could do. But we have a much better idea now - Big Bang ? String Theory ? Chaos Theory ? A-bio-genesis ? Evolution by natural Selection? Multi-verse ? It's our job to discard old mistakes and embrace new ones and be ready to invalidate these new ones if need be.These old ideas might have spread as a side effect of certain behavioral changes that had survival advantages. For e.g childhood obedience. but that's a different topic altogether.

I also got replies from a colleague of mine who noted that religion is not what is dividing us and that religion has no correlation with intelligence. As an example, he mentioned Euclid, who was a great mathematician despite being very religious. I haven't looked that up yet, but the general idea is that "Even Intelligent people can be devoutly religious, so Religion has nothing to do with intelligence". I am not really sure about that primarily because Intelligence is an umbrella term for a lot of things and we don't have a conclusive way to measure it yet. There are all sorts of un-categorized intellectual capabilities that we still have no idea how to measure. So, Euclid might have been a great, uber "intelligent" mathematician, but he failed in applying his reasoning abilities on his own belief system. So, I might not understand euclidean mathematics even if I devote every minute of my life, but I (and millions of other people in the world) are better than him at the ability of applying rational arguments to one's own internal beliefs. And I am not saying that religious people are dumb people with no intellect, they just fail to apply it on their internal data structures, that's all.

Another point of discussion was whether it was ok to judge people based on their beliefs. We judge people all the time in all sorts of random, crazy ways that sometimes even we aren't aware of. skin color, facial beauty, physical/sexual attractiveness, body language, communication skills, social status, perceived intelligence, taste(music, food, ...), social behavior, ...so on, the list is endless. And, our behavior is often biased, based on the results of this elaborate judging system, no matter how hard we try not to, it's just built into us(for evolutionary reasons). So, beliefs and ideas and convictions are just another way to judge people. What I mean by judging is sorta like what happens when a post is submitted on reddit. You upmod for all the good stuff and you downmod for all the not-so-good stuff. So, for e.g , in Euclid's case, for all the mathematics and intelligence => Upmods, for not applying it on his own beliefs => downmods.

Another interesting point was whether atheism is itself a belief system. I don't think so. What is Atheism? Its just a rejection of a belief system that talks abt a mysterious creator dude in the sky. Its not an ideology, a philosophy or a world view. Identifying yourself as an atheist is like being being an aghostist or an afairyist or achildmarriageist. Its a word that, ideally, shouldn't exist at all, like all those other made up words.Also, Isn't it kinda arrogant for a person to assert with 100% surety that you know the answers to Life, Universe and Everything, when you hardly have anything to bolster that claim ? When I deny the existence of the supernatural, I deny it with a probability. Since the people who claim to know of the existence of the supernatural for sure, don't have any evidence/proof/reasoning to back their claim, I consider the probability of the same to be very close to zero. It's foolish to assert complete knowledge of anything.

Can Homosexuality kill itself ?

I've been hooked onto evolution and natural selection and genetics after reading "The Selfish Gene". Its enlightening and a bit depressing at the same time. Once you are done with the book, if you really get the implications of the ideas in the book, I am sure you'll think differently about everything in the world around you.

Once can see that Homosexuality is getting a lot of attention these days. Many of us are disgusted by the idea, some couldn't care less, some are neutral, some think its as normal as heterosexuality and some think its a disease(Ram Dev Baba ?) which can be cured. When you see two males/2 females holding hands or giving some indications of PDA(Public Display of Affection), you do tend to have a few observers jokingly(if not seriously) utter the slangs "homo" or "lesbo" or "gay" or "fag", at-least in their minds.

The idea doesn't disgust me as such. Male to male, may be a little bit odd, but as a guy, I can never be disgusted by the idea of 2 girls making out :D . This of-course comes from somebody who is/thinks heterosexual. I can never know what "homosexual" attraction is like and I am sure i don't want to know.

If you think from a slightly different POV, the normal act of heterosexual human reproduction itself is quite weird. Here are two people who claim/think they "love" each other, and what is the ultimate expression of their love (often called "making love") ? => one individual(the male) repeatedly sticks/stabs a temporarily blood inflated rod like extension into the opening of the another individual of a different type (female), in an attempt to deposit these tiny swimmers into the female, out of which ONE(in most normal cases) gets to parasite the female for the next 9 months, to produce another individual will do the exact same thing with an other individual when they are ready. And because the whole process is so so pleasurable(almost every time to the male), the male wishes to do it(and does it) very often, even when he doesn't want his swimmers to turn into small, mutated clones of himself.

Now, contrast that with one individual(male) doing the same thing with an individual of the same type(male). But, this time its a completely different hole, the one that disposes waste from their body, coz the males don't have any other. It certainly looks like a deviation from the "normal" stabbing process in the sense that the intent is only pleasure and not to release swimmers and hook them onto the other individual.

Of course, Sexual reproduction is not the only way to reproduce. There are millions of organisms on earth who still survive beautifully with asexual reproduction(cloning, fission) from tiny bacterias to ants to some plants. We do it probably because the method of reproduction of our ancestors(way way before) was itself under the pressure of natural selection. Sexual reproduction might have helped our ancestors survive better. The clear distinction that we think we now have between males and females might have been absent in the early times. Richard Dawkins has explained this beautifully in "The Selfish Gene".

Back to Homosexuality. Its currently known that sexual attraction is not as black and white as homo or hetero. Even bi-sexual, bi- curious isn't quite right. Its more like a percentage. Most "normal" ppl are largely attracted to the opposite sex(>90%) . Bisexuals are 50%-50% and on the other side of the spectrum , we've got homosexuals (e.g 90%-10%)

Now, imagine the first few generations when homosexuality just arrives at the scene in the form of some early mutations. After a few generations, when the percentage(of homosexual attraction) is significant enough, individuals will be first confused(since heterosexuality is what is all around them). Some might communicate it to others, most will be suppressed, laughed at, or even punished. So, these individuals, with non-negligible amounts of homosexual attraction live(or try to) their lives as false heteros. They are capable of reproduction since they are still attracted to the opposite sex or at least are able to engage in the act of sexual intercourse as per the demands of the time. Now, there wont be any selection pressure against these genes (that increase the attraction towards the same sex) since they are not detrimental to survival. These genes will be passed on generation after generation. In some generations, they will be switched off, but they might be suddenly activated in the next(like any other gene). Somewhere down the line, the number of people reporting homosexual attraction would be large enough for orthodox heterosexual leaders/influential people to declare homosexuality as an abomination or may be even a crime with death as punishment. Hence, it is suppressed even more and homosexuals(with varying degrees of attraction to the same sex) continue to reproduce heterosexually and pass on their genes.

Now, fast forward to present when homosexuality is slowly getting accepted, albeit with a lot of resistance. Imagine that, after a few generations, everybody(almost) learns to accept homosexuality without any attached social stigma. It becomes normal to be homosexual. So, the homosexuals in that generation wont pass on their genes to the next(Assuming we don't figure out a way for homosexuals to reproduce). Whenever the suppressed genes become active in any future generation, those individual pair up with their kind and end the run of their genes. So, the more the people come out of the closet, the lesser the chances of them passing on their genes(including the homosexual genes) to the next generation and slowly, the prevalence of homosexuality will probably reduce considerably. It might return, but again will be wiped out as long as it is accepted and as long as the individuals cant reproduce.

So, for the people who wanna get rid of Homosexuality(for whatever reasons), the best way is to encourage more and more homosexuals to come out of the closet and live the way they want to live.

Now, the assumption that i make is that Homosexuality is passed on via genes. But, I think its probably a safe one, because it certainly isn't memetic.

An open letter to Kansas School Board -- Hilarious

Background:

Proponents of intelligent design believe that certain features of the universe and of living things are too complex to not have been designed by an intelligent, supernatural agent, such as a god(s). This contrasts with the naturally directed, impersonal processes described by the theory of evolution

The Kansas Evolution Hearings were a series of hearings held in Topeka, Kansas May 5 to May 12, 2005 by the Kansas State Board of Education and its State Board Science Hearing Committee to change how evolution and the origin of life would be taught in the state's public high school science classes

On February 13, 2007, the Board voted 6 to 4 to reject the amended science standards enacted in 2005.The definition of science was once again returned to "the search for natural explanations for what is observed in the universe."

Excerpt of the letter from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti monster to the Kansas School Board:

""
........ Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design. I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. It was He who created all that we see and all that we feel. We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him.

It is for this reason that I’m writing you today, to formally request that this alternative theory be taught in your schools, along with the other two theories. In fact, I will go so far as to say, if you do not agree to do this, we will be forced to proceed with legal action. I’m sure you see where we are coming from. If the Intelligent Design theory is not based on faith, but instead another scientific theory, as is claimed, then you must also allow our theory to be taught, as it is also based on science, not on faith.

Some find that hard to believe, so it may be helpful to tell you a little more about our beliefs. We have evidence that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe. None of us, of course, were around to see it, but we have written accounts of it. We have several lengthy volumes explaining all details of His power. Also, you may be surprised to hear that there are over 10 million of us, and growing. We tend to be very secretive, as many people claim our beliefs are not substantiated by observable evidence. What these people don’t understand is that He built the world to make us think the earth is older than it really is. For example, a scientist may perform a carbon-dating process on an artifact. He finds that approximately 75% of the Carbon-14 has decayed by electron emission to Nitrogen-14, and infers that this artifact is approximately 10,000 years old, as the half-life of Carbon-14 appears to be 5,730 years. But what our scientist does not realize is that every time he makes a measurement, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage. We have numerous texts that describe in detail how this can be possible and the reasons why He does this. He is of course invisible and can pass through normal matter with ease. ...........

"""

Imagine our children fighting in their class rooms on which god(out of the millions mankind has conveniently created) "intelligently" created our universe :D ....

Faith Fighter

Atheist Cartoons

Funny Religion

What do you get when you cross an atheist with a Jehovah's witness ? .... Someone who knocks at your door for no apparent reason.

A Jew, A Catholic, and an atheist are rowing in Lake Erie when their boat springs a huge leak. The Jew looks skyward, and says “Oh, Adonai, if you save me, I promise I’ll sail to Israel and spend the rest of my days trying to reclaim the land you gave us.” The Catholic looks skyward, and says, “Oh, Jesus, if you save me, I promise I’ll fly to the Vatican and spend the rest of my days singing your praises.” The atheist says, “Oh, guys, if you pass me that one life preserver, I promise I’ll swim to Cleveland.” “And how will you spend the rest of your days?” the Jew and the Catholic ask. “Well,” says the atheist, “I’m not sure, but I can tell you one thing: I’ll never go rowing with other atheists.”

Atheist: What’s this fly doing in my soup?
Waiter: Praying.
Atheist: Very funny. I can’t eat this. Take it back.
Waiter: You see? The fly’s prayers were answered.

An atheist buys an ancient lamp at an auction, takes it home, and begins to polish it. Suddenly, a genie appears, and says, “I’ll grant you three wishes, Master.” The atheist says, “I wish I could believe in you.” The genie snaps his fingers, and suddenly the atheist believes in him. The atheist says, “Wow. I wish all atheists would believe this.” The genie snaps his fingers again, and suddenly atheists all over the world begin to believe in genies. “What about your third wish?” asks the genie. “Well,” says the atheist, “I wish for a billion dollars.” The genie snaps his fingers for a third time, but nothing happens. “What’s wrong?” asks the atheist. The genie shrugs and says, “Just because you believe in me, doesn’t necessarily mean that I really exist.”

An atheist was rowing at the lake, when suddenly the Loch Ness monster attacked and grabbed him from his boat. He panicked and shouted "God help me!", and suddenly, the monster and everything around him just stopped. A voice from the heavens boomed "You say you dont believe in me, but now you are asking for my help?" The atheist looked up and said: Well, ten seconds ago I didnt believe in the Loch Ness Monster either!

Mumbai meri jaan

Saw Mumbia meri jaan today. Kinda slow but liked it. "Wednesday" was a better entertainer though. MMJ had the quintessential "hindu musalmaan stop the endless 'you hit me, i hit you' cycle, to restore peace" message that movies on terrorism usually have.

Its about time we take it one step further and hit the rehab to wean ourselves from this drug called "geriniol" ( also known as "gerin oil" ) from our system, our lives.

P.S. I love anagrams.

Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Welcome to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster .

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, while having existed in secrecy for hundreds of years, only recently came into the mainstream when this letter was published in May 2005.

With millions, if not thousands, of devout worshipers, the Church of the FSM is widely considered a legitimate religion, even by its opponents - mostly fundamentalist Christians, who have accepted that our God has larger balls than theirs.

Some claim that the church is purely a thought experiment, satire, illustrating that Intelligent Design is not science, but rather a pseudoscience manufactured by Christians to push Creationism into public schools. These people are mistaken. The Church of FSM is real, totally legit, and backed by hard science. Anything that comes across as humor or satire is purely coincidental.

They get a lot of hate mails ( LOL ).

Rock On !!

Music is an important part of my life now. I don't remember much about my taste of music during my school days. It probably would have been very similar to what i listened to in my college days. Yup, the usual bollywood numbers that everybody grooves to. Although i had heard very few "english" numbers, i always made it a point to argue with some of my colg friends who would listen to them. I would go blah blah about how Indian music(=bollywood songs then) is better than the silly western music, how melodious they are, how you enjoy them for you life,etc,etc.

I don't remember the exact year when i started developing a taste for non-bollywood music. I think it was primarily pop music at first => Backstreet boys, etc. Then somewhere down the line came eminem. I think heard a few rap numbers before eminem, but once i heard eminem, i just couldnt stop listening to him. His numbers were funny, rhyming and rapilicious. He is the God of rap.

Around the same time i tried Linkin Park or was it LP before eminem?, aah who cares !!. Initially it was all noise to me but their noise was somehow "different" though. As i listened to more and more of LP, I started liking them. I loved their mellow starts. I always felt energetic after listening to their songs. I got more and more of their songs from the internet and from friends and before i knew, i was an LP fan and i still am. I still like their numbers very much.LP changed my attitude towards western music. Its not that i stopped listening to bollywood numbers, i still liked them, but LP helped me broaden my "range".

So during my colg days and early engg days, whenever i was asked for my music "taste". I would say LP and rap. I still identified my taste based on the bands i listened to. Its not that LP and eminem were the only ones i listened to, but LP and eminem were among the top.

After reading about LP on the internet, i realized there was this genre called "rock" music and LP was not the only one doing it. Liked some more bands. I was becoming more of a "rock" liking person that just an LP fan. In engg days, you get a lot of music from your friends staying in hostels, so that again helped me explore.

Although i started listening to more and more bands and read up on them on the internet about their styles, i couldn't listen to a song and say "this song belonged to this genre", I always equated songs to the bands. Also, anything that was energetic and intense was "rock" to me.

During my first year @ GSLab, me and some of my colleagues were @ McD. One of my colleague's roomie turned out to be a music geek. Another colleague also had some info(A brilliant knowledge powerhouse, ask him anything and you would get info on it). So we had this cool discussion as to what distinguishes each band and how a band is labeled a particular "genre". I had heard genres like "metal", "rock", "heavy metal", "death metal", "soft rock", "blues", "classic rock" and there are soooo many of them. Although i got some info from that discussion, i still cant distinguish metal from rock with confidence.

Now a days i listen to many more bands and genres of music, so much so that my friends are of the opinion that i have no particiular taste, i listen to any crap that comes along. hunh? They don't know what they are missing :)

There are so many good Indian bands too - To name a few => Parikrama, Agnee, Pentagram, Avial,etc (Mallu rock !!, i love them, may be coz i am a mallu?, donno :) ).

But, once in a while i do meet friends and friends of friends who have these awesome huge music collections and All i say to myself is "what the hell was i doing all these years?".

and

I say gimme more!, more!, more!. There is so much of music out there that deserves attention.

Now i pity those who only have bollywood numbers and oldies to groove to :) But, anyways, whatever one's taste is, Music is a great source of pleasure and energy for anyone. One has to find one's taste. There is so much music in the word, i say, dont just stick to what you hear often, go out and explore more, you will certainly find some interesting "Noise" out there.

More hilarious videos

God Only SEEMS Nonexistent

I've Converted To EVERY Religion (Just In Case)

God Doesn't Exist? Prove It!

People Are Not Animals! (and evolution never happened)

God's Cool Designs

Checkmate, Atheists!

Resisting The Urge: A Guide For Christian Boys

Science Is Wrong ... Only God Knows The Truth

Proving the Power of Prayer

The Most Amazing Bible Passages Ever!

An Atheist Meets God - Hilarious =))

What happens when an atheist meets God after his death ? Something like this ?

A year flies by

Its almost been a year since i have been away from my home. Living in pune away from my family has been quite an experience. I like pune's climate, its less humid as compared to Mumbai, so you sweat less. But, the summer heat might kill you if you decide to take a stroll outside in the afternoon. In Aundh, finding flats at affordable rates, without brokerage can be a big pain.But, because i knew somebody who was doing an internship @ GSLab(thats where i work btw), it was easier for me. He was gonna join Microsoft @ Hyderabad after the internship. So, me and my friend moved into the flat he was staying in. There was one guy already there. A friend of his also joined us. The 4 of us clicked, we had no problems gelling together. It was a 1 BHK and we hardly spent any time in the flat during the weekdays. The routine was simple, get up, get dressed , goto work, have dinner , come back, sleep. Our landladies were a deadly duo - a foul mouthed lady(who we think had some sort of a grudge with the guy who was already staying in the flat when we joined and according to her, he hadn't paid for some previous repairing work, electricity bills,etc.) and her grumpy old mother. The only saving grace were a few chicks who were staying as paying guests in the granny's flat below ours :).

Dinner was always in one of the hotels. Initially it was tasty, then it became ok, then it got boring. After a few months, we had almost tried most of the items in most restaurants in the area. it was getting boring day by day. We knew we had to cook on our own. We discussed a lot , but didnt happen. Another problem was that one of us was a jain and he said he couldn't stand us cooking meat,fish,etc in the house. Anyways, we realized that we were already paying too much for a 1 BHK flat in Aundh Gaon. We decided to ditch the flat and the ladies who came packaged with it. The day we went to the ladies to give back the flat key and get back the flat deposit was an interesting one. Me and the roomie, whom the lady suspected to have not paid some amount in the previous stay, went to her flat. After long discussions and calculations, we realized, it wasnt he who was supposed to pay her, it was her who was supposed to pay him. So he went to pay money to her and came back with her money. Atlast, we were free. We had already looked for a much better 2 BHK flat without any brokerage thnx to one of the roomie's friend. and the owner was a decent one this time. no khich khich.

Abt the food, we had a decision to make, all of us, except one guy had no problems with cooking non-veg in the flat. So, the dude with problems decided to look for another flat and he eventually found one. So there were now 3 of us. We joined the 2 who were already in the flat.The owner said we could have at max 4 ppl in the flat and there were 5 of us. But, the 5th guy didnt need an agreement coz it was of no use to him. The owner still thinks there are only 4 of us staying in the flat, but we are five.

We still ate dinner @ hotels. Then one of the roomies left and another hyderabadi dude joined us. Again, we started discussing about cooking, and it went on and on till finally we decided to buy a small 2 litre gas handi. We thought we would still continue to have dinners at hotels and occasionally cook at home since none of us knew how to cook. When we started cooking, we realized its not that difficult as we thought it would be. we were actually able to make edible stuff out of raw materials. We started cooking ourselves every day and stopped going to hotels for dinner. After a month, we decided to have another hundi, so that 2 ppl could cook simultaneously to make the process faster. I got to learn a lot abt other styles of cooking. The combination of vegetables in a bhaji, the ingredients, the masalas, the recipes, the way you cut vegetables, fruits,etc..., its all so different. Its been 3-4 months since we started cooking and we still haven't perfected the art of making curries though, but we now know that we can survive on our own food.

This year was also important to me because i got to convey my thoughts to my parents that i thought i would never be able to convey without causing too much chaos. I was also involved in an interesting conversation with a friend of mine on similar stuff, the results of which i am planning to post once its done. I have been reading books and exploring both sides(well obv a little biased towards one side ofcourse ;) ). Its been a learning experience and wikipedia rocks!! . The following quote aptly summarizes what i feel now:

"When I became convinced that the universe is natural, that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell. The dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world, not even in infinite space. I was free--free to think, to express my thoughts--free to live my own ideal, free to live for myself and those I loved, free to use all my faculties, all my senses, free to spread imagination's wings, free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope, free to judge and determine for myself . . . I was free! I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously faced all worlds"

My work @ GSLab has been pretty decent so far. Working on kwanzoo.com has been a good learning experience. Meanwhile, I have become a little bit more social than i once was(atleast i think i have). Made some good friends at my work place. I have also started to live life to the fullest whenever possible.

So, on the whole, it has been a cool year for me. Looking forward to a good raise($$ :) ) and a fun filled next year.

Atheism for Kids

Found this video which explains Atheism to Kids.

Although I am against imposing one's beliefs ( theistic or atheistic) on children, I really liked the way its put, simple and funny.

Statistics

When Kris asked me whether I am an atheist or an agnostic or simply irreligious, I started reading wiki pages on these three terms. While reading the page on "irreligion", I found these statistics showing the percentages of atheists,agnostics,etc per country.

I was surprised to see that some of the countries have an astoundingly high percentage of non-believers.

For e.g.

Sweden: 46-85%
China - 59-71%
Albania - 60%
Czech Republic - 59%
Japan - 52%
Russia - 48%

I wonder why? what are the fundamental factors that makes you an "atheist" or a "theist" ?

As expected, almost at the end was India with a mere 7% :) and in Iran its illegal to be an atheist or an agnostic =)).

Interesting Quotes

"When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion".

-- Robert M. Pirsig

"Faith; noun. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel."

-- Ambrose Bierce

"In every religion the priest insists on five things First: There is a God. Second: He has made known his will. Third: He has selected me to explain this message. Fourth: We will now take up a collection; and Fifth: Those who fail to subscribe will certainly be damned."

-- "Has Freethought a Constructive Side?", printed in The Truth Seeker, New York 1890

"If the book the Bible and my brain are both the work of the same Infinite God, whose fault is it that the book and my brain do not agree?"

-- "Some Reasons Why", 1881

"The world holds two classes of men - intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence."

-- [Abu'l-Ala-Al-Ma'arri (973-1057; Syrian poet)]

"Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby."

"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.

Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.

Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?

Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"

--Epicurus

"Faith is believing something you know isn't true."

--Mark Twain

"Religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis."

-- Sigmund Freud, "Future of an Illusion". 1927

"I've no belief whatever in a deity outside of man; it seems to me to be perfectly clear that the bible's story gets it completely the wrong way round. It's not God creates man, it's Man who creates god. It's a human construct."

--David Starkey

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful."

"If you don't think that logic is a good method for determining what to believe, make an attempt to convince me of that without using logic."

--Brett Lemoine

"When I became convinced that the universe is natural, that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell. The dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world, not even in infinite space. I was free--free to think, to express my thoughts--free to live my own ideal, free to live for myself and those I loved, free to use all my faculties, all my senses, free to spread imagination's wings, free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope, free to judge and determine for myself . . . I was free! I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously faced all worlds."

--Robert G. Ingersoll

"We must repsect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children are smart."

--Henry Mencken

"You are never dedicated to do something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it's going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kind of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt."

-- Robert M. Pirsig, "Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"

"Faith is to man what sand is to an ostrich!"

"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."

--Stephen Roberts

"The religion of one age is the literary entertainment of the next."

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned."

"It isn't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand."

--Mark Twain

"By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out."

--Richard Dawkins

"Calling Atheism a religion is like calling bald a hair color."

--Don Hirschberg

"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."

--Steven Weinberg

"The biggest cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid people are so sure about things and the intelligent folks are so full of doubts."

--Bertrand Russell

"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one."

--George Bernard Shaw

"Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply an admission of the obvious. In fact, 'atheist' is a term that should not ever exist. No one ever needs to identify himself as a 'non astrologer' or a 'non-alchemist'. We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and their cattle. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs. An atheist is simply a person who believes that the 260 million Americans (87 percent of the population) claiming to 'never doubt the existence of God' should be obliged to present evidence for his existence-and, indeed, for his BENEVOLENCE, given the relentless destruction of innocent human beings we witness in the world each day."

--Sam Harris, "Letter to a Christian Nation"

"The only difference between God and Adolph Hitler is that God is more proficient at genocide."

"Why do you write to me "God should punish the English"? I have no close connection to either one or the other. I see only with deep regret that God punishes so many of His children for their numerous stupidities, for which only He Himself can be held responsible; in my opinion, only His nonexistence could excuse Him."

-- Albert Einstein, in a letter to a friend

"No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says; he is always convinced that it says what he means."

--George Bernard Shaw

"It isn't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand."

--Mark Twain

"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything."

--Friedrich Nietzsche

"It would be very nice if there were a God who created the world and was a benevolent providence, and if there were a moral order in the universe and an after-life; but it is a very striking fact that all this is exactly as we are bound to wish it to be."

--Sigmund Freud

Why blog?

After visiting my blog, some people asked me. "Accepted, you don't believe in god. But why do you have to blog about it? Why don't you keep your believes/ideas to yourself? Why do you have to be so detailed about your experiences?". Although I am not exactly sure what it means, a person even used the term an "open book".

Some of the reasons why I blog about atheism:

* There are so many people out there for whom god, religion, rituals, etc simply doesn't make any sense. While some of them are not sure, some of them are, but, either think that there is something wrong with them or are afraid to tell their parents, relatives, etc and are afraid of the consequences. I have gone through this myself and I know difficult it can be. Its good that I found people whom I could talk to, about this and take their help. Technology also helped me a lot. Such people need help and the best way is to have a discussion or a talk or reading about others' experiences. If sharing my experiences can help them, I'm glad to do that.

* Whenever i read about experiences of other atheists, agnostics, etc on the internet, I could hardly find an indian who had written about his/her experiences. So I thought why not write a blog about my own.

* By using blogs, people can join in the discussion anonymously if they wanted to. Its very difficult to get people to talk on such tabooed topics. It has been an interesting experience so far.

* I want people to start thinking, if they haven't.

Kwanzoo

Hey check out this Cool Movie & TV Trivia Site.

The Confession

Yes !!! , I finally told my parents that i am an atheist. I have been waiting for this moment for years. My bro joined me halfway during the confession. For him it was more of a final clarification because he had already given strong hints to my parents.

It started with a call from one of my relatives after reading my blog. Although she is a devout Christian, she was really open to the idea of atheism. She was of the opinion that i am having these thoughts because my life has been pretty decent and that i would start believing in the existence of god once i have a particular "experience" that would, sort of, bring me back on track. I said i am eagerly waiting for that "experience". This call and such an open conversation was very unexpected and i really enjoyed it. Since she was close to my mom, i asked her if she could talk to my mom about me being an atheist. She agreed. I informed my bro. He said that a phone call wont do and an in-person talk would be better. So i asked him to request her to go and have a personal talk with my mom.

That weekend, i was planning to go home to mumbai as usual. I was excited by the fact that by the time i reach home, she would have conveyed the information to my mom and i was contemplating my mom's reactions to it. But then somehow she couldn't talk to mom and i had to do the job on my own. But, my bro was not so excited about it. He said "You'll talk to mom and go back to pune. I am the one who is gonna be at home. I have to deal with mom's reactions. Why do u want to do this so early?" I said "Its already too late. This should have been done long back".

So, it was clear now. i had to do it on my own. i decided to take help of my colleague, an atheist.Not just because he is an atheist(who had already told his parents about it) but mainly because he is damn good at putting things in the right words. So, after our company update meeting on friday, the three of us, me, him and another colleague(a theist), had a discussion about this. i told him the things that i wanted to convey to my mom and asked him how to put it properly considering the fact that my mom is a little close minded and orthodox, at least when it comes to religion. So he said "doing it gradually is the key thing. be slow, it wont happen in a day. you need to give hints and then talk about it." I listened and listened till he was done. He was so good at it that the other colleague said "you should have been a politician dude!".

I finally reached mumbai and my mom didn't even have a hint that i was gonna.... . Ate an awesome lunch with fish and other dishes prepared in coconut oil, yum yum. I was somehow gathering the courage to do IT. my parents went for an afternoon nap. mom somehow woke up early and started reading a newspaper. she asked me what was the 'vishesham' (Malayalam for 'special news/happenings') in pune. i said everything was fine. then it started. I don't remember the entire conversation but it went something like this.

"Mom, i have something to say to you. but, you have to promise me that you will listen to it carefully and think over it before coming to any conclusions or making any decisions.
I am not comfortable with going to the church, being part of the rituals and the prayers.
I have lots of doubts regarding these rituals, prayers and abt god. participating in them is only meaningful only if u agree with them and understand them. "

"Since when did you have these doubts?"

"Since years ma, may be when i started with my engineering. thats almost 4 yrs. I have been going to church, standing for evening prayers, only for you because i love you ma and i didn't want to hurt you. I was scared of telling you this because i didn't know how you would react. Do u know why i hesitated coming to mumbai on every weekend? because i knew i would have to participate in these rituals against my wishes. i wanted to come home at least on alternate weekends, but this is what made me not to. "

"So you don't believe in god?"

"As per my current knowledge and understanding, no. But the moment i am convinced that there is a "god", i'll be back. I am an adult and i am completely responsible for my own decisions. You don't have to worry about me ma, you know i am not gonna become a 'bad' guy . you know that, the way you have raised me, thats not gonna happen. Why do u care about what the world has to say? What we should care about is how much we understand each other as a family. I am not disrespecting your beliefs or asking you to follow my path. I just want you to accept mine. And its not that i am the only one who is having these doubts. Do u know that some of my friends back in college days were atheists and agnostics? in the world atleast 10% of the people are atheists. statistics doesnt matter anyways, i would have been an atheist even if i was the only one on the planet."

she cried a little here n there in between the conversation.

I also asked for her most convincing argument for the existence of god. i don't remember exactly what she said and what i said. In fact, we even discussed some of the questions that i had put forth in my "email to god" post. my bro also gave in some inputs midway. finally it was over.

but there was a problem. my dad still didn't know about this. he was still in his siesta. We(me n my bro) didn't attend the evening/night family prayer. My dad thought we were sleeping and hence we didn't attend. but i was doing something with my comp, he comes and asks me.

"Why didnt u attend the prayer?"

" i have told mom abt it. ask her"

"no, you tell me."

"i am not comfortable...."

"So you don't believe in God?".

"no, not currently".(damn, whatever happened to doing things gradually)

"So, you have made up your mind with this decision"

"Dad, its based on my current knowledge and might change later on"

"So, you have finally decided to choose a path to your doom"

""

He was visibly very upset. I didn't talk to him. Just before he went to bed I said,

"Dad, i want to talk to you about this. can we talk tomorrow."

"ok, go and sleep now."

My mom then had a talk with him before sleep i guess.There was no talk on the next day(sunday). I didn't goto church with my parents and my relatives asked me why. I said "i dont want to." and then there was the usual "advice" session. i managed to cut it short by saying a "hmm" to all that they said. after that, it was back to normal. phew, what an "experience".