An EXCERPT FROM MY BOOK, THE MOLECULAR SLAVES
Yours truly would like to meander here a little. With your permission of course. And this is really interesting. So please hang on.
Yours truly has a small question for you. Or maybe, we can say a few small questions.
Q-1/ Who is a good singer?
Q-2/ Who is a good dancer?
Q-3/ Who is a good painter?
Q-4/ Who is a good doctor?
Q-5/ (Perhaps the most pertinent one) Who is a good writer?
There may be a million different answers to all these questions, like this and that, and so on and so forth. If you were to answer all the five questions on a piece of paper, I believe that it would require at least a couple of pages, if not more.
But surprises of surprises, the real answer, that is THE TRUTH (which can be only one), is very surprisingly simple and is a one-liner.
‘That Singer/ Dancer/ Painter/ Doctor/ Writer, WHO HAS A LOT OF MONEY, is a good Singer/ Dancer/ Painter/ Doctor/ Writer etc. etc. ‘
This may be an anticlimax of sorts and a most confounding answer that raises more questions than it allays. While I do agree that it has a surprise element in it, if you introspect and look deep enough at yourself and society, you shall realize that this is the absolute truth.
We live in a Quasi-Hobbesian society where powerful and strong run after the even still more powerful and strong, where the aim of each individual is to become all-powerful and omnipotent. It consists of almost entirely of ‘Quid-Pro-Quo’. Reciprocal ‘give and take’, which can also be interpreted as ‘Buy’ and ‘Get Bought’. In my native India, we take this concept a step further by trying to buy out ‘Almighty God’ himself. Now tell me, who would not like to have the Big Boss on their side? A little undeserving favor, a small lift to get an unfair advantage over others, a wink at a misdemeanor, a blanket pardon for a cardinal sin? We Indians have taken this game to a totally different dimension where we actually try to morally corrupt and deprave the Almighty himself, by offering astronomical amounts of money, sinfully lavish gifts like several kilograms of gold, and all other forms of inducements and bribery available in this world, at some very filthy rich temples. Any amount of money or investment looks infinitely and infinitesimally miniscule before the imposing mouthwatering prospect of having the Supreme Lord himself as your battle buddy, your guarantor, the one covering your filthy ass, and as your caddie, as you play the golf of life on the golf course of time. In some temples, even alcohol is offered to god as an aggrandizement, in return for an unfair and sometimes blatantly unethical favor. And there is one more aspect to this ‘Great Indian Auction of the Almighty’, where the highest bidder gets to have the Lord on his side, even if he or she is the vilest and most despicable person in the Universe. Most of the bidders for ‘God’s Unflinching and Wanton, Indiscriminate, Unethical, and Unscrupulous Support’, will never ever dole out even a farthing in charity to help the poor or the needy. After all, who needs their company and support? Can the poor and needy help a sleazy contractor to land an under-the-table deal worth a few billions of rupees? Or can they save a murderer or a rapist from the long arm of the law? Only our God is capable of performing such stupendous and improbable feats and sleights of hand. These feats are possible for our God only. ‘SO, IN OUR GOD, WE INVEST’, period, coma, semi-colon and full stop. So much for the great Indian God Auction.
So in our society, having a lot of money equals to excellence in whatever one does. There is a Canadian lip-synching asshole of a pop-star whose concerts draw millions. Now the question arises as to why do these hopeless and congenitally brain-dead seekers willingly pay through their nose, only to get cheated at his concerts in millions, while they give a go-by to the really good artists? And all this while knowing fully well that this self-styled artist is really a con-artist? The answer is, THIS JERK HAS A LOT OF MONEY. Lot of money equals to excellence in whatever you do. So, we must all attend his concert again and again, and be swindled repeatedly, so that the crook can have more money, which will make him even better as a singer.
In my case, no one really acknowledges me as being a good writer, because I HAVE NOT MADE A LOT OF MONEY THROUGH WRITING. In fact, when I tell people that I am a writer, the first question asked invariably and unfailingly by all is about the amount of money that I have made through writing. I maintain a meaningful silence hoping that the people would misinterpret my silence to mean ‘A LOT’. I know that I am hoping against hope, but so far, no potential customer (victim) of mine has ever committed this blunder. Maybe, a second look at my face and my appearance, answers all their niggling doubts and misapprehensions. The decision is taken on the spot to not to have anything to do with my books, no matter ‘how well written or listless’.
Now consider an impossible, improbable, and hypothetical case. Suppose the Government of India were to confer me with an award like maybe the ‘Padma-Shri’. (This award is very prestigious, but it still lacks that what all the people look for in a good writer, or for that matter in a good singer, doctor etc., which is ‘LOTS OF MONEY’). Now the society will, maybe, grudgingly acknowledge me as a person who writes. But, hang on, they are still not going to buy my books. Because still, there is absolutely ‘NO LOTS OF MONEY’
Now let us consider another hypothetical situation. Let us say, some obscure and shady literary group who want to launder some of their ill-gotten black money in order to avoid some legal prosecution, suddenly decide to award me say, ‘The Golden Balls’ award for literary excellence. But this time around, ‘The Golden Balls Award for Literary Excellence’ also carries a cash award of one million dollars. I assure you, the moment that the money part of it gets flashed on the media, a million copies will be immediately sold. My publishers will be at their wits end to meet the sudden spike in demand and waiting periods and bookings for my books will ensue. People who do not like reading books, and even the dumb and the illiterate, will all buy several copies of all my books, including the worst crap, as a status symbol, even if they are never ever going to, and neither intend to read even a single line of the book, JUST BECAUSE THE WRITER HAS MADE A LOT OF MONEY. Now my books will have what it takes to become a best seller, which is the snob value of having been written by an author, who has made A LOT OF MONEY. That is the way things are in this world. This is the innate human nature and there is absolutely nothing that me and you can do about it. Hope you enjoyed this little jaunt and holiday from our main topic.
Coming back to the plant kingdom, according to many of the under-informed, they are inanimate as they do not exhibit apparent movement relative to the ground. So it is okay to behead, maim, maul, and mutilate them in each and every diabolical way that we can.
It is also very normal and okay to steal their children and to grind them to flour and then knead them into bread. It is okay to crush their body parts and take out the fluids and to then discard the dead bodies without any ceremony. If one looks at it with this skewed perspective, your kitchen will remind you of concentration camps, and your plate of mortuaries and morgues.
That could also be the beginning of the end of another malaise afflicting mankind, called hunger.
It is funny as to how man equates his own attributes as being the attributes of life and sometimes, even as being the attributes of the Super Creator. Man has red blood and white bones and pink muscles. So, to qualify as a living entity, each organism needs to have red blood, white bones, and pink muscles. Anything short of that is sub-human, sub-living, and sub-animate. Needless to say, God also has red blood, white bones, pink muscles, and also has two arms, two legs, two nostrils, one mouth etc. like us, looks exactly like us, and the icing on the cake is that God also thinks and behaves exactly like us. So, God is also prone to human like emotions like anger, love, hatred, bigotry, prejudice, a very punishingly bellicose and vainglorious bloated ego, superiority complex, megalomania, totalitarian and despotic behavior, dictator complex etc., just to name a few
Those interested in acquiring the title can get it from Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Molecular-Slaves-Biju-Vasudevan-ebook/dp/B01BQGGJNS/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
There is a low priced Indian version available on Flipkart n Amazon too.
Yours truly would like to meander here a little. With your permission of course. And this is really interesting. So please hang on.
Yours truly has a small question for you. Or maybe, we can say a few small questions.
Q-1/ Who is a good singer?
Q-2/ Who is a good dancer?
Q-3/ Who is a good painter?
Q-4/ Who is a good doctor?
Q-5/ (Perhaps the most pertinent one) Who is a good writer?
There may be a million different answers to all these questions, like this and that, and so on and so forth. If you were to answer all the five questions on a piece of paper, I believe that it would require at least a couple of pages, if not more.
But surprises of surprises, the real answer, that is THE TRUTH (which can be only one), is very surprisingly simple and is a one-liner.
‘That Singer/ Dancer/ Painter/ Doctor/ Writer, WHO HAS A LOT OF MONEY, is a good Singer/ Dancer/ Painter/ Doctor/ Writer etc. etc. ‘
This may be an anticlimax of sorts and a most confounding answer that raises more questions than it allays. While I do agree that it has a surprise element in it, if you introspect and look deep enough at yourself and society, you shall realize that this is the absolute truth.
We live in a Quasi-Hobbesian society where powerful and strong run after the even still more powerful and strong, where the aim of each individual is to become all-powerful and omnipotent. It consists of almost entirely of ‘Quid-Pro-Quo’. Reciprocal ‘give and take’, which can also be interpreted as ‘Buy’ and ‘Get Bought’. In my native India, we take this concept a step further by trying to buy out ‘Almighty God’ himself. Now tell me, who would not like to have the Big Boss on their side? A little undeserving favor, a small lift to get an unfair advantage over others, a wink at a misdemeanor, a blanket pardon for a cardinal sin? We Indians have taken this game to a totally different dimension where we actually try to morally corrupt and deprave the Almighty himself, by offering astronomical amounts of money, sinfully lavish gifts like several kilograms of gold, and all other forms of inducements and bribery available in this world, at some very filthy rich temples. Any amount of money or investment looks infinitely and infinitesimally miniscule before the imposing mouthwatering prospect of having the Supreme Lord himself as your battle buddy, your guarantor, the one covering your filthy ass, and as your caddie, as you play the golf of life on the golf course of time. In some temples, even alcohol is offered to god as an aggrandizement, in return for an unfair and sometimes blatantly unethical favor. And there is one more aspect to this ‘Great Indian Auction of the Almighty’, where the highest bidder gets to have the Lord on his side, even if he or she is the vilest and most despicable person in the Universe. Most of the bidders for ‘God’s Unflinching and Wanton, Indiscriminate, Unethical, and Unscrupulous Support’, will never ever dole out even a farthing in charity to help the poor or the needy. After all, who needs their company and support? Can the poor and needy help a sleazy contractor to land an under-the-table deal worth a few billions of rupees? Or can they save a murderer or a rapist from the long arm of the law? Only our God is capable of performing such stupendous and improbable feats and sleights of hand. These feats are possible for our God only. ‘SO, IN OUR GOD, WE INVEST’, period, coma, semi-colon and full stop. So much for the great Indian God Auction.
So in our society, having a lot of money equals to excellence in whatever one does. There is a Canadian lip-synching asshole of a pop-star whose concerts draw millions. Now the question arises as to why do these hopeless and congenitally brain-dead seekers willingly pay through their nose, only to get cheated at his concerts in millions, while they give a go-by to the really good artists? And all this while knowing fully well that this self-styled artist is really a con-artist? The answer is, THIS JERK HAS A LOT OF MONEY. Lot of money equals to excellence in whatever you do. So, we must all attend his concert again and again, and be swindled repeatedly, so that the crook can have more money, which will make him even better as a singer.
In my case, no one really acknowledges me as being a good writer, because I HAVE NOT MADE A LOT OF MONEY THROUGH WRITING. In fact, when I tell people that I am a writer, the first question asked invariably and unfailingly by all is about the amount of money that I have made through writing. I maintain a meaningful silence hoping that the people would misinterpret my silence to mean ‘A LOT’. I know that I am hoping against hope, but so far, no potential customer (victim) of mine has ever committed this blunder. Maybe, a second look at my face and my appearance, answers all their niggling doubts and misapprehensions. The decision is taken on the spot to not to have anything to do with my books, no matter ‘how well written or listless’.
Now consider an impossible, improbable, and hypothetical case. Suppose the Government of India were to confer me with an award like maybe the ‘Padma-Shri’. (This award is very prestigious, but it still lacks that what all the people look for in a good writer, or for that matter in a good singer, doctor etc., which is ‘LOTS OF MONEY’). Now the society will, maybe, grudgingly acknowledge me as a person who writes. But, hang on, they are still not going to buy my books. Because still, there is absolutely ‘NO LOTS OF MONEY’
Now let us consider another hypothetical situation. Let us say, some obscure and shady literary group who want to launder some of their ill-gotten black money in order to avoid some legal prosecution, suddenly decide to award me say, ‘The Golden Balls’ award for literary excellence. But this time around, ‘The Golden Balls Award for Literary Excellence’ also carries a cash award of one million dollars. I assure you, the moment that the money part of it gets flashed on the media, a million copies will be immediately sold. My publishers will be at their wits end to meet the sudden spike in demand and waiting periods and bookings for my books will ensue. People who do not like reading books, and even the dumb and the illiterate, will all buy several copies of all my books, including the worst crap, as a status symbol, even if they are never ever going to, and neither intend to read even a single line of the book, JUST BECAUSE THE WRITER HAS MADE A LOT OF MONEY. Now my books will have what it takes to become a best seller, which is the snob value of having been written by an author, who has made A LOT OF MONEY. That is the way things are in this world. This is the innate human nature and there is absolutely nothing that me and you can do about it. Hope you enjoyed this little jaunt and holiday from our main topic.
Coming back to the plant kingdom, according to many of the under-informed, they are inanimate as they do not exhibit apparent movement relative to the ground. So it is okay to behead, maim, maul, and mutilate them in each and every diabolical way that we can.
It is also very normal and okay to steal their children and to grind them to flour and then knead them into bread. It is okay to crush their body parts and take out the fluids and to then discard the dead bodies without any ceremony. If one looks at it with this skewed perspective, your kitchen will remind you of concentration camps, and your plate of mortuaries and morgues.
That could also be the beginning of the end of another malaise afflicting mankind, called hunger.
It is funny as to how man equates his own attributes as being the attributes of life and sometimes, even as being the attributes of the Super Creator. Man has red blood and white bones and pink muscles. So, to qualify as a living entity, each organism needs to have red blood, white bones, and pink muscles. Anything short of that is sub-human, sub-living, and sub-animate. Needless to say, God also has red blood, white bones, pink muscles, and also has two arms, two legs, two nostrils, one mouth etc. like us, looks exactly like us, and the icing on the cake is that God also thinks and behaves exactly like us. So, God is also prone to human like emotions like anger, love, hatred, bigotry, prejudice, a very punishingly bellicose and vainglorious bloated ego, superiority complex, megalomania, totalitarian and despotic behavior, dictator complex etc., just to name a few
Those interested in acquiring the title can get it from Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Molecular-Slaves-Biju-Vasudevan-ebook/dp/B01BQGGJNS/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
There is a low priced Indian version available on Flipkart n Amazon too.
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