Vote padegi Jhadu pe

Delhi elections are on 4th December. You can't imagine how much I want to be there during that time to witness the results of this historic event, (and of course, to cast my vote), but I won't be there due to some stupid reasons.
I wanted to talk to people who didn't want to vote for AAP and convince them otherwise. Since I have trouble talking, I am writing this post and giving it a try.
I'll assume that you believe that both other parties are corrupt, and their intention about the welfare of the people is not good. They talk about various things in tv debates, but when it comes to doing, they do only for themselves. (Which is exactly what anybody should do :D)

Arvind Kejriwal, did his graduation from IIT, then went to become some commissioner in Income tax department. He worked with Mother Teresa, and says that working for others is the best spiritual feeling or something. He (and some others too, probably) made the Delhi's 'privatization of water supply' project stop. (The video below has some mention of it, but details of the project are there in some other kejriwal video) He is considered to be the main guy who brought RTI. He says that it is a necessary but insufficient condition for true democracy. True democracy lies in Swaraj, the decentralization of power and giving parts of it to the people. Let the decisions that can be made at the lowest level, be made at the lowest level. Only then start moving up. He has written a book about Swaraj which, of course, I haven't read.
Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exyAS3ABI3I&feature=share
The way he talks gives all signs that he is a bit too honest, and has an extremely high IQ. (IQ has been judged with similar results by other people too, in case you think how I can claim this IQ thing). He is fearless, goes against the most powerful people. When he goes to any public debate, with anybody, any guesses about who wins most arguments?
I do feel he is some sort of control freak (some say dictator), but since the decisions seem to be in my (our) favor, I don't mind. If power is decentralized, and accountability of  of the government is increased, and a strong anti-corruption law is passed, what can he do even if he goes rogue? And seeing the history of this man, who donated his prize money of 22-24 lakhs in the Janlokpal andolan, worked for years and years with poor people, worked for laws like RTI and Janlokpal, just see the passion in him when he talks about all these things, how much else do we need to trust him?
This man is the biggest reason why I, and probably many others, are willing to vote for AAP.

Some people say AAP guys are not experienced, they can't do much. One argument they make in their defence is that it is good that they don't have this experience in corruption and communal-ism and stuff that other parties have. They say that a good minister just needs to have a good intent for the people, so that he can listen to them. They just have to listen to the people and do what they want. How to do, is managed by the bureaucrat layer.
And just see the innovative ideas and strategies they are putting in for their campaign, who can say that they are not capable?

They can become corrupt
They say that they are going to pass some anti-corruption law (Lokayukt) as soon as they go into power (within 15 days, that too in Ram Leela Maidan). Some say it is not possible with their own will, Delhi doesn't have a state status so it can't pass bills like that, or something. In case that happens, then AAP guys can also get corrupt. (It should be the natural tendency after getting power) But if power is given to Mohallas (272 municipal wards, each to be divided into around 10 Mohallas, whose monthly meetings will decide what is to be done in a particular Mohalla), this should again become less relevant.
Qualities: They make their received donations public (and stop taking more after 20 crores, as they announced just after starting their party), their expenditure public, government does its investigations but doesn't find anything wrong, they openly challenge everybody to investigate them, and declare to not contest elections if anything is found wrong, they say we'll leave the seat if anything wrong is found in any of there candidates, their manifesto says that there will be an yearly meeting to leaders with public to make sure that manifestos are actually being implemented, corruption eradication, education, health are at the topmost of their concerns, everybody knows about their concerns on water and electricity, they are also very much willing to affect the Delhi police, even though it is not in state government's control because Delhi is not a state.
They are in favor of promoting new business ventures, so that wealth and employment is generated, they wish to make easier VAT laws so that business can be made easier, they are in support of privatization of electricity
They promise to bring Right to Recall (remove MLA if you don't like him) in case they come to power in central government.
This is all before elections, what after that? They can become corrupt, right?(Ans: Umm.. maybe..) But can they go as far as BJP and Congress have gone!?(Ans: Oh no! not at all!) If Lokayukt comes and power is given to lower levels, would it even be possible? (Ans: No) Assuming Kejriwal himself will not get corrupt, do you think he'll let the ones below to get corrupt? (Ans: No)
Credibility comes with the things that you do, and of course we can't trust anybody in this world, but if a party is to be trusted, which one would it be?

Recent Accusations (which I don't believe are true)
When the sting operations came, they were willing to not fight elections from the seats from where the accused candidates are fighting elections. If you watch their second press conference of 22nd Nov, 2013, Yogendra yadav clearly explains the reasons why they cannot believe the accusations until they receive the unedited footage. And they are not getting the raw footage because the MediaSarkar (maker of the sting videos) is not giving it to them, so I infer that the footage will make it clear that the accused will be proved innocent. Also, it seems that AAP want the things to be investigated within 24 hours, while the powers want that let people be confused until elections are over.
Anna Hazare is not with the AAP, and nobody cares. Looks like the only people who use this argument are the politicians or the workers of congress and bjp. He doesn't believe in party system it seems. But I don't know how can the system that he wants come without first entering into the current political system.
IAC fund used in AAP? Kejriwal had to give his own award money for IAC because they stopped receving donations during Janlokpal movement after five days thinking that enough money has been collected, but it was not enough. This has already been investigated by the government earlier, and accounts came out to be fine.
Foreign funding, I don't mind even if they are taking it, though they are asking for an Indian passport number before taking funds from NRI's, and doing investigations in case any donation is more than 10 lakh (afair).

Vote for BJP because of Narendra Modi, NO! Modi will not become the Chief minister of Delhi!

Why I should not vote for AAP
I do feel that in case I need to bribe somebody in the coming future to get some work done, I might not be able to do that. Some people live a happier life because of their political connections, that would not be possible if AAP comes into power. But still, I think that price would be nothing compared to what we'd would be getting.

Put your vote on Jhadu this time. If you are not voting for them, go die.

Is happiness real when shared?

To be happy or to be 'seen' as happy. That is the question. Or is it that we are happy 'only' when seen as happy? and some people mind the lies, and some don't.

The above happens if people don't mind the lies. And that is a common practice as far as I have seen.

What I believe

When I say dig for reasons, the digging has to end somewhere. Anything which is presented as an argument needs to have a reason. I have to reach some 'premise' which is acceptable  by all (or most). What would be that premise?

I 'believe' what I can sense from my sensory organs. What i can see, hear, touch, smell (that too only if it coincides with what others sense) . And what I feel, what comes from within me. I might feel I like music. I might feel I hate somebody. I might feel I want something. Only these things form the basis of my arguments. (And I (we) argue only for things that I believe or disbelieve.)

(Some people 'feel' God. I found out that the 'feel' God because they 'believe' in God. It should be the other way round!)

And one more thing. Facts based on experimental analysis. If something has happened 90 out of 100 times, it has to be accepted as a fact. If I prayed for 10 days for a different thing everyday, and all 10 wished came true, and any other reason doesn't seem valid, then I would start believing that prayers help.

(And it surely is not a matter of perspective or opinion. Perspective also brings reasons with it. Perspective comes when the premises differ. It is the case where no further argument can be made and neither side wins.)

I ask a simple question. 'Do you want to believe the truth or not?'. I say I 'want' to, and if you say that you are not interested in that and you can believe anything you want, then this argument ends! No further argument can be made. But if you say yes (which everybody i have asked, does), this means that the premise is same. But still our final arguments differ. (say, about the existence of God. We want to believe in truth, and you believe in God. But I don't see any reason to, so I don't believe in God.). This means either one of us has made a mistake in reasoning between the premise and the final argument. To find out that flaw, we argue. Whichever side finds the mistake in its argument has to change its final argument. (though i don't see that happening :P)

I'd like to cite a simple example. Suppose it rains, but we didn't know that clouds strike and stuff and that causes rain. We'll try unlearn some stuff and assume, that before somebody proposed that God of water (jal devta :D) is causing the rain, somebody else proposed that there are aliens outside this planet. They live somewhere else and they are there to 'help' us. They have plenty of water, and they are donating that water to us.
Doesn't this explanation seem fine? Its weird, and stupid, but matches the current arguments.
(we now discard that the God is causing rain, we say that air is moved by the God, which moves clouds, and then rain happens due to collision of clouds.) We have 'aliens', some'body' to take care of us in our times of need. It gives us hope, and we don't mind if it is false hope. So. from now on we'll believe that aliens cause rain. Can you do that? (I have been hearing that unlearning is a bigger problem than learning. Now I think that's true.)
Fire was God before we knew about friction. Why? It helps us in making food, and it scares us because it burns us. Every such thing had been a God. But now that we know of friction, we call ourselves 'non-superstitious' and this boils down to 'god is one', and fire is not one of them.You are still superstitious. (as if you care :D)

Either some  people have decided what is good for us to believe and have passed on those things to us, or some people wanted to control other people (as says ayn rand in the fountainhead), that's why they made us believe the stuff they wanted us to believe.
I don't think we want anybody else to decide what's good for us, neither do we want anybody to control us. So, why believe?

Abortion. what's the problem?

(If somebody considers abortion as 'killing' somebody, then the following lines are invalid.)

Somebody wants a boy, but there is a girl inside her womb. Why to bring her into the world when he (they) doesn't want it! Parents make children for themselves. Not for the sake of balancing the number of girls and boys in the world. Social service karne thode na nikle hain.

I watched Bol. The protagonist says 'paal nahi sakte to paida kyun karte ho'. She is so right! Don't give birth to girls if you don't want them. Yours and the girl's lives might be doomed.

Killing children before they are born doesn't seem as a 'bad' thing to me. Whether it be a girl or a boy.

Farz karo, Khuda hai.

Suppose one day somebody proves that God exists. There is something or somebody which is running the world and to whom we can pray and who/which can listen. Would that prove that you (you= theists) were correct in the first place? Would it be right for you to say ' i told you so' ? No it won't be!

What I am saying now is that since we have not proved that existence of God, so I won't believe in it. What you (theists) say is that God exists. You argue, you lose the argument (or start bringing up absurd arguments) but don't stop believing, which you should. Beliefs are always based on logic. We can't believe what we 'want' to believe. (Unless you are disinterested in truth).

But if tomorrow we found out that God exists, and then you start to think that you were so right and I was wrong, I would still call you a moron (harsh word, replace with a softer one. I have a bad vocab).

Suppose, once there were two sets of people. One who believed that earth is round, the other who believed that earth is flat. Just like that, No reasons. Both sets are idiots. But when some guy travels across the ocean, he comes to know that earth is round. Does that mean the first set of people was right?

I am saying all this because I have heard people telling me, that one day you will realize that God exists, and then you will regret saying all this. I am just clarifying beforehand.

Bhagat Singh ki jai ho

Bhagat singh was hanged till death a few years before this day. Everybody says he was a true hero. The Martyr. Everybody praising him today and everyday whenever his name comes up. Give him 'respect', because he gave his 'life'.
I was thinking of why would anybody give his life for 'others'? one more mad bro? He gave his life for the nation, and he was proud of this fact while he lived. He probably considered it a humanly, and heavenly, and the righteous thing to do. But why was that? I believe that would be because of the shit others would have planted in his brain. Die for your country, that would make you a true jatta or something.

Fine, his own wish. Somebody wants to give his life for me, and wants what in return.. respect? Take it man!! Every ounce of it!! Why would I refuse!

What we do today? We say Bhagat Singh was a hero. The man gave his life for us. Hats off to him. What does it make us? We are saying that it was the right thing to do! We are promoting the fact that people should die for others! If I want to make my life better, then I better work for it myself. Else call my self a harami.

(We all know that Bhagat Singh was well educated, and sort of a leader, and that's why assuming that he was logical, would be a justified assumption for the following stuff)
What we believe about bhagat singh is what we are shown in the movies and what our elders teach us. Why do these have to be true? Maybe Bhagat Singh wanted to live in and independent India and that was why he was working for it. That is completely justified, because he was working for himself, and letting people know that they should also for the same cause as it was for them too. (That is why Arvind kejriwal and anna team are doing) But when he would have realized that he was to hang with his neck inside a loop, he would have been scared man!! Dying is not a good thing! All pride and honor would come to rest when it comes to death..!
But our elders didn't want to project him as a person who is afraid, or who is a coward... (which would  not have been a problem at all) maybe because they wanted to produce more heroes as bhagat singh, they might have wanted to see more and more martyrs who would die for their country men. If we had known a different reality that Bhagat Singh was afraid, and he tried to escape or he fell into the feet of jailer then he wouldn't have got  the respect that he gets now! (Although he wouldn't know he gets nothing coz he's dead :P)

So soldiers, please die for me. What happens if our country didn't have the armed forces? It would have been a blunder, chaos or dependence on some other country as it was before 1947.
I don't want somebody to die for me, and I also want independence. But I myself don't work for my independence. Deadlock.

Make myself better?

What can this thing possibly mean... 'Make myself better'? One more thing that has been forced upon us.

The only thing that I can be, is myself! How can better or worse be defined? The problem is, from the start itself we are given the valuable advice of being a better person, and some points which I must follow for being better. I should think this, I shouldn't think that, and all that. That takes away what I am, from me. If we were left undisturbed since our birth, not a single thought to pollute our mind, and we were left to just learn from our own experiences, then we would have been the best persons, and not just the better. But I don't know how to do that, doesn't seem practical sometimes.

A person who doesn't care about others is not worse than the one who does, a person who cries when he sees somebody else in pain is no better than the one who might just laugh. But we have not been taught so. People have bent our minds in a direction where they wanted, whatever might be their purpose, but our minds are now at unrest. They have defined 'good things' and 'bad things' for us. And, alas, we have followed.

Read somewhere: "I don't change, I just become more of myself." That is the only criteria of being better, according to me. Some people see their aim as becoming a better person day by day. But I am quite disappointed to see that their criteria is as defined by others.

Either you are Optimistic, or you are not.
Either you respect somebody, or you don't.
Ether you love somebody or you don't.
and so on. These are the things which your 'heart' tells you. Or in correct words, your 'intuition' tells you. You just 'know' what you want! These 'wants' make us 'us'.
But we have to force ourselves to be ourselves. What could be worse.

PS: One more thing that be done, according to me, is to be a bit more 'logical'. To not have contradicting beliefs. i.e. To believe in only the things which can be deduced logically. If you don't do it, you already contradict yourself.

These are called...coincidences.

I and my 3 friends are talking in pizza hut. All about the magic and stuff that might exist around us. One woman comes in, with center-shock type of hairstyle, a tilak and three white horizontal lines on the forehead. Black clothes, kind of a gown, and a maala around the neck. We could easily call her a tantrik. (According to 'rights of admission reserved' she shouldn't have been allowed inside :P) We were surprised. Staring at her and smiling. Would you say that since we were talking of the similar supernatural kinda stuff, that would be the reason for the arrival of our tantrik? We talk about this stuff many times, but this happened only once! So, a coincidence.
One more thing happened, of which I am not sure I remember too well. The bill amount at the pizza hut was '786'! (this is some holy number of muslims afaik) . That bill was in my friend's pocket. Rainfall on our way back, and the digits 7,8 and 6 got washed away in the rain :D

 There is a friend, who is a 'jain'. Pigeons are related to jains in some way i don't know. And he says, that every week on a particular day a group of pigeons visits his house :D (Though I believe he was lying to prove his point, that god exists :D)

Let's Rock it \m/

I went to mehandipur balaji. And of course, a don't believe any such thing exists. I went there, and saw women doing weird stuff with their heads and hair. A huge crowd going mad for darshan. There was this belief that when you are exiting the temple, you throw everything you have in your hands behind your back, and run out of the temple without looking back. But I did look back ( :P ) many times. While returning home,
1) I got the news of my result :D
2) The result was a disaster.
3) I couldn't see my result because I was not home.
4) I reached home, and my internet wasn't working.
5) My PC was not working.
6) Some stuff had happened to electric wires, and the electricity was also kind of irritating.
Balaji is known for its 'prakop', which might have resulted in these 'bad things' happening to me.
But I still call these things 'coincidences' :D

the expression

I had a plan to go to vaishnodevi. 6 of us. Tickets were to be booked. I was suffering from high fever and back ache that day, but I still went to watch a movie. (Rab ne bana di jodi, vo bhi is halat me!) I went to see the doctor on my way back. He declared Chicken pox. Chicken pox is known as 'maata' in Hindi,I guess  the same maata that sits at vaishnodevi causes chicken pox. I couldn't go to vaishnodevi of course. It is said, that you'll visit vaishnodevi only when maata calls you :D Mera katta ho gaya.
It is also said that chicken pox happens only once in life, or at least after a gap pf 20 years because the anti bodies remain in the body. But maata made an exception for me. I was suffering from the disease the 2nd time. (Doctor said nowadays it can happen the third time too. The disease is quite irritating. So, I shouldn't plan another visit to vaishnodevi :D)

Nothing else has ever happened with me that could create the slightest of the doubts.

Do what you Love??

I'll still not be a broken anda

 It would be the best for me if I can pursue the thing that I love doing, professionally. I would be given money for enjoying myself!
But does it mean that that is the only thing I must pursue to earn money? else I would perish?

We would usually like to follow our love because it would lead to success! (here, success=fame + money) Assuming that you are good at what you love, there is some probability that you would reach success. But for that probability to be high, we do need to consider others factors too..

You need to be ready for struggle, you must be passionate for success so that you do not leave your battle before reaching your goal which here is success, you need to keep in mind that there are thousands more like you in the same field who might be ready to struggle, you need to see whether others are interested in your passion or not, whether you make the right choices at the right time, meet the right people at the right time, whether or not you are farsighted and so on... many of them.. But the excessive want of success seems to be the most prominent to me.

If you want to do the thing that you love, you can do it anyway, while doing something else as a profession. If you crave to be famous for that particular thing, the you are wanting success, not following your passion.If besides you passion, you are also craving for success, then you can use the passion to pursue the success! Then come all those suggestions of being optimistic, not losing hope, fight till the end to reach your goals and so on..

Now comes another thing. If we don't pursue our passions professionally, then we would be doing something else for money. Something, that we do not love but we are good at. If you do something that you are good at, I don't think you would mind doing it. And that may also lead to money. (That's what I would be doing :P)
I would not be doing something like this if I'll not be able to show it to anybody. I'll be doing this thing only if others will admire it (if I like admiration) or they give me money (if I like money) or both (if I like both). And in all these cases, I would be satisfied, I believe.

We invest something, to get something we want. The point is, whether we like the investment or not. If we do, nothing's better.

(It might seem that I am seeking excuses for not-struggling, and there's some negative thinking I am promoting here, but I don't think that that is the case.)

Respect your Elders

Why? Nobody knows. Just like many of those things, this has also been fed into our brains, from the moment we started understanding any language.
I'll respect somebody if I want to, I'll not respect somebody if I don't want to! 'I' will decide that!

MAYBE:
They want that kids should not argue with them, and don't question anything they say. (Most of the people would want this i think.) So, one generation started feeding this thing into their children, and it has been passed on since then.

'Don't argue with your elders' is another consequence. Kyu bhai? This is much more prevailing than that respect thing. And much more against how a kid would want to live. We depend on talking and discussing and arguing, and we just remove the possibility of arguing from our lives if it is being done with an older person!
(Although usually the older person will turn out to be right in  the argument :P experience you see )

Young do argue with older people, but in the end they have to shut their mouths (even if they are winning :D). Zabaan ladata hai.. badtameez!!

Lying is good sometimes

"Vo jhuth jisse kisi ko khushi mile, vo jhuth jhuth nahi hota".

Suppose you are a painter. You've painted something, and you show it to a friend of yours. You want appreciation of course. And the friend might see it on your face (or may be not, but he knows that you want it). And suppose the friend didn't like the painting. Then what would you want him to say? Just for your happiness, do you want that he should lie and say that the painting is lovely? I think you would want him to be honest and say whatever he feels. (And usually in such cases, friends are honest. They'll say whatever they feel.)

But there are situations when they'll lie. At first you'll like it, but slowly you'll feel that the friend is ever praising, never criticizes. Then it feels that he has been lying. He might be agreeing to whatever you say, or praising you for everything, just to keep a good equation with you or make you happy. Intentions might be not bad, but the method would not produce the desired results.

Suppose you are a fine actor. And you want to pursue it as a profession. Of course it depends on what others think about your acting. You ask somebody, am I good enough? The friend might think, he needs motivation, he wants to go, so I can lie and say yes. Even if he believes the opposite. I think it is something that nobody should do.

If you are such a friend, I don't think that doing it is a good idea. You don't tell the truth to somebody because the truth might hurt, or you lie to somebody because it might make him happy.
Slowly you'll lose trust. If you are doing it with me, I'll never know whether you really mean it or you are just lying once more.Your words might become meaningless to me. Trust lost => friendship lost.

Anger

When we are angry, we say the truth. Whatever it may be. But the problem lies in how we say it.
We are usually rude, and we realize afterwards that we didn't mean to say it that way.

When I am angry, I try to think more, and speak less. It helps, at least helps me.

Happiness is real, When shared.

There was this movie, 'Into the Wild'.  Forced me to accept this truth. Almost two years now.

I am Above

(That song is just because I have stolen the title from this one. This doesn't have anything to do with the post.)

That happiness we feel, when we are feeling proud of ourselves. Isn't that proud feeling only because people admire it? So we feel happy because we did what other people wanted us to do?
I feel proud (only) when I do what I want to, I say what I want to. And I am able to prove myself right on this, i.e., I am able to prove to people that I am right. (Or if somebody else proves me wrong, I feel proud in accepting it :P) And so on, so many reasons.
(I don't think that it is hypocrisy... coz that is what 'I' want, and not what 'others' want..)
But why do I feel proud? Aisa kya ho gaya? And what exactly is this feeling of being proud? Doesn't being better than others at a thing makes you feel proud?
(Here, proud is just the feel good thing. It is not ghamand. Ghamand is totally denied! Completely illogical!)

Chalo,  there might be happiness in being better than others, and that proud feeling, might be a feeling, might not need explanation.

But I have a different problem. I have seen people fight over things, feeling their ego hurt over things, the things for which they are "proved" not to be better than somebody else. It becomes not about being better, but about showing that I am better. Ye kya baat hui! That means that you are trying to be somebody who you are not!  Worst thing ever...

If you are better, you'll be able to prove that you are. If you are not, you know that you are not.. why to prove the opposite! But ego takes over.. what to do... But I think it is a waste of time.

I have done it. As far as I know, I don't do  it now. I sometimes want to do it, but I try to realize what I am doing. And of course, if there might have been times in recent history when I have not realized it, I don't remember.

What is Passion?

There are things that we like doing. What I have seen, is that anything that I am good at, is something I like to do. (12th standard, self experience: So long as I am able to solve my integration questions, I was in love with integration, the moment I couldn't do them, I started getting bored.) But I just like it. The happiness I get from it is that of being able to do it. Its not the happiness of doing it. If it involves people, then it is might be the happiness of being with the people and doing it, or the 'showing' of being better at something, or 'showing' to be able to do it...

But I have seen things that people 'love' 'doing', even if they don't show it to anybody. They really do feel happy. They feel happier when they share this happiness with other people. That happiness is not of 'showing' or 'being better', its just the happiness of sharing your happiness!

And I have also seen this thing, that people love to see other people happy, whether they know them or not (given that former people don't hate he latter people!) If doing something makes somebody happy, then we also love to feel that happiness, through our sense organs. I mean watching, feeling, listening etc.. There are good singers, good dancers, but we don't really like them until they themselves are feeling happy! We might appreciate the talent or the hard-work, but we don't feel happy while watching them.
If we are feeling their happiness, then we might just call that thing their passion!

I used to be confused about passion. That if I am good at something, and I try and keep becoming better at it, it is passion, or ,something is my passion, and since it is passion I keep doing it again and again many times so I become better at it through time... Now I think it is the latter one.

I have seen passionate singers, dancers, talkers, coders and techies (I am not sure of the last two, whether it really is their happiness or not.) I hope to see passions in other art forms too. I also 'guess' I have seen some people who are passionate about power, over other people.

I don't know from where does this happiness come, why does somebody feel happy, but somebody does. And that thing which makes somebody happy again and again, doesn't matter how many times it is done, is Passion. (At least I have reached this conclusion)

Why ethics.

(Selfish,Ethics: Consider the generally prevailing definitions for the word)

What  usually is the reason given for the advice: 'don't be selfish'? Its just 'you shouldn't be selfish', or 'being selfish is bad'.
Why to help others? Coz it is a good thing.
Why give your seat to some old lady in metro? Coz it is good.
Be Honest. It is good.

I think these answers need a bit more explanation or maybe more.
How exactly could these 'good' and 'bad' things have started?
Obviously, if you help others, others will tend to help you, out of returning favor, or to make sure you keep helping the others. That is why it is a good thing. I used to feel bad when people said 'keep helping others, you never know hen you'll need somebody..', now I don't feel bad at all. I do feel good when I help some people,but I am not really sure of 'why'. Is it because I've been taught to feel good, or is it because I really do feel good. (I hope to get the correct answer asap!)

If you think only about yourself, why would anybody want to be with you!?
If you talk to somebody only when you need him (and he doesn't have anything to gain from you) why would he like you? That is why being selfish is a bad thing.

I have heard of people who say something on the face, but believe something completely  opposite! (i think we call them 'hypocrites'). Maybe they praise you on your face,for some uncountable things in you, but in reality hate you, and never tend to show it. That's like a crime! If somebody gets to know this about that hypocite, he is dead! People will stop believing him. That is why it is a bad thing.There is nothing wrong in doing this (just like nothing else is wrong), but it might only be bad for you. Since you hate that somebody, maybe you spill that out in front of somebody, then that somebody gets to know that you are a back-biter.. So your purpose (of, maybe, pretending to be good) fails!

If you are honest with people, those people will believe in whatever you say. They will trust you. There are moments when we feel the urge to lie, but that one lie might ruin the trust forever. Control yourself for that moment, and be honest. That helps in the future. (merko to accha bhi lagta hai, I don't know why. ) So you are being selfish.. but in a sense for which people won't hate you. That's why honesty is known as the best policy.
I also follow it. I have been doing it unknowingly since my childhood (age<=17) , and it always felt good. Now I also have some reasons. So feels better.

Save environment. That is for you! You will get better place to live in! That's why save water, electricity and stuff.
Donate blood. All ads which wanted us to donate blood always only told us to do it. There is this ad that came a few months before, it said 'Donate blood, kyunki accha lagta hai!' That's fine with me. You donate blood, ask everybody else to donate blood, that donated blood might just help you someday! (It is not because you are getting back the results of doing a 'good thing'!!)

Ye sab 'acchi aadatein' tabhi humare maa baap sikhate hain. Somebody might have started it, others might have followed. Maybe, slowly the reasons started fading away, and what remained was just 'good' and 'bad'. As a child, we were not allowed to question our elders. I expect that even they don't care about the reasons.
But now I think we should know why we are following some principles. In this context of ethics, the answer of  'why' (at least for me), is that we are selfish.
Or may be, as Ayn Rand says, some people wanted us to feel guilty, so as to gain power over us, so that we always look up to them for justification of everything... This explanation did come as a shock to me when I read The Fountainhead, but it does seem to be a correct explanation. And a bit too convincingly stated in the book. (That was in fact my favorite part!)

Similar explanations follow for murders, rapes, terrorism, child abuse and other stuff..

We  tend to forget these ethics when we really are in trouble, and then feel guilty. I don't think there is anything that should make anybody feel guilty... you just made it bad for yourself!

Phattu..in general...

Bravery-a virtue... why do we want to be the brave guy? Anyone comes and calls you a coward, you  feel bad.. why is that! What's the problem? Why does it feel so...derogatory?
And what exactly defines being a coward?
Sometimes, when we do the 'different' things,things that we want to do (or we are made to want to do them) we are called courageous. Else, Phattu.
Or sometimes the things we do not want to do, but we are forced to do them, in the name of something, and then if we do it, we are the daring, else, Phattu.

And of course, it should not be that everybody else is also doing those things. If many others are also doing those things, then we are not courageous because it is too common, right. We won't need to overcome any fear,or peer pressure to do those things.
And also, other people should want me to do those things. This is the main concern. Or else there won't be anybody to praise us..
If I commit a theft,or a murder, or a rape, then am I the courageous guy? No? But everybody doesn't do these things, and I am quite afraid before and while doing these things, and thus I am overcoming my fears, then am I not the courageous guy? Still I'm not! That is because I didn't do what you wanted me to do, right!?

You are a liar => you are a coward. (I devoted a whole post for this!)
You fight for your country => You're the man!
You run away from fights => Phattu
Ye kya baat hui yaar

You might just like/admire a person who you are calling the man, but let him be free, why to put a burden on him, that continue doing what you did, you're the man!
Similarly, hate somebody who is a liar, don't let him come near you,why insult him? Let him do what he likes to!
And why do you feel insulted if somebody calls you a phattu?

Looking closely, being a phattu is also somewhat courageous. Knowing that if I am being a coward, the whole world will despise me, insult me, but even then if I am being a coward.... I am being courageous.. (ye to bakwaas sa kuch ho gaya!)

Some people can even be manipulated using these words.. Just call him a phattu at something, and he will do anything you are asking him to.. given that he doesn't use his brain.

Heard somewhere: Conscience is for Cowards.
I would say, Conscience is for idiots(that's rude!, but I might also be one of these idiots). What is conscience? Whatever the 'intelligent' people have put in our minds, is usually referred to as conscience, or at least that is what I have found. So no cowardice involved here. (although I don't even know what is a coward!)
Pity is for weak. What is a weak?

Bravery might be praised, but I don't think it is the thing anybody should try to have, just because others want. And if you like being praised, and you are ready to be, to some extent, controlled by them, you can try being the brave one. I wouldn't mind. (As if you care!)

Pity

'Bechara Baccha, Hansne  Khelne ke Dino me Bheekh Maang rha hai'

What exactly are you doing? Who wants you to say that? The beggar boy doesn't want it. He wants money. For whom are you saying this? For your own self. I don't understand from where did this concept come from. We feel bad for beggars, because we think that we have more, and the beggar has less, that he got less opportunities. This is no reason. That is how the life is. Survival of the fittest. Why should we feel guilty for things we have got, the things that somebody else wants but doesn't have!
Oh! The Beggar has no money, he can't eat, how will he survive in this cruel world? By saying this, you are just satisfying yourself. But I can't understand what's getting satisfied.

If you really feel happy in seeing others happy, what you can do is give them money. Pity is the thing you might need to explain, at least to me. You might also want to send that little child to school. Do it, if it makes you happy. Don't do it if you have been made to feel happy.

You have your own problems in your life, the beggar has his own. If he doesn't know how to live, how to earn, he will die!(Please don't hate me for saying this :P) What's your problem? Why do you give him money? (or if you show pity, and don't give him the money, why don't you?) That money is just making you happy, but for the beggar you are just another bakra. He thanks you, because he wants that you shouldn't stop giving him the money. They invented dua for satisfying people, keeping them happy, or satisfying their ego, and getting money from them. Although nobody minds because everybody becomes happy :D

Take the handicaps. Without a hand, or a leg. Is pity the thing that they want? Why to treat them differently? Why to start trying to help him when he comes in front of you? I don't think he would want that. Everybody wants to be self-sufficient. Almost everybody can take care of himself.What he might want, is acceptance, as far as I believe.But if we care for he wants acceptance, then he is never getting it from us.(That was an important sentence) Being handicap is nothing different. Just a bit more difficult life, than with the leg or the hand.

Why show pity only to the poor and the beggars? Show it to me, to everybody in this world, who has something less than what you have! If somebody has enough money to live, or has every body part well sustained, this doesn't mean that he is happy enough... And it might be that that beggar is much happier than you are. (might not be content though)

We also pity animals. right? We give milk to stray dogs, bechara bhookha hai. The dog then wags its tail whenever it sees you again, for he wants the milk again.. vo bhi to harami(as generally defined) hi hai... (hamari tarah...)
If you can give food to that dog, and you don't give food or money to a beggar, maybe almost dying on the street, you might need to explain.
Some people say, ki khaane ke liye paise maang rha hai daaru me uda dega. Why does it matter to you? Can you decide what will make that man happy? or are you only concerned about the fact that he must have only food using the money that you give him? So, in a way, his happiness doesn't matter to you, but yours does...? And I take it as a fact.. that its your happiness that matters to you, whether you admit it or not, to yourself or the world. So if you are really interested in seeing others happy, please buy him a bottle of whiskey, and you'll see the happiest man on earth!
But if you are giving him the food instead, I think, and hope, by now you might have realized that its only you who is getting satisfied. So why get satisfied in lending your, or your dad's hard earned money to a person, who is just taking it!
PS: I expect some disagreements on this topic. Plz tell me something I could not think of.

Faith

"Leap, and the net will appear." - Julie Cameron  (Idiot)

Faith. Where does it come from?

Have faith. Good will happen to  you. Laxmi barsegi ek din etc. If you agree, shit.
Having faith in what/who?
If you have faith in yourself, that what you are doing might lead to something that you want to happen, this is fine for me. You are having that faith for some particular reasons, not merely because it should make you happy.
I can have faith in some people, that I trust somebody. Not just like that, only because of the past record. If somebody has been honest, I'll have faith that he might turn out to be honest the next time too. And if the person had been a liar, I might have faith that he will be lying again!

So we can have faith for living beings, not in things. how can I have faith in destiny(whats that?)? in God?
Faith in god is idiotic, even if you believe that god exists. Even if we assume that god exists, and it exists till now, how can you say that it is watching everything happening around the world and thinking that it will also someday do something for you!

And Do Good, Good will happen to you. Have faith :D
Firstly, 'Good' is undefined. Just because some people said that something is good, we are doing things. Others define or have defined it for us. Good is usually something that 'other ppl' like. Obviously, if you do the things that others likes, people will like you, and you might be able to get things done easily. So good is happening to u.


(Or maybe you like the feeling when you help others, but make sure that it is not because of the mindwash done one you when you were a kid. ('you' doesn't mean it is you :P))
But there is no guarantee, that it will happen. Anything can happen to you, depends on the situations, and your talent too.
And its not that somebody is watching you from the sky, that if you do any of those things mentioned in some list, you get extra points, and now you will be happier.

That would surely have been said by some geniuses/idiots to some people,  to make them happy or to gain power, and those people believed it. But they also passed this to their children... to us...

Sach nahi bolta? Phattu.

Honesty. Is it the best policy?

The reason why many(many = all I have known) people believe in speaking truth is because they want people to believe them. To not question anything they say. This gives satisfaction, and ease of life. If somebody is known to be a liar, then of course no value would be given to what  he says! When you are honest, you don't have to remember things, I mean the lies you say, you have to remember them, right. And if there is even one loophole, the lie is destroyed.
That is why I believe in speaking the truth (most of the times) or rather stay quiet.
(If somebody is forcing me to speak when I know I won't be saying what's true, I usually say something, and let the person know that it is a lie. This usually shuts his mouth :P)
Perfect lies are rare. But if it is a situation in which nobody has any chance of knowing the truth, even(!) I might lie.
I haven't seen a more truthful (more truthful? ye kaisi english hai?) person than myself. Maybe I haven't met many people. And I am not proud of this characteristic(not quality) . And I am not un-proud(!) too! I do it for my own sake.
Lastly, Speaking Truth in any case is not a virtue, Lying is not a vice. Truth is something that everybody wants to hear, so they love they people who are truthful. They admire him. That is why everybody says you should be honest, because that makes people happy, and in turn might make you happier!