State of the Indian Union... circa, the Year of our many Lords '2009.

Nothing or Everything in this country is true. What one believes to be true is most often a reflection of a variety of firmly ingratiated beliefs that one carries over from childhood and are conditioned by supporting experiences along the way.

A time comes when one is confronted with an obvious contradiction to these beliefs by an indisputable occurrence, predominantly personal, and the consequent shedding or retaining of a particular belief, both of which are traumatic experiences, grants insight into many aspects of the "very subjective" morality one is composed of that he/she, in hindsight, would rather not have found out .

A popular term in current usage is "an open mind". To keep an open mind, we are told, is the best way towards shielding ourselves from the assaults on our collective sanity unleashed by the forces of globalization and technology that we experience almost every day. It is also apparently a tool by which we could educate ourselves and our dependents so as to keep more in touch with the world. But the definitions of this cult term are as inherently paradoxical and self-serving as the forces from which it would protect and enrich us:
When we acquire knowledge and develop interests in the ideas and the workings of other cultures, and sometimes become aware of the various ways these cultures can come to be beneficial to ourselves and our communities by the transplantation of certain practices, we find that barriers have been erected long ago - by religion, society and people responsible for our 'common good' to the import of these practices. Arguments for our cause are countered by numerous arguments against, each more passionate than the last. Resisting such flak is almost always a losing battle which leaves us more disoriented and desperate in search than before.

In such an environment resentment, frustration, anger and consequently hatred are undeniable effects of the benevolent spokes put into what is liable to be perceived as the wheels of change. Such hatred is continuously directed towards the 'system' and cycles of violence repeat themselves, manifested in various forms.