BEING AND BECOMING

The transmutation of homo sapiens from a biological or ethical being to an obscure code is the true transformation of "Biopolitics". In the first stage, conventional morality through customs shaped the conditions for a new born to value and nurture what a society valued the most. The divine comedy of kings, later on, asserted with zeal, the paternal love for its subjects. Revolutionary literature and activism produced the rights of Man, in discourse of Rousseau, of course, women were accepted as similar to the idea of man, which was rejected by many a thinker, including Mary Wollstonecraft, John Stuart Mill, Simone de Beauvoir, Friedrich Engels, etc.  Second transformation could be traced in the contractarian morality, from there only, ethical man was stabbed to death, a new idea of man emerged, conceived in the Kantian autonomous character, which revolutionized the contractarian morality. State in a way emerged through justificatory pen of contract.  At the third

दाग कितने अच्छे हैं दागियों के शहर में बेदागी बदनाम हैं दाग कितने अच्छे हैं चर्चा ये आम है शराफ़त की क़द्र तो शरीफ़ ही जाने दरबारियों की फ़ितरत में चापलूसों का जाम है सुना था मृत्यु आती है एक बार यहाँ तो जिन्दे लाशो से एहतराम है तुलसी भी कभी लाशों के मझधार पे चले थे जब रगो में वासनाओं का सैलाब उमड़ा था जीवन्त हुआ था उनकी दृष्टि जब जीवन से ठोकर खाया था आज के मुर्दे जीवन में चालाकी सुबह-ओ-शाम है दाग कितने अच्छे हैं चर्चा ये आम है

इतना डरा हुआ रहता है मन शायद ख़ुद में दुसरेपन का एहसास है फ़िक्र रहती है अनजाने का भला कौन सी मंज़िल की तलाश है कौन से सपने अपने हैं किसपे भला ऐतबार है रहबर तो कितने हैं यहां पे कोई इन्तहां पे मिले वो साथी कहाँ है उदास सी आंखों को आयने में देखा है हमनें इन नज़रों पे आख़िर इतना भरोसा क्यों है कितने गीत हवाओं में शोरगुल सा तैर रहे हैं कोई बोध सा मन को छू जाये वो सरगम कहाँ है शब्दों के उलझन को मैंने समझ का नाम दिया है आंशु की भाषा में जो निश्चल प्रेम उभर आये वो निर्दोष सी आँखें आज कहाँ है दिखाने का जुनून इस कदर सवार है हममें बस 'ख़ुद' ही इन काफ़िलों में दिख जाये 'ख़ुदा' मिले या ना मिले किसे भला उसका इंतज़ार है रास्तों पे फ़ूल सी हसरतें तो ख़ूब सजाए हैं हमनें बिना पत्थर के जो कोई ताज बन जाये ऐसा प्रेमी कहाँ है कितने बेदाग से चहरे हैं इन शाखों पे कोई चाँद सा दागी दिख जाये वो प्यार कहाँ है शोहरत का कफ़न ओढ़े ना जाने कितने दफन हो गये कोई ज़िन्दा सच बता जाये वो कवि कहाँ है

Someone rightly exclaimed that the "liberty is one of the greatest blessings for humankind". The very semantics of liberty has evolved over the years; for examples, Greek excluded women and slaves from polis; imprisoned their intellectual imagination under the guise of Oikis. The freedom to participate in political activities was available for free men. Reasoning, of course, was given to justify that freedom and capacity to have responsibility go through hand to hand. Indian ancient tradition was not favorable with the idea that each one is free; particularly women and sudras were included within the system "to be excluded" (Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer). Kantian formulation of liberty went ahead and demolished all the predestinated teleogical philosophy, emanted from the philosophy of Aristotle. Kant advocated for human dignity which was possible to have once humans are capable to change the pre-established, pre-supposed fate, originated and interpreted from theol

I am writing here to express my life experience regarding justice, which has been not so soothing experience over the years. Justice is not, as per my cognitive capability, a fact to be deciphered through senses. Justice is not an idea which is so complete. Substantially, justice is not a concept which is fundamental in defining the building blocks of human’s life. Justice, rather, is an arbitrary expectation on the part of subject, which sometimes remains internally encaged within the ethical verses of an ego, other times, it appears as an expectation in due course of societal behaviors and relationships. Justice is painted as a sacred desire which appears to be sacrosanct in limine, however, with the passage of age all the sacred dreams are shattered and an innocent mind, who was happy under some hallucinated reality, suffers from irretrievable breakdown. From there only, justice appears to be a dead concept. Might appears at site, the true law of nature; a real law of society. Jus

Today, while walking I came to realize that there is at least a fixed reality which cannot be accessible to my senses; all what I can do is to, perspectivize it, with limited amount of data I have hitherto come across since childhood. Each perspective of mine is not a lived reality; it's also about intersubjective reflections which create a reality of its own. In a way, society comes at sight the moment intersubjective reality is created or unconsciously evolves through societal affairs, transactions, conflicts, and relationship. These building blocks of society are human's made, including language, culture, religion, and all the political edifices which appear at the moment as the truth. These societal structures and the evolution of intersubjective reality develop in due course of time in consciousness of people, and sometimes unconscious psyche has a role in shaping the intersubjective reality. These realities are, unlike the perfect reality in its eternity, are either sh

जफ़र साहब प्रमोशन पाकर एडीजे बने थे. जज बनना वाक़ई में बड़ी बात मानी जाती थी उनदिनों और आज भी इसका क्रेज़ कोई कम नहीं हुआ है. एक व्यक्ति के हाथ में कितना कुछ होता है करने को. जफ़र साहब भी फ़ाइलों के ढ़ेर से फुरसत पाकर कभी कभार आम आदमी की ज़िन्दगी जी लिया करते थे. माफ किजियेगा मेरा मतलब वो कोई राजनीतिक पार्टी में शामिल नहीं हुए थे. जज साहब कुर्सी पे बैठते ही राजीनीति से दूर हो जाते हैं. आख़िरकार न्याय करना कोई राजनीति का काम थोड़े ही है. इस काम के लिये पहले ही कई लोग पोस्टर लगवा चुके थे. होली और ईद की बधाई वाले बड़े बड़े पोस्टर! जिसका पोस्टर बड़ा होता था, राजनीति में कद उसी कदर बड़ा होता जाता था. उस राजनीति की बात यहाँ नहीं हो रही है जिसके बारे में एरिस्टोटल साहब 'पॉलिटिक्स' में लिखते हैं. ख़ैर जफ़र साहब को इससे क्या काम! वो तो ईमान के पक्के व्यक्ति थे. दरअसल उनकी पोस्टिंग एक ऐसे ज़िले में हुई थी जहाँ पे बिजली मुफ़्त में, ख़ासकर जजेज कॉलोनी में, मुहैय्या करवाई जाती थी. जफ़र साहब ने रिक्वेस्ट किया, "कृपया कर बिजली बिल तो मुहैय्या करवाइये जी. मैं हराम के पैसे नहीं रखता". इस बात को लेकर

सवाल कितने हैं जवाब के क़ाबिल? जवाबों के ढ़ेर से बाहर कुछ सवाल ढूंढ कर लाओ जवाबों में सवाल ढूंढ़ने का हुनर तो है तुममें कुछ जवाबों से मरहूम सवाल हो तो लाओ कल्पना चंद जवाबों में क्यों क़ैद है? क्यों दृष्टि अंधेरों में मदहोश है? उधार के लब्जो से भला बात कब तक बनेगी दृष्टि-उन्मुख कोई नज़र हो तो लाओ कुछ बगीचे सही और ग़लत के उगाये है तुमने नैतिक-मूल्यों की बगिया सजाई है तुमने इन नगमों से और कितने नज़्म बनेंगे भला इन रागो के छुअन से दूर कोई जज़्बात है तो लाओ

Suffering is inevitable once consciousness is on voyage of freedom. Freedom comes with the heavy responsibility; empathy for that matter is a connecting fraternal bond from being to Being. Empathy elevates empathised and empathiser from the two different objects; where suffering of one is shared by others. In Gandhian language the pure joy of "Vaishnav Jan" is to feel the pain of other's sufferings. For no pedagogical masterpiece like Harry Potter could experience a bond of love in a logical tension between good and evil. For anthropology of suffering, good and evil is uncategorised; their oevre is rejected, in a sense that every evil has a bond with goodness; and every good notion suffers from evil strokes. It is beyond good and evil there is a life for empathy, love, and joy. For no pedagogy could teach what it means to  love and to be loved. Suffering is the true law of nature; it cannot be avoided; however, it may be shared with each-other. The true freedom in a

Every leaf is silent In a city of smoke Hummingbirds are being missed On the branches of Oak Listen, audacious mythmaker The statesman of hope Create your own destiny And prose of growth O tradesman of blue blood Spare life tree and its branches For you're destined to doom Let them breathe Let them dance in tune of natural melody

विश्व के नागरिक होने के क्या मायने हैं? राष्ट्र निर्माण क्या विश्व निर्माण के सपनों की सम्पूर्णता है? और अगर दोनों दृष्टिकोण में कोई समानता है तो क्यों न विश्व निर्माण की तस्वीर राष्ट्र के सपनों के गलियारों से निकले। विश्व निर्माण की कल्पना एक परिवार के सम्पूर्ण विकास से अलग नहीं हो सकता. परिवार को सुदृढ़ बनाने के लिये जागरूक व्यक्तित्व की समझ विकसित करनी होगी, जो पूरे ब्रहाण्ड को एक सूत्र में समाहित देखता हो. जहाँ पे दुसरापन का एहसास जिंदा ना रहे. एक समग्र वृक्ष की तरह जिसके जड़ को यह शिकायत ना रहे कि ऊँचे पत्त्ते को हवा में झूमने का अवसर मिलता है. समग्रता त्याग मांगती है. बलिदानों से ही महान कार्य सम्पन्न होता है. हासिल ऐसा क्या किया जा सकता है जो परिपूर्ण हो? त्याग ऐसा क्या किया जा सकता है जो विशिष्ट हो? अधूरापन हमारी नियति है. इस खालीपन में ऐसी दौड़ क्यों लगाई जाय जिसमें लौट कर आना अवश्यम्भावी हो? विश्व निर्माण की कल्पना बिरले ही करते हैं. क्योंकि उसके लिए हर व्यक्ति के रचनात्मक क्षमता पे काम करना होगा. जो आज के समय में गिने-चुने कार्यों में खपता जा रहा है. नौकरी, शादी, परिवार, उपभ

झोला उठाने का शौक़ीन जहाँ में हैं बहुतेरे, यहाँ हर कोई बुद्ध सा जलता दीप नहीं होता। तमन्ना पाल के बैठे हैं ज़िन्दगी शोहरत की लिबाज़ हो, एक गाँधी बन सका हर गाँधी महात्मा नहीं होता। कितने ख़ूनी क्रान्ति के सपने लिये जिये और चल बसे, मार्क्स के दामन में हर कोई क्रांतिकारी नहीं होता। कितने मन्दिर और मस्जिद के भेंट चढ़ गए, रक्तपिपशु मानवता का पुजारी नहीं होता। राजनीति के उठापटक में बात इतनी गिरी, संख्याओं से राजनीति में खिलाड़ी नहीं होता। हासिल क्या हो सकता जो पहले ना हुआ? नक़्क़लची मानव कहलाने का अधिकारी नहीं होता। नारेबाजों को हक़ीक़त से क्या वास्ता, शब्दों का ग़रीब कोई अनारी नहीं होता। जो हवाओं का रुख़ देख पलट जाते हैं, ज़िन्दगी के हर शाख पे नज़र आते हैं! ऐसे रंगे शक़्ल के बनावट पे ना जा, गर्जना करने वाला हर जानवर शिकारी नहीं होता।

Artists are known for its other worldly creativity; a pragmatist lives and loves to denounce what is known as unselfish creation. Creators loves the process of creation, and forgets if people will like my creative outcome? Creativity is never a full stop, rather it is a process of becoming, a process of unending colons, semicolons, and commas. Artists can never fake if one is true and devoted to the process of creativity. Art is not/ cannot be deceptive otherwise it will fail to the status of art in becoming. Art is more real than sensual reality, more surreal than hyper reality, more authentic than pragmatic wisdom. Life is for that matter a project of art; you have a choice to fake it or accept it; what it offers. Life cannot be understood, it can be lived, it cannot be a project of masteries or to solve the mysteries; more we unravel even bigger questions surround us, trap us in various complexities. Life is a project to uncover happiness in small things. Be an artist instead o

Sabrimala issue has been streched up to  extent that it has become a defining moment for 'politics of faith' instead of 'politics for faith' (here I am borrowing the term of Max Weber, Politics as a Vocation). Supreme Court, in its acquired role of theologian (as again and again 'essential practices doctrine' is used by the Apex Court of the Country to decide which practice is essential and which is not), reading customs and traditions at the anvil of "Constitutional Morality". This term is too vague to take any concrete meaning. Though, text like this has been effectively used by the Court in recent judgments to ensure the march of "Constitutional Renaissance" on our Planet (Dipak Misra, J. has coined this term). As a student of Constitutional Law, I admire the zeal of judges to innovate terms, however its meaning is missing if I try to contextualize it. "Constitution is a social document", if I remember Granville Austin's

मैं कौन हूँ भला क्या चेहरा बयाँ कर पाया? ये उदासी का सबब वो हसंता बचपन कभी उमंगों की भीड़ कभी निराश सा आँगन जीने की तमन्ना थी बस बढ़ता चला आया मैं कौन हूँ भला क्या चेहरा बयाँ कर पाया? सवाल कितने हैं जहां में जिसे मुक़म्मल का नाम दूँ? जज़्बात को कैसे भला चंद लब्ज़ों में परोस दूँ? जंग ख़ुद से ही किया और हारता आया मैं कौन हूँ भला क्या चेहरा बयाँ कर पाया?

Prison systems throughout the world are meant to ensure surveillance and control, nevertheless a humane face, for example, 'corrective justice' has been rhetorically used as a poster claim by the reformers of our age. The disciplinary power appears to be subtle and effective, penetrates human mind in a way a subject becomes the victim  and predator of its own penetrative gaze. The syndrome of 'being observed'  remains forever for no brute force appears to be too brutal to transform a subject as a disciplinary master of self.  Prisons across the world are overflown with the vulnerable people for they are the victim of their miserable living conditions. Most of the crimes are branded with a class character, for poor appear to be the most easiest target for authorities concerned who are responsible for the maintenance and sustainance of law and order. Prison reforms since Colonial times have been designed to help in the implementation of surveillance, for no other li

Philosophy is often regarded as area of study which is redundant in the era of extreme commercial commitment, to earn profit at the cost of all the wasteful externalities. This is how the modern man creates artificial artefacts for leisure oriented commitment towards self and exploitative business with others. For science has effectively become a company in order to enhance technological efficacy for widespread consumerism. One simple example could be experienced accross Universities around the globe when classical or critical philosophy is disappearing from cariculum, because philosophy in its wider effects, is able to produce thinking mind, which is pernicious for the masters of mankind who are leading the cultural industries to produce consumer minds; for humanology is reaching to its death bed.  Philosophy of science has two different streams; on the one hand, Aristotelean logic which rejects the idea of mind as a ghost in the machine. Rather, it starts with  teleogical logi

मुक़म्मल बादल भी कहां है अम्बर में, पर्वतों की अकड़ से जो गुजरना होता है उसको। धुँए की स्याह लिये कभी संवरता है, कभी बरसता है, कभी महताब की लालिमा में निखर जाता है। बेरंग और बेआकार सा, कुछ बनने की हद नहीं है उसमें, सीमाओं की जकड़न जिसे बाँध ना सके, तैरता है हवा के संग में। मेरे कुछ होने का एहसास, जो तुम इस क़दर दिलाते हो। मेरी पहचान का आस्तित्व ही क्या, जिसमें मिट जाने का हुनर ना हो। कोई रूप ऐसा लेकर आओ, सिमटता जहाँ दर्पण हो। पहचान बनाते मिट्टी में, कोई अमरता का वर हो तो लाओ।

What is essence? A perceptual faith, a transitory imagination; a short sighted creation; a static wisdom; a rotten fruit. Nothing exists for permanency; nothing remains evergreen.The old wisdom has been that nothing qualifies as knowledge unless it frees. How does essentialization make a phenomenon free at its sublety? Essentialist vision of life is the chain, which needs to be set free. In pre-modern society, essentialism was the process of fine guess. In modern society, it was used to rationalize in need of stability, order, and security. In post-modern era, a chain of tribalism has encaged, what has hitherto been the universalized myth of Equality, Liberty, and Fraternity. Nothing changed except a myth of 'no truth' became fashionable. The origin and growth of human made laws were inspired with the cosmic order, a Hobbesian myth of power-jurisprudence, the Leviathan, was a rationale-legal God; the essence of all the essence, prisoned all the futuristic imagination

महात्मा गाँधी के जीवन दर्शन पे कई संगोष्ठीयां हो रही है. इरफ़ान हबीब साहब ने इंडिया इंटरनॅशनल सेन्टर में आयोजित एक लेक्चर सीरीज में गाँधी के जीवन दर्शन और उनके प्रैगमैटिक स्प्रिचुअलिस्म पे प्रकाश डाला. रामचंद्र गुहा साहब ने गाँधी पे एक और महाग्रंथ रच डाला है. गाँधी पे क़रीब सौ वोलुम्स में पहले से कमेंट्रीयां लिखी जा चुकी है. इन सबके वाबजूद गाँधी आज हमारे बीच नहीं हैं. उनका सरनेम चारो दिशाओ में गूंज रहा है. सेक्सपियर साहब चूक कर गए यह कर की नाम में क्या रखा है! कई बार नाम वो कमाल कर पाती है जो व्यक्तित्व भी नहीं कर पाती. गाँधी कोई एक दृष्टि नहीं थे; उन्होंने ज़िन्दगी को सीखने की कसौटी पे रखा. वो ब्रितानी वेशभूषा और ज्ञान को समझा और फिर नकार दिया. उसे अनलर्न कर गए. गाँधी एक वैचारिक आन्दोलन थे जिन्होंने भारतीय समाज को इतिहास के गर्भ से समझने की कोशिश की, और वर्तमान की नज़र से दीदार किया. उनकी समझ से प्रेरणा लेकर कई गाँधीवादी बने पर दूसरा गाँधी क्यों नहीं आया? गाँधी आजकल के स्कूली शिक्षा के उपज नहीं थे; बल्कि उस विपदा की उपज थे जिसमें भारतीय को उसके गरिमा से वंचित किया गया था. आज की शिक्षण व

Thinking is no longer considered as a Vocation of few at the rejection of many. Every school of thought, which believes in essentializing various conceptual categories, ultimately rejected and ignored what is sublime and beautiful about uniqueness in Being and Becoming. World is in in flux so ideas are. Modernity was a project to bring scientific enquiry,  reason at the forefront of traditional authorities. Modernity in that sense was a paradigm of critique. Post-Modernism was never a project to accomplish; it was an existentialist movement to bring Self under sieze. It was a literary movement which rejected all the materialistic ideas, emanated from repetitive scientific laws. Science, in that sense, became a blindspot; beyond which no possibility of flourishing music or magic was desirable and achievable. These practices were condemned to dogmas and superstition. Modernity ultimately brought a myth of scientism, which had a role in objectification of human lives; bodies, souls. Ca

Each day I find a new judgment of the Supreme Court, breaks its own record of pages, writes too voluminously to be read by an ordinary mind like me. I have read somewhere a story about Swami Vivekananda who had to write a letter to his friend, but that letter was slightly long than expected. In the last paragraph of his letter he regretted with this statement, "I am sorry for this long letter. I don't have time to write a short one"! Writing something important in few words is an art which is learnt not in few days. In post-modern society discourses are like bubbles which remain for the time a new story replaces it with flourishing convictions. World Netizens, in a Cybernetics World love to express thoughts in few words; emoji expresses there more convincingly than sudden meetings of two strangers! Between these two extreme poles, an Aristotelean "golden mean" is desirable for the sake of avoiding "epysto-suicide" (Epysto-suicide here means a fatal s

"Being and time determine each other reciprocally, but in such a manner that neither can the former - Being - be addressed as something temporal nor can the latter - time - be addressed as a being", writes Martin Heidegger. Here 'Being' denotes the ultimate truth, either the supreme reality or nothingness. Every being perceives self in past-present-future trilogy, while the past creates a picture of self through cultural influences, present organises the self as per changing moods and anxiety, and the future projects the self ahead of its reality. In that way the biggest illusion a self suffers with, is its authenticity to project itself before reaching to its nothingness. To make it simple, the biggest crisis for Heidegger is that beings are leading towards inauthentic life. Most of the beings don't care about the reality of nothingness. Or at least they want to flee away from self to alleviate the anxiety of death. They don't to think that the death is re

I like reading the Sunday Morning edition of the Hindu, particularly Columnwith and Book reviews. One of the writers who write in Sunday Edition is Keerthik Sasidharan. Today, he has beautifully caricatured "The Purpose of Keeping a Diary", in his column he explains this phenomenon as an act of unburdening, like Kafka did when he announced in his dairy, "Germany has declared war against Russia" on August 2, 1914. Similarly, Ruchir Joshi has portrayed "A Day in the Digital Desert". Can we live a day without a phone, television, or camera? Why do we rely on Digital gadgets more than friends and colleagues? Mini Kapoor is ready to sketch a reading journey of ours. In Book review section I get atleast a clue about what is being written and thought off. One of my friends has written a book from the Last Man perspective, and in the morning, has sent me his manuscript. I'm feeling blessed to have all these literary companians. I'm not willing to be ad

Gandhian Constitution, though unwritten by Gandhi himself, provides the lucid details about power, and its devolution in a democracy. Democracy and Market are juxtaposed as if both are a natural corollary to each-other; as if market serves the purpose nothing less than democracy. But any bare eye could expose its mask, the way market monopolize powers in hands of a few at the cost of 'sub-alterisation' of many 'bewild herds' (here I'm referring Gramsci, The Prison Notebooks and Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent). The Blackstonean ephitah of hierarchical normalisation presumed a Utopian council of 'super-legislature', the wise men, governors, who are Nietzschean Superman, capable to create and distort the very fate of birth. The origin of Totalitarianism aftermath of the First World War is attributed to the very birth of Messiah who is omnipresceient and omnipresent, capable to rewrite the myth of what it means to be the glorious revolution in a life of human

I have come to know from a source of authenticity that a wise man is someone who knows where to speak a word of wisdom, where to begin a discourse without fear of self-censorship. In fact, every space has its own unique discourse, in fact, each and every such a discourse remains centred around some specific demands to fullfil with, or anticipation to comply with, otherwise an alien discourse, with its sideffect, shocks and disturbs the marble conscience of the civilized men! Nonetheless, I dare here couple of days in a week to express on my wall, which doesn't appear be a sense of pragmatism, but I write what I feel, after each and every self-moving journey with an author of repute and authenticity. Though, I avoid any hypothesis or conjectures in the beginning, but at the end, what I write cannot be proved but felt; I don't know what's the urgency to prove anything or everything; or desire to reduce emotions in numerical value. In that way, I would like to ask, can some

ज़िन्दगी जब चंद कागज के पन्नों में कैद हो, कल्पनायें जब कुछ सिक्को में मौन हो, रिश्ते जब अविस्वास के दामन में आँख मिचौली खेले, दर्द जब अपना होते हुए भी पराया सा लगे, समझ लो जीवन अब ज़िन्दा नहीं है। भीड़ जब सही गलत को तौले, न्याय जब स्वाद में बदल जाये, प्रेम जब जिस्म में घर कर जाये, ज़िन्दगी जब दौड़ सा हो जाये, समझ लो जीवन अब ज़िन्दा नहीं है। हिंसा जब वाणी को समर्पित हो, समर्पण जब कमजोरी बन जाये, बचपन जब मासूम ना रह जाये, धर्म जब व्यवस्था सा हो जाये, समझ लो जीवन अब ज़िन्दा नहीं है।

I don't write unless subdued and liberated by creative urge. There are plenty of facts to share but none to believe. Facts are not after all independent in its existence. They're the born babies of human artefacts,  mostly created for the sake of some pressing urgency, sometimes elevated in godly fashion, most of the time fascinated with Methodism and structural biasness of Modernism. Modernism has not yet been achieved though modernisation as a process has established many a factories of facts. The proud scientism has obsessed many a social scientists to create the truth of his choice with the selection-non-selection method. This world is not so black and white; the grey colour could be emboldened to suit what is desirable. Knowledge is afterall not what we know, but what is desirable! Facts are the units around which the life of a knowledge system is worshiped, beyond which you're susceptible to blasphemy. The quest for repitive laws are too ugly to feel what is truly u

आज रक्षाबंधन का दिन है और मैं लायब्रेरी के एकांत से एक कोने में बैठ कर नोम चोम्स्की का लिखा हुआ एक पत्र, जिसे एक जापानी उपन्यासकार केन्जाबुरो ओ को लिखा गया था, पढ़ रहा हूँ. यह पत्र एक इंसान के अंदर पल रही एक महान उथल पुथल को दर्शाता है. जब अमेरिका ने हिरोशिमा और नागासाकी पे आण्विक बम गिराया था, एक जश्न का माहौल था उस देश में. नोम को यह जान कर गहरा धक्का लगा था, वे किसी से कुछ भी बोल नहीं पाए थे, बल्कि एक जंगल में बैठ कर घंटो सोचते रहे. आख़िरकार विनाश भी किसी को सुख दे सकता है क्या? जहाँ कितने घर उजड़ गए, कितने सपने दफ़न हो गए, भला उन्हें कुचलकर कैसे सुख पाया जा सकता है? कैसे चैन की नींद आयी होगी. मानव के विकास का यह सच हम सब जानते हैं. पर जानना नहीं चाहते, बस ये तो नकारात्मक बात है ना? क्यों बात करें इसकी! नोम चोम्स्की कहते हैं कि इन सारी समस्याओं की शुरुआत उस विचार से आती है जो हमें सिखाती है, "अपने बारे में सोचो". इस प्रकार हम अपनी पहचान को इतना छोटा कर लेते हैं कि आखिरकार बस भूल ही जाते हैं कि हम किसी एक समुद्र में यात्रा करने वाले सब पृथ्वीवासी हैं. भला कब तक ख़ुद में सि

Modern life is a fit case of routinized boredom. What it seems to be 'Modern' is itself a question of complex character, though its referent is presupposed as something which is against the tradition. Traditional values were revered by society in pre-renaissance centuries. After technoctic shift in the vision of life; from individualistic preferences to 'Institutional Fetishism'; Church, Muth, or Temple became the centre of power, (Weber names it Traditional Authorities) copouled with the sacred vision of life. In a new power game a twist could be traced in the "Protastant Movement" in the leadership of Martin Luther and Calvin- a new Spirit of Age (Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent), or to say so, a new "Ethics" of peculiar kind emerged (Max Weber, Protastant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism), which is reflecteed in the Auto biography of Benjamin Franklin. Max Weber defends his hypothesis with a subtle differentiation between what it appears to be

पिछले कुछ दिनों में हमनें मीडिया के माध्यम से, चाहे वो सोशल मीडिया हो, प्रिंट मीडिया हो, या फिर इलेक्ट्रॉनिक मीडिया, अटल जी के निधन पे कई संदेश पढ़ा. हालाँकि सोशल मीडिया में कुछ भी सोशल नहीं दिखता है, मेरे जैसे कई अदृश्य चेहरे हैं जो मिलने पे वास्तव में अजनबी सा मालूम पड़ते हैं पर लाइक और कमेंट वाले स्पेस में बहुत ही सक्रिय दिखते हैं. हाँ, तो मुद्दे की बात ये है की लोगो ने अटल जी के निधन पे बहुत कुछ लिखा. लोगों ने उन्हें अपने अपने तरीके से याद भी किया. राजनेताओं ने अपने स्नेह से भरे किस्से लिखे. पत्रकारों ने एक तुलनात्मक अध्ययन वाले प्रश्न के पन्ने पलटे मानो कोई तुलनात्मक अध्ययन करने वाला शोध का छात्र हो जो आज कुछ नया निकाल कर देगा, कुछ ऐसी बात जो पहले ना कही गयी हो ना ही सुनी गई हो! ऐसा कहा जाता है की किसी भी व्यक्ति की मृत्यु पे उनके योगदानों को याद किया जाता है. उनके जुझारूपन और सहनशीलता को समझा जाता है. कुछ कमियां हर इंसान में रह जाती है, यहां तक भगवान के प्रतिरूपण में भी समालोचना, आलोचना की गुंजाइश रहती है तो फिर इंसान क्या चीज है. महान दार्शनिक हीगल का मानना था  कि हम कोई एक

When an economist writes in sense of natural aesthetics only miracle happens with his pen. Reason is though not required to explain everything, though in this case I dare to rationalize my earlier statement. Economists are good at their subtle vision of materiality; you may take several examples, lead towards this hypothesis. It is materiality leaps towards aesthetics, only then miracle happens. Miracle is not a cult practice; it is a sense of wonder, like a child inhabits on innocence. It is in fact a quest of inquiry without fear or shame. Writing is a social affirmation and an art of 'surrealistic pragmatism'. You write what you perceive; I would rather say, 'You write what you want to perceive, and in fact, you perceive the way your willing moves your cognition. Everything is there to perceive; it is upto you to canvass how do you want. Writing is abhored by Philosophers of old traditions. I don't know what is old and new; everything exists in transition to borrow

The term 'Property' in semantics denotes 'to own'. Its linguistic, cultural, philosophical, and legal evolution start from Latin 'Propius', then in French it was known as 'Propret'e', middle English named  it 'Propete', then what we know today as 'Property'. There are various theories of Property, starting with Natural Law theorist like Blackstone, Pufendruf. They believe in natural reason, in a way prefer possession of object who occupies first, but positivist like Herbert Spencer mixes it up with labour. The father of metaphysics Immanuel Kant and one of the great metaphysicians, Hegel find out personality interconnected with property. They believe that it is 'Capacity to Will' which segregates human's kingdom from the 'Law of Nature', in that sense property is the natural extension of personality, it expresses the 'Will' of a human being. The Positivist like Thomas Hobbes also gives importance to the

I'm contemplating and reflecting here upon what is known as devil to the very idea of development and progress. Socialism and Communism, you may call them two myths or two visions? Progress and development know how to prune what is unwanted and obnoxious, how to belittle and usurp, how to include to exclude, or how to exclude to include, for the sake of emancipatory hues and saturations, yes I'm talking about an ordinary story of a species who have disappeared from this planet though some of the country states have adopted a new version of conformist Socialism which appears as a pariah to many, reason being, its working is dangerous and perilsome for those who are propagating a development model which is development of few at the exclusion of many. Like Orwellian paradox, where all are equals, but a few are more equal than others.  Some commentators claim that Plato and Aristotle were socialist. Reason being, Plato was looking for an ideal State, a state which is often un

Nature has a way to be romantic and realistic at the same moment, because romance is no strange phenomenon, instead it is a possibility to avoid 'official love' (Derrida, Of Grammatology), an insignia of 'Humean Emotivity' ('Emotivity' here means the translocation of epistemology to the emotion as David Hume suggests in his treatise on human understanding). Romance in its ouvre is the first law of nature and there is none which I may call second one. Universe in its spreading horizon is the manifestations of fine balance, whereas each dimension is romantically attached to other one. Here I'm not pretending to show the representative character of philosophy, neither I'm trying to romanticize what we know as tragedy. But nature in its tragedic character is more romantic than in its creative role. For example, creation could be understood in three diverge dimensions; creativity, created, and structural grammar of creation. These dimensions reduce creation

पंख की चाहत और खुला आसमाँ एक परिंदा नशे में उड़ा जा रहा है बस नया सा जो है ये हवा से दिलग्गी बेसुधी के शज़र पे सिमटा जा रहा है एक ख़्वाब है दरख़्त-ए-ज़न्नत की बादलों के शहर में खोया जा रहा है चाहे नाज़ुक हो कितनी भी चाहत की उड़ान कुछ पल मिले हैं इसी में जिये जा रहा है बेशक़ ऊँचा है गहरा है सपनों का महल पर हक़ीक़त के रंगों से बिल्कुल नया लताओं के सिरहाने में खेला था कभी नुका-छिपी आज उन्मुक्त गगन में उमड़ता जा रहा है फ़लक़ निःसंदेह लुभाते हैं, बुलाते हैं पर धरा ही उसका जीवन और जननी जो है लौट के गर वो घर अपने आया नहीं किस बसर में निगाहें भरे जा रहा है

पिछले कुछ दिनों से झम झम करती हुई मूसलाधार बारिश हो रही है, कुछ पंखों में हौसला बढ़ा है, भींग रहे हैं, फिर ठहर के थोड़ा, बारिश की बूंदों ने उन्हें बाँध रखा है। पत्तों की सरसराहट हो या फिर उनसे गिरते मोती से झिलमिल बारिश की बूंदे, जीवन सा कुछ हो गया है। सूरज की तपन से झुलसी हुई मुरझायी सी धरती ने अपनी बाहें फैला रखी है, और ये बादल भी मंडराते हुए, गगन से अपने आशियाने कि तलाश में धरा को आलिंगित करता है मानो इश्क़ सा हो गया है। ऐसा लगता है कि ये बारिश भी समर्पण को जीता है, सच में, समर्पण ही जीवन है, ख़ुद कि सीमाओं में क्या रखा है, मोह और मृत्यु का भय! जीवन तो अपनी पहचान मिटाने में है, ख़ुद को ख़ुदा संग भुलाने में है!

One of my friends is fond of "absurdity" as a philosophical concept, originited, as per my knowledge and belief, through the works of great novelist Albert Camus. His famous book, The Myth of Sisiphus, is no ordinary work. That kind of work requires the great concentration and observation of life at its subtle best. Thinkers, like Buddha, Camus, Sartre, J. Krishnamurti, Osho, and even movie like Lucy move into the direction of absurdity of life, though each one has own way of looking knowledge and belief system in our life. But I do believe the story never ends simply by prophecising about the death of knowledge, what Prof. Baxi exclaims, "epystemocide". Knowing is still relevant though knowledge is not necessarily all about informations. In the era of global village no fact has enough space to breathe independently, sometimes manufacturer and cultivators of informations do find social media as a medium to spread hatred and contempt against humanities. Lucy

Every election, either for the Centre or for the states, brings obnoxious and polluted environment of hatred, and unimaginable violence. Those days were never real to us what Gandhi or Mandela ever conceived about justice and righteousness and brought their pious believes into actions. They were far away from the ordinary pursuit what we're condiocondi in today's clock. In fact, the nature of the man is prone to power than reason. Though, both could not be considered as sworn enemies to each-others, however, a combination of duo is seldom visible in one entity. Power has a soothing attraction what reason has not for the mankind, though Gandhi, Buddha, and Mandela were rare exceptions to this 'state of nature', or to be specific, 'state of excluded inclusion' what we ordinary people are, not by birth, but of course, we are integrally attached to the historical discourse (Men's knowledge is shaped by language, tradition, and culture of a society in which one

Change is a universal as well as subtle phenomenon. And a person who loves inertia is levelled as a 'reactionary'. I have heard many a times that one should be progressive enough, like changing colours, adapting in a way Darwin imagines in his phenomenal work, "The Origin of Species". What I find about Edvard Said and Ashish Nandi is totally opposite to the idea of 'progressivism', if I may say so. Both thinkers represent a school of thought which does not like the "hegemony of western thought". They disapprove a particular way of thinking mostly found in western schools of thought, like the rationalization and humanization of various structures, be it Capitalism, Socialism, Communism, Modernism, or Post-Modernism. They don't like looking Asian, African, or Arab world in perspective of 'European progressivism'. Their project is simple; Edward tried to establish 'Orientalism' while re-reading and re-inventing the "historica

Who is intellctual? I'm amazed the way this term is often used by the people around me, accross the country and globe. Intellectual, to me, is someone who has got capacity to use intellect as a source to know what seems to be unknowable in instinctive sense. Knowledge is not something which could be monopolized by intellectuals. I mean, it is everywhere. You think about a farmer, gardener, or a labourer. They have knowledge and skills for farming, or gardening. Aren't they qualify to be called as an intellectual? Professors are good at theorising what appears to be true as per their intellect and sometimes their intuition. They are the cultivators of ideas, sometimes investigators of something which is not apparent. Here comes the role of an intellectual; to investigate what is hidden, or what is effaced. Noam Chmomsky has invested his life to prove this hypothesis again and again that every common being is creative to the extent that one creates some unique ideas everyday w