Are you an Indian or a Hindu??

A recent conversation with an European counterpart made me probe into my true identity. Who am i, an Indian or a Hindu?? What is more prominent, my Indianess or my Hindu Values??

This is one question dreaded and avoided by my many Indians and i am no exception. For long i have lived under postulation that being Indian quintessentially means being Hindu and vice versa. The evil-doer can be traced back to the kind of up-bringing we get in our society. Our religious identity is enslaved on us as the only identity we should recognize with. So in battle between National and Religious identity the latter always win without exception.

India is (or at-least claims to be) a Secular Country. We claim that religion has no role to play in most of the national activities. Health, Education, national policies and politics etc are all free from religious disparities. But is simply declaring yourself as secular good enough?? Had that been the case we wouldn't have seen rise of religious parties. We wouldn't have seen political parties playing dirty political games on religious/caste ground. As if that was not enough recent announcement of Shiv-Sena to support the President candidate Pratibha Patil on ground of her being Marathi was totally absurd and anti-secular.

Western people often confuse India with land of Hindus but they fail to acknowledge the presence of large number of Muslim population. The Indian identity is obscured with Hindu religious teachings/spirituality. But India is a lot more then just Hindus.....
Its time that we should give India its due Identity that of a truly diverse country....

Hilarious Studies...

Dating, drugs and sex make teens feel older
The above news/report/research (actually the distinction between the three ceases to exist here) got me thinking "who fund all these crap researches??".

Have a look at some of the key findings of this particular study ::

Having an older dating partner seems to give a teen a higher subjective
experience of age.

Sexual experience is unequivocally the realm of adult behavior. So, when teens
are having sex and their peers aren’t, it can make them feel more adult, more
mature than their non-experienced counterparts.

Smoking (in boys), higher alcohol use and higher drug use are also related to
an older subjective experience of age

Its hilarious that people actually spend money/time on such studies. And some Bekar souls like me actually read them. Also, have a look at other such studies on the page. some of them are ::

--High heels can cost you your life!
--Teenager in love
--Regular sex increases men's longevity
--Housework reduces diabetes risk
--Pregnant mums should stay out of the sun
--Watch out for that summer suntan!
--Money really can buy happiness!
--The secret to looking ten years younger!
--Your shopping reflects what you are!
--Living Extra Large!
--Men really are better than women at map reading
--Shoe shopping is good for women's health!
--Kids prefer daddy in the driving seat
--Birthing as intimate as sex, say 'freebrithers'

Now i better be reading some of them......

Mobile Vs Laptop

What would you choose if you were given an option between a Mobile-phone and a Lappie/PC??

A recent survey in America reveals that Americans prefer Mobile-phone over Laptop/PC. Almost 90% of respondents said they would rather do away with PC/laptop but can't afford to part with their Cells/Mobiles.

Now, when the same question was posed to GenY of India, the results have been quiet amusing. The responses were very mixed and evenly distributed between the two options, almost 50%-50%.

Now why such a drastic difference in opinion?? A friend of mine tried to explain this difference. His argument is "America's younger generation is spoiled, their only/sole moto in life is to party hard and have fun and thats where Mobiles/Cells come handy to keep them in touch with other party-goer. They can do away with all the information available on internet but they simply can't ignore weekend parties. While, the Indian counterparts are hard-working and they want to learn and hence the inclination towards PC/Lappie".

But somehow i am not convinced. There must be something more to explain this..... One possible reason which i could think of is "how do you see a mobile phone". In America or Western countries whenever you refer to a moblie phone, it generally means a 3G enabled Cell(Blackberry type) capable of doing all those applications which you do on your Lappie/PC. And hence the high skewness towards Cells in America. While in India a Mobile/Cell generally refers to a low end basic device used for keeping you in touch with your family and friends. So as expected Indian youth is confused while choosing between the two and hence 50-50 response.

Give Indian youth an option between a Blackberry and a laptop, i bet Blackberry will win handsomely........