History/Background

History/Background

Looking backward...Lurching forward. . .

History of Hemlock and Habit

'Name your poison?' is an acceptable publine.

Within the acceptable range of rows of bitters and soda pop you can have your belly-run!

Either before or after you paid up ofcourse.

But when Socrates wasn't even asked to name his poison, let alone chose the quantum, or even why. . .

When Mohandas K. Gandhi did not even ask his wife Kasturba whether she wanted to do the community . . .

What exactly and where is DEMOCRACY

OR THE EXERCISE OF FREE WILL IN A FREE WORLD IN ALL THESE SITUATIONS?

What is the purpose of living if all we are doing is imitating and observing the others who are busy imitating and observing the one's who went ahead of them, and who have in turn observed and imitated their great forebears and so on till we come to the time

Marpa left Tibet foregoing the advice of his elders and setting off in search of learning into Ariyabhoomi, and till we fastforward to

Mohandas K. Gandhi who began to talk back through taking off his togs! And considering it was the era of Queen Victoria who was so uptight about RIGHT AND PROPER that the VictorianS brought out the smelling salts at the drop of an epithet and wore stockings for their piano legs,

oh come on...

and we go farther back to when Socrates was given the hemlock and so on. . .

how much tall order it is to follow the foolish order of the world going round in imitation and observation of an

OPERANT CONDITIONING!

hoping we will at some date the world will come to it's senses and mind you SANS THE SMELLING SALTS and amonicals, to give you that much deserved reward, award and a besh besh slap on your back and

shabash. . .

or say:

bosh. . .

Background Foreground Noground

GROUNDED! GROUNDED! GROUNDED!

If we define democracy and free will in a free civilised or OtherlyWise world, and the ability and acceptibility to do what YOU WILL, YOU ALONE AND YOU ALONE WILL, as long as it does not need the universal suffrage to take votes of approval or disapproval of all the others, and have a free run of free-ways, then INDIA would certainly emerge top of the non-heaps!

If all your worldly worth were to be measured by how much you can add to the GNP, or GDP or productivity, efficiency,

change, provide leadership quality assurance and all the rest of stuff of which CARVAKA STAGE of Materialistic existence of Name your Poison, eat drink and be merry, WE HAVE LEFT FAR AND WAY BEHIND, oh do have fun and don't worry, we have national health care and pension funds and old folks homes,

and don't ever make fun of anybody, be politically correct at all times, but do the dirty under the facade of good table manners by drinking your cuppa poison with your pinkie tucked in, and so. . .on...where your own individuality is subsumed to a NATIONAL INTEGRAL INTERGRATED GRATING GRID of FOLLOW THE FLOCK and look to that doctor, lawyer, clerk, coolie, colony

gable and gantry and see how you may improve yourself by improving YOUR ORDER, IN THE ORDER OF THINGS and so on:

WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF

OPERANT CONDITIONING!

and tuck yourself into the invisible queue for rewards awards and SOCIAL RECOGNITION!

AND THAT WHEN MAHATMA GANDHI NEVER GOT NOTHIN' which shows which way the world's priorities are whorled, especially when they gave Socrates the hemlock, made Galileo swear by the church that the sun went round the earth and tooked Professor P.V. INDIRESAN off the daily op-ed because he saw the DROUGHT COMING!

and if you still have hope in the infinite wisdom of humaneity of this ham-handed humanity squeeze into the traffic jam and make a sandwich! have fumes of fun while waiting and fuming for the milelong pileup to clearup

E V E N T U A L L Y . . .

I'd rather walk into the unknown and watch the unknowable maze escape the mutiny of acceptable behaviour tyranny!

I'll drink my tea with my pinkie stuck out because. . .