Evil Character

Lst night while surfing through the internet I came to a forum.There there was a question posted-name the most evil character of mahabharat.I was stumped.Evil character?Mahabharat is a long saga of valour,sacrifice,political games,strategies,but what I have liked the most about mahabharat is that the good and bad sides of every character there is shown.Even Krishna,the incarnation of God,loses his cool at one time and tries to break his oath.I have known its story since childhood,and never ever for a moment came to my mind that any character can be branded as good or evil.For me,all were mere pawns in the great political game where the primary goal of both the 'good' and 'bad' sides was to regain the kingdom.
But good or evil?

How do we define something as good or evil?How do we say that this particular action will give u salvation or send you to hell?Look at all the fictious evil characters like Darth Vader,Lord voldemort or Agent smith and True evil characters like Adolf Hitler.Look at this from their point of view.Darth Vader was only trying to crush rebels and maintain an empire.Agent smith was merely trying to save the matrix and do the job.And the matrix was the result of a power struggle between humans and machines.We can say that the matrix eas evil because it made humans slaves and threatened their survival.But suppose u were a machine.You wud say that matrix was good and Neo was evil because he was trying to destroy the matrix which was essential for machines' survival.Even if we take the case of Lord Voldemort or Adolf Hitler.They are accused of genocide.But what abt Harry Truman who ordered dropping 2 atom bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki and killed millions of civilians?What about George Bush who is waging a war over Iraq over some fictious weapons of mass destruction?Hitler and Saddam Hussein were merely trying to be in power politics as were Truman and Bush,the only difference is that they were branded evil by their respective victors and we have blindly accepted that.To the victor goes the spoils.

Good or evil is a relative term.What is good to me may not be good to you;same goes for evil.In India drinking wine and eatine beef for followers of Hinduism are considered sinful;but tell this to someone in europe and he will be surprised.Even the sinful task of killikg is not considered sinful in the remote,headhunting tribes of Africa.In India as in other countries,sex is taboo.But the fact is that sex is connected to genesis,which is the hallmark of God makes it divine.Everything we do is only a task;there is nothing good or evil attached to it.It is our perception,our blind acceptance of beliefs thrust upon us by the people in power or by the elders that make us think in terms of good and evil.Remember,evil cannot be there unless there is good,and evil and good are the two sides of life that make life so diverse,so colourful and so enigmatic.I personally believe that branding something only exposes as hypocrisy,and sadly,we humans have become super-hypocrites.We like to lecture others on how the model code of conduct should be,but how many of us follow them to the hilt?When we see somebody doing something we dont like,we brand him as bad;but if in life a situation comes when we have to do it ourselves,do we have compunction?Yes,thats it;we brand something as evil only because we dont like it;not because God told us.The thin line differentiating good and evil is only dependent on our likes and dislikes-the likes and dislikes of 'imperfect' human beings!

"There is nothing good,nothing evil;there is only power!"-JK Rowling

How true,how very true!

You came as an angel,and filled me with wonder
When you gave me newfound hope
By showing me an utopian world lying yonder-
A world of unlimited scope.

But now you have turned so faithless
Putting the blame squarely on me
Branding me as utter hopeless
And not worthy of friendship of thee.

With a rude jolt you have me woken
Up from the blissful reverie
Hoping that my heart will be broken
And my life thrust into a menagerie.

But here I am,still standing tall,
Like a phoenix fighting against the tide,
Because I know my faith will recall
Mother fortune back to my side.

And thus we part,making thee aware
That your words are nothing but sham,
You can go to hell for all I care
Because honestly,I dont give a damn!

Supreme court at the crossroads

Circa 1954.The year of the famous Brown vs. Board of Education case.The US supreme court giving the landmark verdict that"In the field of education separate but equal facilities have no relevance.Separate education facilities are inherently unequal".A verdict that lais the cornerstone for the civil rights movement.

Circa 2005.Country:India.Here there is a need for initiation of another such civil rights movement.Because the society is in danger of Balkanization.The politicians,for their own interests,on pretext of"social equality"are trying to create "separate but equal" facilities not only in the field of education but also in the field of employment,in every walk of life.Yet when the supreme court tries to create equality by promoting reason,it creates such a hullabaloo that is touted as a clash between executive and judiciary.Plans are made to curtail the freedom of the supreme court by reminding it of the "invisible line",and making laws and amendments in the constitution that will further curtail its freedom.

Why was the supreme court established?The supreme court was established because the founding fathers wanted some institution that would protect the constitution,be the epitome of justice and uphold all those values for which they laid their lives down for.But what exactly is the constitution?A book of rules?Or a way of life meant to make us better human beings and the country a better place?What is more important-the spirit of the constituion or the form?What exactly is the rule of the supreme court?To abide by the laws and thus by the physical form,or to uphold the spirit and everything that our human life is based on-equality,justice,democracy and secularism-even if it means transgressing the law?Laws are made by humans only;and to err is human;But when the ruling body of a country tries to use these very laws and the loopholes for their selfish ends and try to throttle the only few guardians of honesty and justice,then the outcome is never going to be happy.God save India.

I killed Gandhi!

VIEW:

I am a gennext Indian,living in the era of liberalization,the era of Rock n Roll,in an era where the predominant concept is "I me myself".What is Gandhi to me?A half-naked fakir?Or a mahatma(great soul)?Damnit,why should I care?I know his birthday passed 2 days back,but what does it matter to me?The only ppl concerned are the politicians,who show up to give long speeches regarding what a great man he was and what he had done for the freedon of this country.But for us?A survey in "India Today"magazine 2 yrs back showed that there are many colleges in India where 50% students dont know who he is.Thats what we are-thats what this generation is.A generation where the role models are Harry Potter and Britney Spears.A generation where everybody wants to be rich-by hook or by crook.A generation where we cant trust our own family,leave alone friends.A generation where internet,computers,technology,sex and porn rule.A generation which has seen more Hindu-Muslim riots than ever before.A generation where we can spend 200 bucks for a spiderman movie,but wudnt spend 2 bucks for a book on Gandhi.A generation that knows more states of USA than places of India.

Now am I saying is what we are doing wrong?Certainly not.Gandhi was not just a man;He was a phenomenon.A concept.A fairy tale.The concept of fighting violence through non violence.The concept of showing your enemy the other cheek.The concept of shunning and spurning science saying it as trite.The concept of shunning all material needs and subsisting on bare minimum.The concept of sexual abstinence. But concepts are not rigid;they change with the passage of time with the advent of new knowledge.No way can we follow Gandhi's concepts in today's world.And I am sure Gandhi wouldnt have followed his concepts in today's world either.
Gandhi was what he was because India needed a person like him-spiritual,enigmatic-a person who could give confidence to the Indians at that time.But Gandhi wud have changed himself had he been born in today's world;maybe he wud have become a rock star;maybe the ultimate metrosexual man.

But whatever our views are,we know we can identify Gandhi only by the ideals he stood by.

Those ideals that are long dead.

We killed those ideals.

We killed Gandhi.