Paradise Lost

This post has nothing to do with John Milton's work.

I just signed off from a chat window. It was a little chat between my college friend and me. Nothing special about the chat itself. But something has driven me back in time. Those precious four years between 1997 and 2001 inclusive. I myself cannot define these years without losing its essence and hence I had to steal from Milton. Hope he would excuse.

I enjoyed those years like any other one in my batch. I made real good friends. Today's chat was not even about the college days. Still I am forced to think about the past. I cannot say those years were the best as there are miles to go still. But whenever someone asks me for my valuable years, I would not forget to mention those four.

I do not know how many others do this. But I have the habit of reading though my Diary-2001 at least once in every two months. It is where I learn about myself. My friends wrote their opinions on me; few good and many bad. I read through the lines every time and console myself of having quality people around me who bothered enough to point-out my negatives to me.

If I ask any of them today, they'll be polite in their opinions. Life teaches politeness and how to be good to others. On the other hand, life over-shadows perceptions. They may not reflect what they think. They are, to some extent, bound to say good things. But, in those four years, they were what they were. The diary is my treasure. The magical book that teaches me how-not-to-be rather than how-to-be.

All of us know that sand castles are to be washed away by the tides any time. No ones stops building one. I built mine too. The tides could not wash it away. I still cherish the way it was built not in hours but in years.

Globally Asymmetric

Believe it or not, every Indian citizen talks about culture today. I thought, why not me? I have the eligibility. I am Indian.

With overflowing patriotism, I referred Oxford dictionary. To my surprise, I found the word. How can such a 'conservative' Indian word present in Oxford dictionary? I reassured myself in a typical conservative way, English must have stolen it for their dictionary. Anyhow, my findings lead to the following:

culture• noun
1 the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively.
2 a refined understanding or appreciation of this.
3 the customs, institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or group.
4 the cultivation of plants, breeding of animals, or production of cells or tissues.
5 a preparation of cells grown in an artificial medium containing nutrients.

I am little confused. I thought culture is something like Creationism, by which I mean, should not be questioned. Just to be followed blindly.

Seriously, which of these are we referring to?

1 Certainly not this one as it clearly is an abstract idea of human intellectual achievement. I would not have been discussing this today had we accomplished intellectually.
2 The problem itself is a cause of no understanding at all, let alone refined.
3 We have 28 states/7 union territories. Every state has 'n' number of political groups where 'n' is large and cannot be counted. The only achievement of our country is that we are still together. And this can never be the 'culture' others are referring to.
4 There is food scarcity everywhere and farmer suicides are growing every year. If there is no food for us, breeding animals?
5 I don't quite understand this. And I am sure about others too.

Again, which one of these are we referring to? Please don't tell me 'culture' is a verb.

What is our problem with this imaginary noun 'culture'? Honestly, I do not know. I can afford only this much time to waste on culture. Further discussions might end up in uncultured comments. In my opinion, everyone has the right to have his/her own culture. Culture is an exceptional way of life. It is globally asymmetric.

To sum up:

Live simply, and let others simply live!