Abhijit Naskar's Blog, page 64
August 28, 2022
Bless Me With Bullets (The Sonnet) | Amantes Assemble
Just once let me die for the people,
Then I can live in peace.
Once I am wiped out for the world,
Then I can have my long awaited sleep.
Only when a bunch of bravehearts are sleepless,
Can the rest of humanity sleep in peace.
Only when a bunch of reformers are peaceless,
Will all the inequalities be appeased.
To hell with personal happiness!
To hell with the notion of personal and social!
There is no person, there is no planet,
Till the troubles of the world feel super personal.
Come all ye offended, charge at me
with your entire arsenal.
I won’t resist, come and bless me,
with your bullets of denial.
Then I can live in peace.
Once I am wiped out for the world,
Then I can have my long awaited sleep.
Only when a bunch of bravehearts are sleepless,
Can the rest of humanity sleep in peace.
Only when a bunch of reformers are peaceless,
Will all the inequalities be appeased.
To hell with personal happiness!
To hell with the notion of personal and social!
There is no person, there is no planet,
Till the troubles of the world feel super personal.
Come all ye offended, charge at me
with your entire arsenal.
I won’t resist, come and bless me,
with your bullets of denial.
August 27, 2022
Reject less, repair more | The Peace Testament
With superior sentience, come superior screw-ups. And this holds particularly true for industrialization. Even if we put aside carbon emission, in the year 2020 alone humankind has produced over 2 billion tonnes of trash, which is expected to rise over 70% by the year 2050.
Thus, in the name of progress we the gadget-mad gargoyles keep acting as the true eco-terrorists of the glorious dumping ground, called the planet earth. 2% of all our waste is e-waste. And the alarming bit here is that, that 2% e-waste comprises over 70% of our overall toxic waste.
So, what can you do, you ask? Simple – reject less, repair more. Try to make things last as long as possible, or pass them on to those who have need for them. Don’t let things go to waste, just because you can afford new ones.
For example, my kid cousin’s laptop has been acting up for some time now. But instead of buying them a new pc, I ordered the replacement for the faulty part and repaired the laptop myself. This way, we not only reduce our e-waste footprint on the planet, but in the process, we teach kids to value things.
The point is, whether you do it yourself or get it done by a professional, by practicing repair, you are actively participating in the making of a greener, cleaner and healthier world.
It’s not enough to be just a consumer, you gotta be a conscious consumer, otherwise there is no difference between a consumer and a slave. That is why, right-to-repair is not only a human rights issue, it is also an environmental issue. Repairing and recycling are the bedrock of sustainability. So I say again – reject less, repair more.
Thus, in the name of progress we the gadget-mad gargoyles keep acting as the true eco-terrorists of the glorious dumping ground, called the planet earth. 2% of all our waste is e-waste. And the alarming bit here is that, that 2% e-waste comprises over 70% of our overall toxic waste.
So, what can you do, you ask? Simple – reject less, repair more. Try to make things last as long as possible, or pass them on to those who have need for them. Don’t let things go to waste, just because you can afford new ones.
For example, my kid cousin’s laptop has been acting up for some time now. But instead of buying them a new pc, I ordered the replacement for the faulty part and repaired the laptop myself. This way, we not only reduce our e-waste footprint on the planet, but in the process, we teach kids to value things.
The point is, whether you do it yourself or get it done by a professional, by practicing repair, you are actively participating in the making of a greener, cleaner and healthier world.
It’s not enough to be just a consumer, you gotta be a conscious consumer, otherwise there is no difference between a consumer and a slave. That is why, right-to-repair is not only a human rights issue, it is also an environmental issue. Repairing and recycling are the bedrock of sustainability. So I say again – reject less, repair more.
August 22, 2022
Transhumanism is Terrorism (The Sonnet) | Amantes Assemble
Intelligence comes easy, accountability not so much,
Yet intelligence is complex, accountability is simple.
Technology comes easy, transformation not so much,
Yet technology is complicated, transformation is simple.
In olden days there were just nutters of fundamentalism,
Today there are nutters of nationalism and transhumanism.
Some are obsessed with land, others with digital avatars,
While humanity battles age-old crises like starvationism.
When too much logic, coldness and pomposity set in,
Common sense humanity goes out of the window.
Once upon a time religion was the opium of all people,
Today transhumanism and singularity are opium of the shallow.
To replace the sky god with a computer god isn’t advancement.
Real advancement is when nobody suffers from scarcity of sustenance.
Transhumanism is terrorism, for it is the very antithesis of life. Wasting precious resources on a pompous, narcissistic and megalomaniacal dream of extending life through cold, mechanical means, instead of helping to improve genuine human condition, transhumanists act as modern day terrorists who desecrate the very spirit of life and liberty without ever being held accountable. Let me tell you as a brain scientist and a computer engineering dropout – transhumanism is to brain computer interface, what nuclear weapons are to nuclear physics.
Yet intelligence is complex, accountability is simple.
Technology comes easy, transformation not so much,
Yet technology is complicated, transformation is simple.
In olden days there were just nutters of fundamentalism,
Today there are nutters of nationalism and transhumanism.
Some are obsessed with land, others with digital avatars,
While humanity battles age-old crises like starvationism.
When too much logic, coldness and pomposity set in,
Common sense humanity goes out of the window.
Once upon a time religion was the opium of all people,
Today transhumanism and singularity are opium of the shallow.
To replace the sky god with a computer god isn’t advancement.
Real advancement is when nobody suffers from scarcity of sustenance.
Transhumanism is terrorism, for it is the very antithesis of life. Wasting precious resources on a pompous, narcissistic and megalomaniacal dream of extending life through cold, mechanical means, instead of helping to improve genuine human condition, transhumanists act as modern day terrorists who desecrate the very spirit of life and liberty without ever being held accountable. Let me tell you as a brain scientist and a computer engineering dropout – transhumanism is to brain computer interface, what nuclear weapons are to nuclear physics.
August 18, 2022
Time to take law into our hands | Amantes Assemble
It’s time to take law into our hands as unarmed and unyielding order incarnate.
Citizen Vain (The Sonnet)
All the law in the world cannot bring order,
In a society where the citizens are indifferent.
A citizen responsible is a society responsible,
A citizen on guard is a society with upliftment.
If the citizen can’t tell right from wrong on their own,
It’s not order but merely a revolting illusion of order.
Take away all punishment and you shall soon find out,
Law only forces repression, not reformation of disorder.
Without an actual reformation of the citizen’s mind,
Sooner or later all nations end up in fundamentalist dump.
Pay less attention to law, and more attention to education,
Humanizing education is the only cure for the hoodlums.
In a world full of citizen vain, be a citizen vanguard!
There can be no order, unless the citizens stand on guard.
Citizen Vain (The Sonnet)
All the law in the world cannot bring order,
In a society where the citizens are indifferent.
A citizen responsible is a society responsible,
A citizen on guard is a society with upliftment.
If the citizen can’t tell right from wrong on their own,
It’s not order but merely a revolting illusion of order.
Take away all punishment and you shall soon find out,
Law only forces repression, not reformation of disorder.
Without an actual reformation of the citizen’s mind,
Sooner or later all nations end up in fundamentalist dump.
Pay less attention to law, and more attention to education,
Humanizing education is the only cure for the hoodlums.
In a world full of citizen vain, be a citizen vanguard!
There can be no order, unless the citizens stand on guard.
August 15, 2022
Role of Arrogance | The Peace Testament
Arrogance has its purpose, but first you gotta learn how to use it, so that it’s a force for good, rather than a primeval tendency of self-aggrandizing.
Let me tell you a story. I was traveling to deliver a talk. The driver friend picked me up at the airport and dropped me at a fancy hotel booked by the organizers. At the reception before me there was an elderly couple. From what I gathered, their daughter had booked a room for them, but they were having a little difficulty communicating it.
I could sense that the hotel people at the desk didn’t take them seriously to begin with, probably because they weren’t dressed fancy. I kept quiet.
Finally the elderly man and woman gave up. They lowered their heads in disappointment and turned around to walk out without checking in. And just as their backs were turned, I heard one of the receptionists make the remark, “village idiots!”
That’s it – I lost my cool! In that situation, at that moment, I felt as if my own parents were being treated like that.
I held the elderly gentleman by the wrist, marched up to the desk, and spoke.
“You think you are so fancy, don’t you – working at a fancy place in your fancy clothes and phony etiquette – so much so that you forgot to treat people like people!
You ridicule them because they don’t speak English.
Well, in that case, I speak more languages than you can count – then how should I treat you – you pathetic little tribal jerks!
It’s not enough to wear clean clothes, go home and wash your heart with some soap. Despite all that cologne, you stink!
You can manage a hotel, you can manage a business, but you don’t manage people, you treat them like family.”
I would’ve went on and on, but the elderly person stopped me. Don’t know whether the people at the reception realized their mistake, but by the look on their face they sure did feel small.
A moment later with a tinge of remorse and utter humility in voice, the other receptionist spoke. She apologized to the couple in their native tongue and finally helped them check in, without any miscommunication or frustration.
Let me tell you a story. I was traveling to deliver a talk. The driver friend picked me up at the airport and dropped me at a fancy hotel booked by the organizers. At the reception before me there was an elderly couple. From what I gathered, their daughter had booked a room for them, but they were having a little difficulty communicating it.
I could sense that the hotel people at the desk didn’t take them seriously to begin with, probably because they weren’t dressed fancy. I kept quiet.
Finally the elderly man and woman gave up. They lowered their heads in disappointment and turned around to walk out without checking in. And just as their backs were turned, I heard one of the receptionists make the remark, “village idiots!”
That’s it – I lost my cool! In that situation, at that moment, I felt as if my own parents were being treated like that.
I held the elderly gentleman by the wrist, marched up to the desk, and spoke.
“You think you are so fancy, don’t you – working at a fancy place in your fancy clothes and phony etiquette – so much so that you forgot to treat people like people!
You ridicule them because they don’t speak English.
Well, in that case, I speak more languages than you can count – then how should I treat you – you pathetic little tribal jerks!
It’s not enough to wear clean clothes, go home and wash your heart with some soap. Despite all that cologne, you stink!
You can manage a hotel, you can manage a business, but you don’t manage people, you treat them like family.”
I would’ve went on and on, but the elderly person stopped me. Don’t know whether the people at the reception realized their mistake, but by the look on their face they sure did feel small.
A moment later with a tinge of remorse and utter humility in voice, the other receptionist spoke. She apologized to the couple in their native tongue and finally helped them check in, without any miscommunication or frustration.
August 9, 2022
Home is not where the heart is, home is where the heart is lost. | Amor Apocalypse
When all are one sentience,
Language withers and fades away.
Let’s sit together and speak in silence,
Let’s be light to each other’s way.
Sevgili ol, sevgili kal!
Bu hayatta sevgiden daha
hiçbir şey önemli değil.
Eğer seviyorsa çocuk gibi sev,
kuru soğuk gibi değil.
Barış gelecek, barış kalacak,
Ama önce insan insan olmalı, hayvan değil.
Kâinatin tek hakikat, aşktır,
Aşktan başka her şey yalan.
Kalbin kıyameti, nefrettir,
Nefretten vazgeçen her biri, mucize insan.
İnsan yanımda kalan birini değil,
kalbinde kalan birini sever.
El hogar no es donde está el corazón,
el hogar es donde el corazón se pierde.
What are we? Soldiers of love.
Why did we come to existence?
To be each other’s ladder in life.
What are we? Boulders of love.
Why did we come to existence?
To bulldozer each other’s crisis in life.
One day all of us will end up six feet under,
do you want your grave
to stink of hate or smell of love!
I for one will die of love despite hate,
so that even when I’m gone,
I leave behind nothing but love.
Language withers and fades away.
Let’s sit together and speak in silence,
Let’s be light to each other’s way.
Sevgili ol, sevgili kal!
Bu hayatta sevgiden daha
hiçbir şey önemli değil.
Eğer seviyorsa çocuk gibi sev,
kuru soğuk gibi değil.
Barış gelecek, barış kalacak,
Ama önce insan insan olmalı, hayvan değil.
Kâinatin tek hakikat, aşktır,
Aşktan başka her şey yalan.
Kalbin kıyameti, nefrettir,
Nefretten vazgeçen her biri, mucize insan.
İnsan yanımda kalan birini değil,
kalbinde kalan birini sever.
El hogar no es donde está el corazón,
el hogar es donde el corazón se pierde.
What are we? Soldiers of love.
Why did we come to existence?
To be each other’s ladder in life.
What are we? Boulders of love.
Why did we come to existence?
To bulldozer each other’s crisis in life.
One day all of us will end up six feet under,
do you want your grave
to stink of hate or smell of love!
I for one will die of love despite hate,
so that even when I’m gone,
I leave behind nothing but love.
Brain makes the mind, mind makes the person.
Half knowledge is more dangerous than ignorance. Take the notion that jellyfish don’t have a brain, for example. When we talk about the brain, we’re actually referring to the central nervous system. In case of the jellyfish, the nervous system is not centralized, instead it’s spread across the anatomy. So the actual fact is, jellyfish do have a brain, it just doesn’t look like one. Even trees have a brain, a nervous system that is. To put it simply, consciousness is the supreme fundamental of life, and it is impossible to have consciousness without having some sort of nervous system, for consciousness is the creation of the nervous system.
Outside The Museum (The Sonnet) | Amantes Assemble
Enough with, patria o muerte*!
Enough with, god save the queen!
Enough with, heil hitler!
Enough with, o say can you see!
Bronze age beings yell about national glory,
Stone age beings yell about religious glory.
Electric beings got no time for such make-believe,
On their shoulders walks the present of humanity.
There is no earth till all roots combine,
Till we crave for each other all roots are chains.
Museums add perspective on the direction of life,
But to spend a life in museum is life lost in vain.
Enough with vande mataram**,
it’s time for vasudhaiva kutumbakam***.
To hell with nation, culture and tradition,
civilization awaits outside the museum.
(*homeland or death, *hail the motherland, ***world is family)
Enough with, god save the queen!
Enough with, heil hitler!
Enough with, o say can you see!
Bronze age beings yell about national glory,
Stone age beings yell about religious glory.
Electric beings got no time for such make-believe,
On their shoulders walks the present of humanity.
There is no earth till all roots combine,
Till we crave for each other all roots are chains.
Museums add perspective on the direction of life,
But to spend a life in museum is life lost in vain.
Enough with vande mataram**,
it’s time for vasudhaiva kutumbakam***.
To hell with nation, culture and tradition,
civilization awaits outside the museum.
(*homeland or death, *hail the motherland, ***world is family)
August 6, 2022
Keyboard of Revolution (The Sonnet) | Amantes Assemble
I wrote most of my works,
On broken down laptops.
Perhaps that’s why they work well,
With this broken down world.
I don’t write to butter the assheads of pomposity,
My duty is to till the soil of grassroots reform.
That’s why I feel at home creating on humble machines,
The very thought of fancy devices makes my stomach turn.
I once said to you, ripped jeans and twenty dollar shirt,
That’s how we change the world, how we build the world.
Often a fancy exterior is indicative of a rotten interior,
It’s a simple life that facilitates a magnificent world.
I don’t need thousand dollar machines to cause ascension.
Give me a keyboard, I’ll give you revolution.
On broken down laptops.
Perhaps that’s why they work well,
With this broken down world.
I don’t write to butter the assheads of pomposity,
My duty is to till the soil of grassroots reform.
That’s why I feel at home creating on humble machines,
The very thought of fancy devices makes my stomach turn.
I once said to you, ripped jeans and twenty dollar shirt,
That’s how we change the world, how we build the world.
Often a fancy exterior is indicative of a rotten interior,
It’s a simple life that facilitates a magnificent world.
I don’t need thousand dollar machines to cause ascension.
Give me a keyboard, I’ll give you revolution.
Roots and Chains | Amor Apocalypse
Culture can either further the cause of life,
Or it can hinder life, love and liberty.
If it hinders, it belongs in the dump,
If it furthers, it is an ally of humanity.
Rigidity is drag on expansion,
For it makes chains out of roots.
Roots give ground beneath our feet,
While chains only cripple all our move.
Even a flower can’t survive in last week’s water,
Yet you expect the mind to thrive that way.
Let the mind fly higher than known heights,
And all light and life will find their way.
With all our understanding of the speed of light,
We’re yet to cross the distance from heart to heart.
With all our fancy equipment of communication,
We are yet to listen to those unheard.
Or it can hinder life, love and liberty.
If it hinders, it belongs in the dump,
If it furthers, it is an ally of humanity.
Rigidity is drag on expansion,
For it makes chains out of roots.
Roots give ground beneath our feet,
While chains only cripple all our move.
Even a flower can’t survive in last week’s water,
Yet you expect the mind to thrive that way.
Let the mind fly higher than known heights,
And all light and life will find their way.
With all our understanding of the speed of light,
We’re yet to cross the distance from heart to heart.
With all our fancy equipment of communication,
We are yet to listen to those unheard.
