Fantasy Factory Crafting Our Colorful Dreams

 

Advertising serves as a master architect of our colourful and exciting fantasy world, shaping our desires, aspirations and perceptions in many ways. Through a kaleidoscope of images, narratives and promises, advertising constructs a hyperreal realm where fantasies are not only entertained but actively encouraged and commodified.

Advertising paints a vivid canvas of possibilities, presenting an idealized version of reality that is often more alluring than the mundane world we inhabit. Whether it's the promise of luxury, adventure, romance or success, advertisements transport us to realms where our deepest desires are within reach. From glossy magazine spreads to hoardings to captivating television commercials to immersive online campaigns, advertising inundates us with a visual and auditory stimulation designed to captivate our imagination and seduce our senses.

Advertising enhances our fantasy world with vibrant colours and electrifying energy, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. Through clever use of imagery, sound and motion, advertisements give a larger than life persona to products and experiences with an aura of excitement and glamour, elevating them beyond their utilitarian function. Whether it's a simple beverage or a high-end automobile, advertising infuses these objects with symbolic meaning, transforming them into totems of desire that promise to elevate our lives and fulfill our fantasies.

Advertising not only defines our fantasy world but also dictates its boundaries and contours. By establishing norms of beauty, success and happiness, advertising constructs a framework within which our fantasies can unfold. From airbrushed models to extravagant lifestyles to unattainable standards of perfection, advertising sets the stage for our dreams and desires, often blurring the line between fantasy and reality in the process.

At its core, advertising is a storyteller, weaving narratives that transport us to worlds of infinite possibility and wonder. Whether it's a heartwarming tale of love and redemption or an adrenaline-fueled adventure through exotic landscapes, advertising captivates our imagination and invites us to become active participants in the stories it tells. Through the power of storytelling, advertising creates emotional connections that resonate deeply with our hopes, fears and aspirations, shaping our fantasy world in profound and lasting ways.

Advertising excites our senses through vibrant colours and fantasy stories. Through a wide range of images, narratives and promises advertisements captivate our imagination and shape our desires. And people get addicted to it. It also breaks the mundane and monotony of the spaces. Through its ability to transport us to realms of infinite possibility and wonder, advertising transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary, infusing our lives with a sense of excitement and adventure. As we navigate this hyperreal landscape, it's essential to remain mindful of the ways in which advertising can sway our minds by shaping our perceptions and triggering our fantasies. It might be alright to engage with its magic but maintaining a critical eye toward its seductive allure is also necessary. In a broad sense, advertisements do shape the consumer pattern of the society, constructs certain social norms and defines a set of behavioural patterns which is adopted by the masses at large in day to day life.

Unlocking the Digital Canvas

 

In the age of digital innovation, the art world is experiencing a paradigm shift, one where the boundaries between physical and digital art are blurring like never before. At the forefront of this revolution lies Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), a groundbreaking technology that has reshaped the way we perceive, create, and collect art.

NFTs are unique digital assets stored on Blockchain networks, each possessing distinct properties and ownership records. Unlike cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, which are fungible and can be exchanged on a one-to-one basis, NFTs represent one-of-a-kind items, from digital art pieces and collectibles to virtual real estate and beyond.

For art creators, NFTs represent newfound freedom and opportunity in the digital realm. Traditionally, digital artists struggled to monetize their work, facing issues of copyright infringement and limited avenues for selling their creations. However, with NFTs, artists can tokenize their art, imbuing it with provable ownership and authenticity, while retaining control over its distribution and resale.

NFTs also introduce a new revenue stream for artists through royalties. Smart contracts embedded within NFTs allow creators to earn a percentage of every subsequent sale, ensuring they continue to benefit from the increasing value of their work even after it changes hands multiple times.

NFTs enable artists to engage directly with their audience and build communities around their art. Through decentralized platforms, creators can interact with fans, offer exclusive content and even collaborate on projects, allowing a more inclusive and interactive art ecosystem.

For art lovers, NFTs offer unprecedented access to a diverse range of digital artworks, from digital paintings and sculptures to immersive virtual experiences. By acquiring NFTs, collectors gain ownership of unique pieces of art, each with its own immutable provenance recorded on the Blockchain.

NFTs also democratize the art market, breaking down barriers to entry and empowering individuals to participate in collecting regardless of their geographic location or financial status. With fractional ownership models, collectors can purchase shares of high-value artworks, enabling broader participation and investment in the art market.

NFTs enhance the collectible experience by introducing elements of interactivity and programmability. Owners can display their digital art in virtual galleries, showcase their collections in virtual reality environments, and even integrate their NFTs into augmented reality applications, blurring the lines between the physical and digital worlds.

For art collectors, NFTs represent a paradigm shift in asset ownership and investment. By digitizing art on the Blockchain, NFTs offer enhanced security, transparency and liquidity compared to traditional art assets. Owners can verify the authenticity and ownership history of their NFTs instantly, mitigating the risk of counterfeit or fraudulent artworks.

NFTs also allow new possibilities for diversification and portfolio management. Collectors can easily trade NFTs on decentralized marketplaces, access a global pool of buyers and sellers and participate in emerging trends and genres within the digital art space.

NFTs enable collectors to engage in innovative forms of patronage and support for artists. By directly purchasing NFTs from creators or participating in crowdfunding campaigns, collectors can provide financial backing and encouragement to emerging talent, contributing towards a more sustainable and equitable art ecosystem.

Thus NFTs are revolutionizing the art world by democratizing access, empowering creators, and transforming the way we perceive and interact with art. As this technology continues to evolve, it has the potential to redefine the boundaries of creativity and ownership, ushering in a new era of digital expression and cultural exchange. Whether you're an art creator, lover, or collector, the rise of NFTs offers a glimpse into a future where art knows no bounds.

The psychology of mind programming and the present world order

The topic of psychology in context to mind programming thus leading to this world order, always lingers in my mind.

The fight for power, control over others, domination, leading to politics, then fear and insecurities gripping at various stages created by several illogical notions, the various divides in the society and globally, is a thought that ponders in my mind about the irony of things.

I tried to pay some attention to understand the importance and significance of psychology and its influences on our thought patterns, behaviour and conscious which has shaped up our present world order.

What I understand, is, that societies have undergone major brainwashing from time to time, right from the time the civilizations came up. Over the years as societies started forming and moved ahead to develop, also a premise started getting laid based on beliefs, which took birth first in a small way, then was driven by passion and finally became diehard obsessions leading to fanaticism.

As generations came up, first the minds got programmed by the families they were born into, then by the society they grew in, into certain set beliefs. This lead to indoctrination of minds, into school of thoughts, which lead to mass stereotypes with boxed mindsets, and sometimes even to the extent of hardcore fanaticism and cult. And this became a chain reaction and spread like viral. Now it has turned into a vicious circle.

So we can see that societies and individuals are subjected to a full mental programming right from the time of birth, thus leading to a complete restriction on freedom of thought and reasoning. Therefore our mindsets and thinking pattern are completely boxed and we find it hard to break out of it, or rather don’t want to, because we feel that it is rather odd to, foolish, unconventional or absurd. Most people would never ever give it a thought to breaking out of it, even in their entire life, and would live it, just like that, till the very end of their lives. Does this mean most people actually enjoy basking in that particular programmed paradigm?

Some people, a very marginal few, might give it a thought of “thinking out of the box” and living their lives in a different way but would not have the courage to adore it, either due to fear of being outcasted by the society, or being called anti social or a lunatic, or feeling of an odd one out, or fear of repercussions, fear of being cursed, etc. and it is not a surprise, these sort of things do happen.

Masses and societies are under the grip of the social influences and structure. Also the influence of the hardliners can be seen immense even on the neutrals. But there are a meagre few who do change their way of thinking and try to come out of their mental blockages and programming. But to what extent they are able to live their lives in their terms, is quite subjective.

As Terence Mekenna put it, “We are caged by our cultural programming. Culture is a mass hallucination, and when you step outside the mass hallucination you see it for what it’s worth.”

As per my perception, our lives are governed by mental programming categorised into following:

1. Cultural
2. Religion
3. Money
4. Politics and government
5. Exploiting nature
6. Media
7. Education

1. CULTURAL

It has been scientifically inferred that all human beings are the same. All the races have the same origin. The human species has its origin and roots from Africa. The change in the colour of the skin is a mere UV radiation phenomenon and all the rest physical factors are the effects of the environment.

It’s just that we are definitely caught up in the web of cultural fancies and fads. And each one of us claims that our culture is the best. And we blindly believe in it. That is how we have been groomed up and programmed to believe. And so to feel a sense of belonging, or to keep connected to our roots, to getting married and all that, it’s necessary to stick on to our cultural roots. As if otherwise we would be some different human species.

2. RELIGION

Religion started off on a note to create social order in the absence of a law and order system.

Religion has also been a major form of mind control and programming on human beings. I find, it has only kept the human species separated and segregated. It has depopulated the world through number of wars, inquisitions and crusades and all this in the name of “God”. There is a catch. What no religion teaches is that we have the potential and are powerful spiritual beings even without the so called “RELIGION”. To have faith and believe in God (the supreme power) is one thing but to be baptised into one of the religions for our existence, I find it lame. Almost the same template as of every government (specially the authoritarian), the religions (or their governors) want to rule our minds so that we keep living in subservience, control and conformity, under it/them, in fear - lest doom falls upon us; in greed – a promise of heaven which no one on earth knows of or have ever seen or known. Nobody here loves the Supreme but live under thy fear and greed. This is what has been programmed into our minds.

I am sure if aliens were to visit us, they would neither have one of the religious books in hand or money in their pockets. Yet their science and development would be advance enough that they could reach our earth even without those.

3. MONEY

It is very well said by somebody that “when you find religion, you find money, as these two tenets in life are married to one another. Within these two entities, you’ll also find their illegitimate stepchild, the ‘government’ as all 3 are perpetually tied to each other”. If there wasn’t anything such as money then what would we be doing with our lives? I guess this answer would make us realize each one of us what our true purpose of life would be. We live in a society where each one of us has to rely on money for our existence. So we are all economical slaves to this system, thus, again our thinking and our mind gets programmed as per this. Money takes us away from our true natural selves and what actually matters and are important in our lives.

4. POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Borders are creations of the politicians for their self motive to attain identity and power and the general masses fall prey to it. Why can’t everyone be global citizens? Be it the democratic or authoritarian governments, our minds get programmed by their influence or rather their propaganda programmes our minds. Due to fear of insecurity we are forced into submission to them. Ultimately what they do is again divide and segregate the human race in the name of countries, borders, then again amongst the people living in those countries. Each one of us is taught and forced to believe in patriotism and love our fellow countrymen and have aversions against the human beings living outside the borders. Then the politicians and the government with their policies again depopulate the world through wars in the name of patriotism and with the misuse of the great inventions made by the mankind. So, again extensive mind programming.

5. EXPLOITING NATURE

Our mind has been programmed to rely on nature of all our needs. This is even to the extent of destroying it, mutilating it and ransacking it in every possible way, and it really doesn’t matter as long as our interests are met. Human beings have solely contributed to denudation of forests, polluting food, land, the waters and the skies to defacing the earth, disturbing the ecosystem, flora and fauna, all in the name of development and progress. And we all are programmed to believe that to be successful in life we need to live in a place as per our custom choice, eat as per what our taste buds demand, travel the way we want to and all that jazz. Our minds have been programmed to think and believe live that. Everything has to be exactly as per what we human beings want and the rest of the earth is our experimental ground.

6. MEDIA

This is certainly one of the major mind control systems. Media shapes up our thinking, beliefs, opinions, personality, behaviour, actions, desires, ambitions, aspirations, almost very many things in the society. If you trace the owners of the mainstream media, you will find, it’s just a handful of some of the business tycoons who are in support of some political party or the other for their self benefit, are the people who dictate the terms and conditions on which these media channels should work on. Now, the influences of these channels of communication, shapes up our thinking and brainwashes us. There are chances that we get unfair and unbiased news which would influence our reasoning and intellect, sway us into waves of passions, lead us towards more consumerism, etc etc. We are also ridiculed by these advertisements and made to believe that we are inferior unless we adapt to or use those products. Then for our entertainment, we are programmed to watching TV, rather we could utilize all that time in a better way than wasting it on TV but no it has to be this way. All this, again mind programming.

7. EDUCATION 

Another brain programming element right from childhood is about career, money, social status, to enjoy the best things in life, etc etc. Perhaps our entire educational system can be considered as a complete failure. Because all it does, is, basically grooms children into become corporate economic slaves. The minds of the children are programmed to believe that education is meant for a decent sustenance, successful career, money, fame and all that. Children are burdened with high pressure right from their small classes and a sense of competitiveness is ingrained in them right from the beginning, like - to survive you have to be the fittest. The best career options would be to be an engineer, doctor, MBA and the like, while the mediocres come after that. Accordingly there would be divisions in the society, status wise. College is yet another failure as it generally creates even more economic subservience through student loans that might take more than half the time to repay.

The human beings are influenced to orient themselves in alignment with the false goals and aspirations that are implanted into thoughts through mind programming through these mediums.

For many people, they will not see or acknowledge the brainwashing and programming that has been occurring throughout the centuries. Many will live their lives content as being economic, political and social slaves to the disruptive system. But for some of us why not give it a thought....bringing in a new world order....

As we have already entered the sixth phase of extinction, we are at an important juncture of human history. We need to find options and solutions to deprogram ourselves. But, first we need to awaken from the collective programming that we are, under the influence of, to break this vicious circle and work together to provide solutions in the best interests of humanity....combining humanity with science....

The Changing Word....Building Trust!

It is important to understand the digital ecosystem because we are now living in a new paradigm knowingly or unknowingly, that is the "fifth evolution". Here comes the age of Blockchain. Blockchain the World Wide Ledger, sort of like Bhagwan ke hisaab ka kitaab. Our web of life is getting moulded into a new form with the amalgamation of IoT.

We all have unique digital impressions - personal avatars the black box of identity, and are all connected to the universal digital mother, the web the IoT, being universally governed by it too in a way.

Blockchain here is the ecosystem which works as a peer-to-peer system with no central authority managing data flow or governance. Governance is in the hands of the network of individual participants or users. Any change in the data would need a validation from all the users in the network. Provides a platform for open communication removing barriers and gatekeeping, showing transparency and building trust. Endorsements, recommendations, ratings, etc are some of the operations in the process. Exchange of value between trusted members. Each step should demonstrate a small win and value created.

Blockchain infused future, the foundation is already laid. Business people, governments, political groups and humanitarians across the globe are actively trying to adapt it. Blockchain comes in a lot of flavours.

Characteristics:

• Trust
• Distribution of power
• Value as incentive
• Security
• Consideration
• Accountability
• Transparency
• Rights preserved
• Inclusion

Effects:

A society is usually built on trust and enforcement of rules. The social and economic implications of Blockchain application can be emotionally and politically polarizing because Blockchain will change how we structure value based and socially based activities/transactions.

Blockchain has infiltrated into communication, media, entertainment and in business management structure too.

In a survey conducted by Deloitte, 84 percent of all respondents believe that blockchain will broadly scale and reach mainstream adoption, 59 percent believe blockchain could disrupt their industries, and 29 percent have already joined a blockchain consortium.

As a thought, in a similar context is now management methodology mirroring the same?

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/12/is-management-era-over

       

Here I am....This is me (Communication, Technology and Society)

Today in one of my intrinsic moods, I am somewhat reminded of the three imaginary characters form Ayn Rand's novel 'For The New Intellectuals'. They are: Attila - the mighty and brute, the Witch Doctor - who dreads reality and necessity for practical actions, and escapes into emotions and some illussionary mystical realm, and the Producer - the thinkers and inventors who brought about Renaissance. Ayn Rand imagined these characters to be prevalent in the human civilization viz a viz the society. And so, accordingly, the Producer has always played the key role in bringing about the change.

Media is "the" most powerful thing! Media has been very progressive in the past one century with the advent of technology and innovations. Let's take a look at the journey of media till now, and how this so called 'Producer' could have influenced or contributed towards it....haha.

Yes, it's all about media - the content and the way of its delivery. Media is the mightiest. Media informs, educates, entertains, connects, engages, calls for action. It can transform ways of thinking, behaviour patterns, actions. Right from its inception it has significantly influenced, shaped up the thought patterns and transformed the civilization and societies a great deal. To produce effective content and pour it into the right channel, is extremely important for its effectiveness.

History holds the evidence that a person greater in communication always rules, right from the Roman rulers to Mussolini, Hitler, so on and so forth. Skills and effectiveness of communication has always decided the Ruler and the Ruled.

We are now living in the era of global connectivity where communication is no more an issue, and it completes with the very essential required element i.e. the feedback.

Modern media showed its presence with the arrival of Gutenberg's printing press and newspaper. 1920s saw the advent of radio. Mankind and civilization faced a transition with the two world wars where radio was the most importent source as media for information. TV in the 1940s added a new definition to entertainment and media consumption pattern. As technology progressed, the modes of communication and mass communication also further developed, connecting became easier, outreach increased, channels of communication also grew, but somehow still the complete process, the cycle, of communication seemed to have been missing due to the lack, slow or delayed feedback/response. But now due to Internet, these barriers have been broken. Immediacy, outreach, response, feedback, endorsement is no more a constraint. Transparency and authenticity of media - the content, is also to a great extent assured and not much questionable, as media and information is now to a great extent becoming an open book. Otherwise, the brands or individuals lose their credibility. Not to disagree, manipulations are still taking place and there can be fake news and false trollings as well, which does influence perception and mass opinions.

This march of media and communication now has pretty much flourished into a paradigm where people seem to adopting communicating to the next level, that is of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, where space, time and distance is no more a constraint. It is a new relm altogether. Much thanks to the Internet (IoT) and technology.

Thus content creation, its way of production, management, delivery system and media formats have also evolved, developed and found its new dimensions. User Experience (UX) is the much talked about topic of concern now.

The way people consume content is very different in the present times. The preferences, choices, methods, channels have all modified, rather have changed into a different new order.

Channels of communication have modified and diversified and have paved its new path and ways. Communication, media and technology have integrated and converged. Practically everybody's smitten by it.

We cannot ignore and definitely need to acknowledge the fact with affirmation that Stieve Jobs did brig about a major revolution, with his inventions and technology, in the pattern of media and communication use and consuption pattern, and changed the very definition of style of media and communication.

Information, education, interaction and engagement has become highly entertaining now with these new formats of media and channels of distribution.

Well, no more can a news channel claim now that they are the first ones to break any particular news. The age of citizen journalism has taken over. Information is in abundance. Right to information has now been included as part of human rights.

Social media has been the biggest game changer and has topsy turvied the conventional media channels and communication, marketing and advertising patterns. Considering the political landscape, very evident examples are, Obama's election campaign to Modi and Trumph till date.

Internet, per-say, social media has infiltrated into newsrooms as well. They cannot do without it. The NRCS, the content management system, the content delivery system is all dependent on the Internet, cloud, social media feeds, the various apps, telecom industries providing high speed band widths of internet, and more.

Reporting from the field has become so easy due to the compact light weighted devices and integrating softwares be it for audio/radio or video/television. With its user friendliness, the person reporting, even if a novice, would have no difficulties. An integration with a mobile phone can conveniently deliver the feed to the studio or the station from the remotest place, only thing required would be Internet connection.

Online journalism is the demand of the time, and comes real handy when it comes to news gathering and news generation. An interesting case, an Australian sports channel which is only on the app Snapchat, made it big overnight and is one of Australia's very popular sports channels who run on only Snapchat.

The huge bulky camera have squeezed down to iPhone video and android video for capturing, streaming, providing feed from the field to newsrooms, editing using apps and what not. It's just on the fly.

Most of the popular and prominent newsrooms are using Simulcast and Multicast technology, in terms of software and hardware, for pushing out their content on various platforms simultaneously. Likewise IPTV and VoD is gaining much popularity and people are going in for cord cutting.

Archiving, content management, customization and curating content as per target audience's preferences, have all become very easy due to meta tagging and keywords.

In this fast paced environment multi-collaboration is the key. Reporters, editors, producers, presenters, camera operators and control room crews need to coordinate their efforts in order to create stories. Platforms like Octopus, ENPS, iNews, etc. have made it really simple.

Apps like Slack, Trello, etc. have made collaboration so easy with its multiple integration features. Again a great platform for content production and newsrooms. Many independent organizations are cropping up using these tools and are doing pretty well and have their set of dedicated audience and loyal followers. Much more has opened up to add to the scope.

Another exciting attraction are the fascinating platforms and apps providing great facilities for blogging, micro blogging, Live streaming, drones captured videos, the 360 degree videos, virtual reality experiences and all that great stuff. 

Live-streaming which is the most in-thing, has an immediacy that recorded video can’t match. It is more real and interactive to the audience, and that is what people want, instead of pre-programed stuff. It also earns more ad revenue.

Where storytelling, be it of a brand or personal, has become highly captivating, convincing engaging and interactive, connecting people and communities globally is no more an issue. People are now becoming global citizens. Boundaries and barriers are breaking, stereotypes are breaking. Knowledge is in abundance, free flowing, connecting people, holding hands, collaborating. Google and YouTube have become the greatest teachers.

Living in this fast paced age of communication and extra ordinary information inflow, is highly enticing and engaging, at the same time a challenge, when it comes to content generation and finding a place of its own. Carving a niche for your content, in this high level of information clutter, is the challenge, but not difficult.

Not to be forgotten, music is an important media and a strong channel of communication too. It brought in some major change in the world scenario. The class division in America was torn down by the counter-culture movement and music being a part of it, that started in the 60s, and anti-war movements. Journalists contributed to it much, by spreading their message globally. So was Australia's political system, that saw a complete change due to the influence of the famous band Led Zeppelin after they performed in Sidney.

The latest we see now is, Elon Musk's venture to merge the human brain with AI (artificial intelligence), that is linking human brains with computer and bridging the gap between man and machine, in his project Nuralink.

Who knows this new order of convergence of media, communication and technology might get us out of this puddle of stale syrup and bring in a new world order. No more politicians to govern us, no more barriers to break the stereotype, no more borders to separate us. The earlier we realise the better it is.

I leave a food for thought here -- so who is it going to be after Producer? And after democracy, what is it going to be next?

People are not commodities

There are many instances that i have come across, majorly in India, where people are treated as commodity. This got me the idea to jott down a series and put my thoughts on it. People are just human beings and that's how they should be considered, treated and valued. The societies and individuals' minds have been programmed into boxed thinking, with walls and barriers, of even the ones educated. I really feel sorry and very bad about it.

Today I am putting forward my idea on the concept of marriage. In India the usual practice is of an arranged marrage, or perhaps marriage - an arrangement. Arrangement for convenience, physical needs, social status, etc. The very idealogy could never convince me and I can never agree to this idea, even for my daughter. Hardly I see importance or value given to emotional aspects, sentiments, love, care, bonding, respect, feelings, etc. Many people rather put it as, "get married first and the rest will develop and happen gradually on its own". ...with someone unknown? By dictated/imposed choice? By compulsion or forcefully? By making a compromise to the situation and submitting to the taboos? Then, many questions arise.... What the society would say? How will the family take it as or react to it? The blood leniage would be adultrated or spoilt, and so on goes so many questions, unreasonable remarks and statements.

It all starts with the search for the brides and the grooms. With super high expectations....the bride, she is suppose to have all the possible best attributes and qualities, firstly physically and look wise, then money, family background, extreamly important aspect is beliefs-religion-cast-creed factors. Conditions that apply for groom selection, firstly a good and secure job with a good pay package, social status, money, ofcourse the beliefs-religion-cast-creed comes into prime role. And thus accordingly are the humans choiced and selected, just like any commodity. This is prevelant amongst the educated masses as well, many of whom would preach equality and against discrimination but would themselves practice otherwise.

If we look into the Indian matrimonial sites, the divisions, the segrigations, the criterias, the expectation and demands of the members/advertisers, reflects the actual mentality and narrow minded, orthodox thinking of the people, where humans are advertised like commodities and put up for display to be choiced for best selection. Attitude, mindset, taste, compatibility, emotions and feelings are kept in the back seat. Physical appeal, financial status, security and definitely beliefs-religion-cast-creed are the highlighted key criteria for selection. It's as if some kind of trade or marketing/shopping of human beings , maybe not in cash but in kind.

Putting forward conditions, asking age, salary, position, job details, personal preferences, etc....how rude! Craving to be selected, giving the best presentation and performance to prove to be the best potential candidate/prospect....I find it obnoxious.

The potential grooms and their families make efforts to select the best potential bride first by scanning and shortlisting through the pictures of the girls (beauty and physical attributes) and then by going to see them whether they match up to their expectations, then rejecting these ladies put on exhibition, till they finally make a selection. Applies at times on the potential grooms as well. The rejected candidates, mainly girls, have to take it on their stride - rejected, degected, left with low self esteem with a feeling of inferiority, preparing and gearing up for the next show, receiving councelling sessions from the family members on their presentation and performance. Is it not inhuman, a torment, derogatory, humiliating, intimidating and antagonising, is it not an emotional, intellectual and mental insult, an agony? This also at times apply on the male candidates, but since most of the times these boys out of superiority complex we can say, shrug off such instances, if at all they face any, blaming the girl and their family as 'not a right match'.

It's an irony that this evil is an accepted practices in the Indian society and the boys and the girls submit to it and accept it. Many are timid and weak and don't have the courage to stand and speak for themselves infront of their families. They do what they are dictated to do by their family members and take to a compromise, suppressing their feelings, emotions and personal reasoning.

My point is, human beings are not for exhibition and to be selected and picked up like any commodity, or handled like some personal property. They are not to be selected and picked for just physical needs, social status, personal help or what so ever, or for superficial reasons or for producing progeny. Marriage is not suppose to be a compromise upon your life, some sort of agreement for convenience, an imposition. Human beings need, and should have the absolute freedom to make their own choice for selecting their life partner, the one they like, the one they love, the one they admire, the one they are in agreement with, the one with similar taste, interests and intellectual ideas, the one they feel for, care about and choose. Marrage is a partnership of life and to make this world a beautiful place. At least that is how I perceive it as.

To spread the message, remind and make people conscious, that people are not commodity, they are #JustHumanBeings, treat them with care and value them, they are fragile. Human beings should be treated with compassion and respect. People need to get out of their evil mindsets/mental programming and practices, people need to get out of these meaningless socio-cultural taboos, people need to change their thinking....that's my idea. Equality, freedom, human values, humanity are most important aspects as a human being and that is what should be emphasised upon and embraced.

Any option is a better option than a dead planet

Climate change, Paris agreement, Climate deal, are the buzz words these days with approximately 198 countries approving the Paris deal. 

Looking at things at the grass root level, part of the problem has been that we have been the victims of a campaign of systematic misdirection, consumer culture and capitalist minds over these years, especially after the onset of the industrial revolution. 

An inconvenient truth helped raise consciousness about global warming. Now things are being projected towards the general masses to substitute active personal lifestyle choices for organized political resistance. For example, use of vehicles with even numbered plate on even number dates and vehicles with odd numbered plate on odd number dates, use of LED bulbs, etc. 

If you notice, till now, almost all of the solutions presented has to do with the personal consumption, changing light bulbs, driving half as much, car pool, cutting down water consumption for bath washing and other purposes, and so on, and has very little to do with shifting power away from corporations or stopping the drastic globally growing economy and urbanization that is destroying the planet. 

Kirkpatrick summarized Al Gore's statement well, “Each one of us is a cause of global warming but each of us can make choices to change that, with the things we buy, the electricity we use, the cars we drive, we can make choices to bring our individual carbon emissions to zero”. This way the carbon emissions would fall to only about 20%. Scientific consensus is that carbon emission must be reduced by at least 75% worldwide. 

Individual energy consumption and residential, by private car and so on is never more than about a quarter of all consumption as per stats. The vast majority of consumption is commercial, industrial, corporate, by agribusiness and government. So even if we all took up cycling and wood stoves, it would have a negligible impact on energy use, global warming and atmospheric pollution. 

Often we hear that the world is running out of water, people are dying due to lack of water, rivers are drying. Well no. As per stats more than 90% of the water used by humans is used by agriculture and industries. The rest of the 10% is split between municipalities and actual living and breathing humans. People, flora and fauna are not dying because the world is running out of water but they are dying because the water is being stolen from them through dams, artificial reservoirs, blocking the surface of the earth with constructions which prevent the water from seeping down the earth, pumping out excessive water from the earth for industries, irrigation, etc. 

Considering wastes, land, water and air pollution which greatly contribute to global warming. Municipal waste accounts to only about 10% of total waste, roughly 530 kilograms/capita as per available stats. Inappropriate waste management again impacts the environment through soil and water contamination, air quality, climate, land use and landscape. 

The causes that are responsible for major part of pollution, global warming and ecological imbalances are excessive industrialization, urbanization and economic growth topped up with materialism and capitalistic policies. 

There are many issues that go unnoticed by the general people or many a times them turning a blind eye to it. Inappropriate landfills, again hazardous, release of methane and other toxic gases add to pollution, ozone layer depletion and global warming. It also produces toxins which pollute the water. 

Another issue is, since live stocks are cheap source of nutrition and non-vegetarian diet is consumed vastly, cattle are being reared in huge quantities. Infact it is a huge industry. These cattle need to graze, and huge amount of grass as fodder is required to feed them. To fulfill this need, is to have more grassland. Thus forests are brought down and converted into grassland. So the trees which recycle carbon and toxin in the atmosphere are no more. These giant livestock farms, which can house hundreds of thousands of buffaloes, cows, chickens, goats, pigs, produce vast amounts of manure, often generating the waste equivalent of a small city. A problem of this nature and scale is tough to imagine, and pollution from livestock farms seriously threatens humans, fish and ecosystems. They are again a major source of air, land and water pollution. Ammonia, a toxic form of nitrogen released in gas form during waste disposal, can be carried more than 300 miles through the air before being dumped back onto the ground or into the water, where it causes algal blooms and fish kills. High levels of nitrates pollute the water. And there are many more such issues....the list goes on. 

At this point it should be pretty easy to recognize that every action involving the industrial economy is destructive. And we should not pretend that solar photo votaics, for example, exempt us from this. They still require mining and transportation and infrastructures at every point in the production process. The same can be said for every other so called green technology. 

With the entire world at stake, why are we only told to retreat into these entirely personal “solutions”? These “solutions” are not sufficient. Personal change does not equal social change. So how then, have we come to accept these utterly insufficient responses? I think a part of it is that we are in the double bond. A double bond is when you are given multiple options. But no matter what option you choose, you lose. 

Withdrawal is not an option. And, I am not saying that we shouldn’t try and live simple, we should, but we shouldn’t pretend to not buying much, or not driving much or not having kids. 

Any option is a better option than a dead planet. The good news is that there are still options to what can be done to actually stop the murder of the planet? Let’s throw out the concept of ‘Take, make, consume and dispose’ and work on the concept of ‘caring and sharing’.

For those of us who can understand all this, it is very necessary for us to talk and create awareness about it amongst the rest of the masses who are unaware of it or have shut their eyes to it so that they may also develop sense of responsibility and concern and respond to the situation and act accordingly. 

I should surely have much hopes from this Paris Convention. Nevertheless we can always follow the examples of brave activists to bring about a change at our own level. They actively opposed the injustices that surrounded them. We can follow the example of those, who remembered that the role of an activist is not to navigate systems of oppressive powers without much personal integrity as possible but rather to confront and take down those systems.