The Argumentative Indian

A Passage to India washingtonpost.com

(I am still looking for this book)

Science behind happiness!

So what do you have to do to find happiness? TimesOnline

"Public surveys measure what makes us happy. Marriage does, pets do, but children don't seem to (despite what we think). Youth and old age are the happiest times. Money does not add much to happiness; in Britain, incomes have trebled since 1950, but happiness has not increased at all. The happiness of lottery winners returns to former levels within a year. People disabled in an accident are likely to become almost as happy again. For happiness levels are probably genetic: identical twins are usually equally bubbly or grumpy."
...
"Their holy grail is the classification of strengths and virtues. After a solemn consultation of great works such as the samurai code, the Bhagavad-Gita and the writings of Confucius, Aristotle and Aquinas, Seligman's happiness scouts discovered six core virtues recognised in all cultures: wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance and transcendence. They have subdivided these into 24 strengths, including humour and honesty.
But critics are demanding answers to big questions. What is the point of defining levels of happiness and classifying the virtues? Aren't these concepts vague and impossible to pin down? Can you justify spending funds to research positive states when there are problems such as famine, flood and epidemic depression to be solved?"
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"At the Royal Institution, Nettle explained how brain chemistry foils our pursuit of happiness in the modern world: "The things that you desire are not the things that you end up liking. The mechanisms of desire are insatiable. There are things that we really like and tire of less quickly — having good friends, the beauty of the natural world, spirituality. But our economic system plays into the psychology of wanting, and the psychology of liking gets drowned out.""
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"Happiness is neither desire nor pleasure alone. It involves a third chemical pathway. Serotonin constantly shifts the balance between negative and positive emotions. It can reduce worry, fear, panic and sleeplessness and increase sociability, co-operation, and happy feelings. Drugs based on serotonin, such as ecstasy, produce a relaxed sense of wellbeing rather than the dopamine pattern of euphoria and craving.
In essence, what the biology lesson tells us is that negative emotions are fundamental to the human condition, and it's no wonder they are difficult to eradicate. At the same time, by a trick of nature, our brains are designed to crave but never really achieve lasting happiness."

thought

what if life followed a predictable path?

Controversial book!

Book on the Mahatma stirs up a storm in Orissa from sify.com

"Michha Mahatma, claims Bibudharanjan, exposes what he calls the “false Mahatmahood” of Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi. “Gandhi is true but Mahatma is false. He was a man with all human failings but he covered them up all in his autobiography My Experiments with Truth in such a way to project himself a Mahatma. After his death his followers continued to cover up the unpalatable side of Gandhi and even went to the extent of blacking out his son Harilal's write up published in the Hindustan Standard a few days after his murder,” he says.
“In my book I have attempted a total and unbiased evaluation of Gandhiji, basing everything on evidence and documents. If the truth explodes the myth of Gandhiji's Mahatmahood, so be it. Why are the followers of Gandhi, who made a name for himself as a seeker of truth be agitated?" says Bibudharanjan.
In Michha Mahatma Gandhi's experiments with his self-imposed celibacy come in for criticism. Gandhi has been portrayed as a bad husband and a terrible father. "
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"However, Bibudharanjan is unfazed by all the dharna, police complaints and threats. "I am open to criticism. But let them go through the book and then criticise me! Not a single word is my figment of imagination. Everything is based on research. When the so-called Gandhi followers show such intolerance it explodes the myth of Gandhi as Mahatma because he too was intolerant to criticism!" "

quote

A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.
-- Chinese Proverb

What affect will these comments have?

'War on terror a struggle for soul of Islam' from IE

"He cited India as an example of how democracy can defeat the 'jihadi appeal' to Muslims.
"Democracy does seem to weaken the appeal of the terrorist extremists. As our Indian friends are quick to point out, India has the second largest Muslim population in the world. Yet thus far Muslims from India have not been discovered participating in the global 'jihad' in either Afghanistan or Iraq," he said."

Why do such people still hold offices?!?!?!!!

Gujarat IAS officer sent back from Bihar after he said ‘can’t have Dalit, OBC staff’ from IE

""Don't you have a software that identifies officials by their caste?" an IAS officer appointed by the Election Commission of India as an observer for the Bihar polls reportedly wanted to know from the state officials. When he was told that there was no such software, he allegedly pitied the condition of Bihar. "We have an excellent software in Gujarat." "