Coke, Pepsi and Me

When I was 13 years of age, I read an article which discussed various ill-effects of consuming soft drinks. The article contained so many facts and backed by research that, it cajoled me not to drink soft drinks again. I decided not to drink any soft drinks again & I have stood by that decision till today at 23.

One more influencing factor other than the health aspect was that of a nationalistic one. As we know, the cradle of all these soft drink industries is the US. As we know the US is an out and out capitalistic country. Those were the times when there existed a hostile environment between India and Pakistan. As we know, Pakistan neither had/has any technologies or money of its own. So it had/has to depend on others. The major supporters were china and the US. The US is a double headed snake and can be rarely believed. So the US was the major supporter of Pakistan in its arms race against India.

The major income to the US was from the MNCs that operate in various countries. The softdrink companies are such giants that their revenue generations can be compared to the budget of some countries. These companies pay huge taxes to the government of US. So, what does this imply? Our own money is routed and is used to destruction of our own people. I thought this was outrageous when I heard Rajiv Dixit (Ajaadi Bachaoo Andolan) presenting the facts. I thought whatever small acts can be done in this direction, let me do those. This is another facet of the decision.

When people hear that I don’t indulge in soft drinks, they often ridicule me and may be I am a stooge in their eyes. But, the fact is that they are the biggest stooges. The reason is very simple. They are just indulging in false and blind imitation. The companies are successful in creating a successful brand image, to which these people are falling prey. But in a society, especially like ours, it is always the say of the majority. If majority is stupid, it is sensible to be stupid.  As someone rightly said “if you are clothed in a place where everyone is naked, you will be ridiculed”! I am in the same jinx always.

Any idiot knows that the carbon dioxide is bad for health. But if you bottle it, and sell it at a premium price, how can it become good? One should have basic intelligence to question these things. The only prop up on which the soft drink industry is standing on is promotion. Most part of the revenues is spent on promotion. The disturbing fact is that even so-called educated are falling quarry to these giants. When I see any person drinking an aerated drink, in my mind the only thought gets entwined is that education and intelligence are two separate entities and in many cases they may not have any relationship at all!!

Logic & its fallacy

Perhaps, logic in its pristine form tries to explain the cause for the effect that is apparent. So, it is nothing but reasoning. For every effect that we observe, there should be some reason which is causing it. Logic tries to explain the reason for the effect. Logic, in a way helps to cut through a problem and to see through it.

          Logic as a weapon is definitely useful for us in our day-to-day life because many problems that we face in our daily lives become impotent when viewed in the mirror of logic. But the problem with our mind is that it easily gets entangled with the things it uses the most. Logic then, becomes a trap. As someone put it rightly “when you are too good in using the hammer, everything appears to you as a nail”!! So, we start using logic for anything and everything. Then the problem starts. What was intended to be a boon becomes a bane.

          If we recollect the moments in which we were happy, those moments were the most illogical moments. In fact, a joke is an illogical thing. A joke from the beginning follows logic. In the end, abruptly becomes illogical. That’s the precise reason it becomes a joke. If everything were to be perfectly logical, probably there wouldn’t have been any laughter in this world. That’s why a perfectly logical person can not cry totally, can not laugh totally. For him, through his logic, everything becomes obvious. Laughter or grief can exist in non-obvious alone. They can’t exist in the obvious. So, in the due course he becomes more or less like a machine.

          Logic can’t capture anything that is alive. Only dead things can be captured by it. It can’t capture the beauty, love etc. Many are trying to capture god in the mesh of logic which is a very futile attempt in itself. This can be proved logically!! Logic is always dichotomous. Whatever may be the intricacies involved in the matter, after unlocking of the intricacies, ultimately there will be two choices left. Logic always culminates in this way. So, in its very nature, it is two dimensional. But god is something that is one-dimensional. All religions at least in this matter have said it unanimously that god is the one who is incomparable. How can you reason something that which is incomparable? How much ever people might try in explaining god, they are bound to fail.

          So, it is better and essential to keep the use of logic under our discretion. Else it becomes illogically logical or logically illogical!! :-) 

Fear and hope - Two Great Products

The two dominant forces that are running the show called religion all over the world are fear and hope. These are the two products which are sold by almost all the religions of the world. These products are so dominant that if you take out these two from all the religions of the world, then almost all the religions of the world would vanish like chaff in the wind.
          There is a concept of hell and heaven almost in all the religions though some of the religions may not believe in reincarnation. Again, fear of hell and the hope of heaven. On one level, one might argue that these are essential for keeping order in the society. The religions, instead of developing the society if had put efforts in developing the individuals, they would have done a great service to the mankind.
          The present religions are no more religions anymore. They are just extended political parties where head count is more important than anything else. Religions are not judged by the inner content but by the number of people it shelters. So some barbaric religions with the garb of brotherhood have come to the forefront by aggressive conversions. It is high time that people come out of organized religions.

My Books Review: Feb '11

1) Business Maharajas: It is an out and out business book written by well known Indian writer of business issues Geeta Piramal. All the people that are featured in the book are tycoons of business not only in India but the entire Asia. It is an account of the business lives of 7 business tycoons of the mid-nineties: Dhirubai Ambani, Rahul Bajaj, Adithya Birla, R.P.Goenka, Brij Mohan Khaitan, Bharat & Rajeev Shah, Ratan Tata. It is a fascinating read especially if you are from business or management background.

 

2) Sri Sai Satcharitha: This is the most revered book about Sri Shirdi Sai baba till date. It is a biographical account of the life of baba by his beloved disciple Hemandpad. It has many episodes in various time periods of baba’s life and all the miracles performed by him, many of which can fascinate the readers, especially, if have belief in baba.

 

3) Business School: This is a book authored by the best selling author of rich dad series fame Robert Kiyosaki. The book is wonderfully written and the subject matter is network marketing. It bursts out many myths associated with network marketing and tries to find out the hidden values of network marketing and eventually establishes network marketing as one of the easiest, cheapest, intelligent ways of branching out to a big business.

 

4) Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish: Written by Rashmi Bansal (Alumnus,IIMA) Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish is a tale of 25 entrepreneurs, all of them alumnus of IIMA and chose the path of entrepreneurship. In this highly readable book, all of the entrepreneurs featured have narrated their stories which are all unique. This book can be taken as inspiration or pure education. Many things we come to know in the world of business are in this book. A good read for general public, a must read for MBAs!!