tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908841325793839883.post8824045402591348269..comments2023-06-12T16:19:43.376+05:30Comments on Jinjan: Love thy things as you would love yourselfredwaterstewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03328268773860960236noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908841325793839883.post-18572139197894618462010-01-21T15:14:52.695+05:302010-01-21T15:14:52.695+05:30Back to blogging...with an unusual choice of topic...Back to blogging...with an unusual choice of topic to boot..."Love for things inanimate"...hmmm...note a standard topic of discourse but some refreshing observations...may the average time between your posts reduce dramatically...Sachin R Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17522796973945057166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908841325793839883.post-49934183826189601452010-01-20T02:33:54.128+05:302010-01-20T02:33:54.128+05:30Very interesting piece redwaterstew…thought provok...Very interesting piece redwaterstew…thought provoking too. <br />Don’t we have a phrase for the world we live in now?—“ consumeristic society”?, where everything is buy-use-throw- and buy. Don’t you realize we are not supposed to try and relate or “develop deeper commitments” to inanimate objects. If we start doing that we are shaking up a foundation that is built on billions of dollars and the entire global economy can fall flat on its face along with all the billions of livelihoods dependent on it. The cycle of demand and supply is set at a faster pace and the sad thing is we don’t have much of a choice. Having a choice seems more a luxury today; something perhaps a few urban, educated, rich intellectuals can afford. Or I should rather say there are too many cheap choices and opting out of them is the most expensive choice of all. <br /><br /> I also read one of your earlier posts on re-reading Gandhiji’s MEWT and it seemed pertinent to bring it up here. His teachings and philosophies are being resurrected and ideas like village democracy, “green economies” and local self-sufficiency that you mentioned are (apparently) being initiated. But again what worries me is who are these people initiating these movements? How genuine are they? Who is it really supposed to benefit? I don’t mean to condemn all well intended initiatives but simply being cautious I guess.<br />As somebody mentioned I am amazed too at the courage and charisma of this small, frail man to force nations to change although not surprisingly it did not keep him alive too long.<br /><br />I apologize for the pessimism in my thoughts but I guess the romantic in me has got lost somewhere in the hustle and bustle. But you keep it alive and burning serving as a good reminder to people like me. <br /><br />Excellent writing btw.<br /><br />JAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908841325793839883.post-37466457922650353852010-01-06T21:39:13.281+05:302010-01-06T21:39:13.281+05:30Hey Salil,
Another thought provoking piece from y...Hey Salil,<br /><br />Another thought provoking piece from you. Alienation of goods, de-humanising goods etc were seen by me as a generation gap. From young, I saw things as 'things' and not as animate objects;where as my dad always saw things as animate objects. He used to even talk to his Enfield Bullet. But true to his credit, those days 'things' were built to last. Now a days things are built to be junked. Its faster in the developed countries, like the US where I have lived and experienced this phenomenon. I will list a few items, which knows the 'warranty period' or the 'two year' term, its as timely as the sanyasi and the Brahma Muhurtha. Panasonic Phones are one which will stop after the two year term, batteries of laptops and phones built for two years, a ford card after 50k miles etc....need to be junked. Because repair will be costing as much as a new one. <br /><br />Hindu culture is one which has adapted itself along the way, to 'worship' things we were afraid of or which we didnt have a clue about. Snakes belong to the former, a myriad of things form the latter (dont want to even start about it).In the same way, Ayuda pooja has transformed to worship, Laptops, Cell phones, cars and bikes, refrigators (from your example), cots etc. You will see many more added materials in a Tamilian's house; lest us Hindus leave out the sacred weapon of one of the 3,08,00,898 gods, in Aravind Adiga's words.<br /><br />Get 'em on, new lines of thought...you rock.<br /><br />MohanMohan Kannanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01086989466133591349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5908841325793839883.post-51829160523622117752010-01-05T19:50:50.271+05:302010-01-05T19:50:50.271+05:30A delightful piece from, as die hard a romantic as...A delightful piece from, as die hard a romantic as I'm likely to find, Redwaterstew! Very true. Although it must be said that objects these days are often also made to be disposable. The first of such objects for me was a Reynolds 045 Fine Carbure given by a relative from Oman, which I found to my bafflement couldn't be opened to change the refill! Then someone told me people in Oman just threw pen away when the ink ran out and bought a new one. Of course when it came to India they introduced the model that could be opened and refilled. Recently we bought a new car and there was an on-going scheme (brought in by Gordon Brown in an attempt to kickstart growth in the recessive UK economy) where if we scrapped our 13 year old car, we could get a good sum of money off the new car which would make it worth buying even more than a second hand car. So we did it even though it was heart breaking. One thing I find in the UK is that things are so expensive to mend/repair. If the repair requires any tool that a normal household might not have, it almost always has to be thrown away and a new one bought. Most small objects even upto the size of a washing machine wouldn't be worth repairing purely because it would cost more than a new one.Belt Mathaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06125292947150969208noreply@blogger.com