Positive Overtones

Travelling around any city in the world, one would always be exposed to a vast number of billboards, posters or flyers either advertising a product, promoting a film or expediting the sales of a magazine. But, what do we observe in all these pictures? Have you ever noticed the common thread among all these advertisings? This article aims to highlight the criteria for beauty in the media industry, its impact on men, women and adolescents, and the abuse of women in the media industry. Criterion for Beauty After observing a number of advertisements on the billboards around and the ones printed on the newspapers, I noticed one peculiar thing. Most of the models in the advertisements and film actresses, especially in India, are fair-skinned and possess a specific body-type. This observation of mine received further validation through an article I had read about the song All About the Bass by US singer Meghan Trainor. As the song progresses, one would observe that the lyrics of the...

The Pursuit of the Unknown Seeking knowledge is seeking an unknown. Wanting a burger is not the same as wanting knowledge as in the latter you do not know what you want. When we seek knowledge, we tend towards it intelligently and critically. It is a deliberate seeking. It is a combination of knowledge and ignorance. Knowledge, as it is sought consciously, intelligently, rationally, deliberately, methodically; and ignorance because we wouldn’t bother seeking if we already knew it. Finally, the possibility of the pursuit is the existence of an ideal. Development of the Ideal of Knowledge In Science In science, let us consider that the ideal of knowledge is the mathematization of nature that is that the whole of reality is in numbers. This was first proposed by the Pythagoreans who began developing laws. These laws were further improvised by Archimedes, Galileo and Euclid, to name a few, and they made systems out of it. One of the systems that emerged was that of the N...

Fear isn’t something that is inborn rather it is learnt through experience. Sigmund Freud, in his book ‘Studies in Hysteria’, would say that it is the startling experiences that we have in our childhood that get embed into our sub-conscious. Thus, when a similar situation arises, the experience in the sub-conscious is triggered. This, then, gives rise to fear. The external situations, by itself, do not cause fear, rather, it is our perception of the given situation that would or would not stimulate fear. And, thus we can say that it is we ourselves who put fear into ourselves. There are times when we feel that our fears are like an unconquerable mountain. But this is an illusion. In Joe Mannath’s book, ‘Happiness Right Now’ , he presents seven steps towards conquering fear. 1      Ask yourself what really is your fear. As you ponder on this question become aware of the thoughts going on in your mind 2.       Question the irrational assu...

The God of Small Things written by Arundati Roy in 1997 centres around the unfortunate events faced by the Syrian Catholic Ipe family. The grandmother Mammachi is a half-blind aged woman who is immensely fond of her Anglophile sib Chacko. Chacko, the Oxford boy, is an overly-proud man believing himself to be an enlightened man after his brief academic stint at England. Margaret Kochamma is Chacko’s ex-wife who comes down with her daughter Sophie during the Christmas holidays after losing her husband, Joe. Baby Kochamma is Mammachi’s ex-nun sister who converted to Catholicism out of her love for a Catholic missionary. Estha and Rahel, the two central characters are two ‘inseparable’ twins born out of a broken marriage and living with their mother Ammu. The narration in the books shuttles between the past and present yet revealing the various evils that are still practiced in society. The plot consists of two recurring themes: caste and love. Caste: This forms the main theme t...

Arun (name deliberately changed) had been an avid follower of the Game of Thrones series from the day of its inception. After following the episodes, week in and week out, he was all the more eager to see what happens at the series finale. However, he was disappointed as it had not reached his expectations. Over the past few months, there have been many cases just like Arun who have been disappointed with the series finale of the recently concluded Game of Thrones series. Many of them had even fallen into depression because they did not know what to do after the series ended. They were left with absolutely no motivation to do anything else because of their addiction to the famous TV series. Recently, in Goa, there was an event organized to help these people to come out of depression. But the fundamental question we could ask ourselves is, “Will this solve the underlying problem?” I would say no as the matter one needs to investigate a little further. Most people get addicted to ...

“All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction” – Swami Vivekananda Taking inspiration from the above mentioned quote by Swami Vivekananda I would like to present the power of an altruistic love, the possibility of a universal brotherhood brought forth out of love and respect for one another and the consequences that selfishness has on the person. India – A land that promoted love and universality For a long time now, India had been considered as the land beaming with cultural diversity, love and harmony. The peaceful blending in of the various religions ranging from Buddhism to Hinduism, from Sikhism to Jainism, from Christianity to Islam and the various other religions prevalent in specific parts of the country has really been an example for the world that a universal brotherhood is possible. However, that has been the past; but the present is very different. The present times see conflicts between various religion groups, language groups and cultural groups. The s...

Theology is a process and one never comes to a finished state of theological insight. These are the opening statements of Derek Johnston’s book A Brief History of Theology . At the outset, Johnston says that this book provides a glimpse into what theology is all about. It introduces key ideas of the theologians of various areas and what were the questions that gripped them at their particular times. The book is meant to provide the foundations for the reader to think theologically. As one goes through the book, one comes across the thoughts of great theologians and thinkers like St. Augustine, John Wesley, Karl Rahner, St. Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin to name a few. I have taken the liberty of mentioning, in brief, the thought patterns of a few of these great theologians in accordance with the book. Theologians and their thoughts St. Paul: Paul who began as an active persecutor of the Church becomes the first Christian theologian after his conversion. Being a well-educat...