ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND CREDITS

This blog is the outcome of a ferment that resolved years of confusion created by layers and layers of misinformation, propaganda and ignorance inbuilt in the cultural setting of my upbringing.

To provide credit to its contents is to acknowledge the source of misinformation as well as the sources that cleared the mess.
I started with an abundant resource of stories from the Hindu epics and Puranas-the Mahabharata, Ramayana and the Bhagvatham- that my grandma engaged me through early formative years. My Grandma’s narrative was so graphic that by ten years of age, I covered almost all major stories of Hindu Puranas.
Hindu Puranas, like any other religious mythologies, are tales of black and white. Black and white-hero and the villain are determined beforehand- and whatever the hero does become right and whatever the villain does become right or wrong depending on whether it confound with the ‘righteousness’ of the hero. Thus, if villain does something that appears right, and does not conflict with any of the action of the hero, villain has the possibility to be ‘right’; On the contrary, if villain does something right, but it conflicts with the action of our sworn hero, villain is wrong irrespective of every other criterion. The hero, on the other hand, can do anything he wishes. Every act of the hero would be ‘interpreted’ to appear as ‘right’ notwithstanding every other criterion of right or wrong- for our hero cannot be wrong. My attempts to decipher this concept of compulsive ‘righteousness’ of the heroes lead me to many places.

The tagline of this site is from the quote from an unknown author who stated that ‘a word is a raft when you are lost’. I read it many years ago, and had jotted it down in my notebook. Unfortunately, the notebook is lost, and what remains is a lasting impression of the quote. I tried to reverse search the phrase, but I could not find the source. I have rediscovered the meaning of the phrase in the course of my reading and reflection in last many years. The phrase lingers before me when I see vacuous debates in media when the speakers circumlocute and obfuscate when they cannot articulate a point clearly. If you have a word that is clearly defined and illustrated it cut short volumes of confusion and blurriness. The phrase captures the point in no uncertain terms. A word is indeed a raft when you are lost. The clearer the word, better the raft it forms. This site uses a host of concept-words that I believe would provide the much-needed raft in the swarm of intellectual confusion.

The images used in the site are of creative common license unless otherwise stated.

A partial list of titles and personalities that bore significant influences in the ideas described in the site are mentioned below. These include titles and speeches whose ideas that would find articulation in this site, as well as those that provoked almost contrarian thinking and conclusions.

In addition to the above-mentioned titles and speeches, I am thankful for hours of discussion we had in various social media portals including that of my alumni at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and Calicut Medical College, Calicut Kerala. I am indebted to the lengthy discussion with Dr. SB, my longtime friend answers to whose questions sprouted many new connections. SB was instrumental in introducing the works of many leading public intellectuals in the West like Jonathan Haidt, Sam Harris and Jordan Peterson. Last but not least I am indebted to my wife DJ for sparing time for my often cranky preoccupation.