Herd outlook

Individualism vs collectivism has been my long debate and been unable to find clear solution. Or to survive in a society, is there a balancing act between the two premises? Herd mentality is not so uncommon and we will often see one following a flock because its safe. My question is about if each and everyone of us, are so distinctly unique, in our thinking, then what leads to mass to follow a mass? Is it primarily because we are rejecting to think and understand and take responsibility of our actions/analysis? Or we have just trained/taught our brain to function and prevent from all possibilities of fear of rejection?
Tragedy of the commons is the conflict of interest between individual principles with common herd well-being. Reason and reasoning are purely owned by an individual. When an individual subjugates this very reasoning from others' synthesis and judgment is when the rejection of independent thinking begins to concrete. And this blind following caused by insecurity and to gain sense of belonging is dangerous.
Whenever I have discussed Roark from Fountainhead to anyone, I have always heard only one response-"Its hard/impossible to survive like him in a society and do things like he did." Not a single person opined that he was wrong, a loser or a failure. The Fountainhead is about the difference between collectivist and individualist: it shows that the dependent man could never have reason on his side, and that the independent man could never have anything else.
It takes a lot of courage and conviction to stand for truth and values and voice against wrong, sinful and immoral. But with this fear of being quarantined or rejected by "society" (I really need another post for this term), are we going to be supine and wait for more severe repercussion?

Indian Ocean live

Any good music when heard live, has a longer lasting impact. This held true yesterday when I heard Indian Ocean's sublime music live. It was nothing but pure joy and time well spent listening to very talented group of people. The impact of each instrument was distinct and fusion between guitar and tabla was simply blown. The vocals of this band have very earthy, subliminal and very folksy quality.
There were several jugalbandis interspersed with their songs array. The concert lasted for about 3 hours and closed after generously playing one extra song by audience demand...:). Melancholic ecstasy was always in my favorite's list but now I have two more added, Ma rewa and Bharam paap ke. Audience swang, waved, tapped and enjoyed every bit. I am glad I was part of it..:).

I, me, my dad and fashion

Few days back, I went to this clothing store, and was looking at some new styles in jeans. I also checked out their “destroyed look” series. It immediately reminded me of my dad. I tried one pair of jeans for the kicks, and my foot went through the destroyed part so I corrected myself and the immediate thought was why people would want to pay more for stuff that’s hazardous to normal living.
Anyway, if I ever wore that pair of jeans in front of my dad he will question me “beta, why is your jeans torn, do you not have money?” It was back in college, when my fashion cells were bursting, my dad gave me Rs.500 for emergency, mind you emergency. I went window shopping with my friends and bought Rs.399 Benetton t-shirt. When my dad saw that, he said “beta you paid Rs.400 for this baniyan?” I said daddy it’s not baniyan it’s Benetton t-shirt. He replied that it is baniyan only, it doesn’t even have collars. Oh daddy, you won’t understand. Anyway after that emergency money never happened again.
Another incidence I recall is when my dad used to take me to Bata showroom for shoe shopping. I used to always question him, dad Bata is not fashionable, he always replied, they are durable. I used to always wonder why you would want anything to be durable when you don’t like it.

Song recommendation: Patience by Guns n' Roses..here you go
Shed a tear coz I am missing you
I am still alright to smile.......

What is pleasure?

Pleasure, for anyone is not a luxury or temporary need but an essential psychological demand for survival. Through the state of real and true enjoyment, man experiences the value of life which makes you believe that life is worthwhile, worth struggling for those honest and true moments of personal victories leading to joy. When I say personal, I do not mean hidden, not shared but moments which are true deep within one's existence and not decided by usual accumulation of collectivists.
Pleasure serves as the emotional fuel of man's successful existence. Not to mention, that man's emotional mechanism will work as per his choice of values he picks up. This is of most importance because if he erred in choice of values, his emotional mechanism will neither correct him nor shield from making a wrong choice. It is found that that there are four broad categories that allow human being to experience the enjoyment: productive work, human relationships, recreation and art (this includes array of things). Each one is inter connected and successful optimization of each will affect the others giving a fulfillment in life.
Man of self-esteem experiences the pure unadulterated enjoyment of using his faculties correctly and of achieving actual values in reality. A rational self-confident man is motivated by a love of true values and by a desire to achieve them. The difference in motivation is reflected, not only in the things different men seek for pleasure but also in the nature of the pleasure they will experience.

Critical task

Women make about 50% of the world's population and ironically, they also form a segment which is underrepresented in several categories. Education, economic growth, politics and global development are just a handful of sections. I am, by no means, ignoring, the precentage who has already made their way, or is on its' way. This concern is towards the massive number who has never seen the light beyond managing a household by forced circumstances of early marriage and numerous other circumstantial surroundings created by our society and eliminating the choices. Choice which is provided by awareness and independent thinking and both of which are spin-offs of right kind of education imparted at the right age & right time.
Question goes back to the history, who made these rules and assumed that its' a "weaker sex" and defined a role for them? or was it a conscious selection by them itself? These are the questions that have always intrigued me and would certainly like to know: why was it like that, what is the driving force that is causing a current of change and whether this wave will sustain, recede or disappear.
Some of the solutions that I can think of are:

• guaranting women's rights and effective policies and regulations.
• more rigorous implementation of holistic education system.
• ensuring safer environment to increase their presence by addressing violence and abuse.
  
• investing in economic development by making them key players.

Of course, all the above issues and solutions are interrelated and co-dependence of one on the other is explicit. Some results will be immediate and some not so prompt. Needless to say, that it will lead to eradication of poverty, illiteracy and low social status of a huge population. Most importantly, women play a key role in education and growth of a growing population- youth, and hence the positive outcome is bi-fold.