Non-humans – Unseen victims of the modern day holocaust.

PART ONE – A GRIM REALITY

Recently there has been a lot of hue and cry about the government of India’s so-called ban culture. Most see it for what it is – majority appeasement. But a fact of good humor is that, for human beings, it is always easier to support the idealogies they themselves stand for. It is widely recognized by intellectuals all around the world that change is the only constant. And an idea that cannot change with time, cannot survive. But still, humans are so aversive to change when someone raises a question mark on their own choices, habits, traditions and cultures.

One particular instance of this ban culture – the several bans on various forms of exploitation of the cow – is one that I would like to talk about. The cow is revered to be a sacred animal for Hindus – hence to a majority of Indians. Many animals fall into the sacred category, but the cow is believed to be the most sacred of all. It is believed that Lord Krishna was himself a cow-herder and one of his favorite foods was butter. The cow is also quite a useful animal if thought of as a commodity. India is the largest producer (and one of the largest consumers) of milk and milk products, with 16% of global produce coming alone from India[1]. India also is the world’s largest beef exporter with $4.8 billion in revenues from beef and veal (the meat obtained from baby calves)[2]. India is also one of the largest leather producers[3] where there is an ever rising demand for products made out of cow-hide and hides of other animals, throughout the country and the rest of the world. So it is evident that we have successfully commodified and made thriving industries out of cow exploitation – indeed the cow has become a source of wealth and prosperity to our nation – she is indeed sacred as Krishna would testify – and justifiably called ‘mother’ – a symbol of life and nourishment.

But amidst all of these facts where the line between being a sacred animal and being a useful piece of commodity becomes hazy, we all forget the most important thing – what does the cow feel about it? Let us for a moment assume, that human beings are superior to other non-humans (a very doubtful conjecture) and that our heightened intelligence is a measure of that superiority. It is a well known fact that all sentient beings – birds, animals and fish – have all the capabilities of humans – intelligence, fear, anger, happiness, sadness, empathy, love. In many instances, animals have proven to have showcased even better quality of intelligence than humans of the same age[4]. It also is very true that we need animals and birds in our life and our world to sustain our planet. Every animal serves its purpose. The ants, the bees, the wolves or the elephants – every single animal serves a particular purpose to maintain the eco-system of the planet. If all the ants were to vanish, our eco-system would immediately collapse. If all the bees were to go, a third of our food crops won’t be pollinated. The same cannot be said of human beings though – the one species which has systematically destroyed most of the eco-system of the planet, and making it move towards a global environmental apocalypse sooner than predicted. Humans are also the only species which has recorded evidence of large scale torture, exploitation and murder of members of their own species. Terms like racism, ableism, sexism, communalism, casteism, classism and homophobia and the discrimination that follows from them – the root causes of all wars and destruction – are found in the human species alone. How then can we self-proclaim ourselves to be superior to other sentient beings? Should we not have put our intelligence to better use, if at all we were intelligent?

So the assumption, or even the thought, that human beings are superior to non-humans is very wrong and self-righteous. The term for this thought is ‘Speciescism'[5] – now believed to be the mother of all the other -isms mentioned before. All non-humans, as humans, have equal right to life and the planet, regardless of their intelligence, or usefulness to humans, and the sooner this fact is realised and acknowledged the better it is for the planet. Coming back to what the cow thinks of the hugely successful industries surrounding it (/s abuse), can only be imagined as a horrifying biography. The milk industry and its produce – cow’s milk – could be anything but pure in reality. Female cattle in India are converted into milk producing machines mostly through artificial insemination – a forceful injection of semen (an action tantamount to rape) – and once they give birth, their babies are immediately taken away from them to slaughterhouses where they are used in the veal and calf-leather industries[6]. The milk produced is also laden with pus from infections to the cow from being constrained in poor conditions. Recent research has also shed light on a big myth surrounding cow’s milk in India – that it is healthy for the body and is a great source of calcium, a vital component for the development of bones. Milk is also considered to be sacred, and is thus widely used in religious ceremonies. The reality is nowhere near to this belief. The fact that Indians also have the highest rate of osteoporosis and other diseases owing to lack of calcium in the bones should be testament to this. Like all animal protein, milk acidifies the body’s pH levels which in turn triggers a biological correction. A very excellent acid neutralizer – ironically the same calcium found in our bones – is then utilized by the body to correct the ill effects of milk. The calcium found in cow’s milk is hardly absorbed by the body, hence a systematic depletion of calcium occurs the more we drink milk leading to severe bone related diseases in adulthood and old age. Milk is also the most adulterated product in India as the demand for milk is far greater than the produce. So it is far from being pure. Ayurveda actually lists milk as one of the five white poisons[20]. If all this sounds hogwash to you, think about it, isn’t it surprising that every pharmacy in India almost always has a reserve of calcium supplements? How come a country with the highest milk consumption rates – supposedly the best source of calcium – is also the country with the highest calcium deficiencies?

If our own health is put aside for a moment, the dairy industry should be recognised for what it is – an industry supporting large scale torture and violence. The booming beef, veal and leather industries are only by-products of the humongous dairy industry. Hundreds of millions of cows are bred in India for milk, most males are sent immediately to slaughter. The females are sent after they have outlived their usefulness. It is not so easy to see that such a large meat industry cannot be sustained if cattle were bred for meat alone. India is also home to the largest cow slaughterhouse in Hyderabad, the inner workings of which, can only be described as hell on earth for the poor animals[7]. The limbs are broken, eyes gouged out, and scalding hot water poured on them for making the skin soft, all while the animal is alive. Then they are hung upside down and their throats slit, slowly letting the blood drip out, while air is pumped into the body through a hole in the stomach, to easily extract the skin, as it is important for animal to be alive for the skin to be of high quality. Then the cow is cut into four parts, and processing machines package the meat into cans ready for export and human consumption. If this description makes you nauseous, think about how it will be to witness this spectacle of human cruelty with your own eyes, and worse, for the animals to go through it every day, day after day, after undergoing a life full of pain and torture to end in such a horrible death. What have they done to deserve this?

The cow may be the most exploited animal in India. But we have not left the other animals in peace either. Due to the growing economic stature of the Indian middle class, a society which was largely vegetarian in the past, a condition was forced upon us from the Western invaders, a condition signifying affluence, has taken over – the consumption of meat. And to feed the growing hunger for meat of a country of one billion, extensive measures have to be taken to produce meat in large quantities and in quick time. Hence poultry farms in India (as around the world) have to cram even more chickens into cages and feed them enormous amounts of soy and grain – food which could very well have been used to feed the 200 million Indians who go hungry every day. Seven-eight of these birds are kept locked up in one cage for sometimes over two years, resulting in quite obviously – stress and disease[8]. Moreover, when a bird is slaughtered, death and the very idea of it, often results in stress induced hormones like cortisol – which are then passed on to humans consuming the meat[9]. There are machines to de-beak chickens so that they cannot harm each other while suffering from nervous anxiety in a crammed space. De-feathering techniques exists as well, which involve throwing live chickens in scalding hot water. Pig slaughterhouses are no different. And so are fish and marine farming. According to a professor of marine science getting hooked on a line is “like dentistry without Novocain, drilling into exposed nerves”, all at the same time pulled out of water slowly suffocating to death[18]. Almost all animals meant for food suffer terrible conditions in life and end in a horrifying death. All in the name of some acquired taste which cannot seem to be satiated for anything less. The worst part being, knowing all of what goes on, we still prefer to live in denial rather than give up the taste of something which causes infinite suffering to sentient beings such as us, every day, for each day of our existence.

Many people attribute consuming meat to be good for health and consider animal protein to be the only source of protein. A lot of ignorance has to be shed on such thinking. Dr Michael Greger in his famous talk ‘Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death'[10] explains in detail using scientific publications on the ill effects of consuming meat and the benefits of a plant-based diet, and how 15 of the 16 leading causes of death in the US are caused only by consuming meat, fish eggs and dairy. Accidents being the 16th one not caused by diet. Indeed it is well known that diabetes, high blood pressure, chronic diseases of the heart and even alzheimers can be attributed to the consumption of animal protein. Fish and other sea-food are shown to have high density of heavy metal deposits like mercury and consuming them directly affects our bodies with poisonous heavy metals as well[18]. Eating meat literally kills us and it is not a secret to be kept from the public by the huge industries profiteering off meat. The World Health Organization(WHO) eventually also came up with a report that says consuming meat indeed causes cancer[11]. If the law of karma were to be true, the ill effects of consuming something which has such a violent history cannot in any way be beneficial to the consumer. And this is now proven, beyond doubt, to be a harsh reality.

Around 50 bilion land animals are slaughtered all over the world for food every year. Very large concentrated farms are required to house billions of animals. The single largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions in the world is not the smoke from cars or planes or ships, but the untreated waste of animals in factory farms. Factory farming is responsible for 37% of all methane emissions[12]. Aside from polluting the air, to hold billions of animals, farms require huge amounts of land which results in deforestation and water pollution. Besides, harming the planet, eating meat is harmful for human sustainability as it is the most unsustainable resource. All kinds of animal products have a huge water footprint[13]. One kilogram of beef for example, takes 5000 gallons of water to produce. That is equivalent to the water needed to shower for 1 year! Also the rate of conversion of fossil fuel energy needed to produce an equivalent amount of nutrient energy (calories) from animal sources as opposed to plant sources is very very low, in the case of eggs for example it is 39 to 1[14] which means for 39 units of energy required to produce an egg, it offers only 1 unit of energy as nutrition. This makes meat, eggs and dairy completely unsustainable for a country as large as India, and the world as a whole, and their production is clearly the most wasteful in terms of energy and the environment.

Food is just one side of the story of animal abuse. Elephants are also regarded as sacred in India, as for Hindus, the elephant headed God – Ganesha, is widely regarded as the remover of all obstacles. Yet, India could be further from the best place for elephants. Elephants being chained and beaten regularly to perform in circuses is a common fact. But temple elephants decorated and used in processions during religious festivals also suffer a great deal. During these festivals the animals have to endure elevated levels of noise from bursting of crackers and thronging crowds. They are chained and paraded for 8-10 hours a day all in the name of lord Ganesha. Yet, no-one even spares a thought to what the animal actually thinks and feels. Exploiting snakes on Nag-panchami, mass sacrificing goats on Eid, or buffaloes on Durga puja, religious festivities and rituals have become synonymous with animal abuse and murder. What kind of God would wish for such evil brought down on His creations, of such magnitude, in His name?

Animal experimenting is also on the large in India, with monkeys, rabbits and other animals being extensively used to test new drugs and/or cosmetics. In any phase of life, it is not difficult to find some kind of animal abuse and torture happening for the sake of our needs and pleasure. It is so all-pervading that it may seem difficult to come out of it. But only a very small conscious step in the right direction can provide a large door for mankind to step into the future where such practices of violence and oppresion on non-humans will one-day, become obsolete.

PART TWO – A GROWING REVOLUTION

Gandhi once said “Violence begins with the fork”. Although the situation all around seems grim and people are tucked away in their comfort zones, or fighting for causes which seem ‘more important’ for our own species, there is a slow but steady revolution around the world which is growing every day. A revolution which says no to inhumanity, which allows us to accept all sentient beings as part of our planet, which allows for a free expression of love and compassion without any form of hypocrisy or conceit. A plant-based vegan diet, and an overall vegan lifestyle – indicating no use of animal derived products, either for food, or for leisure – while being the most effective form of protest against a grotesque culture surrounding animal abuse, is also slowly proving itself to be the best diet suitable for humans.

Humans are instinctively friendly to other animals as Gary Yourofsky explains in his famous talk [19] using the example of a child being given a live chick and an apple. Gary claimed that if the child tried to play with the apple and put the chick in its mouth, he would give up on veganism! Of course such a scenario will never take place as children are not predisposed to violence as adults are and eating meat is a result of continued conditioning while entirely keeping in wraps what goes behind the scenes. It is quite scary to think how we program our own children into believing that such inhuman violence and abuse to animals is the right thing to do, while their instincts always teach them to be otherwise. Humans are natural herbivores and there is enough evidence for this fact[15] in scientific literature already. Hence it is more than obvious that a plant-based whole food diet is the best with regards to human metabolism, nutrition and longevity. Dr. Greger’s talk proves beyond doubt that this is true, and a large number of athletes, body-builders and other health enthusiasts are reaffirming this fact.

Many non-vegans complain that vegan food tastes like cardboard. Although taste is the most selfish reason to hold onto meat, it is also easier to convince someone to eat something else if it were as tastier. Vegan food companies like Hampton Creek Foods, and Beyond Meat have invested great efforts in coming up with plant based alternatives to meat, which are sustainable, healthy and better for the environment. Hampton Creek CEO, Josh Tetrick, a vegan for 25 years himself, argues that his company’s products aim to be 10 times better in almost all aspects (health, environment and cost) than products (obtained using animals) of his contemporaries. Contests involving best tasting food, such as burgers or cupcakes have already seen vegan winners[16][17] putting all arguments of meat tasting better at rest.

We have all the knowledge. We have all the will. All that is needed is the first step. To stop contributing to any more suffering where enough exists already. Every single conscious choice on what to eat, wear or support makes a huge difference – to our health, to the planet, and most importantly to the animals. We need to be the change that we wish to see in the world. And to make a huge change to the world, we might just have to start at our dinner plates.

References:

[1] http://www.fao.org/agriculture/dairy-gateway/milk-production/en/
[2] http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-on-top-in-exporting-beef/article7519487.ece
[3] http://www.petaasia.com/issues/clothing/inside-the-leather-industry/
[4] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2522501/Think-humans-smarter-animals-Think-Some-creatures-SUPERIOR-brains–just-dont-understand-them.html
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speciesism
[6] http://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/whats-behind-that-glass-of-milk/article4675921.ece
[7] https://www.change.org/p/narendra-modi-k-chandrashekar-rao-al-kabeer-and-allana-abbatoir-in-hyderabad-break-several-rules-ban-cattle-slaughter
[8] http://www.petaindia.com/issues/animals-used-for-food/vegetarian-vegan-starter-kit-2/chickens/
[9] http://www.wholevegan.com/meat.html
[10] https://youtu.be/L0Eg0WL6NCE
[11] http://www.who.int/features/qa/cancer-red-meat/en/
[12] http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/factory-farming-is-killing-the-environment/
[13] http://waterfootprint.org/en/water-footprint/product-water-footprint/water-footprint-crop-and-animal-products/
[14] http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/78/3/660S.full
[15] http://www.vegsource.com/news/2009/11/the-comparative-anatomy-of-eating.html
[16] http://metro.co.uk/2015/11/11/the-best-burger-in-the-world-has-been-announced-and-it-has-no-meat-in-it-5493619/
[17] http://vegnews.com/articles/page.do?pageId=3036&catId=1
[18] https://www.navs-online.org/animal_issues/fish_fishing/troubledwaters.php
[19] https://youtu.be/es6U00LMmC4
[20] http://www.alternet.org/story/12002/white_poison%3A_the_horrors_of_milk

Is a self-sustainable, off-grid, global eco-village possible in Assam?

PRELUDE

Assam is a state in North East India and is also my homeland. Guwahati, the largest city in Assam, is my hometown. But I always had more reasons to detest Guwahati than to like it. There were many reasons for  my displeasure – the overall state of the city, unplanned buildings, terrible (or rather no) drainage, the unruly traffic, the difficult and utter chaotic public transportation, the crass attitude of the people, pollution and all of the rampant corruption. Besides, the summer months are terribly hot even (and especially) inside the house and I am not someone who is a huge fan of extreme weather conditions. However, a visit to my grandparents’ home close to Jorhat town always used to be exciting. I loved the surroundings, the trees, the gentle breezes, the plentiful ‘baris’ (vegetable gardens), the animals and birds, the huge pond, and mostly the simple people. It was always relaxing to spend time in a village, away from the city life, but a few days in and one comes to realize that all of the quietness and peaceful atmosphere also have their drawbacks – frequent power cuts, needing to travel a long distance just to get an LPG cylinder refill, lack of high quality educational institutions or the unavailability of quality health care for my ailing grandparents, which meant they’d always have to travel to the nearest large city – my hometown Guwahati, of which I mentioned the cons before. I imagined that this trade-off always had to exist and was a part of the natural order of things.

In the city, space (land) is the most expensive resource, hence the possibility of growing one’s own food in a ‘bari’ doesn’t exist for most people living there. Also if one is not well off, life is quite a struggle. For example one cannot afford an air-conditioner during the summer months, or an inverter (a very large car battery) to use during power cuts. The only thing that was better in the city was the possibility of attending a better school or college, and having access to more career opportunities.

Cut to the present, 7 years hence, I’ve lived away from Assam. Firstly, two years in Bangalore where I worked in the industry. Thereafter, I moved to Germany to pursue my Masters and now I’m living in Sweden, working on my PhD and continuing on an academic career. Living in Europe expanded my horizons and led me to realize a lot of things. Firstly, you don’t need to own much to live a good life. People here are very different to how people are in India – they are less stressed with life and worry less about the future. And surprisingly this is not a result of owning more, but rather everyone being more equal. I also began to read more and discover about alternative lifestyles in the West, where people were turning towards a more holistic form of living. I read about eco-villages, community housing, resource sharing, money-less living, free education and the impact that such holistic living has had on people. It dawned on me that this entire rat race of running after money, and a job which pays more money, and an education which leads to such a job, and the corruption prevalent in all of these spheres is totally unnecessary. It is like a backward step towards a more humane and civilized society. And all of this is because of the lack of basic resources and the scarcity that plagues us in India, and the way that we think is the right way to fix this – try to own more stuff for ourselves. I wonder if this approach had made us any happier. Thinking a bit back in time, where our villages thrived at one point in history while living holistically, but are abandoned now in lieu of a ‘better life’ in a mega city – leading to unsustainable populations and all of their after effects. I thought to myself, if people had all the basic resources that they needed – food, clothing, shelter, education, healthcare and a feeling of community, would they still flock to the cities? Because at the current level of technology that the world is at, global scarcity is not an unsolved problem, it is only the distribution that is messed up.

In the last 7 years, I also began to think more about my homeland, and the people living in Assam. They do not possess most of the facilities taken for granted in the West. But the most important thing that they do not possess is the knowledge of how far technology has advanced! Most technologies are prevalent in India, but are not widespread. And people are not interested (or even aware) in truly life-improving technologies as the education that most of the youth seek is mostly in those fields which land a job with a good salary. This is justified because everyone wants a good life. Hence they move into banking, finance, MBA, law and the engineering of drilling oil. Which perpetuates the vicious cycle of ignorance, waste and infinite consumption. If people did not have to go full circle and realize it the hard way as most people in the West have (that owning more doesn’t guarantee more happiness) India would progress way more rapidly, not just in GDP, but in overall happiness of its populace. Indeed, in recent decades, although the GDP has increased, the average Indian has not become more happy, definitely not counting those who finally succeeded in becoming an NRI, and hence presumably happy.

A NEW SOCIO-ECONOMIC SYSTEM

I’m a big fan of decentralized systems. They are way more easier to handle and manage than a centralized system. Also when one part goes wrong, the remaining parts keep functioning, largely regardless of the failing part, depending on how independent each part is. This is true for what is known as peer-to-peer computer networks, crypto-currencies, smart contracts and many other systems in software. The same principle can be applied to a social network. Dunbar’s number is a value assigned to the maximum number of close relationships that one person may have in their lifetime. This includes family, friends, partners, colleagues and all of the people one might encounter during their lives. This number is 150. Hence it is possible to assume that 150 or its thereabouts is a good estimate for the size of an independent community working and living together as a group.

The economy of sharing works as follows – every single person volunteers to work according to his or her skill set. Or to do the things they like to do. Jobs which are ‘valuable to life’ are the only jobs necessary in this economy. For example farming, teaching, engineering, design and construction. All other jobs are either needless or are delegated to computers. Technology is fully embraced in this economy and there are no such things as planned obsolescence – everything is made to last as long as possible and with the best materials available nearby. Since there is no concept of money, or profit, this kind of thinking is made possible. Also the entire thought process of creating something lies in sustainability and preservation. That is to use materials which are good, cost effective, easier to maintain in the future, and easily recyclable – a thought process which is severely lacking in our current systems of economy, in nation states, all around the world.

The aim of this system being small and decentralized is facilitated by all of its requirements being off-grid. That is, all of the resources that this community needs for a rich and thriving lifestyle are made available on site. Food can be grown on gardens and greenhouses, and possibly with modern techniques like hydroponics, aquaponics and aeroponics, on ground or on terraces, or even building walls – providing for more than adequate food supply for the residents. More resource intensive or exotic food that cannot be grown on site, can be procured from outside the commuity by money earned from skill exchanges, which I shall describe in a moment.

A vertical aeroponic system. Aeroponics and Hydroponics allow vegetables to be grown without the usage of soil.

The main challenge of living off-grid is power (hence off-grid), but with the advent of technology it has also become very feasible and practical for power to be a decentralized resource. The sun, which can be thought of as the largest naturally occuring nuclear reactor, shines in abundance in almost all parts of India, and most parts of the world. It is indeed, the only energy source powering the entire planet since eternity. Hence it is only obvious that solar should be the primary source of power. In Assam, there is no dearth of rivers and streams, which means small scale hydro projects like vortex flows could also possibly be used to generate power. Besides there are other options like wind etc. A solar system, once set up, requires almost no additional maintainance and can provide electricity to the entire community at all times. But as always, since preservation is key, residents should use all resources judiciously.

Power generation capacity additions in GW. Renewables just recently tipped fossil fuels to become the largest means of power generation in the world. Source: BloombergBusiness.

Another important resource is water. Thinking of Assam, the mighty river Brahmaputra and the problems that we face with drinking water, or with the amount of rainfall that we get, owing to which our streets always getting clogged with floods ever since I can remember, I cannot seem to be bemused enough at the irony of it all. The one thing that we should have been masterful at is the use of water! This really shows our combined progress (or rather, anti-progress) as a society.

Blaming governments and corrupt leaders do not lead us to solutions. More importantly, we need to learn how to harness the power of water. Ample amounts of drinking water can be obtained using natural multi-layer filtration methods on rainwater, harvested through the roofs of buildings. This water can also be used for other household purposes like in the kitchen or showers. The idea of all water flowing through European taps being potable is something I really like a lot. And a well thought of rainwater harvesting and drainage system on our roofs can make this very easily affordable. Water used up in showering or the kitchen can go through a cycle of reuse for flushing toilets after which the resulting water (black water being the technical term) can be treated further and fed to the greenhouse and outer areas, where the plants nourish themselves being part of the same cycle. Furthermore, moats surrounding small buildings can either serve as natural swimming pools or an aeroponic system with fish etc. The important part is to always keep the water flowing using natural elevations or artificial means like a pump for example. Drainage is key. In this way, a well planned design built into the system can both provide for efficiency and usefulness.

Inside of an Earthship

Shelter is almost the most important part of community living, since a house is what makes the idea perceivable. Keeping up with our principles of sustainability and preservation, the current state of modern construction is nothing but horrifying. Cement and steel are some of the world’s most unsustainable building materials contributing to large amounts of carbon emissions. They are also expensive and owing to malpractices in the construction industry, it is often reported that buildings are not sturdy enough as they are supposed to be. Indeed cement and steel are strong materials, but they are unsuitable to our climate for many reasons. They neither sequester carbon, something which hempcrete does, nor do they have thermal mass, which cob (a combination of mud and straw) provides. Materials readily available in Assam would indeed be bamboo and cob, which, although people might detest initially as impractical and old fashioned, are the best low-cost and energy efficient building materials, perfect for a home in the hot and humid climate of Assam. Bamboo and Cob houses can be extremely beautiful if designed well. The Green School and the buildings and hotels built by the company Ibuku in Bali, Indonesia are great examples of how beautiful, strong and resilient buildings based on bamboo architecture can be. Cob is known as the best material providing thermal mass, which means a house made of cob would remain cool inside during summers, and warm during winters. Which would reduce energy costs for usage of fans, and possibly remove the need for air conditioners entirely. Also these houses are very strong, and resilient to earthquakes as well. Indeed, cob houses once built can last hundreds of years.

Bamboo buildings in Bali

Interiors of a cob house

Apart from greenhouses to produce food, the surroundings of the buildings can also be covered with trees to provide shade and keep the temperatures down during the summer. Composting toilets can be used to allow human waste to be directly recyclable and reducing the amount of water usage.

Another very important feature of an independent community is the medium of exchange. Should we go back to barter again? Who decides the costs of resources? Well, in a truly self-sustainable community, the usage of money should be very limited, if at all necessary. The everyday resources like food, water and energy available should be sufficient for all and everyone should have an equal contribution during the construction process and initial setup – essential items like solar panels, computers, building equipment etc. Various in-house and community wide businesses can be set up for income inflow from the rest of the world. Like selling local organic fruits and vegetables, or education provided in schools within the community for people willing to learn a skill, but not having adequate resources to join a standard classroom. Businesses existing online can be entirely run from within the community, without the hassles of needing to rent out office space or maintaining a hierarchy of workers as in a standard company. Everyone is equal, there are no fixed timings, and all the proceeds go to essential items for the entire community. It might seem as if the people in the community will very likely end up in differences owing to issues like ‘who owns how much’, but that is exactly the point to be addressed. To share is to care as a whole. There should be no concept of ‘I’ or ‘myself’ or the need to ‘own’ anything. The only goal is to maintain the overall well-being of the community as a whole, and this indeed will result in increased well being of every individual, as proven to be the case in more equal societies throughout the world. Moreover, no one individual is forced to continue living in the community against their will. The only reason to live together is to want to live together.

That being said, the use of a medium of exchange in the form of a crypto-currency is the best way for exchange of valuable goods and services within the community which do not otherwise belong to the common community as a whole. Crypto-currencies are good because they are decentralized and not tied to a central authority like a bank, they are not prone to inflation as the number of currency tokens in crypto-currencies is always a constant and they can be divided to a possibly infinite resolution. They also distinguish a unique form of exchange between the inhabitants within the community and if needed the community themselves can decide on how they want their economy to function, have a minimum wage for everyone, for example. A community wide accepted rate of exchange with standard forms of currency can be decided upon for outsiders who join the community for the first time. There is no use of this currency outside the community.

The Bitcoin is one of the world’s most popular crypto-currency.

Although a lot can be devised upon the use of this currency, the idea should still be to go the money-less way. The monetary system is indeed the cause of all the suffering and hardship that the world is facing right now as it encourages infinite growth (and infinite greed) on a finite planet with finite resources. This can never be sustainable, and the idea of money should not exist in a community striving for equality and harmony with nature and the environment.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

So we’ve seen that an almost fully self-sustainable community, with a resource sharing based economy and an outlook towards preservation and conservation can truly be built not only in Assam, but anywhere in India or around the world. But what are the benefits of such a system? For one, all inhabitants get the pleasure of living in a truly rural atmosphere, with natural swimming pools, trees, home grown food, a cosy shelter as well as the sense of community and belonging-ness.  If the community manages to house a few experts in the fields of engineering and medicine, the internal expertise gets a big boost. And this is highly likely in a community of 150 or so like-minded individuals. Also, home schooling becomes a possibility if people within the community are well versed with science, arts, history and language, with the internet helping out a great deal as well.

With the elimination of money, a great deal of problems are solved automatically. All basic needs being taken care of, and excess of anything not welcomed, the community grows equally with no inherent social stigma or class divisions created due to economic imbalances. Education and progressive thoughts being the key.

Another very important thing that several such eco-villages located somewhat away from the bustling cities bring about is a decrease in over-crowding of the cities. Imagine if all villages had all of the basic amenities sorted out, most people will not leave their houses and land in the village and live in slums in and around a city for a better life. By incentivizing the lifestyle in a village to be no worse (even better!) than living in a city, we’ll notice that the life in the city also gets better – with reduced pollution, lesser inconveniences in management and an overall reduced economic inequality leading to lesser crimes and a plethora of other related social problems.

Thus, to build a model self-sustainable, global eco-village is truly the solution to all the inadequacies of the current system in Assam. Organic food, water, shelter and power are freely available to anyone within the community. Education within the community is also freely made available by teachers who volunteer. Houses are built keeping sustainability and preservation in mind. Strong, resilient and readily available natural building materials are used to cut carbon emissions and enable living in a greener way.

All of this being said, this good willed, sharing-centric and technologically and humanely progressive community is still a distant dream for me. I am on the lookout for individuals or groups who would possibly be interested in helping me build and live together in this community and make it grow further, to serve as an example for the whole country. I am always looking forward to discuss the current implementation ideas that I presently have, in detail, and ways to improve upon them. I believe in the idea of open-source, which is indeed about sharing resources and know-how. Hence these foundations can only grow with time and improve.

My inspiration for these ideas come from various sources and people, most notably Jacque Fresco of ‘The Venus Project’, Peter Joseph’s ‘The Zeitgeist Movement’, Michael Reynolds’ ‘Earthships’, John Hardy’s Green school and Elora Hardy’s works with Ibuku, ideas like Open Source Ecology, AirBnB, Couchsurfing, The World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) initiative, the Occupy movement and related movements and the countless many eco-village and self-sustainability advocates all around the world for your splendid open-source contributions on the internet. The world is coming together as one, and your work is proof of it.

The quantum weirdness in infinite series summations

Infinite series do account for interesting results and possibilities. One such result that is used a lot in theoretical physics is this one :

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + … = – 1 / 12

You can take a look at this youtube video for the proof : http://youtu.be/w-I6XTVZXww

More specifically there is another series from which this proof is derived :

S = 1 – 1 + 1 – 1 + 1 …

The answer to which is surprisingly, 1/2. The proof is simple :

S = 1 – 1 + 1 – 1 + 1.. = 1 – (1 – 1 + 1 – 1 + … ) = 1 – S

=> 2S = 1 => S = 1/2.

Imagine this thought provoking example, you have a bulb with a switch and you change the state of the switch from 0 to 1, or from 1 to 0 after a time T_n = T_(n-1)/2. So say you started by turning the switch ON at time T_0 = 1 minute, you would turn it OFF at T_1 = 1.5 minutes and then ON again at T_2 = 1.75 minutes and so on. So from the above result, we can say that at the end of 2 minutes, the bulb will achieve neither an ON or an OFF state, but something exactly in between. This seems like some sort of quantum weirdness is in effect!

Or our proof systems are all flawed.

The transition to a sustainable future post monetary economics.

 This article is split into multiple sections for ease of understanding, if one is aware beforehand, of the reasons mentioned underneath a header, s/he may safely skip it. Please reach me at arctic.quasar@gmail.com in case of questions and doubts, and I would be more than happy in elaborating to any extent on a certain topic, as I believe that the future is something which we are all responsible for.

All Money is Debt.

Have you ever wondered where your money came from? Or why almost the entire world is in debt? And who do we actually owe these humongous sums to, if everyone is in debt? Why do markets crash and we end up in a financial crisis, like the Great Depression of the 1930s or the Great Recession few years back, and people end up in abject poverty while all major industries, factories and farms still stand? These issues raise serious questions about the workings of our current economic system, free market capitalism and how banks “create money out of thin air”.

To depress you a bit more. All money is created out of debt. Most of the debt we see around ourselves does not exist in the first place. Banks create money out of debt. This is why we have people (and nations) going into huge debts which are logically infeasible to pay off. This is the prime reason behind the top 1% of the world’s population owning 40% of the world’s resources (read : money). And people working in financial institutions and all the major stock exchanges make money by buying and selling debt! To understand a bit more clearly let us go back a couple of centuries when money first came into being. This story is commonly referred to as the ‘Goldsmith’s Tale’. Initially as the barter trade became cumbersome, people started to use ‘coins’ of some rare metal, usually silver or gold which facilitated ease of trade. Soon coins became unwieldy as well, and along came a ‘goldsmith’ who offered to safeguard the coins in his huge protected vault, meant to keep his own coins safe, and in turn offer lightweight paper money – some sort of agreement in exchange of which one could get back the gold – which was much easier to use and carry around. He also charged a small rent to his depositors in lieu of safeguarding their coins. Time passed and more and more people started to deposit their gold in exchange for paper money. Also people who formerly asked for loans from the goldsmith, began to ask for paper money instead, owing to its ease of use. The goldsmith thus discovered a clever idea. He could lend his depositors’ gold alongwith his own to his lenders and profit from a larger interest, and since all depositors would never come in all at once to ask their gold back, this would work out well. Soon the goldsmith enjoyed a great income and began to flaunt his wealth, of which the townsfolk – the actual depositors – became suspicious. They all barged in on the goldsmith together one day, to see if he was lending their gold, but to their surprise, all their gold was still in the vault! Nonetheless, they demanded a small interest for their deposits, which the goldsmith easily agreed to. He could afford to pay this from the interest he charged to his lenders, still maintaining a small profit. Matters subsided and the goldsmith became dissatisfied with the measly amounts of profits he was making. Trade was increasing, and so were the demands for increased credits, but our goldsmith, or rather banker now, had only a limited amount of gold to lend. He then came across an even better idea – he would let out more paper money than he had actual gold. In this way he could profit from an even larger interest sum, from gold that did not even exist. And since no-one knew how much gold was in his vault but himself, this sounded like a foolproof plan. Once again, the goldsmiths ostentatious wealth triggered suspicions, and people began to claim their gold back. More and more people flocked to the goldsmith as these suspicions grew large. And then there came a time when the goldsmith did not have enough gold to pay back. The ‘bank’ was run on and people lost faith in this system. Even so, since increase of trade was so important, governments began legalizing this process of creating money out of debt, and imposed restrictions on the ratio of real to fake money, also known as the ‘Fractional Reserve System’. In case of run ons, a so called Central Bank provided emergency access to gold. Naturally, if there were too many run ons, the system could thus crash.

Cut to the modern world, this is no longer the case. The enormous amounts of debts prevalent today has shrunk the gold to money ratio to almost zero. So now instead of representing value, money represents debt. Also the previously existing bank checks, or paper money were a pledge for actual gold. But now a paper banknote can only be exchanged for another paper banknote and no such obligation exists. As more debt means X times more money for the bank to lend, banks encourage credit spending. The interests paid by the poor who cannot afford the required amenities for life, and thus rely on loans from banks, go to the rich depositors making them richer. Thus the ever widening gap in our social strata. But if this was not enough, the evils of the monetary system are far more pronounced and are becoming more rampant by the day.

Technological Unemployment

Nearly all major social changes in society can be attributed to technological advancements. With the technology that we have today it is possible to feed, clothe and provide shelter to all of people in the planet. And not just that, we can in fact thrive with a high standard of living for all of us. How is this possible? By fixing the problems of distribution. It is not hard to see that machines are able to produce more than what is needed in all spheres, and are consistently improving performance. The only problem is the distribution which is really really screwed up because of our current system. Technological progress has made the use of human labor obsolete. Machines are better, faster and more precise as opposed to human labor. Moreover, they do not need to be paid salaries, or provided vacations. Hence, they are but the only meaningful way for an industry to survive and be competitive. The bottom-line is technology cannot be neglected. But what is the impact of this? More and more human jobs are being replaced by machines. The coming up of new jobs is only an illusion, the number of jobs being entirely replaced is always far greater. This is resulting in increased unemployment, and even so, when the supply is potentially infinite, the common people have no purchasing power, as there is no income!

Infinite Growth Paradigm and Planned Obsolescence

Our current economy is based on an infinite growth paradigm while we all live in a finite planet with finite resources. This is another potentially harmful characteristic in an economy, whose primary motive should be to economize. Because we need to keep up with the increasing supply, there is a need for a false demand. Hence we see companies sometimes spending more than 50% of their product cost on advertising (more than on the product itself!) – creating a false sense of need for something which might be otherwise, completely useless.

Also another repercussion of this current system is that the goods which are procured from the market are inherently inferior in quality, to keep up with the false costs of advertising, marketing and the like, and also to maintain a significant profit margin. This gives rise to a completely absurd phenomenon – Planned Obsolescence – whereby goods are produced in such a way that they intrinsically break down after a certain period of use, to keep up with the infinite growth aspect. Thus leading to increasing waste of rare minerals, pollution and depletion of natural resources as seen in so many places in the world today.

Increase in competition leads to greater social evils

Coming from a hugely competitive background, I can see why competition can be so evil. The increase in the competitive nature of society in all spheres has led to a series of hugely deteriorating subcultures. Education now has become a means to earn money via a well paying job, rather than actual study and research on the subject matter itself. The values attributed to success and wealth are so large in today’s times that they have almost entirely replaced the good old value systems of humanity, trust and goodness. The quest for hoarding enormous amounts of wealth and the increasing need for ‘ownership’, has led to rampant corruption in many major nations. This results in an increase in inequality within people and nations, leading to several money related crimes like theft, extortions and kidnappings. War has become an industry with billions of dollars worth of resources spent on defense every year in nearly all of the major nations, while a a seventh of the world’s population lives in poverty and starvation. Also the nature of competition makes most people end up in jobs they do not wish to do, but do just for the sake of ‘earning a living’, thus leading to diseases like stress, anxiety and depression – affecting entire cultures. And due to the nature of epigenetic effects these harmful psychosocial phenomenon make their way into the next generations.

Alternative strategies for the future

Futurists like Buckminster Fuller and Jacque Fresco have surmised that the world is now capable of forming a sustainable economy for the entire planet as a whole. There are enough untapped power possibilities like solar, wind, geothermal, tidal and wave – which are held from being utilized, by the ‘influential industries’ responsible for hydrocarbon power generation today (Leading to the string of Oil wars in history). Technologies like 3D printing can be used to print anything from machines to clothes and in the near future could very well replace the entire manual construction process in housing. Soil-less farming techniques like Hydroponics and Aquaponics using vertical clusters can more than eliminate the world’s need for food. The number of advanced technologies useful for such a sustainable society are plenty and growing. But for such a system, the entire world must come together, erase all borders and create a one world economy where all of the earth’s people own all of the earth’s resources. This may sound far-fetched. But is really necessary. And perhaps might be the only solution to the current crisis grappling the world today. ‘The Venus Project’ put forward by Jacque Fresco is one such idea where the government is formed by intelligent computer systems which trigger actions based on the availability of earthly resources, unlike opinionated judgements in today’s governments. This sort of technological anarchy is not biased by any culture, religion or race and instead treats the entire earth as one home. Technology is embraced in this system, and only the best possible goods are produced and made available via ‘access points’ – sort of like libraries as they exist today. State of the art housing and food, is provided using sustainable energy sources. Thus with all goods and services made available, there is no need for money in this system. This will signal an end to mundane jobs, which will be replaced by machines. Also to jobs which serve no useful purpose for the progress of humanity (Unfortunately, a majority of us are employed in such jobs today – like banking, finance, advertising, marketing, sales, law etc.) Only work which require original human thought would exist. While a small fraction of the total population is needed to volunteer for this, the rest can actively participate in work that they like to do, resulting in an increased productivity and far superior output in all spheres. All research would be open sourced and shared for everyone to enjoy a high quality of living, putting an end to inequality and all the plethora of crimes which result from it. Such an economy which operates based on the available earthly resources, with sustainability and preservation at its core, taking care of the entire human population at a high standard of living is termed by Jacque Fresco, aptly, as a Resource Based Economy (or RBE in short). The RBE unlike any economic system in the past, has never been realized before, hence it is hard to grasp at first, the feasibility of it. But owing to the technological age that we live in today, such a system is very possible.

Many a question has been raised as to how such a world can be brought about. It doesn’t seem humanly possible at present. With rampant corruption and cut throat competition everywhere, it seems hardly likely that people would protest all together at the same time to overthrow entire governments. Some semblance of an uprising could be seen in the Occupy Wall Street protests in the US, and the ‘No Capitalism’ protests in Europe. But the majority of the people are still ignorant as to how the system works, most have lost hope in it, and continue being victims of its workings, trying their very best to somehow rise above the rest and survive. If only they knew, that the world has reached a stage that there is no longer any need to fight amongst oneselves and that there’s enough for everyone!

The transition

So we arrive at action. What shall we do now? Even if we know what is wrong, how can we go about changing it? To quote Buckminster Fuller : “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” Hence we must ourselves move in the direction of sharing and sustainability. And if we look closely, the world is somehow already going in that direction. Car pooling services (mitfahrgelegenheit.de is one example in Germany) where the person driving a car, most often takes along 2-3 complete strangers along for the ride, whenever s/he is driving long distances. The fare is not intended to make profit but is just enough to pay for the fuel required during the trip. But is certainly less than what one would normally be charged in a train. This is a win-win situation for all, not to mention, a possibly great conversation and the cultural awareness that it lends. This feature is yet to be seen in developing countries (rather, countries with great inequality amongst masses), owing to a lack of trust more than anything else. In such countries, monetary related crimes contribute the most to this lack of trust. Another example seen in more equal countries is the concept of free room sharing (couchsurfing.org is an example which is used by people across the world), where one person provides his/her place for visitors to occupy for free whenever they are visiting the town/city they live in. The host can in turn, if they want, do the same when they travel to the visitors’ city/country. This is also something based completely on trust and humane principles, again owing to and resulting from, a rich cultural awareness. And once again, monetary related crimes and lack of trust resulting from them, acts as a deterrent to such intercultural exchanges. Another great example of how sharing resources can lead to things unimaginable otherwise – Coursera.org is an online education portal which enables anyone in the world to enrol for courses they want to study, taught by professors from some of the best universities in the world. Unlike other online courses, these courses are completely free and have a slated start and end time period like in a normal university. The responses to this initiative have been astounding as was presented in founder Daphne Koller’s TED talk : “What we’re learning from online education”. From what it seems this is only the beginning.

From a very inspired talk by Oscar Gonzalez of ‘The Zeitgeist Movement’ (another world organisation which aims to educate people and thus bring about a sustainable economy like the RBE) titled : Transition to a Resource Based Economy, I learnt how the transition process would look like. Imagine the old video cassette players which we used before the CD players came out. The video cassettes were bulky and hard to deal with. Video quality was also, often poor. And then after the advent of the CD player (again thanks to Science) people began to have both CDs and cassettes at homes, some old movies for which CDs were not usually available had to be watched using cassettes. And slowly CDs entirely replaced the cassettes. To draw an analogy, we all presently do have a small resource based economy of our own. This small circle perhaps include our parents, spouses, kids, relatives and close friends. Within this circle, for some small help, within our available resources (knowledge, money, time) we do not usually charge a fee. For example I do not charge a service fee to my mother when she asks me to get the groceries. While this small circle exists in harmony, the entire outer world becomes the real world economy, where nearly all relationships run on monetary ties. Like, for example, to order a beetroot in a Chilean village, I would hand over the slated price of the beetroot and have the beetroot in return. The way the transition has to move forward, is for our small resource based circle to expand and the large monetary based circle to contract. This can be achieved via many ways, by forming small sustainable groups for example, like in a village or small town, who have the same ideals and promise to work together. Education is a must in this regard, and that more and more people know what the problem is, and identify possible solutions to it.

Marcin Jakubowski’s project ‘Open Source Ecology’ aims to do something similar. Bringing together a network of farmers, engineers and supporters, Open Source Ecology, or OSE aims to eventually build the ‘Global Village Construction Set’ (GVCS) – a set of 50 machines which would enable a small group to build a sustainable village/town with modern comforts. The idea is to make the blueprint for these machines ‘Open Source’ – a term used in the software world as openly available source code for anyone to read, use or replicate – for free. Thus with the advent of such groups, and machines, people from all over the world can make use of freely available technology to equip themselves to survive in a sustainable way, without the help of any outside help or support. These communities can only be expected to grow when more and more people see the benefits of living in such societies. And soon we would be able to witness the first futuristic city as proposed in The Venus Project.

Perhaps this is still very distant, but with increased awareness, this time could come sooner than one can expect. Just that with issues like the ‘Global Economic Collapse’ looming large, let’s just hope that the world transitions into something better in a peaceful way rather than killings and wars which would, very certainly, render it unsuitable for living. Or worse, even destroy itself.

Das Leben ist schön!

This one was part of German class (level D3 at Max Planck) wherein we had a poem template and some lines to fill in. Let’s see how creative we can be with a limited vocabulary!

Das Leben ist schön
Es geht mir gut.

Warum?
Ganz einfach.

Es geht mir gut,
weil die Volgeln singen
weil das Wetter schön ist, die Bäume grün sind und der Himmel blau ist,
weil alle Leute tanzen,
weil in der Nacht tausend Sternen scheinen,
weil nichts sehr wichtig ist.
Und morgen?
Morgen werde ich sicherlich wieder tausend Gründe finden, warum das Leben schön ist!

My best game ever?

A nap certainly raises my efficiency levels. This was proved in the following game I played recently at FICS (www.freechess.org). My opponent was a 2265, by far the strongest opponent I have faced so far in terms of ELO. But he didn’t play according to his rating I believe, although he did admit that I played well. Here’s my try at annotating the game, do feel free to comment on any move I didn’t see or anything that might have went wrong in my analysis of the game!

—-

[Event “FICS rated standard game”]

[Site “FICS, San Jose, California USA”]

[Date “2011.04.19”]

[Time “13:04:02”]

[Round “-“]

[White “arcticquasar”]

[Black “pjotrOne”]

[WhiteElo “1703”]

[BlackElo “2265”]

[TimeControl “360+50”]

[Mode “ICS”]

[Result “1-0”]

 

1. e4 d6  2. d4 Nf6

 

The Pirc defense is played against me for the first time. I don’t have any idea about this opening, apart from the fact that it was the opening played by Topalov in Kasparov’s Immortal game in 1999.

 

3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 O-O 6. O-O-O c6 7. Bh6

 

Hoping to have an exchange of bishops and more importantly have the queen on h6, Black however has other ideas.

 

7…Re8 8. f3

 

Although I should have played this move before, it’s better late than never, avoiding Ng4 and sort of irritating Knight advances.

 

8…Bh8 9. h4

 

The purpose of the move is as is, to break open the kingside

 

9…Be6

 

I personally don’t like trapping my center pawns, so I thought I could take advantage of the fact that black is going to have a backward e pawn for now.

 

10. Kb1 Na6 11. h5

 

Continuing with the plan, I wasn’t too bothered by Nb4, but I could be wrong.

 

11…Nb4 12. hxg6 fxg6 13. Nh3

 

I did think about Bxh3, but then I was also imagining doubled rooks on the h-file which would need one less move after Rxh3. I was just trying to maintain the tempo and keep developing. In the actual game Bxh3 wasn’t played and I had the chance to play Ng5

 

13…Qa5 14. a3 Na6 15. Ng5

 

Opens the dangerous a2-g8 diagonal for the white light-squared bishop after his black counterpart retreats.

 

15…Bc8 16. Bc4+ e6 17. Qf4

 

Bringing the Queen into the action and threatening Qxd6 with a strong attack

 

17…Qc7 18. e5

 

17…Qc7 is a great move as it prevents any immediate offense on the 7th rank, I continue on opening lines towards the kingside.

 

18…dxe5 19. dxe5 Nc5

 

Another great move by black, he realises the importance of e6.

 

20. Nce4

 

Not 20. exf6??? which drops the queen. I thought for a long time before playing this move, I think it actually caused me a slight disadvantage even, but I was just trying to open the f-file for one of my Rooks if black played Ncxe4 (as in the game). If not I had plans of Nd6 and blocking the black queen access to e5, and subsequently the 7th rank.

 

20…Nfxe4 21. fxe4

 

As planned but now I am slightly forced on the backfoot.

 

21…Bxe5

 

I am down a pawn now! Of course my opponent is a 2200+!!

 

22. Qf2

 

Hoping to regain the lost pawn by means of a sham sacrifice.

 

22…Qe7 23. Nxh7!

 

Regains the pawn and further weakens the black kingside.

 

23…Qxh7 24. Qxc5 Qc7 25. Rdf1

 

Continuing with the original plan of Rooks on f and h files constraining the black kings’ movement. Hence also the reason to play Rdf1 rather than Rhf1.

 

25…Qd6

 

An exchange of queens now will give nothing for the position, with the material even and a higher rated opponent meaning a better endgame, one blunder and it’d be over for me, so I prefer to keep the Queens on board and continue with the attack.

 

26. Qf2 Qe7

 

Preventing Qf7+ and mate in one. It’s amazing to see no blunders at all! All the more reasons for me to make none either!

 

27. Bg5 Qg7 28. Qh4

 

Here I’ve seen a combination which will lead to a great advantage in material.

 

28…b5 29. Bh6

 

Trying to drive the Queen away

 

29…Qh7 30. Bb3 Bd7

 

The combination I thought of earlier might be possible now, the black Queen is constrained by this move. But at the same time it connects the Rooks and lends to the defense of the 8-th rank.

 

31. Qg5

 

Attacking the black dark squared bishop, a very important piece in this game, 31…Qh8 loses to 32.Qxg6+

 

31…Bh8

 

 

 

All parts of the puzzle are in place, the combination is in order, the assault begins..

 

32. Bf8!!

 

Exposing the black Queen..

 

32…Rxf8

 

And not 32…Qxh1??? 33. Qxg6+ Bg7 34.Qxg7 mate.

 

33. Rxf8+ Rxf8 34. Rxh7 Rf1+

 

An in between move, luckily the white king has a flight square.

 

35. Ka2 Kxh7 36. Qe7+ Bg7 37. Qxd7

 

Thus having a Queen for a Rook and a won endgame, but my history of blunders doesn’t permit me to take the ending lightly, fortunately I have not made any serious blunders as of now.

 

37…Rg1 38. Qxe6 Re1

 

And not 38…Rxg2??? 39. Qh3+ wins the Rook.

 

39. Qxc6 Re3 40. Qb7 Re2 41. g4 Rg2 42. Be6

 

I don’t know why I played that move, maybe I just want things to look nicer on the board, like having pawns on the same color as the bishop that I have, this drops a pawn however, but I am so far ahead in material that it hardly matters.

 

42…Rxc2 43. Qxb5 Rxb2+ 44. Qxb2 Bxb2 45. Kxb2

 

I give up the Queen for the last of blacks’ pieces.

 

45…Kg7 46. Kc3 Kf6 47. Bc8 Ke5 48. Kc4

 

Here I thought it better (easier?) to Queen the a-pawn rather than the passed pawn (yes I am strange) because it’s easier to keep the opposition (also the fact that my king is closer to the a-file than blacks’)

 

48…Kxe4 49. Kb5 Kd4 50. a4 Kc3 51. a5 Kb3 52. a6

 

Now both pawns are protected by the bishop and the black pawns cannot move. Black’s king cannot defend his own pawns.

 

52…Kc3 53. Kc6

 

Black resigns.

The Haunted House

I do not understand them
Why they ostracize my home
The house that I live in
And been living for quite sometime

Friends I have few (But who has friends in the city anyways?!)
Was a loner as long as I can recollect
All day I sit on my desk and scribble
At nights on life I retrospect

They called the house haunted
This very house that I live in
(Maybe they saw the cobwebs in the basement
Little realising the art within!)
I do not hear them, let alone see
The spirits that supposedly reside with me

But one night on the attic while I was scribbling
A story about a lonely writer
I heard a slight sound – a knock
Of the door closing, creaking tighter

I climbed down the stairs
Carefully tip-toed
Saw a woman in a white gown
Blonde locks hanging down
Yes, she has to be the one
The ghost at last I found!

Terrified at first, I was stuck in painless silence
Unending, unforgiving, my feet were numb
Crouched on the stairs, heart in mouth, knowing not
Whether to run, or scream aloud!

Then came a second knock
Who could it be now?
It’s been long since I had a visitor
Were there more of them now?

The saintly spirit answered the door
And in came a man from the other world
Together they seemed to smilingly whisper
“There is no-one, we are alone…”

Shocked out of my wits
My life was at stake
Moving back I stumbled on the vase
A shattering sound it did make

They shrieked, and shouted “Who’s there?”
And that was when I rose up in fright
The woman screamed, the man grabbed her
They both bolted out of sight

As they ran, Jon cried out loud
And Matilda nodded in too
“What they said was true, my dear
…what they said was true!”

Love is in the air!

There was a hill far away
On top of which a meadow lay
A lonesome flower bloomed at sight
Toughodil was her name
Amidst strong winds and pouring rain at night
She shone like a handsome jewel, bright

There was a happy honey-bee
From where he came, no one could see
He sung his worries away all day
They called him little Wanderbee
Seeing things, going places
With buzzing wings and endless glee

It was early spring one day
Wanderbee flew up the hill
Rested in the shade of Toughodil
Her fragrance was so enticing
Her honey was so sweet!
All day long with great relish he passed
When he was set to leave she said:
“Do you remember my name, Wander bee??..
I told you last time you came..”
“I do not remember anything..
not even this taste of honey
but may I know your name please
if you so persist?”

“‘Tis Toughodil, from far away hill
I hope you come again..”

Like the hearts of joyous souls ring
Like the happiness ocean tides bring
Love is in the air they sing
Love is in the air ~ ~ ~

And it was soon summer
And Toughodil’s shade still softer
Out of the worldly worries
Away from the heat
Wanderbee closed his eyes
While smiling in his dreams.
When he was set to leave she said:
“Do you remember my name, Wander bee??..
I told you last time you came..”
“I do not remember anything..
not even this taste of honey
but may I know your name please
if you so persist?”

“‘Tis Toughodil, from far away hill
I hope you come again..”

Suddenly there was autumn
Leaves started to fade
But Toughodil as tough can be
Continued to bloom away
As Wanderbee entered his safe refuge
Her honey was life, her fragrance hope
Thought he, no matter what time of the year
I could live in this place forever!
When it was time to leave she said:
“Do you remember my name, Wander bee??..
I told you last time you came..”
“I do not remember anything..
not even this taste of honey
but may I know your name please
if you so persist?”

“‘Tis Toughodil, from far away hill
I hope you come again..”

All this time, every day
Wanderbee in his comfy home
Thought about Toughodil
To his fellow bee-friends
he narrated his story:
“There is a flower on far away hill
Goes by the name of Toughodil
Her sight is like a hallowed angel
Her taste a fountain of life!
For ages I have loved her
But am too scared to confess
I do not know how she feels for me
What if I lose all I have!”

Like the hearts of joyous souls ring
Like the happiness ocean tides bring
Love is in the air they sing
Love is in the air ~ ~ ~

And along came the torrid winter
Animals ran here and there for shelter
Everything was white and on snowy hold
And Wanderbee was freezing cold
In his way up far away hill

There he was shocked in nothingness
Toughodil seemed not as tough anymore
Faded and colourless she lied
The cold was too strong for her might!
There was no fragrance anymore
The honey had dried!
Wanderbee could not believe his life
Had taken quite a turn
Feeble and weak he lied on the snow
And closed his eyes again
The wind seemed to whisper
He understood what it meant:

“You do not remember my name, Wander bee..
Though I told you last time you came..
There is something else which I needed to say
But it is now too late

I adored your little flapping wings
The simple songs you sung
Your smile (while you slept) was everything to me
Your love, I longed for so long!”

Wanderbee now smiled as he faded
Being buried in snow he slowly said:
“Death took you away dear Toughodil
I was late, I was wrong in my ways
But there is something which I can do (even now)
I’ll lie here and wait for you..

My love.. I’ll lie here and wait for y-o-u…”

Like the hearts of joyous souls ring
Like the happiness ocean tides bring
Love is in the air they sing
Love is in the air ~ ~ ~

My Life!

This one was written in the workspace one night.. it was half past midnight and I was alone.. actually I wasn’t alone.. Raj was there, but he was sleeping (on three chairs), snoring away, so, technically I was alone. There was perfect silence. And no opponent to play Tekken with 😦 Anyways it was half past 12 and the canteen normally closes at 2. I had one and a half hour to kill… hence the poem.

—————————————————————-

I was born a hard metal
I was a sight to behold
They flattened, twisted and curved me up
Till my skin shined like gold
My head was sharp
My body slim
Maybe they put all their sweat
While carefully all my edges trim
In admiration they saw me rise
I could see my destiny in their eyes

I am a happy little soul
I am glad that I am here
The world seems so beautiful
Forever at all the sights I could stare

I slid down the tunnels
And rolled on the corrugated sheets
Life seemed to move so fast
But now I had company
Of other happy souls like me
They did not talk, nor did they smile
Maybe they were plain emotionless
Or maybe just too shy
But deep inside I somehow knew
They were glad to be here too

I am a happy little soul
I have found others like me
I guess we all share a purpose
To live up to our destiny

Once out of the factory
I travelled far and wide to distant places
Some of us, rusted and broken, named ‘invalid’ and dead
Ended up being discarded
Slowly the truth dawned on me
That the world had place for only the fittest
And I was proud to be amongst the best,
Being a part of the chosen few
Having no color, no race, no religion
Just the faith to do what was due

I am a happy little soul
Grown up, been lucky too
By air, water and land I travelled
To know what I needed to do..

It was long before we stopped
When me and my friends saw light
Sold to strangers who looked down on us
Dropped us down to the ground from a height
We rolled, here and there, amidst thousands of us
It was a congregation of happy souls!
All shapes and sizes these people bought
Picked up, stuffed into barrel holes
To stay tight and firm, we fought
My heart pounded, my mind had a thought
“This is the time (for so long) I sought!”

I am a happy little soul
Finally I found my chance for fame
In a strange smoky barrel
Kalashnikov was its name

As I waited patiently
Time seemed like eternity
Constant sounds of blasts and screams
And trickling blood
Filled the same air I breathe
“The world is not as happy as I thought..”
The dreams shattered, the aura gone!
Suddenly I hoped, not knowing why
Scared for the first time in my life
I wished I had.. never came by

I am a confused little soul
Scared of the truth which hurts
I wish life was faster now
I don’t want this pain to last!

And ‘Boom’ it did sound!
I flew out of the small hole
Making my way through thickets and trees
Breathless, blind and bold
In exact silence I sped through
Stopped for a moment before rushing in
Slipped through blood and to a standstill
Finally realizing my true purpose
The meaning of my existence!
Piercing a human heart, shot from a gun..
I lay dumb and motionless, shocked at what I had done

I am a sad little soul
Lived my life, served my time
All my pride was for nothing
My purpose – to kill a child!

Shameful of my creation, guilt is all I gain
I wish to run away, to be burnt, and never felt again..

—————————————————————-

ICPC Asia regionals –> How we fared :(

Well this one was long due, being an ACM first timer, I just had to write this post. If someone reading this is intending to get useful how-to’s for the ICPC, you’ve come to the wrong place 😉 But you can always check out the problems here. The final standings for the Kanpur site contest are listed here.

Morning of the first day we were two men, Harpreet and myself, sans Malik. Nothing much except a good keynote speech from an IBM fellow, during which I was mostly sleepy. Owing to Antaragni, the campus looked greener, with live drama and street dancing couples hogging the road to the lecture halls, IITK offered a more-than-picturesque scene. The dinner was amazing, with great people everywhere, and the Finnish band ‘poets of the fall’ were gearing up for the rock show, and yeah, Malik was there at last. We were entertained by the huge crowds which had gathered for the cult-fest, especially the ones at the dance events, they were amazing enough to leave a feeling of sadness, considering how many years it’ll take for IITG to come to this level.. *sigh*

The next day was different. The contest was going to be tough, as expected. And our team doesn’t gel pretty well. Maybe this was the first time we were doing group programming. At the breakfast table Malik was greeted by one of his friends from IITB, whom he had met in France, and soon enough the other introductions followed. It was nice and at the same time intimidating, to be competing with these guys. Malik’s buddy was the JEE AIR 10 of our time, and if that wasn’t enough, the AIR 1 was also in his team 🙂 Cool isn’t it? And pretty much expected… C’mon, even if you got an AIR of 100, doesn’t mean you get IITB CS right?! These people were demigods, and they’ve been to the world finals at Tokyo last year, winning the Coimbatore contest. Man, this one’s gonna be good. 😀

Finally we were there, inside the CC, seated next to a single terminal and lotsa blank sheets. There were seven problems in all, and we had five hours to solve them. Here’s a short description of each.

Alpha-triangle: Objective was to find a triangular combination from a given set of words such that |AB| = |BC| = |CA| and that A.head = C.head, A.tail = B.head, and B.tail = C.tail. Words can be concatenated but cannot be broken down.

Baby: Variations of the n-queens problem, where from an n-rook position, an n-queen position was to be derived, using minimum number of moves.

Card: The magician’s card trick problem, where from a given combination of four cards belonging to four different suits, a missing fifth card should be determined.

Deposit: A variation of the compound interest problem.

Expression: Given a set of characters, an operation table on those characters and a number of strings, the LR and RL equivalence of the strings are to be determined.

Fable: A cat and mouse game in which the least number of steps to change from an initial configuration to a final one is desired.

Garrison: A typical dfs problem to determine the co-ordinates of unreachable vertices in a graph.

Eventually we couldn’t solve problems A and B. And landed up 16th place. NITT guys (read: Prasanna) completed all of them in less than three hours. IITM, IIITH, Univ Moratuwa guys from Sri Lanka and the girls from Taiwan Univ solved all seven in order of increasing time(ranking) It was depressing enough for me and Malik to keep roaming around and not even attend the prize distribution ceremony. Harpreet had left later that evening, and the two of us dared to queue up for the Atif Aslam show amidst thousands of hard-core fanatics. Alas, we had no passes and all there was for us was to watch football in the Hall IX canteen before going to sleep. All in all a good experience, reality check so to say. The only consolation? Tie-ing with the team we met at the breakfast table 🙂 Atleast we were not last year’s regional champs to be pulling our hair apart!