Blog@GraceJunction

 
I was visiting Australia and was at the home of one of my good friends, who since the time I meet him at the metro station, would keep telling me about his daughter and the pain she’s going thru. As the strong man drove his huge 4 x 4 truck, I could feel that he was vulnerable, all the strength and grit that I admire him for had somehow been weakened. (more…)

The much awaited monsoon had finally descended on our city with a few continuous and long spells. I ve always looked forward towards this time thru the year, a time to be drenched by the rains. It a great time of relief as the cold drops touch you face and drip in to your soul to soothe. This time I was with my son, who equally enjoys the rains. It was fun splashing and jumping in the poodles created in the courtyard of our house. Suddenly my son stopped playing and asked me a question – Dada where does this water come from, Is there a shower tap in the skies? Does God operate them ?. Why are there bubbles in the water? Why is water flowing away, I want to play, why cant we stop it. Later he would cry when the rains would stop or when it would just drizzle and I would tell him, ask God to open the shower. However these questions lingered in my mind and put me on to do some research on this simple thing called water. And I found there is much more beyond this simple thing called water. (more…)

In my wee-wonder days of childhood, the classic debate was “Will robots replace human beings?” The person who stood “for it”, always won the debate by justifying the fact about the improved quality of life, faster production & development, maximum utilization of natural resources etc. Hearing the debate I always wondered what type of a dumb and wobbly feeling would have measured-up in the heart of the person who stood against it! 

But today it would be foolish to, not admire and be thankful for the great achievements of modern technology over the last century: advance medicines, advance energy, advance weapons, high speed communication and navigation systems. (more…)

A couple of months back, I was sitting on the porch with my son. A heavy spell of rain had just come to an end. There was water all over in the parkway and both of us sat down to enjoy the freshness that the rain had ushered in.

Suddenly my son spotted some movements in the water, that had collected in the parkway. He immediately questioned me,  Dada what’s that in the water ? I realized that there were ripples and bubbles’ springing up in the water as rain was still drizzling. I replied to him, Son its rain. He immediately sprang back and replied, but Dada, there’s no rain. He was true in one sense as we really couldn’t see the rain drops. (more…)

The Ahmedabad Mirror (TOI) reported today news on the Delhi High court’s stand on a matter regarding the Center’s move on banning gay sex. Chief Justice A P Shah incidentally has asked the Centre, Quote: “show us some scientific report which says that gay sex should be criminalized”. Unquote Now that’s the Chief Justice demanding science, to prove that Gay sex is wrong and is an evil that is detrimental to the society. Apparently the Centre quoted some religious text condemning the act and had requested criminal provision against homosexual acts stating it is required to curb the spread of HIV infection. It further said that homosexual behavior is a reflection of a perverse mind and it could not be allowed in the society, things which are quite easily & intuitively perceivable, without a PhD in Science. (more…)

The pictures of half burnt bodies, torched houses, damaged churches in Orissa, is bound to send horrifying chills in anyone irrespective of what religion we follow. These acts makes one question, are we living in the most modern of centuries? Or are we in some savage land, where there are no morals, no humanity, no law and order. Eventually all our beliefs result in acts, we ultimately are transformed to the likeness of what we believe as truth, be it Jihad, Religious terrorism or any kind of evil. Clearly evident from the convictions and faith of the religious groups that participated in the recent riots, one can easily trace the roots of these actions/riots to the beliefs and faith of the people in the act – beliefs which state that there exists no absolutes, every one can be true in their own terms, ultimately there is nothing called reality and its all an illusion. (more…)

Ten thousand years ago the agricultural revolution launched a slow wave of change. The industrial revolution, starting roughly 350 years ago, triggered a second – faster – wave of change. In the mid-1950s the United States started on the path to a completely new kind of economy – one based on knowledge rather than muscle power. This is part of a gigantic wave of technological, social and cultural change. What we’re living through now is history’s third great wave of change – one that is arriving at hyper-speed and is global in extent.

This new way of life – it’s really a new civilization or, for that matter, a “super-civilization” – is spreading out from the United States and has cells in many other parts of the world, from Japan and Singapore and China to India and Brazil.

The first phase of this current upheaval is the digital revolution and its social and cultural effects. The next phase is the fusion of the digital revolution with the genetic and biological revolution. (more…)