Saturday, April 08, 2006

Morals, anyone?

 
I am back again then. Not really in a better place in life, as I had hoped when I went off the blog. But I figured if I waited for that to happen, I might as well give up blogging for good. In the last few months, we've had countless coffees, endless hours in the lab, a few semi-succesful attempts at publishing some research and more abortive attempts at doing SOME work that's worth more than piss. Cigarettes on the working days and booze on Friday nights have been kind and faithful companions. The cigarettes especially are about the only thing keeping me sane at the moment; I am going through them like Warney through the Poms. Add some more things I don't find suitable for mention on the blog, and the darkness is complete. Yet strangely, I don't feel as unhappy as I should be. Scary, but at the same time liberating. Liberating, because it's allowed me a chance to indulge myself in debate over one of my favorite topics. Morality. What constitutes morals? Something religion teaches us? Or our parents? Or grandparents, maybe? What if, you, like me, are not a follower of organized religion? What if you question some of the morals that were inculcated in you as a child? It isn't enough to say that your parents, being experienced people, could tell right from wrong, and tried to pass that sense of judgement to you. I am older than my Mum was when she had me, and I sure can't always tell right from wrong. What your parents did pass on to you was less their experience and more the things their parents taught them. Is that how it is always going to be? Turning morals into this inscrutable, immovable rock that doesn't change with time? For e.g., in Indian society and also in some religions, pre-marital sex is considered immoral. I am yet to understand the reason for this. What dictates this morality? And why are we bound to follow it in that if we don't we are branded immoral? Is there no room for relativsm? I get frustrated when I hear this whole virginity thing touted as one of the cornerstones of Indian morality. Who the f**k gave you that right? To make a virtue out a necessity imposed by our society? Chicken and egg, really, chicken and egg. Take it to another extreme. Almost everyone agrees that prostitution is wrong. When I am asked if I would get a hooker when I go to Montreal or Amsterdam, the first natural answer is always a resounding no. But why? No one ever told me why it was wrong. But I've been brought up to believe it as an absolute truth. What if I said, and I am purely hypothesizing, that there is a possibility that the frequency of sexual crimes, big and small, (if there is such a thing as a small sexual crime) could be cut down if people could buy sex and power for the time they could afford instead of forcing it down some poor woman? Again, in a purely hypothetical scenario, if that is indeed true, would that make prostitution moral? On a personal note, no, I fail to see the bad part of premarital or even casual sex. On the prostitution issue, no,I wouldn't pay for sex because my morality still stands divided on the issue, so I would much rather be a confirmist in that regard. It would be interesting to hear from you ( Sandipan especially) your take on the matter.

10 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

aa gaya kamine??? kya kuch to weird weird cheez likhta hai. anyway didnt read it thoroughly, fhursat me padhke comments bhejta hu.

- PK

3:53 AM  
Blogger Minal said...

saurabh, now tht u r back wht the hell were you doing research on?

2:05 AM  
Blogger Tugga said...

Hmm, PWM modeling, integrated current sesning and suchlike:-)

However, I detect a hint of sarcasm in that question, and my post should be self-explanatory

10:19 AM  
Blogger Minal said...

@Tugga:
You ought to know me better to actually explain me your 'actual research'!!

And since you have never bothered to call pls. mail across your no. so tht i can atleast call u , u dud!

3:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What the heck were upto all this while? I think u r better off blogging than doing ur arbit research.

Take care dude,keep in communication,don't be a cynic and be level headed.

Roopa

12:37 AM  
Blogger Tugga said...

@ Roopa: I am not a cynic at all. I believe there are great things out there in the world. As for being level headed, have never been so, so don't see any reason to start now:-)

@Minu: Never bothered to call eh? Short memories:-) Anyway call me up on 518 269 0959 after 630 am IST up to say 930 am IST, or on the weekend at any time.

By the way I am gonna go skydiving sometime in the next couple of weeks. Should be fun, you guys know how much I loved jumping from heights:-)

9:56 PM  
Blogger Minal said...

@Tugga: No short memories. I can't recollect the the last time I spoke to you after u landed in the states!

1:39 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

When I hit the comments link on this post, I was coming just after reading something really serious, something very provoking and thought it would be interesting to read comments on this very topic.

But I guess your research takes away all the focus :P

:)

11:02 PM  
Blogger Tugga said...

@ Truman: I guess that's what you get when most of your commenters are close friends. The comments section is viewed as a forum for catching up, leg pulling, etc. But yes, you are right, I would expect a bunch of 26 year olds to comment on my serious posts, and I am disappointed that they haven't. And, in the same breath, where are your comments mate?

9:35 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I know EXACTLY what you are talking about. When most commentors are friends, this is what happens. But who minds! :)

well yeah, on a lighter note, I lost all my thoughts about the subject matter once I went through the comments :P

But yes, I would suggest you keep writing on subjects like these whenever you can. As a blogger I have learnt -- The posts that take the most time and thinking usually end up without much discussion/comments.

Keep Writing and good luck with your work :)

2:43 PM  

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