Evolution is flawed

If evolution is to be seen as a species's ability to transmit genes and continue to propagate then among mammals Humans happens to be one of the most successful animals, or at least this is how the species perceives it since the time Darwin. The second best performers in this definition happens to be those who has some purpose to serve to the species of Homo sapiens sapiens. Therefore, cow, chicken, pigs are evolutionarily more successful than their wild varieties or the rest of the animals which lack purposive connection to humans.

Frankly, the whole idea of evolution under this definition is now worthless. Kaleidoscope knows he might receive a heavy blow from his friends from biological disciplines because come on evolution cannot be flawed! He knows the luxurious life that he leads is a fruit of evolution and he also knows even poorest of the poor of this world is leading a luxurious life if it is compared to the Homo erects - and credit goes to evolution. However, as it is said "idea of evolution is flawed" it also demands some explanation. Evolution in terms of passing on genes to the next generation to continue the species happens to be the primordial drive and also the source of most of the problems in the world! - well this is not the reason for which evolution is flawed! Evolution as a concept of passing genes is flawed because it lacks subjective dimensions - the dimension that has never looked upon seriously. The basic question that needs some reflection is something like this "Do I need this life to pass on genes?" Any reader might say - well its like Cartesian ideology. Some other might say "okay, that is only true for Homo sapiens sapiens and not for the rest of the animals, because they are yet to reach the cognitive revolution. Kaleidoscope will say its not so and will refer to an old post on Civilisation and Question of Love series "Brutality on animals".

 Think about hens having complex world of behavioural needs and drives. They want to run around, find hierarchy, make nest lay eggs and groom. Think about intelligent and inquisitive pigs. Think about dairy cows. These animals spend almost their entire allotted life inside a confined space. Calves, piglets are kept away from their mothers. all of them are fed with perfect dose, given hormone injections and so on an so forth. Just to pass on their genes for the superior species Homo sapiens (Benson and Rollins 2004, Appleby Mench Hughs 2005). Yes, Kaleidoscope knows it might seem a laughable logic. Okay, fine, lets go back to the age of slavery. Or assume the role of any minority population in today's world. Even better think about your life in front of a computer screen for 12 - 15 hours a day for 12 months a year and then think about the significance of evolution on Homo sapiens sapiens. You can pass on your genes only to be exploited by others.

Pic courtesy: https://www.pinterest.com/explore/evolution-cartoon/

Iron irony and civilisation

'Iron has only made the world tough and dull' kaleidoscope said to himself. It lacked the lustrous colour of fresh copper or bronze and to make the matter worse it carried stronger cutting edge advantages. However, thought kaleidoscope, it is colourful when there is some rust on them. What about steel? Yes kaleidoscope thought, its equally dull and gives no chance for rust to settle in and make it colourful.

'Just a wishful and useless thinking it is' kaleidoscope said to himself. How can you allow rust to settle down on your steel made items.

With the advantages of tough and dull metal the kaleidoscope's world devised new constructs related to the dullness. Examples might include such metaphors as 'shining like steel' 'as sharp as steel blade' 'iron man/ iron lady' so on and so forth.

How would have been the domestic life in early iron age? We can remember the roundhouses of Britain (around 800BCE to 100 CE). These were thatched houses with a constant fire burning inside at the centre. The fire was a multipurpose one to keep the home warm, keep the flies away, keep the room smoky to keep the food preserved for a long time. Often people were accompanied by domesticated animals. Now imagine the smell and smoke that would have provided for a permanent or semipermanent settler equipped with iron we are so proud of!

Where is the change?

There has been genuine changes since then! Kaleidoscope was born in an advanced near late capital civilisation. He resides inside a home, teaches at a building, crosses and romanticise bridges, sees the parallel points merging at railway tracks, dines on a plate - all are made of iron. The dull and strong metal might have been discovered at many places thousands of years ago at the dawn of the 'civilisation'. How far has it been changed since then? kaleidoscope gave it a thought for a while.

Yes, now that chimney installed, there seems to be an absence of smoky confined spaces, there seems to be an absence of smelly world and with the advent of perfumes and roomfreshners there seems to be a complete absence of those smelly days replaced by smell of civilisation. Kaleidoscope is happily married with the dull and strong iron in his everyday life while the nations are happily playing with the steel to do extravagant jingoism. Kaleidoscope is sharing an increasingly smoky outside to install air purifier inside! His world demands iron like personalities, decision makers and perhaps unifiers (of late in India). But the question remains what has changed? When he looks at the dumped and increasingly vegetation engrossed rusty and lonely iron rods for constriction they smiles at kaleidoscope. Demands him to look at the tall blue-white buildings at the horizon to understand there is also a word IRONY.

For facts-
Flatman,j. 2015 archaeology. London: oneworld

Fagan, m. 1999. The beginning. Boston: little brown and company.

Jail, Temple, Cremation and Brothel - the Continuity of a Murder

Well crossing the tolly nala, or chetla bridge could never be the same once you have traced the trail of the old branch of river Hoogly. Once you cross the kabi subhas metro station and continue towards Baruipur you tend to see the widened canal like river which is being killed slowly and bringing a sure death. Or you can go to the relatively higher floors of the alipur campus of the university of calcutta to see the river is waiting with green mangrove vegetation and silt bed for you to discover. Its river near the end, its river before the city- you know who is killing it.

Kaleidoscope used to go to his mother's sister's place in nacktala by crossing a peculiar canal - quite different from the one he usually saw. There were 'A' bridges connecting the Netaji Subhas Bose road and the marginal settlements on thr opposite to it. One could then experience a sudden appearance of rural cosmos after crossing those A shaped bridges. While he was curious, his father explained it was build so as to allow the passage of 'dingi' - the small and country made boats. Kaleidoscope could see the imagined canal little wider than that actually it was. He could fantasize sitting beside the canal watching those dingis making a reappearance. Those imaginations were bulldozed by the metro pillars and eventual destruction of those A shaped bridges locally called as 'sanko' meaning locally constructed often bamboo structured bridges to be used by people on foot. As Kaleidoscope grew up to see people dying he started visiting the local cremation grounds beside the canal. The first to go was his father's dear friend and he went to 'kaoratala' near kalighat.

He knew it was the same river - now the canal. Similarly he found the same practice when he went to Boral cremation ground in garia and visited the tripureswari temple. Elephant's bone, several undated potteries recovered underground while reconstructing the temple indicates people and their long blood affinity with the river which his civilisation has so casually forgotten.

Today his auto to national library met an accident on the top of the chetla bridge and he had to get down and wait unless the dispute was settled. He could only get a few minuits to stand on the cleavage of the river. Yes there are ups and downs in garia so does in chetla as the river left her markings and memories on the land whom she depended for so long. Kaleidoscope looked at the the 'jail', the cremation ground and imagined the temple and the brothel! The whole ditches of civilisation and its attempt to conceal them appeared at once on the bridge. Kaleidoscope felt like being sandwiched in the cleavage- entire loads of the history of civilisation and brutal murder was mounting on. He knew it was the confinement and right there lay the pathway to liberation. The air was thick so does the memories of murders of all the rivers that lay underneath.

One of the ferry ghats still remaining at Naktala

Bullet trains and 'fuck you' data

Everyone in India has some experience of a train ride and this is going be revoultionised with Bullets cumming after demonetisation disaster! It all starts with an image of 'fuck you' once I put some calculations in an excel spreadsheet. Blame it on United States entirely, as US is the country which is showing middle finger and its a spreadsheet designed by their gem. Lets have a look:

US showing middle finger as they don't mind (Data calculated from world bank report)

Okay so you got it US is showing the rest of the world a middle finger saying "fuck you" I don't care if I have to pay the highest amount for gifting California Bullets. We can understand that. Arnold Schwarzenegger being their governor for long time they can give a damn (remember total recall baby!). China smilingly takes their fingers down, yes, there is "I don't give a fuck" attitude prevails and that is an achievement in itself. The rest are the names of colonizers with charming wine clad little towns and the romantic noise in sum the Spain. The orange clad India stands wondering at the demonetisation on one hand and Bullet trains on the other. 

An imagined conversation:

Q: How would it be viable?

A: only if it has 100 trips, 88,000 to 110,000 passengers per day (click here) 

Q: Is it really free?

A: Nothings for free. Think about Rupee depreciation value over Yen (60% in last ten years). Remember the .01% interest rate and that amount of passengers being available. 

Q: How cost effective are bullet trains across the world?

A: Viable High Speed Railways is an oxymoron. It is nowhere viable and it cannot be. It is a political stand. (click here) 

Q: are we fucked?

A: Not yet

Q: Why not?

A: because we don't know the future and we are already fucked long back!

Meanwhile the orange clad pillar is making faces and might punch me on my face, hence, this is the end!

Reading on the Readings of Suranjan Das's Book entitled "Communal Riots in Bengal" : The story of a Pink ink trail

This is perhaps the fifth time that Kaleidoscope requested Suranjan Das's book on Communal Riots in Bengal - 1905 to 1947, an excellent thesis written by Das during his Oxford days. Kaleidoscope until tomorrow was getting the same copy with numerous blue marking here and there. It always seemed someone has meticulously read this book. There are also a few questions written on some of the pages of the book. Kaleidoscope could readily understand the nature of perception of the Ghost reader who has left his/her marks on the book. Kaleidoscope has read the same copy in 2009, 2011, 2013, several occasions in 2016 and in September this year. Until September all markings were in blue ball pen and by pencils. However, in February 2017 someone took the copy and meticulously studied with a pink marking. This pink marking seems to be very interesting which Kaleidoscope thought of writing about.

The marking begins with the acknowledgement section where Prof Das thanks to several people most of them stalwarts in the field of history. The pink ink marks the name of a lady about whom Prof Das dearly mentions and clearly states she happens to be a personal friend and a dear one. The pink ink puts a star mark! Who was that girl!! Yes, a smell to put a mark.

Later on it marks all the events with references to the possible initiation of conflict by the Muslims in places of Bangladesh and India. The pink line becomes thicker in places where Das mentions about the events allegedly initiated by the Muslims and disappears where similar incidents are allegedly initiated by the Hindus.

It doesn't mark lines which describe how trivial issues were actually given rise to the violent riots, in what ways Gujaratis have displaced internally a large tract of Muslim population from the city of Kolkata by using Calcutta Improvement Trust. It doesn't look at the agrarian backdrop of the Bengal riot neither it is interested to mark on the economic inequality issues of both of the religious people. It is only interested in pointing out the contribution of Muslim identity consolidation and initiation of the conflicts.

Yes, the Pink ink disappears completely from the conclusion chapter as the conclusions by Das doesn't fit in the stereotypes made by the pink like.

Therefore, next time you visit to the National Library order Suranjan Das's book with call number: E-954, D26 com. and look for the pink trail to read how the pink like reads it.

PS. Be sure to have your own readings when you go through the book. And, yes, Kaleidoscope in no means support putting marks on library books.

Past in Present in National Library

The old building taken from Bhasa bhawan through the century old trees

Coffee cup seems to be accompanying kaleidoscope everywhere. Like the rainfall isn't leaving his city, prolonging the ever reflecting verticalities on the road, on the wet floor, coffee cups are creeping up kaleidoscope's souls. The way his rapidly transforming city bringing him back to the present for future references is formidable. The rainfall and his lone time at the national library pushed him to write a few words for the long pending blogpost which he thought of writing in 2005 when for the first time he adjusted himself at the bhasabhaban at National Library instead of the main building.

Its the newly build architecture for reading pleasure at per with post millennium, postmodern glassy architecture that welcomes kaleidoscope with a weired smile. The old and colonial building which had book shelf integrated tables with mahogany polish, a small flower vase carrying one or two flowers and wooden floor is now looking at kaleidoscope, inviting but its still under rennovation and perhaps those past has gone forever.

The coffee corner

The broad staircase at the back which used to be the popular place for Kaleidoscope and his friends to eat and smoke is now abandoned and alien support pipes- aiding to the rennovation is occupying the lost time. Trees however remained as they were always have for centuries overlooking generations of the readers. The pleasure however, lies with the sofas beside the two story long glass panel to sit, read and relax, perhaps to sleep.

Of late there seems to be a rise of young civil service aspirants paying regular visit to the library, hence, while kaleidoscope was having a sip or two at the tiny little coffeestall installed beside the bhasabhaban, he could listen to the conversation on the nature of preparation for the approaching exams and the uncertain futures. A group of familier faces of the library whom kaleidoscope could remember since early 2000s are still discussing Marxists and the political change of 2011. The coffeeshop seems to have made the old canteen even more irrelevant. Unthinkably cheap tea and other things used to attract Kaleidoscope and his friends always. While other things have gone tea is still there and its Rs. 1:00 only.

The canteen kaka who used to look like Bollywood Raj Kapoor is no longer there with his secretly kept bundles of cigarettes to give us. The canteen like many other places have been postmodernised with tiled floors round tables and plastic chairs replacing 'outdated' bench like arrangements. However, no longer there is any queue for food coupons. You cannot have those delicious chinrer polao but certainly you can sit there and smoke - the legacy continues in puffs.



Approaching way to Bhasa bhawan after an episode of rain

PS. Kaleidoscope and his friends during 2005, 2006 used to read a lot about African archaeology in National Library. After four or five hours of uninterrupted reading their heads would gave up and they used to start laughing for no reason at all. They used to go inside the washroom to unburden the laughter (and water of course). The washroom now a day seems like left alone since then!

Glassy Selfie World - Narcissism and Postmodern architectures

The selfie world

The one glassy building:

Once there was a glass building with completely different and attractive looking architecture near Ultadanga - the VSNL building. Kaleidoscope, an aimless roamer in his neighbourhood was for the first time asked by an elderly fellow 'where do you want to take up your job?' Kaleido replied 'at that glass building near ultadanga'. 'Do you know which office is there inside the building' the fellow continued. Kaleidoscope replied 'yes VSNL' 'And what is that?' - yes of course kaleidoscope  didn't know the answer. He said 'i dont know but i would be happy  to see the graveyard nearby from the top of that office during tiffin time!' Kaleidoscope can't  remember the rest of conversation, but he does remember the attraction of that glassy architecture.

Many glassy buildings:

Later on he has seen many of such buildings coming up at different places of his city. Then there came shopping destinations which he thought he would never be able to go to buy. Now that there are many and that he has grown up, he doesn't have much aspirations or options to take up a job in the glassy buildings. However, looking from any of the top buildings, remains an important part of his fantasies.

While these glassy buildings are encroaching his city space, mushrooming everywhere to replace many of the thickly historical experiences, kaleidoscope stsrred seeing them differently.  There is one beside National Library and kaleidoscope is deprived of experiencing the colonial feel which was as precious as the books that took hours to appear from some hidden cave in the library. The postmodern bhasa bhawan replaces National Library. All of a sudden renovation means replacing mosaic floors with tiles, windows with sliding glass panels which reduces the open space to half and walls with wallputty!

Selfie world:

Hence kaleidoscope's world is now converted to a space that reflects your image too often. When you look at them they make you look at yourself - perhaps the front camera clad selfie mode in action everywhere. A world where there is no escape from selfie. You have to be narcissistic, you must be able to fall in love with and then transform the body according to your wish! You are made not to love everything of your body because there are other better bodies to see nearby, and you are more and more trying to change it. Yes, you chose to look 'good' because so many times you are compared with your heroes possessing 'ideal types'. 

As Kaleidoscope looks up beyond the glassy buildings there seems to be the outer atmosphere - the sky. Only attaining that high demands him to go through a series of colourful backlit flexes. Will they ever allow kaleidoscope or for that matter others to trespass them?

Perhaps trespassing is not a possibility without getting into 'properly' shaped. One should not only live but should also die sexy.

The fleeting worlds:

The glassy buildings not only makes your world a selfie world, but also makes you believe the transient nature and lack of permanence and depthless presents. Hence, there once was hometown mall now central mall and no one knows perhaps may be in a few years it would be office space like Gariahat mall. Who knows how long IBM clad DLF I or the like will stay? Glasses are easy to leave as they are! Aren't they? Additionally they easily breakable and replaceable by something new. Therefore, here it is, a transient depthless successions of architectures, or do they redefine depth in time, depth in stratigraphy in a dynamic way in a way we can say postmodern!

Meanwhile, its again the sky from above and a tall building calling! Meanwhile,  kaleodoscope knows attaining that high is restricted as the roofs are dangerous in high buildings. Is it true? or does the glassy world hold you back, because you are supposed to live (consume) and not rush for the sky! Not yet, because you cannoy die till you aren't sexy!

The newly converted central mall in an extreme angle.