Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Colour of Lust

Perhaps irritating stereotypes of a person begin with the association of colours with babies; pink with girls and blue with boys. Pink is so garish for my taste that I find it offensive both on boys and girls. Then there is another association of pink with love. I wonder how that could be the case. On the contrary, I've an empirical evidence that the colour most likely could be associated with lust instead of love.

The incident happened a decade ago (So, I have reached an age where I talk in decades. Why did I write that previous pointless sentence?) I was browsing through the cloth section of a mall in Hyderabad. I overheard a lady excitedly telling her man in Kannada, "buy the pink one, buy the pink one" and both started giggling. I turned around and found they were standing in front of men's underwear rack. I was scandalized by their loud vulgarity and felt disgusted with their moral degradation in their perceived anonymity in an alien land or in the midst of alien speakers. At that time, I didn't give much importance to the lady's specific attachment to "pink" underwear - not for herself but for her man.

Few years ago, there was a so-called 'pink chaddi campaign' against Hindutva moralists who targetted pub  going girls. I think the choice of pink colour in this case too gives credence to the association of the colour with lust. Empirical evidences so far only associate this colour with men when women expect them to be lusty.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Heart Disease and Y-Haplogroup R2

A new study has observed that coronary artery disease (CAD) is passed from father to son or inherited through the Y-chromosome. The researchers also make a point that people with certain haplogroups are more prone to heart disease compared to others. Among British, men who have Y-chromosome belonging to haplogroup I carry 50% greater risk of heart disease compared to men who belong to haplogroup R1b1b2.

I have family history of heart diseases. My haplogroup is R2a. The greatest concentration of R2a clan is in Andhra Pradesh where one-third of males carry this Y-chromosome. Incidentally, Andhra Pradesh also has the dubious distinction of being the top state in India in terms of the number of heart patients. So, I make an educated guess that in India people who belong to Y-haplogroup R2a have a greater risk of heart disease compared to other lineages.

I suppose one-third of Sinhalese and one-fourth of Bangladeshis also belong to this haplogroup. I wonder whether their heart disease rates are comparable to Andhra Pradesh.

Middle Caste Fatalism

[He1] : It was an intercaste marriage.
[He2] : What is she?
[He1] : ...
[He2] : What is he?
[He1] : ...
[He2] : Okay. It's good. At least both from the upper castes.
[He1] : Why do you say that? What's so bad if any one of them was from a lower caste?
[He2] : I blurted out something. Not much thought has gone into it.
[He1] : You may not mean it. But those words came out of you naturally. Aren't they?
[He2] : True.
[He1] : ...
[He2] : I don't know how to explain it. It may be different here in the South. But in the North, the caste consciousness so deeply ingrained that you just hate certain castes. The claims of superiority of certain castes is so overwhelming that you don't want have anything with other castes. You want to preserve yourself.
.
.
.
[He2] : I know, rationally what I just said is wrong and meaningless. But I'm conditioned to speak in a certain way in public.
[He1] : What is your true self?
[He2] : I really don't know. I have expressed my rational self occasionally with my family at least but those words made hardly any sense to them.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Denied

What I call that but a let down
I thought I wasn't heard out
Not a fair chance of presenting mine
I had shown the interest

I know I am ready
With ideas beyond the boundary
But you chose someone else
Who will never meet in uniqueness

No doubt he is capable
Perhaps a better bet in the long run
But I have plans ample
Not for my pleasure to you I turn

You follow a structure
Afraid as you that you may reinvent the wheel
Defined your life and your character
Based on imaginations of a male

You expect me to approach in Dreyfus model
That is a fallacy of is-ought scale
For us questions are known
A novice-expert in every moment I'll remain

You need a direct contact and a rapport
Building a bond toasting beer
Unfortunate stereotypes as the guiding rules
Burkha clad woman fighting freedom of choice

Unconfused and passionate first time in life
I would have triumphed or perished, hell right
You should have tried me out either way
Nothing would have made difference to you anyway