Arre Ruk Ja Re Bande...

Right now, I am listening to this awesome track from equally hard-hitting movie 'Black Friday'(wiki-link). Accidentally played it yesterday and it has been playing in a 'single-repeat' mode. It has a line which has been haunting me since y'day. Why? Because, the thought behind this line has been haunting me since long long time and I could not 'wordify' it. It goes...

            Kise kaafir kahega (whom will you label as 'infidel'/atheist)

            Kise kaayar kahega (whom will you label as coward)

            Teri kab tak chalegi (how long will you call shots)

The context of the movie (and the song) is very different from my line of thought. The movie is about an act of terrorism. However, I won't venture in that direction - religion, hatred, killings, atrocities, injustice, organized crime, etc. I have something else in my mind.

Few days back - over lunch - an interesting discussion took place. It was about nature, animals... wild-life to be more precise, food, genetically modified food, food-chain, etc. All hard-core science. The people discussing this topic had varied background 5-6 software engineers working on a 'niche 3D' product. One a self-proclaimed atheist but being aware of different religions at the same time, one pseudo(?)-religious but open minded, one strict vegetarian for religious reasons but apart from that nothing else was religious about him, others were just normal guys - one introvert 'thinker', another extrovert blabbermouthed. The reason I'm giving the religious-inclination of these people are not to type-cast them. But, to set up the scene for the discussion and then share my thoughts... which are a mix of 'religion'(for lack of better word) and science. 

This discussion started with Tigers. The population of the tigers is dwindling. Why? Men hunted them, of course, more than that they encroached the jungles therefore their food got scare and affected them. It's not just the tigers. We had learned in our school that snakes play an important by keeping a check on the population of mice. But, these days you don't find them around. Mice on the other hand are seen everywhere. What do we do? Resort to a pest-control mechanism and 'control' the pest - mice. Not just mice, we have many other pests - insects and their equivalent pest-controllers. Little birds are no-where to be seen in the urban jungles. The non-urban area are being used extensively for agriculture. The actual jungles are now just the wildlife reserves - man-made areas where humans are 'not allowed'.  

http://www.garfield.com/

When we were in school, we had learned about the food-chain. There was a structure, in which, life existed and propagated - there was a good reason for everything. Life had 'evolved' to a 'system'. And 'science' was for understanding the Nature - what triggers what and why things happen in the way they do. Science helped... augmented in man's search of understanding Life.

At the same time, I also remember our social-studies teacher telling us - where science ends, religion/faith/philosophy begins, meaning, there are are things beyond the scope of reason. No matter how hard you try to find explanation, certain things will always defy logic and reasoning. When studying religion, our teacher told, that we are not allowed to ask questions. Instead have faith in Almighty and you will be taken care off. Do good things and stay away from evil.

In fact, faith came first to mankind and then science. Science questioned all objects of faith and has been doing a splendid job of tearing to pieces faiths of men. Of course, certain zealots in modern times are also using science as a tool to justify religious practices. But, they always remain faithful to God not science.

Reminds me a quote of Einstein "Science without without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."

Where does all this stop? I mean - What is the status of food-chain now? The very same science, which lead us to understand Nature, is killing it insanely! Exploiting the 'limited' resources scientifically, technologically, methodically. We have evolved into a 'black-hole' consumer of each and everything around us, without even having a look at our actual needs - physically and metaphysically! People killing each other in the name of religion, race, creed. People imposing 'moral rules', disregarding the very basic of 'fundamental humane rights of existence', in the name of GOD! 

Are we playing god ourselves? With the help of science or with the help of religion? Either ways how long will it last??

            Kise kaafir kahega (whom will you label as 'infidel'/atheist)

            Kise kaayar kahega (whom will you label as coward)

            Teri kab tak chalegi (how long will you call shots)