Give your seat to elders, kids and females

"Give your seat to elders, kids and females."

I remember the above line was part of my behavior science text book in middle school. I had to remember it for my exams along with other points like:

1. Everybody should do one good turn a day: If you see a big stone or object in the middle of the road, remove it. Help elderly or blind to cross the road.

2. Touch feet of your parents/guardians as you get-up every morning.

Each student had a daily diary where parents/guardians had to log whether their ward did follow the points sincerely.

Come to present. I take trains to commute to work to Jersey City (close to New York). I have to take two trains, one is regular train (NJ Transit) with enough seating capacity but the other is a transit train (PATH) with less seating but more standing space.

Every day I see people rushing to grab a seat as soon as transit train arrives and opens its doors for passengers. Of course the younger/fitter folks (mostly men) run faster and grab seats while elders, kids and females lag little behind and feel lucky if they get a seat. I see people pushing each other to get a seat, sometimes even giving scornful look at others' impatience while ignoring their own.

My question is: Does the title line make sense in today’s world. Why do we ignore such pieces of courtesy in today’s mechanical life which is converting into rushing home-to-office or office-to-home life?

Reasons:

1. May be people are too preoccupied with their thoughts or are stressed that they un-knowingly/un-intentionally forget the old-gold teachings (common-sense).

2. Population is increasing and hence chaos and crowd. Survival of the fittest prevails.

3. People prefer luxury of a seat to read something or talk or take a nap rather than to stand and get further tired (in the evenings) and get exhausted (in the mornings).

4. Our life is moving towards individualistic world. Meaning only you have to take care of your life, state of affairs, ambitions and strive for it.

Let us slow down. Look around and think about others and give them some space (literally). Others will certainly reciprocate. Why not I start it first?
Your thoughts are welcome.

Do I need to broadcast that I am hindu

Recently my friend forwarded me an aricle "MEN AND IDEAS: I am a Hindu, but...
by GURCHARAN DAS" link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1256867.cms.
Writer very well brings home the point when an indian youth finds it hard to prefess his true association with hinduism. Writer blames the nationalist (RSS, Bajrang dals) and secularists for highjacking hinduism for political gains and creating a mess. Both parties (nationalists and secularists, is there thrid part?? :-) ) have strong arguments and seem correct to the indian masses, who are not intellectually capable to think and decide but are unwantedly pulled into the mess and have to tolerate all the violence (in the mind and on the roads).

I read somewhere, Gautam Budhdha said "There is no one right, either everything is right or nothing is right". The same point Einstein proved mathematically and named it "Relativity".

On a fine day, I don't object to broadcasting our beliefs and letting everyone know about its good values. But it pains me when when such public propaganda about beliefs (religions, culture) gives opportunites to anti-social elements (like in Mau in UP these days) and disturbs the social thread.

I know hindu mythological texts (Veda, Gita, Ramayan, Upanishads, etc.) are full of knowledge and good things. As for north indian educated youths, I hardly see them interested into them or eager to learn Sanskrit mantras. Even way before BJP revolutionised hinduism, I saw youth disinterested from hinduism because of super-stitions and pandits manipulating rules for money (simplest being, pandit ji conducting 2 hour marriage pheras in 20 minutes.).
So the point is, youth were already disinterested from hinduism because of stress on scientific thinking in modern education, unexplainable rules, pressure from parents to study and settle abroad. Now, the mess created by nationalist and secularists has only increased their distance from hinduism and its way of life.

Hence I strongly believe that, beliefs/religions should be very-very private thing and followed in the house. Specially in todays global world where there is movement of human capital on such a large scale. Let's not fight over spiritual beliefs with todays scientific weapons.
Om! Amen! Allaho Akbar!! (don't ask me why I wrote Om! first. Because somebody needs to be and all can't be.).

kyari

Kyari: Planting good ideas--- This group is for planting seeds of good ideas which will grow into tree of humanity with a sense of giving back to our roots in Hindaun-Karauli region of Rajasthan, India. Here intellectuals with roots in Hindaun-Karauli region come together to discuss ideas/dreams which can be turned into reality to help everyone's mother (Mother-nature), and coming generation (young ones). Please check "Kyari" link on Kalakari.com for further details.

We invite people who want to give not only money but most importantly their time (shram-daan) and mind (ideas) for the purpose of helping enviornment and society in many ways including the following:
1) Helping the kids in remote villages to gain school education and environmental awreness.
2) Creating awareness among people (villagers and city dwellers) about planting trees and improving environment (more rains, pure air, clean underground water, etc.)
3) Awareness among people (villagers and city dwellers) for cleanliness (clean roads, clean colonies, etc.) and reduce air-borne water-borne diseases.

Current agenda:
1. Educating poor kids: To setup a system for poor kids who can not afford to go to schools. This system may be run by students of higher classes (10-11th class) or other teachers who can convince and gather poor kids and teach them. We can provide infrastructural help like providing books, school uniform, day-2-day expenses etc.
2. Plant trees: Talk to people living in a colony to plant tree near their houses. Convince people to take care of them and water them atleast 2-3 times a week. Colonies with trees look beutiful and people love to live there. Trees attract rains and weather cycles improve with less severe summer, etc.

Other individuals are encouraged to exchange ideas and implement similar efforts in their region. Feel free to give suggestions and share experiences