Deepak V

#7 I believe you have watched Avatar 2. Today it is roughly about Tulkun alias whales on the planet Pandora. While watching the movie, I wondered if any other mainstream movie captured the wonders of one of the most intelligent species on Earth.

I am sure for 100 percent that James Cameron modeled Tulkan entirely on whales. What he showed on screen was typical of whales and how they live, except for the direct conversations. Even the Tulkun hunting for amrita can be likened to whale oil hunting. The amount of inspiration Cameron took was clear to me in the introductory scenes of Tulkun named Payakan. Remember, there was a scene where a harpoon-like anchor stuck on the fin. And then Lo’ak removes it, freeing up Payakan. A similar incident was recorded on camera in a documentary produced by Cameron. In this case, a deep sea fishing net gets tangled with the fin of an Orca whale. A person with the documentary team then goes to untie the net while the whale stays still, with the understanding that someone has come for me.

As you know, whales breathe air and must come to the surface once in a few hours. Whales getting stuck in deep sea fishing nets eventually results in their death. If you have thought about why whales breathe air, you might want to know their evolutionary story. Ancestors of whales were four-legged animals that, over time, ventured back into the sea. Perhaps a unique U-turn nature took in an otherwise general narrative that life journeyed from water to land.

If you still haven’t understood how great whales are, understand whales follow intricate matriarchal family life. A family has a grandmother who passes knowledge and skills to the younger ones. A mother assumes leadership and ensures that the family is fed. Teenagers take care of babies when their mother goes hunting. The family has conversations in their language comprising sounds, whistles, and songs. We have also been able to record an astonishing fact about humpback whale songs. Humpback whales are known to take, revise and adapt songs from other humpback families. This eventually leads to the songs spreading across the world, like a song would go popular among humans. Such humane behavior makes the Earth’s most enormous creatures a wonderful creation. To end this, one more fact. In the spectrum of life, with Prokaryotes on one end, whales mark the other end of Eukaryotes. And being the largest living entity, they are the least prone to cancer. If every cell in a being has an equal chance of being cancerous, then the more cells, the more should be a chance of occurrence of cancer. However, it is the lowest in whales, known as Peto’s Paradox.

#6 Is there anyone genuinely irreplaceable in our life? Let us not question our existence here, we for sure came through a woman and man, and they are irreplaceable. I think it’s unreasonable to examine the fundamental aspects of life. Leaving the two fundamental people responsible for our existence in the world, is everyone else truly replaceable?

For most of us, there are people who we feel are irreplaceable. If the understanding between the people goes in sync, there is no trouble until the last event of our life, i.e., death. When there are a series of instances of misunderstanding, we often struggle between the thoughts of relieving ourselves from the relationship and holding on to the relationship since they are ‘irreplaceable’ in our life. Most of us juggle between these two states. When I look at this closely, I understand that we tie an individual to a role that we expect them to play for us. We feel discomfort when the individual hesitates or discontinues playing that role. Now, like everything in life, it is a question of time. If you are lucky enough, that individual will resume playing the role you want them to play.

Coming back to the fortunate ones who have people around them precisely playing the role they wish them to play all through their life, there comes the unavoidable death. In the event of this death, it becomes difficult to accept the void. Suddenly, there is no one to play that role. So, for everyone, at some point in time, life gives them an opportunity to understand the fundamental mechanics of life. The people around them are replaceable. All the relationships we rejoice about in life are people’s roles. We may now ask this question; do we need someone to play some part for us?

Almost all of us do not get this point because of how we experience life. The woman and man to whom we are biologically tied are irreplaceable. They are unique. In life, a specific set of people come to you by default. Was this choice made at some level? or was it just a happening is beyond the capabilities of most of us. It just occurred. The roles that stem out of these connections are naturally considered irreplaceable. It is here most of them fail to realize the reality. Some biological fathers are more motherly than their biological mothers, and at the same time exist fathers who are devils. Some friends become brotherly than yours, even if you don’t have one, and so on. In life, you only play roles with people and situations. Now you can ask one more question. If people around you are replaceable, are you replaceable?

#5 Every person on this earth holds some deep secrets—the most concealed ones. Never conveyed to the outer world. Then there are these that don’t go as deep but are kept far within themselves. Sometimes these unknown to the world are pleasant, bitter, hateful, and sometimes remorse. Whatever it is, on some scale of emotions, it is on edge. This is why it has been put deep down within themselves. If you wonder why pleasant, ecstatic memories need to be hidden, it is because some of them are purely anecdotal. Nobody beyond them will be able to comprehend or experience those truths. Hence best kept concealed.

Though this is the case, there are moments when the external atmosphere arises to the emotional pitch of your memories. This is the moment of vulnerability, like water at 100 degrees Celsius. On reaching this degree, water doesn’t boil. It needs a slight push, and that extra energy makes the water boil. If it happens to be that you are in such an external atmosphere around you, then realize that you are vulnerable. A gentle push, the slightest provocation, a moment of chaos, and the secret is out. Things pan out when the unknown becomes known. Depending on the just new realization revealed to the world, things unfold.

If you reason why people open up, you realize it is usually when people are in a state of heightened emotion. When someone loses somebody, grief opens up them. Words come out of those relationships that were never spoken of. It also happens when people are in red hot anger. In grief, those words are taken with empathy. But in anger, it is disastrous. All those opinions and thoughts kept within to keep relationships burst out. People opening up out of anger is the most fatal and truthful event. The truth that was put aside now surfaces, and questions come up. Anger turns into doubt, suspicion, grief, and so on. Opening up also happens when people are delighted and often snowballs into better situations.

Then there are cases when people open up out of frustration. They cannot anymore keep it within them. Suddenly, they open up to release the pressure built up. They feel good. Often these are about situations that are beyond their control. Also are cases when you slip your tongue like a former American President did on his middle east affairs recently.

Nevertheless, if you master yourself, none of these scenarios will touch you. You open up when you want to. And that’s freedom.

#4 I hope you have heard a thing about Oumuamua. If not, it is terrible. Oumuamua is something that entered our solar system and left us with a lot of questions. As you read this, it is moving away from us, maybe drifting or with a purpose towards its next destination. When we found Oumuamua in our system, its characteristics differed from regular celestial objects, which is why it got a lot of attention.

Coming closer, this May, Pentagon officially disclosed hundreds of UFO sightings, especially from US Navy. Many of those are recorded using multiple sensors, meaning various devices, including humans, bore witness to it. Some of them were moving hypersonic. Thus, some unidentified flying objects or phenomena exist. They need not be aliens. It can be originated from a different country on earth. But all of those have been mostly ruled out, and the characteristics of these UFOs defy what we know. I am overly excited about these revelations. It is a dream to hear a piece of news about a clear recording of an alien UFO. I believe such information will shatter the socially constructed divisions of humans. Our earth’s atmosphere is a vast space to always be under surveillance. Thus, it is possible to have far more UFOs roaming within our atmosphere, unattended. For now, detailed studies on these spotting have commenced. Let us be hopeful for some fantastic news in the coming years.

Keeping aside the reported sightings from Pentagon, have you wondered why the public did not see any UFOs. Have you seen anything remarkable in our skies beside the regular constants like stars and moon? I have been lucky enough to see meteors with a reddish glow zooming past with a sparkling trail. That happened only once to me. Whenever I see reports about the meteor shower, I try my best to look up but have been unlucky. Nowadays, everyone has a high-end camera with them, and hardly any sightings have been reported. Maybe most of them are so enclosed within their own world that they barely look up. Or these reported sightings were moving hypersonic in some cases, which is too hard for us to notice. Anything moving supersonic would produce a pressure pulse that is unnoticeable. This exists even when a fighter jet flies at less than a Mach. I have experienced this at the famous Bengaluru air show, and I highly recommend to all to witness an air show at least once in your life. So, if these flying objects were to make no noise, we would hardly look up. Most of the time, you look up to a plane after hearing its rumbling. Therefore, it could very well be that they exist among the public but go completely unnoticed.

Coming back to Oumuamua, Prof. Avi Loeb has wondered if we could launch a probe, enter the interstellar visitor and come back with samples. Wouldn’t it be great? With an agnostic approach, the professor launched the Galileo Project, which aims to research these unknown visitors with their own data set. As someone who has always wondered about life beyond earth, I sincerely wish that a remarkable discovery happens before I leave.

#3 Who is the greatest devotee in the world? Are you the one? Chances are slim. A devotee is unconditional towards the person, thing, or whatever they are devoted to. I have seen a few remarkable people worth this description. But they still falter here and there.

One of the easiest ways to represent or define devotion is through sports. If you consider why people love some sportsperson without any bounds, you may realize that it is their devotion to the game. It is this quality that makes us love them. Another devotion that most of us have experienced and seen is the devotion a mother has towards a newborn. Nothing is held in between a newborn and a mother. Everything happens without any hesitancy. But I would say that this is not eternal. As the newborn, becomes a toddler, then a child, a teenager, and an adult, somewhere in between, this unconditional affection becomes conditional. This would be the least conditional among all relationships, yet it is conditional. In devotion, there are no conditions. In devotion, a devote ceases to exist. Though a topic that needs to be discussed in detail, I will move on for now.   

The question of who is the great devotee arose when I was in the local Shiva temple for Deeparadhana (evening ceremonies). This is also a time of the day when all the regulars and nearby people come to the temple. Everything was silent as the central Sanctorum was closed for it to be opened with full glare. But soon after it was opened, a group of older women was chanting in praise of Shiva. Well, I am no one to complain, but this irritates me. Such acts of devotion are ephemeral for me. I am someone who enjoys the calmness within the temple. This is when I thought of the question. Whatever they are doing is out of their love for Shiva. Nothing wrong here. Can they be called the greatest devotees? No, I don’t think so. For Shiva, Nandi is the greatest devotee. I disregard Nandi here. Then who is it?

Every day lot of people come here. Each of them does something which pleases them. Then I realized who is the one. In our temple, before we enter the Sanctorum, we pay our regards to the banyan tree. It is this banyan tree the greatest devotee here. Day or night, sun or rain, it is always here, probably since the temple existed. For this reason; I think we first pay our regards to the giant and enter the Sanctorum. Everything that the deity has to offer has been imbibed by this devotee all these years. Bowing down to this tree is as much as bowing down to Shiva.

#2 What does it come into your mind when I say Pigeons? For some of you, it could be just a regular one near your home, for few, it could be a flock of them flying off in front of India gate. Or maybe the one in the Masakali song. Everyone shall relate to pigeons in some form or fashion. 

My thoughts on pigeons would fall somewhere on the earlier mentioned list. However, it got completely shattered when I stepped into my hostel room. A few years ago, I stayed in one of the oldest hostels on campus. These are highly monkey friendly. Due to frequent troubles, the new hostels were constructed with the concerns in mind. The hostel in the discussion here is the tower hostel which is well made to avoid monkeys. However, the architects missed the pigeons. So, as I stepped in, I was welcomed by a stark stench. I knew the reason. We have a window that opens to a recess in the room, further shielded by a grill and concrete blocks. This recess is a perfect spot for the pigeons to procreate. Well protected from predators, I have seen pigeons making use of this spot even before. What happened now is that the hostel was kept idle for a long time due to Covid, and I had to change the hostel. So, I knew that all I must do was clean up the spot. I opened the window and realized that I was trapped. There were two squabs, a mom and dad, and loads of shit.

This was the first time I saw a pigeon baby—no feathers and nothing like an adult one. Any effort towards an eviction means deciding on their life. I googled how long it takes for a pigeon baby to fly. Google said a minimum of 4 weeks. 4 weeks is too long for a person who prefers a spotless room. But deciding on the life of those two was hard. I decided to wait and let it be for a month. As a week passed on, my attention changed from the stench to the commitment of those parents. 24/7, there was always someone near the babies. They took turns to be with them. This was a new experience for me. I have not seen anything like it. Do all pigeons(birds) share these parental duties? The most I have seen, Cats and dogs are not like this. This humane parental behavior was in contrast with the filth surrounding them. I think it didn’t matter to them. Maybe the security available was worthy of this sacrifice. I was lucky to shift again to another hostel as the present one was chosen for the maintenance. I wonder what happened to that family. Did the squabs survive, or were evicted? 

#1 First, forget the question about what the hell or heaven is. We do not deal with that here. We deal with the question of where does hell or heaven can be? As of now, nobody knows. If anybody knows, they have not told yet. Or they are not here to say to us. So, it is up to us to find it.

The first that comes to my mind is the Earth itself. There are still unexplored places on Earth, especially ocean. But to spice up, we will leave our Earth. So, let us look at our solar system. It is essential to mention ours since there are numerous other solar systems. Keeping the focus on our solar system, we first look at the planets. We have fairly mapped the surfaces of Mercury, Venus, and Mars. Mercury is apt for the traditional definition of hell. Unfortunately, we have not been able to capture any live activity, at least on the surface. Venus and Mars are also reasonably checked and are not the candidates. Jupiter is an exciting option, a gaseous planet, we hardly know what is there in it, within and below the Earth-sized gigantic storms. Volumetrically, Jupiter is approximately 1300 times larger than Earth. So, we have space more than required to accommodate the billion dead on Earth. However, being gaseous with turbulent storms, we do not have a platform to host any events. Going beyond, we are looking at planets with a much cooler atmosphere. Thus, an ideal environment is still absent. Titan, one of Saturn’s satellites, has a liquid ocean below a thick icy surface, a potential location of interest to the scientific community. Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto also can be neglected.

A tenth planet (Or ninth, if Pluto is avoided) is being investigated. Some pieces of evidence of its existence are available though none is conclusive. Nevertheless, being extremely far from the sun, a habitable atmosphere may not exist. Thus, in a nutshell, we can rule out our solar system as a potential location for heaven or hell. Beyond the solar system, we only have the Viking probes to check for anything. The only other means for scientific exploration is by telescopes. In the last two decades, numerous exoplanets have been discovered. These are good locations for our interests. However, we are too early to conclude. A question also arises regarding the time required for the dead to travel there. They may have to travel at the speed of light. If not, the journey itself will be tiring. Till now, I evaded the question of requiring a physical body to enjoy the physical pain and pleasures of hell and heaven. I take the liberty of avoiding the question.

In summary, I can say that we do not have any idea of the locations of hell and heaven. Personally, these are mere creations of the human mind. For the hardcore believers, I have a satisfying answer. Yes, there exists hell, but not sure of heaven. If you are a follower of X, then you have a chance to go to X Hell or X Heaven. I do not know where you will qualify. However, the hells of Y and Z are ready and waiting for you. For others, I will give you a clear answer to this question after my death if I can.