Mediocre Perspectives

It is not often that two blockbuster superhero movies release in a span of two months. DC and Marvel fan fights on social media sites are not uncommon. Both host a range of super humans in different universes. But the beauty of DC’s Dawn of Justice and Marvel’s Civil war lies in the fact that they dealt with the same concept – The tyranny of unaccountable power. Compared to the previous movies in the DC series the Dawn of Justice had many pitfalls. Though a positive revenue generator it was not good enough to enthuse the fan base for the upcoming series on the Justice League . Nevertheless, it opened up a philosophical dimension on the concept of ‘Super’ man. To quote Batman from the movie, “He has the power to wipe out the entire human race. Even if there is a one percent chance that he is not on our side we must take it as an absolute certainty”. The movie dealt with a reasonable question: Shouldn’t such a powerful man be accountable to law? The movie had its moments, es...

Throughout our life, we spend most of the time trying to predict what is in store for us tomorrow. We use every means possible to do that, sometimes very irrational methods as ‘Astrology’. But it is the desire of every living organism – to make life predictable – and we have to admit that compared to other species we have succeeded on many accounts due to our advancements in science and technology. Today, though a considerable section of humans doesn't have a roof to sleep, there is also a section of the population who can safely claim that they will wake up in the same place where they slept last night unharmed. But away from the basic necessities we have gone a step higher. With the increase in life expectancy, we have begun to plan for many things in life – our educational institution, marriage, insurance and even our tombs. It won’t be surprising if in the nearest future if we happen to design humans (forget medical ethics – they are dead). This has falsely made us st...

There is a good chance that this day could be celebrated as something important either globally or in some place on earth for honouring a person or a deed. We, humans, celebrate a lot of days, now and then. Irrespective of what we celebrate the objective has always been similar, “Remembrance”. Most decolonised nations celebrate their Independence days to recall the brave deeds of their freedom fighters to remind the new generation of citizens that the luxury which they enjoy was earned from blood and sweat. Diabetes and cancer days have become relevant lately owing to increased prevalence of non-communicable diseases due to changing lifestyle patterns. Days are celebrated to thank the earth, to talk much and act less on the environment and spare thought for ‘water’ one of the highly exploited resource on our planet. And ironically, the world celebrates the Valentine’s Day for remembrance of love. Most couples forget the meaning of ‘love’ few years into marriage and the Valent...