Is doing the right thing...doing the right thing?

As with most people, there are times when I do wonder what would happen if I did that instead of this? If I chose to go this way or that way? Should I be an idiot or shouldn't I be an idiot. What would happen if I did things differently? A lot of people think about this everyday of their lives.

Last week I was out. Drowning my sorrows. Wondering why I don't have a job AGAIN. Why have I lost 3 jobs this year? Why is it that I always seem to be stuck in a rut? Why I am now feeling like I'm running out of motivation, any positivity that I might still have left in me and constantly wondering what it is I actually want? Sometimes I don't even know. Wondering why a rock bar was playing dance music and why everyone was dancing to it.

So I see this handbag on a table. Unattended. I don't know much about ladies handbags- I don't know much about ladies- but this handbag seemed quite large. It was outside, I had just gone to get some fresh air. There was nobody around the handbag. I waited in the cold for about 15 minutes. Nobody came. So I walk up to this huge expensive looking handbag. Look around again. Nobody. What else could I do but pick it up?

Out of simple curiosity I looked inside. Money. About £100. Maybe more, maybe less. I just glanced inside. I didn't see any kind of identification or anything. So what should I do now? Bearing in mind I had no money, no job, no anything.

An honest person would hand it in. After all it wasn't my money. How would I like it if someone stole my money? Which someone had done so in the past. It obviously isn't a good feeling losing money. The right thing to do would be to hand it in. Even though I don't believe in karma anymore:-

http://muksblogaboutstuff.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/karma-or-just-load-of-crap.html

When did doing the right thing get anyone anywhere?

A person who would claim to be kind of honest but would say things like "charity begins at home" would take the money and then hand in the bag. After all if someone else had found the bag, surely they would do that exact thing? So at least the person would have their bag back with anything in it that they might need or be important to them. The money would be gone but surely that is better than everything going? Yes, that would be what most people would surely do? Take the money and then hand the bag in. A benefit for yourself and also the person who had lost their bag.

Now what would a completely dishonest person do? What would an idiot do? But would it be being an idiot or would it actually be being sensible? Take the money, dispose of the handbag and have no qualms about it whatsoever. £100 is a lot of money. What do I need? New jeans? A new phone? How much are phones these days? £100 could go towards a new phone but I probably would have to find a few more handbags to get a brand new decent quality phone the prices they go for now. Or I could just put it all in the bank-I could use it over the next couple of weeks or so. I had no job for crying out loud. Surely it was time for me to be selfish now?

So what did I end up doing then?

In all honestly, I ended up being the idiot. No I didn't take the money and dispose of the bag nor did I take any money at all. I handed it in. All of it. Contents and all. Yes my beautiful readers THAT is being an idiot. The strange thing was that I didn't feel righteous. I didn't feel like I had done a good deed. Even though of course it WAS a good deed. My first thought was a couple of years ago about someone I know who isn't a thief but who for some reason stole a camera out of a girls' bag just to see if he could. Sick I know. He wasn't found out or caught and didn't even need a camera. That person has an amazing job and an amazing life.

I told 10 people about finding the bag and what I did. 9 of them said they would have taken the money but that I "did the right thing". The other person simply said "good boy" which just made me feel like I was supposed to get a pat on the head and a bone.

There was no pat on the head or a even a bone. 

Diwali #3

Well here it is again. My favourite part of the year. Even though it doesn't feel like it as I just lost my job last week. But it is Diwali. It is a little later this year which I do prefer though. When it is after the pointlessness of Halloween. Also after bonfire night too. As promised, last year I said if I was still around, I would write another Diwali story so here it is:-

Long ago the world was taken over by evil. All the people in the world had turned wicked. There was no goodness left in anyone. Everyone had turned selfish, greedy and power hungry. Demons and ogres had taken over. And on this occasion, The Gods were powerless to do anything about it. In desperate hope they turned to a Goddess called Devi for help.

Devi agreed to help rid the world of all this evil and took on the form of The Goddess of destruction called Kali. Kali means "time" and She has 3 eyes which represent the past, the present and the future. But Kali can also mean "black" in regards to the first creation before light itself. In ignorant people She creates fear but to others she removes the avidya (ignorance) that makes us fear Death.

Kali went on a rampage across the whole world, terrifying and killing all the evil in it. One particular demon called Raktabija was difficult to beat as he would produce more demons each time drops of his blood hit the ground. Eventually millions of clones of Raktabija were produced and The Gods thought that they would be defeated. So Kali covered the whole battlefield with her tongue and would lap any of the blood up before any drops hit the ground. The Gods destroyed Raktabija but would have been unable to do so without the help of Kali. All the evil eventually was destroyed. But Kali became carried away with the power and couldn't stop. Some believe that She was drunk on the blood of Raktabija. She carried on destroying the whole world as the anger and fury of seeing all this evil had actually taken over Her. She had gone mad with rage and would often dance out of madness. The Gods tried to stop her but were unable to do so. The Gods then asked Her husband Shiv for help and to try and stop her. But even he couldn't. So when Kali was on one of her unstoppable rampages, with skulls draped around Her, with a sword in one hand and a decapitated head in the other hand, Shiv laid down in front of her and as soon as Kali puts her foot on him, she realises what she has done and what she is doing and stops. It subdues her anger and She then sticks out her tongue in disbelief and remorse. Her hair is disheveled and Her eyes are red and She would wear a garland of 50 human heads that would represent the 50 letters in the Sanskrit alphabet symbolising infinite knowledge. Also she would have demons hands hanging from her belt which symbolises karma. This is often how you would see pictures and statues of Kali.

There are people who don't understand why people would worship someone like Kali. To some people, God is good and The Devil is bad and that's it. But not everything is that black and white.

Anyway, that is another story of good triumphing over evil and light over darkness. Happy Diwali everybody. I will try and write another next year if I am still around!

East is........West

I have never been into Indian films. Or as most people say-"Bollywood" movies. I actually hate the term "Bollywood".

Now as a kid whilst I was growing up, my parents used to watch "Bollywood" movies all the time.I always thought that they were so awful. So dull, boring and predictable. The same things would happen in almost every movie. There would be some girl involved who gets saved by the guy, then they would break into song and their clothes would magically change whilst in mid song and so would the setting. "Bollywood" movies are like musicals and I HATE musicals. I had to play a major part in a musical once. Herr Schultz in Cabaret. Even though I cannot stand musicals, ironically that part I played was one of the best things that I have ever done in my life.

But back to the subject. As much as I couldn't stand "Bollywood" movies, they were at least Indian movies. With Indian actors. It is a different script now. Not just in films, but in the general lifestyle as well.

Nowadays, even though the movies are basically still all the same, there is a more sexed up theme in them an in the way Indian people are now living their lives. Saris are starting to be replaced by short skirts, instead of  a "Namaste" there is a hug and a kiss on each cheek with a "lovely to see you darling" and instead of dark skinned people (which Indian people generally are), the movie stars-especially the women all seem to be.........white. Here are just a couple of examples:-

Why are they white?

There are now talk shows, where the movie stars would go on. The women wearing next to nothing whilst sitting on couches in shows like "Koffee with Karan" (a 2 word alliteration there). Once I saw some actress go onto the couch with a purse which was weird and they would talk about sex and strangely they would speak in English.

Why do they speak in English?

Talking of speaking in English, a current leading Indian actress called Katrina Kaif couldn't even speak Hindi in her earlier movies. She had to have a dubbed voice. Isn't half the acting in the voice? If not half then at least some of it is. Right? So why was she chosen to act in Hindi movies when she couldn't speak Hindi? Because she looks so Westernised! She lived in London! I do believe that is the only reason. She isn't a great actress and doesn't have any personality whatsoever it seems. For anyone who doesn't know who she is:-

 

It's no secret that the Indian lifestyle is becoming more and more westernised especially when it comes to entertainment shows and movies. But why? Not that there is anything wrong with the western culture at all! But my question is why are they doing this? They seem to be getting rid of their own originality just to act like whores. And the beauty of the east is fast becoming an all too desperate attempt to be like the west. Forgetting the term "Bollywood" but just with everything else. Not wearing many clothes, the stupid pointless chat shows (I don't think there has ever even been one cup of coffee drunk in "Koffee with Karan") and the frigging speaking in English thing is really messed up and just makes them look like cheap imitations because they are desperate for attention. 

Now Playboy have even opened a club in Goa. Claiming that "it will be non nudity". Yes of course it will be non nudity-for now. Bear in mind that recently there was that first Indian lady to pose nude for playboy. I can't remember what she was called. I'm sure most people have also forgotten her name.

I just do not understand a lot of people sometimes. Dark people wanting to be white. White people getting tanned wanting to be brown. Just be yourself and accept yourself for who you are. Change your life for the better but don't go making yourselves be something that you're not.