Bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad is a debt-trap for India

Indian government wants to build a bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, two major cities of India because it will be of convenience to people. This is the official reason. The on-official (real reason in my opinion) is different.

For this bullet train, Japan is offering India a loan of US $15 Billion (about 100,000 crores Indian rupees). A percentage of this amount will go as bribes to politicians and bureaucrats. A small percentage of a huge amount is also huge e.g. 10% of this amount is 10,000 crores. Any businessman in India will tell you, that a bribe of 5 to 10%, in a project, is normal.

If there was really a need for this bullet train, some private company could build it. But the Indian government knows that no private company will build it because this is a loss making proposition. There already exists airline routes and highways between these two cities. How many people will travel by the bullet train in India? The rich prefer airlines or car normally; the poor cannot afford bullet train.
Now, assuming that Indian fares are same as in other countries, then a second class travel by this bullet train, between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, will cost Rs 2,300. So to recover the investment, we need about 3000 crore travelers. Assuming that there are about 50,000 people interested in traveling daily, then it will take 27,400 years to recover the investment. The life of a bullet train with track is probably a few hundred years at the most, if well-maintained.
If the fare is increased, fewer people will use the bullet train. So increasing the fare will not benefit much. Overall the entire project is a loss making proposition. The tax payer will be left footing the bill.

So in this project, the winner is Indian politicians; the loser is Indian tax payer.

What is the significance of Dussehra?

In an epic story, on this day, Rama killed Ravana. At surface level, it seems, that Dussehra signifies the victory of good over evil. But when we study the epic story (irrepective of whether it is true or false) Ramayana, the significance of Dusshera is much deeper.

Rama's wife was abducted by Ravana. Rama searched day and night for his wife. He gathered an army with the help of his friends and well-wishers. Then, he attacked Ravana. In a fierce battle, Rama defeated Ravana. Note, here Rama did not sit idle and cried when his wife was abducted. Rama did not consider the task of defeating a powerful deamon Ravana as immpossible.

In life, victory does not go to the good or bad. Victory always goes to the one who is most intelligent, most industrious, plans his/her actions well and executes it fearlessly. This is the significance of Dussehra.

Myths in Philosophy

Myth 1: There is no God.
Fact: If I were to say, "There is no intelligence behind your mobile. Some metal and plastic parts, by accident, came together to form your mobile."; people would laugh at me. An Atheist says, "There is no intelligence behind this world. The human beings, animals, plants, earth, sun, seasons, etc are a result of pure accident/evolution."; yet some people believe the atheist. There exists some kind of intelligent creator. We don't know anything about this Creator. For convenience we can give any name to this Creator. One of the names given, for the sake of convenience in conversation, is God.

Myth 2: Meditation bliss is hallucination.
Fact: Across the world, in different ages, the meditation bliss is described by meditators in the same way; a hallucination is not experienced by different people, at different times, in exactly the same way.

Myth 3: This Ram or Krishna or Allah or Jesus is God.
Fact: No such evidence exists; When it is proven scientifically, we shall believe it.

Myth 4: God is all powerful. There is hell or heaven after death.
Fact: Again, this has not been proven scientifically. So any such belief is superstition.

Myth 5: God created religions (Hinduism, Muslims and Christianity)
Fact: Religions were created by Humans. Idols (Ram, Krishna, etc) were made by humans. The Bhagwad Gita and Vedas of Hinduism, were written by some human. The Koran of Muslims is a product of human mind. The Bible of Christians was written by some human(s). So to ask questions like "What does Gita/Vedas/Bible/Koran say about this? What is the meaning of this sentence in these books? etc" are meaningless; because they assume that the Gita/Vedas/Koran/Bible is perfect, cannot be improved and we have to follow it.

Myth 6: A Guru is necessary of Spiritual progress.
Fact: An inquiring mind can learn from a bird, forest or nature.

Myth 7: God punishes or rewards us for our actions.
Fact: Every action has a reaction e.g. If I jump from a tree, I will fall down and likely hurt myself. So why involve God here?

Many more myths exist, but I have mentioned the common myths above. Religion is primarily used to exploit the weak. Any spiritual leader or religion, who/that propagates above myths, is either ignorant or a fraud.

Governments like war

Nations like enemies, that way people are distracted from the real enemy i.e. "Their government" e.g. India keeps saying that Pakistan is causing terror in India; Pakistan keeps saying that Muslims are harassed in India. Who benefits from these allegations? The answer is both the governments for India and Pakistan. The people tend to tolerate the tyranny of their own governments, when they are distracted by external threats. So all governments, all over the world, almost always are at war (in some form) with some country. It benefits the governments, at the cost of the people.

John Lennon had a wonderful song, where he says "Imagine a world without countries"

Governments encourage "desh-prem" or "nation love", because it allows the governemnts to exploit the citizens. Leo Tolstoy said, "In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful."

Replace "Touching of feet" with "Namaste"

At one time, India had the practice of "Sati". Now this practice is almost extinct. We need to constant change for the better. I suggest one more improvement here.

India has the custom of "touching the feet" of elders and religious people. This practice is humiliating. I personally feel embarrassed, when someone bows before me to touch my feet. I dislike touching the feet of any person. So I suggest that we replace this ancient practice with saying "Namaste" with folded hands. Elders seldom discourage "Touching of Feet" because many of these sadistic individuals enjoy humiliation of others.

"Namaste" means "I bow to the divine in you". So any person can say "Namaste" to anyone e.g. a father to child, a child to father, a mother to daughter, a daughter to mother, a saint to criminal, a criminal to saint; etc.

Let us commit to replacing "Touching of Feet" with "Namaste". A change always begins with one person. Even if the entire group is following the humiliating practice of "Touching the feet", let us try not to follow the group.

Let us improve the world, one small change at a time. I commit not to touch the feet of anyone else, nor allow anyone else to touch my feet.