BootsnAll Travel Community

Thought about posting this in the Asia folder...but thought it would be better here. A little comic relief to my "Who is more ignorant" posting which hopefully won't get too ugly!!

There goes a bunch of potential photo opps for travelers now!
Will be interesting to see how well it is enforced.

No more cows in Delhi

Comic relief..humm not sure I understand.

To the average person not from India the concept of cows walking around everywhere I believe would be bizarre. And admittedly - somewhat comical. After awhile - perhaps no.

Scroll down to Feb 8th, 2004 Journal entry to get a better
idea of what I *think* I am trying to say.

http://www.circusoflife.com/Weblog/2004_02_01_blogjournal_archive.html

...especially the various "any funnier than..." remarks.

I guess I laugh at differences. Tis' the whole name of my website - It's a Circus!

--

Did I answer your question? My "ignorant post" has the potential to get really ugly as religion, as we all know, is dear to people's hearts. Naturally, any criticism or questioning of it can be met with 'flying daggers' Perhaps I shouldn't of even posted my thoughts...I guess we'll have to see where it goes. I would not have posted it if I was new to BnA...but I guess after 300+ posts there is a certain level of understanding of where I come from and why I might think a certain way. Although admittedly in a virtual world
where few of us have met it presents a challenge.

I raised an eyebrow to your posting as well & looked at your blog. I confess that I didn't find much of what you consider to be funny - well, funny. Rather than laugh at differences, I'd rather find understanding and acceptance.

My friends,

That is (One reason) why we have so many wars, among other things.....I don't think this world has enough of a sense of humor.

People take things so, so seriously...I'm not talking about just religion either - although that was a big focus of my blog.

Some thoughts...let's go back in time when everyone thought the Earth was the center of the universe and the earth was completely flat. Let's say you can travel back in time.

You show them all these photographs of space and planets. What do they think? Are they so wedded to their ideas of center (Tied to their religion) and flatness that they run away scared? Do they call you a quack? Do they try and kill you? (Oh yes...this happened with Copernicus and Galileo -- ummm..by the church)

Or do they (Commoner or otherwise) laugh at their beliefs and say..."Wow, you mean I believed that all these years. Hahahahaha!!"..."Now I know I can sail around the earth and beat my competitors on finding a trade route. I will be rich, blah blah blah. I won't fall of the edge!!"

--

Let's not even go back that far in time...people used to believe all sorts of things about aliens on Mars - I'm not talking about ancient past, I'm talking like in the 20th century. (Go to the Goldie Oldies - 1961 thread...and you will see the 1st image of Earth space was taken only in 1959/1960 - and it was grainy)

Then eventually we landed robots on Mars (Viking landers) and saw the real deal. There are just rocks, no aliens. No ancient civilization. Possibly microbial life now we think, but just a barren wasteland.

Would we laugh at ourselves or at those who believed there might be aliens on mars? I would.

Do you remember Orson Welles' radio broadcast of an alien invasion? People actually believed it was happening. Is that funny?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Worlds_%28radio%29

--

On another subject completely...let's say you were brought up in the 1970s and you like orange carpet and gaudy plastic and disco music. You really think it's cool. You take it very seriously that you decorate your whole house that way. You wear 'wacky' polyester clothes everyday. You still do, even in "modern 2005" Your whole life revolves around the belief (Kind of like religion) of the 1970s.

Is that funny?

--

Laughter takes the tension out of situations. It's a relief valve. Without laughter...I would have gone wacko on my many months recently of traveling. I'm sorry..."understanding and acceptance" only go so far. I don't buy it. Not to say it isn't needed...try me...look at my website and where I have been - not just countries (Which is easy) but the specific places I searched out.

I don't know how old you are but there is a DVD called ATOMIC CAFE on Amazon. Maybe it's at
your library. Watch it...it's actual footage about what people thought of nuclear weapons and the cold war...is it funny or is it serious? There are even cartoons of a turtle repeating DUCK and COVER, as if that would save you from a nuclear blast nearby. As if I would want to be alive....NOT.

Atomic Journeys narrated by William Shatner is also interesting. In one scene the US military detonates a nuclear bomb...the soldiers emerge from their bunker while the explosion IS taking place and walk toward it!!! Alot of them died from radiation poisoning. Is that funny?
Ok..in the moment or for the families it wasn't...but anyone alive today would think it is crazy. Loony. Ridiculous. I would anyway.

my last msg in this thread...

I could come up with umpteen examples...but I think that is counter-productive.

....here's my philosophy...while there is a time to be serious - almost (Sometimes I think everything) anything can be funny if you look at it the right angle.

Sometimes it isn't readily apparent as we get wound up in our positions or trains of thought. Sometimes it just takes time and enough looking at something to realize it.

I guess the simplest test is - How well can you laugh at yourself?

And maybe this is one of the basic dividers on the kinds of people in this world...those people who find more humor in things vs those who don't. Now that I think about it...maybe that is why I don't get along with my sister as much as I would like to. She is alot more serious.

I can get very serious and philosophical about alot of subjects...just read some of the topics and replies I post.
Sometimes I get wound up too much...while life isn't a joke...a good dose of humor can sure make our time on this planet a lot more enjoyable.

Of course I could be wrong -

http://www.circusoflife.com/Main/Wrong.pdf

I agree, almost everything can be funny. However you also have to have the ability to make it funny. You can't just laugh at something, if its got no reason to make you laugh. That's not taking it to seriously either, It's just not finding it funnty.

are all cows sacred in India - apparently not.

http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/2000/0529/india.cows.html

http://www.cowsarecool.com/indianleather.asp?pf=true

Oh looky...I have a picture too. (I think they are cows...sure don't look like pigs or chicken)

http://tinyurl.com/bzx83

As far as I know, cows are already banned in Bombay, except for Temple cows, which are kept tied up.

I once looked into a cows gentle eyes, and thought

'If one is going to worship an animal, a cow is not a bad way to go. They are gentle and loving, with not a bad thought in their heads, normally.'

That thought stuck for a long time.

quote:

Originally posted by James Taylor:
I agree, almost everything can be funny. However you also have to have the ability to make it funny. You can't just laugh at something, if its got no reason to make you laugh. That's not taking it to seriously either, It's just not finding it funnty.

Well said...

if you are basically trying to say what I wrote in my jounal isn't funny either that's fine. Not everyone shares the same sense of humor...and sometimes it is contextual and your state of mind - which doesn't come across in writing sometimes - especially a blog which is written without too much care.

That portion of the trip was at least 4 months into that RTW. Frankly surviving with my driver for 5-6 days in Sri Lanka was quite the adventure. My sense of humor really came in handy. The most aggressive driving I have ever experienced. I had more close calls in one week than I had my entire life - and I've had a few, especially because I bicycle too. Yet, I rank Sri Lanka as one of the best parts of my RTW.

I've heard of people who survive a driving experience in Asia (India most often cited) and yell at the driver to slow down - so used to the rules and orderliness of their home. I guess I just laughed it off as best I could. Never did I tell him to slow down. That whole sense of humor extended to many other things - as I wrote.

[Later when I was in Qatar and numerous US soldiers that I met that were on a R&R program, from Kuwait and Iraq, were complaining about "Middle Eastern" driving (Not about getting shot at - just the driving). I had to contain myself. The driving in Qatar was not even close to what I experienced in Sri Lanka and later rural India.]

...Never mind there was a bunch of barbed wire and armed soldiers in a machine gun nest next to the hotel I stayed at Colombo. Never mind there was a guy with a shotgun when I went into a bank by a famous ruin.

..and I guess on top of that..after seeing what I had seen already on my quest for learning about religion and spirituality , I could only laugh at that point. Laugh at life and the differences. I was being pushed to the limit of questioning things. Everything. And when it came down to it....I laughed. Laughed to "survive."

When I'm about to die, if I have a chance -- I'll probably laugh that off too.

..like I said earlier...the general lack of sense of humor is (One major reason) why we have had so many wars and conflicts in this world. And I'm not just talking about religion. The blindless pursuit of capitalism comes to mind too.

The folly of humanity.

If you're ever interested I'll even tell you about what I saw in Australia -- rocks that breathe, living rocks.

Supposedly they ruled the world long before the presence of man or mammal or dinosaur - billions of years ago. Only a few pockets remain in the world. But I guess the scientists (And the entire exhibit featured prominently in the WA DC Smithsonian) who claim this must be gravely mistaken. After all, according to some Christian teachings the world is only 4-5000 years old. That's what somebody was telling me (No insisting) before anyway when I started going to church.

I'm not sure what should be funnier - the idea that rocks can breathe or that I might have believed the world was only 4-5,000 years old.

But maybe the earth really is only 4500 years old? (Those crackpot scientists) ...the oldest living trees (Non self-cloning I'll add) are Bristlecone pine trees in California near Yosemite. I even checked it out myself a few years ago...yep' they're only 4500 years old. That's what the tree rings say. As for the dinosaurs and fossil evidence and all other scientific discoveries.....well I'll just believe what I've been told to believe.

Nuff' said.

quote:

Originally posted by Tortuga_traveller:
As far as I know, cows are already banned in Bombay, except for Temple cows, which are kept tied up.

I once looked into a cows gentle eyes, and thought

'If one is going to worship an animal, a cow is not a bad way to go. They are gentle and loving, with not a bad thought in their heads, normally.'

That thought stuck for a long time.

http://www.goveg.com/feat/hiddenlivesofcows/

Just found this link while reading more about being a vegetarian...which I ain't.

I think the fact that many Indians are vegetarian is great.
Worthy attribute...but I just struggle to contrast that with the modern day environment of India's cities.

I've said it before...the rapid changes in technology and population growth in OUR LIFETIME are a challenge to all. Each place often has some things right, and some very wrong.

Some old traditions are better off dying, some new ones should arise. And some new ones today should have never been allowed to become tradition in the first place.

Our PBS affiliate aired a documentary a few weeks back called
"Sacred Cows"
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/holycow/
which includes a segment on cows in modern India. If you see it in your listings watch it.
How people can eat these kind docile creatures is beyond me, but this thread isn't about vegetarianism.

Simple, cow tastes good.

If people were not meant to eat animals, then why are they made of meat? (Sorry, couldn't resist a trite remark.)

quote:

Originally posted by cheecho:
Simple, cow tastes good.

If people were not meant to eat animals, then why are they made of meat? (Sorry, couldn't resist a trite remark.)

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

as US Prez Thomas Jefferson once said....

- meat should be a seasoning -

then again...what did he say about slavery?

Have an interesting chart of who the biggest meat eaters are in the world..in my book the Penguin Atlas of Food.

Care to take a guess on the top 5? and the kilos or pounds per person/yr.


Meat and fish is alright in moderation I think...but definitely not at all when it's like this:

http://www.meatrix.org

quote:

Originally posted by circusoflife:
Care to take a guess on the top 5? and the kilos or pounds per person/yr.

I'm guessing Americans.

Consumption/capita - 2000
Source: Food & Agrilculture Organization of UN

1) US - 122kg
2) Denmark - 114kg
3) Spain - 114kg
4) Australia - 110kg
5) New Zealand - 107kg
...

10) Canada - 100kg

World avg - 38kg
India - 6kg

THe mix of meat varies I'm thinking too. More pork in Denmark, more beef in US, and more sheep in New Zealand, etc...though I don't have an exact breakout.

Top Veggie Consumers in kg/capita

1) UAE
2) Lebanon
3) Greece
4) Israel
5) South Korea

--

Have a slightly different data set that shows avg calories/day of animal products/capita 1997:

This table puts the US in 18th place behind most European nations.

France, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, and New Zealand are near the top on this chart.

Although the US comes out #1 in total calories consumed/day at 3700. With Portugal in 2nd place of all nations....then Belgium. THe only two countries 3600+ calories/person

This source is from World Resources 2000-2001.

Not sure on the methodology of these. Though maybe having something to do with the calories / kg being different between types of animal products.

In either case, Canada comes in behind the US - FYI.

Analysis and photos of 120k cattle feedlot in Coalinga, CA

http://www.sprol.com/?p=52

Enjoy! Happy eating!

What a poorly researched article. While some of it is true, the glaring errors caused it to smell more wacko than honest.
(Harris Ranch does not sell to Mc Donalds, for example)