Honesty and Diplomacy

'Honesty is the best policy': something I learnt in childhood. But is it indeed so? I'm in a moral quandary. What is right? To be morally correct or politically correct; in other words, to be honest or diplomatic? I have always been pretty straight forward to the extent of being brutally honest in my communication. But this seems to be doing more harm to me than good. Probably, it is not wrong that I was being honest, but that the way I put things across in a conversation was inappropriate. Eventhough what I want to say is almost always honestly right, how I say it seems to be more important. The presentation rather than the purport, diplomacy rather than honesty seems to be more important. After a lot of soul searching and lengthy deliberation, I came to a moral stand point: why can't I be both? Why can't I be dipolmatically honest? Hmmm.....

GATTACA: There is no gene for the human spirit.

Guanine- Adenine- Thymine- Thymine- Adenine- Cytosine- Adenine (GATTACA): This film is named very creatively using the four nitrogenous bases of human DNA (guanine, adenine, thymine, cytosine). These are the building blocks of human DNA which pair up to form the famous Double Helix step ladder structure of DNA. Quite allegorically GATTACA is the ascension of one man up the social ladder as he reaches out for the stars. This is one single movie that I don’t get tired of watching over and over again, not to mention that it has some of my favorite actors. I have always had a strange fascination for dystopian fantasies and this movie tops the list simply for its artistic simplicity. It deserved an Oscar!

Every society has a hierarchy, and the basis of ‘class’ has changed with time and with place. Man has always fought for equality or egalitarianism. Just like in this movie, man has always sought a single chance, an opportunity however fleeting, a drop of hope however tiny, to the break social stereotypes and achieve his dream. Man has always managed to beat all odds with something as simple as human spirit, something that can never be scientifically defined or analyzed, something we just call faith. GATTACA is not a futuristic tale; it is an old story, as old as human civilization: old wine in a new bottle.

It is my personal belief and moral conviction that science has done far more good than harm to mankind. With every advance in medical science we are giving someone a chance, a choice which hitherto had not existed. Where nature has placed limits, we have broken them, just so that every human being gets a chance to live a little more, dream a little more. But just as in GATTACA science can also be used for all the wrong reasons. While this may just be an entertaining movie, it does provide an interesting angle to the ongoing debate about genetic engineering and eugenics. How about preconception gender selection? It is no longer a fancy scene in a science-fiction movie; it is very much a possibility today.

As the adage goes, there are two sides to every coin. But, the choice is always yours!


Some of my favorite quotes from the movie:

• There is no gene for the human spirit.
• Jerome, Jerome, the metronome... You could play the piano by that heartbeat of his.
• That piece can only be played with twelve.
• I took my mind off the pain by reminding myself that when I eventually did stand up, I'd be exactly two inches closer to the stars.
• You wanna know how I did it? This is how I did it Anton. I never saved anything for the swim back.
• I got the better end of the deal. I only lent you my body — you lent me your dream.

Up for a game of ‘chicken’ ?

nom de plume

My name is Sumana. My dad had chosen this name for me. It means one with a good heart (in Sanskrit). To create my pen name I just anagrammed my name 'sumana' into 'manasu'. Manasu also has a definite meaning; it translates to 'heart' in Telugu, my mother tongue, a language which is also called the Italian of the East.

Intro

I am going to start my first blog entry with a small word that has fascinated me ever since I heard it: synapse. Synapse is the point where two neurons(nerve cells) meet. This microscopic junction is where one nerve cell talks to another, and this communication is essentially the physiological basis of every function of human body. What happens in this tiny space of about 20 nm controls an entire human being; from the movement of a hand to the generation of an idea. Someone with an imagination aptly described how the brain works by synapses: "It is as if the Milky Way entered upon some cosmic dance. Swiftly the brain becomes an enchanted loom where millions of flashing shuttles weave a dissolving pattern, always a meaningful pattern though never an abiding one; a shifting harmony of sub-patterns." Synapse is where an idea is born. This blog is a collection of my ideas.