day dreaming

can you imagine a perfect world? No seriously, can you?

not just a simple "i would always be happy in a perfect world", but the nitigrities of that world. what would you do in it? what would other people/institutions be like? those who have tried it know its not that easy. we are so used to chipping away at the rigid realities of day to day life, that even our dreams can't easily break free of them. 

but its a fun exercise. at least you know what you are aiming for. and for those of you who are crazy enough to go after their dreams, its the only compass which can keep them on course. so go ahead, conjure up something for yourself. i must warn you though. its fun to get in (a dream world), not easy to come back. :)

one dream comin up..

for me, people have been most impressive so far. i wouldn't want them any different in the dream world. or maybe i am not creative enough :P what i would like different are a few social institutions that we have built up over the years.

Courts of Law (Justice)

ya, they are black and bleak, nothing dreamy or romantic. but they are mostly what differentiates us from our savage counterparts/ancestors in the animal kingdom. In my dream world courts will be impartial, accessible to everyone and reasonably quick. the law itself will be based on the non-aggression principle. the police will just be enforcers of the rule of law, and nothing else. thus everyone will be safe as long as they do not harm anyone else. That is all i want from the black robes. and yes i have been reading 'to kill a mocking bird' recently. here is a  beautiful excerpt from it.

But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal - there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution, gentlemen, is a court. It can be the Supreme Court of the United States or the humblest J.P. court in the land, or this honourable court which you serve. Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal. 

Government (the need for it)

survival of the fittest? Nah. more like prosperity of the fittest, survival of everyone.

There must have been in a time when your survival/prosperity depended on how fast and accurately you can throw a spear.  we have come a long way since then. physical strength might have been replaced by the ability to produce but, the law of the jungle still holds. so the smart/hard-working guys make it big, as they should. but those who can't produce anything (due to ill-fate or choice) shouldn't be left to just die. Government will exist to give them basic things like food, shelter, education and medical care.

other than that the government will just take care of public property and its usage, it will not produce anything. it will do town planning, contract out civic works like water supply, roads, etc. contractors will collect their dues from the consumers directly, where ever possible.

the government will be necessary but unimportant. no one institution will have the power to steer the whole country according to its will. power corrupts, and that much power corrupts absolutely. Instead the fate of nation will literally be the sum total of what its citizens make of their own. good or bad.

Government (the people in it)

democracy is nice, but representative democracy is stupid. no one person can represent a million people. he can represent a mob (hence we have mobsters in parliament) but not individuals. in my world there will be no fulltime politicians, but there will be some compulsory 'political service' for everyone. :P

people won't be voted into office, there will just be a random draw from among responsible citizens (responsible: no history of harming anyone and who produces something for a living, anything from a painting to a cryogenic engine is fine). ofcourse there will be a panel (comprising of eminent people from different professions) to help out if need be. 

people will vote to decide the broad policy regarding utilization of the natural and public resources. 

democracy is not outsourcing the difficult stuff to some elected guy. democracy means everyone will have freedom and liberty to do whatever they wish, as long as they don't aggress.

Family

in my world parents won't try to 'give their kids what they did not get' and kids wont take their parents for granted. parents wont pass on their prejudices and kids will question everything that their folks taught them. i can keep going but i already wrote a whole freakin play on this one :P

Marriage

wrote about that too ;)

Work

oh ya there will be work in my dream world, and lots of it. i am always surprised by the amount of satisfaction a hard day's work can give you. ofcourse it won't be something as rigid as a 9 to 5, and it certainly wont be tangential to your life's pursuit.

and did i mention that katrina kaif will have the hots for me?

damn!