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Rickshaw tour D'Chennai under scorching sun

My daily rotation, equestrian inspired design...

Yet it’s a proven fact that most rich people are rich for the simple reason that they were born into a rich family, while most poor people will remain poor throughout their lives simply because they were born into a poor family.

Yet, to the best of our understanding, these hierarchies are all the product of human imagination. Brahmins and Shudras were not really created by the gods from different body parts of a primeval being. Instead, the distinction between the two castes was created by laws and norms invented by humans in northern India about 3,000 years ago. Contrary to Aristotle, there is no known biological difference between slaves and free people. Human laws and norms have turned some people into slaves and others into masters. Between blacks and whites there are some objective biological differences, such as skin colour and hair type, but there is no evidence that the differences extend to intelligence or morality.

A critical step was made sometime before the ninth century AD, when a new partial script was invented, one that could store and process mathematical data with unprecedented efficiency. This partial script was composed of ten signs, representing the numbers from 0 to 9. Confusingly, these signs are known as Arabic numerals even though they were first invented by the Hindus (even more confusingly, modern Arabs use a set of digits that look quite different from Western ones). But the Arabs get the credit because when they invaded India they encountered the system, understood its usefulness, refined it, and spread it through the Middle East and then to Europe. When several other signs were later added to the Arab numerals (such as the signs for addition, subtraction and multiplication), the basis of modern mathematical notation came into being.

The imagined order is inter-subjective. Even if by some superhuman effort I succeed in freeing my personal desires from the grip of the imagined order, I am just one person. In order to change the imagined order I must convince millions of strangers to cooperate with me. For the imagined order is not a subjective order existing in my own imagination – it is rather an inter-subjective order, existing in the shared imagination of thousands and millions of people.

How do you cause people to believe in an imagined order such as Christianity, democracy or capitalism? First, you never admit that the order is imagined. You always insist that the order sustaining society is an objective reality created by the great gods or by the laws of nature. People are unequal, not because Hammurabi said so, but because Enlil and Marduk decreed it. People are equal, not because Thomas Jefferson said so, but because God created them that way. Free markets are the best economic system, not because Adam Smith said so, but because these are the immutable laws of nature.

Proshian Sepulchre (Geghard Monastery) this area is closely associated with the Holy Water. There is a natural spring that flows through a crack in the rock within this complex. For centuries, pilgrims have believed this water to be sacred, often splashing it on their faces or collecting it in bottles.

According to the science of biology, people were not created’. They have evolved. And they certainly did not evolve to be ‘equal’. The idea of equality is inextricably intertwined with the idea of creation. The Americans got the idea of equality from Christianity, which argues that every person has a divinely created soul, and that all souls are equal before God. However, if we do not believe in the Christian myths about God, creation and souls, what does it mean that all people are ‘equal’? Evolution is based on difference, not on equality. Every person carries a somewhat different genetic code, and is exposed from birth to different environmental influences. This leads to the development of different qualities that carry with them different chances of survival. ‘Created equal’ should therefore be translated into ‘evolved differently’.

And what about ‘happiness’? So far biological research has failed to come up with a clear definition of happiness or a way to measure it objectively. Most biological studies acknowledge only the existence of pleasure, which is more easily defined and measured. So ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ should be translated into ‘life and the pursuit of pleasure’.

All these cooperation networks – from the cities of ancient Mesopotamia to the Qin and Roman empires – were ‘imagined orders’. The social norms that sustained them were based neither on ingrained instincts nor on personal acquaintances, but rather on belief in shared myths.

Georgia Wine Tasting...

Georgia doesn’t just have a wine history; it effectively has the wine history. While many countries claim a long tradition, Georgia is widely recognized as the "Cradle of Wine," with archaeological evidence dating back roughly 8,000 years.

The 8,000-Year Vintage

In 2017, researchers found jars in the South Caucasus (specifically south of Tbilisi) containing residual wine compounds dated to 6,000 BC. To put that in perspective, Georgians were fermenting grapes 3,000 years before the Egyptians built the pyramids.

The Qvevri: The Ancient "Stainless Steel"

The heart of Georgian wine history is the Qvevri—the large, egg-shaped clay vessels you likely saw buried in the ground in Narekvavi.

The Method: Unlike European traditions that often separate the juice from the skins, Georgians traditionally put everything in the Qvevri—juice, skins, stalks, and pips (collectively called the chacha).

The Burial: The Qvevri is buried up to its neck in the earth. This isn't just for storage; the ground provides a natural, constant temperature for fermentation and aging, acting like an ancient form of climate control.

UNESCO Status: In 2013, the traditional Qvevri winemaking method was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

The "Amber" Evolution

The history of Georgian wine is most visible in its Amber (Orange) wines. In Western history, white wine was usually made by removing the skins quickly to keep the liquid clear.

In Georgia, leaving the white grapes to sit on their skins for months in a Qvevri created a deep orange hue and, more importantly, tannins. This is why Georgian "whites" have the body and structure of a red.

Wine as Survival

Throughout history, Georgia was a crossroads for empires (Mongols, Persians, Ottomans, Soviets). Legend has it that Georgian soldiers would weave a piece of a grapevine into the chainmail over their chests. If they died in battle, a vine would grow from their heart, ensuring the land remained a vineyard.

Why it feels different today:

During the Soviet era, Georgian wine was industrialized and focused on mass production (often sweet and semi-sweet). However, the last 20 years have seen a "Renaissance" where young winemakers—like those in the cellars of Mtskheta and Kakheti—are returning to the ancient, small-batch Qvevri methods.

One of history’s few iron laws is that luxuries tend to become necessities and to spawn new obligations. Once people get used to a certain luxury, they take it for granted. Then they begin to count on it. Finally they reach a point where they can’t live without it.

The story of the luxury trap carries with it an important lesson. Humanity’s search for an easier life released immense forces of change that transformed the world in ways nobody envisioned or wanted. Nobody plotted the Agricultural Revolution or sought human dependence on cereal cultivation. A series of trivial decisions aimed mostly at filling a few stomachs and gaining a little security had the cumulative effect of forcing ancient foragers to spend their days carrying water buckets under a scorching sun. - Sapiens

Even today, with all our advanced technologies, more than 90 per cent of the calories that feed humanity come from the handful of plants that our ancestors domesticated between 9500 and 3500 BC – wheat, rice, maize (called ‘corn’ in the US), potatoes, millet and barley. No noteworthy plant or animal has been domesticated in the last 2,000 years. If our minds are those of hunter-gatherers, our cuisine is that of ancient farmers. - Sapiens

The most reasonable theory suggests that, about 45,000 years ago, the Sapiens living in the Indonesian archipelago (a group of islands separated from Asia and from each other by only narrow straits) developed the first seafaring societies. They learned how to build and manoeuvre ocean-going vessels and became long-distance fishermen, traders and explorers. - Sapiens

Panikhida (or Panakhyda), a memorial service in the Eastern Orthodox tradition performed for the "repose of the departed" at the Samtavro Convent is deeply significant, as the monastery grounds are considered sacred soil.

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