Cricket-o-Cricket!

Did not verify the source of the previous article, which I humbly remove now, with apology. It was just a circulation just like a re-tweet (slightly longer hence re-blogged), producing the complete content for the reader to make their own informed opinion, which everyone is entitled to.

But this just shows that anything related to cricket sells like hot-cakes and motivates people to passionately comment. Hence, it seems inevitable to me that people will find vested commercial interests to earn from and play with psychology of the masses. As we've been seeing it since years, be it trps, blog hits, youtube views facebook page views, tweets and what not will come out in the future.

Hence the fame and the pressure that comes with it. But not everyone can digest it well, some buckle under the unnecessary stress and some survive. Every successful person has carved a name for themselves with great effort. Comments which are constructive and non-offensive are welcome but down right mud-slinging is uncalled for..

Question and Wonder!

This is an excerpt which will, I am sure, make you Question and Wonder about what it has to say..

These two words often occupy most of our attention and time. From cradle to grave we beset with the emotions and excitements connected to these two words.

Yet these words have nothing in common; and in them they have nothing in similar; In fact they often drag us in opposite directions.

What is a question? It is something related to situations or sentiments; it is related to some problem or some other question; What is it? Why is it and how is it, in relation to life and living?

But what does it achieve, except a temporary truce to curiosity? A question begins with doubts, and ends with more doubts.

And what is wonder? It is not a question needing an answer. It is a positive expression of joy. It begins with innocence and ends in amazement.

A wonder is something that we are unable to understand and yet we are unable to question. The vast universe & the varied seasons, the complexity of life and the completeness of the creation, evoke in us a feeling of puzzlement and of joy.

A question often leads to criticism but wonder always leads to compassion; A question presupposes confusion, wonder presupposes innocence.

A question generates more questions, wonder generates more of wonder. There is no completeness in question; there is no compartment in a wonder;

A question leads us to knowledge which is always partial, a wonder leads us to joy & love which is always full. It is human to question. It is divine to wonder!

- Acharya Ratnananda in More Light on Less Knowd (Vol-1)

Question??
Or
Wonder!!

International Thank-You Day

Aiming for 11/1/11 11:11 !!

Not sure what the recent obsession I've developed with special dates and timestamps, but a simple search on Wolfram Alpha reveals Jan 11 is International Thank-You Day!

Hence grateful and nostalgia filled, to everyone that has been a part of our life, directly or indirectly

Thank You

reflections on the decade that went..

Today, a date (1-1-11) that will come only once a century. A few similar one's 1-11-11, 20-11-2011, 12-12-12 are coming up in the near/distant future. Also, 20-12-2012 is the closest to the (in)famously publicised doom's day. Its the beginning of a new year and the second decade of 21st century. Any new beginning calls for new plans, reflecting on the previous experiences. My resolution is not to make any resolutions!

If I look back and think about the past decade, a few memory images pass by. There have been a lot of changes that took place, some might call them evolution, some nature. But change nevertheless. 10 years ago, while the world was busy welcoming the new millennia, my good friend Anand and I gathered to “study” at our 4th floor apartment in Jamnagar. We heard the fireworks of our nearby Summair Club and Vishal International Hotel and went to the terrace (7th floor) to see if we could see anything. I can't recollect of whether we saw anything, but the only lights we saw in the distant horizon was the orange spherical Reliance Industries, the worlds largest grass roots refinery had was taking shape since a few years. Last night, we were at embankment to experience the fireworks and celebration in London. It was spectacular (youtube-link) and worth the six hour effort of getting in and out under crowd control. Between the two new years, there past a decade of change.

The experience of earthquake, in the early hours of 26th January 2001 (national holiday for Republic Day), is the one that will stay with me for ever. It was exciting at that time, but its scale and disastrous extent was beyond my mental capacity. Instincts take over and behaviour, understanding what is happening takes a while. For me at that age, spending nights in the open and in the ground, was exciting. People were affected and they equally adapted in cities and villages. Another such recollection of watching news reports of the destruction it caused later on. Results of HSC during June 2001, admissions to the BVM Engineering College in IT (first batch), amongst widespread news of the IT Bubble (ka)boom. Another image from that year springs to mind, is that of a man jumping down the WTC during 9/11 another such world changing event. New found friends, the friendly and not so friendly professors. Many events of the college life, may be too many to describe flash by, fast forwarding the clock to 2005 and graduation, with Auroville, tsunami and riding the bike in the floods after college. Excitement of placements and beginning professional careers, not just for myself but placement of friends was equally satisfying. Work took me to Bangalore, Reading, Hyderabad and London, where I am today from the later part of the decade.

I've changed in appearance, weight, thought process, understanding of the world, nature and its genius ways, likes, dislikes, food, habits, reading habits, movies, tv shows, routine, interests, communication mediums.. the list goes on, as I ponder.. To observe similar changes in the people around us is also entertaining.

Wishing all a very happy new year and a great decade ahead, and many more..

Wishes

A forward on Excellence...

A forward on Excellence...

----

A German once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of the same idol?" "No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage." The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. "Where is the damage?" he asked. "There is a scratch on the nose of the idol." said the sculptor, still busy with his work. "Where are you going to install the idol?"

The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high. "If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked. The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, "I will know it."

The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else appreciates it or not. "Excellence" is a drive from inside, not outside. Excellence is not for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction and efficiency...

Thoughts?

Prime Minister's Debate!

Watching the adopted method of putting the Prime Ministerial Candidates on Live TV debate actually was a mixed feeling. It was rather gloomy because all of them suggested that the world around them was in a complete mess and they needed like a lifetime to sort things out.

If all of us put actions where our mouths are, the world will be a better place and quieter too. It all looked like a very well rehearsed show with carefully selected audience and questions. It might have well been the most anticipated and watched TV program in the recent past and the Channel would have made its investments. That's all it boils down to isn't it, ROI (Return On Investment). I'm cleaner than him. Is politics always supposed to be so?

Depressing

Long time.. No see

Moving...

Truth
----------
Dr. Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and founder of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Non-violence, in his lecture at the University of Puerto Rico, shared the following story as an example of "non-violence in parenting":

"I was 16 years old and living with my parents at the institute my grandfather had founded 18 miles outside of Durban, South Africa, in the middle of the sugar plantations. We were deep in the country and had no neighbors, so my two sisters and I would always look forward to going to town to visit friends or go to the movies.

One day, my father asked me to drive him to town for an all-day conference, and I jumped at the chance. Since I was going to town, my mother gave me a list of groceries she needed and, since I had all day in town, my father ask me to take care of several pending chores, such as getting the car serviced. When I dropped my father off that morning, he said, ' I will meet you here at 5:00 p.m., and we will go home together. '

After hurriedly completing my chores, I went straight to the nearest movie theatre. I got so engrossed in a John Wayne double-feature that I forgot the time. It was 5:30 before I remembered. By the time I ran to the garage and got the car and hurried to where my father was waiting for me, it was almost 6:00.

He anxiously asked me, ' Why were you late? 'I was so ashamed of telling him I was watching a John Wayne western movie that I said, ' The car wasn't ready, so I had to wait, not realizing that he had already called the garage. When he caught me in the lie, he said: 'There's something wrong in the way I brought you up that didn't give you the confidence to tell me the truth. In order to figure out where I went wrong with you, I'm going to walk home 18 miles and think about it. '

So, dressed in his suit and dress shoes, he began to walk home in the dark on mostly unpaved, unlit roads. I couldn't leave him, so for five-and-a-half hours I drove behind him, watching my father go through this agony for a stupid lie that I uttered. I decided then and there that I was never going to lie again.

I often think about that episode and wonder, if he had punished me the way we punish our children, whether I would have learned a lesson at all. I don't think so. I would have suffered the punishment and gone on doing the same thing. But this single non-violent action was so powerful that it is still as if it happened yesterday.

That is the power of non-violence."

"Forgiveness is giving up my right to hate anyone for hurting me."