Money? Family? Peace? Fun? Parties? Society? Fame? Prestige? Morals? Values? Job? Growth? Love? Nothing? Don’t know?
The one who knows will not tell you, and the one who tells you – doesn’t know!
Seeking Truth.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
republic day and its new-found importance
With the Republic Day of the India, nearing closer, it gives me immence pleasure to quote the National Portal Of India’s words.
"58 years back, a salute of 21 guns and the unfurling of the Indian National flag by Dr. Rajendra Prasad heralded the historic birth of the Indian Republic on January 26, 1950; 894 days after our country became a dominion following withdrawal of British Rule. Since then, every year the day is celebrated with great pride and happiness all over the nation. The transition of India from a British colony to a sovereign, secular, and democratic nation was indeed historical. It was a long journey of around two decades that started with the conceptualization of the dream in 1930 to its actual realization in 1950. A look into the journey that led to the birth of Indian Republic will make our celebrations more meaningful."
As I think every country is great it its own respects, I do not wish to rant about India's greatness, neither about where the Indian leaders went wrong or anything, nor do I consider myself able enough to comment on anything on this subject. But I firmly believe that the people who got us independence were much more able than us. The decisions that they took in their time, considering their situation would have been best for the time. Hindsight is a very powerful tool and “if” a very misleading and confusing word. But the literary and analytical minds give too much importance to it. I remember seeing an India Today edition which talked at length of how things would have turned out with a lot of imaginary ifs. Its good fun to think about ifs, like if I were to be a millionaire and live in the virtual world and cruise on our imaginary Ferraris, but when it crashes into the hard wall of reality. Not a good feeling I bet. :)
The old adage of “The grass is always green on the other side” is always so true for us (humans). We don’t like what we have, we always want what we don’t have. When we have it, we want something else! We behave like a kid who is playing with a toy. You bring another toy in front of it, he wants that desperately. You show him something else, he wants that. We must realize that life’s not about running around in circles for material things.
Coming back to initial discussion about India, no body in the world denies that we have terrific Potential. As studied in the Physics in school, we need a little push to convert the potential energy into kinetic energy. That for India, has to be the youth, the talent. A small stone rolling down a mountain becomes a huge snowball. Here's an equation that struck my mind with immense impact today
IT + IT = IT (Indian Talent + Information Technology = India’s Tomorrow)
Source: www.narendramodi.in
A few of my friends would be flabbergasted by the source. :O)
Another trivia from the National portal: With 395 Articles and eight Schedules, the Indian Constitution is the largest written constitution in the world.
Happy Republic Day to the people who realize what being republic means. Thats mean, so wishing Happy Republic Day to everyone. Lets pray for the well-being and good health of our respected Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh.
Homesick.
"58 years back, a salute of 21 guns and the unfurling of the Indian National flag by Dr. Rajendra Prasad heralded the historic birth of the Indian Republic on January 26, 1950; 894 days after our country became a dominion following withdrawal of British Rule. Since then, every year the day is celebrated with great pride and happiness all over the nation. The transition of India from a British colony to a sovereign, secular, and democratic nation was indeed historical. It was a long journey of around two decades that started with the conceptualization of the dream in 1930 to its actual realization in 1950. A look into the journey that led to the birth of Indian Republic will make our celebrations more meaningful."
As I think every country is great it its own respects, I do not wish to rant about India's greatness, neither about where the Indian leaders went wrong or anything, nor do I consider myself able enough to comment on anything on this subject. But I firmly believe that the people who got us independence were much more able than us. The decisions that they took in their time, considering their situation would have been best for the time. Hindsight is a very powerful tool and “if” a very misleading and confusing word. But the literary and analytical minds give too much importance to it. I remember seeing an India Today edition which talked at length of how things would have turned out with a lot of imaginary ifs. Its good fun to think about ifs, like if I were to be a millionaire and live in the virtual world and cruise on our imaginary Ferraris, but when it crashes into the hard wall of reality. Not a good feeling I bet. :)
The old adage of “The grass is always green on the other side” is always so true for us (humans). We don’t like what we have, we always want what we don’t have. When we have it, we want something else! We behave like a kid who is playing with a toy. You bring another toy in front of it, he wants that desperately. You show him something else, he wants that. We must realize that life’s not about running around in circles for material things.
Coming back to initial discussion about India, no body in the world denies that we have terrific Potential. As studied in the Physics in school, we need a little push to convert the potential energy into kinetic energy. That for India, has to be the youth, the talent. A small stone rolling down a mountain becomes a huge snowball. Here's an equation that struck my mind with immense impact today
IT + IT = IT (Indian Talent + Information Technology = India’s Tomorrow)
Source: www.narendramodi.in
A few of my friends would be flabbergasted by the source. :O)
Another trivia from the National portal: With 395 Articles and eight Schedules, the Indian Constitution is the largest written constitution in the world.
Happy Republic Day to the people who realize what being republic means. Thats mean, so wishing Happy Republic Day to everyone. Lets pray for the well-being and good health of our respected Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh.
Homesick.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
the power of doubt & imagination
Double shots of caffeine intake force me out of the bed rather early in the morning. A BBC program that I saw last night was aggressive enough to stay in my mind over night. It was titled - Science & Islam. There were a lot of thought provoking ideas in the program, one about how Science was and is driven my Money and Business. The presenter was passionately and strategically driving home his hypothesis that ancient Islamic astronomers and scientists doubted Ptolemy’s geo-centric theory long before Copernicus. Also that Copernicus used a lot of statistical data, which was collected over the life-times of many such scientists. Leaving alone the story of how these data in ancient Arabic texts travelled through the trade route of Venice to the western World, there are two things that amaze me here.
Firstly, the passion of the ancient astronomers of finding out the truth about the inter-related motion of the celestial bodies and trying to derive mathematical models to prove their respective theories. There was one who calculated the exact length of a year by studying the shadows casted by the sun, of an instrument, collecting data over 40 years. His result was within two minute precision of the modern day Gaussian year which is 365 days 6 hours 9 min 56 seconds . The additional hours are accounted for by an extra day every four years which we know as Leap year. The passion for accuracy goes to the extent of giving out a leap second every other year, like this one that just went by. And all this calculations in dates ranging as early as 2nd century AD, which is the amazing bit.
Secondly, what grows on me is the question about true purpose of education and knowledge. Researchers dedicating their whole lives to find out mysteries of nature, need a lot more than just doubt and knowledge. Which I'm sure is passion or thirst. May it be for truth or anything else. The way to satisfy this thirst may be life-time research based on their education & knowledge. Education is defined in Wikipedia as the learning of knowledge, information and skills during the course of life. This can be interpreted in various ways based on who’s interpreting it, which is true for any written literature. Thus stressing the importance of assimilation of ideas in the written form which becomes much more challenging when trying to assimilate imaginary ideas! Education injects the passion of learning and imagination. Ancient scientists didn’t have a common medium or even language to communicate, but shared the imagination. I used to find it really funny while learning geometry and chemistry in school, where we had to imagine a point in space or bonds between atoms which were unseen. I see them now, although imaginary. I guess learning never ends in life(s), whether one or many, real or imaginary.
Imagination, the power of thought!
Firstly, the passion of the ancient astronomers of finding out the truth about the inter-related motion of the celestial bodies and trying to derive mathematical models to prove their respective theories. There was one who calculated the exact length of a year by studying the shadows casted by the sun, of an instrument, collecting data over 40 years. His result was within two minute precision of the modern day Gaussian year which is 365 days 6 hours 9 min 56 seconds . The additional hours are accounted for by an extra day every four years which we know as Leap year. The passion for accuracy goes to the extent of giving out a leap second every other year, like this one that just went by. And all this calculations in dates ranging as early as 2nd century AD, which is the amazing bit.
Secondly, what grows on me is the question about true purpose of education and knowledge. Researchers dedicating their whole lives to find out mysteries of nature, need a lot more than just doubt and knowledge. Which I'm sure is passion or thirst. May it be for truth or anything else. The way to satisfy this thirst may be life-time research based on their education & knowledge. Education is defined in Wikipedia as the learning of knowledge, information and skills during the course of life. This can be interpreted in various ways based on who’s interpreting it, which is true for any written literature. Thus stressing the importance of assimilation of ideas in the written form which becomes much more challenging when trying to assimilate imaginary ideas! Education injects the passion of learning and imagination. Ancient scientists didn’t have a common medium or even language to communicate, but shared the imagination. I used to find it really funny while learning geometry and chemistry in school, where we had to imagine a point in space or bonds between atoms which were unseen. I see them now, although imaginary. I guess learning never ends in life(s), whether one or many, real or imaginary.
Imagination, the power of thought!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Enlightened Movie Experiences
Have you ever been into a movie hall with very irritating neighbours surrounding you? I’ve been multiple times. The recent two terrible cinema hall experiences, not to confuse with movie experiences were Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and Slumdog Millionaire.
In the previous one, there were what seemed to me like two gossiping housewives of Indian software type people (like us). I thought all they did was reading articles for various websites and building public perception. Their seating arrangement was like one geek, his wife, other geeks wife and the other geek. Nikunj & I were right in front of the two (phenomenally blessed with gossiping knowledge of the world) ladies. The movie begins, so does their fairly loud commentary. A whole wide world of topics come up in their discussions ranging from Shahrukh Khan’s tailor, his relationship with Aditya Chopra & Co. to new comer Anushka Sharma’s dance teacher. Vinay Pathak’s introducing scene prods one the geek to ask whether Ranveer Shourie was also in the movie, as if both of them signed any movie only if both were offered roles. That leads the enlightened discussion to Konkana Sen Sharma & Ranveer’s marriage!! At one point in time we felt like asking them to close their encyclopaedic discovery channel about Indian cinema, but behavioural limitations prevailed.
The other such experience was when we went for Slumdog Millionaire. The movie shows grim realities of Indian slums from where an un-educated kid goes on to win a “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” show with his unmistaken fluent English with amazing accent which I never understood where he imbibed from in the movie. Like any other movie that we see, we have many discussions about the pros and cons of the movie. I thought the direction of the movie was very good. Overall the movie was average, Nikunj thinks it was over-rated.at Golden Globes. But for me the fun part was the people behind me, this time two youngsters also having some volume control problem in their sound-boxes. They were thinking aloud, throughout the movie. They tried answering, unsuccessfully of-course, all the possible answers that they can. At one point I felt they expected Anil Kapoor to come out and award them a few prizes. But alas! To their despair and ours too, it didn’t happen and they went on for the entire movie. They had a comment on every angle of the movie. “That’s exactly how it is!”, “Have you seen Dharavi”, “They make kids beg like this only” “What will happen to India where people live like this!!” went on and on. None of the gentlemen looked or sounded like they grasped anything about what was tried to be represented by the movie. Commenting is the easiest thing that any one can do without feeling guilt.
I’m sure all of you would have been disturbed in the hall by a loud cell phone ring, where the receiver receives the call, tries to explain the caller about him being in a movie, which movie, how is it, a bit of the story and then realization dawns and asks to call them back. By the time the call ends, you’ve lost track of the movie plot or missed a hilarious scene. All I have to say to these fantabulous knowledgeable people is – “excuse me sir/madam, there are other people wanting to watch a movie here too! Who have paid for THE MOVIE and not your additional commentaries”.
Well, in hindsight I think if entertainment is the only reason that you go for a movie, it shouldn’t matter whether you get it from the performances of the people in the movie or out of it. :)
Entertainment
In the previous one, there were what seemed to me like two gossiping housewives of Indian software type people (like us). I thought all they did was reading articles for various websites and building public perception. Their seating arrangement was like one geek, his wife, other geeks wife and the other geek. Nikunj & I were right in front of the two (phenomenally blessed with gossiping knowledge of the world) ladies. The movie begins, so does their fairly loud commentary. A whole wide world of topics come up in their discussions ranging from Shahrukh Khan’s tailor, his relationship with Aditya Chopra & Co. to new comer Anushka Sharma’s dance teacher. Vinay Pathak’s introducing scene prods one the geek to ask whether Ranveer Shourie was also in the movie, as if both of them signed any movie only if both were offered roles. That leads the enlightened discussion to Konkana Sen Sharma & Ranveer’s marriage!! At one point in time we felt like asking them to close their encyclopaedic discovery channel about Indian cinema, but behavioural limitations prevailed.
The other such experience was when we went for Slumdog Millionaire. The movie shows grim realities of Indian slums from where an un-educated kid goes on to win a “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” show with his unmistaken fluent English with amazing accent which I never understood where he imbibed from in the movie. Like any other movie that we see, we have many discussions about the pros and cons of the movie. I thought the direction of the movie was very good. Overall the movie was average, Nikunj thinks it was over-rated.at Golden Globes. But for me the fun part was the people behind me, this time two youngsters also having some volume control problem in their sound-boxes. They were thinking aloud, throughout the movie. They tried answering, unsuccessfully of-course, all the possible answers that they can. At one point I felt they expected Anil Kapoor to come out and award them a few prizes. But alas! To their despair and ours too, it didn’t happen and they went on for the entire movie. They had a comment on every angle of the movie. “That’s exactly how it is!”, “Have you seen Dharavi”, “They make kids beg like this only” “What will happen to India where people live like this!!” went on and on. None of the gentlemen looked or sounded like they grasped anything about what was tried to be represented by the movie. Commenting is the easiest thing that any one can do without feeling guilt.
I’m sure all of you would have been disturbed in the hall by a loud cell phone ring, where the receiver receives the call, tries to explain the caller about him being in a movie, which movie, how is it, a bit of the story and then realization dawns and asks to call them back. By the time the call ends, you’ve lost track of the movie plot or missed a hilarious scene. All I have to say to these fantabulous knowledgeable people is – “excuse me sir/madam, there are other people wanting to watch a movie here too! Who have paid for THE MOVIE and not your additional commentaries”.
Well, in hindsight I think if entertainment is the only reason that you go for a movie, it shouldn’t matter whether you get it from the performances of the people in the movie or out of it. :)
Entertainment
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
a few one liners that i like
The last few days have been of loneliness amidst crowds, of silence to deep thinking and spiritual talks & reading. A few things to mention at the risk of sounding too philosophical, more or less a few one-liners which have made a lasting impact on my empty brains.
These are not a comprehensive list but at least some things to think over
It’s better to add life to years instead of adding years to life.
“Who wants a cynic who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing?”.
– Oscar Wilde
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind!”
– Mahatma Gandhi
When everything is said and done, more is said than done
It doesn’t end, until it ends. You don’t win, until you win
Co-incidentally, read an interesting article last night in Metro regard January 5 known to lawyers as D-Day and the top date for break-ups & divorces. Socrates said – “The hottest love has the coldest ends”.
Another interesting article which i found very funny was on Rumpology (the art of reading buttocks). People are innovative. A round bottom indicatesthe person is open, happy and optimistic in life. However, a flat bottom suggests the person is rather vain and is negative and sad. Don't know whether i would fancy getting my rear read? How about you?
Enjoy Maadi.
These are not a comprehensive list but at least some things to think over
It’s better to add life to years instead of adding years to life.
“Who wants a cynic who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing?”.
– Oscar Wilde
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind!”
– Mahatma Gandhi
When everything is said and done, more is said than done
It doesn’t end, until it ends. You don’t win, until you win
Co-incidentally, read an interesting article last night in Metro regard January 5 known to lawyers as D-Day and the top date for break-ups & divorces. Socrates said – “The hottest love has the coldest ends”.
Another interesting article which i found very funny was on Rumpology (the art of reading buttocks). People are innovative. A round bottom indicatesthe person is open, happy and optimistic in life. However, a flat bottom suggests the person is rather vain and is negative and sad. Don't know whether i would fancy getting my rear read? How about you?
Enjoy Maadi.
Monday, January 5, 2009
in the mood of spirituality
Another day where early retirement to bed left me awake very early in the morning. Early morning is a fantastic time where peaceful and constructive thoughts arise in the mind. Swami Vivekananda, who is considered as a “Dhyana Sidhdha” or an adept in meditation, says the mind is like a lake. The bottom of the lake is the soul or you. Every thought is like a stone in the lake creating many ripples. Unless the lake is calm, you don't see the you in you.
We use knowledge as a shield to give excuses. And hence we oscillate between blaming others and blaming ourselves during the course of life. There is no reason for any blame, no matter how grave the situation is. Nobody is at fault. Only the nature plays its game changing situations.
Although we consider ourselves as rational human beings, are we being humans? Why is every major decision in life so emotional and sentimental?
Enough food for thought.
We use knowledge as a shield to give excuses. And hence we oscillate between blaming others and blaming ourselves during the course of life. There is no reason for any blame, no matter how grave the situation is. Nobody is at fault. Only the nature plays its game changing situations.
Although we consider ourselves as rational human beings, are we being humans? Why is every major decision in life so emotional and sentimental?
Enough food for thought.
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