Sunday, December 17, 2006
Kurukshetra 2007
Kurukshetra, guruchetra, kurukchetra, kuruchetra, gurusetra, kursetra.....this is what you can hear from the various quarters of our college for quite some days now. Well, Kurukshetra is the national level techno-management fest conducted by CEG, Anna University. We are doing an event in such a magnitude for the first time. Well, with the topline (lol!) around 25 lakhs and prize money around 9 lakhs, its definitely worth the whizz it is generating. Undoubtedly Kurukshetra is a product of the unchallenged commitment and efforts put in by our guys to conduct an event in such scales. For more info log on to www.kurukshetra.org.in
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Does modern day Tamil music make a mockery of art?
Most of us in the college, at least those in the boys hostel of CEG have this debate: who is better-AR Rahman or Ilayaraja. I have been an AR Rahman fan for 15 years, right from the day I heard his album-‘Roja’. I still vividly remember my English teacher Mr. Balu (one of the best teachers who have taught me till now) explaining the meaning of ‘child prodigy’ in my 8th grade and the examples he gave for child prodigies were Sachin and AR Rahman. Undoubtedly AR Rahman has revolutionized Indian music and taken it to greater echelons. When people from richer sections of the society alone could enjoy that western style of music with all that rocking effect, treble and bass, this man took such music to the masses with all that high precision computer effects, the first of the kind in Tamil films or to an extent say even Indian Films (I ain’t that technical when it comes to music-the point I want to make is the way AR Rahman differed from others in 90s).
Over the years, what has happened is that most music directors have followed the Rahman route. But the sad story is that the all these modern day music directors have given more importance to the sound effects and computerization of music but miserably failed when it comes to the lyrics. They have a name for this kinda music: they call it so live and happening music.
In one such Rahman Vs Ilayaraja debate, one of my friends asked a very pertinent question regarding the Tamil songs which we often hear –“machan, apart from the latest flicks, whose play list do we generally hear when we are free da is it Ilayaraja or AR Rahman?” If I were to answer this question honestly I would say that I hear to Ilayaraja’s music more than that of AR Rahman’s because most songs I hear these days are the Rahman type in modern cinema and for some variety I go for Ilayaraja or for that matter any old song (PB Srinivas rocks). But Rahman’s songs are really good when it comes to lyrics, just that since more of the modern day songs are like that of ARR (general style) I prefer Ilayaraja jus for a change.
I tried to analyze why people (especially me, these days) tend to hear Ilayaraja’s music more than that of the modern day music directors. When you hear a song like “Dailamo dailamo….kaleleeekku raathiiri meee kaathaleeiiiii” what happens is that you (not me!) prolly tend to like that song initially when the album hits the market. What happens eventually? You forget that there was such a song in a matter of month or two. What I personally feel is that the most important attribute of a song that makes it evergreen is the lyrics and the music of course.
Music is an art. I feel that art becomes an art only when it is intellectually stimulating. Here by intellectual I don’t mean calculus or relativity but something more bigger, something that relieves your stress, or something which makes you feel comfortable, something which sets your mind in action without you really knowing that you have kindled your thought process, something which only be felt and perceived and can’t be put in words. When you hear songs like “Nallathor Veenai Seithen” or Thirthakaraiyinile therku moolaiyil…” or “Irandu manam vendum” or “Thoongathe thambi” or “Yeh jo des he tera, swades…”or say even a romance song like “Kamban yemanthan” or “kabhi kabhi mere dil me” or “Ehsaan tera hoga”, you get that feel good factor which I tried to explain.
These songs represent a wide gamut of philosophy, values based, romance.. but the common factor which all of them share is simply superb lyrics apart from some brilliant music. I ain’t trying to say that the film songs these days don’t have good lyrics. Some certainly have, but it is only a few in number…When it comes to AR Rahman, I‘d say that, this man is brilliant in all his albums, be it music or lyrics or digital effects or whatever. But in the current scenario since most directors try to imitate the way Rahman did that too with crappy lyrics, I feel whenever I hear such music I don’t get that feel good factor. In turn we people feel that old songs are better. The modern day Tamil film songs don’t represent good art; rather they are core-commercial. Music Directors want to make some fast moolah so they give some numbers like “appadi podu…” How many of us will hear that song after 10 months? But still we turn our ears to songs like “En mel vizhuntha pani thuliyee, ithanai nalai”, “pachai nirame” or “Netru illatha matram(sad version rocks! “Ilaigal veeznhtalumee kilaiyil thuli ullathu…iravu theernthalume innum nilavullathu…pathi uyir poana pothum meethi vazhvullathu…”). So I would say that as long as you have good meaningful and thought provoking lyrics, you can beam that song to be evergreen. From the reigns of GN Balasubramaniam to G. Ramanthan to Ghandasala to MS Viswanathan to Ilayaraja to AR Rahman lyrics was given importance but now, its mere mockery of art……Hope things get better.(Exceptions are always there…)
Over the years, what has happened is that most music directors have followed the Rahman route. But the sad story is that the all these modern day music directors have given more importance to the sound effects and computerization of music but miserably failed when it comes to the lyrics. They have a name for this kinda music: they call it so live and happening music.
In one such Rahman Vs Ilayaraja debate, one of my friends asked a very pertinent question regarding the Tamil songs which we often hear –“machan, apart from the latest flicks, whose play list do we generally hear when we are free da is it Ilayaraja or AR Rahman?” If I were to answer this question honestly I would say that I hear to Ilayaraja’s music more than that of AR Rahman’s because most songs I hear these days are the Rahman type in modern cinema and for some variety I go for Ilayaraja or for that matter any old song (PB Srinivas rocks). But Rahman’s songs are really good when it comes to lyrics, just that since more of the modern day songs are like that of ARR (general style) I prefer Ilayaraja jus for a change.
I tried to analyze why people (especially me, these days) tend to hear Ilayaraja’s music more than that of the modern day music directors. When you hear a song like “Dailamo dailamo….kaleleeekku raathiiri meee kaathaleeiiiii” what happens is that you (not me!) prolly tend to like that song initially when the album hits the market. What happens eventually? You forget that there was such a song in a matter of month or two. What I personally feel is that the most important attribute of a song that makes it evergreen is the lyrics and the music of course.
Music is an art. I feel that art becomes an art only when it is intellectually stimulating. Here by intellectual I don’t mean calculus or relativity but something more bigger, something that relieves your stress, or something which makes you feel comfortable, something which sets your mind in action without you really knowing that you have kindled your thought process, something which only be felt and perceived and can’t be put in words. When you hear songs like “Nallathor Veenai Seithen” or Thirthakaraiyinile therku moolaiyil…” or “Irandu manam vendum” or “Thoongathe thambi” or “Yeh jo des he tera, swades…”or say even a romance song like “Kamban yemanthan” or “kabhi kabhi mere dil me” or “Ehsaan tera hoga”, you get that feel good factor which I tried to explain.
These songs represent a wide gamut of philosophy, values based, romance.. but the common factor which all of them share is simply superb lyrics apart from some brilliant music. I ain’t trying to say that the film songs these days don’t have good lyrics. Some certainly have, but it is only a few in number…When it comes to AR Rahman, I‘d say that, this man is brilliant in all his albums, be it music or lyrics or digital effects or whatever. But in the current scenario since most directors try to imitate the way Rahman did that too with crappy lyrics, I feel whenever I hear such music I don’t get that feel good factor. In turn we people feel that old songs are better. The modern day Tamil film songs don’t represent good art; rather they are core-commercial. Music Directors want to make some fast moolah so they give some numbers like “appadi podu…” How many of us will hear that song after 10 months? But still we turn our ears to songs like “En mel vizhuntha pani thuliyee, ithanai nalai”, “pachai nirame” or “Netru illatha matram(sad version rocks! “Ilaigal veeznhtalumee kilaiyil thuli ullathu…iravu theernthalume innum nilavullathu…pathi uyir poana pothum meethi vazhvullathu…”). So I would say that as long as you have good meaningful and thought provoking lyrics, you can beam that song to be evergreen. From the reigns of GN Balasubramaniam to G. Ramanthan to Ghandasala to MS Viswanathan to Ilayaraja to AR Rahman lyrics was given importance but now, its mere mockery of art……Hope things get better.(Exceptions are always there…)
Friday, June 30, 2006
How things can change in a year
Einstein is a genius. Well it might be a clichéd as it is a universally acclaimed fact but at times you personally cherish the great man’s work. Last year had been one of the fastest years in my life. I don’t know the reason but yes, the whole year for me had moved in a speed of at least 2X compared to that of the previous years. Coming to the point, I had the hostel re-admission process today for the forthcoming academic year. My previous year experience had really pissed me off.
Today I entered the place at 8:30 am. The things started on time. No waiting business or token crap. We were allowed inside at 8:30 sharp, given the apping forms and a soul was explaining how to fill the form with the help of an LCD projector. Then we moved on to the next room and the whole process of fee payment, room allotment and other stuff that took just a few tens of minutes. Another awesome aspect of this year’s admission process was that we were given the option of staying in the same room that we stayed in the previous year. I came out at 9:10 am. Goodness gracious, I didn’t have the problem of shifting the whole thing up to another block. What took nearly 13 hours last year just took 40 min this time? No kidding.
Coming to the bigger picture, why is this sudden change? Who revamped the whole crappy process? Well it was not a difficult thing to guess. We saw the same old faces but for one man, Dr Srinivas, the new Associate Warden of CEG. Man, he is smart as a whip compared to the other Profs who handle or manage such things. He led from the front and challenged the hostel admission history. Great work indeed!
What CEG has taught me over three years? If I have to say the answer as Electronics then prolly I am wrong. I know electronics concepts to a decent level but CEG has no business in it. Then what else? I should say CEG has taught me things that are big. It has taught me the way of life though the path that had never been not a bed of roses. It has taught me the hard way, the way to live and survive. It has taught me management (at most times how things shouldn’t be managed!). What I saw today was real management and the credit goes to the Associate warden. My words of advice to those people who are peeved in joining this college and lamenting about college doing nothing for them:
“There is a learning opportunity in everything, provided you keep your eyes open”
Today I entered the place at 8:30 am. The things started on time. No waiting business or token crap. We were allowed inside at 8:30 sharp, given the apping forms and a soul was explaining how to fill the form with the help of an LCD projector. Then we moved on to the next room and the whole process of fee payment, room allotment and other stuff that took just a few tens of minutes. Another awesome aspect of this year’s admission process was that we were given the option of staying in the same room that we stayed in the previous year. I came out at 9:10 am. Goodness gracious, I didn’t have the problem of shifting the whole thing up to another block. What took nearly 13 hours last year just took 40 min this time? No kidding.
Coming to the bigger picture, why is this sudden change? Who revamped the whole crappy process? Well it was not a difficult thing to guess. We saw the same old faces but for one man, Dr Srinivas, the new Associate Warden of CEG. Man, he is smart as a whip compared to the other Profs who handle or manage such things. He led from the front and challenged the hostel admission history. Great work indeed!
What CEG has taught me over three years? If I have to say the answer as Electronics then prolly I am wrong. I know electronics concepts to a decent level but CEG has no business in it. Then what else? I should say CEG has taught me things that are big. It has taught me the way of life though the path that had never been not a bed of roses. It has taught me the hard way, the way to live and survive. It has taught me management (at most times how things shouldn’t be managed!). What I saw today was real management and the credit goes to the Associate warden. My words of advice to those people who are peeved in joining this college and lamenting about college doing nothing for them:
“There is a learning opportunity in everything, provided you keep your eyes open”
Friday, June 23, 2006
Happy Birthday to my blog! – My blog turns 1
When I was going through certain comments on my blog, suddenly I noticed that it was exactly a year before, I started blogging. It was on 23rd June 2005, when this blog entered the web space. Now, when I look back its simply nostalgic. When I started blogging, I never thought about all these milestones. But now it really gives me an A-one feeling when I look back.
When I wrote the first blog, I had a sagging feeling. I started blogging on vague end of my second year, just before the beginning of the third year. I was in Madurai then. I had been preoccupied with glum thoughts of my college reopening. But now exactly after a year, just before the start of my 7th semester, I am looking forward for the college reopening eagerly coz I am damn bored here in the hostels. This vacation had been pretty long (two and a half months). Hope the days to come are enthralling and challenging
When I wrote the first blog, I had a sagging feeling. I started blogging on vague end of my second year, just before the beginning of the third year. I was in Madurai then. I had been preoccupied with glum thoughts of my college reopening. But now exactly after a year, just before the start of my 7th semester, I am looking forward for the college reopening eagerly coz I am damn bored here in the hostels. This vacation had been pretty long (two and a half months). Hope the days to come are enthralling and challenging
Friday, June 09, 2006
Are Educated Indian Women Greater Losers?
Today(yesterday as per the time now lol)was an eventful day for me. I got up at 4:30 am for filling up my ‘placement registration form’ and switched on the internet before brushing my teeth. I entered the address of the registration website. The message flashed ‘The operation timed out’. I checked my connection (mine being a cdma wireless connection, I don’t trust my connection speed, but still for a hostel in anna univ this is cool) for sufficient speed and found that speed was good enough. I tried desperately for an hour or so. I got pissed off with all this shit, and finally came out of my room for some cool air, brushed my teeth, took bath and finished off my prayers. I had a good brisk walk in the cool morning not for the sake of it (I am a lazy f*****) but for going to the bus stop, catch the bus and attend a function in my uncle’s house.
I met some of my close relatives and the usual stuffs happened. My parents couldn’t come all the way from Madurai, so I represented my family. After all that piece of advice and crap about my forthcoming placements, one of my aunts started asking me about myself having a girl friend or not and stuffs like that. I know what they meant, I was really embarrassed. Fine, she told me the news of one of my distant cousin sister who is 3 years elder to me, getting married. I have heard of her to be really brilliant though I haven’t spoken to her much. She was famous in our family circle for her rocking performance in some all India science essay competition. She had a good AIR in that. Some crap. Above that she wanted to become an entrepreneur it seems. When we used to say we want to become engineer, we wanna become doctor, she used to say I wanna start a company like infy. She was always a topper in her school days, got pretty high scores in her 10th grade, scored okeyish in her 12th grade and joined Amrita CS. Ironically; the poor girl got placed in the same Infosys, the prototype in which she wanted to establish her organization.
After working for a year in Infosys she’s opted for the West Coast. Lemme make this point clear. When a decent looking brahmin girl from a decent family background finishes off her engineering and works for a software company for an year or two, there are just two options for her to settle in life-either East coast or West Coast. Sometimes it is a tough decision to make. Come on, west coast is technology hub with its typically Indian silicon valley. East coast is the finance capital of the world-simply put either an engineer groom or an MBA groom. Might sound good for boys to have such girls but when I think of girls I really feel sorry for them.
When such a girl grows, she has lots of ambitions and zeal to make it big in her life. At the end of it, everything goes shattered. Wedlock at the age of 22 or 23 is really horrible, unimaginable. Finally the girl might have all that comforts with a Porsche or a bungalow in Silicon Valley or a $100000 pa family income that a boy can’t have at the age of 22 or 23, but is it really satisfying? Life is something more than just getting settled comfortably. Life should be full of anxiety, thrill, fun and all that. I don’t mean everybody should become entrepreneurs. Come on, what is life without ups and downs here and there. Life should be enjoyed for at least 5-10 years without wedlock. IMHO I d say that women are bigger losers than many men. Men always enjoy their lives more than women. Most of the Indian women in the US are housewives in spite of being well educated.
I was really stunned to hear that this girl is also following the good old route. Where is her entrepreneurship spirit? Where are her dreams of starting a technology company in India?-Buried in the Silicon Valley.
I am not trying to say that all girls end up like that but at least many girls in my family with sound academics have ended so. Ironically I was discussing this with my friend when he told me that, today he met a 26 year lady from Calcutta who came to Anna Univ to market some instrumentation stuffs. It seems she owns an instru company and she has come all the way to market the product. There are people of this kind also, but the number is really less. Most of us know Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Nainalal Kidwai, Indra Nooyee, Chanda Kochar, Shikha Sharma, Renuka Ramnath, Lalit Gupte……the list might go on for some more lines. But considering the total women population in this country this is no where significant. Exceptions are always there but....
Here in this post I’m not referring to the empowerment of the women as a whole in the society. That is matter of obvious fact that women empowerment in India is an alarming need. I am sampling a particular part of the society which is supposed to be well progressed. But still the results seem shocking. The greatest irony is that, all these girls who waste their lives are from sound family background with good education. The high attrition rates of women in the software industry would add some salt into my argument.
I met some of my close relatives and the usual stuffs happened. My parents couldn’t come all the way from Madurai, so I represented my family. After all that piece of advice and crap about my forthcoming placements, one of my aunts started asking me about myself having a girl friend or not and stuffs like that. I know what they meant, I was really embarrassed. Fine, she told me the news of one of my distant cousin sister who is 3 years elder to me, getting married. I have heard of her to be really brilliant though I haven’t spoken to her much. She was famous in our family circle for her rocking performance in some all India science essay competition. She had a good AIR in that. Some crap. Above that she wanted to become an entrepreneur it seems. When we used to say we want to become engineer, we wanna become doctor, she used to say I wanna start a company like infy. She was always a topper in her school days, got pretty high scores in her 10th grade, scored okeyish in her 12th grade and joined Amrita CS. Ironically; the poor girl got placed in the same Infosys, the prototype in which she wanted to establish her organization.
After working for a year in Infosys she’s opted for the West Coast. Lemme make this point clear. When a decent looking brahmin girl from a decent family background finishes off her engineering and works for a software company for an year or two, there are just two options for her to settle in life-either East coast or West Coast. Sometimes it is a tough decision to make. Come on, west coast is technology hub with its typically Indian silicon valley. East coast is the finance capital of the world-simply put either an engineer groom or an MBA groom. Might sound good for boys to have such girls but when I think of girls I really feel sorry for them.
When such a girl grows, she has lots of ambitions and zeal to make it big in her life. At the end of it, everything goes shattered. Wedlock at the age of 22 or 23 is really horrible, unimaginable. Finally the girl might have all that comforts with a Porsche or a bungalow in Silicon Valley or a $100000 pa family income that a boy can’t have at the age of 22 or 23, but is it really satisfying? Life is something more than just getting settled comfortably. Life should be full of anxiety, thrill, fun and all that. I don’t mean everybody should become entrepreneurs. Come on, what is life without ups and downs here and there. Life should be enjoyed for at least 5-10 years without wedlock. IMHO I d say that women are bigger losers than many men. Men always enjoy their lives more than women. Most of the Indian women in the US are housewives in spite of being well educated.
I was really stunned to hear that this girl is also following the good old route. Where is her entrepreneurship spirit? Where are her dreams of starting a technology company in India?-Buried in the Silicon Valley.
I am not trying to say that all girls end up like that but at least many girls in my family with sound academics have ended so. Ironically I was discussing this with my friend when he told me that, today he met a 26 year lady from Calcutta who came to Anna Univ to market some instrumentation stuffs. It seems she owns an instru company and she has come all the way to market the product. There are people of this kind also, but the number is really less. Most of us know Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Nainalal Kidwai, Indra Nooyee, Chanda Kochar, Shikha Sharma, Renuka Ramnath, Lalit Gupte……the list might go on for some more lines. But considering the total women population in this country this is no where significant. Exceptions are always there but....
Here in this post I’m not referring to the empowerment of the women as a whole in the society. That is matter of obvious fact that women empowerment in India is an alarming need. I am sampling a particular part of the society which is supposed to be well progressed. But still the results seem shocking. The greatest irony is that, all these girls who waste their lives are from sound family background with good education. The high attrition rates of women in the software industry would add some salt into my argument.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Is Indian Astrology a Farce?
I‘ve been blogging quite often these days. The reason behind all this is not my passion towards blogging or rationalistic ideology crap. The prima facie reason is that I am jobless, jobless to the core. So I am compelled to blog.
Since ‘campus placements’ is round the corner, we are supposed to fill in a registration form or a kinda resume- a crappy one. The registration has “supposedly” started (After coming to this “mighty” anna univ I am using this double quotes too often). I told this to my dad. On hearing this he told me that, I should fill the form in some auspicious time. In spite of his busy work schedule these days, he took pains to see my astrological details from the ‘panchangam’ and suggested me an auspicious date and time. I still doubt if I can complete the registration on that prescribed time (damn anna servers!).
Fine, I would like to justify the science behind astrology. As I often say, I seriously don’t know if all this is true (same old dialogue!). I feel that, the essence of astrology is the famous Newtonian law of masses which goes something like this- “Between two masses, there exists a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of distance between them”
As we know, astrology is basically a science which is concerned with the influence of heavenly bodies on us. The most important factor of determining one’s ‘jatakam’ is the place of birth and time of birth.
What mighty Indian astrologers might have done originally is, basically create a database, where they would have charted out the position of various heavenly bodies that are worth influencing planet earth, for thousands of years in precision up to seconds. For eg. On June 6, 2006 at 17:30:40 hours the planet x might be at this place, planet y might be at this place, object z would be in this place and so on and at what angular position they are with respect to each place in earth. That should have been the first task.
The second task would have been to apply the Newtonian law but not in the way Newton proposed it but perhaps in a much more complicated manner. I’ll tell you why. I’ll explain with a specific case. Assume that a man is born in a place at a given time. So there must be some force between his 1.6 odd kg mass and the various planets which would be at different positions. Obviously there must be some force exchange between bodies of different masses. What these great astrologers would have done is to precisely compute the various forces due to masses at different angular positions as a generalized case. We would falter at a simple mechanics problem from I.E. Irodov (the book from which IIT JEE physics questions were lifted, I donno about the current scenario) involving a few force distribution models. Come on, and then think of those great Vedic astrologers who would have had to factor in a large number of forces, compute the resultant force and then finally computing the table. That is the table which we use even today. What astrology software today does is to get the date and place of birth and compute the ‘jatakam’ based on that table. No one is quite sure as to how that table was created by ancient Hindu astrologers even now. That remains a mystery. (Please don’t confuse yourselves with the conventionally used one, but I mean the one that relates what would happen if I am born in this place and time, I just don’t want to go into the intricacies for the sake of simplicity. For the time being assume it to be a table.)
One might very well ask, “I was born in the same hospital as Bill Gates was born and at the same time. But I am no where close to him”. So what can be the solution? Here is where the theory stutters. But lemme try explaining this phenomenon.
Let us take Mr. X to have born at some place. The forces would influence his motion, lifestyle in such a way that he would move to another place when he is 5 years old, again completely different planetary positions and again his lifestyle changes. So what happens is that progressively, the resultant force changes, and so his lifestyle changes but all that change in motion would have been influenced by the previous planetary positions. When his son or daughter is born, obviously their astrological map is influenced by his astrological map and hence we can conclude that even if two people are born in the same place and time, their life needn’t be the same and this chain continues across generations. What astrology broadly does is to generalize the case. The thing goes like the famous Fibonacci sequence where in every term is the sum of previous two terms. Astrology is very much similar. Every move of us is influenced by the previous move, akin to the manner we compute the nth Fibonacci number using the first term.
When, astrologers tabulated their calculation, probably the population was very small. So the probability that many children were born at the same time at a given place would have been very less, ergo the success. But now, since there is a huge population explosion, I feel that the table should be updated factoring in some more aspects to enhance the accuracy. But the hard reality is that we can’t even figure out how the table was created, so damn fools we are compared to the greats, there is no question of enhancement. I’ll tell you precisely where the problem lies. We know that planets are in continuous motion at a great speed and jus think how fast the resultant force and its angular position would change and it is really elusive to think of this as a problem to be solved in physics.
So what I am trying to say is that astrology is one of the most elusive branches of physics and not something to be mocked at by the “so called rational” fools. If they can, they should try to understand the physics behind it or rather shut the fuck up instead of mocking astrology.
All this is purely my imagination. I am not saying that I’m right but this is how I convince myself when I think “Is astrology really a farce?” This is just 1/nth of what astrology is and how it would be like. I have never delved into the aspect of what kind of force is that and by what property does it influence one’s actions. I’d definitely update this post with more inputs and ponderings.
Every aspect of this world is driven by Science. If something is beyond the scientific explanation, then the realty is that you are scientifically backward.
Long live Metaphysics.
Since ‘campus placements’ is round the corner, we are supposed to fill in a registration form or a kinda resume- a crappy one. The registration has “supposedly” started (After coming to this “mighty” anna univ I am using this double quotes too often). I told this to my dad. On hearing this he told me that, I should fill the form in some auspicious time. In spite of his busy work schedule these days, he took pains to see my astrological details from the ‘panchangam’ and suggested me an auspicious date and time. I still doubt if I can complete the registration on that prescribed time (damn anna servers!).
Fine, I would like to justify the science behind astrology. As I often say, I seriously don’t know if all this is true (same old dialogue!). I feel that, the essence of astrology is the famous Newtonian law of masses which goes something like this- “Between two masses, there exists a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of distance between them”
As we know, astrology is basically a science which is concerned with the influence of heavenly bodies on us. The most important factor of determining one’s ‘jatakam’ is the place of birth and time of birth.
What mighty Indian astrologers might have done originally is, basically create a database, where they would have charted out the position of various heavenly bodies that are worth influencing planet earth, for thousands of years in precision up to seconds. For eg. On June 6, 2006 at 17:30:40 hours the planet x might be at this place, planet y might be at this place, object z would be in this place and so on and at what angular position they are with respect to each place in earth. That should have been the first task.
The second task would have been to apply the Newtonian law but not in the way Newton proposed it but perhaps in a much more complicated manner. I’ll tell you why. I’ll explain with a specific case. Assume that a man is born in a place at a given time. So there must be some force between his 1.6 odd kg mass and the various planets which would be at different positions. Obviously there must be some force exchange between bodies of different masses. What these great astrologers would have done is to precisely compute the various forces due to masses at different angular positions as a generalized case. We would falter at a simple mechanics problem from I.E. Irodov (the book from which IIT JEE physics questions were lifted, I donno about the current scenario) involving a few force distribution models. Come on, and then think of those great Vedic astrologers who would have had to factor in a large number of forces, compute the resultant force and then finally computing the table. That is the table which we use even today. What astrology software today does is to get the date and place of birth and compute the ‘jatakam’ based on that table. No one is quite sure as to how that table was created by ancient Hindu astrologers even now. That remains a mystery. (Please don’t confuse yourselves with the conventionally used one, but I mean the one that relates what would happen if I am born in this place and time, I just don’t want to go into the intricacies for the sake of simplicity. For the time being assume it to be a table.)
One might very well ask, “I was born in the same hospital as Bill Gates was born and at the same time. But I am no where close to him”. So what can be the solution? Here is where the theory stutters. But lemme try explaining this phenomenon.
Let us take Mr. X to have born at some place. The forces would influence his motion, lifestyle in such a way that he would move to another place when he is 5 years old, again completely different planetary positions and again his lifestyle changes. So what happens is that progressively, the resultant force changes, and so his lifestyle changes but all that change in motion would have been influenced by the previous planetary positions. When his son or daughter is born, obviously their astrological map is influenced by his astrological map and hence we can conclude that even if two people are born in the same place and time, their life needn’t be the same and this chain continues across generations. What astrology broadly does is to generalize the case. The thing goes like the famous Fibonacci sequence where in every term is the sum of previous two terms. Astrology is very much similar. Every move of us is influenced by the previous move, akin to the manner we compute the nth Fibonacci number using the first term.
When, astrologers tabulated their calculation, probably the population was very small. So the probability that many children were born at the same time at a given place would have been very less, ergo the success. But now, since there is a huge population explosion, I feel that the table should be updated factoring in some more aspects to enhance the accuracy. But the hard reality is that we can’t even figure out how the table was created, so damn fools we are compared to the greats, there is no question of enhancement. I’ll tell you precisely where the problem lies. We know that planets are in continuous motion at a great speed and jus think how fast the resultant force and its angular position would change and it is really elusive to think of this as a problem to be solved in physics.
So what I am trying to say is that astrology is one of the most elusive branches of physics and not something to be mocked at by the “so called rational” fools. If they can, they should try to understand the physics behind it or rather shut the fuck up instead of mocking astrology.
All this is purely my imagination. I am not saying that I’m right but this is how I convince myself when I think “Is astrology really a farce?” This is just 1/nth of what astrology is and how it would be like. I have never delved into the aspect of what kind of force is that and by what property does it influence one’s actions. I’d definitely update this post with more inputs and ponderings.
Every aspect of this world is driven by Science. If something is beyond the scientific explanation, then the realty is that you are scientifically backward.
Long live Metaphysics.
Monday, June 05, 2006
“Gunguna rahe hain bhavre….Aradhana”
Yesterday I downloaded one of my MOST favorite songs of all time “ghunguna rahe hain bhavre” from the Hindi movie “Aradhana”. I am listening to this song after 14 years. Yaar, Lata Mangeshkar’s voice is so captivating. This used to be my favorite song, in my LKG and UKG days. My father is a big fan of Kishore Kumar and so I am. This film features 2 of the all time great songs of Kishoreji. “Mere sapnon ki rani” and “Roop tera mastana”. But somehow I always got hooked on to this melody. We had an audio cassette of that film and my father says that, I listen to this song “ghunguna rahe hain bhavre” at least once a day. I don’t remember all that, but what I know is that I used to love that song better than any other song. The cassette got lost somehow. Then as days passed by, I forgot all that. Suddenly when I was listening to my kishore playlist in my comp. suddenly I thought of this song, the tone and lyrics of which I could barely remember. I searched the mighty web typing “Aradhana” and to my luck, found the song. But the problem was that the website didn’t have an option of download, I could only hear it on the web. I was on gtalk and suddenly my friend Krishna came to my mind, IMed him and asked him to check for this song in their IIT LAN, and he found this song and mailed me immediately (IIT LAN rocks man!). Thanks to globalization, technology boom and of course IITM.
When I double clicked that song, boy-o-boy I really got nostalgic. Images of my jim dandy childhood in Delhi started popping out of my mind. Those days were awesome, indeed. Life was full of fun. I am really fortunate that I spent a good amount of my childhood in Delhi and I’m 100 % sure that I wouldn’t have enjoyed as much if I were in Tamil Nadu.
I would come back from my school at 1’0’ clock in the afternoon and freak out for a game of cricket or bittu(the marble game). When kulfi wala comes, I used to run into my house, literally beg my mom for money and finally after all that advice and scolding my mom gives me the money. Then again play..play…Phatak then comes challi wala (corn stuff), again running into house for money, same advice and at the end of two minutes, convincing my mom, that this is the last time and all that- my sweet mom giving me the cash again. Then bhel puri wala…..lol. Finally at 7 or 8 pm I reach my house just before my dad comes back from his office and start learning my school stuffs. I was always a brilliant chap and my grades were always good so my parents didn’t bother much about the large amount of time I spent in playing. More special were the days around holi, diwali, Independence Day (we used to fly kites for a month or two and all that comes to a halt on the Independence Day). Life used to be rocking then. I can very proudly say that I don’t have bad habits, I have never bunked (in the sense, without the knowledge of my parents) my school for going to theatres etc. Coz if I wanted to watch a cricket match, my parents would allow me to cut the school. Thanks to the large extent of freedom given by my parents, I am in a good position now. I was brought up in the right manner- that is how children have to be brought up. I have no regrets now.
Though college life is supposed to be fun filled, it is not really as it is projected (curse Indian films!). We do last minute cramming for the exams, vomit the crap and finally hold on our nerves on the day of our results. This holy shit happens four times in a span of six months (semester lol). Sometimes I feel that this kinda stress is also fun, no denying this fact, as it is a part of our lives. Still those balmy days of childhood were simply unforgettable and adventurous. If we had a Rewind option in our life, it would have been fantabulous. Come on man, INNOCENCE IS BLISS.
When I double clicked that song, boy-o-boy I really got nostalgic. Images of my jim dandy childhood in Delhi started popping out of my mind. Those days were awesome, indeed. Life was full of fun. I am really fortunate that I spent a good amount of my childhood in Delhi and I’m 100 % sure that I wouldn’t have enjoyed as much if I were in Tamil Nadu.
I would come back from my school at 1’0’ clock in the afternoon and freak out for a game of cricket or bittu(the marble game). When kulfi wala comes, I used to run into my house, literally beg my mom for money and finally after all that advice and scolding my mom gives me the money. Then again play..play…Phatak then comes challi wala (corn stuff), again running into house for money, same advice and at the end of two minutes, convincing my mom, that this is the last time and all that- my sweet mom giving me the cash again. Then bhel puri wala…..lol. Finally at 7 or 8 pm I reach my house just before my dad comes back from his office and start learning my school stuffs. I was always a brilliant chap and my grades were always good so my parents didn’t bother much about the large amount of time I spent in playing. More special were the days around holi, diwali, Independence Day (we used to fly kites for a month or two and all that comes to a halt on the Independence Day). Life used to be rocking then. I can very proudly say that I don’t have bad habits, I have never bunked (in the sense, without the knowledge of my parents) my school for going to theatres etc. Coz if I wanted to watch a cricket match, my parents would allow me to cut the school. Thanks to the large extent of freedom given by my parents, I am in a good position now. I was brought up in the right manner- that is how children have to be brought up. I have no regrets now.
Though college life is supposed to be fun filled, it is not really as it is projected (curse Indian films!). We do last minute cramming for the exams, vomit the crap and finally hold on our nerves on the day of our results. This holy shit happens four times in a span of six months (semester lol). Sometimes I feel that this kinda stress is also fun, no denying this fact, as it is a part of our lives. Still those balmy days of childhood were simply unforgettable and adventurous. If we had a Rewind option in our life, it would have been fantabulous. Come on man, INNOCENCE IS BLISS.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Am I an atheist? - My Metaphysical musings
Spirituality is omnipresent. Where ever we look into, we see spirituality. Right from a CAT/GRE RC passage to newspapers like Hindu/ET we read about spirituality. Most of us believe in some religion, existence of God and so on. I always wonder at these complex conundrums of being and so I would like to present my views on this and hence this post.
Axiom in my theory:
Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed. However it can be transformed from one form/being to another.
I classify energy into two types
1. Positive energy
2. Negative energy
I would associate positive energy with optimism and negative energy with pessimism.
So what is God? - Simply positive energy and nothing more than that. Importantly God is unconditional in his love. He (if there is a person as God) never puts anybody into task
Let me define optimism before delving further. According to me optimism is an extreme level of belief in something, which may be a person, an inanimate thing or whatever. Bhakti is nothing but belief/optimism/positive energy.
The immediate question is will God punish me if I do something wrong?
The sad answer is a big NO. Because there is no such thing/person called as God. I associate God with the sea of energy and nothing more.
It is only the fear (or negative energy which I call it) or the so called guilty consciousness which punishes the wrongdoers.
Osama Bin Laden is successful because, prolly he would have been very positive and satisfied with what he is doing, with no element of fear. His confidence level must be at the zenith. So he is not caught. If he feels guilty about his acts, then he would necessarily be jeopardized.
You might find it ridiculous but the hard fact is that, there is no definite discrimination between good and bad. What you might feel as good might be bad for another. But it is very difficult to do something wrong (as what most people perceive) without having fear or guilty consciousness, I would say it to be absolutely difficult. Can I reach that state? Yes, through meditation and practice we can attain nirvana where we are not bound to this earthly being, so it is said that such people can attain anything which they want. Who knows Osama might have attained nirvana! Lemme put the same info in a better manner. We know that as per Hindu mythology, there were innumerable Asuras who got boons from the God. At the end they were put to task by God himself. What does it mean? Asuras by means of concentration gained more energy. After getting that energy, they did something which we call devilish. They feared for their deeds and consequently faced death. On the other hand rishis used the energy they obtained by means of penance positively, lived contently and attained the real nirvana. Don’t see them as rishis and asuras, see them as two normal individuals who after getting energized used it in different ways and hence now called differently.
Hinduism very strongly says that God is there within you. What does it mean? Have you ever wondered? It is nothing but the positive energy within you. SO EVERYONE IS A GOD, just the degree of Godliness differs. There is a tamil saying, “Anbe Shivam”, which means that love is God.
Why religions portray the other way, saying that there is God and he will punish wrongdoers?
This was just said to convince the large masses that they should live with honesty, love, truthfulness failing which the God’ll punish. Just to convince the rural masses, puranas were created and different men were portrayed as God. I ain’t blindly denying that Vishnu existed or Shiva existed, but what I am trying to say is that great men of the yesteryears personified many concepts for the easy understanding the rural masses. You can’t make the meek understand all this metaphysics when even we in this 21st century still call it metaphysics and not physics. So the truth was put in an easily digestible manner.
Then why I’m praying to Hanuman or Shiva or Vishnu?
We people pray. I pray sincerely. What happens when we way pray? We completely put all our faith on the so called God and concentrate. In this process of concentrating we relieve ourselves of our mental ills. The real thing that happens is the process of energy transfer.
Is idol worship foolish?
DEFINITELY NOT. If you ask me how Vishnu or Shiva attained energy if basically you doubt the existence of them? When millions of devotees concentrate on the so called idol of Vishnu or Shiva, the energy of the idol increases. Poojas have been performed for centuries. So the idol gets its power. When you go to the temple and pray you gain that extra bit of energy by the process of energy transfer.
I am a serious devotee of Get-well Anjaneyar in Tirunelveli. It gives me a great mental peace if I go to that place. I feel really relieved from stress when I close my eyes and concentrate on HIM. I find my resonance with that place. It is nothing but science, or the wavelength match. I know that there is no person by that name. Just it is a scientific phenomenon.
What about greats like Vivekananda?
People like Vivekananda had the capacity to completely trap their inner energy by means of meditation. For them going to temple would not make a big difference. People like him are more Godly compared to us.
Can we become a great man like Vivekananda?
Certainly yes. But the bottom-line is that we must be 100% positive in whatever we do. The first and foremost mantra is that you must be confident of yourself and hence after no stopping you from the gates of success.
I’ll give you an example. Assume that you are very determined to get a 100 percentile in CAT. The first thing is that you must COMPLETELY believe in your potential. There must not be a speck of fear or doubt. Then certainly your inner God would automatically make you do the things which are required for you to get that 100 percentile -Just a scientific process. It might be very easy to say this but this is very difficult to implement. Allaying your fears off is the toughest thing in the world. That is the sole reason why we still live in this world. It is that fear which keeps you in check. The only way we can keep off our fear is to develop that attitude of optimism and self confidence. That is why time again in all scriptures importance of positive attitude is stressed. Getting rid of that last speck of pessimism is a Herculean task, but certainly possible. Examples are people like Vivekananda, Paramahamsa etc.
What is meant by reaching the God?
Every religion stresses the importance of reaching the God. What does it mean? Well I’d say that during your death all your energy will again be transferred to the sea of energy or what I call as God. It is as simple as that.
Why we follow certain religious practices?
Here I’d like to say that all religious practices are not true, some by means of superstition crept in, but many practices have a scientific background. For example, when we prostrate before our elders a process of energy transfer takes place and hence we prostrate.
See, the basic thing which I want to drive home is that everything in Hinduism at least, is science driven. Mahabharata and Ramayana are just not stories. They have many scientific intricacies. It is the way we see the truth. Truth is there everywhere. From now on when you do something think why you do that and try to put in science into it. You’ll get brilliant results.
P.S.
1. Here in this post, I couldn’t write my complete theory, which I fear, might go for pages. I have tried to simplify as much as possible. The sequences in this post might be desultory; well I’ll try to make this in a better presentable form sometime later. What I wanna say is that please don’t differentiate science and spirituality. They are one and the same. Please contact me for further queries on any religious practices or controversies. I might clarify.
2. We have scaled only a part of science. There are still many concepts of much more complexity than that of relativity which have to be explored. Now for many people metaphysics might sound ridiculous, but come on every great man was ridiculed when he came up with new ideas.
“Oh Physics! Preserve me from Metaphysics”- Sir Isaac Newton.
Axiom in my theory:
Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed. However it can be transformed from one form/being to another.
I classify energy into two types
1. Positive energy
2. Negative energy
I would associate positive energy with optimism and negative energy with pessimism.
So what is God? - Simply positive energy and nothing more than that. Importantly God is unconditional in his love. He (if there is a person as God) never puts anybody into task
Let me define optimism before delving further. According to me optimism is an extreme level of belief in something, which may be a person, an inanimate thing or whatever. Bhakti is nothing but belief/optimism/positive energy.
The immediate question is will God punish me if I do something wrong?
The sad answer is a big NO. Because there is no such thing/person called as God. I associate God with the sea of energy and nothing more.
It is only the fear (or negative energy which I call it) or the so called guilty consciousness which punishes the wrongdoers.
Osama Bin Laden is successful because, prolly he would have been very positive and satisfied with what he is doing, with no element of fear. His confidence level must be at the zenith. So he is not caught. If he feels guilty about his acts, then he would necessarily be jeopardized.
You might find it ridiculous but the hard fact is that, there is no definite discrimination between good and bad. What you might feel as good might be bad for another. But it is very difficult to do something wrong (as what most people perceive) without having fear or guilty consciousness, I would say it to be absolutely difficult. Can I reach that state? Yes, through meditation and practice we can attain nirvana where we are not bound to this earthly being, so it is said that such people can attain anything which they want. Who knows Osama might have attained nirvana! Lemme put the same info in a better manner. We know that as per Hindu mythology, there were innumerable Asuras who got boons from the God. At the end they were put to task by God himself. What does it mean? Asuras by means of concentration gained more energy. After getting that energy, they did something which we call devilish. They feared for their deeds and consequently faced death. On the other hand rishis used the energy they obtained by means of penance positively, lived contently and attained the real nirvana. Don’t see them as rishis and asuras, see them as two normal individuals who after getting energized used it in different ways and hence now called differently.
Hinduism very strongly says that God is there within you. What does it mean? Have you ever wondered? It is nothing but the positive energy within you. SO EVERYONE IS A GOD, just the degree of Godliness differs. There is a tamil saying, “Anbe Shivam”, which means that love is God.
Why religions portray the other way, saying that there is God and he will punish wrongdoers?
This was just said to convince the large masses that they should live with honesty, love, truthfulness failing which the God’ll punish. Just to convince the rural masses, puranas were created and different men were portrayed as God. I ain’t blindly denying that Vishnu existed or Shiva existed, but what I am trying to say is that great men of the yesteryears personified many concepts for the easy understanding the rural masses. You can’t make the meek understand all this metaphysics when even we in this 21st century still call it metaphysics and not physics. So the truth was put in an easily digestible manner.
Then why I’m praying to Hanuman or Shiva or Vishnu?
We people pray. I pray sincerely. What happens when we way pray? We completely put all our faith on the so called God and concentrate. In this process of concentrating we relieve ourselves of our mental ills. The real thing that happens is the process of energy transfer.
Is idol worship foolish?
DEFINITELY NOT. If you ask me how Vishnu or Shiva attained energy if basically you doubt the existence of them? When millions of devotees concentrate on the so called idol of Vishnu or Shiva, the energy of the idol increases. Poojas have been performed for centuries. So the idol gets its power. When you go to the temple and pray you gain that extra bit of energy by the process of energy transfer.
I am a serious devotee of Get-well Anjaneyar in Tirunelveli. It gives me a great mental peace if I go to that place. I feel really relieved from stress when I close my eyes and concentrate on HIM. I find my resonance with that place. It is nothing but science, or the wavelength match. I know that there is no person by that name. Just it is a scientific phenomenon.
What about greats like Vivekananda?
People like Vivekananda had the capacity to completely trap their inner energy by means of meditation. For them going to temple would not make a big difference. People like him are more Godly compared to us.
Can we become a great man like Vivekananda?
Certainly yes. But the bottom-line is that we must be 100% positive in whatever we do. The first and foremost mantra is that you must be confident of yourself and hence after no stopping you from the gates of success.
I’ll give you an example. Assume that you are very determined to get a 100 percentile in CAT. The first thing is that you must COMPLETELY believe in your potential. There must not be a speck of fear or doubt. Then certainly your inner God would automatically make you do the things which are required for you to get that 100 percentile -Just a scientific process. It might be very easy to say this but this is very difficult to implement. Allaying your fears off is the toughest thing in the world. That is the sole reason why we still live in this world. It is that fear which keeps you in check. The only way we can keep off our fear is to develop that attitude of optimism and self confidence. That is why time again in all scriptures importance of positive attitude is stressed. Getting rid of that last speck of pessimism is a Herculean task, but certainly possible. Examples are people like Vivekananda, Paramahamsa etc.
What is meant by reaching the God?
Every religion stresses the importance of reaching the God. What does it mean? Well I’d say that during your death all your energy will again be transferred to the sea of energy or what I call as God. It is as simple as that.
Why we follow certain religious practices?
Here I’d like to say that all religious practices are not true, some by means of superstition crept in, but many practices have a scientific background. For example, when we prostrate before our elders a process of energy transfer takes place and hence we prostrate.
See, the basic thing which I want to drive home is that everything in Hinduism at least, is science driven. Mahabharata and Ramayana are just not stories. They have many scientific intricacies. It is the way we see the truth. Truth is there everywhere. From now on when you do something think why you do that and try to put in science into it. You’ll get brilliant results.
P.S.
1. Here in this post, I couldn’t write my complete theory, which I fear, might go for pages. I have tried to simplify as much as possible. The sequences in this post might be desultory; well I’ll try to make this in a better presentable form sometime later. What I wanna say is that please don’t differentiate science and spirituality. They are one and the same. Please contact me for further queries on any religious practices or controversies. I might clarify.
2. We have scaled only a part of science. There are still many concepts of much more complexity than that of relativity which have to be explored. Now for many people metaphysics might sound ridiculous, but come on every great man was ridiculed when he came up with new ideas.
“Oh Physics! Preserve me from Metaphysics”- Sir Isaac Newton.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Long Live Reservation Policy-Why we need reservation for another 150 years
A kinda disclaimer:
All the views presented below are of my own research and intuition. I am not saying all this is correct, because I am not a bio-technologist but I have a strong gut feeling for the correctness of my theory. Well, if you find my theory fine, then it’s fine for me too! If not comment on where my theory is flawed or curse me lol. After reading this if you feel like thrashing me, then I can’t help but saying that please KISS MY ASS.
Before I start this let me say a few words about me. I come from a Brahmin family where we follow almost all required/logical customs seriously and I support reservation system wholeheartedly. I came to know about this reservation stuff in educational instis during my 9th grade. One of my cousins missed out his desired seat in the college of his choice and hadn’t reservation been there he would have got it for sure. He had to get a payment seat and now he is well off and that is a horse of a different color. He described his anxious moments of admission in counseling hall-how seats vanished before his eyes and all that crap ...TN guys know this, but definitely not, my college guys!
Even some of my close upper caste friends, peers lost their seats; some had to get a payment seat. Still I’d say that I’m pro-reservation. Honestly speaking, when my turn of ‘engineering admission’ came, I had no problems and I got the most coveted branch in the most coveted college then (2003). The % of seats for the OC is 31% in Tamil Nadu, rest 69 % is reserved. Even if the percentage for OC was 0.83% instead of 31% I would have obtained the same seat!!(Total no of seats in ECE is 120).
I support the government’s stand of the 27% reservation for OBC. I know that it might lessen the chances of my MBA but still I am for it, coz I have realized the truth. I have always been intrigued by a question-“Why is that always upper caste people shine better than the lower caste people in education/learning?” Some might say that all this upper caste and lower caste theory is crap. If a boy is given good primary education, nourished food, and bestowed with good standard of living, then he might study well, irrespective of the caste which he belongs to. In other words, a boy from a decent economic background, with the mindset to study well would do well irrespective of the community he belongs to. So people, who support ECONOMY BASED RESERVATION, use this case to drive home their idea. I don’t deny this fact completely but would like to provide a subtle variation to this theory. I want people to look into the bigger picture.
Let me put forward some facts before I proceed. A case rather (case based learning- IIMA rocks). A boy is born in a middle class upper caste family. At the same time another boy is born in rich family (so called lower caste family). This second chap’s dad is an IAS officer (yes, he used his ‘SC quota’ to become an IAS officer). Both guys go to the same school. In fact the former guy’s standard of living is below that of the latter. But still this upper caste guy’s dad gives him all facilities he can afford to. Both guys are serious about their studies. They play together, work together; spend their time together in school. In short they are close friends. But this upper caste guy scores ahead of this lower caste guy always. Why does this happen? Both are from good family, both have the same facilities, good nutritious food and above all both have the same inclination towards studies. At the end both ended up in the same college, same class irrespective of the fact that the latter scored far below the former. Thanks to reservation.
This is not the only case. I have seen N such cases. So I say that the genes play a major part. It all depends on how nourished your gene is, irrespective of the caste, creed, religion. When genes determine your height, personality, character it is an obvious conclusion that genes determine your brilliance.
Again one might ask what a gene to do with caste. Here I’d like to say something, with reference to Indian history. If you see in the past for thousands of years IN MOST CASES the so called upper caste people had been involved in intellectual work and the so called lower caste people had been, in the bull work; also the so called upper caste people had been living rich and the so called lower caste people had been living poor. Their food habits obviously differed. So genetically speaking the so called lower caste people are weaker, in most cases.
What is the fault of a child to be born, genetically inferior? Can it determine its gene? Is this equality? I would swear that every individual is NOT BORN WITH THE SAME LEVEL of intelligence. Who is to be blamed? And this is the general pattern; upper castes are born superior to the lower castes. The reason can be attributed either to the following
1. The suppression of the poor by the rich for thousands of years
2. A chain which always continued in the past. Son of a farmer was a farmer, of that of a cobbler was cobbler, of that of a teacher was a teacher. I don’t know how flexible the society was, whether a person had his own choice in choosing his career or not. But mind you, what you have been doing for thousands of years does count in the form of genetic strength.
Whatever may be the past; in this flat world I believe there must be equality. The first and foremost goal of India should be the well being of its hundred crore + population. When the whole world is progressing towards superior technological advancements, every child which is born must have the same intellectual capability. For this to happen there must be a minimum of 150 years of the same kind of caste based reservation system. Then the whole country would reach SOCIAL EQUILIBRIUM.
Here’s another case to drive my point. I personally know a few Brahmin guys who are extremely intelligent, can crack CAT without preparation, but are rogues. Yes, they are rogues in the sense that, they booze like hell, eat non vegetarian stuffs, smoke badly, shag badly and all that crap which is against the Brahman Dharma. I ain’t saying that eating NV stuff is bad, boozing is bad or shagging too much is bad, but it is bad for a Brahman. Coz his gene is not adapted to this culture for thousands of years. When there is a sudden change in his lifestyle, it might adversely affect his genes and that might be reflected in the intelligence levels of his future generations. He is now intelligent bcoz of his ancestors and their lifestyle (most cases). If he indulges in this “Sanskruti Brashtachar” continuously he’ll lose his entire genetic legacy. Let that happen, I don’t care. But I‘d love to live a true Brahman all my life.
What is Equality? All I am trying to say is that if a person works really hard, he should get what he deserves. Genetics should not come in the middle and hamper. We unfortunately don’t have the power to meddle with our genes to a larger extent. The only way we could provide the correction is by means of reservation. I am not saying that reservation will be beneficial to all. There might be genetically inferior Brahmins who would suffer and genetically superior lower castes that would have undue advantage (as I said standard of living determines the genes and in most cases upper castes were rich and lower castes were poor, with some exceptions- the ones mentioned in the previous point) but, by and large this current reservation policy would benefit the majority. Till every soul in this Bhoomi is born with the same intellectual capability, the reservations should continue. Long live reservation system - at least for another 150 years.
PS:
1. The problem in this current 27% reservation move is that there is no well defined way in which people are grouped into FCs and OBCs in our diverse country. What I mean here is that in TamilNadu number of so called FCs is lesser compared to that of North Indian states. It doesn’t mean that N India is better progressed, but many N Indian castes are classified as FCs compared to the numbers in Tamil Nadu. So this will give an undue and unfair advantage to TN OBCs. Hope you get my point.
2. If my theory is wrong, then I would emphatically say that there is no purpose of this reservation system in the country and the reason stated by the GREAT MEN (politicians of course!) for reservation is f****** lame.
Why did I blog?
Reliance rocks!! Eventually I got an internet connection in my hostel room, and so I am invading this blogging space again. Most of us know about blogging, why people blog so on and so forth. But honestly I have this question, a million dollar question (who knows this expression might one day become karod rupya question worldwide-India and its economy rocks man!) - Why Should I blog? Do I have really readers who read my blog? But honestly I started blogging for various reasons, some of which I have listed below.
1. Most IIM aspirants blog.
2. Blogging gives me a feeling of moving up the flat world.
3. I know I write crappy English on my answer scripts just for the heck of writing my exams, and I fear my English would be in soup if I write my exams-what I actually mean here is that, to cover all the points, I actually write just phrases or blocks of words in my answer books. Another aspect of driving home the idea is the way we write SMS’-the bullshit way. So by blogging I m still in touch with writing good English (I wonder!) or I fear I might forget grammar.
4. Initially I blogged to just use some words which I came across here and there.
5. It gives my pleasure to read my own doodling.
Honestly I don’t know if I’ll be an active blogger or not, but I would say that definitely my next post is something that all readers might find interesting.
1. Most IIM aspirants blog.
2. Blogging gives me a feeling of moving up the flat world.
3. I know I write crappy English on my answer scripts just for the heck of writing my exams, and I fear my English would be in soup if I write my exams-what I actually mean here is that, to cover all the points, I actually write just phrases or blocks of words in my answer books. Another aspect of driving home the idea is the way we write SMS’-the bullshit way. So by blogging I m still in touch with writing good English (I wonder!) or I fear I might forget grammar.
4. Initially I blogged to just use some words which I came across here and there.
5. It gives my pleasure to read my own doodling.
Honestly I don’t know if I’ll be an active blogger or not, but I would say that definitely my next post is something that all readers might find interesting.
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
After aeons..
Well I m writing this after a long time in this blogspot. I had a wonderful time in between...no kidding.. Lots of unforgettable moments, a great semester and so on and so forth. Seeing this year's CAT paper I thought horsefuckinshit .. I shd have born an year before, well the kinda paper I thought that shd appear in 06 appeared in 05.
I felt I was comfortable with the kind of paper with 90 ques which required some commonsense, intellect,Question Selection management(QSM as I d put, who knows well this term might become popular like CRM, TQM ...lol...coz already the number of CAT takers is sizzling ooozzzzz.. and this business of CAT coaching instis is running crores of turnover)...Yes what is critical about CAT is the skill in choosing the questions.As my friend maravar (as we lovingly call him- a rockkkkkiiin entertainer and a philoCAT..lol) puts it " The toughest CAT paper is that of the next year" it is true that the questions standards are going higher every year.So what is critical is the question selection for slaying the CAT
I shd say that I have been going for a CAT coaching center since July 05, a whooping 6 months, the change I could feel in my knowlegde level is subtle, I haven't learnt anything new or so but I 'd definitely say that yes.. my QSM has certainly gone up ( expecting a greater increase by Nov 06)and I feel that is the key to unravel the great world ahead.Well I see a paradigm shift in the attitude of my fellow class mates towards this exam.Yes the buzzword in my class at the moment is CAT. A lot of guys n gals are now CATting it !! Sometimes I wonder , well all these chaps are smart but why is that only say 3 or 4 out of 70 in a class of the so called creamy layer of the state(TN), clear CAT. Now I think I found out the answer, the key is just some smart QSM.
Coming out of all these CAT stuff I wish all my friends a belated !! happy new year and advance happy pongal..
I felt I was comfortable with the kind of paper with 90 ques which required some commonsense, intellect,Question Selection management(QSM as I d put, who knows well this term might become popular like CRM, TQM ...lol...coz already the number of CAT takers is sizzling ooozzzzz.. and this business of CAT coaching instis is running crores of turnover)...Yes what is critical about CAT is the skill in choosing the questions.As my friend maravar (as we lovingly call him- a rockkkkkiiin entertainer and a philoCAT..lol) puts it " The toughest CAT paper is that of the next year" it is true that the questions standards are going higher every year.So what is critical is the question selection for slaying the CAT
I shd say that I have been going for a CAT coaching center since July 05, a whooping 6 months, the change I could feel in my knowlegde level is subtle, I haven't learnt anything new or so but I 'd definitely say that yes.. my QSM has certainly gone up ( expecting a greater increase by Nov 06)and I feel that is the key to unravel the great world ahead.Well I see a paradigm shift in the attitude of my fellow class mates towards this exam.Yes the buzzword in my class at the moment is CAT. A lot of guys n gals are now CATting it !! Sometimes I wonder , well all these chaps are smart but why is that only say 3 or 4 out of 70 in a class of the so called creamy layer of the state(TN), clear CAT. Now I think I found out the answer, the key is just some smart QSM.
Coming out of all these CAT stuff I wish all my friends a belated !! happy new year and advance happy pongal..
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Democracy??
Today we had a computer architecture class which was boring out of my wits.Then at last the lect. gentleman gave as bail!!Yes we ll have to come daily to sign in our attendance!!But thats nothing to do with this..mmm Lemme come to the point.I thanked god for the bail and I was about to leave the class when two gentlemen came into the class.The first person dressed in bright red started the next lecture but this time it was not a prof. but my senior who came to convince us that he wld do this and that if he was elected as the college president!!wow the season has started where in the guys can eat well.Yes the nominees take people to treats,in particular those guys who have a gang behind them are fed well...For a nominee u gotta have no special qualifications.U shdn't have any current arrears and thats it..
Then next guy came.He was pathetic,telling same old stories to which gang he belonged this and that.The real tenebrosity in this was that he couldn't even simply speak proper english.Nobody expects the coll president to be a perfect grammarian,but at least he shd speak some good english.I was really taken aghast after some deep pondering upon this matter.Last year the coll president was a guy from comp.Sci. department and he had every qualifications to become the president of the present day CEG Anna Varsity .
1.He had a big gang at the back of him!!!
2.He should have had lots o money to sponsor treats(Guess he might have earned twice he spent, by the time he left the college HOW!!!!!!???!!!)
3 Last but not least His English sucked bigtime!!!LOL
I think theres gonna be a similar scenario this time.By predictions the second guy can win this time.So fate spells doomsday for CEG yet again..
We all admire Shankar's "Mudalvan" a awe inspiring film wherein the ministers of this country are all IAS officers.We the erudite society applaud his efforts,write something extraordinary about such films in the magazines and so on and so forth.But in reality even in a top branded college politics is politics..Our college is supposed to be one of the top colls in the country and even in this kinda college the genuine geniuses never get the recognition.It is a kinda post which requires some ultra talented personalities but ironically in name of democracy and so they curb the real talent from reaching great heights.I would say that there should be kind of series of Interviews and presidents should be selected and not elected.The puerile profs. should look into these things.
As I mentioned Mr Chimp the X president was from comp.sci department 'AB' batch.Ultimately from the same class there were 3 IIMB admits and 1 IIMA admit.Worthmentioning the name of Deepak here.He shd now probably be in IIMB.That guy was a real genius in all facets be it cricket ,acads or extracurrics.That guy won IIT Madras' JAM,whats a good word and so on.It would have been really colorful if that guy would have been the president.But those brilliant guys didn't have gangs!!There are superfluous 'talentz' in our college.Unfortunately those who just form gangs among themselves and just average kinda boys get to the top and do nothing significant for the college.
If even in ths kinda places we couldn't elect a proper president,then how can we get good leaders for the country??????
Then next guy came.He was pathetic,telling same old stories to which gang he belonged this and that.The real tenebrosity in this was that he couldn't even simply speak proper english.Nobody expects the coll president to be a perfect grammarian,but at least he shd speak some good english.I was really taken aghast after some deep pondering upon this matter.Last year the coll president was a guy from comp.Sci. department and he had every qualifications to become the president of the present day CEG Anna Varsity .
1.He had a big gang at the back of him!!!
2.He should have had lots o money to sponsor treats(Guess he might have earned twice he spent, by the time he left the college HOW!!!!!!???!!!)
3 Last but not least His English sucked bigtime!!!LOL
I think theres gonna be a similar scenario this time.By predictions the second guy can win this time.So fate spells doomsday for CEG yet again..
We all admire Shankar's "Mudalvan" a awe inspiring film wherein the ministers of this country are all IAS officers.We the erudite society applaud his efforts,write something extraordinary about such films in the magazines and so on and so forth.But in reality even in a top branded college politics is politics..Our college is supposed to be one of the top colls in the country and even in this kinda college the genuine geniuses never get the recognition.It is a kinda post which requires some ultra talented personalities but ironically in name of democracy and so they curb the real talent from reaching great heights.I would say that there should be kind of series of Interviews and presidents should be selected and not elected.The puerile profs. should look into these things.
As I mentioned Mr Chimp the X president was from comp.sci department 'AB' batch.Ultimately from the same class there were 3 IIMB admits and 1 IIMA admit.Worthmentioning the name of Deepak here.He shd now probably be in IIMB.That guy was a real genius in all facets be it cricket ,acads or extracurrics.That guy won IIT Madras' JAM,whats a good word and so on.It would have been really colorful if that guy would have been the president.But those brilliant guys didn't have gangs!!There are superfluous 'talentz' in our college.Unfortunately those who just form gangs among themselves and just average kinda boys get to the top and do nothing significant for the college.
If even in ths kinda places we couldn't elect a proper president,then how can we get good leaders for the country??????
Thursday, June 30, 2005
I got it.....
Well I managed to get my hostel room after a great episode of interesting events...I managed to block my room yesterday at 11 pm and all the formalities were over by 11 am today.Finally after intense 1 day struggle I came out of the red.Now I ve just started arranging my room and hope I do it all within tonight.
And looking forward into a wonderful academic year ahead,which starts tomorrow.
And looking forward into a wonderful academic year ahead,which starts tomorrow.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
In extreme Disappointment...
Well today after a splendid vacation I came back to one of the greatest well renowned college campus(????????????????).I m referring to CEG Anna Univ campus!!!Well not much change after the appointment of new VC.
Today we gotta pay the fees for the coll and hostels.The day is not yet over.But I think this is the worst day I ve ever lived on this earth.The Pandora's box was opened wide enough.First of all the college fees counter comps crashed and there was helluva delay in fee payment(Not yet over!!),but that doesn't mind hostellites greatly coz we give the DD's to the DayScholar guys n they pay the fees.
It was a very bright morning today in chennai.Well the climate was horrible as the day went on and still is.And we had to pay the hostel fees.It was a kinda readmission procedure into the hostel.Well the people over there in the hostel office the great souls did a splendid fantabulous,exuberant.......(the adj may go on)sfgishfvoasjf.Yes the end result was that.The mismanagement in today's hostel office is well beyond to be explained using this whole of English literature.They just made to wait us under the torrid sun for nearly 5-6 hours for just issuing tokens for the procedure that may take place either today or tomorrow as per the timings in the shitty token.The Darwin's theory I thought was just a theory....but I saw that in live today.Only the fitter among the fittest waited amidst the stampede to collect the tokens.They d issue it for 5 min then a stop for 45 min.And people had to jump near the windows as a dog wld catch a piece of bone.......Then...it was about 3 o clock and I couldn't stand anymore,I went in with a used token and finally managed to finish half the procedures uptill now.The problem is that if I don't get my adm done today I ll have to go to a 2 per room kinda stuff.If everything goes as expected I ll end up getting single room.I ll have to go back at 9:30 pm today to formally complete the procedures of atleast blocking my room.God shd save me....
With overflowing frustrations
CK
PS:I was one of the few people who were the first to reach the hostel office and I pray for those weak people ,who din manage to get the tokens slotted for today,to get healthier and build their bodies strong so that atleast next year they may get their desired room n stuff...I still dont know how damn this college teaches quality management in production enggn stuff and mind u the two proffs in charge hailed from the same department(The associate warden and other selfless man who works for the college NCC(?!????!!!!!!??????!!!!!)
Today we gotta pay the fees for the coll and hostels.The day is not yet over.But I think this is the worst day I ve ever lived on this earth.The Pandora's box was opened wide enough.First of all the college fees counter comps crashed and there was helluva delay in fee payment(Not yet over!!),but that doesn't mind hostellites greatly coz we give the DD's to the DayScholar guys n they pay the fees.
It was a very bright morning today in chennai.Well the climate was horrible as the day went on and still is.And we had to pay the hostel fees.It was a kinda readmission procedure into the hostel.Well the people over there in the hostel office the great souls did a splendid fantabulous,exuberant.......(the adj may go on)sfgishfvoasjf.Yes the end result was that.The mismanagement in today's hostel office is well beyond to be explained using this whole of English literature.They just made to wait us under the torrid sun for nearly 5-6 hours for just issuing tokens for the procedure that may take place either today or tomorrow as per the timings in the shitty token.The Darwin's theory I thought was just a theory....but I saw that in live today.Only the fitter among the fittest waited amidst the stampede to collect the tokens.They d issue it for 5 min then a stop for 45 min.And people had to jump near the windows as a dog wld catch a piece of bone.......Then...it was about 3 o clock and I couldn't stand anymore,I went in with a used token and finally managed to finish half the procedures uptill now.The problem is that if I don't get my adm done today I ll have to go to a 2 per room kinda stuff.If everything goes as expected I ll end up getting single room.I ll have to go back at 9:30 pm today to formally complete the procedures of atleast blocking my room.God shd save me....
With overflowing frustrations
CK
PS:I was one of the few people who were the first to reach the hostel office and I pray for those weak people ,who din manage to get the tokens slotted for today,to get healthier and build their bodies strong so that atleast next year they may get their desired room n stuff...I still dont know how damn this college teaches quality management in production enggn stuff and mind u the two proffs in charge hailed from the same department(The associate warden and other selfless man who works for the college NCC(?!????!!!!!!??????!!!!!)
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Looking back ...........
Well the time is heading for the hills.It was an irrevocably memorable vacation for me,though it didn't go the way I wanted.Lots of learning.By learning I don't mean learning what is a PLL or a Digital Signal Processor , but learning a lot more :a lot serene,a lot worldly ::understanding various kinda people......
It is only on this vacation that I got a feel of a complete confidence on my potentials.I really donno whether I d be able to make it into my four year dream institute : WIMWI ( Gyaan : the toughest place in this world to get into) ,but my confidence levels have certainly sizzled up the ladder.Something inside my heart says that the same day exactly in two years of time, I d be in any one of the dorms of WIMWI !! No doubt it is a Brobdingnagian task but I believe that I m Hercules !!
I m sure I m gonna miss my dad n mom's love to a grrrreat extent after leaving Madurai.The confidence and love my parents have on me know no bounds.Atleast for this reason the ferocious tiger inside me pushes my back to run non stop for two strenuous academic years ahead. Yes,the two years ahead of me is not gonna be anything like that I enjoyed till now .It is gonna be really a 30' Lee for me.But I m sure I ll reduce my paunch !! .I m in a hunt for a good training institute for becoming a banddog . yes a large fierce dog that carries off the CAT !!
This morning I started packing my dresses and I felt my eyes getting a little moist.I m gonna miss my mom's tasty food and its gonna be the same shitty mess(ed) food from July 1st.,but life has to go on(cry !!)mmmm.
Looking back ,for the first time in my life I drove my car up hill the same day last week,those acclivitous roads of Kodaikanal weren't any tough to drive as I thought it d be . I ve been to the SWIZZ of India a coupla times before,but this was the first time I drove.While I drove in the frigid parts of Kodai,I felt its real salubrity . Man...I ve been to Shimla and Kulu Manali bfore.But the visit to this small place: I d never forget . Fine this was the case last week.The next week its gotto be DSP , Microprocessors , Control Systems , Communication engineering , Computer architecture , RF n so on.Hope learning those things too be like an 'icing Kodaikanal 'on the cake ( by icing I mean both sweet and chill ).
Signing off in melancholy
CK
It is only on this vacation that I got a feel of a complete confidence on my potentials.I really donno whether I d be able to make it into my four year dream institute : WIMWI ( Gyaan : the toughest place in this world to get into) ,but my confidence levels have certainly sizzled up the ladder.Something inside my heart says that the same day exactly in two years of time, I d be in any one of the dorms of WIMWI !! No doubt it is a Brobdingnagian task but I believe that I m Hercules !!
I m sure I m gonna miss my dad n mom's love to a grrrreat extent after leaving Madurai.The confidence and love my parents have on me know no bounds.Atleast for this reason the ferocious tiger inside me pushes my back to run non stop for two strenuous academic years ahead. Yes,the two years ahead of me is not gonna be anything like that I enjoyed till now .It is gonna be really a 30' Lee for me.But I m sure I ll reduce my paunch !! .I m in a hunt for a good training institute for becoming a banddog . yes a large fierce dog that carries off the CAT !!
This morning I started packing my dresses and I felt my eyes getting a little moist.I m gonna miss my mom's tasty food and its gonna be the same shitty mess(ed) food from July 1st.,but life has to go on(cry !!)mmmm.
Looking back ,for the first time in my life I drove my car up hill the same day last week,those acclivitous roads of Kodaikanal weren't any tough to drive as I thought it d be . I ve been to the SWIZZ of India a coupla times before,but this was the first time I drove.While I drove in the frigid parts of Kodai,I felt its real salubrity . Man...I ve been to Shimla and Kulu Manali bfore.But the visit to this small place: I d never forget . Fine this was the case last week.The next week its gotto be DSP , Microprocessors , Control Systems , Communication engineering , Computer architecture , RF n so on.Hope learning those things too be like an 'icing Kodaikanal 'on the cake ( by icing I mean both sweet and chill ).
Signing off in melancholy
CK
Friday, June 24, 2005
Understanding the real ME..
In my previous post I said that I felt life so boring and uninteresting.This feeling of listlessness made me read articles on spirituality.( I ve done this bfore n doing this again to understand the real ME)I d like to share certain things which I read and boy-o-boy believe me I m feeling rejuvenated within minutes of reading those things.
The concept of Self realization is really recondite.I have been reading extensively on self realization and yet I m not convinced with the diverse views of different people.Let me summarize what I did grok.I underscore the word grok here coz it is not mere understanding but understanding by means of experience.
The most intriguing stuff is the answer we give for the question
"Who am I??"
This was the question that enlightened Ramana Maharishi.One may wonder what is so intriguing in answering this question.One might say "Well I m an investment banker tied up with MorganStanley" the other might say "Well I m a VLSI Design engineer tied up with Texas Instruments,Dallas".These answers answer the Q pertaining to ur bodily being on this earth.Well as all of us know our body is evanescent,but the real soul is amaranthine.No more dappling the above point a very common fact which even a 15 year old boy would know after reading his curriculum.But the immediate question that would come up in our mind is abt LAD or Life After Death.We would be crazy for sometime after reading poems in the curricula and after sometime the thought slowly vanishes.....
So when u say that u are happy,what does that mean.?
Having a well paid Rs 18 lpa job,Rs 50 lakh apartment ,a Rs10 lakh car,split ACs all over in our house,????
I don't think so.That doesn't amount to continuous happiness.The real question is,
"How can I practically achieve this desire, to enjoy life to its fullest potential all the time, continuously?"
It is said, that where there is a will there is a way. When the body, mind and soul create together, in harmony, there is no limit to what we can experience. Our inner Being is the key to that experience and our mind is the key to the first step towards that experience.
True joy is experienced only when all aspects of me ourselves are in harmony with the desires of my Soul, because it knows all and its wishes are the best for us. I call my Soul or Spirit, the real me, it is eternal or timeless. Or it could be called, God's representative within me.
It is really unfortunate that we identify ourselves very much with our body and mind but discard the real wishes of our soul ,the deepest and best desires ,often.
Lemme tell u this.I m going to a party,sometimes I might feel unhappy tho'people are really hospital and good.There is no objective reason for this.Here i would like to stress that it is our own THOUGHTS that control our mood and when I control my thoughts I control my moods. When I think happy thoughts I am happy.
What we do not realize is that it is possible to become a Master of our own thoughts and eventually of our own life. It is not possible to become a Master of all our faculties without getting our own thoughts under our own control first.
Apropos quoting Wally here.
He says
"There is a Law that is called the Law of Attraction. Like attracts Like. Thoughts attract thoughts of their own kind. Quantity of particular thoughts produces corresponding feelings, moods and things. Thoughts are things.
We are what we believe ourselves to be, in our innermost being. We are the authors of our own life, Masters in it and not the victims as we so often choose to think of ourselves. Have you not noticed that we behave according to who we believe we are, in our deepest level of our being?
Most of us unconsciously defining and redefining our answer to the question; "Who I am?" And live our life according to that definition. Our every act is an act of self-definition, an announcement and a demonstration of who we are."
Coming back the thing I ve learned after reading a lot is put here in simple terms .
let's say, you were to ask for directions from many people on how to get to some place or how to enjoy life. Some may give you the right directions, others thought they were giving you the right directions but were not, and others may have lied. Out of the right directions, one of them would probably be easier to follow.
Then you might ask, "How would I know which one is the right and the easiest? And how would I know if you are not deceived yourself?"
Don't believe in anything. Not even what you read here. Have your own experiences....
Some quotes
Wally comments on this beautiful question.Read it....
"What is the truth?
Would you not agree with me, that the ultimate truth is:
1. Nothing in my world is real, if I see it as an illusion.
2. The meaning of everything is the meaning I give it.
Don’t I decide what something means to me?
3. I am who I say I am, and my experience is what I say it is.
Is there a better way to re-create myself anew?"
"We are convinced more by the arguments,
that we ourselves have discovered,
than by those, that have been produce for us by others."
- Pascal
"You cannot teach a man anything.
You can only help him
to discover it within himself."
- Galileo
I think I have made my point little clear in this post.I donno how much people can understand this.But this is what I have understood.I donno whether I m completely right.......Think Think great .Dream Dream great and u will be so..
The concept of Self realization is really recondite.I have been reading extensively on self realization and yet I m not convinced with the diverse views of different people.Let me summarize what I did grok.I underscore the word grok here coz it is not mere understanding but understanding by means of experience.
The most intriguing stuff is the answer we give for the question
"Who am I??"
This was the question that enlightened Ramana Maharishi.One may wonder what is so intriguing in answering this question.One might say "Well I m an investment banker tied up with MorganStanley" the other might say "Well I m a VLSI Design engineer tied up with Texas Instruments,Dallas".These answers answer the Q pertaining to ur bodily being on this earth.Well as all of us know our body is evanescent,but the real soul is amaranthine.No more dappling the above point a very common fact which even a 15 year old boy would know after reading his curriculum.But the immediate question that would come up in our mind is abt LAD or Life After Death.We would be crazy for sometime after reading poems in the curricula and after sometime the thought slowly vanishes.....
So when u say that u are happy,what does that mean.?
Having a well paid Rs 18 lpa job,Rs 50 lakh apartment ,a Rs10 lakh car,split ACs all over in our house,????
I don't think so.That doesn't amount to continuous happiness.The real question is,
"How can I practically achieve this desire, to enjoy life to its fullest potential all the time, continuously?"
It is said, that where there is a will there is a way. When the body, mind and soul create together, in harmony, there is no limit to what we can experience. Our inner Being is the key to that experience and our mind is the key to the first step towards that experience.
True joy is experienced only when all aspects of me ourselves are in harmony with the desires of my Soul, because it knows all and its wishes are the best for us. I call my Soul or Spirit, the real me, it is eternal or timeless. Or it could be called, God's representative within me.
It is really unfortunate that we identify ourselves very much with our body and mind but discard the real wishes of our soul ,the deepest and best desires ,often.
Lemme tell u this.I m going to a party,sometimes I might feel unhappy tho'people are really hospital and good.There is no objective reason for this.Here i would like to stress that it is our own THOUGHTS that control our mood and when I control my thoughts I control my moods. When I think happy thoughts I am happy.
What we do not realize is that it is possible to become a Master of our own thoughts and eventually of our own life. It is not possible to become a Master of all our faculties without getting our own thoughts under our own control first.
Apropos quoting Wally here.
He says
"There is a Law that is called the Law of Attraction. Like attracts Like. Thoughts attract thoughts of their own kind. Quantity of particular thoughts produces corresponding feelings, moods and things. Thoughts are things.
We are what we believe ourselves to be, in our innermost being. We are the authors of our own life, Masters in it and not the victims as we so often choose to think of ourselves. Have you not noticed that we behave according to who we believe we are, in our deepest level of our being?
Most of us unconsciously defining and redefining our answer to the question; "Who I am?" And live our life according to that definition. Our every act is an act of self-definition, an announcement and a demonstration of who we are."
Coming back the thing I ve learned after reading a lot is put here in simple terms .
let's say, you were to ask for directions from many people on how to get to some place or how to enjoy life. Some may give you the right directions, others thought they were giving you the right directions but were not, and others may have lied. Out of the right directions, one of them would probably be easier to follow.
Then you might ask, "How would I know which one is the right and the easiest? And how would I know if you are not deceived yourself?"
Don't believe in anything. Not even what you read here. Have your own experiences....
Some quotes
Wally comments on this beautiful question.Read it....
"What is the truth?
Would you not agree with me, that the ultimate truth is:
1. Nothing in my world is real, if I see it as an illusion.
2. The meaning of everything is the meaning I give it.
Don’t I decide what something means to me?
3. I am who I say I am, and my experience is what I say it is.
Is there a better way to re-create myself anew?"
"We are convinced more by the arguments,
that we ourselves have discovered,
than by those, that have been produce for us by others."
- Pascal
"You cannot teach a man anything.
You can only help him
to discover it within himself."
- Galileo
I think I have made my point little clear in this post.I donno how much people can understand this.But this is what I have understood.I donno whether I m completely right.......Think Think great .Dream Dream great and u will be so..
An Impressive article...
This is one article I read sometime back and it was a real goodie!!Let me reproduce it here.Madhu Trehan's reply was really fantabulous.Read it!!
An article was written by Madhu Trehan. She writes regularly for "Outlook" and in this she is replying to a letter by a reader. Both the letters are shown below.
Hi Madhu,
I have read your articles ever since I was a kid and you were at India Today. You have often come across as a balanced person not prone to Gandhi nonsense, until now. I live in a White Nation (the US) and have never felt like a second class citizen. Only a blind and a deaf person can compare the pride of a US citizen with the indignity of being an Indian. A US citizen trusts his government, knows his/her death will never go unpunished, while an Indian solider is there to die. Elite is a bad word in India because 95% of our country lives in abject poverty. Next time ask the waiter in Taj who served you the Rs 400 drink, how much he makes in a month. The Durban who opens the door for you, ask him how much he makes? I bet his monthly salary will be around your dinner bill. Shame on you and journalists like you who have failed India in the past with colored reporting and are doing so now. They should feel ashamed. Rather than calling Bush names, maybe we should hang our heads in shame on PM's like Vajpayee who is too old to walk, too much of a coward to protect his people. Maybe, just maybe, the day people like us (the English educated hence smarter) start feeling ashamed enough we will start making changes in India rather than just exploiting our servants and labor class. It anguishes me to read this national character articles. A nation that cannot feed its people (a la Orissa) has no character, a nation whose children move around naked (Mumbai) has no reason to feel proud, a nation whose elected reps call religious riots "opposite reaction" has no future.
Once again, shame on you and all of India. I am ashamed to be an Indian and shame on you for suggesting anything else.
Chet (Chaitanya)
Madhu Trehan's response was:
Hello Chet,
I will answer your letter point by point. Your name. You can be Chet or Jet, stay away from the sun, fake an American accent, but you will never be able to run away from Chaitanya. He will always be there even though you hate him today.
Gandhi, whom you hold in such contempt, despite all his controversial behavior, is largely responsible for the fact that there is no white boot on a part of your anatomy today. You live in a white nation but you are not white and never will be. You can fool yourself to believe that you are not treated as a second class citizen. You choose to forget the Dot Busters, the Sikh who was killed because he looked foreign, and rampant racism. How many times a week do you have to explain where you are from and spend your time EXPLAINING India to Americans? I cringe to think what you say to them about India. We do not need spokesman such as you. You will never be able to share a good desi joke with any of your new friends. If you can't laugh together; you cannot understand each other. You will always be an alien. Yes, we are economically poor compared to US but we do not have to suffer the highest rate of teenage pregnancies, kids coming into schools and killing students and teachers, the highest rate of suicide among college students, alienated parents and children, lonely old people dumped into old age homes, drugs being offered to eight year olds (as my daughter was when she was in the UN school in New York), serial marriages and divorces. The US had a president who was senile and deaf (Reagan), one who turned out
to be a serial sex offender (Clinton), and now you have one who didn't know the heads of state of major countries and ignored warnings of a terrorist attack months before it took place. The US is responsible for massacres in Vietnam, Cambodia, Iraq, Chile and the list goes on. The rest of the world does not view America with the rose-colored glasses you have been brainwashed by the US media to see through. And, how much does a waiter in Jean Georges restaurant in Trump International Hotel in New York make compared to the price of the drink he is serving? The labor class is exploited all over the world. You seem to very upset that I am pointing out we have a national character to be ashamed of and we
should do something about it. Your insistence that we stay ashamed and do nothing about it is perhaps to make it easier for you to live in a country where the only religion is to hang out at malls and accumulate consumer items you don't really need but have been dictated by advertising to buy to keep the US economy going.
It is not by accident that Americans are flocking to yoga and meditation classes to buy happiness. You have done well to leave a country you are ashamed of. Call yourself an American but sooner or later your disguise and American Halloween costume will frighten you enough to get rid of it. I love America's energy and have good friends there. New York is a center for an enormous outpouring of creativity and imaginative thinking. Every country has its own problems. It is for the people who belong there to take responsibility for change. If you are so far removed from India, ask yourself why you are so anguished with my article. Chaitanya is raising his head, Chet is in trouble.
Regards,
Madhu Trehan
An article was written by Madhu Trehan. She writes regularly for "Outlook" and in this she is replying to a letter by a reader. Both the letters are shown below.
Hi Madhu,
I have read your articles ever since I was a kid and you were at India Today. You have often come across as a balanced person not prone to Gandhi nonsense, until now. I live in a White Nation (the US) and have never felt like a second class citizen. Only a blind and a deaf person can compare the pride of a US citizen with the indignity of being an Indian. A US citizen trusts his government, knows his/her death will never go unpunished, while an Indian solider is there to die. Elite is a bad word in India because 95% of our country lives in abject poverty. Next time ask the waiter in Taj who served you the Rs 400 drink, how much he makes in a month. The Durban who opens the door for you, ask him how much he makes? I bet his monthly salary will be around your dinner bill. Shame on you and journalists like you who have failed India in the past with colored reporting and are doing so now. They should feel ashamed. Rather than calling Bush names, maybe we should hang our heads in shame on PM's like Vajpayee who is too old to walk, too much of a coward to protect his people. Maybe, just maybe, the day people like us (the English educated hence smarter) start feeling ashamed enough we will start making changes in India rather than just exploiting our servants and labor class. It anguishes me to read this national character articles. A nation that cannot feed its people (a la Orissa) has no character, a nation whose children move around naked (Mumbai) has no reason to feel proud, a nation whose elected reps call religious riots "opposite reaction" has no future.
Once again, shame on you and all of India. I am ashamed to be an Indian and shame on you for suggesting anything else.
Chet (Chaitanya)
Madhu Trehan's response was:
Hello Chet,
I will answer your letter point by point. Your name. You can be Chet or Jet, stay away from the sun, fake an American accent, but you will never be able to run away from Chaitanya. He will always be there even though you hate him today.
Gandhi, whom you hold in such contempt, despite all his controversial behavior, is largely responsible for the fact that there is no white boot on a part of your anatomy today. You live in a white nation but you are not white and never will be. You can fool yourself to believe that you are not treated as a second class citizen. You choose to forget the Dot Busters, the Sikh who was killed because he looked foreign, and rampant racism. How many times a week do you have to explain where you are from and spend your time EXPLAINING India to Americans? I cringe to think what you say to them about India. We do not need spokesman such as you. You will never be able to share a good desi joke with any of your new friends. If you can't laugh together; you cannot understand each other. You will always be an alien. Yes, we are economically poor compared to US but we do not have to suffer the highest rate of teenage pregnancies, kids coming into schools and killing students and teachers, the highest rate of suicide among college students, alienated parents and children, lonely old people dumped into old age homes, drugs being offered to eight year olds (as my daughter was when she was in the UN school in New York), serial marriages and divorces. The US had a president who was senile and deaf (Reagan), one who turned out
to be a serial sex offender (Clinton), and now you have one who didn't know the heads of state of major countries and ignored warnings of a terrorist attack months before it took place. The US is responsible for massacres in Vietnam, Cambodia, Iraq, Chile and the list goes on. The rest of the world does not view America with the rose-colored glasses you have been brainwashed by the US media to see through. And, how much does a waiter in Jean Georges restaurant in Trump International Hotel in New York make compared to the price of the drink he is serving? The labor class is exploited all over the world. You seem to very upset that I am pointing out we have a national character to be ashamed of and we
should do something about it. Your insistence that we stay ashamed and do nothing about it is perhaps to make it easier for you to live in a country where the only religion is to hang out at malls and accumulate consumer items you don't really need but have been dictated by advertising to buy to keep the US economy going.
It is not by accident that Americans are flocking to yoga and meditation classes to buy happiness. You have done well to leave a country you are ashamed of. Call yourself an American but sooner or later your disguise and American Halloween costume will frighten you enough to get rid of it. I love America's energy and have good friends there. New York is a center for an enormous outpouring of creativity and imaginative thinking. Every country has its own problems. It is for the people who belong there to take responsibility for change. If you are so far removed from India, ask yourself why you are so anguished with my article. Chaitanya is raising his head, Chet is in trouble.
Regards,
Madhu Trehan
Anniyan..
I watched the much hyped Anniyan today and believe me it never lived upto my expectations.Frenzz I m not captious,but I m scribbling this out of dejection,after helluva expectationsI did not feel the presence of Sujatha in this film.The dialogues were not anything great.Though the theme of the film is revolutionary,I don't think Shankar has really made this film to underscore the theme.
Vivek is good but the problem is that his jokes are no longer juicy.It is like colorful juicy mango that is ironically a bit sour .Sada impresses the audience with her charm.Acting is also not bad,better she has become after she flunked in her previous 3 films in the acting part of it.
Vikram 'the highbeam light of this film' also did nt perform quiet well.He can act situations were he has to exert himself like the one in which he continuously changes himself between ambi and anniyan in an encounter with prakashraj.But he sucks bigtime in simple scenes where he acts as ambi.He could'nt act as an iyyengar guy well in the initial part of the film.So on an overall assessment of Vikram I 'd say that he has merely acted in this film and never lives the character in the film.U can oppose me by telling that he really lived the vettiyan character in pitamagan but again that was not a realtime character one can see commonly.He can't act well as a common man.Madhavan in this aspect acts well,but he too fails in some special characters unlike Vikram who carves them well.This is where one can see a big difference between vikram and greats like Kamal.Kamal can live as an iyyengar or Virumandi or Stevenson or Iqbal.Believe me he can LIVE and not act merely. Vikram is not as multifaceted as Kamal.So I 'd say that comparing Kamal and Vikram is like comparing MIT Boston and MIT Chrompet(My Fellow AUeans do pardon me!!).The difference is unequivocally big and not anything subtle.U can very well see this by Vikram's role as Ambi.
Yeah,Vikram has acted well in this film,no denying this fact.But not upto the expectations of his class audience who expected some class act out of a national award winner.
Prakashraj is sailing the same boat.Yes,very much quotidian.As good as always he is.
Stunt was a real bomb in this film.Also the music of Harris is a real thaumaturgy.yes,a jayaraj stereotype..It was good when I heard it in the hostel and initial days of the release of the audio.But I felt the music really disgusting in the theatre today.I felt perhaps I was sick but again my thought was confirmed.I saw people moving out during songs,though not many,atleast a few.
Yaar i m not a 'filme techie' .But I felt the sequences at the end were a little desultory.So again I coud'nt find the Shankar touch in this aspect.I wld like to point a thing which people would'nt have noticed.In one scene Ambi prostrates before Nandhini's parents chanting some sanskrit verse.That was a partially correct one.This man quotes GarudaPuranam but fails in a simple sanskrit verse or a concept which every brahman is supposed to know.It is called Abhivadanam and it is done during prostrations(namaskaram in tamil).I think Sujatha is a brahmin but i m really flabbergasted that he did'nt properly write it..!!
According to me this film is a OK stuff n not nything great......
PS : Two real time ironies
1) Shankar has superfluously ( I dapple this word - superfluous here) spent in this film which I feel is totally waste of money.All his films nearly portray the importance of edifying the society
and helping the people.Instead of his superfluous spending he could help out needy people .
2)I spent 60 bucks for a 35 rupee balcony ticket,in the 6th or 7th day matinee of this film.I wonder whether Ambi would accede to doing this!!!!!(I wonder whether this is legal coz they gave me a printed 35 rupee ticket )
Vivek is good but the problem is that his jokes are no longer juicy.It is like colorful juicy mango that is ironically a bit sour .Sada impresses the audience with her charm.Acting is also not bad,better she has become after she flunked in her previous 3 films in the acting part of it.
Vikram 'the highbeam light of this film' also did nt perform quiet well.He can act situations were he has to exert himself like the one in which he continuously changes himself between ambi and anniyan in an encounter with prakashraj.But he sucks bigtime in simple scenes where he acts as ambi.He could'nt act as an iyyengar guy well in the initial part of the film.So on an overall assessment of Vikram I 'd say that he has merely acted in this film and never lives the character in the film.U can oppose me by telling that he really lived the vettiyan character in pitamagan but again that was not a realtime character one can see commonly.He can't act well as a common man.Madhavan in this aspect acts well,but he too fails in some special characters unlike Vikram who carves them well.This is where one can see a big difference between vikram and greats like Kamal.Kamal can live as an iyyengar or Virumandi or Stevenson or Iqbal.Believe me he can LIVE and not act merely. Vikram is not as multifaceted as Kamal.So I 'd say that comparing Kamal and Vikram is like comparing MIT Boston and MIT Chrompet(My Fellow AUeans do pardon me!!).The difference is unequivocally big and not anything subtle.U can very well see this by Vikram's role as Ambi.
Yeah,Vikram has acted well in this film,no denying this fact.But not upto the expectations of his class audience who expected some class act out of a national award winner.
Prakashraj is sailing the same boat.Yes,very much quotidian.As good as always he is.
Stunt was a real bomb in this film.Also the music of Harris is a real thaumaturgy.yes,a jayaraj stereotype..It was good when I heard it in the hostel and initial days of the release of the audio.But I felt the music really disgusting in the theatre today.I felt perhaps I was sick but again my thought was confirmed.I saw people moving out during songs,though not many,atleast a few.
Yaar i m not a 'filme techie' .But I felt the sequences at the end were a little desultory.So again I coud'nt find the Shankar touch in this aspect.I wld like to point a thing which people would'nt have noticed.In one scene Ambi prostrates before Nandhini's parents chanting some sanskrit verse.That was a partially correct one.This man quotes GarudaPuranam but fails in a simple sanskrit verse or a concept which every brahman is supposed to know.It is called Abhivadanam and it is done during prostrations(namaskaram in tamil).I think Sujatha is a brahmin but i m really flabbergasted that he did'nt properly write it..!!
According to me this film is a OK stuff n not nything great......
PS : Two real time ironies
1) Shankar has superfluously ( I dapple this word - superfluous here) spent in this film which I feel is totally waste of money.All his films nearly portray the importance of edifying the society
and helping the people.Instead of his superfluous spending he could help out needy people .
2)I spent 60 bucks for a 35 rupee balcony ticket,in the 6th or 7th day matinee of this film.I wonder whether Ambi would accede to doing this!!!!!(I wonder whether this is legal coz they gave me a printed 35 rupee ticket )
My First post
Frenzzz
This' my first post.Well I ve been reading blogs in blogspot.com for quite some time now.But I was lazy to blog myself.
I m in a kinda weird mood for the past one week.Yes..it is time for the coll to reopen..well really enjoyed this vacation.Now again the same old college life!!
Life in an engineering college is not as enthralling as I expected it to be.Life seems so boring....mmm and I resorted to blogging!!
Well there were lots of plans for me in this vacation.But things didn't go my way.Nobody is to be blamed for it but for me(cry!!!!).Yet another vacation on its verge of completion..mmmm..
I m seriously fed up with my life.I donno why.I studied very well, got into a top notch engg college,doing decently well in my coll too but something stops me from njoing coll life,as others do..something haunts me....I m seriously fed up with this materialistic world..I think I m going too philosophical.
This' my first post.Well I ve been reading blogs in blogspot.com for quite some time now.But I was lazy to blog myself.
I m in a kinda weird mood for the past one week.Yes..it is time for the coll to reopen..well really enjoyed this vacation.Now again the same old college life!!
Life in an engineering college is not as enthralling as I expected it to be.Life seems so boring....mmm and I resorted to blogging!!
Well there were lots of plans for me in this vacation.But things didn't go my way.Nobody is to be blamed for it but for me(cry!!!!).Yet another vacation on its verge of completion..mmmm..
I m seriously fed up with my life.I donno why.I studied very well, got into a top notch engg college,doing decently well in my coll too but something stops me from njoing coll life,as others do..something haunts me....I m seriously fed up with this materialistic world..I think I m going too philosophical.
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