have finished reading a book called 'Tomorrow's God', which got me to relook at my spirituality, thereby adding some twists to my earlier posts on the issue...
though i wtote of a system, i had God in it. this book eliminated God as we know him (to be fair, the book warns of this at the outset)... it spoke of a system, of which everything is a part and evolution happened because random objects/organisms moved to a higher state of frequency randomly.(this might help)..the book vehemently opposes the present version of God, because it believes that things become far too easy when we can blame it on a God over whom we have no control, our actions,our behaviour etc can be easily attributed to the way God made us... actually, we are all messiahs of ourselves with our own selfish agenda.
the book advocates a system, with every part of the system being responsible for whatever happens in the system...that is, all that occurs in the system is our responsibility, collectively and directly proportionate to our actions...it means that whenever we do something, anything, we should also think of the effects that action/inaction will have, not just on ourselves, but everything else in the system...good thought, huh??
but, meanwhile, i also get reminded of mel gibson's words from 'signs'...something that meant "there are two kinds of people in this world... group 1 - who believe that nothing happens by chance.. in times of crisis, deep inside them, they believe that someone is watching over them, that gives them hope... and group 2- who believe that everything is a random occurence.. in times of crisis, deep inside, they know, they are all they've got, that fills them with fear...
until next time, have faith in your god...
Friday, November 19, 2004
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
soldier of fortune
it wasnt as though he had been forced to go. he had made the choice himself, knowing fully well, the dangers, the obvious ones as well as the hidden ones...this mission was particularly dangerous, because the terrain was unfamiliar. well, not exactly, but times were dangerous now, and the roads on which he once used to whistle aloud, were fraught with danger, danger lurking in every bend..and it was dark..
but the prize was worth it, and he had committed anyway..he started out, moving carefully. though these paths were ones he had done a reconnaisance the same morning, he was careful, because a harmless looking shack could suddenly become a hive of activity.
suddenly the explosions started, but these were the ones he had expected, he gritted his teeth and moved on... there was a period of calm, but as he edged closer towards his target, the explosions began again. he had to be more careful now, because these were not paths he had visited in the morning, and it didnt help that the enemy had dug trenches all over the place...
speaking of the enemy, there were so many of them... and so many weapons, of different kinds.. the world had progressed so rapidly that the weapons he had been trained in were almost obsolete now.. but that was quite some time ago, and he was no longer as young and agile as he once was...
finally he reached his destination, the prize was there, and worth it..he took his time, savouring every moment, but secretly fearful of the return journey...
soon,it was time to go, he knew he had to be more careful now, for the prizehad made him a little less alert. but the consolation was that he knew the paths better now... but that consolation did not last long, because he realised that the explosions had increased.. once, he saw a guy in front of him swerve and struggle to retain control, as a shell exploded right in front of him.
the last stretch proved to be the most difficult, as consecutive explosions behaved as though they were specifically targeting him!!finally, he was back..as he took off his helmet, he moaned at what he had to go through for a dine out on diwali night.. hell, it was no longer a celebration, it was war... and he had indeed been a fortunate soldier to get back in one piece...
until next time, dont burst with excitement!!
but the prize was worth it, and he had committed anyway..he started out, moving carefully. though these paths were ones he had done a reconnaisance the same morning, he was careful, because a harmless looking shack could suddenly become a hive of activity.
suddenly the explosions started, but these were the ones he had expected, he gritted his teeth and moved on... there was a period of calm, but as he edged closer towards his target, the explosions began again. he had to be more careful now, because these were not paths he had visited in the morning, and it didnt help that the enemy had dug trenches all over the place...
speaking of the enemy, there were so many of them... and so many weapons, of different kinds.. the world had progressed so rapidly that the weapons he had been trained in were almost obsolete now.. but that was quite some time ago, and he was no longer as young and agile as he once was...
finally he reached his destination, the prize was there, and worth it..he took his time, savouring every moment, but secretly fearful of the return journey...
soon,it was time to go, he knew he had to be more careful now, for the prizehad made him a little less alert. but the consolation was that he knew the paths better now... but that consolation did not last long, because he realised that the explosions had increased.. once, he saw a guy in front of him swerve and struggle to retain control, as a shell exploded right in front of him.
the last stretch proved to be the most difficult, as consecutive explosions behaved as though they were specifically targeting him!!finally, he was back..as he took off his helmet, he moaned at what he had to go through for a dine out on diwali night.. hell, it was no longer a celebration, it was war... and he had indeed been a fortunate soldier to get back in one piece...
until next time, dont burst with excitement!!
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Lights... Action!!
four days of holidays ahead, so the grateful self thought he should write a few words about the phenomenon thats making it possible..diwali...
the earliest memories are getting dressed up in the white kurta,pyjama set(the one for special occasions), going into the storeroom, taking out the earthern diyas, cleaning them and arranging them on the window ledges... career highs included being allowed to handle oil and light the diyas myself...
simultaneously happening was the cracker department, which had its own career path- from a rookie user, who was not allowed to handle stuff without permission, to the gradual scaling up of the stuff that could be used..the pinnacle being the rocket, i guess, which had to be launched carefully lest it created a "neighbour's envy, owner's pride' effect in the neighbours'house... and finally , the top seat being the buying of crackers and their division among users.....well, once we reach the peak, the only way is down..
i stopped celebrating the year we shifted residence...did celebrate in patches later, but more as a desperate effort to recreate the magic of the days that were gone... a lost cause that redeemed itself only in the joyful faces i saw around me.......
P.S. though south indians usually use 'deepavali', these days, in our house, it is 'diwali', since 'wali' pronounced slightly differently, means 'fart' in malayalam, and....
until next time, have a blast :)
the earliest memories are getting dressed up in the white kurta,pyjama set(the one for special occasions), going into the storeroom, taking out the earthern diyas, cleaning them and arranging them on the window ledges... career highs included being allowed to handle oil and light the diyas myself...
simultaneously happening was the cracker department, which had its own career path- from a rookie user, who was not allowed to handle stuff without permission, to the gradual scaling up of the stuff that could be used..the pinnacle being the rocket, i guess, which had to be launched carefully lest it created a "neighbour's envy, owner's pride' effect in the neighbours'house... and finally , the top seat being the buying of crackers and their division among users.....well, once we reach the peak, the only way is down..
i stopped celebrating the year we shifted residence...did celebrate in patches later, but more as a desperate effort to recreate the magic of the days that were gone... a lost cause that redeemed itself only in the joyful faces i saw around me.......
P.S. though south indians usually use 'deepavali', these days, in our house, it is 'diwali', since 'wali' pronounced slightly differently, means 'fart' in malayalam, and....
until next time, have a blast :)
Monday, November 08, 2004
A piece of history........
this post whirled into my mind, due to a comment made on my shoutbox sometime back... :)
the written word has for long been a great tool for storage - storage of thoughts, of happenings and whatever one feels should be recorded somewhere... of course there are some who feel that a picture would do the trick, but to each his own, is all i'll say about that.. and it doesn't actually matter because this post would also relate to photographs - after all they are also storage devices...
whether it is the written word or the photograph, the creator, at least in his subconscious, feels it is for posterity... a tool which would give himself or others an account of the moment/era in which it was taken, whenever it is seen again.... but as time passes, and i mean, a long time, they either get lost or if they do appear, do so in museums or private collections..i dont know about the photos, but the written words do get called manuscripts.
pieces of history which gives us glimpses of what had been..only glimpses, because though the creator would have wanted it to be a complete explanation, we can only make calculated guesses, and whether we are right in our guesses, is also, only a guess........
millions of bloggers worldwide writing daily accounts/ thoughts on the world they live in, the world of their dreams, technology, music, sex, philosophy, careers... what kind of glimpses will they provide to the people in 4004, words staring back from a visual interface, perhaps loaded from an ancient server...
so, is it history we are typing? our present, someone's history... called manuscrypts, bloughts, whirlwings, jabberwhackies... all with their own explanations.....
until next time, keep making history :)
the written word has for long been a great tool for storage - storage of thoughts, of happenings and whatever one feels should be recorded somewhere... of course there are some who feel that a picture would do the trick, but to each his own, is all i'll say about that.. and it doesn't actually matter because this post would also relate to photographs - after all they are also storage devices...
whether it is the written word or the photograph, the creator, at least in his subconscious, feels it is for posterity... a tool which would give himself or others an account of the moment/era in which it was taken, whenever it is seen again.... but as time passes, and i mean, a long time, they either get lost or if they do appear, do so in museums or private collections..i dont know about the photos, but the written words do get called manuscripts.
pieces of history which gives us glimpses of what had been..only glimpses, because though the creator would have wanted it to be a complete explanation, we can only make calculated guesses, and whether we are right in our guesses, is also, only a guess........
millions of bloggers worldwide writing daily accounts/ thoughts on the world they live in, the world of their dreams, technology, music, sex, philosophy, careers... what kind of glimpses will they provide to the people in 4004, words staring back from a visual interface, perhaps loaded from an ancient server...
so, is it history we are typing? our present, someone's history... called manuscrypts, bloughts, whirlwings, jabberwhackies... all with their own explanations.....
until next time, keep making history :)
Friday, November 05, 2004
In my dreams....
a couple of days back, someone told me about a movie called 'waking life'. think its an old movie (2001), but have somehow managed to miss it. in it, there is a hypothesis - what if our dreams were the reality? and the converse.... reminded me of the old one liner-"consciousness - that annoying time between naps".. but what if...
but thats not what this post is about, this is about dreams, the same dreams, but in a different context...
once upon a time people used to have dreams.. a bunch of dreams that would be achieved over a lifetime, and the joy that came about due to the fulfilment of dreams was one of a kind..we have ambitions and aspirations now, but are we dreaming now?
if i had to compare 'dreams' and 'aspirations/ambitions' , i'd say that 'dreams' are more humane. i wonder if you understood that, but i have no tangible way i can share it with you, its just a thought... and the way we have changed 'dreams' into 'ambitions/aspirations'is by making it a lot easier to achieve them.
earlier people dreamt of buying a home, but now its just an emi away, same goes for a car, consumer durables. instant gratificationis the new mantra - from flat screens to flat tummies and from intercourse to interactive TV..
love, which is arguably the biggest dream factory, is also a very attainable thing - from confessionsof love by sms/ e-cards to marrying the one of your choice (which have moved from taboo stage to norm)....the argument would be "isnt it better that way"... yes it is, but not at the cost of dreams..
once upon a time, a guy called lennon said "Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one." wonder if he would say that now..
until next time, dream
(P.S. the title also happens to be one of my favourite songs :) )
but thats not what this post is about, this is about dreams, the same dreams, but in a different context...
once upon a time people used to have dreams.. a bunch of dreams that would be achieved over a lifetime, and the joy that came about due to the fulfilment of dreams was one of a kind..we have ambitions and aspirations now, but are we dreaming now?
if i had to compare 'dreams' and 'aspirations/ambitions' , i'd say that 'dreams' are more humane. i wonder if you understood that, but i have no tangible way i can share it with you, its just a thought... and the way we have changed 'dreams' into 'ambitions/aspirations'is by making it a lot easier to achieve them.
earlier people dreamt of buying a home, but now its just an emi away, same goes for a car, consumer durables. instant gratificationis the new mantra - from flat screens to flat tummies and from intercourse to interactive TV..
love, which is arguably the biggest dream factory, is also a very attainable thing - from confessionsof love by sms/ e-cards to marrying the one of your choice (which have moved from taboo stage to norm)....the argument would be "isnt it better that way"... yes it is, but not at the cost of dreams..
once upon a time, a guy called lennon said "Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one." wonder if he would say that now..
until next time, dream
(P.S. the title also happens to be one of my favourite songs :) )
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Losing my religion - II
the system
since i essentially slept through the weekend, and had a very uninteresting existence, i thought i would stick to some gyan distribution..tell me when the series gets boring..hehe..
the auto pilot- that which propels us through the mundane things of life,and mundane here is an extremely wide array of things. propels us to do things in a predictable way..the auto pilot is an essential part of the system, but the key is the higher being inside us. if we can find it and awaken it, it will guide us to higher levels of consciousness.
heres an interesting example i picked up from "Tomorrow's God" that best explains the working of the system - consider a rock, it is at a particular frequency..left to itself, it will become a diamond, after eons of temperature/pressure fluctuations..now consider the rock in the hands of a human, who, within hours can get the diamond out of the rock, with his science , because he is at a much higher frequency/ level of consciousness.
from the rock's point of view, the rock is the highest state of frequency,but we humans know it is not. but we humans also think we are at the highest level, no we are not..but the good part is that higher the level of consciousness, the easier it is to move ahead..think about this, millions of years to move from cell to organism, lesser millions of years from organism to 'human' form, tens of thousands of years to move through hunter/gatherer mode, thousands of years to move through agrarian civilisations, hundreds of years to move through industrial revolutions, decades to move through technological revolutions.. if you look closely you will see a movement starting with collective consciousness,(a system whose constituents were aware of its existence) to self consciousness, where we are now.. it is a cycle and now its time we started to think of collective consciousness again....the collective consciousness is the system where conscious thoughts and therefore actions are not based on 'i', but on 'us'.and the collective consciousness is the fastest way to the higher 'us'.
before i extol the system, there is a small deviation i will take...until next time, be conscious....
since i essentially slept through the weekend, and had a very uninteresting existence, i thought i would stick to some gyan distribution..tell me when the series gets boring..hehe..
the auto pilot- that which propels us through the mundane things of life,and mundane here is an extremely wide array of things. propels us to do things in a predictable way..the auto pilot is an essential part of the system, but the key is the higher being inside us. if we can find it and awaken it, it will guide us to higher levels of consciousness.
heres an interesting example i picked up from "Tomorrow's God" that best explains the working of the system - consider a rock, it is at a particular frequency..left to itself, it will become a diamond, after eons of temperature/pressure fluctuations..now consider the rock in the hands of a human, who, within hours can get the diamond out of the rock, with his science , because he is at a much higher frequency/ level of consciousness.
from the rock's point of view, the rock is the highest state of frequency,but we humans know it is not. but we humans also think we are at the highest level, no we are not..but the good part is that higher the level of consciousness, the easier it is to move ahead..think about this, millions of years to move from cell to organism, lesser millions of years from organism to 'human' form, tens of thousands of years to move through hunter/gatherer mode, thousands of years to move through agrarian civilisations, hundreds of years to move through industrial revolutions, decades to move through technological revolutions.. if you look closely you will see a movement starting with collective consciousness,(a system whose constituents were aware of its existence) to self consciousness, where we are now.. it is a cycle and now its time we started to think of collective consciousness again....the collective consciousness is the system where conscious thoughts and therefore actions are not based on 'i', but on 'us'.and the collective consciousness is the fastest way to the higher 'us'.
before i extol the system, there is a small deviation i will take...until next time, be conscious....
Friday, October 29, 2004
Sex and the kutty
another long weekend, this time its monday off for the kannada rajyotsava.. holidays are like runs in cricket, dont matter how they come, so long as they come..:)
oh, for the few who are not familiar with MTV's 'lola kutty' or south indian lingo, 'kutty' means,among other things 'child'.. the title is based on a good fwd i read, ordinarily i would have put it under trivia, but it gives a good lesson on how the template works, so it is the post itself..
so, heres the fwd
A little girl runs out to the backyard where her father is working,and asks him: - "Daddy, what's Sex?".
"OK!" He thinks...this day was bound to come, and I am not going to let my little princess learn about Sex from the streets.He sits her down, and tells her all about the birds and the bees. He tells her about conception, sexual intercourse,sperms and eggs. He tells her about puberty, menstruation, erections, wet dreams.....
Then she asks:- "Daddy, what is "A Couple?"
He carries on: a couple are the two people involved in sex, but this can be two males also who we call gays, or two females who we call lesbians, and goes on to describe oral sex, group sex, pornography, bondage and rape, paedophilia, sex toys, etc...:
The father finally asks:- "So why did you want to know about "a couple" and "Sex"?
"Oh, mummy said lunch will be ready in a couple of secs..."
until next time, this is food for thought :)
oh, for the few who are not familiar with MTV's 'lola kutty' or south indian lingo, 'kutty' means,among other things 'child'.. the title is based on a good fwd i read, ordinarily i would have put it under trivia, but it gives a good lesson on how the template works, so it is the post itself..
so, heres the fwd
A little girl runs out to the backyard where her father is working,and asks him: - "Daddy, what's Sex?".
"OK!" He thinks...this day was bound to come, and I am not going to let my little princess learn about Sex from the streets.He sits her down, and tells her all about the birds and the bees. He tells her about conception, sexual intercourse,sperms and eggs. He tells her about puberty, menstruation, erections, wet dreams.....
Then she asks:- "Daddy, what is "A Couple?"
He carries on: a couple are the two people involved in sex, but this can be two males also who we call gays, or two females who we call lesbians, and goes on to describe oral sex, group sex, pornography, bondage and rape, paedophilia, sex toys, etc...:
The father finally asks:- "So why did you want to know about "a couple" and "Sex"?
"Oh, mummy said lunch will be ready in a couple of secs..."
until next time, this is food for thought :)
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Losing my religion
Part 1 - Templates
a few days back, someone excitedly brought his laptop over to me, and showed me a mail.it was a series of basic mathematic addition questions,which had to be answered as quickly as possible, but the last question was to name a color and a tool - i said 'red hammer'... he scrolled down and the mail said "red hammer". he had said red hammer too, we tried it on some more people, and around 90% said 'red hammer', which figured, coz the mail said around 90% inthe world would say 'red hammer'.
consider this- you go for a movie -second show. during the break, you go to the loo, in the next cubicle u see a friend and 90% of us would say "what are you doing here?"
countless situations where we thought 'i was about to say that'....the same music we like, the same tv shows, the same content in blogs, the feeling of deja vu in numerous situations... all what we call coincidences...
and so, the hypothesis - templates, many in number, but yes, all of us templates nevertheless, programmed to respond in a certain way in a certain sitiuation... which is why there are only so many responses to any sitiuations, which is why inventions and discoveries arent exactly common...you think matrix, predictable :), so far maybe, but here's where the hypothesis deviates because we are not having any 'machine conspiracy' around..
lets deviate a little anyway, when you get back home today, try thinking about what you did for the last hour, not the easy response of a generic answer "i was travelling back from work", but a minute by minute recall...you would find that most of the actions were on auto pilot, like changing gears in a car...and therefore you wouldnt remember...
another lil experiment for you, on a regular working day,can you go without saying 'hi'?.. you would perhaps remember not to say it for an hour, then 'auto pilot' would take over...back to the hypothesis, all of us have an auto pilot, all of us also have a higher being inside us, a being constantly ignored in favour of the easier 'auto pilot', but extremely important, nevertheless..why? that is for later parts.
until next time, be unpredictable :)
a few days back, someone excitedly brought his laptop over to me, and showed me a mail.it was a series of basic mathematic addition questions,which had to be answered as quickly as possible, but the last question was to name a color and a tool - i said 'red hammer'... he scrolled down and the mail said "red hammer". he had said red hammer too, we tried it on some more people, and around 90% said 'red hammer', which figured, coz the mail said around 90% inthe world would say 'red hammer'.
consider this- you go for a movie -second show. during the break, you go to the loo, in the next cubicle u see a friend and 90% of us would say "what are you doing here?"
countless situations where we thought 'i was about to say that'....the same music we like, the same tv shows, the same content in blogs, the feeling of deja vu in numerous situations... all what we call coincidences...
and so, the hypothesis - templates, many in number, but yes, all of us templates nevertheless, programmed to respond in a certain way in a certain sitiuation... which is why there are only so many responses to any sitiuations, which is why inventions and discoveries arent exactly common...you think matrix, predictable :), so far maybe, but here's where the hypothesis deviates because we are not having any 'machine conspiracy' around..
lets deviate a little anyway, when you get back home today, try thinking about what you did for the last hour, not the easy response of a generic answer "i was travelling back from work", but a minute by minute recall...you would find that most of the actions were on auto pilot, like changing gears in a car...and therefore you wouldnt remember...
another lil experiment for you, on a regular working day,can you go without saying 'hi'?.. you would perhaps remember not to say it for an hour, then 'auto pilot' would take over...back to the hypothesis, all of us have an auto pilot, all of us also have a higher being inside us, a being constantly ignored in favour of the easier 'auto pilot', but extremely important, nevertheless..why? that is for later parts.
until next time, be unpredictable :)
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Mission Mars
Since this is a long weekend, and I am already in clutches of one of my most fave emotions - laziness, I came to the early conclusion that I couldn't get myself to write an original post.Wokay, now that that is done with, let me present you an adapted version of a cool forward I got a few days back. Bangalore readers will identify with it promptly, and as for readers from others places, well, india may be a land of diversity in a lot of things, but as far as quality of roads go, we share a common pride..hehe..so here goes
Bangalore 2.a.m.
a time of the night when loneliness is the only companion, shadows the only followers, and beer, the only fuel. He was bouncing away merrily on his bike, when some bright lights stopped him. Yippee, movie shooting, he thought, will get to see some stars tonight. But, wait..uh oh!! I'm going to be kidnapped and they are going to do experiments on me, but wait again, this is no alien landing either.
He saw a well-clad man of foreign origin, and started walking towards him.
"Shhh", cautioned the man.
Softly he asked " What's happening brother?".
"NASA..."the man whispered, "I am Dr. Morgan from the Mission Mars programme".
A thought crossed his mind, "i am not the only one who's had beer"
But, on watching a few men in spacesuits bumping around, he realised the man was speaking the truth. He got talking to Dr.Morgan and was informed that NASA had been trying to create surroundings that would resemble the rocky, crater filled Southern Hemisphere of Mars and had failed miserably.This led to a desperate search for test sites on planet earth.
Very few places on earth qualified, only Iraq (exploded Oil Wells), Sri Lanka, and Bangalore's own Bannerghatta Road.
With Iraq ruled out as a high-risk venture, and no shooting possible in Sri Lanka because of the prevailing cease fire (bush handled this personally?!!), India was the only feasible option. Plus the costs were rock bottom. And although a few questions were posed on yet another outsourcing to bangalore, they were quickly resolved, because of the unparalleled surface that Bannerghatta road offered.
The Mars rover and Endeavour were bouncing away too, on the rugged surface.
Suddenly, he spotted the CM standing quietly in the distance. He walked up to him and smiled. The CM nodded, smiling softly.
He looked at the CM enquiringly and asked "Was this your idea"?
"Yes" the CM said almost humbly, too modest to acknowledge the enormity of his effort.
"So, what's in it for us?" he probed.
"Millions of dollars, that's what they have promised, and once this gets approved as a broken earth site it will be used regularly, for other missions too. I also have plans of breaking up the other roads, which are happening under the guise of flyovers" the CM confided.
He shuddered at the enormity of the attempt. How all of us puny Bangaloreans cribbed, raved and ranted every time we came across a broken road. How blind we have all been, eyes shut, we refused to view the big picture. Every bad road is a million-dollar opportunity. He silently bade farewells to Dr. Morgan and the CM and rode away.
As he reached the BTM flyover, he got a flat tyre, he looked down at the guilty protruding rockfragment, and uncharacteristically smiled. Pushing the bike slowly, he thought to himself "the martians must be green with envy"
until next time, enjoy the ride
Bangalore 2.a.m.
a time of the night when loneliness is the only companion, shadows the only followers, and beer, the only fuel. He was bouncing away merrily on his bike, when some bright lights stopped him. Yippee, movie shooting, he thought, will get to see some stars tonight. But, wait..uh oh!! I'm going to be kidnapped and they are going to do experiments on me, but wait again, this is no alien landing either.
He saw a well-clad man of foreign origin, and started walking towards him.
"Shhh", cautioned the man.
Softly he asked " What's happening brother?".
"NASA..."the man whispered, "I am Dr. Morgan from the Mission Mars programme".
A thought crossed his mind, "i am not the only one who's had beer"
But, on watching a few men in spacesuits bumping around, he realised the man was speaking the truth. He got talking to Dr.Morgan and was informed that NASA had been trying to create surroundings that would resemble the rocky, crater filled Southern Hemisphere of Mars and had failed miserably.This led to a desperate search for test sites on planet earth.
Very few places on earth qualified, only Iraq (exploded Oil Wells), Sri Lanka, and Bangalore's own Bannerghatta Road.
With Iraq ruled out as a high-risk venture, and no shooting possible in Sri Lanka because of the prevailing cease fire (bush handled this personally?!!), India was the only feasible option. Plus the costs were rock bottom. And although a few questions were posed on yet another outsourcing to bangalore, they were quickly resolved, because of the unparalleled surface that Bannerghatta road offered.
The Mars rover and Endeavour were bouncing away too, on the rugged surface.
Suddenly, he spotted the CM standing quietly in the distance. He walked up to him and smiled. The CM nodded, smiling softly.
He looked at the CM enquiringly and asked "Was this your idea"?
"Yes" the CM said almost humbly, too modest to acknowledge the enormity of his effort.
"So, what's in it for us?" he probed.
"Millions of dollars, that's what they have promised, and once this gets approved as a broken earth site it will be used regularly, for other missions too. I also have plans of breaking up the other roads, which are happening under the guise of flyovers" the CM confided.
He shuddered at the enormity of the attempt. How all of us puny Bangaloreans cribbed, raved and ranted every time we came across a broken road. How blind we have all been, eyes shut, we refused to view the big picture. Every bad road is a million-dollar opportunity. He silently bade farewells to Dr. Morgan and the CM and rode away.
As he reached the BTM flyover, he got a flat tyre, he looked down at the guilty protruding rockfragment, and uncharacteristically smiled. Pushing the bike slowly, he thought to himself "the martians must be green with envy"
until next time, enjoy the ride
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Am I Doing Something - about it.....?
A topic i had wanted to write on since i saw 'phir milenge'..(when i saw 'philadelphia', i wasnt blogging)....
for a long time, i had maintained that awareness kills fear..the child's fear of the dark, for example - once it realises that there is nothing in the dark that causes harm, it loses the fear.although there are a lot of things which dont fall under this categorisation, those, i believe,are things that we dont have complete info about..
AIDS - a phenomenon that is perhaps mankind's greatest threat ever, because even awareness isnot moving people away from its most usual modes of transmission, and it can strike you by no fault of yours - blood transfusion, infected syringes, certain organ transplants etc. but, it definitely cannot be transmitted by borrowing clothes from an HIV person, sharing of utensils, drinking from the same glass with the person with HIV/AIDS, shaking of hands, embracing,or even kissing an infected person.... yes, i know all of this, all of us who are aware of the disease know this...
but inspite of this awareness, i am not sure if i could bring myself to share clothes with an HIV infected person, to hug him, to maybe even sit close to him ..
it is certainly not lack of awareness thats causing this fear.. is it because i am also aware ofmy mortality but unaware of what lies ahead of me after death? will it take that awareness to get over a fear of something i know about? i, for one,hope not, and the day i get over this fear, i will be a happy man....
for a long time, i had maintained that awareness kills fear..the child's fear of the dark, for example - once it realises that there is nothing in the dark that causes harm, it loses the fear.although there are a lot of things which dont fall under this categorisation, those, i believe,are things that we dont have complete info about..
AIDS - a phenomenon that is perhaps mankind's greatest threat ever, because even awareness isnot moving people away from its most usual modes of transmission, and it can strike you by no fault of yours - blood transfusion, infected syringes, certain organ transplants etc. but, it definitely cannot be transmitted by borrowing clothes from an HIV person, sharing of utensils, drinking from the same glass with the person with HIV/AIDS, shaking of hands, embracing,or even kissing an infected person.... yes, i know all of this, all of us who are aware of the disease know this...
but inspite of this awareness, i am not sure if i could bring myself to share clothes with an HIV infected person, to hug him, to maybe even sit close to him ..
it is certainly not lack of awareness thats causing this fear.. is it because i am also aware ofmy mortality but unaware of what lies ahead of me after death? will it take that awareness to get over a fear of something i know about? i, for one,hope not, and the day i get over this fear, i will be a happy man....
Monday, October 18, 2004
Senses and Sensibleness
No, i am not about to do a Gurinder Chadha on "sense and sensibility".this is in a totally different context.
ever since the dawn of the internet era, the term 'virtual' has come to be used in a whole lot of diverse fields. i, for one, am looking forward to a lot of stuff that can be done with virtual reality, in the gaming context ;)
things are happening, and will continue to happen in this field, and judging by the way more and more people are getting e-literate, all these things will get transferred to more and more people, in the days to come.
now, there are five senses that we humans are familiar with (lets forget about ESP and manoj shyamalan for now) - sight, sound, touch,taste and smell. of these, we have managed to bring sight and sound online. i still dont know if we have managed to bring any of the other stuff online, my limited knowledge says no! even with two senses, the amount of cyber crime based on these two are of alarming proportions, and affecting people of all age, gender, geography etc. net etiquette is something a limited few practise.
with the current rate of technological growth, it is not going to be long before some smart one finds a way to get the other three senses also to find their way online. i might get to try out a shirt on fabmart, buy a burger from mcdonalds after having a bite of it, or buy a perfume after getting a whiff of it, all online.
we will undoubtedly become smart enough to get all senses online, but whether we have the sensibility to handle it is a totally different ball game.
so until next time, be sensible.....
ever since the dawn of the internet era, the term 'virtual' has come to be used in a whole lot of diverse fields. i, for one, am looking forward to a lot of stuff that can be done with virtual reality, in the gaming context ;)
things are happening, and will continue to happen in this field, and judging by the way more and more people are getting e-literate, all these things will get transferred to more and more people, in the days to come.
now, there are five senses that we humans are familiar with (lets forget about ESP and manoj shyamalan for now) - sight, sound, touch,taste and smell. of these, we have managed to bring sight and sound online. i still dont know if we have managed to bring any of the other stuff online, my limited knowledge says no! even with two senses, the amount of cyber crime based on these two are of alarming proportions, and affecting people of all age, gender, geography etc. net etiquette is something a limited few practise.
with the current rate of technological growth, it is not going to be long before some smart one finds a way to get the other three senses also to find their way online. i might get to try out a shirt on fabmart, buy a burger from mcdonalds after having a bite of it, or buy a perfume after getting a whiff of it, all online.
we will undoubtedly become smart enough to get all senses online, but whether we have the sensibility to handle it is a totally different ball game.
so until next time, be sensible.....
Friday, October 15, 2004
Before Baazigar
a couple of days back, there were some VIPs in office, and all of us were asked to be on our best behaviour, and loud noises were met with cold glares that said 'dont you know they are here?'.....
it took me to a whole long time back , to a school which used to have school inspectors, who, like the mythological king mahabali (for whose visit we celebrate onam..grrr, i am digressing) used to come once a year to monitor the school's standards.he used to visit all the classes, and sometimes, if he actually took his job seriously, visit some classes twice. now, all teachers had their 'poster boys' who were chosen to answer the questions posed by the inspector. (it reminds me of the first scene in troy, where, to avoid the losses of battle, the two kings let their best fighters take on each other, oh, but i am digressing again).
once, the inspector refused to let the teacher choose, and insisted he would leave the question open,but little did he know that the wily teacher had anticipated this possibility too, and had forbidden anyone else but the chosen one to raise their hand. but the inspector was adamant, he posed the question to the girl next to the chosen one.
a little history, the job of the chosen one wasnt as easy as it looks on the monitor. you should remember that he was the flagbearer of the entire class, and carried the expectations of the teacher and perhaps the school itself. it was not confidence that killed the butterflies in his stomach, it was ambivalent feelings - if he got the answer right, he would continue to recieve adulation as the chosen one, if he got it wrong, well, the wretched job would be taken off his shoulders.. and for the few butterflies that did remain, you can blame the ego...
back to the story now, the girl didnt know the answer, she looked pleadingly at the chosen one,but with the inspector staring at him, he chickened and stared straight ahead....
for the girl, the poster boy had transformed into the first anti hero of our generation.. it certainly wasn't SRK !!
and since we are on the subject, here are a couple of toons..um, not exactly for children, but..
until next time, know your role....
it took me to a whole long time back , to a school which used to have school inspectors, who, like the mythological king mahabali (for whose visit we celebrate onam..grrr, i am digressing) used to come once a year to monitor the school's standards.he used to visit all the classes, and sometimes, if he actually took his job seriously, visit some classes twice. now, all teachers had their 'poster boys' who were chosen to answer the questions posed by the inspector. (it reminds me of the first scene in troy, where, to avoid the losses of battle, the two kings let their best fighters take on each other, oh, but i am digressing again).
once, the inspector refused to let the teacher choose, and insisted he would leave the question open,but little did he know that the wily teacher had anticipated this possibility too, and had forbidden anyone else but the chosen one to raise their hand. but the inspector was adamant, he posed the question to the girl next to the chosen one.
a little history, the job of the chosen one wasnt as easy as it looks on the monitor. you should remember that he was the flagbearer of the entire class, and carried the expectations of the teacher and perhaps the school itself. it was not confidence that killed the butterflies in his stomach, it was ambivalent feelings - if he got the answer right, he would continue to recieve adulation as the chosen one, if he got it wrong, well, the wretched job would be taken off his shoulders.. and for the few butterflies that did remain, you can blame the ego...
back to the story now, the girl didnt know the answer, she looked pleadingly at the chosen one,but with the inspector staring at him, he chickened and stared straight ahead....
for the girl, the poster boy had transformed into the first anti hero of our generation.. it certainly wasn't SRK !!
and since we are on the subject, here are a couple of toons..um, not exactly for children, but..
until next time, know your role....
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Game Theory Revisited
1978 : rattles (educated guess)
1980 : assorted dolls, building blocks
1982 : wooden ksrtc (kerala govt transport) bus,lorry,plastic cars
1984 : plastic/metal robots, Lego (thanks to dad's US trip), guns (toy, that is), snakes and ladders
1986 : Rambo stuff (bow & arrow, guns..the works), cricket, ludo
1988 : scrabbles, hockey
1990 : monopoly, indoor cricket
1992 : mortal combat, steet fighter, memory!!
1994 : cricket, dumb charades, walkman
1996 : roadrash, Life
1998 : claw, mario
2000 : need for speed, duke
2002 : snake, mpeg downloads ;)
2004 : monopoly, claw, colony, discman......
once upon a long time ago, hours could be spent playing any of these games..over time, the sheer joy the toys used to give, has given way to faster bouts of fatigue/boredom and the quest for an elusive 'something'... growing up or growing down, who's to say? ....ironical that more the choices, more the intensity of the quest......
the toys have changed, the child remains...
1980 : assorted dolls, building blocks
1982 : wooden ksrtc (kerala govt transport) bus,lorry,plastic cars
1984 : plastic/metal robots, Lego (thanks to dad's US trip), guns (toy, that is), snakes and ladders
1986 : Rambo stuff (bow & arrow, guns..the works), cricket, ludo
1988 : scrabbles, hockey
1990 : monopoly, indoor cricket
1992 : mortal combat, steet fighter, memory!!
1994 : cricket, dumb charades, walkman
1996 : roadrash, Life
1998 : claw, mario
2000 : need for speed, duke
2002 : snake, mpeg downloads ;)
2004 : monopoly, claw, colony, discman......
once upon a long time ago, hours could be spent playing any of these games..over time, the sheer joy the toys used to give, has given way to faster bouts of fatigue/boredom and the quest for an elusive 'something'... growing up or growing down, who's to say? ....ironical that more the choices, more the intensity of the quest......
the toys have changed, the child remains...
Monday, October 11, 2004
Freaky Friday
i had promised myself that i wouldnt give this blog a 'my diary' feel, but have to chronicle this, so it can serve as a benchmark for later days -
it all started with D preponing the weekend laziness and saying that she would go to office late . me having built a system of timelines, even this tiny aberration was enough to cause a bug in my system, due to which i got delayed too, a marginal 15 minutes, but delayed nevertheless. during travel time to office, i cajoled my system into a feel good mood.
less than a kilometer from the office, the kiney decides to prepone the weekend laziness and refuses to respond to auto start, kick start or any bludy start, all this only 4 days after a full servicing.i started dragging it (hate leaving it) , saw a closed workshop on the way, and finally reached an open one a kilometre later (in a direction away from the office). Got the kiney repaired in one hour, and gotto watch a Sony Playstation go through a cleaning session with an equipment they usually use to check tyre pressure...i swear!!
cajoled my system into feeling good again, only to promptly crash into an auto that turned without a signal... the traffic policeman also supported me, but couldnt get the auto guy to pay for the broken helmet visor, rear view mirror and the mental trauma...only solace was that i changed his relationship with his mom, sister (if he has one) etc.... forever, hopefully..grrrr
got to office, the comp system hung twice before realising it was only a friday and not the weekend... had almost brought my system into normal mode when a colleague literally marched by and insisted he wouldnt stop till i marched with him, the excuse being that i would forget marching (the last time i marched was in std xii).. the logic that there was no reason for me to remember it anyways, did not appeal to him.....that is the last thing i remember on friday, my system hung!!
P.S just in case you though it was over, i got a message at 10 pm on saturday to let me know that i'd have to grace the office with my presence on sunday.
until next time, drive safe....
it all started with D preponing the weekend laziness and saying that she would go to office late . me having built a system of timelines, even this tiny aberration was enough to cause a bug in my system, due to which i got delayed too, a marginal 15 minutes, but delayed nevertheless. during travel time to office, i cajoled my system into a feel good mood.
less than a kilometer from the office, the kiney decides to prepone the weekend laziness and refuses to respond to auto start, kick start or any bludy start, all this only 4 days after a full servicing.i started dragging it (hate leaving it) , saw a closed workshop on the way, and finally reached an open one a kilometre later (in a direction away from the office). Got the kiney repaired in one hour, and gotto watch a Sony Playstation go through a cleaning session with an equipment they usually use to check tyre pressure...i swear!!
cajoled my system into feeling good again, only to promptly crash into an auto that turned without a signal... the traffic policeman also supported me, but couldnt get the auto guy to pay for the broken helmet visor, rear view mirror and the mental trauma...only solace was that i changed his relationship with his mom, sister (if he has one) etc.... forever, hopefully..grrrr
got to office, the comp system hung twice before realising it was only a friday and not the weekend... had almost brought my system into normal mode when a colleague literally marched by and insisted he wouldnt stop till i marched with him, the excuse being that i would forget marching (the last time i marched was in std xii).. the logic that there was no reason for me to remember it anyways, did not appeal to him.....that is the last thing i remember on friday, my system hung!!
P.S just in case you though it was over, i got a message at 10 pm on saturday to let me know that i'd have to grace the office with my presence on sunday.
until next time, drive safe....
Friday, October 08, 2004
The Practice
Amazing - was the only word they could use to describe his practice. he had a medicine for every ailment under the sky. his critics would argue that almost all doctors did, but his patients swore that he would consider the worst of the diseases they had as common ailments that everyone got, and therefore the cure also came from simple medicines (not that they knew simple from complex ones)- gelusil/milk of magnesia for the stomach, incidal/actifed for the cold, brufen for body pain and his personal favourite - crocin for , well, almost everything else.sometimes he even used alternative treatment measures like homeopathy or ayurveda. and he insisted on giving all the medicines himself, so his patients were spared the costs. oh, they loved him !!
the critics were also skeptical about whether all these treatments were according to accepted practices, coz no one had seen anything that suggested that he was indeed qualified,and well, he was so young!! they hesitated to go to the authorities because his popularity was immense, and besides, there was no reason to be afraid because none of the medicines he gave could be fatal or even produce any side effects, coz well, the beauty of his treatments lay in their simplicity. what was even more confounding was that almost all his patients were his peers, and it was only rarely that he gave medicines to older folk, in fact that was only when he knew that they had no other sources for treatment......
meanwhile, he had his own reasons for his 'strange' practice - the primary reason was that he loved the adulation, the way his peers looked upto him and relied on him to treat them. and to be fair to him, he also didnt like to see anyone suffering.
he would have loved to continue this forever, but he had his share of problems, mainly two- one was that his sources were secret,and couldnt be expected to last forever and two, his parents didnt approve of this. in fact he had been severely reprimanded at least a couple of times. he was told that he was dealing with human life here, and if something happened to his patients, he would be held responsible, but he was confident.
he had already understood it took a lot to become a great doctor, and judging from his patients' reaction, he was already on the way.
this went on for two years, and then unfortunately, he had to move on to a different place, a place where he couldnt practice.
Amazing was the only way i could describe the practice, because the critics were right- i was only in primary school and still had more than a decade to go before i could make a career choice on whether to become a doctor or not.
until next time, practise ......
the critics were also skeptical about whether all these treatments were according to accepted practices, coz no one had seen anything that suggested that he was indeed qualified,and well, he was so young!! they hesitated to go to the authorities because his popularity was immense, and besides, there was no reason to be afraid because none of the medicines he gave could be fatal or even produce any side effects, coz well, the beauty of his treatments lay in their simplicity. what was even more confounding was that almost all his patients were his peers, and it was only rarely that he gave medicines to older folk, in fact that was only when he knew that they had no other sources for treatment......
meanwhile, he had his own reasons for his 'strange' practice - the primary reason was that he loved the adulation, the way his peers looked upto him and relied on him to treat them. and to be fair to him, he also didnt like to see anyone suffering.
he would have loved to continue this forever, but he had his share of problems, mainly two- one was that his sources were secret,and couldnt be expected to last forever and two, his parents didnt approve of this. in fact he had been severely reprimanded at least a couple of times. he was told that he was dealing with human life here, and if something happened to his patients, he would be held responsible, but he was confident.
he had already understood it took a lot to become a great doctor, and judging from his patients' reaction, he was already on the way.
this went on for two years, and then unfortunately, he had to move on to a different place, a place where he couldnt practice.
Amazing was the only way i could describe the practice, because the critics were right- i was only in primary school and still had more than a decade to go before i could make a career choice on whether to become a doctor or not.
until next time, practise ......
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