"When I am with you and my thoughts are at rest and there is nothing to say, then I will know that my search has ended." Links Anand Musicophile IIMcatwalk Satish The guy who bores you here is Sreekanth, Indian, ex-Software Engineer, management student(IIM Ahmedabad) Enthusiastic at worst, ecstatic at best. View My Guestbook Sign My Guestbook Archives 03/01/2002 - 04/01/2002 04/01/2002 - 05/01/2002 05/01/2002 - 06/01/2002 06/01/2002 - 07/01/2002 07/01/2002 - 08/01/2002 08/01/2002 - 09/01/2002 09/01/2002 - 10/01/2002 01/01/2003 - 02/01/2003 02/01/2003 - 03/01/2003 04/01/2003 - 05/01/2003 01/01/2004 - 02/01/2004 06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004 05/01/2005 - 06/01/2005 07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006 08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006 10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006 11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006 01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007 06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007 10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007 01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008 << current

Life 'n' Love                                                         Indian Social Bookmarking  Music  IIMs and CAT       Now here's a demigod One of the men I most admire turns 100. In Test Cricket your age is not what how many years you have lived but how many tests you have played. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is playing his 100th test tomorrow. The best quality that I like in him is that he is so focused on winning the match, or taking the century or a wicket. He wants to do it all in cricket. By the time he retires he would have set some Bradman-like records which will be tough to break. Is Bradman a better player or Sachin? Why should anyone care. And what is there to discuss in it go here and go down to the 6th table from the top. Bradman was a better player statistically after 52 tests. And we do not know what he would have done had he played 100. Whatever that is Bradman was a very very good cricketer and had he played today we would have loved to watch him. The same is true with Sachin. That's all that matters to me. Comparitively whoever is better is of little significance as I am not in the selection committee and anyway no selection committee in the world will have more than 11 Sachin's or Bradmans :-) Sachin in his 13-year old career has done a lot. But he has just lived for 29 and with so many years left in his career he will continue to be a joy to watch. Wishing him and India all the best to get that elusive abroad-win. Being a person who loves statistics and numbers(it's is slightly contradictory with my dislike towards comparisons) the analysis of Sachin's batting performances is one of the things that I have spent most time on. I love him. And hope he reads these words. Wednesday, September 04, 2002 (0) comments   Some movies I have seen in 2002: A Beautiful Mind 2001 Bridget John’s Diary 2001 A Streetcar named Desire 1951 A Silent Movie 1976 The Count of Monte Cristo 2002 Paisà 1946 The Godfather I, II & III (watched it again) 1972+ Stachka 1925 Marathon Man 1976 Catch 22 1970 Reality Bites 1994 Crimes and Misdemeanours 1989 Dog Day Afternoon 1975 Léon 1994 The Postman always rings twice 1946 On the Waterfront 1954 Hollywood Ending 2002 Truman Show 1998 Good Will Hunting 1997 Guilty by Suspicion 1991 Rosemary’s Baby 1968 Taxi Driver 1976 The Good, The Bad, The Ugly 1966 Everything you always wanted to know about sex, but were afraid to ask 1972 Runaway Train 1985 Spider-Man 2002 Ben Hur 1959 Bend it like Beckam 2002 The Silence of the Lambs 1991 One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest 1975 Ice Age 2002 Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged me 1999 Moonlight and Valentino 1995 The Terminator 1984 Forrest Gump 1994 Laurence of Arabia 1962 North by Northwest 1959 Rashomon 1950 Casablanca 1942 The Englishman who went up a Hill but came down a mountain 1995 Now you know why I don't blog much. Wednesday, August 28, 2002 (0) comments   Overcast but not raining, sad but not crying, clouds without thunder, thoughts without anger an anticipation of something to come, but a passive mirror-like existence, No cause no effect, the quantum confusion of life… Tuesday, August 27, 2002 (0) comments   Wish you a Happy ONAM. (This is probably my first Onam away from home!) Wednesday, August 21, 2002 (0) comments   I was born a day and a year short of 100 years of Einstein. Actually I am as much of a genius as him. It's just that I am slightly cleverer enough to keep this a secret. Wednesday, August 21, 2002 (0) comments   "I" am at war with "my" ego. Monday, August 19, 2002 (0) comments   I really feel sorry for my apologetic nature. Thursday, August 08, 2002 (0) comments   Brussels has gone back to the winter days. Gone are the few sunny days we had in between when the temperature had even gone up to 35degreeC making me feel at home. Now it's like one of those December, Jan days with reduced visibility and temperature, cold rain and winds. There is no good reason why I should venture outside. Better sit and browse. I resemble a browsing machine nowadays and my mood a sine wave with the crest being the morning, when I come to office and the trough when I return to that studio room to be alone for the night. The periodicity, if you are interested and were not clever enough to guess, is a day. Work resembles Naaranathu Braanthan's activities(he is a legendary mad-saint from Kerala), whose daily job was to roll a rock up the hill and then release it to let it fall all the way back. Go down and repeat. Life resembles a traveller who knows not where he started nor where he is heading. He is ignorant of the only pleasure he could have derived, the simple yet interesting sights he passes. But he thinks he is in a desert and these are just mirages. The one thing he doesn't want is to be fooled. Tuesday, August 06, 2002 (0) comments   Hmm.. I have to solve this problem today… But I do not know the meaning of this word which is important here. Ok, will check on the net. Oh! So that’s what it means… BTW hey this quote is good. Where I had I read something similar? Ya in that book. What a fine book! I had absolutely no idea who murdered until Poirot revealed it in his unique manner towards the end. I remember reading the last part. It was sandhya(dusk) and there was this fear of my father seeing me reading, what with his admonition not to read during the sandhya. Ooops I remember I was even eating too. Father would have been mad had he seen me eating at that time. What was it? dosa and sambhar ofcourse! I can recall the taste even now. Mother had said she didn’t think she got it right. I had said it was fine during lunch. Mother. So what would she be doing now? Maybe I should call her more frequently. But now the calls from India are almost the same cost. It’s still cheaper from here though. The Indian government is doing a good job nowadays. You hear so many good things happening. But the monsoons have screwed up again. There goes the GDP and all planning. BTW is this GDP figure actually representative of what we actually want to see improving in this country? God knows... Oh! Her phone is ringing again! She’s always on the phone. I wonder whom she is talking to. Must be some idle chatterer. And what was I trying to do here. It was some problem I was having in getting this work done. What was the problem now? Hmm.. have forgotten it again. Thursday, August 01, 2002 (0) comments   To what ends are weekends? Monday, July 29, 2002 (0) comments   It's the people in their 20s who change the world, only it takes some of them 20-30 years. Friday, July 26, 2002 (0) comments   Monday, July 22nd, 2002 Are there any Absolutes? What follows is my personal opinion. And so it is a relative quest for the existence of absolutes, not an absolute quest. I have used female beauty just as an example. Probably this concept can be extended to other similar cases. One of the questions that has interested me a lot is whether there is any absolute in the matter of female beauty, in the sense that if a female looks like this and this, she is beautiful, else not. I could think of two possibilities in this. One is that there is an absolute definition for beauty and that across countries, cultures and people there is a variation, but still something general can be seen and that this is absolute. The other possibility is that there is no such absolute and this is just one way of thinking we have got used to and it could have been that things were totally different and the very fact that things do change across time and geography is proof of this. I personally do not think that the former is true. Not because it varies with time and space because even after such a variance some general factors can be extracted here. But because I see no rationality in a female having particular characteristics being called beautiful and some other not. Rationally it could have been either way. But then what do I achieve from thinking so? That it just happened that I learned such and such is beautiful and such and such not. I can see through the futility of this and see the conditioning that my brain has been put through due to a variety of factors and thus learn not to consider any particular female as more beautiful than another. But then does it come naturally to me? It might be true that it was just a learning (that I now see as false) that has lead me to thinking this female is beautiful but not that. So can I now learn that it is not so and that it is just a conditioning and come out of it? I tried and failed. I still see this female as beautiful and that as not. And it still affects me. So I accept that it is my nature. So now do I go against my nature to satisfy my desire to be rational. Or do I remain natural and forgo rationality? Rational thinking doesn’t come naturally to me, atleast in this context. Is it just because I need to learn to think rationally? If that is not possible, then probably, I think, I better remain natural rather than rational and say “No. This female is beautiful while that female is not”. Monday, July 22, 2002 (0) comments   Friday, July 12th, 2002 Infinite Ignorance - Look into the past. Before us there were apes, and still before the single-cell life evolved(?) from the organic broth. Long before that the earth came into being. The earliest we think back upto is the origin of the Universe itself. The Big-Bang theory and the Steady State theory. Ever thought whether Universe is just the name for the matter or whether it also includes the space in between. I think it should and then the question arises as to what was it like before the so-called Big-Bang? To whatever extent we think, one can ask what was it before that. It never ends. - Look into the future and the same thinking can be repeated here too. What next is the question here? No end is visible here too. In fact there cannot be an end to it. - Now move on from the domain of Time into the domain of Space. What is outside the earth, and then the galaxy? If you think it's the Universe, then what's outside the Universe? Is that also defined as the Universe? If so the villain of Infinity again obscures any possibities of knowing the ultimate truth here too. - It's not over. Start looking inside. It's the cells, made up of organic molecules, made up of atoms of elements, made up of electrons, protons and neutrons. What are these made up of Sir? Then we enter into a domain where physicists have started conveniently defining particles and waves aposteriori just to fit the observations. Invokation of the question "What's this made up of?" brings forth the smiling Infinity blocking the pathways of knowledge like the God who told Adam and Eve not to eat the apple. We live a life of Infinite Ignorance and worse a life of ignorance with no end possible to this ignorance. Do you think we need be confident about anything in this life? Think about it. Especially because you will reach nowhere. Friday, July 12, 2002 (0) comments   Friday, July 12th, 2002 I am a Celebrity You are reading the weblog of a Celebrity(I am just being an ass). My name and views have been mentioned in passing(I am being modest) in a Rediff article. This article has now been linked from the Rediff front page. (By the time you read this, it might have vanished from there, in which case you can read the article using the first link). I knew it. Rediff is a quality website which recognises Quality(me). And Gopika Vaidya is a brilliant journalist. Take my word for it ;-) Friday, July 12, 2002 (0) comments   Indian food makes my mouth water. Western food makes my eyes water. Tuesday, July 09, 2002 (0) comments   If people want to find out what happens after death, they should commit suicide. Thursday, June 27, 2002 (0) comments   It makes me feel good when I hear news of Indian IT companies addressing social concerns and doing something positive in that direction. I am not very sure if companies are the right institutions for social improvement activities but for India anything in that direction is welcome. I had heard a lot about TCSs' efforts in rural literacy in AndhraPradesh. Infosys ofcourse has been doing a lot in similar areas through Infosys foundation. Just read on rediff about Wipro's plans to re-skill teachers. The companies and their leaders are proving that their intent is more than earning dollars. Wouldn't it be great if these activities are co-ordinated by a body, which can be formed including members from all these companies? Why should the social activities of IT companies be co-ordinated? Maybe because such a move might not only help in producing better results for India in these activities but also serve as a forum for a lot more...(I leave it at that) Monday, June 24, 2002 (0) comments   What are we doing in this tiny planet in a tiny galaxy in this infinite universe??? What is the origin of all this? What is going to be the end of all this? What are the boundaries? What is the purpose? Should I do anything? Or should I just sit and observe? Should I seek? Or should I remain passive? Should I look forward back or anywhere at all? Is there anything eternal? I will die in some years, everyone around me will. New human beings will be born to die. The existing life forms will vanish. New ones maybe formed to vanish after some time again. This planet was formed and it will be destroyed one day. Another earth may already be there or may come into existence later, but will be destroyed someday. The whole galaxy may have a lifespan. Even the universe. Then what is eternal? What will remain? Friday, June 21, 2002 (0) comments   So India is going to have the rare distinction(?) of having bachelors as Prime Minister and President! Probably even a first in the history of the world for countries with similar structure of government. One has been in politics for more than 50 years and the other not even for 50 minutes. I hope (forgetting what a President can anyway do) that Kalaam brings to Indian polity the most needed thing - common sense. Wednesday, June 19, 2002 (0) comments   There is this enthusiastic female, cheerful, energetic. When she comes and talks its like "ek hava ka jhonka aya" (like a gust of wind she came). But she's left now. Me? I am a fallen tree. Thursday, June 13, 2002 (0) comments   Whenever anyone asked me a puzzle, I used to forget everything else and just think of solving it. I looked at the others thinking they knew more than me and I am in the dark and lost. But I always managed solving those simple problems and return to normal life. I am not sure if I am just trapped in one such situation now. Someone asked me a puzzle, I forgot everything else and focused my attention, then lost track and have forgotten the question! Others around me sport a contriving smile as usual. The only pathway to normality is now lost. I am trapped in ignorance. Thursday, June 13, 2002 (0) comments   Watched Samsara directed by Pan Nalin. It is shot in Ladhakh and is the story of a Budhist monk who is tempted to live a normal family life. Set in the backdrop of Ladhakh, it has stunning visuals, a simple yet profound story, very good performances by the cast, comparitively lesser dialogues and great appeal. It is in Tibetan and being in Belgium, the subtitles were in French and Dutch. Still didn't miss much. The only problem I felt was a couple of times I wondered why the director prolonged a scene, especially the sex ones as they weren't contributing anything to the storyline. It felt like watching a porn-video then. But well every director has his own style. A must see. Just a small question: Is a set of all sets which are not members of itself a member of itself?(Russel's paradox) :-) Wednesday, June 12, 2002 (0) comments   Tuesday, June 4th, 2002 Live and Let Live It is very irritating to read what is happening in India. Here is a poor nation trying hard to solve her problems. As it is, she has so many to start with – population, poverty, pollution. It’s a long list. And we have a democratically elected government, which is trying, irrespective of the problems within it or the effectiveness of its measures, to do something. We have people, who whatever their state of life, above all are peace-lovers and want to see their country progress. It is backward to start with, has multiple hindrances in making progress and is now one of the most-affected victim of terrorism. Her tolerance is tested to it’s limits and then she gives clear indications that there is a limit and she cannot indefinitely refrain from active measures for eternity. And what happens? The resulting situation is not helping her in any useful manner. Again and again it gets the junk statements from other nations saying they are with it and all the usual diplomatic trash. But to add to this, countries are withdrawing their citizens from it and closing down consulates. Who is the loser? India again. I am not saying that a nation should do nothing for the safety of it’s citizens or that it should not withdraw it’s citizens if it sees a possibility of war and ensuing harm to it’s citizens. But in the current situation is it not an overreaction? Whatever little we are making in IT is affected. Whatever little tourist revenue we get is reduced. All this will affect almost every industry. Here is a nation, which doesn’t want to harm anyone, where the people are not by nature aggressive, a country, which in her history has never attacked any nation, nor has plans to do so, ever. Still it is not allowed to live a normal life. What quirk twist of fate is this that it is being put to so much trouble? Whoever is the perpetrator, LIVE and LET LIVE!!!! Or is all this a part of the game and there is no perpetrator and it’s just fate? I do not think so. Tuesday, June 04, 2002 (0) comments   Tuesday, May 28th, 2002 Simpson's Paradox This is an interesting paradox from statistics. It is not exactly a paradox because there is no logical contradiction. It can be stated as "Aggregate proportions can reverse the direction of the relationship seen in the individual pieces". (There may be a better, comprehensive way to state it.) Let me explain it. Let's say Me and Anand throw stones at a spot for two hours and in the first and second hours both, he gets a better percentage of hits than me, still I might end up with a better agrregate percentage of hits. Sounds unbelievable. Take this example: HITS THROWS % HITS HITS THROWS % HITS Me: First Hour 73 100 73% Anand: First Hour 75 100 75% Me: Second Hour 4 8 50% Anand: Second Hour 30 50 60% At this stage he has defeated me in both the hours of contest, isn't it? But see the aggregate results: HITS THROWS % HITS My Total 77 108 71.3% Anand's Total 105 150 70% See Me is Better than Anand! Well it's not as tough as it looks, it's just that the percentages in the second hour of throwing were generally low and I cleverly threw less times. So looking at the data in two different ways gives two different pictures. So moral of the story is, I am the clever guy.(kidding, when will they introduce a tag for kidding in HTML?) Tuesday, May 28, 2002 (0) comments   Wednesday, May 22nd, 2002 What can be done to avoid a war? The possibility of a war between India and Pakistan is very real today. For anyone who understands the situation between India and Pakistan atleast to some level of detail, this is probably the last moment to think up some way we can solve this problem without a war? I can understand people who will say that war is the only solution. But I can also understand a spirit of peace, that at any moment, however bad, looks for a peaceful solution. Is there any option left? Anything at all? Please put in your thoughts. Wednesday, May 22, 2002 (0) comments   I opened the door and looked out. There were stars and darkness. I wondered why there is darkness when there are stars? Maybe they are too far. And in their distance, too much distance is so similar to absence, the default is darkness. If there is nothing, then there is darkness. I walked out and turned around to find that the door was no more there. My door to the world has been lost. Am I engulfed in this darkness forever? But then I do not dislike this darkness, do I? This is the same as when the eyes are closed and the mind is distanced from all thoughts. Except there are no stars then. And I certainly don't dislike that. But it was never happened that I have ever closed my eyes and distanced my mind from all thoughts and was never able to return. This is new. And I wonder if this darkness is inside me, my thoughts, their absence or outside. Or is the sense of inside and outside just an illusion and that I have just been liberated from that illusion. Liberation certainly hasn't brought me to heaven. This interestingly is more closer to the description of hell. But then I do not remember what the difference between heaven and hell was. I walked towards the stars. They vanished. Now I am in total darkness, alone. I couldn't feel my body anymore and now I feel no distinction between the engulfing darkness and and me. I am one with it. One with the universe. Thursday, May 16, 2002 (0) comments   Tuesday, May 14th, 2002 Language I was just reading this at itismylife and felt like writing on a thought, which has occupied my attention for some days now. It is just that we take language for granted and don't think of the reality, but just ideas and the language. To be more clear, there is some reality out there in the world. We perceive it through our senses and we have an internal algorithm, which separates the common from the uncommon(this criteria may be different in some cases). Then if something is worth thinking, we think about it (I leave that there for the time being) and if it's worth commenting on, we subconsciously choose a language depending on whom we are speaking to and convey the thought or whatever is perceived in that language. The reality maybe different, the perception maybe different, the thought maybe different, the final output in the language maybe totally different. This may sound abstract. Why do we subconsciously perceive, convert it to idea, and following some rules into thoughts or language? Is it necessary? I am not saying it is necessary or otherwise, just wondering why it has to happen everytime! This and other similar thoughts lead me to one final conclusion about human ways. We are just taught this and that and we are just acting. The world probably is just a stage. It is not naturally so, but we make it so. And then this acting becomes so subconsious a process that we forget it as even existing. We just take language the final output as a natural phenomenon. Ofcourse no doubt there is a need for language. But do we use it only when needed? (For example look at me now sitting and typing out all this :-) ) And then as more and more people here and there use different ways of communication we classify these languages into names. This is English, this is Hindi, this is French and what not. Then we discuss why one language is better or worse, which language to use etc! Naming, classification and making rules to follow have become almost natural to man. Probably it is required. But then we end up seeing these names as reality. Aren't they just names to identify the reality, but not the reality itself? Is this Maya? Tuesday, May 14, 2002 (0) comments   Friday, May 3rd, 2002 One World: An old Idea revisited An aside comment in the previous entry led to an e-mail discussion with a friend and it resulted in this thought: "How were countries formed? Some religion based, some language based, some race based etc. And now we are speaking of countries having people of many religions, languages, races etc and being proud of this fact too!!! Also they take extra effort to maintain their pluralism or atleast proclaim so. So the foundations based on which the country-concept was formed have been shaken, isn't it? And the direct logical extension of this change is the removal this country concept. :-) Maybe that's a bit too ahead of the times..." Rigveda says: "Ayam nijo paro veti ganana laghucetasam Uttacharitanam tu vasudaiva kutumbakam" (The para below is from here) Only base minds reckon whether one be kin or stranger Men of noble conduct take the whole world for their home(family) Mystics of all lands have felt the same and Jung classified it under the great archetypal experience of Unus Mundus - the One World, the Totality and Interdependence of all things. If that is true then there is no way a man is a stranger on any part of the world, and nothing can be alien or hateful to him. But the Veda warns that only Noble Minds can reach this conclusion. I don't what Noble Mind means. Maybe Brahmin. But that's not the point. The point is about OneWorld. What do you think? Friday, May 03, 2002 (0) comments   Monday, April 29th, 2002 World Economy and India I have a gut feeling that something is wrong with Economics. I don't mean the way it is going, recession etc. Economics itself is futile or rather the human activities we study under economics are futile. I also have another gut feeling. There is something wrong with this concept of the world divided as countries. It's something like the animal's feeling of territory, for example what the dog feels when it urinates. Both these will have to ultimately go away. Well I know it sounds revolutionary etc etc. At a young age everyone has such revolutionary ideas. Maybe. But the gut feeling is still there. Surprisingly this doesn't though prevent me from thinking upon Economics or trying to understand it. Nor does it prevent me from thinking of India and sharing the pride in whatever little successes it has had. I have always liked to read news like this. Please don't overestimate the value of that piece of information. It's just based on the Gross National Income in Purchasing Power Parity terms. And please don't laugh at the reference to Pakistan in that news. Tha't would be cheap. Instead read this and think of not "What the country can do for you, but what you can do for the country". Probably these articles just say that India is a big and poor country. So what is the future. I mean Economy(oh-the-hated-Economy)-wise. Probably you will find part of the answer here. "Collectively, these two countries accounted for 1.1 percentage points, or 44 per cent, of the 2.5 per cent growth in world gross domestic product in 2001." Significant, isn't it? Monday, April 29, 2002 (0) comments   Monday, April 15th, 2002 An Important Discussion Myself and Harish(my project-mate) had this very interesting discussion with an erudite colleague of ours. He has studied Philosophy in detail and was very thorough in what he said. I hadn’t thought out much of what I said and now have relaised my ignorance of much of Religion. The discussion was about his disbelief in Religion. He says that Religion purports to do things, which it cannot do. Religion introduces the element of the mystic, which doesn’t prevent anyone from explaining away anything as mystic, even murder in the name of religion. Also Religion doesn’t lend to rationality and makes in it claims irrational jumps where it says things it doesn’t explain rationally. I am very tempted to put the discussion verbatim. But that is unnecessary as I believe any discussion in which there is a difference of opinion, it is only necessary to arrive at one or many exactly defined statements where there is difference of opinion. What was exactly said till then is not very important. After arriving at such statements where one says “It is so” and the other “It is not so” then there should be rational exchange by each to justify his stand. The statement we arrived at is, “Religion is fundamentally wrong”. He says since Religion is fundamentally wrong it should be done away with. We said that it is not so. He says Religion is fundamentally wrong because for example it says it can take you to Spiritual Enlightenment, to an Elevated state of Understanding the Infinite etc. These are not properly defined and are not rational and the whole thing is just a farce for some people to fool others and remain in power. Basically Religion is a different form of politics. People even justify murder in the name of Religion and say it is the will of the God. What I said to that is that Religion for me is Hinduism. I haven’t had the good fortune to study other Religions(and I do not believe that such belief is mutually exclusive). And in Hinduism irrational description of an elevated state and using the fear of common man and promising him Heaven and thus somebody who wants Power keeping him under control etc etc is the not the intent. Hinduism believes in reasoning and change and allows it. My colleague has asked me then “What do you mean by Spiritual Enlightenment and how do I know when I have attained it or somebody else has attained it?”. I am in the process of learning and preparing a good answer to this question. Wednesday, April 17, 2002 (0) comments   Monday, April 15th, 2002 Villa of Disharmony There amidst those small, middle-class houses and huts stands a mini-palace. Huge walls protect it, gardens add beauty to the surroundings, the maali is working to further improve it. The central three-storied concrete structure is huge, though not very good looking. People passing it look at it with envy. I, the invisible, enter into this house. Ground floor: Wife and husband are in a heated conversation. Gossiping about the brother living in the First floor. Sarcasm, and dislike flame the conversation. When the heat becomes unbearable, I run up the steps to the First Floor. But I find, the door to the First floor is boarded. Invisible, but burning in the flames, I run out. There behind the house, an add-on staircase to the first floor. The staircase, the standing, rising symbol of disagreement. But what is interesting is the another staircase close-by, this one leading to the Second Floor, another symbol. I don’t try climbing up because I can see the flames above, through the open windows. That may even be my imagination, but the heat is real. I jump over the wall of the villa and escape to the huts, where brothers don’t disagree. But even there, do I find harmony? Monday, April 15, 2002 (0) comments   Monday, April 15th, 2002 Further on Complexity Continuing from the previous blog, I think, now I should start the process of complex thinking. Are we on the right road? First of all, does the world require a road at all and should people think about all this? I think, thinking about these is unavoidable, irrespective of whether it is required or not. This is the one assumption I have to make. Otherwise it stops here. Now do we need a road? I mean, does the world have a defined pathway to progress? Or should humanity just leave it at that and let it go wherever it is going? This is somewhat related to the previous question and here again, if we do not need such a road, thinking stops here. Let me now assume that we need a road. (Complex thinking needs a lot of assumptions, each of which could be wrong) What should the road be? Probably I should first analyze the road, the Modern times have shown us and the one we seem to be following - the Road of Progress. Here I face a big problem. Analysis of any form needs certain Guidelines (which unfortunately are further assumptions), which can be used to make a value judgement on something. These assumptions should help me to say whether the road of progress we follow is correct or not. Where do I get it from? Religion? Most religions ask us to follow such and such and then it is good, else it is bad. Progress, as defined today, doesn't seem to be the best way in any Religion. Science? I know Science as only the application of Scientific Thought and in some ways the unraveling of the unknown. I am not sure if it has something in it, which can be used to make a value judgement on Progress. Maybe at the level of Philosophy of Science there maybe something. I am not sure. Gandhi? Read Gandhi’s Talisman here. Since I am in doubt as to whether something is good or not, I can use his Talisman and see whether it helps the poorest man I can remember. Put in context, whether Progress does any good to him. I think it certainly does him good, isn’t it? Abraham Lincoln? When he says: “I am for those means which will give the greatest good to the greatest number.” Does Progress satisfy this criterion? Frankly this is getting very complex. There can be so many such Guidelines. Which to choose? I am leaving it hanging here for the time being. Based on your response and my mood, I will come back to this sometime. After all, it is one of my favorite topics. Monday, April 15, 2002 (0) comments   Thursday, April 11th, 2002 Why things are complex Thinking simplistically is the one mistake people often do. Let me take a serious look at the world around. Where is the world going? After the initial primitive existence of man there was this stage called the Dark Ages, when pursuit of knowledge was curtailed and authority was established in the name of God and feudalism, to the advantage of only a priviliged few. Then came the Renaissance and the Modern Ages. Scientific thinking had become important and this and many other factors spurred an Industrial Revolution, where acquisition of wealth was no more based on feudal authority, but personal enterprenuership - Capitalism. The consequent inequalities resulted in the Communist way of thinking, where (irrespective of whatever communism theoretically meant) the enterprenuer and labour became enemies. A person investing money or starting a business can also make money without oppressing the labour he will employ. Rather than a win-loose situation it can become a partial win-win situation. This probably has now reduced the relevance of Communism. Progress became the buzzword of Modern times. Progress, as can be measured by economic indices like Gross Domestic Produce etc. And that brings us to the world of today. The world as I see it today is divided into different countries, which based on some Economic indices, are either Developed or Developing. Each country strictly maintains itself as a distinct entity and tries to achieve the standards of Economic indices of the Developed countries. And what are the developed countries doing? Well, life doesn't end once you are a developed nation. They have more enterprenuers coming up with newer ideas, which change the way business is done or improve the quality of life. The latter is important, the pursuit to improve quality of life, which means something like "if you have a house to live in, food to eat and clothes to wear, then let me now make a beautiful garden around my house." It's just an example. But have we reached the end of the road. No, because there are still developing countries who have to reach there. Also the countries, who have reached the end of the road are building the road of progress further and further. So even if we haven't reached a state, where humanity has attained a reasonable amount of satisfaction to stop moving further and further ahead, can we atleast say that we are on the right road? This is where it gets complex. What preceded this(after I began talking about the mistake of thinking simplistically) was a simplistic description. There can be infinite differences and mistakes pointed out in it. Like when it was Dark Ages in Europe, was it really Dark in India etc etc. But in a very rough sense atleast, I think, this is what happened upto today. But now, this question, as to whether we are on the right road at all. Continued in the next blog... Thursday, April 11, 2002 (0) comments   Wednesday, April 10th, 2002 I can pose as Nostradamus Part 1: Short-Term predictions Apartment building will not have corridors anymore. The door to the balcony will be the front door. People will stand on the two pedals of their Personal Flying Machines and just fly out. These machines for all commercial purposes will be called flymas(short for FLYing MAChines) and pronounced as falmies*. There will be no traffic control. 3-D space will reduce the possibility of both accidents and traffic control. Umbrellas over traffic islands will be inverted and used to catch falling flymas and service them. Nobody will bother about the rider because if it’s system has broken down, it can be cloned(for reasons of usage of “it”, go to the reference to sexes below). Instead of parking under office buildings flymas will be parked on the roof. Needless to say, car-manufacturing companies will close down or move into making flymas. Cooking will become obsolete as food-processing machines will become common. They will have input for different items and keys to program the desired cooking like 'boil in water for 5 mins', 'fry for 10 mins' etc. Also standard dishes can be stored as programs with parameters for customization. Prepared food can be consumed by either directly connecting the FPs outlet to the mouth or stored in dishes. Different washing requirements will just have different inlets, buttons and outlets. As a result there will be no work left in the house. Cleaning apparatus can be set into periodic auto-scanning mode. So the only difference between the sexes will be their organs, but that’s just a matter of a small decision and a couple of minutes. All information(newspaper, magazines, mail) will come and go through the wire into a device, which will be no more called the computer, because it is a highly programmable hardware, which can accept English commands and translate it into programs. It will be called domputer(because d comes after c). (A breed of workers called Programmers, who existed for some years will vanish. Plumbers will still be there because water has to come to the house still and taps will still leak. Nobody put in more thought into that.) Worshipping can be done by logging in either over the wire through a domputer or taking a flyma to the religious institution. (But none of the religious instituions are anyway designed for roof-parking of flymas, so more and more people will prefer domputers). Companies will desing hardware that will to auto-generate novels,poems and paintings using AI, but the spreading disinterest in such artforms will cause these companies to heavily lay-off and go insolvent. Scientific research will more and more target questions like “How and why did pursuit of science start?” and “Do we need science?”. Results in these will prove self-destructive. * - to follow an old English tradition of having a spelling and a totally unexpected pronunciation. Wednesday, April 10, 2002 (0) comments   Wednesday, April 10th, 2002 I can pose as Nostradamus Future prediction is an easy job. Lots of people before and after Nostradamus have given it a try. Only, he was clever. He mastered obscurantism. "In the City of God there will be a great thunder, Two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb, The third big war will begin when the big city is burning" Say something like this and somewhere along the future something similar is bound to happen. I am saying this in a lighter sense. Please don't start a "I stand for Nostradamus!" campaign and kill me with comments. Let me also give it a try. I will give short-term, medium-term and long-term predictions. Short-term predictions are bound to begin from the next day of my death(refer to previous blogs for my predictions on when that will happen). No, I am not shirking, it's just that... well... "On the moonless night of fourth day of the fourth month of the symmetric year, an apparition found voice and yelled 'Sree, decree, start a spree, on a future tree, to begin, from the end of thee.' " So you see the predictions will only start coming true from the next day of my ... And I will not attempt to be an obscurantist. That's not how I play the game. Wednesday, April 10, 2002 (0) comments   Tuesday, April 9th, 2002 Wisdom and Practicality Darks clouds close in from the horizon. "You mean you haven't read the Vedas! One-Fourth of your life is wasted. Have you read the Upanishads?" the Scholar to the Boatman taking him across the river in some rural village in India. "No". It slowly started to drizzle. "Half your life is wasted. What about the Bahagavadgeetha?". The downpour increases in intensity and an occasional lightning can be seen "No Panditji". The wind is slowly gaining speed "Three fourth of your life is wasted!". "Panditji do you know swimming?". "No no. Why?". The boat slowly sinks "Looks like all your life will be wasted soon, there is a storm coming and my small boat may not stand up to it!". A well known joke(more than a joke) from India. Personally, I am a wreck in such matters whose importance is stressed above. If not exit in 50s, madness in 60s, certain to drown somewhere, sometime. Different things to learn in life physical, knowledge-wise. People proportion their learning in different ways. Some wrestlers only at the physical level, some bookworms only in knowledge, some TV-Ad-Hero-kids, drinking Bournvita, become "Champions" in ladai and padai(roughly translated - wrestling and studies). Mental make-ups, inflexibilities and the choice of a path in life. Is their something that is best, a formula? Or is it same either way? Does it matter at all? Doubts galore... Tuesday, April 09, 2002 (0) comments   Monday, April 8th, 2002 Benin & the Indian Bomb Running out of the subway, I ran into the bus-stand and not seeing the bus, asked the African gentleman "42?". "Gone". "Oh no". I turn and enter into a couple nested shells of thought. "I too miss... bus..." smiling African gentleman "I look at schedule of 29 and go for a walk. hihi...". "Bad luck!" I am happy to have someone who is interested in a conversation. Instead of names, countries of origin are exchanged. His eyes light up when I say "I am from India". "Me from Benin!" Some light conversation ensues. Later in the bus he enters into couple of shells(probably searching for what he knows on India) and says " You know... Gandhi?". From the question, I guessed, he doesn't expect me to personally know Gandhi, nor to impersonally not know Gandhi, he is just saying he knows of Gandhi. I put in some comment on South Africa, hoping he would find it relevant. He turned out to be staying in the same builing as myself and during the brief walk from the bus stop to the apartment he says "India has the Bomb.. ha.. Atomic Bomb?". Me "Ya ya. You think it's good?". "Yes. America has... I hope you understand what I say?" "Yes, you mean so it's good for one of us third-world countries to have it too?" "YES! YES!" broad smile. Interesting this thought of the Indian Bomb and third world camaraderie. I say a couple of more bad things about the Bomb, and later, since he had to pass my apartment, I say "Come in" hoping he would not(bachelor's room you see). "Some time later" and he leaves. Time was 11:50PM.(A native French speaker saying the three words - Some, Time, Later could mean anything.) Sounds of vaccum cleaner from my room at midnight and my attempts to keep the name of India "clean" amidst the third-world camaraderie. Tuesday, April 09, 2002 (0) comments   Sunday, April 7th, 2002 Optimism? People who are acquainted with the intensity of my thought(whatever foolishness the content be), like my sister, say, I will go mad by the age of 60. (I ignore the ex-colleagues-posing-to-be-friends, who remove the reference to 60 and use present tense in the previous statement.) But going by the extent of physical activity I involve in nowadays, I am compensating for God's misery while putting me together in the vertical axis, by growth in the other two perpendicular axes. I expect my first heart attack in the 40s and then "exit(1)" in the 50s (Exit with error 1. Me no normal exit, sure.) Well that scuttles the chances of my going mad. So friends (and ex-colleagues-posing-to-be-friends): "An extra burger(or even dosa) a day, keeps the madness away." Madness? Exit? (No, my mother isn't net savvy) Tuesday, April 09, 2002 (0) comments   Friday, April 5th, 2002 What is There are many aspects to Brahminism: -Their origin from the face of Brahma - The Creator as written in Hindu scriptures. -Their role as one of the four castes in the Chaaturvarna system(The division of society into four castes - Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra). -Their dedication to the study of the Vedas, Philosophy, Teaching, Astrology and Medical science, spreading the message of Hinduism, being advisers to kings and Governments and so forth. -The scriptures not saying that this class is superior or that class is inferior -Heredity becoming a caste marker. This is of much later origin and thousands of castes have proliferated in India. -The Theory of Aryan Invasion whereby Central Asians were said to have migrated to Northern India and driven the existing people to South -The countering of the above theory. Not denying that people from central Asia might have come to India, as have several successive waves, this hypothesis says that a highly evolved culture already existed which assimilated the Aryans. This view is supported by archeological findings at Harappa (now in Pakistan) -Finally the evolving somehow the present Indian societal order whereby caste is solely hereditary, marriages are normally within castes(anything else causing severe heartburns to relatives of bride and groom), Brahmins are the priests in Hindu temples. -Brahmins also entering other fields of life other than being priests - Scientists, Doctors, Political Leaders, Engineers etc. The abovementioned points are all highly debated, highly supported, highly opposed, and whatnot. I want to get away from all this. I am unable to focus on the aspect of Brahminism connected to Temples because I haven't been trained in those. My education and profession are totally different from these. What I am trying to find is if there is anything in Brahminism, which a common man of today doing some secular job can follow? I know there will be people, who say such a person can never be a Brahmin. But I believe that this is not the case. I occasionally try to get to this eternal essence of secular Brahminism. Friday, April 05, 2002 (0) comments   Wednesday, April 3rd, 2002 The Quest - Method & Limitations Pursuit of the unknown is challenging. One can do it in any of the many ways. But whatever it is you are pursuing, a positive result is never a neccessary outcome. That we needn't worry about this is adviced in Bhagavadgeetha: "Karmanyevadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana, Ma karmaphalaheturbhurmate sangostva karmani" (II-47) Meaning: Your right is to work only, but never desire the fruits let not the fruits of action be your motive, nor let your attachment be to inaction. (I don't feel very good quoting from Bhagavadgeetha etc, because personally, I feel, one should devote complete attention to these texts and only then speak about them. My kind of piece-meal approach is not correct. But I am unable to do so now and believe "Something is better than nothing") But even if it is true that we should not desire the result, in any pursuit there is no harm(I feel) in trying to find out whether there will be a result or not. For people who feel very confident, and have the feeling:"I am great, I know everything or I can certainly know and answer everything", please consider this: Look at the world we live in Physically. We are in some country, on the face of earth, which revolves and rotates around a sun in a solar system, which is in a galaxy called "Milky Way", which is in a Universe. Sounds great. Hey but what is in the Universe in? Is it just hanging in cold air? Hanging?? Cold air?? Well you see when we bring together the concepts of: The Physical World we are in, The Quest "What is outside this?" and it's repeated use we end up in an unanswerable question. Because whatever anything is in, what is outside that? This is unending, INFINITE. So either the Physical World is incomprehensible or certainly not lending itself to Questions like "What is outside this?" OR Our whole way of thinking is wrong. By "our whole way", I am referring to the Western Scientific way. I have been taught in school to think scientifically and atleast as of now(maybe not before, maybe not later), this is the contribution of the Western world. And does this way of thinking answer my seemingly simple sounding question. No! I arrive at two possibilities above - Incomprehensibility of Physical World AND wrong way of thinking. If it is the former then it points to the what I was trying to say "...whatever it is you are pursuing a positive result is never a neccessary outcome". Still I don't think we human beings have been born into this world for leaving things at that. We always pursue. Even in the sloka above Lord Krishna didn't want us to give up, as can seen by the interpretation in http://www.vahini.org/downloads/geethavahini.html "...The Lord has said in the Geetha, 'refuse the fruit' (maa phaleshu), that is to say: the deed yields results, but the doer should not desire the result, or do it with the result in view. If Krishna's intention was to say that the doer has no right for the fruit, He would have said, 'It is fruitless', 'na phaleshu,' (na, meaning no). So if you desist from Karma, you will be transgressing the Lord's command. That will be a serious mistake..." So made confident by the reassurances, I pursue the INFINITE, a pursuit in which, as I said above, there is nothing much to be confident about. I like this, this brief look at pursuit, before one actually begins. Time, Eternal, standing Still, moves ahead, unending Will, never to stop, no trace of chill, till the summit of this Colossal Hill... Wednesday, April 03, 2002 (0) comments   Tuesday, April 2nd, 2002 Brahminism - The Ideal For some time now I have been thinking about this concept of Brahminism. Brahmin, as a word means a person who has full knowledge of Brahman, that is God. How things happen in India nowadays is that anybody who is born in a Brahmin family is a Brahmin. Nobody else is. I was never very satisfied by this order of life in India. I always felt that one becomes a Brahmin under certain conditions. What these where I never knew completely. But still I was certain that just being born into a Brahmin family and having undergone the thread ceremony doesn't make me a Brahmin. Also nothing disqualifies a person born in a non-Brahmin family from becoming a Brahmin. Basically which family you were born into doesn't form a necessary part of the set of conditions which makes one a Brahmin. Then what are these set of conditions? I intend to pursue this question in my life and probably even become a Brahmin one day :-) The concept of Brahminism should have been the ideal for the Hindu religion. Infact, I believe that the goal of Hinduism is achieved when everyone becomes a Brahmin. I am not very sure about this. But it certainly sounds good. One very important point here is to see two things as separate. One is what Brahminism is and what it has become. What Brahminsim is: An ideal to be achieved. What Brahminism has become: Something which only the children of a Brahmin can become. And thereby it just remains as a caste and a set of rituals. What I feel is that the latter is not correct. The former should not be called as bad because the latter is the prevalent practice in Hinduism today. My intention while saying this is not to hurt the feelings of anyone who believes in the latter. But I request them to kindly explain to me why they are correct? I am a novice and just learning these things and generally seeking knowledge. I will be occasionally coming back to this and will continue my pursuit of Brahminism. If anyone has any views or information please feel free to share it through the "Comments" or "Guestbook". And I hope we learn something out of the whole exercise. Tuesday, April 02, 2002 (0) comments   Monday, April 1st, 2002 Time for a change My blogs till now resemble some kind of a travelogue. I am not so bent on travelling. It is just that I landed in Europe at such a young age and have some friends here, who love travelling - Niraj(who is already covered 7 European countries) and Suresh. But still, when I actually went to these places, I really loved it. I think with places like, Paris, Rome and Swiz you probably don't have any other choice. But now I intend to write about some thoughts that are closer to me. First of all I would like to acknowledge Anand(Subramony Sesha), who introduced me to blogging. He is my CET(College of Engineering, Trivandrum) friend. I had read about blogging previously in rediff.com, but it was he who brought it to my serious attention. So he becomes my guru in this. It is important, I believe, to acknowledge and respect someone who gives you knowledge. I also blog at Samvedna with my friends at CET, Anand(ofcourse), Baiju and Suresh. Monday, April 01, 2002 (0) comments   Saturday, March 9, 2002 Switzerland ...then slowly the Lake Geneva and the distant mountains came into view. It looked serene. And the green, grass filled plateau, and hills with huge houses and acres of land surrounding, green and bare(no trees, no garden. Just bare green grass). The whole country is hilly. We changed train at Bern and slowly moved towards Interlaken. Interlaken, between two lakes and the distant snowcapped mountains all around had a tranquility it. We took the next train to Grindelwald from Ost and slowly climbed from 500m to 1050 mts. There was Grindelwald village quietly lying in lap of Eiger, Moench and Jungfrau. Small wooded houses and the small town look. We were late and so missed much activity the first day. We utilised the time to find out what we can do the next day and found out that we need to either take a Ski class or rent Ski equipment and go up to First. We chose the latter. The night atmosphere was sleepy, a small town at night with all the shops closed and people strolling sleepily to there hotels. Suddenly out of nowhere a group of people materialised with all the band instruments. They stopped right in the middle of the town and started their music. The whole atmosphere changed. People stopped and gathered around the band, people in nearby hotels came out to the balcony to see that the hell’s going on. Well unknown people, undefined, loud music, some dancing, foots tapping and reverberating sound. I felt this was life. Un-analysable, undefinable. Just existing and nothing more. Life. Got up early, got ready and went for a stroll. The mountain ranges at dawn, the quiet atmosphere. Posted some postcards to home and relatives. Rented Ski equipment. Understood how to wear it etc. Bought the SkiPass. Then went up the Gondola to First. First trip on a Gondola!!!! It takes you to heights so fast. Took a lot of photos. At First the view was spectacular. Snow everywhere. Glistening in the sunlight. Huge mountains, heights, depths and covering snow. Tried skiing and fell once, twice, thrice and gave up. Forget Skiing. The ambience there was unbelievable. People, experts in Skiing, taking the lift up and Skiing down and immediately taking the lift again for the next round. Before starting back talked to one Andreas who owns a bungalow, portions of which he rents. He advertised a bit about his place and spoke also about his trips to Kerala, Trivandrum and Kochi. His parting comment was about Business: "We are not good businessmen. Bloody, you Indians should make damn good businessmen. More than even the Jews, I have seen. An Indian family will arrange everything and finally when they land at you place and they will say "Let’s discuss the price once more. You know I have these kids to feed etc" Oh my God! I just picturised that. These Indians, touring Switzerland talking about trouble to feed kids. Returned to Grindelwald and took the train back to Geneva. Called up home and conveyed a verbal picture of Switzerland, knowing very much how limited words can get. Walked to the lake at Geneva lake and back to the Airport. Back to Brussels and normal life. Life goes on.. Thursday, March 28, 2002 (0) comments   Saturday, December 1, 2001 Rome In the 4th country at the age of 23! From the moment I landed I saw a different picture of Europe. More people for starters. More filth, dirt, cracked streets, cars passing red signal without another thought. Compare it to Brussels where as in many other countries, on zebra crossings without a signal, the cars have to stop for pedestrians! The two faces of Rome were intriguing. The Caesarian Face and the Catholic Face. The interesting thing being the Roman who pursued Christ and Christians and who crucified the Lord, had in later part of history, seen the city connected to their name inhabiting the power center of Catholic Christian world - The Vatican. I loved viewing the Caesarian Collossium and the Catholic St. Peter's Basilica. One impressive by it's age and the other it's visual magnificence, the talent of Michaelangelo et al. Will never forget the tiring climb to the Cupola (dome) of St. Peter's Basilica - round and round the dome through a stairway narrow enough to just let one person go through. From up there whole of Vatican can be seen - the smallest state in the world. Thursday, March 28, 2002 (0) comments   Saturday, October 13, 2001 Paris Paris city looks good from up here. The vast city, the Seine snaking through, the tall buildings of the Esplanade, Arc du Triomphe, and the infinite small and big buildings. All visible from up here. I am on top of the Eiffel Tower. Standing at just below a 1000 feet, theory says I can see 42 miles in either direction. Theory is not exactly what is in my mind right now. Thursday, March 28, 2002 (0) comments   Monday, October 1, 2001 An Indian comes to Belgium Coming out of one's own country is good in many ways. It probably widens one's outlook. It shows one new ways of life, new people. It gives one reason enough to change and to come out of that conservative shell that becomes the normal way of life. Since I have been changing cities in India every five years, it is not entirely new to me. India with it's diversity has more differences than maybe in the whole continent of Europe. But still it felt great landing in Brussels, the center of Northern Europe. Not a bad time to start blogging. :-) Brussels is not historically a great city. Belgium has an interesting similarity to India. India or parts were ruled by Mughals, British, Dutch, French, Portugese... Belgium too was ruled by almost everyone in Europe. Well not something to be proud of. But it probably explains the city’s cosmopolitan nature. It is but now slowly gaining stature - It's the capital of Europe, European Union - The headquarters, the Parliament. The geographically central location, the Presidency of EU. A Belgian was recently elected the Olympic commission chairman etc etc. One third people in the city are foreigners. It surprised me to learn that the first king was from Britain and most of the following kings have married from other nations - France, Sweden, Italy. Thursday, March 28, 2002 (4) comments