As good as it gets

Meluha & its woes: My take on book 1 from Shiva Trilogy

2011-09-25T03:03:00.003-07:00

"The immortals of Meluha" seem to have received really rave reviews and people seem to have celebrated the birth of one more IITian turned, Young author who can drive the youth to new highs with his skills at penning down literature which can draw our youth back to the lost art of reading and comprehending. There were very flashy Youtube videos that added impetus to the launch of the trilogy series of books.

I am not someone who can comment a lot about how people write or if their writings are good. However, going by the right to express my free opinion and also by the line that

"Opinions are like assholes, each one has one and it stinks to the other"

i thought of giving my opinion a form of words in put it in my blog.

Fortunately or unfortunately, i read Amish's Meluha after reading the first version of the "Prison Dairy" by J. Archer. I don't know if all consider Archer as an pro author, but to me he is one of the best. The high levels of Archer's book are no way even comparable to Amish's Meluha, thereby perhaps adding an extra angle to my criticism.

The book is filled with common-day english and American slangs. "Goddamit", "What the devil is going on"...Ok, they seem good but not always.The bigger problem seems to me is the lack of creativity in the language. "His chest puffed with pride"...The same sentence has been repeated three times in the span of two pages, whence making the puffing in Amish's book more than what Sherlock Holmes would have perhaps puffed in his entire detective lifespan.

Yes, there is romance, there is drama and there is violence. A full package , if i may compare it with Bollywood films.

Some other readers who hold a view similar to time are below

[1] [2]

But then i also realize that these books are also necessary. It is the same way you really need to have nerves of Steel to be able to learn "C- Coding" from the "kernighan and Ritchie" and most likely you would love to do it with "Balaguruswamy" instead for the the first time, so is Amish's book good for a beginner but might be too much of a let down for someone who has been reading for sometime.

Will i buy the next book? Definitely ( so Mr. Tripathi you have got your marketing right!!), why not read some harmless fun if bookadda or flipkart gives it to me with huge discounts...

By the way, I got the 1st book for just 100 bucks...Thanks to indiaplaza.in

Shit...Pic of the week

2011-09-17T05:36:00.001-07:00

Our Taxes and their jokes

2011-09-12T09:26:00.001-07:00

I think there is a need for one more Anshan or fast for the uninitiated. This time we should fight that all politicians who take dumb decisions or make even dumber promises should be spanked publicly, if not life imprisoned. The best example is below

Under the scheme, a poll promise of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa that will be launched on September 15, the government will distribute 9.12 lakh laptops this year and the balance in the next four years.

Thanks Jayalalithaaji for using my hard earned money in such a bright scheme. My money because you are giving the Laptops from my taxes. Oh yeah, our government is happy doing this...Dont believe...see this comment from Mr. Azad

Watch TV to check baby boom: Azad

Well if you thought that was just about how bad it could be, see this article that came a few years back

[...] this second honeymoon is courtesy the district administration and is all part of a uniquely labelled family planning scheme.

Yeah, free second honeymoon, if you delay your child. Beat that. Sometimes i feel that instead of "Loksabha" it should be called "JokeSabha", because we come up with funny laws and regulations b/w these 4 walls and call them democratic rulings.

A journey to remember

2011-09-11T01:01:00.003-07:00

They say there is a learning in very moment that life presents to us. I had never thought that i would be writing about a journey that i had made atleast 4 times before in the past. The answer lies in the question itself. I have done the same flight with the the same sad looking Air hostesses with their unfriendly if not rude behavior in the past. I know what to expect and more strongly know the reason for returning to the same flight time and again. So, when you know what to expect and what will come next, you dont spend time anticipating, rather you invest it in observing and trying to understand something that you have perhaps missed in the past.

It was the kind of people I met in this journey that prompted me to write this piece. I knew the journey was going to be interesting right from the start when for a change i found a taxi driver, who on arrival to the airport, got down without asking for the fare, went down the walkway, got me a trolley, loaded my seemingly heavy 20 Kg bag and then opened the door for me; and after all this he did not expect even a single rupee extra from me. This is a rarity in Bangalore considering how the Auto rickshaw drivers wait with bated breath to cheat you in broad daylight.

No Pen!! Damn. I needed a pen to fill in the immigration forms and finding this in the airport is not an easy task, since these days most of the people flying have forgotten the art of writing. I think soon schools would be giving you typing courses instead of writing. One needs to know which key means "A", rather than knowing how it is written or said. Thankfully for me a stationary shop at the airport was still open, though it was 11.30 in the night. 10 minutes and with a minus of 45 Rs from my purse i was the proud owner of a stupid looking pen, which i guess would not have cost the manufacturer more than 10 Rs, Taxes included.

Next I meet our bloke at the AF counter ( I prefer to use AF instead of Air France since by blood boils when i have to type that name!!). With a false accent and even faker behavior of being smart and helpful, he asks me questions about immigration etc before i get irritated and cut him and say, that this is not the first time i am doing this flight. He then tries to explain that it is a procedure to help people. Later, during Security check, i was told that our bloke had forgotten to stamp my Web-Checkin boarding pass rendering it almost as valid(in) as a tissue paper in this context.Yeah, I had to go back and get the whole thing done once more!!

The flight was nothing new, except that this time the crew was behaving even more stingier. I request the Air-Hostess who is a French and I guess can speak nothing else but that. I am given water when i ask for orange juice. Further she doesn't even try to understand what i am saying when i try to clarify. I assumed that this is because she was busy. However, later i figured out that she did this because she wanted to talk with the gay-like French sitting next seat. Considering myself lucky not to be sitting next to him and holding on to my shiny engagment ring, i tried to take my mind off the wreached flight. It just showed me that some people like to be with their own kind and clearly she did not like the job. I say this because, i met another French purser,strangely on the same flight who tried his best to sound perfect in English, cracked a joke with me and gave me hot mug of coffee when he saw i was suffering from heavy cold. Thanks to the extra blast from the aircraft's ventilation.

Just when i thought that my woes were getting reduced, Varundev got angry, causing massive turbulences. The plane was doing a Shiela ki jawani some 20000 Feet in air when the Pilot chose to turn on the seat belt sign, while I frantically tried to find the seat belt. When i found it, i found it stuck between the seat and its back. I tugged it, pulled it, did everything i could do with the might i had...only to see that it was still stuck. The Turbulences where getting worse, i was suddenly reminded of the Air crash investigation episodes. I calmed myself down, tried to see where the damn seat belt buckle was stuck and try to slowly adjust my seat inclination and nudge the buckle between the backrest and the seat. Finally my cajoling worked and the buckle came out and i fastened it tight and said my prayers; Praying that they wouldn't me be my last. The incident drew upon me the fact that not everything can be achieved by pulling at it or going the hard way, sometimes softness works. Understanding the situation is more important then trying out the very commonly used methods.

The journey from Paris to Stuttgart was an uneventful one, except that the bloke at the security at France asked me if i could give him a Mercedes looking at the Mercedes T-Shirt i was wearing. Humble as I am, I told him that i too have been asking my boss the same question.

Last but not the least and this is not a part of journey but something that i discovered as i write this piece....I have a webcam that i purchased on the last day before the journey to Germany in India. Having never used an Webcam before; It was never needed..I did not know how the function. The cam has 6 Leds, which i couldn't get to glow as long as i was in India, trying to setup the webcam. The only control on the Webcam was a rotary knob, which up until now i was sure was to control the Microphone volume. For those who don't know, webcams come with an Integrated Mircophone. Even though my mom had begged me to try out this control, i had dismissed her suggestions knowing that she was a technology illiterate. Now i realize that that control is for the LED brightness and that my mom was right. Lesson learned- give every suggestion a patient hearing, what you cannot see, maybe the other person can, even though its not his area of expertise.

Reminds me of How can i think outside the box, if i am made to sit inside one!!

A journey to remember

2011-09-11T01:01:00.001-07:00

Reminds me of How can i think outside the box, if i am made to sit inside one!!

Aadhar is actually nir aadhar

2011-09-05T10:38:00.001-07:00

When Nandan Nilkeni was given the reigns of the mammoth task of creating a Unique Identification for each citizen of India, I was wondering if this would be one project were we indians could proudly tell about a really successful project which gave India & its citizens a new identity.

However, after seeing the absolute chaos today at the post office Aadhar center of Malleshwaram, I understand that this is also going to be a new hog wash. The Aadhar form barely has a few details, and doesn't come in an electronic form or an easy to carry form. Instead, it is a big almost A4 size long and about half as wide sheet which may or may not be laminated. This is your UID in the democratic india.

I was really expecting something much smaller, more technologically advanced and easy to use. I understand that when the government has to provide this free of cost, it is a huge burden on our treasury but after recent stint of scams and scandals i wonder how HUGE is really huge for our Treasury...

More UID info here http://uidai.gov.in/

A habit getting rare - Reading

2011-08-23T08:20:00.001-07:00

I am sure the day is not far when, "U" will be an oxford dictionary word which means "You" and "gr8" is considered and optimized replacement for the word "great" since it needs one to type 2 more letters. The article here describes, how a study UK brought the problem of SMS and Facebook to light. Today we all are busy though we are not doing much, our internet time has increased many a times and reading seems to be something one has to do when he gets a new Email or a SMS.

One need not understand expressions like "Searching something in a Hay stack" or a "As you sow, so you reap". Infact, it is difficult for me to understand how can one live without reading the wonderful books like "The famous Five" or the "Three investigators". I still remember when i would frantically cycle to the nearest library after my UT or unit test, to read the latest issue of "Chacha Chaudary" or "Champak". Looks like the cartoon network and the bevy of other channels, with their tons of poisonous episodes displaying strong emotions like envy, hatred etc although with an good intention...That good wins over the bad; have replaced these weekly or fortnightly magazines. Uncle pai is dead ( May his soul rest in peace!!)...I just wonder how long before Tinkle and Amar chitra katha too vanish in the oblivions of our ever advancing society....

To be shared

2011-08-22T09:25:00.001-07:00

Mr. Jaitley has done the talking...i am just sharing it with you

Is the "Gandhi Era" reaching its expiry date?

2011-08-20T10:54:00.001-07:00

Facebook is filled with funny quotes..One of my all time favorites is...

."Sonia jiski mummy hai, wo sarkar nikammi hai"...

But really has Anna messed up the Hornets nest by his fast. The government seems to be extremly confused as to what is to be done, and what not. First they arrest Anna...and then the release him. And then they allege that BJP and other parties are hand in glove with Anna. Sometimes, i trust that over government, which has highly qualified people like Manmohan Singh (also called MMS in slogans) and Dr. Chidambaram ( who by the way is already being seen as the future PM) holding its reigns, seems to be acting like a mouse that is trapped in a room which has no furniture and no where to hide. By the way, the nature of Rats is to hide...they run very fast...but they need place to hide...Same is with govt which doesn't know where to hide its face...Even Sonia's veil which was there to protect the ministers is missing.

It is clear that many of the Leaders have a lot to lose if the Lokpal bill is passed. No doubt, and independent body would hold the corrupt people by their balls. However, why do you want to react like idiots? Are you so stupid guys? You have eaten the countrys millions of bucks....Atleast now stop.

The agitation that Anna started has now taken almost an Ego trip now. It is clear that that fire has started and the smoke is rising...It is only a matter of time before the "Gandhi Era" is burnt down to ashes for good and a new system emerges.

A visit to the budding Pune

2011-08-20T10:32:00.001-07:00

It was raining since i was here. For the Punekers this is a part of life i guess and they take it nonchalantly, almost as nonchalalantly as they flout the traffic rules & ride bikes at godforsaken speeds without wearing a helmet. The image i had of Pune was more of a laid back industrial town, which has now totally changed. For there are more malls than what you could imagine. The real estate business seems to be booming like crazy, like the alarming traffic in Pune. Ok, now Nikhil has started to look into what i am typing...Yeah, we indians are more curious about what the neighbors are doing rather than what we ourselves are doing....

Coming back to the topic...In Bangalore dogs & wine shops are the two most common things on the streets, In Pune it is Youngsters and chaotic traffic. If you thought that that Banglaore traffic is chaotic, pls try Pune. Nagar road is one of the widest roads in pune with many big malls and shopping complexes all along. The industrial Pune is Pimpri & Chinchwad which are slightly on the outskirts. Ofcourse, i was travelling even further to Chankan or Urse.

Contrary to many other towns, Money seems to be no problem here. Everyone seems to have a car or atleast a bike. Well, this shows kind of business opportunities that open up when you have lot of colleges and students. For students with well off parents, money has never been a problem and we all know that students will have time always for a movie or a bite at Mc'donalds but never the time to go to Library and return the books they took or to finish their lab reports.

Its 9'o clock, i am still on the street walking back to my hotel...and so is everyone i guess only thing they are coming out of their hostels, houses or apartments. Yeah, the Pune public lives on strees and likes to enjoy the night. I come to appreciate the expression - "come rain or shine" --Because Pune seems to be one place were be it rain or storm, everyone likes to have a good time, eat-dine and make merry. Its turely a place where "Work Hard and Play Harder" really manifests itself into reality...

Pune zawa, wada pav khawa - That is my attempt at Marathi.

Okay...time to get back to bangalore...

Data Data Everywhere....and that is my biggest scare

2011-07-09T08:15:00.001-07:00

I am back. Yeah that is not the best of starting lines one can give when he write after more than 3 months. Blogging for me has been more like a fashion statement i guess, when it was in fashion i too was blogging big time. You can see that from the number of posts have constantly come down over the last 12 months.

This blog comes at a time when i have almost given up on bangalore traffic and also on my company policies that dont allow working from home. It is quite surprizing that the dudes who make the best cars in the world, dont want their folks to work from home. Yeah!! we are paranoid about the confidentiality of our data.

However, when i think about this i find it quite shocking. About 20 years back, when i used to go to school, there where still sparrows at the window sill, the First rain was interesting because of the warm smell of water on dust would entice your senses to the extent that you would want to eat it, when the air we breathed had still a the measure of oxygen that it was supposed to have, when going to office was boring but not a near death experience, when we happily used to carry waterbottles and fill water from every other station where the train stopped during a journey without worrying about weather we would live after drinking such water, When going to see Ramayan in neighbours house was not embarassing, when Bisleri was the only bottled water which no one cared about, when Goldspot & Tinka were famous, when kids read more than just textbooks and in India libraries where more than wine shops, when letter to the editiors where written in paper and posted by walking till the post box; at that time there was very little data that was flowing around us, as compared to today.

Today there is data flowing everywhere, my computer is speaking to thousands of other computers spread all over the globle, at the same time it is talking to my phone wirelessly which is also taking to another phone via Bluetooth. Messages are flying all around me at Gigahertz frequency and going from my mobile phone to phones & Towers via Satellites that are thousands of kilometers above the earths surface. My pc is also talking to my LCD TV which is getting data via a Dish antenna placed on the top of my roof and picking up high-definition video from some other transponder the same satellite maybe. Btw, the satellite itself is getting commands from somewhere in Hassan ( small town in Karnataka).

Data is there everywhere and even then we have long queues in banks, hospitals and stores because the data is still not accesible fast enough....I have to stay in front of the ATM machine looking like an idiot till it decides that i am the genuine ( My brother who is seeing down my back says i look like an idiot otherwise too!!), I have to stay till the credit card machine gets the authentication...Well, the point is that data is playing a very strong role in our lives and everything about this data needs to be taken care of. Unfortuately, technology is not so simple like how my father used to keep all the bills, contact numbers and addresses in a separate file under lock and key.

It is quite evident that all the data that is flowing around in the air, in the wires and everywhere else can have a significant damaging impact if they get into the wrong hands. I guess it is time we step back and think, can we do something to put this whole network in order and ensure that we still know that when i send a letter ...oops email...I know that it goes to the right person, with no other person able to get this information.

....Food for thought!!

Corrupt India

2011-04-30T02:02:00.001-07:00

I was a frequest visitor to Mr.Varma's blog, having added a link from my own blog to his. However blogging like anything else is associated with some kinda fashion. We all used to Orkut and now we all Facebook. Saying that we are using this to keep our social lifes alive is lame. Because if that were the case, there was practically no reason to abandon Orkut. Same has happened with Yahoo messenger & Google. However, this post is not about technology and where it is going....

I have started active blogging again...(let see how long i remain active)

I came across a beautiful piece by Mr. Varma here, where he talks about the mis-interperetation of the Lokpal bill. I remember that as india nudge towards the World cup finals and looked promising every other indian on FB had the "Bleed Blue" batch...and soon when the Mr. Hazare went on fast they had "Anti corruption" batches. People would say that this is their way of supporting the cause...but is this really the way? Varma points out in his article that corruption is a symptom and not the diesease itself, which i without doubt agree.

That brings us to the fundamental question why are people corrupt? However, before we can get into that we need to understand a bit better perhaps, what exactly is corruption?

In my view, there is a act of corruption going on, when one gets some undue advantage at anothers cost intentionally. Huh...is that too difficult...Well not really. It is not just about bribes....rules etc...Any act of unjustice that is unpardoned intentionally equates to an act of corruption.

For E.g if i get a mark more than my neighbor for the same answer, just because my mom knows the teacher well ( common in India) and the Teacher did this intentionally...then i am sure the teacher is corrupt. He might not have taken any bribe...but nevertheless he denied someone else something.

Bribes are the next level. I am sure the 1st bribes would have started as a result of favoritism. I have a soft corner for "X" and "X" get some priviledges because of that, Y wants these priviledges so he bribes me ...in terms of money, in terms of praise ( like praising your boss to get a hike) etc...this is where we have the roots of bribe...If machines where to make all the judgements for us based on fixed set of rules...they would be unbaised and which means there would be no way to bribe a machine...For example you cannot bribe the ATM machine to do your transaction faster...But perhaps you can bribe the babu at the bank to ensure that you can get ahead of the queue.

So to add to the suggestions that Varma makes in his blog i would say high use of techonlogy will ensure that there is very little the babu's can do. Will this lead to mass unemployement....Definitly...but then this was earned by the babus by not doing their jobs perfectly when they should have..

Varma says that Govt is involving itself too much into the affairs which it should not. I like the example of 165 licenses to open a hotel ...Well I would say to start with ensure that 164 licenses can be got electronically without human interference...Because in India we have a lot of Internal divide too...The country comes together when we play against Pak a cricket match or when we are at war...Techology infusion at each level is expensive but this is the price we will have to pay for our mistakes in the past.

It is clear that the face of India is going to change in the coming year. I just hope that the face change is for the good...and not just again a fashion thing...like in the past ...

Police, Protests and Death

2011-04-29T23:29:00.001-07:00

It is almost a quater of a year since the first protests started in the northern parts of Africa. What started in Tunisia and then quickly spread to major parts of Egypt, thereby tearing apart the tyranny of Hosni Mobarak has now reached the Jordan & Syria. While on one hand Mummer Gaddafi still seems to be defiant about not letting go of the power in Libya, there seems to be a bevy of problems in Uganda where unrest over high food & fuel prices. What does this all show us?

Have the youth and citizens of these countries suddenly realized that they where being tormented and people who ruled them where actually not leaders but leechers....Or is this the "Fist of God" trying to set things right. It is very sad to see that every day the body count in these battles is increasing, especially in Libya and Syria where the fighting has reached the civilian areas and no respite seems to be visible.

On the other side Nature seems to have also taken a grudge against mankind.....Tusaloosa was halfwiped out by a tornado which is almost a mile wide....It is devastating to see the devastation that it has caused...It just reminds you once again ( after what happened in Japan) that one cannot lock horns with Nature...Its way more powerful.

I guess its high time mankind realizes that we need to start staying together, reduce our conflicts and put aside the differences and build a world that is not just much more friendly for Living but also carries a hope for the future.

Back in Germany

2011-03-27T02:34:00.001-07:00

Aparently the only time my blog gets my attentions is when i am in Germany. However, attempts are on-going to ensure that it gets my attention even at my motherland. However, this post is because i read something that really made me feel quite honored. Its about Ms. Rajawat. Before you say, Rajawat who?....she is one of the youngest "Sarpanch" or village head and perhaps the only one who holds an MBA. She took part in the 2 day conference conducted by the UN. You can read more about her here. We in India need more of such women and men who can help our villages and are having the vision to look beyond the computer screens & AC rooms. Ain't it great that we are getting such an important message from a women in a so called "Male dominated Indian Society"?

Back in and outta Germany

2011-02-18T12:30:00.005-08:00

Its been a while in Germany now and i am sad that i am writing on this blog only now. This time my stay hasn't been so eventful in terms of my weekends compared to what it was last time. Maybe it is because of the proximity of this travel to the last one and the next one. Someone unlike old wine, the same country seems to be a bit more boring after a few travels. I have not been peaceful in the past few days and really cannot point out why. However, i should calm down and i guess i have started the right way by penning it down on my blog.

Tomorrow we plan to go to Baden Baden. We are two other colleagues at work and me. However,the excitment of going is hardly there. I dunno why. Is it the cold climate of Germany which barely seems to need more than 3 bits to represent ....Oops 1 bit for the sign ;-) so make it four...Or is it that i am getting old...Or maybe because this time i am barely making any money staying in Germany? Yeah...My company is the best car maker...but not the best onsite stay payer..maybe thats why they make good cars. Research tells that only for mundane jobs like picking up bricks or painting of walls ...does money play a role in boosting performance...For anything that requires thinking, work itself is the best motivator. I fully agree to this point. Which makes the second point i quoted a few lines back null and void ( why did i even write?)

The work that i am doing however is quite interesting to say the least....Updating the software for one of the few ( maybe only) hybrid trucks on European roads. And which piece of software....yeah the one related to hybrid...:-). I would say it couldn't have been more exciting...however, the stay is extra short and i still dont have the right tool chain. However, i am fortunate to be working with one of the few ppl who have the complete knowledge of a Gearbox and can tell what the gearbox is going to do even before it knows for itself...thanks to Sepp.

I guess sometimes for no obvious reason our mood goes down. We feel sad even though there will be things to be happy about. You just cannot understand the reason but still it is there ...that something that is just telling you to go low...go down...be sad...This is what i like (dis) in the human brain. Unless we are able to control it fully it ruins our happiness. And for no apparent reason.

Need to take up some training for control of the mind and the brain...maybe Yoga...or some running...but this mood swing needs to end...

ok time to get into the bed...and take a good nights sleep...

When Technology bites

2011-01-02T07:57:00.001-08:00

Hasn't our life become too dependent on our gadgets. There was a time when the only real gadget i relied upon was my alarm clock, that too would become more of a formality once my bio-clock got adjusted to the timings. Now, we our morning begins when the Iphone rings, the TV opens up our favorite channel while the digital Geyser would have kept the water warm enough to suit our needs. Some read the newspaper on the large screen mobile using the 3G network or on the hand-held tablets (ipad or similar).

Our presence on the Internet is more than the time we spend meeting our friends face to face. Facebook is more visited than the school, temple, library or cafe. Our memories are no more in our albums kept in the cupboards safely but on the "Cloud" either in picassa, flickr or FB. Google, Facebook and Hotmail know more about us then we ourselves...What if one day they all plot against us???

No i am not paranoid, but i am worried and concerned about our over dependence and misuse and abuse of technology....

Check out these two small software bugs that had really huge impact on people's lives..

1 - Hotmail loses ur emails

2 - Iphone screws up yet again with Time and Alarms

Ain't it time for us to look back and control and properly decide how much of net presence is good for us?

Infinite loop

2010-12-29T10:39:00.000-08:00

Looks like Dr.Watsa like people exist everywhere :-). Thanks to lolsnaps.com

God, Soul auf Life -III

2010-12-29T04:24:00.000-08:00

Before i get beaten up for following the ekta kapoor way with my blog, i will try to conclude it by today's last post. A few of my friends have asked me to look into the vedas and Upanishads to get more deeper insight into God and creation. Wow, that is cool. Maybe what science is proving today was already known to us long time back. Anyway, this is not to discuss if Modern science is really so modern?

The question that we left for this blog is based on the assumption that from the earlier post, that God is a net summation of the energies in the cosmos. And now it is for us to decide if the energy, read a part of that god, that resided in the dog that bit you; is good or bad. To cut the complicated sentence short, is God good or bad. My take on this is that God is neither good or bad. He is what is known in Sanskrit as "Sthitapragya" ( literally means someone who has control on his mind). This God energy knows just one rule, that it cannot be created or destroyed. God is not good...he doesn't help you pass your examination or help you get a date with the beautiful girl in your class. God is not bad...He doesn't make the tree fall on your car or make you slip on the banana peel, carelessly thrown over by your friend. Then why do we want to pray God. Why do you we spend so much of our time worshiping idols, doing rituals and spending time looking at horoscopes or going to churches and temples?

Well if you have not guessed it up until now...then it is just so that the process of of energy balance that happens is in our favor. Confused? Let me try to explain.

Gita says "Death is inevitable if there is life. Everything that is born has to die". This means that the energy balance has to happen. On one hand there is new life coming up and there is death which is trying to balance the energy equation. By the rule that we discussed in the first post in this series, every organism wants to thrive. This means that every organism does everything in its power to ensure that the energy balance doesn't go against its existence. However, mother nature or lets say God ensures that the energy balance at every point is maintained; That being the fundamental law. Our efforts thus via prayers, rituals etc is just to try to make this energy balance act in our favor.

"Karma" or simply put "What you sow, you reap" is perhaps one of the irrefutable facts of life. It is seldom that something happens on its own. Every act that we are doing is somewhere balancing some energy equation or creating a new one. The whole gamut of things will keep happening for ever based on only one rule...Net energy is constant.

So next time you think of God, Revenge, Soul...Afterlife etc etc etc....just give it a thought...maybe you already know the answer :-)

If you have found my arguments dumb, foolish or hurting...I am sorry...! If you have other ideas, do leave a note and i would appreciate it greatly.

Ms & Ms Khatua

2010-12-19T06:14:00.001-08:00

After reading this report, the title is what i could think of....

It took more than six months for 27-year-old Minati Khatua here in Rourkela to realise that she had married a woman and not a man.

This is perhaps one of the first lesbian (unknowingly though) marriages in India. What is surprising is that the lady managed to pull off the act for more than 6 months. It is very clear that the motive of the marriage was just cheating from day one.

One of the best solutions to such problems - "Pre-maritial Sex" ;-)....Food for thought!!

Inflation leads to deflation

2010-12-14T06:37:00.001-08:00

The article here claims that the inflation has gone down this month...Hmm, the only thing i can see getting less inflated or deflated for the English enthusiasts; is the common man's wallet (Which includes me too). My dad does the shopping of the fruits in the house and if i may be a bit wordy here, he is one of the most persnickety person's when it comes to making note of prices and comparing. He tells me that none of the fruits are any cheaper than the last month. On one had there are crores of rupees being discussed in Air-conditioned rooms over "under the table" deals for almost everything under the sun starting from "Road Projects" to " Telecom bandwidth allocation", From "Cricket Teams" to " Land allocation"; On the other hand there are people who are dying everyday on our streets because of hunger and poverty.

While Mr.Mukherjee claims that it (Inflation) will ease to just 6% here I really have my doubts if this is really going to effect my expenses in anyway.

I hope my manager dudes take a note of this...when they decide upon my salary for this season...

God, Soul auf Life - 2

2010-12-12T07:11:00.000-08:00

I have been such a wonderful writer ( especially going by the experience in my blog) that except for myself and a few forced readers...my blog is not even read by the google-crawler. However, the last post generated some interest among a few i know. And that is why i am typing this continuation to this.

There are wonderful things written about the soul in the Gita. Starting with the fact that it is neither born nor can be destroyed, is perpetual, cannot slay or be slain etc etc. However, if we try to compare this with some of our known physics then that is almost matches what energy is. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, and really we know that nobody can really answer how did energy come to being. Ofcourse, the clever would say matter can transform to energy. Wow!! Great realization :-). But how did that matter come to being ?

Quoting from one the great physicists of our time, Feynmen has explained in one of his lectures a bit about how matter and energy are so related and how matter can be thought of roughly as a battery that traps energy. You destroy the matter you get the energy back which in turn can again be converted to matter. Well no explaining here for this part because then we would get deviated into a completely different path of physics. However, we have to believe scientifically or spiritually that there is a need for energy to be there for life to exist. So for those who can get easily convinced, i would like to make a direct comparison or even claim that soul can be equated to the energy that exists and drives our life.

Assuming that i have been able to put forth my idea of the soul, i think i am now better qualified to present my ideas on god, which again would be fully based on the arguments and hypothesis that have been discussed in the previous paragraphs. The simplest way to understand god is to understand him or her as someone who knows the answer to the question, how did everything come to being. Matter or energy. We know that the SUN which is almost the entirely the source of every form of energy, note almost every form of energy on earth ( directly or indirectly) is something which is getting its energy by fission of Hydrogen into Helium. But Why should Hydrogen or helium exist? Why be there? Confused? I am too!!!

Astronomers and Astrophysicists have come to a theory that the universe started from a blackhole that blew up. The universe is expanding and some day the expansion is going to stop. It is hypothesized to be like a big rubberband that is being stretched and some day it is going to stop and it will fall back. Is God the one who is stretching it? That is something I cannot answer. Nevertheless, my take is that if one has to simply visualize god as something or someone who is making the whole show run i.e. conversion of matter to energy, energy to matter...making new organisms come into being by adding some life into them, exiticntisizing (if i may use the word like this) some other races etc, then God can be considered as a Summation of all the energy that is there in the world.

Which means he exists in you, your neighbor and neighbor's dog. ( Maybe thats why bible has ...Love thy Neighbor...Though most of it think of as Love thy Neighbor's Daughter ;-) ). He also exists in the thief who picked your pocket, and also the Nuclear bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki. So is god good or bad...? From the second line he look bad ain't he? Why do we pray him them? why are such great things said about him? .....

Well my ideas on that are for another post....I hope its worth the wait :-)

God, Soul aur Life

2010-12-08T08:20:00.000-08:00

Finally I got the time to update the blog. The reason being that i have finally finished the Deutschkurs or the German course as they say it in English. This gives me time to write sometimes, somethings on this blog. The good news is that i have a few hours extra per day...the bad news is that i have many more things to read and a few extra things to do workwise. I have been having a lot of discussions with parents, friends & foes alike on various topics starting from "How our Education system should be?" to "What should be done to express our ideas in the best way"...

One such interesting topic, though a bit sensitive and intriguing in nature was that of Religion and God. Yeah! Yeah ! I know, i am not qualified enough to comment on this because I am no saint or Godman. However, I am not here to preach people or tell them what to do to vanquish all their problems or how the mighty fist of God will slay all their enemies. I am just trying to understand the concept of God over the past few years and have got many answers; some from within and some from the people who tried to help me by providing their versions of the answers.

There are a lot of people who just do not believe in God. Poof!! That is dumb. Or at least in my perspective it is dumb. Why dumb? The reason is to say something doesn't exist, one should understand what it is? However, To understand "God" itself is a quest that takes a lifetime. What the so called atheists really consider god, is what their "god-fearing" brethren consider as god. Idol worship or worship of a book doesn't qualify to be called god worship. So what really is "God" ?

In my point of view, "God" doesn't exist in the forms that we know him as. Energy is what drives us all. There is a process (Metabolism) to convert the food that we eat into energy and this is the energy that somehow makes our existence possible. The key word here is somehow. Because, if we provide the same energy by for example burning a piece of wood or by doing some kind of a exothermic chemical reaction we still cannot produce what we commonly call as "Life". There is something unique in the way things have to work together in tandem, in harmony to result in this stupendous thing called "Life". Arguers may state that Brain coordinates everything!!...Yeah true, but there are more things apart from just commanding the different organs; There are feelings,emotions and what we call as conscience, which if strong enough can make one take decisions which are perhaps counterproductive to the Logical Goal of a being i.e. Survival. This is because there is unknown or let me say un-understood by me force that connects all these well explains things together. This is what i believe constitutes of the soul. Spirit as we more often call it in the Christian terminologies, i guess is this special energy that binds and keeps the show going.

Every organism that has come to being, has at least one purpose..and that is to thrive. Because without this the very fact of existence doesn't make sense. However, to bring it into existence there needs to be that some extra force, which is capable of creating the raw materials to something which can live and thrive on its own. We can create a culture on a petri-dish in a lab, however if i give you a dead amoeba, scientifically it is just not possible to make it do what it was doing as it was alive. Which means, there are parts of existence, that are still not understood fully by science. This defeats the purpose of talking about atheists who claim the Non-existence of something which they don't understand anyway or cannot be fully explained by science :-)

What about the initial question of GOD?....Hmmmm, that is for another blog i guess.

Sambar death!!

2010-11-12T21:38:00.000-08:00

I cannot fathom the torture the boy would have gone through while he was in the hot "Sambar Kadhai"...Yes, You read it right. A boy was killed when he fell into a sambhar vessel. Though some might find it really funny that a death occurred due to Sambar...and there would be some wise asses who would call this a tasty death, I find it really unfortunate and also inconvenient to come to believe that we are staying in the same society as these poor children, who have to live under hazardous conditions even to get their right to education.

After having a look at the above state of affairs in the Bangalore university examinations...i wonder if the boy jumped into the sambar to show his protest against our pathetic system???

The rhetorical cracker story

2010-11-05T08:07:00.000-07:00

As the skies are getting illuminated by the bright sparks from the innumerable number of Firecrackers being lit by kids and adults alike, i began to ponder over the topics which gain popularity each year during the Diwali season and that is "Ban Crackers because it leads to child labor". Each year scores of hours of discussions and talk shows happen in air conditioned rooms where intellectuals discuss over the evils of crackers and talk about how they blow a dent in our environment. Then there are environmentalists who boldly come to the studio's in their 4 and 6 cylinder cars to tell you that the pollution level rises by 40% during Deepavali.

What started with the color matches and the mudpot based "Diya" better known as the "Bhakthapu" is today an whole industry, which has been plagued perhaps since its very inception by child labor. However, while we try to point fingers at this industry, we some how fail to see that the whole town of Sivakasi or lets say the best part of Sivakasi, Tamilnadu feeds off firecrackers. A complete ban on fireworks would as well mean stealing the livelihood of this town. Further to this what most of might not be aware of, thanks to our media which promotes what is juicy, is that there is a big racket of crackers being produces illegally without proper licenses or safety measures taken into consideration. This is where you would find most of the child labor, since that would bring bigger profits to the cracker-mafia (Funny that we have mafia in India for everything). Instead of every season playing a blame game and by having some dumb jokers come on the television to tell us about the ill effects of Crackers and how it promotes child labor, why cannot we treat this an opportunity. Why cannot the industry be better controlled by avoiding child labor, enforcing strict quality control on the manufacture of crackers and promote innovation in this area. A google search tells me that the Indian fireworks industry once locked horns with the Chinese Firework giants only to ground down to dust. The reason is not only that our varieties of crackers is scarce, but also that like many or of our other products, they are considered sub standard, unsafe and mostly unpredictable. Anybody who has burst a couple of bombs during Diwali would tell you this. It is a saddening fact that each one of knows most of these things and we still try to solve the wrong problem.

Yes, crackers pollute....but so do our cars, bikes industries. However, no one protests then!!. We tends to love or hate something based on how it is portrayed. Why cannot open spaces be organized where all the residents can come together in burst their crackers? That way the pollution is to some extent localized. The changes are necessary, but not at the cost of someone's livelihood. One would prefer to live 40 years and die with respiratory problems than dying in the next 1 year due to hunger. It makes sense to gradually reduce our habit our crackers, giving sufficient time for the industry to look for newer options. Or how would it be, if we start concentrating more on creating crackers for the export market? Atleast the pollution is not ours anymore? Or how about creating low polluting crackers? Norms in the automotive industry have given us cars that promise to pollute less, why not norms for crackers?

Something for the MBA's and decision makers to brood over???

Has the Internet...netted us?

2010-11-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

Out of my class today my classmate asks me ..."Why do you blog?". It got me thinking, why i blog or better why people blog, tweet use more of the so called social networking sites? Is is that we are not able to express ourselves well enough in our physical forms by talking to people, by interacting with them ? or is it because we live a dual life were we are what we want to be, in our internet self and are what are expected to be, in flesh and blood?

At the outset of internet, there was a huge rush of people who found it as a wonderful way to express their ideas and let their creative juices flow all over the electronic media. People used it to connect to people who were earlier only available via the telephone. Soon the internet manifested itself into a space where people not just ventured to express their creativity, but also to express their views over topics which otherwise were out of their bounds. It also became a playground for demonstrating ones wit and wisdom. Mud slinging via internet is no more new. Attention grabbing via controversial statements on social networking sites has become a modern day fad. Sashi Tharoor being the baton bearer for the Indian youth by making statements about "Cattle class" and sorts.

What was initially designed to just transfer information between a group of computers has gone to become so huge that it has a personality of its own. It is almost like the internet is something that has its own life and we all have made this a part of our life. I for one cannot imagine a life without internet, because for every bit of information that i need, i just google it. This shows how much i am dependent i have grown to this beast. I call it a beast because when it is good it is great and when internet turns bad it can be worse then your darkest nightmares. There have been umpteen number of cases where Internet has played a lifesaver. At the same time with malicious worms, viruses and hackers on the prowl it is almost as scary as a walk in the darkest streets of Pennsylvania in a cold winter night.

Online gaming, chat sites and public forums give us a new perspective of life. We can be what we want, who we want and do what we like to do . However, we have got so much involved in this that we have started to be more of what we are online and in reality we are trying to lead a life which suits the demands of the polished society that we try to impress all the time. It makes me wonder if there has been more that the necessary amount of intrusion into our lives by the so called " Social Networking".

Food for thought, ain't it?