MindofAMP

Please do not become Workers!

2010-07-04T22:37:00.000+05:30

Was reading this excellent book 'From Jugaad to Innovation' by Rishikesha T krishnan. Just through the first part, yet had to keep it down to log my thoughts to here. After a decade of successful growth and increasing visibility,the one question that keeps coming at India is this. If Indians are highly successful in running companies to governments, why is India not a leader in Technology? The answer, I believe, lies in our failure to develop the 'entrepreneur' in all of us. We at India have successfully created a system where in everyone in the company from the top management to the bottom rung are merely workers , dancing to the tune of the immediate higher authority. We just work at our offices, content to do the chore assigned, make excuses if we cannot do it in time and find the satisfaction in griping and whining about everything else in the country. May be it is still a remnant of the colonial era, but this mindset has to go, if we are to become anywhere close to an innovation economy. May be for the starters, we can think of ourselves not as workers, but as 'entrepreneurs' who trade in work instead of a product. It will help develop a culture of ownerships which possibly could lead to the birth of innovation in this country. After all, its not like we have'nt been there before. Just before this Industrial revolution and the era of printing press, we, Indians were the ones who roamed around the high sees, trading products and transporting ideas. How difficult it would have been then? In foresight, how easy it is for us now to repeat it!

Quote from my old journal.

2009-05-21T13:14:00.006+05:30

Thought of blogging this interesting quote noted in my old journal dated August 7th, 2006.

'The nature of God is a circle of which the center is everywhere and the circumference is nowhere.'

~ Empedocles (Greek philosopher, statesman, poet and physiologist, 490-430BC)

'I' and 'You'

2009-05-01T08:01:00.002+05:30

What are 'I' and 'You'?
Just lattices
In the niches of a lamp
Through which the One
Light Radiates.
'I' and 'You' are the veil
Between heaven
and earth;
Lift this veil and you
will see
How all sects and
religions are one.

Sa'd al-din Mahmud Shabistari,
Translation: Andrew Harvey and Eryk Hanut

My Sweetheart

2009-03-15T08:13:00.007+05:30

Decade ago,
While in college;
Slept thru the day,
Partied all night;
Admired by few,
Hated by many;
Remarkably acumen in studies,
Charming with beautiful ladies;
Great in making friends,
Bad in keeping friends;
Memorable era,
Of his life.

Some called him a flirt,
Several called him crazy;
Until he met a girl,
Seen in reverie;
Whom he longed for,
Now became a reality;
How … oh how,
God worked in mysterious ways;
Crafting events leading to,
Knotting them divinely;
Now this is the era,
To be remembered eternally.

Colleges packed to go!!!

2008-12-15T00:59:00.001+05:30

Pod casts! I have heard about them but did not think much of them.But
Im changing my opinion after stumbling upon a treasure trove in the
name of itunesU.itunesU has loads and loads of lectures of great
professors categorized exhaustively and easy to find search
algorithms..For a starter , right now Im listening to

http://podcast.ucsd.edu/podcasts/default.aspx?PodcastId=249
a treatment on Clash of Cultures by Prof.Matthew Herbst.. The start
is good and I find his lectures interesting..More as the subject grows!

An Interesting Night ...

2008-03-26T21:31:00.015+05:30

(ting tong) Howard, a 6 feet 1 inch well built and handsome lad, hears the door bell ring. He hurriedly runs to get the door and looks at his watch. Thinking that his date has arrived 15 minutes early, opens the door. Upon seeing Mona, 5 feet 3 inch tall girl dressed up in a scintillating and elegant evening gown wearing minimum jewelery and Howard admiring her simplicity yet her exquisite taste of fashion, holds her by her waist and gives her a passionate kiss. Mona surprised with the affection shown by Howard like never before blushes and quietly sits on the couch while Howard rushes in to wear his new blazer to look classy for Mona or shall I say dresses up to meet her standards. He comes out wearing the blazer.

Howard: So what do you think?

Mona: About?

Howard (showing off): About my new jacket sweetheart.

Mona (smiles): You look fantastic as usual.

Howard blushes and goes into the bathroom to admire himself one last time to look fine for the evening. He comes out and asks Mona if she needed anything to drink before they left. On saying "no", they decide to immediately take off to the restaurant where Howard had made early reservations. They head off to the parking lot of his apartment complex where Howard leads Mona to the car and opens the door for her.

Mona: Oh, that's sweet. You didn't have to do that.

Howard: Honey, I want today, in fact tonight, to be the most memorable moments of all.

He closes the door and sits in the car. After igniting he car,

Mona: Why?

Howard: Why what?

Mona: Why do you want tonight to be the most memorable night?

Howard starts to drive to reach the destination, which is a beautiful upscale Italian restaurant.

Howard: Well, I don't know. It seems you are always classy and all and I know I have been always rough and on the rugged side and you still seem to have tolerated with me at times.

Mona: I like you the way you are ... that's why I ...

Pause

Howard: Well, I what ...Mona (smiles): nothing ...

Howard, too smiles.

Howard: By the way, how was your day? Sorry, completely forgot to ask you.

Mona: As usual. Staffing sucks. It's surprising these IT contractors recruited to work for the fortune 500 companies by these staffing agencies who earn much much more compared to us recruiters working for this God damn agencies for ages ...

Howard seeing Mona upset, wrapped his right hand around her shoulder to comfort her and his left hand on the steering wheel.

Howard: It's okay babes. You were telling me about some IT training being held somewhere around this vicinity.

Mona (excited): Yeah, they have a batch starting next week. I do see a good career in it.

Howard: Babes, I ...

Mona sobers down.

Mona (low pitch): Yes ...

Howard: mmm ... look at the clear skies, the bright stars, amazing night ... isn't it?

Mona: Yes, its very beautiful.

They arrive at the restaurant. Howard walking fast towards the entrance of the most lively and busiest restaurant, opens the entrance door for his fine lady to walk in before him.

Mona: Thank you.

Howard: Your welcome.

Hostess: How many?

Howard: We have a reservation for 2 please, Howard ...

Hostess: Oh yes, one minute sir.

A waitress comes towards Howard and Mona.

Waitress: This way please ...

Howard and Mona follow the lady. This was Howard's first time taking Mona for a candle light dinner. Waitress seats them right in the middle of the restaurant where everybody were completely visible to everyone. Kids, families, singles, couples ... all at one place.

Howard notices a candle lit in the center of the table and a small vase carrying just one beautiful rose.

Howard: Mona ...

Mona: Yes Howard: Do you like roses?

Mona (looking at the rose): mmm they are nice.

Howard: But not as good as you.

Mona (with a confused look): Howard, are you okay? You are behaving all weird and all. So formal, well mannered ... that's not you.

Howard: Well, I don't know. I think I'm a changed man now.

Mona: Howard. (Smiles) I like you no matter what.

Howard smiles and leans towards her and kisses on her cheek. Mona blushes and starts looking at the menu.

Waitress: Anything to drink?

Mona: I'll go for a glass of Pinot Noir. Any Pinot Noir would do.

Howard: I'll go for the same.

Waitress (Smiles): Will be right back guys.

The evening goes by. At times, they talked; at times, they smiled; at times, they holded hands; at times, they stared at each other. After an exquisite appetizing dinner and sharing a scrumptious dessert, Howard slightly pulls Mona and looks into her eyes.

Howard: Babes, what do u like in me the most?

Mona (bit tipsy from the wine): Everything.

Howard: Everything what. Can you be specific?

Mona (with an innocently sounding voice): Everything means everything. Your smile, your eyes, you hair, your style ...

Howard: That's all !!!!

Mona (smiles): I like you for what I'm not ... like you are intelligent, smart, fun loving, ....

Howard (anxiously interrupting her): That's all ...

Mona (smiles): I like you as a whole.

Howard: Just like ...

Mona (calm): well, yeah like.

Howard (with a sad face): Okay.

After paying the bill off and walking silently towards the car, Howard and Mona look at each other as if they had something to say and then looked away. Howard forgets to open the restaurant door for her as well as the car door. As they drive, Mona looks at Howard and sighs and turns towards the window enjoying the scenery. Howard looks back at Mona and sighs and tries to concentrate on driving. Both are tipsy as a long day and a nice glass of wine and food seems to have worn them out.

They arrive at their apartment and as they walk towards the door, Howard fiddles with the key not realizing Mona is walking behind him. Mona grabs his hand and holds him.

Mona: Look at the sky sweetie. Isn't it beautiful? Hey, there is that favorite star of yours that you always admire.

Howard (looking up at the sky): Yeah ...

He looks down at Mona and Mona looks at him. With a tenacious eye contact, Howard admires her beauty under the moon light and Mona gracefully smiles. Lost in their own world of thoughts while in each other's arms,

Mona: Babes ... (Pause) ... I love you.

Howard surprised, tries to comprehend of what she just said and walks her into the house by smiling. Mona smiles and follows him holding his hands firmly.

Howard turns on some music and prepares 2 glasses of wine. While they drink, they dance. Howard sits on the couch and pulls Mona along with him. Mona being tipsy and having revealed her love for him, dances with joy humming with her sexy voice, goes closer to him and dances for him. Howard pulls her towards him grabbing her glass of wine with one hand and grasping her with the other. Keeping the glass on the table next to him, he comforts her on his lap, holds her hair and says, "I love you too."

Mona who was dancing with joy and that smile on her face, suddenly becomes quiet. For a while, she pauses and looks into his eyes. There is a saying that goes like, 'The eyes reveal more than what is in the heart'. Seeing that conviction of love for her in his eyes, she bursts out in tears and says, "I love you so much".

They kiss and holding each other in their arms, they get through the night talking and talking and talking ... about anything and everything.

This was a simple, short and sweet love story of two people who complete one another or shall I say completed a quest of finding a soul mate.

Love is when one sees the real you when the real you remains invisible to the world. ~ K. Usha

Five Point Someone

2008-03-25T23:50:00.019+05:30

What can I say about this book:

1. Simple

2. Well put

3. Hilarious

4. Exhilarating

5. Touching

6. Sweet

7. Practical

... I can go on and on about it

A+ is what I would grade this book as, by Chetan Bhagat. It has comedy, action, love, suspense ... everything, you name it. The simplicity and flow of writing is what makes one feel as if they were watching a movie in thier minds.

This book is about 3 young boys - Hari, Ryan and Alok; who managed to get admission in IIT, one of the most well known and hard-to-get-in colleges in India. IIT's education system is based on 10-point GPA system. The higher your points, the more you are looked upon by your fellowmates, including even the professors; the lower your points, the more you are treated like an unwanted minion of some kind. Personally I would say any IITian regardless what location in India or as a matter of fact any equally tough college students or professors, can easily relate to this book. Each character in this book is one of a kind - starting from these 3 main characters to the professors or even the professor's daughter. :)

Hari, Ryan and Alok meet on the first day of the first semester in a very unusual manner and become best friends. Hari, was a typical guy who falls in love with one of the most beautiful girl who happens to be Professor Cherian's daughter who in turn happens to be the most strict professor in the entire college teaching only seniors. Ryan is a typical spoilt brat (or atleast is protrait like one as his parents sent money on regular basis, drove a scooter, had style, good looks, etc. ) who loves to enjoy but on the other hand has this brotherly affection towards Hari and Alok and protects them from every trouble ... or should I say gets them in more trouble in the attempt of getting them out of it. Alok ... well as a saying goes, "A rose is a rose is a rose", applies same to him as, "Alok is a Alok is a Alok.". He loves to eat and cry. He has had a rough childhood, dad paralyzed, mom's a teacher earning less to run the house, sister not able to get married, he not getting good grades, Ryan getting him into trouble .......... he cries about everything but cherishes only one thing ... FOOD, especially parathas. Inspite of the differences they had, yet there were 3 common things in them - drinking vodka, enjoying grass and love/care for one another, which held then together throughout. Life was going okay for them in IIT until one day hell breaks lose.

To conclude, this outstanding novel takes you onto an exhilarating journey of the 3 boys right from the day one of the first semester until the end where they almost managed to pass out of IIT after 4 years, successfully found jobs after graduating and ended up being friends fovever and ever.

Worth reading .... Enjoy!!!

The truth is out there ...

2008-02-29T14:17:00.042+05:30

While people talked about the occurrence of lunar eclipse on Feb 20, 2008, the one and only question curiously bugged me was - 'Are we alone?'. Certainly this question must have crossed our minds at some point in our lives, yet this question remains unanswered.

But that one question, leads to series of doubts ...

I must begin this topic by saying, I'm no savant. But as an average acquainted individual, here are my few insights. The universe is made up of billions of galaxies and each of them containing billions of stars. The distance between each heavenly body is measured in light years. Just imagine the amount of space we have out there. Is earth the only planetary body containing life form? Aren't there any other celestial bodies composed of existence of life?

Here are some thoughts ...

Plants, animals and people of today are made up of thousands of millions of cells, followed from the simple single-celled organisms of long ago. Did the big bang theory, which is an assumption, screw up the molecules in the earth's atmosphere and ensue the existence of the organism?

Think about it ...

Bacteria like organisms are first living forms to be known, out of which evolved the dinosaurs!!! Did the meteor shower or other natural calamities actually cause the disappearance of these mighty beasts?

Think about it ...

Humans evidently evolved from mouse-sized uncivilized mammals during the dinosaur period who shaped into barbarians to exhibit the survival of the fittest. Did the evolved human brain and strength help them overpower and conquer over other powerful animals who were gigantic and strong enough to squash them like ants under their feet?

Think about it ...

Humans or, in other words, our ancestors are descendants from apes as the history proclaims. Did they educate themselves and evolve into civilized creatures?

Think about it ...

Humans are considered to be superior creatures than animals. Research indicates that there are approximately 6,500 languages spoken worldwide. Did we invent them all?

Think about it ...

Humans migrated from one place to another in packs (groups) due to depletion of food and survival from severe climatic conditions and carried out barbaric activities to invade others' areas. Did they develop so much ability and capability to evolve their pea-sized brains into thinking of so much as building planes, rockets, satellites, etc. themselves?

Think about it ...

I think the right way to ask these questions is by starting from 'Why'. Why is earth considered the only planet consisting of life form? Why doesn't any other planets have life forms as us earthlings? Why aren't they ("aliens" as we humans refer to the beings of neighbouring planets) communicating to us? Why are there rumours that government is hiding the fact of their existence? Why don't they approach to any common man? Why, why, why ...

Life as I see ...

Facts based out of assumptions by so called geniuses, might not be completely true unless we ourselves are taken back in time and witness the events with our own naked eye.

Now this invents further series of thoughts ...

Is it possible to hypnotise oneself {of course by expertise}to attain vision of the actual events that advanced in the occurrence of life form as we know that we originated from one single-celled organism? Is it possible to invent a time machine to go back and forth as need permits? Is it possible for scientists to invent a time portal to walk into the past and experience each and every event? Is it possible to invent a portal to walk into other planets without travelling by rockets or space shuttles? Is it possible .....

:) {Smile}

Our history has been based upon partial facts, partial assumptions and exaggerations. Once again, I'm no savant in knowing our history but in reality, as a common man, these are the practical questions to be thought about.

The one and only answer I can think is, 'I don't know'.

Ratatouille

2008-02-29T11:59:00.018+05:30

Well, well, well ... what can I say about this movie. I would rate this movie as A+, the fact being that not only kids can enjoy this most astounding animated movie, but so can adults ;). It has comedy, action, romance ... little bit of everything.

It's endearing characters is what gives the audience an experience of the amazingly enjoyable, entertaining, lively, yet a relaxing and stress free moment. It annotates not just the relationship between animals and humans but also enlightens on their common interest ...................................... FOOD. :)

The story takes place in Paris where the main characters, an aggressively ambitious rat (Remy) who dreams of becoming a chef inspired by late Gusteau and an amateurish clumsy young man (Linguini) who cleans the kitchen at Gusteau's restaurant, meet in a very unusual yet amusing manner and become friends of some sort. The reason I use the words "some sort" is because the only way of communicating for them was by gestures.
HOW CAN AN ANIMAL TALK TO A MAN? DUH ...
With the help of Remy, Linguine gets promoted to a chef while Remy hides under Linguine's hat to guide him to cook. Both team up and cook the most appetizing food ever and Gusteau's restaurant becomes the talk of the town. Everything seems to be going fine until a young woman comes into the picture.
A TYPICAL LOVE STORY WHERE A GUY MEETS A GIRL AND THE GIRL MEETS A GUY ... FALL IN LOVE ... BLAH BLAH BLAH ...
As Linguine is blinded by fame, money and bliss, Remy seems to being ignored. Remy's friends stop by the restaurant and brainwash him on how man can use and abuse someone or something and that he is not meant to be with humans. Somehow Remy and Linguine reunite after facing a few challenges and as their ability is put to a test at the most time crunching moment, they adduce their potentiality and win the battle. Battle of winning over their dreams - rat gets to demonstrate his dexterity and the man .... well he gets a life.

There is nothing special about this movie I would say, yet worthwhile watching. So people, lay back and grab some snacks, popcorn, pop, or even your sweetheart by your side and enjoy Ratatouille. You won't be disappointed. ;)

AU REVOIR !!!

Starbucks closed ...

2008-02-27T05:42:00.006+05:30

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?cl=6657458

relax guys ... its just for 3 hours.

TODAY "Starbucks is closing the doors at its 7,100 stores across America for its barista re-education today for three hours." --- Quoted by Yahoo News.

Why is this thing such a big deal? I had my friends call me and say 'OH MY GOD !!! Can you like imagine Starbucks being closed. What would we do now???" !!!! Guyyyssss .... chilaaxxxxx.

I wonder if Starbucks has just become the one and only place for the caffeine addicted community or fashionable elites amassing for socialization.

There's always Dunkin Donuts and they ain't that bad :). This will at least give DD a chance to prove their worthiness to the majestic Starbucks lovers. ENJOY !!!

The Pursuit of Happyness

2008-02-25T04:17:00.023+05:30

This is one of the best movies I have ever seen and would always be in my favourite list of powerful movies.“The Pursuit of Happyness”, which means the chase for happiness, is based on a true story. As you can readily notice, the word "Happyness" is misspelt in the title. A wall present in the neighborhood of the protagonist has a graffiti which wrongly quotes the phrase as Pursuit of Happyness, thus emphasizing the world where he lives. The phrase incidentally, was made famous by American President Thomas Jefferson in one of his quotes:)

The movie draws an outline of the life of the protagonist who is at the bottom rock, the lowest of the lowest strata of the society, yet who dares to dream. Dreams that are unrealistic; dreams that are big....full of great achievement,of becoming 'A Somebody'. The movie is the story of a 'self made' man who stops at nothing but success. Coming from a not so educated background, our hero runs a family and strives to make ends meet. He works as a sales person trying to sell x-ray machines which he had bought with all the money that he could manage . The machines unfortunately,do not have a great demand and thus create a personal crisis for him . His wife working as a waitress,being the only actual bread earner of the household decides to leave him. There is a saying which goes like 'When it rains, it pours'. Very true to the saying, he faces many obstacles at the same time, such as being abandoned by his life partner, not being able to afford a good shelter for his son, living a poor lifestyle, crumbling under debts, his x-ray machine being stolen, being put in jail etc.,to put it in correct perspective, even struggling for mere survival. It is a torture from all sides - mental, physical, social, emotional and finally he triumphs through the virtue of his strong will power. Will Smith has done a fantastic job on emoting the common man's struggle. He also carries his role on his shoulders and effortlessly brings out the challenges and problems facing the unprivileged.

This movie sprang new thoughts in my mind ! Every man faces hardships – big or small. Sometimes you may think how worse can things get. and you may end up in another bigger and far worser situation. Sometimes you may think, 'okay, what else can happen'; and you may end up in the midst of nowhere with all your options closed! One may be forced to lie, cheat, fight or even give up. One can choose any of the options, but the goal always leads to one and only one aim in life – Being Happy. How can a common man keep his dignity and self-respect; and at the same time come out of the miseries caused by this materialistic, dominating, shallow and self-centered world is actually the pursuit of happiness!!

Coming back to the story,despite of all the hardships, Will Smith tries and keeps trying until he runs into an investment planning firm,which becomes a turning point in his life.

The movie concludes with a message that it was those obstacles and the ensuing struggle that became a fierce weapon in the hands of the protagonist to fulfill a desperate need - A need to be happy. I would also add a moral to the story; nothing stays permanent .And it is the law of nature.

Summing it all up,I feel this movie is an inspiration to the common man ... a common man who resides within all of us.

Practise ‘18 ities’ to attain Immortality

2008-02-25T03:31:00.002+05:30

"Serenity, regularity, absence of vanity, Sincerity, simplicity, veracity, equanimity, Fixity, non-irritability, adaptability, Humility, tenacity, integrity, nobility, magnanimity, charity, generosity, purity. Practise daily these eighteen "ities" You will soon attain immortality."

--- Socrates

Don't Give Up ... - By Bobette Bryan

2008-02-25T02:38:00.004+05:30

Some days are a battle,
a steep climb uphill,
and you think you won't make it
and never will, but
don't give up!

When the money is low,
and the bills are high
and you hang your head
and want to cry,
don't give up!

Things will go wrong--
and they always will;
but try to smile when you
get the bill, and
don't give up!

Life may be a pallet
of gray skies and blue
but only storms can bring
a rainbow to you, so
don't give up!

Even when your spirit's flying low
and you're floating on doubt
and your whole life is
suddenly turned inside out,
don't give up!

Let me tell you
what success is all about,
it means hanging in there
and sticking it out! So
don't give up!

When you're tired
and you can't go on,
and your fuel is low
and your hope is gone,
don't give up!

Remember your dreams
even when they seem far,
because you never know
just how close you are, if you
don't give up!

The tide will always turn
when you're hardest hit,
So give it your all,
but never quit! And
don't give up!

My Eden

2008-02-24T13:22:00.001+05:30

I know Im dying.

Yet, the tears that I shed,
from the eyes that saw but misery,
are not for the love of a beautiful life,
that soon would become a past,so distant.

The dark blood that spils out,
from a heart that beats but its demise,
is not for the memoirs of a lost love,
that breaks everyone's but seldom the beloved.

the tears I shed, are for the paradise I lost,
for the days of spring; for the flowers.
for the song of the blue-eyed sparrow,
for the occasional rain drop that splashed by me.

But most of all, I yearn for the time I had,
for the freedom to do and follow mind's whims.
The unfettered life and the unbound hand,
the endless energy and the delightful freshness.

Why did I ever choose this shackle of Gold?
Why am I not the achilles? or the aristotle?
This feeling of being special, when I chose my cage,
Why did it fade away like smoke?

This spineless toil, the heartless race,
to reach the bottom of the bottomless.
the blood spilled and the sweat wasted,
would it buy a patch of grass by the river?

Yet deep within me, a shimmer reveals,
A joy though miniscule of being one
among the ancients who felt the same way;
That each man is an adam regretting his eden

A Writer's Block!

2008-02-23T20:34:00.002+05:30

Thats what has hit me:) Nevertheless, I hope to break it by chiseling piece by piece. Well, my first chisel is gotta be the foremost of all.The thing called human mind. Some one rightly said 'great if ye know the ways of human mind'. What are we or rather what would we be, if not for the mind of ours!A small example I found today, worth noting down. I used to like the movie RHTDM when it came first.That was some six years ago. But now I am unable to even stand a single scene from it. The movie is the same. But the mind which saw it is different now. Consider this. All things remaining the same, my feeling towards the movie could be benevolent or malevolent depending on the particular disposition of my mind. Which means that the director who can get the best of the best movies, or the writer who could write the most beautiful story could still be defeated by a 750gm glob of a muscular mass staying at the head of the viewer. So how do you expect to win over the mind of the crores and crores of audiences that the artist is expected to encounter? How does one try and guess the preferences of a viewer whom he hasn't even met? Isnt it a mind boggling challenge? Well..As insurmountable a challenge it might seem to be, but the answer is very simple. He cant.There is no use trying to guess or suit the artist's creation to the audience. So then how does one win over the audience? By just sticking to the basics of any communication. When do we feel impressed by a communicator? When the communicator is sincere in his motive. When we feel that the creation is sincere to itself.Sincerity..for the sake of itself.Isnt it a worthwhile point to note??

Love One Another- Khalil Gibran aka Kahlil Jubran

2007-08-30T02:13:00.000+05:30

Love one another, but make not a bond of love
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other's cup, but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread, but eat not from the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous,
but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone
though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping;
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.

And stand together yet not too near together;
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

Phenomenal Women-By Maya Angelou

2007-07-14T01:13:00.000+05:30

A very powerful Poem..

PHENOMENAL WOMAN

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care.
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

John Keats: O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell

2007-06-18T04:27:00.000+05:30

O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell,
Let it not be among the jumbled heap
Of murky buildings; climb with me the steep, —
Nature’s observatory — whence the dell,
Its flowery slopes, its river’s crystal swell,
May seem a span; let me thy vigils keep
‘Mongst boughs pavillion’d, where the deer’s swift leap
Startles the wild bee from the fox-glove bell.

But though I’ll gladly trace these scenes with thee, [1]
Yet the sweet converse of an innocent mind,
Whose words are images of thoughts refin’d,
Is my soul’s pleasure; and it sure must be
Almost the highest bliss of human-kind,
When to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee.

Rebel, by Don Marquis

2007-05-24T23:01:00.000+05:30

No doubt the ordered worlds speed on
With purpose in their wings;
No doubt the ordered songs are sweet
Each worthy angel sings;
And doubtless it is wise to heed
The ordered words of Kings;

But how the heart leaps up to greet
The headlong, rebel flight,
Whenas some reckless meteor
Blazes across the night!
Some comet--Byron--Lucifer--
Has dared to Be, and fight!

No doubt but it is safe to dwell
Where ordered duties are;
No doubt the cherubs earn their wage
Who wind each ticking star;

No doubt the system is quite right!--
Sane, ordered, regular;

But how the rebel fires the soul
Who dares the strong gods' ire!
Each Byron!--Shelley!--Lucifer!--
And all the outcast choir
That chant when some Prometheus
Leaps up to steal Jove's fire!

Secret of Happiness

2007-04-25T06:54:00.000+05:30

To respect people, not for what they are,
but for what I am.
To fight against dislikes and bias,not in the world
but in my thoughts.
To give love unconditionally, not to free my beloved,
but to free me rather.
To hear anyone and everyone, not because they need an ear,
but because I need to hear.
To speak and write, not because others might like to read,
but because I will read.
To be disciplined and answerable, not to the society,
but to me,the living

In all these lie the secret to happy living

Motor cycle Diaries

2007-01-27T07:47:00.000+05:30

Motor Cycle Diaries..

Hiya there! Remember me? Im the owner of this blog that has grown tired of crying for attention and now silently assumed that it has died a martyr's death:)While I would like to leave it with that belief and pack my bags to honolulu, there is this small something that I saw sometime back which makes me backtrack. Well, you guessed it rite..Its a movie. The Motorcycle Diaries..Its about a young man and his friend who dream of traveling around a continent in their vintage motorcycle. Seems like a simple single line story isn't it? Thats pretty much where the simplicity ends. For the young man is none other than Che Guevara and the Continent is nothing less than South America itself. Im not going to give you a short intro to Che, coz if you do not know him then chances are you are either a separate species of homo sapiens, following an entirely different branch of evolution or you were cast away in a uninhabited island for most part of your life and turned up just now:) Just kidding guys, It is not that bad..But still a bit bad..Anyway, Che Guevara is a doctor turned south american revolutionary who played a big part in the cuban revolution. Since then he has caught the imagination of the world's youth population and enjoys an iconic status even today. The tricky part of the movie is that once you mention the name of Che, its almost impossible to be without bias. The Director has successfully managed to stay away from propaganda and stick to the story alone, which in itself is a great accomplishment. As you watch the movie, you cannot help being drawn into it. You sympathize with the young Che who wants to go around the continent. As Che goes places, he sees the almost hand to mouth existence led by the people, and the journey which starts as a search for fun slowly transforms into a soul searching one for him. It poses lot of uncomfortable questions for Che and as he finds solutions for those questions, we find Che transforming from a honest yet kiddish youngster to the hard core revolutionary that he was. The beauty of the movie is that we, the viewers, are taken through the same journey like Che, and are posed with the same questions just as Che was. Why did the descendants of a great civilization got reduced to a situation which is barely reminiscent of the greatness it had once flaunted? Is greed a virtue to be practiced by all, at the expense of fellow human beings? We have had almost two hundred years of capitalism, yet it has done nothing to bring about a change in the lives of the downtrodden. On the other hand, it had destroyed what ever indigenous ways of living that people had and increased the gap between the famous two classes, working and the bourgeois. So is capitalism in its present form worth emulating? A discussion on the same would take the blog away from its intended review. So lemme save it for a later date. Its worth seeing this movie and by the way if any of you wanna go on a road trip thru' out India on motorcycles, contact me..You just found a partner:)

2006-10-31T08:02:00.000+05:30

Attn: Respected Vice Chancellor of Anna university,

The voice of the dead.

Recently, I happened to read through the vice chancellor's comments and observations at the Graduation day ceremony at the Karunya Institute of Technology,Coimbatore. Being an alumni of the prestigious university, I wanted to sound out my views on the activities of the varsity, especially its move to curb the freedom of the students.

The vice Chancellor said, Education and Research were vital to the development of the country.I share his apprehension too, in that not many of our students consider research as a career. And that a major percentage of the same students willingly take up research career abroad. The cause for this abnormality has been discussed in detail at every place possible. So Im not going to describe the same here. But apart from money and recognition, which has been constantly blamed as a reason to this problem, there is also another whole class of problems which has never been given the right amount of attention that it deserves. And I beleive, even if the same amount of money and recognition is available at our country,which is fast becoming the norm than the exception, the trend cannot be reversed. For, when we say students should do research, it is not like asking them to pass an exam or attend a class. As has been successfully demonstrated by our school examinations, one can easily come out with flying colors in any subject,even if he doesnt have any great passion for the subject. Research oriented students care reasonably less about money and recognition, than about the academic environment that sustains them.

And what do we have as an academic environment? well, an academic environment which feels like a polished equivalent of tyranny does not deem apt to nurture the 'best of the brains' that he so passionately calls upon. To groom talent and creativity, the minds of the students need to be opened. They need to be taught to ask questions,to doubt and to develop an independent thinking mind. Unfortunately, the university under the vice chancellor seems to be doing everything exactly opposite of what is needed. It is intimidating the young student's mind, trying to frighten them and stifling the naturally curious mind that they possess when they join for higher education. Mr.Vice Chancellor, you might think you are inculcating discipline among the students, but in reality you are standing right in the way of where you claim, you are taking the university. If you do have time, do read the histories of the other great universities and the geniuses that came out of them. Why go that far? You might as well take a sneek peek at the Indian Institute of Technology which is Just opposite to your campus. Although I would not showcase IITs as the model environment, they do much much better job at grooming students than what you and your faculty are doing. The finer point, lies in understanding the fact that an university is not an extended version of the high school. In high schools you deal with teenagers and a bit of discipline and rules might be necessary. At an university , you are dealing with young men and women, who need to be groomed into the path of science and engineering. They are to be developed as model engineers, who stand upright with honor, as you ask them to do at every convocation. But whom do you expect will teach them?

Rabindranath Tagore

2006-10-19T01:36:00.000+05:30

"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake"
-Rabindranath Tagore

Dulce et decorum est / Pro patria mori"

2006-08-04T00:03:00.000+05:30

Means 'Its sweet and fitting to die for the fatherland'

A poem by Wilfred Owen, soldier during world war I,
considered to be the best anti-war poem ever!!!

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!–An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime...
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,–
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,

Why?

2006-07-28T10:39:00.000+05:30

why do we pretend to be someone else, when we are NOT?

Is sincerity meant only for others, not within ourselves?

Are feelings so less of worth, to be faked of at will?

Is self respect a thing to be admired, NOT to be followed?

Sometimes I feel sick of meeting and being with bodies,

Bodies, which are slaves to the cravings of the flesh.

Anger they show, in the most primeval sense,

scared of everything, but primarily of the brain.

In this meaningless world, I live and breathe!

Always a stranger and an outsider,never to be counted.

As an empty vessel on a vast ocean, I float along,

bumping into a wave here,rolling with another there.

Yearn I do, for a soul with the purity of purpose,

that which is afraid of nothing but itself.

May be, Im the wrong man at the right times,

or the right man at the wrong times.

A spark rises occasionally, here and there,

Taking my hopes along, far higher.

Only to flicker and die out later,

And back i return, to my slumber.

Of Rome and Romans!!!

2006-04-21T07:33:00.000+05:30

It feels good to be blogging again after a long time..;)Especially if you are typing it on your own powerbook.so what do i add as my first post from my first laptop?Obviously, what else can it be, if not for the sweetlooking,cute powerbook of mine.So pull up your seat belts ppl, here we go.......

Did Darwin say that world is a crazy place which cold bloodedly follows the rule of 'survival of the fittest'?Well, he might have been wrong!!In reality, the rule is 'Survival of the maxim'.More explicitly,What the world thinks is good, survives!And what does the world think as good?Its what the rest of the world thinks as good.No kidding, its what the real world is.We are living in a crazy world, where objective opinions have become a highly endangered commodity,victimised systematically and brutally by none other than humanity.To offer an example, take any field that man had ventured, be it arts, science or engineering.Note the number of times humanity has shunned away from great ideas and products.From Galileo to darwin and from Aristarchus to Einstein, we have always loudly proclaimed against revolutionary ideas.As an unwritten rule or code, we follow blindly whatever the herd beleives in.

'How in earth, is the above related to this damned blog?'Yes. I heard your sneer..Without dragging more, lemme come to the issue.In our own life, how many of us are biased towards objective opinions and views?Are we able to distinguish between the mediocre and the best? What yardsticks and scales do we use for benchmarking the best?As a classic case, lemme tell you of a company,a company which has stood rock solid behind innovation and creativity.For those of you, who are hungry for facts, herez a list that ive prepared.

1)Way back in 1976,when the word 'computer' evoked blank and empty stares from even the most technological geek, the company went ahead and released the first personal computer of the day.

2)In 1984, when the computing community was crawling on its knees, the company gave them an airbus 380 in the form of macintosh 128k which had the world's first GUI based operating system with speech synthesiser. Yeah!Im talkin about Apple,folks.

3)In the days where assembly level programming and hex binary coding were the hot topics,apple released macwrite and macpaint,which boasted of GUIs.macpaint,macwrite!!do the names strike a chord?well,for the not-so-enlightened, your famous ms paint and word have their roots here.

4)Year:1992 Product Introduced:PDA...what?SAY THAT AGAIN!!!!yes folks!! A Personal Digital Assistant..during the paleolithic age..

Apart from these, world's first laptops, 64 bit processors, RAID servers, networked printers,wi-fi simplified...name it and the company has done it..To put it in simple terms, its almost as if Apple has single handedly carried the computing community to where it is today.And what was the inspiration? It is a thought..A thought that technology can make the life of people better..Mind you guyz!!!making it real better!!Its not that the company was a sky rider with windfall successes from the start.It erred, stumbled,misjudged,failed miserably and even stared at the face of bankruptcy.But everytime ppl wrote it off,everytime ppl thought it was all over,it rose,through a product which sets the trend for the competition to follow.And there folks, rides a company of which all of us can be proud of, for being uncompromising and unwavering in its pursuit of innovation and creativity.Even today, products by apple are innovative and they work as they claim. They do not compromise, nor do they try to please you.They create products and you buy them if you think they are the best.Else, they wont go the extra mile of convincing you that they are the best.And that is a statement only the best can afford to make.

Now coming to the powerbook that i own,I bought this laptop, when apple had announced its change to the newer and powerful x86 line of chips. Infact that decision of apple made me hurry and buy this laptop.For, this might be the last series of laptops with the G4 velocity chips. And although, it doesnt make any difference now, the velocity chip by IBM,Apple and Motorola has the RISC architecture compared to x86 which has the CISC architecture. So what difference does that make?Nothing..zilch...zero...nought..But from the architecture point of view, RISC was designed with the core concept of simplicity. CISC is an older concept and no blames intended, it is not a work of art.Owing to the times when it originated, CISC is a bit complex and x86 chips, meaning the ones produced by intel and AMD stick to this architecture.Although it made sound business sense for intel to stick to this architecture, to me,I repeat again, TO ME, it appears as a compromise.An easy choice that intel and subsequently AMD took, rather than the much difficult one of redesignin their chips.And this exactly is what differentiates the best from the rest.Windows too,fails to enthuse me for the same reason.Windows owes its roots to DOS, which had many flaws, since it is from the older times.But all that time during the development of windows, unix was around.Now, arguably, Unix framework is more structured and secure than the DOS framework.Microsoft could have redesigned its OS based on the unix framework.But it chose to take the easy route and stuck to its root.Again sound business logic!!But if i had to make a similar choice like intel and microsoft, i would definitely hav chosen the opposite route.For I CANNOT see my creation being inferior in concept and design,even though it brings me zillion bucks of money.And unfortunately, i tend to project my line of thinking to both companies and persons, liking those companies/persons whom i feel would go by the same logic and ignoring the others. And there in, lies my passion for apple, linux, bose and the like.coz, these companies seem to love the products that they create.Apple created products that were the hallmarks of human creativity and innovation.And more importantly, when they had to redesign their macintosh operating system, they realised the value of unix framework and built their new mac OS around a BSD Unix kernel.Although the transition had its hiccups and heartburns, the end product, which incidentally, is the one loaded in this laptop, is worth all that toil and effort.Linux bears the same traits too..And Bose does it too..

For those of you interested in reading more about the products in apple that changed the world, the following url might help.
http://www.macworld.com/2006/04/features/30applelist/index.php

THE LAST LAUGH

2005-10-09T14:23:00.000+05:30

Oh!!he is in pain, my beloved..
can you see the twitch in his face..
and the maddening grief that it does to my heart?
why cant he be left in peace? And to sleep??

what right did any one have? what cruelty?
The ruthlessness and the coldness of it,
that makes even a maniacal murderer shudder,
must for sure belong to an iron heart!!

And here I am, blinded by tears and fury
Tears, for the pain felt by the little kid,
And fury against that faceless killer that smirks
And rears its ugly head through that pain ..

Beware!!Whomsover concerned!!you may be winning!!
But it is the losing ground that inspires us,
To make new grounds and to create new paths!
And history will write it that we had the last laugh!!

Good Bye Sweetheart!!!

2005-10-09T14:16:00.000+05:30

In the already short journey of life,
yours was a whisker! A lightening!!!
you had not even lived out your childhood,
yet you had suffered all the pains possible..

Not a single dew you had seen,not a single melody,
Not a single colour, not a single touch of that famous life.
Yet you had to go,or rather you were made to go..
Helpless we were, we watched u struggle your way thru'.

Good bye sweet, as you move into the unchartered,
you had shown us the folly of assuming the al'powerful.
For we fared no better than worms, when we watched you cry!!
Good bye sweet, and the next time you visit
Make sure you get a body perfect and live it to the fullest.!!

If only you could!!!

2005-10-09T14:09:00.000+05:30

Ever been on a journey into a child's mind??
If so, what have you seen?Innocence,joy and bliss??
How bout goin on this special journey into a special child!!
have a strong heart?for this sojourn requires not, the weaker.

Try imagining the feelings of a Tiny tot,
as he slowly understands tat dreaded destiny of his.
Tat he has a mysterious disease and it will eat him slowly.
And that he may not live longer and worse..live in peace!!

Oh God!!please..I will give you everything i possess,
everything that can be had from me..EVERYTHING POSSIBLE!!!
If only you could allow that tiny bud to blossom naturally,
If only you could prevent it from getting nipped in bud!!!!

I Wish I could CRY!!!

2005-10-09T13:55:00.000+05:30

I wish I could cry!!
so much pain, so much sorrow,
And not a streak of hope or luck,
For a flower that is yet to bud!!!

I wish I could cry!!
there the little child lies,
writhing and twisting in pain,
and we could , but watch.

I wish I could cry!!
the eyes that should beam joy
the face that should scream happiness,
lies there, staring at me hollow.

I wish I could cry!!
the fury and anger in my mind
against the unknown lethal killer
dissolves into a stark state of helplessness,.

I WISH I COULD CRY....

spontaneous sparks.....

2005-10-09T13:39:00.000+05:30

Well, did some one of you curse me for livin in the safewaters for a looooong looooong really long time? If you did, then take heart.My life has taken a turn for the worse for the past couple of weeks and its become emotional..just when i thought im the most cold blooded mammal around, (and tats the most modest way to put it!!!) i find myself tripping into one of the most emotional and painful roller coaster rides of life tat i ever had!!And all of them came from a single place..Institute of Child Health and ....it goes on for another line or so...and so lets conveniently forget it..and call it cancer hospital..
And everytime i come back after a visit, i lose my self consciousness and can think of nothing but the hollow faces...faces which ought to have bubbled with childhood fantasies, happiness and pure joy...but now jus plain dark hollow, and bereft of emotionz...why cant some one find a cure for their illness..If only some one can do it!!!I will place myself at their service and give whatever is there at my disposal,even life,if need b!!!

The proceeding posts were penned down after those visits, when i was in a state of distress and though i had tried to capture all those emotions..my mastery of the language and the language itself is still too imperfect to describe all that is felt by the mind.!!!so as usual, bear with me!!!!

Interesting.......

2005-10-09T13:35:00.000+05:30

I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately
I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow out of life
To put to rout all that was not life
And not when I had come to die,Discover that I had not lived..!!!

----Henry David Thoreau

Can.....Stop!!!!

2005-09-23T21:33:00.000+05:30

Of late, im not blogging a lot...infact a long time has passed since i posted my last blog.There have been lotsa events happening of late and a couple of them, really really worth a blog. But unfortunately time has become a precious commodity, and all my efforts to hoard it, duplicate it, or simply kill it have not borne expected results;).So I have learnt to live with it, killing the rest of my creative efforts like blogging,writing, drawing ....But there is an experience which happened only a day back, which has been bugging my mind and on which i cant help but write a blog.and this blog,gentlemen, is on that experience, which is a revelation, the fragrance of which , i think i will carry to my death..

Well, it all started as a normal day, as normal as it can be..with no hint whatsoever of the storm that was brewing.To put you in the loop, lemme give the background.Yesterday is called 'Rose Day'...does it ring any bell with you ppl?
No???...noooo..it is certainly not a day where we remember the heroine of titanic...'Rose'.

It is a day which was coined to symbolise the care that needs to be shown towards our people who are suffering from that terminal disease of which nearly 30% of our fellow people die...and CANSTOP is a volunteer organisation, which is doin precisely that, all the year round to select hospitals in and around the city.And It had organised a visit to a couple of hospitals on the day,to show our love and care for the people lingering in the dull and dreary wards of those hospitals.

I had readily volunteered for the event.But on the day before, i had second thoughts on if i am really ready to do this.Coz, i have seen one of my aunts perishing out of cancer, and the sight of her mortal remains still horrifies me.She was hardly the lady whom i know, being systematically and brutally reduced to a state where she was no more than a bag of bones.And I was afraid if i would be able to take it again.Pain though, is not new to me, as i have seen it at the riots in ahmedabad as also in the very recent tsunami at our own chennai.But I was uncomfortable with something more powerful.In all those cases i mentioned, we had something to offer to the survivors.A new hope, of a new dawn and a new life, which served as a consolation and reduced, if not replaced their sorrows.But what do you offer to a person who is affected by a disease,which doesnt have a cure?It is a frightening situation,where you are absolutely helpless.And seeing a fellow human suffer silently in pain,while we can do nothing but Watch is something i cant stand...even for a minute.

But still, I convinced myself that i would atleast give an ear to their sufferings and hope that something would be done soon to change their life.With that thought, and still feeling uncertain, i started towards Sundaram Medical foundation.To cut the long story short,i was asked to go to the ICH at Egmore where you have some 125 people.On reaching that place, my usual volunteering self, got apprised of the situation and figured out what it had to do.We carried the bundle of gifts, which was a pack of sanitary items to be given to each of the inmates.

In the ward, I saw the people...to be more precise...faces...faces which have seen it all..faces which had lost the ability to emote....faces which hid the pain and suffering..faces which looked blank, void of anything...but in all those faces, i saw a common feat...an expectant look at the incoming group, which looked hardly impressive..

The first thing , i noticed was the irritable way the workers in the ward were behaving.And I had to control myself a lot, to give them a piece of my head.I mean, those people are suffering from a disease for which we have no answer.Atleast, we can give them a dignity, a respect and nothing but display of a sensitiveness to their situation.They are entitled to atleast that much.But the way one of the worker was calling those people, as if they were a bunch of cattle to be reared and put in their shed.Gosh,I had to control my anger,so as to not create a situation there.I know its hard for you, as you see it happen daily and you lose any sense of attachment, but still showing consideration to your own fellows doesnt come with any cost isnt it?You dont lose anything and so why dont you do it??

To add to that, there were the volunteers from canstop, three infact.I have always held a thought that people as they grow to their middle ages, lose their sense of reality and the only sense visible for them is an extraordinarily bloated image of themselves,a highly exaggerated sense of self importance..to be precise.And one of the lady was a perfect specimen of my theory.She kept on saying,'Lets be organised', and again i had to resist myself from telling her that 'being organised doesnt mean that we hafta do things in her way!!!'.And i guess the ladies had a pretty bad ego clash among themselves which they never cared to conceal.Okay to be fair, i should accept that one of the ladies was a sweetheart.with her innocent dancing and singing, she made the crowd happy.but stilll.....

Boyyy...then i realised that there is a beeg gap between what we can do as help and what we really do.If you wanna really help, please leave the notion that you are helping people back at home and come over and simply help.Do not hold the thought that Im beeg and important and im helping out people and all that crap!!!!and beleive me, it makes a lotsa difference.While that lady was giving a speech to the inmates, all that she managed to convey was how gracious/malevolent she was, in coming to help you people.And poor people, they clapped at the end of speech and got the gifts, thankful for them atleast.I wonder, if they really felt grateful for the big lady's speech and gesture in giving out a helping hand.

As i was suffocated to death on seeing this painful drama being enacted on stage, suddenly one person attracted me.She was a student at a college and doing her internship at the hospital.And there,i found a person, doing exactly what i would have luved the beeg lady to do..She reached out personally to people, always with a charming smile and heard them patiently.I guess that is the real help you need to do.To her, i think it was just an normal activity,not some great thing to be proud of.She never bothered with recognition, for her aim was to really help people, not to use it as a means to vet your craving for selfimportance.And she was there, doin silently the work of the entire group and still managing to remain at the backstage.It always happens this way isnt it?People who do real work, are the ones who get least attention.Coz they never do it for the world.For them its not a theatre act, but a real opportunity to put their soul and body to a cause.And there i saw, a harmony between soul and body and a living being, deriving most superior form of joy ever possible in this world.Action without Expectation....She lend her hand for the sake of help and help alone..And at that moment, I understood why Mother Teresa and Florence Nightingale were great!!!!

Prose i read somewhere

2005-03-22T12:07:00.000+05:30

"The heights by the great men reached and kept,
Were not attained by sudden flight
But they, while their companions slept
Were toiling upwards in the night." --Anonymous

The first success

2005-03-20T15:39:00.000+05:30

Atlast I did it!!!I went to Gym today!!!isnt it great!!well,ofcourse i did it.but, to go to gym in the morning,i had to stay awake the entire night.Is it too less a price to pay for the reward?i dont know.but it feels gud,because you had finally did what you were trying to do from the start of the year.but the feel good factor died away in the afternoon when i slept and missed out the lunch.Anyhow,its college and you are bound by birth to do such things at college.What else is college for?Cramming up formulaes and mugging??Noooo wayyyyyy>....by the way,yesterday was one more of enlightening chat sessions that go way into the night and end up with a tea at a chai shop outside IIT.The topic of discussion...Everything ranging from choosing life partners to Quantum theory..I would like to dwelve more on the latter,as Quantum thery doesnt have any attractive returns of investment unless you are an all brains no balls guy;)Its a commonly held misconception that you do not have the choice of selection in an arranged marriage,short time,lack of avenues to talk,and what not..being cited as the reasons.Consider this..Would you ever take a GRE,GMAT,CAT or the CET with just a toss of a coin?Its a similar situation when you dont take control of your marriage.Better try out all your options before settling for whatever you got.coz till marriage,atleast you have a choice of making a better option,but after marriage,you dont..Its too much of a risk to leave to chance something as important as a marriage..Im feeling sleepy and so we end here...Would write on why a dog is a dog and a man is a man tomorrow..

start of week..

2005-03-15T00:30:00.001+05:30

Have you ever felt the feeling of ecstasy and fagged,simulataneously at the same time?IF yes,you would know the magnitude of what i felt today.Had been working on a long cherished dream till morning and once it was over,tiredness took over.But because the brain was too much excited with the work,it refused to sleep and there started the conflict.You want to sleep but still your body and mind refuses.Did not go to the lab today and dint do much of project work either.sometimes I seem so strange to myself.The problem that im working on is interesting,im bloody damn passionate about the problem but still sometimes,i just dont feel like working on it!!But my consolation is that i had done some real gud work on a dream project and hope to complete it within a couple of days.Even there,I knew it was my dream project but still till yesterday i dint feel like working on it!!I seem to require some kinda setting to sit and work it out,some mood,times may be...Very well,all said,its the way i am and i dont wanna change it.Now tis late at night,and yet to go to sleep.M seriously planning to wake up tomorrow morning for the Gym.Hope i make it..Wish me good luck!!!

Sundayyyyyyy...

2005-03-13T22:12:00.000+05:30

ah!!!sundayyyyyyy!!!this is the feeling you get when you wake up on a beautiful sunday morning,especially if you had put a night out on saturday night.Iam no exception to this golden rule and even after waking up to conscience,dint feel like getting out of the bed.If anyone asks me what bliss is,my immediate retort would be the feeling that you get when you lie on your bed on a sunday morning without bothering to get up.After experiencing such uninterrupted bliss,i was brought to the mortal world by a knock at the door.Cursing the instigant who blotted out my sweet sweet morning,i opened the door,only to hear my friend telling me
'Its not enough to buy the gift for a friend.You should also give it on the occasion'.We had bought a gift yesterday, to be given to a friend on his marriage day,which was unfortunately, today.

Giving him a glance that would have confused his wits out,on what was the feeling that i was having at that particular moment,i perused the truth in his statement.My intellecually leaning mind immediately brought out a similitude 'Its not just enough to build a nuke.You need to devise methods to deliver the same'.Appreciating my mind for the intellectual ferment that it seems to have produced,i brought my attention back on the initiator who brought all such activity to my otherwise serene brain.(Thats how i like to call it,instead of plain LAZYY).I assured him that i would be ready in a moment,conveniently leaving out the definition of what a moment means in my vocabulary.

Well lemme cut short our rather long and boring travel to the marriage hall and the nap which was a result of the heavy lunch. It was night when i woke up again,only to find myself goin out for dinner.So thus ended my rather (un)eventful sunday.

Radio Free Nepal

2005-03-12T19:30:00.000+05:30

Now that stuff is all about nepal and worth reading..
Radio Free Nepal

Delightful saturday

2005-03-12T19:04:00.000+05:30

Well,
its gud to be writing again.I seem to have built a habit of blogging daily.So before i lose interest,get....set... goooooo...
Today started with the same daily ritual of me promising to myself to go to gym from tomorrow.And late in morning ,when i woke up,i kicked myself for again reneging on the promise that i made yesterday.Then it was a friend who disappointed me,by making himself unavailable for the trip that we had planned for ooty.Initially the trip was planned as a gettogether for the entire batch,but now nearly half the people had other plans in their mind.Im disappointed,well,its a weaker word to describe my feeling.On the retrospective,i think i could have forced him to toe my line.But I dint,coz its my policy not to force anybody for anything.I beleive in the complete independence of the individual and i might give some suggestions.Its upto you to take it or leave it.And I dont give a damn if you take it or not.

The best part of the day was saved for the later session in the afternoon i think.I had met my professor along the path to the lab and we were discussing the results of a problem that im working on.Till today,we were unable to interpret anything out of the results.We had results and we knew the inputs.But the inputs and the outputs never matched with any of the conclusions that we tried to derive out of it.But today ,he made an observation and working along it ,i find that the conclusions and the results fall in place.This is a classical way of solving a problem i suppose.I had worked on this,broken my head on this for a couple of weeks and just when im not moving anywhere,comes the much needed break.

Moral of the story 'when you think all the doors are closed and nothing is possible,do NOT give it up.Just keep goin,even if it is a blind hope.You will find a way out.Coz tis only natural for intellectuals to find light along any tunnel'.So thats it,i guess..I will be moving out to find a gift for a friend whoz marrying tomorrow and do a bit of shopping.Expecting the day to end in a greatway as it had started;)

reminiscences

2005-03-11T23:17:00.000+05:30

Its long since,i have actively posted something and today i made up my mind to devote sometime for blogging every day.But beware,that doesnt mean it would actually translate into lotsa blogs,for there exists a beeg vacuum barrier between my thoughts and actions.Any how,as the saying goes,'something is better than nothing' and comfortably forgetting the second half of the saying which says 'nothing is better than nonsense',here we go...

Well,the day started with a habitual failure for me..i had intended to get up early in the morning and go to the gym.but if there is one thing which makes me proud of my sincerity,tis this habit of waking up in the morning only to sleep again ,making a wow to go to gym the next day.nothing interesting happened after,for i was too lazy to do anything in the day.i donno if it happens to y ppl,but somedays i just wanna lie down and do nothing.not that i do something in the other days,but on these days,its real bold and italised NOTHING.Thinking of it,im worried about my lack of interest in anything of late.Everything seems to bore me out soon,including people.

Once upon a time,i was interested in love,had indulged in two or three affairs too.But i guess ive not been able to find some partner who suits me.The sick thing with these affairs is that they are interesting initially when you do not know much about the partner.But gradually the interest dwindles,until one fine day you find out that you love for the sake of being in love.That day,i broke off.Thinking back,i find that all those times when i was in an affair,it was not really love that bound me.It was merely a convenience,an emotional and physical convenience for me because i wanted to let out my feelings which were ripening with age.For my partners it was also the same convenience ,because they can safely bet on a horse that they know than going to the market to choose a new horse.Among all these mad scrambles for getting into love,the absence of real love doesnt matter so much.untill one fine day,you realise that you dont have any further fuel to keep it going.Well this is gettting to be a blog on its own,so lemme postpone it to another day..

With all these lack of interests,you might be tempted to ask 'Am i happy?'.Well as an answer to the question,If I am to rate myself for happiness in a scale of 1 to 10,i would rate myself at 15.For though im not interested in anything,i ve been doing whatever i feel like doing.Be it a sketch,or a small walk at beach,or a big pack of chocolates, it is always new for me,for i never repeat it till i feel for it.This reminds me of a famous saying which goes like 'A foolish consistency is a hobgoblin of little minds'.Well so thats it i guess,for today...

A Star far away......

2005-01-27T02:50:00.000+05:30

Every night as I walk among the grass,
A solitary wanderer lost amidst thoughts,
I see the sky with the moon and the stars,
An exquisite attire of black with shiny dots.

There among the numerous,lies one star,
Shivering and quivering so near,yet so far.
How I wish I had the wings of a great pelican,
strong enough to fly me through the distance.

It is a perfect companion to a lonely human,
tired of earthly vile,longing for a true soul.
For it expects nothing and accepts anything,
cheering and prodding,when among the gutters.

It twinkles more,when i find it among the rest
As if to say coyly,'I know you would find me'.
No matter where,its always there,awaiting
For my glance,only to shine brighter, after.

But are'nt stars just chunks of matter,destined
To burn and sparkle all the way till the end?
Lifeless they are,did we say they have no emotions?
still,What does it have,that stole my heart away?

If it were possible,take away all that I possess,
In Exchange,give me a moment with the star I cherish.
If it were not ,allow me to breath till my last,
And let the grave always point to my adored.

Needed - Capable Leaders...

2004-11-26T19:33:00.000+05:30

Fifty six years have passed since the time world had witnessed an extraordinary phenomenon. The phenomenon wherein, people as different as Germans from Turks or Russians from Afrikaans, came together to create a country that is roughly half of Europe in terms of size and equivalent to the entire Asia put together, in terms of diversity. The fact that India has flourished even after countless attempts on her integrity, is a standing testimony to the people who inhabit her. However there is a nagging question that needs to be pondered upon by any responsible citizen of India. Could India have done more?
Looking back, we find that India had its own share of problems-burdening population, incorrect economic policies, bleak industrial scenario, wars and internal strafes to name a few. But all these problems are like the stars in a broad daylight sky, which get lost in the glare of sunlight. The Sun being, with due apologies to the now rather endangered species of honest politicians, the class of politicians together with the system that they have created for their survival. For if there is one class that has consistently failed the people, consistently failed to live up to the expectations, consistently messed up with the day to day running of the society ,it has to be the political class of India.
The problem is ill conceived, if we blame only the politicians for the mess in the country. For, the political system and the people also are equally responsible for this erosion. The people failed the system by electing leaders who are least interested in the working of the democracy than in working around it. The political system failed the people by denying them a way to steer clear of corrupt leaders. To top it all, the politicians used the inability of the system and the lack of interest shown by the people to further their own interests.
The solution to this problem, ironically, has been discussed so much as to evoke a feeling of apathy even from people who are normally inclined towards the art of discussion. Qualifying norms for politics, does increase the credibility of the leaders. But the major stumbling block comes in the implementation. How does one frame the norm? Does it have to be the now famously debated two child norm, there by, brightening the not-so-bright prospect of a child whose father chose to hide him from the society? Or does it have to be an academic degree, there by disqualifying a large majority of underprivileged.
Qualifying norm, for any selection process has to ensure that only the candidates who have relevant credentials are chosen. Norms for politics can be derived by taking a leaf out of the education scenario. Similar to the increasingly higher levels of education, with each level mandating the completion of the previous level, Political field can be divided into three tiers. The highest tier being the parliament and the lowest tier being the Panchayat bodies, with the state legislature coming as the second tier. Any citizen aspiring for a political career should first be groomed by a stint at the Panchayat bodies. At the end of a term at Panchayat bodies, he will be appraised for his work by the people of the respective constituencies, who will rate his performance apart from choosing the next leader. Thus a system of feedback gets established based upon which a rating system can be evolved. Based on such a norm, an aspiring politician can be chosen for increasingly higher levels of responsibility, from the Panchayat member to legislative assembly and then finally to the parliament of India. Along with such a performance based promotions, stringent clauses can also be enacted which make it mandatory for the Member of parliaments to achieve a stipulated minimum feedback score for them to be considered for the next term at the parliament. If they fail to achieve the same, they can be demoted back to the legislative assembly and Panchayat boards respectively.
No doubt, Indian democratic experiment is the most unique and probably the only one in the entire history of humanity, which ever came closer to the goal of achieving freedom in the real sense for its people. There have been drawbacks, pitfalls and failures in the course of this journey that we had taken, but just like the phoenix that grows out of its own ashes, we had outgrown all the problems and we will continue to do so in the future also. But in the Journey, We will be best served by leaders who are qualified enough to lead and this is where the idea of corporate governance with its feedback system can aid us critically.

On a Sweet Sweet Dumbo I know....

2004-10-03T14:41:00.000+05:30

This blog im gonna dedicate to the disgustingly sweet dumbo I have ever known.Before meeting her,I never knew people like these existed on this planet.I only thought it was a big bad world out there,where the only thing you can trust is your gun.Meeting her was an eye opener for me.For I now think world is not only big and bad,its weird and psychotic too.:-)

well,jokes apart,She is one of the very few reasons,which make my stint at ahmedabad a thing to cherish for life.She's a kinda personality who grows on you with time.Those familiar words,'udamba parthuko da.Nalla sapidu.Nalla thoongu" still ring in my ears,fresh as ever.To care for everyone around her,is something thats programmed like a reflex into her.Okay,I do have a confession to make.Though I used to make fun of those words,only my mind knows how much i wish to hear them again and again.

And the rasam that she makes.Boyyyyyyyy...it was awesome...I mean,though she never succeeded in making a successful rasam,every time that she was into cooking,she came up with something which tastes jussstttt ....terrific.And I wonder how she pulls off that innocent girl-next-door look ,which wins over even strangers like auto rickshaw drivers,station masters or for that matter everyone except for those in TCS.I wont be surprised,if the train driver at ahmedabad misses her even now.And oh!forgot to add something.Her only obsession as far as I know,was the filling of green form(a nomenclature used for getting back the expenses that we incured at the client site).And I promptly presented her with one of those forms as a gift for her b'day.

Oh..OOOOh...I think pulling your legs has become an obsession for me theni;-)sorry for that.I know you wont mind it.And again jokes apart,being a complete individual in all aspects is something for which i envy her.Kay,tis time to end i suppose.To quote George Elliot on friendship,

'Friendship is the inexpressible comfort
of feeling safe with a person,
having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words'

I think she is the only one with whom I felt so..:-)

The lost world....

2004-10-01T14:12:00.000+05:30

This is age of information,globalization,some-x-sisation,etc,etc.Well,atleast thats what our politicians,corporate leaders and some selfstyled-press of the urbane will want us to beleive.How far they are true is,as a matter of fact,fodder for another really really big blog.Im not goin into that stuff,nor am i interested in those unreal hypes.But what interests me is the quantum of change thats occuring in our lives,owing to the ever increasing pace of our days.

Let the winds of change,Mahatma gandhi once commented,come into our minds from all directions.But he also cautioned against getting swept away by the same.Unfortunately,it seems he was right,as always.Our insane preoccupation with the pressures of day to day life sadly,has destroyed some important tenets that are the basic ingredients of happiness in life.And as usual as ever,we have gleefully accepted this calamity as a normal consequence of our so-called elevated standards of living.

As an example,take the case of friendship.Many of us have forgotten what it feels like,to be among our friends.(A word of caution here,dont mistake the word friends for the acquaintances that we make,owing to physical proximity).And we dont bother much either.Why would we?Time spent on friends,never earns us anything monetarily or otherwise.And anything which has no monetary value,never means anything for us.And so,we live our life in a self imposed exile,caging ourself with mounds of gold,and searching in vain for that eternal peace and happiness.I would like to scream 'Its friendship,stupid' to all those gold caged parrots.Rather than going behind gold,take good care of your friends,for they are worth their weight in gold.Nothing in this world can equal the bliss that friendship gives.And nothing can hurt more either,when you come to know that your friend is no longer a friend....

Dawn.....

2004-09-27T11:36:00.000+05:30

As the darkness moves out of the timber,
colours comeback to life from their slumber.
Happy,sure they are,for they dance and dine,
and turn the sky into a canvas above the pine.
Gold,pure and glittering,then starts its parade,
free it is,plenty it is,invaluable it is but for trade.
The creators symphony,by his feathered friends,
neither jazz nor blues ,yet never goes out of trends.
enter the pearls,crowned proudly upon the sword,
for who else can create dewdrops,if not the lord.
the air is filled with love,new hopes everywhere,
sighting the end,gloom and sadness disappear.
so much life in every morning,so much happiness,
I wondered 'what are all these,if not for darkness'

An Ode to my friends....

2004-09-26T15:26:00.000+05:30

This is an Ode to my friends,
the list though, never ends.
I think of them as god send,
even if he asks,I would not lend.

I can still remember the day,
when I met her on the way.
Crying my way to the nursery,
she took me along cheerfully.

We became thick friends then,
the days together ,full of fun.
soon seperation brought pain,
And we only watched in vain.

As i moved into the new place,
He provided comfort and solace.
combined studies that lasted nights,
now they seem lost among the lights.

Oh it was my blood brother,
thats how we called each other.
we grow up as a single soul,
even time and space cudnt foul.

more to come .....

A Date with the Destiny...

2004-09-04T14:52:00.000+05:30

Scene 1:
Place:AOT (If you thought it is Ardent Orthorhombic Trans-theta or something similar in form...congrats..you are fit to be in IIT..But AOT stands for Arun's Own Theatre in our lingo..)
Time:A very very apt time for sleep..Well, a heavy lunch and the slight drizzle in the afternoon are to blame....
Event Description:
Beep! Beep!.With sleep still refusing to go out of my eyes,I searched for the the mobile phone.After two minutes of frantic searching for the phone,which would have put even the best CBI raid to shame,I succeeded in getting it out of my pillow.Now Who is this ?The familiar question which haunts most of the mobile phone owners,flashed in my mind too.
Scene 2:
Place:IIT Gajendra Circle..(No..You are wrong..This place is not named after Captain Vijaykanth's latest movie)...
Time:A couple of minutes after the first scene..(Atleast I thought it was a couple.But you know guys,keeping correct time is one bad habit i have always steered clear of...)
Event Description:
As I was cycling towards GC,my mind was racing ahead.There is a saying "Anticipation is Sweet.When you are sure of the outcome".Even as I was appreciating the truth in the above statement,there were other thought trains running around too.I was wondering at the logic in God's Creation which always seems to get it wrong..I mean,whats the point in creating a beautiful place like IIT and gifting it to people who use eyes only as a status indicator to the activity in their brain.something like ...

Closed Eyes-Sleeping or thinking brain.
Staring Eyes-Thinking or Deep thinking.
Open Eyes - Something Seriously wrong with the brain..gotta see the doc.

I wonder if they really have such a status chart programmed in themselves.My mind was chugging out a lot of philosophical thoughts(Yes..thats what i call them.C'mon!! this is my blog and I'm allowed that liberty) like these,when I reached the GC.Okay people,I think the suspense is enough and so lemme break it.My friend has called up earlier in the day and said she would come to IIT.Im right now scanning for her and there i found her sitting near her parked scooty.The three of us(mind you.she brought in her friend also!!) went to the coffee parlour,and had a nice talk over the coffee.I wanted to talk a lot to her,but ended up talking a lot with her friend.(Im very good in kadalaiyin...FYI).But still the silent moments together,the cool breeze and the drizzle made it one memorable occasion,more special because of her.I guess she too must have felt so,coz i know we think alike.(Jeez...its uncomfortable to know that some one can read you so well.;-))

Then it was time to leave,another friend at IIT (Eppadithan avanukku mookula verthatho????)was waiting for me,and she had her mother calling her.She said 'twas nice meeting you.And then only it stuck me..We were meeting for the first time and ..We dint even bother to introduce ourselves!!!!...And that my friends, is the abnormal story where in two people entirely unrelated,came together to forge a friendship,because of what is known as one's DESTINY..

In a Heart Beat.....

2004-09-01T20:35:00.000+05:30

All i want is...
To see all the beauty in a single flower,
To hear all the music in a single flute,
To know all the truth in a single word,
To live all the life in a single heartbeat.

sea biscuit.......

2004-08-21T22:15:00.000+05:30

Yesterday i saw a movie named 'Sea Biscuit'.I hope every one is familiar with this story.For the uninformed lot,this story is about a horse which was used as a trainer for the race horses,being spotted by a businessman who is on the verge of economic collapse,jockeyed by a young chap who is nothing but a failure,rising to become one of the most successful race horse of the time and managing to turn around even the great economic depression of 1930s by instilling confidence and faith among the masses.

The movie sprang of a thought chain in my mind..How many times in our life have we written off many a persons for their failures.The ever increasing globalization and competition has succeeded in creating a rat race among us..we luv to be associated with the winners,to be seen among the winning team,more precisely to be in the spot light...But how many of us realise that winning is just a right combination of talent,hard work and luck in that order..and that those who lose also have the talent and hard work..Given the right track ,they too can be winners.So,where did we miss out?what can we do now to change this rather bleak scenario?

The problem is that,we write off many a ppl even before we have given them adequate chance..we choose our winners even before the race is begun..If only we can transform this rat race,into something where every one wins,where you dont stamp someone as born loser,where evey one gets the right environment that he desires,we will be doin a great service to humanity.Think about it..As for me,I will rather lose in this rat race and be counted among the losers than to be praised and commended for something i dont stand for...

will be back...

To you my pal,

2004-08-20T02:52:00.000+05:30

To you my pal,
I can be my true self and still be normal,
To you my pal,
I can talk without the fear of being mistaken,
To you my pal,
I can convey my mind without speaking a word,
To you my pal,
I can afford to go crazy sometimes just for fun,
To you my pal,
I can just be plain happy,without any reasons,
To you my pal,
I dedicate my only success in life-finding you.

Being Single

2004-08-20T02:44:00.000+05:30

This i wrote for hindu openpage,

Staying Single
"I refuse to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon if I can. I want to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed - never to be numbered among those weak and timid souls who have known neither victory nor defeat"
A great thinker he was, Henry.B.Zachry aptly summed up the spirit of staying single. Being single, gives an individual the much needed freedom and independence of thought. This freedom is the cradle for creativity, courage, passion and willpower which are the ethos of a rare breed of people, of whom the world sees little but hears a lot. These are the people, who with their legendary faith and confidence derived from within, forever changed the course destined for world, much to the chagrin of the others who failed, owing to their emotional and intellectual dependence. And who can exemplify it more aptly than our own Dr.APJ Abdul Kalaam?

In perfect harmony

2004-08-20T02:32:00.000+05:30

A small verse that i wrote...

Looking back through the mist,
of the past that time has weaved,
ups and downs and rise and fall,
so sudden to stop for a moment,
the all knowing heart that maketh destiny,
with all its pride,glory and might.

Amidst all the happenings mired in haze,
Explodes the starking spirit of life!
Thank you God,the almighty,if you do exist,
for the pleasures and the pains that crossed,
If tomorrow beheld the gift of being my last,
me would bow down with glee,in perfect harmony

firsttttttttt

2004-08-20T01:45:00.000+05:30

This is my first post...so whats the big deal? you may ask...In a way its special for me,bcoz im not the one to write a lot,nor can i think a lot, and even if by hook or crook i manage all these,i'm so lazy to post it,let alone write it in a notepad and save it on to the computer.so then why trouble us?I can hear your sarcastic grunt...
Well,a couple of days ago,I came across this girl,who is a perfect stranger to me.I dont have the faintest inkling of what she looks like,neither do i know about her mind nor about her personality.yet, we talked and talked,and now it seems that she is the closest mould that i can find,who is similar to me.And this I found out by reading thru her blogs.And then it dawned on me,why cant i write one?..
And voila,...god said 'let amp be' n there was this blog..Im not saying that thru reading this blog you will know all about me.Im not even giving a statutory warranty of a very good time reading all this.After all,its just the work of a primitive mamallean mind which is trying to justify its existence.....