What does MTV do to fill up its horde of void air-time? Perhaps the same thing I intend to do right now. Something completely 'Faltoo' or 'Futile' to say in english. Though these two words cannot be technically termed as homonyms, yet somehow both of them can qualify as a slangish translation of the other in their own native languages. That is to say, each is the originator of the other. Somehow we as hindi-tongue metamorphosed the word 'Futile' over a period of time, bounded by our immature penchant to include english words in our daily talks, in to what MTV proudly broadcasts as a full fledged package of so called fabricated 'inter-tainment'.
Or maybe, Brits as english-toungue during their era of Indian oppression, realized that they have been missing a word, whose meaning they would have never grasped by heart, only because of their belief that the sun never sets in the english empire and that they have never done anything, during the whole course of their civilization, which in essence qualified as pointless or fruitless. So they embezzled the word 'Faltoo', transposed the letters 'l' and 't', polished it with some english ascent and ahhaaa...got a whole new word - 'Futile'.
OK, whatever be the background of these words, the reason as I made clear in the beginning, is to spend time writing something 'Fully Faltoo', something without heads or tails, something which has no literary value, or which can be read mechanically like a verbose paragraph but makes no sense at all. And its indeed a tough task- to not make sense. Give a shot on writing something gibbrish, keeping the grammar intact with the proper use of words, and I bet you end up writing something useful for someone.
But is that the case always, and with everyone, becasueI seriously doubt what I opined above. Thanks, to a white paper which I am fighting to convert for the past two weeks, into a more meaningful,informative and purposive document. I think white papers, are more loyal towards their name, by being 'White', in a holistic sense, with not an iota of information to disperse to its readers. And in this fight I have been compelled to believe that 'lingerie' alone is not the only manifestation of brevity, but 'white papers' too are in the same league.
Anyhow, the goal seems to have been defeated here, because the post is not substantially 'Futile' in a satisfactory sense, or may be it is, who knows, except for the one who can make sense out of it. Besides, sleep is one thing , that can make a genius, think not with his head, but tail, and that's what am doing I guess. I'll better cull this down here and get some 'fruitful' sleep.
May 29, 2006
May 14, 2006
Despise-List
Most people are alive because its illegal to shoot them.Someone had said. And that's true to the last of its word in my opinion. To be honest I was a bit apprehensive at first to write a post on the demeanour of others, but after 4(+3) days of futile procrastination, I finally decided to let go it.
Well to put it straight - Man is a social animal. And I just can't stop laughing because that phrase holds a very special and cliched status in my local friend circle. But its pertinent here for the kind of double meaning it circulates, one which implies that Man is unlike Animal because Man is social, and the second that Man is after all an animal. Carrying this foundation forward to the the point I intend to bring in - That its natural for us as 'residual animals' to not like certain individuals, or group of people around us because of their demeanor. So that 'despise list' of ours, consisting of those, whom we despise for one or the other reasons( and at times without reason also), automatically becomes a natural product owned by each of us.
Speaking of which, I would like to present with some quintessential of the very like, who in one or the other manifestations would be present in the despise list of everybody. So the first place in my hit list is occupied by the - The Uncle Jacks' ( basically the jack of all trades..and masters of none..) -
Though you may at first instance not be able to relate them as any distant relative of Uncle Sam, but it takes a few minutes of chinwag, that you start disliking them (like you do Uncle Sam) for the reasons,you cant even dare to tell them. They know more than you about the profession you are in. So, obviously you just cant undermine the complex of self-ignorance by discussing theirs with them. They would not mind giving you advice on anything ranging from a cure for common cold to whether your computer needs a DDR-I or II RAM. They are the best possible local ( and moving) britanica's available around you, without any guarantee on the veracity of their informational content. Personally, I just hate to even see such people around me, but that they unfortunately keep popping somewhere among my relatives, gives me a bad bad time on social occasions.
Next in the list are those who can be straight away classified as despicable for no reason at all except for their mirror cracking,ugly and unwelcome faces that you have to encounter everyday in your workplace because like the lyrics of Enrique's song goes - You can run, You can hide, but you cannot escape - their faces. That's the case, there are faces in your office which make you delighted, which give you a pleasant feeling, and then there are the faces of these second kind - which will keep hitting you, for you dont like to see them. Don't know what's with these faces after all. I agree that an ugly face doesn't qualify as a demeanor at a person's level, but tell you what, most of the times an ugly face entails an equally forbidding demeanor which can piss you off.
And yes, the third kind - Hypocrites. Can be found in abundance everywhere. Maybe you can count yourself as one among them. Infact I have tried many a times during self inspection not to relinquish myself as yet another brick in the wall of hypocrites, but I think its just not possible. Hypocrites in themselves are not bummers, its the preposterous act of boasting the hypocrisy which can make you kill them. They can talk about the impotency of government one minute and in the next flaunt their ingenuity by telling you the ways of tax evasion. They can argue on cons of prostitution if legalised in India, and beg you the same hour for the next MMS clip. They can proudly speak of their agnosticism and pray in the temple next day for the exams. Such are they , that you woudn't feel bad to have them executed for being what they are.
But Off all the reasons one can have for despising others, I feel its this despise list which keeps you from following or doing or behaving in a manner you dont like in others. Thus its as necessary and vile as a list to have one.
Well to put it straight - Man is a social animal. And I just can't stop laughing because that phrase holds a very special and cliched status in my local friend circle. But its pertinent here for the kind of double meaning it circulates, one which implies that Man is unlike Animal because Man is social, and the second that Man is after all an animal. Carrying this foundation forward to the the point I intend to bring in - That its natural for us as 'residual animals' to not like certain individuals, or group of people around us because of their demeanor. So that 'despise list' of ours, consisting of those, whom we despise for one or the other reasons( and at times without reason also), automatically becomes a natural product owned by each of us.
Speaking of which, I would like to present with some quintessential of the very like, who in one or the other manifestations would be present in the despise list of everybody. So the first place in my hit list is occupied by the - The Uncle Jacks' ( basically the jack of all trades..and masters of none..) -
Though you may at first instance not be able to relate them as any distant relative of Uncle Sam, but it takes a few minutes of chinwag, that you start disliking them (like you do Uncle Sam) for the reasons,you cant even dare to tell them. They know more than you about the profession you are in. So, obviously you just cant undermine the complex of self-ignorance by discussing theirs with them. They would not mind giving you advice on anything ranging from a cure for common cold to whether your computer needs a DDR-I or II RAM. They are the best possible local ( and moving) britanica's available around you, without any guarantee on the veracity of their informational content. Personally, I just hate to even see such people around me, but that they unfortunately keep popping somewhere among my relatives, gives me a bad bad time on social occasions.
Next in the list are those who can be straight away classified as despicable for no reason at all except for their mirror cracking,ugly and unwelcome faces that you have to encounter everyday in your workplace because like the lyrics of Enrique's song goes - You can run, You can hide, but you cannot escape - their faces. That's the case, there are faces in your office which make you delighted, which give you a pleasant feeling, and then there are the faces of these second kind - which will keep hitting you, for you dont like to see them. Don't know what's with these faces after all. I agree that an ugly face doesn't qualify as a demeanor at a person's level, but tell you what, most of the times an ugly face entails an equally forbidding demeanor which can piss you off.
And yes, the third kind - Hypocrites. Can be found in abundance everywhere. Maybe you can count yourself as one among them. Infact I have tried many a times during self inspection not to relinquish myself as yet another brick in the wall of hypocrites, but I think its just not possible. Hypocrites in themselves are not bummers, its the preposterous act of boasting the hypocrisy which can make you kill them. They can talk about the impotency of government one minute and in the next flaunt their ingenuity by telling you the ways of tax evasion. They can argue on cons of prostitution if legalised in India, and beg you the same hour for the next MMS clip. They can proudly speak of their agnosticism and pray in the temple next day for the exams. Such are they , that you woudn't feel bad to have them executed for being what they are.
But Off all the reasons one can have for despising others, I feel its this despise list which keeps you from following or doing or behaving in a manner you dont like in others. Thus its as necessary and vile as a list to have one.
May 1, 2006
Frizza
Well, that's what you call a pizza, when it comes for free - a Frizza (Free pizza) !. For us however the word fits more cleverly as our weekend luncheon on a more or less regular basis. Hold it dont start clicking for your dictionaries. Oxford is still to give recognition to this word, but only after they recieve a letter of requisition for the same. Any volunteers for that? - do contact me (shouldn't be hard !).
The etymology of this word can be easily understood in the context of Pizzas, because the only thing you can get for free in this world and that too delivered at your door steps is a Pizza(* conditions apply). Thanks to those MNC's and their global objective capitalistic philosophies prevailing in the world today which enunciates - 'Customer is our God'. And damn sure I am, that after a frizza you'll certainly 'feel like a god'.
So, we have devised an almost unfailing and pragmatic plan (the average succes rate stands somewhere at 3 out of 5 times) for anyone to obtain a free pizza, but you will have to read this whole post till the end to get to that. No no, don't start scrolling coz its not even at the end. Because you must always remember - There are no free lunches in this world ;).
Frizza as I would put it in the marketing language, is more of a corporate retaliation of Do-mi-noes against the Freshizzaa of Pizza Hut (Dominoes does not like to promote the same for unknown reasons even I dont know). But somehow I have a definite penchant for the former and an equally strong dislike for the latter. There are blatant differences between the two. We know it all. But what most of us will not know is how to get one i.e. a frizza. Most certainly any voracious pizza eater would some or the other time have had a pizza feast when the delivery man gets late and by the company policy of '30 minutes or free' s/he would be more than happy for not paying for it.
But how about gettting the same at the success rate of 3 out of 5 times. Sounds, interesting, isn't it. So here are some tips -
1.) Always order a pizza at the peak hour. Peak hours include the rush traffic hours when ppl retrun from their offices in the evening.
2.) If you never read the weather section of your newspaper, take up the habit of reading it today itself. Because if your city is going to witness an unwelcome rain or a storm in the evening, you got to make the best of it by ordering a pizza after the sunset.
3.) On weekends, for the lazybones and breakfast skippers like me who would not like to step out of their home or even their room, their lunch orders suddenly start to weigh heavily on nearest pizza shop. So for an afternoon frizza meal, check if your clock shows post 1230 hours, its the best time to order the pizza.
4.) Always start your stop watch the second you put down your phone after ordering your frizza. For a frizza you ought to be on your toes. Counting each second that passes, ready to show the delivery boy his ineptness of missing that 30 minute deadline by a 'second'.
5.) Most of the pizza shops keep a database of number, addresses and the associated person and the name of delivery boy who last delivered a pizza there. So always try to place your order with different numbers of your friends in turn to order a pizza.
6.) In continuation to the above tip, keep atleast 3-4 different formats of your home address handy. For e.g. an address of the sort - Flat No. -1 , ABC Apt, XYZ Street can be provided as
a) 1st Floor, 1st Flat, ABC Apt on XYZ Street.
b) ABC Apt, Near (some landmark), Flat No-1, XYZ Street.
c) Flat No-1 , ABC Apt, Near (some landmark) , PIN-xxxxxx.
This would ensure that it takes some time for them to figure out that its the same location where they have already shipped the pizza.
7.) And last but not the least - Ingrain yourself of the fact that a free pizza is your birth right. So dont feel shy or ashamed while demanding a free pizza when your delivery runs out of time even by a margin of a second. Because unless you contain that obduracy and shamelessness to do that, you dont really deserve to eat a frizza.
Ok, I guess those should be enough, unless you have your customized versions in addition to all the above tips which you can add on to the list as your comments. I just recalled a (poor) joke in context to my frizza delivery shop - Dominoes, which goes something like this -
What is the opposite of Domi-noes?
-Domi-does-not-know.(select the white part with mouse if you give up)
And it rightly goes along in here, because Dominoes really does not know that there are people like us who will not forgo a single chance to keep the Dominoes profit short of their share.
The etymology of this word can be easily understood in the context of Pizzas, because the only thing you can get for free in this world and that too delivered at your door steps is a Pizza(* conditions apply). Thanks to those MNC's and their global objective capitalistic philosophies prevailing in the world today which enunciates - 'Customer is our God'. And damn sure I am, that after a frizza you'll certainly 'feel like a god'.
So, we have devised an almost unfailing and pragmatic plan (the average succes rate stands somewhere at 3 out of 5 times) for anyone to obtain a free pizza, but you will have to read this whole post till the end to get to that. No no, don't start scrolling coz its not even at the end. Because you must always remember - There are no free lunches in this world ;).
Frizza as I would put it in the marketing language, is more of a corporate retaliation of Do-mi-noes against the Freshizzaa of Pizza Hut (Dominoes does not like to promote the same for unknown reasons even I dont know). But somehow I have a definite penchant for the former and an equally strong dislike for the latter. There are blatant differences between the two. We know it all. But what most of us will not know is how to get one i.e. a frizza. Most certainly any voracious pizza eater would some or the other time have had a pizza feast when the delivery man gets late and by the company policy of '30 minutes or free' s/he would be more than happy for not paying for it.
But how about gettting the same at the success rate of 3 out of 5 times. Sounds, interesting, isn't it. So here are some tips -
1.) Always order a pizza at the peak hour. Peak hours include the rush traffic hours when ppl retrun from their offices in the evening.
2.) If you never read the weather section of your newspaper, take up the habit of reading it today itself. Because if your city is going to witness an unwelcome rain or a storm in the evening, you got to make the best of it by ordering a pizza after the sunset.
3.) On weekends, for the lazybones and breakfast skippers like me who would not like to step out of their home or even their room, their lunch orders suddenly start to weigh heavily on nearest pizza shop. So for an afternoon frizza meal, check if your clock shows post 1230 hours, its the best time to order the pizza.
4.) Always start your stop watch the second you put down your phone after ordering your frizza. For a frizza you ought to be on your toes. Counting each second that passes, ready to show the delivery boy his ineptness of missing that 30 minute deadline by a 'second'.
5.) Most of the pizza shops keep a database of number, addresses and the associated person and the name of delivery boy who last delivered a pizza there. So always try to place your order with different numbers of your friends in turn to order a pizza.
6.) In continuation to the above tip, keep atleast 3-4 different formats of your home address handy. For e.g. an address of the sort - Flat No. -1 , ABC Apt, XYZ Street can be provided as
a) 1st Floor, 1st Flat, ABC Apt on XYZ Street.
b) ABC Apt, Near (some landmark)
c) Flat No-1 , ABC Apt, Near (some landmark)
This would ensure that it takes some time for them to figure out that its the same location where they have already shipped the pizza.
7.) And last but not the least - Ingrain yourself of the fact that a free pizza is your birth right. So dont feel shy or ashamed while demanding a free pizza when your delivery runs out of time even by a margin of a second. Because unless you contain that obduracy and shamelessness to do that, you dont really deserve to eat a frizza.
Ok, I guess those should be enough, unless you have your customized versions in addition to all the above tips which you can add on to the list as your comments. I just recalled a (poor) joke in context to my frizza delivery shop - Dominoes, which goes something like this -
What is the opposite of Domi-noes?
-Domi-does-not-know.(select the white part with mouse if you give up)
And it rightly goes along in here, because Dominoes really does not know that there are people like us who will not forgo a single chance to keep the Dominoes profit short of their share.
April 25, 2006
A Century - Zipped in a song !
I spent my most part of today's sedentary work schedule listening to this one song which as the title aptly puts has compressed almost all of the major 'should-know-about' events/legends/wars/inventions and from anything to everything that ever came in news headlines during the last century. And if your guesses are in place it shouldn't be hard ( atleast for those who take the lyrics of 'angrezi' songs a bit seriously and not try to chew the undecipherable ascent of the english singers at times) to hit the bull's eye.
Yes its one of the Billy Joels' selfcomposed (both lyrics and music)song from the 1989 album Storm Front. - We didn't Start the Fire. The song is composed of names and phrases which made history of the 20th century as we know it today. It can be so intriguing to see that each and every single word (except ofcourse the chorus part) hides in itself a news-making story of its time and I am not exaggerating this fact. Take a look here and see for yourself. So much so that one of the sites promotes the song as an excellent education tool for teachers and students and I cannot agree more to that although history has never been my cup of tea at school.
Still I feel that this song is indeed a one stop shop for many of us like me to know and learn those wrapped in time realities, which are so completely different from each other in all aspects, yet have been cornered down at one place and called upon one by one like the siblings of a large family. How much great, fullfilled and accomplished it may seem in its purpose, the song I feel misses that one name from the Songwriter's hall of fame, of that one legend who introduced Piano rock - that of Billy Joel himself.
Yes its one of the Billy Joels' selfcomposed (both lyrics and music)song from the 1989 album Storm Front. - We didn't Start the Fire. The song is composed of names and phrases which made history of the 20th century as we know it today. It can be so intriguing to see that each and every single word (except ofcourse the chorus part) hides in itself a news-making story of its time and I am not exaggerating this fact. Take a look here and see for yourself. So much so that one of the sites promotes the song as an excellent education tool for teachers and students and I cannot agree more to that although history has never been my cup of tea at school.
Still I feel that this song is indeed a one stop shop for many of us like me to know and learn those wrapped in time realities, which are so completely different from each other in all aspects, yet have been cornered down at one place and called upon one by one like the siblings of a large family. How much great, fullfilled and accomplished it may seem in its purpose, the song I feel misses that one name from the Songwriter's hall of fame, of that one legend who introduced Piano rock - that of Billy Joel himself.
April 18, 2006
Success is relative.
Nearly a decade back a quite popular advertisement took rounds on TV, which sought an answer to this question - "Hum kamate kyon hain (Why do we earn?) " And then precariously assuming that nobody could answer that question, the lead in the ad , with a mouth full of delicacies presented the obvious answer - "Khane ke liye ( To eat )". I bought that answer easily ten years back like any other high-school student for whom working and earning are two big words in themselves. But ten years down the line that answer seems to have lost its convincing touch.
I have never not even once I guess given a thought to why and what for am I working. Definitely my work pays for my bread and butter but unlike the prominence it had in that advertisement, earning my livelihood is not the prime and sole objective of working for me and likewise for others. Because today we don't work and earn only to eat, today we work and earn - to earn more than others, to get an edge over others in terms of financial security. For us pay packages now weigh more than the kind and quality of work they associate to. One has to work hard enough to maintain what s/he continues to earn and strive to look for better opportunities which pay more so that others are behind them in that rat race of eating more than what they can chew.
So, What amount should qualify as a limiting, respectable, good and complacent earning for anyone? Well the answer to this correlates somewhat to the definition of limit of functions and might look something like this with very slight modifications :
Where ε and δ are as always real numbers, x defines your skill set, f(x) defines your expectant salary (which evidently is a function of your skill set). However very interesting are the numbers defined by L and c. L is the salary which others are getting and c represents their skill set. So what I've written above can be rephrased in simpler words as - The difference between the expectant package or cash one thinks one should get and what others are getting should always remain positive even though the difference between one's skill set and that of others can be negative at times.( If you remember the exact defintion of limits you can notice that the modulus has been removed from the first inequality in view of that.)
I guess what Eliot meant in his quote 'Success is relative' - that you are not successful unless you are more successful than others is a much simpler version of exactly the same idea what I am trying to put across here. But should that not be seen as a perptual and eternal effort on one's part. Because there's always someone ahead of you and someone behind you, which although projects a linear view instigating one to incessantly invest their efforts to reach the front end of it , only to realize that it is essentially behaving as a vicious circle.
~ Untill next time happy circular running !!
I have never not even once I guess given a thought to why and what for am I working. Definitely my work pays for my bread and butter but unlike the prominence it had in that advertisement, earning my livelihood is not the prime and sole objective of working for me and likewise for others. Because today we don't work and earn only to eat, today we work and earn - to earn more than others, to get an edge over others in terms of financial security. For us pay packages now weigh more than the kind and quality of work they associate to. One has to work hard enough to maintain what s/he continues to earn and strive to look for better opportunities which pay more so that others are behind them in that rat race of eating more than what they can chew.
So, What amount should qualify as a limiting, respectable, good and complacent earning for anyone? Well the answer to this correlates somewhat to the definition of limit of functions and might look something like this with very slight modifications :
For every δ > 0 there should exist ε > 0 such that f (x) − L > ε
whenever x E D and 0 < |x − c| < δ.
whenever x E D and 0 < |x − c| < δ.
Where ε and δ are as always real numbers, x defines your skill set, f(x) defines your expectant salary (which evidently is a function of your skill set). However very interesting are the numbers defined by L and c. L is the salary which others are getting and c represents their skill set. So what I've written above can be rephrased in simpler words as - The difference between the expectant package or cash one thinks one should get and what others are getting should always remain positive even though the difference between one's skill set and that of others can be negative at times.( If you remember the exact defintion of limits you can notice that the modulus has been removed from the first inequality in view of that.)
I guess what Eliot meant in his quote 'Success is relative' - that you are not successful unless you are more successful than others is a much simpler version of exactly the same idea what I am trying to put across here. But should that not be seen as a perptual and eternal effort on one's part. Because there's always someone ahead of you and someone behind you, which although projects a linear view instigating one to incessantly invest their efforts to reach the front end of it , only to realize that it is essentially behaving as a vicious circle.
~ Untill next time happy circular running !!
April 7, 2006
Obituary: Death of development
If at all I created an unrest amongst those money worshippers through my last post which proclaimed 500 bucks as not a torrential sum, I would like to present them with this and vindicate myself. I read this article today morning as I picked up TOI with due reluctance after a substantial time gap, only to find a budding parallelism between us (me and TOI) along with a surprise (ahh not again !!) of seeing others who think like me. But unlike me, their thinking has a very mammoth structure( kahan 500 aur kahan 1Cr !! ). Big difference isn't it.
As you might have read by now and even if not, the article says that its not surprising since
after all the Indian economy is booming. Most definitely. Because I can very proudly boast myself being somewhere at the center of the testimony to this statement. Who else if not for India's youth(and that too in IT industry) can be a proper witness to this boom. And for those who still disapprove of this - I would tell them that a Crore is now a middle class term, that even the service class people can now think of buying Mercedes, that luxury cars have kicked off Maruti 800 to the sub-urban roads, that people are prosperous even without worshipping Laxmi and yes that the sensex is moving under the pull of anti-gravity.
But does this all even make sense to those who will disapprove, to those who are completely untouched by this rapidly changing face of urban India, to those who are committing suicide
because of lack of money in a 'booming economy' - because for them a crore is something like a room full of currency notes, for them Mercedes is a car from another planet and Maruti 800 still qualifies as a 'Car' - some thing that runs on four wheels, for them money is just another manifestation of 'Laxmi' and sensex for them is maybe an abbreviation of sensual-sex.
I might be sounding pessimist, in trying to paste this all-groovy face of new India with an ugly and scraped one. But it remains an equally important yet ignored facet which we cannot override or run away from. Not disparaging the overall growth and development that India has achieved in a sudden burst of industrialization over a short period of time, but this evolution has segregated the population in a concerning manner. Rich have become more richer, poor more poorer that too to an extent of ending their lives because of poverty.
This disjoint set of people who have not been benefitted but rather infact exploited for the sake of development of another set is the one which actually needs to see the daylight of the enthusiastic achievements of India. 'Incomplete knowledge is dangerous' goes a popular saying, but I would say an incomplete and broken development which is not all round and that does not benefits all is perhaps more dangerous instead 'fatal'.
As you might have read by now and even if not, the article says that its not surprising since
after all the Indian economy is booming. Most definitely. Because I can very proudly boast myself being somewhere at the center of the testimony to this statement. Who else if not for India's youth(and that too in IT industry) can be a proper witness to this boom. And for those who still disapprove of this - I would tell them that a Crore is now a middle class term, that even the service class people can now think of buying Mercedes, that luxury cars have kicked off Maruti 800 to the sub-urban roads, that people are prosperous even without worshipping Laxmi and yes that the sensex is moving under the pull of anti-gravity.
But does this all even make sense to those who will disapprove, to those who are completely untouched by this rapidly changing face of urban India, to those who are committing suicide
because of lack of money in a 'booming economy' - because for them a crore is something like a room full of currency notes, for them Mercedes is a car from another planet and Maruti 800 still qualifies as a 'Car' - some thing that runs on four wheels, for them money is just another manifestation of 'Laxmi' and sensex for them is maybe an abbreviation of sensual-sex.
I might be sounding pessimist, in trying to paste this all-groovy face of new India with an ugly and scraped one. But it remains an equally important yet ignored facet which we cannot override or run away from. Not disparaging the overall growth and development that India has achieved in a sudden burst of industrialization over a short period of time, but this evolution has segregated the population in a concerning manner. Rich have become more richer, poor more poorer that too to an extent of ending their lives because of poverty.
This disjoint set of people who have not been benefitted but rather infact exploited for the sake of development of another set is the one which actually needs to see the daylight of the enthusiastic achievements of India. 'Incomplete knowledge is dangerous' goes a popular saying, but I would say an incomplete and broken development which is not all round and that does not benefits all is perhaps more dangerous instead 'fatal'.
April 4, 2006
500+ and counting....
I could only imagine. Until I saw the page views of my blog crossing the 500 mark, today. Not as if I was waiting for it to write this post but the complacent feeling it has brought along is definitely no less than that of Kumble cracking his 500th Test wicket or that brokers watching the BSE index cutting-across the five-figure mark. Although unlike the hard earned joy of Kumble, mine has been earned relatively easier and sweat free.
And that kills my exultation.
It took him 16 long and patient years to achieve it. For me it took less than 90 days.
And that inhibits my triumph.
He earned millions on his way towards his 500th wicket. I earned zilch.
Someone I know, would be thinking at this point about this absurd analogy here.... so fine no more comparison of oranges and apples. I rest my case.
But, looking in depth to this crossing of 500 mark revealed no such great achievement on my part. Since a very significant percentage of total views came from the nano-audience of my blog which comprises of very specific two or three or maybe four regular visitors ( including me !). However, the diversity of people from about ten politically separated geographical boundaries who contributed in whatever way to take this count where it is today, is something truly pacifying for me. Sadly, though none of them were regular.
Out of these 500 hits on my blog, I guess even half of them cannot qualify as proper visits because people came looking for the new posts day after day while I wasn't even near to any thought of updating my blog, resulting in an uncalled increase in the hit count of my page. For the very same reason in fact I personally avoid hustling around on the blogs and in the process invoke the site meter attached to them. Instead I subscribe to the XML/RSS feeds from the blog sites which I like to visit again for the new updates. This way I stave off from visiting the site unnecessarily and also remain informed about any new posts on them automatically.
In the very first place when I started writing, there was no intention of mine to trace my visitors and keep count of how many of them walked through my blog page. Slowly yet quite fast I realized that most of the blog owners have used one or the other way to do so, compelling me to abide by that unsaid and unwritten code of conduct. But seriously it goes beyond my comprehension to visualize those bloggers as neo-narcissists who on one hand try to convince themselves of their popularity by looking at their visitor stats and on the other - talk altruism. Quintessential Hypocrites !.
Whatever it be, as a no-earner, 500 bucks used to be a big figure not long back - it still is but has lost its grandeur. I think its just a matter of clock hands before I make myself more accustomed once and for all to this hit count business and not be intrigued by any such 'breaking-news'.
And that kills my exultation.
It took him 16 long and patient years to achieve it. For me it took less than 90 days.
And that inhibits my triumph.
He earned millions on his way towards his 500th wicket. I earned zilch.
Someone I know, would be thinking at this point about this absurd analogy here.... so fine no more comparison of oranges and apples. I rest my case.
But, looking in depth to this crossing of 500 mark revealed no such great achievement on my part. Since a very significant percentage of total views came from the nano-audience of my blog which comprises of very specific two or three or maybe four regular visitors ( including me !). However, the diversity of people from about ten politically separated geographical boundaries who contributed in whatever way to take this count where it is today, is something truly pacifying for me. Sadly, though none of them were regular.
Out of these 500 hits on my blog, I guess even half of them cannot qualify as proper visits because people came looking for the new posts day after day while I wasn't even near to any thought of updating my blog, resulting in an uncalled increase in the hit count of my page. For the very same reason in fact I personally avoid hustling around on the blogs and in the process invoke the site meter attached to them. Instead I subscribe to the XML/RSS feeds from the blog sites which I like to visit again for the new updates. This way I stave off from visiting the site unnecessarily and also remain informed about any new posts on them automatically.
In the very first place when I started writing, there was no intention of mine to trace my visitors and keep count of how many of them walked through my blog page. Slowly yet quite fast I realized that most of the blog owners have used one or the other way to do so, compelling me to abide by that unsaid and unwritten code of conduct. But seriously it goes beyond my comprehension to visualize those bloggers as neo-narcissists who on one hand try to convince themselves of their popularity by looking at their visitor stats and on the other - talk altruism. Quintessential Hypocrites !.
Whatever it be, as a no-earner, 500 bucks used to be a big figure not long back - it still is but has lost its grandeur. I think its just a matter of clock hands before I make myself more accustomed once and for all to this hit count business and not be intrigued by any such 'breaking-news'.
March 24, 2006
The uptown girl , The downtown train.
I have been hearing something called as ' Opportunity Cost', quite frequently these days. My flat mate recounted the incident of an interview session at IIMB wherein a girl candidate was thoroughly convinced by her interview panel that she's better off not joining any IIM becuase her cost of opportunity if she enters into an IIM will be far more than what she would otherwise be able to generate if at all shes does not enter into the same. Obviously that was a simple number game played by the interviewers as part of their usual soft beating they do around with candidates . But yes, there's an element of truth, and a hard-headed fact somewhere in that game - That is, MBA is the way to 'fancy money'.
So if the question is 'Why MBA?' , the most common and grounded answer one hears is - ' For Money' and only few would give you an answer such as ' I want to learn', ' Marketing,Finance, Banking are my passions' or ' I need a value addition in my profile'. No wonder with a surge in foreign placements from top B-Schools, and an ever increasing thickness of pay packages, who the hell after all will be concerned with learning and value-addition.
And that's where I think is a thick line of difference between those entering IIT's and those entering IIM's or take it even one level higher - between aspirants of engineering and aspirants of management. For the former, money is not a direct motivation for gettting into their dream institution but for the latter perhaps that's the only one. Money or job is not an issue in the minds of students entering the IITs or mayb other engg institutions also, because aspirations are different. People there enter with a different philosophy, with a different craze and with an insanity of doing and learning the only thing for which they have toiled so hard to get into. But I am seriously skeptical if the same holds with those entering B-Schools.And because money comes easy( now that's something contentious here ) after an MBA, is why every other graduate in this country is bidding on doing MBA.
The other time 'Opportunity Cost' made its appearance, suddenly erupting in the middle of my discussion with someone, I knew that this word is going rounds these days, adding more hep to everyone's post-modernist jargon and that too completely cost free. The issue in discussion was the exorbitantly high fees of ISB, that is providing at least an inhibition towards my inclination to apply in there. And pat came out this word as he tried to explain me that one should think like a businessman even when one is not and see that return of investment one year down the line in terms of saving my whole one year ( the MBA curriculum at ISB is of one year. ) and the package I would earn in that saved on year will eventually pay me back the cost of that opportunity, obviously ignoring the facts of any kind of value addition, or learning or even my interest in doing that at personal level.
Far away from all these real-world implication of the word 'opporunity cost', its business value, economic aspects and what not, I kept wondering is that all left in this world to calculate, to even before grabbing an opportunity see the costs involved and leave it if its exceptionally high but hold it if its not much and meanwhile the TV kept playing an unknown video song on a channel, in which a guy jumps off, of a moving downtown train, beholded by the amazing beauty of a downtown girl walking in the opposite direction of train he saw across its windowpane. I rejoiced at the thought that at least somethings still need not be weighed on the balance of 'oppotunity cost'.
So if the question is 'Why MBA?' , the most common and grounded answer one hears is - ' For Money' and only few would give you an answer such as ' I want to learn', ' Marketing,Finance, Banking are my passions' or ' I need a value addition in my profile'. No wonder with a surge in foreign placements from top B-Schools, and an ever increasing thickness of pay packages, who the hell after all will be concerned with learning and value-addition.
And that's where I think is a thick line of difference between those entering IIT's and those entering IIM's or take it even one level higher - between aspirants of engineering and aspirants of management. For the former, money is not a direct motivation for gettting into their dream institution but for the latter perhaps that's the only one. Money or job is not an issue in the minds of students entering the IITs or mayb other engg institutions also, because aspirations are different. People there enter with a different philosophy, with a different craze and with an insanity of doing and learning the only thing for which they have toiled so hard to get into. But I am seriously skeptical if the same holds with those entering B-Schools.And because money comes easy( now that's something contentious here ) after an MBA, is why every other graduate in this country is bidding on doing MBA.
The other time 'Opportunity Cost' made its appearance, suddenly erupting in the middle of my discussion with someone, I knew that this word is going rounds these days, adding more hep to everyone's post-modernist jargon and that too completely cost free. The issue in discussion was the exorbitantly high fees of ISB, that is providing at least an inhibition towards my inclination to apply in there. And pat came out this word as he tried to explain me that one should think like a businessman even when one is not and see that return of investment one year down the line in terms of saving my whole one year ( the MBA curriculum at ISB is of one year. ) and the package I would earn in that saved on year will eventually pay me back the cost of that opportunity, obviously ignoring the facts of any kind of value addition, or learning or even my interest in doing that at personal level.
Far away from all these real-world implication of the word 'opporunity cost', its business value, economic aspects and what not, I kept wondering is that all left in this world to calculate, to even before grabbing an opportunity see the costs involved and leave it if its exceptionally high but hold it if its not much and meanwhile the TV kept playing an unknown video song on a channel, in which a guy jumps off, of a moving downtown train, beholded by the amazing beauty of a downtown girl walking in the opposite direction of train he saw across its windowpane. I rejoiced at the thought that at least somethings still need not be weighed on the balance of 'oppotunity cost'.
March 11, 2006
Bloganalysis
With no Bush around, no political uproars, no new releases and no
substantial turnarounds, it's been difficult for me to write. So
reading loads of blogs in search of content and topics (read as
'masala' in local terms !) has been a gud pass time in last few days.
And except for few definitely good posts I came across, most of them
stood as dead as mine, with no new posts of late. In one such post by
Youth Curry, a complete statistical analysis of the blog world is
beautifully presented.
substantial turnarounds, it's been difficult for me to write. So
reading loads of blogs in search of content and topics (read as
'masala' in local terms !) has been a gud pass time in last few days.
And except for few definitely good posts I came across, most of them
stood as dead as mine, with no new posts of late. In one such post by
Youth Curry, a complete statistical analysis of the blog world is
beautifully presented.
I will quote some lines from it, and not provide the direct link (Yes,
I want to take credit and also fatten up this post, without thinking
hard ;D). Just kidding, with due acknowledgement to the original
author, here are some startling, some boring and some plain facts
about the blogdom along with some of my own researched ones.
- 98% of India is still unaware of what a blog is.
- In the blogosphere's superpower(who else but the US), most Internet
users - 62 per cent according to a survey by the Pew Internet and
American Life Project - aren't exactly sure what a blog is.
- The Google for blogger is www.technorati.com, a search engine that
tracks blogs.
tracks blogs.
- A scant 9 percent of net users read blogs frequently.
- Out of the thirteen activities on net Gallup measured in its poll,
reading blogs finished dead last.
reading blogs finished dead last.
- The number of blogs which are 'active in some way' is just 20% of
the 'total'.
the 'total'.
- At the close of 2002, there were some 15,000 blogs compare it to the
'total' figure today which stands at somewhere around 28 million.
'total' figure today which stands at somewhere around 28 million.
- More than 56 new blogs start every minute.
- Those updated in the last 30 days account for a mere 13%.
- Only two blogs get more than 1 million visitors a day and the
numbers drop quickly after that: the 10th ranked blog for traffic
gets around 120,000 visits; the 50th around 28,000; the 100th around
9,700; the 500th only 1,400 and the 1000th under 600.
- Only two blogs get more than 1 million visitors a day and the
numbers drop quickly after that: the 10th ranked blog for traffic
gets around 120,000 visits; the 50th around 28,000; the 100th around
9,700; the 500th only 1,400 and the 1000th under 600.
- IBN is the first Indian media company to start 'official' blogs'.
Well, those were some pacifying facts for me, as the figures reflect a
not so intimidating plethora of bloggers and I can count myself as one
of those early birds, who's not in search of any prey. The blogger
community is as varied and diverse as the global citizenry itself. And
so are the posts - from politics to humour to sarcasm, to critcism to
a complete movement, its all there on blogs. Bloggers have realized
the inherent power and reach of this medium that they are overjoyed in
having such a means at their disposal. BlankNoiseProject
Well, those were some pacifying facts for me, as the figures reflect a
not so intimidating plethora of bloggers and I can count myself as one
of those early birds, who's not in search of any prey. The blogger
community is as varied and diverse as the global citizenry itself. And
so are the posts - from politics to humour to sarcasm, to critcism to
a complete movement, its all there on blogs. Bloggers have realized
the inherent power and reach of this medium that they are overjoyed in
having such a means at their disposal. BlankNoiseProject
is one such social movement which appalls the profanity of eve-teasing in a very silent and organized way. With IIPM issue already handled in a surprisingly unified way
by this community more and more people are using blogs as a perfect
non-violent tool for expressing their outrage.
But its not only about contriving protests, expressing against or in
favor of different causes. There are people who've gained limelight
and popularity as bloggers, by the very style of their writing and
humorous yet sensitive content. With competitions in place for best
bloggers in various categories and readers voting with far more sense
of responsibility than they have for general elections, blogging has
kind of become a serious business. Those like me who don't consider it
any more significant than a bathing exercise cater only to a
nano-audience - which comprises of and is limited to one's friends and
family circles, or ocassionally of few more regular readers, adding up
to not more than 20 or something visitors daily.
Where as the big bullies of blogdom attract a torrential number of
regular readers to their posts. With almost a million daily hits on
the most popular one ( and that's close to the average of 1.7 million
visitors per weekday which the online edition of The New York Times
receives) blogging is catching up pretty fast with the other media in
place.
by this community more and more people are using blogs as a perfect
non-violent tool for expressing their outrage.
But its not only about contriving protests, expressing against or in
favor of different causes. There are people who've gained limelight
and popularity as bloggers, by the very style of their writing and
humorous yet sensitive content. With competitions in place for best
bloggers in various categories and readers voting with far more sense
of responsibility than they have for general elections, blogging has
kind of become a serious business. Those like me who don't consider it
any more significant than a bathing exercise cater only to a
nano-audience - which comprises of and is limited to one's friends and
family circles, or ocassionally of few more regular readers, adding up
to not more than 20 or something visitors daily.
Where as the big bullies of blogdom attract a torrential number of
regular readers to their posts. With almost a million daily hits on
the most popular one ( and that's close to the average of 1.7 million
visitors per weekday which the online edition of The New York Times
receives) blogging is catching up pretty fast with the other media in
place.
Certainly neither aiming at such a popularity chart or coming even
close to these types is the idea behind my blogging, but what
certainly intrigues me is how far and to what extent will this
powerful form of tech-media expression go in future.
--
March 3, 2006
Beating around the 'Bush'
Bush was...sorry...he's still very much alive and here in India. Infact today's he's unintentionally letting Hyderabad's traffic go haywire. But I didn't let him see me[as if he cared ;)]. You see I have my own priorities to manage . But yes a whole cult of people out there from all parts of the country are more than obsessed to greet him with anything black they can lay their hands on.
So, what is it all about telling Uncle Sam, that he's a persona-non-grata (obviously not officially) in India?. I dont recall Bush's government putting any sanctions, or reclaiming all those jobs which have been outsourced here, or even for that matter doing anything to disturb the childhood of any young Indian. Still the coverage of protests on various news channels against Bush's visit is rivaling the coverage of his own entourage. I doubt even if half of those dissenting, know about the acts of Bush for which he should be despised. I confront, even I dont know with clarity what is the percentage of truth in his dark side which makes him a subject of worldwide reproach, but then am not going to become a part of that black balloon campaign against him. Instead I would rather prefer to sit here on my desk - unprejudiced and unbiased about his actions, and try to decide which side I should take.
The fact that Clinton during his presidential visit did not witness his effigies burning on mid-roads, rules out that certainly the protest this time is not against the American government, or the nuke-deal, or Laura Bush exacting herself as a 'desperate housewife' ( which might have provoked those pro-indian shiv sainiks), but solely and only against that one man - who unfortunately still lags behind, in the process of evolution of human species.
People, I think need a reason to protest, if not all of them, atleast the members of 'Left' certainly do. I have never ever heard 'Left' not being a part of protest of any kind. Looks like they are born 'Protesters'. From hike in oil prices, to privatization, to breach of the protocol by the government (incidentally this time they are part of the coalition) , to any god damn thing on earth - they will protest against. Being a leftist is demanding it seems. Whatever it be ( I don't give a damn to these protests), Bush's visit has certainly raised eyebrows - some in contempt and some in hope. But being an optimist I definitely don't like to look at the negative aspects when there are other seemingly hopeful and positive turnarounds. The all hyped Indo-US Nuclear deal is just one of those aspiring things which I somehow have been able to appreciate out of all the crap - whether it materializes ( that depends if bush goes back to convince congress) or not is a different issue.
However, for that 70% population comprising of common and general mass, it's a matter of minutest significance whether India gets an uninterrupted supply of Uranium for civilian nuclear reactors or not, the more important thing is whether at the end of the day, all this chaos and gala affair will eventually help to make a better difference in their lives. Sadly No. He came, He saw, He left - is all what Bush's visit to India would mean to a silent citizen who will remain flashed amidst all the limelight thrown over at Mr . President by media. Press would continue to analyze the joint statements and minutes of those high-level diplomatic meetings for few days, untill another sting operation or a new scam would finally take over the front pages and 'exclusive' reports on all news channels.
As I write this, US choppers hovering above in the city sky, giving an impression no less than that of a global emergency similar to the ones depicted in sci-fi movies of alien attacks, have finally touched ground to let president board on any one of the three Air Force One's, randomly decided at the last minute ( That's my guess, for what other than this purpose those 2 extra boeings accompanied Bush's caravan) .
I was just wondering if US could possibly have faked this whole Presidential visit by sending a look-alike of Bush to India (If people can doubt US mission to Moon as being faked, I dont think their is any exaggeration in my thinking the same about Bush's visit to India) because of their exorbitant concerns related to Presidents security that even the food for Bush was flown down from US itself. I guess packaging and shipping of the atmosphere along with the climate and air is still an ongoing research in Pentagon, that left Mr. President with no other choice but to breathe in Indian air.
All's not well that ends well - Bush will head for Pakistan where preparations for giving a warm (rather burning) welcome to him are in progress. A bomb blast ceremony in front of a US consulate took place yesterday in view of this. This guy has his admirers all over the world I must say [;)].
However, my wishes as a fellow human are always with him. ( Whopes !! did I say human.)
This biography of Bush is a good read , I found while researching for the content of this blog.
So, what is it all about telling Uncle Sam, that he's a persona-non-grata (obviously not officially) in India?. I dont recall Bush's government putting any sanctions, or reclaiming all those jobs which have been outsourced here, or even for that matter doing anything to disturb the childhood of any young Indian. Still the coverage of protests on various news channels against Bush's visit is rivaling the coverage of his own entourage. I doubt even if half of those dissenting, know about the acts of Bush for which he should be despised. I confront, even I dont know with clarity what is the percentage of truth in his dark side which makes him a subject of worldwide reproach, but then am not going to become a part of that black balloon campaign against him. Instead I would rather prefer to sit here on my desk - unprejudiced and unbiased about his actions, and try to decide which side I should take.
The fact that Clinton during his presidential visit did not witness his effigies burning on mid-roads, rules out that certainly the protest this time is not against the American government, or the nuke-deal, or Laura Bush exacting herself as a 'desperate housewife' ( which might have provoked those pro-indian shiv sainiks), but solely and only against that one man - who unfortunately still lags behind, in the process of evolution of human species.
People, I think need a reason to protest, if not all of them, atleast the members of 'Left' certainly do. I have never ever heard 'Left' not being a part of protest of any kind. Looks like they are born 'Protesters'. From hike in oil prices, to privatization, to breach of the protocol by the government (incidentally this time they are part of the coalition) , to any god damn thing on earth - they will protest against. Being a leftist is demanding it seems. Whatever it be ( I don't give a damn to these protests), Bush's visit has certainly raised eyebrows - some in contempt and some in hope. But being an optimist I definitely don't like to look at the negative aspects when there are other seemingly hopeful and positive turnarounds. The all hyped Indo-US Nuclear deal is just one of those aspiring things which I somehow have been able to appreciate out of all the crap - whether it materializes ( that depends if bush goes back to convince congress) or not is a different issue.
However, for that 70% population comprising of common and general mass, it's a matter of minutest significance whether India gets an uninterrupted supply of Uranium for civilian nuclear reactors or not, the more important thing is whether at the end of the day, all this chaos and gala affair will eventually help to make a better difference in their lives. Sadly No. He came, He saw, He left - is all what Bush's visit to India would mean to a silent citizen who will remain flashed amidst all the limelight thrown over at Mr . President by media. Press would continue to analyze the joint statements and minutes of those high-level diplomatic meetings for few days, untill another sting operation or a new scam would finally take over the front pages and 'exclusive' reports on all news channels.
As I write this, US choppers hovering above in the city sky, giving an impression no less than that of a global emergency similar to the ones depicted in sci-fi movies of alien attacks, have finally touched ground to let president board on any one of the three Air Force One's, randomly decided at the last minute ( That's my guess, for what other than this purpose those 2 extra boeings accompanied Bush's caravan) .
I was just wondering if US could possibly have faked this whole Presidential visit by sending a look-alike of Bush to India (If people can doubt US mission to Moon as being faked, I dont think their is any exaggeration in my thinking the same about Bush's visit to India) because of their exorbitant concerns related to Presidents security that even the food for Bush was flown down from US itself. I guess packaging and shipping of the atmosphere along with the climate and air is still an ongoing research in Pentagon, that left Mr. President with no other choice but to breathe in Indian air.
All's not well that ends well - Bush will head for Pakistan where preparations for giving a warm (rather burning) welcome to him are in progress. A bomb blast ceremony in front of a US consulate took place yesterday in view of this. This guy has his admirers all over the world I must say [;)].
However, my wishes as a fellow human are always with him. ( Whopes !! did I say human.)
This biography of Bush is a good read , I found while researching for the content of this blog.
March 1, 2006
Avertible Inevitables.
This off late reticence of mine is no sign of my busy schedule ( It's more than 7 days since my last post !!) or even of my ineptitude to write without having anything in my mind - like those top-of-head posts which I had already attempted to write once, sadly without any voyeuristic satisfaction.
Besides no one was really bothered this time so as to bother me out of their craving to read me. But believe me that wouldn't have helped anyways. I will disclose why, but later.
I guess writing without even having a vague idea of what one is writing is fun both for the reader and the author unless the structure and language control are completely incongruous with that vague top-of-head idea. Not to panic, this one's definitely not from that league. It has all the sense I can possibly put into it.
The past few days, I have spent more time on net than before, yet it comes as no surprise to me, that my blog did not play host to any new post all that while. Not that I completely forgot about it, or that there were other hard pressed issues which digressed me but because of an experiment I was trying upon my own self. The experiment to try to avert all those inevitables I have been living with - Inevitable both in terms of events and objects.
The events which have coup over to govern my life. The objects which have insidiously became an indispensable part of my earlier 'have-lived-without-them' life. These such as the cell phone which has evolved more or less like an organ of my body, its address book which is like my own identity proof (even though it does not have my own contact details), the bike which has rented me that insecure freedom of movement, that debit card in my wallet which lets me wander disembarrassed from hassles of paper money, those email accounts which make me feel my presence and last but not the least- this blog which gives a sense of possession to me, are the quintessentials of those objects.
I dread these seemingly superficial indispensables which have kind of over occupied me and left me gasping for that little volume of fresh air, to which I have the right. I found that the things which I thought I could not forgo or dispense with, can actually be made dispensable and I have decided to stave off from them in turn. Its just that my blog happened to be the first subject of my experiment but nevertheless it does not disparages or lowers it in any manner. The idea of this experiment came about involuntarily when I switched to a new mobile which did not had my address book. It was more than a realization for me, that I could easily manage to live without my address book. It was not something for which I need to be unnecessarily careful about or be apprehensive of loosing just in case it actually got lost.
A similar record which an instructor during my time-management course narrated pertaining to his life abetted this belief of mine. He said that he has practiced to keep his mobile switched off whenever he's in a session. Though at the start of this practice he did feel uncomfortable and concerned about missing any important/urgent calls and of possibly breaking the hell upon him if he did not recieve those calls. However, when he looked back at those 10-15 years of his professional life he had lived normally without the facility of being contacted in any emergency hours by anyone because mobiles were not in use in those days, that he recognized the fact that he still can manage to forgo the use of it, if not at all times then at least for the time he's in session. And since then, he says that he has never felt either the guilt or been vexed because of this practice.
So, the idea is clear, our disposition to make every little, unimportant, and avoidable event or thing, an indispensable part of our lifestyle, is what is killing and torturing. Clearly its not easy to either filter out necessary from unnecessary or discern all of our actions but a little practice would certainly help. Trying to spend one day without a mobile in the pocket, without that urge to check your favorite news site or the email account, without rushing back to watch that episode of your favorite soap, without the notion of that insecure freedom of movement your bike renders, without that sense of security of having the debit card in your wallet and then see the color of the new freedom, the thrust of its wings, which we have unintentionally kept ourselves devoid of.
I know it all sounds puritanical and prudish but I know that I would be the last person on this planet to become a puritan so its not something out of my philosophical inclination but rather out of my experience. The crux to all this crap is - do/use/believe/maintain/produce something only to the extent that if it comes, one can easily manage to live without it and have one's freedom and dependency completely disjoint from it. It's a commonly felt notion that desires drives the necessities of our times which eventually make us our own hostage and bondage to their dependencies.
Thus, Passion->Obsession->Obligation was one series, and Desire->Nescessity->Bondage is the next one I have discovered for my own rejoice.
Besides no one was really bothered this time so as to bother me out of their craving to read me. But believe me that wouldn't have helped anyways. I will disclose why, but later.
I guess writing without even having a vague idea of what one is writing is fun both for the reader and the author unless the structure and language control are completely incongruous with that vague top-of-head idea. Not to panic, this one's definitely not from that league. It has all the sense I can possibly put into it.
The past few days, I have spent more time on net than before, yet it comes as no surprise to me, that my blog did not play host to any new post all that while. Not that I completely forgot about it, or that there were other hard pressed issues which digressed me but because of an experiment I was trying upon my own self. The experiment to try to avert all those inevitables I have been living with - Inevitable both in terms of events and objects.
The events which have coup over to govern my life. The objects which have insidiously became an indispensable part of my earlier 'have-lived-without-them' life. These such as the cell phone which has evolved more or less like an organ of my body, its address book which is like my own identity proof (even though it does not have my own contact details), the bike which has rented me that insecure freedom of movement, that debit card in my wallet which lets me wander disembarrassed from hassles of paper money, those email accounts which make me feel my presence and last but not the least- this blog which gives a sense of possession to me, are the quintessentials of those objects.
I dread these seemingly superficial indispensables which have kind of over occupied me and left me gasping for that little volume of fresh air, to which I have the right. I found that the things which I thought I could not forgo or dispense with, can actually be made dispensable and I have decided to stave off from them in turn. Its just that my blog happened to be the first subject of my experiment but nevertheless it does not disparages or lowers it in any manner. The idea of this experiment came about involuntarily when I switched to a new mobile which did not had my address book. It was more than a realization for me, that I could easily manage to live without my address book. It was not something for which I need to be unnecessarily careful about or be apprehensive of loosing just in case it actually got lost.
A similar record which an instructor during my time-management course narrated pertaining to his life abetted this belief of mine. He said that he has practiced to keep his mobile switched off whenever he's in a session. Though at the start of this practice he did feel uncomfortable and concerned about missing any important/urgent calls and of possibly breaking the hell upon him if he did not recieve those calls. However, when he looked back at those 10-15 years of his professional life he had lived normally without the facility of being contacted in any emergency hours by anyone because mobiles were not in use in those days, that he recognized the fact that he still can manage to forgo the use of it, if not at all times then at least for the time he's in session. And since then, he says that he has never felt either the guilt or been vexed because of this practice.
So, the idea is clear, our disposition to make every little, unimportant, and avoidable event or thing, an indispensable part of our lifestyle, is what is killing and torturing. Clearly its not easy to either filter out necessary from unnecessary or discern all of our actions but a little practice would certainly help. Trying to spend one day without a mobile in the pocket, without that urge to check your favorite news site or the email account, without rushing back to watch that episode of your favorite soap, without the notion of that insecure freedom of movement your bike renders, without that sense of security of having the debit card in your wallet and then see the color of the new freedom, the thrust of its wings, which we have unintentionally kept ourselves devoid of.
I know it all sounds puritanical and prudish but I know that I would be the last person on this planet to become a puritan so its not something out of my philosophical inclination but rather out of my experience. The crux to all this crap is - do/use/believe/maintain/produce something only to the extent that if it comes, one can easily manage to live without it and have one's freedom and dependency completely disjoint from it. It's a commonly felt notion that desires drives the necessities of our times which eventually make us our own hostage and bondage to their dependencies.
Thus, Passion->Obsession->Obligation was one series, and Desire->Nescessity->Bondage is the next one I have discovered for my own rejoice.
February 21, 2006
A Trite called 'Celebrity'
Every time I watch these 'Celebrities', (more profoundly fingered by today's SMS generation as 'Celebs') either on TV channels or newspapers, I don't know for whatever reasons, I start dwelling into and about their lives. Very often it's because they've struck my fancy just simply with that floating aura around the exotic look of theirs,(that however happens mostly in case of female celebs[;)] ) and some times because I think they are tasteful enough to be included in, as part of my food for thought.
The word 'Celebrities' I use in a very strict sense here which excludes those Page-3 jamborees, who will out of their desire for ephemeral popularity not mind paying out thick sums to get their pictures published on Page-3 of all those untouchable blotting tabloids. Innocent they are of the fact that it is the status quo as celebrity which puts someone on the paper and not the other way round. Celebrity status is something one earns - not by socialising but through exception making.
Now the general perception of a celebrity for a common man is I believe - someone who's glamorous (with a black goggle somewhere on the face), and always escorted by at least one colt armed bodyguard. The underlying assumption - more the number of bodyguards skirting around a celebrity the higher is his or her status and popularity.!! And there's a whole gamut of celebrities one can observe upon a close look around. They come in all various types and can be classified as per their profession, popularity level( as in local, national, global) and the associated enchantment.
The professional classification includes a wide range starting from being the most classy and ostentatious show business capitalists i.e. Film Stars to a little less enticing (but not smaller in any sense when its comes to the control of masses !!) small screen TV serial actors to Cricketing Heroes, Tennis Sensations then to Politicians and Underworld Dons and even extend up to the wildest thing one can imagine - Encounter Specialists.
Although the popularity level correlates quite closely to the profession of the celebrity, there are some who are equally popular as their highest counterparts, when their talent and skill of exception making could not have budged their popularity graphs even slightly above the zilch if not for the controversies which overhauled their image. People like MF Hussein, Mallika Sherawat, Jaya Lalitha, Bal Thakrey etc etc belong to this ordinary league. But who cares, its the limelight which matters in the end, controversies are just the bulbs which generate that limelight!
Coming to the next classification - Associated Enchantment - Now this is something truly materialistic and carnal when looked holistically. So all those quintessential femme fatales and almond eyed -sugar clad dolls rule the celebrity chart of men's while those flamboyant chocolate heroes with egressing sinews do the same for all the women's. Its simple mathematics. Celebrities have always been closely associated with beauty and charm and that's where this classfication plugs in. The pre-req of being a celebrity has for long been, knowing the art of body perfection. So even if you are not a big shot or talented in any way, your god-gifted enchantment will take you places and build up a huge fan following.
Gone are those days when one could count celebrities on fingers. Few could then qualify as a celebrity, since opportunities were limited and there was no deluge of information of the kind which current media has drowned us in. A completly new concept has emerged lately - that of Celebrity-Making, that has materialized itself to become a dissolute profession which in the disguise of Talent Hunts and other Reality Shows has already started to cash in on the dreams and armaans of people. People there, become celebrities day-in and day-out and this has lured others to jump into that fire-fighting exercise.
But this rat race of becoming a celebrity has diluted the very essence of the word 'celebrity'. If everyone becomes a celebrity then does that even leave a space for exception-making, which essentially is all about being a 'celebrity' in the first place. Its decreasingly becoming a game of proving one's self, and instead of succumbing ones dignity, self-respect and integrity to the mercy of those lewd channels, newspapers and dot-coms to gain that elixir called 'fame'.
Celebrity is someone who, according to me, can leave a lasting impression on people, who has the courage to leave a mark on the history and who can give back to make this world a better place, quite in contradiction to the kinds which exist today.
I guess pursuing simplicity and living like the common man of Laxman, will definitely earn me some popularity or even make me one of those 'celebs' in future when everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.
The word 'Celebrities' I use in a very strict sense here which excludes those Page-3 jamborees, who will out of their desire for ephemeral popularity not mind paying out thick sums to get their pictures published on Page-3 of all those untouchable blotting tabloids. Innocent they are of the fact that it is the status quo as celebrity which puts someone on the paper and not the other way round. Celebrity status is something one earns - not by socialising but through exception making.
Now the general perception of a celebrity for a common man is I believe - someone who's glamorous (with a black goggle somewhere on the face), and always escorted by at least one colt armed bodyguard. The underlying assumption - more the number of bodyguards skirting around a celebrity the higher is his or her status and popularity.!! And there's a whole gamut of celebrities one can observe upon a close look around. They come in all various types and can be classified as per their profession, popularity level( as in local, national, global) and the associated enchantment.
The professional classification includes a wide range starting from being the most classy and ostentatious show business capitalists i.e. Film Stars to a little less enticing (but not smaller in any sense when its comes to the control of masses !!) small screen TV serial actors to Cricketing Heroes, Tennis Sensations then to Politicians and Underworld Dons and even extend up to the wildest thing one can imagine - Encounter Specialists.
Although the popularity level correlates quite closely to the profession of the celebrity, there are some who are equally popular as their highest counterparts, when their talent and skill of exception making could not have budged their popularity graphs even slightly above the zilch if not for the controversies which overhauled their image. People like MF Hussein, Mallika Sherawat, Jaya Lalitha, Bal Thakrey etc etc belong to this ordinary league. But who cares, its the limelight which matters in the end, controversies are just the bulbs which generate that limelight!
Coming to the next classification - Associated Enchantment - Now this is something truly materialistic and carnal when looked holistically. So all those quintessential femme fatales and almond eyed -sugar clad dolls rule the celebrity chart of men's while those flamboyant chocolate heroes with egressing sinews do the same for all the women's. Its simple mathematics. Celebrities have always been closely associated with beauty and charm and that's where this classfication plugs in. The pre-req of being a celebrity has for long been, knowing the art of body perfection. So even if you are not a big shot or talented in any way, your god-gifted enchantment will take you places and build up a huge fan following.
Gone are those days when one could count celebrities on fingers. Few could then qualify as a celebrity, since opportunities were limited and there was no deluge of information of the kind which current media has drowned us in. A completly new concept has emerged lately - that of Celebrity-Making, that has materialized itself to become a dissolute profession which in the disguise of Talent Hunts and other Reality Shows has already started to cash in on the dreams and armaans of people. People there, become celebrities day-in and day-out and this has lured others to jump into that fire-fighting exercise.
But this rat race of becoming a celebrity has diluted the very essence of the word 'celebrity'. If everyone becomes a celebrity then does that even leave a space for exception-making, which essentially is all about being a 'celebrity' in the first place. Its decreasingly becoming a game of proving one's self, and instead of succumbing ones dignity, self-respect and integrity to the mercy of those lewd channels, newspapers and dot-coms to gain that elixir called 'fame'.
Celebrity is someone who, according to me, can leave a lasting impression on people, who has the courage to leave a mark on the history and who can give back to make this world a better place, quite in contradiction to the kinds which exist today.
I guess pursuing simplicity and living like the common man of Laxman, will definitely earn me some popularity or even make me one of those 'celebs' in future when everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.
February 19, 2006
Online 24x7 !
'The Network is the computer'- Sun Microsystems Inc.
The undisputable truth of this computer age.. Huh.! as if I realized it today!..no..that was almost a decade ago, when I had my first encounter with networking during my school days. 'LAN' was the word, which proudly took its prominence in the vocabulary of our daily talk then. We jumped with enthusiasm similar to that of a small child who gets a new toy to play with and completely unaware of the complexities inside it.
It was not long, before we learned skills to extract whatever little fun we could out of it. But to the dismay our fun was restricted, both out of our fear of the teachers and ignorance about this new technology at our disposal - sending messages across network to different machines and accessing our C++ program files from the server using our logins was all that we did and remained content with. Obviously Internet, Email, Multiplayer network games and Instant Messaging were some of the words we never heard at that time.
Two years down the line LAN became an indispensable part of computing during IITK. A year later Internet came as a mercenary in our lives making us invincible in our wars against those undoable projects and assignments of the courses. Emails took the place of hand written letters and Instant messengers substituted for phone calls. Multiplayer network games like AOE and Counter-Strike became best time-killers. And now almost a decade later internet has almost occupied our time schedule becoming more than a way of living our lives.
And with free internet access at the work place and an equally good access( and yes its free during night hours) at home now, its hard to now even look back at the pre-internet era of my life.
Net is often argued as the inalienable symbol of freedom in all senses, a freedom which however bills us not on our money but our time. Though we do realize how dependent and addicted it has made us on itself, still its something we can not forgo. So much so that its 600 hrs in the morning and I guess its time to get rid of this addiction now.
EXIT.
The undisputable truth of this computer age.. Huh.! as if I realized it today!..no..that was almost a decade ago, when I had my first encounter with networking during my school days. 'LAN' was the word, which proudly took its prominence in the vocabulary of our daily talk then. We jumped with enthusiasm similar to that of a small child who gets a new toy to play with and completely unaware of the complexities inside it.
It was not long, before we learned skills to extract whatever little fun we could out of it. But to the dismay our fun was restricted, both out of our fear of the teachers and ignorance about this new technology at our disposal - sending messages across network to different machines and accessing our C++ program files from the server using our logins was all that we did and remained content with. Obviously Internet, Email, Multiplayer network games and Instant Messaging were some of the words we never heard at that time.
Two years down the line LAN became an indispensable part of computing during IITK. A year later Internet came as a mercenary in our lives making us invincible in our wars against those undoable projects and assignments of the courses. Emails took the place of hand written letters and Instant messengers substituted for phone calls. Multiplayer network games like AOE and Counter-Strike became best time-killers. And now almost a decade later internet has almost occupied our time schedule becoming more than a way of living our lives.
And with free internet access at the work place and an equally good access( and yes its free during night hours) at home now, its hard to now even look back at the pre-internet era of my life.
Net is often argued as the inalienable symbol of freedom in all senses, a freedom which however bills us not on our money but our time. Though we do realize how dependent and addicted it has made us on itself, still its something we can not forgo. So much so that its 600 hrs in the morning and I guess its time to get rid of this addiction now.
EXIT.
February 16, 2006
AdSense or Nonsense
Make Money - Use Google's Adsense.
No am not advertising AdSense here, in fact that would be the last thing on earth, I would do on my blog - i.e. to have google's AdSense overrun the chastity of my blog page and make it unclean.I don't completely understand if it even makes sense to have one's blog littered of ads patched on it by google's adsense, when the sole purpose of a blog is to provide a personal web space to its owner.
The idea doesn't makes sense, even when looked in parallel to the television industry which sucks huge amount of money for those split second ads becoz in contrast to the ads on television which are more or less controlled by demand and supply economics, the information on net is free, liberal and blatant, not governed by any force, or law, or act.
And that's because Internet evolved in a very different way when compared to other forms of media meant for information exchange as in print, television or radio where commercialization plays an important role. Internet was born free, and intended to remain free for ever.
AdSense is the google's most(or perhaps the only) powerful revenue generating club, only because of the monopolistic control of google over the search market and aristocratic hold on the information we can access. Google.cn is the perfect example of how political sycophancy has played role in restricting access to information to the people at large.
How many of us (not me atleast) notice what those blue colored text ads, on the sidelines of almost every site say. Not even one I guess. It's on the contrary a rather irritating concept in my opinion, which digresses someone trying to locate on an already cluttered webpage, that one piece of information which is being sought. I seriously cannot digest the idea of why would anyone click on those ads, when one can easily search for the same thing on google itself.
Why would anyone reading a Valentine e-card in India be interested in knowing who are the whole-sale suppliers of red roses in US. Or for that matter if I am buying a bluetooth on ebay, does that mean am interested in getting my tooth scaled. No. Similarly, if am already downloading a mp3 song from a site, I dont care what all other sources are there for it. The purpose is defeated in my sense.
Okay I understand that these are just few of the contextual cross connections and redundancy aspects which AdSense owing to the lack of any Artificial Intelligence algorithm, overlooks. But even then somehow I personally feel that advertisement of something on net degrades its image, makes it look cheap and worthy of being despised.Maybe am prejudiced after persistently being slammed by those beleaguering ads on net, which serve no purpose at all except to piss you off.
The 'known' needs no popularity, 'unknown' does, but there's nothing which can be classified as unknown on net. Its all open, nothing is obscured on net and especially if anything is worth being popular then there's no way it can be stopped from being one- courtesy those chain mails, [fwds] and instant messages which will incessantly pass on the very link unless you click on it. You dont need to look at the sun to know if its shining, isn't it !
I guess I have digressed more than I intended. The bull's eye was the concept of floating ads on one's blog. In so far as I can see, it doesn't lead to any increased income as AdSense promises in the first place, coz unless you are a popular and professional blogger there's hardly any traffic hitting your blog site so as to thicken you wallet, except for few shillings you might earn hither and tither. For second, In my opinion blogs are definitely the wrong place to show ads on, rather a blog should be kept untouched and sacrosanct, devoid of any irrelevant stuff (including links and banners) which are not an iconic reflection of ones ideas, thoughts & style. And for last but not the least - a blog is not a surrogate market to sell or showcase something which you yourself don't own.
No am not advertising AdSense here, in fact that would be the last thing on earth, I would do on my blog - i.e. to have google's AdSense overrun the chastity of my blog page and make it unclean.I don't completely understand if it even makes sense to have one's blog littered of ads patched on it by google's adsense, when the sole purpose of a blog is to provide a personal web space to its owner.
The idea doesn't makes sense, even when looked in parallel to the television industry which sucks huge amount of money for those split second ads becoz in contrast to the ads on television which are more or less controlled by demand and supply economics, the information on net is free, liberal and blatant, not governed by any force, or law, or act.
And that's because Internet evolved in a very different way when compared to other forms of media meant for information exchange as in print, television or radio where commercialization plays an important role. Internet was born free, and intended to remain free for ever.
AdSense is the google's most(or perhaps the only) powerful revenue generating club, only because of the monopolistic control of google over the search market and aristocratic hold on the information we can access. Google.cn is the perfect example of how political sycophancy has played role in restricting access to information to the people at large.
How many of us (not me atleast) notice what those blue colored text ads, on the sidelines of almost every site say. Not even one I guess. It's on the contrary a rather irritating concept in my opinion, which digresses someone trying to locate on an already cluttered webpage, that one piece of information which is being sought. I seriously cannot digest the idea of why would anyone click on those ads, when one can easily search for the same thing on google itself.
Why would anyone reading a Valentine e-card in India be interested in knowing who are the whole-sale suppliers of red roses in US. Or for that matter if I am buying a bluetooth on ebay, does that mean am interested in getting my tooth scaled. No. Similarly, if am already downloading a mp3 song from a site, I dont care what all other sources are there for it. The purpose is defeated in my sense.
Okay I understand that these are just few of the contextual cross connections and redundancy aspects which AdSense owing to the lack of any Artificial Intelligence algorithm, overlooks. But even then somehow I personally feel that advertisement of something on net degrades its image, makes it look cheap and worthy of being despised.Maybe am prejudiced after persistently being slammed by those beleaguering ads on net, which serve no purpose at all except to piss you off.
The 'known' needs no popularity, 'unknown' does, but there's nothing which can be classified as unknown on net. Its all open, nothing is obscured on net and especially if anything is worth being popular then there's no way it can be stopped from being one- courtesy those chain mails, [fwds] and instant messages which will incessantly pass on the very link unless you click on it. You dont need to look at the sun to know if its shining, isn't it !
I guess I have digressed more than I intended. The bull's eye was the concept of floating ads on one's blog. In so far as I can see, it doesn't lead to any increased income as AdSense promises in the first place, coz unless you are a popular and professional blogger there's hardly any traffic hitting your blog site so as to thicken you wallet, except for few shillings you might earn hither and tither. For second, In my opinion blogs are definitely the wrong place to show ads on, rather a blog should be kept untouched and sacrosanct, devoid of any irrelevant stuff (including links and banners) which are not an iconic reflection of ones ideas, thoughts & style. And for last but not the least - a blog is not a surrogate market to sell or showcase something which you yourself don't own.
February 13, 2006
I wonder
Quite a many things, some silly, some arbitrary, some completely insane, some heedful, but there's something common amongst them, like the thread of a necklace binding its beads, which makes me wonder about what all I wonder.
I wonder about realities such as these, which baffle me everytime :
How this world will survive when all the petrol is used up.
What is it like to work miles below the earth, inside a mine.
Why is earth looked upon with its north pole at the top, and not upside down.
How does a television work - (though a black mark on my education - television is still one of the most astounding things for me till date ).
What are the physiological differences between the brains of a wise, intelligent and genius person vis-a-vis a dumb, unwise and stupid person.
If there is a limit to the ever decreasing record timings of 100m sprint race in Olympics.
And the most baffling one - If almost all of the engineers like me end up doing software jobs which doesn't help the world in any way, then who's driving the technology train( because the rest of us land up in one or the other management institutes).
Who makes all those beautifully designed iPods, Macs and Tele shopping stuff with increasing complexities.
Who after all is the real engineer, actually putting his brain to calculate forces in trusses and potential differences across the nodes.?
And then there are such philosophical wonders as -
What would it be like to see yourself from another persons' eye, i.e. to say how does another person sees you physically, definitely its not like seeing your own self in the mirror.
Where does that 'I' ( 'I' as in the one which Descartes talks of in his meditation) ,unleash itself after the death of the body.
Does everyone percieve pink color in a similar manner.
How different it would be living in a parallel universe.
What is it like to be a rattle snake, or a tiger or for that matter any animal.
And what it feels like being in love.[;)]. ( I dont know if its good or bad but love is still philosophical to me ..!)
...and the inexhaustible list however continues endlessly.
A bit of past on this -
My confrontation with the feeling of wonderment started off from the most hackneyed poem of our kindergarten times - "Twinkle Twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are".
And I still wonder to this day looking at the sky with the same innocence of a child for whom the stars are no less than the diamonds...only that the meaning of 'Twinkle' has changed with time ;). (No, am no fan of anybody by the name of Twinkle.)
Alice in Wonderland, Topsy Turvy Land,The Far-away Tree etc etc, all contributed in my essential learning of the act of wondering about things. Most of us do wonder about things, but take it as if it was yet another dream after a heavy day only to be forgotten the next morning when our eyes reopen. We re-indulge ourselves back in things around us and continue normally unless something again makes us fall into that trance and we start wondering about something else. But this dilutes the gravity and uniqueness of what one wonders.
Coz' one of the very basic attributes of all what we wonder is our assumption of it being unique within the scope of what we know. Its not always that one wonders something completely new, or else we would be witnessing the deluge of startling, strange ideas every other day. But people wonder and then let that contemplation go off like a puff of smoke, like a slippery fish escaping out of their hands back into the water, never to be caught again, thereby preventing that deluge.
Wondering about things worthy of being wondered like the seven wonders of the ancient world or sudden transformation in our lives along with the causes for those transformations, do not qualify according to me as the proper subjects for wondering. The ones which qualify are both physical and metaphysical, they are subtle yet understandable, they are conspicous yet obscured like the ones which I had already mentioned. And the thread which I reffered to in the very first line, which binds all of them, is that unindebted sense of freedom and glee that comes along anytime and everytime you wonder about something.
so long..
--and yes keep wondering what this post was all about !--
I wonder about realities such as these, which baffle me everytime :
How this world will survive when all the petrol is used up.
What is it like to work miles below the earth, inside a mine.
Why is earth looked upon with its north pole at the top, and not upside down.
How does a television work - (though a black mark on my education - television is still one of the most astounding things for me till date ).
What are the physiological differences between the brains of a wise, intelligent and genius person vis-a-vis a dumb, unwise and stupid person.
If there is a limit to the ever decreasing record timings of 100m sprint race in Olympics.
And the most baffling one - If almost all of the engineers like me end up doing software jobs which doesn't help the world in any way, then who's driving the technology train( because the rest of us land up in one or the other management institutes).
Who makes all those beautifully designed iPods, Macs and Tele shopping stuff with increasing complexities.
Who after all is the real engineer, actually putting his brain to calculate forces in trusses and potential differences across the nodes.?
And then there are such philosophical wonders as -
What would it be like to see yourself from another persons' eye, i.e. to say how does another person sees you physically, definitely its not like seeing your own self in the mirror.
Where does that 'I' ( 'I' as in the one which Descartes talks of in his meditation) ,unleash itself after the death of the body.
Does everyone percieve pink color in a similar manner.
How different it would be living in a parallel universe.
What is it like to be a rattle snake, or a tiger or for that matter any animal.
And what it feels like being in love.[;)]. ( I dont know if its good or bad but love is still philosophical to me ..!)
...and the inexhaustible list however continues endlessly.
A bit of past on this -
My confrontation with the feeling of wonderment started off from the most hackneyed poem of our kindergarten times - "Twinkle Twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are".
And I still wonder to this day looking at the sky with the same innocence of a child for whom the stars are no less than the diamonds...only that the meaning of 'Twinkle' has changed with time ;). (No, am no fan of anybody by the name of Twinkle.)
Alice in Wonderland, Topsy Turvy Land,The Far-away Tree etc etc, all contributed in my essential learning of the act of wondering about things. Most of us do wonder about things, but take it as if it was yet another dream after a heavy day only to be forgotten the next morning when our eyes reopen. We re-indulge ourselves back in things around us and continue normally unless something again makes us fall into that trance and we start wondering about something else. But this dilutes the gravity and uniqueness of what one wonders.
Coz' one of the very basic attributes of all what we wonder is our assumption of it being unique within the scope of what we know. Its not always that one wonders something completely new, or else we would be witnessing the deluge of startling, strange ideas every other day. But people wonder and then let that contemplation go off like a puff of smoke, like a slippery fish escaping out of their hands back into the water, never to be caught again, thereby preventing that deluge.
Wondering about things worthy of being wondered like the seven wonders of the ancient world or sudden transformation in our lives along with the causes for those transformations, do not qualify according to me as the proper subjects for wondering. The ones which qualify are both physical and metaphysical, they are subtle yet understandable, they are conspicous yet obscured like the ones which I had already mentioned. And the thread which I reffered to in the very first line, which binds all of them, is that unindebted sense of freedom and glee that comes along anytime and everytime you wonder about something.
so long..
--and yes keep wondering what this post was all about !--
February 9, 2006
The Rainbow
I wrote this as my submission for the final heavy weight assignment of the humanities course "ENG436- Writers vision of the future" during my last year at IITK. I will not here dwell into all those philosophical connotations of the 'future' (far beyond the concept of time) we were taught in the course, rather keep myself busy with the work I am loaded with these days and simply put the original text of the story uncensored, unquoted and unplugged - So here it goes ......
The Rainbow
"Future is catastrophic!!” I said, with indignation.
“But I’ve been waitin for this momen..,so wat if am never goin to come bak. Les play this game..Come on...”.
I knew that it was going to happen from the very day, he started to scribble on Magna Doodle, the one his father gifted him on his 10th birthday. The first thing he wrote on it was ‘am comin future!’ The other time he got a Dancing Monster on his b'day, he had flushed it right down the toilet, very next day. And now when he is 18, his instinct to venture into future has leaped off more than his age.
As a pre-matured birth he had always been running ahead of time, be it the homework submissions in school, or the ontogenesis of the moustaches above his lips. I get this feeling every time I see him, that there is definitely something extra or misssing in his genes,
“wat-er u thinkin?" he squalled in my ears.
“Oh...nothing, but we shouldn't do this, it’s...”.
As a mark of self-respect he spoke again before I could finish. His habit of interrupting has never let me say my words completely: 'Interruption' was his make, as if he was destined to interrupt.
" I can’t wait, nemore... am leavin without u, if ur not in here wi'thin a min", he said in anger and desperation.
Nothing but to loose against him in the arguments was the trend and so I decided not to uphold his craving for 'future' anymore. I have known him precisely from the point in timeline, when he was outcaste by his classmates. Ever since then we have been friends, or to say more convincingly 'brothers'. I cannot even dream of living without him. Therefore the next instant when I was sitting beside him in the doughnut-shaped chamber of the Segway Human Transporter, amidst the biggest uncertainty of my life, a rough feeling of content drew over me.
As a research lover, I was privileged to know many things, especially those which were more of a fiction than reality for others. Incidentally, on one occasion I had somehow laid my hands on a research paper titled:'The speed of time' by an Irish Physicist. It was more of a philosophical embarkment rather than a rigorous mathematical proof of something which I still have not been able to mentally digest, forget about assimilating it. The crux of the paper was -‘Time moves, both in forward and backward direction’.
The premise on which the paper was written argued that if time can move forward, then what stops it from moving backward. How outlandish and insane, this concept might seem at first impression to anyone, it had the most severe and disastrous outcome, that could ever be imagined. For it led to a catastrophic collision between the two timelines, traveling in opposite directions, quite similar to two trains moving in opposite directions on the same track, yet so different in physical aspects of a collision. The collision would turn the whole universe around us to a mere singularity. In a way it had also put a limitation on the extent and quantity of time.The paper termed the moment of collision on timeline as a ‘Dent’ and expected its duration to be less than a nano-second.
From that very day, I had this uncanny feeling that if there is someone who will run across this 'Dent', then its going to be no one else, but him. But how I wish I could dump all this knowledge into his 8 pounds of brain, without having to speak a word!
His father was the head of an outlawed company named Segway that did R&D on time machines. The theoretical feasibilities and practical viabilities of making a Time Machine had been worked out already two decades back. It was then that the International Confederation of Metaphysical Researchers popularly known in short as INCoMER, based on an anonymous litigation filed against the advances being made in this field passed a law which proscribed any further researches on these machines, and declared the production of time machines illegal.
The rage and protest of the scientific community which stood against the decision, was easily suppressed The litigation had through a careful risk assessment brought in front of the whole world the implied threat on human life, and the associated vulnerabilities, if these kinds of machines were put for assembly line production. After that even the few prototypes of these machines being experimented upon in the labs were completely destroyed and the relevant literature burnt down to ashes.
And thus it came over the shoulders of those bad guys who await the formation of new laws and regulations, so that they can breach them. His father was the first one to get around this new law, by leading a group of rebel scientists who managed to setup their own laboratories and other infrastructure for a self sustained R&D centre of time machines, which later on became famous by the name 'Segway Transporters’.
This new untested version, in the series of Programmable Human Transporters manufactured by Segway, in which I was sitting with him closely, resembled the picture of ‘Tokamak’ from our Science book. My default habit of reading the manuals, unfolded the capabilities of this new model to me. It was designed to specifically pin point and target any desirable time in future, with an accuracy of a nano-second.
"les goto 29th febuary of twenty-nigh twenty-nigh..", he said in an extremely euphoric voice.
As a freehearted guy, I jolted upon him "There is no 29th of February in twenty...”.
I immediately guessed that he had realized the mistake in his words while punching the keys on the florescent lit board under the dark light of the chamber, because once again he spoke before I could finish.
" ok,..leave that, les try a random time!!".
"Boy! Has he gone mad", I said to myself, but then I could not expect anything more sensible than this from him.
And Before I could realize what he was up to, we were already screaming out of the intense pressure and an unbearable acceleration which made the entire blood gush up to my brain. I could feel the perturbed and periodical motion of the machine, often accompanied by a dissonance. A silence prevailed after this initial hassle and state of commotion. I felt completely drained, with only a last quantum of energy left in me to dream with open eyes. I don’t know if it was in my dream or it was a hallucination but I could see those seven faint colors of an astoundingly bright rainbow.
The symmetrical reflection from a shining surface below projected the semi-circular shape of the rainbow as a complete full circle. However, this ecstasy ended abruptly, because we literally crashed, like an untrained motorbike driver, forgetting how to apply brakes. By this I knew we have reached somewhere in the future, without even a vague idea of ‘where’.
Murphy had said it right , 'If at all anything can go wrong, It will', and even if Murphy had not said this, I would be more than sure, of going wrong if there is someone like him around me. Not to my utter surprise, but with a fearful heart, a line of cold sweat running down my armpits and knowing the nano-second accuracy of our machine, I could feel from the air around, that we had ‘successfully’ struck the ‘Dent’. I needed no more words to prove that Interruption was in his blood; in fact in his genes. That he did not spare even ‘Time’.
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PS: Comments and Criticisms are most welcome !!February 6, 2006
The temperature outside is 29°C.
To my utter delight CM today pushed me, asking for my next concoction of words, but being kept so busy by the organization I work for, it was next to impossible for me to steal sometime off and write for any and all who love to savour those concoctions.
So, I decided to extend my already lengthened office hours to publish the next in the sequence. But not much has happened lately, about which I can write or even pluck the title, concept or the hint from. But lets c -
PERIOD.
So, I decided to extend my already lengthened office hours to publish the next in the sequence. But not much has happened lately, about which I can write or even pluck the title, concept or the hint from. But lets c -
- My GMAT was at last, after a month of suspicion over its validity, was officially annulled in absence of providing valid identity proofs.
- Oracle IDC finally managed to have a TGIS party ( mind it , its not TGIF - Fridays are not the same here !! ), though organized quite well, it ended up with loads of controversies related to the entrance at the venue and an embroilment between the employee club and employees at large over regulations of the event.
- No new movie seemed prospective enough , to over wash RDBs lingering sense of enjoyment, so I kept myself away from the multiplexe(s).
(Yes the desperate, chaotic and maniac population of hyd has finally been presented with another Shangri-la - The PVR Cinemas - which recently opened up its partially completed manifold entertainment offshoot in here.)
- The roads are still shining even after the plenary and have maintained their integrity and solidarity with no sign of puddles or holes, while the lane dividers have gradually lost their glitter after having undergone their first million tires sustenance test.
- The book 'Fountainhead' which I am trying to read for so long, has shown no sign of getting completed in near future. I am on page 477 right now, I believe.
- India lost yet again to Pak in todays ODI - courtesy Duckworth-Lewis.
- And if you, like others, believe that there has to be a connection between the title and the post, then I am sorry for rebuffing that unsaid tradition here ;). That's what I call : Blogger's licence. !!
PERIOD.
February 1, 2006
TechTalk
Enough of reviews, philosophy, and literature, its time to switch to the tech , the next best thing to 'naked' ;)Recently I read some white papers and related stuff on the emerging IM (Instant Messaging) technology called Jabber/XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol), though not a popular one, it has come into limelight after Google used it in its Gtalk IM client. Jabber is basically a set of XML related protocols with XMPP at its core, for real time IM and comprises of other protocols also apart from XMPP. Jabber to IM, is similar to what TCP is to networking, Java is to Programming, HTML is to web and IMAP is to E-mail, in the sense that it aims to spread interoperability between different kinds of existing IM services and highlight the importance of real time in IM. Being a decentralized and open source tech it gives developers freedom to put in what all they think can be useful in terms of IM.
One of the biggest stresses of jabber/xmpp is on providing the presence information to its users available on different resources. Resources are the mediums through which a user connects to a jabber server, like Mobiles, PDAs or Desk/Laptops, essentially providing users the freedom to be concurrently logged on with the same user name from different locations/resources. The intelligent structure of the protocol then makes it possible for the server to pass on the data to relevant resources only, thereby increasing the possibility of the message to reach its recipient in time. The use of XML for data binding and transport dispenses the implicit hassles and technicalities involved in most of the existing IM protocols, because XML is a human readable format and definitely more easier to work with.
So, where does it lack? What has prevented its growth and popularity, and puts it at the last in IM tech stack? Foremost of all the reasons, is that Jabber/XMPP is just a novice amongst the big sharks of the IM industry. Yahoo, AIM, ICQ and MSN have already set the trend long back and distributed the market pie, each almost owning the piece of it with them. XMPP was popular only amongst free lance and interested developers who took it up for experimental purposes and built clients for their own use. It was because of Google's spree of doing unique things, which leveraged its potential use and brought it to the forefront of competition with other IM softwares. And now when it has rivaled its competitors I guess Jabber/XMPP will gradually become no less than a threat to the existing IM companies, forcing them to either switch their technology or at least provide a support for it.
Though providing enhancement for multimedia support in terms of VoIP and P2P multimedia sessions using XMPP is one of the major issues as of now, but the JSF(Jabber Software Foundation) has already made its move with JEP(Jabber Enhancement Proposal) to provide a complete, standard and robust extension protocol for the same in the form of Jingle which was published recently towards the end of last year, as an alternative solution for both, IETF's Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), and the ITU's H.323 technology. Gtalk uses a hardcore C++ API LibJingle for its VoIP capability, which itself as the name suggests is based on the Jingle-Audio and Jingle-Signalling.
Jabber is increasingly becoming a favorite choice amongst corporates as they realize the need for a personal IM system for their enterprises. With its highly secured IM capabilities and easier maintenance and setup cost Jabber XCP is the only enterprise level IM solution available today. This has already triggered participation from more players in this new potential market of IM solutions for enterprises.
And no doubt with Google disseminating Jabber/XMPP, and arousing interest amongst the IM users and developers about this new trend setter, XMPP has a long way to go.
January 30, 2006
Have a nonconformist day.
"If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist, it's another nonconformist who doesn't conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity."- Bill Vaughan
January 28, 2006
Rang de Basanti
"I always believed there were two kinds of movies. The ones which met their end
happily and others which met their ends with a sad note. And
then I saw the third kind."
Yes for me it was an encounter with the third kind, for others it was 'Rang de Basanti' (RDB).
Last night was the eve of India's 57Th republic day and last night RDB became an instant classic for me. But I think that happens with every other 'all-in-all' average movie I watch on big screen, except that not all of them leave me with a hard pressed hangover to write about them. That this time I didn't need a hangover to pen down on it, is a good enough reason in support of my claim. I would agree for my predilection for the patriotic movies which makes me biased, but then I am still calculating if I can call RDB a full fledged patriotic movie anywhere near to the likes of 'Tiranga' , 'Sarfarosh' and others.
So I quote what Youth Curry aptly decribed this flick in one line as :
If Dil Chahta Hai redefined 'youth' films, Rang de Basanti takes the theme to the next level. Much has already been said in detail in this blog with a beautiful insight to this new turn of bollywood, as it marks the oncoming of a completely new face of Indian mainstream cinema.
People might and I know will argue that this is yet another run-of-the-mill patriotic flick, in the league of Yuva, Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi and Swades, and does not call for such an attention. But then that's a completely subjective opinion, and I rest my case on it. Besides, I don't like to compare bollywood movies, because there is something so strongly and centrally common amongst them, that it takes away their right to be compared at all. I am talking about the 'Bollywood Stamp' which I think snaps away as its cost, the possibility of these movies being impeccable in any manner. I don't have any personal scores against that stamp, its just out of what I have observed while growing up watching the records of idiocy being broken, with each new release out of the factory named 'bollywood'.
Exception however is a one word oxymoron, that takes its toll on its own definition by making its appearance everywhere, and delivers its responsiblities in the form of the movies of the sort Rang de Basanti. RDB was in fact more than a content meal for my starving appetite for the patriotic movies which otherwise for the past 10-15 years was being fed insipidly with the likes of 'Tiranga', 'Krantiveer' etc etc.
RDB has in my view spurred a whole new class of movies, which aim to pass on a message that is obvious to our open eyes yet too obscured when looked from within. Am not purporting RDB as the founder of such message movies, but certainly it can be without a glitch looked upon as the role model for our future movies, which our country needs at this hour. And the end would not be apporopriate without these lines I loved to borrow from one of the song's of the movie flavoured with AR Rehman's music.
DHUAN CHHATAA, KHULA GAGAN MERA
NAYI DAGAR, NAYA SAFAR MERA
JO BAN SAKE TU HUMSAFAR MERA
NAZAR MILA ZARA !!
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