T H O U G H T T R A P

Dumb offspring of a stubborn God

2008-01-31T22:58:00Z

I was wondering, if the earth was really round, why doesn't it spin the other way round?
The sun would have risen in America and west would have become east.
Can Bush do something about it? Why does the earth spin this way? Is there a scientific answer...I do not know!

When people think they can change me for the good, why is it that I tell them that I have been good all along. God has created so many stubborn asses on this stubborn earth.

When I close my eyes, I can see my mother singing that serene lullaby, the same one that I had made her sing so many times, forcefully invading her lap, even though, it was more than 20 years in the past whence I could have passed off as a cute little baby. When I open my eyes, all that I see are the bright lights of the city that burn out a void in my heart, a sharp pain that hammers the fact that she is long gone from my time and space....But.. Why is the lullaby still lingering around? Is it... that stubborn bridge from this world to that...Perhaps.. The Reason for my joyful sleep. The reason for all the misery in my wakefulness.

Is death the stubbornness that punctuates the ridiculously accommodating life? If so is this punctuation a period, a semi-colon, an exclamation or a mere coma. I have been asking this for a while but my stubborn God wouldn't answer me, or is it that I am too stupid to see his signs?

Desert Rain

2007-07-06T19:02:32Z

There are instances in life when you yearn for something... a lot...
when desire wrenches your heart so much that it literally bleeds...
when your eyes have nothin' in them but dreams of that fruitful day...
when your mind has a single point focus around which everything else reduce to unrecognizable mishmash...
you become like the desert...dry and crumpled, dehydrated and pale, lifeless ...having just one passionate desire..the one desire that thrusts u along the hard road of destiny...desire for the heavens to start pouring...

and we wait...a long time.. usually...and there is hope..

Then when it rains...u tire of it ...fast..its all dirty and nasty and days of confinement ...stifled ambitions of the free spirit...Is this what I yearned for?

The salvation of a confused soul from the land of parched throats to that drunken stupor...one thing is sure..the confusion reigns supreme and salvation was redefined...

Is everything just a desert rain?

Eric Clapton _ My Fathers Eyes

2006-11-05T03:25:17Z

Sailing down behind the sun,
Waiting for my prince to come.
Praying for the healing rain
To restore my soul again.

Just a toerag on the run.
How did I get here?
What have I done?
When will all my hopes arise?
How will I know him?
When I look in my father's eyes.
My father's eyes.
When I look in my father's eyes.
My father's eyes.

Then the light begins to shine
And I hear those ancient lullabies.
And as I watch this seedling grow,
Feel my heart start to overflow.

Where do I find the words to say?
How do I teach him?
What do we play?
Bit by bit, I've realized
That's when I need them,
That's when I need my father's eyes.
My father's eyes.
That's when I need my father's eyes.
My father's eyes.

Then the jagged edge appears
Through the distant clouds of tears.
I'm like a bridge that was washed away;
My foundations were made of clay.

As my soul slides down to die.
How could I lose him?
What did I try?
Bit by bit, I've realized
That he was here with me;
I looked into my father's eyes.
My father's eyes.
I looked into my father's eyes.
My father's eyes.

My father's eyes.
My father's eyes.
I looked into my father's eyes.
My father's eyes.

Me undone!

2006-10-13T05:53:13Z

sashaying in my eyes with silent gusts ...

tinkling in my ears with the dew drops

flooring me with every moment that pass..

your memories have left me so undone.

Ride on...

2006-10-07T17:47:21Z

Very often I wonder...Is it being in the drivers seat that only matters.

Yes it can surely give you the thrills, as in taking control and delivering the results in a very conservatively estimated time frame...but are thrills that only matter.

Just think about the passengers who sit back and enjoy the ride, may be they may be a bit worried when the ride gets bumpy. But they do enjoy all the sceneries on the way while the driver was lost in his million ways to speed up and optimise his work. Lost in his complexities, he may dismiss that exciting little rainbow over the cloud as just another disturbance or waste of time.

And better still are the ticketless riders, who are on the ride for 'free'. Anything that they have here is a bonus...the sceneries may just be heaven itself, contemplating the fact that they may be thrown out the next minute. So they would make sure that they enjoy every minute that they are on board...a la wedding crashers like psychology...all this while the driver was planning out new foolproof algorithms to keep out the crashers. He does get a thrill by keeping a few out, but crashers are innovative people as well. They would go the extra yard to 'earn' that free ride...and so some do get a free ride any ways.

Its really bizarre how the character and thoughts within so subtly pushes us to project personalities that are poles apart. The way we share our time on the ride is even more funnier, since we all tend to forget while in there, that everyone, including the driver has to get out (or thrown out) at some point.

So happy riding.

Into The US again!!!

2006-08-13T17:42:52Z

Has entered the LAO (land of opportunities) again!!! Spotted Last in Raleigh, NC state. Heading to AFC to browse the net.

Flown in by the Venerable (read aging) Air India jet AI111, I had the opportunity to face confusion and mayhem at JFK, New york, where I was supposed to catch the American Airlines Flight to Raleigh. The AI people dutifully checked in my baggage(3 huge bags with books and a small indian grocery store hidden inside them) into AA but the AA ppl refused me a seat on their plane. They simply told me that I was not on their list and so I cant be on their flight either. Thankfully, My friends Suith, Don and Shani were there to help me and that saved me from being JABIFAJ (Just Another Bewildered Indian Fool At JFK). Don booked me a tkt on US airways the nxt day to Raleigh and I could even collect my precious luggage which I sure thought were lost for good... from the AA baggage room at Raleigh.

Have been busy begging for campus jobs and setting up things in my new appartment which I share with three others. Lets see wat happens, and I can clearly see one writing on the wall. The struggle has sure begun! :)

Bright Lipstick

2006-05-03T16:31:29Z

An extract from the diary of Lieutenant Colonel Mervin Willett Gonin DSO who was
among the first British soldiers to liberate Bergen-Belsen in 1945.

Camp

I can give no adequate description of the Horror Camp in which my men and myself were to spend the next month of our lives. It was just a barren wilderness, as bare as a chicken run. Corpses lay everywhere, some in huge piles, sometimes they lay singly or in pairs where they had fallen. It took a little time to get used to seeing men women and childen collapse as you walked by them and to restrain oneself from going to their assistance. One had to get used early to the idea that the individual just did not count. One knew that five hundred a day were dying and that five hundred a day were going on dying for weeks before anything we could do would have the slightest effect. It was, however, not easy to watch a child choking to death from diptheria when you knew a tracheotomy and nursing would save it, one saw women drowning in their own vomit because they were too weak to turn over, and men eating worms as they clutched a half loaf of bread purely because they had to eat worms to live and now could scarcely tell the difference. Piles of corpses, naked and obscene, with a woman too weak to stand proping herself against them as she cooked the food we had given her over an open fire; men and women crouching down just anywhere in the open relieving themselves of the dysentary which was scouring their bowels, a woman standing stark naked washing herself with some issue soap in water from a tank in which the remains of a child floated. It was shortly after the British Red Cross arrived, though it may have no connection, that a very large quantity of lipstick arrived. This was not at all what we men wanted, we were screaming for hundreds and thousands of other things and I don't know who asked for lipstick. I wish so much that I could discover who did it, it was the action of genius, sheer unadulterated brilliance. I believe nothing did more for these internees than the lipstick. Women lay in bed with no sheets and no nightie but with scarlet red lips, you saw them wandering about with nothing but a blanket over their shoulders, but with scarlet red lips. I saw a woman dead on the post mortem table and clutched in her hand was a piece of lipstick. At last someone had done something to make them individuals again, they were someone, no longer merely the number tatooed on the arm. At last they could take an interest in their appearance. That lipstick started to give them back their humanity

Source: Imperial War museum

Ps: Got this one from http://www.banksy.co.uk . Please do visit.

Free Flow

2006-04-26T16:56:54Z

Marriages...Love...
Love after marriage...
marriage after love..
all r but part of the flow

u make them gud...
u make 'em bad..
so u think...but wer u free?
u hate them for taking control of ur life
hey..but, it's not their fault, urs alone..
so why do u despise and y do u frown?

u either fight for it...
or u fight it off..
just some entertainment before the inevitable
suddenly the hold of fate is so undeniable

thinking back wen u r old n' grey..
u wud perhaps wonder...
did i do all those crooked, great, horribly funny...terribly silly things...
all those things that made my life!

realisation dawns...seems like evrything was arranged...
even the love that was so spontaneous...
only that the arranger was not ur parents...
"oh ...ah wud have been so lucky if it was..."
"ah cud have gladly complained and cribbed"
then who was it? was it u?
"no not me...all of it just happened..i dint do it..i swear!!!
rather someone else...or something else..."

Call me a fatalist...call me a pessimist
but undeniable truths cant be withheld for long
and all that I speak is not lost from me
still held in me r the ravages of time, the anxiety about future..
i tell u that nirvaana is quite far!!
but u believed that all that wud remain after confessions
is a pleasent pain in the heart??

couldnt be further from the truth...
all that lasts is an understanding
that...all of it's just timepass!
we all know the flow..we pretend to know where its headed..
all of us r in the flow...helplessly so
all of us make the flow...dutifully so..
and the flow must go on!!

America....here I come!!!

2006-04-06T16:57:30Z

Guys!!!

This is news...
like man am in the land of the free...or thats wat they say...

hey...
I landed in LA on the 1st of april....and after the initial bewilderment and stuff....am slowly coming to grips with the so many new things out here...

the nerve rackingly orderliness...(ow! I really miss the chaos of india, especially on the roads..) Too many rules spoil the fun...I would say...(the sarcastic in me never dies!!)

The great amount of cleanliness. but sometimes that gives u a robotic/artificial feel...I think humans, by nature, thrive better in a little dirt...ah...bah...leave it man

I do have some photos to upload and may be lots of stuff to write about...

jus' another wide-eyed-wondering desi's stupid remarks, u may feel...

but i think that they r worth enuf to be displayed in print!! ;)

The bullshit called diplomacy

2006-02-24T12:29:02Z

Idealism is something to be worshipped but never to be achieved.

Lofty ideals are given the revered place, at the dusty mantle in the corner of the mind, right when the the hither-to 'strictly personal' mental space was breached for the first time using the tool called language. The kid gets baptised first into the unreal world of morality only to be shocked and shaken awake from his dream into a shameless world of hypocrites.

"Dont Lie" they said. But later they corrected- You can, if its for a "greater good". Gave it a new name - diplomacy. The only problem is however, everybody has a different understanding of "greater good".

So it happens- all those ideals that hang from the walls just hang there gathering the dust of time while diplomacy gets accepted with both hands. The timeless morals are universal and everybody seems to rever them, only that the dust that they have accumulated over centuries leave them with very little takers. Only those with great courage would shun the sparkling anals of diplomacy to venture out on the rough and rugged road of staunch morals.

Society humiliates a person for having a strong "moral side". "He's a fool" They declare unanimously. They laugh at you at every right step taken. They arent satisfied until their loud guffaws echo deep within the mind and spring out poison ivy's of self doubt. They wont rest until their feeling of guilt for having long diverged from the ways of God is once again proven as "the right thing to do in the present day scenario" in front of their confused minds. Then they declare aloud "Such Ideals are something to be worshipped but never to be followed".

"Dont harm any creature of God"- They taught the Kid in kintergarden. But he too was in a hurry to listen to them carefully. He had to go and see off his father to Iraq, going there to kill and abuse creatures of God.
"Allah shall not forgive him who does harm to his fellowmen"- But they took in only the other side. Does any God give people the right to kill.

As the morals written in captivating calligraphy gather dust of Ignorance, hypocricy- both moral and spiritual, thrives under the gleaming label of "diplomacy- intelligently doing smaller crimes for the greater good". There is nothing to be ashamed- is there? The only problem here is- while Bush has his "greater good", Osama has his.

The escape and back

2006-01-16T14:20:19Z

It was a pitch black night and suddenly a hairy hand clawed at my feet. I had battled with monstrous grisly bears all through the night. Having spent all my catridges on the cubs a few minutes ago, I knew my gun was empty. I knew for sure that the 'thing' right in front of me must be the mother bear, seeking revenge. Having nothing to defend myself with, I shut my eyes hard to avoid staring at sure death, directly in its face. Another clawing yanked me out of one of my worst nightmares. It was barely daybreak in the real world and as I sheepishly opened my eyes, I was more than relieved to see the dark yet timid form of Maadan shouting at me instead of the growling form of the mother bear that I had expected."Lets get ready. We are to start at 7." He growled.

Today was the day scheduled for the mission to Tada. The gang had had this location on its agenda for long. Lots of times plans had been made and all of those times they just didnt materialize. If the work messed up things sometimes, most times, it was the laziness, the meanest enemy of the gang, that foiled their ambitions. But times had changed now and along with it had changed many a thing. Two of the gang's venerable members (thadiyan and don) were in exile now and the whole of the mission rested on the shoulders of the remaining members- Maadan, sixtu, major, vedi, sebin and myself. As the day progressed, the city witnessed six men on three shiny mobikes whizzing out of the city, with the thunderous pounding of their excited hearts playing out a cool background score. The time was 7.45 in the morning and the gang was on their way.

Tada, an idyllic village on the side of the chennai-Kolkata national highway, NH-5, woke up as usual. Little did she know of the visitors that she awaited. On the contrary, the visitors had heard a lot on the vast beauty of the nature's bounty that Tada hid away in her bossom. They had the modern equipment to capture her... Equipment, designed to freeze her in time. It was 8:45am by the time the gang could elude the maddening city traffic. The NH-5, lined on either sides with fields stretching out as far as eye could see, offered the much needed fresh air. Cruising at speeds nearing a 100 kmph made sure that the fresh air reached the very hidden depths of the software engineer's lungs. Invigorated, the gang was ready for action. Escape from their eerie world of artificially lit cubicles with the suffocating air conditioners and the clumsy machines whirring ...keyboard tappings making them crazy and deaf every second...LCD projectors making them blind every passing day...This was their much sort after escape...and they were counting on it, by all means. Now that they were on their way, they were more than willing and ready to take on and 'shoot' anything ... rugged or beautiful... that came in their way.

The most trigger happy of the lot was major. He, with his Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20, 5 Mega pixel, 12X Optical Zoom(plus 4X digital Zoom)digicam made sure that no passing scenery went unnoticed. With stops for grub, rests, refueling, shoots and deviating from the route a couple of times, ensured that it was almost 12 in the noon when we finally reached the starting point of the trek. It was after riding for a kilometer on rough terrain with loose sand, gravel and rock that the gang decided that it was better for the good health of their motorbikes and their own necks to stow away their machines in the bushes and continue on foot. The trek wound through the graveled path crossing narrow streams that felt very pleasent as they tickled the feet. The forest thickened as they went in, but little did it do to shut out the sun that bet down, hard at times. The gang had to make its intentions clear on dumping anybody who wanted to chicken out and this was told verbatim to sebin when he made such an attempt. Finally we reached the pool...the most beautiful pool that I had seen. It was formed by the stream widening a bit against rock formations which acted like a check dam. The water was so incredibly clear and transprent, perhaps the tears of ma nature, flowing down her rough ol` cheeks as she lay weeping that her children had long forgotten her. Before we knew, the gang was in the water. There were shutter bugs like major, sixtu and maadan clicking away at shoals of fish that grouped in peculiar formations around enthusiastic guys who shed their clothes and jumped in for a swim with them. The sunlight formed golden spangles in the pool and gave illusions of divine ambrosia in which the foolish fish had accidentally fallen into and were panicking in all directions. Vedi, who was armed with an amateur camera, was perhaps the only dejected soul, since he had run out of film, poor guy. I know how he might have felt having missed those spangles. The fun continued for an hour before we decided it was time to carry on with the trek. The path ahead was very rugged. In fact, there was no path. Just the stream that flowed down.

"Truth is a pathless land". I was reminded of Krishnamurthy's famous words. "The path that men take in their lives become their truth". But we were not so brave as the doyen of modern philosophy. With nobody in the forest to ask for directions, we decided on following the stream up. When somebody pointed out that the 'falls' could be downstream as well as upstream, we decided to trust the hunch on going upstream. The going was tough and poor me, wearing shoes that showed no semblance of grip, slipped and fell in the stream atlest thrice, landing on the bum twice and once on the knees. Fortunately, no bones were broken and the wet jeans couldnt dampen the soaring spirits. Toiling through, the gang came across nature's 'unshaven' rough face, untouched by human tinkering. There were steep rock faces with curious patterns on them and rocks that jutted out resembling forms of prehistoric wild beasts. There was even a natural tunnel in the rocks which would have been ideal for the LOTR kind of giant spider to lie in wait for its prey. Pushing and plodding, falling and crawling for half an hour, we finally found magnificence.

"Oh Lord! If Thy decide to manifest Thyself in all Thy strong, beautiful, roaring, serene, omnipontent and gentle magnificence, what would Thy be" The humble yogi pondered.
"I would be a waterfall" the Lord answered from within.
"A waterfall..., but why" the yogi puzzled.
"Open your eyes and see for yourselves" the voice within suggested.
And Lo! I see the magnificent site that makes the heart leap through the throat. The sound, the roar... so strong and omnipotent, the water.. so pure, so cool and so gentle. The delicate balance of the Yin and the Yang, yes, my Lord, that is the waterfall. How can a roar bring such peace to the mind. How can stinging needles that drench you through and through, instantly rejuvenate the aching body. Matters like these were soon forgotten when the gang marvelled at this devine exuberance, that presented itself before them. Everybody forgot themselves and their sophistications. The thronging and pushing to be beneath the gushing falls brought back the long forgotten child. Cries of joy even alarmed the langurs which were passing by. The shutterbugs lost no time trying to cage their cherished moments within the 6 x 4 frame.

After an hour, the gang decided it was time to leave. Leaving behind the spectacle was tough. But, poor light could make it difficult for riding out through that rough gravel path. The langurs were disturbed now and were trying to get closer. We had to brandish sticks to make them go away. They did show their fangs, though, and we marched a swift retreat, the same way that we came. The long road lay ahead of us to get back to the boring city. We had a snack at an andhra wayside mess, which felt really good for our growling stomachs(it was just fruits and biscuits that we had had all day). And let me tell you, riding in the dark on Indian highways is very suicidal, very comparable to negotiating a vietnamese jungle laid with mines by the viet Cong. I may sound preposterous, but that is true. There is absolutely no light. Large vehicles, even trailer lorries come in the wrong side. Cyclists with no reflector or lights and pedesrtians cross the road at will. There may be sudden potholes, tyres etc on the high way. The gang was fortuante to make it back alive and with all bones intact even with a lot of surprises that they had on their ride back.

Totally exhausted, as we had our dinner and sat down to view the spoils, the ones that were captured and frozen in time, somebody remarked "Man, those pix look splendid. We can make them wallpapers on our PC's". But sixtu was quick to remark, "But, there is nothing like the real thing".

The Option, that we all have.

2006-01-04T10:43:07Z

If there were a poll to find the most insecure group among the vast humanity on the planet, Americans wud surely come on top.
In most cases, Insecurity is an irritating mental state that should to be referred to a psychiatrist rather than a physical state of concern that is to be tactlessly worsened by the CIA.

Picture oneself on an airplane and u r famished since u skipped ur breakfast in ur hurry to catch the plane. just after takeoff,u spy ur neighbour in the window seat, opening a metallic box. In it are five white balls. He peers at them, looks at his watch, closes the box and puts it back in his bag. U r watching him more closely now. He is obese, kindof cute, the sort of jolly guy who eats/drinks a lot and enjoy a good life but suddenly u notice.."he has brown tanned skin..!!!". Now there are two options for u.

1.U say "Hello. I am S. I am going to chicago. Where are u headed" Then pickup a conversation and knowing that people from asia score high in hospitality and dont think twice about sharing their meal, politely ask for one of those "white laddus" in his metal tiffin box when he opens them next time, wen it is time for his little snack. Earn a friend, learn about his country nad enjoy an exotic new breakfast.

2.U think. "This guy is from asia. Most probably middle east." U are alarmed. U sneak to the back of the plane, acting as if u urgently need to pee. Stop the first attendant U see and tell the tale of the awfull sight u saw. A fidayein carrying a timed explosive, probably RDX all wired upto explode at some time in near future, or may be they were improvised hand grenades or ...oh my gosh, the ghastly anthrax, conveniently rolled in to dumplings for ease of use...brrr. When ur told by the sensible attendant that all passengers are thoroughly frisked b4 being allowed on the flight, u demand a different seat in any case. Then go back to another attendant and retell the story untill the poor fat Indian Doctor from Nasik, Maharashtra going to attend the international conference on Diabetes, is shown a gun in the face, stripped naked, frisked, questioned, made to feel totally humiliated and finally given a brief apology. U endup having a nice window seat at the back, hungry like hell, but happy to 'be alive' and proud to 'have proactively avoided a horrible catastrophe'.

The options are here to be taken.
The choice is to be made between creating a good travelmate and a wannabe terrorist. The choice is between having a free and delicious breakfast and shifting restlessly on an isolated window seat with the stomach growling for food. The choice is between sharing life's peace and friendship and meddling unnecessarily in other peoples' affairs.

The new year's here..hic

2005-12-30T14:29:32Z

And twelve months of torture will give way to a new year of hope...
A hope to build the paradise ...the paradise that we hope to build..over..err..

(pours a peg of Bagpiper and fills the rest with sandpiper ...and gulps down the infamous "bomb"

yeah.. the paradise...minus the terror of saddam...ya the americans have got him..and that thru a blody unjust war..going into somebody's country, like beating the daylights out of the host after geting into the party uninvited...yeah ...the blody american gatecrashers....

(advances to the next peg)

and then, there was nature crashing herself on the poor mankind...first there where the Tsunamis, then the earth quakes, then the floods...or was it the other way..argh.. who remembers...all the good people dead. Their frnds cry..others forget..we dont forget them, do we...lets raise our next toast for those poor souls...and i damn well know..ya..gosh shall be with u all..yup..

(cruising on the third now...)

now ..is there really ne hope..gosh me dos see nothing. I mean..no hope, watsoever.. not with these goddamn politicians around... the damn oldies..donno why they havent retired..they are older than my forgetful grandfather...man..he forgets where he left his glasses when he actually left them on his own nose...and how are these grampas gonna give orders, create laws, formulate strategy, entertain foreign diplomats...y dos those not sit at home and play with the kids of their sons...or see many tv serials...or read the newspaper from cover to cover..oh oldies..u really gotta get a grip of urselves..

(the fourth one goes zipping in..)

and the youth...they going flat..meant, they lost all the spirit that youth oughta have... gosh they kill themselves young... kill their dreams..ohh they...better they kill themselves...suicide is a better option.live out their daddy's dream...hope for the neighours job...make the bloody savings bankers and the insurance busggers happy and rich...they make money...use that money to make more money...and whine on their lost youth when they are still young... They live the life of stinky and stingy rugrats to die the death of a rich devil...we need no rich devils no more...and..

(the bell tolls and hey it's new year)
whoahh...soanother hew rear ahh..well..wat is the number..damn u number them rt..the hyears..hic...so wats this one.. noody knows..shall find it mashelf..i shall..(looks around through glazy eyes for a clue..)
why dont they anounse it...how do poor laymen know it..the country gonna go to the dogs..
(trips on a bottle..falls...slowly looks around...a new glint lighting up the eyes)
knew the rascals wud leave me some clue..he he..and am i not cool finding ... just fell over me from the blue..Ha..

(making up an imperial air)
sho ladies and gentlemn.. woosh all of us a great and preposterous hayward 5000!!
)

Laziness, Art, Intellectualism, Beautiful Women, Communism

2005-12-26T08:22:35Z

This post is a result of Inspiration from a post by sajith which you can find here.

It is always a cause for surprise in observers to notice that W.Bengal and Kerala, even though so many thousand miles apart have a lot in common, the most notorious of them being longstanding elected communist governments. Along with it are other commonalities, some of which I have listed as the title of this post.

I think that, to reason out the specifics of any development pattern, one has to go searching until the very roots are unearthed. And in this case, as I dug down, I think I came up with one good very basic component that was common between Kerala and West bengal, and that was a favouarable climate. The monsoon almost never failed here and water scarcity was nonexistant, in comparison with the other parts of India. The terrain was also very hospitable.

Then there were atleast 2-3 months of heavy rains which makes it almost impossible to go out and work or engage in outdoor activities, thus thrusting periods of seclusion on the people. It is a known fact that Ideas emerge when people have time to think and when they think independently. Those Ideas were then discussed with each other. That also lead to a better development of art forms, literature and reading, collectively leading to the development of the intellect. Also, both the states had a very well educated middleclass which was also nonexistant in other parts of the country.

These fortunate people where those who dint have to work every single day to feed themseleves and their families. The free time was used up to hugely improve the quality of their creative endeavours. This explains why great painters and literary artists always came from the upper crust of the society or the largely educated middle class. If we take the hint from one of the more modern examples of societal develpment from history, namely development of America, the early literary endeavours of the country where from the eastern coast which had more hospitable terrain and longer winters, giving more free time in oppostion to the west which was rugged and the populace, as we know, lead a wild life with more emphasis on physical abilities, rather than literary endeavours.

The people who are lazy (to do menial labour) and who do not have a hand to mouth existance are almost always drawn towards books which brought with them romantic Ideas. The middleclass youth of Kerala and W. Bengal, with lesser responsibilities(in comparison to contemporaries from other parts of the country), better education and independent thinking, a lot of leisure time on their hands, young blood and great regard for romanticism quickly fell for the enticing Ideals of communism. enticing. Also, Communism brought with it legends of heroes like Che Guvera who were powerful personalities whom the youth were more than willing to imitate. All this combined with the Idea of "Martyrdom" for a semmingly selfless Goal of a "welfare state" was an intoxicating heady mix that spread like wild fire through their collective consciousness and the seeds of communism were sown.

Now, wat does that have to do with the beauty of women, here? Hmm.. Again, I feel that beauty is not only in the body but also in the mind. In fact, Intelligence greatly amplifies the physical beauty of a lady by a large degree. Atleast for me, a goodlooking lady who is well read and can appreciate a wide variety of human endeavours in art, literature and science would be much more attractive as well as desirable, in comparison to a stunning beauty with little intelligence. So, the point is that, most of the notion of the great beauty of the ladies of these states come from the fact that they are also more intelligent, well groomed and carry themselves with a confident gait which is not be matched by others.

Of course, what I am suggesting here is that all the free time that people of these states enjoyed which lead to the development of their art and intellectualism is also behind the evolution of beautiful ladies.

Surely people, that must have been the last straw for you.. ;) So IAm making an effort to contain myself :)

Religion and Religious Philosophy

2005-12-23T12:07:42Z

AS I read through some blogs, I happened to notice that there had been a lot of confusion between the two.

Religion is a closed set with accompanying rites, practices, moral codes and usually a heirarchy which dictates the societal structure of it's followers.

Religious philosophy on the other hand, is the underlying principle that is the soul of any religion. It is universal and is not dependent on the religion which has formed around it.

In clearer words, any body can easily identify with the philosophy of any religion while he/she may be a long way from understanding the different rites of the religion as such.

Not that the rites are stupid. They do have their own value which may not actually be understood by foreigners to the land and culture. This is like Bathing in the ganges is sacred for the Indian Hindus since they regard Her as mother, while for a foreigner, it is just another mighty river. The Safa marva are sacred to the Arabian muslims while they are any other mountains for a non-muslim. The Christmas father santa claus riding on raindeers is only a vague imagination for people in India most of who havent seen snowfall in their lifetime.

So, If a foreigner tries to be Hindu by thinking that he can rinse himselves of the sin by bathing in the Ganges, or say because Hindus have a different 'convenient' God for everything, he/she is being foolish. This is because ganges has a relevance only to the INdians and not to any foreigner. So any desire to bathe in Her to get rid of sins is a myth, a blind aping of Indians, unless the person in question actually relinquishes his homeland and comes to live in India.

All said, Now, If there is a person who is attracted to Hindu Philosphy or more precisely the vedic philosphy and understanding the deep truths, guideline, vision and intelligence present in them and decides that he should follow those teachings to seek the GOAL, then he/she has already become a hindu and there is no need for him/her to go around proclaiming it to the world.

There is none but oneselves to convince.

Whoo Ah! Hah!

2005-12-13T08:52:40Z

Al pacino rocked as the blind col. Slade in "the scent of a woman". Heres a snip of his final showdown with trask that I got from the net. Just Imagine Pacino doing it and u may have goose pimples just thinking about the exciting scene...
so here goes..

Mr. Trask: Mr. Sims, you are a cover-up artist and you are a liar. Col. Frank Slade: But not a snitch!
Trask: Excuse me?
Slade: No, I don't think I will. This is such a crock of shit.
Trask: Mr. Slade, you will watch your language. You are at the Baird School now not a barracks. Now Mr. Sims I will give you one final opportunity to speak up.
Slade: Mr. Sims doesn't want it. He doesn't need to labeled, "...still worthy of being a 'Baird Man.'" What the hell is that? What is your motto here? Boys, inform on your classmates, save your hide. Anything short of that we're gonna burn you at the stake? Well, gentlemen. When the going gets tough, some guys run and some guys stay. Here's Charlie--facing the fire, and there's George--hiding in big Daddy's pocket. And what are you gonna do? You're gonna reward George, and destroy Charlie.
Trask: Are you finished, Mr. Slade?
Slade: No. I'm just gettin' warmed up. Now I don't know who went to this place--William Howard Taft, William Jennings Bryan, William Tell--whoever. Their spirit is dead; if they ever had one, it's gone. You're building a rat ship here. A vessel for sea going snitches. And if you think your preparing these minnows for manhood you better think again. Because I say you are killing the very spirit this institution proclaims it instills. What a sham! What kind of show are you guys puttin' on here today. I mean, the only class in this act is sittin' next to me. And I say, this boy's soul is in tact. It is non-negotiable. You know how I know. Because someone here--I'm not gonna say who--offered to buy it. Only Charlie here wasn't selling.
Mr.Trask: Sir, you are out of order!
Slade: Out of order, I'll show you out of order! You don't know what out of order is Mr.Trask! I'd show you but I'm too old, I'm too tired, and I'm too fuckin' blind. If I were the man I was five years ago I'd take a flame-thrower to this place. Out of order, who the hell do you think you're talking to? I've been around you know? There was a time I could see. And I have seen, boys like these, younger than these, their arms torn out, their legs ripped off. But there isn't nothin' like the sight of an amputated spirit, there is no prosthetic for that. You think you're merely sending this splendid foot-soldier back home to Oregon with his tail between his legs but I say that you are executing his soul. And why? Because he's not a Baird man. Baird men, you hurt this boy, you're going to be Baird Bums, the lot of ya. And Harry, Jimmy, Trent, wherever you are out there, fuck you too.
Mr. Trask: Stand down Mr. Slade!
Slade: I'm not finished! Now as I came in here, I heard those words...cradle of leadership. Well, when the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. And it has fallen here, it has fallen! Makers of men, creators of leaders, be careful what kind of leaders you're producing here. Now, I don't know if Charlie's silence here today is right or wrong; I'm no judge or jury. But I can tell you this: he won't sell anybody out to buy his future! And that my friends is called integrity, that's called courage. Now that's the stuff leaders should be made of. (pause) Now I have come to the crossroads in my days, and I have always known the right path, always, without exception, I knew. But I never took it, you know why? Because it's too damn hard. Now here's Charlie; he's come to the crossroads. And he's chosen a path, it's the right path. It's a path made of principle, that leads to character. Let him continue on his journey. You hold this boy's future in your hands committee! It's a valuable future. Believe me! Don't destroy...protect it...embrace it. It's gonna make you proud some day...I promise.

Freedom .. In it's totality..J Krishnamurthy's Ideas

2005-12-06T13:47:06Z

Finished Jiddu Krishnamurthy's 'Education and significance of life'.

Many a statement of his made me grapple with myself...my conscience, I mean, not being ready to accept the unpleasent truth.

He is completely against the educational system that we have now. He thrashes nationalism as a way to alienate people, a hindrance to build the universal brotherhood of man. He loathes the military and he loathes discipline of any kind that is enforced. He argues that the government and the religions are churning out Individuals that they 'require' to run their system and not Individuals who are 'creative on their own'. He loathes the current method of education in which a child is taught 'what' to think and not 'how' to think. He has the point clear and straight- at any point of time, the individual is more important than the system and he has to be respected.

He urges all parents to allow for the freedom of children so that they acquire true creative intelligence and not end up as extensions of their 'pithy' selves and carriers of their unfulfilled desires.

He blames the fear about being insecure as the sole cause of all these problems. He has defined an all-important role for the educator by calling them architects of the modern world. He also tries to give some characteristics desirable of them.

He calls for a revolution in 'intelligent' thinking and he deplores all forms of violance to bring about any revolution. He says that 'Freedom' is at the begining as well as at the end, therefore he says that freedom is the means as well as the end to this 'creative' revelution. He abhors the idea that end (freedom and world peace) can justify the means (read violence or force that can be retorted to, to achieve this). His means for bringing about this change in the world is only by revelutionizing the way we educate our children.

I do have a lot of doubts against the feasibility of such a bid to create a 'truly free' mankind and also the impracticality of the removal of all authority from human society. I also have reservations against the blind belittling of nationalism, completely turning a blind eye towards it's better aspects.

I dont want to burden you with my views at this point of time and If you are ready to have lotz of clog in ur established mindset to be blown to smithreens, You may well have a read yourself!!!

The battle of the desperate hopes

2005-12-02T06:53:28Z

Undoubtedly, the world is a strange place. Innumerable creatures with their innumerable mind/persona/character fighting their own bizarre battles... And it is this very fact that makes it exciting to be alive and breathing..Yes, the very joy of being mad and witnessing the madness...

Now, People... please dont stone me to death for turning philosopher(ya, I admit the breed is spreading in 'near epidemic' proportions)...But...I too, do wish to live long!! :)

Chennai is set to witness another cyclonic storm and with it is many a drama unfolding, mostly in the collective consciousness of the people involved. There is one involving villagers hoping they wouldn't have another flood, there is one involving merchants wondering whether they would have a bleak day(days??) ahead, there are the schoolgoers who are rejoicing at the prospect of having another holiday announced, there are the software guys who pray for either heavy rains with no office or no rains at all for better roads...
...and there are the cricketers, the Indians and Srilankans not knowing whether they would be able to start their test match today and 'desperately hoping' that they would be able to. Each team 'desperate' to prove themselves... Dravid 'desperate'to prove his captaincy, Ganguly 'desperately hoping' to find his place back in the team, the Lankans hoping 'desperately'for a win so that they dont get stoned when they are back home...

...and then there are the weather forecasters...'desperately hoping' that it would rain hard 'atleast' this time, like they have predicted it would. The pathetic failure of past predictions have provided the citizens with such abundant supply of jokes, all at the expense of the poor weatherman,that it is slowly turning into a new genre of jokes like the highly popular 'sardar' ones.

So we lie in wait for the battle of deperate hopes to begin. The winners/losers needn't worry. We do get a second chance, a third chance...in fact innumerable chances, until perhaps when 'deperate hoping' is termed illegal and classified under the Anti-terrorist Act, making it a non-bailable offence.

waiting for the day..

2005-11-28T09:18:17Z

when yours truly was at the 'wise' age of 10, he had a fight with his brother over a bar of chocolate. I remember bashing him bad, and later being given a sound thrashing by my Pithashri, that i very much very much deserved. It was as if my whole life depended on that piece of fudge, and know wat, it was not all that craving for the chocolate that made me do the blunder. In fact, I dint like the fudge very much. But at that age, you are supposed to love the chocolate and fight for your piece and try to snatch it and goble it through that strangle hold on your throat excerted by your rival(usually siblings).

Ya, I admit of being the sheep. Herded away from common sense by the false ego, looming large in the mind to bockout any semblance of sense. The ego that is supposed to be present in every person, so that he squabbles with every being around him for that meaningless piece of shit, that is gona giv him everlasting happiness.

As I grow older and 'wiser', I dont see any formidable growth in my intelligence. True that I have replaced the old fudge chocolate with that software job with that enviable salary. But with my heart elsewhere, no matter what it might seem to be, it will be a pice of shit to me anyways.

God!When shall I grow up?

The road that I rode today.

2005-11-12T07:57:39Z

Today is saturday. A holiday, nope.
Not for us. The company has asked us to come in on this glorious day of all days, to make up for the day that Unexpected chennai rains had washed away with them.
And me. I have no work to do. My superior hasnt turned up and I am still not given a task since I am new to the team. I rode my motorbike 20 Kilometers through potholes with a bit of road here and there, drenched myself in that oh-so-chocolaty fluid sprayed on me from the tires of the biker ahead, all to just know that I had no work to do today.

I could have sat at home and watched the last cricket match between India and Lanka on TV, especially so since we have been on a winning spree, so rare for Indian standards. And now I am stuck here, a long way of from home with nothing to do. I think I'll just slip out of office and just head home. But In a way it was good. The sky being overcast, the whether was cool an absolute rarity here, where the sun burns down upon u every day. So toda, in spite of all the potholes and swampy water around, riding was fun.

So I loved it neway, hmm. :)

a promise made.

2005-10-03T10:39:45Z

Undoubtedly, fear is the singlemost abhorable vanity that has enslaved humans.

At the animal level, fear, by far is restricted to just the fear for dear life/fear of death. However, IN the more complex humans, this primal fear has evolved and multiplied itself. For a human being, there is fear at every step of his life.

Fear of birth, fear of child rearing, fear of competition, fear of being proven wrong, fear of losing reputation, fear of being mugged, fear of losing love, fear of being cheated, fear of poverty, fear of diseases, fear of old age, fear of losing one's beauty, fear of enslavement, fear of being molested, fear of rape, fear of being punished, fear of ghost and spooks, fear of the government, fear of the terrorists, fear of serial killers, fear of the demons, fear of God...

Fear is the inertia that pulls us back at every single step, every single change of direction that we make or intend to make.

Man fears change.

In fact, this is the primal fear. The fear of death is also a fear of change...change from a live individual to a dead corpse.

If fear ends, it would surely be better. These fears are in different degrees in different individuals. However, it is to be noted that these fears are what actually pushes man towards furthering his already complex lifestyle, the process termed as 'development'. Offlate, development has become synonimous with a good lifestyle and great luxury, the wrong definition, perhaps perpetrated by a clueless and disillusioned society which has lost its way in its own complexities, lost its very aim of existence.

Real development would be any effort to remove fear. It is the fear within that has to be removed to rise the stature of the human kind or for that matter any living being.

Knowledge kills fear.

Only knowledge can bring everlasting joy. Knowledge of the self. Knowledge of pupose. It is the purpose of all that is science. It is this knowledge that would liberate from fear and allow living a full life.

promise to strive for this liberation.

Love is..

2005-09-29T11:48:31Z

Loving is letting go.

Loving is caring.

To love is to protect.

Love is within.

Love is .. .. .. Blah!

Sound Contardicting? or Complimenting?

Donno yaar. Dont think there is any definition. One of those absurd human emotions that gets rechristened every new day unintentionally by some unfortunate victim, some irrational romeo, roaming around dazed with nothing better to do.. eh!!!

Sounding desperate?

The guess is right on! Phew!

What they think...

2005-09-28T13:52:17Z

You are Form 1, Goddess: The Creator.

"And The Goddess planted the acorn of life.
She cried a single tear and shed a single drop
of blood upon the earth where she buried it.
From her blood and tear, the acorn grew into
the world."

Some examples of the Goddess Form are Gaia (Greek),
Jehova (Christian), and Brahma (Indian).
The Goddess is associated with the concept of
creation, the number 1, and the element of
earth.
Her sign is the dawn sun.

As a member of Form 1, you are a charismatic
individual and people are drawn to you.
Although sometimes you may seem emotionally
distant, you are deeply in tune with other
people's feelings and have tremendous empathy.
Sometimes you have a tendency to neglect your
own self. Goddesses are the best friends to
have because they're always willing to help.

Which Mythological Form Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

imprints

2005-09-27T11:54:14Z

Photographs are imprints. Imprints formed on a film when light falls on it.
Memories are imprints. Imprints formed in the mind wen consciousness enlightens it.
The space that we see around us is the imprint that our mind lets us visualize.
The time that we feel passing can be frozen only in imprints, be it the memory or the film.

The world that we know is the big store of imprints that we have accumulated over all these years.
The collection of these imprints for each one of us, is different, unique. So for each one of us, the world means a different thing. In essence, there are as many worlds as there are people.

People often discuss things with each other and try to convince each other, the reality of their respective worlds. The result is the creation of a new world, an amalgamation of the worlds of all the people who interact. However, though the individual worlds of the people have lost significance in this process, they still very much exist. The larger amalgamations are what we see today in the form of cultures, nations, religions and terrorist groups. The worlds have a lot of intersections. This is the commonality that we see in cultures, nations, religions and terrorist groups.

The imprints have a peculiarity. For any imprint to be percieved, it needs to contrast itself against a background. So if we have a democratic world, for that imprint to be percievable, we need the stark difference provided by a dictatorship. For an anarchists world, to be percievable, it needs the contrast provided by authoritarian world with moral restrictions. In each case the vice versa is also true.

Therefore, the black is the necessity of the white. or without black, white cannot be percieved. Vice versa too.

all of us have been running around in our own maze of illusionary imprints since time immemorial.

Ps: guess Now I have done my part for creation of yet another ... new world. :)

The panchbhoothaas...

2005-09-26T11:27:15Z

Have heard it a lot of times... the latest wen Sethurama Iyer gave an impresssive account in his showdown with the tantrik, kaapra in the latest malayalam flick, Nerariyaan CBI :)

The hindu philosophy regards agni as the greatest among the pancha bhoothas... or the five primal elements of nature. The explanation is interesting, hence being posted here...

The explanation goes like this...

Each of the five elements except agni(fire), that is Prithvi, vayu, jalam and akaasha donot have the purity that agni posesses. Prithvi or earth gets polluted by impurities. Our modern day contamination by fertilizers may be a good example. Jalam or water, as we know is fast becoming one of the most polluted things on earth and the same is true with vayu or air. Akasha which is considered as the originator of sound, including the pranava(Om) is affected by sound pollution. In essence, all these four elements imbibe some quality of the substace that they come into conatct with, there by altering the pure or basic nature of the element itself. However, agni consumes one and all and is still unaffected by anything it consumes. It acts the same on deadbodies as well as havis(offerings to Gods) in homas. This is why Agni is considered the most pure. This is why we use "agnishudhi" as the supreme method of purification. AND this is why agni is often invoked as the witness, "AgniSaakshi" in all hindu rituals.