Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Sunday, December 21, 2008
F***
I met two friends this weekend.
It had been quite some time since I saw them.
Both had come down from US to India on vacation.
I noticed both of them using a four lettered F word very frequently.
When I knew them before, the word was not so common in their dialect.
It was not the same word used by both though; they were two different words.
One of the four lettered F word was 'Fish'.
It had been quite some time since I saw them.
Both had come down from US to India on vacation.
I noticed both of them using a four lettered F word very frequently.
When I knew them before, the word was not so common in their dialect.
It was not the same word used by both though; they were two different words.
One of the four lettered F word was 'Fish'.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Improper Initial Perceptions
A florist shop in front of a wedding hall made me think “Wow! What a strategic place to open a florist shop. Wedding guests can buy bouquet in front of the wedding hall and present it to the hosts.”
But then I realized that not many wedding guests would know about the florist shop in front of the wedding hall and hence they would have already brought wedding gifts along with them to the wedding.
So its not such a strategic place after all…!
* * *
I noticed a water tanker ahead of me, while driving my car, spilling bucketful of water every minute onto the median through the outlet hose, as the tanker chugged along the bumpy road. It made me think what a waste it is to the owner of the water tanker or the company that owns it to have lost so much water in every transit.
But then I realized that the real loss is not to the water tanker or the company that owns it but to the customer - to whom the tanker is heading - who has actually paid for the tanker full of water! So if a customer pays Rs 500 for a tanker full of water, by the time the tanker comes to the customer’s place, the tanker will be about three-fourths full of water and the customer wont even now it!
So all that water onto the median was actually paid by the customer of the company that owns the water tanker…!
* * *
There is a shop at the end of our road which is a part of a 3-storey building, and time and again the shopkeepers need to switch on the water pump to pump water from the basement sump all the way to the tank three floors above. Extremely irresponsible citizens that they are, not a day passes without them switching the pump off before water overflows from the overhead tank. The ingenious architect of the building has so placed the overhead tank that whenever the water overflows from the tank, the water spills directly onto the pavement - where the shop customers are standing - and also a little bit onto the road. The ingenious architect along with the irresponsible shopkeepers thereby has created occasionally an artificial water falls for all passers-by to see and feel!
So, there I am again, thinking what a waste, to see all that good potable water getting spilt onto the road for no reason.
But then I realized that although the water from the tank is spilling onto the road, it is actually not joining the drainage water of the gutter. Due to the slope of the road – should I say architected by another ingenious engineer? – the water just stays there at the edge of the pavement, stagnant. This puddle of water either evaporates by itself or gets absorbed by the earth to add onto the ground water.
So, although it seemed that overflow of the tank was causing wastage of water, it, in fact, was a boon to the ground water table, financed by the shopkeepers!
* * *
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Thought on the Mumbai Siege
How can anyone be convinced that killing people is for the good...?
Isnt it common sense that making people suffer is a bad thing to do...?
Arent we all aware of what is right and what is wrong, and that that is wrong is not to be done nor followed...?
Do not we have enough issues to battle as it is, of survival amidst depleting resources, amidst irrational weather behaviors, amidst hunger and unknown diseases instead of killing fellow human beings for two-pence attention and two-day glory...?
There have been many blog posts on the Mumbai Siege, but I liked Krish Ashok's the best. Read them here and here.
Isnt it common sense that making people suffer is a bad thing to do...?
Arent we all aware of what is right and what is wrong, and that that is wrong is not to be done nor followed...?
Do not we have enough issues to battle as it is, of survival amidst depleting resources, amidst irrational weather behaviors, amidst hunger and unknown diseases instead of killing fellow human beings for two-pence attention and two-day glory...?
There have been many blog posts on the Mumbai Siege, but I liked Krish Ashok's the best. Read them here and here.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
The Terrace
The terrace is the best place in the house for me. A decade ago, the view was either the sky or magnificent trees. Now, the majority is either buildings or light spilt over and onto the sky. The green trees are minimal and although sky is still there, the bright lights of the advertisement hoardings and the mall nearby eclipse the beautiful twinkling light of the stars.
The stars always remind me of what Yann Martel said in Life of Pi. God has made this world so beautiful in just two colours. The white twinkling light of the stars against this vast blackness of the sky. It is such a wonderful, wonderful sight.
Add silence to this and it’s a beautiful world of its own, shunned from the constant motoring noises. Add the perfect sphere of the Moon and subtract all the clouds and you are awestruck. Just cant help gazing and staring at the tranquility. There is a divinity, spirituality and universality about it all that cannot be explained.
Back in the days when Bangalore’s HAL airport was functional for commercial purposes, we used to have flights preparing for landing over our locality. Some flights waiting for their turn and hence circling, some in the queue and some opening up their wheels, ready for descent. Between 9 pm and 10 pm, there were at least about 10 to 12 flights landing. Apart from the natural beauty all around, this man made bird was another thing of joy!
I don’t know what is it about an airplane that fascinates me but it sure does make me stop my after-dinner-walk and see every time a plane hovers over my house. Perhaps it’s the magnificence of the human mind that has thought of such an engineering marvel to simulate a bird! But alas, now that the new airport is 40 miles away from my house, hardly any plane can be seen.
Well, I wanted to write about something else and instead the prologue itself became the content, although a trifle repeated! But I guess that suffices for now…!
The stars always remind me of what Yann Martel said in Life of Pi. God has made this world so beautiful in just two colours. The white twinkling light of the stars against this vast blackness of the sky. It is such a wonderful, wonderful sight.
Add silence to this and it’s a beautiful world of its own, shunned from the constant motoring noises. Add the perfect sphere of the Moon and subtract all the clouds and you are awestruck. Just cant help gazing and staring at the tranquility. There is a divinity, spirituality and universality about it all that cannot be explained.
Back in the days when Bangalore’s HAL airport was functional for commercial purposes, we used to have flights preparing for landing over our locality. Some flights waiting for their turn and hence circling, some in the queue and some opening up their wheels, ready for descent. Between 9 pm and 10 pm, there were at least about 10 to 12 flights landing. Apart from the natural beauty all around, this man made bird was another thing of joy!
I don’t know what is it about an airplane that fascinates me but it sure does make me stop my after-dinner-walk and see every time a plane hovers over my house. Perhaps it’s the magnificence of the human mind that has thought of such an engineering marvel to simulate a bird! But alas, now that the new airport is 40 miles away from my house, hardly any plane can be seen.
Well, I wanted to write about something else and instead the prologue itself became the content, although a trifle repeated! But I guess that suffices for now…!
Struggle?
Back in the days of me reading Tinkle, there was one short moral story which till date I haven’t forgotten. It went like this:
A king on his way to palace sees a poor man toiling away hard, hitting rocks with hammer, day in and day out, amidst bushes and thorns and sharp stones. Overcome by the poor man’s dedication and commitment to work, the king gave him lots of jewels as a token of appreciation. Overnight the poor man became a rich man.
The now rich man buys himself the best clothes and starts living a lavish life. Soon after, when the king was again going on the same way, he sees the now rich man, dressed royally, sitting on the rock, nursing his finger and apparently resting. When the king asks what happened, the now rich man says he was prick by a thorn and there was a small dot of blood on his fingers due to which he cannot work.
The king then realizes what ill effects money has on man. While the poor man used to toil hard amidst the same thorns for the sake of earning bread, the same man starts complaining of minor things when he attains the next stage of life and is uplifted monetarily.
This made me realize - apart from whatever the king realized - that the intensity and vagaries of a struggle become evident only when it is past and when the next level of comfort is achieved. Till then, it does not even occur that one is struggling, because such kind of toil is accepted as a way of leading life and taken easily for granted.
There are many instances that can be quoted. Nowadays, almost everyone has a mobile phone. To think of a life without cell phone suddenly seems so difficult and so unimaginable. And yet, men lived without it for centuries. The future generation – who are born with laptops and cell phones as toys – will soon be remarking how the olden generation were struggling in life without cell phones in the then era!
We all used to go to school or college by walk or cycle or public transport. Day after day after day after day. Monotonously. A long 30 minute haste walk, an uphill cycle ride, an overcrowded bus – all that seems so much of struggle as compared to driving to office in an AC car now or even going in the plush company bus with added cushion for extra comfort.
Similarly, carrying the backpacks to school seems such a struggle as against taking one notebook to college. Cramming for studies for monthly internal college exams seems such a struggle when going to office. Retirement seems such a pleasure after decades of office going struggle. So on and so forth…
Most of our older generations, immediately after independence, have really struggled to set up and sustain a family. People have fled villages and come to major towns in search of a job. There have been instances also of starving because of lack of money, of walking miles together and of cycling from one part of the town to another instead of commuting in bus due to lack of money.
Our own parents have gone through these hardships at one point of time. All of this seems so much of a struggle, and yet, at that point of time in their life, they wouldn’t have thought of it as a struggle. It was just a mere way of life, of existence. Question of whether it was hard or struggle or not just wouldn’t have occurred to them as there really was no other option. But on hindsight when life is being good, one remembers all of those instances and wonders how one ‘struggled’ so much!
Ditto will be the case with us. The simple tasks we are doing now will be even simplified so much more in the coming generations that a time will come when the next generations will be wondering how much we oldies struggled!
So. Are we struggling? Or are we not?!
A king on his way to palace sees a poor man toiling away hard, hitting rocks with hammer, day in and day out, amidst bushes and thorns and sharp stones. Overcome by the poor man’s dedication and commitment to work, the king gave him lots of jewels as a token of appreciation. Overnight the poor man became a rich man.
The now rich man buys himself the best clothes and starts living a lavish life. Soon after, when the king was again going on the same way, he sees the now rich man, dressed royally, sitting on the rock, nursing his finger and apparently resting. When the king asks what happened, the now rich man says he was prick by a thorn and there was a small dot of blood on his fingers due to which he cannot work.
The king then realizes what ill effects money has on man. While the poor man used to toil hard amidst the same thorns for the sake of earning bread, the same man starts complaining of minor things when he attains the next stage of life and is uplifted monetarily.
This made me realize - apart from whatever the king realized - that the intensity and vagaries of a struggle become evident only when it is past and when the next level of comfort is achieved. Till then, it does not even occur that one is struggling, because such kind of toil is accepted as a way of leading life and taken easily for granted.
There are many instances that can be quoted. Nowadays, almost everyone has a mobile phone. To think of a life without cell phone suddenly seems so difficult and so unimaginable. And yet, men lived without it for centuries. The future generation – who are born with laptops and cell phones as toys – will soon be remarking how the olden generation were struggling in life without cell phones in the then era!
We all used to go to school or college by walk or cycle or public transport. Day after day after day after day. Monotonously. A long 30 minute haste walk, an uphill cycle ride, an overcrowded bus – all that seems so much of struggle as compared to driving to office in an AC car now or even going in the plush company bus with added cushion for extra comfort.
Similarly, carrying the backpacks to school seems such a struggle as against taking one notebook to college. Cramming for studies for monthly internal college exams seems such a struggle when going to office. Retirement seems such a pleasure after decades of office going struggle. So on and so forth…
Most of our older generations, immediately after independence, have really struggled to set up and sustain a family. People have fled villages and come to major towns in search of a job. There have been instances also of starving because of lack of money, of walking miles together and of cycling from one part of the town to another instead of commuting in bus due to lack of money.
Our own parents have gone through these hardships at one point of time. All of this seems so much of a struggle, and yet, at that point of time in their life, they wouldn’t have thought of it as a struggle. It was just a mere way of life, of existence. Question of whether it was hard or struggle or not just wouldn’t have occurred to them as there really was no other option. But on hindsight when life is being good, one remembers all of those instances and wonders how one ‘struggled’ so much!
Ditto will be the case with us. The simple tasks we are doing now will be even simplified so much more in the coming generations that a time will come when the next generations will be wondering how much we oldies struggled!
So. Are we struggling? Or are we not?!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Another Titanic?
There is this scene in the movie Titanic when for a split second, half of the broken ship is exactly perpendicular to the ocean. Everybody is hanging on to dear life, holding whatever they can. But the gravitational pull is too much and everyone is slipping...
There is this situation currently in the world now where every other day we are hearing news of people getting sacked, companies going down, hikes and promotions being cut. The scene is almost reminiscent of the perpendicular Titanic with people falling down, one after the other, trying desperately to hold but not able to do so...
There is this situation currently in the world now where every other day we are hearing news of people getting sacked, companies going down, hikes and promotions being cut. The scene is almost reminiscent of the perpendicular Titanic with people falling down, one after the other, trying desperately to hold but not able to do so...
Monday, November 10, 2008
Goodbye Ganguly...
8 years ago exactly on this day Ganguly had made his debut as the captain of India .... and Dhoni is again letting Ganguly leave as a captain ... fabulous spirit
Farewell salutations to the game's one of finest players...
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Monday, November 03, 2008
40k. More or less.
- Wanted to buy a new two-wheeler.
40k. More or less.
- Wanted to install solar heater.
40k. More or less.
- Bangalore to New York air fare.
40k. More or less.
- Mom went to Singapore.
40k. More or less.
40k. More or less.
- Wanted to install solar heater.
40k. More or less.
- Bangalore to New York air fare.
40k. More or less.
- Mom went to Singapore.
40k. More or less.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Silence
As the bus approached the traffic signal, the light turned red. The bus gradually came to a stop. It would be a long wait. Most traffic signals these days in Bangalore do not change lights up to 3 full minutes. The driver cut the engine. The noise now was one that of the neighbouring oncoming traffic who got the green.
I looked inside the bus at my co-passengers. We all were heading towards office. It was about 8ish and I knew many would have boarded the bus at about 7. It was still an hour’s journey, and hence more than half of the people were dozing. To catch up on the lost sleep; to be fresh to tackle the day’s work when they reach the office; to just avoid being a part of the annoying traffic.
Strangely, like a vacuum, or like being within a sound-proof bus, the noise within the bus itself was next to nothing. Pin-drop silence, as they say. Not a single person was talking on the phone, not a single cell was ringing, not one person talking. Everyone was immersed and involved in his or her own world. Sleeping, or listening to radio or reading a novel or just blindly staring at the traffic. Although we all worked for the same company, at that instant, none knew their neighbour. For all practical purposes, each one was a stranger to the other. This is what big companies do. One’s identity gets restricted to one’s project team.
For some reason, this scene reminded me of a number of instances which I had experienced in my life. There was this first week of my engineering college, when we used to travel in college bus. None knew one another and awkward, pregnant silence prevailed everywhere. Each wanted to do better in the course. There is always the desire to do better during studies.
There was this time when I was sitting in an interview room with my peers – all unknown to me. Each one wanted to do the interview well to get a job. We were all strangers. There was an expectant silence. Expecting to get their name called for the dreaded interview. There is always is an expectant silence in the waiting room prior to undergoing interviews.
There is the hospital waiting room. All are strangers with their near and dear one’s struggling for life in the ward. There is nothing to talk, but there is hope that things will get well. There is always hope in a hospital waiting room.
And then there is this bus. They are all my colleagues. But I know none of them. Hence there is no conversation. No idle talk. Just people. I am just one among the crowd. All hoping to have a good day at office. All wanting to do better. All wanting to achieve something.
The light turned green. The driver started the engine. The bus filled with the noise of the engine. It was like oxygen filling the vacuum. People almost sighed with thankfulness. Perhaps because it was our turn to go.
But I felt the thankfulness because it evaporated the silence. Silence was weird. Uncanny. Uncomfortable. Lonely. Noise was so much better...
I looked inside the bus at my co-passengers. We all were heading towards office. It was about 8ish and I knew many would have boarded the bus at about 7. It was still an hour’s journey, and hence more than half of the people were dozing. To catch up on the lost sleep; to be fresh to tackle the day’s work when they reach the office; to just avoid being a part of the annoying traffic.
Strangely, like a vacuum, or like being within a sound-proof bus, the noise within the bus itself was next to nothing. Pin-drop silence, as they say. Not a single person was talking on the phone, not a single cell was ringing, not one person talking. Everyone was immersed and involved in his or her own world. Sleeping, or listening to radio or reading a novel or just blindly staring at the traffic. Although we all worked for the same company, at that instant, none knew their neighbour. For all practical purposes, each one was a stranger to the other. This is what big companies do. One’s identity gets restricted to one’s project team.
For some reason, this scene reminded me of a number of instances which I had experienced in my life. There was this first week of my engineering college, when we used to travel in college bus. None knew one another and awkward, pregnant silence prevailed everywhere. Each wanted to do better in the course. There is always the desire to do better during studies.
There was this time when I was sitting in an interview room with my peers – all unknown to me. Each one wanted to do the interview well to get a job. We were all strangers. There was an expectant silence. Expecting to get their name called for the dreaded interview. There is always is an expectant silence in the waiting room prior to undergoing interviews.
There is the hospital waiting room. All are strangers with their near and dear one’s struggling for life in the ward. There is nothing to talk, but there is hope that things will get well. There is always hope in a hospital waiting room.
And then there is this bus. They are all my colleagues. But I know none of them. Hence there is no conversation. No idle talk. Just people. I am just one among the crowd. All hoping to have a good day at office. All wanting to do better. All wanting to achieve something.
The light turned green. The driver started the engine. The bus filled with the noise of the engine. It was like oxygen filling the vacuum. People almost sighed with thankfulness. Perhaps because it was our turn to go.
But I felt the thankfulness because it evaporated the silence. Silence was weird. Uncanny. Uncomfortable. Lonely. Noise was so much better...
Friday, October 24, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Thought for the day
No one will be happy if they are told that they are not doing a good job, right?
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Neutral Vision
"What is neutral?" My wife asked. We were discussing about the gears in the car.
"Neutral means neither here nor there." I replied, referring to neutral not being any gear per se. And added spontaneously, "Neutral is Narada." Then we both burst out laughing. What I said was so true! I mean, with so many mythiological references to English words, who knows, the word 'Neuter' came out of Narada's character!!
It wasnt long after that that I suspected 'Vision' to be borne out of the Hindu God 'Vishnu'. Vision for organisations in most cases remain asymptotic; always tending to reach its destination or goal but never doing so eventually - which is the same in an orthodox Hindu life, trying to follow the norms set forth by Vishnu so as to attain Him in the form of Moksha but never really being able to do so in reality...
Phew. Me and my thoughts...!
:-)
"Neutral means neither here nor there." I replied, referring to neutral not being any gear per se. And added spontaneously, "Neutral is Narada." Then we both burst out laughing. What I said was so true! I mean, with so many mythiological references to English words, who knows, the word 'Neuter' came out of Narada's character!!
It wasnt long after that that I suspected 'Vision' to be borne out of the Hindu God 'Vishnu'. Vision for organisations in most cases remain asymptotic; always tending to reach its destination or goal but never doing so eventually - which is the same in an orthodox Hindu life, trying to follow the norms set forth by Vishnu so as to attain Him in the form of Moksha but never really being able to do so in reality...
Phew. Me and my thoughts...!
:-)
"munde daari kaaNade..."
One sack o'er my left shoulder...
One sack o'er my right shoulder...
Trodding on the mud road...
In the middle of the dense forest...
Not knowing where I am...
Not knowing where I am going...
I chance upon these three roads...
Forking away from the road I am on...
One on the left, one straight on and one on the right...
Each being the same muddy road as the one I am on...
Each lacking in knowledge as to its destination...
Just as the same road I am on...
With two heavy sacks on my back...
I know not which one to choose...
Should I choose the right...
Or should I choose the left...
Should I go straight on...
Or is there some other path that I am not seeing...
I am reminded of Lowell's words-
"Once to every man and nation there comes a moment to decide..."
I am reminded of Sri Raghavendra Swamy's words-
"munde daari kaaNade kundide jagadoLu..."
One sack o'er my right shoulder...
Trodding on the mud road...
In the middle of the dense forest...
Not knowing where I am...
Not knowing where I am going...
I chance upon these three roads...
Forking away from the road I am on...
One on the left, one straight on and one on the right...
Each being the same muddy road as the one I am on...
Each lacking in knowledge as to its destination...
Just as the same road I am on...
With two heavy sacks on my back...
I know not which one to choose...
Should I choose the right...
Or should I choose the left...
Should I go straight on...
Or is there some other path that I am not seeing...
I am reminded of Lowell's words-
"Once to every man and nation there comes a moment to decide..."
I am reminded of Sri Raghavendra Swamy's words-
"munde daari kaaNade kundide jagadoLu..."
Friday, October 17, 2008
12000 and counting...
"It is perhaps the first time in the history of cricket that a batsman waved to the crowd thrice in an innings and raised his bat in acknowledgement to the standing ovation each time, and still had not completed a century..."
Sachin's became the highest run getter in Test Cricket.
Sachin got his fiftieth fifty in Test Cricket.
Sachin crossed 12000 runs in Test Cricket Cricket.
Sachin's became the highest run getter in Test Cricket.
Sachin got his fiftieth fifty in Test Cricket.
Sachin crossed 12000 runs in Test Cricket Cricket.
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