Indian classical music !

I truly enjoy many kinds of music !!

You tend to enjoy the different genres when you are in different moods. Sometimes you enjoy the light-hearted melodies, and sometimes you enjoy some funky pop. There are times when the old songs bring back memories or times when the metallica numbers that gives you an adrenaline rush. Or then some earthy down-to-earth numbers gives you that tranquility tranquilizer ! And so many more !

But all these forms of music tend to "interfere" with your mind. Some make you feel good - some make you sad. Some bring you to an energetic mood - others that sooth you. But all of these influence you in some way.

What makes the classical indian instrumental music so different, is that the music is so pure !

It does not say to you, " hey get up and be happy" nor does it say, "dude, get in a romantic mood " There is no "this world is such a *** place and i m a so angry" nor any " dude this is coool ! ".

It just is so open to your own interpretation - whatever way you want to interpret it !!

This kind of music is like a 'tool' that you use when you are thinking about something - The same music can be interpreted in so many ways, depending on the mood you are in, what you are thinking about, and so on and so forth.

It is really magical in the sense that this is "true" music !

The music is not trying to fool you ! It is not getting you into some desired state of mind - this music is just helping you to rythm up your real thoughts .

Ferrari Outsourcing to Bombay

Ferrari's F1 Team has fired its entire pit crew. The announcement follows:

" Ferrari has decided to take advantage of India's high unemployment rate, and hire unemployed Indian youths from Dharavi.

The decision to hire them was brought on by a recent documentary on how they were able to remove a set of wheels from a car parked in the street in less than 6 seconds without proper equipment. Ferrari's erstwhile crew took more than 8 seconds with the right equipment. This was thought to be an excellent yet bold move by the Ferrari management,and, as most races are won & lost in the pits, Ferrari would
have an advantage over every other team.

However, Ferrari's expectations were exceeded, as during the crew's first practice session; not only were 'da boyz' from Bombay able to change the tyres in under 6 seconds, but within 12 seconds had resprayed the car, filed off the chassis number and sold the vehicle over to the McLaren Team!! "

Pu La

An interesting read.

IF !

There is this one poem by Rudyard Kipling that I have really liked, for years. Its called " IF ".

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

Magic of Music

These are one of the moments that are so intoxicating - You are just going about with your humdrum existance, the usual rigmarole and suddenly you listen to this perfect piece of music which just strikes some chord. You feel like everything has started to make more sense than before. Everything seems different. Everything seems a tad more beautiful. I dont know to explain the feeling - Just that the affect that some good music can have on the mind - is just magical !

Sachin ... Sachin

With the passage of time, you seem to loose touch with things that once seemed so very important to you.

The days when cricket seemed to be a matter of life and death - seem to be in my memory, just as if it was yesterday.

Cricket was almost a religion. We would not miss a single cricket match- come what may !

I remember not studying at all for my F.E Mathematics exam - just because of the memorable Ind- SL match at Taunton, where Ganguly had hit 180 odd runs. Despite the protests from my parents - I was throughly convinced that, the Cricket match was more important than the odd F.E exam.

We watched cricket at our homes- at friends homes - in the college canteen - in front of electronic shops in the streets - listen to the commentary in buses/trains - just about anywhere.

I remember the famous last day of the last test match of the Ind -Aus series of 2001 - the one where harbhajan, rahul and sachin got us to win the series 2-1 ( after trailing 0-1) . We had our semester practical examinations at that time, and we were listening to the commentary of those last overs - along with the examiner, on the old radio that the examiner had brought ! I remember us ( the students and the examiner) discussing cricket - of what could happen and what should have happened - just like old friends - and of us celebrating together after India won. After the test match was over - the normal situation resumed and we were the students again and he was the examiner.

Then there was the time when my family and me had been to Delhi/Agra. We ( or rather my mom and younger sis) were unfortunate enough - that we decided to have the trip at the same time as the Sharjah series - In particluar that one , when Sachin had hit 140 odd runs in both the semi-finals and the finals. I m sure everone remembers that one. Who can forget that ? ? . I distinctly remember the displeasure that my mom and my sister felt, just because me and dad refused to leave the hotel room in Delhi because we were watching the cricket match. Who would want to go sight-seeing when you could watch apla Sachin destroy the arrogant aussies ? I remember us changing from a "non cable room " to a "cable room " in the hotel for the cricket match.

There are so so many cool memories associated with cricket matches that may be I could not even list them all.

Anyways, Hoping the best for the Indian team against Pakistan. Go Sachin !

5 year old married to a dog !

I dont even know what to say about this

Dan Browns 51st State !

Check out this news.

While most of you would either be outraged or be plain amused by this, just think about the possibilities it raises.

Imagine Kashmir being the 51st state, and of all us desi engineers working at a place which is a stones throw/ grenades throw (in airline distance) away from home. You get to earn thousands of dollars per year - and all the sundry benefits of working in USA, and then you get to fly home to say 'hi' to your parents about every weekend.

More seriously - I really feel that Dan Brown ought to get himself a life. I wonder what he is going to come up with next ?

He will observe that a torn kellogs corn-flakes box resembles the map of Maharashtra and claim that Kellogs Corporation had bartered the state for a kilo of corn-flakes. The agreement papers, according to Dan Brown, being signed with a pen which wrote with sugar syrup-ink - which unfortunately got destroyed by a hungry 3 year old.

Unless of course this is an April-fools joke by the times web-site !!!

Music - ahaaa !!!

There is just something magical about music. Any kind is fine. Hindi - great.! English - great ! Marathi - great ! Classical - great ! anything else at all - great !

Dont want to say anything more. I am going back to get myself some music :)

The Science of Happy

A la descartes, I am turning this blog into an analysis of things . Apologies for that. Bear with me for now. I shall change gears soon.

Anyways, the topic I want to discuss is happiness. What is happiness ?. It is an emotion right ?. Well, fundamentally you could break down human emotions into two sets - happy and sad. The rest are just the variations of these two basic emotions in different ways, say greed, envy, love, hate and so on.

The first question that one can raise is - why do humans need to be happy ?. Why does everyone want to be in that state? Why not be sad all the time ? What is it about this emotion that makes it the "preferred emotion " ?

Analyzing a bit more - Happiness and the positive emotions are a state where your mind says "this is the way things should be ". So this would mean that happiness is a state where you would not like to change anything. Everything is just as it should be. Again, Sadness and the other negative emotions is where you want something to change.

Doesn't this reflect the laws of nature ? Din't Newton say "Every body shall continue to be in its state, unless an external force is applied "- the famous law of inertia ?

So could we say that it is by this law of inertia that Humans want to be in a state where they dont want to change anything ? That is the exact reason you would like to be with people about whom you wouldnt want to change anything ( or as few a number/quantity of change of things), or you like to eat food to which you just dont want to add any more ingredients. Its just perfect. Its just following its natural inertia.

On the other hand if you think that your food needs some more salt, or your bank account needs more money - well things need to be changed. That is where the inertia is broken and we are in the realm of the negative emotions.

But then there is no perfect inertia in the real world. There are always some forces right? There is friction, there is gravity and electromagnetism and what not.

In the same way - there can be no perfect happy state. There are always forces that keep changing things. Not only the changes in our lives but changes in our likes, our ideals, the way we want things to be. This is the reason people cannot remain in a "happy" state for long.

But what if you start liking change - irrespective of what the change may be ?. What if you say "Isnt it great that I am losing my job - now i get a chance to look for a new one ! ". Wouldnt such an attitude make you perpetually happy ? .

[ It is a another argument that if this were the case, then humans would still have been happy to live in trees and would never have invented anything !! ]

Well, then "to be happy" would be to say "Well there is change - I know it exists. Let me deal with it the best I can". Would that guarantee perpetual happiness ?

How can I find perpetual happiness ? How can I solve this mystery ? How can I solve the biggest problem that billions of people grapple with, the biggest problem that plagues humanity ? How can I ?

Thats Ok ! , I dont want to solve any more problems or change anything in the world - I am perfectly happy with just the way things are right now . Problem Solved ! :)

Ways of Life.

It all started in the water. Some molecules get together and interesting patterns start developing. There is a structure. It looks good. The molecules keep combining with each other. They keep organizing and re-organizing. The structure keeps getting more complex.

Then there is life.

The ancient life form keeps evolving. Organisms are formed. They learn to thrive in the water. They learn to live on the land. They learn to fly. The process continues. Some ones are good, some not so. Creatures are manufactures, some live, some die. Darwin is happy.

There are these strange creatures that start walking on two legs. They are different from the rest. They are not so strong, nor so fast. They have some other quality. A quality that had never before played a pivotal role in the battle for survival, suddenly seems to be more important.

This power is akin to the power that afficianados of "age of empires" might be familiar with. It is when out of nowhere you discover that you have something that even though did not seem important before, has become a very important tool indeed.

This quality is the harnessing of the mind.

The humans continue to run the show. They take over the planet. They build their own beautiful structures and they destroy some beautiful natural ones. They love each other and keep the species growing. Some hate each other and kill a few here and there. But on the whole all is well.

New tools are developed. New ideas are thought of. Good tools, Bad tools. Good Ideas, Bad Ideas. Humans continue to change. They adapt to what they percieve and the process continue.

All this while they are living in this physical world. That is about to change.

Someone invents the internet.

It starts growing. Slowly at first. But the disease keeps growing. There is this fascination. There is this new world.

The very minds that once harnessed this gigantic piece of rock and had the entire planet to its mercy. These very minds now stop existing in the physical world.

These minds start living in a virtual world. They stare at screens and the process of evolution starts takes its toll. They dont need their muscles too much. Moving in the physical world is inconveniant.

They dont need to listen too well nor do they need to have a sharp vision. The sense of smell is gone. After all, there is no physical danger that they encounter as they sit in front of their screens.

Their physical faculties start deteorating, just like say the animal tails. If you dont need it ... well then it goes away.

Their mental powers keep getting sharper. They are thinking and processing more and more information all the time.

Slowly these physical creatures start living virtually. Their brains and the internal organs are the only organs that they need. All else is non-essential for survival. Everything starts disappearing.

There is a time when the humans as we know it, are nothing but their thoughts - present in some virtual world.

You dont see humans. You dont need to interach with each other. Your world is the computer screen. If you want to convey your thoughts to someone , the virtual human sends an e-mail. There are blogs. There are a variety of other things. Its a collection of electronic thoughts and electronic feelings.

The human species as we know it exists on the internet.

Then the power goes off.

Why are smart people single ?

Times of India reports this study which, by my interpretation explains, why all smart people remain single.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1020016.cms

My favorite part is where they explain love - "...they should realise it is akin to being mad. You become deranged ..." :)

Home - India V America

This is the debate that must keep raging in every "desi in amrika''s head. I am no stranger to being in this quagmire too.

And it gets worst once you get out( at least somewhat) of the academic rigmarole. In the initial months of a typical desi student settling down in america, he spends so much of his time thinking about the day to day worries, say like making a few dollars, thinking about your career and so on, that the debate of "India V America" is pushed to the back of your mind.

But then there comes a stage when you start feeling more at ease with your daily grind, and then the debate starts kicking up.

Where would I want to be 10 years from now ? 5 yrs ? 2 yrs?.Would I want to be cruising to my office in my BMW convertible on some American Interstate ( of course assuming that I have a decent job ;0) ), or would I want to be driving my motor-bike or riding a train in the monsoons of India ?

America has given me so many things and offers so many things in the future. There is comfort. There is independance. There are tremendous career opportunites.

But then, there is that Indian in me too. The call of family and friends. The need to be among bustling crowds and noise. The irony of feeling so much at ease in so utter a chaos - that is India.

Sometimes I feel that comparing being in India or America is like the comparision between watching a cricket match at Eden Gardens or at Lords.

India is like the chaotic, noisy, disorganized crowd at Eden Gardens. While America is like the strawberry eating, one-hand clapping, organized Britishers at Lords.

And it is so hard to take one side and stick to it, as both the sides have their positves and negatives, and I wont even get into the details of those.

What a typical desi would say when asked this question is that " I will stay here for some time and then return home ". But can that work ?. After becoming acclimatized to the cosy american life, can someone adjust to being in India ?

Well, I guess the answer depends on mainly 2 variables. How long you stay in USA and what the situation is like in India when you decide to go back. The longer you stay here the harder it will be to go back, but then since India itself is becoming transformed so rapidly, one might as well be able to easily adapt there - even if you spend a few years here.

And then there is that dark question that you try not to think about. What if you decide to go back to India and then are unable to adjust there. what happens then?Well, but I m sure 'not liking to be in India' - that would be a very improbable thing to happen, or would'nt it ?

So should I just spend a couple of years here and go back to sweet India, or stay here some more for a green card ? Do I want to do that ? or could I stay on even more than that ? or much much more ?

Can we reduce this all to just a debate about whether you want to have a good home (i.e. Be in India) or have a good office (i.e. Be in USA). ?
[ Well I understand that it 'could' be possible to have a home in USA or one 'could' do cutting-edge important work in India ...but lets just ignore that for sake of discussion ]

Well, It is so satisfying for you and your ego to do great work, earn great money, in a great environment on a great day at a great office. But then at the end of the day,-- after all is said and done -- when all the dust settles down -- doesnt everybody just want to be - home sweet home ?

Or then, should one just step back - and look at the world as a big global village - and not be bothered by such trivial changes in locations by a few thousand miles ? ?

Aaaah well -- time will answer all the questions !!!

I am thinking - I am GOD

What do people think ? Why do they think? How does what they think affect what they think ?

Thinking is such a complex topic to talk about. Even when i think about talking on thinking, I am actually thinking about thinking.

What is a thought? Is it some neurons that are fired randomly in the brain ? Is it a physical phenomenon ? Or would you atrribute to it some meta-physical value ?

Can some-one stop from thinking ? But if that person has stopped thinking, how does he know that he has stoped thinking ? Can someone 'think' he is not 'thinking'.

Think about this question - what is it really like - to meditate ? Meditation is described as 'directing your thought' rather than 'absence of thoughts'. [ The Bhagavad Gita and the Vedas does talk about "directing your thoughts" towards the concept of bramhan. ]

But consider why we need not 'think' this way ? If you are directing your thought only in one direction, then doesnt that mean that you are NOT truly understanding the world in its "entirety" ? Are you not missing so many things ? Arent you becoming a vegetable ?

Was not the concept of "brahman" founded in some human thought ? It is ironic that the "concept of brahman" would have not even originated had it not been for someone "thinking" of different things - thinking of Brahman. Then why do "Yogis" "think" of GOD and only GOD ?

Could it be that it is wrong to "direct your thoughts" and it is more appropriate to just "let your thoughts be " ? Say, Forget brahman. Forget everything else. Forget all rules. Just let your thoughts explore.

May be the only reason the ancient people "invented" the concept of brahman was because "exploration" of thoughts causes bewilderment in people. It causes them to explore new things, which in turn leads to them to being scared. There is this inherent human nature to detest anything that is "new" and unexplored and be afraid of it. ( I could totally diverge the topic to "why is it 'not ok' to be scared, but i will spare you from that for now. )

Could it be that after the experience gained by these "scary experiences" - humans decided that it was better to "categorize" and to "limit" the knowledge of what they see and what they feel feel. That could be why humans need to insist on the concept of a central "GOD". Something universal but constant. Just so that the mind has this one direction that it thinks it is leading to - the mind is no longer bewildered into "ever-new" or the "nothing".

But may be we are just fooling ourselves ?

Consider this - GOD would never have been born, had us humans not thought of him. So doesnt that mean WE ARE THE CREATORS ? We created GOD in our minds - through our thoughts ! We created this perception of the world that we have !

Doesnt that lead you to the conclusion that "the human thought is the real GOD - the real CREATOR " ?

Hmmmm ...but wasnt this all "thought" by me ?

Enough of meta-meta-thinking ... back to my mundane existence :)

Of Search and Re-Search

I have heard the word "research" being thrown around by the so called intellectuals so much, that I start to wonder what is research ?

The word research, by itself means "re search" i.e to search again. Doesnt this mean that the very word in itself, lacks originality ?

Let me make it more clear. Most of the so- called research that I see being done is nothing but searching through existing work and a 'putting together of borrowed ideas".

The world is full of such people who live in a delusional world of grandeur. They think themselves to be intellectuals just because the combine they ideas of a person A and a person B.

I think there is a need for differentiating true seminal work from these "copy-machines".

I know that people would argue with the "standing on the shoulder of giants" retort, but then there are still truly original thinkers. These, my friend, are the true intellectuals. Imagine conjuring the concept of gravity right from nowhere, or thinking of making machines that fly. How about thinking of space-time continuum or thinking of the existence of electromagnetic waves.
Personally, I would have much more respect for minds that seem to derive ideas from the "grass root" level, rather than ones who have a great understanding of two complex phenomenons and knows how to make them work together.

It is refreshing to come across ideas, that even though may seem wrong, follow a new direction.
Thus, I would give more credit to the discoverers listed above, than say, the inventor of the light bulb or the telephone.

So, have we seen a decline in such "original intellects' ?. Or is it that most of the good ideas have already been taken by the people of the past ?

We can never know, but one thing is for certain. It is becoming increasing apparent that the term research should refer to "where to look for ideas" rather than "to think of some ideas" .
Ok. Enough of such topics on the blog for now. I pledge to make my next post a little more on the ludicrous side.

Trepidations of using the cell-phone

I just got an email message, sent to me with an "urgent" status. Well, even though I found no reason to believe the self proclaimed importance of that pesky e-mail, it got me thinking in another direction. Why can we not have the same system on one of our living-links-to-the-rest-of-the-world, our cell-phones.

Imagine a situation say, when you are thinking of calling someone up to discuss some trivialities, just for the heck of it. And then to your amazement, you are reprimanded by that person, because you called him - just as he was about to find out, if aamir khan would be able knock the last ball out of the ground in the movie lagaan .

And yes, it works the other way round too. Haven't you ever received a call while you are busy doing something important or critical, say you are deep in thought debugging a 10000 line code with 1000 nested 'if' loops and then some one calls you. You think to yourself, "Hmm - could this be an important call, or is this just someone calling me to discuss his views on the general state of the universe at that point of time ? "

Wouldn't it be cool if you could just send a "urgent talk"/"casual talk" flag along with your call while calling someone. Just to make life a little more convenient both for the caller and the callee.

So, where is my patent ?

OMG ... My first Blog

Well, this is my first blog.

Am i supposed to say something poetic ? Give you some earth-shattering news ? Write odes for this - the creation of something that will forever change the way people look at the world ?

I guess not.

Heres to an ordinary diary that would hold the ordinary thoughts of just one of the ordinary humans, living on this ordinary piece of rock revolving round this ordinary star, in this ordinary universe, in this ... -- well I guess you get my point.