Inch by Inch

IF again !

Posting again this one poem by Rudyard Kipling called " IF ".

Life takes so many turns --- some turns are big; some are small. It is the set of core principles that a man holds - that guide him through all things big and small - ain't that true ? This Poem just embodies one aspect of that.

The thing for a person to remember -- is to take care of ones core values, beliefs and principles. The rest takes care of itself !

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

25.999999999 ...

One more trip round the sun for me, and I happened to take a look at this.

At age 26:

American anthropologist Margaret Mead wrote her famous dissertation, Coming of Age in Samoa, which claimed that in some societies adolescence is not a particularly difficult time.

Albert Einstein published five major research papers in a German physics jornal, fundamentally changing man's view of the universe and leading to such inventions as television and the atomic bomb.

Benjamin Franklin published the first edition of Poor Richard's Almanac, which was to play a large role in molding the diverse American character.

Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Chereshkova became the first woman to travel in space.

College dropout Steve Wozniak co-founded Apple Computer.

Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, revolutionizing the economies of the United States and Britain.

Antoine Joseph Sax invented the brass saxophone.

"Johnny Appleseed" brought apple seeds to the Ohio Valley.

Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Italy.

Gon Yangling memorized more than 15,000 telephone numbers in Harbin, China.

Orion Krynen of Denver, CO reached this age without much incident.

British ethologist Jane Goodall set up camp in the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve on Lake Tanganyika and began studying the lives of chimpanzees.

Ken Kesey published his first novel, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Thomas Pynchon published V., for which he won the William Faulkner First Novel Award.

Jimi Hendrix choked to death on his own vomit.

Kirsteene Luhrmann of Melburne, Victoria quit smoking.

Stephen Breen from Dublin, Ireland found this site.

Darren Blackburn became the first and only athlete of the Principality of Sealand, despite being somewhat lacking in athletic ability.

Syd Jesus co-founded the dUdU Art Collective in Oakland, California and turned an entire warehouse space into a conceptual art piece entitled "The $5000 Gallery."

Matthew Royer took a dog for a walk every day of the year in Minnesota, with a coldest daytime high of 0 degrees F. The average walk time was 30 minutes.

Derrick Pallas was horrified to realize he was losing his hair, just like Dad.

Jan Birkeland from Norway managed to get to work without hitting a single red light.

Angie Olson got so drunk on her 26th birthday, her friends were able to dress her up as a clown.

No stellar world-changing-achievements to report from my side as yet, and no major regrets in this unfinished life of mine too.

The last 26 rounds of the sun have been real good - lets see how the rest of the story goes.

.perspective

FlashBack.
Take 1. July 13 2001,
Pune, India.

I get up early in the morning. Its a new day. It is calm and serene. The sunrays are just coming in through the window. No actually its not that calm. I can hear the drizzle of rain. And there are no real sunrays. Its just that beautiful light that dissipates just before sunrise. I get up, get ready and move out. Its such a wonderful day. I am greeted by the cool wind as I come out.

As I try to kick start my bike for a few times i realise that the dew on the handle has got my shirt wet. I wipe off the dew from the rest of the handle and I am surprised how nice those little water droplets feel as i push them off. I have finally managed to start my bike and off I am - headed to the gym. I remember that I had an assignment to submit - one which i totally forgot about. Aah .. never mind, I will find time to do it. I am sure it was a easy one.

After a refreshing workout, I come home to some hot tea and pohe - served by mom. I get ready to leave for college. I get stuck in some traffic on my way. There are so many cars these days. It feels real nice to see these big cars in India and know that the people in the country are getting richer. I see people going to offices. Man, I am lucky I dont need to work for now! But some day I will get a job and buy one of those cars for myself. For now, all I need to do is go to school and have some good time with my friends.

The rest of the journey is quiet un-eventful, save the incident where I almost run over a poor sick dog. If life were a computer game, I could have had 2 points for knocking that dog :P . But it is not, and I manage to avoid calamity in the nick of time.

I bunk the first 2 lectures because we need to play out the cricket match we had started yesterday, and was left incomplete because of bad light. I feel satisfied knowing that my attendance is being marked by a friend. There is something so great about playing a sport in this light drizzle and the cool climate. The game is ok. I was never one of the good players and we loose, but it was great fun.

We then attend one of the classes. The topic that is being taught seems to be interesting, but I give in to peer pressure - I just stop paying attention to the lecture. We have more interesting discussions at that :). I almost convince my friends them that Hakkinen is the best driver .

Lunch is in the canteen. Its my lucky day. I find a ten rupee note in my pocket and decide to treat my friends to some hot wada-pavs. Those things always taste the best in the monsoons. We discuss lots of stuff - sports, politics, movies and just about everthing under the sun. We talk about the problems of the world and of course, we all are the experts in all the fields.

I remember about the assignment and rush to get it completed. We are completing the work in the classroom, all of us joking away while we work. We make fun of the professors, of friends, of each other, of everybody/everything under the sun. My stomach hurts from laughing. I have the assignment ready just in time for class. Its surely not the best I can do - but hey ! - at least I did it.

After the class its back to home. The pollution is more these days, and so is the traffic. I find driving my bike to be soo much fun. The wind in my hair and on my face. The power I feel when I twist the accelerator. The sweet sound of the engine. It all makes me feel freeeeeeeee.

Instead of going home I go straight to my friends place. All of us gather there and well - pass time. Again we have our discussions on all the topics under the sun. Most of the time is spent cracking jokes. Its a good diverse group. There are these guys who keep telling us hilarious tales about their gang in their college. Then we have this hard working fellow and we all pull his leg once in a while. Theres this guy with the pot-belly - we tease him so much. There are many more. I wont describe them all, but they are all fun guys.

We plan to go to the movies, but we decide to postpone it to the next day. When its late, I turn up home. Dad is somewhat angry at me, as I forgot to inform my parents about my wherabouts and for being late. I thank god I dont have a cellphone. There is hot food ready to eat,as always served by mom. And as always, it is just so sumptuos. We watch some TV after that. I go to my computer and load my favorite game.

I am confidant that I can defeat the enemy by going to the "iron age" before him. I have no idea that I have been at the computer for 4 hours. As my eyes get heavy, I take off to sleep on my cosy bed, ready for the next day.

Life is good !!!!


Take 2.
July 13 2001,
Pune, India.

The light on my dreary eyes wakes me up. I did not get enough sleep. I hear it raining outside and curse the day. I want to sleep some more, but i get up. I get ready and move out. It is a cold and wet day.

The bike always refused to start on such days and I struggle with it. Its also irritating to get your shirt wet from all the dew. As I am driving to the gym I remember the assignment I had to submit. I remember that my friend was supposed to give me the questions which he never did. I wonder when i will find time to do it. I already had missed the last one.

The workout is tiring and my muscles pain so much. I come home exhausted and get ready to leave for college. I get stuck in some traffic. Its getting so bad. People have no respect for the environment. They live in their shiny cars and pollute the air for people like us. I wish I had a job. I am also irritated by all these stray animals. Why cant the government take care of such issues ? How incompetent ! Yeh hai India !

I meet up with some guys as I park my bike and they insist that I join them to play the game we had abandoned last evening. I dont feel like it, and try my best to avoiding them. But they win in the end. I am not feeling up to the mark, and to add to it,we end up loosing. Our openers really wasted so many overs that it was impossible for me to score the runs in the end. As we leave the field I meet up with the friend who was supposed to "proxy" my attendance. The fool forgot to do so !

We then head off to the class. The lecture is going on - my friends keep disturbing me. I debate with my friends, about who will win the F-1 race and am really irritated when they insist it will be schumacher again. Why cant they understand that he just got lucky !

I head for lunch in the run down canteen. Its so dirty and unhygenic in there. When will Indians learn ? I find a 10 rupee note and my friends start bugging me for a treat and I have no choice. It is still raining outside. The food is good, but I am still a bit hungry. There are some more discussions and I am amused that my friends think that globalization is not good for the world. How can they be so naive ?

I remember about the assignment and rush to the class. Its so much distracting to work in a group, especially when I have to explain every single thing to that dumb guy - twice over. If it had not been for him interrupting me, I could surely have done a better job. And to add to my distraction these disrespectful people keep passing silly comments all the time.

I submit the assignment in class. The professor informs me that there is a test in 2 weeks. We all curse the system. How can he expect us to do well in the test, when he himself how does not know the subject well enough. I leave the school to be stuck in the mess of the traffic and the pollution, and yeah did i forget those animals on the street ?. If I had a car, at least I could have listened to some music and avoided all this smoke.

I remember that I had some chores to do at home, so I go to a friends place. I am waiting there for 20 whole minutes before he turns up. People just dont respect time anymore ! I As other friends join in, we spend the evening there.

There are too many of us. One of my friends has a real bad tongue and I detest the way he talks. Cant he talk of anything other than rowdy insignificant issues?. There is also this one guy who is a "class topper". We all make fun of him when he says he wants to go home and study ! What a Looser !

That guy who volunteers to loan me his class-notes seems fishy. I am sure he has a hidden agenda and he will ask me for a bigger favor afterwards. I know these people all too well.

There are some discussions of going to the theater - but these guys can never plan out things right. I want to leave, but they keep talking. I reach home late only to face my angry dad. Well I have no idea how he expects me to tell him that I was gonna be late, when I dont have a cell phone ! . Mom serves the food. The same old thing.

I turn on my computer. It is so slow. It just had 32 MB ram, while everyone else has 64. I start playing a computer game. I dont know why they dont have the Indian civilization in the game. Racists. It really sucks how these games always get harder as we play on. And what is more irritating is that the computer hangs just when I had reached the next level - I dint get a chance to save the game - The memory is too low.

I go off to sleep thinking about all that I have to do tommorrow again. Same boring stuff.

I really hope that life will improve someday.

Take 1:
Now,
Earth.
I read this blog. No too bad for someone who never usually writes. Not good - but at least he tries.

Take 2:
Now,
Earth.
I read this blog. Doesnt this guy have anything better to do. He should go fly a kite.

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 !

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 ! :)

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 !!!