No philosophies this time! I don’t want to reach a state where being normal is abnormal! So here we go, a deliberate attempt to portray normalcy!
Fridays! Generally, the day will be filled with research and deadline responsibilities! This time it was a little different. I did not have loads of work to do. Had a couple of hours of hard core thermodynamics before the scheduled Friday eve research meeting!! But the motivation was rolling on the floor and laughing at me in the form of a note! Budvisor’s non-thermodynamic communication! “I won’t be available today”!
Well, that explains it! Am here writing stuff that’s no way related to what I had been thinking!!
Sleeping in the class!
The other day, I was wondering about how gifted I was, with respect to the concept of sleeping. Never in my life I have struggled to find sleep! Let it be the most populated un-reserved compartments that I was rarely forced in to during my weekly trips from Madras to Chidambaram or a disturbed research thought process! Doesn’t matter! I have always found a way to sleep! That’s the same case with the disturbance as well! If my dad is correct, there was never a day since my 6th grade someone worked hard to wake me up!! I always think that I can take pride on the control I have over my sleep!
But it teases me! Especially when my crown succumbs to the gravitational force, simultaneously as someone, in their highest degree of passion trying to make me understand something that they desperately want to communicate!! Particularly in the classrooms! Right from my undergraduate days of thought amplification, seldom a day goes by without a wake up call from the crown-gravity reaction!! I have tried everything, pinching my arms, pulling my side burns, shaking my legs, taking notes, writing unrelated articles etc., nothing helped! Drinking coffee during those talks helped a little, but once the coffee is over, in the next few mins I will be sleeping with my unconscious nods through out the lecture! As a matter of fact, I have slept even on several one-on-one meetings/presentations! May be the second person’s thought communication was monotonously motivating!
Recently, I was talking to one of my academic acquaintance! He said that he could see me sleeping during his lectures! Ofcourse he can! It’s not difficult to notice if 33.33% of his class is sleeping! I was embarrassed in the first place, but quickly woke up and said “May be you have to make it interesting!” May be its true! Don't expect to list the events that I have not slept on! But there are always instances that motivated me to stay awake for more than even a couple days for that matter!
Is it the tone of the talker that puts me in to sleep? Is it the amount of interest that I have on the subject that puts me in to sleep? Is it the rice that’s taking it? I really don’t know. Except for those one-on-one meetings, I always had company! Right after the class or a presentation or any discussion for that matter, I will have someone in the room sleeping and giving me that final smile of achievement (!!). Well, my “blame it on yourself” philosophy suggests me to wake up and find a way to keep myself awake!! But the verdict is that one really can’t help falling asleep during some of those lullaby sessions that are being called as lectures and presentations! You never have to feel guilty about it!! Enjoy those motivators who are trying in vain to gain the best from their learning curve of “how not to put someone to sleep, by just talking”!
Friday, February 25, 2005
Monday, February 14, 2005
Instincts!
If a man is offered a fact, which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something, which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence.
-Bertrand Russell
What a wonderful thought (except for the gender bias)! I have been living with my instincts from the day of realization! There aren't a whole lot of people whom I know believe that their instincts lead them to bad conclusions!! What are these based on! There is no knowledge behind instincts. It is a behavioral pattern that occurs naturally.
"Good instincts usually tell you what to do long before your head has figured it out", says Michael Burke.
Instincts give you the pleasure of knowing yourself. Sometimes it might lead you to a point where you start to evaluate facts, based on your instinctual knowledge. Say for example, you meet a person for the first time, your instinct says something about this person, may be nice or may be something bad! Doesn’t matter! Down the lane if this person does something, subconsciously your mind records those actions and tries to place those on the instinctual folders in the brain!! So as we go on, we tend to evaluate them rather than just accepting them. Is it good? Ofcourse not! When you find the facts in accordance to the instincts, you feel good and will take the pride on your instincts! If it were not, sometimes even after those overwhelming evidences you wouldn’t accept it. Just because it defies the laws of your instincts!!
I have made several decisions based on just instincts, some worked out and some has not. For the ones, which did not work out, I drooled over it and made sure that I found the reason, which fits in my instinctual knowledge!! But, that’s not what one should do! We should not base our decisions on just the instincts! Facts play a major role, as long as we know how to handle facts and instincts as separate entities, we will definitely reach a path towards truth! It’s hard to stay away from your instincts, which has this enormous power of influence!! Since our lives always propagate on towards the path of ideality we are supposed to learn and educate!!! Thoughts influenced by instincts are acceptable in the ideal world, but not the decisions, which are completely instinct-based!! Succumb to those instinctual impulses that makes you think, but not to those, which makes you conclude!
-Bertrand Russell
What a wonderful thought (except for the gender bias)! I have been living with my instincts from the day of realization! There aren't a whole lot of people whom I know believe that their instincts lead them to bad conclusions!! What are these based on! There is no knowledge behind instincts. It is a behavioral pattern that occurs naturally.
"Good instincts usually tell you what to do long before your head has figured it out", says Michael Burke.
Instincts give you the pleasure of knowing yourself. Sometimes it might lead you to a point where you start to evaluate facts, based on your instinctual knowledge. Say for example, you meet a person for the first time, your instinct says something about this person, may be nice or may be something bad! Doesn’t matter! Down the lane if this person does something, subconsciously your mind records those actions and tries to place those on the instinctual folders in the brain!! So as we go on, we tend to evaluate them rather than just accepting them. Is it good? Ofcourse not! When you find the facts in accordance to the instincts, you feel good and will take the pride on your instincts! If it were not, sometimes even after those overwhelming evidences you wouldn’t accept it. Just because it defies the laws of your instincts!!
I have made several decisions based on just instincts, some worked out and some has not. For the ones, which did not work out, I drooled over it and made sure that I found the reason, which fits in my instinctual knowledge!! But, that’s not what one should do! We should not base our decisions on just the instincts! Facts play a major role, as long as we know how to handle facts and instincts as separate entities, we will definitely reach a path towards truth! It’s hard to stay away from your instincts, which has this enormous power of influence!! Since our lives always propagate on towards the path of ideality we are supposed to learn and educate!!! Thoughts influenced by instincts are acceptable in the ideal world, but not the decisions, which are completely instinct-based!! Succumb to those instinctual impulses that makes you think, but not to those, which makes you conclude!
Friday, February 11, 2005
Problems?...Is there one??
It was the year 2000, the final year of chemical engineering life education at the Annamalai’s of Chidambaram! We were at our farewell party! Mixed emotions allover...It was a different feeling to witness the people with character and strength were broken apart beautifully by the wonderful non-chemical bonding called relationship! But there were also some strained thoughts all over. One of the groups who desperately wanted to fill the place with fun and laughter, called each and everyone on stage to embarrass them for the last time by glorifying those stupid moments of their engineering life!! For those who were off stage enjoying those embarrassments (or whatever it is) it was fun, but for the one on stage, it was hard to control the temptation of spoiling the evening by walking out of it! It was not easy for any of us, to get thro that embarrassment and forget about it once we reach down stage! It’s just that the group did not handle it perfectly!
When we were almost going to end the evening, news reached us that one of our friend's mother opted to accept the soul invitation from another universe! She was no more!! The whole place was dumbfounded! There were a whole bunch of combinatorial responses to the news, but the outcome was just one!!
When we were walking back, planning on a trip to his place, paying a final visit to show our support! One of my friends said something that I can never forget,
"Do you see something now..Barath! None of them are concerned about what happened a few minutes ago. Now, all they have in their mind is the thought that wants to know how to make him feel better? From what I see from here, I don’t see anything called as a problem. A minute ago the embarrassment is the biggest problem for all of us, but now its nonexistent. All problems are like that, what appears to be big now is going to be simple tomorrow"
It was Vivek. Even now, I get to meet and talk to him quite often! We ofcourse share our concentric circles of importance! But I should say that never in his life he had followed those words. I didn’t know whether he meant anything at that point or was he impressing the girls who were walking beside!(pun intended) but the words made a whole lot sense to me!
Triviality! That’s the key word.... everything is trivial to someone or the other in this world! The deepest problem for someone is nothing for another! Not that the person cannot relate oneself to it. It’s just the way one treats it!! There is nothing called a problem in this whole world. Never look for solutions, because there isn't a problem at the first place!! Optimism rules!
When we were almost going to end the evening, news reached us that one of our friend's mother opted to accept the soul invitation from another universe! She was no more!! The whole place was dumbfounded! There were a whole bunch of combinatorial responses to the news, but the outcome was just one!!
When we were walking back, planning on a trip to his place, paying a final visit to show our support! One of my friends said something that I can never forget,
"Do you see something now..Barath! None of them are concerned about what happened a few minutes ago. Now, all they have in their mind is the thought that wants to know how to make him feel better? From what I see from here, I don’t see anything called as a problem. A minute ago the embarrassment is the biggest problem for all of us, but now its nonexistent. All problems are like that, what appears to be big now is going to be simple tomorrow"
It was Vivek. Even now, I get to meet and talk to him quite often! We ofcourse share our concentric circles of importance! But I should say that never in his life he had followed those words. I didn’t know whether he meant anything at that point or was he impressing the girls who were walking beside!(pun intended) but the words made a whole lot sense to me!
Triviality! That’s the key word.... everything is trivial to someone or the other in this world! The deepest problem for someone is nothing for another! Not that the person cannot relate oneself to it. It’s just the way one treats it!! There is nothing called a problem in this whole world. Never look for solutions, because there isn't a problem at the first place!! Optimism rules!
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
The third eye!
Any issue in this world in general has two perspectives. The communicated thought and the perception of the communicator! But how often we reach for the third vision. "A complete stranger opinion" and how important it is??
How many times in your life have you spoken about your issues to a person who is not close to you but yet sensible enough to understand the crux of it. How many times have you heard someone telling stories that you feel are not entitled to listen, yet it makes you feel good that someone is asking for an opinion!! These kinds of instances pop-up now and then, but have we ever thought the importance of this! Or is it important at all?
Lets set aside our egos and everything else! One necessarily doesn’t have to take this 3rd eye as even a suggestion for that matter!! May be a different perception!! The one, which you have never even thought of visualizing! May be it will tell you how not to live...more than how to live (idealist's statement)? But certainly its a progressive thought isn’t it?
There are certain decisions in life which should be taken without a third eye. Sometimes I feel that, its the respect to give to that decision. I was talking to a friend of mine the other day, we were discussing about an important issue. He was wondering how could I be so confident about the decision that I was in to? The answer that I was with was based on the very reason of me discussing it with him!! I draped my decision based on the fact that I was opening a third eye in that issue! So, according to me, certain decisions shouldn’t be based on a third eye! But in most of other issues the third eye helps!
After writing this blog (before changing few lines), someone popped up and said that her subconscious is what she considers as a 3rd eye. It opens rarely and most of the time gives her the answers! Well, thats a beautiful way of thinking! I have never thought the subconscious as the third eye, I was thinking its meshed with the perceptional thought, the second eye! However my third eye (an opinion) gave me this idea of seeing subconscious as a third eye!
So as I said, it could give you a thought dimension that you have never considered before. May be it will not help in deciding anything on the issue that's in stake, but can be used for another issue that could pop-up in the later part of any other thought evaluation! It also helps in bringing down your ego sometimes!! And the best part is, the third eye person wont be a stranger anymore!!
Whatever it is, according to me "The third eye blind" is'nt a good model to live with! :)
How many times in your life have you spoken about your issues to a person who is not close to you but yet sensible enough to understand the crux of it. How many times have you heard someone telling stories that you feel are not entitled to listen, yet it makes you feel good that someone is asking for an opinion!! These kinds of instances pop-up now and then, but have we ever thought the importance of this! Or is it important at all?
Lets set aside our egos and everything else! One necessarily doesn’t have to take this 3rd eye as even a suggestion for that matter!! May be a different perception!! The one, which you have never even thought of visualizing! May be it will tell you how not to live...more than how to live (idealist's statement)? But certainly its a progressive thought isn’t it?
There are certain decisions in life which should be taken without a third eye. Sometimes I feel that, its the respect to give to that decision. I was talking to a friend of mine the other day, we were discussing about an important issue. He was wondering how could I be so confident about the decision that I was in to? The answer that I was with was based on the very reason of me discussing it with him!! I draped my decision based on the fact that I was opening a third eye in that issue! So, according to me, certain decisions shouldn’t be based on a third eye! But in most of other issues the third eye helps!
After writing this blog (before changing few lines), someone popped up and said that her subconscious is what she considers as a 3rd eye. It opens rarely and most of the time gives her the answers! Well, thats a beautiful way of thinking! I have never thought the subconscious as the third eye, I was thinking its meshed with the perceptional thought, the second eye! However my third eye (an opinion) gave me this idea of seeing subconscious as a third eye!
So as I said, it could give you a thought dimension that you have never considered before. May be it will not help in deciding anything on the issue that's in stake, but can be used for another issue that could pop-up in the later part of any other thought evaluation! It also helps in bringing down your ego sometimes!! And the best part is, the third eye person wont be a stranger anymore!!
Whatever it is, according to me "The third eye blind" is'nt a good model to live with! :)
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Motivation!
Newton derived that gravity was nothing when compared to his motivation to answer that apple-fall!
Motivation!! It is one of the main driving forces! To drink a cup of water you are motivated by thirst...to derive the impossible in your research you are motivated by knowledge! Even the most trivial action is motivated by some small thought!
Psychology texts define motivation as
* internal state or condition that activates behavior and gives it direction;
* desire or want that energizes and directs goal-oriented behavior;
* influence of needs and desires on the intensity and direction of behavior.
* the arousal, direction, and persistence of behavior.
Motivations direct those scattered thoughts! It organizes and processes our goal-oriented behavior!
How and where do one find this motivation!?
Often in this real world, we come across small factors that influence our every action!! For example, the main motivation for this brain drain across the continent was knowledge, money and respect. The motivation to stay in touch with current affairs is again, knowledge or not-stay-dumb factors! The motivation to make new friends is exploration and understanding! These kinds of factors that influence our thought process keeps changing based on the necessities and luxuries! However, the fundamental reason will always remain the same! That’s the main motivation factor. If one can find that fundamental in every work you do, the motivation automatically leaps high! It boils down to your passion.. at work, life or both. For instance, if your passion is knowledge you won’t be motivated to do the same thing again and again! Once you reach a saturation limit, there is no room for the developmental knowledge!! in that case you shift gears to another area. So, the best way to be the best in whatever you do is to find the fundamental and stick on to it!
May be all of us are motivated by happiness and peace more than anything else!! Are we forgetting to realize those in our lives by working hard to save for the generations to come!?! May be we are! How incoherent!!
Motivation!! It is one of the main driving forces! To drink a cup of water you are motivated by thirst...to derive the impossible in your research you are motivated by knowledge! Even the most trivial action is motivated by some small thought!
Psychology texts define motivation as
* internal state or condition that activates behavior and gives it direction;
* desire or want that energizes and directs goal-oriented behavior;
* influence of needs and desires on the intensity and direction of behavior.
* the arousal, direction, and persistence of behavior.
Motivations direct those scattered thoughts! It organizes and processes our goal-oriented behavior!
How and where do one find this motivation!?
Often in this real world, we come across small factors that influence our every action!! For example, the main motivation for this brain drain across the continent was knowledge, money and respect. The motivation to stay in touch with current affairs is again, knowledge or not-stay-dumb factors! The motivation to make new friends is exploration and understanding! These kinds of factors that influence our thought process keeps changing based on the necessities and luxuries! However, the fundamental reason will always remain the same! That’s the main motivation factor. If one can find that fundamental in every work you do, the motivation automatically leaps high! It boils down to your passion.. at work, life or both. For instance, if your passion is knowledge you won’t be motivated to do the same thing again and again! Once you reach a saturation limit, there is no room for the developmental knowledge!! in that case you shift gears to another area. So, the best way to be the best in whatever you do is to find the fundamental and stick on to it!
May be all of us are motivated by happiness and peace more than anything else!! Are we forgetting to realize those in our lives by working hard to save for the generations to come!?! May be we are! How incoherent!!
News!
Folks,
I know I have promised to update this blog with thoughts more than happenings, but I could not stop myself from writing this. I will try to be clear and concise!
The news is that..on the January 25th 2 45 am IST our family was blessed with a boy kid through my brother and manni! Both the mother and the kid are doing fine! Its a strange feeling ...after a long time, I was awestuck by happiness...! I was always happy but when these kind of special occasions pop-up, the happiness is exponentially increased in a very short span of time!! I turned in to a mama couple of years ago...and now am a chithappa!! nothing can beat these feelings!!
Anyways, for people who have'nt got this news through my email and you are reading it here...please curse me for defying the laws of expectations but bless the kid for accecpting and respecting the laws of this-world-invitation!!
I know I have promised to update this blog with thoughts more than happenings, but I could not stop myself from writing this. I will try to be clear and concise!
The news is that..on the January 25th 2 45 am IST our family was blessed with a boy kid through my brother and manni! Both the mother and the kid are doing fine! Its a strange feeling ...after a long time, I was awestuck by happiness...! I was always happy but when these kind of special occasions pop-up, the happiness is exponentially increased in a very short span of time!! I turned in to a mama couple of years ago...and now am a chithappa!! nothing can beat these feelings!!
Anyways, for people who have'nt got this news through my email and you are reading it here...please curse me for defying the laws of expectations but bless the kid for accecpting and respecting the laws of this-world-invitation!!
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Concentric Circles of Importance!!
I was talking to my friend the other day! Surprisingly, we both have almost the similar kind of a philosophical idea on people-treatment! Probably this is the case with almost everyone who is reading this, may be you are not realising it. It is all about setting the level of importance to people based on various factors like comfortablity, intimacy, love etc.
Allrite! Here we go. Just a little high school chemistry.
The acquaintances are considered as electrons revolving in spherical orbits around the nucleus. Here even the people in the family are considered as electrons!! The nucleus will enclose yourself and your other half (just one other half). The most important people hold the initial orbital closer to the nucleus! You can have your parents and siblings in this circle...or may be even some friends! This could change for each and every individual! The next circle is for the kith and kin, which includes the closest buddies and the sometimes will also have some close cousins etc., the people you really care for! Then comes the acquaintances that you treat with more than just a Hi-bye...like someone you spend the whole day with but still finding hard to place them in the closest buddy list. An inexpendable acquaintance! Then finally comes the real hi-bye acquaintance! The people who are expendable.
On the whole, we can have it as
4th orbit- Expendable acquaintance
3rd orbit- Inexpendable acquaintance
2nd orbit- Friendship
1st orbit - Affection
Nucleus- Love
Ideally speaking, your other half would have to pass through these 4 orbits to penetrate in to the nucleus and be with yourself! This is the person you share your “everything” with!
The whole process itself is cumulative! To get through each and every orbit you will have accumulate the earlier orbit's property! Getting through the 4th orbit is based on resonance, respect and comfortablity! The 3rd orbit is through time and gestures! The 2nd orbit is through commitment, dependability! The final orbit is through possession without jealousy, affection, care etc., Finally to pass in through that orbit and to get in to the nucleus, you need that other property which you term it as "Love" It will have everything and something more than that. What is that something? Self-abnegation? Well, I have tried asking that to people, tried to read through philosophies, every damn possible thing! But never was convinced with any of the answers...!
Recently, My friend, in one of our whinny virgin talks said that "Sex is like god to him...never seen it in person and never have felt it as well!" May be love is like that too!! One will feel the bliss only through experience! May be its esoteric!
May be the whole idea itself is too complicated a thought. May be one should not qualify people in orbits. May be the nucleus will be penetrated without all these accumulations. Whatever it is! It is certainly not a thought to be overlooked!
Allrite! Here we go. Just a little high school chemistry.
The acquaintances are considered as electrons revolving in spherical orbits around the nucleus. Here even the people in the family are considered as electrons!! The nucleus will enclose yourself and your other half (just one other half). The most important people hold the initial orbital closer to the nucleus! You can have your parents and siblings in this circle...or may be even some friends! This could change for each and every individual! The next circle is for the kith and kin, which includes the closest buddies and the sometimes will also have some close cousins etc., the people you really care for! Then comes the acquaintances that you treat with more than just a Hi-bye...like someone you spend the whole day with but still finding hard to place them in the closest buddy list. An inexpendable acquaintance! Then finally comes the real hi-bye acquaintance! The people who are expendable.
On the whole, we can have it as
4th orbit- Expendable acquaintance
3rd orbit- Inexpendable acquaintance
2nd orbit- Friendship
1st orbit - Affection
Nucleus- Love
Ideally speaking, your other half would have to pass through these 4 orbits to penetrate in to the nucleus and be with yourself! This is the person you share your “everything” with!
The whole process itself is cumulative! To get through each and every orbit you will have accumulate the earlier orbit's property! Getting through the 4th orbit is based on resonance, respect and comfortablity! The 3rd orbit is through time and gestures! The 2nd orbit is through commitment, dependability! The final orbit is through possession without jealousy, affection, care etc., Finally to pass in through that orbit and to get in to the nucleus, you need that other property which you term it as "Love" It will have everything and something more than that. What is that something? Self-abnegation? Well, I have tried asking that to people, tried to read through philosophies, every damn possible thing! But never was convinced with any of the answers...!
Recently, My friend, in one of our whinny virgin talks said that "Sex is like god to him...never seen it in person and never have felt it as well!" May be love is like that too!! One will feel the bliss only through experience! May be its esoteric!
May be the whole idea itself is too complicated a thought. May be one should not qualify people in orbits. May be the nucleus will be penetrated without all these accumulations. Whatever it is! It is certainly not a thought to be overlooked!
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Go easy - Find these movie quotes!
The past few threads have been serious ones! Let me take a break!
Here we are with some movie quotes...! I know that a bunch of regular readers can crack these quotes easily...try and tell me which movie is it from and who says it!
You can number em and list it in your comments! Lets see who cracks it first....and folks don't google it!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When you develop an infatuation for someone, you always find a reason to believe that this is exactly the person for you. It doesn't need to be a good reason, a bad one will do just as well. Taking photographs of the night sky, for example: in the long run that's just the kind of dumb irritating habit that would cause you to split up. But at the time - it's the charming eccentricity you've been searching for all these years.
I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss from her mouth, one touch of her hand, than eternity without it. One.
I'm the only one on the face of the earth who realizes that you're the greatest woman on earth. I'm the only one who appreciates how amazing you are in every single thing you do -- in every single thought you have...in how you are with Spencer -- Spence...in how you say what you mean and how you almost always mean something that's all about being straight and good...
You fucking prick, we had a deal--you said you wouldn't fuck me and I wouldn't fuck you until we had this fuck out of the fucking picture. You crossed the line, man.
I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is.
A woman's shoulders are the frontlines of her mystique. And her neck, if she's alive, has the very mystery of a border town. It's the no man's land in the battle between mind and body.
Here we are with some movie quotes...! I know that a bunch of regular readers can crack these quotes easily...try and tell me which movie is it from and who says it!
You can number em and list it in your comments! Lets see who cracks it first....and folks don't google it!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When you develop an infatuation for someone, you always find a reason to believe that this is exactly the person for you. It doesn't need to be a good reason, a bad one will do just as well. Taking photographs of the night sky, for example: in the long run that's just the kind of dumb irritating habit that would cause you to split up. But at the time - it's the charming eccentricity you've been searching for all these years.
I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss from her mouth, one touch of her hand, than eternity without it. One.
I'm the only one on the face of the earth who realizes that you're the greatest woman on earth. I'm the only one who appreciates how amazing you are in every single thing you do -- in every single thought you have...in how you are with Spencer -- Spence...in how you say what you mean and how you almost always mean something that's all about being straight and good...
You fucking prick, we had a deal--you said you wouldn't fuck me and I wouldn't fuck you until we had this fuck out of the fucking picture. You crossed the line, man.
I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is.
A woman's shoulders are the frontlines of her mystique. And her neck, if she's alive, has the very mystery of a border town. It's the no man's land in the battle between mind and body.
And oh, I don't know if you're interested in this detail, but I was just about to tell you that I love him. I love him, and I don't care what you think. I love him for the guy he wants to be, and I love him for the guy he almost is.I love him.
Real loss is only possible when you love something more than you love yourself.
Real loss is only possible when you love something more than you love yourself.
Life just stops sometimes!
Jan 10th 2004, I entered my dept office to learn that the secertary Connye had passed away due to a masssive heart attack or a brain aneurysm (possible from her smoking habits)! She was one of the few nicest women I have ever met. The worst part was that I saw her last on thursday and as usual had a nice conversation as I went by the office and never thought that would be my last meeting with her. It seems she was fine even on the Saturday night! Life just stops sometimes! It did around 4.30 am that sunday for her. This loss has cemented my hanging philosophy of being truly nice to everyone you know, in every moment you learn. She was one of the few who found ways to be happy even through trivial things and am sure she will rest in peace in the life after as well.
Friday, January 07, 2005
Satisfaction!!
December 28th, responsibility struck us with values! The Target was Tsunami relief funds...! A small thought took its own proportion...ideas started pouring ...never realized its just 4 people in a single room with the same goal! Slide boards, flyers, organization details, making the necessary arrangements, where the money is going to, how is it being spent, everything was decided in a single eve! By the early a.m all were set to go!
The venue was outside Walmart! Strangers stopped by to know more about the legit of the op! From the crowd’s reaction, we thought we would make atleast $1000.00 in 3 consecutive day-stands! Considering the currency conversions, it was a decent amount of money for the survivors. All possible modes of communications were utilized, TV, newspaper, Radio, WOM...every possible thing...! Volunteers started coming in! By the end of 1st day...we had $630...great effort!
Second day people started to standby and ask more questions. One woman started crying after donating whatever she had. One man started to talk about the revelation book (bible) and prayed for every soul to rest in peace! One 6 yr old kid stopped by opened her purse, dropped all the money and said, "That’s all I have!!" A single person donated around $1200. Too many unforgettable gestures! The second day collection was $3187!
Third day-no words- $2766!
Inclusive of all local gas stations and other motel investments the three-day collection was more than $7000!!
The moment we finished the counting and realized that it was all for a good cause!! The feeling that you experience can never be described. Believe me its much better than anything ...name it however you want...its on par or may be beyond the feeling that world perceive in aspects like god, love, peace, etc.!
The venue was outside Walmart! Strangers stopped by to know more about the legit of the op! From the crowd’s reaction, we thought we would make atleast $1000.00 in 3 consecutive day-stands! Considering the currency conversions, it was a decent amount of money for the survivors. All possible modes of communications were utilized, TV, newspaper, Radio, WOM...every possible thing...! Volunteers started coming in! By the end of 1st day...we had $630...great effort!
Second day people started to standby and ask more questions. One woman started crying after donating whatever she had. One man started to talk about the revelation book (bible) and prayed for every soul to rest in peace! One 6 yr old kid stopped by opened her purse, dropped all the money and said, "That’s all I have!!" A single person donated around $1200. Too many unforgettable gestures! The second day collection was $3187!
Third day-no words- $2766!
Inclusive of all local gas stations and other motel investments the three-day collection was more than $7000!!
The moment we finished the counting and realized that it was all for a good cause!! The feeling that you experience can never be described. Believe me its much better than anything ...name it however you want...its on par or may be beyond the feeling that world perceive in aspects like god, love, peace, etc.!
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Imperfections!
Imperfections prevail!
I keep telling my friend that its is not possible to be ideal! Its those imperfections that makes you human. One should know that its the ideality that we are progressing towards!! Imagine if we react the best possible way to every friend and acquaintance of ours, life won’t be interesting! This doesn’t mean that you should be imperfect all the time to make yourself interesting! Imperfections should exist until you learn about it.
In the movie "Memento", Nolan delivers that, "The world doesn't disappear when you close your eyes, does it? My actions still have meaning, even if I can't remember them"...this is true and has more interpretations than you can imagine! One interpretation is - "perception", World disappears to me when I close my eyes, but its still existing! All my actions have meaning, doesn’t matter if I remember it, or comprehend the way others perceive!! The way we live could be ideal to us, when you explore it more, may be we would find that’s its not ideal to the World around you, it goes the other way too! The way the system progresses may be non-ideal to you, but what if it’s the way in best equilibrium. Well, the could-be best possible way to handle it is to enjoy those imperfections and try to rectify it. If not, realize it atleast!!
I keep telling my friend that its is not possible to be ideal! Its those imperfections that makes you human. One should know that its the ideality that we are progressing towards!! Imagine if we react the best possible way to every friend and acquaintance of ours, life won’t be interesting! This doesn’t mean that you should be imperfect all the time to make yourself interesting! Imperfections should exist until you learn about it.
In the movie "Memento", Nolan delivers that, "The world doesn't disappear when you close your eyes, does it? My actions still have meaning, even if I can't remember them"...this is true and has more interpretations than you can imagine! One interpretation is - "perception", World disappears to me when I close my eyes, but its still existing! All my actions have meaning, doesn’t matter if I remember it, or comprehend the way others perceive!! The way we live could be ideal to us, when you explore it more, may be we would find that’s its not ideal to the World around you, it goes the other way too! The way the system progresses may be non-ideal to you, but what if it’s the way in best equilibrium. Well, the could-be best possible way to handle it is to enjoy those imperfections and try to rectify it. If not, realize it atleast!!
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Tsunami!
Tsunami strikes!
It was 26th Dec 6.03 am when my brother reached me through the Bell mode of communication all the way from Chennai to let us know that everyone was doing fine! Till then I was never aware of the disaster! The place it ripped apart was one of the most popular ones from my childhood memory...had spend thousands of hours as a cricketer, ornithologist, philosopher reinventing myself in different phases of life!! Never in my wildest dreams I expected this!
One of my friends who is now serving the Chennai community with some welfare organization, emailed to let us know that they found more than 50+ dead bodies in less than a hour within a 100 m radius! Now when I read and hear stories like that Nagapatinam- the mass burial ground, people with unidentifiable dead bodies, my heart pounds with frustration on this mass money making attitude of ours and the stay away from people who needs help and support in their worst instances of life and life after!! Do we have a choice…probably we do!
It was 26th Dec 6.03 am when my brother reached me through the Bell mode of communication all the way from Chennai to let us know that everyone was doing fine! Till then I was never aware of the disaster! The place it ripped apart was one of the most popular ones from my childhood memory...had spend thousands of hours as a cricketer, ornithologist, philosopher reinventing myself in different phases of life!! Never in my wildest dreams I expected this!
One of my friends who is now serving the Chennai community with some welfare organization, emailed to let us know that they found more than 50+ dead bodies in less than a hour within a 100 m radius! Now when I read and hear stories like that Nagapatinam- the mass burial ground, people with unidentifiable dead bodies, my heart pounds with frustration on this mass money making attitude of ours and the stay away from people who needs help and support in their worst instances of life and life after!! Do we have a choice…probably we do!
At this stage, all we can do is a couple of teardrops and a card swipe to welfare organizations, and hope that everyone who survived contributes something for a better World ahead!
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Are we behind “Money”??
For international graduate students in the US!!
Right from the moment we made the decision (!) of studying abroad and making a decent (which is mostly defined on a monetary basis) living for ourselves, the numero-uno motivation factor was "Money”. The question to be answered now is: Are we going too much behind it? The life that most of us lead now is like an arranged marriage, where you accept what you have (or going to have) before knowing or getting what you like or want. Shouldn’t we be motivated by factors like peace, love etc instead of Money? Is it too matured a thought or is it just another issue that we fear to explore? In the past years of accomplishments in academics, career and in telephone bills, almost none of us are exploring the fact that we are object oriented? Or Money based? Higher education and self-realization have honed the reasoning skills of every graduate student. We are now perfectly learning and reasoning the life backward but forgetting to live it forward. Of course one such vision of learning it backward gave birth to this thought.
A typical international graduate student's (exceptions are not examples) target is to finish his/her grad school, find a job, bring his/her parents, get married, stay healthy and of course diversify their career options (which most of them don’t see now). If this is something that one wants to do, it is definitely not driven by their very own thoughts alone, the influences of the people around them is almost 90% (says god-knows-what journal). Just because an Indian looks happy with all these doesn’t mean that it’s the best algorithm. Of course this is sufficient to lead an ordinary life with less satisfaction and mediocre money. Is this what you really want? Most of us are motivated towards that point without knowing what we will and will not achieve by doing so.
We have heard about people who are working in places, which are associated with danger both legally as well as physically. Is this the reason for their existence here? A graduate student who makes more money working in a gas station will obviously be motivated to own one in days to come! Rather than following the heart that brought him/her in! In this process the student would lose his/her pride, brain, passion as a researcher, desire and finally end up making money and losing peace. Is this what you call reinvention? For some reason some of us have found peace in money. We work so hard in making money that we don’t have time to spend it. Some of us work hard (before and after we graduate) and send a meager percentage of that money to parents and people back home. What’s the point if we are not there to share the happiness? And if you do some math, you will know that the same support could have been extended right from there. As a matter of fact, you would have possibly done it with better credit history and more happiness!
There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else we have master card! Of course we do, sometimes we use that dangerous card to buy something and fail to realize what we are supposed to earn with it. What you earn from those small gifts that you send home is the happiness in their faces and lives. And the best part is that you can’t be enjoying it with them, because you are too busy paying the card bills or making money for it here!
Why are we doing this? Cant we just stay there and be with them and realize the happiness instead of finding out a reason for our existence here! Yes! Some of us are still attempting to find a reason for our very existence here. Why are we here? Are we justifying our stay-away from the people we love the most?
There is certainly an exponential increase in our reasoning skills and exposure by staying here. But how does it matter if you are not thinking bigger than the box. Great personalities in this world have sacrificed one thing or the other in their life to reach that level. Are we sacrificing family and peace to achieve something really huge in life? If so what is that? Have you ever asked this question to yourself?
Right from the moment we made the decision (!) of studying abroad and making a decent (which is mostly defined on a monetary basis) living for ourselves, the numero-uno motivation factor was "Money”. The question to be answered now is: Are we going too much behind it? The life that most of us lead now is like an arranged marriage, where you accept what you have (or going to have) before knowing or getting what you like or want. Shouldn’t we be motivated by factors like peace, love etc instead of Money? Is it too matured a thought or is it just another issue that we fear to explore? In the past years of accomplishments in academics, career and in telephone bills, almost none of us are exploring the fact that we are object oriented? Or Money based? Higher education and self-realization have honed the reasoning skills of every graduate student. We are now perfectly learning and reasoning the life backward but forgetting to live it forward. Of course one such vision of learning it backward gave birth to this thought.
A typical international graduate student's (exceptions are not examples) target is to finish his/her grad school, find a job, bring his/her parents, get married, stay healthy and of course diversify their career options (which most of them don’t see now). If this is something that one wants to do, it is definitely not driven by their very own thoughts alone, the influences of the people around them is almost 90% (says god-knows-what journal). Just because an Indian looks happy with all these doesn’t mean that it’s the best algorithm. Of course this is sufficient to lead an ordinary life with less satisfaction and mediocre money. Is this what you really want? Most of us are motivated towards that point without knowing what we will and will not achieve by doing so.
We have heard about people who are working in places, which are associated with danger both legally as well as physically. Is this the reason for their existence here? A graduate student who makes more money working in a gas station will obviously be motivated to own one in days to come! Rather than following the heart that brought him/her in! In this process the student would lose his/her pride, brain, passion as a researcher, desire and finally end up making money and losing peace. Is this what you call reinvention? For some reason some of us have found peace in money. We work so hard in making money that we don’t have time to spend it. Some of us work hard (before and after we graduate) and send a meager percentage of that money to parents and people back home. What’s the point if we are not there to share the happiness? And if you do some math, you will know that the same support could have been extended right from there. As a matter of fact, you would have possibly done it with better credit history and more happiness!
There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else we have master card! Of course we do, sometimes we use that dangerous card to buy something and fail to realize what we are supposed to earn with it. What you earn from those small gifts that you send home is the happiness in their faces and lives. And the best part is that you can’t be enjoying it with them, because you are too busy paying the card bills or making money for it here!
Why are we doing this? Cant we just stay there and be with them and realize the happiness instead of finding out a reason for our existence here! Yes! Some of us are still attempting to find a reason for our very existence here. Why are we here? Are we justifying our stay-away from the people we love the most?
There is certainly an exponential increase in our reasoning skills and exposure by staying here. But how does it matter if you are not thinking bigger than the box. Great personalities in this world have sacrificed one thing or the other in their life to reach that level. Are we sacrificing family and peace to achieve something really huge in life? If so what is that? Have you ever asked this question to yourself?
Character- influence of society
Everyone’s character develops as we grow. One of the main factors that influence this development is the society. Why does society play such an important role in that development? If a person is locked for life without any of the external influence, will he/she be the purest of all? The chances are pretty high - “ignorance is bliss”. Jiddu Krishnamurthy claims that the tendency of the human brain to record previous disturbances, hurt, anger love etc., is the main reason for chaos in the society. If the brain is formatted in such a way that it has only short term memories, then the chances of getting hurt due to prejudiced thoughts are very less. A brain with a short term memory will cause less damage than the one which remembers every bit of its proceeding. An enclosed being will have very less thoughts due to lack of knowledge, but knowledge is power…! The brain has to know before it can react! So if we gain knowledge from society we will obviously be influenced by it. How strong is this influence? The social influence should lead us to the path towards truth with lots of perceptional derivatives! Whatever the way it is, one has to make sure that the influence in the later part of the development should not change the fundamental character that was spoon fed by the loved ones.
Monday, December 20, 2004
To write to cherish to learn
The tendency of the human mind (or heart) is to unwrap the wrapped, unlock the locked, unpack the packed and reveal those mysteries lying under the veneer of false personification! So if you are thinking you would encounter any of my personal secrets here, I am sorry folks you are in a wrong place...! Words are the best way to express...every being in this world has learnt to communicate...so why not do it with your own “self"!
According to me...the most difficult thing to comprehend is one's "self". Writing is one of the ways of exploring "self". I started writing diaries and journals to increase my vocabulary...but when I read them back...the thoughts reflected my personality then....! It was amazing to witness the change in the thought process....10 years from now my philosophies and ideologies that I have framed for my own self would have changed based on experience....but it would be great to read how I was and how time, people and world has changed and influenced my so called thought process!
So here am starting to write my own philosophies...my own ideal ways of thinking ...may be its completely different from your vision ....but to reach ideality one has to know what it is...so jump in and pour in your thoughts! Discuss, argue, learn and teach me!
According to me...the most difficult thing to comprehend is one's "self". Writing is one of the ways of exploring "self". I started writing diaries and journals to increase my vocabulary...but when I read them back...the thoughts reflected my personality then....! It was amazing to witness the change in the thought process....10 years from now my philosophies and ideologies that I have framed for my own self would have changed based on experience....but it would be great to read how I was and how time, people and world has changed and influenced my so called thought process!
So here am starting to write my own philosophies...my own ideal ways of thinking ...may be its completely different from your vision ....but to reach ideality one has to know what it is...so jump in and pour in your thoughts! Discuss, argue, learn and teach me!
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