A sketch i did recently.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Attention!!
Its 3 AM. I woke up and I am unable to get back to sleep. One thought is going round and round in my head and I thought I should let it out and then get back to sleep. One of my friends had told me this long back and it has popped out now all of a sudden.
It is about our need for attention. Whatever we do, we do it so as to be noticed by others or we do so, to seek attention. Attention by others is the food for our ego. We need to sustain some level of ego in ourselves to do whatever we are doing. Otherwise we will become depressed. The engine will stop working. And spousal love is the peak of attention we get.
May be, most probably, I am writing this to seek attention and feed my ego!!
There is a pub called ‘The Forum’ here in Stellenbosch. They have an amazing menu with all kind of witty sayings. I borrowed one from them to take back to India. One of the sayings:
“Son, a woman is like a beer. They smell good, they look good, and you’d step over your own mother just to get one! But you can’t stop at one. You wanna drink another woman!” (Homer Simpson to Bart)Monday, June 25, 2007
Is this right ?
I could not believe that our prime minister said this at the CII conference:
"Three, industry must be pro-active in offering employment to the less privileged, at all levels of the job ladder. The representation companies give to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other Backward Classes, Minorities and Women, in their workforce and staff must increase. I am, therefore, encouraged by CII’s Report on Affirmative Action. I commend your example. I hope it will be widely emulated."
you can find the entire speech here.
"Three, industry must be pro-active in offering employment to the less privileged, at all levels of the job ladder. The representation companies give to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other Backward Classes, Minorities and Women, in their workforce and staff must increase. I am, therefore, encouraged by CII’s Report on Affirmative Action. I commend your example. I hope it will be widely emulated."
you can find the entire speech here.
Chat with Narayana Murthy
In this chat with Karan Thapar in Devil's advocate, Mr. Narayana Murthy talks about India's imminent need for quality political leadership. Please do read it.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Interesting debate!
Some interesting debate happening here on God, between me and one of my friends.
Some facts on South Aricans
Some interesting facts about South Africans:
1. If you tell them something/anything they will immediately acknowledge by saying "is it ?".
ex: Me - i went to a party yesterday
Y - is it ?
Me - (No, I am just kidding!! for god's sake!! )
Now, I have also picked up this habit of saying "is it ?". Friends back home will have a tough time when i go back next week.
2. Weird Afrikaans words and pronunciations.
They pronounce g as k. v as f.
ex: Federer can also be written as Vederer in Afrikaans.
King can be written as ging and it will sound the same.
Tjek is pronounced as cheque.
3. On the road:
- They will turn on their headlights when a single cloud blocks the sun or when the watch hits 6 O' clock in the evening, even though there is enough light to see the road.
- When you allow them to overtake you, they will say thanks by flashing the hazard light and you can say welcome by flashing your high beam.
4. They say it gets cold when there are no clouds because its more open and cold air comes in from the space or from wherever.
5. They think India is a very poor country and Indians don't know English.
6. They like to brai[put on some fire and cook meat] for no reason.
7. They cannot live without alcohol. its a sin not to drink.
8. They like rugby!
9. They love their beaches.
10. Usually when you enter office in the morning you will be greeted with a "Howzit?". Now howz what ?? and they don't expect any answer for this question.
11. They believe vegetarian people have a short life.
12. They love to keep tab on the weather forecasts. On an average they will know exactly how the next week is going to be. Rainy, sunny, hot, cloudy etc.
13. South African Indians have a taste for Tamil. Any songs from Hindi blockbusters will be immediately translated to Tamil. You can hear to Dhoom 2, Guru and all other hindi songs in tamil on the Durban FM - Lotus.
14. Suppose somebody wants a cigarette. He will come to me and ask it like this:
He - " May be you don't want to lend me a cigarette?"
Me - (Ya, May be i don't want to!!) sure!
I would have simply asked - 'can you please lend me a cigarette ?' . They make talking complicated.
15. Confessions. Suppose somebody tells you a wrong thing and later they realize that its wrong. They will come to you and say:
He - " I lied to you ".
Me - "(OK. thats 100 push ups ) its fine!"
Its OK. You did not do it intentionally! But its a terrible sin for them.
16. They are nice people! :)
1. If you tell them something/anything they will immediately acknowledge by saying "is it ?".
ex: Me - i went to a party yesterday
Y - is it ?
Me - (No, I am just kidding!! for god's sake!! )
Now, I have also picked up this habit of saying "is it ?". Friends back home will have a tough time when i go back next week.
2. Weird Afrikaans words and pronunciations.
They pronounce g as k. v as f.
ex: Federer can also be written as Vederer in Afrikaans.
King can be written as ging and it will sound the same.
Tjek is pronounced as cheque.
3. On the road:
- They will turn on their headlights when a single cloud blocks the sun or when the watch hits 6 O' clock in the evening, even though there is enough light to see the road.
- When you allow them to overtake you, they will say thanks by flashing the hazard light and you can say welcome by flashing your high beam.
4. They say it gets cold when there are no clouds because its more open and cold air comes in from the space or from wherever.
5. They think India is a very poor country and Indians don't know English.
6. They like to brai[put on some fire and cook meat] for no reason.
7. They cannot live without alcohol. its a sin not to drink.
8. They like rugby!
9. They love their beaches.
10. Usually when you enter office in the morning you will be greeted with a "Howzit?". Now howz what ?? and they don't expect any answer for this question.
11. They believe vegetarian people have a short life.
12. They love to keep tab on the weather forecasts. On an average they will know exactly how the next week is going to be. Rainy, sunny, hot, cloudy etc.
13. South African Indians have a taste for Tamil. Any songs from Hindi blockbusters will be immediately translated to Tamil. You can hear to Dhoom 2, Guru and all other hindi songs in tamil on the Durban FM - Lotus.
14. Suppose somebody wants a cigarette. He will come to me and ask it like this:
He - " May be you don't want to lend me a cigarette?"
Me - (Ya, May be i don't want to!!) sure!
I would have simply asked - 'can you please lend me a cigarette ?' . They make talking complicated.
15. Confessions. Suppose somebody tells you a wrong thing and later they realize that its wrong. They will come to you and say:
He - " I lied to you ".
Me - "(OK. thats 100 push ups ) its fine!"
Its OK. You did not do it intentionally! But its a terrible sin for them.
16. They are nice people! :)
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Google gets hard on Microsoft!
I found this news article today which tells that Google has raised objections on Vista's new features. According to the article:
1. It is difficult for users to disable Vista's integrated indexing and search
2. If a second desktop search application was installed, the computer would slow down as two competing indexers churned through the hard drive
3. Microsoft's search was the only tool allowed to generate results in Vista's search bars, which appear in several places, including the Start menu, in the Windows Explorer file manager and in the Control Panels main display
If Microsoft believes that its desktop search is so good that users will not switch to other desktop searches, then it should not be doing this. It should just allow users to choose whatever they want. Anyways, I have not used Vista till now and i don't know how the product looks like. Probably i should take a peek.
1. It is difficult for users to disable Vista's integrated indexing and search
2. If a second desktop search application was installed, the computer would slow down as two competing indexers churned through the hard drive
3. Microsoft's search was the only tool allowed to generate results in Vista's search bars, which appear in several places, including the Start menu, in the Windows Explorer file manager and in the Control Panels main display
If Microsoft believes that its desktop search is so good that users will not switch to other desktop searches, then it should not be doing this. It should just allow users to choose whatever they want. Anyways, I have not used Vista till now and i don't know how the product looks like. Probably i should take a peek.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
O Blessed Superstition!
[One of the poems written by Swami Vivekananda. it sounded like an answer to my earlier post on god. good one! ]
One bending low with load of life —
That meant no joy, but suffering harsh and hard —
And wending on his way through dark and dismal paths
Without a flash of light from brain or heart
To give a moment's cheer, till the line
That marks out pain from pleasure, death from life,
And good from what is evil was well-nigh wiped from sight,
Saw, one blessed night, a faint but beautiful ray of light
Descend to him. He knew not what or where from,
But called it God and worshiped.
Hope, an utter stranger, came to him and spread
Through all his parts, and life to him meant more
Than he could ever dream and covered all he knew,
Nay, peeped beyond his world. The Sages
Winked, and smiled, and called it "superstition".
But he did feel its power and peace
And gently answered back —
"O Blessed Superstition! "
One bending low with load of life —
That meant no joy, but suffering harsh and hard —
And wending on his way through dark and dismal paths
Without a flash of light from brain or heart
To give a moment's cheer, till the line
That marks out pain from pleasure, death from life,
And good from what is evil was well-nigh wiped from sight,
Saw, one blessed night, a faint but beautiful ray of light
Descend to him. He knew not what or where from,
But called it God and worshiped.
Hope, an utter stranger, came to him and spread
Through all his parts, and life to him meant more
Than he could ever dream and covered all he knew,
Nay, peeped beyond his world. The Sages
Winked, and smiled, and called it "superstition".
But he did feel its power and peace
And gently answered back —
"O Blessed Superstition! "
Monday, June 18, 2007
Is it good to believe in God?
We have a very bad habit of associating something, which we cannot understand completely, with supernatural powers/phenomena. I guess this very tendency gave birth to God once upon a time and it is so much into our culture and people nowadays, that we almost cannot live without God. We just love this idea.
Coming from India and that too a rural background, where science is almost an outcast, I guess I grew up with the idea of God and never questioned it. It’s so easy to live without questioning prevalent ideas. Luckily I got good education and now I am in a position to understand so many things, get exposure to so many ideas meet so many different people. I am constantly surprised as I come to know different new things everyday. I guess it has affected my thinking a lot and in a very radical way. I am so open to new ideas and new ways of leading life nowadays. Questioning the existence of God is one of those ideas. People back at home will be surprised if they get a clear picture of me and will be forced to ask a question – ‘what has education done to him?!!’
For most of the people in India, the idea of education is not ‘education’ itself. It is just a way of getting a good job and getting a handsome pay and living life comfortably/happily. The motive is purely monetary. Knowledge is a secondary outcome of education. I don’t see anything wrong with this kind of motive. Only food can satiate a hungry man and not knowledge.
At least 60% of India lives in poverty. These people see the educated people with good jobs and good money. Parents are forced to think that education for kids is an escape route from poverty, which is also true. And I must agree that this kind of thinking has done a lot of good to people. I am no exception. I hope this thinking will change over time. It should change. Children should be educated for knowledge and nothing else than that. But again, food is important.
Coming back to the question of God, I agree that the idea of God has done a lot of good to mankind. It has, without question, induced a sense of morality in people. I am pretty sure that world would have been a far worse place than it is today if it were full of atheists. I am not telling that atheists are bad people. But just the idea of God adds another check on people doing bad things.
The idea of God also gives a sense of peace to an already confused mind. It calms down the mind. We think that God listens and most often we talk to God when we are in trouble. Psychologically, it strengthens our mind.
It also unites people (sometimes in a bad way, like people of one community fighting others. Here we see that god has indeed divided people!). Sociologically, the idea of God is like an adhesive. It brings people together. We often see huge masses of people taking a dip in the great Ganges, looking at the sky, offering prayers and ‘washing’ off their sins. We also have the Amarnath Yatra where thousands of people trek to the Himalayas to visit one of the shrines. We also have the Haj among Muslims and similar practices in other religions. The effect, these phenomena have, will definitely make an interesting study.
There are many good things with the idea of God. So why question it?!!
Science has always worked on the basis of data, experiments and ideas which can be ‘proved’. That’s one thing that God hasn’t allowed us to do - to prove His existence!
But I believe that the very fact that we cannot prove the existence of God gives enormous strength to the idea of God. It’s a paradox. The more difficult it is to prove the existence, the stronger the idea becomes.
I have read a lot about Swami Vivekananda’s life and his works. It makes a very interesting read. The story goes like this: Vivekananda was very intrigued with the idea of God and he started questioning the existence of God. He became an atheist for sometime. Then one of his professors told him about Ramakrishna Paramahamsa – the only man known then, who claimed to have seen God!! The rest is history. Vivekananda becomes a disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and is believed to have seen/experienced God. And Vivekananda started a mission to spread the ideas of Hinduism (not the religion) all around the world. Even today, the Ramakrishna mission is a very big organization which is striving to spread the ideas of Hinduism.
It is becoming very uneasy for me to live with the idea of God, an idea which does not have any foundations. Only God can help me I guess!! I sometimes seriously think of putting some efforts to find God with whatever means available. We also have a school of thought which tells that God is in everybody. So why take the trouble of finding?!!
Or, it’s a Sunday. Probably I should just go and have some beer!! :)
Friday, June 15, 2007
Why do people fight ?
I happened to collect some data on wars and was curious to chart their trend with time. And i came up with this chart.
Its pretty interesting to see the war trends and speculate about the reasons as to why wars increased or decreased at some times.
Of course this is the data the we have recorded and there might have been many wars which could have gone unnoticed. But i am assuming that this data is mostly correct.
By and large, the wars before 500 BC were very less and looks like people hardly fought, as the population was very less and there was no need to fight. But we can see that people still fought. I think these wars must have been fought, solely, to establish supremacy over others and nothing else.
But the wars began to increase from 800 AD. I associate this closely with the increasing population and decreasing resources. People were also exploring a lot and that eventually lead to a lot of conflict.
Then we see a meteoric rise in the number of wars fought starting from 1500 AD. This must have happened because of the technological advancements made at this time and looks like the wars are never going to end.
I guess the 2nd world war was the bloodiest and most of the wars nowadays are usually conflicts and not full scale wars.
We cannot afford a full scale war now with all the nuclear, biological and what not weapons. Cities can disappear within hours and they are going to be costly.
What i have written is just a birds eye or a satellite eye view of the wars. I am sure it will make an interesting study to chart wars along with other factors. But as Ford said 'History is mostly bunk'. What historians write is history. The data is unreliable. With the advent of internet and
online media nowadays, i can say that events are being recorded with a high degree of precision and accuracy. We can rely on data nowadays.
But yes, Time can distort anything!!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Ancestral tourism
Want to find out where you come from or who is your oldest ancestor ? Scrape few cells from the inside of your mouth and send it to any one of the nowadays common companies which does the genetic mapping. Its as easy as that and within few days you will have a reply telling where your ancestors lived!!
All this has been made possible because of the collection of large quantities of genes from all over the world and storing the sequence data in a gene-bank. Our genes will be compared to the already existing sequences in the bank and thus tell to which group you belong to.
Using genetic data, scientists have even developed how earlier people moved from place to place. It looks like the first man/woman came from Africa and eventually they moved on to different parts of the world where their genes evolved!
If everybody came from the same root what the hell is racism all about ?! Although we came from the same roots, our genes have evolved and are different(although the difference is small it makes a big difference in our appearances) from that of the first people. People with similar genes look similar.
Genetically speaking, racism can be defined as treating people with similar genes in a better way than others who contain less similar genes. Racism is in built into us by birth. Our genes tend/work to increase similar genes in the gene pool rather than other genes. We are born-racists. Mother nature has made us so!
Nevertheless, looks like(it only looks like) we have been fairly successful in suppressing this quality of the gene. At least there are no wars nowadays based on races. Never predict the future though!! Hitler can come again one day saying his race is the supreme!
So much in our genes!!
[check this out to see what all our genes can tell !! ]
All this has been made possible because of the collection of large quantities of genes from all over the world and storing the sequence data in a gene-bank. Our genes will be compared to the already existing sequences in the bank and thus tell to which group you belong to.
Using genetic data, scientists have even developed how earlier people moved from place to place. It looks like the first man/woman came from Africa and eventually they moved on to different parts of the world where their genes evolved!
If everybody came from the same root what the hell is racism all about ?! Although we came from the same roots, our genes have evolved and are different(although the difference is small it makes a big difference in our appearances) from that of the first people. People with similar genes look similar.
Genetically speaking, racism can be defined as treating people with similar genes in a better way than others who contain less similar genes. Racism is in built into us by birth. Our genes tend/work to increase similar genes in the gene pool rather than other genes. We are born-racists. Mother nature has made us so!
Nevertheless, looks like(it only looks like) we have been fairly successful in suppressing this quality of the gene. At least there are no wars nowadays based on races. Never predict the future though!! Hitler can come again one day saying his race is the supreme!
So much in our genes!!
[check this out to see what all our genes can tell !! ]
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Unconditional Love!!
I happened to have this interesting conversation with a girl I found on chat. It was a good and intelligent chat and we were discussing a very debatable topic. Hope you will find this interesting.
(The words in italic are comments by me after reading the chat once again. Of course, this is purely my point of view, and it may be wrong)
Me: if one goes on thinking... nothing really matters ..
But that life will be very boring
She: well..nope
i don't think so
a lotta things DO matter
Me: like ?
She: Family
Career
Friends...
Physics
Mathematics
and a million others
Me: hmm ..... i think we have created so many artificial [emotional] needs arnd ourselves that we think we need all these ...
one question still puzzle me as to why we are here [I guess its pure accident... there is no reason. we are just a by-product of evolution and we exist. that’s it] !!
She: well...we are here..to think, to feel (love),to see and understand beautiful things[I think its exactly the opposite: we think and feel and understand things. therefore we are here. we have surpassed all other species in this arena and hence we are here. Otherwise we would have gone extinct like the Dodo]
and all in all we are [just another brick in the wall !! [this was a spontaneous addition and itsounds true]]here to ask why we are here [ we are here. hence we ask this question]..and to learn the answer through its steps!
Me: but thats only science...
She: it ain't
Me: i think love and such stuff is purely taught to us starting from our childhood... [and, as it is said in 'The selfish Gene', we show altruistic behavior with our relatives because they share a lot of similar genes than all other people. The more similar genes, the more we like them!]
She: it is everything
every field
Me: i disagree.... all the emotions that we feel are really because we are trained to feel that way [i really wonder as to what would happen if some kid is raised in an isolated chamber and trained in everything through computers and some hi-fi technology and books. After he is some 20 years would he really have the capacity to feel emotions. Are emotions really necessary? ]...
i dont think eve and adam felt that way!!
She: well...that is stupidity...
Me: well... its my point of view ! may be stupid
She: i don't call your point of view stupid
all i am saying that...the emotion i feel towards my mother is not artificial
and the feeling my mum gets towards me when i was born and now..that i am a part of her is not artificial
Me: hmm... well... i never told that they are artificial... the very first moment after u were born - all u need is some air and some food... but eventually u start "developing" emotions and liking and such stuff...
one develops such things ..
She: no. my mother feeds me
My mother lets me out to the harsh world delicately
Me: see - that’s called trading... u love
.
.
.
.
..
..
Me: love is purely circumstantial
She: it is not my dear. love is unconditional [i wish there was a thing like this. The world would have been a far better place]...if it is circumstantial then it ain't love..you are mistaken!
Me: it is conditional.. for ex... u cannot start loving me instantaneously !! u need to have some situation/motivation/precondition to start doing that !!
That was the end of the chat and i guess its still incomplete. You guys might be thinking that i am fellow with no heart (i dont know why heart got associated with love though!! ) and who does not know what love is. Thats not the fact. I have experienced love from my parents, relatives, friends and lot of other people all through my life till now and its on. I also love/like lot of people in my life.
All i am trying to tell here is that there has to be a trigger for any kind of love. It cannot be created out of nothing. There has to be a reason and there is nothing as unconditional love.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
The political chimps
On the other day i was watching Nat-Geo where there were showing a documentary on the behavior of chimps - our closest relatives in the animal world.
The aim of the documentary was to show the similarities between them and we human beings. There is this one guy who has been studying chimps for a long time. You have to basically pack your stuff and follow the chimps in the jungle. There is no other way.
So as he was following a group of chimps, he observed a very strange behavior. The chimps were actually on a patrol, looking for one of their fellow chimp. looks like he had done some mistake or crime. Finally one of them finds the culprit sitting on one of the trees. He goes up and brings him done. Then these 15-20 chimps brutally attack and kill the culprit. This was a coup!!
A marvelous display of co-operation and working together for a goal. Not sure what the poor thing had done to be killed. May be it was political or may be it was a fight for a partner. I have seen animals fighting for a partner, but not in groups like this. But this shows that chimps do actually live like us in a community. They punish if they don't like somebody. But getting so many chimps together to kill one chimp requires a lot of communication skills. This incident clearly shows that the chimps do really have such an effective mode of communication between themselves.
They also showed some chimps which use twigs as tools to fish out termites to eat. while eating grass they clean it using water. If they find a nut they will use a fallen off branch to break it and eat it.
They also showed a particular species of monkeys in South America which use rocks to break nuts. This monkey will first keep the nut on one stone. It will lift another big stone with both of its hands just like we do and bring it down with great force to break the nut. Just like what our most primitive ancestors did. It was fantastic to watch this kind of behavior. I had never expected chimps to be so clever.
This in a way explains our own political behavior in communities. We do collaborate with people to defeat somebody in politics. Looks like we have derived this behavior from the great chimps!!
The aim of the documentary was to show the similarities between them and we human beings. There is this one guy who has been studying chimps for a long time. You have to basically pack your stuff and follow the chimps in the jungle. There is no other way.
So as he was following a group of chimps, he observed a very strange behavior. The chimps were actually on a patrol, looking for one of their fellow chimp. looks like he had done some mistake or crime. Finally one of them finds the culprit sitting on one of the trees. He goes up and brings him done. Then these 15-20 chimps brutally attack and kill the culprit. This was a coup!!
A marvelous display of co-operation and working together for a goal. Not sure what the poor thing had done to be killed. May be it was political or may be it was a fight for a partner. I have seen animals fighting for a partner, but not in groups like this. But this shows that chimps do actually live like us in a community. They punish if they don't like somebody. But getting so many chimps together to kill one chimp requires a lot of communication skills. This incident clearly shows that the chimps do really have such an effective mode of communication between themselves.
They also showed some chimps which use twigs as tools to fish out termites to eat. while eating grass they clean it using water. If they find a nut they will use a fallen off branch to break it and eat it.
They also showed a particular species of monkeys in South America which use rocks to break nuts. This monkey will first keep the nut on one stone. It will lift another big stone with both of its hands just like we do and bring it down with great force to break the nut. Just like what our most primitive ancestors did. It was fantastic to watch this kind of behavior. I had never expected chimps to be so clever.
This in a way explains our own political behavior in communities. We do collaborate with people to defeat somebody in politics. Looks like we have derived this behavior from the great chimps!!
Friday, June 1, 2007
Thing like a horse! (PG 13)
I got this forward today - good one!
A horse and a chicken are playing in a meadow. The horse falls into a mud hole and is sinking.
He calls to the chicken to go and get the farmer to help pull him out to safety. The chicken runs to the farmer but the farmer can't be found.
So he drives the farmer's BMW 328i back to the mud hole and ties some rope around the bumper. He then throws the other end of the rope to his friend, the horse, and drives forward saving him from sinking.
A few days later, the chicken and the horse were playing in the meadow again. This time the chicken fell in the mud hole. The chicken yelled to the horse to go and get some help from the farmer. The horse said, "I think I can stand over the hole." So he stretched over the width of the hole and said "grab my 'thing' and pull yourself up.
And the chicken did and pulled himself to safety.
The moral of the story:
.
.
.
.
.
"If you have a "Thing" like a horse, you don't need a BMW 328i to pick up chicks."
A horse and a chicken are playing in a meadow. The horse falls into a mud hole and is sinking.
He calls to the chicken to go and get the farmer to help pull him out to safety. The chicken runs to the farmer but the farmer can't be found.
So he drives the farmer's BMW 328i back to the mud hole and ties some rope around the bumper. He then throws the other end of the rope to his friend, the horse, and drives forward saving him from sinking.
A few days later, the chicken and the horse were playing in the meadow again. This time the chicken fell in the mud hole. The chicken yelled to the horse to go and get some help from the farmer. The horse said, "I think I can stand over the hole." So he stretched over the width of the hole and said "grab my 'thing' and pull yourself up.
And the chicken did and pulled himself to safety.
The moral of the story:
.
.
.
.
.
"If you have a "Thing" like a horse, you don't need a BMW 328i to pick up chicks."
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