Do you want to listen???

A long long time ago, I can still remember...

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Patnaik) — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 08:22:00 +0000

And so here comes a post after so-so long, suddenly I have felt the need to do things that are important to me and writing is one of them.
My work which has taken away all my time need not be the only priority in life. This is how it begins and I hope I can start regularly posting especially in light of the coming few months where a lot is going to happen and most of which will be worth writing about. It definitely will not be me babbling about my life but will be about experiences and thoughts that result from what I am about to do in the next few months.
So I hope this post will be the beginning of me becoming a regular blogger!

The picture below is of a fountain in Hiranandani in Powai, Mumbai. I don't see fountains too often!

Music Player

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Patnaik) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 18:10:00 +0000

A music player is now up. Will update with stuff that influences me a lot and i like a lot!
Also a first post in a long time. Will be more regular now...

To start of there is Audioslave and Jimmy Eat World

Swine Flu: Gullibilty of the Masses?

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Patnaik) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:38:00 +0000

Is the H1N1 virus commonly called Swine Flu really as big a scare as it has been made out to be? Is the public panic and mass hysteria justified? Or are the people actually gullible and just fearful?

Well I'll tell you my point of view. Pune which is the epicentre of the panic situation following the first death from the virus tells a large part of the story. Every second person there is now wearing a mask, everything from homeopathic medicines to quick fix quack solutions which are preventive in nature are selling like manna from heaven as everyone is believing in it (Gullibility or what?). The situation has literally reached a 'Fever Pitch'.

No similar panic exists in the US where many thousands have been affected, and neither have schools and offices been shut down.

As it is mentioned in the TOI Edit Page article,
"... public frenzy over the disease has built up to such a fervour that it would seem like swine flu, rather than being a treatable, curable form of influenza, is the kind of apocalyptic virus seen felling the entire species in Hollywood's best thrillers. Gone is any sense of proportion."

In addition, other forms of flu have similar death rates but not the same media attention.
Cereberal malaria has infected a thousand people in Bihar and over 30 have died because of it but again there is no media attention so there is no panic.

Maybe calling people gullible is a bit harsh but then think, follow my line of thought here,
After the first death, thousands of people in Pune with the mildest symptoms of cold lined up outside the hospital. There were those having the virus and those who did not. Now what are the chances that one would get infected by the virus while waiting outside the hospital amidst scores of people that do have the virus. Quite high you would say, so did panicking actually help you out? No, so dont bother.

It takes a full 15 days before the flu becomes anywhere close to critical. By then all the symptoms come out in full flow and 15 days is a sufficient time to be completely sure of whether one should go for a checkup or not. Also anytime during those 15 days the administration of Tamiflu will cull the virus completely. Even after the 15 days there is a high probability that the virus would be cured.

Having said all that I dont disagree that swine flu is a public health concern. It is, but caution, a cool head and basic prevention and hygiene are the order of the day more than panic and a knee jerk reaction which has a higher chance of getting you infected.

How To: Remove the Blogger Navbar or Banner

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Patnaik) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:49:00 +0000

You feel irritated by the the blue bar that appears at the top of your blog on blogger.com/blogspot.com. Well there is a way to remove the Navbar. If you are on my blog page then you can see that there is no Navbar.

Before removing let me justify the reason for removing it:
a) There is a self promotional link back to blogger. Not required.
b)Next Blog button takes users to another blog that is random in nature which may or may not have any relation to someone is reading on yourblog.
c) The Navbar is an eyesore and does not gel with your blog layout.
d) You want your blog to be yours with everything on the page as you want it. Nothing should be forced upon you.

- Get to your Dashboard by logging into blogger.
- Then goto Layout>Edit HTML and enter the following code:

#navbar-iframe {
display: none !important;
}

You can add it anywhere. For convenience add it just before *Variable Definitions.

You should be good to go after this. It barely takes a minute.

I know this is a departure from what I usually write on this blog but I felt that it is something useful and gives you more control over the blog.

Let me know if there is any trouble doing this.

Whims and fancies of the ‘First World’ countries

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Patnaik) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:45:00 +0000

It just becomes more and more insane. First it was Australia refusing to play a Davis Cup tie in Chennai because of security fears and now it's the perennial cry babies England.

After pulling out from the World Badminton Championships 2009 citing security concerns on the threat issued by the extremist organization, Britain has just showed to us how out of tune with reality they are. There has to be some ulterior motive for them pulling out. In the case of the Aussies it seems that the thought of playing in the Chennai heat made them realize that there was no way they could win so very conveniently they brought up the security issue. I am trying to figure out what motives do the cry babies have.

Do the terrorists even know that England has a badminton team?

What about the other countries who continue to participate in the tournament? Is the security not up to the mark for them?

Britain needs a dose of reality and some less egoistic bureaucrats in their foreign office.

We need to dish out some of this stuff to Britain. Quid pro quo is the order of the day.

Otherwise at this tournament India is really pinning its hopes on Saina Nehwal to show her blistering form and improve on it to launch an attack on the World crown. World No 6 at the age of 19. Wow. She is truly a prodigy; she can only improve from here.

Update:

England seems to have some egg on face, lot of explanations are coming up including one from Badminton

William Hague, the opposition Conservative Party's shadow foreign secretary and a senior British politician commented "Wherever possible we should err on the side of going ahead with normal life, in the face of terrorist threat"

(Sidenote: There has never been any threat in Hyderabad and is far from the sea and what not)

Thomas Lund of the Badminton World Federation said: "It's unfortunate that the English team made their decision before we had an opportuinity to properly brief the team management.""

I feel that next time if any such thing happens then the country pulling out should be barred from the next major tournament provided that the apex body of the sport finds the situation safe as it was in the case of the Davis Cup tie and here too.

Ineffective Environmental Policy

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Patnaik) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:40:00 +0000

This article (click on link above) that I came across on The Economist talks about how the US govt's subsidy plan nicknamed "cash for clunkers" is not attaining the intended effect - reducing emissions.

Under this programme, any person trading in his/her old inefficient car for a new environmentally friendly one will get a discount funded by the US govt, however the policy is ineffective. Read why in the article.

The US govt had earmarked $1 Bn for the programme which got used up in 1 week against the intended time period of 2 months.

They are simply subsidising car purchases which in any case were bound to rebound after the recession during which purchases were at an all time low.

The US govt is simply feeding the pent up demand.

The largest mass ascent of hot air balloons took place recently at the biennial Lorraine Mondial Air Ballons rally in Chambley, France

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Patnaik) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:32:00 +0000

Looks better in big size. Click on the picture

Mythology: Likeness among religions

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Patnaik) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:55:00 +0000

Was just reading about the first avatar of Vishnu - Matsya. In this avatar Vishnu reincarnates himself initially as a fish who pleads for help from the Dravidian king Satyavrata while he is washing his hands in the river. The king puts him in a jar which
he soon outgrows, then a tank, a river and finally to the ocean but to no avail for he continuously outgrows them. Then the fish
reveals himself to be Lord Vishnu who tells him that a great flood will occur during which all life will be destroyed (Read about the other great floods ... or is it the same???) Yes the floods are in plural for they are known through the biblical story of Noah's Ark, through Deucalion in Greek mythology and Utnapishtim in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Satyavrata was instructed to take "all medicinal herbs, all the varieties of seeds, and accompanied by the seven saints”along with the serpent Vasuki and other animals. (Sounds similar to something... cant remember what)

The Ten Avatars of Vishnu

Besides this there is the Great Trinity - Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva. According to the Puranas, Brahma is self-born (without mother) in the lotus flower which grew from the navel of Vishnu at the beginning of the universe. (Akin to being the son of Vishnu).

In contrast there is the Holy Trinity - The Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost

The reason why im writing this is coz I was thinking - Christianity as a religion only started after Christ or for that matter after the death of Christ. So all the stories in the Old Testament are linked up to Christianity after 32 AD, thus the historical context of the religion is put in after the events in the 1st century AD AND this historical context is something that is common to other religions (the flood for one), religions far older than Christianity.

Clearly Christianity is not very original with their history, it seems to be borrowed to me.
For more comparisons, you should defintiely watch Zeitgeist (especially the first part dealing with religion), you are in for a treat and lots of startling facts. A must watch.

Please correct if im wrong anywhere, especially if someone knows about something that genuinely links up Christianity with the past.

I feel as if I could have started a religion in 200 BC and then created a history for it by borrowing from other religions, although it would have to survive through the ages for the victors write history whether it is true or untrue.

Prophesy Defined

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Patnaik) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Came across this humorous yet insightful (and true) image and thought I should share it.
This was originally posted here.

Hang this in your Time Machine

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Patnaik) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 10:26:00 +0000

Hey i found this while browsing. I found it quite funny and interesting both at the same time. It is essentially a to do list if you were to be stuck in the past and have nothing and need to invent everything from scratch.

The image is from www.topatoco.com

Thought: Shades of Grey

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Patnaik) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:20:00 +0000

Uncertainty scares people. The moment there is a doubt, it leads to paranoia. Paranoia breeds panic amongst an individual which in turn then spreads to the entire society.

The financial markets are a prime example. If one large player for whatever reason starts selling heavily then everyone seeing this develops a fear that something is wrong and follows suit and starts selling even though there maybe no real justification for this selling on their part. It is this human mentality that has been cultivated and developed over the ages by society.

Society creates so many unnecessary linkages that they are capable of influencing and subverting a rational flow of thought and logic that would have otherwise existed in the absence of societal pressures, codes, signals and rules. It results in the creation of uncertainty which breeds fear and whenever there is fear there then emerges an order or a setup that aims to remove this fear and thus results in a king, or a dictator, or an oligarchy or a democracy or some other form of institutional leadership.

This leadership although aims to remove the cause of fear – uncertainty – so as to restore the confidence of people in life and to make them comfortable eventually gets corrupted by the beauty of its power and the luxuries that come attached with it. This makes them blind to the needs of the people and eventually instills in a desire to retain this power at all costs.

George Orwell’s brilliant political satire Animal Farm which also happens to be witty and poignant makes the message of “Power Corrupts” brilliantly clear with this famous line – “All animals are born equal, though some are more equal than the others.”

Thus to combat the fear of uncertainty a higher governing order was set up to take care of the people but which lost its path in the need to retain power. However once the institution was put into place it wasn’t possible to remove it. Though various attempts were made to remove it and a school of thought evolved as a result of it, that being Anarchy.

Anarchy states that or may refer to :

· "Absence of government; a state of lawlessness due to the absence or inefficiency of the supreme power; political disorder."

· "A theoretical social state in which there is no governing person or body of persons, but each individual has absolute liberty (without the implication of disorder)."

As it is pretty obvious this school of thought was considered socially radical and outlawed by the political institutions in place as it was a direct threat to their power and was thus banned.

The popular grunge band Nirvana fronted by the ‘late’ Kurt Cobain were also at the forefront in promoting anarchy and their song “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was a seditious twist on the “mass mentality of conformity” amongst the people and in the music industry around them. The music video was also shot with the aim to send out the same message.

Another notable punk band was called “The Sex Pistols” who had amongst many rebelliously themed songs a song titled “Anarchy in the U.K”

However the anarchist movement doesn’t really have any momentum or force and no practical examples as such exist either.

Going back to the topic, with the “more equal animals” failing to do the job for which they were given power, society responded by aiming to kill the source of fear – uncertainty.

Society now has so evolved that it conditioned people to look for answers in the form of Yes or No, Right or Wrong, Here or There, Heaven or Hell, Black or White etc. The middle path was totally eliminated and every one adhering to it was ostracized.

One of the most powerful symbols of balance and order according to Chinese philosophy - the Yin-Yang

is also dualistic in nature. It also propounds the theory that there are two and only two equal and opposite forces in the world that balance it.

Being dualistic is NOT a bad thing however it kills creativity by reducing the number of avenues in which the human mind can wander and also prevents testing the depths of the human mind in known and unknown directions.

Consequently the colour grey now attracts criticism and mockery and is indicative of a rebellious spirit and soul. I mean this symbolically of course.

Thus to survive in society it isn’t a good idea to adopt any shade of grey unless you are willing to break (or at least not be completely dependent on) societal ties (ties by birth, family etc), willing to step outside the boundaries of what society allows you to do, willing to not let what others think of you influence your decisions and your desires in life, willing to fight against retrograde societal norms.

In the same vein, the legendary Sidney Lumet’s critically acclaimed masterpiece 12 Angry Men also dealt with the subject of doubt and uncertainty. The opening scene of the movie starts with the judge directing the jury to deliberate and return a verdict. The case is that of a murder and the sentence demanded by the prosecution is that of death. On the face of it the evidence overwhelmingly points towards a guilty verdict.

However one of the jurors says that the evidence is not completely conclusive and it would be only fair to clear this doubt but to this suggestion he is met with stiff resistance and even anger (hence the title) from the remaining 11 jurors who want to give the verdict even before an hour’s worth of deliberations are complete. They feel that the prosecutions argument was strong enough

However when the greyer shades and nuances of the case are examined inconsistencies show up which actually changes the circumstances in which the case is viewed. This is one story that is brilliantly told with no melodrama and no wasted film reel.

This movie also highlights the fact that any facts when presented in a convincing manner are accepted by the common person as the gospel truth. He doesn’t digest it or reflect on it or think about it for that would mean questioning it and falling into the realm of doubt and uncertainty – an area where he is socially conditioned not to go to.

There are numerous examples and stories which deal with this subject, for that matter the very fact that in the medieval period sailing too far from the known world wasn’t undertaken because of the mistaken knowledge that they would fall of the edges of the flat world shows what fear of the unknown does to man and how it limits his potential of knowing more.

All that is advocated is looking in those places of human thought which are overlooked and where looking is not socially recommended, this might result in stepping on a few toes but at least something new would be learned in the process.

This is a topic where many may disagree with whatever is said either by me or anyone else but disagreement and even for that matter criticism is good, for it would merely lead to more thought and introspection and hopefully to a better understanding of the human psyche.

Also published in The Pundit.

19th May,2008.

Movie Review: Eastern Promises

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Patnaik) — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:13:00 +0000

When I first saw Eastern Promises I simply liked the movie. Liked it enough to want to watch the movie again and clear out all the doubts and little tidbits of the movie that i might have missed.

Directed by David Cronenberg (A History of Violence), the movie is set in London and is dominated by the Russian mafia that exists there

The movie has strong performances from Viggo Mortensen (L) and Naomi Watts (21 Grams). Armin Mueller-Stahl who plays Semyon the head of the Russian mafia family also puts in a superlative performance.

The story is about the diary of a young Russian girl that is found on her person which is found by a Anna (Naomi Watts) in the emergency room where the girl delivers a child and then subsequently dies. As the gruesome details are revealed the plot develops as Anna follows up on the diary which incidentally is in Russian and his translated by her uncle.

Concurrent to this Nikolai's (Viggo Mortensen) rise through the Russian mafia is also shown although this rise has its own sinister purpose.

The plot has a twist at the end of the movie which puts in context the entire happenings of the movie.

David Cronenberg has a done an awesome job in directing this movie. Incidentally despite this being a mafia film, NO guns have been shown in the entire movie. The only weapons which are used are knives which features prominently in a 3 minute long fight sequence.

This movie also highlights the use of tattoos in the Russian mafia and their significance.

This movie is a classic and i loved every bit of it.

Eastern Promises at Rotten Tomatoes

Thought: Are we really free?

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Patnaik) — Sun, 04 May 2008 04:30:00 +0000

Social stigma, social laws, socially correct behavior, rules for society, dress codes for functions, how we talk, how we walk, how we behave, everything has been set down by society. There now exists a certain social fabric that engulfs us and this is not necessarily a good thing.

It now exists in such a way that it confines us, maybe not physically but to a large extent mentally. It affects the thought process of society and the individual and restricts our thinking from going into certain socially forbidden areas of thought.

Society decides for us what is good or bad, not plain and simple reason or logic.

Think about it. What does our freedom count for? Are we really free?

We are literally bought and sold in the marketplace. Running after jobs, sitting for interviews, trying to prove our worth. We learn things that are thrown to us without thinking, without reflecting, without questioning and then regurgitating it when asked for. We cram ourselves with everything so as to be able to "SELL" ourselves better.

Our thought has been so mangled by societal pressures that we don’t look objectively at anything.

We judge men as members of a community and their standing in it and not as aesthetically delightful objects in their own right. Where one comes from, where one has done ones schooling from, family background etc plays the most dominant role in deciding ones ‘status’.

Even if someone is recognized for their true merit on the basis of their individuality alone and not for their standing in society (e.g someone who is rebellious yet a highly gifted writer) we prefer to observe them from a distance. This is somewhat akin to considering a tiger to be more beautiful than a sheep but preferring the tiger to be behind bars.

We have been conditioned by society to such an extent that we want order in everything so we set in place law and order, procedures, systems and the whole lot. For them order reflects stability and stability lends the illusion of safety.

Besides instilling the illusion of safety it also kills creativity and the need to explore the unknown depths of the human brain and discover the true potential of human creativity which incidentally is limitless. Disorder, chaos, randomness although seemingly useless have some reason, some logic, some rationality backing them.

Consider the case of a seemingly mad man totally ostracized by society, upon extensive treatment by a psychologist, the doctor discovered that he had such high powers of observation that in a passing glance at a rose when a normal man would just notice the flower or at most the petals of the rose this man would also observe the stem, the leaves and the thorns. However his brain was not able to cope with the plethora of information being generated within his head and wasn’t able to process it fast enough for him to continue behaving normally and hence his seeming madness.

He actually was a man with much superior powers than the average man but social order and social positioning put him way down in the pecking order.

Social development varies across countries, with societies of some countries seemingly more advanced than the societies of others. But here the question arises on what basis do you judge whether a society is more advanced. A simple and logical answer would be that a society which promotes free thought, freedom of expression, freedom to do newer and varied things to a larger extent is more advanced than the society which puts a lot of curbs and checks on them.

Finally society expects order and structure to everything and conventions that are established to be followed at every step and turn but there are always the few dissenting voices that rebel continuously and try to balance order and structure with disorder and chaos and originality.

Even articles for that matter are expected to have a structure and order and minimum digression and all the other features that are expected in a ‘standard’ article but as every yin has its yang so does writing. After all it is better not to tread the beaten path.

Also published in The Pundit.

14th Feb,2008