Voyage into the Deep

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Our Story - 2500 A.D.

2007-07-20T03:07:00.000-04:00
Imagine year 2500. Global warming is an accepted and apparent phenomenon. Snow peaks have melted, the sea has gulped down major chunks of land masses... but we, the human race, have managed to race on. Some live in cities floating on water, while others have built their own air bubble city within the heart of an ocean. Other avenues of habitat are also being pursued, deep in space. Our space stations already have people settling there, as well as on the Moon. Adaptation was never our weakness. We are truly intelligent, innovative, and technologically advanced.

One fine day, the astronauts on a space cruiser make an alarming discovery. On the far side of a neighboring galaxy, we have found positive signs of life on a remote planet, much like our Earth. Thrilled at this opportunity of finding alternative habitat, our world is united in sending both research scientists and military troops to face the unknown and explore all possibilities.

Innumerable space-pods (spaceships as big as cities) from all over the earth are immediately deployed to orbit this far away planet. The idea is to study them from space and then land there to explore further. In due time our pods cast huge shadows on the face of the new planet we call Xenon. The initial research on the atmosphere confirm 99.999% match with that of Earth some 100 million years ago. So we prepare to land our military troops to scout Xenon for native life forms.

Not sure of what the atmosphere holds for us, we land with extreme caution wearing gas masks with oxygen pipes and body armors. As we land, we are greeted with lush green all around with blue waters and clear sky lit up by Xenon's primary star, the Neosis. We feel ecstatic upon our findings that seem to promise our race a second chance at a new home. As our troops roam the land, they make sudden contact with what is the first sighting of some intelligent life form on Xenon. They look like some form of apes with horse like legs. And they communicate with each other in some native language.

As we approach them, the Xenonians fall back, apprehensive and unsure of our intentions. It was as if without being told they could feel that we were there to claim their home as our own. They seem primitive in terms of our technology and we are not sure as to their level of intelligence. In order to make contact, our troops approach slowly but firmly. However the Xenonians felt threatened and without any warning fall back to their form of defense and start attacking us with their form of weaponry. Startled by the sudden attack from Xenoians, our troops open fire. Our laser guns prove far superior to their poisened needle like arrows and darts. Some of them fall to the ground as others retreat quietly in shadows.

We are not too sure as to what just happened. We carefully approach the fallen Xenonians and investigate their belongings. Amongst many things, we find a fat book made of some leaf like paper with lots of symbols and illustrations. We recover that and a few other things back to our space-pod for further scrutiny and analysis. After feeding the symbols through our super atomic computers, we quickly decipher what story the book has to tell. And here is what it said.

Beware friends. We must always be prepared. There is always the possibility of intelligent life out there besides ourselves. They may be more advanced than we are and they may come in peace or war. There might be races out there who travel from planet to planet, staying there only until they suck all the life and resources out of it. And then they move on, in search of other planets like ours. If the day should come, that we see dark shadows clouding our skies, and strange creatures with tentacles roaming our lands with the club of death in their hands, we can only be sure of one thing: the aliens have invaded.

Playing catch...

2006-07-19T10:37:00.000-04:00
I read something on my dear friend Satyaki Basu's
website. I am quoting it out here too.

-Quote-
"If a tree falls in the forest, and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

I thought about the quote all evening. I imagined baseball-shaped molecules moving in compressional waves across an empty forest, never being acknowledged. I debated alone in bed until, finally, understanding dawned... It's not about matter or sound waves or ears or trees. Its a statement about something much more important: Our reality.

Anything that exists may as well not, if there is nothing but that entity acting as witness to the existence.

We're nothing if we're not relating to some one on some level. My thoughts, remaining mine alone, are but smoke; they make their insignificant appearance and then dissipate into nihility.

So, here, is my first attempt at throwing a few baseballs. Hope someone's out there with a mitt...
-Unquote-

I do not wish to add anymore to this and mess with its elegance. I just happened to have a mitt and I caught it.. and then thought of echoing it along...

How much is 6.12 MB ??

2006-06-25T01:15:00.000-04:00
Considering the fact that you can get memory cards of the order of few GBs (1 GB = 1024MB) nowadays that are no bigger than a quarter (or say 2 sq. inches) and can cost you somewhere around $50 or less, I would say 6.12 MB is most trivial.

Why am I rambling about memory size suddenly at 1:30 am in the night? The fact that I had a margarita an hour back has nothing to do with this :) I am in the process of writing my PhD thesis and just now I compiled my first draft in Latex. It came to about 130 pages with lots of tables and figures and text. I was about to mail myself a copy for backup when I saw the size of the entire directory on disk: 6.12 MB !

So asked again: How much is 6.12 MB ??

Its 5 straight years of toiling, learning, struggling, pondering, discipline and the eventual feeling of sweet satisfaction of achieving something that has changed me as a person forever.

And now I shall go to sleep...

Faith

2006-06-19T14:30:00.000-04:00
Last 2 months have been literally exhausting. Both physically and emotionally. I was engaged in the task of trying to find a place for myself in the industry after I graduate with my PhD :)

Although at start things seemed pretty difficult, somehow with time they seemed to sort themselves out. Ofcourse I had to keep making my own sincere efforts. Still, it is quite amusing how at times when I could not see forward at all, a path seemed to form just for me out of nowhere.

All this just re-established my faith in life in all its full glory. It also reminded me of the 2 most beautiful expressions of faith I have ever heard:

1. Faith doesnt help you walk around walls. It walks you through them.

2. When you are standing at the edge of a cliff, and you need to put your best foot forward, if you have faith, you will know that only 2 things can happen:

Either you will find ground beneath your feet.

Or, you will learn to fly.

Living a dream

2006-05-27T13:06:00.000-04:00
Most of us hope to live and then live to dream. I am not going to comment on its appropriateness, but rather on its effect on our daily lives. Nothing wrong in particular with dreaming, and dreaming big. Unless you dream and have goals you may find it hard to motivate yourself to achieve them in your lives. However, the caveat is to remember to live your life and not the dream itself. Let me explain.

Recently I started reading a very interesting spritual guide Power of Now. I was caught on to nice thing they say in there about our minds. According the author Eckhart Tolle, our mind is an instrument of our "self" that needs the concept of time to survive. Our mind does not grasp the concept of "now", but only dwells in the past or future. Even if its the immediate past or the immediate future. Check it out yourself. Stop reading this post for a minute and try to observe your own thoughts. Unless your mind is complete blank, what else are you thinking about? How you need to do this today and that tommorrow? Or how that thing went good yesterday and how that someone was supposed to call but didnt? Did you in contrast realize that right at this moment, you are sitting infront of a computer reading this blog and if you are not doing anything else, the only thing you could have thought about is the screen you are looking at, or sounds around you at present, or something like that? But our mind likes to wander doesnt it? Its like while you read this you are forcing it to read and interpret what I write, and as soon as you stop reading, it starts chattering away to glory about how things were in the "now" that is gone, or how they might be in the "now" that is to come, but never once pondering upon the "now" that is.

So in effect, our whole concept of our lives sometimes is nothing but what we want to do and where we want to be, and seldom about who we are and where we are at present. And the funny thing is that while we are travelling tired on the road, thinking about how when we get home we are going to have a nice cup of coffee and relax and enjoy, we actually start enjoying this thought of the future by itself. And remarkably when the actual coffee time comes, except for a fleeting feeling of pleasure, our mind might once again be racing us to maybe where we are going out for a nice dinner next and we start enjoying that thought instead. So it seems like we seem to enjoy our thoughts of what will be, much more profoundly and with greater duration than when the things actually happen. The same thing can happen with adverse thoughts and fear. When something goes wrong in our lives, and we are tensed and worried, we spend more time petrified and dreaming about the million ways it may go wrong and dying multiple times over, even before the thing really happens.

So where did our life go? Are we even alive for real or like in the movie Matrix, just living in a constant dream? Our life is built by nothing but this continuous sense of "now". Think. Will you ever be able to do something in the past? or in the future? No. Whatever has been done in the past, you did it in the "now" that was, and in future you will do in the "now" that will be. But this "now" was always with you and will always be.. for you to live your entire life in it and with it.

The author said a nice thing to the effect of: Go ask a plant or a dog.. what time is it? They will say, what do you mean what time is it? Its now ofcourse... what else can it be?

Anti Reservation 2006 - Please sign the Petition

2006-05-19T09:40:00.000-04:00
I have just read and signed the online petition:

Anti Reservation, 2006

I personally agree with what this petition says, and I think any educated Indian will agree, too. If you can spare a moment, please take a look, and consider signing yourself.

Please read and learn more about the Youth for Equality student body.

Critical Issue -- Please spread the word for YFE

2006-05-19T09:37:00.000-04:00
I am posting on behalf of my friend's mother:

Picture from the Mid-Day website

2 months back 'Rang de Basanti' started a fire – a fire which has enabled people to stand up for themselves and be heard. The current fire setting the country ablaze if of reservations and the media is having a field time covering it day in and day out for the past couple of days. However, there is yet much which remains uncovered by media.

It invariably so happens that most of us 'educated well-meaning' people feel strongly for/against an issue but never actually get down to doing anything about it, which enables our great politicians to play their filthy games and have their way by playing mind games on the unthinking gullible ones. The reservation policy is, quite
evidently, a perfect example of the same. I dont think i need to emphasise how unnecessary it is to have reservations at post-graduate levels...or for that matter even at graduate levels. As a professor, i can see the adverse effects of such a policy in the field of education (reservations for teachers).

Youth for Equality is group of students all over the country who have taken it upon themselves to fight for this cause. The stand that these brave kids have taken is well justified. They are not against the so-called backward castes at all. If only the government would take some time and actually LISTEN to what they have to say, it would become obvious that they have a valid point. Reservations should be brought in at primary level if true upliftment of the society is desired. By bringing in 50% reservations at PG level right before election time, the govt is seeing nothing but vote banks in the people.

The only problem with Rang de Basanti was its end. Though it seemed right on screen, in reality it is not feasible. Dharnas, morachas and even hunger strikes are resorted to by almost everyone now – but does it have any effect? I dont kno what the solution of this situation is, but i do kno that now is the time for all of us who have an opinion to stand up, get out and support these kids in their endeavour. Please spread the word and do all possible in your capacity.

Myths about Astrology - Part Deux

2006-04-23T12:01:00.000-04:00
True, everywhere you look, all the big blockbusters are coming out with newer and newer sequels... Basic Instinct, Superman, Mission Impossible... just to name a few. The harbingers of Summer :) So I thought to myself... why not make "Part 2" of the very first Blog I ever wrote? The very reason I had started this voyage at one point of time. But I must confess :) It also had the added support of some fresh point of view on the topic.

In recent times, a particular sage named Guru Ramdev with his
Yoga related fitenss programme is rapidly gaining popularity with the masses in India. He is telecasting live shows on spiritual TV channels such as Aastha, Sanskar, Sadhana, God and Q TV. He is also in the process of setting up Yoga Camps in many places, and intends to build and operate out of a new institution called Patanjali Yogapith in Haryana. His yogic principles are founded on Patanjali Yoga.

Now, neither this post, nor my previous one, has anything to do directly with Guru Ramdev or his yogic teachings. It does however deal with some comments he made about "Janma Kundali" (natal charts) that shed new light on the topic of my previous post. My father happened to catch these comments on TV and was responsible for bringing my attention to them.

According to Guru Ramdev, the "applicablity" of Janma Kundali is questionable even if the main concept is not, just because of the uncertainty in one of the concept's fundamental assumption. Typically a Janma Kundali, or Natal Chart is designed based on the Time and Place of Birth. It then elaborates on the position of the planetary bodies at that Time and their gravitational effect on that Place, which is seen as a primary influence on the life-long circumstances of a person. Even if one does not argue the science behind this theory, the fact still remains that you assume complete knowledge about Time and Place of Birth, the founding pillars of this Chart design. Although Place of Birth is seldom disputed, the Time of Birth is highly debatable. Not only is it highly likely to make an error in timing the "apparent" birth of a person for reasons such as clocks showing incorrect time, medical complications at the time causing distractions in noting the time, etc, the main question still remains: "when do you think you were actually born?"

According to Guru Ramdev, "prana" (soul) takes birth in the mother's womb. As such, our "birth" occurs with our independent "sattwa" (existence). Even biologically, we take full form and shape within the womb before we are brought out in the open. And what we end up timing is that "moment of liberation". So going by the science of natal charts, one must consider the time of "actual" birth, from which time it is possible for the individual to be affected by the planets, and not merely bank it on the time of delivery. And I hope I need not mention anything special to indicate the complexity of determining this "actual" Time of Birth.

Thus, people who believe strongly in the applications of the science of astrology shall forever run the risk of interpreting someone incorrectly based on his/her natal charts that in all possibility may be founded on incorrect information. And these interpretations often lead to unfortunate decisions followed by similar actions. Here lies the gravest consequence of one of the biggest myths of our times.

Saved by shackles

2006-04-13T10:58:00.000-04:00
Most of us may have at one point or another felt the fear of unknown. Some of us choose not to meddle with what is less known... while some prove brave enough to get out there and expand their horizons. But even then.. there is this limit... for each of us.. beyond which we would choose not to wander. This is our self-made barrier for protection. Our mental solace... within which we cherish the comfort of our own knowledge.

I do not have anything to say about the existence of this wall specifically. What I do wish to comment about here is people's usual denial of what lies beyond. Its one thing to not know something... but quite another to believe what you do not know can never exist... not in your world.. not anywhere else. This is what troubles me. And when people with different levels of knowledge interact, this is often the major source of conflict. The one more blessed with ignorance shall try hard to hold ground, while the other tries to move it from beneath their feet.

I am hoping you are all nodding your head and are on the same page with me so far (assuming u did not get bored and clicked out of my blog!).. but read on.

Normally, being the one on the path to acquire knowledge.. and more of it.. I would naturally favour the one with a broader perspective in such conflicts. Heck, I even believe strongly in: "If you have the ability, you have the responsibility". No, its not a quote.. just something I made up myself.. rhymes well and has a meaning strong enough to merit its own post in this blog. Neverthless, in short it means I believe that if anyone has the luxury of enjoying a special capability, it is his moral responsibilty to share it for greater good whenever the opportunity arises.

Going by this belief, I would think that if someone has more knowledge, its his moral responsibility to impart them within the less fortunate. I would even argue that the people who do not yet know.. are missing out on things that lie far beyond their walls of safety. But here is what I have realised over time. This sense or awareness of ability or capability.. to break one's wall of apprehension and move forward... needs to be self-realised and cannot be preached. And all for a good reason.

Remember that I said that no matter who you are, most probably you too have a wall somewhere... even if its very very far as compared to others. So while you take the solemn oath to free the minds of others... to help them break the shackles.. you forget that you are only inviting them into a larger cell... thats all. Moreover, although it may seem that helping someone overcome that wall is enough... your duty towards him/her does not stop there. For a person being forced to scale the wall... the bigger world is still going to be largely unknown. And since that person did not climb over in his/her free will... you.. their messiah.. would need to keep holding their hand for long after.

On the other hand, when someone crosses over by himself or herself, it not only indicates his/her free will to come out, but also means that this person is ready.. to battle the uncertainties that await him/her initially in the newer world. So it does not fare well to look at someone less informed and feel pity for the things you think that person is missing, because to miss them that person needs to want them in the first place.. and if he/she doesnt even know about them, its quite possible for them to be happy without. It reminds me of a cocoon and how you cannot force a catterpillar out of it and expect it to turn into a butterfly.. it does do that.. but when its finally ready.. in its own sweet time. Meanwhile, that cocoon serves to protect and nourish its existence and we know that its quite alright to let it be that way.

So unless you are ready to take full responsibility for the entire act.. when in any moral conflict with someone less kowledgeable than you, remember that you are better off letting them live happily... safe within their shackles... till its time for them to come out.. and at that point in time... you can go ahead and help them through.. to turn into that beautiful butterfly they anyway will be.

Where your true strength lies...

2006-04-09T02:31:00.000-04:00
Sometimes u cannot help it... you just stand there... as you see yourself fall... for you are not in control. You feel you could have soared high... right above all that is lurking infront, but alas... this time you are not playing alone... and the new rule is that of the weakest link. So you just stand there feeling helpless. It's so hard to accept any kind of defeat, specially when you feel you are better than that, but now you are a team player. And the only way to win is to do it together. So yes, if you choose to be in the team, you need to accept this state of affair and wait for the day that you can all work together... to lift off... over all that stands in our way.

And till then, you need to stand strong... by all who need you there... through all that may hit you in the face.

And now how I wish such a tommorrow comes. Soon.

A few good words...

2006-03-24T20:01:00.000-05:00
With reference to a post on a friend's blog, I noticed that two very prominent words seem to start with the same sound in almost all languages.

1. "Mother" starts with the "M" sound

2. "No" starts with the "N" sound

I am not really listing the languages that conform to this... but you can easily verify the popularity of this phenomenon.

Instead I am putting forth my take on how this might have come to be, and shall be eager to know about the reader's point of view.

The "N" sound is the most instinctive sound that we usually make to express displeasure, discomfort, irritation, etc. Its not even a word. If you are concentrating and I disturb you, instead of saying something you may actually make that "N" sound which would tell me clearly that I am not wanted there :) So maybe thats got somthing to do with the "No" word ?

And the "M" sound... is it because when babies cry after being born, they have that nasal tone which sounds like a "waaaannnh" and also may resemble "M" ? This is kinda far fetched I know... but just seems so strange that almost everywhere in the world mothers would have a similar sounding name to describe their role in our lives!

down memory lane...

2006-03-06T09:58:00.000-05:00
just posted a few childhood snaps on my other blog

Your sorrow unmasked...

2006-02-14T03:24:00.000-05:00

From dawn to dusk
You wear a mask
Watching over your shoulder

You dare not pause
Your life's a clause
Can be taken by a thunder

You're always alert
Two minds apart
Breathing from down under

Caught in a maze
Covered by haze
Survival is a wonder

As the day goes by
Life runs you dry
Sorrow eats your heart

Till night holds u dear
And you find me near
Gently caressing your hair

You let go of it all
Dont mind if you fall
Knowing I am there

You know I'm your boy
Your only joy...
Your sorrow unmasked.

Feeling blue...

2006-02-12T19:21:00.001-05:00

Drops of golden sun every where,
Your daily quota of breathing fresh air,

Yummy food as you sit down for lunch,
Night outs with friends in a bunch,

Your teaher's wise words that see you through,
Your loving pet sticking to you like a glue,

Growing up with a room you can call your own,
Wearing that first shirt that your dad had worn,

A whole day of picnic with your family involved,
Your mom helping you getting your problems solved,

Your younger sibling bugging you the most,
Your best friend raising you a toast,

Your parent's touch with the magic to soften,
Are few things... taken for granted most often.

Goodness gracious...

2006-02-01T15:39:00.000-05:00
Recently, my car's side view mirror got cracked and needed to be fixed. I took it to a collision shop that had previously worked on my car, and hence the owner Jason, remembered my car (even if he didn’t remember me) just because its one amongst two metallic gold colored cougars in the whole of buffalo NY! Jason took one quick look at it and said that if I left the car with him for an hour he could check to see if he could just fix it by putting it back or gluing it. He also informed me that he won’t charge me anything for a simple thing like that.

Now, being a long standing and frequent victim of extortion of all sorts in my own country, such a notion of "free service" is as alien to me as I am to this country. So naturally I mumbled something to the effect of "That’s ridiculous. Of course I will pay you something for your time... however insignificant" ... in an effort to maybe rationalize his act of sudden kindness.

After an hour, he informed me that the mirror couldn’t be fixed and that I should get it replaced. A new mirror he showed me in the book was listed at $142 for my car's year, make and model. He once again said that he will not charge me anything for labor since it was not a big deal to put the new mirror on. So I asked him to order the new mirror for me.

On my way back, I tried to push the old mirror in place so that I could at least use it till it got replaced. To my surprise, it snapped into place, and although the plastic around was a bit cracked, it held more or less firmly in place. Now I felt a bit itchy. Did Jason really try to fix it at all? Or did he just say that it cant be fixed so that he can get me to replace it with a new one? Or was he telling the truth that he didn't know how long the mirror would stay in place even if it was pushed into place like I did?

Anyhow, I planned on going ahead with the mirror change because I didn’t want to take a chance with it later. But it went on bothering me a bit, because I guess I was frantically looking for a reason for Jason's willingness to ease off on the labor charges. He was supposed to get the mirror 2 days later, and then he said he would need to paint the mirror to match my car's color (more labor!!) and then he would dry it. So I was supposed to go back in 3 days to get it put on.

On my way to get the car fixed, suddenly it struck me. What about the old mirror? The mirror was still fine.. so was Jason going to keep it and sell it by himself? So I made it a point to ask him about it.. and was hoping that he doesn’t add labor for all the painting and all. I reached the shop with my head full of skepticism.

Jason greets me "Hey buddy... the mirror is all painted and set to go... and I shall leave your old mirror in the back seat... that mirror portion is still fine.. so you should hang on to it... and its $142 if you pay in cash... by credit I have to add tax.."

Somehow... without me even saying anything all my doubts were trashed out the window. I left the car for an hour to get fixed and later paid him in cash and drove out. As I was driving to school, I was wondering to myself... is it really that difficult for me to accept that someone out there can still be nice and kind... without having any ulterior motive? Or was it the world around us that makes us tumble so often that we become wary of goodness itself?? Oh my goodness...

Pay it forward

2006-01-18T22:40:00.000-05:00
This is a short post about the idea in Catherine Ryan Hyde's book "Pay it Forward" which also got made into a movie by the same name. In this movie, Haley Joel Osment plays a small kid (Trevor McKinney) going to school. Kevin Spacey, who plays his school social science teacher asks the class to come up with ideas that can have an effect on entire mankind, and then also put it into action.

Trevor in the movie thinks that if he is able to do something really good to help 3 people in the world, and if all those people instead of paying it back to him went on to each pay the favor forward to 3 people who really needed them, then in a short while the number of people who would feel indebted to a stranger would grow exponentially. If this urge to keep paying it forward survives, it could reform entire mankind in a very efficient yet simple manner.

I liked the cast, the plot, and the very sensitive way the film was shot. In all it was thought provoking. And then while I was wondering I realized that entire nature including all the animals and plants (including mankind ofcourse) has already been doing something, and shall continue do that same thing, that reflects this very notion of "Paying it Forward".

It is the very special way parents love and care for their offspring. Look at plants first. One single plant will take great care to create and protect its fruit, filling it with both seeds and required nutrition. That fruit will never be able to repay anything back to the parent plant, but will surely take equal care of its own fruit. This is true for mankind too. No matter what we do, we can never repay our parents for what they have done for us in their lives. And if you are learning from nature, you will know how to love them back and take care of them all you can, without trying to repay any of theirs. For the love we got from them is meant for us to learn from and then pay it forward to our own children.

So it really feels nice to know that such a beautiful concept lies awake in action right around us, if only we make the effort to notice. No wonder they say There's no place like home!!

Sanskar : bed-spread or blind-fold?

2006-01-15T14:08:00.000-05:00
"Sanskar" - an Indian word for the sense of culture. Something you cannot learn off books alone, but that which needs to evolve within yourself through your belief and practice. And most often, this sense of sanskar is passed on through generations via preachings from elders to the younger. If one's belief in one's culture holds strong, it can act as a "bed-spread" (for the lack of a better word) on which one can live one's life comfortably. However, if one fails to comprehend the true essence of the cultural acts, and only concentrates on re-enactment, that same sense may act as a "blind-fold".

Evolution is one of the most natural phenomenon observed freely in the world around us. Millions of years have passed since the first cell ever split on this planet, and now we walk on it proudly. However, when it comes to the evolution of the mind, things are not that easy anymore. And this can have an adverse effect on one's true interpretation of one's culture.

I do believe in good culture and admit it as an essential intrument in one's proper upbringing. However, if within the process of engulfing an young mind with cultural practices, there is no sense of reasoning or no urge to judge the temporal and spatial appropriateness of it, then it may actually be harmful. I feel that it is only prudent that one sees past the apparent practices and makes an effort to fully realize the true essence of one's culture. And then it may be possible to practice it even more efficiently in ways different than those preached, that may be more suitable to the present time and place.

For example I have seen people pray infront of their idol of faith with their eyes closed and hands clasped together in front. And I have also seen parents urging their yound kids to do the same. It is possible that by closing the eyes you are less prone to worldly distraction, thereby being able to concentrate better on what you believe in... and maybe the posture with the clapsed hands follows some pranayam that leads to effectively lower your body's energy, thereby having a calming effect on your mind. So if I were to analyze this act of worship in such a manner, I would realize that the true essence of this particular act is to first "concentrate" and second be "calm". Given this, I would know that if I am sitting alone and am able to concentrate even with my eyes open, and that if by sitting in a padmasana say I can still lower my body's energy, then that apparently different act of worship would have the same effect as the one described before.

More importantly, if one is not open to such an analysis but is only habituated to learning the cultural practices as they percolate down through generations, they may feel utterly helpless in circumstances other than that they are familiar with. For instance if one's sole faith is bound to praying infront of an idol in a temple for example, then when stranded in a place without one, it may lead one to feel lost and desperate, even though it may be possible to attain a sense of direction by simple meditation which can be done almost anywhere. This is where I feel culture and/or tradition can blind you, if you yourself do not take care to keep your mind open and ask "why".

I'll end with a simple and relevant story I had heard. A young girl was learning to cook fried fish from her mom. Her mom showed her how to clean the fish and then remove the scales. Then she cut off the head and the tail leaving only a small portion of the middle section on the large frying pan. When the girl asked her mom why such a large portion of the fish got wasted, her mom informed her that it was exactly how she was taught by her own mother. Intrigued by this, the girl went and asked her grandmother. Surprisingly, her grandmother gave her a similar reply, saying that her own mother had always instructed her to do it that way. Fortunately, her grandmother's mother (grand nanny) still lived to be a healthy old lady. So this young girl went and asked her about it. When her grand nanny heard about this, she just shook her head and replied - "The frying pans were much smaller those days and thats the only way the cleaned fish would fit into it!!"

The Nomadic...

2005-12-15T09:18:00.000-05:00
"No one can keep me tied for long....like the sand dunes, i shift and re-invent myself with every caress of a sandstorm...i realized, that is the key to staying sane and avoiding being hurt...for nothing lasts foreover....not even love...."

I do not agree with the above school of thought. In one of my earlier posts I had already mentioned that disagreeing with someone does not necessarily also indicate a closed mind to that person, so I thought I should be clear once more on that. I can understand and accept someone believing in "changing forms", but I fail to see the point of it.

Remember, that no matter how big or small the sandstorms of life may be... they may easily change your apparent form, but not your true identity which shall still lie within the small grains of sand. In my line of thought, I can view the sand dunes and its ever changing form as our "frame of mind", and the sand grains as our "self consciousness". So what life deals out for us only imprints the mind frame, but to have an effect on the self would need a profound understanding of the self itself. So I guess it depends on whether you wish to focus "without" or "within"... as all the storms only pass on the surface, and the deeper you go the calmer you can be.

Now the second part about "avoid being hurt". I really do not know if that is indeed sane, or in fact really insane. Although happiness is duly searched by almost everyone alive (and dead maybe, havent been there yet), I find sorrow and grief to be far more compelling and intense. In fact, through history "hurt" has proven to be more of a fuel for creativity (music, plays), destruction (wars) and many more things that have brought forth many years of development in more ways than one. I would be really insane to walk through life without having seen the color of "hurt", but that is just my school of thought. I am not saying I love to get hurt. Just that I am open to my fair share of what my tailor made life has in store for me. And to that, I do not wish avoid anything.

"Nothing lasts forever". Well, once again it depends on one's definition of "thing" as well as one's notion of "forever". Ofcourse, if you are talking about biological beings as "things", and your lifetime as "forever", nothing will ever last forever :) But if you refer to the pair of your "soul" and "eternity", well then its still lasting, isnt it? And I feel its the presence of things at appropriate times which is more crucial than the effect of it lasting a while. Everything does happen for a reason. And if you are only going to evaluate the significance of something based on its "last-ablity", then I think you are missing the point. You may have gone through a relationship that turned sour on you. But in that if you fail to remember the good times you shared, then I think you have the tendency to rush through life, trying best to take account of what you have, and what is going to stay, instead of enjoying the ride, that will never last forever.

And if you are indeed hurt by someone else, or by other circumstances of life, the best way to calm yourself is to try and rationalize with yourself your true definition of happiness (as it varies from person to person), and then focus only on achieving that.

"Being happy doesnt mean that the world is perfect; It just means that you have chosen to see beyond imperfection" - Unknown.

Whats this racket...

2005-12-13T08:30:00.000-05:00
Imagine you are sitting in a room with a tin roof, and its raining incessantly. Sometimes it is soft and soothing even, but sometimes its loud and scary. Every now and then, add a couple of thunders too. And this room is in the middle of an African rain forest, where people around do not even speak your language. And they humor you, and try to cuddle you, and essentially treat you like a toy capable of laughable antics.

No. You are not a prisoner of war. Neither are you an African science project (if there exists such a thing)... nor are you about to be offered to God as a human sacrifice. You are, in fact, just a baby.

I read this in an article in Reader's Digest several years back, and somehow since I was writing about babies in my last post, I felt like including this small factoid here too. Ofcourse, for new parents, much of this may be old news. But my role here is that of awakening consciousness... and so this is mostly for people who are uninitiated about such facts.

In my earlier scenario, just replace the tin roof with the baby's eardrums, and the rain with all the noise around (note that it includes our voices too, as words without meaning are nothing but noise). I read that when you speak to a baby, your voice corresponds to a different sounding rain drop falling on that tin roof. Now if its nice and soft, like a plitter platter, the baby smiles. Not because the baby thinks you are the next brad pitt/princess diane, but just because the baby likes the sound of your voice! Alarmingly simple, isnt it? And since the baby hears his/her mother's soft voice the most, it will always find that voice the most soothing (ofcourse, once baby grows up to a kid and mom has to shout all the time its a whole new story meritting I guess a whole new blog post :) ).

So next time you go see a baby and you are all "goo-goo, ga-ga" with it, remember that you will need many years of unlearning to speak that language again, but at least if you can be soft and tender, there are more chances of that priceless giggle over that blasting baby siren!

And even if that siren does sound, dont take it personally. Blame it all on that African rainforest thingy ;)