28 January, 2009

Great lines from a great mind: Excerpts from Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead


Man cannot survive except through his mind. He comes on earth unarmed. His brain is his only weapon. Animals obtain food by force. Man has no claws, no fangs, no horns, no great strength of muscle. He must plant his food or hunt it. To plant, he needs a process of thought.
To hunt, he needs weapons, and to make weapons--a process of thought. From this simplest necessity to the highest religious abstraction, from the wheel to the skyscraper, everything we are and everything we have comes from a single attribute of man--the function of his reasoning mind.

"But the mind is an attribute of the individual. There is no such thing as a collective brain. There is no such thing as a collective thought. An agreement reached by a group of men is only a compromise or an average drawn upon many individual thoughts. It is a secondary consequence. The primary act--the process of reason--must be performed by each man alone. We can divide a meal among many men. We cannot digest it in a collective stomach. No man can use his lungs to breathe for another man. No man can use his brain to think for another. All the functions of body and spirit are private. They cannot be shared or transferred.

The egotist in the absolute sense is not the man who sacrifices others. He is the man who
stands above the need of using others in any manner. He does not function through them. He
is not concerned with them in any primary matter. Not in his aim, not in his motive, not in his
thinking, not in his desires, not in the source of his energy. He does not exist for any other
man--and he asks no other man to exist for him. This is the only form of brotherhood and
mutual respect possible between men.

26 January, 2009

What is wronnng with us!!!

Let this feeling of Indianness be not impulsive, restricted to only a few special and symbolic days of the nation's past achievements. We need to be working at this very moment to make India proud.
Like many others i feel that we are not patriotic to the core. We are emotional about our nationality and yes, we are patriotic- but just for the sake of words. When it comes to the real requirement, that is, dedicated efforts from us to play our part, most of us would not be up to the mark. If everyone would perform his/her duties with their national role and their contribution to the motherland in mind, we would have definitely surpassed all our peer nations.
I've always wondered as to where it went wrong, and why is that we take things for granted, and are negligent about our duties and responsibilities, from where does the parochial mindset come into picture, why is it that we are not ready to give the same importance to national growth, ,like we give to our personal well being . I know many of you would have had the same torturous thoughts.
I feel that we are trying to relax and savor the taste of freedom, brought by the struggles of our forefathers. We feel that enough they had borne the pain, and now that we have a Free India with us-a gift from all those great souls to us, we can do anything we wish, for we have in our hands a precious gift-a Free Nation. I personally feel, this is a gift we are not worthy enough to have, if we don't play our part in making a Free India into a truly independent country which can lead the world.
Disclaimer: The above statements were made not pointing at anyone in particular, but i think you'll know if it was targeted at you or not

25 January, 2009

Not just a hairline difference between us and animals, a bit more than that ......

We as humans are distinct from other animals for our sense of reasoning and the ability to imagine and create. And each one of us is bestowed with these, maybe in different proportions or in different interests. But, we do possess them.
Now, if a person is unable to identify these traits within himself and improvise them, he loses the privilege of being called a Human.Each of us should be able to have a line of thought which follows reason and atleast be in a state of mind which allows uninfluenced imagination,subsequently creation.
This is the least we can do to conserve our humane nature.......

21 January, 2009

Not only the greatest orator of our times,he's more than that...

Rarely have i been left truly inspired by the words of a man belonging to our times. When i hear Obama speak,he ignites a small bright flame of optimism-not a virtual optimism but a very relevant and practical optimism.
With a diverse background in which he was brought up,and the self sustained career which he's tread so far, i think we are witnessing the grooming of a leader who will be what Lincoln or Gandhi are today to us...
Although he is filling in the dirty shoes of Bush with a shoulder sinking amount of responsibilities and hope of his mantra -CHANGE, people never have been more hopeful ... Let us hope he delivers what he wants to, in times like these,as he puts 'not the best of times with gray clouds all over us' ...
All the best Mr. Obama.

19 January, 2009

Sometimes ignorance can be bliss!!!

I was talking to a lady today,a family friend....She is not very educated and all....She is a pious but sensible Hindu...Its so happened that we started talking about metaphysics....She has read the "Geeta" many a times...She was talking about absolute righteousness,truthfulness, honesty in life....
But i was thinking these are a person's choice...Then she was talking about reincarnation of humans into a lower form of life if we fail to deliver our duties...My rational mind was initially almost laughing at her...But as time passed i saw she believed whatever she said to the fullest and no one will be able to change her thoughts..
That i feel is more important-persistence of belief..I was wondering, she lives in a world,created in her mind from the principles from our ancient texts and holy beliefs ...Most of it i feel is not practicable nowadays.....
But i wish i could also think like her,without analyzing the pros and cons of events,calling everything God's play...
Sometimes Ignorance can be bliss.....

18 January, 2009

Procastrination has been the motto, but not for Delhi 6......

I guess, studying for exams just the day before like many other contemporaries of mine has become something very normal to me...Although we've had around 18 days gap between our last 2 papers, I'm doing it only today,exam's tomorrow....
With this i have another important mental task....Delhi 6 audio is out,which i've got...I need to record those songs into my memory....Songs are good as expected....Rahman's first after Golden Globe,and he has given another first time kinda songs.....

12 January, 2009

A R Rahman....Hats off to you.....


Being humans our responsibility is to do whatever we can, to the fullest...-Albert Einstein
A R Rahman has done it.....
There's nothing to say A R,except that I feel more proud to be an Indian.seeing you....

Feeling the heat... Tryin to dissipate efficiently....

Managing time will be the greatest challenge for me this year. Also,with proper management of time,i need to channelise my efforts into appropriately prioritised tasks. I'm whiling away a lot of time into activities which are important,but not that important at this point of time. On one side i have people with expectations for themselves, and on the other i have my work and corresponding commitments. There has been slight imbalance between the two. I'm working on balancing them back.

07 January, 2009

"Our heads are held high,not gazing at the sky,but beyond it"

My team,STUDSAT(the student satellite team) wanted me to come up with a few quotes,capturing the team's spirit to be printed on our team shirts. I was given less than a day's time. I had actually forgotten about this that entire day. Then when i was lying in my bed that night, i started thinking as to what can be said.
Then i happened to come up with these 3 lines:
>"Individually we flourish,together we excel to create"

>"Our heads are held high,not gazing at the sky,but beyond it"

>"A man's step became a giant leap for mankind,our step will become the same for students"


These were placed before the team for selection....Unanimously everyone voted for the second one,which happens to be this post's title.....

I was happy seeing their response....


06 January, 2009

Happy B'day AR


Wish you a happy birthday AR...Hope you keep us entertained with your divine and immortal music forever.......
You rock......

05 January, 2009

*Nothing to display*

Hi...Was trying to churn out something to blog...But ultimately ended up with nothing....Then i thought i'd make this nothing into something instead of saying nothing at all....Still thinking if can i say anything else,but just felt this thing is sufficient for a barren day like today......

02 January, 2009

2009...Pivot of our future....

I'm hoping that 2009 will be an important year to me,and most of you as well....The transition from this academia to industry or higher studies will be an important step in our lives...When we look back after a few years these decisions would be the pivotal points in our life....So,i wanna give all of it a lot of thinking,analyse the pros and cons,finally listen to my heart...Cos,that is when you won't repent...
Your heart somehow already knows what you wanted,so listen to it....

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