Last official day at my first professional job :)

A new experience it was, altogether today. It will stay with me forever.
Bidding adieu to my first job at MRO-TEK turned out to be harder than I had imagined it to be; I hadn't imagined it to be hard at all. Nonetheless, the day took me aback, and it turned out to be an emotional and deeply touching farewell.

In my farewell mail, I called my job at MRO-TEK, which happens to be my first job  to be equivalent to The First Love, and rightly so for, I already seem to have forgotten the few negativities and have started relishing upon all the positives encountered by me.

The affection my colleagues had shown through my tenure by itself was overhwelming, and today it was taken to new heights. Sweet chunks of advice, geneorus words of praise, lots of aspirations and a deep sense of nostalgia, all of it surfaced one after another, making the rendezvous heavier with every passing moment.

I haven't discussed my job, or the nature of my work at MRO-TEK on my blog, and now that I am done with it, I still wouldn't want to talk of it, for, as I see it now the love and affection I have earned amongst my peers speak louder than everything. And so be it!

Mine was a short tenure at MRO-TEK, just a few days less than an year and nine months. It has been quick, exciting and vibrant! The industrial exposure will enable me set the right path to my goals. While all the maturity I have assimilated, pondering for these many months in a different framework has certainly made me a better and sophisticated human being.

The quality of discussions with certain resonating colleagues, day in and day out will be missed deeply by me. So will also the lovely campus, with an earthly serenity attached to it be missed.


This current phase, when I am just drifting away from a bondage into newer realms renders me exhilirated, while soaked in nostalgia. And I am relishing it.

In the end, what I take back from my first job is a new me, who has matured enough to work in aligning myself closer to the utopian me.


Riding on the experience of yesterday, backed by all the courage of today, I am excited about facing the challenges posed by tomorrow!

Making my moves, like i wanted to!

Taking decisions in life, now, when I am at the verge of an important decision feels like playing a tricky game of chess!

I have thought deeply, evaluated the consequences, guaged the prospects and hoped for the optimum, and it feels precisely like an important move you've done on the board of chess; when you know the pawns will have a radical change, while you are desperately hoping the ramifications to turn out to be good!

It is easier said than done, to steer the happenings of one's life to fall in congruence, or at least near the mental envisage of what his/her life should become. But, once a while, a few important decisions put us right into the pilot seat and present us an opportunity to change the course of our lives.
And, to brave up and take those small risks to move closer to our purpose of life is as good can one's life can get.

Now, I am embarking upon a certain path, which will lead me closer to the essence of me. It might not be something grand or exciting to an outsider, but I am swelling with enthusiasm and euphoria, while I still feel a small tinge of apprehension :)

More than the future prospects, the current contentment I derive out of the control I have exhibited and the confluence of all the right things which have fallen into place make me feel wondrous and simply happy.

Banking on this hope and confidence, I am on MY WAY!

How far can one go riding on rationality?

Encountering rationales is getting tougher by the day in today's technology driven world. As paradoxical it might seem, irrationality is getting ubiquitous in the 21st Century. In a world run on the principles of scientific inquisition and technological accomplishments, a counter wave of revived illogic and neo-superstitions are spreading quickly amongst the individuals.

Incorporating the paradigm of logic and reasoning in one's life is not an easy task, agreed. It requires lot of courage and strong conviction to defy the orthodoxity and conventionality that is piously preached by the society.
But it certainly is the only way forward!

In an attempt to categorize the minds I've known based on the rationality exhibited by them, here's a four grade demarcation :P

The ones who don't take off: Have known and continue to know many more who belong to this clan. A strong force acting within these people repels all the logic and makes them imperveous to reasoning.
Traits: Relucatance, apart from the natural obstinate ignorance

The ones who break down en route: These are the slender and fragile ones, who make an attempt but certain adverse situations put them back to square one, or to the level mentioned above.
Traits: Timid and voluntarily cornered

The ones who apply with exceptions: A new creed I am discovering amongst my own regular diaspora. These semi rationales apply rationality with exceptions, and many a times at their convenience. I don't know how they do it, but they successfully detach from their plane of thought and contradict themselves, ending up irrational.
Traits: Opportunistic and of course undone.

The ones who perpetuate forever: These are the ones who wouldn't contradict the subjective realities in variation with the objective conditions. Consistent with their logic, and adamant on their perception.
Improvising a cliche here: Rationality isn't a destination, it is a journey!
And to hang on to this journey, it is nothing less than an incessant struggle; Struggle with one's beliefs and prejudices, and an everlasting process of clearing the smog unravelled by the rest of the three clans.
Traits: Strong conviction and pragmatists

It takes continuous effort and consistent show of mental strength to endorse a lifelong paradigm of rationality. Lethargy, reluctance, hesitancy, selectivity and cowardice are the hurdles to cross if you want to embark upon this enlightnening and gratifying journey.

செந்தமிழ்நாடு மதுரை - Madurai !

Numerous ancient temples, variety of deliciously tasty food, detailed political gyaan at every corner of the road, meter-less auto-rickshaws, the more familiar heat of Tamil Nadu, and a lot more is what I have experienced in my first visit to this ancient city of India - Madurai, also known the Temple Town, with an exquisite legacy and heritage of its own.

Madurai, is also dubbed to be the Capital of southern Tamil Nadu, in colloquial terms. And with its experience of being the capital of the immensely successful monarchies like the Pandyas, Madurai can less be ignored.

My two days in Madurai has been the ideal hangout for a gypsy that I tend to be. Needless to mention that I enjoyed it tremendously for, it was my first trip to Madurai.

The memories I carry from here for this time, are of mixed nature; Some vivacious, while some are subtle, perfectly depicting the nature of the city that Madurai is.

Mind blowing temples, which form an important aspect of discovering ancient India are housed in Madurai. The official logo of Tamil Nadu - The Gopuram, has elaborate presence all across the city.

The world famous Meenakshi Amman Temple, for all its grandeur and legacy was one place I was certain of not missing. And I did spend an elaborate five hours scanning through the layered alleys of this marvel. The awe inspiring architecture of the temple, the symmetry and the scale are the traits which have given it the status it enjoys today.  More importantly the devotion and emotion associated with the temple and its deities, which bring in the thronging crowds aren't to be missed either :) The only complaint I have is the newly done stark paintings performed throughout the temple. Although in some places it increases the aesthetics of the architecture, I certainly would have loved to see it as it was done by the masters then. I call them the masters, for accomplishing a masterpiece of this sorts then, with the little resources they had is mind boggling, and I believe it would be undo-able today, even with all the resources and technology.
We have simply lost the passion our ancestors possessed!

Apart from the Meenakshi Amman temple, there are a host of other temples and places to visit, but I couldn't go on, given the time and energy constraints.

Second and most importantly, the food everywhere in the city has been sublime. Ethnic south Indian cuisine, with all the creativity and the entire spectrum of non-vegetarianism in it has been a treat for a foodie that I am. I have tried numerous new eatables this time around in Madurai.
Here's a list of new on my food list:
"Parutthipaal" made out of cotton seeds extract.
"Jigarthanda", a Madurai special natural cool drink
"Pathaneer" with the sap of tender palm fruit as the main ingredient. This again is a natural coolant, much needed to beat the heat!

 

On the non-vegetarian side of the food, I had "Muyal Biriyaani", that is authentic Tamil biryaani with rabbit meat in it :)
Also, mutton omelette (finely chopped goat meat, with beaten eggs), likewise sea-food omelette, boneless crab omelette and chicken omelette! Then the addendum to the "muttai dosa" list was "chicken/mutton/all-meat/seafood/prawns dosas", which are instigating my salivary glands as I am writing this down! All of this in one classic place - Amma Mess.

Then the roadside idlis with chicken kolumbu, and the ever enticing "muttai kotthu parota": An adventurous preparation yielding yet another mouth watering delicacy.

In all, Madurai food was Sublimely delicious, and vibrantly various!

The warmth of people in Madurai is very visible and that comes natural with their living ambiance, which is still based on the human values. Drawing in the cynicism I have developed towards the the IT/Corporate/LPG-sick city that Bangalore is coming to be, I was so glad to see a place where people on the lower middle and lower sections of the economic spectrum have chances of survival unlike in other metros! It isn't about the prices being nominal alone, even the lifestyle of people matches their living circumstances, and the people are contended and more importantly proud of what they are, again unlike the hypocrisy full, West emulating trends in other cities.
 

Overall, Madurai stands out as one of the best places in India, more for its culture retention and pride of its local (not in the derogatory sense) authenticity.

There will be complaints about everything we observe, but in this log I have subdued one or two negative aspects which I observed for, the rest of it is all so awesome!

The droppings of capitalism!

Capitalist modes of running a society and its criticism is a highly elaborate exercise, and to take up that task I am still inadequately equipped. I shall save it for the future, to make it more convincing.

In this post, I want to focus on certain profound ramifications rendered by the crowning jewel of capitalism - Neoliberalism. 
 
As David Harvey in his book A Brief History of Neoliberalism points, "Neoliberalism has, in short, become hegemonic as a mode of discourse. It has pervasive effects on ways of thought to the point where it has become incorporated into the common-sense way many of us interpret, live in, and understand the world."

And I want to concentrate on the way many of us perceive, interpret and understand the world, well in an increasingly contorted way. To hint at what I am talking about, allow me to present a couple of contemporary ethic statements as heard by me!

"You know you are poisoning the customer, better give him a slow death than a sudden one, so that you get out safe... "

"When you're faced with a vicious snake and a close competitor, kill the competitor first!"
Theories like,
Profit making by legal, although unjust means is perfectly sane.
Professional life comes first, and personal life is secondary.
Rivalry amongst peers taking newer heights of animosity.
Exploitation legitimized in the name of profit making.
And many more observations, which are getting ubiquitous and are successfully draining out the core values of us humans. It is evolving into a system where cynicism and skepticism are increasing instead of trust and belief amongst people.

Even this aspect of declinging trust is not of concern, as much as the silly sancitity assigned to these anomalies. These digressions away from the human values, inclined, contrarily towards the market values have found way into the ethics of the society. And that makes the future bleaker!

A price tag and a profit margin on anything and everything, including emotions and basic necessities is the fundamental basis of Neoliberalism. And we, the mere droppings of this system are more than willing to endorse and live by these false standards. If not a systemic revamp, at least pursuit of consciousness at a personal level against the perils of a system,which is polarized away from our natural good is imperative.

The booming spiritual bloom!

"Inner Engineering", "Spiritual Software", "Cosmic architecture", and many more paradoxical terms have seen a sudden boom in the last decade. This is the new set of jargon presenting itself when the need has arrived. 

The blend of spirituality and technology seems to be the USP of the recent resurgence of the spiritual heads from India, whom I categorize as the "Corporate Gurus". This entire saga of Spirituality and India is a deep rooted gimmick, which has flourished through centuries and still growing, better than ever.

Ancient Indian philosophy, when traversed through without the prejudices we might have inculcated in today's world, is nothing but contradictory to the current preachings of today's spiritualists. In Debiprasad Chattopadhayaya's book "Indian Atheism" he elucidates the fictitious nature of the contemporary spiritualism. He argues and very well validates the absence of the concept of God in most of the ancient Indian Philosophy, which on the other hand is the underlying basis for the contemporary spiritualism.

Another important aspect which comes under the scanner is the plethora of lost minds who are seeking solace from this trend. If narrowed down, the ones seeking 'spiritualism' today mostly are workers deprived of their rights!

An employee who works for 14 hours a day, with no time to spend with his/her family, with no sense of satisfaction and with almost zero interaction with the society in its real terms are the ones who are driven to such extremities.

If one extremity is falling prey for depressants like carcinogen, alcohol and other hallucinogens, the other 'respite' to this new class of social destitutes is seeking spiritualism in order to fill in the voids left by their exploitation.

Capitalizing on this new class of desperadoes is the new thriving 'industry' of spiritualism. Most of these Corporate Gurus bamboozle the vulnerables into their traps, with nothing but sweetened non-sense and a heavy 'donation'.

While Indian philosophy has homed the greatest of the philosphers like the Buddha, Kabir,Shirdi Sai Baba, Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Swami Vivekanada, and certainly some contemporary ones also who haven't shot to 'fame'. The discerning factor between these philosophers and today's swindlers is their motive.

While the genuine gurus were preachers for the sake of betterment in the society, the contemporary Gurus are lavish charlatans who have made the most out of the vulnerabilities in the society. While the ancient philosophers were reformers, who fought against social practices which made the lives of the people miserable, today, the Corporate Gurus are the parasites feeding on the exploitation rendered by the system, and who have zero consciousness of the problem in its entirety. They are mere pseudo embalmers, pretending to salvage the depressed.

It ain't just pretension, the Gurus of the day are frauds of the highest order.
Take a look at some of the programs and ideas propagated by these self proclaimed teachers and leaders!

Walk without Feet, Fly without Wings and Think without Mind!

Art of breathing, to teach you the Art of Living!

As we have physical science to create external well-being there is a whole inner dimension of science to create inner well being. I call it Inner Engineering!

With so much debauchery surrounding the entire scene of spiritualism today, the crowd thronging at them mainly is the learned urban middle class. Isn't it a shame that an educated section of the society can endorse and let such attempts to thrive!

Discerning the materialist in me

Am I a materialist?

Yes and No.

Yes: In the context of non-idealism; in my manners of understanding everything around me. This tinge of materialism in me is what has enabled me to grow an outlook endorsing rationality and self verification, and am usually not driven by the momentum of the legacy of beliefs. 'Doubt everything', as one great philosopher put it is the underlying perceptive principle, out of which the materialism in me emanates.
Looking for the logic behind events, reasoning for occurrences, with an incessant urge to question is how life should be lived. It gives immense gratification, which is otherwise impossible to be rendered by the other ubiquitous means for 'pursuance of truth' like spiritualism, religion or superstition!

No: If being asked in the context of being 'materialistic', i.e.,belonging to the creed manifesting greed, in the purest sense of commodity seeking behaviour. This category of consumers are technically not materialists, but only materialistic in nature.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Materialism

I recurrently am encountered with questions about my aims in life.
And even before I start to formulate my ideas, the questioner starts off, "A plot of land","A posh flat", "A gizmo car", "A heavy account balance", and blah blah. If these are not blah blah to you, you are one such prospective questioner I would despise if you go on to presume something on those lines. Contradictory to the conventional trend as it may appear, I treat commodities as mere commodities, and not goals of my life.

It doesn't mean that I do not want to lead a comfortable (economic stress free) life. I would not give any more reverence to the commodities beyond that. My objectives in life, if I were to even think of them are more on the lines of expanding my own abilities, bettering my skills and in this course to throw some positive influence on others.

Inside WikiLeaks, and inside Inside WikiLeaks!

 I am a self proclaimed admirer of Julian Assange [J] and more so of WikiLeaks[WL]. Let this trait of mine not induce an idea that this post of mine is in favor of J or WL, in manners more than what they deserve.

Daniel Schmitt [D], actually the pseudonym of Daniel Domscheit-Berg is the author of the supposedly tell all book about WikiLeaks in his recent hurriedly written, crib-log Inside WikiLeaks.

I took up reading this one for, this is the first account of any details from within the secretive whistle-blowers platform WikiLeaks. But, as ridiculous a book could get, Inside WikiLeaks is majorly the yanking of D about J's personal habits, dressing sense, his perception of women, arrogance, egotism and everything that should have been confined to one's personal observations about a fellow comrade in their struggle against secrecy, and for transparency.

Non conformity with the book

WL has always propagated that "Transparency is only for Governments and big corporations, and not necessarily for individuals". I think D had got this idea distorted and goes on yanking about J's personality, and reporting nuances of J's behavior like kids would do in kindergarten.

J eats with his hands, and wipes off on his pants.
J taps the keyboard hard, creating disturbing noise.
J wore the same white shirt for both the days of the conference.
J eats faster and leaves me little to eat.
J gets more importance, and not the team, or myself.
J wears my jacket, and goes to sleep.
J pounces on my cat.
J is not bothered about selling the T-shirts, he's busy philosophizing.
J is paranoid!
And lots of commentary on J's sexuality, to the extent that D brands J a sexist.

D, for all the credibility he has as being an important person who was working for WL, hailng from the Chaos Computer Club, and to come out with a kindergarten complaint book of this sort is silly firstly, and also puts the work he had contributed to WL in bad light. I can very well anticipate the quality of work he would have been contributing to WL with a mindset such as this.

The claims of him being sidelined, and that J was getting more attention is again a point not worth debating. WL is the ingenious and courageous brainchild of J, and if he gets credit better than his counterparts, there's nothing wrong in it, unless you have peers who are trivially bothered about it. This is a normal issue in any team, and I can testify with first hand experience, like many of you would as well.

The most importantly ignored aspect about J, or WL in the book has been the security threats they have been undergoing. D pretends as if they were functioning in a safe and secure IT firm, just writing code. Even if some of the threat claims made by Assange have been exaggerated, instances where WL whistleblowers were killed, or Amazon, Paypal, VISA withdrew their services reveal to great extents the opposition WL was/is being conditioned to. And because J had to front end WL in times of most turbulence, even his safety and well being is at evident risk.
The circumstantial allegations of the sexual misconduct by two women, to get J grounded is more than a normal reaction to what could have been J's actions.

Conformity with the book

Although the book is filled with nonsensical commentary on J, the details about how WL functioned initially, or at least to the point of narration where D is still not jealous of J is quite a read.
A single decade old server hosting WL for the first whole stint, and portraying it differently to the external world, or about the impact their leaks had is enjoyable.

The criticism on the disorientation of WL from its core principles of neutrality, because J wanted to go head on with the US, if true is a point I too would be worried about. As far as D has written in this book, J's anarchist tendencies have driven him to a war with the US. But, I cannot deny the fact that, when you take World politics and are trying to make it transparent, the US of course would emerge from under everyone's carpets. And to expose the world, is in reality exposing the US, for, the US is so intrinsically involved with the rest of the world!

Holding back of leaks, or if any bias has happened to them as D alleges, that again is a matter of immense concern. Although, apart from the commentary which influence the opinions of the audience, the material by itself will be authentic, or the concerned authorities would certainly pull WL into intended espionage.

About alleged mishandling of the donations to WL, which is the core motive which has driven D to write this book according to me, must sometime come under scrutiny, or better if J would publish the transactions to shut the critics.

The internal structure, and inherent secrecy of WL as an organization is understandable for, they're in a tough game, playing big opponents and functioning with transparency is something a small team like theirs cannot afford to.

About Open Leaks [OL], I am certainly looking forward to it taking off. For, if OL can be better than WL, by not influencing the nature of leaks, or precedence, or of the recipients of the leaks, it will certainly be better. Transparency on their platform theoretically sounds very promising, and if accomplished it can certainly become the baton holder of whistle-blowers after WL.

D says,
"There's enough injustice in the world to occupy more than one (whistleblowing) platform.", and let us hope both together can make the world a better place.

All said and done, WikiLeaks made the world aware of the importance of whistleblowing to a greater extent than ever before in the History, encouraging a lot of dissidents to take up the cause. Julian Assange, irrespective of his gray shades personally, has been the spokesperson for transparency of Governments globally and will remain an icon ( maybe not of Pop icon nature, as claimed by Daniel), but more important than that – A role model to today's technologists to take up issues of social concern, without secluding themselves from the realities around...

Self deception in the process of gross deception...

It's quite amazing as to how we can make ourselves believe, almost in a manner of self-deception, by repeatedly emphasising on something fictitious to be factual, either about our own persona or of our perceptions.

Being absolutely honest about oneself is impractical, and more so not pragmatic. There is a trade-off between the quality of the character we possess and would aspire to possess as depicted to the external world. And many a times, these aspirations transcend to become traits, because even we start to believe that these fictions are facts, just like we would have wanted the rest of the world to perceive.

There are principles, and then there are beliefs. While principles are the schools of thoughts endorsed by the mind and there is a tinge of stubbornness attached to it. Beliefs are more on the aspirational lines.

The realities as portrayed by us to the ones other than us, slowly creep into our being and after a certain threshold level of belief, these 'beliefs' become one with our set of principles, mostly attributable to one's depleting ability to discern between the facts and fiction. We convince ourselves while in the process of convincing others, that some of fictitious beliefs are facts as well.

Just like the creator getting lost in his/her own creations, our mind creates a panorama of beliefs to either influence others, or sometimes just to move on with the proceedings.
After having succeeded in making others believe in these created projections of ours, ironically even we end up believing in these projections.
Self deception in the process of gross deception is what all of this seems like.

Asymmetric geniuses!

Thanks to one of my fellow rationales for discussing this observation with me,  which I have only tried to substantiate in this post.

It indeed is a very good observation that many of the 'geniuses' are in fact asymmetric. Asymmetric as in, either they aren't the best at their 'social etiquette', or  the best of the home-makers!
But, does that mean they are unworthy of their ingenuity?

What most of us, who want to be the "Jack of all, Master of none" accomplish in the end is tagging ourselves onto the humongous and over-crowded cloud of mediocrity.

In order to focus and excel in all domains, the resources allocated to us when we are the conscious part of the Universe are in deficit. As a result, we can channelize our efforts to few domains, and can succeed in fewer.

So, becoming the "Master of all" isn't feasible, in reality.

When such is the case, geniuses from any field have tried to make a trade off between their work and social/personal lives. The likes of Newton, Tolstoy, Marx, Shakespeare, Einstein, Feynman and many other minds who have put us at awe with their groundbreaking work have had 'problems' in their social or personal lives, gauging them with the rest of the mediocrity. Criticism and attacks on these minds for not being upto the society's mark in their etiquette has testimonials throughout the course of civilisation, which is absurd.

Weird, really??

Recently, Julian Assange the founder and Chief Editor of WikiLeaks, a genius and maverick of sorts, has had to face a lot of mud-slinging. This coming from, as expected, the rest of the mediocrity.
My point has always been, why bother about the individual's personal/social life unless it affects you directly! Whether he/she likes cats or not, if they wear the same shirt for more than a day, or if they keep changing their girl friends?
It should be of no concern for, the work from them is what influences us. Unless they try to influence their supposed wierdness onto us, we should be least bothered, or distracted about their lives.

In the case of WikiLeaks, this has been an extensive smear campaign against Julian Assange , who has been the Spokesperson and the front-end to the entire movement of WikiLekas. By distracting the audience from the essentials, the media certainly has done its job of trying to reduce the credibility of WikiLeaks amongst the gullibles,  of course. But, where has all the grey matter of people vanished? Most people actually seem to be concerned more about Assange's wierd hairdo than the ideals he has brought to life with his work.

Asymmetric nature of minds at work should be recognised as a necessity for them to concentrate their efforts on the work they do, rather than expecting them to be the clichéd, stereotype social animals.

To be, or not be?

When an intimate episode of life is hinting at its formal end, how do you respond to it?
Do you rejoice in a reminiscing mode, or regret in a remorseful one?

The conflict has been if I should bid adieu in a delightful manner for, I can forever be nostalgic and hence indebted to those memories. Or, do I go cribbing about it?

But then, I directly arrive at the logic and /me missing it now, makes no sense at all, as I knew it was coming, and coming this way.

Life to me as yet, has been a beautiful compilation of lovely chapters, with each one embodying special protagonists other than me. Everyone of these other protagonists have changed me, and all for the good, or that's how I see it.

Like I have always said - It doesn't take me long to get off my obsessions.
I had done it before, numeorus times, and will be doing it again.
This particulaar trait in me sometimes makes me believe I am the most strong headed person I have known!

The question 'To be or not be a remorseful cartoon' surfaces up, only to find the obstinate answer ever ready.
Thanks for the memories...

PS: As a rare coincidence, I happened to listen to this great track by Fall Out Boys in the morning, and these lines have been lingering in my head. So apt!

It's always cloudy, except for,
When you look into the past.

One night and one more time
Thanks for the memories
Thanks for the memories...

Fast Forwarding India: Anna and Baba way!

If I were one of the high TRP media channel ( almost all the hundreds are in fact of high TRP!), who feeds junk to people, at this moment I would be gleaming at my own fortune! Drama, action, emotion, music, and even some Indian acrobatics ( yoga) in impeccably packaged episodes running to full houses for quite sometime now.

By the way, if there's anyone apart from me, who's also finding it difficult to relate to the time period we actually are living in, given the course of events unfolding, here's a reminder: It certainly is the 21st Century, after the age of Communications, well into the age of Information and Technology.  And in this time frame, we are witnessing some of the greatest regressive approaches to revive India, by Fast Forwarding her: : Anna and Baba way,

Corruption is not something new to India, or to any society for that matter. The sudden surge, a giant leap forward in the scale of corruption is what has come to the notice of the civil society off late. Thanks to some loyal Govt. officials like the Lokayukta and a specific Gandhian to have had it echoed throughout the country, which otherwise is comfortably dormant, highly middle classed society.

Looking back, before a couple of months during the Anna phenomenon, almost all of the tax paying, middle class citizens were poised together with Anna Hazare to put a full stop to corruption in India by tweeting, facebooking, reading the bill draft, participating in meetups and discussing out of desperation the pros and cons of an inherently flawed approach towards tackling corruption.
This entire fuss about eradicating corruption and the antidote in the form of another parallel bureaucratic system called the "Jan Lokpal", which has been under way is, if at all implemented going to be a superficial medication for a deep rooted problem in a severely wounded system.

The entire polity and economics of the system must be resuscitated and revived to see any hope of betterment.

Without delving into this repetitive argument on my blog, let us look at the situation at hand.
A Yoga Guru, who is left out of the Drafting Panel of the LokPal committee for obvious reasons, decides to redo the exercise of emancipating the country within a couple of months after the hysterical Anna Hazare movement. He is doing it again because.... I'm not really sure! Maybe the Lokpal committee didn't want to incorporate his ingenious demands to curb corruption. Demands like capital punishment for the corrupt, demonetizing Rs.500/- and Rs.1000/ currency notes, and the Prime Minister being directly  elected by the people, which apart from being unviable are simply ridiculous.

With other demands like undoing Indian black money in foreign banks, Ramdev had hit the chord of double standards: While he has declared his own assets which reach upto Rs. 1000 crores and Islands as property (with suspicion on the sources) he seeks an anti-corruption campaign!

Like the Congress is now branding Ramdev as a thug, he is at the first place unfit to call for a campaign for a cause of this nature. I might even tend to pardon him, but not the gullibles who went behind him, including the UPA Govt. Imagine the spite of the Government,when it sends four of its ministers to negotiate with a thuggish Baba who threatens to go on a fast along with his followers.

Now, when the police in a surprise action has shaken up the India Fast Forward program by the Baba, in an agreeably undemocratic manner, they have made an unnecessary Hero out of a thug. I can only hope not for all the drama that is going to unfold in the bleaky days to come.

And the BJP with their saffron connection with Ramdev and his act, would be more than happy to lift off from the "Ramlila Maidan atrocity" directly to power. They have already started comparing the incident to JalianWala Bagh massacre of 1919 and PM and Sonia Gandhi to General Dyer!

Where has all the sense in this country vanished!

I only can hope that there aren't anymore Fast dramas,and people concentrate on the real issues which are giving rise to these high levels of corruption and injustices.

Corruption and Price rise: Campaign by Samudaaya

After two weeks of Jaathas across Karnataka, both the Samudaaya teams converged in Bangalore on the 28th of May, 2011 for the culmination of the event.

“What we want to do is: Sensitize creative people to use their creativity as a means of expression to take up issues of social importance and reach out to the masses”, says Surendra, General Secretary of Samudaaya, the cultural troupe in Karnataka that has been on a state wide touring called Jaatha. In this Jaatha, Samudaaya is reaching out to the rural masses, increasing the awareness about corruption, price rise and their causes.

Samsa Open Theatre is where the final Jaatha happened in Bangalore. This Jaatha  was presided over by some of the eminent anti-corruption activists and progressive thinkers in Karnataka.
Justice Santosh Hegde, Lokayukta of Karnataka, who is currently at the end of his term is one of the recent officials who has striven hard, given the restrictions and limitations imposed on him to make impact on the corruption scene in Karnataka. If not systemic changes, he has been an instigator for the ever dormant middle class to at least shake off the frost and voice some opinions against corruption.

In his speech during the Bangalore Jaatha, a witty point made by him about the Prime Minister does hold good. Justice Santosh Hegde compared the self proclaimed helplessness of the Prime Minister with that of the elders who witnessed in silence the act of harassing Draupadi in the mythological Mahabharata. Justice Santosh Hegde also picked on the famous statement by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the “Zero tolerance for corruption”, which according to Mr.Hegde should be interpreted as the “Tolerance towards the number of zeroes being appended to the figures of the scams”. He urged the citizens to dispel corrupt politicians, without endorsing them over and over again with all their glorified flaws. He appreciated the efforts taken up by Samudaaya, of educating the masses, which according to him is the most important step in the fight corruption.

K Maralusiddapaa, former chairman of the Karnataka Nataka Academy went ballistic against the Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization phenomenon in the past two decades. He equated this process to be a morphed means of nothing but exploitation. Exploitation of developing and the third world countries by the developed ones, and in turn internal exploitation of the weaker sections by the powerful people. He also raised doubts about the Anna Hazare movement, and he warned the supporters to be cautious of the other organizations which are clinging on to Anna Hazare, apprehending it would become another JP Movement. KMS again appreciated the efforts by Samudaaya at the grass root level amongst the rural population and the urban youth.

T N Sitaram, famous small screen director, took on the aspect of increasing disparity and the lifestlye of the capitalist barons, calling them unethical and inhumane. In order to convey the point that elections are won only when the candidates are rich and powerful, he went on to say that even Mohandas Gandhi would not have got a seat in any of the major parties in Karnataka, and likewise at the centre.

Professor GK Govindarao, expressed his anguish against the “common man”, who is complacent and doesn't bother to question the system beyond superficial discussions at home. He also expressed his deep dissent against the media for their charlatanry in the way they make and feed news to people. His rest of the talk comprised of blatantly spilling out facts agaisnt the BJP governance in Gujarat and Karnataka.

In all, the speakers were in unison in their ideals agaisnt Corruption and price-rise, with each one of them urging the common man to dive into the cleansing process.

As an addendum to the Samudaaya campaign, a recent development in the campaign against corruption : Wikileaks was proposed by Senthil, from the Free Software Movement-Karnataka, wherein he touched upon the need for publishers such as Wikileaks, by using instances of RTI activists and whistleblower deaths in India.He urged the gathered supporters to also endorse this latest means to fight against injustice.

The final speech was impeccably presented by Mr.Hudugi, who is the Secretary of Samudaaya. He briefed about the Jaathas. Mr.Hudugi arrived upon the proactive nature and strong conviction of individual citizens to fight against injustices which ultimately lead to consequences such as corruption and price-rise.

While all these talks were in progress, interleaved with the talks were a few excellently written and sublimely rendered protest songs which were sung throughout the Jaathas. Finally, the Maalur Samudaaya team put up a play, an adapted version of the famous “Vikram and Bethal” fiction story to match the agenda of the Corruption and Price-Rise.

The message this Jaatha has left behind is that we need to shake off the frost and get into action against injustices. No more should we bear atrocities such as corruption and price-rise. A movement from the grass root level should compel systemic changes for the good of the society.

More on Samudaaya and the Jaatha : http://samudaaya.wordpress.com/

Surely You're Joking Mr.Feynman!

Feynman, the prankster;
Feynman, the magician;
Feynman, the flirt;
Feynman, the educator;
Feynman, the musician;
Feynman, the adventurer;
Feynman, the artist;
Feynman, the genius;


Yes, Prof.Richard P Feynman was all of the above and a lot more. A true rationale, an inspiration, a role model for ages to come and an unrealistically honest human being.

I haven't mentioned 'Feynman, the scientist' if you've noticed, but you don't call someone who lives a life of Science as a mere scientist. He is one of the greatest minds to have lived before us.
He was an embodiment of many different traits, tied together by Science at every nuance of his life. While many of us try to get better at only one of those traits in our entire lifetime, Prof.Feynman did in actuality live many more lifetimes by being all of it that he was in his single life span.

The amount of motivation and drive that he exhibited throughout his life is something each one of us should inculcate.Not to mention his perpetual light-heartedness and eternal wit.
If there's one negative aspect of his life, which he too confesses midly is the utter disregard he exhibits towards the State, and also him shrugging off the responsibility of Science. And irresponsible science is lethal, when it reaches the hands of power hungry bureaucrats.

Nevertheless, to have lived a life like that of Prof.Feynman, you would get to see the recklessness, which was so true to him, in all facets of his life.

We have to look up to great minds, and the ones like Prof.Feynman are the rarest. Trying to emulate him in whatever little way we can is the best way to admire him.

There are two types of genius. Ordinary geniuses do great things, but they leave you room to believe that you could do the same if you only worked hard enough. Then there are magicians, and you can have no idea how they do it. Feynman was a magician
 Hans Bethe, Theoretical Physicist

When procrastinating hurts real bad!

A random routine, with lot of running around,yanking and thinking, talking and more talking, with little attention to my food, health or exercise has been my lifestyle for quite sometime now, against all the earnest advice of all my well wishers, including my perennially concerned mother.

It is not that I chose this adhocism, but this has been the best I could do with all my resources. I usually never procrastinate the work on me, it just gets extended most of the times. The only aspect of me which wholeheartedly procrastinates is to attend to myself. My immunity has taken a hit in this regard, and have been catching cold every now and then.

So, who gives the wake up call - A good old, dreadful friend - Migraine!
Although, I wouldn't usually put up a post about my migraine hit, this one was perfectly timed and un-ignorable!

It comes during a period of time, when as if to predict it, lot of my friends and at home had been warning me :D

Enter migraine-2011: I easily could claim this to be the most severe attack I've had since I was medically diagnosed with migraine, before more than six years!

The experience: First, I feel wobbly on my way back from my cricket practice on my cycle; decide to give it a push, than a peddle.
Reach home, and I am all blacked out; the right portion of my skull is excruciatingly under pain (it hits me only the right side of my head!), almost like being crushed and is joined climatically by a stint of nausea, leaving me flat!

And now, If you thought I was done for another day or two: Nope!

I was up and running to normalcy in another 4 hours. How?

The only three words which I would never forget in my life came to rescue (the tablets to alleviate such migraine attacks), along with some aromatic therapy of herbs and spices at home,  and two hours of sleep bounced me back to sense. Nevertheless, some important plans of the day were jeopardized.

Moral of the story: I will take care of myself for, it costs me more when I'm blacked out, courtesy: migraine!

Public voice and Democracy

Conflicts and friction between individuals and bodies of authority have been consistent throughout the evolution of human civilization. Every time humanity has been witness to this abrasion, it has resulted in consequences which have reverberated throughout the rest of time. In most cases, the bottom line cause for these frictions have been the question of Rights and Liberties.

Perpetuation of the hard earned rights and liberties of individuals, enabling a free society can be accomplished only when there is a guaranteed voice for the public. This highly important voice of public has undergone extensive metamorphosis, and has been evolving with greater capabilities with every passing day.

Like every other social asset, these media are natural, double-edged swords with opportunities of using and misusing them. Although the primary objective of these public voices, or the media is to become what they were created for, i.e, to present the combined opinions of the masses as a single, unified, loud voice, which the authorities, in many cases the Governments would give heed to.

On the contrary, and quite as expected, these channels for public voices, instead of talking for the people, have many a times taken a U turn and have been engaged in curtailing the quintessential rights of people.

This toggling behavior of the media has been true in the case of most of today's obvious technologies: The Printing Press, Radio, Television, Telephony, and now the Internet. These have all played major roles, either by supporting or hindering the rights of the individual.

The historical understanding of the role media have played very well substantiates their importance.
Betrayal of the people by the media, and taking up a stance against the people, on behalf of hegemonic authorities has been a symptom indicating unhealthy governance systems. To eradicate such cancers, a neutral medium, independent of the Governments, or monopolies had to be created.

The Internet, started off by giving lot of optimistic hope on those lines, and was successful until only it was sparsely available to the common people. With its increasing ubiquity, the threat Internet could pose to the biggies in their anti-people endeavors has been shrewdly identified and all efforts to curb the democracy in the Internet is underway.

Curtails on the freedom of expression, on a media like Internet could be catastrophic. A collapse of democracy in the Internet, would naturally culminate into the collapse of democracy in the Governance itself.

The Internet has the potential to become the most democratic voice of the masses, which has eluded the human civilization for ages. It has flaws, but it is the best tool at our disposal in today's world. Instead of making it better, a growing menace of curbing it and negating the essence of democracy in the Internet has been ongoing at a very brisk pace.

When sanguine initiatives like the Wikileaks, in the people's perspective are being harrassed and abused by the most powerful of the Governments world across, it acts as an indicator of the quality of democracy, or the pseudo democracy we all believe to be living in.

In the conflicts of people and the authoritarian regime in the oligarchies of the day, we need to vanguard the one, big voice we have come to arrive at : Freedom of Expression in the Internet. With the trend of increased laws and curtails on the Internet, we will lose out, probably the best opportunity presented to our generations.

Keeping Internet closer to the people, is the only real way forward.


PS: Working on these lines, we have started campaign in support of Wikileaks and Web Democracy. If you feel concerned, join us.
http://wiki-leaks.wikispaces.com/
Sign up on the signature campaign to show your intent about Wikileaks.
http://www.fsmk.org/support-wikileaks

400 posts: A lovely log to reminisce

I finally am publishing this 400th post, after quite a lot of delay :) 

time taken for each of the 100 posts

And in this one, I am recollecting some of the nicest, funniest, memorable and thought provoking comments by some of you, which have made my blog richer and a valuable possession of mine.

These comments are in the increasing chronology of their occurrences in my blog.

• Quantum of Solace  First comment on my blog :)

lakshman said...

a brilliant statement made by a highly observant person.. it reflects the height of self assessment...AMAZING!!!!

• Dishum dishum bang bang

 shreyansi said... 

oh yeah i remember poor thing but then also u dnt seem to change, ur such a stubborn gypsy i think u luv to hurt urself n shud hav mentioned abt ur habit of forgettin as well as avoiding things to the limit that even if vehicles run over ur foot u dnt mind isn't it?

• The India Quiz

srilakshmi said...

Hey maverick, your 'The India Quiz' was so well orgnised that it kept the audience engrossed throughout. There was not a moment when we felt we were waiting for something. And the way you dissent makes the opposite side agree with you!

At the end of the day, it was JOB WELL DONE. Keep it going.

• No "Love All" policy;"Hate none" is my choice

anu* said...

The one thing i know to be true is "Love and Hate are two sides of the same coin!" Hate is such a strong word that you can feel that much animosity against someone only if you once loved them that much... Love and Hate are perhaps the most painful feelings ever, where on one hand you're on top of everest, and on the other, you're falling down a bottomless pit! Extreme feelings are damaging so i suppose such feelings get compartmentalized into different intensities. Ayn Rand is truly great! [but i didnt exactly quote the same philosophy]

• Beauty beholds in the eyes of the admirer..But why???

SUGANYA said...

yeah i do agree with you....!!!
The real beauty is always invisible to the eyes...or i would like to say " the essentials are always invisible to the eyes".most people admire nature, but,a person's admiration is unique when he finds a unique beauty in anything."
........    not all women can be beautiful (physically), but all can be charming... to find the charm in their eyes is a skill....!!!so the hidden beauty can be found only by the "skilled eyes"(the admirer)...!!!!so rightly said:
"Beauty beholds in the eyes of the admirer"

• Freudche

 $@ndhy@ said...

brilliant!!! -Sandhya & Pradeep

•  Stratum 3: Why the frivolous stratification?   

anupama said...If each of us truly listened to ourselves and set our own goals to realize, we would be least bothered about worthless issues like caste, creed etc. I feel that the eagerness to be accepted and fear of being shunned makes us endorse these issues blindly

• de l'amour à faire l'amour 

Lakshmi said...

Raghu, not all do that. There r people who live just in wait of that love. A little feeling of specialness is felt only one is in love. I hope u agree to it. That feeling of specialness comes only when there is love... Love is not only for the life partners but it is beyond that... I would like recommend ma today's blog to u... please go through...

Anirban Basak said...

I totally agree to wat u say... It reflects the world of today n how this delicate feeling is percieved..!! Good one.. ^_^

•  God,Men and Godmen ;)

Vincentvikram said...

update: The LOve GUru admits to his act ;)

Defends himself by saying they were wearing clothes(what a relief!!).

•   Right to (quality) Education... 

vaish said...

I totally agree with your view because I've seen live examples of people not being able to produce caste certificates since they couldn't get the required documents from the tasildars and hence, not being eligible for the respective post. The 'weaker society' needs a desperate push to get past this problem which is the root cause for the decline in improvisation. If this is not addressed to right now, it is definitely going to take eons to revive the backward classes!

• The common man's simple joys :)

bharge said...

good one again as customary... simple things in life holds a bubble of happiness in the end... whether the hot chai/egg dosa in a road-side stall... or getting drenched in the rain (a personal favorite of mine), listening to the birds chirping, making others arnd us happy, etc... ppl shud def have a stop/pause button in their lives to come off their life on fast lanes, enjoy the lil things... we seem to forget though money is imp for a decent life, its not the most imp thing... after all, u can only be at one place at a time... and yes indeed, the taste u get out of the eatables in any road side shop will beat any 5-star hotels hands down... and thats the best thing about india... 

• Re-contemplating the existence of a Principlist..

swathi said...

Hi Raghavendra, Adding onto your post, I don't know is its related or not but thought its worth a mention. With experience sometimes we set experience because of simply dabbling onto an issue without knowing on what built it on.So what happens as days go by is, this(principles) sort of modifies.I am saying this as a novice, because I have done that mistake.So it evolves and becomes something better.

• Flora, Fauna, Fantasia and Femina :)

G.Suvetha said...

The Flora, The Fauna, The Fantasia and The Femina ... What a rhythm ! Love & smiles..

• Let's Talk Ideas

Srilakshmi Jayaramappa said...

Sensible minds are hard to find, trust me! Many simply do not want to see the point.

 

Minds for reference

While in conversation with a good friend of mine, we happened to talk about the sensation and impact rendered while interacting with famous and influential people.

When I started thinking what sort of impact they'd have, and been having on me, the first thing I had to admit was that I do not get exaggeratedly excited when in their company. I don't mean that I'm not in awe, or in admiration of them, but only that I wouldn't be highly excited to lose my senses in their presence.

A necessary clarification at this juncture: I'm not talking about the paparazzi celebrities, but of the people who deserve to be celebrated. Dedication, the mindset and efforts emanating from such people are always inspiring,and it is people of this genre that I am talking about.

Interactions with many such influential people, serves as a great motivation to me. I would certainly want to learn, improvise and better myself by emulating little important traits of many of these great minds. This motivation is good, if one sustains it by converting this influence into tangible efforts.

Sometimes, this motivation, starts haunting me.
It contrasts my own stingy efforts to me, which even I would admit aren't very impressive or even adequate at all. Meeting famous and influential people, acts as that reminder which admonishes me for my inadequate efforts.

Benchmarks or frames of reference, when are set of high standards, they help us to better ourselves. Interactions with great minds are always a boost to the morale and motivate us to take up our efforts with more dedication.

nanos gigantium humeris insidentes

My interpretation:

All that I, a little dwarf, am trying to do is, stand on the shoulders of giants to see farther and aspire bigger.

Standing on the shoulders of giants

Songs of Protest: A forgotten tradition

जाने वाले  सिपाही  से  पूछो
वो  कहाँ  जा  रहा  है
जाने वाले सिपाही से पूछो
वो कहाँ जा रहा है

इश्क है कातिल -इ -ज़िन्दगानी
खून से तर है उस्की जवानी
हाय मासूम बचपन की यादें
हाय दो रोज़ की नौजवानी
जाने वाले ...

कैसे सहमे हुए हैं नज़ारे
कैसे डर डर के चलते हैं तारे
क्या जवानी का खून हो रहा है
सुर्ख है आंचलों के किनारे
जाने वाले ...

कौन दुखिया है जो गा रही है
भूखे बच्चों को बहला रही है
लाश जलने की बू आ रही है
ज़िन्दगी है की चिल्ला रही है
जाने वाले ...

-Makhdoom Mohinuddin, during the World War II, about the meaninglessness of war and violence.

A song I hadn't heard until I did listen to a different version, very recently.
This one has been rendered with a classical touch by the very talented Sumangala Damodaran.

"Songs of Protest" is the album, a rare one in today's chaotic music world dominated by noise, non-sense and anything but music. A compilation of some of the greatest protest songs, not just songs, but symbols of some of the epochal events in the Indian freedom struggle. The nine songs in Hindi, Malayalam and Bangla are more than just old songs being revisited, but like the album cover says it is a glimpse of The Forgotten tradition.

Although my Malayalam and Bangla are equally distant from making much sense to me, I have been relishing the quality of the songs, and at every opportunity have been asking for translations from relevant friends.

Here are the previews of three tracks, and to buy the audio you can flip the cart.

  Jaane Waale by SumangalaDamodaran 

  Aarkotokaal by SumangalaDamodaran

  Aarkotokaal by SumangalaDamodaran

Don't miss Baba, he'll be back!

After being unable to resist the temptation of writing about the great incarnate of the God : Sathya Sai Baba, I stand here guilty spilling out my deep, heart felt thoughts and softened emotions to you.

Who said the Baba is no more!
This incarnation of God, who had proclaimed he had created the world has taken a sabattical from his created world, temporarily.
Maybe, he's out there paying visit to his peers in the other parallel universe. When the mortals of the Earth say, 'He is no more',it implies, he is no more available to us. Like a network outage, but in the cosmos. Signal will be back soon and with better reception.
In the end, as all his devotees would ardently believe, he's out there somewhere, serving the poor and the rich of another world 'impartially' as he did on this, now God-forsaken planet of ours.

Baba was beyond the realms of materialism...
When followers offered him grand donations, Baba was only unloading them off the materialistic burden and bearing it himself on behalf of all his devotees. In his earthly absence now, this burden is going to create havoc in his own institutions, and this shows how great a cushion he was. He for all these years, silently was bearing all that humungous burden, which amounts to about 1.4 lakh crores of rupees in assets and some extra few tons of gold.
Can any mortal of this world even think of bearing such a burden? No.
And hence proved: He's the God incarnate.

Baba was no materialist!
He was never a materialist: His simple saffron attire, gleaming smile and the radiant dark eternal hair, were all manifestation of his abundant spirituality.

Further, his idea of materialistic detachment was contemporary, and not ancient. Not ancient for, some of the previous great seers (like the one I'm named after) seen by India,had attained their Samadhi voluntarily to relieve their bodies of the worldly burdens. Baba wanted to show how close to the humans he was, and how advanced his methods of operation were. So, he like just another man laid unwell in his own world's, his very own hospital under ventilators. This distinction makes our Baba stand out, but closer to us, the mortals.

Baba's prophecies weren't wrong!
There have been numerous reports ever since the Baba started flourishing as the self proclaimed God he became, about his wrong predictions. It is the dim-witted mortals such as these rumor-mongers who fail to notice and croak that his predictions aren't coming true.
It is like the elusive Space-time relationship. When Einstein theorized that time was not absolute, but relative, the world was turned upside down. In the same manner, when Baba predicted his own death at the age of 96, it was not in the Arabic numeric system and our mortal counting practice. It was in the divine numeric system of the great cosmos, which we mortals wouldn't be able to fathom.
When he predicted great catastrophes, he didn't mean only to us humans. There are great catastrophes unleashing,every minute, with thousands of lives being lost in the form of anthills getting washed away in the rain, and insects being eaten away as preys. And, that my friends is the catastrophe, which we the selfish creatures wouldn't be able to comprehend.
Every prediction by him has come true, and his reincarnation will happen like he had prophesied.
Have faith my friends, have faith. Faith is the key, and lock to everything.

Baba will strike back!
Posthumous criticism from all the so called rationalists has been flooding and mind you rationals, your nemesis in the form of Baba's reincarnate is under way. Remember what happened to your dear old friends - Kansraj (courtesy Krishna), Hiranyakashapu (courtesy Narasimha), Bali (courtesy Vamana), Raavana (courtesy Rama) and many others.
Mind it! Baba will strike back!

I am no Sachin Tendulkar to grab media attention when I cry, but i think tears are rolling down my cheek. I do not know if it is at the thought of demise of this version of Baba, or the expectation of his upgraded version, or imagining the state of his abandoned children. Nevertheless, the secretion from my lacrymal glands would remain the same.

Let there be light!

PS: This eulogy of mine has been written earnestly. If the reader is satiric about it, and finds anything sarcastic, as the composer of this post I take full responsibility.