Bryan Adams: The God of Mush...

On a day like today, when the clock is striking the eleventh chime of Eleven, I want to run to you, and confess, by shouting at the top of my voice, without Waking up the neighbors, as to how I feel about you, and how much I think about you.

The feeling I have for you, cuts like a knife, throwing me into the fire of your desire, turning me inside out. At times I get reckless, fighting against my passion for you. I know, we can't stop this thing we started, but who wants to...

I wish I could be there with you, for, all I want is you. I don't mind being your Room Service, if intimacy with you is what I get for tips.

We've had lovely times together, with highs and lows. I have no second thoughts when I say, it's been So far, So good....
Now, I'm not scared to ask you, if it is love?
And if, You want it, You got it :)

Don't you already worry if my love towards you would mellow down.
I will be the same, and only will get better until the Summer of '69 (2069). For,it's not just a statement when I say, I'm 18 Till I die. It is true deep down to the core, when it comes to the love I have for you.

Here I am, offering the Best of me, to you, A flower grown wild.

Lastly,please forgive me, for the few bitter moments between us, as you know it, Everything I do, I do it for you.

PS:I initially felt this post did not require any words: Just the collage would imply it's essence. But, then I thought, I could express in this post how big an admirer I am of Bryan Adams, for his sublime music, mushy and ingenious lyrics, sensational vocals and a humble persona.
So, all the phrases in Courier font are Bryan Adams' Studio album titles, released till date, (except Anthology, which is a collection), and all the italicized words are few of his numerous famous song titles :)

Megalomaniacs of Criticism

Critics: That one genre of people, who go on to live in a delusion of being the Omniscients (all knowing!), within their domains of scrutiny (sometimes beyond their own).

The advantage for critics is the acknowledgement they receive from the audience, or i might well concur this alone to be their talent: To make people believe in their highfalutin hypocrisy.

Let us try to analyze the purpose and credibility of Criticism. Yet again, I would project my perception of this betterment tool.

As I mentioned, Criticism is a betterment tool. There is no criticism which can be categorized as positive or negative. I haven't been able to fathom the concept of "Positive Criticism" till date. Let us not digress into this debate, as yet.


Coming to another essential aspect, the source of criticism is the point of most import.

A person who hasn't tread the path has NO right, whatsoever, to speculate of its terrains!

Simple,and this is what I believe in,with respect to criticism.

When a person is criticizing my actions, or my efforts, or my creations, the first and foremost requirement, for me to give heed to those words is: Only if that person has at least tried and failed in the context of scrutiny. If not, that would be treated as ambient noise, and filtered off my mind.

But, at the same time, when someone who has had experience in the matter of discussion, is criticizing me, I would not mind taking even harsh reviews. Nevertheless,the levels of incorporation of these views into myself is a function of my perception of the source.And, this alone must be the standard for tackling Criticism and Critics.

Any softhead, with a hollow mind, a false ego and a bucket full of vocabulary can chew out creative commentaries on - An act of creation - A mind's product - A lifetime's efforts; But, to even give heed to such ridiculousness, brings down the authority of the creator.

Unfortunate though is, in today's media frenzy world, people appreciate a megalomaniac critic,instead of the humble geniuses within the creators.
 

Birth and life cycle of personal blogs....

Why Personal blogs exist?

 A large section of the blogosphere consists of ‘personal’ blogs – biographical narratives  documenting the ephemeral experience of living every day. At the cost of sounding lyrical, I would suggest that blogs are an attempt to achieve immortality – to create documents that shall outlive the user and live in the limbo of the virtual. It is the same drive that perhaps drives an artist to bleed in paint on her canvas or an author to angst in words on his pages.
 

A typical life cycle of a blogger :

A ‘Noobie’ starts with tentative narrative accounts of the world around him/her and initiates a commentary about their daily life. This is what I call the foreplay of blogging. The writer in the narratives is exploring, expanding, nudging and unfolding the physical surroundings around him/her. Through user-pictures, personal profile pages and subscription to communities, the blogger begins to reproduce him/herself in a specific way – trying out different names, forms and identities. As the bloggers start ‘befriending’ people and increase their audience and readership, a strange thing happens. Instead of suddenly becoming more cautious of the self and the things that are being revealed on the blog, the blogger increasingly sheds the layers of pseudonymity and facades that they create in their early narratives. There is a typical increase in talking of the self in these narratives and one can notice a sharp shift from the exploratory narratives to the intimate revelatory biographies that are produced in the blogs. The disembodied protagonist self makes it easier for the blogger to strip his/her virtual garments and exposes more of the self than ever before .

Directly in proportion with the conversations that people start on the blog, the blogger becomes more revealing, more explanatory, more stripped of the layers that technology has imposed on him/her. And then comes a moment when the blogger finally achieves what s/he is looking for – an acceptance of his/her narratives and the realisation that comes from the reciprocal actions by the others who read their blogs. The content of the blog no longer matters. The blog often dwindles into something that is mundane, dull,everyday, regular, uniformly un-anecdotal – private. The blogger realises that it is not so much the content of what s/he is writing as the act of writing that is important. This moment when the blog content comes a full circle and resembles the first posts is the moment of ‘blorgasm.’ The sense that the self has been realised and that the experience
of the moment is captured in that one representation or conversation is the pinnacle of
pleasure for a dedicated blogger 

(Excerpts from an intriguing paper titled Playblog, by Nishant Shah. )

A good analysis of personal blogging, and the turn of events between the blogger, his/her blog and it's audience. 

After reading this article, I have started correlating it to myself, positioning myself in this cycle. Although, not entirely accurate this analysis gives a good idea of the blogger's intentions behind churning out posts for his/her blog.

e-machined and e-networked!

A day without today's gadgets and the cyber 'social' network seems almost impossible to cope up with.

A couple of days ago, I had forgotten to carry my cell phone and the repercussions of that act of amnesia are being felt even today :D

These gadgets have deeply penetrated into our lives, percolating to reach the very core of our being.

There are different levels of dependencies manifested by each of us, at different periods of our lives. Allow me to analyze myself in this context, and you might well feel very related to these description of events.

When I was 10, maybe that's when the craze for the first of the gadgets had started(for our generation): Hand held video games were hitting the market, and like everyone I too owned one, and eventually lost 'myself' in it. Taking it to the next level were the TV video games; I remember two novice: me and my cousin shopping for it with a few hundred rupees, going to distant places ( when you're twelve,going alone for 5 km is really far!).Then, within an year or two, computers were getting ubiquitous, and computer gaming in the Cyber Parlours, paying 40 bucks for one hour of Roadrash and Skyroads caught me up. I could never get enough of it, and spent almost all the pocket money on gaming.  Then, there was also the advent of internet, chat, mail and the natural progression into some obscure cyber fantasies (which seem to make sense now!). 

These days, kids are much more 'gadgety': I've known three year olds who fluently operate computers and use combination of remote controllers to operate their satellite TV!

And, today, when we are living lives,in a manner as if we were driving on the fast lane, these gadgets and cyber space play the roles of both friends and foes to us, simultaneously.

Recently, there was a statistic in the newspaper saying netizens spend about 2 hours per day social-networking,and I wasn't surprised, for, my own average time on the social networks, including blogging and microblogging would easily exceed two hours.

Personally, a day without cellphones,computers, internet,music player,digital camera,and other e-gadgets give a feeling of isolation and detachment from the rest of the world (I guess this is what all philosophies have been craving for:P)

At the same time, this extent of intervention by these distractions has reduced the quality of personal interactions,and has made a drastic impact on the relationships between people,making them hyper sensitive and vulnerable.

These e-things have invaded too much into our lives, well beyond the threshold, up to the extent that now, there are friendly robots being manufactured to share our emotions with, and a few to which you can make love to!

As, portrayed in numerous Hollywood flicks like The Matrix, Bicentennial Man, iRobot, we might have to face such situations if we do not get detached from this extra e-bondage.

For now, we are all stuck together with the e-glue!

Illogical and irrevocable!

Lots of instances, not just one or two, have manifested compelling reasons on my side to retract from this obsession of mine. I feel convinced at that instant, to just repel away and forget the existence of such a possibility within my realms of reality. But, within a matter of time, not before these things have settled down in me, I seem to, as if in a recursive loop, tend back passionately towards this possibility.

It operates subconsciously, bypassing my boundaries of logic and reason. And, when I do reach this state of zero-logic, I am not afraid to say: I'm boundlessly happy!
Yes, boundless...

I've been in this dilemma numerous times, and I can't explain the reasons to myself of this swinging of my being. At one instant, endorsing it wholeheartedly, almost immediately I see myself repellent.

Sometimes, it is not even the boundaries of logic and reason which put me through this, it is something more than the act of the efforts of my thoughts.

It is a delusion of a kind, and I seem to kept drawn deeper and deeper into this, irrevocably...

Team Studsat Farewell

The formal curtain call has been made for the first generation team members of Team Studsat, by the second generation propellers.

Yesterday, there was a sweet and intimate send off to all the veterans of the team, i.e, the members who had passed out B.E last year, but still associated with the project. With loads of fun and reminiscence, it was  a really special event for all of us yesterday.

The various Tag names which popped out for team mates was hilarious: names like TL/shop (Angadi), Damager (Dixit), Mom (Mamatha), JJM(Shwetha), Toodle-doodle(vichu) and Doodle-Toodle(vikku), lungi/chairman(sharath), bucket (karthik), model (arpan), and I was called Blog Swamiji !( i forgot a few others)
It was hilarious to the core.

Then, the games and pranks, anecdotes from experiences of project, dramatization of certain fulcrum points in the journey, which in retrospection seem funny, made the event even more enjoyable. All thanks to the juniors, who demonstrated the same levels of dedication even in organizing such a lovely event like the work they have contributed towards the project:)

With less than a month for launch, this event was well timed to remind us of all the ups and downs we've faced for this tenure of India's First Student Pico Satellite - Studsat :) http://www.teamstudsat.com/

The common man's simple joys :)

Recently,after work, I was to meet a friend. As, I was early, had to wait near a street corner. It was half past seven in the evening, and the weather in Bengaluru has been impeccable for a past few days- cloudy,with cool breeze and sprays of drizzle :) Such excellent weather invokes the natural trait of any Indian:To look out for hot-spicy snacks.

I was glad to find a roadside Bajji corner, on a push cart, where a man and his wife were baking hot bajjis and serving hot tea. There wasn't any reason for me to pretend and wear a mask of someone irrelevant to them: So, I straight away headed towards them.

There were varieties of bajjis; Given my non-vegetarianism,I naturally asked for the 'motte'(egg) bajjis (closest to my needs:)

The thing which was running in my mind immediately after the first bite was: I would have easily shelled out twenty times the cost for the same thing in any other superficial 'food court', but still, never could have tasted anything like it :)

The two of the hosts were very welcoming and courteous. Not just to me,but,to each and every customer who had come. Each one of us got something much more than what we paid for : A blissful smile, an intimate chat,cheering us up at the end of the day!

The hosts at the shop were people who weren't in the stablest of the economic conditions, but still the satisfaction they seemed to enjoy with the little they had is remarkable. I'd say a lesson to the rest of us.

This, as I have been observing is true with many 'common people' around us, who lead a simple life filled with struggles,but still, who never fail to enjoy the little simple joys in day to day life, on a regular basis. This definitely increases the quality of our lives, reducing the overhead of trying out futile,extravagant attempts at keeping ourselves happy by unnatural means.

PS: This post is not talking about the common people being complacent about their requirements, without craving for what they deserve (i.e.,their ignorance), but, about the extent of satisfaction exhibited by them with whatever they possess, at that instant. This sets an example to most of us, who are never happy with what we have, incessantly craving for something more, missing out on the present!

Misfits of the System

Almost every coffee time conversation at work, pertaining to the impact and consequences, we, one creed of creatures have made on the Environment and Ecosystem, naturally directs our discussion to the unscrupulous nature of our lives. The rapid consumption of all natural resources, just to meet our highly inappropriate and exaggerated needs, while, having drastically disturbed the rest of the Ecosystem speaks volumes of our so called 'Concern' towards the environment.

The immense diversity Mother Nature has developed in millions of years have been consumed in gargantuan amounts, leading to extinction and exhaustion within a couple of centuries, in the name of Industrialization by the biggest misfits of this system i.e, We, the homo sapiens !

There has been a sudden increase in the awareness about the Environment. But, this ain't something to be happy about. It is more of an alarm for saving ourselves from the deep ditch we've dug open. I would like to quote Paulo Coelho in this context:

Save the planet? The Planet must be saying, "Save yourself idiots, I will be fine"


So, the non-idiots who have realized the threat to our own existence, without bothering about any other living organisms, are the ones who are mostly doing the Political propaganda of "Going Green".

Talking about "Going Green", what an irony!
Let me take the case of Namma Bengaluru, for instance. As far as I remember, Bengaluru was always green, but only before 4-5 years. I, like most Bengalureans have been the agonized spectator of the transformation of Bengaluru from the Garden City to the biggest Real Estate Project ( The entire city now has nothing but towering apartments and gigantic tinted office buildings)!

So, you talk about planting one sapling or two, after evading into hectares of greenery.Is this going green?

The actual instigator for this post was the Gulf oil spill, and the ghastly impact it has made on the marine life and the dependent ecosystem there. Unfortunate thing though is, and as expected out of us, we are busy suing each other for monetary compensation, for our misbehavior, not on each other, but we against the environment. We haven't bothered to give any heed to all the creatures who would not even survive this intrusion. Many species, in an accelerated manner, because of this incident would see the face of extinction.

But, sometimes, I am made to think that all these atrocities are heading in the right direction -
Maybe we are acting as catalysts to enable Mother Earth undergo a metamorphosis, to help her consume the world as seen today, and to evolve into something better, without her biggest mistakes:
Us!

Aware of the Mesozoic Era?i.e, The Dinosaurs?
Encore of something similar is what we are witnessing now.

What justice!

Is there a relevance to the concept of legal justice in today's world?

The concept of justice is one of the most compelling inhibitions imposed on the individuals, by the propagandist society, to curb their natural aggression, and then to transform this as a commodity into a market, wherein only the elite economic class can afford to buy - As they wish,with full customization.

It is an open secret as to how feeble and manipulative the systems of law and justice is, in our society. Like good food, quality education, necessary health & medical facilities, and all the other essentials which add to a decent livelihood, legal justice is another costly commodity, which keeps drifting away from the common man.

Justice in today's world, actually, hurts more than the crime itself.

26 years, and now a few scapegoats, not the actual culprits are being sentenced to two years in prison and a meager amount as fine, for taking lives of about 15 thousand innocent people, and destroying an entire community, which still is afresh with the repercussions of the Bhopal Tragedy!

Same has been the case with the Godhra riots, Uphaar Cinema fire, terror attacks, and innumerable other major tragedies, which have prolonged for ages, only to end with agonizingly feeble verdicts.

Imagine the lives of the people who have spent waiting for long painful years, at last, just to witness this silly, so called 'justice'. Don't they get a chance to vengeance, if at the least, that would make them feel better.

Talking about vengeance, it is not something evil or inhuman as portrayed by the hypocrite system. If a person has committed a crime, he mercilessly deserves the reciprocation of his/her own actions, with no room for sympathy. But, today's ironical system does nothing which even hints at healing the victims.

I fail to understand, what is the necessity of such a complex, but still inefficient system of law and justice, if it cannot yield a hint of relief to the victims! Instead, it only succeeds in infuriating them, burdening their lives with more of longing and painful trauma.

If it is said that justice can be made possible only in such excruciatingly long and ineffective methods, then, isn't it right to scrap this system and adopt a more 'responsibly responsive' system?

It would never happen though. For, most of the architects of this system are the ones who are taking shelter, under the umbrella of the loopholes in the system; A system which they have fabricated to fence themselves, while abandoning the rest of the common people!

In today's world,
He who bids higher has justice in his basket!

Crunched!

Crunching my routine, and, all the other extra activities into my day have been getting a little too tough these days. It ain't that I'm not able to, but the ease with which it used happen has reduced, and I am somehow left with a hollow and incomplete feeling at the end of the day.

This could mainly be attributed to a certain phase of recklessness I am going through, mainly because of my randomized allocation of time and other resources to the broad gamut of activities I am involved in.

One thing I do have realized is the necessity to press PAUSE for a small duration of time, to serve as a breather for me, and to get some headroom for better improvisation. It is not to be considered as complaining, but a pit stop to better my efficiency.

Although, I cannot deny the fact that I seem to have been witnessing ripples of disturbances from various distinct, but correlated arenas. It might take a little while before I can get 'uncrunched' and start flowing as usual.

In Transition....

This is Change: A change that is politely, but convincingly demanding my compliance to it.

I'd argue, it is more than just a 'paradigm shift'; I am undergoing a metamorphosis: A complete metamorphosis of my relation with the rest of everything, consciously.

It has put me through a phase of confusion, retaliation and reconciliation.

When change presents itself in the most convincing manner, leaving no reasons to complain about, and, daring to numbly ignore it, in retrospection would seem like a huge,self committed vicissitude. 

With my fully operational critical skills in scrutiny in this direction, I have been meticulously elucidating to all my other facets of understanding and reasoning the ramifications of this new Ideals' Infrastructure,on which the rest of my ideas and decisions would emanate from.

It is very important to base your opinions from a conforming platform of philosophy, unless you are able to create one of your own. And, when you encounter this 'whole' of which you have been a part of, it substantiates the stand you would take on all the issues of criticality in the interaction between you and the rest of everything.

But still, transition of this intricacy naturally would take quite a lot of time, for it to get inculcated into my being.
Until that happens:In Transition.

Yet another Team STUDSAT Birthday Bash :)

After more than two years of being associated with the Team Studsat, and knowing my mates for that long and having been in various situations together, today again was one fun event: Birthday Bash with buffet lunch. Thanks to the 'calm and composed' Chetan Angadi, one of the most important persons in the Team, who happens to be the Team Leader as well. He was treating us for his birthday,
Happy birthday again Chetan :)

The lunch was at Canopy, Brigade Road ( my second time there in 30 days :). We all kind of liked the ambiance for it being 'open', as it is on the terrace, with good food overall :)

Talking about the Team, the warmth amongst the interactions between us is still the same, and feels nice to have seen each other groom in different ways. The kind of constructive team interaction we've grown between us can never be emulated in other places, as I have tried to compare it with my own work, or at any other workplace that I know of.

Anyways, we still have lot more special events between us in the Team,including the Launch itself, and more treats soon from the mates who are travelling abroad for higher studies. And, yeah I owe the team one, I too am on the list, and my chance will be coming soon ;)

The Desperate Weekend Syndrome

By Friday evening, the most recurring status messages I find on all the social networking sites is about the 'respite from a week of work', welcoming the weekend in a - euphemistically put expectant, or bluntly desperate manner.

This is a syndrome emanating from the work and work culture endorsed by the individuals as enforced by the system.

Let us analyze what is happening in today's "Corporate" world:
*(All these comments are generic,and there could be exceptions. I am addressing only the majority)

Firstly, in ideal scenarios desperate respite from work is actually unnecessary. We are supposed to be exercising our skills at work,and that actually isn't supposed to be anywhere close to be burdening 'work'. On the contrary, it should be enjoyable.
So, what is the problem?
People aren't actually exercising their natural, and/or acquired talents and skills at work.People are molded rigidly into stereotype laborers as required for a Company, in the Company's interest. In most cases against the individual's,of course. There is nothing much to be done about this 'clash of interests' in the current Capitalistic system ,for, it is designed to be so.

Secondly, why do people volunteer to get molded into this 'rigid human products', to be used as a resource for any company?
To win the rat race,i.e., to compete and cope with the pressure mounted on them by the system of today's (missing adjective!) society.

To analyze this, we need to go deeper, and look at the causes and consequences.
Catching the consequence is easy: A devotional reverence given to IT and related jobs, starting from the homes of the 'just-okay-fairing' families, and also the impeccably mediocre education system, coupled with naturally accumulated peer pressure.

The cause- One unanimous motive: Study and earn money.
Kids are provided with education with slowly, but strongly infused idea of 'grow up and earn money', giving no heed, whatsoever, to grooming the skills and talents seen in them.

So, who's helping them to get to this?
The education system,(keeping in mind the huge number of 'Engineering' institutions across the country) it preaches them that getting a job in a haven called the IT sector, irrespective of what stream of engineering you are in is the prime objective of educating yourself.
Huff ! Thats more than enough to doubly brain-wash the bubbling minds to such an extent that, most of us see working for someone else, in something you won't enjoy as the best thing in the world!

Thirdly, try appreciating the paradox of work:
Most of us are - Thinking expectantly of the forthcoming weekend from the mid of the week, whilst having just recovered the first two days of the week at work from the hangover of the weekend.
So, where is the massive productivity the industry is boasting of?
Oh, yeah. It's there. But, just look at the quality. Even if there is some little quality attributable to it, look at what price?
By draining out the quality of the lives of all the employees, eventually an entire society!

I know it is already late to blame what has happened. But, how and when did it all get so clumsily complicated?
It happened when all of us were blind, as we are today, towards a peril growing like a monster right in front of us. And, it is like The Earth (not fair to compare to the Earth, but the simile works):

Like we cannot feel ourselves rotating on the Earth, while it rotates,given it's massiveness and our minuscule nature;
We haven't been able to observe the rapid pace at which the system around has drained out the very essence of 'living',
from the proud diaspora of the IT and related industry, while we were busy living fast, impulsive and unbalanced lives.

There is no climax-like epilogue, or a hint of solution for this post, as I touch upon in most posts of my posts, for,
I leave it to you and your mind to churn something proactive this time out.

Questions that haunt!

Is this right?!
Is this what I am supposed to be doing?
Am i headed in the right direction?
Is this the person, or ?
Have i gotten complacent?
What if I had done that, and not this, or not both, but something else?

These, and more such questions are the ones which keep hitting us at regular intervals of time. This happens most of the time as repercussions emanating from the uncertainties of decisions which each of us would have made in the past, and try to blame those for the present, while speculating about the future.

These are normal occurrences with each of us. But, to dwell on these uncertainties, without overcoming them is the worst thing to do with oneself. The solution to this would be either to set the things right in the present - right now, or to make another decision now, which will put the course of activities in future in the right direction.

Both of these actions, firstly, require each of us to clearly interpret ourselves in a correlative manner to the circumstances we are in.Without this, there cannot be a solution out of dilemma of this kind. Just cribbing about it, or talking about the change or betterment will do no good, but will further add to the cause of deterioration.

And again, the occurrence of these question isn't negative by itself. On the contrary,these introspective phases act as checks to the mistakes we might have made. We can either reduce the damage caused by them, or go on to accumulate more of the burden.

Being honest with ourselves, without giving too much reverence to the circumstances conditioning us, would do a lot good in tackling these checkpoint-like introspective questions.

Boulevard of Indian Dreams

Heavy crowd, a lot of noise, shopping malls with no adequate parking space, an eternal traffic jam - These are the constant sights one would see there on a daily basis. I look around, to find an enormous shopping complex with all amenities in it. Just beside it, there is a multi-storeyed apartment, housing the "Brand Bangalore" ambassadors -the ITans.

This is the ambiance from which I start my walk of about ten minutes from my home to a friend's place. Then the song on my lips was "Boulevard of broken dreams", an all time favourite.

As I passed this mayhem, I reached a single crooked street which would end at my destination of that evening. The ambiance there was the most complete definition of something which would be called "utterly messy". The road there had just the slightest hint of surfacing. I observed a medical stores there, calling themselves, "Chemmists". As i smiled to myself and looked away, I confront this guy who is now almost a rogue. He used to play cricket in our team during school days. He looks at me and throws an artificial smile but I could sense his bitter feelings when I looked into his eyes. He always wanted to pursue his education after schooling, but he couldn't, due to few family issues. I think he gets reminiscent about all this when he sees me. After a formal talk with him, without disturbing him much I continued my walk.

As I transcend into that ill-shaped street, I notice the drainage system there was poorer than any of the primitive systems, with an open type system running along the street. That by itself could be a great source of epidemic. The houses standing there haphazardly were either ill planned or non- planned.

People walking on the streets, carried a complacent face, seemingly satisfied with the "almost nothing" they had. They were the people who were not aware of what they should actually crave for - Freedom from Ignorance. These people living a life of ignorance is like a proud blind man who can only traverse within his house and thinks that it is good enough.

I could see men who did nothing, but were just resting under the shade of trees. They were not resting just then, but it has been their routine for a few years now. A few people here categorize themselves into various groups, based on a number of criteria and are ever ready for a communal clash. But, there is harmony amongst the rest of them.

In my opinion, this place is a perfect miniaturization of India in all aspects.

Before the song on my lips could get over, I had reached the end of the street. A sharp turn, then my friend's place was there.

As I walked further, away from this alien, yet so Indian place, I see a totally contradicting scene. Tall apartments,with luxury flats, well surfaced roads, at least one car in front of every house, people who seemed to be in their own complex world, seemingly naive about the pathetic life going on in the neighboring street. I speculate that the average income of these people per day would equal or even exceed the entire month's income of their adjacent neighbors.

I ponder as to how a single street could just divide this group of Indians into people at the two extremes on the economic gauge of India. If this is the case with a small group of people, spread over about a square km area, then the situation on a wider scale with our nation in perspective would not be very different. And this requires serious attention from our side.

This type of diverging growth of India in two opposite directions will never make the 60 year old dream of India becoming a sovereign and developed country. This should be the concern of highest priority in the mind of every Indian citizen. We should work proactively in helping the country's economy to converge in a healthy manner.

All Indians should get the same opportunities to pursue their dreams. All Indians have equal rights to the resources of our lovely nation. Politics, ignorance, poverty, shouldn't be the setbacks for our fellow Indians to live respectfully, with total access to the same services, comforts and luxuries as the other class of Indians.

Let us not blame our forefathers for the present day. Let us work together proactivley and give a better future to our future generations.  

PS: Verbatim copy of what I could call my first article written in September, 2007. This article was published in my College's Annual Souvenir, and I was also awarded that year's Best Article Prize for the same. 

Talking about the disparity, I can tell you it has only worsened in the above mentioned place, as it has in the entire country! 

Escapsim!

Michael Jackson, in last of his appearances in "This is It" says that people crave for entertainment as an 'escapism' from their routines, and that exactly is what entertainers are supposed to be doing - Help people in their pursuance of Escapism.

The idea of Escapism has since then occupied my mind. I happened to relate Escapism as the source and sink of creativity - Many use creativity as a means to Escapism, while the rest seek Escapism in the creations of creative people.

Then the question arises: Why do we need to escape from ourselves?

I'd say, it's not escaping from ourselves - It is escaping to a truer self from the socially fabricated one. Escapism isn't something negative, serendipitously, it helps increase the positivity within oneself.

In simpler terms, we could analyze the concept of true relaxation: It plainly is breaking free from the forces of social commitments, drifting towards the rendezvous with a Utopian self, who has only one ideal - To be blissfully happy.

And, whenever we are able to reach this state either by consuming others' creativity or creating something on our own, we have succeeded in the escapist hunt of the self :)

ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿ : ಒಂದು ಚಿಂತನೆ

"ನಾವು ನಿಂತ ನೆಲಕ್ಕೆ, ಅದರ ಚರಿತ್ರೆಗೆ, ಪುರಾಣಕ್ಕೆ ಮತ್ತು ಪರಂಪರೆಗೆ ನಾವು ಸ್ಪಂದಿಸಲಾರದವರಾಗಿದ್ದೇವೆ. ನಮಗೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಚರಿತ್ರೆ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ, ಪುರಾಣ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ, ಕಲೆ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ, ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿಯೂ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ. ಹೀಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲದಿರುವುದು ಒಂದು ನಷ್ಟವೆಂದೂ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ!"

ಜಿ.ಎಸ್. ಶಿವರುದ್ರಪ್ಪನವರ "ಯಾವುದೂ ಸಣ್ಣದಲ್ಲ" ಗದ್ಯ ಸಂಕಲನದಲ್ಲಿ ಇರುವ "ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿ : ಒಂದು ಚಿಂತನೆ " ಲೇಖನದಿಂದ ಈ ಮೇಲಿನ ವೇದನೆಯ ಮಾತುಗಳನ್ನು ಸ್ಮರಿಸಿದ್ದೇನೆ.

ಇದನ್ನು ಓದಿದಾಗ ನಿಮಗೇನು ತೋಚುತ್ತದೆ ?

ಚರಿತ್ರೆ, ಪುರಾಣ, ಪರಂಪರೆ, ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿ - ಇವೆಲ್ಲ ಈ ಇಪ್ಪತ್ತೊಂದನೆಯ ಶತಮಾನದಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಾಚೀನ ವಿಷಯಗಳಾಗಿ ಹೋಗಿವೆ ಎಂದು ಅನಿಸಬಹುದು. ಇವುಗಳಿಗೆ ಈ ಗಣಕಗಳ ಯುಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಏನೂ ಮಹತ್ವವಿಲ್ಲವೆಂದು ಭಾವಿಸಿ ನಮ್ಮಲ್ಲಿ ಬಹಳಷ್ಟು ಜನ ಕೃತಕ ಜೀವನವನ್ನು ನಡೆಸುತಿದ್ದೇವೆ.

ಆದರೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಬೇರುಗಳಾದ ಕಲೆ, ಪರಂಪರೆ, ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿಗಳನ್ನು ಮರೆತು, ಪಾಶ್ಚಿಮಾತ್ಯ ಅಥವೆ ಇತರೆ ಕಲಾಚಾರಗಳನ್ನು ನಮ್ಮದೇ ಎಂದು ಭಾವಿಸಿ ಹೆಮ್ಮೆಯಿಂದ ಅನುಸರಿಸಿ ನಡೆದು, ಈ ದಿನ, ನಮ್ಮ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿಯ ಮೆರುಗು ಕುಂದಿಹೋಗುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಜೊತೆಯಲಿ, ನಮ್ಮ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿತ್ವಕ್ಕೆ ಗಣನೀಯ ತತ್ವವಿಲ್ಲದೆ, ಅದು ಹರಿಯುವ ನೀರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಕೊಚ್ಚಿಹೋಗುವ ಕಸದಂತೆ ಎಲ್ಲೆಲ್ಲೂ ಹರಿಯುತ್ತಲಿದೆ.

ಆಂಗ್ಲದಲ್ಲಿ "identity crisis" ಅಥವ "ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿತ್ವ ಬಿಕ್ಕಟ್ಟು" ಎಂಬ ಕಳವಳವು ನಮ್ಮೆಲರನ್ನೂ ಒಂದಲ್ಲಾ ಒಂದು ರೂಪದಲ್ಲಿ ಕಾಡುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಇತರೆ ಕಲಾಚರಗಳನ್ನು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನಿಸುವುದರಲ್ಲಿ ಏನೂ ತಪಿಲ್ಲ, ಆದರೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಸ್ವಂತ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿಯನ್ನು ಮರೆತು ಅವುಗಳನ್ನು ಅಳವಡಿಸಲು ಯತ್ನಿಸುವುದೇ ದೊಡ್ಡ ತಪ್ಪು.

ಹೀಗೂ ಇಲ್ಲದೆ ಹಾಗೂ ಇಲ್ಲದೆ, ಇಂದಿನ ಜಗತ್ತಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಒಬ್ಬ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಯ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿತ್ವವು ಗಾಢವಾದ ಗೊಂದಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಸಿಲುಕಿ, ಅಸಮಾಧಾನ ಹಾಗು ಕೃತಕತೆಯ ಜೀವನದಲ್ಲಿ ಸೋತು; ಸೋತರೂ ಗೆದ್ದದಂತೆ ನಟಿಸಿ, ತನ್ನನ್ನು ತಾನೇ ವಂಚಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಬಾಳುತ್ತಿರುವ ಜನರು ಹಲವಾರು.

"ಎಲ್ಲಾದರೂ ಇರು, ಎಂತಾದರು ಇರು, ಎಂದೆಂದಿಗೂ ನೀ ಕನ್ನಡವಾಗಿರು" ಎಂಬ ಕುವೆಂಪುರವರ ಮಾತುಗಳು ನಮ್ಮ ಮೆದುಳಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸದಾ ಪ್ರತಿಧ್ವನಿಸಿ, ನಾವು ನಮ್ಮ ಬೇರುಗಳನ್ನು ಮರೆಯದೆ, ನಮ್ಮ ಕಲಾಚಾರವನ್ನು ಬಿಡದೆ, ನಮ್ಮ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿಯನ್ನು ಬೆಳೆಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗುವಂತೆ ಬಾಳಬೇಕು. ಇದು ನಮ್ಮೆಲ್ಲರ ಕರ್ತವ್ಯ ಹೌದು, ಅದಕ್ಕಿಂತಲೂ ಮುಖ್ಯವಾಗಿ ನಾವು ಒಂದು ಗುಣಮಟ್ಟದ ಜೀವನ ನಡೆಸಲು ಬಹು ಅಗತ್ಯವಾದ ಮೂಲ ತತ್ವ.

The Mad world of mostly Bad Ads!

Off late, although my TV viewing has drastically fallen, I am aggravated for the little duration I manage to watch it.

No guesses. Yes, I am irritated by the silly,pointless commercial ads, and the havoc creating stupid media and news.

Ads can be funny, creative and entertaining, but never should they make you feel stupid or antagonize you with the products.
Let me take you through one of the good ones. The biggest winner here has been the Vodafone Zoozoo campaign: Cute and appealing; It did work a magic for Vodafone to overcome the charisma of the ever following Pug of Hutch fame. Also, there are other good ones from Nokia, Airtel, Mercedes, Toyota, and few others. Kudos to them :)

When such innovations are possible, there are also these ever-increasing disgusting/silly/soft head ads:

• Pepsi's latest with Sanjay Dutt and Ranbir Kapoor: Yuk! That's the only thing I can say about it. Zero brains, Ain't even funny, just repulsive. This for a brand like Pepsi, who had had MJ as their brand ambassador is embarrassing.
• The Gamut of Men's body spray ads, which depict these sprays to be 'THE APHRODISIAC', with flocks of women being seduced by just spraying these is ridiculous, and doesn't do an good to sell their products. AXE did it as an exaggeration and marketed it frivolously, but the rest who followed presumed it to be the fact and have gone foolishly doing it more piously!
• Irrelevant Eroticism to sell basic products speaks volumes about the perception of these brands about the consumers! Look at Close-Up's recent campaign- "Makes you kiss" they say! Also, the Aamsutra tag for Slice's Mango juice with an enticing Katrina. Futile!
• India not Racist: Come on, who said that! Look at all your skin cosmetics ads. They have been consistently, over decades, depicting that people with dark complexion cannot achieve their 'dreams' and you ought to be 'fair' and ' lovely' or 'fair to be handsome'. In this context, one of my friends said, "If India isn't conscious about skin color, why don't we have a product called "Dark & Lovely" ". This is a profound issue, because kids are most influenced by TV and much more by the impulsive Ads. With such dogmatic ads incessantly shown on TV, kids are prone to think , Skin fairness only wins, and not being fair in actions!

I could go on recollecting all the nonsensical ads which are ruining the perception of people, fooling them with hoaxical  and digressing facts, no true facts about the products, mind you!

The so called 'Celebrities' should be more responsible in their endorsing of brands and the ads they are a part of. But, as the ultimate culprit stand the consumers, or the general public for having given such an identity for themselves, where manufacturers treat them like nut-cracks with zero IQ.

The Abstract Mother Nature

Two traits manifested only by Mother Nature are : Her awe-inspiring Majesty and the 'immaculate' abstraction in her manifestations.

To me, the closest of these manifestations by Mother Nature are The Clouds:) If you have known me quite well, you would have observed my passion towards observing the Clouds and clicking its patterns. The inherent intricacy and abstraction attributed to them, makes it all the more appealing.

Like today, I was observing the dark clouds just before today's rains, and there were so many stories being told by the Clouds. The portions of clouds passionately embracing each other, and gracefully departing from each other, with specially added essence by the sometimes loud and sometimes feeble thunders, and the sparkling bolts, as if portraying intense emotions.This act was just 'marvelous'. It actually impressed me so much so that, I have been looking for synonyms for marvelous, as just calling it marvelous makes my experience incomplete!

The best part about any of Nature's feats,like the Clouds is the zero constraining or prejudicing which is imposed on the spectators. Unlike, our own highly prejudiced ways of expressions, take for example this post. I have been trying really hard to bring you close to the frame of mind I was in, instead of letting your imagination guide you the path, like Mother Nature does.

Or maybe, that's why, she's the Mother and we are the nascent!

Connect to M$ exchange server from Evolution in Ubuntu

After trying numerous methods to get my Ubuntu machine connected to the M$ mail server which my company uses for it's domain, finally I found out a simple method to retrieve mails from it. I was lost in trying to add my system to domain, which is cumbersome. To access the mails from the server you needn't be added to the domain.

This isn't a geeky tweak or anything, but it will be helpful to many of you who switch to M$ Windows just to access your work mails coming from M$ server.

• Configure the default mail client in Ubuntu - Evolution by following these steps

1. In the first step, provide your domain mail ID 

2. In the next step select the mail server as M$ Exchange and in the OWA tab fill in the URL of your domain server

3. Authenticate by typing in your domain password, and once authentication is done you can proceed further and complete the rest of the process, which basically sets up your mail client with M$ Exchange.

• Next, if you've already been using Outlook on Windows and have personal folders saved on disk in .pst format, you can still access these mails in your Evolution on Ubuntu by following the steps given in the Help menu of Evolution. This procedure would require you to install Thunderbird or similar clients on Windows.

 

Help for Migrating from Outlook to Evolution

Although, in an ideal scenario one would not want to connect to M$ Exchange, instead, run the server also on GNU/Linux. As organizations seem to fancy the M$  for some unknown reason we can work around this way :)

The Irony of Freedom!

A realistic, contemporary interpretation of "the ideology of being free", or Freedom was put up in one of the mailing lists. It is a transparent and dialectical analysis of freedom, rather than being superfluous and unrealistic. It goes as follows:

Is a jobless man who is starving, free? Is an illiterate, ignorant person, shut off from the world of books and culture, free? Is a man chained to a job 52 weeks a year with never a few days off for rest, vacation, and travel, free? Is a man continually beset with worries about making ends meet, free? Is a man in constant fear of losing his job, free? Is a talented person unable to afford the school-ing which would help his talent flourish, free?


Only the rich are able to enjoy freedom in its broader sense of abundance, security, leisure. The poor are not free. There is a struggle to share the freedom.

After reading these lines, I, conversely started contemplating the ever existent, but, the subdued urge to set ourselves free from various forces binding us to rigidity, in various forms and to different extents.

I believe, the quest to Freedom manifests itself in people, at different strata, to different extents, based on which of their needs are fulfilled and which aren't. It is more dependent on the social coordinate of each individual in this ever expanding, disparity prone framework of the society. The urge to break free from shackles, which hold back an individual is the strongest amongst the suppressed people, who in most cases, aren't in a position to exercise their will because of their disadvantageous socio-economic position.

Freedom, as a matter of fact is not absolute- contrarily it is highly relative, varying from individual to individual, section to section.

For instance, a person who is not able to cater to his basic needs envisages a freedom which would break the gradient between the inhibitors and the needy. Likewise, a mind which is constrained by the lack of any true value or purpose in the society, would want to break free from the rigid shackles of ignorance into cognizance.

These are natural traits in us, which most of the times are expressed only when the suppression breaks beyond a threshold, which again varies with individuals.

But again, most of the time, even when we are aware of the need to be free from such constraints, we seem to grow numb towards this urge, mostly because of the compromises we make in life to keep our wants fulfilled.
We end up being servile in one aspect or another, to something or the other.

This is the Irony of Freedom, constantly haunting each one of us!

Raghavendra's Rhapsody

After having longed for quite sometime, my desire to own and learn a musical instrument has turned into reality- I am thrilled and excited about it :)

I have wanted to learn an instrument for quite sometime, and of all the instruments "Guitar" is that one special instrument which, like it has captured the imagination of every guitarist, convinced me to own one.

The gamut of fun and emotions portrayed throughout the history of music in lives of people has been- should I say-Revolutionary! Here I am, trying to inculcate a little more of it.


I already have fallen in love with her- My guitar- My Rhapsody, hoping soon to churn out rhapsodies from her.

I shall keep you all updated about the transformation of this novice to a passionate player :)
For now, still getting to feel her...

Well... That don't impress me much :)

While talking to a colleague at work about the latest Ubuntu release, he happened to say that he had already started liking it, and it was tough to get him hooked onto any particular thing. 

I immediately started correlating to this trait in me, and how that people or things  I'm passionate about aren't anything close to be being just mediocre- They are the best!

Take for instance, A R Rahman in Indian music, Bryan Adams for his strings and lyrics in the western music, Sigmund Freud for his research, Bhagat Singh and Che Guevara for their revolutionary ideas, Ayn Rand for her philosophy, Swatantra Software in technology, and at personal level - all the people I am intimate with are the best in their own realms :)

I do not know if I'm subconsciously conscious about this, or I happen to get so lucky. But, after deep analysis I cannot deny the fact that propositions in terms of people and everything else approaching me need to be more than just mediocre to appeal to and impress me. 

By saying this, I am implicitly conveying that, I too am more than just mediocre, or, should I add a pinch of vanity to it, and say, more like - tending towards being 'The Best' in whatever I do :)

Defective by Design!

The struggle against Digital Restriction Management (DRM) is going to be the  most important step to secure the access to seamless information as required by an individual in future.

Personally, I have been apprehending this malice for quite sometime now.
And,by using a GNU/Linux Operating system and maintaining open standard data within our personal realms is the basic contribution each of us could be doing towards this campaign against DRM.

Going further supporting this novel cause, we, being the source of creative art, music, literature, technology and every other resource influencing our lives in digital format should stick to the principles of Open Standards, and shouldn't succumb to any restrictive laws.

Public domain data is what will help the world in the longer run, and by encumbering 'Access to information' with selfish and perilous restrictions we are preventing a large population of the world from growing with the rest of us.

To know more about the Defective-by-design campaign and to do your part, visit

http://www.defectivebydesign.org/

'May day' with ITEC

The IT haunted World


My first 'Workers Day',after I have become a 'worker' got me more closer in understanding a threat which I have been personally apprehending about for quite sometime now.

IT in India, and more importantly the unhealthy work culture it has brought with it, eroding the lives of plenty of young IT and IT enabled Services professionals. A serious problem which has been accumulating over the past decade seems to be surfacing up now, after it has taken a rapid toll on a generation of Indians in IT. This is culminating into an awareness these days, with people in IT at least having started questioning the system which is grueling them.

One such effort is the "IT and IT enabled Services Employees' Center" or the ITEC (http://www.itecentre.co.in/) ,which is trying to float a  forum for the IT professionals, so that a common platform is created to discuss and collectively contemplate the remedies for the issues each of them is having to put up with.

Using today's occasion of 'Workers' Day', ITEC had organized an awareness program about " Extended Working hours in IT & it's Effects on Employees". With participation of about 40 IT professionals and other inclined enthusiasts including myself* participated in the event.

The program started off with a small video depicting the ever-stretching work in the lives of IT professionals, ultimately making them brittle.

After the video, one of the ITEC member briefed the audience about ITEC and its objectives, followed by an appealing but concise skit by few members.

The skit emphasized on the physical, psychological and social constrictions on individuals, which have become so ubiquitous these days as a consequence of hectic work. The skit completes with an expectant kid on her birthday, wanting to show her gifts, instead trying to wake up the two IT professionals, who unfortunately are her parents! A consistent undercurrent of remorse was present throughout, on the part of being an IT professional!

The notion of employees being just another material resource, to be fully utilized for the profit-motive of the employers was projected in a prominent manner in the open discussions. Also, the point of the policy about eight working hours even at IT was debated.

Personally, I feel the relation between IT and its employees to be paradoxical!

Quoting a point made by my mentor(not verbatim:),  People blindly aspire for and endorse the supposedly 'elite' status which IT entices.

Initially,people endorse the grueling bestowed on them ignoring all the hardships they are put through. Subsequently, when they are complacent enough about their lifestyle, it is then when they start to notice the 'atrocities'. This culture of compromise at the start is the gain for the Employers, who try to accomplish their objective-More profits!

One pragmatic solution which came out, put forth by a member was about shrinking down the 'Larger than Life' lifestyle people aspire for, and by being ready to take risks to safeguard their personal interests.

ITEC has proven to be a good platform. With more conscious IT professionals involving themselves with ITEC, and raising their unified voice for the common claims is when the objective of this forum be reached.

*FYI:I'm not an IT'ian

Caution: The Lucid lynx-Change is here

Ubuntu 10.04 or Project Lucid lynx is out,and as I have already been updating on my 'social broadcast accounts' via Gwibber, it has undergone a metamorphosis-both technically and I'm afraid even philosophically!

Let me first jot down the glaring apprehensions about this metamorphosis:

• Canonical had been negotiating a deal of using Yahoo as the default search engine, instead of Mozilla Firefox in Ubuntu. Although, it has now released Lucid lynx with Firefox, in future releases it might well switch to Yahoo. This, in the Free Software community we realize to be a set-back, given the snow-balling popularity of Ubuntu. 

• The Release Candidate which i was testing is diverging from the open-standards struggle, by more inclined support and encouragement to proprietary media standards. Ubuntu with it's growing foothold could well be the mediator to enforce open media standards in a gradual manner. Here again, we are going reverse ways. 

• Previously default bundled tools like GIMP,are not available in the RC 10.04(will update this statement if it is bundled in the final candidate).Although, these can be added later by 'apt-get'ing them. 

These are the few important points, we as Free Software activists need to be aware of.

At the end of the day, I am still talking about a Uber Cool, Smart and Fast Operating system, which easily beats all its counterparts in the proprietary domain, which is also Free ( here in the context of price:)
I'm still a big fan of Ubuntu, and here's a list of go-go's in the latest avatar of Ubuntu:

• Faster than previous releases. 
• Love the default theme, and aesthetics ( pre-loaded wallpapers are some of the best pictures you would have seen)
• Comprehensive Ubuntu Software Center, cataloging all the tools in a comprehensive manner

• Newer tools like Gwibber(Social Broadcast messenger),Empathy ( The IM client) and more

• Ubuntu One account to float your data online (A step towards reaching out to 'the  cloud')
• The ususal sleek 3-D desktop effects, which have gotten better #compiz

• Openoffice.org 3.2, quicker and better [Had forgotten about the Sun take-over,Oracle splashes on the startup screen :(]
• There is more concerned approach towards Universal Accessiblity issues and Localization. Ubuntu Software center has good projects in this regard. 
• Also, after Hardy Heron (Ubuntu 8.04), we have the Long Term Stable release or the LTS with Lucid Lynx with support for three years. 

And, loads of other things to keep you stuck with the lynx.

I've been using Ubuntu since almost three years now, and I'm yet to feel complacent about it.

Lucid lynx is better, wrong at places, but never to be ignored :)

Happy Birthday Lucid lynx :)

Spirituality --> Know Thyself

Nothing exists without purpose. Sometimes, true purposes, with time get scrambled by ageing and lose their authentic context.

I can quote, and you might also be able to relate to lots of examples to substantiate this argument.
For instance,I have spoken about the misconception of the concept of 'God' previously.It could be one.
Transcending in similar lines,let me tackle another close conceptual associate of the idea of God -Spirituality. I should better be attributing Spirituality to be the source out of which the concept of God was churned out, but as a misinterpretation!

Spirituality, by today's definitions, is a quest of something that is essentially not in our humane realms. It is a not a subjective entity, but an elaborate process of attaining a certain state of mind, where the mind is supreme, or enlightened.

Essentially, Spirituality as I have understood, was a mechanism conceptualized to nurture the 'self' to realize one's own potentials. Simple.
In attempting this,and to give the mind a better picture of what it is aspiring to become, a slightly exaggerated idea of the 'objective' was depicted, to serve as a signpost, or like a vade mecum. But,this exaggerated idea, with growing senility of the society, has come to be known as today's 'God'.

With so much of misconception shrouding the true sense of Spirituality, it definitely had to become the lucrative business it is today, attracting hollow humans.

Spirituality simply is a tool / a process / a methodology, helping the mind to realize and perpetuate one's potency, while mitigating the flaws.

Until we try to 'Know Thyself', we will continue to be slaves to every big thing that has gone wrong in the society!

(Know thyself, Greek: γνῶθι σεαυτόν gnōthi seauton)

Rahman's Rustic Raavan

'Rustic' is the word which kept ringing in my head while listening to all the tracks offered by A R Rahman in Mani Ratnam's Raavan.

The album as a whole, I should say Raavan has a typical Mani Ratnam-Rahman sound to it. Six excellent tracks emanating from this combination for Raavan are more towards being script-dependent, than making the album self-sufficient by itself . Like in every album by ARR, all the tracks have something to brag about, with some ingenious lyrics by Gulzar :-)

1.Beera: Almost has a tribal sound to it, as if it were composed in an attempt to emulate the tribes of Eastern India. The lyrics are full of praises to the protagonist, with a feel of vanity to it.
2.Behene de: Another excellent collaboration between ARR and Karthik in this song. This is that one song of every AR album which would keep resonating in your head. You actually feel the 'flow' this song is about.
3.Thok di Killi: This is the most interesting song with a good tempo all along, with some intriguing lyric in it. I am yet to decipher the entire context and implication of these radical lines in the song. Sukhwinder sing takes the song effortlessly through it's phases, making it another good track in the album.
4.Ranjha Ranjha: Surprise track of the album. Superb vocals by Rekha Bharadwaj complimented well by Javed Ali.Every time she sings 'Ranjha Ranjha', the song penetrates deeper and deeper into you.
5.Khilli re: Slow and soothing track of the likes of 'Saanwariya saanwariya' from Swades. Will catch on in the later stages of my album-listening routines.
6.Katta katta: Cheeky track with funny lyric. Genre of vocals used in this track are real good, and it culminates into a new kind of a song from the house of AR :)

One major disappointment for a die-hard fan of AR like me, is that AR hasn't sung any of the tracks. Remember 'Tere Bina' from Guru? :)
Nevetheless, second album of AR for the year after VTV will stand out as a good one as well:) Still waiting for the Tamil version-Expecting some crackling lyric by Vairamuthu.

Inherent inadequacy of words

Sometimes, when I have an idea,or a thought, or some 'neural noise' which I need to dissipate out, words flow out easily conveying the same to the rest of you. Although, in a less effective manner than the authentic source. There are also times, when I might have to force the words out to imply even the quite obvious.

This, I believe is a result of two things: One being my own mental state i.e., the synchronism between the various sectors of my gray matter. Second, about which this post is about-the inherent inadequacy of words, in expressing the quintessential in an effectively wholesome manner. This inadequacy is manifested at various levels in different individuals, not dependent only on the diversity of their vocabulary, but also on the extent of interlinking between their 'neural sparks' (thoughts) and 'archived neural blocks'(words embedded in memory).

Now, if you are thinking of raising the point of 'Creativity'in this forum -Yes, it does play an important role.

Expressing intricately obscure neural sparks is facilitated by Creativity either by providing a different frame of reference in articulation (metaphors, similes and the other kinds of exaggerations), or by gifting people with other 'flowing' skills in the form of art and music.

The extent of inherent constraints in art and music is lesser than that of literature; One reason being that they can be uncontrolled, and can reach a 'sublime' chaos, which is tougher to accomplish in literature.

But again, the power of Literature lies in it's residual levels of abstraction when compared to Art or Music, which in their sense can be as abstract as the Universe itself!

Capitalism: A Love Story

"Capitalism: A Love Story" is Michael Moore's documentary dissecting the 2008 US economy meltdown, which had adverse affects worldwide. In this documentary he rightly attributes this collapse to the failure of Capitalism.

While watching this documentary few of my own questions were answered, and also gave rise to many more important questions.

At a personal level, I happened to approach the idea of "Free Market, Free Enterprise" from the views of Ayn Rand - The one influential philosopher of Individualism. Although, I used to endorse her portrayal of the system, I have begun to realize that 'it isn't as it was supposed to be'.

Growing disparity in any society can never do good to the society. Like in today's scenario, India is polarizing in an accelerated manner. I still might have not understood the economic or the political systems comprehensively to criticize it authoritatively, but I can very well see the flashing mistakes being made.

I, at a personal level am in quest for an answer to this flawed system which is impaired and ineffective.

Michael Moore ends the documentary suggesting a people's rebellion against the
demon of disparity and exploitation.
Again, I am still unsure of its effectiveness.

I do not want to conclude the post with my opinion, while it is still in the making. But, a line from the documentary could end it well.

This is capitalism. A system of taking and giving...mostly taking!