Eulogy to the resurgence of cricket

When there's so much happening around for the last one day in India, and all of it being about cricket, the portion of a cricketer and a Cricket fan embedded in most Indians does seek some means of expression. For some the means of expression is an exaggerated display of admiration, and as I am intending to keep this post positive will save the abuse to that plethora of fanatics for a post in future.
I intend to express it by reminiscing about cricket in all my years until now.

Like all the kids who grow up in India, one childhood passion that clung on to me as well was to obsessively watch and play Cricket. The great tensions of watching a match and the intense ball by ball discussions in school over the next days went on until the 2003 World Cup.
At this point a personal anecdote about this particular match is worth to be put on record.
In 2003, I was studying in Class X and we had the board exams scheduled within a day after the final match between India and Australia. Until that match I had almost never missed a ball during any of the Indian cricket matches telecast on TV. But, as the world saw it, we lost in the most pathetic manner. An ardent cricket fan was disturbed: I decided not to watch any more cricket, 'wasting' 8-10 hours. And since then, I have never seen a cricket match in its entirety. Hadn't seen Cricket for more than a couple of hours continuously until this world cup, where I would watch the last 15-20 overs.
Off late, with all the fixes and patches, a sense of cynicism has reduced the extent of entertainment watching cricket used to give.

Talking about playing cricket, the spectrum of balls used for the games through years ranged from plastic ones to rubber, tennis balls, hand made cork balls and now to the proper cork/leather ones! For a small stint in school I was the Vice-Captain of my House cricket team, and we did win that year.
Apart from watching and playing, collecting trump cards ( had the cards of almost all players and knew most of their statistics by heart!), stickers stuck everywhere. My cousin was a big fan of Saeed Anwar and I am still a fan of Shahid Afridi. And between us, we used to have the tedious contests about these cricketers.
I still treasure the first bat I owned and played with ( it is about 12 years old) and today I enjoy playing cricket all the more, with my bettering bowling and tending towards betterment batting performance during my Company cricket practice sessions.

This World cup win by  the Indian cricketers has had some influence on me (I am writing about it!). Not that I'd again endorse cricket as I used to ( I can't afford the time and ignorance).
Even after this performance by India, I might still not watch cricket, but have certainly found another individual to look up to in this process: MS Dhoni. Whether it is his genuine nature to stay calm and composed , or if he has inculcated it, in either case, I would certainly want to emulate him on those lines. Not because he's a superstar cricketer, but he has been consistently exhibiting it over a long period of his tenure as the leader.

Most of my eventful childhood memories has immense influence of cricket in it, like the many of you. The best time with my cousins, friends have all had the cricket moments to it. So, when people say cricket is more than a sport, I agree to the extent that it certainly is a nodal point in many of our lives, through which some intimate and exquisite moments pass through.

As a final thought, Cricket as a sport and not a corporate business is what I want it to be!
Congratulations to the Indian cricketers on their accomplishment.

Science: A religion for Life

"When I call myself an atheist, it is not that I do not have a God to believe in, or a religion to piously follow:
Nature is my God,
Science is my religion...."

While clarifying my stand on religion and God to a certain sect of 'believers', who were unhappy to see me wear the tag of an Atheist, I happened to articulate the above statement.
It does encapsulate my 'faith system' clearly. Nevertheless, an elaboration of this statement was over due for sometime now. And in this post, I simply speak of my religion.

Why do people endorse and live by religions?
They need a system to provide comfort and solace; To seek and understand answers to the big questions of the Universe; A rulebook of sorts to help them lead their lives.
That is what religions are/were supposed to be doing. I shall not delve into analyzing how religions of believers has either succeeded or failed in this objective. I shall contain it to only the arguments for my religion:Science.

We humans are the niche results to have culminated until now in the race to evolution. We have accomplished something that none of the other species hitherto had even tried to, i.e, to curb the grand and ultimate arbitrator: Nature.
We are undoubtedly the first species to have successfully honed the forces of nature to favor our comfortable existence, although to a small, but substantial extent . This advantage humans exercised over nature,has been purely based on Science.
Now, the concept of hope and faith got imbibed into us and became aspects of our lives when we were less equipped to blend with the environments, mainly due to the lack of scientific advancements. To cling on to something because it is antique is, as ironic as it might seem, is also very absurd. Our forefathers weren't equipped with all the reasoning which comes to us as almost intuition.
All that was ignorance, is transpiring to become cognizance with the help of Science, and today we are privileged to inherit this cognizance as intuition.
When such is the case, Science has to be the most rational way of life.
Without hope, faith, illusions, delusions, Gods and Demons, our lives would be less intriguing and would certainly put us into positions of self responsibility. Science hands over the control of our lives back to us. On the other hand, popular faith based religions try to shift this responsibility to irrationality. If irrationality and irresponsibility is what someone seeks, faith based religions are what they'd endorse. Science presents us with the simple truth and sensible rationality, coupled with common sense and quintessential responsibility, with an extra topping of Math! Math, not being mandatory for the followers of this religion, the rest of it is what we need to inculcate 'to live simply and happily'.

Imagine the bliss one could regularly experience, when looking at the world with a paradigm endorsing 'verifiable reasons and convincing explanations' to all the small nuances and all the humongous wonders of nature. Isn't that the bliss which every religion entices its followers with? It would be the blessing unreachable by any other fictitious Deity or Godmen.
Further, the fruit of worshiping Science is Technology which helps us lead a life of ease, comfort and satisfaction.

Rationality is what each one of us should perpetually try to endorse and live by. To do this Science is the best religion.

The Priesthood of Science

Stop Farmer Suicides: Candle Light Vigil as a reaction

Urbanites are individualists, who are complacent with their lives, engrossed in its sophistication. The widely accepted fact that they don't and wouldn't bother about the other sections of the society is almost true. But, when there is at least one genuine event, where you find around two hundred urbanites, varying from IT employees, students, researchers and academicians come out and take a stand for the cause of a totally different sector of people - The farmers and their troubles, I tell myself that the situation is not hopeless, and there is still a speck of hope.

The rally with slogans and placards

This point was manifested in today's Candle Light Vigil in Bangalore, which was organized by ITEC, AID India, Sugathi and a few other socially sensible groups, voicing on behalf of farmers, bringing up the issues of farmer and the anti-farmer policies endorsed by the Central and State Govt.

Inequality at its zenith!

 As Senthil, one of the main organizers of this event rightly put, this was still only  a 'reaction' to the recent suicides of the sericulture couple in a village near Malavalli. With this reaction as the start off point, it should culminate to become a People's Movement, where the supposedly "intellectual elite- the urbanites', take up the issues of other weaker sections of the society, work together with them and that would be the best fitting response to the peril of crisis in agriculture.

A whole gamut of the urban intellectual elite, for farmers

While the main objective of today's event was to project this issue in the bigger arena, for the media to capture, this is still a humble start. This objective was accomplished to a good extent, with the rally, sloganing, street play and the Candle Light Vigil giving the media some cud to chew upon, centered around the sensitive issue of relentlessly increasing farmer suicides in India.


The rally with slogans and march started off from Mysore Bank Circle to Town Hall ( about 1 km). The march was peaceful, with slogans and pamphlet distribution, grabbing the attention of the commuters. Once we were at the assembly point for today's event at the Town Hall, the display of all the profound slogans and facts on each of the placards made a strong statement as a whole.

An impact filled street play, accentuating the inequality and apathy shown to the weaker sections

After today's event one friend aptly said,
"Despite all the joys & happiness, it is often suffering that truly binds us and a means to draw inspiration & survival...."
We did see a lot of us show deep solidarity, bound by the concern towards Agriculture crisis in India.

To hear the details of the mishap from the father of the deceased was heart wrenching. His only request was to take care of his grand children, who are now orphaned without both their parents. He also mentioned the obvious flaws in the Govt Policies, which directly hamper the interests of the farmers.

With all the groups mentioning their various, but conforming views about the agriculture crisis, increasing farmer suicides and the apathy of the Govt, the next steps are being contemplated. As a first step, a visit to some of the affected villages to assess and understand the ground reality by a dedicated delegation will be happening over the second weekend of April.This will be crucial to come up with a framework, which will be able to lend our support in a more systematic manner to the farmers in need.

The Candle light vigil with apt songs

If any of you are interested to be part of this delegation, please write to one of us.
http://farmer-suicide-and-it.wikispaces.com/
http://www.itecentre.co.in/node/57

Let us remember that nothing is unchangeable; Most of the times change takes time. With our persistence and efforts we will leave behind a better future for the generations to come. We have had a start now, taking it forward with all our support and participation will take us closer to the goal.

Painting by Balaji Kutty, depicting the increasing suicides of farmers

Farmer suicides is Government sponsored murder!!!

United to Stop Farmer Sucides

Why I am an Atheist by Shaheed Bhagat Singh

Shaheed Bhagat Singh: Inquilab Zindabad (Long live the Revolution)

Excerpts from one of the best articles ever written: 

"We (atheists) believe in nature and that human progress depends on the domination of man over nature. There is no conscious power behind it. This is our philosophy.

"Being atheist, I ask a few questions from theists:

1. If, as you believe there is an Almighty, Omnipresent, Omniscient God, who created the earth or universe, please let me know, first of all, as to why he created this world. This world which is full of woe and grief, and countless miseries, where not even one person lives in peace. 

2. Pray, don’t say it is His law. If He is bound by any law, He is not Omnipotent. Don’t say it is His pleasure. Nero burnt one Rome. He killed a very limited number of people. He caused only a few tragedies, all for his morbid enjoyment. But what is his place in history? By what names do we remember him? All the disparaging epithets are hurled at him. Pages are blackened with invective diatribes condemning Nero: the tyrant, the heartless, the wicked. 

"Open your eyes and see millions of people dying of hunger in slums and huts dirtier than the grim dungeons of prisons; just see the labourers patiently or say apathetically while the rich vampires suck their blood; bring to mind the wastage of human energy that will make a man with a little common sense shiver in horror. Just observe rich nations throwing their surplus produce into the sea instead of distributing it among the needy and deprived. There are palaces of kings built upon the foundations laid with human bones. Let them see all this and say “All is well in God’s Kingdom.” Why so? This is my question. You are silent. All right. I proceed to my next point.  

"As regard the origin of God, my thought is that man created God in his imagination when he realized his weaknesses, limitations and shortcomings. In this way he got the courage to face all the trying circumstances and to meet all dangers that might occur in his life and also to restrain his outbursts in prosperity and affluence. God, with his whimsical laws and parental generosity was painted with variegated colours of imagination. He was used as a deterrent factor when his fury and his laws were repeatedly propagated so that man might not become a danger to society. He was the cry of the distressed soul for he was believed to stand as father and mother, sister and brother, brother and friend when in time of distress a man was left alone and helpless. He was Almighty and could do anything. The idea of God is helpful to a man in distress.

"Society must fight against this belief in God as it fought against idol worship and other narrow conceptions of religion. In this way man will try to stand on his feet. Being realistic, he will have to throw his faith aside and face all adversaries with courage and valour. That is exactly my state of mind. My friends, it is not my vanity; it is my mode of thinking that has made me an atheist. I don’t think that by strengthening my belief in God and by offering prayers to Him every day, (this I consider to be the most degraded act on the part of man) I can bring improvement in my situation, nor can I further deteriorate it. I have read of many atheists facing all troubles boldly, so I am trying to stand like a man with the head high and erect to the last; even on the gallows.

"Let us see how steadfast I am. One of my friends asked me to pray. When informed of my atheism, he said, “When your last days come, you will begin to believe.” I said, “No, dear sir, Never shall it happen. I consider it to be an act of degradation and demoralisation. For such petty selfish motives, I shall never pray.” Reader and friends, is it vanity? If it is, I stand for it. 

Read full article: Why I am an Atheist (October 5, 1930)

Can we go on to eat the hands that feed us!

Eating the hands that feed us!
What a profound statement. It was made by one of my fellow activists, during the discussions about the issue of relentless farmer suicides in India. The issue about lakhs of farmers committing suicide in India is not an issue at all to a lot many of us living in the urban regions;
Courtesy: Our own apathy, media's negligence and not to forget the Government itself.

Apathy from our side

Individualism when applied at the levels of preserving one's ideas and seeing them fulfill is acceptable. But, when apathy is given sanctity in the name of individualism, like the current scenarios of the urban population in India, and other tending towards development countries is a matter of grave concern.

Humanity is a term that is losing its sense amidst today's humans.

Getting one point better, but still of no use are the ones who are emphatic about the issues, but are deeply reluctant, blaming the corrupt and supposedly unalterable system. This is nothing more than a lame excuse. If we are really concerned about the things, there are lot many things still within our control to be changed. We can still have 'hope' about the change, for, there have been instances very recently reinstating the 'power of people' in countries like Egypt and rest of Middle East. If it can happen there at that scale, why can't it in India: The world's 'largest democracy', or that is what we would like to call ourselves.
Simply put, it all boils down to our apathy, which has been masqueraded in the name of corruption, individualism, lack of time, and other invalid excuses.

Media and the bias

A single Decision Review System outcome which goes against India's favor in cricket, gets a full page coverage in most of the widely read newspapers and one full hour discussion with relevant panelists at prime time on National TV News channels;
When a star couple gets engaged or they break up we have loads of animal filth-like content spewed and spilled all over the media!

P Sainath, one sensible reporter of the very few remaining, says, It is not because the people want to feed on such filth that the media feeds them with garbage, but, it is because these powerful houses now have the ability to direct the kind of news the audience would want to chew upon.
Adding to his point, because garbage is cheap to produce, and today's media sells it profitably, we get to hear news full of futilities.
When this is the mantra of the media, the so called fourth pillar of democracy is doing nothing but drilling deeper holes into the democracy, by diverting all the necessary attention to the wrong things.
So, where will we get to hear about the unimportant farmers, who wouldn't know what Page3 parties are! Who cares if they are committing suicides or not. Even if they did, now it is stale news, for they've been doing it for more than a decade now!

Look at the state of affairs! We are contemplating the death of people, in terms of news readership and TRP.
It might seem like an exaggeration, but I think otherwise, when I say,
We have come to be worse than some of the gravest tyrants who have painted the History with blood.

Government and its mis-interests

In six years from 2005-06, the Government of India wrote off corporate income tax worth Rs.3,74,937 crore!* 
Whereas, the same Government's policies are making the conditions adverse for the vast weaker section of the population to just survive. Farmers committing suicides for more than a decade, and the number going upwards, with a number of more than 2.5 lakhs in India today.  So, it might not be a mere coincidence, or lack of mental strength that these many farmers have committed suicides abandoning their families. It is a more vicious ploy and a consequence of the Government Policies. Although, they can deny and defy it, the facts and policies are crystal clear - Anti poor and pro extreme rich.

India has become the metaphor to the cliché: Rich get richer, and poor get poorer. Now, one step ahead, the poorest now go on and die.
Simply, because it has become unlivable in circumstances such as the ones in India today.

Just think! If these many 'farmers', in a country which still boasts of more than 60% of population in agriculture is letting its farmers die, where is any sense to it. It has been on for more than a decade, and what has the Government's done to stop and prevent it. Nothing!
It only talks of compensation after the deaths, and sometimes this compensation becomes an incentive to few poor souls to trade their lives for.
An Economist politician as the Prime Minister and the best intellect in the cabinet ( supposedly), and a grim situation is getting grimmer. Crisis after crisis, and they go onto serve the richest (< 2% of Indian Population), ignoring the poorest (>40% of the Population). There is no accountability in the Government; They blame opposition parties and coalition politics while the hands that feed the country are taking their own lives.

This post by me is again, going to be a futile attempt, for, the ones who don't care would have stopped reading once they would have arrived at the context of it. But, if you have who had the little sense to read until here, then join us and be part of a small effort, in which we are trying to raise our voice and make it heard for the sake of the 'people' who toil to feed us, in exchange for nothing more than their mere survival.

A candle light vigil is being organized in Town Hall, Bangalore on the 26th of March, 2011 at 5 PM.
Be there. Tell us if you want to do anything about this. Visit our wikispaces -http://farmer-suicide-and-it.wikispaces.com/, mobilze people, create awareness and who knows we might be able to help out a few who are in much need of our help.

We cannot eat the hands which feed us, and let us also not make those hands to kill themselves.

Raise your voice to Stop Farmer Suicides!

*http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/sainath/article1514987.ece

While Chandrika (6) knows that her parents are no more, Sharath (3) and Keertana (5) are too young to realise the loss of their parents, who succumbed to the sudden fall in silk cocoons prices

The Free Culture imperative

Excellent painting depicting One World, by Joe Average

Being part of a movement which in the grand picture aspires towards freedom of knowledge in the digital domain, and a future with access to free knowledge to all of humanity is an incessantly revelatory experience. Every event and interaction brings more clarity about the big daunting task in front of each of us: The big task of getting back to the Free Culture environment.

If we are the social beings, who have evolved to acquire this cooperative intelligence as the niche aspect of evolution in the race to survival, curbing it would not only be unnatural, but a major disadvantage as well.

The creativity each one of us is packaged with, if utilized collectively,  and at the same time allowing our individual work open to improvisation by others is the only natural law we have to stay bound to. That is how a community thrives.

The culture of sharing, although is superficially professed in most cultures, the contradictory behavioral impact renders most of the individuals socially crippled. They feel it antagonistic to collaborate with others. A weird sense of animosity can be observed in people by the time they grow beyond their childhood.

In this regard, the Free Knowledge Movement has more than adequately proven to the world, that working together with shared contributions is the way to go forward for humanity. It isn't something new to us, but something that is at the verge of oblivion, due to increasing noise of self centeredness amongst the people. The only difference of the shared contributions then and today is the tangibility of measuring today's results:
Within a decade, the most comprehensive embodiment of all the information we ought to know has been created out of purely shared and collective contributions - The Wikipedia.
Creative Commons, within a few years has enabled the best of the community talent in the form of  literature, pictures, music, videos etc to get richer and better.
And needless to mention, all of the Free Software, which has been beautifully created, with more love and passion than the technology drive itself.

These many paramount manifestations convey one absolute message to the world: Endorse Free Culture, by which I mean openness in every social aspect of life. The future is bleak if we do not grasp the imperative for Free Culture, across the world.

Nature vs Man and his worldly goods

The post title, inspired from one good book I am yet to read "Man and his Worldly goods", suits best to describe the mindset of us humans, with respect to our frivolous perception of Mother Nature.

The Japanese catastrophic natural calamities, as unfortunate they are, should also be serving as warning bells and breakpoints to the rest of us. So that, we can look back, observe where we stand and imagine our future.

The City of Yagawahama in Miyagi, Japan 2007 and after the earthquake, tsunami 

Unscrupulous exhaustion of natural resources, extensive pollution and the increasing burden we are becoming to Mother Nature has been made evident with consequences such as the global warming, erratic weather patterns, untimely rains, famines and other natural repercussions.
It is not that I am scientifically correlating the current Japanese earthquakes, tsunami and volcanoes to the unscrupulousness we have exhibited for centuries now.  But, correlating only the consequences: The reason this time might have been natural, but the consequences for our misdoings could be the same, or might get even worse at a global scale. If we do not stop right now, and try contain the damage we have already unleashed there is no future to us on the Earth.

Having quoted Paulo Coelho even in a previous post of mine, I reiterate this apt statement:
Save the planet? The Planet must be saying, "Save yourself idiots, I will be fine" 
It is high time we realize this and have it forever in mind.

At least as a means of self preservation, we must halt the extreme levels of exploiting Mother Nature and her gifts to us.

All the recklessness, restlessness, remorselessness, that has become the way of life needs to be replenished with deep respect, which was so inherent to our predecessors.
When Japan, indisputably, technology-wise the most sophisticated country in the world has been shattered by the wrath and fury of Mother Nature, we must come to realize our place in the mechanics of the Universe. When such is the value of the sophistications we are ever boasting of, there are better things to concentrate upon. If we could reduce the antagonism between us humans, at the levels of communities, states, countries and what other non-sense, that would serve the best to all of us.

I do not endorse the Mayan Calendar, nor believe in the genius of Nostradamus. Nevertheless, I too can proclaim the prophecy that, if we are not 'stopping' these atrocious levels of unscrupulous exploitation of nature and her resources, we will see the END; Not for the Earth, but of the supposedly 'intelligent' creatures who lived on the Earth!

PS: Let us exhibit some basic sense of humanity, and share the grief and loss that japan is coping up to, rather than mocking at them and their circumstances by celebrating futilities such as cricket!

The oblivion of the small and the beautiful

Hasn't it been a while since a Postman knocked at your door? Or you went down and met your tailor to get your clothing stitched? Or that you've seen that bright entrepreneurial glee in the eyes of a small scale industrialist?

What has happened to the roadside Provision stores, to the Vegetable vendor who used to be a character to be pranked with, or the push cart kulfi waalas ?

Have you ever wondered how their lives have changed in a mere span of a decade here in India?

These are little people and their aspirations that the Monopolistic system has trampled and tread upon to give us this supposedly glorious world of today. A world, which values nothing but vicious personal gain; A system which approves you of the sanctity to tread on others to greedily move ahead; Move ahead as in: In this race, a rat-race; Each one is being raced down to the deepest levels of their values, and reducing every evolved emotion and relationship into a commodity.

Where are all the small, simple and beautiful things!
Small goes unnoticed: Everything ought to be grand and spectacular, beyond the saturation of our senses.
Simple is silly: Things have gotten super sophisticated beyond our realms of comprehension.
Beautiful is everything that carries a heavy price tag: Today's beauty has got our aesthetic sense go numb.

One such occupation....

When this is the framework you let people to thrive in, there is nothing but the sad, unattended funeral of heritage of occupations like weaving, carving, pottery, even farming, and various other small occupations, which form important segments of our evolution have demised, or are at least at the verge of oblivion from the known section of humanity.

A debate whether these have been displaced at the cost of modernization and development for the sake of the rest of us can be taken up, and we would eventually stand guilty.
Each of us can do a lot to avert this oblivion of our own small and the beautiful.


PS: As I am composing this post, I am contemplating of a contemporary Swadesi Movement for self sufficiency and most importantly self conservation of our society!
If you believe we can do it better together, then let's get together!

Cognizance of being better and above the system

I did try to come up with a smaller post title, but nothing could better encapsulate the idea I am trying to propose in this post.

The severe reverence people have come to give to the systems each one is being conditioned to is a matter of grave concern. The individual is intimidated of the system which he/she is a part of. By the virtue of systematizing and monopolizing institutions,the hegemony seeking enterprise holders have accomplished their mission.

I am not talking about Commercial enterprises, although they come inclusive of this argument. I am more so worried about the other social enterprises such as Religion, Education, Governance and even the system of ethics.

I have already questioned the validity of the religious institutions and the subduing behavior of individuals coming under a religious system in numerous posts of mine. What is more appalling, is the similar response individuals show towards the Education and Ethics systems.

Due to my lack of holistic experience, I shall confine myself to the scenario of Education and Ethics in India; In the Indian context, I do think that I'm adequately capable of critiquing the system, with more than 20 years of  conscious presence in this system.

The system of education does nothing better than narrow down the mental space of individuals with all its powerful, yet so blunt interactions with the individuals. Most students, still believe that exams are the ultimate objective of their education, and often even fail to think on the lines of applying the knowledge they might have absorbed in the process.
Narrowing down to the Engineering education in India, the irony starts with the term "Engineering" itself, as this system of education is nothing about engineering at all.

The word “engine” itself is of even older origin, ultimately deriving from the Latin ingenium (c. 1250), meaning “innate quality, especially mental power, hence a clever invention (wikipedia)


Whereas the current system on the contrary, is the most efficient ploy implemented to create the crudest mediocre work force for the ever blooming (?) Information and Technology Industry, that we Indians boast of.
The incentive for majority of students and their families still, to take up Engineering Education is to get employed in an MNC and earn above average wages.

As ironic and ridiculous the system of Education might seem, it somehow is well perceived in the society. Not just well perceived, but revered for some unknown enticement.

While, I can go on cribbing about the falsehood of the system, the most unfortunate thing about all of this contradiction is that the people who initially start as being part of the system, eventually become victims of it. Even after this victimization, people are oblivious of the perils in the system. They fail to see all the harm that has been done to them, and still go on to numbly bear it's burden without rebelling against it.

There is a deep and distressful lack of cognizance amongst the individuals; A cognizance that they themselves are far better and well above the System; A system that is created to intimidate and dominate individuals...

From ponderous to wondrous!

It has been quite a while that I laid back and did what I love the most: To let my mind wander...

Off late with all the tasks and corresponding completions timelines, there has been little opportunity at hand to just 'while' away some moments with no purpose at all. This isn't me complaining about all the tasks I am committed to, but expressing my want of those wonderful moments, moments of unfettered bliss within my head...

The euphoria emanating from such purposeful 'purposeless inquisitions', with no tangible outputs is an exquisite feeling of self fulfillment. This gratification is necessary for me, to keep this narcissist mind at work.

Time, spent such, is an investment one would quintessentially have to make, while mining into the talents and ideas within thyself !
Such ponderous moments culminate to become wondrous creative acts.
And, that is Mission Accomplished! Being at it,regularly is an exquisite treat each of us could give ourselves...

Vista 1: (Get to see it only my blog! album)

Hypocrisy as the Lifestyle syndrome

I meet many people; people who don't enjoy what they do. They simply go through their lives, getting on with it. They got no great pleasure from what they do; They endure it, rather than enjoy it, and wait for the weekend...
Sir Ken Robinson


Using this excerpt from Sir Ken Robinson as a take off point, allow me to present the little acknowledged, but the common societal catastrophe: The ubiquity of superficiality in people, or the Hypocrisy as the Lifestyle syndrome.

We might have acknowledged this syndrome, i.e., in others; But most of us wouldn't dare to evaluate ourselves, to see where we personally stand on this scale of self treason.

Deriving pleasure and gratification out of the work we do is as irrelevant in today's world, as the expectation of honest and earnest governance in today's pseudo-democracies. The unfortunate trend, which has percolated to become a trait of the society is : We'd know it is wrong, but wouldn't bother to better it, because supposedly everyone does it that way!

We bury our natural urges and talents deep down, piling the routine of hypocrisy, confusing mediocrity to be excellence, and pseudo recognitions as results. Few moments of exalting happiness is what keeps us going, when there's a life full with exalting gratification that goes wasted.

A friend of mine says, "All our priorities are screwed up! They're nonsensical". And I so agree with it.

We emulate others, while we lose our authenticity; Worst of it all, we feel no remorse about this self betrayal. Starting from our desires, passions, culture and lifestyle everything has one common factor: Pretension!

After cribbing about this syndrome to this extent, I shall end it optimistically by remembering the few true humans I know: People who are, what they are, and others would only want to emulate them.

A depiction of the so called transition

Bryan Adams and the Greatest Sing-along concert in Bangalore!

Bryan Adams in Bangalore (image from TOI, we weren't allowed with our cams!)

After the two hours of Bryan Adams in Bangalore, I was unable to make an audible sound, or even stand up straight; I was drenched in dust but was euphoric and was certainly still on Cloud No.9!

But, even a minute before, until there was Bryan Adams on stage, I, like the rest of the thousands, didn't feel any fatigue, we were just ecstatic to see the Deity himself singing, jumping and cheering with us energetically, in his flesh and bones, until he got us soaked to our bare bones!

The sea of people, a sea with a common current of Bryan Adams' music in it, was the experience of a lifetime. I'm certain that the Indian audience cannot sing-along any other artist for almost all the songs performed! It was scintillating, and not to mention intoxicating. 

While me and my friends were guessing as to what might be the opening track, he surprised us, by more aptly opening with "There will never be another tonight", and he had the struck the right chord as he got us all jumping and hooting throughout... He introduces himself as Bryan Adams, and starts off with "Here I am", and this track never fails to give goosebumps, and in a live show, it blows you away.

I can recollect something special about each of the tracks performed, but I'll prevent myself from making this the longest post by me, and only mention the rest: Somebody, 18 Till I die, Everything I do - I do it for you, Please forgive me, Heaven, The only thing that looks good on me, Night to remember, How do you feel tonight, Can't stop this thing we started, Cuts Like a knife, Here I am, Hearts on Fire, Thought I'd died and gone to heaven, Baby when you're gone, Cloud No.9, Run to you, You've been a friend to me, Summer of 69 and I must have missed out a few and he closed the show with his Bare Bones performance.

Dizzy!And that's what it was like!

There was an awesome jam between Bryan Adams and Keith Scott for one of the tracks, and later a dedication to Keith Scott in Hearts on Fire.  To perform the female lead for Baby when you're gone, Bryan pulled out a girl from the audience and it was superb, and she did perform well!

At 90 mins the band closed the show with Cloud No.9, but the crowd asked for more and more, they did give heed to us and went back and performed Run to You and You've been a friend to me! Then the band members bid us adieu, while we hadn't got enough. 

And this time Bryan Adams, stayed back and did two tracks from his Bare Bones, The way you make me feel and Straight from the Heart ( acoustic guitar, his voice and  him playing mouth organ!):The perfect curtain call!

These two hours of my life will remain evergreen and immortalized, with resonance of Bryan Adams' performance, his energy, the music and all the words which mean so much to me!

Unintended Trance at the show...

ಕೋಪ ಬರಲೇಬೇಕು!

ಇತ್ತೀಚಿಗೆ ಒಂದು ಸರಕಾರೀ ಕಛೇರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆಲಸವಿದ್ದಿತು. ಒಂದೆರಡು ಮುಖ್ಯವಾದ ದಾಖಲೆಗಳನ್ನು ಅವರಲ್ಲಿ ಕೊಟ್ಟು , ಕೆಲಸಕ್ಕೆ  ಹೊರಡಬೇಕಾದ ಸನ್ನಿವೇಷ.

ಆ ಕಛೇರಿಯ ಕಾರ್ಯಸಮಯ ಬೆಳಿಗ್ಗೆ  ೯:೦೦ ರಿಂದ ಸಾಯಂಕಾಲ ೫:೦೦ ರವರೆಗೆ ಎಂದು ಒಂದು ಫಲಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಸೂಚಿಸಲಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಈ ಕೆಲಸದ ಸಲುವಾಗಿ ಹಲವಾರು ಬರುವರೆಂದು ಅರಿತ ನಾನು, ಮತ್ತು ನನ್ನಂತಹ ಇನ್ನು ಕೆಲವರು ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಬೇಗನೆಯೇ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಸೇರಿದ್ದವು.

ಸಮಯ ೯: ೦೦ ಇನ್ನೂ ಹಲವಾರು ಜನ ನಮ್ಮ ಸಾಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸೇರಿದರು, ಆದರೆ ಆ ಕಛೇರಿಯ ಕಾರ್ಮಚಾರಿಗಳು ಬರುವಂತೆ ಕಂಡು ಬರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಸೇರಿದ್ದ ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ತಮ್ಮ ಕೆಲಸಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗಲು ಸಿದ್ಧರಾಗಿರುವಂತೆ ಕಂಡು ಬಂದಿತು. ಸೇರಿದ್ದ ಜನರ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆ ೧೦ ರಿಂದ ೨೦, ೧೫ ನಿಮಿಷಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಸುಮಾರು ೪೦ ಜನ ಸೇರಿದ್ದರು.

ಸಮಯ ೯:೩೦ ಆದರೂ, ಕರ್ಮಚಾರಿಗಳು ಯಾರೂ ಬರಲಿಲ್ಲ.
ತಡವಾಗಿ ಬರುವುದು, ಬಂದ ನಂತರ ನಿರ್ಲಕ್ಷ್ಯತೆಯಿಂದ ಕೆಲಸವನ್ನು  ಮಾಡುವುದು ನಮ್ಮ ಭಾರತ ದೇಶದ ಸಂಸ್ಕ್ರುತಿಯೆಂದೇ ಹಲವರು ನಂಬಿದ್ದೇವೆ. ಹಾಗೆ ನಂಬಿದ್ದ ಕೆಲವು ಜನರು ಇದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಗೊಣಗಲು ಪ್ರಾರಂಭಿಸಿದರು. 'ಸರಕಾರೀ ಕಛೇರಿಗಳೇ ಹೀಗೆ', 'ಏನೂ ಪ್ರಯೋಜನವಿಲ್ಲ' , 'ಊಟದ ಸಮಯವನ್ನು ಮಾತ್ರ ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ಪಾಲಿಸುವರು ', ಎಂದು ಇನ್ನೂ ಬಹಳ ರೀತಿಯ ಮಾತಿನ ಕಿಡಿ ಕಾರುತಿದ್ದರು.

ಸಮಯ ೯:೪೫, ಕಛೇರಿಯ ಕಾರ್ಮಿಕರು ಯಾವುದೇ ಆತಂಕವಿಲ್ಲದೆ, ಹಾಯಾಗಿ ಬಂದರು. ಬಂದು, ತಮ್ಮ ವಯಕ್ತಿಕ ಮಾತು ಕಥೆಗಳನ್ನು ಮುಗಿಸಿ ತಮ್ಮ ಕುರ್ಚಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದು ಕುಳಿತು ತಮ್ಮ ಕೆಲಸವನ್ನು ನಿಧಾನವಾಗಿ ಪ್ರಾರಂಭಿಸಿದರು. ಅಲ್ಲಿಯವರೆಗೆ  ಗೊಣಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಜನ, ತೆಪ್ಪಗಾಗಿ ತಮ್ಮ ದಾಖಲೆಗನ್ನು ಕೊಟ್ಟು  ಹೋಗ ತೊಡಗಿದರು. ಆತನಕ ಅವರು ಕಿಡಿಕಾರುತಿದುದನ್ನು ಆ ಕಾರ್ಮಿಕರು ನೋಡಲಿಲ್ಲ; ಹಾಗೆ ನೋಡಿದ್ದರೆ, ಸ್ವಲ್ಪವಾದರೂ ಯೋಚಿಸಿ ತಮ್ಮ ಕೆಲಸವನ್ನು ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ಮಾಡಬೇಕೆಂದು ನಿರ್ಧರಿಸುತ್ತಿದರೋ ಏನೋ . ಆದರೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಜನ ಈಗ ತಮ್ಮ ಬಾಯನ್ನೂ ತೆಗೆಯಲೇ ಇಲ್ಲ .

ಸಮಯ ೧೦:೦೦, ನನ್ನ ಸರದಿ ಬಂದಿತು. ನಾನೂ ನನ್ನ ದಾಖಲೆಗಳನ್ನು ಕೊಟ್ಟು, ಸಹಿ ಮಾಡಿದೆ. ಅದಾದ ನಂತರ ಆ ಕಾರ್ಮಿಕರನ್ನು ತರಾಟೆಗೆ ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಂಡೆ. ಸರಿಯಾದ ಸಮಯಕ್ಕೆ ಅವರು ಬಾರದ ಕಾರಣ, ೫೦ ಜನರು ತಮ್ಮ ಕೆಲಸಗಳಿಗೆ ತಡವಾಗಿ ಹೋಗ ಬೇಕಾದ ಪರಿಸ್ಥಿತಿ ಉಂಟಾಗಿದೆ, ಮತ್ತು ಅವರಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪವೂ ಜವಾಬ್ದಾರಿಯಿಲ್ಲವೆಂದು ಹೇಳಿದೆ. ಅಷ್ಟರಲ್ಲಿ, ಆ ಕಾರ್ಮಿಕರು ಬರುವ ಮುನ್ನ ಗೊಣಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಜನರು ನನನ್ನು ಸಮಾಧಾನ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು  ಹೇಳತೊಡಗಿದರು. ಆ ಕಾರ್ಮಿಕರ ಮೇಲೆ ಇದ್ದ ಕೊಪಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಈ ಸತ್ತ-ಪ್ರಜೆಗಳ ಮೇಲೆ ಕೋಪ ಅಧಿಕವಾಯಿತು. ಕಛೇರಿಯ ಕಾರ್ಮಿಕರು ಬರುವ ಮುನ್ನ ಅವರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಹರಟೆ ಹೊಡೆದು, ಅವರ ಮುಂದೆ ಏನೂ ಹೇಳದೆ, ಹೇಳುತಿದ್ದ ನನನ್ನು ತಡೆಯುತಿದ್ದ ಆ ಮೂರ್ಖರಂತೆ ವರ್ತಿಸುದ್ದ ಜನರ ಮೇಲೆ ಇನ್ನಷ್ಟು ಕೋಪ ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಯಿತು.
"ಅವರ ಬೆನ್ನ ಹಿಂದೆ ಅವರನ್ನು ನೀವು ಟೀಕಿಸಿದರೆ ಏನು ಪ್ರಾಯೋಜನೆ? ಅವರ ಮುಂದೆ, ಅವರನ್ನು ತರಾಟೆಗೆ ತೆಗೆದರೆ ತಾನೇ ಅವರಲ್ಲಿ ನಮ್ಮ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಜವಾಬ್ದಾರಿ ಬಂದು, ಕೆಲಸವನ್ನು ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ಮಾಡುವರು!" ಎಂದು ಅಲ್ಲಿದ ಜನರನ್ನು ಕೇಳಿ, ಅಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಹೊರಡಲು ಆರಂಭಿಸಿದೆ.

ನಾನು ಕೊಪಗೊಂಡುದನ್ನು  ನೋಡಿದ ಒಬ್ಬ ಮಧ್ಯ ವಯಸ್ಕನು ನನಗೆ  " easy  ..easy  " ಎಂದು ಉಪವಾದ ಮಾಡಿದರು.
ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ನಾನು, ಅವರ ಬಳಿ ನಿಂತು : "ನೀವು  easy  ..easy ... ಅಂತ ಹೇಳಿಯೇ ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಶವನ್ನು ಈ ಸ್ಥಿತಿಗೆ ತಂದಿದ್ದೆರೆ ...ಕೋಪ ಪಡಬೇಕು ರೀ!", ಎಂದು ಗರ್ಜಿಸಿ ಅಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಹೊರಟೆ !

ಹಿನ್ನುಡಿ :
ನನ್ನ ಅನಿಸಿಕೆಯ     ಪ್ರಕಾರ ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಶದ ಜನತೆ ಗಾಂಧಿಯವರ ಅಹಿಂಸಾ ತತ್ವವನ್ನು ತಪ್ಪಾಗಿ ಅರಿತು ಅನುಸರಿಸುತಿದ್ದಾರೆ .
ಗಾಂಧೀ ನಮಗೆ ಕೋಪವೇ ಬರಬಾರದು, ಎಲ್ಲವನ್ನು  ಸಹಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗಬೇಕೆಂದು ಹೇಳಿಕೊಡಲಿಲ್ಲ!

ಅನ್ಯಾಯವನ್ನು ಕಂಡಾಗ ಕೋಪ ಪಡಬೇಕು,
ಆಗ ನಮಗೆ ಬರುವ ಕೋಪವನ್ನು  ಅಹಿಂಸಾತ್ಮಕವಾಗಿ ವ್ಯಕ್ತ ಪಡಿಸಬೇಕು!
ಎಂದು ಗಾಂಧೀ ಹೇಳಿ, ಅವರ ಬದುಕಿನ ಮುಖಾಂತರ ತೋರಿಸಿಕೊಟ್ಟಿದ್ದಾರೆ...

The Motorcycle Diaries

I knew not who this young man was, or what he had become later on when I watched The Motorcycle Diaries, intermittently in Zee Studio before a couple of years. I tried to read the book now, pretending to have not known this young man, or what he has come to be to me.
It was an experience reading The Motorcycle Diaries.

The book is not only the account of 'making of a revolutionary icon' in the 20th Century. It is an elegantly written, profoundly influential travelogue. It is one of the finest and smooth books to read. The simplicity of the people and their lives, with all their struggles amidst the vivid descriptions of the sublime nature is the consistent undercurrent throughout this Diary.

The entire book is as if a prologue to the last chapter (When you read it, might agree),
Recollecting a few lines in the last chapter:

I knew... I now knew that when the great guiding spirit cleaves humanity into two antagonistic halves, I would be with the people.

This young man chronicling his adventures and revelations in the countryside of the Latin American continent could have been anyone amongst us. Each of us at some point of time are brought to such revelatory experiences in one form or another. The point is how much of influence these experiences have on us. We seldom give heed to what these experiences reveal to us; We conveniently shut ourselves off.

Whereas this young adventurer, who set off to know his continent's people, was transformed to become one of the greatest revolutionaries of the human history, who goes on to inspire millions of youngsters even today.
Che!

We might concur, or differ with Che's politics and his warfare, but the urge to recognize and stand against oppression, backed with relentless dedication and efforts is what Che is all about.
He is as relevant today, as he was during his times.

We need to open up ourselves; Then observe and act. If it takes a little of Che in each of us to do it - So be it.

Never a step backward,
Never a moment of weakness.
- Ernesto 'Che' Guevara

Working Class Hero

In the year 1984, in Shimshapura, a village not far away from the Silicon capital of India, Bangalore, there lived a rational man who was ahead of times, in relation to the circumstances he was brought up in. The story is about this man rising above all his peers and contemporaries.

As a background to this story, Untouchability and Casteism in India are perils which are still haunting various regions of India, and are far from being things of the past. I find it unneccasry to elucidate what these superstitous inhuman acts are capable of unleashing, as we have had chronicles narrated to us in our schools and most of us might have witnessed it in person.

While our protagonist is in his early twenties, living in the orthodox, caste-conscious village ( like the many then, and a little less now), has an entourage of seven other youngsters in the village. Interestingly, his entourage comprises of a person from the 'lower' caste and this by itself has outraged the rest of the village, as it is still presumed to be 'unholy' and 'degrading' to interact closely with these people who are called as the 'dalits' otherwise in India.
Reiterating the fact that he was 'rational', he would profess to his peers that caste-based discrimination to be a foolish superstition,and people shouldn't endorse such inhuman discriminations. His entourage was convinced better than the rest of the village.

Until now, the protagonist and his entourage had only interacted with the lower caste friend of theirs, whereas they hadn't visited his home or eaten there.
During one festival, this friend invites the rest of the entourage to his home for the special supper. These young men, who had until then professed rationality, didn't think otherwise; acted by their words and happily joined their friend from the 'lower' caste for a relishing dinner, a hitherto event in the village...

Post dinner, each one of them, because of the prejudices they were brought up in, questioned themselves, if it was any different or 'unholy',or if they felt 'guilty' to have suppered with their friend. Convinced that they had done the right thing, they slept that night peacefully.

For the next couple of days, the news about this young group of villagers having suppered at the 'dalit's' home spread all across the village, into some 1000 houses, like wild fire. Every road-side conglomeration of people would discuss exhaustingly about this 'atrocity' committed by these youngsters. With the news reaching the village heads, and the Panchayat, they decide to summon these young men for the 'shameful' disdain exhibited by them.

No logic presented by these men was given heed to, and all the 'accused' were 'convicted', for the crime of having brought disgrace to the entire village, and the 'upper caste'. As a punishment they were fined Rs.50/- each (substantial amount in the 1980's) and were to undergo the re-purification process: It would comprise of shaving off their heads, taking a public bath with turmeric and soap-nut powder, and drinking a trickle of the 'holy cattle water' or the cow's urine! As the entire village was against these men, including their own family members they had to succumb to this ridiculous process.

After undergoing this atrocity, our protagonist is outraged and furious.

During an immediate visit to the town, away from his village, he meets his brother. The brother on questioning about his new hairdo, and the subsequent narration of the entire saga, is infuriated and escorts his victimized brother to the press and everything is reported there.

As caste-based discrimination and untouchability in India are constitutional offenses, the newspaper report which appeared next day triggered the police to reach the village and hand out serious warnings to the village heads. The village heads went absconding.

Unaware of the ramifications of  his newspaper interview, our protagonist reaches the village to be welcomed with stares of admiration from a few, while the rest were dreadfully scared! Once he spoke to his friends, he realized the implications of his newspaper interview and was glad that the elders were being taught a lesson for their stupidity...

After returning from their tenure of absconding, the undaunted village heads regrouped the Panchayat and decided to boycott the protagonist along with his family (seclusion from the rest of the village).
With pressure from within the house, with his brothers asking him to leave the house, the protagonist had decided to stay away from his house. But, his mother urged him to face the villagers and stay put at his home.

With moral support from his mother, he started to visit the village as he would normally. To counter the ignorance of the rest of the villagers, he began to analyze the history of the village, and noticed that there were many other upper caste people who had and were interacting with the 'lower caste' people for their benefits (for the sake of free labor, illegitimate relationships, exploitation and so on). He jotted down the names and instances such as those, and started questioning the village heads, who could not confront him. They started dodging him, and during this process he had mobilized a good number of other rationales from the village who would join him for this essential cause and fight against such caste-based discrimination in their village and nearby ones.

Over a period of time, the villagers' ignorance and audacity had molded our protagonist into a leader, and he was the first member from his district to have won a Panchayat seat in the elections, standing for the party he endorses.
Even now, he is a leader who resonates to the ground level problems of his villagers and goes to great extents to see that he can help them with the best of his efforts.


PS: The name of the protagonist is G Ramakrishna, from the Malavalli taluk of Mandya district. People in his taluk are more open and welcoming to people from other castes, although the peril by itself is not fully abolished. GR even now is active in mobilizing people to stand up for their cause, bringing them out of the shackles of inhibitions and ignorance. He is one common man, who turned to be a Hero, a working class hero...

Yearning to go rural....

The question of whether or not all the complexities we have drawn onto our daily lives, is worth or not has kept my mind boggled for quite sometime now.

On the one hand, there is the incessant urge of us humans to explore the unknown realms of unconquered nature. This urge is what has lead us into the cognizance of the vastness and grandeur of nature. While this is making our lives complex with every passing second with all the ramifications in the form of technology and innovations, it has also given us immense gratification, to further instigate our thought process to ponder more and better.

But, on the other hand, this quench to understand nature, by unleashing the humongous information and ramifications in the form of technology has misaligned us from our fundamental sensual pleasures we would otherwise incessantly derive from nature. The solace nature gives us has been replaced with artificial and temporary indulgences. Once a while, when we are back at the bosoms of mother nature, the immeasurable bliss it renders is irreplaceable.

Pursuing our inquisition is a pleasure of its own, pursuing it without letting go our natural indulgences in all the grandeur of nature is most important.

PS: The state of my mind while composing this post has been perfectly conducive to churn up contrasts such as the ones presented in the post.
During an eventful trip recently, I found myself walking for miles early in the morning, chewing Neem stalks to cleanse my mouth ( I still wonder why people transcended to tooth pastes and tooth brushes!); Eating simple, unsophisticated, yet delicious food cooked on firewood; Singing and dancing around campfire; Laying on my back in open fields, staring at the stars(majority of which are not visible in the city!).
I am not sure as to what we have gained by endorsing the urban sophistications, but I can clearly see all that we are missing!

Facebook Republic Day!

Change your profile picture in tricolor theme; Post a futile status message saying "Happy Republic Day", without knowing what a Republic is!; Get tens of likes from like minded "Patriots"; Talk about shallow nationalism for a day ; Try remembering the National heroes, as portrayed by the media; Most of all, enjoy the holiday - stay at home, or better rush to a shopping mall! 

Isn't it a really nice way to commemorate the oblivion of a Republic India?

This sort of a superficial and occasional patriotism is what has rendered India to it's current messy state.
Does this sort of occasional sense of pride and nationalism do any good at all? Aren't we only trying to please ourselves, or our entourage by showing such shallow patriotism? We let go daily opportunities through the year, where we can excel as citizens, and only on a few occasions exalt in the name of patriotism.

Every time 'We the People', 'celebrate' the Republic Day, we must place a check on the extent of how much of a Republic we are.
A Republic gives heed to its citizens: Our Voice matters in a Republic. But, with every passing year, this national trait is eroding and will soon be met with oblivion, without any remorse.

It is alarming to observe a huge section of the society being happily complacent with the lack of Democracy in a Republic, and are self approvingly endorsing such hypocrisy, branded as nationalism.

If you are proud of your country, be so every second of your life, and transform that pride into efforts and actions, which will better the nation. Please stop this occasional hypocrisy!

Collateral Damage: The State and the Centre duo

First a recap of the proceedings in India, with some points specific to Karnataka:

• The overall inflation has hit 8.8 %, with food inflation at about 17 %; While the Central Govt is attributing this anomaly to be symptoms of growth, i.e, necessary for increasing the GDP, citizens are the ones who have fallen prey to this firestorm. [ A recent central govt report recognizes that 70 % of the population survives on Rs.20/day] So, where is the growth?
• Since the deregulation of  fuel prices in India ( i.e., variations in fuel prices would be in synchronism with the International market, without much intervention from the Govt.), there has been a sharp increase of about 20% within a span of less than an year.
• Central Govt.'s hush-hush methodology (or inaction?) until now, towards the speculated 1.5 Billion USD worth of tax evaded Indian money in the Swiss Bank accounts, is also a matter of grave concern.
• Showers of other scams, which fancy themselves, unashamedly with dizzying figures attached to them.   India shining? Yes, very much.  The bars are set high this time: Prerequisite for any scam to hit the media and make news has become about 100 crore Rs; anything less than that is not even covered by the media!
• Continuing increase in farmer suicides, and their rate of retrition from farming have aggravated the already ineffective agricultural system in India
• The State Govt here in Karnataka has been busy dodging the allegations and corruption charges against it. So, it has least bothered about the perilous state the citizens are being pushed into.
• And as one of my friends had pointed out, there is not even a pretense about citizen welfare amongst the State legislators these days, and are busily 'flinging mud' (media phrase!) at each other
• A state sponsored and imposed Bandh today, to protest the Governor's grant to prosecute the CM, according to the ruling party was to be observed as 'Indication of people's support to the CM'! If Public transport is shut off, and commercial establishments forcefully closed it can only increase the anguish against these morons of Nth order. 

While these and more chronicles of the pathetic Governance are getting ever ubiquitous, we the citizens are 'Silently witnessing the grand Spectacle'!

By the way, do we still have an independent judiciary? Or, is Judiciary the next addendum to list of terms that are limited only to the text books, joining the list of these attributes: 

Sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic! 

This is what the Constitution promised India to be, and where do we stand today? Who is to be held responsible? Why has the system gotten this rotten? Who is the culprit?

I cannot propose a pragmatic solution at this juncture, but can clearly see each of us being responsible for this pathetic state of affairs. No salvation would be feasible from this mess, without the active and activated participation of each one of us.

Reclaiming the fundamental people....

We meet a lot of people on a daily basis. Not everyone leaves an impression on us occupying neurons in our brain. And of the few people who do leave an impression, for me, the ones who permanently reside on their alloted neurons, and invading into more neurons are the People who are still fundamentally very people-like.

By quoting a phrase like fundamentally people, I am blanketing all the people who have not lost their identity in the sophistications of the freaky, gadgety world. They are more or less rarities, who are less dependent on the rest of the human inventions, or at least not in a vulnerable state of dependency. People who 'use' technology, and not who 'live' technology.

There are numerous anecdotes to recollect the humanness of these special people I have come to know. I shall start with the logging of the latest one.

Be grounded
An ophthalmologist I visited for consultation recently, reminded me the importance of being grounded. Grounded as in not the humility aspect of it, although that too was inherent to her. But, it was more about thinking in a simple and realistic manner. All the thoughts and words emanating from her, were bouncing off a basic ,yet strong mental platform.  During each moment of the interaction with her,  she was manifesting the simplest, yet so alien thought process. With no complexities, looking at everything in their simplest forms, making it all seem so obvious, while my mind was stuck in a jargon war, 'trying to think'!

Human'abilty 
With every passing day, our dependence on everything apart from our own ability has been increasing unscrupulously. We are getting more vulnerable by the day. We are crippled when there is no power, or even when we don't spot a calculator to multiply two two digit numbers! When this is the state of the improvisation of our abilities, I can only recollect one person, who defied this dependence in every practical manner: A man I would have loved to know better, my grand dad.
He wasn't extraordinarily dependent on machines, on the contrary he was relatively self sufficient with his exceptional abilities. For instance, he used to never wait for a bus, or a rickshaw, for his 10+10 km work commute and he didn't want to own a personal vehicle. He used to walk briskly the entire distance, do his day's work and walk back to home effortlessly. On the contrary, I can only think of the cribbing each of us consciously does for any purposeful walk, of even a km.
Also, he was my first reference encyclopaedia for any doubts in History, or general science, or politics.
He was an ad hoc quiz master. I have always wanted to emulate him, and I must have been partially successful in trying to endorse his mind set, but never his physical stamina or the strong mental conviction, for which I shall remember him eternally.

Such people are the ones, who remind us of all the unreality we are filled with, and in a silent manner of their own urge us to reclaim ourselves from the shackles of  dependencies.

My Location: The Green Peninsula

Firstly, at the risk of sounding chauvinistic, I dare to confess: Of all the cities  I've visited (as yet, only within India) nothing comes close to being Bangalore. I am addicted to the weather, ambiance, people and places here, and find it really tough to 'adjust' elsewhere. And yeah, it is shaping up to be a vulnerability of mine. Nevertheless, you would hear conforming confessions from most core Bangaloreans in the same context.

My physical location in Bangalore is one of the best places to be. It is The Green Peninsula: Three sides surrounded by the best greenery that Bangalore is still left with, and two patches of serene lakes; All within a radius of about 2-4 km.

@ the IISc

To my West is my favorite portion of Bangalore - The Indian Institute of Science. If not at work, I'll most probably be found in the IISc; visiting friends, calling for meetings or participating in sessions. This is the best place to be cycling. The rich flora, the serenity, coupled with my books and music, and the impeccable lemon tea have made it an addiction of sorts...

@ UAS, approaching the big boulders

To the East is the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), and this has immense retrospective value to me. It used to be the childhood weekly picnic spot. Over the weekends, me and my cousins would pack some snacks, or find some mulberries, or the strawberry-like flowers of cacti and 'trek' the small hills ( i.e., the big boulders), through the tongue-like mud roads to reach the Campus grounds.These huge grounds were where I scored my first 100 in Cricket ( two teams of 5 each were playing:), while I was in my high school. Other fascinating regions of this was the veterinary campus where the poultry, piggery, dairy farms were present. Now these farms are diminishing, but the pastures, and rest of the greenery is in decent condition.

Hebbal Lake, and a small portion of GKVK

To my North would be the continuation of the UAS campus, Gandhi Krishi Vignan Kendra  (popularly known as GKVK). I have paid the least number of visits here, but will be soon frequenting my rides to this campus as well.

The two scattered water bodies; the depleting Hebbal lake and the serene Sankey lake do add immense value to ambiance in my vicinity.

After having lived for a long long time in such a proximity, it comes as no surprise that I'm obsessed with this ambiance - the Green Peninsula of mine.

Breaking the monotony!

My recent decision of voluntary, but temporary disconnect from the online networking happened spontaneously. I had no clear explanations to myself, when I decided to do it. But, there was an uneasy feeling, an apprehension of sorts which had led me to it. Without projecting it to be an exaggeration, I am presenting my observations here.

During the first couple of days, I did realize the advantages which I had missed by perenially being available online. It might seem as an anomalous regression, tending away from the shackles of today's complex obligations of the digital social etiquette. It was certainly a regression, but not anomalous; I'd say it was very natural, which facilitated a breather from the claustrophobic WEB.
The highly available architecture might do well with core switches in networking, but as people a pause in our interactions with the rest of the people is very much necessary: If not for other reasons, at least to break the monotony.

Monotony, is something I consciously try not to get entangled in. On the other hand, as if to manifest the paradox, this persistence against monotony by itself would end up being monotonous. And, in such instances, the best thing to do is to hibernate. Although this time, it was a hibernation only from my commitments to the Web-World, soon I'd want one absolute hibernation, this time inclusive of all domains.
Well, fear not! It ain't reclusive: It would only be an essential pit stop.

Another understanding, I seem to have arrived at is the ease with which we can get influenced by the increased interactions with the uni-dimensional networking and activities online, again a ramification of the monotony. As a result, our discerning faculties, which differentiate realness of real people and the realness of the digital personas of people, get eroded either when used unscrupulously, or when unused scrupulously. Again, breaking the monotony is one efficient solution to tackle this narrow perception syndrome.

PS: More to be said, will append subsequently...

BPL India vs IPL India!

The post caption gives a deep, contemporary insight into the ever growing disparity in India.
BPL (Below Poverty Line) population in India is a massive section of it, and while most of the real BPL remain left out in the Government's segregation. There is also the never-ending controversies surrounding the criteria and benefits availed to this section  of the population. Nevertheless, what one needs to absorb out of the term BPL in India is that, a major portion (a conservative figure of at least 30%) of the country's population is not in a position to afford basic food, shelter, health and education, while there is another extreme section of the population that is well and far beyond this population, who are oblivious of the BPL.
A statistic would accentuate this disparity: Just 52 individual Indian citizens own assets that is worth 25% of the entire nation's annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Further, when the democracy is tending towards anarchy, the media does well by catalytically euphemising this transformation.
The 'breaking news' for the past two days on all popular media enterprises, which have forcibly invaded into our lives, is that Player X has been sold in a fearsome bid, or that Player Y has gone unsold in the shameless IPL bidding. All of a sudden, the chaos surrounding the scams (~ status quo?) seems to have mellowed down. The media has temporarily forgotten about them, and will revive them when their TRP hint going downwards. Off late, I haven't been able to contain my frustration against the highfalutin media. But, then I realize it is just a ramification of a peril that is deep rooted into our systems.

The arguments and ideas pertaining to changing India have been happening for long. Corruption has become systematized, as in, the system provides for immense opportunities of embezzlement, nepotism, and other 'rich varieties' of corruption, inviting the great scamsters to eat the country from within.
At this juncture, one sigh of worry by an important Indian is worth mentioning:
"India can ill-afford crony capitalism..."
Dr.Manmohan Singh,Prime Minister of India

When the disparity is accelerating, corruption is rotting the country from within, there should be a lot that each of us can do to nullify these perils.

A contemplative sabbatical

I have decided to take a sabbatical from all my online activities for sometime (including my personal mails). I shall stay so, for at least a week, or even more than that.
Will reveal my reasons once I am back online.
For any important communications, feel free to give me a call, or meet me up :-)

2010 -> 1-1-11

Firstly,
Wish you all a radical and blissfully happy new year :-)

Let us strive towards making this year and the future from now on better than it has been, by being part of the change which we will set rolling on.
Standing at another check point, to measure the evolution in the past one year.
Now, looking back at 2010, personally, it has been exceptional in many ways: Paradigm shifts, Perpetual ideas, Personal bliss....

Here's a small retrospective log (for personal chronicling of course;) of the year that has been...

My stand on religion has gotten clearer; At least to myself, while, most of the rest are perplexed further. This endorsement of mine as a disbeliever has made a lot many unhappy, understandably. Nevermind, I am happier than ever with this outlook and am working to make it better.

Another major paradigm shift has been of my perception of the society. It has gotten more critical, in a shrewd manner, and still going on. Learning, understanding and interpreting the mechanisms of the ways in which the world is run is more than fascinating: It is enlightening.

Professionally, my apprehension of getting complacent seems to be coming true. Now that I have gotten conscious about it for sometime now, I am working to counter this sense of shallow satisfaction, to keep myself motivated and to do more than what I am currently doing. Come next year, there will be some tangible actions.

Personally, no new friends this entire year. That comes as no surprise, and only adds to my record of being me. By the way, the old ones have become sparse, further more. Whereas, few old acquaintances have transcended to become real close companions. There is more synchronism in the better entourage that is in the making. Glad for that :-)

Like always, the only incessant resolution is to evolve, for the better. And I hope each of you does the same.

Wish you all a transformative new year; Transformative in the sense of curbing all the negatives and accentuating all the positives.