night and morning anamoly

In the nights the resolve is steely that something extraordinary will happen the next morning...
In the morning, it becomes a dampener...
Psst...
It is wrong committing something without observing a pattern emerging out of the past few fortnights performance. Excusing oneself is the easy way out but that is the only way out in trying circumstances. This is amply clear to someone who bore the brunt on-the-business-front and even clearer to the other one who has suffered excruciationg mental agony of committment.
The back-up should be there in place before starting a venture.

What is the sum of 1/sqrt(n)?

just came across a question
What is the integral value of 1+1/sqrt(2)+1/sqrt(3)+1/sqrt(4)+.....1/sqrt(1000?
i am curious about the general formula till the nth term. This is what i could dig out in a limited timeline:

What's the formula for

n
SUM [1/sqrt(i)]?
i=1

The sum lies
between 2*sqrt(n)-2 and 2*sqrt(n). That is because what you have is
bounded above by

INT [1/sqrt(t) dt] from 0 to n

and below by

INT [1/sqrt(t) dt] from 1 to n

which have the values as indicated.

The formula for the sum is a bit difficult. It is:
n
SUM k^(-1/2) = 2*n^(1/2) - 3/2 + n^(-1/2)/2 -
k=1
n
(1/2)*INT (x-[x]-1/2)*x^(-3/2) dx)
1

Here [x] means the greatest integer less than x. This can be proved by Mathematical Induction.

Math Camp

I remember when I was in my 10+2 days it was rumoured that a student from a local school had proved Fermat's theorem. It is years later that I am reading about the theorem. The curiosity was immense in those days. Sometimes I miss those days when we used to be obsessed with Science and Math questions. I read a bit from the book Snapshots from Hell, which is a nice book talking about fun in Mathematics.

Something about Fermat's last theorem:
X^n+Y^n=Z^n is a diophantine equation, which has no nontrivial solutions for n>2 and x.y, z being non-zero. It has a long and fascinating history and is known as Fermat's last theorem.

Fermat first scribbled Fermat's last theorem in the margin of his copy of the ancient Greek text Arithmetica by Diophantus. The scribbled note was discovered posthumously, and the original is now lost. However, a copy was preserved in a book published by Fermat's son.

The full text of Fermat's statement, written in Latin, reads "Cubum autem in duos cubos, aut quadrato-quadratum in duos quadrato-quadratos, et generaliter nullam in infinitum ultra quadratum potestatem in duos eiusdem nominis fas est dividere cuius rei demonstrationem mirabilem sane detexi. Hanc marginis exiguitas non caperet" (Nagell 1951, p. 252). In translation, "It is impossible for a cube to be the sum of two cubes, a fourth power to be the sum of two fourth powers, or in general for any number that is a power greater than the second to be the sum of two like powers. I have discovered a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition that this margin is too narrow to contain."

As a result of Fermat's marginal note, the proposition that the Diophantine equation
X^n+Y^n=Z^n
where x, y, z, and n are integers, has no nonzero solutions for n>2 has come to be known as Fermat's Last Theorem. It was called a "theorem" on the strength of Fermat's statement, despite the fact that no other mathematician was able to prove it for hundreds of years.

The restriction for n>2 is so because we have infinite value of Pythagorean triples satisfying the equation for x^2+y^2=z^2.

Ramanujan number

The number 1729 is indeed interesting. It is the smallest number that can be expressed as a sum of two cubes not once but twice.
1729=10^3+963
=12^3+1^3
It was discovered by Ramanujan who did extensive self-trained research on Mathematics.

This property of 1729 was mentioned by the character Robert the sometimes insane mathematician, played by Anthony Hopkins, in the 2005 film Proof. It was also part of the designation of the spaceship Nimbus BP-1729 appearing in Season 2 of the animated television series Futurama episode DVD 2ACV02, as well as the robot character Bender's serial number, as portrayed in a Christmas card in the episode Xmas Story.


I read an article online that reflected a wee bit of the genius of this man. The link is: http://www.durangobill.com/Ramanujan.html. I am able to comprehend a bit of the pattern. However, I believe thay since there is a program in C to generate Ramanujan numbers, the algorithm for the same can be understood with a bit of hard work. With my little comprehension, I am trying to give the key features of this. Here it goes:


Durango Bill’s
Ramanujan Numbers
and
The Taxicab Problem


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


If you mention the number “1729” or the phrase “Taxicab Problem” to any mathematician, it will immediately bring up the subject of the self-taught Indian mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. When Ramanujan was dying of tuberculosis in a hospital, G. H. Hardy would frequently visit him. It was on one of these visits that the following occurred according to C. P. Snow.


“Hardy used to visit him, as he lay dying in hospital at Putney. It was on one of those visits that there happened the incident of the taxicab number. Hardy had gone out to Putney by taxi, as usual his chosen method of conveyance. He went into the room where Ramanujan was lying. Hardy, always inept about introducing a conversation, said, probably without a greeting, and certainly as his first remark: ‘I thought the number of my taxicab was 1729. It seemed to me rather a dull number.’ To which Ramanujan replied: ‘No, Hardy! No, Hardy! It is a very interesting number. It is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways.’”


Since then, integer solutions to:

I^3 + J^3 = K^3 + L^3

have been called “Ramanujan Numbers”.

The first five of these are:
Ramanujan Number
I J K L (No “,” With “,”)
----------------------------------------------
1 12 9 10 1729 1,729
2 16 9 15 4104 4,104
2 24 18 20 13832 13,832 (This is a multiple of Solution 1)
10 27 19 24 20683 20,683
4 32 18 30 32832 32,832 (This is a multiple of Solution 2)

The lowest solution to this “2-way” problem is also referred to as “Taxicab(2)”.



Ramanujan Triples

Next, we might ask if there are any triple pair solutions to I^3 + J^3 = K^3 + L^3 = M^3 + N^3 where all the numbers are integers. Again, there are an infinite number of solutions. The first 5 solutions are:

Ramanujan Triple
I J K L M N (No “,” With “,”)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
228 423 167 436 255 414 87539319 87,539,319
11 493 90 492 346 428 119824488 119,824,488
111 522 408 423 359 460 143604279 143,604,279
70 560 198 552 315 525 175959000 175,959,000
339 661 300 670 510 580 327763000 327,763,000

Solutions involving 3 pairs are also called 3-way solutions. The lowest solution to any “N-Way” problem is also called a “Taxicab Number”. Thus “Taxicab(3)” is 87539319.



Ramanujan Quadruples

The sequence can be extended through Ramanujan Quadruples. (There are 4 ways that the sum of two cubes can share a common sum.) The first five quadruple pairs (I^3 + J^3 = K^3 + L^3 = M^3 + N^3 = O^3 + P^3) are:

Ramanujan
I J K L M N O P Quadruple
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
13322 16630 10200 18072 5436 18948 2421 19083 6,963,472,309,248
12939 21869 10362 22580 7068 23066 4275 23237 12,625,136,269,928
17176 25232 11772 26916 8664 27360 1539 27645 21,131,226,514,944
21930 24940 14577 28423 12900 28810 4170 29620 26,059,452,841,000
26644 33260 20400 36144 10872 37896 4842 38166 55,707,778,473,984 (A multiple)

Taxicab(4) is thus 6963472309248.

Ramanujan Quintuples


If a number can be formed by the sum of 2 cubes in 5 different ways (5-way solution) it becomes a Ramanujan Quintuple. The 16 lowest primitive solutions are shown in the table below. The lowest is of course “Taxicab(5)” which has been found/verified by several sources. The ramanujans.c program took 3 hrs. 15 min. for Taxicab(5). (The current optimized version cuts this to less than 2 hours.)

(I^3 + J^3 = K^3 + L^3 = M^3 + N^3 = O^3 + P^3 = Q^3 + R^3)

I J K L M N O P Q R
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) 231518 331954 221424 336588 205292 342952 107839 362753 38787 365757
3) 579240 666630 543145 691295 285120 776070 233775 781785 48369 788631
8) 1462050 1478238 1150792 1690544 788724 1803372 580488 1833120 103113 1852215
13) 1872184 2750288 1283148 2933844 944376 2982240 265392 3012792 167751 3013305
16) 2808000 2953080 2384460 3250260 2025400 3408080 1041204 3602796 262665 3631095
19) 2273733 3527139 1941984 3642078 1654136 3711070 1329636 3762990 653022 3811152
22) 2615985 3692391 1839516 3958290 1164002 4054792 640500 4081266 120069 4086483
34) 4972160 5227585 3884265 5917170 2595033 6285342 2416890 6313545 1006145 6421240
35) 4542802 5670830 3478200 6162552 1853676 6461268 825561 6507303 581384 6510184
38) 3811712 6608416 3126048 6792768 2658867 6876621 1509320 6983224 1084848 6997968
39) 5486400 5769864 4658868 6350508 3957320 6658864 3325590 6843114 513207 7094601
46) 5966610 6293820 5348655 6758505 3469365 7488675 2641964 7624786 225810 7729020
50) 5708052 7282590 5384475 7465677 4989264 7651854 4016670 7976052 3179918 8143576
53) 5167575 8016225 4413600 8277450 4112052 8356698 3759400 8434250 3021900 8552250
57) 6461170 8065550 4947000 8764920 2636460 9189780 1405246 9250754 1174185 9255255
65) 8387550 8480418 6601912 9698384 3330168 10516320 935856 10624056 591543 10625865

Of interest is the increasing sparseness of numbers that can be formed by the sum of two cubes. At 1.0E+20, only one number in 16,000,000 is the sum of two cubes. The sparseness slowly gets worse with increasing number size. A Poisson Distribution calculation based on this “density” indicates a random number near 1.0E+20 should have only a 7.9E-39 probability of forming a 5-way solution. If numbers that can be formed by the sum of two cubes were distributed randomly, there probably wouldn’t be any 5-way or greater solutions. (This would be particularly true for primitive solutions beyond the first one or two.) Given that sporadic 5-way solutions exist, one can conclude that the distribution is not entirely random. (This extends beyond the known modulo 9 relationship.)

Ramanujan Sextuples


The process of “N-way” solutions can be extended to numbers that can be formed by the sum of 2 cubes in 6 different ways. There are several known solutions, but the search run by Uwe Hollerbach confirms that “Taxicab(6)” is the result shown below.

Taxicab(6) = 24153319581254312065344
= 28906206^3 + 582162^3
= 28894803^3 + 3064173^3
= 28657487^3 + 8519281^3
= 27093208^3 + 16218068^3
= 26590452^3 + 17492496^3
= 26224366^3 + 18289922^3


It is interesting to note that this candidate for Taxicab(6) is 79 times Taxicab(5). If you multiply the I, J, K, etc. components of Taxicab(5) by 79, you will get the last 5 pairs of Taxicab(6). (The actual resulting number is 79^3 times larger.)

One possible way of constructing “N” way solutions is to start with “N-1” way primitive solutions and generate/try all possible multiples to see if anything interesting happens. The author tried multiplying all the above primitive 5-way solutions by all integers such that the result was less than Taxicab(6). There were no new smaller 6-way solutions. (Note: All integer multiples have to be used for these trials and not just multiples using prime numbers. For example, the 5th primitive 5-way solution, “16)” above, is 65 times a primitive 4-way solution, and “65” is not a prime.)

Cabtaxi Numbers

While “Taxicab(N)” is defined as the lowest number that can be formed by the sum of two cubes in “N” different ways, Cabtaxi(N) is defined as the lowest number that can be formed by the sum and/or difference of two cubes in “N” different ways. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabtaxi_number for more information.)

Punter

I have found a daffy definition of punter. The punter is a result oriented person, who cares a damn for methods. He usually solves his problems from answer choices. I would love to be a punter in attitude. Will love to post a little about punter.

Doubtful USP!

If the USP becomes doubtful then what can be done? It causes an immense loss of self-belief when one's belief in one's core competence gets shattered. After being known for one particular domain and then being known for other can be okayish for most of us but is very painful for someone who had put his heart and soul into that. It is tough to reconcile with the loss of a particular skillset. Never mind. Every loss comes at the cost of a gain. Is it a zero sum game? Let me not rue over my brain shifting position from right to left. I always had a bit of lefist leanings.:)

planning to go to Noida

Hey,
just wanna desperately a drinks break...
letz c what noida pals have planned for the treat tonight!
i recall how a teacher chides a student for having correctly told the meaning of the word, "dipsomaniac"!
He said, "You were not supposed to know this!"
i also wanna a home trip very soon...
Do not want any of the, "been there, seen that" stuff for a bit of time!

Good Mourning

Good Morning!
What should be a 'Suprabhat' starting with a 'Surya Namaskar' is rarely like that. It rather starts with pair of cigarettes in a row. That is hazardous but is required to recover from the slumber. The feeling does not sink in initially that it is work time folks.
Looking for an alternate vista where the eyes are not wide shut like this. Instead, they will open naturally in response to an internal stimulus. I can recall how I used to wake up early in the morning in anticipation of publishing of my write-up in a local newspaper. Since then I have not moonlighted or worked as a freelancer but plan to dabble and not work full-time irrespective of what comes of it. Until then,
Good Mourning!

The familiar surroundings beckon!

Oh, I love the sticky leaves of my garden now when i am off it and stranded in a concrete jungle! How can one rue over the loss? I mean in what ways can one express the deepest desire to smell the breath of fresh air emanating from the familiar shores of my village! Every village has its own story. Forget about Kerela being God's own country. Probably god resides in villages more than in the cities or let us presume that god is in the cities only on weekends. Because God is simple and does not wish to take care of urban machinations at times.
Yeah, there is an intensity required to stand up to a cause. In my case it is rather simple as well as complicated as I prefer to listen to the heart and not much to the mind. It is strange why so much emphasis is given on sacrificing your instincts every now and then. Probably the rules to live have changed over a period of time and I am living eons away from the so called mainstream.
I can only say, "The heart has its own reasons whereof reason knows nothing"!
Donno know but somehow pantheism attracts now.Is God really found in nature? Life is life everywhere. I will try to find out life in the melee that upsets my conscience normally. It will be difficult but I will try.

The vernacular err domino effect

The local patoi is good for the ears but it can potentially damage your twang and might render you unfit for the corporate or any other chilled out metro ambiance. It is not a phoney talk but it is true. Ergo, watch out all you upcountry dudes aspiring a career in corporate sweepstakes! This does not take away your love for the hometown. It is important to take tough calls keeping in mind the bigger picture. It is not a loss to burn your fingers once or twice in a venture. You learn something good. But it is vital to realign the business models as per the trends. This realisation has come to me a bit late. But never mind. I will try not to embark on a journey through the road less travelled for a while.:)

Sadist says, " Power trip again due to inefficient administration."

As I make up my mind to write something about the screwed days, light has gone off adding to my mental woes. Load shedding has become the order of the day and ten hours of power cut in UP is a de riguer. Aj behenji ki maya hai. Kal kisi aur ki hogi.
But do I need more than ten hours of electricity? Someone rightly pointed out whether I do something for the system. Verily, I do not exercise my franchise and am anti-suffragist. Too bad. We must practice what we preach.

Nowadays it is becoming increasingly difficult to acclimatize with the flora and fauna of a place because the mind has become quite complacent. Now this compacency is different from that within the soul of a supined seer. This is lethargy and I need to pull up the socks.
Now this write-up might invite comments as people are more happy when one is in distress over something. I heard the meaning of the word 'sadism' few years back. The denotation was clear. The connotation is now clearer.
There is a bit of sadist in me too. Let me see how I can try to curb my sadistic instincts. It is well nigh impossible. But I do have the guts to confess.

Inflation hits a 3-year high in India!

Inflation hit the 7% mark and the BSE sensex plummeted as the global cues were disappointing again. It was expected to snap a bit. The sentiments were negative as BSE witnessed nearly 3% fall of 483.92 points and ended at 15,343. Benchmarks ended their short run-up because of rise in commodity prices.
HDFC (down 6.57%), BHEL (6.55%), Mahindra & Mahindra (5.86%), Larsen & Toubro (5.58%) and Jaiprakash Associates (5.03%) were the biggest index losers.
Ranbaxy Laboratories, up 2.73 per cent, was the only Sensex gainer. Market breadth remained negative with 1,817 declines and 815 advances on the BSE.
So many stocks took the knock and the investors' faith remains shattered as of now.
The US government is under pressure to intevene in US housing market to mitigate the repurcussions of a possible economic slowdown.
“Given the magnitude of the systemic and macro­economic risks the US faces, there is a growing case for a finely calibrated public intervention, perhaps addressing both the demand-side as well as the supply-side of the problem,” the Institute of International Finance said.
Eulogising interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve, Bank of England and Bank of America, it however added that closer co-operation between these banks and their European and Japanese counterparts was of “critical importance”.

Yesterday was a bad day for the stock market

Yesterday was not promising for the stock market after it showed signs of resilience last week. The BSE sensex shed 700 plus points and fell below 16k again. The large caps took the knock. Global cues were negative and inflationary concerns are impacting the market sentiments. India is likely to steel itself against inflation by asking domestic iron ore producers to lower prices as part of a range of emergency measures aimed at stemming an alarming jump in inflation.
The government is reducing import duties and scrapping some export incentives for steel producers in response to rising inflation, which hit a 13-month high of 6.68 per cent in the week ending March 15.
News is just in that Ketan Parekh has been sentenced to 1 year jail for the 1992 stocks scam.
Also, the Bombay Stock Exchange could list on its own market this year either through an initial public offering or a direct listing, Rajnikant Patel, the group's chief executive, said.

Pakistan on the road to recovery perhaps

Yesterday, I chanced to read again a bit from the novel 'Adha Gaon' by Rahi Masoom Reza.
Rahi Masoom Reza’s candid and controversial novel unfolds during the latter years of the Raj and the first decade of Independence and portrays the loves, fights and litigations of rival halves of a zamindar family. It attacks the creation of Pakistan and studies the abolition of the zamindari system and its repercussions at the village level. A semi-autobiographical tome set in the author’s village of Gangauli, in Ghazipur district on the fringes of Avadh, Adha Gaon, is full of passion and vibrancy, a powerful record of the meeting of Muslim and Hindu cultural traditions that bound Indian society together.
It is sad that we fight with each other in the garb of communalism. We are like siblings and still fight tooth and nail against each other. Those who love their villages can empathize with the sufferings in the novel. The writer says somewhere that he was happy to be known as the resident of Gangali village and was saddened when people started knowing each other as Shia, Sunni or Hindu.
On-the-neighbour's-front, I believe that India and Pakistan together can be a force to reckon with and this axis will upset the geopolitical balance in our favor perhaps.
With the restoration of democracy in Pakistan, there are chances that Pakistan will be able to overcome the challanges especially that of terrorism. The new PM Yousuf Raza Gilani has taken a very positive step of proposing to initiate dialogues with the militants so that they can lay down their arms and live peaceful lives. As per the new PM, 'war against terrorism' is Pakistan's own war as it has suffered a lot due to it. There has been an unprecedented increase in violence in Pakistan reently. The perils still exist. The PM has planned to reinstate the judges that were sacked by General Musharraf. This demacratically elected government has shown light at the end of tunnel and peace will perhaps return in Pakistan and elsewhere. We will perhaps experience a family reunion again.
Let us hope that India-Pakistan will forge warmer ties and will together grow in stature on all fronts.

The transit feeling of Love in a flash

Never thought how an old man suddenly discovers in a rare flash what it means to be in the reflection of love! It hurts when you had been feeling all along that you are beyond this feeling in these very modern times of ours and in the circumstance you are but suddenly you realize in a brief transit of time that you are just a human being prone to falling in an emotional trap despite all apalling contradictions. It all stems from continued interactions. The heart races off to a an alternative but not parallel world where you are content just with love and are willing to do or at least imagine things that are not sober enough for your profile. You feel a twinge of sadness.
Well, blame on gods or thank goodness, the vulgar reality gets the upper of the surreal and that darned practicality makes inroads to remind you of all sorts of mundane insecurities because one may not be content with the status of Giles Winterborne of Woodlanders whose muse Grace Mulbery had wronged him and had a never-ceasing pity for the man in the end and posits her feeling thus:
A man who had been unfortunate in his worldy transactions; who notwithstanding these things had, like Hamlet's friend, borne himself through all his scathings
As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing.

Dor

What a movie! Nagesh Kuknoor delivered an uncharacteristic genre of filmmaking. The young faces were absolutely awesome and showcased the nuances of acting. The plot did not have any masala but that did not take away the zing from it. It was perhaps the lack of climaxes that made the movie special and very very realistic.
Those who have the appetite for big-budgeted, opulent, star-studded, melodramatic Bollywood movies may not find pleasure in watching a relatively small-budget, realistic film with Ayesha Takia, Gul Panag and Shreyas Talpade in the lead roles.
The story majorly revolves around two women- Mira (Ayesha Takia) whose husband has been accidentally killed by the husband of Zeenat (Gul Panag) who wants her husband to be acquited by a 'mafinama' from Mira. Both have different personality types and complement each other. Zeenat is a headstrong woman who has always struggled to live life her way. Mira is a domesticated character who plays a meek, submissive widow with muffled desires but she is the one who choses a life of independence in the end. Behroopiya(Shreyas Tarpade) dupes people with his antics but helps Zeenat to find Mira. In the end Mira gives 'mafinama' to Zeenat and Zeenat finds a friend in her forever.
Music is fantabaulous and there is something nostalgic about the song 'Yeh hausla kaise jhuke...'
This movie is a cinematic treatise on how to realize that there is can be life beyond the metros without any antagonism intended. The happy dancing of the trio in the deserts on the song 'Kajrare..' was hilarious. It was delightful to find a docile widow breaking the shackles of widowhood by enjoying a bit. The message was good that loving someone after the lover's death is not lost because of a few happy moments.
The locales of Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan have been picturised beautifully.
Hats off to Nagesh Kuknoor and the entire unit for 'Dor'!

Shekhar Ek Jeevani

Agyeya wrote the tome that is a masterclass writing.
I came across a touching poem of Rosetti perhaps that found a mention in the novel.
"I want to die while you love me-
While yet you hold me fair,
While laughter lies upon my lips
And lights are in my hair,
I want to die while you love me.
Oh who would care to live?
Till love has nothing more to ask
And nothing more to give
I want to die-"

Sons and lovers

The troubled and controversial writer D.H. Lawrence who was also misinterpreted as a sexual pervert wrote this fine novel. This novel was partly autobiographical and is majorly about Paul Morel's love for his mother to such an extent that he grapples with his other youthful love affairs. This was the first insinuation of Oedipus Complex by Lawrence's own account: "as her sons grow up she selects them as lovers--first the eldest, then the second. These sons are urged into life by their reciprocal love of their mother--urged on and on. But when they come to manhood, they can't love, because their mother is the strongest power in their lives."
It seems rather absurd but it is a modern portrayal of Freud's concept of Oedipus complex. Paul's mother Mrs. Morel gradually detaches herself from the passion for his husband after repeated fights and also due to occasional violent behaviour of her husband resisted by the elder son. They separate finally. She gets totally absorbed in the lives of her sons. The elder son William Morel dies early and the heartbroken mother now starts doting on the younger one. Paul Morel grapples with his youthful desires and gets entangled in two failed love affairs- earlier with his childhood sweetheart and a farm girl Miriam and later with a divorced suffragette Clara who fulfils his physical needs. Both these affairs fall apart because Paul Morel is more attached with his mother and discards any other attachment. His mother dies in the end and he is left alone.
A strange but good novel. Paul Morel is a sensitive character who is always troubled with himself and appears detached to others. After his mother's death his tragedy is decribed thus in the novel:

"When he turned away he felt the last hold for him had gone. The town,
as he sat upon the car, stretched away over the bay of railway, a
level fume of lights. Beyond the town the country, little smouldering
spots for more towns--the sea--the night--on and on! And he had no
place in it! Whatever spot he stood on, there he stood alone.
From his breast, from his mouth, sprang the endless space, and it
was there behind him, everywhere. The people hurrying along the
streets offered no obstruction to the void in which he found himself.
They were small shadows whose footsteps and voices could be heard,
but in each of them the same night, the same silence. He got off
the car. In the country all was dead still. Little stars shone high up;
little stars spread far away in the flood-waters, a firmament below.
Everywhere the vastness and terror of the immense night which is
roused and stirred for a brief while by the day, but which returns,
and will remain at last eternal, holding everything in its silence
and its living gloom. There was no Time, only Space. Who could say
his mother had lived and did not live? She had been in one place,
and was in another; that was all. And his soul could not leave her,
wherever she was. Now she was gone abroad into the night, and he
was with her still. They were together. But yet there was his body,
his chest, that leaned against the stile, his hands on the wooden bar.
They seemed something. Where was he?--one tiny upright speck of flesh,
less than an ear of wheat lost in the field. He could not bear it.
On every side the immense dark silence seemed pressing him, so tiny
a spark, into extinction, and yet, almost nothing, he could not
be extinct. Night, in which everything was lost, went reaching out,
beyond stars and sun. Stars and sun, a few bright grains, went spinning
round for terror, and holding each other in embrace, there in a
darkness that outpassed them all, and left them tiny and daunted.
So much, and himself, infinitesimal, at the core a nothingness,
and yet not nothing.

"Mother!" he whispered--"mother!"

She was the only thing that held him up, himself, amid all this.
And she was gone, intermingled herself. He wanted her to touch him,
have him alongside with her.

But no, he would not give in. Turning sharply, he walked
towards the city's gold phosphorescence. His fists were shut,
his mouth set fast. He would not take that direction, to the
darkness, to follow her. He walked towards the faintly humming,
glowing town, quickly."

A nice novel.

carnage on halaal street today.:)

I am not a finance guy. However, I am trying to be more knowledgeable about it by listening to CNBC and trying to comprehend,recapitulate, and paraphrase(not copy and paste)the nuances. It can be full of bloopers.

It was a bad day for the market with a loss of 900 plus points. The dampeners can be prevelance of STT and higher short-term capital gains tax. Global cues remain disappointing. The banking sector took the beating as well after assurances of refund of farm loans. The recession worries are still persisting but there are speculations that the US market could rebound in Q3CY08. The post-budget wishlist is very much there and the FM is clarifying that it is not a case of 'Heads I win and tails you lose!'. Chidambaram has defended his budgetary loan waivers by citing the examples of legendary Rajaji in the late 30s and later of Janardan Pujari who fought for similar causes.
Many Maharashtrian farmers are not happy with the 5 acres ceiling and are saying that it is a case of too little too late.
On the other fronts there is news of maverick moves of maverick Branson's Virgin Atlantis and Tata group JV in telecom domain. It is now under DoT scanner. I could not comprehend the reason behind the glitch.
Vodafone too is involved in a litigation over tax related issues with the tax department. This appeared a bit nebulous too to my comprehension.
The tax holidays have not yet been extended to STPI's. This can lead to STPI's spaces being utilized by non-IT companies and will impact metros or mini-metros like NCR, Hyderabad, Pune or Bangalore.
Warren Buffet speaks on CNBC and is now candid about US recession. The motown is not happy as it finds that very little has been done to larger cars and small car segment is getting the advantage. Small wonders Maruti was the sole gainer with other auto scrips feeling the heat today.

I hope my efforts to learn a bit about finance were not a debacle!:)

A user friendly budget this time!

We used to be told in Technical Writing that writing has to be user friendly. We must take care of the fact,"What is there in it for me?" Something similar is happening in the budgets. The rail budget was hailed as the 'aam admi ka budget' with quite a few loopholes to plug in. For example as opposed to 3000 plus old coaches sops were offered for mere 200 odd new coaches. Lies, damned lies and statistics! However, the silver lining was the promise of putting an end to the serpentine queues for tickets at railway stations. E-ticketing was a nice concept and getting tickets through mobile is even better a concept in the face of the impending telecom revolution.
Mr. Chidambaram has offered a better one. Though the finance minister has budgeted for a 2.5 per cent fiscal deficit for 2008-09, many believe he'll overshoot this, given the loan waiver, impending Sixth Pay Commission awards and off-Budget liabilities.
The 60000 crore loan waiver is not being currently accounted for. The farmers can also heave a sigh of relief with 2 plus crore loan waiver on cards. This might curb the suicide rate of the farmers. Then again the Income tax cuts can ensure a 4k-5k savings of any professional. To curb inconsistencies in the secondary market tax on on short term capital gains has been increased by 15%. FM has also promised retaining of 9% growth. More impetus has been given on increase in capital for education and healthcare sectors. The lack of it happened to be India's nemesis earlier. The plan to open more IITs and IIMs will solve a bit the problem of shortage of skilled manpower in India.
A lot has been done keeping the upcoming elections in mind. UPA can go for the Indo-US nuke deal in June and all efforts have been made to lure the middle class. The timing is just right. However, FMCG has been given a shorter shrift. The bourgeoise and the proletariat is more concerned with consumable items like sugar,soyaban oil,dal,rise,wheat etc. and there is no price decrease on these. Luxury items could have been targeted for price increase thereby slightly impacting only the rich blokes. The common man in India still prays daily, "To this day Lord give us our daily bread." There is another flaw in the loan waiver of farmers. Very few farmers approach the banks for loans. They procure it from moneylenders mostly. Now it can goad them to approach banks for loans and can be trapped further. It makes them vulnerable. Besides, NREG was planned to be implemented only in 593 districts. It has not kickstarted the way it was planned by our visionaries like Rahul Gandhi.
All said and done, it is a political budget crafted dexterously by a few good men- Mr. Chidambaram, Mr. Manmohan Singh, Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwahlia just to name a few.
All said and done, it is not such a bad budget either.

Quirkyalone

What a blog did I come across as I signed in my blog account. It was about International Quirkyalone Day, which is not anti-valentine day despite falling on the same date and being opposed in nature. It actually glorifies the feeling of being single and not being ready to mingle just for the heck of it. Verily, quite a few like me are confused nowadays as to what crime they have committed in being single. Just because they did not attest importance to the thought of comanionship after an age makes them vulnerable. There can be a not-so-daffy definition of the portmanteau Quirkyalone.
quirk•y•a•lone n. a person who enjoys being single (but is not opposed to being in a relationship) and generally prefers to be alone rather than date for the sake of being in a couple. With unique traits and an optimistic spirit; a sensibility that transcends relationship status. Also adj. Of, relating to, or embodying quirkyalones.
Then there is good quote:
Language has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone, and the word solitude to express the glory of being alone.
-Paul Tillich
Indeed, one can be alone without any problems and not think much about how one is being perceived in the society. Quirkyalones are like that and quirky along with alone best glorifies the singleton status. The blog goes on to ratify that this independence also makes quirkyalones good at long-distance relationships.It is not that Quirkyalones do not get lonely sometimes, just like everybody else. They take it as solitude. Some people need constant interaction to feel like they're fully living, but some of us have to have enough solitude to let us regenerate on a regular basis.
Ergo, there isn't much need to worry about what a married couple is thinking of you if you are a Quirkyalone. There isn't much need to answer when you are planning to get married. There isn't much need of not going for occasinal drinks for the fear of bad smell. The examples in the favour of quirkyalones are also manifold. As long as one is a Quirkyalone one need not be much too worried about the stigma or refactor oneself back into the fold every now and then. After all, solitude is a euphemism for isolation.

India fighting at Adelaide

Yuvraj has made a comeback in his signature style. Let us hope he finishes off the game in a similar style. It was disappointing that India failed to take advantage of the initial crucial breaks when Sri Lanka was struggling at 6/2. The bowlers failed to capitalise on the initial breakthrough. Ishant Sharma seems to be overused. He needs a break as too much of dependency might lead to an immature exit or to a performance akin to that of Shoaib Akhtar. All pace and little guile. The pace battery is erratic in temperament and not always piercing. Sangakkara is a real crisis man and bails his team out in crunch situations. His century was great. His huge partnership wih the captain saw Sri Lanka posting a fighting total of 238. In reply, Sachin got out on a duck. That can raise hackles as to when should he plan his retirement. Gilly decided that in a flash and it is high time Sachin decided the same and avoided a disgraced exit. As a die-hard Sachin fan I will never love that. Ergo, it will be tough for a sachin fan like me to see the idol retire but in the larger interest of the idol and the game I feel that his retirement must come in his prime. The old order changes in favour of the newer ones and one has to reconcile to the bitter truth of change.
In the end, hats off to Yuvi for his resilient comeback!

The Woodlanders

It is a lesser known novel from Thomas Hardy. However, it touched my heart the most. I was in the flushes of romance during my early 20s when others were busy firming up their career path.:) In that process I even wrote a novel after my B.E., which few of my friends hail as a national comedy.:)
I chanced to read this novel and found it too captivating and unputdownable. The character of Winterborne seemed attractive because of his unflinching love for Grace Mulbery.
First, let me give you the plot summary as per wikipedia:
The story takes place in a small woodland village called Little Hintock, and concerns the efforts of an honest woodsman, Giles Winterbourne, to marry his childhood sweetheart, Grace Melbury. Although they have been informally betrothed for some time, her father has made financial sacrifices to give his adored only child a superior education and no longer considers Giles good enough for her. When the new doctor – a well-born and handsome young man named Edred Fitzpiers – takes an interest in Grace, her father does all he can to make Grace forget Giles, and to encourage what he sees as a brilliant match. Grace has more awe than love for Fitzpiers, but marries him nonetheless. After the honeymoon, the couple take up residence in an unused wing of Melbury's house. Soon, however, he begins an affair with a rich widow named Mrs. Charmond, takes to treating Grace coldly, and finally deserts her one night after he accidentally reveals his true character to his father-in-law.

Melbury tries to procure a divorce for his daughter so she can marry Giles after all, but in vain. When Fitzpiers quarrels with Mrs. Charmond and returns to Little Hintock to try to reconcile with his wife, she flees the house and turns to Giles for help. He is still convalescing from a dangerous illness, but nobly allows her to sleep in his hut during stormy weather, whilst he insists on sleeping outside. As a result, he dies. Grace later allows herself to be won back to the at least temporarily repentant Fitzpiers, thus sealing her fate as the wife of an unworthy man. No one is left to mourn Giles except a courageous peasant girl named Marty South, who all along has been the overlooked but perfect mate for him, and who has always loved him.

What a novel! I used to fantasise of my position as that of Winterborne. Now it seems that what a silly thing it was to think like that. But then it is probably another way to live. On the contrary in my musings I find that I was more in love with life sans everything else. My muse still exists and I am truly a Winterborne now involved in a sinecure in the eyes of the world! I do not mind that anymore. But will reflecting on my past loving memories at least provide me an objective to live further?
The poem in the novel was touching,
‘ If I forget,
The salt creek may forget the ocean;
If I forget
The heart whence flowed my heart’s bright motion,
May I sink meanlier than the worst,
Abandoned, outcast, crushed, accurst,
If I forget.
Though you forget,
No word of mine shall mar your pleasure;
Though you forget,-
You filled my barren life with treasure;
You may withdraw the gift you gave,
You still are queen, I still am slave,
Though you forget.’
There is a movie on the novel directed by Phil Agland and it won a few good awards and nominations.
The cast was as follows:
Emily Woof ... Grace Melbury
Rufus Sewell ... Giles Winterbourne
Cal Macaninch ... Dr. FitzPiers
Tony Haygarth ... Mr. Melbury
Jodhi May ... Marty South
Polly Walker ... Mrs. Charmond
Walter Sparrow ... Old Creedle
Sheila Burrell ... Grandma Oliver

Jab we met!

It is probably the time when one feels like writing for oneself. just for oneself with little regards for anything else. i feel like crooning 'tera na hona jane kyon hona hi hai'! The movie Jab We met is great for me because it made me realize one thing missing in our everyday lives- the music in work. Forget all the cliched motivational craps of our thought gurus. They all are baseless and are meant to elevate the sagging spirits of the white collared slaves. It was great for a jilted lover in the movie to have found out what life is from a very-2 loud and peurile babe who inadvertently shows him a new way to live- by loving oneself and life. If only we could do that! Let us love ourselves first. How much suffocation surrounds us! Who is resonsible? It is us. And why do we do that? The loft designations, fat paypackets, pseudo-pride, and all the negativity that we gather in the name of urbansation and progress. And look what gets the beating? Love and life. We are not filling our moments with beauty but are rather taking away the beauty from it. That is sacrifice and the killing of spirits just to appease others. When will we live for ourselves? I do not like getting up in the mornings. I do that to conform to the societal norms. What do I get in return? Just a lil bit of satisfaction that others have noticed my getting up for some damned task.
Let us enjoy first whatever we like if it does not border on profanity and pleases us without displeasing others.
We say that we must work as per a pattern. Why so? Why a pattern in everything? Is that how lives are supposed to be?
We were born without our consent. We were sent to schools without our consent. We join a college without our consent. We join a job or our work without our consent. We marry and have kids without our consent. The only thing that we can do with our consent is to die. That is because lives nowadays are not lives. They are deaths. There is nothing like a 'free' man. Believe me, with all your riches and status you will be always be embroiled in the vicious circle. No break from that.
Let us try to break free from the fetters. Let us love first and live later.
Yes, Jab We Met was quite interesting and Kareena was especially tantalizing in that.
Synopsis:
Aditya Kashyap (Shahid Kapoor), a demoralized industrialist, gets even more depressed after attending the marriage of the girl he loves the most. Feeling ashamed to face the world, he walks out of the marriage gathering and boards a train in the night. Over there, he meets Geet Dhillon (Kareena Kapoor), a beautiful talkative girl who is leaving Mumbai to go to her hometown - Bhatinda (Punjab).

In the beginning, Geet irritates Aditya to a large extent and every meeting becomes mental torture for him. She discloses big plans to him of eloping with her boyfriend Anshuman (Tarun Arora) as she fears resentment from her parents. Geet irritates Aditya to the point of getting him to leave the train. As she tries to get him back on the train, she ends up missing it and the two find themselves stranded on a desolate station with no luggage or money. Geet confronts Aditya and tells him that he is now responsible of reaching her safely to her house in Punjab. Both of them begin an idyllic journey through the exuberant North Indian heartland, and make their way through buses, taxis and camel-carts to reach her house.


Kareena Kapoor as Geet Dhillon in the filmOn arrival, Geet's family (Pawan Malhotra, Dara Singh and Kiran Juneja) mistakens the two for lovers. Before this misconception can be cleared, Geet escapes to her boyfriend in Manali. Aditya leaves with her, confirming the suspicion that they are lovers. In Manali, Aditya feels empowered to return to Mumbai and resurrect his ailing business.

Destiny despises Geet's love story as Anshuman avoids and dumps her. On the other hand, Aditya begins to do well in life after he resurrects his failing business empire. One day, Geet's family, who think that she is with him, confronts Aditya. He is shocked to learn that Geet has not returned home. He takes it upon himself to find her and tells her family that he will bring her home in ten days.

Aditya finally tracks her down in a Himalayan town and is traumatized to learn about Geet's misfortune. Consoling her to face the circumstances, he manages in patching up the relationship of Geet and Anshuman, and they decide to travel back to Bhatinda. Back in Bhatinda, Geet's family again mistaken the two for lovers. Trying to clear the misconception, situations make Geet realise that she is in love with Aditya not Anshuman, and therefore they get married.

What a movie! Great dialogues, songs, scenes, climaxes et al. Kareena slips into two different characters with consummate ease. Shahid is good. He is a cutie-pie with bagloads of talent. Director Imtiaz Ali has done a wonderful job.

pyar tera dilli ki sardi!

Delhi is a massive metropolis with an enormously enchanting past. It has been the capital city for so many of India's rulers that every bit of its landscape speaks of a glorious past. It is indeed the city that symbolizes India's myriad and turbulent history.

Sometimes Delhi evokes nostalgia even if you have been away from the capital for a long, long time. Delhi winters are special. Designers love to flaunt their fall winter collections and that makes Delhi a special place to showcase the designer stuff for the fashionistas. Delhi is also very much a city for the common man who has enough money to buy food, have a shelter, and access to basic amenities. It has a large heart. The chics are awesome irrespective of the fact that quite a few are 'Behenji' types as Mumbaikers love to call them. There is no gainsaying the fact that their beauty gives others an inferiority complex. It is not good for those afflicted with Venustaphobia (the fear of beautiful women)! But for the die-hard romantics Delhi is just the right place to live in. One can enjoy the warmth of Delhi in the airs. The ancient monuments are reminiscent of the Raj and also of the romance surrounding the city of djinns.

This is how wikipedia describes Delhi:

Delhi (Hindi: दिल्ली, Punjabi: ਦਿੱਲੀ, Urdu: دلی, IPA: [d̪ɪlːiː]) sometimes referred to as Dilli, is the second-largest metropolis in India, after Mumbai, with a population of 11.5 million, and with an extended metropolitan population of almost 22 million. Located in northern India on the banks of the River Yamuna, Delhi has the political status of a federally-administered union territory known as the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT), which in itself is part of National Capital Region. A constitutional amendment in 1991 gave Delhi a special status among the Union Territories; Delhi has its own legislative assembly with limited powers. The National Capital Territory of Delhi comprises nine districts, 27 tehsils, three statutory towns viz. Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), New Delhi Municipal Committee (NDMC) and Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB), 59 census towns and 165 villages.
Delhi is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. Having been the capital of several empires in ancient India, Delhi was a major city in the old trade routes from northwest India to the Gangetic Plains. Many ancient monuments, archaeological sites and remains of national importance have been erected in its history. The Mughals built a section of the city (now known as Old City or Old Delhi) that served as the capital of Mughal Empire for a long period. During the British Raj, New Delhi was built as an administrative quarter of the city. New Delhi was declared the capital of India after India gained independence from British rule in 1947. As the seat of the Government of India, New Delhi houses important offices of the federal government, including the Parliament of India, making Delhi a powerhouse of Indian politics.

Delhi has grown up to be a cosmopolitan city owing to the immigration of people from across the country. Like many other large cities of the world, Delhi suffers from urbanisation problems such as pollution, traffic congestion, and scarcity of resources. The rapid development and urbanisation of Delhi and surrounding areas coupled with the high average income of the populace has largely eclipsed socio-cultural traits that used to represent Delhi until a few years after independence. Today, Delhi is a major cultural, political, and commercial center of India."

Every city has a character. It has a form and a vignette of its own.



Small wonders that a novel City of Djinns (1994), which is a travelogue by William Dalrymple about the historical capital of India, Delhi, proved to be a bestseller.

Entrepreneurship on a new high in India Inc as per BS!

Things seem to be getting rosier for those who hate watch-clockers and typically the period of 9-5. The first-generation professional is also realising more and more of hid dreams by foraying carefully in the domain of entrepreneurship. The year 2006-07 has been special because the BS 1000 list has never before seen so many new entrants. For 2006-07, there were as many as 120 debutants.
However, we do feel that that the word entrepereneurship is sometimes a misnomer.
Merriam-Webster defines an entrepreneur thus:
One who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise.
Now, the gamut of the word 'enterprise' is quite large and is not necessarily defined by the moolah factor. A paanwallah selling a very special, delicious and a different kind of 'paan' is an entrpreneur. A roadside Dosa vendor selling quality dosa at a premium is also one. A salesman in the bus managing to sell his ensemble of unique item/s is also an entrepreneur. Do we have specific benchmarks or parameters to define an entrepreneur? I believe that nowadays an entrepreneur is recognized not just because of the ROI factor but also because of the quality of the enterprise. Infosys making a mark as the numero uno in the Indian IT sector was not a flash in the pan and also not an extension of a legacy. It was an example of how such a huge corpus can be built with a meagre 10k rupees. Non-pareil is the word that describes NR Narayan Murthy's persona. But there are several others residing in the backwaters who did not have so much of an ROI but managed to do a mundane task differently and wonderfully so despite all hiccups and stigma involved.
We need to salute an average face of India who tries to alienate himself from the Sisyphean tasks set out by the society. Let us now master the Zen and the art of ......
It is an open-ended FIB(fill in the blanks).

Just remebered what IO had written 6 yrs, back. Now it seems kitschy!
We must read something fully before cocking a snook at places. Moreover rationality comes easily to us sitting at better places. but think of those actually undergoing the trauma in love. Its true that sentimental alcoholism must not be given too much importance, but the thing is if in a society one is not free to chose one's own bride or career what damned use is it to live like a saint or a hero. In west u all cannot feel how much gut is required in rebelling against the society. i feel to undestand the character of devdas one has to be as grey as him. I believe in realism much more than any such idea of heroism. people are sadistic to enjoy such movies much more becz almost every day in India u cannot talk to someone u love becz of numerous constraints. it needs a psychoanalysis and mockery is only superficial. We know that people r not 'black' or 'white' and still decry them as if we ourselves have lived like a saint. jane austen is the antithesis of charlotte bronte. She is slightly contemptuous of bronte's pessimism. but 'meri bimari mansik hi sahi par bimari to hai' funda is good. one must be sympathetic over it. It ll heal more. and i genuinely believe that majority is pessimist and like devdas in one matter or the other. No, no sorry that i ve become idealistic but since i cannot forget my own debacle i dont love the rhetoric in such matters. If u read dostoyesky or even dickens u llsee that their heroes were amongst the sinners, self-seekers, dacoits and the fallen ones. maybe i too try to penetratebehind any debacle and then get exposed to a pristine sentimantilaty, passion, idelaism or emotion. lovers like devdas ve a deceptive laid-back approach towards life that confuses many. they r not exactly suicidal. circumstances simply go out of control. and if v cannot alter the circumstances let us at least leave them in their graves resting in peace.
An article replete with sensitivity first of all is bound to be philosophical in part. At times I fail to comprehend what seperates life and philosophy. I used to think that life is in itself a philosophy. But even when I utter a single plain fact of life like, 'life without a solid objecive is a waste', my father snubs me that I am being philosophical. One cannot extricate oneself totally from philosophy. In the very outset of my shortlived professional life, I had decided to block every single philosophical thought to salvage my practicality, as both are diametrically opposed in nature in this very modern world of ours. But a big confusion ensued since the inception of this resolution.My life became a hodge-podge. Sometimes I mused over my practiclaity and at times I also fought to curb my philosophical monologues. I failed in both. Right now I have lost most of the things from the materialistic point of view. But philosphy is there. Ergo, try as we may, we cannot alienate ourselves from philosophy. That way it is very useful in our lives. Call it 'majboori', call it 'thinking' or whatever, philosophy is our raison' d etre. I ve read Nietsche, Kant, Hegel, Spinoza, Osho, Krishnamurthi and the rest too, to no avail. I still cannot conform myself to any of the philosopher, although Osho is my favourite. Osho differs from the rest because he does not ordain one to become a 'superman' to enjoy life in toto. He simply loves one to 'be' one's original self. I cannot recount all that I loved in his philosophy but few points are there which really need to be mentioned. Whenever I see people mourning over the deceased I fail to empathise and start remebering Osho who says to celebrate death. Yes, we are presented a very morbid picture of death. If it was treated indifferently, just as a happening, we would have feared it less. I will tell you story. A man asked a milk-vendor his name. "Shakespeare' pat came the reply. 'He was the no. 1 writer of the world.' 'For three years every morning I have been delivering milk at your doorstep. Is not it as good as writing a book?" True it is. Why bother about becoming a Shakespeare? There are varied opinions I admit and I know every philosophy is bound to be jeered by many. Why to mind it? The motley lover will enjoy every bit of it. But I bear grudges against philoophy too. Like when one of my friends took me to a meeting in Theosophical Society and I was not in the mood. I left it in the middle and my friend asked me the reason. I retorted that I don't want to become a philosopher. I continued that I want to become a realist and thus Thomas Hardy attracts me more than Ramakrishna Paramhans. Becz I dont ve enough money to sit on Internet(that darned practicality making inroad again!)I will logout. But given a free Internet connection I suppose I can write the whole day in one stretch about philosophy and the next day I may perhaps steal cigarettes from the nearest shop vendor. Plz do not mind my content because I am living a very confused life that vacillates frequently from humor to seriousness and I suppz philosophy addresses more to the latter.

Strange are our thoughts as a function of time!

ONE!

Okay, like any other day in any typical office, big or small, one can be confused. Now, the confusion can be because one hates 9-5 system and the world majorly loves it. One can be constantly reminded that this is one decent way of sustenance for the kayastha community. In a Kayastha family the dictum is that " Lala ka ladka pada bhala ya mara bhala". One need not buy this logic and feel more oriented towards independence. But, being born in an educated community, one can feel that maybe that one is suffering from a DNA defect. Just the other day, I was reading an article on schizophrenia and was surprised to know that 1% of the global population is afflicted by it and 58% of the writers have it. That remains undetected though, if at all it is there. If that is the case, then one might be having an excuse why does one get pissed off by the corporate. But then, this will detrimentally affect one's life simply anywhere and not just the corporate. One may be acting like an escapist hypochondraic or a malingerer. However, the confusion reigns large.
One can live in an obscure place trying to find what suits right to one and one's life...
And what is good and what is not good, do we need anyone to tell us that?

When loneliness is the companion...

A very small percentage of the population is schizophrenic. However, a large percentage is lonely many-a-times. Just how difficult or different it feels to be a lonely person!
Loneliness is a bitter truth that we cannot digest. It is a companion always ready to be by your side when needed. When you are lonely you do not let go of everything. You simply slip away from everything. You are unable to decide what is real- the world outside you or your inner self. You are in communion with just your inner self. All outer connections fail and sometimes you wonder if you would be able to manage maintaining contact with the outer world anymore. What to say of forging newer contacts!
You detest it all the more because you have been indoctrinated against it. It is said that man is a social animal and when you do not feel the urge to socialize you feel that something has gone wrong with you.
Even if loneliness leads to depression we must recognize the presence of depression as much as we attest enough importance to ecstacy. We must not attach any stigma to it. It is just another feeling and we fall further into this because all the time we incriminate ourselves for falling into its trap. It is a vicious circle.
I read a post in an orkut forum and found it good:

"yes, i have been shifting sides with beautiful aloneness and damaging loneliness.. the thin line between these two things get tress passed often now.. more often that not i feel unexpressed and confined..

may be i have come far from the roots.. on one hand i have left touch with world, literally cutting myself from friends, extended family and my musical world too.. i am not playing my musical instrument for long now, and not meditating as well..

i can see myself pretty much answering my question in the above said lines.. but i guess i needed to express myself n needed a vent.. i did that by writing here, where i never see hopelessness i.e. world of osho..

thats true that i have filtered out of what i achieved so far with a conclusion to find something real.. but yes, i am not rich.. i have to work and work to a level which can support me to have time n space to meditate.. working can't be ruled out, so zorba the buddha path.. the funny thing is that i am not being zorba nor a buddha in these past couple of weeks.. "

Mumbai on alert after violent incidents in the tinsel town

Early in the morning today two persons hurled glass bottles in the direction of Big B's residence Prateeksha. It has become debatable now whether nationalism should get the upper of regionalism or vice-versa. It should not have been debatable at all. But a famous scholar once said of India that for every thing that is true in India, the opposite is equally true.
Now it is a case of Marathis vis-a-vis Non-marathis. The term non-marathis has been existent years before too but it has gained prominence off late. Tension is simmering all across the country and more so in Mumbai and the state of Maharashtra. Raj Sena is of the radical view that migrants from Uttar Bharat have come as guests and they must not have the audacity of assuming or amusing themeselves as hosts in any way. The allegations are manifold. The row is majorly over the fact that the migrants have blind allegiance towards their roots and that they are not loyal to Maharashtra. It seems to be nonsensical to think on these lines. Even in UP we know that Sindhis, Bengalis, Sardars, Punjabis et al love to be in their own flock and vehemently celebrate their own festivals and not so much the local festivals of UP. We do not cry hoarse about that. In the US of A, the Indians are infamous for showing off their loyalty towards India and the Indian Independence Day is celebrated by the Indians in US with more gaity and fervour than the American Independence Day. Probably an Indian child in America may forget 4th July as the American Independence Day but ask him the Indian Republic or Independence day and quickly will the correct answer pop up. Does America take umbrage of it?
No. This is perhaps because they are truly global and cosmopolitan in outlook than us despite all our efforts to globalise or to ape the westerners. Mumbai is supposed to be the most western or pseudo-western city in India. We believe in the oriental backdrop we can only manage to be pseudo-western. We used to be skeptical of Delhi's ambition of becoming a world-class city because of so many reasons and perhaps a tad justifiably so. It is supposed by few that Delhiites are uncouth, rapists, criminals, dirty politians, garish, parochial ans so on and so forth. The only city that was good in India as per the western standards too was Mumbai and not even Blore, which is somewhat sleepy in comparison.
I can recall the horror with which I and my Purabiya friends used to witness at times a Bihari being beaten on Delhi roads by a dominant Jat. And we used to shrug off and say that this happens only in Delhi. Little were we aware that Delhi is perhaps a lot more respectful of its migrants than Mumbai or ay Chennai. Barring a few cases, we never felt that we are not in the mainstream of Delhi. I do not mean to eulogise Delhi as it has too many weak points of its own. But the status of a migrant is better in North India despite all our failigs on other fronts. We play a perfect host. That we are loud is not because of our illiteracy. It is because we are warm. That North India is more corrupt and crime prone is not because an average North Indian is bad. It is because of the dominance of a selected few and because of the infamous politician-mafia nexus. An average north indian is still possibly a better person than an average Indian. We do not deserve this kind of maulings on foreign shores. It is high time we gave them back the taste of their medicine.

Whose Mumbai is it anyway?

We never knew that a cosmopolitan city belonged to any particular community. Mumbai's ugly face showed in yesterday's violence when Raj Thakeray's followers went on a rampage mauling several North Indians (specially Purabiyas) and went on to gut several shops in fire. Maharashtra Nav Nirman Sena is taking potshots at Samjwadi Party (read Purabiyas) and vice-versa.
The city that never stops is witnessing a bandh called by Uttar Bhartiya Vikas Manch. Strange are the ways of metros.
It was a bizzare spectacle yesterday. What does it have in store for future?
Now this may lead the punjabis in Delhi to think that delhi is being undone by the Biharis. Ergo, they must be thrown out. They too will forget how dependent is Delhi on the Bihari migrants. Who will run the PCO's? Who will pull the rickshaws that provide succour to the rich ones in smeltering Delhi heat? Who will work as the security guard? They have several vocations which cannot be done with elitist notions.
It is strange what premium we give to migration just for the heck of it at times. After all, what is the shame in carrying a similar voaction in your familiar surroundings? metros are El Dorados for quite a few but not for those who are at the bottom of the pyramid. The society has given a nod to migration per se, which leads to forced migration at times. At the macro-level some work is being done on reverse migration. At the grassroot level it scores a zilch. Why cannot we stay put in our familiar surroundings with heads held high? It is paradoxical but true that we have created our own nemesis.

Die another day!

It was another sad display of batting performance by the Indians at the Brisbane's Gabba stadium today. The rain gods have been lavish in our support and play has long been stopped because of rains. With India struggling at 128 for 6 it seems that a double century for the Indian team today might be a distant possibility. Bret Lee broke our back by taking the prized scalps of Sehwag and Sachin in that order. Sachin was unfortunate again. Blame it on rains or on the rubber spikes or sheer ingnorance or whatever, he got out hit-wicket of Lee's delivery. Strange dismissal it was! Gambhir and Rohit Sharma showed a nice tepmerament and it was a good tale of two cities- Delhi and Mumbai- working in tandem for the country. The partnership broke with Gambhir departing on a gritty 39 runs on board and Sharma on an equally gritty 29 runs. This match might not turn India's way but signs of progress are visible in the Indian guns.

However, this is the take of cricinfo.com on today's match so far:

India's selectors picked an athletic but inexperienced side for the tri-series, and the merits and demerits of that decision were on display in the opening game in Brisbane as the visitors were in danger of getting bowled out inside 50 overs. The running between the wickets was the sharpest it's been for a while but the raw middle-order crumbled against an all-pace attack led by Brett Lee, who once again emphasised that he was at the peak of his powers. His hostile spell was instrumental in India slipping to 6 for 128 before rain interrupted play after the 36th over.

There was heavy overnight rain in Brisbane and then some more this morning but the excellent drainage facilities at the Gabba ensured that play started on time. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, like the captains in 16 out of the last 18 matches in Brisbane, chose to bat despite the overcast conditions and the greenish pitch.

The pitch offered bounce to Lee while Nathan Bracken swung the ball into the right-handers. It was one such inswinger from Bracken which cramped Virender Sehwag for room, forcing him to play on, and gave Australia their first breakthrough in the fourth over. Sehwag innings was brief but he and Sachin Tendulkar had signalled India's intent by dropping the ball with soft hands and running sharp singles.

Lee won the battle against Tendulkar yet again, although, this time he was lucky. Tendulkar nudged off the back foot towards square leg but moved too deep into the crease and hit his stumps with the heel of his boot. It was the first time that he had been dismissed hit-wicket in his 408-match career.

At 2 for 26, with the experienced openers gone, Australia had exposed India's middle order, which was weakened by Yuvraj Singh's absence. Gambhir and Sharma, however, eased the pressure by stealing singles at every opportunity.

Johnson, who vented his frustration after the dropped catches, trapped Gambhir leg before for 39 with one that slanted into the left-hander before Lee's double-strike ripped through the middle order. Sharma edged a wide ball from Lee to Gilchrist and Tiwary, who was set up by a series of bouncers, had no answer to a yorker that burst through his defences.

The flurry of wickets allowed Ponting to give Noffke a second spell and the move gave him his maiden ODI wicket. Noffke surprised Robin Uthappa with a short ball and the edge was comfortably taken by Michael Clarke at point. India had slipped from 2 for 92 to 6 for 102. The collapse forced Dhoni and Irfan Pathan to consolidate watchfully and they had added 26 runs off ten overs before rain halted play.

Indian young guns ready to be fired on all cyliners!!!

Tomorrow will come like a breath of fresh air with the first ODI match of the triangular series to be played on Sunday. Life me ek Sunday miss nahin hoga.
Let us see how the youngsters fare tomorrow. Aussies captain Ponting has started playing the mind game by saying that Ganguly's exclusion will prove to be a big mistake in the upcoming series to which Yuvi has reacted by saying that the present team is just right to take on any challenges. It is doubtful how highly Ponting rates Dada but it is all about exposing the chinks in the armour of the opponent. The infighting in Indian cricket leagues has lead to a psychological break-down, which is not visible from the looks of it.
However, the young Indian batsmen, many of whom have joined the team only for the T20 and tri-series, will be keen to make amends for the ordinary batting display in Melbourne where the team was shot out for a paltry 74 in 17.3 overs. Lack of practice might be one of the reasons behind the poor show, something which Dhoni had previously alluded to. In India, both the aftereffects-the euphoria after a win or the repurcussions after a loss- are intense in the extremes.
The Indian team can hope that Gilly's swansong will not be the one that befits him.

Something about the wicket!

The wicket, despite having slowed down a bit over the years, is still one of the livelier tracks of Australia and the humidity because of inclement weather is only going to add sting in the tails of the home pacemen.

It rained considerably in Brisbane on Saturday and more thunderstorms are predicted for Sunday.

We hope that this will not play a spolisport.

On-the-neighbour's-front, unlike the Government, Pakistan's cricket team should earn plaudits for completing a 5-0 whitewash of Zimbabwe in the ODI's in the Mobilink Cup.
A new-look Pakistan, without a handful of senior players, drove Zimbabwe into the ground with a comprehensive seven-wicket victory in the final one-dayer in Sheikhupura to clean sweep the Mobilink Cup 5-0. The overcast and bitterly cold conditions didn't faze debutant Khurram Manzoor and Younis Khan as they chased down a meagre target of 182 with 19 overs to spare.
What bodes well for the shpe of things to come insofar as Pakistan's cricket team is concerned is the emergence of spright youngsters who are ably complelmenting the experienced ones like Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq!
We Indians can also take a cue from Pakistan's line-up and must not rely on 'Josh' alone but on 'Josh with Hosh'.
All said and done, one match debacle does not sound a death knell for anyone. It can be one-off case in the one-off TT match. Let us hope for the best!

India crash to embarrassing loss in TT today

World champions India were brought down to earth, thrashed by a ruthless Australia by nine wickets in a low-scoring Twenty20 cricket international at a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.

The Indians were bundled out for a paltry 74 in 17.3 overs and the home team rattled up the required runs in just 11.2 overs

It seems that we are done in becz we are too many! The selectors must be nonplussed even more now that the young side's performance against the toughest host as well as the team proved to be a damp squib. The inexperience was palpable. The captain was leading a lost battle, albeit in an unimpressive way. Look at Dhoni's stats in today's TT match.
R M B 4s 6s SR
9 30 27 0 0 33.33
Now if this is a match saving effort then God save the Indian cricket team. Sachin is always the soft target for many and today too Dhoni commented after the loss that it was good for Sachin to take the break. What does that mean?
The young Indianj brigade seems to be struggling on a quality pitch and against a quality attack. Is TT really not the right test of one's cricketing abilities?
If it is so, then our being a TT World Cup champ was a fluke! Dhoni and quite a few amassed fortunes out of it.
It was perhaps the absence of Yuvi who is Ausralia's nemesis in the quicker format. Yuvi happens to be the saviour for Dhoni's captaincy and Dhoni must be reuing his absence.

Chilly winters have now charmed us!

It is now time we recognized the aestheticism in a chilly misty morning. Let us rememeber our youthful days when mist was synonymous with small town dating because the elders were unable to catch sight due to mist. The previous few days were quite tough as they were fraught with anticipation of withdrawal symptoms. They still are but now they have been accepted per se. However, morning brought an old english song on my lips after a long, long time. 'Nothing's gonna change my love for you....'. It is somewhat true. The proportion is quite miniature though. The 'shiddat' is not that much. But it exists.
It appears to be a transition from the intoxicated to the normal and then from the normal to the romantic. It is not smooth and seems to be almost a roller-coaster ride. But the happy end, if it occurs, fascinates a lot to be able to cope with the trials and tribulations.

It is high time I stopped something

After suffering from an overdose of wine yesterday, it was hard drying up today. Getting up in the morning I realized that ecstacy is better natural and not pushed by a stimulant. Perchance getting a high in an inebriated state creates the low in the sober state. Temperence does not gratify instantly but does not at least make life a rollercoaster ride.
Ergo, a word of caution to all tipplers will be fine if they carry it to excess at times. How good it would be if the breath of fresh air acts as an intoxicant in our daily lives. With due apologies to the metro denizens if the air is just not fresh!
It is surprising how we can create a virtual reality wherein a mind is transported to a different realm! Is it real if not surreal?
Resolutions are meant to broken like records. The willpower seems to intoxicated too and does not act naturally at times. The funda for the ensuing days will be to work lesser and party lesser as it offers a better substitute to me at this point of time.
It is rehab time folks.
All the best to myself!

Is the Adelaide Test heading for a draw?

This is about a structured effort to outline what happened after the recent Perthquake test in which Australia lost to India after notching 16 Test wins in a row. Taking a lot from what I had previously wriiten, it is more about about Day 2 and Day 4 and the ripple effect it had on quite a few good men:
Perth Test 2K8, Day 2:
Every underdog has its day:
Talking of cricket, it was a great day 2 for India at Perth test match at the WACA stadium.
The crowd enjoyed real cricket bereft of any unsportsmanship antic. Aussies were skittled to a paltry score of 212 in reply to the India's first innings total of 330. Symonds was again threatening to be India's nemesis but fell short of that just in time. Gilly was also intimidating the Indian pace attack. He too did not last that long. In the end, the bowlers were able to mop up the tails.
This test will almost surely have a result if the rain gods do not intervene. However, the paradox is that in the attempt to play true cricket, the mighty Oz have crumbled, which brings forth the question if cricket is not just a mind game. Can true cricket be played without employing the mind game, so as to enjoy it in toto? Certainly sensationalism or sensitizing adds a wee bit of spice to everything. But the question is how far is too far?
All said and done, Aussies deserve kudos for behaving with such restraint and even if they lose the match, they will win so many hearts. With due respect to the Indian who have come as underdogs, they have been doing this since so many years.

After Day 4's historic win and the Indian selectors announcing the latest ODI squad:
BushWACA by Team India:
India has won the Perth test in a cliffhanger and without taking a cue from it the new ODI has been announced in which Dada and Dravid do not find a place. It has really been a bold but controversial decision of the selectors. Few have even gone to the extent of calling them names.
Yesterday, I was going through a World Cup TT match in which the young Indian side ousted the mighty Proteans in a tantalizing and gritty display of raw and fearless cricketing talent. It was a match in which Rohit Sharma from Mumbai excelled as a batter as well as a fielder. His devicing an impossible run-out was awesome. It made me realize that we need supple cricketers in the quicker format- the ODI's or TT. Dada has been awesome in the year 2007, amassing the highest ODI runs for Team India. However, he and Dravid do not carry the spark of Jonty Rhodes or our very own Dinesh Kartick, Yuvi, Robin Utthapa or for that matter Rohit Sharma. Fielding can be ignited by inspiration and if batting and bowling matter, let us not forget that fielding is given a short shrift. It also matters. Do not forget that catches win matches. Here, Team India has always been weak. For the first time, we have a team comprinsing the young blood that is raring to go for or after any shot in the stadium. We will have to supress our emotions for the larger good. A young and promising team is in the making. Personally, I idolize Sachin. However, for the sake of the larger good, if Sachin is axed once in a while to retun into fold later or take some rest temporarily, I will supress my love for the God of Indian cricket.
Let us think of a befitting team for the would be economic superpower-INDIA!!

A bit about the Adelaide Test 2K8:

It seems that the selectors have got the timing of announcement of the latest ODI squad wrong and Kumble seems to be right in pointing that. It has perchance played on the psyche of Dada and Dravid as they were out cheaply. Sachin and Kumble played like the virtuosi. A brilliant century (153) by Sachin, an ably lead example by Kumble who scored 85, and a scintillating batting diplay by the tailenders saw India amass more than 500 runs on the batsman friendly pitch. The Aussies are resilient and have started off quite well with Hayden scoring yet another century in the series like Sachin did and Ponting breathing down the neck of Sachin in terms of number of centuries. Hayden is not far behind too. More than 300 runs have been scored by the Aussies for the loss of 3 wickets. Ponting andClarke seem are consolidating the middle order. This seems to be a level playing field.
India can still take a sense of pride if this match draws in the worst case scenario. The Sydney match is not being seen as a genuine one because of bad umpiring in favour of the Aussies by Steve Bucknor, who is back to the Caribbean islands and it serves him right.
Despite Aussies being 2-1 up in records if this test is drawn, it should be perceived as a 1-1 draw in actuality by the honest blokes.
Let us see what happens.

BushWACA by India!

India has won the Perth test in a cliffhanger and without taking a cue from it the new ODI has been announced in which Dada and Dravid do not find a place. It has really been a bold but controversial decision of the selectors. Few have even gone to the extent of calling them names.
Yesterday, I was going through a World Cup TT match in which the young Indian side ousted the mighty Proteans in a tantalizing and gritty display of raw and fearless cricketing talent. It was a match in which Rohit Sharma from Mumbai excelled as a batter as well as a fielder. His devicing an impossible run-out was awesome. It made me realize that we need supple cricketers in the quicker format- the ODI's or TT. Dada has been awesome in the year 2007 amassing the highest ODI runs for Team India. However, he and Dravid do not carry the spark of Jonty Rhodes or our very own Dinesh Kartick, Yuvi, Robin Utthapa or for that matter Rohit Sharma. Fielding can be ignited by inspiration and if batting and bowling matter, let us not forget that fielding is given a short shrift. It also matters. Do not forget that catches win matches. Here, Team India has always been weak. For the first time, we have a team comprinsing the young blood that is raring to go for any shot in the stadium. We will have to supress our emotions for the larger good. A young and promising team is in the making. Personally, I idolize Sachin. However, for the sake of the larger good, if Sachin is axed once in a while to retun into fold later or take some rest temporarily, I will supress my love for the God of Indian cricket.
Let us think of a befitting team for the would be economic superpower-INDIA!!!

Do the bones age faster than the mind?

It is bones vs mind for quite a few. Now what gets older fast is the issue. Weakness with passage of time in both is a given-gradual and inevitable. Can we have a technological paraphernalia that is able to quantify the strength quotient in both?
I have been around quite a few oldies who are suffering from osteo-arthritis and still have a very nimble mind. I wonder if old age has caught up with them just to decide how much sorry shall I feel for them. It goes without saying that on some other moments someone else will be contemplating a similar conundrum for me.
However, when I perceive the mental alacrity of these oldies I wish I could have returned into the fold similarly.

Every dog has its day!

Today was one of those usual days when I was left grappling for words and there was simply so much incoherence in my communcation. Rarely nowadays do I have a day when I am my usual self- verbally articulate. It is an anamoly that might be afflicting quite a few. A cricketer missing his hand-eye coordination is completely screwed. A person missing the heart and soul coordination is similarly screwed.
Talking of cricket, it was a great day 2 for India at Perth test match on WACA stadium.
The crowd enjoyed real cricket bereft of any unsportsmanship antic. Aussies were skittled to a paltry score of 212 in reply to the India's first innings total of 330. Symonds was again threatening to be India's nemesis but fell short of that just in time. Gilly was also intimidating the Indian pace attack. He too did not last that long. In the end, the bowlers were able to mop up the tails.
This test will almost surely have a result if the rain gods do not intervene. However, the paradox is that in the attempt to play true cricket, the mighty aussies have crumbled, which brings forth the question if cricket is not just a mind game. Can true cricket be played without employing the mind game, so as to enjoy it in toto. Certainly sensationalism or sensitizing adds a wee bit of spice to everything. But the question is how far is too far?
All said and done, aussies deserve kudos for behaving with such restraint and even if they lose the match, they will win so many hearts. The Indians have been doing that for so many years.

gorkhanath baba ke khichdi chadain?

It was a great makar sankranti eve yesterday for me. I and my few engineering college juniors, with whom I am quite pally with, enjoyed everything esp the muskan sankritik samaroh...
the jhoolas were quite erratic and my usually skeptical self could not reconcile with the engineering ingenuity of the organizers. Still, I sat and thereafter got a shocker in my heart. Somehow I escaped and resolved that I have really grown old for such youthful antics.
Nonetheless, the crowd was largely from the rural fold but quite festive. It was a huge one too.
Khair, maja a gail bahut dher ohar....

Why blogs are being debated?

Today there was a discussion going on NDTV on the blogs assuming a form of voeurism. The moderator was the quintessential modern day lady- the very very talented Barkha Dutt.
It was interesting to hear to diverse opinions. But by and large the majority stood by the relevance of blogs and the viewpoint more or less was that it is just another way of maintaining an online diary of yours and also a way of getting your presence noticed in the cyberworld.
Interestingly quite a few also maintained that it is another way of getting famous and who would not love that? The narcissist in us gets the upper of everything and it is too human a fallout. Which is why most of the bloggers, including me, flaunt their blogs in gmail or orkut or anywhere else.
Without fail, I have received zero coments in all but one of my blogs and my stats also say the same. Maybe they are not good enough. But that does not deter me from writing them.
Someone counteracted to the above rhetoric by saying that a blog rarely makes you famous.
Nonetheless, the blogophiles have discovered a forum where at the very least one can keep on writing-good or bad, just for the love of it. It keeps one in touch by and large with the issues- non-issues or burning issues because it is highly unlikely that a person writes crappy blogs just to flaunt them.
I guess a big shot from the company Blogworks said of among so many other things that content is the core basis of a book creation and this trend of book creation by dint of blogs hunting has still not started properly.
However, recent articles also suggest that even headhunters are seeking the help of blogs in searching new talents.

Tata's nano

It was the news of the day on the day of its launch two days before. It became a hot topic almost everywhere. People who are not car-freaks were also forced to know something about it so that they do not get excommunicated for the sheer ignorance.
The 'lakhtakiya' car as per the nickname given ought to be cheaper because taka is cheaper than INC.
Jokes apart, Ratan Tata's emotional connect with the Indian car afficiandos was a good pre-sales move. When he said that the Tatas have delivered their promise, the crowd was enthralled.
Business Standard says about Nano and Tata,
"It might have started as a widely misquoted dream of one man -- but Ratan Tata has ensured that he has turned it into an opportunity to take his firm to new heights."
Last heard that Ratan Tata is contemplating retirement from active business life after this venture.

XAT 2008 was not a shocker!

For those also interested in ca good b-school by dint of good score in XAT, this might not have come as a shocker as the level of toughness was not high vis-a-vis XAT 2007 or CAT 2007.
The surpriose element that was thrown in by XAT 2008 was the inclusion of questions based on decision making, which proved to be sitters. Maths copmprised easy to moderately tough questions.
English was not that dicey too as the passages, though highly abstract ones were still doable and subjectivity was not the spoilsport in XAT 2008 as it was in the case of CAT 2006 and CAT 2007.
Well, the cat will be out of the bag tomorrow and quite a few will come out again in shining colours. A new year of manger-creation has started and it is one night of torturous wait for the talented ones.
Even for the average joe, percentiles will come like a breath of fresh air for performances in putative world's toughest examination will always relative.

Happy New Year 2008

Let the year 08 be gr8 for everyone. Yesterday even me and my team had a bash within our modest means. Celebrating a new year is a concept still alien to many and for quite a few it is momentous because it means another holiday.:)
For the lazy ones it is definitely a good day and for the workaholics it means nonsensical wastage of time and money.
In Gorakhpur, roads are not that much chocabloc with honking cars vis-a-vis any larger city. And that does not lead to the much desired road rage on this particular day. For quietude is not the hallmark of this day and people love to go berserk if not on a rampage. Brandon Mccullum, New Zealand batter, had a great day yesterday finishing off the year in style. He enjoyed the run feast by hitting 80 plus runs in just 28 deliveries, a blitzkrieg that comprised six towering sixes.
What was pardoxical for my hometown was the fact that light went away dot on 12 a.m., signalling the shape of things to come in 08. I got pissed off because of this and decided to stroll to see the ire in the streets. There was no reaction from the rich as they were snoozing off.However, the poor community was somewhat more energetic and quite a few were wetting up in their alcohol pouches and hurling expletives on the degenerating system. That meant that the momentum was there.
It was an unusually cold day. I was coughing a lot and got disturbed mentally that maybe it is a bad signal and is a result of heavy smoking since so many years.
The morning was better as I was not coughing that much. I resolved that at least on the first day of this year, lemme quit smoking, irrespective of the fact that the rot has set in or not.
Today is rather one of those rare peaceful days when the mind is not in a state of any complex. It has been a smooth sail so far with a lot of socializing. Old acquaintances have suddenly caught up leaving the mind feel more empowered. They have also been kinder and very encouraging, contrary to the kinds I was frequently meeting since the past so many days. I will not say that we have won over things. How can anyone do that?
Still, the mindset matters a lot. Things seem rotten because the eyes are not conditioned rightly to perceive them in the right perspective. One of my good friends has promised to come soon with a treat in the offing again. I can very well contrast the pessimism of the last night with the optismic shiny afternoon of today. Who knows it might again give way to the former? But at this moment, life seems beautiful. I am again getting flashes of good old memories when the green leaves were enough to stir the soul and morning mist was the soul food. I bear an allegiance to my wintry past as it has kept me aesthetically and emotionally overwhelmed. It is not to say that summers are aweful. I remember a good song from the movie 'Mausam'. The fast song 'Dil dhhondta hai' comprising a duet highlights the myriad hues of various seasons.
The new year starts with winter in India. Ergo, let us at least start enjoying the winter to savor the rest of seasons the entire year.
In the end, Happy New Year!!!

The day has begun

Tasks have started. Since yesterday, I am suffering from cough and cold. Being an inveterate smoker, there is always a fear of cancer curing my smoking. But then if I can quit, so far so good. If I meet a premature end, never mind.
Osho says that death is a celebration.
Easier said than done. But if that held sense for the majority then at least we could have endured the losses of lives. Time could have become a faster healer.
The transcedental is still missing from my life. Despite earning a pittance in a sinecure, I feel that the process of earning moolah has killed the human within me.
Maybe, it is a one-off case or another reason for escaping.:)
I know not but I will try to add some spice into it. I plan to go to Kushinagar very soon. It has a calming and nostalgic effect for me. There are a certain things that evoke these stimuli.

Become a writing junkie!

Well, this addiction does not have a name and does not qualify to be callled an addiction. Where are the takers anyway? Despite all of this, we still believe that it is one good way of letting go of your self. That is the primordial essence. No facts. No data driven logic. No reasoning. No rules. No constraints.
Welcome to the world of child-dom. Writing can be childlike and yet carry a lot of gravitas. Ask them who wanna break from the sober-mover, class-conscious, money-spinner, derivatives-ruled, mundane-owned, etc etc etc lives!!!
Hey, no-holds-barred blokes!
Max ur mirth...
I believe in Zorba-the warrior. Whaddayasuggest?
I may not be that proficient in linguistics. But I do have the audacity to challenge it!!!
And if you can provide me a decent vocation, it will be sooooo kind of you.

Where do we stand in the pyramid?

It seems that even if we stand at the bottom of the pyramid with lots of grilling being done from the apex, we are mightily satisfied with our inflated egos that we are being grilled by the apex.
Entreneurship comes with a lot of tough calls. Firstly, one should learn to master the demons within and thereafter try to ward off the external negativity.
That is true with lives too. The personal life is in shambles because of the unleashing of inner demons. How one realizes it too late in life!
But if it not that late, one must strive to get back the original self- that of a pure and happy child by ignoring all the negatives and focusing solely on the positives. There is a lot of yin and yang around and the philosophy also underscores the presence of both stabilty. For what is positive but negative turned inside out?
Ergo, we have to treat both with equanimity.
A venture- big or small, in a metro or a village, in a booming sector or -not-so-happening one, full of recognition or lacking that etc etc is so fraught with criticism. And one must learn to take these in the stride. That is the first stage of it. Then again, it has to be carried out with full self-belief. A cause in which you are dispassionate or even if you are not is not a cause worth fighting for. For what has been achieved without passion?
I read somewhere that a singer is half a singer if he hates the audience. A cricketer is half a cricketer if he hates fielding. etc. etc. etc.
At the outset, we reduce chances of success by half if we have an apathetic attitude towards it.
Gandhi is now a brand because he believed strongly in his mission, irrespective of the fact that it almost an 'Ekla Chalo' solo effort intially from his side.
I agree that the majority who have tried to emulate Gandhi have perished untimely. How does it matter?
It is better to persih for your cause than to live in a cause that ypu do not believe in because that is another form of death and not life at all.
Philosophy apart, practically speaking any venture rquires capital and if you do not have one, accept the mistake candidly and do not take it as a bottleneck to impede further capital creation. Generate capital from whichever good source you can. Go berserk and overboard in that effort. The world is cruel. You also become ruthless in mental strategies for capital acquisition. Nothing will be offered on a platter. Opportunities can be identified and we are in such a booming economy that we can do that. Do not bother if you have to make any good bloke your ATM for a while. You can return back much more than what you have taken. Hence, become bold in that and do not shy away. Ask freely anyone and convince him of your plans. Make sure it makes solid business sense and it is not a whacky idea of a screwed brain. For that, prepare a roadmap so that you do not reduce yourself as a butt of anyone's joke when you talk of your plans.
Branding is also important and that too depends a lot on capital. However, the expenditure can be reduced by liaisoning, word of mouth, generating good-will, networking and executing.
Well, one can become one's own master and despite the fact that in India entrepreneurship in any field a stigma, we can break free from the shackles through positive thinking. And positive attitude can take one places no matter when one starts.
Okay, so I was convincing myself by writing all these. I feel more confident of starting a venture that will be my baby.

The enslaved psyche!

'Freedom' is a dirty word. Career has usurped its importance. We live our ebtire life for the sake of recognition and do not give even an iota of consideration to freedom of choosing any task. The run-of-the-mill money making process is the de rigeur of the day.
For that there a few good men who toil for more than 12 hours a day and suffer severe chidings by the peer despite loathing that. Why do live like that against their natural likings? Perhaps recognition is a very strong concept today and what does take in a few cases. Repression of desires. And who says that to? Money can satisfy all desires. And the majority is cocksure about that.
These are the best of the times and these are the worst of the times. Dickens said that long back, but it is even more germane today. And that is perhaps the trouble.We get stressed because of this disconnect. We vacillate between the two. Lives have become a shuttlecock. The two halves of the court are our nemesis.
Noone respects a truly free man. Is there really one?
Man was born free but alas evereywhere he is in chains!
Sometimes we can resolve to break at least a few links in the fetters of the society. This does reuire a lot of guts and gumption as the mighty society is cruel on anyonewho dares even to think of it. And yes the brickbats will be received with a much greater frequency and that is where an individual has to headstrong in not minding them.
If we sensitize it in toto, the repurcussions will be so strong that the individual will simply perish. What is required is perhaps the respect of ideologies and a silent but steely resolve to continue waking on the road less travelled despite all the expletives being hurled by all and sundry.
Man was born free. Adam must have lived lesser but he probalby enjoyed evry minute of his life. He was not probably even concerned about the perils of living the life of a neanderthal man. When you are blissfully aware of the hazards, you enjoy them and perhaps come out a winner in a better way.
We are aware of the shortcomings of the life of a Neanderthal man but we are unable to enjoy our own cosy lifestyle. Throw insecurities and unsettle the settlement to enjoy life at times.
Settlement is always temporary if we view it from the philosophical perspectives.
I accept that it can be a case of 'Grapes are sour'. We have to do justice to our potential, talent, education, culture, and so on and so forth. The list is endless. Daily we need to report to the society and we have no time to report to ourselves. We can try to be the master of our lives. We can try for that.