Sunday, December 30, 2007
Post337 : Indiscriminate Escalation (click on the image in case you cant read it well enough)
This one comes from Hindustan Times, Mumbai edition, pg.7 on 30th December 2007....
I have circled parts of the ad which I thought were really tacky. This was a full 1 page centerspread. Must have cost at least 7-16L given that it is on a Sunday edition.
My point spend some money on copywriters as well. Enjoy.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Post 336 : Weight Watcher 10 ( I am none the more lighter)
For the month of September, added 17 days onto the roster out of a possible 30.
For October 20 out of a possible 31
For November 16 out of a possible 30
From 5th Feb 07, it now totals up
132+17+20+16 out of 217 + 30+31+30
which is the same as
185 out of 308 days....Not too regular eh?
For October 20 out of a possible 31
For November 16 out of a possible 30
From 5th Feb 07, it now totals up
132+17+20+16 out of 217 + 30+31+30
which is the same as
185 out of 308 days....Not too regular eh?
Post 335 : Long hiatus, back with a bang
I have not posted in the last 2+ months. Hope to cover up soon....
The news is, I am back (not like Senator Schwarznegger - speaking of whom, was amused to see him feature in both the Simpsons movie and Cars. In Cars he is the voice of the Hummer, and in Simpsons he appears like....uhm, whum....like what he is a.....California's senator).
The news is, I am back (not like Senator Schwarznegger - speaking of whom, was amused to see him feature in both the Simpsons movie and Cars. In Cars he is the voice of the Hummer, and in Simpsons he appears like....uhm, whum....like what he is a.....California's senator).
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Post 334 : Travelouge Mumbai - Chiplun - Goa - Panchgani - Mumbai (1454 kms and counting)
Duration 14th - 21st Oct 2007, total 1454 kms, driven on our beloved Santro Xing (we call him Santo Singh).
14th Oct Sunday
8.30am depart from Mumbai. Chiplun is first halt supposed to be at 227kms from Bhandup.
9.15am reach McDonald's at Panvel where we take right for Goa/Chiplun. Everyone has told us the road to Goa is "straight" except for this right. Believe me, that is far away from the truth, before you can hit the Chiplun/Goa road, quite a few twists and turns and at least 1-2 times you will have to stop and ask.
9.30am Finally hit Chiplun highway NH 17Take a break for tea at around 12pm. Driving through long twisted ghats (the best part of the drive), finally reach Chiplun Quality Inn Riverview Resort (used to be the TAJ).
2.15pm Check into the hotel. Lunch is ending in 20 minutes, request to keep the kitchen open. The staff agrees and thats the first sign that this relationship is going to rock.
Odometer reads : 244km from start
2.30pm Lunch @ the hotel resturant - Varan, Masala Bhat, Sol Kadi, Poha Papad and Raita. Must admit this must rank as one of the finest preparations that I have eaten in a restaurant. We were gushing over the food. Not too much oil, not too much masala, lovely fresh handmade food, great flavor.
5pm - drive to the river. The actual river is about 70kms downstream, so we drove to one place where we could see the river.
7pm - We come down to the restaurant for dinner. Varan, Steam Rice, Sol Bhindi, Lat Mat chi sabji (Spinach)...as expected the food was manna. One thing, I shall remember is eating in the restaurant and gazing out to see the fireflies in the garden. When have you done that ever?
River view from the hotel
15th Oct Monday
7am - breakfast at hotel. I ask for thalipeeth and get it. Kajal sticks to egg to survive through this travel. I enjoy my breakfast and tea, and probably for a long time the food shall be a enduring memory of the hotel. What a good start to a vacation.
830am - pack the car up, and begin the journey. Destination, Panjim supposed to be 315kms from here. Odometer now reads 256kms.
Fuel up tank again, about 16 litres.
Drive through ghats and long winded roads (terrible for someone with motion sickness), reach Sawantwadi (the last milestone before Goa), at 2pm. Yes its been a long drive, but we are happy, we have just 60kms more to go (and all things are exactly as they seem :-))
At this point we phone Mariott and ask will they keep restaurnt open for us beyond their usual 3pm and they flatly refuse. After Chiplun, we knew things were going to be hard to match.....
Call it prescience, but we see a Vithal Kamat's hotel and decide to stop for good. The food is good, 1 thali and 1 tea. We shared off an unlimited thali, and was very impressed, though the hotel said they would charge us more of it, they did not.....
At the same hotel, bought some wooden trinklets. I liked them and thought "why not?". Cost us about 80 for the meal and 110 for the trinklets.
2.45pm leave for Panjim, supposedly a 60km drive. The roads are bad, we eventually reach Panjim, Miramir beach and the hotel @ 4.30pm. Really sad roads for a National highway (If only we could peek into the future....)
510pm We are still waiting to check into the hotel, because some huge group is waiting for their checkin. Get into a blast mode, created a big scence at the reception. The folks relented and then checked us into a nice room with a king size bed, a sea view and huge bath tub.
Meals at Mariott, all of them good (not great), healthy since they were buffets, lots of choice. On the first night, my enduring memory around food was Lemon Shorbet Icecream - made with Lemon Rind and Barley....
Odometer Reading 580kms
16th Oct Tuesday
Drive to Sahakari Farms, (supposedly) an organic farm. This was 40kms towards Hubli from the hotel. (around Ponda)
On the way to Ponda, Sahakari Farm
Some very funny stuff being sold at the Sahakari farm (hope you can read it!!!)
Entry fee Rs.300
Greeted with cinnamom, ginger and lemon grass tea. Lots of fluff talk by the hosts.
40 minute guided tour of the farm. Explaining around each herb and spice. More tailored for the fair skin than for us dark skinned "value-for-money-evaulators".
Followed by a small shot of Feni (good) and food (which was very good, because it was made by villagers).
We bought about 3kgs of expensive organice cashewnuts (almost twice the price of normal cashews), hope they are really organic.
4pm back at hotel. Rest for some time and leave for Miramir beach. Kajal and I play in the water like two small kids.
7pm walk back towards hotel. There is Hanuman temple on the way. On a whim, we decide to go in. I circle the shrine 9 times just like I did on several occasions when I went with my mom in my growing up years.
17th Oct Wednesday
Leave at 9am, drive to Anjuna beach. Supposedly there is market here every wednesday.
The drive is about 25kms from the hotel.
Very disappointing place. These beaches (bitches) give India bad name. Extremely commercial and extremely "rip you off" kind of place".
Return to the hotel, have meals and then drive to 18th June Road, which is supposedly Panjim biggest market. Buy cashews and some other stuff.
Sujish and Bindu fly in from Mumbai to join us. Its their anniversarry (the 11th) the next day (happy annivessary to you).
We walk out in the evening with them, procure 2 bottles of port wine. Come back to the hotel, and we all sit at the pool and guzzle the wine and cashews. (Wine supposedly very good quality cost us 15o per bottle).
18th Oct Thursday
We decide to drive to Donna Paula, which is bad, and instead hit on another beach (forgot its name). Turned out that this beach was earlier cordoned off by Cidade-de-goa as a private beach, but now there was a very shady approach to get there. Get there we did, and boy was it worth it. It was hot, but Bindu and Kajal played for an hour in the water. I walked around collecting amazing sea shells. A corner of this beach has some amazing shell stuff. Sujish order cocunut water and beer for us from Cidade de Goa. (Next time I come to goa, its at Cidade De Goa).
View from Dona Paula, supposedly used as props in the movie Ek Duje Ke Liye
Beach at Cidade De Goa
We finally drove back by 2pm. Had lunch at the hotel, and kept sitting at the table long past 430pm.
I decided to head back, while the other three hit the beach (this time Miramar).
We met again at 7pm at the coffee shop where we spoke about a start-up idea Sujish had. Finally it moved to the topic of venture capital......(and lets leave it at that).
19th Oct Friday
Big day, day to drive from Panjim to Panchgani. Slated distance 357kms.
Kajal and I grab a quick breakfast checkout by 8.30pm. Hugs and kisses for our brothers and sisters (Bindu is my sister, and Kajal is Sujish's....dont even ask me how, long story).
Odometer reads 759kms.
Everyone tells us shortest route is via Satara. So we hear, and (how the dumb have fallen).
Along the way we are told, go via Poladpur (which is 30km after chiplun), but we shudder, that means 345kms to Poladpur and another 80 from there to Panchgani.
Mid-way we see a diversion to Kolhapur and confirm from others that this shall lead us to Satara through a shorter route (no one told us quicker).
This is about a 90km stretch to Satara via ghats. Its isolated, lonely (and hence lovely), but with frigging no roads. Its NH4 , but NH (national highway) is a complete flooze. Its craters and boulders and pebbles which make the road within certain sections of it.
On route, Kajal and I stop at an isolated spot, eat vadapavs we had packed along the way. Use the bushes for nature's call. Guess what, its a great feeling to know no human being on either side for 30kms, save an isolated truck.
Guess, when we entered Satara.....?????. 4.30pm yes, thats it. I was driving at 20kmph through the entire ghat. My back worse and tired than ever in the whole trip.
We had passed Kolhapur, Sindhudurg, Sangli.
Satara, came and brought with it the real NH4.
We were tired, 160kms more to Wai (from where panchgani is 20kms), seemed like a death wish.
2 minutes we pondered, and we said, lets pelt, we have to do what we have to do.
Guess when we reached Wai ???? 610pm, including a 10 minute break for tea.
We reached panchgani at 655pm, and into the hotel at 7pm.
Had a big fight with the restuarant for charging us for meals which was supposedly part of the package. Point is, they still did not understand. I knew I would hate my stay here.
I would waste your time with reviews Blue Country Resort, Panchgani, completely sucks.....Its appaling how bad this place can be.
20th Oct Saturday
Drove to Mahableshwar. Best part of this place was something called the Mapro Garden. Its run by Mapro, a Govt. Of India enterprise which sells Jams, juices and other agro produce. This place is really lovely. Its fashioned exactly like a US hershey or kellog's theme experience. We not only bought stuff here, we spent time here and finally even had great sandwiches and pizzas here. Really good stuff. Highly recommended for anyone going to Mahabaleshwar.
Went to Elephant Head Point and Lodwick Point. Not very commercialised at all. Had fun trekking up and down these places.
Lodwick Point
Lodwick Point
Elephant Head Point
View from Elephant Head
Mapro Garden
21st Oct Sunday
9am drive out of Panchgani to Mumbai. Expected drive 270kms
On the way have fantastic vada pavs at Joshi Wadewale, Pune. (80kms into the journey).
Reach Mumbai at 1.45pm, tired and still driving.
Overall Hotel Ratings
Quality Inn Riverview Chiplun - 5 star rating from me - greatest food on earth (than home), simple lovely village idyll, Rs. 4900 including all meals per night.
Mariott Goa - Snobbish place, 3 star rating from me, costed 8800 per night including all meals.
Blue Country Resort, Panchgani - 0 stars, very shady place, avoid at all costs. I really hated it, bad food, bad rooms, bad service, dirty resort. Complete waste of 3800 per night. Please take my advice, choose Dhanbad Hills or choose Mahableshwar, that will be better.
Final odometer reading 1454kms, I had exhausted 84 litres of petrol for this trip, average 17.3km/litre.
I enjoyed this trip, so did my wifey, for many reasons. Just the fact that we so much of rural India in the drive, made all of this worth it.
Next halt - Banglore in Jan 2008.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Post 333 : Passages 42 : Salman Rushdie - Ground beneath her feet - 5 things that move.....
Five mysteries hold the keys to the unseen: the act of love, and the birth of a baby, and the contemplation of great art, and being in the presence of death or disaster, and hearing the human voice lifted in song. These are the occasions when the bolts of the universe fly open and we are given a glimpse of what is hidden; an eff of the ineffable. Glory bursts upon us in such hours: the dark glory of earthquakes, the slippery wonder of new life, the radiance of Vina's singing.
- ( Salman Rushdie - Ground beneath her feet )
- ( Salman Rushdie - Ground beneath her feet )
Post 332 : Insight 4 : Why do corpses look peaceful even if they died in a horrific death?
I was reading a business article today, which had no connection with the question mentioned above, except that this question was irreverantly thrown around within the article? (something to the effect that," If I had more time, I would think of such absurd metaphysical questions")....
Strangely, but just as usual, this question set me thinking.....
And you know what, the observation by the author is bang on. Its a fact, I have seen gruesome deaths, and yet the resulting corpses look like they are tanning in the lazy chair by the pool.
Maybe, and I can only hazard a guess, just before death comes, garbage collection starts ( I finally am a software progammer), and this cleans up all our biases, fears, desires and clutches....(and this my friend, might be what is called 'my whole life passed me by') ....and in that small interval of time leading to death, you see yourself, you see through the 'Matrix' (without having chosen the red pill...what a daft scam ;-)) and that realization makes you peaceful.
Maybe just the process of unwinding is peaceful.
Whats strange is "peace" must come before death, because otherwise, you would see faces contorted and dismayed, as they tried to clutch life, and yet the vampire of death sucked them dry.....so definitely 'peace' must come.
Next time around, I am going to look at the face of death, with even more mystified eyes. Thank you missy author, you just set a ball rolling in my head.
Strangely, but just as usual, this question set me thinking.....
And you know what, the observation by the author is bang on. Its a fact, I have seen gruesome deaths, and yet the resulting corpses look like they are tanning in the lazy chair by the pool.
Maybe, and I can only hazard a guess, just before death comes, garbage collection starts ( I finally am a software progammer), and this cleans up all our biases, fears, desires and clutches....(and this my friend, might be what is called 'my whole life passed me by') ....and in that small interval of time leading to death, you see yourself, you see through the 'Matrix' (without having chosen the red pill...what a daft scam ;-)) and that realization makes you peaceful.
Maybe just the process of unwinding is peaceful.
Whats strange is "peace" must come before death, because otherwise, you would see faces contorted and dismayed, as they tried to clutch life, and yet the vampire of death sucked them dry.....so definitely 'peace' must come.
Next time around, I am going to look at the face of death, with even more mystified eyes. Thank you missy author, you just set a ball rolling in my head.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Post 331 : Old man at sea (July 2001)
(I had originally written this in 2001....)
Once she went so far as to try and transcribe the Indian part of her name, "Mira" into her Filofax, her hand moving in unfamiliar directions stopping and turning and picking up her pen when she least expected to. Following the arrows in the book, she drew a bar from left to right from which the letters hung; one looked more like a number than a letter, another looked like a triangle on its side. It had taken several tries to get the letter in the book, and even then she wasn't sure if she'd written Mira or Mara. It was a scribble to her, but somewhere in the world, she realized with a shock, it meant something.
- Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies, Sexy
To call this man old would be an understatement. He had this extremely wrinkled face, and his health is emaciated to put it mildly. I first caught sight of him some months ago. The building structure in which I live was undergoing a complex reconstruction job, involving addition of extra floors and all the associated functions that come along such as plastering, painting and so on. The construction business is quite a labor intensive job, yet labor is possibly the cheapest component, due to its abundance. Workers are like (and are) nomads who travel from site to site, as the construction flows from structure to structure. Most of the time, you shall find these workers exist in a make shift adobe, where they stretch from one construction day to another, and this make shift adobe is actually the construction site itself. The story I am recounting happened in the same structure where I live, and the old man in question was a construction worked living on my premises. (I can't help feel flirtatious about the 'my', somehow sounds hollow isn't it.)
The man was old, must have been around 70 years old. Wrinkled face and emaciated, he was a frail short structure no more than four and half feet. Pitch black, in all probability he was from Hyderabad, since I have often heard him speak Telegu.
I remember the first time I saw him. I was returning home from work, and it must have been around 10.30 at night, and as I entered my building, I saw this man in our compound. Did not shock me to see him, since I guessed that he was a construction worker. He was sitting in a slightly elevated bed made of bamboo and jute wires. He was playing with a small kid who was in fact a girl. The girl must have been no more than 4 years of age. As I walked towards the entrance of my home, my eyes lingered on this sight, and for a brief moment, I found that our eyes met. Even he must have general inquisitiveness as regards a stranger (thats me).
In that moment, I detected a sense of fear in his eyes, the fear of the society. Possibly, for him, I represented that section of the society which he resented and had learnt to treat with respect and sacrosanct, a section he was afraid. There was some acquiescence about the whole look, yet there was no malice.
As I thought hard, I realized with a shiver and shake that it must be so claustrophobic for the life embedded within that man. He knows that he is towards the last days of his life. At the age of 60-70 he still needs to toil hard for 12 hours a day to earn Rs. 100. (My dad is about the same age too.). At night, he eats roti's (wheat cakes) made without oil or grease on plain hot coal, with a few pieces of onion and green chilies (sounds filmy, but very true, I have seen that myself).
This life which I am assuming is so similar to mine, does not crave for a Mercedes, does not want to have a rendezvous with J Lo, does not want to wear gold rings and chains, even to dream of these things would be perfidy for him.
What is that which distinguishes two similarly capable lives. Birth and environment maybe....I don't know, but thats such an unfair brownie to be held by one life against another.
What is it that I felt at moment. I could not help imagine what must be going through the old man's head. And I knew if I were him, I would have hated life, and run to death. Don't I do that already? The old man does not have a life, and is not allowed weapons using which he can fight for one. He is a slave, not to life, but to the society around him. I hate being a slave.
What forced me to write this. Guilt. Nope. A man without a set of values and conscience cannot experience guilt, guilt as a concept in itself is alien to me. Philanthropy. I never believed too much in that, think in its common form, its more of evil than good. Anguish, a response to the pain around, like the Buddha maybe. Nope. I am surprised at the pain around, but nothing even close to the Buddha. What is it then. Despise...maybe.
BTW, I spend Rs.100 daily on my food and travel expenses without a second thought, and Rs.100 is exactly the same amount the man fights to make after 12 hrs of grueling work. . For a person(me, that is) who does not believe in God, after life or any of that bull crap, its hard for me to reconcile with the fact that most of us are completely servile, puppets in the hands of circumstances, victims of some cruel experiment gone completely awry.
Do I love life?
Once she went so far as to try and transcribe the Indian part of her name, "Mira" into her Filofax, her hand moving in unfamiliar directions stopping and turning and picking up her pen when she least expected to. Following the arrows in the book, she drew a bar from left to right from which the letters hung; one looked more like a number than a letter, another looked like a triangle on its side. It had taken several tries to get the letter in the book, and even then she wasn't sure if she'd written Mira or Mara. It was a scribble to her, but somewhere in the world, she realized with a shock, it meant something.
- Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies, Sexy
To call this man old would be an understatement. He had this extremely wrinkled face, and his health is emaciated to put it mildly. I first caught sight of him some months ago. The building structure in which I live was undergoing a complex reconstruction job, involving addition of extra floors and all the associated functions that come along such as plastering, painting and so on. The construction business is quite a labor intensive job, yet labor is possibly the cheapest component, due to its abundance. Workers are like (and are) nomads who travel from site to site, as the construction flows from structure to structure. Most of the time, you shall find these workers exist in a make shift adobe, where they stretch from one construction day to another, and this make shift adobe is actually the construction site itself. The story I am recounting happened in the same structure where I live, and the old man in question was a construction worked living on my premises. (I can't help feel flirtatious about the 'my', somehow sounds hollow isn't it.)
The man was old, must have been around 70 years old. Wrinkled face and emaciated, he was a frail short structure no more than four and half feet. Pitch black, in all probability he was from Hyderabad, since I have often heard him speak Telegu.
I remember the first time I saw him. I was returning home from work, and it must have been around 10.30 at night, and as I entered my building, I saw this man in our compound. Did not shock me to see him, since I guessed that he was a construction worker. He was sitting in a slightly elevated bed made of bamboo and jute wires. He was playing with a small kid who was in fact a girl. The girl must have been no more than 4 years of age. As I walked towards the entrance of my home, my eyes lingered on this sight, and for a brief moment, I found that our eyes met. Even he must have general inquisitiveness as regards a stranger (thats me).
In that moment, I detected a sense of fear in his eyes, the fear of the society. Possibly, for him, I represented that section of the society which he resented and had learnt to treat with respect and sacrosanct, a section he was afraid. There was some acquiescence about the whole look, yet there was no malice.
As I thought hard, I realized with a shiver and shake that it must be so claustrophobic for the life embedded within that man. He knows that he is towards the last days of his life. At the age of 60-70 he still needs to toil hard for 12 hours a day to earn Rs. 100. (My dad is about the same age too.). At night, he eats roti's (wheat cakes) made without oil or grease on plain hot coal, with a few pieces of onion and green chilies (sounds filmy, but very true, I have seen that myself).
This life which I am assuming is so similar to mine, does not crave for a Mercedes, does not want to have a rendezvous with J Lo, does not want to wear gold rings and chains, even to dream of these things would be perfidy for him.
What is that which distinguishes two similarly capable lives. Birth and environment maybe....I don't know, but thats such an unfair brownie to be held by one life against another.
What is it that I felt at moment. I could not help imagine what must be going through the old man's head. And I knew if I were him, I would have hated life, and run to death. Don't I do that already? The old man does not have a life, and is not allowed weapons using which he can fight for one. He is a slave, not to life, but to the society around him. I hate being a slave.
What forced me to write this. Guilt. Nope. A man without a set of values and conscience cannot experience guilt, guilt as a concept in itself is alien to me. Philanthropy. I never believed too much in that, think in its common form, its more of evil than good. Anguish, a response to the pain around, like the Buddha maybe. Nope. I am surprised at the pain around, but nothing even close to the Buddha. What is it then. Despise...maybe.
BTW, I spend Rs.100 daily on my food and travel expenses without a second thought, and Rs.100 is exactly the same amount the man fights to make after 12 hrs of grueling work. . For a person(me, that is) who does not believe in God, after life or any of that bull crap, its hard for me to reconcile with the fact that most of us are completely servile, puppets in the hands of circumstances, victims of some cruel experiment gone completely awry.
Do I love life?
Post 330 : Passages 41 (Algebra of Infinite Injustice)
My world has died. And I write to mourn its passing.Admittedly, it is a flawed world. An unviable world. A scarred and wounded world. It was a world that I myself have criticized unsparingly, but only because I loved it. It didn't deserve to die. It didn't deserve to die. It didn't deserve t be dismembered. Forgive me, I realize that sentimentality is uncool- but what shall I do with my desolation?
-The Algebra of Infinite Injustice, Arundhati Roy
-The Algebra of Infinite Injustice, Arundhati Roy
Post 329 : Passages 40 (Free Will from The Devil's Advocate)
MILTON: Free will. It's like butterfly wings.Once touched, they never get off the ground. No. I only set the stage. You pull your own strings.
Post 328 : Passages 39 - God. vs. Devil (The devil's advocate)
Read carefully. The script is awesome. If you can, then do hear Al Pacino recite those dialogues. It what I call dicton in motion.
Read on.
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MILTON: ... Guilt is like a bag of fucking bricks. All you gotta is set it down... Who are you carrying all those bricks for anyway? God? Is that it? God? Well I tell you. Let me give you a little inside information about God. God likes to watch. He's a prankster. Think about it. He gives man instincts. He gives you this extraordinary gift and then what does he do? I swear, for his own amusement, his own private cosmic gag reel he sets the rules in opposition. It's the goof of all time. Look but don't touch. Touch but don't taste. Taste but don't swallow. And while you're jumping on one foot to the next, what is he doing? He's laughing his sick fucking ass off. He's a tightass. He's a sadist. He's an absentee-landlord! Worship that? Never!
LOMAX: Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven. Is that it?
MILTON: Why not? I'm here on the ground with my nose in it since the whole thing began. I've nurtured every sensation man has been inspired to have. I cared about what he wanted, and I never judged him. Why? Because I never rejected him inspite of all his imperfections...I'm a humanist. Maybe the last humanist. Who, in their right mind, Kevin, could possibly deny the 20th century was entirely mine? All of it, Kevin. All of it. Mine. I'm peaking, Kevin. It's my time now.
Read on.
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MILTON: ... Guilt is like a bag of fucking bricks. All you gotta is set it down... Who are you carrying all those bricks for anyway? God? Is that it? God? Well I tell you. Let me give you a little inside information about God. God likes to watch. He's a prankster. Think about it. He gives man instincts. He gives you this extraordinary gift and then what does he do? I swear, for his own amusement, his own private cosmic gag reel he sets the rules in opposition. It's the goof of all time. Look but don't touch. Touch but don't taste. Taste but don't swallow. And while you're jumping on one foot to the next, what is he doing? He's laughing his sick fucking ass off. He's a tightass. He's a sadist. He's an absentee-landlord! Worship that? Never!
LOMAX: Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven. Is that it?
MILTON: Why not? I'm here on the ground with my nose in it since the whole thing began. I've nurtured every sensation man has been inspired to have. I cared about what he wanted, and I never judged him. Why? Because I never rejected him inspite of all his imperfections...I'm a humanist. Maybe the last humanist. Who, in their right mind, Kevin, could possibly deny the 20th century was entirely mine? All of it, Kevin. All of it. Mine. I'm peaking, Kevin. It's my time now.
Post 327 : People I admire - 4 (N Jayakumar, Prime Securities)
An ex-citibanker (from the scam days - heavily involved in the 1992 Harshad bhai scam), is quite an eloquent and clear speaker. I like hearing him out on CNBC.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Post 326 : Zen. Jain. Next (originally from 10th Nov 2005)
One day in my recent vacation, quite suddenly, I had a flash of understanding.....Before I get to explaining what that was, I must confess, the feeling was magical, the magic of being alive. For example, you are driving along long winded roads in Munnar when quite suddenly, a jolt of inspired logic, it makes me wonder....what prompts these synapses to fire this way....In moments like this, I am MOST tempted to believe that a higher intelligence (God) must exist....if he does not, then how do I explain my synapses running amok.
Coming back, we were driving through tea gardens in Munnar, watching as a swarm of women were all plucking the fresh buds from the tea buds....Don't know how this connected, but quite suddenly it occured to me, why possibly Mahavir's Jainism prohibits followers from eating carrots, potatoes, onions and gingers.....
Kajal is a pukka Jain, she has been reared in a conservative Jain family for the best part of her life, before we got together (I have been the corrupting influence in her world...and I really own up to it). All over India it is not uncommon to enter a restaurant and have a menu section devoted to 'Jain' food, which means it is sans carrots, onions and the like. I have often questioned Kajal and the ilk on why Jains shun the food which 'grows under the ground', and I was told that it was primarily for two reasons; the first being 'hygiene' and the second being the fact that Jains are particular enough not to snatch food away from microbes, earthworms and whatever breed under the ground. Both of these principles are ensconced within the Jain world so much, that is common knowledge for almost a complete outsider like me.
I have been reading quite a bit of Zen in my recent past. As soon as I mixed Zen with Mahavir, the shunning of carrot and onions took an entirely new dimension. Possibly, Mahavir did not actually want us to eat these fruits (or vegetables) because in the process of using a ginger, we actually have to uproot the whole tree (or life force) of the plant, vis-a-vis an orange which you can pluck from a tree in the orchard....you really don't have to kill the orange tree.
If you think of the underlying principle, it suddenly makes a lot of sense.....since Jainism is one of the strongest proponents of non-violence, as I said, even violence towards microbes is frowned upon. When I bounced this off Kajal, she kind of asked me, if this were true, how did Mahavir, allow for rice and wheat, both of which are again harvested and in essence, end up killing the plant.
I did some cursory research, and from what I understand that rice crop if not harvested in time, dies under its own weight, and typically a rice plant is good enough for just one flowering (or one set of rice output). Farmers, typically harvest a part of the plant, and transplant a part of the plant to a new piece of farming land. So again, this appears consistent with my theory of why.......
The more I think of it, the more this theory seems to be correct....but strangely it seems completely lost on a whole set of Jains who are following rules without even an inkling of the underlying philosophies (I did not even seem to convince Kajal on the same)....BTW, these are the same Jains who now-a-days indulge in pesticides to keep roaches out of their home. On a single night they murder almost 1000 roaches......
Mahavir must be squirming in his grave (quite literally, he took samadhi and not a normal cremation). What a (modern Gen Next) life we live, where we swear by symbols without any reference to their underlying significance.
Post 325 : Passages 38 Algebra of Infinite Injustice
Yes, I have heard - the (nuclear) bomb is (mentioned) in the Vedas. It might be, but if you look hard enough, you'll find Coke in the Vedas too. Thats the great thing about all religious texts. You can find anything you want in them - as long as you know what you are looking for.
-The Algebra of Infinite Injustice, Arundhati Roy
Miss Roy remains someone I adore and respect - for a variety of reasons, some being as simple as her dedication to a cause, and others more personal - like the swashbucking style of her writing.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Post 324 : My wife thinks I am ill
I have been working 6-7 days a week for years now, and she thinks I am chronic workoholic. If only she knew why I work like this. Chuckle :-)
Anyways, sly metaphors apart, am working all through last week, this week and next. No rest. 4 beats per second and a not a single one missed so far :-)
Anyways, sly metaphors apart, am working all through last week, this week and next. No rest. 4 beats per second and a not a single one missed so far :-)
Post 323 : Power corrupts (even idiots can dream up delusions of grandeur)
The gym I go to everyday, has a college girl playing the role of the coy receptionist. So far, so good.
Recently, I have started hearing her speaking extremely rudely and authoritatively to the (poor) janitor. From one view point, its fair, she is "higher up" in the value chain, and she is responsible in some way for the cleanliness of the gym....and yet, I feel she should spare a thought, is it necessary to be rude to get the job done. I am sure the answer is a resounding "no".
Have you not seen, idiotic police havaldars behave similarly. I think Einstein put it right, when he said, "if wisdom does not keep par with knowledge/power, travesty shall continue to happen" or something to that effect.
You can see this in security gaurds, watchmen, adminstrative secretary's to CEOs who think they are CEO's themselves. Its so easy to feed on delusions. When the scraper collapses, the fall will be hard, and it might break the knees.
We are building an army of idiots who feed on other idiots. Dignity of labor, what the fuck is that?
Recently, I have started hearing her speaking extremely rudely and authoritatively to the (poor) janitor. From one view point, its fair, she is "higher up" in the value chain, and she is responsible in some way for the cleanliness of the gym....and yet, I feel she should spare a thought, is it necessary to be rude to get the job done. I am sure the answer is a resounding "no".
Have you not seen, idiotic police havaldars behave similarly. I think Einstein put it right, when he said, "if wisdom does not keep par with knowledge/power, travesty shall continue to happen" or something to that effect.
You can see this in security gaurds, watchmen, adminstrative secretary's to CEOs who think they are CEO's themselves. Its so easy to feed on delusions. When the scraper collapses, the fall will be hard, and it might break the knees.
We are building an army of idiots who feed on other idiots. Dignity of labor, what the fuck is that?
Post 322 : My child was just like me
I was recently browsing a book sale, and some nincompoopish idiot called Richard Templar, has written books around "self help".....(and all this is besides the point of this post, more of it later).
One of his books, was called, "Rules of Happiness" and amongst them was a rule buried under the rest called " Learn to forgive your parents".
I found it a stark sign of times, that such a rule had to be taught.... and yet, yet...I myself, grew up having hazaar angst with my parents...and not only while growing up, even as recently as 5-7 years ago.
We are all victims of our own thanklessness and delusions. In my head, this situation is just like Terminator, your own creations devoring on your meat.....
I have had quite a few conflicts with my parents, owing to the fact that I considered myself more 'intellectual' than them, and then-and-even-now, I just refuse to open-up-my-side-of-the-story and talk.
32, and few grey tufts on my head, have taught me a thing or two.....No matter what other emotions you harbor for your parents(love, despise, hate, whatever!!), remember, you can never thank them enough, bringing up a child is like experiencing hell on earth (I can hear Belinda Carlisle sing " Oooh, heaven is a place on earth..."). To bring you up, their support was unconditional, hopefully in their twilight you can provide at least some semblance of a similar return (if not for 'love', maybe just as a 'duty' and a 'karmic barter').
Even today, I am far from being able to talk to them like a son (and that shall remain one of my biggest failures in life....and I sit and wonder, does any other "success", even matter?). (I have piled up bad karma by the tonnage...."You consider me your apprentice.....hypnotized by you, I stare at the ring around your finger").
I remember, as a child my dad used to drop me to a creche, before he proceeded to work. And like a pesky kid, I used to be un-managable. And my lovely handsome dad, used to buy me "Poppins" for 60paise from a grocery store called "Ramnath Stores" owned by a old genial Manglorean called Ramnath (this used to ahead of the Bank of Maharashtra, Thane (east) Kopri Colony branch).
And after going through this ritual for a few months, he convinced the 6 year old me that Poppins was bad - too much sugar, and hence I must switch to a "Ding Ladoo", made from dry fruit, grated cocunut and edible gum. (It used to cost 1.25, a princely sum for him in those days, I remember he used to make some 900 pm.....Inflation and wage adjusted, thats like me buying my daughter a Rs. 120 sweet (approx).)
Right till this day, I never fail to relish a ding ladoo, because of the nostalgic memories and the mental association that it is "healthy".
And then today......., he was speaking to me, in a very deferential tone, like he has started doing in the past few years (its his way of telling me - that for him I am an adult), and a part of me cringed.....I wish my old dad was back (If wishes were horses, beggars would ride).
I really wish, he (sometimes, maybe once a year!!) still buys me a ding ladoo, just for old times sake, and gives me that feeling that I am still a pesky little kid, who needs to be dropped off at a creche.
I know he will one day soon drop me at a creche, and the ladoos too will be gone....and thats how this story will end.
Post 321 : Snap - Power to gurgle
She sits snugly atop my left hand, her body rests on my chest, her head on my shoulder. She is cosy, comfortable and cocooned. I use my right hand and snap (snap, snap snap.....) and she goes gurgle gurgle gurgle.....just like a mattel toy. Snap...Gurgle,..... no snap, no gurgle :-( . Its a plain platonic relationship. Words mean nothing, emotions mean lesser and the future is unborn and meaningless....all that matters to her (and me) is this 'Mattel' game we are playing with each other. Secure, unthreatened, simple, uncomplicated, in the moment......
Darling, joy comes in all shapes and size, as long the size is small. Joanna, you gimme hope. Snap - GURGLE.
Darling, joy comes in all shapes and size, as long the size is small. Joanna, you gimme hope. Snap - GURGLE.
Post 320 : Buddha my friend, you could not help me
I remember looking out of my mother's womb, peering into the world, wanting to never leave the umbilical cord, the crutch of my safety. Buddha had told me that this was the temptation to break, yet I was romancing the stone, a shiny diamond here and a crystal pounding there.
Life is a habit, difficult to break, just like smoking, addiction, sex, nose-picking and other gaseous stuff.
My friend, you should have pulled me back in, but you and your non-violent approach - it did not allow you to "slap me", dunk me in your wisdom.....
Am I complaining? Oops...sorry did not mean for this to come out that way, but yes, in the name of this sacrilegious friendship, request you, not to let me go next time.
Stillborn my child, she talks to me :-)
Life is a habit, difficult to break, just like smoking, addiction, sex, nose-picking and other gaseous stuff.
My friend, you should have pulled me back in, but you and your non-violent approach - it did not allow you to "slap me", dunk me in your wisdom.....
Am I complaining? Oops...sorry did not mean for this to come out that way, but yes, in the name of this sacrilegious friendship, request you, not to let me go next time.
Stillborn my child, she talks to me :-)
Post 319 : How long to go before she weeps?
She walked through the trough (and the rough). Her feet ached. Ah...such a long journey. Alone and tired. At the end of it, she realized, all she had done was put more miles between herself and the life on the other side. From one life onto another.....
In that minute of pain, she wondered? "I am such a delusional bitch, why do I think, that this shade of paint is better than that?" Color blind, third eye myopic.....
What did she actually want? Was she running to a goal, or running from the Lord onto the devil, or was it the rings of Saturn on both sides?
Ah, tears would have eased her pain easily. Not now....Save the ocular excercises for the closet. But where is the closet? Close, lose, set....
One more drop and the flood might start, but then "have you ever seen the rain coming down on a sunny day?"
In that minute of pain, she wondered? "I am such a delusional bitch, why do I think, that this shade of paint is better than that?" Color blind, third eye myopic.....
What did she actually want? Was she running to a goal, or running from the Lord onto the devil, or was it the rings of Saturn on both sides?
Ah, tears would have eased her pain easily. Not now....Save the ocular excercises for the closet. But where is the closet? Close, lose, set....
One more drop and the flood might start, but then "have you ever seen the rain coming down on a sunny day?"
Post 318 : Weight Watcher 9 (God knows I want to break free)
Another month gone....
In the month of August 22 of a possible 31 days I prayed at the body gym.
From 05 Feb 07 to now it makes a total of 132 out of a possible 217 days....not good, but not terribly bad
"Life still goes on.....I still cant get used to living without you by my side" - and Freddie Mercury became immortal....how does this song feature here...think?
In the month of August 22 of a possible 31 days I prayed at the body gym.
From 05 Feb 07 to now it makes a total of 132 out of a possible 217 days....not good, but not terribly bad
"Life still goes on.....I still cant get used to living without you by my side" - and Freddie Mercury became immortal....how does this song feature here...think?
Post 317 : Stolen bits of poetry
Loved this piece at http://conceptualaura.blogspot.com/2007/09/ground-beneath-your-feet.html#comments. Mr. Author, take a bow....especially your fourth stanza about the 'dog'. (My hyperlinked brain says, "Die...die like a dog, a la Kafka's Trial").
For the sake of easy reading am reproducing it here.....
Kiss the ground beneath your feet,
its moving under you,
it may pull itself,
from under you,
unleashing the savage.
The twisted homes,
the wooden pillars,
crushing a woman,
baby in womb,
the silent cries.
The dog,
alone in the home,
burning,unconscious,
fire eating away flesh,flesh,bone,
a silent death.
A school,
a flash flood,
little souls,
swept away,
drowning,silently.
Kiss the ground,
when it moves,it kills,silently.
For the sake of easy reading am reproducing it here.....
Kiss the ground beneath your feet,
its moving under you,
it may pull itself,
from under you,
unleashing the savage.
The twisted homes,
the wooden pillars,
crushing a woman,
baby in womb,
the silent cries.
The dog,
alone in the home,
burning,unconscious,
fire eating away flesh,flesh,bone,
a silent death.
A school,
a flash flood,
little souls,
swept away,
drowning,silently.
Kiss the ground,
when it moves,it kills,silently.
Post 316 : Silky Kumar is the AXE Mascot
Silky Kumar 'Scent of Desire' is nothing but a mascot for the Axe Commercial.....
I think this is an interesting twist to standard ad campaigns....create a song, a video and have it aired on major music channels.
http://conceptualaura.blogspot.com/2007/08/silky-kumar-whooda.html
I think this is an interesting twist to standard ad campaigns....create a song, a video and have it aired on major music channels.
http://conceptualaura.blogspot.com/2007/08/silky-kumar-whooda.html
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Post 315 : Chadta Suraj Translation English re-visited (a much better one)
No offence meant to the older one....
The older translation of this song by an external web source seemed to have a few glaring misses, so thought, instead of crying out, why not contribute something to the web…..
Here’s my English Interpretation/translation of Chadhta Suraj (Sooraj)
Hu ye naaamwarr be-nishaan kaise kaise ee
zameen kha gayee naujawaan kaise kaise
aaj jawaani par ithrane-waley kal pachtayega
aaj jawaani par ithrane-waley kal pachtayega
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
-----------------------------
(Look, how the famous have tumbled and lost their signatures,
The grave has eaten (what were once) flamboyant heroes,
(Listen you who) You are proud of your youth today, you might regret it tomorrow,
The sun which is rising will eventually (maybe slowly enough) finally set (2)
Will Finally Set, (2)
Will Finally Set(2))
---------------------------------
Tu yahan musafir hain,
yeh saraye paani hain,
char roz ki mehemaan, teri zindagaani hain.
zun, zameer, zar , zevar,
kuch na saath jaayegaa,
khaali haath aaya hain, khaali haath jaayegaa.
Jaan kar bhi anjaana,
ban raha hain deewane,
apni umr-faani par tan raha hain deewane. (paani corrected to faani by Atish)
Is kadrr tu khoya hain,
is jahaan ke mele mein,
tu khuda ko bhoola hain,
fakr-ke is jhamele mein.
aaj tak yeh dekha hain,
paaney-wala khota hain,
zindagi ko jo samjhaa,
zindagi pe rota hain.
mitnewaali duniya ka, aitbaar kartaa hain,
kya samajhke tu aakhir, is-sey pyar karta hain.
apni apni fikron mein,
jo bhi hain, woh uljhaa hain
jo bhi hain, woh uljhaa hain
zindagi haqeeqat mein kya hain, kaun samjha hain
kya hain, kaun samjha hain.---------------------------(You are (but) a traveler,
The whole world is an ocean,
A guest for a few days, yes, that’s what your life is (in reality)
Moonlight (Zun), Identity (Zameer), Gold (Zar), jewellery (zevar) .....[I LOVE THIS LINE]
Nothing is going to accompany uou
You came empty handed, you shall return equally bereft of any possessions,
Inspite of knowing this, you ignorant idiot,
You are still playing with these transient illusions,
You are still measuring your life span which is so obviously perishable (thats what faani means, thanks Atish)
You are so lost in this maze,
Created by this (make believe) world’s fair,
You have forgotten the Lord,
(Immersed) in the game of paupers, [FAKR means poor]
So far it has been seen,
Those who win (in this pauper’s world) actually lose
Those who (really) saw through this life’s game,
Has only wept and given up on life (upon realization)
Those about to get extinguished, yearn for the world,
(O ignorant), what knowledge drives you towards such a (foolish) yearning,
Everyone seems so immersed in this game,
All of them have got entangled into it (2)
Have any of them really understood life,
What is it, have they understood ?
-------------------------
aaj samjhlee -eee
aaj samjhle, kal yeh mauka, haath na tere aayega,
woh gaflat ki neendh mein soney-waale, dhoka khayega,
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
-----------------------
( Understood it today,
Understand it today, for tomorrow might be too late,
Those who sleep a life without heeding (GAFLAT means heedlessness), you will eventually be fooled,
The sun which is rising will eventually (maybe slowly enough) finally set (2)
Will Finally Set, (2)
Will Finally Set(2))
Maut ne zamaane ko,
yeh samah dikha daala,
kaise kaise rustom ko khaak mein mila daala.
Yaad rakh sikander ke hosle toh aali thhey,
jab gayaa tha duniya se,
dono haath khaali thhey.
ab na woh halaku hain,
aur na uske saathi hain,
jung, julus, porus hain,
aur na uske haathi hain.
kal jo tann ke chalte thhey,
apni shaano-shaukat parr,
shamma tak nahin jalti,
aaj unke durbath parr.
----------------------------
( Death has shown various
Seasons to the world
Look how it has vanquished even those who were heroes one
Though Alexander was the bravest and was fearless,
When he eventually departed,
His palms held nothing (and were open),
Now neither is the strong hulk around[(HALAKU actually means monster]
Neither are his stooges,
(Neither are his) War, Procession or Puru (PURU was Alexander’s enemy]
Neither are his elephants,
Till yesterday those who demonstrated their strength to the world (and the world quivered),
Today, not even a candle burns
On his grave)
------------------------------
adna ho ya aala ho, sabko laut jaana hain
sabko laut jaana hain, sabko laut jaana hain.
Muflison tawanjan ka, kabr hi thikaana hain,
Kabr hi thikaana hain, kabr hi thikaana hain.
Jaisi karni......e eeeeeee
Jaisi karni waisi bharni,
aaj kiya kal payega,
sar ko uthakar chalne waale, ek din thokar khayegaa.
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
----------------------------
Does not matter whether you are rich or poor , your eventual destination is the grave
your eventual destination is the grave(2)
Both the bankrupt and the rick eventually hit the grave [Muflis means
bankrupt]
Eventually hit the grave (2)
As you sow, so you reap (2)
Today’s actions return tomorrow
(You) who walk with his neck tilted upwards, will eventually trip and fall,
The sun which is rising will eventually (maybe slowly enough) finally set (2)
Will Finally Set, (2)
Will Finally Set(2))
-Maut sabko aani hain,
aun iss-se chhoota hain,
tu fanah nahin hoga,
yeh khayal jhoota hain.
saans toot-te hi sab,
rishte toot jayenge,
baap, maa, behen, biwi, bacchhe chhoot jayenge.
----------------------------
(Death will eventually come to you,
No one has managed to avoid it so far,
You will not escape [Fanna means Escape]
This (irrational) belief in you is delusional,
Eventually the breath will stop,
So will all relationships cease,
Father, Ma, Sister, Wife, Children will all left behind (as you die and proceed)
-------------------------tere jitne hain bhai,
waqt ka chalan denge,
chheen kar teri daulat
do hi gaz kafan denge,
-----------------------------
(
All your ‘Brothers’
Will bide their time,
They will fight over all your wealth,
All they will spare for your is 6 feet of grave (space)
)
inko apna kehta hain,
kab yeh tere saathi hain,
kabr hain teri manzil,
aur yeh baraati hain.
laa-key kabr mein tujhko, qurqabat daalenge,
apne haathon se tere mu pe khaak daalenge.
----------------------------
You call ‘these’ your own,
Was there ever a time when they ‘belonged’ to you,
Grave is the final destination,
‘These’ folks are just accompanying your (funeral) procession,
They will heap mud on your face (on your grave),
With their own hands, they will dump dust on you)
------------------------------------
Teri saari ulfat ko,
khaak mein mila denge,
teri chahnewaale, kal tujhe bhoola denge.
---------------------------
All your ‘achievements’ will be mixed in the
very mud which will drown you,
Those you claim to love you, would forget you tomorrow)
-----------------------
-Is liye yeh kehta hu,
khoob soch le dil mein,
kyon fasaye baitha hain,
jaan apni mushkil mein.
---------------------------( Pray, listen to me now,
Think hard,
Why have your stuck,
Your life in this mess)
----------------------------
Kar gunaah se tauba, aake bus sambhal jaaye,
aake bas sambhal jaaye, aake bus sambhal jaaye.
Dum ka kya bharosa hain, jaane kab nikal jaaye,
jaane kab nikal jaaye,jaane kab nikal jaaye,
Mutthi bandh ke aane-waleyyyyyyyyyyyy
Mutthi bandh ke aane wale, haath pasaare jayega,
dham, daulat, jagir se tu ne,
kya paaya, kya paayegaa,
---------------------------
( Give up on the mistakes of the past, come back to ‘reality’
Come back to reality (2)
There is no knowing when our breath might leave us,
When it might leave us (2)
s)
You who came here with clasped fingers,
You who came here with clasped fingers, when you go you will go with open palms,
House, Wealth, Property – have you got anything from these so far?
Will you ever will?
----------------------------
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
The sun which is rising will eventually (maybe slowly enough) finally set (2)
Will Finally Set, (2)
Will Finally Set(2))
The older translation of this song by an external web source seemed to have a few glaring misses, so thought, instead of crying out, why not contribute something to the web…..
Here’s my English Interpretation/translation of Chadhta Suraj (Sooraj)
Hu ye naaamwarr be-nishaan kaise kaise ee
zameen kha gayee naujawaan kaise kaise
aaj jawaani par ithrane-waley kal pachtayega
aaj jawaani par ithrane-waley kal pachtayega
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
-----------------------------
(Look, how the famous have tumbled and lost their signatures,
The grave has eaten (what were once) flamboyant heroes,
(Listen you who) You are proud of your youth today, you might regret it tomorrow,
The sun which is rising will eventually (maybe slowly enough) finally set (2)
Will Finally Set, (2)
Will Finally Set(2))
---------------------------------
Tu yahan musafir hain,
yeh saraye paani hain,
char roz ki mehemaan, teri zindagaani hain.
zun, zameer, zar , zevar,
kuch na saath jaayegaa,
khaali haath aaya hain, khaali haath jaayegaa.
Jaan kar bhi anjaana,
ban raha hain deewane,
apni umr-faani par tan raha hain deewane. (paani corrected to faani by Atish)
Is kadrr tu khoya hain,
is jahaan ke mele mein,
tu khuda ko bhoola hain,
fakr-ke is jhamele mein.
aaj tak yeh dekha hain,
paaney-wala khota hain,
zindagi ko jo samjhaa,
zindagi pe rota hain.
mitnewaali duniya ka, aitbaar kartaa hain,
kya samajhke tu aakhir, is-sey pyar karta hain.
apni apni fikron mein,
jo bhi hain, woh uljhaa hain
jo bhi hain, woh uljhaa hain
zindagi haqeeqat mein kya hain, kaun samjha hain
kya hain, kaun samjha hain.---------------------------(You are (but) a traveler,
The whole world is an ocean,
A guest for a few days, yes, that’s what your life is (in reality)
Moonlight (Zun), Identity (Zameer), Gold (Zar), jewellery (zevar) .....[I LOVE THIS LINE]
Nothing is going to accompany uou
You came empty handed, you shall return equally bereft of any possessions,
Inspite of knowing this, you ignorant idiot,
You are still playing with these transient illusions,
You are still measuring your life span which is so obviously perishable (thats what faani means, thanks Atish)
You are so lost in this maze,
Created by this (make believe) world’s fair,
You have forgotten the Lord,
(Immersed) in the game of paupers, [FAKR means poor]
So far it has been seen,
Those who win (in this pauper’s world) actually lose
Those who (really) saw through this life’s game,
Has only wept and given up on life (upon realization)
Those about to get extinguished, yearn for the world,
(O ignorant), what knowledge drives you towards such a (foolish) yearning,
Everyone seems so immersed in this game,
All of them have got entangled into it (2)
Have any of them really understood life,
What is it, have they understood ?
-------------------------
aaj samjhlee -eee
aaj samjhle, kal yeh mauka, haath na tere aayega,
woh gaflat ki neendh mein soney-waale, dhoka khayega,
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
-----------------------
( Understood it today,
Understand it today, for tomorrow might be too late,
Those who sleep a life without heeding (GAFLAT means heedlessness), you will eventually be fooled,
The sun which is rising will eventually (maybe slowly enough) finally set (2)
Will Finally Set, (2)
Will Finally Set(2))
Maut ne zamaane ko,
yeh samah dikha daala,
kaise kaise rustom ko khaak mein mila daala.
Yaad rakh sikander ke hosle toh aali thhey,
jab gayaa tha duniya se,
dono haath khaali thhey.
ab na woh halaku hain,
aur na uske saathi hain,
jung, julus, porus hain,
aur na uske haathi hain.
kal jo tann ke chalte thhey,
apni shaano-shaukat parr,
shamma tak nahin jalti,
aaj unke durbath parr.
----------------------------
( Death has shown various
Seasons to the world
Look how it has vanquished even those who were heroes one
Though Alexander was the bravest and was fearless,
When he eventually departed,
His palms held nothing (and were open),
Now neither is the strong hulk around[(HALAKU actually means monster]
Neither are his stooges,
(Neither are his) War, Procession or Puru (PURU was Alexander’s enemy]
Neither are his elephants,
Till yesterday those who demonstrated their strength to the world (and the world quivered),
Today, not even a candle burns
On his grave)
------------------------------
adna ho ya aala ho, sabko laut jaana hain
sabko laut jaana hain, sabko laut jaana hain.
Muflison tawanjan ka, kabr hi thikaana hain,
Kabr hi thikaana hain, kabr hi thikaana hain.
Jaisi karni......e eeeeeee
Jaisi karni waisi bharni,
aaj kiya kal payega,
sar ko uthakar chalne waale, ek din thokar khayegaa.
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
----------------------------
Does not matter whether you are rich or poor , your eventual destination is the grave
your eventual destination is the grave(2)
Both the bankrupt and the rick eventually hit the grave [Muflis means
bankrupt]
Eventually hit the grave (2)
As you sow, so you reap (2)
Today’s actions return tomorrow
(You) who walk with his neck tilted upwards, will eventually trip and fall,
The sun which is rising will eventually (maybe slowly enough) finally set (2)
Will Finally Set, (2)
Will Finally Set(2))
-Maut sabko aani hain,
aun iss-se chhoota hain,
tu fanah nahin hoga,
yeh khayal jhoota hain.
saans toot-te hi sab,
rishte toot jayenge,
baap, maa, behen, biwi, bacchhe chhoot jayenge.
----------------------------
(Death will eventually come to you,
No one has managed to avoid it so far,
You will not escape [Fanna means Escape]
This (irrational) belief in you is delusional,
Eventually the breath will stop,
So will all relationships cease,
Father, Ma, Sister, Wife, Children will all left behind (as you die and proceed)
-------------------------tere jitne hain bhai,
waqt ka chalan denge,
chheen kar teri daulat
do hi gaz kafan denge,
-----------------------------
(
All your ‘Brothers’
Will bide their time,
They will fight over all your wealth,
All they will spare for your is 6 feet of grave (space)
)
inko apna kehta hain,
kab yeh tere saathi hain,
kabr hain teri manzil,
aur yeh baraati hain.
laa-key kabr mein tujhko, qurqabat daalenge,
apne haathon se tere mu pe khaak daalenge.
----------------------------
You call ‘these’ your own,
Was there ever a time when they ‘belonged’ to you,
Grave is the final destination,
‘These’ folks are just accompanying your (funeral) procession,
They will heap mud on your face (on your grave),
With their own hands, they will dump dust on you)
------------------------------------
Teri saari ulfat ko,
khaak mein mila denge,
teri chahnewaale, kal tujhe bhoola denge.
---------------------------
All your ‘achievements’ will be mixed in the
very mud which will drown you,
Those you claim to love you, would forget you tomorrow)
-----------------------
-Is liye yeh kehta hu,
khoob soch le dil mein,
kyon fasaye baitha hain,
jaan apni mushkil mein.
---------------------------( Pray, listen to me now,
Think hard,
Why have your stuck,
Your life in this mess)
----------------------------
Kar gunaah se tauba, aake bus sambhal jaaye,
aake bas sambhal jaaye, aake bus sambhal jaaye.
Dum ka kya bharosa hain, jaane kab nikal jaaye,
jaane kab nikal jaaye,jaane kab nikal jaaye,
Mutthi bandh ke aane-waleyyyyyyyyyyyy
Mutthi bandh ke aane wale, haath pasaare jayega,
dham, daulat, jagir se tu ne,
kya paaya, kya paayegaa,
---------------------------
( Give up on the mistakes of the past, come back to ‘reality’
Come back to reality (2)
There is no knowing when our breath might leave us,
When it might leave us (2)
s)
You who came here with clasped fingers,
You who came here with clasped fingers, when you go you will go with open palms,
House, Wealth, Property – have you got anything from these so far?
Will you ever will?
----------------------------
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
The sun which is rising will eventually (maybe slowly enough) finally set (2)
Will Finally Set, (2)
Will Finally Set(2))
Post 314:Music 30 (Kuch Kariye - Chak De India)
Kuch Kariye is a gritty song. Its got a great MTV video (not the actual one in the film). A little abstruse non-hindi type lyrics, few difficult punju sounding words. Great Translation @ http://www.planetsrk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8002
Reproduced below for ease
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chak De India lyrics with Translation
Chak De India - Chak De India
Music: Salim – Sulaiman
Lyrics: Jaideep Sahni
Singer: Sukhvinder Singh, Salim Merchant & Marianne D'Cruz
Kuch kariye kuch kariye nas nas meri khaule, hoy kuch kariye
Do something, with every part of you (every pore in your body), do something
Kuch kariye kuch kariye bas bas bada bole, ab kuch kariye
Do something, enough of all that big talk, now do something
Ho koi toh chal zid padiye, doobe tariye ya mariye (2)
Take a stand, either swim or die
Chak de chake de India (4)
C’mon India!
(Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide
this is the time, just do or die)
Koochon mein galiyon mein, raashan ki phaliyon mein
In streets and lanes, in Ration lines
Bailon mein beejon mein, eidon mein teejon mein
In bullocks and seeds, in Eid and festivals
Reton ke daanon mein, filmon ke gaanon mein
In every grain of sand, and film songs
Sadkon ke gaddon mein, paaton.ke addon mein
In street ditches, in gatherings
Hunkara aaj bhar le, das barah baar kar le
Fill everything with a roar/ferver, not once but 10 times
Rehna na yaar peeche, kitna bhi koi kheenche
Don’t lag behind, even if you’re pulled back
Tas Hai Na Mas Hai Ji, Zid Hai Toh Zid Hai Ji
Don’t budge an inch, if you’re called stubborn so be it
Ghisna yunhi, pisna yunhi, pisna yunhi
Keep grinding on that grindstone
Bas kariye!
Just do it!
Ho Koi Toh Chal Zid Phadiye
Doobe Tariye Ya Mariye
Haye Koi Toh Chal Zid Phadiye
Doobe Tariye Ya Mariye
Chak De Ho Chak De India (4)
Nowhere To Run Nowhere To Hide
This Is The Time Just Do Or Die - (2)
Chak De (5)
Ladti Patangon Mein, Bhidti Umangon Mein
In tangled kites, in the joy of crowds
Khelon Ke Melon Mein, Balkhaati Railon Mein
In playgrounds, in winding trains
Gannon Ke Meethe Mein, Khaddar Mein Cheente Mein
In the sweetness of sugarcanes, in rich loam, in crops
Doondo To Mil Jaave/Jaye (NOT SURE), Tapta Woh Eenton Mein
If you look hard enough you’ll find the heat needed to harden bricks (to toughen/strengthen you)
Tan Aisa Aaj Nikhre, Aur Kulke Aaj Pighle
Let your body glow and liquefy completely
Mann Laaye Aisi Holi, Rag Rag Machalke Boli
Fill your heart with celebration so that every part of you rejoices
Tas Hai Na Mas Hai Ji, Zid Hai Toh Zid Hai Ji
Don’t budge an inch, if you’re called stubborn so be it
Ghisna yunhi, pisna yunhi, pisna yunhi
Keep grinding on that grindstone
Bas kariye!
Just do it!
Koi Toh Chal Zid Phadiye
Doobe Tariye Ya Mariye
Haye Koi Toh Chal Zid Phadiye
Doobe Tariye Ya Mariye
Chak De Ho Chak De India (4)
Reproduced below for ease
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chak De India lyrics with Translation
Chak De India - Chak De India
Music: Salim – Sulaiman
Lyrics: Jaideep Sahni
Singer: Sukhvinder Singh, Salim Merchant & Marianne D'Cruz
Kuch kariye kuch kariye nas nas meri khaule, hoy kuch kariye
Do something, with every part of you (every pore in your body), do something
Kuch kariye kuch kariye bas bas bada bole, ab kuch kariye
Do something, enough of all that big talk, now do something
Ho koi toh chal zid padiye, doobe tariye ya mariye (2)
Take a stand, either swim or die
Chak de chake de India (4)
C’mon India!
(Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide
this is the time, just do or die)
Koochon mein galiyon mein, raashan ki phaliyon mein
In streets and lanes, in Ration lines
Bailon mein beejon mein, eidon mein teejon mein
In bullocks and seeds, in Eid and festivals
Reton ke daanon mein, filmon ke gaanon mein
In every grain of sand, and film songs
Sadkon ke gaddon mein, paaton.ke addon mein
In street ditches, in gatherings
Hunkara aaj bhar le, das barah baar kar le
Fill everything with a roar/ferver, not once but 10 times
Rehna na yaar peeche, kitna bhi koi kheenche
Don’t lag behind, even if you’re pulled back
Tas Hai Na Mas Hai Ji, Zid Hai Toh Zid Hai Ji
Don’t budge an inch, if you’re called stubborn so be it
Ghisna yunhi, pisna yunhi, pisna yunhi
Keep grinding on that grindstone
Bas kariye!
Just do it!
Ho Koi Toh Chal Zid Phadiye
Doobe Tariye Ya Mariye
Haye Koi Toh Chal Zid Phadiye
Doobe Tariye Ya Mariye
Chak De Ho Chak De India (4)
Nowhere To Run Nowhere To Hide
This Is The Time Just Do Or Die - (2)
Chak De (5)
Ladti Patangon Mein, Bhidti Umangon Mein
In tangled kites, in the joy of crowds
Khelon Ke Melon Mein, Balkhaati Railon Mein
In playgrounds, in winding trains
Gannon Ke Meethe Mein, Khaddar Mein Cheente Mein
In the sweetness of sugarcanes, in rich loam, in crops
Doondo To Mil Jaave/Jaye (NOT SURE), Tapta Woh Eenton Mein
If you look hard enough you’ll find the heat needed to harden bricks (to toughen/strengthen you)
Tan Aisa Aaj Nikhre, Aur Kulke Aaj Pighle
Let your body glow and liquefy completely
Mann Laaye Aisi Holi, Rag Rag Machalke Boli
Fill your heart with celebration so that every part of you rejoices
Tas Hai Na Mas Hai Ji, Zid Hai Toh Zid Hai Ji
Don’t budge an inch, if you’re called stubborn so be it
Ghisna yunhi, pisna yunhi, pisna yunhi
Keep grinding on that grindstone
Bas kariye!
Just do it!
Koi Toh Chal Zid Phadiye
Doobe Tariye Ya Mariye
Haye Koi Toh Chal Zid Phadiye
Doobe Tariye Ya Mariye
Chak De Ho Chak De India (4)
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Post 313 : Off the Grid (Stanley Bing, Fortune, 3rd August 2007)
The article is at
http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/02/magazines/fortune/stanleybing/bing_column.fortune/index.htm
I must say, I am thinking of renewing my fortune subscription only because of Stanley Bing. This one is not only irreverant and funny, its philosophical and disturbing as well. Bing has a way of pinching you where it hurts, without you realising it.
Read on
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Off the Grid
We all seem to want to get away from civilization. I hear about that all the time, and not just out here where the trains have never run, says Fortune's Stanley Bing. So why are we so happy to get back?
I'm standing on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The surf is tremendous. In a field to my right, horses are grazing, munching on grass they pull up a clump at a time. A pleasant, ripping sound of roots being torn from the turf is audible under the crash of the waves as they leap up in curls of spume from the black rocks of the beach.
I am off the grid. This is a phrase I have heard only recently, possibly because it is new, possibly because I am no longer so new and hear things later than I used to. Off the grid. It has a nice feel to it. I get a picture in my mind: A huge, multilayered matrix, populated by millions of teeming souls, working. They are dressed in way too much clothing. On their feet are shoes with many laces. Their belts are cinched tight. So are the things they wear about their necks. Each soul is bent to its labor. Each is linked to the others by digital lines of communication that hold the grid together.
I take in a lungful of air. There is no grid here on the edge of civilization, except ... to my right, at some distance, a fellow appears to be talking to himself. This is not so unusual, off the grid. I saw a guy yesterday on the street in conversation with an imaginary interlocutor, shirt torn, pants just about around his ankles. That far off the grid we may not want to be. But this man is different, I now see, for in his ear a bulbous Bluetooth pod feeds his auricular canal. "No," I hear him say. "I'll have to call you back on that later." He looks aggravated.
Even here, then, there is grid. It's not very easy to get off. Just this morning, as I awoke to the sounds of whippoorwills, I was pleased to see that my BlackBerry had 28 messages on it. I even replied to a few that called for a little something. Too much grid? Maybe. But I was able to have my coffee knowing that the grid was okay with me, that I had touched it just enough to feel safe letting it go for the next eight hours or so.
We want to be off the grid. I see and hear about that all the time, and not just out here where the trains have never run. The yearning expresses itself in strange ways sometimes. In an obsession with golf. In too many drinks after a day of grid. In the boat my friend Tom is building, which may never be finished but takes his mind someplace the grid can't follow. In the collection of fountain pens my pal Jablonsky has been assembling for the past 20 years, a hoard so huge he had to build an extra room off his den to house it. In the vacation homes that call to us from the magazines we read. "My husband Larry and I were just floored by the beauty and charm of Hamahama h'oilani!" an ad reads. Concierge living! But how far is that from the grid, really?
And how much do we actually want to be off the grid, off the griddle? I see people like us here, trying to enjoy themselves in non-gridlike activities. Over dinner, couples stare at each other as if they're having trouble finding things to talk about, because being off the grid means avoiding grid-related discussion. What remains? Movies? Weather? Kids? Are they grid or non-grid? Last night I saw a woman checking her cellphone at the table while her husband went off to the restroom to have a peek at his BlackBerry. That's kind of ugly, people hanging on to the grid by one finger, afraid to fall into the emptiness beneath.
There's no question, though, that the space under the grid can be terrifying. For example, they distribute digests of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal here. Is that necessary for anybody who sincerely wants to be off-grid?
And what of those who actually jump off? You see them selling coffee beans in little cafés that feature homemade banana bread, or shopping for organic bean paste at markets whose bulletin boards are swathed in flyers advertising shiatsu massage and personal empowerment. Those little feuilletons trouble me. Don't they construct an alternative but still potent grid of their own? Is the goal to hop from one grid, gray and metallic, to another, green and with perfect feng shui, but a grid nonetheless?
Tomorrow I will be back on the grid. I will pass through the terrifying portal that is the contemporary airport, and boom, I'll be there. For a while my head will be back here, wrapped in the cosmic void that dwarfs the puny little lattices we construct to fill our days and make sense of ourselves. Then there will be a meeting, or a crisis, or some situation that needs my active intercession and ...
Ah, who am I kidding? It will be great to be home.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/02/magazines/fortune/stanleybing/bing_column.fortune/index.htm
I must say, I am thinking of renewing my fortune subscription only because of Stanley Bing. This one is not only irreverant and funny, its philosophical and disturbing as well. Bing has a way of pinching you where it hurts, without you realising it.
Read on
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Off the Grid
We all seem to want to get away from civilization. I hear about that all the time, and not just out here where the trains have never run, says Fortune's Stanley Bing. So why are we so happy to get back?
I'm standing on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The surf is tremendous. In a field to my right, horses are grazing, munching on grass they pull up a clump at a time. A pleasant, ripping sound of roots being torn from the turf is audible under the crash of the waves as they leap up in curls of spume from the black rocks of the beach.
I am off the grid. This is a phrase I have heard only recently, possibly because it is new, possibly because I am no longer so new and hear things later than I used to. Off the grid. It has a nice feel to it. I get a picture in my mind: A huge, multilayered matrix, populated by millions of teeming souls, working. They are dressed in way too much clothing. On their feet are shoes with many laces. Their belts are cinched tight. So are the things they wear about their necks. Each soul is bent to its labor. Each is linked to the others by digital lines of communication that hold the grid together.
I take in a lungful of air. There is no grid here on the edge of civilization, except ... to my right, at some distance, a fellow appears to be talking to himself. This is not so unusual, off the grid. I saw a guy yesterday on the street in conversation with an imaginary interlocutor, shirt torn, pants just about around his ankles. That far off the grid we may not want to be. But this man is different, I now see, for in his ear a bulbous Bluetooth pod feeds his auricular canal. "No," I hear him say. "I'll have to call you back on that later." He looks aggravated.
Even here, then, there is grid. It's not very easy to get off. Just this morning, as I awoke to the sounds of whippoorwills, I was pleased to see that my BlackBerry had 28 messages on it. I even replied to a few that called for a little something. Too much grid? Maybe. But I was able to have my coffee knowing that the grid was okay with me, that I had touched it just enough to feel safe letting it go for the next eight hours or so.
We want to be off the grid. I see and hear about that all the time, and not just out here where the trains have never run. The yearning expresses itself in strange ways sometimes. In an obsession with golf. In too many drinks after a day of grid. In the boat my friend Tom is building, which may never be finished but takes his mind someplace the grid can't follow. In the collection of fountain pens my pal Jablonsky has been assembling for the past 20 years, a hoard so huge he had to build an extra room off his den to house it. In the vacation homes that call to us from the magazines we read. "My husband Larry and I were just floored by the beauty and charm of Hamahama h'oilani!" an ad reads. Concierge living! But how far is that from the grid, really?
And how much do we actually want to be off the grid, off the griddle? I see people like us here, trying to enjoy themselves in non-gridlike activities. Over dinner, couples stare at each other as if they're having trouble finding things to talk about, because being off the grid means avoiding grid-related discussion. What remains? Movies? Weather? Kids? Are they grid or non-grid? Last night I saw a woman checking her cellphone at the table while her husband went off to the restroom to have a peek at his BlackBerry. That's kind of ugly, people hanging on to the grid by one finger, afraid to fall into the emptiness beneath.
There's no question, though, that the space under the grid can be terrifying. For example, they distribute digests of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal here. Is that necessary for anybody who sincerely wants to be off-grid?
And what of those who actually jump off? You see them selling coffee beans in little cafés that feature homemade banana bread, or shopping for organic bean paste at markets whose bulletin boards are swathed in flyers advertising shiatsu massage and personal empowerment. Those little feuilletons trouble me. Don't they construct an alternative but still potent grid of their own? Is the goal to hop from one grid, gray and metallic, to another, green and with perfect feng shui, but a grid nonetheless?
Tomorrow I will be back on the grid. I will pass through the terrifying portal that is the contemporary airport, and boom, I'll be there. For a while my head will be back here, wrapped in the cosmic void that dwarfs the puny little lattices we construct to fill our days and make sense of ourselves. Then there will be a meeting, or a crisis, or some situation that needs my active intercession and ...
Ah, who am I kidding? It will be great to be home.
Post 312 : Weight Watcher 8 (32 years and 23 gone in one)
On august 21st 2006, I clocked 106 kgs, was overweight and completely ill from within.
Fast forward to 26th august 2007, I am 84 kgs, fitter than I ever felt more healthier in the past 11 years (since the time you know what....), and yet am quite a bit ill from within....
Well, my battle with my long term illness seem to be taking it own toll. The death spreads slowly and surely.
Moving on to less grim news, I am now able to run about 7-10kms at one go, have lots of lean mass on me, and you know what....next year I want to be fitter.
Ode to 2008. Theme for 2008 - music and meditation.
Fast forward to 26th august 2007, I am 84 kgs, fitter than I ever felt more healthier in the past 11 years (since the time you know what....), and yet am quite a bit ill from within....
Well, my battle with my long term illness seem to be taking it own toll. The death spreads slowly and surely.
Moving on to less grim news, I am now able to run about 7-10kms at one go, have lots of lean mass on me, and you know what....next year I want to be fitter.
Ode to 2008. Theme for 2008 - music and meditation.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Post 311 : Translation of Chadta Suraj
Chadta Suraj is a qawalli which we all grew up listening. Was listening to it right now and thought I might as well post a translation if I found one.
Found one at
http://stockbee.blogspot.com/2007/05/mental-models-and-blindness.html#7079643740862997380
Hu ye naaamwarr be-nishaan kaise kaise ee
zameen kha gayee naujawaan kaise kaise
aaj jawaani par ithrane-waley kal pachtayega
aaj jawaani par ithrane-waley kal pachtayega
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
-----------------------------
(Hey you proud yuoung man, listen carefully
The rising sun will ultimately slowly set,
So don't be so proud)
---------------------------------
Tu yahan musafir hain,
yeh saraye paani hain,
char roz ki mehemaan, teri zindagaani hain.
zun, zameer, zar , zevar,
kuch na saath jaayegaa,
khaali haath aaya hain, khaali haath jaayegaa.
Jaan kar bhi anjaana,
ban raha hain deewane,
apni umr-paani par tan raha hain deewane.
Is kadrr tu khoya hain,
is jahaan ke mele mein,
tu khuda ko bhoola hain,
fakr-ke is jhamele mein.
aaj tak yeh dekha hain,
paaney-wala khota hain,
zindagi ko jo samjhaa,
zindagi pe rota hain.
mitnewaali duniya ka, aitbaar kartaa hain,
kya samajhke tu aakhir, is-sey pyar karta hain.
apni apni fikron mein,
jo bhi hain, woh uljhaa hain
jo bhi hain, woh uljhaa hain
zindagi haqeeqat mein kya hain, kaun samjha hain
kya hain, kaun samjha hain.
---------------------------
(You are just a guest here
This world is just an illusion
Your life is short
Money, ego, house, jewellery,
nothing you will take along with you
You came here empty handed, you will go empty handed
You know this , but you are acting ignorant,
and wasting your life
The way you are lost
in everyday life
you have forgotten about God
Many have understood this before
those who run after material thing loose
One who understand real meaning of life cries over fading sun. and wasted opportunities
Everyone is too busy with their own life
Who knows, what is really the meaning of life)
-------------------------
aaj samjhlee -eee
aaj samjhle, kal yeh mauka, haath na tere aayega,
woh gaflat ki neendh mein soney-waale, dhoka khayega,
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
-----------------------
( Seize todays opportunity today.
If you keep sleeping, the opportunity will vanish
The rising sun will ultimately slowly set )
--------------------------
Maut ne zamaane ko,
yeh samah dikha daala,
kaise kaise rustom ko khaak mein mila daala.
Yaad rakh sikander ke hosle toh aali thhey,
jab gayaa tha duniya se,
dono haath khaali thhey.
ab na woh halaku hain,
aur na uske saathi hain,
jung, julus, porus hain,
aur na uske haathi hain.
kal jo tann ke chalte thhey,
apni shaano-shaukat parr,
shamma tak nahin jalti,
aaj unke durbath parr.
----------------------------
(Death has taught lessons to even the great ones
Alexander the great came with lot of ambition,
but in the end , he left alone
Those who are very proud of their
achievements and wealth
at the end find nothing is left behind
no one lights a candle for them)
------------------------------
adna ho ya aala ho, sabko laut jaana hain
sabko laut jaana hain, sabko laut jaana hain.
Muflison tawanjan ka, kabr hi thikaana hain,
Kabr hi thikaana hain, kabr hi thikaana hain.
Jaisi karni......e eeeeeee
Jaisi karni waisi bharni,
aaj kiya kal payega,
sar ko uthakar chalne waale, ek din thokar khayegaa.
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
----------------------------
( Whether you are rich or poor
your ultimate destination is the grave
As you sow you reap
If you walk arrogantly
One day you will fall down
The rising sun will ultimately slowly set,
So don't be so proud)
----------------------
Maut sabko aani hain,
kaun iss-se chhoota hain,
tu fanah nahin hoga,
yeh khayal jhoota hain.
saans toot-te hi sab,
rishte toot jayenge,
baap, maa, behen, biwi, bacchhe chhoot jayenge.
----------------------------
(Everyone is going to die
You are not going to be exception
As soon as you die all relations you have with your father, mother, sister, wife, kids will end
and you will have more surprise)
-------------------------
tere jitne hain bhai,
waqt ka chalan denge,
chheen kar teri daulat
do hi gaz kafan denge,
-----------------------------
( as soon as you are dead
they will all fight over your wealth)
--------------------
inko apna kehta hain,
kab yeh tere saathi hain,
kabr hain teri manzil,
aur yeh baraati hain.
laa-key kabr mein tujhko, qurqabat daalenge,
apne haathon se tere mu pe khaak daalenge.
----------------------------
(Those whom you believe are truly yours
You never no know what they can do
One day they will throw flowers in your marriage procession
Same people for their greed kill you
and throw soil on your grave)
------------------------------------
Teri saari ulfat ko,
khaak mein mila denge,
teri chahnewaale, kal tujhe bhoola denge.
---------------------------
( All your achievements will be forgotten
Your near and dear ones will ultimately forget you)
------------------------
Is liye yeh kehta hu,
khoob soch le dil mein,
kyon fasaye baitha hain,
jaan apni mushkil mein.
---------------------------
( That is why my advise to you is
Think hard
Don't waste your life
Seize opportunities
Go with the flow)
----------------------------
Kar gunaah se tauba, aake bus sambhal jaaye,
aake bas sambhal jaaye, aake bus sambhal jaaye.
Dum ka kya bharosa hain, jaane kab nikal jaaye,
jaane kab nikal jaaye,jaane kab nikal jaaye,
( Seize the current opportunity
There are no guarantees in life
Just go with the flow)
Mutthi bandh ke aane-waleyyyyyyyyyyyy
Mutthi bandh ke aane wale, haath pasaare jayega,
dham, daulat, jagir se tu ne,
kya paaya, kya paayegaa,
---------------------------
( You will not gain anything
by running after materialistic things)
----------------------------
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
(Hey you proud yuoung man, listen carefully
The rising sun will ultimately slowly set,
So don't be so proud)
==============================================
Credited to Pradeep Bonde
Found one at
http://stockbee.blogspot.com/2007/05/mental-models-and-blindness.html#7079643740862997380
Hu ye naaamwarr be-nishaan kaise kaise ee
zameen kha gayee naujawaan kaise kaise
aaj jawaani par ithrane-waley kal pachtayega
aaj jawaani par ithrane-waley kal pachtayega
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
-----------------------------
(Hey you proud yuoung man, listen carefully
The rising sun will ultimately slowly set,
So don't be so proud)
---------------------------------
Tu yahan musafir hain,
yeh saraye paani hain,
char roz ki mehemaan, teri zindagaani hain.
zun, zameer, zar , zevar,
kuch na saath jaayegaa,
khaali haath aaya hain, khaali haath jaayegaa.
Jaan kar bhi anjaana,
ban raha hain deewane,
apni umr-paani par tan raha hain deewane.
Is kadrr tu khoya hain,
is jahaan ke mele mein,
tu khuda ko bhoola hain,
fakr-ke is jhamele mein.
aaj tak yeh dekha hain,
paaney-wala khota hain,
zindagi ko jo samjhaa,
zindagi pe rota hain.
mitnewaali duniya ka, aitbaar kartaa hain,
kya samajhke tu aakhir, is-sey pyar karta hain.
apni apni fikron mein,
jo bhi hain, woh uljhaa hain
jo bhi hain, woh uljhaa hain
zindagi haqeeqat mein kya hain, kaun samjha hain
kya hain, kaun samjha hain.
---------------------------
(You are just a guest here
This world is just an illusion
Your life is short
Money, ego, house, jewellery,
nothing you will take along with you
You came here empty handed, you will go empty handed
You know this , but you are acting ignorant,
and wasting your life
The way you are lost
in everyday life
you have forgotten about God
Many have understood this before
those who run after material thing loose
One who understand real meaning of life cries over fading sun. and wasted opportunities
Everyone is too busy with their own life
Who knows, what is really the meaning of life)
-------------------------
aaj samjhlee -eee
aaj samjhle, kal yeh mauka, haath na tere aayega,
woh gaflat ki neendh mein soney-waale, dhoka khayega,
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
-----------------------
( Seize todays opportunity today.
If you keep sleeping, the opportunity will vanish
The rising sun will ultimately slowly set )
--------------------------
Maut ne zamaane ko,
yeh samah dikha daala,
kaise kaise rustom ko khaak mein mila daala.
Yaad rakh sikander ke hosle toh aali thhey,
jab gayaa tha duniya se,
dono haath khaali thhey.
ab na woh halaku hain,
aur na uske saathi hain,
jung, julus, porus hain,
aur na uske haathi hain.
kal jo tann ke chalte thhey,
apni shaano-shaukat parr,
shamma tak nahin jalti,
aaj unke durbath parr.
----------------------------
(Death has taught lessons to even the great ones
Alexander the great came with lot of ambition,
but in the end , he left alone
Those who are very proud of their
achievements and wealth
at the end find nothing is left behind
no one lights a candle for them)
------------------------------
adna ho ya aala ho, sabko laut jaana hain
sabko laut jaana hain, sabko laut jaana hain.
Muflison tawanjan ka, kabr hi thikaana hain,
Kabr hi thikaana hain, kabr hi thikaana hain.
Jaisi karni......e eeeeeee
Jaisi karni waisi bharni,
aaj kiya kal payega,
sar ko uthakar chalne waale, ek din thokar khayegaa.
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
----------------------------
( Whether you are rich or poor
your ultimate destination is the grave
As you sow you reap
If you walk arrogantly
One day you will fall down
The rising sun will ultimately slowly set,
So don't be so proud)
----------------------
Maut sabko aani hain,
kaun iss-se chhoota hain,
tu fanah nahin hoga,
yeh khayal jhoota hain.
saans toot-te hi sab,
rishte toot jayenge,
baap, maa, behen, biwi, bacchhe chhoot jayenge.
----------------------------
(Everyone is going to die
You are not going to be exception
As soon as you die all relations you have with your father, mother, sister, wife, kids will end
and you will have more surprise)
-------------------------
tere jitne hain bhai,
waqt ka chalan denge,
chheen kar teri daulat
do hi gaz kafan denge,
-----------------------------
( as soon as you are dead
they will all fight over your wealth)
--------------------
inko apna kehta hain,
kab yeh tere saathi hain,
kabr hain teri manzil,
aur yeh baraati hain.
laa-key kabr mein tujhko, qurqabat daalenge,
apne haathon se tere mu pe khaak daalenge.
----------------------------
(Those whom you believe are truly yours
You never no know what they can do
One day they will throw flowers in your marriage procession
Same people for their greed kill you
and throw soil on your grave)
------------------------------------
Teri saari ulfat ko,
khaak mein mila denge,
teri chahnewaale, kal tujhe bhoola denge.
---------------------------
( All your achievements will be forgotten
Your near and dear ones will ultimately forget you)
------------------------
Is liye yeh kehta hu,
khoob soch le dil mein,
kyon fasaye baitha hain,
jaan apni mushkil mein.
---------------------------
( That is why my advise to you is
Think hard
Don't waste your life
Seize opportunities
Go with the flow)
----------------------------
Kar gunaah se tauba, aake bus sambhal jaaye,
aake bas sambhal jaaye, aake bus sambhal jaaye.
Dum ka kya bharosa hain, jaane kab nikal jaaye,
jaane kab nikal jaaye,jaane kab nikal jaaye,
( Seize the current opportunity
There are no guarantees in life
Just go with the flow)
Mutthi bandh ke aane-waleyyyyyyyyyyyy
Mutthi bandh ke aane wale, haath pasaare jayega,
dham, daulat, jagir se tu ne,
kya paaya, kya paayegaa,
---------------------------
( You will not gain anything
by running after materialistic things)
----------------------------
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
chadta suraj dheere dheere dhalta hain, dhal jayega
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
dhal jayegaa, dhal jayegaa
(Hey you proud yuoung man, listen carefully
The rising sun will ultimately slowly set,
So don't be so proud)
==============================================
Credited to Pradeep Bonde
Post 310 : Nike Ad (Never knew about it until)
I liked this post as well....
http://www.sharvari.com/?p=200
Do not watch television, so might have missed the ad. Come to think of it, I actually miss Ads most (other than formula 1).....
Loved the poetic feel around (wrong translation or otherwise):
‘Wait, partner, wait
First let me play
If you don’t play, I’ll keep chasing you all day
Our game is like this only
Where we have no time to think
It is the game of cat and mouse
That I have begun to love
And in the falling running breaking
My destiny is entwined'
Fanstastic......
http://www.sharvari.com/?p=200
Do not watch television, so might have missed the ad. Come to think of it, I actually miss Ads most (other than formula 1).....
Loved the poetic feel around (wrong translation or otherwise):
‘Wait, partner, wait
First let me play
If you don’t play, I’ll keep chasing you all day
Our game is like this only
Where we have no time to think
It is the game of cat and mouse
That I have begun to love
And in the falling running breaking
My destiny is entwined'
Fanstastic......
Post 309 : Is there (really) less in the world?
http://www.sharvari.com/?p=236
Liked this post. Esp.
Jack Sparrow: The world used to be a bigger place.
Captain Barbossa: Nah..the world is the same. There is just less in it.
Liked this post. Esp.
Jack Sparrow: The world used to be a bigger place.
Captain Barbossa: Nah..the world is the same. There is just less in it.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Post 308 : There is a new color in town
I realised that there is a darker shade to life than red, and its pitch black. I think I surprised myself .....I didn't see that coming earlier....
Black is the new red in town, and the old red is all but the blood that moves the body.
Cryptic, eh?
It ties in well with the times, because the sensex is in deep red, was black for almost 6 years (but wait a min, that sounds like black turning red) and the communist flags (red) and pushing the nukes (black ....whoa, what the hellish connection?).
The colorblind bull :-)
Black is the new red in town, and the old red is all but the blood that moves the body.
Cryptic, eh?
It ties in well with the times, because the sensex is in deep red, was black for almost 6 years (but wait a min, that sounds like black turning red) and the communist flags (red) and pushing the nukes (black ....whoa, what the hellish connection?).
The colorblind bull :-)
Post 307 : Butterfly effect
Years later, he had come back to the pond, one around which he spent the early years of his life. The pond had not changed quite a bit, though the world around it seemed to have moved. The numerous smaller buildings had been replaced by a few tall ones. The place seemed more sophisticated, yet alien….his memory of the place was full of plain vanilla nostalgia….and not of concrete dreams.
The pond was as dirty and un-structured as it was back then. He saw a large stone near the water. He went and rested there. Kept rolling his eyes around, as if, this was the last time he would ever catch up on his childhood.
As he saw that, he picked up a few tiny pebbles and started hurling them (leisurely) into the pond. It was fascinating to watch the ripples be born and then die….fading away seamlessly, no screams of death, no desire to hold on to their life, no resistance to the end, going “off” as a natural consequence.
A weird, funny thought entered his head. What if this pebble, caused a ripple and then a full blown “butterfly effect”. Could he have started apocalypse.
The exaggerated thought brought a smile to his mind, and got up and started walking back.
Time for his own ripple to expand, no point looking back at the point where the pebble landed....the moment is gone, so is the event.
The pond was as dirty and un-structured as it was back then. He saw a large stone near the water. He went and rested there. Kept rolling his eyes around, as if, this was the last time he would ever catch up on his childhood.
As he saw that, he picked up a few tiny pebbles and started hurling them (leisurely) into the pond. It was fascinating to watch the ripples be born and then die….fading away seamlessly, no screams of death, no desire to hold on to their life, no resistance to the end, going “off” as a natural consequence.
A weird, funny thought entered his head. What if this pebble, caused a ripple and then a full blown “butterfly effect”. Could he have started apocalypse.
The exaggerated thought brought a smile to his mind, and got up and started walking back.
Time for his own ripple to expand, no point looking back at the point where the pebble landed....the moment is gone, so is the event.
Post 306 : Regret in silence
As the person in front of him lay dying, Mushtaq could not help but ponder over their life. They both had been born of the same womb, and yet, life had driven them up driven walls….and they in turn had built more walls between themselves. It had been 3 long decades since they had been estranged.
3 decades could have meant years of a long fruitful relationship, innumerable conversations….all of that which ‘never really’ happened.
Death was coming in quickly and certainly. Even in the presence of death, they could not seem to break down the walls between them. 3 decades had hardened the walls and conversely weakened their desire to break them down.
In one swift instance, the patient died. Mushtaq felt a pinch, a jab…..He looked back on his life as a writer and smiled, “This is like me being infatuated with a novel which I did not even start writing, hoping it would have been good, if at all it would have been written. That’s stupid of me…..”
He walked out of the door to complete the formalities associated with the death of a near one.
3 decades could have meant years of a long fruitful relationship, innumerable conversations….all of that which ‘never really’ happened.
Death was coming in quickly and certainly. Even in the presence of death, they could not seem to break down the walls between them. 3 decades had hardened the walls and conversely weakened their desire to break them down.
In one swift instance, the patient died. Mushtaq felt a pinch, a jab…..He looked back on his life as a writer and smiled, “This is like me being infatuated with a novel which I did not even start writing, hoping it would have been good, if at all it would have been written. That’s stupid of me…..”
He walked out of the door to complete the formalities associated with the death of a near one.
Post 305 : Run, Lola Run
I have been trying to write ( I mean serious writing, and not these trivial "quickie" equivalent blogs),.....And?....I have struggled to write anything of consequence.
The noise in my life is so high. I notice the whole of last 2 weeks, that there has never been a single hour when I have not been disturbed by some external event or person.
I tried waking up at 4am and writing. Yes, that is better than the other alternatives, but is designed to kill me. I already do 18 hour days, and I need those 6 hours of sleep, they are precious. Any lesser, I am paying for it with my life.
Noise was never so fashionable in all of human existence, and "alone" was never so out of fashion.....and yet, I feel lonely and crave for silence.
I hate this noise....with all my weight behind it.
Digression - I am always impressed with the fact of how music (playing now) blends so easily into my blog....Right now I was hearing a rare and brilliant cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Iron Maiden and Ozzy Osbourne.
Is this the real life, is this just fantasy
Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality
Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy
Because I'm easy come, easy go, little high, little low
Anyway the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me...to me
Mama, just killed a man, put a gun against his head
Pulled my trigger, now he's dead
Mama, life had just begun
But now I've gone and thrown it all away
Mama oooh...
Didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters
Too late, my time has come, sends shivers down my spine
Body's aching all the time
Goodbye everybody, I've got to go
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
Mama oooh (any way the wind blows)
I don't want to die, I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all
The noise in my life is so high. I notice the whole of last 2 weeks, that there has never been a single hour when I have not been disturbed by some external event or person.
I tried waking up at 4am and writing. Yes, that is better than the other alternatives, but is designed to kill me. I already do 18 hour days, and I need those 6 hours of sleep, they are precious. Any lesser, I am paying for it with my life.
Noise was never so fashionable in all of human existence, and "alone" was never so out of fashion.....and yet, I feel lonely and crave for silence.
I hate this noise....with all my weight behind it.
Digression - I am always impressed with the fact of how music (playing now) blends so easily into my blog....Right now I was hearing a rare and brilliant cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Iron Maiden and Ozzy Osbourne.
Is this the real life, is this just fantasy
Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality
Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy
Because I'm easy come, easy go, little high, little low
Anyway the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me...to me
Mama, just killed a man, put a gun against his head
Pulled my trigger, now he's dead
Mama, life had just begun
But now I've gone and thrown it all away
Mama oooh...
Didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters
Too late, my time has come, sends shivers down my spine
Body's aching all the time
Goodbye everybody, I've got to go
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
Mama oooh (any way the wind blows)
I don't want to die, I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all
Post 304 : Soothsayer says so
4 weeks ago, I was speaking to a friend of mine, and I was convincing him that he must move out of a aggressive stock scenario and move back into more defensive stocks.
Why ? My bet was that by year end, our butts would be exposed (pants would be down), and the markets would have tanked. I personally feel the sub-prime crisis, the dollar value (vs. the chinese Yuan), the credit line which US has hogged from the rest of the world, the rising crude, and the related commodity bubble...... would all be just "reasons" for this collapse.
Fundamentals of economics (and not markets) seem to indicate that somewhere we have excesses similar to 2000, though much lesser apparent.....
And when we have excesses, we shall have to dance naked.....
I believe that if not now, very soon, we shall enter a long term bear market, which shall require at least 1-3 years to unwind. So somewhere around 2010 expect the markets to start their next round of excesses again.
I have lost all money in 2000, and maybe that experience is still fresh in my head. In the past 4 days, India markets have tanked around 10%. I think the worst is yet to come. Should you be in cash instead of markets. Crap. I think that arguement needs to drowned in the sea of hell. Be invested, you cant time the market, for all you know the bulls drink Viagara over the weekend and Monday they are back. What will cash help you with then?
Goodbye excesses, goodbye year end bonuses, goodbye asset bubbles, long live the fundamentals.
Why ? My bet was that by year end, our butts would be exposed (pants would be down), and the markets would have tanked. I personally feel the sub-prime crisis, the dollar value (vs. the chinese Yuan), the credit line which US has hogged from the rest of the world, the rising crude, and the related commodity bubble...... would all be just "reasons" for this collapse.
Fundamentals of economics (and not markets) seem to indicate that somewhere we have excesses similar to 2000, though much lesser apparent.....
And when we have excesses, we shall have to dance naked.....
I believe that if not now, very soon, we shall enter a long term bear market, which shall require at least 1-3 years to unwind. So somewhere around 2010 expect the markets to start their next round of excesses again.
I have lost all money in 2000, and maybe that experience is still fresh in my head. In the past 4 days, India markets have tanked around 10%. I think the worst is yet to come. Should you be in cash instead of markets. Crap. I think that arguement needs to drowned in the sea of hell. Be invested, you cant time the market, for all you know the bulls drink Viagara over the weekend and Monday they are back. What will cash help you with then?
Goodbye excesses, goodbye year end bonuses, goodbye asset bubbles, long live the fundamentals.
Post 303 : A last look at the feet
He saw her feet. They looked old and crumpled. Same with her hands. Could not bear to see her face. He remembers thinking " These look like they died long ago. Why am I mourning them today?"
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Post 302 : Music 29 ([Hook]/ Heart brings you back - Blues Traveler)
I can't recall where I have heard this song (while growing up, that is), but I seem to know this song's riffs like "Mary had a little lamb".
While listening to the Blues Traveler album was pleasantly surpised to to hear this familiar song. Hear the harmonica bends around the end, for almost 60 seconds, and you will know why this song is such a golden classic.
This bending is followed by vocal staccato.....heavenly.
I almost finished publishing this, when I read
http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=396
Its not 'Heart brings you back " but "Hook brings you back" !!
So much for musical trivia. What a song!!!
Here are its random/all over the place lyrics
Blues Traveler - Hook Lyrics
It doesn't matter what I say
So long as I sing with inflection
That makes you feel I'll convey
Some inner truth or vast reflection
But I've said nothing so far
And I can keep it up for as long as it takes
And it don't matter who you are
If I'm doing my job then it's your resolve that breaks
Because the hook brings you back
I ain't tellin' you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely
There is something amiss
I am being insincere
In fact I don't mean any of this
Still my confession draws you near
To confuse the issue I refer
To familiar heroes from long ago
No matter how much Peter loved her
What made the Pan refuse to grow
Was that the hook brings you back
I ain't tellin' you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely
Suck it in suck it in suck it in
If you're Rin Tin Tin or Anne Boleyn
Make a desperate move or else you'll win
And then beginTo see
What you're doing to me this MTV is not for free
It's so PC it's killing me
So desperately I sing to thee
Of loveSure but also rage and hate and pain and fear of self
And I can't keep these feeling on the shelf
I've tried well no in fact I lied
Could be financial suicide but I've got too much pride inside
To hide or slide
I'll do as I'll decide and let it ride till until I've died
And only then shall I abide by this tide
Of catchy little tunes
Of hip three minute diddys
I wanna bust all your ballons
I wanna burn of all your cities to the ground
But I've foundI will not mess around
Unless I play then heyI will go on all day
Hear what I sayI have a prayer to pray
That's really all this was
And when I'm feeling stuck and need a buck
I don't rely on luck because
Because the hook brings you back
I ain't tellin' you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely
While listening to the Blues Traveler album was pleasantly surpised to to hear this familiar song. Hear the harmonica bends around the end, for almost 60 seconds, and you will know why this song is such a golden classic.
This bending is followed by vocal staccato.....heavenly.
I almost finished publishing this, when I read
http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=396
Its not 'Heart brings you back " but "Hook brings you back" !!
So much for musical trivia. What a song!!!
Here are its random/all over the place lyrics
Blues Traveler - Hook Lyrics
It doesn't matter what I say
So long as I sing with inflection
That makes you feel I'll convey
Some inner truth or vast reflection
But I've said nothing so far
And I can keep it up for as long as it takes
And it don't matter who you are
If I'm doing my job then it's your resolve that breaks
Because the hook brings you back
I ain't tellin' you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely
There is something amiss
I am being insincere
In fact I don't mean any of this
Still my confession draws you near
To confuse the issue I refer
To familiar heroes from long ago
No matter how much Peter loved her
What made the Pan refuse to grow
Was that the hook brings you back
I ain't tellin' you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely
Suck it in suck it in suck it in
If you're Rin Tin Tin or Anne Boleyn
Make a desperate move or else you'll win
And then beginTo see
What you're doing to me this MTV is not for free
It's so PC it's killing me
So desperately I sing to thee
Of loveSure but also rage and hate and pain and fear of self
And I can't keep these feeling on the shelf
I've tried well no in fact I lied
Could be financial suicide but I've got too much pride inside
To hide or slide
I'll do as I'll decide and let it ride till until I've died
And only then shall I abide by this tide
Of catchy little tunes
Of hip three minute diddys
I wanna bust all your ballons
I wanna burn of all your cities to the ground
But I've foundI will not mess around
Unless I play then heyI will go on all day
Hear what I sayI have a prayer to pray
That's really all this was
And when I'm feeling stuck and need a buck
I don't rely on luck because
Because the hook brings you back
I ain't tellin' you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely
Post 301 : Music 28 (The band is dead. Long live the band)
In the past few days, I have started listening to all those songs which I should have ideally heard growing up (infact I did, but never got hooked onto them). Its a journey of re-discovery.
I am getting hooked onto :
Get the drift?
They are all either Blues bands or have a bluesy touch to them.
In this process, I have discovered that a lot of the songs we hear today are re-hashed from the older days. Three clear surprises
All this music is heady, and I am loving it.
I am getting hooked onto :
- Steve Miller Band
- Travelling Wilburys
- Blues Travelers
- Blues Brothers
- CCR
- CSN
- ZZ Top
Get the drift?
They are all either Blues bands or have a bluesy touch to them.
In this process, I have discovered that a lot of the songs we hear today are re-hashed from the older days. Three clear surprises
- Have you ever seen the rain (the original is by CCR, I have always heard the REM version so far)
- Total eclipse of my heart (Fleetwood Mac original, I grew up to believe that Bonnie Taylor was capable of such magic)
- Fly like an eagle ( is a Steve Miller original and Seal has just re-hashed it for our modern consumption).
All this music is heady, and I am loving it.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Post 300 : Anger management
He did not want to speak. And, the sounds around him were invading the silence. He paced around angrily, beating one edge of the wall with his clenched fist, yet neither the sound nor the fire within seemed to go away.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his guitar lying leaning against the wall. A mind brewing with rage was throwing up wild ideas. He looked away, still pacing around...
Minutes passed by, another time the eyes saw what they could, and he fisted the wall harder this time. Blood cracks appeared.
'I need silence, I need silence', he kept telling himself, why is the son of an asshole honking his car?
And then, as he passed by the guitar, in one swift motion, he picked it up and bashed it with all the force he could muster, against the same wall, which still had a few red blood stratches. The guitar emitted a gut wrenching screech, but that was not enough it save it, it had to explode....and how into 300 pieces.
Anger is a strange thing. It wants to kill, and only then will it rest. The 300 pieces of the guitar lay there like a ghastly murder victim, troucned into silence . Thats the number of this post, and the new number of the beast.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his guitar lying leaning against the wall. A mind brewing with rage was throwing up wild ideas. He looked away, still pacing around...
Minutes passed by, another time the eyes saw what they could, and he fisted the wall harder this time. Blood cracks appeared.
'I need silence, I need silence', he kept telling himself, why is the son of an asshole honking his car?
And then, as he passed by the guitar, in one swift motion, he picked it up and bashed it with all the force he could muster, against the same wall, which still had a few red blood stratches. The guitar emitted a gut wrenching screech, but that was not enough it save it, it had to explode....and how into 300 pieces.
Anger is a strange thing. It wants to kill, and only then will it rest. The 300 pieces of the guitar lay there like a ghastly murder victim, troucned into silence . Thats the number of this post, and the new number of the beast.
Post 299 : No Rain
Its raining heavily, and the man is walking in the middle of the street, waving a yellow cloth, talking to himself. He is oblivious to the traffic around him.....
People call him mad, he is probably waving and trying to tell us something.
Wonder.
People call him mad, he is probably waving and trying to tell us something.
Wonder.
Post 298 : Atom bomb in the making
Was watching MTV in the gym today and heard this part of weird trivia:
If you fart continuously for 6 years 9 months, you will have released enough gas to make a tiny atomic bomb.
Why am I posting this? Well, just because I now know this useless fact and I believe you must question "Why me?".
If you fart continuously for 6 years 9 months, you will have released enough gas to make a tiny atomic bomb.
Why am I posting this? Well, just because I now know this useless fact and I believe you must question "Why me?".
Monday, August 13, 2007
Post 297 : Bikhra hoon mein abhi….
Broken, sobbing, yet alive, the puppy wimpers. His only connect into the world (his sibling) has been squashed into a pulp by a huge gargantuan car. Murder, he saw. Rudderless, no mother, no friend, no brother, no guarantee of seeing tomorrow morning.
Till this point, it was not like he had a safe existence, but yes, he had a brother, and, even if it was an chimera, there was a feeling of “load-balancing”…and at most times, the weight of the world around did not exist. Yet today, the load seems too much, so much that, even Atlas would have shrugged.
Death leaves behind such a strange vacuum. To lose your clutch is so malignant. Will the puppy survive to see tomorrow?
Rishtey, bharosey, chahat, yakeen, unn sab ka daman ab chaakk hain,
Samjhe ke haatoon mein hain zameen, muthi jho kholi, bass khaakk hain…..
Dil mein yeh shore hain kyun,
Imaan kamzore hain kyun
Nazuk yeh Dor hain kyun…..
(from Yeh Honsla, Nagesh Kukunoor’s Dor, Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan)
Till this point, it was not like he had a safe existence, but yes, he had a brother, and, even if it was an chimera, there was a feeling of “load-balancing”…and at most times, the weight of the world around did not exist. Yet today, the load seems too much, so much that, even Atlas would have shrugged.
Death leaves behind such a strange vacuum. To lose your clutch is so malignant. Will the puppy survive to see tomorrow?
Rishtey, bharosey, chahat, yakeen, unn sab ka daman ab chaakk hain,
Samjhe ke haatoon mein hain zameen, muthi jho kholi, bass khaakk hain…..
Dil mein yeh shore hain kyun,
Imaan kamzore hain kyun
Nazuk yeh Dor hain kyun…..
(from Yeh Honsla, Nagesh Kukunoor’s Dor, Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan)
Post 296 : What would Buddha do, if he had a startup on one side and a behemoth on another?
My heart says do it, my head says its living on the edge (and ho hum, according to the popular adage, yes, I have always occupied too much space, I was always overweight).
There is a idiot in me, who likes to flirt with the fringes….and more often than not, lose grip.
What will I do? Sleep on it for the next 2-3 days, and then let my hea(d/rt) decide….Yes, the difference is between ‘d’ and ‘rt’ that’s all.
The honest answer to the title, Buddha would choose neither, he would just meditate.
There is a idiot in me, who likes to flirt with the fringes….and more often than not, lose grip.
What will I do? Sleep on it for the next 2-3 days, and then let my hea(d/rt) decide….Yes, the difference is between ‘d’ and ‘rt’ that’s all.
The honest answer to the title, Buddha would choose neither, he would just meditate.
Post 295 : The 'bright' side of life
Met up with Roshan yesterday and it was damn refreshing. After years I spoke about stocks, just like old times. Sometimes we underestimate the value of “same wavelength”, yesterday I realized its invaluable.
We talked of all stocks under the sun, and yes, he defeated most of the time, point being, his views were more logical than mine.
Fun.
We talked of all stocks under the sun, and yes, he defeated most of the time, point being, his views were more logical than mine.
Fun.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Post 294 : While my guitar gently weeps (Beatles)
As I was posting about Buddha, children and karma....
For some strange reason, felt like hearing an old favorite of mine "While my guitar gently weeps", an original beatles.
I have the Beatles original, a duet between Eric Clapton and sir Paul McCartney, and a third version between Eric Clapton and George Harrison. (The clapton version has some great solos).
I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at the floor and I see it need sweeping
Still my guitar gently weeps
I don't know why nobody told you
how to unfold you love
I don't know how someone controlled you
they bought and sold you
I look at the world and I notice it's turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps
I don't know how you were diverted
you were perverted too
I don't know how you were inverted
no one alerted you
I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at you all
Still my guitar gently weeps
Oh, oh, oh
oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
oh oh, oh oh, oh oh
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
yeah yeah yeah yeah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/While_My_Guitar_Gently_Weeps lists a few additional lyrical passages and a great history of the song.
I look at the trouble and see that it's raging,
While my guitar gently weeps.
As I'm sitting here, doing nothing but aging,
Still, my guitar gently weeps.
And ...
I look from the wings at the play you are staging,
While my guitar gently weeps.
As I'm sitting here, doing nothing but aging,
Still, my guitar gently weeps.
For some strange reason, felt like hearing an old favorite of mine "While my guitar gently weeps", an original beatles.
I have the Beatles original, a duet between Eric Clapton and sir Paul McCartney, and a third version between Eric Clapton and George Harrison. (The clapton version has some great solos).
I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at the floor and I see it need sweeping
Still my guitar gently weeps
I don't know why nobody told you
how to unfold you love
I don't know how someone controlled you
they bought and sold you
I look at the world and I notice it's turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps
I don't know how you were diverted
you were perverted too
I don't know how you were inverted
no one alerted you
I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at you all
Still my guitar gently weeps
Oh, oh, oh
oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
oh oh, oh oh, oh oh
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
yeah yeah yeah yeah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/While_My_Guitar_Gently_Weeps lists a few additional lyrical passages and a great history of the song.
I look at the trouble and see that it's raging,
While my guitar gently weeps.
As I'm sitting here, doing nothing but aging,
Still, my guitar gently weeps.
And ...
I look from the wings at the play you are staging,
While my guitar gently weeps.
As I'm sitting here, doing nothing but aging,
Still, my guitar gently weeps.
Post 293 : What would buddha do with an (unwanted) child? Part II
And then yesterday, saw national television blaring about a 14 day old young girl, who had been abandoned by her mother in a rickshaw. (This has happened 14 days ago...the day she was born). Earlier, when the media had supposedly flashed this news some couple came along and decided to adopt this girl.
And then yesterday, they supposedly went to court to negate the adoption. Why? Well, it seems they did a health check on the baby and it turns out she is HIV +ve.
Does this all make sense to you? I bet to some of you it does.
I saw the girl on television. And? I must admit for the few minutes (I was seeing her) I squirmed. She is so lovely, so adorable.....and....just like the daughter I never had. If I sat across the table, I would have probably picked her up and run away, AIDS be damned - does it really matter in the larger scheme of things?
And then yesterday, they supposedly went to court to negate the adoption. Why? Well, it seems they did a health check on the baby and it turns out she is HIV +ve.
Does this all make sense to you? I bet to some of you it does.
I saw the girl on television. And? I must admit for the few minutes (I was seeing her) I squirmed. She is so lovely, so adorable.....and....just like the daughter I never had. If I sat across the table, I would have probably picked her up and run away, AIDS be damned - does it really matter in the larger scheme of things?
Post 292 : What would buddha do with an (unwanted) child? Part I
Heard a few days ago(4 to be precise), that someone (I vaguely know) might decide to terminate their child in its 16th week in its mother womb.
Why? Because the child might have structural deformities (both physical and mental). In this particular case, probably a severe case of Down's Syndrome.
Its easy for me(and the rest of the world) to sit outside and intellectually masturbate.....we are after all (technically) very far away from the actual center of the problem....its the parents and the (unborn) kid who are most affected.
And yet? In all my gracious detachment, I still could not get myself to agree with this idea. It seemed to me like a whole baggage of bad karma being bought at one shot. My readings of the Tibetian Book of Dead flashed before me like 'Karma Book-keeping 101' course.
And? Suddenly, you sit back and wonder? Where do we draw a line? Is ill-treating a 10 year old any better? Isn't masturbation (and now I mean, the real physical male one :-)) mass murder of a million 'alive' sperms? Isn't sex for pleasure, just as flimsy for the million 'potential' lives who are planting themselves into the sperms in the hope of a 'body'?
Not to forget? Why is euthanasia for someone who is in coma or extreme pain justified? Especially when he/she cannot decide and this is decided for by his family?
The more I think, I more I am convinced that I am asking very uncomfortable questions. But then, again? Why should I hurry with these questions? I have 86000 more lives to ponder on them.....the bad karma will ensure I make through this journey.
It helps to add, that someone I know well, feels this what this vague couple is doing is correct in their context. She feels I am just making 'light' out of what is essential an onerous choice....ah, theres my grave!!
Still thinking, still drifting, easy knowledge, tough choices - a fizzy karma cola in the age of 'designer' babies.
Why? Because the child might have structural deformities (both physical and mental). In this particular case, probably a severe case of Down's Syndrome.
Its easy for me(and the rest of the world) to sit outside and intellectually masturbate.....we are after all (technically) very far away from the actual center of the problem....its the parents and the (unborn) kid who are most affected.
And yet? In all my gracious detachment, I still could not get myself to agree with this idea. It seemed to me like a whole baggage of bad karma being bought at one shot. My readings of the Tibetian Book of Dead flashed before me like 'Karma Book-keeping 101' course.
And? Suddenly, you sit back and wonder? Where do we draw a line? Is ill-treating a 10 year old any better? Isn't masturbation (and now I mean, the real physical male one :-)) mass murder of a million 'alive' sperms? Isn't sex for pleasure, just as flimsy for the million 'potential' lives who are planting themselves into the sperms in the hope of a 'body'?
Not to forget? Why is euthanasia for someone who is in coma or extreme pain justified? Especially when he/she cannot decide and this is decided for by his family?
The more I think, I more I am convinced that I am asking very uncomfortable questions. But then, again? Why should I hurry with these questions? I have 86000 more lives to ponder on them.....the bad karma will ensure I make through this journey.
It helps to add, that someone I know well, feels this what this vague couple is doing is correct in their context. She feels I am just making 'light' out of what is essential an onerous choice....ah, theres my grave!!
Still thinking, still drifting, easy knowledge, tough choices - a fizzy karma cola in the age of 'designer' babies.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Post 291 - Weight Watcher 7 (Muscles and the low down)
84 kgs, 36inches of waist.
In july 23 of a possible 31 days, total since 5th feb, 110 days of a possible of 186 days.
I have started some weight training as well.
Life goes on....Running from death
In july 23 of a possible 31 days, total since 5th feb, 110 days of a possible of 186 days.
I have started some weight training as well.
Life goes on....Running from death
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Post 290 : Freedom of choice, as long as you do as I think....banana republic
The more I think of it, the more I am convinced that I am part of the biggest most idiotic banana republic that ever existed.
I was watching this debate on television, "should gender pre-determinisim be allowed for parents of would be children?".....
Background : In rural parts of India, culturally, we still tend to prefer a baby boy to a baby girl. Why? Well....for a variety of reasons. One of them is that the hindu scriptures suggest that begetting a son is the easiest way to open the gates of Moksha (liberation).....A son is needed to light your cremation pyre.....Two, a girl tends to be a social obligation, since in our idiotic dogmatic society, the girl's family takes care of not only the entire cost of her marriage, but also gifts her wealth during marriage (dowry).
Given, these two social pressures, in parts where this choice is pre-dominant, there is a tendency to abort female feoteuses, and to kill girl babies as soon as they are born (genocide).
Its for these, starting 1996 (or so I think!!) India has banned gender determination pre-birth for the baby. Female genocide is still at an all time high, probably higher (since now you only discover its a girl after she is born, instead of aborting her earlier). There are still about 700 females for every 1000 females across the nation.
Look, I get the social and cultural ramifications.....and I am all pro-choice, anti-female genocide (I would personally love to have 4 daughters, if I could...)
Yet ....?
I hate the crack-jack bunny government trying to control market dyanmics. What the government should do is come down harshly on those committ genocide...it should incentivise people to have daughters......it should educate people more (illiteracy is big cause for this problem).
Banning sex determinism is not a solution. This is exactly what happened in the 80s, in a bid to avoid population growth, Sanjay Gandhi went about forcibly neutering males so that they could not longer sire children.
We are a banana republic.....and I am not at all proud of it.
I was watching this debate on television, "should gender pre-determinisim be allowed for parents of would be children?".....
Background : In rural parts of India, culturally, we still tend to prefer a baby boy to a baby girl. Why? Well....for a variety of reasons. One of them is that the hindu scriptures suggest that begetting a son is the easiest way to open the gates of Moksha (liberation).....A son is needed to light your cremation pyre.....Two, a girl tends to be a social obligation, since in our idiotic dogmatic society, the girl's family takes care of not only the entire cost of her marriage, but also gifts her wealth during marriage (dowry).
Given, these two social pressures, in parts where this choice is pre-dominant, there is a tendency to abort female feoteuses, and to kill girl babies as soon as they are born (genocide).
Its for these, starting 1996 (or so I think!!) India has banned gender determination pre-birth for the baby. Female genocide is still at an all time high, probably higher (since now you only discover its a girl after she is born, instead of aborting her earlier). There are still about 700 females for every 1000 females across the nation.
Look, I get the social and cultural ramifications.....and I am all pro-choice, anti-female genocide (I would personally love to have 4 daughters, if I could...)
Yet ....?
I hate the crack-jack bunny government trying to control market dyanmics. What the government should do is come down harshly on those committ genocide...it should incentivise people to have daughters......it should educate people more (illiteracy is big cause for this problem).
Banning sex determinism is not a solution. This is exactly what happened in the 80s, in a bid to avoid population growth, Sanjay Gandhi went about forcibly neutering males so that they could not longer sire children.
We are a banana republic.....and I am not at all proud of it.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Post 289 : Politics and the art of fluffy delusions
Growing up, I heard politico-types speak, and also certain corporate honcho lectures, and often wondered "This sounds gibberish. Do they really believe in this doggone bullshit?"
10 years into the corporate world, and I think I see a pattern, I can dissect an insight out of it, which I must admit is not very flattering.....
I am fairly entrenched into mid-level managers within a corporate echelon....and I can get previously inaccesible peek-a-boos into the worlds of peers.
And what does the crystal tell me? The future looks bleak, it looks black.
The truth, the whole truth is....
To most of my peers, the gibberish is not gibberish, its a truth, a way of life. This is very analogus to what an atheist feels when he sees his siblings fawn over some religious mumbo-jumbo. Either I have Neo's Matrix vision using which I can slice-dice the humbug or my peers are delusional.....
Is that scary? Depends. A generation full of delusional characters who thrive on fluff in, fluff out. They consume fluff like manna and dish out rehashed fluff as elixir.
Net net....What appears geeky gawky trash to an audience, is probably what the speaker believes in with all his/her heart...Its a way of life.
Its also possible, that these folks(in their younger days), started off passing of gibberish, because thats all moved the needle for them(or they thought so), gave them access power, made them popular with other gibberish consumers/producers, and then as years passed by.....their acceptance of the gibberish became more total, masking their true perceptive minds, numbing their ability to detect and discard fudge.
Now that I have seen this happening in close quarters, probably, I can guess, this is probably the very same malaise which afflicts our politicos. You keep repeating trash so often, that very soon your mind becomes delusional and you start feeding off your own crap...muddling your head, eventually killing the pristine Matrix mind.
What scares me, am I also losing some (if not all) my mind of this muddling game? If yes, then, maybe the time to quit is near, before this malaise takes over completely?
Question to you, if you know me, am I already bitten? Write to me, would love to hear @ iamitabh at yahoo dot com
Another reason why Hans Christian Anderson's Emperor's New Clothes, will remain relevant in our times and immortal.
10 years into the corporate world, and I think I see a pattern, I can dissect an insight out of it, which I must admit is not very flattering.....
I am fairly entrenched into mid-level managers within a corporate echelon....and I can get previously inaccesible peek-a-boos into the worlds of peers.
And what does the crystal tell me? The future looks bleak, it looks black.
The truth, the whole truth is....
To most of my peers, the gibberish is not gibberish, its a truth, a way of life. This is very analogus to what an atheist feels when he sees his siblings fawn over some religious mumbo-jumbo. Either I have Neo's Matrix vision using which I can slice-dice the humbug or my peers are delusional.....
Is that scary? Depends. A generation full of delusional characters who thrive on fluff in, fluff out. They consume fluff like manna and dish out rehashed fluff as elixir.
Net net....What appears geeky gawky trash to an audience, is probably what the speaker believes in with all his/her heart...Its a way of life.
Its also possible, that these folks(in their younger days), started off passing of gibberish, because thats all moved the needle for them(or they thought so), gave them access power, made them popular with other gibberish consumers/producers, and then as years passed by.....their acceptance of the gibberish became more total, masking their true perceptive minds, numbing their ability to detect and discard fudge.
Now that I have seen this happening in close quarters, probably, I can guess, this is probably the very same malaise which afflicts our politicos. You keep repeating trash so often, that very soon your mind becomes delusional and you start feeding off your own crap...muddling your head, eventually killing the pristine Matrix mind.
What scares me, am I also losing some (if not all) my mind of this muddling game? If yes, then, maybe the time to quit is near, before this malaise takes over completely?
Question to you, if you know me, am I already bitten? Write to me, would love to hear @ iamitabh at yahoo dot com
Another reason why Hans Christian Anderson's Emperor's New Clothes, will remain relevant in our times and immortal.
Post 288 : Vegan...half way there
In 2004 Jan, I gave up feeding up on meat. Since then, I have consumed meat now and then, when I had no choice, but then in the past 6 months, I am almost completely off it.
I dont like meat anymore, nor does the thought of eating it, excite me, anymore.
So that clears my stand before proceeding into the rest of this blog entry (ahem! ahem!)
I was reading with interest, the Jain community protesting against Reliance Fresh (Mukesh Ambani venture) and the retail venture of Kumarmanglam Birla (Aditya Birla Group), both stocking and selling meat.
Their vex being : Both the Ambani's(gujjus) and Birla's (jains) are going against their own grain, and they should excercise restrain, else they will earn bad karma. Basically, the thought being can you run your retail venture without selling meat, and forgo a few dollars of profit in the process.
I must mention, that the Jains are non-violent, so even their protests have been non-violent, using the press and direct conversation with Ambanis/Birlas, than actually the more "common/usual" burning shops and placard protests.
The more I thought, I came to naught, I appeared to myself as a bigot...Yes, I strangely agreed with the Jains.
Is money so important for the Ambanis/Birlas that they cannot forgo the few dollars. I find both of them at a point where they can influence the world with their clout, rather than bend to accomodate it.
Ideally I feel, if they respect their religions, they must see merit in the demand of the Jain community.
I dont back this due to any religious sentiment, but more on account of my newly acquired credo of non-violence.
Wrod to the non-violent credo!!!
I dont like meat anymore, nor does the thought of eating it, excite me, anymore.
So that clears my stand before proceeding into the rest of this blog entry (ahem! ahem!)
I was reading with interest, the Jain community protesting against Reliance Fresh (Mukesh Ambani venture) and the retail venture of Kumarmanglam Birla (Aditya Birla Group), both stocking and selling meat.
Their vex being : Both the Ambani's(gujjus) and Birla's (jains) are going against their own grain, and they should excercise restrain, else they will earn bad karma. Basically, the thought being can you run your retail venture without selling meat, and forgo a few dollars of profit in the process.
I must mention, that the Jains are non-violent, so even their protests have been non-violent, using the press and direct conversation with Ambanis/Birlas, than actually the more "common/usual" burning shops and placard protests.
The more I thought, I came to naught, I appeared to myself as a bigot...Yes, I strangely agreed with the Jains.
Is money so important for the Ambanis/Birlas that they cannot forgo the few dollars. I find both of them at a point where they can influence the world with their clout, rather than bend to accomodate it.
Ideally I feel, if they respect their religions, they must see merit in the demand of the Jain community.
I dont back this due to any religious sentiment, but more on account of my newly acquired credo of non-violence.
Wrod to the non-violent credo!!!
Post 287 : The anatomy of a life
Our lives are nothing but a set of events. Some of these events are good/happy events, some of these are neutral events, and some tragic.
Good/happy events is what we will/want to happen, neutral we dont care, and tragic events we hate.
Strangely, we are never really "happy" with good events, because we have already discounted them in the present. Which means I have already planned/thought and killed the surprise from owning a Merc someday. I already have fantasized enough about the machine, that when it does come along, it will be just another conquest, the "delight" factor is gone.
"Tragic" events, even the ones which fortell themselves are still unwelcome and the surprise is always there. If I have been detected with cancer 8 years ago, the eventual atrophy is already to be expected, when and how fast are some parameters still in the air. Yet, I will continue living life as this event simply does not exist. And lo another ostrich joins the human race.....
Given our prelidection to events (as described above), its almost always that a "tragic" event strikes some "unfortunate" entity ("and always a silent prayer of thanks from the other ostriches, "thankfully it is not me!"").
One such event struck occured last week, and it was another death to the ravages of life. And it was time to remind myself, that the next tragedy is never too far away. Probably not even 2 steps away, just around the corner, apparent-yet-transparent to my ostrich eyes.....
Maybe for once, I shall not wince, I shall not be surprised, I shall keep looking out, flexing myself, waiting to exhale "ah! so it was you", biding my time, tip-toeing on the "event" as it happens....
Good/happy events is what we will/want to happen, neutral we dont care, and tragic events we hate.
Strangely, we are never really "happy" with good events, because we have already discounted them in the present. Which means I have already planned/thought and killed the surprise from owning a Merc someday. I already have fantasized enough about the machine, that when it does come along, it will be just another conquest, the "delight" factor is gone.
"Tragic" events, even the ones which fortell themselves are still unwelcome and the surprise is always there. If I have been detected with cancer 8 years ago, the eventual atrophy is already to be expected, when and how fast are some parameters still in the air. Yet, I will continue living life as this event simply does not exist. And lo another ostrich joins the human race.....
Given our prelidection to events (as described above), its almost always that a "tragic" event strikes some "unfortunate" entity ("and always a silent prayer of thanks from the other ostriches, "thankfully it is not me!"").
One such event struck occured last week, and it was another death to the ravages of life. And it was time to remind myself, that the next tragedy is never too far away. Probably not even 2 steps away, just around the corner, apparent-yet-transparent to my ostrich eyes.....
Maybe for once, I shall not wince, I shall not be surprised, I shall keep looking out, flexing myself, waiting to exhale "ah! so it was you", biding my time, tip-toeing on the "event" as it happens....
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