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.

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.

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

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......

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.

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 :-)

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.

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.

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

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.

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?"

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

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 :

1. Steve Miller Band
2. Travelling Wilburys
3. Blues Travelers
4. Blues Brothers
5. CCR
6. CSN
7. 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

1. Have you ever seen the rain (the original is by CCR, I have always heard the REM version so far)
2. Total eclipse of my heart (Fleetwood Mac original, I grew up to believe that Bonnie Taylor was capable of such magic)
3. 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.

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.

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.

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?".

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)

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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