licence to…
September 20, 2009 § 25 Comments
So I got my driving licence, yay! Of course, getting one is no big deal, except that you are made to wait for ever, let us not go into that. ” No one cares and has time, you and me are going to talk about, I might write about it, but there it ends”, That was my reply to others like me who were waiting for their licence
. We Indians have refined the art of corruption and bribing. There exists a corruption hierarchy, which apart from the officials includes the driving school people among other. Forget Shaktimaan and Captain Planet, we need a Anti-corruption Man (AC man).
And talking about super heros , I have plans of hosting a blogging contest on super heros/ super stars. You are to create your own super hero/ star , complete with powers etc, what do you think?
In solidarity with the cows; Apparently we love to get offended. Remember how people took offence , when “SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE” came out? I bet half the people didn’t watch the movie and I know it is a safe bet because many still feel that the “west” is calling us Slum Dogs, pity. And in this case of the austere Cows(though, they do get their horns painted once a year, during Maatu(cow) Pongal), we should be proud that our herd now includes all the Congress Ministers(and the extra guards).
Navarathri has begun. My mom and sis have come up with a creative gift this time(will put up photos soon) 🙂 There is nothing special for me though, no holidays, even if college gives us off(even if they don’t I bunk, cut about 10 hours last week), I have those CA classes everyday morning. Its been days since I got to read the book(Argumentative India) , it is an amazing book, I am lovi’ it but no time to read.
Went to McDonald’s yesterday and again today. It’s on the way to the place where I went for the rehearsals . The Aloo Tikki Burger tastes really good. The violin rehearsals are bad though. So bad that, even the lazy me , had to prompt for more practice. Playing all the songs once over is not rehearsal.
I manage to update my poetry blog(yes, I am talking about it again, vanity indeed) about once or twice a week. I want to write 3 posts a week (at least over here), but then my schedule is so irritating , that I feel too sleepy to write about anything. There was a time, when I wrote about 60 posts a month, now I am not able to do 6. But being me, you can expect to writing pretty soon.
And I have to start studying as well. It’s freaky, to see all those weird sums. CA is no joke. You do to be really fast and see beyond the obvious. Lets see what happens. One thing is for sure, I am not going to get to sleep *sigh.
Between , check out this video, awesome, no clue, how he(Jascha Heifetz) does it. I want to learn western one of these days. I love the way, how the music travels and tells its tale without words.
I got a new phone-Nokia 5800. Its got 8GB memory and I have already loaded about 4.2GB of songs. Got lots more in my Comp, but I want to try out new stuff, especially something without lyrics, what would you suggest?
There are many things which I want to write about, the ideas do come and go, but arranging them is the problem. And writing is tough if you are tired-words do come out, they get stuck. There are moments when I wish, I can sit down and write forever..*how I wish..*
Among other things, I think I will be writing about something I have observed- though we talk about equality , a new stratification has started to form in our world, I do wonder, how many of us realize this. I do wonder where this will lead.
And yes, I did shoot a few things, think this is the best of the lot:-
From newcamera2 |
From newcamera2 |
From mocha… |
The last photo was taken at Mocha. Yes, I almost got choked. Spent 25% of the time closing my nose, another 25% taking photos and the rest talking/trying to breath. But the shot is worth the effort(I guess) 😛 Anyway, hope I find time to post this week. Will try to record the violin programme.
And yes do tell me, what you think about the idea of another contest?
P.S: clarification- that is not me.. I am allergic to smoke 😛
What are your Identities?
August 13, 2009 § 17 Comments
Something lesser than a dot in the universe.
Something as big as a dot in the galaxy.
A thicker dot in the system.
Earthling.
human being.
Asian.
A person from the subcontinent.
Indian.
South Indian.
Tamilian.
Hindu
Brahmin
Iyengar.
…….(other identities)
This is the Identity the world(i.e. those who might not know anything about me and also society collectively) would attribute to me…but is it the one I want? Of course I am all that , but I would prefer to be seen as
Something lesser than a dot in the universe.
Something as big as a dot in the galaxy.
A thicker dot in the system.
Earthling.
human being.
Humanitarian.
Thinker.
Philosopher.
Optimist
A person who believes in equality(equality – when everyone has the same opportunity.)
Writer, more specifically a poet(however good or bad I am at it).
A person who loves music.
An artist(however good or bad I am at the various arts).
Football lover.
Nature lover.
Captialist(more in lines of a Randian).
A teenager.
Indian.
Nationalist.
Secularist.
Tamilian
………..(other identities).
Of course there are a lot more which I might have left out at this point. I might call myself a philosopher and no one else might. But it does show how I perceive myself. Anyway more about this in my next post.Right now I want to know,
What are your identities?
A thought
August 6, 2009 § 6 Comments
A single thought can make or break ,
A single thought can set life ablaze.The power from with , prompts
And there begins the chain of thoughts.
An inspiration from the world,
Sets opens the dams and let flow,the thoughts.
Religion, freedom and What to kill?
July 30, 2009 § 12 Comments
As a human being your place on Earth is dependent on your “sense of belonging”. And we try to belong to a myriad number of groups , in various permutations and combinations , but ultimately the one that seems to scar the singular human comradeship is our religious affiliation.
To secularists it causes endless heart aches, to see humans tear apart each other. But then we have come to a point , where a few frown upon these secularists and the heads of such groups declare them as infidels or a threat to their religion and that they need to be dealt with.
Is belonging or not belonging to a religious group all that important?
What has made religion the single autonomous power , with their various Gods?
One argument would be that man in general prefers not to take up responsibility.
The irony here is, we have taken it as our responsibility to take care of these religions , with our life and even more.
As we move into a new Era , where in we have started to accept that we need to change our attitude and our demeanour and approach to solving the pragmatic problems in living, the way we define our “sense of belonging” is quintessential .
The reason for problems is that we interact and in the process two universes of ideas clash , the barring is too much to sustain a bi-ambitious world.
One way to ensure a mono-synthetic society is to conclude that suppression is the only way to maintain a balance. If we look at this syllogism closer , we will find that the major premise is that we need a balance and the minor one that suppression is the only way.
And this exactly is what religion has helped evolve over the ages of humanity.
I do not claim religion is the root of evil , rather that religion has been chained and is being made to do as the masters who control it want it to do. Religion in essence aims at freeing man and hopes to breach the boundaries of human perception.
But in reality the essence of religion lies in the minds of people . The majority of whom are gullible, influenced by the rhetoric of orators and politicians. The reason for this gullibility is because we cannot define what is “good and what is “bad” in absolute sense. The alteration done is so simple that many fail to see it – a change in the yard scale. And to change this , we first need to change the latter premise – that suppression is the key to the balance.
To redefine maintaining a balance in any other way , than the existing one, is going to be a task which is hard to even imagine – we would need to move away centuries of domination and slavery. Unfortunately , the method adopted in India(i.e. giving reservations) is a negative step. In a way it is acknowledging that we have become subservient to the pseudo dogmas. It would only strengthen the hold of the suppressive methods.
What is suppression? This is a important question to answer. I would call it curtailing ‘freedom’.
Freedom is again a word which needs to be defined. You can say freedom is that which gives an individual a proportionate sense of belonging and acceptance. And here lies the answer , to what we can try do.
We need to understand and appreciate freedom. The line between indulgence and freedom may be very thin , almost nonexistent but the crux of freedom lies in the way we perceive and interact with others. Of course we cannot interfere with the way people think or make choices for them , but what we can do is try to remove the vintage prejudices and sneers , by stopping them from reaching our future.
We should try to find our way to a better race , not by thinking what ‘God‘ would find comforting but by understanding that our decisions are binding on the future of our kind. It might seem Utopian to dream of such a day, for after all we are no more than a galaxy of cells working together to survive . But then doesn’t this galaxy coexist without any Upheavals? Of course you can say that their thinking capacity is taken away by the ‘brain’. But what is the brain , but again another collection of cells?
But of course there is always a reflex or death. We can say reflexes give us a short term relief , i.e. revolutions are a temporary respite and well that death is the ultimate end of a bad mind. But then what dies and what lives on?
This is the question , which religions have capitalized on. And through out our history this is the question used as a fear of tool. I do wonder if hell really did exist, didn’t those exploiters realize that they would be the first to be dipped into a cauldron of boiling oil? But of course they do claim that , they are messengers of “God” .
At the same time without fear and guilt , we humans probably will be out of control. But then , I think it is better we remove these fears created by our imagination and present to our kind the real threats – without proper cooperation and coordination our race might bring about its own end; Earthquakes, tsunamis , floods, drought etc .
If we care enough for the living – this is not just about ‘healing the world’ , it is about saving ourselves. The world can take care of itself. Earth as a planet will go on for millions and billions of years. And anyway whatever you do , will affect the entire universe . And no it is not caring for the smaller things – it caring for the most important thing – the ‘I’ .
Kill religion? I don’t think so. We need to kill our inhibitions, which stops us from understanding.
Is killing justifiable? Can you face yourself ?
P.S;- Thanks Indi for helping me in edit this 🙂
What lies beyond my sight?
July 23, 2009 § 15 Comments
From new camera1 |
The grass seems brighter on this side,
But who knows what lies beyond my sight.
To accept and stay,
Or move and find a way to a distant place?
Am I as good as I believe,
What can I really achieve?
Where does my heart want to lead?
Why is their a need to “succeed”?
Are dreams meant to be left,
And never in reality dwelt?
If only I was sagacious,
I would be more gracious,
Till then I try to be adventurous,
But do not know if I am tenacious or audacious.
The grass seems brighter on this side,
But who knows what lies beyond my sight?
THE WINNER STANDS ALONE by PAULO COELHO(book review)
May 8, 2009 § 46 Comments
Picture from here.
I am still trying to make sense of this book . I have read almost all of Coelho’s book till date and this book stands out from the rest .
Cannes film festival is something we all see on T.V. , in this book Coelho has gone back stage and expains the hardships and the pusedo lives that the people live . We get a peek into lives of models , directors , actors , producers etc . The way he moves the characters makes you think they are real.
There are four central characters to this book . And as the author says in his preface , three of them get caught in the ‘trap’ . The Winner Stands Alone is candid and makes you wonder why anyone would even think of being a big ’star’ .
The reason why I am still trying to make sense of this book is because of the character Igor . On one hand he is portrayed as a man of principle who becomes a serial killer , in hope to winning his wife back . On the other hand he is shown as Mr. Devil through the eyes of his ex-wife . Being the good and the bad is maybe what defines ‘normal’ , maybe . We have ‘the angle’ and ‘the devil’ in us , yet who controls the hand is the question .
The Sterotypes usually end with the bad guy being caught . Then there are those in which nothing about the bad guy is shown and he just escapes . The book will fall under the latter .
I loved the book , yet I hated the character Igor . Some how it seemed to represent the knife edge which lots of people sit on . Not that there is anything wrong with that , but if you are a person like me , who doesn’t believe in violence or killing others , a serial killer getting away on his private jet seems pretty hard to accept.
Of course that is the reality , the superclass get away with everything (?) . But the question which keeps popping up is , why does the book seem incomplete ? I wonder if it is just me . Or maybe reading his other books , I had a picture in my mind and this some how doesn’t fit in .
Concluding the book is good . It flows well . Another new theme explored by Coelho . And the reason why I haven’t mentioned the philosophy us because , I think , when I say it is a Coelho’s book , it is taken to be there , infact , it gels with the theme really well .
Rating – 9/10
Question which I am still thinking about – Do you think , it is right someone destorys universes /kills others just to send a message to someone ?
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Random
April 28, 2009 § 14 Comments
Yup I have concluded the world needs a damn good spanking . Not because I have become older than a million year old fossil or as old as the sea by listening to all the very knowledgeable and very young senior citizens or my lecturers or teachers or whatever in my class but more so becuase nothing seems to a make sense. Actually I might have become old , maybe that is why I haven’t written anything for so long . It would have been so nice to call this a ‘ come back post ‘ but i didn’t go anywhere.
Here we are after so many years of Independence and funnily enough no one cares about the thing which the country needs -education . Instead we have a whole bunch of nonsense like people claiming that they can bring back some money stashed away in a Swiss bank . Oh! ya what happened to reservations ? Why hasn’t anyone used that yet? Is it because it is out of fashion ?
Or maybe we are so screwed , that we are now going to talk about our neighbouring countries . NO I am not saying we should close our eyes , but how cheap is it trying to profit as the cost of someone else ? And while talking about reservations , I think the only people now discriminated are the creamy layer and the ‘upper castes’ . So how about that thing called equality ? I thought you want to be a super power ?
Well forget it . . The NEWS channels call it the IPL( they say the Indian political league , I call it Indian Pooruki League ) and well cricket sucks anyway .
People are egoistic . Now this Ego is the screwed up thing which everyone calls ego . No my fine readers I am not becoming a human , though this dust allergy makes me sound like a Egyptian Mummy speaking Malayalam .
See when did I start ranting ? I want to watch Noddy . Not that I saw it when I was a kid . We used to get only DD then (see I can tell that too , I am old ) . But well if you leave me , I might watch teletubbies right now . And my rant isn’t constrained to this alone , it goes on and on …Infact I didn’t want to write anything , wanted to write something pretty , which will get me comments such as “you didn’t put a full stop” or “you used too many smileys” , but then I don’t really care . If I haven’t read your blog in a while don’t tell me . It probably has too much of politics . I have read a few damn good posts , not writing about them because don’t feel like giving the links .
I hope this reveals how lazy I can get . I got that domain for the fun of it . Now I have 59 subscribers here , hope this increases , because I am damn materialistic and the fact that I can’t have my therapy now (retail therapy) irritates me more .
So before I start into a mile long rant…TC… nothing funny , if you have read till this better comment . And I am not going to add lots of tags , I am bored . Going to go and watch the clouds.
A comment
April 10, 2009 § 6 Comments
I have been off politics and anything to do with it for a while .Simple because I can afford a shoe right now and maybe afford to even throw it (things look like a luxury only till you can’t afford them) .But still there are a few posts which draw you to read on(very very few bloggers have that ability) and so this post. The reason for me not eating anything political is because I have had too much of masala – by nature my teeth are sweet(no they are not made of candy or gold :P){and get it I am making fun of things [people now days!]} so just don’t want to trouble my senses.
As I mentioned there are a few who just draw you into reading and this particular post is a very good read especially for a fellow who loves history ( how much do I love it? Enough to ask doubts in a history class) .
Here is the post – Pseudo Secularism and Congress. And this was my comment to it:-
Of course to a few , my comment may seem from another world and not looking at the reality . All I can say is , I haven’t seen that reality and so I cannot talk about that . The place where I live is relatively peaceful for the people here have better things to do ( Or at least I hope so) . To actually think of people killing each other in the name of religion , I can’t . But I have seen instances where it is the audacity of a few people which leads to some tension building up . One thing I hope I always would remember would be that
Anyway I don’t think I will be posting about politics as such , even though it seems to be everywhere. I personally think that there isn’t much use talking too much, we need to get into doing . Someone ,pointed out to me that changes are always happening . True. While we cannot change things but are mere catalysts , we need to remember to play our part properly . By looking at each other , no one is going to take the onus .
The “bus thing” which I mentioned above is this :-
The country is a bus and a person whom we all feel is not a good driver is driving . We have two options one to get out of the bus or take over the wheels . So in a way I have decided to get out of the bus for a while , so I am going to shut up and not talk about it . Without full information we cannot judge what is happening . We are but seeing those things which a few people want us to see and hear what a few people want us to hear . We need to dig deep and try to evaluate after we know enough .
To sum it up , religion was started for something and now is being used for something else . Personally I take God to be a metaphor(read this poem – a metaphor called God and this one too – God ) so I cannot understand why people should fight so much . We are on Earth to live and not survive .Using that thing up there , we have created a world for ourselves ,why instead of enjoying do we bicker and try to make it all worse for each other?
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