Perceptions & Experiences

I am

2009-06-24T21:01:00.002+05:30

Tired. Dead.

And thats the reward of the last three months.

Next Three Months...

2009-03-27T12:50:00.002+05:30

...are going to be uncertain, scary and exciting. And preparation begins right away. The good part is that I have my people around me.

What can we do?

2008-12-08T11:16:00.003+05:30

Why is it that the country’s security system fails time and again and its innocent people become victims of terrorism? Why is it that while political parties promote politics of communal hatred they still keep getting elected to power? Why is it that the country is plagued with so many problems which most of us aware of but nobody does anything about it?

The problem is multifold. Most politics in India is regional. Which means that instead of having national agendas the political parties have regional agendas. These agendas typically are not developmental in nature but are based on appeasing the majority community in the particular region. In most parts of the country these communities are religion based. The educated middle class which is most affected by the problems that besiege this country has little say because it does not make significant percentage of the voting population to swing the results of the elections. So effectively by practicing vote-bank politics inept and corrupt politicians keep getting elected.

This situation I feel can be resolved permanently by implementing a two-pronged solution. First the size of the educated middle class which believes in social values such as liberty and justice and feels that developmental politics only can truly help needs to be increased. This can be done by enlisting youngsters as volunteers for educational programs which we can run to begin with across the city and gradually throughout the country. By increasing substantially the number of educated middle class we can make it the decisive section of the voting population. Politicians will then to get elected to power will have to preach and also practice a developmental agenda.

But inspite of some politicians becoming progress oriented there will still be enough who will not mend ways. In such a scenario the educated middle class may not have any appropriate candidates to vote for. For that it is necessary that we also float a political party. Politics is considered a dirty game because of the people who play it. When people of considerable mettle, significant experience, substantial academic background and possessing of grad vision enter politics, the game will not remain dirty anymore. Infact it will cease to be a game but become a profession.

I do not know how many years the two things mentioned above will take to be successful but given the outrage that has poured out in the light of the Mumbai terror attacks, we can direct it appropriately to achieve this goal. The journey will be long and arduous but by making concerted effort and uniting under a single mission we will be able to attain our mission much earlier. And it will not just solve our existing problems but put India on road to progress.

Funny, no?

2008-09-08T10:23:00.009+05:30

With a welcome break - forced as a result of the postponement of the Champions Trophy - from cricket, the Aussies are busy preparing for the gruellling tour of India - which they call the everest - starting october. In their efforts to repeat their success of the 2004 tour, they are busy taking tips from non other than the master leg-spinner and an even greater mobile-scamster, Shane Warne.

I am a great fan of the blonde-spinner, make no mistake. But then I did some elementary data mining and found this -

[The first row indicates Warne's career figures and the second row indicates his record against India in India]

Career averages
		Mat	Inns	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	5	10
		145	273	6784.1	1761	17995	708	8/71	12/128	25.41	2.65	57.4	37	10
		9	16	459.1	95	1466	34	6/125	6/125	43.11	3.19	81.0	1	0

I wonder looking at the figures above if taking Warney's advise is really advisable. What say?

This

2008-06-21T15:18:00.005+05:30

....it is not religion per se that is a problem, but our attitudes towards it. The right to religion is a human right that should be contingent, like all other rights, on respecting the corresponding rights of others. But many ‘religious’ people have the arrogance to believe that they, the enlightened, are due special privileges that would otherwise be unjustifiable; and many ‘secular’ people are inexplicably keen to pander to them. This endangers the basis of a free society, where artists have been terrorized into thinking twice before drawing a cartoon of another man’s god or painting another man’s goddess, not by the alleged power of those gods and goddesses, but by the primitive fury of their followers.

explains this.

[Above lines from here]

I plan to...

2008-06-04T13:33:00.002+05:30

...treat my upcoming MBA as an exile. And this is what I intend to do during the MBA err the exile.

Go. Profit from exile. To see, listen, walk, pause beside wisemen; question savages and madmen; and listen to stories. It is always pleasant and, sometimes, improves you.

My Own Art of Living - Part One

2008-05-23T10:40:00.010+05:30

[A very serious post. Do no read it after your meals. It may be sleep-inducing.]

Days 3 and 4 of Art of Living course have been spent mainly in exercising and so there is nothing useful to post. The exercises are helping though.

Last two days I have been in an intense introspection mode. With all the gyan being given to me by all the people around, I have been thinking about the fundas of life that I have myself relied on for my actions, decisions and words so far. These fundas are based on my own perceptions and experiences and may not be universal. I am putting them down here not for anybody to adopt or reject them but for my own self because lately some ambiguity has crept in. Writing them here will help me think them out more clearly. I have also been thinking about them because certain decisions will have to be made by me in near future. Also there are times when people misunderstand you. Not that they are incapable of understanding you but it is just that sometimes we fail to express ourselves correctly. Revisiting the fundas should help me understand myself better.

Anyway, here you go.

1. As we grow up we adopt certain vices like jealousy, pride, lust (in all its forms), unknowingly. We believe that we need to embrace them to survive in this bad world. While we need to know of them we don't necessarily need to take to them. Though it is easier said than done, the effort is worthwhile. Because the closer we get to completely disowning these vices the happier we will be in life.

2. Simplicity is the king. Though cliched, this idea holds tremendous practical value. We assume that there is more to an individual, event or thing than what meets the eye. While this might indeed be true, we shouldn't believe that it is so without sufficient justification. We should subject it to trial by our own questions and not pass a judgment based on hearsay.

3. While love seems to be the most important adhesive in a relationship, I feel trust is more essential. And trust doesn't develop overnight. You need to work on it all the time. Love evaporates through the crevices of a cracked concrete of trust. An aside - love is about enjoying somebody's company and marriage is about trust. Also love and trust is all that there is to a long lasting relationship. Love on occasions puts you in an ethereal state even while you drag your day in the real world and trust helps you in surviving otherwise.

4. As kids we feel that happiness will come when get into a very good engineering college. When we get into a good (add appropriate stream) college, we feel that happiness will come after we secure that first job. After we get our first job we feel that happiness is only a promotion, a good bonus or a pay hike away. We keep chasing what we don't have without relishing what we have. To be ambitious is fine but to not be content with our present state, to put succinctly is like 'f**king your own happiness'.

5. Mentioned this previously in an independent post so not putting up anything here.

6. Be genuine. Always. I very strongly believe in this. Do not fake or exaggerate emotions, praise and behaviour. Sooner than later the real you catches up with you. I personally fall for people who have the honesty and genuineness in abundance and so it is something that I personally work hard at, myself. Have posted something related, previously.

7. Love is not logical. Love is sometimes unconditional. Still you need to have a strong non-alterable reason(s) to love somebody or something.

8. As I am headed for an MBA in about 40 days from today, friends and family ask me about what do I want to specialize in? I have only a faint idea myself and so I want keep my mind open. I want it not to be prejudiced because that will hamper me in making the correct decision. This is true with life in general.

To be continued...

Art of Living - Day 2

2008-05-21T11:11:00.003+05:30

A change of heart might be happening and I might actually be enjoying this. But I will not jump the gun yet.

Thoughts on day two -

Had a disagreement with the instructor of the course. He was telling us that the world consists of things that exist in opposites. Like happiness and sorrow, hot and cold etc. I don't think it is that way. In world things exist not in absolute opposites but in differing degrees of variation from one another. For example, if I am earning just 10k per month and if I get a job which is going to pay me 15k, I'll be happy. But if I had been earning 15k only, all the while then I'd be sad. Luckily, the instructor agreed to to agree with me.
What we resist more, persists longer.
Happiness is in now and not in past or future.
Today we exercised more and discussed less. So there weren't too many takeaways.

Day 3 could well be more intellectually stimulating. Cya till then.

Art of Living - Day 1

2008-05-20T10:22:00.007+05:30

So I am doing it. The famed Art of Living course.

Doing it only because mom wants me to. I am personally not very keen or excited. Not because I think I don't need it but I feel that I won't be able to assimilate its teachings. With life at least, I prefer to live by my instincts than by processes. And so I find such instructive courses very repulsive. Learning through one's own experiences is more important to me. On a related but a trivial note, doing the course also means that I'll have be up and ready by six each morning for six days on the trot.

Anyway day 1 is down now. Though I am still skeptical about the efficacy of the course for me, today's session was good. Some thoughts from today's session, below -

I was partly vindicated in my belief that one should avoid expectations. Besides the emotional upheavals it causes, scientifically too it is detrimental. If you care for your heart and want it to live longer avoid giving it too much joy or too much sorrow. Expectations, which are rarely met, do that to it.
Meditation is not about controlling your thinking. It is instead about letting your mind wander freely and carelessly. How else will it relax? Can you relax your body if you tie up your legs and hands?
As a part of one activity we were asked three questions. Answers to which we had discuss with somebody we'd randomly pick from among the people who had assembled for the course. The questions were not supposed to have any perfect answers and were personal in nature. So each person had to think for himself. The thing I enjoyed most about this activity was the idea of talking to a complete stranger. It is so much easier to speak your mind when the person you are talking to knows nothing about you and so he/she is not going to be judgmental. It offloads your mind with a lot of thoughts which you can otherwise be comfortable discussing only with your alter ego.
I am supposed to abstain from tea, coffee and meat for the period of the course. Forced as this restriction may be it should help the body, which has been piling up junk these days.

Lets see now what is store for day two.

Inspiring

2008-05-08T16:04:00.002+05:30

Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify
them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some may see them as the crazy ones,
We see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world,
Are the ones who do

Crawling in the Dark

2008-04-30T00:03:00.004+05:30

I don't know why everybody is in so much rush. Why people are dying to reach where they want to go? And what happens after they get there? Do they stay long enough to make their efforts to reach there worthwhile? I doubt that. They are already making plans and even moving towards their next destination.

But when do we live life in all this? Few years back I had gone with my family to a place called Munnar (or was it Tekdi? I don't remember) in Kerala. I don't remember much of what I saw at Munnar/Tekdi, but I distinctly remember the road leading up to the place. It was a narrow and winding road cut out on a slope full of tea plantations. The beauty of it was not visible till we moved from one hill to another. The unerring precision with which the road was carved, made it look like an artist's work. It almost looked like a snake making its way through a dense bush. And the image remained etched forever. We keep adding milestones, but we forget that there is a journey in between them that we should experience.

I eat my meals fast. Mom almost always warns me against it but to no avail. I am beginning to get her point. Yes food is to fill your stomach but what's the point of eating good food if you don't let its taste linger in your mouth.

In about a few weeks time I am going to be a part of a new experience. I don't want to run through it just so that its end purpose can be achieved. I want to walk; loiter around; almost stop, stare and take it all in. I want to slow it down to the point that it feels like a slow mo. I want to savour each second as if there is so much life in it.

Currently I am moving so fast that things around me seem like a blur, I am learning to slow down.

On Reservations

2008-04-24T16:05:00.004+05:30

I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops. – Stephen Jay Gould

That's the problem with lack of opportunity but reservations is not the solution.

Read this 3 part essay on reservations in Indian education system by Atanu Dey: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 . Though some points made are obvious, they have been very well elucidated.

Unfamiliar Position

2008-04-05T11:46:00.003+05:30

It looks as if that the Indian cricket team is better off when it is not expected to do well. As we have seen with most of its recent test wins abroad that the men in blue seem to always find miraculous ability to win when odds are stacked heavily against them.

But when put in position of strength and when tagged as favourites as they were for the current series against South Africa, Team India seems to suddenly look mediocre, foible and incapable of living upto their billing.

They can do well only when expectations are low.

Homicide

2008-03-31T09:26:00.002+05:30

As if one-day cricket, twenty20, IPL & ICL were not enough that BCCI had to make such pitches to kill test cricket.

The purist in me, cringes.

A Scary Thought

2008-03-05T14:42:00.004+05:30

We all know that BCCI has most of the money in world cricket and also substantial clout in its running.

But now its boys and men are winning too!

Will that make cricket unhealthy?

On IPL

2008-02-23T09:34:00.004+05:30

iSport Ventures is very bullish about IPL and hopes to make all the right moves to grab a healthy share of the the businesses that will result out of it.

We are also very opinionated about it.

Vineet Kanabar tries to answer the moot question of will IPL benefit Indian cricket?

Suneer Chowdhary plays the devil's advocate by suggesting that the T20 league will make cricket a worthy career option.

The moot issue for me personally is about how well will players from each team gel and whether a fan from Hyderabad be able to support Symonds against Harbhajan? Harsha Bhogle raises this issue rather articulately in his latest column. Let me quote.

And so the question that the public will ask is: will Ponting and Symonds and Gibbs and Oram and Afridi and Gayle play for our money or for our team? Will they exploit our love or will they sustain and nurture it?

Will they remain outsiders in our land? Or will they merge into the identities of our cities? These are early days and I don’t think we will find our answers in the first year but we will get pointers from their attitude. Will Chandigarh love Lee and Hyderabad Symonds in the manner that Manchester loved Cantona and London’s Arsenal loved Bergkamp?

Answers to above questions will make or break IPL.

Also watch for our podcasts as they go online from tomorrow where our cricket experts analyse the buys of each IPL team.

What's the Point

2008-02-07T20:52:00.000+05:30

Sania Mirza will be skipping the Bangalore Open at the behest of her managers, who think she needs no more controversy. It is another issue that her pulling out itself has created a controversy which she could have done without.

It is tough to be young woman sportsperson in India and that too in a sport that is not the most popular. Sania has not only done that but has also managed to break into the top 30.

Still, she is far from winning a grand slam, or even cracking into the top 10. Her serve is weak, her backhand poor, her net play pathetic and her fitness worrisome. I know she'd be working mighty hard at all this but the easiest way for her to become better is by playing more competitive tennis. Controversies are occupational hazards that come along with celebrityhood but that shouldn't make one give up on his/her vocation.

Sportspersons around the world have in past and off the field, faced greater challenges. Sania's self imposed absence from such Indian tourneys will not necessarily zip her detractors mouth or appease the storm brewers.

Pulling out like this doesn't augur well, not for the country but for her career at least.

Be Yourself

2008-02-05T10:28:00.000+05:30

(This post is circumstantial and the inferences are essentially a result of first hand experiences)

It sort of escapes my understanding as to why do guys do what they do to woo the girl. They dress up smart so that an impression can be made. They shower themselves with expensive perfumes so that certain eventualities do not bring embarrassment. They talk loud and sometimes even serenade to get the lady in question to throw a glance their side or may even to get her to say a word or two. So what if it is not always pleasant.

I wonder why would a girl fall for this. Infact I think I am certain that she wouldn't because if she is a rational being, she'd end up as a loser in the deal. The point is this. If a guy does all the things mentioned above and more, the girl may get impressed but then such a behaviour on part of the boy wouldn't be his normal behaviour. Which is essentially what the girl is going to get over the course of time she'd spend with him. This would result in expectation mismatch and subsequent customer dissonance.

They tell me that girls love surprises. But then nobody judges a product by the free surprise gift that one gets on it. So how can a girl answer in affirmative to boy whose normal personality she isn't acquainted to or she doesn't like.

So I'd say to all boys who are looking at ways to win the pretty lady's heart, that just be yourself, because if that ain't good enough, than nothing else will be.

Update: Voila! I just realised after reading two chapters from Tim Harford's latest book that my this post is actually based on his concept of rational-choice theory. Is this the coming of age of the economist in me, eh?

Aaj Ka Taapmaan

2008-02-04T19:29:00.000+05:30

Since most of my work involves a computer with an Internet connection, I am generally confined to indoors. Today, after nearly a week I had a chance to venture out while it was still day outside. Well that doesn't mean that I sneak out regularly when it is night but sometimes we friends meet up in the evenings or for a late night show.

Now I have lived all my 23 years in Bombay - yes, I always insist on calling it that and not Mumbai, unless for official purposes - and never before has the Bombay sun felt so soft and pleasantly warm and the wind so severe and unfriendly. For once I could stay out and come back home refreshed. This season has so far been so wonderfully pleasing. My desktop says it is 19C outside but I can assure you that it is much cooler.

In Bombay, winters are generally about a week long because it is the only time during a year when the temperature falls below 20C, but this year the mercury has shamelessly fallen to new lows and on few instances even crossed the line of 10C. Baring a few days in monsoon and a few more during the ever so short winter, there aren't many days when I do not switch on the AC of my room for at least once during the course of the day. It is nearly 10pm right now and in the last four days I have switched on the fan only four times, each time to dry the cleaned wet floor. Whenever I have felt the air in the room to be a little stuffy and still, opening up of the the window for a bit has served the purpose, remarkably well.

Also another testimony to this year's winter has been the fact that I have spent nearly 3 grand on winter clothing and no, I am not traveling north. The weather change, which my physical state had to go through as a result of my trip to Pune last week, where the weather is warmer - can you imagine - has resulted in a malfunctioning respiratory system, where the nose continuously leaks.

The effect of good weather has clearly reflected on my physical well being - minus the cold that is. My appetite has shot up and it has resulted in a few weighty issues. I'd like to believe that there is no cause for panic yet since the weight machine doesn't yet say - one person at a time. These are just seasonal hazards, I'd think.

I still take a regular daily bath and people around me are happy that that bit of activity hasn't seen a downturn yet. No, I do not booze neither do I light up. Footwear at home has become a must since I'd look like a cat jumping on hot tin roof , if I walked around bare feet on the ice cold marble.

Rest of things continue as routine only that my shivering fingers tend to spew crap through the keyboard onto the computer screen, which results in deterioration of the quality of posts on an already much maligned blog.

To get those six packs....

2007-12-17T20:19:00.000+05:30

.....join a very expensive gym.

For the reasons to do so, read here.

Also, the logic for doing so, is same as the logic behind this business idea.

On Murali

2007-12-08T11:15:00.000+05:30

I love quoting this man and here I do it again.

Lines below from his latest column and I couldn't agree more.

"[..] Murali is a fine man who has achieved success in all conditions. Ignore that record in Australia for there is a chink in every man’s armour. Warne struggled in India, Tendulkar’s record against South Africa isn’t as awesome as everything else he has done and Botham never came to terms with playing against the West Indies. [..]"

Ted Talk

2007-11-28T14:57:00.000+05:30

In a wide-ranging talk, Vilayanur Ramachandran explores how brain damage can reveal the connection between the internal structures of the brain and the corresponding functions of the mind. He talks about phantom limb pain, synesthesia (when people hear color or smell sounds), and the Capgras delusion, when brain-damaged people believe their closest friends and family have been replaced with imposters.

For more fascinating talks, visit here.

Knot yet ready

2007-11-27T11:43:00.000+05:30

Everybody around me is busy getting married these days. At least, so it seems. Have a dear friend's wedding to attend next week and have returned just yesterday from my cousin's wedding. I hate these family dos, where a plastic smile has to put on, for all and sundry. Where a look of fake recognition has be conjured up for every (un)known acquaintance. Anyway that is that but the point is that with my cousin's wedding done, a realization dawned upon me yesterday, that I am now, in my family, the next in the line. It made me feel this sudden emptiness in my stomach.

The inevitably of marriage is not scary but the very fact that it is just a few - a number that I can count on the fingers of my one hand - years away, makes it that. I was a kid till yesterday and still think of myself as one and if I had my way would choose to remain a kid, always. But the world won't allow me that liberty.

It is true that we all want be in love. To have a girl by one's side but marriage is almost a herculean task and huge responsibility. To think that my friends and cousins with whom I grew up are now capable of taking up that responsibility while I am struggling to deal with the very idea, makes me feel weird. Makes me feel immature. Makes me feel naive.

I just wonder beneath all this talk about life is this and life is that, I feel that life is in fact all about coming to terms with growing up.

Correct me if I am wrong.

Update:

'When you think of something, the whole world conspires to make you not forget it'

As if my friends and cousins getting married wasn't enough, I come across this video below on one of my favourite blogs which further makes me feel that getting hitched is indeed a very difficult task.

Though not all of it is relevant to Indian marriages, watch it because it is actually funny.

So much for good manners

2007-11-26T14:00:00.000+05:30

Found this on the ever so funny blog of Sayesha,

It's a lovely moonlit night. A lady is walking along the road, holding her two kids' hands. The girl is aged about four and the boy about seven. My friends are I are walking just behind them.
Girl (looks up and points at the moon) - Look! Look! Moon!
Boy (glares at his sister) - Don't point! It's rude to point!

Hahaha...!

Exit Vamp. Enter Lady.

2007-11-26T12:54:00.000+05:30

While most - at least those who have seen OSO - are smitten by the serene beauty, the charming smile and the glint in the eyes of a certain Shantipriya, Sunday Times features an interesting piece - good attempt by the writer C. P. Surendra - on how Deepika Padukone could bring the curtain down on the Bollywood-actress-turned-sex-symbol-turned-a-vamp phenomenon.

Though I do not necessarily agree with everything that has been written, particularly the lines showering such lavish praise on Farah Khan's movie-directing skills - which I feel are sufficient enough only to make a spoof - and the movie itself, I especially like the lines below,

The air about Deepika is delicate. Its message is one of hope and innocence. For all Shah Rukh Khan's unerring entertainment instinct at display in OSO , the movie would not have been quite the classic thing it is but for the magic of Deepika's virginal radiance, a quality of her beauty which seems, as in the much wronged Shanti's role in OSO , to take the world for a more friendly place, less ravaged by Original Sins.
It's, really, a more affectionate look at Creation. She conducts herself as if redemption is yet possible. The fragile reassurance of that rather Christian knowledge transmutes itself in her as a spirit more at peace with the world. Deepika's persona is therefore complementary, not competitive in essence. You could love her, not just lust after her.

Read the complete piece, here.