என்னில்

இசைதரும் அமைதியில்
தமிழென்னும் அமிழ்தினில்

கவிதையின் சுவையினில்
குழந்தையின் சிரிப்பினில்

மழலையின் அர்த்தத்தில்
மெளனத்தின் சத்தத்தில்

பூக்களின் இதழ்களில்
பூமியின் இயக்கத்தில்

குழலின் இன்னிசையில்
குறளின் இல்லறத்தில்

கடல்களின் சீற்றத்தில்
இயற்க்கையின் தோற்றத்தில்

தோழமையின் மகிழ்ச்சியில்
தனிமையின் வீழ்ச்சியில்

கடந்தகால நிகழ்வுகளில்
எதிர்கால கனவுகளில்

விடியாத இரவுகளில்
தூங்காத விழிகளில்

உந்தன் நினைவுகளே
தவழுமென் மனதில்.

Law of Nature or Law of the Land?

Nature endowed fruits with great taste and nutrition, so that the animals that feed on them inadvertently help propagate the species by dropping the inedible seeds in a different place. But in a city where littering is a punishable offense, maybe with fines or community service, I often run into this quagmire - when eating fruits !

I buy my daily serving of 'fresh' cut fruit (coming straight from the refrigerator) and walk back to office passing by a long stretch of land with lots of soil and vegetation.

So is it right to launch the seed in some random direction in that area or drop it in the nearest rubbish bin ? I usually end up on nature's side. How about you ?

Quotable quotes

The quotes which appeal to you the most, happen to be the ones whose idea have always been hovering in your mindspace, but somebody beat you in saying it out with just the right words !

Example:
"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing,
wind braces us up, and snow is exhilarating;
there is really no such thing as bad weather,
only different kinds of good weather."
-John Ruskin (1819-1900)

The 5 second coma

The momentary glitch in the power coils of the brain, commonly experienced during trainings, presentations or seminars, leading to an increased perception of gravity in the head, followed by symptoms like a transcient blackout, loss of bloodsupply to the eyes, an invincible downward force on the eye-lids and a complete loss of consciousness, just when involuntary reflex action is needed to bring back the drooping head back to its default vertical position after about 5 seconds of uninterrupted bliss, despite the apparent danger of the condition which could degrade to longer timed comatose states, depending upon the relative score of the presenter on the SYS (Stretchy Yawn Scale) used to measure boredom.

---
Originally scribbled on the notepad during such a presentation to avoid getting the above symptom ! Due to some unexplained reason didnt feel the need to write shorter sentences..

Foto Flattery !

Arun:I uploaded a few images from Langkawi, Malaysia only yesterday night. Have you been there during your trip to Malaysia?

Davide: we didn't go to Langkawi, but I'll check your photos knowing that they will give me the idea of being there.

Arun : Im sorry, the pics might disappoint you in that regard. I've gradually lost interest in travel photography and the 'I was there too' kind of photos :)

Davide : I'm always pleased to see your photos, so that I don't think I'll find new ones different from the previous ones. I mean, the eyes catching these pictures are still yours...

Nightlife

The thing about insomnia is that there is almost nobody left in your own timezone, who is still awake to discuss about the problem, its causes or the symptoms you are suffering from.

And if you try to discuss, it could quickly escalate to be a communicable disease !

Me Versus We

Life on earth seems to be inherently unfair.
The sooner one realises and accepts it has higher chances of succeeding materially.
The sooner one realises and revolts it has higher chances of succeeding morally.
Does the former tends to be a Capitalist and the latter becomes a Socialist ?

The humble script-writer

...thats you and me !
Its a conclusion according to my newest half-formed analogy about man-god relationship.

Most Hindus like to believe in fate, and describe thalai-ezhuthu (script on the head, literally), as each living soul's destiny written by God himself. For a long time I wasnt sure to believe it or not.

The movie 'Bruce Almighty' was my first introduction to the concept of -free will, and I still have miles to cover in this topic. Wikipedia has this - "free will may imply that an omnipotent divinity does not assert its power over individual will and choices"

Im a believer but with a liking for the concept of free will - So Paragraph-2 and 3 above obviously contradict and right here Arun is forced to imagine his own understanding of his universe :-)

Lets put it this way - Each of our lives is a movie that lasts a lifetime. After a initial phase of babydom, each child is constantly forced to choose between options. Soon he grows to be an individual taking decisions big and small on a daily basis - He scripts the story of his life.

But just a story on paper doesnt make a movie.

Here comes the all powerful 'Super-Good' Producer-Director-Censor who buys the rights of your story, and decides to make a movie out of it.

He does the casting to choose all characters and their props (your genes, your nature, your parents, friends, colleagues, spouse(s), children and all the extras) .

He makes all of the scenes a reality, adds his own creative inputs to amplify or attenuate certain elements(success or failure of any human initiative).

He surprises and shocks his viewers(the humble script-writer included) with more twists and turns to it.

He finally cuts some of the scenes from the original script which does not suit his taste.

But despite all his efforts the success or failure of the movie still rests heavily on the strength of the original story - So lets go ahead a write a good one !!

Misnomer

How can those chosen to endure
whats always an exhausting labour,
And tolerate the greatest pain ever felt,
Be mindlessly called 'the weaker sex ' ? ? ?

The gift of senses

The chill of the very first drop of monsoon rain
The thrill of the climbing mountains despite the pain
The fragrance of the white blooms in the dark night
The variance of species in an equatorial rain-forest
The mellowness of the smooth ricotta cheese
The yellowness of the bright sunflower fields
The overwhelming spray of waves in the beach
The breathtaking sound of John Williams guitar
The beauty of the crimson sun, rising in the east
The intense burn of the spicy curry in a feast
...
All of this, that and more, I'm so yearning to share
Do you care to pause and have some time to spare ?

Freud's failures in forwards

Two kinds of men dont understand women-
Bachelors and husbands.

Marriages are made in Heaven.
And so is lightning and thunder.

If you can get it right the first time,
Skydiving is not for you.

Have you ever noticed that the guy who drives
faster than you on the road is a maniac,
and slower than you is always a moron.

Many people stop looking for work, once they get a job.

Its a complex world !

Wishing you a happy birthday is easy, simple and the obvious thing to do. But after all our regular mails, discussions about the plans for the birthday, and so on, it almost sounds like a redundant foregone conclusion that i would call or mail or sms you my "Happy birthday wishes", and say the procedural "many more happy returns of the day". Where there is a high level of predictabilty the communication content dwindles down to zero.But given the traditional nature of wishes and the relative importance of the day for you, it is almost imperative that I do it, despite the fact that it may not add much to our relationship or feelings about the day, especially after all the wishes, treats, gifts and greeting cards that you might have received from your friends, family.

Yet ,

I wish you a very happy birthday and a wonderful year ahead, and hope you achieve all the goals that you set out to.

Freedom Fries

Tonnes of workload.
Never ending activity
Shifting priorities
High quality work
Urgent deliveries
Project management tasks
Pending documentation
--No more a free man !!

--
"A free man is he who does not fear to go to the end of his thought."

Stress at work

Many strings keep pulling at you as if you were a puppet,
yet you are expected to act independently in decision-making !

The Unofficial Guide to Audio Engineering

Some interesting ideas which have been floating around, without much hope for a patent though..
------------------
- Embedded Mp3 player with randomized playlist function

Yeah, thats placed right in between the auditory cortex and long term memory and pattern recognition regions of the brain. And no-its not any artificial device waiting to be implanted by some top neuro-surgeon.

Its already there in most of us : The ability to ignore all the the noises of the world, sit down in remote corner or walk along any path or corridor AND switch on the music player in the mind. It can belt out all the favorite songs in your personal play-list. It even works in karaoke mode when needed, and can rewind, forward, and skip tracks as you please without even flicking a switch.

But some known bugs include -
Stuck-in-the-head song effect : Invariably an advertisement jingle, or not so famous song goes on an infinite loop, it just sticks on to you like an axe wedged into your cranium and you are afraid to remove or dislodge it from its position.

Forward works, but rewind button doesnt : Especially if you trying to remember the lyrics of the song, you are required to run thru most part of the song that comes before the words you want to remember

Lunatic dancer effect : Some of those peppy numbers want to make you shake a limb or two especially in solitary places, thinking that no-one is looking at you - only to discover that people have been discreetly giggling at your inexplicably spasmodic jerks in front of any reflective surface.

------------------
- Wireless Music File-transfer Protocol by Induction Technique

A simple procedure which works with people who share more or less the same tastes in music and language. The sender of the music file has to hum or sing a line or two of the song in relatively quiet environs , within the audible range of the receiver. And stop singing the song in a abrupt way.

The system works like a siphon does- once you initiate the flow of the fluid between the end points, there is no need for the siphoner to continue sucking the tube. Successful transmission of the song file is confirmed when the receiver or listener starts humming the tune or even singing it after a latency of 5 seconds or so.

The proper acknowledgement is got when the receiver exclaims in an irritated tone "Why did you put THAT song in my head ?? I dont like that one"
Or after completing singing that song, with a puzzled look " Eh?? How did I remember this song ? hey ..was it you humming that song a while ago ?"

Known bugs :
Collision Detect Error : When two people are simultaneously trying to send different files to one receiver , the Rx flags a violation as its detects garbled data reception and screams "Will one of you shut up? you are driving me nuts !"

Gender Mismatch anamolies: If a song transfer is attempted between people from different planets (2nd and 4th of Solar system), and if the contents of the song happen to be of the romantic kind, the data signals are sometimes misunderstood to be control signals,. The Receiver protests loudly and sometimes there is violent exchanges in the physical layer. But alternatively if the interpretation is correct and agreeable to both sides, then both sender and receiver continue to playback the same music file, which is commonly referred to in layman terms as 'duet' !

Pythagoras' Philosopher

Found a brilliant definition for 'Philosopher'
------
When Pythagoras was once asked who philosophers were, he replied that life seemed to him to resemble the games in the Olympic festival: some men sought glory, others to buy and sell at the games, and some men had come neither for gain nor applause, but for the sake of the spectacle and to understand what was done and how it was done.

In the same way, in life, some are slaves of ambition or money, but others are interested in understanding life itself. These give themselves the name of philosophers (lovers of wisdom), and they value the contemplation and discovery of nature beyond all other pursuits.

Football Invite.

Hello Boys (and a few rare gentlemen !)

Its been a while since we broke a few bones and tore some ligaments, so
by now most of them would be enjoying perfect health. Now I invite you
all to resume playing the beautiful game from next week.

Its at AMK ITE starting next wednesday . There is no floodlight for the
football field, but the ambient lighting from the nearby basketball
court was found to be sufficient for our style of play :-)

So wake up your soccer boots, those stinkin socks, your favourite
jerseys and that natural instinct to kick some balls !!
(meanwhile the girlfriends, wives, televisions and laptops can wait... )

Please do reply if you can come next week, (OR submit a 20 page report
on the excuses for why you cannot make it !)
Lets have a 'ball' !!

Yours kickingly,

When someone says NO..

July 17 - late in the evening ~ 9.30pm.. I was returning back from the flute class.. on the way back, walked for 15mins from bus stop to home.. thinking about my life and where im heading..All thatexertion made me feel hunger and thirst..more thirst for something different, that just the same old can of non-carbonated drink.. The 7-11shop was on the way home..

I have been an abstainer during all the time in school, college and university and first few years of work.. last few months i was getting more curious to try out alcoholic drinks of various kinds to sample them..wine, vodka, lager beer, bourbon, rum all found their way into my system at different social events, and sometimes even when i was alone.. So this time i wanted to try the Bacardi Breezers which were fruit juices with vodka just abt 5%alc.

I was telling myself, "i neednt worry abt the world's collective advice- just me and my decision whether to do it or not." I felt very much empowered by that thought.

Reaching 7-11, i saw that i didnt have enough cash in my purse. so went to the ATM, after a few attempts it simply refused to part with any cash..walked even further to another ATM, but found it closed. walked back to 7-11 and searched for all the coins i had on me..it was still not enough.. i had a collection of cards/cashcard/nets but for the price of the drink, the shopkeeper would not accept any card since it was lower than the minimum charge. and i didnt feel like buying other things just to have a bill greater than the minimum card amount.

I just stopped there, and recollected what had just happened..10 minutes ago i had thought that i was in control of my own life and decisions.. Now it looked like i just cant buy the thing i wanted to, despite having all the resources to buy it, but all the money seemed locked out of my reach.

I wasnt sure if it was intuition or confusion,

I dont think it was hesitation or desperation,

but i felt a definitive "Son, NO!!" from He,

who was resonating in all the space around me !

letter to mom & dad..

Dear Farmer,

You had sown the seeds,
You didnt desert them for greener pastures,
You took care of the young plants and watered them,
You removed the weeds and obstacles for their growth
Now they are big trees with flowers and fruits,
Ready to give their produce and cool shade to you.

Loving regards,
The Tree who was once a Seed.

Signature Styles

Just a compilation of email-signatures which adorned my otherwise boring mails :)
-----------------------------------------
Cliches are often just hard truths tamed by familiarity

A free man is he who does not fear to go to the end of his thought.

Efficiency is Intelligent Laziness.

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and Im not sure anout the former.

"I Think;Therefore I Am"- a hyper-fuzzy-neuron of an insomniacal moron !

Never underestimate the power of stupid people.

"Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it
the seed of an equal or greater benefit" --- Napoleon Hill

"When you see the teeth of a lion, dont assume the lion is smiling"
---- An Iraqi Proverb

~~-- Where words fail, music speaks --~~

-- ~~-- Where words fail, even silence speaks --~~

=========Even if you are on the right track,===========
=========you'll get run over if you just sit there...!

Experience : The nice sounding name that men give to their mistakes.

I just stumbled on a great New-Year Resolution but its exactly the same as last
year's - "I will start Jogging "

-- "USA Today has come out with a new survey:
Apparently three out of four people make up 75 percent of the population."
- David Letterman

> Do not take life seriously. You never get out of it alive.

If I knew what I was so anxious about,
I wouldn't be so anxious. - Mignon Mclaughlin

I have blood group with an attitude -B+

If you see someone without a smile, give them some of yours.

I saw nrob yadot

Today made me wonder what have I gained in these 26 years of worldly existence..
I thought and researched and calculated and found the exact answer :

73.4 kilograms

The disclaimer quote

There is NO single philosophy or quote or law or proverb which is universally applicable at all people at all times and every possible situation. So dont go searching for one.

And that comes back to my old favourite- All generalisations are false including this one !

Oh See Sea !

its a rare disease - I usually cannot go without replying to all the personal emails from friends.
Which means that unless the other party stops replying, the mails would never cease !
I have observed such odd behaviour to conversations, chats, telephone, any form of communication.
Does that make me an OCC (Obsessive Compulsive Conversationist ) ??

Broken compass

Life is like a raging tornado,
and Im just a bumblebee.
Its takin me just everywhere
and I forget where I wanna be!

Fictitious Facts

Most human minds are always curious, and interested to know about things , however useless.
And where such curiosity cannot be fed with information, its the imagination that takes over  !

 

Enjoyed each one of these from a fwd..

because they sound a lot like my email signatures.... !

Here are some nice Dilbert's one liners ..:

1. I say no to alcohol, it just doesn't listen.

2. A friend in need is a pest indeed.

3. Marriage is one of the chief causes of divorce.

4. Work is fine if it doesn't take too much of your time.

5. When everything comes in your way you're in the wrong lane.

6. The light at the end of the tunnel may be an incoming train.

7. Born free, taxed to death.

8. Everyone has a photographic memory, some just don't have film.

9. Life is unsure; always eat your dessert first.

10. Smile, it makes people wonder what you are thinking.

11. If you keep your feet firmly on the ground, you'll have
trouble putting on your pants.

12. It's not hard to meet expenses, they are everywhere.

13. I love being a writer... what I can't stand is the paperwork.

14. A printer consists of 3 main parts: the case, the jammed
paper tray and the blinking red light.

15. The guy who invented the first wheel was an idiot. The guy
who invented the other three, he was the genius.

16. The trouble with being punctual is that no one is there to
appreciate it.

17. In a country of free speech, why are there phone bills?

18. If you cannot change your mind, are you sure you have one?

19. Beat the 5 O'clock rush, leave work at noon!

20. If you can't convince them, confuse them.

21. It's not the fall that kills you. It's the sudden stop at the
end.

22. I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder.

23. Hot glass looks same as cold glass. - Cunino's Law of Burnt
Fingers

24. The cigarette does the smoking you are just the sucker.

25. Someday is not a day of the week .

Friendly strangers

It is not humanely possible for one man to fully understand the problem faced by another, to exactly the same magnitude and seriousness. And viceversa, its impossible to accurately describe all the feelings, emotions attached to an issue to another person. So when people search for that special friend who 'understands', its always bound to be a futile, never-ending search. The maximum that one can hope for in friendships and relationships and avoid disappointment by doing so, is to find people who 'get the idea'. Nothing more, nothing less.

So its true that you are your best friend, and everybody else (other than God?) is just a friendly stranger !

Sat. Nit. Fvr.

I survive the week, to live in the weekend !

And this weekend peaked right in the middle of the weekend- Saturday night. It all unfolded in the Ministry of Sound at Clarke Quay - neon environs, slick interiors, graffiti walls, eye-catching lighting , groovy dance floors and of course great music.

An interesting experiment i tried on myself today was to try to switch between extremes in state of the mind. It sounds strange and impossible, but i could feel it happen. The ability to control my feelings nudging it to the extremes, than letting it control me was empowering..

> I pushed myself to feel super excited while dancing, and after a while suddenly switched myself to really calm state even though engulfed by pounding techno music.

>Tried to be extremely happy and enjoying the company of friends and crowd, and then to turn off completely and feel solitude in my own personal island while standing in a sea of humanity

>Cracked jokes, injected humour and laughed hard, and soon switched to the see pathos and grappled with the seemingly pointless human existence.

I didnt worry about the Action-observation-inference of the above experiment , but it was just interesting to perform !
-----

Arunmozhi

I always used to try moving away from those I thought as negative people.
But all I have to learn, is to stay away from negative thoughts and opinions.
 

Pro

Pondering one day about the kind of employees who work in my office,we came up a quad-band classification to describe them -

There are some extremely professional and workaholic people,
There are some very unprofessional and lethargic people,
There are some who are just professionals,
And there are some who are just people - like me !

Use-and-throw words

Wat hapens wen you hav comited a stoopid tipografical eror, but firmlie beleiv tat acsepting mistaks howevar trivial they are,  is an humeeliating defeet to one's eegoe ?   - Invent a word like this one :

Lickled :
Being  lickled is exactly the kind of feeling/incident, when you are trying to type any word starting with 't', an involutary muscular spasm that causes your hand-eye coordination to go awry and make one depress the 'l' key instead of 't'.   its a very specific word with limited use not worth committing to ur memory !
 

Another Friday evening

This article had a definite effect on me, from the time I read it a few months ago.

Today I was wandering quite aimlessly near the mall in Tampines, half hoping to find some library there. After some uninterested browsing in the Levi's, Fila, Fox, Bum equipment showrooms I just moved on without buying a thing. Disappointed with my own botched up shopping spree, I decided to help the Singaporean economy by spending just 1 dollar to buy the irresistible curry puff of Old Chang Kee. I walked to a side wall, leaned on it and started to nibble at the puff.

Sitting on a small stool and leaning on a pillar , some 10 feet away from me was this 50 something old Chinese man with a saxophone started to produce some sounds. We were separated by a corridor where a streaming mass of pedestrians walking to and fro. The mobility of the people and stillness of this man was a strange sight indeed, and for a while was a bit distracting for me. But the man kept playing a melody and didnt seem to be bothered by the hurrying rabbits around him, and thats when I noticed he was blind.

Now as the music picked up, and the image of the player is only what i saw amidst the blurry chaos between us, and I relaxed to some soothing music to please my ears, and the puff satisfying my palette. One does get much better music in a concert in Esplanade Concert hall,but they allow you to simultaneously enjoy a hot curry puff inside!

After a couple of songs, I was ready to leave, I walked up to him, dug out all the coins i had in my pocket into his money box - probably helped him for his next meal.

Then I went to him while he was resting between 2 songs, moved close to his ears and spoke softly "very nice music Uncle..good night ! " - probably helped him for his next song, as he thanked me with a warm smile that truly belongs only to a performer of the arts.

Arunmozhigal

Law of attraction of headphone wires :
Every wire in this universe will entangle with every other wire with a force thats directly proportional to the product of the user's urgent need and presence in public and inversely proportional to the square of the time it was left unused.

The IC Designer's analogy of Child-Birth

Ever wondered how closely phases in the birth of a child follows a typical integrated chip development cycle so closely ? If you havent yet, then start now!

The relationship between designer(mom) and internal customer(dad) within the parent company is key to success of the project. Its starts with marketing presentations, feasibility studies, and project planning(courting,proposals,marriage). The designer and internal customer work closely to create the initial requirement spec(zygote).That happens only after severe brainstorming sessions to choose between millions of competing ideas, the most potent one is chosen for implementation(fertilisation process).

The quality of the final product primarily depends on the quality the initial spec (genes) and a typical SoE (System on Embryo) project duration is 38 weeks. Except in the case of identical twins or genetic clones, Intellectual Property rights are in place and there is no violation of copyrights(unique individual)

Once the top-level entity is declared and inputs outputs systems identified, the subsystems start to be declared(differentition) and individual workstations (stem cells)are assigned to start to work on development of systems like neural-network processor core(brain) , various functional macrocells(internal organ systems), analog sensors(eyes,nose,ear) and actuators(hand/legs).There is a constant need for power resources and information to fuel the growth(umblical cord thru placenta)

Project development is monitored by accrediting agencies - Doctors with ultra-sound. The system responds to external inputs like sound, light and many of its output vectors are registered by the designer. Well before the final delivery various simulations have been run (heart, organs start functioning) and actuators begin testing phase inside the womb itself(kicking and moving inside).

Project delivery is a difficult time for the designers getting very little rest/sleep during the phase. Every team concerned with the project is really tensed and praying for a good delivery on time for fully functional first silicon with minimal bugs. Tape-out occurs after all verification has been done (head-out in the case of a baby!)

Basic Operating Systems (new-born's instincts) are put in place in the ROM memory and remaining memory will be field programmable for customisation by external customers(parents,school,society). This is one of the finest examples of hardware/software codesign, and the complexity of the software increases with the maturity of the product. After the first silicon is up and running, there is huge support phase (15-20years) needed from the designers to make sure all the bugs are cleared up and the product reaches maturity(puberty) and ready for volume production(career).

------------------------------------
Reference:
http://www.spuc.org.uk/ethics/abortion/human-development

Punnagai Desam

Being left to play around with trio of wonderful kids, I realised that they were all spreading an infectious strain of a long extinct species in me - innocent laughter. The smiles they sprang forth were continuous, bountiful and unstoppable. All the while their parents were arguing and debating over family issues, property hassles and inheritance uncertainties.

I could only think to myself, that if only smiles were quantifiable and counted like currency, the kids would be far far richer and generous than their parents!

The old railway line

Single, deserted and largely unused
writing many letters in rotting wood

Here is one rusty metal rail for another
giving warm company to each other

Their beautiful and parallel lives
always joins hands at the horizons

And so they run to it, wishing to meet
but never'll come closer than three feet!

The Cost of a (:-)

I was jogging alone the other day, late in the evening. It has rained before, so my run included a few leaps and hops to avoid the muddy puddles of water all along the track. So much of my attention was focussed on trying not to step into one, that I hardly noticed the few pedestrians that cold night.

I had just crossed a group of people walking in the opposite direction, and something made me come to a shuddering halt. It was the sound of a whole-hearted "Hello!!" from one of the walkers. I stopped, quite surprised(or shocked?) and turned around to see who it was - a complete stranger with a warm smile on his face.

Now this hasnt happened to me too often in Singapore. As if its a disease that prevails only in large cities, human interactions especially between complete strangers is kept to a minimum here. A variety of vending machines, automatic ticketing machines, tap-n-go cards in public transport, self-checkout modules in libraries, efficient street-maps more recently GPS in NokiaN95s, only make sure you can live your entire day without bothering anybody with a query.

Strangers in trains and buses sit glued to the mobiles tapping smses or listening to their ipods in their own world. Even inside the confines of an elevator, people prefer to admire their shoe-laces than look up and say 'hi' to other passengers. Some people avoid eye-contact at any
cost, and so even if you smile at them it is not going to be noticed. But that doesnt mean all these men and women are unfriendly - they are just reluctant to start a conversation with a stranger. Eventually the only people who talk to you are people whom you already know-friends,
colleagues, acquaintances etc.

So why did this nice stranger say 'Hello' to me ? What arms him with this disarmingly friendly attitude, which prompted me to wish back "Hi..How do you do ?" The answer came in a moment, when another walker gently took Mr.Smiler's arm and made him continue his walk. I soon realised that he was one of the trainees in MINDS-an organisation that imparts life-skills for mentally challenged people, undergoing his daily walking routine.

I leave it to you here, to muse about this incident, like I was lost in thoughts, while walking the remaining distance back to my home.

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

- If you see someone without a smile, give them some of yours.

Frozen Brains on Fridays

On Friday evenings, my body shows ample symptoms to indicate that blood sugar is depleted and I need an ice-cream to save myself from certain brain-death. Today I felt the same, and marched to the cafeteria and digged the freezer and took out a Cornetto.

Before the bill counter, I noticed that they had stocked slices of cheezy pizza in the warm box- a new welcome addition, to the otherwise boring array of curry puffs and rock-solid muffins. The manager of the cafeteria, walked past and I stopped him to ask :

I: "Excuse me, Which one of these is fattier ? the icecream or the pizza?"

He: (became serious, seemed to remember his nutrition and dietitics
lessons and replied) " Obviously the ice-cream has more fat, Sir"

I: "Then let me buy the icecream !'

He: "eh..?"

Insomnabulistic Ittiac

Having been a long term insomniac, I've gone thru various stages of emotions, experiments and efforts to fall asleep. Relaxation techniques, breath control, soothing music, tiring exercises in the evening, reading books, boring conversations even some stolen red wine- I've tried them all.

Sleep would remain elusive for an hour or two sometimes more, eating away a chunk of my daily allowance of 8 hours, all that time spent on bed thinking, musing, wandering, planning, conspiring and day-dreaming during the night ! As I found that sleep wasnt a obediant servant to come at my clap of hands, I slowly gave hope and browsed or watched TV till late, making sleep deprivation a more acute problem.

One particular day, after all my room-mates had fallen asleep, I was so frustrated and wanted to talk to somebody. Called home, (2.5hrs behind me) and bored my family members for a while, and they gave another never-ending list of ideas all over again, many of which I had tried out before, but in vain. We even considered sleeping pills, but preferred to stick to natural remedies. Despite their best efforts, nothing convinced me to be a new idea, and made me grope in the dark (literally!). Slouched back to my bed, felling depressed and wondering "Why is it such a major challenge to fall asleep everyday??"

I was so agitated with this thing by now, and was reduced to changing the contents of my daily bed-time prayer, and just asked God one simple request - to give some sleep without having to try so hard.

I dont remember staying awake for more than 5 minutes from that moment on !

My point is not to ask for some divine sleepin pills everyday! It was the swiftness with which my prayer was answered that really astounded me. This may be a little trivial thing for most people reading this, but the desperateness of my prayer seemed to have generated a non-maskable interrupt in God's bus interface, and He too seemed to suddenly decide "ok, lemme give this poor fella an immediate response, as this is indeed the right time to grant the wish!"

Its 1.51am while Im typing this, and I have overshot my own 'gotobed' call, but this incident is worth remembering for a longer time, atleast for me.

Music at L'Enfant

The poet Billy Collins once laughingly observed that all babies are born with a knowledge of poetry, because the lub-dub of the mother's heart is in iambic meter. Then, Collins said, life slowly starts to choke the poetry out of us. It may be true with music, too.

from a great article-
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html
-----
Meter/Metre Is the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that make up a line of poetry. Meter gives rhythm and regularity to poetry.

Iambic meter

An end stressed two syllable foot e.g. from In Memoriam by Lord Tennyson

I DREAMED | there WOULD| be SPRING | no MORE
Iambic is an example of rising meter.

Animal Instincts

I received a ppt about 7 (or 11?) great virtues to learn from the life of an eagle, and how its much better, honorable and tactful than other birds in its behaviour.

Its amazing how humans imbibe great lessons intended for our consumption, from the survival strategies of another species. Nature can inspire good habits, virtues, works of art and literature and even scientific inventions.

But there was a contradiction somewhere - How can we assert one species being superior to other in terms of human notions of civilised behaviour? Each of them have their own design of varying complexity, a natural code of conduct, mechanism of survival to thrive in its respective environment. Each of them have their set of behaviours to succeed, which only we judge positive or negative, but for them its just their nature.

If you watch carefully, the fight for survival in every possible species

-unicellular protozoa to huge ecosystems like Great Barrier coral reef

-the odd-shaped sea-cucumber to advanced dynamics of the cheetah

-the symbiotic relationships between different species, and the predatory behaviour on the other hand

-the scavenger vultures to the hunter eagles - all of them are just doing their job .... to exist !

Questionable

Prior to attending a Q&A session by Sri Sri Ravishankar, I did this little exercise -

Most deeply philosophical questions may not have a concrete and decisive answer, but a quiet mind meditating on a question might actually know the answer. But I was simply interested to know 'The Question' in the minds of people, if there is any trend, or if there are questions I
never thought about, etc..

I started asking people "What is the single biggest question in your mind now ? If there was one question u wud like to ask an all-answering machine what would you ask ?"

I got quite a few till now, and here is the compilation :

Gopal: Naan en Piranthen ? (Why was I born?)

Arun : Is there a perfectly sane person ? Or is everybody mad in his own way ?

Ashwin : Can happiness be simplified into a simple formula ?

Vel: Whats the truth about existence/non-existence of God ?

Ghana : Whats my journey ?

Jega : Why question ?

Ravi: How not to get bored with life ?

Siva: Who created God and gave him his powers ?

Thilaga: Why is there so much disparity among humans- discrimination due to race, religion etc.

Samuel: When is the END ?

Layhong: Why am I here?

Cath: Hows life really in Heaven ?

Jayanthi : When will a day change from 24 hours to 36 hours(at least) ?

Raj: "If 'everyone' knew what they are supposed to do with their lives (the so called purpose) will they work towards achieving it (leaving what they are doing currently, getting a change of lifestyle, like sanyasa perhaps) causing a change in the world (for better or for worse) or is there any force that exists to prevent them from doing that? (people don't realise their purpose even though they are moving toward it unknowingly, as it will affect the delicate balance of the world in which case there won't be any perceptible change in the world). A corollary of this would be "Is there any force that prevents us from realising our purpose?" In the above, world is not
limited to planet Earth. Please find a simple answer to my question.

Ananth: Why do people think so much and ask complicated questions?

Divya: Is it all written on our heads ? (is everything that happens predestined?)

Shi Wen : How can I find myself?

Sudha: Why should the beautiful flower die in few days..why it has to blossom and then why it should wither? why???????

---
"What is the ultimate purpose of life?" was posed, and yesterday Sri Sri who gave detailed and satisfying answers to many other questions, replied to this one with a smile :"Those who know the answer wont say it, and those who say something dont know the answer yet! "

A stressbusting idea

If all humans were made of piezo-electric materials, imagine how much electricity could be derived out of converting all the accumulated stress into a potential ?? Cities would be producing the most energy due to their high populations, and we all could put all our stress to good use.

Balance of Terror

I am extra lucky to have this mean machine at my home- which makes me feel happy or sad, depending on what I want..! Before you let your imagination run wild, let me tell you that its a simple weighing scale gone wrong.

When stood upon, the scales point to some number - when body weight is shifted slightly more to the left leg, the weight decreases- And when I shift the balance to the right it increases exponentially. With such amazing linearity, it is one instrument you just dont want to believe. But on the positive side, on days when I want to feel supremely positive, I stand entirely on my left leg..! (Scale reading = (My weight) - 8 kilos, and lets not fix a value to the variable My weight)

The point is not about some malfunctioning springs. Its just that this is the only balance I have control over, and know how to get pleasing results. The other balances..?

We keep listening to this 'One should learn to strike a balance between bla-bla-blah'-- Think about it ; Is that insightful or useful or atleast interesting to hear? Without any proper definition for what exactly is the balance, most people are still left groping in the dark, figuring out the perpetually oscillating value shown in the scales of balance. Lemme describe 2 big ones -

Professional/Leisure activity : Among many things that young adults writing their resume or attracting their partners, like to portray themselves as, ia a well rounded personality. The ability to juggle a profession (to earn for the rice), and leisure activities (flavor the rice with sambar,rasam) is something everybody recommends. But as the author found out, it aint that easy.

It starts with 5 weekdays-2 sleepdays- 5 WD-2 SD.. kinda routine - leading to the jolting realisation that 28.5714% of ones life is being cruelly wasted. Then follows a scheme of enrolling into various sports, classes and other voluntary activities over a period of time designed to enrich life. The weekends get packed slowly, and the important yet insane things-to-do spills over into weekday evenings and nights(like this blog). Today I just realised I am more relaxed during regular work hours that outside or weekends..! Gotta work to achieve a balance in this.

Food and Diets : "Eat in moderation" claims every health bulletin. Good idea , but whats moderate ? I absolutely hate it when they gives figures in calories, which is quite immeasurable when I think of the variety of stuff we eat throughout the day.

Follow the food pyramid says the wise one. But wise ones havent seen through the different food pyramids thats available - for meat eaters, for lean meat eaters, for vegetarians, for vegans, for non-dairy diets, low cholestrol diet, low saturated fat diet, low carb diet, e-diets , and then ofcourse the McSpicy Double meal. All this for somebody for forgets what he is talking about, when interrupted by the very thought of lunch !
-----
By now you must be wondering where or when is this guy going to end this winding passage on the incompetance of regular humans to know what to do, and how much. You might even debate if you should spend time reading blogs in future, of people who do not want to think aloud but just type it down and forget all about it.

My last word here, would be to learn to strike a balance on the amount of time you spend online and the time rather spent on other equally worthless activities!

A lifelong query

The average man's life consists of :
Twenty years of having his mother ask him where he is going,
Forty years of having his wife ask the same question;
And at the end, the mourners wondering too...

(from an email fwd)

Interesting twist to my blog title !

Trudging on the treadmill

No human behaviour irritates me as much as seeing people jogging on a treadmill in a air-conditioned gym.

Agriculture, cattle-rearing, house-hold errands, probably every other manual work made sure one thing- people get their food, and people burn the calories so obtained by its consumption. Then came the flint, then the wheel, then abacus, then some electricity, then the steam engine, then Integrated chip, followed by the Internet.

All these stepping stones in the history of mankind have made sure that we shall not sweat to get our work done. Much of the hard-work, chores and errands have been reduced to a flick of a switch, turning of a knob or click on an icon - all designed to give man, his wife & kids some well-deserved 'quality time' spent together. And along came the uninvited guests called obesity, hyper-tension and arteriosclerosis.

Now people drive to the gym 2km away, beat the heat by rushing to the airconditioned building, take the lift to the 2nd floor- just to 'sweat it out' on the hi-tech treadmill which can show everything from amount of calories burnt to number of molecules of glucogen which have been converted to sugar and used up in this session. And after such hardwork comes the subtle reward of a hydrating isotonic zero-cal Diet-coke and a quarter-pounder hamburger with extra-mayonaise!

------ The author takes a severely opposing stance on all this hypocrisy, by staying at home relishing some soft cheesecake with blueberry topping, and perpetually planning to 'start' jogging outdoors from next week.

Bangkok's smiling bargains

Have you ever felt that haggling with a road-side vendor could be a pleasurable activity ? Me, never !!

I have constantly avoided shops where there is no fixed price, not because I dont like good deals, but because I suck at bargaining. Even during the rare times when I have managed to stike great deals, the joy is always short-lived - mostly somebody will pop up to say that I have been duped and my best deal was actually double the price he got the same thing for. Ignorance is bliss ,sometimes !

The streets and bylanes of Sukhumvit, Bangkok is where you could possibly find everything from Japanese samurai swords to Thai-silk ties to second-hand(read stolen) mobile phones. Here, bargaining is the only activity that provides such guilt-free pleasure, when compared to the multi-cuisine restaurants providing material for some unfettered
gluttony, or others inviting people to commit the original sin for a price.

I learnt a new language right there, and its not Thai- Calculator language, the entire process of monetary negotiations and business transactions are done between people who dont share a common language- using a simple calculator. The shopkeeper punches his price in the machine, and invites you to key in your best offer, and this process loops till a deal is struck. This also ensures that you dont struggle with your limited Thai vocabulary, and the shopkeeper doesnt murder English by saying "thlii unthleth baaaah" (300 baht) and perplexing you by showing just two fingers in a 'V' symbol !

If anybody witnessed from a distance, me and some shopkeepers bargaining, you could hardly take us to be bargaining to reach a common price. The smiles in the faces, the loving intonations in the voices, and the warm friendly gestures would look more like we are some long
separated cousins meeting after years. And in the end after much talk peppered with liberal smiles and cajoling most shopkeepers would agree to a price thats 30-40 % of their initial quote.

And the best part was, even after haggling for quite a while, you decide against buying
something that does not satisfy you tastes, you will never get a disgruntled look or a angry curse hurled from the shopkeeper. Now, doesnt that sound like a bargain paradise ??

Poetry by email forwards

Rainshine

There is nothing more beautiful than a rainbow,
But it takes both the sun and rain to create one
And for life to be well rounded and colourful,
It takes both joy and some sorrow to live one.

----

Some words

A careless word may kindle strife
A cruel word may wreck a life
A timely word may level stress
A loving word may heal and bless.

---

Soul Searching

This question about existence of a thing called soul has been haunting me. Are the number of souls on earth a constant or are they increasing in number? If rebirth is to be believed then how come the population of humans has been on a rise for a long time now ? And where do the new
souls come from ?

Maybe some insects and reptiles and birds and mammals found spiritual advancement thru good karma(?) and were born as humans. But I had no theory to prove the numbers of other species is decreasing to compensate our rise, till recently.

The explosive growth of humans and all their activities in land-clearing for agriculture, large-scale fishing, CO2 exhaling vehicles and industries and a variety of polluting activities has made sure we kill every other species at an unprecedented rate. The web of life has been
cut , and the rate of extinction of all species other than flourishing homo sapiens has been on a rise. Is it time to worry yet?

But rebirth has probably made sure that the souls of the members of now extinct species are reborn as humans. Proof: I can see some people have just about enough intellectual capability as dodos do (or did). Tyrannosaurus' future generations thrive in the corporate world enjoying
the cut-throat competition. Some men do pranks that would make endangered orangutans blush, and others have the fashion-sense of a red-eyed tree-frog. Many people in country where once bisons thrived and were hunted down, now pile on enough fat to look like them, even making obesity an ailment !
------
For a non-satirist yet nice introduction to effects of human activities leading to environmental problems- check out daversity.com.

Every

Every flower I see
reflects your face
inspiring me to dream
and
Every melody I hear
sounds like your voice
and giving it a theme

Every breath I take
takes in your name
to make me sigh,
and
Every day spent
without you with me
is like living a lie.

Every unspoken word
of my lips want to say
"I love you"
and
Every unheard whisper
in my ears longs to hear
"I love you too "

Spurious Transitions

This is a just an angry outburst at a common practice driven by an almost irrational logic. It has been nagging me for quite a while and I have to put it down somewhere.

emails are everywhere around us. Office work revolves around email and telephone with a lot of information transacted in this form. Official documents, explanatory images, illustrative media, useless forwards, unwanted spam and ofcourse plain text is transmitted and received in huge quantities every second.

But something irks me whenever I see it- a very short text message almost like an sms, no longer than a sentence sent by email, and whats more a inexplicably long 'Disclaimer note' (sometimes 2 paragraphs long) automatically appended by the company's mail server to every outgoing mail.

When I see such a thing my weird mind penetrates the physical layers of networking and stands as a silent observer of the atrocity taking place at a micro level- Every ASCII character is 8 or 16 bytes long and for each character the bits toggle by about half the number of bits. Much of our logic circuitry is CMOS based which means the major consumption is dynamic and occurs where there is toggling of bits. An sample disclaimer(found below) is 432 characters long.

Imagine The Amount Of Switching Taking Place (ITAOSTP) for each email sent by an employee in the mail server.
ITAOSTP when each email passed through a network with its own series of repeaters, routers and switches.
ITAOSTP when the email goes thru external network and the internet, passing thru more cables and repeaters.
ITAOSTP when the email reaches the other end till it reaches the screen of the receiver
ITAOSTP when the email has multiple recipients in various locations.
ITAOSTP when each employee sends tens of mails per day
ITAOSTP when the mails and sent back and forth thru reply-alls and cc-s and bcc-s.
ITAOSTP when all the mails sent by all the employees of an organisation have the same dumb disclaimer note.
ITAOSTP when many big organisations have mail servers adding their own fanciful disclaimer notes.

I cannot imagine the amount of energy wasted this way. I dont even want to imagine about the congestion and time overhead caused by the disclaimers.

All said and written, these responsible thoughts never occur to me whenever I recieve an multiple-MB videoclip as a forward - the content being something like'Planets funniest animals' or 'wacky commercial for cola' . I never understood why !!

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

"Note: If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If
you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message and deleting it from your computer. Thank you. "

என் சுவாசக்காற்றே

கரங்கள் இரண்டில் மென்மையாய் பற்றி
என்னருகே உன்னை அணைத்து இருக்கி
என் சுவாசக்காற்றினை உன்னுள் ஊற்றி
மூங்கில் தோள்களை உடையவள் பெயர் சூட்டி
நித்தமும் உன்னையே முத்தமிட்டு இசைப்பேன்
மூங்கிலால் இறைவனே படைத்தறுளிய - என் குழலே !

Hidden in a haystack

"Selfishness is Immoral"-Swami Vivekananda
-easy to understand, tough to absorb, impossible to follow for most people.

"The world has enough for everyone's need, not everyone's greed"- MK Gandhi

In the recent past, I have interacted with people, who seemed to justify an immoral, illegal act with descriptions like its the truth , its practical, its common-place, its done by everybody and so on.

Are bad acts only restricted to deeds done by a minority, but shunned by the majority ? Can selfishness be made to look like perfectly normal, just because a large majority of people are selfish ? Why does the world have so many religions and prophets and philosophers who seem to understand and propagate great ideals, but are never followed by most people ?

Gasping..

Like the solitary pearl-diver
Seeking the glitter in an oyster,
Has to return from the silent depths
To take his lungful of breath..

I live my lonely life, chase my lively dreams,
Across the muddy paths and icy streams,
But long to return to my turtledove
And claim a heartful of love.

Proverbs and Converbs

Have you ever been irritated by friends or relatives, who always seem to have the perfect proverb or quote for any situation ? If you listen carefully to them, and listen to many of them over time, you will come across one undeniable truth - Every Proverb has a Converb, and every Quote has its Anti-Quote. So you can say something wise for a given situation, and say something witty for exactly the opposite situation too. I was also told about the existence of de-motivational quotes brimming with pragmatism and common-sense as opposed to lofty sounding motivational quotes. So the conclusion is my favourite one- 'every generalisation is false including this one' !

Examples: Quote:Antiquote

Q: Money cant buy happiness
A:Whoever says Money cant buy happiness, doesnt know where to shop.

Q: United we stand, divided we fall
A: Familiarity breeds contempt

Q: Nothing is impossible
A: If you think its impossible, you are probably right.

Q: Success is a habit worth cultivating
A:Failures are stepping stones to success.

Q: If you dont plan for future, you are planning for failure
A: Why dwell in the past or worry about future, while you can still enjoy the present ?

Q: What you can do today dont postpone it till tomorrow
A: What you can do tomorrow dont do it today.

Q: A smile can make short work of any difficulty
A: When a lion is showing its teeth, dont think its smiling.

Q:Speech is silver, silence is golden
A: Where words fail, even silence speaks

Q: Knowledge is power
A: Ignorance is bliss !

A screwed up repair attempt is self-satisfaction

People get satisfaction out of weird things and actions. Sometimes a dismal failure can still lead to a psychological candy.

I had a few horrifying jellyfish-shaped (dust/scratches?) artifacts on the image sensor of my digital camera, which led to ugly shadows in every image shot with it. This meant spending a few moments in Photoshop to correct every image, and was back-breaking work given the number of photos I tend to shoot in any outing. I decided to take charge of cleaning the sensor myself, armed with the self-help knowledge from umpteen websites who readily disclaimed their suggestions to be risky and not recommended by camera manufacturers. Tried out something last weekend, and didnt help much, so decided to give it to Canon service.

The guy had one look at the sensor and asked if I tried anything heroic !! I was informed that the sensor had not only scratches which cannot be removed, but also stains from the methanol used as solvent. A hefty bill was what remained after all the valiant efforts.

But somehow I felt I would have been more disappointed with the high price, if I hadnt tried anything myself. Somehow one doesnt mind paying the price for something he screws up, when compared to something that happens beyond his control. The repair still had to be done anyway, but it just felt better adding a little more damage to it, before bearing the cost.

A longish birthday wish

The buoyant waves of joy
that do not ebb with time

the suddens bursts of laughter
that doesnt dissolve like lime

the bliss of soulful music
ears to which you'd lend

the company of good friends
who dont desert at the end

the gentle love of dear ones
that cannot fade over ages

the blessings of the almighty
that doesnt dilute in stages

Wishing you all these and more
on this beautiful day and forever.

Cardiac Arrest

Blood finds its way
in and out of my heart,
But why can't U
find a way out ??

Blood finds its way
in and out of ur heart,
But why can't I
find a way in ??

Smiles that last for miles

I got a notion of genuineness of a smile while observing the different managers and receptionists in the hotel where I stayed. Somehow we unconsciously find some people in PR jobs to be friendly and warm, while others maybe nice yet cold and business-like. So I evolve the theory-

Measurement of the Persistence of Smile as an Quantitative Indicator of its Genuineness- (yeah its a white-paper!)

When I interact with a person who smiles gloriously when talking to me, and if the smile dies out quickly after the conversation or in the breaks when the person is interrupted for another task I usually feel its fake.
On the other hand if the smile in the face of the person persists for atleast a few seconds after the interaction is over, and diffuses slowly while the person concentrates on his/her next task, I feel much more comfortable with such people.
But on the other end of the scale, if the smile lasts too long, and with the same curvature to be meaningful, it just looks like cosmetic addition to a face- some television ad models or actors in public often fall under this category.

So when you smile at me next time, remember... Im still watching you after you have turned away too.. :)

Three old men and a serving of inspiration

Observing seemingly ordinary people, can be interesting and sometimes even thought-provoking. Over a period of a little over one month in Italy, I saw and reflected on the actions of 3 old men I met in different restaurants, who demonstrated something to me.

-----

One was the sole owner, cook, waiter of a warm and nicely decorated pizzeria, in his late sixties, and walked with a slight limp in one leg. After ordering some pizza in his shop, I was observing his style of work- he was completely enjoying himself- whistling melodiously to the music in his FM radio, sharing a joke or two with his customers and ofcourse cooking and serving the food himself, and cleaning the dishes.

Somehow, he seemed to be a classic example of a follower of karma yoga.

-----

Strangely I always seemed to have great difficulty in opening plastic caps of the water or juice bottles sold. I would forever struggle with my forefinger and thumb clasping the cap, and the other hand gripping the bottle, with the facial expression of a feather-weight wrestler being pinned to the ground by a super-heavyweight- till someone else in my table or a waiter would offer to open it for me.

Im a buffet-type restaurant in Termini station in Rome, an old gentleman came to sit in a table across mine, carrying all his foodstuff in a tray, settling down and starting his meal. He paused in between took his water bottle, placed it on his chair inbetween his thighs where he held
it tight, and opened it quite easily with one hand. He couldnt use the other hand, simply because it wasnt there !

- With the right tools and some smart work, you can even do without a extra helping hand.

---

"Buona sera Signore ! Prego.." welcomes this 60-something waiter with a warm smile in the many evenings I ate at this eateria near my hotel. Knowing my difficulty in understanding Italian, he would offer helpful translations of the menu, the plate-of-the-day etc. And he would also remember my preference for vegetarian dishes from my second visit onwards and help me get what I want.

Moving quickly yet graciously across the spaces, and serving food in a well rehearsed style, he was miles ahead of his much younger colleagues in quality of service. One a day he was working alone, and seemed to be everywhere, I just offered to take my drink and salad from the fridge
myself. He stopped me in my tracks, politely sent me back to my table, and said with a another smile "I will bring it to you. Its my job" - such pride in what he does and mastery of rules of the customer service game.

Raaja Paarvai

I always used to wonder, if the world is so beautiful with just the
narrow spectrum that we can see, How much better it would be for God!

"At frequencies of visible light , many dielectrics become less lossy.
Materials such as glass,water are virtually loss-less w.r.t visible
light and hence transparent. Considering that our eyes are made mostly of water,
we are fortunate that water is not opaque at those frequencies.

A striking fact of nature is that the absorption coefficient of water rises more than 7
decades (factor of 10 million) in magnitude on either side of the visible band.
So it is impossible to create a water-based eye at any other part of the
spectrum.All creatures with vision exploit this narrow region of the spectrum."

- Extract from "Electromagnetics Explained - Handbook for Wireless/RF,
EMC and
high-speed electronics" by Ron Schmitt.

A parting mail to a great friend

to you,

i will miss you for sure, after you leave this place, but i dont regret
it.. u r irreplaceable, and play a unique role in my life,
but unfortunately your heart and soul is not here . i have never had
someone like you before, and dont think i will have
anybody else in future. i dont even know how to describe you, but i know
u r special.

from me

Love-Lost-Live

Unlike a whole lot sentimal crap being sent and received on V day, that we seem to receive almost every year..these ones suddenly impressed me - apparently intended for married folks- but applicable to anybody.

Love is not about "its your fault", but "Im sorry"
Love is not about "Where are you?", but "Im right here for you"
Love is not about "How could you?", but "I understand"
Love is not about "I wish you were..", but "Im thankful you are.."

- simple but elegant !

Another analogy which wafted across my mind - Unsuccessful love stories are a bit like an arrears in semester examination- you may have failed the test, but that does not mean you didnt learn or experience anything during the entire semester.

V for Valentine not Vendetta

Its probably not coincidence that this thing was started on Valentine's Day 2007.
Its just that the words left unsaid were too many to remember, and too meaningful to be forgotten.

Was wondering how many people we actually care for or love and adore in our lives, but to how many people we actually wish or even remember on Valentine's day ? For a world filled with so much hatred, a good cure could be - having a V day every week ! So much love to share, but so few recipients, and even fewer givers.

Why ??

There were just too many interesting things running in my mind to be thought of, but left unexpressed...

The single biggest reason for creating this blog is to capture the daily dose of weird imaginations, specific observations, strange thoughts of this brain that refuses to sleep...

The days of living in fear of forgetting a great thought or idea to the monster called time, just because Im too lazy to jot it down somewhere, have passed by..

Now let my insomniacal neurons speak...

All in a day's work !

The following is a conversation in email between Raj and Arun.
... defines productivity in office !!

SeyyuL : Classical Tamil poetry with rules
Pudhukkavidhai : Contemporary tamil poetry sans rules
Yaappilakkanam: The Bible of Grammar for writing good SeyyuL

-------------------------------
Hey try tumblr.com for ur ittiac
rantings. It's a lot easier for
short posts than blogspot.
Check mine out at my usual name.

--Raj C

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

What do u mean easier..?I havent seen it
yet, but what
features attract you to it ?All i do here
is to type an email to
arun81.ittiac@blogger.com, the subject
becomes the blogtitle
and body of the mail becomes the content.
- Arun

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

I didn't know that you blogged by mail. Tumblr
is easier in the sense you can
add any short text, pic or a quote and it is
characterised as such. Instead of
creating a new post as in a blog. Tumblr is for
small one-liners and stuff but
not for posts the size of paragraphs. I think I
make sense here. What's a
tumblelog?To make a simple analogy: If blogs are
journals, tumblelogs are
scrapbooks. (From their FAQ) Hope they add
posting by email soon. -- Raj C

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

ah ok..i get the idea . online scrapbook for my
inner mind crap :)
i use ittiac for everything from essays to
oneliners.
u already know that i have this huge tendency to
become all verbiose and
wordy..
its only recently that I am pushing hard to keep
down to less than a paragraph,
or just a few lines to express an idea (which
resembles a poem without any metering !!)
i dont have ur id in office..can u
gimme ur tumbler url ?
- Arun

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

It doesn't matter if you become verbose or suffer from
logorrhoea. You still can use it. There is a
feature in it to include dialogues you may find useful.
Poetry without meter is like taking a bite of
a laddoo only to find a stone in
it.rexmaximus.tumblr.com I haven't written much there. Just
some collections of quotes.- Raj C

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

i like the laddu analogy better than other which dont
involve food items. but wotapens when you
take the laddu with the full knowledge that there will
be a few stones in it, just for the fun of it ?
even if come across a stone u spit it out and enjoy the
rest, as if it were a pomegranate filled with
seeds !

- Arun

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

Are you aware of the price to pay for eating a laddu filled
with stones?? Sweets by themselves cause damage to
the teeth, and with stones the damage is immediate. In the
case of poetry that translates to ...? I can't imagine.
The stones were meant to indicate the cringes that occur on
reading some lines disguised as poetry. So unless you
are a masochist or a contestant on Fear Factor I don't think
anyone would be willing to eat the loaded laddu. on
second thoughts even the people on fear factor do it for
money. So one has to be a true masochist to eat the laddu.
Another analogy for this would be the tackling of a road
filled with potholes (if that is possible) in a car with broken
suspension.
And from your reply and what you've written in the blog I
take that you are one of those hopeless romantics. Is it
true?? - Raj C

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

If im a hopeless romantic, you are one septic sceptic.. you see
you are not able to imagine the pomegranate analogy
while you still on to ur loaded laddu thingy.. one does not
have to be masochist to enjoy a pomegranate or custard
apple ! When there was archaic but rich seyyuL, there is also
easy and enjoyable pudhukkavidhai- and there are
fans for both. And there are people who stop complaining
about the pothole filled roads, get off the track and ride
mountain bikes in rocky terrain.its not a bad idea to rest
your brain sometimes and just listen to the tune in your
heart. and yes, that proves Im a goddamn romantic !!

- Arun

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

I get the pomegranate analogy, but I can't accept it as an analogy.
And regarding the masochism, only a masochist can compare a
pebble laden laddus to the sweet seed-filled pomegranates or custard
apple.Archaic seYYul is sweet. pudhukkavithai is just prose
written in a bad structure. Purists still don't accept puthukkavithai
as kavithai. Just because it uses flowery language does not mean
it can pretend to be a kavithai. Poetry has to have a certain rhythm,
just like music. Yaappilakkanam is not a farce. Prose is just
narration a monotone, dull and boring, and puthukkavithai is prose in
a different form.The fans of puthukkavithai certainly are not
the ones who truly appreciate the beauty of poetry. They are the ones
who instead of doing something about the pot-filled roads try
to avoid it altogether and take a difficult path in a rocky terrain.
The fact that ideas originate in the brain and not in the heart does not

allow my brain any rest. Consequently, listening to the tunes of my
heart (of which I believe there is only one septic tune left), is
ruled out. Thanks for confirming that you are a romantic. That
clarified my doubt. And romantics are bound to do something stupid,
so beware!!!


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

1. You cant have pebble inside a laddu, unless its the tirupathi-sized
ones.
2. Archaic seyyul is sweet but sleeps in dusty books in library and
thrives in hated tamil school textbooks.
3. The majority of the population who enjoy life are fortunate enough not
to be purists.
4. "Poetry has to have a certain rhythm, just like music " sounds
melodious but maybe you forgot this -
5. Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its
origin from emotion recollected in tranquility: the emotion is
contemplated till, by a species of reaction, the tranquility gradually
disappears, and an emotion, kindred to that which was the subject
of contemplation, is gradually produced, and does itself actually exist
in the mind.- WW
6. Yaappilakkanam is not a farce, but is intended only for M.A (Tamil
Literature), and to be left in 'choice' by all other students.
7. The fans of puthukkavithai dont appreciate the beauty of poetry - but
you cannot appreciate poetry or beauty with the brain alone !!
8. In the unknown terrain grows the wild flowers, not in the landscaped
garden on the pothole road.

Forgot to add this - And never underestimate the power of stupid people
!! ;-)

- Arun

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

This is interesting...

You cant have pebble inside a laddu, unless its the tirupathi-sized
ones.
>> pebble - poetic license ;-)

Archaic seyyul is sweet but sleeps in dusty books in library and thrives
in hated tamil school textbooks.
>> I pity you for not having a good teacher who would have made you
appreciate the true beauty of seyyul.

The majority of the population who enjoy life are fortunate enough not
to be purists.
>> I think the majority of the population likes its goods clean and new
and shiny, and I believe it does the same for poetry.

"Poetry has to have a certain rhythm, just like music " sounds melodious
but maybe you forgot this -
Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its
origin from emotion recollected in tranquility: the emotion is
contemplated till, by a species of reaction, the tranquility gradually
disappears, and an emotion, kindred to that which was the subject of
contemplation, is gradually produced, and does itself actually exist in
the mind.- WW
>> I think you are missing the point here. The whole idea behind
recollection in tranquility is to put it in a form so that people who
read the
poem can feel the emotion the poet originally felt. To do this, the
emotions have to be written following the rules of grammar and
semantics.

Yaappilakkanam is not a farce, but is intended only for M.A (Tamil
Literature), and to be left in 'choice' by all other students.
>> Again I pity you that you didn't have a good thamizh teacher.
yapplilakkanam : poet :: design rules : IC design engr.

The fans of puthukkavithai dont appreciate the beauty of poetry - but
you cannot appreciate poetry or beauty with the brain alone !!
>> It is the brain that recognizes the characters, understands what they
are and interprets the meaning of the poetry. How come it
cannot appreciate the beauty of it??

In the unknown terrain grows the wild flowers, not in the landscaped
garden on the pothole road.
>> Wild flowers are what inspired the emotions in the poet. He
recollects them in tranquility and presents it as a landscaped garden
for
the others to enjoy. Potholed road is quoted out of context here :-)

>>Forgot to add this - And never underestimate the power of stupid people
!! ;-)

Power should never be given to stupid people!! That is very dangerous.

"A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the
Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the
brain, and drinking largely sobers us again."
-- First used by Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744) in An Essay on Criticism,
1709

--Raj C

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

I not know any grammar
Id smash it with a hammer
I care not abt iambic meter
Id rather hide in a volcanic crater
But spontaneous outbursts i write
disguised as little poems thats not right ! :)

I did have teachers who helped me appreciate the beauty of seyyul back
in school and still do. but most people didnt, and still dont.but that
form of illiteracy does not prevent them from enjoying pudhukkavidhai.

"To do this, the emotions have to be written following the rules of
grammar and semantics" - have you ever tried writing a poem? I am not
well-versed with the rules of grammar, and not so endowed with flowery
vocabulary agreed,but by the time you try expressing your deeply felt
emotion with richly carved lines, and meter and rhyme and whatnot, I
always tend to lose a lot of steam attached to the emotion, which was
the reason I started writing in the first place - its no more a
spontaneous outburst- it becomes apainstaking manipulation.

Poetry :Art (not related to)IC Design : Science
(relationship quoted out of context)

Brain is the seat of intelligence, and heart is the seat of
emotion/feelings (poetic license) though biologically we know neither is
completely true, because nobody knows EXACTLY whats happenning in our
brains.

And wild flowers in a landscaped garden no more excite the senses as
well as they do in the wild..Seeing the flower on the treks to
Kinabalu, and seeing the orchid in Singapore botanical garden is not the
same.

But you see..even some Stupidity can still be interesting.. ... (as you
have rightly observed below!! ) "This is interesting..."

- Arun

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

> I not know any grammar
> Id smash it with a hammer
> I care not abt iambicmeter
> Id rather hide in a volcanic crater
> But spontaneous outbursts i write
> disguised as little poems thats not right ! :)

Poet or not, you'll make a good rap singer. Couldn't help laughing out loud at
this.

>
> but by the time you try expressing your deeply felt
> emotion with richly carved lines, and meter and rhyme and whatnot, I
> always tend to lose a lot of steam attached to the emotion, which was
> the reason I started writing in the first place - its no more a
> spontaneous outburst- it becomes apainstaking manipulation.

That is why WW insisted on tranquility. You have to recall the emotion, try to
relive the event and then try to put it into words, the flow of poetry will
occur naturally. I tried to write something like poetry but ended up like
something which fans will call blasphemy. I have them here.

To play or not to play: that is the question:
Whether 'tis easier in the mind to drive
Straight or to the cover full-lengthed deliveries,
Or to lift arms against the outswinging short ones,
And by leaving free them? To stay: to score;

and the original is

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more;

~ Hamlet (Hamlet)

I tried a translation too...

Our mothers know not each other,
Our fathers related like strangers
How do I even know thee
Yet our hearts have mingled
Like falling rain on a clay field.

of this

(a tamil poem)
yaayum gnayum ...
..sempula peyalneer pol
ondrodondru thaam kalandhanavae."

from kurunthokai.

I have to say that there is not much emotion is either of them.

> Brain is the seat of intelligence, and heart is the seat of
> emotion/feelings (poetic license) though biologically we know neither is
> completely true, because nobody knows EXACTLY whats happenning in our
> brains.

True but the general opinion is that all conscious (even subliminal) decisions
are made in the brain, though in different parts. Only certain reflexes are
handled outside the brain and in the spinal cord. The reason for the heart
being said as the center of emotion could be because of the increased blood
flow caused by the intensity of the emotion (for e.g. that heart pounding on
the sight of a beautiful female)

>
> And wild flowers in a landscaped garden no more excite the senses as
> well as they do in the wild..Seeing the flower on the treks to
> Kinabalu, and seeing the orchid in Singapore botanical garden is not the
> same.

Of course, a caged bird can only sing sad songs (uh oh I think I'm being
influenced by you now. -- Note to self: Must. Not. Change.)

> But you see..even some Stupidity can still be interesting.. ... (as you
> have rightly observed below!! )

Stupidity can be interesting in the sense watching little kids play is
interesting. But when adults do the same it can only lead to pity and anger.

Waiting for more...

Raj C
--------------------------------

I just decided to stop here !!

-Arun