Two nature-lovers debating faith:
Believer: The ungraspably infinite beauty of the universe makes me wonder, it can't be "just nature"!
Rationalist: That it is "just nature" makes the universe ungraspably, infinitely beautiful for me.
When the poorer man goes to a shop of luxuries he has to be choosy, to be able to fit his budget.
When the rich man goes to the same shop he has to be choosy, to not clutter his elegant home.
Grass being greener on the other side is not just an adage. I just found that even weeds that grow untended and unnoticed looks interesting and beautiful in a new place.
After a rather heavy lunch I resolved to forget about dinner, and around dinner time, I forgot what I had for lunch!
It is amazing how the internet can be life changing, money saving, time saving and still make you feel like an idiot at the same time.
I came across a well marketed super-fast language learning scheme called the Pimsleur approach at a low price and which seemed to make compete sense, from an ad placed in some website. I usually ignore most ads, but this one was hard to miss, and listened through their entire presentation.
Just before I almost purchased it online, I decided to read more reviews, which turned out to discourage me because of the hidden costs and ineffectiveness beyond a basic level and how its almost a scam. But they were also advertising alternative products.
By this time I basically lost interest in the whole thing, again realising the simple notion that there are no free lunches and no shortcuts to acquiring a real skill.
Will to work + Enthusiasm = Hard work
Will to work + Intelligence = Good work
Wish to work + Intelligence + Laziness = Smart work!
My mobile's keypad has twin features of auto-correct and auto-corrupt. Nobody can control which gets enabled though!
Humans, with their fickle minds, fragile lives, finite abilities and fading resolves, can never be fully trusted to keep a promise.
Promises are like words written in sand in a beach - only the lucky ones survive the test of time.
How often we just assume longevity of ourselves or dear ones, and hesitate to express feelings, delay cherished experiences, hold back love that we are really capable of giving?
Life is much more fragile than how we like to think it is.
Don't wait to - love.
Reading news and analysis is like a mystery novel, a work in progress. The social, political, economic news is like the sentiment, strategic plot twists and money-issues in the story, the story of our lives. The unpredictabilty of future events is the suspense. Grab that paper!
After more than 4 years in matrimony, I was asked for some advice to a newly wedded couple:
"Any advice I may give now is utterly useless. Most important lessons are learnt on-the-job!"
A calf or a little pony,
which is more lovely?
The family or just me,
for a long journey?
Cool shade or clear water,
for a desert wanderer?
Sunshine or mild showers,
in a garden for lovers?
A smile or an easy joke,
to please a lonely bloke?
Lightning or thunder,
what would excite more?
Some music or wine,
In an evening so fine?
A girl or a boy,
How do I choose mine?
What if our lives were really like one huge Truman show?
Where God is the producer and the universe is the grand set ?
Where all of us play our parts without even knowing we are actors?
And things go awry only when we become unpredictable or the studio equipment fails?
Forever curious to learn simple recipies from his mom, competing to try cross-stich from his sister , he wondered why should the girls have a few skills of their own, which no boy tries to learn. Why do the boys and men conveniently avoid learning some very interesting things,
labelling them as 'Pombalainga samaachaaram"(Ladies stuff) ?
With these thoughts, he sat with his paternal grandmother to learn a quintessential Indian-Ladies'art of drawing 'Kolam' - intricate geometric patterns with dotted references and connecting lines, forming a beautiful design, usually adorning the floor near the entrance of a
typical Indian home. Before he could run away to play cricket with his gang of friends, his 'Nainamma' taught him amongst others, a very simple but elegant Kolam called the Idhayakkamalam (Lotus of Hearts), and told him in a rather serious tone that its important that this auspicious kolam, which had the power to bring prosperity to a household, should not be
stepped on when its on the floor.
Years passed, and so did stages of life. We had just moved in to an apartment in a high floor, with easy view of the open skies. When my wife declared that she is going to try drawing a kolam with rice-dough on occasion of Karthikai Deepam, I volunteered to enrich her knowledge of kolams :-)
Today, an almost perfect (!) Idhayakkamalam can be found at the entrance of my apartment.
A family tradition that was 'ladies stuff', got passed on to Gen-Next by once-a-little-boy.
I snapped pics as my wife created it, and skipped over the kolam to avoid smudging it.
And Mrs.Varadhambal Rajabather smiled from above, seeing her lovely old kolam yet again !
He pushed towards me a small unassuming pocket sized Little Oxford Dictionary & Thesaurus * Wordpower guide lying on his desk and told me - "Advertise this ! Gimme a caption. "
It took me by surprise, and I thought for a minute..
"No Iphone would give you the joy of flipping over the pages to find the
meaning of 'life'.
He smiled.
30 seconds later..
"Works even in dimly lit conditions without ever needing a battery"
His look told me that if he had owned an advertising agency, I would have stood a good chance !
அன்ன சத்திரம் ஆயிரம் வைத்தல்
ஆலயம்பதி னாயிரம் நாட்டல்,
பின்ன ருள்ள தருமங்கள் யாவும்
பெயர்வி ளங்கி யொளிர நிறுத்தல்
அன்ன யாவினும் புண்ணியம் கோடி
ஆங்கோர் ஏழைக் கெழுத்தறி வித்தல்.
- பாரதி
---------------------------
One could build a thousand centres to feed
Carry out many more honourable deeds
Consecrate a million temples to as many gods
And uphold charity with all that he has got.
But what could be nobler than sowing the seed
of Education, for those who are in need ?
-Bharathiyaar
Please visit for more info
http://sites.google.com/site/ezhutheni/
After watching about 80% of the movie I began to realise that I might have seen bit and parts of this movie maybe a year ago. And when the movie was about to end, I realised that I have already seen the whole movie , but I still could not remember the next scene. That alone makes this movie unique - The memories of good movies are etched in our minds, while we love to forget the deplorable ones. But this movie was not too bad , yet it was impossible to remember the scenes and storyine because it feels like you saw this movie in some past life.
This post is primarily to remind myself that I have watched the film and even commented on it - just in case I were to write another review after watching the same movie another time in the not too distant future !
Given the colossal misunderstanding between people, cultures, religions and linguistic groups we rather focus on understanding human talk than alien talk !
Ni hao ma?
I have just decided to send you this mail with the foolish optimism, that the favours will be returned. I kinda know that you are equally jobless, but pretending to be having the busiest time of your life on the eve of a long weekend.
So, you know what to do... just reply to this mail with some of your useless comments or suggestions and 'unhesitating' feedback to give me the temporary gratification of being important , busy and 'in the loop'.
Been reading too much Dilbert,
Arun
p.s: you may also choose to call me to a well deserved tea-break.
A year later-
Everyday you are my 'Life's Essentials'
- I will go crazy without you
I had marked 'Earth Hour' in my calender alarm, and planned to switch off not just the lights but the mains switch to maximise the power shutoff . Despite dangers of stuff ending up rotting in my fridge, I hoped the insulation would help for atleast an hour.
And what happened ?
Went outside to a visit to the temple at 7pm, almost forgot all about it till the alarm sounded near the altar. I felt rather glad that we had remembered to switch off all the lights before we left home, so we were actually celebrating 'Earth Hour' in absentia..
Visited a friends place, then had dinner in a restaurant, celebrated the good news of my sister's birth to a baby boy, returned home tired, slept fitfully, and woke up next morning -
-- to find that the adjacent room was unusually warm- I had forgotten to switch off the electric iron after using it the previous evening !!
A misstep of one man's stupidity,
But a giant leap for humanity !
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Love Nature. . . Hate Paper"
The world did not come to an end with Y2K problem after all.
Computers and 'devices' talk to each other over networks more than humans do in person.
The most unreal things happen in 'reality' shows.
There is always some war or conflict in some part of the world in the newspaper.
Some crops managed to reach fuel tanks instead of hungry stomachs, in the form of biodiesel.
People go without a purse, but cannot go without a cell phone.
After laughing at the queer costumes from your dad's school photos, you find that it is fashionable again.
Camera tricks and sets are replaced by Computer graphics and animation in blockbuster movies.
Being 'Online' refers to internet instead of telephone.
Digital-divide continues where Poverty-line ends.
Your net bank savings is not a printed number in a passbook anymore, but a number stored in some server's hard disk.
Suddenly global warming is big enough to get a Nobel Peace prize, but not big enough for the most powerful nation to endorse the actions needed to reverse it.
Half of the world's ills are blamed on greedy developed countries, who in turn blame it on developing countries growing 'too fast'.
Bushfires are under control and fires caused by Bush are not.
Uranium enrichment is a considered bigger problem than a huge nuclear stockpile.
Meanwhile Rock concerts blasting music are dedicated to conserve the earth.
American Idol is seen and loved everywhere in the world.
China is actively building up its cricket team.
You can buy a ticket to experience space travel and zero gravity. No such service for heaven or middle-earth.
Bloody, repulsive images are printed in cigarette packets, yet it discourages everybody except smokers.
Corporate social responsibility is now one more stunt for 'ethical' media publicity.
It’s ok for adults to watch and enjoy cartoon animation movies too.
Microwave radiation passes through peoples' brains more often everyday, than thru their food.
Sleepy subjects in school are now primetime infotainment in NatGeo, Discovery, History and AnimalPlanet.
Terrorists replaced aliens as most preferred villains in movies.
Dinosaurs start to feature in Rocky, Die hard, Indiana Jones, Terminator, Rambo.
Australia is suddenly closer to Asia than the West and its prime minister can speak in Mandarin.
And all businesses, magazines, governments are looking 'East'. There seems to be no economic article these days that does not mention China or India.
Overpopulation is not a problem anymore, but is referred to as 'sizeable market' these days.
Immigration rate increases in some countries as birth rate decreases in others.
Countries still compete to build the world's tallest building despite some horrific disasters.
Tamil is now declared a classical language, but sadly I prefer to use English to report that.
Many common nouns get a prefix of 'e' or 'i' -e-mail, e-governance, e-passport, i-pod, i-shuffle.
Security and immigration procedures in airports can take more time than the travel time.
Countries advertise on TV to promote their tourism just like companies put up ads to sell their products. Incredible India competes with Inside Intel during ad time.
Education is spelled as 'Livelihood' for students and 'Business' for Institutions imparting it.
Simple things like food, water, land, fuel cost more and complex things like cars, electronics, and air travel cost less.
But many tech 'essentials' have remained free - incoming calls, email, voice chat, online music, video, news, data storage.
There is much more spam messages than real mails being transmitted.
Short sight of the eyes is now fully curable by Lasik, but myopic government policies are not.
The greatest Communist powers have become Capitalist, yet new communist governments are still elected.
A lot more people are discovering freedom of speech and expression in a virtual world, but Dictators who limit them have not disappeared in the real world.
More Indians work in software industries than in sugarcane plantations.
There are more Chinese products in the market than bacteria in your ear.
Spelling mistakes scorned by your English teacher are now considered kewl numonyx.
Before even saying their name, people start to share their email id or blog address with you.
You can have a phone, video-conferencer, instant messenger, alarm clock, calendar, calculator, internet browser, mp3 player, still and video camera, GPS receiver, voice recorder, pager, notepad, document reader, email client, FM radio, dictionary, gaming device, emergency torchlight (and trouser pocket warmer) -- ALL in one small handheld device --But it still cannot be used as electric shaver !
This decade, I finally came to realize that I won’t be a student forever - but will eventually complete education, find employment, fall in love yet again and get married.
Most of all, their energy to create.
I asked one director I was working with in between the scenes, after seeing him run around getting things done at 4am in the studio - 'Sir , from where do you get all this energy from ?' 'Nuclear power ?' I suggested.
And he replied without thinking for long "Vairagyam power", and went on to direct his next scene ! (Vairagyam ~ Strong willed perseverance)
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time.. We have more
degrees but less sense, more knowledge , but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one
night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...
Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.
Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
With specimens of the opposite gender,
Familiarity breeds !
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)
---
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..
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.
--
"A free man is he who does not fear to go to the end of his thought."
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' !
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.
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,
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 !
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.
73.4 kilograms
And that comes back to my old favourite- All generalisations are false including this one !
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 .
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,
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 !
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.
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..?"
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 !