Destiny and Choices

Humpty dumpty, thank god!! didn't fall

2011-06-01T11:34:00.000+05:30

Today could very well have been the last day of my life. It was left to destiny and i guess i was sparred. Even thought destiny spares us every moment, and very possibly at any moment, at a whim of destiny we could be dead, it seemed like destiny actually made a choice for me to live on. My life depended on whether a certain thought would come to my mind or not and as you all can see it did.

The therapeutic value of lying in open air surrounding and looking at the beautiful night sky is known by anyone who has tried it at 2 in the morning after an all nighter. And some like me would get a chance to realise how bad it could go, depending on the place you choose. In the process of throughly enjoying the moments lying down in open air and looking at the sky and thinking silly, one could as well slowly slip into a peaceful sleep, get up in the morning and say "wow!!! that was an awesome sleep", If only it were some terrace of building, where you were going to sleep. I happened to choose the thick parapet wall opposite to my room located on the first floor of my hostel, which was sufficiently safe and stable for me to lie down on as long as i was conscious. Its not like I didn't already know the dangers of just lying down or even sitting on a parapet wall of first floor but like usual i didn't give a damn about it and it was safe as long as i remained conscious which very foolishly I manage to convince myself of, and also there was a sloppy ledge for the directing rain water to flow. Of course i had no plans sleeping there and neither did i realise that i could simply slip into sleep. Initially there was a debate going on in my mind about the concern of safety and enjoying this moment. The debate went into background and I began to daydream about different stuffs, slowly slipping into sleep in the process. And then one of my friend then interrupted all these, by an untimely visit to his room which happened to be next to mine and that broke my daydream which could very well have converted into a night one:). I happened to realise how sleepy and anybody with sound mind would panic at the adversity of the situation, which i did. Further I looked down, convinced myself how dangerous it could end up, just to make sure I move my butt and get back to my room. But the inertia of sleep had already got better of my reasoning and i was willing to spend some more time, convinced myself that a bit more was OK, I'd be careful and I'd go back to room soon and sleep properly.

At this point I began to think about this very habit of procrastination, I realised how I'd even procrastinate even if meant escalating the probability of a fatal fall to a significant extent. Thanks to this thought all my sleepiness slowly started disappearing with my analysis taking over. Soon I was stable, could balance myself properly without being extra careful.

I could just have daydreamed more and slipped into deep sleep, but now the box was open, people could know the whether the cat's dead or alive. My life could very well have been like that of a cat left in a closed box with a poisonous substance, would the cat eat it and die, or remain alive no one could tell.... The closed box still thrills me though:).....

Garden of heart

2011-05-24T12:14:00.003+05:30

We all have a garden of heart in us. They need nourishment; good soil, watering and a good up keep...There are also wild gardens which are sometimes even more beautiful than the very well kept garden. We are all the keepers of our own garden...

The thoughts are the soil on which the plants of our virtue, principles and values grow. Actions are the fragrances the garden emits and the sight of the garden is the way we carry ourselves.

Sometimes we see the garden of others and desire them. One must put a "do not touch" board to keep our gardens safe and beautiful sometimes. The garden of others is however only to be seen and admired at, garden we cultivate are for beautifying and sharing it with others. Sometime we tend to forget this and in the process of desiring someone else’s garden neglect our own unique garden. one can find a great pleasure in achieving what the neighbors garden has, but the satisfaction is best when we cultivate our own....Put our heart into it, protect it and cherish...

The right way to do...

2011-05-08T20:38:00.000+05:30

I've always found that people who do something which I think is very tough, very noble or think anything about seem to do it thinking nothing about it....
I want to know how to attain that state when and rid myself of the judgments.

Thinking and trying to convince yourself that something needs to be done or that you have to put a lot of effort in doing it makes tougher. Doubts,fear, random emotions related to it makes it tougher, makes me think its either too tough or too easy. The things I do without any judgments are very easy to do and they often the things others think you are so good, but on the other hand you somehow find it obvious...

Embrace your current feelings but know that its completely due to your impressions and memory not intuition... intuition strikes in non judgmental state of mind.

For example while writing this post a lot of things went around my mind. My mind was trying to convince me that the this activity is more worthy than any other work I would've done instead. There were many decisions I had to take regarding the choice of words and the flow, a lot of distractions too. I kept getting stuck at the decisions I had to make. I wasn't writing it according to the flow of my heart, it was according to the flow of my desires rather. I wanted this post to go in a certain way. The intelligent way would be accept that my first draft may not be the best, not to get stuck at decisions, do it in minimum time as possible, later when your mind is not clogged re-read and make corrections. You give different time to the flow and corrections, you don't get stuck in doing them at the same time and Writing then became easy..When I began writing blog my posts were long and cluttered, I used to get fed up by the time I finished writing... Hope I can apply it to other activities too especially studying...

Stale Thoughts Make You Stink

2010-12-09T14:55:00.031+05:30

There must be a reason why I keep hearing things like, do not procrastinate, be disciplined , Be proactive and its ok, let go. People feel free, calm and productive if they let go some things, when they have done what they were supposed to do in time, when their mind is not preoccupied with stale thoughts.

Stale thoughts are rotten, they are the thoughts about the things you've been thinking about for quite sometime. I generally prefer to finish of the something I don't like to eat immediately somehow gulping of entire thing rather than letting it become old and mushy, squishy and non crispy state or whatever. Same things apply to thoughts, especially the ones with a deadline like assignment; they seem to develop more side effects as the expiry date gets closer and absolutely of no use or little use after expiry. Leaving things incomplete and unfinished leaves more of staleness within you. After a certain point you become sick you start stinking, a thick atmosphere develops around you which people tend to avoid.

Become aware of that staleness, just let go, meditate and be purified. You don't like staleness do you? Think fresh think rich, the quality of thoughts you float around with, become aware of it.....Freshen up Take a breath and start playing and loving again......

But to make a wine the grapes need to ferment right? Yeah sure, but you don't want to make a wine out or own mind do you?

So think fresh, eat fresh, please don't eat non-veg and keep dancing in the rain.....

jgd

Silent treatment

2010-10-10T00:30:00.000+05:30

I think everyone one of us have had this experience with someone or the other. Its a basic technique used generally by moms, girlfriends, boyfriends, etc. to punish you or to make you do something and many other such silly stuff which can be bought by silence. It is interesting however to wonder about the power silence has which sometimes threatening (words) or action wont have. Guruji is going to be in silence for navratri. His silence is going to convey something special to you. This navratri check on the positives that are created in you and do post it in the comments.........
For interest of general people let me make a few things clear. Guruji refers to H H Sri Sri Ravishankar. For every navratri people from all over the world visit our ashram(Art of living) in Bangalore to experience a phenomenal fest. Yagyas are performed in these 9 days of navratri for the benefit of the entire world. Sitting in one of these with thousands of people is an awesome out of the world experience......

Julie and Julia

2010-05-15T22:55:00.000+05:30

An ordinary house wife becomes a sensation and a modern ambitious girl gets her inspiration, this story is about two of these ladies. It totally brings out the fact that no human is ordinary. I totally loved the character of Julia Child, every now and then I meet people like Julia in my life and I envy and wonder at the confidence they show and which makes them happy in whatever situations they are and sometimes get them to heights where very few hardworkers or even a smart worker are able to make it. The only part Julia was genius at was being innocent and loving. She loved whatever she did and did whatever she loved, carefree of the competition, stress, social obligations, never greedy and absolutely innocent the way she was, which I believe is the most efficient way to live a life.

Story: 6/10. Its biographical story. The low ranking is not to discourage anyone, but just to emphasise that its not so fairy tailish type of stories. Though the story is not what will make you enjoy the story, its the narration and acting and the characters that stand out.

Genre: Drama, Biographical, Slice of life

Acting: 10/10. Every actor is well placed and does the job very well, of course the character of Julia child stands out more than anyone and Meryl Streep has done a phenomenal job portraying Julia. I liked her acting even in Mamma Mia. it just shows that experience can’t get any better.

Direction: 9/10. One of the best biographical movies I’ve ever seen and the all credit go to the direction and the narration. The flow of events the, the editing are all awesome and just stick together too well though not logically.

Mood:”Slice of life”,”happy”

Character: 10/10. The fact that these were all real life characters just makes me want to give a higher ranking though I have to admit that mostly its due to the influence of the character of Julia Child.

Entertainment value: 8/10

Overall: 9/10

Nickel the Bear

2010-04-20T14:32:00.022+05:30

Roaming around the forest was the only pass time for Nickel who was a large black bear at the peak of its youth. He used to roam around the forest to find something interesting, though he never knew what he was searching for he kept on wandering through the forest. He ate when he was hungry, scratched the trees around when he wanted to stretch and slept under his favourite tree when he had done all the wandering he wanted to do.

One day while he was having a nice afternoon nap he sensed a strange odour in the air and heard sounds of someone approaching. The odour was very distinct but he knew it was coming from an animal the sounds of rubbing against bushes were unlike that of any other animals he knew in the wild would make. The sounds had a weird pattern and it seemed like the animal was lost since they were short bursts of sound. There wasn’t much sound at every possible foot the animal took which suggested that the animal was small but the sounds also came from branches of higher altitude suggesting that it was tall, naturally he took a cautious stance waiting for the confrontation with this strange animal which he had never heard or seen in his life. Slowly a figure in brown started to appear from the bushes and Nickel held its breath. The strange animal was looking behind, it hadn’t noticed Nickel and was looking everywhere and seemed to be lost. It was a very strange looking animal, it was tall and was using only two limbs to walk, its fur was very smooth as though some dry leaf like material sticking on its skin and then half of its limbs had very little black shinny hair, it seemed like it was suffering from some disease, It had long fingers like the monkeys and on one hand it was holding a stick. The animal didn’t look ferocious so Nickel relaxed a bit and started approaching it with curiosity. The animal slowly turned around and their eyes met. The animal immediately took a defensive stance pointing the tip of the stick him lowering its body a bit. Nickel was taken aback but he could clearly see that the animal was frozen with fear. He then carelessly walked towards his right to have a good view of the animal. But the animal was still trembling and kept pointing the stick at him. He was surprised that the animal didn’t run and for a long time didn’t make any conversation.

He was annoyed, not able to make out anything out of this encounter and was no more interested in this animal and decided to chase the animal away. In situations like these Nickel would usually charge towards any animal for a short distance to scare it away. So he made a half hearted effort to chase the animal away by performing a slow lazy dash, He thought that it would run away but then it started trembling in fear and did something that scared and startled him like hell. The animal made a very sharp and loud sound loud as thunder, it was the first time he had heard such a noise. He noticed that the animal also jerked very sharply and it seemed like the stick was making the noise. Scared out of its wits for a while now Nickel took threatening stance, his head lowered, rear legs ready to spring he began roaring to tell the animal that it was serious now. It didn’t have any effect on the animal which was still frozen and trembling with fear and was now making noises like a baby animal which is cornered and out of breath. It wasn’t threatening like an adult would even in this stage and its trembling grew more with every roar. Now Nickel had lost it and began to charge for real, his heartbeat was increasing rapidly and half way through he was again met with the annoying sharp and loud as hell noise which made him very confused and scared. He paused for a fraction of a second, made up his mind, and then he dashed with all his energy like his life was on the line.

Inglourious Basterds

2010-03-25T13:37:00.002+05:30

There are many reasons why I had kept avoiding seeing this movie for a long time one of them being it’s a Nazi movie. I’m amazed that when it comes to making a Hollywood war movie they seemed to be too overwhelmed by the stories and plots of the Nazi wars, and why not when the whole history of mankind is, but I’m now saturated with these. And I didn’t waste much time once I came to know that it’s a Quentin Tarantino movie, regretted avoiding it for a long time when I saw Brad Pitt was starring and pretty soon concluded that I should have kept my distance for some more time since it turned out to be as boring as I expected from a movie with such plot. The movie however scores good points but not without some disappointments which can be overlooked without much effort. There is not much to be experienced from the plot but some drama sequences are out of the world. I won’t be looking forward to another of this guy’s movie which attempts to recreate “Kill Bill’s” magic especially in such a plot, I welcome variety.

Story/Plot:7/10. Its work of fiction set in Nazi war times. A simple story but the power of a Tarantino movie lies in the direction. The fiction comes nowhere near to the legendary truth. Personally I think the plot suffers from precision a lot of times like low security for Hitler and poor depiction of Hitler though he is not a main character. In most of the Nazi movies I’ve seen Hitler stays in-door in a gloomy environment unlike in this movie.

Genre: Drama, Thriller.

Acting: 8/10. Mixed reaction. The German detective was mind blowing. The Inglourious basterds were a bit of disappointment mainly due to Brad Pitt who is in a role of an army commander and defenitly seems very soft spoken for a character of army commander he acts more like a strategist.

Direction: 9/10. Trademark Tarantino direction. Kill Bill is my all time favourite and Tarantino uses the same format so it seemed monotonous and boring right from the start (the cowboy style music).

Mood:”Suspense”,

Character:10/10. The scenes of German detective were the best and requires place in history of film making as the best depiction of a detective ever. The characters of German detective and the girl cinema owner are my favourite and are simply intriguing.

Entertainment value: 7/10. Kill Bill scores 10/10 in this but this movie doesn’t do as expected in this regard when compared.

Overall:8/10.

War photography

2010-03-25T13:36:00.002+05:30

When you think of wars, these are the situations that give us a good idea of what humans are. Almost every part of being a human makes itself visible and discernable, emotion are not surreal any more, feelings not hidden, and the will power shining forth which can move any human soul. War starts by greed carried out by anger and ends always in realisation that love is the only driving factor for everything. War photography embodies the mad, crazy youth part of the parcel. I just happened to see a BBC documentary video called “Vietnam war unseen”, supposed to be for Americans to show the war from the eyes of Vietnam side, from the Vietnam War photographers to be precise.
The documentary shows a Tim from each side of American side and Tim from Vietnam side with some other Vietnamese war photographers who took part in what Americans call Vietnam war and what Vietnamese call the American war and the shattering contrast between the two. Both Tim’s were war photographers and both were adrenaline junkies but with stark difference in their motives. One was having a mad party abroad and the other was trying to keep up the national spirit as soldier and as a responsibility.

It’s thanks to these people that the realisation lasts for long. They do the job of preserving these moments that makes us realise that human will can surpass any situation, nothing is impossible. The Vietnamese used to build a series of underground tunnels to survive the bombing raids by American b52 bombers. All by using primitive tools and their own muscles and will. In these tunnels contained a world of its own again exemplifying the human nature of making the best of the situation. Here the mothers raised their babies the wives cooked and the family members sang songs. But how could these stills be taken in dark underground tunnel with a camera with no flash? Who would have thought that the bullet used to take life would come handy for preserving it and that the gunpowder in a bullet can be burned to give flash. This particular photographer wanted to inspire the country by taking picture of beauty surrounded by war came up with this solution which again made me marvel at human ingenuity. When this photographer came back to the village where the survivors from those tunnels lived after 50 years you can imagine the warm reaction from both sides. He gifted them these photographs, essentially their youth back to them. One of these Vietnamese war photographers was recalling that with the one lens camera they had he had no choice but to be in the line of fire unlike their American counterpart.

It made me think whether a war is really needed to make humans realise this awesome power they have, if only we had a huge army in every country with the same spirit to solve social problem currently plaguing the world and when will I start to make this a reality in my life. Would anybody commit suicide if they knew they had such potential in them? Will the minor poverty problem exist if the major part of the world just realised their will instead of complaining? Well I’m already set to go in this path and hope I don’t fall into a war like situation before I gather courage.

2010-03-09T13:41:00.000+05:30

An article by my guru H H Sri Sri Ravishankar about women. It really makes a lot of sense. I also think women leadership is a key factor to world peace.

A woman has the capacity to be an excellent peacemaker because it is natural for her to relate from the heart

Women have both gentleness and strength. Indian scriptures place tremendous amount of power in women. In fact, the primordial energy known as Shakti which is the life force behind the whole creation is feminine. That is why our scriptures honour women as the highest aspect of divinity - the Aadhya Shakti.

Women bring together the finest aspects of society; the ability to create and the transformational ability to make a difference in society. Women bring us to the planet and teach us how to live. A mother is our first guru, our first teacher. Women teach us our first behaviour, our first steps in life. Women also have a great role to play in society. She can be a strong peacemaker - at home, in the community, in society and in the world. Women can glue differences and bring people of diverse nature together - she does it in her home all the time!

In this fast pace of life, we need to balance our inner peace, beauty and ethical values with the external challenges we face, and women have it in them to do it. These qualities are inherent in a woman.

A woman has the capacity to be an excellent peacemaker because it is quite natural for her to relate from the level of the heart. The biggest strengths of a woman are her emotions, feelings, motivation and inspiration. Men can inspire to fight but women inspire to unite. There are more wars in the world today because there is a lack of feminine leadership to unite people, overcome differences and bring home to us the purpose we are all born for! In todays war-torn world, we need women to come to the forefront and take more responsibility, without getting stressed.

Today, we need to ensure that women in our country are literate. When women are well educated and well informed they can take more responsibility, bring about that positive change and can make any project successful.

A woman by nature is multi-talented and multi-faceted. Usually people think women are emotional but the fact is, women are also great intellectual geniuses and excel in planning and execution. You see any department headed by a woman; chances are that department is much ahead of others.

Women are the backbone of any society. The role of women in the development of a society is of utmost importance. In fact, it is the only criterion that determines whether a society is strong and harmonious or not. Also, a corruption-free society can only emerge where women are given due regard, respect and importance.

Given the wealth that is inherent in them, it is very important for women all over the world to sit together and see what they can do to make this world more stress- and violence-free. Women need not wait to be given power. They automatically have it. Unfortunately, most of the feminine movements today are demanding rights. What and from whom are they demanding? They are asking from an empty bowl! Women already have equal rights. They simply have to assert their rights! They dont have to go and ask somebody, it is all there for them!

A woman is a born leader. She has the potential to bring prosperity, happiness and joy to this world. Its up to her to make it happen.

DNA, 7th March, 2010

H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

Isqiya

2010-02-25T12:36:00.001+05:30

Crappy ending, a lot of plot holes, pathetic attempt to make a rural underworld movie and even more pathetic attempt to portray Vidya Balan as a bitch, on top of that “A” rating for a kissing seen and foul language. Well an ‘A’ rating and Vidya Balan in it who wouldn’t buy it, but to rely entirely on it and keeping the story and direction neglected surely made the movie suck big time. It might have earned big bucks on the box office but it is very unsettling. Nasserrudin shah, Vidya Balan have totally been wasted, though I have to give credit of showing Arshad Warsi in this kind new and serious role where he does a great job. Vidya Balan just stands out in the whole rural backdrop, she doesn’t farly resemble a village folk. The story would have worked fine enough in a modern setting with may be Kareena playing the role. Nasserrudin Shah as usual at his best but as said before he is not used to the max. You might want to watch this movie to catch Vidya Balan in this new not so complete and shady form, she looks as stunning as she did in “Pareenita”. This movie might actually work for most of the crowd, but for a serious movie goer and critique of this genre like me or a great Vidya Balan fan this might want to watch the movie just to see how much improvement is needed for a movie like this and to appreciate a masterpiece like “Omkara”.

Story/Plot:6/10.some spoilers-(Illicit relationship, revenge, stupid motives, suspense, clever)

Genre: Drama, suspense, thriller

Acting: 7/10(mainly because not enough research was done on characters and the direction.).

Direction: 6/10.(I don’t understand why does an ugly old villain’s wife’s voice have to be so daamn sexy. Sorry for being a perfectionist, I have picked a small mistake so that it doesn’t spoil).

Mood:”Suspense”

Character: 5/10-I can’t imagine a character that to of a rural girl to end up like this or may be its not explored in depth.

Entertainment value: 7/10

Overall: 6/10

Boman Irani-Actor & Photographer- Part 3

2010-01-09T21:52:00.001+05:30

Finally I managed to condense this epic 3hrs lecture into a 3 part post. Guys please congratulate me.
Part1-http://yespluschennai.blogspot.com/2009/11/boman-irani-actor-photographer-part-1.html
Part2-http://yespluschennai.blogspot.com/2009/12/boman-irani-actor-photographer-part2.html

For the entire time no one dared to leave the auditorium. Once a girl started to rise and immediately Boman asked "where are you going?" before she could reply, "No" "Sit" came the answer. There where a lot of 'Mamus'(boys) and a very few 'Mamis'(4girls is all he could see) in the crowd so he wasn't going to let a 'Mami' slip out. Soon he came to regret his decision when she eventually told him that it was to set up the collar mic. He made sure she came on the stage to put the mic on(he didn't like the idea anyways and stuck to the traditional one) by putting up an act(away from the mic stand,signal-can you hear me.crowd-no). A guy dared to get up and leave when Boman stopped him, he let him go giving reason that he was a "mamu" anyways(I don't think anyone got up after that). It was like asking a friend "abey sunn na thodi der ke liye"(hey dude sit and listen for some time).

Now coming back to his bio. Much detail wasn't told about how actually he got into acting but, he told us that he was approached by the son of his photographer friend(also a parsi) to make the movie "Being Cyrus". He was pushed into theater profession(as he was shy) and was very well received by all. His role in a play called "Roshini" won many hearts. He acted in various plays, but what caught the eye of the producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra was a home made film of the play "I'm not Bajirao". Apparently for no reason the crew members of the play decided to make the film and it took almost a year to edit the film which was taken from a handheld camera, this made its way to Vidhu Vinod Chopra and he approached Boman Irani with a check in hand to sign him up the "Munnai bhai MBBS" for the role of Dr. J. Astatna, even though Vidhu ji wasn't sure about when the movie was going to be made. Even though he was offered a check before any formal contract, Boman was reluctant to do the role of the doctor who was laughing all the time. He found the character stupid and was no convinced at all. He had already done small roles in many movies, but had no idea how much impact this role would make on the his audience. As the last resort Vidhu ji requested Boman to listen to the story from Rajkumar Hirani, the director. Boman reluctantly accepted and went to meet up with Rajkumar Hirani and now Rajkumar ji began narrating the story to him. As rajkumar ji narrated the story Boman shared he laughed and cried and throughly enjoyed the story, he had no choice but to accept, but he still wasn't convinced with the laughing character. Later he reluctantly accepted but did justice to the character.

As told in the previous post the actor who was being groomed for 6 months for the main role was Vivek Oberoi, but in the one month to the starting of the shooting he backed out and switched to the Ram Gopal Verma's movie "Company", the main comedian and side kick role was also abandoned by a famous actor 15 days before the shooting. Actors like "Shah Rukh Khan", "Hrithik Roshan", "Saif Ali Khan" where approached but to no avail and finally when Sanjay Dutt came to the picture and it was seen as a good idea. Now remained the role of the side kick, when Arshad Warsi was approached to act he was also reluctant about acting as a side kick, he completely disliked the name 'kujali' for the charector but eventually accepted the offer and suggested the name of the character to be changed to 'circuit'. Now the film crew and cast were assembled finally, but the cast had major lack of superstars. Gracy Singh was the only person who could be called so. Sanjay didn't have any hit since about 8 years and Boman and Arshad were somewhat new faces. He shared a funny incident that happened during the making of the movie- apparently Gracy Singh was very straight forward and used head straight back to home after finishing up shooting(I guess it must be hard on the new actors to get used to the harsh shooting schedule), so after a promotional function it seems Sanjay shared with Boman "Aaj pheli bar mere ko hello boli"(its the first time she said hello to me).

Boman was very disappointed with the film, it wasn't a hit and when he went to a theater to watch it for himself he found out that the theater was half empty. But Vidhu ji was very excited about the movie. Boman found it as a harsh joke when Vidhu ji shared his excitement about the film doing good. When Boman asked why he was so excited when the movie wasn't doing so well Vidhu ji replied "hit hai, sab log hass rahe hai"("its a hit, every one is laughing and enjoying it"). It seems that it was the only thing that matters to him. Slowly by word of mouth the film became famous and more and more people were watching it, and now when he went to a theater he was mobbed and people weren't letting him go, whereas the first time he went people didn't even recognise him. So that's how Boman gained a unique place in millions of heart.

He shared that he found something in the mail that the organiser of the lecture Nithin sent him that made him come here and was grateful for what Chennai had given him. Nithin wasn't very good at talking in public but he always smiled and went with what he had to do though he blabbered and stammered a bit. Boman made sure that we all learn from his tenacity. In the end of the overtime lecture he made us say three words-"Thank you Nithin". I was proud that I was thoughtful enough to thank him out aloud even before Boman made us all do it. I guess I'm similar to him in some way, my college isn't going that well anyways hope my life makes a good story. And that's what Boman blessed us all of, he blessed that we become the kind of people who are going to share there story in a lecture like this. During the Questions and Answer session too he showed the influence of his humble background and his level of experience. There are always some people who are excited and ask questions which are sometimes obvious, not so interesting for the people around and when people used to boo at them Boman gently took care that the speaker isn't uncomfortable and that the crowd listen to what he/she had to say.

The session wasn't going to end this way, a guy asked him to sing, it seemed that Boman was a good singer and sung before. I thought yeah every hobby of a celebrity is so glorified even though they are not that good(sometimes people think- "oh big deal, I can do better"), I wasn't prepared for what was going to come. Boman shared that its just his hobby and he doesn't actually sing(see just as I thought), Then he began singing a song(the song where many international singers with Michael Jackson are singing one by one, as a part of some fundraising event. I'm really sorry I don't know the song). I was mesmerised by his voice, it was awesome and I found that his heavy bass voice he uses to speak doesn't give us any clue of what his beautiful part of voice is. He also mimicked the voices of the singer who originally sang it and I was left awestruck.

There are many things that I have forgotten from the lecture, there somethings I didn't understand, but every bit of it was worth listening to and pondering over. Hope you make your life into a good story too.

Jgd
Puneeth Raj

2012- The movie

2009-12-21T15:51:00.001+05:30

I was seeing an apocalypse movie for the first time in a theater may be that's why i was totally taken aback by the destruction showed in the first half, or maybe I'm not really well suited for violence, but it was awesome and if you plan to watch this movie then watching it in a theater is good idea unless you are like my mom who had her eyes shut completely scared out of her wits.

The first half gives you an impression that its just another "end of the world" movie, a family running around to survive the cataclysm, few presidential speeches about bravery etc. Soon it changed into something mind boggling and awesome which truly leaves your mouth wide open. Almost all the important and unexpected twists where saved for the ending part. overall its an amazing and a must see movie.

My rank- 8/10. Must watch.

Imdb rank- 6.2/10.

Runtime-158 minutes

Genre-Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Story- 8/10- the story was fine but feel like the it was worlds end, most people were cool with it and only thing they all cared was saving their own lives. I think its obvious to contemplate, but that aspect was missing. There's no way people could be so cool about worlds end. I think that's inherent to the story, something the author should work on. the most interesting part is about what all things could go wrong rather than the worlds end itself. Makes you think- I really liked the solution to the worlds end but its not a very good one I believe. I think I spoiled this part for you guys who haven't seen it yet.

Acting-7/10- Typical but did a good job.

Direction and screenplay- 8/10. Somehow the chaos part of it wasn't captured very well.

Action-8/10- nothing out of ordinary as compared to present technology. Looking forward to give the 9/10 to "Avatar".

Sound-8/10- it turns boring hearing the same sounds of tremors again and again but that's only in the first half nevertheless it had awesome sound effects.

Enjoyment-9/10. After all that's what the movies are for.
So don't miss it.

Boman Irani-Actor & Photographer- Part2

2009-12-12T09:10:00.000+05:30

Boman Irani has a very simple personality with lot of depth and innocence. You could tell by spending a little while with him that he is very down to earth (something not very typical of celebs). Even though he was amidst his fans who loved him like mad, he didn’t give any hint of taking their love for granted. In fact he was more interested in making useful contribution to their life. He disclosed that now that he is an overnight success he is afraid of getting into comfort zone and concerned about taking this power of controlling people’s emotions by his acting for granted. A lot of celebrities might show that they are very humble and love their fans by giving special attention to some people- like a hug to disabled or mentally retarded person, but the hug that Boman gave to the mike technician on stage for staying on his toes to set right the collar microphone can truly be called as ‘Jaadu ki jappi’ (magical hug). In fact he said that we had a lot to learn from him. He believed that a good observer is a good actor and that one must observe peoples body language and eyes rather than listen to what they are saying. Words can mean something and expressions quite different. How did he develop this observant and deep personality?- well thanks to his uneventful childhood he developed strong observation skills and an advice by Naseeruddin Shah when Boman was still a shopkeeper who used to sell potato chips for living. He once happened to express his regret of not joining an acting school to the bollywood legendary actor and on which the actor deciphered that acting school wasn’t necessary to learn acting and that he could learn a lot by observing people around him while he was in his shop. So how did he get into this potato selling business? Let’s continue the story of Boman Irani.

He spoke to the manager of Taj mahal hotel and it was I guess pretty easy to get a waiter's job without any special qualification in such a posh hotel in those days, so he made it through with some juggling with words. He started to work as a waiter there and while he was talking about it his heart as he was also reminded of the tyranny that took place on the 26/11/2009, when the terrorist attacked the royal monument. He knew every nook and corner of that hotel. His stay in Taj was not very long- he was destined to achieve more than he could imagine at that point of time. His mother got bedridden and responsibility of his family business fell upon him (not the Ambani type inheritance.). He was to take care of the chips store owned by his family. And So equipped with a vest (better to call it banyan and also lungi with it maybe), a huge bowl filled with boiling oil, a huge metal fry scoop, a room small enough to for both the man and the machine (the stove and the bowl) he started his career as a small young budding maker of potato chips, the heat and antique ambiance of the room was a bonus.

In the wild the males of every species make some flashy moves and sounds, basically to attract female junta and to show that they are extremely gorgeous looking males ready to mate, and the females are generally automatically release pheromones when they are ready. In human world the only difference is both males and females flash signals at each other and that every human being has a different way of doing it (generally referred to as ‘style’). So Mr. Chipswala (chips vendor) also had some flashy tricks up his sleeves (but of course even though the vests are sleeveless) suited for his profession. Well these tricks might have been enough for Rajnikanth to make an impression on a director when he was a conductor (as the rumor goes). But it had a different purpose in case of Boman Irani. He had no idea that his juggling tricks were working one girl who was destined to be his wife. "My wife was silly enough to fall for those tricks" he says. She contributed significantly in increasing the weight the beggar round the corner in few months (obviously buying chips every day was suspicious, it has to dispose of somehow). So this is how they both ended up in love and got married. He became a father in a year’s time. Now another desire of his started to take place in his heart. He was amused by photography and now when he wanted to take pictures of his cute baby he finally bought a high end SLR camera.

Now that he had bought a camera his hands were itching to take shots, and he began by taking pictures of children playing cricket. He became quite famous with moms of that area (-yeah! That’s the way he put it- pervy old….well he says he’s not that old, though he may act like daddys of beautiful maidens of bollywood and gets to all the tightest daddy hugs from all heroines- this also as told by him. But actually he was just trying to be funny, which worked quit well.). These moms wanted to see pictures of their boys performing drives, hitting boundaries and sixes, and they would pay him for that. He bought new equipment every time he had enough money from this hobby. In his neighborhood he had a friend who was in advertising and seeing these photos he was advised to develop his talent to pro level and was given the contact of person named Vasudevan and his son Venkatesh who had a studio in Madras (back then studios were very rare even in Mumbai). So he set out to develop the finesse in photography for another 6months (but finished in 5moths).

There are times when you ask yourself why am I here what am I doing here?, what am I doing here- that’s usually when you find yourself lacking a goal and motivation, but for Boman Irani the reason was slightly different. He didn't mind staying in a dharamshala(dormitory) of a fire temple(he is a Parsi) but what almost petrified him out of his wits was the gentle and usually harmless, and gracefully crawling creatures- the lizards, which were swarming and thriving on the ceiling of the dorm. He more than happy to run into his school days friend when he was offered to have a dinner with them one day and to his great relief was also offered to stay. He didn't care to go to bring his luggage back at that time thanks to the wonderful and gentle reptiles.

This is the first time he felt the presence of a person who had found his inner calling (the whole talk was about it). Vasudevan let him use the studio to his contentment. After 5 months when the time came for him to depart Boman asked Vasudevan the amount he owes to him for which Vasudevan gently denied, he said "I have helped you learn. Why do you want measure it in money?” His memories here was one of the reasons that made him come to Chennai. And if anyone knows this shop in TTK road or T.nagar Chennai (of course the rechristened Madras) or know them, then please tells them that Boman wanted to send his word of regards to them.

He came back from Madras and an opportunity presented itself to him in the form of an international boxing tournament. He went to the manager and requested him to make him the official photographer of this event. He rudely denied Boman’s request saying that he didn't have any qualifications or previous experience for becoming the official photographer of an event of this then how could he let him just be. Boman left after seeing that this person has a good reason, but within few minutes he went back and offered to become his assistant for free and told him that he would do anything he said. Boman had found that this person is one of those who had found their inner calling. On seeing this kind of a reaction from Boman the manager offered him a chance to prove his talent. He asked him to take few pictures of a boxing match and show him. In those days boxing events were very rare, Boman managed to find out about a local boxing match and decided to get to work. When he came back to the manager to show the pictures the manager told him that the pictures were very good. The manager had the letter of appointment already typed in and already had decided to appoint him as the official photographer, if Boman had slacked and given up he wouldn't have had this opportunity. Later during the matches the team of Netherlands wanted to have three special pictures of their player to be taken in black and white. Initially he thought that since he was working for the manager how and wanted to take pictures for him how could he take two at the same time and thought of refusing the offer. But after consoling from the manager he accepted. When the time came to discuss about the payment, since he did not know the rates he cleverly and disguised his ignorance by using the word "the usual", and so the deal was set. The match began and then as promised he took three excellent shots of the Netherlands boxer in black and white while a knockout on opponent, the team won that match. He enquired about the international charges form one of the photographer friends and came to know that he could be paid around $60 for each photograph. He was happy since he was earning even more by taking just three photos than from photographing for the whole event. In those days the pictures were sent via a scanning machine and it took about 4 hrs to complete the process (he was proud of that technology back then). So in the afternoon at 2:00 he was expecting the photos to be sent. Next day morning 4 he woke up to a call, it was from the manager of the Netherlands team. He came to know that the photos still hadn't reached them. He became furious and called to the post office and came to know from the attendant that the machine had broken down. This was the first time the lack of professionalism in India would cause so much pain to him. He immediately took his bike, went to the office and slipped past the sleeping guard and finally came to attendant. Poor fellow now admits that the machine was packed and kept to be delivered to a ministers meeting and it would take at least a week for it to come back. Infuriated by the utter lack of concern for a commoner's needs, the poor attender was made the target of his rage and was speech on integrity of India and patriotism and more (he remembers this is where he was most authentic on every word he said). After hearing so much the attender consoled him and said that he could have done something but he didn't know how to operate the machine. But he brought down the machine unpacked it and both of them now sat to figure out how to use the machine. The machine on the other hand was utterly un-user-friendly.
Somehow they both managed to send the photos. When Boman came back home exhausted at 8:00 AM, he received a call from Netherlands that the photos had been received. The time came for finalizing the payment but Boman still insisted that he preferred the ‘usual ‘, little did he know what usual actually meant for them. ”So 300$” came the reply, Boman was happy that he was getting more,” So total 900$, please collect it from your manager”, almost out of breath and after a little while he replied (mouth already wide open I guess) “OK”. He got the check from his manager and now finally Boman felt like calling himself a photographer with all his heart. He could never afford to take his family out for a nice holiday, they had gone to Ooty once and had stayed in a small lodge (a lot of broken things, around), but now he was satisfied that he could give his family things which had always dreamt of. A month later he received a letter from Netherlands and was surprised to find a check of another 900$, thinking that there has been some mistake he immediately made a call to Netherlands (using the old noisy trunk call). The Netherlands manager clarified that there has been no mistake and the amount was for the ‘reuse’ of the photographs. Boman learned a very important lesson from this, something which a person in his position would appreciate and realize very well. The Netherlands manager was under no obligation to pay Boman, since he wouldn’t know about it anyway but this act deeply inspired him. He learned the importance of ethics, something very rare in India. He kept on receiving checks(with reducing amount) for a while.

The next part will reveal how he got into Bollywood and became an overnight success. I’ll leave with some Tidbits- The person who was actually being considered for the role of Munna bhai was Vivek Oberoi- the whole hall were relieved that it didn’t happen.

And do yourself a favor and visit his website and check out his amazing photographs at http://www.bomanirani.com/bi_port.htm

Boman Irani, Actor & Photographer - Part 1

2009-11-21T23:25:00.002+05:30

Today we had an Extra Mural lecture(EML) in IIT. EML's are exactly like what they sound - basically talks given by eminent personalities. There have been talks from Medha Patkar, Gopal krishana(Deccan air ceo) and a lot more.
So this time it was Boman Irani. While I was thinking what better to do while there was a power cut for the whole day in IIT this opportunity landed at the right time, and I'm glad to have attended the talk(as opposed to the imminent dozing of). So though I was bored and went to the venue 15mins early(very rare phenomena-must be recorded in the history), I couldn't find a seat and had to sit down in the path way. This tradition of overflowing auditorium is quite old in IIT and speakers are overwhelmed by this overflowing enthusiasm of IIT(These guys don't want to miss any chance like this even if they have to stand for 2 Hrs). Boman Irani was no exception- this was the first thing he talked about-he was moved by our response and mentioned that he was obliged to share rare authentic scenes from his life with us different from that available for media and the mass.

Well it started of quite rudely with some people shouting 'mamu' and 'subah ho gayi mamu' etc. He was a humable person who didn't mind it as much as I did. His jokes especially the pervy ones weren't as interesting and stimulating as his adventurous life was. Throughout the session he showed that he was one of most humblest of speakers or celebrity one could have been touched by.

The talk was about finding the inner calling and this is roughly how it goes. Boman Irani was, in his childhood a very shy and quite kind of boy. His father had passed away before he was born and so he was surrounded by mostly women relatives(not the Priyanka Chopra type- he makes it clear) due to which he had developed a phobia towards male presence. With a speech problem of pronunciation of 's' word(made an 's' few s's long) and his phobia towards people, he greatly lacked confidence during his childhood. He was denied admission to school when he was asked to tell the name of the animal in a photo(a horse). He was very scared and hurt to pronounce the word since it had an 's' in it. Boman was dyslexic- he jovially quotes that he had seen Amir Khan's 'Taare Zameen Par' so he knew what was dyslexia was. He hated to be called a 'duffer' which was used constantly by his aunt to refer his dyslexia(she didn't know the technical term dyslexia)- she used to taunt him(with concern)'tu itna duffer kyun hai'(meaning why are you such a duffer). He had faced all problems that a dyslexic person would have faced. Being meek in studies he scored low while he was in school and college. He used to about 5 red mark out of 7 subjects that is. He managed to get through the rest by the leniency of his teachers(grace marks).
Looking back he is neither proud of it nor regrets it.

Not being able to qualify for anything he studied for he decided to become a waiter. So he approached the Taj Mahal Hotel(the one that was attacked by terrorists.) for a job. Did he get the job what happens next? still marriage is left and acting. wait for my next post.

The computer games I like

2009-10-10T21:59:00.003+05:30

Not in order

1. Devil May Cry3- Awesome brutal and tough game you would love to play. Not bloody but allows you to move and get involved every moment. You can try variety of moves and awesome boss battles. A lot of skill needed and reflexes tested in harder levels. Just imagine this game had to be republished just because it was too tough to play. Easier mode available in a newer version called special edition. A lot of variety in close combat with intricate detail. The game doesn't get over in one try. You have so many unlockables that you have to play in every level and you'll be more than excited to do so.

2. Devil May Cry4- An master piece, awesome graphics and involves also a luck factor in some stages the outcome is different every time and not guessable. Superb close combat moves lot of slashers just like its predecessor but more improved and lively including the interface. Absolute fun to play.

3. Diablo- An old game- I like the gameplay and the character development and the spells. You need to have strategy and variety to take on the boss and tougher combination of rivals.

4. Age of empires 2- The most awesome war strategy game with nice and historic story line. You'll need a lot of movement to beat this game. And when you start playing it on lan with other people battles are decided in moments. Quite easy to beat the game if you are good with keyboard and mouse. But the fun is when you play it on lan with teams.

5. Rise of Nation- Like AOE but more variety and options if you like AOE then you'll definitely like this. You can start with nation and eventually move on to conquer the whole world making allies and defeating hostile nations. Awesome experience.

6. Counter Strike- Its all about tactics, reflexes and skills when it come this game and its one of the best game to be played on lan. Its meant to be played on lan. Straight forward and simple absolutely likable. Appeals from beginners to pros. One of the most addictive games. Theres no end to it when you start online.

7. Return to the castle Wolfenstein- The trend setter for first person shoot out game. I haven't played any game that is so simple yet so fun. The story is Involving and original- none can come close to the story line of this game.

8. Warcraft 3- With an involving fantasy story and awesome character development its one the most addictive games available. A war strategy game in which you get to play both good and evil. Even more addictive is the World of Warcraft the Massively multiplayer Online role playing game which I haven't played yet- just afraid that its going to drag me like no other game.

9. Fighting force- A simple close combat game. One of the earlier games I played. Not very famous beat'em up genre game. May not appeal to present generation gamers. Its even harder to find it.

10. Midnight club 2- From the makers of GTA. Set in various locations at stages namely Los Angeles, Pris and Tokyo it is one the toughest game I have played and just stuck at the final level. The beginning is fun. The development is good with various techniques acquired. Not easy like NFS. Even a small scratch on the car can send you to last place. The opponents are tough emphasis on the skill but graphics and detail are also very good. A must play for all those in racing games. Street racing with not serious police intervention but the opponent can tick you of.

11. Mortal Combat-One of the earlier games I played. Its all about moves and fatalities with hundreds of moves you'll never get bored of this game. One of the trend setters in its genre.

*The games I Want to play*
-Ninja Gaiden- similar to DMC.
-SIMS- I don't know whether I'll like it or not. It doesn't seems very exciting now. Though very famous.
-Bioshock- for concept and gameplay.
-Wolfenstein 2009.
-Final fantasy series.
-Crysis.
-NFS shift
- Witcher - famous for roleplaying and decisions you take have consequences.
-Elder Scroll- Famous I didn't like the gameplay though, when i saw in youtube.
-Prototype- for its gameplay.
-Transformers- Just curious, if the movie had some much of awesome moves will i be able find it in the game. Just having an intuition that it might have a lot of variety.

*The games I have played and not in the above list*

Max Payne 1 and 2 - got head ache. Very dark. The protagonist is depressed.
IGI 1 and 2 - nice to play- sneak attacks.
NFS Underground, Carbon, Most wanted superb graphics and awesome handling.
Batman Arkhman Asylum- known as the best super hero game.
Command and conquer red alert - had heard a lot but found nothing special. I like RON and AOE
House of dead- bang bang bang clicth'k
Halo-1- just some alien invasion type game with not so good weapons.

I'm looking for a game with revolutionary gameplay and story that makes sense. Something that is made with a lot of care for self-satisfaction aimed at perfection or newness or art, with creativity, rather than the market and yet has become known and acknowledged. Most blood gore and violence games have stereotypical approach like aliens invasions etc., they don't have any good new concept behind they just follow the market with slight difference in story and weapons.
I absolutely hate how they project minions in a horror game and aliens like their only purpose is to be ugly. Instead of actually projecting a proper human face- which is difficult(all those wind and hair effect) they can actually create a fictional being which is easier to model and animate.

I want to create a game, a martial arts game with close combat with or without weapons. The user Should be able to develop the character rather the limited options available in a game like level ups. The character should be able to tweak his reflex time, power of the move, precision of the move, even the motion of the move. The funda is once he fights an enemy he must be able to figure out the openings,the power of his move, the timing, the motion etc and tweak himself so that he will be able to counter him. Similar thing is done in DMC4 with Dante's character. He was able change from escapist to defensive and aggressive or adept at using guns. I want a game where even the motion of the moves should be designed by user. Some constraints can be placed so that when he need speed the power reduces or when power of the move is more the time of the move is reduced. And a befitting story which has ultimate outcome same but various path to be taken.

Mechanical analogy

2009-10-03T16:57:00.005+05:30

There are three kinds of load that can be applied on a material and there are a number of loads applied in a human being.

Tension-Applied in axial direction pulling the material apart. Tension when time is very less and you need to do more- you sweat it out. When you are studying for exams. An object yields under tension, then hardens and under tension of greater magnitude eventually fails. A human yields under tension with so many worries pulling you around and he/she just does what life dumps on. Fear and confusion builds up in tension leading to suicidal tendencies.

Compression- Applied in the axial direction pressing the material. When someone is pressurised due expectations placed on him or when he is bearing the load of something. Under compression an object's volume reduces usually hardens due to increase in density. A human under pressure from parents, job, society etc., gets dense in the mind, the head starts to ache, he wont be able to think anything creative, its very hard for him/her to open up their mind to new concepts. Anger builds up.

Shear- Applied in tangential direction to the face of the object. Distractions caused by his own emotions. Under shear an object tends to flow or deform. A human gives up to his feeling of lust and greed. this the easiest way to yield a man. All attachments, the complying to friends move a person to do unproductive things even though its not intelligent.

Under fatigue loading a material fails even if the load is small, it brings down their life expectancy. Humans and randomly loaded all through their life, stress can suck out humans strength. If the material is brittle it can crack easily no mater how hard it is, high ductility is also not desirable its has to be engineered properly.

Materials are intelligently manufactured through subjecting them to various processes involving controlled heating, cooling, application of pressure, extruding. They are machined, welded, molded, formed into various shapes for various applications. materials can be assembled intelligently in a system to to get the desired function.
But the nature is the best designer it builds from from atomic level and hence a perfect product is born according to that environment. Every living thing evolves, learns becomes better. But nature doesn't prefer a particular species, organism, color or shape. It just uses the best material and design possible for a particular purpose without any prejudice or preference.

Man is brought up by the society to fulfill its needs. He is force-fed to behave in a certain manner. Materials have limited reaction but humans have the ability to adapt. He engineers himself to suit the situation- but this is just a bad way to treat himself. He hardens, sometimes kills his own dream, commits crime, breaks down when not needed.Everything that can happen to a material can happen to him. Man designs not for the good of all, he designs for himself, society and he is insensitive, doesn't care about anything else unless it involves him. Nature makes him realise. The ecosystem created by man called the society is filled with chaos and is not in balance. He aims for linear growth and doesn't realise that in nature everything goes in a circle.

Man knows the loads applied on him, he knows its not good for him but still continues to yield, harden and fail without direction. He can act like water when he wants or even air and but also has the strength of iron. He is the best material designed by nature. I wonder why this science of self or spirituality is not taken seriously, isn't education supposed to teach us that. That would be very intelligent, don't you think?

Seven Pounds

2009-07-05T04:07:00.001+05:30

I just came up with this new way of presenting a review of a movie. I'm sure most of us movie freaks have faced situations where a highly ranked and appreciated movie wont match to our expectations. This new way of presenting a review I believe is likely to overcome these issues. But I believe that watching a movie without having any expectations gives maximum joy. But for the movie freaks this might work out well. I'll start with the review of the movie 'Seven Pounds'.

Story-Intriguing, moving. slow paced. 7/10
direction and screenplay- exceptional nothing out of normal. 8/10
acting-exceptional. 7/10
mood- not very involving and remains boring depressing for sometime.
genre-drama
runtime-(don't have enthu to find out. but will be useful).
imdb rank-(no enthu to find out).
my ranking- 7/10

plot synopsis-
A happy and sensitive man's life has taken a different turn after losing his beloved in an accident due to his an unfortunate error committed. He finds a way to get salvation from his guilt as memories haunt him.
Do tell me what you feel about this post and if there's any other issue to be considered.

Evolution

2009-07-04T12:44:00.000+05:30

I don’t know whether this theory already exists nevertheless I want to give it try. To put it in simple words maybe the a flowchart of all the possible characteristics of a species is laid out and according to the environment the organism chooses what it wants to be. Like a grasshopper would choose to be green in colour since it operates in green fields. Unlike the ‘Survival of the fittest’ theory this theory assumes that it’s the nature which alters the species. Almost all species are mutated according to the environment or every animal has the capability to follow the most likely path of evolution in a given environment. Each individual is different from other and every organism has got different species. It’s like the consciousness chooses the best route according to the environment so though the organism is the same but species differ in a small way. So breeding between two different species is possible if the mechanism/method of reproduction hasn’t changed there by creating crossbreeds which may be inconsistent or evolved.

Another possibility is that due to the radiation level in that area only certain kind of mutations occur and effect all the individuals belonging to certain species in same way in an area and hence a different kind of species evolve in different areas. But this means that two species can’t possibly occupy same area, and I think it’s true to the best of my knowledge. There weren’t whites in Africa and blacks in Britain.

But if this theory were to be true then there would be only one organism in one area, assuming we all evolved/mutated from a single cell. Here comes part of chaos – the nature’s and god’s divine algorithm. Chaos can be the cause of variety in organisms. Some evolved to be elephants, some humans and so on. Well as compared to the number of permutations and combinations possible with genes the variety of organisms there are in this world seems to be feeble. Maybe in some world beyond ours we may find a different variety of creation.

Chaos

2009-07-04T12:42:00.000+05:30

Even chaos is predictable. Suppose we have some objects with arbitrary shapes and lets say we coat them with a sticky substance and now if we mix them all together in a container and stir them then the possible combinations are many but a star shaped body wouldn’t stick so much to a surface as it sticks to similar kind, which means that most probable shapes emerge victors but in different proportions. Similar thing happens in a chemical reaction, though it is chaotic in micro level but the products have certain composition. Chaos in unpredictable in micro level but when it comes to macro there’s always a clear composition. Survival of the fittest theory doesn’t is too narrow minded to be the theory of evolution. And I think theory of chaos can explain everything. But humans seem to have a power which can even change outcome of chaos to some extent. But what seems to a choice in a certain level may be a divine plan in a different level. No matter how chaotic your life is or anybody’s life for that matter, humanity is heading somewhere very predictable in a level beyond your thoughts can go. Thinking of lower level makes us miserable and bound due to the chaos we can’t handle and thinking above our level in other words our selves makes things predictable. This is the way to make things predictable and be in control. The more you want to control the higher level you need to reach, the more you need to think of others. We’ve thought a lot of ourselves already now let’s start thinking about our society, country and the world.

A Wonderful Laugh

2009-06-11T12:59:00.000+05:30

When I was a kid I was very close to one of my cousin sisters. And like it happens between all best friends, we once had an ugly fight. I don’t remember exactly what the reason was,but I guess it must have been one of those cute little petty reasons of a fight, one could laugh at when they grow up. latter something really awesome happened, that made me forget the reason. I decided to teach her a lesson and declared that I would not to talk to her ever(I find it really cute). It was just like in the movies. I was expecting apologies, and pleading , but on the contrary she didn't care much or so she wanted to show. I still remember that huge childish ego coming up – she doesn't even care that I her best friend won’t be talking to her and it’s my best friend behaving this way with me. The silent treatment continued for a couple of days. It wasn't working very well though, she continued to play her girly games with her stupid girlfriends. Looking back I think, girls could be so mean and insensitive sometimes-ah! Even if the worlds going to end all they would care is play those stupid games and day dream with those dolls. That didn’t stop me from putting up a scene of ‘I don’t give a damn’.

Being in a joint family living in a colony back then(now living separate), I used to visit their house whenever I liked or without any reason – it was like my own house. One day, in the silent treatment I went to her house and saw that she was also present there. We happened to sit near each other. A silent gap.......and then I don’t know how it started but we began to start laughing like we had heard the funniest joke of the century.

It was the happiest kind of laugh I ever had. We never discussed about the fight or said sorry to each other. The fermented and hardened feelings within us just melted away in an instant, there was no making up required. After some heart filling, stomach aching laugh we went out and we talked - same old child like things the best friends talk - everything else seemed so small to even consider talking about it. That day unconsciously, I took a silent vow to myself that I shall never bring us into this situation again.

It’s so hard to do the same thing now - neither do I hate someone 100% nor do I make up for the misunderstandings with the people I call friends. It’s so stupid to keep silly little things between friends. I want laugh like that again. I don’t want to keep anything in my heart now. If you are a friend reading this then just know I want to forget and want you to forget any unpleasant things that has happened between us. I mean it and advice you to do the same to your friends.

JGD

Destiny and choices/ Encounters 1- Drunkards

2009-06-05T11:58:00.000+05:30

An encounter with an angry drunkard was my destiny but staying calm and walking away even though I was hit was my choice. I was tired and was searching for BSNL service centre when an angry looking man was charging at me as his friend was trying to stop him. I was still walking unconscious that the man (I presume drunk and highly stressed) was shouting at me. Within a short while however he managed to grab my attention by giving me a blow on my left arm- ouch! It hurt that was only initial impact, the complete effect of which is not felt at that instance, but aggravated within few minutes. That’s when I realised how much powerful that hit was and how weak I am. So this fellow was being kept in control by his friend and that fellow also tried to apologise when I was walking past without giving any heed to any of them when another hit from nowhere landed on me this time by some other highly stressed pressure vessel. It wasn’t that hard, it missed me but I still managed to walk like a zombie past this commotion. I just remembered the belongingness fundaes from the advance course and asked myself ‘can you love a person this bad? ’. The answer made it easier for me to accept the situation and take the best action.

They didn’t pursue me any further but a little while after that people around stated asking about what had happened and sympathising. Not sure of what to make of this incident I just smiled all the way. This is not the first time I had dealt with a drunkard, and the first time I realised that these people just can’t be persuaded by reason. This time I Just walked away in silence and nothing much happened, but in a similar encounter few months ago I was all set to show that guy a few of my martial arts tricks which of course were only a by-product of my interest in TV and movies. I was panicking and angry and had received a slap on my face, thanks to me acting cool thinking that I could enlighten him of the exact situation. He had his friend and we were three of us so I thought, this is going to be easy even If he looked much more powerful and mad than me. Things turned out differently than I thought, and my friends began persuading him of our meek situation (that we are just college student etc.), during which he managed to hit my cycle with his bike he was on and I managed to kick the silencer of his bike and made him angrier. In the end I realised that these people are just plain stupid they just can’t be persuaded.

One very important thing I realised was it’s not a good idea to get involved in a brawl if you don’t understand what the other person is speaking. A similar thing happened long time ago when I was new to Chennai and was sitting in ladies seat day dreaming in an MTC bus and this lady is shouting at the top of her voice, me however not noticing for a long while that it was me she was addressing to - ladies here especially the one who look like vendors can really be rough and stupid. They really have no idea about what politeness is though their whole business depends on it.

I learned that I have become stronger and realised the clarity that walking in this path has brought to me. I also learned I have become stronger physically too. For that I could start of by going home in vacation and having a proper diet for sometime at least. Comment if you’ve had a similar experience, what you did and what you think is best.

JGD

Advance course with Guruji

2009-05-28T11:26:00.000+05:30

“Somebody here wants to sing, ” he said looking at the row where I was sitting and immediately hands went up all over. All I could do was freeze in shock. I had just witnessed one of the most unexpected and happy moment of my life, of course I didn’t sing, it was too much for me to take. It was a grand beginning of the advance course for me. Sriranjini however got to sing for him, she sung what I believe was her favorite and it is the song that usually blows our mind of – it was Vikram Hazra’s Radhe Shyam bhajan.

The satsung was filled with more amazing stuff in the form of knowledge by Guruji. He had a message for the politicians, for both the wining and the losing parties. The dissatisfaction over the final verdict was obvious, winning of congress though was likely, was not desirable by Art of Living community. Guruji’s Knowledge couldn’t be more relieving and meaningful. From what I recall the message for the wining party was to treat the losing party with humility. It was because losing party that they won- by thinking like this they could develop the humility for the losing party. While in battle be fierce but after battle has ended the intense feeling of anger towards the other party should also end. The losing party should shed their anger and frustration and welcome the decision as the will of god. The wining party should also review and take action so that the mistakes committed earlier should not be done again. It was a blissful way to end a day this way, each day of the advance course.

This time I forgot to bring my cap to the advance course, but you know I’m naturally evolved to attend advance courses. I have this ability to be able to walk like a king, head up and wearing an elaborate smile without making any eye contacts, or judgments and to get one step closer to natural self by just remove my spectacles.

The course was filled with amazing knowledge and processes as usual, which leaves you wanting for more. It started as usual with the ‘I belong to you’ process, except that this time I did with a real feeling of belongingness. I gained a deeper understanding of what belongingness means and what witness consciousness is. I am looking forward to what I would learn the next time already. This course felt like it was contracted, I felt that some new processes were added and some were removed. Time flies

The moment, which we were all waiting for, came when we came out of silence. Dinesh bhaiya informed us that Guruji would be granting us an audience. Again I felt the same feeling as I feel always when he is this close. It’s the devastating feeling of something similar to sorrow. I didn’t have any idea what it was, why it arises, is it because of the longing, is it guilt that I should have done more, or should have done something significant to be in this situation, or is it the feeling of insignificance of my egoistic desires against presence of such a person in front of me. Again I went blank no questions, no desires, the desire to know about this feeling also subsided soon and what remained was a feeling of gratefulness when he left.

A few tips for the people who are going to the June advance course-
Keep your intellect aside for the 5 days
Follow every instruction innocently
Observe the play of your mind
Become a happy zombie when you are in silence
Thoroughly enjoy both the pain and joy.
Jai Gurudev
Love you Guruji

Oye lucky!!

2009-05-15T12:03:00.000+05:30

1:27 in the morning...what can you be doing at this time, if sleeping doesn’t fit farly into the category of the few interesting things that can be done. Do what ever but defenitly do not watch ‘Oye lucky! Lucky Oye’ if at all there is an expectation of getting sleep while seeing a movie is lurking in your mind. Because neither will it let you sleep neither until the end nor after it, till a good amount of time. Hopelessly trying to sleep after watching this 2hr long movie, I decided writing a review might help.
It tells us a story of a master charming thief (Lucky) who also is a very innocent guy. Somewhat like ‘Bunty’ in ‘Bunty aur Babli’ but way more refined and loveable. Lucky steals anything he likes be it merc or audio system even a dog, whatever he feels can make his lavish living more interesting. He has dreams not becoming rich but living like a filthy rich. Abhay deol does justice to the main charater ‘lucky’ and another attraction was Paresh Rawal’s triple acting. The direction is very creative and impressive. It has both traditional ways of direction like the flash backs as well as creative, like a single person representing three charecters. People have widely mistaken it as a comedy due to the thirple acting which can be seen in comedy movies, but it’s a movie which is very well crafted. I guess no one had a clue that this kind of movie can even be made in bollywood. Some parts of it might be comical, but it comes only as a part of the story and not the plot as it is done in a comedy or typical bolywood masala movies. It is a work of fiction inspired many lives including his own and hence has a biographical stint. It is similar to Stephen Spielberg’s ‘Catch me If you can’, but set in Indian backgoround and focussing on life of a thief rather than than the intelligence behind catching him.If ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ could get Oscar this movie deserves more than it.
I specially appreciate the cast chosen by the director. He hasn’t gone for bigshots, which is done in a typical commecial movie; rather he has chosen hard working (in one of the news report he mentioned this as one of the reasons for chosing non stars over star actors) and right people, which has worked out perfectly. Overall it’s a must see for story and acting.

it doesn't matter anymoreI

2009-04-22T13:19:00.000+05:30

the most joyful part of my life seems to be screwed up like never before. Yet i dont care, I have lost the ability to panic to be stressed but i have not learned how to be centered without it. The idea of how to be centered seems very vague. Fearlessness and carelessness, i found them to be a deadly combination. this state of mind i feel is what people call over confidence.I have become more committed to seva, I have derived satisfaction like never before, forgetting about the anything else completely and most conveniently. Like guruji said all other matters seems unimportant. Its thuch(the best word I can imagine for my expression), seems foolish to attend to.
I became
a little more clear and a lot more confused,
a little more aware and a lot more unaware,
a little more centered and a lot more unbalanced
a little more interesting and a lot more boring,
a little more enthusiastic and a little more dull,
a little more creative and a lot more idle,
a more sensitive and a lot more rude,
a somewhat happy and somewhat depressed.
so careless that the schedule of my lab exam slipped out of my memory most conveniently. So fearless that I wrote exams without preparing for it.
Now for the consequences- I have got 0 first time in my life- I don't care about it why do people give it so much importance. It just means that I'm a misfit I need to do things differently than what I am doing. I need to be more responsible.
Result of being aware- I became aware that I'm unaware most of the time. And what does that make me feel- sad, frustrated, longing for the centeredness. And surprisingly I have come to a level that I observe that when I notice these things happening I just drop them, they don't matter any more. I come to a realisation that I need to be more centered, and guess what that make me- more centered and aware. But does that make me what I want to be- still far from it. I guess it's only time that matters.
I have involved my self in activities like 'free hug seva', 'voting campaign' at the cost of the time in which i could have studied or see movies, which I usually do- time for studies- not defined in my dictionary. Which brings me to the realisation that if you dont have something in your dictionary most likely you wont understand it . If you don't define your goals, your wants, your somethings which seems to matter then its impossible to get there. Its like you think you know but you don't even know that you don't know. And will I define everything from now on- defining everything is not yet defined in my dictionary.I guess that brings me to clarity- so if have defined things and i'm clear, then why is it that its not working out. There are a lot more things that I have no clue about. The assumptions i make don't take into account these things. By making mistakes I only become aware of these things more closely. So does that mean i have to make more mistake to learn all these, i.e if you are ready to learn from mistakes.
Commitment is one thing that can clear up jargons. If you want to even learn from the mistake you have to be sure that you mistake correctly. You stay committed to something, may be things which you wont even believe. But in the end it can only make you realise the minute things, those subtle impressions that are not set in the right way.
So I put my commitment in making myself interesting by being strong natural, not getting caught in what other think of you. I attend this Yes+ course as a volunteer and I get comments like 'you look divine'(that was after advance course, not anymore- I look hideous these days) and 'you have an intense personality' which indicated what i already had in mind. But so by being dull i.e not showing of, or reacting how the crowd wants me to react or what make the crowd react, I just remained with myself which actually made me more interesting. I didn't care how or what I wanted to talk when I talked to someone. Just realised that I dont care nether do they so be silent or as guruji says just talk knowledge.
I wanted to be creative, I started writing poems, Blogging, and learning flute. I did what I loved to do. I hung out with people I like and didn't care of the exam the next day. In Narada Bhakti Sutras it is said 'never miss an opportunity to be with good company' so I prefered hanging out rather than studying. But what I missed was the definition of good company. And when I wanted to be more creative I sat thinking, since I thought thinking was an essential part creating. Now i realise implementing is also a part. Which I never cared- that make me idle.
I became more sensitive to myself which made me rude towards few things- sometimes friends, sometimes traffic, sometimes angry over myself for forgetting things. Aggression has become a part of me since i started the experiment. The experiment was 'Anger management' i.e get angry even if you don't mean to or at times when you usually don't get angry. That has taken toll of my peace of mind and I regretted it for quite a while. But I have gained a lot in the process- Like using aggression where required- not getting bogged down by rejections and handling criticism and humiliation. I can't return back to my old not confident self with the aggression i have now. I just have to accept it now.
I have been enthusiastic in seva activities and dull in room activities- studies.
The seva has brought me enormous joy and satisfaction but I have not been committed to things that make others things important. The failure to take care of these new things which I have categorized as not important Depression take over. This depression strangely has lost intensity it doesn't stay for a long time but does one thing I hate- forgetfulness of knowledge, the self which i have no idea about but sometime I feel that this is the state I want to be in forever or faith that in this path sometime I'm going to be the one I want to be-broadminded, responsible, sensitive, calm and composed and most importantly to be with a Guru. That bring me to the last realisation of this post- that we blow out of proportion these negative things rather than giving attention to the positive. So what does that make me- Happy- which i usually forget.
Please comment if you have come this far.
JGD

Youth campaign to encourage voting

2009-04-03T23:20:00.001+05:30

Youth campaign to encourage voting

A group of college students fread more...
Here whats my idea of adventure, service and having fun. If even 100 people in a city take responsibility to change and transform it nothing can stop it from happening. We need youth with calm mind, sharp intellect, unshakable commitment and faith to take India forward. Are you with us?

Embarrassing moments 1 - Memory attack

2009-04-01T21:21:00.000+05:30

I am going to start a new column types posts to share those tinny winny habits which has got me into huge troubles but always has been a part of me. And when I think about it in this perspective I feel a certain thankfulness towards these quirks of mine.
So lets me start with the one that just inspired me to start this and is the most common of all our nasty habits. So what's coming to your mind-The first thing that comes to mind is our adorable habit of staying absolutely blissfully unaware of where we put our things- the habit of forgetting. Ironically this is what most of us are reminded of when actually it itself is the cause.
We must all have been in a situation when we have searched for it(anything that seems to be more important than our life at that moment and seems to have been misplaced)in all the places we logically derived where it would be, even put our hands in the dustbin to see if it's there- no,then open the door of the fridge- obviously no "but may be I just did 'that' and 'this' and may be 'that' so then 'that's how it could have come here".....now we are too frustrated to think anything else but somehow we think of eating and then it strikes again-the memory attack now we forget what we were searching for. Desperately connecting the links from whatever action we remember we did we try to trace back- "what is it i was searching for", we go nowhere and give up...hmmmmmmm...then something strikes in our mind "oh I have to do this I need 'this' for 'that' so I was searching for 'this'".Now suddenly, out of complete faith in the amazingly enchanting phenomena the chaos the embodiment of no reasons and by the realisation of how careless we can be are and how lucky we must be to get it under the- table, bed, almirah, fridge, lumps of books we never touched, but no, didn't even leave flower vase and other unimaginable places for 'that' to be under only to find it right under the nose- it is what we are clutching to,now what is it in my pocket. When we are so tensed, or so cool there are these places where unconsciously we tend to put things and forget- our pockets or besides the things we were working on like laptops or inside the books.
At one time I was searching for my spectacles wearing them. I have left my mobile in places and forgotten about them, though I realise it soon and I'll be able to find them(since it has become one of our basic necessities in the modern world). I was supposed to get my laptop to a session(i.e NBS- that's for people who know whats NBS)and realise that I haven't got my laptop only in the venue. Once I also had forgotten that there was this session and that the people were waiting for me to come, because they depended on my laptop. As I was writing this post(the first few lines) I forgot that I have kept my bag right behind me and later I was searching for it and got spooked by the possibility that I must have left it somewhere else and thinking that now its going to be lost.
Every time I get into trouble I almost swear to myself that this is not going to happen again, only to find that it's just going to be another one of those resolutions I've been taking from 15 years. But why do I feel grateful for it now. It's because whenever this quirk of mine has got me into trouble I have always grown more. It revealed that, the things that are actually important and things which I give importance to are very different, the things which I am supposed to remember and the things for which I need to keep a reminder are totally different. The things that are important are those which I can't forget in any situation- the wisdom, the feeling of gratefulness. The things which I should always remember- that I am taken care of, I'm not this body I'm the self, I'm the joy, I'm the peace and the human values without which some people forget that they are human and that nothing else is more precious and important than life. The things that people usually give significance to- money, fame and pride and the thing that are to be pondered on- the purpose of life, what do I actually want, who am I. The responsibilities- towards parents and colleagues and the false behavior people put. The duties towards the society and the carelessness that plague the people. Whenever I have faced trouble due to the things which are i give importance to I have learned that I should give importance to that which actually matter the most. I'm just grateful for this habit of mine it has made me differentiate between what is and what should be.

Seven Pounds

2009-03-19T14:34:00.000+05:30

I just came up with this new way of presenting a review of a movie. I'm sure most of us movie freaks have faced situations where a highly ranked and appreciated movie wont match to our expectations. This new way of presenting a review i believe is likely to overcome these issues. But I believe that watching a movie without having any expectations gives maximum joy. But for the movie freaks this might work out well. I'll start with the review of the movie 'Seven Pounds'.

Story-Intriguing, moving. slow paced. 7/10
direction and screenplay- exceptional nothing out of normal. 8/10
acting-exceptional. 7/10
mood- not very involving and remains boring depressing for sometime.
genre-drama
runtime-(don't have enthu to find out. but will be useful).
imdb rank-(no enthu to find out).
my ranking- 7/10

plot synopsis-
A happy and sensitive man's life has taken a different turn after losing his beloved in an accident due to his an unfortunate error committed. He finds a way to get salvation from his guilt as memories haunt him.
Do tell me what you feel about this post and if there's any other issue to be considered.

Seva

2009-03-10T16:34:00.000+05:30

Seva can’t be done for satisfaction but it brings satisfaction. I feel the seva is just another natural activity which has been made out of trend. Sharing joy or sorrow is also part of our nature but the trend today is to talk ill of others behind their backs. I’m sure most of us agree that a person should be share, care, control anger, should love everyone but it simply is not the trend. If doing seva is bringing you stress then that is not the true seva. Seva can never bring sadness. If you are sad then it is because of the attitude of seva you have. Seva is natural, repetitive and joyful. When we do something which is very close to our heart and which might not have any apparent reason and without expectations the satisfaction it brings is enormous.

What stops us from being natural is the ego, the ego which is out of place. When a saint expresses his ego in the form of orders he gives his disciples to spread the knowledge he has given to them, people usually think that he is promoting himself and that he wants fame. With the kind of impossible things they do and the love for silence they have, it somehow doesn’t seem logical to me that they would want attention or the company of their disciples. The people who criticize them of being fame hungry egoists are the same who normally take pride in showing off to the people around them their accomplishments, the service activities which they might have done and in their ideas, principles and concepts which don’t have any depth. They some how find it very disturbing when an enlightened person praises himself, they simply can’t take it.

People sometimes do seva to get good karma, which in itself beats the purpose of seva. Though the result of a seva is definite, they miss out the most fulfilling results of all which is more important than any good karma. This part of seva is the fulfilment itself. The belongingness is what I believe brings the contentment.

2009-03-09T17:53:00.001+05:30

Intellectual type, thriller
Slumdog millionaire
Death note live action
Seven
The Inside man(my fav)
Oceans Series
Saw1
Shawshank Redemption
Silence of the Lambs
The Butterfly Effect
The illusionist
The Fight Club
The sixth Sense
21
Mind Hunters(not well made-no proper actors but good)

Acting

The Fight club
The Departed
The Infernal affairs series
Oceans Series
Titanic
Blood Diamond
The Last King Of Scotland
Troy(beyond words)
The Crouching tiger hidden dragon
The hero(jet lee)
Fearless
What women want
Few good men
Good luck Chuck

Good Concept,Makes you think or oscar type
Beautifull mind
Perfume(i simply loved it)
Forest Gump
The Dance of the wolves
Gran Torino
The Truman show
Crash
Death Race
Little miss sunshine
The Man from Earth
300
The War of Worlds
Catch me if you can
The Aviator
V for Vendetta
The Matrix
The Changeling(2008)
Amelie
Good luck chuck
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
No Country for old men
Big Fish

Classic type
12 angry men

Fantasy
Lord of the ring
Harry Potter

Comedy, just for laughs
Pink panther-1
Rumble in The Bronkx(the best)
Rush Hour
Mr bean's holiday
Speed Racer
Get smart
The Love Guru(must watch)
The Pirates of the carribean
The Men In Black
Amelie
My Sassy girl
The Euro trip
The yes man
Scary movie series

Action
Spider Man series 1-3(my fav)
Terminator-1&2
Mummy(1&2)
Casino Royale
Die Hard 4
Bourne series
Mistes and misses smith
District B13(awesome)
Kill Bill(my fav)
Transporter series
Death Race
Gone in 60 Seconds
Tokiyo Drift- fast and the furious
300
Behind the enemy lines 1
The Crouching tiger hidden dragon
The hero(jet lee)
Fearless

Horror
Blairwitch project
28 days later
28 weeks later
Resident Evil 1
The final destination

Happy endings, feeling vise, Romantic
28 days later
The Ghost town
Bend It like beckam
Mamma Mia
August rush(not great)
The french kiss
The truman show
The Yes man
The.Pursuit.Of.Happyness[2006]

Inspirational
The Great Debaters
The World's Fastest Indian
The Inconvenient Truth(my fav)
Man On the Moon
The.Pursuit.Of.Happyness[2006]

Animation
Advent Children- final fantasy
Madagaskar 1&2
The monsteer house
The Simpson's movie (super awesome)
The incredibles
Ice Age 1&2(my fav)
Beowulf
Walace and Grommit
Horton Heard a who
Kungfu Panda

Truths Type or truth about life
The Schindler's list
The.Pursuit.Of.Happyness(my fav)
The Wrestler
Blood Diamond
The Last King Of Scotland
The inconvenient truth

Satsung

2009-03-05T21:58:00.000+05:30

ek tarang

Swar sur taal rung
Milke bane adbuth gayan

Na koi niyyam na shasan
sikh esai hindu muslim
Sab mill gaayyen
Ek he dhunn may magann

Satyy ke sath
Gopi gopaaon ke sung

Amar kaa smarann
Anant ko samarpann

Ek vismay anand
goonje antarang

sajjano ki sangati
sur aur mann ka milan

divyy ka aagamann
Yeh hai satsung
Rasmay sundar pavan

Talent for what??

2009-02-17T21:20:00.000+05:30

If you can sing well then it is for others, if you can dance well it for others to enjoy, if you are a good cook it is for others you make the food. Any talent bestowed to you is for others. Guruji has very aptly pointed this out in his knowledge sheet.
Some of us are not open to share the talent we have, due the ego which has created barriers and inhibitions which keeps us in check.
When I imagine a world where everyone has recognised their talents and not imitating others in the mad rush of rat race, it fills me with a subtle breeze of joy. The feeling of lightness is so blissful.
I have noticed that for a creative person his creation brings an amazing sense of wonder to him. It creates some wow effect in me when I come up with something original and it soothes me like meditation.
The creation however doesn't bring satisfaction to the creator. He is left with a hint to create something else and an eagerness to apply what he has learned, to continue creating. When this application brings joy to others, that creates satisfaction. Only giving can create satisfaction.
I feel that this ability to create or innovate is the talent. When the talent is used to bring joy to others it is Seva. To realise our talent or break the barriers which does not allow us to be natural, we need knowledge and the company of the truth or the truthful which is Satsung.

free hugs on v day

2009-02-16T14:12:00.000+05:30

We touched around 300 lives and put 1000 smiles. Jai Hind......

Crude impact

2009-02-12T22:27:00.000+05:30

Has anyone tried to estimate to how many people is this crude impact is actually going to impact?
How many people use vehicle which run on petroleum based derivatives. Us meaning the whole mankind including the generally neglected people of poor nations of Africa, the villages of Asia beyond reach. How many are there who don’t even have a cycle. Is it going to affect the mankind or is it going to run out as a source of money for the greedy rich. The greedy ones and the intelligent will always find a way even if we run out of this resource. How many of us actually care about the environment. How many of the oil producing companies care of environment. Is all this hue and cry about fossil fuels getting depleted created just because the greedy ones should now find another way to cheat people or is it because the mankind’s development is going to stop? One thing is for sure mankind will never stop growing until it realises the ultimate truth, the truth every one of us must seek. The truth that we are more than our problems, that we together can shake the whole universe and that we are the chosen ones and part of the divine. it’s in our nature to learn from mistakes and adapt to changes. Its not our nature to worry, it is very unnatural. Worrying is just thinking, we now have to act, realise and rise.

Violence and Religion

2009-02-12T22:16:00.001+05:30

It’s a thing to wonder that every religion has this concept of justifying act violence. In Hinduism Krishna said that we are supposed to our duty and not care about the results(in a situation of a war), in Islam its the concept of jihad, of which I cant comment much since I haven't studied it on my own but from my limited knowledge I can tell that the concept had importance when the small Muslim community in its infancy was threatened by some irrational people long ago and reflects that it was used for self defense and I'm sure Christianity also has some element similar to these .
So does it mean that all the gurus, the prophets and saints of religion had intentions of making their own religion great, knowing that other religions also existed or is it our interpretations that have distorted their teachings. Would prophet Mohamed have any problem with existence of Krishna or did Jesus have any problem with existence of the prophet. It’s really foolish to think that those great enlightened people would even have disagreement with each other imagining they meet each other. So where does this conflict come from, it’s obvious that it’s only our narrow minded approach to their teachings that has resulted in this situation. And these situations I believe, exist only to make us realise this very point. Unless every human being understands this, it is likely going to continue. The fastest way to get to this understanding is to accept this situation and then only take action accordingly.

another one

2009-01-31T19:11:00.000+05:30

another one, written not before long
a quicky for a satsung, to be sung before a song.

In this path full of roses and thorns
With all my rights and my wrongs
You make my life a blissful song.
In this bliss I had waited for long
I smiled and smiled and sang along.

The beautiful eyes and I

2009-01-30T23:58:00.000+05:30

Through all my confusion and excitements,
I didn’t know what to ask, what to do.
The one word I uttered was “guruji”
then I choked, found no questions,
not another word.

I dwelled on and followed him,
followed him, not knowing why.
I just wanted to let go and sigh.

What else could I ask for in this moment,
but this presence and the desire
to meet him and to spend some more time.
Something kept pushing me to go on but why.
Why, I came to know after a while.

At the end of the crowd, I stood high.
I was wondering was he looking at me or the sky.
He glanced through me twice,
caught hold of me, with those fiery eyes,
and shook me from the inside.

He released a few knots and ties, in my mind
he cleared a few somethings I don’t even realise,
washed it thoroughly, emptied it
left me aghast, almost sorrowful
I wondered again, what is this, and why.

I should have been filled with light and smile
but here I am completely empty
without any thoughts that satisfy,
this is happiness and this is you.
but I couldn’t think of anything nice.

Hard to explain the mysteries of the mind
I just thought let me express and cry,
just be grateful and say good bye.
But neither tears rolled nor I smiled.

A sensation followed like that of sorrow.
Learned not judge but experience,
I did calm down and began to realise,
I felt no bodily sensations of sorrow.
Completely numb, empty and hollow was I.

I had to go, stuck to my commitment,
I had to lie. At once I found a ride.
we sat on a bike and started to fly,
but only in mind could I.
I closed my eyes and felt what was inside.
Caring a bit of the traffic but not the noises outside,
together we sang, the same song we had in mind.

I got down, destination had arrived.
Said bye to my friend
and hi to my new I.

Thoughts already popping up in my mind,
what could I have asked, what’s important
and stupid questions alike.
I shut them off and carried on
till I reached my hostel my home,
it didn’t matter anymore.

Completely blissed and blessed
a thought came to my mind.
I looked at myself in the mirror.
Finally I understood the signs.
The bliss that is I,
face to face we met
and experienced the inner smile.

High, high and high
how much can we go,
how else can we go but inside.

Delighted, surprised and wondering,
I started to write.
I began with a paragraph.
But a poet came alive.

JGD

Puneeth raj

"when" and "at what time"

2009-01-16T14:20:00.000+05:30

It makes a lot of difference. considering that the event that is being talked about is sufficiently close that the person could have enough time to prepare to attend, whether he/she uses the word "when" or "at what time" to attempt to know the time of the event, tells a lot about the attitude of that person towards attending that event. If observed carefully the use "when" tell us that the person is not really interested but might attend, on the other hand use of "at what time" confirms that the person is exited and lookin forward to attending to the event.

Though a language can hardly evolve to a point where it can be used instead of an emotion, some words make it obvious what we have in mind. They are used lightly but if we give enough attention we find that words we use reflects on the a person's state of mind, his culture, the patterns he has in his mind. It is said that face is the index of mind, i believe that face is a bit hard to be interpreted. Words that are spoken the tone of it and the other noticeable details of speech are much easily diagnosed to mean anything. Body language though gives a clearer indication of the state of mind its has too many factors to be able to be interpreted.

Mind- Impressions and Logic

2008-05-07T10:46:00.000+05:30

Remembering facts is tough but remembering the logic is easy. That’s why people ask for the logic rather than believing the facts. By logic multiple problems can be solved. Its like the data stored in ROM in a comp, this is the place where the comp selects useful and pre-programmed instruction when some conditions are met. The only difference between a ROM in a comp and our brain is that the patterns in the brain can be changed where as patterns in a ROM are permanent. Storing few instructions and data in ROM saves time and each time the same operation is done to get an answer, which is more effective than storing values for every possible input. Facts are managed by RAM memory where these facts can be forgotten or stored as a strong impression if required. We might store a particular fact in mind and choose to forget it. But it doesn’t mean that it can be erased and new thing can be stored. It can be retrieved anytime. Therefore storing the logic is more important than storing the facts. Logic can be reminded if we face a situation and there’s an impression of similar situation faced earlier.

Next important thing to note is that the mind doesn’t store all the situation of same kind. A first impression of a situation or problem is easily stored or it may choose to store the situation which gives us the maximum learning. The mind also stores how a change in different parameters in different situations can affect the overall result. In other words in learns from most of the situations but stores only the first impression or that which is most. This is a fantastic strategy of the brain. By this the brain effectively deals with facts to get the maximum experience out of it. So be carefull to choose the first impression in your mind. If its a girl making a very good first impression on the mind you may forget the face but the hairstyle the basic build of the body, colour, hairstyle, features of face the smile- all these are stored as a picture in the mind devoid of some details. Hence you create a picture of aesthetic beauty in your mind. So if you find a round faced person attractive and you have a strong liking towards that person. Then you may find every round faced person attractive later. That doesn’t mean you are not going to like a person who doesn’t have such feature. It depends only on the impression a person makes.

Lets now see the reason why people generalise things for example - all marvadis are miserly, beautiful girls don’t are not intelligent. These are normal impression which a mind makes and stores, may be due to experience or general conception. This will definitely lead to a prejudice. So be carefull this pre conceived notions will affect our behaviour towards a particular person which may turn out to be completely false. So when ever you start feeling about anything just realise what impression is causing it and then analyse the present situation using the data stored as impression as well as data you are presently receiving. This is very important in decision making and can pretty much take care of handling exceptions. In short having a non judgemental attitude towards thing and by not being very feeling based and impulsive is necessary for decision making.

Extending this to a artificial intelligence - we can make a self learning system which stores the impression of the situation which gave the best result and analysing the situation in terms of parameters involved. Then later if the system faces similar situation and parameters are satisfied fully or partially depending on how rigid we want to make the system can carry out a host of sequenced operations which can give us desired results. Rigidity of a system-the system must be given an instruction to consider a parameter as necessary or sufficient or the system can be made to decide for itself these factors. Now when the system meets a situation where certain parameters are satisfied and it gives an output of so and so value, it stores it and now when it meets another situation where some parameter has changed and its able analyse the difference it made in the output, the logic is stored that this particular change in this parameter made this change and giving various inputs and outputs for same parameters the system is able to create a relation between the parameter and the output and now the characteristics of this graph such as its shape and variation in slope etc are stored in terms of range rather that the whole detail itself. If another parameter involved in change then the system stores a situation and characteristics of the situation and creates a model this can simulate other situations when encountered and if now the response is the same then the model is reinforced or else a new model is generated which takes into account the various situations involved. This can be helpful in designing autonomous and decision making systems.

A similar method can also be used in data compression techniques. If a 3d model is created then instead of storing all the details of the model we can store the sequence of steps which created the model. So every time you open a file created by a 3d software it may actually create a model using the sequence of meaningful steps which lead to the final model. This I think is already been put to use.

The bottom-line is that our mind is so highly evolved that I don’t think that any human intelligence can beat it. We must dedicate some of our resource and time to experience, realise and enjoy the gifts the Mother Nature has given us. It is interesting to think whether human mind can ever decipher the bigger mind. Hail the bigger mind