To different people, the prescription for success is different. Recently the most workable formula for success stumbled on is as follows:
(Success = Luck + Hard Work + Intelligence)
Where:
Luck = 50%
Hard Work = 25%
Intelligence = 25%
To be successful one needs to have at least 75% of the ingredients, with the full load of 50% of Luck. This means that some people may work hard and may have no intelligence and still become successful. On the other hand, some people may have the intelligence but may not work hard and still become successful. There is also the combination of some people may work hard and may have the intelligence totaling to 25% and may get success. But it cannot be denied that luck plays the most dominant part and contributes 50% to a man’s success.
Otherwise how the heck do you figure out when to be in the right place and at the right time?
ЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖ
…………………………….
For ages, the society went on. In times to come it will go on. The society keeps on breeding like rabbits. Perhaps that is what we are here for – to breed.
Increasingly I am beginning not to like society. I am trying to live an absolutely quite life. I would not like anyone visiting me because I visit no one. I would not like anyone taking interest in me, since I have no interest in others.
ЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖ
Is it possible to distinguish ONLY evil people or ONLY good people? Is it feasible to separate those evil people who indulge in inhuman feats? Perhaps not, since good and evil both resides in a person’s heart. Would you be willing to demolish a part of your own heart?
ЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖ
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
Are we independent thinkers?
It is a perplexing and implausible world. People do not have what they want. Although what they want are all around them, yet everyone seems to have all the wrong things. It is incomprehensible to me. Maybe it is explicable to you?
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Most of us have stopped being independent thinkers. We seem to have surrendered our judgment. Our views, ideas, opinions seem to stem from newspapers, TVs, social networking on the net and idle talks.
We have even stopped to be independent of all the gizmos that seem to pop out every now and then. The technological tools seem to be working for people rather than people needing these technological tools to work with.
And as far as our consumer society is concerned, there seems to be two kinds of slaves. One class is addicted to consumerism whilst the second class lives in envy, struggling to get addicted.
Meanwhile our medical industry is organized not to serve the human health, but only itself. The medical world provides for itself as an institution. The idea is to make more people sick than to restore health.
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The governments of the world are indeed smart. They don’t take away everything from the people. They tax you heavily and the tax money is invariably used incongruously. (For ages and centuries, we have not been able to wipe out poverty and starvation) The Governments are prudent enough to realize that when they strip a man of everything, he is no longer in their power. He is free again. So they feed you some and also keep you hungry. This way you are under their power to be manipulated anyway they want
§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§
§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§
Most of us have stopped being independent thinkers. We seem to have surrendered our judgment. Our views, ideas, opinions seem to stem from newspapers, TVs, social networking on the net and idle talks.
We have even stopped to be independent of all the gizmos that seem to pop out every now and then. The technological tools seem to be working for people rather than people needing these technological tools to work with.
And as far as our consumer society is concerned, there seems to be two kinds of slaves. One class is addicted to consumerism whilst the second class lives in envy, struggling to get addicted.
Meanwhile our medical industry is organized not to serve the human health, but only itself. The medical world provides for itself as an institution. The idea is to make more people sick than to restore health.
§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§
The governments of the world are indeed smart. They don’t take away everything from the people. They tax you heavily and the tax money is invariably used incongruously. (For ages and centuries, we have not been able to wipe out poverty and starvation) The Governments are prudent enough to realize that when they strip a man of everything, he is no longer in their power. He is free again. So they feed you some and also keep you hungry. This way you are under their power to be manipulated anyway they want
§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Death by hunger
Many moons back, when I was young, I remember my father acquainting me with what I presumed was a bizarre phenomenon: people died because of hunger. I never quite understood then. How can a person be hungry and die because he did not have any food to eat? It was somewhat shocking too. That was my first introduction to hunger death.
Many moons still have passed by, a lot of water has flowed under many a non constructed bridge and now I have a young son. I am sure he would not understand if I acquaint him with this still prevailing situation of death caused by hunger. To me, it is still shocking that we live in a country, in and at a time and in a place where people have no food to eat and where people die because of starvation!
We are otherwise proud to have a growing group of billionaires.
It is a curse to be born poor and to live life below the poverty level. More so if you are born in India. The authorities simply refuse to accept deaths due to a lack of food. There is a food ration system. People have ration cards, but no food. I have never quite understood why the rich should have ration cards. Perhaps the ration card has different uses for the two classes of people. For the rich, the ration card is a must if you want to get hold of a passport, buy properties, establish your proof of domicile or get a driving license, etc. For the poor, the ration card is a must if he wants to get food to ward off death.
There is flood, drought, man made calamities, poor crop cycles and other natural disasters which force the poor people to eat rats and roots. When the government does not seem to acknowledge deaths caused by hunger, how can it be expected to eradicate this menace? Diseases and unhygienic living conditions lead to death, but the most disgusting thing is death due to malnutrition.
We have been doing everything except providing a man the most basic commodity for him to survive - food.
Meanwhile tons of food go wasted and rot in the FCI warehouses.
Many moons still have passed by, a lot of water has flowed under many a non constructed bridge and now I have a young son. I am sure he would not understand if I acquaint him with this still prevailing situation of death caused by hunger. To me, it is still shocking that we live in a country, in and at a time and in a place where people have no food to eat and where people die because of starvation!
We are otherwise proud to have a growing group of billionaires.
It is a curse to be born poor and to live life below the poverty level. More so if you are born in India. The authorities simply refuse to accept deaths due to a lack of food. There is a food ration system. People have ration cards, but no food. I have never quite understood why the rich should have ration cards. Perhaps the ration card has different uses for the two classes of people. For the rich, the ration card is a must if you want to get hold of a passport, buy properties, establish your proof of domicile or get a driving license, etc. For the poor, the ration card is a must if he wants to get food to ward off death.
There is flood, drought, man made calamities, poor crop cycles and other natural disasters which force the poor people to eat rats and roots. When the government does not seem to acknowledge deaths caused by hunger, how can it be expected to eradicate this menace? Diseases and unhygienic living conditions lead to death, but the most disgusting thing is death due to malnutrition.
We have been doing everything except providing a man the most basic commodity for him to survive - food.
Meanwhile tons of food go wasted and rot in the FCI warehouses.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Ingredients of happiness
Saw Belle De Jour directed by Luis Bunuel. The film stars Catherine Deneuve (I remember her terrific acting in Roman Polanski’s Repulsion) as a young, beautiful and impassive wife of a medical student. She finds out the address of a brothel in Paris from a middle age person, who seemed to have a lot of money and a lot of time. Every afternoon, she goes there between two to five, where a series of men with unconventional taste are comfortably looked after.
An old maxim – “to judge a human is not only foolishness, but also dangerous” snugly fits in this movie. It shows how unsoiled, educated, intelligent, well to do, gorgeous and well groomed people can indulge in appalling performances. It can be fact.…… It can be fantasy. Perhaps it is more of fact rather than fantasy, since a glimpse in the past revealed that the human mind wanders to territories unimaginable.
Being impressed by Luis Buneul’s work has compelled me to hunt down and collect the rest of his works.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
The ingredients of happiness are ignorance, stupidity and self-centeredness.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
I do not know why we place so much of significance to the views of critics. The inability to create, metamorphosis’s a creature to a critic. Critics are creatures who never created anything. When the creature couldn’t become an artist, he/she became a critic.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
Saw someone struggling to get out of this world. Death was near. God and Satan were fighting for his soul during the last hour. The soul was subjugated. The living assumed it was not Satan. The only qualm was - which of one the two was Satan?
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
Some reservations exist whether we human beings are rational animals or just animals. Otherwise it becomes hard to explain why we human beings succumb to authorities, submit to laws, believe in obedience and do not believe in freedom.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
An old maxim – “to judge a human is not only foolishness, but also dangerous” snugly fits in this movie. It shows how unsoiled, educated, intelligent, well to do, gorgeous and well groomed people can indulge in appalling performances. It can be fact.…… It can be fantasy. Perhaps it is more of fact rather than fantasy, since a glimpse in the past revealed that the human mind wanders to territories unimaginable.
Being impressed by Luis Buneul’s work has compelled me to hunt down and collect the rest of his works.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
The ingredients of happiness are ignorance, stupidity and self-centeredness.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
I do not know why we place so much of significance to the views of critics. The inability to create, metamorphosis’s a creature to a critic. Critics are creatures who never created anything. When the creature couldn’t become an artist, he/she became a critic.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
Saw someone struggling to get out of this world. Death was near. God and Satan were fighting for his soul during the last hour. The soul was subjugated. The living assumed it was not Satan. The only qualm was - which of one the two was Satan?
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
Some reservations exist whether we human beings are rational animals or just animals. Otherwise it becomes hard to explain why we human beings succumb to authorities, submit to laws, believe in obedience and do not believe in freedom.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
Monday, November 29, 2010
The Ogre
Saw the film “The Ogre” today. The film stars John Malkovich as Abel who though a misfit and a troublemaker in the society does things which can be termed as grotesque and yet remains an empathetic green character. He is the kind of idiot who identifies with children and animals and believes that he has personal power and can guide his own fate.
The fable is expressionistic and shows how young adolescent boys are drawn to German mythology and Nazi ideology
The unusual thing about this movie in general was that it was made in the English language, in spite of it being very European, crawling with references to Goethe, the German folklore and the Nazi dogmas.
The fable is expressionistic and shows how young adolescent boys are drawn to German mythology and Nazi ideology
The unusual thing about this movie in general was that it was made in the English language, in spite of it being very European, crawling with references to Goethe, the German folklore and the Nazi dogmas.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
The Juvenile or the Judge
Looking around, one can perceive that the stomachs are full but the minds seem to be empty. Rest but for a few, the mass seems to be gorging themselves off, with nary a mind of their own.
A long time back I read a story about a juvenile, who was poor and scared. He was put into prison for something that could well be described as tomfoolery. It turned out this was supposed to be a crime. The judge detested the idea of sentencing the child. He did not think that it was the right thing to do. But he could not help it as the law left him no alternative. He was bound by the law to pass judgment. It was an awful thing. The judge was doing something in the capacity of an official. Had he been man enough, he would not have thought of doing such a thing. The judge passed a sentence without any sense of responsibility, with any discomfort, just because he was acting as an official and not as a man.
Funnily no one seemed to have been associated in it. Not the Judge, not the Jury, not the Prosecutor, not the Complaining Witness, not the Policeman or the Jailers. No one felt any responsibility. No one took any responsibility. They just went about doing their ‘job’ as officials. No one acted as Men. The most shocking part was that even the general public did not consider these officials as criminals, but rather as straight, decent and honest men.
Now whether the juvenile or the judge committed a crime becomes a question.
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A long time back I read a story about a juvenile, who was poor and scared. He was put into prison for something that could well be described as tomfoolery. It turned out this was supposed to be a crime. The judge detested the idea of sentencing the child. He did not think that it was the right thing to do. But he could not help it as the law left him no alternative. He was bound by the law to pass judgment. It was an awful thing. The judge was doing something in the capacity of an official. Had he been man enough, he would not have thought of doing such a thing. The judge passed a sentence without any sense of responsibility, with any discomfort, just because he was acting as an official and not as a man.
Funnily no one seemed to have been associated in it. Not the Judge, not the Jury, not the Prosecutor, not the Complaining Witness, not the Policeman or the Jailers. No one felt any responsibility. No one took any responsibility. They just went about doing their ‘job’ as officials. No one acted as Men. The most shocking part was that even the general public did not consider these officials as criminals, but rather as straight, decent and honest men.
Now whether the juvenile or the judge committed a crime becomes a question.
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Friday, November 26, 2010
Learning to Subtract
Whether it is philosophy, science or civilization, our systems has always taught us to add. Add to life. We have not been taught that we must be able to subtract too. Life is a process of amalgamation and fragmentation.
Since the earliest Greek era, man has formed societies and political systems. But no societies or political systems has ever been able to eradicate human misery. We have only been able to add.
∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑
Is it eccentric and uncharacteristic to keep asking question about the nature of the universe, about the human condition and what the human is actually doing here on earth, or on the contrary is it abnormal and weird for people NOT to reflect about it and unconsciously allow themselves to live life, as it were?
∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑
Today we are ‘civilized savages.’ Once when we were ‘savaged savages’ and when one of the savages first saw his shelter destroyed by a bolt of lightning, he fell down on his knees and on his face in bewilderment, awe and terror. He had no notion of natural forces. He had no knowledge of the laws of electricity. He saw this as an act by a supernatural intelligent personality.
Today some of us don’t believe in fairies; demons; nymphs; sprites; elves; goblins; brownies; gnomes; Pan, the Roman god of forest; Haphaestus, the Greek god of fire; Zeus, the ruler of the gods; Juno, the queen of gods; Hades, the god of death. We interpret these as fables, imaginations, hallucinations, forgetting that once upon a time they were serious phenomenon to ancient man who ardently believed in them and whose mind explained that they were the products of some supernatural individual personality. Ancient man did believe that there was this super hero who exterminated the dragon. He represented the science of ancient times.
The unknown, coupled with ignorance brings fear. Whether it was the ancient man or the modern civilized man, his existence is based upon fear. He was born amongst fear. He was fed by fear. He will die with fear.
∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑
Since the earliest Greek era, man has formed societies and political systems. But no societies or political systems has ever been able to eradicate human misery. We have only been able to add.
∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑
Is it eccentric and uncharacteristic to keep asking question about the nature of the universe, about the human condition and what the human is actually doing here on earth, or on the contrary is it abnormal and weird for people NOT to reflect about it and unconsciously allow themselves to live life, as it were?
∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑
Today we are ‘civilized savages.’ Once when we were ‘savaged savages’ and when one of the savages first saw his shelter destroyed by a bolt of lightning, he fell down on his knees and on his face in bewilderment, awe and terror. He had no notion of natural forces. He had no knowledge of the laws of electricity. He saw this as an act by a supernatural intelligent personality.
Today some of us don’t believe in fairies; demons; nymphs; sprites; elves; goblins; brownies; gnomes; Pan, the Roman god of forest; Haphaestus, the Greek god of fire; Zeus, the ruler of the gods; Juno, the queen of gods; Hades, the god of death. We interpret these as fables, imaginations, hallucinations, forgetting that once upon a time they were serious phenomenon to ancient man who ardently believed in them and whose mind explained that they were the products of some supernatural individual personality. Ancient man did believe that there was this super hero who exterminated the dragon. He represented the science of ancient times.
The unknown, coupled with ignorance brings fear. Whether it was the ancient man or the modern civilized man, his existence is based upon fear. He was born amongst fear. He was fed by fear. He will die with fear.
∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑∑
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Fascism = Capitalism + Socialism + Slaughter
One time or the other, all forms of authority becomes predatory and all forms of authority become corrupt. At the least, in India, the overwhelming reality is that whenever people get ready to change that government, they can change it.
This is not the same in Pakistan. There is no political democracy in Pakistan. In Pakistan the state of affairs is like that of a musician who while playing, is consciously aware that there are gun totting crazy fundamentalist let loose by primordial doctrines. He cannot play in peace. He has to set aside his musical instrument, clasp a rifle and secure his own security, all the while hoping that he does not have to use it.
Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞
Violence is the crudest and lowest form that can be used by the lowest of the lowest class of people. Paradoxically, violence has been used to acquire rights and freedom from tyrants. Perhaps once the rights and freedom has been established, human problems can then be resolved in a more refined and civilized manner by using the ballot instead of the bullet.
Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞
Fascism = Capitalism + Socialism + Slaughter
Capitalism = Fascism - Socialism - Slaughter
Socialism = Fascism - Capitalism - Slaughter
Slaughter = Fascism - Socialism - Capitalism
{Socialism has been used keeping in mind not the classic Marxism Leninism Maoism
or communism but collectivism and/or communalism}
Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞
This is not the same in Pakistan. There is no political democracy in Pakistan. In Pakistan the state of affairs is like that of a musician who while playing, is consciously aware that there are gun totting crazy fundamentalist let loose by primordial doctrines. He cannot play in peace. He has to set aside his musical instrument, clasp a rifle and secure his own security, all the while hoping that he does not have to use it.
Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞
Violence is the crudest and lowest form that can be used by the lowest of the lowest class of people. Paradoxically, violence has been used to acquire rights and freedom from tyrants. Perhaps once the rights and freedom has been established, human problems can then be resolved in a more refined and civilized manner by using the ballot instead of the bullet.
Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞
Fascism = Capitalism + Socialism + Slaughter
Capitalism = Fascism - Socialism - Slaughter
Socialism = Fascism - Capitalism - Slaughter
Slaughter = Fascism - Socialism - Capitalism
{Socialism has been used keeping in mind not the classic Marxism Leninism Maoism
or communism but collectivism and/or communalism}
Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞Ω۞
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
On The Origin Of Species
Those were the days when science as a topic was learned as part of religious studies. The scientific establishments were closely tied to the Churches.
During this period of the 1850s, Lord John Russell, the grandfather of Lord Bertrand Russell was the Prime Minister of England, Nicholas I was the Emperor of Russia, Frederick William IV was the King of Germany, Napoleon III was the Emperor of France, the 1st transpacific telegraph cable was laid, the Mughal Empire was disbanded by the British, Russia on one side and Great Britain, France and Ireland on the other side fought the Crimean War, and the western world fought the Opium War with China.
This was also the time that Charles Darwin published in 1959 one of the greatest works “On the Origin of Species”. Since that day, the creation-evolution controversy still exists amongst the cultural, political, scientific, and theological communities. Fundamentalists have thrived on both sides. The US banned the teaching of evolution in schools. Man has not come around to accept that he descended from a lower order of animals. Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and other religions all have their own and different version on this subject. All in all, after many failed attempts, I finally got around to completing this difficult book. Though I must own up, the better part was beyond me to comprehend and comment. Nevertheless, with years passing by, a belief is being established that one cannot have science and religion in the same bin. Both are too diametrically viewed and going forward one does not perceive any scope or hope for reconciliation.
During this period of the 1850s, Lord John Russell, the grandfather of Lord Bertrand Russell was the Prime Minister of England, Nicholas I was the Emperor of Russia, Frederick William IV was the King of Germany, Napoleon III was the Emperor of France, the 1st transpacific telegraph cable was laid, the Mughal Empire was disbanded by the British, Russia on one side and Great Britain, France and Ireland on the other side fought the Crimean War, and the western world fought the Opium War with China.
This was also the time that Charles Darwin published in 1959 one of the greatest works “On the Origin of Species”. Since that day, the creation-evolution controversy still exists amongst the cultural, political, scientific, and theological communities. Fundamentalists have thrived on both sides. The US banned the teaching of evolution in schools. Man has not come around to accept that he descended from a lower order of animals. Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and other religions all have their own and different version on this subject. All in all, after many failed attempts, I finally got around to completing this difficult book. Though I must own up, the better part was beyond me to comprehend and comment. Nevertheless, with years passing by, a belief is being established that one cannot have science and religion in the same bin. Both are too diametrically viewed and going forward one does not perceive any scope or hope for reconciliation.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Old WInes, Friends and Authors
Actors, Novelist, Poets and others try to live life passing themselves off as normal persons. They exist as if in a trance. Their ignorance about reality is a conscious effort. They are not in position to realize that we live in a ‘life threatening and dignity destroying’ environment. They cannot switch themselves off from this stupor and come to the actuality of the world.
Most of them live in their world of lies. They have more than one version of their autobiography and none of them are true. Even if they write fictions, people would presume that the contents were disguised autobiography.
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I am not sure that between the ups and downs of life, between the hills and valleys of life, a pattern exists in our life. There are so much of actions and catastrophes that occur in our lives, that sometimes I am led to believe that there could be some kind of pattern. Conceivably there isn’t or possibly we are inept in categorizing those patterns.
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It is said that one should drink old wines, have old friends and read old authors. Agree?
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Most of them live in their world of lies. They have more than one version of their autobiography and none of them are true. Even if they write fictions, people would presume that the contents were disguised autobiography.
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I am not sure that between the ups and downs of life, between the hills and valleys of life, a pattern exists in our life. There are so much of actions and catastrophes that occur in our lives, that sometimes I am led to believe that there could be some kind of pattern. Conceivably there isn’t or possibly we are inept in categorizing those patterns.
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It is said that one should drink old wines, have old friends and read old authors. Agree?
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Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Another take on . . . . . . .
Like Happiness, Freedom too is a myth. Otherwise how do we explain that as long as man is a slave to desire, ambition and necessity, the effort to try and unshackle him will never be realized?
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I guess we may be able to diminish our struggle for survival, had we instead of fighting for a country, fought for the earth to make it a better place to live (and die) in it.
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“It is lonely at the top’’. Most people believe in this statement.
Let us take an unusual take. Very few people no doubt reach the top. This could be because very few people care to take a trip further than the run of the mill course. It may well be that there might be a lot of space at the top
Most of them appear to be content and pleased with their accomplishments and thus restricts themselves to the boundary where excellence starts.
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Here is another statement: “The dignity of labour.”
People keep talking about the dignity of labour and about how man is recognized and accepted because of his (hard) work.
Here is another different take on work. Work is indispensable, but only the ‘poor human earthly condition’ makes it so. The dignity is not in labour. The dignity is in leisure. Leisure is directly associated with independence and freedom. More of leisure means more of freedom. A person who does not believe in ‘The dignity of Leisure’ does not have much independence. And if one still takes another look at work, one may discover that most works are irrational, detrimental, imprudent, depraved and pointless.
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I guess we may be able to diminish our struggle for survival, had we instead of fighting for a country, fought for the earth to make it a better place to live (and die) in it.
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“It is lonely at the top’’. Most people believe in this statement.
Let us take an unusual take. Very few people no doubt reach the top. This could be because very few people care to take a trip further than the run of the mill course. It may well be that there might be a lot of space at the top
Most of them appear to be content and pleased with their accomplishments and thus restricts themselves to the boundary where excellence starts.
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Here is another statement: “The dignity of labour.”
People keep talking about the dignity of labour and about how man is recognized and accepted because of his (hard) work.
Here is another different take on work. Work is indispensable, but only the ‘poor human earthly condition’ makes it so. The dignity is not in labour. The dignity is in leisure. Leisure is directly associated with independence and freedom. More of leisure means more of freedom. A person who does not believe in ‘The dignity of Leisure’ does not have much independence. And if one still takes another look at work, one may discover that most works are irrational, detrimental, imprudent, depraved and pointless.
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Monday, November 15, 2010
Prologue: A dream_____ Epilogue: A nightmare
I first had a dream. It was then followed by a nightmare.
But 1st - the dream.
I was a run of the mill person. I use to daily go about my life in a manner which was more or less living within a budget and within my means.
Then one day, I received a call from a Bank, which put an end to my daily chores and misery. The caller from the bank asked me to meet the manager of the bank regarding some considerable fortune left to me as a sole heir by some distant relative. I was to reach the Bank and sign some documents and receive the necessary authorization to dispose of my newly found fortune in any way that I saw fit.
Obviously, I hastily reached the bank to take possession of my wealth.
The wealth ran into millions of dollars. From this point, going forward, this was to have a formidable impact on my life. It opened up new worlds to me, now enabling me to afford to buy the things that I never could dream buying before. I can now afford to buy a new home, a villa perhaps. I can now afford to buy a whole new wardrobe, travel across the world, quit my current job that I have and I do not like. I could now live the life of a gypsy, living anywhere on this planet as I please, with nary a thought about the future.
I could get on to a business or invest and speculate in the stock and real estate markets. I would no longer be terrified of losing a few million dollars and still be very rich.
This would be my boom period of my life. My life would be easy, simple, trouble free, uncomplicated. I can do anything that I want to do and my prospects would be inexhaustible. For the rest of my life I would fondly and enthusiastically look back to this period and call it “The Good Times”.
Now the nightmare_
A second letter appeared which put an end to my life of ease and plenty. The letter said that it was proved that my distant relative got this fortune through some criminal means. This meant that the fortune did not belong to my relative and thus could not be passed on to me or to anyone else.
Consequently I was compelled to return the wealth. In view of that, the bank had to freeze the account and a court order was issued restraining me from spending any more of what I thought was an inheritance. The court also demanded that I return whatever fortune was left unspent.
I now find myself covered in a mountain of debt that I cannot repay. I must now sell my home and my dream villa in distress and at a price that was almost half of what I paid for. I had to get rid at a dirt price, the clothes and the many other goods that I had bought. My travels across the world were an overall loss. Also at a great loss were all the expenses that I incurred buying those luxury items. Given my deficiency of past financial success, I also could not make any profits out of my investment in stocks and real estate markets.
All this gusto of receiving my inheritance had turned out to be a financial disaster. With a lot of certainty and by erroneously leading me to understand that I owned a massive fortune, I made substantial purchases. The fact was that I did not own any fortune. But it led me to live a life far beyond my means. I squandered most of the little wealth that I had prior to my inheriting my inheritance.
That was the period of my life when I went bust.
So during my sleep, I went through a boom period and a bust period of my life.
But 1st - the dream.
I was a run of the mill person. I use to daily go about my life in a manner which was more or less living within a budget and within my means.
Then one day, I received a call from a Bank, which put an end to my daily chores and misery. The caller from the bank asked me to meet the manager of the bank regarding some considerable fortune left to me as a sole heir by some distant relative. I was to reach the Bank and sign some documents and receive the necessary authorization to dispose of my newly found fortune in any way that I saw fit.
Obviously, I hastily reached the bank to take possession of my wealth.
The wealth ran into millions of dollars. From this point, going forward, this was to have a formidable impact on my life. It opened up new worlds to me, now enabling me to afford to buy the things that I never could dream buying before. I can now afford to buy a new home, a villa perhaps. I can now afford to buy a whole new wardrobe, travel across the world, quit my current job that I have and I do not like. I could now live the life of a gypsy, living anywhere on this planet as I please, with nary a thought about the future.
I could get on to a business or invest and speculate in the stock and real estate markets. I would no longer be terrified of losing a few million dollars and still be very rich.
This would be my boom period of my life. My life would be easy, simple, trouble free, uncomplicated. I can do anything that I want to do and my prospects would be inexhaustible. For the rest of my life I would fondly and enthusiastically look back to this period and call it “The Good Times”.
Now the nightmare_
A second letter appeared which put an end to my life of ease and plenty. The letter said that it was proved that my distant relative got this fortune through some criminal means. This meant that the fortune did not belong to my relative and thus could not be passed on to me or to anyone else.
Consequently I was compelled to return the wealth. In view of that, the bank had to freeze the account and a court order was issued restraining me from spending any more of what I thought was an inheritance. The court also demanded that I return whatever fortune was left unspent.
I now find myself covered in a mountain of debt that I cannot repay. I must now sell my home and my dream villa in distress and at a price that was almost half of what I paid for. I had to get rid at a dirt price, the clothes and the many other goods that I had bought. My travels across the world were an overall loss. Also at a great loss were all the expenses that I incurred buying those luxury items. Given my deficiency of past financial success, I also could not make any profits out of my investment in stocks and real estate markets.
All this gusto of receiving my inheritance had turned out to be a financial disaster. With a lot of certainty and by erroneously leading me to understand that I owned a massive fortune, I made substantial purchases. The fact was that I did not own any fortune. But it led me to live a life far beyond my means. I squandered most of the little wealth that I had prior to my inheriting my inheritance.
That was the period of my life when I went bust.
So during my sleep, I went through a boom period and a bust period of my life.
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
“The ‘Right’ to be Left Alone.”
6th and 7th Nov., 2010 will see the US President Obama in Mumbai. I wonder will he ever grasp the fact that throughout the world, the US is perceived as setting less of spiritual standards and more on materialistic ones. Will he realize that the US is seen as a conceited, egocentric, gluttonous country engrossed in Guns and Dollars? Will he ever understand that the US is not seen as a country interested in people, their hopes and aspirations? Or will he be just like those American citizens who never had this opportunity to see the world and thought that the world is America?
Sometimes I wonder, has he as a US representativem come here to gloat over us? Sometimes I even wonder whether the Americans think that they are the only human beings in this world!
Anyway south of Mumbai will be closed to us mortals. The question is : Is it worth to waste so much time, money and energy on one man?
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Like the Right of Privacy - Is there a right called “The Right to be left alone?”
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The struggle to survive, struggle against poverty, hunger & disease – these are basic struggles. There is another struggle. The struggle between the individual and his sacrosanct right to express himself and ‘The Authority’ that looks for compliance, obedience and repress or stifles free thought and free expression that may determine our fate. The Authorities seek to regulate free speech, putting a limit on the range of discussions that one should or can have, censoring or limiting thoughts and subjects that appear to be taboo and reminding us constantly that holocaust is not actually over.
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I guess it simmers down to two things that one should aim in life. One is to go out and get what you want. The other is, after you get what you want in life, to enjoy it. Very few have achieved the second.
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We work our way up to own something. We work hard to own a house. We work hard to pay off the loan. When finally we own it, we don’t find anybody living in it.
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Sometimes I wonder, has he as a US representativem come here to gloat over us? Sometimes I even wonder whether the Americans think that they are the only human beings in this world!
Anyway south of Mumbai will be closed to us mortals. The question is : Is it worth to waste so much time, money and energy on one man?
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Like the Right of Privacy - Is there a right called “The Right to be left alone?”
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The struggle to survive, struggle against poverty, hunger & disease – these are basic struggles. There is another struggle. The struggle between the individual and his sacrosanct right to express himself and ‘The Authority’ that looks for compliance, obedience and repress or stifles free thought and free expression that may determine our fate. The Authorities seek to regulate free speech, putting a limit on the range of discussions that one should or can have, censoring or limiting thoughts and subjects that appear to be taboo and reminding us constantly that holocaust is not actually over.
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I guess it simmers down to two things that one should aim in life. One is to go out and get what you want. The other is, after you get what you want in life, to enjoy it. Very few have achieved the second.
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We work our way up to own something. We work hard to own a house. We work hard to pay off the loan. When finally we own it, we don’t find anybody living in it.
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Sunday, October 31, 2010
Start something of your own
Like the salad, our minds are all dressed up. We believe we are highly educated. Maybe each generation has the same belief. We think we are more urbane, classy and chic than our grandparents. We think we are an open minded generation. But the question is “are we getting anything fresh?’’ It’s like the mind is kind of all dressed up but nowhere to go!
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It’s a scary and horrifying truth that we do not know who we are, why we are here or where are we going in this chaotic world. We depend on the authorities to show us direction. The political, the religious, the educational authorities, they all combine to give us orders, rules, regulations, information – in the process forming our minds, our views, our opinions, our principles and our lives. We become enslaved by the authorities’ view and diktat. It is very difficult to think for yourself. It is very difficult to question authority.
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All religions are primitive. Some years back there were many gods. Now there is only one god. If and with only one god, you no choice or option. You only submit to god. I think the word Islam means submission. In Christianity you kneel down. Each religion has its own way to make you feel small. Visit the church and the Padre says “Son, you are a sinner". The message is clear - Zip up your trousers, give the money to the church and they will give you a room up in a hotel in the sky.
I wonder why we do not start a religion of our own! Perhaps nobody wants to be a social dropout.
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Of late, I have come to appreciate that I am not too proud to have accomplished my sales target, month after month, quarter after quarter, year on year, or to have been picked by a much sought after MNC, or to have attained a promotion for my ‘contribution to the corporation’. I have come to realize that at one time or the other, I was just an anonymous institutional corporate worker who drove to work each morning in a SUV, joining the long line of commuters, getting stranded in the traffic, and drove back home each night to have whiskey. I was like the several million middle class, liberal, cerebral robots.
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It’s a scary and horrifying truth that we do not know who we are, why we are here or where are we going in this chaotic world. We depend on the authorities to show us direction. The political, the religious, the educational authorities, they all combine to give us orders, rules, regulations, information – in the process forming our minds, our views, our opinions, our principles and our lives. We become enslaved by the authorities’ view and diktat. It is very difficult to think for yourself. It is very difficult to question authority.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
All religions are primitive. Some years back there were many gods. Now there is only one god. If and with only one god, you no choice or option. You only submit to god. I think the word Islam means submission. In Christianity you kneel down. Each religion has its own way to make you feel small. Visit the church and the Padre says “Son, you are a sinner". The message is clear - Zip up your trousers, give the money to the church and they will give you a room up in a hotel in the sky.
I wonder why we do not start a religion of our own! Perhaps nobody wants to be a social dropout.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Of late, I have come to appreciate that I am not too proud to have accomplished my sales target, month after month, quarter after quarter, year on year, or to have been picked by a much sought after MNC, or to have attained a promotion for my ‘contribution to the corporation’. I have come to realize that at one time or the other, I was just an anonymous institutional corporate worker who drove to work each morning in a SUV, joining the long line of commuters, getting stranded in the traffic, and drove back home each night to have whiskey. I was like the several million middle class, liberal, cerebral robots.
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Wednesday, October 06, 2010
Escape from Life - Impersonation - Hope
Conceivably the entire purpose of our life is to escape from life. We seem to rummage around for modes to escape. We try to escape in myths, in drugs, in alcohol, in lies, in marriages, in children, building careers, making money, lusting for sex, power and fame or by any other means at our disposal.
Maybe all these soothe us and give us a few moments of comfort and relieve.
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Are we conscious who we are whilst we live our life on a daily basis? Do we develop our own personality or do we lose our character and our individuality? Do we impersonate others? Do we masquerade to be what we are not? Do we regain our awareness after experiencing such phases of life? Does our sensibility lose their sharpness such that everything like hunger, cold, fatigue, poverty, corruption, annihilation, destruction and other pains of life takes second place and we become work animals?
How do we deny these?
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I guess with the accumulation of years and coming of age, with all the revelations and experiences that we envisage or encounter, we come to realize that happiness is not only unattainable but also a myth.
Every step that we take is encumbered with piles of obstacles. It thwarts us from the state of happiness. The knowledge about our future is so inadequate that we exist with a word called ‘hope’. But in an instance the ‘hope’ is superseded again by the uncertainty of the following day. We are uncertain when death will strike us, but we are assured that death will thwack us.
Everything is so conflicting, so incongruous that it impedes us to be in a state of happiness.
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Maybe all these soothe us and give us a few moments of comfort and relieve.
۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞
Are we conscious who we are whilst we live our life on a daily basis? Do we develop our own personality or do we lose our character and our individuality? Do we impersonate others? Do we masquerade to be what we are not? Do we regain our awareness after experiencing such phases of life? Does our sensibility lose their sharpness such that everything like hunger, cold, fatigue, poverty, corruption, annihilation, destruction and other pains of life takes second place and we become work animals?
How do we deny these?
۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞
I guess with the accumulation of years and coming of age, with all the revelations and experiences that we envisage or encounter, we come to realize that happiness is not only unattainable but also a myth.
Every step that we take is encumbered with piles of obstacles. It thwarts us from the state of happiness. The knowledge about our future is so inadequate that we exist with a word called ‘hope’. But in an instance the ‘hope’ is superseded again by the uncertainty of the following day. We are uncertain when death will strike us, but we are assured that death will thwack us.
Everything is so conflicting, so incongruous that it impedes us to be in a state of happiness.
۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
The Wrong Man
The Wrong Man {1956} by Alfred Hitchcock is based on a true but bizarre story of a man who was booked for crimes he never committed.
Hitchcock_20101005-23195682.jpg)
When all the stacks for the protagonist were piled up against him, his mother asked him to pray to god for strength. God did listen to his prayers and the ‘right guy’ was caught red handed robbing a store. Our protagonist was exonerated and he went back to his normal life.
Henry Fonda portrayed a very subdued act. He does not drink, he does not womanize, he goes back home to his wife and two kids and is a devoted family man. That was theHitchcock_20101005-23352482.jpg)
essence of the movie. Moreover his eyes depicted a range of emotions and circumstances which very few actors can perform. Vera Miles was infallible in her role as a mother and wife who cracks and lands up in a mental institution. The B & W photography was brilliant.
The only wish was that AH should have thrown some more scenes of Fonda playing with the Jazz Band as a Bass player.
Hitchcock_20101005-23195682.jpg)
When all the stacks for the protagonist were piled up against him, his mother asked him to pray to god for strength. God did listen to his prayers and the ‘right guy’ was caught red handed robbing a store. Our protagonist was exonerated and he went back to his normal life.
Henry Fonda portrayed a very subdued act. He does not drink, he does not womanize, he goes back home to his wife and two kids and is a devoted family man. That was the
Hitchcock_20101005-23352482.jpg)
essence of the movie. Moreover his eyes depicted a range of emotions and circumstances which very few actors can perform. Vera Miles was infallible in her role as a mother and wife who cracks and lands up in a mental institution. The B & W photography was brilliant. The only wish was that AH should have thrown some more scenes of Fonda playing with the Jazz Band as a Bass player.
Monday, October 04, 2010
Classical works – The ones I like
Can‘t say finally, since the endeavor is an incessant process, but after many months and after hearing thousands of these pieces and many a composer – I have managed to shortlist the following (The list is no way exhaustible):
Aaron Copland Fanfare For The Common Man.
Aram Khatchaturian - sabre dance
Bach - Air on a G string
Bach - Brandenburg Concerto No.3 in G
Bach - Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
Bach - Minuet In G Major
Bach - Prelude In C
Bach - Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
Beethoven - 5th symphony
Beethoven - 6th Symphony
Beethoven - 9th Ode to Joy
Beethoven - 9th Symphony
Beethoven - Fur Elise
Beethoven - Minuet in G
Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata No.14, 1st movement
Beethoven - ode an die freude
Bizet - Carmen Suite No.1 'Les Toreadores'
Bizet - Les Toreadors
Boccherini – Minuet
Borodin Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor
Brahms - Hungarian Dance No.5
Brahms – Lullaby
Brahms - Waltz in Ab Major
Brahms_ - hugarian dance no.5
Carl Orff - Carmina Burana 'O Fortuna'
Chopin - Etude in E Major
Chopin - fantasie impromptu
Chopin - Grand Waltz Brilliant, Op.18
Chopin - Military March, Op.40 No.1
Chopin - 'Minute' Waltz No.64 in Db Major
Chopin - Nocturne No.2 in Eb Major, Op.9
Chopin - Polonaise in Ab Major, Op.53
Chopin - Prelude in A
Chopin - Waltz Op.64 No.2
Copland - Fanfare For the Common Man]
Debussy - Clair de Lune
Debussy - Golliwog's Cakewalk
Delibes - Coppelia Waltz
Di Capua - O Sole Mio
Edvard Grieg - anitra's dance
Edvard Grieg – morgenstimmung
Edvard Grieg – Morning
Edvard Grieg - Peer Gynt Suite 'Anitra's Dance'
Edvard Grieg - Peer Gynt Suite 'In the Hall of the Mountain King'
Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue
Gershwin – Summertime
Giazotto – Adagio
Glinka - Russian and Ludmilla Overture
Gruber - Stille Nacht
Haydn - Trumpet Concerto in Eb (3rd movement)
J. Strauss Jr - Champagne Polka
J. Strauss Jr - Die Fledermaus Overture
J. Strauss Jr - Emperor's Waltz
J. Strauss Jr - Radetzky March
J. Strauss Jr - Tales From The Vienna Woods
J. Strauss Jr - The Blue Danube Waltz
J. Strauss Jr - Thunder And Lightning Polka
J. Strauss Jr - Tritsch-Trasch-Polka
J. Strauss Jr - Vienna Blood Waltz
J. Strauss Jr - Voices of Spring
J. Strauss Jr - Wiener Blut Waltz
J. Strauss Jr - Wine Women And Song Waltz
Joplin – Entertainer
Liszt - Liebestraum no3
Michael Glinka - ruslan & ludmilla
Mikis Theodorakis - Zorba's Dance
Mouskouri - Zorba's Dance
Mozart - andante elvira Madigan
Mozart - Concerto For Piano and Orchestra No.21
Mozart - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - 1. Allegro
Mozart - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - 2. Romance
Mozart - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - 3. Minuetto
Mozart - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - 4. Rondo
Mozart - Overture to The Marriage of Figaro
Mozart - Piano Concerto no21
Mozart - Piano Sonata no11
Mozart - rondo alla turca
Mozart - Symphony no 40
Mozart - Symphony no25
Paganini - 24th Caprice
Rachmaninov - Rhapsody on Paganini
Ravel – Bolero
Rota – Godfather
Tchaikovsky - March of the Toy Soldiers
Tchaikovsky - nutcracker ballet suite - flower waltz
Tchaikovsky - nutcracker ballet suite – march
Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto no1
Tchaikovsky - Sleeping Beauty - Waltz.mp3
Tchaikovsky - Waltz of the Flowers
Vaughan Williams - Fantasia On 'Greensleeves'
Vivaldi - Four Seasons_Spring (1st Movement)
Vivaldi - Gloria In Excelsis Deo
Vivaldi – Spring
Wagner - bridal chorus
Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries
Waldteufel - The Skaters Waltz
The above are for my records only_
Aaron Copland Fanfare For The Common Man.
Aram Khatchaturian - sabre dance
Bach - Air on a G string
Bach - Brandenburg Concerto No.3 in G
Bach - Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
Bach - Minuet In G Major
Bach - Prelude In C
Bach - Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
Beethoven - 5th symphony
Beethoven - 6th Symphony
Beethoven - 9th Ode to Joy
Beethoven - 9th Symphony
Beethoven - Fur Elise
Beethoven - Minuet in G
Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata No.14, 1st movement
Beethoven - ode an die freude
Bizet - Carmen Suite No.1 'Les Toreadores'
Bizet - Les Toreadors
Boccherini – Minuet
Borodin Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor
Brahms - Hungarian Dance No.5
Brahms – Lullaby
Brahms - Waltz in Ab Major
Brahms_ - hugarian dance no.5
Carl Orff - Carmina Burana 'O Fortuna'
Chopin - Etude in E Major
Chopin - fantasie impromptu
Chopin - Grand Waltz Brilliant, Op.18
Chopin - Military March, Op.40 No.1
Chopin - 'Minute' Waltz No.64 in Db Major
Chopin - Nocturne No.2 in Eb Major, Op.9
Chopin - Polonaise in Ab Major, Op.53
Chopin - Prelude in A
Chopin - Waltz Op.64 No.2
Copland - Fanfare For the Common Man]
Debussy - Clair de Lune
Debussy - Golliwog's Cakewalk
Delibes - Coppelia Waltz
Di Capua - O Sole Mio
Edvard Grieg - anitra's dance
Edvard Grieg – morgenstimmung
Edvard Grieg – Morning
Edvard Grieg - Peer Gynt Suite 'Anitra's Dance'
Edvard Grieg - Peer Gynt Suite 'In the Hall of the Mountain King'
Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue
Gershwin – Summertime
Giazotto – Adagio
Glinka - Russian and Ludmilla Overture
Gruber - Stille Nacht
Haydn - Trumpet Concerto in Eb (3rd movement)
J. Strauss Jr - Champagne Polka
J. Strauss Jr - Die Fledermaus Overture
J. Strauss Jr - Emperor's Waltz
J. Strauss Jr - Radetzky March
J. Strauss Jr - Tales From The Vienna Woods
J. Strauss Jr - The Blue Danube Waltz
J. Strauss Jr - Thunder And Lightning Polka
J. Strauss Jr - Tritsch-Trasch-Polka
J. Strauss Jr - Vienna Blood Waltz
J. Strauss Jr - Voices of Spring
J. Strauss Jr - Wiener Blut Waltz
J. Strauss Jr - Wine Women And Song Waltz
Joplin – Entertainer
Liszt - Liebestraum no3
Michael Glinka - ruslan & ludmilla
Mikis Theodorakis - Zorba's Dance
Mouskouri - Zorba's Dance
Mozart - andante elvira Madigan
Mozart - Concerto For Piano and Orchestra No.21
Mozart - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - 1. Allegro
Mozart - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - 2. Romance
Mozart - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - 3. Minuetto
Mozart - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - 4. Rondo
Mozart - Overture to The Marriage of Figaro
Mozart - Piano Concerto no21
Mozart - Piano Sonata no11
Mozart - rondo alla turca
Mozart - Symphony no 40
Mozart - Symphony no25
Paganini - 24th Caprice
Rachmaninov - Rhapsody on Paganini
Ravel – Bolero
Rota – Godfather
Tchaikovsky - March of the Toy Soldiers
Tchaikovsky - nutcracker ballet suite - flower waltz
Tchaikovsky - nutcracker ballet suite – march
Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto no1
Tchaikovsky - Sleeping Beauty - Waltz.mp3
Tchaikovsky - Waltz of the Flowers
Vaughan Williams - Fantasia On 'Greensleeves'
Vivaldi - Four Seasons_Spring (1st Movement)
Vivaldi - Gloria In Excelsis Deo
Vivaldi – Spring
Wagner - bridal chorus
Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries
Waldteufel - The Skaters Waltz
The above are for my records only_
Friday, October 01, 2010
The Power of Human Stupidity
We are too near to each other. The world indeed is very small. It is this closeness that brings about war. Had we lived in space, the distances would have been too great and unfeasible to declare war on some nations. That would be a great loss to some people (mostly who are in power), since war is humanity’s greatest and most popular distraction.
War brings purpose and colour to our otherwise insipid and stupid lives. Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
To most, religion is a source of happiness. One should not dispossess anyone of his happiness. Happiness blinds reasonableness. The religious person cannot judge or look for evidence and has to be engulfed in faith. He cannot choose to live a desolate life of rationale uncertainty. He does not honestly say, “I don’t know”. Hence it is not possible for him to get at the truth or gain any new idea.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
War brings purpose and colour to our otherwise insipid and stupid lives. Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
To most, religion is a source of happiness. One should not dispossess anyone of his happiness. Happiness blinds reasonableness. The religious person cannot judge or look for evidence and has to be engulfed in faith. He cannot choose to live a desolate life of rationale uncertainty. He does not honestly say, “I don’t know”. Hence it is not possible for him to get at the truth or gain any new idea.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
Thursday, September 30, 2010
It is platitude
There is an old saying, “The early bird catches the worm”. What makes you so sure you are the bird? You can turn out to be the worm too. Wouldn’t it be wise to stay late on bed and not be caught by the bird?
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
History and religious scriptures are both written by men. One is the truth, the other is the theology. History has not recorded anywhere at any time that a religion is based on rational foundation. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand on their own feet and face the unknown without help. It’s like dandruff. Most people have religion like they have dandruff and spend a considerable amount of time and money on it. They seem to get significant pleasure from fiddling with it.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
“Learn from the experience of others.” I have heard this phrase before, so many times. My own experience is that we human beings scarcely learn from the experience of others. Whatever we learn, that is if we do think we learn or when we ever learn, which is not quite often; we learn on our own – the hard way.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
One day I had a dream that the purpose of this cosmos is to have sex with the woman you love and make a baby with or without her consent. In my dream I could not make out any other purpose of this universe.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
I would term it as platitude - the thought that more or less all sect, cult or religion will enact laws upon acquiring political power. The next step would be to asphyxiate disagreements; undermining and destabilizing all education; to confiscate the early minds of the young; driving underground, the people who have non-agreeable or different opinions; by locking up or by killing.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
I have often heard the phrase, “It is better to be a living jackal than a dead lion.” How pleasant it would be to be a living lion!
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
I am learning not to teach the pigs to think. I am learning not to argue with pigs. It is a waste of time and it also infuriates the pigs. I am learning!
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
History and religious scriptures are both written by men. One is the truth, the other is the theology. History has not recorded anywhere at any time that a religion is based on rational foundation. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand on their own feet and face the unknown without help. It’s like dandruff. Most people have religion like they have dandruff and spend a considerable amount of time and money on it. They seem to get significant pleasure from fiddling with it.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
“Learn from the experience of others.” I have heard this phrase before, so many times. My own experience is that we human beings scarcely learn from the experience of others. Whatever we learn, that is if we do think we learn or when we ever learn, which is not quite often; we learn on our own – the hard way.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
One day I had a dream that the purpose of this cosmos is to have sex with the woman you love and make a baby with or without her consent. In my dream I could not make out any other purpose of this universe.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
I would term it as platitude - the thought that more or less all sect, cult or religion will enact laws upon acquiring political power. The next step would be to asphyxiate disagreements; undermining and destabilizing all education; to confiscate the early minds of the young; driving underground, the people who have non-agreeable or different opinions; by locking up or by killing.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
I have often heard the phrase, “It is better to be a living jackal than a dead lion.” How pleasant it would be to be a living lion!
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
I am learning not to teach the pigs to think. I am learning not to argue with pigs. It is a waste of time and it also infuriates the pigs. I am learning!
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Of Free Men, Government, Critics and Democracy
We have never understood why we human beings have a great capacity to swallow nonsense and then vomit it out aggressively and exploit it. Are we still the ignorant peasant with dung on our boots?
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
I am a free man.
When the government or any religious leaders embark on a mission and sends out a diktat that I should not read this book, I should not see this movie, I am prohibited to know certain things – you may be well assured that the final consequences are tyranny and an environment of totalitarianism and repression.
It does not matter how hallowed, or divine or righteous the intentions are. Very little force is required to control the mind of a man who has been deceived. On the other hand, no amount of force can control a man whose mind is free. No prison or guns can triumph over a free man.
The most you can do is kill me
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
I try to keep my mind open. It is a very difficult task. Deep inside I am hounded by this thought that if something has not happened yesterday does not mean that it will not happen tomorrow. Shutting my mind would be opening up this idea - that everything is impossible.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
We human beings are mathematicians, scientist, Architects, Builders, Electricians, Gas Fitters, Plumbers, Scavengers, Accountants, Advocates, Statisticians, Teachers, Prostitutes, Dentist, Pharmacist, Musicians, Librarians, Salesman, Farmers, Fisherman, Day Labourers, Drivers, Construction workers, Policeman, Army Man, Managers, Technologist, Entrepreneurs…. And beggars. Some of us are even worse than animals.
Are all men equal? Can we believe in a theoretical theory that the Mathematicians and the beggars are equal? Does democracy work under this hypothesis?
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
I have never understood the role of critics. They are held in high esteem though. People follow their statements. They adopt their criticisms. They are swayed and influenced by the critics. They move about their lives as per the critics’ directives.
I have never understood why we listen to critics, who never created anything and feel competent to evaluate, review, or judge the work of creative men.
Maybe there is parasitical rationality in this chaos. At least he is impartial – He lives off creative people and hates all of them equally
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
I am a free man.
When the government or any religious leaders embark on a mission and sends out a diktat that I should not read this book, I should not see this movie, I am prohibited to know certain things – you may be well assured that the final consequences are tyranny and an environment of totalitarianism and repression.
It does not matter how hallowed, or divine or righteous the intentions are. Very little force is required to control the mind of a man who has been deceived. On the other hand, no amount of force can control a man whose mind is free. No prison or guns can triumph over a free man.
The most you can do is kill me
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
I try to keep my mind open. It is a very difficult task. Deep inside I am hounded by this thought that if something has not happened yesterday does not mean that it will not happen tomorrow. Shutting my mind would be opening up this idea - that everything is impossible.
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
We human beings are mathematicians, scientist, Architects, Builders, Electricians, Gas Fitters, Plumbers, Scavengers, Accountants, Advocates, Statisticians, Teachers, Prostitutes, Dentist, Pharmacist, Musicians, Librarians, Salesman, Farmers, Fisherman, Day Labourers, Drivers, Construction workers, Policeman, Army Man, Managers, Technologist, Entrepreneurs…. And beggars. Some of us are even worse than animals.
Are all men equal? Can we believe in a theoretical theory that the Mathematicians and the beggars are equal? Does democracy work under this hypothesis?
ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ
I have never understood the role of critics. They are held in high esteem though. People follow their statements. They adopt their criticisms. They are swayed and influenced by the critics. They move about their lives as per the critics’ directives.
I have never understood why we listen to critics, who never created anything and feel competent to evaluate, review, or judge the work of creative men.
Maybe there is parasitical rationality in this chaos. At least he is impartial – He lives off creative people and hates all of them equally
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Public Polices/Public Service/Public System
Burglaries happen. It is an everyday phenomenon. It happens somewhere at someone’s house everyday. Cash, Jewelry, Laptops, paintings, LCD TVs, antiques and other valuables get burgled. At times burglary happens in the dead of night, sometimes in broad daylight. Occasionally people get killed trying to protect what is really theirs.
We get revolted by this act of burglary. We find it difficult to comprehend, how these burglars could bring themselves to break into other peoples home and take away what did not belong to them. We ask, “How do they dare to do this? What makes them believe that they have the right to do this?”
This is a reasonable question. Why do these burglars essentially think that they have a right to do this? Maybe they know that they have no right to do this, but they do it anyway. Is it the desire for unearned things that has so much weight that they do not respect the properties of others? Perhaps they justify their act and blame society for this?
Why it is that burglars feel comfortable, taking the properties of others that they have not earned?
Drawing a similar line, the burglars are not much fundamentally different than most people in our society. Most of them take what does not belong to them. A person of the lowest order would believe that he is entitled to steal the property of other. Only the so called ‘law abiding member of the society would not accept such an act!
Let us presume that a person in the society formulates a well thought out feeling that some people do not have as much money as other people and that it would be good if they had more money than they do. A therapeutic treatment for this disease would be a proposal that we form a group of kind hearted patrons whose primary job would be to forcibly take other people’s money without their permission and give some of it to those they reckon to be in dire need. The group then would use the rest of the money (call it fund) as an entitlement, funding propaganda that tell the world what a great and marvelous job their group is doing, gradually building up a nice profitable little business empire for the staff in charge, who in turn becomes bandits, earning far beyond what they could have in other jobs, all the while being praised for their so called Public Service
Are the people fumingly mad or annoyed? Do they call the police to report this criminal racket? Do they call up their elected representative with calls/emails/blogs/tweeter and sms’ demanding that this monstrous group be clamped down? No, they don’t do that. In fact the reverse transpires. People actually fall in line to lend their support for this system. They exterminate all criticism and display their emotion that they really do care for the poor and the poorest of the poor (The new term for poverty).
Given this atmosphere, it is scarcely shocking that burglars are quite comfortable and have no fear or reservation about taking properties that do not belong to them. The reason is quite similar to the vast majority of people in our society who feel that they are privileged and entitled to the properties of other – WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY OF CRIMINALS.
But one can ask how could this be possibly right? Don’t most people act in accordance with the law? Don’t they fill up tax returns? Don’t they have driver’s license? Don’t they comply with environmental regulations, tax rules, and a host of other regulations?
Generally they do. But this is compliance with legislation and not to a compliance with law. It is merely a compliance of the diktat of the people in power.
Somewhere people do not believe in natural law: That he shall pay his debt, he shall return borrowed or stolen property to its rightful owner, he shall not injure another, he shall refrain from stealing, robbery, arson, murder or any other crime against the person or the property of another person.
The vast majority of people are supportive of criminal acts.
People express surprise and shock by the mentality of the so called common criminals, not realizing that the vast majority of the members of the society feel perfectly privileged to grab the properties of others. They demand that the property be taken away through the tax system and other heinously formulated public polices, or forcibly interfere through some routinely invented regulation.
The common justification for these acts under the so called Public Policies is that this is the WILL OF THE PEOPLE which has been expressed through the elected representative
People who disagree with this system are seen as uncharitable, dangerous, ideologist, radical activist and extremist.
In this pandemonium and madness, we forget that there is some difference between the common criminal and the not so very common criminal. The burglar does his own dirty work. He acquires the LCD TVs, the Laptops, the paintings, the cash, the jewelry and other valuable not through the so called Public Service/Public Policy/ Public System. He does not recruit the local politicians and bureaucrats to steal the property of others for his own use – he saves them the trouble and goes and acquires it himself.
While doing this himself, he does not have the back up to validate his actions. He does not have a democratic process, a political authorization, an endorsement or any other mandates.
So what is the meaning of the term “we live in a society of criminals”? It simply means that the vast majority of the people in our society support criminal acts committed against others. The so called law abiding citizens support robbery, assault, trespass and sometimes even murder when these acts are disguised in the name of Public Policies. It is pathetic and preposterous when we see the society scorning the common criminals and support the mass criminality.
It is a dismal environment when one becomes conscious that some members of the public may not have even realized the correlation between coercion and Public Policy and may not be aware between the policies and action of both these burglars and the Public Policy holders
We have not learnt the fact that ordinary people routinely support robbery and other crimes committed by the state but appear horrified and appalled when they watch the same crimes being committed by the common criminals.
We fail to realize the similarity between the Public Policies of the state and the acts of the common criminal. We fail to realize that support for Public Policies is actually a support for Crime.
What does deregulation actually mean? Is decentralization of power actually the breaking down of one big criminal group or agency into lots of smaller competing criminal agencies with the objective of indulging in small and competitive criminal activities so that they escape from the clutches altogether?
Can there be an absence of socially sanctioned theft, assault or robbery?
We get revolted by this act of burglary. We find it difficult to comprehend, how these burglars could bring themselves to break into other peoples home and take away what did not belong to them. We ask, “How do they dare to do this? What makes them believe that they have the right to do this?”
This is a reasonable question. Why do these burglars essentially think that they have a right to do this? Maybe they know that they have no right to do this, but they do it anyway. Is it the desire for unearned things that has so much weight that they do not respect the properties of others? Perhaps they justify their act and blame society for this?
Why it is that burglars feel comfortable, taking the properties of others that they have not earned?
Drawing a similar line, the burglars are not much fundamentally different than most people in our society. Most of them take what does not belong to them. A person of the lowest order would believe that he is entitled to steal the property of other. Only the so called ‘law abiding member of the society would not accept such an act!
Let us presume that a person in the society formulates a well thought out feeling that some people do not have as much money as other people and that it would be good if they had more money than they do. A therapeutic treatment for this disease would be a proposal that we form a group of kind hearted patrons whose primary job would be to forcibly take other people’s money without their permission and give some of it to those they reckon to be in dire need. The group then would use the rest of the money (call it fund) as an entitlement, funding propaganda that tell the world what a great and marvelous job their group is doing, gradually building up a nice profitable little business empire for the staff in charge, who in turn becomes bandits, earning far beyond what they could have in other jobs, all the while being praised for their so called Public Service
Are the people fumingly mad or annoyed? Do they call the police to report this criminal racket? Do they call up their elected representative with calls/emails/blogs/tweeter and sms’ demanding that this monstrous group be clamped down? No, they don’t do that. In fact the reverse transpires. People actually fall in line to lend their support for this system. They exterminate all criticism and display their emotion that they really do care for the poor and the poorest of the poor (The new term for poverty).
Given this atmosphere, it is scarcely shocking that burglars are quite comfortable and have no fear or reservation about taking properties that do not belong to them. The reason is quite similar to the vast majority of people in our society who feel that they are privileged and entitled to the properties of other – WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY OF CRIMINALS.
But one can ask how could this be possibly right? Don’t most people act in accordance with the law? Don’t they fill up tax returns? Don’t they have driver’s license? Don’t they comply with environmental regulations, tax rules, and a host of other regulations?
Generally they do. But this is compliance with legislation and not to a compliance with law. It is merely a compliance of the diktat of the people in power.
Somewhere people do not believe in natural law: That he shall pay his debt, he shall return borrowed or stolen property to its rightful owner, he shall not injure another, he shall refrain from stealing, robbery, arson, murder or any other crime against the person or the property of another person.
The vast majority of people are supportive of criminal acts.
People express surprise and shock by the mentality of the so called common criminals, not realizing that the vast majority of the members of the society feel perfectly privileged to grab the properties of others. They demand that the property be taken away through the tax system and other heinously formulated public polices, or forcibly interfere through some routinely invented regulation.
The common justification for these acts under the so called Public Policies is that this is the WILL OF THE PEOPLE which has been expressed through the elected representative
People who disagree with this system are seen as uncharitable, dangerous, ideologist, radical activist and extremist.
In this pandemonium and madness, we forget that there is some difference between the common criminal and the not so very common criminal. The burglar does his own dirty work. He acquires the LCD TVs, the Laptops, the paintings, the cash, the jewelry and other valuable not through the so called Public Service/Public Policy/ Public System. He does not recruit the local politicians and bureaucrats to steal the property of others for his own use – he saves them the trouble and goes and acquires it himself.
While doing this himself, he does not have the back up to validate his actions. He does not have a democratic process, a political authorization, an endorsement or any other mandates.
So what is the meaning of the term “we live in a society of criminals”? It simply means that the vast majority of the people in our society support criminal acts committed against others. The so called law abiding citizens support robbery, assault, trespass and sometimes even murder when these acts are disguised in the name of Public Policies. It is pathetic and preposterous when we see the society scorning the common criminals and support the mass criminality.
It is a dismal environment when one becomes conscious that some members of the public may not have even realized the correlation between coercion and Public Policy and may not be aware between the policies and action of both these burglars and the Public Policy holders
We have not learnt the fact that ordinary people routinely support robbery and other crimes committed by the state but appear horrified and appalled when they watch the same crimes being committed by the common criminals.
We fail to realize the similarity between the Public Policies of the state and the acts of the common criminal. We fail to realize that support for Public Policies is actually a support for Crime.
What does deregulation actually mean? Is decentralization of power actually the breaking down of one big criminal group or agency into lots of smaller competing criminal agencies with the objective of indulging in small and competitive criminal activities so that they escape from the clutches altogether?
Can there be an absence of socially sanctioned theft, assault or robbery?
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
The Virginian
Seeing the IPL matches confirms my views that men think in herds; go mad in herds, and only recover their senses when they are once again alone
Once again in its own small way I have seen the power lust. A man can interfere with thoughtless and insensitive egoism in the lives of his fellowmen and play the part of fate, destiny or divine intervention for others
Ω۞ΔЮΩ۞ΔЮΩ۞ΔЮΩ۞ΔЮΩ۞ΔЮΩ۞ΔЮΩ۞ΔЮ
Passing though the seasons of The Virginian, I came to discover that in Season 5, Episode 19, The Modoc Kid introduced Harrison Ford. It also had John Saxon as the other Guest Star.
But what left an ineffaceable blot on me was the existence of James Drury on the screen. He plays the title role. As the Seasons and Episodes advanced, James Drury’s charisma began seeping with his serene-cool-calm-composed and collected presence.
For my records, his son is Timothy Drury who played with The Eagles and is presently associated with Whitesnake.
Once again in its own small way I have seen the power lust. A man can interfere with thoughtless and insensitive egoism in the lives of his fellowmen and play the part of fate, destiny or divine intervention for others
Ω۞ΔЮΩ۞ΔЮΩ۞ΔЮΩ۞ΔЮΩ۞ΔЮΩ۞ΔЮΩ۞ΔЮ
Passing though the seasons of The Virginian, I came to discover that in Season 5, Episode 19, The Modoc Kid introduced Harrison Ford. It also had John Saxon as the other Guest Star.
But what left an ineffaceable blot on me was the existence of James Drury on the screen. He plays the title role. As the Seasons and Episodes advanced, James Drury’s charisma began seeping with his serene-cool-calm-composed and collected presence.
For my records, his son is Timothy Drury who played with The Eagles and is presently associated with Whitesnake.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Recession and Fashion
I remember reading somewhere some fifteen or twenty years ago that IBM had this culture of ‘White Shirts’. Anyone found deviating a wee bit from ‘the colour white’ had to face the consequences of raised eyebrows. People at IBM would virtually look down on this poor fellow as if he had dressed up for a picnic.
Those were the days.
During the years, a conspicuous change happened in men’s dress style. With boom time, the dress sense changed. It became shabby. Workers thrived in wrinkles, T Shirts and Jeans. The guy with the shirt and an occasional tie was seen as a person attending someone’s wedding. We were encouraged to be ‘cool’. Even the billionaires looked like hobos.
The concept behind this ‘coolness’ of being shabbily dressed was to give the general notion that one really did not care what others thought. One oneself was the cutting edge, the idol demolisher, the slayer of conventions, a person who does not give a damn about what society thinks or how society judges. One’s value was one’s very own person, the fact of one’s existence on this planet. During the boom time the message of fashion was – Hey! It’s all about me guys!
Today all that has now come into question. How much value did this jean clad guys really add? How much of their coolness has evaporated? How much was illusion all along? Maybe all this hype about intellectual capital is nonsense.
Now with the downturn of economy, the sense of better fashion if one wants to survive, has once again come into being.
The free-fall economy means a boon for better fashion for men who intend to survive the onslaught.
"A suit has become something you wear when you're asking for money, monkey."
One’s clothes now need to generate a different message. Resources are few and hard to spare. Everyone wants to conserve. So the goal of one’s life too becomes different. One now is no longer permitted to pretend that one’s existence is a blessing to the world. Now one must add more value than one can take from it. The new motto now should be:
“I can add more value to the Organization than I can take from it”
In other words, “I am a willing sucker”
These days this is what every employer is seeking. It’s a dog eat dog world. A dog now has to stand out. The dog now must find ways to exhibit that it is not nonessential or dispensable and that tossing it out would do more harm to the company than good. The dog must now illustrate that the company would lose more revenue by kicking it out than by keeping it.
Employers think that clothing reflects one’s seriousness. Today dogs are under pressure to perform, to show that they are valuable, to demonstrate on sight that they are desirable commodities as workers.
Those were the days.
During the years, a conspicuous change happened in men’s dress style. With boom time, the dress sense changed. It became shabby. Workers thrived in wrinkles, T Shirts and Jeans. The guy with the shirt and an occasional tie was seen as a person attending someone’s wedding. We were encouraged to be ‘cool’. Even the billionaires looked like hobos.
The concept behind this ‘coolness’ of being shabbily dressed was to give the general notion that one really did not care what others thought. One oneself was the cutting edge, the idol demolisher, the slayer of conventions, a person who does not give a damn about what society thinks or how society judges. One’s value was one’s very own person, the fact of one’s existence on this planet. During the boom time the message of fashion was – Hey! It’s all about me guys!
Today all that has now come into question. How much value did this jean clad guys really add? How much of their coolness has evaporated? How much was illusion all along? Maybe all this hype about intellectual capital is nonsense.
Now with the downturn of economy, the sense of better fashion if one wants to survive, has once again come into being.
The free-fall economy means a boon for better fashion for men who intend to survive the onslaught.
"A suit has become something you wear when you're asking for money, monkey."
One’s clothes now need to generate a different message. Resources are few and hard to spare. Everyone wants to conserve. So the goal of one’s life too becomes different. One now is no longer permitted to pretend that one’s existence is a blessing to the world. Now one must add more value than one can take from it. The new motto now should be:
“I can add more value to the Organization than I can take from it”
In other words, “I am a willing sucker”
These days this is what every employer is seeking. It’s a dog eat dog world. A dog now has to stand out. The dog now must find ways to exhibit that it is not nonessential or dispensable and that tossing it out would do more harm to the company than good. The dog must now illustrate that the company would lose more revenue by kicking it out than by keeping it.
Employers think that clothing reflects one’s seriousness. Today dogs are under pressure to perform, to show that they are valuable, to demonstrate on sight that they are desirable commodities as workers.
Friday, September 17, 2010
We Still Annihilate
We give the impression that we are so bothered and flustered over our future when sometimes I think the future of the entire human is so uncertain. We depend on few intelligent men who drive this system and we suckle onto them. Technology may have improved our life style and our quality of life, but it has also brought its own set of threats.
If one could have traveled back in time, to the past, one would have seen that the earth was more or less the same - the same trees, the same rivers, the same mountains, the same human kind who use to destroy, kill, obliterate, exterminate, decimate, demolish, slaughter, massacre…….
Since time immemorial, over the centuries, we have not much developed ourselves. We still annihilate.
We won’t metamorphosis much in the future either.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Rationality
There are two kinds of people in this world - Intelligent people who have no religion and religious people who have no intelligence.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
You can choose to live your life in either of the two ways –
1. Nothing is miracle
2. Everything is a miracle.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Sometimes it intrigues me how men want to go around with their thoughts trying to know more about the universe when it is quite a difficult task to go around the by lanes of a large city
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
I am also intrigued by the way we go around wasting our time in either attacking or defending god.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Knowledge creates problems, but ignorance does not solve any problems. We surrender to ignorance and call it god and this has always been a premature way of surviving. We are still surviving in a premature state.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
We human beings have always excelled as makers of gods. It is one of the most important contributions in the world.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
When you look after the poor, you are looked upon by this society as a good person. When you ask why the poor exist, you are looked upon as an atheist.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
We should try hard to separate religion and politics. These two elements in our society have really screwed us. Perhaps if they are separated – we might progress a little.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
I think we were all atheist when we were children. We then never had any idea of any gods.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Man will quarrel for religion, they will fight for it, even die for it – seldom would you see man living for it.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Often I have been told that a person who is religious, believes in a god and pray to her is happier than the person who is a non believer. I am trying to understand whether a drunken man is happier than a sober one.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
All these holy men tell us to pray to the gods and the gods answers the prayers. I wonder if the frogs too think that when they croak, they bring spring with their croaking.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
If you have delusions, you cannot have new thoughts. You must first remove your delusions from your head and then perhaps some new ideas can germinate
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
You can choose to live your life in either of the two ways –
1. Nothing is miracle
2. Everything is a miracle.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Sometimes it intrigues me how men want to go around with their thoughts trying to know more about the universe when it is quite a difficult task to go around the by lanes of a large city
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
I am also intrigued by the way we go around wasting our time in either attacking or defending god.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Knowledge creates problems, but ignorance does not solve any problems. We surrender to ignorance and call it god and this has always been a premature way of surviving. We are still surviving in a premature state.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
We human beings have always excelled as makers of gods. It is one of the most important contributions in the world.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
When you look after the poor, you are looked upon by this society as a good person. When you ask why the poor exist, you are looked upon as an atheist.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
We should try hard to separate religion and politics. These two elements in our society have really screwed us. Perhaps if they are separated – we might progress a little.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
I think we were all atheist when we were children. We then never had any idea of any gods.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Man will quarrel for religion, they will fight for it, even die for it – seldom would you see man living for it.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Often I have been told that a person who is religious, believes in a god and pray to her is happier than the person who is a non believer. I am trying to understand whether a drunken man is happier than a sober one.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
All these holy men tell us to pray to the gods and the gods answers the prayers. I wonder if the frogs too think that when they croak, they bring spring with their croaking.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
If you have delusions, you cannot have new thoughts. You must first remove your delusions from your head and then perhaps some new ideas can germinate
Monday, September 06, 2010
Fareed Zakaria’s GPS - Magnitsky & Browder
I was troubled, watching Fareed Zakaria’s GPS (Global Public Square) on CNN yesterday. He was interviewing Bill Browder the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of the investment fund Hermitage Capital Management. Browder revealed how Sergei Leonidovich Magnitsky who was a Russian attorney died in police custody generating international media attention and launching an investigation into allegations of abuse. Magnitsky, who had alleged wide-scale tax fraud sanctioned by officials before being himself arrested, died days before the one year limit that he could be held without trial would expire.
According to Browder, Magnitsky was an attorney representing his firm on charges off tax evasion and tax fraud. Browder was expelled from Russia as a national threat, though he indicated that the only threat he represented was "to corrupt politicians and bureaucrats", believing that the ouster was conducted to leave his company open for exploitation.
Magnitsky who had testified that police, members of the judiciary, tax officials, bankers and the Russian mafia had been involved in a $230m tax fraud against the Russian treasury, was illegally arrested and imprisoned in November 2008 after being accused of colluding with Hermitage.
During this time he was shifted very rapidly from one prison to another, and was deprived of even the basic amenities like water boiler. The authorities tried to break him physically and psychologically, but in a show of tremendous strength and integrity, he never cracked.
Held for 11 months without trial, he developed gall stones, Pancreatitis and calculous cholecystitis, for which he was given inadequate medical treatment during his confinement.
Surgery was ordered in June, but never performed; a week before he was to be released if he were not brought to trial, he died for reasons attributed first by prison officials as a "rupture to the abdominal membrane" and later to heart attack. Browder says that it later was discovered that Magnitsky had complained of deteriorating stomach pain for five days before his death and that he was vomiting every three hours, with a visibly swollen stomach.
On the day of his death, the prison physician, believing he had a chronic disease, sent him by ambulance to a medical unit equipped to help him, but the surgeon there — who described Magnitsky as "agitated, trying to hide behind a bag and saying people were trying to kill him" — prescribed only a painkiller, leaving him for psychiatric evaluation. He was found dead in his cell a little over two hours later. He was 37 years old.
That is authority, corruption and power for us.
Sunday, September 05, 2010
Can't be Independent
I guess I can never imagine myself to be independent, however much I may want to be. I may not want to have a social status and I may even want to remove myself from all those ordinary, boring, routine and dull circumstances, events or people, but eventually I find myself enslaved by the members of the society, in one form or the other.
I suppose, even the Prime Ministers, The Presidents, the Middle East Kings, the autocrats or the billionaires are the products of the ignorant, selfish, illiterate elements of the society. All of us are in slavery, the inferior as well as the superior. I am one of the consequences.
∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑
All religions are cruel. We all are aware that religions of our world have been established on blood. The foundation of religions is on the idea of sacrifice - sacrificing animals and human to obtain or attain divinity.
All religions, with their gods, their demigods, and their prophets, their messiahs and their saints, were created on the basis of naiveté of the human race. The human race then had not attained the full development and full possession of their faculties. (Not that I say that they have attained now!).
As a result, the religious heaven is nothing but a mirage in which man still lives by ignorance and faith, and somewhere tries to find his own image,
I suppose, even the Prime Ministers, The Presidents, the Middle East Kings, the autocrats or the billionaires are the products of the ignorant, selfish, illiterate elements of the society. All of us are in slavery, the inferior as well as the superior. I am one of the consequences.
∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑Ω∑
All religions are cruel. We all are aware that religions of our world have been established on blood. The foundation of religions is on the idea of sacrifice - sacrificing animals and human to obtain or attain divinity.
All religions, with their gods, their demigods, and their prophets, their messiahs and their saints, were created on the basis of naiveté of the human race. The human race then had not attained the full development and full possession of their faculties. (Not that I say that they have attained now!).
As a result, the religious heaven is nothing but a mirage in which man still lives by ignorance and faith, and somewhere tries to find his own image,
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
The Mumbai Traffic Jam
I was trapped in the typical Mumbai traffic with a friend in the passenger seat. I try to do something from time to time. I tried and observed the gigantic mass of cars and auto rickshaws before my buffalo car. I noticed that time was sucking us. You feel like blurting out that had this road been private, we wouldn’t have been suffering so much in this jam. We don’t wait in the endless lines at the private grocery road or private car rental. So why are we putting up with state ownership and management of the roads? The roads should be privately built, owned and managed.
My imaginary friend in the passenger seat was shocked. He was also alarmed! He probably thought that I was really zany. Roads are damned too expensive to be built by private entrepreneurs. We would be bumping into toll booths every few metres. Some over ambitious shot would raise the prices and probably also restrict the access. We would always be dependent on the rich guy with the road title and our freedom to move around would either be curbed or would come to an end. Why depend on the private exploiter when our government exists to provide us this wonderful service for free?
Meanwhile we sit there helplessly, stuck and almost motionless. Too many cars were attempting to crawl around too few roads. We spend billions of hours per year, knotted up in these congested roads.
Then there is the road construction, which the Government agency decided to undertake whenever and wherever it so desires, reducing a four lane to a one lane road in the name of expanding it to a six lane road. The six lane road comes up in the next generation. From then on, we drive in those hazardous roads.
Then there are accidents which knot up the traffic for kilometers and hours. The entire system is oddly unprepared for anything to go wrong, although something does go wrong every day. The accidents and jams keep happening and everyone just sits there waiting for the government to send its police, its ambulance, its cranes and other equipments, so that traffic can continue.
Sometime back I got caught in a traffic jam and thereby missed my flight. I had to eat my Rs 5K Ticket. I also had to buy another one on a different airline and paid another Rs.5.5K. Normally in a private market, if some service is responsible for making you lose Rs10.5K, say a CD in some software package is blank, you would have some recourse. But who am I going to charge for my losses due to shoddy road management? The BMC? Forget it!
___“My imaginary friend in the passenger seat was shocked. He was also alarmed! He probably thought that I was really zany_____..... Why depend on the private exploiter when our government exists to provide us this wonderful service for free?”___________
There are other costs. We pay through our nose for petrol and diesel so that this is funded for road construction and maintenance. Thousands, (if not lakhs) of people breathe their last on government roads every year. We are constantly harassed by policeman who hand out ‘parchees’ for doing things that hurts no one, like driving fast, changing lanes without signals. Do these really endanger others? Sometimes perhaps, but that is not the reason that we get ‘parchees’. We get ‘parchees’ because they provide a constant revenue outlet for the state and central government.
Road failures define a massive portion of our life. They influence us on where we live or where we choose to work. They gobble away our household budgets. They introduce us to the horrible tragedies of our lives, when our friends and children are disfigured or pass away on the killing fields of public road
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Our Education Structure
On a fine morning in one of those days our Govt. as per the Minimum Wage Act 1948, fixed and enforced the minimum wages to Rs. 100.00 a day. This was in Nov. 2009. Is this another way of saying that unemployment is mandatory for anyone who is otherwise willing to work for less? Does this mean that you have no freedom to negotiate or lower the price of your service? You are valued at this rate or you are out of the labour market. I am not referring to the fact that Rs. 100.00 is an abysmal amount to even mention, leave alone the fact what can actually be bought by that paltry sum.
Let us say that I have never been a good cook. So if I were to work in a restaurant, where the cook is supposed to churn out the best grub, the cost to the management would be more to hire me at a rate which would definitely be high, since I would not be able to bring them the revenue. Consequently I would be a sure money loser for the restaurant. So now, the Govt. has in effect made it illegal for me to attempt this kind of world. They say it was done to help me.
Teenagers who may be looking for work cannot find employment at the existing rate. This is the time that teenagers learn valuable skills and work ethic that they carry with them throughout their life. They meet a variety of people and learn to cooperate with different temperament and personalities whilst at work. They learn how to do things that they do not want to do and discover how work and reward are related. They gain experience and learn to use money independently. They learn how to acquire and how to spend.
College students are short of work experience so they don't have a pragmatic understanding of what the real work world requires of them. They acquire degrees in "management" and visualize that, with this marvelous degree - they will have the right to earn big bucks by bossing people around. A degree in "communications" will get them on BBC World News. An engineering degree will provide the opportunity and the right build cities, bridges and highway systems.
Then one day, they graduate and reality dawns on them real hard. They find out that there is no one out there who wants them for what then know. They begin to understand that they know very little that makes them useful. Their CVs are sterile lacking even a single professional reference. All they really know is how to loiter around in the college campus and mingle with peers on nights and weekends.
One would be shocked to learn that the average college guy does not have the basic software skills. In today’s world a basic software skill is a must in any professional position. Today this skill is termed as common knowledge. But the college guy graduates with skills that do not even need to manage a FB page!
I also have my doubts that these grads, somewhere down the line do not have any concept of basic work ethics and the ability to add value to an organization.
But come to think to it – Is it their fault?
Human character is the most significant thing. But our education structure cages the students and imprisons them in garbage boxes. After graduation, they are dumped outside to a world which is cold and cruel, a condition for which they are not prepared.
The consequences are in front of us.
Let us say that I have never been a good cook. So if I were to work in a restaurant, where the cook is supposed to churn out the best grub, the cost to the management would be more to hire me at a rate which would definitely be high, since I would not be able to bring them the revenue. Consequently I would be a sure money loser for the restaurant. So now, the Govt. has in effect made it illegal for me to attempt this kind of world. They say it was done to help me.
Teenagers who may be looking for work cannot find employment at the existing rate. This is the time that teenagers learn valuable skills and work ethic that they carry with them throughout their life. They meet a variety of people and learn to cooperate with different temperament and personalities whilst at work. They learn how to do things that they do not want to do and discover how work and reward are related. They gain experience and learn to use money independently. They learn how to acquire and how to spend.
College students are short of work experience so they don't have a pragmatic understanding of what the real work world requires of them. They acquire degrees in "management" and visualize that, with this marvelous degree - they will have the right to earn big bucks by bossing people around. A degree in "communications" will get them on BBC World News. An engineering degree will provide the opportunity and the right build cities, bridges and highway systems.
Then one day, they graduate and reality dawns on them real hard. They find out that there is no one out there who wants them for what then know. They begin to understand that they know very little that makes them useful. Their CVs are sterile lacking even a single professional reference. All they really know is how to loiter around in the college campus and mingle with peers on nights and weekends.
One would be shocked to learn that the average college guy does not have the basic software skills. In today’s world a basic software skill is a must in any professional position. Today this skill is termed as common knowledge. But the college guy graduates with skills that do not even need to manage a FB page!
I also have my doubts that these grads, somewhere down the line do not have any concept of basic work ethics and the ability to add value to an organization.
But come to think to it – Is it their fault?
Human character is the most significant thing. But our education structure cages the students and imprisons them in garbage boxes. After graduation, they are dumped outside to a world which is cold and cruel, a condition for which they are not prepared.
The consequences are in front of us.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
"Adopt Industrial Revolution"
Of late I have been really leading a period of my life in anguish. I see around and read about the development nations have made in the last several decades, and I experience that not so great a progress India has made, in a relative sense.
I wonder why do our rulers concentrate, deliberate and bicker about things that do not bring economical growth, benefits, freedom and happiness to us.
Instead of whiling away time and money, it would have been great, had our rulers combined an assortment of steps and taken necessary measures to bring us happiness. I am neither an economist nor a politician. Nevertheless my commonsense signals me the following:
* The Govt. should control debt, and encourage savings. Spend on the necessities of life and avoid ‘spending indulgence.’
* Concentrate on increasing our manufacturing base. Produce quality goods with an eye to export.
* Keep workers happy. Upgrade their skills. Train them. Instill a sense of loyalty and pride.
* Basic reformation like concentrating on establishing a social security net, have pension schemes for private workers too, expand health care system, increase retirement age and have a sound retirement benefits.
* Control wage prudently
* Control and monitor corruption
* Control population (like China?)
* Aggressively drive literacy. BA/BSc/BCom does not land one a job. Reform education system and have a job oriented education system
* And above all “Adopt Industrial Revolution”
With all the great think tanks that we have in our Govt. department, I think if we are able to do this little bit, I am sure we will have a better standard of living.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Pitfall
If you imagine that your corporate life is a lackluster one, that you are trapped in the domestic and employment rut, that you life is already under six feet of shit, you are not thinking anything new. A typical middle class family man who goes to office and comes back home, and is actually able to time the events of the day may not exactly be a person who has his life well under control. Some may term that life as a disciplined one; others may yearn for stimulation in their day to day life.
All this was depicted compactly in Pitfall, a 1948 classic movie, starring Dick Powell, who somewhat may remind us of our very own Balraj Sahni. Somewhere the film also gives a feeling of the typical American dream of chasing the materialistic life to sustain a middle class lifestyle, to procure love by bribing in the form of expensive gifts; by hinting that all is not quite as well as it looks, the unhappiness of a mundane, boring life which even the extravagance does not provide satisfaction.
The movie though was made in 1948, inadvertently indicated a façade of the American way of life, thoughts, economy which may have resulted in periodic recession that are being experience these days.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
In search of a better world, subsequently
Comprising and existing in a world minus corruption is impossible. When you take away whatever is impossible – we have truth. The truth is that man by nature is corrupt and the people who we choose to rule over us are perhaps a bit more corrupt. Subsequently, all this hue and cry over whether Mr. Suresh Kalmadi is guilty of corruption or not - does not make sense. Corruption here is a way of life. We cannot have the impossible. We cannot do away with them - we cannot have any other forms of government.
Along with corruption, violence is natural to man. We humans are either physically violent or possess violent thoughts. So far democracy has been established as the best form of government for us. Whatever flaws that democracy offers, whatever name that we choose for a government to rule us, violence exist is both a democratic form of government and in a tyrannical form of government. Otherwise how do we explain the violence in the Kashmir region or the Maoist thoughts that begins and ends with violence, or the religious violence, the political violence, the caste violence, the domestic violence et al? Violence is the most uncivilized, barbaric, crudest, and filthiest form of existence.
Nazism and Fascism may comprehensively have been defeated but by no ways or by any means we have eradicated barbarism or brutality.
We human beings have complicated histories. Our present cannot in any way be disassociated from the past. Corruption and Violence always existed in a particular place or time throughout history. We cannot discard our past and start with a scratch. By the time we mature and are able to make some conscious choice, we have already categorized ourselves in terms of our thoughts, languages, and behaviors, like generations before us who reached the same extent of development
It is not a question of being proved right. It is a question of learning from others. Not learning by just adopting the views and opinions of others, but by allowing others to criticize his ideas and theories and by being allowed by others to criticize their thoughts. Criticizing ideas and theories and not the person is a good way of learning. Nobody is in possession of the truth. Sheer criticism also does not offer new ideas. You either accept or reject an idea or a theory. But critical discussion of a theory may give us the maturity to comprehend ideas from different angles and perhaps draw a conclusion.
It has become our tradition to hold great men in awe, in respect, in reverence, a custom which we are not able to shake off. Great men make great mistakes. These great men have tremendous influence over the mass, an influence which is hardly challenged. This leads to these great men continuing to mislead the mass – into corruption and violence.
Violence is a path for non-rationalist. A violent person does not attempt to reach a decision by argument or compromise. He uses violence. He is a man who wants to be successful not by convincing another man by argument, but by crushing him by force, by intimidating him and by threatening him. He might also use persuasive propaganda.
Violence, in the name of religion which professes love and kindness, cannot be forgotten or eradicated. Bodies were burnt alive; people were cut to pieces, tortured and shot. We still have not given up our authoritarian attitude or opinion. We are yet to adopt a give and take attitude. We are not ready to learn from other people. We have however tried and hoped to control violence stimulated by godliness, piousness and duty.
The main difficulty is that one cannot have a reasonable discussion with another man, who prefers to shoot you rather being convinced by you or making his own point. It is hard to create an environment where people wouldn’t want to talk anyone into anything. There is no need to convince anyone. One can be wrong and may convince someone of something which may be wrong. People do not value the intellectual independence of others, otherwise why is it necessary to convince someone? Human nature does not welcome contradiction, or else the world would have been a better place, had a man instead of convincing someone, arouse the thoughts and challenge others to form free opinions. Sometimes even trying to convince someone may and can be interpreted as a violent act.
Along with corruption, violence is natural to man. We humans are either physically violent or possess violent thoughts. So far democracy has been established as the best form of government for us. Whatever flaws that democracy offers, whatever name that we choose for a government to rule us, violence exist is both a democratic form of government and in a tyrannical form of government. Otherwise how do we explain the violence in the Kashmir region or the Maoist thoughts that begins and ends with violence, or the religious violence, the political violence, the caste violence, the domestic violence et al? Violence is the most uncivilized, barbaric, crudest, and filthiest form of existence.
Nazism and Fascism may comprehensively have been defeated but by no ways or by any means we have eradicated barbarism or brutality.
We human beings have complicated histories. Our present cannot in any way be disassociated from the past. Corruption and Violence always existed in a particular place or time throughout history. We cannot discard our past and start with a scratch. By the time we mature and are able to make some conscious choice, we have already categorized ourselves in terms of our thoughts, languages, and behaviors, like generations before us who reached the same extent of development
It is not a question of being proved right. It is a question of learning from others. Not learning by just adopting the views and opinions of others, but by allowing others to criticize his ideas and theories and by being allowed by others to criticize their thoughts. Criticizing ideas and theories and not the person is a good way of learning. Nobody is in possession of the truth. Sheer criticism also does not offer new ideas. You either accept or reject an idea or a theory. But critical discussion of a theory may give us the maturity to comprehend ideas from different angles and perhaps draw a conclusion.
It has become our tradition to hold great men in awe, in respect, in reverence, a custom which we are not able to shake off. Great men make great mistakes. These great men have tremendous influence over the mass, an influence which is hardly challenged. This leads to these great men continuing to mislead the mass – into corruption and violence.
Violence is a path for non-rationalist. A violent person does not attempt to reach a decision by argument or compromise. He uses violence. He is a man who wants to be successful not by convincing another man by argument, but by crushing him by force, by intimidating him and by threatening him. He might also use persuasive propaganda.
Violence, in the name of religion which professes love and kindness, cannot be forgotten or eradicated. Bodies were burnt alive; people were cut to pieces, tortured and shot. We still have not given up our authoritarian attitude or opinion. We are yet to adopt a give and take attitude. We are not ready to learn from other people. We have however tried and hoped to control violence stimulated by godliness, piousness and duty.
The main difficulty is that one cannot have a reasonable discussion with another man, who prefers to shoot you rather being convinced by you or making his own point. It is hard to create an environment where people wouldn’t want to talk anyone into anything. There is no need to convince anyone. One can be wrong and may convince someone of something which may be wrong. People do not value the intellectual independence of others, otherwise why is it necessary to convince someone? Human nature does not welcome contradiction, or else the world would have been a better place, had a man instead of convincing someone, arouse the thoughts and challenge others to form free opinions. Sometimes even trying to convince someone may and can be interpreted as a violent act.
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