5 ways how PK dialled the wrong number

Lets agree on the fact that PK's storyline from a bird's eye level was great. A alien getting confused by Human interpretation of God! Now we have agreed upon that we can also agree looking at the details why by a wierd twist of fate PK movie makers (including the director/producer and hero) had slipped seamlessly into the seat of the movie's antagonist by deliberately dialling the wrong numbers to mislead the audience!

What could have been a classic ended up being a unfortunate sham of a movie intent on pressing on vested interests than being true to the story's heart!

1) The Makers have shown an apalling lack of understanding of Sanatana Dharma (I would call it Hinduism henceforth to facilitate better typing speed)

Sorry guys. Wrong Number "Number 1". We have no prophets. We have no bishops, rooks or queens. Yet it is we who have been made pawns in this unfortunate endeavour.

There is no messenger of god whose way is the only true way for us. What we say is "Every soul is potentially divine". The concept of Advaita and Dwaita are the core and mostly followed philosophies in Hinduism. Advaita - Everyone and everything is a mere extension of the same spiritual being. There is no difference between the Creator and the Created. The Created (whether living or non living by our scientific classification) is just the same person in different forms. So, the more we realise this truth, the earlier we reach the Divine.

Difficult to digest? No worries. We have another philosophy that simplifies the same for us to digest. Dwaita - There is this one spiritual being of which many parts branches out. Just like the fire and the sparks. We (again both animate and inanimate) are miniature versions of THAT single being (with varying levels of awareness of it). Example: We have sea water. Suppose, i get a tumbler, a tank, a water bottle and cup and pour the same sea water in these containers, the name changes but the inherent characteristic doesnt. It is the same sea water that we call as the container's water.

In our case, we are like the water in these containers which have the power to merge with the sea depending on our effort. Again, the more we realise this truth (realise not understand), the more easily will we be able to get back to our 'mothership'. There is this thing called death in between which is nothing but a facilitator for change in form. For example, lets again take water. We freeze it, its called ice, we heat it its called gas, all it needs is a process to help it get back to the form we want. That process can be equated with death in the larger picture.

Sorry, RKH and Khan sahaab, we DO NOT need any mediators between God and Ourselves as per our culture itself. In fact, we say that we and God are the same. 

2) Wrong Number "Number 2"

Unfortunately on this earth, we need to leave a place to reach another. When you have not seen the destination earlier, it becomes far more difficut. Suppose i send you to a room and say "Take things. We will go on a vacation". You will naturally be confused.  Where is the destination? How do we go? What do we need to go there? 

On the other hand, If i say, "We are going to Paris. Take things and Get ready.". First you will look at what is Paris? How do i go there? Air or flight or Road or Train? (Obviously different ways of going to any place. There is NO ONE TRUE WAY to reach Paris) What do I have as my resource? How do I use my resource to get there? If I need the additional resource, lets say money, i work to earn more money and make myself financially stronger and procure items required and then start my travel.

Okay. If i dont give you a computer, or a data connection. How do you now get to know about Paris? Ask some third person if he has been to Paris or heard about it and then prepare yourself. 

You meet someone who has been to Paris or heard of it through someone, you ask them, how did you go? How much did it cost? How will the climate be? How should I prepare myself?. You get the responses and learn from his experience. This is the concept of a guru. He is a guide through his or known experiences to help you tread a spiritual path.

In Hinduism, the guru is a guide and not a messenger of God. Messenger of God comes in man made religions and there were 2 from the desert who fall in this category. Lets save that for later.

3) The technique called Idol Worship

Nothing fruitful in this world is simple at the outset. We need to make it simple through breaking down a complex activity into a number of steps and stages. In fact, why dont we write 12th exams in our 1st standard? Human brain can accept only limited information within a given time. We need to develop the knowledge in stages. Sounds Obvious right? Seems like the Makers of PK missed it. 

In Hinduism you see Idol worshippers, non idol worshippers both. The starters usually are idol worshippers, the masters no longer need one as they have found the next clue. Both are not at logger heads with each other because they understand the need for each other. 

Practical example, try focussing on nothing for 30 seconds. Try focussing on the image of Lord Shiva with a Trident in a meditative pose for 30 seconds. Which gives you more focus? The latter obviously. Focussing on nothing from the start tends to frustrate our small brain and usually makes it violent. So our mind trains to focus on some physical object or picture or person first which develops the powers of concentration of mind and this focus when turned inward leads to deeper spiritual insights. 

Our brilliant forefathers linked this special technique with the concept of a Ishta Devta with whom we can share our happiness and sorrow, requests and wishes and thank yous to give a sense of companionship and belonging. This is called a technique -  a gradual process to channel your spiritual energy. Okay, why do you need n number of gods for this purpose? No two persons share the same interests. The biggest strength in this technique is that they have identified and addressed the need to recognise and harmonise diverse human belief systems. People who idolise strength and boldness can focus on shiva, those who like intelligence can focus on ganesha, those who love "self-consciousness" can focus on vishnu, and similarly for female deities like Lakshmi to Kali to Saraswati etc. The more you think about these things, the more pieces will fall into place. Nay, we discover that they were already in place

Unfortunately, when you have ulterior agendas to address, you have to miss the real science and focus on the frills instead for the sake of sensationalism. This is Wrong Number "Number 3"

4) Miss the science, Guess the farce

"Why are Gods subjected to sacred bath (ABHISHEKAM) in a routine?" The answer lies within our self. We take bath to get ourselves fresh and the same is applied here, but with some added advantages. The idols are used to store the cosmic energy and dissipate them. We know that energy transfer occurs only when there is a potential difference exist. Here in this case the idols are the high potential dissipaters and we(humans) are the low potential absorbers. The amount of energy an idol can store in them varies with respect to the size of the idol. (Sorry that I couldn't give the exact mathematical expression between the size and the storage capacity of an idol.) Hence if the number of absorbers increase, the amount of energy lost by the idols will also increase. We know that an average count of people visiting a temple may be 1000/day. And as the count is pretty high the idol is pushed to its limits of transferring capacity by continuously getting energy from the Khumbam and supply it to the devotees visiting the temple . This phenomenon would eventually make the God to become powerless within a day. To be scientific, the composition of the idols would lose the capability of storing the cosmic energy within itself.

In order to replenish the cosmic power & vibrations of the idols, the idols are subjected to the ritual called Abhishekam. This is a ritual in which the idols are made to take sacred bath not only with water, but also with Vibhuti, honey, milk, turmeric etc. Each of these items, provide different nature of vibrations and energy and provides differing degrees and aspects of the positivity of the radiation based on each item. After the Abhishekam(Holy Bath) is done, the composition of idols gets prone to the radiation again. And since they had been replenished with rich ingredients, the capabilities of God gets restored. Thereby our God starts blessing the devotees again.

A similar bath is done to the idols present in our home also. But we usually don't do it daily. That's because the idols present in our home has only few numbers of devotees.(less absorbents and hence less lose of energy )

Usually after the Abhishekam is done, the spent liquid is passed on to the devotees for them to drink or to apply on their heads. Since the liquid is made to flow over the statues, it is believed to have the energy collected by them. And making use of that liquid(locally called as TEERTHAM) may certainly have some good effects on us. And this Maker of the movie, without having an iota of brain to look at the science, he looks at the 

For some more rituals and their significances, check this reasonably good blogpost : http://online-raj.blogspot.in/2012/06/ancient-tamil-traditions-customs-and.html

4) Fake Spiritual Leaders

Lets use the same Going to Paris has become a fad and many people plan to go there. There is so much craze that you are willing to shell money to get someone tell about Paris. Also this means, you are not patient enough to search for a person who has genuinely gone to Paris (How do you know whos genuine, experience and inquiry - which are already prescribed in Hinduism). You want a quick fix where there is none and get the wrong guy's idea to make your trip, it is bound to affect you. 

Also, if someone says to you that 

(a) HE ALONE is the person who has gone to Paris 

(b) If you DO NOT FOLLOW path specified by HIM ONLY

(c) He is the LAST PERSON who has gone to Paris

you obviously know he is bluffing. Why dont we apply the same logic while seeking our spiritual prophets and gurus?

And you know who are the two most famous personalities who fall under this bracket?

(a) Mr. Muhammed and (b) Mr. Christ

Former - A cursory reading of the former will tell you that he was indeed bluffing. His actions did not show any renunciation or disassociation towards material life but it surged towards it. Be it in the form of paedophilia where he married a 6 yr old Aisha (and this guywas 51 odd yrs old that time) and had consummated when she was 9 till she was 18 or the fanatical blood thirst whereby he asked his followers to execute those who didnt believe in HIS ONLY way and unleash bloodshed or the way he proclaimed that HE IS THE LAST Messenger of God to supress any claim to his seat of power. And Mr. Khan religiously believes these kindergarten stories while criticising something much much more scientific than his "broker" even imagined. The book says even vile things but lets not digress.

Latter -  The lesser said the better - Old testament being as bad as a rough cut of the Former's book. Full of scientific inaccuracies and obsolete statements and cock and bull stories like Adam and Eve that even the followers felt that they had to rewrite the same. And saying of Man-Made religions! If only Jesus was a hooker, he would have been the richest hooker in the world going by the number of times, he has been sold by his "missionaries".

Where both share common ground is that they are shallow in their analysis of life after death, simplistic concept of Heaven and Hell. Which in fact shows that there are two power centres in the world -  the Creator and the Saitan or Satan. They own distinct territories namely Heaven and Hell. If Satan is in charge of Hell and God isnt, doensnt it beg the question "If God is Supreme, is Satan God too?" Basic inconsistency not addressed. SImply because, it is man-made. We tend to leave loose ends. Nature does not.  No wonder they share the same place of origin, same phonetics (Ebrahim vs Ibrahim) etc and same culture. I sometimes wonder if they were competing power hungry leaders of political parties than spiritual guides. You can just see their spiritual impact on the number of lives claimed by their followers in the past 1000 years. From America, to Africa to Australia to more recently Kashmir, Iraq & Afghanistan, wherever you see, you see them spreading blood than brotherhood.

Now looking at the film, the antagonist is more of an exception that has been blown up into being shown as a mainstream one while the major culprits whose concepts reek of mediation between Man and God and of artificialness are let loose. So, either this shows inadequate research or deliberate attempt to malign one way of life while not even using the available real life examples.

Are you deliberately dialling the Wrong Number, makers of "PK" just like the antagonist in the movie?

5) Misusing tolerance - Wrong Number "Number 5"

The problem with Hindus is that we had placed a heavy reliance on trust and did not join the bandwagon of religious players competing for space in terms of no. of followers count. This resulted in allowing the agnostics to continue as he is without helping him out with regard to gaining a better understanding of the religion. And, our trust and other factors like invasion and genocide during Mughal rule resulted in us not actively procuring knowledge of the ancestors and drifting away (made to?) from the core thought process and the science behind our way of life. Best way to remedy it would be believing our ancestors practices and following it and seeing the results for ourselves.

Unfortunately in the absence of reposing that trust in our ancestors than modern science, media & left influenced pseudo intellectuals like the makers of this movie, would continue to target Hindu tolerance and focus on chipping away at our core belief system and way of life.  I guess all they want is us to become agnostic before joining their circus because as they say in Tamil - Where the whole town is running naked, the one with the underwear would be called an fool"

Of Opinions and Judgments

As i was speaking to my friend the other day, i realised that what they said in the tyre adverts were right. - "The roads are filled with idiots". I also realised that Kaliyuga is one where the sinners would be hailed and the purer souls would suffer.

I increasingly find that though there is greater dissemination of information due to the great advancement in technology, they have definitely failed in intellectually empowering the people and as per my sample, the Indians.

What the technology has created is a place of venting out the mud in our hearts and the idiocity of our brain. I would say that the technology has dramatically failed on account of 2 reasons:

1. In a new twist to the age old adage, "When one door closes, the other opens", the more open information has become, the more closed our minds have become to accept or even acknowledge the opposite point of view. (As i read somewhere - "Read a lot, argue, discuss and explore new ideas a lot and that is the only way to knowledge")

2. As a general law of nature, we have lost the basic ability of reason, colloquially called the common sense.

How else do you explain that a terrorist is hailed as a freedom fighter while an organisation that had actually fought for freedom being branded as terrorists. 

I would love to quote a recent conversation in this regard. While having discussions with my friend, i was told -

"I wont vote for BJP. Modi has been responsible for killing 1000s of people."

I told him, a court of the land has acquitted him. ( it is alarming to note that people disrespect the judicial decisions and publicly say - "whatever the court may say, its decision is wrong" . That is a dangerous precedent but can be disussed over in another post)

He now got to his second argument - "BJP is associated with RSS and RSS fuels casteist hatred and is extremist"

I told him, that an OBC candidate has been elected the PM candidate and RSS has only welcomed it and in the idea of inclusive Bharat, it has never talked casteist separatism.

Now he told "RSS is a religious organisation and BJP is a political organisation. Why should it help a political party. Why is it interested in politics and wants to poke its nose there?"

And now I asked him -"Why shouldnt it back it? As a public of India, they are people too. They have their political preferences. When an individual like you can back a party, why not an organisation?"

Now I continued - "How do you know that RSS is an extremist organisation?". He told " I know it". I shot back - "From where did you get that info. Did you base it upon any reading?"

"No"

"Did u base it upon any News channel or news paper?"

"No"

Thankfully we got interrupted in the middle. Else, i am sure it would have been a funny situation there. 

See. thats where i am coming to. This is just an example. People hear things, they believe it to be true. People read content lacking credibility and believe it to be true. People half hear and half assume their sweet little brain's content and believe it to be true. That is the problem, neither are they well read nor even half read. Nobody thinks of 2 different sources of info before forming sensitive opinions. No first hand experience. No application of common sense. yet they BELIEVE. And that is where i say that technology has failed. "I am sorry technology. You cant challenge our basic right to be a willing idiot."

My friend couldnt quote any basis for his judgement and yet BELIVED his opinion without bothering to fact check.

(I was actually pained to see that my friend did not even bother to read up before forming an opinion on one of the most patriotic organisations while i see other friends  with similar amount of reading supporting extremist ones in other countries. You ask - Why is this statement relevant to this post? Its my blog and my anguish, so it is :-) )

I assume this is what had happened - "If you  are continuously fed with negative news about any person or organization  you will start believing in it. Eg. Narendra Modi is a mass-murderer or  All Muslims are terrorists, both of them have never been proved but whenever you hear "Narendra Modi" the first thing that comes to your mind  is "riots" and when you hear about any terror attack you are likely to  blame a Muslim terrorist organizations only." 

Those who doubt my  arguments are welcome to visit any RSS shakha in their area and have a  look at the social service they do irrespective of caste, creed,  religion of people living in those areas.

Those who haven't visited a shaka/don't know a swayamsewak/haven't seen their work shouldn't be allowed to hate RSS anyway.

Speaking about RSS, Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh roughly translates into National Volunteers Organisation. A trained cadet ( swayam sewak) of RSS does not learn to hate any religion or class. He is taught the love for his nation and to stand for the nation until your last breath. 

Why you shouldn't hate RSS without knowing enough about them?

The communist, "seculars" and liberals are notorious for their ability to twist facts and suppress history which tells unpleasant stories which  are not politically helpful for them. The victim of this propaganda by  leftist historians and others, who we now call Seculars, was the  Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Hindu nationalist organization, which  is still the largest organization in India. 

These seculars abuse RSS, as a communal fascist organization. Seculars are of three types : Apolitical, Communists, Congress. The first category, apolitical is a non-existent one. They simply hide their politics. The communists, who are pretty becoming  irrelevant in the world, are the second category. If you go deep to communist history, we can see that it is full of blood. Be it from  Cheguvera, who murdered his own people, accusing them of treason, be it  Stalin, who also did the same to his own followers, because he doubted  them. Be it Mao or Lenin, whose economic policies lead to great famines  and caused millions to starve and die. The Congress party, India’s  largest political party, is no different. Be it the partition riots, Sikh riots, Hindu Muslim riots in Indira Gandhi time, the congress party  can be held in many ways responsible. These are the people who accuse  RSS of terrorism and fundamentalism."

Congress and Digvijay Singh in particular has always accused RSS of saffron terror which they were never ever able to prove despite all the government agencies working under them only. Also it would be wrong to blame the entire RSS for wrong-doings of its less than handful of fanatic members. I always admire them for their social services, RSS members run several affordable private schools, ekal vidyalayas (lot of them in Muslim majority Kashmir), hospitals etc.Latest addition is unconditional services in Maharashtra Drought. 

How many of you know that Registered Companies prefer RSS over typical NGOs for CSR projects because of their wide network and high success rates. (Communal?)

How many of you know Gandhi has said "“When I visited the RSS Camp, I was very much surprised by your discipline and absence of untouchablity.” and Mr. Ambedkar has said and i quote "This is the first time that I am visiting the camp of Sangh volunteers. I am happy to find absolute equality between Savarniyas (Upper cast) and Harijans (Lower cast) without any one being aware of such difference existing.”(Casteist organisation?)

Dr Zakir Hussain the former President of India once told in 1949 “The allegations against RSS of violence and hatred against Muslims are wholly false. Muslims should learn the lesson of mutual love, cooperation and organization from RSS. The way RSS cadres remain calm and at peace even while dealing with crisis is commendable. They never have any kind of hatred feeling for any human being and serve all."

For their self-less welfare work for 1963 war victims and army personnels, Prime Minister Pandit Nehru felicitated them personally and asked them to join the republic day parade along with army squad and appreciated their efforts to work for the upliftment of India; irrespective of caste, creed and race.

In 1967, Jahanara Imam, said “If RSS was as powerful as Congress then partition of India and Pakistan would not have happened, and innocent killings had been avoided”.

How many of you know that when no organisation came forward to support Sikh victims in 1984 riots conducted by Congress under leadership of Rajiv Gandhi, RSS was the only organisation to come forward and whole-heartedly support Sikh victims.

It is conceded by even their worst detractors that the RSS has been in the forefront of the non-official rescue and relief (operations). 

Some of the statements made by RSS guys are not worth appreciating[like Hindus should have 3 children] on the face of it but once you go deep you realize they have a rationale behind that which is quite appealing at its own level.

Lastly RSS doesn't believe in the philosophy of 'show off'  that is being practised now a days by fake NGOs and so called socialites. RSS has selflessly helped the Republic of India at various occasions but salute to these guys they have never boasted of it. 

So whatever we get to hear is only the 5% bad news and not the 95% awesome news

There would be always a small % of people who get passionate and be extreme in their views but that should not cast a shadow on the whole organisation. If your idiocy is most important to you, their passion is as important to them. You say your idiocy never hurt anyone? Their passion too never hurt anyone. How else do you explain that there were only 2 cases of blasts "alleging" a non Muslim Hand that was blamed squarely on the RSS and consider the fact that they have been in place for over 70 years. It proves that they have never been violent.  In case, somebody pops the question on Nathuram Godse, request you to read up Judge Thomas' views on the relationship between RSS and Mr. Godse.

P.S: Those who know me might ask a question on my wariness towards a religion and equate it to my sympathies for the Sangh. The problem with that religion is that its history, the past and its present is filled with blood, conquests and conversions. There is never peace in the country which has that religion as a majority except for Indonesia. That is because, the Indonesians accept their Hindu roots. Ok. I am not saying that Hindu roots has everything to do with it but by nature our religion is based on tolerance, hence even being passionately attached towards Hinduism never results in violence unlike in others. In case, you want to ask about Guj Riots, i feel no religion is tolerant enough to bear 59 of its members killed just because they were from that religion and the only way to vent the anger was the riots. Govt did its best, but couldnt help. As they say - "saadhu mirandaal ....."

P.P.S - I dont expect people reading this blog to sympathise with RSS and that is not the object of this blog. I never challenge the ability to choose. :-) 

Lessons on a stretch of Road

Today, while a casual stroll with a temple prasadam in my hand, i started to walk towards the corner of my street. The prasadam got empty and the 'Dhonnai' flew down unwittingly. I bend down to pick it.

Suddenly i see an alert street dog watching me very closely. Clearly its flight or fight hormone secretion had started.As i walked further slightly towards it, it was ready to bound out or bite me. I chose to ignore and walked past the dog. Unfortunately, it seemed that me and the dog had to walk in the same direction. I am afraid of dogs, for the simple reason that it doesnt give me a letter of intent before its animal instincts take over nor we have a communication medium to talk it over before the attack.

I shooed off the dog which retraced itself by a couple of steps and the moment i walked ahead, it started following. I kept looking back to avoid any confrontation with the creature while it was focussing its attention on how aggressive or non aggressive my body language was. After all, it is used to get stones thrown at and expects the same from me. I shoo it away and it waits or moves around 5 steps back and the moment i return my back, it starts following me to its destination. The moment i turn my back, i am ready to bound out or kick my attacker in case of any signs of danger.

That set me thinking. The whole of the stretch of the road, despite me having no animosity towards this animal and vice versa, both me and the dog had felt insecure and vulnerable. It was insecure since i was seemingly more powerful than it and is used to confrontation and attacks from humans. I was insecure since i felt that it being an animal, its primal instinct could take over any time and i for no fault of mine could be bitten and affected when my back was turned. Was there any hatred between us?? Nope. Neither had any grudge against each other :-). We both had no intention to hurt each other though we both feared getting hurt.. The insecurity lasted till we both crossed to our particular destinations. But one wrong signal and one of us would be carrying an injury.

Moral of the day:  The dog is a metaphor. Do I learn? No!

Of conspiracy theory and whatever'cide' it is!

I always used to think, the youth of the 1960s and 70s were the one who pulled Geographical India down to what we are today – unempathitic, morally bankrupt, divisive, greedy and corrupt. The recent student protest reminds me of another eerie similarity between them and the youth of 201x – Anti Hindi Protests vs Small kid dead protests – Both being unwise, imprudent and rash resulting in a damaged reputation  taking years to get repaired. Just while the ill-effects of the former started wearing down, there is another shame to our student’s Hall of Shame!

I have been pessimistic of India’s older populace and their contribution to national degradation in all fronts. I however had a slight dash of hope in the 40% population under 25 today. I thought them as their image was - Cleaner, innovative, with a contempt for ‘politics’ especially having seen the worse of Indian Political Tamasha.

How wrong was I? The recent protest against a particular nation showed encouraging signs at first. Students taking up the issue of genocide and forcing Central Govt to act upon it. Wow! I thought! Time moved on. One former party as usual made loud noises to centre to capture this votebank! The ruling party added pressure to the Indian Govt to act!! They were dismissed in contempt by the student leaders!! Wow ! I thought!! Time moved on ..The Indian Govt did their best to even back the UN resolution!!The protest was silent yet strong!! Wow ! I thought!! Time moved on .. No political leader was allowed to share stage with the Students!! Fantastic.. Till now!

Post the Resolution! The protest still continues for God knows what reason! On hindsight, on reverse engineering the path trodden, I understand that the reason is not exactly driven by concern on how our ethnicity lives across the sea!! Here’s why:

      1)      Today’s generation is known for being self contained. Most of us do not know even our neighbours professions!! We do not want disruption of our routine! This has been a change since the youth of the 1960s who were I assume through hearsay better at interpersonal interactions since the only way they interacted was that! If the sense of self isolation is growing rapidly, how can there be a real concern for people living across the Palk Strait!!

      2)      We live in a country where atrocities in broad daylight are being spectated upon rather than being acted upon. We love apathy! Don’t we? How many of us, on seeing somebody being beaten up / violently acted upon in broad daylight, take courage to act to deter the same?? If this is the case with people from our own country, how can we be empathic about someone living across the sea?

      3)     Hypothetically, if a town captured by M-ists and M-ists are killed to recapture the town, there will be collateral damage since war involves adrenalin. There may be a couple of human rights violations by overzealous individuals but hey, if you fight a war, you face the consequences!

If, the M-ists were replaced by people of some ethnicity, you would get a feeling of dislike which leads to violent crimes against them and that is because, we love to differentiate &discriminate! True not only for India! If someone sensible (Read: the ethnics) had opted for a political solution than all out war at some point of their long history, the process would have been much more peaceful and would have had a realistic solution  for the conflict!

Warring against your own country and threatening its sovereignty is a crime punishable by death in any country in the world! Supporting the war? Do you allow Gurkhas to claim Gorkhaland? What happened in Telangana separatist movement? I hear the Nagas are asking for a separate state!! Nobody in the country other than those involved are bothered.  If this is the case for your country, is it plausible that you react so strongly in case the issue is in another country?

     4)      China has protested for owning Arunachal, can you expect Indian Govt to heed to it? This despite fighting a war and losing it? [Loss of lives in either case]

Same for our other neighbour!  Use your 'fresh' brain people?

     5)      The reason I am able to zero in on is not empathy  but a distinct intent to evade exams and a misdirected ego to show student power! (13 players in not playing in one venue in IPL would make a difference ah? Po da! Lose-lose situation). All i guess is sane youth are not bothered on this agitation while the morally light may be deeply involved !

     6)      What worries me is not only the lack of brains or lack of skill to use it that plagues today’s youth! What worries me is that either of these show a political brain (ergo: selfish brain) behind it being fuelled by malafide intentions or hoping for the best – dumbness in understanding international relations! (Personal suspicion: Political leaders fuelling this or an aspiring politician fuelling this)

IT being a very close neighbour, we would do well not to let it be enslaved by the dragon economically and politically which is exactly what is being done due to the rash and unwise nature of protests being held!

Some selfish ‘leader’ would do well to stop this farce and get his monkey forces back to studies which has a realistic chance of creating a positive change! Oh… is it what he is escaping from?

Captaincy Trail - Gully Cricket

Captaincy in competitive cricket is all about making the right moves to win the match. Very few get that opportunity. However, gully cricket gives chance for most others. This ramble seeks to explore my mind and get some rationale as to how I approach my decisions in tennis ball cricket.

First of all, how is a 'Captain' chosen? Not definitely based on tactical finnesse .. Either the one who sets up the match or who knows most of the guys in the team.. If the team is familiar, the best player or the person with the best people skills..  I am sure I have one of the best people skills (on a cricket field), pride myself as having tactical nous similar to atleast George Bailey. I am a very good all round player on a cricket field.. I know I can make decisions that turn a game on our side (on a cricket field).. The (on a cricket field) phrase is to be read similar to the phrase 'Paatle.. Paatle' in Thillu Mullu (the movie). My people / social / soft skills are well known for its mediocrity otherwise. (It is said smarter the people are, the more difficult it is for them to get on socially!! Possibly that explains my social awkardness?!!) That, though is a subject for another day!!

But, how did I get to captain a side in a tennis ball match.Possibly as the one who knows most guys in the team!!?!?!?

The team composition is mostly decided with the known guys part of a team.. Smooth..

But.. But.. But.. In case, my team is a person or two short, I need to loan a guy from the opposition. That sure is going to make my life tougher because I need to give him a bat or a ball without knowing his skill and my vantage point in removing him in case he bats /  bowls detrimentally is greatly stunted. The reason for which is documented below.

In my aarvakolaru to start off with the post, I left out an important portion of the topic.. My philosophy of playing tennis ball cricket!!

Tennis ball cricket is played to enjoy and have a good time. Everybody wants to play because that makes them happy. They want to contribute. They want to either bat for around 10 balls or bowl a couple of overs. Winning has its importance.. But ask any guy who has not bowled or batted in the match on his team winning, the enthusiasm is not quite There. Win or lose, he wants to contribute.. My way of thought - Let them have that feeling of contribution. Let them feel included as a part of the group. The focus is on winning too.. Not only on winning..

There are some who overly try to contribute and make their team win that they dominate the bat and the ball. Winning is very important to them.. Agreed. But is it competitive cricket that you are playing? Nope.. And the common denominator to those guys who dominate, they are all mostly very very average players. Not those who change the game.. but think themselves as to they need to do the batting and bowling to make the team win.. Sad, isnt it?

I generally plan for / prefer two matches back to back. One for chances, one for winning feeling. What I have noted during the previous experiences is that batting at the top of the order gives the feeling of being important. (My personal choice - 3 overs of bowling)

In case I am left with a guy who I know will not contribute substantially to a match, I try to match up a guy to whom I wont be giving a bowl too, to bat at the top with a guy who can actually bat. This way, the not-so-good player has a better opportunity to get out early and give chances to others. In the first match, a normal batting order can be used while I hold myself back. Not that I blast the ball out of the park considering I am more of an accumulator than hitter, but I am sure I will be giving myself a bowl. Let others get the feeling of getting a decent bat. The guys who are sure to bowl will get to bat mostly at the end.

What follows will mostly be mostly a win in the first match. An issue arises with the fact that one or max two players may or may not get a contribution chance due to a higher focus on winning. They get to open the batting in the next match.. If they bat badly and get out, it is fine.. In case they waste balls and yet somehow manage not to get out, I leave it to fate. Believe me, giving a chance to mediocre players to open the batting Chasing 44 in 10 overs and getting stuck at 5/0 in 4 overs is not a pleasant place to be.  What do you do then when a guest has overstayed his welcome? Aditaled or in worst case run him out by bad calling!! (This is Chennai - we value sensible cricket than flashy tries.. If you dont play using your brain but only your bat, we do not prefer you playing cricket at all)

The next batting position will go to the guy who has not bowled and batted only for a couple of balls in the previous match...Match is sure as lost. Try to compensate by sending the big hitter next. But the winning the game is not the sole focus of the endeavour! Inclusion is!!

The other way round, in case I am not able to give a guy a bat, I try to ensure he gets atleast an over to roll his arm over to ensure he did something to get involved.

If I am unable to accomodate either the batting or bowling of a guy, give him a fielding position preferably near the batsman to cut singles. Atleast he feels involved in the game.


The worst feeling I got when I am playing under another person in a cricket field is that on the pretext of winning the match, I dont get a chance to contribute. I ensure that not happen to a guy who plays under me!


Another interesting aspect of tennis ball cricket that, most guys will keep asking to get a bat or a bowl!! The first thing is to instill a confidence that they would get their chance to contribute. This is one of the reasons that even at the cost of the team's victory, I do not try to dominate the proceedings by being all over the game. Once they are secure of their chance, the chance of getting them satisfied at the end of the day remains high. Even if they do not get a chance, by my abstinence to indulge myself I ensure that they do not feel left out of the group imagining the others getting more chances than them rather than on cricketing reasons.

That is a person, a group wants to play under. No one has a problem of being left out.

Tennis ball cricket is not all about winning or playing to indulge. All about inclusion and the feeling of doing what you like. Trying to Ensure that, and thereby every outing turns a good experience irrespective of victory or defeat..

(P.S: This is not a suya-puraanam of sorts but as mentioned earlier using myself as reference point. I have written this PS so that I feel good imagining that I am humble.. In our societal structure, humility is a quality that is more preferred than efficiency. Also, I have ensured I have just documented my thoughts without undue interference from my brain by following just my thoughts and not grammer.)

Growing up with God

Words are not enough

May be the timing is not right? When the whole world which was urging "you know who" to retire a day earlier, have started hitting the post button from their drafts thanking him for the memories... Should I too join the bandwagon?? May be once everyone is back to the senses on their hypocrisy, I should have started this..  But let it be.. Even He got his timing wrong at times. And I am just another man!

There are some things you know will never change.. Programmes in Podhigai TV, public and civil apathy in India, BSNL broadband connectivity playing hide and seek when you are online etc. In this list was Him creating the equivalent of a 99.94 in ODIs.

When the news first broke out via sms, I plunged headlong into grief.. Just to imagine that I wont be seeing God striding out to open the batting for the Men in Blue..  Still has me in a daze.. I immediately went online and started reliving his innings via scorecards on cricinfo.. What was his last ball in ODIs? What was his last ODI score, how get got out.. My own memories of seeing him @ MAC in the World Cup.

Next was the newspapers the next day. Clinging on to each and everyword  that evoked nostalgia about The God.. I first remember cricket as a match on TV. The day we got a Telephone in my home was an India vs SL World Cup match in 1996. I was in middle school.. Sachin's Century.. The famous Jingle "Sachin aayare bhaiya..". Once I started  following cricket, I was in love with The Superman from India. His pleasant nature in presentations, his focus on the field made him a larger than life role model.. Then came the moment.. For Indians, Desert storm has got nothing to do with geographies.. It represents the blade screaming MRF. Though I could not see the match, once I read it in newspapers, I knew it was a superhuman effort. Fortunately I got an action replay in the final. I need to thank Tony Greig capturing the appropriate mood and making it a timeless classic. You just cannot forget "Its gone wayyye over the stands!!" chant, can you??

Lest you forget, The way he brought Henry Olonga back to the earth... Coming down the ground and late cutting Paul Strang fine of third man.. Those arms having bat and a helmet instead of a conch and a discus. Eye towards the sky... I came to live through him. I still regret not being able to see His hundred for MCC XI as a captain.

My earliest recallable hobby of collecting pics from newspapers and sticking it on a book was born there.
Love became devotion.

The power to make a billion smile and change the mood of the country was remote controlled by one man.

Then comes the 1999 World Cup, Ganguly-Dravid-Taunton Classic and the lump in the throad when he scored another hundred against Kenya. When he looked at the sky, we had a lump in the throat..

I was changing school for my 7th standard.

When he scored a 137 in Chepauk and yet we lost, I had tears brimming in my eyes. Here is one man battling back spasms and feeding you the match and another 10 men like a 6 month old swishing hands on a cricket field wasting his effort.

His effort in Australia in 1999-00. One man vs 11 Australians. 0-3. World's finest art has to come with a melancholic strain, does it?

His Triple strike in THE Greatest test of all time.. How easily it slips to the backseat in our minds?

2003 World Cup.. After the effigy burning, One superman took it upon himself to make amends and inspire another 10 more to the final.. In the space of a month, he changed public mood to the other extreme.

I was changing schools for my 11th standard.

2004-05 series in Aus... The 241 showed us what discipline is.. When you need to discipline your self, I can challenge you, there is no better inspiration!!

I had finished my schooling and joined college.

A rough patch in 2005-06, tennis elbow, I was one of the billion who were used to seeing him superhuman that we just couldnt accept him as a mortal and shamelessly wanted him to retire. The 141 on him comeback match against WI gave me a slap on my cheek and said that God is one who need not prove himself to  our pointless rationalism. Devotee again.

He was back and How...  What a 3 years that was... (Forget that 2007 WC) 2008 series in Aus.. A classic in Perth. Amends for the Sydney test in ODIs. CB Series finals. 117 & 91.. Lest you forget. He took it upon himself to win the Cup. Three bullets against Lee. Upper cut against Mitchell Johnson.. Arrival of a young squad had reinvigorated God.

College over by 2008

Another great 2009. A day before CA final exam was the 175 which brought me back to 90s again. 19 from 18 and these ******s couldnt do it for Him... Couldnt get the sadness out of it for 2 days.

Cleared my Professional Exams

After all the years of Watching him on TV, decided to see the God in IPL. The date was Apr 6, 2010. Informed of the decision to watch the match almost a fortnight in advance in office so that I wont be disturbed. Sadly enough, I am to go outstation on 30th March and hopefully would be back by 4th or 5th. I had planned even if it took 7th, I would catch a 3 hr bus journey back to city and be back the next morning. I was never going to miss it unless by some bad stroke of luck.. Unfortunately, I had that stroke. Review was to be conducted on 6th and I would be returning by night. I was so angry and frustrated at life that day that it still ranks among my top 3 bad days in life. I was never going to forgive myself. I still dont. I was lucky to have my colleague who was n times more responsible than myself that the job was completed without hiccups. Everything from Apr 4 to Apr 6 was a haze. But I remember coming home to Him speaking on the presentation. The match was a classic.

I was only happy when God dragged his team to finals against CSK that year just as he had done with India. That was one rare match, I didnt bother CSK losing.

Joined employment
Determined to see him, especially in the WC, tried all avenues but the ticket was sold out days before the match.. Where there is desperation, there is a solution. Just a couple of days before the match, online booking was opened for the match and I jumped at it.. 2k+ tax was never going to stop me this time. Finally got to hear the Chant "Sachinnn Sachin" - Goosebumps. A short while it lasted (2 balls to be exact -  A golden flick and a caught behind) that was enough to provide me with a lifetime experience.

IPL presented me another opportunity but his team wasnt schedule to visit Chennai in 2011 edition. But they had a match in Bangalore. I was neither going to miss him. Only a fifty or more would quench my thirst! April 13, 2011. Bunking office on health pretext, visited Bangalore for the match. God answered my prayers. An unbeaten 55 off 46. All shots in his book unfurled. Pulls, Hooks, Cuts, Slogs, drive over the bowler's head, coverdrives, flicks, sweeps, one legged swipe and the Straight Drive!!! My salvation was attained.. On returning back to office, another experience to laugh about over the years was awaiting me.

Now, One thing yet to see was a six from his blade. That happened in IPL 2012. Though He retired hurt in that match, a divine and cover drive & another loft over the extra cover boundary.. I was consumed. I knew it. Felt as if my bucket list has been kicked up..

I shifted jobs.. Still growing up with Him.....

Just as another die harder will expect, despite his serious lack of form, I believed he could make it to 2015 WC in Australia.  Thats when the thunderbolt struck. When your constant companion is never available again, it hurts. Gives .. for lack of a better word, "Grief". But brings out the value in the memories gathered. The phrase"India score enna? Sachin evlo?" wont be heard in ODIs now and in Tests possibly another year later.

To savour it while it lasts. After all when we grow old,not money or relatives, but Memories are our only companions.. To live up to one billion aspirations in one life.. That is what you are all about!!

Thanks Sachin.. You have meant a lot to me!!  Praying to Father Time that we catch up during India-Australia Tests in March!!
Respect!

Discrim 'in' 'Nation'

Newspapers today give bad signals to its readers. They spread gloom and give opinions instead of facts. In fact, save those souls who read only the sports columns and drag themselves half heartedly till 'world news' section, i can safely say that those who read the balance portion of Indian Newspapers atleast are becoming more paranoid and rigid in their views. One can almost sense a divide between those reading vernacular newspapers and english ones. While the former pride themselves on being updated more on the local happenings, the latter believe that they read more global events and are even more informed.

Ignoring the previous para which has nothing special to do with this post, we go about on discrimination. This word has kept me fascinated for the past couple of months. Caste discrimination being practised today resulting in untouchability seems far fetched from my cosy armchair of my home. But why such a hue and cry? Untouchability definitely does not pluck the right strings. But where do we stand as regards discrimination. Is discrimination only an act or is it a thought? Do we stereotype and prepare ourselves for discrimination at the required time?

Why do caste votes have such a powerful force in elections? Why do we prefer our own kind as our colleagues while reccomending a job? Why do we give preference to the background of the speaker than the  item spoken?

I would say discrimination (atleast in thought) is a way of life and more of a culture for the Indian subcontinent (and by extension 1/6 of world population which is a good sample for the world as a whole). We are people who discriminate on a day in day out basis. In fact what would we do without discrimination, since we have a sorry history of discrimination? Sample this for various levels of discrimination:
1. We discriminate on a country to country basis (we have a special corner of our heart discriminating Pak)
2. If India and Pak were to Join - Language  - Urdu guys vs Hindi guys (sub matches like tamil vs kannada, telugu, malayalam .... etc)
3. If One language is accepted as common language - Religion - Hindus vs Muslims vs Christians (3 way tag match)
4.  If one religion is accepted as a common ground -  caste becomes a factor
5. If all castes become one - town vs village (land based discrimination on a minor scale) for e.g. "Inda pasanga tirunelveli, madurai lendu vanduttu, kannu mannu theriyaama otranga!!! ******!" - regular stereotype we give for a cab driver who drives rashly
6. If that stops, we have wealthy vs the unwealthy in the same area.
7. Beyond dat if people have same wealth, we discriminate on fairness / darkness of the skin
8. Even if we are blessed with same skin tone, we will have no other way except to go with male vs female gender discrimination.

All said and done we may preach equality on the surface and seem to follow it but what is the situation in our heart. As instantly as seeing , we opinionate and stereotype and prepare ourselves to discriminate in times of need. As the Joker says in the Dark Knight  - "You see, their morals, their code, it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these... these civilized people, they'll eat each other... "

If discrimination is so hardwired into our system how effective is quota / reservation system to achieve social equality? How effective is inter caste marriage to bring about social equality? They can only solve one issue and make people effectively focus on other forms of discrimination.

How do we address the culture / nature / psyche of the normal human being? School? Meetings? Politics? Only way and which makes it all the more harder to achieve or almost impossible to achieve is the change shud come "From within". Till that day, all that differentiates a rationalist and a radicalist is a mask!!

Am i confused or do i see something?

Around the Office in 72 days - Abridged version

April 4, Monday Morning 9am:
Arjun - Accelerating the car -  "Yuck! Yet another monday?? Why do i even have to be there?" interrupted by the bike before him braking suddenly on the road. Red it is. Screech!!! "Paradesi. nadu road la ya break poduva!" A scowl and a couple of word exchange later, mind voice - "What fun it is to rush to office at 9 and head back 15 hrs later?"

9:15 Facebook notification - " @Arjun Even i used to be a rockband member. It was my passion. But I still like my work and here I am." Reply comment: "R u able to pursue ur passion on weekends atleast??" One like immediately.

9:30 - Prakash's sleep devoid eyes were shut but the mouth was working as usual - "Dae. Arjun. I am going to quit this company. I hate the work pressure. I have been working continuously for the last 6 weekends. Would you believe it?? What life am i having?"
Arjun's Mindvoice - "Leave aside working continuously, i doubt even if you were working on the weekdays"
Prakash: "Pl keep this confidential dude"
"Kandippa da. Nan yaartiyum solla maaten."
One murmur by a senior apprentice - "Ivan ipdi dan 3 varushama solran. Pora vazhiya kaanom" Smile.
Prakash: "Variya coffee polam??"
Mind voice - "Pochu da. Aarambichutan!!"


10:00  - "Dae. Sathya. Innikku Notes to Accounts verification mudikkanum. I ve allocated components to you, and have given you the workings in pendrive. Pl give it before lunch. Since u r a senior article now I expect you to take more responsibility."

"Arjun.. Lunch kulla lam kashtam. Nethi 12:30 ku dan veetukku ponen. kannu eriyudu."

"Dae time illa da. Kandippa venum. All workings are avbl just check it da. Avlo dan. Nan oru client call ku poren. Any help reqd, pl msg"

11:00 - Via glass door - Sathya's desktop - fb on one tab, cricinfo on another, msnger chat with sruthi, Status in msnger - "Drowned in work :("

12:00 - Arjun's msnger was pinged - "Machi. Un mail lam reference panada. Recipient oda initials use panna, he feels u may use the mail against him"
"Dae. Idula enna da use panna irukku. Reference panadu kuthama?"
"Therla. Pl keep calm. U cant change ppl here. Be careful. Un crime rate erite pogudu"
"k."
Mindvoice - "Why are ppl so lame? Oru reference pottadukku yen da scene podranunga. Perhaps insecurity is the order of the day?"


12:40 - "Dae. Notes check panniya? "
"Going on da.. Will take some time.. "
"Apdi enna da pannirukka?? kaatu." - Two tabs in excel containing 40 cells of characters was the work done.
"Dae. Enna da ivlo dana? U could have finished the whole work with the workings given by this time!! Enna da ipdi panreenga. Seri finish asap and give da"
"ok. sure da"

1:00 - "Arjun. Lunch poitu varlame. I am hungry."
Mind voice - "Venam nu sonna vidava pore"  - "Sure.. Come back soon da" - Mind voice - "Workpaper innikki varum, aana varraadu!!"


April 7
6:00pm - Msnger ping - "3rd floor la oru ponnu nalla irukka. Variya anga poi coffee saaptu varalam??"

"Vera vela??"

6:10 pm:

Ram - "Machi.  'Samayal' Sriram ku 2 months la kalyanamaam. Kooda articles panna ponnaye correct pantan!"
Arjun - "Avanaavadu seekram settle aarane!"
"Namma veetla nammala jadagam nu solli emathuraangalo? Unakku eppo plansu?"
"Min 28 years aaganumam. Once settle aana approm dan!"
"Settle a? appo unna yaaru kalyanam pannuvanga? aduthavanga kalyanathukku poi atchada poda vendiyadu dan"
"Ivlo pesura nee yen poyum poyum oru paiyanoda coffee saapda vara?"
"Dae...sssh ava vara " Presses a button on mobile "Alagaana aangal kudi irukkara kaalany la aayiram ponnunga thedi varum.. Adellam oru prachanaya" - Gounder reels off his lines in his trademark loudpitch.
"Sirichta.. Eppudi?"
"Dae. Avalukku puriyadu.."
"Summa adichu vidada"
"Nejama. Ava friend oda pesumbodu sirichtu pona. Un ringtone a kettu sirikkala"
"Poraamai...  I know "
"Dae . Ava rajasthani. Tamil theriyadu.."
"Unakku epdi da theriyum?"
"Yennaaa. nan ippo dan 10 mins munnadi, innoruthanoda coffee saapda inga vanden!!!"
"Thuuu "


April 10 - 12:30 pm
Arjun: "Vidra. Kelvi patten. Unna poi arrogant nu soltangale da."

Prakash: "Konjam enthusiastic a work panna, overacting - Kova patta irunda arrogant - Client kitta thittama, co-workers gang la client a thittina - no client handling skills - Think panni fresh a panna - Lack of commitment to organisational system - Periyavanga kitta pambala na - lacking soft skills..."

Arjun: "Absolutely da." Mindvoice - "Epdi paathalum Adutha half hour ku vela seiya vida maatan"
Arjun - "Variya 3rd floor la coffee saapte pesalam?"
Satya - "Va da........ Idellam oru office nu naamalum irukkome, nee enna solre? paper potrulama?..."


April 12 7:00am
Checked fb for reply to the rock band guy..No response yet.

April 14 - 12:00am
Arjun: "Dae. Annikke file a anuppa sonnene da? Yen da panla"
Satya: "No time. I have been spending close to 15 hrs on the field. No time to check the data given da"
Arjun: "Ippo paaru.."
Satya: "I'm in another client now, will call you soon. Now client is coming. will call you soon."

May15 -
Msnger ping:
Prakash: "Dae Arjun... Appraisal Results announced.."
Arjun: "Great! Whats for you..?"
Prakash: "Nothing da. No proms for me"
Arjun: "Oh. Bad man.. What next? Looking for any shift..?"
Prakash: "I love the learning here da. Promotions are secondary.. The work experience I get and the exposure helps me go on here da..
Arjun: Mind voice - "Sathiya sodana."
Prakash : "Dae. nee enna da ivlo cool a irukke, unakku enna achu da?"
Arjun: "Enakku appraisal Illa da. This is my last week at this office. I've put my papers a week back"
Prakash: "Sollave illa? Great man. Neeyavadu nalla iru. Enga da treat ? Naanum escape aanum nu paakaren, mudila. All d best to you"
Arjun: "Thanx"  Mindvoice - "Mavane. Enna ulla poi pottu kuduthe nu kelvi patten, padu nallavan maari ippo pesuriye da"


June 1:
Raghav: "Sir. I am the new AM deputed to work under you sir. I was informed I would work with u on IMFS Ltd  assignment"
Prakash: " Welcome to the orgn. You will enjoy the work here. If u have passion, u can do wonders in this orgn ... blah blah.... blah blah..."
Senior apprentice pings to his friend: "Dae, Sikkiruchu da adutha sundeli..... blah blah"

June 15:
Prakash: "Dae Raghav I am going to quit this company. I hate the work pressure. I have been working continuously for the last 6 weekends. Would you believe it?? What life am i having?"
Prakash: "hey. Unna nambi solliten. Pl keep this confidential dude"
"Kandippa. Nan yaartiyum solla maaten Prakash."
Senior Apprentice: "Marubadiyumaa...."

Rajni Rare Interview - Great Lessons, Interesting Views!!!!

Marrying Logic to Faith

There are a lot of thought seeds that we dont wish to plant afresh or review a 'ratoon' thought. One such seed is the view on 'God'.

A recent question from my agnostic friend made me review my understanding of God. Surprisingly enough, I stumbled upon a piece of paper which had, though already known, an interesting interpretation of God.

The question in fact was the same I heard from my friend, the oft repeated - 'How do u prove God exists? And how is he seemingly present everywhere?'.


1. There is no effect without cause.

If there exists something such as the world, there is a cause to it. Earth, humans, water, space everything has a causal factor for its existence. This cause is what we call God.

2. One cause may have multiple effects

Clay can be the cause for pots, as a building material, utensil etc. Clay being a single cause, can manifest into 'n' forms. The same way, God being the single cause of creation, manifests into different forms of living and non living entities. Hence the Expression, 'God is everywhere and omnipresent'.

3. Symbolism of Om

Om is the Hindu symbol for the absolute.Om is not a word but rather an intonation, which, like music, transcends the barriers of age, race, culture and even species. It is made up of three Sanskrit letters, aa, au and ma which, when combined together, make the sound Aum or Om. Om provides a dualistic viewpoint. On one hand, it projects the mind beyond the immediate to what is abstract and inexpressible. On the other hand, it makes the absolute more tangible and comprehensive. It encompasses all potentialities and possibilities; it is everything that was, is, or can yet be. It is omnipotent and likewise remains undefined.

Aa-Au-Ma covers the whole range of sound vibrations.It represents the omnipotent and the undefinable 'cause'.

4. Interpretation of Avatars

The infinite, all-pervading Truth, donning the finite form of a human being, gives the impression that the God's ambit is limited. This idea of the illimitable Truth seeming to be limited is well brought out by the fact that Krishna is said to have been born in prison.

In Sanskrit, the world Krishna means "dark", indicating the Supreme Consciousness. Pure Consciousness is said to be "dark", not as opposed to "light," but in the sense that it is unseen by or unknown to one as long as one remains footed in earthly experiences, experiences limited to the realms of perceptions, emotions, and thoughts gained through the physical body, and the intellect.

The incarnation of Krishna represents the descent of the infinite Brahman to the material world.

The one infinite Reality has become the world of endless forms. Therefore, every form in the universe is, in a sense, but a representation of the single 'Cause' - God.

Conclusions of a troubled mind

U want to give your best. U give your best . But when the reckoning time arrives, u see the result - loop holes that u did not imagine comes out in your work.U Stare harder ... At the table when the senior finds out more issues with your deliverable. What startles u more is the fact that those bases which u covered to your comfort starts betraying u. A Few Updated figures start turning back colors. Few discussions u had start getting blurred in your memory at the time it is required to be summoned.

U grind past that day much to the apparent not-fully-satisfied reaction of ur superior.

End of day: U revisit the errors. Promise yourself to be more structured in ur approach next time. work out an outline of approach next time.

Fresh assignment: u take fresh guard. Ur promise of being more organised / structured revisits u. Start planning an approach. Start implementing the same.

Initial days of assignment: start facing problems with following ur structure since the data availability is not as per your plan.

Midway: Deviate significantly from the plan due to time constraints. Your follow up list for data gets wider than the amazon river. Multiple works start flooding your way.

Last leg; Work starts dictating your plan. u go with the flow trying to compare your progress with your plan in bits and pieces.

Slog overs: Once ur work is over, u start reviewing your work for gaps. The bugs start popping out. U diligently sort d bugs out of the deliverables.

Game over - aha! Atleast That's what u think! A familiar tide hits u when it is reviewed by your superior ! (Para 2 and 3 on details of the tide)

The question now is, what is it that stands between intention and execution? Whether it is called focus? Or memory? Or plain fate? How is it that few things do slip from our mind even if we desperately want it to remain? Whether the magic of remembering is to plain try repeatedly? If it is repeated action is the panacea that is required, what happens if the things to remember are varied and change frequently ?

If intent is the one that is required, definitely that requirement is fake since with the best of intentions things may .. Nah things DO slip out of mind.

If focus, what is focus if not intent and thoughts in 'present'. Is there something else to focus that makes it the formidable force legend says it to be.?

Or is it plain facome?
I prefer to call it Fate. It is the edge that one has between slipping up a climb or making the climb in the first try. If the 'time' is good, doesn't 'focus' come automatically ? That's why is it difficult to summon focus at will since it comes only at the time fate calls rather allows it to come?

So why not put the blame on fate and start preparing for the next assignment with the same intensity... This is definitely a defensive mindset but it insulates us from pondering excessively over mistakes or losses - small or big and the frustration of giving it our best and not getting back the same in return .

In times of disappointment fate keeps u sealed from the pain we get hammered with.

Question arising from the post above:
What is that difference between effort and result?
Why is result in most cases, unjust to our (Atleast my) intent and effort?

One opinion expressed above:
Believe in Fate! Ida nan sollalingo …

“What fates impost, that men needs abide; it boots not to resist both wind and tide”
– William Shakespeare apdi nu oru appatakar ae sollirukkar.

Cheeky shots! - Fotos dat tell a story (Random)

One for the purists by JRSD!

'Mirror' Image?

Lost in deep thought!??

Emergency phones in IT Department!

Chennai's standard activities - Enga ponalum evanavadu thoongaran illa kadala podaran!

Prepositions - Sitting on the chair or 'over' the chair!

Basic Accounting Principle - Substance over Form - Dr.Vijay's films in Section tagged comedy at a leading store in Chennai!

Rosiah's Advice to SIRC !- Empower Villages to cope with threat of climate change..?!?!.. Unreconciled statement.

GHANA africa la irukku pa!.. edhukellam gurukulam vechirukaanga?!?!

File room shot 1

File room shot 2!

Sorry for Bad Quality pic - Celebrity style following for SSR

Technology - 8GB in less than an inch!

1/1/11 - A date to cherish!

Legend Says that an aura comes to any student who takes on professional exams in India. Hence proved!

A true chronicle of a CA Student! CA Final Results - May 2010 Exam

Hence proved that MAFA is the only scoring subject in CA FinaL!

The Road Not Taken (2011)

May life be ever best o you,
May God be ever gentle to you,
And then on a quiet day,
May you realize life was better this way!

And a soul mate you did find,
yet I have you in my mind. Hard though it is,
I can't wish him bad, lest life gives you one ugly kiss,
'Coz you are the best memory I never had!

I wish I could turn back time,
and attempt one thing I always wished,
but I know I must walk away
and allow myself to be healed.

Wish I atleast tried letting you know, but
mind and sanity had prevailed unfortunately.
The satisfaction of atleast letting you know,
is now lost forever!

Laughter, fun time and tears,that never were,
is the only proof of the 'the road not taken' .
I don't really want to let you go,
but inside me I know I must.

Can I reroute the course you have taken,
and start over once again?

- x - x -

P.S: If the poem's para sequencing seems to be in the reverse order, it is meant that way, to be inline with the theme of the poem.

P.P.S: Sequencing style is inspired from 'Irreversible'.

Ask yourself - What have I contributed to this problem?

Many people rarely, if ever, ask this critical question. Instead, they automatically assume that any problem they are having must be someone else’s fault. If there is a disagreement or argument, it’s the other person’s fault. If something went wrong, someone else made a mistake.

It simply never occurs to many people that something is their fault. Or, at the very least, that they may be partly responsible. On the surface, it might seem nice to believe that you’re never to blame. The problem, however, with this “never blame me” philosophy is that you’ll rarely be able to pinpoint the one aspect of problem solving that is truly solvable: your own contribution. Once you eliminate the fear associated with admitting that you are, at times, responsible for the parts of your life that aren’t working – minor annoyances and larger problems – you open a whole new door of possibilities.

Once you’re willing to accept responsibility for the problems in your life, you will see obvious solutions that take very minor adjustments to change.

Obviously, I’m not suggesting that everything is your fault, or that you should spend an exorbitant amount of time and energy thinking about your faults and drawbacks. To do so would be a different type of negative habit. It’s critical, however, that you’re honest about your contribution to your problems. Don’t bury your head in the sand. If you truly want to excel in your life, you must be willing to look in the mirror and, with humility and honesty, reflect on your contributions to what’s not going right in your life. That way, you can do something about it.


- A Post by 'One of those who is learning to ask himself that question.'

Stressed and out

From being someone with zero adamance, anyone can turn xtremely adamant on passage of time. Role of time itself in such a change? Very high.

When you expectantly wait for something for over a year, say, a carnival and within a week of the event, some (our) boss changes his plans and plans, inadvertently ofcourse, to keep you stuck up at an extreemely 'enjoyable'(read antonym)official work so that you are exactly over 180 kms from the carnival on the D day. Wat do u do? pull out ur hair one by one as u watch ur dreamz go up in d air b4 ur eyes? Bang all the tables in front of you for a week? Listen to death metal songs (for the first time possibly) in full volume to vent out ur frustration?

I believe nothing can disturb ur mental tranquility as ur desparation for attending the event. A third person's plans which changes in the last minute may alter ur stress levels for the worse within seconds.

How to handle it? I dont know. There is a chance of desparation motivating you to perform at breakneck speed (like in the exams).

Or it may worsen your mood and keep you distressed for ages, or so it may seem, like it is to me now.

Lesson learnt over time: Bite all ur nails and hope that the carnival comes along the next year.

drafted via mobileweb ages ago...

Are we not ripe enough?

Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive! — Sir Walter Scott, Marmion


Speaking truth all the time has been a difficult task in this KaliYuga, IS a difficult task now and will be a difficult task. We hesitate to speak the truth whenever the truth is unfavorable to us. Why don’t we feel suffocated by that? Bcoz we’ve grown up with that cringing feeling that we do not recognize the hump we bear have @ all.

Reason for tolerating lies lies in human nature: We believe that it is then our moral duty NOT to interfere in other people’s ability to make their own decision (Lying in this context). This makes lying morally wrong for two reasons. “First, lying corrupts the most important quality of my being human: my ability to make free, rational choices. Each lie I tell contradicts the part of me that gives me moral worth. Second, my lies rob others of their freedom to choose rationally.


Virtue ethics finds lying immoral when it is a step away, not toward, the process of becoming the best persons we can be. Virtue ethicists argue that when faced a seeming conflict between virtues, such as a compassionate lie, do what an “ideal” person would do. Virtue ethics finds lying immoral when it is a step away, not toward, the process of becoming the best persons we can be.


Practical ethicists “claim that actions, including lying, are morally acceptable when the resulting consequences maximize benefit or minimize harm.” The end justifies the means.

Is your head spinning yet? But wait! Here’s more!

Forget the analysis and the psychology. They serve at least one purpose. They rationalize our lying – I can choose the theory I like and bingo! I’m “cleared” the consequences of my action.


But why do we lie? Could it be that we no longer hold each other accountable for what we do? How many times have you said to yourself, “How could he get away with that?” Could it be that whatever we held as moral then we no longer hold? Could it be that, according to Time Magazine, “we no longer understand or agree on the rules governing our behavior toward one another.”

Imagine when a short boy aged 15 years old wants to go to a amusement park and the park rules tells u to buy a full ticket for every one who is aged above 14 yrs.
What do we do? Well, we take him anyway – nothing can stop a parent from buying a half ticket and saving half ticket worth money. We also instruct him that if asked he should say he was 13 years old.

Then 10 minutes later, just metres away from the entrance here comes the park official with the boy stopping him from using a half ticket. Needless to say, the boy got caught with a lie. You should see the look on the boy’s face when he is escorted back to the entrance. Here, the parent feels a grief and guilt for something that the boy did not even cause. That will make anyone regret, not for having been caught, but to have lied at all.

Here u not only seed thoughts which justify lying in the nxt gen ppl but also indirectly indicate that u can get away easily with a lie.


The main reasons why we lie are :
· Fear of harm: To prevent harm to ourselves – either physical or mental.

· Fear of conflict: To some degree, we all fear having an argument.

· Fear of punishment: When growing up, how often did we lie about how well we did in school, or who started a fight? How often do we cover up our mistakes and transgressions?

· Fear of rejection: Sometimes, our insecurities are the foundation of why we lie to each other, because we want to be remain popular in our relationships. Typically, it is harmless boasting to make ourselves appear more admirable to other people.(Yet when we eat shit, reasons don’t matter)

· Fear of loss: This is usually the loss of personal objects, such as money or expensive valuables. Greed is the foundation for this reason and can be found in each of us. We often lie to make ourselves more desirable to other people too.
At times, when our self-esteem starts to decline, we even lie to ourselves as means to prevent loss of morale.

· Unselfish Reasons: We often lie to help our friends and loved ones. How often do we flattery someone just to make them feel better? This is the only selfless reason why we lie. (A purified and sterilized shit, I believe)

Being a long post even for my reading, I would like to sign this post off with a dilemma of mine…


At work place for instance when we want to have a day off. What do we do? We have the template reason, which we were taught at primary school
“As I am suffering from fever….”

I am of the view that even those with high levels of commitment will have days on which they would like to bunk office. Does that make them commitmentless that they do not like to come to office on a particular day? Absolutely not…. Still they use sham reason like fever, sick leave etc.

That is because that no superior likes the truth. He’ll accept a facade fully knowing that it is not true but will not accept the true reason. Why doesn’t he accept the fact that a person doesn’t want to work on such a day and also accept it openly?

Now put urself in the superior’s position. Obviously we empathise with him. What is the reason for such attitude of ours?


Are we not ripe enough to accept the truth? Does this attitude extends to all spheres of our life? Answers do not matter. Change does.

P.S: I do not wish to say that I do not lie. Rather I'm change in progress

Moral of the day

I am a fan of ghee Items. It adds a different taste to a normal meal or so i perceive.Possibly thats wy I disobeyed the reult of my 'toss' and chose to go to Sri Krishna Sweets for dinner(pitted against Mansukh).

Ghee started playing its tune inside me again when i entered the dining room.

First Order - a 'Spaghetti' Augratin or is it Agra tin.."Dai, adu venam. Oru asattu sweetness irukkum, unakku pidikkadu" said my chitappa. "Doesn't matter", I thought. "Anything that has an unpronounceable name must be great", backed my mind.
Oh.. there it was. Two toasted half slices of bread and a cheesy item on a plate adajcent to it. "What is the main item, is it the bread or the cheesy item?. Must be
the latter since i did not order bread." I had imagined spaghetti to be noodles' elder cousin with longer strands. Here my imagination had just broken to pieces. Hidden somewhere between the 1.5 inch deep cheesy white gravy,was the so called 'spaghetti'. The same asattu sweetness. I immediately knew why the bread was given with it. The management must have said while approving this dish, there must be something edible in the dish for the customers to have a taste of and still not puke out. Disappointment 1.

Second Order - Butter Nan. I decided to go with known dishes to erase the bad taste from my mouth. But here too, a maida chappati that had been baked on a tawa instead of a tandoor oven. "Ada paavigala! I had just seen my other chitappa eat a made-@-home chappati before i left. I vainly declined to eat it only to eat this?" Swindlers! I had wasted 22 bucks per set and 6 sets with negative marginal utility from the 1st piece I ate. The sidedishes were PBM and palak paneer only in name. They had ghee almost peeking out of the bowl. Perfect for those who had appendicitis operation! No spice even for a formality.

The Third-- "go for the sweets" said my chitappa. I couldn't take more and asked for orange juice. In came yellow colored drink nicknamed orange juice. Tasted like pineapple juice. After confirmation with my cousin that it was indeed not orange juice, i shouted at the waiter for his mistake and nothing seemed wrong when he took the drink away immediately .

I got another juice which looked as orange as 'fruit mix' in a roadside shop. Still it did taste like a modified pineapple juice and not trusting my brain or its compensation, which i'm unable to name at the moment i drank it fully, wondering about the ingredients used to make such a bad orange juice. Just as i entered home it struck me! "Ada paavigala! Keezha irukkara krishna sweets lendu kesar powder a alli pineapple juice la pottutaanga!"

Actually it was the same pineapple juice added with a coloring agent! Cursing myself for being such a sucker, i shut off the day with 3 lessons learnt.

Moral 1: Even by chance do not visit the restaurant above Krishna Sweets near Ashok Pillar. Worst food and worser waiters await u.

Moral 2: Trust ur brain or whatever is left of it.

(Moral 3: Thambi, tea innum varala!)