The big crunch

Why I am watching Surya TV @ 4 AM

2008-07-18T14:45:00.000-07:00

Firstly, this post is about those of us who's mother tongue happens to be something other than Hindi or English ...and probably someone who has stayed both in and outside his home state can appreciate this.

I was seeing a Mallu channel, Kiran TV the other day...watching a wonderful comedy from the 80's one of those which have been the staple diet for Pridarshan for the last decade. With about 100 channels competing for my attention...I watched this movie ( it was Ramji Rao Speaking..the original of the movie Hera Pheri) till the very end. Then wondered what attracts me to all these movies...and how common is this attraction? Which is what I would like to discuss with you.

I have spent 6 years in Kerala..went to REC Calicut...but before I started staying in Kerala was rather uninterested in malayalam movies. Watched classics like Manichitratazhu, Poochekke Oru Mookuthi etc...but only during our visit to Kerala. It was while I stayed in kerala tht I got really into Mallu movies, even though its standards had declined sharply by then.

The real test I guess is now..when I have a TV in my house, and can choose what to watch...I get attracted to these random shows...especially the ones where there is a phone in or something. Of course there is more to your homeland than movies and channels but at least now I can hear malayalam this way.

However, I wonder how I would have felt about this if I had not stayed in Kerala at all...how do you guys feel...do you feel a need to see these channels even when they dont offer something really interesting?

Maybe some Market Research is in Order!!

Inverted Pyramids: On seeing things in perspective

2008-01-29T08:24:00.001-08:00

Having been around for quite some time, sometimes I tend to take a I have seen it all approach to life.But anyone who knows me will tell you, this is superseded by an unholy glee in things most mundane. My reactions depend on which side of the bed I got out of!

Ya Ya, before I veer completely off track, let me come to the point....

What seems to be a life and death incident at any point in time, turns out to be insignificant most of the time..or whats perhaps worse, we end up making the wrong move. When I recollect how I have missed out on going to watch MLTR live because I had to study for the third unit test of Sanskrit in 8th std, for example, I feel sad. How does it matter how I performed???? (As a matter of fact I did badly, but then I blame the teacher for setting most of the questions from those chapters I happened to skip)

It is difficult to understand what is important and what is not. And it s even more difficult to live as if all each encounter is a life threatening battle. Perhaps that is where a third person can help bring in a sense of perspective.

Hope we all find that someone...if we have not already :)

Lil Red Ridin Hood

2007-07-08T17:45:00.000-07:00

I dont feel so good...
like the little red riding hood...
walking into terrors unknown..
seeds of which destiny has sown...

my heart encaged by grimace...
the emotion betrayed by my face..

o when O lord.. vil I find some solace?
when will u end this meandering chase...
the road to which seems spell binding...
n yet the path seems so winding

the time to rend and sew should be nigh...
for its never too late to forgive and forget
yet my heart rebels eternally its plight
and detests to walk a path so set...

Should I lay down my oars and call it a day...
or should I prepare to keep the doubts at bay...

Should I listen to the eternal song of glory..
or I continue to listen to the monotone so hoary?

but to find my Holy grail...
I will have to follow the trail...

but to find my peace and bliss...
until death blows me a kiss...

I shall strive to venture where my heart is keen...
do the forbidden, speak the unsaid,
hear the unheard, see the unseen,
so I can lay happy on my deathbed...

This poem is not mine...however I m puttin it here...hope the writer wont mind :)

Cosmic Relative Grading

2007-07-04T09:51:00.001-07:00

I recently had a glance at some ideas proposed by one Peter Lynds, a physicist who claims that the universe itself is cyclical in nature, with a never ending sequence of Big Bangs & Big Crunches. ( During a Big Crunch, the universe collapse upon itself, before the next Big Bang occurs)

He also proposes that "all events and times in the universe are already mapped out". Now this gives rise to a disconcerting thought, that the way our lives will play out is also determined, and that perhaps we have lived this life countless times over. While I don't know how we will reconcile this with our religious beliefs, I feel that there is one possibility which I will discuss below. Now these ideas are entirely my own creation, and therefore should be taken with a bucketful of salt.

The traditional way of thinking would be to think that there is no room for change, that we are simply playing our assigned roles, the fatalist viewpoint.The 'whatever happens is for our good', ' God is testing us', 'Everything is written on our forehead' etc viewpoints.

There is another possibility, I believe that God designed the universe as a zero sum entity, incorporating a Cosmic Relative Grading.This theory supposes that while there is room for individual lives to unravel differently, the sum total of our activities should be the same. Thus , if we are to develop ourselves, and achieve something more than what we were supposed to, someone else needs to be an under achiever. As an MBA student, I am kinda partial towards the wickedness of this idea, and this to my mind, is perhaps THE answer.

One thing is almost certain, life is not a fairy tale, where every one is achieving the best is not possible, and this is a fact known to man, however he may try to deny it. We may call it whatever we want, survival of the fittest,fate etc. What we can however do is to ensure that the spread of riches is more uniform than it is now, to try and see that no one flunks the course called life.

As Gandhiji put it "There is enough on earth for everybody's need not for everyone's greed."

School Bus Journeys

2007-07-04T08:12:00.000-07:00

While on my last trip home, I had occasion to travel in a bus during the post School hours. I had dozed off, and was nodding in peace, when suddenly I was hit by something heavy. I woke up with a jerk, only to see that the bus was being taken over by a horde of school kids.

One shy chap, quite short and thin was being shoved by the conductor and a few bigger kids, and the poor lad was falling over me. I asked him if he wanted me to hold his bag for him, and with a grateful grin he handed it over to me. As the bus toiled on, I started recollecting the various modes of transport I had taken to reach school over the years....

The earliest vahana was the cycle rickshaw which carried me to school as a UKG student. The rickshaw had a wooden plank which was the second 'seat', and we would sit on the cushioned seat and the plank in turn.. and we had various strategies, some would prefer to keep the more comfortable journey for the return trip, while others would sit comfortably while going to school, hoping they would get lucky while returning.

Then there were the series of buses, public and school, which were used over the years. Travelling on the footboard of a BTC ( Bangalore Transport Corporation) bus was fun as was perfecting the art of cajoling lifts from 2 wheelers....aah, those were the days :)

My reverie ended when the kid tapped my shoulder and collected his bag. Watching him wrestle his way to the entrance, I smiled.....