Fun time

Just about leaving for a trip to Kerala. Looking forward to a fun-filled 2 weeks time there. My cousin is getting married there and it is one grand family get-together. My childhood has been spent more with cousins than with friends and we all would be under one roof for a lot of time. It will be fun.

Blogging might take a break b'coz of intermittent access to the internet there. Will try to scribble down few thoughts whenever I can. Will be back to business in November.

Will miss my lectures, students, fun with them and classes in general.

Wish you and your loved ones a very happy Diwali. Have a wonderful time with your loved ones. Enjoy safely and peacefully. God bless! Keep smiling.

I did not vote

Yeah, I did not vote. Thought a lot about whom to vote. Could not choose between the lesser evils too. Thought from both a state perspective and local area perspective. Still could not convince myself to favor any person/party. Eventually decided not voting is a better option than voting a wrong guy in.

On a related note, 25% voter (read later that the final number could be close to 49%) turnout in Mumbai! Is it not largely a reflection of consensus view that no one is worth voting from the options given? Sure, textbook answer is find the right person to stand for elections then. My point is how is this different from some funda of voting for no one by filling a form? How does the latter score over the former?

THE

Thank me? If you understand that I acted for my own sake, you know that no gratitude is required.

That is why I thank you.

These are THE best lines I have read ever. Comes from Atlas Shrugged.

Ayn Rand

After two attempts and almost six months, I'm finally done with the second of Ayn Rand's gems. The first I read was Fountainhead (I have read it twice over the last 5 years) and the one I completed now is Atlas Shrugged. The time it took to complete reading the book is primarily because it's a 1000+ pages epic. Moreover, it is not an easy read. The language & the flow is not smooth and so one has to apply himself a lot while reading. I have enjoyed both the books thoroughly and I am a huge fan of the principles she projects in her books, that of Objectivism. The two pivot characters in the two books, Howard Roark and John Galt, inspire me atleast a wee bit every time I think through the books.

I know of many who cringe at Rand's philosophies and the vagueness/irrelevance of the characters she draws up. To each their own!

They say..

They say man must be obedient, to the extent of being submissive. They say man must be respectful of the society around him. They say man must give in to the expectations of the bigger want. They say man must seek advice and do things that the consensus feels is right. They say man has to educate himself to the norms of the world. They say man must dance to the audience. They say man must be more tolerant to every body else's soul than his own. They say man must think to suit those who cannot think. They say man must act for the convenience of those who has never acted.

Why don't they simple say man must cease to be man?

Celebrities

The third season of Big Boss is here on us now and apparently it has 13 'celebrities'. At some point in the past, celebrities included the likes of movie stars and cricketers. Now that term has been expanded to include the likes of Dara Singh's son and Rakhi Sawant's mother!

To add insult to injury, they say our smses chose them :) How many of us knew that Dara Singh had a son that looked like the one who is in the house now? And WHO is that gayish character?

Utter non-sense. Why not say that we are including 13 people in the house? Facade and farce.

Thinking

Who decides a man's worth? Himself? Family? Friends? The world around?

What decided a man's worth? Looks? Knowledge? Money? Contacts? Ambitions? Achievements?

Liked this

It's on the google site today. Good work Google.

Desires are desires

Continuing from the question on desires I had put up on a recent post and the comments I received on that, I am motivated to add more on that point.

I feel a desire is a desire. There are no good desires and bad desires. Material desires and not-so-material desires. Desires, in a spiritual sense, keeps you away from God since your mind is pre-occupied with trying to fulfill those desires. Good or bad, the nature of desires, must not matter. In fact, the very concept of good or bad is man-made. God does not judge our actions. God does not tag our deeds and put them into separate good and bad buckets. He just watches them and smiles, perhaps. I strongly feel that the closest we can get to purity is by being non-judgemental. Judging things around us and classifying them as good and bad is humane. As much as it is difficult to avoid judging things, we must strive to get there I believe.

So, taking the same point ahead, desires cannot be tagged good or bad. They just are means of keeping our thoughts on worldly things. Ideally, if a spiritual leader is truly spiritual, I would think he would not have any wishes or desires. He simply observes and spreads rays of happiness to those around him. Happiness, not in a material way. Happiness, not by making poor less poorer. Happiness, not by giving out alms and charity. Happiness, by making people FEEL happy, joyful and calm. That is the essence of a true spiritual leader. Mind you, such leader could be your parent, your best friend, a cousin or a neighbour as well.

For me, a desire of not having desires is also a desire. For me, I would love to be just see things as they are. I would love to have a third party approach to everything happening around me. I would want to believe that I do not necessarily influence things. They just are as they must be. I would want to simply be calm no matter what happens around me. For others looking at me, that would imply laziness and lack of initiative. For me, I would choose to smile, perhaps!

I have just put down my thoughts on this point. This does not obviously imply that I do not have desires or I have already adopted a third-party approach to life. What I meant is to try and reach there somehow, someday.

Another Oct. 2

One more holiday, this time more 'useful' as it comes a part of a longish weekend.

Thinking of Gandhiji always makes me wonder as to how on earth could one man be so influencing, so much followed and so much trusted like he was! Sure, we have seen the cult of SRK or Big B or Tendulkar or Beckham, yet these are people who entertain the world in one way or the other. MKG was just a man like any of us, wasn't he? When you are so popular, there are bound to be controversies surrounding your life. That's completely fine I guess if one is able to be the change agent in such a big way.

I will not claim to be the biggest fan of Gandhiji. Neither have I studied a lot about his life. But he surely inspires me in ways more than one.

Again picking from some Bollywood lyrics, I like these lines from a song in Lage Raho Munnabhai. The song's sung by the very talented Sonu Nigam. It goes like this:

Maati pukare tujhe desh pukare
Aa jaa re ab aa ja re
Bhoole hum raahein, humein raah dikha de
Aa jaa re ab raah dikha de

Ainak pehne, lathi pakde chalte the woh shaan se
Zaalim kaape thar thar, thar thar, sun kar unka naam re.
Kad tha unka chota sa aur sarpat unki chal re
Duble se patle se the woh, chalte seena taan ke

Bande mein tha dum, Vande Mataram

Bhai bhai ka dushman hain bana re
Nafrat ki aandhi behti re
Wehshi dilo ko bapu pyar seekha de
Aaja re bapu aa jaa re.

O jhooth ka badhta jaaye o raaj o bapu
Apne hi ho gaye dhokebaaz
Aaj hamein apno se bacha le
Aa jaa re bapu mere

Pai pai mein insaan bika re
Jaan yeh ho gayi sasti re
Soya zameer bapu phir se jaaga de
Aaja re bapu mere

Beautiful song, Beautiful movie, Beautiful life.

Stay happy. Keep smiling.