Chicklet - Add to Google Homepage

Add to Google Reader or Homepage

Showing posts with label Sarcasm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sarcasm. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Musings: The best way to live is to wonder why!

Wonder why? thats the best way to live life!... Interested? Read on to understand why?

One day, the wind sees a man who wears a big coat walking on the beach. The wind wants to prove that he is the mightiest force of nature, so he challenges the sun.


He says to the sun, “I am mightier than you are. Let’s prove it by seeing who can blow off the man’s coat. The sun laughs and replies, “Sure, my friend, go for it.”

So the wind starts to blow strongly, trying to blow off the man’s coat. The problem is that the stronger the wind blows, the tighter the man holds on to his coat. After a while, the wind exhausts himself, gives up and says to the sun, “Well, I can’t do it, and if I can’t do it, you can’t do it either.” The sun laughs again, and says, “I don’t have to do anything. I just need to be what I am.” Then the sun quietly rises, the weather becomes so hot, the man takes off his coat.” 

Most people are resistant to change; many are like the man with his coat. They wear a big thick coat of negativity, sadness, depression, and unhappiness. If you adapt the method of wind by trying to change them with force, they will hold on to their negative emotion more than ever before. If you want to help them take off and let go of their unwanted emotions, you must learn from the sun and just BE.

This force need not necessarily be that of one individual exercising it on another. I realized it could be our own mental dispositions and prejudices, ignorance which could force us to hold on to superfluous and redundant values. We are all are conditioned to live life as if its a race to be won or a battle to be fought or a guilt to be suffered or a problem to be solved. This is totally in contrast to the "Let go" attitude which emphasis that Life is a mystery to be lived and not otherwise. 

If life is a mystery then the only way to recognize it is by wondering. Yes, wondering why? If we look around everything is unique and wonderful and yet as a moron we recognize that there are only 7 wonders in this world. Aren't we super stingy? Has not the wonderer in us died a long back?

I had a 5 hour transit wait time at Dubai Airport and scribbled this blog and the few lines below stressing the concept...

If only we realize that
Life isn't a battle to be won.
Life isn't a race to be run
But, Life is a mystery to be lived!

If only we realize that
Life isn't a challenge to be fought
Life isn't a theory to be sought
But, Life is a mystery to be lived!

If only we realize that
Life isn’t an art to be mastered
Life isn’t a problem to be solved
But, Life is a mystery to be lived!

If only we realize that
Life isn’t a sin to be punished
Life isn’t a curse to be suffered
But, Life is a mystery to be lived!

If only we realize that
Life isn’t an asset to be monetized
Life isn’t a thing to be materialized
But, Life is a mystery to be lived!

If only we realize that
Life isn't a hypothesis to be proved
Life isn't a treasure to be found
But, Life is a mystery to be lived!

If only we realize that
Life isn't a meaning to be explained
Life isn't an event to be exhibited
But, Life is a mystery to be lived!

If only we realize that
Life isn't a logic to be analyzed
Life isn't a trial to be judged
But, Life is a mystery to be lived!

If only we realize that
Life isn't a question to be answered
Life isn’t a test to be passed
But, Life is a mystery to be lived!

If only we realize that
Life isn't a fact to be established
Life isn't a market to be invested
But, Life is a mystery to be lived!

If only we realize that
Life isn't a disease to be cured
Life isn't a danger to be insured
But, Life is a mystery to be lived!

Never say life isn't fair
Never live a life of despair
Never say i deserved better
Never live with memories bitter

Enjoy the mystery in everything!
In the Sunrise & Sunset, Summer & Spring,
In the Day & Night, Dark & Light
In the infant's smile & in how a flower smell
In the mother's love like a magic spell

In the chilling wind & the chiming stream
In the noisy life & the silent mind
At the mountain's peak & the first snow fall
In the woman's heart, its mystery in all

In the shaking earth & the rising sea
In the moving stars & the burning sun
In the space between & the space within 
In the quest of knowledge the forbidden, overridden
Like the first disobedience with an apple at Eden


A nature ever changing unlike the providence eternal
A love so nourishing like the bonds paternal
Its unique & wonderful yet ever mysterious 
The more we unravel, more profound it appears

As one wise man said,
From wonder into wonder, the existence opens
For wonder implies our desire to learn
"Wondering why" is the beginning of the wisdom
Isn't a mind opened by wonder is better than closed by belief? 

Isn't wonder an involuntary praise?
Just 7 wonders! Isn't a wonderer's demise? 
The naive in me can see no other way
The best way to live is to wonder why!

Yours wonderingly,

Happy reading!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Key Indian gene decoded as I-1H-3C

 

Self proclaimed scientist, notorious individual well known in the field of lunacy Dr. Rags Gopalan is claiming to have decoded major part of the Indian gene, which has remained so far a mystery to many of the leading scientists. Instead of protecting the discovery with patents and intellectual property rights he has publicly disclosed the mystic code for the general benefit of the Indian public.

The rest of the article given below is the transcript of the disclosure done by Dr. Rags Gopalan.

“From time immemorial man has been inquisitive about nature. Composition of man’s own nature has been very illusive and not known to us for a long time. Currently it is believed that the field of Genetics and human gene details may hold the most primordial and secretive key code for the nature of all living beings.

While for the last half decade we have been making progress but the break through which we have achieved today is significant because of the following reasons:

  1. So far all the genetics studies points that the genetic composition of one human being is very unique from the other. Hence it was difficult to establish a common gene across a race or a population. This revelation seems to have identified a common gene that is predominantly available across 1 billion population and more.
  2. Many of the theories are formulated from research labs assiduously conducted and researched experiments, collating test results over a long period of time. This is the first time such a eminent result has been published using introspection, retrospection techniques, inducting and deducting reasons from behavioral science and that too at 30000 feet above sea level.
  3. Most of the DNA codes represent the chemical composition of the gene but this discovery actually reveals the behavioral composition of the human gene.

While many of may be little perplexed at the above techniques and may not agree fully with the results, but lets understand as to when has the world and the “so called erudite society” has learned to appreciate anything from contemporaries. If you are little smart and believe in “Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion”, then consider this as opinion and read on.

Lets look at the composition of the human gene now.

3C: The 3Cs that make up our gene are Corruption, Caste-ism and Chaos.

  • Corruption: The latest report from Transparency Index (2010) suggests that India is ranked in 87th place out of 1787 countries. It has slipped from 84th position to 87th place.

http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2010/results

I am pleasantly surprised at the results like many others. Considering there could be statistical errors and bias in a large global study we should be happy that we are not yet listed among the last 10% though we may be seriously there.

Check this site out… http://www.corruptioninindia.org/

Every effort to estimate the extent of corruption in India would fail. Recent study suggested that 30% of the Indians are totally corrupt and 50% of them are on the wall who would use bribery as a tool under necessity. Lets also give credit to the 20% who are either very upright and honest based on value system or due to the fact that they are not tested enough.

As one wise man said “Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country.

Much to the chagrin of some of you i can confidently state that corruption is one of the founding pillars of Indian democracy and i would tend to believe that the concept of democracy in India would crumble if corruption is to be eliminated tomorrow. While this is a sweeping statement, the belief comes from the fact Corruption as a phenomenon is a democratized social tool that enables anyone from the bottom most rung in the society to come up in politics and make money unlike countries like Pakistan where very few of them make it.

Corruption party of India” is not certainly an acronym for CPI but every party has a stake in it as an “adjective” and it has become an equal opportunity phenomenon.

  • Caste-ism: Lets agree that we are the most “caste-ist” society in the world. The difference between being a casteist and racist is in the width and depth and nothing else. This concept is deeply rooted in our subconscious mind and cannot be easily uprooted. The fact that every election is fought on caste / religion is not the root cause but a symptom that exploits the disposition. This is deeply rooted in our genes and culture and let me quote a very simple example from history.

Current day Kerala is called as “Parasurama Kshetram” (land of Parasuram). For the benefit of few who don’t know the pedigree of Parasuram… he is the 6th Avataar of Lord Vishnu before Lord Rama. He is the guru of King Karna in Mahabharata. He was born in a Brahmin family and hated the Kshatriyas clan and took vow to clean Kshatriyas for 21 generations. This deep rooted hatred came from the fact that his father (Sage Jamadagni) was killed by a king and Parasuram’s mother died along with her husband beating her chest 21 times.

In Indian mythology in those times there was no place called Kerala and the ocean (Arabian sea) started immediately after current Tamil Nadu border & Gokarna in Karnataka. Sage Parasuram, wanted to retire and he donated all the land he conquered. But after donating he noticed that he did not have any place to live / retire. He meditated and the Lord Varuna (God of water / Oceans) who came about to gave him a boon. “Throw your axe into the sea and till the distance the axe falls the sea shall withdraw and shall become your land”. Parasuram throws his axe and hence Kerala was formed reclaiming land from sea.

But beauty of Psychology of people and the importance of caste is revealed then. He got 64 families from the current Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to settle in his land and wanted to build the society. Since the place received incessant rains and for other reasons the families returned back to their native place. Sage Parasuram tried this few times and failed to retain them there. That’s when he thought that the only way to make them stay permanently in his land is when their native society rejects them as “strangers / people of different caste”. So he changed 64 of the existing customs / rituals and appearance to the new families ….like the Kerala Namboodri’s hair style which is different from the other clan in south India.

After this change in appearance and ritual when the families got back to their native place, the localities found these people to be very different from them and rejected them. So these families came back to Kerala and built their societies.

So the bottom line is as follows:

  1. As human beings we have a very innate and deep rooted psychology to differentiate ourselves from the society, thinking that we are very unique with our customs and traditions and appearance. Our ability divide ourselves based on external factors are very high. Does not matter how well we preach about equality this is inherent. Lets be clear that this is not unique to India but to every country, every religion, every state, based on very language, and understandably to every human being in this world. If we belong to the same state then we want it divided into 2, If we are in the religion then we want different castes in it. These castes splits further into tribes of castes and so on.
  2. The psychology of this deep rooted phenomenon is very well known to smart people and this has been exploited very well from time immemorial. This continues even today and this would continue till the world exists.
  3. In modern day the concept of caste is more embedded in societal status and materialism than actual belief. Today this is about lower middle class, middle class and upper class mentality. In corporate world its about senior management, middle management and working class. The division exists in every aspect of our life and we just have to be sensitive enough to recognize it.

So since this phenomenon is a global factor we are the most caste-ist society since this is embedded in our genes for time immemorial.

  • Chaos: We should take pride in the fact that one of our key differentiators is the ability to find a “method in madness”. While this is again a symptom and the way we have adapted ourselves as a society, the deep rooted reasons are a blend of “Indiscipline, contempt for a process and our deep rooted noncompliance to anything without a carrot or stick”. I am not going to elaborate anything on this as the best way to understand this to be little more circumspective. If you still don’t agree then  the circumspection isn’t sufficiently deep.

Now lets get to the next part of the code.

1H: Hypocrisy. We are also possibly the most hypocritical society. We seem to pretend that we represent the most ideal society in the world and seems to throw up a tantrum and utter surprise if anything that crops up in the society. This is basically because we want every one around us to be ideal but the same standards are not applicable to us.

Every idiot in the country knows how rotten the real estate market is. Its impossible to buy a house / property in Mumbai or Delhi without a significant % of this being in cash. Needless to add that a cash transaction is necessarily to subvert the legal charges and to generate a black market economy. 99% of the real estate transactions in the country are corrupt and i am excluding 1% since i sold my property with no component of cash, … just to include some suckers like me in this club.

While this is not surprising, but the way we react to something like Adarsh Scam is very surprisingly interesting. That’s where the hypocrisy is rooted. Every guy who commented against this scam would not have had a real estate transaction that is fully legal. I can bet on this.

This extends to we imposing exacting standards to Judiciary, Defense, Educational institutions, religious institutions, Adult entertainment etc. Every thing has emanated from the society and everything is as good or as rotten …. partially or substantially. The variation is just in the degree.

Maharashtra Chief Minister should still be wondering as to why he was asked to quit. My reasoning is “May be some one very close to power did not like his face. Nothing more, nothing less”.

I: Indifference: As a nation we are very Indifferent to ourselves. May be we don’t take pride in ourselves as a society. May be we don’t feel strong enough  as a part of this society. Does not matter what the issue is but this is the root cause. Every other problem can be solved if we can address this deficiency, but unfortunately this is the deepest and the strongest problem. As one wise man quoted “Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil.

We can even safely conclude the Indifference and Hypocrisy are the parents of all other deficiencies / off springs of our nation. I would be happy to live in a society that is little intolerant than fully apathetic for they may be some hope that the pendulum shall swing to the other end. But in our society its indifference - firmly rooted in the middle, well balanced - for any meaningful movement to the desired end has become an eternal longing.

Had we been less indifferent then we would have legalized corruption or eliminated it, we would be having a more matured censor board and managed adult entertainment in  a better way, than taking a moralistic approach and have a thriving private adult entertainment industry, we would have legalized prostitution, for we would have better sense of cleanliness & social hygiene in our neighborhood etc etc...

Is it wrong to say that “our democracy thrives in the indifference of the majority.”

The best example i can think of Indifference and Hypocrisy is the fact that we still call Mr. Manmohan Singh as the most clean prime minister. If one has the distinction of presiding over some of the the largest scams in Indian history and that too with silently active complicity then being called as Mr. Clean makes me feel nauseating. There are millions of Indians who are as clean as Mr. Singh (there are no reasons to believe that he is a personal beneficiary in these scams), but if one is complicit in his subordinates looting the country, his party & colleagues being the beneficiary then that person is far from being Mr. Clean. The hope for judicial and governance reforms under Mr. Singh’s reign was given a deep burial even before this was hatched.

On a serious note dropping the sarcasm, as one wise man said “The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.”

Such a long blog is not because i have given up hope on our nation but its the helplessness and anger that hurts the ego, pride and love for our nation.

So the need of the hour is to be less Indifferent and less hypocritical and that change would possibly mutate our genes for the better. Till then please understand that its absolutely fine if I state “Yatha Praja, thatha Raja, Yatha Raja, thatha Spectrum Raja :)” (The way common man is, so is the king) and till then lets not agree that our genetic code certainly is “I-1H-3C”…. (for if we all agree we shall be less hypocritical).

 

Happy reading!

 

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Musings: “Education - The inculcation of the irrelevant into the ignorant by the incompetent”

If you believe that “No one is born stupid till they are educated” then read on!

Once there was a king who had three sons – all dullards (like me!). His despair was to find a way to educate his sons and make them smart. Based on the references the king received, he summoned a guy called Vishnu Sharma and gave him just 6 months to make his sons wiser. (Gosh! Looks like bosses have never been realistic and rational about setting timelines!.)

But to his utter disbelief the king started to see the miracle unfolding in front of his eyes. Mr. Sharma blended myth with reality in a series of stories that were weaved with one another and used simple animal characters to reinforce aspects like morality, value, judgment, decision making, pragmatism, cunningness, situation analysis, friendship, enmity, thinking on the feet, and lateral thinking. After this the princes became wiser enough to manage the kingdom and went on to become good kings. The king rewarded Mr. Sharma handsomely (this does not seem to happen in our corporate world!)

If you are interested Mr. Sharma used just five following topics to narrate his stories. Just 5!

  • Rift between friends (Mitrabhed)
  • Friends and acquiring good friends (Mitrasamprapti)
  • Pragmatism – Worldly wisdom (Kakolukiyum)
  • The slip between cup and lip (Labdhapranasha) – stressing that which is acquired unjustly is bound to be lost.
  • New efforts – (Aparikshitakaraka) – Limitations of theoretical knowledge and importance of practical thinking.

Life is a progressive discovery of our ignorance!. What if we are ignorant about the education and education systems itself? We all have read these stories (atleast who have been born and brought up in India), without realizing the significance or even remembering what it all means – a typical way that is reflective of how we live our lives.

This story line is atleast 2000 years old and is called as “Panchatantra – Five treatises” and is generally available as cartoon stories with just animal characters. I am sure some of us can recollect some of the stories the 4 bulls and a lion (Mitrabhed), pigeons who are caught in a net flying off with the net (Mitrasamprapti), thirsty elephants and the rabbits story (Kakolukiyam), crocodile and the monkey (labdhapranasha), 4 friends after learning a new mantra bring back a dead lion to life (Aparikshitakaraka).

What I have admired about these stories is its ability to teach us some thing or the other when ever you read them. It’s actually a wrong notion to consider that these stories are for just children. On the contrary these stories are for those people who are not sharp and lack worldly wisdom irrespective of the age and hence this is highly applicable to me!, and I end up understating something new every time I read this. For the ones who are rightly tuned there are a lot of leadership secrets in these stories.


But the point I was trying to make was slightly different from the above. Not so long ago our education system was probably lot different from what it is now. There was a subject called “Moral sciences” some 30 years back which probably has been dropped out of syllabus. In the earlier days of “Gurukul” type of education where the student spends almost 12 years with his master away from his family (like the boarding schools of the present days) achieved 2 significant objectives.

  • The student lived away from his parents and under the protection of his teacher and hence has to live off him by serving him which inculcated a lot of discipline and humility in him. The ultimate object of education has been realization and this stage cannot be reached without humility. Hence this type of education imparted “Humility ingrained education”. In fact humility and learning are opposite poles!
  • Since the teacher knew the pupil so well, based on the pupil’s strengths and weaknesses his education was filtered. Access to higher levels of secrets and techniques were restricted by default and offered only if the teacher is convinced that the pupil would use these wisely.

Now from this stage we moved on to a situation where we taught everything including “Moral sciences” and now to a situation that morality as a topic is completely misunderstood, considered as a form of philosophy and hence need to understand post retirement and conveniently overlooked. As a Buddhist proverb goes “A master appears when you are ready for learning”. But only when we are ready!.

In earlier days moral values were blended in our education system and this need not be taken as a separate subject like it is now - thanks to the Macaulay’s system of education! that has deprived us and our kids of the education system we had. Our moral fabric was so strong that the worst punishment one could receive for mistakes committed few hundred years back is actually “Social ostracism”. Our society today has largely lost this fabric and in many quarters “the notion of guilt” does not exist which is worrisome.

Today education is one of the few things we are ready to pay for and not receive. Post education we seems to be moving from “thinking uncertainty” to “ignorantly certain”.

Just like “A for Apple”, Tamil (this is my mother tongue and I can talk about this!) is taught with lots of moral values like Prefer (do) Charity, Control Anger etc (“Auvaiyaar’s aathichudi”). We have choices.

  • Should we live in past extoling practices that are non-existent today or should we make an attempt to transform ourselves trying to adapt them to todays situation?
  • Should we ignore what we had (which was actually superior) under the compulsions of what we have now? Is there a way out of this rut now?!

I too don’t know …But how about a crude attempt as below to trigger the thinking in these lines for our educationists …

A - Ask Why?, Await sunrise!, Ahimsa always
B - Be positive, Brush your brains, Burn your lust
C - Committed to charity, Contagiously +ve
D - Dare to dream, Driven by passion
E - Enjoy your challenges, Exercise for health, Exercise restraint
F - Fight for your rights, Friends are for life!
G - Good thoughts, Good words, Good deeds, Gratitude always, Graciousness always
H - Humility always
I - Ignore gossips, Ignite thinking, Imagination is helpful
J - Journey is the destination, Jealousy is harmful
K - Kindness always
L - Learn from Mistakes, Laugh heartily
M - Moderation in everything, Modesty always
N - No to drugs!, Never give up
O - Optimism always, Obsession is harmful
P - Preserve environment, Proudly traditional, Passion driven always, Protect the weak, Play to win
Q - Quest for learning, Question to learn
R - Reined by reason, Respect others
S - Simplicity always, Smile when you speak, Success is subjective, Shun superstitions
T - Thank from the heart, Tread after thinking, Trust judiciously
U - Unity in diversity, Unlearning is also learning
V - Voluntarily repentant, Violence is harmful
W - Wear your attitude, Watch your thoughts
X - X-ray vision (Look below the surface)
Y - “Yes-man” attitude is harmful; Yearn for peace, You are unique, Yesterday is past, Yoga daily, Yoghurt always (personal dispositions do find a place ;))
Z - Zealous living is good, Zodiacs don’t matter

Indian education system imparted through Indian languages would always be strong in moral values and the thousands of stories and history about our past are rich and brushes all of us in the right way!. It’s our ability to recognize this and pass on to the next generation would ensure continuity for we are obligated to handover what we have inherited and we don’t have the right to bury what we have inherited!

Let us not allow Education and the process to be notoriously known as “The inculcation of the irrelevant into the ignorant by the incompetent”. I wish:


Our good Living is in loving

Our good living is in Sharing

Our good Living is in learning
Our good living is in sharing the learning
Our good living is in unlearning
For me, Unlearning is also learning!

Thats been the thought behind "To Live, To Love, To Learn :)".

Happy reading!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Do you suffer from Hyper active False positive Fronto-temporal disorder......(HAFPFTD)

  • Train Ticket from Bangalore to Chennai via Tatkal: Rs. 350/-
  • Drop to Station by Taxi and return: Rs. 550/-
  • Magazines and mineral water: Rs. 150/-
  • Feeling while sending off your Mother-in-law after a hard days work on a Friday..... priceless.
  • Having an ice cream at midnight with Priya at railway station savoring the moment (though the official reason for icecream was to cheer her up)... Matchless.

Contraints stem creativity. Saturday morning was obviously set for the juice to flow. Some of the news topics that were very thought provoking and that turned me on today below...

News: Failure to detect sarcasm can be signs of dementia….actually its called FTD - frontotemporal dementia..
Now I wanted to understand why people find me sarcastic when I am not. This is the other side of the problem and I wanted to term it as HAFPFTDR - Hyperaactive False positive Frontotemporal disorder. Most of my friends suffer from this HAFPFTDR some times and few of them suffer all the time. ...:)....If you are wondering why there is a R in the last...it is just to signify that this disease is coined by me and hence suffixed with my prefix.

News: Activists want ministry for Men
The argument for this demand seems to be very logical… when there is a ministry for animal welfare then why not for men? According to National crime records bureau 2007, 57593 married men committed suicide compared to 30064 married women. Hence the legal framework today seems to have a huge gender bias in favor of women and they call it as “legal terrorism” by state against "mankind".

Few very close to me know that I am stuck by most creative thoughts when I take bath. I don’t know the relationship between bathroom and creativity but there is a definite link. I strongly recommend that Indian government should fund this research to understand the link.

But the “creative thoughts” I had today morning is the creation of Pollywood & institute an award ceremony called Pollywood awards in my own way. This is primarily triggered by the reference to “non-state actors” by Mr.10%. When there are actors (state or non-state) there will be acting and films. Hence lets do something for the film industry.

If Hollywood is in America, Bollywood is in Mumbai, Kollywood is in Chennai… Where would Pollywood be? If your answer is Patna then you are yet to be “globalized”. It’s actually in Pakistan. It’s a shame on Pollywood that despite having great actors, industry is not known to produce any great films… most of the works remotely match “Class C” films per Indian standards. Irrespective of the country the film making industry or the actor’s guild is not nationalized and hence every where an actor is essentially a “non-state actor”.

Commiserating with the talent that’s available in Pakistan I have decided to conduct this award ceremony on behalf of the Pakistan government and give away the following awards.

  • Best Film for the year 2008:
    Nominations:
    Serial attack in Bangalore, Serial Attack in Delhi, Serial attack in Ahmedabad, Marriott hotel Islamabad, Mumbai attack
    And the award for the Best film of the year goes to “Mumbai attack”.

  • Award for the “Best director” goes to “Hafeez Saeed and Lakhvi” of JuD.

  • Award for the “Best Producer” goes to the ISI of Pakistan.

  • Award for the “Best Villain” goes to NSG and Marine commandos in India.

  • Award for the “Best support for the villain” goes to Mumbai police.

  • Award for the “Best Joker” for Mr. Jaiswal, who is the Minister of State in the Home Ministry in India for his comments on TV (after the attack) that this Mumbai attack, is planned by Hindu Extremists. He also got an award in “Can you believe that?” category too.

  • Award for the “Best Impotent Character” goes to Ex-home minister of India Mr. Shivraj Patil. There is no competition here and was a unanimous choice.

  • Award for the “Best actor” goes to all the 10 guys who acted in this film. The actor who got caught alive (Ajmal) has also got an additional ‘You are not a Citizen of Pakistan” award.

  • We, the people of India have jointly won “You are the best sucker” Award for putting up with all this.

  • The International community has got the "best non-participative audience"

Hey! dont blame me for not awarding any award for "Best actress". Most of them looks like a "all-male" film.

We are living in times when News channel has become the best action channel giving “AXN” very tough competition. Our news readers start the news by saying “Good morning” or “Good afternoon” and after that almost spend 30 minutes to tell us why it is not a good morning or evening.

Its just about 60 years before both nations (India and Pakistan) started their journey and its surprising that one is being talked as a "likely superpower" exporting cutting edge IT services and other being closely branded as a "Failed State" but exporting "Terrorism". What i cannot understand is the fact that how some Kashmiris are so eager to be part of the "failed state" than the "likely super power"? I have started to doubt that if "Man is a rational animal". Do you?

Remember, if you think (or even if you agree without thinking that) i am very sarcastic after reading this article then you are suffering from HAFPFTD :). If you think iam not sarcastic, then you are not bold enough to accept that you have this disorder. :)

Happy weekend!

Happy reading!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

வாழ்க தமிழ், வளர்க தமிழ் தொண்டு !

Disclaimer:
This article may appeal to you if: (Dont waste your time on this article otherwise)
1. Tamil is your mother tongue or your tongue is "tamilzed" by nativity or by forceful means.
2. You should also be keen in tamil literature and also should like contemporary poems and especially movie songs.
3. The aspect i am going to highlight may also inspire you in many ways and you should be able to handle it and i am not responsible for the same.

In this fast paced world, its always a luxury to stop by to smell flowers, to enjoy a sunrise / sunset, or to spend some time for arts and literature. But few creations are so inspiring that you stop everything to allot some valuable time of yours. One such thing that inspired me, made me understand why tamil is a classical language, emphasized the importance of words and its values and more importantly helped me understand some philosiphical aspects of life is a tamil movie song, about which i am blogging on here.

I need to be candid that there were many subjects during my school days which competed for the position of "ragu's weakest subject" in my report card, but language always took the prize. I was so weak in language esp. tamil that i was always scared about tamil exams. Much to the annoyance of my aunt (who is a renowned tamil professor) and my grandfather who was too good in tamil literature like Kamba Ramayan, there were no traces of deep recognition for this language in my blood.

But this piece of contemporary art, a movie song changed it all. The choice of words, the meaning it highlights, the philosophy it emphasizes and the way a classical language is utilized and the popularity it enjoys among the masses, did a great deal to me and would do a great deal to you too.

I am still trying to understand the full meaning of this song which am unable to do despite 10+ years of tamil classes. I will be obligated if some one can help me with the meaning and take me higher levels. My aunt will be happy to know that am inspired about tamil.

The song is available in this link below and you can google for the lyrics.
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=HuwhTmM_QGQ&feature=related

வாழ்க தமிழ், வளர்க தமிழ் தொண்டு !

Happy reading!
PS: After seeing the video, please read this article again to understand the point i was emphasizing!