Perspectives

Recently I read a post from a dear one, which talked about how he was ill-treated by life and how he learnt a few of his most important lessons the hard way. We all learn our lessons, life is a tough teacher, every baby falls and hurts itself only to learn how to run (a marathon!). We are betrayed by our trusted friends to learn how to judge a person a better and not to learn never to trust again. Love fails, we loose the most precious, and learn how to value them before they are lost, for loss is inevitable.

Sometime back I was talking to a friend, and we happened to talk about the movie Crash. I rate it amongst the top 5 movies I have seen; this friend says, "Yes, this is the movie where everyone is screwed by each other"; I was amazed, this very same movie, I remember as the movie where everyone in the end attains salvation, where justice is meted out to everyone. There is realization and forgiveness. There is this particular mini story where, to console his daughter when she was scared, he wraps her with an invisible scarf that has protected him from all the dangers and which his mom gave him and she should hand over to her daughter when she is five. Few days later, this guy is at gunpoint outside his house, by someone who wants to take revenge. The girl comes running to protect her dad - the man shoots - the girl clings on to her dad - the man who had shot realizes his mistake - the girl holds tight, says, "Daddy, my scarf will protect you!" - nobody dies, but in that moment everybody realize their mistakes. Everybody, somewhere in some crude way sees justice and salvation.

Judge not a book by its cover

I came across this today and I was stunned, touched, shocked and humbled. This is sheer talent that does not always show from the outside. This lady seemed to be one of those who come to the stage for some sadistic pleasure. I couldnt really make a lot of sense of the lyrics, amidst all the shouting, but what I could make was... "I dream a dream"... And yes.. It takes a lot of conviction to stand up for the dream you dream of.

Kudos to BGT for letting such people present before a wide audience.

Of good, bad and technology

We hear the oft repeated cliched, "Everything happens for a good reason" over and over; and sometimes we wonder what good can come out of bad things, what good can come out of killings and misery, most of the time we are left without an answer, but today I came across this EXTREMELY interesting use of almost a massacre for something that might have a ground breaking impact on way things are today.

Ratan Bhardwaj and his colleagues at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, used radiocarbon dating, which is normally employed to establish the age of archaeological or geological remains, to work out the age of heart cells compared to the chronological age of the person from which they were isolated. To do this, the team took advantage of nuclear tests done during the 1950s and 1960s, which led to a sharp increase of radioactive Carbon 14 in the atmosphere. The radioactive material was captured by plants as CO2 and then worked its way up the food chain and into the DNA of the human body. Soon after the tests were stopped, atmospheric C14 levels declined again, leading to a corresponding drop in the C14 concentration in human DNA.

The team measured C14 levels in the heart tissue of twelve deceased patients aged between 19 and 73 at the time of death and found elevated C14 even in those subjects who had been born two decades before the nuclear tests started, indicating that the radioactive carbon must have been incorporated into heart muscle cells long after birth. Similarly, the C14 levels in the hearts of younger patients did not match the year of their birth but rather indicated a younger birthday for the cells.

- MIT Technology Review

It totally amazed me, on multiple counts, foremost, using radioactive dating to find cellular regenaration rate itself sounds absolutely fabulous a concept. But to put to a good use, a nuclear catastrophe, is what amazed me. Hats off to the team and the weirdly fabulous ways that we think.

Next time I hear someone say that everything happens for good, I would surely think twice before neglecting that as a cliche.

Santa Claus, the True Story

I got this story from KS the other day and found it wonderful... Read on and do read the follow up discussion at the end...

I remember my first Christmas party with Grandma. I was
just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to
visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There
is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"

My grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled
to her that day because I knew she would be straight with
me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that
the truth always went down a whole lot easier when
swallowed with one of her world-famous cinnamon buns.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between
bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me.

"No Santa Claus!" she snorted. "Ridiculous! Don't believe it.
That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes
me mad, plain mad. Now, put on your coat, and let's go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished
my second cinnamon bun.

"Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store
in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we
walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars.
That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money and buy
something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the
car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my
mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself.
The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling
to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just
stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering
what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for.

I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my
neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my
church. I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought
of Bobbie Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair,
and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class.

Bobbie Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never
went out for recess during the winter. His mother always wrote
a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids
knew that Bobbie Decker didn't have a cough, and he didn't have
a coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I
would buy Bobbie Decker a coat. I settled on a red corduroy one
that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.

"Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the
counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down.

"Yes," I replied shyly. "It's ... For Bobbie."

The nice lady smiled at me. I didn't get any change, but she put
the coat in a bag and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas
paper and ribbons, and write, "To Bobbie, From Santa Claus"
on it -- Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy.
Then she drove me over to Bobbie Decker's house, explaining
as we went that I was now and forever officially one of Santa's
helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobbie's house, and
she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front
walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus,"
she whispered, "get going."

I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the
present down on his step, pounded his doorbell and flew back
to the safety of the bushes and Grandma. Together we waited
breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally
it did, and there stood Bobbie.

Forty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent
shivering, beside my grandma, in Bobbie Decker's bushes. That
night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus
were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous.

Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team.

The story has multiple layers... Once in a while I am confused thinking about how best to bring up kids... I am not sure how ... but this was definitely one of the best ways to do so... the Granny in one go taught the kid a lots and lots of things which would definitely help him in the life ahead.....

What KS liked most about this idea was that the Granny did the teaching while keeping the innocent faith of the boy intact... In modern times, we often tend to be too factual and in the process destroy such beliefs, as that of the boy in Santa.. We should surely not be superstitious but KS thinks we should have at least some bit of faith in things beyond what meets the eye.. Such a belief has the power to give a lot of meaning to life, as it did in the case of the boy in the story.. :-)

Highest goal of life

Recently PG forwarded an article to me. It was as if I was reading my own thoughts about life. Everybody has a simple choice to make, being happy or being sad; this choice I strongly feel can be made independently of the events happening around us. This might sound difficult and high philosophy, but I have often found this natural and I really hope that in future we never so bogged down with the events happening that we are unable to make this choice for us.

Read on.

+Fasih

The highest spiritual path is life itself. If you know how to live daily life, it all becomes a liberating experience. But first you have to approach life properly, or it can be very confusing. To begin with, you have to realize that you really only have one choice in this life, and it's not about your career, whom you want to marry, or whether you want to seek God. People tend to burden themselves with so many choices. But, in the end, you can throw it all away and just make one basic, underlying decision: Do you want to be happy, or do you not want to be happy? It's really that simple. Once you make that choice, your path through life becomes totally clear.

Most people don't dare give themselves that choice because they think it's not under their control. Someone might say, "Well, of course I want to be happy, but my wife left me." In other words, they want to be happy, but not if their wife leaves them. But that wasn't the question. The question was, very simply, "Do you want to be happy or not?" If you keep it that simple, you will see that it really is under your control. It's just that you have a deep-seated set of preferences that gets in the way. […]

It's not a question of whether your happiness is under your control. Of course it's under your control. It's just that you don't really mean it when you say you're willing to stay happy. You want to qualify it. You want to say that as long as this doesn't happen, or as long as that does happen, then you're willing to be happy. That's why it seems like it is out of your control. Any condition you create will limit your happiness. You simply aren't going to be able to control things and keep them the way you want them.

You have to give an unconditional answer. If you decide that you're going to be happy from now on for the rest of your life, you will not only be happy, you will become enlightened. Unconditional happiness is the highest technique there is. You don't have to learn Sanskrit or read any scriptures. You don't have to renounce the world. You just have to really mean it when you say that you choose to be happy. And you have to mean it regardless of what happens. This is truly a spiritual path, and it is as direct and sure a path to Awakening as could possibly exist.

--Michael Singer from "The Untethered Soul"

The old Cherokee

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between 2 wolves.

"One is Evil. It is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.

The other is God. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Of Maatra Bhuumi, Motherland

This weekend I saw Munich, I was really touched to see these people fighting for land, a never ending futile war. Below is a particular dialog that really made me stop and think, it is between Avner, an Israeli-born Mossad agent of German descent and Ali, an Arab who is fighting to get back Gaza from Israel, which he thinks of as his mother

Avner: You'll never get the land back.

Ali: You'll all die old men in refugee camps waiting for Palestine. We have a lot of children. They'll have children. So we can wait forever. And if we need to, we can make the whole planet unsafe for Jews.

Avner: You kill Jews and the world feels bad for them... and thinks you are animals.

Ali: But then the world will see how they've made us into animals. They'll start to ask questions about the conditions in our cages.

Avner: You are Arabs. There are lots of places for Arabs. Tell me something, Ali. Do you really miss your father's olive trees? Do you honestly think you have to get back all that...that nothing? That chalky soil and stone huts. Is that what you really want for your children?

Ali: It absolutely is. It will take a hundred years, but we'll win. We want to be nations. Home is everything.



I really found it weird, it is not a melodramatic speech, people all over fight for land, closer home, Kashmiris want to get away from India, there are fights from completely barren useless piece of land all because it is what they call "home". The way we are born and brought up, we really look at this piece of land as ours, and I am sure if there is a need tomorrow most of us would be ready to kill or die for this. Weird, but true. And while I was thinking about this, I see this video, believe me, I could actually feel the emotions within, goosebumps is too mild to express. Watch it, its a 2 min clip really worth watching if you are an Indian.

What a wonderful world

I once used to be an optimist, a hard core optimist who found a bright side to everything and a silver lining surrounding the darkest and largest of clouds... I found the world so beautiful... With time however I realized that not all is as rosy, there is a lot of pain around us... And as NB once very rightly said... ignorance is bliss and with knowledge comes the pain and the bitter truths... and as GB keeps saying that everything changes... and that the world is not as rosy as I think it is... it was almost like I had started believing that pain outshines joy when PG sent me this song... this was a song that I have practically asked everyone who knows me about... I still dont know where I heard it.. the one I heard was in Hindi... And it went like... "Socha ye dil... kaisa sundar ye jahaan..." And here is PG sending the original English song (and I owe her a BIGG treat for this)... The world is indeed beautiful...

Sacrificing the gift

Every now and then one hears various views about how to live, one hears about success and failures, about love and pain, of friends and foes. One of the most common beliefs is that one should know what one wants to do in life. I find that very difficult to grasp, I find it difficult to believe that we can find what we want to do in life, the way I see it is, life is like a series of events some of which effect us and some don't; our responsibility is to do the best we can of that passing moment, of the immensely large number of things that we are capable of doing every moment pick the one thing that we like to do.. Do it with all the passion and love... not as one more thing that has to be done... It is only when we find that true love can we say that we have "used" that moment and fulfilled our duty.... Recently I read this Chinese proverb somewhere "If you are not putting in your best... You are sacrificing the Gift"...

Lets not sacrifice the gift...

On getting drunk

Ok... To set the expectations right.... I dont drink... A teetotaler.... NEVER have I touched daaru (That is what I call everything.... From Desi tharra to Breezers (Fondly referred to as Juice) to Tequila Shots) in my life and never do I intend to.... that said..... I do get drunk..... by induction.... Initially everyone (including me) thought that I was trying to act drunk in a drunk company and later I realized that I totally enjoy the drunk parties... as much as anyone drunk dead would.. Comes in pretty handy.... You can get all the high that a drunk would get and you would not do anything silly that you may regret later...

So today in our office party today we were all drunk and we talked about all sort of things... from Marriages... to College Blues...

One of the more interesting topics that we talked about was about arranged vs. love marriages and that every guy tries at least once to find love but not every time does one get love... or people take "Mature decisions" not to go with what the heart tells them... the question was... will you be a loser if you take such a decision.... maybe yes or maybe not.... Before we could find out we realized the high came down... nerves were being touched.... so instead of finding answer to that we instead discussed the more interesting topic about not looking for love.... just flings instead... And back to being happy.....

But I being not drunk drunk... was forced to think of the more important question.... how many times do we let go off the more important things... the more painful things... how many times do we put aside a more meaningful question.... turning ourselves away from what we know matters to something that makes no difference... just avoiding... running away.... from life..... Living.....

Living a moment

Today I was talking with an office colleague, when this topic came up:
If you were given a choice right now, to go back in the past, without the knowledge that you have lived it once and without any knowledge of anything that has happened, would you take it?

Now, there are points to note about this. Had it been with the knowledge of the fact that you know you have lived this and what you are going to see the next day, it is a naïveté idea. You could go buy shares of google, you could do Hotmail before Sabir did and many more such things. However, knowing that you wont have the knowledge makes it a much different and difficult choice to make.

While we were talking, our MD comes into the conversation, and we ask him the same question, in almost a split second he gives an answer: "I will....". Knowing that he doesnt have the knowledge of the life he lived... Now we were surprised... His logic.... simple... and yet profound.... "Being where I am... at this age... I am thrilled to know that I get to make a journey again... so what if I take the same path... reach the same place where I am today... or take a different path... and be a beggar on the streets.... its the journey... that I find worth the risk... "

I guess age changes the perspective....

As for me... I wouldnt take it.... not now... and not in my foreseeable future... unless I am allowed to retain not the knowledge or the information... but just the wisdom that we gain by living through different experiences... the wisdom that might help me to make choices different from what I did then.... And I think I would take it even if it came for a hefty price.... And even as I say this... his words come back to me... maybe it really doesnt matter... maybe to take the journey again is really worth the risk....