This girl made me cry!

In just the previous post i talked about music and how it has the power to affect your emotions.This little girl singing brought tears to my eyes the first time i heard her.I didn't have any words to say after seeing this video.The whole video just moved me-the innocence,the candidness,the talent,the voice,the angelic smile,the maturity,that young playfulness,everything.




Addendum:I just saw this video again and i wondered why i had tears in my eyes the first time i saw this.This song is from the movie 'wizard of oz' and i have also heard it in the movie 'you got mail' and happens to be one of my favourite songs,the lyrics go like this.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.

Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?


Probably such a young girl singing this song was what brought those tears.Her eyes when she sings this are mesmerising.I probably got a bit philosophic relating the girls age and the lyrics.

Music

I love music,all sorts,all genres.I like to try and discover new bands and new kinds of music.I like to call myself a true music lover.For me music is a set of sounds which should sound harmonious first.Now coming to think of it-it is defined in the brain as to what is harmonious .Why is some kind of music liked and some kind not and why do you call some sounds music and some not?All lies in the brain.Why do mostly the younger generation like Metal and the older generation not,its just a matter of getting used to ,older generation is used to a particular kind and fixated upon some idea on music and same holds for the younger generation .Really funny huh?

The study of how sound is percieved by a listener is called music cognition.

Defintion of music cognition from wikipedia -Music cognition is an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the mental processes that support musical behaviors, including perception, comprehension, memory, attention, and performance. Originally arising in fields of psychoacoustics and sensation, cognitive theories of how people understand music more recently encompass neuroscience, music theory, computer science, philosophy, and linguistics.


I just try to go beyond these mental blocks and try to listen and appreciate all sorts of music.It is really difficult all the times ,because the human element of emotion or mood comes through very strongly and dictates what kind of music you listen to many a times e.g:When you are totally tired at the end of the day,you really cannot listen to blaring heavy music(though i am trying to go beyond this limitation too)

Also another reason i experiment is, i find it fascinating to listen to sounds which people call music and like in some country or some era or some generation or some culture.If they are humans like me and can enjoy those sounds so much,i guess even i can!

From an aesthetic sense- Music is a different world altogher.You just transcend to a higher state of being wherein your moods and emotions and thoughts are completely dictated by the sounds.You can just about get into any emotion- get a high, a rush, feel happy,anger,pain,sadness,ecstasy - everything -in this world.


Here is a definition of music in wikipedia

Music is an art form in which the medium is sound. Elements of music are pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics, structure, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture.


Also music appreciation is completely different from music creation.Music creation involves different dynamics.I will talk about it sometime else.I hope to be involved more rigorously sometime in my life in music creation -right now its mostly restricted to appreciation.

I am just happy god gave us something so beautiful called ears and a brain which can comprehend something called sound and in which we can define a world.Also my deepest respect to anybody and everyone,before and now and in the future involved in the creation of music ,of any sort or kind.

My Skiing snap from giant ridges!

Scuba diving!

This is another of my passions.I love water and swimming.So this passion obviously led to the next level 'scuba diving'.I did my first dive in Goa and let me tell you its amazing!Its a different world altogether down there and you would fall in love with it and would want to go down again and again.I want to be a PADI certified diver.I guess in one of my previous posts i talked about Elizabeth Gray who has dived all around the world.She has really inspired me to do the same.Here is a snap,the only one of my scuba diving.

Sky diving

It was always very high on my list of things to do in life.I never had that opportunity in India ,i infact had enquired with the Indian airforce paratroopers division,one of my friend's friend is in airforce,but they said they cannot take civilians.So one of the first things i did after coming to USA was sky dive.I did it last summer and i will do it again this summer - this time solo.Here are some pics of my sky dive.The jumping out from the plane is the most exhilarating and adrenalin rushing part and due to the wind rushing at you your cheeks go all flappy due to the pressure.Boy i look very different in these snaps. :)

Do i have a daughter??

There are things in life or incidents or anecdotes which suddenly come back to you out of the blue sometimes,musing about some of them makes you smile.Here is one such incident which i had written to my office folks sometime back and which happened to me when i was working from home.I dug into my office mail archives and pulled this out.Here is the mail -


As most of you know i am working from home today .. :) Here is what happened just ten minutes back ...

I am busy sitting on the couch and seriously looking at my mainframe screen and chewing my lips thinking ... (Please believe me on this - i am working! :) )

Suddenly i hear a knock knock on our glass door .. i turn around and see a cute little girl of around 3 or 4. I think she is just playing ,So I give her a smile and a wave and hope she will go off ..

But she is still there and she knocks again and says 'Open the door, i want to speak with you' . I think uh-oh! when was the last time anyone called me and said i want to speak with you - been ages since my manager ever said anything like that. Anyways we have a cute little toddler at the door who wants to speak to me one to one. Wokay!Lets see what she has to say.

So i get up,go and pull the glass door open

Me: Hi(a sweet one)

She: Do you have a (*^(^(^ who i can *&^(^ with!

Me: Huh?what did you say?( boy! i cant even understand a kid!)

She: (now she understands i am a dumbo so says slowly) - Do you have a daughter with who i can play with!

Me: (Dumbstuck!! Wow!)umm.. hmm... sorry ..no i dont have a daughter with who you can play with...

She: Why don't you have a daughter??

Me:(wow,what are today's kids coming to,i am wondering what to answer her,i am shuffling in the cold with these questions being thrown upon)

Umm .. hmm.. Because i am not married yet!!( I am amazed by my answer - wow,did i just say that to this 3 year old kid! What has happened to you!!)

She: Hmmm ..she amazingly gives a understanding nod and a cute little smile and says ok byeee.... and runs off ..( i am left dazed and reeling and i watch her till she goes out of sight and close the door )

Are todays kids smarter or are we getting dumber(maybe i am getting dumber ) :)

This still makes me smile.Multiple things actually.The way she asked those questions and the way i answered them.Her questions were very valid and my answers were very valid too, but the way it happened and the unusual conversation between that age gap is what makes it so funny.
I still admire that sweet,bold,straight forward talk from that girl.Kids can teach you so many things,i guess most of the time we adults are just closed to the idea of learning from them.

The beatles!

I got first introduced to them through my mother.Her favourite song is 'hey jude' and she used to hum this song quite frequently while cooking or cleaning the house or washing the vessels.Since a small kid i used to hear her hum this song though i never knew whose it was ,but i always used to love her hum this and even now very rarely when she hums this i absolutely love it and join her in the humming.And much later when i was probably around 10-11 she played this song to me when we had gone to my grandfather's place on the old LP gramaphone record from which she always used to listen when she was in college.I am feeling so nostalgic.That was my first introduction officially to the 'BEATLES'.Since then I have grown listening to them and absolutely love their songs.The music has changed so much in the recent times with all metal,techno sounds and electronic synthesizers,but still though i listen to these new age music those old 60,70s songs from this band still brings a joy and when i listen to them makes me feel very nostalgic.From a music history perspective i think they created a revolution in the music world and have a cult following.

I got a big collage poster of theirs when i had gone to San francisco which hangs in my bedroom.I couldn't find that poster on the net to actually put an image of it on the blog,seems pretty rare this one.

It so funny that many of mother's favourite songs are mine too - be it Hindi,English or Kannada- probably she helped me develop a taste for music by putting in that seed of thought,imagination and appreciation in my head or else i love her so much that i love what she loves.

Obladi, oblada
Life goes on, bra
La la how the life goes on ...

My poster girl!!

Well every guy has a dream heroine,some girl he likes from the movies and fantasizes about.The day i saw 'Roman holiday', that was nearly 10 years, back when i was in high school, i fell for her.There is something special in her which i can't place,that aura,that innocence,the charm,the grace,the femininity,all this and something ....I had always fantasized about having her poster on my bedroom walls which i could not get back in India .And now finally after 10 long years she adorns by bedroom wall,pity its USA,but heck still these are bedroom walls!! Appu gifted this to me when i had gone to San francisco.Now every day i open my eyes to her and close my eyes to her!!Lol!It would have meant so much if i had this 10 years back,now she is my poster girl!!

I am a pro in Skiing!!

Well not exactly,but that's how i felt.This Saturday I again went skiing.We had a snow blizzard on Friday which gave a healthy layer of snow and it was perfect skiing conditions on Saturday with temperature in the late 20's.I told you about the new founded balance which i discovered last week and which i tried on the beginner and intermediate slopes.Well this weekend i mustered up enough courage to try it on the black diamonds. I had a fall the first time,fell again on the second time,and VOILA on the third!!After that every subsequent run just became better and oh man,do you get a HIGH!!!!Its an absolute rush of adrenalin everytime you do the black diamonds at such high speeds and being in total control!!!Guess what?? it became an addiction to me that day.I skied for a total of 9.5 hours till 10 PM in the night!!I went crazy that day - but it was worth it.The feeling of discovering and mastering something new feels really good.It's a pity winter is ending!!

I went to office and told Mark about this and how his tips had really helped.He smiled and said 'So ready for the Himalayas,huh?'. I just grinned and thought ..yeah!!Right!!In my next life probably!

Minneapolis winter!

Well people here say you will either like minneapolis winter or you don't.Its almost the fag end of winter here and surprisingly i haven't taken much snaps of the snow here considering i was having fun here in winter all the time. Most people(read indians) dont like the winter here because its too very cold,they are intially excited when they see snow for the first time and then they are cooped up in the house for 4 months and crib about what a dastardly place this is. For me,its different,i absolutely began to love minneapolis winters and just love nature in this different setting.Its white every where and you can go skiing and ice skating both of which i learnt during this winter.You can build snowmen and have snowball fights,also i used to take walks in the evening in a whopping -30 C here.The lakes are forzen and you can walk around on them,there is a huge lake called calhoun near my house its 5 -6 times lake ulsoor or sankey in Bangalore and can you imagine the whole lake is frozen and people do ice skating,ice fishing,ice surfing(surf board and a parachute attached),on the same lake during summer i did kayaking,canoeing and people do wind surfing and normal fishing!!

We had a snow blizzard today and i went around my apartment clicking some snaps as i have hardly taken any during winter.Actually now summer is setting in and most of the snow had melted ,till today.This was a sudden snow blizzard .Minneapolis is mostly like this from December till march beginning completely covered with snow everywhere!


Here is the link to the snaps which i went clicking around my apartment.
http://picasaweb.google.com/mayur.raghuveer/MinneapolisSnow

A restless night!

It's been about three months since this happened.I had a great relationship with a person A.Now person A was close to another person B too.Somebody mis represented to person B about somethings that happened between me and person A which resulted in a deterioration of relationship between A and B.Now A thought it was me who did it ,which infact I did not ,which resulted in a deterioration of the relationship between A and me.

But A was good enough to tell me about the mis representation that happened and I was furious at that moment and wanted to know who did it.But the irony of life is,though i wanted to know who did it,at the same time i didn't want to know who did it.For me,the damage had already been done,the bad blood was spewn,anymore dwelling in to find the truth would only reveal more names which i probably didn't want to hear.The very foundations of trust and faith were broken in the mis representation.It resulted in lot of pain for atleast 3 people emotionally.

Now I don't know why this happened,but it happened.For me who values ideals like freedom,trust and faith so much,this was shattering.I could not fathom why would anyone do like that.I had two options either i prove my innocence and in the process drag the person who did it(I didn't want to know it because i knew it had to be someone close to me) or else just accept what has happened and let it go!For me the decision was very difficult and painful but it was obvious what i would choose.

Now A went through a lot of pain after this and has gone away from my life more or less,I dont know how things are between A and B.But somehow all this has left a very bad taste.For me who seeks truth and knowledge this was an irony where in I did not want the truth revealed.Though i desperately wanted to get back the relationship in order ,i knew after this there would always be an invisible barrier and the relationship would never be the same unless great maturity prevails in everyone and everyone sees the same side of the coin.

I know things like this happen in everyone's life and everyone deals with it in one way or the other and there is no right way of dealing with things.Decisions are taken,sacrifices are made,tears fall but finally it boils down to one thing - what happened and what each one interpreted and how does that fit in each other's reality.If it fits in then great,if not then you will have to accept it however painful or sad it is.Pain or sadness is an emotion which shows up when a particular expectation is not met.

I have dwell ed a lot into what a relationship actually means after this.There is no conclusive answer but I guess one can't be there for another always.We will have to fight our own battles in life and learn about it our own way,if you dont fall you don't learn and cannot appreciate life.Life is bound to be a senseless amount of pitfalls and agonies with which you fight and in the process appreciate life more and happiness and relationships gets a true definition.

I have also learned that in a relationship(you can give it any name) you give the other person enough freedom to experiment and fall and learn and you hold them or give comfort or support them only when they cannot go anymore and only for a brief period so that they can rest and begin the process all over again.

Its 2 AM now, I was sleeping and i don't know for what reason all these thoughts came flooding through and i became restless and woke up.I know i have to come to terms with this and time as always will be the best healer,but i just decided to pen down these thoughts of mine which i dont even know whether it makes sense but these are just thoughts of mine in a particular state of mind which maybe when i look down upon 10 years down the lane might mean something else.

Dr Who??

Well I had never heard of the movie.It was supposedly a new Animation flick with a name which nobody could remember,everyone remembered just a Dr and a 'who' and the story line seemed wierd with some elephant helping a small world in a speck in a flower. When Mahesh suggested this movie he went something like " why dont we go to this new animation movie ..its called 'Dr ..something ..something WHO',i cant remember,its about an elephant helping a world in a small speck of flower" .Crikes!!nobody would ever go to a movie described thus,that too adults and to an animated movie!(no offense to you mahesh,but you couldn't have described the movie better and nobody can remember the movie name if they haven't seen it ,for the movie name makes no sense if you havent seen it). Everyone declined,forget everyone even Bhargav who normally likes animated movies very politely declined saying 'I am not interested in seeing a cartoon today'. :)

Since i am a sucker for new kinds of movies and like animated movies and normally see movies which nobody wants to see and more over i looked it up on the web and rotten tomatoes had favourable reviews i decided to give it a try.I forgot that Australian GP was at 11.30 PM and committed to Mahesh for the 10.30 PM show and then later suddenly remembered and kept cursing myself for having forgotten it,the very thought that i was missing the F1 opener for some unheard of movie was frustrating.But i had made a commitment i decided to stick to it and go.

To cut it short,I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.I like animated movies because of its creativity,its very difficult to make commercial animated movies because it has to appeal to both the adults and the youngsters,the films have to be mature enough to keep an adult engrossed and at the same time funny and fascinating and not too complicated to a youngster.So i always find it fascinating to see how movie makers keep this balance to make it a commercial hit.
Coming back to the movie,it has an extremely creative story line,kudos to whoever thought of it - i think it has some philosophical undertones(probably its only me as i am much into philosophising:) ) and a very funny elephant and some quality humour(all relative to different age groups) and the graphics are very soothing to the eye and congruous.After seeing the movie the name makes perfect sense.Probably its an advertising gimmick to keep such an undecipherable name,but real creativity in the way the movie name has been kept.

I recommend this movie to all animation movie fans ,I think its a wonderfully made film .

Its called 'Dr.Sesss - Horton hears a WHO' :)I didn't think twice to remember the name!! :)

Thanks Mahesh,for suggesting the movie.After seeing the movie I didn't repent that I missed F1 ,though i watched it from mid way on after coming back home!

Addendum:I did some research on the movie,its based on the book by the same name 'Horton hears a who' by Theodor Seuss the famous children story book writer known for 'how the grinch stole christmas'.

I just got better!

Well after my last weekend skiing debacle and my body returning back to normalcy fantastically over the week,i was all set for another weekend of skiing on an already closing out season.Darn, I hate Mark for introducing me to skiing so late in the season,otherwise i could have made use of the entire winter season completely.This was a common complaint among our skiing gang(you don't get your ass up the couch and later on blame it on someone else for turning up late :) )
Anyways as usual the gang set out and after some snow analysis(because its already in the mid 30's F now) we decided we would take the plunge.

Every first time I get into a ski i dont feel confident,I just wonder whether I did those black diamonds last weekend. I invariably do the bunny hill,then progressively go up the difficulty level. I have been trying to refine the parallel skiing process,saw couple of videos,took some tips from Mark.Now the problem with skiing is ,its like learning a cycle or swimming - how much ever anyone explains you dont get it until you get that feel of balance yourself.Ice skating is very similar.

Well i kept trying and trying and was not happy still and then suddenly i decided to get a bit more adventourous and try something new and shift my body balance more and tilt my knees,feet,skis more - I said to myself 'To heck,If i fall - I fall,so what!' .The results were dramatic, the very opposite of what i thought happened,i was faster,had more balance and was making sharper and smoother turns ,though i eventually fell,but I was happy with my discovery of the new founded balance.So i tried couple of times and fell couple of times trying to get it and my body just adjusted to the new balance and wow do i feel great to ski this way,i am faster, i can turn at whatever angle i want and i can just about stop anywhere on the slope,the balance of the body feels really good,though i couldn't muster up the courage to try this new technique on the black diamonds(fear of falling,and falling real bad,i had this experience real fresh from last weekend),but it worked fantastically well on the easy and intermediate slopes.But i still have to perfect this process.

All the tips from those videos and Mark make perfect sense now, i would say the same things to someone else but to understand it you have to go the hard way physically.

The feeling of discovery feels so great after trying so hard.

Collective perception is reality!

I have always been fascinated with life and people.I have always been fascinated about how people are so different and how different people react to different things and how people think so differently.People like it when you say 'you are different' 'you are unique' ,the craving to be someone 'different and unique' is there in everyone(I think this might be a loose sentence for which i may be vilified).But in all this 'different' there is a lot of underlying commonness(a hell lot).

I was having a drink with my boss in a restaurant and we were arguing about what is right and wrong,what is black and white and shades of grey in this world.In between he threw out the sentence 'Collective perception is reality'. I don't know what happened but I found the statement so profound i stopped arguing.Essentially all the arguments i had made till then suddenly seemed pointless.

Since then i have dwell ed on this statement a lot and have been relating daily life with this concept.This world works on collective perception,what majority agrees to - that becomes the reality.This can be applied to any concept in life - happiness,pain,love,relationships,society,right,wrong,good,bad,marriage,rules,regulations,punishment,etc ...I am not saying this is wrong,but also i am not saying this is completely right . Many a times it can be more harmful than good when the wrong realities are perceived.

Simple example - Lets take depression - why is a person depressed?Depression is very vaguely a physcological behavior where in the mind just shuts down and sort of sees no hope in life.Now what got this person in this state in the first place?Failure in love?failure in job?failure in a relationship?huge losses in money?some threatening disease? or some other reason i can't think of right now.(consult a psychologist for more reasons)

All seem valid reasons.Right?But why do you say its 'VALID'?Because people have been saying its 'valid' for ages,people have been committing 'valid' suicides for these 'valid' reasons for ages.People go into a 'valid' depression when they face these 'valid' situations.Do you see my point here?Its a collective perception which everyone so strongly believes in that the moment you get laid off or kicked out of a job or a relationship fails you go into that mode,a negative feeling is inevitably attached with these situations in life.I don't know whether these can be changed ,as these concepts or collective perceptions are so deeply rooted and moulded in our realities that everyone believes them,unless a huge perspective shift happens - which i call a 'revolution'.

Another fascinating collective perception is how life should be lived,what is success,what is failure.In life or society there are many collective perceptions or loosely 'rules' which have been made for the convenience of the smooth funcitoning of a community of people co-existing with each other like driving on the left side of the road,walking on the footpaths,honking to get someone's attention,wearing shoes or slippers to protect your feet,not throwing garbage in public places etc which have defined rules displayed every where. But there are so many undefined rules where nothing is written and still everyone perceives to be true based on some common consensus like happiness,pain,love,success,failure.


A sensitive topic and a more aggressive stance just for the sake of my argument though i still abide by the rules ,lets say 'murder' - now almost every country perceives this as a criminal offense,now why?Because you cannot kill another human being ?When you can kill so many animals on this planet why cant you kill a human being who is after all another animal on this planet?You are just another species on this planet and have the same right or no right to live on this planet as any other species.Also,this rule makes no sense in a cannibalistic society.So the collective perceptions are so strong in the human world that it is becoming increasingly difficult to live.Competition is again a by product of collective perception and what constitutes as success in this world.

I can write loads on this.But this is just food for thought when you get bored of the mundane life(I am lucky to be bored!!) and need something else to think about.After having said and done with all this, I still have to work 8 hours a day to do something 'productive' to get something called 'money' which i need to buy food to satisfy my hunger and clothes to protect me and pay my rent to have my shelter.I have to abide by the basic laws with acceptable degrees of deviation to survive in this world otherwise i will be either jailed or cooped up in a mental institution to which i will have no say once they have branded me.But you can probably use this to get a more stronger definition to your realities and probably use it in a positive way. I have great belief in the power of the human mind and what it can do.

Everything i have written is based on what i perceive to be true in my reality at this moment in time,This may change the very next minute or this may change 5 years down the lane or may not,not everyone has to agree with it and i am okay with people not agreeing with me for they perceive world in a different way.Neither am i right nor are they.All this exists till i exist in this world,after that 'nothing matters'(this is again a perception).In a more higher degree probably all this matters till the human species exists,after which it really doesnt matter.

Ego satisfaction

"Everything in life is ego satisfaction" he said,I ask 'why do you say so?'.
'Don't just argue on its literal value,think deeply about it'
'You help a begger,you feel an internal satisfaction -ego satisfaction',you love your parents,you feel a warmth in your heart-who feels it? YOU!! again ego satisfied,Passion - something drives you to do,achieve or know something,again the emphasis is on 'you'.Any instance or action you take in life is centralised around you.
I say "what about sacrifices?"
A mother makes a sacrifice for her children,why? because she has the thought 'MY children should do well'-again the 'me',A soldier sacrifices his life for his country and thinks 'Its MY country,If I don't protect it who will?MY life can save a thousand other lives'

In different dimensions and circles you can define the different 'YOU',so essentially every thought ,every action you take in life is 'ego satisfaction' in some form or the other. I go 'hmmm... ,hmmm..' all the time.I am still hmmmming about it.

In a way i agree,everything we do in life,every action we take,every emotion we go through is defined in how we see life and how we have defined our realities,the emphasis in the whole previous statement being on 'We' which is the same as 'I'.

This might be a bit difficult to understand initially because when you say this people immediately go into a defensive mode saying 'not true',for many an 'Ego' is a negative terminology . In fact i had a swell time arguing with another of my friend trying to buy him into this concept and he still stubbornly refuses the statement.In his reality this statement is baseless,in my definition of reality it makes a lot of sense.So whether you will agree with it or not will depend on how your realities are defined.

Falling hurts.

Work,work,work.Saturday busted in work - mind screwed.Decide to take a break,go skiing on sunday.Great going so far- am learning parallel skiing.Going down pretty fast -suddenly out of nowhere someone comes from the left,try to take a quick right,can't manage it,ski's lock - both skis are ripped from my boots and i take a plunge -headlong forward ,down on the slope without losing any momentum.My chest hits first and takes the entire brunt,then my head and nose bangs against the snow.All happens in fraction of seconds.I remain motionless,stunned,as if in a trance for few seconds.Life immediately kicks back and I feel a searing pain in my chest and become aware of things around me.I become aware of two other skiers standing beside me and asking whether i am allright.People on the ski lifts above are shouting 'Are you allright'.I stand up and say 'i am all right'.

Now my chest hurts like hell and have a neck ache because of the impact ,i have a slight fever because of the pain.My poor body is working overtime to set right things.I know i will recover but falling hurts!

10000 BC

Well Basically I didn't find the movie good.The storyline was hackneyed and the special effects weren't dramatic and very much less time has been given to each special effects scene.Probably i had too much expectations looking at the trailers and i have only myself to blame to leave the movie disappointed.

One dialogue which caught me in the movie.

"Men draw a circle around themselves and vow to protect and care for all who fall within it. For some men, that circle includes their "woman" and children. For others, their extended family. For great men it includes many, many people. A man must decide who falls in his circle of influence."

Its time to move on ..

Lot of things have happened in the last 10 months.Realities,expectations,definitions,relationships,mindset,questions,answers have changed. I guess its time to move on in life ......

Something told for ages ...

karmanye vadhikarasthe ma bhaleshu kathachana

ma karmabhalahethurbhurma the sanghohasthwakarmani

[Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, verse 47]

adhikara: = power, karmanye eva = only for action, ma bhaleshu = not in the fruits, kathachana = not even once, ma bhu: = should not, karmabhalahethu: = for the fruit for action, the = for you, sanga: = attachment akarmani = inaction, ma asthu = should not happen

You have power only for action. Not even once do you have power to decide the fruits of your endeavors, namely success or failure. So your actions or duty should not be performed keeping in mind these factors. Also, for you, attachment to inactivity or indifference should not happen.

So do your best without worrying about the outcome.


This verse does get you thinking a lot ...

Read these two poems

"The Men Who Don’t Fit In”

By Robert Service ..


There's a race of men that don't fit in,
A race that can't stay still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
And they roam the world at will.
They range the field and they rove the flood,
And they climb the mountain's crest;
Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood,
And they don't know how to rest.

If they just went straight they might go far;
They are strong and brave and true;
But they're always tired of the things that are,
And they want the strange and new.
They say: "Could I find my proper groove,
What a deep mark I would make!"
So they chop and change, and each fresh move
Is only a fresh mistake.

And each forgets, as he strips and runs
With a brilliant, fitful pace,
It's the steady, quiet, plodding ones
Who win in the lifelong race.
And each forgets that his youth has fled,
Forgets that his prime is past,
Till he stands one day, with a hope that's dead,
In the glare of the truth at last.

He has failed, he has failed; he has missed his chance;
He has just done things by half.
Life's been a jolly good joke on him,
And now is the time to laugh.
Ha, ha! He is one of the Legion Lost;
He was never meant to win;
He's a rolling stone, and it's bred in the bone;
He's a man who won't fit in.



The Road not taken - Robert Frost

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; 5

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same, 10

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back. 15

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Do you agree with the first poem or the second one or both ot dont agree with both of them? Its very funny i came across both the poems within half an hour of each other and i am still musing.

Feynman on Uncertainity

Something from someone who i idolize.

"This too shall pass!"

My mother used to use this pharse whenever i was deeply troubled and used to go to her for consolation. I was just musing over it today suddenly and decided to look up on the net on it.Here are a few intersting extracts.

Here is an interesting story - source wikipedia

One day Solomon decided to humble Benaiah Ben Yehoyada, his most trusted minister. He said to him, "Benaiah, there is a certain ring that I want you to bring to me. I wish to wear it for Sukkot which gives you six months to find it." "If it exists anywhere on earth, your majesty," replied Benaiah, "I will find it and bring it to you, but what makes the ring so special?" "It has magic powers," answered the king. "If a happy man looks at it, he becomes sad, and if a sad man looks at it, he becomes happy." Solomon knew that no such ring existed in the world, but he wished to give his minister a little taste of humility. Spring passed and then summer, and still Benaiah had no idea where he could find the ring. On the night before Sukkot, he decided to take a walk in one of the poorest quarters of Jerusalem. He passed by a merchant who had begun to set out the day's wares on a shabby carpet. "Have you by any chance heard of a magic ring that makes the happy wearer forget his joy and the broken-hearted wearer forget his sorrows?" asked Benaiah. He watched the grandfather take a plain gold ring from his carpet and engrave something on it. When Benaiah read the words on the ring, his face broke out in a wide smile. That night the entire city welcomed in the holiday of Sukkot with great festivity. "Well, my friend," said Solomon, "have you found what I sent you after?" All the ministers laughed and Solomon himself smiled. To everyone's surprise, Benaiah held up a small gold ring and declared, "Here it is, your majesty!" As soon as Solomon read the inscription, the smile vanished from his face. The jeweler had written three Hebrew letters on the gold band: _gimel, zayin, yud_, which began the words "_Gam zeh ya'avor_" -- "This too shall pass." At that moment Solomon realized that all his wisdom and fabulous wealth and tremendous power were but fleeting things, for one day he would be nothing but dust.

The image is hebrew for 'This too shall pass'




Another really good inspirational poem by Helen Steiner Rice.

This Too Shall Pass
by Helen Steiner Rice

If I can endure for this minute
Whatever is happening to me,
No matter how heavy my heart is
Or how dark the moment may be

If I can remain calm and quiet
With all the world crashing about me,
Secure in the knowledge God loves me
When everyone else seems to doubt me

If I can but keep on believing
What I know in my heart to be true,
That darkness will fade with the morning
And that this will pass away, too

Then nothing in life can defeat me
For as long as this knowledge remains
I can suffer whatever is happening
For I know God will break all of the chains

That are binding me tight in the darkness
And trying to fill me with fear
For there is no night without dawning
And I know that my morning is near.


This guy called Avi Solomon has done a great compilation on different stories and versions on the origin and use of this phrase 'This too shall pass'.Here is the link

http://documents.scribd.com/docs/1icxc9sfblwufbrnci53.pdf

Movie recommendation - 'No country for old men'

'No country for old men' - I was just curious why it won the best film at the oscars,since i didn't get any takers for this movie I decided to go alone.I still dont know why it won the best film ,going by oscars history they have done a complete rope-a-dope. But let me tell you ,from a film making perspective its a master piece.From the first till the end its gripping.I just loved the character of the evil antagonist (he is a psychopathic murderer philosopher -weird combination huh :) but thats how i see him)and the way the movie has been made.There is hardly any or no music in the back ground,the way each shot has been shot just adds to the overall effect.If you love film making as an Art i would definitely recommend you to this.Also it has an unusual ending,I am still trying to figure out the ending. The plot is very simple and straight forward but the movie wins over for the way it has been made.
Javier bardem is a revelation to me in acting.He has done his role so chillingly well,no doubt he deserved an oscar for best supporting role hands down!!His role will go untainted in the pages of well known hollywood villians.

It has some really crisp camera angles and shots which builds up tension and a sense of thrill.

Still i dont know why it deserved a best film oscar - for it does not fall in any of the categories of the so called oscar best film norms.I thought they would have normally ignored such movies giving it best screenplay or cinematography awards.

For me its a fantastically made film .Something like a hitchcockian movie,he had really learned the Art of making movies and gripping his audiences, this dwells on parallel rails to that.

People at work who have inspired me in USA.

Mark Slettehaugh - My SME(Subject matter expert) - Age 60 - we call him the 'godfather' for his knowledge- if he does not know how to solve something then its unsolvable,that's how it goes.Codes assembler with his eyes closed.He was a joker in a circus company before he shifted over to technical domain.Started off as a card reader in the age old machines where in you insert the punching cards.Is an expert skier.Has skied all over the world and has supposedly competed with olympic skiers.He still ski's and i have seen him ski and its like wow!! Have had the privilege of skiing the black diamonds in Giant ridges with him.
One always wonders what or who is a 'gentleman'- you should see this guy to know what it is.He is patience personified.I almost see him as my surrogate grandfather( It seems like i am taking my eulogies to the extreme with this statement but it is not and this is no laudatory speech!)I know he is one person I will miss a lot in my life.

Nicole pettit(and Dan) - She is probably in her mid or early 30's(I can never make out her age as she looks so young ,i know she is in the 30's because of her years of experience and haven't had the courage to ask her her age- we have lot of Desi guys drooling over her).She is my business contact.very efficient.Has a photographer fiancee who reminds me of Barry gibb from Beegees with a hat on.Very cool photographer who specializes in black and white photography and is very much interested in different kinds of film processing and shooting with old cameras- I drifted away when he was talking about different kinds of film processing -mostly greek and latin to a digital guy.They plan to get married on 08/08/08.(sorry guys!! :)) His answer to my question 'So,are you a professional photographer?' - 'I have made more money in my life being a photographer but last year i made more money building houses' - he is a handy man come photographer!!I was like wow - what diverse professions!By the way his name is Dan.They were kind enough to invite me to one of his exhibitions.

Ok,I have digressed.Nicole is a triathlon runner.She competes a lot.She normally comes to office on a bicycle(She stays a long way from office)Anecdote- we had an install checkout on a sunday morning.Everyone was supposed to be at office at around 10.Most of them are there with bleary eyes and 'Oh god,its sunday and i am in office' looks on their faces.Nicole comes in chirping and everyones asks how come she is so active .Her reply - 'I am just coming from finishing a triathlon'.Her eyes are extremely expressive.

Viv Iler - Aged around 50,she is a marathon runner.She runs 2-3 hours every morning.A very moody person and straight talks a lot when in a bad mood and is awfully helpful and kind when in better moods.She acknowledges her mood swings and warns you of them. :)

Elizabeth gray - Met her at giant ridges.A very silent sort of lady around 50's and talks only when spoken to.She is a director at Amreiprise.I didn't think much about her intially.Later got to know her passion is scuba diving and she scuba dives all over the world and has done that for the last 25 years and just last year she was in India scuba diving in the andaman's.She has said she would let me know of scuba dives happening around minnesota.She talked about her experiences in india and other scuba dives she has had.She is very adventurous,she sky dives,ski's,rafting,kayaking,hiking..etc .. I am glad i ran into her and persisted on talking with her.She has really inspired me.

Sharon Mckinney - Well she is my chat buddy and business contact in office.Extremely lively and funny.She is also in her 30's with 2 extremely cute kids Kate and Cameron but doesn't appear old enough to be a mom.She looks like a college student(reminds me of some soap ad in India with that kid coming in the end saying 'mummeeeeee')

We talk about literally everything,music,movies,food,society,work,travel ... She is big time into India and asks so many questions about India and how things work there that i many times wonder how come being there i never asked these questions myself.
She is efficient - I learnt what professionalism is from her and Noah.They are extremely friendly ,but when it comes to work they mince no corners.They are extremely dedicated when it comes to work getting done,they dont crib or cringe -they attend calls at 3 AM in the morning if need be,ready to work on weekends and they dont lose cool under extreme situations,infact you find them more entertaining in extreme situations cracking jokes and one liners,they make you relax and then focus on the problem.Infact sharon is holidaying in florida now and she has carried her laptop to keep in touch.

Another thing i learnt a lot from sharon is, she does what she says otherwise she does not say it.We were talking about music one day and she said she will burn her favourites and give it to me ,i thought she was joking and i said i will give mine too in the same note.To my surprise ,two days later she gave me a CD with her favourite songs and i was stunned,i didn't think she would do it.My respect for her grew a lot that day.

Another great character in her is if she does not know something or wants something done and has absolutely no idea about how to go about ,she will not feel embarrassed to ask questions however dumb it is and in the process becomes so good at that particular thing that she very quickly is at the helm of the affair.

She has a degree in anthropology,then she was a librarian and then she did nursing and then she jumped into finance .I asked her why doesn't she do a MBA,her answer still inspires me.She said she likes helping people and each of her profession brought her that sense of helping.She is here in this company because she likes helping people save money for their difficult times,their children and to live a livelihood.An MBA served no purpose to her.She plans to go back to nursing after a few years.Her signature very proudly bears the line 'We shape financial solutions for a lifetime'.


These are just short profiles of these people .All these people have taught me a lot about life and the different dimensions it can be viewed in and lived.These are small unknown people in this world, each with a great character and integrity and each one earning a livelihood like any other and doing and pursuing what they like the most.You always dont have to look at big names and icons and their contributions and lives to get inspired - sometimes it just takes a little bit of searching around yourself and you will see something special in each person and probably get inspired.