Autorickshaw - KA-04 B-5824

No, this is not a hit-and-run case. This is the only information I could gather about the auto-rickshaw that amazed me with sheer volume and nature of messages scripted on its back. Truly amazing...

A SMILE can end a war

Smile a lot, it does not cost anything (B, sounds familiar??)

Life is like an ice-cream. Enjoy it before it melts down.

Beg, borrow but never steal.

My favorite:
Life is like a lock, and mind is the key. You turn it one way, and it locks. You turn it the other way and it unlocks.

There were couple more. Something about life being short and love being beautiful... but these are all that I could memorize in 30 seconds I got to be in reading distance behind him. God! I miss my camera.

I became an 'Ajji KoLi' (ಅಜ್ಜಿ ಕೋಳಿ)

In our child-hood we are taught a lot of fables... Most of them are forgotten by us as quickly as we learn them. But life has its own way of reminding us of them every now and then. One such story....

[Those who know the story, skip to the last paragraph...]
Once up on a time, in a small village there lived an old lady (the ajji ಅಜ್ಜಿ , in Kannada). She had a hen (koLi ಕೋಳಿ, in Kannada) (or a rooster). Both of them had only each others for friends. Every day, the hen would wake up early and let out a loud crow just before dawn. The old lady also would get up early and make fire. Every body in the village would get up a little late after sunrise and borrow the day's fire form the old lady. This was a normal routine.

Gradually, the old lady and the hen both felt that the whole village was dependent on them and they could boss around any body. The hen thought that unless it woke up early and called for it, the sun would never rise. The old lady thought no food would be cooked in any body's house unless she started the fire (and everybody else borrowed from her).

One day, she got into a fight with a young lad who talked dis-respectfully about her ability to start fire. Irked by such lack of respect, she was determined to show the village what it is to live without fire for a day... and to show them what would happen if the sun did not rise for a day. That night, stealthily she took her rooster and a days supply of food and headed out of the village. She planned to spent a day in the forest away from the villagers.

The next day, the rooster crowed - the sun rose and the old lady made fire. She thought it would still be night at the village since the rooster was with her... In the afternoon, when she was eating what she cooked, she was imagining that everybody at the village would be frantically searching her to borrow the fire... everybody, especially the young lad, would be sorry that he spoke so harshly to her... She thought this day would be a lesson for all of the villagers.

After sunset, she returned back to the village. To her dismay - everything is normal there. Kids are happily playing, the shops are all glowing in the light of wicks lit up, there is smoke on top of every chimney. How did everybody get the fire? Nobody is talking about the missing sun. It did not even seem as though any body missed the old lady and her rooster.

At this moment, it dawned on her that all her pride in starting fire for the entire village was self made. The importance that she gave to her own rooster for the sun rising was all a mere hype. From that day, she continued to make fire for everybody - but never bossed over anybody.

Moral of the story: No body is indispensable. We should help others, but never bind them to obligations.

Ha ha... at this point you must be wondering how did I come to learn this so late in life? Well, It happens. I am a pretty out-spoken person. I almost speak to everybody at my office. I consider all of them were my friends (albeit of varying degrees). Last week, I went on a 5 day vacation... I was surprised to see that not one of varying degree of friends did remember me. There was no reason to (glad about that). But, isn't friendship all about calling a friend without a reason... just to keep in touch... make someone happy... just to find out 'whats up?' and so on. This also reflects on how I have been treating people... After all, all relationships in life (barring a few divine ones) are of quid-pro-quo nature. Aren't they?

Totally confused...

May be life is this... We learn various things at different times and under different circumstances. We keep accumulating knowledge... Intelligence is in choosing the right knowledge to apply for the right problem at appropriate circumstances.

Today morning, actions of a very dear friend of mine troubled me very much. The actions themselves could be totally unintentional (hopefully) and hence don't mean much. But, how am I to know? Nevertheless, I had to deal with it... Lot of reading and thinking in the past few weeks gave me the problem of plenty... too many solutions which one to apply?

Lesson No 1: (learnt from "A Poison Tree" by William Blake)

http://www.newi.ac.uk/RDOVER/blake/a_poison.htm

excerpt:
I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

I should have confronted the friend and settled matters then and there.

Did not apply this one... since I was not even sure of what I was thinking. More over, there is lot to lose in this approach (unless the level of friendship is like Karna-Duryodhana or Lewis-Clark or Rohit-Jaadu) if the basis of the wrath is absurd :-)). Closest friends Brutus and Caesar did not get this - how could I ?. More over, I have a history of jumping into wrong conclusions based on my extremely fast CPU - totally unreliable.

Lesson No 2: (learnt from kannada proverbs)

ಕಣ್ಣಾರೆ ಕಂಡರೂ ಪರಾಂಬರಿಸಿ ನೋಡು (kaNNAre kaNDarU parAmbarisi nOdu)
Even when you see it, you should examine more. Because, when you see only the present you may not the context. My dear friend Anand once elucidated that any sample of the infinite is bound to be incomplete and hence inaccurate. How true?

ಕೋಪದಲ್ಲಿ ಕೊಯ್ದ ಮೂಗು ಶಾಂತವಾದಾಗ ಬಂದೀತೆ? (kopadalli koydaa mUgu shaanthavAdaga bandIte?)
If you cut your nose in anger, it will not come back when you cool down. This has reference in Ramayana when Shurpanaka got her nose cut from Lakshmana due to her anger (haste) and hence was disfigured for ever. Very wise. So, I decided to apply due diligence before taking action... or even talking about it. Again, very wise.

Lesson No 3: (learnt from some one... some day)
If you derive your feelings (joy, sorrow, anger or frustration) from any body else... sooner or later you are bound to be disappointed. True feelings, what ever they are must be from within in. That way you will have complete freedom (as well as complete responsibility) in what you feel. No body can take that away from you.

I know... but have not reached a stage where I can insulate myself from being effected by others... Long way to go.

Lesson No 4: (observed while throwing stones at a serene lake)
Mind is like the surface of a calm lake. As long as the lake is calm, the reflection that we see on it is beautiful, some times more beautiful than the real world above. Any body who has spent a moon lit night by a lake will definitely agree with me on this. But how easy is it to disturb the tranquility by just dropping a stone... It causes ripples immediately... these ripples reach the bank... and as if getting a new purpose in life, they multiply... Even before the stone reaches the bottom of the lake, the ripples have already taken over the surface... the reflection of the same world you just admired looks horrible, twisted and distorted.

However, the lake is resilient. It swallows the stone (the trouble maker), accepts it as its own... and finally brings back the tranquility at the surface.

It took only fraction of a second for the stone to disturb the peace at the surface... It takes hours for the lake to fight the turmoil within to bring back the peace.

Well.... does this even apply here?? Any way the Lake, the stone, long time to restore tranquility... good connection.

Lesson No 5: (learnt from the story of the Zen guru)

http://www.chennaionline.com/society/zen.asp

excerpt:
Once upon a time a big monk and a little monk were travelling together. They came to the bank of a river and found the bridge was damaged. They had to wade across the river. There was a pretty lady who was stuck at the damaged bridge and couldn't cross the river. The big monk offered to carry the pretty lady across the river on his back. The lady accepted. The little monk was shocked by the move of the big monk. "How can big brother carry a lady when we are supposed to avoid all intimacy with females?" thought the little monk. But he kept quiet. The big monk carried the lady across the river and the small monk followed unhappily. When they crossed the river, the big monk let the lady down and they parted ways with her. All along the way for several miles, the little monk was very unhappy with the act of the big monk. He was making up all kinds of accusations about the big monk in his head. This got him madder and madder. But he still kept quiet. And the big monk had no inclination to explain his situation. Finally, at a rest point many hours later, the little monk could not stand it any further, he burst out angrily at the big monk. "How can you claim yourself a devout monk, when you seize the first opportunity to touch a female, especially when she is very pretty? All your teachings to me make you a big hypocrite." The big monk looked surprised and said, "I had put down the pretty lady at the river bank many hours ago, how come you are still carrying her along?"

You get the point....

Finally something that I like, and I want to accept. I have carried my worries all the way till the middle of the night. I should at least drop them here. Tomorrow, is another day - another start.

Random Lesson:
There were more learnings that I saw while walking back home. I saw the most beautiful evening clouds... huge foolish clouds trying to block out the brightness of the Sun... and the Sun was still imparting a splendid silver lining around them. Today I *saw* the real meaning of "Every cloud has a silver lining"... Too bad, that does not solve my problem. Hopefully its true.

As the name of the blog and this post, it is getting too random and too confusing.

Relax dear!

Often when we lose all hope and think this is the end, God smiles and says :
"Relax dear, its just a bend! Not the end."

Some SM's just make your day!!

Why do we name things?

Have you ever thought... Why do we have such a strong urge to name things? We are not contend by naming humans... we also name all our pets - that too with human names. We can not eat a fruit without calling it by a name. We can not climbdown a mountain without calling it Mt so and so. We name cyclones, waves, stars, volcanoes, waterfalls, rivers, deserts, islands... There are millions of species of animals apart from us on this planet and all of them carry out their business without having to name any thing.

I understand that we started out naming people to be distinctive and unique. Fine and fair argument... But some where down the line, we missed the very point and started naming children after some body else... clearly defeating the uniqueness objective. As if to bring order to chaos, we started having two parts to a name "person" and "family". World was peaceful until some body thought it was just not enough and came up with a "middle" name. Now we have "prefixes" and "suffixes"... This would be Bill Gates if he were knighted.... Sir William Henry Gates III. In the midst of all these, our dear friends from Andhra Pradesh created a rival system of naming... the only logic seems to be 'longer the better'. Try this Rajasekhara Srinivasulu Laxminarayana Siva Venkata Sai - Yes, it is one person's name and people call him Sai.

People of royal birth seems to have got the entire naming funda wrong... they rotate the same name every 2-3 generations. In Thailand, the king is always known as Rama.

On the other hand, you christen a person with a beautiful and well thought out name. But actually call him by his nickname. Fine, you did not like the real name. So you called him by nickname. But some cultures have rules in nicknaming a person too. Robert has to be nicknamed Bob, John-Jack, William-Bill, Elizabeth-Liz... So you are not actually *choosing* the nickname.

There is another peculiar thing that comes to notice about we referring to people:

We do not use names to refer to people if they are many of them. "There were many people at the function". We also do not use names if we do not care about the person. "The new finance guy is a moron".

Once we are a little more familiar with a person not referring to him by name may sound disrespectful. I can not keep referring to people at office as "the receptionist", or "the tech support guy", or "the MD" - although there are only one of each kind at my office. Familiarity makes me use their names. We also use names when there are less of them... "Mayank and Keshava are good friends of mine".

Again, if a person becomes too close to you... you stop referring to them by name. An Oscar acceptance speech would go like "I would like to thank my *Mother* for all that she has done...". Some times a "her" or a "him" in a sentence carries all the meaning it has to...

Does it not seem strange when we choose to refer a person/thing by its name?

When we talk about names, its hard to ignore Mr Shakespeare. He said "A Rose By Any Other Name Would Be a Rose"... But I ask why name it at all?

PS: We even name blogs... even when the best one came up with is "random"

Lofty ideals - words of an auto driver

So what if the English is broken? So what if they just rhyme? Auto drivers are as creative as any body else when it comes to spreading social messages...

Here is one of them:

Help ever...
If not hurt never.

Seen at the back of a truck

Save rain water.. One child is best.

Very noble thought(s)... but what's the connection?

Savanadurga - A Labour day outing

Bangalore is basically made up of rocky ground. If you go out of Bangalore just 50-60 Kms, you will find many many rocky hills. On top of many of these hills, a king (paalyegaara) of 16th century by name of 'Kempe Gowda' had constructed forts to protect the people from enemy invasion. Don't pin me down on dates and other facts... things are very much in grey area when we come to Bangalore's real history. Date lines don't match... Things are not taught in school... rotten politics is every where.

All that apart, after the accidental break down of the Mekedaatu plans - we decided to go to Savanadurga which would be a equally nice drive. My driving partner - lets call him Nani - was promptly only 20 minutes late to start. A nice (lengthy) breakfast in of Nani's old hangout's in Basaveshwarnagar further delayed our start by an hour... But who was in a hurry?

Nani is a good driver. We headed out of Bangalore on the Magadi Road... He negotiated the irritating Kamakshipalya traffic with a two-wheeler like agility. Oh BTW, we were driving a year new SWIFT. Half an hour of irritating traffic and more irritating road brought us to some where near Macho Halli. The agony continues... some "Work in progress" situation for the next four kilometers saw us riding over dirt tracks stirring up clouds of dust behind us. All these surprisingly did not seem to effect Nani at all, who was happily smiling away to the tunes of 'Dr Raj's eternal romantic songs'.

Nani had been here before... So, there was no need to ask for directions... although the illusive water-tank that he so clearly remembered never appeared before me. Any way, the winding roads kept him happy... nice music and the cool AC kept me happy. It was a very good combination. I needed to take pictures of anything remotely photo-worthy... and he wanted to take a break ever so often. And more over, time was on our side...

Well, reaching Savanadurga is all about left turns. There are mile-stones counting the number of kilometers (yeah, I see the contradiction too) left to reach Magadi. When it reaches 'one' there is a left turn to be taken... Boards are currently there. Not sure if they last longer... This is called 'Hosapete' circle. Couple of chais shops, bakery, cool-drinks... and nothing more.

Savanadurga is 12 Kms from there. Some distance (have no clue how much) in that road, will lead you to a place called VG Doddi. Gotcha... if you reached here, it means you missed the left turn you were supposed to take. Yes, just before VG Doddi, there is a left turn... there is a decorative entrance (again, not sure how long it will last). This should be good enough hint. After that you have to be really dumb or arrogant to lose your way.

We were at the base of Savanadurga hill by 11:30. There is a temple for Lord Narasimha at the base. Since wait period to consult the deity was too long, we decided to first climb the durga (fort) and then come back to the temple. So be it. We started to ascend... the wrong way. It had to happen. When we found it tough we looked around to see how others were doing it... that is when we realized that there is a easier, albeit round-about way to start. Ten minutes (okay... it was 6 minutes) into the climb, we had our first pit stop. Clearly we were climbing the wrong rock. We had to walk sideways to reach the correct path. Since we were already half way (okay.. 1/4th) up this rock, I thought why not see the top of this one. Nani gladly volunteered to stay back. Climbing was easy. Damn easy - until I reached a point where memories of Kabbaludurga (a mis-adventure of mine 4 years ago. Another day - another story) came back to me. The crevices I could hold on to were becoming less comfortable. Some how I had lost the will to stand upright. All this said - time to climb down. Oops... and then I made the mistake of looking down... Nani was way down some where... and there seemed to be no way I could go there walking on two legs. I wondered whether I should be happy that I climbed so much in just three minutes or start making contingency plans if I end up with the same plight as Chamayya Mestru of Nagara Haavu movie. Well... After 10 gruelling minutes of dorsal (face skywards) crawling I was back where it all began. Both my palms had blisters but I was happy to be walking again... many thanks to my denim trousers.

We started walking sideways to reach the 'actual' path. Until you do it, you would not realize the risk in this. It is very easy to twist your ankle when gravity is tricking your sense (if you have one) of balance. Fine... Once we joined the more trodden path, we were joined by various groups of people... some left us behind and went ahead... and some vice-versa. All kinds of people come to Savanadurga... some as pilgrimage... some for just time pass... some to put a tick on their TODO list... reason could be many - but the pain is all the same.

The terrain, the heat, scarcity of water, Nani's innate urge to give up - I was fighting multiple battles here. Each battle required different strategies... The terrain had to conquered the old fashion way. One step at at time. The heat... there was no escape. The only way out was to surrender and mitigate the damage by taking ample rest when ever we came across shades. They came in various shapes. Under a tree, between two boulders, sometimes even walking in the shadow of Nani helped :-)) The third battle was against water (or the lack of it). I am accustomed to using very less water during my running... So that battle was won fair and square. The last one was a tough ask... the enemy was changing faces at every corner. Nani would find creative reasons to stop at any pit stop. Luckily, I had more creative reasons why we should see the top of this climb. This tug-of-war between the curious and the quitters went on for 2 hours... both physically and in our (Nani's and mine) minds. Finally the curious had it their way.

The fort is no big deal to write about. It must have been a formidable opponent to overpower in its days. However, I think anything that high in that heat would be formidable... The enemy had to first fight the quitter in himself and only then would the fort be accessible. On top of the Fort, there is a Nandi (Bull, the vehicle of Lord Shiva) looking over towards North. There are no inscriptions... no commentary on how it got there, why it has been put there, who put it there. Zilch. Nothing. There were a bunch of other climbers who had their own un-verified versions of history. I did not understand why there was a bull, when the temple below was of Lord Narasimha and not Lord Shiva... any way that is for the historians to ponder about.

At 2:30, we thought it was time to head back... In this more used path, getting down was not that scary... We were safely back at the base in 50 minutes (okay, 1 hour 15 minutes). At the base a nice kind hearted lady offered us drinking water from the well. She would not accept our help in drawing the next pot of water from the well... 'Does urban life kill the humanity in people?' I began to think....

We quickly offered our prayers to Lord Narasimha and headed back to civilization. Near the base of the fort, there is a vendor of tender coconuts. Mr Nani quenched all his thirst here. Nani's promise of getting ragi balls for me for lunch seemed impractical since it was already way past lunch time. Still we tried our luck at Magadi... In vain.

Nani, still could not believe what he had accomplished. The quitter in him had been sedated... albeit temporarily. He definitely felt good about it. But does not want to accept it... for fear that if he gets into this habit of feeling good this way - life may become harder.

Reached Bangalore safely at 7:00 PM. Bought 'Namma Oorina Rasikaru' by GorUru Ramaswamy Iyengar for just ten rupees (Now you know where I picked up this Nani from). Rava Idly at Janata Hotel... The End.

The End.

Talkative Man

Madhu is his name. Not many would remember this even after they read the novel cover to cover. This is because only one character in the entire novel (including himself) calls him with that name. Such is the aptness of the name "Talkative Man" to the character. Again, like Nataraj in the Man-eater, he is born into one of those rich Kabir street families. For a change he lives alone... and does not have a family to call his own. Since he is a journalist (wannabe) he gets to be at almost every where in Malgudi as and when he pleases. Together with a kind heart and lot of wealth, (seemingly very logical) he has a habit of going out of his way to help people.

This helpful nature, first gets him mixed up with a 'behrupia' - a man posing himself as a UN researcher in 'futurology'. Then TM helps the 'queen', the behrupia's first wife to get back her husband... In between, he tries to help an old man get his grand daughter back on track. His antics with Jayaram - the photographer and the bookworm neighbor are throughly refreshing to read... but nothing great to repeat ;-(

Some people may TM (story) has an abrupt ending... RKN himself inclusive. However, I feel nobody should read RKN for the story any way... what if the story ended abruptly, prematurely or did not end at all. I enjoy the story telling while it lasts. Thats all.

Some time in the near future, I shall write about the short stories I liked...

It's Malgudi every where I see...

Talkitive man will have to wait. I have something to share in the meanwhile....

Somebody once reasoned that RKN chose the name Malgudi as a combination of Malleswaram and Basavanagudi. There is no corroborating evidence presented by any credible source yet. However, it is possible. Very much.

I see Central Tiffin Room in Malleswaram. It has a high pedestal on which the proprietor sits and orders around. There are a couple of seats very close to him which he may reserve for his guests with whom he can talk while he works.... This could have easily been Hotel Boardless. However, RKN is the master of taking the most interesting aspects of many places and putting them all together in one imaginary place. According to me, this is one of the reasons for his wide acclaim. Individually, we would have seen/felt each of the parts... Hence the 'whole' does not seem strange at all. You feel that it is exactly the way it should have been.

Nowadays I see Malgudi everywhere... Last two weeks I have been reading only RKN apart from newspapers. This has made me see everything in that shade.

I go to Hotel Ajantha for breakfast. Foreigners looking for moderate accommodation are frequently spotted there. The waiters (those who think they speak good English) often compete to serve them for better TIPs. Thats normal.

From the last three days, a typical Indian gentleman and a European looking lady are having tiffin round about the same time as us. Both of them dress modestly, though trim and tidy. They speak very less to each-other. In their faces they exhibit a rare satisfaction of having successfully completed decades of a healthy inter-racial marriage... It did not like they had any children. They were very happy to be with each other... and for each other. I can guess that guy is a convent educated government officer... Must be a archaeologist or a historian of some sort.. A professor in literature may be. He must have been to Europe on a study tour... The lady must have fallen love with our "tall-dark-handsome" hero and came to India with him. It had to be that way... They would be having a nice bunglow in New Extension Layout... But the question is, 'why is he having breakfast at Boardless?' Is their maid sick? Or has she gone to her village on the pretext of ailing mother. Or is her cow 'Kaveri' giving birth to two calves (siamese twins) is the reason? That must really be a spectacle... people from all the neighbouring villages must have come to see the freak of nature. The village must have been divided in opining whether the creature is a form of God or daemon.... My imagination just can't stop wandering around Malgudi. Reality just fades away to background and gives way to imagination every so easily...


The other day, somebody commented that the knives in office pantry were not sharp enough... I controlled my self not to mention the story of Ranga in "The Edge"...

I see monkeys playing around on Bruntton Road, I can't help looking around for a Sami (of 'The Mute Companions') searching for his partner.

A week ago, a guy from Deccan Herald came to our door step to give us complimentary copies of the newspaper... Wasn't he the Chandran from 'BA - Bachelor of Arts' ?

RKN definitely got his stories from his neighbourhood. Thanks to him, I now see my neighbour hood in a totally different way and try often guess - 'what is the story that this guy is trying to tell?'

PS: I have not yet returned the book.... ;-) Wondering if the book can tell me a story that is not printed in it?

A beautiful journey through the world of RKN

As always, the book was borrowed. A kind-hearted friend of mine (who does not yet know my prowess of building a library out of borrowed books) lent me "A Town called Malgudi". It is a collection of two novels and sixteen short stories. Simply awesome. It's a keeper... I may even break my tradition and buy this one :-)

The Man eater of Malgudi (1962):
I read RKN not for the story - but for the story telling. There is no concept of a spoiler... You can actually know the ending (or in fact the entire story) and still enjoy the "reading" part just as much. When I started reading the 'Man-eater' I knew that the ending was a murder and it was comical (thanks to the kind-hearted friend). As I started reading through the book, I actually did not care what happened at the end... at some point, I did not even want it to end... How could one when you came across such lines:

(humbly copied without permission...)

... 'I have never felt better,' I said, although the thought kept troubling me that the veterinarian was trespassing unwarrantedly into human fields.

... The alarm-clock that had screeched in the dark on the previous night was now ticking away modestly.

... Every daemon carries within him, unknown to himself, a tiny seed of self-destruction, and goes up in thin air at the most unexpected moment. Otherwise what is to happen to humanity?

Add to these... fabulous characters.... The narrator Nataraj, (the hero) is a through gentleman. Although he inherited the wealth, does a honest day's work for lively hood. He is extremely nice to redirect some (most) of his customers to his neighbouring press - The Star Printers who have a much advanced machine - The Heidelberg. RKN does not mention the name of Nataraj's press in this novel. But reading other novels you can know that it is called "Truth Printing Press" How apt for a man of his character. My respect for the character doubled when I was reading this....

(again respectfully replicated)
...
The septuagenarian asked again, 'Is Nataraj here?' unable to see inside owing to the glare.
'Yes, yes, I'm here,' I cried, and went down to help him up the steps.

How many business men welcome old people (who have not come to do any trade) with such respect? Later the old man rambles about his diet, his longevity and what not. Nataraj listens to everything patiently and even promises to find a replacement dog for his grandson.

The other characters - the poet (Does he have a name?), Sen - the journalist, Vasu - the villain, Muthu - the tailor, Kumar - the elephant, Rangi - the dancer, Nataraj's wife, all make distinctive impact on the readers mind - thanks to RKN's description that leaves very little to the reader's imagination... at the same time not burdening the reader with too much detail.

Oh, I could go on and on... the whole novel is filled with touching details that are too close to everyday life. But then, I will let you to read it yourself.

Next post is about the Talkitive Man... till then, grab a book and read.

Wish I were a child again

There are two routes to go from Bangalore to my home town Kota. One is through Hassan-Mangalore, and other through Shimoga. The former carries lot of traffic and usually buses ply at night only. As a child, I always liked the later route. Only by that route, we would start our journey (from Kota) by early evening. At the Kundapur bus stand my father and Uncle (so nice of them) would get busy buying tickets and securing seats for all of us in that red bus. There would be one window seat fought for among we three cousins. Usually elders intervene... and invariably a seat sharing formula would be devised... amicable to all the parties involved. Half an hour into the drive, we would have forgotten all our differences and all three of us would be looking out of the same window. After all, what good is a good scenery if you can not show it to some one and admire together? Happiness is nothing if you have no one to share it with ;-)

To cut the long story short, we would wait for that treacherous mountain pass to get the enchanting view of the sunset. The driver used to be considerate. If he reached the spot a couple of minutes ahead of time, he would make up some lame reason to stop. We would get out and take a leak... in the middle of no where... Sunset always used to be breath taking... That red ball of fire, no longer had the intensity to burn... But only to fill the entire sky with colors that had no name for... Soon after the sunset, (sometimes even before one) some body would shout at the driver for the delay and we would be asked to board again... I never understood what was the hurry.

Next attraction along the way would be the well lit tea-stalls - some by petromax... some by tube lights... and some by our very own dim Mysore lamps... There were hundreds of them and we would not stop in any one of them... May be that is what attracted us to them... seen a lot of them, but ate in none.

Some times, the sibling rivalry for the window seat would flare up again... and I used to go all the way to front of the bus to stand behind the driver... Now I had a much bigger window to look at ;-) After twilight, I would be amazed that the number of animals on the road. Dogs, wild cat and abandoned cattle... their eyes glow when they watch the oncoming vehicles... When my fatigue would match up to the enthusiasm, I would doze of standing there... Little later, I would be back to seat next to my mother's and curl up on her lap. My father must have been the transporter ;-)

Now, I go to my home town couple of times a year... Typical journey involves - first of all being alone. Secondly, I go to sleep even before the bus gets out of Bangalore... and wake up to the honking noises of local buses of Mangalore. Getting a good night's sleep has taken over the priority. When I chose buses, I do not see the route it takes, but the time it reaches Kota. It has been years since I have seen a proper Sunset... Ages since I saw a sunrise (apart from mountain peaks during trekking). How pathetic...

Some once said - "For a child the journey is as important as the destination". How true. I miss being one.

OF'IF

Stop trying to make sense of the title. Things will be clear later.

In spite of my perceived extrovert nature, I have very very small friend circles. Yes, more than one circles that are carefully kept disjoint ;-). Each of them have hardly 3-4 people in them. This arrangement was working fine until a couple of months ago.

Two things happened. The mostly closely knit circle - the Malleswaram gang simply lost its single most binding factor - bachelor hood. 2 of them got married, one left the country (I hear that Indian High Commission in London purportedly *lost* his passport. No chance of him coming back in near future). This has left my week-end calender totally khali.

Secondly, I have started spending long hours at office (for reasons beyond my control). At first I thought I was only getting used to it... early morning and late night commute seemed very attractive in terms of traffic. Slowly I have got addicted to everything at the office... the place, the people, the AC, coffee, Internet, the speakers at my desk, Kennedy's speeches and so on...

Yes, you may say that week-ends are for family. I agree. Its not that I don't like my folks. I have extremely loving and supporting parents. But at this age, my first choice to hang out with are not my parents. More so, ever since the questions about my impending arranged marriage sneaks into every conversation.

The net result is that I have to spend these two days every week cut off from everything I love and avoiding uncomfortable conversations (with people whom I otherwise adore). No wonder I am filled with this scary OF'IF (Oh F***, Its Friday) feeling.

Solutions welcome.

Trust and Mistrust

Absolute trust is the basis of all relationships. duh. How many people have already told you this? I am not going to repeat the same. What I am trying to bring out is not 'the power of trust' but the difference between 'absolute' trust and the 'almost absolute' trust. Yes, the kind of trust that has stood by you in all the good times and has never been tested yet... but assumed to be absolute.

An airplane is made of the highest quality materials that the scientists can produce. It is one big complex unit that works (most of the time). Just like our 'absolute' trust in some one. But, even a small hole in the air-plane's armor is dangerous. At such high altitudes, high speeds, and higher pressure even if the shell of an aircraft is slightly compromised, the point of failure quickly finds way to expand all over and rips the shell apart.

This is exactly how a small hole in sub-marine is capable of crushing a mighty sub and condemning the inmates to a watery grave. This is exactly how a single spec of impurity in iron starts the process of rusting and can bring down a bridge in time.

By now, you should have realized where my analogies are heading. Trust is mighty powerful when it is absolute. It can help ordinary men achieve seemingly impossible feats. It can help families get past their darkest hours into the sunshine of happier days together. Blessed are those people who enjoy somebody's absolute trust and who can absolutely trust others.

The same trust becomes extremely helpless if it looses its wholeness. Almost complete trust always loses to that small minuscule amount of mistrust (or suspicion). The 0.01% mistrusts mocks at the 99.99% pure trust... calls it a fool, naive and emotional. It boasts itself of being pragmatic. It taunts you for blindfolding yourself with trust. That 0.01% of suspicion is on its way to corrode and eat into the share of 99.99% complete trust. It is in its nature to do that. Very soon, you will see that mis-trust snow balls itself into a monster acting totally out of control... This monster does not let you see reason. No logic, No mantra can sedate this beast. It sets you on path of self-destruction.

All is not lost though. In any relationship, we should be on guard not to let mistrust creep in - however stealthily. The first traces of such act must be dealt severely with outright honesty and frankness. Kill the mistrust before it becomes a monster.

Timing is everything

It has always been an annoying dilemma. Whenever an opportunity presents itself, it comes along with its own baggage of risks and rewards. This is part and parcel of ever-day life. The opportunity often changes its balance... some times, the risk weigh more and at other times the rewards are too tempting. The whole business is very dynamic (volatile and beyond reason as some of my friends describe it).

It is always too difficult to know the exact time to act. Too soon you may lose what you have. Too late, you may miss what you could have had. Too soon, you repent. Too late, you repent. You either have to know the future or just get lucky to not repent. Such is the nature of the opportunity.

Apart from timing, there is a problem of reversal of trend when you are evaluating the prospects of an opportunity. History tells me that reversal of trend normally happens immediately after the action. Dangerous.

There is another problem with opportunity. It has a tendency to change very very fast. One extreme of this is that it could vanish in an instant - without warning. Even if after a long deliberation, you are ready to take the risk - the opportunity (and there by the reward) simply does not exist any more. Too bad.

In the past one year, the dilemma I am fighting is taking me through ups and downs nothing short of a roller coaster... Has the time come to act? To seize the opportunity or to let go and wait for the next one? Oh wait, is it still there? Was it ever there?

Those who know me well have by now realized what exactly I am talking about...
Those who know me too well.... take that grin out of your face.
Others (who have cared to read till here) would be already speculating... reading between the lines, between words... trying anagrams may be... let me clarify.

;-) Yes, it is the stock market that I am talking about.

Its been 10 months since I did my last trade... I am simply not been able to make sense of the market. Every tanking, I am thinking "Next rally, I am booking profits"... By the time, there is short rally I am already thinking "Next plunge, I should be buying".

Have we seen the bottom yet, or is there still pounding to be taken... ??
Should I start buying now? Or should I have booked profits last week? Was the market ever worth investing in? Is India still hot?

If only I knew the answers.... (or at least the future)

What is the picture saying?

There is a photo competition at office. Yes, amateurs only. I am not able to find a good caption for this photo... I would appreciate if you could help me....

I could think of a few, but they were in ಕನ್ನಡ. Not permissible in the contest... or is it?
1.
ಬೆಟ್ಟಗಳ ಮಧ್ಯ ಮನೆಯಿರಲು, ಮನೆಯ ಹಿಂದೊಂದು ಮರವಿರಲು,
ಮಕ್ಕಳಾಡಲು ಬೇಲಿಯೇ ಇಲ್ಲದಷ್ಟು ಅಂಗಳವಿರಲು,
ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ರಿಯಾಲ್ ಎಸ್ಟೇಟಿಗೆ ಕಿಚ್ಚು ಹಚ್ಚೆಂದ ಸರ್ವಜ್ಞ.
2.
this is for all the fellow fans of the hit movie " ಮುಂಗಾರು ಮಳೆ "
ಮುಂಗಾರು ಮಳೆಯೇ, ಏನು ನಿನ್ನ ಹನಿಗಳ ಲೀಲೆ?
3.
ವಸಂತ ಬಂದ ಋತುಗಳ ರಾಜ ತಾ ಬಂದ - ಬಿಎಂಶ್ರೀ [english geetegaLu]
4.
Cuckoo, jag-jag, pu-we, to-witta-woo!
- Thomas Nashe (1567-1601)

Pavlov's Dogs

Through his studies in the early part of last century, Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov demonstrated that reflex actions can be conditioned. His experiments involved in feeding a dog always (and only) when a bell rang in the back ground. Once the dog got used to the combination, he removed the food and rang only the bell. Poor dog started salivating on hearing the bell ring. This proved that a reflex action (salivating at the sight of the food) could also be cultivated by conditioning the brain to some other stimulus.

What I fail to understand is the need for all the dogs in the experiment. This conditioning of different stimulus happens to us humans every day. Doesn't it?

Don't we all remember our childhood when the sound of bell ringing always reminded us of ice cream?

Haven't you slowed down and looked around even while walking on busy crowded sidewalk... just when you caught the scent of Ralph Lauren in the air - just because you associate that fragrance with your wife (girl friend)?

When you are waiting desperately for a letter, doesn't the sight of the postman create the excitement in your heart irrespective of how many days he has no letter to give you. Some times just the sound of the cycle bell is enough to get your hopes (of getting that letter) high.

There are different sounds that we have got so accustomed to and readily associate them to totally unrelated feelings. Cell phone manufacturers have used it effectively to associate their signature ring tones to happy feelings. There is a Nokia AD that is shot in black and white... Half way through the advertisement, there is a phone ring and festivities of Holi (festival of colours) begin. I liked this AD because it tries to connect the feeling of being colorful, festivities and happiness to that one phone call. Isn't it exactly the same feeling that a phone call (the ring tone) from your loved ones trigger in your mind?

If these reactions of the mind are indeed reflexes (not under voluntary control) then each one of us is just like a "Pavlov's Dog". But unlike those dogs, its our mind/heart that is doing the trick on us (and not just chemical reflexes).

How to make your tanking stock work for you?

Yes. There is a way you can make your loss making shares save taxes. In India, short term capital losses can be offset only against short term capital gains. The long term capital losses can be offset only against long term capital gains. Given this, there is no 'use' (apart from cutting losses) of booking long term capital loss.

So, If you are sitting on capital losses then don't let it turn LONG TERM. At the stroke of an year book the losses. This can be now offset against the short term capital gains (if any). You saved 10% there.

Example:
If you bought 100 shares of Ranbaxy at Rs 510/- per share on June 1st 2004. Then by March 25, 2005 you have accrued a tidy sum of Rs 30,000/- as short term capital gains [by some other intelligent investing]. You would have to pay Rs 3,000/- as tax on that amount. But alas, your Ranbaxy has plummeted to Rs 325/- per share. You are sitting on Rs 18,500/- of losses. But if you book the loss in March 26th, 2005 then your net short term gain has been reduced to Rs 11,500/- which attracts a tax of just Rs 1,150/- A gain of Rs 1,850/- right there. Too bad about your loss though.

If you really are bent on having Ranbaxy in your portfolio (and not ready to wait for the real bottom) then buy it the next day. You would have saved Rs 1,850/- by just accounting.

On the other hand, if you hold Ranbaxy continuously beyond June 1st 2005 then and even if the stock price is Rs450/- per share (greater than Rs325/- per share as in March 2005) your loss of Rs 6,000/- would be long term capital loss. This Rs 6,000/- can not be offset against any short term capital gains made by you from April 1st 2005 to Mar 31st 2006.

The fear of expression

Fact: 80% of the words framed in mind are never spoken. They are used to talk to oneself.

Man is undoubted most intelligent animal. He has created a complex form of communication. Spoken Words. Various cultures around the world made it even more complex by adding etiquette to the words. Now communication is no longer just semantics... It's not about being grammatically correct, Its about conveying the right emotions and that too in a manner that conforms to all the rules of propriety. No wonder 80% of the words framed in our mind remain there only... Its we humans who have put this stringent filter on what is actually spoken (or written).

At this point, I begin to wonder what good is this highly complex mode of communication, if social structure is not letting you talk most of the time. I would rather be a honey bee or an ant. There would be only two types of dances I would know. At least I would never think 100 times before dancing :-)

This fear of breaking the protocol, fear of crossing the boundaries of propriety has devastating effects on mankind. Clearly, there will no fluent flow of ideas among people... A lot is left unsaid for fear of making fool of one self... exchange of ideas is the basis of civilization...

New relations are very difficult to be established... between people., between nations, between cultures for the very lack of communication. A sincere honest dialogue is the corner stone of any kind of relationship... (even across species)

Friends, I request you to relax the filter a bit... talk more openly to others... Human-beings were not made to be like this... we put these chains ourselves on the words we speak... cut them loose and reach out to the world.

A Magic Wand

My childhood has been happy. Really very happy. Never once did I want anything so badly that I had to wish for a magic wand. But as we grow older, our dreams get complex... involves uncertainties.. conflicts with other dreams (our own and those of others)... obscenely contradicts reality... Some times, dreams keep you awake... Sometimes wake the living hell out of you... In the midst of all these, for the fist time in my life, I want to wish that I had a magic wand...

But then again, a voice inside me reminds "Thou shalt not get what thou not deserve"... Yes indeed... A wand may give you what you wish. But will it bring happiness? I doubt so. Anything earned so easily can only fuel more greed. If I can guard myself against greed, how can I guard the wand from innate human stupidity.

There is another tiny but irritating (mosquito like) voice that keeps saying "Beware of what you wish, lest it come true". Life gets way too complicated if you wish for something... get it... and not know how do deal with it. Half of the cocaine addicted celebrities fall into this category.

I am ready to risk being not so happy... But at least my life will be honest and simpler. I will continue to fight the urge to wish for the "magic wand". After all didn't Gandhi say "Full effort is full victory". Where would be full effort, if I used a magic wand?

Valentine's day - Precious Learnings

Valentine's day - Lesson's learnt today.


Girl's always send mixed signals... its just them. And Its not wired into a male brain to sort them out (no codec available). If I reach out to my magic bag and pull out this year's statistics. For every two hearts that found each other tonight , there are at least four hearts that met with their anti-hearts (on the same lines of matter and anti-mater). For those of you who know basic quantum physics, I need not explain what happens next. The reason for all this trouble is the mixed up signals.

My word of advice to dear girls:
Please, take pity on our simple brains and convey your feelings in simple words, colors or signs... If you want a teddy for your birthday, then you say "I like that teddy very much" just two days before your birthday and you will get one for your birthday. We are that efficient. On the other hand, if you say that a teddy you saw when you were busy shopping for your sandals in a up-market showroom was cute (can any Man quantify cuteness??), two full months before the birthday... you will not get one. Simple.

Its not that we don't try. Sometimes we try to emulate you. The most complex message this one guy could think of is "Wear a red dress if you like me, wear a white one if you dont". How simple can it get... Guess what, the girl wore a red top with a white skirt. Now, what should our friend make out of that. I say, RTFM. Red - Yes, White - No. Keep it simple.

The next two, I learnt from personal experience.

Its pretty much bad idea to go to a restaurant alone on Valentine's day.
The manager was surprised when I said "Table for one please". Since there are no such tables, he ushered me to a 'table-for-two' right in the heart land of valentine couples. All in their mid/late twenties and chattery... I was hoping to order the quickest items and avoid eye-contact with any of the other guests... But that was not to be. There were couples in every direction I looked... except in the direction of the half shining fork and the spoon. Apparently my order (a soup and a chopsee) was not quick enough. Just 40 minutes.

Next time, If I am alone on Valentine's day - I will go to Upahara Darshini.

If you must go to a restaurant, please take a book along.
Say, inspite of all your wisdom (or lack of it) you happen to go to a restaurant alone, carry a book with you. Language, content, genre does not matter.
There are two advantages:
A. Obviously you can pass some time until your 40 minute dish gets prepared.
B. People dont have to think too hard to find out why you are alone on Valentine's night.

A quick recap....
- Girls, Please keep it simple. Red-yes White-No
- No Restaurants on valentine's night (if you see some one single in a restaurant, please don't stare. Its hard being single, its worse being stared at for that.)
- Carry a book. Always.

Bengalooru Bandh and lot of catch up

Bengalooru was peaceful today. Too peaceful to be true. It makes me wonder if this is the lull before the storm. All this time being alone has given me an opportunity to bring my blog back to present. From the last post to now, a lot of things have happened with me... A trek to Kumaraparvatha, a visit to California, new friends, a Kannada movie and what not.

This time my visit to US was timed perfectly with respect to the holiday season. However, it was horribly timed as far as the company I had was concerned. So, not much of traveling was possible. USA is a very lonely country without a car. Some day I will write about my visit to Los Angeles...

Mungaru Male is the latest hit in the Kannada Film Industry. I had heard about it so much when I was in US that I had to see as soon as I landed here. The film did not disappoint at all. It is a very simple love story together with some original comedy as well as breath taking music. It is shot at some of the most beautiful places of Karnataka. Even those who have seen Jog falls many times will not be able to recognise the falls in the first instant. If you have not seen the movie.. What are you waiting for?? Go see it.

The "Language of Instruction" debate

Off late I have had numerous discussions (read arguments) about the "language of instruction" issue. Below are a few points I would like you to consider before taking sides in this argument :-)

1. Every body learns better when taught in mother tongue.
I feel that a solid understanding of Maths and Science in the early years of primary education is a pre-requisite to any discipline of higher education. This determines a persons ability to think logically, dissect information and make informed decision. These skills learnt that early in life become part of one's psyche (or subconscious).

World over, not one study shows that learning "Basic Maths and Science" in English is better than learning the same in your mother tongue. There is no denying the fact that you home is your first school. It is obviously better to extend this comfort of home (at least in language) into the early years at school.

Unfortunately, I have seen people trying to solve the problem by resorting to speaking English at home. It's a solution, alright. But that creates a bigger problem that I will discuss later.

2. It's not hard at all to learn new languages
I have heard people tell it is very difficult for students to switch to English as the medium of instruction later in their study. Thats not true at all. Unfortunately this point was put forth by a school head-master on TV. I think, it reflects badly upon him and his teachers only. Everybody knows that children are very receptive to new languages. A high school student could learn a new language much easier than a man of his age. No Doubt.
The very fact that VETA, Rapidex, Max Muller Bahvan or Alliance Française are in business (and good at it) shows that you can learn a new language almost at any time in your life.

3. "English speaking ability" is totally over-rated.
People have sighted the "English speaking ability" of Indians the major factor in India's success in the Information Technology sector. Believe me this ability is thoroughly over-rated. The French, Germans, and Japanese are much more advanced speaking very little (or no) English. Ask any Infosyian business manager to list top 6 points that have won him his last few projects:
A. Operational Efficiency
B. Quality driven execution
C. Huge talent base (read bench strength)
D. The Time Zone. As a company the client would be working the full 24 hours.
E. Cost

Did you see the "English speaking ability" in the list?

Well, by now you would be ready to hit me on my face for having left out the entire BPO/Call center business. I do agree that our "English speaking ability" gives us an edge in this sector. But, those who fear that China would put us out of business contradict themselves. If Chinese can learn "English" so fluently that they can challenge Indian business based on 3-4 generations of speaking experience, then it must be very easy. Isn't it? Why do you make such a big deal of learning English later in life?

Secondly, the BPO/Call-center model is not sustainable. The cost difference is soon will be wiped out when employee cost will go up. China, Philippines, Singapore, Korea will soon catch up with our "English speaking ability" sooner or later. More and more processes will be automated leading to lesser and lesser people required.

Thirdly, Is that the direction we want our country to go? Be a big huge factory providing cheap labour to the world. This will only take us to the second place. Never the first.

4. Language is the carrier of culture.
You want to kill a culture, kill the language.
Wisdom of generations are passed on through books. You need to know the language (be able to read) to imbibe the knowledge and wisdom (yes, translation is a option. But, there is always some loss in translation). If children are not taught to read the "native" languages, the entire wisdom learnt over generation would be lost in a couple of generation. Don't believe me? Look what happened to Sanskrit. All the worldly wisdom in the field of medicine, yoga, music and every other discipline is locked in scriptures that we hardly understand. Yes, the damage is not apparent immediately. With respect to Sanskrit, it may have happened over centuries of Mogul rule, closely followed by systematic dismantling of Indian education system by the British.

5. Not all of us need English.
When we talk about globalization and meeting the world, English speaking ability gives us a tiny edge. But, you can not deny that local business is best done in local language. Guess what, only 1% or 2% of Indian population is in businesses that *require* them to speak English. More than 50% (of the employed) are working for Government or other organization that interact with people directly. How can you expect a person who does not know to read or write an Indian language be equipped to do this job efficiently? Should we sacrifice efficiency in Indian (people oriented) offices only to be well equipped to make some foreign offices faster?
If you pick 50 random students from any average school, I guess 30 of them will end up doing business or get employed in occupations that definitely need read/write knowledge of at least one of the Indian languages. If you deny 30 of them that chance, on the pretext that you want 50 of them to make big in IT (or similar fields), I think you can clearly see the flaw in that logic.

My solution:
1. All Indian schools must teach Indian languages at least a compulsory course if not the medium of instruction. I am stressing compulsory because, given a choice a child would opt out of anything that is difficult. At the age of 10 you really don't know what is best for your own future.

2. If a child is going to a school where the mother tongue is not the medium of instruction, then they must provide ample coaching at home in mother tongue.

3. Indian IT Managers must find an alternate business model that does not rely entirely on our head start in "English speaking ability". Innovation and adaptability must take precedence to taking short term profits from out-sourcing low-tech jobs.

I know, this medium of expression is totally one sided. Rebuttals are welcome at prashanth_k_blr at yahoo dot com.

Finally some questions:
When was the last time you read a book written in an Indian Language?
In what language does your mind think?
Do you enjoy Kabir's Dohas or Sarvajna's three liners or Thiruvalluvar's wise sayings? Do you think it is important to read them?
Do you have a Plan-B for your child?

The answers may help you to chose which side you are on

Iran with Bangalore

Yes, I have not yet found one person who read the above line engraved on the medal that has not exclaimed "What the ??" Two weeks ago, Bangalore hosted the "Times of India International Marathon". It was my first attempt at a half marathon. Yes, I completed the half marathon in 2:11:11. I gather that it is pretty good time for a beginner. After finishing that, a lot of people have been surprised (obviously, looking at my frame) that I could do that... The rest of the blog provides some answers.

Even as a child I always wanted to be a long distance runner... I used to imagine myself as one... Not a sprinter, not a cricketer, not any other glamorous sport... I still believe that long distance running is one of those sport (apart from wrestling) that could help you in your real every day life. Seriously... What good is skill at shot-put or javelin or pole-vault for your every day life... Nothing. Long distance running teaches endurance, builds character, never lets you get late to work.

Although I always wanted to be a runner, it was not until a year ago that I seriously started jogging. Thanks to Subbu. For the first few weeks, I could run only 700 meters continuously. I was thinking that was cool. Those of you who can do 1Km today can easily prepare for next year's half marathon.

Partner or no partner does not matter. After the first few kilometers, its always you v/s you. A pretty face that smiles at you once in a while may help for the next hundred yards... But thats not where you should draw your energy from. It should come from within.

A good pair of running shoes does help. I know a lot of people say it is all gimmick by shoe companies and it does not matter at all... But I have found it helpful. With 'Power' I would feel the pain in my legs at around the 8th Km. With Adidas Climacool... the pain comes in only at 16th Km or later :-)

Have a schedule. Stick to it. In a time management session, the instructor told that the best way to get your self to commit to a schedule is to announce it to the public. The fear of being ridiculed will get you out of the bed every day. There are many many sites that give detailed training timetables... Choose one stick to it. Google for "long distance training".

Warm up is a must. Its boring to do same old stretches... But believe me it is very very important. 10 minutes of warm up for every hour you plan to run is a must.

Again, running is the only legal way you can get a high.

Happy running.

PS: for those of you who still dont believe... here is the certificate.

Le Tour de France

Pro-Cycling has just started to get its fan following in India over the past 2-3 years. The "Tour-de-France" is the most celebrated annual event of cycling. There is more to the tour than Lance Armstrong. For those who do not know about it, this is their website.

In short:

• Happens every year in the month of July (usually July 2nd to 23rd)
  
• Approximately 180 riders of 20+ teams race for 3 weeks across France for the ultimate glory. There are only 2 rest days. This year, FIFA WC '06 final has eaten away one of the rest days.
• Teams are not national... but based on sponsors. Just like F1.
• Each day the riders cover approximately 200 Kms in about 5 hours. Yes, go back and read it again - no typo there.
• To suite riders of various abilities, 5 competitions go in parallel
• Overall timing : Yellow jersey
• Best Climber: Polka dotted pink jersey
• Best Sprinter: Green jersey
• Best Young Rider (Overall timing + age limit): white jersey
• Most aggressive rider (subjective. judge's decision) : red number plate.

The race can be split into three terrains. The flat section, The Pyrenees and the Alps: Initial days of the tour will usually be flat. Not much climbing. These stages (a day on the tour is called a "stage") are usually flat and in excess of 220 Kms. Usually the sprinters get their way in these sections. The Pyrenees and the Alps involve lot of climbing... this section is what separates the men from the boys. By the end of these stages, we usually have a clear winner and that guy has to just finish carefully in the rest of the stages to defend his Yellow jersey until Paris.

Paris is where the tour ends.

What do I get by following this Sport?

1. Inspiration: A test of endurance... like no other sport. Mountaineering comes close. But not quite.

2. Sight seeing: Yes, you get to see the French Country side without any tour guide (unlike the Discovery travel channel)

3. Dream: It is hard to imagine anybody who watches it continuously for 2 years not wanting to do it themselves... Believe me it is doable.

4. Sportsmanship: I follow cricket quite religiously and I did follow this years FIFA WC '06. There is always (some times more glaring than other times) some gamesmanship involved in those sports. Not here. You can only find instances of sportsmanship of the highest order displayed on the tour.

So, go home and watch it.

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

I read the English translation of this book. Superlative. Simply brilliant. If you are a person interested in Sanskrit literature and are used to reading English translation still retaining the Sanskrit’s poetic style, then you will simply love this book irrespective of whether you appreciate the content or not. I believe some essence of any book is lost when it is translated. That will surely be the case here also. But I hope I have not missed too much.

The book is extremely well paced. Just right. You can not call it fast… neither is it slow. Again, Anand had told me that it is the best written English book on Advaita. I expected this to be a well thought through (idea) translation from some of the already well known and famous interpretation of the original Bhagavatgita / Shankaracharya doctrine. The book started of giving me the same feeling... Siddhartha was taking full interest in the path shown by his father – the path of strict daily rituals, ablutions and sacrifices. Siddhartha would one day become the best priest the world had ever known – all he had to do was to follow his father’s instructions. But, like the reader, Siddhartha was also feeling that something was missing. This was not what he wanted to be... this was not what I expected from the book too ;-)

Then, one fine day Siddhartha decides to explore alternate path to the same goal (of eternal salvation) by living with learning from the Samanas – the mendicants. The closest present day cult is of the Naga-Sadhus who visit the Prayags (confluence of rivers) during the Kumbh Mela. Siddhartha spends many years with them. [This is another aspect of the book that I liked... that which is not important is not elaborated. The whole samana story is hardly 3-4 pages ;-)] Again, Siddhartha is unhappy the way things are going. By now, he has already realized that any sublime realization can not come through teachings. No matter who preaches it. Yet, for Govinda’s sake he listens to Goutama Buddha.

In any other story, Siddhartha would have become a Buddhist monk – just like Govinda. How could any other doctrine be better than that of the Buddha himself? Hindus now consider Buddha so perfect that he is hailed as one of the incarnations of Vishnu himself. So, teachings of Vishnu as Buddha should be held with same respect/reverence/belief as we hold his teachings as Krishna (which is immortalized as Bhagavadgita). That would have been a perfect book about Advaita. Wouldn’t it? Siddhartha having numerous dialogues with none other than Goutama and the world would understand the Gita though their conversations.

But Hesse gives lot of importance to self-learning. May be Richard Bach took a cue from here for his Illusions. What good would it be if Goutama taught Siddhartha every thing he knew? Would the book remain timeless? People would not believe in Goutama once he is no more. So Siddhartha had to learn from something or someone who is timeless. If Vishnu (or anybody else equally credible) came down and taught him, it would be mythology and would not appeal to the rest of the world. So, Hesse invented the river – River as a teaching prop. Although, towards the end, Siddhartha reveals that any object in this world (air, leaves, pebbles, people) could have taught him exactly what he learnt from the river. Hesse’s choice is excellent. It satisfies all qualities to be universally accepted – timeless, does not have boundaries of state or religion, beautiful, determined. But not every one who sees the river knows that some thing is there to be learnt. So Vasudeva comes into the picture. He shows Siddhartha how to let the river teach you. He shows Siddhartha the art of listening... listening to what the river says... what a mountain, a flower, the leaves have to say.

I have yet to understand the reason behind introducing Kamala... was it only to have the son later in the book? To show that a man as detached as Siddhartha can also fall for that affection towards a son? Or was it just a cue to let go of a strict samana like Siddhartha down the slippery track of the Laukika and get caught in the endless misery of the Samsara? If so, then what better character could have been chosen than Kamala to lure him to the Samsara? But still, I am not too clear on her role in the novel.

I have one difference of opinion with Hesse. Siddhartha says he loves every material object because each one of them is the Brahman (or on its way to the Brahman... or something like that). But he says words, ideas, thoughts are outside this concept and hence not interested in them. I wonder how any thing can be outside the Universal. Just like the pebble, the flowers, the mountain and the wind even thoughts, words and ideas should be part of the Brahman. Isn’t it? Hesse seems to have taken E=mc2 to be the eternal truth and matter (and matter alone) can change forms and some time temporarily be formless in the form of energy. It is only then, we can not account for ideas and thoughts... Words can even then be seen as some form of sound energy. But, ideas and thoughts need something more than just E=mc2.

Best one liner of the book was: “I can think, I can wait and I can fast” – Siddhartha

Illusions by Richard Bach

Illusions by Richard Bach.

This is my first Richard Bach book. Yes, I have not read the Seagull book yet. Did I like the book? A definite "Yes"”. The first few pages are handwritten... a nice opening touch. The book is written in first person... that adds a personal touch. And yes, there is a book inside a book. Another fundoo gimmick. So full points for excellent composition of the book. Never gets boring.

Now coming to the content, Anand (of the anandanubhava fame) gave me the book with a caution that it is all about Maya. Maya means illusions. So I knew what to expect. Sometimes it felt like reading the screen play of Matrix. Some of the Neo-Mopheus dialogues looked so not-original after reading Richard-Donald dialogues regarding the 8 3/4 inch wrench. Here is what I liked about the book

>> Consistency. From the time Richard meets Donald till the end, even though Donald is the "“Guru"” it'’s a process of self learning. Richard asks a question and later comes up with the answer himself. Not once did the author take the easy approach of Donald telling the answer.

>> The biplane. Authors use many props to get their story across. Richard'’s knowledge about bi-planes seems to be in-depth and impresses people like me who can not still tell the difference between Richard'’s and Donald's planes... except that one does not need fuel to run :-)

>> The Messiah Handbook. Again, one of Richard'’s appropriately used magical prop. That which cannot be blended in with the rest of the book... that which can not be thought out by Richard himself appears magically in the handbook. Wish I had one...

>> Parts Left Unexplained. Some concepts are left unexplained... or at least I missed them. This is kind of good since you get to formulate your own theory. Many parallel universes, man shall have planets to live on as long as he wants them... and so on. He has left for the user to either believe it or not... If he believes it, then he has to formulate a theory by himself.

>> The ending. Everything in this book could be false.

Needless Pursuits

Please read the anandanubhava’s comment to my views on Alchemist here.

My reply being:

That exactly is my point. This book does not deserve the "original" adjective. But for that, it is a very gripping reading. Going some where, wanting something... and finally coming back to where you are was also taught to us by a fable which goes like this.

A mountain rat sees a king riding an elephant. People on both sides are throwing flowers at the king, which are all falling on the elephant. The rat thinks it would be very nice if it were king's elephant.

Immediately God turns it into that elephant, he enjoys the flowers. But soon realizes that the king is actually the boss. The elephant needs to go where the king tells him to go. So, elephant thinks it would be good if he were the king. Soon, the roles are changed and the rat takes form of the king.

As the king happily rides the elephant, there comes a point where the Sun is so strong that the king had to put his head down. Shameful he felt. Now he wanted to be the Sun so that he could look down up on the entire world. No body could look back at him. God obliged and made him the Sun.

Sun was shining brightly; just when a thick cloud was passing by and he could no longer torment the people below. Sun felt helpless and wished if he could be a cloud that could even block the rays of the Sun.

God was in a benevolent mood, and obliged. Immediately, cloud began flying every where under the sun smiling back at him as if to say "Sun, you are no longer the most powerful". As the cloud was following the Sun, there came a huge mountain and the cloud could no longer follow the sun. The cloud was hopelessly shattered and it started to melt down as rain.

Now the rat (which has taken the form of cloud) wished it were a huge mountain that could humiliate a mighty cloud. God turned it into a mountain. Mighty mountain crushed all clouds coming its way and was having the time of its life. Just then, a small rat bore a hole at the base of the mountain and started living there. Mountain could do nothing about it. Today there was one... and months later there were many many rats each one of them capable of boring a hole in the mountain.

Now the mountain wished it was a rat that could bore a hole in the mighty mountain. Suddenly it realized that it was a rat to begin with. It felt ashamed about its own pursuit of power from being a rat to an elephant, then the king, the sun, the cloud, the mountain and back to being a rat. It realized, God had been so good to it by turning it to what ever it wished only to teach this lesson. "Most of us already have what we search for all our life"

Very similar to "The Alchemist". Even in being a fable, it’s not original.

The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho

I had heard that this is a great book. My friends who read that book were decent enough not to reveal the story line. I am not that decent. So if you have not read it, and do not want to know what it is all about, STOP here.

Alchemist is a person who can turn anything to gold. In the medieval ages, alchemy formed the ultimate goal of chemistry. Just like perpetual motion was(is) the holy grail of physicists. That apart, this book has very little to do with alchemy... Not even close. This is about choices you make invariably in his life. It is about those choices which you now think you should have made. Those choices you think you were forced to make, although it was your and only your conscious decision. It's all about "Listen to your heart" crap. But how much of it is practical. The boy (hero of the story) always chooses to do exactly what a practical logical person would do with the limited information he has already. Yes, the author knows the future and hence at the end of the book, even the reader may feel that all his decisions were the best. This reminds me of that episode of Seinfeld where George decides to exactly opposite of what his instincts tell him to do and as a result gets a job at the Yankees. But, in real life - would that ever work?

In the middle of the book he talks about understanding the "universal language of the world" - that language which animals also can understand. The Wind, the Water, the Sun, all speak this language. Some how, I can not digest that it was Paulo's creation. Such versions of universal language and being one with the five elements already existed in Hindu mythology. Pointers to Akashavaani (voices from sky), Divya dristi (ability to see past, present and future), Elements being portrayed as human beings all over the place in our culture. He has just adapted it into his story. Ironically the story is set in the deserts of Egypt, the land of Arabs. Right theory, wrong place.

The boy, Santiago, wanders in the desert for two years, goes through unbearable miseries and finally finds the treasure right below the tree where he had slept 2 years ago. In these two years, he learns a lot. He learns to speak Arabic, he learns to cross the desert, he learns about the culture at the oasis, he learns about the desert battles, he meets Fatima (love at first sight), he meets the alchemist who becomes his Guru (much like Karna met Parashurama) and what not. At the end he realizes that may be it was his destiny to do all those things and then... only the he would find the treasure. At regular intervals in the book, Santiago meets this person who seems to be GOD. Paulo carefully avoided calling him God even though he had supernatural powers of seeing the past and set things up for Santiago's future. May be he did this to make the book appealing to followers of religions that do not believe of GOD in human form.

Greatest book ever. Not at all. People who have some knowledge of the Hindu culture can not go past one chapter without getting a Deja-vu feeling about having read something like this before - although they were all in different books.

Being Sarvajna.

Sarvajna is a great thinker. He never had any formal education. Neither did he live a grand famous life. He had his followers who enjoyed his 3 liners in kannada. These 3 liners usually conveyed the most complex wisdom using extremely simple words. For example the one on the right says - "He who does good things without telling others about it is considered to be good. An average person does good things, but tells about it. Despicable are those people who tell stuff, but never do those good things"

Over the years, Sarvajna's 3 liners have become very famous and makes a very good reading as well as learning. However, they have also been twisted and turned (although in good spirit) by common people to convey their message masquerading them as if it came from the MAN himself. Like this one from my colleague Badarish.

Last month has been a crazy one at office. Appraisal time is always like that... Fill up appraisal forms, hope that your manager does not disagree with any of them, then hope that there is enough budget to satisfy your demands. This 3 liner from Badarish says - "That employee who says he done a lot even without doing is the best. Average are those who tell not more than what they have done. Those who do a lot and do not tell are real monkeys." True. Isn't it?