The world is probably becoming like Micheal Crichton's sphere, feeding on fear and panic. In case you have not read the sphere, let me put in a summary I found on the net, here it goes..
"A team of scientists are brought to the middle of the Pacific where they are informed they have been selected as first contact specialists to investigate a crashed UFO that has been discovered on the ocean floor. Entering the craft, they discover it is really a ship from Earth’s future that has been thrown back in time through a black hole. At the heart of the ship is a mysterious sphere. After one of the team recklessly enters the sphere, the group find themselves in contact with an alien entity and the habitat under attack by jellyfish and giant squids which appear to have been manifested from out of their worst fears."
A few colleagues of mine indulge in the stock market. Although I follow the markets (Not of late though, it seems have gone to the netherworld), I can't call myself too much of an investor. Each time I hear of the markets collapsing, I would ask my friend as why it has collapsed and the response would inevitably be linked to a collapse of another market elsewhere in the world.
There is a theory to identify root causes in every problem using a method called the 5 whys. Essentially, you ask "why" 5 consecutive times in order to zero in on the root cause by the 5 whys. Apply this to the market collapse, I'm pretty sure at the end of 5 whys I would end with the cause as the crash of some other Asian market. My point is the panic. Possibly, each of the markets is feeding off the negative sentiments and panic in each other and is becoming a global disease. May be they should just turn off the television, the internet, all forms of communication and stay disconnected!
I say this not just in the wake of the crash of the markets. Last night, Mumbai was in encounter again. One thing which I have noticed during the 2003 blasts while I was there, is that the communication is cut off immediately. I have seen this even in the recent blasts in Bengaluru. Why are communications cut off? Not the 5 Whys, but the root cause that I see at the first why is that it prevents the spread of panic. There are other reasons too, but I strongly feel that this is the primary reason.
The resilience. This is a facet of the Indian. The ability to comeback almost as if normal after something as terrible as a blast it great almost to the absurd extent. I at times am confused whether its a severe "I don't give a damn, we're too strong for your crap" attitude or "I am a loser, there's nothing I can do?" attitude. I constantly live in the hope that there's more of the first than the second. There's possibly a third, the wonderful world of optimistic belief that tells you good always outnumbers the bad. My dad constantly reminds me of this, but it will take me time and experience to understand, I guess...
Until that point, I live enticed in this sphere, that is connected so well, strung up to propagate the good, unfortunately, the bad as well...
Thursday
Saturday
The ubiquitous nature of serendepity
Is it me or do I happen to come across such incidents?
Last week, I caught an auto to take me my destination. The auto driver asked me which route to take and I responded in Kannada, almost instinctively. The driver eyed me with a look of pure spite, I wondered why...
As we budged along the traffic, I asked him to take a diversion to avoid some traffic, again in Kannada. The look of spite again. My phone buzzed and I went into a deluge of English. The look of spite again from the driver. I still could not fathom the looks, maybe it was just a habit...
Finally, the look of spite translated to words. Possibly he understood that I did not figure out the point he was trying to make. He asked, "Why don't you people speak in English with us?" in English (I wonder if he was referring to the brethren of auto drivers as "we") . I responded saying "How was I to know that you speak English?". Apparently, his first bit of conversation with me was in English to which I responded in Kannada. He went on to claim that educated people were arrogant and ignored less mortals such as himself, not in so many words though.
Are we as the so called "English" educated people really arrogant. Possibly it is true to a certain extent. Possibly my brain did register the fact that the auto driver spoke to me in English, but the rule of default reminds me that I should speak to him in Kannada. Its this feeling of refinement and culture that we associate with English. A person can be a crook, but could get away from being recognized in society as a crook by refining the self with English. Should we blame the British or ourselves? This reminds me of this Tamil movie called Anbe Sivam, in which a similar thought echoed in one of the scenes where the protagonist is duped by one of the so called "thorough gentlemen". The prosaic nature of the thought of decency is shown in a forthcoming scene showing the protagonist sitting is a state of complete disbelief that the gentleman could have been a crook. I would partly blame it on the British for having propogated their anglo-saxan decency.
I cant recall the number of times I have come across people similar in the nature to the crook (not in terms of being kleptomaniacs) mentioned earlier. The language is possibly the best possible way of being clandestine. Several thoughts spawned in my grey matter then, most of which I am unable to recall now. That day as the auto motored along the crowded roads, I noticed the driver had a certain disregard for rules on the road, punctuated by the occasional spot of saliva on the road. Surely, language alone does not cause refinement in people. The anglo-saxan decency is probably just a myth or worse, extinct.
Last week, I caught an auto to take me my destination. The auto driver asked me which route to take and I responded in Kannada, almost instinctively. The driver eyed me with a look of pure spite, I wondered why...
As we budged along the traffic, I asked him to take a diversion to avoid some traffic, again in Kannada. The look of spite again. My phone buzzed and I went into a deluge of English. The look of spite again from the driver. I still could not fathom the looks, maybe it was just a habit...
Finally, the look of spite translated to words. Possibly he understood that I did not figure out the point he was trying to make. He asked, "Why don't you people speak in English with us?" in English (I wonder if he was referring to the brethren of auto drivers as "we") . I responded saying "How was I to know that you speak English?". Apparently, his first bit of conversation with me was in English to which I responded in Kannada. He went on to claim that educated people were arrogant and ignored less mortals such as himself, not in so many words though.
Are we as the so called "English" educated people really arrogant. Possibly it is true to a certain extent. Possibly my brain did register the fact that the auto driver spoke to me in English, but the rule of default reminds me that I should speak to him in Kannada. Its this feeling of refinement and culture that we associate with English. A person can be a crook, but could get away from being recognized in society as a crook by refining the self with English. Should we blame the British or ourselves? This reminds me of this Tamil movie called Anbe Sivam, in which a similar thought echoed in one of the scenes where the protagonist is duped by one of the so called "thorough gentlemen". The prosaic nature of the thought of decency is shown in a forthcoming scene showing the protagonist sitting is a state of complete disbelief that the gentleman could have been a crook. I would partly blame it on the British for having propogated their anglo-saxan decency.
I cant recall the number of times I have come across people similar in the nature to the crook (not in terms of being kleptomaniacs) mentioned earlier. The language is possibly the best possible way of being clandestine. Several thoughts spawned in my grey matter then, most of which I am unable to recall now. That day as the auto motored along the crowded roads, I noticed the driver had a certain disregard for rules on the road, punctuated by the occasional spot of saliva on the road. Surely, language alone does not cause refinement in people. The anglo-saxan decency is probably just a myth or worse, extinct.
Sunday
CATalogue
Why did I give the CAT?
Well, firstly, I do not have a specific activity scheduled for the third Sunday of November each year, secondly, invariably I get to travel halfway across Bengaluru and see places which otherwise I would have made no effort whatsoever to move my bottom on a Sunday, and thirdly, the most important of all, the number of cute girls giving CAT has gone up by several basis points (just trying to get a finance feel with the usage of "basis points", no other connotation).
So, I woke up this morning and the day started dismally as there was a power cut almost as soon as I switched on the heater. After all ablutions, I began the first quest - The search for an auto. Some times I wish google would get beyond the realms of the internet. Eventually I managed to find an auto, the driver of which gave me my first test of management skills for the day. A few minutes in and I managed to convince him that jayangar is not too far off, at least not as far as Srinagar ( not the Jammu one!).I cursed the highway department for the road they managed to engineer around the pot holes & craters. I felt like I was on the moon, why waste the Chandrayaan?
As the auto motored along making more noise than motion, I slipped into a reverie of how I would spend the rest of the day. "How do I go to National college, Jayanagar". My reverie was broken. I looked left to see a pretty girl asking for directions. Unfortunately, her dad with a big moustache came in the line of sight. I managed to pass on the information. Looked left and I see two persons clutching their admit cards, look right and I see three more. I did not look back. The competition began not with the pencil, but on the road, to perdition. These guys were going to beat me to the center, for sure.
National College, Jayanagar, 9:30 AM. The milling crowds waited. I felt like I was waiting for the premiere of a movie. One thing strange about this time was the fact that until being let in to exam hall, I did not come across a single face I could recognize. I say this because, CAT is almost a opportunity to socialize, considering that almost 2 lac people give the exam each year. Hence I was pretty shocked. Though I did manage to extract a few words from a couple people. Due to the severe lack of conversation, my mind had begun wanderlust. I could almost see these very words scroll before my eyes like the marquee on a website.
Finally the floodgates opened and the horde was let it. Time to sharpen, the pencil that is. I managed to find my spot of bother without any navigation device. Now, thats a first considering that I generally manage effortlessly to get lost in the college before the exam. This wait for the exam to begin is the worst for both kinds of people, those who are prepared and the not so solitary loons like myself. I couldn't wait for the exam to begin. I looked around at the tense faces and recalled vividly being in the same position in 2005. Wow, it seems like ages have passed since...
I had 15 minutes to kill before the exam. I looked around. The walls and benches were filled with graffiti. I wonder what is it that makes us scribble graffiti while college, be it just some language or the name of your first crush or some of those witty statements that could feature on your gtalk status message. Possibly its devil incarnate in an idle mind that had to endure an incredibly boring class. My reverie was broken for the second time as one more of the damsels walked past to take her spot of bother. I continued to ruminate on several thoughts at one( I wonder if my eyeballs were scrolling indicative of thought process). The public address system jarred away completing the hattrick of broken reveries. I would say that the third break could be because the speaker said "Testing 1..2..3...", possibly that had a profound effect on my recently acquired sense version 6.1.
Thankfully, neither me nor my neighbor had to endure a greater wait than already ( I have a strange feeling he took me to be an alien life form). The one thing I love about CAT is that its breezy. Its over before you know just like...
I cant miss out on one incident though. As I rummaged through the verbal section, I came across a pretty interesting read in terms of language and similies. Some so hilarious that I could not control the snigger, much to the displeasure of the bretheren trying to concentrate and solve. I ended being at the receiving the disapproving looks of several persons in the room. Pathetic must have been their thought or maybe the lunatic.
All in all it turned out be an interesting experience. Whether or not I clear this, hear me out all you IIMs, I CATegorically state that I will be back, just for spending the third Sunday of November in the only possible way!
Well, firstly, I do not have a specific activity scheduled for the third Sunday of November each year, secondly, invariably I get to travel halfway across Bengaluru and see places which otherwise I would have made no effort whatsoever to move my bottom on a Sunday, and thirdly, the most important of all, the number of cute girls giving CAT has gone up by several basis points (just trying to get a finance feel with the usage of "basis points", no other connotation).
So, I woke up this morning and the day started dismally as there was a power cut almost as soon as I switched on the heater. After all ablutions, I began the first quest - The search for an auto. Some times I wish google would get beyond the realms of the internet. Eventually I managed to find an auto, the driver of which gave me my first test of management skills for the day. A few minutes in and I managed to convince him that jayangar is not too far off, at least not as far as Srinagar ( not the Jammu one!).I cursed the highway department for the road they managed to engineer around the pot holes & craters. I felt like I was on the moon, why waste the Chandrayaan?
As the auto motored along making more noise than motion, I slipped into a reverie of how I would spend the rest of the day. "How do I go to National college, Jayanagar". My reverie was broken. I looked left to see a pretty girl asking for directions. Unfortunately, her dad with a big moustache came in the line of sight. I managed to pass on the information. Looked left and I see two persons clutching their admit cards, look right and I see three more. I did not look back. The competition began not with the pencil, but on the road, to perdition. These guys were going to beat me to the center, for sure.
National College, Jayanagar, 9:30 AM. The milling crowds waited. I felt like I was waiting for the premiere of a movie. One thing strange about this time was the fact that until being let in to exam hall, I did not come across a single face I could recognize. I say this because, CAT is almost a opportunity to socialize, considering that almost 2 lac people give the exam each year. Hence I was pretty shocked. Though I did manage to extract a few words from a couple people. Due to the severe lack of conversation, my mind had begun wanderlust. I could almost see these very words scroll before my eyes like the marquee on a website.
Finally the floodgates opened and the horde was let it. Time to sharpen, the pencil that is. I managed to find my spot of bother without any navigation device. Now, thats a first considering that I generally manage effortlessly to get lost in the college before the exam. This wait for the exam to begin is the worst for both kinds of people, those who are prepared and the not so solitary loons like myself. I couldn't wait for the exam to begin. I looked around at the tense faces and recalled vividly being in the same position in 2005. Wow, it seems like ages have passed since...
I had 15 minutes to kill before the exam. I looked around. The walls and benches were filled with graffiti. I wonder what is it that makes us scribble graffiti while college, be it just some language or the name of your first crush or some of those witty statements that could feature on your gtalk status message. Possibly its devil incarnate in an idle mind that had to endure an incredibly boring class. My reverie was broken for the second time as one more of the damsels walked past to take her spot of bother. I continued to ruminate on several thoughts at one( I wonder if my eyeballs were scrolling indicative of thought process). The public address system jarred away completing the hattrick of broken reveries. I would say that the third break could be because the speaker said "Testing 1..2..3...", possibly that had a profound effect on my recently acquired sense version 6.1.
Thankfully, neither me nor my neighbor had to endure a greater wait than already ( I have a strange feeling he took me to be an alien life form). The one thing I love about CAT is that its breezy. Its over before you know just like...
I cant miss out on one incident though. As I rummaged through the verbal section, I came across a pretty interesting read in terms of language and similies. Some so hilarious that I could not control the snigger, much to the displeasure of the bretheren trying to concentrate and solve. I ended being at the receiving the disapproving looks of several persons in the room. Pathetic must have been their thought or maybe the lunatic.
All in all it turned out be an interesting experience. Whether or not I clear this, hear me out all you IIMs, I CATegorically state that I will be back, just for spending the third Sunday of November in the only possible way!
Coincidence?
Its been a long time since the last post, loads to write, but so little time...
Came across this article, pretty interesting. History has a way of producing strange coincidences*
In "pre-puranic" times there lived a race of people in the land now called India. They were called "sagaras" and were descendants of the Solar Race, the same race from which King Dasaratha traced his Raghuvamsha ancestry.
Once, the Sagaras performed the Horse Sacrifice , the "aswamedha-yagnyam" where they let loose a horse and allowed it to roam around the land wherever it wanted and then after a set period of time had elapsed went after it to retrieve it. The lands and empires that
they passed through while searching for the horse, they bring under their reign and protection.
Unfortunately, the although the Sagaras travelled far and wide they could not locate their sacrificial horse. The Sagaras suspected foul-play and a horse-thief.
They travelled and travelled until they came to a great ocean. They travelled across it to what they believed was into the bowels of "bhuloka" or "patala-loka". The Sagaras at last found the horse in a forest near the hermitage of a sage, 'Kapila Maharishi'. Mistaking him to be the horse-thief they began to man-handle the 'maharishi'.
'Maharishis' don't like to be man-handled and so Kapila became terribly incensed and with a mere glance of his eye reduced all the 60000 Sagaras to ashes.
Many ages later Sage Bhagiratha performed great austerities and brought the River Ganges from the heavens to earth. With the waters of the sacred Ganges the Sage Bhagiratha brought the Sagaras, turned ashes, back to life. And thus prospered the race of the Solar Dyanasty, the Raghuvamsha, the precursors to the Ramayana.
Now that the mythological bit is done, lets look at a few interesting facts.
The story goes that America which is on the antipodes as far as India is concerned is to be taken to be "patala" i.e. the core of your "hollow earth".
'KapilAranya', the forest where they found Kapila's hermitage, is the present day "California". Also noteworthy is that near California there is both a "Horse Island" and an "Ash Island", is it not, Pretty interesting huh?
Ash Island gets its name because of the "Ash Trees" that are found in plenty there. Incidentally, Greek mythology associates ash wood with the netherworld. Fascinating. Unfortunately I have not been able to do any reading on Horse Island, though I will definitely do a follow up on that...
*So, for all those trying to read between the lines for "coincidence", I just have to say, History has a way of producing strange coincidences!
Came across this article, pretty interesting. History has a way of producing strange coincidences*
In "pre-puranic" times there lived a race of people in the land now called India. They were called "sagaras" and were descendants of the Solar Race, the same race from which King Dasaratha traced his Raghuvamsha ancestry.
Once, the Sagaras performed the Horse Sacrifice , the "aswamedha-yagnyam" where they let loose a horse and allowed it to roam around the land wherever it wanted and then after a set period of time had elapsed went after it to retrieve it. The lands and empires that
they passed through while searching for the horse, they bring under their reign and protection.
Unfortunately, the although the Sagaras travelled far and wide they could not locate their sacrificial horse. The Sagaras suspected foul-play and a horse-thief.
They travelled and travelled until they came to a great ocean. They travelled across it to what they believed was into the bowels of "bhuloka" or "patala-loka". The Sagaras at last found the horse in a forest near the hermitage of a sage, 'Kapila Maharishi'. Mistaking him to be the horse-thief they began to man-handle the 'maharishi'.
'Maharishis' don't like to be man-handled and so Kapila became terribly incensed and with a mere glance of his eye reduced all the 60000 Sagaras to ashes.
Many ages later Sage Bhagiratha performed great austerities and brought the River Ganges from the heavens to earth. With the waters of the sacred Ganges the Sage Bhagiratha brought the Sagaras, turned ashes, back to life. And thus prospered the race of the Solar Dyanasty, the Raghuvamsha, the precursors to the Ramayana.
Now that the mythological bit is done, lets look at a few interesting facts.
The story goes that America which is on the antipodes as far as India is concerned is to be taken to be "patala" i.e. the core of your "hollow earth".
'KapilAranya', the forest where they found Kapila's hermitage, is the present day "California". Also noteworthy is that near California there is both a "Horse Island" and an "Ash Island", is it not, Pretty interesting huh?
Ash Island gets its name because of the "Ash Trees" that are found in plenty there. Incidentally, Greek mythology associates ash wood with the netherworld. Fascinating. Unfortunately I have not been able to do any reading on Horse Island, though I will definitely do a follow up on that...
*So, for all those trying to read between the lines for "coincidence", I just have to say, History has a way of producing strange coincidences!
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