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The Tragedy of life

Raj, Kshipra and me (M. Rajkumar and Kshipra Katakwar - my batchmates at NITIE) were sitting in the mess waiting for our '5th meal of the day' (night mess... another habit of NITIEans) to be served when Kshipra blurted out - "The tragedy of life is that one gets used to it" . And suddenly I realized - how true! Everyday while returning from office when I get on the Mumbai Local I see numerous faces - most of them are tired, sweating and stressed, and on every face you see the expression of acceptance - acceptance of their life, acceptance of the crowded local, the sweat and the stress that their life comprises of! These are not happy people (not by their looks at least) but they are not sad as well - their life is still; constant . . . . should we say lifeless? I wonder! None of these mortals would ever want to create a revolution but they would also not be a hindrance to it. They are like a buffer solution - oblivious by what goes on in their surroundings. But mind y

Freedom of Communication (Speech)

A very interesting discussion is ‘ON’ on Manish Chauhan and Ramanand’s blogs. [ http://manishchauhan.blogspot.com/2005/02/rising-in-response-to-ramanands-post.html ] [ http://quatrainman.blogspot.com/ 2005_02_01_quatrainman_archive.html#110934441279858050 ] The discussion is about the gap between fact and fiction in relation to the movie ‘The Rising’ – supposedly made on Mangal Pandey’s life. Such questions have always been raised whenever Indian Cinema has dared to make films based on real life instead of fiction. Recently the Supreme Court had stayed release of Black-Friday (made on Mumbai Bomb Blasts) because it used real names of victims and accused in the Blasts. On the other hand just see how different Hollywood is – movies like Apollo 13, The Rookie, Titanic and many others not only do well but go on to become classics. Then there are movies like Saving Private Ryan, Three Kings and Forrest Gump which are made in a backdrop of a real life event like a war and are widely apprecia

][__Intimacy__][

I have always felt that love can never be at first sight and love is in no way related to attraction or liking. It has more to do with knowing a person in detail and accepting him/her with the negative as well as positive features of him/her. An exactly reciprocal behavior of love is 'intimacy' - you tend to be intimate with people who truly 'love' you. Since these people accept you as you are hence you can behave naturally without qualifications with them. Intimacy is closely related to Love. I read a very meaningful article in TOI on intimacy yesterday. Some excerpts are quoted below (couldn't get the link 'coz it was on epaper and not on indiatimes) :- "What intimacy is not; And also what it is . . . . . " 'All beginnings are lovely' - a French proverb reminds us, but intimacy is not about that initial 'Velcro stage' of relationships. It is when we stay in a relationship over time whether by necessity or choice that our capacity for

Soul searching . . .

Today as I was traveling through Mumbai I saw the tall glass buildings and thoughts came back to me when I dreamt of working in these places and doing some great stuff. Now that I am an Advisory at KPMG, I am working in not one but with many companies who have such offices - I will be interacting with CIO's, CTO's and other senior people. But as happens most of the times - this success has lost its sheen. I am today a person whom many admire and many envy - but all this professional success has also raised many questions within me. I have lived a life of an individualist (not selfish at all but you can say my locus of control is internal) - I did what I felt was correct, I stood to my own ideals and ideas, was always in competition with myself and never thought what others will think. At the same time since I think that living for others is 'real' living so my attitude was never selfish. But somehow I think I have failed to make personal bonds - I have friends, many fri

Valentine's day ?? what for?

No. . . I am not getting enrolled into Shiv Sena but I have just read the following article in TOI http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1019524.cms I too agree with what is there in this article. But let me be a bit logical - why do we have such days - Father's Day, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day etc etc. Mainly because in the fast paced life of today we tend to neglect the people who matter most in our life - our parents, our friends and to those who are married their spouse. And so these days so that we remember them atleast once a year. But do these days continue to serve this purpose? Everyone from greeting-card companies to restaurants have made a business opportunity out of these days. All this forced jollity does not make you happy from inside. Isn't making you and your companions happy the real purpose of such events? And more so with the tremendous advances in Information Technology I see no reason why our busyness should any more be a problem? I can t

Spooky Spooky life . . . who is in control??

Well . . .well . . . If someone is closely following my posts s/he would realise that the previous 3 posts have formed a sequel - 'How I became . . . ' sequel. But believe me this has been purely unintentional. But this is just a very very small coincidence that my life has witnessed. The last 3 posts elaborate something, something that Shubham posted on his blog about me. I quote - "This guy is unbelievable.. He’s never been rejected in any interview in his life.. not during MBA admissions.. not during summer placements.. and now, not during finals either.. It's a record very few can boast of.." Why did I quote that? Self praise? you might think so, but no - I do not intend to magnanimate myself. I am but a very very fortunate person who has since long had a terrific luck and the right people around him. But this sequence of 'no rejections' has pscyhed me out. I find it more than a coincidence that I have never needed to try a second time. Its like some

Tsunami times . . .

Its been long since my last post; it was before the last examination. After examinations I got very busy in the placement process that started immediately - am still busy, but consciously decided to take a break today and do some studies (will get back to them in a while ;P) . Also a day after exams I went to Pune for a kinda Batch reunion of college-mates in Pune-Mumbai. The trip was fun - we went to a farmhouse in Marunji village near Pune. Since then in the campus we have had atleast 20 company visits for pre-placement talks and some pre-processes as well. Placements seem to be going well this year (touch wood!). But while we have been busy with all this, the nation has been hit by one of the most disruptive natural disasters of my lifetime. The whole of East coast has been destroyed they say. I haven't dared to read any media reports in detail for the fear of aggravating tension in the already tensed mind of mine - but I can gauge this to be more than the Gujarat-Latur earthqu

Friendship ??

um... the exam wasn't bad ..'twas good rather .. but am not feeling beat up ... again something happened ... its about a friend and I am feeling bad about it ... hey don't worry .. am not going to bore anyone with "how bad I feel?" type post .... Sometimes I wonder what friendship means... we might call all our acquaintances friends, we actually do - all classmates, all past and previous batchmates - everyone is a friend. But think, how many of these would really fall under the category of friends? Before that what is exactly a friend? Someone who will give his everything for you? C'mon that I believe is pretty subjective! It all depends on what you ask for. At times you may ask for trivial things and your friend might not be able to fulfill your expectation. And sometimes even strangers might give their life for you - it happens isn't it? Then how would you characterize a friend? There has to be another definition. So let me try - one who shares his/her

I am human

He he ... I have been spending time visiting other blogs .. was kinda restless but wasn't able to concentrate on studies .. was wondering ki 'saala chakkar kya hai' - why aren't exams scaring hell outta me ... and why do small things (eh! thats a secret - something happened today that I didn't like) disturb me like this?? And suddenly like a message of god I read a line on a blog that I was visiting - "You are Human!" .. and really it was a relief! it helps sometimes to reaffirm your existence and your erroneous behaviour by simply accepting that you are human ... making this post to just document this reaffirmation :) "I am Human!!" Thank God I was reminded :)) I am a very typical example of what humas are called - 'social animals'. I usually dont enjoy things alone, always get everyone else involved - alone I only brood, dream and wonder; and then get everyone else into things. . . and so I feel bad when others don't inclu

Mushkil Bada ye pyaar hai!!

I have been discussing ‘love’ with one of my friends for the past many days! Amazed? Well actually I am not the kinda person to even think of Love, but this other chap is . . and I enjoy discussing the subject with him. Probably my only experience of love is my love towards my family and my friends . . never loved a girl (even if I did, I am not sure of it). Anyway, the issue in this post isn’t whether I loved or he loved or anyone loved, its about the definition of love. Is love a one-sided feeling? Or does it have to be mutual? And even if it is mutual, does it have to be tied in the nuptial relationship? And does love require compatibility? If there seems to be a mismatch, should the relationship end? Reversing, if there seems to be a mismatch, should the relationship start at all (opposites attract!)? We debated on all these questions . . . I don’t think we still have any answers, but some things came out. Love may or may not be a one sided affair, but it is unconditional. Love h

Confusion about life . . .

This is a strange thing about life that I have been discovering since long . . . when you r young, your goals, what you want to be, what you will do etc seems very straight very clear. But as you grow up, the path becomes more and more misty. Today as I stand just 3 days from the last examination of my student life all set to launch myself into the world, I am thoroughly worried about how I will achieve the goals that I had set for myself when I was a child. Not that this feeling has dawned suddenly – it has come very very slowly, the mist spread gradually through my engineering days till here, and by now I can’t see even 2 months down the line about where the road to life is leading. I slept off thinking about all this and more and thought about why this happens when asleep. When you are young, you are made to learn logic. We learn all daily routine by logic – if X happens then do Y, or if A happens then B will follow. Something like if you got up from sleep, then go brush your teet

Cyclic Redundancy Error

We all have some goals in life – personal goals, professional goals . . . and for some of us even spiritual goals. But have you ever thought what makes us decide those goals? And how our life is dependent on some axiomatic assumptions that we might have made very early in our life? Let me explain. Suppose a teenager has a goal of joining the Army. From where did this goal come? Probably one of his parents or relatives served as the inspiration or may be a movie. Now, this teenager starts preparing himself for his goal. Regular workouts, practice tests etc. and so he grows strong and capable to join the army. And by the time he is to decide the career path for himself, ha has every reason to believe that he is 'made' for the Army. But it is actually like this – since he wanted to join the army, so he prepared himself for it – this is the simplest manifestation of the phrase “You are what you believe yourself to be”. Now, if this teenager was given an opportunity to go back in

Gaining Emotional Energy!! :)

After I made my last post. . I went back to the page where I had found the definition of emotional energy . . . trying to hunt around for solutions I found a very good list . . it enlists 8 knds of emotional crises that you may have and their solutions . . .I am gonna work to solve this crisis by tommorow . . .in case any of the readers ever feel the way I am .. come back to this page for answers . . I am listing the whole thing here for my own future reference Source : http://www.oprah.com/health/omag/health_omag_200301_energy.jhtml 1 Energy drain: Other People's Expectations Are you living someone else's dream for you? You're putting out energy but starving emotionally. The other person gets all the satisfaction. Energy move: Declare IndependenceYou bought in; you can set yourself free. No confrontation needed, just "I don't have to expect that of myself." Worst-case scenario: Someone who's not you will be disappointed. You will feel wonderful.

Emotional Energy crisis !!

I had never known what is called emotional energy? Until I myself faced the lack of it. Since the past few days I have been feeling drained – I guessed that I was low on what is called emotional energy; tried looking up the net for it . . . . . and found that it was exactly what I had been facing “Call it a personal energy crisis. On the surface, your life seems full enough—maybe even too full—yet you're running on empty. You feel stretched thin, stressed-out, drained” I don’t know what has triggered this. I have always been a pretty responsible person, rather I pull responsibilities to myself (am a fool in that sense if you may say so). Discussing issues (or arguing if you want to call it that) is a sport to me – It doesn’t drain me but energizes me further. I hardly give up before the person in front of me either walks away or is convinced of my side. That might not be good as such .. but the point is, I have a large storehouse of energy latent. There have been days when I do

The chemistry of Love

Just last post I wrote about the speed with which ideas penetrate through the net and now I find myself affected by the phenomenon. Reading Shubham’s blog on love I got a rush of ideas on my own concepts of love. I have never believed in the concept of love-at-first-site. In my opinion love is an expression of emotional addiction to anything. We love our parents, our brothers, sisters, and even cars, bikes and cities and towns. We get used to anything with which we spend considerable amount of time and somehow develop affection towards it. At first site we usually get attracted towards people (or for that matter objects like bikes) mainly due to one of the many attractive features in them. But love is not just appreciating these positive features. It goes much beyond infatuation; love means accepting your loved one along with the negative and positive points in it/him/her. I know some negative points about my mother, yet I love her – beyond expression. Same goes with my affection fo