Happy New Year Everyone
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Avatar - My take
These days almost all the movie, novels, articles seem to be directed in the same direction - selfishness of human beings, how they have/are destroying Earth, and different kinds of possible endings and how forces of nature would stand united etc etc.
Right from Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Matrix, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012 and now Avatar. More or less all of them are saying that life will not be as what we are experiencing in future and the continuous digging into nature's resources and breaking the energy chain is gonna lead to some kind of disaster.
James Cameron, with Avatar, took this game to a different planet. So there is nothing great about the storyline. I can see so many parallels from which he must taken inspiration. What is more awe inspiring is the way he made the movie, it is amazing. I have watched in 2D and now decided to watch it again on 3D. I would say it is a must watch.
Every one of us, given a chance, would say will behave like the main character of the film. He made the hero so simple and relatable and he convinces that skills of a human can come handy in a distant planet.
Nothing in the movie comes out of the blue but the imagination and being able to bring it live on-screen is what Cameron managed to do successfully and he has done it in a fantastic way. One worrying thing that occurs to me from all the above message movies, books etc is that while the human species seem to be a harmonius one by nature but the kind of needs we have developed are building a artificial barrier.
I really don't know if I need this blog but I am using it and will keep using it as long as it is available. And that's the concern - I am doing something, which I am not really sure if I need it and at the same without understanding what is price I am paying for it.
Right from Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Matrix, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012 and now Avatar. More or less all of them are saying that life will not be as what we are experiencing in future and the continuous digging into nature's resources and breaking the energy chain is gonna lead to some kind of disaster.
James Cameron, with Avatar, took this game to a different planet. So there is nothing great about the storyline. I can see so many parallels from which he must taken inspiration. What is more awe inspiring is the way he made the movie, it is amazing. I have watched in 2D and now decided to watch it again on 3D. I would say it is a must watch.
Every one of us, given a chance, would say will behave like the main character of the film. He made the hero so simple and relatable and he convinces that skills of a human can come handy in a distant planet.
Nothing in the movie comes out of the blue but the imagination and being able to bring it live on-screen is what Cameron managed to do successfully and he has done it in a fantastic way. One worrying thing that occurs to me from all the above message movies, books etc is that while the human species seem to be a harmonius one by nature but the kind of needs we have developed are building a artificial barrier.
I really don't know if I need this blog but I am using it and will keep using it as long as it is available. And that's the concern - I am doing something, which I am not really sure if I need it and at the same without understanding what is price I am paying for it.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Conscious Action
As a living being, we all keep doing so many things at a sun-conscious level. But as a species endowed with the advanced faculty of thinking, analysing and assimilating, we can further ourselves only through conscious action.
In so many situation we keep belittling ourselves and end up in a state of disappointment and distress. If you remember Newton's third law - Each action has an equal and opposite reaction; and if you understand that your action requires certain amount of energy and therefore it will have to result in another re-action equaling in energy to that of yours, you will understand the power of your conscious action. One should also keep in mind that focusing the energy on a specific action is critical as directionless energy gets scattered and one cannot see a visible re-action. Instead focus your energy on whatever action you decide to take and you would be able to clearly see the re-action. The re-action could be the result that you desire or something else but then if you direct your action correctly you can expect a correct re-action.
So next time you want a certain outcome, don't just sit there and think in scattered directions, think in a clear direction and focus your energy and action in that direction. That's the first step to achieve a successful result.
I have not discriminated good or bad here as energy has no such distinction, however I believe that life itself is a positive force and therefore trying to do something that one believes is bad would be against our nature and therefore will result in negative energy on us.
In so many situation we keep belittling ourselves and end up in a state of disappointment and distress. If you remember Newton's third law - Each action has an equal and opposite reaction; and if you understand that your action requires certain amount of energy and therefore it will have to result in another re-action equaling in energy to that of yours, you will understand the power of your conscious action. One should also keep in mind that focusing the energy on a specific action is critical as directionless energy gets scattered and one cannot see a visible re-action. Instead focus your energy on whatever action you decide to take and you would be able to clearly see the re-action. The re-action could be the result that you desire or something else but then if you direct your action correctly you can expect a correct re-action.
So next time you want a certain outcome, don't just sit there and think in scattered directions, think in a clear direction and focus your energy and action in that direction. That's the first step to achieve a successful result.
I have not discriminated good or bad here as energy has no such distinction, however I believe that life itself is a positive force and therefore trying to do something that one believes is bad would be against our nature and therefore will result in negative energy on us.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Do we need Telangana?
As a guy born in Warangal and bought up in Hyderabad, I keep wondering who will get benefited from the new state of Telangana, if formed. Only the politicians, bureaucrats and lawyers come to my mind. In India, we as the subjects always want to catch up and join the ruling class as we believe that leading a normal life is impossible. So we keep searching for opportunities that can give us an opportunity to be the leader. In our view, leader is the one who gets all the privileges without having to do anything.
Surely our thinking needs to refreshed. We have an excellent country well balanced in everything. The biggest problem we seem to be having is that of population (nothing wrong with this, India has the most conducive climate for reproduction, I suppose) and lack of general direction except if difficulties.
In case Andhra Pradesh gets divided, all I can visualize is the amount of infighting that will get started, which in turn will drive away all the investments from the state. Rather if Telangana people believe that they are not being treated fairly, they should demand for specific things rather than fight for a state. Where were all the so-called Telangana intellectuals all these years. Why couldn't they bring out the problems people are facing till now. Where were they hiding. Why were they not ready to fight for issues of downtrodden. When farmers were committing suicides, where were these students, politicians and intellectuals hiding. Why couldn't they conduct the agitation that they are conducting now, where was the unity and social responsibility hiding then.
Similarly, the so-called Samaikhya Andhra supporters, were sleeping till the time the Telangana issue became hot? If they were sympathetic to issues being raised by the Telangana leaders, why couldn't they bring out the issues and create a platform to discuss and create action plans for elimination of the same.
Personally, I feel that this is an attempt to bring down Rosaiah from the CM post. One plausible solution is to make a Telangana guy the CM and appoint two Deputy CMs - one from Rayalaseema and one from Andhra. Let this apex political team identify the regional issues and how it can balanced in favor of all. As a larger state, AP has greater possibility to balance out the differences, Andhra region will continue to be the agricultural belt, Telangana can be made the Industrial belt and Rayalaseema can be developed as the mining area, legal and not the illegal Reddy types. Focus on creating education opportunities and distribute the funds in proportion to the population and not by any other measure.
End of the day, Hyderabad is a central city. Despite the fact that it has some water problems, it is geographically well connected by Air, Road and Railways. Trying to create three states out of one will be a major disaster. Let the so-called intellectuals sit across the table and come up with a solution that has no incremental cost and is pareto efficient. Jai Telugu Talli, Jai Andhra, Jai Ratanalaseema. Manamandaram Telugu vaallam, manalo tedalu undavachu kanee mana bashe mananu kalipi unchagalugutundhi. Mana rashtram lone manam ila tannukunte, bayata deshallo unnavalla paristhithi emito alochinchandi, ippatidaka telugu vallam ani cheppukunna vaallu, repatinunchi, memu teluge kani maadi telangana, maadi andhra, maadi rayalaseema ani cheppu kovalsi vastundi. Baagupadedhi Raajakeeya Naayakulu mathrame. sorry for getting into Telugu but the matter can be better expressed only in mother tongue.
Surely our thinking needs to refreshed. We have an excellent country well balanced in everything. The biggest problem we seem to be having is that of population (nothing wrong with this, India has the most conducive climate for reproduction, I suppose) and lack of general direction except if difficulties.
In case Andhra Pradesh gets divided, all I can visualize is the amount of infighting that will get started, which in turn will drive away all the investments from the state. Rather if Telangana people believe that they are not being treated fairly, they should demand for specific things rather than fight for a state. Where were all the so-called Telangana intellectuals all these years. Why couldn't they bring out the problems people are facing till now. Where were they hiding. Why were they not ready to fight for issues of downtrodden. When farmers were committing suicides, where were these students, politicians and intellectuals hiding. Why couldn't they conduct the agitation that they are conducting now, where was the unity and social responsibility hiding then.
Similarly, the so-called Samaikhya Andhra supporters, were sleeping till the time the Telangana issue became hot? If they were sympathetic to issues being raised by the Telangana leaders, why couldn't they bring out the issues and create a platform to discuss and create action plans for elimination of the same.
Personally, I feel that this is an attempt to bring down Rosaiah from the CM post. One plausible solution is to make a Telangana guy the CM and appoint two Deputy CMs - one from Rayalaseema and one from Andhra. Let this apex political team identify the regional issues and how it can balanced in favor of all. As a larger state, AP has greater possibility to balance out the differences, Andhra region will continue to be the agricultural belt, Telangana can be made the Industrial belt and Rayalaseema can be developed as the mining area, legal and not the illegal Reddy types. Focus on creating education opportunities and distribute the funds in proportion to the population and not by any other measure.
End of the day, Hyderabad is a central city. Despite the fact that it has some water problems, it is geographically well connected by Air, Road and Railways. Trying to create three states out of one will be a major disaster. Let the so-called intellectuals sit across the table and come up with a solution that has no incremental cost and is pareto efficient. Jai Telugu Talli, Jai Andhra, Jai Ratanalaseema. Manamandaram Telugu vaallam, manalo tedalu undavachu kanee mana bashe mananu kalipi unchagalugutundhi. Mana rashtram lone manam ila tannukunte, bayata deshallo unnavalla paristhithi emito alochinchandi, ippatidaka telugu vallam ani cheppukunna vaallu, repatinunchi, memu teluge kani maadi telangana, maadi andhra, maadi rayalaseema ani cheppu kovalsi vastundi. Baagupadedhi Raajakeeya Naayakulu mathrame. sorry for getting into Telugu but the matter can be better expressed only in mother tongue.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Visit to Hyderabad
I am traveling to Hyderabad tomorrow and would be there for 3-4 days. It would be good to catch up with all my friends.
Cheers
Cheers
Saturday, November 14, 2009
A tough day for an Idealist
Yesterday was a tough day for me. I can call myself a pragmatic philosophical idealist. I started as an idealist, expecting perfection in everything including myself, got frustrated, accepted that there is friction and inefficiencies due to transactional issues, became pragmatic but my search for meaning made me philosophical.
However I never stopped being idealist, only learned to factor in the practical issues and view the result in a philosophical way. But the mixture doesn't seem to be perfect as the idealist keeps pushing things even as the pragmatist keeps warning and the philosopher keeps smiling.
Day before was an eventful day and I got see all the three roles and pros and cons of each one. Idealist caused the maximum trouble but without him it would have been uneventful and lifeless. Pragmatist tried to adjust but was falling short in digesting the Delhi attitude. I met a store manager who believes that all educated guys in Delhi are arrogant and that his internal process is important than listening to the customer, met a Sardar who believes he cannot be bullied by anyone and can bully anyone, saw a security guard who was believes in establishing peace in a peaceful way, a customer care executive who fully realizes that the customer is making a rightful claim but can do nothing about it, and a businessman who believes that selling cheap is the best way to succeed in India.
Idealist pushed it hard, pragmatist tried to control the situation but only when the philosopher took over did the whole thing resulted in a amicable resolution. Egos were clashing, voices were raising, tempers were flaring but finally, only when the philosopher intervened, everything calmed down. The Manager got colored by the shop guy and took it personally but only when I got ready to give up, he saw the truth and when he saw the humility, he could accept the truth. All in all it was an experience from which I managed to clearly see the three roles clearly
However I never stopped being idealist, only learned to factor in the practical issues and view the result in a philosophical way. But the mixture doesn't seem to be perfect as the idealist keeps pushing things even as the pragmatist keeps warning and the philosopher keeps smiling.
Day before was an eventful day and I got see all the three roles and pros and cons of each one. Idealist caused the maximum trouble but without him it would have been uneventful and lifeless. Pragmatist tried to adjust but was falling short in digesting the Delhi attitude. I met a store manager who believes that all educated guys in Delhi are arrogant and that his internal process is important than listening to the customer, met a Sardar who believes he cannot be bullied by anyone and can bully anyone, saw a security guard who was believes in establishing peace in a peaceful way, a customer care executive who fully realizes that the customer is making a rightful claim but can do nothing about it, and a businessman who believes that selling cheap is the best way to succeed in India.
Idealist pushed it hard, pragmatist tried to control the situation but only when the philosopher took over did the whole thing resulted in a amicable resolution. Egos were clashing, voices were raising, tempers were flaring but finally, only when the philosopher intervened, everything calmed down. The Manager got colored by the shop guy and took it personally but only when I got ready to give up, he saw the truth and when he saw the humility, he could accept the truth. All in all it was an experience from which I managed to clearly see the three roles clearly
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Books and my thoughts
I wonder how people survive without reading books. For me it is no less essential than eating food and sleeping, you can postpone them for sometime but you cannot be fine without them.
I have just finished reading 2 States by Chetan Bhagat and it is worth the money. To extract the maximum value, I am planning to approach the 2nd hand book seller for an exchage. I have the Rick Riordan's final book lying with me and I am confident I can get two old books of my choice in exchange of these two new books. To be honest, I don't think it is necessary for every reader to buy a new book. I have survived because of lending libraries, and Hyderabad second hand book market. I can confidently say that there are few writers who start writing for their livelihood and I am also sure that they wouldn't mind if more than one person reads one copy of their book. I don't know why Delhi has no lending libraries. As a reader I am willing to pay 10% of book price to read it and will pay another 10% if I like it and if I want to read it again and again, I would go and buy that book. If the publishers take cognizance of this, they would save lot of paper without loosing much money. I am sure good authors wouldn't mind for this kind of arrangement.
Though I have been reading soft copies in pdf format, I don't like them much mainly because of lack of flexibility to carry and the lighting effect of LCD screen. I don't I'm ready yet for a Kindle or any other ebook reader.
I'm currently reading "Happiness" by Matthew Ricard and the second one is A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson and it is so interesting to see the connections between all these three books. As a human being, endowed with the ability to think, analyse, assimilate, theorize etc etc, we are obligated by nature, life and God (if present as a separate entity) to do something different than other living species, something better not detrimental. Instead of simply eating, sleeping, mating, dying and evolving (and adapting) like other animals, we should do more than simple physical evolution. We should evolve in certain other dimension, people keep talking about emotional and spiritual but I'm not yet sure about what they exactly mean.
This is what keeps me going and makes life interesting, not the money I make or the things I achieve(d) or the things I possess. This process, if you want to call search for meaning or continuous evolution or spiritual journey, is the only thing that keeps me engaged these days. Does it mean I'm satisfied with what I have, I don't think so, I keep thinking about so many things I want to do in future. This happens to be the most interesting phase of my life till now. Hope it will be so forever from now on
I have just finished reading 2 States by Chetan Bhagat and it is worth the money. To extract the maximum value, I am planning to approach the 2nd hand book seller for an exchage. I have the Rick Riordan's final book lying with me and I am confident I can get two old books of my choice in exchange of these two new books. To be honest, I don't think it is necessary for every reader to buy a new book. I have survived because of lending libraries, and Hyderabad second hand book market. I can confidently say that there are few writers who start writing for their livelihood and I am also sure that they wouldn't mind if more than one person reads one copy of their book. I don't know why Delhi has no lending libraries. As a reader I am willing to pay 10% of book price to read it and will pay another 10% if I like it and if I want to read it again and again, I would go and buy that book. If the publishers take cognizance of this, they would save lot of paper without loosing much money. I am sure good authors wouldn't mind for this kind of arrangement.
Though I have been reading soft copies in pdf format, I don't like them much mainly because of lack of flexibility to carry and the lighting effect of LCD screen. I don't I'm ready yet for a Kindle or any other ebook reader.
I'm currently reading "Happiness" by Matthew Ricard and the second one is A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson and it is so interesting to see the connections between all these three books. As a human being, endowed with the ability to think, analyse, assimilate, theorize etc etc, we are obligated by nature, life and God (if present as a separate entity) to do something different than other living species, something better not detrimental. Instead of simply eating, sleeping, mating, dying and evolving (and adapting) like other animals, we should do more than simple physical evolution. We should evolve in certain other dimension, people keep talking about emotional and spiritual but I'm not yet sure about what they exactly mean.
This is what keeps me going and makes life interesting, not the money I make or the things I achieve(d) or the things I possess. This process, if you want to call search for meaning or continuous evolution or spiritual journey, is the only thing that keeps me engaged these days. Does it mean I'm satisfied with what I have, I don't think so, I keep thinking about so many things I want to do in future. This happens to be the most interesting phase of my life till now. Hope it will be so forever from now on
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