i have often heard people dreaming and clamoring for a world where there is no more wars!!! how ideal thoughts!!! what valiant dreams!!!! but i am saddened to realize that these pacifists are unrealistic fools!!!!
when you dream dream of something that is possible. you can dream of flying, and you can fly too, but you must be travelling on an aircraft to do that. if you want to fly without an aircraft you can always jump off a cliff or a particularly tall building, actually i would quite advice that to these unrealistic dreamers!!!!
these people who call for an end to wars do not understand why wars occur in the first place. true, politics and greed is the most visible culprit. but there is something deeper, an inherent characteristic in human beings that leads us inevitably to war.
aggressiveness.
this simple characteristic has been the driving force behind human species prevalent dominance in the planet. had this latent aggression not been there, we would never have dared to challenge nature, challenge our intellects, challenge our various obstacles.
it is the same aggression that drives an athlete towards that final lap , which also drives monarchs and generals to keep fighting wars.
the first use of aggression and war was in early days of human civilization when man began settling down and cultivate food. he had to wage a continuous war against nature and its predators. the first weapons were developed against these natural predators. had man not been aggressive he would have submitted meekly to being ravaged by the forces of nature and civilization would not have progressed.
now it was the same aggression that drove entrepreneur farmers to increase their arable land and this quest in increasing land gave rise to border system. where there was borders there naturally the aggression in man caused one to try and over come the border of the other. and the first war between men was fought.
in its essence modern war does not differ in anyway from the early conflicts and fist fights between neighboring farmers. question of greed that is driven by aggression.
now should we vilify this aggression?
think about it again!!!
if this aggression was not there, would man have tamed the continents, the deepest oceans, the tallest mountains and the farthest reaches of space?
aggression gives the passion that most often overtakes reason.
reason will not allow the wright brothers to attempt flight. it would be too risky and stupid of them if they thought rationally!!!
reason would not have allowed edmund hillary to conquer mt. everest. it was sheer passion driven by aggression which overcame all rationale and reason that said it was suicidal to attempt to scale that edifice!!!
it was same passion driven by aggression that led to napoleon and hitler to launch their wars against all reason. the same aggression also led nelson and stalin to defend those wars!!!
now what is the basic difference between hitler and hillary? both were driven by aggressive passion.
the difference is their intent.
what hillary aimed was noble and what hitler intended was evil.
would world have been a better place if both hitler and hillary were neutered of their aggression like some people do to dogs?
perhaps it would have worked in the case of hitler, but we would have lost an adventurous pioneer if hillary's aggression was neutered.
now is there anyway to decide whose aims are good and whose is bad? and can such determination be done efficiently and always? in a free society it is very difficult to find out a person's character. perhaps in a futuristic society where people can be better profiled it will be an option but then society will no longer be free and no more pure innovation will occur.
that is why i categorically believe that no matter how stable world is, wars are inevitable. human nature demands it.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
what is in a name?
i guess many of you wonder "why the hell did this guy use such a strange name?"
perhaps you may also consider it to be yet another manifestation of my deranged self and the word being yet another gobbledygook i produced, perhaps when i was being administered shock therapy!!!
possible, but not quite.
horemheb http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horemheb was the last king of the ancient egypt's 18th dynasty. people who are slightly interested in metaphysics and esoteric mystery stories may know his more famous predecessor, tutankhamen aka tutankhaton aka King Tut in popular lore.
horemheb was the military general and mentor of the boy king tut and the appointed successor to the throne of egypt.
he was an exemplary diplomat and army general. some say king tut was assassinated by horemheb but that is unlikely as the immediate successor was another general named ay who tried hard to get rid of horemheb. but after 4 years horemheb, in a move i adore, struck and killed off ay and his designated successor and became the pharaoh of all egypt!!!
he became a legendary ruler restrengthening a much weakened egypt that had seen unhealthy over centralization, corrupt religious revolution and a much more corrupted religious priestdom under King Tut's uncle akhenaton whose consort was the legendary beauty nefertiti!!!!!
under horemheb egypt became stronger and richer.
so this is why i chose the name horemheb as my alter ego!!!!
after all who better than a man vilified by all historians for crimes he never committed but was a better king and ruler than his more legendary counter parts!!!!
the name first struck my mind about 11 years earlier when i read a book on egyptian history at my uncle's house in trivandrum. the uncle being a renowned scientist was a more benign and charming character then and the collection of books he had was absolutely impressive!!!!
and of course the very strangeness and nature of the name captivated me!!!!
so this is the genesis of the name "HOREMHEB".
perhaps you may also consider it to be yet another manifestation of my deranged self and the word being yet another gobbledygook i produced, perhaps when i was being administered shock therapy!!!
possible, but not quite.
horemheb http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horemheb was the last king of the ancient egypt's 18th dynasty. people who are slightly interested in metaphysics and esoteric mystery stories may know his more famous predecessor, tutankhamen aka tutankhaton aka King Tut in popular lore.
horemheb was the military general and mentor of the boy king tut and the appointed successor to the throne of egypt.
he was an exemplary diplomat and army general. some say king tut was assassinated by horemheb but that is unlikely as the immediate successor was another general named ay who tried hard to get rid of horemheb. but after 4 years horemheb, in a move i adore, struck and killed off ay and his designated successor and became the pharaoh of all egypt!!!
he became a legendary ruler restrengthening a much weakened egypt that had seen unhealthy over centralization, corrupt religious revolution and a much more corrupted religious priestdom under King Tut's uncle akhenaton whose consort was the legendary beauty nefertiti!!!!!
under horemheb egypt became stronger and richer.
so this is why i chose the name horemheb as my alter ego!!!!
after all who better than a man vilified by all historians for crimes he never committed but was a better king and ruler than his more legendary counter parts!!!!
the name first struck my mind about 11 years earlier when i read a book on egyptian history at my uncle's house in trivandrum. the uncle being a renowned scientist was a more benign and charming character then and the collection of books he had was absolutely impressive!!!!
and of course the very strangeness and nature of the name captivated me!!!!
so this is the genesis of the name "HOREMHEB".
Friday, February 22, 2008
a surreal experience!!!!
yesterday i had been to a place that was quite surreal and charming!!! i fell in love with that place after a single visit.
the place is the koodalmanikyam temple in irinjalakuda , a town about 20 km away from trichur, the cultural capital of kerala.
the journey was with the parents of a very dear friend of mine in their maruti 800, a car totally unsuitable for a person of my girth. my mother too was there.
the journey started in an uncomfortable fashion with me having to fit myself into the cramped seat of the smallest indian car this side of tata nano!!!. after searching for the adjusting lever in that awkward position i finally got myself into a posture somewhat resembling comfort and we were on the way.
the journey was unremarkable but the destination was anything but!!!! the town of IJk (short form and transport bus code for irinjalakuda) is quite active but the temple part of the town is a very sleepy , quiet area. with lots of old palaces of the erstwhile royal families the temple of koodalmanikyam (KDM in short, as i am too lazy to type it every time) is the center of life around the place.
the house where we were staying was a cute, little house which almost shared the walls with the temple. with lush greenery all around, a nice mango tree with bunches of ripe juicy mangoes greeted us at the gate. while unloading i was thankfully not much in pain due to cramps. but the uncle soon got into trouble when he locked the car with the keys inside!!!
the situation was indeed funny, but he being an amateur jack of all trades soon produced a wire to open the door. it was an eduactional experience for me learning how to open a car door without a key!!! if in the future i am rendered unemployable, i can still look forward to one viable means of employment, albeit risky with a huge potential to enjoy government funded hospitality!!!
the aunt showed me around the house and the next thing that made me very excited was the pond in their house!!!!
it was a small pond, but still filled with crystal clear water!!! it was inviting me to take a leap. but i had to maintain my outward prudence.
after a nice bath i went to the temple.
the temple blew my mind off!!!!
it was so huge!!!! so beautiful!!!! so calm and so quiet!!!! and there was a huge temple pond to its northern side. the temple which is a square complex of 190 metres side (courtesy google earth) is devoted to bharata , the melancholy brother of lord rama. due to the melancholy nature of its deity many normal traditions of kerala temples are not followed here, like flower offerings (pushpanjali), lamp ceremony(deepaaraadhana). the temple is obviously quite ancient as we can find out from some of the wall murals inside the temple. one particular mural quite captivated me, though i dont know the theme, the colour combination and drawing style was peculiar!!! it was made in the ancient style using natural colours like crushed leaves for green etc!!!! and it was quite vivid in the details too!!!
getting out of the inner shrine, there is a huge lamp post around which is entwined the chains used for one of the legendary temple elephants of the old times. the chain of kavalapaara komban , a regal pachyderm that lived more than 100 years ago would have crushed any of the measly temple elephants of today. the huge chain is made of links whose steel is thicker than my thumb!!!!!!
then taking the pradakshina, or temple round i walked around the koothambalam- a place where traditional art forms are usually performed. koothambalams are the ultimate examples of the genius of traditional kerala architecture. its immense beauty is surpassed by its astonishing architectural and geometric features!!!! well being no expert at architectural sciences i can but admire the sheer beauty of the structure.
later i had a walk in the cool dusk. surrounded by lush greenery it was the sort of paradise that a city dweller like me loved!!! i spent nearly one hour sitting on a mile stone by the empty road and wide paddy field enjoying the absolute tranquility of the place. i also talked with some friends whom i hadn't been able to contact for a very long time. the absolute beauty of the place and the time awakened all the joy in my heart.
i returned only by the time it became dark and even though it was a rural area thr were enough street lights to make the walk trouble free.
later after dinner i again went out for a walk. there was a performance of kathakali one of the most venerated of traditional kerala art forms outside the temple. listening to the great music , rhythmic drums and thump of orchestrated feet i walked around the temple for a long time, reminiscing about life and various other things. it was quite surreal. with a shining moon overhead, clear skies, a cool breeze and being absolutely alone in the enormous temple it was a surreal experience!!! it was as if destiny brought me to this place to give me such pleasure!!! i was on top of the world!!!!
it was beautiful.
still later , when i retired to the house i went to the terrace of the house and was greeted by yet another astonishing sight!!! the immense spread of the temple and the equally huge temple pond , all adorned with glittering moonlight. for a better part of an hour i sat there admiring the spectacular beauty of the place while chatting with a very close sister of mine. the refreshing conversation mixed with the beauty of the place was a heady feeling indeed.
any more words spent in describing the subsequent sleep and return journey home will be a injustice to a tribute to such an amazing experience!!!
the place is the koodalmanikyam temple in irinjalakuda , a town about 20 km away from trichur, the cultural capital of kerala.
the journey was with the parents of a very dear friend of mine in their maruti 800, a car totally unsuitable for a person of my girth. my mother too was there.
the journey started in an uncomfortable fashion with me having to fit myself into the cramped seat of the smallest indian car this side of tata nano!!!. after searching for the adjusting lever in that awkward position i finally got myself into a posture somewhat resembling comfort and we were on the way.
the journey was unremarkable but the destination was anything but!!!! the town of IJk (short form and transport bus code for irinjalakuda) is quite active but the temple part of the town is a very sleepy , quiet area. with lots of old palaces of the erstwhile royal families the temple of koodalmanikyam (KDM in short, as i am too lazy to type it every time) is the center of life around the place.
the house where we were staying was a cute, little house which almost shared the walls with the temple. with lush greenery all around, a nice mango tree with bunches of ripe juicy mangoes greeted us at the gate. while unloading i was thankfully not much in pain due to cramps. but the uncle soon got into trouble when he locked the car with the keys inside!!!
the situation was indeed funny, but he being an amateur jack of all trades soon produced a wire to open the door. it was an eduactional experience for me learning how to open a car door without a key!!! if in the future i am rendered unemployable, i can still look forward to one viable means of employment, albeit risky with a huge potential to enjoy government funded hospitality!!!
the aunt showed me around the house and the next thing that made me very excited was the pond in their house!!!!
it was a small pond, but still filled with crystal clear water!!! it was inviting me to take a leap. but i had to maintain my outward prudence.
after a nice bath i went to the temple.
the temple blew my mind off!!!!
it was so huge!!!! so beautiful!!!! so calm and so quiet!!!! and there was a huge temple pond to its northern side. the temple which is a square complex of 190 metres side (courtesy google earth) is devoted to bharata , the melancholy brother of lord rama. due to the melancholy nature of its deity many normal traditions of kerala temples are not followed here, like flower offerings (pushpanjali), lamp ceremony(deepaaraadhana). the temple is obviously quite ancient as we can find out from some of the wall murals inside the temple. one particular mural quite captivated me, though i dont know the theme, the colour combination and drawing style was peculiar!!! it was made in the ancient style using natural colours like crushed leaves for green etc!!!! and it was quite vivid in the details too!!!
getting out of the inner shrine, there is a huge lamp post around which is entwined the chains used for one of the legendary temple elephants of the old times. the chain of kavalapaara komban , a regal pachyderm that lived more than 100 years ago would have crushed any of the measly temple elephants of today. the huge chain is made of links whose steel is thicker than my thumb!!!!!!
then taking the pradakshina, or temple round i walked around the koothambalam- a place where traditional art forms are usually performed. koothambalams are the ultimate examples of the genius of traditional kerala architecture. its immense beauty is surpassed by its astonishing architectural and geometric features!!!! well being no expert at architectural sciences i can but admire the sheer beauty of the structure.
later i had a walk in the cool dusk. surrounded by lush greenery it was the sort of paradise that a city dweller like me loved!!! i spent nearly one hour sitting on a mile stone by the empty road and wide paddy field enjoying the absolute tranquility of the place. i also talked with some friends whom i hadn't been able to contact for a very long time. the absolute beauty of the place and the time awakened all the joy in my heart.
i returned only by the time it became dark and even though it was a rural area thr were enough street lights to make the walk trouble free.
later after dinner i again went out for a walk. there was a performance of kathakali one of the most venerated of traditional kerala art forms outside the temple. listening to the great music , rhythmic drums and thump of orchestrated feet i walked around the temple for a long time, reminiscing about life and various other things. it was quite surreal. with a shining moon overhead, clear skies, a cool breeze and being absolutely alone in the enormous temple it was a surreal experience!!! it was as if destiny brought me to this place to give me such pleasure!!! i was on top of the world!!!!
it was beautiful.
still later , when i retired to the house i went to the terrace of the house and was greeted by yet another astonishing sight!!! the immense spread of the temple and the equally huge temple pond , all adorned with glittering moonlight. for a better part of an hour i sat there admiring the spectacular beauty of the place while chatting with a very close sister of mine. the refreshing conversation mixed with the beauty of the place was a heady feeling indeed.
any more words spent in describing the subsequent sleep and return journey home will be a injustice to a tribute to such an amazing experience!!!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
designing a tower home!!!!
as i warned you earlier i am putting my design for a tower home here. this was a brain wave i received while reviving from a ticket examination in a train journey!!!
so here i go
the first pic shows the floor description and tower basic design
levels start from bottom up
basement- it will have the electrical equipments, like batteries, solar power converters and ac/dc conversion devices., along with a fully equipped workshop for various works. the crane trolley will be stored in the basement until required for the crane operation.
level-1--entrance, guest room, work area, drawing room
level2- dining room
level3- kitchen
level4- bedroom (2 nos)
level5- rest room
level6- master bed room
level7-library and computer room
level8- accessories, lift motor and crane equipment, antennas.
now i am giving a description of all the floors from basement upwards.
basement
the circle shows the foundation outline of the tower structure. tower shall be constructed of six concrete pillars which are interconnected in a hexagonal and kinda benzene type structure. the pillars are covered with masonry in the super structure but in the basement they will be revealed as pillars. the inverted "u" shape at the bottom of the circle is the cage lift whose motor is at the level8 . at the right side there is the stair well to the level-1 ground floor.
level-1 = ground floor
the bottom room is the drawing room to ward off unwanted or frail type of visitors who might get scared of the tower.then the lift doors face us and to the left of it the stair start as well. stairs is a spiral super structure hugging and it takes 2 floors to complete one revolution. to the left of the tower we have the guest bed room and one attached bathroom. to the right of the tower we have the work area with access to the basement workshop. along the very center line of the tower u can see a smaaaaaall circle . that denotes a stainless steel or special plastic pole with a high elastic bean bag at the bottom that will be at least 4 feet deep with slanting edges. the pole is as an added safety measure. in emergencies any body in any floor can escape easily by only clinging on to the pole thru which they can slide down and touch teh bean bag safely and teh added momentum carries them out of the house very fast. idea is from batman movies and fire fighter stations. cool, eh?level-2= dining room
the dining room does not have any specially remarkable features, it will be like most other dining rooms. i did not decide upon the type of table but i think it will be some sort of curved table.level-3= kitchen
kitchen also there would be nothing very remarkable. just an ordinary kitchen.level-4=bedroom (2 nos)
now here in this floor there will be two bed rooms. as we can see the lift open up at the bottom end and the stairs come via the upper right area there will be a corridor joining them and withing the corridor will be a big bathroom . it will be a common bath room for the two bed rooms. bed rooms will have caged windows to prevent any fatalities.level-5=rest room
rest room is where general entertainment and relaxation is meant to take place. there will be a home theater and a computer for kids. there will also be a dvd library and surround sound system.level-6=master bed room
master bed room shall be a huge bed room with a magnificent view.level-7= library
now this is my favorite floor!!!! there would be wall to wall books in continuous shelves. there will be some big plump black leather couches. there will also be a concealed tv. in the bottom right corner there will be my computer room with all my accessories. the library will also have a mini bar for "cool drinks".level-8= top floor
the top floor is where the motor for driving the lift and the main water tank is located. there will be a telescope with mounted on automated railings. this floor will also house the components of the retractable crane for exterior works. the walls in this floor will be made entirely of transparent plexiglass except for where telescope needs it view points.so this is the idea for a tower house that hit me.
wht do u think?
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
illusion of perfection
we all say " i am going to have a perfect job", a "perfect family life", "perfect holiday" so on.
but what is perfection?
perfection is when something that we have planned go along completely according to the plan or when we achieve a state where all our desires are satisfied 100%.
in short perfection means 100%.
but is there such a thing as 100%?
will there be any fun if things we do turn out to be perfect? when we plan to do some thing and the result is achieved perfectly, we learn absolutely nothing from it. we become mere assemblers of a design rather than synthesizing something interesting.
whenever we do something unexpected obstacles come up, causing our cranium to get hyper active. and it is in those charged moments that mankind's greatest ideas bear fruit, right? so will there be any fun in anything we do if there is no randomness or aberrations?
consider travelling. u board a bus to go from kochi to bangalore. in a perfect travel, u board the bus, watch some lousy movie, fit yourselves into some cramped seats and sleep till u reach bangalore. absolute drivel if you ask me. now consider suddenly in the midst of nowhere there is some tire puncture or some other obstacle. wont life be suddenly interesting. sure it will be scary to some and irksome to many but i believe those are the real moments of life when u learn a lot. it is when unforeseen incidents happen that we are at our most active. talents, strengths and emotions u never knew u had exhibits itself during these moments.
let me show another example, when our teacher tells us we have an exam tomorrow, 55% of us dont study as that is yet another part of the murderous academic schedule. but what if when we attend yet another comatose lecture the lecturer suddenly announce a surprise test unbelievable energies animate our erstwhile lifeless bodies into sudden actions of procuring paper and for some like me, pen or pencil. and we even do better than when the test is pre announced.
i am proud to say that on occasions like these the back seat brigands like me who regularly flunk regular tests do far better than the established brainy front seat bastards. apparently surprises like these are unwarranted aberrations for those perfectionists and we the aberrants thrive on aberrations!!!
and i do wish to make a point that it is aberrants like me, who really make up the world. consider isaac newton who postulated the field of mechanics and the story of how his cerebral neurons were triggered by the impact of a falling apple. the Aberrants Society believe that it was not an apple but a projectile black board duster that hit the hibernating genius and gave him the necessary stimulus.
and what about alfred einstein, he was never a person who walked the beaten path. he was a characteristic aberrant.
michelangelo another aberrant created some of the most magnificent works of art we have seen.
almost all innovations and discoveries have been the product of aberrations, albeit serendipitous . if perfection was the way forward human civilization would have stagnated and never have advanced.
and even when we see that something is perfect it shall never be. the natural entropy will have created some aberrations that will render it its peculiar charm.
consider the leaning tower of pisa. had it not been leaning it would have been yet another church tower in a land of a million churches.
so should we not strive for perfection? i say we definitely should. unless we decide to strive for perfection there wont be any avenues for development. but we should see perfection for what it is - an idealism. a utopian idealism and nothing more.
just like good people live good life so that they go to a non existent heaven and thus live a a heavenly life here on earth.
in short you cannot enjoy the sights unless you start on a journey with a definite destination.
but what is perfection?
perfection is when something that we have planned go along completely according to the plan or when we achieve a state where all our desires are satisfied 100%.
in short perfection means 100%.
but is there such a thing as 100%?
will there be any fun if things we do turn out to be perfect? when we plan to do some thing and the result is achieved perfectly, we learn absolutely nothing from it. we become mere assemblers of a design rather than synthesizing something interesting.
whenever we do something unexpected obstacles come up, causing our cranium to get hyper active. and it is in those charged moments that mankind's greatest ideas bear fruit, right? so will there be any fun in anything we do if there is no randomness or aberrations?
consider travelling. u board a bus to go from kochi to bangalore. in a perfect travel, u board the bus, watch some lousy movie, fit yourselves into some cramped seats and sleep till u reach bangalore. absolute drivel if you ask me. now consider suddenly in the midst of nowhere there is some tire puncture or some other obstacle. wont life be suddenly interesting. sure it will be scary to some and irksome to many but i believe those are the real moments of life when u learn a lot. it is when unforeseen incidents happen that we are at our most active. talents, strengths and emotions u never knew u had exhibits itself during these moments.
let me show another example, when our teacher tells us we have an exam tomorrow, 55% of us dont study as that is yet another part of the murderous academic schedule. but what if when we attend yet another comatose lecture the lecturer suddenly announce a surprise test unbelievable energies animate our erstwhile lifeless bodies into sudden actions of procuring paper and for some like me, pen or pencil. and we even do better than when the test is pre announced.
i am proud to say that on occasions like these the back seat brigands like me who regularly flunk regular tests do far better than the established brainy front seat bastards. apparently surprises like these are unwarranted aberrations for those perfectionists and we the aberrants thrive on aberrations!!!
and i do wish to make a point that it is aberrants like me, who really make up the world. consider isaac newton who postulated the field of mechanics and the story of how his cerebral neurons were triggered by the impact of a falling apple. the Aberrants Society believe that it was not an apple but a projectile black board duster that hit the hibernating genius and gave him the necessary stimulus.
and what about alfred einstein, he was never a person who walked the beaten path. he was a characteristic aberrant.
michelangelo another aberrant created some of the most magnificent works of art we have seen.
almost all innovations and discoveries have been the product of aberrations, albeit serendipitous . if perfection was the way forward human civilization would have stagnated and never have advanced.
and even when we see that something is perfect it shall never be. the natural entropy will have created some aberrations that will render it its peculiar charm.
consider the leaning tower of pisa. had it not been leaning it would have been yet another church tower in a land of a million churches.
so should we not strive for perfection? i say we definitely should. unless we decide to strive for perfection there wont be any avenues for development. but we should see perfection for what it is - an idealism. a utopian idealism and nothing more.
just like good people live good life so that they go to a non existent heaven and thus live a a heavenly life here on earth.
in short you cannot enjoy the sights unless you start on a journey with a definite destination.
a philosophy on life
this is copied from some page i visited. but it sounded very sane to me.
A philosophy on life
A philosophy on life
The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it?
A death. What's that, a bonus ? I think the life cycle is all backwards.
You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you're too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work.
You work forty years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement.
You do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities.
You become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating... you finish off as an orgasm.
It's perfect !
Monday, February 11, 2008
another day of travels- back home
today was my sojourn back home. after a tasty breakfast of puttu and kadala , that very best of malayali cuisine i was on my way home. the bus journey to the railway station at angadipuram was not as gruesome as the earlier day, perhaps it was because i was all the more fresher and energetic now. but mr. lalu's enterprise was to play havoc with my dream of getting home soon. there was some indefinite delay of trains due to some track work.
then something interesting happened!!! a railway track repair vehicle was in the process of being shunted to a side track. this was one of those non- automated machines which was primarily dependant on human muscles and sinew to get the work done. it was pulled by a true antique of an engine. as it was being shunted there were some weird noises and then suddenly a huge iron rail leaped off the train onto the track. a railway man was at that precise stop just seconds earlier and if he hadn't moved from that spot some 1o seconds earlier my day would have started on a gruesome note- of having to see a man cut into two!!!!. but all was well. but not so for a concrete slab that was in the path of the thundering rail. it split into two and a portion fell about 3 ft away. now i watched the enterprising muscle men of railway gang , gang up and lever the rail using crow bars and excellent synchronism.
as a person with absolutely nothing to do except stand under a relentless sun it was a worthwhile sight. finally the train came up and i left for the main junction. on return leg to ernakulam i had to board a reservation compartment and the tc was cordial enough to upgrade my ticket for only rs. 50 extra. i was basking in that gratitude when a call came up. it was a quirky friend of mine who is also the self proclaimed ambassador of mars in india. usually we say men are from mars and women from venus but in the case of this enterprising amazon an exception can be made.
she was on her usual exuberance and was gushing out some words that sounded like "class.....bomb.... home.... train.... police" i had no idea what to make out, as is usually the case with her. finally she calmed down and told that there was a bomb alert in her college and all students were evacuated and she was on her way home. i was concerned. she is also one of my greatest friends and a little sister, but any harm to a martian will lead to drastic after effects for us hapless earthlings.
anyway she reached home safe and the scare turned out to be a hoax. after all which stupid terrorist would ever bomb an institution such as hers that turn out so many crazy students!!! if one can judge an institution by the sanity of one of its wards i get scared when i think abt some hundred of such students let out into indian streets when they are so excited!!! it would have been just like planting a bomb at NIMHANS.
as i was nearing my destination the genial TC came up and dropped his bombshell!!! i will have to disembark at a station before my city as otherwise i will have to pay an extra rs.130. having my resources dwindles already to rs.180 i had no choice. and hence my last bus trip of the day started from aluva to tripunithura.
an afternoon bus ride from aluva to tripunithura through ernakulam city (menaka route) especially when the weather is hot and humid and one is dying of thirst, a journey of 2 hours and th worst pollution in kerala, is indeed a breath taking experience!!!!!!!!
somehow i reached my home and lay down.
mostly i am a person who loves travelling and this trip came to a hair breadth of me losing that charm. but as i see it, the more hardships in the journey , the more exciting it is!!!! after all any experience can be seen as good or bad depending on the attitude with which we face it!!
anyway now it is time for me to edit my scanned designs of the tower i wrote abt earlier.
let me prepare ground for the next post which will be even more unreadable as any of these posts.
c ya!!
then something interesting happened!!! a railway track repair vehicle was in the process of being shunted to a side track. this was one of those non- automated machines which was primarily dependant on human muscles and sinew to get the work done. it was pulled by a true antique of an engine. as it was being shunted there were some weird noises and then suddenly a huge iron rail leaped off the train onto the track. a railway man was at that precise stop just seconds earlier and if he hadn't moved from that spot some 1o seconds earlier my day would have started on a gruesome note- of having to see a man cut into two!!!!. but all was well. but not so for a concrete slab that was in the path of the thundering rail. it split into two and a portion fell about 3 ft away. now i watched the enterprising muscle men of railway gang , gang up and lever the rail using crow bars and excellent synchronism.
as a person with absolutely nothing to do except stand under a relentless sun it was a worthwhile sight. finally the train came up and i left for the main junction. on return leg to ernakulam i had to board a reservation compartment and the tc was cordial enough to upgrade my ticket for only rs. 50 extra. i was basking in that gratitude when a call came up. it was a quirky friend of mine who is also the self proclaimed ambassador of mars in india. usually we say men are from mars and women from venus but in the case of this enterprising amazon an exception can be made.
she was on her usual exuberance and was gushing out some words that sounded like "class.....bomb.... home.... train.... police" i had no idea what to make out, as is usually the case with her. finally she calmed down and told that there was a bomb alert in her college and all students were evacuated and she was on her way home. i was concerned. she is also one of my greatest friends and a little sister, but any harm to a martian will lead to drastic after effects for us hapless earthlings.
anyway she reached home safe and the scare turned out to be a hoax. after all which stupid terrorist would ever bomb an institution such as hers that turn out so many crazy students!!! if one can judge an institution by the sanity of one of its wards i get scared when i think abt some hundred of such students let out into indian streets when they are so excited!!! it would have been just like planting a bomb at NIMHANS.
as i was nearing my destination the genial TC came up and dropped his bombshell!!! i will have to disembark at a station before my city as otherwise i will have to pay an extra rs.130. having my resources dwindles already to rs.180 i had no choice. and hence my last bus trip of the day started from aluva to tripunithura.
an afternoon bus ride from aluva to tripunithura through ernakulam city (menaka route) especially when the weather is hot and humid and one is dying of thirst, a journey of 2 hours and th worst pollution in kerala, is indeed a breath taking experience!!!!!!!!
somehow i reached my home and lay down.
mostly i am a person who loves travelling and this trip came to a hair breadth of me losing that charm. but as i see it, the more hardships in the journey , the more exciting it is!!!! after all any experience can be seen as good or bad depending on the attitude with which we face it!!
anyway now it is time for me to edit my scanned designs of the tower i wrote abt earlier.
let me prepare ground for the next post which will be even more unreadable as any of these posts.
c ya!!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
aim of life- what is it?
a stupid question, right? yeah i know it is a stupid question and since the questioner is a stupid (me) there is no problem.
every person when asked about the purpose of life or the aim of his life tells "happiness" as a mantra to show that he is not like all those shallow people who say "money" "fame" "get hit by rolls royce phantom" etc etc.
but what i want to know is, what exactly is happiness? is it a momentary burst of ecstasy or a prolonged bout of elation? if we define happiness by these terms is it possible?
at times we seek and covet certain things and achievements. we feel that we will be happy when we get it. will we be?
NOTE: snazzed , sorry for the open plagiarism!!!!!
for example, when i wanted to buy an air rifle i was so passionate in my belief that i will be happy if i had it. but the actual obtaining of the gun and the subsequent shootings had been an anti-climax. the expected ecstasy will be absent and it may lead to our being deflated a lot.
similarly for a lot of instances when we anticipate the happiness due to something happening, when the something really happens the happiness may be too disappointing. it is like u expect trumpets , drums and showers of gold from the skies, when in actuality all we get a bloody honk from a passing car, and some lousy wind from under powered fan.
maybe we anticipate too much. we should always do anything being pessimistic about the results so that whenever anything good happens we shall be happy. indeed being happy is a mode of life but not the aim of life.
i think the aim of life is self satisfaction. just like end product of anything achieved is not happiness but even more self satisfaction. when u desire a bike for long and u try hard for it, the moment u finally lay hand on one as an owner it is indeed a joy par compare, but even more is the satisfaction of a victory well won, a sacrifice well made, a hard work well done.
as long as there is no self satisfaction will there be any happiness? a person can satisfy all his whims through dishonest ways being dishonest with himself more than others. he may enjoy all the pleasures he dreamed about, he may experience ecstasies unimaginable to rest of the people. but at the end of the day will he have self satisfaction? will he able to pat himself on his back and say " well done , old man"?
i believe , NO, but i may be wrong. after all, unfortunately i dont know any obscenely rich people , how much ever i may want to befriend them. so again my expoundings may be another form of jealousy.
that is why responding to a recent suggestion by an exceptional friend of mine about my gazillion dollar dream i said " perception of the thing is more satisfying for me than having the real thing itself". after all there is such a thing as enjoying utopia!!! after all if i had a mansion in malibu, an island in andaman, or a red hot rolls royce i will be more worried about the taxes and spares and maintenance of the confounded thing than be happy of being in possession of the thing itself. but when i dream myself as owning them i can edit out any unnecessary baggages but retaining the absolute joy of having them.
being a devotee of the matrix genre i am of the belief that "dreams need not be unreal"
so according to me purpose of life is self satisfaction.
now if some sage has/had a better idea please let me know. and please casticize me if i am wrong( but bear in mind that i am of a bearish countenance, huge and large, before commenting unfavorably).
every person when asked about the purpose of life or the aim of his life tells "happiness" as a mantra to show that he is not like all those shallow people who say "money" "fame" "get hit by rolls royce phantom" etc etc.
but what i want to know is, what exactly is happiness? is it a momentary burst of ecstasy or a prolonged bout of elation? if we define happiness by these terms is it possible?
at times we seek and covet certain things and achievements. we feel that we will be happy when we get it. will we be?
NOTE: snazzed , sorry for the open plagiarism!!!!!
for example, when i wanted to buy an air rifle i was so passionate in my belief that i will be happy if i had it. but the actual obtaining of the gun and the subsequent shootings had been an anti-climax. the expected ecstasy will be absent and it may lead to our being deflated a lot.
similarly for a lot of instances when we anticipate the happiness due to something happening, when the something really happens the happiness may be too disappointing. it is like u expect trumpets , drums and showers of gold from the skies, when in actuality all we get a bloody honk from a passing car, and some lousy wind from under powered fan.
maybe we anticipate too much. we should always do anything being pessimistic about the results so that whenever anything good happens we shall be happy. indeed being happy is a mode of life but not the aim of life.
i think the aim of life is self satisfaction. just like end product of anything achieved is not happiness but even more self satisfaction. when u desire a bike for long and u try hard for it, the moment u finally lay hand on one as an owner it is indeed a joy par compare, but even more is the satisfaction of a victory well won, a sacrifice well made, a hard work well done.
as long as there is no self satisfaction will there be any happiness? a person can satisfy all his whims through dishonest ways being dishonest with himself more than others. he may enjoy all the pleasures he dreamed about, he may experience ecstasies unimaginable to rest of the people. but at the end of the day will he have self satisfaction? will he able to pat himself on his back and say " well done , old man"?
i believe , NO, but i may be wrong. after all, unfortunately i dont know any obscenely rich people , how much ever i may want to befriend them. so again my expoundings may be another form of jealousy.
that is why responding to a recent suggestion by an exceptional friend of mine about my gazillion dollar dream i said " perception of the thing is more satisfying for me than having the real thing itself". after all there is such a thing as enjoying utopia!!! after all if i had a mansion in malibu, an island in andaman, or a red hot rolls royce i will be more worried about the taxes and spares and maintenance of the confounded thing than be happy of being in possession of the thing itself. but when i dream myself as owning them i can edit out any unnecessary baggages but retaining the absolute joy of having them.
being a devotee of the matrix genre i am of the belief that "dreams need not be unreal"
so according to me purpose of life is self satisfaction.
now if some sage has/had a better idea please let me know. and please casticize me if i am wrong( but bear in mind that i am of a bearish countenance, huge and large, before commenting unfavorably).
a day of travels........
today i embarked on a two day trip to manjeri and nilambur, former is where my maternal uncle lives and latter is the maternal native place and where the temple of family deity is situated.
i woke up at 0500 using my mobile alarm quite easily enough because the reason i am waking up is to travel and not to study anything. i got ready and left home around 0545. i caught a private bus to reach the railway station. at this early in the morning wind was quite chilly and i dearly wished i had brought some cap or something to ward off the cold air now attacking my exposed ears with earnest, almost always a prelude to a nasty bout of cold. the queue at railway station was quite long and from snippets of conversation i over heard from fellow travelers i could make out that rush was even denser at the other ticket terminals. i really doubted if i could get a seat today. anyway thankfully i was on route being seated too!!! maybe i was the last person who got a free seat in that entire train before it started to lumber off. it was a pretty nice journey and slowly i became fading in and out of sleep. i was woken up to answer the ticket collector's call for producing tickets to be examined. now this also gave me a brain wave!!!
after due formalities with the official i began fermenting the idea i had!! design a tower home!!!
a 7-8 storeyed tower which will be an excellent home. i made a vague mental list of various floors and the function it would serve. but more importantly i had to decide on what type of lift and stairs and escape mechanisms i had to install as that would be vital in a construction of this sort. i thought about ballast driven lifts, hydraulic lifts, even tracked lifts. finally i decided upon a cage lift driven by an electric motor at the top of the shaft.
i also designed a stair mechanism such that it will take the minimum space, it shall go around the curvature of the tower so that no inner space will be utilized. then the escape mechanism. for that the best thing, i decided, would be the sort of poles used in fire stations and by batman in his lair.
anyway more on that later when i will upload the design pictures on this blog.
now onwards with my travels. after some more time in the train the emptiness of my stomach became quite excruciating for me. i did not want any of the dubious pooris or dosas they vended out. but i did buy a pack of 2 bread slices and an omelett which cost me 22 rs!!!! i would say that was daylight robbery in all its dastardliness!!!!
anyway it did appease my gastric system a bit.
while waiting for my onward train at the shornur junction station i witnessed a remarkable sight. it was breakfast time and three long distance trains had just pulled up with a veritable host of hungry passengers that needed vending to. so now this army of railway vendors were thronging this counter were they distributing vada , dosa and chutney. the entire sight was a mouth watering experience for a dedicated vada connoisseur like me. much though i was tempted to savor those rich, warm and crunchy vadas with dollops of those exquisite looking chutneys, i was turned off because of an accompanying swarm of house flies who were quite as great connoisseurs of culinary magnificences as myself if not as self controlled. seeing those little rascals dig into the treasure trove of vadas did take my appetite a bit, but not being a person to be disgusted by such sights, after all i did live on hostel food for 4 years, i finally decided to walk away heeding the voice of my inner self control and dietary attempt, " gokul, lay off!! u just had two cold slices of measly bread and one really louse omelett. you do not have to eat those exquisite vadas. after all they are fried in oil!!!"
now do u see how pathetic a loser i turned out to be.
anyway withing a short while the train came, i embarked and put my tower designs to paper, designs which i will torment u readers with in a day or so.
the journey in the shornur -nilambur route has always exhilirated me. this is a single lane route. only one train operates here. the scenery is breathtaking, the green fields, the awesome hills and a veritable mosaic of colours of a quintessential malappuram countryside. finally i disembarked at my angadipuram destination and caught a bus for manjeri for a 40minute back breaking ride in the regular small size seats of the private buses plying here.
finally i reached my uncle's house at noon. well that was the synopsis of today's travels but not the travails. evening i went with my cousin to watch a movie by suresh gopi, named "osund of boot" an exhilirating detective story with a great message conveyed.
and that is the end of the day's travels and travails.
more of the log tomorrow.
i woke up at 0500 using my mobile alarm quite easily enough because the reason i am waking up is to travel and not to study anything. i got ready and left home around 0545. i caught a private bus to reach the railway station. at this early in the morning wind was quite chilly and i dearly wished i had brought some cap or something to ward off the cold air now attacking my exposed ears with earnest, almost always a prelude to a nasty bout of cold. the queue at railway station was quite long and from snippets of conversation i over heard from fellow travelers i could make out that rush was even denser at the other ticket terminals. i really doubted if i could get a seat today. anyway thankfully i was on route being seated too!!! maybe i was the last person who got a free seat in that entire train before it started to lumber off. it was a pretty nice journey and slowly i became fading in and out of sleep. i was woken up to answer the ticket collector's call for producing tickets to be examined. now this also gave me a brain wave!!!
after due formalities with the official i began fermenting the idea i had!! design a tower home!!!
a 7-8 storeyed tower which will be an excellent home. i made a vague mental list of various floors and the function it would serve. but more importantly i had to decide on what type of lift and stairs and escape mechanisms i had to install as that would be vital in a construction of this sort. i thought about ballast driven lifts, hydraulic lifts, even tracked lifts. finally i decided upon a cage lift driven by an electric motor at the top of the shaft.
i also designed a stair mechanism such that it will take the minimum space, it shall go around the curvature of the tower so that no inner space will be utilized. then the escape mechanism. for that the best thing, i decided, would be the sort of poles used in fire stations and by batman in his lair.
anyway more on that later when i will upload the design pictures on this blog.
now onwards with my travels. after some more time in the train the emptiness of my stomach became quite excruciating for me. i did not want any of the dubious pooris or dosas they vended out. but i did buy a pack of 2 bread slices and an omelett which cost me 22 rs!!!! i would say that was daylight robbery in all its dastardliness!!!!
anyway it did appease my gastric system a bit.
while waiting for my onward train at the shornur junction station i witnessed a remarkable sight. it was breakfast time and three long distance trains had just pulled up with a veritable host of hungry passengers that needed vending to. so now this army of railway vendors were thronging this counter were they distributing vada , dosa and chutney. the entire sight was a mouth watering experience for a dedicated vada connoisseur like me. much though i was tempted to savor those rich, warm and crunchy vadas with dollops of those exquisite looking chutneys, i was turned off because of an accompanying swarm of house flies who were quite as great connoisseurs of culinary magnificences as myself if not as self controlled. seeing those little rascals dig into the treasure trove of vadas did take my appetite a bit, but not being a person to be disgusted by such sights, after all i did live on hostel food for 4 years, i finally decided to walk away heeding the voice of my inner self control and dietary attempt, " gokul, lay off!! u just had two cold slices of measly bread and one really louse omelett. you do not have to eat those exquisite vadas. after all they are fried in oil!!!"
now do u see how pathetic a loser i turned out to be.
anyway withing a short while the train came, i embarked and put my tower designs to paper, designs which i will torment u readers with in a day or so.
the journey in the shornur -nilambur route has always exhilirated me. this is a single lane route. only one train operates here. the scenery is breathtaking, the green fields, the awesome hills and a veritable mosaic of colours of a quintessential malappuram countryside. finally i disembarked at my angadipuram destination and caught a bus for manjeri for a 40minute back breaking ride in the regular small size seats of the private buses plying here.
finally i reached my uncle's house at noon. well that was the synopsis of today's travels but not the travails. evening i went with my cousin to watch a movie by suresh gopi, named "osund of boot" an exhilirating detective story with a great message conveyed.
and that is the end of the day's travels and travails.
more of the log tomorrow.
Friday, February 8, 2008
value of life
what is the value of life? how does one measure the value of life? is it valued according to any commercial parameter? is this amount of knowledge one has? is this the number of accomplishments one has? is it one's age? and finally is it one's species?
today while driving down a road i saw a stray puppy in the middle of the road. a geriatric was driving his maruti car straight at the puppy. i stopped my scooter and honked to scare the puppy away. thankfully any fatalities was avoided. that got me thinking. is a puppy's life any less valuable than a human being's life? after all it is still a life form!!!
now if it was a human child the geriatric might have been more careful. right?
as i got thinking i started reviewing the thread of human thought. whenever accidents occur with a number of human fatalities the reporting is often like this, x number of people were killed of whom y were women and z were children. no mention of men. perhaps they expect the reader to do the math to find the number of dead men. but often it is injuries to women and children that are given predominance over mishaps with men. why? is it because their lives are more important? or is it because society considers protection of women and children, the "weaker" section as its primary duty? is it genuine consideration or a mutated form of male chauvinism?
some years back there was a bus accident where lot of women sitting in their designated front side of the bus were killed. days later govt issued a new order that ladies' seats were to be at the back. so position occupied by ladies can be occupied by men, so that men can die more easily?
everyday a lot of people die and it is most often women's tragedies that get attention.
now coming to puppy case, according to budhism a person can go through many cycles of birth as various life forms, as an ant, a dog, a fish, a tiger anything basically. now that may be a quirky idea, but it still calls for a greater understanding for the value of life. this blog is not a statement but a listing of my various doubts. i mean, seriously how can we know the value of life?
or is there something as such.
thinking abt it when we smack off those dastardly mosquitoes do we consider that they are as alive as our pets, or even us? after all a life is still a life , ryt?
so basically i think we are all nepotic in giving more important to human species than to other species.
now i am starting to sound like maneka gandhi. dont worry i shall be a human nepotic to the end. and i do enjoy smacking off those mosquitoes especially when they drone in my ears when i am half asleep on warm days when kseb shuts down power at 2 am!!!!
today while driving down a road i saw a stray puppy in the middle of the road. a geriatric was driving his maruti car straight at the puppy. i stopped my scooter and honked to scare the puppy away. thankfully any fatalities was avoided. that got me thinking. is a puppy's life any less valuable than a human being's life? after all it is still a life form!!!
now if it was a human child the geriatric might have been more careful. right?
as i got thinking i started reviewing the thread of human thought. whenever accidents occur with a number of human fatalities the reporting is often like this, x number of people were killed of whom y were women and z were children. no mention of men. perhaps they expect the reader to do the math to find the number of dead men. but often it is injuries to women and children that are given predominance over mishaps with men. why? is it because their lives are more important? or is it because society considers protection of women and children, the "weaker" section as its primary duty? is it genuine consideration or a mutated form of male chauvinism?
some years back there was a bus accident where lot of women sitting in their designated front side of the bus were killed. days later govt issued a new order that ladies' seats were to be at the back. so position occupied by ladies can be occupied by men, so that men can die more easily?
everyday a lot of people die and it is most often women's tragedies that get attention.
now coming to puppy case, according to budhism a person can go through many cycles of birth as various life forms, as an ant, a dog, a fish, a tiger anything basically. now that may be a quirky idea, but it still calls for a greater understanding for the value of life. this blog is not a statement but a listing of my various doubts. i mean, seriously how can we know the value of life?
or is there something as such.
thinking abt it when we smack off those dastardly mosquitoes do we consider that they are as alive as our pets, or even us? after all a life is still a life , ryt?
so basically i think we are all nepotic in giving more important to human species than to other species.
now i am starting to sound like maneka gandhi. dont worry i shall be a human nepotic to the end. and i do enjoy smacking off those mosquitoes especially when they drone in my ears when i am half asleep on warm days when kseb shuts down power at 2 am!!!!
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
gazillion dollar dream #1
i have a regular madness.
when i am utterly bored i start what i call the gazillion dollar dream. i imagine myself getting an almost infinite amount of money in an account, and then imagine how will i start spending from the next minute onwards. the pattern varies at different times.
this is one such example i cooked up yesterday.
"first transfer about 50 lakhs to my fed bank account. withdraw rs. 10 lakhs in cash from fed bank. hire a taxi, preferably an indica and go to ekm airtel office. recharge my mobile for rs.2000. go to online it shoppe and get myself a sony vaio laptop. also buy an airtel internet card for laptop. get a reliance card also.
go to mahindra showroom and order a luxury scorpio. go to toyota showroom and buy an innova. get an inbuilt tv and dvd player in it.
open up accounts at sbi and hsbc banks. deposit rs. 1 crore each in them. arrange for international visa cards.
clear the lic loans. clear the canara bank education loan.
order a brand new mercedes s class and a bmw coupe.
contact a real good real estate firm and buy a plot near le meridien. buy about 50 acres of land in kakkanad. buy up my ancestral home at nilambur.
buy a high rise apartment in kochi city with full view of naval base, port and taj malabar.
also buy up a large estate near gudalore.
get an apartment at bangalore, mumbai and delhi.
order a bombardier global xrs.
at the le meridien site build a medium sized villa, with an attached boat yard and an attached underground garage. get an exclusive high speed (100 mbps or gbps) net connection for the home. also get a satellite dish able to connect to any tv channel in the world. get myself a servo power computer with 2 x quad core, 5 gb ram, 50 tb hdd, wifi , wimax routers and a 18" and a 50 " monitor with 1 gb graphics card. get google earth pro. also get subscribed to jane's and all major satellite imagery websites.
buy myself a speedboat and a motorized yacht. moor the speedboat at the kundanoor home and the yacht at taj malabar and later at the marina. order a luxury submarine. build helipads at my kundanoor, kakkanad and gudalore properties.
buy a mi-38 helicopter for local uses. contract a chartered company for temporary use and for regular maintenance.
buy a royal enfield machismo-500.
keep a scorpio at tripunithura home.
buy a range rover and keep it at kundanoor.
buy a black rolls royce phantom and keep it at kakkanad.
buy the dream seaside property at north paravur and build a jetty there.
get a mahindra bolero invader 4x4 with sand tires over there. also an atv and a water scooter.
at the gudalore estate get a mahindra 4x4 jeep converted like willys.
get a second hand an-32 that can carry even a truck in it.
go to usa and buy a hummer h1 with special offroad tracks. also get a harley davidson.
wherever i go , i fly in my bombardier and my ride follows in my an32.
get a lifetime membership in manchester united football club. go on a world cruise in queen mary 2.
go to dubai and buy the indian island in world island project.
when i am utterly bored i start what i call the gazillion dollar dream. i imagine myself getting an almost infinite amount of money in an account, and then imagine how will i start spending from the next minute onwards. the pattern varies at different times.
this is one such example i cooked up yesterday.
"first transfer about 50 lakhs to my fed bank account. withdraw rs. 10 lakhs in cash from fed bank. hire a taxi, preferably an indica and go to ekm airtel office. recharge my mobile for rs.2000. go to online it shoppe and get myself a sony vaio laptop. also buy an airtel internet card for laptop. get a reliance card also.
go to mahindra showroom and order a luxury scorpio. go to toyota showroom and buy an innova. get an inbuilt tv and dvd player in it.
open up accounts at sbi and hsbc banks. deposit rs. 1 crore each in them. arrange for international visa cards.
clear the lic loans. clear the canara bank education loan.
order a brand new mercedes s class and a bmw coupe.
contact a real good real estate firm and buy a plot near le meridien. buy about 50 acres of land in kakkanad. buy up my ancestral home at nilambur.
buy a high rise apartment in kochi city with full view of naval base, port and taj malabar.
also buy up a large estate near gudalore.
get an apartment at bangalore, mumbai and delhi.
order a bombardier global xrs.
at the le meridien site build a medium sized villa, with an attached boat yard and an attached underground garage. get an exclusive high speed (100 mbps or gbps) net connection for the home. also get a satellite dish able to connect to any tv channel in the world. get myself a servo power computer with 2 x quad core, 5 gb ram, 50 tb hdd, wifi , wimax routers and a 18" and a 50 " monitor with 1 gb graphics card. get google earth pro. also get subscribed to jane's and all major satellite imagery websites.
buy myself a speedboat and a motorized yacht. moor the speedboat at the kundanoor home and the yacht at taj malabar and later at the marina. order a luxury submarine. build helipads at my kundanoor, kakkanad and gudalore properties.
buy a mi-38 helicopter for local uses. contract a chartered company for temporary use and for regular maintenance.
buy a royal enfield machismo-500.
keep a scorpio at tripunithura home.
buy a range rover and keep it at kundanoor.
buy a black rolls royce phantom and keep it at kakkanad.
buy the dream seaside property at north paravur and build a jetty there.
get a mahindra bolero invader 4x4 with sand tires over there. also an atv and a water scooter.
at the gudalore estate get a mahindra 4x4 jeep converted like willys.
get a second hand an-32 that can carry even a truck in it.
go to usa and buy a hummer h1 with special offroad tracks. also get a harley davidson.
wherever i go , i fly in my bombardier and my ride follows in my an32.
get a lifetime membership in manchester united football club. go on a world cruise in queen mary 2.
go to dubai and buy the indian island in world island project.
letting imagination fly- dreams reloaded!!!!
i am not talking about the truly great and how they dream with their eyes open and thus conquer the world. it is far from that context. i am telling of how we can create imaginary worlds where we can rest and escape from the hassles of our normal world. the serious disciplined may say that this is day dreaming , and i do agree with them.
after all what is wrong with day dreaming??
being a consummate sloth and an accomplished master in the art of laziness i do lot of day dreaming. but day dreaming attained a totally important significance when i happened upon dr. hannibal lecter. now any one acquainted with this magnificent creation of thomas harris will agree that this is one truly remarkable specimen. apart from his eccentric culinary tastes and his immense analytical capabilities the feature that most captivated me was his mnemonics.
mnemonics , according to definition is any set of tools or techniques that are used to facilitate in the increase of memory powers. now mr. lecter has taken that to wholly new levels. the book describes how being imprisoned in the baltimore asylum, mr. lecter kept himself occupied by his strain of mnemonics. he preserved his sanity and the shine of his cerebrum by immersing himself in a mnemonic castle where he preserved all his memories. being the consummate connoisseur all his passions and loves and knowledge he preserved in the rooms of his mental castle. all his favorite memories , all his favorite scents, favorite musics, books, people, everything he associated with items in that castle. when he had to recollect some details of clarice starling, he merely revisited the relevant room and gazed upon a symbolic painting and the details of it brought back the old memories , kinda like clicking a link in a webpage.
now isnt that absolutely remarkable? the catch is most of us do not have the cranial facilities of the fictional dr. hannibal lecter. so being a mere mortal i wondered how can i use this idea? so i hit upon the creation of my own virtual worlds where i cane scape when i am in the midst of the craziness that is daily life. i started imagining scenarios, situations, pleasures , horrors, (sometimes extremely kinky stuff too!!!) and this started occupying my mind, the mind of a basically introvert person. now these ideas slowly started stimulating my creativity. sometimes i would imagine myself to be the head of a highly militarized india and the means by which i would go about for global domination through military and diplomatic means. the entire plan would be made consulting a ttk world atlas!!! i would chart locations of force concentrations, locate bases, chart attack vectors and plot troop movements. by the time i am done my hapless atlas would be crisscrossed by a web of meaningless pencil marks and i will have to spend time rubbing them all off. god knows where that atlas is now!!!
then i started designing military bases with complete infrastructure details designed by me and modus operandi charted out. at school my friend renji and me were quite adept at it and even now that crazy bastard reminds me of those and we have a laugh.
i started designing institutions like schools, universities, hotels and ships. it was a lot of fun!!! all this meaningless crap defined my otherwise boring life. i loved to draw even though my drawings basically suck. still i drew for the pleasure of drawings, mostly with pencil.
my greatest designing work was a complete cruise liner i designed in my first year of engineering. it was a 15 storied super cruise liner. i designed all floors to the inch. i made templates of outer structure and filled each floor with necessary details.
the lifts matched, the stairs matched and there was even a two storied golf course beneath the sea level!!!! i also calculated the crew necessary to run it and emergency procedures, the complete works!!!! and the funny thing is after designing all the levels when i finally drew the entire ship acc to plan it sucked!!!! it was so ugly!!!!!!!!!!
i had a great laugh over that!!!!!
anyway nowadays i am more into gazillion dollar dreams, imagination of what all things i will do if i get a gazillion (close to infinity) amount of money the next day morning. u might think it is mundane, but i will regale with some of them. so stay in touch if u havent already applied to a cell near dr. hannibal lecter.
after all what is wrong with day dreaming??
being a consummate sloth and an accomplished master in the art of laziness i do lot of day dreaming. but day dreaming attained a totally important significance when i happened upon dr. hannibal lecter. now any one acquainted with this magnificent creation of thomas harris will agree that this is one truly remarkable specimen. apart from his eccentric culinary tastes and his immense analytical capabilities the feature that most captivated me was his mnemonics.
mnemonics , according to definition is any set of tools or techniques that are used to facilitate in the increase of memory powers. now mr. lecter has taken that to wholly new levels. the book describes how being imprisoned in the baltimore asylum, mr. lecter kept himself occupied by his strain of mnemonics. he preserved his sanity and the shine of his cerebrum by immersing himself in a mnemonic castle where he preserved all his memories. being the consummate connoisseur all his passions and loves and knowledge he preserved in the rooms of his mental castle. all his favorite memories , all his favorite scents, favorite musics, books, people, everything he associated with items in that castle. when he had to recollect some details of clarice starling, he merely revisited the relevant room and gazed upon a symbolic painting and the details of it brought back the old memories , kinda like clicking a link in a webpage.
now isnt that absolutely remarkable? the catch is most of us do not have the cranial facilities of the fictional dr. hannibal lecter. so being a mere mortal i wondered how can i use this idea? so i hit upon the creation of my own virtual worlds where i cane scape when i am in the midst of the craziness that is daily life. i started imagining scenarios, situations, pleasures , horrors, (sometimes extremely kinky stuff too!!!) and this started occupying my mind, the mind of a basically introvert person. now these ideas slowly started stimulating my creativity. sometimes i would imagine myself to be the head of a highly militarized india and the means by which i would go about for global domination through military and diplomatic means. the entire plan would be made consulting a ttk world atlas!!! i would chart locations of force concentrations, locate bases, chart attack vectors and plot troop movements. by the time i am done my hapless atlas would be crisscrossed by a web of meaningless pencil marks and i will have to spend time rubbing them all off. god knows where that atlas is now!!!
then i started designing military bases with complete infrastructure details designed by me and modus operandi charted out. at school my friend renji and me were quite adept at it and even now that crazy bastard reminds me of those and we have a laugh.
i started designing institutions like schools, universities, hotels and ships. it was a lot of fun!!! all this meaningless crap defined my otherwise boring life. i loved to draw even though my drawings basically suck. still i drew for the pleasure of drawings, mostly with pencil.
my greatest designing work was a complete cruise liner i designed in my first year of engineering. it was a 15 storied super cruise liner. i designed all floors to the inch. i made templates of outer structure and filled each floor with necessary details.
the lifts matched, the stairs matched and there was even a two storied golf course beneath the sea level!!!! i also calculated the crew necessary to run it and emergency procedures, the complete works!!!! and the funny thing is after designing all the levels when i finally drew the entire ship acc to plan it sucked!!!! it was so ugly!!!!!!!!!!
i had a great laugh over that!!!!!
anyway nowadays i am more into gazillion dollar dreams, imagination of what all things i will do if i get a gazillion (close to infinity) amount of money the next day morning. u might think it is mundane, but i will regale with some of them. so stay in touch if u havent already applied to a cell near dr. hannibal lecter.
Monday, February 4, 2008
freemasonry and outsourcing- what a combination !!!!!
dont worry i am not promulgating some wild goose chase story of penetration of freemasons into the outsourcing industry.
the title is just the description of my day, today.
today i attended a job interview for a bpo company and i also met a freemason.
the job interview happened first so that i shall narrate.
i used my friend's scooter as my father needed ours. pleasant ride over all, considering the aweful traffic of ernakulam roads. i reached the 6th floor office of the firm, filed my name in a roster and joined some 4 other guys waiting for the interview. all those guys were prim and smart in their appearances while i was in my bohemian best!!! i though appearances wont matter, and i guess it didnt.
i waited for my chance and when i was interviewed i was comfortable, confident and gave a casual interview. the interviewer , who later learned was an mba from rajagiri college, and a trashy one at that, snuffed me off by saying that my grammer is poor. now that was the last thing i expected!!! she also said my "5" back papers were a problem too. well what to say, she made me wait another 20 humid minutes in a fanless room with 7 other hopelesses and finally it was the door for me.
it was a definite anti climax. in fact i was glad to escape from there. they apparrently had no openings at ernakulam and had vacancy only at chennai!!! now damned if i have to go to chennai to work at an out sourcing company!!!!!
later after a heavy lunch and a post lunch siesta at the public library i left for the freemason meeting.
the meet was in wellingdon island, an exotic location for a tripunithuraite like me. it was a pleasant ride with minimal traffic and a overcast sky, and a sweet breeze. i could have been lulled to sleep if i hadnt been riding a rackety scooter!!!
i had trouble finding the office but i found it in time and had an excellent meeting.
the distinguished old man who is the lodge master of ernakulam lodge of freemasons is also apparently the no.2 freemason in india!!!! it was an excellent conversation of about 30 mins and i was hooked. he gave me a card and a pamphlet and told me about the commitments that i would have to make. the rs. 8k starting and rs.2k annual fee really scared me off, but not as much was the dress code which required me wearing a black coat, black pants, white shirt, black belt, black socks and black shoes!!!!!!!!!!!
doesnt it make men in blacks ashamed!!!!!!!!!!
anyway after a pleasant chat with that nice old man i cam home to a cozy bath and my comp.
pretty uneventful ever since.
to think that this is an organisation that is about 1000 years old, dating from the knights templar of crusades, and consisting of such illustrious people as former members as da vinci, galielo, newton, george washington, swami vivekananda, c rajagopalachari etc, it is quite overwhelming.
and to think that an organisation that i thought to be predominantly a christian european phenomena flourishing here, and being so secular at it too!!!!!!
it is indeed amazing and i do hope that someday i can list my name with the creed of freemasonry.
the title is just the description of my day, today.
today i attended a job interview for a bpo company and i also met a freemason.
the job interview happened first so that i shall narrate.
i used my friend's scooter as my father needed ours. pleasant ride over all, considering the aweful traffic of ernakulam roads. i reached the 6th floor office of the firm, filed my name in a roster and joined some 4 other guys waiting for the interview. all those guys were prim and smart in their appearances while i was in my bohemian best!!! i though appearances wont matter, and i guess it didnt.
i waited for my chance and when i was interviewed i was comfortable, confident and gave a casual interview. the interviewer , who later learned was an mba from rajagiri college, and a trashy one at that, snuffed me off by saying that my grammer is poor. now that was the last thing i expected!!! she also said my "5" back papers were a problem too. well what to say, she made me wait another 20 humid minutes in a fanless room with 7 other hopelesses and finally it was the door for me.
it was a definite anti climax. in fact i was glad to escape from there. they apparrently had no openings at ernakulam and had vacancy only at chennai!!! now damned if i have to go to chennai to work at an out sourcing company!!!!!
later after a heavy lunch and a post lunch siesta at the public library i left for the freemason meeting.
the meet was in wellingdon island, an exotic location for a tripunithuraite like me. it was a pleasant ride with minimal traffic and a overcast sky, and a sweet breeze. i could have been lulled to sleep if i hadnt been riding a rackety scooter!!!
i had trouble finding the office but i found it in time and had an excellent meeting.
the distinguished old man who is the lodge master of ernakulam lodge of freemasons is also apparently the no.2 freemason in india!!!! it was an excellent conversation of about 30 mins and i was hooked. he gave me a card and a pamphlet and told me about the commitments that i would have to make. the rs. 8k starting and rs.2k annual fee really scared me off, but not as much was the dress code which required me wearing a black coat, black pants, white shirt, black belt, black socks and black shoes!!!!!!!!!!!
doesnt it make men in blacks ashamed!!!!!!!!!!
anyway after a pleasant chat with that nice old man i cam home to a cozy bath and my comp.
pretty uneventful ever since.
to think that this is an organisation that is about 1000 years old, dating from the knights templar of crusades, and consisting of such illustrious people as former members as da vinci, galielo, newton, george washington, swami vivekananda, c rajagopalachari etc, it is quite overwhelming.
and to think that an organisation that i thought to be predominantly a christian european phenomena flourishing here, and being so secular at it too!!!!!!
it is indeed amazing and i do hope that someday i can list my name with the creed of freemasonry.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
the magic of road
we all use road, the endless stretch of asphalt, rock and bitumen. but have we ever wondered the magic that is a road? a road unifies all corners of the globe. even islands they have roads continuing from ports and airports and the ports and airports are mere links between networks of roads. it wonders me that the road outside of my home in kochi can lead me directly in front of the buckingham palace, without any port/air port linkages!!!!!! the road that i use is the part of the same network of roads that was used by uncle laden when he was evading us troops in an ambulance!!!!
the road where i walk today has been walked by countless people before me and shall eb walked by countless people after me. what all fortunes would have been made or destroyed by people walking this very road? what all ideas may have originated in people who were walking along this very road?
to the quintessential unrequited romantic like me, it is a wonder to imagine that the girl of my dreams may be currently walking on another road that is linked to my road!!! so all that separates us is maybe some kilometers of tarmac, maybe in decimels or maybe in thousands.
when i walk on the road and see the endless stretch of tarmac before me i see the very best of human will. a road is constructed by sheer human will and strength. i am reminded of all those mountains leveled for a road to pass through, all those rivers bridged and rocks tunneled so that man is connected with his fellow man. nature has been forced to make way for the will of man and the product has been magical.
sometimes i wish that i had some supernatural powers, not that i want to fly, but that i must be able to transmit myself through road to any point on the road network much like how an electric charge travels through a conductor. the potholes and landslides wont matter because they are mere resistances and not dielectrics in the original conducting surface.
with the mere thought i can reach the louvre, i can see the big ben, i can walk beside the sexy women of vienna, i can travel alongside the speedsters of german autobahn, i can walk beside my dearest wherever she maybe!!!!
now whoever would think that this simple black connundrum of tar, rock and gravel can have such magic? the recipient of countless garbage, spittoon for the multitudes, the road, yes, is dirty. but withing the dirtiest coal block lies the brightest diamond, and should not we seek the see the diamond rather than the mountain of dirt covering it? isnt that what makes our lives happy?
the road where i walk today has been walked by countless people before me and shall eb walked by countless people after me. what all fortunes would have been made or destroyed by people walking this very road? what all ideas may have originated in people who were walking along this very road?
to the quintessential unrequited romantic like me, it is a wonder to imagine that the girl of my dreams may be currently walking on another road that is linked to my road!!! so all that separates us is maybe some kilometers of tarmac, maybe in decimels or maybe in thousands.
when i walk on the road and see the endless stretch of tarmac before me i see the very best of human will. a road is constructed by sheer human will and strength. i am reminded of all those mountains leveled for a road to pass through, all those rivers bridged and rocks tunneled so that man is connected with his fellow man. nature has been forced to make way for the will of man and the product has been magical.
sometimes i wish that i had some supernatural powers, not that i want to fly, but that i must be able to transmit myself through road to any point on the road network much like how an electric charge travels through a conductor. the potholes and landslides wont matter because they are mere resistances and not dielectrics in the original conducting surface.
with the mere thought i can reach the louvre, i can see the big ben, i can walk beside the sexy women of vienna, i can travel alongside the speedsters of german autobahn, i can walk beside my dearest wherever she maybe!!!!
now whoever would think that this simple black connundrum of tar, rock and gravel can have such magic? the recipient of countless garbage, spittoon for the multitudes, the road, yes, is dirty. but withing the dirtiest coal block lies the brightest diamond, and should not we seek the see the diamond rather than the mountain of dirt covering it? isnt that what makes our lives happy?
what is the destiny of the human species?
today when we are all so worked up about global warming and about saving the planet for future generations, i cant help but feel cynically pessimistic about our high hopes and lofty aspirations about human destiny.
is there anyone who is deluded to think that we, human beings can exist forever? in cosmic terms human society has not lasted for even an eye wink, and how longer do we aspire to survive?
perhaps human destiny is not to exist forever but to prolong our existence for as long as it can. and once we are extinct why should we care about the planet?
speaking of human destiny i review the epic words spoken by the indomitable agent smith in the matrix 1. he spoke of how human beings are the parasites that feed on the planet earth. how human beings need to multiply in numbers to survive as a civilization. now is that not true? we live on an island where our population is ever increasing and the resources are being depleted faster than it can ever be replenished. the graph is almost logarithmic in curve.
the past 150 years have seen more development than the entire 5000 years or so before. how did this logarithmic increase in technology and life happen? is it some sort of magnificent postlude of human civilization? all this knowledge, all this technology all these scientific wonders?
well whatever it may mean, one need not definitely worry about it. after all why worry about something that is inevitable!!! we just have to live our lives being honest to ourselves.
adisankara, the great hindu sage had once said of human beings, " it is our greatest folly in considering our lives as the very center of the universe when in fact we are so insignificant in cosmic proportions and reckonings." appending to that swami vivekananda said, " true , and it is that characteristic which is the single greatest laudable aspect of human beings. even though we are so insignificant we live our lives so well being absolutely honest to our selves. if we consider ourselves insignificant why would anyone strive for perfection, goodness or any noble qualities?"
we strive for these qualities only because we believe that it can actually make a difference.
is that not greatness?
well i think so.
is there anyone who is deluded to think that we, human beings can exist forever? in cosmic terms human society has not lasted for even an eye wink, and how longer do we aspire to survive?
perhaps human destiny is not to exist forever but to prolong our existence for as long as it can. and once we are extinct why should we care about the planet?
speaking of human destiny i review the epic words spoken by the indomitable agent smith in the matrix 1. he spoke of how human beings are the parasites that feed on the planet earth. how human beings need to multiply in numbers to survive as a civilization. now is that not true? we live on an island where our population is ever increasing and the resources are being depleted faster than it can ever be replenished. the graph is almost logarithmic in curve.
the past 150 years have seen more development than the entire 5000 years or so before. how did this logarithmic increase in technology and life happen? is it some sort of magnificent postlude of human civilization? all this knowledge, all this technology all these scientific wonders?
well whatever it may mean, one need not definitely worry about it. after all why worry about something that is inevitable!!! we just have to live our lives being honest to ourselves.
adisankara, the great hindu sage had once said of human beings, " it is our greatest folly in considering our lives as the very center of the universe when in fact we are so insignificant in cosmic proportions and reckonings." appending to that swami vivekananda said, " true , and it is that characteristic which is the single greatest laudable aspect of human beings. even though we are so insignificant we live our lives so well being absolutely honest to our selves. if we consider ourselves insignificant why would anyone strive for perfection, goodness or any noble qualities?"
we strive for these qualities only because we believe that it can actually make a difference.
is that not greatness?
well i think so.
first post.
ahoy!!! the unsuspecting unfortunate reader. let me warn you that you will be facing a lot of drivel from the mind of a person who has been certified as insanely crazy by his friends unanimously and abjectly stupid by his teachers and a total loser by the world in general.
so while you have the bandwidth use them at a more productive blog or a website.
so while you have the bandwidth use them at a more productive blog or a website.
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