I THINK therefore I WRITE therfore I AM....

How hard it is to control the mind....

2008-09-27T07:04:00.000-07:00

How hard it is to control the mind! Well has it been
compared to the maddened monkey. There was a monkey,
restless by his own nature, as all monkeys are. As if that
were not enough, someone made him drink freely of wine,
so that he became still more restless. Then a scorpion stung
him. When a man is stung by a scorpion he jumps about for
a whole day, so the poor monkey found his condition worse
than ever. To complete his misery a demon entered into
him. What language can describe the uncontrollable
restlessness of that monkey? The human mind is like that
monkey; incessantly active by its own nature, then it
becomes drunk with the wine of desire, thus increasing its
turbulence. After desire takes possession comes the sting of
the scorpion of jealously of others whose desires meet with
fulfilment, and last of all the demon of pride takes
possession of the mind, making it think itself of all
importance. How hard to control such a mind!

RajYoga-VivekaNand...

Putrid Seeds !!!

2008-06-01T01:47:00.000-07:00

If you ask somebody that what would be future like ? you will be surprised by answers such as incredible innovations, products and the complete change of the. Computers that are intelligent enough to read up your mind. Vehicles, smart and fast enough to become your best friends. Home so intelligently designed that things would happen with the blink of eye. Technology will fill the space and intelligence would rule the roost. But what about the most important aspect of the future, the HUMANS. How would it be like ? with what kind of values? with what kind of attitude ? and most importantly what kind of thought process. If I am talking about the future human, Isn't I am talking about the current population of below 12 years age? Yes I am. So Lets take a look at 33% of population that will be next generation of humans.

Madarsa Camp !!!

Of course the second largest religion is the religion of least educated followers. Clashes of Islams are not to mention here whichare taking place in the various parts of world. The pervasive disharmony between muslim and other religions would certainly lead to the fragmented world in the future. The chasm of cultural difference would be widened by these madarsas which preach completely distorted form of Islam directed by the Clergies. This large population is dispersed around the globe. From Pakistan in the west Asia to Indonesia in the East Asia. From Iran to Iraq. From turkey to Russia. Islam and Muslims can not be neglected in the coming future. Technological assistance makes the things worse as with its help these fanatics hammer the world badly. So Muslims would keep on fighting for the supremacy of their religion. And this fight is for their pigheaded approach towards their religion. The staunch water stinks. So if new Islam would not be modernise enough the hitch is going to affect the coming generations badly. The religion would find newer seeds buried in the Madarsas of Bangladesh or in any part of the world that would impart clashes across the globe.

Child Soldier Camp !!!

Certainly the coming generation will be fighter by the nature. From the very inception they are trained to fight for their freedom, for their rights and for some cause. In Srilanka LTTE child soldiers have turned their childhood into the Arms training sessions. This is significant in the sense, in future they would turn into the army, fighting for the same causes their forefathers died fighting for. They too would have ever ready support from the technology. So any catastrophe can not be denied on the coming future. This generation of fighters is learning only one art, i.e. How to fight ? and they would certainly keep the cause alive in the future. These groups has identified that it is important to get rid of the childhood and preoccupy the sub-conscious minds of children with the thoughts of their "cause".

In Africa things are even worse. Here children are forcefully taken up by the so called freedom fighters and they are so much tortured that children start following the blood path blindly after wards.Children are forced into the opium addiction, boozing and bloodshed. Can you imagine that this breed of fighters is going to disarm in coming future. How much precarious journey of their life is lying ahead. Some of these African children opt for the arms out of madness but some out of hunger and inequality. As the later percentage is increasing, it is definitely a negative signal for the rest of the world.

And things are not limited to only Srilanka or Africa but to the larger part of world. In Israel, Middle east, in Israel, in Pakistan and in Korea, ever where there is Army of children who are ready to fight for their causes. In Gaza things are so bad that if children play they play the games with the real arms. This is real threat to the childhood of the masses. Children shouting the "Unknown" slogans and killing mindlessly can bring your heart out. The way innocence is turning into rage will definitely drive hell in the coming future.

Consumerism Camp !!!

This is worst affected generation. Its psychology is completely engulfed by the products, brands and materialism. This group would be real threat to themselves. This is another kind of addiction instilled in the present generation by the marketers considering the safe future for their products without considering the health hazards of the products.
Consumerism is on the path of its zenith. It has covered the vast majority of the child hood as its potential future customer. The children are so madly following these things that it is not going to loose its ground in the future. From eating to wearing. From dialect to mannerism everything is governed by the market forces for this coming generation. Chocolates, Video games, burgers, colas and brands have never been so popular among children. These things have become the integral part of the lives of the children now. This generation would feed the organisation, profits and employment to millions of the people in coming time.

Deprived camp !!!

This Pulitzer Prize winner photograph really pulled out your heart out. Vulture waiting for its prey to die signifies how bad the situation would be in the future. This hungry childhood would make another army of deprives in the world of obesity resulting out of over eating. Billions of this class would emerge into the psychologically challenged generation. Hunger would turn into something world would never imagine. Certainly this childhood would not turn into normal future adulthood.
Then comes the childhood that is been forced into labour. Billions are forced in India and China in unorganised/organised sector of employment. This class is going to affect the way things would be manufactured in the future. The obvious depravity in this class would certainly reflected in the way the different strata of the society would interact with eachother. In third tier or fourth tier manufacturing units these children are forced to work in the conditions which are beyond imagination of the normal mind.

So these putrid seeds that are sown now would result into the generation of the future that everybody is envisaging as technology savvy. Do you think these things would affect the way the thing s would be. I believe they will.

What went wrong ? !!! Final Blow

2008-05-30T12:28:00.001-07:00

Definitely psychology of our generation has been engulfed by the clouds spurred by media, larger than life leaders, and so called several heroes. We have trained ourselves to emulate something or somebody that mass follows or what is accepted by many. This "Heard Phenomenon" is very common among humans. Social factors are also responsible for this vulnerable state in which human race has reached. We will sew how societal un-predictable form has made things worse for humans themselves.

Societies evolve and that is natural phenomenon but unsynchronized way it is following the pain.The natural resources are produce by some body and consumed by some body else. The Oil produced in Nigeria in completely unstable state is consumed in US. Levis Jeans stitched in horrible working conditions in US are purchased by Europe. These social factors play a crucial step in the harmony of world, in the welfare of ecosystem and above all the survival of humans. When US purchase crude oil from Iraq or Saudi Arabia, is it concern about the political status of that country. Is it bothered about what is mode of the purchasing? its currency based or commodity based or Arm Based or Opium based. What are the repercussions of the same? These things might look insignificant in front of vision and mission statement of the corporations but this has to be ingrained by the corporations, especially those which are Multi National Companies. Meeting the ethical and humane aspects that are going into the product realization phase should be the prime motive. What kind of waves are going into the product. So Nike should not be happy for its profit coming fro the products manufactured in Taiwan, but it should look into the working conditions and the extraction of the raw material that is going into the product. So accountability chain is far from lengthy that is been perceived now.

So in nutshell, Accountability chain is to be taken up to replace the supply chain. Who is adding value in the supply chain and the way it is adding value both are important for the product development. Repercussions need to be analyzed and studied prior to the Product realization. And More ethical way needs to taken over the just profit motive approach. Its not just progress that matters but it is survival that is at stake. There is requirement to be psychologically toned so that we can make wise choices for our preferences.

What went wrong...Psycholgy Rules !!!

2008-05-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

Till now we saw, how come the product can affect our ecological system. Accountability chain is need of hour. Every individual, community, government and institution must be held accountable for his deeds. Welfare of larger mass must be kept in mind before eking out short term profits. Now onwards I will dwell upon the psychological problem of the aspect. Maslow's theory states about the needs and all. I think that is correct in every sense until there is not something about the repercussions of those states. So a person who is struggling to have first level needs can not be expected to attain enlightenment just by preaching him few fundas.

Psychology is even more complex than psychologist can ever think. Every human is different so you can imagine the introduction of complex structure with birth of every child. And this birth affects or changes the complete dynamics of the web i.e psychology. This web( Psychology of humnas) is sub set of broader set or web. This web is of interactions among humnas, animals, environment, Forces and God. So a person who is not educated (ignorant) plouging in field in some coastal part of Vietnam can affect the sensex index of NY stock exchange. A worker in small textile mill in china can affect the ecological balance of Greenland. when things are so much interrelated the regulation of the psychologies is the prime force because it affects the various facets of life on this planet. The psychology of possession is natural to humans. When humans have enough to feed they start accumulating for any future or contingency. After that state they moves into the territory of personal ego (The most difficult aspect of psychology). Here the pride, grandeur and status rules. Most of the time individuals reside in this arena, while billions of people struggle for their survival.

This natural disharmony resulting due to psychology is inevitable. But its magnitude can definitely reduce to certain level. Humans use 5%of their mind (Scientifically proven fact). It makes humans erring. Mistakes are natural impact of this. Our ancestors were affected by the thing. But new generation or present generation is now using 30% of it body. And out of comforts available because of so called technological advances immunity has reached to its lowest levels. Diseases are pervasive. And credit goes to psychology of humans. The most important thing is this that psychology is vulnerable. it can be easily affected by the figures, facts, videos and stills. Psychology can be guided through simulation, stimulation and sizzling tact. It can be maneuver by the theories, ideas and scientific facts. And above all it can be enthralled by the creativity and innovation. You can say that psychology is prone to change. And last few decades have seen a sea change in the psychology of humans and it is well reflected in the transformation of societies, culture and values. What is right and what is wrong alters with the change in values. What is crime and what is not changes with the values. What to have and what not to have with the change of culture.

So this changed pattern of psychology is partially driven by the natural up-gradation in the level of need and vastly strengthened by External forces. These External forces have their psychological gain in mind while changing the thinking patterns of the masses and it takes place without even considering the after effects of this change on the ecology and above all on the way we interact to each other.

What went wrong !!! Accountability Chain ?

2008-05-18T21:22:00.000-07:00

Whom to blame? It is difficult task. It is like accusing some one of unintentional crime. Most of the actions taken in history towards any betterment, which are now resulting into the miseries of millions, were mostly unintentional. Our scientific advancements were seen as the assistance for the ease of mankind. Ease in commuting, ease of connectivity, ease of quick cure. All these ease are no doubt has improved the life style but repercussions of these processes were ooften neglected.

Let’s take an example of product.

We are now very much affected by the Hydrocarbon based air pollution. Carbon mono oxide is killing both us and environment around us. Suppose an alternative fuel made up of water and few chemicals is invented by some scientist in some corner of world. The company that is financing the research of this project took the formula, and dwell upon the possibility of the manufacturing of the alternative fuel, which it founds quite feasible and profitable. As that company is already in the petrochemical business, it boasts this invention as the cure from the carbon based pollution, and promotes the product as Carbon free fuel. It takes the permission of the government which is going to fight elections. Government takes the mileage out of this by alluring voters. Product stores were opened and shelves were filled with several variants of the product. Millions of engines that can run on this technology were manufactured. Billions were job created across the supply chain of the new product. People started the use of new fuel. And it was no doubt Carbon free fuel. Environment is clean. Everybody is happy. The Company that has produced this Fuel is posting profits quarter by quarter. Its share price increases like any thing. This is end of any present product Accountability Chain. Any new product is taken by the manufacturer up to this level only in current business concept. It is end of supply chain.

Now starts the real accountability chain. When that fuel is used, people find a decline in the performance of the vehicle in next two or three years. After four years engines were affected badly, so people started changing their vehicles to get rid of the poor performances. Those vehicles were sold to economically weaker class in suburban areas. And in next few years there were billions of vehicles lying their at countryside. Till here nobody has looked into the problem. Then in next few years Engines performance worsen so much that they can not be used at all. Here starts the dismantling of the parts of these vehicles. And when engines were opened the fuel has made hell of the internal parts. A poisonous layer of the chemical deposited over that. These trillions of parts were then disposed in some rural areas where rules are not followed that stringently. At these places nobody is bothered about what waste management technology is followed. And some expert here suggests that it is better to dispose them in water otherwise it can harm the humans. And the nearby pious river is filled with these poisonous components of the engines. Here nobody is bothered about the aftereffect of this disposal.

Here starts the next cruel step. Out of ignorance that harmful chemical layer on those components that were thrown reacted with water and produced even dangerous chemical. Nobody is bothered about this chemical reaction. And next few years the river was made dumping place of the harmful chemicals. Slowly slowly, it killed several species of river. And then one fine day a local NGO/UN representative finds that MILLY fish does not exist anymore. The river is so polluted that if any water is extracted it can kill humans. So from this is how getting rid of carbon out of air pollution resulted into the extinction of MILLY fish and end of one river.

So I believe now it is clear that Accountability Chain is more important than just Supply chain. Supply chain reaches just up to customer while accountability chain reaches up to the Last effect of every ingredient used in the making of that product. It will ensure what went wrong. This is just product aspect. There are psychological, moral and Social aspects also related to the accountability chain.

What went wrong !!! The Problem

2008-05-18T03:32:00.000-07:00

Probably this has been the most successful and the most devastating centuries mankind history has ever seen. And this contrast symbolizes one of the aspects of philosophy that says that "One has to pay the price of everything". In this case devastation of Ozone layer, pollution of sea, global warming, hurricanes and pervasive wars have been the price of our ever reaching technology progression, Industrial growth, Consumerism and flood of waste filled in the market.

Planning... !!!
Perhaps the poor planning has been at the core of the present miserable situation of the human mankind. If I am planning to make some product without considering the after effects of it’s by products, or the impact of the product on the humans, or the after math of the waste that it will produce I am at wrong end. The Off-shelve management of the product must not be left to the governments to tackle. It is the responsibility of the product maker to move ahead and take the responsibilities of his actions.(Please Refer fig:1)

But there is no agency that is looking into the aftermath of the product. It is upto the producer to take into consideration all this. And when business is run for business, who will look into the welfare of the society or environment. Cost trade off is always taken at the side of producer. Goverment is another handicap entity in the whole lot. You can well imagine the power of UN and its role in preventing any war in this last century. Product is produced from the brain of some original thinker (However he is never/least given the credit). This person is left then and there. Then in some manufacturing plant starts the game of second handers and profit makers. Here people and raw material that are their nascent stage are exploited. And then emerges the product to be consumed. Product is used by the consumers who are addicted of serving their senses. They too are not aware of the after effects of the usage of the product. as the life cycle of the product ends, it is thrown into the basket of society, where no body wants to keep the baby so this is utter responsibility of society to take care of the waste and the aftereffects of the waste. And when whole world starts crying.....everybody is ready with their diplomats, reporters and politicians to lament over the issue.

What Next ?

Vodafone Ad....Happy to help

2008-04-29T21:35:00.000-07:00

Customer satisfaction!!! I believe is the Mantra that has got maximum marks from the strategists. And New Ad of Vodafone, with punch line "HAPPY TO HELP" has really hit the bull’s eye. Its video is amazing, and its presentation is so powerful that it makes an impact. An innocent girl child is facing problems with her small things, from not finding socks, tie or fishin g net. And her beloved Hutch-puppy is there to help her out. The impact is powerful because of another reason, i.e. it is intuitive to the puppy that what his friend is missing or needs. Innocent face adds the flavor of natural emotions in the AD. And tag line what a customer is always looking for, and every Marketing strategist wants to convey to the sales person or any employee. "Helping" makes the things humane. and Feeling of being happy while helping mixes the feeling of "pleasure" in the service. Now a days, when customers are been harassed by the Customer care executive of the Telecom companies, this Ad is message to all that how to go about the customer care thing. But it will create more pressure on the Vodafone if it could not meet the highest level of customer satisfaction. As it happens with TATA Indicom, when people were facing Network Problem they instantly able to recall Tata Indicom ad ( Connection Problem ..."Switch to Tata Indicom"....all the best Vodafone!!!

Leadership...In Manufacturing Sector

2008-04-19T03:36:00.000-07:00

Leadership is one of the words those have got highest numbers of "hits" on http://www.google.com/ still, the number of hits is not decreasing in any sense. Millions of authors have written billions of the books on this topic. Trillions of attributes in different forms have been written on this topic. Surely, it is one of the most coveted topics in the Business arena, because there is charisma attached with this word, there is so much enthusiasm, so much energy, so much passion is driven by this word that world has started seeing this word "leadership" with awe. Truly speaking, Leaders are like Trees which are same at their stem or trunk but are different at their branches. From far they might look same but as you will look closer onto the trees you will find completely different woven fabric of branches, leaves and seminal fluid (mucous) that is running inside the branches. And in true sense this difference gives the tree its"Identity". Let me give you a simple example. Wiston Churchil and Mahatma Gandhi are the two greatest leaders that political arena has ever seen. Still they were different in their approaches. Similarly you can not compare Mahatma Gandhi to Laxmi MIttal, or Laxmi mittal to Steve waugh. Or Jack Welch to Laxmi mittal. You can not compare to Mother Taresa to Valdmir Putin or OBAMA to Mother Taresa. The Picture is clear, Leaders immerse out of situations, not that a single leader definition fits all the credentials of the One-fit-all size. Here I will talk about the leadership in the Manufacturing Sector. First to know about the sector itself, I must confess one thing. Manufacturing is different than the other businesses. So first we must know the attribute of the industry before jotting down any thing about the attributes of the leaders of this industry.
Attributes of manufacturing Sector...
1. Man-Man-Man: This is completely man driven industry. It is significantly contributing to the employment of any nation. When agrarian industry could not feed so many mouths, manufacturing industry came into the scene. So one more thing is obvious that most of the employees into this industry are of agrarian background or have been eployed by this industry. It simply means that these people are not exposed to basic facilities that are considered essential to the urban people. These people are no so well educated. In nutshell they lack intellectual power as compare to the others. This is quite evident in the kind of demand they put forward through their UNION body. Such as need for clean food, Clean toilets. Distribution of the sweets at various occasions, long leaves at Festivals and overtime for any extra work they do at work place. In true sense they aspire to be rich but due to the Market forces they are not able to do so. Wage scheme provided by the government further ensures this so most of the activities in any manufacturing sector are driven my manpower. Visions can be shattered if the manpower is aligned to the ulterior goals of the enterprise. The Synergy of manpower and management is sin-qua-non for the success of the organization.
2. Technology: Technology makes this sector the employment temple for billions of engineers, diploma holders, designers, and innovators. Technology in this sector is responsible for the overall increase of the efficiency of manpower. Role of the engineer also is to increase the efficiency of the whole system as a whole. It must act in accordance to the goals of the organization. Technology at times was introduced to deter the manpower, making them realize that Technology can replace them. It was true up to one sense but very soon it was realized that it is not possible to use technology effectively without the co-operation of manpower. And then onwards terms like "people-centric-technology" were become buzz word in this industry. Fro CAD-CAM to PRO-E, from CATIA to NISA. From Painting technology- Electrostatic guns to Pneumatic guns, from large conveyors to robotic welding, from semiconductor industry to steel manufacturing industry, Technology is integral part of this industry.
3. Consumer or Product: Finally the user of the products of this industry is user. It uses the products to satisfy it needs, to make his/her status symbol, to flaunt and at times for luxury. So the benchmark of the quality has also increased in that order. And over all Quality has become like galaxies that are expanding day by day. Initially it was meting the customer expectation. But now it has changed to exceeding the customer expectation. So quality has become more of the intangible attribute than a tangible attribute. So making products with intangible attributes has become really a Hercules task for the manufacturing industry. So consumer wants products on time and of best quality. So with these three attributes the nature of leader emerges for this industry.
Leadership Attribute for Manufacturing 1: Harness the Brain power...Here brain power is not of highest creativity or special fecundity(Reasons can be many) but surely there is untapped creativity everywhere. So It is utmost important for a leader in manufacturing to harness the employees of the organization bit by bit so that things can be improved. One very good example of this is KAIZEN. Companies like Toyota have done miracles with this tool. It has decreased costs, Increased productivity, reduced downtimes, increased manpower involvement and above all increased customer satisfaction. These incremental innovations can really backbone of the organization. But again, it is as art to harness the creativity or make the individuals work to the 120% of their creativity. It takes a different kind of personality to get the things done, and more than that trough involvement of the people. You have to read the nerve of the individuals , a frequency of motivation you have to choose for every individual. Harnessing the brain power of the individuals will fructify in the longer run in the welfare of the both employees and organization.
Leadership Attribute for Manufacturing 2: Lead from Front...
You can not be Boss in the industry, (and if you can then you can not earn the respect that will make you suffer in later of your career) you have to make the people realize that you are superior to them in every walk of life. In this industry it is utmost important that you lead from the front. .Know your work. This is very important gradient for this industry. If you do not know that you might pay the price for the same. GENCHI-GENBUTSU, GEMBA Management, See yourself. These all terms are invented in this industry only where you must see the problems by yourself and that would be best way to lead. You can not rely upon the power point presentations and the glib talks of MBA Executives. Definitely you can not. At times you have to show the true mettle of yourself by taking real life successful decisions. You need to lead the people by involving them in decision making and it takes courage to face the real doer. You can not always boast about your past achievements. Like any tennis player, you have to fight for your status on daily basis. You have to be mentally tough, Strong character, empathetic towards people around and above all Great communicator who has conviction in his thoughts.

Leadership Attribute for Manufacturing 3: Be innovative ...
This word may sounds simple but this is not, it takes a lot to be innovative in this industry. And when everything that you make has already been done on the CATIA or PRO E, what else is left to be innovative. But Major part is operations on daily basis. It gives you ample amount of opportunity to be innovative. Systems employed to get the things done throws several opportunities to be innovative at the shop floor. IT is very important for the overall strategic goal of the company such as Cost cutting, Productivity improvement, Safe working conditions, and Customer satisfaction.

This is first part of article.....There are several aspects of Leadership fo this industry that should be taken care of. These will be included in coming articles.

Inflation...Is UPA responsible ?

2008-04-16T04:57:00.000-07:00

It has been a month, when the barometer of purchasing was showing 4-5% figure, but what all of sudden happened that figure has reached 7-7.5% figure. What drove inflation crazy like any thing. It is really Bad luck for UPA government that Inflation arose when elections are due in coming year and UPA’s extraordinary performance left Opposition with no issues to highlight during coming elections. But now Opposition has INFLATION as the punch lime for the elections.

What went wrong ...

Nothing, absolutely nothing. It is not the case also that all of the sudden people are given so much of money that crunch of basic commodities arose. Actually, it was the implication of World commodities that determine the inflation of the world as a whole. First is the price of crude oil, which has as insane as the Arabs who are still controlling 70% of Oil supply to the world, Secondly the price of Wheat and thirdly and most importantly the price of Corn. Corn consumption increased because of its demand that arose in production of ethanol based fuels. So what ever happened is not at in the control of government.

What next to inhibit its impact on common men....

Permanent solution of the problem is difficult, because implication of the solution can be dangerous in long term. For maintaining the growth of 8-9% GDP is possible only taking all the possible wise decisions. Let me take one by one the option available.

1. Increase the import: This may look wise decision to cater the increasing demand so that price can be controlled, but Problem with this solution is that it will compete and will eat-out the pie of Indian manufacturers. Lets say, government reduce the custom duty of edible oil, it will make the competition tough of Indian products in longer run, and that is loss of business, employment and over all mood of the business.

2. Discourage Export: This is again a solution that will be harmful in the longer run for the producers of the commodities as they will not be offered better price of their products, and that will result into problem for the produce and situation might be much graver than the existing one.

3. Increase the interest rate: WOW !!! RBI is in and things will be solved, but this is not the case, Increasing CRR and removing liquidity from the market would definitely hit the pockets of consumer, but it will affect overall investment scene of the country, increased interest rate will only discourage the FDI and FIIs.

Then what!!!....
A million dollar question. Policies are made to get the maximum amid all the possible constraints. Best way is to go by the Public distribution channel so that the producer (farmer) may not feel cheated for the consumption of the product that he has produced. Secondly, it can increase the interest rate for the time being so that extra liquidity can be checked with in the market. Export-Import balance is what it should dwell upon so that best solution can be found.

Palaces of slaves !!!

2008-02-09T11:49:00.000-08:00

one very fine morning, when I woke up at 8 o Clock, by continuous beeps of my digital SANYO watch, the first thing i did was that I walked towards my balcony to collect the SUNDAY TIMES, Sunday special edition of THE TIMES OF INDIA. I love to read this Sunday special for past many years, initially i liked it because of its glossy papers(LIFE), and as I grew up, i started liking it for all the adult stuff it publish in these glossy papers, at times models are so hot that it titillate you on to the core. But for last couple of years, I read TOI, for its Sunday editorial, esp by SWAMINATHAN S ANKLESARIA AIYAR, with whom I am easily able to correlate my thought process. But with a coffee mug in m y hand, as I turned few pages I found a full page Ad of some ABC builder, who has started the booking of residential flats on NOIDA express way. As my office lies there and I have started thinking of investment, marriage and settled life, I gave a pause at it. I liked the facilities, four bed rooms, one small terrace 2000 sqFt, and common gymkhana, its vicinity to shopping mall, and its strategic location amid Delhi, Faridabad and Ghaziabad. Metro is another factor that may benefit potential buyer. But I read the last line on AD. Price starts at 4 Crore onwards......

I rubbed my eyes, to affirm what I had seen. How come a home can cost 4 crore rupees, and that too of a flat? Then I thought of my discussion with one of my friends who told me that EMI is 1/100 of your loan. That is thumb rule to calculate your approximate EMI, if you are taking loan for a period of 10 years. In that sense EMI comes to such loan of 4 crores to atleast 4 lakhs per month. I do no think, this much is salary of our respected President, Prime minister, And not even the director of some reputed company. Then who the hell is going to buy such flats. I then thought, there can be some one who can repay the amount in longer duration, say 20 years. Then again it would come to 1.6 lakhs per month. I agin got agitated with the very fact, that if I at the age of 30 goes to buy such flasts, and when I am earning 50k per month, will at least take 45 years to repay such amounts, and it is assumed that I would work continuously in these years, and I will get descent raise every year.

Then I think of people, who dream big, and are planning every thing of their life meticulously. What a person will do with his owned flat at the age of 75. Perhaps he will not even give a ounce of thought to it. And then I think of the people, the millions who are busy just to repay their EMIs, who are ready to work overtime, at times to mint some money, and at times to beat the competition, in the expectation of better raise so that they can repay their loans easily. Their day comprise of 14 hours of working. They are at the Nadir of their creativity. They are part of some supply chain, and they are busy to keep that chain intact with their full potential. They seldom enjoy the nature (If they do plan trips, it is agian another costly trip), they wake up at 6, and leave to office by eight to beat the traffic. and they normally leave the office by 7 or 8, and back to their homes by 9. And this is the way, the life looms ahead of any working executive. Like a slave who is given punishment of living the Descent life.

When I look towards the Long towers and that too filled with small boxes, called at 2 BHK, 3 BHK and 4 BHK.....one line comes in to my mind. Palaces of slaves !!!

Mala Marathi Yet naahi !!!

2008-02-06T23:07:00.000-08:00

It was strange to read one of the articles in Mint- a business newspaper, in which a writer commented on the recent attacks on North Indians in Bombay by so called Raj thakarey supportes. Author in this article illustrated various big economists supporting Migration mechanism, and impact of Migration in economic sense. But in this case there is no economic sense in any way related to the assault on North Indians.

In Bombay’s case Migration is not problem at all, it is just a political mileage that Raj thakarey wants to milk out of the so called Maratha sentiment. The reason and the implications both are emotional and sentimental, and not at all economical. But who cares, who is writing what? every body is busy in earning a descent living, which itself has become a huge task for so called middle class, target consumers of Corporate giants.

Perhaps, it is one of the most IMMATURE out look of a political figure, who perceives people different on the basis of language and outcaste the person if he is opening up a college far from its place of occupation. Giving it a regional look to it is another shameful act.

Lets enter into the psychology of Raj thakarey

Amitabh bacchan-His first target

Allegation: He is a brand ambassador of U.P while he is a Bollywood figure.

If you consider the fact that actor has been giving income tax to Maharashtra Govt for last 40 years or so have by now surpaasesthe amount he has recently spent in opening up of a women college (UP literacy: 40%, Maharashtra : 73%). And I believe he has taken the right decision by doing that as UP badly need such kind of private funding for the opening of the college especially for girls. Secondly if Amitabh is acting as brand ambassador for UP, so what he is Green card holder too,( Will Raj Thakarey would start revenge campaign against Bush also ?) And importantly, he is not promoting some state but some National party. And being friend of some person is not at all wrong, and if he has taken millions also to promote Samajwadi party in U.P, nothing is wrong with that also. He is brand ambassador of DABUR, PARKER,REID N Taylor, and 67 other brands. After all he is celebrity of greatest stature, so it is normal affair for him to endorse the brands. But alas !!! Raj Thakare don't have this much brain, what else you can expect from his frenzy supporters.

HINDUISM vs North Indians:

This is again irony that person who consider himself as savior of Hinduism, is actually slapping a person of origin, from where every Major GOD of Hinduism has come from. Be it RAM, or Krishna, or even SHIVA, they all hail from North India only. I do not know, howcome Lannguage is coming over Religion, in the mind of Raj thakarey. Poor devotee !!! is not aware of the basic thing that Marathi language has actually evolved from Devnagari Lipi only, that has originated in North India only.

Bihar and U.P as evils :

This is another myth in the minds of Raj thakarey. Bihar and U.P forms 30% of parliament, and 40 % IAS officers are from these states. They have produced 8 Prime ministers and three presidents to India, just to mention Rajendra Prasad, our first President is from Bihar only. I do not know how come some prominent figure in Politics is so ignorant of Indian history. I am damn sure he would not be aware of the fact that Shivaji him self was supported by north Indians in the war against Mughals.

Bombay for "Mubaikars" only:

When Hongkong was given special status by chinese goverment (one of the most strict Communist Regimes), it was not out of any insanity, but because of its corporate history. Hongkong is city of business, trade and cross culturalism. There you will find Frech food served to English, in chinese restaurant. And such cosmopolitan culture is very common in the cities of trade. Bomaby, because of its proximity to sea, has been centre of trade of India. Here buisness has evolved, here people are businessman first, and then of any natioanlity. Its proximity to ports has given india to brought up few best Industrialists. TATA, BIRLA, and Reliance are few to name. But Raj thakarey will not understnd business, it is not for mediocres !!!

Anyways, we should ignore such crooks, in this democracy these things will happen, and they will try to damage the secular fabric of India. It is just up to us to condemn such incidents ,and keep the spirit of Indian Unity alive.

Blogs are all I have ...

2008-01-23T06:57:00.000-08:00

Blogging has evolved within very short span. Here are few popular blog types..?

I know something !!! I will flaunt it.

This is what most people do when they talk about their knowledge of particular thing/item through their blogs. And they try to leave past the existing encyclopedia, for the same reason. It includes knowledge of already existing things. It is like teaching some DUMB n NAIVE students. These blogs are quite informative in the sense; they encapsulate so much at one place that people feel enervated while reading such blogs. Quite Informative is one phrase for such blogs!!!!

I am here for ads !!! Just click Plzzzzzz

This is most popular class of the blogs, where bloggers scribble down all the catchy things, just to draw attention of the user. Topics here include most weird items, from "Shape of Ancient Condoms" to “Men will give birth now ". They just want a simple click of the user on the Ad pop ups. They have one dream of minting money, come what may!!!. The authenticity of such blogs is questionable. There is no trust between blogger and user. And users feel like being cheated. But by the time user think that way, bloggers might have made few cents or Rupees....

I am new age critic !!! This is my Column....

This is slew of new comers who want to evolve as experts. They want to pour out their hearts, in every thing they write. They assume them as think tanks of the particular field. From poetry to prose, from movies to business, They criticize the writers, poets and authors. And they even rate them on the scale of five to ten. That is really ridiculous. You can find them, belittling few of the best creative artist, just for their sake...hats off to new EXPERTS....

then there are people like me who write for ...

I(ppl like me) write for expressing something that is there in thoughts, which is related to things around us, but are not said before. It is actually stretched thinking. Imagination is the genesis of such blogs. their topics are again at times weird, varying from from ethical dilemma to Creative pursuit, from comedy to intellectual identity. At times it can be just a story of one word. That is actually "EXPLORATION"....People like me explore through such blogs. I explore between what is there and what should be there. I explore between tangible and intangible. I explore between the sound and music, between thinking and words. I write because I feel that thoughts are more verbose than words. And to get rid of flummox is to write...Express...release the energy of mind cells...on the Computer screen....

My best friend 93.5 F.

2008-01-22T02:34:00.000-08:00

My best friend 93.5 F.M

Buddha found "HIS" Middle way ...you find yours !!!!

2008-01-17T06:30:00.001-08:00

Perhaps, Buddha is the best example of one who must have felt extremes, and then have found the "EUREKA"....that nothing lies at extremes, it is MIDDLE PATH that signifies that either things exist to they do not. Middle path is his "ENLIGHTENMENT", can u believe this? He never preached to leave all for the sake of "Removal of Sufferings", though he himself tried it all. e followed the Hindu ascetic way of life, but could not renounce what it all takes, and could not accept that facet of life. He did not believe in any after life that he found quite MORBID. He unfolds then three this principle, and eight those principle of morality, and make people follow one other sort of Philosophy, with its roots in Hinduism, and few bits and pieces from here and there, and the model of Enlightenment is Ready. Buddhism has never seen another Buddha till then; all Kappas whom I do not consider enlighten have either been in exile, or in their monasteries. Further more, I do not find any Buddhist society as one of the fore-runner society of the culture and values.

This all I have scribbled above is because of one simple reason. Extremes have been achieved by the people, and they so puzzled, that they have fragmented into many personalities, their desires are not in accordance with their thinking, and this dissonance is creating havoc in their lives. To solve their problems, they are either attracted towards Self help books, or they prefer to live in delusion. Where they hear music to avoid the cacophony of the world around them, watch movies to alleviate the mental pain and satiate the creative pursuit. They find some breathing techniques so wonderful, that they can be seen in Parks, doing all the possible nonsense early in the morning. But these solutions are not fit for all. Problem of each individual is unique and it can not be addressed by be so called "THUMB RULES".

Religion is the worst thing that can happen to human mankind. It has made people vulnerable to conflict and burdened of morality. It has drawn out one faculty of mind that thinks beyond the obvious, and which is a huge loss to an individual who is presently using 5%of his mind. Isn’t it ? People are forced to adapt what others are following, or majority is following. The application of mind is switched off when religion persists. People follow rituals, without knowing the actual history/reason of the same. This is painful. They are singing hymns, and chanting mantras without knowing the "Contextual" essence of the words. They are into meditation, are on fast, are flaunting the altruism, and madly following the path shown by their pope/GOD/Allah/ guru. This concept of following itself puts people at vulnerable state. That is why when conflict arises; it is not the wrong on the part of individual but of their ignorance of not knowing the half-baked knowledge of their religion. From Nazis to Jews, From Hindus to Muslims and from one sect to other, Conflicts have been pervasive and these all conflicts have been conflicts of ideologies, conflicts of who is superior? Who is to rule, and who is to be ruled ?Tragedy is that after 53 years of war, We are still recruiting, nurturing and putting our forces on Land, in air and into oceans to sane the territories of the nations. 53 years....Billion shave been spend for just being "PARANOID"....having constant fear of attack, constant fear of being taken over by some power. But truth is that people are not able to introspect, what they want? And this inability is making them so vulnerable. Scientific progress has only made things worse. It has providing each warrior a "TESTED" tool of mass destruction, ability to kill innocents, power to rule helpless, govern the minors, and devastate the weak.

The biggest problem is that people are trying out to solve the modern age problems with Ancient old religions and philosophies. IT signifies that people have not evolved in these years. There is dearth of "Intellectual" prowess; there is sense of inferiority in this human race that believes that their ancestors were far more superior to them, that their future lies no where. They believe that third world war is inevitable, and civilization will come to an end soon. Nostradamus has become cult now.

This is time for a afresh awakening, time to pause, time to dwell upon, time to ponder upon the existence of humans, their purpose of life, their way of living with respect to the demand of the world around them. They should not live the life in present with the values of the past. They must not amaze with what ancestors have done, but should find their innovative ways. It was 3 B.C when Buddha found middle path, and this is 2008, you must find your way.

Love the souls !!!

2008-01-16T18:03:00.000-08:00

There are people who have been affected by many new century problems, actually these problems are just side effects of so called modernity, repercussions of Progress that mankind has made, by product of inventions and discoveries and result of the deeds of our ancestors who chose Democracy as way of governing the state, Religion as way of life and culture as ether of nation.

Problems are diversified in nature. These encompass "Frustration" of creative individuals in this labor oriented society. Devastation of arts as it has turned into mere commodity, Fickleness of relationships out of finding individualism, that keeps ME over WE, Delusions of mind in complex world, Choke-ness of freedom because of moral constraints, Pressure of performance in this competitive world, Compromises over values to achieve what is "mean”, Hazards of health in unhygienic world and Impurity of ideas because of lack of novelty. But the biggest problem is the loss of "VALUES" that affects the soul as a whole, and it is mystifying the real goals, forcing people to achieve what is less important and fighting for trivial things.

What is the solution for above problems is then a million dollar question. Isn't it !! There is no unique solution for all. There are customized solutions, which need to be generated, and they can only be found out through introspection. As there have been differences in the histories of the people, differences between the cultures so that the differences between the heritages their ancestors have made. But basic ethos is same of the solution that I believe can solve the problem.

Love!!!, Yes the most mysterious but universal emotion, carries the solution for most of the problems. You love the soul, not the bodies, you love the art and not the artist (As artist has art as his soul), you love the emotions and not the culture. You start loving the things that makes your breath calm, your mind in peace and which appease your senses, and negate all the negative energies. Love the people around you, rather than cutting their head out of competition. Love the incapables, love the mediocres, and love the incompetents, as that is their true self. The true things are the most beautiful thing in this world. Try to remember the smile of the children. Isn't it beautiful ? Once you will start loving the people/things/situations around you, your tension will diffuse without an iota of extra effort. Once your acceptance to the mediocrity will rise, you will start feeling alleviated, and that will eradicate any conflict out of your way. Your life would become "ENEMY FREE". You would able to cherish the beauties of life like any child does. Your life would then become expectation free, as you would accept what is coming your way.

These are the nodal points in the solution, but the spectrum of solution lies with you. It needs to be developed by the individual for him/herself, and that would ease out his/her commotion, her negative energies, her evils. But all this would be possible just by loving the souls !!! It is the bottom line.

Passion !!!

2008-01-15T17:21:00.000-08:00

Passions are result of synergy between desires and actions. It is amalgam of ones wishes, ones dreams, ones positive attitude and above all the outburst of ones enthusiasm.

Humans are passionate about what they love; it may be anything, from hobby to profession, from sport to avocation, at times girl friends. But most important thing humans are passionate about is their dreams, something that is intangible, and something that they have vague idea of. And this passionate chasing of unknown is at times awarded with words "MADNESS" and "FOOLHARDINESS". But passionate people do not think about that. They chase what they want, and they achieve what others can only dream of.

Passions have produced most outstanding works, performances, masterpieces and inventions. World has changed to the betterment and that is result of passion of an individual or a group of individuals. There has been a evolution of science, Art, Mathematics, Cinema, Engineering, political science, Exploration just because of the passions.

But the passion is not something that is constant in nature but it is fickle, and it depends upon external factors as well, actually there is conflict between the internal sinew and external pressure. Those succumb to external pressures diminishes the intensity of their passion. And their achievement too is shortened to mediocre performances. But facing the external forces is not only a fight but a "war”, against your dark desires, against the demon inside an individual.

Passions are bi-faced entities. Passions can not distinguish between good and evil, so they can produce few EVILS as well. This is unique thing about passions, they follows the humans dream and not the morality. Passions are like a momentum in the lives of which with which humans desires bounce ahead toward their dreams.

Emotions !!!

2008-01-14T06:36:00.000-08:00

The very first thing that comes into my mind while I hear the word "EMOTION" is natural splurge. An Erupted Volcano, A wave of sea touching shores, A swirl of fragrance of fresh roses, A blow of wind and silence of Static River. The natural splurge of each one of them signifies emotions in a way or other. Emotions are intangible things that are lying beneath our skin and flesh, bound with in our skeleton. They are obviously controlled by our mind, but are always triggered by our senses of touch, feel, sight, smell and taste. But the biggest trigger of the emotions that differentiates humans from animals is "THOUGHT".Descartes has rightly said "I think, therefore I am". This very feeling of existence comes from our very ability if thinking, which triggers the splurge of emotions that in turn, weaves the fabric of existence of any human. A human is human till he possesses emotions, till he flows with this splurge, till his senses are triggering these emotions, and till he is able to think. Though emotions are governed by mind, but they are rarely driven by logic. There is insatiable rivalry between the two. Logic nullifies the natural instinct of splurge of emotions. Then the emotions become mere outpour or a banal drama.
Tough they are triggered by external forces, Emotions are completely internal splurge. They born deep inside heart, and takes over all the systems that are normally governed by mind. They are not affected by the culture, caste and creed. They are human specific entities, not nation or language or culture specific. This splurge is the Orchestra of our reaction to the situations. Emotions are like artist who create different arts with using same brush. Color and canvass. Emotions are divine also; they are natural splurge after all.

Excerpt from One Man's bible

2008-01-05T06:36:00.000-08:00

You no longer live in other people's shadows nor treat other people's shadows as imaginary enemies. You just walked out of their shadows, stopped making up absurdities and fantasies, and are now in a vast emptiness and tranquillity. You originally came into the world naked and without cares and there is no need to take anything away with you, and if you wanted to you wouldn't be able to. Your only fear is unknowable death.
You recall that your fear of death began in childhood and that your fear of death was much worse then than it is now. The slightest ailment made you worry that it was an incurable disease and when you fell ill you would think up all sorts of nonsense and be stricken with terror. Your having survived so many illnesses and even disasters is purely a matter of luck. Life in itself is an inexplicable miracle and to be alive is a manifestation of this miracle. Is it not enough that a conscious physical body is able to perceive the pains and joys of life? What else is there to be sought?
Your fear of death arises when you are mentally and physically frail. There is the feeling of not being able to breathe and you are anxious that you will not be able to last until you can take your next breath. It is as if you are falling in an abyss, this sensation of falling was often present in dreams during childhood and you would wake in fright drenched in perspiration. In those days there was nothing wrong and your mother took you for many hospital examinations, nowadays even under the doctor's instruction to have an examination, you repeatedly procrastinate.
It is absolutely clear to you that life naturally ends and when the end comes the fear vanishes, for this fear is itself a manifestation of life. On losing awareness and consciousness life suddenly ends, allowing no further thought and no further meaning. Your affliction had been your search for meaning. When you began discussing the ultimate meaning of human life with friends of your youth you had hardly lived, it seems that now you have savoured virtually all of the sensations to be experienced in life you simply laugh at the futility of searching for meaning. It is best just to experience this existence and to take care of this existence.
You seem to see him in a vast emptiness, faint light comes from an unidentified source. He is not standing on some specific or defined patch of ground and he is like the trunk of a tree but has no shadow, and the horizon between the sky and the earth has vanished. Or, he is like a bird in some snow-covered place and is looking from one side to the other. Occasionally, he stares right ahead as if deep in thought, although it's not clear what it is that he is pondering. It's simply a gesture, a gesture of aesthetic beauty. Existence is actually a gesture, a striving for comfort, stretching the arms, bending the knees, turning around, to look back upon his consciousness. Or, it may be said that the gesture actually is his consciousness, that it is you in his consciousness, and from this he is able to gain some ephemeral happiness.
Tragedy, comedy and farce do not exist but are aesthetic judgements of human life that differ according to person, time and place. Feelings too are probably like this and the emotions of the present at some other time can fluctuate between the sentimental and the ludicrous. And there is no longer the need for mockery as self-ridicule or self-purification seem already to be enough. It is only in the gesture of tranquilly prolonging this life and striving to comprehend the mystery of this moment in time that freedom of existence is achieved, for in solitarily scrutinizing the self the perceptions of the self by others loses all relevance.
You don't know what other things you will do or what else there is to do but this is of no concern. If you want to do something you proceed to do it, it's fine if it is done but if it is not it doesn't matter. And you do not have to persist in doing something for if at a particular moment you feel hungry and thirsty you simply go and have something to eat and drink. Of course you continue to have your own opinions, interpretations, tendencies and can even get angry as you haven't got to the age when you no longer have the energy for anger. Naturally, you still become indignant but it is without a great deal of passion. Your capacity for feelings and sensory pleasures remains intact but as this is so then so be it. However there is no longer remorse, remorse is futile and, needless to say, damaging to the self.
For you only life is of value, you have a lingering attachment to it and it continues to be interesting as there are still things to discover and to amaze you, and it is only life that can excite you. That's exactly how it is with you, isn't it?

Naturalism or Idealism? : Rudolf Eucken

2007-12-27T06:16:00.000-08:00

The history of mankind knows of certain questions that are at once very old and always new: they are very old because any way of life contains an answer to them, and always new because the conditions on which those ways of life depend are constantly shifting and may at critical stages change so much that truths safely accepted for generations may become open problems causing conflict and bewilderment.

Such a question is the contrast between naturalism and idealism with which we are dealing today. The meaning of these words has been blunted by usage; they cause many a misunderstanding, and only through laziness do we put up with such catchwords. But their inadequacy cannot conceal the great contrast which lies behind them and which sharply divides men. This contrast concerns our attitude to the whole of reality and the resulting task that dominates our life; it concerns the question whether man is entirely determined by nature or whether he can somehow - or indeed essentially - rise above it. We are all agreed on the very close ties between man and nature which he should not abandon. But it has been argued and is still being argued vehemently whether his whole being, his actions and sufferings, are determined by these ties or whether he possesses life of another kind which introduces a new stage of reality. The one attitude characterizes naturalism, the other idealism, and these two creeds differ fundamentally both in their goals and in their pursuits of them. For if the additional life of man exists only in his imagination, we should eradicate all traces of it from human opinions and institutions. Instead, we should aim at the closest ties with nature and develop to a pure state the natural character of human life; for thus life would restore the ties with its true origins which it severed unjustly and to its lasting damage. But if one recognizes in man a new element beyond nature, the task will consist in giving it the strongest possible support and contrasting it clearly with nature. In this case life will take up its main position in the new element and look at nature from that point of view. This contrast in attitudes emerges nowhere as clearly as in the place of the soul in the two systems. Nature, of course, has its share in the life of the soul and in numerous manifestations deeply influences human life. But this natural life of the soul is peripheral, mere appendix to the material phenomena of nature. Its only purpose is the preservation of physical life, for man's higher psychological development, his cleverness and resourcefulness, compensate for the brute strength, swiftness of movement, or sharpness of the senses in which animals excel. But even in its extreme form this life has neither purpose nor content in itself; it remains a conglomeration of disparate points. It does not coalesce in an inner community of life, nor does it constitute an inner world peculiar to itself. Thus action is never directed toward an inner purpose but toward the utilitarian purpose of preserving life. Naturalism, if it remains true to its purpose, reduces human life to that norm. Idealism, on the other hand, maintains the emancipation of inwardness; according to it the disparate phenomena of life coalesce in an all - embracing inner world. At the same time, idealism demands that human life should be governed by its peculiar values and goals, the true, the good, and the beautiful. In its view the subordination of all human aspiration to the goal of usefulness appears an intolerable humiliation and a complete betrayal of the greatness and dignity of man. Such divergent and even contradictory attitudes seem to be irreconcilable: we have to choose between harsh alternatives.

With regard to this choice the present time is undeniably divided against itself, particularly since profound changes in the setup of life have brought new aspects of the problem to light. Centuries of tradition had accustomed us to striving primarily for an invisible world and to valuing the visible world only to the degree of its relation to the invisible world. To the medieval mind man's home is a transcendental world; in this world we are merely travellers abroad. We cannot penetrate it, nor does it give us any scope for achievements or hold us by any roots. In such a conception nature easily appears as a lower sphere which one approaches at one's own peril. When Petrarch had climbed Mount Ventoux and was enraptured by the splendour of the Alps, he had serious doubts whether such delight at the creation was not an injustice to the Creator and did not deprive Him of the worship due to Him alone. Thus he took refuge with St. Augustine to regain the security of a religious mood.

These things have changed. We set greater store by the world of immediate experience and many things have helped to make it completely our home. Science has been the leader in this movement, for it has brought about a closer relationship with nature, resulting in many new impulses that have not only enriched parts of our life but have deeply affected its totality. The speculative and subjective thought of former ages was unable to analyze sensual perceptions and did not penetrate to the essence of things. Moreover, its recognition of certain regularities in nature lagged far behind the discovery of mathematical laws of nature first formulated by the genius of Kepler. And not only did it fail to penetrate nature, it failed equally to turn its powers to the use of man and to the advancement of his welfare. Occasional technical inventions were the result of chance rather than superior insight; on the whole, man remained defenceless against nature. Only a century ago men were still awkward and powerless in this regard. In that age of great poets and thinkers, how much time was wasted with overcoming natural obstacles, how inconvenient was travelling, and how cumbersome postal services. In all these respects our age has seen changes never dreamed of by history before. The accumulation of scientific knowledge since the seventeenth century was brought to a triumphant conclusion in the nineteenth. By unravelling the separate strands of natural processes and tracing them back to their ultimate elements, by formulating the effects of these elements in simple formulas, and finally by using the idea of evolution to combine what had been separated, scientific research has given us a closer and more direct experience of nature in all its aspects. At the same time the theory of evolution has shown man's dependence on nature: understanding himself in nature, his own essence appeared to become clearer to him.

The change of concepts was accompanied by a change of the realities of life. Technology seized upon the results of science and caused a revolution in man's relationship with his environment. Former ages had held that his position in the world was essentially determined and not subject to change; man had to suffer whatever dark fate or the will of God had decreed. Even if he could - and was expected to - alleviate suffering in individual instances, he was no match for the totality of suffering and there was no hope of either tearing up evil by the root or making life richer and more joyous. In our age, however, we are translating into action the conviction that by common effort mankind can raise the level of life, that a rule of reason can gradually replace the tyranny of irrational forces. Man may again feel victorious and creative. Even if his powers are limited at any given moment, that moment is only one in a long chain. The impossibilities of a former age have been realized in ours. We have witnessed surprising breakthroughs in our own age and can see no limit to this progressive movement. Man's existence has been immeasurably enriched; it has become an attraction and a challenge for him.

Technological progress becomes even more exciting when it enters into the service of the social idea which demands that not only a small élite but humanity at large should profit by it. This demand creates an entirely new challenge, requiring tremendous energy but also giving rise to new complications and harsh contrasts which, in turn, intensify the passion of man's work in this world and enrich its meaning. The transformation of environment has become the purpose of human life; life seems real only insofar as it deals with things. Man no longer needs the escape to an invisible world in order to find and realize exalted goals.

These facts are indisputable. Our material environment and our relation to it have assumed tremendous importance. Any philosophy and any course of action based on it must reckon with this fact. But naturalism goes beyond this fact, for it maintains that man is completely defined by his relationship with the world, that he is only a piece of the natural process. That is a different contention which requires careful examination. For history has taught us that our judgment is easily confused and exaggerated when revolutionary changes upset the old balance of things. Facts and opinions are confused by man, who is helpless against error and passion. At such a time, it becomes an urgent task to separate the facts from the interpretations given to them. Naturalism, too, is subject to such a scrutiny when it turns a fact into a principle, sees the totality of human life determined by man's closer relation to nature, and adjusts all values accordingly.

The chief argument against such a limitation of human life is the result not of subjective reflection but of an analysis of the modern movement itself. The emergence and the progress of that movement reveal an intellectual capacity which, whether it manifests itself as intellectual and technical mastery of nature or as practical social work, proves the existence of a way of life that cannot be accounted for, if man is understood as a mere natural being. For in coming closer to nature man shows himself superior to it. As a mere part of nature, man's existence would be a series of isolated phenomena. All life would proceed from and depend on contact with the outside world. There would be no way of transcending the limitation of the senses. There would be no place at all for any activity governed by a totality or superior unity, nor for any inner coherence of life. All values and goals would disappear and reality would be reduced to mere actuality. But the experience of human work shows a very different picture.

Modern science has not been the result of a gradual accumulation of sensual perceptions but a deliberate break with the entire stock of traditional knowledge. Such a break was deemed necessary because the old concepts had been too anthropomorphic, whereas a scientific understanding of nature presupposed an acknowledgment of its complete independence from man. But our concepts could not have formulated the independence of nature unless thought had emancipated itself from sensual impressions, and through analysis and new synthesis created a new view of nature. This re-creation was caused by the search for truth and the desire to identify with things as they are and thus to bring about an inner expansion of life. But how could nature be conceived in such a manner without the element of chance and distortion, inherent in the perspective of the individual, unless thought could operate independently of sensual perception? Logical thought, striving for a unified conception of the universe, transformed the immediate sensual perception; it provided the sensual existence with the foundation of a world of thought. Man's tremendous intellectual achievement of a conception of nature in its totality proves his superiority over the natural world and the existence of another level of reality. Thus we may say that naturalism with its emphasis on nature is refuted nowhere with more cogency than in modern science as it transformed nature into an intellectual conception. The more we recognize the intellectual achievement and inner structure of modern science, the clearer becomes the distance from naturalism.

The superiority of man to mere nature is also proved by modern technology, for it demands and proves imaginative anticipation and planning, the tracing of new possibilities, exact calculations, and bold ventures. How could a mere natural being be capable of such achievements?

The social movement, too, reveals man as not entirely limited by a given order, but as a being that perceives and judges a given situation and is confident that it can change it essentially by its own efforts. We have come to set greater store by material things, but we value them not because of their sensual characteristics but because they serve us to enhance life and to dominate the world completely. We do not aim at an increase in sensual pleasures but at a situation in which any man and all men together can develop their full strength. The mere mention of a social idea implies common interests beyond the egotism of the individual, and this idea would never have reached the power it has had it not been conceived of both as a duty and as a privilege. The ethical element inherent in it gave it the power to win over minds, to attract enthusiastic disciples, and to prevail even over reluctance. But there is no place at all for such an ethical element in the realm of mere nature; thus the mere existence of a social movement refutes naturalism.

These considerations lead to the conclusion that naturalism is by no means an adequate expression of the modern way of life. On the contrary, that way of life has outgrown its origins and has revealed far greater spiritual independence than naturalism could acknowledge. Life itself has contradicted that interpretation of life. The fact that environment means more to us does not mean that we are a mere part of it. Naturalism makes the mistake of ascribing to nature itself the changes the mind effected in it. The mistake resulted from concentrating on the effects and ignoring the power which alone could produce them.

Still the fact remains that mind needs environment as an object to work on, and to that extent it is dependent on it. But does not such a situation confront life with an intolerable conflict? The transformation of the environment has released vast intellectual energies which fortify the claim of life for happiness and satisfaction. Will life not feel intolerably confined if man must deal only with the outside world, if he may never return to himself and use the results of his stupendous labours for his own welfare? The achievement itself is limited narrowly if its object is invariably outside ourselves and can never be taken into our own life. Scientific research in an external object can never lead to true, complete, and inner knowledge. As long as we regard man simply as a being next to us, there can be no inner community of mutual love. Energy that is not dominated by, and does not return to, a centre, will never constitute the content of life; it leaves us empty in the midst of bustling excitement. This is a common and painful modern experience. But is not such a sensation of emptiness itself proof that there are more profound depths within us which demand satisfaction? Thus we are faced with the question whether life does not somehow go beyond the position reached so far, whether it could not return from an occupation with outside objects to an occupation with itself and to the experience and shaping of itself. Only life's own movement can give such an answer; let us see whether it is in the affirmative.

I think we can say confidently that it is. We need only regard clear and indisputable individual phenomena as a whole and appreciate that whole in its full significance in order to recognize that there is indeed a great movement within us which generates an essentially new way of life. Hitherto our discussion had seen life as something between subject and object, between man and world, between energy and thing. However, the thing was touched only from the outside; it remained inwardly foreign to us. But now intellectual activity takes a turn to the effect that the object is taken into the process of life, is incorporated into the soul and excites and moves us as part of our own life. The artist's creative activity, for instance in Goethe, is an example of this. We call such creativity objective, but that is not to say that the outside world is pictured in its sensual being without any addition of the soul; rather, the external object becomes part of the soul. There is a fruitful relation of energy and object; they combine, enhance one another, and create a new complete living entity. In such life a soul is breathed into the object, or the soul that is in it is made to sound, and in effecting the object, energy loses its initial indeterminate character and assumes full definition. The poet appears as a magician who gives to things a language in which they proclaim their own being, but they come alive only in the soul of the poet, only in an inner world. Something similar to this artistic process occurs in practical life, in the relationship of men as it finds its expression in law and morality. The other man who at first seems a complete outsider is taken into the circle of our own life when we become capable of identifying ourselves with him. Nowhere is the process of making the seemingly strange your own as marked as in love, the highest relationship of two individuals. For here the gap between oneself and the other is completely bridged; what was strange becomes an integral part of one's own life. Nor can we love our people, our country, or the whole of mankind unless we find in them our own life and being. In another direction the search for truth leads to a broadening of our inner life. For how could we desire so powerfully to recognize the object unless it did not somehow exist within our own life, unless the toil spent on it did not contribute to the perfection of our own being?

Thus the beautiful, the good, and the true agree in that the object becomes part of the inner process of life, but this cannot possibly happen without deep changes in the structure and meaning of that process. For now life is dealing primarily with itself; energy and object meet in it and demand a balance. However, there can be no balance unless both are comprehended in one whole, which finds its life and perfection in them. Thus life enters into a relationship with itself, it is structured in itself in different degrees and begets within itself a new depth, a comprehensive and persistent energy. If this happens, the whole can be present and effective in each detail. It is only in this way that convictions and attitudes are possible, and character and personality can manifest themselves in their manifold activities. The integration into the process of life gives to the object a new and higher form, and so life is not merely the representation or appropriation of a given reality; it enhances and creates; it does not find a world, but must make a world for itself.

Thus life faces not only the outside world, but itself. It creates its own realm of the mind. By combining with each other, the different movements produce an inner world, and this inner world, through a complete reversal of the initial situation, becomes the point of departure for all intellectual activity. This world is not a private world; the good, true, and beautiful are not peculiar to each individual. We live in a common world and the individual achievement is valid for all and becomes their possession. In this consists the greatness of that new world. The new life in the individual has a universal character, and in the quest for this life the individual more and more finds his true self and abandons his limited point of departure. Mere self-preservation becomes increasingly less satisfying.

If we look more closely at this development of life and consider its energies and forms, the complete reversal it caused and the new tasks it created, we cannot really doubt any more that it is not a mere figment of man's imagination designed for his pleasure and comfort. It is obviously a new level of reality which creates new tasks for man. The movement toward the new goals, the development of a more intimate basic relationship with reality, and the grafting of an infinite life onto human existence cannot possibly be mere human creations. Man could not even imagine such things. There must be an impulse of life from the universe that embraces and carries us and gives us the strength to fight for the new reality, to introduce it into the world of natural reality, and to participate in the movement of the universe. Without being rooted in the actuality of the universe, our aspirations could never gain a firm foothold and direction. Life on our level could not exist within itself and enhance itself unless the totality of reality exists within itself and is in an inward motion.

The importance of man and the tension of his life increase immeasurably in this process of change. Belonging at first to the level of nature, he rises to a new level of reality in which he is active with the energy of the whole, and so he does not remain a mere part of a given order but becomes a stage on which worlds meet and search for their further development. And he is more than a stage. For although that movement of the world cannot arise out of him, it cannot be activated on this stage without his decision and action. He cooperates in the totality of worlds so that limitation and freedom, finiteness and infinity, meet in him. The world ceases to be foreign to him, and with the whole of its life it becomes his own and inmost essence.

It is this development of life to its full self-realization which idealism seizes upon and on which it models its goals and concentrates its efforts, even though the level of nature remains and man's intellectual life can develop only in constant intercourse with it. But this does not dispose of the fundamental contrast that idealism, unlike naturalism, understands not mind by nature but nature by mind.

The ever-renewed conflict between the two convictions is due to the fact that the new world, however much it must be effective from the bottom of our souls, can be gained only in a constant struggle that always creates new complications. It is not only the individual who has to make this world his own; mankind at large has to fight for its more definite form, which is not given to us but has to be discovered and realized by ourselves. History knows of many approaches to this goal, but none has proved perfect in the end. We experience the world of the mind at first only separately and vaguely; it is our task to achieve a comprehensive form to give it a fully definite character and make it a complete and safe possession. Now at high points of history, humanity has made the attempt at such a synthesis of life that would embrace and give form to the whole of being. Success may seem to attend such an effort in its first surge, but soon obstacles arise, and as they grow it becomes clear that life does not in its entirety fit the measure prescribed for it. Individual movements free themselves from the projected structure, and the period of positive creation and coalescence of the elements is followed by a period of criticism and disintegration, so that the search for the unity of life leads to a new synthesis. Thus, epochs of concentration and expansion follow upon each other, and both serve man's aspiration for a spiritual content of life. Past achievements will always appear too small, and the need for spiritual preservation of life will always lead to a new effort. In such tenacity of purpose, such continuous progress, and such struggle with infinity the tremendous greatness of mankind is realized.

The experience of European civilization since the Greek era has revealed this process with particular forcefulness. Greek life has its lasting importance in the cheerful energy with which it engaged upon an original synthesis of the entire range of our existence. It did so by means of art, in particular fine arts, and this synthesis served as a point of departure for the manifold ramifications of civilization. Science tried to determine the permanent artifice of the cosmos behind the chaos of shifting phenomena. Action was to turn the human commonwealth into a strictly measured and well-constructed work of art, and the individual was to combine in perfect harmony all the manifold energies and desires of his soul. These endeavours resulted in a thorough patterning of life. Activity was aroused everywhere, a balance of conflicting sides was achieved together with stability and an inner cheerfulness. All these achievements have become a permanent gain. But mankind could not stop at this. The experience of life created greater tasks, greater contrasts and conflicts than could be solved by it. It became apparent that an end had been set abruptly and prematurely, and that the soul had depths not fully sounded by it. The whole had rested on the assumption of the immediate presence and irresistible power of the intellect in human life, and a weaker age came to doubt this presence. A period of disintegration followed. The manifold elements separated, but despite all its negative aspects, this period prepared for a new synthesis. Such a synthesis appeared in original Christianity, where the whole of reality was subordinated to the moral idea, and the variety of life was made subject to the moral obligation. But considering man's moral frailty and the lack of reason in the human world, the strength for the solution of such a task had to be derived from a superhuman order. Thus, the moral synthesis had at the same time a religious character and together with it affected the entire range of life. This concentration led to an enormous deepening of life; it created a pure inner world and first established the absolute supremacy of mind over nature.

But though this life remains valid in our world, its original form has encountered increasingly strong opposition ever since the beginning of the modern period. A new humanity full of high spirits found in it too little for the development of its power. At the same time, a desire for a universal culture that would embrace all branches of life with equal love, felt confined by that moral-religious synthesis. Hence a new synthesis arose, in which the basic idea is the unlimited development of all energies and in which the enhancement of life has become its purpose. This urge has set in motion whatever appeared to be at rest. Constant progress has affected not only nature, but man himself. Nothing seems to be more characteristic of man than his ability to rise toward the infinite by the powers of his mind despite his natural limitations. This life is still flooding about us from all sides and is penetrating ever more deeply into the ramifications of being. However, at the bottom of our souls and at the height of intellectual effort, new doubts are beginning to arise about this solution. First we have begun to doubt whether the entire range of being can really be turned into an upward movement, and whether this movement itself does not create new problems and complications that it could not cope with; whether the release of all energies has not conjured up contrasts and passions that are threatening the sanity of our existence. And even if we could suppress these doubts, other and greater ones arise from the question whether the transformation into incessant activity really exhausts life and satisfies the soul. For if motion does not find its balance in a state of rest superior to it from which it can be comprehended, the possibility of life's existence within itself disappears. We can no longer assign any content to life; it is a constant and impatient longing for the remote which never returns to itself and forms itself. Nor can we defend ourselves against a boundless relativism, if the truth of today is superseded tomorrow. The restlessness and haste of such progressive activity cannot prevent a growing emptiness and the consciousness of it. Despite the greatness of technical achievements in particular fields, man in the entirety of his existence is doomed to decline: the powerful and individual personality will gradually disappear.

But as soon as we realize the limitations and defects of this modern synthesis of life, we cease to believe in it. The old order will disintegrate and the contrasts will again emerge in full power. Self-assured activity once more will give way to brooding reflection; we shall once more enter from a positive into a critical period.

If life thus lacks a dominating unity and a centre, while at the same time the transformation of the outside world achieves splendid triumphs, it is understandable if the balance of life is lost, and external successes gradually come to dominate the picture. The achievement makes us forget the power that produced it. Education works from the outside to the inside, and in the end man appears completely a product of his environment because the central energy could no longer cope with the affluence of the outside world. In such an atmosphere naturalism wields power over souls, and we fully understand how it gains ground as the expression of a peculiar situation. But it is precisely through our understanding of it that we are more firmly convinced that it is not the whole truth of human experience.

Its attempt to reduce man entirely to the level of nature can succeed only so long as human existence does not bring forth new energies and goals. But since we have recognized that man represents a new degree of reality which makes intellectual activity possible, we can no longer simply return to nature. The new reality may temporarily be lost in the consciousness of man, but the results of history are embedded in his soul, in the midst of all struggles, doubts, and errors. Even in the midst of negation they have put him far above the level of mere nature, and naturalism appears to be sufficient only because it borrows widely and unscrupulously from idealism. If these borrowings disappear and naturalism has to rely on its own resources, its inadequacies become glaring. There will be a decisive rebellion against an intolerably shallow view of life, accompanied by a strong movement toward idealism and the search for a new synthesis of life.

For certainly the new and strong desire for life's existence within itself and for a rich inner world cannot be satisfied by a return to an earlier stage. There may be imperishable truths in the older syntheses of life, but how can we explain the tremendous shocks and the feeling of uncertainty about the whole of life if those truths, as they have been historically transmitted, contained the final truth? We have considered the deep changes that the modern age has brought about, and we have recognized the closer concatenation of man with his environment and the greater importance of that environment. At the same time, we have seen the harsh obstacles met by the striving for a complete intellectualization of existence, we feel the deep gap between the immediate being of man and the demands of intellectual life, and we realize that we must revise our image of man in order to reach the point of intellectual creativity. We can no longer hope to set the whole of existence in motion at one stroke. First of all we must try to form a nucleus of life and to fortify that position; then we shall have to cope with environment and gradually encroach upon it. The new insights and tasks of the modern age will be fully utilized in this endeavour, especially the tremendous progress made in human welfare which we owe to science. Only we must not assimilate these new elements in their immediate sensual form. We shall have to extract the nucleus of truth, and this can be done only in the context of our entire historical experience. Any conviction that is to carry mankind needs an open mind for the movements of the time, but such open-mindedness should not lead to helpless drifting in their wake.

A revival of idealism may well face many difficulties and obstacles, but the task is imperative and we cannot shirk it. Once mankind has attained an existence of life within itself it cannot resign it again; it has to use all its power and ingenuity to carry out that imperative demand. Once man has escaped from the fetters of natural life, he cannot possibly agree to them again; once risen to independent activity, he cannot again be the plaything of inscrutable powers; having penetrated to the universe and its infinity, he cannot again return to the limitations of a natural being; once the desire for an inner relationship to the world has stirred within him, external relationships will no longer satisfy him. Thus, there is an urge beyond naturalism in all directions.

The peculiar experiences and needs of our own time most strongly demand the revival of the movement toward idealism. The steady increase of work and the rush of the struggle for existence have obscured the meaning of life and deprived our life of a dominating goal. Can we hope to regain such a goal without a powerful concentration and elevation in the soul of man? There are senile features in the colorful picture of modern life, and there is a great urge for rejuvenation, for a production of pure and original beginnings. Would not such an urge be folly if man were wholly determined by the necessity of a natural process? The creativity of the mind has at all times been surrounded and often covered by petty interests, but it makes a considerable difference whether we can check such obscurantism or not. If we can, we need a goal that unites and elevates men; otherwise we are at the mercy of human pettiness, and there is far too much of it in our world today. In the confusion of everyday life little distinction is made between what is high and low, true or seeming, genuine or spurious. There is no sense of the substantial, no acknowledgement of the great either-or pervading human life. We shall have to separate the wheat from the chaff and in an act of concentration gather whatever the time contains in good and important things, the wealth of good will and readiness to sacrifice, so that these things will unite for a common effort and give to life a content worth living for. But how can we carry out such a separation and such a collection unless there is an inner synthesis of life that lifts mankind above the insecurity of individual reflection?

The contrast expressed in the struggle of naturalism and idealism is not confined to the general outline of life; it is found in any particular realm which represents a totality of conviction. It makes a tremendous difference whether man submits to a given existence and tries to improve it only in spots or whether, inspired by the belief in an ascending movement of the universe, he is able to contribute independently to that movement, to discover new goals, and to release new energies. Literature is a case in point, as I shall indicate in a few words. Naturalism cannot give to literature an inner independence or allow it an initiative of its own; for if literature is only a hand of life on the dial of time, it can only imitate and register events as they happen. By means of impressive descriptions it may help the time to understand its own desires better; but since creative power is denied to it, it cannot contribute to the inner liberation and elevation of man. At the same time it necessarily lacks dramatic power, which cannot exist without the possibility of an inner change and elevation. But the perspective and the task change completely if literature acknowledges the possibility of a decisive turn in human life, of the ascension to another level, and if it feels called upon to help bring about that ascension. In that case it can help to shape life and to lead the time, by representing and simultaneously guiding what is rising in man's soul. Literature can clarify and confirm by drawing certain simple outlines in the bewildering chaos of the time and by confronting us with the chief problems of our intellectual existence and persuading us of their importance. It can raise our life to greatness above the hubbub of everyday life by the representation of eternal truths, and in the midst of our dark situation it can strengthen our belief in the reason of life. It can act in the way envisaged by Alfred Nobel when he gave to literature a place of honour in his foundation.

Thus there are strong reasons for our continued belief in idealism and for our attempt to give it a form that corresponds to the sum of our historical experiences. But such an attempt will never truly succeed unless it is considered a personal necessity and is carried out as a matter of intellectual self-preservation. Exhilaration, courage, and firm belief can arise only from such an acknowledgement of a binding necessity, not from a hankering after remote and alien goals, but from a belief in life as it is active within us and makes us participate inwardly in the large context of reality. Only such faith can enable us to cope with the enormous obstacles and fill us with the confidence of success.

Art, truth & Politics: Harold Pinter

2007-12-08T11:52:00.000-08:00

'There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false. A thing is not necessarily either true or false; it can be both true and false.'

I believe that these assertions still make sense and do still apply to the exploration of reality through art. So as a writer I stand by them but as a citizen I cannot. As a citizen I must ask: What is true? What is false?

Truth in drama is forever elusive. You never quite find it but the search for it is compulsive. The search is clearly what drives the endeavour. The search is your task. More often than not you stumble upon the truth in the dark, colliding with it or just glimpsing an image or a shape which seems to correspond to the truth, often without realising that you have done so. But the real truth is that there never is any such thing as one truth to be found in dramatic art. There are many. These truths challenge each other, recoil from each other, reflect each other, ignore each other, tease each other, are blind to each other. Sometimes you feel you have the truth of a moment in your hand, then it slips through your fingers and is lost.

I have often been asked how my plays come about. I cannot say. Nor can I ever sum up my plays, except to say that this is what happened. That is what they said. That is what they did.

Most of the plays are engendered by a line, a word or an image. The given word is often shortly followed by the image. I shall give two examples of two lines which came right out of the blue into my head, followed by an image, followed by me.

The plays are The Homecoming and Old Times. The first line of The Homecoming is 'What have you done with the scissors?' The first line of Old Times is 'Dark.'

In each case I had no further information.

In the first case someone was obviously looking for a pair of scissors and was demanding their whereabouts of someone else he suspected had probably stolen them. But I somehow knew that the person addressed didn't give a damn about the scissors or about the questioner either, for that matter.

'Dark' I took to be a description of someone's hair, the hair of a woman, and was the answer to a question. In each case I found myself compelled to pursue the matter. This happened visually, a very slow fade, through shadow into light.

I always start a play by calling the characters A, B and C.

In the play that became The Homecoming I saw a man enter a stark room and ask his question of a younger man sitting on an ugly sofa reading a racing paper. I somehow suspected that A was a father and that B was his son, but I had no proof. This was however confirmed a short time later when B (later to become Lenny) says to A (later to become Max), 'Dad, do you mind if I change the subject? I want to ask you something. The dinner we had before, what was the name of it? What do you call it? Why don't you buy a dog? You're a dog cook. Honest. You think you're cooking for a lot of dogs.' So since B calls A 'Dad' it seemed to me reasonable to assume that they were father and son. A was also clearly the cook and his cooking did not seem to be held in high regard. Did this mean that there was no mother? I didn't know. But, as I told myself at the time, our beginnings never know our ends.

'Dark.' A large window. Evening sky. A man, A (later to become Deeley), and a woman, B (later to become Kate), sitting with drinks. 'Fat or thin?' the man asks. Who are they talking about? But I then see, standing at the window, a woman, C (later to become Anna), in another condition of light, her back to them, her hair dark.

It's a strange moment, the moment of creating characters who up to that moment have had no existence. What follows is fitful, uncertain, even hallucinatory, although sometimes it can be an unstoppable avalanche. The author's position is an odd one. In a sense he is not welcomed by the characters. The characters resist him, they are not easy to live with, they are impossible to define. You certainly can't dictate to them. To a certain extent you play a never-ending game with them, cat and mouse, blind man's buff, hide and seek. But finally you find that you have people of flesh and blood on your hands, people with will and an individual sensibility of their own, made out of component parts you are unable to change, manipulate or distort.

So language in art remains a highly ambiguous transaction, a quicksand, a trampoline, a frozen pool which might give way under you, the author, at any time.

But as I have said, the search for the truth can never stop. It cannot be adjourned, it cannot be postponed. It has to be faced, right there, on the spot.

Political theatre presents an entirely different set of problems. Sermonising has to be avoided at all cost. Objectivity is essential. The characters must be allowed to breathe their own air. The author cannot confine and constrict them to satisfy his own taste or disposition or prejudice. He must be prepared to approach them from a variety of angles, from a full and uninhibited range of perspectives, take them by surprise, perhaps, occasionally, but nevertheless give them the freedom to go which way they will. This does not always work. And political satire, of course, adheres to none of these precepts, in fact does precisely the opposite, which is its proper function.

In my play The Birthday Party I think I allow a whole range of options to operate in a dense forest of possibility before finally focussing on an act of subjugation.

Mountain Language pretends to no such range of operation. It remains brutal, short and ugly. But the soldiers in the play do get some fun out of it. One sometimes forgets that torturers become easily bored. They need a bit of a laugh to keep their spirits up. This has been confirmed of course by the events at Abu Ghraib in Baghdad. Mountain Language lasts only 20 minutes, but it could go on for hour after hour, on and on and on, the same pattern repeated over and over again, on and on, hour after hour.

Ashes to Ashes, on the other hand, seems to me to be taking place under water. A drowning woman, her hand reaching up through the waves, dropping down out of sight, reaching for others, but finding nobody there, either above or under the water, finding only shadows, reflections, floating; the woman a lost figure in a drowning landscape, a woman unable to escape the doom that seemed to belong only to others.

But as they died, she must die too.

Political language, as used by politicians, does not venture into any of this territory since the majority of politicians, on the evidence available to us, are interested not in truth but in power and in the maintenance of that power. To maintain that power it is essential that people remain in ignorance, that they live in ignorance of the truth, even the truth of their own lives. What surrounds us therefore is a vast tapestry of lies, upon which we feed.

As every single person here knows, the justification for the invasion of Iraq was that Saddam Hussein possessed a highly dangerous body of weapons of mass destruction, some of which could be fired in 45 minutes, bringing about appalling devastation. We were assured that was true. It was not true. We were told that Iraq had a relationship with Al Quaeda and shared responsibility for the atrocity in New York of September 11th 2001. We were assured that this was true. It was not true. We were told that Iraq threatened the security of the world. We were assured it was true. It was not true.

The truth is something entirely different. The truth is to do with how the United States understands its role in the world and how it chooses to embody it.

But before I come back to the present I would like to look at the recent past, by which I mean United States foreign policy since the end of the Second World War. I believe it is obligatory upon us to subject this period to at least some kind of even limited scrutiny, which is all that time will allow here.

Everyone knows what happened in the Soviet Union and throughout Eastern Europe during the post-war period: the systematic brutality, the widespread atrocities, the ruthless suppression of independent thought. All this has been fully documented and verified.

But my contention here is that the US crimes in the same period have only been superficially recorded, let alone documented, let alone acknowledged, let alone recognised as crimes at all. I believe this must be addressed and that the truth has considerable bearing on where the world stands now. Although constrained, to a certain extent, by the existence of the Soviet Union, the United States' actions throughout the world made it clear that it had concluded it had carte blanche to do what it liked.

Direct invasion of a sovereign state has never in fact been America's favoured method. In the main, it has preferred what it has described as 'low intensity conflict'. Low intensity conflict means that thousands of people die but slower than if you dropped a bomb on them in one fell swoop. It means that you infect the heart of the country, that you establish a malignant growth and watch the gangrene bloom. When the populace has been subdued - or beaten to death - the same thing - and your own friends, the military and the great corporations, sit comfortably in power, you go before the camera and say that democracy has prevailed. This was a commonplace in US foreign policy in the years to which I refer.

The tragedy of Nicaragua was a highly significant case. I choose to offer it here as a potent example of America's view of its role in the world, both then and now.

I was present at a meeting at the US embassy in London in the late 1980s.

The United States Congress was about to decide whether to give more money to the Contras in their campaign against the state of Nicaragua. I was a member of a delegation speaking on behalf of Nicaragua but the most important member of this delegation was a Father John Metcalf. The leader of the US body was Raymond Seitz (then number two to the ambassador, later ambassador himself). Father Metcalf said: 'Sir, I am in charge of a parish in the north of Nicaragua. My parishioners built a school, a health centre, a cultural centre. We have lived in peace. A few months ago a Contra force attacked the parish. They destroyed everything: the school, the health centre, the cultural centre. They raped nurses and teachers, slaughtered doctors, in the most brutal manner. They behaved like savages. Please demand that the US government withdraw its support from this shocking terrorist activity.'

Raymond Seitz had a very good reputation as a rational, responsible and highly sophisticated man. He was greatly respected in diplomatic circles. He listened, paused and then spoke with some gravity. 'Father,' he said, 'let me tell you something. In war, innocent people always suffer.' There was a frozen silence. We stared at him. He did not flinch.

Innocent people, indeed, always suffer.

Finally somebody said: 'But in this case "innocent people" were the victims of a gruesome atrocity subsidised by your government, one among many. If Congress allows the Contras more money further atrocities of this kind will take place. Is this not the case? Is your government not therefore guilty of supporting acts of murder and destruction upon the citizens of a sovereign state?'

Seitz was imperturbable. 'I don't agree that the facts as presented support your assertions,' he said.

As we were leaving the Embassy a US aide told me that he enjoyed my plays. I did not reply.

I should remind you that at the time President Reagan made the following statement: 'The Contras are the moral equivalent of our Founding Fathers.'

The United States supported the brutal Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua for over 40 years. The Nicaraguan people, led by the Sandinistas, overthrew this regime in 1979, a breathtaking popular revolution.

The Sandinistas weren't perfect. They possessed their fair share of arrogance and their political philosophy contained a number of contradictory elements. But they were intelligent, rational and civilised. They set out to establish a stable, decent, pluralistic society. The death penalty was abolished. Hundreds of thousands of poverty-stricken peasants were brought back from the dead. Over 100,000 families were given title to land. Two thousand schools were built. A quite remarkable literacy campaign reduced illiteracy in the country to less than one seventh. Free education was established and a free health service. Infant mortality was reduced by a third. Polio was eradicated.

The United States denounced these achievements as Marxist/Leninist subversion. In the view of the US government, a dangerous example was being set. If Nicaragua was allowed to establish basic norms of social and economic justice, if it was allowed to raise the standards of health care and education and achieve social unity and national self respect, neighbouring countries would ask the same questions and do the same things. There was of course at the time fierce resistance to the status quo in El Salvador.

I spoke earlier about 'a tapestry of lies' which surrounds us. President Reagan commonly described Nicaragua as a 'totalitarian dungeon'. This was taken generally by the media, and certainly by the British government, as accurate and fair comment. But there was in fact no record of death squads under the Sandinista government. There was no record of torture. There was no record of systematic or official military brutality. No priests were ever murdered in Nicaragua. There were in fact three priests in the government, two Jesuits and a Maryknoll missionary. The totalitarian dungeons were actually next door, in El Salvador and Guatemala. The United States had brought down the democratically elected government of Guatemala in 1954 and it is estimated that over 200,000 people had been victims of successive military dictatorships.

Six of the most distinguished Jesuits in the world were viciously murdered at the Central American University in San Salvador in 1989 by a battalion of the Alcatl regiment trained at Fort Benning, Georgia, USA. That extremely brave man Archbishop Romero was assassinated while saying mass. It is estimated that 75,000 people died. Why were they killed? They were killed because they believed a better life was possible and should be achieved. That belief immediately qualified them as communists. They died because they dared to question the status quo, the endless plateau of poverty, disease, degradation and oppression, which had been their birthright.

The United States finally brought down the Sandinista government. It took some years and considerable resistance but relentless economic persecution and 30,000 dead finally undermined the spirit of the Nicaraguan people. They were exhausted and poverty stricken once again. The casinos moved back into the country. Free health and free education were over. Big business returned with a vengeance. 'Democracy' had prevailed.

But this 'policy' was by no means restricted to Central America. It was conducted throughout the world. It was never-ending. And it is as if it never happened.

The United States supported and in many cases engendered every right wing military dictatorship in the world after the end of the Second World War. I refer to Indonesia, Greece, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Haiti, Turkey, the Philippines, Guatemala, El Salvador, and, of course, Chile. The horror the United States inflicted upon Chile in 1973 can never be purged and can never be forgiven.

Hundreds of thousands of deaths took place throughout these countries. Did they take place? And are they in all cases attributable to US foreign policy? The answer is yes they did take place and they are attributable to American foreign policy. But you wouldn't know it.

It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn't happening. It didn't matter. It was of no interest. The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them. You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It's a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.

I put to you that the United States is without doubt the greatest show on the road. Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless it may be but it is also very clever. As a salesman it is out on its own and its most saleable commodity is self love. It's a winner. Listen to all American presidents on television say the words, 'the American people', as in the sentence, 'I say to the American people it is time to pray and to defend the rights of the American people and I ask the American people to trust their president in the action he is about to take on behalf of the American people.'

It's a scintillating stratagem. Language is actually employed to keep thought at bay. The words 'the American people' provide a truly voluptuous cushion of reassurance. You don't need to think. Just lie back on the cushion. The cushion may be suffocating your intelligence and your critical faculties but it's very comfortable. This does not apply of course to the 40 million people living below the poverty line and the 2 million men and women imprisoned in the vast gulag of prisons, which extends across the US.

The United States no longer bothers about low intensity conflict. It no longer sees any point in being reticent or even devious. It puts its cards on the table without fear or favour. It quite simply doesn't give a damn about the United Nations, international law or critical dissent, which it regards as impotent and irrelevant. It also has its own bleating little lamb tagging behind it on a lead, the pathetic and supine Great Britain.

What has happened to our moral sensibility? Did we ever have any? What do these words mean? Do they refer to a term very rarely employed these days - conscience? A conscience to do not only with our own acts but to do with our shared responsibility in the acts of others? Is all this dead? Look at Guantanamo Bay. Hundreds of people detained without charge for over three years, with no legal representation or due process, technically detained forever. This totally illegitimate structure is maintained in defiance of the Geneva Convention. It is not only tolerated but hardly thought about by what's called the 'international community'. This criminal outrage is being committed by a country, which declares itself to be 'the leader of the free world'. Do we think about the inhabitants of Guantanamo Bay? What does the media say about them? They pop up occasionally - a small item on page six. They have been consigned to a no man's land from which indeed they may never return. At present many are on hunger strike, being force-fed, including British residents. No niceties in these force-feeding procedures. No sedative or anaesthetic. Just a tube stuck up your nose and into your throat. You vomit blood. This is torture. What has the British Foreign Secretary said about this? Nothing. What has the British Prime Minister said about this? Nothing. Why not? Because the United States has said: to criticise our conduct in Guantanamo Bay constitutes an unfriendly act. You're either with us or against us. So Blair shuts up.

The invasion of Iraq was a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law. The invasion was an arbitrary military action inspired by a series of lies upon lies and gross manipulation of the media and therefore of the public; an act intended to consolidate American military and economic control of the Middle East masquerading - as a last resort - all other justifications having failed to justify themselves - as liberation. A formidable assertion of military force responsible for the death and mutilation of thousands and thousands of innocent people.

We have brought torture, cluster bombs, depleted uranium, innumerable acts of random murder, misery, degradation and death to the Iraqi people and call it 'bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East'.

How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described as a mass murderer and a war criminal? One hundred thousand? More than enough, I would have thought. Therefore it is just that Bush and Blair be arraigned before the International Criminal Court of Justice. But Bush has been clever. He has not ratified the International Criminal Court of Justice. Therefore if any American soldier or for that matter politician finds himself in the dock Bush has warned that he will send in the marines. But Tony Blair has ratified the Court and is therefore available for prosecution. We can let the Court have his address if they're interested. It is Number 10, Downing Street, London.

Death in this context is irrelevant. Both Bush and Blair place death well away on the back burner. At least 100,000 Iraqis were killed by American bombs and missiles before the Iraq insurgency began. These people are of no moment. Their deaths don't exist. They are blank. They are not even recorded as being dead. 'We don't do body counts,' said the American general Tommy Franks.

Early in the invasion there was a photograph published on the front page of British newspapers of Tony Blair kissing the cheek of a little Iraqi boy. 'A grateful child,' said the caption. A few days later there was a story and photograph, on an inside page, of another four-year-old boy with no arms. His family had been blown up by a missile. He was the only survivor. 'When do I get my arms back?' he asked. The story was dropped. Well, Tony Blair wasn't holding him in his arms, nor the body of any other mutilated child, nor the body of any bloody corpse. Blood is dirty. It dirties your shirt and tie when you're making a sincere speech on television.

The 2,000 American dead are an embarrassment. They are transported to their graves in the dark. Funerals are unobtrusive, out of harm's way. The mutilated rot in their beds, some for the rest of their lives. So the dead and the mutilated both rot, in different kinds of graves.

Here is an extract from a poem by Pablo Neruda, 'I'm Explaining a Few Things':

And one morning all that was burning,
one morning the bonfires
leapt out of the earth
devouring human beings
and from then on fire,
gunpowder from then on,
and from then on blood.
Bandits with planes and Moors,
bandits with finger-rings and duchesses,
bandits with black friars spattering blessings
came through the sky to kill children
and the blood of children ran through the streets
without fuss, like children's blood.

Jackals that the jackals would despise
stones that the dry thistle would bite on and spit out,
vipers that the vipers would abominate.

Face to face with you I have seen the blood
of Spain tower like a tide
to drown you in one wave
of pride and knives.

Treacherous
generals:
see my dead house,
look at broken Spain:
from every house burning metal flows
instead of flowers
from every socket of Spain
Spain emerges
and from every dead child a rifle with eyes
and from every crime bullets are born
which will one day find
the bull's eye of your hearts.

And you will ask: why doesn't his poetry
speak of dreams and leaves
and the great volcanoes of his native land.

Come and see the blood in the streets.
Come and see
the blood in the streets.
Come and see the blood
in the streets!*

Let me make it quite clear that in quoting from Neruda's poem I am in no way comparing Republican Spain to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. I quote Neruda because nowhere in contemporary poetry have I read such a powerful visceral description of the bombing of civilians.

I have said earlier that the United States is now totally frank about putting its cards on the table. That is the case. Its official declared policy is now defined as 'full spectrum dominance'. That is not my term, it is theirs. 'Full spectrum dominance' means control of land, sea, air and space and all attendant resources.

The United States now occupies 702 military installations throughout the world in 132 countries, with the honourable exception of Sweden, of course. We don't quite know how they got there but they are there all right.

The United States possesses 8,000 active and operational nuclear warheads. Two thousand are on hair trigger alert, ready to be launched with 15 minutes warning. It is developing new systems of nuclear force, known as bunker busters. The British, ever cooperative, are intending to replace their own nuclear missile, Trident. Who, I wonder, are they aiming at? Osama bin Laden? You? Me? Joe Dokes? China? Paris? Who knows? What we do know is that this infantile insanity - the possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons - is at the heart of present American political philosophy. We must remind ourselves that the United States is on a permanent military footing and shows no sign of relaxing it.

Many thousands, if not millions, of people in the United States itself are demonstrably sickened, shamed and angered by their government's actions, but as things stand they are not a coherent political force - yet. But the anxiety, uncertainty and fear which we can see growing daily in the United States is unlikely to diminish.

I know that President Bush has many extremely competent speech writers but I would like to volunteer for the job myself. I propose the following short address which he can make on television to the nation. I see him grave, hair carefully combed, serious, winning, sincere, often beguiling, sometimes employing a wry smile, curiously attractive, a man's man.

'God is good. God is great. God is good. My God is good. Bin Laden's God is bad. His is a bad God. Saddam's God was bad, except he didn't have one. He was a barbarian. We are not barbarians. We don't chop people's heads off. We believe in freedom. So does God. I am not a barbarian. I am the democratically elected leader of a freedom-loving democracy. We are a compassionate society. We give compassionate electrocution and compassionate lethal injection. We are a great nation. I am not a dictator. He is. I am not a barbarian. He is. And he is. They all are. I possess moral authority. You see this fist? This is my moral authority. And don't you forget it.'

A writer's life is a highly vulnerable, almost naked activity. We don't have to weep about that. The writer makes his choice and is stuck with it. But it is true to say that you are open to all the winds, some of them icy indeed. You are out on your own, out on a limb. You find no shelter, no protection - unless you lie - in which case of course you have constructed your own protection and, it could be argued, become a politician.

I have referred to death quite a few times this evening. I shall now quote a poem of my own called 'Death'.

Where was the dead body found?
Who found the dead body?
Was the dead body dead when found?
How was the dead body found?

Who was the dead body?

Who was the father or daughter or brother
Or uncle or sister or mother or son
Of the dead and abandoned body?

Was the body dead when abandoned?
Was the body abandoned?
By whom had it been abandoned?

Was the dead body naked or dressed for a journey?

What made you declare the dead body dead?
Did you declare the dead body dead?
How well did you know the dead body?
How did you know the dead body was dead?

Did you wash the dead body
Did you close both its eyes
Did you bury the body
Did you leave it abandoned
Did you kiss the dead body

When we look into a mirror we think the image that confronts us is accurate. But move a millimetre and the image changes. We are actually looking at a never-ending range of reflections. But sometimes a writer has to smash the mirror - for it is on the other side of that mirror that the truth stares at us.

I believe that despite the enormous odds which exist, unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination, as citizens, to define the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation which devolves upon us all. It is in fact mandatory.

If such a determination is not embodied in our political vision we have no hope of restoring what is so nearly lost to us - the dignity of man.

Silliness...essence of human emotions

2007-11-23T07:00:00.000-08:00

I consider myself intellectual, and the balloon of this myth went pricked when I lsot one of my best friends, because I found him silly most of the time. Now after trodding path of meaning-ful "enlightenment" I am numb with the very thought of pervasive aloofness, and I miss "silliness" of that lost friend. And this is honest and sincere acceptance of the fact.

Silliness: Out roots lies in it

Silliness is the human's most ingredient aspect of personality. It is very random and any random activity signifies more ENTROPY, as per thermodynamics.So one thing is certain,is the one who is "silly" is full of much higher energy then the rest of the mass.Silliness is found among scientist such as Archimidies, with poets such as Milton, story writers such as Shakespeare, and often with artists, whose interpretations remain out of the perihery of the mediocre minds. Silliness in every person is manifested when wen find him playing with children. So when hours spent with children brings out cheerfulness on your face. And very soon you find yourself irritated with the same sillines of child. Can you imagine the condition of the MOTHER who brings the "intellectual level" into a child, by bearing out with every sill activity of child, and most importantly by responding in SILLY way to make child at ease. ANd I believe this Silliness of mothers is inherent, and essential too, without which any child would never achive the fertility of his/her mind. Imagine a childhood lived without the silliness of mothers.I beleive no "child" would ever be normal.....

Silliness : I miss it often....

Silliness is not only considered sign of inferiority, but is representation of "SECOND" sex.And I accept, it with full reverence. When meaning loose its significance, silliness creeps into the faculties of life.And this is golden phase of life. Here you are free out of the maleodrama of routine life. You are free of customs and obligations, you are not bound by the chains of duties. Most importatnly silliness has always broight a SMILE on my face, and that is the rarest emotions in today's life. You would find GALORE of vulgar jokes- cracking among people, but very rare you find person's TRUE SMILE. I miss it as I have felt it when I was amid sheer silliness of my friend. I have not smiled for a long time, I miss that silliness.....

Silliness : Immortal love

Meere, is considered the most silly follower of Lord Krishna but only lady who found love of the lord among the mortals, she found the Lord only trough Silliness. Love is best exhibited in the form of being "Silly" other wise who is not a actor in this "unemotional" world.All the famous love stories are better known for the Silliness they possess rather than for eny thing else. More u r silly, better u r lover. More your silly deeds are, more you would be loved by our partner. And believe me, being silly is not the easiest thing, becuase you need to keep aside your fertile facudntdity of logic. I love so I am silly....

Silliness : Essence of Art

People who think beyond their times are considered are silly. This I beleive proves it all.Arts of Picasso were considered "Silly" till they were accepted as CUBISM by the world.So in true sense being silly is relative term, when that relative view is considered true by many.But in true sense, being silly means being true, being what you are ade of, being authentic, react in a way u naturally would.

So i want to get my love back, that i turned down as "SILLY"....I do not want to be enlighted soul..I am happy as being silly....

Capitalism...Identity

2007-09-27T10:41:00.000-07:00

Imagine a social structure.....

"People are into the occupations they want to be in, Agriculture is a major source of Income. Accumulation is considered evil, as it hampers the pursuit of happiness by spending more. Trust is the bank of people. People are well accommodating towards others needs and requirements. Though poverty is peeking in, but it is not been exploted. Poor are considered equal sons of Jesus, who are equally free as that of riches. Riches are proud of their fate but do not have any EGO balloon. That is the way they live amicably. All occupations are considered of equal importance for the social equilibrium. People are happy with their little money, and Immense freedom. They possess skill to meet the requirements of others, and vice-a-versa. People reap wat they sow. There are no "intermediate" profit makers. There is no embezzlement, and moral fabric is quite strong to sustain the growth of the society."

And here comes the most popular Economic structure.

Firstly, it believes in pareto principle, "80% of world's wealth lies with 20% people of the people”. In this system MONEY rules and it is the only measure of success and happiness. Greed signifies Ambition. People prefer cheating on Labor, shrewdness over intelligence, chicanery over trust. When trust takes the back seat, people become rude. Forgery becomes pervasive; shortcuts are considered "Signs of perfection". Exploitation is considered natural result of difference in the intelligence level. And this ratify that riches are here to rule while poor are official slaves. Materialism is new religion, Hedonism is in the vogue. Boozing and partying are the stress relievers. Mornings have been shifted to afternoons, while afternoons are shifted to nights, and nights have been shifted to mornings....

This is the identity of Capitalism. It has completely replaced our SOCIAL FABRIC as described in first paragraph.....

Why I did not like.....Chak De India !!!

2007-09-09T19:01:00.000-07:00

Chak de India, might be nominated to National awards this year, and Shahrukh khan may recieve Best Actor award for the same, but CHAK DE INDIA, I believe is major failure in depecting what it wants to be....

First, The absymal state of Hockey in totality...Film shows that hockey is derogatory word in Sport Dictionary, but truth is Hockey first catapulted India on world sport canavs. The Magicical Dhyan chand, not only ignited "Indian Dribble" into the world hockey, but captivated Hitler by his magic once also. Commercialisation has been major force that withdrew hockey from the fav list of the Indians.Unill 1990's before cricket peer into Indian hearts it was Hockey that reigned the Indian sport apex.

Secondly, the Negligible status of Indian Woman Hockey...
Then first look at the status of other Woman Team games in India. These games are in even worse state. Woman Cricket is not even better half of Men's cricket team.So neglected Woman hockey is just a representation of the Neglected "Woman Sports" and above all neglected "Sports" condition in country.

Thirdly, the Indian muslim is not on the anvil in this HINDU coutry at all. when Equality is ever where, when out preisdents and vice presidents are uslims, when our National song written by a muslim is been accppted, when Muslims are superstars of India cinemas. I can not imagine better secular face of India than this. After that much depicting "harrowing experiences" of Kabir kahnn did not impress me at all. I treated it as another masala platter.

Fourthly, it was showing the UNITY amid diversity, through the inclusion of the a player a state proportion. But the role of leading ladies was already written with HINDI audiences in mind,why didn't Shimit AMIN (director of the flick) borrowed the lead acctress from Neglected Nagaland, or Cumpletly cutoff Kashmir, why there was NORTH supremacy as of cast is concerned.

Above all I would rate CHAK DE INDIA at **(two stars), as it is moron movie that depicted the issues that are not relevant. It has used all the MASALA that any hindi movie would like to use. Its story is obsolete, and direction is senseless.

LIFE......How to live it.....

2007-08-22T00:24:00.001-07:00

Did you ever wonder why your parents act so disoriented when it comes to 'leisure' activities? Why they start one little hobby, and either fail to follow through with it or become pathologically obsessed with it... even though it doesn't seem to have anything to do with their lives? Maybe they seek to lose themselves in gardening or following the exploits of some basketball team. Maybe your father buys all sorts of fancy tools (the kind of tools many men his age have), but only uses them for a few days before setting them aside—and then buys a lot of skiing equipment the next month. Or perhaps they just spend their time trying figure out how to pay off the debt they owe for that wide screen television they spend the rest of their time watching.

And—have they ever been honest with you about their jobs? Do they enjoy them? Is their work the most fulfilling thing they could be doing, are they able to achieve every goal they always wanted to? Do they feel heroic or proud every day as they return home—or are they exhausted? Do they turn that wide screen television on as soon as they come in the door? Do they have the energy to do anything else?

Did you ever wonder if there might be a better way for them, for you?

What is 'Work' Like?

Because of 'division of labor', most jobs today consist of doing very specific tasks, over and over, with very little variety. If you are a dishwasher, you wash dishes: you don't get to interact with people or solve complicated problems very often, and you never get to leave the dishroom to run around in the sunlight. If you are a real estate agent, you never use your hands to make anything, and you spend most of your time thinking about market value and selling points. Even jobs that include a certain amount of variety can only remain interesting and challenging up to a point: for we work forty hours a week on average, and at least five out of the seven days. That's a lot of our lives to spend working. Work is the first thing we do on most of the days of our lives, and we don't get to do anything else until we've been at work for quite a while. When we spend most of our time and energy working on one task, or even ten different tasks, eventually we will feel bored and desperate for variety... even if we are conditioned not to realize this.

On top of this, because of the spread of large businesses and the consequent decrease in self-employment and small businesses, most of us do not have much voice in what our responsibilities at work will be. It is hard to start your own business or even find a friend or neighbor to work for. We often must get a job to survive in which we follow the instructions of a manager who probably doesn't have much more control over his job than we have over ours. Since we don't get to decide what we are doing, chances are that we will feel alienated from our work, disinterested in the quality of our labor; we may even feel that the projects we are working upon are unimportant.

Indeed it is easy to feel that most of the jobs available today are unimportant—for in a certain sense, many of them are. In a purely capitalist economy, the jobs that are available will be determined by which products are in the most demand; and often the products that are in demand (military technology, fast food, Pepsi, fashionable clothes) are not products that really make people happy. It's easy to feel like all your labor is wasted when the products you work so hard to sell just to survive seem to do nothing for the people you sell them to. How many people really are cheered up by the soggy french fries at McDonalds? Would they perhaps be happier eating a meal prepared by a friend of theirs or a chef they knew who owned his own cafe?

In short, "work" as we know it tends to make us unhappy because we do so much of it, because it is so repetitive, because we don't get to choose what we do, and because what we are doing is often not in the best interest of our fellow human beings.

What is Leisure Time Like?

We come home from these jobs exhausted from having invested all our time and energy in a project we may not have even been free to choose, and what we need most is to recover. We are emotionally and physically worn out, and nothing seems more natural than to sit down quietly for a while and watch television or read the daily paper, while we try to gather our strength for the next day's labor. Perhaps we try to leave behind our exhaustion and frustration by concentrating on some hobby or another; but as we are not very used to directing ourselves in the workplace during the day, we often don't know what we really want to do when we are free at home. Certainly some company or another will have some suggestions for us, whether we receive them from advertising or watching our neighbors; but chances are that this company has their profits in mind at least as much as our satisfaction, and we may discover that playing miniature golf is strangely unfulfilling.

Similarly, of course, we don't have much time or energy left over from work to consider our situation or participate in any rewarding activity which requires much time and energy. We don't like to think too much about whether we enjoy our jobs or our lives—besides, that might be depressing, and what can we do if we don't enjoy them, anyway? We don't have the energy left to enjoy art or music or books that are really challenging; we need our music to be soothing, our art nonthreatening, our books merely entertaining.

In fact, we come to associate having to expend effort and do things with our work, and associate relaxing and not doing anything with leisure time. So, because many of us don't like our jobs, we tend to associate having to do things with being unhappy, while happiness, as far as we ever know it, means... not doing anything. We never act for ourselves, because we spend our whole days acting for other people, and we think that acting and working hard always leads to unhappiness; our idea of happiness is not having to act, being on permanent vacation.

And this is ultimately why so many of us are so unhappy: because happiness is not doing nothing, happiness is acting creatively, doing things, working hard on things you care about. Happiness is becoming an excellent long-distance runner, falling in love, cooking an original recipe for people you care about, building a bookshelf, writing a song. There is no happiness to be found in merely lying on a couch—happiness is something that we must pursue. We are not unhappy because we have to do things, we are unhappy because all the things we do are things we don't care about. And because our jobs exhaust us and mislead us about what we want, they are the source of much of our unhappiness.

What is the Solution?

You don't have to work at those jobs, you know. It is possible to get by without all the Pepsi, all the expensive clothes, the wide screen television and the expensive interior decorating that all those paychecks go to pay for. You can try to start your own business doing something you care about (although this still involves the danger of having too little variety in your work), or you can try to find a job in today's marketplace (good luck!) that you actually enjoy... and that leaves you enough time and energy to do other things in your life that you also enjoy. The most important thing is to arrange your life so that you are doing things because you want to do them, not because they are profitable—otherwise, no matter how much money you make, you will be selling your happiness for money. Remember that the less money you spend, the less you will have to worry about getting money in the first place... and the less you will have to work at those dehumanizing jobs. Learn to use all your 'free' time, not to vegetate or spend money on entertainment, but to create things and accomplish things—things that no one would pay you to make or do, but that make your life (and perhaps the lives of others) better anyway.

Some will argue that the system we live within would break down if we all were to walk away from our jobs—so much the better. Haven't we built enough automobiles, enough shopping malls, enough televisions and golf clubs, enough fucking nuclear weapons already? Wouldn't we all be better off if there was a shortage of fast food and a surplus of unique home-cooked meals? If playing music is more rewarding than working in an assembly line, why do we have so few good bands and so many transistor radios? Of course a 'work-free' world is a dream we will probably never see come true; but as always, the challenge is to make this dream a part of your world, as much as you can—to liberate yourself from the chains of mindless consumerism and mind-melting employment and live a more meaningful life. (Source: www.crimetnic.com)

Realities @"Bottom of the Pyramid" : Education

2007-08-16T19:53:00.000-07:00

I have been born and brought up in Rural India (Most populated state of India, fifth most poor state) India where 70% hindustani resides.Latest book by C.K Prahlad, "Fortune at the bottom of the Pyramid", forced me to unveil some intriguing truths about this Filthy bottom of the Pyramid. This is just "Reality" feed for those who are thinking of eradicating poverty through profit by seling things in "Sashes" and via "Chaupal". My dear fellows, it is not that easy puzzle.....

Lets talk about, the education at the Bottom of the Pyramid....

Lets talk about 54% Educated people of India first, they are actually so called literate people. out of these literate people 10 % are just able to write HINDI or their Regional Laguage alphbets (Kudos to NLC:National Literacy Campaign). Another 15 % are not able to basic arthematic operations. Rest 17% have no "Skill oriented education", So this makes a bottom of pyramid.The abysmal state of government run schools is very much known. Teachers do not turn up at schools, so u can very much imagine the attendance of the students in their "classes".

Primary Education for the "Bottom of Pyramid"....

either it would be one Room school, or two rooms (One for Teacer's Lunch).Electrification is rare, and Sanitation is evident from the fact, that 3% deaths in India are just out of poor sanitation. A Yello-Red School, with "Kendriya", "Priamry", "Prathmik", "SIKSHA KENDRA", "SISHU" in its name gives us the glimpse of true "Primary education" in India. Private schools are just like mirage, and people are happy with the fact that atleast teachers are turning up in these private schools.
In Primary schools where their is good attendance record, it is just on the papers, to eke out money from any "Government Scheme".Actual situation is far from expectations.

Secondary education for the "Bottom of the Pyramid"...

After the abysmal priary school, 30% of enrolled reaches to the secondary level of education, and here they get a glimpse of 26 alphabets,but it is too late to grasp the new language, then these lads gasp in the English class whuich is scheduled once in a week.Teachers are paid "meagre amount" as they are "Educated by grace". The poor standard of teaching does not inspire students to study further, and most of them either turn up to labour or to become farmers. And most of the girls got married to these Secondary pass boys.And basis of marraige is ancestor's land that would be heired by the boy, other than the no of buffeloes one carry.After such education what we can expect from the farmer of this country.

Higher Education @ "Bottom of the Pyramid".....
3% of students enrolled in the priamary schools reach this level.Colleges are far away from their place in villages in town, nad most of the students are first exosed to modern culture, and films. And here starts their journey of dremas, and fatasy regardign modern woman, and politics in the form og youth elecetion. Because of their good health, rural college students become the back bone of City's students election. and most of the times these lads are arrestd foe some thing or other by the police. The politics overpowers education in these city colleges, eve teasign is at the apex. so the sex raio in these college normaly lies around to 1:9. Here fake marksheets are real exam papers are easily available. Still passing rate is 30-40%. So we can imagine what kind of education is their at the bottom of the pyramid.

I want C.K prahlad, to review his tips to buisness conglomerates, after reading this article I beleive.

Sleazy ads are Back....in Corrupt Society

2007-08-15T04:47:00.001-07:00

The Ban of AMUL MACHO Ad....did not come as surprise to me as I was expecting the same for this ad.....Sexuality is again on prowl....and Macho male underwear is selling like hot cake.....Advertisemnets zre back with "thier" sleazy face again....

But More suprising was BAN...the modern world, which is erotic in thoughts (Eve teasing at its Apex),Item Numbers are must for success of any commercial cinema, Wet scenes are fashion in Bangla films, Arousing dresses are Code of South Indian Movies,....and Shakeela is well appreciated face along with "Kiss-addicted" Imraan Hasmi who is new poster boy of Modern India.....The Ban is some what "Unreasonable"....don't u think so...

Is Shahrukh Khan so bad actor in LUX ad ?, or Woman Fantisizing with undergarments of her husband is so immoral ? that these must be waved off the Ad-Slate....I do not think so, there is some where our Hypocratic Indian mentality comes in between. We are proudly share the "Sleazy sms" in our offices, but we can not see the "Amul Macho ad" with our family...We can watch Murder along with our daughter, but we can not nod to Shahruk in LUX ad, that is really shameful....

But here is lesson to Ad industry as well....Formula that "Sex Sells" is and will alwyas remain popular but it is upto them(ad makers) how do they pursue it....Becuase "Catching" the attention of Consumers is important for the profit oriented corporations, but u have moral responsibility as well towards your society where SEX is still tabboo, and this is fact that can not be changed with the opening of few hundered multiplexes, malls and cafe-outlets....

Social fabric is natural one, it takes shapes by itself....Let it b like that....but I also belive like sigmund Freud that "SEX" is driving force....of all human emotions

Which World

2007-08-06T09:05:00.000-07:00

When the world ends, white dust will fill the air like
the curtain at the end of a play. A rain of desperate
bodies will fall from the windows of burning buildings,
drumming the concrete below. Men with splinters in
their eyes will stumble through streets choked with debris;
women clutching babies will pick through the rubble and
tear out their hair. Our generation will go to its grave
shouting its last words into a cell phone.
Or perhaps it will arrive as a thief in the night, step
by invisible step. Factories will disappear overseas and
corporations vanish into thin air, taking jobs and retirement
funds with them. Cities dying from the inside out will
spread like ringworm, the shrapnel spray of suburbs slicing
through forest and field. Wars will reach from continent
to continent and neighborhood to neighborhood—the
terrorists who won’t make peace against the horrorists who
enforce it at any price, who keep trying to impose harmony
between oppressed and oppressor with fear and firepower.
Tides will rise with global warming, acid rains fall with the
last of the redwoods, computer systems crash with stocks
and stock markets . . . until one day everyone has cancer.
Or else nothing will happen at all, business will
continue as usual: prison guards pace concrete tombs,
psychiatrists contemplate madness, demons glare from
the eyes of ministers, consumers are bought and sold in
the marketplace. It’s after the end of the world, whispers the
homeless man on the corner—don’t you know that yet?
Others, mysterious and knowing, who have held
themselves aloof from the discussion until now, finally iterject :Which World

Intellectual pursuit vs Hedonism.....

2007-07-16T10:35:00.000-07:00

"Intellectual"....word is misunderstood by those who consider themselves as Intellectual. In true sense, Knowing the life from its origin, and its moulded path in our society itself throws all the possible lights to interpret the true nature of "every minute concept", that includes, relationships, Bonds, Our social fabric, Out motives, our Economic structure.The one who knows the threads of this whole fabric is BUDDHAin true sense....or enlightened or from the clan of Intellectuals.....in the language of lay man...

But why all the people are not Intellectual then ? that is a very obvious Question.If I answer It, then this path of becoming enlightened is not hard becoze once you start questioning the things, enlightened state would start depicting itself....But its impact as "REALITY" is horrible that you would start refraining from being "Human" then, and that is something one does not want to become. So one prefers to pretend like a "Fool' or another idiot, who is ready to bear all the responsibility, one who is looking for pleasures in this worldly things, one who is pursuing materialistic goals, one who is contented with the "less" spiritual world....

Such Materials tic follower is termed "Hedonist".....and Prevalent example associated with this term is of French or Germans, whose Population is decreasing day by day, and they are just marrying around beaches, spending more than that they are earning, bearing least social responsibilities, and happy in their WINE-WOMAN combo pack.....

Intellectual pursuit awakens your senses, but it does not feed your stomach, it controls the greed of the senses, but creates a Craving on the other hand.....

Hedonism is better for those who wants to keep this world going.....as a creator, Consumer or survivors of humanity.....while Intellectuals are those who are ready to take pain in their asses, but can not bear the responsibilities, and are always ready to sacrifice anything in their life.....

Religious Fervor or Psychological Dumb followers....

2007-07-15T23:33:00.000-07:00

16th July, 2007...Hindustan times....

News 1: Catholic churches have accepted to pay a bounty of 100 million in total to the victims of sexual abuse that has been carried out by the priest in last 20 years. In some cases, the culprit priest has died, but on behalf of him Catholic Churches are ready to pay that amount......

News 2: Siddhivinayal Temple (A place every Mumbaikar can associate him/her self as being Hindu), has started "Pay per view" thing, where devotee need to pay an mount for a sight of his/her GOD.....that means Gods are on "SALE", and it is now more like another Mecca of Hindus, Tirupati Temple where people are allowed to pray to God on the basis of their Wallets......

Something is wrong, some thing has turned out wrong.....Whether Religions are just shadows of Physiological meek followers, or people have swayed away by the fervor of religion so much that now they have become addicted to it, like people do for Marijuana....or any drug

Why Catholic churches accepted that their so called "Father figures" have turned into "Beasts" ?....Why don't they put some kind of filter so that only those can be revered whose mind and body are in control, or else start hand over clergy post to the married couples, who at least keep on doing the chores of Church's.....without any immoral acts......

News 2: Siddhivinayak Temple episode clearly epitomize the "Corporatization of the religion", where Supply-Demand equation needs to be matched to avoid any chaos. Every Thursday, when the number of devotees is going to increase, Increasing the "Price per view" would curtail down the number of entrnats.....But Is that so with the GOD as well...that he will start showering blessing only over to the Ambani's and Bacchan's.....or Ruia's n Wadia's......Isn't this Religious Mono ply.......I do not know about that, But some thing is wrong !!!!

Wars for Profit....

2006-10-07T12:39:00.000-07:00

The biggest asset for America in the whole last century has been its one and only"Hollywood", which manifested the American image to the world as the land of heroes, laboratory of Ace scientists(Highest no of noble prizes attest this), playground of ace sports men, and energetic-intellectual, super man kind of race....

But it is Hollywood, a thespian score, nothing more than director's imagination, and after the show all the viewers will have to come out of this pulp-fiction(world coined by US intellectual class to erect the moral of depresses America, in 1930s)...alas, this show was just 5o years in length....

Do not get confused, it was just, the ego trip of US that started in 1950's just after Second World War, when it emerged out as super power, out of cold world war, in polarized world. It was the boon of Second World War that made the US a rich, super powerful from the "age of depression" of 1930's. Millions were dead while one super power was emerging....

Emergence was just beginning, and rest 50 years were, the maintenance of brand "superpower" just like any other corporate houses. and just to maintain that brand, US had to fake missions (NASA, the key player), had to wage wars (Vietnam war, gulf war), had to bolster its deadly weapon, diplomacy (against: Cuba, Israel, Brazil, Iraq, Korea, Germany, China), which was back bone of this country.....

It exploited the poor, supported the perpetrators, Sacked the emerging powers, sidelined the intellectuals, insinuated the separatists, welcomed the rebels, tortured the protestors, created the hoaxes, dump the investigations, imprisoned the naives, armed the terrorists, protected the "gangsters" and kept the show on for next 50 years....

Every time, when there were millions dead in war, US eyed only over profits. The first U.S. income tax law was enacted in 1862 to support the Civil War.During World War II; the modern system for managing federal income taxes was introduced. In 1970's spending were increased on Vietnam war, just to support ailing economy, and same thing was carried out by Ronald Regan from 1980-89, to avoid economic hardships, and then Bush waged war on Iraq in 1990-92, to feed its capitalistic hunger.

So, when China has fiscal surplus of 500 millions, while US is cramped with $2 billion debt. There was no way out for America, to refresh its heroic image, and then we faced "Iraq war"...A mission just to recover its debts by resurrecting a parallel economy in Afghanistan and Iraq, to maintain its primacy.......but on the cost of millions of starving children, thousands of refugees, and in exchange of crumbled humanity.....Hail US, hail "Super power"....Wars for Profit...at last

WALMART: EDLP to EDLW

2006-10-03T11:41:00.000-07:00

Wal-Mart, A name thatI first heard during my course of Managerial economics, in my engineering days. EDLP, the abbreviated form of ever day low pricing, that was asked to explain in my mid term exam. Although I was aware of the theme, but I kept on thinking that how come is it possible to reduce the price on daily basis? I got D grade in that subject. D grade did not puzzled me as much, as the concept of Every Day low pricing (EDLP)....perhaps I was naive at that time in understanding those inhuman concepts of Advanced economics....

The largest private employer of America, WALMART, has turned so skewed that it has put humanity on the tail of large dragon of "PROFIT". With mere $5.15 an hour, humans are working in those strenuous conditions that any civilian cannot even think of(except victims of nAZI Camp). No medical facility, no pension funds, and above all no lawful claim, are the hidden strategies of Wal-Mart to meet its high profit goals...

Since, 1997 wages are stagnant in US*, input costs are reducing as things are purchased from asylum called china, where humans do not reside (only man turned machines resides). Tariffs have been reduced because of NAFTA, WTO, ASEAN, IMF and now with UN also. Still wages of are same for last six years.

Government is supporting the global ambitions of such business houses, which in turn is promotion to Inhuman working conditions. No legal action ahs been taken against WALMART for last three years though protests have turned into silent marches. A deaf cannot turn eye because he cannot hear the noise fro the rear. This is the situation of American government.

So this strategy is well been established by new initiatives, such as do not provide stools to sit upon to old age workers, specially to those who are having back or leg problems. Simple inkling to leave the job, because Mexican force is ready to work at 1/100th wage and without salary slip, and with written agreement that they will not complain, in return they will be allowed to work in America without harassment by the local police. Promote part time workers, with no legalliabilities, importing lots of goods from china, keeping costs s low tht retailer ca not even think of competing.... and many more "daedly wepons of profit making"

Thesew are nice strategies, to achive its motive of, every day low wages(EDLW)...hail WALMART.....

White collar Slaves

2006-10-03T11:24:00.000-07:00

“I am triggered by my Chinese made watch, at 7 am sharp. I am too quick with my “un required natural urges, and then with some thing to munch in my hand I am all on the way to catch my Korean made metro train. I never want to miss this 7:50 train, as others are more than full. After catching very first seat I finish my McDonald burger, before snatching a nap of around 25 minutes, and while walking towards my Greek-stylish office, I refit my tie-knot to feel like another John Travolta. At last, there I am into my plush Air conditioned office, on my whirling chair, in front of me is IBM (sorry LENOVO) desktop, and then with a cup off Nestle Coffee jar in my hand, I am all ready to start my day. I have very fixed work content .In that I need to talk to clients, need to listen their problems and then give them back my version of solution the sam one that I am giving for last eighteen months. In whole day, I gulp around ten cups of coffee cup: An Archiese's china clay cup, my birthday gift, presented by one of my friends.

My lunch is not at fixed timing as it is rule of our company to not discontinue any call of client; it is like loosing one customer. Customer is GOD, a line of one of such 1000 posters those have been put around the company. I can speak English, I had studied various subjects during my schooling, then specialization in engineering, but today they are of no use. I just have to bla-bla those fixed solutions to those limited number of solutions.

I am happy, because people think that I am working with largest MNC of the world. Moreover, I am continuing with this job, because it is considered good. Nature of work does not bother me, only thing that bothers me is my pay slip. That comes on 28th of every month, and every time there is lots of tax deduction, followed by different Cess cuts, and then a variable salary. All of a sudden I heard that company is laying off three fourth of the employees, and I am one of those,as I heard that now Indians are doing the same job at one tenth of the cost, I felt bad, because I was addicted to above things. And most importantly how will I earn my bread because now I have forgot everything of my engineering days, and all the jobs of similar nature has already been thrown to China or India. So an unrest perplexed inside me. I start thinking that why I am feeling so insecure, why I am feeling so impotent ? What is wrong with the company that was launched by one of our national heroes, who is emulated by our children, but now all of whom are the parts of protest against the same company. Then I thought that perhaps ,there is some thing wrong with this word “Business”, the way it is carried out, the motive it stands upon, and the cement it is made of"….continue in next blog

The Pace of a Stagnant Civilisation....

2006-10-02T10:30:00.000-07:00

Who will open first cafeteria on Moon ? Who will be the largest consumer of Steel ? ......................

Who would be next super power ?

one who is grwoing at 12% p.a(GDP growth), or one who would be youngest nation in 2020.

Mr. X has a million bank accounts to put his trillions of dollars. Mr. Y has donated billions of dollars.

Nanotechnology is new buzz world.

Biotechnology will be technology of this century. We will soon see some "gene-valley" like "silicon valley".

Lets interview our future generation who will sow the results of above advancements....

I feel scared. I have lost suffrage, I have lost trust in government, I have lost virginity out of rape. I cannot pray to my god. I am illiterate. I do not play. I hate white skin people. I hate noise of bullets. I am Asheen, an Iraqi girl.My age is 12.

I work 98 hours a week @ 3 cent a hour. I am beaten twice a week for so-called productivity loss. I cannot work in fields. I cannot make love before the age of 20. I cannot accumulate money for future. I cannot hum Buddha. I am Yan, A Tibetan refuge girl, settled in China, working in textile unit. My age is 16

I am AIDS patient, People says me "untouchable". Aloofness is my friend. I do not know which religion I belong but I am tortured for the same on daily basis. I have not played any game of any sort, I am too frail. I am dying and I can feel the death in my broken mirror. I am Sheen, 10 yrs old girl from Ghana.

I am un-employed, I am getting some amount as social security, I hate Indians who have snatched our back end jobs. I hate Chinese who have snatched our blue-collar jobs. I am obese, as I cannot afford nutritious food. I am John, an American; I was working previously with some BPO firm, which is now closed.

AND...

I have 70% countries under my belt. I have made progress since the fall of socialism. Above all are my victims. I can fool billions of people. I have filled opium in the lives of people. I have divided the tools of their strength. I have imprisoned the creativity. I have knelt down the humanity. I have made billions of orphans. I have created the few rich out of billions of poor. I am Capitalism, challenging you all, on the verge of 21st century, come and face me. I am here to reign and you all are my slaves. I have conquered the best asset that u have, your psychology. You are now just moron, thinking mass, mound od slaves, just like sand ....mere sand

Look, first six lines are just to fool you that you are making progress, and just a “feel good factor”. In real sense, I have made you all hollow souls. Your civilization is stagnant….in this cul-de-sac……

Why I blog....

2006-09-10T04:51:00.000-07:00

Bloggers feel happy when they see their words, scrolling down on taffeta computer screen like the words of Shakespeare or Milton....But feeling this way is quite natural, Isn't it ?

I started blogging with this feeling only, with my crumbled vocabulary and mended grammar; I wrote few lines, which were just "funny"(u can read my initial blogs). But i did not stop then. It was just start, although in a very "casual" way...

....but soon I found that it is not that "light affair"....it is like addiction, like smoking, drinking, pornography, Religious rituals, Bourgeoisie morality.....

But when I dwell upon this very thought of blogging I find it "pure exhilarating" experience, very much like sexual orgasm ( though I m virgin), like purging out all your clamor on this cozy Compaq Keyboard...and you feel again empty, nubile, like the desert of Sahara when it is still in sombre moon light and as calm as grave...

Actually thoughts are more verbose than words. Because, when I get ready to press those discrete 26 alphabets, I find that all my thoughts are just "few hundred words", and with better vocabulary, just few lines. So I start afresh, reinventing new ideas, novel thoughts, fresh intellectual aspects...and my grey matter finds new horizon, far higher than that of clamor state....I born again, with renewal of my mind.....

Then i am back into my aloof co-coon, with my cup of black coffee, with my senses, on still beach, staring towards infinite sea. and in very next moment,I find my self into the lanes of psychology, roaming around mounds of people, amid clamor of civilization, alone....to find some thing to blogg.....

wheel-Bulb-cars-phones-computers-mobile---WHAT NEXT ??

2006-09-09T04:19:00.000-07:00

When I think for a while, the major innovations that made humans aspirations tick, I paused at wheels first, the biggest innovation of our ape-fore-fathers....and if you look around yourself, u Will find something or other revolving, just look around.....

Bulb, was indeed, what we can describe something that illuminated the nights and made this other half of the day equally potent to the humans, other wise we would have lost our half of the lives sleeping....no research, no late night parties, no BPOs, No whirling noise of manufacturing plants during nights....Just think that if u have natural light supply from 6 am-6 pm, then story might be different......

Cars, in short transportation, it vroom the speed of humans, it made them more resourceful, more agile and above that more accessible.......

Phones: Revolution revolves around humans, and humans revolve around interaction. This invention touched this very chord of humans, where they were able to interact without being there, next to the person.....

Computers, the latest "boom" and the back bone of mighty humans. Truly, humans are able to perform some thing unbelievable with this instrument....sending spacecrafts, writing algorithms, Internet, communication...are few out puts of the outlay called "computer"....we have changed the way we think , way we live and way we interact with this ubiquitous...technology.....

Mobiles...have changed and are changing the way we do the rest things of our life, it has penetrated into our lives like spam....incorrigible....and mighty. Banking, entertainment, communications, and interactions are few areas it has already made inroads....but people are still fumbling other venues where mobile ca do miracles such as education, medication, and consultancy......

This is not complete picture of all "Super innovations" ... but product "wise: this is quite a vivid description.....But is this cul-de-sac of the innovations.....

For last 400 years we are using the same basic technology in cars, as that proposed by Rudolph diesel...

What is the next product that would be "tipping point" of business...

Few say it would be bio-technology....and few consider Entertainment as new avatar of the market....

Few have thought that "communication is still to achieve zenith" and few are certain of "alternative fuels" as fuel of the 21st century market....

But I believe, it is something else.....

Just think, and blog me back with your "product" that would be "Tipping point" of business arena.....

On friendship day !!!

2006-09-04T11:15:00.000-07:00

I scribble something like this on Friendship day !!! to one of my closest friends

Hi ...

Perhaps, this is the time when I need friends most to be around. Due to busy hours of job, when I am not able to give "due" to my closest friends, a fact that I am well aware of. But things r shaping this way only...I do not know why ? But this day or week, has made me realized to keep the things aside and pen down mails to ppl who matters most to me...my friends.

I am not a big shot, or super genius, or Street smart, or "Exceptionally gifted"....or sth like that. For ppl like me, friendship matters a lot because they need a nudge of support, few words of praise, few calls a week, some sms's, and one or two scraps...to move ahead. Amid puzzled life, his friends are only source that provides him a invisible blinkers to remain focused....

So, i would not like to loose this opportunity to thank you, yaar, for being my friend and stood with me in the best of times and worst of my times...

Happy friendship Day !!

and this is what was the reply that I received....

a few tears n a big smile is all i can send inreply..............Happy friendship day

Gandhi is Back.....

2006-09-04T04:29:00.000-07:00

" I did not die on 30th Jan 1948, although people have tried to keep me alive with thier maximum possible ways, best of it is the honour of "father of nation" .....

But this is not what I have aspire dfor when I was stuggling for thr freedom of our motherland, freedom .....from english estabilishment, from conditional access of our rights, from prejudiced justice, from honorable slavery, and from the cocoon life .....

But this is very short period that my beloved sons have forgotten the importnace of being free, it is for granted....they have for gotten the virtue of thier religions, the ethos of thier culture, the strenght of diversity, the coherence of 30 languages, and the feeling of being "FREE"....

Perhaps it is 2nd october every year when I die ...again, again, and again.....

Edison...What a person means for human mankind

2006-09-03T05:11:00.000-07:00

Thomas Elva Edison is his name, and he is one of those larger than life personalities who influenced the human race in such a way that at times we are not aware of the fact that we are indebted to this great personality....

While my table lamp bulb throws a steady beam of light on my college note book, to made me focused....

While my "inverter" invariably supply the power without any interruption, my coziness remains cozy....

While I listen " who lets the dog oot !!!!' I think of Gramophone.....

While watching the "Movie flick" in theatre, i think of invention of "moving pictures".....

and all of a sudden I feels that I am surrounded by the inventions or related works of This one man Thomas Elva Edison.....

We pay tax, or service charge for using any service, assume with "these many consumers" using Bulbs, music systems, Watching moives or Battery....if thet have to pay a small fraction of the product back to to the "Edison", He must have surpass Billgates (He is also doing the same) by unprecedented margin.....

Thanks, Edison

this is all I can say....

Enlightenment

2006-09-03T04:29:00.000-07:00

Buddha, has been assumed as synonymous to Enlightenment....But what is this feeling that nobody else has ever achieved within ppl like me n u, why ???

Is that so difficult to achieve, or it is so mundane that we do not think is important. As there is slew of the buddshist nations, then it is certainly not just enlightenment that must have influenced the mass, perhaps it is more than this"ideology of Nirvana" that incaptulate "this" Sage's religion....

Lets look into my idea of enlightenment....