Thoughts over a Friday brandy

hi bloggie,

i have something to say to you..but this will remain a secret okay? never to be leaked out.....oh fucking goddamnit!!!! what is this thing about secrets?? btw this brandy really tastes gooood...almost a sweet taste to it..made of grapes!

now quickly to the point..ok?  You see, in the last few days, I've been trying sort of hard to understand the mind...what is this whole crazy stuff all about.. you know!! just seems to me the root cause is it can't remain still! :( :( Of course you do ur meditation and stuff...but in the normal world, it just can't remain still..it HAS TO BE MOVING...continuously...after something...and here comes the interesting part...

when you really don't have anything ..so-called 'interesting'( i guess 'interesting' implies anything that is new and yet comfortable) thing to do, now how does the mind react? lets see..

btw right now i'm kind of having a back-ache but hope the brandy will take care of it..talking of that, let me fill myself a glass...

yup so back to it. ya, so when we don't really have anything 'interesting'... I remember I emphasized in one of my earlier blogs that change...delta...is really what mind wants...thats the main nourishment the mind needs i guess. take anything you know, take pleasure. To me it seems to be something new and yet comfortable..a sort of stimulation which is comfortable to the senses. Instead of 'comfortable', could we use the word 'pleasing' here? But then, what is 'pleasing'? So lets say I taste some really fucking cocoee chocolate..btw, try nutella, its gooooooooooood.. So okay, now we're talking of pleasure as soon as the liquidy soft buttery chocolate hits the tongue..What is it really that the mind is getting? That particular taste of chocolate is being registered by the tongue and sent to your mind(putting it really crudely huh?)

Come on Joe, think hard...what is this really? You know what, for better clarity, I'll just try that again. Coming to grab you nutella...

Oh man I tell you, nutella is soooo orgasmic. Anyway, lets try to think deep over what just happened. The moment I put my chocolate-dipped finger in my mouth, and that liquid hit the rear part of my tongue, I sort of 'registered' an inviting taste. It was like, the mind is instructing me, 'boy this stuff is good, bring on more'. How is the mind sending me the sensation of this particular hazelnut taste? This very unique sensation...Sounds one cool tool mind huh!!!

But lets get to business. The mind liked it.  Which made 'me' to like it. So what were the words we used earlier? 'new' and 'comfortable'. So 'comfortable' is this taste..And so new...So different from anything else. But here comes the interesting part..

If I go on licking my chocolate dipped finger over and over and over.....the quality of pleasure derived will kind of dim...and dim....and dim...

Joe guesses its the newness of the experience thats getting fadier with subsequent trials...Every lick is quite comfortable though still...

Quite an idiotic conclusion huh? Well enough for my brandy session tonight. So here comes the conclusion of the night...emphatically... All the mind wants during the course of life is...something 'new' and 'comfortable'.

Note that the definition of 'comfortable' can be pretty controversial here.. Consider gymming...or long office hours working on the project you're so passionate about..We have our own definitions of what qualifies as comfort!

That was quite lame huh? I know.

Proof I have nothing to do in office these days:

Child: dad, what is this talk of economic recession going on everywhere?

Dad: son, we're currently in the middle of a huge crisis. Something terrible. You know,
imagine no jobs, no opportunity to earn money to make a living.

Child: lol! that does sound terrible. But dad tell me one thing. How do jobs get created anyway?

Dad: okay, i'll try to explain.I start a company which intends to make money by shelling out a
product/service for the people. If you help me in this endeavor, I'll give you some share
of the profit. So, you just keep on doing what I tell you and get money in return.

Child: That sounds convenient :).. So how can everyone in the population manage to get a job anyway?
The probability that enough companies will be started to employ enough people so that not a single
guy remains jobless...that seems to be quite unprobable.

Dad: Yes. But in developed countries, that probability is high. Because those are highly
industrialized nations. So plenty of companies, plenty of work to do, so plenty of people required.
Also, since the population is not as huge as in our country, that takes the probability higher.

Child: Okay! Now I see! Why governments are so obsessive about growth. More growth basically means existing
companies are raking in higher profits. This translates to higher investment in future, more companies,
more work and thus, more employment.

Dad: Exactly! At the end of the day, the ultimate goal is to provide a good standard of life to every citizen
of the country.

Child: And the way to do that is to make the atmosphere conducive to growth which in turn leads to, employment.

Dad: Yes. You see, early man was self-sufficient. He hunted for his food, made his own clothes and shelter. So
no complications. If you are capable to take care of yourself, you survive. Otherwise, you have to be
lucky if you find someone who can do these tasks for you.

Child: But why would someone do these tasks for you without any reason?

Dad: Not without any reason. Lets say you enjoy growing food but hate making clothes. You find someone who is
interested in making clothes but not quite in growing food. Thats a nice arrangement! You grow extra food
for that guy and he will make the clothes for you in return. You both are happy now with having to do only
the work you like. Similar arrangement with the shelter guy.

Child: You made it over simple dad! Its not that simple to understand these days!

Dad: We've only started kid!

Child: I'm listening.

Dad: Okay, then lets make it more complicated. Add a fourth human need to the list, say ornaments. Imagine men
and women 'like' to wear some ornaments. Please remember the word 'like' here. It signifies a desire, not
a need.

Child: Hmm, a desire but not a need. That means, it will be good to have but we do not desperately need it.

Dad: Yes. Now lets add our fourth guy who only likes making ornaments, into the system. So the arrangement is similar.
He makes the ornaments for the food guy, clothes guy and shelter guy and these three men provide him their
respective products.

Child: Okay, so we have a fourth guy added with his respective job.

Dad: Yes, but the difference here is, the other three guys can do without the product of this fourth guy.

Child: I see where you are getting. Suppose the clothes guy is tired of making three set of clothes for the other guys.
He decides to make only two clothes and abandon the deal with ornaments maker. He will be deprived of ornaments now,
but he can still live happily as its not a need.

Dad: He has the option. He can work more and have the ornaments too. But if he doesn't, the ornament-maker is in trouble.
Because the ornament maker has been deprived of the opportunity to work for the clothes maker and earn clothes for
himself.

Child: That's bad news for the ornament maker. So how does he survive without clothes now?

Dad: He has to convince the clothes maker. The decision of the clothes maker not to make extra set of clothes led to
reduced economic activity resulting in deprivation for both clothes maker and ornament maker.And it turned out real
bad for the latter as 'clothes' are his basic need.

Child: Hmm..So, because the ornament maker's product is really optional to have, he has to put extra effort in convincing
people to take it. So this is the way economy will be able to move.

Dad: Yes. In other words, a good economy is one where everyone gets the opportunity to work and contribute to society. In return,
everyone gets back the rewards. Its really a situation where human beings are working together to create good living
conditions for everyone.

Child: But dad, thats hardly the case. There is so much inequality! They say that 1% of the richest people own more than 50% of the world's
wealth!

Dad: Thats the sad part. Its a side-effect of the way humans decided to make this system of economics work. A huge side-effect
no doubt!

Child: Gaack! Mr. Wallet's son is a prime example. He's always splurging! He's always roaming around in a vintage BMW..wears the best
of clothes..goes in the primest retaurants in town..wtf!

Dad: That's not bad. He's playing a good role for the upliftment of our economy.

Child: What!

Dad: In our words, he's our clothes-maker who is giving opportunity to the ornaments maker to earn his living. It might be another
thing that he need not make clothes himself. He already has enough stock of clothes which he can distribute to people at free will
and take their services.So he's enjoying life no doubt but more importantly, he's keeping the economy moving.

Child: But that's so unfair. Unlike others he's not having to work hard to make clothes. How is that possible!

Dad: So that is the side-effect of the system we have today.We'll discuss that later. But remember, its important for him to give
away his clothes to improve other people's lives.

Child: But I insist. How did he get such a huge stock of clothes without having to work for it? Okay, he might have got that from his
dad. But is it, that his dad worked day-in and day-out to make clothes and collected such a huge pile in the end?

Dad: Well, technically yes. He would have imagined that there will be a lot of people waiting to buy clothes. So why not make as many
clothes as possible and keep them in stock. So that, in times of illness, he can conveniently give away the clothes in exchange for
people's services.

Child: Turns out he made more than enough. So much that his son can freely enjoy for his lifetime.

Dad: Yes, but his son must keep giving away the clothes. Otherwise people will suffer when they won't have clothes.

Child: Got it now. But I am imagining the ornaments maker doing the same thing. What if he made a huge stock of ornaments and.. there are
not enough people willing to take it!

Dad : Yes that would be terrible for him. But such a situation should not arise if there is prosperity around. However, imagine the food-
maker got ill and can prepare food for only two guys. He will obviously now abandon the deal with ornaments maker. His first priority
is to get clothes and shelter.

Child: Poor ornaments maker.Looks as if he's always the first loser. The one whose product has the highest 'need quotient' is emerging out
to be the happiest guy in all situations.

Dad: Lets take another example. Ornament maker 2.what happens if these guys get screwed to start with.
... to be continued

When I met Janardhan- the 77-yr old guy!

Ha! Another saturday..another opportunity for a nwzppr pic!!:) (shud hv written a blog bout sunfeast run bt pics were enough)
This time it was times cycle to work event!! Not as much hyped as sunfeast, but still a happening way to start ur weekend!!Human greed once starts..it never ends!! I wanted another nwzppr pic..and dis time in the times of india! And so, I was thr at the very front during flag-off,surrounded by pros, foreigners and Janardhan..in their fancy sport bikes and bright red/yellow colored clothes all in full glory(dude, wat the hell ws I doing here!)smiling at the reporters..who were of course capturing us ferociously in those big lens! And I made it sure to be standing next to the guy called Janardhan, who was getting all hype in the world for his amazing comeback in life! And he sure ws getting media attention!
This guy, when he was 64-yr old, had some scary medical condition and ws prescribed medication for life-time..But he didn't want to live like dat...living on medicines and depending on his relatives for his basic life activities( who wants to live like that even for a minute!)..so he took it light...cycling ws one of the activities he took up really seriously and full-time..
I can't believe I rode 83km today! today's weather played a big part in dat..but dat is serious distance! ur legs just can't take it anymore..they simply stop pedalling as if shouting...stop it dude!wtffff!!

And..Janardhan rode 111km today..77-year old guy!!! i mean srsly wtffff!! he makes u feel so lame! and he rides 50km everyday...he doesn't miss out on any marathon/cycling event in Bangalore..(I came to know thr are tonnes of events going out in Bangalore every now nd then, only if i'm a bit more alert!)

And then u think..I just hope I get a pic in tomorrow's nwzppr wid dis guy! :P :P

Nandi Hills.. HILARIOUS PLACE!!!!!

after-effect of swades

ha! just finished watching the movie in run-over-the-scenes mode..okay its nt going to be senti or supposed-to-be-inspirational( wonder if my words can ever be inspirational!!:O) blog. I've had dinner since then and now sipping my fav tulsi tea. :)
But just wanted to record my thoughts as quickly as possible as these will fade away quickly...( u rock blogspot). For a start I was cursing myself wat the ffffff I ws doing in BITS. Atleast I shud hv learnt the motors and generators part.....atleast!!!!!!!!!! ha! then i cud hope to heroically bring electricity to a village in Punjab and some beauty falling in love wid me!!!omg dis is getting orgasmic!
But seriously, goddamn it!!!!! shud hv concentrated on the basics atleast!! i had no idea why the hell ws shahrukh rotating the motor when the turbine started moving?? wasn't it supposed to be moving wid the turbine?? or ws it some kind of those weird motors( induction motors?) where you give a self-start to the motor...faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!!:( :( :(
nw that my time for learning engineering has gone, I better start thinking seriously of smart ways where i can get into a village and be their hero!:) ( i wonder if Juniper Networks can help me in this endeavor....may be install routers in the village!! so that the grandma could finally talk to her son working hard miles away and sending back money by the ever-reliable money-order.) or the farmer gets that extra buck negotiating with a city-dweller for his crop! but this is the job of ISP's dude..join BSNL then..okay enough of this crap.
Lets get to the point. The motive why I wanted to write..
Frankly, I felt so comfortable after watching the movie..the fact that I am in India.But as he said, not because this is a great country...only because its MY country..this is home!
The fact that 20% of humanity lives in dis area makes it only obvious that progress of this country is absolutely important for humanity...but the fact is dat shahrukh ws wat he ws only because he spent so much time at a top American organisation whr he learnt everything...lets not harp over d fact that the 'talent' ws indian...dats nt a big deal i think....if we are home to 20% of total humanity, then we can be expected to produce same proportion of talent...okay the same harping is about to follow if I allow...we need to do it dat way..dis way...lite! we know all dat!

My point is lets not get obsessed with the term 'indian' or indianness and simply realize the fact that our progress is vital because human-beings are dying and suffering tremendously in this part of the world. Now further than this I'm nt in a position to say we shud do dis or dat coz Mr. Wilson is himself doing nothing really!!! And now Mr. Wilson is back to his wonder.He ws supposed to be going to write a great blog...and here I am..back to self-wonder!!!wtfffffffffffff!

himanshu's reading guru of joy!!!!! lol!

omg dis is hilarious!! himanshu just picked up the book I bought from crossword the other day...the guru of joy...an a/c of sri sri written by a french guy( a reporter for a french newspaper called Le'... something) who's living in India with his wife for past 10-15 yrs. at Auroville Pondicherry.

dis hs to be a moment of triumph!! i cannot believe i made himanshu pick up this book..omg!!! i've not had such an emphatic feeling from a lo-au-ong lonnng time... and thr u are blogspot, helping me record dis moment for reading after ten years :P

nw the interesting thing is mamu wud never ever touch dis book...i can bet a million bucks on dat...( ha! million bucks!! dude!) ....ohh wat the ffffffffffffffffffff!!! he just went to sleep! :( :( turned the book down in less than five minutes!!! :( :( :( wat an inglorious end to my blog!!!!! typical punjabi guy...i tell u sri sri....u've gone to allparts of the world...afghanistan..somalia...beirut... germany..US..tel aviv...palestine.... but do u really want a real challenge?? go to Punjab...

Delta..can't live without it

I hv to come straight to to it nw...wasted way too much time til nw..

A thought just struck my head this afternoon after having lunch. What is the most important thing human-beings can't live without? Okay, they can of course still live without it if you go by the dictionary meaning of 'live', but really, what makes human-beings really live?? What did Mr. Wilson think to that one?

And then comes to Mr. Wilson's mind, the thought of change.Change??? Seems vague...another tiresome piece of philosophy is about to unfold...Mr. Wilson thinks.Not again!!!!Pls don't do a repeat of those speaking tree columns again Mr. Wilson...what's the matter with you!!

But Mr. Wilson can't help it. He's been given this wonderful resource called blogspot.com to pen down his thoughts...so why not!!! The more they're stupid...and childish...the more interesting they become to read tomorrow!

So what was Mr. Wilson upto?? Change!! The one thing Mr. Wilson or any other other human can't live without? Mind you, Mr. Wilson is not talking of big changes here. Mr. Wilson will give only small examples of change to convey his whole point.

So we'll assume our Mr. Wilson is the same chap...the office-goer.Or may be we should assume something else..okay, for a start we'll try to list down some aspirations of humans.Nay, that wud be way too boring. Mr. Wilson's pretty confident the readers of this blog would get sick of reading that list. So no point. Lets get to the point directly. Mr. Wilson also wants to say that aspirations are nothing but the desire for change.And since no one wud like a change in the downward direction,thus, the desire for change in the upward direction is labelled as aspiration.

To illustrate his point more, Mr. Wilson wants to delve into smaller aspirations.Like eating out, the desire of Mr. Wilson to write this blog, play, doing naughty things and then feeling good and proud about it, calling friends and wishing them happy new year, meeting new people, going places...what else? all these are everyday examples of human desire for change...the desire that the next moment should be different from the previous one...only then I can feel life right? If the previous and now are same, its as good as dead right? Wat else...Work!!omg!! I think Mr. Wilson just realized why work played such an important role in deciding the qualty of Mr. Wilson's life? Because work was the one thing which satisfied Mr. Wilson's human desire for change! If Mr. Wilson went to office on a day and could complete a part of working of the tool he was working on, nothing could give him more satisfaction!!

Promotion...increase in salary...thats something which gives Mr. Wilson this very thing!! But I am afraid, only for a few moments..or days may be...after dat its no change...its pretty much part of the routine now.. and now if for a reason,Mr. Wilson has to get back to the same old role as earlier, he won't be too happy about it...obb!! its a change downwards!

just get the feeling these are way too obvious things which should appear monotonous and boring to a normal reader because of its obviousness.. well, then lets come to the point why i had to start all this discussion?

The above mentioned desire was, is and will always remain the characteristic of each and every human-being forever.The style of implementation might be different for different ppl,much interestingly..wonder how Buddha satisfied this inevitable desire..and then I think...did the continuous change in his thoughts...the continuous churn....in his mind...provided him with the change...Mr. Wilson is of the view that one cannot rest/meditate all the time. Rest and activity complement each other. All the suggested forms of meditation are geared towards rest.

This seems to be an abrupt end...but i'll continue on this soon..