Thursday, November 16, 2006

007 and the Name!

Meet the elegantly slick, sauvé, crisp Super Spy whose been on Her Majesty's Secret Service for something like a half a century wiedling his fav Walther supershot sided by some of the best women driving around in some of the best wheels money can buy!

Casino Royale features a chic bond-like soundtrack by Chris Cornell...........it's called You know My Name.........................

If you take a life do you know what you’ll give?
Odds are, you won’t like what it is
When the storm arrives, would you be seen with me?
By the merciless eyes of deceit?

I’ve seen angels fall from blinding heights
But you yourself are nothing so divine
Just next in line

Arm yourself because no-one else here will save you
The odds will betray you
And I will replace you
You can’t deny the prize it may never fulfill you
It longs to kill you
Are you willing to die?

The coldest blood runs through my veins
You know my name

If you come inside things will not be the same
When you return to the night
And if you think you’ve won
You never saw me change
The game that we all been playing

I’ve seen diamonds cut through harder men
Than you yourself
But if you must pretend
You may meet your end

Arm yourself because no-one else here will save you
The odds will betray you
And I will replace you
You can’t deny the prize it may never fulfill you
It longs to kill you
Are you willing to die?

The coldest blood runs through my veins

Try to hide your hand
Forget how to feel
Forget how to feel

Life is gone with just a spin of the wheel
Spin of the wheel

Arm yourself because no-one else here will save you
The odds will betray you
And I will replace you
You can’t deny the prize it may never fulfill you
It longs to kill you
Are you willing to die?

The coldest blood runs through my veins
You know my name
You know my name
You know my name
You know my name
You know my name
You know my name
You know my name


Good music combined with rythm & pace.............................A good listen indeed!
And, do I hear some rock in there????????????

Monday, November 13, 2006

As we do not know it!

Welcome to the surreal world of Metaphysics, something that defines matter in its best form and yet does not concur with our definitions of what things really are!
Everything that we have defined in form, substance, matter or words is only as per what we know, as opposed to what it really is or can be!
Our definitions of form or matter are limited to what we know and what we do not and do not at all pertain to qualify in the universal realm.
For instance, the word God was coined by human beings as a thrusting force to rid our fears and also to instill a sense of fear in us. However, how are we to decide the relevance of God on a universal platform? What we call God may not certainly exist or perhaps will not at all be God in the universal parlance of matter of existence.
In truth, everything we have named or made is more or less relevant not more than our our realm of living. Our terminology, lifestyles, beliefs, fears, languages, possessions and so on right down to ourselves cannot be translated to universal parlance.
I must thank Vikas, my brother, for bringing about a sense of understanding in me to comprehend this simplest of truth that I overlooked (read: refused to believe) all my life, until now!
The so called (assumed) Human superiority is more so a fallacy than fact.........taking into consideration the following factual instances -
We have come to exist on this Earth since only a relatively smaller time period versus the many other (million plus) organisms that have dwelled here for ages even before we were ushered in
We believe our might is most superior of all living organisms and that our might can see us through to be one of the most advance creations ever
We believe that our conveniences are paramount irrespective of whether it encroaches upon another organism's free will to live
We re-assure ourselves that without our being, the earth, with all its sub-systems will fail to thrive

& then we refuse to contemplate the fact that all our beliefs are merely fallacies that we have designed as an objective to suit our own conveniences!
Take for instance, cockroaches, who have thrived on this earth for millions of years. They came long before us and will continue to live long after we have gone! I'm not sure who among the two of us therefore are more superior beings! The ability to think and comprehend merely do not acknowledge us to be the most superior of all 'known' creations, and then one cannot also rule out the possibility of the unknown!

Our limited knowledge does not permit us to fathom more than a level that is skin deep, our concepts of understand are limited to ourselves and do not actually have a universal relevance.
Our languages cannot be understood across the universe and our understandings of our own very selves are limited in a very huge proporation which will take millions of years, perhaps, to shape into a more universally acceptable format!

Vikas elucidated a theory that shook the living daylights off my system. Here is what it is...............
We know that carbon is one of the most important components that helps in sustenanceand creation of life forms. Our body is itself hugely carbon dominated!
In effect, carbon forms an important component for all life forms irrespective of size, shape, species, regional presence and so on....................and for all life forms to exist!
Now coming to the body of the theory: Dinosaurs were about the first known giant life forms that existed and subsequently perished, they decomposed over time to form large quantities of deposited carbon which you and I harvest today to use in our daily life! We, it seems are a mere instrument to harvest carbon to help sustain and prolong life! Why will not one day, the human race itself perish to be decomposed to form carbon to be harvested by another species of life much much more sophisticated and intelligent than ourselves?
We, have spent a very long time on earth and every species, as we well know, has a definite period of life on earth after which erdication is inevitable by way of extinction due to a number of causes.
Some catastrophic happenings that have so far only been portrayed in the movies, have already begun to take shape in truth! To assume that such events will not happen atleast during our lifetime, would be a gross inability to comprehend the truth (A rather limited scope of our thinking)
It is in our very best interests to understand that, we can indeed mitigate the damage that has already begun to affect a large part of the Earth.
We may not be able to finally avert a detined fact, however, we certainly can defer its happening by ensure that we do not do what we have been doing!

In truth, what we do not have is control over external factors! However, the light at the end of the tunnel is that we do have good control over our actions which can indeed contribute to the happening or not happening of certain events that can be detrimental to our very existence.

Defining what we know, for our convenience and understanding is not the real truth.........what is true to us would not actually be true universally............in defining and categorizing what we know, in our realm, is not wrong, provided we understand that we are a mere speck in the whole pond, and not the pond itself!
We might be in many ways superior to many creatures around us............but that will remain our assumption in terms of what superiority is and might not always be the true meaning of superiority at all!

As human beings, we have taken shape for a purpose............a purpose that may or may not be understandable to us............let us not take the dangerous step of assuming things with the false sense of security that technological advancements may provide us!

Epilogue -

I wrote a few lines in my previous post suggesting technology could indeed provide us the much needed superiority (that we think we need). I have never been so very wrong..............so very absolutely wrong in assuming that merely technology alone could catapult a tiny creation called human being into a realm that we possibly would never even imagine let alone understand.
I however, accredit this foolish thought of mine to the limited human ability to comprehend beyond its existence and understand that it alone is not what makes life happen!

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Reasons & Rhymes!

Forget the age old adage that says "Everything happens for a reason." In truth, many a thing happens for no reason or rhyme at all. Not everything that happens, happens due to a reason, but merely are random incidents that happen in life. However, mostly, some such happenings can actually be grave and very saddening!

I charted most of my life wondering why certain things happen in the very first place and try to discern the reason(s) behind the incidents. To date I fail to subtantiate or rather identify the "reason." And then, life slips into a depression which seems to last forever!

By chance, a good friend of mine, Veer, once explained to me that it is pointless to try to reason out why things happen especially since we do not exercise any control over such happenings, save a few! And those few, we can actually control by our disposition, behaviour, reaction, attitude, frame of mind and so on. Therefore, when things happen, they need not necessarily have an associated reason or cause. Let me give you a few imposing instances;

I once received an email with quotes, one of which read "No matter how much I pray, I only get what I deserve." I loudly disagreed to this almost immediately after reading it, on which a friend responded that the statement was right and that I was wrong in not agreeing.
Now the reason behind by my not concurring to this statement was not as a reult of any notion suggesting disrespect to the almighty creator or attempting to propogate a disbelief in prayer. Neither of these are my intentions!
To my comrade, who disapproved of my dismissing the earlier statement, I subtantiated with the following instances; More than a few billion people die of hunger, disease, violence, terrorism, poverty and so on, another tens of thousands are vitimized due to rape, murder, extortion, crime, brutality, oppression, racism and so on, India alone is home to more than tens of thousands of people who do not own a place we call home! Tens of thouands of children below the age of eighteen are employed in the most harshest of work conditions and are also subjected to sexual, physical and mental abuse! All this is a mere speck of the whole truth which cannot be illustrated in words or numbers due to its immense magnitude and unquantifiable consequences!

My questions are two fold, one to my very good friend Vishal, to whom I ask, What is it that these people did, in order to deserve what they got? To believe that these millions have not prayed in any form or manner is a impossibility which squarely beats even the Law of Averages along with all known quantum mathematical odds!
And then, in general I ask, does any one really know the reason why such things happen in the first place? What I do know for sure, above all else is that the answers to either questions are an emphatic NO!
I am not attempting to elicit answers to questions which do not have any answers in the first place, but am merely illustrating that every incident that occurs does not necessarily have a reason or perhaps has one that is known only to the so-called creator alone!

My attempt via this post is to convey a message which I have learnt of late (in rather a hard manner though). It is that one should not attempt to look for a reason for everything that happens, for if one does so, then there stands every chance to lose one's peace and complicate the manner of thinking that drives a person! We have to understand and reconcile to the fact that we cannot determine reasons to happenings, perhaps not as yet!
Maybe a time is in the offing when we mortals will assume command of creation and defeat the oppressive monopoly who (if exists) has been ruling unchecked for a very long time now!
Patience my friend, at least technology is our making!
Until then, its no reason or rhyme, literally!

Epilogue -
I have written a few lines in this post that appear to convey a very derogatory opinion, however I wish to reiterate that the intention is not so.
I originally intended to delete those lines, however, after much thought deliberation with my own self, I left them to remain and rather explain their raison d'être.