I will forgive you for assuming that I made a mess of culture and cuisine, or rather a mash of the two! Oh, just in case you didn't, I'd like you to know I was referring to the title of this post in a rather benign manner considering the mighty malignancies that have plagued diversity, culture, development and perhaps the most abused of them all - dialogue! No sarcasms, honestly! Only hopes!
According to the United Nations, today is the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, adopted in the aftermath of the 9/11 incident, aimed at facilitating culturally diverse communities to understand the values of coming together with the objective of achieving harmonious working relationships, or better still - partnerships. Sounds certainly more creative, promising and diplomatic, I gather!
Now, I know this is very difficult to get across to a politician, but perhaps the esteemed body of diplomats at the General Assembly thought it better to create a little something for the occasion nevertheless, in the belief that figurative gestures of goodwill need only to be lettered in print while clearly being devoid of any purposeful understanding or an ability to function, or both; something that you and I would choose to call a matter of convenience, I suppose?
Now, before some of you jump up to accuse me of disregard, let me assure you that I do know the 'supposed' significance of this 'illustrious' occasion, which is to deepen our understanding of the values of cultural diversity and to learn to “live together” better. (No, those quotes surrounding live together were not inserted by me!)
Meanwhile the IAEA can have it's every-so-often tête-à-tête with Iran while the IMF can continue to use Apac as a drawing board for implementing it's macroeconomic policies heavily riddled with conditionalities! How very cultural and diverse, or both!
Did anyone notice; that following these rough times in the corporate world, even the United Nations has evolved, for starters, adopting it's very own punch line, which reads that "It's your world."
Packaging?
Footnotes:
This post is by no means an attempt to deride a world body! Any suggestive notions are to be regarded as misleading and dismissed immediately! For the same reason, I ought to have titled this little note as 'Disclaimer' rather than 'Footnotes.'
Once again, honestly, no sarcasms! Only hopes!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
In the world of the absolute
It was a matter of great privilege to have been invited for the 87th founding anniversary of the Narayana Gurukula in Ooty. What better then, I thought, than to spend the time reflecting upon the teachings of His Holiness Sri Narayana Guru, foremost among social reformers, thinkers, erudite scholars and saints that India has been home to.
The following are my thoughts gathered in deeply introspective moments during the occasion
What is the purpose of our lives? Is it to acquire fame and recognition? Does it lie in amassing a great deal of wealth and material comforts? Or is it meant to get our hands on superior positions that yield power, prominence and money? For most of us, that is the very and only purpose of our lives!
In truth, the real purpose of life is to be able to live in happiness and peace of mind and pass away to another realm that awaits us in continuation of the great cycle of existence, and pass away from here to another place, we all will, in a span of time. That is the absolute and whole truth!
So then, why is it that we spend a great deal of time and energy to acquire those things that will not be a part of us for all time to come? The answer lies in our unending desires and a gross inability to categorize and differentiate our wants and needs, the former of which is almost always mistaken for the latter!
I’m not here to sermonize on how good or bad the world is today, unfortunately it has become a matter of extreme relativity and certain debate to which no agreement can be elicited upon! Neither am I here to tell you how you must lead your lives, for that is certainly your prerogative and I am no authority!
I’m here, merely wondering how important it is to reflect upon our thoughts, words and deeds. I'm also thinking aloud on how peaceful it must be to be able to delink the self from the constant pursuit of desires and wants! None of us is superior or otherwise for what we possess or don’t in a material form. If some of us really are, it is because of our attitude, the ability to reason well, and most importantly the ability to live our lives in a peaceful manner. There is no higher purpose than to be able to live without hatred, prejudice, dishonesty and doubt.
Today, there is a lot of talk on how to change the world, on how to normalize it, on how to harmonize it and so on. I say, there is no need for any of that. And, why so? That is simply because, the world is made of us, people like you and I, and when we make a concerted effort to effect a change from within ourselves, the world will automatically witness the change that we envision! So technically, it is us who need to change as opposed to the belief that change has to come from and be effected by an external entity!
Life is what you make of it. Always has been, always will be.
The following are my thoughts gathered in deeply introspective moments during the occasion
What is the purpose of our lives? Is it to acquire fame and recognition? Does it lie in amassing a great deal of wealth and material comforts? Or is it meant to get our hands on superior positions that yield power, prominence and money? For most of us, that is the very and only purpose of our lives!
In truth, the real purpose of life is to be able to live in happiness and peace of mind and pass away to another realm that awaits us in continuation of the great cycle of existence, and pass away from here to another place, we all will, in a span of time. That is the absolute and whole truth!
So then, why is it that we spend a great deal of time and energy to acquire those things that will not be a part of us for all time to come? The answer lies in our unending desires and a gross inability to categorize and differentiate our wants and needs, the former of which is almost always mistaken for the latter!
I’m not here to sermonize on how good or bad the world is today, unfortunately it has become a matter of extreme relativity and certain debate to which no agreement can be elicited upon! Neither am I here to tell you how you must lead your lives, for that is certainly your prerogative and I am no authority!
I’m here, merely wondering how important it is to reflect upon our thoughts, words and deeds. I'm also thinking aloud on how peaceful it must be to be able to delink the self from the constant pursuit of desires and wants! None of us is superior or otherwise for what we possess or don’t in a material form. If some of us really are, it is because of our attitude, the ability to reason well, and most importantly the ability to live our lives in a peaceful manner. There is no higher purpose than to be able to live without hatred, prejudice, dishonesty and doubt.
Today, there is a lot of talk on how to change the world, on how to normalize it, on how to harmonize it and so on. I say, there is no need for any of that. And, why so? That is simply because, the world is made of us, people like you and I, and when we make a concerted effort to effect a change from within ourselves, the world will automatically witness the change that we envision! So technically, it is us who need to change as opposed to the belief that change has to come from and be effected by an external entity!
Life is what you make of it. Always has been, always will be.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Tribute to Motherhood
It is perhaps quite like being showy to highlight dates to commemorate Motherhood and the many wonders associated with it. Truly, and in earnestness, one should pay respectful tribute on a very continually personal basis, through every thought, word and deed, or so I believe!
Nevertheless, I couldn't stop myself from summing up a few quotes of tribute on the occasion. Apt and full of meaning, yet simple and clear, these are, I believe, elegant masterpieces uttered by the wise over time in admiration of what is perhaps the most beautiful, loving and supportive of creations, to say the least that is!
No painter's brush, nor poet's pen, in justice to her fame, has ever reached half high enough, to write a mother's name. ~Author Unknown
Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs in my field, since the payment is pure love. ~Mildred B. Vermont
She never quite leaves her children at home, even when she doesn't take them along. ~Margaret Culkin Banning
Women are aristocrats, and it is always the mother who makes us feel that we belong to the better sort. ~John Lancaster Spalding
Now, as always, the most automated appliance in a household is the mother. ~Beverly Jones
That best academy, a mother's knee. ~James Russell Lowell
Grown don't mean nothing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown? What's that suppose to mean? In my heart it don't mean a thing. ~Toni Morrison, Beloved, 1987
A little girl, asked where her home was, replied, "where mother is." ~Keith L. Brooks
Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; A mother's secret hope outlives them all. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes
All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother. ~Abraham Lincoln
A man's work is from sun to sun, but a mother's work is never done. ~Author Unknown
The best conversations with mothers always take place in silence, when only the heart speaks. ~Carrie Latet
Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother. ~Oprah Winfrey
A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest. ~Irish Proverb
Footnotes:
The 'State of the World's Mothers 2010' released yesterday has ranked India 73rd in the list of 77 nations rated for the "best place to be a mother." This clearly means that there is a lot that needs to be done for womens' emancipation in India, primary among them being the issues pertaining to education, health and socio-economic well-being!
"The report has highlighted the shortage of trained health workers, mostly in the semi-urban and rural villages that house majority of Indian population, as the main reason behind the country's sorry state of health care system. The report analysed a total of 166 countries, among which Sweden is placed at the top while Afghanistan is at the bottom."
Excerpts from the State of the World's Mothers 2010 report
An update on the commenting system on Redefining Oblivion:
After much consideration, in order to make the commenting process a more personal exercise, I have incorporated the intensedebate application which will henceforth allow, you to observe comments and me to respond to them in a more interactive and one-to-one manner. I hope you find this interesting and certainly more personal than the dreary monotonic system that came along with blogger by default!
Nevertheless, I couldn't stop myself from summing up a few quotes of tribute on the occasion. Apt and full of meaning, yet simple and clear, these are, I believe, elegant masterpieces uttered by the wise over time in admiration of what is perhaps the most beautiful, loving and supportive of creations, to say the least that is!
No painter's brush, nor poet's pen, in justice to her fame, has ever reached half high enough, to write a mother's name. ~Author Unknown
Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs in my field, since the payment is pure love. ~Mildred B. Vermont
She never quite leaves her children at home, even when she doesn't take them along. ~Margaret Culkin Banning
Women are aristocrats, and it is always the mother who makes us feel that we belong to the better sort. ~John Lancaster Spalding
Now, as always, the most automated appliance in a household is the mother. ~Beverly Jones
That best academy, a mother's knee. ~James Russell Lowell
Grown don't mean nothing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown? What's that suppose to mean? In my heart it don't mean a thing. ~Toni Morrison, Beloved, 1987
A little girl, asked where her home was, replied, "where mother is." ~Keith L. Brooks
Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; A mother's secret hope outlives them all. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes
All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother. ~Abraham Lincoln
A man's work is from sun to sun, but a mother's work is never done. ~Author Unknown
The best conversations with mothers always take place in silence, when only the heart speaks. ~Carrie Latet
Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother. ~Oprah Winfrey
A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest. ~Irish Proverb
Footnotes:
The 'State of the World's Mothers 2010' released yesterday has ranked India 73rd in the list of 77 nations rated for the "best place to be a mother." This clearly means that there is a lot that needs to be done for womens' emancipation in India, primary among them being the issues pertaining to education, health and socio-economic well-being!
"The report has highlighted the shortage of trained health workers, mostly in the semi-urban and rural villages that house majority of Indian population, as the main reason behind the country's sorry state of health care system. The report analysed a total of 166 countries, among which Sweden is placed at the top while Afghanistan is at the bottom."
Excerpts from the State of the World's Mothers 2010 report
An update on the commenting system on Redefining Oblivion:
After much consideration, in order to make the commenting process a more personal exercise, I have incorporated the intensedebate application which will henceforth allow, you to observe comments and me to respond to them in a more interactive and one-to-one manner. I hope you find this interesting and certainly more personal than the dreary monotonic system that came along with blogger by default!
Friday, May 07, 2010
Remembering Tagore
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
-- Rabindranath Tagore, Chitto jetha bhayashunyo (Where the mind is without fear), Gitanjali, 1910
The grand doyen of Indian literature, music and poetry, educationist, spiritualist, philosopher and Nobel Laureate, respected world over as a man whose creations have no equals, was born on this day in 1861.
Today, as Redefining Oblivion pays respectful homage to this unequivocal polymath, I have chosen to post some of his most celebrated words that have hence become iconic, timeless and supremely meaningful.
Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come
Age considers; youth ventures
Depth of friendship does not depend on length of acquaintance
Emancipation from the bondage of the soil is no freedom for the tree
Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.
Everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity to receive it
Facts are many, but the truth is one
In Art, man reveals himself and not his objects
Let us not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless when facing them
Nirvana is not the blowing out of the candle. It is the extinguishing of the flame because day is come
The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough
The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
-- Rabindranath Tagore, Chitto jetha bhayashunyo (Where the mind is without fear), Gitanjali, 1910
The grand doyen of Indian literature, music and poetry, educationist, spiritualist, philosopher and Nobel Laureate, respected world over as a man whose creations have no equals, was born on this day in 1861.
Today, as Redefining Oblivion pays respectful homage to this unequivocal polymath, I have chosen to post some of his most celebrated words that have hence become iconic, timeless and supremely meaningful.
Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come
Depth of friendship does not depend on length of acquaintance
Emancipation from the bondage of the soil is no freedom for the tree
Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.
Everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity to receive it
Facts are many, but the truth is one
In Art, man reveals himself and not his objects
Let us not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless when facing them
Nirvana is not the blowing out of the candle. It is the extinguishing of the flame because day is come
The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough
The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence
Monday, May 03, 2010
Gone with the wind
Oh heart, if one should say to you that the soul perishes like the body, answer that the flower withers, but the seed remains!
-- Kahlil Gibran
This is about a man who lettered to me compassion, excellence, language, wit and nuances of life itself! As a renowned educationist whose standards often surpassed excellence, he was a visionary whose courage to embrace change remains unparalleled. His steadfastness and commitment to educate many generations and liberate them by bringing into their lives a new light has often been remarked as commendable and has been appreciated in multitudes.
So when the news was broken to me that he passed away, my grief, although unexpressed, knew no bounds! But soon, I found comfort in Rajaji's words in his rendition of the Mahabharata, which I have recounted here before, that "It is not true wisdom to be impatient with Death or to grieve immoderately for those who die. There is no reason to pity those who pass away. We may have reason indeed to grieve for those who remain."
But what strikes me most is how he left us, like how Kenny Rogers rightly sang in the Gambler that "the best you can hope for is to die in your sleep."
Footnotes:
My beloved Uncle, scion of our family, guide, philosopher and friend left us at this time, and will be missed forever! He, who showed us direction and light, earnestly and selflessly, will be celebrated for all time to come! He continues to live on, in our hearts and minds and will do so for time immemorial and has thus attained immortality!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Remembering Rwanda
April 1994 marked a gruesome turn of events in a relatively quiet Rwanda.
The assassination of Presidents Juvénal Habyarimana of Rwanda and Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi sparked a cycle of violence that has since come to be known as The Rwandan Genocide, acts of unspeakably appalling horror that continue to haunt people of the entire world, let alone a nation!
I first heard of this heinous outbreak on The World this Week, a focus program by the NDTV. Prannoy Roy and the Late Appan Menon were bringing us some very updated but awfully uncomfortable images and data pertaining to the merciless killings of Tutsi natives and all those who were inclined to a peaceful Rwanda.
But this post is not to gloss over unpardonable actions of a few barbaric cowards because of whom millions in the hope and quest for a peaceful life were cut down, neither is this to serve as an almanac of events that dominated the troubled Rwandan social system and government apparatus. All of that simply cannot be summed in one mere blog-post!
This post has been made to pay rich tributes to the persons of Pierantonio Costa, Antonia Locatelli, Jacqueline Mukansonera, Paul Rusesabagina, Carl Wilkens and André Sibomana, all of whom have well beyond their human capacities performed feats that would equal in measure and will only to acts of God. In their concerted efforts to halt the genocide they saved and subsequently sheltered hundreds of Tutsi people and brought upon themselves great danger. But for the remarkable efforts of these wonderful people, humanity would never have known the intricacies of dignity, fellowship, brotherhood and compassion, all of which were grievously periled in the midst of the genocide.
The following video, titled One Million Voices is a reflection of hope in the backdrop of war and ruin in Rwanda. It is an adaption from the now popular movie titled Hotel Rwanda. Take a good look at it and do follow the words of the soundtrack, which will surely move you a great deal. It is hoped that the likes of the Rwandan Genocide do not find place in our times ever again, for the sake of our children who deserve nothing less than a world built on the foundations of peace, happiness and compassion! We owe that bit to them - a great deal!
Footnotes:
As is always the case in the aftermath of such events, there has been no consensus with regards to the number of people who perished during the genocide in Rwanda. The official figures published by the Rwandan Government estimated the number of victims of the genocide as 1,174,000 in merely 100 days of violence. That accounted for 10,000 people murdered every day, 400 every hour and 7 every minute!
The wounds will live on, for more than a lifetime!
The assassination of Presidents Juvénal Habyarimana of Rwanda and Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi sparked a cycle of violence that has since come to be known as The Rwandan Genocide, acts of unspeakably appalling horror that continue to haunt people of the entire world, let alone a nation!
I first heard of this heinous outbreak on The World this Week, a focus program by the NDTV. Prannoy Roy and the Late Appan Menon were bringing us some very updated but awfully uncomfortable images and data pertaining to the merciless killings of Tutsi natives and all those who were inclined to a peaceful Rwanda.
But this post is not to gloss over unpardonable actions of a few barbaric cowards because of whom millions in the hope and quest for a peaceful life were cut down, neither is this to serve as an almanac of events that dominated the troubled Rwandan social system and government apparatus. All of that simply cannot be summed in one mere blog-post!
This post has been made to pay rich tributes to the persons of Pierantonio Costa, Antonia Locatelli, Jacqueline Mukansonera, Paul Rusesabagina, Carl Wilkens and André Sibomana, all of whom have well beyond their human capacities performed feats that would equal in measure and will only to acts of God. In their concerted efforts to halt the genocide they saved and subsequently sheltered hundreds of Tutsi people and brought upon themselves great danger. But for the remarkable efforts of these wonderful people, humanity would never have known the intricacies of dignity, fellowship, brotherhood and compassion, all of which were grievously periled in the midst of the genocide.
The following video, titled One Million Voices is a reflection of hope in the backdrop of war and ruin in Rwanda. It is an adaption from the now popular movie titled Hotel Rwanda. Take a good look at it and do follow the words of the soundtrack, which will surely move you a great deal. It is hoped that the likes of the Rwandan Genocide do not find place in our times ever again, for the sake of our children who deserve nothing less than a world built on the foundations of peace, happiness and compassion! We owe that bit to them - a great deal!
Footnotes:
As is always the case in the aftermath of such events, there has been no consensus with regards to the number of people who perished during the genocide in Rwanda. The official figures published by the Rwandan Government estimated the number of victims of the genocide as 1,174,000 in merely 100 days of violence. That accounted for 10,000 people murdered every day, 400 every hour and 7 every minute!
The wounds will live on, for more than a lifetime!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Made in Japan
make.believe
-- The vision that drives Sony Corporation
Inspiration comes from many sources, if only one can observe and absorb, that is!
One such resource is Made in Japan, autobiography of the famed Akio Morita, erstwhile head of the Sony Corporation, an organization that is synonymous for cutting edge quality and excellence!
The book is replete with instances of commitment, dedication, enthusiasm, innovation and perseverance, doses of which can be liberally adopted and replicated by all of us in our daily lives. The key, according to Morita, is discipline without which nothing can be made possible and with which there is nothing that can come to be impossible!
What is striking is the narrative itself, which is extremely simple, warm and very personal. It is a work of art that depicts the working of a very evolved mind that does what it loves the most, with a very strong sense of dedication and will power that has ensured what Sony is today!
For those of you who are looking for a very good add to your collection, this is a masterpiece and an absolute must read from which a lot of lessons can be well-learnt.
Footnotes:
Sony is presently a $79.6 billion enterprise employing over 180,500 people, with total assets of over $123 billion.
-- The vision that drives Sony Corporation
Inspiration comes from many sources, if only one can observe and absorb, that is!
One such resource is Made in Japan, autobiography of the famed Akio Morita, erstwhile head of the Sony Corporation, an organization that is synonymous for cutting edge quality and excellence!
The book is replete with instances of commitment, dedication, enthusiasm, innovation and perseverance, doses of which can be liberally adopted and replicated by all of us in our daily lives. The key, according to Morita, is discipline without which nothing can be made possible and with which there is nothing that can come to be impossible!
What is striking is the narrative itself, which is extremely simple, warm and very personal. It is a work of art that depicts the working of a very evolved mind that does what it loves the most, with a very strong sense of dedication and will power that has ensured what Sony is today!
For those of you who are looking for a very good add to your collection, this is a masterpiece and an absolute must read from which a lot of lessons can be well-learnt.
Footnotes:
Sony is presently a $79.6 billion enterprise employing over 180,500 people, with total assets of over $123 billion.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Swindler's List
Goldman Sachs, as you know, has been the latest entrant into the list of multinational organizations that have been charged with defrauding their investors and customers! Adding another string of shams to a long list which has emerged forerunner in the news, thanks to a hyper recessive state of the market, this falling of corporations like a house of cards, emerged noticeable enough in the eyes of the world after the Enron fiasco in October 2001. Since then, monolithic conglomerates which were hitherto blue chips of the industry have been going under in unimaginable numbers!
My point is that of disgust! These supposedly clean-slate businesses have long emphasized on corporate governance and transparency while claiming to uphold the values of corporate etiquettes and what not! In doing so only on paper, while amassing colossal profits and dishing out hefty bonuses to their leadership branch, they have unduly harassed their employees into making them clock extremely long hours under very high pressure, often in the most derelict circumstances, something that is almost always never addressed, despite the presence and operations of supposedly superior human resources functions.
Those of you, who are part of the corporate culture know very well how integrity and transparency are mere buzzwords etched only in glossy presentations and brochures, their meaning, letter and spirit never practiced even in the least possible measure.
Is it therefore worth the effort to be enslaved to such well crafted evil that totally disregards human capital and its potential, while instances of white collar crime such as creative accounting, just to name among the very many, goes unpunished?
My point is that of disgust! These supposedly clean-slate businesses have long emphasized on corporate governance and transparency while claiming to uphold the values of corporate etiquettes and what not! In doing so only on paper, while amassing colossal profits and dishing out hefty bonuses to their leadership branch, they have unduly harassed their employees into making them clock extremely long hours under very high pressure, often in the most derelict circumstances, something that is almost always never addressed, despite the presence and operations of supposedly superior human resources functions.
Those of you, who are part of the corporate culture know very well how integrity and transparency are mere buzzwords etched only in glossy presentations and brochures, their meaning, letter and spirit never practiced even in the least possible measure.
Is it therefore worth the effort to be enslaved to such well crafted evil that totally disregards human capital and its potential, while instances of white collar crime such as creative accounting, just to name among the very many, goes unpunished?
Friday, April 16, 2010
Mission Radiance
It is believed that if you desire something long enough, it eventually comes within reach and becomes one with the mind! One such thing that did happen was our visit to the Government School of the Hearing and Speech Impaired earlier this week! I've been long wanting to visit there and organize a little something for these special kids, so when Manesh, my good friend, suggested a well laid outreach and giving program to put this into effect, my joy knew no bounds as if realizing a long awaited endeavour that was finally coming to be born!
Such an expedition does a lot of good, for, as an outsider, one comes to understand the intricacies of how special children go about their lives and conduct themselves in their routine, something that is done with a great deal of relying upon within than outside, contrary to what is popular belief. They truly are icons in the sense that they derive strength, courage and determination from among themselves than looking upon to an external source for all of that!
It is truly heartening and to see how much they can connect with you and more importantly teach you some very valuable lessons in life! It may, for some of us, be very easy to overlook the basics of life that we consider a necessity. But when you step into the realm of these little ones, you realize that there is absolutely nothing that can be taken for granted indeed.
For starters, we were received with a great deal of love and joy, something that I truly didn't deserve and therefore was moved very much by the honorific gesture. It was a hard task to keep my emotions under check while interacting with these ambassadors from another world. I consider myself very fortunate to have been permitted to get a glimpse of these special lives and they way they are furthered. There is indeed no greater joy than the joy of giving, for it enables one to experience a sense of happiness and fulfillment like no other!
So for me, this was a mission, one which involved seeking happiness in those of another who surely, as much as me, has the right to live a life in dignity and satisfaction!
Such an expedition does a lot of good, for, as an outsider, one comes to understand the intricacies of how special children go about their lives and conduct themselves in their routine, something that is done with a great deal of relying upon within than outside, contrary to what is popular belief. They truly are icons in the sense that they derive strength, courage and determination from among themselves than looking upon to an external source for all of that!
It is truly heartening and to see how much they can connect with you and more importantly teach you some very valuable lessons in life! It may, for some of us, be very easy to overlook the basics of life that we consider a necessity. But when you step into the realm of these little ones, you realize that there is absolutely nothing that can be taken for granted indeed.
For starters, we were received with a great deal of love and joy, something that I truly didn't deserve and therefore was moved very much by the honorific gesture. It was a hard task to keep my emotions under check while interacting with these ambassadors from another world. I consider myself very fortunate to have been permitted to get a glimpse of these special lives and they way they are furthered. There is indeed no greater joy than the joy of giving, for it enables one to experience a sense of happiness and fulfillment like no other!
So for me, this was a mission, one which involved seeking happiness in those of another who surely, as much as me, has the right to live a life in dignity and satisfaction!
Footnotes:
Some of the pictures taken during the course of the event can be viewed via this link.
I cannot say enough to thank Manesh for his marvelously well orchestrated skills of coordination and execution that have ensured the smooth conduct of this effort. Thank you Sir, but for you, this would have never happened!
I cannot say enough to thank Manesh for his marvelously well orchestrated skills of coordination and execution that have ensured the smooth conduct of this effort. Thank you Sir, but for you, this would have never happened!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Marathon of Hope
October 15, 1979
My name is Terry Fox. I am 21 years old, and I am an amputee. I lost my right leg two-and-a-half years ago due to cancer. The night before my amputation, my former basketball coach brought me a magazine with an article on an amputee who ran in the New York Marathon. It was then I decided to meet this new challenge head on and not only overcome my disability, but conquer it in such a way that I could never look back and say it disabled me.
But I soon realized that that would only be half my quest, for as I went through the 16 months of the physically and emotionally draining ordeal of chemotherapy, I was rudely awakened by the feelings that surrounded and coursed through the cancer clinic. There were faces with the brave smiles, and the ones who had given up smiling. There were feelings of hopeful denial, and the feelings of despair.
My quest would not be a selfish one. I could not leave knowing these faces and feelings would still exist, even though I would be set free from mine. Somewhere the hurting must stop....and I was determined to take myself to the limit for this cause.
From the beginning the going was extremely difficult, and I was facing chronic ailments foreign to runners with two legs in addition to the common physical strains felt by all dedicated athletes.
But these problems are now behind me, as I have either out-persisted or learned to deal with them. I feel strong not only physically, but more important, emotionally. Soon I will be adding one full mile a week, and coupled with weight training I have been doing, by next April I will be ready to achieve something that for me was once only a distant dream reserved for the world of miracles – to run across Canada to raise money for the fight against cancer.
The running I can do, even if I have to crawl every last mile.
We need your help. The people in cancer clinics all over the world need people who believe in miracles.
I am not a dreamer, and I am not saying that this will initiate any kind of definitive answer or cure to cancer. But I believe in miracles. I have to.
Footnotes:
It was on this day, in 1980, that Terrence "Terry" Stanley Fox, a Canadian athlete and cancer research activist began his Marathon of Hope. He has, since, become an icon of superhuman stature! His marathon raised $1.7 million and his legacy continues to evoke deep emotions.
Today, close to 30 years after his death, Redefining Oblivion salutes this herculean idol and celebrates his lasting legacy that has benefited several thousands of people in their arduous fight against cancer, by giving them what they needed above all else in life, that element being hope!
The contents of this post is a letter written by Terry Fox to the Canadian Cancer Society informing them of his endeavour.
My name is Terry Fox. I am 21 years old, and I am an amputee. I lost my right leg two-and-a-half years ago due to cancer. The night before my amputation, my former basketball coach brought me a magazine with an article on an amputee who ran in the New York Marathon. It was then I decided to meet this new challenge head on and not only overcome my disability, but conquer it in such a way that I could never look back and say it disabled me.
But I soon realized that that would only be half my quest, for as I went through the 16 months of the physically and emotionally draining ordeal of chemotherapy, I was rudely awakened by the feelings that surrounded and coursed through the cancer clinic. There were faces with the brave smiles, and the ones who had given up smiling. There were feelings of hopeful denial, and the feelings of despair.
My quest would not be a selfish one. I could not leave knowing these faces and feelings would still exist, even though I would be set free from mine. Somewhere the hurting must stop....and I was determined to take myself to the limit for this cause.
From the beginning the going was extremely difficult, and I was facing chronic ailments foreign to runners with two legs in addition to the common physical strains felt by all dedicated athletes.
But these problems are now behind me, as I have either out-persisted or learned to deal with them. I feel strong not only physically, but more important, emotionally. Soon I will be adding one full mile a week, and coupled with weight training I have been doing, by next April I will be ready to achieve something that for me was once only a distant dream reserved for the world of miracles – to run across Canada to raise money for the fight against cancer.
The running I can do, even if I have to crawl every last mile.
We need your help. The people in cancer clinics all over the world need people who believe in miracles.
I am not a dreamer, and I am not saying that this will initiate any kind of definitive answer or cure to cancer. But I believe in miracles. I have to.
Footnotes:
It was on this day, in 1980, that Terrence "Terry" Stanley Fox, a Canadian athlete and cancer research activist began his Marathon of Hope. He has, since, become an icon of superhuman stature! His marathon raised $1.7 million and his legacy continues to evoke deep emotions.
Today, close to 30 years after his death, Redefining Oblivion salutes this herculean idol and celebrates his lasting legacy that has benefited several thousands of people in their arduous fight against cancer, by giving them what they needed above all else in life, that element being hope!
The contents of this post is a letter written by Terry Fox to the Canadian Cancer Society informing them of his endeavour.
Friday, April 09, 2010
Excerpts from the epic
"When Brahma created living beings, he was filled with anxiety. 'These lives will multiply and soon their number will be beyond the capacity of the earth to bear. There seems to be no way of coping with this.' This thought of Brahma grew into a flame which became bigger and bigger until it threatened to destroy all creation at once.
Then Rudra came and pleaded for allaying this destructive fire. Brahma controlled the great fire and subdued it into the law that is known to mortals as Death. This law of the creator takes many forms, such as war or sickness or accident and keeps the balance between birth and death.
Death is thus an inescapable law of existence, ordained for the good of the world. It is not true wisdom to be impatient with Death or to grieve immoderately for those who die. There is no reason to pity those who pass away. We may have reason indeed to grieve for those who remain."
Footnotes:
I have presently completed reading the Mahabharata by C. Rajagopalachari and thought it apt to present this excerpt which moved me beyond anything that I have ever felt, known and heard! I feel unnecessary, and also grossly unqualified, to explain this simplest of truths any more than what has already been so wonderfully illustrated in this marvelous epic.
However, I have come to realize how true these words are, along with those others spoken at length, especially in the context of our lives in the present day!
Then Rudra came and pleaded for allaying this destructive fire. Brahma controlled the great fire and subdued it into the law that is known to mortals as Death. This law of the creator takes many forms, such as war or sickness or accident and keeps the balance between birth and death.
Death is thus an inescapable law of existence, ordained for the good of the world. It is not true wisdom to be impatient with Death or to grieve immoderately for those who die. There is no reason to pity those who pass away. We may have reason indeed to grieve for those who remain."
Footnotes:
I have presently completed reading the Mahabharata by C. Rajagopalachari and thought it apt to present this excerpt which moved me beyond anything that I have ever felt, known and heard! I feel unnecessary, and also grossly unqualified, to explain this simplest of truths any more than what has already been so wonderfully illustrated in this marvelous epic.
However, I have come to realize how true these words are, along with those others spoken at length, especially in the context of our lives in the present day!
Monday, April 05, 2010
Notes of life
Theres a great deal of emotion in music, you will agree!
From the notes of subtle staccato on the piano to the deeply crafted compositions on the violin, the clumping strums on the guitar or the thumping percussions from the drum, there have come about some of the finest pieces of wonder that the human mind can conceive and create for it's likes to intensely indulge in enjoyment!
What would be a world without music, if the maestros had not assumed their will and power over the instrument to create many a relic for the rest of us to relish? Can we imagine a realm where sound is merely a cacophony of our menial verbiage grossly cluttered in chatter and monotony at best?
To experience the sheer amount of joy that is a result of a musical treat is sanguine not just to the ears or the mind but also to the soul, or the inner being, I suppose! How else can you justify an amount of disproportionate rush that overwhelms the self while being subject to the brilliant modulations of sound that we know and term as music?
Would you therefore, like me, not empathize with Henry David Thoreau for his belief that "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer? Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”
Footnotes:
This post was created as an inspirational result of a mad rush obtained while listening to the creation of one of music's most respected masters - Hans Zimmer. His conception for the movie Angels and Demons reflected to me, while writing this post, how intense an emotion music can bring upon to the listener and the splendid outcomes as a result thereof!
From the notes of subtle staccato on the piano to the deeply crafted compositions on the violin, the clumping strums on the guitar or the thumping percussions from the drum, there have come about some of the finest pieces of wonder that the human mind can conceive and create for it's likes to intensely indulge in enjoyment!
What would be a world without music, if the maestros had not assumed their will and power over the instrument to create many a relic for the rest of us to relish? Can we imagine a realm where sound is merely a cacophony of our menial verbiage grossly cluttered in chatter and monotony at best?
To experience the sheer amount of joy that is a result of a musical treat is sanguine not just to the ears or the mind but also to the soul, or the inner being, I suppose! How else can you justify an amount of disproportionate rush that overwhelms the self while being subject to the brilliant modulations of sound that we know and term as music?
Would you therefore, like me, not empathize with Henry David Thoreau for his belief that "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer? Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”
Footnotes:
This post was created as an inspirational result of a mad rush obtained while listening to the creation of one of music's most respected masters - Hans Zimmer. His conception for the movie Angels and Demons reflected to me, while writing this post, how intense an emotion music can bring upon to the listener and the splendid outcomes as a result thereof!
Thursday, April 01, 2010
The world in a page
They say, that as a child a library card takes you places, while as an adult a credit card does the same job! Well, the former part still holds true in my case and it so appears that there aren't a lot of stones unturned in my efforts to constantly dwell over my most prized hobby - reading, that is!
So, when I walked out of Higginbotham's a few days ago with armfuls of superbly serious literature on history, Indian jungles and statecraft, I felt a mad rush that could well be equated with the ecstatic high which almost always is a result of a very successful culmination of events in a way that the mind has envisaged and so desired, so often termed as picture-perfect!
Those who have cultivated this magnificent inclination, and a strong liking for it, will certainly agree that it is surely a matter of unrivaled pleasure to sink into a couch with an honorific possession, engaging with which can delightfully transport the reader into a world that is a lot more than just worth visiting!
Maybe that is precisely why I so emphatically agree with William Styron who rightly remarked that "A good book should leave you slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it."
So, when I walked out of Higginbotham's a few days ago with armfuls of superbly serious literature on history, Indian jungles and statecraft, I felt a mad rush that could well be equated with the ecstatic high which almost always is a result of a very successful culmination of events in a way that the mind has envisaged and so desired, so often termed as picture-perfect!
Those who have cultivated this magnificent inclination, and a strong liking for it, will certainly agree that it is surely a matter of unrivaled pleasure to sink into a couch with an honorific possession, engaging with which can delightfully transport the reader into a world that is a lot more than just worth visiting!
Maybe that is precisely why I so emphatically agree with William Styron who rightly remarked that "A good book should leave you slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it."
Monday, March 29, 2010
Welcome back Mum
No painter's brush, nor poet's pen, in justice to her fame, has ever reached half high enough, to write a mother's name!
-- Anonymous
After an excruciatingly long eleven month absence, Mum is back home in Ooty!
Suddenly there is life amidst us, after a painfully dull mechanical period which at best can be described as a time of despair and glum numbness! Conversations that were hitherto in monosyllables have resumed to be full and meaningful dialogues. There is laughter once again, like old times. It feels like the family is now complete and together having endured long distraught times due to separation!
Utter silence of the past few months has altogether disappeared and there is a sense of relief and cheer as Mum has considerably improved in health and is nearly back to her previous state.
I cannot say enough to thank all those wonderful souls who have worked ceaselessly to ensure that she reaches a state that is marked in difference, in progress! Without such tremendous and overwhelming support we would surely have been cast away into doom and never regained the strength and the courage to lead our lives in fulfillment and happiness once again!
Iconic it is when I say that the sounds I hear today are apart from those of creaking doors and heavy footfalls.
-- Anonymous
After an excruciatingly long eleven month absence, Mum is back home in Ooty!
Suddenly there is life amidst us, after a painfully dull mechanical period which at best can be described as a time of despair and glum numbness! Conversations that were hitherto in monosyllables have resumed to be full and meaningful dialogues. There is laughter once again, like old times. It feels like the family is now complete and together having endured long distraught times due to separation!
Utter silence of the past few months has altogether disappeared and there is a sense of relief and cheer as Mum has considerably improved in health and is nearly back to her previous state.
I cannot say enough to thank all those wonderful souls who have worked ceaselessly to ensure that she reaches a state that is marked in difference, in progress! Without such tremendous and overwhelming support we would surely have been cast away into doom and never regained the strength and the courage to lead our lives in fulfillment and happiness once again!
Iconic it is when I say that the sounds I hear today are apart from those of creaking doors and heavy footfalls.
Monday, March 22, 2010
The Flowing Brook
Time, they say, is nature's way of making sure that events don't happen all at once! But, thinking retrospectively, now I feel that the years of growing up were one big episode of a multitude of related events. Maybe I'm right after all, and I know for certain that I miss those wonderful times of the past and will cherish them for all time to come, all the way up to the very end.
I have recounted to you stories of how I live in the present, but seldom about the way I did in the times before. Now that I feel I'm growing older, I feel a compelling urge to revisit those bygones in the attempt to rekindle a lost sense of warmth and time! Growing up was a journey much like a mission to discover and there was plenty to chance upon, both right and wrong! It was a time when the mind was asking questions about everything that was anew and fresh, that which was unseen and unfelt! Instances of new found love, emotion, desire and comfort were creeping into the mind like passengers on a journey into another world!
I had the world as an outback and it was strangely large and unexplored! There was a lot to do with possibilities being endless under the blue skies of freedom aided with a sense of undying quest. But there was also an urgency to grow up and get away from the routines of study and scores! It was a false belief that age would automatically yield the desired level of control over what one chose to do at one's whim and fancy without a conditional attribute!
Little was I to know that the best parts of life were being played out in the open, only never to be revisited in person once again, for learning soon dawned on me that time and tide waited for no man, or practically anything! Today, the memories last as if they were a movie that has left a lasting impression. But in essence, those times are gone into making me who I now am - with the ability to take full cognizance of the world around me, the people that live in it and the lives that are so distinct yet intricately woven together like well crafted tapestry!
We are all one in the sense of who we were! Maybe we've chosen different paths to fulfill the destiny that awaits us in the course of our journey! But to remember that we have behind us, a time as magnificent as childhood is perhaps among the most blissful of all occurrences one can chance upon in life!
Maybe thats why Pink Floyd sang High Hopes with the aptly famed verses of how "beyond the horizon of the place we lived when we were young, in a world of magnets and miracles, our thoughts strayed constantly and without boundary."
Footnotes:
This post is part 2 of a series of those which remember and pay tribute to the wonderful times of childhood. It was called for by fellow blogger Vimmuuu's tag!
The first part of this series immediately precedes this post and is titled 'Idyll's dream.'
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Idyll's Dream
For most of us, dreams come true only after they do not matter! Only in childhood do we ever have the chance of making dreams come true when they mean everything!
Mum would readily agree that Bill Waterson's inspiration to create Calvin and Hobbes was as a result of me! I was so much of a technical nightmare to folks in my formative days as a child! And imaginably, life has been hard on them as a result of my famed antics that come to be recalled amidst laughter even to this day! Sigh!
Such was childhood! Among the best times, undoubtedly when my tender self with an overtly imaginative mind frolicked in the expansive plains of inquisitiveness with surprising thirst and hunger! I'd readily put the phrase curiosity kills the cat to absolute shame owing to the way my mind functioned, an in many respects, still does! I simply needed to know everything, even if were to be how Mum's necklaces would sink down the water in the well, to how later hapless chicken would too! Perhaps, there was some kind of excessive gene in me that ensured that the carrier stayed silent never! But that remains unexplained medically and parentally until now - something which I surely need to be thankful of!
Leading the gang, or rather a crude bunch of thug children, I'd wander to seize upon the next victim - that could be anything from Aunt's cow being horrendously multi-coloured to lighting up a fire enough to consume a house in its blaze! Childhood was surely unrestricted and largely unsupervised! Being subject to discipline was not a deterrent in any way, but only served to up the ante in vengeful multi folds!
But there absolutely was something magical of those bygone times. They were blissfully sweet, with promises of strong bonds and unbreakable companionships. Even the sunlight seemed kindly mild in its disposition. There weren't deadlines to meet or people to satisfy! There was just us, a bunch of wily hooligans who were almost always given a long rope! And we did tie up the world in it!
Prized possessions ranged from those pocketfuls of Poppins, peppermints, phantom sweet cigarette sticks and so on, often traded for another one's best kept trophy, which was shamelessly called for and made one's own! Might certainly was right! One could endlessly argue over a board of strewn marbles or a pack of footballer cards that were a child's lifeline!
Where have those wonderful days gone to? Why do I never feel the wind bring me those scents now?
Footnotes:
This is the first of a multi-part series inspired and called for by fellow blogger Vimmuuu's tag on the same subject - Childhood and the nostalgia associated with those heavenly times!
-- Anonymous
Mum would readily agree that Bill Waterson's inspiration to create Calvin and Hobbes was as a result of me! I was so much of a technical nightmare to folks in my formative days as a child! And imaginably, life has been hard on them as a result of my famed antics that come to be recalled amidst laughter even to this day! Sigh!
Such was childhood! Among the best times, undoubtedly when my tender self with an overtly imaginative mind frolicked in the expansive plains of inquisitiveness with surprising thirst and hunger! I'd readily put the phrase curiosity kills the cat to absolute shame owing to the way my mind functioned, an in many respects, still does! I simply needed to know everything, even if were to be how Mum's necklaces would sink down the water in the well, to how later hapless chicken would too! Perhaps, there was some kind of excessive gene in me that ensured that the carrier stayed silent never! But that remains unexplained medically and parentally until now - something which I surely need to be thankful of!
Leading the gang, or rather a crude bunch of thug children, I'd wander to seize upon the next victim - that could be anything from Aunt's cow being horrendously multi-coloured to lighting up a fire enough to consume a house in its blaze! Childhood was surely unrestricted and largely unsupervised! Being subject to discipline was not a deterrent in any way, but only served to up the ante in vengeful multi folds!
But there absolutely was something magical of those bygone times. They were blissfully sweet, with promises of strong bonds and unbreakable companionships. Even the sunlight seemed kindly mild in its disposition. There weren't deadlines to meet or people to satisfy! There was just us, a bunch of wily hooligans who were almost always given a long rope! And we did tie up the world in it!
Prized possessions ranged from those pocketfuls of Poppins, peppermints, phantom sweet cigarette sticks and so on, often traded for another one's best kept trophy, which was shamelessly called for and made one's own! Might certainly was right! One could endlessly argue over a board of strewn marbles or a pack of footballer cards that were a child's lifeline!
Where have those wonderful days gone to? Why do I never feel the wind bring me those scents now?
Footnotes:
This is the first of a multi-part series inspired and called for by fellow blogger Vimmuuu's tag on the same subject - Childhood and the nostalgia associated with those heavenly times!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Introspective glances
Standing perpendicularly beneath the sky, one feels neatly aligned to every celestial body in a straight line, but the end points of such a connection are countless. Similarly, engaging in an introspective exercise, based on the process of life, is also an endless pursuit with unlimited outcome! Such is the world of possibilities in the realm of the absolute!
It doesn’t help to go to sleep and toss aimlessly from one corner to the other in the pursuit of that easy exercise which you are deemed to engage in, supposedly with near-perfect ease! The mind, it is said, needs to attain a certain equilibrium before slipping into a state of clean surrender at the close of day, allowing the subconscious to perform that routine exercise which is meant to calm the system. But, aren't systems supposed to become dysfunctional at equilibrium? Or so, I read some place!
Introspection, thus, as I have learnt, needs to be limited only to that aspect of what can be done in the context of what was not done better on a previous occasion. If you give the process a degree of liberty more than what is deserved, then facing the peril will also be a responsibility you’ll automatically have to shoulder.
Mean minds like mine can play power games with itself and it's owner, without either of them realizing that they are being tricked in the process. So how do you rein in the brat?
Now, is that my mind speaking to me or otherwise?
Jackrabbit woes!
Footnotes:
Not to worry! This one is a product as a result of my inability to fall a sleep on a rare occasion. Having faced with the situation, I tossed myself up, following the advice of a spin-doctor, and pronto - the product is a grey configuration with shades of black and white! Abstract at best, presumably!
It doesn’t help to go to sleep and toss aimlessly from one corner to the other in the pursuit of that easy exercise which you are deemed to engage in, supposedly with near-perfect ease! The mind, it is said, needs to attain a certain equilibrium before slipping into a state of clean surrender at the close of day, allowing the subconscious to perform that routine exercise which is meant to calm the system. But, aren't systems supposed to become dysfunctional at equilibrium? Or so, I read some place!
Introspection, thus, as I have learnt, needs to be limited only to that aspect of what can be done in the context of what was not done better on a previous occasion. If you give the process a degree of liberty more than what is deserved, then facing the peril will also be a responsibility you’ll automatically have to shoulder.
Mean minds like mine can play power games with itself and it's owner, without either of them realizing that they are being tricked in the process. So how do you rein in the brat?
Now, is that my mind speaking to me or otherwise?
Jackrabbit woes!
Footnotes:
Not to worry! This one is a product as a result of my inability to fall a sleep on a rare occasion. Having faced with the situation, I tossed myself up, following the advice of a spin-doctor, and pronto - the product is a grey configuration with shades of black and white! Abstract at best, presumably!
Monday, March 08, 2010
International Womens Day
Today is a significant date, which was etched in history to commemorate the establishment of the International Womens Day!
Eons have come to pass since then and changes although welcoming have not yet been indicative of the state that is desired.
Countless women across geographies continue to suffer the ravages of war and social injustice. Sexual violence against women is rampant in Congo, Senegal, Colombia and Pakistan, to name a few, that is. Elsewhere in places such as Darfur, living conditions, as a result of civil war and strife, are painfully abysmal!
Here in India, an ominously archaic social structure continues to prevail in many underdeveloped states where women folk continue to bear the brunt of a shamefully oppressive system!
Empowerment, self-help, education, etc are among the many buzzwords in print, which have not yet made significant in roads into dusty lands to effect the action that they have been supposed to evoke!
Simply put - how long before we learn better to take care of our women?
Eons have come to pass since then and changes although welcoming have not yet been indicative of the state that is desired.
Countless women across geographies continue to suffer the ravages of war and social injustice. Sexual violence against women is rampant in Congo, Senegal, Colombia and Pakistan, to name a few, that is. Elsewhere in places such as Darfur, living conditions, as a result of civil war and strife, are painfully abysmal!
Here in India, an ominously archaic social structure continues to prevail in many underdeveloped states where women folk continue to bear the brunt of a shamefully oppressive system!
Empowerment, self-help, education, etc are among the many buzzwords in print, which have not yet made significant in roads into dusty lands to effect the action that they have been supposed to evoke!
Simply put - how long before we learn better to take care of our women?
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Seeking Albedo
A flight of fancy on a windswept field
Standing alone my senses reeled
A fatal attraction holding me fast, how
Can I escape this irresistible grasp?
-- Learning to Fly, Momentary Lapse of Reason, Pink Floyd, 15-09-1987
Have you had an uncanny sense of having been in a place before? Something like having known it even before having visited there? Or maybe, the striking similarity in the manner in which two events have occurred? Say, for instance, stark similarities, more than once? Or perhaps, a very vivid dream that pictured extensive detail as if time had enacted a scene of utterly unquestionable reality before your very eyes, when the mind was in absolute consciousness?
Of late, such instances have been on the rise for me, with the saddened part of them lasting only in tiny fractions, their sketchy remembrances almost always lost in the same instantaneous moment and manner that they appeared in the first place! I'm wondering what it is behind a Déjà vu, that makes it so real, yet painfully unexplained!
Must it be nothing more than a minor chemical imbalance triggered by an electrostatic activity in the brain? Or is there much more than meets the eye, of something that is larger and certainly incomprehensible? Either way, there is a certain degree of frustration as a result of the inability to understand the 'signal' that may hold the key to what the mind has known, even before the present individual (read: physical) realm attained consciousness!
Pure logic would suggest a rapid discount of such trickles, necessitating them to be dismissed as non-figurative occurrences without any significance what so ever! But the other hemisphere - is it the right? - would ponder over such happenings for sometime in a quest for reason! Balance is never found, though articulated at length by various internal agencies. Arriving at a conclusively amicable agreement is a mythical state, yet something, which is cleverly urged by one over the other in an endless scheme of outwitting the opposition - power-plays and artful dodging engaged at best!
There are a thousand fractals within, like black holes lurking in the boundless black universe, unknown, unseen, yet powerful light-bending time-stoppers! Maybe they are aimlessly chance creations, for now, but in time and with experience, a lot more will be understood of them as perhaps holding the key to time warps!
Sorry, not quite what you may call the adventures of Tom Sawyer!
Footnotes:
Albedo, by the way, is the measure of how strongly an object reflects light from light sources!
Standing alone my senses reeled
A fatal attraction holding me fast, how
Can I escape this irresistible grasp?
-- Learning to Fly, Momentary Lapse of Reason, Pink Floyd, 15-09-1987
Have you had an uncanny sense of having been in a place before? Something like having known it even before having visited there? Or maybe, the striking similarity in the manner in which two events have occurred? Say, for instance, stark similarities, more than once? Or perhaps, a very vivid dream that pictured extensive detail as if time had enacted a scene of utterly unquestionable reality before your very eyes, when the mind was in absolute consciousness?
Of late, such instances have been on the rise for me, with the saddened part of them lasting only in tiny fractions, their sketchy remembrances almost always lost in the same instantaneous moment and manner that they appeared in the first place! I'm wondering what it is behind a Déjà vu, that makes it so real, yet painfully unexplained!
Must it be nothing more than a minor chemical imbalance triggered by an electrostatic activity in the brain? Or is there much more than meets the eye, of something that is larger and certainly incomprehensible? Either way, there is a certain degree of frustration as a result of the inability to understand the 'signal' that may hold the key to what the mind has known, even before the present individual (read: physical) realm attained consciousness!
Pure logic would suggest a rapid discount of such trickles, necessitating them to be dismissed as non-figurative occurrences without any significance what so ever! But the other hemisphere - is it the right? - would ponder over such happenings for sometime in a quest for reason! Balance is never found, though articulated at length by various internal agencies. Arriving at a conclusively amicable agreement is a mythical state, yet something, which is cleverly urged by one over the other in an endless scheme of outwitting the opposition - power-plays and artful dodging engaged at best!
There are a thousand fractals within, like black holes lurking in the boundless black universe, unknown, unseen, yet powerful light-bending time-stoppers! Maybe they are aimlessly chance creations, for now, but in time and with experience, a lot more will be understood of them as perhaps holding the key to time warps!
Sorry, not quite what you may call the adventures of Tom Sawyer!
Footnotes:
Albedo, by the way, is the measure of how strongly an object reflects light from light sources!
Monday, March 01, 2010
The Skinnew Effect
The Sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older!
-- Time, Pink Floyd, 1973
Operation Keeknow (spelt Key-No) has come to an end, after a marathon two day exercise which saw a much needed change in the way Redefining Oblivion presented itself, resulting in what I now call The Skinnew Effect!
Among the first things that you'd notice is how quickly the blog loads itself. This was among my primary objectives, considering the number of emails I've received asking to do something about the delay. For those of you accessing this space via low bandwith internet, this surely will make a lot of difference, I hope! I've also factored those of you who access my site via handheld devices, and thus made the new template wireless-access friendly, with very little links loading upfront. The trick is to access the page in a landscape form over your handheld device browser!
Over time, the previous template had gathered a great deal of knick-knacks making it appear very cluttered and distracting, besides the number of tweaky XML codes in the back-end ensured that page loading was delayed - this has been addressed! The comments section has been relocated to the bottom of each post, as was before. Common sense necessitated that it made no meaning to place it after the title, inconveniencing readers who would have to read the post and then scroll back upwards to leave a comment!
Working my way through the maze of XML codes, thanks to a host of invaluable information available on the internet, I trimmed parts of the new template, adding a brand new triple footer section, that now displays fellow bloggers and their spaces according to their respective genres! Reminds me of triple Sundays, the desert! ;)
The template itself, you will notice, is minimally simple, keeping in mind the objective of the blog - to portray relevant content, combined with quality, in a very simple yet appealing manner, which I hope you find so!
Obviously, all of this would not have been possible, but for your suggestions and recommendations, which go a long way in the endeavour to make this a better and meaningful space with a truly enriching web 2.0 visit experience!
However, one person needs a very special mention, for his Godlike patience and determination, and for his thoroughly professional meticulousness in listing down a number of very well-pointed recommendations that I have adhered to, word to word! I cannot say enough to thank Parv kaushik, from Indiblogger, for his invaluable help in effecting Operation Keeknow and The Skinnew Effect, as a result thereof!
And, as for you, my fellow bloggers, readers and enthusiasts, I say with a great deal of conviction that it is your words of encouragement, support and critique that drive me ahead, in pursuit of the best!
-- Time, Pink Floyd, 1973
Operation Keeknow (spelt Key-No) has come to an end, after a marathon two day exercise which saw a much needed change in the way Redefining Oblivion presented itself, resulting in what I now call The Skinnew Effect!
Among the first things that you'd notice is how quickly the blog loads itself. This was among my primary objectives, considering the number of emails I've received asking to do something about the delay. For those of you accessing this space via low bandwith internet, this surely will make a lot of difference, I hope! I've also factored those of you who access my site via handheld devices, and thus made the new template wireless-access friendly, with very little links loading upfront. The trick is to access the page in a landscape form over your handheld device browser!
Over time, the previous template had gathered a great deal of knick-knacks making it appear very cluttered and distracting, besides the number of tweaky XML codes in the back-end ensured that page loading was delayed - this has been addressed! The comments section has been relocated to the bottom of each post, as was before. Common sense necessitated that it made no meaning to place it after the title, inconveniencing readers who would have to read the post and then scroll back upwards to leave a comment!
Working my way through the maze of XML codes, thanks to a host of invaluable information available on the internet, I trimmed parts of the new template, adding a brand new triple footer section, that now displays fellow bloggers and their spaces according to their respective genres! Reminds me of triple Sundays, the desert! ;)
The template itself, you will notice, is minimally simple, keeping in mind the objective of the blog - to portray relevant content, combined with quality, in a very simple yet appealing manner, which I hope you find so!
Obviously, all of this would not have been possible, but for your suggestions and recommendations, which go a long way in the endeavour to make this a better and meaningful space with a truly enriching web 2.0 visit experience!
However, one person needs a very special mention, for his Godlike patience and determination, and for his thoroughly professional meticulousness in listing down a number of very well-pointed recommendations that I have adhered to, word to word! I cannot say enough to thank Parv kaushik, from Indiblogger, for his invaluable help in effecting Operation Keeknow and The Skinnew Effect, as a result thereof!
And, as for you, my fellow bloggers, readers and enthusiasts, I say with a great deal of conviction that it is your words of encouragement, support and critique that drive me ahead, in pursuit of the best!
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