For a moment.. I'll live.
For the moment that makes life find its meaning
and makes us find ground far above the rest...
far above the grovel of routine..
.....................................................
.....................far above the self you've ever been.
I just witnessed a moment so pure.. so full of energy and spirit..
A short dark skinned man from the non-descript streets of Chennai became the toast of Society which has rarely imagined, far less experienced the churns of religion, regionalism and factionalism.
Yet, humility bound him to his roots. Even as the world would lose sight in the face of fame and attention, one man taught the lesson of gratefulness with subtlety.. he only said what he always knew. He only said what he always knew - God is Great.
Jai ho!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Mute
Listen
To the tick of the second hand
on the clock you last can't remember seeing.
To the wind in the distance,
a distance which you know not the measure of
and you can describe not the sound of.
To the highway traffic,
the tearing wheels, the burning fuel.
To the tapping of fingers,
as you frame this out.
To the walls creating boundaries,
which with closed eyes make their presence felt
by filtering sounds and killing some.
To the voice speaking the above
To the words that are yet to flow
Absorb
The moment.
With all its uniqueness.
With the tale it tells
..and that which it couldn't.
with the guilt of yesterday,
and pulling some from tomorrow
and know that it will run long beyond the moment dies
Release.
To the tick of the second hand
on the clock you last can't remember seeing.
To the wind in the distance,
a distance which you know not the measure of
and you can describe not the sound of.
To the highway traffic,
the tearing wheels, the burning fuel.
To the tapping of fingers,
as you frame this out.
To the walls creating boundaries,
which with closed eyes make their presence felt
by filtering sounds and killing some.
To the voice speaking the above
To the words that are yet to flow
Absorb
The moment.
With all its uniqueness.
With the tale it tells
..and that which it couldn't.
with the guilt of yesterday,
and pulling some from tomorrow
and know that it will run long beyond the moment dies
Release.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
creating a life-map
Another day bites the dust
And as I sit in front of this laptop wondering if there's anything that I've added to the day.. I seem to be lost for words.
Yes, I went to work.
But I went to work without driving it myself.
Driven not by a need but the expectation of myself.
The idiot box rants on
It helps distract me.
Yet each and every creation on it was the result of a focus
On characters
On ideas
On a story
On the need to connect with an audience
the moment begs me a question.
What causes inspiration?
What lies at its root?
What makes us go beyond the regular into the expanse which makes us uncomfortable with the present?
I wondered.
Material comforts and luxury aren't the end-all.
They are a factor
A momentary requirement
Not for what they allow on a continuous basis
But for the perceived convenience you can draw from them through their acquisition.
..... tbc
And as I sit in front of this laptop wondering if there's anything that I've added to the day.. I seem to be lost for words.
Yes, I went to work.
But I went to work without driving it myself.
Driven not by a need but the expectation of myself.
The idiot box rants on
It helps distract me.
Yet each and every creation on it was the result of a focus
On characters
On ideas
On a story
On the need to connect with an audience
the moment begs me a question.
What causes inspiration?
What lies at its root?
What makes us go beyond the regular into the expanse which makes us uncomfortable with the present?
I wondered.
Material comforts and luxury aren't the end-all.
They are a factor
A momentary requirement
Not for what they allow on a continuous basis
But for the perceived convenience you can draw from them through their acquisition.
..... tbc
Monday, October 27, 2008
Dissociation
life's been changing
real fast
not mine..
but the expectation of its path has been radically modified
by events extraneous to myself :
Credit markets
Squeezes
Equity markets
bailouts
governments
... they've all been participants in the change
But it still doesn't hit me..
and I don't think it will..
it will take a while.. if the feeling will ever sink in
I would bet against it..
for dissociation from the world been an easy attribute.
but I'm no different from the myriad who walk around..
claiming the credit crunch is affecting them.
Its tricky and partly ironic to know what came first - the crunch or the reaction to it.
It probably helps sell more..
cheaper.. but only for a while
I walked past a shoe-shop in the semi-rustic suburban-environ of Poplar displaying old stock at 'credit crunch prices'
Oxford street - pseudo-Mecca of wearable fashion fell a notch as a fair no. of shops were able to service those on unemployment benefits.
Its unique how the the crisis has turned into a cradle for advertising. The mere fear of the crunch itself may result in people buying to save for a rainy day, thus increasing demand, pushing prices higher and reversing the expectations for the crisis.
yet, we should be more frugal,
Our pockets will be pinched to save.
We shall withdraw lesser cash from ATMs and see it last longer.
The excuse of the credit crunch will be thrown for more frugality in celebration.
Dissociation from the present is difficult, even as we chase tomorrow and run from the past, tho the reverse would seem more pleasant at the current hour.
yet......
dissociate.
Cause it too shall pass.
real fast
not mine..
but the expectation of its path has been radically modified
by events extraneous to myself :
Credit markets
Squeezes
Equity markets
bailouts
governments
... they've all been participants in the change
But it still doesn't hit me..
and I don't think it will..
it will take a while.. if the feeling will ever sink in
I would bet against it..
for dissociation from the world been an easy attribute.
but I'm no different from the myriad who walk around..
claiming the credit crunch is affecting them.
Its tricky and partly ironic to know what came first - the crunch or the reaction to it.
It probably helps sell more..
cheaper.. but only for a while
I walked past a shoe-shop in the semi-rustic suburban-environ of Poplar displaying old stock at 'credit crunch prices'
Oxford street - pseudo-Mecca of wearable fashion fell a notch as a fair no. of shops were able to service those on unemployment benefits.
Its unique how the the crisis has turned into a cradle for advertising. The mere fear of the crunch itself may result in people buying to save for a rainy day, thus increasing demand, pushing prices higher and reversing the expectations for the crisis.
yet, we should be more frugal,
Our pockets will be pinched to save.
We shall withdraw lesser cash from ATMs and see it last longer.
The excuse of the credit crunch will be thrown for more frugality in celebration.
Dissociation from the present is difficult, even as we chase tomorrow and run from the past, tho the reverse would seem more pleasant at the current hour.
yet......
dissociate.
Cause it too shall pass.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Heisenberg and Diabetes
I was quite surprised by the analogies that physicists are able to conjure up. I was relatively unaware about my dad's skills in the same. An incident last night brought me face-to-face with a rather rare sense of humour which I had presumed was non-existent.
A friend who is a senior IAS officer remarked that an associate of his told him recently, "When we were young we could eat anything in the world, but damn it! We didn't have the money to eat to our heart's desire. But now, even when I can easily afford all the sweets I want to eat, I'm saddled with diabetes!!"
My father amusedly remarked, "That just reinforces Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. When you have Momentum, you don't have the Position. When you have the Position, you don't have the momentum."
A friend who is a senior IAS officer remarked that an associate of his told him recently, "When we were young we could eat anything in the world, but damn it! We didn't have the money to eat to our heart's desire. But now, even when I can easily afford all the sweets I want to eat, I'm saddled with diabetes!!"
My father amusedly remarked, "That just reinforces Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. When you have Momentum, you don't have the Position. When you have the Position, you don't have the momentum."
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Nostalgia tomorrow
WIMWI started its T-Nite today..
Four days of excessive fun and delight which will remain frozen in time for both the fachchas and the tuchchas..
Its memories will remain one of the strongest.. especially for our juniors.
Though a completely internal affair, with no involvement of those outside, it pulls in the alumni who sneak away from their corporate abodes at least for the weekend if not the whole event.
Why?
Its probably that nostalgic link.. obviously this is a no-brainer..
.........................................................but then as we sit here, now, today, there emerges the question of tomorrow.. when we will be away from these red-brick walls.. and we fall into this complex double-thinking trap of the nostalgia that we WILL feel tomorrow.. and suddenly you enjoy the moment all the more.
Not that this is any deep rumination.. its a natural motivation of thinking of tomorrow.. unfortunately, we keep thinking of 'where are we going tomorrow?', rarely asking 'when are we coming back tomorrow?'. Luckily some off-the-tongue commitments we make seem to help pull us back. If someone asks me, 'How often will you come back to campus?', I'm sure I'd say, 'Every year'.. and I'd do it, not because I said it to someone, but because some nostalgic juice asked me to shout it out to the world, using the words only as a tool to bind me more firmly to my alma mater.
..and this makes me miss the place, even as I stay in it.. and work, and complete assignments.
..and it resounds telling me to give it my all.
Its a beautiful and unique experience.. not one that just flows to you.
Its one you need to think about to experience it.
That somehow seems to rob it of some of its beauty..
But you've got the ability to feel it all the more consciously.
And this awareness suddenly makes you look at yourself from far away.
A similar experience of a collection of people together would be astounding!
I wonder where I'd find it.
Maybe that's another experience in itself.. altogether.
Four days of excessive fun and delight which will remain frozen in time for both the fachchas and the tuchchas..
Its memories will remain one of the strongest.. especially for our juniors.
Though a completely internal affair, with no involvement of those outside, it pulls in the alumni who sneak away from their corporate abodes at least for the weekend if not the whole event.
Why?
Its probably that nostalgic link.. obviously this is a no-brainer..
.........................................................but then as we sit here, now, today, there emerges the question of tomorrow.. when we will be away from these red-brick walls.. and we fall into this complex double-thinking trap of the nostalgia that we WILL feel tomorrow.. and suddenly you enjoy the moment all the more.
Not that this is any deep rumination.. its a natural motivation of thinking of tomorrow.. unfortunately, we keep thinking of 'where are we going tomorrow?', rarely asking 'when are we coming back tomorrow?'. Luckily some off-the-tongue commitments we make seem to help pull us back. If someone asks me, 'How often will you come back to campus?', I'm sure I'd say, 'Every year'.. and I'd do it, not because I said it to someone, but because some nostalgic juice asked me to shout it out to the world, using the words only as a tool to bind me more firmly to my alma mater.
..and this makes me miss the place, even as I stay in it.. and work, and complete assignments.
..and it resounds telling me to give it my all.
Its a beautiful and unique experience.. not one that just flows to you.
Its one you need to think about to experience it.
That somehow seems to rob it of some of its beauty..
But you've got the ability to feel it all the more consciously.
And this awareness suddenly makes you look at yourself from far away.
A similar experience of a collection of people together would be astounding!
I wonder where I'd find it.
Maybe that's another experience in itself.. altogether.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
The 'experience' of an experience
Often, we say that we undergo a unique experience. One that may change the course of our lives, shake our beliefs, rattle our conscience and flare a whole host of indescribable emotions in us.
Yet, this always seems to be observed retrospectively.
When it occurs, what is the experience truly about? You know that it is going to be unique, shivers shall pass down your spine as you walk away from it. Yet the moment is oft inexpressible in the present. What truly is the 'experience' of the experience itself?
We change our behaviour, our thoughts on incidence.
We change irreversibly.
On noting the reason, we realize it was due to us having experienced the moment. Now a memory of it remains. It is presumably difficult to feel the exact same emotions as you had at the incidence, yet they've left an adequately deep impact which prevents you from retracing your steps.
There may have been a surge of chemical reactions in your brain which seemed to have created a complex understanding of the situation and which in parallel, redefined your script forever.
Coincidently, this is also probably the reason why you felt the moment, but can't truly remember it.
Its there. Staring at you. In front of your face.
You understand what it says, but YOU.... CAN'T... SEE.... IT.
Its searching for these moments in our everyday lives which can send our lives into a focussed Brownian Motion ( pardon my Physics, its a little insane ). When in each day, through glaring mistakes, through daring acts, you grow phenomenally.
You know you grow.
Yet, this always seems to be observed retrospectively.
When it occurs, what is the experience truly about? You know that it is going to be unique, shivers shall pass down your spine as you walk away from it. Yet the moment is oft inexpressible in the present. What truly is the 'experience' of the experience itself?
We change our behaviour, our thoughts on incidence.
We change irreversibly.
On noting the reason, we realize it was due to us having experienced the moment. Now a memory of it remains. It is presumably difficult to feel the exact same emotions as you had at the incidence, yet they've left an adequately deep impact which prevents you from retracing your steps.
There may have been a surge of chemical reactions in your brain which seemed to have created a complex understanding of the situation and which in parallel, redefined your script forever.
Coincidently, this is also probably the reason why you felt the moment, but can't truly remember it.
Its there. Staring at you. In front of your face.
You understand what it says, but YOU.... CAN'T... SEE.... IT.
Its searching for these moments in our everyday lives which can send our lives into a focussed Brownian Motion ( pardon my Physics, its a little insane ). When in each day, through glaring mistakes, through daring acts, you grow phenomenally.
You know you grow.
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