being Principle Centered

To become principle centred is one of my newest resolutions. Stephen Covey says that it's the best way to live happily. I have also realized that of late.

So let's think how to go about becoming principle centred. Firstly, I have to have a firm and correct set of principles which are not only "good" but also suitable to my personality. WoW!!! I have to first figure out my personality. I hate it when my friend Nilesh Kamble says "saale tu confused hai". For the benefit of the readers who do not understand Hindi written in English, Nilesh says: "Hey Brother-in-Law(specifically, wife's brother in this case), you are a confused person". Then I give him 103 arguments to prove that the whole bloody world is confused. He doesn't say anything. I get more confused.

Sometimes I wonder whether it is possible to have a set of principles and rigidly adhere to them. And also whether it is good to have such principles in the first place. Interestingly, I found that knowingly or unknowingly, each one of us has some principles. And we are so rigid on quite a few of them that we can never even imagine ourselves violating those rules set unconsciously by us for ourselves. I think as human beings we are programmed, with some part of it done before we are born and the rest happens as we go through life, with all the principles that eventually govern our actions. Very few indeed are conscious of this continuous process in which their mind is getting programmed. A few who do understand the code being written learn to have better control of all the loops and conditions. Such people end up shaping not only themselves but also the world in a better way. At the other extreme are those who lose all control over themselves, and fall into an unending darkness and at the same time, they try to pull down the world along with them. They do not have any control over themselves, they do not know their principles. Their emotions, feelings, actions, lives are driven by external factors, on which they have no control. In other words, they are not principle centred.

So I think being principle centred is to be conscious of one's principles and how they are shaped as one goes through his life. This consciousness, once attained by a person, further leads him/her to understand and control all aspects of his/her personality.

no EQ in Assam!!!

I'm flying to Bangalore tomorrow. Air Deccan, sasta tickets - 3300 to-and-fro. Isn't that great? Long time since I sat in a plane. Maza aayega!!!
Happy News - There was no EarthQuake in Assam this morning!!!

A Geologist in Tamil Nadu had predicted that there was to be a major EarthQuake in Assam this morning. His prediction was based on his study of more than 2000 EarthQuakes over many years and the planetary alignments when those EarthQuakes occurred. According to the Geologist, there was a 70% probability of the occurance of the EarthQuake. The Government and the People of Assam had taken the alert very seriously and did whatever they could so that the EarthQuake caused minimal damage.

The ground didn't shake. All Happy!!!

Man is helpless in front of Nature. Would be interesting to see where man will be, in terms of his abilities and powers, 1000 years from now.

why do girls make guys nervous?

Getting nervous in front of girls is a very common problem with most guys. I have often thought about the reason for this, but could never reach a good conclusion. There are many possible reasons...

Girls are confident. At least they appear to be. Particularly beautiful girls. Normally confidence is directly proportional to looks, at least for most girls. And who else would a girl want to intimidate with that confidence than the poor guys who always have an edge in terms of physical prowess. And confidence is the only weapon the girls have to fight men. Women defeat men by attacking right at their weakest spots - their minds. Women have evolved and learnt to increasingly use their brains while men have been continuing in their old ways. For various genetic and evolutionary reasons men are normally sharper than women. But now we have a new breed of women coming up. These women are not only sharp, but also smart and intelligent. They think and act in the right way to succeed. And they have also learnt how to take over the men. Men feel helpless sometimes. And hence they get nervous when they face women.

Another reason could be fear of underperforming. Men want to impress women. These are unwritten rules which we all follow. Men follow women, try to impress them, win their hearts, woo them...the reason is physical attraction...but the male ego is such that it can never accept rejection in stride...and the lurking fear of rejection is powerful enough to make a man nervous...And most cultures have traditionally given the right of choice and rejection only to men and so women are genetically programmed to accept rejections without much pain...But men are not...only now are they getting the taste of it...

Women are a beautiful sex. Men get attracted to them very easily. But men feel very inferior in front of beautiful women. This may be because of their low self-worth. But frankly, excess beauty is indeed intimidating to face.

Having said that, I believe that it's all in our minds. There is always some mental block that makes us nervous. We need to identify that and get rid of it. It needs some effort, but is not too difficult. We just need to look into ourselves. Most of us do not spend sufficient time on ourselves. That's why we carry these mental baggages with us all our lives and in the end, we die with sad unfulfilled lives behind us. Let's make things better. Let's live the best lives that we can.

i'll grow up...

I was born in a simple middle-class family. We were simple in the way we lived, we talked, we dressed, we dreamt, we laughed, we cried. Life was not always happy. But not many things were there to be sad about. We helped each other, we spoke the truth, we wept at our failures and celebrated our successes. Sometimes those successes pushed us out of the middle-class boundaries. Some of us who had such fortunes, never returned back. Should I call them misfortunes? I don't know...I'm yet to leap the boundary...

We do have contact with people on the other side though. They are not good people. We are good people. I am a good boy. The last few statements seem so childish. I know that. That's the magic of being a child. A child knows he's often silly in its thougths, yet doesn't hinder whatever enters and leaves its mind. I am no more a child. But I've not grown to an adult either. I think I should grow up. The people on the other side of the boundary are too wicked for a child to handle. Soon, I will.

Glued to the Monitor

These days I am glued to the computer for most of my waking hours. To give an exact number, on an average, for about 15 hours everyday, I look at nowhere else but the computer monitor. It is awful to think about, but it is true.

Though I am a Software Engineer and working on the computer earns me my bread and butter, but that is not the whole and sole reason why my eyes don't like watching anything else. These days I have foung a new hobby in reading stuff on the internet. I read lots of things nowadays. All kinds of things, ranging from news to blogs, gossip to science, etc etc. Sometimes I don't even care what I am reading, I just read whatever I happen to come accross. I click on any random link and believe me this habit has taken me to some of the most interesting places on the web.

The Internet has an incredible wealth of information, and I guess I realized this prettly late. For many years, chatting and email were almost the only things I was interested in the internet for. I knew there was a lot more on the web, lot of information for instance, but it hardly mattered to me. May be that phase had its own significance in that I now realize the importance of my time and resources more than I ever did.

The new generation of the internet is the most remarkable development in the cyber age. Earlier the web was like a huge textbook which anyone could read. There were authorized people who indiscriminately published those textbooks and made them available to anyone who was online. But now, we have more powerful tools available. Now any user can not only read on the web, he can also contribute his views and knowledge, he can edit websites (wikipedia), he can write his own articles and have them visible to virtually anyone online...that's what I am doing...it's wonderful...

My head is spinning...Need to sleep now...

i don't invest...

I don't invest my money anywhere. Many people find this weird. There are few people like me, who let their money stay still in a savings bank account. I also don't produce fake bills and travel tickets to make my allowances non-taxable. I also don't ask my landlord to write an incredibly high amount on the house-rent receipts to save tax on my House Rent Allowance. I also don't move my money into a fixed deposit so that I get higher interest on my money.

I keep hearing that for highest returns, invest in Equity, ie Share Markets. I tried thousands of times, but I don't understand that business a whole lot. It's way too complex for me. So I am scared of investing in shares. I don't like the concept of life insurance coz it constantly reminds me of my death. I don't want to care about it. And I don't want to block my money in any way. So I hate fixed deposits. And I don't worry a lot about little gain here and little loss there. So I am happy with the small rate of interest that a savings bank accout pays. Coz finally, I am getting an interest, so what if it is 3.5% and not 5%. Don't want to get into the intricacies of banking beyond that. I'm happy with what I've got. Love to keep things simple in life...

Vande Maataram!!!

The way the issue of singing the National Song has become a controversy is highly ludicrous. In fact it is sad how all such trifles take political colours in India. Sometimes I wonder do these politicians who claim to be our leaders and role models really feel they speak sense when they make a roar about such matters...

Look at the issue of the Natioanl Song for instance. The government declares that everyone has to sing this song on the 7th of September. Why? As a mark of respect to this song, since it has grown 100 years old as a National Song. Wonderful! I could not believe my eyes when I first read this in a newspaper.

Though it is foolish to give arguments to prove that this kind of an action by our government is foolish, I will do that since for some reason, this government has begun to take us common men for granted.

All of us - Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians etc etc, love our country a lot. We are no less patriotic than an American or an Englishman. We sing out National Anthem, at least we stand up when someone is singing it or it is played by a band. Nobody asks us to do so. We do it on our own free will. Definitely we love our Nation and our Nationality. Now let's take the case of Vande Mataram. We all respect that song. For decades, since the song came into existence, even Muslims have respected that song. So what if some of them don't want to sing it. The reason is pretty simple - that a few stanzas contain references to Hindu Goddesses and since Islam does not permit worshipping a God but rather believes in the divinity of nothingness, it is not agreeable according to Islam to sing the song. Most Muslims may not even bother and will go ahead and sing, just like I don't mind going and worshipping in a mosque or a church. We all respect each other's religions. It is just a bunch of politicians again who have no other way of having fun than to have the people fighting with each other over religion.

Secondly, I don't think it is justified in any way to make people do something, even if it is to respect a song, against their will and religious principles when you know that they are all honest citizens who love their country and are ready to die for it. Afterall don't we call ourselves a secular State? It is just like forcing a Muslim to burst crackers just because it is Diwali. He may want to do it himself, but if he doesn't, what right do you have, or does anyone have to deny him the freedom of refusal?

If you think that the national song deserves respect by all citizens, you are not wrong. But firsly in a multi-religious nation like India, why should you declare such a song National which is biased towards one Religion. Of course one may argue that the song had a great significance in arousing patriotic feelings during our freedom movement. But that is no reason to declare it as a National Song. Being a secular Nation, we should never have those things for such National Symbols which reflect the religious sentiments of one religious community and totally ignores the other ones. And if some Muslims consider it a betrayel to Islam to embrace the Hindu religious ideas and sing the song and mean each word of it at the same time, I don't think there is anything wrong in their argument. I respect all religions. But if I am in the US and the government compels me to read the Bible on the Christmas Day, I don't think I would want to read it for their sake. I would love to read it on my own out of my own free will whenever I want to. The point I want to make is, you cannot force someone to embrace your religious ideas or pretend to do that. It should be a personal choice and nothing else. It is totally stupid on the part of our Leaders to express their will on the citizens of this country. They can do what they like. They can declare that they will sing that song in the parliament. But it is terribly annoying when they ask everyone to sing that song on a particular day at a fixed time. Is this democracy?

I think we've had enough. These poiticians must understand that we citizens are not their slaves. In the true spirit of democracy, they shoud represent our views. But sadly that hardly happens in India. These politicians decide whatever serves their political interests and slap them on the Nation. Look at the way the Reservations for OBS's issue was handled. A large majority of the polulation in this country including those in the SC's, ST's and the OBC's understand very well how ridiculous this system of reservation has become and how much flawed it is in the current scenario. We all know who needs these privileges and who finally gets them. And I am sure the politicians know these facts much better than any of us common men. But it is sad to see them turn a blind eye to reality and burden us with their non-sense policies.

We are a free country. We are a Democracy. Let's make it meaningful. In the current shape, we are not at all ruling ourselves. The Democracy in India is fake.

Vande Maataram

JAI HIND