Random...

Randomness springs from a relatively structured root, whose parent ought to be even less random. I reached this conclusion after analyzing my own thought process. Behind all the random thoughts that I (or anybody) seem to have all the time, none of which lasts long or I can carry much ahead, I feel there must be a more structured framework of opinions, thoughts, ideas and instincts. Perhaps I skipped a few layers of randomness in between. But the point is that thoughts, like the universe, decrease in randomness as we move upwards towards their origin - the law of entropy as applied to thoughts. The external structure that we assign to what we speak or write is not really the structure of our thoughts. Nor do our thoughts emerge at such a slow rate. The spoken structure is a conscious alignment of desired thoughts which are retrieved in appropriate intervals and arranged in the right sequence so as to make sense as a whole, and with a specific direction.

The concept of energy was taught to me in the middle-school. It was introduced as capacity to do work, and the definition stayed at that even later. I always viewed the concepts of work and energy with skepticism (and I still do). I first expressed it when I was in the 11th standard, to some of my friends, but they didn't seem to bother. Just this morning, as I was jogging, I realized that defining energy as capacity to do work reflects how science and its perspectives emerge from our very human nature. (Are you wondering how?) It seems natural, of course, because we are human beings, and we have to think like humans. (What does it mean to not think like a human? Are there other ways of thinking? Are there limits to how or what we can think? If yes, is it possible to breach such limits by conscious effort?) And science, above all, is expected to solve human problems, explain phenomena in ways useful to us, create stuff to make human life easy. (Discover the truth, How & What God Thinketh... but think why we want to know that.) If there are bounds to who or what we work for, then are we not selfish? (Self here is an enhanced image of oneself, seen in association with all the entitites one relates himself/herself with, and to the extent he/she chooses to.) If yes, and I think the answer is yes, what does it mean to be not selfish?

Being selfish is not really considered bad by most people. Yet poeple are confused between the conflicting axioms of life taught to them, and the ones which drive their instincts. For example, the whole world thinks capitalism, each working for his/her own self-interest, would serve the interests of society the best. But then we are also taught tenets of team-work, cooperation etc., which, probably, are necessary to get things done in the first place - strong means for a great end, which has its importance and motivating ability only if one is selfish enough, which the concept of capitalism on top ensures. And the society sees progress, since both the means and ends achieve the best form within this framework. But such frameworks are for people devoid of feelings, emotions and desires. In real world, people are capable of, need to, want to and crave for love. But our institutions are designed for machines. Our formulas can't incorporate human power struggles - the strong, the weak and the shades of gray, the limits placed by cultural differences and natural (hate to use resources) endowments working together.

Furthermore, is society bigger than a human being? Is a country bigger than a human being? Is a culture more important than human life? Why should one be patriotic? why should there be inner (coz one is selfish beyond) bounds to selfishness? Love is certainly not the opposite of selfishness. But can someone truly Love and be Selfish at the same time?

PVR Cinemans, Lucknow

PVR Cinemans in the Sahara Ganj Mall at Lucknow has a serious serious problem. You cannot carry bags inside. Nor do they have any arrangement for keeping bags at any place in the mall, even outside the multiplex. I can't think of a more stupid way a multiplex can screw its sales, inspite of being located in the busiest shopping mall of a big city like Lucknow. The irony with this PVR is, that though it wants to attract the mall goers by offering them a movie experience along with shopping, nobody who does any shopping in the mall can watch a movie there, coz he won't be allowed to go inside with whatever he has purchased and he won't be allowed to keep anything anywhere in the mall either. Women are sometimes allowed to go inside with their handbags. I guess the definition of handbag is quite flexible, and who can argue with women about their bags! Men are not allowed to keep handbags. Men have pockets. Men have smaller things to keep. Men have fewer things to keep.

Me and my friend got pissed off last night when we were told we couldn't watch a movie there coz we had a small bag with us, which would have qualified as a handbag if my friend were a woman, and unfortunately, he was not. The bag had 2 cameras, and this was even more scary for the security guards at the entrance of PVR. They said taking a bag inside was out of question. And taking that with cameras even worse. Isn't that weird? X is not allowed. Y is more not allowed!

I got frustrated after trying to negotiate with the guards for some time, and gave up. Then went to the food court there and enjoyed my favorite Cheeze-Burst Pizza at 20% IIM discount at Dominos! I am really addicted to this Cheeze-Burst thing. I never liked pizza until I came to know you can do Cheeze-Burst and make it one of the tastist things on earth. I eat so much of it these days that Dominos people take my order with reluctance, mainly when I tell them I am IIM and ask them to give me the 20% discount that they offer to the others of my kind in Lucknow.

I have a history of interesting addictions like these. More on those some other time. Right now, I've got to rush for my Business Environment Class.

Movies

Today am going to talk about movies. Why do we watch movies? And what do we like to watch in movies? Please note that all views and thoughts here are mine. And all generalizations done here about people and mankind are either extrapolations of what I think/believe or are my assumptions/guesses, based on my fundas of the world. (It's funny, one declaration and you have licence to talk any crap!)

There are two schools of thought (there ought to be) on what movies are meant for. None of them exist as far as I know, and I don't know much anyway, more so in this area. But there must be 2 schools, coz they make sense to me. Here they are - (i)People watch movies to see their dreams, fantasies & nightmares in action. Now dreams, fantasies & nightmares can be good, bad, ugly, dirty, scary and whatnot. That's why we have myriad varieties of movies. (ii) People want to see reality in movies.

The second school of thought, I believe, is not true. It is actually an illusion people have in their minds, and comes from the (i) itself. People want to see their ideas and perceptions of reality live on screen. (Could have included this in (i) along with dreams, fantasies & nightmares. But chalta hai :P.) It gives them immense satisfaction and self-assurance. Works a great deal in boosting the self-esteem of any individual.

I think I have somehow answered both questions we started with - Why do we watch movies? And what do we like to watch in movies? Please comment to express your views on this topic. (I'll reply/respond with mine.) There is a lot of shit we can talk on this topic. I have not even scratched the surface properly.

the 'me' paradox

The population of Tigers in India has been dwindling very rapidly over the past few years. There are appriximately 1300 tigers in India right now. In 2009 alone, 72 tigers died according to the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), an NGO; and 54 died according to National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a government body, which is meant for conservation and is hence conservative!

I often wonder whether we are right or wrong in dominating the earth the way we do, and in screwing the lives of most other animals of sizes comparable to ours. As we are also animals, and part of the same nature, perhaps we are also a force operating in taking the nature to a different configuration or a stage of evolution. As we gradually end most animals our size, through reluctant selfishness inspite of attempts (that are even more reluctant and compromised in their seriousness) to save these endangered animals from us, the earth is gradually moving to a place majorly inhabited by smaller species. At the micro level, they have been beyond our control and imagination anyways. And it is natural for us to want to be all powerful and dominating, if we can, in the ranges in which we thrive. So we ruthlessly cage animals, kill them, fake wanting to save them. May be we don't fake. It's genuine. But the rationale behind it is probably still selfish - perhaps many of us fear the death of these animals may somehow lead to our own death. Why? May be because - (a)we don't think we are responsible for their death. So somehow their dying signals to us that something's wrong and we might also die because of it; or (b)we know that we are responsible for their death, and it scares us big time that we committed a sin of ending life, of which we are also a kind. I am not sure what's the actual reason. May be it's a mix of both. May be it's something else. It's weird, we are not sure what goes on inside our minds when we do things, and what really makes us do them. The brain, if at all it takes all decisions, has various ways of doing that, some of which it does not reveal to the part of the brain which 'we' seem to be conscious of (are 'we' not our brains? minds?), the thoughts, beliefs, etc. that we are aware of. It's fairly complicated how something that is helping 'me' think ('me' is again defined by that something itself) hides a part of itself from that something, which it can't, so may be it hides itself from 'me', which it seems to me is that something itself. It's terribly complicated. God must be crazy!

Have sex, Indian cricket team told

The Indian cricket team players has been asked to have more sex to increase their testosterone levels, and through that, increase their strength, aggressiveness and competitiveness. Click Here to read about it.

I am wondering whether this is good news for cricketers' wives or is something that scares them big time. Can't say how sex-deprived they are, but if they really are, then it's dream-come-true for them. But if they are not, and there could be various reasons why they may not be, then they will now have to bear some crazy fucking (ahm ahm, sorry, it's f*king). God have mercy on them!

But I don't think it is logical to assume that the cricketers will go and have sex only with their wives. Their testosterone is dedicated to the nation, and they shouldn't compromise on that if it takes unreasonably enormous amount of time and effort, because of various reasons, to reach and woo their wives. More so lately, because of the economic recession which must have rendered them unable to buy costly gifts and stuff. I am sure the wives would understand. But there's another angle to it. If any cricketer does not have sex in plenty with his wife now, she can charge him for one or both of the following 2 offences - (i)cheating on her, (ii)cheating the nation.

I must say that I intend no offence to cricketers' wives. I respect them, like I respect all women. I don't respect the cricketers though. They earn too much money and appreciation for doing nothing worthwhile. When I did more important nothings in TCS, GSSL and Satyam, I didn't earn even a measurable fraction of what the cricketers do. That's so unfair.

I've realized I occasionally write very long sentences these days. It's due to Amartya Sen. He's spoiling my english. Hey Amartya dada, I hope you read my blog. See what you have done.

I am sure my female readers (there are quite a few who say they read my blog occasionally) must be frowning like crazy reading my post about sex. It's a bad thing, ain't it? No. And it's not bad to talk about it either. The more openly we talk about it, the better. We Indians were all fine in our fundas on these matters before (say 1000 yrs back). The Britishers came, taught us all bull-shit stuff, Catholic fundas of sex is sin, weird English - which Amartya Sen is still not able to get rid of, killed our self-esteem and left us all screwed. Now the west has abandoned all that crap, is open, speaks simple English and chills out. And we are all confused ki bhai chal kya raha hai. Now imitating the west also isn't going to help, coz they picked up all the gyaan from us and adapted it to their cultures, and in the process messed it up. So we need an unlearning of everything they taught us and everything we learnt thereafter by aping them, and then apply our minds and do what's best for us. Each one of us needs to do this at an individual level and collectively it will take the shape of a culture. So the basic change has to come at the level of the attitude and perspective of every individual.

Cost-Cutting...

The UPA leaders are now obsessed with Economy Class Air Travel. Even cancelled some timepass trips, like the goodwill trip to greece. Also cut down on the the size of teams which accompany ministers in their forgein trips.

I think in addition to this, they should also look for other avenues of earning money, besides the government salary, so that they can pay more taxes and contribute positively. For example, in their spare time, they can each write a book criticizing some historical figure and hurt the sentiments of someone who can make enough noise when he cries. The book will sell like crazy. They can also work in movies, coz all of them are great actors already. There have been politicians who have acted in movies while being in office. So it's very much doable. Travel can be cut down by using technology. Afterall, it was cost-cutting that made private companies use video conferencing etc. So the government can do that as well. It's time our politicians got a bit entrepreneurial, and also made entrepreneurship easier and safe for those willing and daring.

One suggestion I have is to abandon projects like the Moon Mission and ask ISRO to focus on things which can add to our economic and social well-being. For example, an artifical satellite that does weather forecasting, remote sensing, spying, etc. is a useful investment. But a thing that goes away to Moon or Mars, rotates around it, and sends back images and videos of rocks and crap from there is a terrible waste of (taxpayer) money and talent for a poor country like India, and should hence be pursued through private investments.

I can think of some logical reasons for still doing them, however. Like, if we don't, we may miss out in terms of our capabilities and the learning curve in the long run. If we start our space program after becoming prosperous, when we will have nothing to worry about except the possibilities of life on Moon or Mars, we will then not be in a position strong enough to do anything significant, having lagged behind everyone in this race. But I am sure we can have innovative ways right now of continuing our research in the area, through simulation etc., while advancing more widely and more rapidly in other areas which make better sense, and drawing learnings through them and other means to enhance our knowledge about travelling into outer space. It's a matter of having the right will. Anyway we should be ashamed to give this justification for continuing with the space program, coz we never give the same importance and seriousness to education, health care, livelihood, safe drinking water, sanitation, skills, technology, infrastructure, etc., where we are already lagging behind most of the world. These things should be topmost in our priority list, rather than setting foot on moon. Later when we have time and money, we can launch ourselves into the dead parts of the universe, and search for life. Till then, I think we must value our own lives and those of the millions who are not getting enough or anything to eat. It's important to align the enthusiasm of our sceintists, politicians and intelligentia towards what the nation needs at the moment, particularly when it comes to policy decisions and ways of spending the taxpayer money. Anything that does not cause any positive impact on our well-being should not be funded by the taxpayer money. For all such activities, even if they are of high intellectual or scientific worth, seek private funding.

Economic Indicators

There is no positive news on the front page of Business Standard today. There is immense confusion right now about whether the economy is really recovering. Just like there was confusion for long in early 2008 about whether there was really a recession or the economy was just acting weird.

As all hopes are pinned on China to drive the recovery, India continues to feel great about its positive GDP growth figure, which, by the way, is a highly arbit figure, given the way it is calculated in India, and everywhere for that matter. The actual figure could be much higher. Similar is the case in India with WPI, the indicator for Inflation. The basket of goods it comprises includes stuff which nobody uses nowadays and excludes stuff that grab the major spending today. And we end up having a negative Inflation value. That's pretty silly. On top of that, the new WPI under consideration chooses to exclude mobile phones, coz it is based on some upgraded basket of goods at some point a few years back when mobile boom had not picked up. When everyone knows it's bogus, why not fix it? It would have been great if we had more accurate measures to judge the economy. That would have helped us take better policy decisions. Economies are not supposed to be run by trial and error. It's no better if the tools you use are visibly erroneous.