Money-n-Fame

Let not fame and money hijack the purpose of life.

Desire...Quest...Consummation...Greed

Let not the progression of Desire to Quest to Consummation... reach the stage of Greed.
Run, rabbit run.
Dig that hole, forget the sun,
And when at last the work is done
Don't sit down it's time to dig another one.

- "DARK SIDE OF THE MOON", Pink Floyd

Bringing in Change

Just like there are two ways of designing software, there are also
two ways in which change can be bought in :-
- Top-down. This has a lot of impact and is very intrusive. A faster
way to bring-in change. There will be oppositions and revolutions
and without force or authority this cannot be done.
- Bottom-up. This is very non-intrusive. Instead of asking people
to change, can make them realize that what could be the benefits
of the change, and they would automatically change, once they
see the benefits. This is more durable, but would take a longer
time. No force or authority is required in this case. This is how
the companies like Infosys, Wipro, TCS bought the IT revolution
in India. Only after the successes of these companies did the
government start building STPIs, giving away land and other
infrastructural support to this sector and some other financial
incentives.

Who am I?

I am zilch. My role gives me identity. My sole objective is to
worship my role. Worship in the true sense.

Verses from Gita - 3.27

प्रक्रितेह् क्रियमानानि गुनैहि कर्मानि सर्वशह्
अहन्कारविमुदात्मा कर्ताहमिति मन्यते

అహన్కారము యొక్క్ ప్రభావముచె కలత్ నోన్దిమ్పబదిన జివాత్మ
నిజముగ భౌతిక ప్రక్రితి యొక్క త్రిగునములచె చెయబదిన కర్మలకు తానె కర్తనని భావిన్చును.
(Translated by P.C Bhaktivedaanta Swamy (ISKCON founder))

Purpose of Life - All the world's a stage

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts
- William Shakespheare (from As You Like It)

I heard this many a times, but it is now that I have come to see
relevance of this quote in all our lives. If we go by the quote and
assume that the world is a stage and we are all actors, then there are
some questions that arise and some ideas that we can infer from that
assumption:-
- What should be the aim of the actors (meaning us)? The aim of the
actors is ONLY to play the role as best as possible. And this is the
only objective of the person. The individual should put all his efforts
to make the best performance. Does this mean that the people who play
the bad roles have to be as bad as possible, because their role demands that?
But shouldn't I know the script to play my role well ?
- There are both good and bad roles. Gandhiji said "Hate the crime
and not the criminal". This is very apt. An individual might be
playing multiple roles simultaneously. So if the individual has
to play one bad role, then it doesn't mean that the individual
is to be hated because of that role. Valmiki was a hunter in his early
life. If this was believed then a thief/rebel would be accepted into
the society very easily, than the way it is now.
- Which are the real roles and which are manufactured/fake roles?
- How do I know what my actual role is?
- It's the role that is important and not the one who is playing it. This
is a very important inference, because if each one of us assimilates
this then there will not be any vanity. Everybody who plays his role,
would be given the respect no matter how supposedly small/insignificant
role that he is playing. Individuals who are achievers or considered
to be successful, often have lot of vanity, because they think that it
is they who had achieved this all by themselves. But this is not true.
It's the circumstances (or the role) that have brought them there.
Rather, it's the role that is great and not the person. All the
individual did was to play his role to his best and ofcourse he should
be applauded for doing that. The individual should not forget that,
the role that he played could have been played by somebody else too.
If not Mahatma Gandhi somebody else,
If not Nathuram Godse somebody else,
If not Bhagat Singh somebody else,
If not Sachin Tendulkar somebody else,
If not Rahul Dravid somebody else,
If not Abraham Lincoln somebody else,
If not Einstien somebody else,
If not Hitler somebody else,
If not Lance Armstrong somebody else,
If not Narayan Murthy somebody else,
If not Mother Theresa somebody else,
If not Norman Borlaug somebody else,
If not Verghese Kurien somebody else,
If the people see the distinction between the role and the actor, then
they would not set the goal to be Sachin Tendulkar but rather to be a
great batsmen. Unfortunately the society gives more importance to the
actor than the role as the role is very abstract and it doesn't have
any existence.
[There's a lot of relevance in the workplace. Once people realize that
it's the goal that matters and that all their roles are created to
achieve that goal, and their only objective is to play their roles
to perfection then they would compare their performances and not
their compensations. They would not care about recognitions and
designations]
Service above self. (Put the quote in hindi -- seva parmodharma).
If people realize that it is their role in the larger goal that is
important, people would cooperate with each other in working towards
the goal inspite of their differences. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi
would have continued playing together, if they would have realized this,
if they would have understood that the individual should yield to the
larger goal.
- Every role has significance. Just like the character of the (almost
completely disconnected) squirrel in the "Ice Age 2" movie, whch
plays a major role in the movie, by unknowingly saving all the
animals, everybody's role is of significance irrespective of how
small/minor it is.
- Separation of concerns. We have to play multiple roles simultaneously.
And as mentioned above, our objective should be to play all these
roles they best way we can. And to do this we have to keep them all
separated, without allowing any role to influence any other role in
any ways.
- Detachment. Once you step out somebody else will step in and all that
you were because of the role that you played, is gone. You should be
ready to accept this fact. You should realize that all that you are
getting as part of playing the role will not be available once you
cease to play your role and that you should not try to hold onto those.
There will always be cases when you'll find a person who can play the
role better than you, and then you should righteously give way to him.
- Relentless pursuit of perfection. Perfection is ideal and it can never
be achieved. And that's the reason why
For every Sampras there is a Federer,
For every Gavaskar there is a Sachin,
For every Newton there is an Einstien,
So individuals should strive to push the limits to reach perfection in
whatever they do.
- Just like most of the plays/stage which have a happy ending, will there
be a time when every individual will be happy? Will there be a time when all
the bad roles transform into good roles and there will no longer be any bad
roles?
- Why attribute success to a single individual and honor/appreciate/recognize
/appreciate only him/her, when there are lot of people involved in it? Is
it because all of them cannot be praised, because humans dont want equality,
because an individual would be happy when he is shown as above the rest? Is
it because he/she has set an example, and doing this would inspire others
to follow him/her? But should you make people to work for recognitions than
work for work itself?

A picture you ought to see

Another story on GMR

Sometime back I had written on my blog about the
GMR Group. It seems to be growing very rapidly...and I hope the GMR group becomes as big as the Reliance group.
As per this article on rediff

Rao, who owns a 79% stake, is worth $2.2 billion, enough for him to debut at No. 18 on Forbes Asia's third annual list of India's 40 Richest.

Friends Map at Orkut

I didn't notice this until today. Orkut provides a nice friends map using Google Maps.
That is mine (For some reason no one is showing up in India :-()

The amazingly cool WII

The newly introduced Nintendo Wii (pronounced as We) is an amazingly cool innovation.
I am not one of those guys who is into gaming, but the other day when I saw people
trying it out at the Valley Fair Mall in San Jose, I couldn't stop myself from trying it. I played boxing and
it was as if you were really in the ring and were fight with an opponent to knock him down. No more key combinations or press-buttons...Just swing your arms and body and
it recognizes the motion of the body and also the pace of the motion and reacts
accordingly. I think this is a revolutionary technology.
The last time (remember I am not into gaming) I was amazed, was when I got a jerk/sth
of the sort of a shock when I held the Playstation controller in my hand, and when
I hit my car with sth while playing the NFS sort-of game. I am talking abt the
feeedback and this was like 4-5 years back. But looking at it now, I get the thought..."but isn't that very basic and simple".

The crazy Vista story

I am not sure if I have heard it properly ...but I remember hearing to the radio
that Vista was a 50,000 man year project. Isn't that crazy...but that's what I
heard "10,000 people working for 5 years". (Yeah it does include every person involved
in the effort: the developers, the testers, the program managers, the UI experst and
the other higher-ups). I dont know anything abt what's new in the Vista, but I do
know that it's not just the OS, but there are lot of other products like the entire
office-suite, but still I cant convince myself that it would take such a looooooooong time. But the following blogs seems to point that it could be true:-
http://moishelettvin.blogspot.com/2006/11/windows-shutdown-crapfest.html

I am still trying to find out a written evidence for it.

Purpose of Life - Background

"The purpose of life is to live a life of purpose"

I found it as one of my friends' signature. I dont know what it really means :-),
but there's sth to it that makes it interesting.
I think I am at a stage in my life (almost everybody goes through it) where I have
to question my existence. Questions like: Who am I? Why am I on this earth? What
should I pursue? How should I live? Has it got more to do than just 'I came, I saw,
I left' or will it be just 'I came, I left' (Can I see the the reality in my lifetime)?
are making sense to me. Should I trouble myself by bothering to answer all these
questions or stay happy/contended by being ignorant? I dont konw if I will be able
to answer them...but I am convinced that it's worth giving a try :-).

Does GOD Exist ???

The eternal mystery was/is troubling me. Is there somebody called GOD or
something of that nature who controls all our lives and actions. Do we really have
control on most of the things that happen in our life? Is there sth called destiny?
If so can we change our destiny? I am not wise enough to answer them...but how do
I march ahead? By making assumptions? What if my assumptions are wrong? Does it
REALLY matter whether I believe in GOD or not? I guess it does...it will change the
whole perspective towards life. Because if you believe in GOD or sth of that nature,
you'll start accepting that you are JUST a cog in the wheel. An important thing
that seemed to support this (thiesm) is:-
- There are only a few things that are in our control. Because it's a big
inter-(connected/related) world, we are affected by even minor-minor acts of
somebody/sth living on some part of the world and similarly we affect others
who are totally unrelated to us.
- One thing is true...we come and we go (we take birth and we die). To me it seems
to be safe to assume that we REALLY dont have any control on these two aspects...
PROBABLY death might be a little in our hands, but not birth...because we dont
have any existence b4 we are born :-). If we think about death, the cause could
be a natural calamity, a natural death a sucide or a homicide. If it's a natural
calamity or natural death...there's nothing to point at. Let's think abt suicide
...why did I commit a suicde? there should be some reason for that...it could
be a circumstance...then how did that circumstance originate...it is very likely
that some human is involved in the creation of that cirumstance...if so then can
I say that it were the actions of that human which caused me to commit suicide?
It could be even more complicated...There could be a big chain of humans and
their actions which as a whole made me commit suicide (Individually each of their
actions isn't significant enough to be the cause, but collectively it is)? So
isn't it true that all these people who are part of this chain have a say in
determining my death. But if I put myself into the shoes of one of these
humans....Did I really intend to do that? If I had known that a small action of
mine could cause somebody to commit suicide, why would I do that? Even if I had
known that it could produce such a result, it might not make sense from my point
of view to stop doing that, because the small action by itself is not wrong. Am I
to be blamed for this? At this point it makes sense to accept that I am not
responsible for my actions. Atleast I'll be happy that I am just doing what
I am being asked to do. The same reasoning applies for homicide....here the
person subject of the homicide is directly responsible for my death. So do we
say that there's somebody called GOD who should be held responsible for all the
actions of all the humans? What about birth? Am I responsible for my birth?
Seems very funny :-) but I think this was the question that made the Hindu's
think of the concept of rebirth...the separation of soul and the body.

An AI/NLP problem

I was just wondering if this could be possible:-
Using my blog (which includes all my blog posts) as the key to a
search engine, can I find all those persons who blog and
have a similar mindset/interests/thoughts like me.

Hindi is NOT our National Language

All these years I have been believing that Hindi is our National Language, because
that's what I remember I was taught when I was in school, I am not sure if it was
written in any of my texbooks. Thanks to Vikram, I came to know TODAY...that it's
a BIG myth that we are carrying around in our mind. I am unable to accept that
something as simple thing as this could be tampered with. It makes me think how
many such fallacies and myths I am having in my mind. Will I get a chance to correct
all those things or I'll have to take them to my grave? Whom should I blame for this?

National Public Radio (NPR)

The best radio that I have come across.
If u are in the bay area you can tune into 88.5 FM, which is the KQED-FM.
Their non-intrusive way of advertising, the worldwide (BBC news at 9 pm),
and the daily morning biz news and the "Perspective", have been really
good.
Here are the timings of some of the good programs:-
- BBC world news at 9pm (daily)
- "The perspective" at 7.30 am (daily)
- "Commonwealth club of California" 8 pm (every friday)
- "The voices this week" at 7.05 am (every sunday)
will keep adding to this list as I found more.
Check out the link for details.

The flipside of Rules

Rules are created with a purpose/objective. But unfortunately as time progresses the
rules themselves become the objectives and the original purpose itself is forgotton.
And the enforcers of these rules forget that the rules are to be verified/applied with
the original purpose in mind. Lest the rules might become blind-faiths. So it is
necessary that the rules are evaluated regularly to see their applicability with the
time. It would be great if the authority which judges the compliance with the rules,
takes into account the original objective, because there might be many cases wherein
one can violate the set rules but still be achieving the original objective.
The other problem with rules is that they are sometimes created for avoiding
(mis/ab)use of some things by miscreants...But at the expense of the righteous
persons losing thier right. Take the following scenario:-
My college had intially computer labs open throughout the night. There were people
who were using it for education and there were other who were misusing it. The
authorities came to know abt this and they put in the rule of closing the labs in
the nights. So all those people who were actually using it lost their right to
education.

Sanyaasa - The fourth and final stage of Hindu life

I am impressed by the way Wikipedia describes the Sanyaasa stage of hindu life:-

Having succeeded in overcoming all sensual affections and desires, and in acquiring perfect equanimity towards everything around him, the hermit has fitted himself for the final and most exalted order, that of devotee or religious mendicant. As such, he has no further need of either mortifications or religious observances; but with the sacrificial fires reposited in his mind, he may devote the remainder of his days to meditating on the divinity. Taking up his abode at the foot of a tree in total solitude, with no companion but his own soul (jiva), clad in a coarse garment, he should carefully avoid injuring any creature or giving offence to any human being that may happen to come near him. Once a day, in the evening, when the charcoal fire is extinguished and the smoke no longer issues from the fire-places, when the pestle is at rest, when the people have taken their meals and the dishes are removed, he should go near the habitations of men, in order to beg what little food may suffice to sustain his feeble frame. Ever pure of mind he should thus bide his time, as a servant expects his wages, wishing neither for death nor for life, until at last his soul is freed from its fetters and absorbed into the atman, the impersonal self-existent Brahman, or else returns to dwell with Brahman experienced as the personal Deity.

Inter(net)-Dependence

I never thought I would be so dependent on the Internet. These days it's like I am in a solitary confinement (in my apartment) and my laptop (Thinkpad T60) together with
the internet is my window to the outer world :-). Internet has become the 4th basic
necessity of my life (apart from roti, kapda and makaan). Look at the ways I am using it:-
Chatting :- Yahoo Messenger, GTalk, Gmail
Phone, Conf call :- Yahoo Messenger, Skype
Shopping info: Froogle,
Driving directions: Google Maps, Yahoo maps
Search: Google, Wikipedia,
Music: Raaga.com, dishant.com
Apart from these the other things that I use the net for are recipes, movies, blogging , internet radio etc.

The OLPC Project

Here's the link for the pics of the working prototyp of $100 laptop,
which is part of the One Laptop Per Child intiative.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pete/sets/72057594143224765/
And here's the link that shows the current adoption/interest by
the countries:-
http://www.laptop.org/map.en_US.html