Open Book

Lone trek to the hill-mountain

2011-06-25T21:34:00.005+05:30

This little mountain-or large hill- is visible from my place in talegaon. An odd shape sticking out abruptly from the surrounding land. Unlike the other hills, this one doesn’t form the continuation of a range; it stands there all by itself, its contours smoothing out gradually without spreading to the nearby hills. I always thought fold mountains were formed in linear ranges, with the exception of a few individual blunt hills. But this one is sharp with a clear peak. Peculiar forces indeed that formed this little aberration of the earth. Enough geology though. The point is, this strange mountain always made me want to give it a visit.

So one day after lunch, I decided to head out and see how far it was. Since I had not really prepared for a trek, I packed a few things I thought could help- large knife, wooden stick, matchbox and some paper, plastic bags to keep stuff dry, extra pair of glasses and 2 phones; apart from the obvious food and a 1 litre water bottle. I couldn’t find my long rope so I hurried off with what I got my hands on- skipping rope and elastic clothesline. Big mistake.

Off I went, starting out at 13:30 down Ambi road which connects the old highway to Ambi village and all the new factories that have opened up there. It goes over a railway track and the river Indrayani- both of which run roughly WNW to east. The mountain is NE of my place, so once on the road I saw it a bit to my left, long way away. Standing over the railroad, I totally forgot about the river and decided to head straight toward the mountain. I crossed the open fields, coming upon goat jaws and buffalo skulls, 2 types of mushrooms, mostly thorny shrubs and loads of grass spread all over in tiny patches which made it appear dense and continuous from far away. The wind was strong as always, carrying with it sparse little drops of rain from the North West. I picked a power tower and a far away tree to form a straight line to the mountain, as a guide. As I went on following this line I came across some farms at the base of the tower. There I saw the river some way further and clapped a hand to my forehead. The return to the main road cost me some time and yet this wasn’t my last detour.

After crossing the river I was again tempted to go off road, straight to the mountain. The landscape on this side was awesome. Smooth dunes rising up and sloping down in the distance, into the remnants of a stream, only to rise again on the other side. The cloud shadow meant that that side had a misty blue shade to it, while the grass on my side glowed gold and green. Soon it was the opposite; and because the wind was so strong it meant these colours kept changing all the time. I thought this only happened on the ‘fields of pelennor’¹, with Oscar winning visual effects. I went ahead to find a great depression in the ground which rose steadily into a dense forest which I had no intention of crossing. So I went back to the road that-to my dismay- continued way toward the east to be going anywhere near the mountain. I went off road again at the first chance and continued till I reached a fence and a mango plantation. The farmer told me there was a small off shoot from the main road that went north, straight past the mountain. I cut across to this road from the nearby green houses and was finally on my way, with about 1km left to go.

The detours had meant I had walked a total of 8kms instead of the otherwise 6.5km long path. Still I didn’t stop until I climbed up the gentler slope and rested on a rock I had seen from below. Walking straight for 2 hours, I had not eaten or sipped water since I had left home and so I took a 10min break here.

Point 2

Then I picked my things and looked up to plan a route. I was still considering going all the way up, but by the time I got to point 2, it was obvious that the way ahead was too difficult and time consuming. It was 16:00 and I wanted to get home before sun-down. By the time I went a bit further toward the right, something felt wrong. The terrain looked and felt very different the moment I started the descent. There was grass everywhere and only a few precious little rocks and even fewer reliable foot-holds. The gradient suddenly looked steep. I couldn’t go back the way I came, it looked too treacherous. Two fathoms below there was an overhang preceding a straight fall of I don’t know how many feet (around 20-25 from the figure it seems). So the only option was going sideways. Progress was very slow and each move was risky. Firm looking outcrops just gave way when I tried to grab them for support. A base rule for climbing is to have at least 3 points of support at all times and this was becoming increasingly scarce. Finally I reached point #3. Here I thought I was trapped. There were no foot holds, no rocks jutting out, and everything I stepped on was slippery. The only hold I had was where my feet were. With no hand supports, I could only stay there leaning back against the slope. This was impossible with my backpack on, so I removed it slowly and carried it in my left hand.

I moved a foot to the right somehow. My feet were firmly supported so I chanced leaving the slope to stand straighter. Just as I peeped down, a great gust of wind came from my right(left hand side in the photo). At once I leaned back again, my heart pounding. I looked up at the sinister peak and for the first time on a trek, I felt fear. There was nowhere to go and even the soil under my feet seemed unreliable now. . I stopped to think. To my left was the edge of a dry stream. I toyed with the idea of jumping across; the land on that side looked negotiable. But looks could be deceiving, and even a precisely executed jump would not come with the guarantee that I would land on something firm. The risk was to roll out of control for 10 feet and off the overhang, crash down and roll again, breaking god knows how many bones before I would come to a stop somewhere on the gentle slopes..’eventually’. And this was only the optimistic outcome of course. About 7 ft above me was a great rock the size of a small square room, with one corner sticking out, precariously supported on several small broken rocks. It just hung over there, spoiling any back up plan of mine to stay there until someone rescued me or something. I mean, what if it came lose at night, and crushed me in my dreams? I know, sounds ridiculous; but when you’re trapped alone on a place like that-literally ‘between a rock and a hard place’- then anything seems possible. The daredevil and the coward are both in your head, and there’s no telling which one’s right! Where do you go and what do you do? Do you move at all?

I started talking to myself to calm down. Then I started praying slowly. Rationality returned; I must make a plan; plan a route; route to go down. But there were no foot holds for 5 ft below my feet. “So hang somewhere! You’ve got rope!” “What? Skipping rope?! And hang it where?” Just then I saw a shrub sticking out beside me. I pulled on it to test it, and it felt just well rooted enough. Cursing myself for not searching for the long rope back home and feeling stupid, I pulled out the skipping rope. Looped it around the stem and chanced a pull. I pounded my heel into the damp soil a few inches below to make a foothold. I continued this way for a few feet. When the rope felt short, I tied a knot and slid it up to the root with the wooden stick, so the double rope now became single. How easy would it be if I was free of my bag, I thought! What if I flung it off the mountain and collected it later? Nah, the bag had my precious water and food, apart from other survival goodies. It would be fatal to let it go!

Wishes come true even in bad times though, especially in bad times I would say; so be careful what you wish for. I descended in that manner till I ran out of rope. The difficult part was far from over. In fact it would now be even harder as I didn’t have my rope to hang on any longer. Resentfully I let it go to help some other fool in need. The same problem resurfaced again though, and this time there wasn’t even a bush beside to rope up. So I pulled out my wooden stick. Without hoping for much, I dug the stick into the soil as vertically as possible. This would give the optimal resisting torque without the chance of the rope slipping over it(sorry for the geeky input but you see how vital it can be sometimes! :P). I pushed it as far as it went and looped the elastic clothesline over it, with the 2 hooks in my hand. Surprisingly, the stick supported the load. Grabbing the line firmly with one hand, I carried my bag in the other and continued my slow painful heel-digging descent. The elasticity of the rope made this very discomforting. I reached another thorny plant and rested my feet on it firmly. I recovered my line and stopped to think. The bag was making me unstable so I decided to hook it and carry it a few feet below me, using the elastic line.

Point 4

I hooked it and let it slide down slowly. Son of a gun stopped abruptly and made my line go slack. So I jerked the line and slip! The bag came free! I watched helplessly in slow motion as it tumbled crazily down and out of my sight off the overhang. I stood to peep but didn’t see it far below anywhere.

Now things were suddenly serious- too serious to come down one heel at a time like a scared sissy. I stuffed the line in my pocket and went to good old unsupported hand-and-foot climbing; I didn’t need the damn rope. This mountain was not above my skill! :P Quickly I stepped, taking each hold and niche with the confidence of master crane² of kung fu panda fame. I came to better ground in no time and the red line became orange again. As you can see, I had come to the side, in the direction of point 2, so I could now see the path I thought my bag had tumbled down. I strained to see the slopes and plains below but there was no blue dot. I looked up and there it was! Stuck in a shrub some way to the left(below #4). I went there as fast as I could (horizontal orange line), picked up the bag, eager to have a sip of water for my now dry throat. But hell! The bottle wasn’t there. It must have tumbled out due to its weight and gone on. There was no point searching for it. And then again, less weight in the bag was precisely the reason it had got stuck and stopped! So I took it and continued along the now childishly easy terrain, winding my way back down and off the mountain.

Conclusion

Parched and tired, I hopelessly tried for a lift until one fellow with a Gandhi topi let me hop on to his bike and took me all the way to talegaon rly stn. Turns out he’s the ‘adhyaksha’ of the warkari group of Maval taluka. Told me he lives in the village on the other side on the mountain and asked me over for lunch the next time I came. I thanked him, took his card and left. Overall, it was quite the adventure I had in mind, and a lot that I didn’t!

1 Pelennor fields are where the battle of minas tirith takes place in the 3^rd LOTR movie.

2 Kung Fu Panda has a short prequel “Secrets of the furious five”. Master Crane’s secret is Confidence.

Return of the Sparrow

2010-07-12T17:13:00.006+05:30

I first thought of writing on this subject last year after reading an article in TOI about the disappearance of sparrows from the city. I kept an eye out for the little birds for a few days after that, and it looked like they had indeed gone away. That was till two months later. My exams were on and I had taken a break from studies to take a look around when I noticed a sparrow on the parapet. The tiny creature was soon joined by her mate and then they both flew away. I have hardly ever seen a sparrow in Thane since then.

I have been living in Talegaon for the past few days, enjoying my vacations in the midst of the scenic beauty and the cool weather. What is interesting is the abundance of sparrows here, along with healthy populations of at least five other kinds of bird(Don't ask me what they’re called, I don't know!). What's more, the birds look chubby and happy, chirping away all the time. So why is there a difference? Why are the birds leaving the city?

Now it is well known that amphibians are the most sensitive to environmental changes, as they depend on both the land and water to survive. Any change, like the salt concentration of the water or fluctuating temperatures, shows up directly in the change in the amphibian population of a particular region. Judging by the disappearance of the sparrows, small birds also seem to be strongly influenced by changes in their habitat. Environmentalists have already pointed out to us several of the factors responsible for this habitat change. They are, pollution of air and water, noise, temperature rise, telecomm tower radiation, and the sheer lack of space and food. Let's see how these correlate with the given scenario.

Thane is a crowded city, densely populated and highly polluted, just like every other place in and around Mumbai. Plus there’s the rising heat. The increase in the number of vehicles is primarily responsible for this, which in turn is due to the large human population. Talegaon is a village about 120 kms away from Mumbai. It is a clean, cool, and silent place. In terms of human habitation, it is still very young. There is a lot of greenery everywhere and only a small number of vehicles and industries The buildings are located far from one another, unlike in the city. This allows for free flow of air and easy dispersal of smoke as well as heat. Because the roads are narrow and surrounded by trees, local ‘hot spots’ are almost non-existent Thus the air remains cool and free of pollution. The abundance of plants and trees absorbs excessive noise to a certain extent. The number of telecomm towers is much smaller.

I think it is obvious why the sparrows have chosen the villages over the city. But this post is about the return of the sparrow. So how do we make that happen? We can’t move the buildings apart and make the roads narrow. We cannot reduce the number of factories. Yet there are many things that we can do. We can eliminate hot spots by planting trees in a planned manner in carefully selected locations, along roads and at important junctions. We can reduce the number of vehicles on the roads, by carpooling and cycling. In India, many people consider cycling as old fashioned and cheap, saying that you only use a bicycle if you can’t afford a motorbike or car. This mentality has to change. An excellent example of the implementation of this idea can be seen in Montreal, Canada, where they have used high-end technology to put in place a community bicycle renting system. Now we can’t afford that kind of technology here in Mumbai, but the good thing is that we don’t need to. Investing in a simple bicycle is a win-win choice for all, considering the benefits in health, economy, and environment protection. A bicycle is thrice as efficient as a car, causes zero pollution, and keeps you fit without spending a penny. It will be socially beneficial as well, since people will interact more openly as opposed to sitting in air-conditioned cars without sparing as much as a glance at each other or the world around them. The government can arrange for special bicycle lanes along main roads and encourage people to ride bikes, as is being done in Pune, another city where pollution is a major problem. Maybe they can tie up with a bicycle manufacturer to provide bikes to school- and college students at subsidised rates.

As far as noise pollution is concerned, the government is already taking many measures, though the authorities still seem too cowardly to accost political parties that organise fancy programs that play on late into the night and block all the traffic.

The number of telecomm towers must be strictly regulated. With the kind of competition that exists today between service providers, this problem is seldom accepted, let alone addressed. The density of these towers in an area must be kept below a limit. This limit in turn should be based on careful studies, undertaken not in the city, but in the villages, where the demand for connectivity is not so high as to compromise on the environment and yet not so low that you’d need to walk a mile to get network coverage.
But we can’t depend on the government to make changes; we know how slow those people work. There are so many things we can do at the individual level. I think if we make the city clean and cool again, the sparrows will come back.

The adjective of Cow

2010-03-22T21:00:00.000+05:30

"Madness is tonic and invigorating. It makes the sane more sane. The only ones who are unable to profit by it are the insane"

2005. Class 10th B.

The English teacher miss Mavis, is going on in her monotone as most of the class sleeps. She then starts asking random questions like "What is the correct pronunciation of s-w-o-r-d?", to which people reply "swore-d!". She looks disappointed, though not surprised. So she just continues with reading the lesson instead. It's a dull half hour class until she decides to ask her last question, looking hopefully for a correct answer- "Can anyone tell me the adjective of Cow?". The class is silent now. Everyone looks at each other, sighs, and goes back to sleep. Except the boy on the first bench. He got the first question wrong and has no idea about this one, but he must say something. The reputation of the class is at stake, and it's worth saving for the sake of the few sincere students in it. But he does not know the answer. Ah chuck it! Let's throw a stone in the dark, he says; at least it will wake everyone up. So he tries, and his mind soars as is delves into the soul of the world to to gain the knowledge unknown.. Suddenly the answer comes to him, and he is enlightened for that brief moment as he shouts, "Beef!"...

...

St. John times - 1

2009-12-31T10:55:00.001+05:30

Ah! Finally, I'm writing about the good old times.Yes!

Ahem. Okay, so..

Two institutions have so far had a great impact on my life. My current college(Fr.CRIT) and my school - St. John the Baptist High School. All kinds of experiences and memories are attached to this place. Right from the uneventful KG years to the glorious 8th, 9th and 10th when we formed the F.F.E.

In many ways, St. John for me has been like the world in miniature. There were all kinds of people in there; and I'm not saying just students. Even the teachers were all one of a kind. There was this teacher in Sr. KG who threatened us by saying that she would take a pencil, put it in our mouths and remove it from the back of our necks. At five years old, I could simply not fathom how something put in the mouth could come out that way. Things you put in the mouth went down, right? And what was beyond the throat anyway?

Then there was a teacher in the 2nd std who would tell us she'd staple the lips of anyone who talked. This I understood perfectly, but I never had trouble keeping quiet and being inconspicuous. I did get punished for not doing homework though. Her conventional way of punishment was to take anything from two to four wooden foot rulers stacked one above the other and hit students on the shins and calfs. Every single person in the class cried, except one girl, who never showed any other sign of emotion either. And me. I don't remember ever crying in school.

If ever I crack a particularly stupid joke, this friend of mine makes a sad face and says very cautiously "Er.. were you abused as a child?". It's hilarious to see his expression when I tell him about all these things!

There are two times when I got into a little bad company, which is inevitable in St.John- once in 5th-6th and once in 9th after the start of the renaissance.

7th standard was the first time I made a concious decision about life. God knows what made me do it then, but things changed immediately. It was like going into high gear all of a sudden. I stood 4th in the class, won quizzes and even took part in a dance. 3 first times in one year; 4 considering my first crush.

So for me, life began at 12. In St.John.

It was in 8th std when I met most of the friends I still hang out with, and the remaining schooling years were spent in the forming of our group. There are so many things that I'd like to write about here, one post is too small. So let me start with a random event-

10th standard

Once my friend Aniket and I were sitting on the 1st bench in the english lecture when Mavis miss asked us to go to the library for some work. From what I heard, we were supposed to get a small poem for the KG students. It did sound odd but we didn't bother. It was good enough to be out of the class. So off we went and came down with 'pussycat pussycat' written neatly on a piece of paper. Mavis miss took the paper from us, watched our smug faces with what JK Rowling would call an 'unfathomable' expression, and went away without a word. In the recess on the next day, I ran into Aniket and Mavis miss in the corridor. And there was Jacinta miss too, all through utter coincidence. Now I remember Jacinta miss as an understanding, calm and soft spoken person. But then why was Mavis miss talking to her with an angry expression? And why were they both-one in shock, other in disbelief- looking down at the two of us? Before I could answer these questions, Jacinta miss had started to lecture us and Mavis miss had left, saying '...so I told them to bring a song to play in the school assembly and this is what they get..!'

Man, talk about miscommunication! What would it have taken us to confirm what we were actually supposed to do?! Why would a teacher ask 10th std students to get a nursery rhyme anyway?

Still, all in all, it was fun. Thank God we had always been in their good books. Turns out, you don't lose your reputation for taking the mickey out of the teachers, intentionally or unintentionally!

Heisenberg's Hand of God

2009-11-09T20:45:00.022+05:30

The Uncertainty Principle

Thank God for Heisenberg! If it wasn't for him and his famous uncertainty principle, we-like Einstein-would forever think that everything in the world is predictable and knowable. The aim of science as I understand it, is to know how the universe works and use this knowledge to solve our problems by predicting the behavior of natural systems. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle is something that would turn this kind of approach on its head.

Technically, the uncertainty principle is concerned with the kinetics of quantum particles, but let's see what it means to the layman. Suppose you throw a cricket ball into the air. Keeping with the aim of science, you want to know where the ball will land, when and at what speed. For this, you should be able to know the ball's speed, direction and position at any point in time. The most direct way to do this is simply to 'see' the ball, but that would mean you will have to illuminate it by throwing some light on it. Now in case of a ball this would be a pretty straightforward process, but when you consider a subatomic particle such as an electron, it is not so. Because an electron is so small and light, that throwing some light on it would disturb it enough to alter its velocity. Stronger the light, more will be the disturbance and less accurate would be the velocity measurement. A weaker light on the other hand, will give you a better idea of the velocity; but weaker light means bad resolution i.e., a bad measurement of position. So the overall effect is that you can not know both the position and velocity of the electron accurately at the same time. This is the main concept of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.

Heisenberg's Hand of God

Although the uncertainty principle by itself looks dull, its implications in quantum mechanics make it truly fascinating. Because in quantum mechanics, small particles like electrons simply don't have fixed positions in space-time i.e, there is only a chance that a particle may be where it is supposed to be. And this chance, or probability, has a certain value which can be calculated. For example, if you calculate the position of an electron to be a particular point, there will be say, a 90% chance of it actually being there, but theoretically, for the remaining 10%, the electron can be anywhere in the universe! Of course, the probability of finding it at a certain place depends on how far the place is from the expected position. For example, an electron in one of the atoms in my brain cells would most probably be found orbiting that particular atom only. The chance of that same electron being found in your head is negligibly small and the chance of it ending up on Mars is still smaller. But the point is that the chance, however small, does exist. And the interesting thing is that although we can calculate the probability of a particle being somewhere, we can never say with certainty that it is there at a given point in time!

Magnification of Uncertainties

So in short, you can never really put a finger on something and say that it is definitely here or there, if that something is of the order of the size of a subatomic particle. Now consider you are playing a game of quantum billiards, which is billiards with quantum particles instead of cue balls. If you hit an electron with your cue stick, you would expect it to go ahead and hit another particle which will then hopefully sink into one of the pockets and get you a score. But what if the electron's position suddenly changes during its motion? What if it hits a different ball? And what if that other ball(particle) then moves in a still more unforeseen fashion? Remember that you can predict the probabilities of the different situations that may arise out of this, yet you have absolutely no way of knowing which of all the possible ones will actually take place. So in quantum pool, you would have no idea of what will happen each time your cue hits a ball!

Now as I said before, the chance of the individual particles ending up very far away from their expected positions is still very small, but when you consider the domino effect that could eventually take place even by small uncertainties, the end result could indeed be very surprising and unexpected. The possible combinations can be millions in number and you'd have no way of predicting exactly what will happen, when.

Miracle Mechanics

But then why isn't everything around us in a state of total chaos and unpredictability as I seem to suggest above? What has all this particle motion to do with the real world anyway? After all, we don't deal with electrons and photons everyday, do we? But of course we do! If you have seen The Matrix, you'll remember Morpheus saying this to Neo - "What is real? How do you define-real? If real is everything you can see, touch, hear and smell, then real is simply electrical impulses transmitted to your brain!" So in a way, everything you experience, feel, even imagine, has in fact everything to do with electrons! Now let's say if I, or someone else, could tamper with just a few of those electrons-change when and where they'll be- I could change the way you think, feel and react. I wouldn't have to do much, only a few electrons will be enough and the cascade that follows will take care of the rest; at least that's my theory. Tampering with electron motion would be an action at the micro level, but he effect on the macro level would be closer to being tangible- like say, inducing a thought or a sudden stroke of inspiration, perhaps. I don't know, I have never tried playing with electrons like that.

Or maybe I have. Maybe we all have. I mean, if it is true that electrons can affect thoughts, why can't the opposite also be true? Your brain is consuming 20 to 25 watts just to read this. With that kind of electrical activity, there would be millions of billions of electrons going here and there inside your skull. Now with such a huge number of particles, the probability of a large uncertainty taking place should increase to realistic or considerable levels; just like the chances of hitting a target will increase with the number of throws. More the number of particles, more the chances of occurrence of erratic behavior. So if one of those electrons indeed ends up in my brain and starts a cascade like a billiards ball, then would that mean that your thoughts are able to affect mine? Or if that electron goes some place else, could it affect the unfolding of an event - maybe one which you're thinking of right now?

Maybe God does not play dice after all. We do.

What I described above might one day show us how some unexplainable events we call 'miracles' and 'coincidences' actually happen. Or I might just be thinking too much, as usual. In any case, let me think and see if this takes us to a sensible conclusion. For now I think this much is enough. More of my strange ideas later.

Note: I have used a few analogies and approximations in this post, to make it easier to digest. For example, the uncertainty principle deals with position and momentum, unlike position and velocity as I have said. But a little consideration will show that it doesn't make a difference in the end. If you are new to the subject, rest assured that my explanation of the uncertainty principle is correct. The rest is as I said, a guess, although a well calculated one.

Global warming and the Kyoto Box

2009-10-13T19:40:00.003+05:30

Covering Greenland's ice with reflective cloth, dumping iron compounds in the ocean to cause algae growth and reduce CO₂, putting thousands of small lenses into space to dim the sun's rays- these are few of the more radical ways that scientists have suggested to combat global warming. Impressive though they might seem, most of these ideas are just not feasible enough to be taken seriously.Yet the effects of global warming are increasing day by day, even as I write this. It is thus a situation where we are trying to clean up the mess we have made but seem to lack the tools for the job. And so, it's really heartening to see people coming up with simple little solutions to a problem which seems too large to contain. The Kyoto Box, developed by Jon Bohmer, is one such solution.

The Kyoto Box is probably the simplest, cheapest, most portable solar cooker ever.

It consists of 5 parts - two different sized cardboard boxes, aluminium foil, black paint and a transparent cover. The simplicity of its box-in-box construction can be clearly seen from the picture. The space between the two boxes may be filled with easily available insulating material like straw, and the cover helps trap the

heat inside(taste of your own medicine, Global Warming?!). The Kyoto Box can be used to purify water and cook food. It can be packed flat so that thousands can fit in the back of a truck, and given its low cost, might prove to be a boon to

millions who still use firewood for cooking.

The obvious advantages of using this innovative device include reduction in CO₂emissions and less deforestation, not to mention saving thousands who would otherwise succumb to smoke inhalation from indoor cooking( According to the WHO,1.6 million people die this way every year).

The manufacturers claim that temperatures inside the box can reach more than 150^oC on a sunny day, but even a temperature lower than 100^oC is enough to yield reasonably clean water and pasteurize food, as shown by the scale below.

Out of the box designs like the Kyoto Box are proof that we don't need to use cutting edge technology and spend millions to fight worldwide environmental crises. Of course, it is not a quick fix that will drastically reduce our impact on the planet, but it surely is one of the small but effective steps we can take to keep that impact in check.

About Me part II

2009-08-16T15:03:00.005+05:30

A little piece I'd written as my 'about me' on orkut some time back-

Funny how your life gains meaning one moment and loses it the next.

And the more you dig, the harder and seemingly more pointless it gets. But its like Aragorn says,"There's always Hope". Because the time will come when you see the bigger picture-realize that in the end, everything always makes sense. You come to know that even the worst experiences have something to teach; and that the way you realize the true value of happiness is through pain,as of trust through betrayal, and of life through a brush with death. And slowly, very slowly,life begins to unfold, as you begin to see the world as a whole and not in parts- in countries, cultures, men, mentalities, and points of view...

I Have A Dream

2009-03-09T19:40:00.004+05:30

Waise toh I have many dreams and aspirations, but the one I'm about to describe is among the more daring ones. It also has more to do with the world as a whole rather than with me personally.

Now then. Looking at the present condition of India and the world(terrorism, corruption, poverty, etc), it might seem easy - even natural, to believe that all this will continue the way it is; that no matter how much effort anyone puts, we cannot make any significant changes in a situation that's going from bad to worse. Even if you set about gathering all the facts and gave the matter some serious thought, chances are you might come to the same conclusion. It all seems like a hopelessly entangled ball of string.

But I don't see it that way. For me, the world is still a beautiful place. Yes, beautiful. I believe that if we as humans are foolish enough to spoil it, then we as humans are also wise enough and capable enough to rebuild, restore and re-purify it. I dream of a world without nuclear weapons and terrorists; without discrimination and bias. A world without pollution and environmental degradation. A place where every child has an education, every youth has a job and every family a home; where every individual is learning to tap into his/her physical, intellectual, and spiritual potential and become a productive part of society. Where criminals are being convicted without delay by courts that uphold justice and humanity rather than laws and legislation.

A world where education teaches us to live and create happiness, rather than to just survive and make money; where people are quickly running out of reasons to indulge in things like thievery, fraud, murder, rape, terrorism, and war. There's a lot more, but I can already imagine you saying "Oh come on! Stop being so..."- Unrealistic?Impractical?Childish?Naive? It's called optimism actually, and if you're rolling your eyes now, then you need a good dose of it.

In the past I was one of those people who make sad profound statements under the pretext of being 'realistic' and not pessimistic. But over the years I have learnt that seeing the good side and believing in it really does make things happen. But will it work in the collective lives all the people in the world? Will it help us climb out of the pit which we've dug for ourselves? Can we save the world with some Optimism? There are only two entities that can answer these questions. One is the ever advancing arrow of time. The other is us.

P.S.
1. The title is that of Martin Luther King's famous 1969 speech. I'd die to make that kind of difference he made in the world. Plagiarism is not my way of impressing people. I just borrowed a title.
2. I took the picture with my Nokia 6300 outside Thane railway station in Feb '08, around 7:40 AM.

Open Book

2008-12-31T19:30:00.007+05:30

Wondered why I named this blog Open book? Neither did I when I started it. Then a few days ago I wrote this poem which coincidentally also explains the blog name. Well the first part is not exactly a poem, but I don't write poems anyway so it doesn't matter.

Life is an Open Book Exam.
The Lesson is always there- right in front of my eyes.
Written on the face of every person I meet, scattered across my thoughts;
etched in every probe of my conscience,
hidden in every experience,
in every obvious and cryptic coincidence, in every twist of fate.
Scattered across my dreams; in lecture rooms, rain drops, and those pure delightful rays of sunlight.
Across every conversation and every confession.
In everything that went wrong and everything that went just right.
In every pang of guilt or envy, in every feeling of love.
In every insult and every hurt.
In every friend who stabbed and every friendship that could have been but wasn't...

(and now the bit that actually rhymes)

The hard part is to follow,
To do what I know is right.
To have faith in my instincts,
and not give up the fight.

But it's hard to keep the faith
in something I can't see.
Like in God or in the future,
whatever it may be.

What I need is inspiration-
perpetual as the sun.
To always come remind me
of all things to be done.

In search of such a brilliance
so far, I have been fruitless.
Although these diamonds in my path
surely can't be useless?

For inspiration is not found
in great epics or great tales.
It lies in the smallest things in life,
"God lies in the details"

The Terrorists Within

2008-12-01T13:07:00.001+05:30

‘Terrorists’ are far more abundant than one might think.
I believe that every dominating or aggressive act aimed at inducing fear for the purpose of asserting authority, gaining respect, profit or revenge is an act of terrorism. So logically, every bully in school is a terrorist and so is every politician making inflammatory speeches.

When this guy said, “I’ll break the arms and legs of anyone who dares to get in the path of my party workers”, people actually clapped and cheered. A few days ago I had seen those very oh-so-noble party workers beating up any and every shopkeeper they came across, in order to force them to shut shop- all for the purpose of ‘showing them who’s boss’. If that’s not terrorism, I don’t know what is.

It’s not the fault of those monkey-see-monkey-do workers though. Heck it’s not even the fault of their twisted leaders. It’s our fault.

Some idiot comes and shouts, “Hey, those people are bad. It’s all their fault. Don’t let them come here and dominate us!” And off we go running behind him, thrashing people and bad-mouthing communities, never sparing a thought as to who is actually being dominated by whom.
We must stop being the puppets of these power hungry politicians. They will say and do just about anything it takes to convince us that they are right. It is our duty to stand firm and let our conscience decide, based in all available facts. These people will only use us and throw us, gaining more power in the meantime.

Let us stop being blindly led by these people, otherwise what is the difference between us and herd animals?

The military will always be there to protect us from armed terrorists, but the above-mentioned form of terrorism will not be gone until we start acting less like cowardly baboons and more like courageous men who do not need to be spoon-fed what is right for them.

Unless we learn to stand on our own feet and stop tolerating these political bullies, we have no right to teach the government or anybody else what they should do.

Awoken by a---Squirrel!

2008-10-16T11:32:00.000+05:30

Indian Striped Palm Squirrel- right on my very own coconut tree!
My prelims ended yesterday and so I wasn't really keen on waking up early today. So it was with groggy eyes and a disoriented mind that I spotted the creature. Well actually I heard it first- kak-kaking away at something, raising its tail and flattening its little belly each time. I got my phone out and got a few pics and a video too, although the light was working against me so I couldn't quite capture the beauty of it.

2008-09-24T23:10:00.000+05:30

Thermodynamics and green leaves

After consecutively getting bad grades in thermodynamics tests for the last God knows how many times, I think the subject demands some respect; which is why I'm going to write something about it here.

Thermodynamics.Hm. The most basic scientific way of trying to make sense of everything that goes on in the universe. Sounds interesting that way,no? And yet when you study it, you find it's so...so constrained. Every law seems to start with 'It is impossible to...'. By the time you've done with it, you're left with a miserable feeling of how pointless it is to make heat engines and generate any sort of power from nature; because no matter what, you'll always end up losing most of it to nature again, with the added discomfort of making the air a bit warmer and the world a bit dirtier.

Thermodynamics tells you how to make life practical, by taking advantage of this wonderful and once peaceful world that God's given to us fools. We fail to realize that the earth is a closed system and whatever waste we throw away will come back to us; and we won't be able to put it into space because by that time there won't be enough trees to make currency to pay for the space flights. So sooner or later, it's all gonna catch up with us.

Maybe we should all just go back to the caves; with the streams and the flowers, and green leaves covering our privates.

Watching the world deteriorate itself before my eyes, I'm reminded of a poem I read in school and find myself crying out these lines-

"Open the windows, Son, and let me go back to Sun and Air, even sweat and flies and all, but not this. Not this"

2008-09-20T22:17:00.000+05:30

I'm so fed up of the 'I got real attitude' lot.
Ha! As if not caring about the world is a great achievement! They write it on T shirts, make communities out of it and flaunt it like a fashion statement. In the obsessive effort of trying to be different, we've only gone from being a part of one group to that of another.
Wouldn't it be better if all of us stopped trying so hard to be different and started to actually be the way we are? Surely then there wouldn't be any need for black nailpaint and eyeliner?
You really think the world has nothing else to do than to applaud and envy you? Wake up!-the world's full of idiots as it is; why join it by screwing up your life in your own special way?

2008-06-27T12:26:00.000+05:30

The song "Where is the love?" by the Black Eyed Peas.

What's wrong with the world, mama
People livin' like they ain't got no mamas
I think the whole world addicted to the drama
Only attracted to things that'll bring you trauma
Overseas, yeah, we try to stop terrorism
But we still got terrorists here livin'
In the USA, the big CIA
The Bloods and The Crips and the KKK
But if you only have love for your own race
Then you only leave space to discriminate
And to discriminate only generates hate
And when you hate then you're bound to get irate, yeah
Madness is what you demonstrate
And that's exactly how anger works and operates
Man, you gotta have love just to set it straight
Take control of your mind and meditate
Let your soul gravitate to the love, y'all, y'all

People killin', people dyin'
Children hurt and you hear them cryin'
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek

Father, Father, Father help us
Send some guidance from above
'Cause people got me, got me questionin'
Where is the love?

Where is the love
Where is the love
Where is the love
The love, the love

It just ain't the same, always unchanged
New days are strange, is the world insane
If love and peace is so strong
Why are there pieces of love that don't belong
Nations droppin' bombs
Chemical gasses fillin' lungs of little ones
With ongoin' sufferin' as the youth die young
So ask yourself is the lovin' really gone
So I could ask myself really what is goin' wrong
In this world that we livin' in people keep on givin'
in
Makin' wrong decisions, only visions of them dividends
Not respectin' each other, deny thy brother
A war is goin' on but the reason's undercover
The truth is kept secret, it's swept under the rug
If you never know truth then you never know love
Where's the love, y'all, come on (I don't know)
Where's the truth, y'all, come on (I don't know)
Where's the love, y'all

People killin', people dyin'
Children hurt and you hear them cryin'
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek

Father, Father, Father help us
Send some guidance from above
'Cause people got me, got me questionin'
Where is the love ?

Where is the love
Where is the love
Where is the love
The love, the love

I feel the weight of the world on my shoulder
As I'm gettin' older, y'all, people gets colder
Most of us only care about money makin'
Selfishness got us followin' our wrong direction
Wrong information always shown by the media
Negative images is the main criteria
Infecting the young minds faster than bacteria
Kids wanna act like what they see in the cinema
Yo', whatever happened to the values of humanity
Whatever happened to the fairness in equality
Instead in spreading love we spreading animosity
Lack of understanding, leading lives away from unity
That's the reason why sometimes I'm feelin' under
That's the reason why sometimes I'm feelin' down
There's no wonder why sometimes I'm feelin' under
Gotta keep my faith alive till love is found

People killin', people dyin'
Children hurt and you hear them cryin'
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek

Father, Father, Father help us
Send some guidance from above
'Cause people got me, got me questionin'
Where is the love ?

2008-06-26T20:28:00.000+05:30

Tell me what was the worst thing about today's wimbledon qualifier which Sania Mirza lost? Her frequent unforced errors? Her forehand not working?What was it? Hmm.....noticed the Indian spectators' "cheers"? "Saniaaaa!......Sania!" Noticed their over exciting expressions at the slightest hint of her winning a point?Why?Why can't we Indians resist going from being supporters to fans to fanatics? OK, she might be the only Indian girl making it big in International Tennis. Do we ever wonder why? Why aren't there more ppl from India in international sporting events?(Except in the religion called cricket,of course).

2008-06-25T11:33:00.000+05:30

Days pass by. The Sun rises and sets. The tides come and go. There's earthquakes, floods and famines and people die like bugs. Farmers commit suicides. So do students. Brutal murders, rapes and molestations are no longer shocking.
Saying that the world is going to the dogs, is an insult to dogs.
There you have Osama telling you to sin as a duty to God and here you have politicians telling you to be proud to be a Hindu; Just because you are a Hindu. Reminds me of the monkeys in 'The Jungle Book' who say "We are the most intelligent animals in the Jungle. We all say so. So it must be true!"
But who cares? Who cares as long as there's the IPL, rock music, and 'friends' to jolly around with? Thats what we do, isn't it?- sleep,study,play and chat, chat n chat more about the most obsolete things? What else do we Indians know than to be blind followers,crazy fans, and senseless self-glorifying hypocrites?
So what are yor waiting for?-The 'Hand fo God' to slap you?Or would you rather do that yourself? Whatever you do, do it fast coz the clock's ticking. And remember-"If you're a by-stander, you are not innocent."