Shaam!

Stuck in a loop in my head!! a wonderfully lilting melody

Agony

the wait's killing me..... yes/no, yes/no, yes/no... and no it's not about a girl!!

-shri

Words Galore!!

I love long-form articles. Pieces that run over multiple pages, ones that show the journalist has put in the grunt work. I love to think that he has agonized over finding the right words, the right tone and fought to maintain consistency over the entire piece. I can even forgive opinion(ated) pieces if the clarity of the author's conviction manages to shine through. And I am happy knowing that people do have something to say beyond the 140 character blurbs that dominate news cycles. And most importantly I adore the fact that it makes me want to write. Today I managed to stumble upon a treasure trove of such material. I happened to hear about Instapaper and stumbled over to their website, the aptly named givemesomethingtoread.com. They maintain an archive of Editor's Picks of writing from across the web, which for the most part is absolutely great writing. Just spent half a day at work of all places reading through some of them. Do head over and give it a try. I promise you won't be disappointed. For those with ADD and those who believe it's not worth your while, there is always the next tweet from Kanye West to look forward to!!

-Shri

Kozhukattais, Kanjeevarams and Karting!!!

Today, after what seemed like ages, set foot in a temple. Three of us drove over to Livermore after a blissful lunch involving kozhukattais at S Bhavan. The stereo system was churning out Rahman's numbers from the 90's and we were involved in a discussion about the subversive eroticism (perhaps subversive is not the right word, too much of a negative connotation) that's very common in Tamil lyrics. Conversation that was benign from my perspective but would have made my grand-pa ask god to redeem my soul. Anyways, we arrive at the temple and are greeted by quite the crowd dressed in it's resplendent best. Men in pattu veshtis and sherwanis and the women flaunting their kanjeevarams and salwars reminding me of all the obligatory social occasions I was dragged to back home. Turned nostalgic for a bit and felt a calm descend on me. My belief systems preclude the possibility of god, so it set me off thinking about why temples had such an effect. Was it the memories from many summers past as a kid of the umpteen visits to the thousand gods, the thrilling myths and legends that morph into history, the sounds, the smells, the proud grandpas and the doting grandmoms, the food and the familiar tug of mum's voice making sure you didn't go off making chums with the monkeys and squirrels in the trees. Whatever the reason was, I did appreciate the time there. The day ended with a session at a local kart track. Modesty aside, did splendidly well and burnt quite a bit of rubber. Was a great end to a week that brought wonderful news about 2 of my friends getting engaged. And I still have a concert lined up for tommorrow and a book to finish :). And regarding the kanjeevarams, realized that i am still a sucker for a woman in a well draped saree. Sigh!!!!

-shri

Rings True!!!

via The Daily Dish.

"With every day that passes, I am more convinced that the act of writing is a conscious act of humility."

That explains why i feel like i am scraping the bottom of the barrel here.

-shri

Visual Poetry

Paradox of Choice

Came across this while trolling through the TED comments section on a talk about choice and am sure it's true of the most of us, for value is relative...

dad to two sons: Boys, i have got you christmas gifts and I haven't decided who gets what. Since John is the younger of the two, i will let him pick first and then Mark can take what's left.

John: i will have whatever Mark's picking!!!

and in that one smartass line, i believe, is the reduction of every man's motivation to do what he does... to have what the next guy has!!!!!!!!!!!

-shri

Scrubs - Holy Inferiority Complex Batman

ROFLMAO!!

I dreamed a dream!!

Susan Boyle has been plastered all over the news and the internet these past few days and I ended up watching this endearing and mindblowing performance of hers. It was one of those truly "In your face, sock it" kind of moments that highlights in bold all your cynicism and prejudices.

What i was happier to find was the song itself... "I dreamed a dream" from Les Miserables. It is from a West End musical of the same name. I am absolutely smitten by this song. Such anguish, frustration and sadness. It could have been penned by Tolkien himself :). A very moving piece of poetry and the last two lines, they are worth their own weight in gold.

Now life has killed
The dream I dreamed.

-shri

Dumb and Dumberer

Texas as a whole just got a little dumber today. Here

Here is one of the creationists' contentions

One amendment calls for students to "analyze and evaluate scientific explanations concerning any data on sudden appearance and stasis and the sequential groups in the fossil record."

They should realize that they are shooting themselves in the foot by asking people to "analyze" and "evaluate" theories. I am sure their own positions do not stand up to a first grader's questions without resorting to "faith" as the answer.

Stupidity does seem to be enjoying a resurgence. Right no?

-shri

What's he got that I ain't got?

My skills with the written verse can at best be employed to convey animal grunts. That's the best i can do.. Now this blog was started so that i could hone my writing skills hoping that one day my fiance doesn't mistake a passionately written love letter to be a patterned toilet paper. So now and then when I come up against a line like this written by somebody else -

" Art is too valuable to be consigned to the stultifying chore of chronicling the truth."

- I think i am doomed to die single with all the relatives whispering at my pyre - "I heard that the best he could do was a Hallmark card". Oh, the ignominy of it all.

Now the above gem belongs to one of my favorite writers and the best movie reviewer , Baradwaj Rangan. What does he or for that matter writers like Guha and Tolkien have that makes them so good... they seem to be writing with effortless ease. I just wish that i could articulate something even half as good as their worst output.

Immense jealousy strikes!!

-shri

Baaaahhh

Working weekends these days i find nothing has changed from grad school :-(. The pay is a bit better of course

Outsourcing your opinions

The Hindu was the first newspaper/magazine that i had the habit of flipping through on a regular basis. It had started off when i was in the 7th grade (+/- a couple of years - the brain cells seem to be committing mass suicide these days). Anyways it was the Young World that first got to me. I used to pick it up for the cartoon strips that they had and the odd quiz here and there. Then there were the supplements like Thursday's Sci & Tech , the Friday review and the excellent Magazine which came out on Sundays. Later on there was the India Today to which I would resort to in case i needed a source of entertainment in anything i read. It was a weekly that was desperately trying to be many things at once and succeeding at none. It was like it was the love-child of the TIME and the Cosmo.

Only when I was in high school did i discover the Hindu for what it truly was, an excellent source of unadulterated news. True , some of the events that reflected poorly on the Communists would suffer a disappearing act, but whatever was presented was not tinted with the editor's take on the matter nor was there any "angle" to the story. For that you had a completely separate Editorial section which one could choose to ignore. Once the news was consumed, the process of interpreting it was left to me as a reader and that was the most interesting part of the experience. Looking back, it was in this way that i discovered many of the things i truly believe in today. My world views were shaped by my experiences and not by some bloke sitting at the copy table with an agenda on his mind. It would have been easier the latter way but then one might as well give up thinking, for an individual has to be partly defined by his belief systems and opinions.

I have come to realize all this only in the last few years or so after being exposed to the partisan nature of reporting on many of the media outlets. The two worst offenders in this sense are FOX News and MSNBC. Now there are people who would vouch for either network and stoutly defend their camp, but so would I if i had been force fed either view points in all my formative years. These two have moved from the business of reporting facts to the business of delivering opinion. No offence but who do they think they are, priests.?!! I always used to dismiss these things as not yet being a part of the mainstream thought. Imagine my shock today when i came across this piece of news.

But should I have been surprised? In my own experience, I have managed to influence an argument or impose an opinion on a soul who knows little about the topic under debate. There are people I have interacted with those who have too little or no information to counter my opinion on many issues. Then there are also some who have pre-conceived notions that they would not admit to the rigor of an investigation. It may be convenient to slot them as being opinionated or bigoted, but these are still in their small numbers and this perception is also being shaped through your own interests in the issue. What i am scared about is the earlier case because I believe that they form a large section of the population. A section who go with the flow, who would listen to a strong voice , not necessarily the voice of reason and who would happily let others do the thinking for them unless told so explicitly. The voices speaking to them would have been loud, in the process rendering the listener mute. I just wish there were more like the Hindu out there today.

-shri

Rant A Day

My favorite rant of the day.

Militant Atheism!!

A nice talk by one of my favourite speakers... Richard Dawkins. I do not agree with all his views but i do appreciate the man for the passion he exudes and the the kind of belief, religious or otherwise, that he has. I just wish that i could believe in something as much as he does.

Wow!!!

Stumbled onto this while trolling through youtube. Now and then you do find gems like these tucked away!!!

Questions of faith or questionable faith?

Over the past few years there have been questions on faith in a god (i think he doesn't deserve the capitalized "G") , from me as well as from people i know. when i mention god, i have to say before hand that i want to distinguish spirituality vs religion. spirituality primarily deals with questions of existence, about why we are here and what we are supposed to do. it does not need a god as an enabler and in fact does just as well without his/her presence as in cases like Jainism/Buddhism. Religion on the other hand rather concerns itself with all the rules, rituals and restrictions that god seems to be so in love with.

I have always believed that religion's primary role in society was to enforce proper codes of conduct in absence of strong government or authority. therefore it's basic premise rises from the assumption that humans left to themselves would revert to a primal state where mere survival is what matters. this in turn negates any chances of the survival of civilization or society under which an individual's chance of survival are actually better. The first priest would have understood this perfectly, but to impose one person's sanity on a multitude of stupid humanity would require 'divine' intervention and that's when the first god would have been 'invented'. This celestial judge dispensed justice through his 'priests' and helped to maintain peace in society in face of perceived inequalities in life. as with any political/social system, it succumbed to that source of perennial problems, greed. the priests got greedy and what was worse was that they started believing in their own fabrications. it was a case of delusions morphing into reality. soon people started missing the fine print... that you did not need him to follow the rest of the manual. this is where i have a bone to pick. how come a system that preaches unconditional love for all humanity somehow says that you will be punished just because you forgot to serve him lamb once a year or you forgot to fast once a week. that just seems anathema to the 'unconditional' part of love. after all aren't we all supposed to be his children.?!

i could rant for a few more pages, but there have been more eloquent authors out there who have argued for intelligence over religion :). I am slightly more comfortable in the religions of the East where punishment is restricted to rebirth, but still the rituals and stratification of society in terms of castes in Hinduism and the fatalistic and bleak nature of Buddhism put me off. Confucianism and Epicurean systems appeal better but then that takes you away from religion into philosophy, which is where i think all religions should stop at.

My personal belief system is best summed in these following words of Einstein, particularly the last part in bold.

"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty."

I leave you with a cartoon sketch. nothing specific against christ. i am against all gods equally. society has already evolved past the easter bunny and santa claus. i am just hoping that god is the next logical step in the process.

Of donkey love and Kashmir

Before you perverts start filling up your heads with dirty thoughts, let me clarify that this is a post about the movie Tahaan. I had wanted to catch this movie ever since i chanced upon it's review by Baradwaj Rangan. It was a complete coincidence that i happened to watch both the movies featured in that review in a space of a week. But the review got it right to the point. First rate performances in both movies, but talk about A Wednesday is reserved for another post.

Coming back to Tahaan, i am surprised by the sudden rise in precocious young talent , first Darsheel Safary in TZP and now here in Purav Bhandara who plays the protaganist. I just hope some of our 'superstars' could salvage half of what he does in this movie. As far as the story goes, it is about a boy who loses his donkey(can we call a donkey cute??!!! cos it was), Birbal, and his efforts in getting him back and what he manages to come across during the time. There are two things that struck me apart from the fine acting.

First, the cinematography. The scenes look like they are slideshows of picture perfect postcards lined up with characters thrown in to fit. Sadly, I have never been to Kashmir and so am not sure whether it's the place that lends itself to such achingly beautiful images or it's the man behind the camera who manages to dress it up so exquisitely. But thanks to Santosh Sivan for capturing it on camera. Here is a scene from the movie


Second, there were certain scenes in the movie that would have been worth the price of the admission ticket by themselves. There was a particular portion where Tahaan goes around asking the kids in the neighborhood whether they have seen his Birbal. Like all kids they are playing, but instead of the innocuous cops & thieves, they are playing militants and soldiers, gunning each other down. Violence, it seems, has stolen even the innocence of the kids at that point. But then a smile is put back on your face when Tahaan shows up for the security check when the army asks all the men in the village to assemble. I had a huge grin on my face when he tries explaining his presence to the officer. There was this other scene where , in the land of the apples, a Kashmiri pandit's hand reaches out to steal an apple left on a window ledge of a devastated home by Anupam Kher. Forced to steal from their own orchards!! It was indeed sad. It was gems like these in what was still a good story that made it great.

On the whole it was a good 90 minutes spent. Hopefully we get to see the kid in more movies going forward. And hopefully the donkey too.

House

House has been one of all time favorite characters on television. I guess it has to do with him getting away doing and saying stuff that would land most of us in jail. I have come to admire the sheer gumption of the character in doing what he does. And the sarcasm is to die for. But some of the best moments come when House manages to surprise his friends and colleagues. Sample this

Clean Shaven House: which tie should i wear?

Wilson: you shaved!!!

House: The red one then.

Wilson: you have TWO ties???!!!!!!!!

Of mass bunks and politics!!

During my undergrad days, it was quite common to find students discussing "mass bunks" when the whole class would fail to show up on a day. Now the point of it was to make sure that no classes were held , so you end up having a day off and not missing out on classes at the same time. Imagine it working the other way around... the professor banishes all students from his class for bad behaviour so that he can have an off day :). Something like that transpired in the TN assembly today where the 'honorable' members put on their best infantile behavior for exhibition. The entire opposition was evicted from the House after demanding an explanation for use of force on lawyers in the High Court promises. No question hour, no dialogue... just valuable taxpayer money at work subsidising the member's tea, coffee and paruppu vadai. the ignominy of it all!! i wonder what the members still in the house had left to discuss... maybe something important like the hem line of shriya's skirts the evening before at a muhurat or the "apparent" bulging of Namitha's waistline.

Now the lawyers are no reincarnated Buddha's but the very notion of use of force seems too regresssive and high-handed. That coupled with the fact that it happened on the premises of the institution that is supposed to protect the rights to protest doesn't bode too well. When the opposition gets voted to power the next time, they will then want their "off" time to discuss relevant issues like the balding head of rajini and want to declare it as an endangered species. Such comedy will ensue that somebody should make a reality show out of this all. Sex sells but stupidity sells better.!!!

-shri