In our lives we often come across some great quotes. Some have an everlasting effect on us. Some quotes strike us purely because of their intelligent quotient and others because of their profound personal effect. I am truly grateful to have come across some quotes that have had a great influence on me by some real ‘wise’ people. Here are a collection of quotes that has been engrained in my memory:
• Travelling is the best education a man can get.(Anonymous)
• If you have to enjoy life, being fit is necessary.(Vikram Muthanna)
• People change with time.(KUP)
• Even a rapist can be nice; for the few minutes you spend with them.(KBG)
• No matter the magnitude of a persons achievement, he is human.(KBG)
• Before each meal ask yourselves, 'have i earned this'? (KNK)
• The best fertilizer a planter can provide to his estate are his own footprints.(KNK)
• You have to care about society, not have society care about you. (KKU)
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
INDIA & ORGANISATION
NAISSANCE(SDM-IMD Inter collegiate fest) What did it mean to me? Three days of getting pissed drunk and....... yeah pretty much it. I was advised to get involved by my seniors, said it would be quite the learning experience. There was no debating that fact. I tried being involved in the sponsorship part of it. It was quite disastrous; we literally had to beg people without any bargaining clout whatsoever. Everyone from college was unleashed on the streets of Mysore; it was reminiscent of India’s CWG fiasco in terms of lack of preparation. It was all last minute. We were desperate. Soon the blame games began. I could not help but indulge myself in this, as i sometimes love to impress upon people my pseudo brilliance. The seniors blamed the staff, staff blamed seniors, juniors blamed college; on and on.
In talking about the CWG screw up.; I remembered about the Sydney Olympic Games, the authorities of the games actually thought the city would go into post games depression on completion of the games. So, what did they do? They actually organized fairs and festivities thereafter slowly phasing the festivities out. They did this thinking abrupt ending of the games would affect societal working thereon. This is what development and forward thinking is all about. This is exactly what differentiates great organisers from mediocre ones. The difference between a developed nation and a developing one is clearly illustrated here. We can only talk about being a permanent member of the UN, being a superpower by 2040, being the fourth country to send a manned mission to the moon blah blah blah...... What purpose does this all serve? It is internal development we should be focussing on rather than our portrayal and image building of our country to the world. We still have more than 300 million people who are below poverty line in India. Our healthcare sector is still sub-standard. Aren’t these issues that have dealt with immediately?
What is it about Indians and making a mess of whatever we put our hands in? On a recent trip to Cambodia i saw a board highlighting India’s involvement in the restoration of the Ta Prohm temple. Asking some local about it he said something to the tune that money promised had come very late and the work rate was very slow. There are numerous instances of us messing up. Two year’s back Field Marshal Sam Maneckshaw passed away. The audience to see him off was paltry and none of the heads of state were present. President, prime minister, leader of the opposition, chief minister, chief of any of the armed forces including the defence minister no one was present. Sam Maneckshaw was one of India’s two field marshals. If it was a film star or a politician there would have surely been quite a number of people from the political elite clout. This is the sad state of affairs of our country. A man who put his life on the line for our country gets below par treatment on his final chapter. There have been numerous instances of us messing up in various facets of administration, law, etc. The worrying part is when we pride ourselves on finishing up the mess we ourselves created.
In talking about the CWG screw up.; I remembered about the Sydney Olympic Games, the authorities of the games actually thought the city would go into post games depression on completion of the games. So, what did they do? They actually organized fairs and festivities thereafter slowly phasing the festivities out. They did this thinking abrupt ending of the games would affect societal working thereon. This is what development and forward thinking is all about. This is exactly what differentiates great organisers from mediocre ones. The difference between a developed nation and a developing one is clearly illustrated here. We can only talk about being a permanent member of the UN, being a superpower by 2040, being the fourth country to send a manned mission to the moon blah blah blah...... What purpose does this all serve? It is internal development we should be focussing on rather than our portrayal and image building of our country to the world. We still have more than 300 million people who are below poverty line in India. Our healthcare sector is still sub-standard. Aren’t these issues that have dealt with immediately?
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Un-Sociable networks
Human beings have a tendency to advertise themselves, to be seen, heard etc. The rise of social networks only cements this fact. In 6 years these sites have taken centre stage in the lives of millions of teenagers. I am often asked if i am on any one of these sites. I doubt if i'll ever be. I'm sure the advantages of being on them is plentiful. But am i missing out on something by not being on these sites? I don't think so. My cousin says facebook is for people who can't make friends in real life. Ironically the man has a facebook account. When i asked him about the mismatch between walk and talk, he said he did it to look up on people. A stalker. I did find it interesting enough and using my sister's id i checked up on a lot of people thereon. Each profile seemed to reflect who the person wanted to be than who the person was. Some of them were plain pretentious. I know 'who am i to pass judgement on people', right. But it's my fuckin blog. I am not going to write about the obvious threat of paedophiles, sex stalkers, recently in india even kidnappers. They way i see it people start living two lives one virtual and one real. Nothing wrong with that. The trouble is when they find it easier to live the virtual life. There are kids who are as young as 8 on facebook. I dont know if they have an active social life. Chances are they do. But they might take solace in the virtual world than deal with the tougher reality. I actually came across lot of instances where people would not say a face to face hello but would send friend requests on social networking sites. There is something really wierd about that. They probably couldn't face rejection in reality so they go the virtual way. I truly believe that these social sites will have a negative effect on building social relationships and inter-personal relationships.
Another ill effect would be to cocoon yourself into a groupthink. By groupthink i mean there are so many groups in face book, orkut etc. When you are part of such groups you vision, creativity is narrowed. There exists prejudice in belonging to such groups, you tend to be peer influenced and subscribe to dogma. It is nice to find someone else who listen to Belle & Sebastian on these sites. But i find it also nice to enjoy something by meself also & discover stuff on my own.
I recently came across a site where you can commit virtual suicide by 'killing' yourself on this site. This stuck me as quite stupid. Is it necessary i make a drama of a simple act of deleting my profile. It seems like the internet has succeded in making people feel like celebrities by indulging in celebrity like behaviour.
They call it social networking but oddly it has made people more doleful and unsociable to their immediate environment.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Does A Sinner Break Roots From Being Sinned?
Of late i seem to have come to a realization about this trait of mine i.e taking advantage of people who are 'close' to me. It did come under scrutiny previously from my friends, but i did not bother me then. It seemed to be lurking in my sub-conscious and the trigger effect happened one night drinking tequilla and having chocolates from this girl i was least bit interested in. I did not want to be there but i was. Lo and behold i was in convalescence mode. I kept wondering what shaped this intrinsic attribute. Surely i wasnt born like this, was i?
As i kid growing up in Coorg i was in a hostel at a real young age, i did not know what to make of the place as i was nearly 4 yrs back then and having no experience of such a gamut of social interactions. I was real naive and i thought the best way to survive was by adopting a people pleasing behavior. And boy was i wrong ,i was fleeced of my chocolates, my food etc. My end of the bargain was never met. Then there was this instance in school where i was framed for something i had not done. Then there was this other instance(s) where this boy from my neighborhood would make me steal biscuits from my own home.YEAH!HELL YEAH! I HAD BEEN USED!
This was intrinsic, could i say a lot of other people developed characteristics the same way as i?? Sure as hell yes, aint it? Everyone's personality is shaped by their life incidents. As to how much , it really can't be measured. In nature you see how some plants have tap roots and some others have fibrous roots. Pulling out a tap rooted plant is very difficult.They grow really deep into the soil making it nearly impossible to pull them out.In a garden we often see how dandelions grow right back up after we uproot them. It is because the tap-root would still be embedded in the ground. In contrast fibrous roots are easily dealt with as any gardener would tell you. I talk about this on a thought about how the bad experiences of our life are like the tap roots, they shape our personality. They are the one's that deeply influence our character. A lot of our learning happens from the worst years of our life. I am not denying the part played by those happy days, but i wouldn't say it made me what i am today. Those hard times that i have gone through in life are what stands out for me in my personality. It necessarily does not have a positive course but the influence would definitely be much more profound.
As i kid growing up in Coorg i was in a hostel at a real young age, i did not know what to make of the place as i was nearly 4 yrs back then and having no experience of such a gamut of social interactions. I was real naive and i thought the best way to survive was by adopting a people pleasing behavior. And boy was i wrong ,i was fleeced of my chocolates, my food etc. My end of the bargain was never met. Then there was this instance in school where i was framed for something i had not done. Then there was this other instance(s) where this boy from my neighborhood would make me steal biscuits from my own home.YEAH!HELL YEAH! I HAD BEEN USED!
This was intrinsic, could i say a lot of other people developed characteristics the same way as i?? Sure as hell yes, aint it? Everyone's personality is shaped by their life incidents. As to how much , it really can't be measured. In nature you see how some plants have tap roots and some others have fibrous roots. Pulling out a tap rooted plant is very difficult.They grow really deep into the soil making it nearly impossible to pull them out.In a garden we often see how dandelions grow right back up after we uproot them. It is because the tap-root would still be embedded in the ground. In contrast fibrous roots are easily dealt with as any gardener would tell you. I talk about this on a thought about how the bad experiences of our life are like the tap roots, they shape our personality. They are the one's that deeply influence our character. A lot of our learning happens from the worst years of our life. I am not denying the part played by those happy days, but i wouldn't say it made me what i am today. Those hard times that i have gone through in life are what stands out for me in my personality. It necessarily does not have a positive course but the influence would definitely be much more profound.
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