MOGUL MADNESS

My eyes lit up when I saw the cover of the book that I have yearned to read since long now.The book cover read "Freedom At Midnight".Written by Dominique Lapiree and Larry Collins it is one of the most read books in the Indian Subcontinent and which describes events leading to the division of India and formation of Pakistan .200 pages down ,it has inspired me to write this post ,describing a problem on a bigger scale and which has its association with the present day world.The state of economical disparity and the inability of its rulers(now politicos) to cure it is one of the major problems we face in today's globalised world.The problem has existed in India since ages and to be true it exists in every devoloping nation and is prominent throughout the world.Although I firmly beleive that the aforementioned task is easier said then done, I have a strong feeling that the steps taken by the so-called elite class or the privellaged class have lacked the serious concern and shear intent to solve it.I will like to analyse this issue with some background of our past and then try to co-relate it with the present USA which its devoured presidents are trying to build.

The diffrence between the poor and rich dates back to the time when the first barter system started.At that time there was no shortage of provisions and land ans hence no problems or terms like economical disparity.As time passed people came to know about other regions in the world.Population started to increase and coin as a means of trade came into existence.The resources now were not as abundant as in the past and the population was growing rapidly.Now people had to choose carefully about the way they spend thier money and diffrence in the lifestyles of people with the diffrence in thier wealth grew.Some accumlated wealth enough to influence the people living around them and turned into thier rulers.This cycle continued for a long time and the rulers became richer ,more influential and hence more powerful.Now they wanted to explore new lands and the resistance was met severely.Wars broke out much too often and blooshed was a commonplace.The greed and the self right to something better always pushed a civilization farther and farther away from the lands it had orignated from.There was mass colonisation of the world and every down-trodden and under-developed country was exploited in the name of development.Then at the dawn of 20th century people came to realise the fact that bloodshed was no longer a possible solution which will satisfy thier greed.A new vision of brotherhood and common welfare came into being.Theory of Adam Smith gave way to The Game theory in which it is described that best results are only possible when an individual does whats the best for him and the group.


But the question that troubles my mind now is that its been about 100 years since first sparks of societal equality or socialism came into being and still we see ourselves at a long distance from the objectives we tend to acheive.Where did we go wrong ? Did we ever in a true sense wanted economical disparity to wash away or was it just a random thought of a few philosophers and economists alike which has now faded away into the mysts of time?I look at the last 25 years and surely the intent for the common advancement of the soicety has increased.We have planes filled with supplies and essential goods flying in from almost every devolped nation when a tragedy strikes somewhere.We have loans granted by the World Bank whose donors are the rich nations.Then why arent we even heading closer to curbing this problem.

The Ruler Of Today- The Co-operations:

The answer is simple.We have never really wanted to be equal in status with the so called non-privelleaged or poor class of people.The colonies of that time still exist today,just that we now have masked our intents by signing treaties and agreements.As an example the treaty of trade between US and mexico was signed a decade and a half ago.It was estimated that people of mexico will reap huge benefits and thier standard of living will be at par with people in US in 10 years time.As we can see none of it has happened now.The production factories that have been set up thier have reaped huge benefits and grown many-a-fold in their sizes but the poor people who used to live under the iron sheets continue to do so.Surpising to know is the fact that today we people have been so blinded by these institutes of money mongering that we hardly aknowledge the fact that the shoe which we buy for 5000 bucks actually has a manufacturing cost of 500 ruppes (shipping included).An average person in these new colonies earns a mere 2 dollars a day when the average rate of a person doing labourous job in US is 8 dollars per hour.
Co-operations have deepened thier roots and now are treated as The God in thier manufacturing departments.The nations who have sworn faith to the powerful nations are deemed to get good amount of loans from the World Bank as the major power in those institutes rests with thier valuable allies only.In other words when we look at today's world there is still no freedom.Our lives controlled by a few people whom we havent not chosen to lead us.Policies they make affect the world,wars they wage affect the world and there is no stopping them.From Vietnam to Iraq,war has been used as a means of suppression,the only diffrence that they have given it the name of righteousness.

If I try to concentrate my thoughts on the need of diffrent groups/countries/conglomerates to indulge in such activities I find myself short of ideas.We spend around 60 years on this planet and out of them 30 years are wasted in making what we call our careers,or in a more abstract manner,searching for the means to find bread.For that we give the best years of our life away.Competition and a sense of achievement are catalysts for a better world but what acomplishment is it to be a part of soceity where you spend all your life in earning just because your stature can be a bit higher then your neighbour's.Where have the attics of sharing and sacrifice faded away in land of Krishna and Christ.Questions like these bother me,and I can see no end to this rat race that we humans have become a part of.To shrug it off we have to think beyond the materialistic means in this world and towards the utopian world where sacrifice and brotherhood is the measure of one's success.Through this post I know that I might not be able to change a lot but its an honest attempt to produce certain sparks in the mind of the rulers of the world that we have to see and be a part of it alike.
Want to write a lot more about it but will add that later.

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE- THE HANNIBAL 'S PERSPECTIVE

Hannibal ,the name itself presents a picture larger than life.Few can understand the significance of this word in the history of human civillization and the history of violence.Some of you will wonder who Hannibal was.Hannibal was the commander -in -cheif of the Carthagian army during the second Punic wars.He crossed the Alps with elephants (a task as impossible then as it is now) and nearly defeated the Roman army .Infrences have been drawn on his personality,his manner of conduct and his tactical genius since long but few have ventured into the greater aspect which makes him one of us.In words of the protector of Scotland Sir William Wallace is it the self-right to something better.We all strive for something better throughout our lives.Be it a good college degree,or a slight increase in wage,be it spirituality or an increase in public status ,we all work for our goals and in turn want something better then we have .

Violence as a means of satisfying the hunger for something better has existed since ages.One civillization dominating the other,massacarring people for the sake of better agricultural lands and other resources has existed since long.The saga continues till date.Analyzed by thousands of groups of analysists and reporters are the malign plans of the western bloc countries especially United States Of America to have a monopoly over black gold present in the Arab countries.The question that now exists is that if this kind of violence can be justified by any strech of imagination.One of the primary thoughts that strikes me is that the country,civilization,group which destroys the other (patially or wholly) has better technology to harness the resources present their and hence leading to the most optimum utilization present till date.This might sound very crude and inhumane but is true none-the-less.

For the first time my mind wants to think out of the way to seek for the positive effects of years of violence if some ever existed.Though seiges have always given way for the mass production of weapons and the arms race in almost every part of the world ,what remains hidden is the way they paved for the advance of technology in the various fields of sceinces that affect our lifestyles .If we talk about the medival period then it was the age of steel weapons which gave rise to better smelting and other blacksmith techniques providing us a better way of producing tools and utensils,thus increasing effectiveness in agricultural and building tasks.Talking about a more recent scenario we all know about the cold war.Had it not been for cold war and prior to cold war the second world war it would have been difficult to trigger the advances in rocket technology which led to man conquering moon and whose use is so ubiquitous that we can hardly feel it.Another very debatable issue is with the unification of world and civillizing so called not so civillized people.Be it the deep forests of Africa or the peaceful forbidden land of Australian aborigines ,discovery and conquest has paved way for introducing people with a better way of leading lives.Something which they couldn't have acheived in some thousand years more because of lack of resources.

The defects of war also exist and are very obvious in nature.Conquering people and manipulating them against the tide of time is an inhumane act no one can approve of.Exploiting them and forcing them to abandon thier centuries old customs and practises are few of the many diseases which a war carries with it.The burtal killing of Axtecs and Mayans by their Spanish advesaries just to redeem Christ can never be explained by any righteous man.But as they say thier always has been and always will exist a trade-off .Its just that in this case its the trade-off of human lives, values,traditions,releigon and beleifs which remains above all and whose trade-off for development of the human race sounds abominable.Though I have put this in a very crude manner but some truths are bitter,maybe to bitter to be accepted still we have to accept them.

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE -1

vi·o·lence
n.

1. Physical force exerted for the purpose of violating, damaging, or abusing: crimes of violence.
2. The act or an instance of violent action or behavior.
3. Intensity or severity, as in natural phenomena; untamed force: the violence of a tornado.
4. Abusive or unjust exercise of power.
5. Abuse or injury to meaning, content, or intent: do violence to a text.
6. Vehemence of feeling or expression; fervor

In a series of posts I will like to describe about the History Of Violence and how it affects us.How we perceive in our day to day lives and what affect does it have on us.In the very first post I am describing a bitter experience I had on 2nd April 2006.
Violence is an artibute of human being which is as old as the human form itself.Rather violence as a means of survival has existed ever since first animal forms begin to appear.A form of distress triggers a reaction in human body leading to the increased blood preassure and harmone flow which comes out in form of violence.Today was a sad day in my life,for today I was accused of ebing impolite by a teacher.Never has this occured to me since my childhood,rather I have been ordained as a good student by almost all my teachers.But today was not so.Though I feel cheated I will try to present it in the most non-biased form for both the concerned parties namely myself and my teacher.I set out for the XX(name withheld,name of an institute ) class and was surprised to know that a D.I class has been set up for today because usually its a quantative ability session for us on sundays.I reached the centre on time ,took my seat and the session began.

The teacher was teaching first time to us and all of the class was weary of him.On account of asking about growth percentage when growth was taught I was reminded by a furious voice not to ask about the parts of the subject which have not been taught as yet.I nodded in agreement.When growth percentage was being taught I asked my doubt again.Somehow he couldn't understand my doubt ,therefore I requested him to proceed with the teachings while I perform certain calculations before asking my doubt again.But he refused and waited for me.I took a little amount of time which infuriated the him.I was accused of testing his abilities .He came closer to me and asked me about the city which I belong to.I obliged him by saying Ambala.To this his reply was shocking.He replied," I am from Rajroopur in allahabad,behave with me or it wont be good for you".I couldn't utter a word and headed for the blackboard to tell him once again about the problem.But some of my batchmates were furious and so was I.They got up from their seats and told him that they wont study from a teacher like him.He threw the pen and left the class.There was a lot of chaos outside the class and it ended after we called the centre head who assured us that such incident wont take place in future.

Though I can clearly say that it was his fault and that he should have controlled himself properly but then somehow I feel bad about the incident.No matter whose fault it was both the parties suffered.Somehow it was bad managment on my part.I should have stopped my friends from leaving the class no matter how wrong the teacher was.Who knows what image had he developed in his mind about our class and that can happen with anyone.Lack of judgement or wrong judgement does lead to situations like the above one and they can be only solved by a virtue which is a true mark of a person,its patience.Had I understood that teacher was a bit weary and had a lack of confidence and thus he reached the conclusion maybe and just maybe I wouldn't have asked him the question but I also beleive that to go in a class and not asking about the things which are troubling me is a sin.On the other hand had my friends being a little patient we would have handled the situation.

Most of the times in our lives we follow our impulses,get into fights,then feel bad about it.Be it fighting with your close one's or with strangers over as petty things such as a seat of a bus we have incorporated violence in many forms in our lives.Today's lifestyle doesnt help either.High levels of distress and discontent give rise to furstrations which trigger violent incidents very frequently.When we are in need of more of patience we find ourselves going far away from them.Its about time when we realise that giving up a few things when we involve ourselves in situations of distress may in long run help us.Although my mind is not clear if i want to follow Mahatama Gandhi's path always but it is quite sure that there is not going to be an act of violent revolution in most of the cases from now on.As I end this post I once again cant stop myself to think about the teacher and his situation and all that I can say is for God to ordain souls as hapless as us with a little more patience.

THE REAL ATLANTIS

And so it begins.My mind is exploding with the thoughts of how the lost city of atlantis would had been if one ever existed.To start a fire ,one needs a spark and this time the raging fire in my concious was caused by a documentary on the regular missing planes ,ships and life-forms over the doomed Bermuda triangle.A certain explanation reasons out the presence of powerful crystal which once were part of the great city of atlantis to be lying on the ocean floors.Tilted from there orignal positions when they come in contact with sunlight they release tremendous amounts of energy which create time wraps,make compasses go beserk and radios to malfunction.The most discussed loss was that of the flight-19 in december of 1945.5 naval avengers were on a routine practise flying when they suddenly disappeared from the radar.They were never to be found despite the large scale combing operation.Not only this,about 20-25 ships and planes go missing in the area and yet there lies no sign of debris.When something as heavy as a ship sinks they leave debris for hundreads of years but the ocean floors of the bermuda triangle are clean.

Enough of explanation of what bermuda triangle is,now my mind concentrates on predictions of a clairvoyant in the begining of the 20th century.He predicted that the lost city of atlantis will rise from the sea bed in 1968-69 and though doubt remains it almost happened.A series of rectangular shaped rocks rose from the ocean bed.Those stones were brought there and didnot belong to the native land of hawaii.Though debatable it still remains an intresting find.Psychics constantly feel the energy of crystals which lie on the sea bed.Still thousands of people search for the greatst city ever.A civillization ahead of its time and probably even more advanced then the present day world.

My inqusitive mind wants to riddle out the origins of the stories of Atlantis.The orignal descriptions of Atlantis lies in the works of great greek philosopher Plato.After death of his teacher Archimedes,Plato travelled far and wide to lands unknown to human civillization till that day.There are two scripts in which he has dedicated to the city of atlantis.

People of Atlantis have been known to discover the secret power of stones and the effect sunlight has upon them.Quite simillar as it seems to our philosophy of adorning crystals of diffrent types for specific purposes.The city had its own power stations where power was generated by the crystals,transport and road facilities,various types of entertainment zones,hospitals etc.In short everything which we can associate with the modern day city was present there.They had mastered the art of harnessing resources of mother nature.The wit and intelligence of the people that resided was unparalled and their wealth uncountable.How great a city like Atlantis be destroyed leaves me baffled but as most of the writings suggest it had been due to earthquake and tsunami which made the coastline sink.

That was that.But what if the city never existed and Plato wrote it for the purpose of what he proposed as Utopia.Though his work is commendable what now concerns me is the state of human mind.The search and quest for perfection which is never ending and which drives almost all of us.The goals that we have and the bigger goals that are attached to it.My mind questions sometimes that where are our civillization is headed.We have made WMD's, traversed in space,built life saving drugs and made a tremendous progress.Still we keep on making things better,more diverse,more intense,more correct in every sense of the word.I know the answer now- we all are headed to atlantis.

The real Atlantis lies in the hearts of people.People like you and me,who seek perfection knowingly or unknowingly.

The quest for perfection,the adventure of discovery and the thrill of invention naturally comes to us.It has helped us shape the world which we live in and will shape our future,the only question that remains is how much time will we take?

I have some more things to write about,and will write about it as and when i get appropriate time and thought.

A MATTER OF CHOICE

Its been quite some time since I have attended college.To be precise after I have returned from the holi holidays I havent attended a single class but I did attend a 5 minute meeting with my project guide .All my classmates must be attending class of distributed systems and trying to figure out how to make a computer system work better I find myself scribbling my arbitarary thoughts on something which we are involved with directly or indirectly.Its Decision Making.Since early days to now the parameters for decision making have changed and in our business deals we have shifted from what was called "every man for himself theory" to the "game theory".But my concerns in not business because thats not where we usually stumble while making decisions .On the other hand in today's busy complicated and eat while u are on the road world its our minds and private lives that have gone for a swing.

Though there exists a spectrum of problems from altercations with our parents and freinds because of diffrence of opinion to abortion of teenage girls or young women if one can call them so.My mind suddenly traverses a sevral thousand years in the past and finds itself in the territory of our ancestors when the mechanism of formation of families was still developing.I wonder how from living in the form of large masses independently gave rise to the communities which lived in large masses but where certain individuals were bound to each other and shared a greater sense of commitment.That formation is still prevalent and will be prevalent for quite a long period of time and maybe till the time human race exists.Though none of our ancestors would have imagined that a way of living designed on the basis of physical needs alone will be as effective in the modern world where people snap in split seconds.Too much work preassure ,too many expectations and monotonous approach to life in most cases increases the need of mental support and better understanding on our parts.

How many times we have read in newspapers about people hanging themselves from fans,girls consuming poison the moment they have unwanted pregnancy,peasants consuming pesticides when they cant provide for thier families.In simpler words the mental stress and complications of today's world affect everyone with no regards to thier economical state,background ,caste sex etc .Maybe one of the few things in this world which treats everyone equally and with no hypocrisy.Still we come across a lot of people who have aced the methods to defeat these stresses and it not only holds true for them but also their family.The way they stand for each other is impressive to say the least.So now my mind wants to figure out that what where do these happy people who face every difficulty with a smile diffrent from the usual complaining and sobbing types.

Firstly and most importantly they trust in each other and they realise that the network of friends ,siblings and thier parents is there to help them no matter where they stumble.Secondly they work on the axiom that stumble,fall and then rise again or try it again.I read somehwere that as I grow up the chances of finding a person who will be willing to listen to me(read as soulmate) will decrease exponentially because of the increased complication of our lives.Although I am not critical to the statement it certainly made me think that is it worth it for me to earn a few comforts in our life while I give away a huge chunk of myself away.

So after all this blabber about our ancestors ,the family system and a few other things my mind reaches to the problem where we have to make most important choices,the tradeoff between our personal and professional lives.The level of complication we want to achive in our working life to the complications which exist in my personal life.The people who we find happy and content today have aced this tradeoff and have made themselves familliar with the rules of it.As of now I have been only able to chalk out two major points which influence this decision making process.Number 1: First to set my priorities and decide my goals.In this complicated world we cannot fulfill all our desires except if our desires are too few. Number 2: The flexibility which we should allow ourselves to live with.We have become too mechanical and too much of perfectionist.Now being a idealist aint a bad thing but not accepting faliure in the right manner and rising from it is certainly a cause of worry.In other words,dont be too strict to yourself.You win some and you loose some but at the end of your time what will matter the most is : How much you learned from your wins and looses and what diffrence you made to this world.With this I will like to close this post with a purpose in my mind,the purpose to know myself better everyday,to understand and try to figure out where I want to head everyday and spend some more time with my family which by the way is 900 kms from where I reside.

FATE AND DESTINY

As I start to scribble down my thoughts ,I find it hard for words just wont reach me.The incident which has provoked me to write this piece has already left me speechless but somehow I have to continue for it is necessary for people to read it and recall everytime they find themselves fighting with themselves or with thier destiny.There have been two instances in my life when i have felt the same way.I have always beleived that destiny lies in our hands.Its our karma which decides where we end our lives but sometimes forces of nature force us to change,abort and influence the way we go about spending our lives.

I was away at home whenthe news of a surya kiran plane crash in bidar reached me.Two pilots lost thier lives in a freak accident.I did not take the news seriously or gave it a thought for more than a few seconds till i returned to allhabad this morning.I found out that one of the pilot's was the husband of someone whom I have been knowing for the past three years.He was the husband of my teacher who taught me economics in my 4th semester.She had got married just a few years ago and has a beautiful child.I fail to visualise her state of mind for I had always seen her laughing and smiling.She along with her husband and child were the only faculty members present when we had thrown the fresher's party and she has been a helping force all this time.I have questioned myself time and again that why on earth did it have to happen.Is there no justice in this world.People whose karma we regard as impure laugh throughout thier lives and die ,and people who really make us feel the presence of God (as only he can give rise to such beautiful souls) leave this world in a hurry.They say
WHOM GOD LOVES DIE YOUNG
WHATEVER GOD DOES OCCURS FOR A GREATER CAUSE
Maybe I am acting in a impulsive manner as everyone knew that there was a risk of death in the nature of job taken care by the deceased.But for once I cant stop thinking about my teacher.Thier's was a fairy tail .Both loved each other and had to face stiff opposition before marriage from thier parents side but still they went on and just when they would have been breathing through the most beautiful days of thier lives it came to an end.

The last time I felt like I am feeling today was in 9th standard when a friend of mine died in a car accident.She was the apple of the school.The most talented person in class or perhaps even the school.She was someone who can be easily regarded as an idol no matter what the field of intrest .The whole school mourned in the same way as my whole college is crying but after all these years when I think about her parents it definately takes a part of me away.No matter what place I am at,what activity I am indulged in,it often makes me sad.At times I still try to recall her lovely face and her never give up attitude though I must admit her memories are getting lost into the sands of time .

Now I am feeling a lot pacified,and my mind wants to search for whatever good I can derive from these tragic incidences.The first thing that strikes me is the value for someone as a person,as an associate and a pal.How many times in our lives we disregard our closed ones,we end up fighting with our fellow beings breeding hatred and when we realise that how much of hapiness and goodwill we could have reaped from a certain person,relationship or a casual meeting its too late.We follow our impulses not realising that how sublime our lives are.How things can turn to vapours and disappear in a matter of few seconds.We realise that our worst of enemy could well have been the best of our friends only to find a certain void in us which will never be healed.Other then this they do help us in making us robust and making us remember of a force far greater to be controlled by us.Some call it God ,some fate and others nature but no matter what it is the fact is that it is a force which can affect our lives at anytime and anyway which it wants.We cant fight with it no matter how hard we try,we have to adapt and move on.We have to trust in destiny and somehow make ourselves understand that in the end everything will fall in place.I guess this relationship of fate and destiny has always been present and be it the flora and fauna or be it our sophisticated world,mother nature rules us all and that is one thing which we humans have to remember at every point of our lives.I hope that all of you who will read this will realise how important it is for us to respect such a force and move on rather than staying and fighting against it and more importantly for us to keep on trusting our destinies and moving on after these set backs.

A BEAUTIFUL MIND

The schedule for my mid semester examinations was announced 15 days ago and today its 28th feb, tuesday and the time is 11:18.Exactly 60 hours remain for them to commence.What my state is like?Well I wont say I am in distress because I dont even know what to study as of now.Havent attended a single class of many subjects and well the only class I attended was of Artificial intelligence course when the professor was generous enough to know why m I not attending his classes.Though I am writing about it quite late,this situation has prevailed over me since the begining of 2nd semester.I started to miss classes and became disillusioned.Tried to revive myself in the begining of 3rd semester,studied for 6 hours a day for 20 days and got burnt out.After that each new semester started with new courses but that didnt change me.Typically my schedule consists of sleeping 4 or 5 hrs,talking to friends,playing loads of computer games,day dreaming and last but not the least entertaining myself a la movies and music.But I wasn't like this from the starting then what really changed me?I wasnt someone who won't study to be a good software proffesional because I could murder someone for being one since I was in 10th standard.My mind tries to peek in reality for once because it has lived in the realms of dream world since long.

Apparently,it is quite clear that I became disillusioned.Disillusioned by the course,by the subjects and the way they were being taught to me,by the way I was marked in the examinations.I was always worried about the freedom to which I can explore in a subject of my intrest and now in 6th semester when my collegaues have published papers ,made projects that have been filed for patents I find myself a little lost in the scenario.Where did I go wrong?Did I take all this a little too easy or I wasnt really intrested in computer sceince itself?

As I am lost in thinking all this a sudden thought strikes my mind.Its about the people who dared to be diffrent and who made a diffrence to the way we are living now.Most of us know about Albert eienstein ,Graham bell but a very few of us know about a great mathematician John Nash.Nash was a impoverished student.He joined princeton and never went to classes.He had the belief of discovering something which was unique.All his colleagues looked down upon him but he persisted.In the third year of his course he changed the face of 200 years of economics.His law of equilibrium was pubhlished that year.Same is the case with one of the great entreprenuars of our times Steve Jobs.He was at 30 when he was fired from the company which he started at the age of 20.But he persisted.Opened pixar and as we know pixar developed the first animated movie and is a leader in cartoon animation since then.Before the launch of macintosh and lisa he was a humble person who used to walk 7 miles every saturday to fetch a meal at the Shri Krishna temple.The examples are endless.We just need to see and learn from them.

So what my wants to reason out is the quality that made them diffrent from other intelligent human beings.The answer comes in swiftly and loudly,its there ability to think diffrent and trust themselves.Its thier ability to persist that what they think will materialize.Dreams we all have,but few of us have the mettle to make them a reality.Self beleif is quintessential to success.There are times in our lives when we feel down,but the power to get up and keep moving is what determines where we reach at the end of our lives.I have always remembered one thing that the ballon flies because of whats inside it and not its colour.When we move through the dark caves with a lantern or many times not even a match stick in out hands we have to keep on beleiving that the cave has a way out.Thats what makes us diffrent.Tens of years of research is needed to accomplish a substantial result.Realisation is important.All that i have written isnt hidden from anyone of us.We all know it but the matter boils down to the fact that how much we are ready to make them a part of our lives.I recently met someone who was feeling sad because she had a fight with her lover and couldnot talk to him for few days.She was someone who had read tens of books on mind and how to deal with the situations.But still she was in distress because she failed to realise all the gyaan .So its my request that whosoever reads this piece not only build a strong faith in his/her abilities but realises it when the need arises.