The Method To My Madness

Top 5 of 2011

2012-01-01T06:07:00.000-08:00

Here's a list of the top 5 pieces of music that shook me to my very core last year.

1. Liberation

Why i like it : Words cannot explain

Note : Someday i'll make a movie that will end with this song

2. Jo Bhi Main

Why i like it : Words cannot explain

Note : Oh yaa ya... ya ya ya ya ya yaaaa .. ooo ooooo

3. Khwaboon Ke Parindey

Why i like it : Words cannot explain

Note : I tend to listen to this more when i traveling and start pretending to be Hrithik Roshan

4. Dhobi Ghat Trailer Music

Why i like it : Words cannot explain

Note : A lotta people seem to think this is composed by A.R Rehman for some reason

5. Bekaran

Why i like it : Words cannot explain

Note : I love the shayari about communal violence he recites in the movie before the song. Its better than the song i dare say

Special Mention

Shunya [Indian Ocean]

Bali

Bhaag Bhaag D.K Bose

Zara Dil Ko Thaam Lo

(M)AD World

2011-11-10T11:40:00.001-08:00

In the crazy world of advertising, everything and everyone is for sale. Every living being, every inch of space is looked upon as an opportunity to make money or take advantage of. The brilliance of advertising is that despite being absolute opposite to everything an artist or art would stand for, advertising has somehow managed to come under the "Creative kaam" category.

An advertise of any kind is not a work of art. Art comes from the heart, it has something to say.. something that the artist feels inside him. Could be right, could be wrong but it has be an honest expression. If u find an entertaining way to sell toothpaste, ur not an artist. Ur someone capable of being an artist who is using his potential to deceive his audience.

"The greatest damage done by advertising is precisely that it incessantly demonstrates the prostitution of men and women who lend their intellects, their voices, their artistic skills to purposes in which they themselves do not believe " [wiki]

My boss says "If it doesn't sell, its not creative". Even a half witted moron could find the flaws in that argument but the reason i bring it up is because that is essentially the philosophy of the advertising industry. Anything that helps sell them stuff is good otherwise wats the point ? It could be brilliant new idea that could change the way we perceive things but wat good is it if u cant use it to sell a soap.. or a car .. shampoo.. something.. anything !!

Imagine 3 kids. One is bright and one is rich. Rich kid wants the bright kid to do his homework and he is willing to pay. The third kid realizes this and talks to the bright kid
"hey see that rich kid. He's a friend of mine. You do me and my friends homework and i'll pay you 5 bucks"
Then goes to the rich kid and says

"hey see that bright kid. He's a friend of mine. You pay me 10 bucks and i'll convince him to do ur homework"

Needless to say, that kid is the advertising industry. In this world, there are people with talent and there are people with resources. Then there are the talentless dumbfucks. And now i work for them. This should be fun

Omegle Fun

2011-10-09T14:40:00.000-07:00

# Stream Of Conciousness

# Untrollables

# Pulp Fiction

# One Word Troll

A pretentious poem unleashes itself..

2011-08-01T12:14:00.000-07:00

In the dark lonely abyss called life,
many-a lights i've got.
But one shines different from the rest,
brightest of the lot
with the grip of a preying snake,
it holds my every thought
She's a girl i hate to love,
but cant help not !

Ups and downs of time have come,
without a bat of an eye,
ran along the hills of life,
and happily did survive,
but now reveals a twist in tale,
and begs to question why
this path has come my way today
and if its worth a try

Narmad International Film Festival Inauguration

2011-06-16T10:59:00.000-07:00

10 : 25 am
Sleep deprived and rain drenched, i reach the place where i'll get the pass for the inauguration. I've been advised to reach early or else i might not get a place to sit.

6 : 15 pm
I'm there. The pass says that the inauguration starts 7 pm "sharp"... i seriously doubt that.

7 : 13 pm
Finally we got to go inside the theater. I've no problems finding a seat. More than half the theater is empty at the moment.

8 : 24 pm
Still no signs of starting the inauguration. Some guy says the guests are on their and will arrive in a few minutes. They plan to have a screening of Subhash Ghai's "Cycle Kick" after the inauguration. This is threatening to go past midnight.

8 : 37 pm
An old couple, 5-6 rows in front of me, start clapping sarcastically along the with their daughter to protest the delay. Youngsters in the last 2 rows follow suit. Unfortunately by the time i gathered the courage to join in, they stopped. Groups of people are beginning to get up and leave.

8 : 50 pm
The awesome old couple have had enough. They leave with their daughter. i think i should too.

8 : 55 pm
I see a girl at the other end of my row. She is all alone, just like me. She's typing furiously into her mobile, just like me. I wonder if she's typing for the same reason. I wonder if she has a blog. Could her blog be better than mine ? Naah wat am i thinking.. i've got jokes, comics, philosophical ideas and shit.. my blog is awesome. Suck on that lonely girl ... man am i bored !

9 pm
Finally.. it begins. Subhash Ghai enters.. people clap.. some kid yells "yeh kaun hain ?". Bunch of dudes and deepa mehta on stage now.

9 : 15 pm
I've lost count of the numb of dudes that have come on stage so far. Deepa Mehta still the only lady there. Epic music plays in background as they light the whatever-u-call-it thing. From the sounds of it one would think the entire human race has just been brought back from the brink of annihilation.

9 : 20 pm
Some super old film historian is called on stage and the first thing he says is - "In matters of punctuality, it seems we have a long way to go ! " or something. Crowd goes wild.. claps all around. Its official - old people are awesome !

9 : 40 pm
Subhash Ghai ends his speech and with that my patience. To hell with his movie, i'm outta here.

My Adult Life - A Summary

2011-06-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

Triangles of Life

2011-04-17T20:31:00.000-07:00

Question

Happiness

Stop
Cure

Love

Spoiler

Trust
Time-Travel

Happiness II

Portfolio

2011-04-13T05:57:00.000-07:00

My Design Portfolio
A collection of freelance graphic design i have done over the last yr

Its funny how priorities change with time. This month last yr all i wanted to do was finish my animation study and get a job but now all i want to do is make movies while hoping to earn money through freelancing my various skills .. one them being graphic designing. This is because getting a job in an animation studio might leave me with less time and energy to make movies. But on the plus side a job will get me a fixed income. So lets see how that pans out.

I guess my movies could also earn some in competitions and stuff. Cant count on it though, usually the boring "message wali" movies end up getting all that and then of course there is the complicated case of copyright. You see, I use copyrighted stuff cause i cannot afford to have good original music in my movies. Even if i could afford it i would still probably go for the copyrighted stuff that already exists. Dunno why. Actually i do but cant really explain it or maybe dont want to.

PS. You can check out my short films here -

Facebook Page - www.fb.com/ChaChaProds
Youtube Channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/ChaChaProds

Artist

2011-01-15T09:26:00.000-08:00

"So ur an artist, huh ?"

"you could say that..yeah"

"so you must be really good at drawing and stuff"

"no, not really. i kinda suck at it actually"

"wat ? how can u be in the art line if u cant draw"

"u dont necessarily have to be good at drawing to be an artist."

"ofcourse u do ! wat kind of an artist sucks at art !!"

"art isnt all drawing...art is in everything we do"

"le salle..aise toh anyone can be an artist"

"yeah..anyone can be an artist"

"matlab acc to u even a barber is an artist then !"

"yes..y not ? even a barber is an artist ! "

"do u realize that wat ur saying is complete nonsense ? "

"hey, u started it ! "

Fun with Uncertainty

2010-11-12T23:18:00.001-08:00

One of biggest problem for mankind has always dealing with uncertainty. We live in a world full of uncertainties and in order to deal with it we have to take a certain set of information for granted and operate accordingly cause there is no such thing as absolute truth. This is what we call moral standard, religious guideline, principles etc.

But if used well, uncertainty can be a great source of entertainment. One of the most obvious examples would the horror or suspense movies like those of Hitchcock. These movies manipulate the audience into feeling shock, anxious etc by constantly giving limited information in an erratic unpredictable pattern. However I often use a more sinister way of manipulating people with uncertainty for only my own amusement (in a harmless way offcourse).

During the recent IPL 3, I was in Chennai to help my friend with his project. Since we didn’t have a television set there, most of us were following the matches online. Most of my roommates were supporting Mumbai while I was with Chennai who were my favourite ever since the first IPL. YouTube had provided this wonderful new feature where one could watch live and so everyone was having a great time. The only problem was that the broadcast was lagging by 10 or so mins meaning if a batsmen hits a six, the guys watching the match on YouTube would only see it 10 mins later. Another alternative was to follow the live scorecard and text commentary which didn’t have this problem but it didn’t provide the chance to watch the match. Following both was also out of the question since once u know what’s gonna happen its no longer fun to watch it, the uncertainty plays a role once again.

So unwillingly my roommates decided to opt for the YouTube broadcast. This however presented me with a wonderful opportunity to have a little fun of my own. I was following the live scorecard instead of YouTube so I was getting all the info 10 mins before them. I wasn’t much interested in watching the whole match but wanted to catch the main parts so once I saw a wicket had fell I quietly stood up went to their system to see what exactly happened. I didn’t tell them what I knew because I didn’t want to spoil their fun of watching it. Then as the wicket fell they all turned around staring at me as I was about to go back to my system.

“What u came to see the wicketaa ?”

“ya..i was following the live scorecard on my comp so…”

“oh ok ok , but don’t tell ..ok ? means wicket falling...boundary ..all that..don’t tell”

“oh ya offcourse.. no no , I wont ”

I said as I went back to my seat. At this point I should tell u that I was also playing an online flash game for time pass. I was nearing my all time high-score when suddenly game over.

“Aarghh” I groaned

Suddenly everyone turned to me

“what ? another wicket gone ? who? [Some players name] ?

“No no .. nothing happened …I was ju..”

I suddenly realised that I was in a very unusual position. At that moment, I had the information nobody else in that room had or wanted to have. And as they say, information is power. If I was to say that a wicket had fallen, they had no way to know I was wrong and would instantly believe me as long as I told it convincingly. They would wait and wait for 10 long mins hoping to see wicket which had never taken place. I imagined the moment when they realise there is no wicket coming and I am laughing my way to my seat. It was perfect.

I figured best way to do this was to act exactly the way I did before so it would seem perfectly natural and wouldn’t give rise to any suspicion. So I simply stood up and walked over there and stood behind just like before. As I had hoped, they all got excited seeing me stand there. One mallu guy elbowed another and said something in malayam pointing towards me.

“what ? what ? “

“no nothing, I am telling that u are here means something gonna happen…wicket , 6 , 4..i dunno but something gonna happen. But don’t tell ok ?”

I smiled at him as I realized how I had grossly underestimated the position I was in. It wasn’t just about the wickets, the possibilities of something exciting happening in cricket was overwhelmingly varied. I could be standing there for any damn reason and if I was to play my cards right I could convince them of anything. I could have them believe that a catch which was later called no ball and ended with run out and they would still be sitting there for 10 mins waiting for it happen. I was truly lovin’ it.

Alas I went too far this one time and soon they unwillingly started seeing the online scorecard along with the match. It was fun while it lasted though !

2010-05-26T03:31:00.000-07:00

The Theory Of Concentric Circles
A Structure Of Friendship

It is to be noted by the reader that the structure explained in this theory may not be a universal structure. The theory is still under study and is being improved as new evidence and observations come to light.

The Theory of concentric circles states that each element in the group of friends is essentially a part of a circle and remains in it unless an external or internal force brings in a drastic change

All the elements in the structure are bound by the illusion/need of friendship to remain in the structure irrespective of their position.

It usually takes at least 5 yrs and a minimum of 15 to 20 elements for a clear and observable structure to be formed. The longer the time spend, the clearer the structure becomes.

The size of the circle is independent of the number of elements present in it.

If the distance between the 1^st and 3^rd circle is considered to be x and that between the 2^nd and 3^rd circle is considered to be y, then it has been observed that with respect to the 3^rd circle

x – y = negligible ~ 0
Thereby, x ~ y

This makes it particularly difficult for the elements to recognize the structure in which they function and thus the number circles contained in them is always unconfirmed. It is also speculated that the inner circles has few elements which indulge in their own personal circles in the absence of other elements. There is, however, very little evidence in support of this assertion.

Ideally all the elements have a tendency to focus towards the center therefore the elements in the inner circles are the usually the most popular/observed.

As long as their circle or the circle(s) inside them are full, elements acknowledging the presence of an outer circle is highly unlikely but not impossible. The formation of this theory in itself is a testimony to that.

As a result of the above two statements, it can never be known for sure how many circles in total exist in this particular structure.

Many circles also have elements attached to their circles called “Conditional Elements”. These are basically elements that have a strong bonding with one particular element in the circle and therefore become a part of the circle as long as that particular element is present. Many times the presence of the conditional element is not appreciated by other elements but is tolerated nonetheless. The conditional elements usually have no fixed circle of their own and thereby their popularity and strength of bond varies drastically with each individual element irrespective of his/her circle.

The aforementioned “Conditional elements” are always found to be facing towards the outer circle rather than the internal one. This way they have a greater chance of acceptance by other elements thus increasing there life span in the structure. This isn’t always the case since many conditional elements already have a reserved circle for them to go in the absence of the element with which they share their strong bond.

There are certain elements in this structure which fit into more than one circle and hence should not be confused with conditional attachments. They are called “Adaptive elements” since the degree of adapting in them is much higher than other elements. In some extremely rare cases, an adaptive element makes a strong bond with the conditional element creating a rather awkward situation for the entire structure.

The nature of bonds between the elements also depends on the circle. However the strength of the bonds should not confused with the size of the circle. The elements in the inner circles take very little time in making bonds but the durability of the bonds remains in question. The elements in the outer circle, on the other hand, take a long time in making bonds but have longer durability. There are few exceptions off course.

The entry of new elements into this structure always takes place through the inner circles since outer circles are easily accepting despite taking a long time to form bonds.To many of us, the fact that the friendship structure is concentric in nature may seem disturbing or negative considering the amount of gap between the circles. But in actually, it is these very gaps that help sustain the structure for the elements are vast in number and have variable properties. These gaps ensure that no conflict of interest causes the entire structure to break away.

On few occasions efforts are made by the elements to reduce the gap of the circles and bring the elements closer. This attempt of reunion, although appearing noble on the surface, is usually caused by necessity of situation or the need to fulfill a desire which requires large participation. This effort usually does more harm than good for the sustainability of the structure by bringing up more conflict and change in perceptions in between elements of different circles.

Below is the structure of friendship that has been observed over the years. The elements in yellow are adaptive elements.

Please note that corrections, certain elements and their places, etc are still to be figured out.

The Good Bully

2010-03-17T08:56:00.000-07:00

I found this picture in an online journal of an independent filmmaker whose caption read “I don’t know who gets credit for it, but it says so much”. How very true. The beauty of a good work of art, acc to me at least, is that it gives its audience their own space to connect the dots, to understand the work in their own way. Be it a painting, a song, a movie or whatever. A good work of art is always open for interpretation. This blog entry is my interpretation of the highly criticized movie “No Smoking”. This isn’t a review though, so please read on even if u hated the movie.

The movie is about a rich good-looking cigarette addict who goes by the name “K”. K has a wife who hates his smoking and threatens to leave him if he doesn’t mend his way. So unwillingly K visits the “Prayogshala”, a rehab institute run by Baba Bangali. Baba Bangali is a man who wont take no for an answer and threatens K that if he doesn’t stop smoking there will dire consequences.

Now what I found of great interest in the movie was that I ,as an audience ,can never make up mind as to who is the bad guy. When the movie begins u hate K for his arrogance, rudeness and utter lack of concern for others. But midway start sympathizing with him knowing Baba Bangali has threatened to kill off his brother and wife if he dares smoke again. Baba’s intention might be good but blackmailing isn’t the way to go. Its wrong to force someone to do something even if it is for his own good
.....or is it?
Think about this last line for a minute.

Even K’s wife, who loves him so much, has taken the same route since nothing else worked. She had no options left except emotional blackmail. So who is the bad guy here? Who’s wrong?

Imagine your friend is a chain smoker like K. But he knows about its ill-effects as well as you do and still wants to continue. You have tried to talk him out of it many times but nothing has worked. What do u do now? Let him live his life his way or stop him from harming himself by forcing him to stop? How much is too much?

This is the underlying theme for the movie, I think. At the time anurag made this movie, he too was feeling the way. Anurag here is K and the people around him are Baba Bangali telling him what’s wrong and what’s not. Telling him what kind of movies should be made instead of letting him do his own thing. K’s wife , in this case, are the well-wishers around him asking him “Why don’t u just do wat these people are saying? Why do u have to be so stubborn?” These people dont mean any harm but as causing it nonetheless cause they don’t understand why anurag wants to make the films his own way. They just want him to be successful and happy not realizing that their idea of success isn’t the same as his.

The picture above captures that very idea, the very essence, of “No Smoking”. The angel, a symbol of good, doesn’t mean to cause harm but is in fact the root of the problem.If only the angel would let the man live his life his own way. If only the angel would just let go.....

Random

2010-02-17T06:24:00.000-08:00

- currently living in a "wonderful example."

- Before i had a job, i had all the time in the world to do what i wanted but no independence to do it. Now i have all the independence in the world and no time to do it... sigh !

- Sleeping is a disease. An addictive need to waste time lying down and doing nothing for hours on stretch. They should find a cure for sleep.

- PEWP : Please Explain Without Profanity

- I like to talk. Talking is beautiful thing cause its mutual and not obligatory. Someone can just get up and leave and yet he/she chooses to stay and talk.. to be willing to share thoughts and listen to yours.. secrets wishes fantasies fear.. like a book which u can put down anytime u want but you dont.
Wat more can u possibly ask of someone ?
Sex, i guess.
Yeah that would be it.

- You know how sometimes there is so much that you wanna do that you somehow end up doing nothing at all ? Yeah thats what I'm doing nowadays.

- moooo . i'm a cow

i wish i were a cow

a Scottish cow

then i'd make shortbread

but i'd be a lactose intolerant cow

i don't like milk so lactose intolerant it'd be

i'd be a spotted bird

white with black spots

and i'd have no friends

i'm a schizophrenic cow

- Disassociated vignettes, like snippets from a dream or a visual stream of consiousness

- Hard times are like good times...except that they are hard.

- On December 31, 2009 the song was declared "The Song of the Decade" by the listeners of the Israeli radio station "Galgalatz"" and the surfers of the Israeli news website in Ynet spite of the fact the song was released the previous decade.

- I dont understand why people say that the only thing constant in the universe is "Change". Wat about Pi(3.14) ? ..... and yeah there's also Imaginary unit(i) .... and few hundred more i think.

- I hate the words "hard work". It has almost become a compulsory virtue for the entire mankind ! U can never say i dont work hard, i just work normal and get away with it. Normal isnt good enough for anyone anymore. No being hard working has becoming unacceptable in this world ! See, I dont have anything against hard work but its not for everyone, we should all realise and learn to accept this. I dont work hard , i simply work. deal with it !

- Why are some people always in a hurry to do things , to get things, to tell things ? Whats the rush ?

- Some people have a problem when u talk about them while some have a prob when u dont. But the real prob is that these two statements are not mutually exclusive to a single person

- Every night I scream in silence

- If u don't believe in Murphy's law, make a film.

- Always in shit , only the depth varies . Read it somewhere

- In the medieval universities students were taught "Trivium" which consisted of three things - Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric. However as time went by and the human race progressed we stopped teaching the last one for some reason.

- I was trying to type the word "stuff" and accidentally typed "stfu" instead only to later realize the latter was more appropriate

- Read this in a forum somewhere :
"I have figured out what the internet is. You know what they say about an infinite number of monkeys hitting keys at random on an infinite number of typewriters for an infinite amount of time? Well the internet is like that. There is some big cosmic alien running that experiment here in order to find the answer to some big question or to create the greatest piece of literature known to the universe. From what I have seen so far I am sorry to say they are going to be greatly disappointed."

- I dont understand people who wish birthdays saying "have a blast".Isnt there enough terrorism in the world as it is ? Another thing that bothers me are wishes which go like "njoy..and have fun". So redundant.

- There are people in this world who bargain with the auto guy for 5 bucks and then happily walk into a coffee shop and order the 50 buck drink

- Its amusing for me to see parents trust institutes they hardly know over their own children. I mean its so weird to see them giving lakhs of rupees without blinking an eye in the name of "Education". Ask ur dad for 5 lakhs and 4 yrs time to get a job , he'll probably kick u out of the house.

- Dont change. Unless u want to.

- I have more control over my life than most people of my age in my country. No matter how i end up in life, i will never regret this..NEVER

- People often mistake my carefreeness for my carelessness. But i dont care cause when i am careless i am carefree enough to let it go.

- Quality is inversely proportional to quantity, as long as time is constant.

- If there is a god, he/she is quite clearly incompetent and insecure

- Its funny how social networking sites are making me anti-social

- The prob with democracy is that most of the us are idiots

- Less sleep, less food,
less work, no good.

- Trust is a very important thing in life. If u don't trust people, u'll never know if u snore

- You know, if u type the same word repeatedly long enough u start getting a feeling that u have spelled it wrong. A wonderful sign of low self-esteem.

- In a music review i read recently, the reviewer described the lyrics of a song as "psychoanalysis written as poetry". Probably one of the best compliments a lyricist can get i think.

- Sometimes life seems a lot like the "La Momie" game on facebook. You have to take those numerous excruciating hits and bumps just to get that feeling of flight for a fraction of second. But when its all about to end and u see how far u have come in ur journey, u realize that more than anything else, it was those painful hits that got u there

- If ur hungry long enough, u get used to it.

- Sometimes I feel i should never bring another human into this world out of pure disgust for the human race.I am not bitter, I'm just sad.

- Why do so many people believe in god but not in aliens ? Maybe its the assumption that god is good while the aliens might pose a threat.

- It seems very unfair to me when people complain abt me not taking care of how i look but have no problems with other people's vanity

- A friend of mine called me "seriously insane" on a networking site for uploading too many pics which mocked/opposed religion. Wonder if i would have got the same reaction had it been pics celebrating religion instead.

- Saw a 14 yr old girl in a skimpy outfit dancing to "Beboo, main beboo" from the movie Khambakht Ishq. Ironically, and sadly, it was for an award show celebrating women empowerment.

- "Nothing to worry about. You are just on the verge where one comes to face death" Osho tells one his disciple in the book "A hammer on the rock". Not exactly a good counselor, this guy.

- i have 27 people online and i am not talking to anyone

- Saw a bird(it was a crane, i think) chasing another. It was beautiful

- Use horns ! thats such a dumb idea ! might as well tell them to be cautious while driving ! [some guy while arguing with me over the need of more magnetic lights or something on hilly areas to inc road safety]

- "Hey look, its the stripper from the kid's show", Bart Simpson

- "Abey woh couple haina Tanaz-Bakhtiyaar, usme woh husband ka naam kya hain ? tanaz ya bakhtiyaar ?" , Parth [while discussing big boss]

- "Landscape of a dream", a really good phrase i read in some book about screenplay writing

- A facebook status read "Leave me alone" today. funny thing to say on a networking site

- To hell with free smses , my thumb is paining

- "Ek toh bichare ka khoon ho gaya upper se uske baal chamak rahe hain", ACP Praduman [CID]

- No matter how busy i am, i always find time to tell people abt it on facebook

- I used to burst a lotta pimples under my lips and eventually the skin turned dark in that area. Now it looks like i have a goatee. Its funny how things work out sometimes.

- Read an article today about Bangladesh govt awarding a farmer for killing 83,000 rats to protect crops. He kept their tails as evidence. "This is an exciting moment. i will continue to kill them" he vowed.

- Saw a video of two girls slapping each other for 40 seconds. somehow everyone really liked it

Why ?

2009-11-09T03:07:00.000-08:00

It has been my observation that no matter what the topic, it is always useful to understand something from different perspectives and point of views. This helps us build our opinion and understand our subject in more depth. But in order to achieve this understanding one needs to surround oneself with people who have their own individual thoughts and ideas and don’t go on repeating the popular notions without giving it a second thought.

However, when u do surround urself with such wide variety of point of view it is almost impossible to avoid fights and clashes due to diff of opinions and it is at such moments that the word “why” comes into use. You see, no matter how much u deny it, the fact remains that in this world there are no right or wrongs. Only opinions and ideas of wat is right or wrong. Now some of u may argue that there some which are always wrong like say for example rape or stealing. These things are wrong according to u and since a majority of people (including me off course) agree with this, it is been made into a law. But there still people who don’t consider in wrong. It’s a different thing if u disagree with them but my point is that there is nothing in this world the whole of human race considers right or wrong. There are exceptions and objections for everything.

So instead of trying to convince others and making them agree with u , its more fruitful (in my experience) to try to understand “why do they have such an opinion?” ”why do they think this is right/wrong?” That, at least to me, is more interesting than arguing on who is right and who is wrong. Not only will this help u build a better understanding and thought process of other people, it will also make u more tolerant towards things that might otherwise bother u or offend u even though it was never intended by the other person.

“Why?” not only helps us understand others better it is also a great tool for self- discovery. Even when u watch or hear something and react to it, try asking this question. Many times we laugh at things which others might not find so funny. So we need to ask ourselves why did I laugh at that? What makes it so funny? This might seem stupid or unnecessary to do but trust me; if u do it right you’ll be surprised how much u can know about ur own self!

Understandably u cannot go on asking urself “why ?” for every little thing happening around u. Even if u do so,it probably drive u crazy. Just do this once in a while, when u feel like or ur bored ….. anytime….whenever u want to. Also be prepared to accept uncertainty cause u’ll not get the answers for ur question all the time. Don’t worry or strain ur brains about it too much.

One last thing, don’t just get stuck to this question for everything u do. Not everything u do is suppose to have perfect logic or meaning, sometimes we do things just because we feel like it. Don’t let this word stop u from it, who knows, the relevance of ur acts might occur to u in the future . This word should be means of expanding ur understanding of things not to restrict u into a mechanical logically correct world cause sometimes instead of “Why ?” we need to ask ourselves - “Why not ?”.

Wager War

2009-03-24T01:53:00.000-07:00

I came across something very interesting on the Internet recently; the French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal’s Wager. Pascal's Wager is a suggestion that if you have to choose between believing in god or not, a person should “wager”(assume) as though God exists, because so living has everything to gain, and nothing to lose. This is because if at some point in the course of human race, if it is proven that god does exist then we all will have an eternal life. Eternal life not in the sense that we shall remain immortal till the end of time rather it is our soul which shall forever remain immortal and at peace in heaven even after leaving body in the event of death for we have spend our life assuming god exists and thus have not committed the sin of not believing in him. But if by any chance it does come to be proven that there is no such thing as god, we have nothing to lose for we have to face death just like the people who choose not to believe in god, thus making it the best option.

However there are many anomalies in this perception as pointed out by the famous biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins in his book “The God Delusion”. Firstly if god does exists would he really be pleased to find out that we choose to believe in him just so as to get a easy entry in heaven rather than out of respect and love? It seems like we are deceiving god just for our own benefits. Another point of view which Dawkins presents in the book is of a “Anti–Pascal Wager” in which he suggests the exact opposite of Pascal i.e. if we were to choose between believing in god or not, the best and most advantageous option would actually be of not believing in god because if at some point its proven that god does exists then god might perhaps like the people who choose not to believe in him for they did not find enough proof for it. God would probably respect a man who made an effort to search for the truth rather just giving in to what everyone else said and if it is proven that god does not exist then we would have spend a life without wasting time worshipping him, doing unnecessary rituals or getting involved in fights often caused between religious groups, hence proving to be a win-win situation.

Now although it seems that the obvious choice at this point will be to not believe in god’s existence I have to point that while god might respect a man who made an effort to search for the truth and did not just blindly believe in him, not believing in god is still a sin for which u cannot be allowed in heaven.

Some of the other criticism which Pascal’s wager has faced over the years if of people who thought that although assuming the existence of god might seem advantageous it still does not in any way prove that god exists. While this is true it cannot be really be considered as criticism for Pascal’s Wager because he never set out to prove the existence of god. He merely suggested a better option of assumption which might help us. Which brings us to the all important question of why do we have to make an assumption in the first place?

Pascal found the life to be full of uncertainty. Everywhere you look there is uncertainty, be it nature, religion or science. Till date we have not been able to go farther than mars then how are we supposed to find out about the almighty who presumably is the creator of the entire universe! We can never prove/disprove the existence of god for god’s essence is “infinitely incomprehensible” and thus, according to Pascal, we are left with choice but to assume and the only question now is which one to assume. But what I can’t understand is - Why is assumption our only option? Cant we simply state that “We don’t know”. Since there is no way one can find out weather or not god exists doesn’t it make more sense to admit the fact rather than live your life believing in something which cannot be proven just because it seems to be more profitable to you??

Proud to be an indian ??

2008-12-07T18:06:00.000-08:00

I had a really strange thought few days back. One of my roommates was making fun of me or something and told “oh he is proud gujju. I am proud of be a gujju” and I said “no I am not proud to be a gujju (Guajarati)” and they were all kind of shocked. I find this very surprising

Everyday many of us keep saying “Proud to be an Indian”, “Proud to be a gujju” or something like that without thinking why are we so proud to be that?

Dictionary defines Proud as an adjective which means

1.
feeling pleasure or satisfaction over something regarded as highly honourable or creditable to oneself (often fol. by of, an infinitive, or a clause).

2.
having, proceeding from, or showing a high opinion of one's own dignity, importance, or superiority.

3.
Having or showing self-respect or self-esteem.

4.
highly gratifying to the feelings or self-esteem: It was a proud day for him when his son entered college.

5.
highly honourable or creditable: a proud achievement.

According to Augustine, it is "the love of one's own excellence."
What has being an Indian or Guajarati got to do with my excellence. Why should I love myself or think good of myself just because I was born in India or in Guajarati family? Its not liked I choose to be like that. Let me explain in a little detail.

1. feeling pleasure or satisfaction over something regarded as highly honourable or creditable to oneself
5. Highly honourable or creditable: a proud achievement.

I don’t think being an Indian is a honourable or creditable to oneself. It is merely by chance and not by choice that I was born in India and thus I am an Indian. How can I take credit for that? I didn’t put in any effort in being born in India. Its not like god gave me a choice “ok son, tell me which country u wanna be born”. So its not an achievement to be an Indian.
If I was ,by chance, born in US I would say “proud to be an American” which would make no sense as I cant take credit being an American.

3. having or showing self-respect or self-esteem.

4. Highly gratifying to the feelings or self-esteem: It was a proud day for him when his son entered college.

Sometimes we are proud of our friends, children, and parents or ourselves because when they achieve something we feel we have played role in making it possible. This feeling is quite natural and acceptable. If the Indian cricket teams wins a match I would surely say I am proud supporter of the Indian cricket team for I would like to believe that without support of so many people the team might have not done that well. However this in no way justifies the statement “Proud to be Indian”.

2. having, proceeding from, or showing a high opinion of one's own dignity, importance, or superiority.

Many times pride is the feeling of being superior or important. For eg “I am proud to be the richest man in my town” or so on. This again talks about the achievements of on individual for which he has put efforts and worked hard. There is no way I can say being an Indian makes me more important, dignified or superior than other people.

Few of us are even proud at being in a certain religion. “Proud to be a Hindu” or “Proud to be Muslim” some of us would say. But this again is nothing but the feeling of false superiority as one has not put any efforts to be in that religion. It is just by chance like being an Indian. You cant say your religion is superior than other and thus there is no way u can be proud to be Hindu or Muslim or anything else. Infact most world religions consider “Pride” to be a sin and encourage humility!

Exceptions

Like everything else in the world, even my point of view has some exceptions. Many of us are born in one country but always dream going abroad and settling there. Some of them work very hard to fulfil this dream and so when they finally when they become a citizen of that country it is an achievement for them. So if they say they r proud to be xyz, then its quite acceptable I feel.

Similary someone who has taken a lot of pains to convert into a hindu, muslim etc then he or she may say they are proud to do so as long they say it with a feeling to making an achievement and not with that of being superior or more important.

Also if someone feels that he/she has done something to make india what it is today then even they may proclaim their pride as it is somewhat similar to me being a proud supporter of the indian cricket team.

Conclusion

I am sure many people would find it very insulting when I or you say “I am not proud to be an Indian” which is quite understandable cause while pride gives the feeling of being superior , the lack or absence of it sometimes causes feeling of inferiority. Now being an Indian might not be superior but it is not inferior too. So the question arises that what do we say?

The answer is we can be “happy”. Surely there is nothing wrong in being happy to be an Indian because happiness is not restricted of any achievements. We can happy to see the sun rise, to see someone else happy, to eat good food, to spend time with family and friends. We can happy at any damn thing we want.

I may not be proud to be a gujju and an Indian. But I am happy to a gujju and delighted to be an Indian !

****UPDATE******

Thanks to my good friend Archana's logical arguments i have been convinced to believe that i can truly proudly say that i am proud to be indian. Read her counter argument here .

A Sad State

2008-05-28T12:34:00.000-07:00

Its amazing , it really is !

We are considered to be next emerging power along with china with a growing economy and all the rest of the crap which u read in news paper every now and then. But still we live in a time where a student after his 12th doesnt know what he wants to do. Its ok to be confused as a teenager but whats worst is that he/she is never given a chance to think about it and follow his heart most of the times.

Ask any kid after his 12th what he wants to do and he will almost always reply engg or medical coll. Its not because he is intrested in that field (i mean this is not true always but this is the case most of the times). The reason he says this is because his brain has been wired ever since he was kid that when u grow u either grow up to be a doctor or a engineer. I am sure many people opt for many different choices but there numerous other who never really make their own decision cause their decision is already been made by their parents.I mean it is soo sad to see these people making such an important decision blindly.

The problem , i feel, is our way of thinking more than anything else. Sure u can blame the govt or the education system or the fact that we r still a developing country but the truth is that we need to change out mentality - as students , as parents and as a society.

As students we r seldom encourage to explore our skills and talents to find out what we r really good at. One should not just follow the crowd. We r given brains for a reason. We must find out what we r good at and what we really want to do in life. Dont just join a course and enter a coll because ur parents say so or because ur friend is studying there.We must change the way we think as students.

As parents we need to change the way we treat our kids. Many times people know what they wanna do but their parents dont support their dream. The kid is sometimes even scared to tell them what he really wants to do in life.Parents must have an open and honest relationship with kids so that they can fearlessly say whatever is they have in mind. Apart from this parents must also recognize the skills their child and support their dream rather than discourage him by forcing him to take a safe path. Life is full of ups and downs, learn to take some risks and have faith in ur child.

As a society we r major contributor to fact that so many kids just blindly take up the in demand courses and colleges without thinking what suits them. We pressurize the kids to performing amazingly gr8 every single time. Even before 12th, kids are often considered dumb if they take streams like art or sometimes even commerece. Instead of thinking about the kid's interest we simply assume the fact that he or she just wasnt good enough for science.This is where we as a society need to change our mentality

Although it might not seem so ,this is a major problem we r facing right now.If only we would let people follow their dreams and encourage their efforts we would win a lot more trophies, a lot more awards, a lot more medals, a lot more world cups and most importantly a lot more smiles !

The method to my madness

2008-05-28T09:08:00.000-07:00

Since u have nothing better to do than read my thoughts let me start off by telling u the reason i choose to give my blog the title "The Method To My Madness". Often i have heard of people talking (mostly on sitcoms) about what they want written on their tombstone. While i , being a hindu, would clearly would never have a tombstone but still the thought got me thinking on what would i like written on my tombstone. Perhaps it might come useful incase i grow up to be someone famous or rich. In that case if someones gonna write a biography on my life then such a title would surely come in handy.
This might sound stupid , just like most of my other future posts, but i believe everyone fantasizes about growing up to be somone popular and famous. Why else would people sing in bathroom, practice speeches for awards they probably will never get and many more such thing which people do. I too fantasize about such things and so starting thinking about this.Who knows maybe they'll make a movie on me with the title.
So the title had to something which would obviosuly relate to me. I am usually the kind of person who is shy among some people, but among my friends i speak off the top of my head. I say anything that comes to my mind. I am sort of a freaky mad kind of guy. Thus i finally came up with the title "The Method To My Madness".I know its not completely original. I am not sure where i have heard this title but i am pretty sure it has been used before.
So there u go, thats the reason for choosing the title.