Rationality in Children

I was surprised to learn that in reality, little children are far more intelligent that we would like to accept or believe. I recently understood that when we try to make a judgement about children and their abilities, we are usually far away from reality than we actually think. Then I felt that this could be an interesting enough topic to post on my Blog. The first thing that made me realize of my incorrect opinion on the rationality and cognitive abilities of children was their sense of purpose or use of an object. There are two mugs that we use for our daily ablution - one Green and one Blue. The Green one (relatively bigger one) is used for bathing purpose only. One day, for no attributable reason, the Blue one (relative smaller one) replaced the Green and was being used to give my kid a bath. She refused to take bath and was shouting, crying and running away. She was expressing her unwillingness to take bath with the Blue mug. I understood her revolt only when she expressed that it was wrong mug, and asked me to use the Green one. I was surprised. Later, when I thought about it, I understood that she is aware of the utility and the purpose of these two mugs was different. Second, the ability to meaningfully and comprehensively converse at 2.5 yrs. On no occasion during the last 6 months has she used wrong words or tense (may be more, but I wasn't aware of did not notice). Apart from that, she also uses the right tenor and tone when she speaks e.g. query/ question has a different tone from a response.
On one instance, her conversation started as follows:
She: All the boys and girls in my class are taking my water bottle.
Her Grandma: Why don't they bring their own water bottles to School?
S: They do.
G: Then why do they take your bottle?
S: I can't understand.
There are many more such things about the kids that we won't notice till they happen. So, when you next meet a kid, be ready to be surprised. Note: I'll post more such interesting conversations/ experiences with kids.

Is this the FM a leading Emerging Economy can afford?

In my unusual inebriated state of mind, I was casually going through a news item on my favourite news paper "Google News - Business" section on 31-Oct-2011 at about 22:45 hrs. The first news items caught my mind - obviously, being a Relationship Manager in an Indian Bank, I would be focusing my news on issues relating to "interest rate scenario", "inflation", "exchange rate", "industrial index of production", "euro crisis", and such similar or related news articles.

So, my eyes caught the first news item on the Business section of Google News at this time viz., "Inflation to ease soon, says Pranab Mukherjee" on TOI published at Oct 31, 2011, 10.17PM IST

It spoke of one of the statements made by Finance Minister of my country (India) on the RBI's decision last week to raise key policy rates for the thirteenth time since March, 2010, to tame the rate of price rise. Mr. Mukherjee said, "There was some liquidity excess which was required to be mopped up and through the adjustment of interest rates, efforts have been made to mop it up."

My basics tell me that there are two simple and straight forwards tools that RBI (any Central Bank for that matter) uses as part of Monetary Policy. They are 1) Interest Rate - via Repo and Reverse Repo Rates [Increase in rates would make credit available at higher costs] and b) Liquidity - via Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) [Increase in CRR would mop up liquidity from the economy and any decrease would release liquidity into the economy]. I am still not able to understand how Mr. Mukherjee could say that an increase in interest rates would mop up excess liquidity in the system.

With such people becoming FMs to one of the leading Emerging Economies, what would be the fate of Fiscal Policy Interventions, Much needed Reforms, and the aspiration of the people of the nation to become one of the economic super powers.

US Rating Downgrade - India Perspective

I feel following is the likely impact on certain key Macroeconomic parameters of India on account of downgrade of US Long Term Credit Rating from AAA to AA+ by S&P.

Impact on Currency
As the credit rating of US been downgraded, there would be a definite impact on its currency. Considering that US has become a riskier place that it was a few days back, the US$ would no more be treated as much a safe heaven as it was treated earlier. As a result, the demand for US$ would reduce to a certain extent. This should escalate value of INR relative to US$.

Impact on Exports
As the INR appreciates, its exports become relatively seem costlier. Hence the India’s competitive advantage may be construed to be impacted negatively. However the US tax rates would undergo an upward revision, as a measure to cut the deficit by more than $2 trillion by 2013. This would increase the pressure on the US companies to reduce other costs. As a result, the US companies may resolve to outsource more to relatively cheaper destination like India. Hence India’s services exports, including IT exports, are expected to have a positive impact.

Impact on Imports (mainly crude)
Given that USD is likely to depreciate, the imports (which are mainly denominated in US$) would become cheaper and more affordable. The same would be the case with the India’s crude imports.

Impact on Inflation
Considering the fall in crude prices, the Indian government would do good if they take a decision to reduce the fuel prices. This should also help in reduction in inflation. However, considering that Indian currency is expected to appreciate relatively, there is a strong possibility of moderation in inflation.

Impact on the India’s US Treasury Holdings
India has invested $41 billion in US Treasury Bonds. Assuming all the investments made by India are in 10 year US Treasury bonds. Presently, the 10 year treasury rates are quoting at 2.7% p.a. Considering that due to the downgrade the long term treasury rates are expected to increase by 70 basis points (Source: News Item on Jul 27, 2011 at Bloomberg’s website by Michael J. Moore and John Detrixhe U.S. Downgrade May Cost $100B a Year: JPMorgan), India’s investments in US are expected to diminish in value by about $2.7 Bn. However this is a notional loss. It can’t be safely assumed that RBI wouldn’t just sell these investments. Considering the increased yields/ rates, the value of the bonds on maturity would not alter.

Further, it is worth noting that the US short term rating has not been downgraded and continues to remain at A1+, the best credit rating. Hence the impact on the short term rates/ bond prices is expected to be minimal.

Impact on equity markets and FDI
India is now relatively less riskier a place of investment that it was a few days earlier. Hence, there should technically be an increase in FII and FDI into India and shoot up the equity markets.

NEWS FROM EVERY CORNER OF THE WORLD

During most of our discussions at office on politics or economy, I keep wondering – now more frequently than ever – if I live in a different world. I am simply oblivious of most of the events being discussed vociferously. I quickly concluded that this state of oblivion is a symptom of some other stronger cause – a root cause. I leaned back and tried to understand what the root cause could be. After pondering upon this thought with a deliberate intention to avoid an attack of ‘Analysis Paralysis’ (or AP) – I have been a chronic sufferer of this critical disease, which fist attacked me during my education– realization dawned upon me that I have not been getting my daily dose of NEWS.

Although I tried my best, I could not escape a very mild attack of AP. I felt that the root cause actually should be being uninterested or being lethargic or for that matter, it could as well be being human. However, not belabouring further, I settled for ‘missing the daily dose of news’ conclusion. Soon my mind moved instinctively onto the next step of problem solving – Addressing the Root Cause. Immediately, I grabbed the newspaper lying next to me and tried to go through it. I felt that it was another impossible task and started exploring other alternatives.

Being a natural idiot, my natural choice was my dearest buddy with IQ levels of my standard i.e. Idiot Box – more fashionably called now Television. I wanted to have best of the Idiots so I purchased an LCD version of my buddy. However, I realized soon after my purchase that an idiot in any form (LCD/ LED/ Plasma/ CRT) is still an idiot.

I was surfing through the NEWS Channels. I randomly selected one Hindi channel, where some BREAKING NEWS was being broken open to the public. I was very happy. How fortunate am I? Tomorrow, I could contribute in the discussions at our office courtesy the BREAKING NEWS that a boy had accidentally fallen into a defunct bore well while playing near it as it was not closed. I will make others feel oblivious tomorrow.

I instantly became a fan of this channel and added it to my favourites – yes I have taken Tata Sky to add to the experience of viewing digital clarity picture on my LCD and also to make my life jing-a-la-la.

I soon became very appreciative of this channel. For the sake of people like me, this channel has been playing the BREAKING NEWS of this decade since six in the evening. By the way, you wouldn’t know that it was about quarter past eleven in the night then.

With obvious unforgettably encouraging experience, I changed the channel to another local NEWS channel. I was lucky again this was showing some other BREAKING NEWS. There was a peculiar scroll running on the bottom of the screen proudly proclaiming that ‘We are the first channel to broadcast this BREAKING NEWS’. I wanted to add this also to my favourites. However, it did not take more than an idiot of my sort to realize that this logic would turn all the NEWS channels favourite.

I also realized that the new generation, ever-more-responsible NEWS Channels – who have taken upon themselves the virtuous task of bringing important NEWS to the common man on time and from every corner of the world – are living up to their task. However, they haven’t taken ‘bringing important NEWS to the common man on time’ as serious a part of their responsibility as ‘bringing NEWS from every corner of the world’. Anyway, they have at least taken 50% of their task seriously, while many are happy not taking even 10% of their tasks seriously.

The ubiquitous "PRESS"

I am truly amazed at the number of vehicles that carry the word "PRESS" on them. I am not sure if it is required for the people from a particular segment of the media to actually flaunt "PRESS" on their vehicles. I won't dare to pose the question on the justification of such use, as these days, everyone tries to justify what they believe in. If they face opposition or criticism, they proudly declare "let us agree to disagree". To my mind, only the use of "Doctor" or "+" is required, as any accident or any medical emergency on the roads can be better handled with such use. As the people around could take help of the doctors who may be passing by that place, if by any chance.
When I ponder upon this further, I feel there should be a Law on use of their professions on their vehicles – more so, the "PRESS" and the "POLICE".
The Police vehicles, which are owned by the Police department, have every right to wear the name on them. However the individual policemen who own vehicles in their personal capacity should stop wearing the word on their vehicles. I see so many people, I strongly doubt if they belong to Press (Police), use PRESS (POLICE) on their personal vehicles. How can one differentiate the rightful users from the rest?
The PRESS and POLICE have a great responsibility in a civil society. They play a very important role in ensuring that our society remains civil. I truly respect them and believe that they are doing their part in fulfilling their duties, without an iota of doubt. If not, our places of inhabitation would not have been as safe as they are now.
What irks me the most is the misuse of these words by common public who feel they are smart and clever. They wear it on their vehicles with an intention that the traffic police wouldn't stop them or would turn blind-eye to their violations on the road. These people, in the first instance wear these words with the vilified intentions of violating the rules. The use of these words on their vehicles is a mechanism to escape the clutches of the poor and understaffed Traffic Police department.
I feel there should be a Law, if not already on controlling the use of such words. If there is already a Law, there should be stricter monitoring and any misuse should be punished severely.

Good Bye 2009 - Welcome 2010!

It was not just another year that went by. It was a beginning of a new phase in my life. In 2008, my decision to move to SCB was reasoned on the following aspects:

1. Responsibility and Learning - Increased account responsibility with greater interaction with customer and greater involvement in operations, which I had never been exposed to at Axis Bank. So responsbility was increasing three fold with also scope for greater learning. However, since the risk apetite of the Bank was lower, the number of relationships to be managed would reduce to almost one third. That way I would not be expecting a very large change in responsibility.
2. Reward & Remuneration - a very attractive offer with a handsome increment over my existing pay. It would be adequate for getting enough home loan for my new flat. Monthly cash flow also would improve.
3. Brand Value - surely an international bank would mean bigger and better brand.

All this was true, except the responsibility part. The work load was immense due to higher responsibility. The new year started with increased involvement in operations and greater learning. This resulted in a Work-Life imbalance. During the same phase we had planned for our first child. There surely was work pressure at office in addition, there was also increased responsibility to take care of my wife while she was carrying. My wife understood my situation very well. She ensured that my life at home did not change much. She took care of most of the things.

The new year 2009 started with these two major events one on the professional and one on the personal. Given this beginning, the life during 2009 improved beyond doubt. I was able to ensure that my loan got disbursed and made the final payment to my builder. Got ownership of my flat and moved to our home, a small two bedroom flat near the heart of the city. We were blessed with a daughter. We named her Charita. I started driving to my office and my confidence levels in driving increased. My performance at office was appreciated. I made good friends at work place. I was involved in some new and good deals and transactions, which offered wonderful learning experience. During 2009, both on the personal and professional front, there was a sense of satisfaction and achievement.

With this positive energy and confidence from the last year, I am entering into a new year and decade. I am confident that year 2010 and 202nd decade (AD) would be a more satisfying and more successful a year than 2009.

Is there anything different in my life?

I just happened to think about what happened in my life or should I say what I have done. 28 years 10 months 13 days of my existence, by my philosophy, was a series of experiences one after the other one dependent on the other and falling out of the choices I have made.

I don't see anything unique. It was but a normal life with nothing different from the majority of the people. Getting educated and getting a good job only to go daily to a particular place and speak to same set of people, do the same work over and over, provide similar service to the same set of customers again and again. Even my Father had a similar life style of course with a better work-life balance.

If I have to select any past experience of mine which I can call unique, it might be difficult. I am sure that my experiences are shared by some person or the other in this world. Nothing that I have done is not done by anyone else. However, if I have to identify a person who had all the experiences similar to me and in that particular order itself, what would I conclude? A unique sequence of experiences that are derived from the choices made by me in the past. Every step in life is a choice we make. So, each of this would be made by our own selves. They make us (a person) and we make them (choices).

Another element of uniqueness would come in the way I have dealt with my experiences. The way I accepted or rejected them or loved or loathed them, what I picked up from them, what I concluded from them, the hours I spent thinking over them, recollecting them, reliving them. That would be unique. That would be me.

Living to work or working to live

More often than not, I get this thought. What am I doing? Like any person with aspirations of building a wonderful career, I am working harder and harder. Initially, I had nothing else to do when I came back home; or I thought so. I was in the office from anytime to anytime. I never thought that it was actually detrimental to me. Further, I had enjoyed every moment of work and success. Slowly, from the objective of "Working to live" transformed, with out my cognizance, into "Living to work". I didn't realize that till I had to think of many things in life - personal life had taken more importance because of new responsibilities and new people in life. Now, I realise what I had done to myself. I had become a workaholic. What is a big deal in being a workaholic. Genuinely I don't know how it impacts the life of a person in general. But my experience has taught me some side and ill effects of being a workaholic.

Let me start from the evening of any given day.
17:30 - We go for a cup of tea and a small walk to take a break from the office.
18:00 - Start working and check the list of "to do things" and see how any are pending. There would be many pending things and tension in my head increase - first sign of the illness.
18:30 - After identifying the pressing things, start working on them and closing some of them. This continues till about 21:00 hrs.
21:00 - Now that it is already so late, I feel that a little more effort from my side would help me in crossing some more. - second sign of the illness
22:00 - My head starts feeling heavy and with great dificulty I try to focus on my work. Fatigue overtaking my determination, I accept that it is time and start packing things up.
22:30 - I leave for home and reach by 23:00 hrs, eat and feel heavinesss and discomfort in my stomach. I can't sleep immediately after sleep. So, I start browsing to catch up with my friends check and respond to mails.
00:00 - I retire for the day. I can't sleep. Some of the things from my work which I had left mid-way and not worked on start haunting me. - impact of the illness.
I hardly get to sleep properly and have a very disturbed sleep. I can't wake up early in the morning because I slept late and had a distrubed sleep. I struggle to wake up and succedd only after 8:00 hrs.
8:00 - Time for ablution (not spiritual though)
8:45 - Start feeling burning sensation in the morning and having problems like acidity. No hunger. I have my breakfast with great difficulty. Through out the morning till I reach office, I start thinking about what I should do at office. I get irritated and frustrated about my job - I ask myself a question "Am I working to live or living to work?"
9:10 - Leave home for office.
9:30 - I reach office. I have no inclination to work and no desire to check my "to do list". I wait till a cup of tea and waste time till 10:30 cribbing about myself. - impact of the illness
10:30 - Tea time. What have I done till now? Nothing. I think "Ok let me have a cup of tea before I start my work."
11:00 - Start preparing a to do list and start working on them.
12:00 - Before I do something substantial I start feeling hungry. I recollect that I could not have much in the break fast. I wait till 13:00 hrs not doing much work.
13:00 - Lunch time. "What am I doing? I have to complete something today. Let me start afresh after lunch.", I feel.
14:00 - I feel sleepy. I haven't had proper sleep in the night. I curse myself for sleeping late in the night and think of not doing it again. I have a cup of hot water (substitute for tea - too many tea would spoil health you know).
14:15 - Business as usual starts now. I know half my day is gone. - all because of the illness.
17:30 - Refer to the beginning of the schedule.
Note: There is no personal life in my schedule. Where am I giving time to myself and my family members.

This is the first time I have documented my daily schedule. This schedule, I believe, is applicable to not just me. But many people. Now I realize that there are many things I can avoid to improve my health. I have hardly worked to call myself a workaholic. But my start time and end time at office make me feel I am a workaholic. If I can minimize the lost time, I can improve the work-life balance.

Firstly, I must sleep early on Sundays to wake-up fresh and early on Monday. Reach office early by 8:30 hrs and leave office early by 7:30 hrs.

After a long gap

It is evident from the gaps between the posts on my blog that I have been off for quite a long time. I would say, main reason for this gap is that I have been focusing on things like building my career and fulfilling my new responsibilities in new roles.

Off late, my trysts with my ignorance has been more frequent than it has ever been. this new development in life, I believe is either because:
1. I was more ignorant that I ever thought
2. My encounters with new things has increased
Any which way, I believe I am evolving as a more matured and more learned. I feel it daily. My general knowledge and general awareness levels are improving. I am able to communicate more effectively than before.

I have also started realizing something about understanding humans and their psychology. How much ever we understand a person, it would only be the tip of the ice-berg. Understanding and comprehending any person in entirety is impossible. This applies to even the closest of the family members like brothers, sisters, and parents. I am yet to understand myself, leave alone the others. Human mind is too complex to be understood because of its unpredictability.

No adventure, no variety, no spice in life

Nothing great happens on daily basis. Actually, days have been almost the same during the last few months. Suddenly, I felt like going through my blog, that I had ignored for a while now. It was not very interesting either. Life has been normal and that is what my blog reflects - my normal life.

During my school days, I learnt that "variety is spice of life". It was interesting during those days, every day was new. I had to cook up a new story every day for not doing my home work, for scoring below average in Social/ English/ Telugu, to retain the attention of friends, many more such things.

They were unreal most of the cases, they could also be counted as lies, but they rarely were true/ real. Even while narrating a real event, most of the things were exaggerated, making all the stories unreal in one way or the other.

I had two lives, one at the school and the other back home. Both had different things that made them interesting or boring. But these two added spice to life and made life more interesting.

As I was a below average student, there hardly were any expectations. I did the things my way, I lived the life my way. I studied when I felt like and played as much as I wanted, even fought with other children with whom I played. But now, there are expectations, and that precisely is the difference.

Saawariya a pathetic movie - Deserves less than 1 star

Last week I had a great dilemma. Should I watch Saawariya or Om Shanti Om?
Om Shanti Om is a remake of the old movie "Karz", so the story line of the move is known and Saawariya is a new movie and is said to be based on a short story titled White Nights written by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

After much deliberation, a conscious decision was taken to watch Saawariya. I had taken tickets for IMAX screen on the first day of the movie, 9th of November 2007. With a great drama and ordeal, I manage to book tickets.

With great expectations, we go to watch the movie on the first day, technically first show (on the IMAX screen).

What do we see?
1. An over acting and more than required emotions in every scene by the Mr. Kapoor.
2. No character having any substantial role in the movie except for the two people.
3. Performance of the girl was also not up to the mark.
4. The climax was not up to the mark
5. The sets were very artificial and looked out of place
6. Set of songs with nice music and lyrics (considering the current standards)
7. Rani Mukherjee's "Dhande wali" role has become more than cliché now, somebody tell her than there are many other roles she can play.
8. The story line did not have anything to offer

In all, it could have been made into an awesome Album. But Mr. SLB had different plans. He added a few dialogues and other things into the music Album to make it a movie.

Mr. Sanjay Leela Bhansali seems to have a very bad understanding of Indian Public or is gone paranoid and lives in a different world. He doesn't deserve being called a great director/producer.
The movie deserves not more than 0.5 Stars (better avoided).
Take the music cassette/CD if you want to listen to the music, but watching a movie is a real waste of time, effort and money.

Making "Rain Water Harvesting" (RWH) compulsory for approval of large construction projects

I believe anything good may not be accepted immediately, in such cases, someone who can enforce must ensure the acceptance by creating a rule/law. If we can dig up history of all the laws or rules, they have some history behind its making. I would not dwelve much on the history or law.
I was just wondering if implementation of Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) can be made compulsory by the approval boards of each state or area for any construction greater than a certain size.
Every plans for construction should be approved by necessary authority and given a go-ahead. Also, there are guidelines and norms a plan should adhere by to get such approvals. If the norms include the RWH for building/constructions of a certain size, it would sure help the cause of preserving ground water.
Proper care should be taken to enforce such implementation only in feasibile locations. It is not possible to implement RWH in all types of land. Also care should be taken to close all routes to escape from implementing on feasible lands.
I am not sure if such rules/norms/guidelines are already in place.

Not just an exanimate photograph

When ever I see this photograph, I feel there is a lot in this photograph. It is not just a lifeless picture. I believe this is one of the best works of Nitesh. One might ask, why? Some of the reasons:

1. Effective use of "time of the day" and light to make the photo look more natural.
2. Appropriate selection of location to add that extra bit of augmentation possible.
3. The "pose of the model" was also as directed by the Photographer.
4. The mildness in the smile.
5. A little leftward inclination at the waist that makes the face look straight from neck onwards, yet the visible left inclination - relaxed posture depicted at its best.
6. Small curve under the eyes, created by making the eyes look small, depicts intense cocentration on something and pleasure of seeing the beauty in it. The pleasure part is augmented due to the mild smile on the lips.

Given time, I can write a lot more. I don't know if everyone would appreciate this so much. I know that everyone may not agree with whatever I feel about the photograph. Does it really matter?

This is my feeling and this is what I see in this photograph. Or may be I am biased because the one in the picture is myself. It is also possible that, there could be more to this act of photography or this photograph, which is beyond my ability to comprehend.

I am running short of words to appreciate Nitesh for his excellent photography.

I found this in my old note book

Some ramblings I must say. I was going through a old note book of mine in which I had written some arbit thoughts down.

FIRST TRYST
I never knew who you were
I ever imagined your presence in life
I never thought where you could be
I ever believed your presence in life

Is that you, who I need?
Is that you, who inspires me?
What if I don't need you?
What if I never meet you?

Was our tryst decided by others?
Thought of your existence inspires me
Our meeting, so really mysterious
No clue when we will meet
But we believe we will meet

That meeting of ours, how will it be?
Will I feel you are the same one?
Have I been waiting for the one in front of me?
Would you feel the same?

Hearts would pounce
Eyes would meet, flicker will eye lids
Cheeks would blush
Throat would dry

Still we talk not.
Not yet are we convinced
Sure we are attracted
Out eyes locked at the other's

We look into the eyes
Talk to each other through eyes
Then we talk to give the second sense
The feel of each other

We come close then
The sense of your touch
I shall never forget the first of it.
You shall feel the same
We have sensed the fourth.

Then we are closer
the final sense awakens
To complete the sensing of each other
It yearns to reach the fragrance

I am convinced you are the one.
I was, for you, waiting till now.
You are convinced, not yet.
Your eyes so intense into mine.

The spark brings to life
the beauty of your eyes
I sense the unimaginable event
Do your eyes capture the same?

From senses, we decide to transcend
spiritual experience of each other we desire.
The longing for union so unbearable
We unite to live for now and ever.


SLEEP
I can feel you
You are around for sure.
But I can't see you
I can't your presence prove

On the verge of embracing me, are you
this pleasure surrenders to you my senses
Overwhelmed with ecstasy
I lie on my couch waiting

Your victory is not my failure
Mine, your failure, is.
Over me, your victory
My dreams, it fulfills

If your victory is my defeat
Defeat, this time, is the sweetest
My pains I shall forget
Cherishing your victory.

Your winning over me
Is indeed a blessing
Culmination it is of pains
and pleasures so far

Tomorrow you let me free
you pour life into me
Live, I will, till our tryst next.
Tonight I wait for your visit.

You entice me again
Dreams come to life
Life you fill in me to die
Life I give to bring you back.

Last sun set of the year 2006!!!

Mahe, politically under the Union Territory Pondicherry and geographically in Kerala, is on the shores of the Arabian sea. Main attraction of this place is the Talassery Drive-in beach. We invited the year 2007 here.

Silvery sands of Talassery were inviting us to step barefoot. We get into our shorts and took a plunge into the luke warm waters of the Arabian Sea. It was about 4:00 PM and the waves were perfectly right for us to go that extra feet into the sea. We went waist deep, then a little further to chest deep. After bearing the force of the waves on the chest for a while, we moved further into the sea neck deep.

With a little of fear, a little of excitement, and a lot of enthusiasm, we danced to the tunes of the waves. Whenever a big wave appraoced us, we took a small jump to keep our eyes and noses above the waters. After a little while, we moved a little further to stand on our toes to keep our mouth above the sea level. We jumped and floated everytime a tide tried to drown us.

We felt some thing floating on our feet, sharp came the cry "Crab! Crab!! Don't Grab!!!". From then on, evertime we felt something touching our feet, we cried out loud our freshly prepared line.

After a while, when we started feeling the pull into the sea, we moved outwards and came closer to the beach. It is about 6:00 PM now, we are tired. Although our minds were not satisfied, our bodies could not support anymore. We moved out to the beach now. We witnessed the Sun set for the last time in the year 2006 from here.

After a lot of discussion, we decided to rent place at the resort adjoining the sea. We wanted to experience the feeling of sipping whiskey and watching the silvery sand and sea water shining in the moon light.

At about 11:55, we take a refill and wait for the clock to tick 00:00. Wishing each other a very happy new year, we take the first gulp of whiskey of year 2007.

.........................................

A frequent dream

... I find myself in a huge hospital. There are many people studying medicine. Some are found discussing problems with patients and their relatives. There are many more moving here and there like me. I don't know if they really have any purpose of not. But looking at them I get a feeling that they are in search of something or somebody. I see them now, I see others the next moment. A huge number of people around me. Yet, thankfully, there is enough space for each individual and I see no one really entering the private space of eachother. One more strange thing about this place is that there is absolutely no noise. There is no sound despite the presence of host of people.
I don't remember the purpose of my visit to this place. I don't know if I really had a purpose. I don't remember why and how I had come to this place. I just remember that it is here that I find myself with no purpose or unaware of the purpose. I am in search of something. I want to get out of this place. I feel that is the first thing I can do. I don't know how to go out. I don't know anything about the hospital. How did I come here, I don't remember the path either?
I try my best. I move here and there. I see some stairs going down. I get the feeling that I need to go down before I can go out. I start climbing down the stairs. I don't see them ending. I am confused and lost. I pick up speed and start scurrying downwards. I don't know when this would end. I peep down the staircase to see how many floors to go. I find to my surprise that the bottom floor is out of my sight.
I get a strange feeling of being takenover by some force which is controlling me. Overtaken by the sheer force of this strangeness, I stop at the next floor. I go about the place trying to search of someone who could be well versed with this place. I am not sure whom to appraoch. I see a person in white coat. Looks like a person who is studying in this place. I thought he could help me with the way. I approach him and trying not to disturb anyone else, in a very low pitch I attempt to ask him the way out. I find myself not being able to speak out. Only lips and tongue move and try to make some signs out of this movement. But the sound element is missing. I make an attempt again and succeed in creating sound out of my signs of lips and toungue.
Me: Could you please help me with directions? I am lost in this place and want to know the way out.
He: I am not sure myself. I just know that you should take that route.
Me: Can you elaborate? I don't understand the directions.
Suddenly a middle aged lady come over to us and helps me with some more information. She says, pointing a staircase on the opposite side, "Take that route and climb down till you reach the end of the staircase. On reaching the end, you ask others about the route, they would be able to direct you further."
I am not conviced but was comfortable that I can atleast find my way out because of these directions. I thank both of them for their support and assistance. I continue with my journey. I called this a journey now because of the amount of time I spent on it and the range of events and observations that I have made so far. I met many people I talked to them. I spent time with them. But I still am not attached to anyone. I have a purpose in my journey - I want to go find my way of of this big hospital.

I wake up from my sleep disturbed, confused and lost.

I am frequently being disturbed from sleep because of this strange dream. I get this dream almost everytime. I would like to know why? Now I understand why so many people desire or desired to know the meaning of the things they dream or dreamt of. I can empathize with the people who believe dreams are important. These dreams disturb not only my sleep but also my routine. I spend most of my time contemplating over the dream sequence. I want to know why I dreamt the way I did. Does it have any deeper meaning? Is it because of some strongly rooted questions and musings about the purpose of my life? Is it at a higher plane and at a level beyond the reach of the humans? Is it at the meta-level that defines life? Can we ever interpret them? Multitude of such questions run in my mind.

The other obvious questions specific to this dream include:
1. Is this related to my life and finding purpose of my life?
2. Is getting out of the hospital equivalent to getting out of the birth-life cycle?
3. Is hospital equivalent to the world where I live?
4. Why hospital? Has it got any deeper, unfound and untraced correlation with my life?
5. Why did not I create bonds with anyone in my dream? Does it say anything about my personality or state of mind?
6. Like life, why no one I met or saw knows either the way out or the purpose of being in the hospital?

What is social upliftment?

Inherently, all of us are doing whatever we are, for our security (because our physiological needs are satisfied), for steady flow of income in our later years. It is selfish indeed. It is a very esoteric concept that "selfishness is a virtue". Let me elaborate on this for clarification.

Selfishness by definition can be treated as thinking about selfish motives and gains. This is driven by the fact that we want to secure ourselves from possible impending or future risks. If this is applied a level further, upliftment of general public can also be purely driven by selfish motives. How?

The main reason for existence of anti-social element in the society is presence of poverty and absence of income. What is the need for income? Obvious answer to this is: for subsistence. Ability to provide oneself with basic necessities for living can be achieved through this income. The root cause is "unsatisfied basic necessities".

If the root cause is atacked by providing everyone with the basic necessities, then there will be no need for anyone to turn against society.

So, providing the basic necessities of food, shelter, water, health, social security will solve the problem.

Arriving at this conclusion was easy. Now comes the difficult job of convincing people to get into action. By action, I mean providing everyone with basic necessities.

Let me come back to the arguement of virtuous selfishness. If I am selfish, it should motivate me to eliminate to the extent possible the risks of future. As is seen recently, the risk from anti-social elements is on the rise. To avoid this, attacking the root cause and providing everyone with the basic necessities will solve the problem to a greater extent.

According to Abraham Maslow's Need Hierarchy, if a persons physiological needs are satisfied, he would want his security need, then social needs and further up to self-actualization to be satisfied.

If the human society as a whole raised to the third level with everyone's safety needs and physiological needs satisfied, earth will by itself become a heaven to live in. As the focus of society and of every individual will change from food, shelter, security of body to a higher level of friendship, family and intimacy. So, it is the selfish interest of any person to bring the society to this level, more so, for the people with intellectual, physical, monetary powers or any combination of these powers.

Is this achieving social upliftment in true sense? I believe, this is and not by any means a higher average per-capita income with growing inherent disparities. In true sense even the higher-percapita-income countries have not achieved these. For example, in the US, there is higher disparity where top 1% of the population accounting for 16% of the income.

Comments invited.

entropy of a system increases if left uncontrolled

When a system's energy is defined as the sum of its "useful" energy, (e.g. that used to push a piston), and its "useless energy", i.e. that energy which cannot be used for external work, then entropy may be (most concretely) visualized as the "scrap" or "useless" energy.

In an isolated system(my room) such as my study table(low energy) and my book rack(high energy) taken together, the dispersal of books(energy) from warmer to cooler always results in a net increase in entropy.

This basically means that the amount of scrap or junk increases if the system is left to itself. My study table is largely uncontrolled and is left all to itself. In this scenario, the junk on my study table increase with time.

If I take efforts to ensure that the books are placed in appropriate places, the disparity in energy levels (books) will be maintained. If I don't do that, the disorganized stack of books (energy) on my table will increase. This basically proves that the entropy (chaos) increase with time, if the system is left uncontrolled.

Also, it iw worth noting that 'Spontaneous changes occur with an increase in entropy'. The entropy of my room would increase to cross the bearable limits. When it becomes unbearable, one day this entropy (chaos) triggers spontaneously an impulse to clean up my study table. The spontaneous change occurs to reduce the entropy in the system called my room.

The energy and efforts required to clean up my table will equal the efforts required to manage my table and rack daily. Thus adhering to the concept of law of conservation of energy.

Wrote for my friend on birth day

Days and years change,
We mature and age.

We spend and lose time.
But gain expeiences during the same.

We meet people, those we forget;
Those we wish we again met.

We learn things new,
We change our view.

Some get into a shell
And live like frogs in the well.

Others, enriched through experiences,
Shed all apprehensions and fears.

We make choices,
Win and lose races.

We change,
We mature and age.

Dedicated to my friend

Yet another dedication to 'the unknown mystery'

In her eyes, I see love
I share the same feeling now

How can I forget her face
The time spent in her presence
Her enticing eyes
The scent of her fragrance

I thrive not for money
But to win her whole heartedly
To be with her till eternity
I nurture this dream so lovely

The laughter so sweet
Her seductive gait
In her dreams I live
In the orchards of olive

She was never there with me
In future too she may not be
But for her, I shall wait
Day and night