The Blog awakens?

Ah to write, no blog again!

 The spurts in writing come and go. 

They say if you are to be a writer, then discipline is required. If so, then where is the freedom of thought? 

Does one sit down and say today I will write/blog etc? No the imagination is not fettered in, but free to fly at any time and day or even year for that matter..

So let me see if this becomes a constant?

Shall we?

The Natural Bounties!

Well here I was trying to wash the fish for my little cats and guess what turns up! A Hibiscus flower and a tube rose! Now that's what I call a lovely bouquet! Among the smelly pale silver fish, a brightly colored red hibiscus and a dainty tube rose flower. This started me thinking... we hardly welcome something unpleasant in our lives, but on retrospect if we sit to think, some lovely images also do crop up and of course " for the best" is really so true! The rains bring overflowing drains, wet and dampness, muck all over, but the green cover- the brown grass now springs forth with its fluorescent green, the birds happily chomping on the juicy worms, the lovely dark grey clouds laden heavy with sparkling water just waiting to shower us mortals from above, the lovely cool breeze that revives the tired souls, the smell of wet earth, the bamboo leaves with tiny drops glistening like the tears on a child's face ( nah not like diamonds that are hard and expensive), the reflections in the muddy waters, the ripples on the water surface, the dragonflies that swoop and shimmer, ( alas I wish I could go on like Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev as he describes the natural beauty in Three Sketches from a Hunter's Album), and the water birds refresh themselves.....

So now with something fishy I can still always smell the hibiscus and the tube rose.... and live to live life in its full glory!

Fragmentation- Coming Full Circle?

Fragmentation- when a project is handed over, the tasks are usually broken down, to help ramp up the project. This involves many intersections, co-ordinations and keen management to keep it all together.

Being a student of history and archaeology, India was known to consist of fragmented states which later saw "reason" and we had the Mahajanapadas. Indian history is often taught in a very disjointed way in school and colleges. We learn North Indian History and South Indian History in separate semesters. And for a long time I hardly connected the two! Even today, I find it difficult to recall who were the rulers in Southern Indian when say the Guptas or Ashoka ruled? Why are we taught History in such a fashion? Was there never any interaction between the two divides? Was travel and commerce, art and social interaction, so separated in time and geography?

Even the Great Shankaracharya brought about the unification of what is today Hinduism. Few people today are aware that Shaktism, Vaishnavism and Shaivism were distinct sects and in the distant past kingdoms of these different sects fought wars and destroyed each others sacred places of worship. The Great One unified it, but skirmishes at the Kumbh Mela between the sages of both sects still eye to be the first to dip into the sacred waters at that auspicious time.

The Indian Freedom struggle once again united people and states across India to fight the British, then why are we once again, wanting Fragmentation, our own states, dividing ourselves into smaller units?? Does governance of smaller states help? Why can't the politicians and people work together to evenly develop regions across India? What are the stumbling blocks besides corruption? A lack of will?? - on whose part??

What brought this thought on??- Well I see more and more IT startups in India, all emerging from bigger companies, Every "entrepreneur" wants his own company, his own way of working, grows and becomes a big company and the "experienced" people under him, then start their own, by moving with a client out. And here again we see fragmentation. But what I hardly see is domain specific fragmentation. If this was possible, then at least, the smaller companies could all come together as a syndicate, under a single umbrella, and still service clients, sharing revenue and bringing about more efficiency and effectiveness in "product innovation".

The same products churned out in different ways or with one specific new feature- where is the innovation? The Wheel was an innovative idea - which led to series of studies on bullock cart wheels and which gives the optimum, then came care wheels, airplane wheels, skating wheels. But have you ever seen or heard of another idea which helps runs bullock carts and cars other than wheels- we have plagurised the prehistoric human's innovative idea and just churned the same product into a variety of forms ( milk and its various products from whey, butter, cheese, sweets, etc).

Have we really progressed? Technology helps us communicate but think of the several misunderstandings it often brings about, just via email how you write can be interpreted as rude and offensive, how you speak could be read as disinterest, when it may just be a manner misinterpreted depending on both parties state of mind at that given time. Across a table its easily perceived and accordingly discussed. How will my blog hastily scrawled just to put forth an idea be construed- each sentence taken from its context and ripped apart? Or just another blog full of fragmented words and ideas, not taking it anywhere?

These are just seeds strewn among the winds of change. Which among these will take root and blossom into future thoughts, is still way off. Care to nurture this? Add your own thoughts to help this grow.

The creatures of the Dark:Bats

The Sun goes down
Light gives way to Dark
Deep Dying Red of the Sun
Seeps into the Darkened skies

Then they awake
From the river just beyond
One and twos
Dark creatures they fly in

Their Time now
To sweep the skies
Alone they fly
To places unknown

Cat Yawn

The soft sunbeams
Upon me play
While I stretch and yawn
The morning calls

I am but...yet a kitten
Small and playful

Walk while you Talk- an Idea that should be changed!

This is definitely an idea- for the cell phone vendor- Idea http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhFA0vQcm8s. However, I think this can be depicted in a much more sensible and social way rather than the more dangerous clips that the show:
1. A woman parks her car on a busy highway and get out and starts talking on her mobile. She walks around the car, that means she actually also decides to walk on the busy highway!- BAD DEPICTION which is harmful to the society and could cause injuries as she is more concerned about her call rather than the traffic coming from behind!
2. A guy walking along the raised band along the sea front in Mumbai- what if he misses a step and falls?

People already cross roads talking on their mobile, and they don't even hear the horn of a car turning into a lane, they walk on roads talking not caring whose pathway they are obstructing, they bump into people and don't even have the decency to apologise as they are busy talking on the cellphone.

The message may be good, but at the same time such ads could also cause people to either cause injury to themselves or others in the process.

I wish someone can take this up with the advertising council and get such ads vetted before they go life. The message can be surely shown in better scenarios rather than those walking on roads and that too busy roads and narrow balustrades.

Semi- retirement

It has been quite a while since I have resigned my job. Yes resigned the job in such times, had everybody thinking I had lost my marbles. But no, I was just plain tired of being cubed! ( hours cooped up in front of the comp). And I had had enough of communication via email. So when I resigned, and moved to Panchgani after a few days, I loved not being connected via mobile or internet. It was just so lovely to get up and watch the clouds drift by, the birds flit from branch to branch, observe the squirrel balance on the telephone wire, and oh just to sit and look out of the window was bliss.

These days one hardly ever gets time to sit and stare and absorb the beauty around. So busy working, to make ends meet and do they meet? We make money so that we can buy the stuff we aim for- music, books, better technology, but how much of quality time do we spend on that which we invest in?

Now I read my books listen to music, yes watch TV also, enjoy my home that I have furnished so lovingly. I think and say if I were to get old, I would not have the eyesight to read the books that have piled up that I want to read, see the movies I want to watch, bad hearing would not let me listen to the tiniest of tweets from the birds. So this is what I did- chucked a job that was paying me quite well but not opening up my mind nor engaging it or challenging it. Yes, if I got aggressive, maybe the turns and twists on the job would have gotten me somewhere. But why would I need to use aggression? Is that the only way to prove yourself worthy? An article in the newspaper today, did say that you need to be aggressive to be noticed. Yes it is true in the world of today, you need to be aggressive, network like crazy, to make yourself noticed. But all I want to do was just live a good life, fight a cause worthy of fighting, take a stand and be aggressive to make this world a better place and not be aggressive to push a new technology.

Yes today I am less in pocket, but much happier somewhere I am tuning myself to what must now come- the balanced life.