Pages

Thursday, April 28, 2011

And Suddenly I am there

The snow's melted.
The cold's gone
Breeze is gentle

The trees have come back to life with marvelous flowers wearing pleasant hues.
The Sun is shining bright
And suddenly I'm there

*****
Current Song
Can't help falling in love with you by Elvis Presley



Saturday, April 23, 2011

When did God Become so Complicated? Oh Lord!

No offense intended toward any religion; No desecration intended; just rational thoughts.

***
Does this happen only in India? We have idols of various Gods bathed and anointed with turmeric, milk, curds, honey, butter etc. We see people pouring litres and litres of milk into the anthills while about half of all the Indian children are undernourished. What I see from the abhishekas (bathing the idols) is nothing more than precious nutrition going down the drains.

Recently, a distant relative of mine was boasting that he donated Rs.30,000 toward jewellery for the idols of the village temple. What I do not understand is - his village does not have a primary school; there is no proper sanitation facility; forget about medical facilities. The average income per household could be just about Rs.3000 per month if not lesser. In spite of this, there were so many villagers who contributed toward construction of a huge temple. When did God ask people to build Him temples while they are still struggling for the basic necessities of life?

Some years ago we had visited the historic place of Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu, India. This place has incredible structures of ancient Indian architecture, with mind-boggling precision of workmanship. As we wandered about inside the vast temples admiring the great work of art, we stumbled upon quite a few obstructions - the poojaris (priests), who demanded varying sums of money to perform particular types of "poojas" (religious rituals). I failed to understand the basis of their audacity in speaking about the prices of poojas. I strongly believe that their contribution to keep the morons moronic, in darkness, is huge. Grandly dressed devotees who seemed to be well educated, blindly kept pouring the money into the poojaris' pouches. I'm sure that they barely understood the verses recited by the poojari as part of "pooja". How do you know if the poojari is reciting the correct  lines or not? Not that I'd any day want him to tell/request God anything on behalf of me as if in a business environment where in praying is outsourced.


So God can get angry and I can't? Don't they preach that you should remain calm, forgive others for their sins? Then why do they say that God will get angry and punish you in most horrible, unbearable ways if you do something wrong, or break your promise of "breaking 100 coconuts" or any such bribes? If God is bigger than you, isn't God more magnanimous than you to forgive sins?

Godmen now. When has the general public questioned the credibility of Godmen; reason, logic and science behind the "maaya" (it means something like magic) the Godman display to fool people? Is it the weak mind that requires some place to hide it's refusal to think and finds a crowd that follows the religious magicians?

Why do people perform temple ceremonies and lavish festivals, adore and worship idols but don't have the minimum common sense not to hurt fellow humans or not to cause inconvenience to others by blocking roads, playing blaring music, etc? I'm sure even God would not like such cacophony.

 ****
The other day I accompanied my friends to a temple that is an hour's drive away, solely for the ride. I was talking over phone and wandered off away from the crowd of devotees into an area not open to general public. Suddenly an old gentleman sprung up from nowhere and started to yell at me for the crime I committed. That's what his religion and God taught him, to be on toes to admonish youngsters without a discussion, reason and explanation?


***
PostScript:
Don't tell my mother that I wrote this

*****
 Current Song :
Bruises by Chairlift

"For you-ooh-ooh-ooh

Do-doo-do-do-do-do-doo
Do-doo-do-do-do-do-doo ..." 




Wednesday, April 20, 2011

All that's not expensive

Bhel puri (which I savour) - Rs.20 ; Pizza (every time I had a bite, thought - It could definitely taste better) - Rs.250

Guava - Rs.2 each ; Guava juice in the 1 litre tetra pack - Rs 75 (you can make the same quantity of guava juice with about five - six guavas)


Volvo bus ride (less than 8 km, with AC turned on to a freezing temperature in spite of a pleasant weather outside) - Rs.21, three years ago ; ordinary BMTC bus ride (with fresh air)- Rs.6

A used Stochastics text book (which I barely used) - $120; What was most useful was the professor's notes.

Wireshark, ns-2, powerful tools - free of cost, available to everybody; there are lot of proprietary tools out there, out of reach of many.

Bean Burrito from Taco Bell (lunch)- $1.25 ; A veg roll (snack) - $6
The great food Mom cooks - priceless ; Go to any restaurant - it's never satisfying.


Moral of the story - needs and simple joys of life are not so expensive.

*****

Current SOng :

Still Loving You by Scorpions

"Your pride has build a wall, so strong..."

Saturday, April 16, 2011

So, what's your Time of Life?

Some questions I have been asked and my answers to them
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q: So, having a great time there?

A: I am outside India does not mean I am having a time of my life. In fact, if had stayed back home, I would have saved myself from tonnes of mental torture. But then, you only grow wiser and stronger with varied experiences. My best moments have been when I have talked to the people I admire; amidst nature, trying to capture a glimpse of the vast serene splendour on my humble camera; when the radio played a song I was just hummimg a moment ago, as if it were reading my mind. These were not necessarily outside India.

Q: Education there is easy, right?
A: Studying in the USA ( I am limiting myself to Electrical Department) is NOT a child's play. Unless you regularly put in effort and understand the concepts "down to the root" AND apply, you can be assured of lousy grades. When I have a bunch of Americans who have been instructed in way that their thought process to solve a problem spans 360 degrees and whose fundmentals are rock solid, as classmates, I sometimes feel scared that there is so much more that I need to equip myself with. I feel as if I am studying undergrad courses and persuing Masters parallely.

Q: You have all the freedom, no?
A: Who says I didn't have the freedom back home?? I really don't get their concept of freedom.


*
I'll come back with more Qs and As.

*****
Current Song:

Tum from the movie Na Tum Jaano Na Hum


"Tum Se Gila Nahin Mujhe Kismat Se Hai Gile
Karta Hai Aasman Kyon Yeh Dil Ke Faisle "
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...