Random Thoughts

While advancing in our lives, we move like earthworms.

With great difficulty, we stretch and reach out to where we want to go, then pull our rear-end (again with great difficulty) to settle down in our new position. This motion is repeated several times until we reach a completely foreign land and settle down there for a while before we start wondering "Where the heck have I reached?".

That's when we start thinking about the land we left behind and realize that even though we managed to pull our body off, we left something behind – our hearts.

This is from a promotional e-mail from an Indian bank targetting the NRI money.

A happiest daughter cannot be the one whose dad is far away from her and making money and filling up the bank's coffers.

India has the happiest banks in the world - rich NRIs depositing millions and often using it merely for the pleasure of counting the balance.

Recently I happened to read an interview with an ex-millionnaire who had lost all his wealth including his luxurious multi-million dollar home that was designed after a cruise ship. The home was featured on local television and had contributed partly to his fame as a millionnaire who had distinct tastes.

He started responding to the interviewer's questions saying "I am not filthy rich any more" with a smile. When asked, "Do you miss the house?", he replied, "No, I don't. I was not addicted to the luxury. The house was just a badge for me. It was like climbing the Everest. You reach the peak and go back to your previous life".

I am sure that is something any ex-millionnaire would (like to) say to cover up the embarrassment of losing the wealth, but there was something about the way he said it that made me believe him.

We all need some badges and ribbons to prove us to ourselves. It may sound easy and simplistic to say that we should lead a simple life, control our desires and be happy with what we have. But that is not how human beings are wired. We have desires, we are jealous of our peers who reached out and won the stars. If we can keep the desire and jealousy at bay, that is the perfect world, but it seldom works that way. So, we need our own badges, ribbons and stars to prove to ourselves and others that we can do it.  

When we have achieved a badge, it is very difficult to deliberately let go of it. It could be depressing if it is snatched away from us, but it is very important to maintain a positive attitude and look at it matter-of-factedly.

Am I the only one noticing the increasing number of articles in the media quoting an official "who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the media"?

Doesn't it make you wonder what is going on? Why are so many people tempted to leak out sensitive information knowing that they should not be doing it? If the media can easily get to secret information (and write about it openly), who else is getting to it? What are the government agencies doing about it? Or, are these agencies being too secretive prompting the officals to spill the beans?

- Why does one have to be Democrat or Republican?

- Why does one have to be a believer of a religion – any religion?

- Why does one have to forego a mind-pleasing object just because someone else ruled that it is taboo?

- Why does one have to subscribe to a certain set of opinions formed by someone else?

There are many things that you can't change about yourself. But, if you won't change things that you can change about yourself, merely by pushing your brain to and beyond the limits, how can you make a big deal about the things that you can't change about yourself? Who is whose prisoner? Who is to blame?

BP has a new CEO. The leak is sealed. The "Oil Spill Update" section with the live view of the "spill" on newspaper websites have disappeared. The pictures of a record-setting 130-pound catfish caught in the Missouri river have replaced the pictures of the oil-soaked pelicans on the Gulf beaches. BP's stock price has climbed 20% in the last month. The same reporters who took boat rides around the Gulf and showed off their gloved hands dipped in oil, are now quietly saying that there is no oil on the coast now. Pundits are stating that the effect of the largest oil spill was not as bad as predicted.

Is the world back to normal? Can we all sigh now? Can I drive my Hummer again without fear of getting shot at?

What we are seeing in the Gulf of Mexico is the inevitable culmination of man’s ever-growing greed. So far, we have been doing a good job at placing all the blame on one entity, called BP, and coming out clean. But, don’t the fingers really point at us? Isn’t BP’s greed just a repercussion of our own greed? Our greed that makes us want to drive our Hummers to the grocery store that is 10 minutes away by foot! Our greed that makes us want a huge house and want us hibernate in the air conditioner’s comfort even when there is pleasant weather outside! Our greed that drove us to raping the earth by drilling 4 miles into her!

It is time we really gave some serious thoughts about what we want to do with this earth of ours!!

The "No Fluff Just Stuff (NFJS)" conference ended up being a massive fluff. In the midst of geeks and dummies acting as geeks, it was a weekend where I felt completely out of place.

The speakers sure deserve compliments for their dedication to the subject, but in the end, all that they are doing is promoting themselves and one another by introducing new technologies, preaching incessantly until a good majority of fall at their feet. It took me a day to realize that, that is what they were doing.

On Saturday, I came out after a session at around 3pm and stepped out into the beautiful sun outside. The sunlight made me wonder – "What I am doing in there?". And, I just left and spent the next 2 hours mowing the lawn and working up a good sweat. Fulfillment!!

On Sunday (the last day), I was determined to sit through the whole day to prove to myself that "I can do it". In the last session, I ended up in a session titled "Hacking your brain for fun and profit". I admit, the lack of clarity is what attracted me. It shouldn't have been that way.

It ended up being a lecture on the need of taking care of ourselves (our body) to optimize our output. The speaker started with the need for sleep. When the over-weight geek moved on to how exercise helps us perform better, I started shifting in my seat. When, he went on and on, authoritatively, about the advantages of daily work-outs and martial arts, I couldn't take it anymore. I just got up and left. Going to a Java religious conference on a weekend is one thing. But, that religious conference adding legitimacy by straying into fields foreign to them, it is another thing.

Religions!!

A broody hen is one that is ready to set. Broodiness is part of the molting process that is required for hatching eggs. During the molting process, the hen loses the feathers on her breast, so the bare breast can warm the eggs. Her body temperature drops to an ideal temperature for hatching. She will get off the rest only once a day or so.

You wouldn't miss a broody hen – she is the one running around the yard with feathers all standing up, clucking to herself. She thinks the whole world is her enemy and she hates them for that, but she has no shame because she is confident that she is the noblest of all.

When sitting on the eggs, she growls at anything that comes near her. She thinks everyone is out to harm her and snatch the eggs. She feels vulnerable and assumes that everyone wants to take advantage of her (as if others have nothing else to do). She is at the height of possessiveness.

Because she stops laying eggs during that period, a hen setting is unwelcome in a farm where she is grown for the eggs. A hen entering the process means about a month of lost eggs. I remember my mother used to try different tricks such as tying the hen up on one leg, hanging her upside down etc. to force her out of the broodiness. I am not sure if these measures helped. It might have, or my mother wouldn't have done it over and over.

If a hen is actually used for hatching eggs, the broodiness continues even after hatching. Now, she has to protect the chicken. That possessiveness comes naturally without any after-thoughts. She would chase anything that comes near her family. If the enemy manages to snatch one of her chickens, she immediately forgets about the lost child and calmly comes back to the remaining flock. Here, the behavior of the enemies is odd too, but our discussion is about the hen, so let's stick to her.

Anyway, why did I talk about the broody hen? If you look around, you can see one or two of them right around you.

Every incident in our life is a nail slammed into our track with one end of an elastic band attached to it. The other end of the elastic band gets attached to us, constantly pulling us back to where the nail is. Our whole life is an effort to leave the nails behind and move on.

At times, strong nails with strong bands constantly pull us back, make it hard for us to move on. The constant battling against the bands builds up heaviness in our chests. Scribbling down is a way to off load that certain heaviness and feel lighter, so we can continue the battle against the bands. It doesn’t really snap the band, nor does it make it more elastic. It just makes it a little easier to move on.