Saturday, May 07, 2005
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Ha ha!!
Finally finished the book "Da Vinci Code", back to back.
Some lines worth reiterating:
History is always written by the winners. When two cultures clash, the loser is obliterated, and the winner writes the history books - books that glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe. As Napolean once said, "What is history, but a fable agreed upon?"
By its very nature history is a one sided account.......
which always makes it worth the effort to uncover the other side of the story.
Every faith in the world is based on fabrication. That is the definition of faith - acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove. Every religion describes God thorough metaphor, allegory, and exaggeration, from the early Egyptians to the modern Sunday school. Metaphors are a way to help our minds process the unprocessible. The problems arise when we begin to believe literally in our own metaphors.
Those who truly understand their faiths understand the stories are metaphorical.
Religious allegory has become a part of the fabric of reality. And living in that reality helps millions of people cope and be better people.
"But it appears their reality is false."
No more false than that of a mathematical cryptographer who believes in the imaginary number 'i' because it helps her break codes.
Ha ha, I love this kind of intellectual crap that is so very right and thought provoking, yet is useless. Provides for a good topic of discussion and some conversation where you can show off your intellectual prowess.
Akash had called today just before he was about to leave for Delhi X-(. Said he was going to Corbett with flatmates, must be awesome!! I have never been out with freinds on any such adventure, lets see if that happens in the forthcoming year with a hell lot of lukkhas all around me. Was also a bit nervous about what would he be doing now that his three years of Economics Honours are over and he is a Graduate. One of those times when I feel thankful for being in a five-year course :D. Two more years to go before I have to worry about what would happen to me now.
Pursha, Shweta and a lot of other people must have flown today. Off to Germany!!! Must be a tragic flight, so many IITians on the same plane :P.
Some lines worth reiterating:
History is always written by the winners. When two cultures clash, the loser is obliterated, and the winner writes the history books - books that glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe. As Napolean once said, "What is history, but a fable agreed upon?"
By its very nature history is a one sided account.......
which always makes it worth the effort to uncover the other side of the story.
Every faith in the world is based on fabrication. That is the definition of faith - acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove. Every religion describes God thorough metaphor, allegory, and exaggeration, from the early Egyptians to the modern Sunday school. Metaphors are a way to help our minds process the unprocessible. The problems arise when we begin to believe literally in our own metaphors.
Those who truly understand their faiths understand the stories are metaphorical.
Religious allegory has become a part of the fabric of reality. And living in that reality helps millions of people cope and be better people.
"But it appears their reality is false."
No more false than that of a mathematical cryptographer who believes in the imaginary number 'i' because it helps her break codes.
Ha ha, I love this kind of intellectual crap that is so very right and thought provoking, yet is useless. Provides for a good topic of discussion and some conversation where you can show off your intellectual prowess.
Akash had called today just before he was about to leave for Delhi X-(. Said he was going to Corbett with flatmates, must be awesome!! I have never been out with freinds on any such adventure, lets see if that happens in the forthcoming year with a hell lot of lukkhas all around me. Was also a bit nervous about what would he be doing now that his three years of Economics Honours are over and he is a Graduate. One of those times when I feel thankful for being in a five-year course :D. Two more years to go before I have to worry about what would happen to me now.
Pursha, Shweta and a lot of other people must have flown today. Off to Germany!!! Must be a tragic flight, so many IITians on the same plane :P.
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Well....
Two days of utter nothingness now. All I have done is slept, read, ate; slept, read and ate some more.... Am reading Da Vinci Code and have reached half way through which is where I abandoned the book twice. Would be completing this time mostly.
Haven't met any freinds yet. Infact haven't even spoken to any. Just called Shikha who is utterly busy studying all the time, she has changed and I am glad for her. Continues to be dumb as before but that is how I like her. Hope she finds some time to meet me, am looking forward to meeting her after such a long time.
Wonder why am I not enthusiastic about meeting school freinds this time. Had great plans the night I was travelling but nothing now. Come to think of it, most people are busy still. Shilpi, Bhargava and Purva: exams. Nila, yet to finish her project. Akash, enjoying in Delhi having finished his final year exams. A Good lot of my classmates have finished their graduation :O!! Most others busy doing nothing X-(. Essentially the regular lukkha company is all tied up and me in no mood to try new company to hang out with.
But the best part of it all is I am not at all bored. Spend the morning looking at newspapers, bathing and lounging around. Once Nishu is back from school he keeps me busy jumping all over me with all his energy. Its fun to be a kid :). After BulBul returns its time for everybody home for a nice little afternoon nap while I entertain myself reading. Evening, chat with mummy sitting in the balcony enjoying the cool breeze, which is a welcome relief from the hot winds that ought to be blowing this time of the summers. And before you know it the day is almost over. Dinner at 7:30 and some night time TV and pre-goodnight masti with BulBul and Nishu followed by bedtime chit chat and everybody goes to sleep and I listen to some music, check mail, spam and read some more. Sleep around midnight, which is pretty late given everyone else is asleep for almost two hours now.
Nothing eventful happening. Everything is so cool, calm and peaceful. Seems like its all happening on its own with no effort at all. I like it this way. Life just flows, ah!! may be this is what they call living with the flow.
ps: ya ya, I know its the effort behind the scenes that I am too carefree to see. But hey common! at times one can afford the luxury of ignorance.
Haven't met any freinds yet. Infact haven't even spoken to any. Just called Shikha who is utterly busy studying all the time, she has changed and I am glad for her. Continues to be dumb as before but that is how I like her. Hope she finds some time to meet me, am looking forward to meeting her after such a long time.
Wonder why am I not enthusiastic about meeting school freinds this time. Had great plans the night I was travelling but nothing now. Come to think of it, most people are busy still. Shilpi, Bhargava and Purva: exams. Nila, yet to finish her project. Akash, enjoying in Delhi having finished his final year exams. A Good lot of my classmates have finished their graduation :O!! Most others busy doing nothing X-(. Essentially the regular lukkha company is all tied up and me in no mood to try new company to hang out with.
But the best part of it all is I am not at all bored. Spend the morning looking at newspapers, bathing and lounging around. Once Nishu is back from school he keeps me busy jumping all over me with all his energy. Its fun to be a kid :). After BulBul returns its time for everybody home for a nice little afternoon nap while I entertain myself reading. Evening, chat with mummy sitting in the balcony enjoying the cool breeze, which is a welcome relief from the hot winds that ought to be blowing this time of the summers. And before you know it the day is almost over. Dinner at 7:30 and some night time TV and pre-goodnight masti with BulBul and Nishu followed by bedtime chit chat and everybody goes to sleep and I listen to some music, check mail, spam and read some more. Sleep around midnight, which is pretty late given everyone else is asleep for almost two hours now.
Nothing eventful happening. Everything is so cool, calm and peaceful. Seems like its all happening on its own with no effort at all. I like it this way. Life just flows, ah!! may be this is what they call living with the flow.
ps: ya ya, I know its the effort behind the scenes that I am too carefree to see. But hey common! at times one can afford the luxury of ignorance.
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Home Sweet Home
Okay, back into the home mode. But the nocturnal behaviour keeps me awake. Everyone is asleep and me online.
The Train Journey (Arghhh):
The train was late by 3 hours to begin with. It started at 6:30 when the scheduled departure was at 3:15. We spent the time at the Barista near National College. And to our surprise they didn't accept cards, just managed to scrape sufficient money for me Rathi and Harki to have a coffee each. The last coffee with Rathi in a long time to come.
Me and Harki were the only ones in the compartment till Borivali and had a good time dicussing the tactics of CS :D. At Borivali our co-passengers boarded. Two families, with a kid each; talk of 'good company'!! The next four hours were spent with me and Harki critically observing and commenting on everything our companions in the compartment did. The mobile phone girl who kept moving in and out of the A/C speaking on the phone also got her share of comments. Except for the ultra bad voice she was good looking. The foreigners in the coach also seemed to be enjoying the antics around them and were discussing stuff amongst them pretty much the way we were. Though I doubt if they were as critical about things as us. No conversation amounted to a meaningful and good timepaas primarily because none of what we talked of shaped into a discussion as Harki rightly put. It has become a habit of ours that only when things become discussions that they become entertaining else it is all, trivial talk.
Home (Finally):
We reached Jaipur at 3:30 more than 24 hrs after we left hostel and about four hours late. Home in another 15 mins.
Nothing changes at home, it is always the same. It makes me feel strange and relaxed at the same time, the unchanged and ever so familiar atmo at home. Same old activity early in the morning with BulBul and Nishu going to school, daddy returning from the morning walk, mummy and bhabhiji preparing for the days work ahead. The kaamwali moving around switching off the fans to disturb the sleep >:P, bhaiya reading the newspaper with his morning tea. Lunch and TV soaps when the bacchaas get back from school, the afternoon lull and lack of activity followed by sitting on the verandah on cane chairs in the evening while the kids go around with friends in the colony. All of this makes me feel relaxed because it gives me a hope that says living like this is still possible in today's world, the relaxed and easy paced life that I so much love. Strange, as I wonder at how I have changed since I went to Bombay that it makes me marvel and feel elated at the simple, straight forward ways of everyday life that were so much a part of my own life some three years back.
The Train Journey (Arghhh):
The train was late by 3 hours to begin with. It started at 6:30 when the scheduled departure was at 3:15. We spent the time at the Barista near National College. And to our surprise they didn't accept cards, just managed to scrape sufficient money for me Rathi and Harki to have a coffee each. The last coffee with Rathi in a long time to come.
Me and Harki were the only ones in the compartment till Borivali and had a good time dicussing the tactics of CS :D. At Borivali our co-passengers boarded. Two families, with a kid each; talk of 'good company'!! The next four hours were spent with me and Harki critically observing and commenting on everything our companions in the compartment did. The mobile phone girl who kept moving in and out of the A/C speaking on the phone also got her share of comments. Except for the ultra bad voice she was good looking. The foreigners in the coach also seemed to be enjoying the antics around them and were discussing stuff amongst them pretty much the way we were. Though I doubt if they were as critical about things as us. No conversation amounted to a meaningful and good timepaas primarily because none of what we talked of shaped into a discussion as Harki rightly put. It has become a habit of ours that only when things become discussions that they become entertaining else it is all, trivial talk.
Home (Finally):
We reached Jaipur at 3:30 more than 24 hrs after we left hostel and about four hours late. Home in another 15 mins.
Nothing changes at home, it is always the same. It makes me feel strange and relaxed at the same time, the unchanged and ever so familiar atmo at home. Same old activity early in the morning with BulBul and Nishu going to school, daddy returning from the morning walk, mummy and bhabhiji preparing for the days work ahead. The kaamwali moving around switching off the fans to disturb the sleep >:P, bhaiya reading the newspaper with his morning tea. Lunch and TV soaps when the bacchaas get back from school, the afternoon lull and lack of activity followed by sitting on the verandah on cane chairs in the evening while the kids go around with friends in the colony. All of this makes me feel relaxed because it gives me a hope that says living like this is still possible in today's world, the relaxed and easy paced life that I so much love. Strange, as I wonder at how I have changed since I went to Bombay that it makes me marvel and feel elated at the simple, straight forward ways of everyday life that were so much a part of my own life some three years back.
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