Quote - unquote

23 is a prime number; may this year leave you with memories to cherish as you look back at your prime years.
23 is an odd number; may this year show you how you're the odd one and that you are not meant to live an ordinary life.
23 is a number with ordered digits; may you discover order in the disordered, patterns in the random.
23 is the indivisible, the defiant, the unbreakable.
Celebrate 23 well-lived years and look forward to so many more.
Happy 23rd!

Nice work Sherene :)

That time of the year, again!!!!

Through the spells of scorching heat, the endless damping downpour of monsoons and the sweaty dirty October heat, the city’s finally looking ahead to the amazing spell of winters…

It’s that time of the year, when weather is not sweaty!!!
It’s that time of the year, when sleeping is the best activity!! :)

It’s that time of the year, when we all love to be foodie!!
It’s that time of the year, when wines are an ecstasy!!

It’s that time of the year, when girls opt to wear!! :P
It’s that time of the year, when end-sems appear!! :D

It’s that time of the year, when the colours are all bright!!
It’s that time of the year, when the mood is always high!!

It’s that time of the year, when cool breeze flirts!!
It’s that time of the year, when love is in the air!!

It’s that time of the year, when it’s fun to be here!!
It’s that time of the year, when I miss you most, my dear!! ;)

Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis

Following the day of the 76^th death anniversary of the great German philosopher Hegel, my interpretation of his three brainchild:

When my mother gave me birth, I was all alone in the world. I can say so now, but I don’t know if I really felt alone back then, because I didn’t knew what being alone meant :P. This loneliness dissolved. As I started growing up, I realized there were people around me: my parents, my sisters, my relatives. They nurtured me, protected me, guided me, they helped me grow and become an individual.

One fine day, and I don’t know when, I discovered I had one more brother, named X. I wasn’t sure if he was my own blood, but I could feel him and much more than I could feel connected to the other people in my life. He was my same age. Agile, innocent, inquisitive, patient, intelligent, fun loving and open minded. And above all, a great observer and analyzer with infinite thirst for knowledge. I thoroughly enjoyed being with him and learning in his company. I call him Albert, though others usually behaved as if unaffected by his presence.

Time passed, and I kept growing older. I moved out into the real world, and found lots and lots of people in the form of friends, teachers, professionals, indifferents and so on. Albert was always still around, but then I became conscious of yet another brother of mine. Y, who I named Ashoka was different from Albert. He was aggressive, arrogant, argumentative and stubborn. He had his ideas and ideals, and would defend them on each and every step. He had an inflated ego, and his character’s strength attracted respect and condemnation at the same time. I learned lots from him, be it anger, aggression, etc. on one hand to debating, logic, etc. on the other hand. And increasingly with age, Ashoka started dominating Albert in all places. When in solitude, Albert always loomed around, while Ashoka marked public places as his territory prohibiting Albert to hang around much there.

Now, I’ve learned to live with both Albert and Askoha. And I can even decide who will underplay in a situation and who won’t. And all this, I learnt later, was a blessing from the youngest of us all. Z, who I fondly call the Buddha, had amazing capabilities. He was calm, serene, synergizing, hopeful, optimistic and highly intellectual. But the best aspect of his character was the ability to look for good in everything around him. Buddha helped me manipulate actions of Albert and Ashoka, and activate them whenever needed, to get the best out of their abilities. And it gave me all its powers of creation, of spreading bliss, of experiencing contentment and happiness.

Buddha, be my companion now, and for ever!

Credits to:

• Philosopher Hegel, for the amazing theory of thesis(Albert), antithesis(Ashoka) and synthesis(Buddha).
• Bhagyashree’s latest forwarded text message, which inspired me to write this.
• Gurmeet, for putting the concept across so beautifully.

The best of things!!!

A ‘fading out’ Radiohead music piece!!!!!!!
A great meal after footer!!
Nightout conversations
A successful Java code!!
An Opera shortlist :P
A lecture on TED
Mid night calls :)
Kerala trips
Chit-ra-chats ;)
A cup of coffee
Philosophy presentations
Winning sittings of FLASH
The incomprehensible ‘junk’ :D
Probablity, randomness and relativity!
The best of friends (SABACANS – wow, a perfect mix of vowels and consonants!!)

'THE BUDDHA BAR'

Hopes of an exciting day.... Truly, the world’s not enough!!

A journey.. a discovery

A Beautiful face showing thousands of emotions.
A dark skin complimented with still deeper, darker eyes and waterfalling hairs.
A heart filled with desires, with dreams and ambitions.
A mind searching peace, finding happiness in the air, everywhere.
A voice full of melody, of comfort, of understanding.
A confidence of kings with innocence of a child.
A purity of gold with shine of a diamond.

Hard to believe such beauty exists, harder still that I was lucky to come across one!
Thanks to my bestest of friends and the almightly who made it possible :)

The inconsistent me!

In this world of integrity, I find myself a complete misfit!

Integrity? In what? In your ideals! In your definitions of virtue and vice. Your definitions of rights, morality, honestly, faith, truth on one hand and wrongs, pretensions, selfishness, injustice on the other…

Integrity? In what? In your ideas! In your definitions of happiness, contentment, satisfaction, work, vision, love, joy, future, religion, relationships, money, material…

Integrity? In what? In your actions! En route your destination! In your goals, your aspirations, your dreams. In keeping up with your love, your relationships, your friendships, your identity…

I lack integrity! My frequently changing ideas and ideals are scary. Not only to my fellows, but sometimes to myself. Once 6 lakhs looked good, now 9 seems OK. Once teaching seemed heaven, now consultancy seems PERFECT. Once great cooking and long hairs were necessary, now a good understanding works FINE. Once Krishna was The lord, and then Ayn Rand, and now the Buddha seems DIVINE.

Does this speak of something? I don’t know. But yes, it defines me! It defines me as something undefined. As someone that may change each season, each day, each minute, and even due to those dangerously weak moments of inspirations and observations.

But if I am what my ideals and ideas are, then I would better not exist! Because beyond this human mind lies my consciousness, that naïve, unclear, impulse driven consciousness, which has no ideas, no ideals, no society, no self. It’s the undefined that defines me, and in its appreciation lies the essence of my existence!

The pursuit of HappYness

It would be almost precise to say that happiness is one thing we all live for. I’ve now been a philosopher/thinker (self proclaimed :P) since probably, umm, class eighth. Around that time I had the privilege of being in the company of one of the best friends I have ever had, and thanks to destiny, when children of our age were probably in front of TV sets and teenagers busy in eve teasing, we were mapping Marine Drive up and down round and round, trying to unfold the mysteries of human life.

It took me a good 4 years I guess to get to this basic point, the statement I opened this blog with. I guess it was ought to come some day, probably it came to me a little earlier than others, probably later… But the timing wasn’t important. The conclusion was!

Well, the conclusion was very nice for a few months, because being happy was easy back then. Actually, as far as I recall, I didn’t knew what unhappiness meant till 10^th. There were moments which were low, but surprisingly, nothing could shake you back then! Everything was momentary, a cricket match, a board result, a street fight, a bad day, everything! Not a father’s death though, and then I started learning what permanence is, and how much it matters.

Then permanence gained prominence! It was almost a shocker, something I really had tough time coping up with. Permanence was desired, in career, in love, in freedom, in finances, in security… the word unfolded the true, outside world, something that you see only when you go beyond parental love. And permanence demanded planning, it demanded sacrifices, it gave responsibilities. But it came with a beautiful promise, a promise of perpetual happiness and comfort. And the offer was attractive, so I fell for it!

Today, I come back to the basic question. Happiness we all desire, happiness we want perennially, but how do we get it? Seven years of everything show no correlation between happiness and permanence! Everything, yes I literally mean everything!

Career successes! Music! Movies! Booze! Philosophy! School! Fun trips! Good friends! Leisure times! Techfest! Internship! Bandstand!

So, back to square one! Seven years of experimentation showed no correlation of happiness with permanence, with security, with hard work, with relations, with creativity, nothing at all! Time to rethink? What options do we have anyways:

1. Happiness can’t be permanent?
2. Accept cycles of happiness and sadness, and be happy whenever you can be :P.
3. Happiness is no ultimate aim, neutrality (shunyata) is!!

Can someone help, other than the Buddha himself !!!!