Friday, October 24

Reality or Perspective?

In a world where the difference between real and virtual is diminishing day by day, I ask you ... do you have your own version of reality?

We as a human race tend to twist the reality around us to suit our needs, to feel comfortable and self satisfied ... to know that we are correct and proper. In fact saying this makes me feel as if I myself am doing that ... sitting on my high horse. But is it not true?

Then one would say, you should empathize with that person and see the world from his perspective ... true. If that is the case, then what is real? Or more importantly what is correct and what is wrong?

In the book Shantaram (read this one if you havent already!!), the character Kader Khan might be the closest one to that answer ... if everyone in the world does that act, and that act simplifies the universe, then it is not correct (since the very nature of the universe is to become more and more complex). Take the example of murder, if everyone started committing this act, then the human population will dwindle ... this simplifies the universe ... not good. Or adultery, if everyone starts sleeping around ... then marriage, relationships, etc, are inviolated ... this simplifies the universe ... not good either!!

If everyone starts blogging, this creates a complex blogosphere of opinions, information and thoughts ... complex!! I blog, do you?

Thursday, October 16

Happiness

Was browsing and checking the incoming and outgoing links on my blog, when I came across this thought provoking post. Happiness by Veena where she tries to define this intangible emotion ... makes you think na? I tried my best to define it .. but then I realized that to define this, I will have to make a boundary around it and then bring a structure to it (think through this before you rush to comment).

Why then should I bother to put a boundary on something which cannot and should not have any limits?

I have decided to leave the intangibles to the marketing gurus and just define what Happiness means to me -
  • being with my loved ones
  • a new game on a uber-gaming machine
  • ghar ka khana
  • a beautiful piece of code
  • pizza!!
  • a hot steaming cup of coffee/tea early in the morning
  • maggi at 4 am
  • PS3 + 42" HDTV
Heck, the list will go on for some time. I guess overall, I am a happy person :-D

Monday, October 13

Star Wars

I think I have an overdose of George Lucas here. Watched the complete series. Then installed SW-Knights of the Old Republic: The Sith Lords. Saw lightsabers in my dreams last night.

May the farce be with you!! (Chennai style!!)

Saturday, October 11

The joy of achieving

achievementI have a classmate from school. The fellow was brilliant. Is infact ... brilliant. After school, we joined the same junior college, and he promptly started gunning for the IITs. He cracked IITJEE the first time around, he also managed to get a decent percentage with the Maharashtra board. God knows how he managed all that, I had a tough time to mug up all the studies. Engineering was a relief, and so was normal working life ... MBA was a blast for me. I lost contact with him as the years gone by. The last I had heard was a brief article in the news about him starting his own company which made RSS readers for the blind. I remember thinking like a business person, how is this going to make money!?!

Recently, out of the blue, I get a call from him. For old times sake, we decide to meet. The guy is happily chatting about his business plans and all that. I naturally assumed that he finally found a way to monetize his RSS readers. After 2 hours or so, I realized that this was something else he was talking. Apparently he had closed down his company and was now working full time as a network marketing professional. For the uninitiated, that means he will sell some company's products directly for a commission, and the people he sells them to can do the same, whereupon all the middle men in the transaction get a decent commission. Incredulously I agreed to attend one such sales pitch ... I will not name this person (you know who you are!!), and I certainly wont name the company.

I have been avoiding him ever since. How can you forego your education, your training, your ambitions, your dreams ... for money? Where is the joy of achieving in that ... did he not feel that when he got into IIT Bombay, Comp. Sci?? Did he not feel that when he started his own company? How do you let go of that addictive feel of achieving ... for the sake of money. What a waste.

Pearly whites

teeth How many of us can boast of teeth like these? The ones that razzle and dazzle the onlooker. I certainly cannot!! In fact, back when I was a b-schooler, I had to perform emergency surgery and get one of my wisdom teeth removed .. the reason - it had rotted away due to some infection. Mea culpa. I had not paid enough attention to my pearly whites. Till that point of time, I had not bothered to visit a dentist.

Life has its set of ironies for everyone, my fiance for instance is a dentist :-)

One day I was having a talk with Harshaja about the dental awareness and her work in general. It struck me that the awareness levels of dental health are pretty much low in India. Until and unless its not a major problem or an infection, people do not wish to go to the dentist. A lot of Harshu's clientele are actors and actresses who want to have that perfect smile (with that glint *ting* sparkle as well). I considered them vain, but in the long run these very people are going to end up having better teeth than moi. Since they are more aware about what a dentist can do, I am blissfully unaware. Did you know for instance, that they can whiten your teeth?? Absolving you of all those cigarettes smoked, coffees/teas drunk ... how awesome is that!\

So how many of you do brush their teeth before you hit the sack?

On a funny tone, have you listened to the song from Dr. Alban - Go see the dentist, and he will say open your mouth ... :)

Thursday, October 9

Happy Dasara!!

Dasara

Wishing you and your family Happy Dasara!!

Wednesday, October 8

Idea - Adapting or Confusing?

abhishek-bachchan-and-idea You must have seen those ads - "What an Idea! Sirji!!" of Abhishek Bachhan and how having a generic phone number ensures that all problems due to differences in caste, sect, religion are removed. Novel way to target and position yourself to the masses indeed.

Come to the streets of Mumbai, there you see a different picture. Idea ads have celebrities declaring proudly, that they have an Idea Mumbai No., and that makes them a Mumbaikar. The niche is well defined and it does have an appeal to it. I consider myself a Mumbaikar, but would I go to the extent of getting an Idea Mumbai No. :-P. But it's a good ad nonetheless.

So in one case, Idea is seen generalizing their service offering, whereas in the other, the same offering (viz., the phone number that you get) is a way of defining and segregating the masses. Interesting, wouldn't you say? Kind of like Glocalisation.

Wednesday, October 1

A decade ago I was non-existent!

Came up with the oldest search index of Google, tried ego searching, and came up with squatch. I am most humbled :-|, give it a whirl folks!! Notice the lack of "I'm feeling lucky" button. On a related note, check out Google Pirate. Harr! Harr Matey!!