The King and his four wives

Apologies for my long absence. To make up for it, I will tell another story this time.

Once upon a time, there lived a king who had four beautiful wives. He adored his youngest wife and lavished gifts and wealth upon her. He loved his No. 3 wife and kept her well maintained. As for the No. 2 wife, he did visit her once in a while. However, he had totally forgotten about and neglected his No.1 wife.

It so happened that the king was diagnosed with a disease on day and the doctors said he had only a month to live. As he was very much attached to his 4th wife, he called her and asked whether she would accompany him after death. The 4th wife, upon hearing of the disease, said," My Lord, it was nice knowing you. Time for me to leave now. Thank you for all those gifts."

The king, a bit sad, asked his 3rd wife the same question. She said," It was really nice knowing you and loving you. Now it is time to move on. I have a nice husband in mind."

The king, know really at a loss, asked his 2nd wife the same question. She said," Of course, I will accompany you. But only till the graveyard."

The king, now really embarrassed, but with no other option, asked his 1st wife whether she would accompany him. She said," I will. I came here with you, and I will be with you wherever you go."

Well, to all those who wonder who those four wives represent, the 4th wife represents our own material body, whom we care for so much.

The 3rd wife represents wealth, who does not think twice about deserting us.

The 2nd wife represents family and friends, who remember us till the graveyard.

The 1st wife is our eternal soul, which never leaves us.

Well, I hope you liked the story! One more post, another day !!

Of kings and dynasties

Long long ago there once lived a king. He had a son, who despite being incompetent, inherited the kingdom when he came of age. He was a very corrupt person and used to terrorize his subjects. Ultimately, he was deposed by a "hero", who established his own dynasty.

Times have changed, names of places have changed, and so have the names of the characters. We have our MP's and Ministers fulfilling those roles now. That is the beauty of democracy. Once can be filthy rich and corrupt, and still get away under the garb of a "law maker". and since he's one of the gang making the laws, whats to stop him? Unless of course, a "hero" from a "opposition" party rises.. At least the kings were better schooled and received education in all subjects for being a statesman, unlike our current "rulers" who just need to belong to a particular "group" and/or have sufficient money to influence the "subjects".So, who said history does not repeat itself and that we learn from our mistakes?!?

Human beings have a propensity on being dazzled by show and grandeur and strive to achieve such positions. This trait is what runs as a common thread through all history . So, who knows? Our great-great-great-grand children may read stories like... Once upon a time there was a MP, who despite being re-elected, was very corrupt and used to terrorize his constituency.....

Green power?

I read a very interesting ad today, which I thought should share with you. The ad belonged to a very reputed oil company. The caption was "who is going to help us discover 500 billion barrels of hidden oil". Another line of the ad said " our current world consumption is 80 million barrels per day". As a ballpark figure, I doubled the reserves and halved the consumption.

A back of the envelope calculation gives me a figure of 34 years, when the oil in the world will be totally consumed. Does it sound true? I hope not. And , maybe, I hope it does happen that way.

Throughout history, mankind has always fallen into a level of complacence, until challenged by new hurdles. This "tipping point" marks the transition to something new, something radical. A illustrative example is the steam power and use of coal in the early 19th century. The invention of mechanisation required more and more sophisticated power sources, and thus came steam /electrical power.

We are already seeing the effects of the tipping point transition in a few places of the world. Countries like Norway and Sweden already have 60% of their total energy consumption from renewable sources. The largest windfarm in the world was recently made operational,off the coast of UK, with an annual capacity of 300MW. In a world, where more than half the population could care less where we end ud 50 years down the line, these are small,but significant steps. Hopefully we see more of this "green" sense prevailing, and the next "transition" is a green one!!

GIGO - So said the management guru... For those of you wondering what it means, it is an elegant way of saying Garbage In, Garbage Out. So, if you input garbage in your program, your output will be the same! We all go on applying similar funds to our professional life.. but why do we neglect to apply them to our life... as a whole. We eat "wholesome" food rich in artificial fertilizers, drink "enriched" water , drown in cell phone waves, and still expect to remain healthy at the end of the day. We are conditioned to buy the latest gizmos and keep on updating them!!

The movie that comes to my mind is "Gods must be crazy".. Even a simple cola bottle - for us,a symbol of civilisation- a can create havoc.Ironically, man made these implements to reduce his efforts.. and we end up spending more effort to learn about those very implements!!!

Well, food for thought for you till next time... what would you do if all power suddenly shut down...

Rambling Thoughts

Do we believe in the "divine" powers of Paul the octopus, instead of the players' abilities?

CW Games committee dismisses all caterers appointed through fair bidding, so that the "Chairman" aka Suresh Kalmadi can nominate names.

Saintliness or Goodliness does not come from race, caste,age, position or dresses.But comes from behavior within.

Not content with just playing "Farmville"? Now spend real money to buy "points"!!

Memories and Time

Does Time really heal? We have people saying it does, but personally I do not believe so. In fact , what it does is make those memories more distant, memories that we cherish. More complications in life, more twists. So that those memories become a faded picture hanging on a wall.

Time goes by, seasons come and go, people grow up and change. but the picture on the wall is the same as ever. Is this what we all are reduced in the end? Fond memories, slowly fading? gracing a wall and being remembered ?

As the BG says, "we are all in a prison by Maya" and this is just another manifestation of what we have to endure.

Maoists ? or Terrorists ??

Its been a long time since I wrote last here. And yes, I missed writing here. But the train accident of yesterday in India's Jhargram stirred up strong sentiments and I felt I had to express them. In fact I have travelled on the same train once, long time ago. The Kurla-Howrah Gyaneswari Super Fast Deluxe. What a name! But that night, even the long and illustrious name could not save it.

Due to handiwork of a band called the Maoists , more than 100 died with numerous injured. Arundhati Roy called them "Gandhians with Gun". Excuse me, Ms Arundhati, have you heard what OxyMoron means? Your statement is a perfect example. Civil rights activists cry that human rights are being violated every time a maoist is killed. Don't the CRPF and train travellers have any human rights? Or have you guys conveniently forgotten that?

Maoists say they are fighting for the poor and the landless. How?? By mass killing them? so that there will be no more poor and landless? What a novel idea! Even Hitler would have been proud!!

The Indian government says "its mandate is limited", when dealing with the maoists. Limited?? What do you mean by limited? Either you can deal with it or you can't.

Hopefully someone, some where will wake up and remove this pestilence.

Analogy in Theology

Why do we look surprised if we see a young man chanting or following devoational service? But older man and women are encouraged to spend their time in spirituality!!! I read an analogy which disputes our conventional thoughts. Do we give old, dried out flowers while doing Puja? We always give fresh, nice smelling flowers. Similarily, why donot we give our young, youthfull bodies in service f Lord. The dried out husk of a body in old age is akin to the old flowers.
Lets say a beggar has a few loaves of bread and you ask him to throw those away. Will he do it? No! Because that is all the poor man has managed to scrounge to eat! Now, give him a couple of delicious dishes and he will automatically discard the bread loaves! well, our material world is akin to the bread loaf with the spiritual world akin to the delicious dish. (And remember, there is someone to give the delicious dishes!)

Down memory lane

It has been a long time since my last post. Though so many thoughts have crossed my mind in between, I have never gotten around to putting pen to paper, unfortunately.

A few weeks back, I took a trip down memory lane to Pune, a city still retaining its old world charms. I had lived in Pune, when it was still a city of pensioners and students. BPOs and IT hubs were yet to come up. Weather was still cool and pleasant even in the peak of summer. Neighbours were friendly and helpfull. Bikes were more plentifull than cars.

Those were the good old days. Only a few nostalgic memories remain now. The population has trebled, thanks to BPO and IT industry, and so has the pollution. Cars rule the roads now. Its hot and humid even during winters.

We did visit "Durga's", the coffee shop. For 10 bucks, the cold coffee is work it. NDA, with is sylvan surroundings, is like an oasis in a desert. Deers and peacocks still roam freely on the campus.

Maybe memories are all that will remain, when we visit Pune next time..............

Power of Yoga

A few skeptics say that Yoga is slowly dying out in India, its birthplace. Maybe those skeptics have never traveled in a peak hour local train. Our fore fathers would have been amazed at the ingenious use of the Yoga Asanas ! Try standing on one foot, with one arm extended backwards and the other arm extended forwards. Now, maintain this position for 20 minutes. I am sure, even the Baba from Rishikesh will be impressed.

Even Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible was hanging on to a train for dear life. However, our guys are so highly trained that they can hang with their fingers and a singled wedged toe, for more than an hour.

All this calls for a high degree of coordination of hand-leg-eye movement starting from the time one jumps on to the running train, to the time he/she gets off. Ah well, maybe the Army can recruit these skilled chaps to bolster their decreasing strength!!!

Cattle class

We Indians are a very patient lot. Be it the invasion of the Mongols or the latter day Moghuls , we take everything in our stride. That feeling is very evident in my daily commute on the local train in Mumbai.

I would not call it a commute in the general sense though. Where else would you find people girding their belts, adjusting their hand bags for better grip and preparing for imminent battle?!

Just as the ancient Rajput wives used to apply tilak on their husband's foreheads before going into battle, our wives should be doing likewise!!

Everyday is a fresh new battle to be fought! Is it for a luxurious seat? No Sir, the battle is merely for getting a standing position inside. Does the battle end there?? No way. How dare that old uncle standing behind poke me in the ribs? Does not he have any civic sense? My righteous indignation makes me forget that he's so close behind, he's virtually munching on my hair!!

Sometimes I think sardines are more loosely packed than in a Virar local!! At least the poor buggers do not know what's happening inside the can! A cattle train would be more appropriate. But, there also, the poor buggers are light years ahead of us in terms of comfort. Comfort? You will ask. Why do you need comforts for your daily commute? Is not the fact that you are reaching from point A to point B safely, sufficient for you? Well, if you say so. Though, by the time I exit in point B, I look like a golliwog who's been through a particularly rough tumble wash.

Now we come to the best part. Our trains , as you know, have been thoughtfully segregated in to male and female compartments. In this day and age of "alternative" lifestyles, a male of "alternative" sensibilities will have a "rocking" time in a peak hour travel!! Sometimes I think of our poor moral guardians and whether they have thought of any such eventualities. How would they react? Will they install special detectors at all the train stations???!!!

Ah well, that's enough for today. Time to get ready for my "cattle" class ride.

Fullfilling a long held idea

Well, how do we start a blog? Do I just say "hi to all"? Or is blogging akin to a book? Build up the suspense with a story line?

In this era of unlimited blogs and super VIP blogs, who would have the time or patience to read my ramblings? I still remember the time when I used to maintain a meticulous diary. Now I don't even know whether those diaries exist any more!

To cut a long beginning short, this blog represents my view of the so called "city of dreams", called "Bombay" or rather "Mumbai", to go by its "politically correct" name!

let's roll on !!