A contemplation

The Battle of Generations

2011-06-20T06:54:00.003+05:30

These days, it's quite common for people who have crossed an age of 25 to say, 'Today's kids are super-smart'. If we have to analyse and group these people into categories, two broad categories will emerge. The first will be the proud parents of such super-smart kids and the second will be the ones whose egos have been mercilessly slaughtered and tattered to pieces at the hands (or should I say mouths?) of these kids. Invariably, at one point or the other, the first category would been a part of the second category before bowing down to the kids' shrewdness and moving on to the first. Yours truly, on many occasions, has got into the battleground and has lived to tell the tale. But the bloodiest of all battles was yet to be faced.

Yesterday, I was travelling from Trichy to Coimbatore in the Jan Shatabdi train. I generally look forward to train journeys coz it's a good excuse to settle down with a book or an ipod without feeling guilty over the dozen other things that are waiting to be finished. Train journeys also give a chance to observe people, interact with them, or make new friends.

During the last 2 hours of the journey, in came this kid with an iPad. He wanted to charge it and since the plug point was near my seat, his dad made him sit in the seat next to mine and said, ' You talk to this akka (sister) here. The kid shrugged, a quick jerk of the shoulder, which I presume meant 'whatever' and sat next to me. Of course, the dad belongs to the first category we discussed earlier and with the wide-chested pride and the secret desire to see how our generation fares with these kids, told 'You ask all your questions with akka'.

I was mentally rubbing my hands together with glee. I always love to interact with kids and prove that I know a teeny-weeny bit more than they do. And with all that confidence and superiority of a 26-year-old talking to a 10-year-old, I asked him what doubts he had. I was all ready for a sermon on whatever the kid wanted to know. Imitating my mental gesture, the kid rubbed his hands and said, ' You want me to ask you questions?'. I said,'Yes, go ahead. Am waiting.' The kid again shrugged and asked 'In the 1986 car world cup, which car won the race?'. I was confused.. Was there a car world cup in the first place? I tried to sound wise and asked, ' You mean Formula 1?' He gave me a dirty look and said, 'F1 is an advanced version of the car world cup. Now take a guess which car won the 1986 world cup.' A honest contender would have accepted defeat but I didnot. I asked for a clue. He said that the name starts with M. Suddenly, my negligible knowledge of F1 drained out and I struggled to think of the cars participating every year. And blurted out,'I know! Mercedes!' Again the sidelong dirty look. He said take another guess. It was time to give up and I did. The kid spread its hands and said 'Mclaren!?'

Mentally I hit my forehead for forgetting it, (cant afford to react in front of him lest he knows I'm defeated already) and I said,'Okay go to the next one.' The kid thought for a few seconds (probably he was trying to think of an easy question considering my standards) and asked,'Okay, which is the world's largest fish?'. The instant answer came to my mind and I said Whale. (I hope a few of you think of this too). The kid made a puking gesture and said,'The whale is a mammal. I was asking about a fish'. Of course. Whale is a mammal. How could that slip my mind??? I could have argued then why does it live in the water. With some other kid this would have worked but by now, I had an idea of my opponent and I knew that'll be futile. I gave a generic answer,'Shark'. He said,'Of course, it's the shark but which one?' and he himself gave the answer. It's Whale Shark, by the way. Thus followed a barrage of questions on sharks, whales (that's coz I told whale), crocodiles, falcons and pigeons.

I had to save my face coz the slaughtering was happening in front of 60 odd people all of whose attentions were focused on us by now. I said,'Okay let's move on to current affairs. Ask me something from what's happening now.' I have pay for that tongue-in-cheek reply, don't I? That kid said,'Whales and Sharks are current affairs and you are not able to answer.' Okay I take that like a true soldier and move on. My mom now trying to act as my second, tried to distract the kid with questions on his school and friends. Nothing can be more humiliating. The next question was,'Which is the fastest car in the world?'. Here I had to do some logical reasoning. I brought in the long forgotten logical analysis of a problem and worked out my answer. The ultimate test of speed when it comes to cars is the F1. The happening names (or used to be happening) in F1 are Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Rubens Baricello, Jenson Button, etc. (that's all I could remember) and the cars are Ferrari, Mclaren and Renault. My being a true Ferrari fan, I said,'Ferrari'. The puking gesture again came like a slap on the face. He said,'Okay I'll give you a clue. The name starts with B'. I thought again and said,'Bentley? Benz? Lamborghini? (It has L, I know)' He said,'You dont know even this?? It's Bugatti Veyron' He went on to explain why it's the fastest car which I'm leaving out. He said then,'Am just waiting for the iPad to get charged. Once it reaches 100% I'll leave. Am informing you now'.

At the end of the two hours, I was humbled. I had faced the battle of all battles and declared the loser. I can now say with the confidence and the humility,'Today's kids are super-smart'.

P.S.: Some of the fun-facts:

1.The size of a fully grown whale's heart is that of a Xylo car.
2.The flying speed of a falcon is 197 km/hour and a pigeon is 87 km/hr (I guessed 200 km/hr and 99 km/hr. Yippee!!)
3.If there was a fight between the Great white shark and a salt water crocodile, the crocodile will win.
4.A crocodile can crush upto 2000 and odd (forgot the exact number) tonnes with its jaws
5.A bull can make 4 big fridges fly with if it were to ram into it.
6.Mercury is used in thermometers because, it expands at a constant rate under a given temperature and it never freezes.
7.The tongue of a whale weighs about the weight of an elephant.

A very beautiful poem

2010-08-07T20:41:00.002+05:30

Funeral Blues by W.H.Auden is one of the poems that have haunted me. The sorrow pours out of every single line. I'm posting it here to share what I like with you.

Funeral Blues

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

-W.H.Auden

Pongal (Thai thirunaal)

2010-01-14T09:41:00.001+05:30

It's Pongal today. For those who don't about it, Pongal is a festival celebrated in Tamil Nadu to thank the sun for a good harvest. Mostly it falls on 14 of January since it coincides with the first day of the month Thai in tamil calendar (the festival is celebrated on this day). It is a three day festival.

The first day is Bogi. The main objective for this day is to discard all the old and useless things and revamp the whole house.. ;) the house gets a new coat of paint. Theoretically, the old stuff should be burned but these days people just discard them.

The second day is the main festival which is the Pongal. On this day, early in the morning, a special dish called Pongal (a sweet dish after which the festival is named) is prepared with rice and jaggery and this is offered to the god. A mud pot, decorated with turmeric and kolams (geometric patterns), is used to prepare this and usually it's done in the open, in front of the house or sometimes (mostly in the villages) people get together at one common place and prepare it together.

The third day is Kaanum Pongal or Maattu Pongal which is mainly for the animals which are used for agriculture like bulls and cows (Maadu means cow in Tamil). The animals' horns are painted in bright colours and bells are hung from the tips of their horns and also the neck. They are then worshipped. This is the time of the year when families get together and celebrate.

And yeah, another important feature of Pongal is the kolam. Elaborate patterns are drawn in front of the house with rice flour and filled with vibrant colours (Kolams are also called Rangolis). The day before Pongal, one can see groups of girls sitting together and drawing the kolams. It's a separate and fun-filled activity which most girls have lot of fun doing (yours truly is no exception). The different types of kolams one can see is mind boggling. (When I have time I'll write a separate post on the intricacies involved in a kolam :))

This is what Pongal is supposed to be and that's how it happens in the villages where agriculture is the main occupation. Now talking about Pongal in cities, though the spirit of the festival remains the same, due to lack of space and also the nuclear families, it is celebreated in a different way. Here only the main Pongal (second day) is celebrated. Pongal is prepared in a pressure cooker. Apart from this people go to the temple and pray. The rest of the day is spent watching TV. :D The cable channels telecast special and not-to-be missed shows which includes interviews with film celebrities-often the same person in different channels, 'supposedly' box office blockbusters (which means these are utter flops) and various other dumb programs. (Excuse the sarcasm here).

There's much more about Pongal which I haven't written here for two reasons
1. I dont want to make this a long and boring post with minute descriptions
2.I'm too lazy to write :D

Now off to helping mum in the kitchen (the battle lines have been drawn. If I dont go now, it'll be a big time assault on my conscience). Ciao.

Kids' day out..

2009-12-01T00:34:00.010+05:30

What does one day of no work and just fun mean to you?

To me, it's a routine since that's how I spend most of my time these days, what with no classes and a laptop.

To some, it's a break from the monotony of their work.

But for the 170 kids who had come for Lakshmi Bal Mahotsav, it was a never-felt-before experience!

Lakshmi Bal Mahotsav, a tribute to Lakshmi, is an annual event conducted by Samarthan Club of IFMR in her memory. Orphan and slum kids chosen from some NGOs are brought to IFMR and lot of games are conducted. In simple words, it's a Kids' carnival. This year's event conducted on 29th November is the second one and children from 4 NGOs-Nesakaram, Sarvodaya, Sevalaya and Exnora-participated in it.

I'm not sure what kind of activities these children indulge in normally. It's surprising to see that they are so talented. There was a drawing competition and the drawings that they came up with were simply mind-blowing. I'm sure this is the first time some of them have met children from other NGOs and they were delighted to meet their peer group. They sang, they danced,they teased, they went on the merry-go-round, they threw darts and like any congregation of kids, they fought. Bottom line is they had loads and loads of fun.

Can a simple balloon bursting competition be received with the enthusiasm of a trip to Disney Land? Some of you might say 'after all they are kids. They enjoy everything.' I seriously don't have an answer to that. All I can say is that the difference is most of the kids don't have their parents. Some don't have a proper house to live in. And almost all of them live with a fraction of what we have. Those things we consider are necessary like cellphones, laptops, iPods, cinema in a multiplex, a good meal in a good hotel, etc. are luxury to them. A simple crayon set which is dispensable to us is a prized possession for some of them.

They are not just kids. These are THE kids. The millions in India and elsewhere who dont have their parents, a proper shelter, good diet and most important of all, love of any form who constitute a huge clan. And you can make their day with a smile. Or a small chocolate. Or better yet a day with them. In my experience with kids so far I have noticed that just our presence and little bit of attention and care and love can work wonders. You'll be their hero or heroine. You'll be their role model. A 12-year-old girl asked me how I got the courage to take the mic in front of so many people (I compered parts of the event). I said when she is 24 and is looking at a bunch of 6 to 12-year-old kids, she'll have the courage to do a lot more. Hope I gave her the right answer.

To come back to the original topic, these kids in Lakshmi Bal Mahotsav had a lot to cheer about. And they brought out the child in the hardened executives-to-be. The volunteers comprised of MBA students and researchers gave their best from organizing the events on time and without a glitch to running behind the kids to prevent chaos (in this they failed miserably). At the end of the day, we parted with a heavy heart. One of the kids said,'I have never in my life had fun like this. This day will be unforgettable to me'. Another one said,'Akka (sister),you should never forget us' and 'You should come visit us atleast once'. But Durga's was the most profound statement. She didn't say a word, but she had tears in her eyes...

And those tears spoke volumes.

The Silent Vigil

2009-11-17T23:06:00.006+05:30

It's exactly one year since she left us.

When I first met Lakshmi, I was completely bowled over. How can somebody talk non-stop? How can somebody talk non-stop when you are meeting them for the first time? She did. It was our first day at IFMR. When I met her in the reception of the hostel, She said,'Oh! You are Karpagam? I know I'll like you.' How can somebody not fall for that charm? I did.

She was the most vivacious girl I have ever met. The brightest. The first thing you'd notice about her is the non-stop chatter. Nobody was spared from an insult including herself. And when that insult is directed at you with a sweet voice and an innocent expression, it takes sometime for you to catch on. But you could never get angry with her because you know it's all said in good humour. One the few which I received was, 'I dont like it when you come into my room.' I stood for a full 30 seconds with my mouth hanging open. Her eyes twinkled and I realised I had been subjected to one of her pranks.

Then out of the blue, one day, she left us. The culprit being a govt. bus which took a sharp turn and ran over her. She died just as she had lived. In a hurry. I'm sure all of us will remember the exact moment when we got the news. I was returning from the gym after an exhausting work out, my stomach growling in hunger and my legs begging for some rest. And as i read the text informing of her accident, all I could think was it cant be her. Surely, if there existed a God (which i seriously doubted) He would never have let this happen to Lakshmi.

Personally, her demise gave me a whole new perspective of life. Nothing is permanent. And life is too short to worry over trivial things. It's too short to be cautious. And most important of all, never hate anybody. Be a friend to all. Am mentioning this particularly because, though Lakshmi was quite popular, I was never a part of her inner circle. And I would have really liked to be her friend.

Now that she is gone I realise there are a lot of things which I would have liked to tell her. Like what an amazing person she was. Or how there was always a positive vibration surrounding her. Or how the way she had an answer for every single question thrown at her had inspired me. And this has also made me realise that it is important to appreciate people for all the good things they have.

It also raised a lot of other questions.. Is there an after life? Is Lakshmi watching us lighting the candles for her. Did she notice the tears pooling in some of her friends' eyes, while we lit the candles and prayed?

R.I.P. Lakshmi. You will always be remembered..

The bitter taste of Humiliation

2009-11-07T22:57:00.006+05:30

Disaster!!

There's a table tennis competition tomorrow. And I, being my arrogant and over-confident self, failed to practice for it. Now am looking down the barrel of defeat.

I accept it's a bit early to say this. But I know myself, don't I? During a practice match today, I played the worst game I could have ever played!

Ok. A brief flashback.

I picked up table tennis during my tenth standard. We had one table in our school, two bats, number of curious students and one over-worked father(the christian one)who was the coach. Play-time was after school or during lunch, whenever we could sneak some time. Later when I went to Avila (one of the best convents in TN), to my dismay I found out that there were players who played at the state level! And down went my confidence of wielding the TT bat like a virtuoso. College came and with it the novelty of being the only female table tennis player! can you believe that?? In a college with almost seven hundred students I was the only player! The physical education sessions used to be a torture since I had to play with guys and they resented every minute of my presence there since I was relatively a novice.

Particularly one of my seniors loathed me since the PE ma'am asked him to coach me for the inter college tournaments. Day after day, he silently endured the torture of playing with me since I couldnt hit 2 shots continuously. When I went into second year, a girl joined the junior batch who was a district player and i'm sure my senior heaved a sigh of relief. TT was my escape portal at that time.. As much as I could, I spent my time the indoor stadium.

Fast forward 4 years and here I am at IFMR. The past two years formed, and still forms, an unforgettable chapter in my TT history.. There are people who are passionate about TT and are extremely good at it. Whenever I see them play, it is always with a sense of wonder.. They spin and twirl and smash the ball left, right and center. And all I can do is wonder if I'll ever play at that level. Again the cycle of being the only active female player continues here and usually I ended up being the only girl in a room filled with boys. But hey! this is IFMR, the B-school! Nobody casts a critical eye on you if you play TT at 5 in the morning with a bunch of guys!

After almost an year of near monopoly in which I was the unchallenged womens player, one girl joined the junior batch who blew me off.. When I first saw her, i thought 'well, here's a greenhorn'. In the first match we played, I was cocky and I swaggered to the table. By the time I came to my senses, she had raced ahead to 8-1 That was a wake up call for me. Now all I had in my mind was that I should reach double figures before I loose. And let me tell you, I had push myself to my ultimate limits to do that. The score was 21-11 when the game got over! Mentally, she had given me a hard shake..

A week ago, we got to know of this competition. The gap between the last match and the practice match, had dulled my memory of the humiliating defeat and I was under the impression that I lost because I was not in my full-form then. As the game progressed, I felt the déjà vu of that long forgotten game. The score was 6-0 and the rest... well, take your guess! Humiliation and defeat are my tags, when she is concerned. The only consolation is, she beat one of the best guys in my batch! Some consolation, huh? :D

Tomorrow what will happen? Will it be a re-run of the old match? Keeping my fingers crossed!!

MBA and I

2009-07-20T17:32:00.004+05:30

Swaying from side to side,
I was on a roller coaster ride.
Heavy are my eyes, drooping closed,
I couldn't open them, even if one poked.

Bonds and securities bounce off my head,
My imagination goes, on a jaunty tread.
Oh! There is the risk of getting caught,
In spite of the sleep, with worry I'm fraught.

The prospects of an imminent break,
Look very remote and painfully bleak.
Never have I wanted one more,
All my senses are on uproar.

One sunday during my internship...

2009-04-19T23:26:00.002+05:30

Sundays are fun,
Mind's bright like the sun,
No work gets done,
Alas, sooner do they run,
But at CSO Partners all days are fun-filled ones,
Except for the occasional firing from the gun,
There is intention in the pun. :D

(CSO Partners is the company where i'm doing my internship and here the gun is my guide.. facing him is like facing a firing squad. :D)

A lonely summer day..

2009-04-15T00:22:00.000+05:30

Sun sun go away,
Come again another day,
Little and sweet and smart and intelligent and cute Karpa wants to play... ;)
Sun sun go away!!
Otherwise she'll kick you out of the way,
And let you dry like a hay,
She will have her say,
If you dont listen to her, you'll pay,
She's doesnt want the month of may,
Coz it gets hotter in the day,
The power has gone away,
What will he say?
When she confronts him in her usual way!!

Goodbye to you, my trusted friend..

2009-03-19T00:28:00.000+05:30

Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need to know of hell.
Moments shared, memories stored,
In my mind, they've taken abode.
Let all your wishes and dreams come true,
The smallest of whims and fantasies be yours.
Farewell to you, my dear friend,
The world is small and has no end.
Wherever you are, earth or moon,
I promise you, I'll see you soon.

We are ready to lead once more-Barack Obama

2009-01-22T02:16:00.000+05:30

As I sat in the TV room of my hostel with 10 other guys on the 20th of January,2009,2200hrs IST, I realized I was one of the millions from across the world, from the biggest metros to the smallest villages, witnessing an incident that will be written down in the pages of world history in bold words with an indelible ink. It was the day Abraham Lincoln had dreamed for and Martin Luther King Jr. had fought for. The first African-American President of the United States was about to be sworn in. Like over a million of others gathered in front of the Capitol building, I was waiting for the swearing in ceremony to start. It felt as if something important was about to happen as soon as Barack Obama was sworn in as the President.

The atmosphere in my hostel was festive with people drifting in and out of the room and cracking jokes on the celebrities gathered for the ceremony. And I was sitting there staring intently at the TV screen, trying to tune out the noise surrounding me. BBC was doing a live coverage of the ceremony. After half hour of TV-staring I started to feel bored. As if on cue, Michelle Obama and her daughters arrived, to keep me hooked on. The TV was showing anybody who is or was associated with the White House or the Capitol. Then there was George W. Bush serenely walking towards the stage oblivious to the enormity of the damage he was leaving behind or indifferent to it.

Finally the protagonist of the show arrived amidst roars and applauses. The day he had been dreaming and campaigning and waiting for had dawned and he looked as ready as he can ever be to shoulder the huge responsibility awaiting him. The aura surrounding the man was almost tangible. As if you could cut through it with a scissor. Finally when it was time to take the oath Obama stumbled and faltered before swearing to “protect, preserve and defend the Constitution of the United States”.

What followed next was one of the grandest speeches I have ever had the chance to listen to and it was delivered such charisma and zeal that it overlooked the previous slip in repeating the oath. It was filled with hope, optimism, determination, conviction and similar adjectives. He started off by thanking George Bush for his sacrifice for the nation and his generosity and co-operation. Whether it was sincere or sarcastic is known only to Obama. He sounded sincere when he said the challenges facing America will be met. He pointed out how America is now and how it will come out of the predicament. He spoke about the past in which people had travelled across the oceans and toiled in the sun till their hands went raw so that their children and grandchildren and grand grand children would have a better life.

By and large, it was a very inspiring speech; for those who wanted to be inspired. Jon Favreau, Obama’s Chief speech writer had made sure of that. For the rest of the cynics, like me it was just a beautiful speech prepared for a special occasion; a speech into which much thought was put in to make it appealing to those who voted for him and make them think they have made the right decision. Now this observation of mine would raise a few eyebrows. The reason why I think so is because, with due respect to him, Obama could not have chosen a worse time to become the President of the largest economy of the world; an economy which has crumbled within the blink of an eye and taken many economies down along with it, a time when the country is looking at the worst economic crisis and the unemployment rate has leaped to a 16-year high of 7.2%. The markets are battered and so is the hope and belief of the people.

How successful will Obama be in restoring America’s past glory and its people’s confidence? Will the country have “A New Birth of Freedom”? Will Obama be the change the country is desperately hoping for? History will answer these questions for us. Meanwhile, all we can do is nothing but keep our fingers crossed, hoping that this man can work miracles.

The Act of Blogging

2008-12-08T01:24:00.000+05:30

As I was sitting jobless today, suddenly it occurred to me that I haven’t posted anything here in more than a month. And I was wondering what could be the reason. I mean, there are people who post every single day. But here I am with just 5 posts to my credit in 3 months. It’s not like am very busy to write a few lines. God knows how I while away my time with nothing to do. The hardest work which I do would be downloading a movie through LimeWire. And the second hardest thing is watching all those downloaded movies. Whoever said B-school life is busy?

Well, coming back to the topic of discussion, an introspection into my daily routine and the resultant analysis was a shocking revelation. My schedule goes like this- wake up, get ready, eat, go to class, surf the internet there (this includes googling, orkutting, mailing, g talking, etc.), lunch, again class and internet, tea/coffee, chat, loiter, dinner, movie+chat, late night go to sleep. Then why does my blog remains so inactive? Well, there could be several reasons for this.

1.Plain bone-deep laziness
2.Extreme absent-mindedness (I forget I own a blog)
3.Too much of watching movies
4.Day dreaming in the remaining time
5.Hang out with friends doing nothing
6.And rarely loss of coherent thinking to put my ideas together.

Is this the same way for others or am I the only one feeling this way?
BTW, is this a dumb topic? :O

In Memory Of Those Who Died Waiting For The Classes To End..

2008-12-04T22:36:00.000+05:30

Economics, accounts, statistics ,
Causes my head to spin.
All around me, I see a sea,
Of numbers which ignore my silent plea.

My ears are filled with a constant drone,
Creating a headache, to which I’m more prone.
My mind wanders off to distant places,
On horses and ships, into empty spaces.

An occasional glare, brings me back,
The professor's lecture, doesn’t seem to slack.
What goes into my head, only God knows,
What enters one ear, through the other it goes.

A rainy day @ IFMR

2008-12-04T18:13:00.001+05:30

Nose Blocks and Early Mornings..

2008-10-13T16:22:00.000+05:30

I have the peculiar habit of waking up early in the morning, stepping out of the house and taking a deep breath to fill my lungs with the fresh air. Anybody who has done it would know the joy in it. The way the ozone laden air fills the lungs. It’s a feeling that has to be experienced. Well, today as usual after much swearing at the alarm I finally got out of the bed and went out for my breathing ritual. I closed my eyes and with a tiny smile playing on my lips, breathed deeply and….. found that I couldn’t draw the air in!!!! My nose was blocked. Now to explain the feeling I would like to make a small comparison. Have you ever tried to suck air through a straw with the open end blocked? I had the same feeling. Immediately I understood that the reason for the block was a glass of lemon juice, which I had believed was quite safe. Frantically, I tried breathing again and felt one of the nostrils giving way. A rush of relief flowed through me. Pressing the free nostril with a finger, I tried breathing through the blocked one and again got the ‘stuck’ feeling. Now it was near emergency according to me. After ransacking the house to find the bottle of Tiger Balm, during which I discovered one long-lost shoe, my favorite teddy bear mug and water color set, I finally found it ensconced in the corner of the showcase. In my panic, I massaged it all over my nose. What followed a minute’s relief could only be described as inferno. A stinging started from the area around the nose and spread till my ears. Now it was a frantic run to sink and splashing my face with water and drying it vigorously. Finally when I was done and took a relieved breathe… the nose got blocked again!!

A new beginning...

2008-09-22T19:46:00.000+05:30

Finally after much pushing and prodding from my friends, i have my own personal little space where i can chatter about anything above the earth and below the heaven. Even beyond the boundaries of both. Let me tell you, this is an exhilarating feeling. A sense of freedom... Something like getting a driving license or flying a plane... Or riding a horse with the wind whipping ur hair all over ur face at a hell-for-leather speed. So in my first post, am going to comment on the very thing which made this freedom possible. Technology. Man, can there be a world without technology? I often doubt it. I wonder how people would have toasted their breads before a toaster was discovered. Or reached a place on time before the invention of engines. A life without tooth brush, paste, vehicle, washing machine, phone, pen, spectacles(had it not been discovered a lot of people wud be half blind!!!!), etc is unimaginable. I don't say impossible because people have lived without these for more years than we have lived with these. But having that level of patience, which is equivalent to sitting and watching a sapling grow into a tree, is amazing!!

But.. That's a pretty BIG 'but'..

Friends, Humans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury technology, not to praise it;
The evil men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones,
So let it be with technology...

When Alfred Nobel discovered dynamite, he never would have imagined it would wreck so much havoc. Almost 125 years after its discovery, dynamite still reigns!! Many a brave men have fallen prey to it and many still falling.. Technology has helped dynamite graduate from hazardous to fatal bombs, with constant updates making it powerfuler and powerfuler. Bombs have become the toys used by terrorists to instill fear and demonstrate their point. Whatever happened to peaceful talks to prove one's points? There was a time when V.K.Krishna Menon made a 8-hour-long speech in th UN defending India's actions on Kashmir, which still remains the longest ever delivered in the history of UN. A pity he didnt think of bombing a few cities to drive home his point!!
And talking about the effects of technology itself. The hole made by the latest technology in the ozone layer is big enough to let a NASA space shuttle pass through to the moon. The gap in the Antarctic ice shelf is so wide that a submarine can easily slide into the frozen waters. And the number of species getting into the extinct list is so large that it would make counting them the next time much easier.
If this is what people call 'technology-growing-at-leaps-and-bounds' .. Excuse me.. Am not the person for it. Men are so disillusioned that they think they own the world. They forget to consider the fact that they share it with millions of other creatures from microscopic amoeba to mind-boggling whales. From a tiny sand to majestic mountains. Drops of water to mighty oceans. And the concept of 'Live and let live' has been lost somewhere on the way.
It's high time we looked back at what we have left behind while on the pursuit of comfort.