MindLess – Transition from Infected Mind :)

Mahashivratri and The Flock of Sheep

I walked along the still drowsy roads, spotting a few people here and there. It was my usual return from office in early mornings, that allowed me ten minutes of soaking the pleasant sunlight for the only time in a day. On the way, I noticed rangolis on almost each door. Though it was very normal to display rangolis in Maharashtra, multiplicity of them indicated a festival. Indeed, there was a festival, I learned upon having reached my home.

It was Mahashivratri.

My wife had cleaned the room, taken a bath, prepared food for me and was just awaiting me for the hot cuppa of tea. This was unusual. She would normally still be yawning in bed when I arrived… so this promptness surprised me. When the tea arrived, it was only one cup of it and not two. She would not have tea today. Continue reading “Mahashivratri and The Flock of Sheep”

Vedas – An Introduction

Last night, I was going through a report on the Big Bang theory and Dark Matter. Quite interesting, rather fascinating it was to see where Science has reached in its quest for knowledge of anything and everything present and known to mankind. The Big Bang theory, widely believed and doubted at the same time, often reminds me of a sentence from Bible.

In the Beginning, there was word. The word was with God and the word was God.

Indeed, sound vibrations are believed and mostly proved to have contributed to the creation of matter according to Quantum Physics. Looking at structure of tiniest particle available, the atom, we find that it is mostly vacuum; and this vacuum with the help of sound vibrations create matter. That matter, created out of vacuumed atom and mass-less sound, paves way for the creation of the universe – the stars, the planets, and many more things. And, us, as well. The conclusion is that we are made of nothing but vacuum, which is nothing in itself. The most scientifically you can say this is everything is made of energy. Continue reading “Vedas – An Introduction”

Journey Restarted!

This post is more of a self talk than an opinion on something. Having had a blog for more than three years surely demands some stopping and looking back at what it has yielded so far. Sometimes, ideas come and go – and I don’t blog them. Books are kept on the table for being read and reviewed and I keep delaying. Current affairs strike the mind and I virtually reason with myself whether they are as they should have been. Romance with nature flourishes and the mood becomes poetic, giving birth to perfect moments of penning down couplets or triplets… and most of the times, I just let it go, without adding a single word to my blog.

It has to change. Though I started the journey of blogging without a reason, it has returned much more than expected in terms of learning, connectivity and productivity. An area where immense scope lies cannot be just ignored, somewhat falsely blaming the chaos of personal and professional life. It is high time I pause for a moment and see what it has given me and what more it can. It is high time I give it a new beginning; as if a lost child is found and cared for thereafter. Continue reading “Journey Restarted!”

The Static and The Dynamic

Devi Bhagvat Puraan, a very old Hindi text, talks about the universe and generation of all beings derived from the Supreme Goddess, Adi Parashakti. The feminine power is referred to as the mother of the three Gods – Bramha, Vishnu and Mahesh – or the creators of the three gunas – satoguna, rajoguna and tamoguna (also detailed in the fourteenth chapter of the Bhagvad Gita). As duelists would argue and agree, the very cause of the world to begin was the de-integration of the Supreme feminine power from the Brahman, the masculine power (as when the two are in integrated form, there is formulated a state of calmness, vacuum and emptiness, with no creation at all (all sects believe the universe to be in the same state before the Big Bang theory).

So, my first argument is that the world has been created by a feminine power, considered equal to the masculine power. Continue reading “The Static and The Dynamic”

God is a Gamer by Ravi Subramanian – Book Review

Till some years ago when someone said he loved thrillers, I would imagine he did not read Indian authors; and this was justified as we did not have desi authors who could write great thrillers. Ravi Subramanian changed all that. Now we do look forward to desi thrillers.

The author is this book, Ravi, who is fast emerging as one of the best thriller writers, does well when he comes out with God is a Gamer. Based on economics and finance, the story entertains you well throughout the book, and at times, you would like to read more of him.

The novel unfolds in multiple layers simultaneously. Incidents happing in Washington DC, Delhi PMO, Mumbai Banking firm and beaches of Goa, all of them, are so intriguing that you don’t realize when you have finished a hundred pages into the book. There is a bomb attack and murder of a high profile politician Continue reading “God is a Gamer by Ravi Subramanian – Book Review”

Come, reach me, you Govt!

The new India, as everyone would agree, has been much obsessed with Internet and exploiting this obsession, the Modi team was able to reach the common people and engage them prior to the General Elections, resulting in a massive win. Things done well and results visible – to us all.

The same continues…

The social media interactions, I mean. The new govt shows commendable liveliness on Internet, putting almost everything that it sees, does, feels and wishes to happen on different social media platforms; and we loved it with all our heart. Who does not want to see the govt in action? Since we criticized the uncommunicativeness of the UPA for the last ten years, the NDA govt talking to us ‘individually’ felt like a wish granted to many of us… and we were wow! Continue reading “Come, reach me, you Govt!”

Cancellation of Gandhi Jayanti Holiday – A Justification

Dear A Concerned Citizen and all my countrymen,

With the same great concern that you have raised the issue of cancellation of Gandhi Jayanti, I consider it my formal duty to respond and address you and the fellow citizens who share the same sentiment. It seems quite logical to me to address them in the sequence you brought them out.

Gazetted Holidays are declared annually, months in advance to enable employees to plan their schedule. This includes complex itineraries for tourism and pilgrimages, as well as simple pleasures like visiting ageing parents and family get togethers. Hence the sudden and last minute cancellation of this holiday is causing great hardship to employees and their families.

Very true. Our children, since the time their formal education starts, are taught to think broadly. One has to sacrifice himself towards the good of one’s family, sacrifice family towards society and sacrifice society towards state and sacrifice states towards the good of nation. As you must be aware, the cancellation of Gandhi Jayanti Holiday stems from a bigger social cause, that has started to become so much important and inseparable that Indian, our nation, is still considered low on the cleanliness parameter. So much so, we avoid our pictures being taken with dirt and filth behind us and look for cleaner spaces so as to tag them to our timelines, and at the same time, cursing those who are responsible for cleaning the space – the Municipal Corporation, the state government and the central government. If the countrymen sacrifice their one holiday to make their future holidays cleaner and happier, would it be a bad idea? You talked about tourist places, pilgrimages, historical places and the small pleasures with the family… and forgot the fact that those places-to-visit are still dirty. If the government has planned something in this direction, should we not all come together at a bigger level and contribute towards it and sacrifice our small family get-together? Continue reading “Cancellation of Gandhi Jayanti Holiday – A Justification”

Hinduism – Four Pillars vs Four Stages

Hinduism offers many concepts that are divided into four. The concept of Moksha, Dharama, Artha and Kama is one of them. Another ones are – Satyuga, Tretayuga, Dwaperyuga and Kalyug. When we look at the cycle of life, we have Brahmcharya, Grihastha, Vanprastha and Sanyaas. Similarly, the caste-system of our society comprises of four castes – Brahman, Khatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. Let us look at these concepts closely now.

The thing that is often misunderstood about these groups is that they are considered to be separate from one another and many thinkers treat them as four separate ways of life or separate paths, allowing you to choose any of these and show you the repercussions. I, here in this article, wish to present a different approach altogether that sounds more logical to me than any I have ever read.

The basic thing to understand about these is this: take any series aforementioned and compare them with each other. We find that, in any series, any two are either advancement or degradation of its succeeding element. For example, Moksha is superior to Dharma, Dharma is superior to Artha and Artha is superior to Kama. Continue reading “Hinduism – Four Pillars vs Four Stages”

Unjunked by Suman Agarwal – Book Review

Who does not want to stay fit and healthy? And, due to this, we find health-conscious people in every other corner. Or give it a name of diet-conscious and you will earn more points. The lifestyle that we have fully indulged in has secretly been compromising on our health, and moreover giving us less or no time for recovery at all.

Diet Guru and Fitness Expert Suman Agarwal comes with Unjunked to give us some useful advice. The basic idea is to unjunk the food that you believe junk and relieve you from torturing yourself in keeping up with the strict diet plan you have been given by the gym trainer or a dietitian. Don’t compromise on taste but still eat healthy – is the basic mantra here; and in all what is given in the book, Suman sticks to it.

Unjunked – Healthy eating for weight loss contains primarily of two sections: 80+ recipes and weight loss tips. The first 37 pages cover weight loss tips and rest of the book details recipes: and though you will occasionally wish to go back to recipe section for reference, weight loss tips is something that you’ll want to read again and again. Continue reading “Unjunked by Suman Agarwal – Book Review”

Poetry and Today

This article, that supposedly proposes to discuss a very serious matter, yet worthless for some, warrants grave consideration, concentration, research, reading and critical approach. Though, I write it without any of these. Over the years, I have gathered a feeling that I have grown wise enough to shed some light on it without having to indulge in any kind of preparation in order to elucidate any matter of such kind.

University studies provided me with an insight into old schools of criticism of poetry. Aristotle, Wordsworth, Arnold, Elliot, Ransom and all other critics had to say something about the poetry; how it should be written and with what objectives. Furthermore, they also provided, to a great length, guidelines on how to sift good poetry from bad poetry and how it should teach and please the mankind to help him acquire moral and emotional advancement. Very well. In the classrooms, I would treat this subject with VERY high regard and would often exclaim, ‘Oh man! How wonderful poetry he writes!’ and muse over its subject and objectivity.

But, there lies a but here. Continue reading “Poetry and Today”