Oracles of the cyberspace...

In ancient Greece the Oracles foretold the future. Nowadays anyone can do that... your future is just a few clicks away.

A friend forwarded me an email today which had "Just for fun" as its subject. The contents of the email can be found by clicking on this link and try to look for a long list of animals (like dog, moneky etc. )

It tells you what "animal" you are depending on your birth date. It turns out that I am indeed a DOG (As I have believed for a long time). I need to get my wardrobe all trendy (as per the predictions) otherwise I will get depressed ...everything else looks fine. BTW all the other people (or animals) on the list are nice too. No snakes or lizards in this list (nothing against snakes; they are actually pretty decent animals). Which goes well I guess....with the belief that every person in this world is "good" at the core....

On this site you will get a perpetual supply of emails like these to forward. IT also has a convenient link to do so without having to copy and paste the useless stuff into your email window.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could find everything about ourselves or our life...or our future by looking at the stars, or the palm of our hand (or foot in some cases) or the lines on our forehead...or cards we draw from a tarot deck....or may be the wrinkles on our face might have something to do with our future (other than being the cue to check how that retirement account is doing)

B*** S***....

Wouldn't in be great if we could change to someone else....live a fairytale...in a fantasy land...HOGWASH....

If life and future was fully predictable (as Pascal thought it would be if he knew the position and velocity of each and every molecule in the world and had a super-duper computer)....I wouldn't want to be alive. If everything that is going to happen was known...life would be a sorry tale of expected events. It would be like watching a rerun of a bad movie.

If I don't want to be myself or am not satisfied with myself....I will probably not be satisfied being someone else too. Nature (or GOD or whoever you believe in) has given us the power for improvement....its called "will power" and "imagination". If you can "imagine" to be better and have the "will" to be better....you can work and actually "BE" a better person.

PaaNinI (The great SaMskrita VyAkaraNkAra..or Grammarian) was told by a fortune teller that he would never be a learned person because he doesnt have the right lines on the palm of his hand. He asked the "jyotiShI" (fortune teller) where the line would be....and then etched that line on his palm with a knife....and asked the jyotiShI, "Will I become a 'learned person' now?". PaaNinI ALSO made a great and invaluable contribution to Sanskrit grammar (there is a great tale about his death too...but that for later).

Everyone can write his/her own future on the palm of his/her hand....THEMSELVES

Such emails (EVEN if they are FOR FUN) tend to propagate the idea that future can be gauged by the movement of stars. It is a waste of the tremendous power of the internet. The internet was supposed to increase the direct exchange of "valuable" ideas between people. It has done that to some extent. But I feel that most of the times we exchange "CRAP" like these emails about "know your personality or horoscope".

There are other emails like these... where you have to send "Ganesh Vandana" (an ode to lord Ganesh)... to TEN OTHER PEOPLE so that you will get "everything you wish for"....or the emails where you have to send some cutesie poetry about "how you care for your friends" by forwarding that email to "your true friends". One such email promised my "everything I wish for" if I forwarded it to ten people and if I didn't "the opposite" will happen. What if I didn't forward it and wished "not to get anything"....will I get "Everything" (the opposite of nothing)??

Its like Thoreau said (and I am not quoting literally from Walden...but the gist is the same anyway).... "We may build a telegraph line between Maine and Texas....but what if Maine has nothing of significance to communicate with Texas?". (In his times telegraph was hi-tech communication). Turns out that Maine might have some important things to communicate with Texas (like choice of presidential candidate)....but the core lesson still applies....

People may be connected directly by the internet....but people may not necessarily have anything of significance to communicate with each other...and hence we see this traffic of "horoscope emails" and "ganesh vandana emails" and "cutsie letter to true friend" emails. I guess one reason is that it doesn't cost much money (and time) to send this stuff. It's just another kind of SPAM really....only it doesnt offer me a free iPOD or a flatscreen TV.

A character in a novel "Asami Asami" by P. L. Deshpande (a genius Marathi novelist, musician, actor....and much much more) says..."our forefathers spent their lives predicting everone else's future (as fortune tellers or astrologers) instead of worrying about improving their own future]".

Every Indian newspaper (both in print and online) has a horoscope section. Every new year there is a big section in all the magazines by some "imminent astrologer" about "the year ahead". No wedding (or any other events) happen without consulting the astrologer. In general there is a great tendency to follow any "guru" who promises quick fix englightment. Instant "nirvana" (and not the kind where you smoke weed) is more popular than fast food in India.

People have got to stop trying to figure out what is going to happen in their future and start spending more time on meaningful work (which might actually improve the odds of a better future). Astrologers, fortunetellers, new age gurus and (by a little stretch of logic) religious fanatics thrive and get a following because people are inherently afraid of the future and afraid of change. The quick fix solutions that these people provide (do this pooja, forward an email, follow the scripture) provide an escape... a simple and easy solution which is totally useless and ineffective.

The "unpredictability" or life is a great source of fear and mystery....but it is also the most vital ingredient. Without it life wouldn't be life. It is something that everyone must learn to live with...in fact not just live with...but celebrate.

"Cheers !"

Technorati Tags: Junk email, Astrology, Superstition, Spam,

How to put an elephant in a bottle...

That's a challenge...

So also is organizing your life...so that you can do all the things that you want to do... Which is what I have been trying to do for a long long time now! There are many many things that I want to do... and there always seems to be too little time. I think its a problem encountered by almost everyone.

Here are some things I have learned in trying to solve this problem.

1. There is no magic "formula" or "theory" that you can read from a book and use it. You have to find your own "formula".

2. There is no end to this problem... there is no "eureka" moment where you feel that finally you have become as organized as you ever wanted to be....there is always room for improvement.

3. Success comes in small and infrequent increments... so never hope for a day when suddenly all your tasks for the day will be done, all items crossed from the list and you have time for a good cup of coffee.

4. Sticking at it seems to be the best way to tame the beast. I used to get tired of a particular approach and give up soon. I also expected huge improvement in small amount of time. It never happened. Now I am getting better at it... so stick to it... keep working.

5. Being cheerful will improve your odds for success. You can be as gloomy and blue as you want about the mess around you... it still won't clean itself up. So cheer up and get back at it.

6. This particular one seems to work for me... hope it works for everyone. I found out that if I am able to overcome the laziness, the procrastinating tendancy etc.....just enough so that I make a small "beginning" and set things rolling.... then most of the time the momentum of things helps me to finish them.

Anyway... I haven't yet figured how to put the elephant in a bottle... but I think I am making some success in being able to do all the things I want to do.

Found Quoted at the local Jimmy John's Gourmet Sub shop:
If you do the things you need to do when you need to do them... then someday you will be able to do the things you want to do when you want to do them.

Whitewater...

This story is a bit old... last October I had gone whitewater rafting in the New River Gorge in West Virginia. It was one of the best trips I ever had. Its about 6 hour drive from State College. New River gorge is a really scenic place with lots of hiking trails and other opportunities for adventure sports.

The Gauley river and new river have some of the best class 4 and 5 rapids in the Northeastern US. There were 6 of us in the raft and our guide (or captain I should say) Carl. Carl gave us a few rudimentary lessons in paddling in the beginning. Then after asking us to hold on for our dear lives...started yelling commands at us...like "all forward".... "Stop" to align the raft and make it go the right way into the rapids... within minutes we were totally drenched with water. I even had a chance to get out of the raft and swim (rather try to swim) in a rapid for a while... after the initial shock and panic subsided... that experience seemed very amusing... I even wrote a little poem on it.

Here it is ...

"WHITE WATER"

There's a mix of anticipation and fear..
Along the banks we check our gear...
We push the raft into the river....
Climb up n' hold-on to paddles dear...
"All forward" yells Carl....and off we go...

We learn a few tricks.. early in the trip..
Lean forward to paddle....hold the T grip..
The currents are swift n' the water is cold...
Paddle for your dear lives we are told...
The rapids are waiting for rafters adrift...

We pass the "insignificant"...
A little class four....
Everyone's still on board...
Soaked wet and cold....
But our little success..makes the heart grow bold

We are passing another rapid...I forget its name
As the raft turns and tilts through the current...
"Stop"...I hear Carl shout..paddles are out
One moment I am in there.....
And then I am OUT....

"Whitewater" all around me.....
I am not in my saddle....
Floating free with the river...
I have lost my paddle...
Panic first..n' later I grab hold of the rope....

I struggle...n' my mates
Pull me up...out of the water....
I've gulped a bit of the Gauley....
And seen its might....
Tasted adventure...but up for the fight...

I am ready again....
Many more rapids await...
we hunt for my paddle....
Going down with the flow....
"All forward"...there's Carl again....and off we go..

I like going out into the nature.... in fact most of my hobbies are kind of built up around the outdoors... adventure sports, hiking are a good way to get out... photography is a good way to record your adventures and capture the beauty of nature... skygazing or amateur astronomy is a great way to spend a night beneath clear skies...

I look forward to going to New River gorge this summer and fall...

Transmogrified???

"What kind of a word is that?" some would ask.

Well, its a word I borrowed from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson. It's derived from the name of a machine that Calvin invents. This machine can transform Calvin into whatever he wants... an elephant, a dinosaur (which he likes to be most of the time). I think it is a really cool idea. Interestingly "The Transmogrifier" (which is really a cardboard box) can also become an intergalactic spaceship when turned upside down...and Calvin a.k.a. "Spaceman Spiff" can ride in it to fight aliens!!

I like the immense amount of imagination in that strip. It also reminds me of what Einstein said about imagination... "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world". I think Calvin's imagination is of this kind...

The beginning

I wanted to start a blog for a long time. In fact I wanted to starting writing my thoughts again everyday... for a long time. I used to do it when I was a kid. I used to write a diary pretty regularly. But for some reason I stopped somewhere during my undergraduate years in Pune (which is a city in India). For the longest time I could not decide between blogging and a simple diary kept only for myself. I guess now I have made my choice.

I dunno how many people really would care for my thoughts but I want to note them here for what they are worth. I think writing my thoughts kind of makes things fall out in an orderly way in my mind. Its like when you shake a jar full or marbles and they somehow settle down in a neat, aligned way. It also helps me remember some of the ideas I had today or some of the thoughts I would like to hold on to for future.

So my blog will primarily be about my thoughts (which I have many and about many different things). So I hope it won't be too boring for anyone who ventures to read them.

Thats good enough for now.