Viagra for the country...

Confused??? As you read on, you will see that the subject is an instance of extremely wishful thinking...but not the way you think...read on.

Tell me this...is any quality leaning towards "good" instilled by external factors or realized by the subconscious?? For example something as simple as being conscious enough to not litter the streets. All those who said external factors, please do think again...like one famous Mr.Morpheus told a certain Mr.Neo, "I can only show you the door, its you who will have to walk through it.." Sorta sums up the state of events with respect to the Value system in our society.

Of course, the uneducated, the orphans, the ones born on the streets to nameless parents - are more prone to becoming the bad elements of the society because of lack of proper guidance etc...even this point is arguable. My contention here is this...they were not shown the door...but what about us? You would have had enough instances where you could have glimpsed at the door...a fleeting glimpse maybe...but a glimpse indeed...some might have even stared it down, smelled the wood, appreciated the polishing, admired the art work on the frame, within reach of the door knob...but...sigh, there is always a but...why many refuse to walk through it? laziness...inertia...whatever...excuses...excuses...

People are inherently blessed or cursed with this irritating habit of poking their nose into other peoples business...i guess that's what makes them human.
The other day i was at a mall...i was strolling by on the second floor taking in the pretty sights...then to my left and for quite a distance, a crowd gathered and thronged crazy. It was so bad that i could not make out why the crowd was. I worked my way down to the first level...i was on my way out anyway...still impenetrable...the ground floor...and some breathing space.
Guess what...it was movie shooting...some random female imported from some north indian state in all probability was picturised walking into one of the shops!!! i head myself say out loud "Shit...what tha...stupid people!!" and of course, as expected i got some knowing quizzical condescending glances from the seasoned bystander...Absolute corruption of the preferences of the masses...the masses are after some illusion of the ideal world...pitiable. of course, this is my opinion...

One more example...this one condemnable.
A guy fainted on the streets and is just lying there motionless...a good crowd of some 30 gather...and stare at him...comment about him...a brave one decides to poke him in one of his limbs...viola, life indeed...he wasn't dead...that was good news. so, what did they do now...continue staring at the poor dude...of course, i was observing all this from my office space a good 7 floors above the commotion...i was struck by behavior of the people...the lack of interest in the wellbeing of the fellow human being. Some eventually picked him up and deposited the guy on the sidewalk where he continued being comatose...Of course, i could not help the person myself then because of reasons i wish not to mention in a blog. But what about those 30 odd people who had enough time to waste it by just standing there and commenting on the guy on the ground...??

This state of the value system in the common man is what i am worried about...the common man against all popular conceptions (that the govt is incharge of running the country) is the god, saviour, protector and viagra for a country. Very few takes responsibility for ones own actions...
I tell my roommate not to throw the chocolate wrapper on the streets...and the conversation goes like this...

Me: Hey...please don't throw that somewhere...look for a dustbin.
Him: Why da? I don't want to hold on to it...
Me: Agreed that's it a little irksome to hold on to something like a wrapper...but why litter the streets da?
Him: So, what...someone will be along to clean it up soon...
Me: I dunno about that...you see the govt cant be at all places at once...besides they ar..
Him: Whatever...i don't care...the streets are not my house!

And you should look at his room ladies and gents...typical of any bachelor i would say...worse than the streets...dust filled...wet at times...a haven for a spider colony...someone can fall sick sleeping there...infact he did. and this person, an college educated person, someone who supposedly grew up learning to think on his own, acting like this...damn, my blood boils.

But what to do...we are human eh!?! Balls to being human then...i request everyone to become something better and higher then. if god is the only thing you can think of, be a god. Gods don't need viagra...but our country does. Amen.

The Five Books which are not a waste of paper...

One of my buds Ranga wanted me to give a list of 5 books which have affected me a lot...well...a tall order...i havent really thought about which books have affected me to the extent of me following what they preach...but i do know a certain set of books which have influenced me. not affected but influenced. by influence, it not only refers to how often i use titbits from those books in my daily speech and writing but also to those books which moved me emotionally or made me laugh out loud or made me doubt myself.

Anyways, here goes nothing...

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Ditch introduced me to this one and many other books...damn, am i grateful to him for that! Anyways, since this has been made into a movie now, i guess many might have atleast heard about this now...beleive me, any movie made of this book in any age before the advent and dominance of computer graphics would have done the book an injustice. Of course, the movie still sucks when compared to the book...it has to.
This one is humourous science fiction at its best. Douglas Adams's mind is as zany and sublty crazy as one can get. Brilliant the way the story is told and new phenomena (sometimes even defying the known laws of physics) introduced...the one book which i have recommended the maximum.

The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein
Again thanks to Ditch for this...i guess this one needs no introduction now. Again, made into a series of cool movies. And again...the movies were a very very serious attempt at representing the book in celluloid. Well tried...but the book still reigns supreme.
This book does not contain text...but sheer poetry. Tolkein is a genius at creation. He even went to the extent of creating a script for the elvish tongue spoken by the elves in the saga. Brilliant and very very endearing book. But this one is not too humourous though...pretty dark and brooding in patches with joy and happiness reigning in others. The eternal battle between Good and Evil elevated to the beautiful...

Roots by Alex Haley
My own find...based on obscure pieces of muttering and mumblings by my mom and some of her friends. This was made into a very successful TV series when my parents were adolescents. Moving and emotional book. The fact that its based on a true story enhances its effect. Clean and simple words...concentrating on the emotions on display. It must have created quite a stir at its time because of its gruesome yet allgedly true potrayal of how african americans (well, africans at the time the book starts) were dealt with by their invaders and eventual masters. A must read for all who are in need of some inspiration, some emotion, some heart moving sentiment and for those who look back into the past with wonder.

Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintainence by Robert Pirsig
Well...i list this book here because in all my life of reading books, this is the one book which i couldnt finish. I am not that heavy a reader...i prefer reading to free the mind rather than burden it. But i list this book here because of exactly that reason...weel, not quite. The author's arguements about "Quality" made me think...and think i did page by page...para by para. But at the time, i was busy with the job and couldnt exactly devote the time and the mind for reading the book. Any other book might have been consumed quickly. But not this one...i couldnt do justice to the authors thoughts by devoting "quality" time to this. Till that point, i considered myself a voacious reader...finishing books in days sometimes even in hours...but this one took more than a month...and i still was not done with it. Finally, i did not give up but put it on hold...its still on hold.
I suggest this to anyone who prefers reading which makes them think. Great book. I will finish it one day...

Asterix and Cleopatra by Goscinny and Uderzo
That must have caught you by surprise...cmon, it should have!! Ok, this is not a book...but something which one can definitely read. I love the entire asterix series...simply simply love it. But this particular comic is the most creative i feel...it dealt with events which were actually important in history. Must have read this a million times...infact the authors (or the publishers...whatever) felt so proud after the creation of this masterpiece that one can see them gloating on the cover about how many pens, how many pots of ink bla bla..it took to create the book. Am sure it must have taken months to perfect Cleopatra's nose which btw finds special mention and status in the comic...i apologise to the purists...by toutatis, please forgive this kid at heart!

Phew...beleive it or not, i had a tough time coming up with this list...cos i just live for the moment...not much of a past guy except when it comes to friends and relationships. So you can imagine how tough it was to search my past experiences...could have certainly found use for a pensieve by bellisama!

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Does your mind go blank?

For instance, when you are travelling in a bus...window seat...when you are looking out of the window...what do you see? do you see specific things? like...the pizza delivery guy driving his bajaj scooter like hell has been set loose, do you see the slum dwelling kid having a whale of a time playing with a piece of the newspaper...? well...of course, we see things...but do you all the time?

Have there ever been a time when you would just see colors...shades...streaks of light...shadows...?? and when that happens, does your mind stay awake to notice what colour is it which you saw? when you close your eyes, does your mind signal to you the word "black"? does it?

Somehow for me, the mind takes a back seat most of the time when i am by myself...solitude brings about this surreal peace about me. i need my solitude to get along in life...i need my own space and time. to let the mind rest...to let the soul feel peace...to awaken from the ashes of daily routine. but you might ask, if your mind is totally at rest, how come you realised that very phenomenon? well...i lose track of time when this happens. many people have asked me how i tend to be calmer than most...well, i do have my moments of crazy psychomania....but then, more often than not, i will be the person not trying to jump the queue at the ticket counters...i will patiently wait in the car while the old lady in the TVS 50 stutters past...i prefer listening rather than talking...

In tamil, my mother tongue, there is a concept called "aanmeekam". i dont know how that translates in English. Its a state where a person is at peace with himself and has attained nirvana so to speak...purity in its purest form...its the ultimate aim for which ancient yogis used to endure pain and suffering in penance for many long years...now am i getting somewhere with all this..?? i was told that such a state where the mind detaches itself from the body is the first step in the path of aanmeekam. eerie...

Do you dream when you sleep? I have reason to beleive that i dont...atleast i dont remember any of them except this one dream...a nightmare really...of falling from a great height...i am digressing...anyways, my point is, my mind goes blank too often...infact so often that i am blogging about it now...is this good? i dont know...One more thing which comes to mind is...i am agnostic. so, where does all this figure in the topic under discussion? is it required to beleive in god and have faith in religion to attain aanmeekam? i hope not...and i dont think it should be.

My advise to you is...next time you are alone and have nothing particularly important to do, try thinking about nothing...no thats not right...try not to think about anything... :) ...but when you actually "try" it, its impossible not to avoind thinking about not thinking. sigh...hope you understood my emotion here...

Oh and for the record, the title of this blog entry is left blank...