Unobtrusive Measures

He is NOT God!

2010-03-05T02:57:00.000-08:00

He's not God. Stop diminishing importance of his achievements by calling him God. God can do anything but not human. Everything is easy for God but its not for Human. Nothing was easy for Tendulkar definitely not free of cost. He has worked damn hard day and night to reach to a stage where he is today. It's the kind of hard work that we can only imagine and not think of doing it. We cannot do that- not because we are human and he's God but because he has passion for the game. He loves the country and has got strong desire to be in Indian Team and make India win every match. Had he been God, India would have won all matches. Had he been God, he would have represented World team not India.

I believe players like Sehwag, Yuvraj have got more 'natural' talent than Sachin but its the attitude on and off the field where Tendulkar wins!

People raise their expectations by calling him God. But when he fails same people start blaming him in different ways- selfish, lacks the ability to win matches, etc. Think of him as a normal human with lots of limitations. Allow him to make mistakes, allow him to fail and lose matches. Not every match can be won but still for past 20 years he has been giving his best to make it happen.

Strange we compare Sachin with God. May be that renders us courage to accept the failure of rest of the Indian team(scene of 90's decade). It becomes easy for us to excuse 'He's God. Not everyone is SRT so he should have stood their till last ball and won the match', 'I dont care about others, but how come Sachin didnt play well?' I agree not everyone can be as great as Sachin but can others, at least, try to learn 0.001% of his greatness and fail? The failure shall teach them a lot.

2008-10-19T22:36:00.000-07:00

ती: कसला विचार करतोयेस?

तो: काही विशेष नाही , जाऊ दे.

ती: सांग ना? कसला विचार करतोयेस?

तो: बरं ऐक, rather कल्पना कर. आपण दोघ असंच चालत चाललोय. सकाळचं कोवळं उन पडलयं. आसपासच्या हवेत थोड़ा गारठा निर्माण झालाय. चालता चालता एक छोटी नदी लागते. नदीच्या बाजुला एक सुंदर तलाव आहे. तलावाच्या काठाशी आपण बसतो. तलावाचे पाणी किंचित गरम असते. दोन्ही पाय पाण्यात टाकल्याने पायांना एक प्रकारचे उब मिळतेय. आपण फ़क्त दोघच बेधुंद एकमेकात हरवून बसलोय. हातात हात गुंफ़लेले. तु सहजच माझ्या खांद्यावर डोकं टेकावतेस. आणि...आणि...

ती: आणि काय?

तो: काही नाही, जाऊ देत.

ती: नाही सांग.

तो: नको तु मारशील.

ती: नाही मारणार, सांग ना आणि काय?

तो: आणि बाजुला एक कुत्रा पाय वर करून शुऽऽ करत असतो. आणि त्याचा परिणाम म्हणुन की काय तलावातुन छोटे छोटे मशरूम उगवायाला लागतात.

ती: शीऽऽऽई. कसला बोरर आहेस तु. सगळ्या रोमांटिक वातावरणावर पाणी फिरवलेस.

तो: पाणी नाही, मशरूम फिरवले.

आणि अश्या रितीने मराठी भाषेला अजुन एक वाक्प्रचार मिळाला. 'मशरूम फिरवणे ': विरजन घालणे, बट्ट्याबोळ करणे. खरं तर आपल्या डेली कोन्वेर्सशन मधुन आपल्या न कळत अनेक म्हणी किंवा वाक्प्रचार तयार होत असतात. माझा एक मित्र 'चेपणे ' हा शब्द त्याचा मुळ अर्थ सोडुन अनेक वेग-वेगळ्या अर्थांनी वापरतो. 'पुस्तक चेपणे ' म्हणजे वाचणे, 'चेपायला कलटी' म्हणजे जेवायला गेलोय. तसेच 'चावणे ' म्हणजे खुप पकवणे किंवा खुप बोर करणे असेही बरेच लोक वापरतात. झी मराठीवरील सा रे ग म प ह्या गाण्यांच्या कार्यक्रमात अवधुत गुप्तेने एक नविनच शब्द शोधलाय. 'चाबुक गायलास ' म्हणजे खुप छान गायलास. अशी नव-नविन शब्दांची, वाक्प्रचारांची भर झाल्याने कदाचित भाषेचे evolution होत असेल.

ह्या सगळ्या एकंदर प्रकाराला भाषा प्रौढ होण्यापासुन, भाषेचा विस्तार झाला, तसेच भाषेचा ह्रास झाला असेही म्हटले जाऊ शकते. असेलही कदाचित हा भाषेचा ह्रास, कुणास ठावुक. पण थोड़े मागे वळुन बघितले तर वाटते हयात काही गैर नाहीये. खरं तर ज्ञानेश्वरांनी सामान्य माणसाला कळावे म्हणुन ज्ञानेश्वरी हे गीतेचे मराठीत भाषांतर केले. पण आज आपण बघतो की ही ज्ञानेश्वरी देखील आपल्याला क्लिष्ट वाटुन तिच्याही भाषांतराची आपल्याला गरज भासते. अगदी २० व्या शतकात लिहिलेले गीतारहस्यातले मराठीसुद्धा डोक्यावरुन जाते (माझ्यातरी). फार दुरवर कश्याला जायचे अगदी एक घरात राहणारया आईवडिलांना सुद्धा आपल्या मुलांच्या conversation मधले नविन शब्दप्रयोग ऐकून आपण मागास होत चालल्याची जाणीव झाल्यास नवल वाटु नये. भाषेतला असा होणार बदल योग्य वा अयोग्य हा प्रश्न कदाचित गौणच आहे. तसा तो गौण नसता तर भारतात प्रत्येक २०० कि.मी. ला एक वेगळी बोली-भाषा दिसली नसती. नुसते महाराष्ट्रतच बघितले तर मराठीची अनेक variants दिसतात. मराठी dilaects वरून कुठलाही माणुस विदर्भाचा, मराठवाड्याचा कोल्हापुर किंवा नाशिकाचा हे ओळखणे फार काही अवघड जात नाही.

भाषा मुळातच जर self-evolving असेल तर भाषाभिमान तरी योग्य आहे का? काळनुसार किंवा प्रांतानुसार भाषाच जर बदलत असेल तर अभिमान तरी कुठल्या गोष्टीचा करायचा? भाषेतील बदल अपेक्षितच असेल तर त्या बदलला चिकाटीने विरोध करणे तरी योग्य आहे का? भाषेवरुन राजकीय issue निर्माण करणारया नेत्यांना ह्या भाषेच्या 'वाट लागण्याची ' कल्पना आहे का?

ता.क.- मलाही माझ्या मराठीचा जाज्वल्य अभिमान आहे. का? शोधतोय :)

2007-06-04T07:20:00.000-07:00

Things that I miss before every US trip …

Now a days US trip is a routine for many software engineers. This is a list of few things that I try not to forget.

Important items:
==============
- Passport and visa, air-ticket.
- Health insurance papers: This is a bit tricky. I have seen some insurance companies have very complex procedure to reimburse your medical expenses and include several clauses. I have spent substantial time researching on this but couldn’t find an insurance plan up to my expectations. I have also seen many agents are either fraud or ignorant and promise things that are contradictory to papers. Make sure you go through your insurance plan and understand each and every clause and its implications. The best plan, obviously, is- where you don’t have to pay any single $ in cash (no reimbursements please) and minimal procedure at the time of deciding your physician/treatment.
- Baggage: Check with your airlines for limitations on number of baggages allowed, their dimensions and weight, etc
- Cash: Carry some emergency cash while traveling. You may end up in situations where you need to pay cash and credit cards are not acceptable. If possible have some quarters, typically useful for public phone calls. I remember a funny incident here. A friend of mine wanted to prepone his return date. The airlines, air-india, asked for extra charges but also denied to accept it by credit card. We could not believe this is happening in California. Air-india cannot be an exception to Indian rules J.
- Invitation letter: Make sure you have invitation letter or copies of necessary documents to justify your trip. In one of my trips I forgot these docs and had to go through a lot of trouble at the port of entry.
- Driving license and IDP: If you are planning to drive four-wheeler in US, carry your Indian driving license and international driving permit (IDP). In many states only driving license is acceptable but some states also insists on IDP. One can check the driving rules for the particular state.
- Car/hotel booking: Oh yeah you got to find some place before you leave! Also plan on commutation.
- Medicines: Have your basic medical checkup done before you leave the country. Also create a medicine kit for common illness symptoms. If you already have such kit don’t forget to replace the expired medicine. If you are undergoing a specific medical treatment don’t forget to carry required medicines and papers for the same. Have them in ample amount. I have also suffered because of less quantity L.
- Don’t forget to inform your itinerary plan to the person who will receieve you at the airport. This is mainly applicable to the first timers.
- Weather check: Check the weather conditions for the place where you are going for the period of your stay. If required carry sweater, jacket(leather jacket is a good protection), woolen headgear, hand gloves, etc. You may need an umbrella in case of rainy weather.
- Other important documents: Visiting cards, I-card/ access card required at the US office,

Other stuff:
=========
If you have enough space in your bag you may want to consider some items that you get much cheaper in rupees than dollars and hence makes sense to have them in adequate amount. These could be-
- Clothes: shirts, t-shirts, jeans, formals, undergarments, socks, etc. I know I am lazy enough to sustain for 1-2 months without washing my clothes J. So I make sure I carry additional clothes to survive for a month or two without having to worry about washer/dryer.
- Washing powder/soap, brush, etc.
- Tea/coffee powder and filter. I hate that American made tea/coffee except Starbucks.
- Microwave safe utensils and paper dishes: If you are planning to cook. Many hotels do provide the microwave.
- Food material like Maggie, biscuits, ketchup, etc. You can find these items in a good Indian store but still a bit costly.
- Comb, shaving kit, nail cutter, scissor, Toothbrush/paste, slippers, extra pair of shoes, exercise kit, pen, pencil, notebook, cell phone, cell charger, alarm, camera, camera charger, head phones etc
- Collection of favorite movies, songs, books.

Some guidelines:
==============
- Don’t carry any raw food items to avoid unnecessary complications at the customs.
- Don’t say ‘water without ice’ in any restaurant unless you want to try it. Use ‘water no ice’
- When you order something in a small eating places like McDonalds, Taco bell, starbuck expect a quick question "here to go?". You don't understand their pronunciation making it more confusing. They actually mean do you want 'here or to go'? 'To go' is a commonly used term for parcel.
- Oven is less used than microwave.
- …will add more as and when I remember…

Mukta-hasta shirshasan at Diveagar :)

2007-04-19T22:27:00.000-07:00

Yoga – A Health science??

2007-02-14T22:47:00.000-08:00

Yoga – A Health science??

A year back I had a perception that Yoga is a heath science and helps a person in attaining physical fitness by means of Yoga Asanas. I knew I was gifted with some amount body flexibility by birth and flexibility helps in yoga asanas. This was the only reason why I started yoga. But it did not take me very long to understand that less flexible you are more ‘immediate’ benefits you get by asanas. Yes this is true J.

I explored 2-3 different Yoga classes in last few months and almost everywhere I found that 80-90% of the yoga students are in their 40s-50s with some major/minor physical ailment. Surprisingly this rule is not observed at few of the highly reputed classes like BKS Iyengars; where you can find a substantial percentage of young population. But still several of these learn Yoga either to cure their problems or to remain in good health conditions.
As I dug more into Yoga, I realized how wrong were my initial perceptions about Yoga. Health plays very little role in the reasons why Yoga was invented. Yoga aims at achieving spiritual advancement. Yoga disciples practice yoga to train the consciousness for a state of perfect spiritual insight. Okay now in plain English.

The word yoga, in Hindi/Marathi pronounced as Yog. It is derived from a Sanskrit word (dhatu) Yuj which means to join or unite. Yog is an ancient Indian science and art. The practice of yog is a path to unify the body, mind and soul. The ultimate goal of Yog is samadhi or spiritual salvation.
Sage Patanjali is considered the father of Yog. He presented Yog Sutra, an eight fold path- a.k.a. AshtangYog, to attain the state of Samadhi.
AshtangYog consists of following eight folds-
I. Yam:
This stage talks about the behavior of a common man in the society.
1. Ahimsa- non violence
2. Satya- truthfulness
3. Asteya- non stealing
4. Brahmacharya- continence
5. Aparigraha- non-receiving of any gifts.

II. Niyam:
Niyam is all about individual discipline.
1. Saucha- purity.
2. Santosha- contentment.
3. Tapas- Austerities.
4. Svadhyaya- study.
5. Ishvarapranidhana- surrender to God.

III. Asana:
Many people mistakenly consider this step as Yog. This step aims at achieving good health by means of a series of exercises. One can concentrate on further steps ‘only if’ he/she is physically fit.

IV. Pranayam:
'Pran' is breath; 'ayam' means control. So Pranayam is control of Breath. Pran is the energy responsible for life force. Pranayam is a path to achieve healthy body and mind.
V. Pratyahar:
Pratyahar is to draw senses inward. It is possible only with great control on the senses and which can be achieved with the help of Pranayam. In this state, senses of taste, touch, sight, hearing and smell don't reach their respective centers in the brain. This helps in meditation without any distraction.
VI. Dharana:
Dharana is to make ones mind concentrate on a particular object.
VII. Dhyan:
Concentration and meditation on a particular object is Dhyan.
VIII. Samadhi:
Samadhi, the Ultimate salvation, causes the merging of individual consciousness with universal consciousness.

The ancient Indian seers believed that Samadhi, the state of spiritual salvation, can also be attained by following four ways.
1. Karm Yog: The path of action without attachment.
2. Bhakti Yog: The path of selfless worship.
3. Dhyan Yog: The path of meditation.
4. Jnyan Yog: The path of knowledge.

References:
These are few of the books I have been through and I really liked them. Almost everything that I talked here is described in several books in great details and also available freely on net.

Asana oriented books:
Yoga Parichay by Vishwas Mandlik (Marathi)
Books by BKS Iyengar.

Spiritual aspect:
Comeplete works of Swami Vivekanand Volume 1 for Karma Yog/Raj Yog.
God Talks With Arjuna- The Bhagavad Gita by Swami Paramhansa Yogananda.

Change their Mindset – What Bullshit?

2006-06-06T04:17:00.000-07:00

Few months back I had couple of my US trips and got a chance to see the culture, people, development and lots of good and bad things there. One of the things that really impressed me was the dedication these people have for observing rules. May it be a traffic rules, littering, no smoking in public places, etc.

For many days I was wondering why these people don’t have the general tendency of breaking laws? Why so many people prefer to keep their cars dirty than throwing the garbage on the roads?

When I came back to India, I discussed this with couple of my close friends and raised the point that why can’t similar things happen in India? Both of them were insisting on –
- It cannot happen in India,
- We can’t just enforce laws anywhere,
- We have to change people’s mindset,
- Blah, blah, blah.

Somehow I thought there is something missing in this. I didn’t really believe if this idea of changing mindset would really be effective. It’s just ridiculous to say that we can change the mindset of more than 1 billion population with so many of them illiterate. If at all it’s possible then it would take several decades before we see people taking active participation in this. Incidentally the basic problem that high population countries face is very few people have the ability to think. Majority of the population here today can’t think beyond their bread and butter activities. The idea of these people changing their mindset itself sounds sarcastic.

Few months back an incident occurred to me. I went to a public tea stall in Aundh and was sitting on a table when this guy comes and sits on the table next to mine and starts smoking. As I am allergic to smoke I requested him not to smoke but the poor guy fails to understand that he’s causing trouble to others said – “I am sitting on a different table, why you should have any problem? If you don’t like it then go and sit somewhere else”. Neither I understood how to react nor I had enough patience to argue. I was thinking of calling my dearest friends to change his mindset but frankly I didn’t believe if anyone could have changed his mindset. Probably his wife, but question arises who would change her mindset?

We see these two states one what’s happening in the developed countries and one in the developing countries. One might argue that by the time we change from developing country to developed country things would change. But my dear friend don’t you think this is not an atomic and automatic change. It has some transition period involved in it and there are some responsibilities and actionable for few of us to make this change happen. Aren’t we going through this transition period and isn’t this time to think about how to change the situation?

A key point that should not go unnoticed is all these countries have very heavy fines for breaking laws/rules. Some approximate numbers to give an idea of fines charged in California– $250-$350 for not obeying traffic signals, $1000 for littering, etc.

There is no reason why can’t we apply the same logic here. Charge fines in the range of say Rs10000 for not following traffic signals, Rs15000 for smoking in the public places. Somebody might question like we have so many poor percentage of population in India how the hell are we going to take out 10K-15K from them. The solution is simple ‘put them in jail’ for few months. If you are poor then you better not break the rules. Read between the lines and you would understand that no one would dare to break the laws if it’s so costly. No need to implement it at each and every place. Just some random checks and punish these random lawbreakers.

I am one of the best examples of people who afford to break laws just because it’s cheap. For several months I have been driving in Pune traffic without carrying my driving license and no PUC. Not that I don’t have license issued but just forget to take it with me. May be because I know my laziness won’t cost me more than few hundred bucks that too once in 2-3 months. This same lazy guy goes to US and every time before getting into car makes sure that he has his driving license with him.

Okay now let me change my angle of thinking here. Some people might say we have corruption spread at the ground levels. But if the actual fine amount is so high, bribe amount would also increase considerably making people think ten times before lawbreaking.

If, in case, laws are changed the way they are proposed here then there would be our dearest politicians to oppose this heavy punishment scheme and get some public sympathy for their bloody selfish voting business. Just in the similar way they came to help us at the time of helmet crisis in Pune.

Who cares? I am not here to change the mindset of these inhuman politicians; I am here to write my random thoughts.

Why Corruption?

2006-06-04T23:25:00.000-07:00

It sometime becomes interesting to think why people in India are corrupted to such a great extend.

Some people say and believe that stopping bribing can stop corruption. Not bribing has been advised since a long time but still is an ineffective method and fails to produce results on large scale.

To stop bribing sounds like a good idea but if we think about the drawbacks of it - this method is a passive method and it makes the things difficult for people who observe it. And I guess that is the reason not many people stick to it. The prerequisite for succeeding this method is –it should be accepted on large scale at the same time. With the kind of busy life folks have, no one really wants to spend time and energy in unwanted activities. People prefer to spend few extra bucks and get their work done quickly. May it be a driving license, IDP, billing, some govt. work, etc.

Rule is if passive fails try using active methods. May be its time for us to take some active steps in order to stop the corruption. The reason why so many people are corrupted is they feel it quite safe when they accept the bribes. Make them feel insecure; make them feel guilty about what they are doing; make them think ten times before accepting bribes.

I am not sure if it’s the best way of doing this but something that might be adapted - we should gather the contact details of some of the anti-corruption organizations that are quick in taking actions and also genuinely interested in taking steps against corruption. Next step is just to spread these contact details and start using them whenever and wherever corruption takes place. More the number of complains less would be the number of demands for bribe.

shree

2006-06-04T23:21:00.000-07:00