1. Why do great books end just when you've made best friends with their characters?
2. Why must every vehicle on my lane either block the road or attempt to overtake me?
3. Does the Door (RFID) at work record details of my coffee breaks in an excel sheet?
4. Does my Boss ever stop working? (More importantly, does he monitor those excel sheets?)
5. Where have all the Thiruvanmiyur-Beach crabs disappeared to?
6. Will humanity travel to the stars?
7. Doesn't my dad's snoring ever wake him up?
8. Why do I sleep the soundest just before an alarm goes off?
9. What if someone turned off the gravity? (Any chance my Boss would notice and/or take the rest of the afternoon off?)
10. Was I intelligent before education ruined me?
Monday, August 20, 2007
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Summer Night
I laugh with joy
as a sharp wind herds
wisps of dark clouds
across an indigo sky
the moonscape dims
and I suddenly see-
the woods are a'flicker
in floating fireflies.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Evolution
Ive been thinking about my future for a while now....specifically with respect to imagining what my descendants would look like if sufficient generations ended up in front of computer displays at random IT companies!! Jokes apart, here is my take on evolution...
Early life evolved, adapted and selected itself based on the environment organisms found themselves in. When the primordial atmosphere was reducing, there arose a proliferation of anaerobes, when temperatures were higher than boiling water, there evolved thermophiles that bred in under ocean volcanoes and when continental plates collided to form dry land, fish climbed out of the oceans. Life preyed on life, crawled, soared, mated, adapted and oftentimes perished. This was the beginning.
Subsequently, two factors began to moderate a species' instinctive struggle to pass on genetic material- firstly and as always, a harsh environment waiting to claim the weakest link and increasingly at this point, a competition for scarce resources and healthy mates. So the system continued, churning out species after species, each better than the last, up until the first Homo sapien came along.
And then, a third factor emerged...... Intelligence.
A species that did not clash with the elements anymore but actually bent them to its will. Intelligence that put a man on the moon as easily as a person thousands of feet below the ocean. It tore down mountains and slapped a harness on the rivers. It domesticated the wilderness, employed machines to do its will, invented the Sciences and declared itself master of its environment.
Has man in his infinite intelligence managed to bypass evolution?
How can we talk of survival of the fittest when passing on ones genes is a matter of fusing sperm and ova in a test tube? How can we talk of evolution when Scientists routinely genetically engineer organisms to endow them with the specific traits that they wish for? If natural selection were still at play, would it not have ensured that a man like Stephan Hawking (suffering from a life threatening form of muscular dystrophy) would'nt have survived long enough to even learn of a black hole?
Evolution as we know it, no longer makes any sense.
If you want to know more about self designed evolution, read Prof Stephan Hawking's public lecture on evolution.
Early life evolved, adapted and selected itself based on the environment organisms found themselves in. When the primordial atmosphere was reducing, there arose a proliferation of anaerobes, when temperatures were higher than boiling water, there evolved thermophiles that bred in under ocean volcanoes and when continental plates collided to form dry land, fish climbed out of the oceans. Life preyed on life, crawled, soared, mated, adapted and oftentimes perished. This was the beginning.
Subsequently, two factors began to moderate a species' instinctive struggle to pass on genetic material- firstly and as always, a harsh environment waiting to claim the weakest link and increasingly at this point, a competition for scarce resources and healthy mates. So the system continued, churning out species after species, each better than the last, up until the first Homo sapien came along.
And then, a third factor emerged...... Intelligence.
A species that did not clash with the elements anymore but actually bent them to its will. Intelligence that put a man on the moon as easily as a person thousands of feet below the ocean. It tore down mountains and slapped a harness on the rivers. It domesticated the wilderness, employed machines to do its will, invented the Sciences and declared itself master of its environment.
Has man in his infinite intelligence managed to bypass evolution?
How can we talk of survival of the fittest when passing on ones genes is a matter of fusing sperm and ova in a test tube? How can we talk of evolution when Scientists routinely genetically engineer organisms to endow them with the specific traits that they wish for? If natural selection were still at play, would it not have ensured that a man like Stephan Hawking (suffering from a life threatening form of muscular dystrophy) would'nt have survived long enough to even learn of a black hole?
Evolution as we know it, no longer makes any sense.
If you want to know more about self designed evolution, read Prof Stephan Hawking's public lecture on evolution.
Monday, June 25, 2007
"Green Card naa- antha ooru ration card"!
Watched 'Shivaji' over the weekend. At San Antonio, Texas, of all places :) I can safely say, I've never enjoyed a movie more. Public at San Antonio were clamouring outside the gates of the theatre several hours in advance for a 10 AM Sunday morning show. Suddenly there was an ear splitting whistle, thunderous applause and shouts of thalaivaaaa...and this was just because the gates had finally opened. Kala told me of one chap at the Houston premiere who had appeared in a blond wig causing the devotees to go into paroxysms of ecstasy.
The movie was a whirlwind of rajini style, rehman beats, shreya glamour and vivek one liners. Camera work was superb..it had to be. Making rajini appear 30 years younger, not to mention Caucasian and dancing is no mean feat. He is, after all, not really known for any of the above...but no criticisms please. As Abbas says in Padayappa..."What a man!!!!"
Forget about stopping bullets with a look. ..Rajini has conquered the final frontier in this flick...Death itself!! He exudes charisma with every costume, wig, skin color, facial hair arrangement, designer accessory and most of all, while chomping on a Bajji. For a man who is by no means classically handsome, he puts George Clooney to shame.
And then, when the movie ended, the Tamizhans of San Antonio performed a mini puja in the parking lot of the theatre with flowers, coconut, karpooram and 2% reduced fat milk. I almost had tears in my eyes :)
For people who don't get it- rajini is a 'one and only' type of cultural phenomenon- a Super Being if you will. As he himself puts so eloquently- "Panni thaan koottama varum..Singhaam, Single aa thaan Varum"!!
The movie was a whirlwind of rajini style, rehman beats, shreya glamour and vivek one liners. Camera work was superb..it had to be. Making rajini appear 30 years younger, not to mention Caucasian and dancing is no mean feat. He is, after all, not really known for any of the above...but no criticisms please. As Abbas says in Padayappa..."What a man!!!!"
Forget about stopping bullets with a look. ..Rajini has conquered the final frontier in this flick...Death itself!! He exudes charisma with every costume, wig, skin color, facial hair arrangement, designer accessory and most of all, while chomping on a Bajji. For a man who is by no means classically handsome, he puts George Clooney to shame.
And then, when the movie ended, the Tamizhans of San Antonio performed a mini puja in the parking lot of the theatre with flowers, coconut, karpooram and 2% reduced fat milk. I almost had tears in my eyes :)
For people who don't get it- rajini is a 'one and only' type of cultural phenomenon- a Super Being if you will. As he himself puts so eloquently- "Panni thaan koottama varum..Singhaam, Single aa thaan Varum"!!
Monday, June 18, 2007
1st Down
Goki and I visited Pittsburgh last weekend. Met up with Viks and Aruna.
When I studied at Ohio State, Goks and I would drop in on Viks a few weekends every football season. We used to have ourselves virtual tailgate parties in front of the television, complete with frozen pizza and beer. (Hey, living with guys makes u crazy...there was a time I actually enjoyed watching 300 pound men try to kill each other every monday nite).
No trip to Steeler City was complete till we paid our respects at the Venkateswara temple. Typically, we would bypass 'darshan' and head straight for the kitchen to pick up dozens of boxes of puliyanshadam and curd rice to cart back to Columbus.
This weekend however, things were a lil different, no doubt, due to the addition of a lady to the party. (not me, I promise)
We went hiking at the McConnells Mill state park, visited the Viva Vetro! glass exhibition at the Carnegie museum of art, spent a few hours with 'Pulitzer Prize' winning photographs at the Heinz History center and watched 'Babel' without subtitles. I also managed to read 'The Emerging Mind' in snatches and watch lots of Russell Peters (incredible Indian-Canadian stand up comic) on U Tube.
The highlight of this trip had to be a visit to the Church Brew Works, housed in an old church (how did the conservatives let this happen?!!) converted into a restaurant/microbrewery which goes by the tag line- "On the 8th day, man created BEER". The church is magnificent, with tall ceilings, carved doors, winged angels, stained glass windows, even a pipe organ and an altar. No Jesus though...just stainless steel tanks containing fermented specialty beers. A spiritual experience nevertheless.
Unfortunately, the sample beer selection proved beyond my capabilities but I did meet the dish of my dreams.......a luscious strawberry Crème brulée....heavenly!!!
All in all....amaazzzin weekend. Happy, Happy :)
When I studied at Ohio State, Goks and I would drop in on Viks a few weekends every football season. We used to have ourselves virtual tailgate parties in front of the television, complete with frozen pizza and beer. (Hey, living with guys makes u crazy...there was a time I actually enjoyed watching 300 pound men try to kill each other every monday nite).
No trip to Steeler City was complete till we paid our respects at the Venkateswara temple. Typically, we would bypass 'darshan' and head straight for the kitchen to pick up dozens of boxes of puliyanshadam and curd rice to cart back to Columbus.
This weekend however, things were a lil different, no doubt, due to the addition of a lady to the party. (not me, I promise)
We went hiking at the McConnells Mill state park, visited the Viva Vetro! glass exhibition at the Carnegie museum of art, spent a few hours with 'Pulitzer Prize' winning photographs at the Heinz History center and watched 'Babel' without subtitles. I also managed to read 'The Emerging Mind' in snatches and watch lots of Russell Peters (incredible Indian-Canadian stand up comic) on U Tube.
The highlight of this trip had to be a visit to the Church Brew Works, housed in an old church (how did the conservatives let this happen?!!) converted into a restaurant/microbrewery which goes by the tag line- "On the 8th day, man created BEER". The church is magnificent, with tall ceilings, carved doors, winged angels, stained glass windows, even a pipe organ and an altar. No Jesus though...just stainless steel tanks containing fermented specialty beers. A spiritual experience nevertheless.
Unfortunately, the sample beer selection proved beyond my capabilities but I did meet the dish of my dreams.......a luscious strawberry Crème brulée....heavenly!!!
All in all....amaazzzin weekend. Happy, Happy :)
Monday, June 11, 2007
Strawberry Picking
The melting rays a'trickle down my hair
a cool wind rushes up my knees
smells of sweet and tart; they infuse the air,
about a berry of wond'rous make
colored by the hues of a warm sunset
flavored by the breath of a frozen lake.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Journeys
Everything that was once familiar is passing into the distance. I'm rushing towards the future, happy-sad. Soon my road will curve and I will leave the familiar behind.
The tea wallah at college, dosai at Sangeetha, movies with waving mikes, panipoori with friends, drives to nowhere in particular, knowledge so special, the comfort of routine, people brimming with life, the craziness of making things happen, laughter, simplicity, friendships, intrigue, Jagga, hysterics at 2 AM, assignments completed just after the deadline, love and passion, the excitement of eventz, laptops in the gym, veeranam nights, email wars, venky, nagu, admissions, s1, last row at superior, every prof, philosophy night out, lizards at kowsi, fights with watchmen, wigs in the classroom, corners being destroyed, gloscars, salsa, beach, 6 AM classes...
cellphones that rang......
..my memories of a road once travelled.
The tea wallah at college, dosai at Sangeetha, movies with waving mikes, panipoori with friends, drives to nowhere in particular, knowledge so special, the comfort of routine, people brimming with life, the craziness of making things happen, laughter, simplicity, friendships, intrigue, Jagga, hysterics at 2 AM, assignments completed just after the deadline, love and passion, the excitement of eventz, laptops in the gym, veeranam nights, email wars, venky, nagu, admissions, s1, last row at superior, every prof, philosophy night out, lizards at kowsi, fights with watchmen, wigs in the classroom, corners being destroyed, gloscars, salsa, beach, 6 AM classes...
cellphones that rang......
..my memories of a road once travelled.
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