Dengue... Done deal!

Give one ward to Mortein and one to Good Knight and then find out which ward is really mosquito free ward! Are the insect repellent giants willing to take up this challenge?

Clearly neither of the govt bodies are capable to deal with this menace. With dengue death toll rising high, we are fast losing battle to this 2cm long insect from the phylum arthopoda. Very recently I read somewhere, that mosquito is the most dreaded animal in the animal kingdom. Are you scared of a doberman, lion or a panther? Get a reality check, mosquito is far more dangerous.

Human race now needs to be innovative to deal with this world's most powerful airforce. With govt authorities failing to produce results, I think it's time that we put the matter in the hands of experts. So let's ask Mortein, Good Knight, Tortoise, All Out and other such mosquito repellant giants to come up with a war plan. Their battlefield - one municipal ward. Now if there are more dengue cases in a particular ward, we know who is more efficient.

Now what do these giants get out of it? We as it is invest 50 bucks per household per month on that repellent we plug in our sockets. That night time pole star in our homes gets the dignified occupancy of our precious real estate. Let us give freedom to our plugs and sockets and contribute that amount as a toll to Mortein. Why is it fair to pay that amount? Don't we pay toll on major highways? Well these giants now get a certain and a dedicated income. Aam junta gets peace of mind with an additional real estate space and govt bodies can get rid of one monkey off their back.

Agreed, this model can reduce the breeding grounds for mosquitoes, but may increase the breeding grounds for corruption in form of tenders for mosquito repellant companies . But we also need people like Anna and Kejriwal to have a status of importance in our society. Thereby we are also creating breeding grounds for protests, public awakening and awareness about public responsibility. So its a win win win and win situation everywhere.

The whole idea of the model is, let's deal with the problem where it actually is! The problem is not in our houses. Breeding grounds are out there in open and that's where we need a powerful treatment. We unnecessarily breathe polluted air while burning the coil, or electrocuting the repellent. Let's breathe free indoors and make a sensible contribution towards those who can make a difference.

posted from Bloggeroid

Communicating IT's Importance

“You do realize that you are getting out of the field of technology” my friend warned me while calling out to the waiter inadvertently concluding my farewell party. “Yes, I know.” “And you know that it is technology that has penetrated everywhere and will keep penetrating until humans are replaced with machines everywhere.” “Yeah, I am pretty much aware of the flow.” “So you are keen to get out of the most promising field to enter into something like ‘Communications Skills’? Don’t you think that technology someday will replace the need for communication skills?” Sensing the sarcasm in his tone I decided to take the baton in my hand.

“Didn’t you just wave to the waiter before we started on this topic?”

“Yes”

“Isn’t that a form of communication, requesting him to come here?”

“Hmmm”

“Then you will hand over your credit card to him that would communicate that it’s not me but some bank which is going to pay you.”

“Yes”

“Then as the waiter swipes your card, he is communicating to the bank about your expense at his restaurant. Later the bank communicates him back assuring your validity.”

“Yes, but what’s the point?”

“The point is, that every single transaction that we do in this universe is nothing but some or the other form of communication. Our world is filled with the need to communicate.”

“How is it relevant in my world?”

“Programmers learn JAVA – which is essentially a language to communicate to the machine. This program later sends XML to some other application sitting is some other country which is another form of communication. Every single click that we make over the internet is a form of communication to the World Wide Web. When we handover a cheque to the bank, we are communicating that some person owes me money from you. When the movie hall counter gives us ticket, it is a form of communication for the ticket collector to permit our entry in the hall. The teacher signing a report card communicates a student’s performance to his/her parents. When we pray, we communicate to the divine. We communicate in words, in gestures, in every single transaction and we communicate in our silence. Our world is crammed with communication my friend. How can the need to improve in communication ever run out?”

“I see your point.”

“I am pretty sure that our world will have increased dependency over technology. But the sole purpose for that to build, is some or the other form of communication.”

The waiter arrived with the credit card slip that my friend signed on.

“Now here you are communicating to the bank, that ‘this is my expense and I will pay you’”

“Oh shut up now, now get over it!”

posted from Bloggeroid

My Major Take Away From Ashtavakra Gita

Disclaimer1: This blog is meant only for those who have completed Ashtavakra Gita. For those who haven’t, please go through the discourse of H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Ashtavakra Gita before reading this blog.

Disclaimer2: Ashtavakra Gita is not Bhagwat Gita.

“Music is harmony in sound” – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

When there is no harmony in sound, it simply becomes noise. It is the tune that brings this harmony in sound. The way the sound goes high pitch or low pitch, you can virtually draw a graph in air as your favorite song beats the speaker. This graph basically comes from the fact that the song is jumping up and down over few notes. In Indian classical singing, these notes are Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa. So you take any Indian song, it is basically permutation combination of these 7 notes or Sapta Suur as we call them. The other day after we completed one of the pieces of Ashtavakra Gita, this aspect just struck me very hard. Whether we like a particular song or not, whether the song is comedy, tragedy, romantic, blues, classic or whatever genre it may belong to, it is finally a composition of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa. At the root, it is nothing but Sapta Suur. 

When I tweeted this piece of realization, Ajay replied, "Nimish, knowledge oozing out?"

For those who couldn't relate well to the above example, here is another realization that dawned on me few days ago.

Remember the birthday song we sing, "Sagar me ek leher oothi tere naam ki"

Let us take a dive in this Sagar. Nice blissful ocean with amazing flora and fauna right within. The flora and fauna in an ocean differs from the flora and fauna in the river. Reason being, the water differs from the ocean to river. We generate tons and tons of salt every day from the great ocean and yet it generously produces salt again and again for our sake.This level of salt differs from ocean to ocean. The salinity in the Bay of Bengal is lower as compared to that of the Arabian Sea. So if you take a bowl of Arabian Sea water in one hand and a bowl of Bay of Bengal water in another hand, you'd agree that the waters are different. What would happen if both of them go through distillation plant? Now try to compare both the bowls, its no rocket science that the distilled water is just the same. So what differs the Arabian Sea water from the Bay of Bengal water is the salt and mineral content or anything which is not water. Let us call this "anything which is not water" as impurities. So if we are able to remove the impurities from both the sea waters, there is no difference in any of these oceans.

I can see few nodding their heads and few smiles by now, as this is something they can relate to.

Now think, why is it necessary to do Sudarshan Kriya daily and advance courses regularly? What sort of distillation we go through when the master says, get back to your source? Why do we feel blissful and pure after every advance course? And what is that purity?

It is the impurities that create distinctions. So imagine, tomorrow a bucket of water from Bay of Bengal flies to the Arctic Ocean and says, "The water there is very hard in nature. It is very stubborn." A bucket of water from Hawaii flies to the coastline of Mumbai and says, "The water there is brown in colour." In all these comments, is it really the water that's being judged? No, water is always H2O. Poor water gets the attributes of its impurities.

"Love is not just an emotion, it is your very nature. Just like this table is made up of wood, our body is made up of flesh, we are made up of a substance called love." - H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

A Moment Before the Send Button …

She paused when she read he is typing,

Words found way on the other end of chat window,

Hear beats raced on both the sides,

But then he hit the backspace key and let the fire mellow.

_______________________________________________

“Let’s meet up buddy for our old time’s sake

Forgetting our recent past.”

A cancel button later that stamped on this initiative,

And the sms lay unnoticed in the inbox draft.

_______________________________________________

“It has been long since we have talked

And I thought an email would be a good start”

A pause after this beginning and he hit the backspace key,

And his dad missed the chance to write his part.

_______________________________________________

He reached his idol’s twitter handle,

To convey his gratitude, poured out his feelings.

Closed the window since the message was too clichéd.

Seldom reached the words that were genuine, that were healing.

_______________________________________________

Dwelling in inhibitions, living on assumptions,

Think ‘grapes are sour’ and join the fleet.

Let’s take our chance to express ourselves,

So that fate declares the status as ‘Connection Complete’.

Journeying Between Rest and; Awareness

-Nimish Inamdar  22^nd May 2012

“The overall experience was wonderful. I feel energized. While feeling the happiest moment and sensing it, brought tears to my eyes. Now I have lot of energy for the day even after lot of sleepless (less sleep) nights.”

 Many a times to reach the happiest moment of our lives we spend thousands on a vacation trip, throw parties, buy our dream home, dream car etc. Ask Madhavi on what did she do to reach this state of mind and her answer would be that, “I closed my eyes for 15 minutes.” Of course buying house, vacations are all important aspects that drive the overall growth of our life. But Madhavi and many others participating in the Meditating Monday initiative realized that happiness is merely a game of 15 minutes of closing your eyes.

The Meditating Monday Club founded in July 2011 is the initiative founded by the YES!+ (Youth Empowerment and Skills) volunteers of the Art of Living Foundation to promote the knowledge and experience about meditation. The pilot of this concept was first launched in ISC-2, Hyderabad with support from Pavan Joshi. With encouraging feedback from the participants, and a personal strong backing from Amarnath Juluri, we launched this club in DLF, Hyderabad. With close to 20 successful meditation sessions so far, the club is gaining popularity as more and more realize the benefits on meditation.

While there have been varied responses over how people feel after the session, the common factor amongst all of them was an outcome of a perfect healthy and peaceful mind. Research says that 20 mins of deep meditative rest equals the rest of 8 hours of sleep. Participants are seen energized right in the morning to face the day. “It would be a good idea to have this session every time before the project delivery” chuckled Swathi. “I think my manager needs it very badly” reported another participant on the condition of anonymity. Although it is a good idea to practice meditation every day, the Meditating Monday Club has ensured weekly meditation sessions in CSP since past 3 months, enabling CSPiites to soothe their mind ironing out their weekly frustration and discover a lot of things about themselves.

As it is rightly said, “Sometimes to open your eyes, you simply have to close them for a while.”

I am devoid of anger, I am incapable to hate,

I communicate in silence, I love to Meditate

New Age Nursery Rhymes

Baba black sheep why do you drool?

I just got bribery 3 bags full.
1 for my master 1 for myself,
1 for the rowdy boys, to buy voters down the lane.

Pussy cat Pussy cat where had you been?
I had been to 10 janpath to look at the queen.
Pussy cat, Pussy cat, what did you there?
I saw a frightened minister under the chair.


Twinkle twinkle gold bars,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the reach so high.
Soothing the black market, in the sky.

Humpty dumpty sat on a stock
Humpty dumpty had a great fall.
And all the Queen's politics and the corruption fame
Couldn't put Humpty dumpty together again.

Sonia had an old lamb, old lamb an old lamb,
Sonia had an old lamb
His integrity was white as snow.
And whatever Sonia said, Sonia said, Sonia said and whatever Sonia said
The lamb was sure to follow.

Om Shanti Shanti

I hear people give up on religious beliefs in the interest of preventing terrorism. It seems they take the lines by Colonial Cousins 'Religion is the reason, the world is breaking up into pieces ' too seriously. But honestly, the world will anyway break into pieces. If not religion there will be something else to take care of that aspect of human evolution. We need a paradigm shift in our understanding of terrorism.

Paradoxically, hatred is an emotion that people love to nurture. Add to that our daily encounters of fear, anger and jealousy that creates a pool of sewage where we sink our tender hearts . Then eventually comes one intellectual with amazing oratory skills and mind blowing convincing power, that points finger to a section of community while belonging to another particular section of community thus channelizing this sewage into that direction. So whether it's religion or something else depends upon the 'leader', and his/her oration. Hitler channelized this hatred against Jews, Osama Bin Laden channelized this against Americans, Hafiz Saeed channelized this against Hindus while L. K. Advani channelized this against Muslims, Rahul Gandhi used this against the saffron clad sadhus, Digvijay Singh against the anti-corruption lobby, Maoists against the capitalist government, KCR against non telangana brethren and Raj Thackeray did the same against north Indians giving equal opportunity to Sanjay Nirupam against Marathi people. What we need to understand here is what is at the core? Is it religion or is it a philosophy? If you look deeper you will understand that it's human emotion given a shape of philosophy that eventually vents into religion, caste, nationality, community et al . And the opportunity for such philosophies to crop up is plenty because the breeding ground of anger, jealousy and fear eventually leading to hatred is bountiful with our minute to minute encounters.

Our leaders have a hobby of collecting such pieces of hatred and then channelize them with their convincing power. "You see that fellow is going ahead of you killing your opportunity to progress" thus blossoming jealousy into hatred. "You see the way so and so religion is growing? They will soon eat up our space on this planet" thus allowing fear to rise into hatred. "You know why you were late for the interview? Because chaps from the unwanted community have occupied all of our public transport leaving no space for you to travel and breathe", sculpting anger into hatred. All these "leaders" need is; to nurture hatred in us which coincidentally turns out to be our favorite hobby. The argument they make to convince us seem plausible, since it is something we can relate to and is served to us in oration at its best.

Try to look little deeper, in their arguments; it's not the solution of the problem, but but it is our emotion of hatred that gets pumped up. And what is missing in all of the scenarios mentioned above is understanding of human values.

There is a very valuable quote from H. H. Sri Sri Ravishankar that says "Fanaticism flourishes when religious concepts are kept before human values." And there lies the solution to our problems. Understanding the depths of human values is what can help us get rid of these emotions.

I am not in denial of the problems people face. With increasing population and limited resources to live on, our socio-economic fabric is bound to go through the acid test. But we tend to find out solutions in philosophies that promote hatred, and probably because that's an easier way out. When it is hatred that we need to get rid of, we struggle to get rid of a particular community or religion. Who imbibes this hatred within us? Is it religion? No, it is a philosophy without the background of human values. It is religion without the spiritual essence.

Sri Sri has the perfect metaphor in this context, "Religion is the outer banana skin, while spirituality is real banana. People stuck on religion chew on the skin while throwing out the banana." What really is this word spirituality? Sri Sri puts it up simply, "Spirituality is nothing but caring & sharing ; offering oneself in service." When we are in service, we end up taking a voluntary responsibility, thus committing ourselves to be the social change agents, attempting to build an ideal society through love and compassion.

So changing our religious beliefs will not help since the trend says that our "leaders " always have some agenda to make sure we nurture hatred for the sake of their power in our society. Society changes, ideologies change, philosophies change, beliefs change, what remains the same is the "leader " with a pointed finger, with new ideology, new belief, new agenda to nurture hatred so that s/he can securely fasten the seatbelt of power and enjoy the ride while we juggle the tower of our principles and religious beliefs on the tune of those new philosophies. Whether it's the way Muslims say Aamin, Christians attend mass prayers or Sikhs sing Ek Onkar every religion in its every prayer harbors peace and happiness in our hearts. Observe the way Jews greet, Buddhist meditate, Jains live their lives and the Hindus end their sessions.

Loka samastha sukhino bhavantu,
Om Shanti Shanti Shaaantihi

(Let there be happiness everywhere.
Om peace peace peace)