Inspired by Project Sixth Sense

Simplicity is usually the most wonderful thing that one can encounter. Inventions are no exception to that. Edison's bulb, a simple device captured the imagination of millions at that time and inspired many more. I write this post today after being inspired by a simple invention by Pranav Mistry and team from the MIT's Media lab. The Invention is called project sixth sense, a wearable gestural interface, and has been unvieled and I should say its a game changing device. To cut the suspense, let me explain the device in simple terms.

The device is worn by a person and it projects information from the Internet on any surface that the user is facing. Let me familiarize it, Imagine you are at a super market and you want to buy a packet of biscuit. You have certain constraints about the type of biscuit you buy. You prefer biscuits that are healthier to eat and tasty as well. You pick up a britannia nutrichoice and you come to know from the nutrition information printed on the packet that it is made of mostly wheat and then you see britannia multi grain, its made of wheat and oats and other cereals. You want to decide which is better and the best way to do that is look up the internet.Now, how do you do that? You take your mobilephone and open the web browser and look up for more info on both biscuits. Now, imagine you're wearing the Project sixth sense device. The moment you look at the biscuit packet, the device projects information about the biscuit from the internet on the surface of the biscuit packet.

Stop. Donot freak out, there is more. Now the information projected on the biscuit packet is interactive, which means that, you can touch the projected data and query for more info or say save it in some online application, all this depends on the software application that is on the device. Wait. There is more. The most important feature of this device is that it tracks gestures made by you. Yes! Do you remember Tom Cruise from minority report, as a cop he interacts with data with hands. This is the device people, we have it now. With this device, a gesture with hands would capture a photo. Yes! you heard it right, a square geture with your hands, something like directors do, would capture a snap of the view in between the square formed by your hands.

Need I say more? The first time I was inspired by an invention was today by the project sixth sense device. Can you imagine the possibilites? The estimated mobile phone market is in billions. This device can just wipe out all of this, as with this device all that I need is just a device that would connect me to the internet and to the network. The point and shoot camera market is in billions, but with this device all that I need is a decent lens, I can capture pictures with my bare hands. Despite being a disruptive invention it has potential to create a new market on its own. The most appreciative feature about this device is that it would help us in the fight against global warming. Yes, the device would reduce manufacturing drastically by enabling us to interact with data without devices like mobile phones, computer systems and it would also help us decide better as I cited in my supermarket example above and thus reduce wastage and enable effectient consumption. The possibilites are left to our imagination.

My congratulations to Pranav Mistry and his team at MIT. and btw, The current prototype unveiled costs just $350!!! It was built from devices off the shelf!!! Pranav is planning to release the software as Opensoure!!! And No, Its not yet available in the consumer market ;-)

You can find all the info you need about project sixth sense from the link below. Check out the videos first to enjoy the WOW feeling :-)

http://www.pranavmistry.com/projects/sixthsense/#VIDEOS

global warming, arctic ice, polar bears

I haven't written anyhting here for a couple of weeks now. Nothing just came by my mind that was inspiring enough to write about, except for the documented life of the polar bear at the arctic aired by discovery channel this evening. Yeah, we all know how the ice is melting at the polar caps and yeah we've read how the Arcitc will be ice free in summers in a few years from now but then its just another news, not even sensational news. We tisk tisk and move on with our daily lives. Project deliverables, getting married to the right person, doing an MBA blah blah, things that would really affect us, things that we worry about are things that give us an immediate feedback. Artic melt, sea level rise, eco system deterioration, woh thats too complex for a common person like me, these are things that need to be taken care by you know, super man perhaps or by barack obama, not me we say. I can sympathize or may be donate to greenpeace if its not more than 500 bucks per month and yeah only if it has tax exemption. Otherwise, I'd like to move on, thats our attitude. Is it wrong or right?

Don't worry I'm not critizizing here, I too am like that, all that I've written here is what I do. I sympathized today when I saw a polar bear struggle to free itself from the thin ice slush on the sea and then crawl back to firmer ice where it can walk. I sympathized when the narrator announced how the thining ice during summers starves polar bears for 4 months at a stretch because thining ice means dry land in the arctic and nothing lives or grows on dry land. I sympathized that if such thining goes on then two-thirds of polar bears would vanish by 2020. I'm like you I just sympathize and move on. The reason, I don't know. I'm bothered about my family, my MBA next year, the loan that I need to take to complete my MBA. I shouldn't say that I care for a starving polar bear in the distant arctic while I eat here heartily in India, I should say I sympathize, that too momentarily. My emotions vanish the moment the program would end, half an hour later I would smile and watch a movie in HBO.

I know something. I know that whats happening now to the polar bear would happen to us in the years to come. The vanishing polar bears and the tigers are the best that have survived the human on slaught. They're the best hand picked by nature and thats why they've survived. The polar bear can survive without food for four months, imagine humans in such a state. Its high time we realized that like the thining ice underneath the polar bear, the artificial world that we've created may not support us for long.

from the head of a stray cow

I travel to office everyday either by my office bus or by BMTC if I'm late. I travel on the famous Hosur road of Bangalore known for its never ending stretch of tar and asphalt from the heart of Bangalore to Hosur. Its a highway and a city road all in one. Hosur road is infamous for its traffic snarls, potholes and its famous residents, the stray cows.The stray cows have made Hosur road their home, the sad part is that their grazing field is the garbage that is lying around hosur road. The cows sleep either on the medians or on the footpaths watching over speeding buses and motorcycles. Now, one fine day I took the BMTC Volvo to office when at Adugodi junction I happened to see a stray cow, let me call her, careless :-). Careless, the Cow was brown in colour with short horns funnily turned on her head. She was trying to cross the road unmindful of the morning traffic madness all around her. My bus was heading towards Electronics City, the Info Tech park of Bangalore and so I was on the left lane while careless was on the right lane, so I had a nice view of careless from my bus seat.

      Careless was trying to cross the road from the footpath on the right lane to the left lane and it was then that the signal turned green and all hell broke loose, motorists just vroomed in opposite directions in both lanes. Careless suddenly found a wall of traffic on her way and so she hesitated for a moment, then she just swayed away without crossing the road. I was amused by this scene. A human would've waited for the traffic to die down and then would've crossed the road but careless, the cow she is just didn't bother to cross the road at all.

   

I wondered why would careless have wanted to cross the road in the first place. Did she have a purpose? Did she want to cross the road in search of food on the other side of the road? If so, then why didn't she just wait for the traffic to die down and then cross the road. If not, so what makes her stray like this aimlessly. I know cows don't have aims and goals in life and are aimless but it just beats me.I wondered whats just goes on in that head of careless, howmuch ever small a brain it houses. Pretty naive thoughts I should say, but then thats what I thought of then. Is careless then suffering from the short term memory loss like gajini? :-) I guess not.

cartoons

Well folks, time for some cartoons. I'm a big cartoon fan, tom and jerry, bugs bunny, daffy duck, angry sam, you name it I've watched it, an yes a million times over. But, cartoons are a world in them and there is much more than the popular bugs bunny. Dexter's lab, swat kats, powerpuff girls, scooby doo, johnny bravo, Courage, the cowardly dog(what a name ;-)  are hidden treasures and they come only on Cartoon network and I must say they're equally and sometimes more interesting than the big wigs.

       

Take Dexter's lab, my favourite of them all. Dexter, a kid who builds his own lab, a futuristic lab unlike  the physics and chemistry lab we have at school, an out of the world science lab where out of the world inventions are made by Dexter and boy, does he make look so easy. His Sister dee dee(lovely name isn't it? simple and to the point;-), the only one in the house other than Dexter who knows about the lab, loves to eat his head and is the only disorderly primitivness in the otherwise neat and futurstic lab. Oh, I almost forgot to mention about the unsuspecting parents of Dexter.Dexter's dad, a less meaner version of Homer Simpson and Dexter's Mom, gosh she looks funny, walking on her toes with a big bum and baking muffins all the time. All in all, I should say Dexter's lab is a family entertainer :-)

Swat kats are the coolest and slick cartoon cats around. They're the batmans of MegaKat city(oh yeah, a city of walking, talking, human like cats), saving the city from the clutches of a myriad of villans by flying around their awesome twin seater fighter jet. Swat Kats are brains and brawn built together. They've no professors at their hideout camoflauged under the city dumpyard but still build and operate an awesome figher jet.They're no millionare like batman but can still afford to build mind blowing gizmos and fight crime. The red and black suit they wear and the matching colours in their figher jet is super cool. I know swat kats defies all reason and logic, but I can assure you, no one kicks butt like the swat kats do.The most interesting part about swat kats is that, they don't wear shoes, yup, their creators have given them a twin engined fighter jet but no boots to wear. Thats a cartoon for you. Mindblowing fun! 

Then there is Johnny bravo, the cartoon version of Joey from Friends, The Powerpuff girls, the mutated school girls trio who fight mojo the evil monkey and the creepy Courage, the Cowardly dog who saves his mistress from creepy aliens and ghosts even though he is one cowardly bugger, gosh. Each one of these cartoons is a logic defying creation and they just do well, what they do best, kick ass and have fun(except Johnny bravo that is :-)

Please stop, in the name of God!

Prominent Hindu temples in India have an age old tradition of having a temple Elephant which carries around the Idol during important festivals. This has been a practice for centuries now, a practice that needs to be stopped. Time and again I keep seeing video footage about temple elephants running amock during festivities and end up killing people. Nobody cares why they do so, such gentle giants running amock suddenly. Everyone is just bothered about the people killed or injured, no one cares a damn about why the Elephant did that.

There are many reasons. Elephants are wild animals and are meant to be in the jungles. They are social creatures and unlike dogs they cannot just be separated from family just like that and humans cannot expect them to wag a tail in apppreciation. If you watch National geographic or animal planet shows about elephants, you'll be amazed how intelligent and social these elephants are. The festivities in Indian Temples are a nightmare for the Elephants. Swelling crowd and heat around them, long processions with no water and food and with mounted howdahs on their backs, the sound of drums and crackers all around them, simply irritates the animal. And the bloody humans expect the elephant to understand and stay calm. The howdah or the carriage mounted on the animal's back with the Diety on it is usually heavy and the Elephant is usually taken on a slow and long procession around the temple town. Imagine the plight of the creature. I recently read that for the Mysore Dasara fetstival, the elephants are decorated from the previous day evening it seems for the dasara day procession. It is a beast but are we too? Have a heart people. Its your god and not the Elephant's. The funniest part is that, people say that its a honour for such privilege to be bestowed on the Elephant. Gimme a break man, what does an Elephant know about honour.

Religion and the foolishness around it appeal to humans and not to animals like Elephants. They're better off without the bane of religion and its high time that the cruel practice of temple elephants being involved in temple processions be stopped. Like Human rights, animals do have their rights too and its high time we as humans stopped playing god. The irony here is, the god that the Elephant carries on its back with much pain has also been turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the Elephant's plight and prayers.

goedemorgen

goedemorgen, the first dutch word I learnt in my first dutch class yesterday! Yup folks, I joined a dutch for beginner's class yesterday and the first thing I learnt is greetings. goedemorgen, goedemidag, yes sir, I know how to greet good morning and good afternoon in dutch. I also know numbers 0 to 10, nul, een, twee etc in dutch. Learning a foreign language brings its own set of challenges and fun. The way my dutch instructor wished us "doei doei" was so funny and I felt a bit awkward to say it back to him, but then thats how the language is and how much ever funny it may sound, I need to embrace it and have fun while learning.

Its true but hard to believe that there is only one dutch language instructor available for service in the whole of Bangalore. My searches in google for a dutch language institute or instructor lead te always to Mr.Sayed Jafrid. With no choice left I joined his class and Vikas, my fellow RSM MBA admit, the braveheart from Delhi who booked his flight tickets the moment I told him that dutch class is available in Bangalore, has flown down here and has joined class with me.

My first class was all about greetings, numbers and days of the week and we also learnt 20 words for the day, a scheme devised by the instructor to introduce dutch vocabs to us.Today was my second class and we shifted gears to more numbers, irregular verbs and stuff like that. My classes are for 40 hours, spread across weekends.

The pronounciations is the most peculiar aspect of the dutch language. The way 'g' is pronounced in goedmorgen, with emphasis to the 'gha' sound for the mor'g'en part of it is quite different from what english is. And the way 'V' is pronounced as 'f' and 'J' as 'Ya' are all things I need to learn and remember.

I'd be happy if I can find someone here in bangalore who can speak in dutch with me, but I guess thats a wish list. Finding an instructor itself was a big task here. Anyways I plan to learn atleast the basics of dutch so that Ican practice it when I'm in NL next year. Dooi!

New look

Pretty exceited about the new look that my blog sports now. I've been reading logs like, the path untaken and A letter from Netherlands and have noticed how customised they look. Was wondering what it would take to give my blog a customised look as well, with a background, banner etc.
I set upon this over the weekend and browsed a couple of free blog template providers like thecutestblogontheblock, blogspottemplates and pyzam, of these three pyzam has rocking templates which give a digital look to the blog. Surprisingly everything that pyzam offers including templates are free and easy to use. I tried a few and it was perfect, but as life has it, not everything you like can be had. Two problems prevented me from using pyzam templates.

• side wrapper and body wrapper with less width
• less width side wrapper of pyzam rendered the much loved blogumulus widget inactive when set in background transparent mode.

I decided that I can live with narrow body wrapper and side wrapper but not without the blogumulus widget and so I've stopped using the pyzam templates. I've written to pyzam for ways to fix the issue hoping to get an answer.

So, I went back to the http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/ and picked up this template and voila! my blog has a new look.. Love it!

The First Family

This was one post that I wanted to write for a long time but had kept as a draft for a while now. I have lived in BTM, Bangalore for almost 3 years now till until a month back when I moved to Fraser town, Bangalore. One of the prominent activities that perpetually goes on in BTM is building construction, apartments mostly. Construction in Bangalore is not just powered by cement and steel but also by families of migrant workers from neighbouring states of TamilNadu and Andhra and as well as from states as far away as Bihar. To me when I first saw families constructing buildings in BTM, it was a queer sight because I've never witnessed it before. I've witnessed building construction as a 8 to 6 activity in which the building is left in peace at night to rest and to grow the next day.

This is how it works in Bangalore. A family or a couple of families come stay at the site of the building and start constructing the building from scratch. The worker's families construct small shelters out of mud and hollow blocks to live adjacent to the building when it starts to grow from pits and concrete basements. The men from who work at the site are skilled while women mostly cook and take care of the unskilled part of the construction like gathering sand and stones. I've seen the children play around unmindful of the construction with other children and dogs that feed and grow along with them. The children grow up amusingly among steel and cement and sand around the building and as they grow big so does the building.

Women at the site cook using earthen stoves, usually rice and vegetable bought from the neighbouring shops, new found neighbours, neighbours introduced to them by the building they've come to construct. I've seen men bathe at the bore well pumps drilled for the building's use. They bathe on the road adjacent to the building unmindful of passers by or the traffic, they bathe as though they want to show off their hardened biceps and abs to passing by software engineers who go to high tech gyms and pay a bounty to try and reduce their excess fat.

There is always a pack of dogs around the building site and the working families. Dogs that spring up as puppies from nowhere when the construction starts and grow with the children and the building. The house warming of the building happens on the night when the building gets a roof over it. Its the time that the working families move from the shelter along the roadside into the house amongst stacked up floor tiles and timber. They live as the first occupants of the building in unfinished rooms with no walls and doors.

Its the time of the year that the construction families find a new home again. The building they set out to build is completed and its time for them to move on. They've raised the building as they'd raised their children and the dogs that grew with their children. They had built it with their sweat and labour and the building had been grateful to them as well. It gave them a livelihood and a home, but alas, its time to move on and they part ways. The men, women and children move along with the real estate market of the town and the building stays back with the dogs that grew with it, awaiting its new occupants. The construction families with their tents and dogs are nomads in this concrete jungle and they are the first family of this real estate market.

Opinions are useless

We have our own opinion about anything and everybody in our lives. We tag people, objects, organizations and governments alike. We spare nothing that comes across our paths. Everything is tagged and categorized as either good or bad, black or white. When I talk about opinions here it doesn't mean our understanding about a person or an object but rather the opinion that we form about the person or object. Let me explain with an example to make things clear. Its my understanding that my neighbor is cranky in the mornings and its my opinion that he may start a fight with me given a chance. Sometimes we magnify our understanding of a subject to disproportionate levels and form useless opinions about the subject which may not be true after all. Many a times we absurdly form opinions about a subject that we have not encountered in person but have heard of it through the words of others.

The reason I feel opinions are useless is because it puts a filter to our minds. Once the filter is formed we tend to view the subject through that filter always and this doesn't give us the real picture about the subject. For instance, many of the stereotypes in this world, a source of misunderstanding and conflict is because of the opinions that were formed about the subject in question. From terming Jews as misers to terming the Muslims as bomb makers, its all our opinions into play. I've experienced this in my day to day life and I've wondered how stupid I was to have opinions about someone. For instance, in my induction there was a guy who spoke aloud, with a gruff voice, I immediately formed an opinion about him that he was an aggressor. He then turned up to be in my team and once I started to know him in person I understood that he is one of the nicest guys around and I was surprised about how I'd formed an opinion about him that clouded my mind.

Opinions about subjects in life doesn't give us an open mind and puts us through unwanted emotions. A open minded approach without filters in our minds would help us stay calm and would help us avoid anxiety and misunderstanding. In short, Opinions are useless.

Blogumus, The Flash widget

What do you think of the flash widget that I've set up under Labels? Cool eh? I'm really fascinated by the way the labels just swirl in that space. I first saw this widget in Amanda's blog, A letter from Netherlands.Yesterday I was so fizzed out in office that I wanted to do something for a change and decided to set up the Flash widget for my blog. Googled and found out that the original flash widget by Roy Tanck was customised for blogspot by Amanda Fazani and its called as Blogumus. Setting up Blogumus was surprisingly simple and here we are with a blogumus for my blog. Only after setting up Blogumus did I found out that I seldom tag my blogs, just two tags were swirling in the empty space of blogumus, so I rolled up my sleeves and started to tag all my published blogs and fed Blogumus and boy did Blogumus started looking good :-)

are we really Intelligent?

I wonder if we as Human beings are really that intelligent. As I look around myself all that I see is a support system that we have built around us, an artificial world in defiance to nature and evolution. Every organism in this world has adapted itself in line with the natural way this planet functions, except for human beings. I wondered in awe when I watched Attenborough(hope this is the right spelling :-) present snakes as one of the highly adaptive species. Snakes have adapted themselves to the land, sea, air(yes, few glide from tree to tree). Snakes are found in caves, deserts, mountains, in deep seas and they've adapted themselves wonderfully to live in accordance to the environment that they've chosen. Snakes which live in deep oceans, have gills and their tails are modified into pedals to swim. When I marvelled at the adaptability of the snakes I realized that they're not as intelligent as we are but they are definitely wise. They don't know about satellites or submarines or space shuttles, they don't run multi national companies or financial institutions but they have been living for millions of years in this planet without destroying it. But we as the self proclaimed intelligent species have developed into a species that is trying to destroy the only home that we have, the earth. We launch satellites trying to explore life away from earth but have we thought about preserving the life in this earth? Its so stupid to look for life away from earth and spending millions on such quests when our survival in this planet is threatened by our inventions, climate change and global warming. As agent smith says to morpheus in Matrix, we humans are a parasite that feeds on planet earth, we are not trying to preserve it but we are trying to deplete it and move on.

Yes, we humans may be Intelligent, but we are definitely not wise.

Business and social responsibility

There is a general perception that business and social responsibility don't go along with each other. When I think of it, there are several questions that prop up in my mind. Should business plans and business models have morality, like human beings are supposed to have? Can we say that Pepsi, even though a profitable business, has no morality because all the profit it musters is by selling a carbonated drink that has no proven health or nutritional benefits to its customers? In fact, drinking Pepsi will give consumers bad teeth and tossed up digestive cycles. I would say yes, Pepsi as a company has no moral responsibility. Its products are just pushed to consumers through bulk production, combined sales with other junk food such as pizzas and Pepsi markets itself through celebrities in mindless campaigns which ultimately misleads its consumers, mostly teens and youngsters into more consumption.
Pepsi doesn't force consumers but just sells. Obviously, the consumer wants Pepsi otherwise there is no logical explanation for the Pepsi sales. Liquor and tobacco sales fall under the plank but the sales of liquor and tobacco don't affect a wide range of consumers as Pepsi does. For instance, in a given population of 100, there can be 50 who smoke, and this 50 would be mostly adults. There can be 50 who drink, mostly adults again. But in a population of 100, almost 80 would drink Pepsi and this comprises of children and adults. What makes it worse is that Pepsi unlike tobacco and Liquor alters the food consumption habit of the population, driving them towards unhealthy food habits like regular consumption of fast food and junk food.
Pepsi as a company that sells carbonated drinks and fried foods has its fair share in causing Obesity, a growing problem among urban dwellers in most parts of this world. So having said all this I wonder about Pepsi's view point about business sustainability. I guess, for any business the well-being of its customer is its prime concern, so when the well-being of Pepsi's consumers is jeopardized by consumption of its own products, how does Pepsi view this? I understand that recently, they've ventured into the fruit juice selling business. Are they trying to redeem themselves by at last selling something that their customer can find some value in? Again, I wonder at the notion of corporate social responsibility of companies like Pepsi. I feel that it would be a joke if Pepsi contributes towards humanitarian causes from the money they've got by running a business that has no morality.

A Trek, A group of Friends and thoughts about theology

There were two incidents that happened last weekend that made me write the second part of the Uncertainty's child series. I haven't planned the sequels yet but like the shrek movie series, I'll role this one till there is anything left out in me to write about how I feel about religion and god. Sometimes I do wonder why I take up such serious topics and not just write about day to day life or something light hearted but theology is one topic I've thought of seriously and I somehow have the urge to pour my heart out about it. Now, coming back to the topic, I was reminded of god in two instances last weekend.
I was trail walking with my friends last Saturday in coorg and it was a hike to a waterfall. Our onward journey was an event less one except for the discovery of leeches on sriram's legs and the discovery of and pre emptive strikes on a few leeches which tried to get on my leg and Marcelle's legs. We reached the waterfall after dirtying our shoes considerably much to the complaint of Marcelle about how she doesn't like to get wet and stay wet. I was wondering how did she risk a 3 km trek under overcast conditions with just warm tops and a three quarter then. I know that's because I carried my jerkin and umbrella ;-) Anyways as we walked back Marcelle had a doubt and she duly asked me how during a trek do people recognize the correct trail to follow from multiple trails on a trek. She asked me that because I kept on comparing this trek with the trek that I had gone for in Australia and I somehow projected myself as an expert trekker :-) So, when Marcelle asked me how I would recognize the correct trail I told her usually there is only one trail. As soon as I told this, our trail split into two, now how would you explain that? I guess Marcelle would've thought that I was one big fart ;-)
We followed the trail that was lower than the other and ended up lost among thorny bushes. So we decided to walk back and take the other path that went up. To be honest, I wasn't worried for me, as a guy with other guys I would say this was a manageable situation but there were girls with us along with Marcelle and I felt worried about the prospect of being lost and worried about a downpour as well. At that moment, I prayed to god to help us out. We did find help in out Japanese friend who came along and showed us the path and we reached our rooms. As I think of this now, I seriously feel that as a human being I got reminded of God only at the heights of uncertainty. Me lost on a mountain trail with my group would've been something that early human beings would've encountered on a day to day basis, a life filled with uncertainty and no wonder the belief in god and religion developed in them.

Males : Biologically irrelevant

Two days ago there was an article in bbc that said that scientists have engineered a human sperm in the lab. Its just another news article in bbc, neither was it a celebrated post not was it "breaking news" but it was news to every human male or for that case any male animal or insect in this world that the biological purpose of its existence is no more. Objectively speaking, the species of this world doesn't need a male any more for its propogation.
I seriously don't have any words to describe what those darn scientists have done. The reason that the scientists have offered for their research was seriously funny to me, those scientists wanted to help the females whose husbands/partners are infertile to conceive it seems. gimme a break man, like as though if those females donot conceive the human race would become extinct. With the world groaning with human over population I seriously cannot justify the motive provided for such research, thats why I propose a conspiracy theory. My theory is that some revengful female scientists whose partners have abandoned them, embarked upon a mission to set this world free of these philandering males and thus researched and engineered the human sperm. Man, when there are so many things that are direly needed to be engineered in this world, like say a human heart or lungs which could've stopped illegal organ traficking, why did those scientists engineer a sperm, something that is abundantly available in India and China.
There is solace for men though because of the social importance men hold, so men won't become obsolete even though they've become irrelevant now. I wonder what this means to the animal world, lions for instance where males exist just to copulate and propogate their genes and protect a pride from other lions, this research has made the beautiful lions with their wonderful manes irrelevant to lionesses(Note: lionesses donot enjoy sex like human females do, it is just an act of reproduction with no orgasm involved.) So lions exist just for the viewing pleasure of visiting tourists and wildlife photographers, I wish I could tell this to a lion.

Uncertainty's child - Part 1

I keep thinking about god and religion, and the relevance and importance of both in my life, thanks to the choices I've made till date in my personal life. I am not an atheist and I'm a Hindu who is fond of vinayagar but that has not stopped me from questioning the relevance of god and religion. Being a hindu has given me the freedom and liberty to even question my faith and god alike, unlike Christians or Muslims who do not have such privileges. I know questioning one's faith is a sin for Christians, for that matter, questioning even the Church is a sin for Christians, but as a Hindu I'm free to do all I want. There are no organisations, priests or imams who would control my thoughts and beliefs. In IT language I should say Hinduism is like open source.
Now back to the point of questioning the existence of god. I kinda realized that there is one thing that humans fear the most, Uncertainty. Uncertainty like luck is an abstract concept, it doe snot exist in this world as a physical entity that humans can counter. Uncertainty is something that even the world's powerful men have to live with and uncertainty has been there from time immemorial. I guess people in ancient times faced hell a lot of uncertainty than we do as modern humans. for instance everyday occurrences like night fall lead to uncertainty, therefore I feel humans started worshiping nature because they would've considered the uncertain nature as omnipotent and as something they cannot control or predict.
As times changed humans became accustomed to nature, seasons and excelled even in astronomy so I guess as humans unravelled the mysteries of nature, nature and the world around them that they worshipped did not seem so uncertain, so I guess humans started moving away from nature worship. As humans advanced they became organised, organisation did give humans the power to counter uncertainty. By being organised the early humans who roamed around as tribals countered the biggest uncertainty they faced during their times, survival. The advancement of humans into organized social animals gave them strength and courage to counter enemies, gather more food and consequently to survive. the birth of organized life sowed the seeds for the birth of religion and god.
Religion and god thrived from their inception mainly because of two reasons, one was that god and religion were an answer to the uncertainty faced by humans and two was that humans found that organisation gave them power. I would say that religion and god was something that started as a concept to provide solace to humans in an uncertain world and then ended up as outliving the purpose they were conceptualised for. Its a classic case of an idea or product being devised to full fill a purpose but was later used for a grander scheme.

bored and counting my days as an employed person

I'm writing this on a dull thursday afternoon. 2 more months for me to put my papers down. I've planned to be unemployed and useless from November this year till I leave to Netherlands in december later this year. After almost 4 years as a software professional I long for a break of a month or two, the privilege I used to have only during school days. I'm like a school kid now longing for the summer holidays.
My anticipation is more about the useless days ahead in november and december than about my MBA life in Rotterdam. People might just give me the stares for such a statement but thats how I feel now. I just wanna be a guy who can wake up as he wishes, have a breakfast of bread, mustard, muffins and poached eggs and then do unplanned things the whole day. This might sound like as though I'm aiming to be a recluse but I guess I'm just bored of the routine life that I've lead from 2005 in bangalore, going to office everyday on weekdays, going to hometown on a weekend every month, going around bangalore the other weekends. Just got bored man, I just wanna be carefree. I just wanna get up one day in november, brush, shit, bathe, have a heavy breakfast, go the the nearby shop, pickup juice and snacks, take my bike and go off to nandhi hills, sit on one of the benches at the edge of the hill top with a great panaromic view for hours doing nothing, do whatever I feel like doing the whole day and come back in the evening. I just don't want to think, plan and do anything for a day atleast man.

nothing serious

I guess I havent written anything at all here for a longggggggggggg time.The only guy who had some faith in me, Claxton would have given up on me that I would write anything here. Anyways, here I am writing again. The reason I stopped writing was because I was kinda busy with lots of things this year. Six months have passed in this year but I feel its been ages, till now its been a tumultous year, an eventful year I should say. Lots of financial and emotional drain, coinciding with the recession. Now don't think that I'm an investment banker.
I started this year with Chicken pox and followed it up with a broken tooth sometime in april and then rounded off my adventures with a fall from my bike and ended up bruised and scratched in june. so healthwise it has been adventurous but not a great experience I should say. My mom attributes all these to the house I live in, she says that from the time I rented it I've been having so many health problems. I know all this defies science and logic but you know science doesn't stand a chance before good old wisdom :-)
At the same time you know, I got an admission at RSM Erasmus Uni, Netherlands for an International MBA course, this was something of a career goal and I did achieve it, so I don't know if I should entirely blame the house :-) anyways, the house seems to have a brain of its own I guess.
Anyways, I'm moving out to a new house and new place in bangalore, frazer town and things are looking up these days. Have many things lined up leading to my course start in jan 2010. Planning to start dutch language classes from this weekend, I just hope dutch is interesting. Thats pretty much, and I also hope to keep writing.