Random Ramblings

Just finished reading 'The God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins, a book I wished to read since quite some time. A good read for those who wish to list arguments about non-existence of god or any such superpower. One of the reasons I liked it was that the ideas and views presented in it were quite similar to the ones I hold (although they were presented more in depth and much more articulately than I could have ever dreamt of myself) about god, omnipotence of god, religion, morality etc. A recommended read for those who wish to read arguments for atheism and for religious people or believers who wish to know 'the other side' , although I don't think it convincing enough to convert a priest into an atheist! Meanwhile, I am planning to start reading 'Fooled by Randomness' by Nicholas Taleb soon!

Just finished Shantaram after around 8 week of non continuous reading. Awesome stuff. I am tempted to write a review, but am too lazy as of now to do so. But I am now completely fida over the book. Now 'The God Delusion' and 'Fooled by Randomness' in queue. Heard a lot about them. Hoping they turn out to be good !!!

Now that the whole world is going gaga over Barack Obama being elected as the next US President, and that too with an overwhelming majority here goes few points of my analysis of his victory and related things! I think that the reasons of his victory were much more than just what their repective views on different social, economic and international issues were. They did play a role, but I think that wasn't the only factor that led him to victory. I think the two major factors were - 1. General dissatisfaction with George Bush on issues ranging from Iraq to Economy. This was bound to have some disatisfaction with the Republican candidate and thus swing in favor of the Democrat whoever the candidate have had been. 2. Most important factor contributing to his victory was quite symbolic. His victory symbolized hope; hope for the many people who struggle against the odds, and the victory of this hope which Obama symbolized. Seeing the meteoric rise of an Afro American and he occupying t

As mentioned in my previous post, of late I haven't been able to gather sufficient motivation or energy to make posts on this blog. Hence I am going on a self imposed exile from the blogosphere for some time. In other words I am "On a Break" This some time may last for few hours, few days or maybe few months. It depends upon when one fine day I gather sufficient motivation to type what is there inside my head and post things on the blog!!! Hoping to get alive soon on this blog! __ "Life is an infinite, non-converging exponential series of random irreversible screw ups of ever increasing magnitudes one after another "

Of late I have noticed few things about my blogging habits - I often pick up my laptop, beginning to type a blog post or anything ... I start and then I decide to discontinue as I don't manage to gather sufficient motivation or inspiration or just even sufficient energy to overcome my laziness to complete that post. Often I have ideas in mind but by the time I sit in front of my lappy, the idea fizzles out or gets relegated to a low priority corner, and that idea never gets materialized. When my lappy goes kaput, as it did today and as it did on my birthday eve some 40 days ago and I somehow got it repaired at some local hardware shacks at Sikar and Jhunjhunu, I crib about being denied opportunities to log on to blogosphere. In general, I somehow or the other let many a thoughts die a silent death within the confines of that volatile thing safely enconsed within the confines of my cranium. Maybe, some motivation is needed ... Somebody, please bring some carrots!!! Well, this post

This time just a few random images. And yes ... It gets much darker than this !!! A typical scene inside a dilapidated Roadways bus running on a mixture of OK and horrible roads 20-25 people in/on the jeeps are not uncommon in this part of the world. A scene inside a city, creating a big stink on account of old and damaged goods, ready to b picked by a rag picker Getting into a bus is a fight, getting a seat a privilege! Another overcrowded bus Aspirations?

The title of this post finds its origins in a novel with simlar name written by VS Naipaul. Set in India, some 40 years ago or so, this is a kind of travelogue of author's brief stay in India where he found it to be full of superstitions, ignorance and darkness! Many decades and many MNCs and malls later, few parts of India seemed to have chucked off that tag, but there are many places that haven't and continue to remain shrouded in ignorance. Move few hours away from a city, travel in a second class train compartment or a dilapidated state transport bus and you get to see the dark underbelly of India Shining. As one of the characters in the movie Rang De Basanti says "Yahan zinda rehne ki jung mein logo ki zindagiyan nikal jaati hai" . So true it seems! My day today was spent being kind of lost in similar thoughts. To start with, I when I boarded the ST bus, a woman was wailing. She may be in her 20s or something, but she was crying in some peculiar musical tone. At

"Boss, I want a car" "What? "Yes. I want a car" The boss thought for a moment. Ravi was asking for a car. Maybe he needed one. He could give him one for an hour or so. The boss was the owner of the agency, which dealt in dealing with distribution of FMCG products of a big company and was a person who had a soft corner for his employees, something which is rare in such type of work. Ravi was a small time computer operator earning Rs 5000 a month at the agency. The job involved sitting in front of a computer in an air conditioned room and punching orders and preparing the bills on the company software. But the demand for a car was a bit shocking. No employee ever asked him for a car. "Why do you need a car?" "Boss. I am getting married" "Good. Congratulations" "Thank you boss." "So do you ..." "Sir, I have told my to be father in law that I earn 35000 a month and have my own car. I'll be engaged soon. He

He glanced at me with a kind of devilish look and an evil smile. His looks reminded me of someone. I couldn't recollect. After few minutes it was a kind of eureka moment when I thought - Doesn't he look like that famous villain in Hindi movies ? After initial formalities we headed for the market to sell all the usual stuff my company produced. This was a routine job, at least during my training period. Few hours in the market in a relatively humid day at a small town in Rajasthan called Pali left us tired. It was the time to unwind with some tea and non-business gupshup. During the course of discussion, I came to know that his son (Let us call him Akash) got some 93 percent marks in SSC in CBSE board. He wanted to go to IIT and for that he needed to go to Kota for preparations. But that man was not keen on him leaving the town. He was of the opinion that he would not come back to Pali as he would have to go to Bangalore for job as most of them did. Hence he had decided his son

"Whenever I read a good book, I get impressed with my ignorance" I couldn't find the source of this quote, but I heard it in class 12, wherein my physics tuition teacher Mr. Vishal Pandya (Who was a kind of database in quotes!) once had this one in one of his notes, which invariably started with few quotes Of late, I have realized a very high degree of correlation between Jhandta Index (Henceforth referred to as J) existing in life and book I am reading if any. If I am reading some book at some point of time, J reduces significantly (Say, to a vlue J/2, average case) ; and if the book is significantly good then it reduces to a very low level (Say, J/4) . I have realized that in last 4 weeks (this includes the next week also) , I have read 5 extremely different works, quite a rare feat in terms of quantity and diversity of books read! The most recent book I have read is some book by some IIMB guy about some fictional experience during life @ IIMB, which had everything