Vantage points and perspectives

A documentary on Hulu - http://www.hulu.com/watch/103661/cosmic-journeys-how-large-is-the-universe- got me thinking about how the scientific discoveries can be aligned with philosophical perspectives to get a different vantage point in our daily life. We get up in the morning and start our daily chores, go about with our business but we hardly take a moment to see where all this is approaching. Now I use "approaching" rather than "going" only because with every cognitively intact action, we are "approaching" a goal in our life- it has a feel good tone to it. So here is a thought- "Where do we- as a person or an individual or an entity- stand in this grand schema of life?" There are several philosophies out there explaining to us why we exist and provide a reason for our existence. However, this is the one that I like the most.

Imagine this if you can- outside of us, we have this world that is cosily placed in the laps of Mother Earth. She, on a larger scale, is floating around with other planets, who as a group constitute one of the several solar systems in our Milky way galaxy. Now I dont have to tell you that Milky way is one of the galaxies in our closest proximity of space with the nearest intergalactic region about 60 million light years away (seems like I just did). Moving "out", the universe continues to expand and proliferate at unimaginable proportions which in turn is only an infinitesimally small part of the actual universe! (Let's not even get into the concept of multiverse and the mesh of string theory).

On the inside, there is a world that is similar to the one outside. Within us, we house organs, muscles, ligaments, cartilages, and bones which are made up of different types of cells. Each cell is supplied by blood vessels which amazes me because every cell in the body is within 1/10th of a mm of a supplying blood vessel (Don't quote me on the number!). Peering microscopically, we end up looking all the way upto the atoms that make the molecules which make these cells. But now we even know that there is more to atoms that just protons and neutrons and electrons. In short- the world within us is expanding as well- we just dont know how much it is capable of expanding.

So that leads us to the ultimate, million-dollar question- Who are we?

We are nothing more than a boundary that seperates the outside from the inside. The "I" is exactly that- a line seperating the ever expansive cosmos outside and the explorable microcosm inside. So next time you feel that you feel that your ego is causing trouble within- think for a moment that you are nothing but a line that seperates two worlds that are functioning without you even controlling them one tiny bit. Seems depressing isn't it? But there is more to it than the structural boundary that we as beings create- there is meaning to this boundary and that my friends is the meaning of life.

My best friend's father Dr.Vidyadhar Oke, has always been a "spiritual" guide to me and I have been fortunate to get some really cool perspectives on life through him. While watching this documentary, I was reminded of one of his perspectives of life- according to him- the meaning of life does not lie in the word "life"- it lies in the word "meaning". In an effort to understand the "why" of life, we forget to focus on the "what" of life. The Self is an abstract concept because you wouldn't call just your hand "you". I wouldn't look at my foot and say "Oh that's Amit" or look at my eye and say "Yep, that's me". Because they are a part of me- they have a meaning in their presence. The foot walks, the eye sees and so on. Its their utility that makes them what they are and when everyone does what they are supposed to, they form what is then considered "You". So find your utility in this world and you will know how you fit into it. In this massive body of whatever the heck it is, our effort should be directed towards understanding what purpose it is that we serve in this grand scheme of chaos.

And to help us along, we have been blessed with simple pleasures of life- a cup of hot chocolate on a chilly winter morning.

Find your purpose and you shall find yourself.

Until later.

Teach us to move on....

I came across an interesting philosophy while watching a movie called "Management" the other day. It was about letting go of your past and moving on. Sounds like a drum that has been beaten before, right? True- but how many of us have bothered to slow down in our neural paths and dwelled on the "words" rather than just listen to the acoustic signals that constitute those words?

I have managed to do that for the past couple of nights. Each and everyone of us thinks about the hurtful moments, people and events in our past atleast once a day. No one escapes negativity in their daily routine of life. We think about our actions that have had ripping consequences on our friends and our loved ones and if we look deeper we realize that we are stuck in time. We are stuck in this time-space zone, like a badly recorded DVD, that keeps
looping back images of ourselves doing idiotic things without worrying about the consequences. However, what we do not realize then, is that the consequences of those actions would be getting trapped in their aftermath for a long time. Then I thought about it more. I thought about the moments where we manage to gather enough courage (atleast some of us do) and we accept our mistakes and apologize for them. However, we still are unable to move on- until another thought sparked along- we never really learned how to deal with this stationery time-space concept in our life! We are like an algorithm that has accidently (or purposefully) included a cyclic redundancy check making us go back in time in an effort to deal with it.

It was then that the root of this problem started to surface. The reason why this happens is that no one really told us how to deal with the negativity in our lives. We have always been taught how to avoid negativity- which is by the way, an impossible scenario to begin with. If we invite positivity in our lives, we cannot prevent negativity from coming in. No one escapes from it because that is how the cycle of action-effect-consequences turns and that is how the world revolves. But as our minds start to shroud in the noise of our yin, we begin to feel the glimmer of yang escaping our lives and that is when we need to put our foot down and regain that balance.

I have begun by being more forgiving and more acceptable of my situation and my surrounding. I am learning to return from the point where negativity crosses into the domains of positivity. Our attempt should be to regain that balance in life where we are no more defined by our past, but by the neural sparks that are going to define our future. We should attempt to cleanse these neural sparks and we need a teacher to teach us how to do this. If anyone reading this has a thought- any thought- please share it with us. We are not looking for metaphysical, ubiquitous and spiritual concepts to eradicate our negative thoughts. They cannot and they never will- but we are looking for tools to regain a balance which seems to have shifted on the negative side of our linear scale of life.

The Modern day Neanderthal and his Subscription.

It is the reality of every era- "Modern" society has been modern since the beginning of time. Every era that passes by, looks at itself as the modern era of its time ( I hope this is making sense). But what hasn't really changed over these eras, is how men think. From the ancient times of Julius Cesar to the present times of Nicolas Sarkozy, men have constantly fought to attain power, wealth and above all beautiful women. So if we take a moment and think about it, given the fact that technology around us has evolved and life seems so much more "better", at heart we are still Neanderthals- albeit, Modern Day Neanderthals!

That's ok though. This year marked the 200th Anniversary of Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution. We are still in the micro-processing path of the human evolution. Man hasn't evolved any further in the true sense as a species, but technology has evolved at an exponential speed. However, even in these days of Twitter and Facebook, one of the things that makes me feel good to be a Modern day Man is a monthly magazine called -"Esquire". Here's a shout out to guys who may be reading this- go ahead and subscribe to this magazine. It is a bit gay, I admit (no offense), but some articles in the magazine truly give you the essence of being a guy. Guys do a lot of things that guys do, but they never realize that what they do is so peculiar to the male species! And it doesn't hurt to take a moment and be proud of the fact that Men are truly better at those things than women. I dont wish to come across as a sexist- but come on, sometimes its okay to bask in the Glory of the Gender!

Let's admit it. Not a lot of guys out there are an epitome of style statement. Neither am I. But guys, if you want to really "understand" the art of clothing yourself, this is the magazine you have got to read. The ensembles that are published are immaculate in their sense of style and it makes you feel like doing something great just by looking at it. I like to dress well and look great- that's just who I am, but it goes further beyond looking great. We are in a world where personality defines success. But what defines personality is clothing. It isn't important to wear branded stuff, it truly isnt. What is important is how you carry yourself in your clothes and show you put up for your audience. So next time you have a job interview, don't just put on a white shirt or a light blue shirt with black pants and a bright neck-tie. Put something that will make "you" feel good, because when you feel good about yourself, the world feels good about you. Invest in some awesome pieces of clothing which can transform you from a casual galli-ka-lukkha to goodlooking lass. Feel like a Man and conquer the goddamn world that you live in!

Note- The women they "cover" in the magazine are absofreakinlutely breathtaking!!
Until later.

Man-up boys.... man-up.

The following paragraphs are very unlike me. I may be an extrovert but I am mostly passive. However, I just had to write something really aggressive because I am experiencing this intense aggression within me that needs to be vented. So in case if you are wondering if there is something wrong with me, there isn't. This is just a projection of my aggression emulated into typed words. Here goes nothing.....

This for all the "boys" out there who need to transform into "Men". If you think that you are going to keep having "fun" for the rest of life, think again, because the truth is, a day will come when you will need to MAN-up and you may fall short of the essentials that make you a man.

I had a wake up call recently and I realized that I need to Man-up and collect myself before I end up being just another guy who passed his life.

Surprisingly the person who I looked up to in this time of character-dwindle, was my car mechanic- Mr.Frank. This guy is a 50 year old African-american who runs a small but cosy garage in Greenville, NC. For a guy who never ate pork, drank alcohol or smoked, he recently had a brain aneurysm from which he recovered in 6 months- which in itself is a miracle and he is back to work already. (considering this guy was in coma for 8 days, it truly is amazing). Anyway to cut a long story short, I was waiting for him to close up his garage and ride with him to pick up my car to get it fixed.

Along comes a 17 year old girl and says to him, "Yo Frankie, you got a Newport on you?".

To which Frank says " What's a Newport? ".

" Its a cigarette. I wanted a smoke. Do you have no cigarette on you Frankie?", said the girl.

" I dont smoke and neither should you. Its baaaad for health." said Frank.

"By the way, are you old enough to drive? Do you have a drivers licence?" enquired Frank.

"Yeah I do, I ain't no baby. I am 17 years old." remarked the girl, with a hint of arrogance.

"You know how old my baby girl is? She is 16 years old." said Frank. " And my older son is 25."

"So?" asked the girl.

"So you need to stop calling me nicknames and start calling me Mr.Frank. You are as old as my daughter and I am not going to have a girl as old as my daughter call me "Yo Frankie". You get that? That's fine now." quipped Frank.

That boys, is called Character and that is what Integrity is all about. Men are made of this and much more. But unless you have your character and integrity intact, you might as well forget everything else about being a man. No one is exempt from making mistakes in life. That's what makes us human. But it takes bigger balls to apologize for your mistakes and that's what men do. Beyond that if the person doesn't have the heart to forgive you, then Men stand up for themself and protect their integrity. Without that, a man is nothing but a thumb sucking infant.

More lessons on being a man to follow... stay tuned.

Thinking about the inevitable.

By inevitable- I mean "old age". Death, according to what I believe (and what several others may believe) is simply a transition from one state of "being" to another. I am not really afraid of death, as such, but it sure gives me the creeps when I dwell over it. What is more scary is the fact that in a few years we are going to get OLD. Ofcourse, some will say that feeling OLD is just a state of mind, like feeling happy. But over the years I have come to realize that being old is not a state of mind, but a state of reality. Its not until you are old that you realize you are OLD.

So here I am 25 years Old, married to a wonderful and a compassionate woman who loves me more than anything else in the world. Things are moving in a steady state of motion. However, I dont know if I have truly "achieved" anything in my life so far. I do know that whatever it is that I need to achieve has to be in the next 20 to 25 years. In the modern world, even though medicine and technology have become Uber-ultra-cool, there is still "that" aspect of Life that we haven't YET conquered. I am sure we wont, ever. But the point is, whatever we have to do, we must do in these years. Its heartbreaking to watch old folks work the graveyard shifts at Walmart greeting people at the age of 75, when in the ideal world, they are the ones who should be greeted.

I was recently calculating how much money I would need to save before I retire at the age of 65. This was the answer I got: If the market continues to stay stable (huh?)- $4,638, 567 - should suffice! Are you serious?? That, I think is incredible. The question now is what if it isnt enough? Our generation has been raised by well-read, educated and cultured parents. The only solution that I can think out of this is to raise our kids the same way we were raised and hope that they take care of us in our old age. Really? Can we really expect the coming generations to be connected to their parents as much as we are connected to ours? Maybe the only way in which children will communicate with their parents in the coming years, will be through "wwww.Chatter.com- A new way to talk to your offsprings. You teach them to type, we will take care of the rest!"

So anybody out there who is reading this, dont be afraid. There is one thing that you can most certainly do- of the $4,638, 567 that you will save till the time you are 65, invest some money in purchasing a house in the rural areas of your motherland. And when you retire, leave your agonies of the struggling world behind and move into a place that needs your wisdom. Because, even though Life may have taken its toll on those lean muscles of yours, it has most certainly given you ample wisdom to transform a village into a pot of gold.

To old age. To wisdom.

The spark plug of your mind.

This post could go in any direction you want- religious, spiritual, scientific or philosophical. However, I want this post to go in a logical way. I want it to go in a way that would entice its readers to scratch their minds and ponder about it. I want this post to generate a spark in the "minds" of its readers, because in all honesty, no one knows where the spark plug of your mind is?

I read one of the several forwards that Purnima -my wiser half- gets on her emails. This forward speaks of Buddha and one of his disciples. The story goes that Buddha asks one of his disciples to get him a bowl of water from a nearby pond. The disciples reaches the pond only to find that the water is muddy as a lot of other people are using the water to clean their cattle, wash their hands and everything else that a human could do in the olden days ( now remember this is Buddha-times we are talking about). So the disciple decides to go back to Buddha and tell him that he tried everything he could but he simple couldnt get him drinking water as it was too muddy. After an hour the "Guru" tells his disciple to go and check on the pond again. The disciple finds that the water has settled down and he gets Buddha a bowl of water. Buddha asks him, " What did you do to make the water so clean?" The disciple says " Nothing at all." That's when Buddha preaches, " Your mind is just like the pond. Let it stay for sometime and all the mud will settle itself. You wont have to do anything."

If you spared a moment after you read the story, you too like other people, have spent sleepless nights worrying about the future and its uncertainties. However, how many of us have spent sleepless nights trying to figure out a new passion in their lives? How many of us have desperately "wanted" something new in life which they could follow with immense dedication and a sense of satisfaction. I have come to realize that this desperation to "find" something is the need for a new spark plug of your mind. If we are to relate our brains to an electic generator, then there is definitely a spark plug that needs to exist!

Presently, my spark plug isnt working. So if any of you out there have anything new or interesting that you think I should pursue or give a chance, please let me know. I am in need of an intellectual, spiritual and a satisfying experience and a passion to put a smile on my face everytime I think about it. So if any of you know of something, pass it on. You can be my spark plug for a while!!!

Chao

According to the plan, or is it otherwise?

I never thought I will become a Speech Pathologist. There, its out in the open and I am not ashamed to say it! I never in my wildest dreams thought that one day my career will be that of a speech pathologist. Maybe one cannot dream of something if they aren't even aware of it subconsciously. However, here I am working on my PhD to become an expert in Communication Sciences and disorders. I can never relate myself to my profession. However, I am always on my toes waiting for that relativity to strike me and that's when I get excited.

I always wanted to join the Forces. I dont know why I never thought about doing anything else. However oppurtunity never really knocked my doors on that front. I never wanted to be a "Doctor", an "Engineer" or as a matter of fact a "MBA"! I neither had the aptitude for that, nor the interest to be one of the mass. But things never really go according to the plan. Which brings me to the main topic of my thought- Is there truly a plan that you are capable of executing with the best of your knowledge?

I guess the answer is "Maybe". Like every other philosophical topic there can ever be, this too is a "Maybe". I never planned to go to SVPT for my junior college, never planned to meet Purnima, never thought I would land in the US and never imagined getting married to Purnima! I guess where I am in life right now was not what I had planned for at all. But this is where an individual gets a choice- a choice to either complain or a choice to enjoy. Today I chose to enjoy because (touch wood) I am glad things didnt work out the way I planned!! I can only continue to pray that The One who is taking care of my lifecar shall continue to smile on one of his lambs. I hope He or She knows that I am grateful to Him or Her for his givings.

A note to people who may read this- If things don't go according to the way you plan, the wisest thing to do then is to keep quiet and be flexible. Its one of the best ways to get out of the situation feeling good about yourself!

Chao.

My first 25th Birthday!

Before I begin, let me tell you why I titled my blog as "My First 25th Bday"- because when I turn 50, I am going to celebrate my Second 25th Bday! (Duh).
Well, let me begin by saying that the 25th Bday was one of my most memorable birthday's yet! Sorry Ma and Pa, I know you have done a lot for me on my bdays, but what the wife did will stay in my working memory and long term memory forever! (you cant blame me if I dont remember my yesteryear bdays- now there's a thought for philosophers....).

Anyway, I woke up on the 24th of April, feeling happy in my heart that it was the Master Blaster's bday and I wished him a very happy birthday. My friend Kunal was supposed to go and visit his roommate from Ohio at Goldsboro at noon or so. My friend Kiran came home and told me that it would be better idea for us to go out and eat, because he didnt feel like cooking. (Wierd- coz Kiran doesnt eat outside!).

So the time was 1.30p and I was getting hungry as a horse. So I decided to eat Chole and bread and meanwhile Kunal calls me and tells me that his car has broken down so he wont be able to go to Goldsboro. He too mentioned that we go and eat at Lemon Grass Thai restaurant. I said sure. (Kunal likes to eat a lot outside!).

So off we go, Kiran, Shariq and me in Kiran's car to Lemon Grass. We are about to reach there and Kunal calls me up to ask me where we are and shows special interest in the route we are taking. ( Now i am starting to get irritated by him and I may have even cursed him a bit). He then calls Kiran and talks something to him (which again is wierd because that usually doesnt happen).

So we reach Lemon Grass and I find Kunal in there, sitting all by himself. I go sit next to him and am thinking about what to order. A minute passes and I look to my right and there she was- the wife!!! She was sitting right next to me!!! I didnt recognize her for a second and then it struck me so hard that my mouth stayed open for like 2 minutes before I realized that it was true. For a minute I felt that my hallucinations have returned! (just kidding..) She had a great new hairstyle and looked as pretty as an angel (in a yellow top and a hairband!).

So the wife takes me out in the evening to the Goose Park by the pond and we talk for like 2 hours. Around 8.30 we come back home and I start getting suspicious once again because I see a white van in the parking lot and the blinds to our apartments closed. I knew she was up to something. So we walk in and there they are- all my friends from Greenville standing right in our living room yelling "Surpriseeeeeeee!!!!". It was a great feeling. It truly was. More than anything else, I was amazed at the fact that the wife was able to arrange the whole thing being 1200 miles apart! I have to commend this girl- she is a fine woman!!!

I wanted to write this post in plain, simple English only because that's how pure the memory is. I visualize it unfolding before my eyes every single day and I cannot thank my wife enough for making my 25th bday such a special one. I always complained that my wife never gave me a surprise- but not anymore!

I just hope that I can live up to her expectations as a boyfriend and a husband....Thank you once again for an awesome bday. You are amazing and I love you crazy!

Muuuuuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
Amu

The Beginning....

If the world is assumed to be under a normal distribution curve, my position in this distribution is what researchers call "late adopters". Hence the delay in adjusting to the thought of writing down thoughts on the www. But I believe, that the excitement of blogging has certainly reached the late adopters and my desire to blog has emerged successfully. So I guess people who are interested in reading about what goes on in other people's lives without having to talk to them, are free to come by and read to their heart's content. Atleast they will be preventing Alzheimer's that way!!
Enjoy reading... its a habit you wont regret.
Untill later.