On practice

Practice is about tolerating your own ugliness before you turn into a gem.

Source of inspiration

Only that which isn't or distant, inpires.

The cost of adventure

depends on the type of adventure sought.

One is to earn money out of whatever and then spend money climbing the geographic hills and mountains.

Another is to do what you like and climb out the phases of pennilessness to make money, and then do more of what you like. It isn't as linear as the word 'climb' suggests. It isn't as linear as this blog-post is. :)

The problem with thinking about future

Trudging on a path, or driving, I cannot help but look at the immediate pothole or bump. And I have to make sure that I handle it properly. Even if I do know that there's a big pothole after 2 kms, I can't do anything until I really reach the spot. Yes of course, I can think of ways to go around the pothole but if I think a lot, with reasonable certainty I would be running into a lot of potholes anyway before even reaching the one I would be thinking of avoiding.

I can think of the future but I can't act in the future.

I can act in the present based on my vision of the future but even so only when my act is well adapted to the present, and to all that are a part of the present.

I sense I have been trying the impossible. I sense a big pothole in the future and am trying to avoid it right from this moment on. The world around doesn't even wanna know about the pothole!

I suppose future is only as far away or as near as your next step.

On names

  

  

   

   

    

Before it is named, it exists. The task, therefore, is to see what all exists. Inside. Outside. And in between.

 

   

   

     

   

The space between the 3 points

• IMAGINATION

• ARTICULATION

• ACTION

These points represent an ideal sequence in the process of doing something great. The point is not just the points. The point is the space in between.

What do I do about Japan's Tsunami?

I wake up at 4:10 in the morning and write this.

Tsunami isn't nature's fury.

Nature is inert and Earth is a chemical mixture. Human beings seem to have played around with this mixture to an extent that the composition has changed and the imbalance is now playing out; the mixture is far more volatile.

Some other time, eons back, there was a change in the mixture and chemical compounds shaped in a manner that it gave rise to consciousness. On the scale of time counted in billions of years, the effect of that change in the mixture, which gave rise to consciousness, is being felt now by that very consciousness.

A theory of boredom

Have been operating out of home for a few days. On occasions it gets so so so boring that mind stops working and sleeping becomes tough too. So, with no options left, I have to endure the 'boredom' sensations.

However, I have been wondering how could 'boredom' have evolved. Here's my venture.

It seems to me that most of the time, since our evolution as 'humans', we would have spent doing nothing but either sleeping or staying 'alert'. That's right, staying 'alert'. Without concrete or solid protective structures around, that would have been the only option. To survive, staying alert the entire day was an imperative. And that was the occupation. And alertness induced action.
  

So, any task or occupation that doesn't match the evolved sense of alertness among humans is bound to seed 'boredom'. Over a period of time, as this seed of 'boredom' grows and as our own acceptance of 'boredom' grows, we lose what nature gave us - alertness and the propensity to act.

That's also one reason why, in spite of seemingly high degree of risk, entrepreneurship is alluring. It heightens our sense of alertness to a great extent. We have to be on our toes and wits :) to 'survive'. Alertness is the herbicide which checks the spread of boredom in our lives. Indeed, you are responsible for putting yourself in such situations where you have to be alert or you will be 'die of boredom'.

Machine gun and the perished berries

I've observed myself and many others over the years getting amused by the 'happy ending' at the end of the movies. More so, when the narrative is typical and the end is so very easily anticipated.

So a slew of questions:

• Why do only the hero-heroine stay alive at the end and all others get crushed? What about lives and stories of those who got crushed only to leave the hero-heroine standing tall?
• Why do off-beat movies don't sort of work with the masses so often?
• Why do the ridiculously and inanely comical movies work wonders?

One aspect is probability. If we simply look at the number of people who die trying, they are countless. Of course, how many big successes you see around you? Very few. So it is always a wonder that where countless died, what is it that these folks did that they survived.

I mean think about it like this. There is a little roadside thela of berries. Let's say there are 1 lac berries on this thela. And a man with a machine gun loaded with 1000 bullets suddenly opens fire at this thela :). What will happen? Most berries perish! Few will stay intact though. Those few are our hero and heroine :D.

Stories can only be seen retrospectively from the point of view of survivors. Only the survivors have a tale worth telling. Why? Simply coz they survived. Sometimes survivors tell a tale of what they witnessed, what influenced them. Still it's the survivor's tale. He chooses to narrate whatever he wants to coz he's alive :). Be a survivor, or influence a survivor. I assume though, it might not be so wonderful simply influencing and be an 'amazingly perished berry'. :)

Off-beat movies are so often driven by the common-place. Common-place dies. In the commonest ways. It's a story about perished berries. Why will they work! Sure there's something extra-ordinary even in the common-place. There is an extra-ordinary story of such perishing like berries. There is such a detailing of perishing in these movies.

Lastly, the ridiculously and inanely comical movies simply evade the question of survival and perished berries. In that, everything is fun. These movies have to work. They work.

Hail the comical! Jim Carrey! Rajendranath! Johny Lever! Govinda! Ajay Devgan! And all attemptors of the comic.

Grappling with my non-Pavlovian status

My last post was a reflection of my state of mind. This extends the explanation.

It really feels strange to be out of a 9 to 5 routine. Sometimes I find myself staring into the void. Still not able to relinquish my 'Pavlovian' needs :).

Perhaps this word needs some explanation. 'Pavlovian' as I've used means a repetitive juxtaposition of certain two elements such that eventually one is accepted as the cause of existence of another for no 'logical' reason. For example, getting a certain salary/compensation in the first few days after every month. So, 'the end of the month' gets so connected with 'receiving salary/compensation' that it becomes cause enough to expect 'salary/compensation'.

Anyway, seemingly linked to the above phenomenon, I've observed people are hired more for their availability than for their actual work. Just making sure that people are available at any point in time gives a sense of security that work will happen. And this observation is a rather disturbing one. For it undermines the value of time. Or, in other words, it simply implies that it is okay to let people idle away their time when there's no 'work'. It isn't a wonder then that spending 30-31 days at your workplace, doing whatever, means you oughta get your 'salary'.

Now, one can raise a question what is 'actual work'. :) Have fun.

Low cost living

Now that I'm planning to venture out on my own (and hopefully, the store I'm planning, will get ready in 2 and a half months), I realize I've to cut down on superfluous spending. Not that I feel that way most of the time when I spend. But yes, guess I've come to a point where I really have to prioritize and work in the most disciplined manner possible.

Another realization is the fact that the more space you get the more conscious choices you have to make. And there's nobody to blame or hold responsible for your decisions. Freedom in that sense always always comes with enormous responsibility towards your own self.

I'm trying to look for avenues where my physical presence isn't necessarily needed for 9-10 hours in a day. My physical presence might be required only when there is work of that sort.

The last two days have been rather disconcerting. Not having a lot to work on (as in 'the work given by or coming from someone else') is pretty scary. And I observe myself getting panicky coz of the space I've created for myself. I have to make choices. The decisions. Coz they will determine how monies flow :).

Crucial point in the journey. Will keep you posted.

And ya, now (at least for some foreseeable future) the base is A'bad.

SMS from a good friend

Man, I see the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.

:) I've held myself back and haven't bought the much desired motorcycle for the last one year. And I'm gonna buy a good bicycle soon, stay fit and sleep well. And share good things I read and think :).