Copy Paste Wisdom

Dear Krishna deva...

2011-09-04T06:23:00.000-07:00

antakaale cha maameva smaranmuk{}tvaa kalevaram.h .
yaH prayaati sa madbhaavaM yaati naastyatra sa.nshayaH

-- Chapter 8, Bhagavad Gita

"One who remembers me at the moment of death. relinquishing the body ascends and achieves My nature. There is certainly no doubt about this"

Dear Krishna deva,

Are you saying that I can lie, steal, whore, kill, use facebook and I can get away with all these with just a shoutout from deathbed? I heard about all the kinky stuff you did at Repalle; gopikas, wives and all that stuff but I didn't know you were such a narcissist!

Chal ud ja panchi - payaninche O chilaka

2011-08-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite ways of killing time while pretending to work is drifting aimlessly on youtube. You search for song, watch it and something on the "suggestions" section invites you to click and you drift. I was listening to Jagjit's yeh daulat bhi lelo and after wading through a few songs and few clicks I somehow landed on Rafi's Chal ud Jare panchi

As usual, Rafi rocks! It feels as if he deals with words with utmost care.. like a mother deals with her new born baby.

The tune obviously reminds me of the same song in Telugu, by the great Ghantasaala.

Wow! He starts off the song with a callous attitude and then there is a line in the song where he kind of pinches the heart of your hearts! ("ennaDo tirigi iTu nI rA..ka"). Anyways, thats not why I am writing this post. Its funny how people are so predictable in thinking.

Its your God vs my gods

Your caste vs my caste

Mac vs PC

Android vs iOS

Ghantasala vs Rafi

Your choice vs my choice.

Dont understand? Open the above song on you tube and check the comments about who is great - Ghantasala or Rafi ! I, for one, enjoyed both the songs without having to think who is better than who.

Steve Jobs

2011-08-25T00:06:00.000-07:00

An artist who happened to be a CEO. Great man!

When you’re young, you look at television and think, There’s a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that’s not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That’s a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in business to give people what they want. It’s the truth.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

It’s more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy.

Source

The Dilbert Principle - Idiocy

2011-02-23T04:49:00.000-08:00

Everyone is an idiot, not just people with low SAT scores. The only difference among us is that we're idiots about different things at different times. No matter how smart you are, you spend much of your day being an idiot

I proudly include myself in the idiot category, Idiocy in the modern age isn't an all-encompassing, twenty-four-hour situation for most people. Its a condition that everybody slips into many times a day. Life is just too complicated to be smart all the time.

another one..

I blame sex and paper for most of our current problems. Here's my logic: Only one person in a million is smart enough to invent a printing press. So when society consisted of only a few hundred apelike people living in caves, the odds of one of them being a genius were fairly low. But people kept having sex, and with every moron added to the population, the odds of a deviant smart-pants slipping through the genetic net higher and higher. When you've got several million people running around having sex all willy-nilly, the odds are faily good that some pregnant ape-mom is going to squat in a field someday and pinch out a printing-press-making deviant

Who will come with me?

2010-02-07T10:55:00.000-08:00

With wind and weather beating toward me
Up to the hill and moor land I go
Who will come with me? Who will climb with me?
Wade through the brook and tramp through the snows?

I am the lord of tempest and mountain
I am the spirit of freedom and pride
Stark must he be and a kibsman to danger
Who shares my kingdom and walks at my side

-- AUROBINDO

శేషేంద్రజాలం

2010-01-03T23:07:00.000-08:00

నీవు కాలేజికి పోతుంటే బాబూ
నిన్ను పొలాలు బిక్కమొహంతో చూస్తున్నాయి
నీవు కాలేజి గోడల్లోకి పోతావు
అక్కడ్నించి గవర్నమెంటు గోడల్లోకి పోతావు
ఆ తర్వాత ఎప్పుడూ ఎవ్వరూ
తిరిగిరాని గోడల్లోకి పోతావు
ఇక నీవు బ్రతికిందెప్పుడు?
బాబూ! నీ చిన్ని కన్నీటి బిందువులో
ఏ సముద్రం గర్జిస్తోందో నాకు తెలుసు
అందుకే చెట్లతో మొరపెట్టుకుంటున్నాను
ఆకులు కాదు తుపాకులు కాయండని-

ఇది రాసి ఎన్నేళ్ళయిందోగాని ఇప్పటికీ పరిస్థితుల్లో మార్పేమీ లేదు. అప్పుడు గవర్నమెంటు గోడల్లోకి, ఇప్పుడు అమెరిక కలల్లోకి...

*********

బేటావాడ్ని మాత్రం నమ్మకు
వాడు జెండాలెగరేసే దొంగ
నీళ్ళున్నచోటికి ఎగిరిపోయే కొంగ
ఉదయకిరణాలు పోలీసుల్లా
వెదుకుతున్నాయి ఏదో తీవ్రంగా
పాపం వాటికి తెలీదు
రక్తకణాల్లో దాక్కొ ఉన్న దొంగల్ని
రాష్ట్రపతి కూడా పట్టుకోలేడు.

**********

ఒరే! ఈ దేశం మీకేమిచ్చింది?

వంకరటింకర్లుగా ఒంగే దేహం

బానిసత్వం మీద వ్యామోహం

మీరెగరేశే జెండా మీకేమిచ్చింది?

ఐదేళ్లకొకసారి ఓట్లు

ఆ మధ్యలో కునికిపాట్లు!

*********

Twitter

2009-12-22T07:14:00.000-08:00

But to see the market as stagnating you have to overlook the 800 pound gorilla running around the room throwing things all over the place. Twitter. We’re using it every day. If you follow more than a few dozen people you miss tweets all the time, and so what. Twitter doesn’t tell you how many you didn’t read because it doesn’t matter. If it’s important it will come back around again. If not, well no one can know everything.

Twitter found a way to put both the authoring tool and the reading tool on the home page. Had I cracked that nut in 2002, Twitter might have happened a few years earlier.

From thenextweb

Twitter's creator, I am sure, did not intend any of this while designing the initial product. All he did was to create a useless, unimaginative tool which makes you think you are so important in the universe - every damn thing you do, every fricking thought that passes through your mind, no matter how inconsequential is worth broadcasting.

Orkut is one such tool which does exactly that- allow you to tell a story, allow you to show off stuff and feel good about yourself. Orkut already being a huge hit with Indian youth, I wonder why twitter is not so popular in India yet. Like many other things, looks like Indians are not good at being narcissistic too. Damn!

Common India, upgrade yourself to ultra sophisticated version of vanity! Use twitter/Facebook.

Avatar

2009-12-19T08:25:00.000-08:00

My five year old cousin took James Cameron's Avatar rather seriously. He goes to the balcony every now and then, looks at the sky and shouts "kooo...hooo...hooo..", waving both hands as if he is mocking at some imaginary creature, and patiently waits for the yellow dragon (don't know what they call it in the movie) to come!

Failure of his repeated attempts at pleasing the Yellow Dragon doesn't seem to have dampened his spirits. He tries again and again experimenting with different ways of shouting, "troooo...hoooo", "yeee..haaaaa" etc., That was funny!

Btw, I watched Avatar in Telugu. Watching Pandora people talk Srikakulam Telugu (ఈ ఆడకూతుర్ని నువ్వే కాపాడాలి తల్లా..) was like eating ice cream and aavakaya simultaneously!

Random Nonsense

2009-11-26T04:01:00.000-08:00

I am a fireball. I consume *myself* and produce fire.
I am older than 'birth' itself. From time immemorial I existed and through the eternities to come, I will.
The fire that burns me and the play of fireworks, are eternal.

Do you buy the above story? If I were you, I wouldn't.
Why bother about eternity dude, Its raining outside and the earth's aroma is enigmatic.

So there! I am just another inconsequential being; just like that raindrop that kissed the earth and vanished!

I AM THAT!

2009-11-16T11:00:00.000-08:00

Damned be him that says enlightenment is not easy! Damned be him that says 'you can't unlearn Maaya'. Take my word to it - It is ridiculously easy. One gets ample opportunities to 'realize' it, 'attain' it in one's life. You get a lot of opportunities too, the problem is that you don't pay attention. I did, and here is the truth -

I am that!

I am the screw-er, the screwed and the very act of screwing.

I am That!!

NOW, am I not enlightened?

Logic

2009-09-24T05:43:00.000-07:00

If you read the first chapter in a book on ‘Introduction to Logic’ or attend the first class in the first year of a logic course, you learn about these notions. Almost one of the first things you learn is this: there is a fundamental asymmetry in the transmission of truth and falsity from premises to conclusions. Truth is transmitted from premises to conclusions but falsity is not; falsity is transmitted from the conclusion to premises but truth is not. (In both cases, we assume that valid rules of logical inferences are used.) That is to say, if your premises are true and you use valid rules of inference, then your conclusion is also true; if your conclusion is false and you use valid rules of inference then at least one of your premises is false. However, the other way does not hold: you could have false premises and yet draw true conclusions. The falsity of your premise does not make your conclusion false or the truth of your conclusion does not make all your premises (or even one of them) true. This is the nature of drawing conclusions in deductive logics. Because this is the first thing you learn in your logic course, I have also formulated in a simple language.

-- S.N. Balagangadhara

Some quotes - Jerome K Jerome

2009-09-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

Love is like the measles; we all have to go through it. Also like the measles, we take it only once. One never need be afraid of catching it a second time. The man who has had it can go into the most dangerous places and play the most foolhardy tricks with perfect safety. He can picnic in shady woods, ramble through leafy aisles, and linger on mossy seats to watch the sunset. He fears a quiet country-house no more than he would his own club. He can join a family party to go down the Rhine. He can, to see the last of a friend, venture into the very jaws of the marriage ceremony itself. He can keep his head through the whirl of a ravishing waltz, and rest afterward in a dark conservatory, catching nothing more lasting than a cold. He can brave a moonlight walk adown sweet-scented lanes or a twilight pull among the somber rushes. He can get over a stile without danger, scramble through a tangled hedge without being caught, come down a slippery path without falling. He can look into sunny eyes and not be dazzled. He listens to the siren voices, yet sails on with unveered helm

-- On being in Love, Idle thoughts of an Idle Fellow

We are all inclined to adopt a similar standard of merit in our estimate of other people. A good man is a man who is good to us, and a bad man is a man who doesn’t do what we want him to. The truth is, we each of us have an inborn conviction that the whole world, with everybody and everything in it, was created as a sort of necessary appendage to ourselves. Our fellow men and women were made to admire us and to minister to our various requirements. You and I, dear reader, are each the center of the universe in our respective opinions. You, as I understand it, were brought into being by a considerate Providence in order that you might read and pay me for what I write; while I, in your opinion, am an article sent into the world to write something for you to read. The stars—as we term the myriad other worlds that are rushing down beside us through the eternal silence—were put into the heavens to make the sky look interesting for us at night; and the moon with its dark mysteries and ever-hidden face is an arrangement for us to flirt under.

-- On Vanity and Vanities, Idle Thoughts Of An Idle Fellow

We wish to become rich men, not in order to enjoy ease and comfort—all that any one man can taste of those may be purchased anywhere for 200 pounds per annum—but that our houses may be bigger and more gaudily furnished than our neighbors’; that our horses and servants may be more numerous; that we may dress our wives and daughters in absurd but expensive clothes; and that we may give costly dinners of which we ourselves individually do not eat a shilling’s worth. And to do this we aid the world’s work with clear and busy brain, spreading commerce among its peoples, carrying civilization to its remotest corners.

--On Vanity and Vanities, Idle Thoughts Of An Idle Fellow

Are we laboring at some Work too vast for us to perceive? Are our passions and desires mere whips and traces by the help of which we are driven? Any theory seems more hopeful than the thought that all our eager, fretful lives are but the turning of a useless prison crank. Looking back the little distance that our dim eyes can penetrate the past, what do we find? Civilizations, built up with infinite care, swept aside and lost. Beliefs for which men lived and died, proved to be mockeries. Greek Art crushed to the dust by Gothic bludgeons. Dreams of fraternity, drowned in blood by a Napoleon. What is left to us, but the hope that the work itself, not the result, is the real monument? Maybe, we are as children, asking, "Of what use are these lessons? What good will they ever be to us?" But there comes a day when the lad understands why he learnt grammar and geography, when even dates have a meaning for him. But this is not until he has left school, and gone out into the wider world. So, perhaps, when we are a little more grown up, we too may begin to understand the reason for our living

-- Second Thoughts of an Idle Fellow

"I will not take up your time, dear boy, with telling you what is the matter with me. Life is brief, and you might pass away before I had finished. But I will tell you what is NOT the matter with me. I have not got housemaid's knee. Why I have not got housemaid's knee, I cannot tell you; but the fact remains that I have not got it. Everything else, however, I HAVE got."

-- Three Men In a Boat

My name...

2009-09-20T05:49:00.000-07:00

"What am I after all but a child, pleas'd with the sound of my own name? repeating it
over and over;
I stand apart to hear—it never tires me.
To you your name also;
Did you think there was nothing but two or three pronunciations in
the sound of your name?"

-- Walt Whitman

Good Will Hunting

2009-09-04T08:35:00.000-07:00

"So if I asked you about art, you'd probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo, you know a lot about him. Life's work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientations, the whole works, right? But I'll bet you can't tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You've never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling; seen that. If I ask you about women, you'd probably give me a syllabus about your personal favorites. You may have even been laid a few times. But you can't tell me what it feels like to wake up next to a woman and feel truly happy. You're a tough kid. And I'd ask you about war, you'd probably throw Shakespeare at me, right, "once more unto the breach dear friends." But you've never been near one. You've never held your best friend's head in your lap, watch him gasp his last breath looking to you for help. I'd ask you about love, you'd probably quote me a sonnet. But you've never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable. Known someone that could level you with her eyes, feeling like God put an angel on earth just for you. Who could rescue you from the depths of hell. And you wouldn't know what it's like to be her angel, to have that love for her, be there forever, through anything, through cancer. And you wouldn't know about sleeping sitting up in the hospital room for two months, holding her hand, because the doctors could see in your eyes, that the terms "visiting hours" don't apply to you. You don't know about real loss, 'cause it only occurs when you've loved something more than you love yourself. And I doubt you've ever dared to love anybody that much. And look at you... I don't see an intelligent, confident man... I see a cocky, scared shitless kid. But you're a genius Will. No one denies that. No one could possibly understand the depths of you. But you presume to know everything about me because you saw a painting of mine, and you ripped my fucking life apart. You're an orphan right?"

Kadapa

2009-09-03T06:46:00.000-07:00

కడప అంటే దేవుని గడప. వేంకటేశ్వరస్వామి ఉన్న తిరుపతి కి గడప. ఇదీ ఆ జిల్లా పేరు వెనకనున్న కథ. కానీ ఇప్పుడు కడప, కడప కాదట, వైయెస్సార్ జిల్లా అని మంత్రిమండలి ఏకగ్రీవ తీర్మానం చేసిందట.

సరే తిరుపతి, వేంకటేశ్వరుడు అట్లా ఉండనీ. యోగి వేమన, వీరబ్రహ్మం, ఈరో పెద్దయ్య, అన్నమాచార్యులు, అవధూత స్వామి లాంటి వారు నడిచిన నేల. దాని పేరిప్పుడు వైయెస్సార్ జిల్లా అంట!!

Just like the Greeks and Romans, the Indian race is slowly headed towards extinction! These spineless retards and punks deserve no less treatment than complete annihilation!!

"...a race of dotards, you lose your caste if you come out! sitting down with an ever-increasing load of crystallized superstition...and what are you doing now? promenading the sea shores with books in your hands, repeating undigested stray bits of european brainwork, and the whole soul bent upon gettin a thrity rupee clerkship...is there water enough in the sea to drown you, books, gowns, diplomas and all?"

-- Swami Vivekananda

'De mortuis nil nisi bonum'

2009-09-03T02:50:00.001-07:00

'De mortuis nil nisi bonum' - so goes an old adage, meaning 'Of the dead, speak no evil'. That is understandable, why would one want to talk ill of the dead? I mean, whats the point?

Death seems to take people by surprise every time it occurs. It is as if such a thing has never happened before, not in human history!! Well, not all the deaths are treated in the same way, though. Not less than 1.2 million people die every year all over the world due to road accidents and India's contribution to that figure is a chilling 1.14 lakh per annum. This number is higher than the number of people that die in terrorists attacks in any year. But unlike terrorist attacks, the road accidents are not so glamorous. 'People don't talk about them at parties' - As Jack Nicholson says! Well, why would people talk about such inconsequential topics? Where is the masala, I ask. There is no religion, there is no heroism, no Jihad, no a superior sense of morality. Why would people talk about it?

Media lionizes and glamorizes some deaths. Politicians, movie stars, cricketers, actresses. A mediocre actor suddenly becomes the greatest actor of the century. An anti-national, criminal politician suddenly becomes a hero. Media praises the rich for *being rich*. Glorifies politicians for *doing their duty*, praises an actor for *Acting*. Because thats what media is all about. It is business. They need a purple cow to sell. They want people to talk about their 'products'.

FUCK media!

ప్రాగభావమా? ప్రధ్వంసాభావమా?

2009-08-31T05:13:00.000-07:00

ఎన్నిసార్లు గుర్తుకుతెచ్చుకున్నానో ఈ పద్యాన్ని. తెలుగు బ్లాగులను అలా ఉబుసుపోక చదివిన ప్రతిరోజూ కనీసం ఒక్కసారి ఈ పద్యం గుర్తుకు వస్తుంది.

అసలే శ్రీనాథుడు. ఎర్రగారం తో సంకటి తిని ఒక పక్కన గొంతు మండిపోతున్నా, గంగకోసం పరమేశ్వరనితో పరాచికాలాడగల సమర్థుడు. అలాంటివాడు వ్రాసిన భీమేశ్వరపురాణం అన్న కావ్యాన్ని రాణ్మహేంద్రవరం పండితులు ఈర్ష కొద్దీ శుష్కవాదాలు చేసి తీవ్రంగా విమర్శించారట. మరి శ్రీనాథుడు ఊరుకుంటాడా? వారినుద్దేశించి క్రింది చాటు పద్యాన్ని చెప్పాడు. పద్యం అంటే అలాంటిలాంటి పద్యం కాదు. వెటకారాన్ని, వ్యంగ్యాన్ని ఇంత కసిగా వ్యక్తీకరించే పద్యం గానీ, వాక్యం గానీ నేను చూడలేదు. కొంచెం సున్నితమనస్కులకు, సంస్కారవంతులకూ పద్యం చదివేక జుగుప్సాకరం గా అనిపించొచ్చునేమో (ఏమో ఏమేమో అన్న ఊహాగానాలెందుకంటే - నేను సున్నితమనస్కుడినీ కాను, సంస్కారవంతుడిని అసలే కాను కాబట్టి). కానీ మనకేమనిపిస్తుందన్న విషయం పక్కన పెట్టి, ఒక్కసారి శ్రీనాథుని ప్రత్యర్థులకేమనిపించుంటుందని ఆలోచిస్తూ చదవాలి ఈ పద్యాన్ని నా సామిరంగా...నా పదకొండేళ్ళ కజిన్ భాషలో - "స్పైడర్-మాన్-కేక!" ( అంటే స్పైడర్ మాన్ అంత కేక అన్నమాట. మావోడు చాతుర్యాన్ని, వీరత్వాన్ని, బాగా నచ్చినవియాల్నీ ఇలా ’స్పైడర్ మాన్’ ల లో కొలిచి అప్పుడప్పుడూ కేకలు పెడుతుంటాడు). ఇంతకీ సదరు పద్యం ఇదిగో, ఇక్కడ:

హంసీయాన గామినికిన్నధమ రోమావళుల్ నభఃపుష్పముల్
సంసార ద్రుమ మూల పల్లవ గుళుచ్ఛంబైన యచ్చోట, వి
ద్వాంసుల్ రాజ మహేంద్ర పట్టణమునన్ ధర్మాసనంబుండి, ప్ర
ధ్వంసాభావము ప్రాగభావమనుచుం దర్కింత్రు రాత్రైకమున్

రాణ్మహేంద్రవరం లో పండితులు అలా ధర్మాసనం మీద కూర్చుని ఏ రీతిన చర్చిస్తుంటారయ్యా అంటే - "హంస నడకల కామిని దిగువ భగాన ఉండే రోమాలు(శష్పాలు) ఆకాశపుష్పాలు - అంటే అభావరూపాలు. రతికేళిలో వాటీ ప్రాముఖ్యం శూన్యం. సంసారవృక్షానికి మూలమైన చిగురు జొంపైన ఆ ప్రదేశం లో ఏర్పడిన అభావం ప్రధ్వంసాభావమా లేక ప్రాగభావమా? అంటే ముందుగా లేకుండుండుట అభావమా? లేక పుట్టి నశించడం అభావమా?"

అదీ సంగతి!!

అన్నట్టు "గామినికిన్నధమ" ఈ సంధి శ్రీనాథ ప్రయుక్తమేనట. సంధిపేరేమిటో తెలీదు. నేనైతే హంసీయాన సంధి అని గుర్తుపెట్టుకున్నా ;)

అతి సర్వత్ర వర్జయేత్!

2009-08-29T05:28:00.000-07:00

అతిదానాద్ధతః కర్ణస్త్వతిలోభాత్సుయోధనః
అతికామాద్దశగ్రీవస్త్వతి సర్వత్ర వర్జయేత్

"Karna was ruined by excessive liberality, Suyodhana by excessive avarice, Dasagriva by excessive lust - Excess is to be avoided in all things."

Does this apply to Yudhishtira too? If one is excessively worried about living righteously, following Dharma all his life, unmindful of pain this might have caused to his near and dear, is that not 'excessive' ? No, I am not raising this question just for the heck of it. I firmly believe that I have a million more births to degrade myself to the point where I can do such an 'Indian-intellectual-esque' thing.

Jokes apart, If Yudhishtira's craving for Dharma is not excess or it is excess but conducive of greater good - we are left with a question. What makes something excessive and avoidable?

Btw, There is no excessive lust. It doesn't exist. The word excessive lust is like 'పేపర్ కాగితం'. Lust, by definition, is an excess of something. (what that something is, I have no idea.) :)

We shall not cease from...

2009-08-01T01:59:00.000-07:00

Ah, yes
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of our exploring
Shall be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

Exploration continues. The search continues, for 'eternal happiness'. Meanwhile life embraces yet an other tune and asks me to sing it hereafter...

జానామి ధర్మం నచమే ప్రవృత్తిః జానామ్యధర్మం నచమే నివృత్తిః
త్వయా హృషీకేశ హృదిః స్థితేన యథా నియుక్తః అస్మి తథా కరోమి

Duryodhana perfectly knew what was 'Just' but he couldn't practice it. He also knew what was unjust, but he couldn't restrain himself from committing it. Because there is compulsion from inside, as it were, of the worldly senses which makes all his intellect, the knowledge of what is to be Just and Unjust completely useless.

I am a Duryodhana sans crown and empire. 'From darkness to light' - say the wise. I get it. But as I said earlier, knowing id different, doing is different. Here I am. Traveling from from less baggage to more baggage.

.
.
.

I wish...

2009-07-30T05:58:00.000-07:00

....I was one of those kids!

Wouldn't it be nice if one can sit next to a man like that - talking, arguing, smiling and laughing? Wouldn't it be thrilling to receive the shocks that his words send down one's consciousness in person?

But then, that doesn't matter. Were he alive today, he would have replied - "Its not the things that give you pleasure. But the act of 'thinking about' them."

అదీ సంగతి!!

"Outward manifestations of corruption are just symptoms. The cause if inside. Selfishness. When I say corrupt, it is the cause that I am referring to. Don't be corrupt. *It doesn't matter if you die for it*"

పునర్జన్మ

2009-07-29T07:35:00.000-07:00

ఒక స్నేహితునితో దీని గురించి జరిపిన వ్యక్తిగత email సంభాషణ నుంచి -

"people say, one is to die without having any desires, so that one doesn't take another birth; and so on."

ఇప్పుడు చదువు, విజ్ఞానం అని పిలువబడుతున్నవేవీ తెలియని నిరక్షరాస్యులైన మన నాన్నమ్మల తరం వారు కూడా అతి సాధారణంగా, వాడుకభాషలో అనే మాటలు "ఇంకేముంది నాన్నా.. ఏకోరికలూ లేకుండా చనిపోతే, ఇంకో జన్మలేకుండా ఆ పరమాత్ముని సన్నిధి చేరుకుంటే అదేచాలు" - అని. వ్యావహారికం లోకి పదాలు అప్రయత్నంగా చేరిపోవు కదా.. ఈ వాక్యాలకు వెనుక ఒక సిద్ధాంతం ఉంది . అది - కోరికలు లేకుండా ఉండే స్థితి (మోక్షం, పరమాత్మ, బ్రహ్మం లాంటి పదాలు అనవసరపు గందరగోళాన్ని సృష్టిస్తాయి. అవికూడా నినాదాలైపోయాయ్ ఈ మధ్యన) మానవ సహజ స్థితి కన్నా ఉచ్ఛమైనది అనీ మరియు ప్రతి మనిషి తెలిసో తెలియకో వివిధ రకాలు గా ఈ గమ్యం వైపే పయనిస్తాడనీ . ఈ ఆలోచన/సిద్ధాంతం మన ప్రాచీనులలో జీర్ణించుకుపోయి ఇలాంటి వ్యావహారికాలు వచ్చి ఉంటాయి. (మన ప్రాంతీయ భాషలు బ్రతకాలి అనుకోవడానికి ఇంకో కారణం ఇది. మన ప్రాచీనుల అనుభవాల వాహకం అయిన భాష మరణిస్తే, వారి అనుభవాలు, ఆలోచనలు మనకు ఎప్పటికీ అందుబాటులో లేకుండా పోతాయేమో.. కానీ ఇది వేరే విషయం, ఇప్పుడు మనం చర్చిస్తున్న దానితో సంబంధం లేనిది).

"Here, these junk swami-s, half-baked Indians give scientific gloss to rebirth and karma as though they are dependent on causality, without telling that what causality is"

ప్రాచీన భారతీయులు తమవంటూ కొన్ని సిద్ధాంతాలను ప్రతిపాదించగలిగిన సమర్థత ఉందని ఇటీవలి కాలపు మన దేశపు మేధావులకే నమ్మకం లేదు. తమకు అర్థంకాని కొన్ని సిద్ధాంతాలను యూరోపియనులు తమకు తెలిసిన అన్ని ప్రశ్నాపద్ధతులనూ ఉపయోగించి విమర్శిస్తే రాజారామ్మోహనరాయ్, కేశబ్ చంద్రసేన్ మార్కు మేధావులు ప్రశ్నలను ఎదుర్కునే దిశలో యూరోపియనుల చరిత్రనూ/సిద్ధాంతాలనూ ఆకళింపుచేసుకుని తర్వాత సమాధానాలివ్వడం చేయకుండా, ఈ విమర్శలను స్వీకరించారు. సమాధానాలివ్వడం కోసమై ప్రతి ఒక్క సిద్ధాంతానికీ, సైన్సు యొక్క ఆమోదముద్ర వేయాలని ప్రయత్నించారు. అది వారు నివసించిన కాలం, అప్పటి పరిస్థితుల యొక్క ప్రభావం వల్ల కావచ్చును. వారిని క్షమించినా, అవే వివరణలు ఇచ్చి పునర్జన్మనూ, కర్మసిద్ధాంతాన్నీ సైన్సుతో రీ్ప్యాక్ చేసి జనానికి అమ్మజూసే ఇప్పటి అత్తెసరు మేధావులను, దొంగ సాముల్నీ క్షమించలేం! పునర్జన్మ గట్రా లను Causality మీద ఆధారపడతాయన్నట్లు గా ఇవ్వబడే వివరణలు నిజానికి అసలు వివరణలు కావు. వాటిని ర్థం చేసుకోవడానికి ఉపయోగపడే మన ప్రాచీనుల సైకాలజీని పోగొట్టుకున్నాం, intentional psychology తో వీటిని వివరించాలని చూసి ఈ సిద్ధాంతాలను నినాద స్థాయికి తీసుకొచ్చాం.

పునర్జన్మ, కర్మ వంటివి ఒక ఉచ్ఛస్థితిని చేరుకోవడానికి/వివరించడానికి మనవాళ్ళు అవలంభించిన cognitive strategies. ఈ వివరణలు కొన్ని సమస్యలను పరిష్కరిస్తాయి. they are a heuristic.

On writing - Maugham

2009-07-21T07:31:00.000-07:00

(But) To write was an instinct that seemed as natural to me as to breath, and I did not stop to consider if I wrote well or badly. It was not till some years later that it dawned upon me that it was a delicate art that must be painfully acquired. The discovery was forced upon me by the by the difficulty I found in getting my meaning down on paper.

-- The Summing Up

పాటకు అమ్మ - పట్టమ్మాళ్!!

2009-07-17T05:16:00.000-07:00

Amidst the chaos

and conflicts
Amidst the tribulations
That life inflicts
came a Gift
From the Gods.
The "Women Trinity"*

Singing songs
They came.
Of solace
Of grace
Of eternity!
Oh! the joy!!
And singing
songs, they left!!

Now Gods too are
jealous. The last leaf
Of "The Trinity" was
carefully taken!
Back to where they
come from!!

Pattammal!
Mother of song,
We will NOT miss you
For your songs
are still here!
and they will
reverberate across
Centuries to come!!

* Women Trinity = MS. Subbulakshmi, ML Vasantha Kumari, DK Pattammal

http://www.thehindu.com/2009/07/17/stories/2009071754630100.htm

Poet as Seer

2009-07-14T17:11:00.000-07:00

The Poet makes himself a seer by a long, gigantic and rational derangement of all the senses. All forms of love, suffering, and madness. He searches himself. He exhausts all poisons in himself and keeps only their quintessences. Unspeakable torture where he needs all his faith, all his super-human strength, where he becomes among all men the great patient, the great criminal, the one accursed--and the supreme Scholar!--Because he reaches the unknown! Since he cultivated his soul, rich already, more than any man! He reaches the unknown, and when, bewildered, he ends by losing the intelligence of his visions, he has seen them. Let him die as he leaps through unheard of and unnamable things: other horrible workers will come; they will begin from the horizons where the other collapsed!

శేషేంద్ర పుస్తకాల్లో ఎక్కడో ఈ కోట్ తగిలింది. శేషేంద్ర ఈ కోట్ చెప్పినతని పేరుని రేంబో గా పేర్కొన్నాడు. మహాకవి రేంబో! ఇలాంటివి చదివి మనం ఊరికే వదిలెయ్యంకదా. ఎవరీ రేంబో, ఇంతకుముందు ఎప్పుడూ విన్లేదే అని దీని తీగ లాగుదాం అని గూగుల్ లో "రేంబో, poet" అన్న పదాలతో వెతికాను. సినెమా రేంబో తాలూకు ఫలితాలు వచ్చాయి. తర్వాత "Poet makes himself a seer" అని వెతికా.. మొట్టమొదటి లింక్ ఓ ఉత్తరం. నేను వెతుకున్నదే!

విషయం ఏమిటంటే ఈతని పేరు Arthur Rimbaud. ఈయన ఫేరుని ræmˈboʊ అని పలకాలిట! ఇంకేముంది, పేరు తెలిసింది.. వెంటనే వికిపీడియా ఆర్టికల్ చదివా! తర్వాత ఈయన గురించి వివరాలున్న ఈ లంకె. సినెమాల్లో కూడా ఇలాంటి కథ, స్క్రిప్టూ ఊహించి ఉండరు ఎవ్వరూ!!

రేంబో ప్రెంచిదేశానికి చెందిన కవి. సింబాలిస్ట్ కవుల్లో ప్రముఖుడు. ఎందరో గొప్ప కవుల్నీ, సంగీతకారుల్నీ ప్రభావితం చేసిన ఇతగాడు తన ఉత్కృష్ట రచనలన్నీ 21 సంవత్సరాల వయసు లోపలే చేసాడట. ఆ తర్వాత రచనావ్యాసంగానికి స్వస్థి చెప్పాడట. 16 సంవత్సరాల వయసులోనే The Drunken Boat అన్న కవితాసంకలనం వ్రాసి అప్పటి గొప్ప సింబాలిక్ కవుల్లో ఒకడైన Paul Verlaine దృష్టిలో పడ్డాడు. గమ్యం లేకుండా తిరుగుతున్న రేంబో ని వెర్లైన్ తన ఇంటికి తీసుకెళ్ళాడు. త్వరలోనే రేంబో, వెర్లైన్ ప్రేమికులయ్యారు!! Two great poets, both male - in love!

ఆ తర్వాత నాటకీయంగా (తుపాకులూ బుల్లెట్లతో సహా) ఆ సంబంధం తెగిపోయింది. వెర్లైన్ జైలుకెళ్ళాడు, రేంబో దేశాలు తిరిగాడు. ఉత్తరాలు మాత్రం రాస్తూ తన కవితా రచనా వ్యాసంగాన్ని పూర్తిగా వదిలేసాడు. 37 సంవత్సరాల వయసులో కేన్సర్ వ్యాధితో మరణించాడు. కొంత కాలం తర్వాత రేంబో రాసిన అన్ని రచనలనూ వెర్లైన్ ప్రచురించి, రేంబోను ప్రపంచ సాహితీ జగత్తులో అమరుణ్ణి చేసాడు!

ఆహా ఏం కథ! హాలీవుడు వాళ్ళు సినెమా తీస్తే ఎలా ఉంటుంది అనుకున్నా! ఇలాంటి కథలను హాలీవుడ్ వాళ్ళు వొదుల్తారా? సినెమా ఎప్పుడో తీసేసారు. పేరు Total Eclipse.

ఇదంతా చదివిన తర్వాత, ఆసక్తీ అనాసక్తీ కాని ఒక జడమైన భావన కల్గిందెందుకో. ఆయన కవిత్వం చదవాలని కోట్ చదివినప్పుడు ఉన్నంత ఉత్సాహం లేదు. ఎందుకని?కవి వ్యక్తిగత జీవితానికీ, అతను చెప్పదలచుకున్న విషయాలకూ సారూప్యత ఉండాలా? అవసరం లేదే! అని నాలోనేను తర్కిస్తూ random గా రెండు కవితలు చదివాను:

Seen enough. The vision was met with in every air.

Had enough. Sounds of cities, in the evening and in the sun and always.

Known enough. Life's halts.-- O Sounds and Visions!

Departure in new affection and new noise.

చదవగానే "Wow" అనుకున్నా! ఇంకోటి -

It's revealed once more.
What? Eternity.
It's the sea run off
With the sun.

Sentinel soul,
Whisper your confession
Of the empty night
And the burning day.

From human approval,
From common urges
You must free yourself,
And make your own way.

For from you alone,
Satiny embers,
Duty breathes
Without anyone saying: finally!

There's no hope,
No enlightenment.
In the quest for knowledge,
Only pain is certain.

It's revealed once more.
What? Eternity.
It is the sea run off
With the sun.

Wow, this guy is awesome. Thats it!! This man is here to stay! కవి వ్యక్తిగత జీవితం, ఆయన sexual orientation, నాకే తెలియకుండా నేను పెంచిపోషించుకున్న స్టీరియోటైప్స్ అన్నీ ఒక్కసారిగా నిరర్థకం అయ్యాయి. It is poetry that matters.

See I spent an hour figuring out this obvious truth and another 18 min typing this blog post. This is how dumb I can be ;)

వ్రాయడం ఎందుకు?

2009-07-13T13:33:00.000-07:00

"రచయిత ఎప్పుడూ ఒక ప్రశ్న వేసుకోవాలి. మనం వ్రాసేది ఎంతమందిని సముచ్చకితుల్ని చేస్తుంది ఎంతమందిని ఉత్తేజం చేస్తుంది, కదిలిస్తుంది, ఏ ఘనకార్యం సాగిస్తుంది? ఈ అంతర్గత బాధ కలగకుండా ఈ భావం స్ఫురించకుండా ఏదో రాస్తూ పోవడం ఎందుకు? చెప్పవలసిన అవసరం వచ్చినపుడే, ఏదో స్ఫురించినప్పుడే, ఏదో మెరిసినపుడే, ఏదో మనసులో ఒక జలపాతం ఘోషించినప్పుడే చెప్పు. అక్షర హార్యాలషరాలను రెచ్చగొట్టు అవి మిగతాపని చేస్తాయి. అంతే గాని ఎందుకో రాస్తే ఎల్లా? వ్రాయవచ్చు, పత్రికలు వేయవచ్చు. కానీ లోకానికి ఏమి ఉపకారం. న్యూస్ ప్రింట్ ఖర్చు తప్ప..."

-శేషేంద్ర శర్మ

ఎంతమందిని ఉత్తేజం చేస్తుంది, ఏం సాధిస్తుంది అని ఆలోచిస్తే చెప్పదలచుకున్న విషయాన్ని సరిగ్గా చెప్పగలగటం కుదురుతుందా? మనసున విరిసే మెరుపులూ, ఘోషించే జలపాతాలు ఎవడేమనుకుంటాడో, ఎవడికి అర్థం అవుతుందో లేదో అని ఆగుతాయా?

There ain't no getting over me

2009-07-09T11:39:00.000-07:00

A friend gave link to this wonderful song ! nice lyrics, gracefully rendered!!

Well, you can walk out on me tonight
If you think that it ain't feeling right
But darling, there's ain't no getting over me.

Well, you can say that you need to be free
But there ain't no place that I won't be
Sweet darling, there ain't no getting over me.

I'll be the bill you forgot to pay
I'll be the dream that keeps you awake
I'll be the song on the radio
I'll be the reason that you tell the boys no.

Don't you know you can tell everyone that we're through
You might even believe it too
But darling, there's ain't no getting over me
Sweet darling, there ain't no getting over me.

I'll be the face that you see in the crowd
I'll be the times that you cry out loud
I'll be the smile when there's no one around
I'll be the book that you just can't put down
So you can walk out on me tonight.

If you think that it ain't feeling right
But darling, there's ain't no getting over me
You'll see sweet darling, there's ain't no getting over me
No, no, no, no, No Darling, there ain't no getting over me.

Ooooh mmmm
mmmm No darling, there ain't no getting over me.

Ooooh darling, there ain't no getting over me..

ఒక కప్పు అగ్నిరసం...

2009-07-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

హైదరాబాదు సంస్థానాన్ని నిజాం ’ముసలి నక్క’ పరిపాలిస్తున్న రోజులు. ఉద్యమం లో రక రకాల వ్యక్తులూ, రక రకాల సంస్థలూ వారి వారి కి చేతనైన రీతుల్లో పాల్గొన్నారు. కొందరు శాంతియుతం గా సత్యాగ్రహం చేసి జైలుకెళితే, ఇంకొందరు అడవుల్లో రహస్య జీవనం గడుపుతూ రజాకార్ల ను ఎదుర్కునేవారు.

ఓ ముగ్గురు యువకులు ఇంకో దారి ఎంచుకున్నారు. నిజాం ను హతమార్చి హైదరాబాదు ను విముక్తం చేయటం. బాంబు దాడి. వారి పేర్లు - గండయ్య, నారాయణరావ్, జగదీష్.

మొత్తానికి ఆ ప్రయత్నం విఫలం అయ్యింది. నారాయణరావ్ విసిరిన బాంబు కారు తలుపు కు తగిలి క్రిందపడిపోయింది. నిజాం ఘాడు బ్రతికి బయటపడ్డాడు.

బాంబులు వేయటం నైతికమా, ఇది తీవ్రవాదమా అన్న విషయాలు పక్కన పెడితే - ఈ సన్నివేశం గురించి చదివి మళ్ళీ ఇక్కడికి రాసుకోవడానికి గల కారణం ఒక కవి. బాంబుదాడిలో విఫలమై పోలీసుల చేతికి చిక్కిన నారాయణరావ్ గురించి వరంగల్ జైలులో శిక్షను అనుభవిస్తున్న ఉద్యమకారులకు తెలిసిందట. వారి లో వటికోట ఆళ్వార్ స్వామి, స్వామి రామానంద తీర్థ, దాశరథి కృష్ణమాచార్య, జంగారెడ్డి, బూర్గుల లాంటి వాళ్లున్నారు. ఈ వార్త విన్న దాశరథి ఒక కవిత చెప్పాడు:

ఒక కప్పు అగ్నిరసం తాగించిన
నారాయణరావ్!
నీ హస్తం విసిరిన ’రవిగోళం’(గ్రనేడ్)
నరకాసుర మర్దనానికి
నడచిన యాదవయోధుని(కృష్ణుని)
కోదండ వినిర్గత బాణం.
నాల్గు డిసెంబరు నలభై యేడు
నారాయణరావ్!
నీలో అగ్ని సముద్రం ఉందట
నిజమేనా?
అగ్ని మనిషి!
నారాయణరావ్!

ఇవి కవితలో ని కొన్ని పంక్తులు మాత్రమే! అసలు దాశరథి చెప్పిన కవిత ఇంకా చాలా పెద్దదట.. కానీ ఆయన ఈ అనుభవాన్ని గ్రంథస్తం చేసే సరికి ది మాత్రమే గుర్తుందట.

దీని literary value ఎంతో నాకు తెలియదు కానీ (frankly, I dont care)... నన్నాకర్షించినది, మళ్ళీ ఆ సందర్భం. ఎవరు చెప్పారు కవితలు కడుపు నిండిన సోమరుల రసాస్వాదన సాధనాలని? యేళ్లు గడిచిపోయినాక, ఉద్యమంతో ఏ సంబంధం లేకపోయినా, చదువుతున్నప్పుడు వొంటి మీద రోమాలు నిక్కబొడుచుకుంటున్నాయ్. మరి ఈ దాశరథి అప్పట్లో తన సహచరులనూ, ఆ కాలపు యువతనూ ఎంతగా ప్రభావితం చేసుంటాడో!!

సంకల్ప శక్తి - స్వామి బుద్ధానంద

2009-07-05T20:05:00.000-07:00

ఒక మనిషిలో సంకల్పశక్తి నిర్మాణం కావాలంటే మొదట అతడు సమ్యక్ చింతనం (Right thinking) చేయాలి. దానితో సరియైన దారిని ఎంచుకోగలుగుతాడు. ఆ తర్వాత అతను ప్రగాఢ చింతనం (Deep thinking) చేయాలి. దీనితో అంతరాంతరాల్లోకి వెళ్ళిపోగలుగుతాడు. ఆ తర్వాత స్వేచ్ఛాచింతనం (Free thinking) చేస్తాడు. తనదైన సొంత గొంతుక విప్పే అవకాశం కలుగుతుంది. అప్పుడే అతని సృజనశక్తి వల్ల బ్రహ్మాండమైన వినూత్నావిష్కరణలు జరుగుతాయి. ఈ విషయం ఒక్క సాహిత్యానికే కాదు, అన్ని వినూత్నాంశాలకూ వర్తిస్తుంది.

-- స్వామి బుద్ధానంద.

ఇక్కడ సమ్యక్ చింతనం లోని సమ్యక్ ను ఎవరు నిర్ణయిస్తారు? ఎవరికి ఏది "సమ్యక్" ?

On Celebrities

2009-06-28T23:11:00.000-07:00

I started reading Somerset Maugham's "The Summing Up" yesterday. This book was described as the Religio Medici of Maugham.

Some random bloke said that when people think, they do so in pictures. Looks like I am pictorially challenged.. ;) instead of pictures, I think in quotes. For every situation, my mind instinctively searches for a quote, and finds one.

"Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing." - Says Robert Benchly. I would go a step ahead and say - drawing on my fine command of all the languages that I know, I would rather keep quite and let others talk. :)

So when I find some nicely worded or thought provoking quote, I am compelled to write it down. Okay, enogugh of I-am-O-phobia. Here goes a quote from 'The Summing Up', (found this on second page, I am sure Maugham has more in store)

"The prestige you acquire by being able to tell your friends that you know famous men proves only that you are yourself of small account. The celebrated develop a technique to deal wih the persons they come across. They show the world a mask, often an impressive one, but take care to conceal their real selves. They play the part that is expected from them, and with practice learn to play it very well, but you are stupid if you think that his public performance of theirs corresponds with the real man within."

గండ్రగొడ్డళ్ళు దొరికే గంధర్వలోకాలెక్కడ!

2009-06-19T16:53:00.000-07:00

"ఓ జిజీవిషా! నీవు మాత్రం వర్థిల్లు, తెరచాపా తెగిపో, కెరటాల్లారా! ఉగ్ర రూపాలు ధరించండి, కుక్కల్లా నడవకండి... గాలీ! గాలివానల్ని పిలువ్. ఓ తీరమా! దూరమైపో, పడవా! పగిలిపో."

"సముద్రాలెక్కడ ఆకాశాన్ని పిడికిళ్ళతో పొడుస్తుంటాయో అక్కడికే పోతాను; తుఫానులతో స్నేహం చేస్తాను సింహాల సౌందర్యాన్నే ఉపాసిస్తాను. నా ప్రాణాలక్కడే పారేస్తాను..."

"నేనెక్కడున్నానని వెదుకుతుందీ లోకం! నిషాలన్నీ విడిచిపెట్టి ఇప్పుడు ఏ నిషాలో ఉన్నానో ఎలా తెలుసుకుంటుంది - జేబులో ఎ జ్ఞాపకాలు వేసుకువచ్చానో ఎవరికి తెలుసు? ఏ రాళ్ళకుటుంబాల్లో గుండె రెండుచేతుల్తో పుచ్చుకుని కన్నీటి బిందువులకోసం భిక్షాటన్ చేస్తున్నానో ఎవరికి తెలుసు -"

"నీ బాణానికి గురి ఎవరో శత్రువు నా బాణానికి గురి ఏదో హృదయం; గాలి వాలు తెలిసి ఎగిరిపడే పక్షివి నీవు గాలి కూడా భయపడే గమ్యం కోసం రగిలే పక్షిని నేను-"

ప్రతిభ అనే నేరం చేస్తే మీరు క్షమించరని నాకు తెలుసు కానీ నేను పుట్టేముందు నిర్దోషివి గా పుట్టమని నాకెవ్వరు చెప్పారు? దొరికిన నాలుగు సెకండ్లే జేబుల్లో వేసుకుని పోయే మీరెంత మంచివారు, కాలాన్నే మార్చాలని ఖడ్గమై ఇంకా ఊపిరి పీలుస్తున్న నేనెంత చెడ్డవాడ్ని - సిగ్గువిడిచి ఏకాకినని చెప్పుకోకు ఒక్క కన్నీటి బిందువు కూడా భిక్ష వెయ్యరు నీకు; గండ్రగొడ్డళ్ళు దొరికే గంధర్వలోకాలెక్కడున్నాయో వెతుక్కో మనిషికి ఒక యుగాన్నయినా ఇస్తావు-

~శేషేంద్ర, సముద్రం నాపేరు

పదం పదం, పేజీ పేజీ చదివేకొద్దీ నీ మీద నే మొదటిసారి లీలా మాత్రం గా ఏర్పరచుకున్న భావాన్ని బలపరుస్తున్నావ్ . నిజం గానే నువ్వు నేనడక్కుండానే నా పాటలు పాడుతున్నావ్!! నా లాంటి వారెందరివో!!

కోయిల పాటలూ సెలయేళ్ల చప్పుళ్ళూ పువ్వుల పరిమళాలూ ఎన్నిరోజులని ఆస్వాదిస్తాం?

ఋతువులు మారుతై, సెలయేళ్ళు ఎండుతై, పువ్వులు వాడుతై, పాటలు ఆగుతై

కానీ శేషేన్! ఋతువులను సవాలు చేసి సెలయేళ్లను శివాలెత్తించి పూలను తూటాలుగా మలిచి
నీలోని ప్రపంచం కోసం, ప్రపంచంలోని నీకోసం నువ్ పాడిన ఈ యుద్ధపు పాటలు మటుకు ఇలాగే నన్నున్మత్తుడ్ని చేస్తుంటాయ్!!

ఓ గీతికా! విను-

2009-06-17T08:13:00.000-07:00

ఓ గీతికా! విను-

ఏ పుణ్యం చేసుకున్నానో ఉల్కలా వచ్చిన

ఒక్క క్షణం కాంతిలో

జీవన కఠోర సత్యదర్శనం చేసుకుంటున్నాను;

నీ మోహినీత్వం తో నన్ను మోసం చెయ్యకు

నా అపూర్వ సంపదలాంటి ఈ క్షణాల్ని దొంగిలించుకునిపోకు,

నా బాధల్ని మరిచిపోనీకు.

మరిచిపోతే, నాచేత బద్దలుకావలసినవన్నీ క్షేమంగా ఉండిపోతాయ్

హేయ్! పువ్వులూ పక్షులూ! మీ గొంతులు కట్టి పెట్టండి

నా తుపాకీ నన్ను తీసుకోనీండి

అసహ్యతను సహిస్తూ నిద్రిస్తున్న మనస్సుల్ని మేల్కొల్పనీండి వాటిని భయంకర

ఝంఝామారుతాలుగా మార్చనీండి

ద్వేషించే విద్య నేర్పనీండి

ద్వేషించడం ఎంత పవిత్ర వస్తువో బోధించనీండి; ద్వేషించడానికి

కావలసిన స్పృహని నా రక్తం తో దానం చెయ్యనీండి -

గాలిలో ఉన్నా కాగితాలెక్కినా ఈ మాటలు వాళ్ళలో అగ్నిపర్వతాలు నాటనీండి

~ నా దేశం, నా ప్రజలు; మహాకవి శేషేంద్ర.

నూరుకోట్ల నడిచే కళేబరాల్లోకి నీ కవితల సూదులు చెక్కి *కనీసం* ద్వేషాన్నయినా రగుల్చు!

give me the worst you possess.. I will give you my best!

2009-06-16T04:49:00.000-07:00

Come closer to me,

Push close my lovers and take the best I possess,

Yield closer and closer and give me the best you possess.

This is unfinished business with me... how is it with you?

I was chilled with the cold types and cylinder and wet paper between us.

I do not thank you for liking me as I am, and liking the touch of

me... I know that it is good for you to do so.

~Walt WHitman, Leaves of Grass

Yes! Come closer to me and take the best I possess... its not all about taking, give me the worst you possess, in return, honey, I will give you my best! because it is in the similarity of our weaknesses that we sympathize with each other. Because it is in hopelessness and despair that you need me and I, you.

Yes, I do not thank you for liking me as I am. Do I like you for what you are? or do I like you as you are? Oh well.. I like you! Isn't that enough? does it really have to come with qualifications? What difference would it really make if some utterly random, yet meaningful cosmic game is behind me liking you? What of it?

Song of Myself: Leaves of Grass

2009-06-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands;
How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he.
.
.
.
.
.
Tenderly will I use you curling grass,
It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men,
It may be if I had known them I would have loved them,
It may be you are from old people, or from offspring taken soon out of their mothers' laps,
And here you are the mothers' laps.
.
.
.
.
.
Prodigal, you have given me love—therefore I to you give love!
O unspeakable passionate love.
Thruster holding me tight and that I hold tight!

We hurt each other as the bridegroom and the bride hurt each other.

~ Leaves Of Grass - Walt Whitman

My first acquaintance with Walt Whitman was via Romain Rolland's book named "Life of Swami Vivekananda". Romain Rolland dedicated a complete chapter to illustrate how the West was Intellectually ready to receive Vivekananda's message. He talks about Thoreau, Emerson, Walt Whitman at length. Rolland calls them the 'forerunners' of Vivekananda. While I hate Emerson's ugly mix of Bhagavadgita and personality development, I did like Walt Whitman's poetry. I read a couple of lines and I knew that this man would continue to inspire my imagination.

Walt Whitman often amazes me with his thoughts. Though an American by birth, he is Oriental of Orientals in thought!

(to be contd.,)

Love, eh?

2009-06-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

The problem with being in love is that everything doubles! Joy, pain, sorrow, hurt.. everything!! The more you get closer to her, more you run the risk of hurting her. She is dangerously close to you. She knows the meaning of all those unspoken words, she understands your every move, every thought, every action, its as if her eyes could rip your clothes apart and see that naked, natural "you"! You can't even fake a smile and get away with it, the way you do most of the times.

Love is not easy!

I am, I am, I am

2009-06-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

The pet dog suspects the universe for scheming to take its place. -- Stray Birds

Every man and woman are so important in their own views as if the sun, the moon and the earth - he whole universe is a sort of silly arrangement that exist merely to keep them entertained.

What difference does your pain make to the course of the sun, he still rises and sets as he does, every day. What difference does your smile make to a volcano that is about to erupt? Why would seasons care for your moods and sentiments?

Are you not a silent listener of a grand symphony that this universe is?

Self Sufficiency

2009-06-09T11:09:00.000-07:00

Education is worthless. It just produces labor for Industry and makes you less self-sufficient. Thats what all degrees do. Imagine there is banking industry, imagine there is no consumption, all MBAs become worthless. Whole Capitalism collapses, which then doesn't need education.

I am amazed at the rampant production of all graduates in India. All of them end up being worthless: no sign of self sufficiency. As soon as you are finished with your 10th grade or 12th, you move to hyderabad. What makes you move to hyderabad? The so called education. Everybody wants to taste the fruits of urbanization, and hence are not self sufficient.

Middle class Americans are dirt poor. They can't pull life for a month, once they loose a job. They swallowed a pipe dream: America is a place of opportunity, and cite google founders etc., Our average Indian bloke too swallows a pipe dream: Once they moved to a city, their kids can get into IITs, become doctors, IAS etc., They read stories in the papers - A son of a labor in hyderabad gets into IIT etc.,

And the villages, they drill 500 feet to get water, for fricking paddy... not for eating, but to sell! Commercial crops- so that they can send their kids to Narayana coaching center, IIT Ramaiah's center etc.,

Capitalism is 50 years old. Socialism is failing, so is capitalism. The traditional informal insurance (in terms of joint families) is broken as well.

Ancient Indians didn't know any of these -isms. They did not have capitalism. What they had was a primitive bartering. The kings knew about the enlightenment. They setup things in such a way that people can do whatever they want. Today, everyone want to study. Earn fame and money - This is instilled in every Indian today.

People should focus on being self sufficient. Millets and other grains are crucial. Humans like 1000 years ago subsited on Korra, raaji, variga etc., If you go to Africa, they still eat them.

On History

2009-05-30T23:01:00.000-07:00

ఈ మధ్య కాలంలో చదవగానే చురుక్కుమనిపించి, మళ్ళీ మళ్ళీ గుర్తొచ్చి, ఆలోచించగా "ఎంత నిజం!" అనిపించిన వాక్యాలు -

It is the misfortune of humanity that its history is chiefly written by third-rate men. The first-rate man seldom has any impulse to record and philosophise; his impulse is to act; life, to him, is an adventure, not a syllogism or an autopsy. Thus the writing of history is left to college professors, moralists, theorists, dunder-heads. Few historians, great or small, have shown any capacity for the affairs they presume to describe and interpret. Gibbon was an inglorious failure as a member of Parliament. Thycydides made such a mess of his military (or, rather, naval) command that he was exiled from Athens for twenty years and finally assassinated. Flavius Josephus, serving as governor of Galilee, lost the whole province to the Romans, and had to flee for his life. Momssen, elected to the Prussian Landtag, flirted with the Socialists. How much better we would understand the habits and nature of man if there were more historians like Julius Caesar, or even like Niccolo Machiavelli! Remembering the sharp and devastating character of their rough notes, think what marvelous histories Bismarck, Washington and Frederick the Great might have written! Such men are privy to the facts; the usual historians have to depend on deductions, rumors, guesses. Again, such men know how to tell the truth, however unpleasant; they are wholly free of that puerile moral obsession which marks the professor.... But they so seldom tell it! Well, perhaps some of them have—and their penalty is that they are damned and forgotten.

HL Mencken వ్రాసిన Damn! అన్న పుస్తకం నుంచి.

చరిత్ర సృష్టించే వారు, చరిత్రలో నిలిచే పనులు చేసే వారు, ఆ అనుభవాలను చరిత్రగా రాయడానికి అర్హులూ అయిన వారికి, పోస్టుమార్టం రాతలు రాసే సమయమెక్కడ ఉంటుంది? నిజమే, మానవాళి చరిత్రను 3rd rate men రాయడం దౌర్భాగ్యమే.

así es la vida!!

Dog finding a rainbow

2009-02-09T07:05:00.000-08:00

It is no more crazy than a dog finding a rainbow. Dogs are colourblind, Gretchen. They don't see colour. Just like we don't see time. We can feel it, we can feel it passing, but we can't see it. It's just like a blur. It's like we're riding in a supersonic train and the world is just blowing by, but imagine if we could stop that train, eh, Gretchen? Imagine if we could stop that train, get out, look around, and see time for what it really is? A universe, a world, a thing as unimaginable as colour to a dog, and as real, as tangible as that chair you're sitting in. Now if we could see it like that, really look at it, then maybe we could see the flaws as well as the form. And that's it; it's that simple. That's all I discovered. I'm just a... a guy who saw a crack in a chair that no one else could see. I'm that dog who saw a rainbow, only none of the other dogs believed me.

Kate and Leopold

Stupidity, Intelligence and Erudition

2009-01-30T04:59:00.000-08:00

In this world the apogee of intellect is to be very clever, very smart, very complex, very erudite. I do not know why people carry erudition in their brains – why not leave it on the library shelf? The computers are very erudite. Erudition has nothing whatsoever to do with intelligence. To see things as they are, in ourselves, without bringing about conflict in perceiving what we are needs tremendous simplicity of intelligence. I am a fool, I am a liar, I am angry and so on: I observe it, I learn about it, not relying on any authority, I do not resist it, I do not say ‘I must be different’, it is just there.

We live in confusion. What should one do? If I am stupid, Sir, it is no good trying to polish that stupidity, trying to become clever. First I must know I am stupid, that I am dull. The very awareness of my dullness is to be free of that dullness. To say ‘I am a fool’, not verbally but actually say ‘Well, I am a fool’, then you are already watchful, you are no longer a fool. But if you resist what you are, then your dullness becomes more and more.

Love and Pleasure

2009-01-27T07:09:00.000-08:00

Is love thought or its product? Can love be cultivated by thought - become a habit? Is love pleasure? Love as we know is essentially the pursuit of pleasure. And if love is pleasure, then love is also fear - no?

What is pleasure? We are not denying pleasure; not saying we must not have pleasure; that would be absurd. What is pleasure? You saw the sunset yesterday evening; at the moment of perception there was neither pleasure nor pain, there was only an immediate contact with that reality. But a few minutes later you began to think about it; 'what a delightful thing that was'. It is the same with sex. You think about it by building images and pictures; thinking about it gives you pleasure. In the same way, thinking about the loss of that pleasure - you have fear - thinking about not having a job tomorrow, being lonely, not being loved, not being capable of self-expression and so on. This machinery of "thinking about it" causes both pleasure and fear.

Is love to be cultivated as you would cultivate a plant? Is love to be cultivated by thought? - knowing thought breeds pleasure and fear. One has to learn what love is, learn, not accumulate what others have said about love -

To understand love is to understand death. If one does not die to the past, how can one love? If I do not die to the image of myself and to the image of my wife, how can I love?

One Drop

2009-01-25T12:58:00.000-08:00

एक् खत्र हयात को सिखाता है सबख

क्भी शब्नम बना कभी गोहर बना कभी अस्ख - Iqbal

ఒక బిందువు జీవితానికి నేర్పుతుంది పాఠం
ఒకపుడు మంచు ఒకపుడు ముత్యం ఒకపుడు భాష్ప బిందువు..

The problem of transalation

2009-01-24T21:43:00.000-08:00

The problem of popularization should take a different way, like Mexican corridos(songs), stories, feature films etc.,

If you pick up some topic, for instance, 'ethical domain' it has a it has a specific referent. The moment you translate it to Telugu, it picks up all garbage from Manu to Dharma Saastras. These concepts are loaded with specific semantic content. When you translate, the semantic content gets replaced with commonsense. Philosophy of languages pick up this topic. The semantic content of these concepts are part and parcel of a theory.

A theory is independent of natural language. It can be said to be in a formal language. However, some or another formal language becomes part of commonsense. For instance electron, gene etc., are part of specific theories. They are also part of today's natural language.

Imagine a future theory, which is better than current theory. In that case, the concept and its referent gets changed. However, the commonsense retains the old stuff. One can't use commonsense to criticize this new theory. That people have been using is not evidence for truth of any theory. Even the word theory has a specific reference. These things will be known in the course of studying theories about theories.

Light, my light, the world-filling light,

2009-01-24T06:25:00.000-08:00

Light, my light, the world-filling light,

the eye-kissing light,

heart-sweetening light!

Ah, the light dances, my darling, at the center of my life;

the light strikes, my darling, the chords of my love;

the sky opens, the wind runs wild, laughter passes over the earth. - Tagore

Where do I find that world-filling, eye-kissing and heart-sweetening Light?

Happiness

2008-11-08T12:40:00.000-08:00

Our experience of being happy makes us think that being happy is constrained by fellow beings, companies, etc. This conceptualization, true or not, has been peddled by management gurus, and psychologists, and we are sold on this. Is this true of human psychology? Or Is this a prima facie plausibility just because we experience that happiness is constrained?

2. Conducting research the way ethnologists do wouldn't produce knowledge. The way one poses questions depends on the background knowledge: in fact, questions are relative to some or another description.

3. Lets consider two ends of the spectrum: a Bill Gates and the poorest (in terms of financial worth) man. Indian traditions 'say' (scare quotes for different reasons) that we are not happy, *not* because some projects (desires, intentions, etc) that are pursued are failed, *but* because such projects are *ours/mine*. Here, both Gates and the poorest man are not any exceptions! There exist natural regularities that interfere our intentions, no matter how rich one is (for instance, I intended to drink milk to quench my thirst, and in fact I did, but my stomach got upset, which I didn't intend. One can imagine countless examples that way). Many do agree that natural regularities affect our intentions, but everybody thinks that there is some *relationship* between intentions and results. Indian traditions claim that there is no relationship between intentions and actions; they further say that the appearance that such relationship obtains is illusion the way that our experience of Sun's movement around Earth--which is our daily experience--is. Just knowing the claim that we are not happy not because of projects being pursued but because those projects are ours, does not make one happy! Something more is required: to experiment, problematize, the very notion of 'self'. Some Indian traditions claim that self is illusory as well. In intentional psychology, which is a product of semitic theologies and which mgmt gurus sell, self is taken for granted: that our actions are instantiations of intentions of such a self! That's why we hear slogans like 'be positive', 'believe in what you do'!

4. What Indian traditions say that one can achieve happiness, which is *independent of* what one has, of what one is, of what one attained, etc. One doesn't need to become ascetic, one doesn't need to renounce family, in order to attain happiness; this doesn't foreclose the possibilities of ascetics becoming enlightened.

5. Well, there are no requirements for one to become happy. In other words, it is wrong to say that those who go to temple and offer pooja-s don't attain happiness. Of course, some paths are better for some, but not for others: tantriks engage in 'sexual practices', which offend sensibilities of many indians, in order to get enlightened.

6. Anyway, RK mission, for that matter, any mission, doesn't have the intellectual capital: their ranks are filled up with half-baked bs. I say this, because RK mission guys couldn't even offer substantial critiques of Kripal's work, a work that makes Rama Krishna Paramahansa a pedophile. Same with all those who parrot new age metaphysics bullshit!

7. There is no eternal quest. It is a goal of every human being, a goal that manifests in different ways: from getting admisison, to jobs, to get married, and so on. So, this is amenable to any scientific investigation; in this sense, Indian traditions contributed to human knowledge. Our native languages are laden with such things: people say, one is to die without having any desires, so that one doesn't take another birth; and so on. Here, these junk swami-s, half-baked Indians give scientific gloss to rebirth and karma as though they are dependent on causality, without telling that what causality is. In actual fact, there is no punarjanma, but it is a cognitive strategy, a heuristic. Because we have lost the theoretical framework of our folk psychology because of islamic and british colonizations, we have taken over intentional psychology, and the other discourses. We think that we know what intentional psychology is, but we are ignorant of both intentional psychology, and our folk psychology; and our folk psychology beats any western psychology that exists in the market: in fact, our folk psychology is true of human nature.

Maaya and Gyaana

2008-11-08T12:34:00.000-08:00

The problem with the writers of Atman, of Gyaana is that they don't know what they are talking about. How could it be true? This is an issue of understanding.

That earth is moving around sun is also a belief, is also a sentence, and also a proposition. It is also claim of theory. This proposition is a knowledge-claim. Then, what is the difference between this knwoledge-claim and gyaaana: reading Adi Shakaraacharya and offering another 'interpretation' will not do; it simply shows how 'erudite' one is. We have zillions of erudites, but one is not in a position to answer rudimentary questions posed by ordinary people.

Every one thinks that concepts are variables the way X, Y, Z are introduced by convention or by definition in C routine, or in mathematics. This is also screwing the new age metaphysics Indian junk. Concepts are not variables: they don't arise in vacuum; they are part of some theory or some understanding. When such theory/understanding is lost, we are left with slogans: that Universe is of God; Atman is God. What a nonsense!

Abt maaya. The world is not mirage, my friend. The world exists and impinges upon our experience. WHy don't you jump from a high-rising tower in Hyderabad? And see the mirage when you end up on death-bed. Indian traditions claim that our experience is not veridical; from this, it doesn't follow that world is mirage or is an illusion. Adi Shankara did not say this, but the modern interpretors junk do. Then, what is maaya? All traditions claim that maaya is a positive force; and that world is maaya, but not illusion. To illustrate this, let me play with a toy example: if you got Tirumala, you see dEvAlaya, I do building, whereas a martian (with similar constitution) sees a heap of stones. This is what Shankara says: there is *no* unique way of experiencing the world; however, we can compare two ways of experiencing the world: that's why we can make qualitative claims: that your experiencing of X is more illusory that my experience of what you experience; and so on. In western tradition, the failure of empiricist/positivist camps says that there are no 'positive facts' Indian traditions make the strongest claim: we can only know that our abductive inference of the structure of the world is false, but we will never know the true structure(s) of the world.

What, then, is maaya: it is human learning strategy, a particular implementation of (human) evolutionary learning ability. Whenever we navigate in the world, we problematize only aspect of it, while keeping stable the remaining. This ability prevents us from accessing the truth of the experience. In maaya panchaka, Shankara claims that the learned, the lay man, the Brahman are spell-bound by her( that is, maaya). And also he says, maaya is an effect.

Economic and scientific theories

2008-11-08T02:36:00.000-08:00

The economists who support capitalism use rational choices, individual intentions to explain many to explain many economic phenomena: money, wealth, surplus value, commodity, financial crises, credit etc.,

Marxian economists abhor intentional and/or rational choice explanations. There is another reason to reject all neoclassical economic theories (all microeconomic theories), on the basis that intentional explanations are NOT explanations at all

It is very hard to digest Marx Das Kapital, but if you have read some philosophy of sciences, it is easy; because all scientific explanations are not of the type "premiss to conclusion". Scientific explanation goes in reverse direction: Given a conclusion (fact, phenomena), find the premiss (hypothesis.)Use this tip, and read scientific theories it clears up things.

Learning and Unlearning

2008-11-06T22:46:00.000-08:00

Building RAC without knowing the innards of clusters is useless. Thst is what hyderabadi training centers do. Thats what Oracle training does; like the way we learn economics in highschool.

The growth of human knowledge has been explained by the activity of problem solving. Software is also there to solve some problems. Without knowing these set of problems, just learning installing is useless. For instance, teh so-called IP-addressing came into picture to solve a set of problems before that everything was done at mac-level (or layer-2).

******

The less talk, the better. Why do people should talk in the first place, except for survival in the sense of subsistence, they shouldn't talk at all; but people derive pleasure by doing so. When relatives gather, they either talk about their achievements (embellish their personalities), or criticize others (attacking other personalities)

There is a slice of the world that is being refered to maya. It is learning process, human learning process. This brings the duality; duality of the experiencer and the experienced. The experienced is the slice of the world, which we don't directly *see*. The experienced has the counterpart, experiencer. The experiencer springs into being whenever one experiences the world.

Reading things doesn't help. That is, Indian traditions are not philosophies. What Indian traditions try to do: break that damn learning process. The very act of breaking that learniong process is called Nidhidhyasa, contemplation - as it is called. But forget the name, important is what it refers to. People philosophize on contemplation "Mr.X said", "Mr.Y said" so on so forth, which is uselsee.

intentions and results

2008-11-06T05:15:00.000-08:00

We dream as if things would be different. If things had been this way, I would have been different.

"Had I done MBBS and MD, came to US and became a pediatric surgeon, I would be making millions"

We dream as if those past counterfactuals give solace, as if the counter factual path goes the way we want it to be.

Whenever things dont pan out the way we want them to (in fact, they don't - and this is true), we think that, "had X, I would have been Y"; but this "had X" is also an intention, there is a hiatus between intending X and the wanted result that Y is. We forget this often times.

This is what people lament about, when they talk about their marriages. Soon after getting married, people realize that their marriage doesn't reflect some bollywood/tollywood movie. Then, they invoke the mantra: had I married my teenage love, I would have been leading 'happy' life.

hope and commonsense

2008-11-05T20:38:00.000-08:00

Hopes are constrained by the world and its regularities. Our commonsense dictates that our hopes are related to the end results. But who is hoping, who is intending?

We have learnt many things without knowing that the latter were learnt. It is called sub-conscious learning. Some of them are false; some true. When I invoke commonsense, I refer to the false beliefs, eventhough it contains nuggets of truebits here and there.

We read news papers, journal articles and other stuff. Some genuine information is misunderstood by us and some junk is learned. Sometimes, we patchup holes in our commonsense. The holes are none but questions. Much of India commonsense is learned and recycled from textbooks which are taught from elementary school onwards. This commonsense is the image of current humanities.

Society

2008-11-03T04:21:00.000-08:00

Assume that someone does social service in the hope that everyone else helps everyone else. But nobody reciprocates. What happens then? such social service collapses.

Why it has to collapse in the first place? People are not stupid.

Because, there is an experience of, 'my' family, 'my' projects, 'my' daughter etc. There comes the notion of agency. We all experience that way. Indian traditions claim that such experience is not veridical. They also explain why we are under that illusion, and how to get rid of that illusion.

All economic and social theories are built upon the claim that we are intentional beings. If we are not intentional agents, if everyone of us try to access that truth, a perfect system can be built. This is what ancient Indians were after. In that sense, they are light years ahead of present social scientific thinking.

Is Maya illusion?

2008-10-31T17:39:00.000-07:00

Maya exists.

Whoever says maya is illusion, I feel like slaughtering those stupids, that repeat mantras mindlessly.

You equate non-existence with Maya, which is wrong.

The moment you cognize, you experience the world. You also experience the experiencer. This coming into being is due to the evolutionary-learning-process of human beings. No one is beyond this, rich and poor; intelligent and the dumb.

One can *break* this learning process, this is what Indian traditions do. The moment one breaks this process, the cognition doesn't enter the picture, unless on demand. Then you will function like a tape recorder. It records all garbage, it doesn't tell you whether it is music or its the word of your lover. Of course, if you want to go to Chennai, you gotta know things, you gotta remember. Call them functional knowledge. One needs that knowledge to survive. Thats all!

Maya is a learning process. Just reading a Shankara, discussing Advaita endlessly doesn't make you enlightened. You gotta break that learning process.. mere philosophizing is useless.

The first step is to keep the baggage minimal. If one gives up everything, one is close to that. Hardly do we give up. We are always about the future. We remember the experiences that caused pain and the ones that caused pleasure. We strive to avoid the former set, reproduce the latter.

In order to survive in the world, you dont need many things. Think about your pullampet citizens. They can live on millets. you can live on millets too, but you don't. You want to maintain some status quo, mimick someone else's status quo. "My sone wants to be an engineer", "I need to build a big house". Thats why you cant satisfy any of the human beings, no matter what you do, except for basic subsistence.

You assume that once you help someone, the latter will help others. That is wrong, because the guy is trying to help himself to maintain/mimick (others) status quo.

Beauty

2008-10-31T06:51:00.000-07:00

There is one thing you gotta remember. When we see others, we see the way we see our faces in plain mirror, but not in concave mirror.

The former experience is seen as, as you say it, constant. More real than others.

This 'we' is some set of people, because all people in this group borrow some knowledge, info, beliefs from the same stock i.e biological. In the sense that our way of seeing the way in plain mirror is evolutionary.

Beauty is a relational property, as any experience is!

Blog Trivia

2008-10-30T07:25:00.000-07:00

Why this blog?

I do not *expect* anyone to read this blog. I have nothing to give to this world. I don't produce knowledge. Only a few in society produce knowledge, the rest thrive on it. I belong to the latter group.

Anyone that happens to read this, are warmly welcome. This blog is covered by UG Krishnamurthy license: "You are free to reproduce, distribute, interpret, misinterpret, distort, garble, do what you like, even claim authorship, without my consent or the permission of anybody"

Why writing? Writing is a process which clarifies thought. Writing is a learning process. Its a way of teaching yourself what you already know.

This is not a 'Telugu-only' blog. Neither is it English only. I am not well versed with either of these to write intelligibly.

Is this blog original? It is not. There is nothing wrong in being unoriginal when one hasn't evolved to the state of being completely original.

Change is the only constant thing. People evolve, thoughts evolve. I can't stand by what I said a week ago. Do not expect me to.

"This is load of crap! this guy is clueless" -- Yes. You have a choice. Ignore this blog. Never visit again. Wouldn't make any difference. Neither to you, nor to me.

పసిడి గల్గు వాని బానిస కొడుకులు...

2008-10-27T05:16:00.000-07:00

"కులము గలుగు వాడు గోత్రంబు గలవాఁడు
విద్య చేత విర్ర వీగువాఁడు
పసిడి గలుగు వాని బానిస కొడుకులు
విశ్వరాభిరామ వినుర వేమ"

Be Polite

2008-10-26T20:21:00.000-07:00

And he put his arm around my shoulders and we went for a little walk and he said, Randy, it's such a shame that people perceive you as so arrogant. Because it's going to limit what you're going to be able to accomplish in life. What a hell of a way to word "you're being a jerk."

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/TenWays/Story?id=3681265&page=1

Even if you're not a lawyer (or especially if you're not a lawyer) the lesson here is pretty clear: it doesn't matter who's "right". What matters is that giving people the benefit of the doubt and treating them with respect is not only more fun, it works better too.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2005/03/you_can_always_.html