the new age government job...

as soon as you start getting comfortable...its time to quit what you are getting comfortable...that, in my mind, is the only way to keep on moving forward.

well yea big big statement, now where it came out from.

so when i joined my current job, i knew from the start that this was not what i really wanted to do. frankly, i don't want to do a job, i want something of my own, but this job was not that bad. i got good work, i enjoyed what i did, got good money, which led to a comfy life. but then this was not what i wanted to do...

now i have gotten used to it, which means if i want to move on, it will be double difficult, once their is a lack of inspiration, secondly, their is a lack of push too. i am comfortable being stationary.

was talking to my ex team lead...he made the same point. you get good money, you get respect, you feel good about your self and you end up spending your life here. because life is comfy, you don't really want anything else. but then at the end, you haven't achieved your dream. you are still a rat at a new age version of a govt job.

well...my jobs a bit better, but still not there...

anyways got inspired watching chak de to write this post.

later...

the best way to get over politics is to just work...

thats the last piece of advice my team lead gave me...and for someone i didn't like to start off with, i now find most of what he says very meaningful.

i don't really look up to people, the question which is usually asked to people, 'who is your idol?' mostly leaves me baffled. i always sheepishly answer, my dad, which is true but i also know how cliche'd it sounds...

i don't really look up to people because most of the people i have met have some qualities, but the life they have lived is not really extra ordinary. they are not extra ordinary people, just normal people with some extra ordinary qualities. they don't inspire me....they are not wholistic enough for me.

come to think of it the only person except for dad who has inspired me is Chacko sir, my physics prof in 11-12th, but then again, i didn't really see too much of him to justify it.

but i have seen a lot of kumsha (that's his login), and i am inspired. i didn't like him to start with, mistakenly took him to be a dilliwala, which he was, but then over the last three years, he has changed a lot.

kumsha was always a mystery to me, i have not met anyone who follows his dreams, who is an idealist but knows that the practical political world devours the idealist, who has compromised somethings to retain what was the most important to him, to retain his idealism. ofcourse on this journey, this struggle to be what he is, he has been humbled, but that humility has only made him more clear and more sure of his ideals.

in a long discussion (more like mentoring session) once, he told me that i need to change to be more acceptable, i need to become more diplomatic and political and all that. but then at the end, the one thing he told me which actually inspired me to take on the world was 'don't change so much that you are not what you are'...meaning give in 20% if it helps you retain the rest 80%, but if someone asks you to change that 80%, just don't. and i really loved what he said.

intelligent, strategist, visionary, a good executioner when need be, a mentor and a friend, and a pretty good philosopher ...kumsha is all that and more. he is driven by his dreams, add to that a very fun loving guy...

he also has a great personal life, which is kinda opposite to what chika once said 'either have a successful marriage, or a successful career, both don't come together', i was surprised to know he married his school time sweet heart...was so curious about it and asked so many questions about it, that his wife ultimately commented, 'he IS the inquisitive one'...

Sharad, this is for you, its good to know that people who have followed the path i have chosen don't always end up big time losers!!!

i will miss having you around to save my ass...and to give me the much required pep talks. for me you are my first and best team lead...

best of luck...and take care.

we killed our mother...

thats a quote from 'the Avatar' and for me something which, more then anything else sets the movie apart.

avatar is a great movie...the Fx made me go 'fuck amazing' after a long time...3D makes it just better. the plot has been used quite a bit, a hero goes to fight someone and finally realizes he is not fighting against the evil, but for the evil, and changes sides and wins the war....but then someone told me, their are only three basic plots, well am sure there are more then three, but not that many...

what matters is the presentation...and well, this movie presented the idea in a very different way. the entire idea of humans going to another planet, trying to build relations with the civilization their, and ultimately trying to run them over, was quite unique. mostly its the other way around.

so back to the quote...the movie passes a very subtle message, we are killing our our mother, our mother earth. we are using it up for our comfort, and soon we won't have anything left to use up. we are killing all that which makes the world a beautiful place to live in.

think of the na'vi as the human civilization 10,000 years ago, and it makes sense. i guess thats what Cameroon was thinking about. what happened to enjoying the beauty around the world. valuing that beauty and making sure we don't destroy it...today we create cities by destroying that beauty, and then try to recreate that beauty in the city as theme parks...kinda ironic.

makes me also think this...what is the purpose of all the progress, what are we progressing at. from what is see, everything we do is just to make our, the human civilization's life to be more comfortable, and to have a longer life to enjoy the comfort...

guess it all comes down to the so call human tendency of never being satisfied, or always wanting to move forward...but maybe we are instead moving backwards.

other comments on the movie...well people complained that it was only 3D in parts, maybe you just got so transfixed on the movie, you forgot it was 3D, if you know what i mean. i liked the fact that at one point, which came quite early in the movie, the story took over from the graphics...

the time shown in the video logs says LST...think it should be PST (pandora standard time)

their were a few gaps in the movie, or maybe i just missed out on somethings..the synapses, all trees are connected idea was not developed. also the transferring of souls part was a bit far fetched even for 2154...but i loved the idea of you controlling another living creature by just connecting to them...i think that is coming in our lifetime. also what the hell was unobtanium...it has a Wikipedia page though.

a friend, just returned from the States commented that the movie also passed a strong message against US...well don't wanna comment on that.

anyways long post...

and yea, am putting this on FB simply because i thought there was a very subtle point being made which needs to be highlighted, in the small way that i can.

take care

PS: is it a coincidence that this coming out in conjunction to Copenhagen, yeah yeah, me making too much out of the 'subtle message' now!!!

life at its ironic best...

Scene I

9 year old boy, innocence personified, arrives in a new city...

goes to his new school, find out his aunt is the principal...

aunt asks the teacher to take him to the two sections of Class 5, so that he can choose...

boy walks in the lobby, wondering, how do i choose a section...

passes by 5A first...peeks in...and the first thing his eyes set on is a girl...and thats all he see's...

teacher pulls him to section B, tells this is the better section...better students better childrent...

then the question, 'beta, which section'...ummm...5A madame!!!

Scene II

an year has passed, boy is well settled, one of the top five rankers, and the class monitor...

the girl...ah the girl, is also one of the top five rankers...but he is in lovvveeeeee...

the boy has made friends...his best friend, also in the top five...is also in lovvveeee...

with the same girl...

they best friend...writes a love note to the girl...in the name of the boy...

the girl cries, the teacher summons the boy...shows the love note... 'I LOVE YOU GIRL - BOY'

the boy cries...i didn't write this...

the detective teacher say - 'write a love not exactly like, we will compare the handwriting'

the super bhondu boy write the love note exactly like that...

now the teacher compares the two love notes, both say...'I LOVE YOU GIRL - BOY'

and the teacher shouts out ' Eureka, it was you after all'

and the boy sheepishly says - 'but..but, you asked me to write it exactly like it!!!'

and the girl and boy don't talk for a long long time...

Scene III

the winters come and go...and the girl and boy don't talk...

but the bhondu boy is a good boy, and the girl sees this...

and then the sweet girl talks to the bhondu boy...

and love blossoms...and the world is rosy again...

the boy falls sick...and the girl comes meet the boy with her mum...

and the boy watches her go back all the way home...

and then the girl falls of the stairs and breaks her back...and the boy visits her with his mum...

and the girl would have watched him go all the way home if she could get off the bed...

the best friend is jealous...doesn't talk to the boy.

and passes taunts...and becomes super competitive...

and fights with the boy...and humilates him at cricket...

and kicks him out of the group...

but who cares...the boy is in love and his life is set...

if only...

Scene IV

the boys dad gets transferred, damn marketing job...

and the boy moves to a new, big city...

and the best friend, when saying goodbye has a sinister look on his face...

and the boy is heart broken

but the boy doesn't forget the girl...

and writes to her, every week...religiously...

and draws big hearts...and sprinkles sparkles and spray perfume...i think

and cycles to the post office, looks at the letters like its his will...and posts it...

and waits and waits and waits...

did i write my address right...did the best friend take over...is she ok...

and he waits and waits...

morning and evening, dad after day he tracks the postman...

but the letter doesn't come...

and then out of the blue...it does...

and his heart floats...he doesn't need anything more...

and he starts writing another one...more hearts, more sprinkles, better perfume,

and cycles to the post office and post the letter...

he waits, confident that the next reply will settle everything...

but no letter comes, morning and evening, days and weeks...no letter comes.

event he postman changes...but no letter comes...

and then the big city takes over, a new girl, but no letters this time...

but he doens't forget the girl...

scene 'i forgot the count'

the boy grows up...does well for himself...

shifts to an even bigger city

many relationships have come and gone...

the boy still remembers the girl...

and the world has changed...

the world is now moved from snail mail to email to Facebook...

and one night the boy searches for the girl on Facebook...

but as luck would have it...he finds the best friend...

who also is in a big city...at a good job and now...married...

and a fleeting thought crosses the boys mind...

and he, with trembling fingers, clicks on his marriage connection...

and after 12 longs years...finds his girl!!!

true story...

Tiger Woods and his 11 mistresses, for almost all of us, its just a news, masala. I like the way he has handled his disgresssions though, very dignified, ironic isn't it. Frankly speaking, i am not opinionated about what he did, its not my place to judge, i don't know the full story, believe no one does.

anyways had a theory about this, why the people at the top, people who have proven themselves to be the best of the best of our society, do such things. well, replace people with men actually. this is specific to us, the still to evolve sex.

so my theory is this, these guys are basically the top of the food chain, they are the alpha males, and as per the rules of the animal world, the alpha male gets the chicks...a lot of them, its biology, they need to spread their seeds, the best seeds their are!!! and thats what they do. ...

but our human alpha males can't, they are married and committed and all that. so they can't, society doesn't like it. the problem is marriage and commitment are not something which is natural, they are acquired traits, but alpha males needs to spread seeds is very natural very instinctive...so, conflict is inevitable!!! can't blame guys for it, can ya??!?

:)))

well that was that, girls reading this, please don't abuse me too much. am not gonna do it...am never gonna be the alpha male anyways. ;-)

btw - BOBILLI VIJAY KUMAR, writes about sports for the Times of India, and i have found him really good, his article about Federrer after he lost to Nadal was a classic. and this one, linked here is sarcastic and quite funny.

anyways, to more serious topics...

yesterday we got into a debate on whether its good to be an idealist. the examples were from music world and FB, its origins. A very idealist guy from the North East, (a region where i think we have the most idealist youth living, something to learn for the rest of the country) made a point that why can't you just do something for the love of it, why should everything be a business, should generate a profit...

why can't we just live on ideals, on the fact that i make my own kind of music and i want to share it with people who like it, why should i have to commercialize it??

well thats where the conflict is, if you want to make your music and you don't really care about what people think about it, whether someone listens to it or not, thats idealism, what every happens you won't change it. the moment you want others to like it, appreciate it, their goes your idealism, the moment you want to spread ur music, you are already on your path to commercializing it.

i gave the example of Fb, Zuckerberg started out with FB as a way to keep in touch with people at Harvard, he a pretty little server, he wrote the app, and since he didn't really put in any additional money into it, it was a zero profit zero loss for him. then came other universities, who wanted to use the app, and so he said, ok, let me put in 10 other servers (made an investment here) and share it with others. At some point the dude must have realized, 'this has potential' and must have approached the Venture capitalists, or maybe the other way round. well thats when he turned it into a business.

Nothing wrong with it, and i think, if you want to spread you idea, you need to make a business out of it. as for your ideals, well you many times have to give some...

Rehman today, has western tones to his music, maybe to commercialize it, maybe to get acceptance, the point is, he, at that point might have decided, 'ok, so what if in a album of 10 songs, 1 is not really what i want, i at least get 9 of my songs across.' the question is when do you stop, if you end up with all 10 songs of what the 'public' demands, then you lost out.

take care...me off to cycling.

ank