July 15th, 3:58pm 0 comments

Of stories and storytellers...

For ages have the questions beguiled us of whence have we come, what are we here for and where shall we go. While the mysteries at the extremities might still retain their elusiveness for some time, I hazard an answer to the medial enquiry --we are here to tell stories.

The pinnacle of evolution, nature's very own pièce de résistance, has been consciousness. Qualia, the raw emotion perceived or experienced, splits us into two selves --the Greater Self : that which is in terms of nerve cells and circuitry; and the Evanescent Self : that which makes each of us, a distinct 'me'. While the theory of evolution has been explained in terms of genetic selection, environmental adaptation and even the anomalous though fortuitous occurrence of preadaptation, it has yet to account for or explain the emergence of consciousness.

I see an apple. It reminds me of Zach 'J.D.' Braff's appletinis from the television series, Scrubs. The song, I'm no Superman plays in my head. Damn, Justice League starts in ten on Cartoon Network.
A fruit fly, when it detects an apple, registers "food".

This indulgence in seemingly random yet concomitant thoughts is a phenomenon that has been contrived by evolution to serve, protect and, when necessary, deceive an otherwise mechanical organism. Consciousness is the story-teller. Beliefs, biases, perceptions, denials --reality-- are its stories. Are we the story-tellers or are we the stories told?

Now let's take another thread.
When a primordial soup churned and unchurned to gradually procreate without precursor, there it began to tell a story of life; that after excessive efforts culminated in the telling of story of unicellular organisms. The multi-celled bacterium took up the mantle to continue to tell the story. The Human body is made up of millions (or is it billions?) of cells. Mitochondria are integral constituents of human cells. But these mitochondria are bacterial entities that gave up their independence, millions (or is it billions, again?) of years ago. When man became a part of the story, he began to tell it, too. In Maya, Jostein Gaarder says, "The applause for the Big Bang was heard only fifteen billion years later." The popular Gaia theory propounds that the earth (or Gaia) is itself an organism. As the mitochondrion to man, so may man someday be to Gaia. Maybe the applause was a little premature. Maybe the story is yet to conclude. Maybe the plot is far from unraveled. Maybe it has only just begun.

As Ira Glass says, "Great stories happen to those who can tell them." This paradoxical implication presents both hope and warning. Our lives are the stories we live. In Troy, Achilles tells Briseis, "The Gods envy us. They envy us because we're mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again." Each moment is a story itself. Is it a story worth telling? But more importantly, is it a story worth living? Answering to the former is conjecture. But experiencing the latter is truth.

From stories we come, stories we live and to stories we go.

 

Stories
Posted
October 25th, 8:57pm 0 comments

Sharing lightens; Listening heals...

The world, as we know, is fast shrinking due to the rapid advances in all spheres of human activity. But ironically, the price for this has been that people have started drifting apart. In the quest for self advancement and independence, men and women have started isolating themselves. Today, paradoxically, one has to 'stand out', to 'fit in'.

In order to attain social acceptance, we are forced to wear so many masks, that often we forget what our actual face looks like. Under this cloud of pretension and pressure, we may stand in a crowd and still be alone. Often we speak but do not express. And we hear but do not listen.

In this crowd, spoken words abound, but emoted feelings are lost. A person is acknowledged, but a soul is ignored. The sight of wood is lost for the tree, where materialistic pursuits are defined, not by the value they add to our lives but, by their values themselves. So we are entangled in this quagmire of self-deceit and success where the more we try to escape the trappings, the deeper we find ourselves sink.

The need of the hour is for man to introspect, analyse and re-invent his value system and build his world in its image rather than fashion his values around the world. And for this, man needs to express and man needs to listen.

When feelings remain unaddressed, they fester like unattended wounds. Pent up emotions stretch the fabric of our civilization. And when these remain bottled up, they suddenly manifest themselves in unexpected and unpleasant ways. Our society is like a raging animal on steroids that we are hanging on to --desperate in that we do not fall off it, even while we do not enjoy the ride. We need to rebuild our society into a structure that encourages growth of an individual while promoting the progress of the community at large. And at the core of this rebuilding process is communication. When we express, we alleviate.

But communication is incomplete if we only convey our thoughts but do not construe, empathise and respond to the feelings of others. For the process of sharing and healing will go a full cycle only when we mutually address our emotions. Working hands are better than praying lips –but sometimes a patient ear, a soothing tongue or a shoulder to lean on, can make a world of difference too.

An open mind and an un-judging ear can be the bridge for another, between despair and hope; between the inevitable and possibilities; between death and a second chance.

So it’s up to us to shake up the world, revive its core values, and open up forgotten channels of communication –not between people, but between souls. Let us speak out the stifled and listen to the unsaid. Let’s reach out to emotions. Let’s not want a reward or acclaim or a mention by posterity. Let’s make it our business and do it as our job. Let’s all work together and make the world a better place.

Descending into depressive shadows,
Reeking of ignored, forsaken gloom;
He moves among the forgotten, incognito,
As one of their own in that festering room.

A stranger, so familiar, to them, outcasts,
He offers solace of warmth, love,
That stem from personal hurt and betrayal;
Transcending pain to something nobler above.

In shadows, he works, nameless,
Recognition is not for him;
The silent moon, his only witness,
The stars shine down upon him.

~From, The Altruist

 

 

Dusk

Filed under Random musings
Posted
August 24th, 2:36pm 1 comment

Religion and the modern society

        In ancient times, when civilizations were born, each one was a self-sustaining unit –an individual society. All its members were like the spokes of a wheel, functioning synchronously to keep the rim that was their collective lifestyle, moving smoothly. The central hub to which these individual spokes were tethered was the concept of religion. Religion was merely a set of rules governing daily life and deemed essential to uphold the society’s unity and enforced interdependence. It also helped define duties of its members and maintain harmony in the society. As trade developed, it necessitated migration of people. Confronted with perilous journeys, possibilities of not returning back, long periods of absence and vast distances from home, the one constant comfort to these migrants was the refuge to practices of their religion.

        Rules framed by man are regularly set in stone by passage of time and mystifying of source. Often the essence of the words and their context are lost in the blind devotion to their literal translation. And as more followers are led astray by such fool-hardy zealousness, degeneration sets into that religion.

        The modern world comprises of a single society –the Global society. The advent of better transportation and faster communication has principally fostered a global community by creating opportunities and facilitating large migrations. The religion-based societies have been amalgamated into this one synergistic society.

        But, to carry the wheel-analogy forward, the ancient hubs of religion still function to create separate societies based on moral and ethical ideologies. While the modern world, in general, is run on a unifying theme of inclusiveness with a common purpose of collective advancement, religious beliefs still steer individual lifestyles and practices.

        The notion of a set of rules, rooted in morality, dictating private choice is an agreeable, nay, favourable undertaking. But religious fervour often manifests itself in intolerance of other religions. And fanatic adherence to the ‘hubs’ strains the cords that bind one to one’s religion. And as more strained cords intertwine, the very fabric of society is stretched. The society is transformed into a wheel with multiple hubs, polarized spokes and a rim that is in absolute disarray. The wheel wobbles, veers drunkenly, largely goes nowhere and faces the dangerous eventuality of falling flat on its side.

        So how does the global society negotiate the problems posed by these religious sub-societies? The answer lies in revisiting the fundamentals of inclusiveness and tolerance that form the basis for the creation of modern civilization. Atrocities in the name of religion are merely the festering wounds of social inequalities clothed in collective garb of faith. For, what better unifying ideology for such brimming discontent than one the oppressed already subscribe to. The need of the hour is not alienation of one religion or faith. It lies in addressing the social causes which incite a populace to justify their retaliation to society at large.

        Religion too has its role to play in the scheme of things. It will take the collective efforts of all upholders of every religion to find a common path of cooperative tolerance and peaceful existence. Every religion must evaluate its place and value in today’s world. It must keep in mind to not lose the wood for the tree. The underlying basic values might remain the same, but their paths of pursuit have to be pertinent to the age. Religion must shake off its rigidity, avert stagnancy and keep pace with times. It must constantly reinvent and update itself. Meaningful evolution is an essential cornerstone for religion to retain its relevance.

        Religion is as much an identity of an individual, as nationality, political affiliations or any other. The core foundation of religion is to instruct its practitioner on how to lead a life that is productive and useful not only to oneself, but also for the society on the whole. To paraphrase Isaac Asimov, religion must never get in the way of doing what’s right. As long as this dictum is observed, religion will only serve to propel society forward and advance our civilization.

Filed under Random musings Religion
Posted
July 14th, 8:15pm 0 comments

Ignite, Mumbai: To the other shore...

So, Ignite is this fun concept, where you get 5 minutes to tell a story or anything you want to share, in exactly 20 slides, where each slide is on auto change after 15 seconds.

Started in Seattle in December, 2006, true to its name, Ignite has set afire the imagination of enthusiasts all around the globe. It has set up a movement of idea exchange and a novel method of story telling to which Mumbai has just started to awaken.

Ignite Mumbai held it's first event on the 24th of April, 2010, at Cafe Goa, Bandra. I was one of the first speakers at it.
I had an awesome time there, and this is my presentation:

 

 

 

 

For all the videos from Ignite Mumbai, check this link out: http://www.youtube.com/user/ignitemumbai

Filed under Chill outs
Posted
April 5th, 1:56am 0 comments

Into an abyss of hopelessness...

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Lose hold,
Slip away,
Into obscurity,
Cheerlessness.


Clouds surround,
Gloom engulfs,
Suffocating swathe,
Strangling life.

Slowly descend,
Gradually dive,
Plummeting
Into chasm.

Retreating ledge,
Shrinking visage,
Unrepentant,
Bids farewell.

Fear, alarm, panic;
Resignation,
Acceptance,
Enervated submission.

Receding azure,
Ochre approaches,
Dizzying depth,
Spinning, spiralling.

Abrupt clarity, calm,
Peace, beatitude;
Drift in comforting cocoon,
Into the abyss of hopelessness.

Filed under Poems
Posted
December 23rd, 2:14am 2 comments

The altruist

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Descending into depressive shadows,
Reeking of ignored, forsaken gloom;
He moves among the forgotten, incognito,
As one of their own in that festering room.

A stranger, so familiar, to them, outcasts,
He offers solace of warmth, love,
That stem from personal hurt and betrayal;
Transcending pain to something nobler above.

In shadows, he works, nameless,
Recognition is not for him;
The silent moon, his only witness,
The stars shine down upon him. 

Filed under Poems
Posted
October 10th, 11:52pm 1 comment

Writer's block

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As I wait with pen in hand,
For diction of word;
Inches from paper hovers nib,
Taut drawn bow.

Restless stylus yearning,
To indite verse,
Unyielding manual leash
Restraining flow.

Fluttering parchment straining,
All ready to fly;
But deprived of orientation,
Nowhere to go.

With all props ready,
And audience in seat,
The play dies premature,
For the actors fail to show.

Cracking my knuckles,
Wringing hands in vain;
Racking brains, and
Thinking of all I know.

Waiting for inspiration’s
Brilliant strike;
Desperate for rescue
From this silent legato.

And then I give up,
My quest for rhyme;
Lay down weapons,
Before poetic foe.

Then my failure, I realize,
Is in itself poem;
Poem for my despair,
Quid pro quo!

Filed under Poems
Posted
September 16th, 6:26pm 1 comment

For the love of love...

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Walking on wandering feet,
Along unknown road and aimless street;
Searching, seeking, on the quest,
For the love of love itself.


Love as passion, love as zest,
Carnal, needy, and all the rest;
None of these in itself do i seek,
But only the love of love itself.

Love that nourishes, that which consumes,
Creating, sustaining or that doth expunge
None of these do i desire,
Save the love of love itself.

As drifting leaf on intent winds,
My meandering soul finds many sojourns;
I see a glimmer, an illusion of hope,
But it eludes me, --the love of love itself.

Tired, vanquished, in despair,
Failed endeavour, homeward i repair;
Still i turn to that elusive notion,
I yearn for the love of love itself.

Disturbed thoughts in chaotic strife,
Unasked questions and unanswered voices;
Interrupted emotions restlessly restrained,
All for the love of love itself.

At long last, the stormy clouds part,
Streaks of golden sunlight bathe
My mind into tranquility, peace then beatitude,
With the love of love itself.

I lost myself in a divergent journey,
In obsessive pursuit of a concept;
And in the end found it in me,
The precious love of love itself.

Filed under Poems
Posted
August 4th, 5:41pm 4 comments

Technical interview at TCS

I always knew that I’d crack the apti, and graciously bow out at the technical interview stage. So I went in with the confidence of a dead man who knew he couldn’t be killed. I, almost nonchalantly, wished the two interviewers well and asked if I may take a seat. I handed them the file which contained all my mark sheets and also, due to an oversight, my AWP (I think) test paper, displaying a three on twenty-five! ‘Ignorance is bliss’ –if ever a truer statement had been made! And they merely turned the first two-three pages and hardly even glanced at them.
For sake of convenience I shall, from now on, allude to the first interviewer, a male, as ‘M I’, the second one, a female, as ‘F I’ and to yours truly, as simply ‘ME’.
The interview began:
M I: So, tell us something about yourself.
I have this fierce urge to do the classical, ‘My name is Iyer…Venkitaraman Iyer…Krishnamoorthy Venkitaraman Iyer…Nurani Krishnamoorthy Venkitaraman Iyer…’
With an incredible display of self restraint, I manage a reply to the question with a straight face.
After giving me the usual routine of ‘which is your favourite subject?’ and such other questions, we get down to business…
F I: What is a comparator?
I grope wildly in the farthest recesses of my mind, and even as I struggle so desperately, something about two inputs strikes me…
ME: It’s got two inputs; one input is reference input and other input is (the) input (as a noun), input (as a verb) to it…and I realise that there are probably a few inputs too many here. But I soldier on…The input to it is compared to the reference input and the difference in their levels accordingly yields a resultant output.
‘At last –output –a new technical term!!...I must be on a roll!!’
M I: So tell me…
I’m still basking in my glory…
M I: Ok, then…
‘Huh? Did I just miss a question completely??!!’
I give him a nod that is a somewhere between a ‘yes’ and a ‘no’.
We then turn to programming.
F I: So, you’ve done C programming in college? Write me a program to list numbers in order.
A smile starts to play on my lips Piece of cake! 
ME: Yes ma’am.
What she expects is logic to ‘sort’ a list of numbers in ascending order. But I proceed to write a piece of code merely displaying all the numbers, ‘in order’ as I understand, and that too, in a non terminating manner! It is a disastrous piece of code technique, not to mention, a completely wrong answer!
The F I gives me an incredulous look and quietly places in aside –probably to have a good laugh about it later with the other interviewers.
M I: So, you know anything about mobiles?
Bat-Mobile?!
ME: Yes sir, we will be learning it this semester.
M I: So how does it work?
Blurting out…
ME: Battery? 
The M I started to raise an eyebrow...
ME: I mean it catches the network from station… and relays it back to the station and… converts radio waves to electric waves and…then to voice waves (?!)
I am transported to another time when I was at Kalra-Shukla and our Bio sir, Prof. Ram, strode into class one early Friday morning.
We were still half asleep, when his sudden appearance rudely awakened us. It wasn’t just his sudden entry, but his looks that really alarmed us. Tight body-hugging collarless Tee with the face of a big tiger printed on it; tight blue jeans; and a three-day stubble. If this wasn’t shock enough, he started asking random people questions. One poor hapless chap was still unable to keep his eyes open and very surely, he was also picked out to be questioned. Ram sir thundered ‘What is the chemical equation for photosynthesis?’ And now the boy was widely awake ‘Sir…’ he ventured… ‘It is… C6H12O6… plus… H2O… plus…’ There was pin drop silence in the class. And then Ram sir addressed him, poker faced, betraying no emotion, ‘That, my dear sir, is the recipe for GLUCON-D!’
If I could be there now, I’d put an understanding arm around his shoulder.
Jeesez! Of all occasions to be day-dreaming! I shove the memory out of my head and get back to the matter at hand. I continue…
And then GSM or CDMA techniques are used. And SIM cards do all this, not battery.
What? ‘Not Battery!’ My head is already attributing phrases to the current situation –‘verbal diarrhoea’, ‘foot-in-mouth disease’, ‘pink-slip of…no…by tongue’... No…got to focus…
They probably have had enough of this blabbering, but decide to find out what the HR guys might have missed…
M I: Name three personalities you admire.
ME: Well…Saurav Ganguly…The Ganguly-Chappel saga is the current hot topic…‘love you Saurav, love you Chappel’, even if I risk sounding gay…’Coz, present circumstances not considering, he has really brought Indian cricket out of the doldrums…I don’t have the slightest inkling of what the word means…He has moulded this Indian outfit to gel into a cohesive fighting unit. He has marshalled his resources exceedingly well. He is an excellent leader, and yet an ardent disciple of the game...‘thank you Ravi, Harsha, Tony, etc’…He has brought the spark and spunk, back into the team…now I’m rambling…The Indian players are like water and oil, and he has converted them to liquid-sol…‘thank you, some-chemistry-sir-from-Kalra-Shukla’…  
The two of them, wide-eyed, are staring at me…
M I: Interrupting me…Ok, ok. Who’s the next one?
I realize that I need to keep it a li’l concise.
ME: Roger Federer. He’s the number one in his game, and yet has his feet firmly on the ground. He is modesty personified. So extremely talented, so exceedingly humble…the poet in me is starting to take over…And last, um, Abdul Kalam…I go blank!...‘Now where did that come from!!...think man, think…who’s he? Father of the nation?’ ...He was a…‘no, he was the,… no, is the president’…he is a great visionary who sees great dreams for his beloved motherland…Oh, these ‘poetic-prose’ type statements always come handy, when you have no actual matter at hand…He is a technologically-oriented man who sees technology as a means for the technological advancement for India...
My technological disposition clearly doesn’t seem to appeal to their sense of technology.
Now the two of them have plainly lost their patience. They’ve had enough for one day…
F I: Ok. Go sit outside, and we’ll let you know the results.
I walk out with my dignity largely unscathed. It also helps, that there is no one left in the waiting area awaiting their interview results. As I pack my stuff into my bag, a lady comes out and says, ‘Fill up this form and go to the basement, where you’ll have your H.R. interviews.’
And then I land the job.

 

Filed under Encounters
Posted
July 14th, 4:25am 1 comment

The economic recession is also an opportunity for career advancement

             The economies of the world are reeling under the effects of a full fledged recession. The industry is waking up to a harsh reality. And when the corporate structure feels shaky, the brunt of strain is felt at the very base of the arrangement, at the individual level. Inadequate monetary compensations are only a part of a larger picture. The impact of the current market situation on the individual’s emotional physiology has been as extensive as it has been understated.
One side of the story is that the economic fall-off has resulted in lower business for industry, which in turn translates to lesser work and immediate opportunities for the employees. Managers are unable to direct or motivate them to perform at work, simply because there is no work! This breeds a feeling of frustration and the employees feel trapped in doldrums.
When an employee is forced to hang on to the job out of some difficulty, he or she starts to hate the job. Consequently he or she starts hating himself or herself for going through the grind unwillingly.
Another side is the carrot-stick method that many organizations employ as stop-gap arrangement to “weed out non-performers”; where the “incentive” for high performance is job security! This in fact kills enthusiasm of employees. All these factors cause them to lose drive. This employee dissatisfaction and apathy decreases productivity and, on a macro-scale, completes the vicious circle of the recession.
But there are two sides to every coin. This recession will force individuals to face up to difficult questions and induce them to answer. Self-motivated employees who still enjoy the work in their domains will know that they belong there. They would have found their best-fit fields. It will also help organizations identify their aptitude and develop their abilities. Such individuals will be prized and when the economy starts to turn up, their value and career advancement opportunities will increase many fold. Others who are unable to muster up the same enthusiasm will know that their calling lies elsewhere. This will, in a sense, be an on-the-job career counseling.
Individuals who quit their jobs either through choice or compulsion will also be poised on an exciting threshold. One option would always be pursuing higher education. The training will improve the individual’s skills and marketability. A two or three year course will also ensure better positioning of the individual in the job market, at an opportune time, even as the industry emerges out of this economic gloom. Alternately, the individuals may go in for a complete change of career path by opting to study for an altogether different vocation.
Another option would be to learn new marketable skills or enroll for short-term courses. One may as well indulge in artistic leanings. The story of Steve Jobs and his calligraphy lessons in college are legendary and it might well be worth taking the dip. In an age where a Jack-of-all-trades is as valued as, if not more than, a Master, it pays to have many and varied cards up ones sleeves.
Many people are now opting to take private tuitions or even going back to college, as lecturers. This not only takes one back to the basics and in touch with theory, but also enhances one’s confidence.
Finally there are always those who embark on entrepreneurial journeys. When organizations are looking to cut costs, they are exploring alternatives outside of established but costly vendors for many services. A low-cost provider with acceptable quality of delivery is a very enticing option for them. Extreme market conditions not only open up new avenues to provide service, they also create conditions to find and establish niche markets. Even as the heavy oak struggles to brave the storm, the versatile grass will find room to flourish.
  We have certainly hit rough weather. But as the saying goes, ‘when the going gets tough, the tough get going’. These are testing times but the thing about being in an abyss is that there’s only one way to go- up!
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Filed under Economics Recession
Posted