Anatomy of the Invisible Universe

Killing of Sikh Leader Sets Off Riots in India - New York Times

Punjab Riots after Vienna Killing - BBC News

Nah this post isnt about violence or religious extremism. Violence ofcourse starts with 'V'. I usually do not discriminate among letters, but I think the ones which are in the end are usually the laziest bums of the group and less trustable. Dont trust my opinion?? Ok. Simple question: What is the sign of the sleepyheads and comatose drinkyheads in the world?? ZZZZZZZ.... and Z is the 26th alphabet. Coincidence? I think not!

Regardless of whatever the old and the new testament says, I can vouch that this is what happened:

GOD created the universe, the earth, the moon, the beach and the pebbles on the beach over a period of six days. Along with this he created the food chain and made man sit on its top. Everything was fine. And then GOD did just a teeny-tiney-eenie-weenie mistake. He gave man the tongue. If you do not know, the first man didn't had a tongue. We know that GOD is almighty and source of all the wisdom, so of course he would have known the pitfalls of giving man a tongue. But GOD had to give him under circumstantial pressure. You'll ask, GOD and under pressure? Well as my newly written testament says, GOD created man and together they partied, boozed and made merry on the seventh day. When man woke up after all the delectation's and creation hangover, he probably... u know wanted to 'relieve' himself... and if you are in front of GOD almighty then the etiquette dictates u don't leave his party without informing him. Its GOD the 'almighty' and he had just created u fresh from his oven. May be he'll put you in the oven again, just for funzies... You can't predict someones mood after a friday night hangover. So man naturally did what anyone without tongue would do... jump around... use sign language to tell he wants to go for a 'releiving ceremony'... no shame in accepting, we all have done this at some point in our lives... you know how it happens right... when the pressure is too much... we get up, get down... move restlessly... pace up and down... look towards that closed restroom and curse the person sitting inside. Now imagine all that and with added effect of having 'no tongue'... I doubt sign language would have reached its artistic level back then... so GOD is seeing this freshly made hunny-bunny, his art de-joy - the man, jumping in hoops in front of him and with his entire wisdom GOD cannot figure out what the heck is wrong with this young chap...

Rum? Bacardi?? Grapes? Apple?... Seriously Chap... tell me what you want. I am GOD. I can deliver.

But Nah. The Dance of impuissance and conflicted irony continues. So GOD gets frustrated, he wonders and against his own wisdom, does the unthinkable.

So... wolla! GOD gives him the freedom to speak... and since then GOD has probably felt guilty of this mistake... but GOD being GOD cannot disclose this in open... i know this because he told me this last night... anyways... so coming back to the point... now GOD... needed to give man letters too... just the next logical step after creating the tongue...

And thus, GOD created the letters.... and decided to create words... GOD being GOD, cannot stop being GODlike, wanted to be just and fair to all the letters (duh), so he invited them to his palace next day in the morning... to distribute words among them... and give them a place in the alphabet tree... Now we all know what happened after that... A being of most cheerful disposition arrived first and went singing merrily with first seat and Z probably arrived at last... probably had drugged itself on half a weed from last nights creation party... and thus we have A with most words and Z with the least...

Anyhows, now that I have established the history of mankind and alphabets in one single article worthy of being included in Wikipedia, I shall go on to tell the real story behind this blog... It just so happened that last week, my mom, dad and bro got saved from an insane mob of 1000 people...A journey of an hour lasted for more than three during which they had their own version of 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure'... And yeah they are safe and gobbling aaloo/paneer parathas as I thus speak...

In short, everyone left Ludhiana quite late at night. On the way there was 'chakka jaam' at quite many places. I was on phone with them during that time and we were joking about certain things so I didn't realize the gravity of the situation. Anyhows, they had to detour over couple of villages late at night during which they lost their way and ended up in a group of 1000 crazy people who stopped their car and refused to let them go away. Dad, cool as cucumber as he is, stepped outside and showed his sympathies with them. They threatened to harm him. They wanted candies which my dad promised to get them if they come with him to 'Modern Kiryana Store'. So the group calmed down and lo! in from them emerged the leader who took my dad aside and told him in his ear, that candies are for others but 'real men' accept nothing below 'Dairy Milk'. I guess my dad thought a little bit about implications, but he agreed. Ultimately the leader of the group came in and saw the dairy milk in his eyes and took over our car and drove through the entire route until Phagwara! And then Army tried to stop him in between - they wanted their share of candies, but ultimately he reached home safe and sound.

Normally I have seen people panic and getting flustered when something like this happens. Scared, terrified would normally be the general reaction on such cases. It all stems from the inability of people to remember the correct kiryana store to go and fetch candies. But somehow things are little different in our family.Dad says its the 'Faith' thingy. Apparently few years ago we dug a hole in our backyard and hit this supply line. Since then without informing PWD (Punjab Waterworks Department) we have been steadily routing this 'Faith' thingy in our home. I don't know if its illegal to fish faith in troubled waters, but it has kept our lawns green ever since then. So as my dad tried to explain me in language of worlds most ancient dialect - hindi, we have this faith that GOD is sitting in a big room filled with zillions of Televisions and watching over us. Its somewhat unsettling I know. Apparently he does not use DVDs and has system more advanced then Blue Ray to record over what we do. This has raised heat in Seattle where Microsoft is working hard to find the system with aim of ultimately copying and mass producing it under their own label.

Neverthless coming back, probably GOD has a TiVo installed. Who knows. No one has apparently seen his condo or the bed room. GOD is a private person and paparazzi are strictly not allowed. So not much is known about GODs private life. Has he got picture frames hanging on his walls? Da Vinci? Manet? Kabir? Tulsidas? What channels he prefers to watch the most? I am not interested to know the make of the TVs but I sure want to know how much energy bill he gets and what credit card GOD uses to pay them all. My American Express is set to expire in few months.

Anyhows, as much of talentless person I am, I have apparently received this 'faith' by hereditary means. Faith that there is this guide who is constantly watching us and who'll steer our ships away. For long time I thought it was the voice from the skies. I mean like Lightning. But apparently its the voice from within. They say 'Faith' is the best antidote for a calamity. It wont replace the function that a benadryl has to perform but undoubtedly the importance that 'Faith' serves in our lives serves is more than air water and food put together. Not so good things do happen in ones life but nothing can be more terrible than losing ones faith. Having no faith is like a 10 headed giant dragon ready to slay hope, dreams and the banana cream pie given the first chance. So have the faith in whatever you believe in.

It happened when dad had to get operated for his heart. It happened when mom had the accident. And it happened recently when a friend going through serious emotional stress thought stabbing me was as great as taking the giant ride in Kings Island :P (Not for the weak hearted but monstrously funny story, which I am not yet allowed to reveal) and countless others... Have I ever lost it?yeah... once until now... and in a not so distant past... it was akin to sitting on a scooter with really bad shockers but except that, I always had faith that Krogers shall never be empty of the Hagen-Daz when I need it...

Here is hoping that 'May the force be with you' :)

Just an ad... :)

Nice animation. Someday I wish the other anand would make something like this. Oh hell, he will :) Now that he is going to be here, I have started hunting youtube on best ways to beat the crap out of young ones in the clan :D

Journey of Thousand Miles begins with...

I dined with Ezekiel and Gabriel last night

Made a pact and let them check my eye sight

Its one simple life with dreams so many

I'll fulfill them all with lord playing my nanny

We laughed and raised a toast of sparkling wine

Sure, there'll be quests to cross and dragons to maim

But Frodo Baggins didnt stop and neither will I

Until I lay my claim over my shire or until I die

I know that

simply because 

I have and I can

To Those Who Never Give Up :) And To Those Who Do...

There once was a village and an idiot village chap
who herded ostriches wearing no braces nor a cap
he was a man of few thousand words, bow ties and beliefs
said life is maggi noodles sprinkled with chocolate chips and griefs
his dreams were simple but big, a stash of strawberries filling up his fridge
had few possessions, like a 'single track mind' and a wooden house on the mountain ridge
life was a merry circle with free coupons to six flags
he remained high on happiness like year round oktoberfest
then came a great famine and few villagers became restless
and when the seas dried up, they panicked and became breathless
so they left on one hot day, to find a new hayride
excused themselves and left others behind to die
tch tch, the village chap had brains planted in his knees
he hanged on, until one day sky churned and earth cracked with green leaves
he found few potatoes, and he muttered happily to himself, 
When life gives u potatoes, you should make french fries 
if others had stayed, they too could make french fries
but thats a life. Game for some, and for others a business of becoming wise :)

A day with a Thought of its own

I stood Among them, but not of them: in a shroud Of thoughts which were not their thoughts. 
- Lord Byron

A friend of mine brought me a revelation after reading my first blog. He told me that a blog ain't about writing skills, but about ideas and thoughts. While I don't agree with him completely, I dedicate this blog to the idea of ideas and the thought of thoughts.
They say that a man is what a man thinks, for what he thinks, he often does, and what he often does, is what makes of him. For women, well I dont think simply substituting "woman" in place of "man" in the above sentence will serve the purpose, for a woman is a whole different world in herself. All I can say for sure is that gravity and relativity do not work in their world the same way it does in our mens world. Anyways thats a whole together a different topic and maybe someday else, I will take a pick on that. 
U remember early man? Yeah, he was the one whose picture you saw in your science books. Yes, I know he looked hairy, but comeon, there weren't any shaving kits in that time. What was the first thing the early man would have thought? Was it "damn, where did god left his matchstick? Its so cold in here that my ass has got frozen" or "baaraa...bum...bararara...bum bum bum". Frankly, I can't imagine. But early man was real lucky for he didnt had to think of how to pay the doodhwaalaas and dhobis at the end of the month or decide between choosing between watching a football game and WWF. Believe me, those things can be tough and life altering.
Much before someone got inquisitive about human origins and looked at a giant salamander and uttered the historic words "Oh you look like my cousin Bugglebery", there were people busy searching for origin of thought. The reason why I began with early man was, because the origin of thought began with origin of our evolution. The first thing that would have happened is that he became aware. Aware of himself and his surroundings. I dont know when would it have happened or how it happened? And perhaps these questions are not important. But that was the begining of his age. An age which ushered a whole new meaning to the word "existence" and which brought among other things my favorite cadbury's eclairs. First you got to know what are you looking for to look for something first. That came from awareness. It probably happened that he got aware that there were predators watching him and his girlfriend and he "knew" that he had to do something. Then came the next big thing-"inquisitiveness". To even this day, any new achievement is rooted in these two qualities.

But how do we think?How do we get all these thoughts?Is there some well inside us where we occassionaly take a dip and come out with "thoughts"?And what are these "thoughts"?I can't see them, but I can feel them, so are these thoughts my feelings?How do I know that what I think is my thought and not sent inside my mind by that freaky looking lady who claims herself to be a psychic?Which thoughts are "rational" and which are "irrational"?Are all rational thoughts good?What is good?Who gets to make the decision of what is good?Is there something called evil?Is something bad?

I am not the first one to raise these questions and neither am I the first one to think of their solutions. Everyday in some part of the world, each second, many of us are involved in a turmoil to answer these questions. These questions are the reason, why we have a religion or why need one. And because we all "think" differently thats why there are so many religions inspite of the popular saying "God is One".
I don't profess to be a thinker, but having marshmallows in for dinner table has had some effect. And as a non psychology student, I will try my best to present my understanding over this issue. Ofcourse, at the end of this some or all questions will remain unanswered or I may leave you more confused. But perhaps someone may be able to locate order in disorder and come up with something different. Another strong possibility is that what I say, you'll just agree sayin "so?I already know about that". But thats the thing right. You are supposed to know about this. And for your sake, I hope you will or have already said that already. This is something which we all share, we all are aware of or have been aware at some or the other part of the life. This is not like a physics experiment which few geeks can understand and make the rest of us look like children of lesser god. But if you haven't, relax, take a diet coke and chill, someday u'll reach this stage.I have thought upon these questions often in my life but ultimately had to stop when all the dispirin got finished. 
There were times, just like when I am writing this, when I thought I had some answers up my sleeves. But then when I look at what I have realised, I find that there is only one complete truth. Nothing is Absolute. There are no absolute answers. And it is at this point, where I start slipping into the realms of abstract and my sentences run the chance of becoming inarticulate, that it becomes absolutely necessary for me to become dettached with my consciousness if I want an answer to these questions in real terms.
One can go and explaining that a thought is a by-product of all the chemical reactions taking place inside our mind. I would like to believe that. But I am sure, everybody has a feeling that there is more to it. And there lies half the answer. "Feelings". If touch, smell, see, taste are our windows to the outer world, then these "feelings" are the gates to our inside. There is no denying them. They are there for real. Feeling, consciousness and awareness, they are pretty much the same terms, with a very thin line differentiating them. There is no greater sense than feeling for even our outer doors of perception are a way to make us feel about our surroundings.And the rest half of the answer lies in our surroundings. From the day we are born and till the day we die and people at our funeral come to say nice things about us even when the only interaction we had them was when we standing in the same queue to pay the water bills, we pass through a myriad of circumstances. And each of the moment that we pass, has an impact on us.These two things are pretty much what make our thinking. And from the thinking comes the "thought". You might consider a thought as a product of our serious consideration over a matter or in other words what we "think" over a matter. And this is what sets us apart from those who are dead, for they dont have the luxury to think or realise. The way we behave in our present goes down as history tomorrow and decides what kind of future we have chosen for ourselves. There are infinite possibilities on how to behave at a particular moment. Yet in most of the times, we have a clear idea of what we ought to do or more importantly what ought we not to do. And this clarity of taking a decision comes with the way we think and how we have molded ourselves so that only a particular kind of thoughts come at a decisive moment. But hasn't it happened with all of us, so many times in our lives, that we think of something, after the decision has been taken. Another solution, another possibility, which just didn't cross our mind when we were taking a vital decision. And then we wonder at ourselves, where did that come from now and why it didn't strike me before?... And thats because our mind has been conditioned to search for a solution in a particular way... and that is why thinking out of box is really a cumbersome process... 
The mind of a scientist requires that things be answered in a realistic way, something which can be understood by our 5 senses. And thats where he usually goes wrong, for he leaves behind the driver of all these-the mind and the consciousness. And thats where the philosophers take an edge over the scientists, for they acknowledge that there is a fair chance that such questions of mind may be left unanswered forever. A scientist won't even acknowledge the presence of consciousness, for regardless how many times u dissect bodies, there is nothing in there such as "consciousness". He refuses to have faith in such subjects. 
Another important thing about thought and thinking is that most of us know about things, but we seldom understand things or realise them. Knowing isn't everything, but realisation is. The french call it "pensez et appliquez" or "think and apply". And the world has scene the effectiveness of their thought in the popularity of french kisses and french rolls. 
I wonder how many of us have felt some or the other time, as if they were "trapped in the body". That something is holding back. That sky is no different from me and I can reach it, but something is holding me back. That there is nothing such as a complete silence, for the universe is buzzing forever and calling us and telling us that its alive and kicking and nothing is monotonous even on the smallest time scales. I wonder how many of us have felt the same thing when I was at the sea shore, with gentle waves coming and receding away from my feet, and feel as if there wasnt any difference between me and it. Is it realisation?I hope so. Is it a mere thought?I don't know and I don't care, for in the end, it all boils to what Morpheus said "Free your mind".

I end up leaving some unanswered questions and a thought from another great thinker

“Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings - always darker, emptier and simpler.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche

Have a great time thinking!

A day with Mind out of the box

I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.
- Vincent Van Gogh

Its always safe to begin with a quote from someone with whom you didn't had the pleasure to be involved in an awkward social meet. I chose Mr. Gogh, more so because he has been dead for past 400 years or more, and so we really are strangers to each other.

These Quotes are like womans anti-ageing cream. One can always use them to hide your own less than average intelligence and inability to come up with something original on your own. 

Like all great thinkers before me (You better start believing this), I have spent my time wondering what it takes to come up with such interesting and insightful quotes. And I have reached the conclusion that a 24 oz of bottle of marmalade drunk while doing belly dancing on a new years eve is just the kind of recipe you need to turn your mind inside out to think randomly and combine haphazardly few words to make up a good sentence. 

Infact I had made a resolution to try this thing out at the begining of this year. But I cudn't try it as I don't know belly dancing. And I made this particular new year resolution just while writing this blog. But will it be easy then? Most of the things which I would have said have already been stolen from me by the roosevelts and roger rabbit. The only thing which I am left to do now is to quote them saying things which they would have been quoting from my quotes had I been the first one to quote them first. Rammbaa.. karammbaa... 

Its a dogs world out there.