| Not so pleasing habits |
[Aug. 20th, 2004|04:32 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  embarrassed | ] |
Many have made it a habit or rather a style. Words like Mams, gujilis all end with a "S" - No dont think its a plural. Its a "S" appended to the substring of the name usually the first three letters. My manager's name is sudarsanam Golla and everyone calls him "Gols"...yuck...sounds like some bull dog barking.....Imagine a few famous person, like Barathi, Gandhi...Thank God they are no more..Else they would also be called, "Baths" and "Gandoos"....oops sounds so perverted and ugly....Thats exactly how it happens with me.....I like my name when its cut short from Balaji to B-A-L-A.
But some over enthusiastic friends of mine, in all their habits add an "S" instead of "A" and make it B-A-L-S......I felt like hanging myself when one of my friend in all her excitement shouted across the shop at the Chennai Trade Centre to call me "B-A-L-S".....Would the shopkeepers have wondered what balls & whose ???? |
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| Attitude |
[Aug. 20th, 2004|04:27 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  cynical | ] |
Two things that I want to write about today.
First, Attitude.
I saw the hockey match between India Australia last night. I was so disappointed when it was 3-1 and greatly elated when Indians had 2 consecutive goals to equalize the aussies. It was great hockey though Aussies seemed better in trapping the
ball and controlling it. Indians were just poor in this important aspect of the game, especially the Forwards. Indians tried a shot at the goal in the last minute of the match but missed it. 30 seconds to end the match and the aussies started moving the ball from their end to Indian goal post and succeeded in striking a goal at nearly the 50th second of the last minute of the match. All the last 30 secs, Indians were just lethargic. Imagine, it took less than 20 secs for the Aussies to move their ball from post to post and strike a goal. I didnt find any defense from the Indian side. They were just being careless, probably because they tried their last hit against the goal minute earlier and failed and with just 30 secs to go, no big difference. But it made all the difference to a team that captialized on this attitude with excellent co-ordination to pull off an amazing victory.
This is the problem with us. I have always felt that we lack the commitment till the end. Probably thats the way our society is built. There is a lack of that motivation, that craziness, that will to give everything that we can to do our best till
the last - never giving up anywhere at any odds. We give up so easily, we give up our cause and compromise. We succumb to that pressure like Satya Dev Prasad in the archery last night. He was up against the world's best - a korean and was giving
him a tough competition. It was a close difference of one point altrernating between them.There was last arrow to go - 18th one. THe korean was up first. He did not make it to the inner 10 points circle and made 9 points. All prasad had to do was to hit the 10 point cirlce which he had been consistenly doing with the earlier arrows. He aimed and I could see his arms shaking. He put it down - for the first time in the tournament - to regain composure - hi hands were trembling and the arrow missed the target completely. We fail at the last mile always. First, we dont make it so far and when we make it, we succumb. And this is what differentiates a winner.
Second, I went to the library today and browsed through the Time magazine for its cover story - The Big Cats - yes about the lions, tigers and leopards. The article talked about the endangered species and ways to prevent them going extinct with
innovative ideas. Think about this, we all have learnt about the Food Chain - and how the nature's balance depend on it. The higher up the animal in the food chain, the more is its need for existence to balance the nature. If these become extinct,
the whole of ecological balance shakes and there you go, spiralling towards the DoomsDay faster than ever. Interestingly, humans are nowhere in this food chain that we have learnt, yet they have been the ones destroying the whole food chain by
snatching away. Recently I heard that few leopards attacked the workers building an apartment near some National Park in Mumbai. Serves right. When they dont come and occupy our boundary, who the hell are we to occupy their space.
Makes me wonder when people say God made everything perfect or that God is perfect. His imperfection stares right at him in the form of humans, I guess. |
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| Friendship |
[Aug. 19th, 2004|04:26 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  contemplative | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Unakku enna mele ninrai | ] |
"You dont care about me as much as I care about you ! You dont consider me as good a friend that I consider you !"
Fingers point at me and mouths utter these words and this has been happening with atleast a couple of my friends of late for me. So what is Friendship? Over the years, F-R-I-E-N-D-S have meant different things at different stages of life.
3 years of my age, a friend is someone who would play with me and 5 years of age, a friend is someone who walks with me to the school and chattering on countless things in a kid's life or chasing that butterfly on the way home. At 10 years of age, a friend is one whom I share my secrets, embarassing moments. At 15 years of age, a friend is one whom I trust with my secrets, whom I talk with the adolescent changes in my body, drool over the same girl and make promises to help each other in the exams. At 18 years of age, friend is one I share my first drink or the first smoke, commenting on the girls passing by, a friend is one whom I would give up anything for. At 20 years, a friend is one whom I shamelessly ask to help create a situation to meet that one among the thousand crushes of my life. At 22, a friend is one whom I place all my trust on, share those aspiration and fears of the unknown future.
At 25, a friend is one with whom there is a mutual respect and share the good things and stand by offering support during bad times.
But what I have found out over all these periods of life is that a friend is someone whom you are comfortable with, someone whom you are compatible with. Period. Not necessary that you should be compatible with your thoughts - both of you might look at different directions, yet be comfortable and thats what friends are all about. The phrases " I would do anything for you, my friend" , "Friends are everything" ,"I would anything for my friend at any time" - these dont make sense anymore to me. I'm a person who grew up with Karna - a character of MahaBharatha - as my idol. This person has a CHARACTER. Yet, thinking over it, was it the friendship or was it the gratitude and I guess it was gratitude that was the essence of the character. Ther have been times when we used to have this "freeze" game among our friends in school. Your friend says "Freeze" and you freeze right on the spot no matter what you do and I have froze with one hand under the tap in the wash area of my school and wasted gallons of water (Oh man...u shdnt do that in chennai ) and got suspended.
There was a time when friendship meant staying keeping in constant touch, spending time together. When there was a gap in this, friendship drifted apart. Times when I would drop all my chores and take that pain to reach a friend to "just be there". But, I relate more to friends now. Like many, I have had lost friendships , triffles in friendships and freindships that have cast a never-forget pain in my heart. But, the friendships that I share these days has a lot more understanding and gives that space in the friendship. It is not that kind of a relationship when you need to have the physical presence of the other near you. It is a conenction and a understanding that you have that makes you accept the other for what he/she is. It does not mandate anything in return. It does not force any opinions onto the other. But what I found was that it might not be the same with the other person. They still need that daily Hi's and "chuma" phone calls to "MAINTAIN" the friendship. And when I dont do that comes the first two lines of this blog. Just because I dont call or write at that frequency never impacts my friendship. Probably, it stems from my belief that how many ever friends you have - they can give you a consolation - but the pain is to be borne by you and problem is to be solved by you. But the essence of the friednship is that it makes you feel better to bear the pain. |
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| Capitalism |
[Aug. 17th, 2004|04:48 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  annoyed | ] |
I was really disappointed or should I say pissed off when I read the news claiming Azim Premji prposing the Karnataka government to double the professional Tax for the IT professionals as they get "GOOD" salaries and decrease the tax on the IT products in a meeting by Wipro and InfoSys chairmen to solve problems of a creaking Bangalore Infrastructure.
Well, I guess I shouldnt have expected anything more from the richest capitalist of India. I wonder his reasoning behind calling it "GOOD" salaries. Money doesnt come easily to anyone. If you earn more, you got to think about what you have compromised. And IT professionals have compromised their time. Yes, it takes an incredible three hours of their daily 24 hours commuting to office - located 25 kms away from the city in an effort to increase the operating margin. They have compromised the days when they need to go home for any minor emergencies as it takes a whooping 250 Rs to go home and come back and then to compensate for the time spent away(inclusive of the travel time). Many a parents have compormised on the evenings with their kids. They have compromised their time to go and pay their bills and use a Les conceirges Desk and pay them to pay their bills or reserve a ticket.
And specific to Wipro, they undergo a painful experience in the crowded, suffocating bus(It really is when people roll their windows on a drizzle) laid with uncomfortable seats travelling in a neck breaking journey of 1.5 - 2hrs after a tiring day and that if they are lucky to get the seats. Else imagine the same standing. And to get a seat, you have to reach the bus by 5:45 PM and get into a bus that starts at 6:20PM. And add to this, if you miss your bus in the morning and request another Wipro bus to open the door, they wouldnt open even though there are enough space to sit. Humiliation on the road. These are a few compromises that they make to earn so called "GOOD" salaries.
If the professional taxes has to be increased, shouldnt the corporates also be taxed equally. Increase the corporate taxes before increasing the professional taxes. Increase the share holders tax on the dividends. Why should IT products given an exemption? - so that the corporate can go on making profits and the share holders benefit from them? A completely captialistic attitude displayed.
Well, if it is all about giving back to the society, I guess Azim Premji needs to understand that it starts at home. Giving back to the society not only means monetray help, it is all about discharging the responsibilities properly. I'm yet to meet a Wipro Bus driver adhering to the traffic rules. One guy scares a young kid getting onto his school van with his honking on the service lane. Who allowed the Wipro buses to run on the service lanes? - it is to take the employees on time so Wipro can get maximum productivity out of them.
Neither the companies do charity here nor the employees work for free. If the employers think the engineers demand too much, then it is right on the part of employees to think that the mapping between income/employee to salary/employee doesnt match. For example, clients are charged at say $20/hr(which many a case is more) or say $160/day or $4800/month and having a conversion rate of Rs 40 is equal to Rs 192000/- and a salary of Rs 25000/- is harldy 1/8th of it.
I realize my responsibility towards the society. But, I wouldnt want to give my hard earned money to some jerks sitting in as politicians and officers boasting of their adherence to Theory of Percolation - only 12 paise out of each rupee reaches the need addressed. It is their issue to solve the problems and thats the job they have chosen to do. So, Mr.Premji neednt say what to do about it and especially when it affects my bottom line as they put in corporate world.
Every man is entitled to his dream. Everyone works for a better living and comfort. Not everyone has an oil company to start his career and not everyone affords to get educated abroad - they try to make the best with the opportunities available. IT has been one of the best opportunities. Millions of households in India have bettered their life because of one person in the family working in this industry.
It is also my personal belief that it is an imbalanced society with IT professionals earning handsome salary than their counterparts in other disciplines. But it is the path each one has chosen. It is just like how how Wipro chose to enter into IT and ITES ( 90% of its revenues today is earned by this division) from a vegetable oil company. I'm ready to pay even triple the professional tax when there is a faith that my money does what it is intended to do and that I'm not being treated unfairly in comparison to the corporate shareholders. |
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| sniff sniff !!! |
[Aug. 17th, 2004|04:46 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  aggravated | ] |
First things first, I came back after a week's training on a real time operating system - vxWorks. The training was good and for once I found a real good trainer. I realized that I always loved performance optimization of softwares. Even in my passionate programming language Java - it is the Garbage Collection, JRE memory handling and Java for mobile devices that has always been interesting to me. I'm not a great C programmer - infact I never learned it, but my interests in fine tuning under performing systems - mostly because of bad and irresponsible coding was rediscovered with this training on Vxworks - an OS intended for memory constrained devices like mobiles and micro controllers.
Well, to the bad part, I returned to the office yesterday to find that my chair was missing. Ransacked the entire floor to find not even a single extra chair. Had to call up the admin guys and wait for full 60 mins before I got a chair to sit. Then, I go ahead and remind my manager to approve my request to renew my internet access only to be turned down. What the hell, what kinda office is this if you dont have the flexibility of accessing Internet. I understand the guidelines to access Net staying away from porn sites and the personal mails....but being placed in a position where I need to make new proposals and suggest new architectures for the product, what would I do with reading much....I'm not an inventor ju st a "RE-SEARCHER" :- )... I'm terribly pissed off.....
Now today I had my appraisal discussion finally to review my performance over the past 6 months. Well, it turned out to be good except that comes up always - need to do more and I have the calibre to do it. Well, they always feel I have a lethargic attitude and that I can do more and I dont do that much. They also ensure that they have no complaints about my work. And they think that if I dont browse too much and use that time for work, I would do lot more good. They also say that they dont see any impact of my browsing habits over work.
Well, what they just dont understand is that it is a part of me - it is the way I work - browsing is just about a way of work for me - its just that I generally finish my work fast so I browse and I'm sure that if I put in all the day into my work, my productivity will be a disaster. The last two days I had no Net connection and no work and I'm more than pissed off with the company and work. Its like wasting so precious time doing nothing. And I have been told not to go to the gym before 6:00 PM...What the hell....
I read a lot - I read technology, I read blogs, I read everything....Even a 10 mins of reading will rejunevate and increase my concentration......Why doesnt my manager see that point.....He says everyone asks for net access and he can give it only to 5-6 people ina team of 25. What kinda organisation is this..... |
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| Money !!! |
[Aug. 9th, 2004|04:40 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  surprised | ] |
| [ | music |
| | - | ] |
BrijMohanlal Munjal (Hero Honda) - Rs 1171.24
Ambani's - Rs 1162.00
Vivek Paul ( Wipro ) - Rs 570.16
Azim Premji - Rs 118.00
Now what are these? These are the pay packages of few of the biggies in Corporate India. Out of the above, only Vivek Paul is the executive, the rest are the owners of their respective companies. Now whats so interesting in that? - The amount are in LAKHS
oops....thats quite an amount for these business men. Thats what we would say. But this is totally incomparable to world scale. That is their argument. :- ))).....
Anyways, if you look at the above, Azim Premji gets the lowest among the ones mentioned, then how is he the richest man of India. Believe me, he gets an whooping Rs 56600000 or Rs 566 crore as the dividends on his 83% holding of the shares in Wipro and thats ABSOLUTELY TAX FREE.
Probably, following his footsteps, Bill Gates has announced the first maiden dividend for Microsoft - which makes him richer by $8 billion on his 11% holdings of the company or 10000 crores - big money by anyone's book !!!
Ok, for more details, look at this fortnight edition of Business India...Now I'm just wondering what they would be doing with all that money :- ))))) Back to my day dreaming !!! |
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| Benji - The Hunted |
[Aug. 6th, 2004|01:33 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | thoughtful | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Ellorum Sollum Paattu - Marupadiyum | ] |
I saw a stray dog today trying to cross the road. On the other side of the road was this roadside shop. It was sniffing the air obviously catching up with the smell of the hotpotato based chaat on the other side. After few close to accidents, it did cross the road to the shop to pick on any left overs that might be thrown. Well, this reminded me of a movie that I saw a couple of years ago - in a very bad phase of my life - ofcourse thru a worst phase of a relationship. I had come come early in the morning after 20 hrs of work only to leave at 10:00 AM. They played this movie " Benji - The Hunted " on star movies then.
The movie was about the odyssey of a dog that loses his owner - a kid -in the forest. The whole movie is about his experience in walking through the forest. The movie was really touching and particularly when he is reminded of his owner. The fear, the courage, the uncertainity of life everything reflected thru the eyes of the dog. You should see that movie to see the emotions displayed by our hero in the movie. There was no dialogues only a mild background music capturing the modd really well. The eyes of the dog were so powerful in expressing the feelings - our own actors need to borrow from him. After many a bad experiences, he comes across these puppies of a tigress ( now I dunno what you call them....my english fails me again here). But together he also finds the cunning fox ready to attack them. The following sequences of how he saves all those puppies is amazing. He immediately becomes their guardian. Risking his life and calculating his moves, he gets rid of those foxes finally. It just doesnt stop there. He finally makes it to a safe place by carrying one by one and if I remember correctly somewhere close to 4-6 of them against a great hurdle. And he finally does make it to the safe place only to find that the tigress is there with her kids playing around. She growls and wards him off those kids. Tired of all his efforts and so much of a work, he lies down on the top of a hill, ready for a new experience. By this time, the owners had started a rescue search for him. If you think the movie was a "All Ends well" - well, the movie ended like this. The helicopter flies above, and this dog looks at it. It can be safely assumed that it was rescued in the story, but somehow, I didnt think so. There are a very few movies that have left a great impact on my mind and this is one. One other movie is "Life is Beautiful".
However, this movie taught me something - unconditional love. Every other creature in this planet exhibits unconditional love. Their love does not expect anything in return. An unconditional love is love in its purest form. There is not a tinge of selfishness. Yet, in our relationships, in our life, we expect same amount of love, if not more, in return. With all our knowledge, we are void of exhibiting any unconditional love. At that point of time, I realised that here was a person whom I respect, trust and love but at the same time expect the same in return. My love is certain on the gaurantee that I get what I expect in return. When I dont get it, I get hurt, my emotions are stirred, anger builds, I become helpless, cry and do all things I could never imagine. This simple movie taught me something great - unconditional love. I was already on the self help phase then.I guess it was God's wish to make me see that movie on that day. I, as a human am still not that capable of exhibiting unconditional love, but the realization of it has helped me develop a far more better perspective on relationships.
Vivekananda says in one of his preachings which goes something like this ( I dont ahve the exact words)
" You have to show affection and love or a passion for anyone or any object as though your life depends on it and yet, when the time comes to leave it, you should be able to give it away as gracefully as though you are not even related to it. When you start fighting against this force of nature that wants you to give up, you end up hurting urself. Some people who are hurt once become cold hearted. There are no emotions in them. They are like stone walls. There is no life in stone walls. We should not become stone walls. We are humans. We breathe life."
All easier said than done, I do not claim I follow these preachings, but I guess atleast my perspective changed after a few experiences and understanding in life.
Below is a small extract from his preaching
Ask nothing; want nothing in return. Give what you have to give; it will come back to you but multiplied a thousand fold but the attention must not be on that. Yet have the power to give: give, and there it ends. Learn that the whole of life is giving, that nature will force you to give. So give willingly. Sooner or later you will have to give up. You come into life to accumulate. With clenched hands you want to take. But nature puts a hand on your throat and makes your hands open. Whether you will it or not, you have to give. The moment you say, "I will not". the blow comes; you are hurt. None is there but will be compelled, in the long run, to give everything. And the more one struggles against this law, the more miserable one feels. It is because we dare not give, because we are not resigned enough to accede to this grand demand of nature, that we are miserable. The forest is gone, but we get heat in return. The sun is taking up water from the ocean, to return it in showers. You are a machine for taking and giving: you take, in order to give. Ask, therefore, nothing in return; but the more you give, the more will come to you. The quicker it will be filled up by the external air; and if you close all the doors and every aperture, that which is within will remain, but that which is outside will never come in, and that which is within will stagnate, degenerate, and become poisoned. Be as the river that is continually emptying itself into the ocean and is continually filling up again. Bar not the exit into the ocean. The moment you do that, death seizes you. |
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| Blah Blah Blah |
[Aug. 6th, 2004|10:10 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  blah | ] |
Well, In one of the comments to chotu's blog on relationship, I found an interesting piece by err...LOJ,CAD,DAC ...well, I assume its some kind of an acronym :- ), except that I dont understand that part :- ). As said in the blog, it is my belief that the Indians lost in touch with their roots somewhere. This is not what is Hinduism. Hinduism is far more advanced than what we believe. This is a mix of various cultures that have led people to a confused state. But I wouldnt blame it on anyone. Indians just had far too many influences on their rich cultural inheritance - be it the muslim invation from the middle east since the time of Babar to Humayun or the English invasion during the 18th, 19th and 20th century. With already so many differences or rather diversities influenced by so many external factors and cultures and religions ( there were times when temples were demolished and mosques were built during moslem period - the whole history makes a wonderful study, look at Rohan's blog on history of mangaloreans - pretty interesting) - it does influence the original inhabitants and evolve into a new hybrid culture of its own.
I would have believed in thinking that what we follow is hinduism had I not been reading a lil too much abt history :- ). The reason I say that is there are far too many things that are considered taboo by this society much to the contrast of the culture in itself. For example, sex is considered sucha taboo to even talk about it but still Kamasutra - The art of making love originated here. The look at cave temples depict so much openness about sex, gays and lesbians - yet we abhor them or the so called Hinduism believers (or should I say Fanatics) would go to any extent to prevent any talk about all these things in any kind of media or life.
Ok, shd I only talk abt the sex factor here ....No ....there are far too many things that we do but do not understand the essence of it or atleast I'm not taught about it. It has become more of an habit than a life. As pointed out rightly in the reply, if you read the vedas and upanishads, they are more of a life and experience than some preachings and strict codes of conduct. At their best, they help you make peace with yourself - the inner peace that I'm talking about when you connect your soul with the ultimate power. But, I doubt if there are any who even reads about them. Well, I havent read thru them much ....but from whatever I read, thats what I gather. But this has led to what I would call hypocrisy - which I believe you'll never find in the true Hinduism. And there are so much of things that are just under the covers of God and the fear associated with questioning about it, but in fact theres whole lot of explanation that goes beyond it. Just as an example, we have this habit of going to the temple after a clean bath early in the morning, do our prayers and take the prasad from the temple ( two spoons of cocunut water along with some tulasi leaves ). We know it as our duty and thankfulness to God. Do we ever know that temples are built on a small hills and that early morning climb on the steps is an exercise and the meditation part is savouring the freshness of air on the hill into your health and the prasad in itself is nothing but to guard your immunity - Tulasi when taken daily for years together safeguards you from any diseases and improves your immunity - it is considered an great supplement for AIDS patients. There are so many things I can go on explaining like this.
This is what bothers me - we dont understand what we do, yet we do it because we have a fear of something, some unknown, the greatest power - the power in itself never manifested that fear in us- it is we who created it. This I think is not only applicable to Hinduism , but to many of the traditionally rich Chinese and Japanese cultures too. One thing that I find in Hinduism is ( and I think it would apply to any culture) - its all about simplicity in life - just to feel the pleasure of the life - the joy of the creation itself.
Ok ..gonna stop here....too many incoherent thoughts wandering thru my mind and my brain doesnt give me the right words to pen them down in English. After all, I'm just trying to become good in my english skills ...... |
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| One wonderful evening !!! |
[Aug. 5th, 2004|02:05 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | happy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Ilan kaathu visuthe - Pithamahan | ] |
I was commuting to the office when I received her call. I was surprised to hear her voice from a local number. It was none other than my buddy and collegemate Saras at Bangalore. "Hey saras, What are you doing here", I asked. "I came today morning for a product launch". she said. We decided we'll try to meet up in the evening before she left back to chennai that very night. Its been a long time since I met her. The last time I met her was at my sis's marraige when we didnt have enuff time to talk. I called her up in the evening and decided we'll meet for dinner along with one friend of hers - our junior in college. I met her at The Earthern Oven on Residency Road. It was a wonderful dinner - no, I'm not talking about the food as such. Infact I dont even remember how the Tandoori Roit and Malai Kofta tasted. It was just the talk - catching up with an old friend after a long time. Infact, she is the only person I keep in touch with since college. Others have faded slowly. However, between us we dont infact talk regularly or keep in touch so often, yet when we meet, it is great time....She is that one person whom you can trust yourself with or atleast so do I. she radiates that kind of warmth that I seldom find in people. The days in college under the tree trying to put some logic of the micro processor in her mind , the college canteen days, chucked out days from the lab and sitting under the tree...everything seems to be so long now. She just not is for that kind of work - the processors and coding - she has chosen the best job - communicate with people - listen and talk. You see she is an core gemini. Shes into marketing with one of the best in the field - O&M. Infact, she had come to Blore for the launch of Meera Hair Oil. From the oven, we went to The Corner House to feast on "Death By Choclate" - a chocolate filled fantasy for any choco-ice lover. Infact that was good enuff for 3 of us - two of them who are conscious about the diet, except ofcourse Saras who, come what may never puts on weight. Guess thats got to do something with her attitude.
Then I went to the station to see her off all the while musing on bygone days and happenings in other's lives. Expect to see her soon - her job anyways mandates that. I was munching over the wonderful evening that had gone by with full satisfaction of the day, the issues earlier in the day at office nowhere in the frame. Whatever you say, nothing beats an evening catching up with your best buddy after a long time. |
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| Was there a sound? |
[Aug. 5th, 2004|10:33 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  optimistic | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Ithu oru pon malai pozhuthu - Nizhalgal | ] |
Dear LOJ, ( I wish I knew who you are, you got some interesting things to answer me
:- ))))...... )
In reply to one of my previous post "Salvation", you had replied about trying to understand God with this minisule brain of ours in relation to the mamoth universe and the galaxy. Well, I always believe that if there is anything in the world that is really sophasticated and complex, it is Human Brain. The powers of human brain are incredible. Do you know an average man uses hardly 2% of his power. So, I wouldnt think it is an odious task and also I ask why should it be so hard to reach to your creator. What gives him the right to create, throw emotions in and make it hard. If, today, I have the power to create a new life...Would it be considered moral on my part if I create a life that could be bad? Then why should it be applicable to God who created this universe? Just a curious question? Now, dont tell me the answer that good and bad should be equally distributed. How would it be if only good is around?...Ok fine I'm deviating from what I wanted to write in this blog....Back to the power of human brain, I read this article today in my team's newsletter. Isnt that why they say "Whatever a mind can perceive, it will achieve....." . Read below...
Was there a sound?
It was when I was reading "The Imp Of The Perverse" by Edgar Allan Poe that I became fascinated by the "power of perception" of the human mind. Can we ever be absolutely sure of anything? Can anything ever be absolutely REAL? Since Poe's story does not directly deal with these issues, I started searching for material that dealt with the topic of perception versus reality. My search led me to this very interesting article that challenges the concept of reality. So if you get as excited as I do about subjects that provoke thought, this one is a treat! Read on...
When a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, is there any sound at all?
The answer to this question has profound spiritual and practical implications.
When the tree falls it produces a series of pressure waves in the surrounding air. The ear drum converts these waves into a mechanical signal which is transmitted by 3 small bones to the fluid filled cochlea - the spiral bony canal of the inner ear. Hair cells of the cochlea are the actual receptors. Each is tuned to a particular frequency of the fluid waves. Hair cell vibrations are converted to electrical impulses, and transmitted along the auditory nerve to the auditory cortex where intensity and frequency of the vibrations are mapped.
However, neither the pressure waves, physical movements of body parts [bones, hair], nor electrical signals are "sound".
What we call sound exists only in the mind of the perceiver. So if there was no one in the forest to process the sound waves, even though the tree came crashing down, there was NO SOUND!
The nervous system extracts only certain information from the natural world. We perceive fluctuations of air pressure not as pressure waves but as sounds that we hear. We perceive electromagnetic waves of different frequency as colors that we see. We perceive chemical compounds dissolved in air or water as specific smells or tastes.
In the words of neurologist Sir John Eccles: "I want you to realize that there exists no color in the natural world, and no sound - nothing of this kind; no textures, no patterns, no beauty, no scent."
Sounds, colors, patterns, etc., appear to have an independent reality, yet are, in fact, constructed by the mind. All our experience of the natural world is our minds' interpretation of the input it receives. |
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