Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Nice poem

A Psychological Tip
Whenever you're called on to make up your mind,
and you're hampered by not having any,
the best way to solve the dilemma, you'll find,
is simply by spinning a penny.

No - not so that chance shall decide the affair
while you're passively standing there moping;
but the moment the penny is up in the air,
you suddenly know what you're hoping

-- Piet Hein

Thursday, May 15, 2008

A saying

Was telling this to a friend, thought of putting it up as a self reminder... You need to work for everything and wait till it bears fruit...

"वक्त से पहले और औकाद से ज्यादा किसी को कुछ नही मिलता |"
-Yours truly (mostly, never heard it from anyone ;)

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Pak plays

There was this article about a Afghan-NATO incursion into Pakistani territory for pursuing Taliban militants.
Pakistan declared that any such incursions shall be considered as an invasion.. Nice, so we can wait for the next such incursion to have a NATO-Pakistan war..

;)
KN

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

My prayer

The opening two lines of this poem were a friends status message one GTalk.. Compelled me to read the poem once again....

वेग्ल्याच पातळी ची कविता आहे... कुठेतरी फार आत रुतून जाते....

Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. ... :)

......

Posting the poem below..
KN

---


Where The Mind is Without Fear


Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Give Me Strength

This is my prayer to thee, my lord---strike,
strike at the root of penury in my heart.
Give me the strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows.
Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service.
Give me the strength never to disown the poor
or bend my knees before insolent might.
Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles.
And give me the strength to surrender my strength to thy will with love.

-- Rabindranath Tagore
(From Geetanjali, 1910)

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Cogito and conspicio

Rene Descartes was sitting in a bar once. A waitress asked him whether he would like to have a beer. Descartes replied, "I think not," and disappeared.

:)
KN

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Ek Katha

It was a dark wet evening in November. He had been waiting at the bus-stop for the better half of an hour, getting irritated by the minute. He had spent an extra hour clearing up the mess his boss had created. He cursed some, but quietened down, as the bus pulled up.

The driver greeted him with a wide smile and tried to indulge him in some small talk while he rummaged for some change. He took some time to find the last 1-dollar bill that he needed to complete the fare. Just as he was about to feed all of it in the machine, the driver said, "You don't need to buy a ticket, just give me the money."

It took him a moment to understand the driver's intentions. He blew his top.He launched into a tirade about ethics. He reiterated the fact that this was honestly earned money, and that it was immoral people like the driver that led to all of the problems in the society. He ranted about how he has to bear with all of this and more at his office, and took a seat still muttering. The driver gave a weak smile through all of it, but said nothing in his defense.

The driver's daughter had to make-do with a slice of bread that night.

-KN


PS: "Ek Katha" means "A story"
PPS: This story is a figment of my imagination, though I am pretty sure this will definitely have occurred in some form somewhere. It's an attempt to look at a socially frowned-upon action a different light.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Ek shaam ki dehleej par...

One of my friends had dropped by in LA, and we had a nice time, nice
being an understatement.Had one of those lucky days, where we said
nothing and talked a lot, after a long time.

The most apt song is one thats been sung by Jagjit and Chitra Singh -
'Socha nahi achcha bura'
the relevant lines being,
Ek sshaam ki dehleej par,
baithe rahe vo der tak.
Aankhon se kii baatein bahut,
munh se kahan kuch bhi nahi.

Saying bye was bad, but we will meet again soon, so 'happy happy joy
joy for now :)
KN

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Gat ashi ki

Inadvertently the song most played these days on my mp3 player..  Don't like to hear it often because it makes it difficult to concentrate, for sometime...  Makes me think and hope a lot.. Just posting the lyrics from http://www.indianguitartabs.com/showthread.php?p=224055 Will post the meaning soon, need to verify a few points


Ne majasi ne parat matrubhumila,
sagara praan talamalala.... ||dhru||

Bhumatechya charantala tuj dhuta
mee nitya pahila hota||
maj vadalasi anya deshi chal jau
srushtichi vividhata pahu||
taii jananihrid virahshankitahi jhale
pari tuvaa vachan teej didhale||
margadnya swaye meech prushthi vaaheen
twarit ya parat aanin||
vishwasalo ya tav vachani || mee
jagadanubhavyoge banuni || mee
tav adhik shakt uddharani || mee
yein tware, kathuni sodile tijala
sagara, praan talmalala ||1||

shuk panjari vaa harin shirava paashee
hi fasgat jhali taishi||
bhuvirah kasa satat sahu ya pudhati
dash-disha tamomay hoti||
gunsumane mee vechiyalee ya bhave
ki tine sugandha ghyave||
jari uddharani, vyay na tichya ho sacha
ha vyarth bhaar vidyecha||
tee aamravruksha vatsalata|| re
navkusumyuta tya sulata|| re
to baal gulabahi aata|| re
fulbaag mala hai parakha jhala
sagara praan talmalala||2||

nabhi nakshatre bahut ek pari pyara
maj bharatbhumicha taara||
praasad ithe bhavya pari maj bhari
aaichi jhopadi pyari||
tijveen nako rajya, maj pry saacha
vanvaas ticha jari vanicha
bhulavine vyarth he aata| re
bahu jivlag gamate chitta| re
tuj saritpate, jee sarita| re
tadvirahachi shapath ghalito tujala
sagara...||3||

ya fenmishe hasasi nirdaya kaisa
kaa vachan bhangisi aisa
twatswamitwa samprat jee miravite
bhiuni kaa aanglabhumita
mam matela abal mhanuni fasavisi
maj vivasnate deshi
tari aanglbhumee bhaybhita| re
abala na majhi hee mata| re
kathil he agastis aata| re
jo aachmani ek kshani tuj pyala
sagara...||4||


Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Appreciation

These days I find myself appreciating poetry/ lyrics (especially Marathi n Hindi) much more than I did before.. Unknown 'facet' opening up... Nice!!

Diversifying,
KN

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Saturdays :)

The alarm broke my sleep on the Saturday morn. Though I continued sleeping, (it being a Sat), my "hyperactive" brain started thinking stuff...

And one concept made me really happy and had me grinning like mad in my sleep..
The fact that it was Saturday, a day that I could utilise to do all that I want, read all the books, and talk all that I want... :) and in case, I dint do these things to my minds fullest, I still had one mire day to do it :D

The entire thot made me get up and look around in a stupid, happy looking grin :D
I did utilise it to some extent, .... read, chatted,called, and exercised...

Vive la Saturday... or whatever... ;)

KN

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Goals...

You have built castles in the air.... Now start to building a foundation underneath it....  Build it with the sweat of your brow and the swing of the hammer...  Keep on building till you have completed the spire...  Now is the time when you wont see the effect of your actions.... cos results follow an exponential graph.... they change very slowly at the start... and its difficult to determine whether they are heading up or down... but once they pick up speed, the predetermined direction cant be reversed...

Tis time .. tis time to start... tis time to drop ur head down and put ur shoulder to the wheel... cos its a new dawn.. and a new start.... whether you make it count is what shall determine whether there shall be another dawn or not.......

KN


Sunday, April 29, 2007

Maturity

Whenever I look back in time, I realize I was immature and not-so-wise some time back..... And that realization is always correct

:-D
KN

Sunday, April 22, 2007

देवनागरी in blogger

अरे वा बराहा type-support in Blogger. कीती छान.
-- के एन

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Perfection.....

I have always set perfection as my goal. Though I generally am far from perfect, I yearn to achieve perfection, in all and any endeavor.
However, realised that some things are better when they are a bit less than perfect. Sometimes perfect things hurt the most....


Saturday, April 07, 2007

Life is...

During Dec, Gads,Mandy, Asmi n me had a long discussion in Electric Lotus on what life was...
It was not very philosophical, but we were just bringing up life's episodes that were good to remember/think about
Would like to add one to the list...

Life is...
            calling up a friend just because he left an offliner saying that he was really bored, and making him laugh till he is back to normal

KN

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Time squirrels by

I spent my last week taking care of my friend Varun @ CalTech. Despite his surgery, this dude had the enthu to limp around to classes. After dropping him at one of his classes, I met a nice squirrel, which kept me engrossed for about 30 minutes....

It was a nice lesson dealing with many broad topics.... photography, patience, speed, stealth and finally the quirks of life.

Some snaps of the trblsome character below.

Few pointers, in the chronology that I learnt them:
  1. Squirrels run around..... a LOT...
  2. They are verrrry inquisitive, and can be lured by simple things like a hand-wave, or b
  3. Half the times they don't catch you, if u r smart, and are content with munching on whatever they have found the latest.


  4. Some planning is required, though sometimes a nice photo plops around without you doing anything :)



  5. U need to be really fast and ready when the shot presents itself, unlike below :(

  6. When the shot does present itself, it isn't necessary that you will capture it.If you do capture the shot, it isn't necessary that your memory card will store the image. :(( I executed an amazing snap, forcing the squirrel to jump, capturing it in mid-flight, after setting all the cam controls. The cam preview showed the squirrel frozen at the middle of the picture, between the fence and the tree, but the ^&%*%$* card dint record. I had missed a few previous snaps due to it, but missing this snap hurt the most :((
All in all, it was a great time... I found another squirrel and could get a few good snaps, before the card messed up again. :(







....... Squirrels are fun :D:D

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Peace of mind...

Was able to 'find' some peace of mind, after a couple of weeks..
as i have been saying recently,... "Tan ki Shanti, man ki shanti bournvita"
(shanti, is intended, no typos.. the bournivta is just becos the jingle felt incomplete w/o it ;)

Very apt song: Trouble by Coldplay

Peaceful,
N

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Voice

Voices can make such a big difference. Two examples.


1. Was returning home from someplace, stopped at a signal. A girl came up from behind, and I overheard her talking in marathi. Call me regionalistic, but unexpectedly hearing someone speak in my mother-tongue felt great. Am unable to describe in words, bt it was a great feeling. Felt as if someone had dipped my heart into elixir :)

2. Was slightly disturbed over some small things. Had generally called up a friend. We dint talk for more than 3-4 minutes, but at the end of that call I was smiling away to glory, (without hearing any anecdotes/witty comments).... Some voices just have that quality which borders on the 'bubbly/vibrant' or like in this case, "pure/innocent", which make you remember that the world is a cool place :) while others may make you morose or gloomy even after you may have won the biggest achievement of your life...

I can continue in an in-depth blog.. but will stop here..
Heres a silent toast to all the positive voices in my life

Au revoir
KN

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Every man dies, not every man lives

Just watched "Braveheart".. A beautiful movie, to say the least. Its a wonder what a man, or more importantly his vision and his belief in it, can do.

William Wallace was able to raise the Scots into a unified army. He defeated the English twice, capturing the town of York, which was the biggest city in Northern England. Had he been properly supported by the Scottish nobles, Scotland could have been an independent nation,  but treachery played against him.

The above words (title) are uttered by William Wallace when he is a night away from a painful death. The princess of England is pleading him to confess and ask for mercy (they show her to be romantically attached to Wallace, after being married of to a wimpy prince). Wallace denied her pleading to accept a painful death. He claims that if he accepts Edward as his king, then all that he is would be dead already. The Princess tells him that the King was old and there were chances of him dying soon , who is also shown to be on his deathbed during Wallace's execution

However the question now comes is that Wallace knew that the King could die soon. If he was indeed the smart guy he has been shown as, he would also have realized the fact that without him there was no hope for the Scots. In this case, should he have sworn allegiance to the king and hoped to bide his time till the King dies and the wimpy Prince ascends the throne?

The final question thus is that should you concentrate on yourself (Wallace's pride) or the greater cause (here Scottish freedom). In the movie, had Wallace lived enough to see the Kings death, maybe , just maybe the Princess would have helped him get out of prison and he could have lived his dream of a free Scotland.

Undecided,
KN

Friday, February 02, 2007

Treachery, the bane of men

Just watched "Braveheart"...  This movie doesnt stop amazing me..  The movie has portrayed the struggle of Scotland led by William Wallace against the English king Edward Longshanks. William was betrayed twice (according to the movie), once in a critical engagement of battle, and at the end he was invited to a meeting, which was but a trap.

Its a pity how nearly every nation and to extend, every ideal has succumbed to treachery. Its a pity how people have given in to the promises of the oppressor, knowing very well that he has later stabbed people in the back, with the hope that their fate shall be better, and that they shall get the riches and land and titles as promised. History is rife with such examples. Even LOTR says that men are corruptible (The Nazgul). Indian history is littered with such stories, where men have sold out.

It is a sad truth of life...
Heres a prayer to maximize the people who choose the right path.
Amen