Change is good

It’s O.K. to change your plans.Turn about face.Pivot. Take a 180.

We live in a world which punishes those who take actions to correct a mistake or a course. Wishy-washy, we call them. Flip-floppers. Unstable. Irresponsible. Lazy. Whimsical. A whole host of terms with negative connotations for people who take abrupt action to change their course, especially when that course may have been a recent decision. I’ve been thinking a lot about “consciousness” in your life’s direction – and “flexibility” in how you structure your life. Part of this is realizing is about when things need to be reversed.

1. It’s o.k. to sell your house for less than you paid for it – if you realize that freedom is worth more than the loss.
2. It’s o.k. to sell something you just bought – if you realize you no longer need it (or never needed it).
3. It’s o.k. to spend money on things that bring joy, purpose, or value into your life – even if you are paying off debt.
4. It’s o.k. to quit your job – and go backpacking around the world
5. It’s o.k. to shut down the business you recently launched and take a corporate job – if that’s what you are being called to do.
6. It’s o.k. to quit your new promising career and pave your own path – if you know deep down you’ll do what it take to make it a reality.
7. It's o.k to get drenched in rain or talk to yourself

*****

Realizing you’ve started down the wrong path – and correcting course – is admirable. It’s a trait that’s far too uncommon these days. It’s a principle that should be praised, not ridiculed. Staying with a condition in your life that you no longer believe in – just because you picked that path earlier is insane. People will challenge you. Most will criticize out of fear. They’re afraid of what similar changes might mean for their own life. If you take advice from people who are scared – don’t be surprised when you end up trapped in fear yourself.

Go ahead and flip-flop. It’ll be o.k.

Source: Man vs Debt Blog

My Android Experience

Its almost 4 months since I brought this shiny new gadget running Android 2.1. My old Nokia had dead pixels all over the screen and Nokia service was pathetic. There i was holding Samsung Galaxy and was hesitant to touch and smear it with my finger prints. But I dived in right away, entered my gmail & Facebook password and viola it came into life. I did not think much about it. A friend of mine called me up and the screen displayed his name & indicated his birthday was today. WTF, it had downloaded my address book, knew my friends number, name and his birthday. I was surprised and was annoyed and I felt my privacy was suddenly intruded. Within in few minutes my phone knew more about me then I knew about my self. My mails were imported and there were few notifications displayed reminding me of few appointments I had saved in my calendar. On my way back home I was trying to figure out how to selectively password protect my mail and realized there was none. The android was exclusively designed keeping single user operation in perspective which is not the case in India. Is'nt it scary that Google seems to know who we care about, and who cares about us

I activated the main password and was impressed by the way we had to connect the dots. The unlock method is awesome. I tried to message and was not able to insert numbers, later I figured out that the numbers had to be saved under mobile category for them to appear in message screen.

I was regularly using record function in my Nokia and was replaying them when required. Lack of this feature surprised me as I thought that to be the most basic feature on any phone. Single handed operation is time consuming in touch screens and to make &recei ve calls a basic Nokia is clear winner. I was able to make calls riding my bike and with android I just cant do that yet. Suddenly my inclination to blog reduced and my tweet count increased. I was getting news much faster and was being interrupted more frequently. GPS is too good to be true and helped me getting around Chennai during my visits. Four square started showing places around and my pockets started getting lighter. I never knew taco bells was opposite to my office nor knew sky walk was the the nearest mall to my room at Chennai. Now my phone keeps count of the amount of calories I burn and even annoys me to finish the to do list. Expenses are being documented but in no way helping in reducing the expenditure. I had enough battery charge to do all the other stuff but most of the times battery was low when I wanted to make calls.

Instead of being a productive tool it will be more of a procrastination tool. Hence I have made a list of few things you need to do if you buy a smart phone.

1. Get yourself a dummy email account to activate the handset. It defeats the purpose of smart phone but I'm sure you can check your personal mails on HTML browser when required
2. Switch off the Wifi and internet connection, it really does not matter if you don't get updated every few seconds.
3. Facebook is a clear no no, don't you dare think of installing the app. It takes away most of your time. It does not matter who poked you or tagged you on FB.
4. Twitter is good, use it only when necessary
5. News papers are not there yet, I prefer hard copies over internet version.

Perception

Back in 90's when I used to see male & female sculptures on temple walls or idols of women goddess, i felt they were cool and very artistic. Now I don't find them attractive enough. Well our perception of how a human body looks like is constantly changing. It might be due to ads portraying people with 6 pack or woman with just the right proportion which is far from truth. As a result there is an increased pressure for people to look good and at the same time I see people having confused with the concept of looking healthy and looking good. I feel a good doze of exercise that can help you run a 2 km stretch without gasping for breath is all that is required for a person to look attractive. It really does not make any sense if you have six pack and unable to climb a set a 10 story stairs.

I wonder how small kids will cope with looking good peer pressure as every one of them wants be like a Barbie doll. Here's a link on how Barbie dolls of 90's and 00's look like & how unrealistic there body proportions are.

Inception, Ending Explained

Yes finally saw inception and here is my take on the ending. SPOILER ALERT, If you haven't seen the movie then please don't read any further.

This is the most logical explanation that I can think of and is a very convincing analogy. Before I start, let us assume few things which is very vital to arrive at my analogy. Initially, I felt that the entire movie was Cobb's dream and the characters were Cobb's projections. I felt his subconscious was helping him with a plot to escape limbo that he was already in. Well this would defeat the purpose of the movie itself. Hence lets assume that Cobb was in a mission to plant an idea. And on succeeding he would end up meeting his children as Saito promised.

We are not sure if the Totem topples at the end. Also his children does not appear to have aged and are wearing the exact same clothes that they were wearing when he saw them in his dreams which is very unlikely in reality. There are more reasons to say that the ending scene is a dream and not reality. After credits people have heard the totem fall but is not shown and hence we have to assume that the totem is still rotating.

Now here's my take. Cobb goes into limbo and will bring himself and Saito back to reality. With the help of Ariadne during the entire process of inception he is successful at convincing himself that he can no longer think about Mal as she is dead. The plane scene at the end and the immigration scene is very much real. Later Cobb meets his children and this is not shown in the movie.

You might have noticed that a group of old people regularly visit Chemists place to experience shared dreams. Also Cobb regularly hooks himself to sedative to dream alone. This clearly explains that dreaming is addictive and necessary for any person who is into shared dreaming

The final scene happens after Cobb meets his children(which is not shown in the movie). He might have started dreaming and since he has met his children he is able to see there faces clearly. And of-course as explained earlier, Mal is no longer there in his dream. This way we can logically conclude that it was an happy ending after all

Please share your thoughts in comments :)

Massage, anyone ?

The last couple of weeks were spent in a state of confusion and I desperately needed a break. After a series of failed trek plans I ended up doing nothing apart from sitting alone in my room. My latest plan to trek in coorg did not materialize. Was not really in a mood for group activity or going out with friends. This is pretty much the case from past couple of months. I chose the one activity that involved the least amount of exertion, and the least amount of company – a massage. Well I always wanted to get one from many years. From my sole experience of this relaxing activity, a massage has three essential components: 80% is excruciating torture, 10% is serious concentration at not sleeping, and 10% of feeling taken care of that almost makes up for the remaining 90% of un-fun-ness. I suppose I could’ve told masseuse that he was hurting me, but am always confused about whether it’s OK protest. And there’s also the “it’s good for you” sort of pain – the idea that present agony is going to save you untold future agony… all hogwash, if you ask me – because all they’re saying is that you’ll be in pain no matter what. At the end of the hour, I emerged, feeling and looking like an oily rag. The masseuse commented on how relaxed I looked. I was too tired to protest. I nodded along and let it be known that I felt wonderful. Now it was not just my metal state, I was physically drained as well.

It was not long before I realized, u should be mentally relaxed to truly enjoy a relaxing activity. Isn't it funny when I got a massage something that i craved to get from many years could not help lift my spirits up. Thankfully the massage had so tired me out that I fell asleep for at least 6 Hrs at a stretch, something I haven’t done from past few months, if not longer. From all this I saw so much truth in a phrase that I came across lately "HAPPINESS IS ONLY REAL WHEN IT IS SHARED". When you are trying to fight a war within yourself, no matter what you do to be happy it just wont help you.

Over-analysis

I learnt this the hard way

"Our hyper-consciousness often separates us from our surroundings. It erects a barrier that severs the pleasure and immediacy of visceral experience. Imagine the bird watcher who spots a rare woodpecker and immediately buries his nose in his bird ID handbook to confirm the find. The bird flies away. He gets to add a bird to his logbook, but he missed out on seeing a rare animal peck for grubs, stretch its glorious wings, and take flight in search of the next tree. Does a checkmark in a bird logbook compare to the memory of a majestic feathered beast? Ever take a literature course that was so chock full of analysis and essays that you were never able to actually enjoy the great books you were reading? Ever go to the movies with that guy who simply cannot suspend an ounce of disbelief and won’t shut up about the admittedly glaring plot hole the entire ride home? Seeking a deeper understanding of a fascinating and important subject is one thing; over-analysis is another entirely, and it can remove us from the enjoyment of a pleasurable pastime."

Decisions

If I could do it all over again I would, needless to say I would change something’s while leaving others the way they turned out. If I only had to worry about getting up in the morning, going to school, hanging out with friends, doing a few chores then homework and bed, that would be paradise right now. But we cannot stop growing up and as you grow up you would realize there are so many things to take care of and its not just ourselves. There are so many choices in life; we all make them, some good, others bad… Once you make them you can’t go back but you hope that you made the right one not just for us but for the people involved in our lives and if you didn’t you can learn from the bad choices and go on.

Life is a matter of happiness and sufferings. I didn't know whats happening in me and kept moving on in life without even realizing who I was last time. Am I changing? Lately, I've always look at the sky and gaze at the stars when night falls. Questions filled my mind. Life is definitely tough.

Making a decision to do something new usually involves giving up something else. That's what makes it hard—there's a loss to deal with as well as the uncertainly of the future. Our choices make us who we are. For me, many of the choices that I made were not easy and came at a cost. Some choices in my life didn’t work out as well as I thought. Some really hurt especially when it was done instinctively.

Life boils down to just one simple thing….Choices. Yet I always know that when tomorrow comes I will have the ability to do that one simple thing: make choices.

Preservation of Arecanut

Lately I'm working on a project for which we require fresh arecanut(Beetle-nut). As arecanut is seasonal we are working on how to preserve it for a period of 3 months. As there are no known techniques we are working on preservation from scratch. The best part about this R&D is meeting various people in the same field and documenting each and every method that is being tried. I'm just enjoying every part of it.

Recently I had a very interesting discussion with Prof. Maache of CFTRI pertaining to respiratory behavior of perishable fruits. A very interesting method used to preserve fruits is by restricting the rate of respiration which would eventually slow down the ripening process. Also it helps by storing the fruits at very low temperature which slows down the chemical reactions. Its very much similar to hibernation in animals. Prof explained that the same technique is being used by sadhus in Himalaya who just learn to control their breathing in very cold temperatures which helps them to live a little longer. Slower an animal breaths, longer it lives. This in fact helped me relate to few things and incidents that are mentioned in a book "Living with the Himalayan Masters" by Swami Rama that I'm reading. All of a sudden the content and the authors experiences made so much sense.

Still working on various technique to preserve the last harvest of the season. Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that the nuts will last a little longer then the previous batch.

Ettina bhuja

After a very long gap went for a trek near Dharmastala. Its a beautiful hill called ettina bhuja and just loved the experience

There is so much to write about the trek. Every thing was just right and a swim in crystal clear river Kapila at the foothills was out of the world experience. Will be back with more.

Life Updates

I just wish peace and happiness for everyone around. This post is for myself to remind me to work hard, very very hard

I just wish I could wake up in the morning and find out that all of this was just a bad, terrible dream! Its been 5 days now and am disturbed. It is an unnerving experience. There is a growing numbness in my heart... and am gasping for breathe. Was I not ready to face the world or was I not ready for responsibility that comes veiled along with it. Was I not ready to fight for what I deserve. Either way things have turned out very badly. I have taken a fairly well-thought-out, mature decision, based on the factors in our lives right now. Moments of elation and moments of despair that are so much a part of everyone's life, have been my regular visitors. Much as I have tried to keep my composure maintained during these days, I have oft broken down beyond any comprehension.

World without war

Lately I saw Distric 9 and must say it's a fantastic movie. This is unlike any sci-fi we have seen in years. While watching I realised, thou aliens are intelligent they were not violent even when situation demands them to be aggressive. On the other hand, humans were highly aggressive and violent in nature.

Well almost every day we get to see humans in action either in Afganistan or in Isreal. But the violence level has come down significatly since world war era. We were evolved from being animals to hunters to present generation civilised lot. Yet our animal insticts are being displayed in form of war, formation of boundaries & countries, fight for land, compitation to find a suitable mate and in almost every thing apart from being dressed up. My guess is, if we survive another 500/1000 years I'm sure we would have evolved more and will not constrain ourselves to fight on things that are not necessary. We may see a day where there are no boundaries and restriction with peace prvailing every where. We can then say that we are finally & fully evolved. What do you think ?

How many hours do you have ?

I don’t know if you encounter the same problem as I, but I keep on receiving complaints from my family and friends that I don't spend time with them. I however do like (friends, family, etc). You know, the kind of awfully nice people that nonetheless strangely feels that I do not go out with them often. This gets tough when you are working 6 days a week as I do and I'm in a manufacturing domain where working six days a week is "NORMAL". I get only one day for myself and my parents insists me to be at home. It seems I'm ruining running my life at a crazy pace. We may think of people, then something comes up and we never meet them. The month ends, another comes along, and again that trip we decided to go is never made. I'm fortunate to have some really good set of friends but I wish I had more time to spend with every one of them.

The shoes that never really was

If there is one brand of shoes that is over hyped, that must be woodlands. The brand showcases its product under "extreme condition usage category" and fails to live up to its hype. It weighs a ton and by no means suitable for trekking. There is no logic in wearing a shoes that weighs 1 to 2 kg on an hike to a mountain. To add to the misery its not flexible and its as if your ankles are attached to a concrete block. I think buying a pair of woodlands shoes was the worst decision that I 've made.

After a long hiatus, yesterday I finally decided that I need to pick a pair of shoes. After wearing a very hard slippers & a pair of woodlands for as long as two months, it was about time I did something before I permanently damage my heels. Well I brought my self a light weight Adidas Outdoors and must say its simply superb. It gently wraps around my foot and the right amount of cushion feels so good to wear. Its good that my legs are not aching anymore.

I've tried Bata, Lotto, Woodlands, Reebok & now Adidas. Out of which Lotto was good value for money. It was a running shoes and I loved the pair. Woodlands and Reebok can easily be written off, not much of a punch in them. Adidas looks promising and I will have wait till I arrive at a conclusion. My next buy will be a Nike. So people, I think now you know what you can gift me ;)

Civet Coffee aka kopi Luwak

I was able to get hold of some Civet coffee beans and was able to produce some 600 grams of coffee powder. Can you believe 600 grams when a kg of this exotic beans are priced $ 350 and above (US$33.00) per cup. The beans were painstakingly collected over a span of 1 year. The worst part is, the beans are not available throughout the year, You get it when it rains. And secondly thou coffee is extensively grown in chikamaglur, civets are more common in coorg. A very good friend of mine has an estate in coorg and thanks to them that they collected the beans for me.

This rare coffee has the distinction of being consumed before the connoisseur has even taken a sip. The palm civet (Kaadu bekhu/Mungusi), a cat-like animal also called a luwak, ingests fresh coffee cherries but doesn't digest the beans inside. The civet smells & eats the ripest and tastiest of the berries. After the beans pass through the civet's digestive system, The dung is collected and bean are washed and dried. Supposedly, the civet's digestive enzymes make the beans less acidic, improving the coffee's flavor. Most of the beans that are collected in Indonesia are exported and in India the beans are never bothered.

Well getting it roasted is a difficult job, it should not be microwaved. And there is also a risk of civet powder getting mixed with other powder if you get it done outside. My mom hand roasted the beans in a vessel with sand in it to get the right color. Once done it was grinded in a Mixer. We did not mix any chicory and the coffee was prepared the way a filter coffee is prepared.

I thought a civet coffee party (Coffee with Chandan) would be a good reason to invite people home and the party was yesterday. It was fun and everyone loved the coffee. It is very smooth and the aroma was heady. The flavor remains on your tounge for hours if you dont eat anything in between. Its not just me, everyone had some really good opinion about it. I still have some powder left, any coffee lover in Bangalore can drop in and have a cup for free. Do E Mail me before 03.07.09 and you 'll hav to give me one good reason for why I should invite you.

P.S. My mom told me lately that my granddad had a coffee farm long back and those were the days when money was hard to come by. All the produce were sold. However they were using civet beans at their place as they were considered to be of the lowest quality and did not hav any market value then. Just imagine, my mom and uncles grew up drinking civet coffee every day. The beans are called hanuklu in kannada

Right to live

Lately I watched the movie Transformers for the nth time and the following dilogue from the movie kept me thinking.

Ironhide: Why are we fighting to save the humans? They're a primitive and violent race.

Optimus Prime: Were we so different? They're a young species. They have much to learn. But I've seen goodness in them. Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.

So true, Every living being has the right to live. We human beings, the dominant species are suppressing other species. We are disrupting the evolutionary cycle or controlling the evolution to some extent. If other animals are given an opportunity to evolve, they may be of some benefit to us. I'll talk about the benefits later. We know south America is sparsely populated as compared to other continents and at the same time it has Amazon jungle where flora and fauna is diverse. We will have to relocate existing human population and spread them across the world. Thou relocation to a new place in short notice is a bad idea south Americans will benefit from being upgraded to a developed nation. Now South America will have to be declared neutral continent and should not even be visited by researchers. From then on we should let the continent evolve. The biggest issue will be relocation of tribes who are leaving in jungles. We will have to select suitable evergreen rain forest across the world and hav to relocate them there. Some people may perish or may not be able to survive, It'll be a small sacrifice as we are promoting something bigger.

Now if something bad happens and the entire human population is wiped out from the face of planet; We will hav an entire continent which is set in a state of evolutionary process devoid of humans. This may sound crazy but imagine, instead of things starting from scratch, we will have it start from say 5% or 20% of completed evolution. You may also say that existing forest are sufficient. But I strongly feel that the constant human interaction with forest has made it useless and we are shaping the living organisms to our benefits and the evolution is not happening the way nature wants it to happen. So we require an uninterrupted evolution somewhere out there in south America.

Now the advantage part, How many times do you think someone from a different planet has landed on earth and tried to bring back dinosaur to life ? Well I don't think that has ever happened. However we are very close to bring back woolly mammoth to life and are even capable of bringing back dinosaur if we get the right set of DNA from right set of fossils. Its a know fact that its much easier for a life form from earth to bring back life to an old life form of earth. So in an event of catastrophe we can expect a faster evolution in the neutral continent of south America and animals there may one day dig out fossil of humans and inject life to extinct homosapeians. Its something like we helping other species who may help us out in an event of disaster.

Its just a far fetched concept of mine. There may be better ideas floating around. But at the end of the day as optimus prime tells, Freedom is the right of all sentient beings

The Book of Family Records

Being born into a big family has its own advantage or rather disadvantage for people like me. There is a not so interesting game that is regularly played in our family circle. The game is called "who has got how much marks". The rules of game is very simple, compare your marks or to be more precise your academic performance with that of your cousins, friends and siblings. Well there is no prize for winners. The game becomes tough when you have really good performers as competetors. Since I was the eldest of the lot there was a huge expectation of what target I would set, but ironically after few years I was declared retired from the game and now I'm a mere spectator. As you can see, 70% average marks will not make you eligible in the game. So getting in is also tough. But I do hav a set of record that will remain intact for years to come, i.e. " Maximum number of flunk in Math Tests". Well the game has a very dark side, wish there was a better way of recognising talent.