Gold is an outrageous colour , except when associated with Fedex …
Just see that - his gold embroidered jacket , golden cup , his hair and finally the golden sun rays caressing him ..oh lovely , i hope to see many more such pictures of him on this court .
to myself !! 
been busy these two months , adjusting to my life as an internee .
words r hard to come by once u sit down to write , they run in a jumble in ur mind , lots to write but don’t know where to start !
first – introducing the book that brought me back to my blog – Richard Bach’s “The gift of wings” .
whenever i think of airplanes or flying i always associated it with “freedom” , i still don’t know what exactly that “freedom” means , ‘am not able to define it ! to define it means ,to limit it , i think so.i love speed , fast cars and bikes , may be it too has got sth to do with a sense of freedom and adventure …sometimes pictures tell us more than words do – a pic of sky or sunset over the sea , or just the sea itself is so calming , a sense of being free , happy and well i can’t find words!
The way Richard Bach writes about airplanes and flying and sky ha , see this ..
“that the sky is always moving but is never gone ,
that no matter what the sky is always with us
and that the sky cannot be bothered.my problems to the sky did not exist , never had existed, never would exist.
the sky doesn’t misunderstand
the sky does not judge,
the sky very simply ,is .”
Reading this books ,makes u want to fly, into the sunset , just for the fun of it , Knowing that there is always a place for u where u r alone, at home , content .
Ah don’t read much in to it … i write to myself much as to express to others , i always think everyone will have their own version or understanding of things – written or seen and that depends as much on the author as on the reader .
I have been reading Rabindranath Tagore’s short stories and essays since a month , just came across this passage – i can’t get it out of my mind , neither can i understand it fully ….
“Whatever confines our urges inside us , and checks their free access to the outside, poisons our life .Selfishness for instance , refuses to give free play to our desires and so prevents them from working themselves through; that is why its close associate is always festering untruth. When our desires have a chance to be released in the form of worthwhile work the aberration is dispelled and a more natural condition asserts itself . that is the true state of human nature and the joy of being human .” – this passage is from “the broken heart ” – ‘My reminiscences’ by Tagore .
I just finished my theory final examinations , and preparing for practical examinations , in the meanwhile have a look at the site of my new home – its dug up for pillars – expected to be ready and done by next march ….CHEERS
click here for the picasa album
my home
It’s often amusing reading the number of adjectives that are used to describe the famous people.For all the simplicity Henry David Thoreau stood for – he is described as everything starting from historian , tax resister to Transcendentalist .
so I won’t use more of those fancy titles . I want to share some of his quotes that I like – most of them taken from his work -” Walden“.
- A broad margin of leisure is as beautiful in a man’s life as in a book. Haste makes waste, no less in life than in housekeeping. Keep the time, observe the hours of the universe, not of the cars.
- A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.
- Books can only reveal us to ourselves, and as often as they do us this service we lay them aside.
- Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.
- Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
- An efficient and valuable man does what he can,
whether the community pay him for it or not.
The inefficient offer their inefficiency to the highest bidder,
and are forever expecting to be put in office.
- Say what you have to say, not what you ought.
Any truth is better than make-believe.
now what mania ….ooh don’t know but he is sooo cute ……..
just when i am busy reading for my exams , i find him, soo cute , i have watched his films earlier but never noticed (???) , so it was the film “namak halal” that made me sit up and say wow cute ….(can’t find another” single “adjective to describe him perfectly) .
and i was surfing the net for him , i came across this site , very funny and they are totally in love with Shasheeeeee..
I ‘am feeling quite an itch to comment upon this year’s Oscars b’cos of lots of noise being made by the Indian presence and by “Slumdog Millionaire” .
I confess i don’t find Slumdog appealing ,i think it got 3-4 too many oscars , ‘cos there r much better movies made in India by Indians on this subject of poverty and success . What i don’t understand is why this is film such a big hit , is it the circumstances (the success story viewed in the backdrop of current recession ) or sth else .Regarding the best picture and best director I think the other movies “Milk” , “The curious case of Benjamin Button” deserved better .
Coming to the music , i love WALL-E , but keeping it aside , as someone who has listened to Rehman all these years , i know he made much better soul stirring music than this , ok agreed its in regional languages , but still the hype being made up is just too much .
and finally congratulations to my fav actor Late Heath Ledger winning an Oscar , and to the short film documentary “smile Pinki” , a real good one .
Into the wild , movie released in 2007 , just watched it , i feel the film is growing on me . there are some amazing dialogues in the movie , but here r the few songs that i like .. The music is by Eddie Vedder
SOCIETY
hmmm ooh hooo hooo
It’s a mystery to me
we have a greed
with which we have agreed
You think you have to want
more than you need
until you have it all you won’t be free
society, you’re a crazy breed
I hope you’re not lonely without me
When you want more than you have
you think you need
and when you think more than you want
your thoughts begin to bleed
I think I need to find a bigger place
‘cos when you have more than you think
you need more space
society, you’re a crazy breed
I hope you’re not lonely without me
society, crazy and deep
I hope you’re not lonely without me
there’s those thinking more or less less is more
but if less is more how you’re keeping score?
Means for every point you make
your level drops
kinda like its starting from the top
you can’t do that…
society, you’re a crazy breed
I hope you’re not lonely without me
society, crazy and deep
I hope you’re not lonely without me
society, have mercy on me
I hope you’re not angry if I disagree
society, crazy and deep
I hope you’re not lonely without me
RISE
Such is the way of the world
You can never know
Just where to put all your faith
And how will it grow
Gonna rise up
Burning black holes in dark memories
Gonna rise up
Turning mistakes into gold
Such is the passage of time
Too fast to fold
Suddenly swallowed by signs
Low and behold
Gonna rise up
Find my direction magnetically
Gonna rise up
Throw down my ace in the hole
i love woods , rain forests , green landscapes …
this is kerala , Munnar
the best pic i have snapped
ah looks like wordpress has decreased the free space they r offering for a blog , oh bad bad …
Remembering Charles Darwin on his 200th birthday on feb 12.
Charles Darwin , a British naturalist proposed the theory of evolution by natural selection explaining the origins of man . A revolutionary scientist whose theory shook the foundations of religion and remains a pillar of modern science .
Charles darwin
What I found interesting these days about Darwin is, the many interpretations that stem from his theory .So many people like some biologists , creationists ,evolutionists ,eugenicists ,theologians ……they all use this theory , their own (mis)interpretation of it, to support their convictions , many of them appalling .
Oh i will give u an example there was one eminent critic who said “America’s moral decline is Darwin’s fault “,bit far fetched .
Theory of Natural selection :
Darwin’s theory of evolutionary selection holds that variation within species occurs randomly and that the survival or extinction of each organism is determined by that organism’s ability to adapt to its environment.
“The survival of fittest” , perhaps one of the most quoted and misquoted words.
to quote Darwin: “Can it, then, be thought improbable, seeing that variations useful to man have undoubtedly occurred, that other variations useful in some way to each being in the great and complex battle of life, should sometimes occur in the course of thousands of generations? If such do occur, can we doubt (remembering that many more individuals are born than can possibly survive) that individuals having any advantage, however slight, over others, would have the best chance of surviving and of procreating their kind?
This preservation of favourable variations and the rejection of injurious variations, I call Natural Selection.”
Still i think there are gaps , first being the question of “origin of life ” and the gaps in evolution , existence of intermediate forms and the stasis . These are the major points that are driving scientists to find an alternative explanation .
Those gaps are also being used as a reason to promote “creationism” , “the intelligent design” .What got me interested in this topic was the book “The God Delusion ” by Richard Dawkins , can refer to it for further explanation on it .He uses lots of examples to blast the intelligent design concept , but the gaps do remain to be filled.
I have read a bit of 2 of his books – some of the excerpts -
from “The Descent of Man“:
-”It has often and confidently been asserted, that man’s origin can never be known: but ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.“
a very interesting observation from medical point of view - “Man is liable to receive from the lower animals, and to communicate to them, certain diseases as hydrophobia, variola, the glanders, &c.; and this fact proves the close similarity of their tissues and blood, both in minute structure and composition, far more plainly than does their comparison under the best microscope, or by the aid of the best chemical analysis.”- reasons why we use them for experiments .
Darwin uses the examples various diseases and similar developmental anomalies occurring in man and lower primates to explain the descent of man from them .
I wish i had time to read a lot more ….
Darwin’s natural selection is a picture suggestive of ” the tree of life” ,it explains evolution based on vertical transfer of genes, but according to latest research showing additional horizontal transfer of genes a new “web of life “concept has been proposed .
for further reading -
complete works of Charles Darwin
Galapogos – has some cool pics
Whatever the controversies , Charles Darwin is undoubtedly one of the greatest thinkers of mankind .
“Everything that irritates us
about others can lead us to
an understanding of
ourselves.”
- Carl Jung
Advocating exercise as a pill to counter stress and weight gain ….
the reason why i write this is b’cos i want to share my personal experience – the benefit i got doing regular exercise
If ur interested , lets start from basics
STRESS -
Stress is a subjective sensation , an adaptive response, its like tension in the strings , to an extent it helps- increases productivity , more than that it destructs , both mental and physical health.
The term “stress”, as it is currently used was coined by Hans Selye in 1936, who defined it as “the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change”.
Eustress ,good stress – that which increases productivity ,this is very well illustrated in this fig.
for further reading -
The hormones that r released in response to stress are – cortisol, epinephrine and nor-epi, these r actually healthy human responses to stress .
But the more of these signifies trouble …
The most common medical conditions we come across as a result of stress(not as an etiological factor , but as a contributing factor) are – hypertension , anxiety disorders , cardiovascular diseases , diabetes ,certain GI conditions like peptic ulcer ,and it also accelerates aging process.
Stress and weight gain -
stress leads to weight gain by – increased craving for sweet , spicy and fatty foods , decreased rate of metabolism , decreased activity (decreased energy spending and more fat storage) see emotional eating .
thus weight gain due to increasing stress in turn leads to more stress in health and fashion conscious people .
The way to manage the stress , its health effects – has been broadly referred to as Life style management – this being one of the first advocated primary prevention modules for life style diseases like Hypertension , Diabetes and Obesity , cardiovascular diseases .
Life style management includes good diet , exercise and management of stress by stress busters like yoga , music , any leisure activity …
Exercise
Taking frequent effective exercise is one of the best physical stress-reduction techniques available.exercise will also help by being an outlet for frustrations (eg: if u want punch somebody , imagine their face on ur punch bag and start kicking ,there u go , good exercise !! haha ).
Exercise causes to release of endorphins which lead to a sense of euphoria ,they also lead to enhancement of immune response , decreased pain perception ,and also supposed to cause the “runner’s high“.
Regular daily exercise and diet modulation (meaning :nutritious diet ,not starving ) will slowly help lose weight , gain good shape , more importantly it will be a healthy sustained weight loss .
There are many exercise schedules , what i advice is start slow , try something basic like walking or cycling – when u start feeling the good effects of it , u can try other regimens .there is no need to start looking for a gym to exercise , its unnecessary .All you need is a will , a desire to battle stress and weight gain …..
GO GO RUN ….
wow ,ah no I just can’t say how wonderful the movie was and Anushka is extraordinary – i think i won’t be able see her in any other role after this .
The movie is worth watching again and again just to see her in some stills (the pictures can never capture it) , though in some she lost it , and the other characters – least said the better, the song at the start of the movie is awful .
But on the whole congratulations to the team that put up a splendid effort to make this .
The movie talks of magic , evil spirits , reincarnation . Apart from the subject the movie is totally engrossing with astounding graphics , superb action by the villain (Sonu sood) .
I won’t say anything more , just watch it
anushka
U all must have heard of it by now – the advertising campaign backed by British Humanist Association and Prof Richard Dawkins , which is putting up slogans on buses , tubes in London
and they raised more than they ever expected -£140,000. Dunno when something like this can happen in India !
here r a few pics
and i like this quote
and the add campaign also puts up some interesting quotes from prominent scientists(atheists ).
I am happy to see this .I am an atheist , i don’t believe in god and in religion(by their usual meaning) .
The thing i detest most about religion is the superstitious beliefs it propagates.
.
when i read quotes from Bhagavad Gita , Upanishads , by Vivekananda – u needn’t believe god ,there’s another way u can understand them .
“God ” …well it all depends on how we interpret .
“I thought nature itself was so interesting that I didn’t want it distorted (by miracle stories). And so I gradually came to disbelieve the whole religion.”- by Richard Feynman , my fav .
- ah the existence of miracles cannot be used to support the existence of ‘god’ .
The more bigger is the argument when it comes to the question of ‘creator’ and our boundless universe with still no clue of how it was born . Stephen Hawkins discusses this point in his book ‘A brief history of time’ .
related books-
“The God Delusion “ by Richard Dawkins
books by Ayn Rand
“Atheist Universe ” by David Mills
and do check out their site – the atheist bus
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