Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Detachment... Why do we cherish memories

Recently i had the occasion to go through my past. In a way i mean. I was shifting through the remains of my trunk and came across old books and stuff that i was positive that i had no use of. But still it felt bad to discard them. There were some vague very distant memories associated with them that refused to let go. It was only with a heavy heart that i finally bade them goodbye. What was perplexing in this entire episode was that the items did not really mean anything to me at the time when i had them. In fact i could go as far as to say that i literally misused/abused them, as was obvious from the torn pages and broken limbs.

But the experience made me wonder, why did they gain in value over time. Is it just human nature, or was there something special about them, that special factor which i am subconsciously aware of but i cant put a finger at. Maybe its the former, is it not always 'old is gold' and 'future is always going to the dogs'(I personally think very highly of dogs, according to me any such phrase could only mean for the good, but that's how the phrase goes). And if i want to argue in favor of the latter, lets see, when we like someone, and want to remember then we go to places where we have been together, not because we like the place but because we have memories associated with the place. Human memory is basically abstract and sort of photographic, so we can associate similar feelings on seeing similar patterns or places. But will that mean that sub-consciously i was happier at the earlier stage than at present, does an attachment with something in the past mean that we are growing unhappier everyday. Are we not ready to look forward to tomorrow and wish to cling on to the past? I cant make up my mind at present. Maybe sometime in the future... That does give me something to look forward to... (Is that contradictory??.. :-) ...).

Monday, October 13, 2008

The purpose of life...

It was while i was writing the previous post that i was reminded of a conversation i had with my brother a few months ago. The question was simple, whats the purpose of life. At the moment i the first thing that i said was- "To be happy". And to find out what brings us happiness. I still stand by that statement. Though reflecting back at the it i think its not very easy to determine what is it that makes us happy. I have seen people getting confused between what they want to do and what they should do. Almost all the people i have seen, with tension, confusion, unhappiness, sorrow, loneliness, or simply just unhappy with lives. In all the cases the solution boils down to just one simple thing(All right i agree its not that simple...); to get our priorities right. To set for ourselves and everyone involved in our life an order of importance. And to let everyone be aware of it. An arrangement of the sort ensures a lot of confusion is removed from relationships. And though it may be painful for a few in the short term. Eventually its going to simplify your life to a great extent. What's important is not the order but the fact that everyone can know and comprehend your actions and not be confused or frustrated by it.

I think i deviated a great deal from what i started with. Anyways to get back to the point, i believe that everyone must have a lil word or sentence that should lead him through his life. It may not be constant, nor does it need to be elaborate. But it should be very clear for the person himself. He must be able to clearly see its meaning though its not at all necessary that he must be able to explain it to another soul. So go ahead and find out what is it u live for, when was the last time u truly smiled, were without a fear or worry in the world. And in those rare moments u will find what is it that u truly need in your life. And thus make those moments come more often until u start looking forward to every moment in your life.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Meaning and the purpose of money?

I have and i am sure almost everyone must have at some point of time met someone who said that they want to make money. And that's a perfectly good, sane thing to say. But what does money mean, i just wanted to figure that out. As usual i ran a Google and landed up on wiki, there were a few interesting words used there to describe the term that caught my attention. The most prominent of this was "medium of exchange". Reminded me of the barter system i read about ages ago in history classes. After all money in itself is of no value unless it can be bartered for another item which we may need, desire, want or be interested in. That brings us to the question of what makes us want something. After the basic necessities of food, shelter, etc. are fulfilled, which i am sure anyone reading this would not be worried about, the next thing on the line is comfort, for ourselves and the people we hold near and dear.

Coming back to the initial statement about making money, the statement is a result of a number of questions that preceded that. And it is not an end unto itself. The act of making money carries with if a desire to obtain something of value which can be accomplished only through an intermediate medium of exchange. The problem arises when we begin to work towards achieving the objective but fail to remember the questions and the deliberations that has led to it. A lot of pain in this world would be reduced if only people realise what is the purpose that they are working towards. The final aim. The purpose of life?(contd...).

Saturday, October 11, 2008

The problem of why???

I think we spend an awful lot of time on the "Why?". When confronted with a situation we should instead focus on the "How" of the solution rather than the why? Because the more u ask why the more will be the number of questions. Every man has a story to tell. When u ask a why, every person on the planet will give u a fairy tale, every culture has a story, every religion will give u a story, but that will not solve your problem. So start the How. Don't ask me why?

Desire of the Impossible

I was reminded very rudely recently of the very nature of desires n dreams. The circumstances that brought about the realization apart, the first thing that it reminded me of was the lecture scene in the beginning of the movie "The Life of David Gale". It said something similar in spirit to the following--

Desires are bound and supposed to be outlandish. Something that's impossible. That's beyond our reach. The very notion of a dream being achievable takes it away from the realm of dream and puts it into the arena of reality.

As human beings i believe we are meant to live on dreams. The day we stop dreaming. We stop growing in our life. One may still say that one is happy(in their own interpretation of the word). But there will always be that void that gets created due to the lack of the NEW. So just go ahead and dream the Impossible. And keep on dreaming. And the day u think that u have achieved the impossible. Well its never too late to dream again.... :-) ...

P.S. A lil footnote. I prefer keeping my dreams to myself. I think so should u.

Have been travelling....

There was a recent drought of words from my side. Not because i did not have any but because i have been unable to put anything on paper(in the spirit of the phrase). I have been traveling for almost a week and have a number of things to write about. Some from the journey, the people and some from the random readings.


Images like these are the most common sight when traveling through the vast expanse of the country. These are just a few pics from my cell phone camera which i took while i was awake on the journey. I will have to admit there were more beautiful things to capture. But either i was too lazy or the journey was too fast... :-) ....






Thursday, October 2, 2008

Recap...

My post before last. I was thinking that the bailout package isn't going to be needed. But it was passed today. I guess one of the two things happened. Either i was wrong, or fear of not doing anything made people to act as they did. If i recall correctly then the vote was defeated because there was no public support for it. How much of that could have been changed in the last few days is questionable. But if it means that the public support goes down for Republicans than Obama winning would be a sure thing. McCain already has a negative going for him(in Palin). However the the package is going to get the Republicans a lot of friends in high places. And that makes a lot of difference in elections... Lets see how the results shape up. I think this is my last post on this topic. until i see something there that i can relate to in a general sense.

My comment on MyToday...

Yesterday was interesting, at least different in a way. I wrote some comments at Rajesh Jain's blog and he actually replied to it. That was interesting, I was of the general opinion that my numerous comments just go unnoticed. It was nice to know that they are actually being read once in a while. Well i think thats going to give me another reason to continue spamming all those sites... :-) ...

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Recession... Depression... Anything else u want to call it... :) ..

Well, Its been sometime since i wrote here. And my last post is still pending vis a vis its execution... Anyway nowadays whenever i read news i find words like those in the heading. And that makes me wonder.. :-) ... What is it that's actually happening. The most interesting phrase that i keep remembering with respect to the crisis in US is - " Privatisation of profit and socialization of losses". it sounds good... :-) ... When the sub-prime crisis had just come into light, I read an article somewhere. It equated the situation to socialism. The writer argued, that when all is said and done, there are going to be homes left over, which are going to be a lot cheaper that they originally were. There are going to be people with homes and the loans written off or reduced. I felt that it was actually true. And in the present situation it seems even more apt(I think the article was Swaminomics TOI). The government is going to take over loans that cant be repayed. Thus taking money from the public and redistributing it to those who dont have it. It is better than socialism i think. Where else will we be able to determine so well the needy(if we can disregard the small but unavoidable number of purposeful defaulters).

Further, when the US senate refused to pass the bailout bill, my news alert told me that 1.2 trillion were wiped out in about 6 hours. That sounds like a good number. And its bigger than the figure that was supposed to come for the rescue. What it tells me is that markets run on emotions, because the market has lost that much money and is still alive.. :-) ... Should the reinvestment of the same not bring up the market(but of course people are not going to be buying the useless mortgages now, only a goverment would do that). But if we just go with principle. Lets privatise the losses. Some companies go down. And stay that way so that people wont make the same mistakes twice. Of course i am noone to talk economics. But there is a simple fact that hard cash cant grow. So it is going to be invested back. And thats going to be more than the amount thats slated for the bailout. Let me see how its going to turn out. If u know why this wont work. U can comment below... :-)