The idea of Ideas...

U know there are many different things in life that shape the way with think about ourselves and the way we perceive the world. We form certain perceptions earlier in our lives that we adhere to for the rest of our lives, knowingly or unknowingly. All our pains and happiness depend upon what and how we develop them in the first quarter of our lives. If the rest of our lives conform to the way we thought , life is a bed of roses, else its a bed of thorns. Not exactly that extreme, but i believe for one to be truly happy these ideas are very important. Trying to change them is heresy, anything against them is unacceptable, and anything that contradicts our thoughts are difficult to digest or accept.

It has many implications in our life, it strives to make us stable and our responses predictable, after all what is intelligence but to predict, to be able to foresee. And our eternal quest to make things predictable and stable makes us the same. This is the reason why old people have problems with adapting to changes, its the reason why the first love is always the best because it shapes ones opinion, its the reason why the first language we learn is the one we speak in at the time when we are the weakest, its the reason why everyone in their hearts wants the "good old days" when they could tell what was good and what was not. In this day and age, the new generations are not fixed on places, are not troubled by changes in the way of working,... But even we have our nuances, the bits we don't want to change, the people we want to be, (the websites we don't want to be redesigned.. :-) ... ). Among many others... yes a lot has changed, but we are all still human, I guess staying human is the tough part after all.

Quantity we have, now we need Quality...

I was recently witness to an incident that made me wonder what does it mean to be alive but not be able to live the way one wanted to. I was sitting in a hospital with a friend of mine waiting for the doctor when a boy was brought in, probably in his teens, for what appeared to be clearly a suicide attempt. The conversation around the boy indicated that he had taken some pesticide or rat poison lying around the house. What was of particular interest is the fact that it took the doctor hardly fifteen minutes to diagnose the patient and send him off. Whatever was needed was available at hand and at no point in the whole event was anyone morbidly tensed as to the fate of the boy. Everyone there knew and believed that the boy will be saved. It is this very feeling that made me wonder what was it that could be missing in the whole sequence of events. At this point of time through whatever means there are amenities available all over the country which may not have been possible in the not very distant past. But what was missed in the whole episode are the reasons which could have triggered the boy, I am almost sure that there will be nothing done to address the reasons for the same.

On a very similar vein, recently a batchmate of mine passing out this year from college was worried about kids said to be just barely above the permissible age of child labour(15 yrs.) working in our hostel canteens. We did not want them to be just thrown out of the work because we did not know where they were going to end up next. A short interview with the child revealed that he worked there along with his father for a meagre sum of money, asked if he wanted to study he said no he did not want to(I cant blame him for it, i don't remember kids actually thinking that education is necessary, the realization comes only later).

As i remember Alvin Toffler the renowned futurist in his books had predicted an age when services and goods will be produced in such quantities that they will be available to the common man. Its in the same age that we are living right now. We did not actually cross the eras of telegraphs and telephones and jumped directly into this age with mobile phones. In the process i feel we lost the ability to innovate and improve upon and bring the changes as an improvement in our lives, rather than as a service. Yes its an era of global cooperation and sharing, but as i recently heard, its the local solution to global problems that is going to save the world. No matter how much we become like one another, its managing our differences and understanding them that's going to make us succeed.

Now merely increasing the quantity would not have the required effect on our lives that we desire, or at least i desire. The need for maintaining high standards of quality in every field of our endeavour, is what is going to bring forward the next revolution in our life.

What am I?

No its not a philosophical question that i have set out to answer, i am just trying to figure out what am i going to do for the rest of my life. I was on a vacation for the last one week, and that gave me some time to think over things away from the daily grind, and the worst thing is i still haven't come up with something concrete. I thought i want to be a guy who built something new, something that would change the way people live, something that would make the world a better place, I was always happier when i found out something new that i didn't know before, and u figured that's what i am going to be doing. But as of late, i think i am becoming more of a system admin, the kind of guy everyone looks up to as doing a great job but no one aspires to be.

I am not getting any new ideas, am not writing anything great, no code, no thoughts, nothing... I am just turning out blank day in and day out. Do people have dry spells too, i hope they do, because unless there is something like that, i would have a really difficult time coming out of something that doesn't exist.

My encounter of the first kind

I started this post with the weird heading because i have recently done something that i had not done earlier. I saw snow capped mountains and that was a wonderful experience. I had been to Auli for a three day holiday and came back yesterday evening, I would try to recount the experiences of my journey in a roughly the same order in which i could show through the few pics.

Uttarakhand is a beautiful state, and the journey turns out to be pleasure along with the destination. Here are a few pics of the beautiful journey that we could capture on the way.

The view en route

The view en route

The view en route

The view en route: the path that leads to heaven...

On the first day we traveled from Roorkee to Joshimath, reached there at around 7 in the evening. The hotel that we stayed at had a name that was meant to be confused with Kamat, but rhymed with Comet, was named "Kamet"... :-) ... Could not find out why it was named that way. Anyways, after the day long journey, owing to the fact that one is not allowed to travel at night in these ghats, we had to give up one whole day for the journey. By the time we reached it was pleasantly cold, and had an early dinner because the shops close very early, around 9 there. We did not call it a day immediately of course, there was some rounds of dumb charades and some fighting, friendly ones, before we called it a day and dozed with the hopes of a wonderful tomorrow.

Day 2:

The day 2 started with most of the people with me going to the temple in the morning(i was sleeping). Finally after some breakfast we checked out of the hotel and left for Auli, though the distance isn't a lot, after going for sometime we come over no claim land over with the roads are terrible and it was a real pain to be driven in the mud roads, because there are no charted roads in that area. Here are a few pics of the time from Joshimath till we reached Auli.

First impressions

In the pic above bottom right is the base camp for mountaineers.

So far all the sights had been from the confines of the bus, Now having finally landed in Auli, the snow capped mountains were invitation enough to get started right away.

We started on our way, it hadn't been a very long trek until now, but enough to make us realize that it wasn't going to be a walk in the park. We had not taken the time for acclimatisation into account. And the lack of oxygen was making us fight for our breath every now and then.

The place is famous for skiing and so the first question that one gets on getting there is whether u would like to give it a try, the price quoted for the same was Rs. 350 but the bargainers in the group brought in down to Rs. 250. Now if that is low enough can only when someone reading this goes there and is able to settle at a better price... :-) ...

I myself did not go for skiing, i preferred the trek to learning another balancing act... :-) ...

Every step on the way was worth the journey that we made to the place, cant explain it in as many words, It would be better if u have a look at the pictures below.

The beginning...

The white that covers it all...

White and white all the way...

We were trying to get used to the weather, but needed frequent stops to have our heart beats return back to normal.

As for the feeling of doing something new,.. we did find some snow near the top that has not been walked upon, at least we were the first ones to have come there since the last snowfall... :-) ...


Its the last lap of the journey that's said to be the toughest, but when something can be as beautiful and breathtaking as this, all the hardship seems worth it.

And finally the view from the top,...


The view from the top was nothing like I had ever seen for real, and then to realize that you have climbed one of the peaks similar to the ones in the pic. One would certainly feel good. And there I was, taking in my share of conquest... :-) …

But like all good things, even this had to come to an end, we found our way back to our waiting bus as the sun started to go down, there was some tension in the end because a few of our companions got delayed in getting back, and we were getting apprehensive that they may have got lost in the slopes, which beautiful as they are, would have been inhospitable after nightfall. But eventually and fortunately things got sorted out and we started on our way back.

We came back from Auli and didn't stop at Joshimath again, there is one thing which one must keep in mind if one visits these parts. The roads leading from there to the plains are still being constructed and are extremely prone to landslides. We came to know that just just after we had come there a day earlier, there had been a landslide on the route and the road had been blocked for almost half a day, we saw the remains of the landslide on our way back.

In a way we were fortunate to have crossed over in time, had we been a lil more delayed we would have been stuck there and would have had to cancel our plans. So all in all it was a good trip, we were lucky, had a great view of the place, no injuries so far and everyone was happy.

So we moved on and made the night stop at Mayapur, Chamoli District. The name of the lodge was Him anand(I think he meant it to be Heem anand, meaning icy pleasure). We had a lil bonfire there. The night fell, and we were tired, a few fell asleep, and the rest stayed awake till late at night, cherishing the day when we had set foot on the paradise on earth, we lit a fire that soon died away in the chilly air. And the dying embers reminded us that we had to move on, with the memories of the day.

There was a bridge nearby the hotel, and after dinner and the fire, people walked around, we sat on the ledges trying to figure out the meanings of dark outlines, of faraway lights, and of anything that cast a shadow. But in general there was not much talk, it was so quiet that i think the fear that we could do something wrong by breaking the silence, was more than a thought. Its a strange thing that we don't really know what silence is, in cities and in homes, there are so many things that don't ever let us know what is it like to hear nothing, what is it like to have a loud thought and be afraid that someone might hear it. It was the occasional passing of a vehicle that broke the reverie. Eventually everyone crept back to their rooms and gave heed to their tired bodies which readily acknowledged the need for a few hours of rest, for we had a days journey to go.

Day 3:

We started back as early as was possible, and got back into the bus. The journey back was as picturesque while going back as we had found it on the way fro if not more, a lot of it was spent in silence, possibly because there was a regret of going back to the daily grind, and also of leaving back something so beautiful.

The day was more or less uneventful, people were not as troubled by altitude sickness as while coming, Apart from a few breaks every few hours we kept going forward. We did stop near Devaprayag for lunch, and the restaurant was opposite the river Ganges. So while the food was prepared we waded through the cold water. The bottom of the river was slippery with algae and it was quite an effort not to fall down, i finally managed not to fall, against all my premonitions.

After the lunch, we headed forward again for home, stopping only for some evening tea.

It was a great trip, the company was wonderful, the view was fabulous, the journey comfortable, the stay cozy, the timing perfect, the organizing flawless, and finally the memories. unforgettable.
The End: Its life that awaits on the other side of the bend,
but memories stay to make us come back, to make a new pact,
to cherish the feeling so good and few,
and wait for every moment that begins anew.

Hoping for a change...

There have been days when i am down, disappointed, not interested in doing what i was doing. But these last couple of weeks have been worse than that. For some absurd reason i don't feel like studying, and reading just the headlines make me wish to throw the paper away. The way i see it i live with a simple principle, tit-for-tat. I do what i expect, and i let everyone do as they wish as long as they are not getting into my face. And i believe that's the principle that India is built upon, everyone to their own believes, though the real principle is that being so diverse there is no single idea that cant be voted out by the rest of the ideas together. But it had worked out pretty fine so far. But following this approach has made us overly tolerant, we tolerate things we may not like ourselves and that has done a terrible thing to us. We don't know when to say stop. When some hooligans try to take over our daily lives for a day, we take it as a holiday and accept it. That gives the illusion that they can get away with whatever they want, this cant go on. We in the new India need to start being more tolerant as a person as less tolerant as a society. The real challenge is to make every one of the 100 crore plus citizens realise that. Its not easy and i wont call it possible, but i am sure i am young enough to be there when such a day comes in the life of India.

Prediction, order, God and randomness

Yes i do know that i use the word Random a lot. Its even up there near the title, but my liking is not the topic of this post. I have been reading and hearing a few things about beliefs and religion, and have ended up i don't know where, its always safer to know one side of the story, then u can truly say what u believe to be the truth, u know both sides and there u are, ending up having an argument for every question that the any of the sides puts up(and let alone the possibility that there may not be only a two sides of a coin).

We all love to know whats going to happen, and we live our lives in trying to make our life predictable, to order things in ways that wont fail, in ways that make us comfortable with the outcome, and for that bit which we cant predict we call god, the one who knows all, after all "if i don't know it at least someone does" is a pretty reassuring thought. The idea of randomness does not do a great lot for the times when we need to stop from breaking down in distress. For the times when things happen that we did not desire. Try telling someone who has lost someone in an accident that their loved ones are dead because of all the millions of possible ways of things happening this was what happened, and it was for no reason, no justification, no purpose greater than a probability of occurrence, and i am sure the person will know first hand one of the possible way that he may die(unless of course he is lucky enough to be talking to a mathematician). And maybe that's why we need god, to account for what we cant control, what we cant understand, and what we cant revert.

I have never had any problems with religion as such, its only that there are so many of them. I personally don't have enough faith to be an atheist, but i really liked a quote i came across recently --
" All of us are atheists, only, some of us, take it one god further "

But is there ever going to be a day when we wont need god, i don't think so, Unified theory or no unified theory, there will always be days when one would need to stop reasoning, calculating, thinking and just lie down knowing that everythings gonna be all right... And for that well, god is a really small word to say.

The need for art... The need for pride...

I was on a trip to Mussorie recently, and realized something, art or rather just the act of making things beautiful means a lot more in life than immediately apparent. The town is a tourist spot, and that must be the reason why the city is so well decorated. There are murals along the roads, the bus stops en route are artistically designed. It just felt good to walk through the streets, the feeling i later recognized was one of pride and content. Its almost like being at home. Of being nurtured, the road was more than just a path to another place but an end unto itself, it symbolised that it was not the destination that one must look forward to but the journey.

I feel that it is this very feeling that lacks in India today. The feeling of being more that just "this will do the job", because in such a case there is very little to inspire, it does not suggest that we are doing more than just surviving, we are thriving. And as far as i know that feeling is very important for a society to coexist peacefully. Because a person will feel happy only when he is well to do and has more to spare. The need of the hour is therefore not just to build a nation but to do it with elegance, we need to make it such that we are proud of everything that we see, and they don't remind us to things that have gone wrong but things that went right. We do the same thing at our homes. We buy a house, and don't just stay satisfied with the walls and the furniture but more than that we make it a place worth coming back to, we decorate it, we make it a place where we keep our memories. All that we need to do is to extend the same to our surroundings. Lets stop the "chalta hai(will do)" and start giving ourselves more than we need. So that we can strive for more than we thought we could achieve.