Paatum Naane

அசையும் பொருளில் இசையும் நானே
ஆடும் கலையின் நாயகன் நானே

எதிலும் இயங்கும் இயக்கம் நானே
என்னிசை நின்றால் அடங்கும் உலகே

நான் அசைந்தால் அசையும் அகிலமெல்லாமே
அறிவாய் மனிதா உன் ஆணவம் பெரிதா ?

A stanza in the middle of a song from a old Tamil movie - Thiruvilayadal. In the movie, the song is sung by Lord Shiva. The stanza means,

'I am the music in all things that move
I am the king of dance.

I move anything that moves
As my movement halts, world comes to a standstill.

As I move, the world moves
Hey human, is ur arrogance worth something?'

Whoaaaa!! Just a few lines by Kannadasan but loaded with tonnes of meaning. If this were written a few centuries ago, it would have walked hands down into the Tamil mystical literature in Hinduism. This so beautifully captures the meaning of the Cosmic dance of shiva.


Ananda Coomaraswamy echos Kannadasans thought in his book, 'The dance of shiva'. He writes,

In the night of Brahman, Nature is inert, and cannot dance till Shiva wills it; He rises from his rapture, and dancing sends through inert matter pulsing waves of awakening sound, and lo! matter also dances appearing as a glory round about Him. Dancing, He sustains its manifold phenomena. In the fulness of time, still dancing, he destroys all forms and names by fire and gives new rest. This is poetry; but not less, science.


Yes, you read the last line right. It is poetry but nonetheless science. Fritjof Capra writes about this in 'The tao of physics',

Modern physics has shown that the rhythm of creation and destruction is not only manifest in the turn of the seasons and in the birth and death of all living creatures, but is also the very essence of inorganic matter. According to quantum field theory, all interactions between the constituents of matter take place through the emission and absorption of virtual particles. More than that, the dance of creation and destruction is the basis of the very existence of matter, since all material particles ‘self-interact’ by emitting and reabsorbing virtual particles. Modern physics has thus revealed that every subatomic particle not only performs an energy dance, but also is an energy dance; a pulsating process of creation and destruction.


Amazing parallels. Guess if we dig into the mystical literature, we should be able to dig out a few more of such gems. Capras' book has many such parallels. If he (one who is not acquainted with such literature from birth) can point out so many, I am sure we can point out quite a few.


PS: And with that, core-dumped completes its century :)

Lyrics

இயற்க்கையின் மொழிகள் அறிந்துவிடு,
மனிதனின் மொழிகள் தேவை இல்லை!!!

Cognize nature's languages,
Human languages are dispensable!!!

WOW!!! What lyrics!!! Heard this in a song from the tamil movie Mozhi yesterday night. Has been a foreground process consuming lot of processing power in my brain since. :)

Awesome! Absolutely awesome!!!

The technology fairy

For almost all the major problems that surrounds us, technology is being touted as the answer. An example would be what the UN secretary general said recently about the conflicts in Darfur. He opines,

'Any real solution to Darfur's troubles involves sustained economic development," perhaps using new technologies, genetically modified grains or irrigation, while bettering health, education and sanitation'.

I do not believe that technology is a fairy. Of course, it does have its advantages, but it has never been, is not and will never be a fairy. The person who first beats me black and blue so that I vomit blood and then ses a cotton ball to wipe that blood off is not exactly my friend. That person is precisely what is technology. Technology comes as a package. It comes with unbridled capitalism, it empowers oppresive regimes to be even more oppresive, more energy consumption per capita etc. The reality is that the other sections of the packages almost always does more harm than the section that is touted to do good. Something to munch about.

I was inspired by this post. That was a particularly nice post. I liked it. I like the blog as well. I would recommend Mindwalk to anyone who has about 2 hours and has some interest in this topic. It touches this subject to some extent. It is a beautiful movie based on a book by Fritjof Capra.

Holier (read greener) than thou!!!

This is in response to some of the comments I have been receiving on my activities through public and private communication channels for some time now. This post has been overdue for quite sometime now but the immediate trigger was a comment by a friend of mine on the post prior to this. That post was a review of a recent Tamil movie. I initially thought I'd respond a bit late but since another friend joined issue, I thought its best to post this asap. The primary question posed was

'I fail to understand how a person who so unequivocally argued against rich taking home so much money, patronizes a movie made at a record cost, involving so much consumption of energy.'

Most queries are probably along these lines. A point by point clarification is impossible simply due to the wide variety of questions. A common clarification will, I hope, help in addressing quite a few of the questions posed as most of them have a common basis.

To start with, the question regarding patronizing a movie that was made at record cost is pretty trivial and does not deserve any attention though the question of hypocrisy certainly does. An exact analogy to that question would be to accuse Osama of tax evasion. I do commit regularly far greater acts of hypocrisy. To begin with, I make my living in the state of Alberta in Canada. Anyone who knows a little about Canadian economy will know that its the petroleum industry that runs the economy here. So, though I don't receive money directly from Oil and Natural Gas corporations as I am a grad student in the computer science dept, in all probability, without them Ill have no funding. Secondly, many leading environmentalists and climatologists claim that for building a sustainable future, more important than reducing automobile emissions is local consumption. Eating food that was produced within 250 miles of ones residence is the most important thing to be done if we care even an iota for the environment. I score pretty miserably in this aspect. My food is still rice based and I don't think it is grown here in Canada. So, its quite evident that I have mortgaged my soul to the devil and am a serious contender to the title of 'The biggest hypocrite' ever.

But, the important thing to note here is that I have only mortgaged my soul temporarily and have not made myself a slave completely. I can honestly look into the eye of anyone on this planet and say that I have been trying quite furiously to redeem my mortgaged soul. I have a set plan and I am executing it. Every person has his/her own circumstances and constraints that limit the persons 'best response' to any given situation. But, this does not prevent anyone from acknowledging the problem and doing his/her bit as and when possible and at the same time attempting to continuously improve. I felt that not acknowledging the problem in the open when the heart says its a problem is cowardice. This despite the fact that I am incapable of taking any significant step right away. But, I promise, that I am trying and I am hoping to make significant progress within the next 2-3 years. While this is the best I can claim for myself, only those people who watch me on a day today basis can comment objectively on this claim.

In particular, with respect to the problem of addressing energy consumption and social issues, I feel the situation for anyone is like that of being caught in the Matrix. All it needed in the Matrix movie was to consume the blue pill and you were on your way to escaping the system. Unfortunately, its not that simple in real life. It takes tremendous courage, determination and luck to even attempt to look beyond what the system wants us to look at. It takes a lot of time. Trying to achieve what one thinks is correct with respect to issues pertaining to energy consumption and social issues is not a simple overnight task. It takes time. A lot of it. Again, I am trying and will continue to try. I hope to achieve reasonable perfection some time soon. I might never achieve it too. Even then, its my implementation that might have gone wrong and not my intentions.

Few of my friends have taken quite serious offense at my stance and it has certainly brought about a significant change in relations. This is truly sad. What I say/feel is only my opinion and I have no business subjecting others to those standards. All I can say is that I do not do it and I have no clue how I can prove that to someone. It is pretty obvious to me that an aggressive, opposing stand is not in anyones best interests. Its not like I represent communists and the people who hold opposing views represent (as a friend who possibly took offense said) 'capitalist bums'. I do feel quite strongly that conversations regarding these issues are very important. I have absolutely no issues in being criticized in private or being public. If there is a way to improve something I do/think, then those ideas are always welcome. It does not matter whether the person who suggests the idea himself/herself follows the idea. But, I make the final call on what I think is right, just as each person decides for himself/herself. Refraining from discussions is the last thing I desire. While, it is not possible to come to a conclusion by discussing through comments on blog posts, it is certainly helpful in pointing out some issues about the other point of view.

To summarize:
a.) Do post ur comments. No matter how virulently you want to criticize.
b.) I will/do not judge anyone based on the standards I am trying to set for myself.
c.) Yes, I am a major hypocrite and I have mortgaged my soul to the devil. But, I am trying vigorously to redeem it.

Sivaji - The Buss*

Coming straight to the point, the movie was good. It was definitely not horrible. But, it was nowhere close to being great. Unfortunately, that is the minimum standard one expects from a Rajni flick. So, for all the hype that was created and for all the big names that the movie was made up of, Sivaji was more buss than Boss.

There were many things that I didnt like in the movie to varying degrees.

a.) Stalking - I hate movies that glorify stalking. This was a big turn off for me. The fact that every movie has its share of stalking is no justification. They are all wrong too and so is this (I still remember absolutely hating 7G rainbow colony while it seemed the whole world liked it). Stereotypical of stalking, the heroine falls for the hero after he spends significant time and money on stalking her. That was just too ridiculous for me to accept. To me, any possibility for this movie to have been great was dashed straight away.

b.) Comedy / seriousness mix - One major attraction in Rajni movies is the supposed power he wields and his dominance over his adversaries. Mixing comedy with such scenes is pretty stupid and robs the Rajni movie of the element that makes them the Rajni movie. For e.g., the scene were Rajni moves the villains documents in and out of the income tax office.

c.) Dance - Please Rajni, please. Please do not attempt to dance any more. While Shriya/Nayantara (Nayantara was surprisingly slim. Took a few seconds to recognize her) were elegance personified in their movements, Rajni had his foot rooted to the ground and made some ridiculous movements of his other body parts. It was horrible.

d.) Shriyas cleavage - For some reason, Sankar decided to have Shriyas cleavage displayed in almost every other scene she was there. Its nice and hot a few times but felt it was a bit of a overkill. The human anatomy is public knowledge and everyone knows how every part of her body will look like. Also, with skinflicks being the norm these days, these things are just a distraction for a Rajni movie.

e.) Too artificial settings - For some reason, I found the song backgrounds to be too artificial. I almost felt that the mountain and the grass were painted. I think this totally screwed the 'Ballelaika' song. I had great expectations for it after hearing to the audio.

f.) Contrived fight sequences - Some fight scenes were very contrived and I seriously got bored.

g.) Stupid ideas - Ideas like... 'ippudi irukura unga ooru, ippudi aayidum'.. & 'tamil nadum america'... are just downright stupid. Pouring tonnes of asphalt and concrete on our surroundings does not imply 'growth and development'. They also come with a tremendous environmental cost. Its not enough just for us to live happily here. Our sons/daughters, grandsons/granddaughters etc... should also be able to live reasonably here. While, I appreciate the intention of the director, I dont quite agree on his notion of development (which incidentally is the notion of a vast majority of people).

h.) Dumbed down finances - Mr. Shankar - you are no P.Chidambaram. Don't dumb down things in order to make it palatable to the masses. Black money is not as simple as you say and a plan displayed over the course of a few frames during the credits at the end is not gonna work in a country with a population more than 1 billion. Still, the desire of the director could be noted and appreciated.

While, the above list seems long enough to call the movie a junk, thats definitely NOT the case. There are quite a few nice things also. The Rajni charisma and persona saved the day in the second half while the Vivek one liners were amazing in the first half. Shriya was HOTTTTTTT. Some of the dialogues were pretty good. For e.g., 'Panni thaan da kootama varum, Singam thaniya thaan varum' was awesome. The delivery was also amazing. Imitation of many past/present co-artists was also pretty good. 'Billa Ranga Basha thaan' songs' visual sequences were pretty nice. Lastly, I especially liked the last fight sequence. Yes, it was a copy of Matrix but it was not a cheap imitation. Rajni could impose his persona and style on it and was able to pull it off in style. It was quite elegant and nice to watch.

Guess, the idea of taking the middle path between a Shankar movie and a Rajni movie backfired a little. It was like going to a very costly restaurant where out of fear that absolutely nothing should go wrong, the chef cooks it in a fashion that leaves you wondering why it doesnt taste as good as some way more cheaper restaurant even though almost everything in the food seem right.

Overall, it was good but not great.

* Idea from KG. (not from his post but obtained while talking to him)

Something to be proud of

56% urban Indians living in slums - Something to be really proud of. Singur, Nandigram, Kalinganagar and other self colonialism acts will surely add to this.

CEOs and the wealth of notions

CEOs and the wealth of notions - a beautiful article by P.Sainath in The Hindu.

Article is primarily about the PM's call to CEO's to not earn astronomical sums and the resultant commotion in the Indian media. Sainath summed the PM's statement up so nicely in the following fashion...
'In effect, the super-rich were told it was okay to be quite greedy, but not obnoxiously and conspicuously greedy'.

Pretty brief article. Do check it out when time permits.

India chalo

Thats my answer to anyone who asks me what I intend to do after my masters. The moment I utter these words, I receive patronizing glares and replies that have an undertone of, 'You idiot. Why cant you think straight?'. Listed below are some of the most interesting replies that I've got. Let me know how I should reply to these people.

1.) Are you mad?
2.) Why don't you be safe? What if something wrong happens there? Why don't you be safe?
3.) People from India and China are bursting at Canada's gates to come in and you want to go back. Your plan is ridiculous. Think twice and carefully.
4.) Get the dual citizenship and then go back if you want to.
5.) Then, why on earth did u come here to study? You could have studied in India.
6.) Choices and preferences are a function of time. You will grow out of your current childish beliefs.
7.) If u want to go back and write code again, why did u do masters?

Hehe. Usually I just laugh these away. No doubt, Canada is a beautiful country and is an excellent place to stay. Many people do fall for it. But, not me. I'd still prefer to stay in the place where I was born and I dont need a reason for the same.

Future

There are some who look into the future and either see whats in store or design it the way they want it to be. They are wise and are well prepared for it. There are some who don't care about the future. They are blissfully ignorant of it and are quite happy. But then, there is a third kind. The kind which looks into the future and does not see anything there. It appears extremely empty, dull and void. Gives an extreme range of mixed feelings. Its manageable if it stays there. But this emptiness frequently ventures beyond the sacrosanct boundary that separates the future and the present. Thats when things start becoming a bit lunatic.

Truth

'Truth is a pathless land' - so declared JK, so famously in his 1929 address that dissolved the order of the star. Many saints and mystics have often opined that once the idea has been conveyed, the words used to convey them are irrelevant. Still, sometimes I feel a better phrasing of the famous quote would have been something along these lines - 'Truth is a land with infinite paths but what is a path for one may be a deadend for another'.

PS: Of course am crazy to try and rephrase such a beautiful pithy statement that is so delightfully loaded with tonnes of ideas but I am right now bored and a bored mind is the fools workshop :)

Sacred rivers or screwed rivers?

This report on indian rivers (particularly yamuna) does tell us in very clear terms on whether our rivers are sacred or screwed! Sad and depressing. What else can I say?

This link here gives a lot of details about the sacred water bodies in india. I hope this is not the only means by which I am going to indicate to my progeny about the sacred rivers of my beloved nation.

மழை

இடி மின்னல் வழி அனுப்ப
மழை துளி எனது பூட்டிய ஜன்னல் தேடி வந்தது

ஆரவாரத்துடன் அது வந்த பின்னரும்
நான் ஜன்னல திரக்க மனம் இரங்காததால்
பூட்டிய எனது மனதை நொந்து
அது அங்கேயே உயிர் நீத்தது

உயிர் நீத்த துளிக்காக மனம் இரங்கிய என்னிடம
இக்கதையை சொன்னது பின்னர் வந்த துளி