Straight Lines of life

It was a quaint evening which propelled me to repudiate my sour legs and venture out for a run! It was a bright evening with burgeoning blossoms of spring... My playlist was caressing through my ears as was the cold breeze through my body as I started my steps through the serenity of the abandoned railway track off Duthie Park! The sunshine had indeed brought out many more enthusiasts outside... cyclists, runners, joggers, walkers all briskly bereaving their day’s boredom by drenching themselves in the sunshine...

I in solitude wandered witnessing and wondering the vagaries of the surroundings! There were men and women, big and small, fit and fat, all promenading the park with a pattern... with eyes straight and steps set strongly and regimentally forward! The all seemed to have a sermonous duty to fulfil... The fallacy of fitness or grumpiness of grownups was stopping them from looking at the surrounding serenity...

Amidst this there where a few kinder not more than 3 or 4 years young, they had this innate ability to notice and nurture nature! They were jumping in and out, here and there, no pattern to be observed, no rule to govern, nothing to ponder, nothing to worry... they were in the moment, in the place and in peace!

They could observe flowers flourishing with the onset of spring... birds chirping... sunlight scattered through the spider’s web... bees savouring the tender flowers... Greenery and glee glimmering! At least these where what I could see, I am sure those children in the cherubic charm saw much more than what I could see and admire!

Somewhere the abstractness of life is lost for the sake of straight lines of life!

The Peaceful Progress Paradox

I am reviving my blog after almost a year now! Writing from the land with lush and lapidistic landscapes, Scotland – I am now living for the first time in my life – completely alone! No hostel, roommates, family or friends around leaving me with the mete of the time for myself extensive and ennui. Perhaps that brings a perfect placement for pondering pointlessly and paradoxically, things I consider my forte!

So I bring to you readers (the few they may be, if at all any! – But hey, I write for myself not an audience) the paradox of peaceful progress.
To start with, I define progress as measurable relative advancement of an entity over a period of time as a result of actions and activities involving resources and capabilities which are either evolved or obtained. E.g. An athlete gains more speed which puts him in front of a race thereby – here he has shown relative advancement in his position through the use of resources and capabilities available to him by means of practice and perseverance.

Now let us take this notion and preconditions to a larger system, our society. In absolute terms, has the world advanced from what it was 100 years earlier? Absolutely yes! But that goes un-noticed and un-comprehended and hence, what will prevail is a relative advancement: All of humanity did not have means of telecommunication 100 years back. Today some have matured and modern communication capabilities, some societies lack this advancement – this would remain a parameter of progress only until the ground gets levelled and when all societies reach the same state e.g. having a land telephone line, it will no longer be a measure of progress. As we may see, we have already moved into measuring advancement in terms of internet penetration and not based on the extent of land telephone line penetration.

Thus the parameters of relative advancement help in defining the progress and they will change once the level ground of equality or saturation is attained.

That definitely gives an edge to those societies / entities which establish the parameters, hence the clash for patent and intellectual rights. The one who owns the parameter obviously holds the ability to accelerate or decelerate the extinction of the parameter – be it nuclear technology or 3g mobile telephony, the guys who made it wants to control it.

Another factor which is going to control advancement is the availability of resources. Resources enable the endeavour to advancement, but not without the capability to utilize the resources to advance the parameters under relative measurement. That would explain the resource rich Africa being backward in almost all the measurable parameters of advancement.

That being understood, how does an entity acquire the capability to utilize these resources if they were not able to establish their own means? Electricity has been around for more than a century now – but still not omnipresent. The capability to convert coal or oil into electricity has still not penetrated every place on earth, but it can be observed that the speed of this technology being spread is increasing. This has already been researched and established through the new field of study called “Clock Speed”.

What can be observed is that when an entity establishes a parameter, it does it through the creation of a new capability, a capability which was not known to other entities before thereby throttling themselves to a higher place in progress. The key to the entity remaining in this higher platform will only be possible only till the exclusivity is maintained, as explained before, when the other entities match this capability – the result would be a raised level platform for all entities to share thereby resulting in the extinction of the parameter. Thus spin bowling was an exclusive forte of the first team which created it thereby leading to its progress, but ultimately diminishing this advancement as others caught on. Toyota leads the market with lean manufacturing only until other companies match or better this new capability.

Which means in order to remain progressive, the advancement has to be sustainable as well as at a higher rate than other entities. This would mean to hold on to the capabilities and thereby establishing new parameters of progress oneself at the same time, acquire the capabilities and thereby diminish the parameters of progress created by other entities. Simply put, steal neighbours goats and guard yours!

Thus the progress of the entity is the difference between the rate of creating new parameters / capabilities and the capability of catching up with those created by other entities.

This would bring two entities confronting for each other’s capabilities at the same time not divulging each other’s. Not a fair trade eh? But if progress as defined above were to happen, and that’s precisely how I think today’s world is defining and measuring progress we have many societies fighting with each other – either for resources or for capabilities.

That to me establishes all the quintessential requisites for paradox – Peaceful Progress!

Now I also see that this is an apparent paradox and a non-paradoxical paradox (Ah! Yes… I am getting to my elements aint I). The way out of this apparent paradoxical situation is to simply change the definition of progress – Instead of considering multiple entities, create one common omni-entity which has homogenous access to all the resources as well as the capabilities. We still would have relative advancement and would be relative but to oneself! This would apply to both micro and macro environments.

Change the definition and perception to avoid confrontation and contradiction!

PS:
All through our history, progress has been relative and that is how we have been building our societies on. Starting from sports to class rooms – we see rankings as a measure of progress. The progress report a kid gets does not measure his capabilities, but those of his peers and he is expected to be only as good as the best of the peers! There could be a whole world of possibilities beyond this restricted relative measurement and this is not the only circumstance I can think of where progression is nothing but digression.

I Found Solace in the West...

The vagabond instincts of mine have been long suppressed but found their unleashing vigor recently when I trekked through the streets of Paris. The city described as the city of lights… Sure it does have lights but a lot more… Within those crooked small streets, those tightly packed buildings, the choked parking spaces and to some eyes – dirt filled pavements lie a spirit. The pages of history could run out of numbers, but the stories underlying every stone paving the paths would go untold.

When I first walked through… I did not get atoned by the megalomania of the cathedrals nor did I feel the élan of the serene scenic surroundings. They come with every other countryside. What strikes you is the way the city talks to your inner spirit. Those who look for freedom, for art, for challenges, for passion, for complexity, for free thinking, for philosophy – I present you – Paris.

Yes you do see the babes parading the streets flaunting their fashion sense, but so does u see people with free thought, the ability to penetrate through the plagued societal mendacities, the women smoking with a rare mix of courage and intelligence. Men armed with curiosity and sharp heads to dig the unending well of knowledge and wisdom. Art accepted and appreciated for its latitudinarian eloquence. The emanation of revelatory symbolism dictates the need to free your mind.

Young minds not echoing the rhetoric chores thrown at them but breaking the barnacles to breed polemical yet poetic philosophies. The imbroglios accusations through theatre, the satirical medicament through canvas, a rationalisation of irrationalism in living, classicalism marinated with cultural concoctions – that’s a very little of much more libertarian labyrinth called Paris.

At one end you find the Seine soliloquising with the gothic gospels of Notre Dame while Eiffel’s iron mickle emancipating as a metonymy and encomia of mans liberation and emanation from Iron Age to the iron acropolis. With Museums chiselling minds to walk complex and indecipherable directions and posters calling for challenging the philosophical ardour of earlier enchantments of Voltiare and Vivaldi.

The mind with its mundane materialism acting as gangrene will feel the lucid language of art and intelligence heal the prison bound thinking we have been forced to do with societal structure built around desolate deliberations.

The subtle monologue that the city oozes out could be heard though the silence of the green carpets near busy streets or in the deserted side walks between stuck apartments. The small Bastille of today embedding a mammoth storm of the revolution… What you see in the city is not just an urge to create but also a mellowed melodrama of alternatives to the way one lives.

The city of lights enlightens and lightens your mind…

The Walker

He used to walk every day in the morning… He has been doing more than 30 years! For 30 years he had been walking the same streets every day… People at times thought he was too old to still be able to walk… Not everybody at his age where able to walk… This fellow seemed determined…

Sharp at 6.30 AM, he would be brisking through the streets, some women used be cleaning their frontal area of the houses… a typical custom in south India… almost everyone in the streets recognised him… He was a legend… people could tell the time by seeing him across the streets…

He had a bent back… age did show up in his face… but not in his walk… The determination in his walk was evident… He never needed support to walk… never did he see down nor behind… he surged like a ship… mighty!

The girl had just finished her letter… she had penned every word in the letter at haste… She did not know what she was doing was right… But for her there appeared no choice… She had to do it… She did not sleep all night… the sun was showing up at the east… If it was to be done, it was now! She made the arrangements… These were her last moments alive… Made a last glance at her pet dog through the window… and stepped up a chair and tied the fatal knot around her neck…

Another glance at her pet dog… the window was bright with light… It was summer and the day break was early… Time to say good bye… she lifted her leg to push off the chair… A faint view behind her pet was a man lying on the road… She made an attempt to see him… What difference does it make…? Another glance…

He had fallen down… holding his chest… Something was wrong… he could not scream… or may be he did not want to scream… The girl was next to him… holding his head on her lap…! His face was old… his eyes were shining… she saw his eyes… it did not show pain… It did not show fear… It was calm… there was no scream… He is dead said a person standing in the crowd… The girl had seen him everyday since the time she knew anything…

It was 6.30 AM, the street was empty but the sun was up on the east… The girl was out in the street… she was walking with determination… with confidence… she will live… she will walk… she personified possibility…!

Am I Different?

“Yes… I am unique… I am different” – Proclaimed a person who gives me most of my crazy thoughts. I usually take him for granted… I don’t question him much… But one day when he was trumpeting too much on this, I asked him… In what way are you so unique?

“I did schooling along with so many people, you succeeded some times… failed many times… jus as any other person…”

“I went to college… did my graduation… I did well in academics as well as non academic activities…” so what… there are so many people who have been able to do that…

“I worked for a small company… learnt quickly… was a good performer… good ratings and people knew I am capable…” so what… there are numerous people who have learnt much faster…

“I joined an MBA school… with just about a year’s experience I was able to come out as one of the toppers and got special appreciation for the project done there…” what difference does it make… there are people in even better MBA schools… who are of same category…

He was out of words… “What else have I done…” he murmured…

“Ah yes… I created a website for myself before I was 15…” hmmm... so what… you did become some Bill Gates or someone…

“I can paint… I can act… I can write…” some can do much better… forget it…

“Hey… I have always done some thing which was not expected out of me… No one thought I would become the topper in school… neither in college… neither in B-School…” well… what is the point…

Well… in the above snippet… I end up being both the protagonist and antagonist… Are people destined to be different after all… why nature should create people who are unique…? I can see so many animals… trees… birds… insects… do I say that this only little bee is so unique from every other bee on earth? May be not…

We have heard so much about men seeking immortality… glory… honour… destiny… words which have made people do things which are so weird to comprehend from nature’s point of view… “Hey… why did that guy go almost half through the world killing and ruining everything in his way?”… “What is he trying to do by spending so many hours of his precious life reading and writing?”… In a quest to establish the uniqueness or achieve something called self actualisation… Oh yeah… Self Actualisation… or Destiny…

I would ask… were we destined really destined to be unique?

Increase in my Over Head Cost....! :-(

Today all of a sudden my overhead costs increased by 600%... Very strange for it to jump in jus a year.. and certainly not a very good sign for the future...! Yes.. I had my hair cut done today and it cost me s$ 10... The costliest hair cut I have ever had.. and probably the worst...! It in itself had some very remarkable records...

The fisrt time I had paid so high for getting my hair cut...
The first time a women cut my hair [I trusted her a lot..! Why did she do this to me???]

The first time my hair look like an uncut grass land grazed by goats and sheets here and there...!

But i should thank her for one good thing.. Though I payed a heavy overhead cost... She made sure that the inventory does not builds up for quite some time to come...! The hair was less than 2cm long when i stepped out of the shop...!

LOVE And Law of Dimishing Utility....!

I today learnt about this god knows what "Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility", it
claims that more the quantity lesser the want for the given...!!! And pretty much
contested through the years, this law seems to have been holding ground.. Or should I
say.. No one could break this law yet...! Wierd though.. Anywez.. So I thought why not
apply this established theory to one of mans most incomprehensible phenomena..
LOVE...!
Straight forward.. One remembers the first kiss than the 264th one.. Gals
remember the firts boy friend more than the 178th one...! [Do they????].. But that
would be plain mundane application of the theory.. what makes it even more facinating
is the aftermath of the so called love that has happened...!
Cutting the crap [atleast for me].. What follows is as some believe a
wonderful period of romance.. passion.. sensuality etc.. etc.. and then all of a
sudden.. no matter what may prevent.. a slag sets in [As many claim.. They Never Lived
Happily Ever After...!]. The guy starts looking at the girl as a liability [Both in
financial terms as well as mental strain terms..!] and the gal starts looking at the
guy as the ATM which works on kisses and cuties...!
The cupid pain of the arrows of cupid suddenly start paining more than ever
before...! The cost or effort eachother were willing to pool in for each other starts
going down and down and down...!
The phone calls no longer last for hours together... The night strolls
together get shortened to lesser than the time spent in loos...! And so goes the
story...
The theory tells that as this goes on.. The value becomes at one point 0..
That is they both would not be ready to pay any price or effort or time for each
other...! Is there a way to improve this free fall...! Yaype... And economics tells
that you have to either reduce the price or increase the value proposition...!
Hey.. How do i bring down the price...! Well.. They say - Once upon a time my girl used to wait for me for hours during
dates.. and now she shouts if I am late even 5 mins..! Thats the wake up call my
friend.. The price she is willing to pay is just 5 min.. so be there within 5 min -
Else.. you know the consequenses..
And the value???That could be tough... earn more...! Well other wise.. start washing your gals
clothes...! Oh yeah...! I forgot this disclaimer telling that.. the article is unisex and male and
female can suitably apply their brains to find the cost and value yourselves...!