Category: General
1 Feb 2006
Posted by Oblivion in
General
| 7:20pm
1.The margin - 341 runs. The biggest victory for Pakistan. One of the most humiliating defeats for India - second heaviest defeat by a runs margin in their Test history.
2.For Pakistan, seven batsmen in a line-up sans Inzamam scored half-centuries or more. For India, none in the top five (Sehwag, Dravid, Laxman, Tendulkar and Ganguly - one of the most enviable line-ups in the world) managed a half-century.
3.Only twice in 37 tries has a team batting fourth been bowled out.
4.Tendulkar's off-stump uprooted - in an innings that needed, badly, at least a century by him - by a bowler not even half as good as Wasim or Waqar. Not a pretty sight that! He was unlucky, for the ball kept low, but for his talent he shouldn't have got castled so easily. Sehwag and Laxman lost their middle-stumps to the same chap.
5.Their bowlers stuck to the line. Our bowlers bowled it short, wholly destitute of common sense, and gave so much width that would have helped even Kenya to pile up a good score.
6.Tendulkar. What's up with him? If Ponting, Hayden, Jayasuriya, Lara, Inzamam, Dravid and Kallis still get centuries and dominate bowling attacks, what's wrong with him?
7.Akmal is no Gilchrist. But our bowlers made him one!
8.There are victories that you fight for and earn, and there are victories that are gifted by the opposition. India gave it away. Without even a semblance of a fight.
9.All this after Pakistan was reeling at 39/6 in their first outing!
10.It'd have looked less worse if our batsmen got out to Shoaib.
Not that one fails to appreciate the great turn-arounds in cricket, but this was nowhere there. The second innings of the match was as if it was between Australia and Bangaldesh.
Chance? Lack of common sense? Poor strategy? Downright silly stuff? Well, whatever that was...
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30 Jan 2006
Posted by Oblivion in
General
| 5:52pm
Silence is my beloved
Speech, the mistress
I am married to both
I am Life
When errands are done
It is to the beloved
That I must return to
I am Life
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30 Jan 2006
Posted by Oblivion in
General
| 5:45pm
IITians form political party
All the very best!
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27 Jan 2006
Posted by Oblivion in
General
| 8:26pm
Listless moments of sweet uncertainty
Hankering of an unreasonable heart
A life that rested at her mercy
All now gone and vanished
Where to and why, I wonder
Days of easy mirth and tender tears
When a glance made all the difference
Between delight and gloom
All now gone and vanished
Where to and why, I wonder
Words whose mere utterance was musical
And made life a rapturous prose
Laughter that my ears treasured
All now gone and vanished
Where to and why, I wonder
Smiles that filled the days with joy
Tears that shattered the world
A world meant for only two
All now gone and vanished
Where to and why, I wonder
Tresses that danced with the breeze
Flowers that longed to adorn her
Are all gone, leaving behind
A frigid heart and memories ethereal
Why this had to be so, I wonder
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27 Jan 2006
Posted by Oblivion in
General
| 3:54am
Another Republic Day, with its characteristic pomp and hype, is over. Impressive phrases, exaggerated statistics, inane talk-shows, lopsided analyses - overall, a good PR exercise. Somehow, it works. Year after year after year! For how many more years, I wonder?
If at all we care for India, we should lift the bedecked curtain and be honest enough to acknowledge its sorry state -
"You see a big, big shift within the Indian elite in terms of what its priorities are. Something in politicians, the way they abase themselves before the United States, is quite shocking; if you remember that it was India which had pioneered non-alignment and independent foreign policies."
If reality matters: Interview with Tariq Ali
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23 Jan 2006
Posted by Oblivion in
General
| 8:47pm
Perched aloft the leafless branch
He looked into the distance
And beheld the flight of many a bird
Shaken, devastated and homeless
Grim looked the sky
The road strewn with blood
The blood of his kin
Play wouldn't amuse him any more
Leaving behind the leafless branch
Days of promise and opulent home
He reached for the skies
To embrace languid melancholy
And embark on the journey to nowhere
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21 Jan 2006
Posted by Oblivion in
General
| 4:12pm
"It is true that we cannot 'escape History', since we are in it up to our necks. But one may propose to fight within History to preserve from History that part of man which is not its proper province."
- Albert Camus
"He who despairs over an event is a coward, but he who holds hopes for the human condition is a fool."
- Albert Camus
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11 Jan 2006
Posted by Oblivion in
General
| 11:57am
"Performance appraisals impede genuine feedback, and there
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5 Jan 2006
Posted by Oblivion in
General
| 3:12pm
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20 Dec 2005
Posted by Oblivion in
General
| 9:58pm
Excerpts from a discussion between Philosophy students on Ethics and Lying:
"Well, you see the human being, in the human mind is a funny thing. We don't know--collectively as human beings--anything about the absolute truth. You have two people that witness a murder. One says the gasoline attendant went in [for his gun] and the fella shot in self-defense (even though he was committing a crime). The other will say the felon just opened fire and the man had his hands in the air. Or in a police shooting. The crowd says the man was unarmed and the police planted a gun. He had his hand raised--and the police shot him. On the hand the police say, 'The man was pointing a gun at us and we shot him.' Yet in the context of absolute truth, both might be in their minds telling the truth. Because you have elements that override both the police and the witnesses. Those are surprise and panic. And both can distort the truth.
"Einstein said when two people observe the same event, because they're two people, they see things differently, it's not the same experiment."
Are such insights ever taught at any Law school? I wonder.
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27 Nov 2005
Posted by Oblivion in
General
| 12:25pm
Yes, what's wrong with euthanasia?
Should the decision to live or die not be a fundamental right of an individual? It makes some sense to have that decision rest with a legal body - although this is still debatable - only in societies where State takes care of the medical expenses. But in a country like ours, where an individual has to bear all the expenses himself, how sensible it is to deprive him of the decision to live or die? If he or his family cannot afford the expenses and government doesn't support either, what do we expect him to do? To go through suffering, shell out whatever money his family has, and die a miserable death?
It beats me. All that talk about euthanasia being unethical is all balderdash. Euthanasia is not same as suicide. To my mind, even suicide cannot be generalised as bad. It has to be dealt with on a case by case basis. Unless we provide a practicable solution to an individual's suffering, it's irrational to play with words and ideas about ethics of euthanasia.
Why has man let so much power to rest with State? It has a say in every damn thing that an individual does. Will we ever understand what freedom, even at a superficial level, means?
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26 Nov 2005
Posted by Oblivion in
General
| 8:41pm
"You may not like it, but do it for the team", she said. Not at all a singular suggestion. All of us use it. Only, 'team' is replaced with family, community, race, religion, nation, etc, depending on our position. 'Doing something for others' is a virtue that has been ennobled by innumerable wars. What if 6 million Jews perished? Hitler did it for his race. What if Iraq has been razed? Bush did it to save the world from terrorism.
Drop a bomb, exterminate a nation, convince ten million neurotics that you did it for their security and you are on the short-cut to win the Nobel Prize for Peace. Pump bullets into hundred souls across the border to protect your country and you get a Param Vir Chakra. Close your eyes, get screwed while others have a ball and you make for a great team-player, a good family member, a sensible citizen. Man's recipe for being good is so simple.
Morally sunk as I am, I never see the line between virtue and vice clearly. I understand only one criterion - that of intrusion. Any kind of intrusion - regardless of the consequences - is fundamentally wrong. If B prefers Bach and C prefers Rock, the ideal state for both of them to be happy is - they appreciate each other's preference and enjoy the music in their own rooms. The moment one imposes his preference on the other, it makes for chaos. Sadly, the world is not lateral but hierarchical, so the man in power imposes his preferences on the powerless. As Hitler said, "A lie repeated thrice becomes a truth." Eventually, the ideal becomes a virtue. Politics is rife with flaunting every act as 'doing for others'. False promises, false gestures, and the gullible masses are taken for a ride.
Not that I dismiss everything that one does for others. It's the basic assumption and the association with virtue that I am unable to appreciate. Giving up on one's preferences and giving in to the majority's choice should be voluntary. It should be based on common sense and understanding, and not on the desire to live up to the ideal and fear of persecution. It should be as voluntary as it is between a mother and child. A mother doesn't think twice to give up even her life to save the child, if a situation demands. When neither desires authority, giving up is a joy.
Other than the cases of intrusion - as in case of criminals, eve-teasers, those cranky chaps making for nuisance on roads - I doubt if there are any situations else that deem an individual to be compelled by his group/society to yield. If a chap is minding his own business and has preferences different from those of the group, I do not see any reason why the group should find it odd or have problems about the same. Even in goal-oriented teams - as we have in sports - the concern of the team about a member should end with his performance. His personality and character should not be the group's business to evaluate.
One common criterion, promoted by management and self-help books too, is 'cumulative happiness'. The group's opinion and choice is always given more importance. While a member who stands by his preferences is termed inflexible, unadaptable, asocial, etc, the group forgets that it, in the first place, is being inflexible. This applies to any organized group. A group is always rigid because it goes by rules. Which is why, walking out of groups has always been a problem for those rare souls who wanted to walk out. Depending on what kind of a group it is, you are either persecuted or ostracized or shot dead - even when you have just minded your own business all the way. No wonder then that the desire for security, fear, and ambition are very important determinants of an individual's decisions. A noble and affectionate gesture as it might appear, sacrifice has done more harm than good in this world.
If B sleeps with a gorgeous girl and his ten friends also want to not miss out on that, and he persuades her to 'do it for their happiness' (assuming the girl is unwilling), I doubt if the chaps who go by cumulative happiness theory agree that she has done a noble deed. If cumulative happiness is the sole criterion, then the equation should not change even if the girl indulges in an orgy or gets gang-raped. If the willingness of the girl takes precedence, then there should be a line beyond which the group's preferences should be ignored, no matter what. And if we at all admit that an individual's choice should always matter, then this should be applied across groups.
Good leaders - to my mind, those who respect freedom of others and do not go by any ideals or beliefs - are rare (ironically, such people never become leaders). And it's very dangerous for a group to be led by those who rely heavily on the terminology and perspective of people like Dale Carnegie, Deepak Chopra, Robin Sharma, etc. Or, for that matter, anybody's. But these guys are more dangerous. It's easy for leaders to lead a homogeneous group. To my mind, regardless of the performance of the team, such leaders should be deemed inefficient. But that's not how it works. The governing priciple is, to borrow from Orwell - "All men are equal but some men are more equal than others." Power reigns.
What is a good action/decision? If cumulative happiness is not the right criterion to measure the same, what is? Is there any such thing as good/bad action per se? If everybody minds his own business, will there ever be any conflict of preferences - whether among individuals or groups and individuals? Some questions may not have absolute answers, but it's good to ask them nonetheless.
(P.S. Apologies to Russell)
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18 Nov 2005
Posted by Oblivion in
General
| 7:47pm
When it involves screwing others, people remember and adhere to rules more strictly. The defining lines of evil/bad/wrong become very clear when one is on the judging position. The lawyer, the policeman, the TV reporter, the journalist, the old man reading the newsmagazine, the chap watching the newscast on the TV set,... everybody siezes the opportunity to become Lord Krishna. Persecution mania is so deeply rooted in human psyche.
Homo sapiens is a mistake.
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12 Nov 2005
Posted by Oblivion in
General
| 12:50pm
Creation hymn from the Rig Veda, quoted by Amartya Sen at TIFR, Mumbai, during a public lecture on Science, Argument and Scepticism, on November 5th, 2005:
Who really knows? Who will here proclaim it?
Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation?
The gods came afterwards, with the creation of the
universe. Who then knows whence it has arisen?
Whence this creation has arisen - perhaps it has
formed itself, or perhaps it did not - the one who
looks down on it, in the highest heaven, only he
knows - or perhaps he does not know.
When did this jewel of scepticism sink into the murky bog of dogmatism?
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24 Oct 2005
Posted by Oblivion in
General
| 11:12am
I also always wanted to quit on Monday morning. Every Monday morning. Only, I quit very few times. Something is missing...
(btw, I love this ad. Stunning visuals, great copy, fabulous score.)
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