Saturday, September 03, 2005

Parting thought

Nah!!! I’m not retiring yet. Not even thought of it. Speaking of thinking, one of my colleagues resigned recently and threw a great party for all of us. One reason was because we don’t know when we’ll get to see each other from now on. A thought slashed across my mind about parting, thus the blog.

We all have been to similar gatherings, where one of our buddies is leaving us in search of the better “opportunities”. I’ll cut the crap about the food & the ambience associated and come to the point.

After all good things and dust settled down, we forget about it all. And some days later most of us forget the “good-guy” too.

But I still remember the morning after my last day at one of my earlier firms. I had gone on a little vacation before getting back to work, so I had all the time in the world to think.

I was thinking about those old pals back at the office, where I left them to their daily battles. And then looked at the small little memento they’ve gifted me in hopes that it will always remind me of them.

We meet people during our lives. They leave an impression of some kind that in a way change our lives. And still, when we depart, all that is left of those people is the mementos. Those lifeless, things that we associate with the living ones with whom we’ve spun some good times in our rather usually mundane, black-n-white lives.

And as mementos fall prey to the unforgiving claws of time, we one day lose them too. Then, we don’t have anything to remind us of those fine people. And our memoirs fly away like the butterflies, never to come back. Time is a great healer. But it is also the greatest eroder. It erodes our memories. Make them fade away and taking the few things that we cherish, with it.

So here’s what I’ve learnt on that hot, lazy summer morning. Don’t forget the ones whom you’ve made part of your life. The world is too small and life is too long. If you bump into someone after ages, the feeling of instantly recognizing them is overwhelming. And I’m sure you want to be the first of the two to feel it.

Thursday, September 01, 2005

The Animal starts to think

They say that there is no limit to imagination. That our thoughts are like butterflies, zig-zagging through the winds.


And thus we ask ourselves lot of questions. Some we know the answers to...but just ask for the fun of it. And some that we don't the answers yet.

Some of these unanswered ones are hyped a little too much by our beloved hollywood stars and directors. Aliens, spaceships, distant galaxies, those extra-terrestrials with long boney fingers.

But before even venturing beyond our blue umbrella, we have enough questions to answer right here on this rock that we call earth.


Why do you think we are here? And not on any other planet – like Mars or Venus or Neptune or Pluto or some hell-blazing rock spinning at speed of 15 trillion miles an hour & generating some 119 trillion giga-watts of raw energy?

If your answer is that all these monstrous rocks can’t support life because they don’t have water, then I ask, what is it in the water that it can support life and something like hydrochloric acid can’t?

I mean, both of them are colorless. You can’t tell one from another till you taste it or better still “drop it”.

Then there are other things to ask yourself.

Ever wonder why do you wake up at dawn and sleep at dusk?

Why your body is designed the way it is?

If scientists say that the human body is the most magnificent machine made by nature, then why is there a need of other designs (organisms)?

Why is that even though we have a superior anatomy and state-of-the-art nervous system, that we are more prone to diseases than insects?

In fact, insects cause us diseases.

Whom do “we” cause diseases? Do we? Or Don’t we?

I’ve long back read Issac Asimov’s “Breeds There A Man”. It says that humans are bred, like cattle & chicken. They are experimented upon by some powerful beings who want to achieve stability in one of their experiments. These experiments are conducted in a sealed utensil (that can very well explain the sky that we see). That we are millions in a single drop that they are seeing under their “microscope-equivalent” device.

And the story says….that if the experiment goes wrong, they just wipe the slate clean and start all over.

Is that what a disaster mean to us? Wiping us clean and replacing with other specimens?

I'm not saying that I am an atheist.
But some things really keep you thinking. Oh and by the way, if you ever happen to meet God, how will you recognise Him? What makes you believe there is God?

As the famous "Morpheus" has quoted in the movie "The Matrix" - "Is is air you are breathing?".

I want to ask the same question. Is it real what you think is real?

Think about it. There’s lot to uncover, before we even peek out of our stratosphere.

I don't know the answers. But every question must be answered. So there will come a day for each of them.