వీటిని పట్టించుకోమా మనం ?

Industrialization , globalization వల్ల ఆదివాసులు తమ ఆదాయాన్ని , సంస్కృతిని కోల్పోతున్నారు కాబట్టి , అవి చాలా చెడ్డవని ఈ మధ్య ప్రచారం బాగా జరుగుతోంది. Avatar , ఉరిమి కధాంశాలు కూడా అవే . ఇప్పుడు మీడియా , మూవీస్ పెరిగి మనకి ఈ సమస్య గురించి ఎక్కువగా వినడం జరుగుతోంది అని, పరిశ్రమలలో వచ్చిన మార్పుల వల్ల పూర్వం కూడా ఇలాంటి బాధలు సమాజం లో కొందరు పడ్డారని, చాలావాటిని మనం నిర్లక్ష్యం చేసామని  నా గట్టి నమ్మకం  . ఉదాహరణకి ...

paperless office కోసం తాపత్రయ పడుతూ , మనం కాగితం పరిశ్రమని దెబ్బ కొడుతున్నాం 

ఈమెయిలు వాడకం ఎక్కువయిపోయి , పోస్టల్ డిపార్టుమెంటు ని దెబ్బ కొట్టాం 

వాహనాలు ఎక్కువగా వాడటం వల్ల , ఎడ్లబడ్ల తాయారు చేసే వారు నష్టపోతున్నారు 

మొబైల్ ఫోను  ల్యాండ్ లైన్ ని,  ల్యాండ్ లైను ఫోను టెలిగ్రాఫ్ ని, టెలిగ్రాఫ్ పావురాల్ని నాశనం చేసేసాయి , 

చైనా నుంచి వచ్చిన కాగితాన్ని బాగా వాడుతూ , దేశి పరిశ్రమ అయిన తాళపత్ర పరిశ్రమని నాశనం చేసారు మన పూర్వీకులు.

మొబైల్ ఫోన్లు ఎక్కువయ్యాక , డబ్బా రేడియోలు కొనడం మానేసారు 

బ్రాడ్బాండ్ నెట్ చవకగా రావడంతో , ఇంటర్నెట్ కేఫ్ లు మూత పడుతున్నాయి 

డిష్ టీవీ , కేబుల్ టీవీ పరిశ్రమని తోక్కిపెట్టాలని చూస్తోంది 

రెడీమేడ్ బట్టల పరిశ్రమ , సందు చివరి టైలర్ కడుపు కొట్టింది 

టూత్ బ్రుష్ ల వల్ల , వేప పుల్లలకి, బొగ్గు పొడికి  ఆదరణ తగ్గింది 

హోమియోపతి , అలోపతి హడావిడిలో మనం అయోర్వేదాన్ని , పసరు మందులని మర్చిపోయాం , అలాగే భూత వైద్యుల్ని కూడా 

తుపాకి పరిశ్రమ  కత్తి పరిశ్రమని, బాణాల పరిశ్రమని , ఈటెల పరిశ్రమని మాయం చేసేసింది 

టీవీ , మూవీలు వచ్చాక నాటకరంగాన్ని పట్టించుకోడం బాగా తగ్గింది 

చైనా నుంచి తెచ్చుకున్న పట్టు ని , మన భారతీయ దేవుళ్ళకి కూడా తొడిగి అదే మన సాంప్రదాయం , సంస్కృతి అన్న భ్రమ లో బ్రతుకుతున్నాం
కంప్యూటర్ పిచ్చి లో పడి  Typewriters ని పట్టించోకవట్లేదు ఎవరు ..
అసలు వాహనాల ఉత్పత్తి పెంచి , ప్రజలకి నడిచే అవసరం తగ్గించి, తద్వారా చెప్పులు తక్కువుగా  అరిగేల చేసి , చెప్పులు కుట్టేవాళ్ళ కడుపు కొడుతున్నాయి Honda, Hundai, Bajaj లాంటి సంస్థలు.

రోడ్డు మీద కుక్కలని , అడివిలో పులుల్ని , పశ్చిమ కనుమలలో అంతరించుకుపోతున్న కప్పల గురించి ఆలోచించే మనం , వీటి మీద ఎందుకు మౌనం గా ఉంటున్నాం ?

 

Traveling Unreserved

I have little knowledge on public transportation for long distances. When it comes to Railways and Airlines, i am truly dumb. I cant even understand the words used in them.

I dont have to deal with flights, but as a middle class person, i have to with Trains. Its a whole different story when my father used to book the tickets and gets the confirmation, and i board on train, sitting and enjoying the ride, with hands out of window.

I had to attend my close friends wedding in Delhi, he informed a month and half before, but i am too lazy to book tickets then. In my defense, the waiting list was 80 then, i thought i would go for Tatkal. It didnt workout.

Uday bought  General Tickets, paid the penalty to the TC and we got into AP express sleeper coach. Got window seats and napped till Khajipet, then the struggle started.  We are the guys with no reservation. So our bums require mercy of others to land somewhere.

Then came a Punjabi family. The whole family is noisy , especially the granny. She been advising everybody on everything. She shown mercy on us and let us sit on the side upper berth. Then two old ladies from the same family had a lengthy discussion on how long they can extend the mercy on us and at what time they should ask us to leave the berth. Well, i didnt understand any of that, Uday translated it for me.

For this 24hr journey , i have bought three books with me. I was meaning to finish them off and buy few more at Delhi for return journey.

 I passed time till evening, sitting on the edges of berths and  standing at foot board,  I cant strike a conversation because i am not fluent in Hindi, , i have nothing much to do except staring at Vindhyas.

The night brought more problems. Now that reserved people are going to sleep, all unreserved ones, including Uday came to the door making it hard for me to hold my ground.

The irritated TC, become all friendly, once he removed the coat and washed his face. In broken Hindi, i asked if there is any chance of getting a berth, now the answer is a friendly NO.

There was a large aluminum box near washbasin. I was planning to sit on it and sleep. Owner of the box said, its his seat, like Sheldon of Bing Bang Theory. I was back on my feet, and contemplating if i could sleep  like horse, standing. No, our body doesnot work that way, if only we had evolved from Horses instead of Monkeys.

The box-guy, who is Telugu, gave permission to sit on it with him, as his wife got berth in the next compartment. I just began to the enjoy the cool air blowing on my face, so let Uday sit on it. I was hoping that, as a notorious nocturnal , he could pass the night, so i can sleep on the box.

But, he slept, with head on the box and legs stretched towards bathrooms. He slept !

At Bhopal, a Sardarji, boarded, who is exuberant and funny. Instead of sleeping on his reserved berth, he engaged all unreserved in a conversation. I took part in it with nods and laughs. Soon, i was part of the large group. We spent some time, eyeballing the ladies ( only beautiful and young ones) going to the toilets. Then each one of us, started telling how they ended up in this train unreserved. Just like me, most of them were having unconfirmed tatkal tickets of other trains reaching for Delhi. One fellow said, his waiting number was 2, when i showed empathy, he showed an old guy, who is trying to sleep beside another guy on the floor, and told that his number was 1. The old guy, got up and started telling me how his fate is always bad.

Once Sardarji went to sleep, we are bored. I am bored and tired and getting tired of boredom. I went to the door, closed it , sat on the floor with my back on the door and started resting. Now, my other unreserved brothers, called me and gave me a rolled-up bed which belongs to a passenger who is already snoring on his bed. The bed is huge, there is no way to unroll it and sleep. I just sat on it and slept.  When i woke up in discomfort , Uday is struggling to sleep, may be people going to Toilet are kicking him in hurry. For sometime, he sat beside me and tried to sleep, it didnt work as the door knob is prodding. He went back to his favorite position and slept again.

Somewhere around 3, Uday, woke me up and said there are berths. I gave the bed to another brother-who-could-not-get-berth and followed Uday. He is following a police. The police lead us to faraway compartment , where he thought there are berths. Then started negotiating with the people who are sitting in RAC berth. As i said before, my Hindi is weak, i was half-asleep and they are talking in local dialectic. From their voice modulation, i understood that, the police guy already sold the berth to them, now he wants it back as expecting much from us.

The talks didnt go well, then he lead us to another compartment, which is far far away. One police guy, asked me to sleep in the empty middle berth and another took Uday to another compartment.

I thought , that night will pass without me resting on a flat surface, but it finally happened. Uday visited me to tell that he got it in S1. I asked him to switch on the phone and went to sleep , ignoring the snores.

I woke up at 7 or so. Then i realized that i dont have change with me. I am sure, Uday wont be awake. After much contemplation, i have decided that me having tea is more important than he having a sleep. I got down to go to him, only to realize that he is on the upper berth. I didnt show mercy and woke him up for money so that i can have my elixir.

He slept again, and in couple of hours we reached Delhi.

Me? teaching ?

I never actually believed i could teach someone. Or i would agree to a situation like that.

However, my Boss, asked me to teach basics of computers to kids from weavers family, so that they might develop designing skills with the help of IT.

I agreed without second thought , as he would ask me to sit in the office and  do the deskjob if i dont go out on some work.

Went to Chowtuppal, a small town,  to test my abilities as a teacher, in which , i think , i have failed like congress party failed in 2014 General elections.

Kids studying from 7th class to Degree first year sat before me with poker faces, except a girl who is too eager and boy he got convinced that i have nothing new to teach him. When i asked, how many of them didnt know computers at all, some of them raised their hands, and these same kids, started playing classic solitaire when i was writing on board.

I tried to explain the difference between hardware and software first, because thats the class my teacher taught me. Then i forgot what he taught me next. I dont know where to go after that, even Google could not help me in that regard the previous night.

From my personal experience as a student with English as third language, i planned to make them understand the meanings of simple words like path, properties, rename , save, settings, etc etc. However, the audience didnt expect a English class.

I was struck for moment, kids are struck too, they wanted to play and paint but i am stopping them. Its like the silence before war. Its no more teacher-student, its more like performer- audience. Well, though i am officially their computer "teacher" , i cant punish them not listening to me. Without raising interest in their little heads  , they would treat computers just like maths. Thats the opposite of  purpose of the classes.

I taught them how to change wallpapers and screensavers. Then how to save a file to desktop , then asked them show their creativity on MS paint and left.

I might have to take another class in couple of days, need suggestions to improve my skills in teaching. 

Art of Intervewing bureaucrats.

Finally, at last, after years of waiting, i landed up in a job which involves traveling and talking to people. I joined in a NGO which works on Right to Information Act.

My job involves, going to remote districts and conducting a sample survey on selected offices regarding implementation of RTI Act. The job description might sound boring, but for a guy like me, its fun.

Its not a public survey, where i can move to next idle person who wants to talk. I have list of a specific officers to talk.  I had to interview, panchayat secretaries , superintendents at MPDO office and MROs.

I am not a journalist, which gives them publicity, i am not from Information Commission who will threten them to pour red ink on their service books. I am just from a NGO which will submit the report to govt. I dont have a carrot or a stick to make them talk to me out of their "busy" schedule.   




I have decided to be the "ear" who listen to them, a shoulder for them to cry and promise that i would become the hand which will wipe their tears. And it worked.

Village secretaries are usually docile and talk a lot. Superintendents friendly and offer hot beverages. And MROs, once started, hard to stop. And my tactic to make them give an interview to me , is to let them indulge in self-pitying, of course, most of them already in it and they just need an ear, and some must be pushed.

First and most important task is to show my face to them. I tried call to request an interview with them but, they would say they are busy with municipal election and ask me to come after ten days, in a tone we shoo the salesmen selling Tupperware. 

1. Dont walk to the face of the interviewee. They are bureaucrats, and that too head of the respective offices, they should be approached through subordinates. Though i can read MRO is sitting in his chair, with a big name plate on the wall behind him, i would ask some one, if he is available. Lower staff respond well to words like "Delhi", "Indian Institute of " , " Administration " . ( My NGO got the project from Indian Institute of public administration, Delhi). A man from Delhi, will be treated like a man from Moon. Now, he would take me to game.

2. Patience and Manners. Locals, barge in to the room and start talking not minding if the officer is on phone or counting letters in paper before him. But, man from Delhi , is well mannered and well educated. Dont sit, no leaning on the wall, no checking mobile.

3. After introduction , and purpose of arrival and purpose of the survey, i listed out few problems of them and pity them to show them the path of self-pitying. This technique is rarely used and not need mostly, as they are ready to burst out. However, it worked great with  hard-core bureaucrats who wish to be look busy. Sadly, it took me some time to realize this technique.

4. Pay attention, and scribe something on the paper if the officer tells something in the tone of a philosopher, though its not related to the survey.

5. When he wish to upgrade my status from an interviewer to some NGO, to guest, i never denied it. I drank every tea or coffee which is offered to me.

6. Ask open ended questions, though in questionnaire its a closed ended one. Let them open up and talk.

7. Indulging in small talk in between the interview is actually a good practice.

Its fun to observe, the body language of officers. More the rank, more the ego is what i guessed, but i was wrong in many cases.

Philosophical dilemma with technical analysis.

Regarding stock trading, there are broadly two methods investors follow. Fundamental analysis and technical analysis.

It is considered that fundamental analysis is for long term investment, where the investor would check the balance sheet of the company to invest in it or not. On the other hand, techincal analysis does not bother itself with balance sheets or ledgers , but on charts which depict the history of the stock so far.The trader analyze the stock history and decide when to buy it and when to sell it. The philosophy behind this technical analysis is that there will be pattern for every stock.

Now my philosophical problem, is it right to follow technical analysis or not.  How can we be sure that there is a pattern and the stock follows the pattern in the future too.

Long back i denied the idea of "Circle of life", "History repeats itself" , " horoscopes can tell everything" etc etc. There is a reason for me to deny so. According to mathematics, if we toss a coin fifty times in a row, and if we  toss it again, the probability of head and tails will still be fifty-fifty. It implies that, the result of game cant be predicted based on the history. My life is an example too. Since kindergarden, people consider me an above average student. I have never failed
in school or in inter. But that didn't stop me to fail in the B.Tech first year From first semester of engineering to the last but one semester, i failed a few subjects in every semester. But that history, could not stop me to clear the last semester exams in one go , achieving the degree in four years.

If we have to judge a person , or guess the result of an outcome, based on past, then there wont be any "giving second chances". It closes our minds and make us stupids. Lets take the example of Indian cricket team. It got defeated many times in a row, but won again. Australia won many matches, in row, but some point it failed. The same goes with horoscopes, astrology. If i had to believe in technical analysis to make a quick buck, i have to believe in "Circle of life" things to avoid being an hypocrite.

Later, i read an article, which eliminated that dilemma. The author explained the essence of technical analysis i.e those charts does not just show the price of the stock each day, they actually show the psychology of other investors regarding that stock. The upper limit and lower limit does not just show the performance of the company but the belief of the investors in that stock. Now that made sense. Its human psychology. We, people, as a whole, are not better than sheep. Something in our mind tells us to follow other than making a new path, so , we follow what others are following. And as humans we have mental inertia, i.e its hard to change our belief system, unless some forces us to believe otherwise. If a stock is going up, that means, the leaders, in this case, the fundamental analysis people, start investing in it, and others start buying it because the stock is going up. When the fundamental analysis people start selling the stock, because the stock value went beyond the book-value, people follow them and sell it like its end of the world, so the stock value goes down, till again a fundamental analyst finds it good to buy. Its a pattern, not of stock, but psychology of people.

However, that lead to another problem. In technical analysis i am making decisions based on opinion of other investors but not on the performance of the company. Its like judging somebody based on opinion of others, without having first hand experience, making me one of the sheep, who buys and sells based on decision of others. I guess, thats the easy way to live in this world, without wasting much energy on thinking and analysing. 

The man who talk too much !!

I was not referring to the guys to who become over-talkative in presence of girls, or vice versa .  I was referring people with obsessive talking disorder. People who cant stop talking. I am not sure if its a biological problem or psychological disorder or just lack of social skills.

These people have to talk all the time. Because, its their jaws which pump the blood to other parts of the body. If they stop talking, they die. I don't have a problem, if they choose to chew a gum, but somehow , they prefer to talk, they have to use tongue. May be its because their jaws get sweat and the tongue has to fan them.

Based on what they talk , i categorize them into three sections.

Category 1 :

These people think they have social skills. If you start a topic, which they don't know, they talk nonsense on it with confidence. You might misunderstand that they are trying for "I-Know-it-all" image. Thats not true, its just that , saying "I don't know about that " would not give them chance to speak. So , they have to made up stories or something about the topic you started, just to talk. That stresses their mind a lot, and the side affect is, they tend to forget what they chattered. If they picked the topic of conversation, then you are dead.

Category 2:

These people did not cultivate the habit of listening. No listening means no accumulation of new knowledge. They have very little to speak, and that "little", usually, about themselves. So, they talk a lot about their families, about their childhood, their school teacher, their friends, incidents which happened in the past .... repeatedly, over and over again, each time with same energy levels, to new listeners or to the old ones.

 After sometime, you knew how the story going to end, because you heard it several times before, but still , you will be forced to listen to that. These people are so enthusiastic in talking , that they dont even bother if you are listening or not. And that enthusiasm makes them deaf, once they start talking.  I prefer listening to their nonsense over phone so that i can finish chores , all i have to say "ok", "ooh", "really?" "is it?" "Then?" etc etc. Usually i stick to "OK", of course i have to make those sounds  to satisfy myself that i am in a conversation, not in a public meeting.  You need not bother to say a sentence or share a similar story which happened with you. Even if you do, they dont listen. Social manners says that , if somebody is talking, listen to them. They are not aware of it, they will resume their chatter before you finish your sentence. Just remember that, they have got wax in their ears and they are reciting the chapters from their little diaris. According to my observation, these people jump to category one after few years.

Category 3:

The purest form of verbal diarrhea. Just nonsense. They are burden to society. And society sarcastically calls them "Talkative", and they take it as a compliment. These people have to verbalize every thought from their brains. Luckily, these are easy to spot, just listen 5 minutes, and you will understand that , what ever they talk , is patternless and does not make sense. These are so dumb that, they usually misunderstand whatever you say. If you find a person like that, just run for your life. Don't even try to be polite, just make an excuse so that others wont think of you rude......... and run.

Where is home?

Just watched a TED video Where is home? Nice video.

The person produced some important points on "Feeling home", but drifted towards kind of spirituality later. He confined his idea of home to a  psychological thing in the era of Global-Village. But, I believe the feeling of home has a sociological factor also. In the end he says "Home is where you stand" , and my point is that a person should be allowed to stand at that point first. Its been thousand years Arabs invaded and settled down in India, and many so-called-native-descendants deny that its their homeland too. Still, people fight with each other because of the question "From where you are?"

Before we try to get the GPS location of the HOME, i think first we have to understand what home is. Is it the place where we are comfortable? then Hotels should be the answer. But no, we dont feel "home" in a hotel , no matter how many stars it has. Is it the safest place? Again, no. If safety is the criteria to call a structure, home, then prisons are the safest places, but people try to run away from them.  Is it the place we are familiar with ? Then office buildings can be called homes.

I think all those factors along with many other constitute a HOME. Its the place, where i am always welcome, a place where i can hide , where all my belongings will be present, where i feel safe, where i can enter and exit at my will, where i am sure that i dont have to fight , place where i need not be ashamed to go , where i am familiar with the surroundings (my grandparents were happy to sell their home to buy a new one, but could not leave the town) , most importantly, a place i was habituated to live.

I too agree that, home is not just a  structure. Its an idea. I could not understand, if we develop the idea from the structure we are living in, or we build the structure according to the idea, or its both?  My father, who spent his childhood in congested area, built an individual home in the outskirts leaving much space around the house for gardening. And I, want to live in an apartment at the heart of the city. And few of my friends whats to live in their parents home without any changes. May be, disliking-parents-home runs in my family!

Home is a place i am willing to feel like that, and a place where people around me encourage me to do so. How about having no such feeling at all? Then i am homeless and restless. How about developing that feeling of home for all places, then i will be a nomad , but a happy person.

YSR దీక్ష చేయు విధానంబు ఎట్టిదనిన ....

అట్టి విధముగా , చెరసాలలో ఉండిపోయి బయటకు రాలేక , లోపల ఉండలేక , ఎన లేని బాధలు పడుతున్న మన అన్న జగన్ అన్న దగ్గరకి, ఒక తింగరోడు వచ్చి ఉన్నాడు.  అప్పుడు దీనమయిన మొహం పెట్టుకుని ఆ జైలు పక్షి ఈ విధముగా అడిగెను " అయ్యా, తింగరి , ఒక టీవీ ఛానల్ పెట్టి, రెండు సంవత్సరాలుగా దాన్లో మా తండ్రి గారి నెత్తి మీద పూల వర్షం కురిపిస్తున్నా, నాకు ఈ కష్టములు తప్పుట లేదు, ఇక ఈ కష్టములని నేను భరింప జాలను, తమ తింగరి బుర్రని ఉపయోగించి నాకు ఒక పరిష్కారం సూచించమని " యాచించినాడు.

అప్పుడు ఆ తింగరి వాడు, కాసేపు గడ్డం గోక్కుని, కాసేపు గజ్జలు గోక్కొని, ఆలోచించి, జగన్ కి ఇలా సెలవిచ్చెను . " బాబు, మద్రాసు నుంచి ఆంద్ర రాష్ట్రము విడిపోయాక, ఆంధ్రులలో పిచ్చి తగ్గుతూ వచ్చింది.  ఒకానొక కాలములో NTR వచ్చి వోట్లేయ్యమని అడిగితే వేలం వెర్రిగా వేసిన జనం, మొన్న మెగాస్టార్ కి అంత అదృష్టం ఇవ్వలేదు . కాని , మన సహోదరాలు అయిన అరవం వాళ్ళు మటుకు అప్పటికి ఇప్పటికి సిని తారలకలే వోట్లు వేస్తూ, వాళ్ళకి గుళ్ళు కడుతూ తరతరాలుగా తమకున్న పిచ్చిని కాపాడుకుంటూ వస్తున్నారు. అదే విధముగా, తెలుగు వాళ్ళలో కూడా పిచ్చిని పునరుద్దనిచవలసిన సమయము ఆసన్నమయినది.

అది విన్న జగను, " అయ్యా మీరు చెప్పినది సత్యము వాలే తోచుచున్నది, మరి తెలుగు వారిలో కూడా పిచ్చిని పెపొందిన్చావలనేన్న విధానమును సెలవియ్యుడి " అని ప్రాధాయే పడిన పిమ్మట, ఆ తింగరోడు ఈ విధముగా పలికెను " జగనా , మీ తండ్రి గారి పేరు మీద ఒక వ్రతమును ప్రారంభిమ్పుడి , అయ్యప్ప మాల వాలే. ". ఆ ఆలోచన విన్న జగనుడు " ఈ ఆలోచన కొత్తగా , చెత్తగా తోచుచున్నది కావున, పిచ్చి వాళ్ళ మీద పని చెయ్యవచ్చును. ఆ వ్రత విధానమును కూడా సెలవిచ్చి నన్ను ధన్యుడ్ని చేయవలసిందిగా కోరుతున్నాను " అని మిక్కిలి ప్రాధేయ పడినాడు.

అప్పుడు ఆ తింగరి వ్రత విధానమును ఇట్లు వివరించెను " పిచ్చివాళ్ళు, శుచిగా స్నానం చేసి, రాత్రి తాగిన మందు వాసన వదిలించుకుని , తెల్ల బట్టలు వేసుకుని, మేడలో YSR పటము ఉన్న ఒక మాలని ధరించి, నెత్తి మీద అటుకులు బెల్లం మూట పెట్టుకుని , కాలి నడకన మీ తండ్రి గారి సమాధి వరకు నడుచుకుంటూ వెల్లవలె . బయలు దేరే ముందు సాక్షి చానెల్ కి పరిస్తితిని వివరించి, కెమెరా ముందు "స్వామియే YSR " అని అయ్యప్ప భక్తుల తీరులో అరిచి, మీ తండ్రిగారిని పొగిడి, వారి పిచ్చితనమును చాటుతూ , సమాధి చేరిన పిమ్మట , అటుకులు ఉప్మా , బెల్లం తో పాయసం చేసుకుని తిని, మంచి నీటికి బదులు బీరుని తాగవలె . ఇట్టి విధముగా చేసిన, తెలుగు వారి  పిచ్చను ప్రపంచానికి నిరూపించిన ఘనత లభించును " అని సెలవిచ్చెను.

అటు పిమ్మట జగనుడు, తింగరి కి పాదాభివందనం చేసి, తాను బయటకు రాగానే, తన సలహాదారుగా ఉండమని ప్రదేయపడెను . తింగరి , జగనుడి కోరికను మన్నిస్తానని మాట ఇచ్చిన వాడై నిష్క్రమించెను.

My theory on birth of Astrology

Since the first time I visited Birla Planetarium as a school kid, one question started rupturing inner walls of my skull i.e, how did they found zodiac signs? There are infinite number of stars in the universe and ones which are visible to the naked eye in the sky are scattered randomly. Then how did our ancestors observed patterns in them and named them?

Everybody seems to have observed the pattern in my class, i would be the dumb fellow if i asked the question , so i played along with everybody else. As a kid who grew up in the outskirts , i was forced to enjoy the sleeping on the roof in summer. Many times i tried to find the pattern by myself, but it was impossible. All i could find is the saptarshi mandlam which is more like a distorted parallelogram with a tail.

I googled for the answers and landed up in the wikipedia as usual. Normally we see the lines which connect the stars for our understanding and assume that there is a pattern. This time, I observed the stars which are connected.

Apparently,  the stars which form a particular astrological sign need not be having same characteristics. The stars which are connected by the lines dont have similar size or brightness. So our ancestors , imagined a picture in the sky and then pointed out the those particular stars. Its cheating. Its a lie. And all major countries adopted this system.  There are books, based on this system, daily future predictions on news papers, channels, magazines etc etc. A big fat lie.

After i finished laughing, i started thinking about the scholars who invented this system. Of course there is no information available on them. But one thing for sure, they are all insomniacs. And were thinking deeply about something, and hallucinated objects and then thought of zodiac signs with the stars which are behind the hallucinated objects. Most of them must be hunters because we have many animals in that list ( Aries, Taurus , Scorpio, Capricorn and Leo), Sagittarius must be representing a hunter. Apart from hunters , we have fishermen ( Cancer , Pisces) , gardeners or slaves (Acquarius) , retail merchants (Libra), infertile women ( Gemini ) , farmers ( Taurus ) and perverts who masturbate under open sky ( Virgo) .

Somehow, the system became famous and since then we have been cheated for generations.

If the modern insomniacs want to design a new system, may be we will develop signs representing bus, laptop, chicken  etc etc .

Discussion with a Doctor after a quarter

He became little drunk and started acting as if he is totally drunk.

From satires on one other, the discussion moved to cars, drifts and accidents. Probably the alcohol started kicking his mind a bit, we have moved to serious discussion.
He is kind of a guy who doesn't share much and talks about things objectively. Alcohol must have put his brain cells related to objectivity to sleep , loosen his jaw muscles and crushed the social filters between his mouth and mind.

When he told me about how he searched for answers when mother of his close friend got breast cancer, how he cried when she passed away along with his friend and how he had to see the postmortem of his friend when he died because of drunken driving, I started seeing doctors as just humans with emotions.

So often, we try to understand a person based on his profession and the abilities he needs to survive in that.

We all choose our professions because of the hype attached to it. But not everyone is cut out to be perfectly fit into the profession they have chosen. It's ridiculous to expect that every soldier should not fear death in the battle field.
We normally, focus on "how it's going to be when he got success", but not on the skill set required to be successful in that profession. May be a soldier to be recruited will dream of saving his countrymen with a machine gun , but might not focus on bullets he has to dodge in the battle field.

Similarly a biology student must be dreaming of getting appreciations from the relatives of patient when he saved him, but not concentrate on how it feels when a patient dies in the operation table.

But what it feels like to cut open a person or even a dead body? Or when he could not save a patient? He must have entered medicine because it's all about extending life, like  god. But death of patient will remind him that he is not even a  demi-god. The gap between the a success and failure must be twisting his heart because death is synonym to fail in that profession.

Not every human is born to cope with that trauma. But sadly that can't be known unless one becomes a doctor.

From here  Munnabhai MBBS occupied my mind. Now it is known to me personally that, when a patient dies with or without his fault, the doctor will be devastated. I am referring only newbies here, experienced ones will learn how to deal with it through years of practice. And what if the newbie to the profession is emotionally weak or thinks he is? He would left the profession after first death. So, should not the medical schools teach them on how to handle that frustration? Should not they learn to treat patients with objective approach?

Next time I should ask him for his opinion on Munnabhai MBBS !

A different food chain

On one idle day, my thought-train made a stop at the station called " difference between animals and humans".

I thought of family structure and politics, but most of the apes form societies, fight for power even form coalitions too. So that difference is not valid. The opposable thumb and bipedalism are also observed in apes.

Is it talking? Even parrots can talk. So, this thing can't be considered.

Ok, we have relatively large brains. No other animal has it.  But the question is what did the brain do to get control over the earth?  The answer I found is " Defying nature ".

Yes, that's the only answer I can come up with. No, I was not referring to pollution.

When climate is cold, we refused to get chilled and made sweaters to escape wrath of nature etc etc. Nature lost its power to make us suffer with climate change.

We diverted the course of rivers for our advantage. We are not satisfied with natural habitation so we made our own shelters.

Rest of the animal kingdom, depends on other naturally available living beings for food, so they have to hunt, or move to other lands once the food supply is stopped in a particular area. We found a better alternative, we grow food in our vicinity, or else the preparation of grill chicken might have started from preparing the nets or guns , instead of just going to a nearby chicken shop, so is the case with veg food.

Now we have our own food chain, which is different from natural one. If all the deer in the world have evaporated, tigers will go extinct. That's not the case with us, either deer goes extinct or tiger , we will have our paddy fields and poultry farms to feed us.

So accepting what we get is not a human trait. While rest of the animals get adjusted to nature, we try the opposite way.

But this raises another question, by defying nature, are not we messing up with natural process of evolution? May be, the under weight child or the kid with a hole in the heart should die according to law of evolution. These kids are born with mutation, which won't improvise the human species, but we don't just let it happen, we get it cured, in the name of love.

Oops, love. Is it the reason we are superior than others? The concept could be used by poor hero while explaining to rich villain to justify his love for his daughter. But sadly not, animals also love. It is not the trait which separates us from animals. So we are back to defying nature thingy.

So far, all the articles on the subject " man and nature" depict man as the villain. May be to some extent that's true, but it's law of nature with nature.

Now, the next question, what motivates us to defy nature like that? Is it the comfort or safety or our rejection to get subdued to power?

If all artists are dead....

Of late i started wondering , what would have happened to the world, if there are no artists.

I always  consider an artist not as an entertainer but as the one who will show us ways of expressing an emotion in different forms of media.

They say beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, but those eyes are controlled by the brain which learns many things including identification of beauty while growing up. The society teaches us whats beauty along with many. Here society does not refer to the rules and customs of the society but the widely accepted entertainment.

Da vinci felt that the half smile of a women is beautiful, and he is an artist, so he drew whats in  his mind , and ever since monalisa become the synonym for beauty.  In fact the whole bunch of authors , who are majorly from European, made being fair is equal to being beautiful. The same thing with long hair. I believe, we think those are attractive only because we learned to believe so.  The same logic goes to political opinions. 

This pattern is observed not only in forming opinions but also the way we act in a situation. Its not unknown that die-hard fans have the same mannerisms of their favorite actors. Of course some of them are trying to impersonate them but still....

But i was not able to decide if this concept is negative or positive at an individual level. I no longer have to think  and feel to form opinions on something, and i have ready-made action bits and dialogs to use in a social situation. That takes load out of my mind , but am i not becoming a slave to my surroundings ?

But i think its ok, because it could not affect the world as a whole , there are many out there who think and not ashamed to announce that they dont like music of ilayaraja at all. And not every A.R.R music is a hit, not every chiranjeevi movie or Bapu movie is a hit. I belong to the minority which believes aiswarya roy looks stupid and dusky girls are more attractive. Not all people like books of chetan bhagat. So, no matter in what length the society wants to teach us, not all of us want to be taught something based on popular demand.  As long as there are  humans who behave like sheep, there will be a black sheep to show less popular options to rest.

Bribing a police

This tutorial is not for murderers, rapists and politicians.

This how - to guide consists of 3 parts based on police officer.

1. The police who caught you for the bribe will imply what he wants. Like saying nonsense rules which don’t exist. For example, once a police caught me because I have earphones plugged in my ears and according to him its violation of law. It clearly indicates he is looking for money. There will be no way out, because we can’t argue with them about laws. He will simply say discuss those with the judge. So agree soon and give him some money.

Another way a police will ask for money is by cooking a story, like telling us that they have received a complaint against us, so they have come. Easy way to escape is to bribe him; it could be as low as 25% of the fine amount.

This type of police is easy to handle, they know what they want and we know what they want and without much ado both parties jump into the actual business talk.

2. Type two are like opportunists, they wait for you to offer bribe with no specific cues. The only clue to offer money is , he will hold the pen and pad, and asks you as if threatening “you want me to write a fine or not?”

3. While first two types are mostly rude, the third type is soft. Like bargaining tomatoes at vegetable market. They literally beg, “give some amount you like” will be the phrase. Or they are too sophisticated and act as if bribe taking is part of the job, there will be no change in the modulation of tone. The constable in safari suite, who come to enquire when we applied for passport is the example.

And those who don’t take bribe, they simply fill the form, collect the fine and will ask you to leave.
In any case, its just not the money the police is looking for , the power of uniform and arms will be in the head. One cant afford to talk in a disrespectful way with them,

Why do we have to ?

Sometimes i wonder what would have happen to world if we dont have nothing to engage ourselves like a hobby and a religion, and nothing which keeps us from thinking like alcohol and a structure prescribed by society to fit it.

Surely, an idles man mind is a devils workshop and everything around us tries to make sure that it wont happen.

If those two factors are not present, what we would have done? Just work?

To satisfy " actual needs " we dont need much. A saint and a begger also surviving with minimum things. But they have religion or something to keep their mind occupied. Why do we need arts in the first place? They dont provide food,cloths are shelter.  Why do we need others to survive? Why do we need to feel alive or achievements. Why do we have to make babies , knowing that they will die eventually. Why do we need shelter and clothes, knowing the early man and rest of the animal kingdom survived without them.

Why do we have think about others, make affords for their betterment,knowing the fact that they will also die.

Why do we have to watch tv serials and movies, or read fiction to feel how other ppl persons in those situations would feel, knowing that its not our lives.

Why do we have to crave for acceptance of others or even to laugh, which will not add anything extra to our lifestyle.

Why do we have to know the information of others business including celebrities, when we have little knowledge about ourselves.

Why do we have to judge others? Which will not bring us one more meal?

Why do we have take alcohol and drugs and forget our problems and then switch on tv to know about / feel problems of others?

Why cant we earn our meals, then sit idle till we are hungry like rest of the animals.

Is it because of love, or because its hardwired in our brains, or for entry pass to heaven?

From all the above i conclude that, i have become little cynical and need to do something to retain my smile.

Life without a phone !!

Many complain that phone is disturbing their normal life, and life without it is cool. I disagree.

Phone is not the reason, its our inability to handle pestering calls makes life miserable. Why blame phone for that. In fact, after i lost my android, my life became boring and tedious.

Now i have to go to computer to check emails, to make railway reservations, to book movie tickets, to recharge my mobile, to pay bills, to check my bank balance, to write blog posts, to read newspaper, to buy or sell shares.  I dont have smartphone, so , i have to read the paperbacks, and use those irritating bookmarks whenever i stop reading. Now i have to open that bulky Cambridge dictionary to check meaning of a word.

No phone means, no google maps and i have to ask strangers for directions,  whose probability of being right is not 100%. When i had it, i just have put ear phones on , set the directions and my phone will give me the audio directions wherever i required. It was easy to find a petrol bunk or appolo pharmacy or a coffee day with a smart phone. Now i have to stop the bike and ask people.

Now i have to rely on google or newspapers to know which movie is being played at which theater. I have to write down , to remember things as there is no smart phone with calender.  No alarm, no camera, no emergency flash light, no twitter news,  ....... life without a smart phone sucks (Once got used to it)

Right questions and wrong answers !!

We all are bugged with the question 'Why', perpetually.  This is the question which pops up in the head when something is bothering us. Why my life sucks? Why i am not getting a job? Why she hates me? Why he hit me? etc etc.

At a personal level, the question is not so problematic. But if the subject is society, the "Why" is the first step of disaster, if its not answered by right answer. Once there is an answer for "Why", we get satisfied with that answer without checking if it is the correct answer or not. And we stop looking for answers after the answer which we want to believe in is delivered.  Asking questions like an over-excited anchor of news channel is simple, throwing some statements with a style and make us believe that is the right answer like our News editors do is also not so hard. But deciding which is the right answer is the pain.

Why there is an epidemic in the village? Because village deity is furious and make some sacrifices to calm her down.

After world war 1, after winners put sanctions on Germany, leading to near collapse of its economy, Germans asked "Why our lives become like this?" And Hitler answered "Because of Jews, kill them".

"Why real world is not utopia?" Karl Marx answered "Because of capitalism and so called personal freedom, kill those "

"Why i am suffering?" , priest answered "Because you are unfaithful to god" and i started going to Temples.

Now my question, is the answer we get is the right answer for the question? Like in school days, somebody has to evaluate answers given to the questions. But who evaluate? On what grounds he should decide that one answer is right and rest are wrong? 



   

Lessons from Araku Trip

1. The trip should not be an unplanned one.

2. Having a BSNL SIM will make life easier

3. APTDC hotels should be used only to stay, food is very expensive. (Paid 600 rs for crappy bajji)

4. We cannot go and book rooms directly at Tyda APTDC hotel, need to book rooms through online or telephone.


5. Before getting captured by the beauty of araku, get a hotel room first

6. Have a redbull before starting to katiki waterfalls.

7. Never ever leave deccan in summer

Pronunciation problems. ..

posted from Bloggeroid

జొ గబ్బర్ సింగ్ కొ గయా ... సంజొ మర్గయా

నాలుగేళ్ల తర్వాత మా వాడు కలిసి, బ్రతిమలాడి , టికెట్లు తీసుకొచ్చి నన్ను హాల్ లో  కూర్చోబెట్టాడు. పూర్తిగా ఫాన్స్ కోసమే తీసిన మూవీ, మొత్తమంతా ' pawanism ' , అనగా ముక్కడం, స్టేట్ రౌడి కాలం లోని చిరంజీవి హావభావాలు కాస్త మార్పు చేసి చూపించడం, ఇంకా మెడ రుద్దుకోడం.



ప్రతి మూవీ లో సవితి తల్లి పోరు ఉంటుంది కదా...దీన్లో సవితి తండ్రి పోరన్నమాట. దాన్ని భరించలేక మెడ రుద్దుకుంటూ ఇంట్లోంచి పారిపోతే పట్టుకుని హాస్టల్ లో వేస్తె , పోలీసు అవుతాడు. వాళ్ళ వూరికే ట్రాన్స్ఫర్ అయ్యి వస్తాడు. వూరి పేరు కొండవీడు ( ఏదన్న చిరంజీవి మూవీ గుర్తొస్తోందా ? ) .

  'మోసగాళ్ళకి మోసగాడు ' కాలం నాటి ఒక బ్యాంకు ని కొంతమంది దొంగలు దోచుకుంటారు. అప్పుడే పవన్ కళ్యాణ్ ఎంట్రి, గుర్రమెక్కి వచ్చి, దొంగల్ని పట్టేసుకుంటాడు. ఆ దొంగల్ని పంపించింది లోకల్ యువనాయకుడు ( రక్తచరిత్ర విల్లన్ ) . తర్వాత గబ్బర్ సింగ్ పోలీసు స్టేషన్ కి వస్తాడు, పొలిసు స్టేషన్ పేరుని "గబ్బర్ సింగ్ స్టేషన్ " గా మార్చేసి, మూవీ మొత్తం అయన తుపాకుల్ని ముద్దుపేర్లతో పిలుచుకుంటూ, అయిదేళ్ళ పిల్లాడు  దీపావళి తుపాకీ కాల్చినట్టు , కాల్చేస్తు ఉంటాడు. కూర్చొని మెడ రుద్దుకుంటాడు, కాసేపు నిలబడి రుద్దుకుంటాడు, కాసేపు చిరంజీవి ని కాపీ చేస్తాడు, కాసేపు టపాకి తీసి గోడల్ని, నేలని కాలుస్తూ ఉంటాడు, కాసేపు కుళ్ళు జోకులు, కాసేపు అయన "పవనిసం" మీద ఆయనే జోకులు, కాసేపు హీరోయిన్ కి సైట్ కొట్టడం, కాసేపు విల్లన్ ని బెదిరించడం, కాసేపు జీప్ ని స్కిడ్ చేయించడం, కాసేపు కుటుంబ సెంటిమెంటు, కాసేపు పాటలు, కాసేపు ఓవర్ ఆక్షన్ ,  కాసేపు ఆ వూరి రౌడీలతో కబడ్డీ, అంత్యాక్షరి లాంటి ఆటలు, మిగిలిన టైం లో ముక్కడం జరిగింది. పవన్ కళ్యాణ్ ఇంత బిజీ గా ఉన్నాడు కాబట్టే, ఒక సీన్ లో అయన రాలేక అయన కటౌట్ రిక్షా లో పంపిన్స్తాడు. ఇన్ని విడ్డూరాలు భరించలేక ఆ గుర్రం పారిపోయింది, నేను మాత్రం దొరికిపోయాను.

కథ అంటూ పెద్దగా ఏమి లేదు, స్క్రీన్ ప్లే అస్సలు లేదు, దేనికి లింక్ దొరకదు, వీటి మధ్యలో స్టేషన్ లో అంత్యాక్షరి అనే గొప్ప సీన్. నిజానికి మొదటి మూడు నిమిషాలు బాగానే ఉంది, తర్వాత సాగదీసి పెంట పెట్టాడు. రక్తచరిత్ర విల్లన్ ని మూవీ మొత్తం ఒక సైకో లో చూపించడానికి ట్రై చేసి, అది పండక చివరికి సుహాసినిని చంపించడం లో ఆ పిచ్చి అంటా చూపించారు. డైరెక్టర్ ప్రతిభ ముందు, హీరోయిన్ , అలీ , బ్రహ్మానందం అంతా కొట్టుకుపోయారు. 

మూవీ చూసాక అనిపించింది ... మేము పవన్ కళ్యాణ్ ఫాన్స్ అని చెప్పుకునే వారంతా, నిజంగా పవన్ కళ్యాణ్ కి అభిమానులా లేక , "పవనిసం" కి అభిమానులా అని. నాకు ఖుషి , తొలిప్రేమ పర్లేదు అనిపించాయి కాని, పవన్ కళ్యాణ్ డైరెక్ట్ చేసిన జానీ , ఇంకా జల్సా బాగా నచ్చాయి. కాని జానీ , పవన్ కళ్యాణ్ ఫాన్స్ కే సరిగ్గా నచ్చలేదు. ఏదో ఆక్టింగ్ బాగుంది ఫాన్స్ అంటే అర్థం చేసుకోవచ్చు కానీ, మెడ రుద్దుకున్తున్నాడు కాబట్టి ఫాన్స్ అంటే ...ఏంటో . అయినా ఎవరి అభిమానం వాళ్లది.

మలక్పేట్ పోలీసు గారండి ... ఫోను పోయిందండి

మా ఫ్రండ్ ది ఫోన్ పోయింది, నోకియా ఫోను, పదహారు వేల ఫోను, ఏడుస్తుంటే iphone కొనుక్కోమని, పోయిన ఫోను ఈ పాటికే జగదీష్ మార్కెట చేరిపోయి ఉంటుందని, దిగులు వొద్దని ,  వోదరుస్తున్నాం.  పోలీసు కంప్లైంట్ ఇవ్వమని వాళ్ళ అమ్మగారు చెప్పారని , ఇవ్వాల్సిందే అని గోల చేస్తుంటే , అది భరించలేక మలక్పేట్ పోలీసు స్టేషన్ కి పోయాం. 

పొలిసు స్టేషన్ మెట్ల మీదే ఒక వీధి కుక్క దర్జాగా కూర్చోండి,  ప్రజలకి పోలీసులు , పోలిసులకి కుక్కలు రక్షణ అని అనుకుని, అక్కడే ఒక పెద్ద గుంపులో నున్చిని మమ్మల్ని సాదరంగా పలకరించి మాట్లాడిన పోలీసు మాట ప్రకారం, పొలిసు స్టేషన్ లో రెండో అంతస్తుకి వెళ్ళాం, పెద్ద పెద్ద ఇనుప పెట్టలు, పెద్ద పెద్ద పొట్టలు ఉన్న పోలీసులని దాటుకుని.

మలక్పేట్  పోలీసు స్టేషన్ రెండో అంతస్తు లోనే, పోలీసులు కాపురం ఉంటున్నారు, వెళ్ళగానే ఆరేసిన డ్రాయర్లు, చొక్కాలు, లుంగీలు కనిపించాయి,వాటి పక్కనే ట్రాఫిక్కు పోలీసుల విభాగం, ఒక పది పదిహేను వాకీ టాకీలు బల్లమీద పెట్టుకుని, ఏదో తెగ రాసేస్తూ కనిపించారు, వాళ్ళ సెక్షన్ పక్కన రూం లోనే ఫోన్ మిస్సింగ్ కేసెస్ రిజిస్టర్ చేస్తారన్నారు, చిన్న గది, ఆ గది లోంచి లాకప్ కి దారి, చిన్న గదిని ఇంకొంచం చిన్నది చేస్తూ రెండు బల్లలు ఒక బెంచి, బెంచి మీద ఒక దిట్టమయిన పోలీసు బాబాయి, అయన చేతిలో తళతళా మెరుస్తూ ఒక చైను, ఆ చైను కి అటువైపు కింద కూర్చొన్న ఒక డిగ్రీ చదివే వయసున్న కుర్రాడు, అంత చైను వేసారంటే వాడెం శాడిస్టు గాడో అనుకుంటూ ఉంటె, బల్ల వెనక పొలిసు "అబ్బా ఫోను మిస్సింగ్ కేసా , బిజీ గా ఉన్నాము వేరే పనిలో" అన్నాడు, పాపం కంప్యూటర్ తో ఏదో కుస్తీ పడుతున్నాడు, ఒకతన్ని పిలిచి మా సంగతేంటో చూడమన్నాడు, ఇంతలో బెంచి మీద కూర్చున్న పొలిసు బాబాయి ఫోను ఎంత అని అడిగాడు, పదహారు వేలు అని చెప్పగానే, మాకు పని చూడటం మొదలు పెట్టినయాన్ని పిలిచి , "పదహారు వేలంట, మంచి గిరాకి పో " అనేసాడు, అందరం నవ్వుతు ఉంటె, ఆ పొలిసు అడిగాడు, అందరి ఫోన్లు పోయాయా, లేక ఒక్క ఫోనుకి ఇంతమంది వచ్చారా  అని, ఇక చేసేది లేక , నేను ఇంకో ఫ్రండ్ బయటకి వచ్చేసాం , ఈ హడావిడిలో లాకప్ కి ఏడు వూచలు ఉన్నాయో లేదో లెక్క పెడదామనుకున్న సంగతి మర్చిపోయాను.

బయట ట్రాఫిక్కుపొలిసు సెక్షన్ దగ్గర నున్చోన్నాం, ఒక వాకీ టాకీ లోంచి ఒక బండ గొంతు తెగ గోల పెడుతోంది, ఎవరు పట్టించుకోట్లా, మాకు మొదట్లో సరిగ్గా అర్థం కూడా అవ్వాలా, జాగ్రత్తగా వింటే తెలిసిందేమిటంటే, ట్రాఫిక్కు పొలుసులు ట్రాఫిక్ను పట్టించుకోడం మానేసి, అంబ్రెల్లా ల కింద కూర్చుంటున్నారని, దీని వాళ్ళ ట్రాఫిక్ జామ్స్ పెరిగే అవకాశం ఉందని , ఇలాంటి అలవాట్ల వాళ్ళ ట్రాఫిక్ వ్యవస్థ కి నష్టం జరుగుతుందని ఒక పెద్ద పొలిసు గొంతును తెలుగులో ఇంగ్లీషులో చించుకుని చెబుతున్నాడు. అయన ఎప్పుడు ఇలానే క్లాసు వాకీ టాకీ లో పీకుతుంటాడు అనుకుంటా , ఎవరు పట్టించుకోట్లా .

కాసేపటికి మిగతా వాళ్ళు బయటకి వచ్చారు. ఏమయిందిరా అంటే, FIR బుక్ చెయ్యలేదు, కంప్లైంట్ బుక్ చేసి నెంబర్ ఇచ్చడుట, బెంచి బాబాయి అయితే, ఇవన్ని కాదు కాని, నాకో అయిదు వేలు ఇవ్వండి, రేపటికల్లా ఫోన్ సంపాదించి ఇస్తా అని బంపర్ ఆఫర్ కూడా చేశాడుట.

ఇంకేం చేస్తం , స్మార్ట్ ఫోను పోయి డబ్బా ఫోను వచ్చే అని పార్టీ చేసుకుని వచ్చేసాం