Kuch door tum bhi saath-saath aate
This poem is from the movie Udaan.
Jo lehron se aage nazar dekh paati toh tum jaan lete main kya sochta hoon,
Wo aawaz tumko bhi jo bhed jaati toh tum jaan lete main kya sochta hoon.
Zid ka tumhare jo parda sarakta toh khidkiyon se aage bhi tum dekh paate,
Aankhon se aadaton ki jo palken hatate toh tum jaan lete main kya sochta hoon.
Meri tarah khud par hota zara bharosa toh kuchh door tum bhi saath-saath aate,
Rang meri aankhon ka baant-te zara sa toh kuchh door tum bhi saath-saath aate,
Nasha aasmaan ka jo choomta tumhe bhi, hasraten tumhari naya janm paatin,
Khud doosre janam mein meri udaan chhoone kuchh door tum bhi saath-saath aate.
Translation :
If the eye could look beyond the waves, you would know what I think,
Were that voice to also pierce your soul, you would know what I think,
If the curtain of your stubborness would but slide, you could see beyond the windows,
If you could break the cycle of habit, you would know what I think,
Like me, were you but sure of yourself, you could come with me a while,
See the colors of the world through my eyes, you could come with me a while,
If you could feel the intoxication of possibilities, your desires would be reborn,
To match my flight in the world hereafter, you could come with me a while.
Youtube:
References:
[1] http://www.fridaynirvana.com/fiction/2010/11/the-poems-of-udaan-ii.html
Nobody has an absolute reality
I grew up in a tradition where there are simply more dimensions to reality: legends and myths and ancestors and spirits and death … Which brings the question: what is reality? Everyone’s reality is different. For different perceptions of reality we need a different language. We like to think that the world is rational and precise and exactly how we see it, but something erupts in our reality which makes us sense that there’s more to the fabric of life. I’m fascinated by the mysterious element that runs through our lives. Everyone is looking out of the world through their emotion and history. Nobody has an absolute reality.
- Ben Okri
Reference:
Be grateful for freedom – Ben Okri
Be grateful for freedom
To see other dreams.
Bless your loneliness as much as you drank
Of your former companionships.
All that you are experiencing now
Will become moods of future joys
So bless it all.
Do not think your ways superior
To another’s
Do not venture to judge
But see things with fresh and open eyes
Do not condemn
But praise what you can
And when you can’t be silent.
Time is now a gift for you
A gift of freedom
To think and remember and understand
The ever perplexing past
And to re-create yourself anew
In order to transform time.
Live while you are alive.
Learn the ways of silence and wisdom
Learn to act, learn a new speech
Learn to be what you are in the seed of your spirit
Learn to free yourself from all things that have moulded you
And which limit your secret and undiscovered road.
Remember that all things which happen
To you are raw materials
Endlessly fertile
Endlessly yielding of thoughts that could change
Your life and go on doing for ever.
Never forget to pray and be thankful
For all the things good or bad on the rich road;
For everything is changeable
So long as you live while you are alive.
Fear not, but be full of light and love;
Fear not but be alert and receptive;
Fear not but act decisively when you should;
Fear not, but know when to stop;
Fear not for you are loved by me;
Fear not, for death is not the real terror,
But life -magically – is.
Be joyful in your silence
Be strong in your patience
Do not try to wrestle with the universe
But be sometimes like water or air
Sometimes like fire
Live slowly, think slowly, for time is a mystery.
Never forget that love
Requires that you be
The greatest person you are capable of being,
Self-generating and strong and gentle-
Your own hero and star.
Love demands the best in us
To always and in time overcome the worst
And lowest in our souls.
Love the world wisely.
It is love alone that is the greatest weapon
And the deepest and hardest secret.
So fear not, my friend.
The darkness is gentler than you think.
Be grateful for the manifold
Dreams of creation
And the many ways of unnumbered peoples.
Be grateful for life as you live it.
And may a wonderful light
Always guide you on the unfolding road.
- Ben Okri
Half The Sky – Turning Oppression into Opportunity
In 1998, John Wood traveled to a village in Nepal where he found a school serving 450 children with a single book to teach them. The situation was unacceptable to Wood, then a Microsoft marketing director, so he said he would “deliver a mountain of books by a caravan of donkeys” to the Nepalese village. And that is how Room To Read was conceived.
RoomToRead is currently working in 10 countries, built 14,000 + libraries & schools & distributed 11 million + books all across the globe. [Annual Report]
John says: No child should ever again be told you were born in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you will therefore not get educated.
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Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide is the aim of Half the Sky, a groundbreaking documentary inspired by the best-selling book of the same name by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. It features Room To Read’s work in Vietnam in the last 30 minutes of this documentary.
You can watch this on PBS website & will be available online from now through October 8.
Apple’s Obsession with hurting Google
This Iphone launch was followed by too many questions in the mind of customers. And the lately you can see that suspicion turning into resentment.
What was the main attraction of the Iphone5?
- Forbes summend it by the word “MEH”.
- Verge talked in great details about the various small enhancements it made, even then in the end it is only Iphone4s + some iterative improvements.
Iphone5 was mostly about catching up with its competitors. Most of the improvements including 4G LTE & panoramic camera feature is in the market for sometime now. If you look at the sales figure of Iphone5 that itself is a big disappointment for when compared to its predecessors 4 & 4s. And Apple is doing everything to paint a different picture of this situation (with the latest article in Apple Press Release).
Their latest Obsession with hurting Google doesn’t seem to be doing a lot of good to Apple (article). There is too many bad press this time for Apple. The Apple Maps has been a laughing stock even among its fans & user base. People have started writing about alternative’s for maps in IOS6.
Is Apple is repeating is its own history ?
Back in the 1990′s Apple spent an enormous energy suing Microsoft, trying to beat Microsoft & every Apple product launched during this period missed consumer attention.
It was not until Steve Jobs returned to Apple, in 97, as the interim CEO the company started to focus energy back on its products. It was very visible that everything that Apple did after that had a purpose & that was to build amazing products for its customers.
Apple should think wisely & should start putting users first again.
References:
[1] http://www.cultofmac.com/192350/how-apples-obsession-with-google-is-hurting-apple/
[3] http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/21/3363238/iphone-5-review
[5] http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/09/24iPhone-5-First-Weekend-Sales-Top-Five-Million.html
Lost in translation or intentionally misconstrued…
I’ve heard many speeches by Subramanian Swamy. Even thought I don’t buy many of his ideas I do agree that he is a knowledgeable person. In most of his speeches he talks about the history of India whether it be about the rulers a few centuries ago or the things from the Upanishads & Vedas.
In a recent talk (youtube)in New Jersey, he talks about Chanakya.
Quoting Subramanian Swamy:
Chankya says:
Varna(Cast System) is not based on anything except Guna’s. A person is the fruits of his karma, there is no such thing as birth. Whatever you achieve in life is because of Karma’s present & past, and if you have committed bad karma’s & if you have not suffered for it then you will be carried over to next life & you then you will have to live it. And for the good karma’s you will be rewarded.
Karma according to Wikipedia clearly specifies what he mentioned above.
Even the word Brahmin as described in Wikipedia clearly specifies that people born in differnt Varan’s (cast) attain preisthood or become Brahmin by discipline their body, mind & intellect which is quite a difficult thing to attain.
The history present itself with the fact that during ancient times people attained & considered priestly(brahmins) only based on their Karma.
- Valmiki who wrote Ramayan was born in a tribal Koli/Bhil family [4]
- Veda Vyasa who wrote Mahabharat was the son of Satyavati, daughter of fisherman [5]
- Vishvamitra who is Brahmarshi was born in Kshatriya family [6]
- Ravana was a brahmin [7]
If you ask me what I think, I firmly believe that my actions can only define who I am.
“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” — Thomas Jefferson
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Further googling led me to find this link. It is up to you to verify & confirm these facts because I’ve not validated it myself.
In Purusha-Sukta of the Rig-Veda, there is reference to the division of Hindu society into the classes. It is described there that the Brahmanas came out of the face of the Lord the Creator, Kshatriyas from His arms, Vaisyas from His thighs, and the Sudras from His feet.
The division is according to the Guna and Karma. Guna (quality) and Karma (kind of work) determine the caste of a man. This is supported by Lord Krishna in the Gita, also. Lord Krishna says in the Gita: “The four castes were emanated by Me, by the different distribution of qualities and actions. Know Me to be the author of them, though the actionless and inexhaustible”"(Ch.4-13). http://www.hinduism.co.za/dharma.htm
There are other verses too which show that Varna is based on Guna and Karma and not by birth :
Lord Krishna nowhere says that varna is decided by birth alone. Though the birth to a particular family, place & culture is certainly decided by one’s karma in his previous birth, but varna depends basically on guna and karma & thus can change depending upon his Guna and Karma in this birth.
I also found this well-articulated article which tries to put forth the things said about the cast system as per the Vedas.
References:
[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHQg6qqwm5w
[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma_in_Hinduism#Relation_between_birth_in_a_particular_body_to_karma
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valmiki#Early_life
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vyasa#In_the_Mahabharata
[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishwamitra
[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravana#Etymology
[8] http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/archive/index.php?t-5491.html
Confucius Kah Gaye (said)
Confucius Kah Gaye (said):
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
― Confucius
Passion for your work isn’t always given — you have to earn it just like everything else.
Most people unfortunately never find their passion and sense of purpose. Hence, to many “work” is just a grind to pay the obvious bills and to keep or obtain a certain standard of living.
Some say that whatever work you do, you should do it with passion & try to love what you do. But that doesn’t work for most people. Most often people lose interest in something they love not because they don’t have passion, but they find out they aren’t good enough, and subsequently lose that passion. So it is necessary 1st step to choose a profession which has real meaning and purpose to you, then your perception of work will change. Perception is everything and not just in work.
If your profession is a passion, then you will not see work as a “travail”. You will find joy and pleasure in the work you do knowing it has value and meaning for your self as sometimes for those around you. This won’t necessarily make you wealthy & famous but these are side effects which may or may not come.
The true satisfaction is within your self. Picasso never retired. Einstein thrilled to do his research throughout his life. Steve Jobs has changed the world in which we live. Because they loved what they did and did so with pleasure and enthusiasm to leave an indelible mark so that we no matter what we do no matter how small and wake up each day and say, “It is great to be alive”.
References:
[1] http://lifehacker.com/5924519/passion-can-make-your-work-more-enjoyable-but-it-isnt-everything
[2] http://www.linkedin.com/answers/professional-development/career-management/PRO_CMA/775405-7413879
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