Walked by

There isn't a single nation today, on our planet - Earth, which defines itself by using bullet points, to draw up its constitution. Digression is therefore not just a matter of fact, but is an essential tool, used to get as close to perfection, as is possible. - snt7650

Every limited period of a certain number of revolutions of earth around the sun are given a name, in terms of calling it an 'age.' The thing of interest in this kind of a system, trying to draw a conclusion, is to calculate the realization of an era gone by.

Just to be clear, this is not an attempt to categorize certain periods of time with regards to talking about it's specialties so as to clarify or add to already existing generalizations. Instead, the purpose of this essay is to delve into the reality of time on a completely different but intensely personal differentiation which affects the daily routine of any random creature, on earth at least, which is capable of holding a conscious thought.

The scientific community(in this age and at this time), generally tends to agree on certain principles supposedly governing the universe we know of. Discounting the theories which are as yet only suppositions and do not have practical proof for the purpose of creating a base on which we build upon certain presumptions - only to extend our understanding of the universe we exist in, it's relatively easy to understand that the reality of our existence, on an intrinsically molecular level, lied in just two theories which have consistently been proven, repeatedly so, for the benefit of skeptics.

The two theories are:
1. The general theory of relativity(as against the special theory of relativity) and
2. Quantum physics(rarely referred to as quirky mechanics, which probably was slang for fooling the religiously suppressive christian bishops who eventually ended up jailing and sometimes even burning alive, people like Galileo).

Damn it, looks like I lost it again.. must be getting old but don't feel any bit wiser. (Of course the photo is mine! Wasn't it typical?)

Wishlist

After about a decade of trying to find the answer to the question - "what do you want?" - finally figured it out.

Ask and you shall receive was really a terrible predicament. It might seem like a rich kid trying to decide what to choose from the options available, each of which would hold a value greater than what a needy person might want in 8 generations! The true issue with this line of thought is that everyone presumes everybody else's value systems are the same. No matter how similar the portion of a circle may actually be, it's always the other half we wish we'd chosen. In addition, the feeling of being inadequate always seems to arise after the choice has been made. Strangely, this behavior only seems to affect the humans, as every other creature so far observed, seems to have lost its appetite, the moment it's need is fulfilled.

Another thought which predominantly supersedes the selection of a particular want is the knowledge of a conditional prize. Historically speaking, most of mythology from the ancient world is filled with examples of a blessing or a boon eventually being broken. For instance, one of the most well known stories is that of the king Hiranyakashyap having obtained a sort of shield against getting slain by - either a man, woman or an animal, neither in day or at night. Eventually, out of arrogance of having acquired a great power, he asks his devotee son Prahallad 'why do you pray to an unknown God when I am the all powerful being right in front of you?' Seeing a devout and pious kid in trouble, God decides to help and comes over in the form of a human body with a lions head, at dusk and shears the cruel kings abdomen causing him to die without breaking the boon/blessing.

Regardless of the factual basis of the story, the thing to learn is - there's always a workaround and nothing is really foolproof. There is always a catch! Having gained such wisdom, what could you possibly ask for, knowing for certain that you'll somehow or the other have to pay for? And if you are going to pay for it, wtf bother asking in the first place, especially when its going to generate an obligation?

Allow me to give an example. Popularly speaking, one of the most frequently desired 'wants' of an employee is a raise/hike in pay. The thing which none of these employees bargained for is the expectation of the employer to expect at least as much more work as is deserving of the hike. Obviously, this ends up translating into additional work load in addition to what was being delivered before the hike, we know only too well that it ends up translating to longer work hours and increased peer pressure, in the end the demands at home in terms of spending quality time increases and there comes a time when you don't know where the additional money went or it may just be uselessly sitting in a bank account because you gotta work the weekends or late nights to cover up the added responsibilities. Your health starts to deteriorate as the body struggles to cope and keep up with the demands it was never designed for!

All of this translates to one thing - stress. And that my friend is how you end up paying for that raise you thought you got just because you asked for and got. Try again tomorrow, after you have had a chance to sleep over it and ask yourself again - what do you really want? Add the disclaimer too - what & how are you willing to pay for it?

There will come a point when you'll start understanding this - God's dynamic - as I like to call it. That is the real deal. That is when the conversations, discussions and emotional arguments start. Fun times in flashback, but devilish hell while going through it.

Knowing it, is in itself a kind of relief because it's reassuring to find out you aren't the only one. As much as the inner voice of an egoistic winner may complain about being #1, the fact remains that being the only one of a kind, ahead of all others - is a very lonely place. Moreover, the concept of ranking in itself arises out of striving to continually improve "as compared to others." In simpler terms, if there are no others, there won't be any #1., it'll remain the only one!
Eventually, all of it seems to come down to the quintessential - society. The one thing that folks are ideally not supposed to do, is to compare. That is supposedly one of the universally accepted ideals. Yet, at every instance of physical and mental change in an individual's life, aka growth from infancy-adolescence-maturity, the only measure used to asses the performance till that point, is comparison.

Btw, did you really think I'd actually mention what it truly is, for me, that I wanted? Okay, here's a clue - you already know it! ;-)

Flaming Telepath's and Astronomy

Some of the most intriguing and explosive poems.. very brave, deep and difficult.

The construction of the song itself seems so natural with Eric Bloom's voice stirring up feelings stowed away since ages past. The way the synthesizer feeds into the piano and then into the guitar solo is just flat out perfection.

Well I've opened up my veins too many times

And the poison's in my heart and in my mind

Poison's in my bloodstream

Poison's in my pride

I'm after rebellion

I'll settle for lies

Is it any wonder that my mind's on fire

Imprisoned by the thoughts of what to do

Is it any wonder that my joke's an iron

And the joke's on you

Experiments that failed too many times

Transformations that were too hard to find

Yes I know the secrets of the iron and mind

They're trinity acts, a mineral fire

Yes I know the secrets of the circuitry mind

It's a flaming wonder telepath

--

Clock strikes twelve and moondrops burst 

Out at you from their hiding place 

Like acid and oil on a madman's face 

His reason tends to fly away 

Like lesser birds on the four winds 

Like silver scrapes in may 

And now the sand's become a crust 

Most of you have gone away 

Come susie dear, let's take a walk 

Just out there upon the beach 

I know you'll soon be married 

And you'll want to know where winds come from 

Well it's never said at all 

On the map that carrie reads 

Behind the clock back there you know 

At the four winds bar 

Four winds at the four winds bar 

Two doors locked and windows barred 

One door to let to take you in 

The other one just mirrors it 

Hellish glare and inference 

The other one's a duplicate 

The queenly flux, eternal light 

Or the light that never warms 

Yes the light that never, never warms 

Or the light that never 

Never warms 

The clock strikes twelve and moondrops burst 

Out at you from their hiding place 

Miss carrie nurse and susie dear 

Would find themselves at four winds bar 

It's the nexus of the crisis 

And the origin of storms 

Just the place to hopelessly 

Encounter time and then came me 

Call me Desdinova 

Eternal light 

These gravely digs of mine 

Will surely prove a sight 

And don't forget my dog 

Fixed and consequent 

Astronomy...a star

Leaving the crutch, for now

Gotten off of Facebook day before yesterday, at least for now.

Part of an experiment to figure out how difficult announcing events and getting information about the people you care to know about, is going to be.
Almost silly really. But considering the amount of dependence on a website which hardly anyone knew of even a decade ago is astonishing. Right from accessing my own data to using apps for which fb's login credentials are used - vanished without trace.

I've ceased to exist.

Keep talking

Ever since the first communicating humans grouped together, to turn the odds of survival in the wilderness of an unforgiving nature, there must have existed feelings of imposing ones will on others in the group. In the current times, our civilization, full of presumed freedoms and perceived choices, uses plenty of different words essentially meaning the same thing i.e., 'dominating in order to enforce a personal opinion and will.'

Statewide policies dictate a law in the name of justice. On an individual level, it turns to greed and jealousy, in terms of appetite, it becomes hunger and lust. Any which way you look at it, it'll always remain the single most important commonality, amongst humans from different lands and equally different cultural backgrounds.

Defining the inherent flaw of even basic understanding, its relatively easy to conclude, that communication was invented out of the need to transfer ones thoughts, without changing its meaning. Of course, other reasons are there too, like coordinated hunting for instance, which was essential to survive but was also about whose idea to follow in order to kill most efficiently. But all of that comes later.

At best, this post itself is likely to be considered a stupendous example for the above mentioned theory. At worst, no harm will be done out of being unknown.

Prevalence

1. Once you know you actually want something badly, you'll eventually get it; if you have the patience to learn to live without yearning for it. The only caveat being - time.
2. As a species, having developed a level of understanding nature/environment better than other creatures, we do not tend to be any bit more forgiving or tolerant of weakness than what our wild and savage cohabitants on earth are. That means there's no mercy when it comes to survival.
3. Too often we end up being blinded because of our expectations. It'll serve us well to actually be cautious of what we want from those who are closest and matter the most. Others will come and go.
4. Good and bad are contextual. Do not go about thinking they are fixed things to be sworn by and sacrificed for - its what will lead to fanaticism.
5. Develop some ideas on the basis of personal ideology and socially acceptable morals to guide your - thoughts, responses & behavior - simply by 'agreeing in principle' to have them.
6. Don't panic if you have't thought about this ever before, most people spend their lifetimes without realizing its missing.
7. If you feel like someone is just coaxing you to do something you don't want to do, just say so! Its alright to be rude once than to hold a grudge for a lifetime.
8. The more reasoning you give describing a problem, the higher the number of solutions people will return!
9. The more reasoning you give for your argument, the lesser the probability of convincing.
10. A familiar character who has achieved a 'perceived success,' either by living in a particular manner or simply by daring to have a means to an end - will most certainly be unacceptable, for no discernible reason, other than some unknown person, who's achieved a greater amount of similar success.
11. Give others a chance to speak and voice their opinion, just like you expect yourself to be heard. As simple and doable as it may seem, very often, we do not even realize how we end up defending a point of view, just for the sake of having said so!
12. There are always, at the very least, two ways of doing. Simple and complex. They are not right or wrong, but are just the way it was meant to be. One is 'get to the point' while the other includes 'how to.'
13. If you ever get thinking about "simple v/s complex" - know for sure that precision and details are inclusive of each other in order to be complete, and are not mutually exclusive.
14. No professional manuals are ever concise. A book of law or medical operational procedure for instance.
15. Always know one thing for certain - its more and then even more! Being satisfied with nothing and feeling empty with everything is simply a matter of choice.
16. There are never any compulsions in life except the ones you create.
17. Superstition is only a manner in which weakness manifests itself in the form of saving grace. It's like an oxymoron - hope against hope, shattering silence etcetera.
18. Superstition is also another one of those tricks designed to maintain differentiation and to enforce limits - without being questioned.
19. If in case there ever exists an entity called God, all powerful, all mighty, all forgiving and what not, he/she/it is certain to have a lot better things to think of and create, than to keep a count of everything everyone does. Certainly not as much and in the manner as the pundits have us believing.
20. In the world of tiny ants, if they could imagine and communicate like we do, would they think of humans as humans think of Gods?
21. In the unlikely event of really getting questioned about the (mis)deeds of having lived in a certain way, how would the decision be made and the judgement passed in an unbiased way, when one man's fight for freedom is another man's terror?
22. Its certainly more fulfilling to ask for forgiveness than to request for a permission.

The first guards of time

Narayana Shastry(1869-1918) A great scholar from erstwhile Madras with a keen interest in learning the truth of the Vedas and scriptures decided to find out, study and transcribe an extensively well researched work on the life of Shankaracharya and the history of the kings of Kaliyug. Having spent 20 years of his life searching, studying and collecting material(evidence) from maTh's(spiritual centers), libraries and other places of archaeological importance, he ended up collecting ~50,000 manuscripts, magazines and book for his personal library. (Ref: page 1 - intro - Age of Sankara.) His research was primarily directed towards establishing accurate chronological order of the dynasties/kings/satraps/jhagir's and forever lay to rest the dispute between western and eastern scholars on the matter of who ruled when, in the Indian subcontinent. He wrote a book of 800 pages in two volumes, detailing the sequence of events of 'All' the kings/major rulers, ascending to and descending from the thrones, since., guess what? 3102 BC! He also established the year of birth of Shankaracharya as 509 BC. Of course, all this was written along with material, circumstantial and archaeological evidence. The volumes could not be published at one go, in those times due to lack of funds and hence it was to be released in eight parts. The first book - The Age of Sankara, was published in 1916. A year later, in 1917, his other book - The kings of Magada, was published. It extensively quoted verses from - Bhavishotter puran aka Kaliyug Rajvrittant. Both these books along with 20 years of written material along with the huge personal library disappeared mysteriously ~8 months after being published! Less than a year after this incident, even Mr. Narayana Sastry died.

Coincidence? I think not!

Eventually, his son, T. N. Kumaraswamy collected some leftover material and published the second episode of 'The Age of Sankara' in 1971 with some additional information. It was printed by B. G. Paul & Company, Madras. In the preface, he directly states "as was originally promised by my father, all the supplements could not be brought to fore. The manuscripts containing all the valuable matter simply vanished, leaving no trace behind."

In the 800 page volumes, 14 chapters and 10 appendixes, there was information along with proof of one of the most contentious issue affecting India and its growth even today. It contained the correct chronology of all the kings of Kashmir.

The race for the worlds biggest bomb

The image below is a screen grab from a documentary I was watching and thought I should share it.

After the WWII ended, the cold war started and so did the arms race, the space race, the race to conquer the oceans, the race for the north and south poles, the race in cartography[accurately mapping out entire ocean surface(sea bed)] on the world, the speed race, so on and so forth., This was obviously between the USA and Russia primarily. As the tensions started initially, entire masses of known as well as unknown countries had to pick a side like kids in a primary school saying - if you talk to X, I wont talk to you!

Anyways, one of the most important races among the ones mentioned above, was the race for owning the loudest bang and the biggest buck - race to build, own and show off the biggest bomb ever built by mankind. The USA had gotten a head start in the race but it was not the one to finish it. Russians ended up building something so huge, that when it was tested in a remote Siberian territory of the vast Russian landmass, the shock-wave generated circled the entire earth three times!

The picture posted below was taken in 1946 when the USA kicked out the 165 islanders of an island called Bikini Atoll situated to the south-west of Hawaii in the Pacific ocean. Very frequently when we see the video of a nuclear explosion, we fail to realize the enormity of the mushroom cloud, the stem and the burst area because there is nothing around to compare it with. That is where this picture come in. If you see closely enough, you will find an entire flotilla of 93 ships used for testing the true effect and power of the atomic explosion and its scale.

The longest ship visible in the snap below is something called a battle-cruiser and is the biggest class of fighting ship with a displacement of 40,000tons and above. This single ship during WWII had 18 BIG guns simultaneously firing shells/bullets which were ~1 meter or more in length and 5.5" thick. The ship must have been easily around 170mts in length. Think how long 170 meters is in terms of the street you live on. And then, look at the stem of the explosion below the mushroom cloud for comparison.