Tagged by Jeevan.

Go here.. and look through random quotes until you find 5 that you think reflect who you are or what you believe. Repost in your journal and tag 5 friends.

Since I am not going to tag anyone, I am including 10 quotes.

You are young, my son, and, as the years go by, time will change and even reverse many of your present opinions. Refrain therefore awhile from setting yourself up as a judge of the highest matters.
Plato (427 BC - 347 BC)

Education... has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading. G. M. Trevelyan (1876 - 1962)

Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

If you live long enough, the venerability factor creeps in; first, you get accused of things you never did, and later, credited for virtues you never had.
I. F. Stone (1907 - 1989)

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'
Ronald Reagan (1911 - 2004)

Men have become the tools of their tools.
Henry David Thoreau

God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.
Voltaire (1694 - 1778)

Is there life before death?
Graffito, in Belfast

If there were no God, there would be no Atheists.
G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

A signature always reveals a man's character - and sometimes even his name.
Evan Esar (1899 - 1995)

Tagged by KK and Sat.

The story so far….

I find myself in a virtual world with Hitler who is set out to straighten the anti-social elements in the real world using  time travel.

Since I am not going to tag anyone this branch of the story will end with my story.

And Now…..

The fuhrer is busy reading H.G.Wells classic trying to gather his inputs for time travel.  I enter the room only to find that he has lost all track of time and was immensely enjoying the battle between the Eloi’s and the Morlock’s.

“Hello…Excuse me…Aren’t we supposed to leave now?” I intercepted.

“Sorry. Give me a minute. What a classic novel.” He closed his book ready for his journey. “Do you know that Books are the ever-burning lamps of accumulated wisdom?”

I was literally taken aback to hear a quotation on books from the great general.

 “huh. Is it”.?

 “You humans will never understand the importance of them. Come let’s go”.

 He took me to a garage and there stood which he described as the time-machine. It resembled like a vimana that Ravana used to abduct sita back in the days of Ramayana.

 “You mean this is going to take us back to the past”?

 “Just hop-in Kid and leave the rest to me. So whom shall we elimintate first. Your choice boy.”

 “Ok. Let’s go back to May 10, 1933. The destination is Berlin, Germany”

 “Ok. Who’s this guy that we need to eliminate?. Was he really dangerous”

 “You will find that out”, I assured him.

 He closed his eyes and murmured something to himself in some cryptic language. The machine started to ascend. A beautiful lady appeared in the monitor in front of me and there was a 5 minute video on wearing seat belts and the safety precautions that needs to be taken care of in case of an emergency landing or if the time machine goes into an out-of-bound loop.

 “What is this wet towel and peanut for”?

 “Oh. Just in case. I read somewhere that a wet towel and peanut is needed for inter galactical travel.”

 I was sure that the he would be in for a real surprise after we land at our destination.

 The sound in the machine was growing loud and it started whirling. I felt dizzy and closed my eyes.

 “Wake up kid.”

 “Are we there? I started remembering everything.

 We saw rows of students marching towards an open ground with bunch of books in their hands.

 “OK sir. You are now in my land. The guy that we are going to eliminate will resemble like you. Under no circumstances should you meet him face to face.” Since I was back in the real world, I started taking control from him.

 “But Why? I would like to meet him.”

 “The shock of coming face to face with oneself will traumatize anyone. They could go into a shock. His heart might stop and will probably drop dead. This would create a time-paradox which would unravel the very fabric of the time-space continuum and destroy the entire universe”. I was glad that I could remember the whole sentence from a famous movie.

 “Ok. Whatever dude. So where are these students going”?

 “You see those books they carry? They are going to burn them”

 “What? Who in the right mind would do that?”

 “The one we are planning to eliminate”.

 “So why do we want this guy to eliminate. Just becos he is burning books? "

 “See. This guy was one of the main reason for the world to witness a brutal war in the 20th century. This is what might happen if we eliminate him.”

 “There would be no world war. Millions of people across the globe will be saved.”

 “There would be no concentration camps for the Jews”.

 “Jews would be happy staying back in Europe. They wouldn’t go back to Asia. There would be no war between Israel and Palestine in the future. People who are staying there will be happy.”

 “There would be no two Germanys”,

 “There would be no cold war”.

 “There would be no arms race”.

 “Ok..Enough..Enough..Stop…I have enough reasons now. So how do we kill him?”

 “Kill him?. Are u nuts. Killing him would create a time-paradox” and I started to give him a lecture on astro mechanical physics.

 “You don’t kill him. You just switch places with him. I have taken care of all the details. You will now make an entrance and act like the general. When the real one comes tell him that he is Charlie-chaplain and have your security guards arrest him. I will take care of the rest. Got it? And one more thing. A guy called Indiana jones, who is looking for some grail, will also come here for your autograph. Just sign it. God Speed and Save the world.”

 “Are you sure this will work?”

“Definetly. This is called the ripple effect. Time travel into the future is always the extrapolation of current events of the immediate present. Just as the present affects the future, the future reverberates back into the past.”

 Looking at the expression at his face I knew that he understood nothing. Every thing would become clear in the future or rather in my past.

 The End.

Who is Vinayaka? In the sloka beginning with the words, Suklaambaradharam Vishnum, only the form of the deity is described. But there is another inner meaning for the name Vinayaka. Suklaambaradharam means one who is clad in white. Vishnum means he is all-pervading. Sasivarnam means his complexion is grey like that of ash. Chathurbhujam means he has four arms. Prasannavadanam means he has always a pleasing mien. Sarvavighnopasaanthaye means for the removal of all obstacles. Dhyaayeth, meditate (on him). Vinayaka is the deity who removes all bad qualities, instills good qualities and confers peace on the devotee who meditates on him.

The Vinayaka-principle, however, has only one meaning, which is relevant to everyone irrespective of whether he is a believer or a non-believer. Vinayaka means that he is totally master of himself. He has no master above him. He does not depend on anyone. He is also called Ganapathi. This term means he is the lord of the ganas - a class of divine entities. This term also means that he is the master of the intellect and discriminating power in man. He possesses great intelligence and knowledge. Such knowledge issues from a pure and sacred mind. This knowledge leads to wisdom (vijnaana). Because he is the master of Buddhi (intelligence) and Siddhi (wisdom or realisation), he is described as the Lord of Buddhi and Siddhi. Buddhi and Siddhi are referred to as the consorts of Vinayka.

The mouse is the vehicle of Vinayaka. What is the inner significance of the mouse? The mouse is considered as the embodiment of the sense of smell. The mouse is a symbol of the attachment to worldly tendencies (vaasanas). It is well known that if you want to catch a mouse, you place a strong-smelling edible inside the mouse-trap. The mouse also symbolises the darkness of night. The mouse can see well in the dark. As Vinayaka's vehicle the mouse signifies an object that leads man from darkness to light. The Vinayaka-principle, thus, means that which removes all the bad qualities, bad practices and bad thoughts in men and inculcates good qualities, good conduct and good thoughts.

Another name for Vinayaka is Vighneswara. Easwara is one who is endowed with every conceivable form of wealth : riches, knowledge, health, bliss, beauty, etc. Vighneswara is the promoter of all these forms of wealth and removes all obstacles to their enjoyment. He confers all these forms of wealth on those who worship him. Vinayaka is described as Prathama Vandana (the first deity who should be worshipped). As everyone in the world desires wealth and prosperity, everyone offers the first place for worship to Vighneswara.

What is the esoteric meaning of Ganesha's elephant head? The elephant is noted for its acute intelligence. Ganesha's elephant head symbolizes sharpness of intellect and the highest power of discrimination.

In a forest, when an elephant moves through the jungle, it clears the way for others to follow. Likewise, by invoking Ganesha, the path is cleared for our undertakings. The elephant's foot is so large that when it moves it can stamp out the footprints of any other animal. Here, again, the symbolic meaning is that all obstacles in the way will be removed when Ganesha is accorded the place of honor. The journey of life is made smoother and happier by the grace of Ganesha.

No worship can succeed unless the heart is pure and the senses are mastered. Ganesha is the God who helps overcome obstacles; but, He will create obstacles when good endeavor is obstructed by bad influences; He will clear the path for the sincere sadhaka. He is Prasannavadanam (of bright countenance), of beneficial looks, when you pray to Him for good ends; but, He will not be that when you seek His help for nefarious stratagems! He is Pranava-Swarupa, the Om personified; so He is auspiciousness itself. 

Vinayaka is a leader for all deities. Faith in Vinayaka should be developed as the exemplar for all deities and He should be worshiped as the embodiment of Divinity.

From Discourses of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

Happy Vinayaga Chathurthi to everyone.

For a moment let’s go back to the 1990’s and imagine that we are living in the US.

The majority of the section in the newspaper was devoted to the CRIME news, then. Any right minded person would have been scared by the increase in the crime trend. Robbery, rape, gunfire and carjacking were common. To make matters worse experts gave their prediction on the crime growth. They had an optimistic and pessimistic scenario. In the optimistic scenario crime was supposed to increase 15% over the next decade and in the pessimistic scenario it would double.

To accentuate the situation, President Bill Clinton in a speech said “We know we’ve got about six years to turn this juvenile crime thing around,  or our country is going to be living with chaos. And my successors will not be giving speeches about the wonderful opportunities of the global economy; they’ll be trying to keep body and soul together for people on the streets of these cities.”

Enter the new millennium. The crime rate instead of rising 100% or even 15% as predicted by the experts, started to fall. By 2000 the murder rate had dropped to its lowest level in 35 years. The experts as usual started praising the growing economy, strict gun control laws, rise in technology and policing strategies.

But none of the above was the true reason for the reduction in crime. It was brought down by a lady called Norma McCorvey.

She had already planted a seed for the crime reduction in the 1970’s without her knowledge. She was a poor, uneducated and unmarried woman who already had two children and found herself pregnant again. Abortion was not legalized then and she filed a case in the Supreme Court. The court ruled in her favor allowing legalized abortion.

It is believed that majority of the criminals come from poor family or in fact by unwanted children of poor, unmarried teenage mothers. With legalized abortion these children or future criminals were never born. This actually was the cause for the decline in crime in the early 2000’s. None of them citied legalized abortion as a cause for crime reduction.

What is described above is the summary of the first chapter in the book that I am currently reading. Freaky Economics or freakonomics.

The fruit in the picture might look like an apple on the outside but it’s an orange on the inside.

The authors also have a blog where they discuss interesting topics. This book is a fun read and discuss interesting ideas on how economics can be used in decision making.

Moral : If you ever think that the work you do is insignificant or menial you are completely wrong. Any small action that we do now could bring a significant change either the next moment or may be the next year or may even take 20 years as it took for Norma McCorvey.

Arjuna wanted to know how Weird I was. Thanks to him I now have the answer!

1)  I am so weird that I had to take the “how weird are you” quiz to find out how weird I was. The score is 50% and the verdict of the quiz.

"Normal enough to know that you're weird...
But too damn weird to do anything about it!"

2)  Something keeps telling me that everything in this world is interconnected. There must be some invisible thread that keeps the world together. My quest in this life is to find that invisible string. This is like finding the right mottai boss in tirupathi.

P.S : I don’t know why finding a needle in a haystack is difficult. Take a big magnet and sweep the haystack and the needle will find you.

3) I dream a lot. In fact I dream so much that I can’t tell the difference between the real world and the dream world. I always wonder why we don’t dream in the dream world and why nothing is real in the real world. Does that mean that everything in the dream world is real and everything in the real world is a dream?

4) Chocolates, Ice creams, sweets and food has never been appealing. I can live with curd rice.

5) Oh God. I can’t even think of a fifth reason as to why I am weird. That’s how weird I am.

There are only a few regular visitors to this blog. I don't want to drive them away by tagging them. So every one is free to go.

Chennai.

The city wore a festive look on this beautiful day. All roads lead to the MAC stadium where the cricket match between India and Australia just started moments ago. Tickets were sold in black market and a separate group was licking their lips in glee and had already started their betting game as to which team would win or which player would score the most number of runs etc. etc. People took off from their schools, colleges and some even their work very early to watch the cricket match. The match was considered an important one by cricketing pundit’s since it was a milestone in Sachin Tendulkar’s career. India already was trailing in this series and they had to win the day’s match to bounce back and maintain some interest in the series.

Millions of people from various parts of India were already glued to their television sets.

Mumbai.

Commotion is a free commodity in three places. The first is a fish market and the second is the stock market. There’s not much difference between a cricket match and a stock market. Both are judged by numbers. There are lots of complex charts, statistics, and indexes. Stocks were sold in black market and betting was no stranger. This day was considered an important day by stock market experts since a major corporation was floating their IPO. The country was witnessing a bear market and they hoped that this IPO would reverse the trend and creates a bull run.  

 Millions of people were glued to the television sets watching the stock prices as the marquee kept rolling at the bottom of the screen.

New Delhi.

The third place where commotion is more prevalent than the first two is the parliament. The Hunch back of Notre dam would have become deaf much sooner if he had served inside the parliament. Here everything was done in black market. The house commenced for the first day of the monsoon session. The hall was getting filled up only to be empty again in a few minutes.

 The Students in the country probably got the idea of mass bunking from their leaders.

Somewhere in the North.

The group had little idea as to what was going on in the country. They did not care about sachin tendulkar or the corporation that was floating the IPO. Their job was to stay put and watch the fence. The group consisted of 3 soldiers, 2 of them aged between 25-30 and one around 45, their leader. The transistor gave them company and churned out old Hindi songs inside their tent. Everything seemed normal. One of the soldier stepped outside to attend nature’s call and as he was returning a bullet whisked past him. Even before he could realize what had happened a second bullet pierced his heart and he fell down with a thud on the snow.

 At the same moment the whole nation went silent. Sachin Tendulkar was clean bowled by Brett Lee for a duck.

 The other soldiers rushed outside and took their positions. They never anticipated this attack. Their country was supposed to be having a peace talk with their neighbors and they had relaxed owing to it. They knew that this was the moment. Do or Die. They realized that they were clearly outnumbered here. There were around 10 of them on the other side. This was the moment where they had to bring out all their expertise and thwart the enemy’s attempt in entering into the country. All that was heard for the next 45 minutes were gun shots.

Next Day.

The newspapers read.

Australia wins the Pepsi Cup.

After being in a comfortable position India lost their way in the end to give Australia their first series win in India. India lost the last 6 wickets for a paltry 45 runs. India needed just 50 runs with 12 overs and 6 wickets remaining when a Brett Lee blitzkrieg routed the home team. He took 5 wickets and was awarded the Man of the Match.

It’s a bull market.

Indian stock market finally turned to start a new trend. Yesterday saw a hike in all the big companies share prices. Economists predict that the new trend would continue for some more time.

Monsoon Session starts on a Stormy Note.

The first day of the monsoon session started off on a stormy note. Following the opposition’s demand for the resignation of the union minister there was commotion in the house. The opposition party finally staged a walk out.

These news were going to be the talk of the nation until something bigger happens.

Some where in the 3rd page of a news paper:

2 Soldiers, 10 militants killed.

2 soldiers and 10 militants were killed in an encounter near the LOC. Heavy gun shelling continued for around 30 minutes when the militants tried to cross the border. Experts say that this is an attempt to hinder the peace talk.

- End -

P:S. This is a work of fiction. This is dedicated to the dear soldiers who brave their lives to keep the country safe. They are the real youth Icon’s.