I have moved!
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Dear Patrons,Finally I have given in to my friends' persistent advice to move my blog to Wordpress. Blogger vs Wordpress debate had been going for too long and I admit that Wordpress surely has many advantages over Blogger. Fortunately I have been able to import all my posts and comments at the new address.
I have moved my personal blog to following URL:
http://www.jasginder.com/blog
Please update your Blogroll and bookmarks (if any!).
Labels: My Life, New address
posted by Jas @ 11:52 PM,
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Down but not dead
Thursday, November 27, 2008
I have seen it all,
from freshness of spring to autumn's fall,
I have seen the blood diamonds shine,
an amputee telling his family that he is all fine.
Cities being raged by bombs and fires,
the elders being charred by burning tires;
kids being shot and operated without anesthesia,
while their mothers prayed in silence for the panacea.
From the religious hatred to blood drenched rains,
from laughter filled school wagon to blood pouring trains.
An innocuous girl fearing men of her own religion,
a granny crying over her kindergarten grandson's loss of vision.
In one house I have seen a brother kill brother,
the next one had no one's son being cared by someone's mother;
for what we see is that just after a violent strife,
you will see in eyes of people, coming back, the spirit of life.
Cities have bled and nations have been strangled,
Respect has been forgone and humanity wrangled;
Everybody thought they could bear no more and for grim reaper they should send,
but each time, I repeat, each time its the spirit of life that has triumphed in end
We have seen it in Delhi and seen in Mumbai all the time,
every such horror brings humanity to its prime.
people come together and forget small clashes,
the spirit of life makes the beaten to rise from ashes.
An elderly man being helped by a policeman at CST terminal in Mumbai after a terrorist had opened fire in the crowd.See the irony, people have been killed after saving killer's life with water,
killer could have paid by leaving that feeder's life, but he didn't have faith in that barter.
When a youngster's mind is trained nothing astute but brainwashed for terror,
they don't understand humanity but dismiss acts of kindness as a silly error.
So lets hold our hands and stand together against terror,
Gloom has come, but doom shall never...
Labels: My Life, Philosophy, Places
posted by Jas @ 11:04 PM,
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Bond between existence and non-existence
Sunday, October 12, 2008
As a kid I used to spend a lot of time on my rooftop. With both parents working, they would wish us goodnight and goto sleep by 10PM and I would sneak to my rooftop. The vastness of the sky would baffle me impregnating my mind with hundreds of unanswered questions. Morning was okay, sky would be blue as in any painting we would make in arts class, but the night would pour it with so many stars and ever changing moon. But it wasnt the beauty of the sky or stars that would catch my attention (though it did lead me to make my own Galilean telescope ), it was the question of existence, of those starts, of the things I could see near me and my own self.
When I would question myself about my self, it would strangely come to nought. I could see my hands and realise if I want I can move it, so thats not me. The one who is thinking is something else, something which is there but maybe doesnt have an existence. Science can answer you how it started and how it formed, but it still cant, and cant even try to answer what was there before the START. There is nothing that is justifiable to answer it.
Its my personal belief that religion doest tell you how to live, but it tries to answer these very questions and assumes an assumption, God. Now we all believe in it, but for all scientific reasons I will quote it as an assumption here. (Apologies to fundamentalists!) It further tells us the right way to live that shall leave us in peace and help lifekind in all.
Rig Veda is an ancient religious text of India, comprising of a collection of Sanskrit Hymns. It is dated as far back as 1500–1000 BCE. One of the most popular hymn, commonly known as the hymn of creation, translates to following text:
In the beginning there was neither existence nor non-existance.
There was no atmosphere, no sky and no realm beyond the sky
What power was there? Where was that power?
Who was that power? Was it finite or infinite?
There was neither death nor immortality.
There was nothing to distinguish night from day.
There was no wind or breath, god alone breathed by his own energy.
In the beginning darkness was swathed in darkness, god was clothed in emptiness
Then fire arose within god; and in the fire arose love.
This was the seed of the soul.
Sages have found this seed within their hearts;
They have discovered that it is the bond between existence and non-existence.
Who really knows what happened? Who can describe it?
How were things produced? Where was creation born?
When the universe was created, the one became many.
Who knows how this occurred?
Did creation happen at God’s command, or did it happen without his command.
He looks down upon the creation from the highest heaven.
Only he knows the answer – or perhaps he does not know.
That is it! As you read the verse you can still experience the wonder they must have felt. It doesnt teach you what went in outset of world. If there is a god or heaven or hell. I have pulled these from Archna's blog , and she rightly is fascinated about the humility expressed in the verse. She writes, "Unlike most later religious texts which claim to know all the answers, here is a poem which is humble enough to acknowledge its ignorance. Vedic age is considered by many one of the golden ages of science in India. I feel, maybe it is this ability to acknowledge the fact that we do not have all the answers and search for them led to such great scientific progress. Isn’t it the true spirit of science?"
I couldnt agree any more! There are things which we will never know, and can only contemplate...
Labels: Experiences, My Life, Philosophy
posted by Jas @ 4:18 PM,
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Where did August go?!
Monday, September 01, 2008
Am back! Its Sep the 14th and last post was on 1st of June! Boy that is a long long time by any yardstick when it comes to blogging. Lets see what all has gone through all this while.
I had to go on a business trip to US for six weeks and that has been quite a hectic tour. It was interesting to see the other facet of ITES industry. Coming from a product company ( I used to work for Adobe prior to graduating in management from FMS) it has been a complicated trip with mixed feelings. One gets to work on implementation side a lot, gets to know the best in class if one is attentive enough and also knows how high end bargaining of resources and their billing hours work. But what one misses is a crucial though process of innovation and building. In product companies, nobody tells you the exact scope of the project as that is where you define the scope. I remember how the features we were building upon used to change often as customer updates and technical possibilities would have us define and redefine the scope. With services it comes to define and redefine what can be dealt out in given funding! But as they say, every face has its own beauty.
When you are in a foreign land, you get introduced to some really fresh traditions and festivals. During my visit to US I got a chance to be part of a 'Baby Shower'; something which I always thought was a all ladies event. For the incognizants, by convention, a baby shower is intended to help parents get items that they need for their baby, such as baby clothes. It is common for the host to provide baby-themed games during the shower. So as a native was telling me in party that how it was celebrated only for first child earlier but now is a more general event, one of our senior System Analyst came with the games. Everyone was to guess the exact size of the expectant mother's waist using a string. Then there was another where we had to guess the exact date of birth of child and the weight. Now hold on, this wasnt going any better for me. Had I flirted in my college life (any of the two!), I could have made a worthy guess, but I couldnt be any closer to cutting the string right as of her waist! So I took it that she was married for two years, must have been on cheese diet (as any other Arizonian), and was due for delivery in another two months so she should be one 'big' lady! Well the female readers would have guessed it by now - my string was way more than her waist. No doubt she did not appreciate it that how fat I thought she was, given the fact that I work as Sr. Business Analyst. (So accurate an analysis!)And not to forget the baby's size, weight and all. I really felt like calling my mom to ask how heavy I was when I was born but then left the idea. I was always told that I was heaviest of the lot that was in hospital in those days and my childhood pics only confirm to my chubbiness in that time. And heck I dont know when will my bread come out of the toaster, how can I tell when a baby will come out! Strange ways life tells you that you still dont know anything!
And the early Sep was spent well in marrige of my best friend who has been more of a brother than a friend. I have never felt so responsible in my life, I had to make sure that all his friends did not feel left out at the function, were catered to well, danced, laughed and aptly farewelled. Marrige, as has been my experience, is the time when your relatives gaguge how valued they are in your life. If you miss them out, you mess yourself in. Anyhow the wedding was good thought I had to miss out on food part due to time constraints, and could come back to Hyderabad with just a box of sweets.
Labels: My Life
posted by Jas @ 8:12 PM,
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