Pretty balanced view on Nepal's position with its neighbors:
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Economist's blog: Yam Yesterday, Yam Today
Thursday, July 17, 2008
The message behind MSN's Instant Message (IM) Status!
No doubt, nowadays, MSN's personal status has become very common to express what we are thinking at the moment. Although MSN's status has common messages, easy to select like "busy", "out to lunch", people usually prefer to have their own status. I believe, people like to keep a unique message to get others' attention or express one's feeling through such indirect means. Some succeed to get attention while some fail. Some find it noteworthy and respond to it while some ignore it. Many times, I came across to some messages in the status that has been unique to me which I find it something worth to discuss.
It was sometime ago when I logged into my MSN, my friend popped "online" with a message "world without strangers!". Though I preferred not to pay much attention to these MSN status, I could not help myself thinking for quite a moment about the world without strangers. It was already late for office that day and I had to finish some job which was pending for quite some time but that message made me helplessly roaming into the world. I shrugged myself and ended it when I felt myself as a complete stranger. In an instance, I had imagined the world without me as well. I had spent quite some time thinking why he had kept that stupid message that ruined my precious morning time. Also for a while, I had also thought, better would have been, if the message was "World with strangers". May be that was too common that he didn't like it.
I usually keep off all the alerts so as not to distract me from my work. But these MSN status when they are unique and eye catching, I can't keep myself aloof.
It was my status "dheba dunsa naymakhanpi mahangar basi" (it is in newari language with the meaning "Even though people have money, they are not able to arrange their food"). It was not my creation; I had copied it from www.mysansar.com's coverage on the scarcity of food and other essential commodities during political crisis in Kathmandu. It was written in some banners kept in some vantage points at Ason, Kathmandu. I thought it was worth to keep that message as it was expressing how the people living in Kathmandu were going through. Probably it was unique for me and I had liked it to keep it as well. This was the message which got so much of responses that I ever got from the day I logged on to MSN. Some friends were asking what that message was. It was in roman alphabet and all could read it but only a newar would understand it. I was busy replying all the responses to have a look at www.mysansar.com. And it was the moment that I probably would never forget, when I got a response from someone who rarely chats. From the way she wrote, I could hear her laughter aloud and the aching, she had, reading the message again and again. Before that moment, I didn't know that a status in MSN could be so powerful that would bring people so close for a moment no matter how they were apart.
"Sky has no limit". It was the message that one of my good friends had kept. She had that status for quite some time. Surely it was a unique message and I found it quite decent one. Reading the message, I asked myself why sky had had not a limit. Probably it was the time when I was empty handed. Probably it was because "Empty mind is devil's workshop!", I rewrote the message and ended with "Even sky has a limit". Now it has completely different message and of course, a unique in itself. This message became my favorite message in the MSN status for quite some time.
"Time only seems to matter when it is running out". It was the message of one of my good friends. If I remembered it correctly she had kept this message since she stepped in US. It has been probably more than 10 years but still the message looks quite young and unique. I never felt it hackneyed enough and she never changed it either. Interestingly, she still has that message in her personal status in MSN.
I will post it again, if I come across any unique MSN status! Also watch out! I am watching your MSN status too! Till then have a good time!
It was sometime ago when I logged into my MSN, my friend popped "online" with a message "world without strangers!". Though I preferred not to pay much attention to these MSN status, I could not help myself thinking for quite a moment about the world without strangers. It was already late for office that day and I had to finish some job which was pending for quite some time but that message made me helplessly roaming into the world. I shrugged myself and ended it when I felt myself as a complete stranger. In an instance, I had imagined the world without me as well. I had spent quite some time thinking why he had kept that stupid message that ruined my precious morning time. Also for a while, I had also thought, better would have been, if the message was "World with strangers". May be that was too common that he didn't like it.
I usually keep off all the alerts so as not to distract me from my work. But these MSN status when they are unique and eye catching, I can't keep myself aloof.
It was my status "dheba dunsa naymakhanpi mahangar basi" (it is in newari language with the meaning "Even though people have money, they are not able to arrange their food"). It was not my creation; I had copied it from www.mysansar.com's coverage on the scarcity of food and other essential commodities during political crisis in Kathmandu. It was written in some banners kept in some vantage points at Ason, Kathmandu. I thought it was worth to keep that message as it was expressing how the people living in Kathmandu were going through. Probably it was unique for me and I had liked it to keep it as well. This was the message which got so much of responses that I ever got from the day I logged on to MSN. Some friends were asking what that message was. It was in roman alphabet and all could read it but only a newar would understand it. I was busy replying all the responses to have a look at www.mysansar.com. And it was the moment that I probably would never forget, when I got a response from someone who rarely chats. From the way she wrote, I could hear her laughter aloud and the aching, she had, reading the message again and again. Before that moment, I didn't know that a status in MSN could be so powerful that would bring people so close for a moment no matter how they were apart.
"Sky has no limit". It was the message that one of my good friends had kept. She had that status for quite some time. Surely it was a unique message and I found it quite decent one. Reading the message, I asked myself why sky had had not a limit. Probably it was the time when I was empty handed. Probably it was because "Empty mind is devil's workshop!", I rewrote the message and ended with "Even sky has a limit". Now it has completely different message and of course, a unique in itself. This message became my favorite message in the MSN status for quite some time.
"Time only seems to matter when it is running out". It was the message of one of my good friends. If I remembered it correctly she had kept this message since she stepped in US. It has been probably more than 10 years but still the message looks quite young and unique. I never felt it hackneyed enough and she never changed it either. Interestingly, she still has that message in her personal status in MSN.
I will post it again, if I come across any unique MSN status! Also watch out! I am watching your MSN status too! Till then have a good time!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Ni hao Shanghai ...
It was my first visit to Shanghai, a city of a country in transition but comparable to the cities in the developed country. I was able to take out time off despite the busy schedule in the workshop that I had to attend. On the 3rd day (4 June 2008), the final day of the workshop, it was signed off by a farewell party which was hosted in the honour of Japanese delegates in an exclusive Japanese Restaurant in a newly built Shopping Complex along the Handan Road. For me, it was like recalling once again the moments that I had spent in Tsukuba with varieties of Japanese delicatessen served by a chef standing and serving to us. Especially, I liked the "wasabe" with "sussie". It was a raw fish eaten with green vegetable paste of "wasabe". The first time I had tried that in a restaurant in Tsukuba. I was helpless holding my breath for a while. I had felt that a strong smell inside my mouth was spreading all over my head trying to escape from what ever the shortest exit available on the way. I had felt that the strong smell was coming out of my nose, ears and eyes, and my eyes had watered for a while as if I was crying. But I had liked its taste. Same way I tried to experience the enigma of the "wasabe" this time in Shanghai. Despite being "wasabe" it was not that strong. I tried over and over but could not get the strong result as I had it before. I wondered if that was a Chinese "wasabe" or possibly I could have adapted to its strong taste.
At the end of the dinner, we had planned to go shopping and walking along the Nanjing Road - the popular walking street in the Shanghai. Shang, a chinese lady, in our group had her home on the way to the walking street. So, she was ready to accompany us. Shang was in her early twenties and just completed her undergraduate from a Chinese University. It was fortunate for us that she had a beautiful english and she was proactive and intelligent too. She was a student in International Politics in US-China Relationship and possessed a good attitude towards living up a life. Probably these were the reasons, she became closer to us in a short time. In no time, we became familiar with Shanghai city and its characteristics through her. We learnt the landscapes of the city, chinese lifestyle, one child policy, government protection of landownership, corruption etc. Probably we
would not have learnt these, if there was someone else in her place. As soon as we had entered the Nanjing Road walking street, we had lost ourselves for a while in the magic of the lights all around beautifully decorating the european styled buildings. The place was full of tourists, sightseeing trains honking its horn, roadside hawkers making their boon, huge billboards displaying multinational product advertisements and welcome sign for Beijing Olympic 2008 as well as for Shanghai International Trade Festival 2010 were some of the attractions that surely will stupefy anyone walking the street.
We ended up our adventure at Tian Xing Di Square. We had a green iced tea at Starbuck Coffee shop, took some pictures for our memory and kept on talking all sort of current affairs. Surely it was like a meeting among the international delegates from 4 member countries (Chinese, Thailand, Vietnam and of course, Nepal). Some of the topics we discussed (but didn't minute it) were about education, communism and religion in China. We had learnt that the Chinese people were realizing that the belief in god and following religion would simplify their effort on solving social problems. It was 
already 2 AM in the morning when we finally felt that we should leave.
The next day, 5 June 2008, we went to Yu yawn Garden. The garden was an age old collection of buildings at the time of Ming Dynasty. On the way to the garden, as I was exploring some of the shops on the walking street towards the Yu yawn garden, suddenly from no where, I was approached by 4 students from Beijing University Faculty of Fine Arts. For the first instance, I was a little hesitant to reply their question who I was and what was my profession. But they didn't mind my hesitation rather made me quite comfortable with their non-stop talking in English, explaining why they were there in Yu garden walking street. I thought like they were not fine arts students rather international marketing or business. These students were apparently having a painting exhibition from their university in Shanghai as a part of their academic exercise and the day was their last day. They were asking me to visit their painting exhibition. They also said that it was just on the side of Yu Yawn garden entrance. So, I went with them talking friendlier than before. They were quite happy to get at least someone who had shown interest in their exhibition.
The paintings were surely good ones. The team leader, Frank, as he had signed on one of his painting, was showing me all paintings one by one. At the end, I was asked to sign in their guest book. Probably this would earn them credit. I was quite thrilled to learn the stories behind every painting. I was not an artist but the way Frank told me the stories behind each painting, I kept on watching for some time and tried to trace the story in each of the paintings. But I was not allowed to take pictures as they were afraid their painting might be copied. At the end, he was showing some of his paintings and was quite jubilant in explaining how he came up with it. It was a simply a bamboo stick with snow on each of the leaves branching out from the stem of the bamboo. The bamboo was thicker one and there was another painting with similar nature but the stick was thinner. As he had explained, the painting would show, how a person would build up his/her career step by step with boldness in each part of one's life. There would be sorrow in every step but still one would need to stand boldly. The thicker stick was a symbol for the boldness; every node of the bamboo was steps in life; the stem between each node was part of life and the snow lying on the leaves were sorrow that one would have to face in one's life. I was quite thrilled and touched by the way he had explained and kept on looking at the painting if it would really depict such story. I could not figure it out but I thought I should contribute for their effort and I wished to buy the painting. It was really costly. I had not bought such costly painting ever in my life. With the several happy lines appearing in his and his friends' forehead, I was happy that I had contributed to a cause, no matter it was real or not. I asked him to sign at its back as that would be more valuable for me rather than the painting alone. He happily signed it in both English as well as in Chinese.
At the end of the dinner, we had planned to go shopping and walking along the Nanjing Road - the popular walking street in the Shanghai. Shang, a chinese lady, in our group had her home on the way to the walking street. So, she was ready to accompany us. Shang was in her early twenties and just completed her undergraduate from a Chinese University. It was fortunate for us that she had a beautiful english and she was proactive and intelligent too. She was a student in International Politics in US-China Relationship and possessed a good attitude towards living up a life. Probably these were the reasons, she became closer to us in a short time. In no time, we became familiar with Shanghai city and its characteristics through her. We learnt the landscapes of the city, chinese lifestyle, one child policy, government protection of landownership, corruption etc. Probably we
would not have learnt these, if there was someone else in her place. As soon as we had entered the Nanjing Road walking street, we had lost ourselves for a while in the magic of the lights all around beautifully decorating the european styled buildings. The place was full of tourists, sightseeing trains honking its horn, roadside hawkers making their boon, huge billboards displaying multinational product advertisements and welcome sign for Beijing Olympic 2008 as well as for Shanghai International Trade Festival 2010 were some of the attractions that surely will stupefy anyone walking the street.
We ended up our adventure at Tian Xing Di Square. We had a green iced tea at Starbuck Coffee shop, took some pictures for our memory and kept on talking all sort of current affairs. Surely it was like a meeting among the international delegates from 4 member countries (Chinese, Thailand, Vietnam and of course, Nepal). Some of the topics we discussed (but didn't minute it) were about education, communism and religion in China. We had learnt that the Chinese people were realizing that the belief in god and following religion would simplify their effort on solving social problems. It was 
already 2 AM in the morning when we finally felt that we should leave.The next day, 5 June 2008, we went to Yu yawn Garden. The garden was an age old collection of buildings at the time of Ming Dynasty. On the way to the garden, as I was exploring some of the shops on the walking street towards the Yu yawn garden, suddenly from no where, I was approached by 4 students from Beijing University Faculty of Fine Arts. For the first instance, I was a little hesitant to reply their question who I was and what was my profession. But they didn't mind my hesitation rather made me quite comfortable with their non-stop talking in English, explaining why they were there in Yu garden walking street. I thought like they were not fine arts students rather international marketing or business. These students were apparently having a painting exhibition from their university in Shanghai as a part of their academic exercise and the day was their last day. They were asking me to visit their painting exhibition. They also said that it was just on the side of Yu Yawn garden entrance. So, I went with them talking friendlier than before. They were quite happy to get at least someone who had shown interest in their exhibition.
The paintings were surely good ones. The team leader, Frank, as he had signed on one of his painting, was showing me all paintings one by one. At the end, I was asked to sign in their guest book. Probably this would earn them credit. I was quite thrilled to learn the stories behind every painting. I was not an artist but the way Frank told me the stories behind each painting, I kept on watching for some time and tried to trace the story in each of the paintings. But I was not allowed to take pictures as they were afraid their painting might be copied. At the end, he was showing some of his paintings and was quite jubilant in explaining how he came up with it. It was a simply a bamboo stick with snow on each of the leaves branching out from the stem of the bamboo. The bamboo was thicker one and there was another painting with similar nature but the stick was thinner. As he had explained, the painting would show, how a person would build up his/her career step by step with boldness in each part of one's life. There would be sorrow in every step but still one would need to stand boldly. The thicker stick was a symbol for the boldness; every node of the bamboo was steps in life; the stem between each node was part of life and the snow lying on the leaves were sorrow that one would have to face in one's life. I was quite thrilled and touched by the way he had explained and kept on looking at the painting if it would really depict such story. I could not figure it out but I thought I should contribute for their effort and I wished to buy the painting. It was really costly. I had not bought such costly painting ever in my life. With the several happy lines appearing in his and his friends' forehead, I was happy that I had contributed to a cause, no matter it was real or not. I asked him to sign at its back as that would be more valuable for me rather than the painting alone. He happily signed it in both English as well as in Chinese.
Behaviour of people largely originates from their background!
I was about to abandon this theory but I was happy I didn't. There is an age old hypothesis that the behaviour of people reflects their background, lifestyle etc. I was quite curious to know about this and over the time period, I tried to understand myself and tried my best to practise myself to null this hypothesis. Of course, I do not need to have any statistics here to prove that I have nearly done it. But as I have mentioned it before, that hypothesis still holds true. However, in my experience, the hypothesis might fail for a short term but it would hold true for long term. No matter how the person raises his/her education, how the person experiences changes in his/her lifestyle (which may be due to living in different society), if the person tries to behave different than the normal then it is no other than brushing the matter. And this brushing will always give a look as if it is his/her real behaviour. Here, I am not trying to advocate a good or bad behaviour. But it is rational that a person will always want to show his/her good behaviour except in few cases which are not subjects of this discussion.
I am being brought up into such a family that rarely interacts with another world though having a sea of relatives within it. I used to think that I could change over the period of time with my development in the thoughts, of course to be overridden by the anxiety to have those changes in my behaviour, along with the raises in my education, social values and norms and understanding behavioural society. Here, I am not trying to say bad or good changes and also I may be ignoring several other drivers here. I would like to excuse for these as I am not a socialist and understanding these is really difficult for my little mind. I must admit that I have changed a lot from the time when I have been able to think independently. Over the period of time, I tried my best to interact with others with a behaviour different than my original. I had tried my best to act differently so as the other person would not take it otherwise. I had tried my best to be conscious about others' need rather than mine so as the other one would not take it otherwise. I had tried my best to behave like a gentle man (though I was not) so that the other person would take me as a gentle person. Ironically, these were reciprocated in the same manner. But these usually lasted for a short term. In the longer term, probably there are some other drivers that I could not understand properly, affect it and these actions usually have a peak. Probably this is the reason that a person in a short term always looks good but in longer term always ends up peaking high. One may argue it is not always and probably it is not true for some serious relationship. I am not discussing about any serious relationship here and this discussion probably needs to be read for a relationship in general.
What would affect such a peak? Probably this is something that requires more scrutinizing. But in my experiences,it is the background how he/she has been brought up. The rate at which one reduces his/her anxiety to interact during every step in the life probably reduces him/her from the brushing. But to one's dismay, the higher the anxiety reaches, the higher the result would reverse. At this point, probably one can see him/her displaying an act that belongs to his/her background. Probably, he/she would not be able to realize it with the anxiety reaching at peak. Rather one needs to reduce his/her anxiety from the peak in order to realize it and if his/her anxiety starts declining, then it would not take much time for him/her to realize it.
Comments are welcome!
I am being brought up into such a family that rarely interacts with another world though having a sea of relatives within it. I used to think that I could change over the period of time with my development in the thoughts, of course to be overridden by the anxiety to have those changes in my behaviour, along with the raises in my education, social values and norms and understanding behavioural society. Here, I am not trying to say bad or good changes and also I may be ignoring several other drivers here. I would like to excuse for these as I am not a socialist and understanding these is really difficult for my little mind. I must admit that I have changed a lot from the time when I have been able to think independently. Over the period of time, I tried my best to interact with others with a behaviour different than my original. I had tried my best to act differently so as the other person would not take it otherwise. I had tried my best to be conscious about others' need rather than mine so as the other one would not take it otherwise. I had tried my best to behave like a gentle man (though I was not) so that the other person would take me as a gentle person. Ironically, these were reciprocated in the same manner. But these usually lasted for a short term. In the longer term, probably there are some other drivers that I could not understand properly, affect it and these actions usually have a peak. Probably this is the reason that a person in a short term always looks good but in longer term always ends up peaking high. One may argue it is not always and probably it is not true for some serious relationship. I am not discussing about any serious relationship here and this discussion probably needs to be read for a relationship in general.
What would affect such a peak? Probably this is something that requires more scrutinizing. But in my experiences,it is the background how he/she has been brought up. The rate at which one reduces his/her anxiety to interact during every step in the life probably reduces him/her from the brushing. But to one's dismay, the higher the anxiety reaches, the higher the result would reverse. At this point, probably one can see him/her displaying an act that belongs to his/her background. Probably, he/she would not be able to realize it with the anxiety reaching at peak. Rather one needs to reduce his/her anxiety from the peak in order to realize it and if his/her anxiety starts declining, then it would not take much time for him/her to realize it.
Comments are welcome!
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Is this world a real?
The world that we see, we feel, we think...is this real? No doubt, you would surely ponder on this question if you had watched the movie called "Matrix". I had watched it a long time back probably in 2002/03. I had enjoyed so much watching the movie that I repeatedly watched it for at least 3 times. I had tried my best to understand the real sense it meant during the repetition rather than enjoying the film. No doubt, it was a science fiction movie with full of animations. Probably for the first time, it had showed the animated slow motion of a bullet hitting a target. I saw such animation in several other movies later. In the movie, in several instances, it had mentioned that we had been brought up with an understanding about our surroundings such as physical structures for e.g., a wall was a solid structure, impenetrable; a fire that might burn when one would touch it; one would need an immense power to alter a solid structure; one might fall from a height because of mysterious power of gravity that the Earth possessed;. Here, I am not trying to challenge Newton's finding rather tried to raise eyebrows on the issue! You will understand what I mean once you browse the following section.
We humans are so smart and so intelligent that we can imagine the things, visualize those things even when we are given just a picture/concept of these! We are so intelligent and possess a natural power that we can accurately imagine it; for e.g., if it is a picture of place or city, we can locate it easily with the help of a map. Of course, one can easily browse through the map and come to the right location one wants using the map. Now if I say a map is a part of a program where we are asked to play a role of characters that are allowed to follow the program. Obviously, if we do not follow the program, then either we will not find the place or we would be given a penalty which may sometimes lead to an accident. For e.g., what if one tries to violate the rule of the program by flying/jumping from one building to another! It is obvious that it will result to non other than a fatal accident as normally we find ‘a fatal error’ when we violate rules of a program.
Back to the movie "Matrix" - if we carefully watch the movie, it has introduced a character called "Oracle" and it has introduced it as someone (here also I have difficulty to use proper word for such character with the present world I am programmed for) who knows about future and clearly, it has tried to give a message that there is always an option before the Future starts and the Future depends upon which course of action one wants to take. I must say, the movie has chosen an appropriate name for the character as we know "Oracle" is a name of very powerful software developed for database management. The main character in the movie starts playing with the program and gets the help from 'Oracle' in order to decode the Future in the program called the 'World'. In the movie it has tried to show that the world that we are in is nothing but merely a programmed world.
Now forget about how we were brought up and keep ourselves completely aside - imagine that we are out of this world and start watching what is happening in this world. I feel that the world is merely a thing that IT geeks usually would like to call it as a program and it is given a name "The World". The question who has programmed it, who are the mastermind behind it? The answer to which is still a subject of a research. First are you ready to accept it that the world you are living is not real but a program? Do you believe, if I say you are programmed in such a way that you are required to believe that this world is real. From the day you took your birth, you have been given enough notions that how the world would look like as you are taught how to talk, how to communicate the words. Your mind is filled up with so many components of this world that, you will take the components as granted and probably you never felt if that was true or not. Probably you are taught in such a way that you may never wonder if you belong to this world or another and you will never escape out of it. Whatever you try, wherever you go, however you do, you are in a program of which somebody else has a remote control. Now who is that fellow with a remote control? Probably this is a question that is tried by many religions on their own versions which now and then is a readily debatable issue.
If you go through several historic literatures (I don't know should I state these as literatures!) for e.g., Mahabharat you would learn that there is a mysterious but dubious character Krishna, about whom there are several myths. In certain parts, we were reminded in many instances that the character possessed a superpower enough to reprogram the whole story if he wanted. In many instances of Mahabharat, the Krishna had kept on reminding the other characters that the happenings which were already programmed, one would not be able to alter, no matter what. Further, the happenings were meant for some reasons, which were already programmed. 'The Geeta' with which, the Krishna had persuaded the Arjun for the war in the Kuruchettra in the Mahabharat was a good example. 'The Geeta' he was referring to, what in the modern world, we might call it non other than a program! I know one can easily debate this argument!
Sometimes, we say, things are not in our control. Something other than what we have planned, happens. Now the question is, how could this happen? We call ourselves as the most intelligent creature in the Earth, then why we cannot plan and make the things happen as per the plan. That means, we are just trying to mess up with something which is already programmed by someone else (I am not trying to point it here as human as I don't know how to address here because of the program I am in). We are so proud to have so many human inventions but if one looks back, then we find that inventions like 'Pushpak Biman' a flying machine is used so many ages back. If such machines were already there in ages, in history, why we were having it after so many years again. Is not this something like a program where you are required to follow the Time for any such inventions. I know we are programmed to understand by heart “Time does not wait”. We usually see it happen in 'video games', where we earn something after we complete certain stages. If this is not the case then, with the World's full of intelligent creatures, why we are required to wait for a 'Time' for such invention. If we as, a normal human being, know only the Present and live in the Present, then why there is the Future and also why the 'Past' exists? Why we are made to understand the Past as a time that we have spent and why we are required to memorize by heart that the Future is a time that is yet to come. Why we always get excited to know about future even though we don't know whether so called the Future exists.
Now one would be wondering then who we are and in real, how would we look like. This is a very important question that a mankind has been researching for quite a long time. I am not sure but I believe the enlightened people, to name a few, the Buddha, Rajanis, Jesus, might know an answer to this. But the movie has ironically simplified the complicated description of a mankind by comparing it with batteries. Discharging and recharging process of a mankind is compared with the processes done in the batteries. It has tried to show that the mankind is an energy that requires charging and when it gets discharged, it is required to be recharged. Here, I am failed to understand the correct explanation about the origination of the charge. Two ways: probably it is either the sun that keeps charging the man-kind or every mankind has a constant charge which either gets discharged or recharged with our activities and the addition of charge mainly comes from energy possessed by other man-kind. So, in the program (I am here referring to the program outside of the 'World'), man-kind possess a strategic balance of energy among themselves and they neither gets created neither gets destroyed. This has nothing to do with the current world which is a program.
Let us argue it with happiness that a human always runs after. The definition of the happiness is different for different people. People at different stages of life would explain happiness differently. I strongly believe that unless and until we do not understand who we are, we may not know what the happiness is. The happiness one would define without awareness, probably, would be a false definition. If this is not the case, then why the meaning of happiness differs widely among us, why even for same human, it has so many definitions during its period of life. I strongly believe that the simple answer to this is because one passes different stages during his life. The different stages of life have different values, responsibilities, norms and one would learn these as he reaches to these stages. The happiness one would have expected might not be the one when one reaches to other stages of life. Now you would be wondering why I am talking about happiness here and how this is linked to the World here. I believe that the true happiness for a human has nothing to do with the programmed World. But the World has programmed so many magic components that we find ourselves running after the false happiness every now and then. Such happiness usually is based on the physical achievement of the components that the programmed world has. One would find that the happiness he has successfully achieved in true sense apparently starts diminishing its glow after it is achieved. If this is not the case, then why a human is not content from what it has. Rather why a human always runs after the happiness. Probably because we are in the programmed world and we take its programmed offer to fulfill our quench for happiness but ultimately we realize it to be non-other than a hoax when we achieve it. I argue here that it is because the offer we took in the World is not a real one but appears to be a programmed one.
Here, I have tried to raise this issue and I know that one can easily debate on it as these issues are argued without any evidences. But being in this programmed world, even though if there are any evidences, then how one can say those are true since one is living inside this programmed world. But before debating or commenting on this issue, it would be highly beneficial if one can try to free oneself entirely from the World and try to think as a human-being in the region outside of this programmed world. If this is not the case, then there is ample space that one can easily doubt your comment/debate as you are debating being a part of this programmed world! Think about it!
We humans are so smart and so intelligent that we can imagine the things, visualize those things even when we are given just a picture/concept of these! We are so intelligent and possess a natural power that we can accurately imagine it; for e.g., if it is a picture of place or city, we can locate it easily with the help of a map. Of course, one can easily browse through the map and come to the right location one wants using the map. Now if I say a map is a part of a program where we are asked to play a role of characters that are allowed to follow the program. Obviously, if we do not follow the program, then either we will not find the place or we would be given a penalty which may sometimes lead to an accident. For e.g., what if one tries to violate the rule of the program by flying/jumping from one building to another! It is obvious that it will result to non other than a fatal accident as normally we find ‘a fatal error’ when we violate rules of a program.
Back to the movie "Matrix" - if we carefully watch the movie, it has introduced a character called "Oracle" and it has introduced it as someone (here also I have difficulty to use proper word for such character with the present world I am programmed for) who knows about future and clearly, it has tried to give a message that there is always an option before the Future starts and the Future depends upon which course of action one wants to take. I must say, the movie has chosen an appropriate name for the character as we know "Oracle" is a name of very powerful software developed for database management. The main character in the movie starts playing with the program and gets the help from 'Oracle' in order to decode the Future in the program called the 'World'. In the movie it has tried to show that the world that we are in is nothing but merely a programmed world.
Now forget about how we were brought up and keep ourselves completely aside - imagine that we are out of this world and start watching what is happening in this world. I feel that the world is merely a thing that IT geeks usually would like to call it as a program and it is given a name "The World". The question who has programmed it, who are the mastermind behind it? The answer to which is still a subject of a research. First are you ready to accept it that the world you are living is not real but a program? Do you believe, if I say you are programmed in such a way that you are required to believe that this world is real. From the day you took your birth, you have been given enough notions that how the world would look like as you are taught how to talk, how to communicate the words. Your mind is filled up with so many components of this world that, you will take the components as granted and probably you never felt if that was true or not. Probably you are taught in such a way that you may never wonder if you belong to this world or another and you will never escape out of it. Whatever you try, wherever you go, however you do, you are in a program of which somebody else has a remote control. Now who is that fellow with a remote control? Probably this is a question that is tried by many religions on their own versions which now and then is a readily debatable issue.
If you go through several historic literatures (I don't know should I state these as literatures!) for e.g., Mahabharat you would learn that there is a mysterious but dubious character Krishna, about whom there are several myths. In certain parts, we were reminded in many instances that the character possessed a superpower enough to reprogram the whole story if he wanted. In many instances of Mahabharat, the Krishna had kept on reminding the other characters that the happenings which were already programmed, one would not be able to alter, no matter what. Further, the happenings were meant for some reasons, which were already programmed. 'The Geeta' with which, the Krishna had persuaded the Arjun for the war in the Kuruchettra in the Mahabharat was a good example. 'The Geeta' he was referring to, what in the modern world, we might call it non other than a program! I know one can easily debate this argument!
Sometimes, we say, things are not in our control. Something other than what we have planned, happens. Now the question is, how could this happen? We call ourselves as the most intelligent creature in the Earth, then why we cannot plan and make the things happen as per the plan. That means, we are just trying to mess up with something which is already programmed by someone else (I am not trying to point it here as human as I don't know how to address here because of the program I am in). We are so proud to have so many human inventions but if one looks back, then we find that inventions like 'Pushpak Biman' a flying machine is used so many ages back. If such machines were already there in ages, in history, why we were having it after so many years again. Is not this something like a program where you are required to follow the Time for any such inventions. I know we are programmed to understand by heart “Time does not wait”. We usually see it happen in 'video games', where we earn something after we complete certain stages. If this is not the case then, with the World's full of intelligent creatures, why we are required to wait for a 'Time' for such invention. If we as, a normal human being, know only the Present and live in the Present, then why there is the Future and also why the 'Past' exists? Why we are made to understand the Past as a time that we have spent and why we are required to memorize by heart that the Future is a time that is yet to come. Why we always get excited to know about future even though we don't know whether so called the Future exists.
Now one would be wondering then who we are and in real, how would we look like. This is a very important question that a mankind has been researching for quite a long time. I am not sure but I believe the enlightened people, to name a few, the Buddha, Rajanis, Jesus, might know an answer to this. But the movie has ironically simplified the complicated description of a mankind by comparing it with batteries. Discharging and recharging process of a mankind is compared with the processes done in the batteries. It has tried to show that the mankind is an energy that requires charging and when it gets discharged, it is required to be recharged. Here, I am failed to understand the correct explanation about the origination of the charge. Two ways: probably it is either the sun that keeps charging the man-kind or every mankind has a constant charge which either gets discharged or recharged with our activities and the addition of charge mainly comes from energy possessed by other man-kind. So, in the program (I am here referring to the program outside of the 'World'), man-kind possess a strategic balance of energy among themselves and they neither gets created neither gets destroyed. This has nothing to do with the current world which is a program.
Let us argue it with happiness that a human always runs after. The definition of the happiness is different for different people. People at different stages of life would explain happiness differently. I strongly believe that unless and until we do not understand who we are, we may not know what the happiness is. The happiness one would define without awareness, probably, would be a false definition. If this is not the case, then why the meaning of happiness differs widely among us, why even for same human, it has so many definitions during its period of life. I strongly believe that the simple answer to this is because one passes different stages during his life. The different stages of life have different values, responsibilities, norms and one would learn these as he reaches to these stages. The happiness one would have expected might not be the one when one reaches to other stages of life. Now you would be wondering why I am talking about happiness here and how this is linked to the World here. I believe that the true happiness for a human has nothing to do with the programmed World. But the World has programmed so many magic components that we find ourselves running after the false happiness every now and then. Such happiness usually is based on the physical achievement of the components that the programmed world has. One would find that the happiness he has successfully achieved in true sense apparently starts diminishing its glow after it is achieved. If this is not the case, then why a human is not content from what it has. Rather why a human always runs after the happiness. Probably because we are in the programmed world and we take its programmed offer to fulfill our quench for happiness but ultimately we realize it to be non-other than a hoax when we achieve it. I argue here that it is because the offer we took in the World is not a real one but appears to be a programmed one.
Here, I have tried to raise this issue and I know that one can easily debate on it as these issues are argued without any evidences. But being in this programmed world, even though if there are any evidences, then how one can say those are true since one is living inside this programmed world. But before debating or commenting on this issue, it would be highly beneficial if one can try to free oneself entirely from the World and try to think as a human-being in the region outside of this programmed world. If this is not the case, then there is ample space that one can easily doubt your comment/debate as you are debating being a part of this programmed world! Think about it!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
"Silent beauty, true love" Quoting J. Krishnamurti
Silent beauty, true love
(I found this article quite interesting. The article was originally published at http://www.bangkokpost.com/Outlook/30Mar2008_out001.php)
When I say, "Love has no tomorrow and no yesterday," or, "When there is no centre then there is love," it has reality for me but not for you. You may quote it and make it into a formula but that has no validity. You have to see it for yourself, but to do so there must be freedom to look, freedom from all condemnation, all judgement all agreeing or disagreeing.
The above article is from J. Krishnamurti's book, 'Freedom from the Known', published with permission from the Quest Foundation, Thailand.
You may contact: questfoundation@hotmail.com, for further information.
(I found this article quite interesting. The article was originally published at http://www.bangkokpost.com/Outlook/30Mar2008_out001.php)
When I say, "Love has no tomorrow and no yesterday," or, "When there is no centre then there is love," it has reality for me but not for you. You may quote it and make it into a formula but that has no validity. You have to see it for yourself, but to do so there must be freedom to look, freedom from all condemnation, all judgement all agreeing or disagreeing.
Now, to look is one of the most difficult things in life - or to listen - to look and listen are the same. If your eyes are blinded with your worries, you cannot see the beauty of the sunset. Most of us have lost touch with nature. Civilisation is tending more and more towards large cities; we are becoming more and more an urban people, living in crowded apartments and having very little space even to look at the sky of an evening and morning, and therefore we are losing touch with a great deal of beauty. I don't know if you have noticed how few of us look at a sunrise or a sunset or the moonlight or the reflection of light on water.
Having lost touch with nature we naturally tend to develop intellectual capacities. We read a great many books, go to a great many museums and concerts, watch television and have many other entertainments. We quote endlessly from other people's ideas and think and talk a great deal about art. Why is it that we depend so much upon art? Is it a form of escape, of stimulation? If you are directly in contact with nature; if you watch the movement of a bird on the wing, see the beauty of every movement of the sky, watch the shadows on the hills or the beauty on the face of another, do you think you will want to go to any museum to look at any picture? Perhaps it is because you do not know how to look at all the things about you that you resort to some form of drug to stimulate you to see better.
There is a story of a religious teacher who used to talk to his disciples every morning. One morning he got on to the platform and was just about to begin when a little bird came and sat on the window sill and began to sing, and sang away with full heart. Then it stopped and flew away and the teacher said, "The sermon for this morning is over."
It seems to me that one of our greatest difficulties is to see for ourselves really clearly, not only outward things but inward life. When we say we see a tree or a flower or a person, do we actually see them? Or do we merely see the image that the word has created? That is, when you look at a tree or at a cloud of an evening full of light and delight, do you actually see it, not only with your eyes and intellectually, but totally, completely?
Have you ever experimented with looking at an objective thing like a tree without any of the associations, any of the knowledge you have acquired about it, without any prejudice, any judgement, any words forming a screen between you and the tree and preventing you from seeing it as it actually is? Try it and see what actually takes place when you observe the tree with all your being, with the totality of your energy. In that intensity you will find that there is no observer at all; there is only attention. It is when there is inattention that there is the observer and the observed. When you are looking at something with complete attention there is no space for a conception, a formula or a memory. This is important to understand because we are going into something which requires very careful investigation.
It is only a mind that looks at a tree or the stars or the sparkling waters of a river with complete self-abandonment that knows what beauty is, and when we are actually seeing we are in a state of love. We generally know beauty through comparison or through what man has put together, which means that we attribute beauty to some object. I see what I consider to be a beautiful building and that beauty I appreciate because of my knowledge of architecture and by comparing it with other buildings I have seen. But now I am asking myself, 'Is there a beauty without object?' When there is an observer who is the censor, the experiencer, the thinker, there is no beauty because beauty is something external, something the observer looks at and judges, but when there is no observer - and this demands a great deal of meditation, of enquiry - then there is beauty without the object.
Beauty lies in the total abandonment of the observer and the observed and there can be self-abandonment only when there is total austerity - not the austerity of the priest with its harshness, its sanctions, rules and obedience - not austerity in clothes, ideas, food and behaviour - but the austerity of being totally simple which is complete humility. Then there is no achieving, no ladder to climb; there is only the first step and the first step is the everlasting step.
Say you are walking by yourself or with somebody and you have stopped talking.
You are surrounded by nature and there is no dog barking, no noise of a car passing or even the flutter of a bird. You are completely silent and nature around you is also wholly silent. In that state of silence both in the observer and the observed - when the observer is not translating what he observes into thought - in that silence there is a different quality of beauty.
There is neither nature nor the observer. There is a state of mind wholly, completely, alone; it is alone - not in isolation - alone in stillness and that stillness is beauty. When you love, is there an observer? There is an observer only when love is desire and pleasure. When desire and pleasure are not associated with love, then love is intense. It is, like beauty, something totally new every day. As I have said, it has no yesterday and no tomorrow.
It is only when we see without any preconception, any image, that we are able to be in direct contact with anything in life. All our relationships are really imaginary - that is, based on an image formed by thought. If I have an image about you and you have an image about me, naturally we don't see each other at all as we actually are.
What we see is the images we have formed about each other which prevent us from being in contact, and that is why our relationships go wrong. When I say I know you, I mean I knew you yesterday. I do not know you actually now. All I know is my image of you. That image is put together by what you have said in praise of me or to insult me, what you have done to me - it is put together by all the memories I have of you - and your image of me is put together in the same way, and it is those images which have relationship and which prevent us from really communing with each other.
Two people who have lived together for a long time have an image of each other which prevents them from really being in relationship. If we understand relationship we can cooperate but cooperation cannot possibly exist through images, through symbols, through ideological conceptions. Only when we understand the true relationship between each other is there a possibility of love, and love is denied when we have images. Therefore, it is important to understand, not intellectually but actually in your daily life, how you have built images about your wife, your husband, your neighbour, your child, your country, your leaders, your politicians, your gods - you have nothing but images.
These images create the space between you and what you observe and in that space there is conflict, so what we are going to find out now together is whether it is possible to be free of the space we create, not only outside ourselves but in ourselves, the space which divides people in all their relationships.
Now the very attention you give to a problem is the energy that solves that problem. When you give your complete attention - I mean with everything in you - there is no observer at all. There is only the state of attention which is total energy, and that total energy is the highest form of intelligence. Naturally that state of mind must be completely silent and that silence, that stillness, comes when there is total attention, not disciplined stillness. That total silence in which there is neither the observer nor the thing observed is the highest form of a religious mind. But what takes place in that state cannot be put into words because what is said in words is not the fact. To find out for yourself you have to go through it.
Every problem is related to every other problem so that if you can solve one problem completely - it does not matter what it is - you will see that you are able to meet all other problems easily and resolve them.
The above article is from J. Krishnamurti's book, 'Freedom from the Known', published with permission from the Quest Foundation, Thailand
You may contact: questfoundation@hotmail.com, for further information.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Loadshedding Crisis in Nepal
Comment posted to MySansar.com blog!
March 2, 2008 @ 8:45 pm
http://www.mysansar.com/?p=2443#comments
Dilli ji,
I think your calculation is wrong. You cannot compare energy and power. 16 MW*24 hr = …MWh that is energy. But here in the peak period we need peaking capacity and 16 MW is added to the capacity which is already mentioned by NEA. That will surely help in reducing the loadshedding. Also we know NEA is not reducing it during peaking hour i.e. 6-7 PM. This is very clear that 16 MW is not going to help during that hour!
But I support your theme that NEA should have exercised other means of reducing the loadshedding…e.g. transmission loss, electricity theft. Can you imagine we have around 25% electricity loss which is official figure and if you count on unofficial figure then it is more than 40%. Probably in the world this is the height of T&D loss. Further NEA does not have any plan for demand side management. Studies show that saving 1 MW by using deamnd side management is cheaper than installing a new powr plant with equivalent capacity. But NEA is turning its deaf ear towards this concern. Also NEA could have utilized seasonal tariff, peaking and off peak tariff to even domestic user. More than 50% of the NEA’s energy is consumed by residential sector. If people would be given flexibility to use electricity with appropriate tariff according to the peaking hours, then the peak load could have been shifted. Instead of current 2 peaking load hours, it could have been made horizontal throughout the day n night. NEA is sitting like duck waiting for bankruptcy and ironically, it is only eyeing big hydropowers to save it from bankruptcy. For your kind information, with the kind of trend, for 10 years, there will be no relief from loadshedding. Every year 10% demand is found increased. We have no plan for any power addition. Whatever we are planning is for export only. Also every new installation of hydropower plant will at least takes 7 years (if no obstacles is faced, we have e.g. of middle marsyangdi). On top of that NEA does not have any plan for large reservoir type of hydropower. All hydropower in the pipeline is run of river type. Even you install these run of river type of hydropowers, this is not going to help reducing load shedding. In winter, we have problem of loadsheding because of less water discharge in the river and these run of river type of hydropower plants will not generate power as per their capacity during winter time. Probably you are quite aware that every year the loadshedding hours has been increased. This is nothing but electricity demand has been increasing yearly and with the constant power generation, NEA has no option but to increase the loadshedding hours. NEA has no plan of mitigating this problem so far! I think what NEA should do is expedite the task of increasing the capacity of transmission line to Indian border which is power hungry states of India during summer time. Come with favourable policies to IPPs. Sell power to India during summer time and in winter time, purchase power from India. At the same time, other measures at mentioned above should be taken alongside.
Shree
March 2, 2008 @ 8:45 pm
http://www.mysansar.com/?p=2443#comments
Dilli ji,
I think your calculation is wrong. You cannot compare energy and power. 16 MW*24 hr = …MWh that is energy. But here in the peak period we need peaking capacity and 16 MW is added to the capacity which is already mentioned by NEA. That will surely help in reducing the loadshedding. Also we know NEA is not reducing it during peaking hour i.e. 6-7 PM. This is very clear that 16 MW is not going to help during that hour!
But I support your theme that NEA should have exercised other means of reducing the loadshedding…e.g. transmission loss, electricity theft. Can you imagine we have around 25% electricity loss which is official figure and if you count on unofficial figure then it is more than 40%. Probably in the world this is the height of T&D loss. Further NEA does not have any plan for demand side management. Studies show that saving 1 MW by using deamnd side management is cheaper than installing a new powr plant with equivalent capacity. But NEA is turning its deaf ear towards this concern. Also NEA could have utilized seasonal tariff, peaking and off peak tariff to even domestic user. More than 50% of the NEA’s energy is consumed by residential sector. If people would be given flexibility to use electricity with appropriate tariff according to the peaking hours, then the peak load could have been shifted. Instead of current 2 peaking load hours, it could have been made horizontal throughout the day n night. NEA is sitting like duck waiting for bankruptcy and ironically, it is only eyeing big hydropowers to save it from bankruptcy. For your kind information, with the kind of trend, for 10 years, there will be no relief from loadshedding. Every year 10% demand is found increased. We have no plan for any power addition. Whatever we are planning is for export only. Also every new installation of hydropower plant will at least takes 7 years (if no obstacles is faced, we have e.g. of middle marsyangdi). On top of that NEA does not have any plan for large reservoir type of hydropower. All hydropower in the pipeline is run of river type. Even you install these run of river type of hydropowers, this is not going to help reducing load shedding. In winter, we have problem of loadsheding because of less water discharge in the river and these run of river type of hydropower plants will not generate power as per their capacity during winter time. Probably you are quite aware that every year the loadshedding hours has been increased. This is nothing but electricity demand has been increasing yearly and with the constant power generation, NEA has no option but to increase the loadshedding hours. NEA has no plan of mitigating this problem so far! I think what NEA should do is expedite the task of increasing the capacity of transmission line to Indian border which is power hungry states of India during summer time. Come with favourable policies to IPPs. Sell power to India during summer time and in winter time, purchase power from India. At the same time, other measures at mentioned above should be taken alongside.
Shree
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