Random Musings

Wondering what’s the connection between smelly cow dung on the left and a fragrant symbol of love on the right? Aren’t they same on a deeper level – just the transformation of life energies over a period of time. We have an uncanny ability of not connecting dots when the change is infinitesimally slow and viewing things as different objects when they are as same as our left and right hands. Think about coal and diamond, sunlight and the energy you get from consuming plants – million other examples from everyday life which seem like completely distinct objects but are actually the same at the core. Guess it’s the beauty of language – by identifying things with different names, we trick ourselves into believing that they are different. Imagine that we forget speech for a day – won’t all distances and barriers fall immediately – how would anyone know who is a Christian or a Hindu or whether you are an Indian or a Pakistani to etc. There is no way other than names & concepts ...

Silence is highly under-rated in today’s context – once you start enjoying and yearning for silence, people think you are either bored / angry / lonely / simply old / ill or there’s at-least something wrong with you. It is weird explaining to people how silence which is associated with punishment and mostly has negative connotations, has started playing a very big role in my life suddenly – to the point of me getting angry and irritated if there is too much noise around. I have lived a very noisy life – from partying 24*7 to speaking incessantly and I liked it. Or rather loved it. I guess all of us do and it seems a pretty normal way of life. Growing up in an overpopulated city in India which is known for its chaotic and loud ways (Guess which – Delhi NCR!) makes you tolerant to all the noise – horns blaring, people clamoring (or rather fighting in Haryana’s case), bikes roaring, TV ads screaming, boss’s shouting, religious sermons...

Imagine visiting an alien civilization where you make the following observations - 1. 80% (or more) aliens doing things they don't like or don't want to do. 2. Aliens ready to kill so that they get goodies when they cease to exist. 3. Aliens changing goals after achieving what they previously set and continuing to burn themselves day and night till they die. 4. Aliens wearing masks when they are around other aliens or being watched. These masks make them say things which are generally acceptable but when they are alone and not being watched, they might think and do things completely opposite to what the mask said. 5. Aliens loving inanimate objects and distrustful/hateful towards fellow aliens. 6. Every alien thinking he is more important than others and he knows it all. 7. Alien lives being governed by a non living object (watch). They get up, go to the same structure everyday, come back to where they got up and recharge their batteries for doing the same next day. The...

Everybody knows what ego is but it's still difficult to define. Ego means I in latin. Simply put, it's the self part of you or your idea or opinion of yourself, especially the feeling of your own importance and ability. Not so simple actually - try answering - Who are you? Most people would say they belong to xyz state, country, religion, their educational background, jobs, businesses etc. etc.  Majority of the people think they are important without having a real idea of who they are - Imagine defining yourself without identifying with your geography, religion, education and work, what would you say? The feelings that we are important and we matter have a lot to do with our education and how we are raised. Enough definitions i guess. # Is ego good or bad? As with most concepts, there is no good or bad or maybe it's both . How? It's good because it makes you want to grow, to become a better version of yourself. Without having a certain confidence in your ...

# Do you believe in god or are you an atheist? # Do you believe in ghosts? # Do you believe evil can be erad # Do you believe in destiny? Or Free-will? # Do you believe men are good or evil or both at heart? # Do you believe in the right wing or left wing philosophies? # Or do you believe in believing nothing? Anton Chekhov very rightly said - " Man is what he believes". In the present context, it would have been men/women so as to not offend anyone but that's another story (again, do you believe women are equal to men, if not better?). It's what you choose to believe that makes you the person you are - you might choose to not believe this hypothesis but I strongly do. Now, if we are a by-product of our belief systems which can be pretty convoluted to the point of being unchangeable, how do we act on this insight? How do we form these beliefs? What can we do to change them? Let's understand how our beliefs took a concrete shape in the first place. T...

One of my friends recently asked me if I wanted to live long (80+ years) or have more fun and probably live a shorter life – 60-70 years? The first thought that came to my mind was – I want to live a healthy life – be it long or short. I would consider myself pretty lucky if I can go about all my daily chores without outside help till my last breath. That’s that! YOLO (or You Only Live Once) is a pretty widespread phenomenon on the internet these days. People use the idea to justify almost anything – from drugs to rash driving to dangerous adventures etc. etc. I do not intend to say that a fun filled life might be necessarily short but that’s the general assumption basis simple probability – Who would live more in your opinion – a person who eats home food, goes to office every day, doesn’t take any unnecessary risks and shuns all recreational drugs or a hippie who wanders randomly and doesn’t mind alcohol or other drugs! Bingo. Let’s talk about drugs – and when I say drugs ...

Ø   Is it nearing 30s? Ø   Is it reading quite a bit of spiritual literature? Ø   Is it mostly to do with how I have started viewing my thoughts? Ø   Is it finally maturing or having grown up? Ø   Or is it simply too much procrastination on a temporary phase? J Whatever it is, suddenly the term midlife crisis starts making a lot of sense, even though nearing 30 might be too soon as per usual definitions of the term. But then, have I ever cared for ‘aisa hi hota aaya hai’ (this is how it has been). And it’s more of an awakening and not a crisis actually . So, what do I mean by when I say something(s) have changed. What does a shift actually feel like? 1.         Converting from a hard-core non vegetarian glutton to a vegetarian disciplined diet – 4 meals a day, almost nil processed food, all meals preferably home made, no packaged drinks! 2.        From an insomniac and a night owl to sleepin...