Talking about the news

I haven't written much in fifteen days and there have been so many things to write and talk about, so here's my take on a few of them.

Iran:

Where do we go from here, is a question most Iranians and their neighbours and perhaps everyone else in the world is asking themselves now.

Just 30 years ago, similarly furious denunciations of the system that is, a desire to change the course of government caused a Revolution, a revolution that changed the very manner in which people would now view the Middle East and Iran. Relations between Iran and the world haven't quite been as normal as before.

Ahmadinejad is widely seen as a rabble rouser and a hard line leader, a hawk when it comes to Israel and the US, and somehow in the changed geopolitics with Obama's ascent and the coalition pulls and pushes in Israel, Ahmadinejad's stubbornness and belligerent tone does more harm than good to both Iran and the world. His confidence perhaps arises from the abundant resources of oil and natural gas at the disposal of the Iranian state and the currently high prices of these resources, but sadly he has failed to use satisfactorily the previous windfall, giving no reason to believe that he will do a better job now.

What will Mousavi's followers unleash on Iran and the world this time around is anyone's guess, but if Iran is showing any signs of moving away from an autocratic clergy-controlled 'democracy' to a truly representative one, those changes would be a welcome one.

• Why Obama isn't showing more outrage about the Iranian elections

India:

The 'racial' attacks issue pertaining to Indian students in Australia and Canada seems to have lost its lustre, at least in the eyes of the media. I guess we all suffer from a very short attention span, needing very fast changes of topics to keep ourselves interested in life, a sort of short-term memory loss à la Ghajini. That these attacks themselves have not ceased is a given, because these attacks are not the first on international students and frankly they will not be the last, no matter how hard we may wish to believe to the contrary. In a comment to my last blog on this issue, a reader said that sometimes simple vandalism and hooliganism hides beneath the cloak of racism; it's diversionary tactics at its best.

What we need to do is to protect ourselves, within the ambit of the law of the land. To be truthful, most people find it easy to single out international students because such students are literally neon-lit signboards saying 'I am different', an open invitation to be harassed. While retaining one's cultural and ethnic idiosyncrasies is one's personal choice and right, when in Rome, at least try to do as the Romans do; don't be like the barbarian at the gates, or at least don't give that impression. In the end, God helps those who help themselves, but an eye for an eye will make the whole world go blind.

The United Kingdom:

Gordon Brown must love roller coaster rides. From the dizzying height of being acclaimed the saviour of the free world economy to being denounced as a useless, good-for-nothing, self-centered, obnoxious and uninspiring git must have been quite a journey, and that too when it happens within just six months. But then in politics, a week's a long time. Mr. Brown's colleagues are either being implicated in the expenses scandal and are being forced to resign (a bloody good thing too, and something I want to see replicated in India; 90% of our fat cats would be out on the street then) or are leaving the sinking ship themselves, with no implied allusions to the rodent class.

In the end, Mr. Brown's woes are emanating from the fact that he is an unelected leader, thrust upon the people. So far, our Manmohanji was also sharing the ignominy, but with the recent election results, he's our leader, by our choice, not Madam's alone. Somehow the people of the UK haven't quite gotten over the magic of Blair and the fact that Brown is to some extent responsible for not having done enough to control the wildly spiralling economy when Chancellor of the Exchequer makes him no one's Darling (poor Alistair, being forced to clean up Gordie's mess).

Well that's all for now.

Quo vadis - To Williamsburg!

So finally ends the MBA campaign at the gates of The College of William & Mary's Mason School of Business. The day has been absolute poetry so far; when I opened my mail today morning, I was pleasantly surprised to find the Admissions Coordinator's mail (ok, that was an exaggeration; I was waiting for it for the last one week with the eagerness of a father-to-be outside the OT waiting for his child to come forth). 

The Mason School of Business and for that matter the College of William & Mary has a most splendid website, which really gave me all the info I needed to prepare my application as also to fill me with the conviction to want to be there. Maybe all B-schools are equally good, but then that's my personal opinion that a good B-School website should have all the info right there and easily accessible; it makes the student's life easier and lessens the correspondence to answer simple FAQs.

The College also has been really nice to keep on contacting me once in a while, just to give me a heads-up on where my application lay. It even appointed a senior student to guide me through understanding what life at William & Mary is all about, which goes to say volumes about how much they valued my decision to apply to them, and how they wanted me to have the most accurate picture of things.

On informing the Home Office of the good news, well the riverine tales began. Never get it why moms must cry, but heck, maybe moms feel that mera beta bada ho gaya, notwithstanding the fact that the 'beta' is a 24 year old bloke.

On telling everyone in the Foreign Office (the Home Office is les parents et le frère), the usual demands for treats and celebrations were raised and deftly deflected, but of course, merely pushed forward to a more opportune time (may that day never dawn :P). I should be scheduled to put in the papers once the Visa's stamped and delivered (fingers crossed about that); a lot's still to happen - must send check to college, get I20 from them, submit visa application....damn, learn cooking, get new clothes (:P)...so much to do, and so damn little time.

The happiness was a bit tempered by the fact that one's best friend was still without an admit, and was in the dumps, feeling all low and negative. It's so damn hard to console someone when you are seen to have what they want; it almost seems as if you are teasing them. Thankfully as the day ended, matters were more cheerful as the friend also received an interview call, making things look more positive and possible.

I have been browsing through countless sites trying to find out more about Williamsburg; the weather, the possibilities in terms of accomodation, financial aid, etc. I even started walking the streets, courtesy Google Maps :P. All in all, a great day! 

• The Mason School of Business
• Google Maps

Quo vadis.....?

Last year, around this time, with my GMAT score in, an MBA didn't seem that difficult a goal to achieve. But then a week is a long time, and a year even more so, and what a year it has been! Of the 11 colleges I have applied to, all save 3 have sent in their polite regrets. Each passing day fills one with despondency; the realization that it's now or never doesn't make things any easier to bear.

So time for a post-mortem; actually it's premature since I still have two more colleges whose replies are yet to come in, one which has invited me for an interview, and I have still one more application to submit. But I still feel it would be worthwhile to do a PM while one is at it.

The PM would start and end with just one sentence: One did not prepare as well as one should have

A favourite grouse of the parents, and quite justified in my case. Frankly I must admit that my whole approach to the affair was a tad frivolous. Deadlines are meant to be respected, but surely one could have written one's essays earlier than the day before the deadline. One's research about the college one was applying to was zilch in most cases, and by the time one realized that over three quarters of one's applications had been rejected. 

Essays could have been submitted for more detailed scrutiny by experts and peers; one always feels one writes well, but then one wasn't writing about the Napoleonic Wars or the Tokugawa Shogunate or the effect of Radium on a photographic plate; one was writing about oneself, perhaps the most difficult of tasks ever devised.

I could always hide behind the excuse that the recession and the resultant upheavals in the professional world are resulting in a steep hike in the applications being received by MBA schools this year. Sure, that may be true and my applications' being rejected may have some connection with that fact, but does that mean I am completely exonerated? Perhaps not; what my competitors may have brought to the table was work experience, a uniqueness of exposure, but surely there must have been something even more unique I could have stated, had I chosen to look within? 

So the point is, the entire campaign has been a disaster, with a few triumphs thrown in between, so far; whether it eventually achieves the status of a fiasco is for time to tell.

My best friends' engagement....

Today two of my dearest friends got engaged, and that to each other :) , making the occasion even more special. Those who had seen them first bump into each other 6 years ago knew that something special was going to happen, something lovely was going to come from this meeting, and it feels so great to be vindicated all these years later.

I guess that love is like a fine vintage; the sweetness of the grape, when slowly aged and matured, gives off the beautiful taste of the wine, just as the stroke of lightning one experiences at first sight, with the passage of time, becomes the deep and everlasting affections that one feels for that special someone. Some vintages take a long time to reach their finest point, some mature very quickly, and some never come to fruition at all; but the name of the game is to keep on trying to make that perfect brew, for one's own sake and for the sake of living life as it should be lived.

Seeing two dear friends come together in a bond of hearts, not out of compulsion, but out of a simple desire to love and cherish, fills one with emotions that cannot be described in all the words in the English or any language for that matter. To see the joy on their faces leaves one simply overjoyed for having had the opportunity to bask in the sunshine of their happiness.

Love coming to fruition gives a special glow to the faces of both partners; it's as if the sun shines through their eyes, through their very person. For one moment, you forget your problems, and just lie silently in their warmth, in the cheer that their smiles spread, and somehow everything seems all right, like the Biblical Garden of Eden. One could go on rambling, but such occasions are best understood when personally experienced.

Here's wishing them both a very happy life together! May it be filled with bliss, contentment, and felicity in every walk of life! May all the blessings that the world may have to offer be theirs by right and as is owed to them!

Raju and Nami, this one's for you! 

Musings

This is my first blog in two months and I am mortified. I offer no excuses except that circumstances prevented me from being more active. Perhaps the Fates will be more considerate now.

Much has happened over the last two months. The global financial structures have come toddering down like a pack of cards; the castle is still standing but the upper echelons are certainly missing. Some would attribute it to a faulty base, some to over-ambitious strategies, some to mismanaged plans, and some to extraneous factors. 

Whatever it may be attributed to, the truth is that we are in for a long winter, and we haven't even seen the worst of it. I read yesterday that India's foreign exchange reserves depleted by a whopping $63 billion, sufficient for over 600 unmanned lunar missions like Chandrayaan (which is also a current event, but more on that later). China's economy is showing signs of slowdown and its leaders are expressing worry, which in itself is a sign that it's time to take out the parachutes.

Obama's election as President of the USA is path-breaking, but not entirely unexpected. I mean, you would have to be a complete dullard to lose an election when the economy's going into recession and your opponent's party has been in power for the last 8 years. This was always the Democratic Party's election to win; the question was whether it was Obama's to lose. Thankfully, it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to the USA in these troubled times. The problem with McCain and company was that they represented the status quo, and frankly issues were getting exacerbated by their reluctance to do anything. Problems are solved by doing something, not by sitting pretty wishing them away. Obama comes into power with a lot of expectations, some self-created, some inherent to his post, that he will make a difference and that by 2012, the USA will have recovered well enough for the Americans to give Obama a second term. Whether he will be true to those expectations remains to be seen.

The economic crisis has suddenly made socialism and the welfare state a byword for something that works, and capitalism as some sort of demon. As BBC's The News Quiz quite succintly put it, the West's going gaga over nationalization and Russia's an oil-rich capitalist country. I would prefer if the State merely invested in the future of the economy and desisted from trying to exercise actual control over the economy. More often than not, their tendency to dictate policy to the banks leaves the banks incapable of independent thought and when the times comes to such a stage when one needs to act, neither the State nor the banks is in a position to determine what needs to be done, and the clock's ticking at the side. If you want to see what sort of mess demented socialism can create for a country, you only need to read India's history post-1975. 

In other news, India's entered the hallowed precincts of the club of countries/alliances that have landed a mission on the moon. India's only the fourth country/alliance after the USA, Russia and the European Union (explains the alliance now?) to have accomplished this feat. Remarkably, the costs incurred are a mere fraction of the costs normally incurred by NASA, a testament to ISRO's high-quality optimization of limited resources. I read that ISRO has planned a second mission in 2012, and maybe even a manned mission by 2015. While many may decry this as a wastage of resources at a time when more pressing issues face the country, I feel that we, as Indians, are in desperate need of an icon, like the Apollo 13 became for the Americans or Sputnik for the Soviets, to aspire to. One hopes that such missions will inspire more people to opt for vocations other than IT and bench-work; hopefully many more astronauts, astrophysicists, aerospace engineers and avionics experts arise from this experience.

This blog has been more of a news bulletin; but then something's better than nothing, no?

I await....

Once in a while, we await some things more than anything ever imaginable. Sometimes, we just want time to pass ever so fast so that we may encounter some distant joy, that we may finally come to enjoy what we most wish to happen.

There are many things that I await. I await the onset of the monsoon, with the sweet smell of the earth with the first showers, with the cold breezes that blow in from the sea, and the cuppa of hot coffee that I can enjoy sitting in my veranda. I wait for the summer for all the ice-creams and cold stuff that I can partake of, for all the mangoes that I get to relish, for the family vacation to distant places. I await the autumn, for Diwali, for fireworks, for goodies and sweets and all other savouries, for the softly cooling down of the air, for the mildly musty smell of last year’s woollens. And I await the winter, for the coldness in the air, the warmth of my blanket, the sweet slumber of the night, and the celebration of the Year. I await the beginning of the month for the chance to go to the local book store and buy the month’s supply of books.

I would await my results when in school and college, wanting to know whether I did as bad as I thought, or by some miracle, I had managed to pass. I would await the beginning of a new semester, for the chance to meet up with friends, to rejuvenate slumbering acquaintances, to realize how much we care for each other. (Even now I await Mondays more than Fridays. I am no workaholic; just that I miss my friends over the weekends.)

What do you wait for?

Beyond the pale...

Marcus Aurelius, the great Roman Emperor, and perhaps the last Philosopher King to grace the earth, says in his Meditations,

“He who fears death either fears the loss of sensation or a different kind of sensation. But if you shall have no sensation, neither will you feel any harm; and if you shall acquire another kind of sensation, you will be a different kind of living being and you will not cease to live.”

Indeed, death, in its most raw form, is something that mystifies, yet terrifies, all who should bother to think of it. To be mystified, that is an admirable quality, for Descartes has said “I think, so I exist”, so evidently illustrating that the ability to think, to imagine, to question why things were the way they were, is the supreme mark of a living and sentient being. The two words, though seemingly related, and in truth very synonymous, are yet very distinct in each other. We all live, we live amongst the billions of insects, animals, birds, fishes, etc., and yet what is it that distinguishes us from them? To those who would retort a brain that can think and distinguish between right and wrong, I would gainsay, for even these beings possess this ability, and often they are seen to use it better than what most humans can be credited with. I feel, and this remains my own opinion, that the real strength that humanity possesses within it that makes it so different from the rest is its ability to think and ponder over why the pattern of life is just so.

Descartes says that if you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things. If you do not care to query, then God denies you the right to call yourself a sentient being, although you are alive. A few may demur, that after all to live is to sense, and if I am to be deemed alive, it is but obvious that I am sentient. It isn’t so. Just to breathe isn’t the same as to celebrate the wonder that is the human respiratory system, to feel the sense of touch isn’t the same as to stand in awe at the miracle that is the nervous structure, to see isn’t the same as to bow down before the great marvel that transforms mere sight to the grandeur that is vision. Most of us take our lives so much for granted, that we simply forget to honour the spectacles that we see everyday. Only when a marvel is blemished by doubt, and I use the word here very specifically, does its wondrous nature become even more evident.

I started out with Marcus Aurelius and his thoughts on death, and have throughout the last few paragraphs, stated why being sentient is more important than just being alive. And yet, Marcus Aurelius was dismissive of death being viewed as a possible conqueror of the senses or the giver of new sensations. For, in Marcus’s words, if death is to take away your senses, then what is pain to you? Whence your senses desert you in life, whilst you still breathe, if you feel no compassion, no fear, no emotion, then why the morbid fear of death, which grants you the same “feeling”?

Answering the questions....

What is life? A question or an answer to a question? To those who believe in reincarnation, perhaps the latter, for one would come back to experience life only if one has found something wanting in one’s previous life/lives. And in truth, what indeed is life all about?

Is it the sweet feeling of togetherness and bonding with one’s loved ones, the warmth of love and affection, feeling secure in the arms of the one you care for the most and in turn holding him/her in your arms, or is it something else? Is life about grief, about the salty tears that splash down when it hurts, the sudden choked voice when one wants to cry out and no voice comes out? Is it about deception, about not being what the world sees you to do, about wearing different masks for different people, and never knowing who one really is? Or is it about just living life, one moment at a time, one breath, one heartbeat at a time?

For me, and I truly believe in this, life is a medley of all this and much more. To be happy without ever having experienced grief is to never truly realize the value of that joy, of that bliss. On the other hand, to have always been in the downs, to never have felt the warmth of affection, would make one so very pessimistic and so very dead. Can one truly appreciate the value of trust and belief when one has never been betrayed? So to enjoy a positive, one must suffer a negative, if just for a brief moment.

Sometimes, life must be lived alone, without anyone beside you. You could be surrounded by countless people, and yet be alone in your solitude. You don’t need books, or music, or someone special to lose yourself.
Just think of yourself as a raindrop, released from the dark, grey clouds. This drop is destined to reach the ground and then be consumed by the parched earth, and yet it never thinks, or rather it cannot think of ever stopping its descent, of ever turning back towards whence it came. It is surrounded by its brethren, so many like itself, and yet it falls alone. It can only see itself in them, a pale reflection of its soul in their eyes. There is a spot on the earth given to it to fall upon, a soul to enliven, and a heart to bring joy to.
Be like that raindrop; do what you must, bring joy to all whom you can, and leave the rest to the Fates. They will not betray your trust in them.

How doth the Cheshire CAT smile.....?

Enough is enough! Sloth is evil, one of the cardinal sins, and I have sinned as much as can be borne. Now it is time to gather my energies and start my preparations to slay the dragon (not that I am anywhere close to being a knight in shining armor; more like a fool on a donkey). The Cheshire CAT smiles and smiles to Kingdom come, taunting me. It is time I showed it who's the boss, or is it?
November's D-Day, and the weather's going to be rough till then. The seas will be treacherous and my boat is bound to spring many leaks, but there will be no one to assist me, and I can expect no one to assist me either. I don't know how to tie some ropes, how to pull up the sails and to navigate some straits, but there is no Divine Providence waiting to grant me that wisdom; I have to get wise on my own.

Shay was right when he said, "Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit." I have neither a rabbit nor rabbit's foot; I hope something works out for me!

General....

It has been a turbulent fortnight for India, what with the reservation-related chaos in Rajasthan and the sectarian violence in Punjab. Matters weren’t that good when China decided to act like the good neighbour and start harping about its claim to the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. West Bengal is just about quiet after nearly two months of turmoil, and the rest of the country is still reeling from the shock of Mademoiselle Mayawati’s victory in Uttar Pradesh.

And in all this, one fact is coming to fore, and that is that India’s democracy is facing its toughest test. On one hand, protestors in Rajasthan and Punjab chose to disregard the authority of the State and take matters into their own hand. Their wanton disrespect for the basic civilities perhaps ensured that matters got so out of hand that a civilized discussion was simply out of the question.

And on the other hand, Ms. Mayawati’s victory illustrated that while dynasties may rock the presses, appeasement may satiate some appetites, and communalism may enflame some hearts, in the hearts of the Indian people, there still is some amount of self-pride, a desire to show the political class that it is they, the people, who decide the fate of the politicians and not vice versa. In her victory, one saw the complete obliteration of the presumption that hitherto inimical communes cannot come to terms with each other and strike out at those whom they see to harm their common interests.

Rajasthan and Punjab were a shocking example of the abdication by the State of its duties and responsibilities, of its reluctance to act out against those who dare to violate the laws of the land. That this is no new feature of India’s democratic system is no justification; every example of such perfidy must be deplored, be it committed by any political outfit.

India is being listed as one of the least likely places where one may come to expect peace. They may be slightly wrong here. Things are bad, sure, but they aren’t as bad as they are made out to be. And yet, if not contained, the state of affairs could spiral into something unmanageable, something that we, the people, can little afford.

April as Poetry Month...?

A very dear friend, whose counsel I value a lot, has said that I have become too boring a blogger. On going through my blogs for the last few months, I am beginning to agree with him, as my blogging has been restricted to social issues, which don't offer that much of a scope for humour. It is a different matter altogether that I am very bad at humour, as and when I make a try at it.But nonetheless, for the next one month, I will NOT be writing any blogs on social issues.

Now, I don't want this to seem like a hiatus or something, but I was thinking, why not make April Poetry Month on my blog. I am a bad poet, so don't worry about my creations. I was planning to put up some of the poetry that I have found to be superlative in the course of my reading. I mean, that way, my friends can get to read some good poetry and the mood stays light.
Would appreciate your comments on my idea.

Musings en général!

The past one week has been a remarkably eventful one for me, with both happy, and somewhat despodent moments here and there. Guess one can term it a microcosm of life in general.

Had my first "real" simulated CAT test on the 24th, and did much better than I expected. Actually, much would be understating my surprise, because I managed to enter the hallowed ranks of the top 1 percent students giving the test. And this when I really am not preparing to the best of my abilities. My mom always would tell me that although I never put in the most of my abilities in whatever I did, and mind you, despite this, I still would manage to scrape through with pretty good grades, imagine what could have happened if I would have been better prepared. But the bumbler that I am, the message simply never sank in, until now.

And yet, I see no reason to be exultant over my performance, simply because the test in question was a simple one, and mastering it would really have tested not many people's skills. And yet, I am not questioning the ways of the Fates. I am greatful for this boost, and I pray that my performance should continue to maintain this level, irrespective of the grade of difficulty or ease of the test concerned.

Of course the very next day, i.e. on the 25th, had my viva voce on Digital Signal Processing. In truth, the subject is a very interesting one, especially after the seminar I had attended on the topic wherein some very interesting applications of this subject were explored. But after the test on the 24th, I was so tired that studying was simply something my mind had pushed to the back of the priority queue. Of course, I did manage to brush up something before the viva, but as usual, became blank when faced with questions. I did manage to make a complete mess of things by not satisfactorily answering even those questions whose answers I knew very well. And then like a jerk, I sulked and simply refused to be social with my friends for the rest of the evening. Maybe they understood my emotions, but had I been in their place, I perhaps would have been offended by my behaviour. My apologies to my friends for my most childish behaviour.

Guess I should be signing off now. Just leaving you with a thought for the day:
There is nothing more painful than seeing someone you love loving someone else. But there is nothing more rewarding than seeing two people you love loving each other. ~ J.H. Li