Moment is what you have..

What is in common between a writer, singer, actor, technocrat and many other professions? They all work, OK. They all enjoy their work, really? They all earn money, yes. This is no rocket science to decipher. But "Enjoying the work" still remains an unanswered question. Below attempt is not to find a solution for it, but something which makes sense to me :-)

Statement:
If the experiences of the moments can be transformed into the work that you do, then it’s worth living every moment is n’t it?

Lets look at how true the above statement is for few professions.

Writer: He/She goes out in the streets; see how children are fighting, how men behave in their business, how mother in law claim her family political rights and many. Some of the things that they see could be transformed into a story, essays e.t.c.Writer also enjoys this, hopefully !

Actor: Day starts with brushing, taking bath..fill in the blanks. He/She goes to the party…drink for the experience, love for the experience, and sex for the experience. He has been asked to perform on a stage/movie with what he experienced...ha..ha..sounds so simple, but hope u get the point.Actor enjoys the experience :-)

Technocrat: He also walks around, finds it quite fascinating how in the kinara store they arrange items and grab them quite easily when some one asks for it.He also ponder over "why don’t I use it for efficient data retrieval process and what it takes the technology to improve its capabilities".

List goes on...

So, observing something because you enjoy doing it, experience something because there is something special in it, now transform them as your expression. . Let work be the product of moment then its a good deal to live in the moment. Moment is what you have :-)

"Kanjeevaram"; the original Priyan is back

Priyan is back with his original creation. I think he himself is frustrated with his continued remakes in Hindi. Maybe that he wanted some relief or connecting back to what originally he is; and that's why the movie "Kanjeevaram". A good movie should make you feel different, it should take you for a roller coaster ride of thoughts. Watching in itself should be an experience. Although I cannot quantify each and everything that is mentioned, I know these are the yardsticks for me to conclude whether the movie is good, wonderful, excellent. So what is "Kanjeevaram" ?


This is the story of a weaver who is good at his work. He is someone who has aspirations like any other young man, husband, father.The story starts with his first blow for his aspirations. His dream was to have his bride wearing silk sari on their marriage. All his savings as a young man was not enough for him to afford that. The story takes you through his continued effort to make one silk sari.Maybe due to his intense aspiration, that he got attached to "Communist" movement. He also gets away from the movement due to the same intensity. By the way, I have a suggestion to Pinarayi Vijayan and VS; this is the time that you should have a trigger on what "Communist party" stood for. Maybe "Kanjeevaram" will give you a fresh insight.

This movie is not only the story of ambitions of a young man. It also left me thinking, how a "wrong deed" can turn into an "absolute right thing to do" over a period of time. The movie shows you, how a worker was abused and what huge profit that landlords looted from them. It does justify him for stealing "silk" from the factory to fulfill his ambitions when we look back at the present time, where rights of a worker is well protected by constitution. But all his coworkers and every one around him thrashed him for this unpardonable mistake.If the rules of the system is unjustified, is it "wrong" to break it ? This is such a big question! Guru, Rangdebsanti had talked about it.

Anyway, "Kanjeevaram" is a quite refreshing watch. People who dont understand "Tamil" pick up a copy with sub-titles. It is a must watch and a yummy food for thought. Although you feel, its dragging for sometime, sincerity in the making of the film hold you tight to the screen. Priyan, you have a very nice way of telling the story, why dont you continue doing this? "We want more". Have n't you made enough money ? I was also surprised on the background score and the music, is it really MG Sreekumar? If yes, "Good going man, very good work to start with".

"Kanjeevaram" indeed is a "wonderful" watch and a must see. It did make me feel something very special.

After a long gap

I decided to write now.Its not that I have lots of things to pen down, Its that I had a thought of giving back to blogger world where I am used to only taking.My initial idea of this blog was to have a platform where I can express my thoughts, when I have something different to say.The same policy continues, but I also want to share my activities alongside my thoughts.

Web 2.0 world is getting strong every day. I created this blog in 2004. I kept blogging in this space for sometime, I lost interest after sometime. My blog became a platform for me to keep track of other blog links. I am very thankful to my fellow bloggers that, the time I spend reading blogs has only increased over a period of time.Surely I have some thoughts to share, I will put that across in coming days.That varies from regional cinema to over hyped Hollywood cinema. Polotics driven by image, positive vibe on 'hope for change'. Initiatives that truly is making impact on people. We have wide variety of topics to discuss. I dont belive in one way communication, If that was more satisfying then I would not have come down here to share my thoughts.My request is only to just raise your voice if you really feel like saying something. 

Questions that I have in my mind now is,

Is regional cinema dying ?

Are Politics, diplomacy bad words ? 

What is the best way of defining service, is it to 'take control' or 'give control' ?

Do we need to have quantitative appraisal system in coroporates ? Can performance,skills be really quantified ?

Is digital identity increasingly becoming imoprtant ? Is it a right choice for an employer to make ?

If Information Communication Technology has to reach rural india, which is one problem that needs to be addressed ?

I know its the wide array of thoughts..I am not the master of any of these.If its something interesting, you can hear from me more. Hang in there..

Wish you all a very happy new year

I always wish to see Sun rise in the new year morning at home...maybe Its that I prefer "Peaceful and fresh new year morning" to a lazy one.

See the picture that I had taken on Jan 01 2008 chilly morning. Hope the same energy bring a lot of happiness and peace to all of you and me.

Wish you all a very happy new year

When is our turn for this ?

Its always intresting to hear experiences from people who travel a lot...Human extending the scope for travelling to space also. See here the experience of a space tourist here http://spaceblog.xprize.org/
with entralling photos in http://www.flickr.com/photos/spaceexplorer/page2/
CNN -IBN reports this here.. http://www.ibnlive.com/news/space-odessy-a-firsthand-account/22540-11.html

Athiest facing challenges..

“Oh lord, make my day more beautiful. I don’t want tester to find out crucial bugs in the code I delivered”. Daily is prayer over. If it’s a special visit to some special religious place, prayer may be bit different. “Oh lord, give me an onsite chance; make me a TL in this appraisal”. Forgive me for my ignorance, I don’t know what all can be the prayers possible. I just thought of career ambitions in IT and made a list of it. There is variety of prayers made by different people. Maybe some of the readers can contribute some.

I always think, they make a vision for their career by putting ambitions in words by praying. Sincere people just don’t forget what they have prayed, they also work towards it. Yeah, end of it they may or may not achieve it, but there is a mental process which can help them to grow towards success. For (s)his ambition (s)he made a clear statement to achieve. Look at the people who have no belief in GOD, the one who are fondly called as atheists. They also have ambitions, I believe chances of getting their visions or ambitions to a clear statement is lesser compared to the pious people around. This can be the one factor which may favor for career success for religious people. This is just an observation. I don’t forget the fact increased influence of processes stops the phenomena of innovation and so the blind belief in GOD.

Now, let’s look at the festivals and entertainment processes created by several religions. Almost all religions have well balanced methods, process e.t.c for leading a balanced life. People who follow them may or may not change the world but they lead a balanced life (most likely). But it’s strange to observe that, we have the history of these religions going back to centuries. Why we don’t have any religion (I mean a set of agreed processes which is called by some name with a central place to be afraid of, if at all needed) taking birth in this century? Maybe the evolution of human brains must have taken out humans thinking in that direction. Anyways it’s a great challenge for a person to lead a balanced life with out stipulated rules which are at least for the sake of having a disciplinary frame. In fact rules are something which atheists hate, I agree. But I strongly believe events, celebrations and so many other things that have been part of our culture have come from the very religious habits of people only. Every one trying to make their own rule is definitely a brain stimulating thing for that person. But remember a self does not constitute the society its the collection of different individuals that makes the society. Going by these arguments, atheists are in trouble of not having some process in place. This may be one reason there’s a great number of naxlites or communist turned to saints in the history. After sometime, lack of system defined process for a healthy and balanced atmosphere really troubles atheists I think. Anyway, live as an atheist thru out life seem to be a big challenge.

My argument is not that, atheism is something which is not practical. But, system or processes are not so efficient to keep a balanced society especially when living creatures start facing problems in their life. I dream of a religion ‘atheism’ which has mixture of all festivals and other processes, which are efficient enough to constitute a peaceful but innovative society. This is just a tip of iceberg…horizons of thoughts can be taken to different levels from here. Leaving it to you to take this thought in to next level. Life is very simple when there is only self but not so when there are so many; atheism is not an answer for a peaceful society now, but blind belief is not an answer for innovation. We need a balanced system which I would like to call it as modern religion.

Update:(U may find this intresting.Disclaimer - Following are not my words, these are random notes from web)

Is Google God? The Church Of Googlism believes a convincing argument can be made stating that the search engine Google is the closest mankind has ever come to experiencing an actual Deity. Come find out why --> www.TheChurchOfGoogle.org

A bag of "Surname" Non sense

Friend :Hi , I am Anupam Kulkarni.
Me: Hi, I am Lajiraj
Friend: Whats your surname?
Me: I don’t have any surname.
Friend: You don’t have any surname? (With all obvious expressions)

This was a very much common "Convarsation piece" in Pune in my initial days there. That’s when I seriously started thinking about “whether we need surnames”. It’s nice to hear from people “I am Vinay Gupta”, “I am “Akhilesh chopra”. Was justice not given to me, by not giving surnames as part of my name .Especially in south India(read kerala to be more specific), this surname concept was faded sometime back itself. So, I cannot blame my parents for not giving a surname to me. Guys, please compromise with the initials given along with the names. If you are very much desperate we can expand the initials for your convenience or comfort.

Seriously, I am against this concept of surnames. A seal is being marked on you, when the name is given .When you say your name and your surname matches with the other person, mentally they already have made a group there. Accidentally and painfully I have observed this several times. Is it not good to have a group for a social animal like human? I say “yes”. But not on the basis of an absolute orthodox concept like caste. Some people think that, it’s “cool” to have surnames. Yes, it’s a fantasy for a group of people whose ancestors have reined in their time. Its absolutely not so for the underclass people. There was an interesting move by Dr. Ambedkar in post independence era (not very sure of the time), he asked all the lower class people to adopt the surname of Brahmins. So, In result no one could recognize who’s Brahmin and who’s shudra? Is it not cool? .Believe me its even more “cool” not to have surnames. In this context I came to know, a group of IITians have decided to shed their surnames bag. I am very much happy to hear about that move from ‘best minds’.

When I asked some of my Maharashtrian pals “Why do we need to carry this seal of ancestors to yourself and also for coming generations”, the answer was “Its part of my self, identity...” with all his emotions and ego powered. Let me go to a funny note with naming with NRK kiddos(Non residential Keralites). This naming convention is very much part of north Indian babies. So, when southies(mallus specially) migrate to those places for jobs/opportunities they feel left out. So when they get their children admitted to school, they are forced to fill in surname column. That maybe the reason almost all non-resident keralites have surnames with their name (funny at times). People who have glamorous caste (Group of people in which their ancestors have done some splendid job according to history) their name will be with the caste name or they prefer to have dad’s name as tail. If the dad’s name is ‘Achutan kutty”, kid’s name will be ‘Pramod kutty’ or likewise. “kutty” means baby. Very affectionately people tell him "Hey kuttee, woh bheja kya?"(This dialogue is very common in any modern workplace I think).Yes he’s a baby thru out his life. I happened to see a lot of helpless mallus like this.

When two people come together, why identity of his ancestors is more important? There are people arguing, family is cultural school and so it’s good to make group with like minded people. My answer is variety is the spice and beauty of this world. Please don’t spoil it. I agree family and caste has some role in building your character. Keep up the values and spread the values. For people who don’t feel complete without surnames. It’s bearable to have dad’s name or Family name (the max) as part of it. I cannot agree with taking caste bag along with name and keep repeating the non sense what our previous generations have done. It’s the educated and sensible young generation who has to take decision of keeping away from the surnames and save our next generation. Will you not do that? Take the initiatives and break the barriers of caste and creed .What we do today is part of tomorrow’s history.