Saturday, February 25, 2006

Selfishness Vs Villainy

Hey ppl....
for a long time this topic has been in my mind.... One day when i was thinking of what made ppl become villains or wat made us do things that were deemed to be bad by other people!! And when i started thinking, it all led me to one common end point. They did it for themselves... Some personal pride offended or someone doing something to offend one's feelings... and so the list is endless... But it all goes back to the fact that the person does something because of himself or herself....
So would that also mean that the person was being selfish???? Am i losing u here?? Well lets put it this way... A selfish person is one who puts his interests before another person's!! (I hope i'm right on this definition)... Well if u agree with that.. lets go to the next stage...A villainous person or a wicked person who does something wrong, also with one's own interest's in mind... That is putting his or her interests before the other persons!! So would that be the same??? You don't need to be a Ramanujam to equate that! So would that mean that selfishness and villainy are the same???
But u may be like both terms are used in the negative sense... so wat's the big deal... But let's analyze the situation this way... Wat are u living for ... the basic fact is that u are living for the world that u create around u.. U are living hoping that u set ureself into a different surrounding preferable to u...That is again self-interest in mind... (I'm not yet saying this is being selfish)... And then...however much u deny it... All other things would take a backseat... As far as it comes to things working out the way you would like them to work out!!! Even if u are giving up something(another concept i would love to speak loads on, but i'll save it for later), you are doing it for another person or a cause that u deem more important than the cause in question.. So eventually you do something as u prefer that to something else... That is any human being's core common tendency... Thus we are selfish in all that we do.. Right from deciding with which friend u want to spend more time with to even the time when u wanna decide which restaurant u wanna go to when ure with friends.. We're always selfish... So are we also villains in our own way???? Think about it... Are we all villains hiding behind the veils of society????

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

The lonely tree


Well i had posted a picture of a lonely tree in my last post... A few days back as i was going around Chennai with a friend.. I happened to catch site of this tree which made a beautiful picture and I caught this pic on my mobile...

I clicked this pic near Ega theatre... Wonderful aint it... Alone in the middle of the lake... Strong as ever... Oblivious of the happenings around..

Monday, February 13, 2006

Are You Lonely???



Have you ever sat down anytime and wondered about the purpose of your very existence in life??? The fact that life is limited to just you and all u see or hear around you and not the entire globe as u are made to think. Life is not a constant state, it can be said to be a variable state which changes according to the person who uses the word.

For instance, when u are talking about life, U are only referring to all that you can see and all that u know about or rather all the people in your social network, the happenings in your life and all that happens within a radius of ure existence. And while the discussion's on these lines, have you ever thought of the fact that you may be very alone. All other people around you are just figments of your life.... the fact that is intricately hidden in the threads of the projected image of LIFE!

Can it be true that you as a person are totally alone, and all others are just around you for you to learn how to play the game... How to move the pawns on this chess-board of life??? Like the tree in the picture, despite the fact that it is alone on deserted land, it stands strong and will stand the test of time....Come what may...

I sometimes think over this fact for hours... I do not dispute the fact that emotions and blood forges bonds with people around us. But we are born into this world to be an independent person and how much ever we may think other-wise, we are living for ourselves and not someone else(though we may live to be happy with someone else). Thought that would also be an individual's decision.

Thus it is only in times of problem or reflections into oneself that we come to realise that the life we are living is one that is lonely. The only companion you have is your thoughts and experiences. The experiences that you have been through act as a pathway showing you how you may tackle new problems in life. Thus, experiences are a steadfast companion!!!

So give it a thought.... Are you Lonely?????

Trying to play Kabbadi!!

Well... I met Guillaume after so many days... Well had loads of work the last week and so dint have time to meet many of my friends...

But yes.... I did get lucky enough to have the time to meet Gabrielle- She's Guillaume's gal friend. And yes she's a wonderful person, really sweet, cute, nice person to talk to... and yes someone who can tame my crazy brother!!! Lol... Hey Audrey if ure out there reading this.... Gabrielle's a great person... And of course we miss u here at India!! Hope ure having fun there at France....

Well the group of us wanted to go to the beach to just relax(time was bout 11:30 in the evening) and so we walk onto the Besant Nagar beach to see cops chasing us telling us the "beach was closed to the public" at this time.... Now now.... have u heard of beaches being on holiday and being closed!!! Well i guess the cops were being very polite to us because of the fact that they wouldn't have wanted to be questioned by the French embassy!!! He he... I had just finished explaining the rules of kabbadi to everyone and we were just thinking of getting down to playing a game of kabbadi!!! But then we were asked to leave the beach!!!

Well now Guillaume is off on a week's trip to Kerala... And me sitting here without two of my best buddies.... Guillaume and Audrey!!! Well guys... me waiting!!! he he he.....

Antigone - Find the Antigone in yourself

Hey everyone....
I'm back... I know its been a long time... I've been a lil busy... Excuse me....

My sister acted in the Stella Maris play called Antigone... Named after the main character Antigone... Well i am not a person very well read on Greek mythology and greek literature!! But this play did make me reflect though it was a very modern rendering of the original story(they actually had phones and video games as part of the play!!!)

But the basic concept remained the same... The wonderful thing in this story is unlike so many stories we here all around us, we will not be able to find a villain in this story. As every person is very justified in the way he behaves. Well let me at first outline the story for you.

Creon is the king of Thebes and his niece is Antigone. Polynices is Antigone's brother and is deemed a traitor and a rebel. And so Creon has decreed that Polynices' body should not be given a proper religious burial and should be let to rot at the gates of Thebes. The central theme of the play is the battle between Antigone's personal beliefs and the principles that dictate an autocracy. The fight between an individual's rights and what is percieved as the common good! Antigone represents any human being and Creon represents the ruling powers.

Antigone's beliefs stands with being a good sister and she wishes to give her brother a decent burial despite the fact that her uncle, King Creon has decreed that any person attempting to give Polynices a decent burial would be put to death. And yes there is one more important character in this story, Haemon, who is the King's son who is in love with Antigone and is to marry her.

Antigone attempts to bury her brother's body(with a kid's showel!) and gets caught in the attempt and is brought to the King by his guards. The scene that ensues is one which will make any person reflect for hours.

The King ask's Antigone to give up her attemp and tells her he will save her by silencing the guards. But Antigone refuses saying she will not give up her attempts to bury her brother... Well the king tries desperately to convince Antigone as the king knows that his son is in love with her and he wants her to live on. But she is willing to face death in the process of standing for her principles and beliefs.

There is an instant wherein Antigone asks Creon why he became King when Creon was actually not interested in becoming King. Creon was a very talented person and had other interests! But he had to take responsibility i.e. as she very rightly put it, he said "yes" when he should have said "no". The play makes us think of many things that we do in light of being in the 'common good' that we actually don't want to do.. Each one of us have made so many decisions that are highly influenced by what is deemed to be the common good and what we ought to do rather than what we want to do... Or what we believe in doing... This hypocracy has its root deep into our society... We speak for hours on what we believe and our ideas but our actions often take a different route, all being in the idea of looking good or looking correct in the face of society.

Well as destiny had it, Creon could not convince Antigone to give up her futile attempts and the rest is history. But as Creon was trying to get Antigone to understand what she had to live for, he said she was young and had a 'happy' life to look forward to. To this she questioned as to what he meant by a 'happy' life for her. Whether it was living in the castle and being a good wife. Likewise each one of us feign happiness with so many of the different things we act like we love doing!! After his futile attempts, Creon says it was impossible for him to convince Antigone and he could not 'condemn her to live'. That one phrase made me think for hours at end. I spent a night thinking of that. When a person strongly believes in something, and sees death as just a path following the course of action he takes, then the trivial happiness promised by life is nothing that can change his or her decision. He or she cannot be condemned to live.

Thus, when we think of society on the whole today most of us aren't making decisions that we strongly believe in but are rather making decisions that we feel we should strongly believe in!

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

CEG and Sathyabhama - A comparative analysis

Well was out with a few friends today and one of them was talking to another friend about colleges like Anna University and Sathyabhama!! The comment she made went like this.. "U know now in colleges like Anna University and Sathyabhama life is so difficult for the students!" I was shocked, and then she went on to describe how both these colleges had dress codes and a ban on cellphones. Well I jumped into the conversation at this point totally angry with the ideas that people form over our college....

But then I got down to do some thinking(been doing a lot of that lately), and yes to a certain extent things at Anna University have been going down to the level of Sathyabhama. And for those of u who don't know wat Sathyabhama's about, well its like a school(some schools are better) with a serious dress code.. A very strict ban on cell phones, And of course guys aren't supposed to talk to gals etc etc... U aint even allowed to keep a discman or walkman in the hostel. I think that's heights!! And now the ba@%$d that we gotta call VC here in our college is taking our college on the same lines!! I sometimes wonder wat he's got in his head!

The guy's actually so jobless that he goes around the place looking for gals wearing mini skirts bikinis i guess... Is the guy crazy??? And yes as LiveWire pointed out in her blog... The ass dint even know that we had smart cards already in existence in our college.. He's so busy upto nonsense.... I think our college has always had a great atmosphere and a wonderful mix of students... And never have i seen a guy or gal "indecently" dressed. In today's fast moving world, how does a pair of "jeans" affect anyone?? Well that's Vichu f@#*&r 's problem. Guess since the guy's been single for such a long time, even seeing a gal in jeans seems to be disturbing him!!! And mobile phones, well I agree that maybe a ban on using it inside classrooms is fine, but on campus??? Wat are we hostel students supposed to do then??? Use the one damn phone that each hostel has?? Well we're staying away from our parents and it is necessary to be able to speak to them! And frankly speaking, I don't think a ban is necessary at all... Most students in college are above the age of 18 and should be able to decide for themselves what they should be doing and what they should not be doing!!!

And just imagine publishing an article on porn in Anna University in the newspaper!! It was in the Hindu for heaven's sake. Is he trying to bring our college name to the streets?? About that article, he published an article in the paper saying he had caught some students watching porn in the hostel. He even gave a press conference on this issue, trying to point out that students were still immature and that they needed to be guided.. blah..blah... blah...

Well about those porn movies- they were "Girl Next Door" and "Poison Ivy". Two Hollywood movies!!! Wat is happenin to that guy??? It seems to me that he just gets up everyday thinking of how to get his photo in the paper everyday... Seems to be looking for some kind of "junk" popularity!!!

There was this interview on NDTV with Vichu, Karthik Chidambaram and Barkha Dutt. Well i did not see this interview, but i have heard a lot about this!! Karthik Chidambaram rightly asked him, "I thought u guys were busy building the scientists and engineers of India, and u seem to be busy worrying about wat ppl are wearing!, Don't u have anything else to do!!". Well very true... I guess Vichu thinks its his duty to check whether gals are covered from top to bottom and to check whether anyone's watching a "porn" movie! What would anyone from a foreign university think of our college and of course our "dear" Vice Chancellor??? One hell of a pervert the guy is!!

Well coming back to Anna University and Sathyabhama, I think our college still has a long way to go before this b@#$a$d can take it to the Sathyabhama level... But i don't think its impossible for the guy!!! He's so bloody narrow-minded that i'm sure he'll change things slowly...

I feel that in college, responsibility is wat we learn the most. Being free to do as u please, but still doing the thing that u think best for ureself. This is wat i have learnt. I have had my share of bad experiences(loads of dat) but at the end have come out a wiser person. These lessons are more important to me than any others that i have learnt in my classrooms! If you were to bind a person, to a post with rules and regulations, will that help him grow as a person?

Would that help him mature into a responsible adult??
Would that bring out the best in him when in unpleasant situations?
Will he be able to tackle the many hurdles in life?

After all education lies beyond our books, It lies in the path we take and decisions we make. But as all other final year students(we're gonna finish our course here in a few months), we just crib about the way things are going, and feel sad for our juniors. None of us think of doing anything!!!
Well, someone should cage that ass and keep him there for a few years to teach him a lesson!!

Join the Paritrana party

Hi everyone... Keep spreading the word on Paritrana.. Its the least we can do to help these courageous guys... And you can join the party by filling up a form available at their website.
Their website is www.paritrana.org

And here's a link to an interview with Paritrana’s national treasurer - Chandrashekhar. I hope you find it interesting.
http://www.arthshastra.com/archive/paritrana-getting-to-know-a-little-bit-more/