The crisis in consciousness ..

" We were saying how very important it is to bring about, in the human mind, the radical revolution. The crisis is a crisis in consciousness, the crisis that cannot anymore accept the old norms, the old patterns, the ancient traditions and considering what the world is now, with all the misery, conflict, destructive brutality, aggression and so on. Man is still as he was, is still brutal, violent, aggressive, acquisitive, competitive and... he has built a society along these lines."


"What we are trying in all these discussions and talks here, is to see if we cannot radically bring about a transformation of the mind. *Not accept things as they are* - but to understand it, to go into it, examine it, give your heart and your mind with every thing that you have to find out. A way of living differently. But that depends on you and not somebody else. Because in this there is no teacher, no pupil. There's no leader, there is no guru, there's no master, no savior. You yourself are the teacher, and the pupil, you're the master, you're the guru, you are the leader, you are everything! And, to understand is to transform what is."


- Jiddu Krishnamurty (from the video archives included in the movie Zeitgeist:Addendum)

Four Stages

This post is not about data loss. But it is, of something that, funnily enough, reminds me of this particular comic. Its about an injury I recently had, which made me miss things I didn't want to miss.

Stage 1: Denial [Day 0]

"Its not an injury, I probably just over-exercised. It should be fine in a couple of days. "

Stage 2: Anger [Day 14]

"Damn it, I sure injured myself. My stupid, unfit body ! Cann't take few kilometers of running uphill !!"

Stage 3: Depression [Day 30]

"Still not fine. I wonder how long it'll take."

Stage 4: Acceptance [Day 45]

"It ain't gonna be this time, is it. "

___________

The third kind

I always believed there were two kinds of men in this world, men who go to their deaths screaming, and men who go to their deaths in silence. Then I met a third kind.

- Rang de Basanti

Lets take a moment today, to remember those, who were the third kind.

Happy Independence Day, India.

Feeling old ..

And in the blink of an eye .. another year passed ..

Beyond the edge.

I recently bungy-jumped from a tower 233m high.

Now, how crazy or how brave or how stupid or how outrageous was it to try something like that, is largely frame dependent, but theres this thing I've been feeling ever since I decided to go up that tower.
It took me a lot of courage to actually go up there, stand on the edge of the platform, look down, and jump, not knowing how I'd feel. But, somehow, thinking of all the good people I've known, and all the good times I've had, gave me just enough strength.

I'd probably do more of such things in the future. And I know, you'd all still be there for me.

:-)

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He-man.

(_ _ _ _ -)

The other day as usual going through the cartoons page in the newspaper, I noticed something on the bottom corner of the page at which I couldn't help but laugh. There was this photo of Catherine Zeta Jones, with a caption saying Catherine Zeta Jones (1969-).
Well, that was just the first time, I've seen some more instances of such references since (regarding other alive celebrities), and if its a norm, I must say its certainly a disturbing one.

It gives an impression almost as if, they're waiting to fill up that entry !!.

Books

In lieu of a getting a substantial free time with no great plans (and possibility thereof in absence of company) recently, I managed to set aside some time for reading.

I read a book called "11 minutes". Call me shallow or whatever, but only thing I remember about this book is that it is excruciatingly boring. I finished it only for one reason. To punish myself, for starting it.

I read "Its not about the bike"; the autobiography of Lance Armstrong. Have nothing but respect, for the man. I have been feeling this utter need to buy my own bike for some time since then. Sometimes during the night I sit on my doorsteps having tea or just staring in oblivion, when this red light flickering on one of the mountains invariably catches my attention. I appears to beckon me [:)]. Anyways, it is often as easy to distract me, as to distract me to something else. Hence, lately, I've been thinking less about it.

Currently, I am reading the 'Hitchhiker's guide to galaxy' series by Douglas Adams. I've completed the first two parts, out of the four. I like the sense of humor used in the novel. At the same time, it gives me a feeling of strange indifference, about things happening on earth. With all we know, its such a huge place. But for a hitchhiker, its just another station. And in the scheme of universe, just a dot* ! (Plus, while earlier I had never given a thought to it, I feel now that its pretty plausible that life may exist on other planets.**). Apart from that, my status message, for quite sometime now, has been 'DON'T PANIC' written in large friendly letters. Weirdly enough, I've tried to remove it a few times; and each time I have done that, the universe adapted itself in such a way that it actually seemed to fit more than anything else.


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* Well don't blame me, thats what the book does to you.
** And this too.