Is it easier to reign in that primal instinct if at the very same moment you are also fully conscious of it?
We all have our guilty pleasures and overt indulgences. Times when one is easy on self and uses words like afford/deserved/but-I-work-my-arse-off to squelch the last hesitating atom in your hand as it hovers over the counter with the credit card tucked in between two fingers. Another give-away: Itching to go back even before the dust settles on the last spree.
Mine: Books
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It's almost been two months since I listened to any music.
A full song, not some background score or stuff one hears whilst random channel surfing.
Don't really know what to make of it.
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Q.I , a BBC show is fast becoming one of my favorite shows on the television ever.
Eagerly awaiting the upcoming H-Series.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
whatever that's keeping you
It's amazing how profound a change, one incident can bring about in your life.
How you no longer are sure about that one or two things that you hold most dear.
How it can fundamentally alter the way you define yourself.
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People lie.
Lie for all kinds of reasons.
Reasons none more tragic than to avoid guilt.
Guilt of hurting someone.
Someone who probably can only be set free by the truth.
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You should check out the Intelligence Squared Debates.
Here's one on "Is the Catholic Church a Force for Good?".
How you no longer are sure about that one or two things that you hold most dear.
How it can fundamentally alter the way you define yourself.
-------------------------------------------
People lie.
Lie for all kinds of reasons.
Reasons none more tragic than to avoid guilt.
Guilt of hurting someone.
Someone who probably can only be set free by the truth.
-------------------------------------------
You should check out the Intelligence Squared Debates.
Here's one on "Is the Catholic Church a Force for Good?".
Friday, May 21, 2010
your score?
Once he has convinced himself to not feel bad about having so much leisure time, man has fashioned many-a-ways to trudge through.
After he has silenced that nagging voice with a loudspeaker that tells him that if he had any shame he would put his time to better use, he comes up with something like this -
1) Open the TIMEs list of 100 All Time Best Movies
2) Sort them into the following 2 categories -
a) Watched
b) Heard about/Probably have it already on my Comp
My score: 16/14
That leaves a balance of 70 which automatically go in the unheard category.
Makes me feel pathetic. Grr! I am off to find some thing else to do.
After he has silenced that nagging voice with a loudspeaker that tells him that if he had any shame he would put his time to better use, he comes up with something like this -
1) Open the TIMEs list of 100 All Time Best Movies
2) Sort them into the following 2 categories -
a) Watched
b) Heard about/Probably have it already on my Comp
My score: 16/14
That leaves a balance of 70 which automatically go in the unheard category.
Makes me feel pathetic. Grr! I am off to find some thing else to do.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
the elephant in the room...
Does India need a caste based census?
Forget the implementation part, which would most certainly be challenging and error-prone. Just in principle, do you think it is a good idea?
Forget the implementation part, which would most certainly be challenging and error-prone. Just in principle, do you think it is a good idea?
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
of polo mint and google news
There aren't very many things that help us trudge on with our existence that is enclosed in a 8x8 cubicle. News websites play a far more significant role than we can bring ourselves to admit - in our restricted-internet-access work lives.
And nothing quite stirs up frenzy like an election. Afterall one does grow tired of foots-in-mouth and statergic twitter leaks to raise the curtain on the 'controversy of the year'. Bah. One pines to be engaged in the affairs of the world in the old school way.
I remember reading somewhere that an ideal state of being was where the elections become a non-event. I wouldn't comment on the validity of the statement but guiltily pray that the day never comes. For, what shall we do should such a day arrive? Oh the horror of it.
We need elections. In all sizes and formats. Local, national and foriegn; Ours and Others. Ours, where we actually have a stake in, no doubt rises passions. Others gives us the balcony seat to the spectacle. Distant enough to be smugly academic about it but in-the-hall nevertheless.
We need them with one prerequisite though. Place of manufacture should be an authentic & vibrant democracy, where the result could indeed go either way. No fun in rigged ballots and rubber-stamp democracies.
We need elections and the frenzy they bring along.
Nothing short of a frenzy will do; how else are we to plough on, wide awake. Coz caffiene addicted we are, and by extension resistant to it's powers to stir us up to consiousness.
The brits have not yet concluded their affairs. And I am already wondering, who's next?!
Updated
It's a Tory-LibDem coalition for UK. And the media couldn't resist the Cameron-Clegg story. Have a look at the front pages.
And nothing quite stirs up frenzy like an election. Afterall one does grow tired of foots-in-mouth and statergic twitter leaks to raise the curtain on the 'controversy of the year'. Bah. One pines to be engaged in the affairs of the world in the old school way.
I remember reading somewhere that an ideal state of being was where the elections become a non-event. I wouldn't comment on the validity of the statement but guiltily pray that the day never comes. For, what shall we do should such a day arrive? Oh the horror of it.
We need elections. In all sizes and formats. Local, national and foriegn; Ours and Others. Ours, where we actually have a stake in, no doubt rises passions. Others gives us the balcony seat to the spectacle. Distant enough to be smugly academic about it but in-the-hall nevertheless.
We need them with one prerequisite though. Place of manufacture should be an authentic & vibrant democracy, where the result could indeed go either way. No fun in rigged ballots and rubber-stamp democracies.
We need elections and the frenzy they bring along.
Nothing short of a frenzy will do; how else are we to plough on, wide awake. Coz caffiene addicted we are, and by extension resistant to it's powers to stir us up to consiousness.
The brits have not yet concluded their affairs. And I am already wondering, who's next?!
Updated
It's a Tory-LibDem coalition for UK. And the media couldn't resist the Cameron-Clegg story. Have a look at the front pages.
Friday, May 07, 2010
since we all love a grand story...
Shah Faisal, a doctor from Kashmir tops UPSC.
We hear a lot of goose-bump inducing stories of how people from less-priviliged background somehow find the will and the hunger to aspire, to work towards that seemingly unattainable goal and finally emerge victorious. Plenty such stories surface every year with the announcement of UPSC results.
This story about Faisal is however appealing on a different level. To have young men from a state like Jammu & Kashmir aspire to become part of the Indian Administrative Service is in itself quite a thing. And to see them succeed is just the cherry on the cake.
We hear a lot of goose-bump inducing stories of how people from less-priviliged background somehow find the will and the hunger to aspire, to work towards that seemingly unattainable goal and finally emerge victorious. Plenty such stories surface every year with the announcement of UPSC results.
This story about Faisal is however appealing on a different level. To have young men from a state like Jammu & Kashmir aspire to become part of the Indian Administrative Service is in itself quite a thing. And to see them succeed is just the cherry on the cake.
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