Wednesday, October 7, 2009

the will of S

At the centre
an iron cage surrounds me
it pains,the atrocity
having lost all sense of pride and glory
getting on to my nerves
the fallen angel of mediocrity

light descends
it's my guardian angel
strengthens my spirit
endows me the vision
it's my 'will of S'

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Heroes under the aegis of The Black Swan

Last week was very fulfilling as far as my reading habit is concerned.reading two highly researched books gave me a remarkable insight into the work of leaders.First book 'Heroes' by eminent British historian Paul Johnson is a delightful journey through time with the virtues and vices of heroes like earth shakers : Alexandre,Caesar.Heroes in the roar of the cannon's mouth : Nelson,Wellington .Heroes under the shadow of the axe : the Tudors(Henry 8,Elizabeth 1).Philosopher heroes like Russel and Wittgenstein(his Tractatus's complexity is a delicacy for readers,even though i didn't understand half of just 28 pages book,i enjoyed it thoroughly).Heroines like Mae west and Marilyn Monroe who lived their life on their own terms in the highly exploiting Hollywood of 40s and 50s.What i would like to point here is one of main categories of heroes which Paul Johnson missed are entrepreneurs and i would very much suggest him to add a new chapter "Heroes under the aegis of black swan:Ford,Bill gates,Larry page and Vinod khosla".
with this ,second book which i read needs some attention.It's a shock thrown at you squarely(though some humor is involved).'the black swan: impact of highly improbable' by Nassim Taleb is one of the most insightful work published in recent years.it's the study of what we don't know,anti library(book that we haven't read) and uncertainty in predicting future.so now what the black swan is .it's an event having three characteristics
1.it's highly improbable and unpredictable
2.it carries a massive impact
3.after the fact we concoct an explanation which that makes it appear less random
when i first read about ATM's and EVM's in my 4rth class computer books i thought oh this kind of technology would take at least 20 years to come to India but by the time i was in 10th class we were all using the ATM's.this kind of breakthrough event is black swan.
now about my commentary on the subject ,if we check out the deeds of great heroes in Paul Johnson book we can clearly see how they instigated and designed the black swans events to carve their niche in the highly ambiguous histology.conquest of Alexandre
1.Nobody thought that 40,000 Macedonians would face the 1 lakh mighty Persians.highly improbable.
2.massive impact of the battle-fall of Persian empire,contact between east and west which completely dominated the politics of those areas for more than thousand years.
3.now historians say that invasion was coming .Alexanders father would have defeated Persians had he not died.we concoct an explanation that it was already planned but everyone knows that it was in all regards incredulous.
In this information and media technology age, world has become highly unpredictable instigating black swan events at faster rate than ever.Entrepreneurs are not able to predict even 2 to 3 years in advance now(all those bell curve methods of predicting future is a total nonsense).some make riches under it's aegis like Google,Microsoft while others are completely wiped out .These people push their innovation and risk taking skills to an extreme to even survive let alone being successful.gone are the days of Napoleon,Patton,thatcher and Reagan now it's a new kind of war being raged inside the brains of courageous people.they are the true heroes and although criticized for ruthless means Friedrich Hayek's comment 'independence of mind and strength of character are rarely found among those who cannot be confident that they will make their way by their own effort' says a lot.
Sir Thomas Jefferson said 'one man with courage is the majority'.In the epilogue of heroes, Johnson writes courage is the noble virtue but i think having it to point of madness is the noblest of all. (it doesn't mean i'm very courageous but i couldn't hold out my fascination for them).

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

fall to rise

Am i dead
no god,no satan it's just emptiness
as i lay bare under the night
a constant hum in the ear
burnt gunpowder on palate
a sight of frenzy
blurred by dripping blood
oh,so this is the afterworld
carved by reaper's scythe

'commnder,commander',
someone breaks my tranquility
and only now i realise
dutchman awaits them
their life depends on me
shirking off my plight
'for men,for home and for country'
i rise.

my first poem dedicated to captain aubrey of HMS Surprise ,my favourite movie character from 'master and commander:far side of the world'.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

In the search of utopia

Indians call it 'ramrajya',Plato called it 'republic',sir thomas more called it 'utopia'.For time immemorial humans have endeavored to find that one ideal place where they can live without any sufferings and war.Economist philosophers of 19th and 20th century tried to find the answer in centrally planned economy with something for everybody without any discrimination,thus dividing whole world into two different ideologies of liberalism and socialism leading the world into two bloody wars. After the fall of flagship of socialism,USSR,whole world has adopted more or less capitalistic way of economy.an era of peace where not many ideological wars were going on forced francis fukuyama to say that we have reached the end of history.but,this years recession has seriously exposed some of the problems with capiatlism .in this dire straits,philosphers are once again flexing their muscles to find that one formula or policy to solve all the problems of humanity.but ?
the search of utopian love is very inherent in western philosophy with poets of romantic age making it a revolution.now even in india young people are trying to find that 'special one' made for them with whom they can share all their intimacy.search for the ideal love has surely caught up the people's imagintion with more nd more of them joining the cult.but crumbling social structure in western countries has burst the bubble of romanticism.thus dalai lama rightly said about roamnce "a fantasy....unattainable,something not worthy of our efforts" in his book art of happiness.
the clear reason for this wild goose chase is that people have mistakenly believed that utopia is the synonym of hapiness.happiness is the basic need for humans but they don't know the difference between pleasure and happiness. they think that ideal state without any poverty and war would make them happy(then what to say about warmongers).a girlfriend with whom they find very instant strong attraction as all their interests matches,would make them happy but all these are just pleasures of life. only two things can make us really happy
contentment and compassion
being contented with what we have nd making it better with our compassion should be the aim of human life.thus you can raise a utopian state without strangling it in ideological differences and can find ideal life partner in any lady, who will understand and respect you.it's not that compassion is godgifted, we can any time cultivate these habits using the methods in ancient indian texts.thus i might say utopia is just the matter of perception.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

who says elephant can't dance-louis v gerstner

impossible says even i m possible,an antediluvian quotation,used by leaders in their pep up talks,by cms students mindlessly scribbling it on the top of their notebook without giving it even a moment of thought discarding it off as just another philosophical, ideal stuff without a slightest bit of practicality.this book is work of legendary CEO of IBM whose work is the epitome of the quote where you can really see it in action ,proving its relevance in modern world and that it's not just another ideal saying of a wiseman.one of the most hard fought battle in modern world had been the ibm turnaround of 1993 and the knight who led it is no othr than the very writer of the book.the then CEO of ibm Louis V. Gerstner,who made possible the thing which even economic times had declared impossible.he showed true leadership,determination and whatever it takes make it again a no. 1 company of computers.
during 1993 onwards rapid development in computer technology like speedier and high capabilities PC,open source systems like UNIX,assembled parts and client server model made life miserable for ibm which for past 40 years relid heavily on it's mainframe system/360.sales declined heavily and exasperated with the situation company saw the exodus of many senior executives and board members .all the major business magazines declared that ibm has ceased to exist as the symbol of amarica's strength and culture.
louis v gerstner at that time was persuaded by to become the CEO of the company
and what followed is just history.although several pathbreaking , nerve wrenching decisions were taken i would like to point to what had been done for the paradigm shift in company's culture ,as gerstner once said 'culture is not part of the game but the game itself'.he took many initiatives to correct the lethargic attitude of employees due to working in a non competitive environment for almost 30 years.
now as recession is on the streak of devouring big companies no one is showing the leadership and will to take countermeasures and fight it.even the company like GM which stood tall during great dippression,two world wars,terrorist attacks meekly surrendered to it.its hard to see the companies which we have admired and wished to join for all of our engineering years are coming down like a pack of cards.well good for mba colleges as it is giving them huge amount of case studies for what not to do to make your company live

Saturday, May 30, 2009

American History X(1998)

no two human beings are equal but i wonder whether playing on those differences is a superiority or the inferiority complex.American history x presents one of the most powerful statement on the issues like racism.several classics of sidney poitier and morgan freeman deals with the issue but no movie faces it so squarly as this one (to kill a mocking bird is one of the best on the subject but treatment is completely different).In one of the legendary roles of his career edward norton plays a nazi skinhead who hates niggers and kills one just for a petty crime but in the penitentiary he realises the futility of his actions as he is deceived and harrassed by his own people while helped by a nigger, as the tagline of the movie rightly says 'His father taught him to hate. His friends taught him rage. His enemies gave him hope' .after 3 years he sees his young brother walking the same path of rage and so he makes him understand that this path of rage ,path of division is the path of destruction and that's what happens in the end which leaves the audience in a state of shock.
though an ugly movie(only appearances)with skinheads,niggers and hippies it's beauty resides in it's relevance to almost all the modern societies and more so in india .the latest acts of violence and discrimination in maharstra shows as we are getting richer our mentality is becoming meaner.but it's not that adults suddenly start hating each other it creeps into our head in our college years only and i hate to admit that almost all the national colleges with students from all over india have become the temple of racism.As in my college we can see north-south divide almost in every aspect of extra curricular activities ranging from president's election to the selection of grubs and t-shirts.but most shocking of all is that u can even find students supporting or having sympathy for people like raj thackrey. as i said almost all the societies are getting affected by this growing monster even advanced societies like america and australia(this article is the result of the rage due to the recent attacks on indian students in australia).
but the issue is as i said earlier whether it's the superiority of our complexion or the inferiority of our capabilities that inculcates this htred and loathing for others.yes it's not the color of the skin but our insecurity in preserving our culture and means of living to someone who might be superior is that which incites us to do such horrendous crimes.racism is the birthchild of failure of communictions and proper adjustments between cultures.In america white people feared hard working and godfearing blacks and now indians .In colleges ,southy thinks northys are all rowdys while northy thinks of them as a haughty creatures and thats the same reason even in the reginal colleges like UPTU students from noida discriminate students from gorakhpur so it all related.in the recent years americans ,scots,australians have grown fearful of the capabilities of indian students but there is the proper need to explain them that they are there to assist them not to usurp their position

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Rudra

castle of the darkness is falling apart.satan is bleeding .the dark music of it's followers 'black metal' has been invaded by vedic mantras.Rudra is back with 'Brahmavidya: Transcendental I' ,latest in the bramhavidya trilogy after primordial-I.satanical verses and anti-christ theme started by venom ,celtic frost ,hellhammer and carried on by marduk,,morgoth,immortal,carpathian forest, burzum with shrieked vocals and distorted fast tempos made black metal the headbangers paradise but then rudra came with their vedic metal having same vocals and guitar tempos but with sanskrit mantras as the lyrics.songs like 'mahamaya' from aryan crusade are just treat to the ears.it's metal and it's black ,join the devotional headbangers.