The human being will become extinct one day

There's something wrong with the world today,
I dont know what it is,
Somethings wrong with our eyes,
We're seeing things in a different way,
God knows it ain't His,
Its surely no surprise,
Yeah, we're livin on the edge.

Steve Tyler wrote these words sometime when he saw the world crumbling to bits. It sure is crumbling to bits, isn't it? We humans are eating it all up. And we want more. More of the world to plunder and pillage. We don't want to stop. I had a passionate discussion with a friend of mine sometime back about this. She wanted data on Global Warming and climate change. Words tossed around too oft these days. What I don't understand is why do people actually lie to themselves in seeming interested in saving the Earth, per se, to look fashionable, perhaps?
The same people who "want" to do something are the same people who do not take a bus instead of an auto-rickshaw, the same people who go to the market and bring home polythene bags instead of carrying their own cloth bags with them, the same people who do not turn off their monitors before going home, the same people who waste half a dozen tissue papers each time they wash their hands. Those are the same people who buy a car with their hiked salaries and commute alone, leaving behind a gargantuan carbon footprint. And these people claim to be interested in saving Mother Earth?
We humans are the only species that I'm aware of that's capable of slaughtering it's own brethren. And finding better ways to do away with more and more of them. We clear out rainforests everyday, and yet we cringe when someone brings up the topic of Climate Change in a conversation. I have actually been in situations where people have turned around and walked off claiming to have "work" to do when this topic came up. So this friend of mine, she asks me, why don't people do anything about things they only talk about? I had just one answer for it. It's not like we can't change. It's more like we don't WANT to change. We dont want to make changes to the choices we make everyday. We don't want to change ourselves. We would rather make fun of someone making an honest effort rather than look within ourselves and think about whether what we're doing is right or not.
And at the end of it all, when we all would have died, and death and disease has claimed every one of us the very last human being will think, "Did we do this to ourselves?" but he would already know the answer.
It's true that the human being will become extinct one day. God knows, we deserve it.

Yeah, right!

Ummm, I realized that I've been posting more and more links in my blog, rather than writing something concrete, no excuses, I've just been busy reading up a lot and I feel I must share it with you folks. Here's a link to the Baccalaureate Speech delivered by Guy Kawasaki. For people who already know about Guy, I needn't say much, but for the uninitiated, it's really awesome, and I bet it'll make a lot of difference in all your lives.

Green IT

Just sitting and worrying about the demise of the Earth as we know it will get us nowhere. Feels good to know that there are actually some companies that are actually taking steps towards doing something about it.
Here's a link to an article about Dell's greenest computer yet.
http://gizmodo.com/382766/dell-introduces-their-smallest-greenest-pc-yet

Obsolete Technology

I often wonder what people do with all the really ancient technology that they used once upon a time. Upon reading the following article on Gizmodo, I was surprised to know that they don't throw it all away, they do,in fact, USE it!

http://gizmodo.com/382621/the-massive-expensive-problem-of-obsolete-tech

Dreams

"Something is about to give,

I can feel it coming,

I think I know what it is,

I'm not afraid to die,

I'm not afraid to live,

and when I'm flat on my back,

I think I know what it is."

The above lines have been shamelessly lifted from a song by my favorite band of all time, U2. The song is named "Kite". It's about letting go of somebody you don't want to let go of. Could be a lover, could be a father, could be a friend, could be anyone. I took a day off from work today to recharge my batteries. To get out of the rut of everyday life. And, what a day it has been! I got up pretty late, about 9 am, having dreamt of my life thus far.

I dreamt of my school. I remembered my first day there. I still remember it very vividly. The first day at that hallowed institution is something that can’t be easily forgotten by anyone who’s studied there. I thought of the great friends I’ve made there, Guys who’ll stand by me for life, Guys I’ll stand by for life. I can’t start naming people here because it’ll take forever and a half to get them all! Indians, and foreigners alike, they’ve all contributed to shaping me. They all are responsible for what I am today. And amazingly, I dreamt of each and everyone and everything that I have ever encountered in school. Thanks for the memories, guys. Good ones, not so good ones J. Thanks for sticking by me all these years.

That was my first dream sequence. And then I slept again in the afternoon, post-lunch. And then I don’t know why I dreamt of my Kodachadri trip. Now, not going into facts, but dreams are normally weird. So, I dreamt of me climbing the Kodachadri peak. The strange part of it was that to a large extent, the detail was accurate. I dreamt of being drenched even while we got to our starting point, which was true, I dreamt of climbing the terrain being washed by rain over and over again, which was again true. But the funny part was that the guys who had taken the trip, they were kinda different. Their appearance in the trek was totally out of context. Totally weird! Can’t imagine how funny it was then! It was a great trip though, and that’s why I dreamt of it. It was a great learning experience. It was the first time in my life that I really was drenched for an entire day! Now, for an urban lad like me, that is quite something to write home about. The trek taught me to not give up at any cost. It taught me that no matter what, a peak is there to be climbed. That no matter what turns up, unexpectedly or expectedly, it has to be dealt with. There is no way out. And when you do finish it, there’s no feeling that can be compared with it. Life for me has been like that trek, of sorts. The leeches that kept getting into my shoes were like the little thoughts and doubts, meaningless at the time, but which slowly suck on the flesh and draw strength from the body. These thoughts are to be removed at the bud. And one must move on, strongly and resolutely so that the fewest of these thoughts percolate through the clothes to the skin. And those leeches that do, must be removed by means of a sharp knife, or be taken with a pinch of salt, which removes them.

I hate to be preachy, but I end up being that a lot of the time, and I’m sure my friends hate that in me! Getting back to my dreams. I got down to writing this entry only in the evening. Having lazed about all day, I guess I have realized that I can’t live without sitting at the computer for a few minutes at least. So, here I am! Gotta go grab a bite now. It’s getting late, and I don’t like a late dinner. (No, there’s no philosophy in that, it’s just a habit.)

Balance

A friend of mine recently discussed the topic of Life and Death with me over lunch. Well, initially we both agreed on the concept of Soul. Tried hard to define it, but eventually couldn't decide whether it's a physical entity or a conceptual one. Went on to have lunch, and then a thought struck. Balance. I attempted at foregoing the concept of Soul completely to go with the Zen philosophy of Balance. I put forth my view that the an entity lives because of the balance between the factors that
a) try to keep one alive (positive)
b) try to kill the body (negative)
The first factor keeps the second factor subdued and one lives. In a state of Coma, Sleep, or Meditation, the positive and negative energies are just a hair's breadth apart and so one remains in non-consciousness in any of the three states. The brain sends out signals to the body to maintain its internal functioning, but it's only enough to keep one remaining alive.
Well, Sleep and Soul are two things that nobody can ever understand or define. They remain two of the greatest mysteries known to mankind. I believe that the concept of Balance can somehow explain those two mysteries.
So, coming back to our lunch-time conversation, we concluded the discussion by wondering how many of us really worried about the Balance in our lives. The Balance of having friends and being wary of our foes, the Balance of a Work Life and a Personal Life, and God knows how many other balances. We live our lives, spending time worrying about our project deadlines, stuff that we're gonna buy over the weekend, the next party we're gonna go to, the next alcohol/nicotine/dope/sex induced high, food, money, power, love, hate and many other things. And I believe now that thinking about these things is what makes us human.

Picasa Web Albums - Abhishek

Here's a link to my Picasa Web Albums. :)

Picasa Web Albums - Abhishek