Back in business

Since I was travelling for the last 2 weeks, I was not able to blog. Now that I am in town, I am back in business. I had been to southern part of India for the past 2 weeks and got a glimpse of how people drive their 2, 3 and 4 wheelers in that country. Having driven in the US for the past 6 years, it amazed me to find out how people drive with pure blind faith. I also got a chance to drive a 2 wheeler for 2 weeks and it was a very different experience.
The traffic control system is in complete disarray but the motorist seems to be in complete control of the roads. No stop signs in intersections but people get through the busiest intersections with ease. Traffic lights work but no one follows it. You can see motorists inching past the stop line when there is 10 seconds left for the red light to turn green. But I never got a chance to witness a fatality because of this. No speed limits are posted/followed since no vehicle can go faster than 50 kmph(about 30 mph) because of the road conditions.
It makes one wonder how people get around in their vehicles. It then dawned on me how much faith one motorist has on the other when he crosses an intersection and when he overtakes. He assumes that the other motorist would stop at an intersection when in fact the other motorist has the right of way. And guess what, he does stop. I was taken aback on how people just assume a lot of things while driving on Indian roads. Honking in the US is considered a sign of impatience and initimidation. But this a way of driving in India. One cannot imagine driving without honking atleast once every minute. Having driven on US roads, it takes a lot of "Metanoia"(Shift of mind) to drive on Indian roads.
Having said all this, I cannot deny the fact that it is indeed fun to drive on Indian roads. You seem to connect with other drivers when you drive. When you drive with your lights on during the day, they make sure you switch it off by showing all kinds of hand signs. But they dont seem to care if you dont switch on your lights during the night.
In summary its an unique experience driving on Indian roads. One have to drive to experience it.

Is life Digital or Analog

An interesting read.
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/dyson_ad/dyson_ad_index.html

Where does "hate" come from?

This question pops up on and off in my mind but I have never really sat down to think about it or to question its origin.
1. Why do people hate one another?
2. When do they start hating?
3. What triggers it?

The answers to these questions will establish a basis for human relationship and examine the love-hate relationship between 2 or more people. Some people hate themselves. We are not discussing those people yet. We can start by examining what triggers the "hate" feeling? Below are some of the reasons that I can think of:
1. When a person does something that the other person does not like or approve of.
2. When a person fails to keep up their word.
3. When a person physically or emotionally hurts another person.

We can keep adding to the list above. But the point is that "hate" originates when the frequency does not match between 2 people. When these 2 inidividuals try to match up their frequency and fails, it truns into hate. There are 2 kinds in this. One kind takes it hard when the frequency does not match, and the other kind brushes it off and move on or keep trying to find a resonance. The latter kind are more mature and patient than the former. It takes a lot of courage to be the latter kind. The frequency mismatch between 2 people has caused a lot of heartaches and emotional tantrums in individuals.
1. If only these individuals "think outside the box" they would never hate one another.
2. If only they look at it from the perspective of the other individual, they would never hate one another.
3. If only they try to walk the shoes of the other individual, they would never hate one another.

I am not trying to postmortem the "hate" process. All I am trying is to identify the root cause so that a post-mortem would never be required. Many a realtionships, many a friendships, many a "siblingship" has been broken because of this frequency mismatch. I understand that it is hard, almost impossible, to match frequencies of 2 distinct individuals, every single time. But the moment, that individual puts themselves in the other individual shoes, the mismatch may still exist but would never turn into hate.
I try to do that in every relationship I have and it has worked like a charm for me. As far as I can recall, I really do not hate anyone and I dont think I will ever hate anyone.
This is just a tip of an iceberg on this subject. I wish more and more people would think about it and eliminate this hate among us. I would love to hear more perspectives on this.

Adios.

Its not just about me...

I had a thought. This blog cannot be just about me. It should also feature people around me. So I decided I will feature one character every week that impressed me. This week is about a colleague of mine from work. His dad is from Argentina and his mom is from Wales. He lives on the mountains of Santa cruz in a so called 'cabin' surounded by endangered species and California oak. This cabin has an outdoor shower which until an year ago did not have a roof. To top it all, this cabin is "off the grid", which means there is no electricity. The only means of electricity is through a generator that he turns it on during the evening and switches it off around bed time.
He drives to work about 50 mies each way everyday. He has 7 cars out of which only 3 works and every one of them has a minimum of 200k miles on it. These days he drives a volvo to work which has about 250K on it. His faith in his car just amazes me. He drives this car 100 miles a day 5 days a week through the mountains and rough roads to get from his cabin to work and back.
When he is around, he dominates the conversation. He is a bigtime heavy metal fan and plays a guitar. He sounds a romantic when he speaks to his fiance on the phone(He has a loud voice and seldom talks quietly). He charms people with his talk. I have never seen anyone enjoy narrating a joke as he does. He just becomes the character itself.
Now why did he impress me so much? I dont know. He just came across as a very different character. A very unique one. Very unseemingly and very genuine.

Adios...

Tomorrow will be better..

This is what I hope for these days. That tomorrow will be better than today. I desperately wanted it to be. But I do want to feel good about what I achieved today. Thinking back it was not a bad day. I achieved what I had planned on. Of course new things have piled on because of what I achieved today. I guess thats inevitable. I am at that juncture of life where I do not have the luxury to procrastinate on any tasks. Now is too late... everything should have been done yesterday.
I wanted to serialize tasks to execute and I think I was quite successful in doing just that. Hoping to do the same tomorrow. Taking it one day at a time.
I hate to have surprises. The last 3 weeks were not exactly what I was looking for. Too many surprises, too many unplanned happenings. I was just not prepared for it. It is so unlike me. I usually plan things well ahead of time and execute them. I know, I know what you are thinking. I am not a perfectionist. But I do like to plan stuff.
I just hope everything goes well as planned tomorrow.
Adios

Unpredictable life

Sometimes it makes me think how unpredictable life is and how one can never guess whats in store in the coming hour. My day started off as usual but now as I sit down to blog some thoughts, I am so confused that I dont know what to do next. But I cannot let that get to me. I have very close people around me who I can call upon at times like this and they would be more than willing to lend a helping hand and offer suggestions. I have a wonderful family who is very supportive. Sometimes it makes me wonder what I would do without them. Today was one of those days when I had to call upon them for help. They did give their best. Now its up to me.
I wish I had this magic wand that I can swish and make my mind clear of all the confusion. I cannot let this chew my mind and time. What should I do next?
1. Serialize my thoughts and actions and execute them one by one.
2. Continue to make the day productive
3. Give it my best shot.
4. Feel good about it at the end of the day.

Hope I dont stop with just words. Wish me luck...

Adios

Insipration...

Just came to know that I actually inspired a good friend of mine to start blogging. When I started to blog, I thought to myself that even if I could inspire one person to start blogging, then I have achieved something. Now I feel elated. I hope I could inspire more people. Today was a busy day. Spent time with family. It felt good. Go to taste home made pasta sauce today. It was excellent. Its pretty late and my mind is not working great. Will blog more later..
Adios.

The magnificent Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco