Sunder Kaand

I am back in the blogging circle after year and a half. Reasons are not so trivial. There have been many things that happened that I possibly can neither put here in brief nor justify the absence with something substantial. I would like to put the perspective directly. Pardon me for speaking in indirect references or pronouns but diplomacy is what I have learned from this journey. I am on the drive which is 'supposed' to lead me to a Career that encircles Knowledge. But sadly, the experience has been a Real Education. Although it has not been a complete disaster , but the administrators of knowledge, my fellow participants and the system overall have been a Big Disappointment. I would create the caricatures of the participants to narrate the story in brief. The battle is between these three candidates - The Knowledge Keepers, The Fellow Participants & The Administrators, all encompassed in a Sphere of Time. Those who have experienced what I have, will readily identify the c...

Why do humans need entertainment? Any guesses...? Well, frankly no one can say why we need it. Perhaps we can answer the question why we get bored? Any guesses...? No? So it is a vicious pair huh! Perhaps some viewers can guess why I am asking this question! Meanwhile, I tried to google about Animal kingdom sans Humans and found that Animals (Terrestrial, Aerial, Amphibious & Aquatic) don’t get bored. They do relax, obviously after they had their meals but don’t get bored and do not hence seek for entertainment. The young ones till they are young do play and have fun but there is no boring time to do time pass or seek entertainment per se. Entertainment, recreation, time-pass or whatever, we all want some during the day. Forms of entertainments could be different for different people. Well, this posting is no lecture on forms of entertainment and people’s choice. This posting is about entertainment’s one form – cinema/tv where actually we can choose from what is offered and not men...

Most of us often spend time in becoming what we are not and forget who we actually are. Well, I do not mean by profession but by person. I have comic examples for that, He-man, Spiderman & Superman et al! Taking my favorites it is clear that He-man in his non superhero form is Prince Adams, Spiderman is Peter Parker and Superman is Clark Kent. These three characters are really interesting to speak. No! I would not narrate any episode, but the characters I am talking about. Peter Parker’s alter ego is Spiderman, meaning Peter Parker when he goes to bed wakes up as Peter Parker but becomes Spiderman when his city denizens are in trouble. I wonder why he wears a mask when he is doing nothing wrong. Why a superhero has to anyway? Superman’s alter ego is Clark Kent. Superman hides himself as Clark Kent and not the other way around. Though Superman hardly has a mask (it is arguable enough that what he conceals and what he doesn’t and what he should or shouldn’t) He-man is from the wo...

I stayed away from blogging for many other reasons but incidentally 26/11, I could not stop myself! 26/11 is date now in the league of those black dates such as 9/11 or 7/11 where ordinary innocent civilians got killed in the name of Religious War right at their work place or while commuting to home or office or at a place which they used to visit often. Incidentally it is this same black date that I share my birthday too. I was born 32 years ago, but on 26/11 – 2008, I was reborn. I did not witness the event live but I happened to be in the same area where one of the actions took place. I was at Jazz by Bay, Pizzeria Restaurant right at the junction of Marine Drive and Churchgate Road. I was having my birthday dinner with my beloved. What gives me goose bumps is not being there, but actually these three things – 1)My favorite eat out place is always Bade Miyan, a Mughlai Fast Food corner behind Taj Hotel, but something made me choose this place. What if I would have chosen Bade Miyan....

A letter to Times Group based on their Article "Why believe in Astrology?" published on Sunday September 20, 2009 in their Supplement, TIMES LIFE! I am a regular reader of Times. I would like to respond to the Article "Why believe in Astrology?" by Sunita Chabra published in the Sunday Times Life supplement on September 20, 2009. The urge to respond came in when I read the sentence, "Astrology as a Science". Though I guess there must be many responses voting & vetoeing Ms. Chabra's manifestation, still I felt I would like to add my perspective. First of all no offense to people who believe in Astrology; I am myself from a family(including my would be) which are ardent believers of Astrology of all forms. So, this is not an attack sans personal vendetta. Now, let us understand what is Science or how to define Science? I always say the following that Science can be defined in the following chronological steps - 1. Observation 2. Inference 3. Theoriz...

We are born believers. Human beings are programmed by evolution to believe in God because it gives them a better chance of survival, researchers have claimed. The idea has emerged from studies of the way children's brains develop and of the workings of the brain during the religious experiences. Researchers suggest that during evolution groups of humans with religious tendencies began to benefit from their beliefs, perhaps because they tended to work toegther better and so stood a greater chance of survival. Richard Dawkins has long argued that religious beleifs results from poor education and childhood "indoctrination". But research has also proved that children have a natural intutive thinking about supernatural existence without the "indoctrination". As they grow up they overlay these beliefs with more rational approaches but the tendence to illogical supernatural beliefs remains as religion. These findings are by Prof. Bruce Hood, professor of developmental...

Man, in even in the lower stages of development, possesses a faculty which, for want of a better can be christened as Number Sense. This faculty permits him to recognize that something has changed in a small collection when, without his direct knowledge, an object has been removed from or added to the collection. Number sense should not be confused with counting, which is probably of a much later genre, and involves, as we shall see, a rather intricate mental process. Counting, so fast as we know, is an attribute exclusively human, whereas some brute species seems to possess a rudimentary number sense akin to our own. At least, such is the opinion of competent observers of animal behavior, and the theory is supported by a weighty mass of evidence. Counting especially has become such an integral part of our mental equipment that psychological tests on our number perception are fraught with great difficulties. The genesis of number is hidden behind the impenetrable veil of countless preh...