Why I am starting to believe in rebirth...

Recenlty I joined the social networking bandwagon and became a member in Facebook. Initially I was skeptical about it, but later as I tried it out it had a few things that kept me interested. I found an interesting application called Virtual bookshelf, where you can list the books you read and want to read and the cool thing is you can view the bookshelf of your friends as well. So I came across this book called "Buddha" in one of my friends book shelf . Later when I visited my friend I found that it is actually a graphic novel(comic) that was originally written in Japanese. The last I remeber reading comics were during the days when my Dad used to get me Tarzan comics. I reluctantly started reading the first few pages and was immediately sucked into the book and so I took the book home and completed it in a day or two. But the sad part is, it is a 8 volume series and my friend doesnt have any other volume. How all this relates to rebirth...? Well after reading the book I did some research about the author Osamu Tezuka and found that he was a "Manga"(comic in Japanese) artist in Japan and was a legend. Just a few days ago I was making a list of all the things that I liked to do and it was a very big list consisting of things like sports(cricket, tennis, golf, chess), reading, visiting different countries, various professions I am interested in other than my current one and the list was getting endless. And just in the types of books I liked to read there were so many genres and here I am introduced to another one "Manga". At that moment, I pretty much realized that there is no way I will be able to do all the things I want to do in this lifetime and therefore rebirth is probably the only solution... If only we are given a database of things that we did in our preivous lives, the task in this life would be much easier... :)

Book Review - "How Life Imitates Chess..." - Gary Kasparov

Gary Kasparov is to Chess what Sachin Tendulkar is to Cricket. A book about either of these Masters of their trade is something every sports fan will love to read. And to read a book by the Grand Master himself about the preparation and thinking process he went through during the course of this career is worth every penny! I came to know about this book through a blog that I visit frequently and ordered the book immediately. I just finished reading this book and the experience was as mesimerizing as wathching a Sachin Tendulkar century against Australia. Quite literally, it was like being let in on the master plan that went into a successful heist against a maximum security bank. This book can be read in three different ways, 1) A chess fan who wants to go to the next level can read the book as a coaching manual that teaches how to prepare and think for tougher battles. It does not have any chess specific teachings like opening gambits or defensive techniques. But it is like a gym workout for the mind of a chess player. 2) A person from the coporate world can learn how to organize, strategize and execute under varying degress of pressure and the same time continuoulsy seek challenges to elevate oneself to the next level and 3) Anyone else who wants to know what it takes to become a champion and even more so about what it takes to continue being a champion for decades without losing focus. I guess it is time to declare CHECK MATE...

A Turkish Delight

I just got back from attending a lecture by 2006 Nobel prize winner for literature, Orhan Pamuk from Turkey in Seattle Arts center. I walked into work today thinking of numerous tasks that had to be completed when my Turkish team mates informed me about this lecture. I just could not believe the conincidence. Just on friday, I had read the speech given by Orhan Pamuk after receiving the award. It was very interesting and intriguing at the same time. He had spoken about things like why he writes, what drives him and things like that. So the opportunity of listening to him the very next monday was something I couldnt resist and also the fact that I have never attended a lecture by a Nobel Laureate before. I had a lot of expectations from the speech and was waiting to be blown away. It didnt turn out quite that way, but it was fascinating to hear an author talk about his passions and the process of writing his novels and how he transformed himself from a painter to a novelist. Even more fascinating was to watch this man trying to stike a balance between his political beliefs about the Armenian genocide and keeping his novels politically correct. My next stop to unravel the complex mind of this individual is the non-fiction book he had written called "The Other Colors".

My Lost Friend

The day I got my annual review, I was happy with it since it is a reflection of the work done over the course of the year and it went quite well. I was thinking how to celebrate it, should I buy a new TV, an xbox 360 or buy some golf clubs, etc etc at which point my day dreaming was cut short by my wife's phone call. I had to get the car from her to go to the scheduled car service. As I was driving, an orange object just above the audio system, shining in the very little sunlight that we get in Seattle caught my attention. It was a Ganapathi statue that my wife had got from India. As I was looking at the statue, I realized that I did not thank God for what I had received today, the invisible friend whom I had looked up to on several occasions over the years in times of need and distress and thanked whenever I received something I was happy about. I was wondering when was the last time I had thought of him... well it was a few days ago when I was contemplating if he really existed in the first place.The German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once famously proclaimed "God is Dead". Were the events of that day a stark reminder that I've actually lost him?

The Missing Tail

Today morning I was reading about the DVD format wars between HD-DVD and BluRay on news.com. They were discussing about how in a year's time there might still be no resolution to it and customer's are still weary of buying either one of the players. This is very similar to so many situations in life where we are always waiting for something better to come and we miss out on whats available right in front of us. It reminds me of an story I heard sometime back...A man fell in love with a woman and went to her Dad to get permission to marry her. The Dad said that he needs to pass a test. The test was that he has to catch the tail of a bull that comes out from behind a door in a open field. In the field there were three doors. So the guy waited for the first bull and it was too huge and so he said let me wait for the next one, it must be smaller. Then the second door opened and out came a bull that was even bigger than the first one and so the guy decided to wait for the third. When the third door opened, he was very excited to see a really weak bull just trudging along. And just when the bull was going past him, he noticed that it did not have a tail... Wonder how many such tails we have missed in life...

American Freedom

Last weekend I had been to New York with my wife and her parents. By now we are all used to the amount of security check that happens in the airport but still everytime I experience it, I cant help but wonder, "What kind of freedom does America have?" The politicians gave America a war in the name of securing their safety, but in the process have made the world a much smaller place for Americans. Americans are targeted when they go on vacations around the world. They have to constantly worry about their safety in a foreign land. Is this the type of freedom that America wants? Well a reporter once asked a baseball coach, "Why the World Series is named so, even though no other country participates in it", the coach replied "Is there a world outside America?" Perhaps the politicians heard this ...

Do I really need a MIT degree and a PhD?

Today I met an interesting gentleman in the bus on my way to the Microsoft company meeting. What should have been a 25 minute ride, took 2 nearly 2 hours. This person was sitting next to me and he had a notebook and there were a few numbers and alphabets written on it and he was thinking deeply. I had a sneaking suspicion that it might be a puzzle he was trying to solve and it was confirmed once we started talking. He then asked me if I like puzzles and I pretended like I did and he explained it to me. It was one of the classical interview puzzles about 4 people needing to cross a bridge, having only one torch light, while only two can go across at any given time and we had to figure out the shortest time in which the 4 can cross the bridge give the time that each person would take.
He said he found the obvious way to do it and it was 19 minutes, but he was very sure that that was not the right answer. He asked me if I can solve it. I vaguely remembered it from the time I was preparing for Microsoft interviews and then figured out the method and told him the shortest time was 17 minutes. He was thrilled and said that he can now enjoy the ride peacefully.
Oh well, I forgot to mention that during our conversation, he mentioned that he is currently working as an Architect on the CLR team and he had an undergraduate degree from MIT and a PhD from Carnegie Melon. I guess I made a great decision by not applying to MIT or pursuing a PhD :)

Dog Fighting, If it is Inhuman...

Something struck me while following the dog fighting charges against Michael Vick. If dog fighting is inhuman, what about boxing? It is another blood sport, two humans fighting it out in a ring where a knock out is the most celebrated type of victory and most people who watch a boxing match are expecting the same. But it is a legal sport, followed by millions, million dollar pay days for the boxers, with a govering body. So if there is so much hue and cry about dog fighting, then why not against boxing? One argument that some might use is, in dog fighting, the dogs did not accept to fight, where as the boxers do it willingly. Well what animal gives its consent before being slaughtered and served as meat?

Why am I not a Millionaire yet?

The following blog entry was written way back in 2005 when I had created my blog on blogspot. I failed to write much after that. Hoping to get it back on track

Today morning as I was driving to work( in Dallas) I was thinking about various things and this topic struck me. My drive to work is around 40 mins and
I spend this time reflecting on life and thinking about topics for my blog and various other things. As I was thinking about different things, I asked myself “What if God gives me a Million Dollars today. What would I do with it? How will that affect my life?” and here is what I think I will do
1) Resign my Job.
2) Before I resign my Job I will put the money in a bank.
3) Go back to India and buy a nice car.
4) Then go around the world visiting different countries and chill out till I get bored.
5) Go back and find something to do which will not be too demanding and help some people and take vacations whenever I think I need one and go on and on…
6) Play more video games.After thinking about what I would do, then I thought about

What if Bill Gates gets 30 billion dollars , i.e. pretty much an amount that is equivalent to what he has now?He will continue to be the Chief Architect of Microsoft and continue to do what he does everyday.What if Narayan Murthy gets a Billion dollars?He will continue to do be the CEO of Infosys and grow his company more and work hard everyday.

What if Sachin Tendulkar gets 100 Crores?He will continue to play as good as he can and score more centuries.

What if A.R.Rehman gets 100 Crores?He will continue to compose good music and help put Indian music on the Global map.

So when I look at the above guys, they all seem to have something in common. They will continue to do what they are doing now and strive to get better at it. But when I look at what I will do, there is a big difference. I will stop doing what I am doing right now and try to live life as though it is one big vacation. Is this why God decided that I do not deserve to get a Million Dollars because then I would just spend my time doing nothing worthwhile and shy away from the challenges that life has to offer and stay in my comfort zone. And is this why there are only a select few Millionaires in this world while there maybe so many people like me who just want to lead a comfortable life without wanting to face the various challenges that life has to offer and resigning to the fact that they have to work 9 to 6 their rest of their lives?