INDIA IN ELITE CLUB 

On January 6 2014, ISRO's GSLV-D5, powered by an indigenous cryogenic engine, put GSAT 14 into orbit. By doing so, India powered itself into the elite club of U.S, Russia and France. Presently, cryogenic countries are U.S, Russia, France, Japan, China and India.
Both U.S and Russia had refused to give the technology to India. The successful operation of cryogenic technology has enabled India to defy the bossy attitude of U.S and other hot-shot countries. Way to go India and ISRO! This is just an entry into the scene. India is beginning to make its presence felt in the global arena.

cat

the cat is coming

end of an era

What is special about Sachin? He was of course a great cricket player. But there are other great players too. What separates Sachin from them? 
About five years earlier, I couldn't imagine an Indian team without Sachin. I couldn't believe that he could retire from cricket. An aura enveloped the ground when he came in to bat. When he got out, we turned off the TV. Whenever I saw the letters MRF, I remembered him. The name Sachin caused a burst of energy to run through my body. Ironically, the game of the the English instigated patriotism in many Indians and Sachin Tendulkar played pivotal role in the process. Every young boy idealized Sachin. Sachin was not a mere man for them. He was a symbol. For every boy , Sachin was himself. Or in him, he could see a future Sachin. If sporting capabilities only are taken into consideration, Sachin cant be called the greatest. But he was at the right place at the right time. He came at the time when the whole of India was searching for a national sporting hero. At once, he captured the imagination of a whole population. There was an Indian whom Indians could be proud of. He embodied the spirit of India- he was humble and yet bold, austere yet destructive, meek yet domineering. Never did a nasty word or a deed come from him; not from Sachin. He was as dedicated as a saint. This saintliness separates Sachin from other great players. Wherever he went, he kept his dignity intact. During his span of 24 years as a cricketer, he never for once got into bar brawl or came in news for licentious behaviour. When the match-fixing issue rocked Indian cricket, he  kept the faith of millions of fans. He never appeared in ads promoting alcoholic drinks. He probably knew the impact he had on kids. The country closely followed its icon through the years, his every dip in form, his injuries, his comeback: everything was subjected to precise analysis and argument. The whole country lamented at his every cheap dismissal and every house-hold passed through nervous moments once he crossed the nineties. His decision to retire came as a surprise to many, as a shock to many. But anyway,the timing was perfect. I doubt if such a farewell had been given to any sporting icon in any sport, let alone in cricket. 
Now is the age of ruthless cricket. The image of cricket as a gentleman's game is fast fading. The past generation cricketers are finding it hard to cope with the changing trend in cricket. Sachin epitomized the cricketing culture of his age. The age had fierce competition, but the players respected each other. Team members had deep mutual understanding. Playing for the country was their primary aim. Now-a-days, money rules cricket. Talent is of course more now, but talent is never polished and perfected; talent nowadays is not long lasting. By comparing Sachin and Virat Kohli, we can understand the difference between the two cultures. Virat is a very promising player. The record of Kohli now and the record of Sachin at Kohli's age reveals the class of Kohli. But Virat cannot possibly attain the stature of Sachin. 
By the retirement of Sachin, an era has come to an end. He is now a legend. As time passes, it gets bigger and bigger. A fifty years hence, we would be proudly saying to the coming generation that we lived in a time when Sachin played. He is a part of the country's psyche. I now remember the moments in my memories which was glorified the little great man and say from the bottom of my heart: Thank you Sachin!

a dilemma

Fear is one of the strongest emotions of people. Everybody has fear, I guess. Handling fear is one of the key skills in attaining success. So what is fear? It is generally explained an unpleasant emotion which is caused when one is threatened with danger, harm or pain. But this is a very straight-foreward and plain explanation. Emotions in humans often involves many dimensions because of the depth of human mind. The emotions often criss-cross each other, and sometimes the same experience can arouse conflicting emotions like joy and sorrow at the same time. Aristotle exhorted that an ideal tragedy must aim at generating catharsis, i.e. it must cleanse the mind of the spectator by arousing in him the emotions of pity and fear and thereby causing a purgation by the proper mixing of these emotions. This indicates that fear is a defining factor in the development of one's personality. As babies, we don't know what to fear. As children, we are taught what to fear by society and experiences. But we instinctively fear certain things like sudden loud noise, darkness, etc. As children grow into men, the object of their fear may change from one thing to another. 
People fear everything: death, cockroaches, insects, closed spaces, darkness, light, strangers, women, men,  failure, success, praise, criticism, fame, separation and what not. 


This fear takes many forms, sometimes very subtle. Fear of losing something by an action you do- for example, you like something very much, but you restrain from doing it because of moral pressure. Some of your dear ones want you to behave in a certain way. You behave like they say because you don't want to lose their love and want to stay with them. You once believed in their faith, but now it is no longer strong. Now a tug of war begins- between your likes and your loyalty to them. I believe you should have courage to put forward your views without hurting them. This is also a question of fear. You have the fear of losing their warmth. But other things have to be considered in this case too. You feel the pressure not because they coerce their views upon you, but you love them so much, and its you who actually force yourself, and put you in a dilemma. Clarity of thought is very important in such situations, which is actually very difficult once you enter into such a position. Such a position can be morally very testing and tiring, believe me. You have to compromise between two parts of yourself before it tears you apart.

my amateur flash work

some thoughts on God

All issues related to spirituality boils down to one question: whether there is God or not . Answers are many- yes, no, there are many, may be, probably yes, probably no, we need god,  i don't know, i don't care. Well, I too don't have any answer, I only have more and more questions.
Do you believe that everything happens for a reason? Do you believe everything happen according to a plan? Or do things just happen, they don't need any specific reason? Just like the 'dog-chasing-cars philosophy' of the Joker in the film 'The Dark knight'? Does meaning exist only in people's minds, and there is no purpose as such to creation? Many people believe that if life has to have a meaning, they should live for something, for a reason, for a motive. The better the reason, the more meaningful the life becomes.

To many, science is the final word of man. It may not have found a complete answer to life, but it is definitely on track. These are some most probable arguments about the genesis of world: The Sun broke into fragments. One of the fragments formed the Earth. Earth got transformed over millions of years And when conditions became ripe, life appeared on earth in the from organic molecules. Single celled organisms formed, from them multi-cellular organisms formed, simplest creatures formed in water, and life started getting more and more complex. It spread to land, and fins of aquatic animals gave way to limbs. Various animals arrived, in various forms and shapes. Then life started progressing in various branches, each branch evolving in a different way. Many animals came, through various stages. Many species progressed, many species perished. And last, about 2.5 million years ago, came predecessors of modern humans. This is the most reliable explanation about earth and life mankind has produced.
Let me ask you an irrelevant question: do you believe you can become US president? Yous odds of becoming a US president are one in ten million. The odds of you dying in a lightning strike are 1 in 134,906. Now let us look at the odds of a life molecule forming by random chance.
According to Richard Peacock,"the calculation which supports the creationist argument begins with the probability of a 300-molecule-long protein forming by total random chance. This would be approximately 1 chance in 10³⁹⁰."
In percentage, it becomes 0.0000000000000000...(387 zeroes)1. When rounded, it approximates to 0%. 

So if one says God created man, you have no grounds to refute them.

Some people say they believe in God, but not in god-men. God-men are only impostors; they are either frauds or just some eccentric people who just believe they are special. People who follow them are all fools. Let me ask something: aren't there special people? Some people play cricket better than anyone else. Some have unparalleled leadership skills, some have great IQ, some can take their bodies to unbelievable extends. Some have unique mental abilities. Then why can't one have superlative spiritual abilities? History has shown that man can grow most in spiritual abilities rather than in other means. Just consider the most powerful names in human history : Muhammad, Jesus Christ, Buddha, Confucius .. you can spot many spiritual names among them. Don't get me wrong: I am not saying that they are all perfect or I personally uphold their ideas completely. But they show us that human achievements can reach greater heights.

Many people may not agree that there is such a thing called spirituality. There is no thing as soul. There is only mind and brain. If there is a soul, where can you locate it in the body? Well, a simple answer that can be provided is that spirituality may be the answer for 'why you live'. 

Freud has explained the journey of mankind from the time of its appearance on earth to the present day as a slight growth of spirit from dominant id to dominant ego(in his terms). Now, it may be speculated that this journey may continue till the spirit of man evolves to a new species of superman.

skin deep

Two days before,a child was  born to my sister and her husband. I went there to visit the new-comer. It was a baby-girl, and a beautiful one. My sister and her husband were having all sorts of discussions- ranging from how to lay the baby in bed and how to design the cradle, to setting her educational qualifications and even searching for her bride-groom! And then my sister said: "Thank god she is not black like my grandfather. I had a fear about that." A much debated unresolved question re-surfaced from the depths of my racial mind. A question regarding our racial hypocrisy. We are black. But we hate to admit that we are black. We admire being white(specifically, fair). We use a lot of cosmetics to become fairer. As little children, we do not care whether we are dark or fair(or do we?). From our childhood, we are fed by the idea that being fair is beautiful, and dark is ugly. Films, stories reinforce this thought very often. Many films involve situations in which dark-skinniness is used for evoking laughter. Dark students are ridiculed  in school. Parents advise children: "Don't be out in the sun, it will darken you." We have fair heroes and heroines. To be more exact, fairness has to be combined with other features: long nose, thin lips, tall  physique, straight wavy-swavy hair: such are our conceptions of beauty. Our girls like fair boys, our boys like fair girls. Is this the admiration of a slave for his master? A friend of mine told that many Asian girls in Europe fall cheaply for a European boyfriend, and they don't have an esteem for their own race. Is the case same here too?
 Even before the coming of Europeans, when the hold of caste system was stronger here, we had a coloured mind. Is the present prejudice an extension of our past self? It is likely that it is a combination of both and other factors. There is a malayalam saying which goes like :"forgetting to march when you see a sahib(Britisher)". (Sayippine kanumbo kavathu marakkuka.) This is a common attitude of Asians and Africans. Many Indians brag about having European friends, like it is a privilege. This can be a danger, making us lose our self esteem and pride. Cant we be dark skinned and happy?