Political vs Economic freedom!

Political freedom is useless without good roads and uninterrupted power. Indians have wasted a lot of time since 1947 on "non-issues" like social justice, agitation to call themselves backward or for caste-based reservations, while the world is moving at a faster pace, constructing 16 land roads and 1000's of MW power plants to fuel the growth the countries are experiencing. While all this is happening in Gulf, China, Brazil, Russia and the other emerging markets, here in India, our politicians discuss for years whether they need to approve a power project of 25 MW or whether an airport should be expanded to handle 50,000 more passenger traffic.

Should we blame democracy for this? Why should a group of low IQ individuals sit and discuss what should I import and export? Why should someone I didn’t vote for, decide that a particular economic system (communism or statism) is good for everyone in country, when such a system has been discarded everywhere in the world, including those places where they were practiced violently? Give an option, I would prefer better roads and uninterrupted power THAN the right to vote. What have my votes brought in the past so many years I have voted? What have the votes of millions of voters brought to us in the last 60+ years? Hope we don't have to ask same questions 60 years from now!!

The 'nasty religious' crowd

How does god accept this "nasty religious crowd"? By nasty, I don't intend to mock at their religious sentiments or behaviour but I completely mock at their social behaviour. This question was in my mind everytime I went to temples, especially crowded ones like Tirupathi and was reverberating strongly in my mind when I was standing in queue, when I had gone to Shirdi in April this year.

By nasty, I mean the impolite, rustic devotees who don't mind jumping lines or pushing the queue with the sole intention of seeing god before everyone else, before all the other law-abiding citizens who are standing for hours or days in the queue!! This was the primary reason I stopped going to temples (the other being an inclination to atheism :) ) but Shirdi was not something to be missed, I was told. I literally cursed everyone, when I stood in the queue, even went to the extent of thinking that I should have never set foot there. Baba, nothing to curse you, but everything to do with your nasty, so-called religious follwers!! Why don't you do something about them?

Will god be pleased with this pathetic behaviour of 'q' jumpers who are braving all odds and civic senses to meet him or will he admonish such ruthless jumpers who are depriving the rights of other law abiding citizens waiting patiently in line to see god? GOD ONLY KNOWS!!!

The Art of Leaving!

The art of leaving office after work is indeed a complex, metaphysical, psychosomatic process, which can only be mastered through a structured program, a la the art of living of Sri Sri Ravishankar ji. Whenever we leave office only, colleagues will have "urgent deliverables that need to be vetted by us" or managers would call for "meetings to discuss strategy for seamless integration of trainee associates". I am sure Dilbert faced the same problem too in his bounty corporate career but let us keep him aside for a moment. In this simple article, I intend to share some of the "best practices" I follow to accelerate the process of leaving office on time.

1) Start sending signals half an hour before exit. Make yourself a bit jittery, talk about traffic, some procession happening, weather, crowd at junctions etc. Send chaotic signals to make people understand you are leaving in the next 15 - 30 minutes!
2) Decline meeting requests (am serious) which may border the exit time. Cajole your colleagues also to decline meeting requests so that you don't stand as odd one out ;)
3) Go around the bays and talk to people, asking them when they were leaving, since it's about closing time at work and that everyone has to leave.
4) Talk about human rights, labour laws, 8 hour work shifts etc loud in such a way that the HR bay would also be able to hear. If HR sit in separate buildings, forward key labour rules as normal forwards to someone in HR so they may do the needful of forwarding it to their team members!!

5) One could also be proactive in starting preparations to leave for the day, right from lunch (isn't this getting better?!) After the lunch break, remind people half the day was over and that only 3 or 4 more hours are left for the work day to get over.

Is there more in your mind that could be added to the best practices list?, please do let me know.

Novels I read in the recent past

In the past 3 months, I completed reading "Fountainhead" and am now reading "Atlas Shrugged". Both are intense, extremely gripping till the last word and pretty heavy, focusing on individualism and taking potshots at the socialist mindset. I enjoyed reading Fountainhead and I hope to read it again sometime in the future. I find Atlas Shrugged much more enjoyable than Fountainhead, but I feel I've had to read some pages time and again to understand what the author intends to say!!

I also read Erich Segal's Doctors. I have mixed opinions about this book. I feel the author has let down doctors by trying to expose the hypocritic side of this noble profession, unmindful of the fact that there exists a hypocritic side in any profession! Overall the book was interesting to read, but gave lot more medical information than what a layman could understand. I have always had great opinions on doctors and so I found this book to be negative on doctors!! At the same time, my respect for alternative medicine has also grown leaps and bounds, since I witnessed some ailments or diseases, which remain untreated or not properly focussed in Allopathy, having excellent cure in Homeopathy or Ayurveda. For example, Multiple Sclerosis has 100% cure in homoepathy, whereas Allopaths generally prescribe a steroid for MS instead of complete cure of this disease.

There are lots of books to be read - hope I find time and interest to complete them soon :)

A trip to இருதயாலீஸ்வரர் கோயில்

I visited a temple after a long time. Called இருதயாலீஸ்வரர் கோயில் [Irudhayaaleeswarar Temple or Temple of Lord of Hearts] this temple is situated around 1.5 hours drive from Chennai, in a place called Thiruninravur. Roads were pretty bad in shape while going and the traffic added to the chaos. But it was worth the travel!

This temple was in an idyllic village, surrounded by lush green fields. Architecture was amazing, cool breeze flowing through the temple keeping us without sweat even though there was no power! Given the fact that the temple was built 1300 years back, the construction was marvelous and the temple also carries a huge baggage of history as explained in this wiki link

The drive back was also good, since we took a detour to reach Chennai via the national highways. I'm sure such breaks to a serene spot every weekend, religious or non-religious should be good stress busters for those who are heavily stressed during the week!

For those who want to try driving:
Route to this temple: From Chennai Koyambedu --> Ambattur --> Padi --> Thiruninravur --> Near Kodhandarama Perumal Temple in Thiruninravur

From Koyambedu, it's an hour's drive provided the traffic is normal.

Cheers for now!

IQ test results!

I recently took up an IQ test at testQ.com and the results were quite interesting to read. Here's what the test engine said:

Precision Processor

Your IQ Score is: 136

You've got a very experiential way of learning and a strong mathematical mind. You're able to whittle even the most complex situation down to comprehensible component parts. In short, you have mastered the art and science of precision. That's what makes you a Precision Processor.

For you, life is a series of equations. Your brain is naturally predisposed to intense mathematical acuity, and your understanding of numerical problems is unparalleled. It's second nature for you to cut to the heart of an issue, so that you can discover quick solutions to problems while others get bogged down in unnecessary details. One Precision Processor that comes to mind is the Greek philosopher-mathematician, Pythagoras. Pythagoras had a mind for numbers and, as such, could come up with previously unknown theories like his method for calculating the sides of a right triangle (a2+b2=c2). You too, can use numbers to translate aspects of the world around you — something that doesn't come easily to everyone. Your quick mathematical mind will allow you to communicate a variety of ideas to other people, so don't keep it to yourself.

Precision Processors can apply their mathematical skills to any situation involving numbers. That's a talent that will come in handy for everything from the workplace to splitting a bill 12 ways to converting foreign currency in your head. Others often look to you to do the math and luckily, you're well equipped.

My opinion: Pontificating on these results, right since 2003 when I started taking these tests, I almost landed up in the same region of score - between 129 - 136. I am amazed that I always get a score around this number but not more or less!! This brings me to the trillion $ question - Does IQ get shaped by environment or does it remain the same for a person due to genetic reasons?

Long time!

I just wanted to say a HI to my readers. It's long since I posted any entry in this blog. Not that I am VERY BUSY but I am lazy :-)

Will soon write a detailed entry about what I've been doing so far!

Have wonderful days ahead!!