Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

---

Imagine! It took me so long to discover this and get overwhelmed....

Marriage Today

An inspired post...

In a predominantly partriarchal society marriage was an apt arrangement which not only helped the economically & physically weaker women to survive but also allowed some rules around sexual communion.

Graphics courtesy Probir Sarkar. Mail him.

But why was this a partriarchal society in the first place? Was it because men were physically stronger or was it something else? I have huge faith in the power of nature to find a solution. I believe that a partriarchal arrangement was nature's way of setting some rules around human survival. It was not a man made arrangement but a culmination of a series of different methods tried at different times. And the best survived. If you disagree you will have to give better reasons.

So why am I raising this now? How much of a partriarchal society is this anymore? I was trying to think of the marriages that are around me. In a majority I see the women have some kind of earning power. In quite a few I even see women having more earning power. In many I see women playing the dominant role. All of these three conditions are alien to men.

Now lets look at the men. Once the master of the house he now finds his dominance, his earning power, his decision making all challenged at each point. In many a households they are no more the more educated. Its a quezy situation to be in, more so when you have enjoyed your thousands of years of nature-gifted dominance.

But women having allowed themselves to be dominated for circumstancial reasons have regrouped. They are equally educated, earn now and most importantly have discovered that sexuality is no more a disadvantage but can be used to good effect to make way in society.

Result? A permanent feeling of imbalance in most marriages. You fret, you slap, you kick, you fume! Sometimes you kiss and make up. Sometimes you make love and make up. At other times you just drink and make up. Sometimes you just make up. Sometimes you just dont make up and continue.

I do not see a single perfect marriage around me. Some are nasty, some stoically pathetic, some are so shamful that the least said the better and some give me the picture of slave trade (does not matter who is the slave and who the master).

So what happens to the institution called marriage whose basic tenets did not factor in a society in which men and women share power. In today's scenario where each of one of us wants to lead a life on our own terms marriage is archaic. Think of it - if you were asked to marry your best friend (forget gender here) would that be exciting? Why would you want to adjust 24 hrs with someone even if he/she is your best friend. For most of us the idea would puke.

But it is marriage's second reason that is the bigger problem. And this worries me the most. Most marriages fail after the reckless couple has procreated. And where they dont those moments of make belief kiss and make up (Hollywood Ishtyle) becomes the catalyst of procreation.

Suddenly you are left to parent a progeny who inherits the confused state of the world. Soon it becomes another tool of the power struggle. Like the car, the TV, the fridge it also becomes the bone of contention during nasty moments of tug of war. Unlike the tangibles it cannot be divided into two equal halves. But who cares in this war of the sexes. Each of us become a reason for a blotched childhood that leads to another disastrous adulthood. And the cycle goes on...

The law most often, with its eye blindfolded, gives custody of the child to the woman. Is it an acknowledgement of the 9 months of gestation or is it a signal of the imminent shift. But then we still have things like alimony, ladies seats, all reserved compartments for women. The physical strength of men is but the last bastion but the age of Viagra will soon come up with a solution.

So what will happen to Marriage?

Goodbye Dada!

Operation Gang-up is over. The end of the road for Dada.

The cricketer Sourav finally pays for the leader Sourav. A country once petted by the whites has docility running in its blood. India has history of dumping heroes. And how so?

I was an avowed fan of Sourav because he never blinked on the field, because he never hid behind diplomacy and got under the opposition's skin. He was a leader.


And our country has stopped producing leaders in all walks of life. How will a dimunitive frogjumper whose very existence is based on parochial regionalism understand all this.

But wait Sourav was also a silken batsmen. But alas cricket was never the reason for his being dumped? In India you have your tryst with fame till your are pulled down and thrown to the dogs. Its sad and hard and I have no words to express this.

Setting Goals, Achieving Targets

Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.
Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back

For all those who were in AT during the golden days the picture above will certainly evince open-gaped reactions. I dropped off my seat and Probir was wondering whether Photoshop had anything to do with it. But this is original.

Working in AT between 1999-2001 was thrilling. Sanjoy Sanyal was VP and was unique. The best public speaker I have seen (after Nihilent's Minoo Dastur) there was a certain way Sanjoy looked, talked and dressed. And I always believed Sanjoy's very substantial girth worked to his advantage and contributed to his sophistication. In Sanjoy's new avatar thats my only worry how will he make up for that.

I had the good fortune of working closely with Sanjoy. With him it was like a roller coaster - often entertaining, at other times tension-filled but always educative. When I joined AT I was raw and not fit for the professional world. Sanjoy did not mind pointing things out. Never demeaning but always bordering on the embarrassing his observations had a message for the future.

I dont care how he managed the above feat but imagining the mental effort the deed is worth emulating. I am not fat but neither do I have the wiry look anymore. There is atleast 5-6 kgs of extra flesh wrapped around me. But wait this is not about losing weight but more about setting a target and achieving it.

In some way I am indebted to people like him for having an influence on me and shaping the way I interact with the world. So for me this particular feat of his is one more reason to hold him in awe.

All photos are courtesy Sanjoy Sanyal

X Internet

Remember

That you are at an exceptional hour in a

unique epoch,

that you have this great happiness,

this invaluable privilege,

of being present at the birth of a new world.

The Mother, Sri Aurobindo Ashram

There have been several stalwarts who have played a defining role in this information age. But yesterday's new kid on the block is now threatening to overturn the rules of the game. In one of the recent seminars someone quoted that Google is aiming to be God. That is an overstatement but one has to do some spellblinding work to be talked like this.

There is an interesting read by FORRESTER's CEO George F. Colony on Google. And he is hinting at a huge shift in the information industry landscape. If you have been using Google and its allied services and all this without spending a penny think real hard. Google is slowly blurring the lines between your desktop and the world wide web. So where does that leave the OS. George Colony talks exactly about this.

The time is ripe for X Internet.. Read On