Era of Excess

There is a famous Gandhi saying ,” The world has enough for man’s need but not enough for man’s Greed.

This seems to be so true for today’s middle and upper class India, and may be the world in general. The more the power technology has put in human hands, the more we want.

The distance of our workplace to our homes is getting larger. So we want swanky cars to cover the distance. And also we want equally shiny and broad highways. But still there are traffic jams. It never seems enough. These cars pollute the atmosphere. So we want air conditioned living . So we can be cut from the outside air. The air conditioned and glossy offices and apartment require electricity and water to be functional. So we build more and more power plants and dig ground to get the water. These power plants release more pollutants. In fact we have reached a stage in the metros where spending even few minutes in the open can be nauseating.

Thanks to technology,we have got cut off from nature, with many layers formed between the real and what we see as real.

Middle of the road

Hrishikesh Mukherjee is known for his signature brand of movies christened “Middle of the road cinema” by the critics. In this column in yahoo Jai Arjun Singh discusses the often overlooked aspect of the classic comedy Golmaal. Besides being a entertaining comedy it also gives a ‘message’ of living in present. That is the beautiful aspect of the Hrishida’s movies.

Without being preachy Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s movie have taught us many lessons of life.  Those small things which we already know but in the grind of life we often ignore.

Alas simplicity is not so simple.

The Numbers Game

How numbers convey information is an important aspect of our understanding of numbers(apart from the fact many practical applications that it has.) Besides there use in counting, algebra and other sciences they have their use in information processing. Information processing is one of the most widely used aspects of computing and our day to day interaction with computers is generally based on some sort of information processing.

Let us discuss this aspect of numbers. The first two numbers 0 and 1 tell us about the absence or presence of  some object(or information).  If some object is absent, we say that  there are 0 instances of that object present. Take for example apple.  Say , somebody has never seen an apple. In  numbers terms he has seen zero apples.  The said person can never visualize apple  and he has absolutely no idea about apple.(Unless somebody has already told him/her about its properties.) .This implies the said person has no inormation regarding the apple.  So zero means absence of information.

Now say we give the same person one apple.  This one apple will convey all the information that the person is able to absorb about that one apple and give the general idea about the different varieties of apple. Now suppose we give him some more apples which are identical to the first one . Now even though he has more than one apple it will not increase  awareness about the apple in any way. That means that single apple is sufficient to inform him.

So what do one and zero mean.  Theoretically, at least,  zero conveys no information whatsoever about an object, whereas one instance conveys all the information about that instance. I  used the word theoretically because of practical limitations imposed by the presence of only one instance.

Now where does two fit in. Why did computer uses 2 as the base for all information processing ? To answer this let us first how do we convey information.  Let us say we have two humans A and B.  B decides to leave earth with a transmitter which transmits wave of different frequencies and A has a receiver which  decodes the frequency that is transmitted.  B lands on some new planet and finds that his transmitter can communicate only one frequency. A finds that he is receiving a constant signal from B.  Even though they are communicating no effective communication or information exchange  takes place as transmission has a single or one  state.  Now say suddenly B finds that he can tune his transmitter so that it can transmit at two frequencies instead of a single one.  Now B can transmit at least some information to A (some information which has only 2 states or 2 values or at least limited to 2 values) .

This means that at least two states are required to transmit some information. This means at least 2 is required to convey state information. All these numbers (2 and numbers greater than 2) convey us different states of an object. In nature apple come in different shapes, sizes and tastes. To represent all these ‘states’ of apple we require numbers greater than 1. So numbers 2 and above represent ‘variety’.

Journey to Nowhere

The best journey is the one which has no destination, for each step that one takes becomes an end in itself. It is the journey that matters and not the destination.

Putting yourself in other’s shoe.

One of the benefits of internet is ease with which you can download a movie and watch it. This is specially true for English movies which are easily available on internet for downloads. (Movies in other languages with English subtitle are a bit difficult to get)  Movies which otherwise I may have never watched, I can get them without any trouble.

To kill a Mocking Bird is one such movie. It’s considered an American classic and is based on the novel of the same name. (On a different note Hollywood is way ahead of Indian movies when it comes to adapting literary works on screen.) The story is set in 1930s around the time of great depression. It is about a widowed lawyer Atticus, his relationship with his two children, a boy and a girl aged 10 and 6 respectively, and about a case in which he defends a black man falsely accused of raping a white girl. This was the time when racism was prevalent in US and sanctioned by law. Even though Atticus defends the accused convincingly, the prejudiced white jury rules the accused guilty.

In the novel the daughter whose name is Scout is the narrator. The movie maintains that flow with  daughter’s voice in the background used for narration and nearly all the scenes feature Scout. So we see the story unfold from the eyes of a 6 year old.

I specially liked the way relationship between Atticus and his children is portrayed. The children look upon their father as their ideal. There is a scene between the father and the daughter after Scout had a fight in the school with some boy. Scout is a tomboy and has the tendency to get into fights with fellow students whenever she thinks that they are wrong. Atticus explains to Scout that one has to put himself/herself in other persons shoes before blaming him/her and reaching any conclusions. That’s a wonderful lesson. Sometimes in life getting the perspective from the other end makes the situation very clear and helps in clearing our doubts and making things clear. If we are prejudiced against something or someone this is something we need to do. This is what the movie is about. The jurors, due to their prejudice, rule against the accused. They fail to see the truth or act on the truth because they see the accused from a different prism because of his race. So do the majority of the small town folk where the trial takes place. If we see things from our own perspective only our view of the world will be very narrow and we will tend to act selfishly. As it is often said we need to widen our horizons.

Another intresting character in the movie is Boo whose face is never shown till the climax. He is a neighbour of Flinch’s and children are afraid of him because of the stories they have heard of him. But in the end he comes to their rescue when they need help. The children realize that their opinion about him was wrong.The movie  is titled so because it is considered a sin to kill a mocking bird as the mocking bird does no cause any harm. It does not destroy crops. Punishing an innocent fellow is just like killing a mocking bird.
When the movie came race was a hot topic in United States. The movie’s central story was very contemporary. Is that what makes this movie great ? Yeah it is certainly is a factor. In telling this story the movie addresses the themes of courage, standing for your ideals, honesty, integrity and prejudice and preconceived notions, all of which have universal appeal. In the movie we see the world of adults through a child’s perspective which makes it special. All of this give the movie a lasting appeal.

There is nothing worse than  drowning  in self pity.

Now a days Life seems to be a lost cause……
………..It seems life has no meaning.  When I look at it. It makes sense. Why should life have a meaning ?
There are billions of souls on this earth. Is it possible that each one of us has a  meaningful purpose. ?

May be I am wrong or may be I am not. We don’t have a single life. If reincarnation happens each soul lives many lives. Perhaps all the lives that we live when accumulated serve a purpose. It’s the whole that is meaningful and not the parts that we live.
Right now I don’t see any meaning in the part I am playing in  this life.

I wonder …..
What is the difference b/w a beggar (for argument’s sake say a healthy beggar) asking for alms and  a (wo)man praying to God to ask for a favour…..

The bounties of nature are free…
……………May be that’s why we don’t value them.

There was a time when I believed that I could do anything,
Now I believe , I can do nothing.