Something called ‘mindset’

As I was passing the elephants, I suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from the ropes they were tied to but for some reason, they did not.

I saw a trainer near by and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away.

“Well,” he said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

I was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

From an e-mail forward. If the author needs credit, let me know who that is.

Complex childhoods…

And I thought being a child meant playing, (trying to) studying, getting into trouble with friends and parents and growing up to realise that it all went by too soon…

Obviously, I was wrong! Kids today also have obesity to worry about. Wonder what Microsoft, Sony and the Internet (if it had a spokesperson) have to say about that!

Quit India

That’s for me, by the way. Any why, you ask? Because of such things. Or perhaps I should just stay back and hope things improve? Maybe I should try and DO something about it. Hm.

[via Greatbong]

And that is a good shirt

There are shirts and then there are shirts. I am rather class-less when it comes to the matter of dressing. Give me my pair of Jeans and a shirt or T-shirt and I’m good to go. I normally have about 2 (two) formal shirts ready and waiting for that occasional meeting, function, interview (less occasional than the earlier two events!) and other such necessities. These are complimented by a pair of formal trousers. Also normally on wait.

As Gabbar Singh would say, Ek trouser aur shirt do… bahut na-insaafi hai! (heh!), the reasoning is simple. Both shirts belong to the light shade category and the trouser is of a darker hue. Hence either combination is possible. It also makes life easier when “dressing up”! Brown trouser + White shirt or Brown trouser + Beige shirt. Simple.

Obviously, not everyone would approve of this method. For the discerning, there are places like Savile Row and such. I recently chanced upon one such place… not that I was in London or anything, just through blogs! English Cut is a fine tailoring setup and if they really do create (make is a small word for their process) shirts the way they claim to on their blog, then I feel ashamed. Little did I know that so much craftsmanship was possible in a shirt. The buttons, collars and even cuffs.

Perhaps when I do make it to London, I should get myself a couple of these, eh? Until then, maybe, Indigo Nation could do well to send a couple of their tailors down there!

[Via: Gaping Void.]

Technorati : i wish, london, savile row, shirts

Watch out Kaavya Viswanathan?

Should all the Kaavya Viswanathan‘s of the world watch out? Big Brother Google is at it again and claims its Book Search project may well spell the end of plagiarism by making book passages and all searchable. Interesting. More about this on SearchEngineWatch.

As the Slate.com reports:

Conveniently enough, a few literary greats have already had their mug shots taken. It’s long been known that Poe plagiarized his first book, a hack project titled The Conchologist’s First Book, and that Herman Melville swiped many technical passages of Moby Dick whole from maritime authors like Henry Cheever. Even more inventively, Lawrence Sterne’s immortal diatribe against plagiarism in Tristram Shandy was itself … plagiarized from Robert Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy. There have always been a dizzying array of ways that authors can rip each other off, even in reverse: Literary critic Terry Eagleton has written entertainingly of “anti-plagiarism,” a 19th-century literary wheeze favored by Irish critics, who pounced on poets or novelists for plagiarizing or surreptitiously translating some little-known domestic or foreign work and presenting it under their name. The trick was that the “original” work presented by the prosecuting critic was itself a forgery, written after a new work’s publication to frame an enemy.

Technorati : google book, plagiarism

Rahul the destroyer

So Rahul Mahajan is having a bad year. Maybe that’s an understatement. As Mid-Day informs us, he has now taken to physically abusing his wife. After his father’s death, his drug problem (alleged, mind you) and a score of other problems that have seen his perfect world fall apart, one would have thought, he would take time and recover. But obviously not. And it does not sound like frustration either. There’s a “manic edge” as his wife Shweta puts it:

Apparently, Rahul was full of remorse later, but even this had a manic edge. He told Shweta to ”take a hammer and finish him off”. Terrified, Shweta asked him to stay away from her. Shweta’s mother intervened, and Rahul left for Mumbai, sources said.

Technorati : domestic violence, rahul mahajan

[Blogcamp.in] Goodbye

It’s time to leave and as the event winds down, one can’t help but feel that this event will only evolve with time. This year’s event should be considered a rousing success for more reasons than one. I would not want to say that some things may have gone wrong because this was the first event. It’s not fair to the efforts put in by Kiruba and gang.

Great venue, super participation and very enthusiastic organisation ensured a good and educational time was had by one and all. Have to admire the efforts of people like Kiruba, Dina Mehta, Peter Griffin, Jace, Ravages, Neha Viswanathan, Syed and all the others who put in endless efforts into making this a success.

See you next year!

[Update]: As we were leaving, we bumped into Peter and Dina and were really pleasantly surprised to hear that Blogcamp may just happen more often… like once a quarter. That does sound exciting. Hope it does work out. More details as they become available…

Technorati : Blogcamp.in, chennai, india blogging, unconference

[Blogcamp.in] Sunny was here!

The Great Man of Indian Cricket made his presence felt and got a rousing reception from Bloggers at the Blogcamp in Chennai. Speaking on podcasting among other things, Sunny also said that he would start blogging soon. Wow! Moreover, he was thrilled about the way podcasting has become a main method of communication and he himself is keen on exploring the possibilities of taking this forward.

Take a look at more posts about it here.

Technorati : Blogcamp.in, Blogging, Chennai, Cricket, India, Sunil Gavaskar, Unconference

60 to 70K per DAY!

This is one rich guy. Considering Rahul Mahajan has not had a sustained career to save up the kind of money he spends, one would have to question where the money came from. Did daddy-dearest leave behind a huge trust fund? Or is it a result of the public secret called 'favours'.
There are also rumors that Mr Mahajan owned a huge amount of shares in Reliance companies. Hm. Maybe the dividend is enough to support this lifestyle.
About his income, this is what the police had to say:

About Rahul's earnings, police officers said that he worked as aco-pilot with Jet Airways for two years and after that did consultancy work with an American  company for some time. During the tenure of the NDA government, he had also set up a company, Integral Productions, and obtained a contract from Doordarshan to produce a programme called Tak Dhina Dhin.

Read the whole thing here.

Technorati Tags: raul mahajan, drugs case, cocaine, india