POWERELEX01- FARE WELL

I checked the mirror for the twelfth time, grooming my hair again.
“Hey enough , this isn’t your marriage!!” shouted Nigesh impatiently.
“Ya ya I know ; but see I need to comb my hair properly , it always gets……. ” I responded.
“Enough , lets go!!” spoke Nigesh with a commanding tone.
I peeked at the restroom mirror for the last time and came out. Standing in the third floor of my department is like an undreamt dream coming true.
“Only when we leave this college they renovate everything” Nigesh complained . “New floors with new labs , all modern devices and equipments!! We are the most unlucky batch”.
I laughed “Ya! Its ok . IIT delhi has better facilities than this, you can enjoy your experiments there”
He didn’t react and entered a lab leaving me behind.
The corridor is flooded with small groups of my class mates at every two feet. ‘ “Gangism” never leaves us’ I thought to myself.
I walked steadily to the first group ; made myself ready to get bantered . Because its the Gokul gang.
“Hi guys” I wished them.
“Hello!! What happened to your favorite pink shirt”, Gokul said with a face full of laughter.
Other three joined him with their contribution of laughter.
“Kudos Gokul” Gopinath praised him .As usual!!!
I just turned a deaf hear to him . “So when is your joining date in IIM-L” I enquired Avinash.
“Next month” he replied.
Gopi started to crack another ‘three letter happy’ joke ; which coincided with the entry of Arunachalam.
‘Thank God for sending this savior’ I relieved to myself.
“Hey why are we all called here today” Arun questioned with a feverish impatience.
“Oh ! they are going to conduct a test now, only if you pass ,you will be allowed to join CTS ,else have to study the whole four years again” Gokul informed with a serious look such that even any shrewd person is pliable of believing .
“Hey !! really? I dint prepare anything” Arun replied innocently.
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“The material for test is available in Xerox shop, go get it” Sanjeev added to his part.
We all laughed to tears.
M.k who was standing silently beside us came for the rescue , “No man. They have built this new floor and labs, so before we leave college invited us to have a look at them.”
I slowly walked away . Met Kalpana , the short one.
“When is your joining date” she asked.
“In a week” I replied . “So how is your hubby in Trichy” I teased her.
“Shut up” she smiled and moved away slowly.
Four years I have spent my life with these people , some friends and some acquaintances , yet I don’t feel a bit for leaving them. ‘Is something wrong with me’ I questioned myself. ‘no you are being practical to accept the inevitable’ my mind informed me.
I came near the next gang ; the fun-to -be with gang . ‘The Siddarth gang’.
Dubash , the first one to see me coming , said “Hello”.
“Hi” I greeted back.
“Hello Mr. AJOY” Siddarth said sarcastically.
“Not going for treat to spencers now a days” I retorted back.
“Superb” Paul responded to my wit and laughed. Charan giggled with us . But I am not quiet sure , if he understood what I meant.
“I have uploaded a new article in the blog, check it” Charan said.
“Oh fine. Sure” I replied.
Just then I remembered , “Hey Siddarth yesterday I went to Ispani” I paused , “ guess who I saw there?”
Sidd replied puzzled with a grin “Who”??
“I saw…. ” I began to reply , but interrupted by some heavy sound. I was startled , so was everyone there. It seems like thundering , but the fact is , it is the sound of guns firing.
We peeked through the window . All we could see is chaos.
“Who are they?” Prasanna enquired pointing somewhere.
I gazed in the direction he pointed “Oh my God”!!
Hefty men with clothing covering their faces and armed with guns , which we have seen only in movies.
“Something is wrong , we need to run out” I said almost shouting and stated to race to the exit.
“Not so soon”. I heard only a voice before me. A tall guy , one of the masked men ,stood before us. Only this six feet tall probable human stood between me and the exit stairs. I have no choice, so I retreated back.
“Listen . Your college is under our control , so are you all” he said with an intimidating tone . “So keep down , don’t provoke me to fire you”.
‘Oh shit’ I said to myself.
The door of the lab which is right behind where the terrorist stood opened slowly. It didn’t take much time for me to realize its Vairam who stepped out . He has a good vantage point and I am sure he’ll use it to run away.
But bravery become the greatest foe for survival sometimes. He ambushed from behind and got hold of the terrorist around his neck. The masked guy struggled a bit , lost his balance and crouched down. Vairam is no match for this gigantic animal. The terrorist caught him with his right hand and flung him around to the ground and kicked him twice hard in his chest.
“You filthy jerk , acting very smart uh” the terrorist shouted and took his rifle and pointed at Vairam who lay down on the ground.
“No No don’t don’t” we all almost shouted , cant see a friend getting killed.
But the terrorist FIRED HIS GUN.

- TO BE CONTINUED

Prophecy for 2150AD

It has been a long time since I wrote on this blog. Being the creator of the blog , there is  added pressure on me to contribute much more. I would like to give a pat on the back to Ajay and Aashish for keeping the blog lively.

I recently saw a documentary called “Zeitgeist”. (Just search it on youtube and do watch it! It will raise a lot of questions in your mind…I think some might have already seen it since it was released in 2003). I ended up with a lot of confusion in my mind after watching it.  

The documentary basically tries to debunk the false-truths regarding religion , politics and the economy which , the makers of the video allege were fed to the people since ancient times by certain vested powers to manipulate public opinion , so that the masses could be made to obey them like sheep and consequently those vested powers could rule the masses. The documentary starts with a scathing attack on Christianity , alleging that Christianity is a whole lot of bullshit created by the Romans to spread their so called Holy Roman empire. They provide a whole lot of facts to prove that Christianity was just a hackneyed copy of a similar religion existing in Egypt around the 2500BC. They also allege that almost all religions of the world were formed on similar concepts which can be related to astrology, zodiac signs and the constellations. They also tried to include Hinduism in the list by showing some facts about Lord Krishna. This is where I got suspicious about the veracity of their research behind the revelations. I was just laughing when they showed some facts stating Krishna’s birth around 600BC. Now, anyone with a good knowledge of Hindu scriptures would know that Krishna lived in the Dwapara Yuga. So he should have lived around 3100BC. You might feel I am defending Hinduism here. But I am always annoyed (which I certainly was while watching this part of the video ) when so called rationalists start questioning people’s faith , whatever be the religion they follow. Spirituality is completely in a different plane and should not be mixed with science and rationalism. Well some might not agree with me. But I am a firm believer in faith and religion. So I am always antagonistic to anyone questioning faith.

Well I have already digressed a lot. Now, let me quickly sum up the rest of the video before coming to what I actually wanted to write here. The second part of the video exposes the conspiracy behind the twin tower attacks, stating that it was actually carried out by the American Government !! Well , this shocking revelation certainly had substantial proof and I must acknowledge the meticulous research carried out by the makers of the documentary. It seems that all the world wars fought till now and those currently on ----- in Iraq and Afganistan are nothing but a farce to turn people’s emotions  against a common enemy – the so called “terrorist”.  Now the third part was more interesting to me. It was about the myth behind Banking. Being a management aspirant I knew about the basics of banking and I was always confounded by the deliberate tortuous setup of the fractional reserve system. God knows how the bankers invented such a system confounding logic and how they convinced the people to follow it! Well watch the video to know the truth.

After watching the documentary my mind was filled with conflicting thoughts. It was almost like my mind hallucinating and taking two forms (Cmon guys , those who watch tamil cinema , this scene should be familiar to you…….the typical situation of conundrum, when the hero’s “manasatchi(inner self)” and himself will be making a conversation….  )  one saying “Yes” and the other “No” . Then an interesting thought occurred to me as to how the future of the world would turn out to be. What if I make some predictions about the future and they turn out to be true like those of Nostradamus.

Well here goes my list of predictions for the year 2150 AD.

1. Let me start with the space and its exploration . By the year 2150 there will be no more space shuttles and rocket launches. They will not be needed as we would have built a “Space Elevator” by then. It should be a long stand–still structure built using carbon nanotubes which would end at the point where the earth’s gravity is no longer felt. So all payloads and humans can be sent to space like traveling in a cable car. Believe me, designs and proposals for this project are already going on at NASA.

2. Continuing with space , recently I read an article about the spacecraft Viking’s signal being interfered with a new form of signal, which is unknown to us. Could these signals be from alien machines?  This raises the most curious question of every human being. Do aliens exist? By the year 2150 I am sure we will make contact with atleast one alien planet. Even Stephen Hawking supported this claim saying that, its highly  improbable to claim that alien life is impossible considering the vastness of the unexplored universe. Or could I be proved wrong? Only time can tell. (I always wonder why UFOs are always spotted in America alone???) . The fact that these aliens with superior technology might colonize earth is yet another point to ponder..

3. The consortium of bankers have successfully imposed the most cruel form of slavery upon us ---“The Slavery of Debt”. Ever wonder why there is so much craze among youth to study at B-schools and get a job in an investment bank (including me…:-}) ?? Well banking is one place where you can plunder legally. In 2150 this slavery of debt will become more severe with bankers monitoring your movement with a micro-chip implanted in your body and sending mild electric shocks to you if you don’t pay the debt. 

Have you seen the movie “Fight Club” starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton.? If you had, you would have noticed that the protagonist tries to blow up the buildings of all credit card companies. He feels that when the record of credit of all people are lost, then there is no rich man and no poor man. “All become equal”. Well by the year 2150 there could be a separate communist mafia operating to fulfill this idea.

4. There is a great possibility of a third world war. I’m damn sure this will happen. The third world war will be fought over “Water”. Yes ,the countries of the world would be fighting for the occupation of Antarctica—the only unexplored piece of land on earth and one that has all the fresh water locked up in its glaciers.

Will India’s defense improve by then so that we can have a substantial claim??

5. With increasing population, the demand for the gas of life – Oxygen will go up. The ecology will be so damaged by the humans that the earth will no longer be able to support its balance of atmosphere. So there should be a giant machine like a circular spacecraft suspended in the stratosphere that will generate Oxygen to the whole world and it will also maintain the balance of other gases in the atmosphere.

6. Energy already plays a vital role in our life. So the owners of energy reserves like nuclear materials or the organization which invents the fuel cells will control the economy of the world. So move over the software giants, steel barons and venture capitalists, it is the energy-behemoths who will rule the planet in 2150.

7. Talking about health and lifestyle , what will be the most life-threatening addiction in 2150?? Drugs, tobacco , alcohol?? No. The worst form of addiction ever --- to social networking sites (SNWs). I am sure people are going to be sent to rehab centers in 2150 either because they suffer from profile-o-mania(addiction to SNWs) or from  profil-o-phobia(fear of SNWs).

8. What about apocalyptic syndromes? We are already on the brink of one in 2012(from asteroid Niburu)… There will be many more such threats. But we will be so busy looking for threats from outer space that we will forget the fact that we have enriched and amassed so much nuclear material on our planet that only those will be enough to destroy the world 10 times over if triggered.

9. Now this one is far fetched, Maybe this could happen in 10,000AD. (because you know evolution takes a long long time). Our bodies are so much exposed to radio waves  and the radiation levels will only become enormous in the future that the human body (already being a good conductor) will evolve to become a radio transmitter . Maybe our two ears will become our transceivers. And we could communicate by ourselves!!

Well you would have noted that all my predictions have been pessimistic. Well that’s the way it is because we find the world is constantly degenerating. But I hope that these apocalyptic prognostications don’t come true…              

GOOD AND BAD.

Everything in life falls under one of the two categories , either “good” or “bad” . Every deed of any living person is rejoiced as good or deemed as bad. But what really is this “good” and this “bad”?. Who defined these virtues and these vices?. Is it the God ,the holy angel, the almighty? If this omnipotent God has the power to create these virtues and these vices , then why didn’t he have the power to make all of his creations confine to the virtues and dare not sneak into the vices. What justification does he have for giving us the free will and letting us dwell in the darkness.
A lion hunting a deer doesn’t have the guilt of killing. Then why should a person breaking into an house , bludgeoning the owner and stealing his money should. Both are same in very basic sense. It is called the “survival instinct”. Every Tom , dick and Harry would condemn this and could justify his stand ,saying ‘a lion doesn’t kill its own kind’ ( another lion) or ‘it does only for its own needs (food)’. Ya agreed!!. That’s because a lion cannot think beyond that . As long as its need for ‘food and orgasm’ is satisfied ; life is complete. But we men request more than that from life . The day when animals desire for power and authority , every serene forest turns into a violent city. The same God who created the predator also did create its prey . So does He agree upon the survival of one on killing another. This is not being agnostic but rather being logical (a fuzzy logic though)
One never misses an opportunity to castigate bribery. But doesn’t the same person gifts his son with a candy to do his home works. The scenario may be different but the basic motive behind gifting , which is to get the work done remains the same (if not bothered about the implications).
We live in a world where there are predefined rules which are so loosely defined , that if you dare enough you can redefine them. The “goods” of the past have become the “bads” of our day and the “bads” of this day may become “goods” in the future. How can we then rely on this ever changing morality of our world.
‘Love thy wife’ its a virtue ; ‘love thy neighbor’s wife’ it’s a vice. Kill a person you are a murderer ,kill hundreds of soldiers you are a warrior. Does it mean that the action itself has less significance than the place where it is put into action.
I don’t know! I really don’t know whether things are what they seem to be. I take the safer side of following the crowd. Hope so you will too.

[P.S. This article is not to justify any of the “bads” , just give another perspective to view ]

DEXTER MORGAN VS MICHAEL SCOFIELD

Hi friends its been a long time since I wrote something.So this is a come back for me!!

"We all love heroes,we all want to be an hero." Dont we??. Perhaps,we all are heroes in our lives. This article is about two characters whom I adored recently ,two protagonist of two different TV serials , two heros . Michael Scofield (of PRISON BREAK) and Dexter Morgan (of DEXTER).
Let me first give a glimpse about each character;for the benefit of those who have not seen these serials.

DEXTER
Dexter Morgan is a psychopath. He has an urge to kill people, due to some derangement of childhood experience.But he channelize his urge to kill "bad people". In his terms "people who deserve to be killed". He hides himself behind a social mask of a talented blood spatter analyst.He has a girlfriend whom he marries later , 2 step children ,a foster sister and few friends.But the best part is he doesn't feel any emotions, he doesn't feel love yet he tries to pretend love.

MICHAEL
Michael is a structural engineer.A genius by nature. He too suffers from a psychological problem "Low latent inhibition" ; ie. what ever he see ,his mind observes all the details in it(adding to his genius) .He finds himself as a savior. He could not stand people around him suffering.Michael purposely puts himself into a prison to break out his convicted brother, who was decreed to death. Prison could be a hell ,ofcourse only if you dont have a purpose to be there . He has a mission to break out , in midst of all this he finds his lady love . The twist in the tale goes on and on and he saves many people .

So the introduction suffice . Now let me tell about what i like in these disparate characters.
The best thing I admire about dexter is how he keeps his secret. People doesnt see the real HIM within , the monster , the dark passenger. We all have secrets and we all try to protect them;some we embrace and some we disgust. Despite these unchangeable things he still tries to be a good person . He never justify his killings.

About Michael its his intelligence,his value for human life,his love for all.
He puts himself through any danger to save the ones he care for. Can everyone of us do that??.
Dexter has a style,even how he kills. He puts a syringe in his victims throat intoxicates them,ties them naked in a table , preserves their blood in slide as a trophy,kills them and dismember their body into pieces. Its a ritual which he enjoys. The point is not 'what he does' but 'how he does'. He has a knack to cover his trails.
Michael's wit is beyond any man's measure. He plans perfectly and executes them even more perfectly. He is master of science. Chemicals and structures are his specializations."Effort can take us only this far; beyond this we need few leaps of faith" a classic saying i preserve forever.
Dexter's theory is this "Kill people who deserve death" while Michael's "Save people who deserve it".Quiet ironical I liked both the character.
Till I saw the last episode of Prison Break,Dexter was the one who I liked the most. But the last scene , it changed my notion. Michael dies , his beloved ones gather in his funeral and pay him respect. This scene is beyond any man's explanation (so is mine). Is this what it means to live for others, help others ,protect others in short love others. Can our death mean so much.?? 'Life after death is possible only if we enter people's heart when we are living' I learned from this character.

So a final word about each

DEXTER --> Being GOOD with your hands full of blood.
MICHAEL --> Being THE BEST with your grave full of real love.

A not- so pleasant day in my life

I am starting this by saying I am writing this article because I have lost touch writing my thoughts for a long time.... so dont you dare expect it to be any fun...Today was not the greatest of days for me so I am writing this as a memento of how much this day sucked for me(pretty much all days suck for me nowadays)...

First of all I expected to get my a** out of bed for a quick revision for atleast three hours because my head was buzzing with circuits the previous night and was not able to go on...i woke up at 7.30 just two hours before exam and picked up the xerox that was lying nearest to the bed and alas it was like studying fresh chapters...I ended up reading the same chapter for an hour...also i spent a good half hour after that getting ready to college ,not a great time to waste given my condition...

I hurriedly went through the circuits I remember the most from the previous night in each chapter ...I have to give it my best shot with what I remember I prayed as I entered late 10 minutes into the exam...

Before proceeding further let me summarise the thoughts that go through my head before each exam:
3 days before the exam: a good two and a half days is more than enough for this silly exam
2 days before the exam: i have wasted all day so i must finish atleast half the portion this night itself(actually i will be off to a very lazy start barely finishing a lesson)
a day before the exam: studying everything huh....dude that ship has pretty much sailed...try studying the important questions alone
just before exam: dear god if you pass me this exam I will be very grateful to you...

After the exam is over this cycle repeats itself for the next exam...
Now coming to the present(or today morning) as soon as i got the question paper my mind was blank ...it took me ten minutes to figure out the answers i knew for certain... it's not really a pleasant feeling knowing for certain the marks that you know wont be suffice for a pass... I know that feeling and it creates a knot in your stomach difficult to untie... my thoughts were wavering over the current predicament and i was thinking of the not so distant future in case I fail...

k..Enough of the energising thoughts for boosting me I made up my mind to write the exam trying to remember as much as I can... though I was writing the exam thinking hard my mind was playing the movie "sathileelavati",one of my favourites from opening to closing credits....may be it was me watching the same movie in a parallel universe at the same time... anyway, relief was flooding over me as I saw people worried like me after the exam...

anyway the day didnt end soon...i had to go my proji's house for typing report and it havent ended yet (its already 5 in the morning) though in between we went to the movie "irumbu kottai muratu singam " which i liked very much,a short lived relief,my only sunshine in the day... adding to that I had a fight with Nigesh for me pulling his hair for no reason...though I dont regret one bit...