The Buzz & Beyond

It is a history now that India has won the 20-20 championship. When cricket is slowly transforming into baseball, winning in such sports makes one wonder whether we are the champions of cricket or baseball or golf (this is because, nowadays cricketing strokes are similar to the strokes of baseball or golf). As usual, the entire country is reacting or rather over-reacting to this incident. The winning team was received with much fervor and they will go on a victory lap from airport to Wankhade stadium in an open bus. State Governments after state governments are declaring a bonus amount of Rs 5 lakhs per player for this feat! Maharashtra Government has gone overboard to announce Rs 10 lakhs to the players while their farmers are dying out of starvation! One TV channel went on criticizing mr. Narendra Modi who kept cool and did not announce any such bonus to the cricket players. I may not be surprised if Modi subjecting to such pressures might declare bonus (may be more than any State). ...

At last, the Indians have won the first T20 World Cup tournament in a cliff-hanger thriller finish. Or one can say, the team of 2020 has born. Whether ex-President Kalam’s visionary 2020 India is made or not, but India is capable of building a team for 20-20 at the least! Now, for another 48 hours, no news is too big for our entire media channels that will cover nothing but the historic (?) win of India in 20-20 World Cup. Even the news of Rahul Gandhi becoming the general secretary of INC (though it is a known fact and was only a matter of time) has taken a back seat. The media even covered the Kabirkhan aka shahrukh Khan congratulating the winning Indian team (dont ask what did SRK do to Indian cricket team) Nothing succeeds like Success! This is proven in this episode. A man, who was questioned of his wicket-keeping skills or lack of it and was supposed to be dropped from the team, is turned into a sudden hero. He has become wisdom of cricket, leader of future and everybody says n...

T 20 or twenty-twenty is the buzzword that keeps the cricket fans all around the world hooked onto. From a long, tiring, (or sometimes boring) 5 day affair this game has taken changes - sometimes accidentally and at times forcefully into a faster game. Efforts are on as to give a facelift to this game as good as soccer or hockey. The game is fast and so is the result. Cricket has started taking leaves out of the others books as to make it attractive and entertaining. “Ball-out” is one feature similar to the penalty stroke and so is the “free-hit” concept. I vaguely remember that 24 years back a tournament (named as Double-wicket tournament with each side having only 2 players and common fielders) was held with similar rules in Chennai Chidambaram Stadium. L Siva was spotted there as a good fielder and Robin Singh was spotted as another Kapil dev (however he entered the national side much later, courtesy politics, is another story). With newer rules, cricket seems to be attractive and o...

It is almost 10 days now that the Ram-Setu project has stolen the limelight. Every channel, every newspaper and every website covered this subject in full details. There were discussions between the so called learned men, rationalists and religious personnel. The public memory is too short and in another week’s time, all of us would forget this and would be discussing something more sensational. When the whole world is into this, why should I lag behind? Let me also blog on this but would like to be different. Science and Faith are two extreme poles. In fact I had already blogged regarding this subject – or just reproduced the conversation between Albert Einstein and his professor. http://ngkjrs.blogspot.com/2007/09/is-god-dead.html The argument between Science and Faith has no end to it. Science says that nothing is true unless it is proven by experiment or you can say to disprove what other claim! However, the irony is, almost all the scientific statement are re-written. What accept...

According to the injunctions of the revealed texts, the first birth of an Aryan is from his natural mother, the second (happens) on the tying of the girdle of Munja grass, and the third on the initiation to (the performance of) a (Srauta) sacrifice. II.169 (Now a days a thread replaced this Munja grass - Darbai is another story) Among those (three) the birth which is symbolised by the investiture with the girdle of Munja grass, is his birth for the sake of the Veda; they declare that in that (birth) the Savitri (Goddess of knowledge) is his mother and the teacher is his father. II.170 They call the teacher (the pupil’s) father because he gives the Veda (knowledge); for no body can perform a sacred rite before the investiture with the girdle of Munja grass. II.170 He who has not been initiated should not pronounce any Vedic text excepting those required for the performance of funeral rites, since he is on a level with a Sudra (meaning unlearned) before his birth from the Veda. II.172 Th...

I am just reproducing an argument Albert Einstein had with his Professor on the above subjectThis story was in circulation since long in internet. I am just reproducing that. The professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty. He asks one of his new students to stand and..... Prof: So you believe in God? Student: Absolutely, sir. Prof: Is God good? Student: Sure. Prof: Is God all-powerful? Student: Yes. Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm? (Student is silent.) Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is God good? Student: Yes. Prof: Is Satan good? Student: No. Prof: Where does Satan come from? Student: From...God... Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world? Student: Yes. Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correc...

This has come several rounds in the internet. Still, as the memory of the public is very short, i felt it sharing after a decent gap. So the public speech of Dr. APJ Kalam goes..... I have three visions for India. In 3000 years of our history people from all over the world have come and invaded us, captured our lands, conquered our minds. From Alexander onwards, the Greeks, the Turks, the Moguls, the Portuguese, the British, the French, the Dutch, all of them came and looted us, took over what was ours. Yet we have not done this to any other nation. We have not conquered anyone. We have not grabbed their land, their culture, and their history and tried to enforce our way of life on them. Why? because we respect the freedom of others. That is why my first vision is that of FREEDOM. I believe that India got its first vision of this in 1857, when we started the war of independence. It is this freedom that we must protect and nurture and build on. If we are not free, no one will respect u...

The greatest gift nature has bestowed on us is "self-awareness" – the ability to know what is happening in us at any given point of time! This faculty of knowing oneself is not given to plants and animals and hence they do not know that they exist. Obviously they can not modify their way of life or behavior at their will. This explains why the plants and animals are as they are for many millions of year. The concept of evolution and civilization doest and can not exist in their kingdom! This faculty when used can help to bring dramatic changes in ones behavior at will. Every human being is unique in their own way and that is the plan of the nature! What we are today is the result of various conditioning that happened right from the day we came into this planet. The parents teachers , society and religion are the mediums through which we have been conditioned. The beliefs and values ultimately guide us as the light house. Some of the conditionings are good and some of them are...

A few years ago, at the Seattle Special Olympics, nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash. At the gun, they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with a relish to run the race to the finish and win. All, that is, except one little boy who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled over a couple of times, and began to cry. The other eight heard the boy cry. They slowed down and looked back. Then they all turned around and every one of them went back. One girl with Down's syndrome bent down and kissed him and said, "This will make it better." Then all nine linked arms and walked together to the finish line. Everyone in the stadium stood, the cheering went on for several minutes. People who were there are still telling the Story,,,. Why? Because deep down we know this one thing: What matters in this life is more than winning for us. What matters in this life is helping others win, even if it means slo...

In the mid’90s Daniel Goleman started talking EQ or emotional quotient. Danah Zoher and Ian Marshal in their recent work SQ: connecting with our spiritual intelligence observes, “While computers have IQ and animals can have EQ, it is essentially an SQ that sets human being apart. Therefore, ‘the wheel of life’ to roll smoothly, all the spokes of the wheel –IQ, EQ, SQ represents moving from gross to subtle, infinite to finite and from tangible to intangible. SQ has several dimensions: Compassion, wholeness, self-esteem, gratitude, spirit of surrender, service and the ego. Handling the ego is one of the critical dimensions of enhancing SQ. Ego issues, if not handled with care, can create problems in our personal, social and professional lives. Hence for better relationships, it is very important to understand and handle the ego - both of self and others. Ego stems from our bundle of memories. It gets further reinforced when we repeatedly embrace a particular thought for extended period ...