Random Walk of Life

Opening Mood: Recovering from flu.
Opening Song: Leaving Home - Indian Ocean.

Today, as India celebrates its 60th anniversary of Independence, I am trying to put into words what freedom means to me.

Freedom, is a very basic and pure ideology. An ideology so powerful that many fought for it, many died for its cause. For many, Freedom was about living a life which was free from oppression, where you did not have to justify every action of yours to some one else, where you could live your life in the manner you chose to. This is my understanding and I feel that it was for this “freedom” that many struggled.

I am not comparing our degree of freedom, using interrogatives like, “Have we completely achieved that yet?” or “Are we there yet?”. Nor am I seeking to shed more light upon imperatives like “This freedom was hard earned. It’s our duty to protect it”. Their relevance might be paramount in various contexts, but in the context of pure freedom, they, in my humble opinion are nothing but contradictions. The moment we start trying to put “freedom” into words, it’ll stop being free! It’ll be bound by the very words which “define” it, making it something definite! So what am I trying here? Come to think of it, writing another haughty article on freedom like this one, is only adding to that bundle of contradictions!

<snip snip snip>

We all know what Freedom means, don’t we?! So, why bother to define something that is so pure and primitive? Why not just live for what it is, without justifications?!

Happy Independence Day to you all

Closing Song: Melancholic Ecstasy - Indian Ocean
Closing Mood: Enlightened!

Opening Mood: Relaxed.. It’s a weekend.
Opening Song: None. Been listening to music all morning.

I’m back after a sabbatical . A lot of time has elapsed since I last blogged and a lot has happened during that time. For instance,

• I went on a Road trip to Western Ghats, just before the monsoons and was amazed by the lush green beauty of the Ghats amidst the pre-monsoon  rains.
• I mentored a group of interns working on a project of my interest. Funny, since I was an intern in the same internship program a couple of years ago.
• I bid adieu to a great friend, thanks to whom, I discovered some interesting ways to spend my weekends, other than sleeping or reading.
• I bought an iPod Video , 30G and have been bicycling all over the city , listening to some good music, and turning a deaf ear to the honking and other mindless noise on the road.
• I have been preparing like crazy for GRE, mugging the wordlists and all that, without really enjoying it. After a year, it feels like I’m back in college, preparing for a Software Engineering or one of those “talk-out-of-your-a**” papers.
• And, I have been reading Harry Potter. Yup, I keep boasting that I finished the first three books in a single week, and just bought the fourth one.

The fourth book! Yes, a bit of history on that one..

Today morning, after being woken up by Niks, who incidentally called all the way from North Carolina, to say Hello and something more, Shuaib asked me if I was interested in going to Forum, since he had some work at a nearby place. I was exhausted after a marathon wordlist session yesterday, and agreed. The one place, I usually don’t miss when I go to Forum, is this wonderful bookstore named Landmark. I admit, it’s one of my favorite bookstore, since I can spend endless hours there, without complaining. I’ll always have the likes of Archer, Krishnamurthy, and others to keep me company.

After the usual mindless browsing, I happened to sight this book entitled “Surely, you’re joking, Mr.Feynman” by this scientist guy, Richard Feynman. I picked the book, scouted for a chair. There was none. So I sat down at a corner, cross legged ( I did that, since I had seen someone do it last time I was there). As I progressed through that book, I found Mr Feynman to be a very interesting character, especially with the wacky inventions of his, which unfortunately the others could not appreciate. Something like an hour and a half passed, when I finished three or four chapters of the book. That was when I noticed that one of the Security Folks was checking on me from time to time. Dunno why. I don’t think he ever saw anyone read a book for so long, inside the bookstore. I guess, most people just come, pick, pay and leave. Anyway, if he wanted to tell me something, I doubt I would have heard it. One of the advantages of owning an iPod. You can selectively ignore what’s not important

But then, I sensed that my knees were hurting.I had to get up and walk a bit. I kept the book back at it’s place and picked up the “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” . The next hour was spent with Mr Potter and the Quidditch World cup.  At something like 2:30, Shuaib called saying he finished whatever he had come for, and was waiting for me downstairs. I rushed out of the bookstore to join him. I myself couldn’t believe I did that. I came out of the bookstore EMPTY HANDED! This was the first time I did that. I still cannot believe it.

Anyway, to compensate, I bought “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” at  Sapna Book house at Indiranagar, which’s right next door. So I do have something to keep me busy through the rest of the weekend and away from the boring wordlists.

This is probably the most incoherant entry of mine. Hmm…. There’s always a first time for everything in life

Closing Mood: Eager to resume reading The Goblet of Fire.
Closing Song : None. Just the fan, making the swirling noise, and the wind softly blowing outside.