FACT ne TRUTH

During my 7 yrs of education in boarding school, as if enduring academic schedule was not enough, we had a motivated physical education teacher who made us jog for 4-5kms every morning. Rain or shine no exception. School grounds were located on east side of the campus where we had unobstructive view of pristine tropical sunrise every day. On this fateful morning, as we were half way thru the jogging regimen, big beautiful orange ball of fire started to rise from ends of the earth spilling its color all over the sky on its way. One of my classmates, Vijaya Sarathi (his parents must have had highest of hopes as the literal translation means "charioteer of victory chariot", that sound gaudy but it fits well in the native language as the charioteer in this case refers to Lord Krishna) who was running on my side asked me if I knew the difference between FACT and TRUTH. Exhausted, panting it was no time for me to think. I said "Isn't it obvious? Check the spelling badkav". He was persistent so I told him to enlighten me. Then what came out of his mouth still rings in my head. Here it goes verbatim

"Sun rises in the East and sets in the West. Because we see it with our own eyes it is very safe to assume that Sun moves from one end to another end as the day progresses. That is FACT. Contrary to our every day experience, if it were not for our textbooks, we would never know that Sun is stationary and earth's rotation causes illusion of Sun's movement. That is TRUTH. Only a great mind can think beyond facts to realize the truth. Now you know the difference between Fact and Truth."

I was floored to say the least. We were 12 yrs old at the time. Though I dissed him at the time it set forth a chain reaction of thoughts and initiated an inquisitive mind. The words took myriad of meanings over the course of my life. Now I think there can always be a higher truth than the truth we know of.

Here is a documentary by discovery/NG channel about 15 yr old boy from Nepal who seem to be on the path to pursue his own truth thru meditation and without eating or drinking for months,

part 1-5; 10 mins each

Part - I
Part - II
Part - III
Part - IV
Part - V

OBVIOUS IS OBVIOUSLY WRONG.
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Twilight in the Desert = Eye opener

Well as I wrote this article oil price went from 100's to 140 and then crashed to the ground due to unprecedented de-leveraging and hedge fund redemption and idea that consumption will decline due to global recession led to huge oil price decline. But the fact remains the same that no new big oil fields are found and oil in current fields declining.

During my occasional weekend ritual of browsing thru the aisles of Borders', I happened to pick up a book called 'Twilight in the Desert' by Matt Simmons and as I was reading it I almost fell out of the chair out of disbelief. I want to share with you the crux of the author's thorough research.

Emphasis on DAILY. Ok.

The DAILY production of oil is not matching the DAILY demand of humanity. Even worse no government is prepared for this scenario that might dawn upon us in 2-3 years. Remember cars, ships, trucks and planes do not run on solar or wind power yet. They need liquid hydrocarbons. Yes, there is so much oil in ground and in ocean bed waiting to be discovered. Yes there is oil that is discovered but without operational oil fields. But as we speak while the reserves of current biggest oil fields are decreasing, the DAILY demand of the world is increasing the DAILY production is not matching the demand and this status-quo will continue into the future despite considering the new fields that are in pipeline. Recession in USA will not offset the demand from Chindia and middle east. (One fat guy going on diet will not feed 100 hungry skinny folks.). Volatility will remain but my guess is we will experience much higher gas prices. Who ever thinks otherwise is in for big surprise soon. We might see 5/6/7 dols a gallon next year. Infact I was looking for a bigass V6 Acura/Audi but after realizing the seriousness of the mess we are in, I let sanity took over and settled for 09'Corolla-xle as hybrids seemed pricey for the horsepower they offer.

The above logic is purely based on supply - demand equation. Add to the mix, the inflation and production/supply interruptions by anti-social elements (Like happening in Nigeria). It will only exacerbate. Mean while we can only hope Matt Simmons got it all wrong and his book is a balony. Below is a popular ref that shares the same sentiment.

Ref: www.theoildrum.com

Indian Engine = Unbelievable.

Here is an interesting article about young Indian engineers invention, engine running free of oil, No need for electricity either. definitely Interesting.

Recently patented technology from India that Tata is looking into.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish = Must Hear

Very good speech by Apple Founder, Steve Jobs at Stanford Graduation commencement. Click below to listen to it if you have spare time in life.. Its a good one.
Steve Job's Commencement Speech

GOLDSPOT = MELLIFLUOUS

I and my wife stumbled upon their songs recently and these guys turned out to be a sweet surprise ( like Jing Thing, Goldspot! ) . Started off in NJ with an innocent high school band name called 'Jumping Jews and Hip-Hop Hindus'. Now the band is called GOLDSPOT. I read they are selling hot in UK.
From NJ, and selling good in UK! Go figure !
Neverthless, see the songs here n you will not regret the time you spent on it.

FRIDAY (Swapna's Fav)
ANOTHER ONE (My Fav)
REWIND (We both like this one, its fun to watch.)


FRIDAY IN HINDI

- Enjoy.

TED = KNOWLEDGE

If you are one of the guys who sees thru the prism and enjoys the spectrum rather than watching life in black and white, You will indulge yourself in this website for a long time. (Like ladies indulging in chocolate, or like pigs swirling around n indulging in mud, you MAY find yourself in joy for finally finding such a site :-)

WWW.TED.COM

I think these TED guys are doing a service to the humanity with their work.

JUNIOR DOCS = NEX GEN

I was amazed by the courage and conviction of our junior doctors who did not say 'chalta hai yaar' but went knocking on doors of judiciary to protest against an elected entity called MLA, for exhibiting his muscle n clout in a public place such as hospital. Even though Jr-Docs lost in this epic battle, it is such a refreshing change to see people specially youngsters thinking in the lines of US style democracy, liberty and pursuit of basic rights and not taking things for granted and not exhibiting 'man.. even god can not change this corrupt system' kinda attitude. It just gives me enough confidence to go back to India hoping that the nex-gen is looking for accountability in government and from different corners of life in general.

In all this mess, it is ironic that govt did not dare to use the strength of the law against those goons as much as they were eager to use against helpless jr-docs. Govt was willing to use ESMA, my *** - doesn't it sound like pichuka pi brahmastram. Though Jr Docs' monumental protest and the cause is commendable in every way but their solution is just immature. Their demand to have police at hospitals is rediculous. Tomorrow teachers want police at schools and the list goes on... and some day if not punished now, the same goons as part of their normal diet comes and beats up a policeman and now the police want someone to police their stations...that would be something. So their suggested solution is like dog chasing its own tail. The only solution is to send the people who attacked to jail.

After being sub-dued by the govt with dandopaya technique, I am sure there is more than one jr-doc in that crowd with his/her nirvana moment - "Aha.. to change the establishment, you have to BE the establishment" and join politics to cleanse the system..Now they have an option like LOKSATTA. ( More than often, people join to change the politics but politics change them.. still I see a ray of hope in the current situation, that is, when citizens expect accountability from others and from the system they live in, they tend deliver accountability themselves. It is like, if you expect the road to be clean, you are not the one throwing trash on it.)

To put it in perspective, it takes a generation to let go certain things....and I think that generation is just warming up in India.
Ofcourse, if not taken enough care, it only takes just one more generation to screw it all up. ( Case in point, Paris, Britney :-)