Nay ... not my type ....

I always used to tell myself that I am not gonna write about the daily mundane occurrences happening in my life.
Firstly, everyone does that and there would be nothing new or different that I would be opining about. Secondly my life isn't very interesting to write about, in fact, it is as boring as it can get.
(but most importantly this is not the place where I would like to honestly tell what I honestly think)
But thats the whole point of blogging people tell me(Who told me? Don't ask me) Its just about describing each & every situation you encounter in your own way. You don't necessarily have to be the guy to whom things happen, you can be some nondescript guy doing something nondescript but ultimately you must bring out the it-happened-to-me (and even the i-wish-it-happened-to-me) in an over-the-top exaggerated manner (lets include the it-never-happened-to-me-but-you-wouldn't-know incidents also into this). It is all about cribbing about anything and everything that happens to you, complaining about some people (all people), bringing out emotions which one wouldn't dare to do in reality, use the first alphabets of the names of people to protect their identity, use superbly funny abbreviations and some found-only-in-blogs words like “whatisitsname” when you actually bloody don't know “What is its name?”, twist and turn the words of the English language in any way you wish coz the only aim is to bring out your intended meaning at the expense of the language.
The one attribute that stands out glaringly in all these blogs and that which makes me to hate these blogsters (see I invented a word right there) all the more is the I dont give a damn attitude (the synonyms being Devil may care attitude, I am who I am attitude etc etc). Well if they didn't give a damn they wouldn't have to be writing a blog in the first place. Anyway let me consider that they actually dont give a damn and they do blog for various whatever reasons, but all that they try to show is that they dont give a damn. Hypocrites of the highest order is too mild a phrase to describe them. Well if all this bothered you then you can be assured that you DO give a damn.
I somehow always felt that mine would be just-another-web-log if I wrote about such stuff and just now I have had an Eureka moment that mine is very much just-another-web-log.

Anup Nidhanee

For the purpose of ensuring that a google for Anup Nidhanee should lead people to Anup Nidhanee's blog I am going to put the name Anup Nidhanee (Yes I am Anup Nidhanee) as many times as possible in this blog which has been titled Anup Nidhanee.

Simplifying the complexity of Philosophy

These are excerpts from The Speaking Tree (TOI 26th November) written by Yaron Barzilay.

When mention is made of philosophy, one might imagine that a rain of words will fall combined with complicated sentences and theories. This way of seeing philosophy is far from the true spirit of philosophy which basically aims to bring us closer to simplicity and clarity.
It is customary to credit Pythagoras for pronouncing the term Philosophy first when he described himself not as a 'wise man' but as a 'man who is in love with wisdom', a "Philosophos".

Philo or love is the ability to unite with wisdom, or we can also say with life itself. The love of wisdom therefore is an active process in which one learns the principles of life and changes himself accordingly. This process brings man to live in harmony with nature.
Philosophy is not a theoretical concept trying to describe life, but an active state where man is in a constant process of change. We can also refer to it as an ethical way of living where we discover our true virtues.

To be a philosopher is not to stay at a cold distance from others but to develop a sense of belonging to life and to the mutual essence of things. It was said in the temple of Delphi, the holy centre of ancient Greece: "Know thyself and know the world and the Gods"

"When you come to the edge of all the light, and you know you are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown , faith is knowing one of the two things will happen :
Either there will be something solid to stand on or ... You will be taught how to fly."

Choice

The immediate inspirations for this post are the movies ---- The Matrix (all the three) and The Butterfly Effect (I wouldnt suggest this to anyone) and one photo.

Photo??? I guess a week ago in the last page of The Hindu there was this photo .... a lonely kashmiri fisherman throwing his net into the river and surrounded by water everywhere and the caption saying that the fishing season had begun. He was absolutely lonely and I am sure he himself wasnt sure how long he would just sit there waiting for his net to fill. So what would he do all that while? Its not like he had a bottle of beer with a novel for company. So what would he do when it is not the fishing season? Wait for the season to arrive... duh!!! I couldnt help wonder if he ever felt bored of waiting ... waiting for the season to arrive .. and waiting for the fish once the season arrived. After all these thoughts crossed my mind the first question that came to my mind was "Does he have a choice?"The obvious answer being that he doesnt. The second question that comes up (to those who are even remotely bothered) is "Does he want any other choice?". I would like to believe that he doesnt.

The Butterfly Effect is a crappy movie to watch but the underlying concept that they have tried to bring out is good. It tries to bring out the fact that whatever is happening in your life now is because of the continuous series of events that have happened throughout your life. Its that typical "If things had happened that way then, things would have been different now", "If only I had made that choice then ..... ". But its not in our hands to say "I will do like this now, so that things will be like that later". Nothing can be changed. Its only after things have happened that you can say "How I wish ..". Things are perfect just the way they are is the best thing that you can tell yourself and move on.

The Matrix ... well what can i say about the movie .. its one super awesome movie and people who think its just another-futuristc-sci-fi movie have not got anywhere near understanding the core concept of the movie which is the unifying factor between man & machine .. CHOICE. Either this or that. Digitally speaking 0 or 1.

Everyday .. every moment I am making choices, most of them sub-consciously and a few with my entire intellect involved. These choices are nothing but a burden coz no matter how much precious time I spend on the right choice to be chosen, it is always a question mark. The rightness or wrongness of the choice chosen is only determined later when it is absolutely impossible to change what has happened but to accept things as is and move on. Then why make the choice in the first place?? coz it has to be done. Simple. Then why spend my energy-time-mental_effort on making it when the outcome is certainly a uncertainty?? This is the point I wanted to get to .. I dont have to. I gotta choose, so I choose but all the internal-conflicts my mind might subject me to is pointless.

I couldnt think of a better conclusion to this than the following conversation at the end of the epic-fight between Neo & Mr.Smith in the last of Matrix trilogy
Mr.Smith : "Why Mr.Anderson .. why why ... why do you persist?"
Neo : "Because I choose to."

Salvation is within

There comes a time in most people's lives when they realize that they just arent meant to read Shakespeare. It is how they face this earth-quaking reality that truly decides what path their life takes.

Some might actually go back to the first page and try to read The Bard again. Its not that they are trying to run away from the reality (that they are plainly incapable of comprehending Shakespeare), but its just that they believe in ".... try try try .... well just keep trying " coz thats all they ever do. Probably they dont even believe in the above phrase but they hardly realize their incapability. HE hasnt gifted their mind the capacity to even know whats actually going on in their minds (those lucky bastards). So as they have always been doing everything in their lives they do this too, without a sense of achievement or a sense of failure. They never get bogged down by failure and success for them is something that always happens to others. I think its time to let these people know that Shakespeare was not an author=novel/story/book-writer, he was a playwright. Scratching your head??? Playwright's are those who ...... aah forget it.

Then there are the truly literally literary-gifted one's. These are the people whose parents had stuffed the Britannica series in their rooms long before they learnt the sentence "Mom, you gotta be kidding me". Well these people really truly seriously and perfectly understand what Shakespeare was all about. They have a genuine understanding of why Shakespeare wrote the way he did. They have a very clear picture of all the complexities involved in each of the character's portrayed by The Bard. Their dedication in completely & thoroughly understanding each and every situation described by The Bard is truly commendable & it does require a lot of genuine-interest apart from concentration. Their knowledge of Shakespeare is so complete that they can probably recite any verse along with the chapter number and paragraph. They have absolutely no doubt about their Shakespearean prowess. These people not only know Shakespeare, they also know that they know Shakespeare. Nothing can shake this belief of theirs coz surely Britannica cant be wrong, can it? Their analysis, their views, their opinions are all based on what has been analysed, what has been expressed and what has been opined about. So what? whats wrong with that? That exactly is the problem. These people have read Shakespeare because it is the "right" thing to do. Everything that they do in life is based on the concept of right or wrong, success or failure , good or bad, needless to say the qualities mentioned above being determined by factors completely external to them. Their focus in whatever they do is impeccable coz, you guessed right, they are doing the "right" thing you see. 'Whats wrong in doing something that's right?' they say. I give you a thought to chew on "Whats right in doing something that's wrong?"

There are also the kind who read Shakespeare coz they want to know what this great intellectual had to express. They are the people who have felt things the way they are & truly experienced life in its entirety. All they want to gain by reading The Bard is the knowledge of his views. They are not looking to get impressed by his dramatisation-skills or his license-to-make-grammatical-mistakes-skills. They are very clear about their opinion which is truly their own because the basis for that is themselves and their thoughts. They are not looking to gain worldly knowledge by reading Shakespeare. They really dont bother analyzing and dissecting the characters in his play's coz as far as they are concerned they just wanted to read Shakespeare, feel (even for a brief moment) what The Bard might have felt when writing such a scene and carry on with their life, coz they dont have to prove to anybody that they are "right".

Now comes the turn of those kind of people who probably knew that they were never going to read Shakespeare from the time they heard about him. Its probably because they are too busy writing their blogs.

Acceptance

Eks1: Why are people the way they are?

Eks2: People are whoever they are without knowing who they are

Eks1: Why is it that things which are so obvious to me are not so for others?

Eks2: Maybe because whats obvious to others is not obvious to you

Eks1: There is something fundamentally wrong with the way people behave in this world

Eks2: You sure the problem is with the behaviour & not the thinking?

Eks1: I dont care where the problem lies, but it is getting tougher for me to accept things the way they are.

Eks2: Well, you dont have to accept it

Eks1: Things are so bad that I would have to cutoff myself from this filthy existence if I dont accept it

Eks2: Read this beautiful poem

The Great Way is not difficult
For those who have no preferences.
When love and hate are both absent
Everything becomes clear and undisguised.
Make the smallest distinction, however
And heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.

If you wish to see the truth
Then hold no opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike
Is the disease of the mind
When the deep meaning of things is not understood
The minds essential peace is disturbed to no avail.

The Way is perfect like vast space
Where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.
Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject
That we do not see the true nature of things.

Live neither in the entanglements of outer things,
Nor in the inner feelings of emptiness.
Be serene in the oneness of things
And such erroneous views will disappear by themselves.
When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity
Your very effort fills you with activity.
As long as you remain in one extreme or the other
You will never know Oneness.

- Sengstan

LAKSHYA

Eks1: You cant have a Lakshya for a lifetime

Eks2: Of course I can

Eks1: Then what would you do after achieving the Lakshya of your life?

Eks2: Lakshya isnt about achieving one thing after which I would say I have completed the purpose of my existence on this earth. My life is not about my Lakshya, my Lakshya is about my life.

Eks1: Life doesnt need a Lakshya to be lived. All the sense of achievement, sense of joy, sense of pride is superficial.

Eks2: True, but I never said that those feelings are what I am pursuing in this quest for my Lakshya.

Eks1: Then why have a Lakshya?

Eks2: Having a Lakshya for the sake of achieving it, is the worst forms of Lakshya a person can have. My Lakshya is not about setting a goal and achieving it, it is not about dreaming about something and going after it, it is not about pushing myself to the extreme to get whatever done. My Lakshya is something that gives me a sense of direction whenever I am lost, it is something that gives me a purpose in whatever I do, it is something that I know is mine, it is something that I cannot put into words coz if I could I would.