Life without purpose !

"I do not fear it (death ) because I attribute little value to a life without a purpose. And if I should have to sacrifice my life to attain its goal, I'll do so willingly. "

Netanyahu, Jonathan (At age 17)

This quote was from an article called the Entebbe Diary that I 'found' on the net . Jonathan was killed in the operation .. ( It was about the hijacking of the Air France airbus by the PLO and grounded at Entebbe, Uganda during the rule of Idi Amin )

This somehow ( along with other readings ) changed my views of the Israelis and the PLO . As a child at high school I used to support the PLO and Arafat and hate the Israelis .. but now after years of thinking and reading and meeting a few Jews, ( my client was Jew who had Finnish roots , she used to tell how her father had a pro-Jewish-elitist feeling ) I have slowly started to change my point of view.

Yesterday I spent time just reading new things and I somehow cultured a respect for Jonathan Netenyahu ( the second-in-command?? of Operation ThunderBolt .. later renamed Operation Jonathan ) and also towards the IDF ( Israel Defence Forces) I later came to know he was the brother of Benjamin Netanyahu ( ex PM of Israel ) ..

And the quote reflected on me slowly down the day .. Do I have a purpose in life ?? What do I want to make out of this life ??

Faux Pas

As I was just exploring some new words in French on the net ... I came across this common terminology to represent violation of unwritten social rules , ... Faux Pas ( pronounced Foh-pau or foh-paus ) ... A good example for this ...

In Russia Giving somebody an even number of flowers is Faux Pas !!. This should only be done in funerals. ;-) pretty strange huh ???

I was thinking what are the Faux Pas in India ? May be these are a few that i noticed ...

1. Touching women ;-) especially married .. unless she is related to you .

2. Walking in a house with your shoes on !

3. Coming for a marriage function without gifts . ( i think this is global )

I cant think of more ... ( Is it because of our extreme social openness or my inability to recall the last time i was civilized ?? )

Musings over a perfect cup of coffee

Yesterday I met my friend whom I had not met/talked to for almost a year. I asked her out for a coffee and talked almost like 2 hours over a cup of coffee ( yeah A cup of coffee . She was not the caffeine kinda person' ) in a place called the Barrista ( at T-nagar ) ( a more crazier version of Starbucks merged with a funky designer studio ) where the coffee is costly and the cake is three times costlier !

I remember meeting her first on chat ... and then took the relationship to the next level by calling her ... and then meeting her ... the talks were mostly intellectually stimatinig ... and probably I 'managed' to infuse a little of me personality into a willing victim ! Now Iam happy that I have helped her get a better vision on the intricacies of life on this planet.

And then ... when looking back at the coffee place , I could not but quote the line from "You've Got Mail " ...

"JOE: The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall! Decaf! Cappuccino! "

The only thing is ..here they price it exorbitantly high just to make the cream of the society ( or atleast those who want to be ) come here, loaf their time in endless purposes and walk away in so called 'newly-gained-self respect' and feeling as if this was a coffee worth its price , where as down the other side of the road , you could get a much better coffee a tenth of its cost and you dont have to wait for it more than 40 seconds.

Definitely the people dont come here for the coffee .. the coffee comes to them ;-)

A hitchhakers guide to who Iam

For anyone who 'accidently' or .. out of curiosity .. or out of reasons unknown to anyone .. happen to come across this entry of mine .. this should in a nut shell provide you with all the essentials of who Iam ...

Nationality : Indian ( and occasionally proud of it ;-)

Languages used: English ( mostly ) , Hindi ( a little ) , java and tcl ,someone is teaching me french though these days .. so soon i should be adding a few words in French too .

I dont wear specs though i respect ( i dont know why ) girls who wear them ... they sort of look intelligent .. artificial intelligence ?? ( Maybe iam wrong .. maybe not. .. but so far .. its true )

What do i do when iam not sleeping ? .. I read lots atleast try to ... these days a little bit of fiction ... I love lucid writings .

Whats my dream ? Sometimes i think i should not reveal this .. lest this should not come true.

Usually an introvert .. but at times I fake that iam an outgoing person .. and try my pick up lines on smart girls . Iam cautious with timid girls . Usually they are far reaching and profound.

Best times I had ...

a) when i used to drive for 4 hrs without any destination across Wisconsin-Illioins-Indiana-Michigan ..and back and ofcourse the countryside drive during thanksgiving ( i almost always drive alone ) ... Its like taking drugs .. in the end it does not take you anywhere but the journey is scenic .

b) whenever i get surged to do something .. ( iam tempted almost instantaneously .. though iam not much of a spontaneous person .. )

Knowing people

I talked to a colleague of mine .. and I asked him what he wanted from life ... He said .. I want to do a Phd in Economics ! Wow , i thought , people do have some concrete goals in life .. and that set me thinking again ... What do I want from/ in life ?

I decided to set some new rules in my life .. Get to know people more .. or get to know more people ?? and meet a new person atleast once in a week ! Hmm noble idea ... maybe that would bring me better insight on people and myself .

"The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out and meet it".
Thucydides (471 BC - 400 BC)