काला अक्षर भैंस बराबर!!!

Long before the advent of digital and printing technology, paper used to be an expensive commodity. Reserved only for select few - recording philosophy and religion, and  the truths and legends of history. And the actual process of writing words was no less than an art - taking its sweet time and efforts. Gutenberg came along and invented a method of easily 'mass production' of written word - history was never the same again. The proliferation of knowledge that happened after, was one of the turning points of mankind.

But, there still was a divide - haves and have not’s situation... for many, written word was still "kala akshar bhains barabar" (the title of this post)! And there were some deviant minds, which misused this great invention also... Spreading lies and deceit!!

Times have changed, so has the notion of knowledge. Written word is now digitized. At the click of a button you have access to knowledge of thousands of years... Not just that, but also views and opinions and news on real-time, global basis...

Thus, technology can be a great enabler. But, even the best of tools can do no good, if you can't use them! And use them wisely!

Many of the readers of this editorial would be familiar with the difference between machine and machine-tool. If not, let me explain... Machine is any man-made device which reduces human effort, while machine-tool is something which is used to make machines. A machine cannot make another machine, whereas machine-tool can make another machine-tool. Similar to this, every new development that happens, makes use of a huge number of preceding technological iterations. Some technologies provide the means and ends, while others lay foundations of future technologies, yet to come.

There are many techno-geek jokes popular amongst engineers. "If automotive technology advanced at the rate of IT, a Rolls Royce would have cost few pennies!". "How would a computer engineer fix a broke car - he would shut down Windows and restart it!".

Few centuries ago, even flying was a dream or a wild fantasy, no less than a joke. Now, it's not only a norm, but considered to be one of the fastest and safest mode of transportation! Not without its fair share of mishaps. Self-driven autonomous cars are already here... So are drones... Space travel for masses... Almost all of us have in our pockets a device, (which could be used to broadcast or receive information), with better computing power and graphics unimaginable, super-expensive even for scientists few decades back... And many other ideas and inventions waiting to happen. But does technology really drive this innovation?? May be not! But, it's absence surely retards the progress!!

With these enabling-tools at our hand, rather fingertips, we shouldn't restrict our horizons of innovation. We need to dream big. Dreams that take away our sleep. Float crazy ideas which people may laugh at - but don't stop there, make them work. Stay foolish, stay hungry!

Came across this response in the latest AMA session of Bill Gates… an interesting point in line with current post…

Questions… Reasons… Answers… Actions…

ना ख़ामोशी, ना अल्फ़ाज,

होते हैं वजह जीने कि...

वजह ढूंढ़ने वालों को,

मिलते हैं बहाने हज़ार ...

जीने के... न जीने के!!!

बेमतलब ही जी रहे हो ज़िन्दगी

अगर सिर्फ ढूंढ रहे हो,

जवाब उन सवालों के…

जिन सवालों के जवाब ही नहीं !!!

Neither silence, nor words,

Can explain the reason for existence…

Those who search for reasons,

Will find numerous excuses…

For existence… or otherwise!!!

Living a Life meaningless you are,

                If searching for answers to questions…

                                Questions which can never be answered!!!

Life is a quest, a journey, an attempt to find, discover, and explore the unknown.

Is Life an Equation?

How nice it would have been if biological evolution, morality, ethics and human relations were governed by equations. Equations like the ones governing laws of physics and marvels of engineering.

While few mortals are worried about who said what and why, and why me ... others spend sleepless nights wondering what is happening to world and humanity ...

Why is life so mysteriously difficult to comprehend??

Al said it long ago, "Any stupid can make things complex, it takes a real genius to simplify things". I feel and wish, I could simplify the complexities surrounding me, at the very least, if not the complexities around the world! But I confess being driven to stupidity every now and then, either willfully or forcefully!

That's the beauty of life, I guess. Wish I had the wisdom to appreciate it in a better way... with some simple equation ... but life is never fair, the two sides of the equation are never equal! To find the correlation is even more difficult!!

So it continues ... the journey of exploring the mysterious equations... from unknown to the known!!! Some day perhaps I would understand...

Link to similar posts 

Social Media!

Once upon a time, every newcomer in the corporate IT world used to have fun with the most widely used communication tool - Email. And the fun was 'forwards'. Remember hitting 'Crtl+F' and 'Alt+Enter' impulsively and shooting a mail with 'FWD' in subject line, perhaps coupled with some other keywords to ensure 'safety'! ;) And then, there were blokes who used to religiously send Thought-For-The-Day or Good-Morning mails as a daily ritual! There were forwards of good-luck or bad-luck striking if one forwarded the mail to x number of recipients, or fund-raising for some sick child - for every forward 1$ will be credited, or blonde-jokes, or about some social-cause, or some product promotions.. variety of subjects.. I vividly remember same images being recirculated with different stories! While few others just plain, out-rightly fake news, stories or urban-legends! And of course, there was also the spamming on personal mail-ids. Over a period of time people could sensibly judge and decide what is true and what is not!

O Morpheus, where art thou?

There are times when we all are full of self doubt. We try to understand the reasons for the things, things which don't make any sense but exist, and we can't do anything about them - or so we think.

Does it sound familiar? Well, this might be a story of everyone, isn't? This is not the story of everyone.. it's the story of the One! We're talking about the central character of the cult-classic movie-series The Matrix, Neo aka the One.

The entire series, from a different perspective, can be summed up as a struggle of a single person. From a computer geek full of questions to the ultimate savior of what is left of mankind.

My Tryst with Pune

         tryst /trist/ n. meeting, esp. a secret one of lovers.
Don't go by the literal meaning of 'tryst'. However, I could not find anything that would be an apt description of how I feel. My apologies. The following passages are just an attempt to describe my personal feelings, views and experiences with this Charming Town... Pune.

Like most of the juinor college students in a small town, I too cherished a dream of getting into an esteemed Pune Engineering college. To cut the story short, I couldn't make it. But throughout my graduation I cam down to Pune every now and then - sometimes to get reference books from Appa Balwant Chowk aka ABC, sometimes to have a wild time with my friends (who were so lucky). It was one of those joy rides to the Land of Fantasy! No 9pm deadlines. Bikes. Guys n' gals. Carefree attitude. Young guns at the threshold of adulthood.

Take Care

It is said that where science ends, religion and philosophy begins. This would essentially mean that the people of the world can be divided in two classes. Believers and Reasonable. This is a very crude classification, but let’s say this is how it is for time being, an assumption at this point of time. Now let us analyze or try to see thru these two points of view the present series of unfortunate events that are happening all around us and life in general.

The believers have very strong faith in the being of God. And believe that most of the things happening around us are controlled by God (in fact all things, not just ‘most’ of them). And, also, that our own deeds are precursor to the kind of situations that we land up in. It’s the good that we do which returns to us. The same is true with our bad deeds. There might be some delay but the justice is delivered according to our deeds. It’s our Karma.

Re-inventing the Wheel

http://www.upwardlifestyle.com/2009/04/path-13-reinventing-wheel.html 

Every now and then we are told - you don't have to 'reinvent the wheel', 'reuse what is available and make it work'. And we are relieved that our efforts would be saved!


Just imagine - a top of the line automobile say a Ferrari or a Rolls Royce having stone or wooden wheels! What a sight it would be, wouldn't it?