What is life?

Many people say, life is life. Many say life is difficult to be defined, but it can be seen. Some people might try to assign meaning to life. Some might say that life just can't be defined. Well, some even would spend their whole life to understand the same question.

So what exactly is life? Does life mean cellular organisms? Is it necessary for an organism to have a life that there has to be a way it can reproduce? Does life mean it has to consume material and convert it to energy for its use? Does life mean an alive organism needs to serve some purpose?

It probably is not easy to definitely categorize live/non live objects by using just above points (separately or collectively). For example, we have always wondered what life of a cloned object means? Is a cloned object alive, well no doubt a cloned Buffalo or Sheep is alive, it is no different to any other Sheep/Buffalo.

What if we talk about a robot, something like we see in sci fi movies like terminator. Can they be claimed to have life? Well, I don't remember how they used to reproduce but they do seem to satisfy all other obvious criterion for being alive out of our above list.

Now let's move to one more step. We do know that we live on oxygen. What if Scientists are able to make a genetically modified human using bioengineering who doesn't need oxygen or let's say just absorbs energy from atmosphere for its survival. Well besides this he is no different than us. Will we call him alive?

To be honest, the above human really looks like a possible chance of survival for human race because of all the things about climate going on and off course our planet earth is not going to be habitable forever. After few billion years when Sun dies we can't survive on the earth the way we are.

We might want to move to some other planet, we might go there do some tests, modify human gene for survival on that planet and colonize that.

Besides this, lets say we can create new bodies completely for a human and put consciousness of a living human and put into that somehow. Will that body have life? Will that have soul?

A lot of things can be done for survival of life but will that be life be able to be called life at all?

More importantly, what happens if we can't survive our lives the way we want to? Does anything change in universe? Does a human life have any different purpose than any other machine which we see (for example fan), well we can talk all about future generations and stuff but to what end? Well, there might be some purpose to human life but do we know it yet?

BCCI decides to scrap test cricket to save time for IPL

We have come to know from confident sources that India getting kicked at the hands of England in recent test series is because BCCI has decided that test cricket has outlived its utility and is not enough revenue generating machine. Since India has been playing too many test matches leaving less time for IPL, besides that it has been BCCI's concern to keep players fit for IPL.
In a secret ploy, BCCI chairman Shashank Manohar  thought of a master plan which can be used to get rid of test matches completely. If fans lose interest in test cricket, there will be no need to play test matches anymore, after all games are for fans, right?

Why do we see test cricket honestly? Well, we did a survey and this is what Rajesh from Delhi said "I don't know man, I just see that India is at rank one and that's what I love". He had no real reason besides that. Same things goes for a major population in India.

When BCCI got to know this fact that Indians just watch test match as India are number 1, they came up with a master plan. They decided that India need to not only lose number 1 ranking, they also need to have their worst defeat ever, so that cricket fans forget Test cricket.  That is why BCCI chairman Shashan Manohar invited Dhoni and other senior players to his room and explained why test cricket should be abolished. Later he also conveyed his master plan to the players.

A senior player on the condition of anonymity said to us  "Well, first we said WTF? Test cricket is what real cricket is man, later we were convinced that it is bullshit. Can you believe we still push ourselves 5 days when we can earn more money by hitting 15runs in 6 balls in IPL ?"  

Even after that, few players didn't agree to this. They were given option to either do what they are told to do, or get out of team. That was the time when Zaheer Khan had to leave for India (Yes, he is not at all injured).

On conveying this thing to Neeraj from Ahmdadabad, he agreed and said " Yes, that is correct. How else can you explain India not dominating a single session?  How else can you explain the best batting side in the world collapsing like cards all the time. And most importantly how else can you explain including RP Singh in the team?" According to our sources we have learned that Munaf Patel was kept out of team as he refused to ball 3 lose balls each over. RP Singh had no issues with that and picked up in team.

Indian fans who have been very religious supporters of test matches, have started to lose faith. Many fans just watched to see Sachin score 100th 100, yet they have received nothing. This has caused fans frustration and at the same times many fans have decided to quit watching test matches altogether.

BCCI's plan was almost working but as now that this issue has come up in public, it is yet to see what is going to be response. Meanwhile we have heard that, Thousands of  people have gathered outside BCCI office in support of Anna Hazare, who has called this an absolute extreme of corruption. While some people are relieved that Indian team is not really bad, they just did this on purpose. The wider implications of these events are still to be seen. Time will tell if BCCI get what they want.







(Good if you can manage few smiles reading this but off course, none of the above is true, we have really played abysmally In England :( )

Pain of an Indian fan

We have never seen Indian team more helpless in recent time. I have sure seen bad times in cricket but have never felt worse. Team gets out on mare 200, while opposition scores 700 and keeps on going, you have left all hopes of getting a wicket, an edge goes to slip and you drop it, you just can't believe that you might have had a chance to get the batsman out. Opposition keeps on piling and finally they decide to get you a chance to get hands to bat. The one batsman you had high hopes from, who you thought could get things turn around for you, gets a king pair (out on 1st ball in both innings).
I am sure things would have been much worse for cricketers who are actually on fields feeling this. But I am talking about an Indian fan over here. When you lost first test, we said, we are gonna bounce back. We always lose first test. In Second test, you have got 124/8 opposition, and you go on and lose the test by around 400 runs. Well, a lot of fans might have given up hope even then but there are few like me, who think "well tough things happen, we are gonna bounce back". We Indian fans keep on watching every ball, every day hoping we will see a brilliant delivery who will get the opposition batsman, which never really came up. We Indian fans can see our bowlers getting hit across grounds all over, after all we aren't a world class bowling attack. However we can't see our star batsman getting king pair when team desperately needs them to score, we can't see a Tendulkar, a Laxman, a Raina playing a shot which they won't be proud of on seeing replays. That just hurts.

Well, we lose heart, we criticize team, we criticize BCCI for not giving players any rest. We swear to ourselves not to watch a cricket match ever again in future, only to find ourselves stuck to TV next time, when again we win a series/match we love cricket like anything.

Pyaar Ka Punchnama- Story of Three Stereotypes

A girl who uses you like a dog for doing all her work giving nothing in return, a girl who tries to control your whole life (yes every moment of your life), a girl who claiming to want her own space does things which you as her boyfriend can't comprehend. Does any of these stereotypes ring any bells to you? Well I am sure we see glimpses of such girls all over.

Now on other end, we have an overly critical guy who is frustrated with his life, looking all girls in same way(obvious way ;),  an overly nice guy willing to do anything just so that he can have a girl in his life, and a super cool dude.

The story takes us to extremes of these stereotypes. The overly critical guy falls for the girl who treats him nothing but dog, the second guy moves in with his overly controlling girl friend. The super cool dude? Well he gets involved with the third girl.

How can we expect this to end? The girls change, guys mature and they live happily ever after?

Well, that's not what has happened in this movie.

The girl ends up calling the guy dog for following her everywhere, doing all her office work, helping her with anything she needs, even doing shopping for her and taking her to beauty parlor so that she can look sexy for her boyfriend. The second girl, well to be frank I don't really think so bad of her in the movie, when you are in a relationship won't you expect your boyfriend to tell you things like big financial loss, you planning to bring your parents to live with you? Well, yet in the movie she does something real bad which ends up hurting the guy irreparably. The third girl, claiming to ask her own space ends up sleeping with her ex boyfriend, even after that she claims that it meant nothing.

The movie besides showing these stereotypes of girls/guys also shows us somethings which are really true in every relationship. I am sure you guys can relate to at least some of the things from below dialogue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5HebYVi_Ds

In the end, guys learn few facts about life, girls well, they don't change, they just replace these guys with similar other guys (as a dialogue says, if a guy leaves a girl, 10 guys are ready to replace him sticking their tongues like dogs)

Definitely a much different movie, with a great concept, undoubtedly brilliant dialogues, must watch for guys. For girls, well to you I can say, you don't have to feel so bad about the movie as off course these 3 stereotypes don't represent all girls. But yes, must watch for girls too so that they can learn to avoid  being at least one of these 3 stereotypes. 

My bed my home, my desk my office, my life !!

I hope the title is self explanatory, most of the part of my life has been confined to just two small sections in the world, my bed in home and my desk in office. The moment I enter office, most of the time just passes away sitting at desk, looking at monitor, clicking the mouse, typing something, attending conference calls, calling people. Same way when I come back to home most of the time just passes on bed, sleeping, sleeping and sleeping or resting, resting and resting. My body seems to have become quite fragile compared to what it used to be, I cant climb down 6 floors without feeling exhausted, which used to be a task I could have done dozens of time a couple of years back. I cant remember a single 10 digit phone number anymore (except the one which I use to order from nearby restaurant). Are these signs that I am getting old? I hope not.

So what can I do to change few of these things? Well, as of now I can't think of many practical solutions.

India and Cricket

Cricket is one of things, Indians are most passionate about in general. Almost every kid wants to be next Sachin Tendulkar. Every second is a cricket expert who claims to know more than the players actually playing on the ground. A small mistake by a cricket star invites burning of effigies, a glimpse of brilliance invites accolades from all over the country. Some Nehra can be shown as villain on one day, and a super hero loved by all the very next day. Some Dhoni is praised all over for using his instincts when he is successful, branded as a gambler when his instincts don't work. This country is just crazy about cricket. Cricket can never be taken just as a game where a defeat/victory are parts of cycle. I really wonder how much pressure can a Sreesanth feel when he is given a chance in a crucial game after being dropped from team. For being an Indian cricketer, its not just enough to be brilliant with ball/bat, the most important things which matter is how you are able to handle pressure of having expectations of 1.2 billion people. We all know a Tendulkar is expected to play super humanly and score century every time he comes out.

As we know India is going to clash with Sri Lanka in world championship's final in less than 12 hours from now. Off course expectations are high, emotions are high. We all want to win this world cup. I am sure if Indian team is able to handle pressure, victory is our :)

PS. I wanted this article to be quite large, but then ended up in last line abruptly as feeling tired :(

India shaking or India shining?

India can be called a country of paradoxes. You can find most brilliant highly educated minds in India, at the same time you can find more than 30% population who cant read. You can find big malls with shops selling expensive attire, gadgets and more, and outside the door you can find a poor lady begging for survival of hers and her children. You can find more than dozens of Indians being counted in word's richest persons, at the same time you can find, millions of people surviving below 20 rs. per day. You can find brilliant minds running great private organizations, however government, the most important organization of a country being run by a bunch of people being selected based on caste politics, rigged/money powered elections. Well, I can add countless more paradoxes here, anyways lets move on.

If we talk about current state of India it again is full of paradoxes, our markets are crashing, our government is shaking as more and more corruptions scandals are being unearthed. Inflation is climbing heights, making life harder for an average poor Indian. So far we don't see any bright picture, right? Now lets have a look at our growth, Indian GDP is growing at  more than 8% growth rate. Per capita income is rising. Life standards of people is becoming better (lesser child mortality rate, % of educated Indians increasing), our status in International arena has never been better, we got premiers of all 5 UNSC's permanent members visited to country in a calendar year 2010, which signifies how important world sees India now. We are fast transforming ourselves into knowledge economy. Well, I am not an expert but I can say that these things might appear contradictory to people. So now it is open to you all to decide, it India shaking or India is shining?

What matters and what does not?

This is one of the posts where I have really no idea what should the title be, well its going to be a mix of lot of thoughts coming to my mind because of various things happening in my life. One of the things which comes to my mind is, what is the point of anything? I was watching India South Africa final one day tonight, well as anticipated Indian top order had collapsed again, I was biting my nails, saying WTH to myself. Then suddenly I thought, wait a minute, this is not right, what would have happened if India had crushed South Africa by 10 wickets. How would my life have been different? How would anyone's life in our country would get better? Well, thats true that if India won I would feel good for few minutes, read some stats online, try to find some nice blogs on internet praising our cricket starts and Indian team. Probably tomorrow I would go to office, tell people that India rocked, they would nod their heads in affirmation, but then what? After all, what am I getting out of this? No matter what happens in cricket, I am going to end up a significant amount of time thinking about it, watching it, discussing it with people. So then I said to my self  "Thats is, no more cricket".

But again, hold on, then I thought, if we go by this philosophy, how does anything matter? Before continuing on this, lets go two days back. We had our appraisals, I got promoted to this designation called Manager, I used to be called Senior Associate. Just to clarify, I am still doing the work which I used to do, I am going to do the same work also in next week, next month, probably next few years if I continue working in the same company. Then how does this promotion make things better for me? Some might say, if you have to on next floor you need to climb each stairs one by one, each stair doesn't matter individually, but when you reach the last stair and you really climb on next floor you achieve something meaningful. So practically each stair has equal importance, however we might fail to realize that (wow, I came up with a nice metaphor :). ) Anyways thats right, this promotion does matter as it is one of the stairs I have to climb to reach some place meaningful.  But again, wait a minute, how does it matter?  How will that be beneficial to me?  That's when I start thinking about peace in life, after all that is the most important asset you can ever achieve in life? Do you disagree? Climbing stairs in a corporate world one by one,  probably might not leave you time to look at the things which you might want to see, when you reach the the very top, you find that you are too old to enjoy anything, to appreciate anything.
But again, wait a minute, we were talking about peace in life, I hope we agree that success in your professional life cant alone give you peace. What can give you peace then? Is it the imbalance of chemicals in human body which naive people call love a thing which might give you peace? Well, I wont argue with people who agree/disagree with this statement as no matter what your take is, you probably are right, and even if I think you are wrong, I can never prove to you, nor convince you.
Anyways, lets come back to important thing, what matters and what does not, if we combine our cricket theory with thoughts above, we can say that nothing really matters, you might argue that even life doesn't matter itself. Then why do we even live? Is it just because everybody around us is trying to survive? Definitely, whatever we do in life doesn't matter after we die, at least to the person who dies, off course this theory applies when you discard possibility of reincarnation, possibility of heaven, hell all. It doesn't matter if you were a billionaire or a software engineer like me.
With all these thoughts, I would say the ultimate pleasure in life can be peace and peace only, you can never achieve peace when you are bound to human desires like money, wealth, etc etc. Some people might think that human relations can help you achieve peace, but thats something which is debatable, human relations themselves come up with a lots of conditions, lots of give and takes, lots of bonds, which might just steal your peace. So what is the way to forward to peace?

India won or SA gifted ?

I am one of the people who didn't switch their TVs off and went to bed last night when the even thought of India winning the game looked distant. Score was around 150, with around 40 runs required with required run rate of 2.4, with six wickets remaining, both batsman looking comfortable on pitch, that was the time SA took batting power play. Only one thought came to my mind, can same thing happen to SA which happened to India? Earlier India had made a mess of batting power play with figures of 14/4.
Smith probably just wanted to wrap up the game with batting power play. Anyways the final result of power play  for SA was 20/3, which was still better than what happened to India. This was enough for India to fantasize a win. Dhoni kept fielders in right areas, rotated bowlers quickly not allowing batsmen to settle. Finally a short and wide ball from Munaf Patel tempted Parnell to play a cut, only to be caught by Yuvraj at point. It was all over for SA. India won by one run.
Well, now it is quite debatable if India won the game or SA choked. No doubt India had lots of things going in their favor, but they should be praised to hang in there. With just 40 runs/6 wickets/20 overs remaining. It takes a man like SuperCool Dhoni to still hope that all is not lost.
It doesn't matter if it was SA's choking again which handed the match to India. Indian team deserves to win the game for holding their nerve. Congrats to team India and MS Dhoni