Mindroom

Raghava KK: Five lives of an artist | Video on TED.com

2010-02-28T10:07:00.000-08:00

Raghava KK: Five lives of an artist Video on TED.com

Bill Gates on energy: Innovating to zero! | Video on TED.com

2010-02-28T09:46:00.000-08:00

Bill Gates on energy: Innovating to zero! Video on TED.com

What do you want to do in your life before you die?

2008-08-23T23:13:00.001-07:00

My dad always scolds me when I talk or write anything about death. He always says that one should think about “life” and not “death”. Death according to him is negative and life is positive. But according to me, nothing is negative. It’s just the positive seen upside down. Can ideas be classified into positive or negative? I don’t know whether there is a justifying answer.
Now let me come to the topic I want my readers to think and ponder. I have been dying(sorry dad) to write on this topic since past few months, but the IT job I am into now keeps me really busy.
“What do you want to do in your life before you die?” is not a simple statement we can afford to ignore. I know ignorance is said to be bliss, but not in this case. I was going through the edition of “The Sunday Express” (Sunday edition of The New Indian Express) in Trivandrum, Kerala(God’s own country http://www.keralatourism.org/ , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala ). And there I found this article on “The Buried Life” (Please visit the website http://www.theburiedlife.com/ for further information). Four guys have made a list of ‘100 things to do before we die’ and are religiously following the list. They have been successful to a great extent. And they are helping others to build up their list and to follow their dreams. They mention in the website that they were inspired by the movie “The Bucket List”
( http://thebucketlist.warnerbrothers.com/ , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bucket_List ). The movie was truly inspiring. If you haven’t watched it then get yourself a DVD. Now I am into making a list for myself and am trying to spread awareness. It is really exciting to build up the list because it really gives you a perspective of what you dream of, what you want to get from this life. It sets you and the entire universe in motion. Like the statement mentioned in the Shah Rukh Khan movie “Om Shanti Om” for more than a million times, “If you really and I mean really want a thing from deep within your heart, then the entire universe sets into motion to provide you that thing”. Now I have to see for myself how far I shall go. But there is nothing to lose. Do try to think beyond your daily activities. Do try to stretch your imaginations. And do try to read the book “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” by Richard Bach.
Do share your lists with the guys at www.theburiedlife.com and do share your comments on what you feel about this idea and about this article. Your feedback is always welcome.

Videos of “The Buried Life” are available on You Tube at the link http://in.youtube.com/user/buriedlife . The pictures are available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/theburiedlife/collections/

I am back...

2007-04-16T20:52:00.000-07:00

I am back. After “securing” a job for satisfying my “well-wishers”, I am back. The journey till now has been a rainbow. A rainbow of successes and failures, a rainbow of smiles and tears. Though I have learnt a lot of lessons, I feel learning is never ending. This is one of the best things about life. It is the best teacher one can get and that too it comes free.
Life should be full of adventures. Life already is unpredictable and so exciting. Adding some adventure to it will be like adding icing to a cake. We move forward in life sometimes in a planned way and sometimes completely unplanned. Sometimes we are full of strategies to deal with our problems and sometimes we don’t equip ourselves with anything substantial and jump into the dark well. We will slowly get to learn that living life without inhibitions, without fears, without any ill-feelings towards anybody or towards anything really is great. Why should we limit ourselves with invisible boundaries? Why should we have feelings like jealousy, envy and anger when we all can live harmoniously? It’s all in the mind.
The feeling that we can do anything under the sun without being afraid of the consequences actually gives us a new high. Mark and Robert in their book “Cracking the millionaire code” mention how invaluable our individual experiences are. So we are here to experience a wonderful journey--life.
Without running behind material possessions all through our life we should gift something to ourselves—life. Yes, giving back life to ourselves will be the greatest gift we will ever get. Let us all claim back our lives and declare “I am back”.

Let us protect our Environment

2006-10-21T11:32:00.000-07:00

Namaste my dear readers. Hope you are all having the blast of your lives. I know life sucks sometimes but let us all suck the life out of life.
I don't know why, maybe because I was born on the 'World Environment day', I have great interest in protecting the environment. I always have tried to create awareness among people close to me and I have been successful to some extent but I should try to achieve what some great environmentalists have.
So this article is all about creating awareness that our environment needs care, it needs love and it needs protection. Preventing pollution, conserving energy, planting trees, recycling garbage and many other activities can be undertaken to protect our earth. We can encourage others to do so.
Visit websites and gather some knowledge about how we can protect the nature. Read articles in magazine, in books and on the web. Try to associate with people having similar interests in environmental protection.
I don't want to present facts and figures as they are readily available on the net. And we people don't have to be shown any numbers to prove that our environment is in danger. It is there for us to realize and take steps towards protecting the most important thing we have.
Let us all make the world a better place to live in.

Making your life count for what really counts

2006-10-21T11:16:00.000-07:00

Hello dear readers, if any. Nowadays people don't have time even to talk to their parents or their dear ones, leave reading some boring articles posted by someone boring like me. So let me cut the crap and come to the point that please make your life count for what really counts.
Have you read the book "7 laws of highest prosperity" by Cecil O.Kemp Jr. If you haven't , you should read it and understand it and follow it. All the bestsellers are not good and some good books don't sell that much. But for bookworms like me, "whatever comes into your hand ought to be read".
In the book mentioned above, one can learn to really achieve what one desires and deserves. I mostly love the book because it teaches us to have a heart which is caring, generous and very thankful to god.
We should do what we love the most and what is good for people around us. Let us all lead a life of significance. Let us all make a difference.
Let us all think for a while for what we are made for. Let us all not be jealous of someone else's achievements. Let us not be frustrated at ourselves for not being that good at something. Let us all be thankful to god for what we are, what we have and let us start investing time in improving ourselves and our attitudes towards the life. Life is short so we shouldn't waste time in negative emotions and ideas. Positivity, optimism should rule our hearts.
Let us all make the world a better place to live in. Hey guys if u read this article, then be free to post your comments. Write your feedback to me. Your feedback is valuable.
Keep smiling.......and yes keep reading.

Activities during 3rd Oct, 2006

2006-10-03T09:51:00.000-07:00

Hope all my readers are having a fantastic life. I am starting a new type of series of articles which will be more like a diary but they will be special in the sense that they will be containing info about my hobbies and how I invest time in them. So enjoy.........

I am reading a book now, titled "Cracking the millionaire code" by Mark Victor Hanssen and Robert Allen. Its a great book and I would like to recommend it to all. Mind-blowing concepts are presented in an attractive way. Quotes of the greats, short biographies of enlightened people and hidden codes present in the book make it an exciting read.

I had bought an audio cassete entitled "Blazing Drums 2". It contains awesome compositions of percussion maestros. Its a must buy for percussion fans like me. I personally can play drums, though not as good as some. But hey life is for experimenting and finding out what you are good at, isn't it?

Hey feedbacks to my articles are welcome. You can mail them to me anytime. My mail id is maverick.crown@gmail.com. Be careful though, I hate spam.

Love all, serve all ( deserving ones though). God bless you all. Keep smiling.......

CHAIN OF THOUGHTS, EMOTIONS AND EVENTS

2006-09-30T01:09:00.000-07:00

Hello my dear readers. Now I am on vacation. So i have got time to put up my thoughts. I experienced something very recently. This sparked a chain of thoughts, chain of emotions and chain of events. It made me realise that whatever little I think or do will have profound effect on many including me.
I have always wondered if everything is connected by something. Like everything going on is a part of something big. All events taking place have a significance. Maybe we guys will know the significance of events taking place in our life, later, but I feel all are planned by someone.
Like the Chaos Theory or Butterfly Effect, even a flutter of Butterfly wings changes something somewhere.
We can't change many things going around us, but we can change our attitude. We can change the way we feel and perceive things. We should stop worrying and start living. Pushing ourselves to our limits of talents are what we are given our life for. But our talents should be for the good of mankind as a whole.
We should think big so that we can start a chain of events which are big and life-changing. We shouldn't limit ourselves to small thoughts. We shouldn't postpone the things for later. Cause we haven't got much time. Whatever time we have got has to be utilized properly.
Start a revolution; start a campaign for child rights; start loving all people irrespective of how they are; start loving a person dearly more than yourself; start giving money, knowledge; start giving time to noble causes.
Let us start a chain of good thoughts, positive emotions and philanthropic events.
God bless you and lead you to immense happiness and satisfaction.

CHANGE IS ETERNAL

2006-09-19T19:16:00.000-07:00

I am writing again after a long hiatus, not due to the dearth of my infinite talent but due to technical problems( read unfavourable internet connection ). Hope all my readers are in an excellent state of mental and physical health. First of all please calm down, take a breather, relax your aching muscles a bit, take a few deep breaths. In the end maybe what you do daily doesn't even matter.( inspired from LINKIN PARK).

Let me come to the topic, "change is eternal". Isn't it true that the only thing constant is change. We people change a lot. Human beings , I believe, have some brilliant mechanism in them installed by God himself. This brilliant mechanism makes us to change according to circumstances, according to natural conditions, according to necessity.

Who hasn't changed? If there is anyone, then I would request you to change yourself first and have the experience. Life is for taking calculated risks, so why not? Change is something which is the need of the time. Sometimes we are left behind even in the rat race due to change required in us. But again, change should be for good. You shouldn't change into an anti-social element causing unnecessary pain to innocent people. Change into a philanthropist, change into a dream builder, change into a life giver.

What we do in our life depends on what we are learning in the process. So why not learn good. Read good books, inspiring poems, hear music by the greats.

Change has to start from us, then it will spread to our family, then to our neighbourhood, then to our state, our country , then to the entire world. Mahatma Gandhi changed himself and see what he accomplished for India.

So to end this article, I would like to write- think good of others, don't be jealous, don't be frustrated. Change yourself into a worthy human being. May God bless you.

AWAKENING

2006-09-19T19:04:00.000-07:00

I opened my eyes to the dawn,
feeling the sun's warm rays on my face.
The rays made me realise, I am lucky
to be alive and breathing by god's grace.

I feel I have neglected Him,
in the race to glory and prosperity.
But is it justified for me
to drown in a big black pool of self-pity?

The beauty of nature, its complexity
are there for me to cherish and enjoy.
But running behind material pleasures
has made me to forget what's fun and what's joy.

I think I should stop
being selfish, arrogant and frustrated,
in hope of a new beginning to a fulfiling life,
for which I have always awaited.

2005-10-23T12:26:00.000-07:00

IS IT INDEPENDENCE?
By: - SUMAN SASTRY(copyright)

This year Independence Day was on a Monday. I don’t know if it was significant for any one but it was for us hard working students. We had got a long break after so many days. Saturday was a half day, Sunday’s an official holiday and Monday was I-day. You should have seen the glow on the face of students on Friday evening as our celebrations had already started in the boy’s hostel. Friday and Saturday were filled up with watching movies, gossiping, surfing the net, reading Dan Brown and playing LAN games like Counter Strike and Condition Zero. Getting a golden opportunity, many students decided to visit their parents. All in all the two days were tiresome and Sunday too was a day of outing and marketing. When we all returned on Sunday evening, it was time for a long, and I mean a very long sleep filled with wonderful dreams.
“Oh! What’s the sound?” I asked my roommate. He was as fast asleep as I was a second before. Now as I was partly awake and filled with anger I could hear the persistent knocking on the door. Rising sun’s warm rays fell on my sleepy face. I yelled “go to hell!” and pulled up the sheet over myself again. I don’t know if God was happy with me or what but the knocking had stopped. But like a thunder on a silent night, the knock disturbed my sleep some time later. Controlling my sleep and anger I went drowsily to the door. I felt that my opening of the door was taking eternity. What patient and persistent the person on the other side of door must be? I thought. There was our hostel caretaker standing outside eagerly about to tell me something. “Dress up immediately. Get down as fast as you can.” These were the two lines he uttered. He had to repeat these for the 50 rooms in our hostel. And so he was in a hurry. I was in a state of shock and he had left before I could ask him why. I found someone staring at me with red eyes when I turned back. It was my now wide awake roommate. He had heard the dreadful two lines. I took my brush and toothpaste reluctantly and got into the common bathroom. It was getting slowly filled up with students in the same shocked state as I was in. The funny thing was that all were staring at each other in search of answers. But none had any. We had read a notice the day before that there was a marathon run from a B-school to a Tribal School. And suddenly the fact came before us like a spark of light in a dark room. “Will they make us run the marathon race?” was the million dollar question in all our analytical minds. As we had no other option we all got dressed, but slowly, praying that the race be cancelled before we reach there. But God’s plan for us was something different. When we reached at the hostel gates we found a college bus waiting to swallow us. There was no chance for us to escape ‘the punishment’.
The crammed up bus reached the starting point of the race. There were some other sleepy faces standing there waiting for their friend convicts to arrive so that all could face the sentence simultaneously. Each of us were handed a plastic national flag which we could neither throw nor destroy due to immense respect for our country. After, all the B.Tech hostels were empty, the race began. Half of the students suddenly got excited, I don’t know why, and began to run, the rest followed semi running and semi walking. One thing was clear that the destination was not near. After walking a tiring forty-five minutes the destination showed up at a distance. Standing there like the guards of hell were two members of the management, commanding us to run through the school gates to impress the small innocent tribal school children. But we were happy that it was the end and so gathering up whatever remaining strength we had, we ran the last 25 meters of our marathon race. We were received by loud applause and a standing ovation as if we had conquered the Mount Everest. Honestly, it made us happy and lessened the anger we had against our college management. After the flag hoisting ceremony and distribution of breakfast packets we were dropped back at our hostel by the same crammed bus. The rest of the day we were fast asleep on our beds thinking how nice it would have been if all of this was just a nightmare.
I felt that in between these events the real meaning of independence was lost. We had no independence to make our own decisions. There was no independence in thought and actions. We felt like we were slaves again, not of any foreigners but of our very own people. But we gained a lot from this marathon run. First we got to know the fact that we had no stamina and we had to seriously build it and second we got to know that there exists a tribal school nearby having poor tribal children who have suffered a lot in the past and are trying hard to make a place for themselves in this hypo critic society. What an Independence Day!!

DEATH

2005-10-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

The word itself causes us to shiver,
The fear of it makes us weaker,
There’s nothing more darker.
What’s more better
Than death, death and death.

Death spreads calmness
Death never discriminates
It’s what even fear fears
What’s more inevitable
Than death, death and death.

It’s very sad
That death’s considered bad
Let’s leave it to the experienced
And answer, what’s more truer
Than death, death and death.

By: - Suman Sastry.(COPYRIGHT)

Decision to be up to date

2005-08-07T07:20:00.000-07:00

I attended a seminar on microsoft .net today and realized that I know very little about the developing technologies. I decided then and there that I must spend more time on learning a lot about new technologies and developements. Man has an ability to learn from his surroundings constantly and to update his knowledge database throughout his life. But most of the men don't use this ability and I don't want to be among them.
As I am preparing to be an electronics enggineer I need to be up to date on what is going on in the technology world.
Hope I am successful in getting more knowledge and creative abilities to survive in this competitive world.

My first article

2005-06-14T13:15:00.000-07:00

I was inspired into blogging by my dear friend P.Umakant Senapati and I am grateful to him for this. This is the first article I am writing that will be posted on the internet, so I am excited and happy. Actually I am searching for words as I am afraid how this article might be.
But I believe the words that come from heart are true and that one doesn't have to fear to express them. So this is from my heart.
I hope my articles will be interesting and more than anything, they will make you think. Because I believe in the saying ' I think, therefore I am '.
Life is short and we have no time to dwell in the past or to worry about the future. If we correct the way we live in the present, we can ensure for a fabulous future. Present time is the time we have got to improve ourselves, to enjoy ourselves and to learn. Life is uncertain and I am sure no one will oppose it. Because no one knows what will happen in the future.
I hope anyone who reads this article will decide to live in the present and will decide not to worry about problems but try to solve them using all the resources he/she has.