Mayan Calendar, Earth Axis Tilt - A New World order??

Lately, I have been doing some reading and synthesis in my mind.. We all have heard of the Mayan calendar mysteriously ending on 12/12/2012!! If you google these words, you'll hit all kinds of websites - from wiki to blogpages... So, go on and do some esoteric reading!! One site actually reiterates that the mayan calendar doesn't predict the end of the world but rather, signals the beginning of a new order..

Another story that's going around which is very interesting is the tilt our earth axis has, and apparently its currently very unstable and is likely to topple over! The result will be cataclysmic for sure, and what the scenario will be is anybody's guess. Lot of science fiction books and movies are currently underway on this topic. But what was a little spooky was some of the webpages project this to happen in 2012... Now, things are getting a little interesting, isn't it? Apparently, Nostradamus also refers to this year (2012) being catastrophic, oh yes! Nostradamus so very conveniently wrote in a vague manner that we can attribute every event to Nostradamus prophecy - well after the event occurred:-)

Likely Scenarios

Science fiction is very interesting indeed to many of us - some say, the north will become the southpole and vice versa:-). Wow!! So, what happens to the land mass?? Will it follow the same route?? So, will Southern India become Northern India and so will the other countries and continents?? (On the flip side, what happens to our Vaasthu experts;-)).

Another theory says, the earth will start spinning in the opposite direction - clockwise direction!! So, will the Sun rise in the West after all?? Hahaha

Another theory says the toppling of the earth axis will have huge natural disasters like massive earthquakes and major tectonic plate shifts in the Earth and the current oil fields will get relocated to what we call South East Asia of today - apparently, Nostradamus has indicated some such thing too!! Ambani brothers, are you listening?

Wonder what Malthusians will say? "We told you so" :-)

From fat to thin - quite effortlessly

An interesting Editorial in the New Scientist last month caught my eye!! The headline was "Time for an ethical weight loss pill". Oh yes, I sure could do with some help and that's the reason I read the article in full:-). Apparently we all have two kinds of fat -brown and white and if we can somehow trick the body and increase the brown fat vis a vis the white, we will become thin!! Sounds great? Read the full article here.

A second article in the latest issue of New Scientist talks of a gastric bypass surgery:-). Yeah, they actually staple the stomach and leave just the size of a walnut, for the food... Apparently, its more successful than we think and many are claiming amazing results from this procedure. While you can read about the article here, I will advise readers to use their discretion before going ahead with such procedures. Maybe, In India, we haven't mastered the art well, as I remember a disaster story of a guy who opted for such a surgery in Tamil Nadu and he died in less than four weeks post surgery.

Nonetheless, it is very interesting and amazing to note that man (woman) is quite desperate - will even go to the extent of tinkering wth his life surgically, but not take the safer course to weightloss through a combination of diet and exercise and discipline....

Space

I would like to share with you all something very nice I heard from a friend - a couple of years ago!!

He asked a few of us "What are we paying for when we buy a glass - is it the glass or is it the empty space that the glass can hold"? This set us thinking... Indeed, what profound a question, isn't it? Then he explained that space is precious and priceless... He said, similarly, the more hollow and empty we were, the more priceless we are:-), in the sense, the lesser the thoughts and worries and doubts and conflicts we have in our mind, we become valuable. He then gave a brilliant example that struck me as so true.. He said, look at children who are three or less than three years of age. Don't you feel the divinity when you look at their eyes? When we nodded in affirmation, he explained that it was because their mind was empty (they were truly hollow and empty - like the meditations we do in the Art of Living)!! Brilliant isn't it?

Reel views for Real Views!

I am not sure many of you have heard of James Berardinelli. He is one of the acclaimed movie reviewers and is based in the US. I chanced upon one of his reviews of a film and found his reviews very similar to my taste. Since then, I simply swear by his reviews:-). My friends find it most amusing, and wonder how I believe his reviews and not more popular sites like imdb.com or rottentomatoes.com, that the rest of the world goes by.

Coming to think of it, its really funny, I am sure Berardinelli does not even know he has such a die-hard fan in Chennai (how would he?). But I must say his reviews and writing style appeals to me and I agree with his reviews. You see, what is a movie review after all? Its extremely subjective, often, I happen to enjoy films that don't run so well:-). And James thankfully does not review movies for a livelihood. He is apparently an engineer or something and reviewing is a hobby. So here goes the link to my favourite reviewer - check him out and tell me if you agree with me, his website is aptly called Reelviews.

The Namesake

I wonder if any of you got to see this movie, the Namesake. I am not going to post the review here. Just thought that I should share that its quintessentially so Bengali! and the Director Mira Nair has done an amazing job! Anybody who has lived in Kolkata will easily relate to this film and it has captured the tiny, small little details of life in that city very well, very subtly -you almost have to watch the film closely to notice them. I was transported to the days when I lived in that city, albeit very briefly. Tabu has done an outstanding job in the film and so has Irrfan Khan. Its these two who bring the movie to life. Although I haven't read the book on which the movie is based, the theme has been attempted before, but I must say that this movie stands heads and shoulders above the rest in the theme of cross cultural experiences and struggles of life of NRIs.

If you notice, Kolkata is a city that polarises people. Either we see die hard Kolkatans praise their city to the moon or its Kolkata hai hai! Its a city of absolute opposites (you have the best high-end appartments jostling for space with those that may crumble with a tremor in Andamans:-), the fastest mode of transport, the Metro vies with hand pulled rickshaws!) and I must say I enjoyed my stay there. Having lived, mind you not visited, all the four metros in India, I can say from experience that this city is completely different and the people living in Kolkata are made of a different psyche and don't conform to the general character you come across in Mumbai, Chennai or Delhi. Its kind of hard to put into words what I am saying but if you stay there for over a month, believe me you will understand how different the people are, out there!!

The colour of the WTO rules matters in its pursuit of mice!

Here is a nice article on China & WTO. We have all heard Deng Xiaoping's memorable quote, "It doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice". He would certainly have to eat these words in the current scenario..

China, as a country has always fascinated me and if you notice, its one of those topics that also polarises people. Either they go ga-ga over the progress and development in China over India, or they are extremely critical of the cost under which development has happenned in China and human rights violations that gets under reported in that country. I have had the fortune of listening to both sides of the argument. While I have not personally visited the country, I tend to agree and believe Dr. Guy Sorman whom I have heard on more than one occasion and on various topics. He is an extremely articulate and insightful economist and gave an excellent talk on How the West views China vis a vis India.. Among many other points he raised, he finally said that personally he was more happy with India's Hindu growth rate than China's, which he called extremely unsustainable. He elaborated with many examples and I will probably post on it, separately. Meanwhile, I just wanted readers to check out this article by D Ravi Kanth.

Manmohan Desai, are you watching:)

There's so much going on between the two brothers for the past few years that public has probably become immune and apathetic by now, like me. But today, I decided to get educated on the latest fracas between them, that is now threatening to spill into public sector company, NTPC. Oh yes, I am talking about Mukesh and Anil Ambani fighting like street children. Oh, there must be a lot of money at stake but is any money worth fighting like this!! I was just discussing this issue over tea this morning and I realised, such tangles and complex legal wrangles may have each side resorting to what they feel is right and this can go on... But its more important and intelligent to resolve issues than take strong, stands. It simply beats me how such simple truth and wisdom can escape such intelligent, sharp, businessmen.

If the two brothers would only sit and close the deal between themselves and get on with their lives... they will end up concentrating on their business and end up making more profits, than, spending all their energies fighting and lobbying with government to arm twist policy in their favour, not to mention the consequence of emotional turmoil within the family.

Very often, its not important who is right and who is wrong, what is important is to resolve the issue through dialogue and get on with our lives... This should be our guiding principle at micro and macro levels. Didn't want to sound preachy but I just realised the importance of conflict resolution over what is right / wrong:). Manmohan Desai would be itching to make a film on these two brothers and, for sure, it will be an all time hit:)