Captive Adaptations

Its 5 years since I set foot on the American soil. It was on this day Mar 31^st 2000, that I landed in SanFrancisco, with a friend of mine. Like most quasi-philosophical beings, I reflect too and provide space for the much needed introspection.

Having switched about 5 employers in 5 years, and having worked with a dozen or so companies, I can probably write an epic on my experiences so far, but lets save that for a later date. As you travel places, you get an opportunity to learn, adopt, adapt and grow in dimensions, which one never realizes otherwise. But paradoxical as it may sound, its always simplicity and the most “obvious” that clearly eludes our meandering mind, and these 5 years in US, have vindicated this more than once, and I think I have to a large extent, learnt to separate the weed from the chaff in identifying both opportunities and people.

I would like to visit many more countries, and while this thought crossed my mind, just for the heck of it, I tried to map the countries I have visited so far. Here it is below, these form roughly 2% (so much for all that talk above) of the total number of countries on the globe.

As for countries on my wishlist, this is how it looks (and this is just another 5%).

Is this asking for too much ?. May be I need to look for a pilot as my spouse, what say ?

For over 25 years, I have seen my Dad wakeup at “will”, just tell him the time to rise, and be rest assured that he will match the “Sun” in his promptness, without the help of any mechanical/electronic aids for the wakeup call. Fear in the heart, and a well trained biological clock are two invaluable things, that I inherited from my Dad.

But only some of his habitual instincts rubbed off on my lazy bones, while not as consistent as him, I have so far resisted an alarm for waking up. Hey, times change, due to increased demands and heavy nocturnal activity at work - a good excuse -, I think sleep deprivation, has outmoded this instinct of mine, so rightfully I decided to take a peek at the gizmos around.

This caught my eye. “The Clocky“. Needless to say, while its still an engineering exercise, I am sure that such sleepy adaptations are definitely a “wakeup call” of the future.

Human beings are natural succors for truth, and I think have a natural inclination to wander towards the “unknown”, and this is their biggest asset gifted by nature. The universe with all its complexity appears so chaotic (to a large extent it IS chaotic) that any thoughts to even begin the pursuit of its origins is not entertained by our cognitive senses. But, our subconscious mind every now & then finds itself on the trail of the cosmic genesis.

There are several interesting theories that are in vogue, the most popular being the “Big Bang” theory. But some really interesting theories based on new ideas and scientific measurements, have started to gain our attention. One is the “Big Rip” theory, which is based on the fact that the Universe is not only expanding, but is expanding ever more faster. So ideas relating to gravity and its effects of slowing the expansion of the universe are shelved for the moment.

The other interesting theory is the “Big Splat” theory, which is based on “String theory”. In fact mathematical evidence from String theory does not rule out the existence of “Parallel Universes” and I personally, am inclined to believe that the whole Cosmos is indeed like a “loaf of bread” and we inhabit a universe, which is just one slice from that loaf. The findings of “String theory” are so profound that for all you know the entire Universe we belong to might be in some other “GIANT BEING”. This reminds me of the Hindu mythology where Krishna showed his mother the “entire Universe” in his mouth.

Whatever the approach, each of these theories need to assume a set of initial conditions which are simple and graduate over billions of years to the complex conditions we live in. And this model is what is precisely being followed by “NKS”. Intrigued ?. Wait for the redux.

While the tectonic plates move and adapt into newer forms, these changes create a tragic and humbling experience to its inhabitants on the surface, the world is once again held captive to mother nature’s fury.

What is hurting however is that its always death & disasters like these that provoke a wake up call, while otherwise complacency takes over the better part of human intelligence. A small peak at the usgs website shows that we have earthquakes around 6.0 or higher occurring nearly every month, which shows how vulnerable we all are.

In a world where information collaboration can be instantaneous, I think its important for all of us in the Indian Ocean region to learn and adopt the best practices that people in the Pacific Coasts are following.
“Pacific Tsunami Warning Center” & “West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center“

Global Tsunami Warning systems: While technology exists today to provide us warning bells, I think its more evident from today’s incident, that its just education & awareness that people most probably needed in the previous incident, and we could have probably saved many lives. Hopefully we will learn faster, and adapt to nature’s rage in our own tiny but measured ways.

Today, I had some time to catch up with the some very valid debate attributing the similarities to “Superstrings Theory” and “Vedic Brahman”. So as India emerges to be a global leader, the rich knowledge base of spiritual wealth & “Science of the Hinduism” which remains untapped, should serve as key Intellectual Property for it to enhance & extend Western Science as it stands today.

Most of the work on “Theoretical Physics” during the early 19^th century, today have given us plenty of house hold applications (Microwave, Infrared, Cellphones, Computers) all these were conceptualized way back then, but are a reality which is taken for granted today.

As we stand on the cusp, of this great convergence of “eastern and western sciences”, its up to us, to ensure it serves humanity & India in the most constructive and profitable of ways.

While the course of action and the necessary steps to steer through this exciting phase are still to be articulated and laid out, there are some preliminary and necessary steps to be taken up by all thinking Indians.

• Develop a sense of appreciation to all forms of thoughts, and specifically for what Vedas, Upanishads and other literary works had to say.
• If our forefathers were poor in adopting the mathematical & physics models of the western world (which really were non existent during the time the vedic ideas were floated), how can we bridge the gap and articulate them with the tools of current day mathematics and physics to make it a reality.
• What adaptations should our educational infrastructure undergo, to ensure that our current bias towards adoption of “Western science” is counter balanced with a refreshing look into our own literary works.
• While “Western science” has started to lean and take deeper interest into what Vedas and Upanishads had to say, how can we collaborate and build a symbiotic relationship for the “mutual gains” of both schools of thought.

While my own understanding of both these topics are but a mere spec in its vast horizon, I am eager to learn more about the interesting ideas, questions, thoughts from all individuals who are already captivated by these.

While India’s growth has held the world captive, and India has the potential to adapt and conquer the world, today I wanted to draw your attention upon the Entertainment element and how we need to plan to make Bollywood movies part & parcel of every household primarily in the West.

A good plan to boot “Aishwarya” and her beauty. Aishwarya meaning “Fortune”. Kind of makes sense, you start any conquest only if you have a “Fortune”. (I know there are many other Bollywood actors/stars who have previously made their presence felt, but I am only quoting “Aishwarya” as the first potential candidate poised to garner “Critical-Mass”). And not just me, the industry has definitely put its right step forward in our conquest of Hollywood, by presenting her in a big way to Hollywood.

But some very important issues to be addressed in our conquest of the Western living room are issues like

• Duration of our movies (3 hours ?? – will average western citizens, always pressed for time, sit through 3 hours, or should we make shorter versions of our movies)
• Song and Dance sequences – Can we make this our biggest strength, or will this be our Achilles heel.
• Innocent Protagonists – Will our hero & heroine, running behind trees, delving into the fantasy world of illusions in songs, pathetic and emotional elements like hero crying over losing the “love of his life”, etc suit the “macho” needs of the American/Western audience or should we make a Rambo, Tomb’s Raider out of Salman Khan & Bhipasha Basu
• Crossover / Fusion of narration, style, music – will it help ?. Oooh… imagine wet sarees and Hollywood style sex (Fusion, ColdFusion or ConFusion ??)
• Will subtitles, background singers in English, dubbing work ??
• Incorporation, Government involvement – Will infusion of corporate culture in Bollywood (Big B’s ABCL, SRK’s Dreams Unlimited) bring in a much needed fresh & professional appeal, and should these companies play a leading role in marketing & distribution in our conquest, what should be the role of the Government ?

So inviting your enthusiastic (I know most of you were waiting for such a topic) ideas / questions / lateral thoughts. Remember the goal is to be successful in capturing as many western eye-(balls) as possible, so dig deep into your gray matter.

Its almost becoming second nature to me now. Recognizing patterns which are precursors to the many things that can and will go wrong. While, I firmly believe that chance always finds its way even through the best of plans, sometimes its just too overwhelming. For the most part of this week all our efforts was in trying to foil the spontaneous acts of the mischievious murphy.

Humanity has survived with one such “minute chance” in the chaotic continium of time, and maybe this adaptive instinct is what has allowed me to stay on top and regain lost ground. But hey, tomorrow will arrive with its own set of uncertainities, can’t wait.

Demands both professionally and intellectually have held my valuable time at a premium and have transformed it to be invaluable. While I expect extraordinary hours at work, over an extended period of time, I have been consistently going the extra mile, hence the stagnation on other creative ventures.

I am hoping to be a better performer, and crave for a resurgence with innovative means towards a disciplined time management exercise, till then I am at time’s own mercy. I will also be disclosing this activity of mine to my friends, with a selfish desire that at least their expectations will leap frog my daily efforts towards such writings.

So for all those first time visitors, wish me luck, and be ruthless in your demands for your daily dose of captive adaptations.