Musings of my mind...

It has been a long time since I have sat down to write. The purpose of this piece of self expression is to document my thought at this point of time and to hopefully get back to this sometime later. I am in the process of gradually changing my driving mechanism. I shall make it a point to move away from my earlier behavior of accepting the status quo to one where I am going to question most things.

This path, I have realized, is particularly not easy. Here is a snippet from a random conversation that took place in one of my whatsapp groups on 06.06.2017.


1. There is a very fundamental line: aham brahmasmi. This can be conceptualized by a huge banyan tree being inside a tiny seed. The tiny seed is us - a microcosm. The entire universe - the macrocosm-  is just a manifestation of the microcosm. The corollary is also true. We are a representation of the complete universe.

Chemically speaking.. we (our body) are made of fundamental particles which are also the constituent matter of stars and other celestial bodies. Just that the way the particles are built up is different.

2. The wise sages were of the opinion that our observations and perceptions were a product of our sense organs - basically maya. Remember the story of the 4 blind ppl who were describing the elephant by the part that they could touch? Each of them was correct and yet all of them were wrong.

We are similar to those blind folks. Blinded by the things we have observed and experienced. To comprehend the ultimate reality in its entireity, one must abandon the limited faculties provided by our  senses. We need not go searching... we just need to dive inside. One famous sloka tells us the steps: Asathoma sadgamaya.. tamasoma jyotirhamaya... mrityurma amrithamgamaya.


My friend Karthi shared the following blogpost on my FB wall on 03rd Jan 2015

https://vennirvediveesi.wordpress.com/2015/01/03/reason-cause-occams-razor-and-why-investment-bankers-are-better-humans-than-scientists/

My comments were as follows:

Niranjan Sundaresan Resp 1/3: By trashing the fermi paradox here, the belief is that no contact (by us or by ETs) has been made, which in itself is an assumption. For the sake of argument, there might have been contact ages before Fermi even came into existence. (My inspiration for this line of thought is one of my favorite Tintin books - Flight 714). Even if such a thing has not happened, cutting to the present, and given the nature of the matter, any one attempting a disclousre of such an event (of an established contact) is only going to be making life difficult for their own self.

January 4, 2015 at 12:59am · Edited ·

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Niranjan Sundaresan Resp 2/3: I would also like to counter the "machine" analogy by pointing out that if there existed a definite non-zero probablity, for say, earth (and along with it, life) to come into existence, then, considering the infinite (sample) space, the probability of a re-occurence or a pre-occurence cannot be ruled out (especially since the experiment is still running - #expanding universe). Thus, the absence or presece of a pattern of creation is neither necessary nor sufficient to rule out earth and life on it as a singularity.

January 4, 2015 at 1:00am ·

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Niranjan Sundaresan Resp 3/3: I must, with all modesty, say that we (def not me ;)) have been making a fairly decent progress in our quest to understand chaos. Ultimately, there are two approaches to dealing with randomness - 1. Be a part of it and enjoy the party (which is what we are doing right now!) 2. Stay away from it (escape the cycle), figure it out (realization) and have all the fun without the hangover (which can be summed up as the quest for the ultimate truth).

January 4, 2015 at 1:11am ·

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Selva Muthukumaran Niranjan Sundaresan So your end objective/response to deal with randomness is#Aaniye Pudunga Vendaam#Respect\m/

January 4, 2015 at 1:15am · Edited ·

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Niranjan Sundaresan Selva Muthukumaran: I definitely don't mind adding to the randomness :D

January 4, 2015 at 1:17am ·

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Karthi Vignes Resp to your response 1/3: hahaha.. interesting.. not only TinTin da.. some other science fic movies and novels have also spoken about contact during the early egyptian kingdoms (ex. Predator Vs Aliens) but if it had really happened, i guess we'd know.. like in the movies.. we get to know..eventually.
Resp to your resp 2/3: how did u arrive at a non-zero probability with an infinite sample space? what i mean is.. earth has happened.. so its got a non-zero probability.. but doesn't the concept of probability fail when we can't approximate the sample space?
Resp to your resp 3/3: I've got no response actually.. that is what even i was trying to tell with the blog :P :P .. your 1 being the I-banker and 2 being the scientist. :) :)
Enough debate and all.. put one like first!

January 4, 2015 at 9:30am · Edited ·

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Niranjan Sundaresan Resp 1a: My belief is that we have missed it. There are many tales from folklore that are probably alluding to such a contact (esp the puranas/itihasas of Hinduism that speak about the sudden appearances of strange beings.. avatars/rakshasas and the like). We are talking of a timeline of 3000+ years (spanning across multiple global catastrophes) and an unimaginable level of distortion in the message that was being passed down.

January 5, 2015 at 12:39am ·

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Niranjan Sundaresan Resp 2a: Okay.. I understand the ambiguity. Re-phrasing, consider an infinite number of experiments with a finite sample space. If the first such experiment (considering the timeline beginning from t=0 to t=Tcurrent) threw up a non-zero probability for life, isn't it possible for one of the subsequent experiments to come up with a similar outcome ?

January 5, 2015 at 12:48am ·

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Niranjan Sundaresan Resp 3a: Liked. Peace :)

January 5, 2015 at 12:49am ·

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Karthi Vignes 3a: :)
2a: illa da.. You are considering a continuous sample space.. Unless you have a probability function in that case.. You can't perform any integration to come up with a non-zero probability.. The presence of such a function itself will mean that there could be a pattern... Or an order to things.. Actually this comes in the realm of zero-probability events.. For which the sample space considered is itself the set of zero-probability events such as our existence... Adhulam namma padikkala.. PK la aramichi dawkins madhri pesitu irukkom.. Sdd
1a: agreed. That scenario is possible.. Highly doubt it aana.. :/

January 5, 2015 at 8:02am ·

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When side dish became the main course…..

I live in a duplex house located on a desolate piece of the Madras – Bangalore Trunk road (MBT road) once the artery connecting the erstwhile Madras with the erstwhile Bangalore. That duty has now been handed over to the NH4 bypass road that now joins the cities of Chennai and Bengaluru.

Being bachelors who have this innate dislike of self cooking a dinner, my friends and I are always on the lookout for eateries to satiate our stomachs in the fag end of the day. One such discovery was the “Madurai sri Pandi Muniyandi Vilas” strategically located at the thiruvalam junction catering to the needs of hungry officers returning from work, long distance trailer drivers and a collection of other exotic people.

Today, we went to Muniyandi as usual at about 8.30 pm and were waiting for the usual “anna” to place the customary plaintain leaf that signaled the fact that you have been noticed and that you shall be attended to in a few minutes. However, things went the other way on the adjacent table.

Apparently, the man (for convenience “thambi”) who served the side dish for the dosas and other items (main dishes were the sole jurisdiction of “anna”) had poured the sambar ON the dosa on a customer’s plate. This, for some reason irritated the man who was being served. A war of words followed, slowly giving way to a slew of tamil expletives.

The people in the 15 seater hotel stopped eating. Nobody cared whether he got his “brota” or “sutny” or “chalna”. All eyes (and ears) were on the fighting pair (and the unparliamentary words being exchanged). The “anna” launched himself into the battlefield and tried to pacify the pair. Unfortunately, today was not his day. The words gave way to action…

People in India have a bad habit of tacitly encouraging duels, more so if they are third parties. This is not to say that they add fuel to the fire (which sometimes does happen), but they start enjoying the fight after it exceeds a certain level. This in fact encourages the fighters to save their grace in a big gathering and this takes the ordinary altercation to guerilla warfare levels.  

The customer, extremely furious by now (truth being that he had exhausted his foul vocabulary), had turned violent. Armed with his plate in one hand, he rose as if to annihilate the “thambi”. The sambar splattered everwhere partly because of the violent jerk and mainly because of the infinite dilution (it would have followed Ostwald’s law perfectly). The roast fell to the ground. It would have been glucose by now had the man eaten it. Now, since half his weaponry had been wasted, the man raised his hand and dealt a blow to the “thambi”. All hell broke loose. Everyone started shouting his own views about who was wrong in the first place. The “thambi” gave a counter blow and “anna” was desperately trying to prevent a murder.

This pandemonium had caught the attention of the highway patrol who swiftly jumped into action. What else could have been more interesting to those poor souls who keep looking for other state vehicles without national permits and in state vehicles with improper number plates.

The police took the side of the hotel walla (they can’t get free biriyani if they had done otherwise) and soon the customer was outnumbered 5 to 1. The police took the man outside and were shocked to hear that all this was because of pouring sambhar on the dosa. 

The place slowly returned to normal. Anna was now advising thambi on how to avoid conflicts while simultaneously serving people with kal-dosas that were as good as stone and half-boils that would have been chickens had they been left untended to in the heat. I was surprised to find my plate clean though I was served two dosas initially. Obviously my hand and mouth had entered auto-pilot mode during the melee. I left the place paying the 25 bucks and feeling the satisfaction of having watched a full length action sequence. 

I have read that “A lot can happen over coffee” in Café Coffee Day outlets. However, today I realized that “a lot more can happen over dosa” @ 1/10 th the price. Courtesy – sri pandi muniyandi.

Ms. S

Right from the time she studied tenth standard, I have known her through my mom, who was her math teacher. Ms. S was consistently a bright student and was also one of my mom’s all time favorite student. Hailing from a poor family, she was determined to do well and almost always topped her class in the Government Higher Secondary school. My mom had big dreams for her and Ms. S was well on the way to achieving each of those shared ambitions. For starters, she became the first graduate in her entire family by successfully completing the Bachelor of Science in Mathematics course. Having got the confidence of completing a degree, Ms. S was motivated to become a teacher and this aspiration led her to join the teacher s training course. Being a person who loved her independence, she had no intentions of burdening her family any further and hence wanted to stand on her own legs. She helped my mom in taking tuition classes and eventually took over the responsibility of teaching the children. 

The student had finally become a teacher.

Always wanting to improve herself, Ms. S felt that her command over English was not enough to make her a good teacher. She enrolled for a spoken English class and was steadily on the way to becoming a good teacher with improved speaking skills. Her family as well as everyone around her was proud of her growth.

It was a November evening in Chennai and the monsoon rains were not in a mood to abate any sooner. Ms. S braved the rains to attend her spoken English class. Little did she, or for that matter anybody else think that it would be her last class - whether as a student or as a teacher. The news of her demise was shocking to say the least, but more than that, it was strange. According to reliable sources, the death of Ms. S has been attributed to head injury and suffocation. It is believed that she fell into an open drain and hit her head while doing so. I presume that she lost consciousness immediately and the overflowing drain water would have been sufficient to choke her and suffocate her to death. I am convinced that there was no foul play, however I believe that at-least one person is guilty. Not guilty of murder, but guilty of not saving a life in danger. Let me tell you why. 

The place where the incident took place was a busy market area in Chennai and I am pretty sure that there were a handful of people in that road during the time of the incident. For all I might know, there may have even been one or two buses plying on that road. Given this scenario, I am pretty sure at least one person would have seen her falling into the hole. The person could have been on the road or perhaps a passenger sitting by the window on a bus. Maybe the person felt too lazy to walk out in the rain and lend a helping hand. Perhaps, he/she thought that it was not their business or was scared to be answering questions to the police if there were any problems. Whatever the case, now a precious life has been lost.

This incident has led me in taking up a personal oath. I decided that I would never think for a moment before saving someone in danger. I have already done it once and almost lost my life, but that is not going to stop me. May her soul rest in peace.

PS: This is a true incident and the case detailed here is pending police enquiry as on date. Thanks to  http://anecdotesofananth.blogspot.in/  for the constant goading that resulted in the final materialization of this post.

Master.. oru strong tea!

It is loaded with antioxidants that are helpful in inhibiting the harmful effects of free radicals in the human body thereby preventing damage to healthy cells and tissues.  But, that is not exactly the reason why most people drink tea. Tea is synonymous (atleast in a PSU/Govt institute context) to a period of time that can be as short as 2 min to about half an hour when people get themselves updated on the latest news (read gossip!), add their  own twist to a new rumour doing the  rounds or simply think out of the box (office cubicle).

I am a big tea aficionado and am proud to be one. After all, tea is the most consumed drink in the world next only to water (animals are not privileged enough!). I feel a wave of warmth, freshness and happiness whenever I sip into a nice cuppa. Being fairly experienced in the topic, I now delve into some of the finer aspects of the concept of “tea adichchufying” (taking tea in colloquial tamil). Taking tea in your house or a restaurant is too banal to be written about. So, please let me introduce you to a description of the usual tea stall in my state. 

Tea stalls are a vital link in the Indian socio economic framework. They serve as the melting pot of expert opinion and local flavor on any topic from the day’s cricket match to the deplorable state of politics. The t-kada is an extremely important part of the culture of Tamilnadu to the extent that it enjoys great coverage in Kollywood movies. On close inspection, one can actually discover an entire genre of jokes related to the tea stall in our films.  Right from Vivek to Vadivelu and even Super star have been brand ambassadors for this humble stall. It would be injustice on my part to proceed any further without mentioning our beloved “Nair” brotherhood of Kerala and the popularity of the Nair Chai Kada. It is rumoured that when Armstrong first landed on the moon, he was greeted by the site of a Nair Chai shop and an SBI branch. Such is the ubiquitous nature of the tea stall in India.

The tea stall (provided it is good and established) is a landmark by itself. When you are lost in an area, I would recommend that you ask directions for a tea stall (which everybody knows by default), visit the place, order a tea, then ask for directions to your place (you will get the best possible directions including the modes of transport to take and whether or not you will get caught in traffic en-route). Some tea-stalls are complemented by the presence of “Iyengar Bakeries” nearby (which btw is material enough for at-least 2 full length posts)

The tea stall is generally characterized by wooden benches encroaching outside the actual “stall”. This is the place where the most diverse topics in the world are discussed thread bare. The stall has metal covers which double up as storage trays for the glass biscuit jars. The items in the jar range from biscuits of various sizes and shapes (Rs. 1 butter biscuit is compulsory) to cup cakes to murukku and so on depending upon the ingenuity of the tea stall owner. Tucked in between the “cycle gap” between the jars is the newspaper – the fuel that drives the conversation in the benches. A radio is generally a part of the tea stall and provides the latest updates to the busy junta who are not fortunate enough to enjoy the luxury of taking tea on the bench. (mind you, being on the bench here is no way related to the parlance used in an IT industry context)

In the heart of the tea stall stands the “master”. (The man who makes the tea) This proves beyond doubt the respect and supremacy accorded to the maker of the divine drink. He is the heart and soul of the ambience of the place. Every tea master has a unique style of making tea. I am not only taking about the taste, but the actual actions he performs in preparing the concoction. To cut a long story short, it essentially involves adding sugar, tea decoction and milk (not necessarily in the same order) and then mixing it well. In mixing lies the signature move of the tea master. Some have actually mastered the art of pouring tea from one vessel (held aloft) to another lowered vessel in the other hand separated by about 2 feet in most cases to an astonishing 4 feet (there are Youtube videos to support this figure!). Ahh.. finally you get your glass of tea.. You may be surprised to find that half the level of tea in the glass was because of the froth. Nevertheless, you should get yourself an accompaniment such as a biscuit or a murukku before taking the idyllic first sip.

And since I feel that this post has exceeded the originally intended length and for the fact that I have no ideas for a concluding statement, I better stop here and take a Tea break! Adieu.. and ya, I am thankful to the Chinese for giving the world this wonderful drink and a topic for my blog.

One hour of Bliss

Had it not been Tamil Nadu, the situation I was faced with would have been extremely ironical. Here I was, working in a power sector company feeding power to 80 per cent of the homes in the country but having no power in our own compound. Height of self sacrifice..!


For sleep, riches and health to be truly enjoyed, they must be interrupted said Jean Paul Richter, writer (1763-1825). My addition to the above list would be power. You tend to realize how badly handicapped you feel when you do not have "current" (as it is locally called). More so, when you are short of charge on your Mobile and you own a Dell laptop. Desktop would be a better word for my Dell Studio which is perennially plugged in. Thus Ruling out the possibility of calling up one of the guys or opening my FB page for the 20th time in the day, I was left  with no other option but to stay outside waiting for the power supply to be restored.


The hour long power cut gave me the rare luxury of taking a walk around our township. With cool moonlight and a pleasant zephyr for company, it was a blissful experience. Adding to the serenity was my mobile's total muteness (it had reached heavenly abode 20 min back) This solo stroll had me ruminating on life in general and the elusive truth that has been so talked about... 


Thanks to this, I at last felt motivated enough to write my first post. Looking forward to more such power cuts!!