Many people think drinking alcohol is a vice. But why is it bad? It is very important to know the reason behind this. I remember in my high school biology textbook, we were told about the harmful effects of alcohol on our health. But later on, in newspapers I read that drinking 1 peg a day is actually a salubrious habit.
So healthwise getting drunk is extremely bad for you but drinking in moderation may be all right depending on how your body takes it. Going by the general rule that everything that tastes good like pizza,pepsi etc. is bad for your health. And everything that tastes bad like karela and anwla is good for health, I can say that since alcoholic beverages taste bad they have to be good for health in some way.Excess of alcohol is bad just like excess of anything else like meat,butter or salt.So drinking alcohol is just a health issue and not a moral one.
But getting drunk is an immoral act. The reason being that after getting drunk u may misbehave with others. Also u may break stuff or dirty stuff by puking on it, causing inconvenience to others. Of course driving after drinking is a big no as u may end up killing someone. Therefore getting drunk must be avoided. Everyone should know thier limit and drink within that.
Why do people drink anyway? It is because alcohol relaxes the mind and lowers ur inhibitions. Of course it would be best if we didnt need alcohol to relieve tension and break ice with people. But since ordinary mortals are not that fortunate, it is OK to drink a little bit socially to have a good time.
Have a gr8 new years eve and an awesome 2006!
Friday, December 30, 2005
Monday, December 05, 2005
Philosophy, luck and god
Today I have spend enough time on work so I think I can finally get down to blogging. By the way it snowed here today. Me and a few friends went out to play in it.It truly was a beautiful sight this pure white snow. It reminds u what purity is in this world rife with pollution of all kinds.
Lets have a look at this shloka written in the Bhagwad Gita -
'Karmanyevadhikaraste mafaleshu kadachana,
Ma karmaphal-heturbhurta te sango astvakarmani'.
This in sanskrit language and means that you have a right only over ur actions and not in thier fruits. So dont be attached to the outome of your actions, but dont practice inaction either.
I find this to be an extremely empowering philosophy. To some people this may appear revulsive, what is the motivation for working if u dont want any results? But this is not the correct interpretation of this philosophy. When it says that u have a right only over ur actions it also implies that it is your responsibility while performing any action to give it your everything. Of course at that time we are driven by an aim. Now this aim should not be the achievement of a goal but to do this job to the very best of your ability. By saying that you should not be attached with the goal it just means that even if the final outcome of your work is not as per ur expectations dont get depressed,just continue performing ur actions with full vigour.
There are many situations in life when the result of ur actions is highly contingent on luck, and this is where u should let go and not blame urself or anyone else for a failure. The 3rd president of USA, Thomas Jefferson once remarked “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” Luck is also one of the qualties Napolean looked for in his generals.
Luck, this simple four letter word which rhymes with an even fouler 4 lettered word, is possibly the only rational explanation for god. I am not a religious person, I dont believe in performing rituals and going to temples. I believe god manifests himself or herself through luck. What the believer calls 'a miracle of god' an athiest calls 'dumb luck'.So i guess both are the same thing.
But this doesn't mean that god gives good luck to the good and bad luck to the bad. The contrary happens often times. Given below is an interesting article I found on the internet about Albert Einstien's famous quote 'God doesn't play Dice'.
In quantum mechanics, many events look like they happen by absolutely random chance. Exactly when a radiactive decay occurs, exactly where a particular blip of light gets absorbed, etc seem not to be determined by anything in the way the universe is ahead of time. Einstein strongly suspected that these events all did have specific causes, but that the causes were somehow hidden away in some hard-to-find form. That's what he meant when he said "God doesn't play dice with the universe." Since that time, mostly over the last thirty years, people have followed up some of Einstein's ideas for experiments intended to show that the consequences of standard quantum mechanics are absurd. The experiments have not only confirmed quantum mechanics, but have convincingly shown that if the universe has "hidden variables" to dictate the outcomes of quantum processes, those variables are simultaneously hidden all over the place, not in any particular location. So it looks like Einstein's hunch was probably wrong. ----end of article
So this means that God does actually play dice, so he( or she) is someone gambling with the universe, gambling with ur life and mine. Be excited or be horrified, choice is urs. To end this blog here is another quote by Albert Einstien :-
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The
other is as though everything is a miracle.
Hold on, I cant end now as this reminds me of a joke
Once a professor was taking a class and wanted to teach the students what a miracle is. So he gave an example, "A man jumps of a 20 storey buildings but recieves no injury , what would u call this?" Someone said "luck". "OK, but suppose he jumps of the building again but sustains no injuries once again". At this point the class topper said " Statistics have shown that in the past, 1 in 500 people have survived such incidents, so it is statistically possible". The professor was getting impatient "Damn your statistics! What if the guy falls down 1000 times and survives on all counts. Now probability of his getting hurt is almost 1 according to your statistics. So now how would u explain this?". "Practice!", shouted the whole class in unison.
Lets have a look at this shloka written in the Bhagwad Gita -
'Karmanyevadhikaraste mafaleshu kadachana,
Ma karmaphal-heturbhurta te sango astvakarmani'.
This in sanskrit language and means that you have a right only over ur actions and not in thier fruits. So dont be attached to the outome of your actions, but dont practice inaction either.
I find this to be an extremely empowering philosophy. To some people this may appear revulsive, what is the motivation for working if u dont want any results? But this is not the correct interpretation of this philosophy. When it says that u have a right only over ur actions it also implies that it is your responsibility while performing any action to give it your everything. Of course at that time we are driven by an aim. Now this aim should not be the achievement of a goal but to do this job to the very best of your ability. By saying that you should not be attached with the goal it just means that even if the final outcome of your work is not as per ur expectations dont get depressed,just continue performing ur actions with full vigour.
There are many situations in life when the result of ur actions is highly contingent on luck, and this is where u should let go and not blame urself or anyone else for a failure. The 3rd president of USA, Thomas Jefferson once remarked “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” Luck is also one of the qualties Napolean looked for in his generals.
Luck, this simple four letter word which rhymes with an even fouler 4 lettered word, is possibly the only rational explanation for god. I am not a religious person, I dont believe in performing rituals and going to temples. I believe god manifests himself or herself through luck. What the believer calls 'a miracle of god' an athiest calls 'dumb luck'.So i guess both are the same thing.
But this doesn't mean that god gives good luck to the good and bad luck to the bad. The contrary happens often times. Given below is an interesting article I found on the internet about Albert Einstien's famous quote 'God doesn't play Dice'.
In quantum mechanics, many events look like they happen by absolutely random chance. Exactly when a radiactive decay occurs, exactly where a particular blip of light gets absorbed, etc seem not to be determined by anything in the way the universe is ahead of time. Einstein strongly suspected that these events all did have specific causes, but that the causes were somehow hidden away in some hard-to-find form. That's what he meant when he said "God doesn't play dice with the universe." Since that time, mostly over the last thirty years, people have followed up some of Einstein's ideas for experiments intended to show that the consequences of standard quantum mechanics are absurd. The experiments have not only confirmed quantum mechanics, but have convincingly shown that if the universe has "hidden variables" to dictate the outcomes of quantum processes, those variables are simultaneously hidden all over the place, not in any particular location. So it looks like Einstein's hunch was probably wrong. ----end of article
So this means that God does actually play dice, so he( or she) is someone gambling with the universe, gambling with ur life and mine. Be excited or be horrified, choice is urs. To end this blog here is another quote by Albert Einstien :-
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The
other is as though everything is a miracle.
Hold on, I cant end now as this reminds me of a joke
Once a professor was taking a class and wanted to teach the students what a miracle is. So he gave an example, "A man jumps of a 20 storey buildings but recieves no injury , what would u call this?" Someone said "luck". "OK, but suppose he jumps of the building again but sustains no injuries once again". At this point the class topper said " Statistics have shown that in the past, 1 in 500 people have survived such incidents, so it is statistically possible". The professor was getting impatient "Damn your statistics! What if the guy falls down 1000 times and survives on all counts. Now probability of his getting hurt is almost 1 according to your statistics. So now how would u explain this?". "Practice!", shouted the whole class in unison.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
laugh
In my earlier blog I had promised to publish about my subsequnt semsters in DCE. But when I got down to writing about the 2nd sem, I realized it was not as interesting as the first, I didint feel to enthusiastic to write about it. But I will do it sometime later.Now i am sitting here in my room and feeling bored, its not that i have nothing to do, i do have a homework due day after tommorrow. Yesterday I went to bed at 6am and then woke up at 12noon. I had to go for job and finally returned home at 11.30pm or so. After that I had to complete another homework so i finally slept at 4.30am. I am actually enjoying staying up this late, its so peaceful. Although 'ullu' is a derogatory word in hindi which means idiot, but its english translation owl is a symbol of knowledge in the west. And as we all know owl is a nocturnal animal, therefore the night as to be the best time to study or think. This reminds me that in DCE I was known for giving similar fudas for justifying stuff. Which often resulted in making me a laughing stock. But I still enjoyed it. Life is incomplete without humor and laughter. Whoever said 'Laughter is the best medicine ' sure knew what he or she was talking about. Staying on the topic of laughter, yesterday I listened to a few songs by Bodhitree , a band of XLRI students. Their music and especially lyrics are particulary good. I suggest u search them on the internet. Two of thier songs have provocative titles as 'G**d mein danda' and 'sabka katega'. The other number I heard was 'XL ki kudiyan' which is quite catchy. I also watched 'No Entry' on monday on my laptop, that was funny too. So its been a nice last couple of days/nights.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
The best reason to go to America? To study!
I always wanted to go to USA. This thought probably crept into my mind for the first time when my aunt who lives in Canada got chocolates and clothes for me from there. For a child whose age hasnt reached double digits, these were the symbols of paradise. As I grew older I became aware of a number of amenities which are better in America than in India like cleanliness, no pollution,no power cuts etc. As I became even more mature I started thinking about social evils like corruption,crime,politics,overpopulation which were plagueing India. Like any other selfish and pragmatic person I decided the best thing to shield myself from all this is to go abroad. All my relatives who are in America came here to study so I decided to do the same thing. I decided that I will go to USA to study after graduation.I already knew that life here as a student will be tough and not just pure enjoyment and partying.
So now I am doing MS in computer science from New York University. After coming here I have realized what it means to be a student and what is real education. In my undergaduate college studying meant a very boring thing to be postponed till a few weeks before the final exam. The reason it was so boring was that it was all rote learning. Also none of the faculty inspired in you a love for the subject. They just told u to take notes and read books.
Here the professors keep the lecture notes available online so that the time in class is spent in understanding the concepts and not feverishly jotting down every syllable uttered by the instructor. Also the instructors here are very polite to the students and make a genuine effort to make u understand thier subject. Sitting for a lecture is a pleasure here but it was an ordeal in my old college. This is the reason that there is no rule regarding attendance here. If you miss a lecture it is your loss. Here evaluation is based on regular homeworks , this keeps u motivated to study throughout the semester. Also these homeworks involve thinking on your own to solve a problem, not just finding a text in a book and transcribing it. After coming here I am seriously considering doing a PhD, a thought which seemed prepostrous back then. A chief reason for my becoming suddenly so studious is because I have little else to do. My social life is very flimsy,
my laptop is my best friend here. It has become indispensable as use it for everything -reading online lecture notes,programming, surfing,online news,mailing and listening to music or watching films. In India my entertainment was TV, cinema and reading novels, I had way too much free time on my hands. Here I dont have a TV and believe me I dont miss it. Also I dont feel like watching movies too often. Also I dont have close friends like I had in India, so I dont go out much. Also living on a student budget doesnt let u afford theatre,restaurants etc.
But I am loving my life here, studies are a stimulating,challengeing and an exercise for the brain. They keep u intellectually alive. Education is the best thing I like about America.
So now I am doing MS in computer science from New York University. After coming here I have realized what it means to be a student and what is real education. In my undergaduate college studying meant a very boring thing to be postponed till a few weeks before the final exam. The reason it was so boring was that it was all rote learning. Also none of the faculty inspired in you a love for the subject. They just told u to take notes and read books.
Here the professors keep the lecture notes available online so that the time in class is spent in understanding the concepts and not feverishly jotting down every syllable uttered by the instructor. Also the instructors here are very polite to the students and make a genuine effort to make u understand thier subject. Sitting for a lecture is a pleasure here but it was an ordeal in my old college. This is the reason that there is no rule regarding attendance here. If you miss a lecture it is your loss. Here evaluation is based on regular homeworks , this keeps u motivated to study throughout the semester. Also these homeworks involve thinking on your own to solve a problem, not just finding a text in a book and transcribing it. After coming here I am seriously considering doing a PhD, a thought which seemed prepostrous back then. A chief reason for my becoming suddenly so studious is because I have little else to do. My social life is very flimsy,
my laptop is my best friend here. It has become indispensable as use it for everything -reading online lecture notes,programming, surfing,online news,mailing and listening to music or watching films. In India my entertainment was TV, cinema and reading novels, I had way too much free time on my hands. Here I dont have a TV and believe me I dont miss it. Also I dont feel like watching movies too often. Also I dont have close friends like I had in India, so I dont go out much. Also living on a student budget doesnt let u afford theatre,restaurants etc.
But I am loving my life here, studies are a stimulating,challengeing and an exercise for the brain. They keep u intellectually alive. Education is the best thing I like about America.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
wasted day
my luck sucked today! i travelled 90km for 2 signatures. I wanted more but couldnt get them. Why the hell cant these guys be more dutiful by at least coming to thier offices??
I also wasted too much money on food. Now i have to undertake this journey again tomorrow.
At times like this u just cant help feeling depressed.
tonight i am gonna watch the movie 'Jo bole so nihal' on a CD. i hope it helps me unwind.
This is life... yesterday i had just returned from an awesome trip to Dharamsala which is a hill station in Himanchal Pradesh in India( i am writing this as if people from all over the world are gonna view my blog ! ). I hope all 8 of my friends had as great a time as I did.
Now the euphoria of the trip is over and the exasperation of getting a job done in DCE has set in.
But tomorrow i am gonna finish the job by hook or by crook!
"the path is uphill the task is steep
but i have promises to keep
and miles to go before i sleep( 90/1.5=60 miles)
now i wish i had a jeep"
inspired by Robert Frost
I also wasted too much money on food. Now i have to undertake this journey again tomorrow.
At times like this u just cant help feeling depressed.
tonight i am gonna watch the movie 'Jo bole so nihal' on a CD. i hope it helps me unwind.
This is life... yesterday i had just returned from an awesome trip to Dharamsala which is a hill station in Himanchal Pradesh in India( i am writing this as if people from all over the world are gonna view my blog ! ). I hope all 8 of my friends had as great a time as I did.
Now the euphoria of the trip is over and the exasperation of getting a job done in DCE has set in.
But tomorrow i am gonna finish the job by hook or by crook!
"the path is uphill the task is steep
but i have promises to keep
and miles to go before i sleep( 90/1.5=60 miles)
now i wish i had a jeep"
inspired by Robert Frost
not a blog virgin anymore
yeah this is my first post..... earlier i had no time for this blogging nonsense but since now my undergraduate education is over, i have plenty of free time on my hands to bore others by telling them to read what i write. As the saying goes 'an empty mind is a devilz workshop'.
i am fond of reading books and have nurtured an ambition to be an author for quite some time.But since i dont think i am upto it i will be content being a blogger.
special thanks to my friend saurabh ohri for leading the way by bing the first blogger in our friend circle, he is the only blogger i personally know.
well now a little bit about me......well my name is Manan, in Hindi language it means 'thinking'. I guess this name suits me as i like thinking, i am thankful to my parents for naming me that.
Education-i have studied in 4 schools and 1 college till now and about to go for masters in another college.To know more about me check out my profile.
I hope i enjoy writing this blog and u all reading it, till boredom do us part!
i am fond of reading books and have nurtured an ambition to be an author for quite some time.But since i dont think i am upto it i will be content being a blogger.
special thanks to my friend saurabh ohri for leading the way by bing the first blogger in our friend circle, he is the only blogger i personally know.
well now a little bit about me......well my name is Manan, in Hindi language it means 'thinking'. I guess this name suits me as i like thinking, i am thankful to my parents for naming me that.
Education-i have studied in 4 schools and 1 college till now and about to go for masters in another college.To know more about me check out my profile.
I hope i enjoy writing this blog and u all reading it, till boredom do us part!
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