Objectivism

I swear - by my life and my love of it - that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine

To be frank, I had lived this life unrealizing the statement's potential and values without its consequences, without its moral infliction, without its meaning, without its splendor, without putting reality in place. It was the best read of my life, fantastic and amazingly thought-provoking. Objectivism is really the system for human living, arguably the best! It emphasizes the mind and moral values to the right balance. The author claims the book to be future-proof, and I have to agree. A system of living which suits any human generation and any period. A system to be built in future, well may be a 1000 years from now would still have to be built on top of objectivism, unless humans evolve into an entirely new species before that!

I cannot imagine a writer during 1950s like Ayn Rand thinking through this. I was awestruck reading Atlas Shrugged, it simply blows you off. Interestingly, digging into the reading habits - among what people have read and got influenced most, this one seems to be next to bible atleast in 1991 (reference : englishcompanion.com) and still Amazon.com holds this list for most influential books. The book is sound in its concepts and amazingly portrayed. The philosophy of life, it is definitely a subject for college or high-school students.

On the contrary, it took me about a year to just finish reading the book. True I am not a good reader, but this book is really something as I had read and re-read a lot of stuff to just grasp or understand the concept and character better. I cannot imagine that in one spot, a character's speech was just about 30 pages, every single line about Objectivism. Still a lot of it is something I have to read again to grasp. I guess if I had read this book in my college or high-school, my life and carrier would have been dramatically different. Nevertheless, I hope its going to be different from here on, I am able to realize a few changes in my attitude and thoughts already!

Inspirational moments!

A moment can transform into an inspiration provided the threads involved with the moment are all utilized to ultimatum and satisfied.

Mathematical proof:-
Example: You are in search of a "perfect" song. You are depressed and you hear a song that really elevates your entire feelings (brain included). The threads being "search", "song", "environment" and "you".

Time is a healer and yes for inspirations too, it is a 'healer'. In the sense, it heals off old inspirations with new ones.

Gandhi is a thread who transformed the moment 15th August 1947 into an inspiration. But time is a healer then and now. Those who believed India needed only independance believed/believe Gandhi(or the moment) has an inspiration. Contrasting to it, those who believed India needed inter-dependance-based-independance believed/believe Gandhi(or the moment) shattered or restrained their hopes.

I for sure think these are ridiculous as arguments. But the bigger picture is "what is the search for" as a thread in the "moment to happen" to transform into an inspiration. Attitude is one of the key parameters as a thread to the transformation.

Take any inspiration such as Einstein, Thomas Alva Edison, Armstrong, Chawla, Pete Sampras, Tiger Woods, Mother Teresa, Al Pacino, Jayalalitha, Temples in Tamil Nadu, next-door-Indian-Army-soldier, Chernobyl incident, Hiroshima/Nagasaki incident, Bermuda Triangle - everything can be proved as above.

PS: This article was written on March 1st, 2007 but I couldn't publish then.

Beetroot chutney (Beetroot thuvayal)

Ingredients (for 4 people):
1. 2 beetroots

2. 5 dried chillies (if short take 7)

3. 25 grams yellow gram (also called chana dal or kadala paruppu)

4. 1 Tamarind (about the size of a lemon)

5. Ginger or Ginger-Garlic paste.

6. Salt

7. 4 tea-spoons of oil

8. 1 tea-spoon of mustard seeds, cumin seeds and Urad dal for seasoning

9. Mixer/Blender/Liquidiser

Preparation method:
1. Soak the tamarind in 100 milli litres of water and keep it aside.

2. Heat one tea-spoon of oil in frying pan and fry the dried chillies.

3. Heat one tea-spoon of oil in frying pan and fry yellow grams until they turn pale red in colour.

4. Slice the beetroots into smaller cubes (about 1-2 cubic cm). Heat one tea-spoon of oil in frying pan and fry the beetroots in oil.

5. Grind dried chillies and yellow gram with a tea-spoon of water and salt (usually 4 tea-spoons) in Mixer and keep the contents aside.

6. Grind sliced and fried beetroot with two tea-spoons of water in Mixer and keep the contents aside.

7. Grind tamarind water and keep the contents aside.

8. Finalizing the recipe:
a) Seasoning - Heat one tea-spoon of oil in frying pan. Put the mustart seeds and wait until it spurts. Add ginger-garlic paste, cumin seeds and urad dal. Wait until urad dal turns pale reddish colour. Make sure heat is medium.

b) Add the chillies and yellow gram mixture to the pan. Add the beetroot mixture to the pan. Add the tamarind mixture. Stir the contents such that everything gets evenly distributed in the pan. After 2 minutes reduce the heat to low.

c) Keep stirring every 5 minutes for about half an hour in low heat.

Beetroot chutney goes with rice, idly, dosas and rotis. It is even a good side for any dish. No wonder is my mom's favourite and mine too!

One more step to death!

Travel has become convincingly interesting to life. Feb 17th and 18th were no different. This time the destinations were Lake Tahoe and Yosemite National Park. The plan was crafted neatly and perfectly time bound. Rent the car on Friday and all 6 of us synced up on Saturday early morning at 5:30am. Drove to Boreal mountain for skiing. Although it was second time that we ski, had a tough time practising the turns. End of day drove back to Sacramento through the Lake Tahoe route. The route is a beautiful and picture perfect one. Had a peaceful night at the Good nite Inn in Sacramento.

Lake Tahoe!

Sunday - to trek the whole day in Yosemite. It was about 2.8 miles of trek and about 5 hours round trip. There were two trails that we could take. Studying the maps and weather conditions, we planned to take the John Muir trail. But at the last moment, we chose to go via the Mist trail because my friend knew the trail already. Thus we reached the bottom of Vernal Falls. By this time one of the six decided to retreat. Here is where the Mist trail gets seperated from the John Muir trail. So we headed to the top of Vernal Falls via the Mist trail. Here we had our lunch and three of six decided to retreat. So we were left with only me and my roomie (who knew the trail before) to conquer the trek plan. Our plan is to get to the top of Nevada Falls because further trail to Half Dome requires more time and camping, also due to weather conditions Half Dome was closed.


Thus me and my roomie headed to conquer the Nevada Falls. Trail was quite clear initially until the top of Vernal Falls, but towards the Nevada Falls it becomes quite unclear and rocky. Although there were steps in the latter part of trail to Vernal Falls, they were steep and risky. Further more, I was only wearing leather shoes which were not even close to trek-shoes. The Mist trail although it becomes rockier from top of Vernal to Nevada Falls, the trail leads pretty close edged to a mountain, making it scarier (atleast my friend felt that way). Often I got lost in the trail because atleast in two places it was confusing and unclear. At one point we were retreating the trail to figure out the right way, as if we were attempting to solve the eight-queens problem using backtracking algorithm. The beauty of Mist trail is that it reveals the beauty of Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls through its way whereas the John Muir trail doesnt. Its such a beautiful sight to witness the valley down from the top of Vernal Falls. Both the trails reunite again about 0.2 miles from the top of Nevada Falls. To get to the top of Nevada Falls, we had to reach this unification point and then walk 0.2 miles in the John Muir trail. The top of Nevada Falls is a beautiful one. It should be around 7000 feet above sea-level.


After a photo session, we decided to take the John Muir trail to reach the Yosemite valley / car. Walking for almost half a mile we come across this snow covered path in John Muir trail. The barricade was only about a foot tall and about half-a-foot wide and a wrong step on that would definetely take you to hell. The path was completely in hard snow ice and it was drizzling at that time. Occasionally ice was falling from the top along the path. WorseWe came to a point where we couldnt use the path/trail anymore, instead we had to walk about 25 feet on the barricade. Initially I thought we could do that and my roomie listening to that did walk on that barricade for about 10 feet. After that he could find some low ice where he could stand in the trail. Now it was me to cross that yard, and I couldnt because my shoes became very slippery and I literally sat on that ice. Now we examined the trail more carefully and understood that we were risking a lot. So we decided to retreat via the Mist trail itself. This place was so dangerous that had either of us placed one step wrong, we would have reached the valley the fastest way but dead.

The ice-packed death bed!

The trauma of that incident is still there but my curiosity and adventurous attitude have increased further. After all, the death bed is yet another walk of life...

A peep into my future

I have lived just 1/3rd of my life. The journey has been thus far very convincing and enjoyable. My kiddishness is gone, my adolescense is gone, I have been "behaving" a man for a while now. Henceforth, the journey looks very depressing, very selfish and unenjoyable. The following attributes are going to define my life.

Success yardstick

The career and materialism growth rate is directly proportional to the rate of success I obtain in the coming years. Interestingly, as an example if I achieve 2 certifications and 3 MVPs in next two years, it would mean I get promoted in two years and 1/3rd increase in my materialism. That would mean, I have to be 150% workaholic.

Failure yardstick

The "non-liveable" and "liveable" factor both are directly proportional to the rate of failures. This is a dangerous yardstick. Although it gives the amount of depression I carry over, it also provides an yardstick to measure that I had lived through it. Balancing out will be the toughest part to live through.

Entertainment yardstick

This is another yardstick to measure the "liveability". A cross-functional product of this with the success yardstick gives the measure for better and healthier growth rate. Interestingly this cross-functional product varies inverse-exponentially with the failure yardstick.

Smile yardstick

This is going to be the best of the yardsticks. I would love to measure it, but sadly this yardstick is going to be the least important growth rate wise. Even then, this yardstick is quite important in that, a maintenance of 5 on 10 on an average for the next 10-15 years will be the best for this yardstick.


Did I get too much carried away by self-assessment? May be I should add a "psycho" yardstick, drug yardstick and criminalism yardstick. But I strongly feel, I would not even have time to measure the four primary yardsticks. Enough of gyan, now, get back to your work!

Rewind(ing)

Another year has arrived with full of glory and fantasy. Let me tighten my shoes for yet another year of adventure and fun! Thinking back, 2006 had been one of my most active year. Let me list down the fun... Sit back, relax and enjoy!

Had a few Japanese classes.
Had a few Guitar classes.
Learnt cooking and been living very independantly for the first time in life.

Created my first blog and maintained(toughly) the blogspot.
Caught up with school, college friends (thanks to Orkut).
Been away from family and friends for the longest time in life.
Bought a land at hometown for my precious parents!

Flew for the first time in life that too on Boeing.
Flew in a turboprop (thanks to Horizon Air) for first time in life.
Travelled to US for the first time in life.
Saw the states Washington, California, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Texas, New Jersey/New York, Oregan, Georgia and Nevada.
Tried for a Italian, German and Canadian visa but got rejected.
Been part of road trips from Los Angeles to San Francisco and from New Orleans to Dallas-Fortworth.
Saw snow for the first time in life.
Skied for the first time in life.

Hit 200 pounds and back to 180 pounds all in 4 months.
Watched most movies in a year... should definetely be more that 365! and in Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, English, Japanese, Chinese and Italian languages.
Watched the entire Friends serial (well, though only one season is remaining).

Had hands dirty with the Professor's cube for the first time in life.
Created a program to solve the Sudoku game and tested successfully with the hardest games.
In a Java project for the first time in life.
Worked with a world's few prestigous clients.. Microsoft, Motorola and CISCO.
Gone down the ratings in Algorithms at Topcoder (with two worst competitions).

Bought an hard disk of 250GB.
Bought Motorazr mobile lost and then bought Nokia 6133.
Had the worst burglary attempts in life losing a laptop, mobile and wallet (two credit cards, a debit card, SSN and Indian driving license).

Gambled for the first time in life - lost around $400 in one occasion and won around $150 in the second.
Maxed my alcohol limits to 13 beers, awesome!
Taken cocaine for the first time in life.
Been hospitalized for the first time in life and tested by a Neurosurgeon and Psychiatrist
due to alcohols.
Took lap dances from a few gorgeous girls first time in life.
Been taken care by NYPD, Chicago Police dept and Bellevue police in three different occasions.