Emptiness...?

The semester vacation has started - which essentially means that most of my friends, with whom I used to go for tea/coffee, won't be around for two months.

My apartment mate, the red-girl, has gone home. My home is just simply silent.

The friend, with whom I usually had my lunch, has gone back to India.

My German lessons, which I always used to look forward to, has come to end.

All these happened in 3 days time. It could have been nice, if it had happened slowly. This week looks a little bit empty.

Well, that means that I am going to have more time for my own. Let me enjoy. Yesterday, I did some paintings after a long time of 2-3 months. I had taken a break from BBC dokus, which I have started to watch again. My time is being spent even more constructive! :)

Going for lunch. (It was a long time since I went for lunch alone - and the prospect of doing so triggered this post)

signing off, Sands.

Physics, Religion and Creationists-vs-Evolutionists

Lately, I've been reading a couple of blogs/articles where people argue over topics like GOD/Atheism, Indo-US Nuclear-Deal etc.

I had decided long back that I wouldn't participate in arguments of the following categories -- (i) God/Atheism (ii) Capitalism/Communism (iii) Selfishness/Altruism.

But.. in a week moment, I got involved in one of the arguments from the first category. I should say that I was surprised to see that many of the participants [from both sides] didn't even know the ground rules of carrying on a healthy discussion. And as one would expect, the debate got over without reaching a conclusion. :(

I am a hard-core atheist by all means - very much convinced about the non-existence of a supreme-intelligent-designer-being. But I realized that I was not knowledgeable enough to convince someone who wasn't convinced yet. If I really want one thing in life, it is knowledge. I started to make myself knowledgeable.

I started to:

1. Follow some of the links I got from the debates - links which even take you to the big-bang. [eg: First three minutes (book) by Steven Weinberg, Nobel Laureate]. Haven't finished the book - but till now, it'd been wonderful.
2. Read a religious text. Well, I could only start with it. It was ultra-mega boring - which means that it would take ages before I finish reading it. But I do want to read it.
3. Watch Mr. Dawkins - his debates in youtube and google-video, programs @ BBC. This person is an awesome character. Too smart to be true. Totally logical, sensible, terrific, awesome.
   
   I, whom I myself consider quite smart and intelligent, take sometimes a moment before really understanding his arguments. He is that good. Do you know, how useful these arguments could be - for your brain-muscle exercises? :)

So, I have been reading up Physics, Religion and listening to creationist-vs-evolutionist arguments. That is one of the reasons along with fever, which kept me away from the blog for about two weeks.

This entry was probably not a light read. Will try for a light read next time.

And this entry is dedicated to this great person, Dawkins, who never loses his temper, against pompous fools.

Signing off, Sands.

PS: If you are interested, you can watch a set of nice dialogues between Mr. Dawkins and Mr. McGrath - HERE. A long one, which gets a little boring in between.

PS2: The picture -- I took from Max Plank Institute

PS3: The post is over here - the following is the scrap/byproduct, from the production of the post.! :)

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Two friends of mine were arguing. One of them lost the argument. What does it mean?

Does it always mean, in an argument, when one of the participants lose, that the other person was right?
Not necessarily, right?

It could also mean that one of them was better at arguing.

Well, we are coming to the topic: Debates.

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I haven't been coming to my English blog as frequently as I used to earlier. Well, there are mainly two reasons.

(i) I was getting a little more involved in Malayalam blogland.
(ii) I was down with fever.

The beauty of Malayalam blogland is that, first of all it is not so huge and large as this one; I personally know most of the main players there.

Secondly, there are quite a few debates*/arguments going on among the bloggers - almost at all times.

Thirdly, one can find all genres of comedy too in there - which of course should be one of the main reasons for getting new people.

Small or Big?

Look at the picture.
How small the man is... compared to the machine he has made!

 

So, what should we say? the small man, or the big man?

Or "The small man with big brains"?

I actually have a lot of stuff to write, but a little busy right now. So, not to be absent from here for a long time, I leave the picture (some little food for thought) and take a leave! :)

Will get back soon,

Signing off, Sands.
PS: Photo courtesy - myself ;)

I did it?

This post is based on an incident - which happened just 20 minutes back. [Bragging included]

I was coming from the city, in the train, talking to a friend over phone. I was sitting in the last seat of one of the compartments of the train.

There was a Turkish family, with a kid, on the other end (front end) of the same compartment. At one station, when the train was stopped, the little kid (perhaps 4 years old) started running towards the backside of the compartment.

The compartment was more or less empty and she could run quite fast. [The picture shows the empty compartment after most people got down. The kid was at the far end and I was at the place from where I've taken the picture]

Seeing her starting to run, I knew that she would fall very badly if the train starts to move. The trains here have very good acceleration and it would really push her towards the backside of the compartment.

And on top of her running, when the push comes, she would have a pretty bad fall. I was sure.

The train started to gain speed.

I myself didn't know that I jumped from my seat and ran towards her. Well, I wasn't quick enough... She, kind of, was thrown by the push and fell just two feet in front of me.

But even before she realised that she fell, I had taken her. Just behind her was her father and I handed her over to him.

When I came back, the three people who were sitting around me were looking (staring) at me. Then I remembered that I had had my iPod on my lap. I hadn't even thought about it... it was lying somewhere (switched off). I was worried for a moment that it was damaged. Fortunately, it was working! :)

The surprising thing is that, when I usually ride my bike, I hold the iPod in my hand and always think - if I happen to have a fall/accident, make sure that only I get hurt; not the iPod.

Today in that reflex action, I didn't even think about it! Isn't it amazing?

And, when the family got out of the train, her mom and dad made her say good-bye to me and she waved her hands. It did indeed make me very happy. :) .. That's probably more than what I wanted!

Sometimes you need only small things to make you happy! :)

Signing off, Sands.

PS: Again accused of writing cryptic stuff. I hope that this one was not that bad. :)

Just Personal

This entry could be a little *cryptic* or say, abstract. Please bear with me. I shall put some simple, easy read post next time! (But do read this)

One never knows, what does life have for you in its gift box. Sometimes something very good, sometimes very bad stuff and sometimes something really challenging (shouldn't this come under good?).

Right now, I have got all the three varieties in a week's time.

The bad news first. I was hoping for something and now I am not sure whether I should expect that anymore. Nothing more to write about it. May be I should say the word I'd compare it to - Mirage. :(

I got something really nice.. which I had never expected to get/happen - one of the best things ever. I've got a new friend - a terrific new friend. Can't express how happy I am! :) .. Getting someone with whom you can get a perfect wave-length match -- isn't it great? [Well, it has its own downside too - we happen to waste lot of time together - instead of finishing piles of work, which we both have ;) ]

Finally, the challenge is something I can't afford to reveal. Something really secretive.... Something which even my closest friends might never know. Usually, I don't have any secrets at all; but this time.. I have a thrill of keeping something away from all.

The real reason is that, I want to surprise everyone with this new thing. But if in case I can't get it done, I don't want anyone to know about it! ;)

Signing off, Sands.

PS: I was not in a good mood to write; but I didn't want to give a gap longer than a week. Being regular and systematic is a very important thing in the blog world - hence the entry!

Love at First .....

I am not a very strong believer of love at first sight, but it is not improbable that love at first sight works*.

Love at first sight takes you a long way through the relationship in a single second, even before you realise it yourself. It is something like "Well begun is half done".

Well, that is not the topic. Blog .. blog is the thing which I want to discuss. There are some blogs with which you fall in love easily. They simply sweep you off your feet; after reading a few entries, you might fall in love with the unknown author as well. The author might turn out to be a lover in real life as well.

All these things do happen and have happened too.

But this time, I have read just one ... a single post in a blog and I am in love with the author. Without knowing the author, I am not sure whether I want her to be my partner. But I am sure that she is the one I should want as my children's mother.

Do I sound really stupid? Well, I too know that. But if you can read Malayalam, take some time to read this blog-entry here. Wouldn't you want your children's mother to be this young lady - who already cares a lot about her child, who is yet to come to the world?

Well, not just that.. what she wrote about the society too was impressive - which shows that she is at least a bit of a good person too.

So, this could be the thing what they tell - "Love at first read".. :)

Am I
(1) Just crazy? OR
(2) Just crazy?
I think, the second one - Just Crazy! :)

Signing off, Sands.

* Some of my readers might find it a bit tough to unwind the "not improbable that it works". Just wanted to tell that love at first sight does indeed work out in many cases.

PS: Apologies to my non-mallu readers. The entry I mentioned was from a lady who has written about and for her child who is not even in her womb yet. :)

Picture Courtesy: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Mother-Child_face_to_face.jpg

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