"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet meet and fall in love in Shakespeare's lyrical tale of "star-cross'd" lovers. They are doomed from the start as members of two warring families. Here Juliet tells Romeo that a name is an artificial and meaningless convention, and that she loves the person who is called "Montague", not the Montague name and not the Montague family. Romeo, out of his passion for Juliet, rejects his family name and vows, as Juliet asks, to "deny (his) father" and instead be "new baptized" as Juliet's lover. This one short line encapsulates the central struggle and tragedy of the play.
Reference: http://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes/what-s-name-that-which-we-call-rose
How true is that phrase... and it can be applied in so many situations.
What's in a name, Romeo?
Monday, March 24, 2008
Calm Before the Storm....Do you know how it feels like??
It feels terrible and is worse than the storm sometimes. I feel that way today and I have no idea what is the storm or it could be just my imagination. A little scared, a little confused and then a little annoyed that it might be nothing at all.
It could be that I had a three day weekend and just not used to having so much free time and then the thought that "too much of a good thing is not good" might have triggered all this paranoia. It is amazing that just an extra day can trigger such paranoia. ok, I will tell the truth, its just not the extra day, things back at home and then the economy and somehow everyone (the TV, the newspapers, the internet, friends) has decided to attack HOPE. But then don't underestimate hope, it can rise from the darkest corners and all it needs is a little belief.
And we will go on and on. I always found the last para of Robert Frost's poem easy to remember when I was young. And you know what, it is full of hope and aspiration.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
- Robert Frost.
It feels terrible and is worse than the storm sometimes. I feel that way today and I have no idea what is the storm or it could be just my imagination. A little scared, a little confused and then a little annoyed that it might be nothing at all.
It could be that I had a three day weekend and just not used to having so much free time and then the thought that "too much of a good thing is not good" might have triggered all this paranoia. It is amazing that just an extra day can trigger such paranoia. ok, I will tell the truth, its just not the extra day, things back at home and then the economy and somehow everyone (the TV, the newspapers, the internet, friends) has decided to attack HOPE. But then don't underestimate hope, it can rise from the darkest corners and all it needs is a little belief.
And we will go on and on. I always found the last para of Robert Frost's poem easy to remember when I was young. And you know what, it is full of hope and aspiration.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
- Robert Frost.
"Gravedigger, when you dig my grave,
could you make it shallow, so I can feel the rain."
Listen to this song on youtube sung by Willie Nelson.
Just listening to the lyrics gives me goosebumps, but still I like listening to the song. Would you care about the rain after you died? seriously, would it matter??
But then thats the greatest human quality - to desire beyond what you can see - to ensure you have some joys even in your grave...
It seems absurd, but still so believable and so desirable. And its not a lot to ask, is it?
Feeling the rain is one of the best things in this beautiful world and if you have not yet experienced it, you should at the earliest.
And Willie Nelson's voice is just right for the song..the right tone and the right emotion.
could you make it shallow, so I can feel the rain."
Listen to this song on youtube sung by Willie Nelson.
Just listening to the lyrics gives me goosebumps, but still I like listening to the song. Would you care about the rain after you died? seriously, would it matter??
But then thats the greatest human quality - to desire beyond what you can see - to ensure you have some joys even in your grave...
It seems absurd, but still so believable and so desirable. And its not a lot to ask, is it?
Feeling the rain is one of the best things in this beautiful world and if you have not yet experienced it, you should at the earliest.
And Willie Nelson's voice is just right for the song..the right tone and the right emotion.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Experiences of the first week in a new job in a new city..
Day 1:
I set up my laptop and struggle with mac trying to understand why the control key doesnt work!!
Look at the empty inbox in outlook and wonder how long its going to stay that way.
I lose my way back home and miss exits twice and finally manage to get home after spending half hour driving in circles.
Day 2:
Set up the dev environment and try to remember how to run MySQL.
I see broken glass at different spots everyday on the drive-way to the ofc. Scares me!!
I manage to find some local radio stations that are equivalent to 90.3 and 92.9 after fumbling through some spanish stations.
I hate to admit, but I miss the delila talk show.
Day 3:
Finally start looking at yet another in-house built framework and realize I can never escape frameworks :)
Spend 40 minutes in horrendous traffic to reach home which is 7 miles away.
Day 4: Attend training session for a ER system here. You can never escape working on tickets either!!
On way back home, the car immediately behind me gets rear-ended and I am just saved by an inch. Need to change to a better auto-insurance.
Day 5: Attended the first team meeting and then nothing much interesting. Becoming an expert in dealing with bumper-to-bumper traffic.
Day 1:
I set up my laptop and struggle with mac trying to understand why the control key doesnt work!!
Look at the empty inbox in outlook and wonder how long its going to stay that way.
I lose my way back home and miss exits twice and finally manage to get home after spending half hour driving in circles.
Day 2:
Set up the dev environment and try to remember how to run MySQL.
I see broken glass at different spots everyday on the drive-way to the ofc. Scares me!!
I manage to find some local radio stations that are equivalent to 90.3 and 92.9 after fumbling through some spanish stations.
I hate to admit, but I miss the delila talk show.
Day 3:
Finally start looking at yet another in-house built framework and realize I can never escape frameworks :)
Spend 40 minutes in horrendous traffic to reach home which is 7 miles away.
Day 4: Attend training session for a ER system here. You can never escape working on tickets either!!
On way back home, the car immediately behind me gets rear-ended and I am just saved by an inch. Need to change to a better auto-insurance.
Day 5: Attended the first team meeting and then nothing much interesting. Becoming an expert in dealing with bumper-to-bumper traffic.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Distribution of Knowledge
How many times did you say "I don't know" today?
If you have a computer at hand, I guess hardly any.
Because all you need to do is "google it" and hundreds of web-sites pop up talking about it and there you are omniscient, the "know-all" :-)
I can see both good and bad in this. Previously (some 10 years back) it would be hard to find out about something you have never heard of before. Some of the ways you would know about it would be talking to friends, parents, relatives etc,. And then at School or College if they are academic topics. This not only increased your knowledge but since you gained the knowledge by interacting with people, you have also gained some social skills, made new friendships and actually had fun discussing the subject.
Reading from a computer screen is monotonous and a one-way road. You are not interacting with anyone unless it is a discussion forum.
Going through this, I understand why we are increasingly lacking in our social skills and why we think we can survive without friendships or relations. But you will end up feeling alone. Though Google can find any information you need, it cannot talk to you like a friend or give you a personal view point.
How many times did you say "I don't know" today?
If you have a computer at hand, I guess hardly any.
Because all you need to do is "google it" and hundreds of web-sites pop up talking about it and there you are omniscient, the "know-all" :-)
I can see both good and bad in this. Previously (some 10 years back) it would be hard to find out about something you have never heard of before. Some of the ways you would know about it would be talking to friends, parents, relatives etc,. And then at School or College if they are academic topics. This not only increased your knowledge but since you gained the knowledge by interacting with people, you have also gained some social skills, made new friendships and actually had fun discussing the subject.
Reading from a computer screen is monotonous and a one-way road. You are not interacting with anyone unless it is a discussion forum.
Going through this, I understand why we are increasingly lacking in our social skills and why we think we can survive without friendships or relations. But you will end up feeling alone. Though Google can find any information you need, it cannot talk to you like a friend or give you a personal view point.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
"A successful leader surrounds himself with people better than him and does not feel threatened by them" - Unknown
Wow, thats deep. Thinking about it, such a leader needs to be very confident about himself and his ability to lead such a group of people who can better him, but still listen to him. That takes a lot of conviction and self-confidence.
Wow, thats deep. Thinking about it, such a leader needs to be very confident about himself and his ability to lead such a group of people who can better him, but still listen to him. That takes a lot of conviction and self-confidence.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Also I just happened to observe that it has been a year since I updated the blog...Golly!! thats a long time...wonder what I was doing with all my thoughts bundled up inside me all this time.
Now since I am making a very conscious effort to think of something to write in the blog...I just cant think of anything...this is not new and I am pretty tired of this.
When I am working seriously in office, suddenly all the bright ideas that I can blog pop up in the head and I try hard to suppress them, but now when I have the time - my mind just went blank...Classic, isnt it.
ok next time, I will try to write it down and then update it to the blog.
Who knows it might be another year, before I pay a visit again.
Now since I am making a very conscious effort to think of something to write in the blog...I just cant think of anything...this is not new and I am pretty tired of this.
When I am working seriously in office, suddenly all the bright ideas that I can blog pop up in the head and I try hard to suppress them, but now when I have the time - my mind just went blank...Classic, isnt it.
ok next time, I will try to write it down and then update it to the blog.
Who knows it might be another year, before I pay a visit again.
If you are feeling low..what would cheer you up ???
1. Get your favorite ice-cream and watch the funniest show on TV - some of the good ones are AFV (America's Funniest Home Videos) - these are just hilarious, Friends, Simpsons etc,. -> this will definitely bring you some laughs and help you forget all the disappointing things in life.
2. Ladies will surely agree to this one - go shopping and buy clothes and shoes
3. For guys hmmm - watch TV - eat and again watch TV :-)
4. Now for things that might actually take some pain and effort but might resolve your issues - think about what is making you unhappy and find a way to make things better.
How to achieve this - I have no idea..each problem has its own complications and I am no Dr.Phil...you might have got that by now - eating ice-cream and watching TV is my universal solution :D
1. Get your favorite ice-cream and watch the funniest show on TV - some of the good ones are AFV (America's Funniest Home Videos) - these are just hilarious, Friends, Simpsons etc,. -> this will definitely bring you some laughs and help you forget all the disappointing things in life.
2. Ladies will surely agree to this one - go shopping and buy clothes and shoes
3. For guys hmmm - watch TV - eat and again watch TV :-)
4. Now for things that might actually take some pain and effort but might resolve your issues - think about what is making you unhappy and find a way to make things better.
How to achieve this - I have no idea..each problem has its own complications and I am no Dr.Phil...you might have got that by now - eating ice-cream and watching TV is my universal solution :D
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Today I want to write about ancient Egypt..I had been to a art museum in Nashville and the concept was about ancient Egypt, the land of enigma and awe...
It had many artifacts from the Egypt museum in Cairo and the most exciting part is, they have recreated the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen, exactly as it was in Egypt and it was pretty amazing. Of course, it didnt have the sand of the desert or the musty smell you would expect in a tomb of thousands of years, but it did have friendly descriptions of what the hieroglyphs on the tombs meant in english and also some good lighting and of course air-conditioning (Its easy to not notice it, but imagine how hot it will be in a desert). ok anyways, coming back to the main topic, the hieroglyphs described what was the purpose of mummification and what actually would happen inside the tomb (or what they 'believed' would happen inside a tomb)- it goes like this - The main part is played by Sun God. Ancient Egyptians believe in Sun God as one of the supreme Gods and that Sun God undergoes a journey from dusk to dawn in the netherland and fight evil demons before he can rise again.
The night is divided into 12 hours and the Sun God begins his journey from Hour 1 at the entry point to the netherland, and he has to cross the netherland in these 12 hours (fighting evils on the way) and regain his sould. The Pharaohs aid the Sun God in regaining his soul and cross the netherland. In turn the Sun God helps them in uniting with their soul and attaining afterlife. So it is like a mutual understanding. So the journey goes like this..The Pharaoh and the Sun God start their journey on the solar boat across river Nile in the netherworld. They believed that river Nile flows across in the netherworld also. They also believed that people grow plants and other grains in the netherworld and the netherworld is more fertile than the actual world because the soil there is more fertile. ok, so the pharaoh and the Sun God start their journey in the netherworld at hour 1. They are protected by other Gods and Goddesses and Pharaohs. They continue their journey quite smoothly till hour 4. At hour 5, the river nile dries up and the desert begins. At this point the solar boat magically becomes a giant serpent or snake that can slide across the desert sand. Also the evils try to fight with the Sun God and the Pharaoh. But the other Gods and Goddesses kill those evil demons and aid the Sun God and the Pharoah in reuniting with their souls. This happens at hour 6. From then on they move across the desert till hour 12 to the end of netherland. At Hour 12, the Sun God rises and all is happy and the Pharaoh has reunited with his soul and has attained afterlife.
The ancient egyptians believed that the Pharaoh will protect his people once he attains afterlife. Also the Sun God takes on different forms at different times of day and night. He is depicted as a Scarab beetle in the morning (because the beetle lays eggs in dung - rejuvenates life from dead) and as a ram in the night.
That is the gist of mummification. But there are lot of other details related to mummies. One story that is really of interest is the origin of mummification. Why and how did mummification actually start? There was a great King of Egypt called Osiris. He was brutally murdered by his brother and his brother dismembered his body and threw the parts all over egypt. Osiris's wife Isis collects all his body parts, wraps them in linen and then brings him to life with magic. Osiris becomes the Lord of Underworld (or Netherworld). They have a son called Horus who went on to become a great king of Egypt. (I just read another version of this story at wikipedia..so I think this is one of the famous versions). So driving back to the original reason, we went into this story, whatever Isis had done has become an inspiration for Mummification.
ok, so what about all those things that go into the tomb along with the mummy. Since the Pharaoh is believed to attain aterlife after mummification, he would very much lead a normal life in the afterlife (kind of confusing..but thats how it is). So he would need all the things that he would need in the normal life. So they placed food, furniture, clothes and jewelry (which is a string attraction for the robbers) in the tombs. One very interesting point is, it is not necessary to place real food or real life size furniture in the tombs. Even if you place a replica of the item, it would come real with magic. Also they used to keep toy workers to help the king to do agricutural work and other things. And they would all come to life with magic. These wooden figures were called Shabti or Ushabti (I think in the later part of the century) and they were also placed in coffin-like boxes. So that explained one long lasting doubt I had when I watching the movie "Mummy". What were all those dummy skeleton soldiers doing in the tomb??
And there were many other things at the Museum, but I will write about those in the next blog..this had already become pretty long. By the time I came out of the museum, I was all enchanted about ancient Egypt. One great marketing skill I had to appreciate at the museum was, they had the gift shop immediately after you step out of the museum...in fact there is no door in between...so you are in this trance and you walk into this gift shop, you feel like buying something and take a part of Egypt with you to home. I had to be literally dragged out of the shop to stop buying any of those expensive goods!!
One disclaimer is: I have tried to put together what ever I have understood at the museum. This might not be the most accurate version and there may be some misunderstood version of a belief. And this is all what I have written from my memory ;)
It had many artifacts from the Egypt museum in Cairo and the most exciting part is, they have recreated the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen, exactly as it was in Egypt and it was pretty amazing. Of course, it didnt have the sand of the desert or the musty smell you would expect in a tomb of thousands of years, but it did have friendly descriptions of what the hieroglyphs on the tombs meant in english and also some good lighting and of course air-conditioning (Its easy to not notice it, but imagine how hot it will be in a desert). ok anyways, coming back to the main topic, the hieroglyphs described what was the purpose of mummification and what actually would happen inside the tomb (or what they 'believed' would happen inside a tomb)- it goes like this - The main part is played by Sun God. Ancient Egyptians believe in Sun God as one of the supreme Gods and that Sun God undergoes a journey from dusk to dawn in the netherland and fight evil demons before he can rise again.
The night is divided into 12 hours and the Sun God begins his journey from Hour 1 at the entry point to the netherland, and he has to cross the netherland in these 12 hours (fighting evils on the way) and regain his sould. The Pharaohs aid the Sun God in regaining his soul and cross the netherland. In turn the Sun God helps them in uniting with their soul and attaining afterlife. So it is like a mutual understanding. So the journey goes like this..The Pharaoh and the Sun God start their journey on the solar boat across river Nile in the netherworld. They believed that river Nile flows across in the netherworld also. They also believed that people grow plants and other grains in the netherworld and the netherworld is more fertile than the actual world because the soil there is more fertile. ok, so the pharaoh and the Sun God start their journey in the netherworld at hour 1. They are protected by other Gods and Goddesses and Pharaohs. They continue their journey quite smoothly till hour 4. At hour 5, the river nile dries up and the desert begins. At this point the solar boat magically becomes a giant serpent or snake that can slide across the desert sand. Also the evils try to fight with the Sun God and the Pharaoh. But the other Gods and Goddesses kill those evil demons and aid the Sun God and the Pharoah in reuniting with their souls. This happens at hour 6. From then on they move across the desert till hour 12 to the end of netherland. At Hour 12, the Sun God rises and all is happy and the Pharaoh has reunited with his soul and has attained afterlife.
The ancient egyptians believed that the Pharaoh will protect his people once he attains afterlife. Also the Sun God takes on different forms at different times of day and night. He is depicted as a Scarab beetle in the morning (because the beetle lays eggs in dung - rejuvenates life from dead) and as a ram in the night.
That is the gist of mummification. But there are lot of other details related to mummies. One story that is really of interest is the origin of mummification. Why and how did mummification actually start? There was a great King of Egypt called Osiris. He was brutally murdered by his brother and his brother dismembered his body and threw the parts all over egypt. Osiris's wife Isis collects all his body parts, wraps them in linen and then brings him to life with magic. Osiris becomes the Lord of Underworld (or Netherworld). They have a son called Horus who went on to become a great king of Egypt. (I just read another version of this story at wikipedia..so I think this is one of the famous versions). So driving back to the original reason, we went into this story, whatever Isis had done has become an inspiration for Mummification.
ok, so what about all those things that go into the tomb along with the mummy. Since the Pharaoh is believed to attain aterlife after mummification, he would very much lead a normal life in the afterlife (kind of confusing..but thats how it is). So he would need all the things that he would need in the normal life. So they placed food, furniture, clothes and jewelry (which is a string attraction for the robbers) in the tombs. One very interesting point is, it is not necessary to place real food or real life size furniture in the tombs. Even if you place a replica of the item, it would come real with magic. Also they used to keep toy workers to help the king to do agricutural work and other things. And they would all come to life with magic. These wooden figures were called Shabti or Ushabti (I think in the later part of the century) and they were also placed in coffin-like boxes. So that explained one long lasting doubt I had when I watching the movie "Mummy". What were all those dummy skeleton soldiers doing in the tomb??
And there were many other things at the Museum, but I will write about those in the next blog..this had already become pretty long. By the time I came out of the museum, I was all enchanted about ancient Egypt. One great marketing skill I had to appreciate at the museum was, they had the gift shop immediately after you step out of the museum...in fact there is no door in between...so you are in this trance and you walk into this gift shop, you feel like buying something and take a part of Egypt with you to home. I had to be literally dragged out of the shop to stop buying any of those expensive goods!!
One disclaimer is: I have tried to put together what ever I have understood at the museum. This might not be the most accurate version and there may be some misunderstood version of a belief. And this is all what I have written from my memory ;)
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