General Musings


So much's been happening it seems in the world and well may be I to should start tweeting rather than posting long essays.
I had so much I was hoping to write and then just frittered it all in thought. I have been in one of my laziest phases.

This post is mostly unconnected parts of stuff I managed to remember
I actually was hoping to write about the book I was reading The Black Swan & Fooled by randomness , but its very contents reminded me of what I saw here there and what not. I will review it in a different post.
Essentially the book talks about the role of luck or rather what we call luck, uncertainity etc.

Now I have oscillating views on that.
So here was one forward of a speech by Harsha Bhogle someone I am quite a fan of since was a kid.
http://brijux.com/2009/09/12/harsha-bhogle-achievers-of-excellence-iim-ahmedabad/

Its quite long but real nice esp I would say one should listen to part 2 first and then if one wants go to part1.
Well anyways he nicely opens a discussion about luck (at 17:50 in part 2)- he recalls how Ganguly told him it was great luck VVS Laxmans innings at Kolkatta.
Harsha disagrees and says its all the coming together of preparedness opportunity etc and gives his own personal example of his admission in IIM. Enjoyed hearing it and all , but the skepticism was open esp as I never can decide if I believe in fate or not.

Now I went to the passport office next day - after all the confusion of many things I am told I need not only the latest bill as adresss proof but also a bill 1 year older and I was like Oh Gosh - I will have to go through all this again.
Nowhere I saw mentioned saying you need bills across a year. But then I remembered I had some old bill in my purse and voila !
I found a old 2009 bill and I managed to get my work done the same day.

So I recalled the interview - Now what do I call it - luck or preparedness - I never prepared for needing a 1.5 yr old bill.
But if I want to put it like this - I can always say -
I am a very organized person and see I keep stuff prepared.

So I wondered why is it that most people always talk of luck and fate on failure .
When success comes people go on about hard work and self belief and all stuff.
Its a open thing - we can wonder and debate about all the time to no end.
I dont like to believe in fate but then it kind of has always been my bane in more ways than I can describe which is why I am often kind of lost in thoughts when I hear such debates.

There is so much of Wikileaks around that one cant escape it. It strangely reminded me hugely of what I wrote reviewing Social Network.We want all our heroes to be angelic - Why cant we be open to the fact that things in world are almost always grey
and there is no such thing as an absolute truth.
Just because he's brave and takes on governments mean Assange has no prejudice against women. Just as just because accusers are women we need to take their word as the truth.
It seems real nice the leaking of truth about governments etc - but lets just say there was no confidential reports in governments -
all is in open - would that make it a better world. Wont conspiracies and prejudices flourish by word of mouth .
While US policies may have been fully flawed - it does not mean terrorism is purely a by product of that and the world was a beautiful place before we brought in governance.
Then we have the Indian version of it all - which is even more depressing. But while it seems so much of a rage on twitter and
blogosphere I wonder how many of us really would stand up and fight and how many has the system already defeated.

We really are the species Darwin talks of - the first instinct is self preservation.

P.S: It may seem strange but this by far has been one of the most exciting reads for me in recent times.
The whole thing is thrilling than most thrillers we read.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/11/26/secret-agent-crippled-irans-nuclear-ambitions/

It seemed so appreciable and awesome really - the whole attention to detail - and then the scare sets in in the mind.
I seriously wondered about times - not a penny in reality but all of life's earnings in electronic form and my mom's old advice
- why oh why you dont buy gold - hmm!! she's already been vindicated partly with the gold prices

Then I wondered hmm but wont that make movies boring - like 007 replaced by Stuxnet
- and then I think - no Social network wasnt all that boring. Sure they'll figure a way out to talk out the code design in some dashing ways - he he !!