Sansmaran, TV Serial, 1995

English: Reminisces. Sansmaran Is a Doordarshan TV Serial, broadcast in India in year 1995. This is contained in IMDb Sansmaran , 1995. It was Directed by Kannada Director, T.S. Nagabharana, whose other popular work is Tenalirama.

Plot

The serial is about a South-Indian traditional Kannad family whose son has found a job in the USA. This is a narration based story , from the point of view of the old hindu man, whose son is working in the USA. He and his wife go to the USA to meet their son. The son takes them for a trip of the USA wherein the Disney land features. The old man compares the freedom and enjoyment of life in America with his life back at home. It slowly becomes a comparison of the cultures of America and India. In summary, the old man also diagnosis the shortcomings of his native culture after viewing it from the eyes of another culture. Thus, the narration is a broadening of horizon story of a Hindu view point. This serial was telecast around 1995 , at the time Indian Economy had just started to open to foreign investments and Indians were just beginning to dream of going to America for job merged with tourism. Perhaps the congestion of life in India has started to strangulate their thinking. It was coming of age serial which revered the view about the open-ness of American Culture for the people of older ages whose sons were just beginning to find jobs in IT multinationals and were being sent abroad, to the US, on assignment. It was starting to bring them not just money , but also a cultural escapade to their parents who had spent their lifetime in miseries of Indian life only for the well-being of their children. The american culture of open-ness had started to find acceptance not just in Indian youngsters but also in their parents, creditable to the success of this tele-serial.

Essay on Criticism ..by Alexander Pope ..General Outline

I came across a very beautiful poem, Essay on Criticism , by Alexander Pope. Here i a attempt to put my understanding of the poem. 

In order to do the paraphrasing, I searched a little bit on the net and found the following 'general outline' helpful for proceeding in my work. Over here I produce that General Outline:

By : Walter Jackson Bate

The Essay on Criticism is more profitably introduced by a topical summary of its themes than by an analysis of its premises. For its premises and aims are those of the entire neoclassic tradition. And the poem itself is a statement or summary of them rather than an individual argument or analysis. The essay may be described as falling into three parts, with the following subdivisions:

I. General qualities needed by the critic (1-200):

A. Awareness of his own limitations (46-67).

B. Knowledge of Nature in its general forms (68-87).

1. Nature defined (70-79).

2. Need of both wit and judgment to conceive it (80-87).

C. Imitation of the Ancients, and the use of rules (88-200).

1. Value of ancient poetry and criticism as models (88-103).

2. Censure of slavish imitation and codified rules (104-117).

3. Need to study the general aims and qualities of the Ancients (118-140).

4. Exceptions to the rules (141-168).

II. Particular laws for the critic (201-559):

Digression on the need for humility (201-232).

A. Consider the work as a total unit (233-252).

B. Seek the author's aim (253-266).

C. Examples of false critics who mistake the part for the whole (267-383).

1. The pedant who forgets the end and judges by rules (267-288).

2. The critic who judges by imagery and metaphor alone (289-304).

3. The rhetorician who judges by the pomp and colour of the diction (305-336).

4. Critics who judge by versification only (337-343).

Pope's digression to exemplify "representative meter" (344-383).

D. Need for tolerance and for aloofness from extremes of fashion and personal mood (384-559).

1. The fashionable critic: the cults, as ends in themselves, of the foreign (398-405), the new (406-423), and the esoteric (424-451).

2. Personal subjectivity and its pitfalls (452-559).

III. The ideal character of the critic (560-744):

A. Qualities needed: integrity (562-565), modesty (566-571), tact (572-577), courage (578-583).

B. Their opposites (584-630).

C. Concluding eulogy of ancient critics as models (643-744).

The best captain i sailed under

This is in response to a Facebook community topic raised by someone. He wanted seafarers to describe the qualities of the best masters they had sailed under.

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What did you like about the best Master you sailed with? And flip the question around and tell us what you disliked in the worst? No names . Just adjectives!

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 Good master = high knowledge, which imbibes in him polite-ness. 
I want to make this clear because high knowledge may also translate into eruditism - show off of knowledge.
Good behavior and good virtues result out of intuition
developed through erudition and scholarship.  'cool as cucumber, rock
solid, never panicked' , all should result from a balanced growth of
knowledge and the experience. 

A relatively young person , around 31yrs age, on his second command was one best master , in year 2001. 

Oldies have good experience , outdated knowledge, youngster are
inexperienced. Oldies have advantage of talking out with various
authorities with lots of ease. When the mate is experienced enough, a
combination on board with a senior master, helps.
New ships, better conditions, better systems. Less works, empty minds, devils workshop! It is often in this type of climate that people begin to find time to get involved into each other. Senior ranks ofte develop a penchant, a psychiatric trouble truthfuly, to go after people, one or many. They never realise this but that is how it has been commonly felt. In these conditions erroneous philosophies breed. Wrong conversations, wrong dialogues, wrong rhetorics, wrong cultures sprout up, absorbed by wrong students and later pratices and promulgated as the practical or maybe the right knowledge. 
Therefore it is essential that the senior ranks should have a hobby to follow if the have to maintain their good state of mind, an eventually a good culture on board.

In summary, Management ranks should stay DETACHED- that is, not much involved into persons for shipboard works. This helps in balancing various emotional turbulence that nature of work brings about.  However, a personal connection with every crew on affairs which maybe not ship-work related, helps in motivating and keeping the morale high of crew members.
Detachment, in Bhagvad Geeta described as 'nirmoh', is an important quality. It can also be understood as objectivity in conduct and decision making.
Data is collected with objectivity, both sides heard, and then analysed with
empathy,that is, applying emotional understanding for all parties. Rare people can
exercise such conduct. 

My best master perhaps had this quality.

Open Reflection on Collective Thinking

The following extract taken from the Occupy Wall Street Movement Website:
http://takethesquare.net/2011/07/31/quick-guide-on-group-dynamics-in-peoples-assemblies/


Open Reflection on Collective Thinking
While we would like to share our impressions so far, we encourage you to continue to reflect on and debate these impressions as we feel that Collective Thinking is an essential part of our movement.
To our understanding, Collective Thinking is diametrically opposed to the kind of thinking propounded by the present system. This makes it difficult to assimilate and apply. Time is needed, as it involves a long process. When faced with a decision, the normal response of two people with differing opinions tends to be confrontational. They each defend their opinions with the aim of convincing their opponent, until their opinion has won or, at most, a compromise has been reached.
The aim of Collective Thinking, on the other hand, is to construct. That is to say, two people with differing ideas work together to build something new. The onus is therefore not on my idea or yours; rather it is the notion that two ideas together will produce something new, something that neither of us had envisaged beforehand. This focus requires of us that we actively listen, rather than merely be preoccupied with preparing our response.
Collective Thinking is born when we understand that all opinions, be these opinions our own or others’, need to be considered when generating consensus and that an idea, once it has been constructed indirectly, can transform us.
Do not be discouraged: we are learning; we’ll get there: all that’s needed is time.




But surely there is something happening out there.!
There is Anti-Corruption protest in India, there is Arab Springs,  There is Indignados in Spain and Italy, Jasmine in China,

I am...

I am basically a creative person. I often catch myself drawing odd


sketches on a piece of paper, or even a whiteboard. I keep good

interest in music, I like to hum and even sing; and yes, I do that in

full view of the public not in some dark cornor or only in a bathroom.

I am quite restless and often wake up in the middle of the night to

read something and to write something, much as this blog I am writing

right now. I compose as I think on something. I think, I like to think

on various topics not because they interest me, but because I am

restless. I make admission of that. I do not know what that might

amount to mean. I have brains working hard and in overdrive. I think

of arguments and the ways to resolve them. I think of their resolution

as I begin to polish my areas of logic in the grey matter. I think of

art and also of logics. I also write small computer programmes often

times at night. So , that's how my brain works. Logics, flowchart and

algorithms of an event circle my thoughts on almost every topic. I

think of history and that's what I love to read. history builds the

flowchart and algorithm of event we see today in its fragmented form.

I don't like to see in isolation. I like to think in Integration. I

evaluate and deliver verdicts. I like to compare. I reject things

being different from each other. I think philosophy connects them all.

I think there is brahma, a cosmic theory that connects all matters to

each other, a theory of everything. I like to read stephen hawkings. I

like to read daniel coleman. Like tom friedman, like bart kosko. I

read them all. I read Wikipedia and the encyclopedia and Encarta and

the brittanicas.

I don't like to live life in a specific cast. I carve out new shapes

and the new outcomes. I act to react. I act basically because I am

creative. I react because I don't appear to live in a cast. I am not

reactive , I am creative. People are reactive , who live in a specific

cast. Who give responses to a specific query of logic in a specific

way. I create, so new answer come out. But since they don't match the

responses of the predetermined cast, its me who appears to be

reacting. I am cool and peaceful. I have patience to teach and to

tolerate. People appreciate my teaching instincts and my skills. I

understand a learner's pain and dilemma and innovate ways to resolve

them. I like to help and spread the light of knowledge which I have

earned by my personal effort with hard work. I am a man. A man who

theorises everything he sees or believes, I am not dumb to just accept

what I am given to accept. I agree and I strongly disagree. I reject

and I also make amends.

I am a thinker . I am not a plain listener or an agreer. I am a

leader not a follower. I formulate results , just don't accept them. I

can dare to reject things right from it's origin thought. I arrive at

answer on my own and like to tally it with that of the world. I belong

to this world because my answers match those of other thinking men

around. I am not any ordinary man living life a with street smart

philosophy. I am a long time striker. I am not virtuous , I am logical

, who derives the logic of actions which people call the virtues. So I

appear to be virtuous. I have new unheard answers and explanations ,

and in plenty. I am not moral, but ethical. I see ethics as the

product of laws of nature. I live between plants and animals to know

the laws of nature. I know nature is cruel and that human emotions

defy cruelty and demand love. I know emotions are natural too and

humans and mammals have this unique gift. I know only mammals suckle

their young one and mothers do it out of love due to nature's call.

Fathers look after children out of nature's call . Emotions are gifts

to higher species of animal life. So I respect emotions . I carry them

in plenty and in variety.

I am sensitive, as I wake up early in the morning when temperatures

change, and then I like to take a stroll. I go back to sleep when

temperatures turn back in little warmer around noon. I sleep small and

frequent. I don't sleep hard and long. I am virtually always awake. I

don't get disturbed by sounds and discomfort. I can accept discomfort

for some durations. I sleep like a labourer , small, in-gaps work

sleep. I take a morning stroll almost everyday. I like to sit in

toilet and talk to mirrors. I am apparently an absentee and skiving

from work. But in my believes I work really hard and really honest. I

often expose the rights and wrongs in what people often just do up. I

think of my work and train myself on it. I am therefore explosive and

not easy to meet with. I am confined and don't like to disturb people.

But I am a nonsense to authorities because I often refuse to just live

it up. I settle and unsettle the authority of a person. Therefore they

like me and most of them dislike me, I am very very sensitive to issue

of personal freedom and therefore highly democratic . I demand and I

grant. I am Political. I am not among those who fear the consequences

of excessive freedom of untrained uncivilized human. I believe in

civilizations and know that it comes from training up people. But the

mass training doesn't happen by exercising control but by

demonstrating out how to do it. I know of methods for mass recruitment

and training. I don't select a few. I select all. And carve out the

rare wise ones who can lead further up by demonstrating. I touch the

heart as I touch their dilemma. I read their minds.

Am I a liberal democrat?

To the mentor of my Dharma

19th Dec, last year (y. 2010) He passed away due to cardiac arrest. He was a businessman, and politicio-- but for the world. to me he was the father of my old school time chum, who was my mentor too, someone who teach us but by showing the door to some subtle knowledge, to have the choice of walking along by our own enhanced options, through our own self-enquiries.
Someone who was more than my own father, someone the Guru of life. Someone who taught us Dharma-- someone who lifted us from the common man's domain of Morality-living, in to the domain of Ethical-living, where things are more cris-crossed and arguing. He was the Brahman of my life-- the one who introduced me the fact that understanding Brahma is most complex thing one can attempt -- and something which come only from one's constant Karma, no matter good or not-- the ethics.  Dharma churns out as one proceeds along the path of karma. Ethics become the source for general prudence in the journey of life.
How else would a person from my set-up rise up to think of doing what none of my fellows do or accept. A personal self-awkening was a spontaneous process which happened way back after senior secondary education. But it needed a mentor to find its direction. It needed someone to let balance between the arts and science. The self-awakening was triggered by constant presuring in the field of sciences and logics. An observational and tatse-ful view into Arts was starving. He showed the door to the new long path of appreciation of Arts. That Nirmoh- or Objectvism is the key point to follow both Logics and the Arts is hard to understand until one meets his mentor. For emotions are so much in us that they are the hardest to overcome. Truest justice with Arts and Reason cannot happen without an elaborate view from the Ethical standpoint. Ethics-- a peak which is far above the Morality peak which most human dont even strive to achieve. Ethics don't judge actions to be good or bad. For Ethics are the consequence of Action. Ethics look for Intentions. Intentions which are then the outcome of the greatest gift to humans - the emotions. The whole round journey from Emotion-less-ness (Nirmoh, or Objectivism) to back to Emotional self.
It is upto this point that highest of peaks can a person climb, while on surface, he is busy doing the mundane works of life.
He was the Brahman on which depended my beliefs.

Re-searching Varanasi in my voyage

Re-searching Varanasi in my voyage:
1) Microsoft Encarta described Varanasi as one of the oldest surviving cities on Earth today. Its history is claimed to be over 3000years old. Also, it was City, not a village or Just another human settlements. Jericoh , in Israel , is the oldest Village.
2) Lord Shiva, one of chief gods of Hindu mythology, is said to have chosen Varanasi for his final settlement after his marriage with Parvati.
In equivalent terms, the story sounded to me like - a software engineer chosing to settle in Noida, or Newyork after doing lots of on-sites in many parts of the world. We know on what all basis a man decides all this. More, when he has married a rich beautiful girl for his wife, who comes from, say Uttranchal. :-D. The best and finest cities possible. That was Varanasi for a choice in those times of Lord Shiva.
3) Varanasi flourished as centre for arts ( there are two schools of Kathak dance as per Indian beliefs, Benares and Jaipur), Spirituality ( centre for religion, many of the oldest scriptures are suppose to have been written here, Tulsidas's Ramayan being one most recent ones among many) . Chandrakant Santati by Deviki nandan Khatri has its plot revolving around the fort of Ramnagar,and Chunar. Kabir was from this city.
4) Varanasi was a centre for accomplishments in art related fields. Bismillah Khan- the shehnai player is from Varanasi.
5) it was the centre for researches into philosophical matters. Lord buddha gave his first sermon at Sarnath in Varanasi. Buddhism and its philosophy are today treated as the first truest contribution to the field of some practical philosophy by Hindu religion. Buddha taught about the Middle path, and how to live a peaceful happy life. His language was of the common people.
Before him, most of the philosophical contributions by Vedic religion were slowly turned into story of some mystical gods, like Ramayan and Mahabharata, which the traders on the famous Silk Route did not take much interest in. That might help understand how Buddhism became popular in China, Korea and Japan in comparison with Vedic Dharma. Vedas and Bhagwad Gita did not make as strong impact outside Indian land as did Buddhism. Although Buddha's teaching can be said to be influentially borrowed from Vedas only. Maybe language barrier was the cause.
6) Buddhism, later, some 2500 years later, is supposedly the influencing source for Christ's religion. In this sense Vedas can be said to be out-source point for many different religions.
7) Iran's original religion is supposedly a very close sister religion of the Vedic Dharma. A fact, which brings the archeologists to claim that Aryans migrated in two groups- one settled in iran and the other in northern India.
8) Philosophy continued to be the 'main thought' of dwellers of Ganges Basin. Perhaps so much so that the Maharashtrians today say that Biharis and Bhaiya have a tremendous 'Convincing Power'. Nevertheless, the shastrarth, a formal debate on Vedic knowledge and interpretations, became a forte of Varanasi dwellers. An annual round of debate is suppose to happen , organised by Maharaja Benares, between the six groups of Brahmins. Since the Maithali Brahmins have won it maximum number of times, they are suppose to be most intelligents of all sects of Brahmins ( refer Wikipedia search on topic Brahmins).
9) Benares generally host the Pandey, Mishra ,vajpayee, Dubey, Pathaks, Tripathi, Shukla , Dwivedi , Chaturvedi clubs of Brahmins. A Brahmin, by Vedic technicality is NOT a caste, but a concept which helps one know the consequences of action (Karma) later in time. In equivalent terms, it is the combined form of Rule 2 (responsibility) and Rule 6(safe speed) along with general Prudence , of the Colregs 1972. the british and the muslim invaders mis-interpreted Brahmanism, giving Brahmins also as a caste-form. Otherwise, it is but a philosophical research. Researcher from any caste would become a Brahmin ones his research was over. That also explains the reasons for these surnames among the Brahmins which is actually the Upadhi ( a status title) earned by them. Shastri is one more such title. Benares was one centre for these jobs.
A pandit , or a temple priest is different from a Brahmin, although essentially seen as one and same, by way of inter-marriages. Thus many other clubs, such as Vajpayee, Pandey, Shukla are only priest, taken as Brahmin, for knowledge on how to conduct a prayer ceremony.
10) Philosophy later attached with the Benares Hindu University became very popular study in the city. Dr S Radhakrishnan, the first Vice President, himself a 'Doctor of Philosophy in Philsosophy' was the vice chancellor of BHU from where he took over as the vice-president. His birthday is marked as Teachers Day in India.
11) B.K Matilal, another product from BHU, is the most read authors of study books on Indian Philosophy. His Nayay thesis( justice, -method of proving an argument) is supposedly the closest resemblance work of Indian Philosophy to the Aristotlean theories on the same topic. He is known for many other achievements.
12) Benares has got three different universities: BHU, sanskrit vidyapeeth, and one more( refer Wikipedia).
13) Pan chewing (beetle leaves) is a typical cultural habit of Varanasi dwellers. In this intense atmosphere of spiritual Philsosophy and debates, I can notice thyroid related problem to be immense. These problems are mostly of origin from emotional stresses one undergoes in this kind of atmosphere. Pan leaves with Chuna (lime) and tobacco maybe one of the locally found neutralizer for the bile juices produced from liver in higher stress conditions. Thyroid is the chief triggering hormones for such work. Thyroid in itself is impacted by Pitutatry Gland, which is master gland located in the brain. Ones thinking-center is located there too. Thus emotional stress show up as body disorders.
thyroid - hypo or hyper, shows up as losing hair, bulgy eyes, crumbled legs, weak bones, low energy level, high climate temperature intolerance, kidney or liver problem, calcium imbalances in bones, etc.
I noticed these problems in many life forms , including humans, cows, dogs.
Sports and Athletics maybe the most distant choice for Varanasi dwellers. Politics is naturally the closest.

I am dweller upon the banks of river Ganga

Back to the city of varanasi. After a long sojourn. after a journey through the oceans of this world. How does it feel ? Being back to your roots. Being back to ur religion. Being back to ur ancestors. Being back to your ownself. I have come around. Quite literally. But only literally . Not psychologically. There, one only advances up. Only a little more closer than before, I am. To what? Read the first few lines to learn that. Then what took me so far from them. ? The job , or the time-space continuum, or the History which is but a huge volume of time.
This same river, river ganga, this same heat, these summer seasons, these same lanes, the narrow cow dung laden smelly dirty ones, - they seem to become dear to me. I wonder why and how. I feel so peaceful. I try to reason out why. As I write this blog, I attempt to put my account of explorations yet again for my friends and my generation to read. To think, and to know, and to tell me,- how did we as a member of one religion, member of same native lost away our true self in our yearn to know more, and become more determined when it was the confusion which is actually supreme. Confusion, which some entropist also call as the chaos. The chaos of this universe even when the factor of time works on it momentarily to give it it's Dharma, the Ethics. A knowledge which we call the Brahma. and yet we get confused , literally to resolve out the effect of time on the changing nature of Dharma, ending up creating our own chaos in this already chaotic universe. The formula for finding peace and happiness for the human live that we mortals souls are living today is to not add more man-made chaos to this already chaotic universe. To know the dharma and to live by it.
This theme takes me to one sunk in oblivion conversation with my ship's agent in the port of skikda, algeria , last year. It was on 17 july 2010, I recall. We were talking about the religions , Hinduism and Islam. He wanted to know from me as to what my religion is about , what are my ethos, what are my beliefs, what does my religion teach me. He was surely well-read about my religion , as I was about him. He saw the gold ring in my finger and told me that honest muslim men never wear gold on their bodies, only women do.
I thought for a while. So much of arguments and so much of reading that I kept abreast with on Orkut came on my mind. it all downpoured heavily. Rained cats and dogs. I controlled myself.
Then, I said , my religion is all about endorsing 'confusion' as the supreme law of the universe. He looked baffled, ... I was also. I continued, we are the oldest religion on the planet. So much that either we are not a religion, or else we are its only religion while others are sects. We began with the beginning of humans on this planet. I come from varanasi, the holy seat of this religion. Microsoft Encarta says that Varanasi is one of the oldest surviving city on this planet. It is over 3000 years old. It was what Mumbai is today. Commerce is the business today. Spirituality was business then. It happend from there. Ram, shanker, swaminarayan- they all came from the ganges valley.
We have our believes. but so do we have the opposites also in our fold of believes. U may believe Ram, so may u believe in Ravana. U may believe in Shanker , but so u may do in Vishnu. We are polytheist. U always remain a hindu. Some orkut friends say that only ur respect for Vedas defines that one is a hindu or not.the religion turely is the vedic dharma, while there are no universal rules, no universal good and evil, the local beliefs are allowed to happen. That adds to it's confusion, or say that, that pushes further wide its boundaries of encompassing. U can perhaps do anything u feel like, as a true vedic believer.
He asked me, then, that how do hindus find their peace of mind then? How do they know what's right and what 's wrong? It is too much complicated to practice hinduism as ur guiding thought of mind.
His cross examination for once really got me adopt his believes. So did I do, from inside, to atleast admit that it is so much non-sense and complicated for ordinary humans to live with immense self-contradictions, and yet call some of them a hypocrisy and others as valid ones. Isn't it like that? U call some things as Dharma and yet u allow the opposites to happen by some indistinct remote application of some weird philosophy and call that dharma too. And yet you apply again some philosophy to call somethings Adharma.
Anybody will question- What are you, mister? What are your beliefs ? Do u say that only what u say is correct and the others are incorrect? What I say is incorrect? Is that what is ur religion? Boo to it , and boo to u.


Hinduism is also about being close to nature, I thought. And doesn't the nature encompass the mutually contradicting laws? U want to live , but death is inevitable. U want to love, but it fades away, u want to live peacefully, but there is always struggle. Some creatures can live only on land, some only on water and some on both. Some only in air. Nature always held exceptions to prove its rule. Infact the rule of death also seems to be violated in case of sharks and viruses.
Islam and other Abrahamic faiths are so easy, so less confusing, he suggested to me. In these relatively newer faiths , U know clearly what to do and what not to do. U have ur set of practices.
In my religion, there is only Dharma which in itself is so complicated to understand. One man's dharma can be other man's Adharma. Only knowledge and experience gained from your constant Karma, can teach u what are dharma. It is so complicated.
I sat down to think, is it my confusion again, or my religion the epithet for confusion; but which allows me to endorse change , the law which is an anti-thesis of peace and tranquility. or is it the steadfastness of Islam, it's simplicity which has been attempted to weed out all confusions which makes it , although a fundamentalist in one sort, but also a religion of peace in the other.
I felt confused. That was my religion. I am a vedic dharma practitioner. I am ever-assimilating, ever-flowing. I reason, I argue. It is through my flow (that one wave crushes against another wave or the river banks, and thus) I find my dharma, the method to get rid of the muck which I take in with everything that comes to me. I am a dweller on the banks of river Ganga.

passing thought

I was watching this ad on TV, "Atithi devo bhav". What occured to my mind was how the public would be reacting to such moral science ads or talks .
"Atithi ke liye hi sab khulla rakha hai jaise".
" Jaise sirf ussi se humari dukaan chal rahi hai".
"aur woh jo humme do sau saal loot kar gaye hai, mehmaan bann kar aaye them uska kuch nahin".

what not would public think.

Often such moral science teaching produce a negative reaction and lead more in the negativity than how much existed before. We tend to respond negative to positive thoughts.
Intimacy is something, about which although there exist a public knowledge but it still requires some privacy. One can imagin what example i would count in that. (i.e, everyone knows what one does his/her spouse; that's Intimacy. What all one actually does with the doors locked, as in toilet or bedroom is Privacy; and what one hides from others for some kinds of gains or advanctage is Secrecy).
Secrecy is something which is not known to the public, athough it may or may-not be necessary to be a public knowledge.
'Atithi devo bhav' was more of an 'Intimate' public knowledge until some untowards happened. Breach of intimacy through making of this Ad may be leading to negative reactions from the public, perhaps.

Niceties and Nuances

Niceties and Nuances

Ever wondered how the linguistics has a got a relation with a person's growth and development.
Even as i use many a similiar meaning words in the sentance above and as a title for my blog, I think to myself if the subtle difference in their meanings can bring all that difference in the world around myself.
Well, it does.
I recall that tuition class of Mr Ashok Gupta, my maths teacher during the IIT preparatory years, who once wrote down some equation and while elaborating on it's meaning, went on to say the Pride and Confidence have a very fine difference:- that of Hardwork.
What this recall did tell me was that , for both, Pride and for Confidence, there is just one word in Hindi language:- Garv. 'Ghamand' is a latter day corruption of the concept, which, still, fails to explain us, the students, how one is different from another.
Look at the list below and let's see if we know how to differ between the two:-

1. Morality, Ethics and Religion:- Hindi language keeps mostly one word to talk of all three: 'Dharma'
2. Pride, Confidence and Overconfidence:- Garv , in hindi
3. Faith, Belief and Confidence:- Vishwas, in Hindi
4. Growth and Development:- Vikas , in hindi
5. Niceties and Nuances :- Bareeki, in hindi/ Urdu
6. Safety and Security:- Surakhsha , in Hindi
7. Rules and Regulations :- Niyam , in hindi. Often used with Kanoon too, which is Urdu perhaps but definitely not Hindi. In any case, can any one differ out the two??
8. Concept and Understanding:- Samajh, in Hindi/Urdu
9. Brain and Mind:- Buddhi , in Hindi
10. Intimacy and Secrecy : Gaupniya, in Hindi

There are many more. Add to the list if someone remembers something like it.

Model of business around transportation by sea

Business and laws


Business model of Sea Transport



When I look at the above diagram, I tend to wonder how small is the position of every person in the whole circle of business.
The bold yellow highlighter indicates us, the sea farers, and our ship. the red denotes the Cargo, whole purpose of a merchant ship and seafarer's existence.
The Bold Green reversible arrow line indicates 'Trade'.
What's trade? I wonder in a real philosophical sense. The very meaning of existence of human beings. The crunch of our society and all our relations.
Oh ho ho. It's only trade-by-sea that serves the seafarer's purpose, but that doesn't mean that 'only' that all is Trade. Trade in its more diverse forms is everywhere. That is why I say, Trade is in all human exchanges..
And then , as the great Kautilya puts it, in Arthshastra, "There can be no human relation without self-interest." It's trade.
And then look at all those laws that apply to that small entity of this big cris-cross world, the contractual laws, and all that in the list, lower down.
How will that common man, as a sea-farer, live all those laws?? So much of it.
Dharma becomes his only shelter to live life with peace.To live awakened, knowledge-gaining, quiet, and recluse. ...Never know what law may slay him down when.
So much powerless and so much beseiged by compilations of law, we are, we all.
Some of them for our safety only, but still crushing us down with their weight for their good application. That's the irony.
And then I think of Arjun in the battlefield. Dharma and bhagvad make more sense now than before.
To deliver the idealism of Ram in this huge, complex world of business is what is the pragmatism of Krishna, the lesson of Dharma.

why sea stabilisation for collision avoidance

radar beam1

Now some adevrtisement time.!

Digeus Registry Cleaner Application

So, time to try somethings new in life.
this website.
and the new AdSense gadget...


The above link is for an application which offers easy-to-use optimization tools to speed up and improve the stability of your Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP PC.
It includes essential tools to fix Windows security loopholes. Permanently erase your Internet activity, personal files, and free space to keep your information away from prying eyes.

Have fun, friends,
And Happy new year.

A ten-years night in the museum

Hail ho! i have woken up. At least that’s what i feel about it today. Where was i? What was i doing? Where have i come from? What do i want? What is it that is destined for me? I guess i have started to get some little idea. The deep sleep has given me enough dreams to see and feel what not many people in my surrounding have known never in their life. Yes they all know it exist. But not so personal and as real as i have.
The social and economic history of india has paraded before my eyes. The cultural errors of our nation opened up so blatant. I have rebelled against everything, but with a smile on my face, and sometimes tears in my heart. I have been hailed, applauded, scathed all at the same time by different sets of people. I have been judged, argued, praised, humiliated – everything by many different people. I have survived this all because there remains only one thing that hold me to the place where i am..my belief in myself, and that i know myself, my knowledge, my intimate awareness of something so much otherwise known, my potentials, my past records.
I have done this, and i know i will do this again. To fight and to win this. the system, which is so much natural to human kind for its existence, then to feel the shortcomings and defects of it, and then to re-invent it for the contemporary times. It’s not about blaming it anymore. It’s about re inventing it this time. But think..where will the blame go.?? To the one who will strive to re invent it. Isn’t ?
Never mind, take the poison cauldron , but make life better for the future generation to live. Sacrifice is a demand of nature to see the change happen to your needs.
SCI has ships too old and outdated that i never knew where will i arrive after so many years of service with them. And then when i switch over (to foreign companies), i feel as though it is a new life, and seafaring is just come to me, like for a cadet!
But even here i have not yet got my peace of mind that i have been actually searching for—the perfect system towards which the policy-makers point us to , somewhere too distant and too hazy to even feel. i have to give myself time to feel whether it exist or not. The feed backs don’t support it ‘s existence. People actually are a cause for their own misery. They cannot be trusted as much. They live by opportunity principle. They live for themselves. Cannot blame them or criticise them. All i can do and demand is -- not to get a blame on myself, for whatever disturbances i have created or will be creating in the system, to reinvent it. Someday someone had to do this for the change. Perchance its me today. Fate has brought me to do it. Can’t help, if that be the destiny of things.
The period of rest- as a legislative need for STCW compliance, and the Economics study into labour consumption is not much in the theme as yet. Honest and truthful data will be required. But one will cross the other, to upset the veracity of the data. Many seafarers will not want their salaries to be lowered to support the increased total crew on board so that the period-of-rest requirements could be met to letter and spirit.
Human intervention will have to be bypassed for an accurate data collection, therefore.
The inter-personal relationship will have to be re defined . is it master who is all responsible.?/
Then how will he ensure a truthful representation of period of rest versus compliance with STCW period of rest- versus vessel’s other commercial necessities.
It going to be tough, unless the authorities make intervention to bypass the human involvement in collection of this data.
The name of the ships are after the PVC winners of our country. Who gave these ships these names?! Then, the machinery and equipment at some places are extremely flabbergasting and sometimes most nonsensical to be there at all. For example, the 10 pumps we had in our pump room, --feels like a luxury, were actually a result of short thinking by the company managers of those days. Seems like they went by ‘reputation and image building’ , pompous acts to have selected such a design. There were 4 eductors as well. Then, 3 ladder on each side , port and starboard, --ever heard or seen such a luxury. The four life boats! All such flabbergasted. Who the hell thought to buy them for business or for showmanship , or to make money for himself through some underhand commission?! History holds that during the purchase of these vessels, the then naval chief was also an ex-officio head of SCI, which is why these names and such unusual designs. And there is not just one such species..there are fourteen of them, and made by none other than Hyundai!

On cigarette smoking and drinking

Reference the link below:
http://sjmayank.blogspot.com/2009/12/shameless-smokers.html

By Mayank dealing with ciggarette smoking and drinking - ethical approach on doing it in a given place, with given group of people, et al



"Be a rebel". I will begin my comment with this famous line in one famous song from 'rang de basanti'.
I am a smoker and a drinker too. But Ii come from same cultural set-up as yours-- Lucknow and Varanasi combination, and know that we are discouraged to try them ever. i was and I am as sincere in my thoughts as your surely are(or maybe little less than you) but sometime i decided to practice one old moral science lesson : don't criticize the apples from China before you have tasted them.
Now being of a scientific thinking background, Mayank, tell me:
a) what is so good in smoking and drinking that makes it a habit-forming?
b) How much of book-read knowledge you have on these habits? Delirium? Deliquescent?
c) Legal aspects on public smoking? Ethical approach on what can be imposed on person which he choices not to -- like the choice of a non-smoker of not smoking in a given place, to be imposed on a smoker person?
d) What's smoking in essence and how deeply it is known to cause troubles? and how serious?
e) and how many other such causes are known and what has been done about them?!?

To give my answers:
a)Dopamine effect (a psychological phenomenon) is triggered. tell your ignorant friends that this psychological need is as good as craving to have water, or food, or sex, when thirsty, hungry or horny. Mechanical Engg boys, u all, have short visions on all other subjects, and with that mind do you dream to do good to your country?! Wake up and keep all round knowledge. (sorry for being little harsh._)

b)Mild smoking and drinking do NOT make you habitual. I consume these in good count, but as i write these the last cigarette i smoked was on 28th Feb and the last drink i had was in first week of Feb'10 !! Delirium is mild happiness, one stage of drinking, Alcoholism is one stage which most you ignorant people identify drinking habit with, in which the person becomes violent or so compulsive that he beats up his wife and leaves his small children hungry to buy himself alcohol.
Mild drinking is known to be good to health and esp heart. There is hardly any ban on drinking in any developed, wisdom-filled society. Read more books and matter to be a good person and a judge/decision-maker later in ur professional life.

c)In Europe, smoking is banned in all public places and people actually follow it, although it doesn’t mean that smoking is discouraged over there.! they all still smoke , perhaps same as before, albeit on open roads. And those same smokers will deny you smoking permission when u would do them in public place! Are you getting the ethics of what can be imposed on a person which is distinctly a matter of personal choice, not strictly resolved by law.?! Mayank, this is very important philosophy which will lead you to Objectivism, aka Nirmoh (in Bhagvad Geeta) and make you a good decision-maker for the corporate.

d)Smoking is a personal pleasure or maybe a need. U cannot deny this to a person who needs it. It is statistically known to cause cancer, but so do the smoke from your bike or your car ! And many smokers are still known to live for over 100 years, or suitably long enough by some self-chosen, or statistically obtained average age!

e) We are acting too strict against smoking or drinking due to temperance or religion-driven zeal, very likely. Think.
In Europe all chemical substances are being discouraged from personal use as they are known to be the real cause for body trouble. So people are switching over from cigarettes to Biddis ( !!!) as biddis are chemical-free and naturals ! nice, na.?

Have fun and enjoy. :-)

daily log

17th Aug
Met my old , high school teacher, Mrs Sharma, today at Universal Book Shop , Gomti Nagar. [:)]

Have a secret in your life.~~!

Have a secret in life.

Keeping a secret teaches one to practice some self control. Then it teaches about how to keep trust and intimacy with someone you share your secret with.
Have a secret.
;-)

:-)

The merchant navy academics--- an import-export of management lessons.

The merchant navy academics--- an import-export of administrative-management lessons.

Transfer of newly researched knowledge on various aspects of managements, like administrative decision-making which effectively conform to the principles of democracy, the methods of achieving transparency in governance by way of making the reports reach to public, methods and specific places of implementing measures to achieve human safety, the methods of effecting controls, particularly regarding those for security in the heightened terrorism environment, severely balancing it with the freedom of movement to people and the flow of trade- these are some very absorbing topics we come across when undergoing academics for merchant naval courses.
Ever pondered as an untrained member of public about how would you carry out investigations into any accidents happening around yourself!? Never mind. If not about the criminal investigation into murder cases which require forensic work and the police, we are still given lessons on investigations of administrative nature into those involving merchant ships. It is really good to know that whatever may be the political system of the member countries of the United Nations, the UN itself works on the principles of democracy. And which it had to for the obvious reasons of fulfilling the objectives of all member states.
And still more interesting is to know that the democratic functioning and public attitudes at that highest level of congregation of world governments is not much different from what we see here in India- Indian parliament and state assemblies! Just that no hand fights have picked up in General Assembly of the UN. But the UN think-tanks do take into account the ‘practical’ or ‘the other’ conditions which the member states would be considering for ratifying or rejecting any legislation passed by it. Hence, smart enough, they designed the method of Tacit Acceptance, for ratification of laws in which the law is deemed to have been passed after the specified time period, unless the member states do not submit, in writing, exactly how and why would they object to its passing, within that stipulated period.! Smart , na.
Then, the think-tanks, being democratic, also understood the technical and intellectual contrast of the member states which might come in way of passing a law. Hence, they re-defined the concept of ‘majority’ for passing of each bill. In general, in our shipping field, the majority is usually considered as ‘specified number of member states, having a specified percentage of total world’s fleet’. Therefore, the democracy in the UN simply does not rest on the first-by-post, ( the majority of numbers concept) - something much different from our Indian philosophy. We have largely depended on the weight of numbers, not giving much importance to how much weight-age the number-makers should individually get.
Then, the laws formation generally begins from the birth stage called as the ‘Conventions’ , which literally translates as-- a belief. Thus, everything begins with the belief of human beings in-principle in something. The Convention specifically writes down that the assembly( of the UN or IMO) ( to answer to the question of who all member states), recalling (to the question of why of the rising of belief among the member states), considering ( to the question of what are the fundamental beliefs of the member states), having considered (to the question of any specific incident or any practical scenario causing it) , agree ,( proceed on to mention the broad term approach of doing what all to rectify the problem).
Conventions and resolutions are further composed of various morality and ethics (the M&E) principles, called the Articles, to be adhered to in achieving the objectives.
The further specific problems arising in achieving the ends of a Convention are resolved through forming a Resolution about it. The technical and technological work essential to achieving is organized by the expert committees.
Therefore we have things like the IMO’s “International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from ships, 1973”
With lots of resolutions taking place under it. And the two expert committees called the Marine Environment Protection committee (the MEPC) and the Maritime Safety Committee (the MSC). The law enacted through this convention came to be known as the MARPOL 73/78 (acronym for Marine Pollution). In books, the compilation of Regulations is presented as an Annex to the Convention and special factions of the Regulations are put as a Code. The amendments to any convention are carried out through a different protocol, known as the protocol, and having different criteria for the majority-clearing. The protocols and conventions can have Amendments only by way of Explicit Acceptance,(method opposite to Tacit Acceptance). The expert committee works are relatively easier for acceptance or rejection by the member states, through the Tacit Acceptance procedure.
The broadest umbrella convention that gives cover/the impetus to all works in the maritime affairs is known as the International Convention for Safety of Life at sea, popularly known as the SOLAS convention, which brought about a legislation of the same name.
The MARPOL convention has virtually trained guns on all thinkable sources of pollution , anywhere -on land or at sea. However, it is meant to be applied on ships and sea-related incidents only. Therefore, crude oil (from cargo and bunkers of ships), air (from the funnels of ships), ballast (from the ballast water), anti-fouling (from the paint work on the walls of ships), vibration (from the infrasonic vibrations produced by propellers of merchant ships, bad for the endangered marine species), noise ( from noise produced by ships machinery), noxious liquid ( noxious cargo of ships).-- everything is covered.
These laws specifically zoom down on methods of achieving the control- which begins at the design criteria of the ship, specifically mentioning, in intriguing details, the kinds of designs permitted, the quality, the measurements, of each design, specifically for the construction of ships. Very surprising is to feel that, despite being so specific, these details still make endeavors not to chain down human creativity so long as the purpose is met. Therefore, in theory, the novel designs of at least the same standards are allowed to take shape of reality after special considerations. These details are all are given by the expert committees, the members (engineers, architects, research scientists, etc) of which are surely coming from high placed technical universities the world over, and as a matter of fact mostly in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan. (developing nations have lesser know-how on the technological work, don’t we?)
The IMO is well aware that the purposes cannot be met unless the member states are really inclined towards that. Hence, we have things like the Port State Control, in which the host country for any trading merchant vessel has the right to carry out inspections of the ships for the compliance of rules, although the prime responsibility of which rest with the flag state of the ship. Imagine what happens when an Indian Ship visit’s the US?! Guessed right, if you are not a jingoist and if you are honest and truthful to yourself, our ships conditions have graduated to the grey list from black-list of the US port state, the ‘port state’ over there being constituted of the US Coast Guard. !!.
The IMO is also aware that such inspections may also become tool for a prejudicial actions towards other countries- say on the basis of colour, religion, mutual hostilities. And inferior ships may put claims of such discriminations to save themselves when caught by any other nation. So the IMO has taken measures; -- guesses? It allows port-states to do more rigorous inspections on ships, which have been found to be sub-standard despite all such claims of discriminations, and the IMO specifically lays down conditions and procedures as to how a ship can be held-back (‘arrested’) -- keeping a fine balance between the business profitability of ship and it’s due compliance with the safety and environment laws. The prejudicial actions have been striven to be resolved by laying more objective and comprehensive conditions of detention of ships.
Return home. As these methods of working of the UN are spanning wings, the Indian participants-- the Indian Foreign Services delegates, the IAS representatives, the shipping professionals, the civil-aviation professionals, and many more of us are taking lessons to implement them back at home too for achieving the domestic social targets. Many amendments and changes in the our civil governance, the change in approach and outlook of our high ranking bureaucrats, I can sense, has undertones of interactions with such international legislations.
In our Ship Master’s course, we read about the Merchant shipping Act (the MSA)(1958, India Government) as the principle topics for management of ships, and understanding the affairs of the government offices or any governments of any country in the world towards the merchant ships, taking our very India’s policy work as the example. Most other democratic government will have more or less the same approach. The policies in regard to disciplinary measures, official log-book, reporting to authorities of flag state, appointments of authorities like the surveyors, receivers of wreck, salvaging operations at sea, employment of sea-farers, etc are more or less same as prescribed by our MSA. Now obviously because, our product is actually a work of the original the English Common Law, and then later ‘inspired’/affected/amended/homogenized-by various International Conventions, which affect likewise to all member states of the UN.
The mercantile laws which govern the carriage of cargo, keeping the balance between the responsibilities and liabilities of both, the shipper and the carrier, are also formulated by International bodies, like the BIMCO, the UNCTAD (the UN Conference on trade and development), etc. The Hague-Visby rules, the York-Antwerp rules, etc can thus be seen as the source of inspiration of our domestic legislations also, in regard to consumer protection.
I can feel the deep chasm between our domestic legal approach with and without these international rules. It seems that the ruling of the judicial courts also is taking influences as the expert advisors of the courts are getting more and more trained in these regulations. The changes, without the global experience, would be sluggish to come about. In bigger words, I feel that our people were, and still, lacking in the management lessons to achieve the same social welfare agenda which we all have otherwise resolved to achieve. The occasional fumbling of our local legislatures, state and central, in the law-making or its execution, keeps reminding me what we originally were as the best intellects of Indian society with the global experience. The various draconian Panchayati decrees gives back to us nothing but our own ground Intellectualism without the exposure of the world class.
Guess what the Hague-Visby Rules say about how to interpret a legislation.? The numbered-rules are to be given preference over the lettered-rules! What does it mean? Actually, the HV Rules regarding the duties and liabilities of shipper and the carrier, are composed of the Institute Clauses formed by the Lloyds of London. Institute clause have three parts-- clause-paramount, letter-rules and numbered-rules. Numbered-rules are but a simplified interpretations of the lettered- rules. So, the rules of Hague-Visby say that the executives need not do the hard work of interpreting the rules again and therefore they should blindly follow numbered-ruled preferentially over the lettered-rules.
Now, try thinking how would you interpret the MSA.? The guidelines obtained through various court verdicts and proper studies on this matter also give same approach as the Hague-Visby rules! Funny, na? But, the literal translation of the legislation is to be preferred over the attempts of trying to judge the intentions of the legislatures when he was formulating the law. Thus, the debates in the parliaments during the making of law should not be considered in interpreting the laws! And it’s good because the courts agree that various ‘other’ considerations are taken by the legislatures to vote for or against the making of a law! It’s practically the same everywhere in the world.
Besides these, the mercantile procedures, Safety conscientiousness is another place where the interfacing with global mandates has upped our outlook. Shipping had an IMO mandated requirement for the GPS position fixing from year1992 itself. the deployment of fire extinguishers, provisions of emergency escape in a mobile unit, the entire disaster management thoughts are much later pullulates from such shipping and civil aviation regulations only.
come to think of the Mumbai attacks, it reminds me that many more such attacks could be thwarted only because of international regulations like ISPS, which are striving to involve professionals like mariners to take charge of their respective fields. Thousands of container cargoes would become more difficult for rummaging by the customs, without our participation. Our global transience brings to us an awakening to security lessons of high standards.
Salvage, wreck handling, marine insurance, global logistics, supply chain of oil and gasoline, chartering and brokering of ship, stowaways, customs, immigration, are few topics we have some mild strokes of. Medical aid, seeking port of refuge, handling phenomena of weather on vast oceans-ice, storms, fog, horologic, is what we deal in regularly.
The principles on documenting and record-keeping learnt and practiced by us through the ISM code tell about the current out reach and severity in it. Compared against the cases like Nithari case and many more, the lapses involved like the elusive FIR by police expose the time lag between what we have already gained and what India has yet to achieve at the mass level.

Stresses make their way

Stresses make their way
For past some days I have been trying to recapitulate how Stresses ride in and on a modern man. There is one thing I am beginning to get sure of: that stresses are communicable problem. A stressed up man in proximity is potent vector to bring about stresses in every one around; he can stress up the whole contiguous environment.
Stresses have become so much a part of our life that perhaps we have stopped seeing many of its harmful forms as a problem itself. Like, the examination stress. Students these days are thin, lean people. Do we ever think how the food intake for a normal healthy growth gets reduced in them?

Many lives that we live
Then, more importantly, I can see this dual or multiple lives phenomenon getting large with many of us. I myself feel a different man when working as an officer on ship, a different man when in my friends group, and a different man-- better say a child-- when fighting with my parents; and yet a different man when going to my pertinent offices.
And I live all these lives quite successfully for a considerably long time, not letting one life know about the other lives. That’s become so common with many people around us. The modern man’s life has got too much demanding on him that an evolution has come about to yield all the types from one single soul. Our physical appearances, our voices, our dressing sense, our demeanor changes as a whole while we are hopping from one life to other.
In this movie, ‘The Invasion’ (starring Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman), I noted one talk from Kidman, her character being that of a psychologist, that we the modern human beings shall in another 2~3 hundred not be the same species that have been in the past 5000 years. Our psychology, our outlook, our life style is changing so fast. Our immense thirst and search for knowledge in some 50-6 years has begun to lead us towards some major evolutionary change. The physique is beginning to change, in first place. Our extremes are polarizing more frequently than before. For example, the physical fitness of those related with sports and so is turning to be much better than those in the brain-jobs. The Air-con workers are becoming more fragile, sensitive, but even more brainier than field workers.
Cant guess what I will be emotionally like many years hence, when I turn back to read this blog of mine.