Currently reading Stephen Pinker’s book The Better Angels of our Nature : Why Violence has declined, recommended by Nitin Pai of Takshashila, who suggested we needed a Leviathan to unify India. I had issues with the Leviathan, simply because it was written at a different point of time, where power was concentrated in fewer hands. You didn’t have universal franchise, decisions were made by land owners, the poor had no say nor did women – it was a deeply unequal time. At which point Nitin pointed me to this book.I have been enjoying reading it)
Thomas Hobbes in the Leviathan,quoted in the book. And for some reason with all this furore over money & honour, this quote seemed kind of apt.
So that in the nature of man, we find three principal causes of quarrel. First, competition; secondly, diffidence; thirdly, glory. The first maketh men invade for gain; the second, for safety; and the third, for reputation. The first use violence, to make themselves masters of other men’s persons, wives, children, and cattle; the second, to defend them; the third, for trifles, as a word, a smile, a different opinion, and any other sign of undervalue, either direct in their persons or by reflection in their kindred, their friends, their nation, their profession, or their name.
Also worth hearing him speak at TED
Two Accidents in a Day
Yesterday was not a good day, though it began well enough – and ended fairly ok. The inbetween was kind of eventful. And i have reached a stage (or is that age) in life where unforseen events aren’t really appreciated. This post is more so that I can read it a year from now and laugh.
8 a.m. I went into college – did a fairly good two hour lecture on advertising. yesterday’s topic was the role of celebrities in advertising, why are they used and to what effect.
9.40 a.m. – had a 10 minute meeting with the HoD on deadlines
9.50 am – got intot the car with Rani, and santosh drove us back home. The plan was to reach home, cook, and then leave for the Sahara office where we had six people waiting to be interviewed.
10:30 am reached home. As Santosh was turning into the building, An esteem coming from the other side suddenly speeded up and hit the car on the side that I was sitting. The left doors, front and back took most of the impact. My left shoulder and side took the remaining impact. Rani was terrified. She got out of the car and scrambled back home.
11:00 am – after spending the previous half an hour getting the insurance papers of the other car, finishing some household chores, i left for the Sahara office in Goregaon.
11:10 – as santosh was driving on the highway a Maruti 800 – 2 vehicles ahead of us – stalled. The rickshaw in front slammed into the 800. Santosh breaked and missed the rick by a couple of inches. But, we weren’t so lucky. The Esteem behind us slammed into us. the bumper and my back took the impact.
12:00 reached Sahara. Sat through the interviews. Most of the candidates were extremely good.
3:00 p.m. finished with the interviews.
3.30 p.m. Boney Kapoor – husband of actress Sridevi and producer – walked into the office for a discussion with KS. Great fun sitting in on that meeting. learnt a lot about negotiating. Watching two masters of the game dance the negotiating dance.
6.30 – work began
8.00 p.m. packed up
9 p.m reached home and crashed (oops:))
Today was a less eventful day. For that I am grateful.
High Noon
Saw High Noon again after almost 15 years. Boy, what a film.
The story is simple. On the day of his marriage and his retirement from being Marshall of a dusty old town – Will Kane (Gary Cooper) realises that 4 men that he sent to jail (to be hanged) are free, and want his head on a platter.
He and his Quaker wife Amy (Grace Kelly) are on they way out to a nice settled life – when he decides to turn back to confront the bad guys. He goes into the town for help but realises that he is all alone. Everyone who knows him tells him that he should run awy. But he stays on to do “what a man is supposed to do”.
The film is almost real time. The movie begins at 10.35 in the morning – with the marriage of Will and Amy. It ends a few minutes past noon (High Noon) – with the final gun battle. (producers of 24 please note – no gimmickery here – just old fashioned story telling)
The most interesting thing about the film happened off screen. This was a time when any one remotely left leaning was persecuted & prosecuted. For this was the height of the y the McCarthy era. The writer of this film, Carl Foreman, went into exile rather than betray his freinds to the McCarthy commission – the infamous HUAC.
Another interesting titbit about this movie – is that successive US presidents have rated it as their favourite film. Drawing inspiration from it – when they go out to do “what a man has gotta do”. Maybe Carl Foremen and his like see the irony in it
Holding Down Three Jobs ….
….is not as difficult as I thought it would be. I am managing a more than decent level of output on all three. Infact, I think that I have not just become more effecient and effective in terms of managing my time, but also better planned and prepared for all 3 areas of work. . It has taken me all of one week to get used to the change in pace. My lectures have been more than decent, managed to crack the client’s strategic planning chart, and of course with a lot of thinking going into Cogito.
So, three months from now when I have just two things to do – teach and figure out Cogito’s growth path – and crib about having no time, I hope I come back and check this particular entry. I have finally realised that I have as much or as little time that I want. I wish I had learnt this lesson 5 years ago.
But, by the time i get back home, I have very little energy left. I am sitting here with me eyelids drooping, trying to record this moment in time for later on. The dominant mental feeling is excitement. The dominant physical feeling is exhaustion.
Sophie's Choice
…is a commone phrase you will find in blogdom, in reference to the Hostage Tragedy in Russia. The term refers to the mother who chose between taking her son to freedom and her daughter to freedom.
My father commented this morning, even in Russia the life of the son is more important than that of the daughter.
Is there anybody out there?
Yes says the CNN:
An unexplained radio signal from deep space could — just might be — contact from an alien civilization, New Scientist magazine reported on Thursday. The signal, coming from a point between the Pisces and Aries constellations, has been picked up three times by a telescope in Puerto Rico.There are other explanations besides extraterrestrial contact that may explain the signal. New Scientist said the signal could be generated by a previously unknown astronomical phenomenon or even be a by-product from the telescope itself.But the mystery beam has excited astronomers across the world.
No says the BBC
Astronomers have moved swiftly to quell speculation they may have received a deep-space radio signal from ET. It was reported on the internet that the signal had been found using the Seti@home screensaver that uses computer downtime to analyse sky data from telescopes.
Which of these do we believe? I am sure that there is life out there … but by the time their signal reaches us, would life still be there?
Jassi gets a stamp of her own
assi the ugly duckling – soon to turn into a swan – has now a new feather in her cap – the Indian postsal department is launching a stamp in her honour. I kid you not. A stamp for a star of a Indain remake of a Columbian Soap. A soap that does not even make it to the top of the Sony ratings – the old warhorse CID still leads. A postal stamp that had hitherto carried the images of those who served, achieved, and brought glory …. now dedicated to a fictional character. I guess that this is what is called development. Incidentally, Sony has paid the princely sum of Rs.2.6 lakhs for printing the first day cover.
The ToI reports on this gem:
The idiot box’s favourite plain Jane, Jassi, now has a postage stamp dedicated to her…Chief Post Master General (Maharashtra Circle) K Noorjahan rolled out the criteria: “Special covers are generally issued on special occasions or to honour prominent personalities who have had an impact on people’s lives socially and morally
Ofcourse! there is the reason. The star of a show that barely manages to scrape a 4.5 TRP is honoured with a stamp for the social and moral impact on our lives.
Either that or the ToI has printed an April first story today:)
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