Luminous Infinitus

Chinese new year ! C took us to the most famous sea food restaurant here. ABC seafood center ! We spent a good 20 minutes to find a place to park only to find over 20 people waiting in line. But luckily C had arranged for everything and we just had to go to the table where he and other team members were sitting. But I wondered.. why so many ? what do they sell here? why so many people ? The restaurant was a huge circular hall and it looked same from all sides. Seemed as though there were circular tables all over and the same group of people sitting around every table. I looked again .. and again. They looked so alike. It is difficult to tell one Chinese from another and the big crowd in front gave the impression of 100s of duplicates sitting next to each other and chattering. There .. a vision of unity, of co-operation, of singleness of purpose. Some days all he did in the college was to speak to SN. When it came to philosophy, about the purpose of life, the meaning of life and things ...

For three days he has been working on it. Finally he got it. ‘Is that it? That’s all ?Aww’ he thought. He could now do it in a mere two hours. Instead of rejoicing that his labour had finally borne fruit, he was unhappy. A person with experience could do it in 2 hours. But could anyone have experience in every minute thing in the world? Experience means recognizing patterns. Attribute the observed pattern to something that you have already done. If you have competence in that field, you must have done something similar. You must have read about something on similar lines. Some time back RV had told me what he had learnt in some programme that he had attended - about different levels of competence. There are 4 levels of competence 1. Unconscious Incompetence 2. Conscious Incompetence 3. Conscious Competence 4. Unconscious Competence You are in the first stage if you don’t know that you don’t know. The second stage is when you know that you don’t know. The third is when you know that you...

The good soul decides to do something good. He feels happy about the great deed he is about to perform. In his mind he sees obscure faces of people whom he might save. When he had done it in the past, he had felt weak and had gone home and slept .. slept and slept. As it happens with him often, he sees himself in the future. He sees him self after the deed. He sees himself being weak, weak to even type. He sees himself being drowsy in the 3 PM meeting which he is required to attend. His colleagues ask him why he is so pale. Is he not well or something ? He wants to tell them. But he says ‘Nothing, nothing .. I’m OK. Just didn’t get enough sleep. It was too cold yesterday.’ The clock strikes 2 and he gets out of the reverie. It is time. He gets up with a smile and heads towards the gym. That’s where the blood donation drive is to happen. He returns faster than he goes. He is seen smiling wildly as though something’s hit him. Internally he is laughing , laughing loudly at the ridiculousn...

Ever started your day in the office with a rude shock? I mean, shock in the literal sense. I’ve discovered that being a good chap who switches off his monitor before calling it a day (to save power!) has its disadvantages , especially if he is a ..err..'static electric' person – someone who gets a shock even before he touches the metal switch to turn on the power. If I were a man of action I’d be benumbed for a second, taken aback by the momentary loss of sense before coming to terms with things around. But no..I’m what you could call as a man of dreams (If you ever catch me smiling/laughing/angered/dull or exhibiting some out-of-the-place emotion while idly walking on some road alone, be not alarmed, you’ve not lost me). So, this shock is usually a jolt from the dreamy-unreal-fantasy world to the present. It’s as though some one’s stopped me on my tracks.. "Boy. It’s time, time to work. Ready .. Steady .. Go." 9.30 AM Yes. Time to work. Do one thing at a time, I tell...

Was it worth all the wait ? I thought I would read the best of du Maurier after I’ve finished all her other books. Each book I read was better than the other. Each transported me to a world where I wished to remain forever. Each story lingered somewhere in the back of the mind, some scenes coming back often, enabling me to relive the magic. So I started Rebecca , understandably with great hopes. Could it be better than ‘The king’s general’? Could it be more suspenseful than ‘My cousin Rachel’ ? Could it be as nail-biting as ‘The Scapegoat’ ? Could it be as thrilling as ‘The House on the Strand’ ? The most intriguing thing about the book was that the narrator didn't have a name ! You turn page after page expecting to find her name in the next but it never happens and even when the story ends, even as you feel that you just drank with her, her cup of sorrow, insecurity and fear , even as you just feel as though she were a part of you , the story is over and you need to close the bo...

I was through just a couple of pages into the book and I knew it would be a tragedy. Many times I tried to stop reading, fearing an ending so shattering that it could upset me terribly. But curiosity got better of the fear ; curiosity to know about David Moray , an orphan whose childhood was a complete misery and hardship, who in a moment of confusion, chose money over love, betrayed the woman he loved for another with money.. He had everything going right for him but he failed. Why? Was it because he wanted more out of life - see better places, live in grand houses, move about with the nobility, collect great artworks, have a lot of money to spend ? was he too ambitious ? was he just an opportunist? No..no..no, none of these. It was because he was too sensitive; tried to be good to everyone, he let others do his thinking for him. There is a saying in Malayalam which probably befits him – ‘Shuddhan dhustante phalam cheyyum’.

N – “look around” I looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of some good looking gal, some Indian gal? – yeah! they are a rarity for one.They are few and all are taken. One rarely gets to see a desi girl group here.It's either couples or guys-only-grps. Anyway I could see none. What’s he up to now? N – “What do you think these people are doing ?” Well ! what are they doing. I suddenly noticed that there were many people about the place. Yeah, with a theatre behind and starbucks in front of us, there had to be some crowd. Why was he asking ? Was he suggesting that Americans waste a lot of time or was he suggesting – look at the guys hanging out with babes. Why are we like this ? or was .. well ! I was confused. He was still waiting for my answer. “Well! they are doing several things. everyone is doing what he/she wants to do.” N – “What else” Me – “They are moving about. Here and there. Some standing , some sitting. Chit chatting.” N – “Tell me what they are doing in a single word”...