Sparsh

"To everything there is a season... A time to be born, and a time to die." - Ecclesiastes "A slave begins by demanding justice and ends by wanting to wear a crown." - Albert Camus "The Biggest changes in a woman's nature are brought by love; in man, by ambition." ― Rabindranath Tagore "Bitterly disappointed teachers can either be very effective or very dangerous." - Sean Connery in Finding Forrester "Creativity is a space for solitary longing, the desire to be elsewhere in space and time, to be in a new ideal world where life is as it should be." - Chenjerai Hove "The Fundamental Principle that governs - or ought to govern -human affairs if we wish to avoid misunderstandings, conflicts, or pointless utopias, is negotiation." - Umberto Eco "The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos."...

1- Dark side of giving: The rise of philanthro-capitalism --- Large philanthropic resources are being utilised to further the interests of business. 2- Noam Chomsky interviewed by Ajaz Ashraf and Anuradha Raman in Outlook magazine, November 1, 2010. The man NYT called “arguably the most important intellectual alive” finds the media in Pakistan more vibrant than it is in India. 3- Elections come and go. But the immigrant issue goes on forever [PDF]: A quarter century post the Assam Accord, political parties in the state still seek votes on the issue of illegal Bangladeshi immigration, reports Tehelka Reporter Kunal Majumdar. 4- Stan Ovshinsky’s Solar Revolution : His inventions from 50 years ago enabled cell phones, laptops, and flat-screen TVs. Now, at age 88, he’s aiming to make solar power cheaper than coal. 5- Why Do Some Countries Win More Olympic Medals? Lessons for Social Mobility and Poverty Reduction :- Not everyone in our country has equal access to competitive s...

Faiz Ahmed Faiz is amongst the most famous poets of the Urdu language. Faiz, who was hounoured by Lenin Peace Prize in 1963, was seldom subjected to arrests by the right-wing pro-imperialist military regimes of Pakistan. Once, during the dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq, he was arrested and taken to the police station in front of the public. In this context, he wrote 'Aaj Bazar mein'. The video starts with a 'mushairah' (public recitation), where Faiz presents the poem, and describes its context. Then the video, with the melodious voice of Nayyara Noor in the background singing the verses of Faiz, shows the sufi culture of Pakistan, which was suppressed by the religious fundamentalist government of Zia-ul-Haq. Then, there are some clips of public floggings and public hangings of political dissidents, which were employed to ingrain terror in the people of Pakistan. Public floggings were a norm during Zia's time. The video, then, takes us on a trip to a well-kn...

Ecologist Eric Berlow doesn't feel overwhelmed when faced with complex systems. He knows that more information can lead to a better, simpler solution. Illustrating the tips and tricks for breaking down big issues, he distills an overwhelming infographic on U.S. strategy in Afghanistan to a few elementary points. I agree with the talk as understanding big terms as 'development' and 'sustainablity' is like dealing with the complex system. I have myself reached this conclusion with the help of fluid dynamics. That might sound like an unconventional explanation for the readers. When you create any index or threshold level, it is like checking turbulence and laminar in the flow of fluid. Turbulence is flow characterized by recirculation, eddies, and apparent randomness. Flow in which turbulence is not exhibited is called laminar. And therefore many conditions should be included before making any empirical formula. This talk helps in understanding interconnectivity ...

1- Media and mobs – Arundhati Roy versus the terrorists by Razarumi. 2- Fables of Nationalism by Razarumi. 3- Why Marxism Has Failed , And Why Zombie-Marxism Cannot Die & Zombie-Marxism : What Marx Got Right by Alex Knight. What Marx Got Right : Class Analysis, Base and Superstructure, Alienation of Labor, Need for Growth, Inevitability of Crisis and A Counter-Hegemonic World-view. What Marx Got Wrong: Linear March of History, Europe as Liberator, Mysticism of the Proletariat, The State and A Secular Dogma. 4- Copyleft and the theory of property : A bitter battle is underway between the supporters of intellectual property and those who defend the notion of the commons. Legal historian Mikhail Xifaras traces the history of the concept of "exclusive rights" and evaluates the emancipatory claims of the copyleft movement today. 5- Unlikely Stories, or the Making of an Afghan News Agency :Reporting is a challenge in Afghanistan, where power brokers are skill...

1- How America Can Rise Again : The simplest measure of whether a culture is dominant is whether outsiders want to be part of it Any great nation can be judged on two parameters : continued openness to immigration, and a continued concentration of universities that people around the world want to attend. 2- (Hi)Story, Truth and Nation : South Africa is facing the process of developing a new identity for itself and its people, and to deal with its past. Jyoti Mistry looks at the meaning of nations and the nation state in examining this process of creation of a national identity. Story-telling, history and memory play vital parts, particularly in South Africa, in building this "whole". In a story that has no end in sight, she looks at how a country is dealing with its past and stepping into its future. 3- A virtual counter-revolution : The internet has been a great unifier of people, companies and online networks. Powerful forces are threatening to balkanise it. The future...

GetUp-->Office-->Home-->Sleep--> This is not the life that I want to achieve. The circular and monotonous loop goes on and on. Is routine work just enough for mine existence ? Is this post written in sheer frustration or addiction ? Several choices and questions, don't have guts to answer. I forget what was in my mind. What I fail to see in my observation becomes most critical or taken as an obvious for others. May be my ego comes in between obvious and me. Life contains paradox, that's why there is nothing like truth. Search for absolute truth is extremism. Nothng absolue exist in the nature. There is this arbit theory of world peace attained by pure rationalisation fails to understand. The world peace can't exist without war. Duality is here and will stay; Human nature is forged of both faith and reason while dominance of one let to the extremism. Duality of human nature is not considered. Man- Woman, Nirakaar - Saakar, etc; When good arises, the evil r...

My heart was not in student activism: I was and am a reader, therefore a daydreamer also. There is so much to read and learn before closing my eye. I had realised that there is no joy which can equal with the joy of giving to someone in need. I always feel like as an ocean drop trying too hard to search identity with holding his ego as singularity and uniqueness. Still, I know that I am similar like all of rest drops and they are all me set against this time and space of fleeting transcendence. It is the best way devised by me to understand myself. I ventured outside my fixed realm making it a point to learn a thing. I am here continually evolving or contracting, who knows, but there is a prominent change or even mutation each moment. There arises so many amounts of crest and trough ideas inside me. Most of the times, they are absurd and quite bizarre. I also now days think of perpetual transition of my age and thoughts. I search for the meanings of these abstractness in materia...

No power on Earth can stop an idea whose time has come. --- Victor Hugo Indians also refract technology through their ancient social lenses and let the light that falls on the other side reflect their old prejudices and insecurities. --- Ajit Balkrishnan We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. --- T.S. Eliot To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful. --- Edward R. Murrow If you read a lot of books, you're considered well-read. But if you watch a lot of TV, you're not considered well-viewed. --- Lily Tomlin The will is not free - it is a phenomenon bound by cause and effect - but there is something behind the will which is free. --- Swami Vivekanand. Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it. --- Malcom X Democracy cannot cons...

Quoting in the terminator style, I am back with lots of positive energy and inputs. Killing the parasitic feeling and coming back to life. Recently taken 12 days trip to home and has came refreshed by the change in environment. Met with friends in Noida and missed to meet few good ones at Gurgoan. In the end, life is now on routine where best thoughts of HR will come in mail on Friday with a tag of TGIF ( Thank God It's Friday ). Thoughts for the day: 1-A quotation from the ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi: "If you look at things from the point of difference, they seem diverse; from the point of semblance, they look alike." 2- चुल्लू भर पानी से बुझाने आग गाँव की, चल पडी टोलियाँ अमीर उमराव की.. 3- वो कौन हैं जिन्हें तौबा की मिल गयी फ़ुरसत / हमें तो गुनाह करने को जिंदगी कम है... Cheers with Calvin & Hobbes (Image courtesy to Arunn )!!!. This is cute as all of C&H cartoons are but the idea is not its creator Bill Waterson’s. The world renowned astronomer and astro...

-Fractured consciousness knows no medical relief. -Most people have no knowledge of their history. They only live it. -Freedom of expression is the mark of a modern community, not buildings or technologies. -We are from a generation who don't know libraries but know what torrents are. -No man wants to taste lipstick when he kisses a girl. -What you did yesterday stays with you today--- existence precedes essence (Jean Paul Sartre) -To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. - Ralph Waldo Emerson -All things were together.Then the mind came and arranged them. —Anaxagoras -Violence is taboo, for not only does it produce answers to please, but it lowers the standard of information. - Col. Robin Stephens -People who give & are involved in a purpose that is greater than themselves are the happiest people & live the richest & most meaningful lives imaginable. - Cynthia Kersey

Rahul Basu rightly reviews the book 'India after Gandhi' in these lines. I really liked them for clear construction of his thought on such a vast topic. " It has become fashionable to deride and denigrate Nehru and Nehruvian socialism and secularism. But it is the Nehruvian ideal, the cliche of 'unity in diversity' that has precisely seen the country through the shocks of more than half a century. It was precisely Nehru's insistence that every culture, every language, every religion, every creed, every caste would have its own place in the Indian polity that, illogically enough, has kept the country together. There has never been an overarching dominant culture to which all others have had to defer. India might be predominantly Hindu, but by no means is it a Hindu Pakistan . " We need to understand that the cliche “Unity in Diversity” goes beyond the words. Our rich cultural heritage and diversity extends well beyond language and variety in indian cui...

"Salim-Javed never went to a screenwriting school but still ended up becoming a screenwriting school for all of us. Too much education can kill a perfectly smart brain forever. But it's desirable in terms of craft, in basic things like creative writing classes in every university which most people in the west take for granted. We spend our childhood dreading our Physics-Chemistry-Math scores and hundreds of entrance exams instead, which is a pity for those who are not so inclined. It's strange, I always say I never went to a film school, I went to Jungle instead-and recently Anurag told me the same thing-that he never went to a film school, he went to Satya instead". - Jaideep Sahni, in an interview to India FM

The trouble with traditionalists is that they present themselves as protectors of the game's values but are actually doomed romantics. They lament the present state of affairs yet resist innovation.--- Peter Roebuck

Cinema is the most beautiful fraud in the world. . All you need for a movie is a gun and a girl. . Photography is truth. Cinema is truth twenty-four times per second . --Jean-Luc Godard One man writes a novel. One man writes a symphony. It is essential that one man make a film. -- Stanley Kubrick

" ज्ञानी निस्प्प्रेह होता है सबसे , न किसे से प्रेम , न घृणा निर्लिप्त अनुभव केवल,वह शून्य है मानो धोंकनी के भीतर खाली ,लेकिन लगातार देता फूँक, सत्य के अग्नि को ज्ञानी का अनुभव है धोंकनी के साँस , शून्य में से उद्भूत सत्य की ऊर्जा " -Lao tse

I was told by my father these two quotes in childhood days.I admire the point taken by these quotes: लीक छोड के तीन चले , शायर सिंह सपूत \ पूत कपूत तो का धन सांचे , पूत सपूत तो का धन सांचे \

Do what you love, love what you do I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free. What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality. "If I don't say what I think, what's the point of being mad?"

"Think big, think fast, think ahead. Ideas are no one's monopoly". "Caste restricts opportunity. Restricted opportunity constricts ability. Constricted ability further restricts opportunity. Where caste prevails, opportunity and ability are restricted to ever-narrowing circles of the people". "A film is never really any good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet." "Thinking should become your capital asset, no matter whatever ups and downs you come across in your life." "Thinking is progress. Non-thinking is stagnation of the individual, organisation and the country. Thinking leads to action. Knowledge without action is useless and irrelevant. Knowledge with action, converts adversity into prosperity." "Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."

1-Never let your college interferes with your education. 2-The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. 3-Children begin by loving their parents. After a time they judge them. Rarely, if ever do they forgive them. 4-A friend in need is a friend indeed. 5-The world is a comedy to those that think, and tragedy to those that feel. 6-Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. 7-Life is simply one damn thing after another. 8-A poet is a painter of soul. 9-The wise want love and those who love want wisdom. 10-All mankind loves a lover. 11-It is justice not charity that is wanting in the world.