Blog 55: Amazing thing in nature

The phenomenon I find most interesting in nature is evolution. For some reason I find it amazing and maybe a little comforting to know that things will always change however slowly. Its almost like I find this to be a kind of promise for the future. It also means things never get boring because they keep on changing. Evolution is one of the slowest natural processes in existence. The wonderful thing about it is that despite its snail’s pace change it has some real impacts on our world. These changes build up rather slowly and in insignificant levels but eventually lead to phenomenal differences; like the one between a human and chimpanzee.

In this way whole societies and planet changes over time. The better part is that these changes aren’t just purely physical but more emotional and intellectual. Take the human race. We have existed for a million years and in that time we have evolved from crude primeval creatures to a sophisticated society able to effect lasting changes on our planet. Change is also heavily dependent on challenges. The bigger the challenge facing us the more impressive is the change necessitated from us.

So as the world faces the incredible challenges of global warming and global integration we find the next need for social evolution. Amazingly these new series of evolutions don’t seem to be driving us apart. Instead it seems to bring us together as people. The natural aspect of evolution seems to have gathered a very lasting aspect on our life.

Blog 53: A pet peeve

I don’t think I have too many pet peeves, I hope not. But a certain one is immaturity in conflict. By that I want to emphasize that I’m not against immaturity in general. I love pranks and surprises because most of the times I am the one playing them. I do however not like the ability of people to take things in their stride. So if I have an argument with someone and then fallout, I would still expect them to behave professionally. In case that argument was over something small I’d expect them to offer to make amends. I would do the same as soon as I realize that things have calmed down.

Sadly there are quite a few people who take things that are not inherently hurtful personally. The worst combination is a person who brings it upon himself but then acts the victim to antagonism. So put it this way, I really do not appreciate a person who is hurtful but cant take back what he dishes out. Beyond that it probably becomes an ego problem where the guy cant really accept his fault because he finds that demeaning. I really like the quote, “Do unto your friends what you would want done unto you”. Generally someone who does understand this concept probably does not because he or she is too immature to fathom it. Likewise someone who plays hardball but then does not accept defeat or an apology with grace is just being a sore loser.

Blog 51: The most famous person I want to meet

The most famous person I respect is Anwar El Sadat. He was the Egyptian president and the promoter Egypt Israeli peace. Sadat is relatively less known in the United States which is surprising considering he was responsible in bringing the largest Arab country into the U.S camp.                He braved consider opposition from within his country to achieve a peace settlement with a nation viewed as the arch enemy by most of his people. He started a six day war against Israel but this change of heart occurred after his brother’s fighter plane was shot down.

Sadat took power after the death of the first president of the Egyptian republic, Gamal Nasser. Nasser was a strong man, a monolith in the Arab world. Walking into Nasser’s shoes was considered political suicide as the person would forever be judged and compared to an idealistic scale. In this moment of uncertainty Sadat chose to not follow Nasser but be himself. Nasser was a hard Zionist who strongly believed in the subjugation of Israel under Arab power. Sadat was a moderate whose primary interest was the well being of the Egyptian people.  

Sadat stood for principles at considerable risk to himself. He fully understood the gravity of the situation he was putting himself him. The eventual price he paid for his ideals was death. It will be heartening to know however that the peace treaty he instituted stood after his death. Over time this treaty has led to a less radical society. With the coming wind of change through the Middle East democracy seems likely.

Blog 49 My Job

My first job was a camp counselor at a summer camp for tweens. It wasn’t the most well paying of work but it was pretty fun. The job required me to be trainer and a systems administrator for a single owner proprietorship. It was an awesome experience in more ways than one. In one part of my job I was taking care of kids, playing with them and having fun. In the other component I was laying down the Employee Resource and Customer Relations management software and network for my employer.

So in between being extremely geeky and a fun teacher I had to have fun over the summer. I discovered local restaurants nearby and eating out became a savvy pleasure. The sad part I had to do most of this with a fractured foot. That naturally meant a lot of my fun was limited but I was grateful enough for what I could do. Short of that I worked under tremendous pressure. I had to manage nine centers and communicate the distribution of resources between the centers. I had to manager vendors and that was the hard part. Getting people to do their work was harder than actually doing them yourself.

The most fun part of my job was probably organizing the end of summer party. I had to get the cake organized and order the food. Picking food was mostly fun because I got to eat a lot of free sample. Mostly the job ran through fine, I loved my kids and my employers were good people. Loved it.

Blog 47, Anything: Gandhi walking the streets of Gaza

I would give anything to see this happen.

The present Israel Palestine conflict and the larger antagonism between Israelis and Arabs is a quagmire. Eerily similar to the Kashmir issue, there can be no solution to the crisis as long as both parties remain so resolutely fixed on their viewpoint, demands and ideologies.

To the people of Israel their right to reside in the holy land stems from the words of God and legal transfer of power after the expiry of the British mandate in Palestine. To the Palestinians the Israelis are committing a simple act of robbing a nation. Even moderate Palestinians turn antagonistic towards Israel because of the policies of the state. Yet we cannot say the Israeli do not have reasons behind their actions.

The Israeli Jews are a population of five million surrounded by more than three hundred million Arab neighbors. Threatened, exposed and still healing from the decimation under Nazism the Israelis naturally take security seriously. As a result they go harshly against any entity they see as a threat to their existence. The Arabs didn’t make things any better for themselves by declaring war on a nascent country barely a day into its birth. This distrust sowed early has turned in to the feud we see today.



And yet the policies of discrimination, segregation, and violence carried out by the Government of Israel remind us of another horrific government. The Israelis suffered terribly under the Nazis, maybe more than any modern people can imagine. Yet this is no excuse to now turn oppressors and do unto others what was done unto them.

The Middle East needs a touch of Gandhi. The Palestinians are oppressed but the Israelis aren’t cruel hearted demonic monsters either. Zionism is an emotional concept that any rational man can empathize with.

Given that both sides are civilized and cultured people, non violence becomes an extremely viable measure to break down barriers. If Palestinians can get these non violent measures portrayed on the international media and sensationalized they can most certainly expect moral and material support from outside. Israelis too will be sensitized to the sufferings of people who have an inalienable right to the land. The killing must stop.

While we can give different solutions to the moderates on both sides, to the radicals, the inflexible, we can say but one thing. There is no difference between an Israeli radical and a Palestinian radical. The only mark on an inhuman creature is one who is willing to kill to achieve an end. As long as both parties remain human, reason will triumph. No man can watch intense suffering of another without an emotive moment. The idea that he might have perpetrated it can only strengthen the emotion. As enough of this emotion grows, change is affected. The ultimate duty to God is to serve for the benefit of all mankind.

Blog 46: Anything, Harry Potter

It began a little more than 13 years ago, and now as a whole generation we witness the genesis and finale of the boy who lived in the closet under the stairs, No. 4 Privet Drive. As his primary viewers have changed with time, so have the actors, the book and its contexts and contents. Without changing the core ideas Rowling has allowed the ideas to mature into different form in each successive books. The first book was undoubtedly for children, with magic fun and a bad guy. The final book was far sinister with deep attitudes on life. 

The real joy in the Harry Potter story lies in the way how a magical and mythical world can show us so much about the realities of life. It does this in a steady progression of books that a child grows around, much like a creeper growing around a sturdy stick. In phases it covers pretty much a spectrum of an individual from childish inhibitions, to tantrums, rise of ideals to falling in lust and then love. Finally as the characters mature, they display control, good judgment and resilience. In this respect the fifth through seventh book are most alluring. While the fifth highlights the zest of young people in work and snogging, the sixth displays an air of caution and responsibility. The seventh book is where everything comes together and they work as a team taking tough calls while sparks of love and passion fly. The most obvious of changes in this respect can be found in Neville Longbottom who showed tremendous change between the fifth and seventh books. 

Due to the similarities between the wizarding world of Rowling and our own we can visualize and imagine it to be anything we are familiar with. We can associate with it and sublimely believe it to be true.This is not to say the movies were without flaw (Why do they run hilly-nilly when the snatchers find them instead of fighting or disapparating) The basis of the book may be fantastical and amazing for some to reconsider if it merits closer inspection. The reason I re-look at Harry Potter is not because of its dubious plausibility of facts but because of its graceful evolution with time while still retaining a message. 

 The message to me today is as clear as it was nearly a decade ago when I after much cajoling by mother, read the first book on my own. (She read the book but wouldn’t tell me the story only how awesome it was!!! and she kept the book always in plain sight. Curiosity killed my laziness). The values delivered are one of camaraderie, honesty, good values and purpose. A lot of books before and most certainly after will continue to tout these traits of character. The only difference will lie in how they present them. For me, it was a privilege to grow up in time pacing myself with Mr. Potter.  I did read all the books since the third in closely the same ages the characters in the book were. It would be a shame if those after me could enjoy only the movies and not the pleasure of reading. It would be an even bigger shame if they choose to not observe their self evolution with each series and redefine the similar concept of each book in a new perspective that ageing with time provides. 

Much like Enid Blyton, J.K Rowling has for sometime at least spurred on younger kids to read novels. I was one of them. I do hope that with time other series come out to replace the stories of Platform 9 ¾. I do certainly hope that when that happens it remains as largely in the history of the English language, a Briton that scripts history. For most of us in my generation, the novels of Harry Potter might remain an irreplaceable kind of series. A magical story of an almost real world.

Blog 45: Anything, Chocolate

The etymology of Chocolate spawns from an Aztec drink discovered by the Spanish and called Xocolatl. The drink was a raw brew of bitter cocoa. To make it palatable to the sweeter European tastes, the Spanish added milk and sugar creating the world’s first hot cocoa drink.  Since then the industry and the people who drove it have created names like Nestle, Cadbury Schweppes and Ferrero SpA. This blog will identify the tastes of chocolate, the amazing new kinds being made and the chemistry that compels most of us to fall inexorably in love with the confection.

The year is 1860 and revolutions are gripping Germany and the Ottoman Empire. The civil wars are ripping America and rebellion ferments in India.  Far removed from these tragedies of life a little man with lots of spunk tries to make the world a sweeter place to be. He was a Swiss and gifted with the rocky resilience and determination they are known for, Henri Nestle starts shop of Nestle & Co. The initial chocolates favored the Swiss taste of strong and bitter. Dark chocolates gripped the Swiss nation and overflowed to neighboring Germany. A year later the German revolution was over. It wasn’t till the taste of amour crossed the English Channel did it face resistance from the peaceful but sweet loving Britons. This allowed the entry of a new player, Cadburys which revolutionized the brown chocolate market. As candy and other derivatives of chocolates took hold, the centre of the confection world shifted west across the Atlantic to the city of Chicago.

Chocolate in essence can only be of two types, Black or White. The other variations depend purely on the amount of cocoa. What makes the industry really fun is the diversity it allows by experimenting with flavors, additives and ratios. I’ve TRIED to make mint chocolate once. The main ingredients were grounded cocoa with milk, sugar pepper and essence of mint. I wasn’t like 100% successful, though the result was perfectly edible and tasted of mint. The curious things I learnt from this experiment included but not limited to: Pepper and sugar are flavor enhancers; you dilute chocolate with vegetable oil and not water. Then there are the moulds which you can use to allow fillings of honey, mildew, nutmeg and raisins. Shapes also play an important role in justifying the chocolate. Dark chocolate is a better binder than white chocolate and as a result can support much more exquisite shapes.

So why does chocolates remain a delicacy for mankind. Why does it retain its symbol of love and refinement? Arguably the first can be associated to the chemicals theobromine and phenylethyl amine. To a chem. E both these compounds are aromatic in nature possessing resonant structures and weak chemical bonds. As a result they can easily break bonds to release energy and spawn reactions that give pleasurable smells and products. An easy example is deodorants like AXE chocolate. The chemicals break up on your body to cover up your stink. Another historically perturbing question to men at least is DO woman really dig chocolates and why? At least that would mean one sure thing we’d know about the cuter sex. Billions of dollars of research later scientists could say this. Chocolates remain attractive to women for two primary reasons. The smell triggers the release of endorphins, (also called pleasure hormones) which satiates them.

43. Social Revolutions

Many of us know what’s going on in Egypt and the Middle East.  University students like us have decided to get together in big groups to challenge a system that is incredibly powerful and daunting. They are doing this using a powerful weapon of their own and that is the social media network on the internet. Its pretty smart really, autocracies survive by suppressing the democratic tendency to discuss and share ideas freely. On the internet however, it becomes increasingly difficult for countries with limited resources to track dissent. These platforms then become rallying grounds that attempt to undermine the seeming integrity of the autocracy.

Essentially facebook becomes an Easter egg of revolutions; one inside another. The amazing part is that there is very little governments can do in terms of leverage. It would not be possible to directly move against these companies with servers in the United States. The option of shutting down the internet in a globalized economy is nearly unimaginable. Other factors such as television and media exacerbate the situation. Contextually the youth in countries with depressed employment and suppressed rights often resort to these networks to voice and vent frustration.

In any case, Egypt proved to be a text book example of this scenario. It might be amusing to consider that despite pressures from several interest groups and nations, both pro and against democracy; none of them achieved a large success. That could only be done by a social stimulus created by a social engineer in the United States.