Mirror Neurons - We are in it "Together!"

I came across a very interesting video on Ted.com today. In one instance it gave answers for many questions and many other observation I have stumbled upon through my life.

In the video V Ramachandran shares a simple finding about the mirror neurons which behave rather interestingly. They trigger the same experience in our brain as that of someone we are seeing or observing. For example, if I see Pooja touch Rahul's hand, the same neurons are triggered in my head as that of Rahul's. But  its only my skin and my nervous system that send's a signal to my mind that - "don't be so happy it is not your hand but rahul's" :). The implications are that if I didn't have skin then I would have felt exactly like rahul, and it wouldn't matter whether pooja touched my hand or rahul's hand. Or I can say there wouldn't have been two different people, we would all be the same - "One".

I know I have gone too far, and you have lost interest by now. So let me first share the video:

Now if I have been able to persuade you to watch the video, you might be interested in the list of questions I was talking about in the first line:

1. I have always felt happier when I was around a jovial person. I always asked the question - is it the company of happy people that brings happiness?
2. Why can't I restrain mysekf from crying in a sentimental scene by any great actor, when I don't want to and I know that the guy is just acting? :P
3.  How can people watch Sachin play over and over again? basically he is the same guy, playing the same shots, and it has been years and countless number of centuries and half centuries :P ( a fraction of what Sachin feels is more than enough for most of us)
4. I have also observed that being in a jovial mood and confident is more important in an interview than actually knowing answers to all the questions (every one likes a jolly person )
5. Last but not the least - why elders put so much of importance on being in the right "company"! :)

I am sure u also would have found some answers in the video above. Share you answers or simply share the video ;)

The greener side!

Yes you are right - "it is the other side"...

On 29th Nov, when I wrote my last blog, there were more than a hundred hits on the blog, next day 8 and today only 5 ("kiyun?" said manishji, suddenly Vishwa Bandhu Gupta appeared)

"Manishji iseliye ki america mein woh technology aa chuki hain jisse se ki aap ek second mein internet ki madad se kis dost ki life mein kya chal raha hain, pata kar sakte hain!
Aur teesera aap ko mein bataun ki "khujeli toh common bimari hain, yeh aap ko hi nahi, mujhe ko hi nahi, balki bhagwaan ko bhi hain! sunlijiye meri baat"  - said Vishwa Bandhu Gupta

Dekhiye Facebook kuch nahi hain, facebook facebook kya FACE... BOOK, AaARE..

Facebook kuch nahi hain ye toh khujeli kaa kida hain... aap samajhiye inn processes ko!
Pehele ye kida khujelidaar aadmi ko chune se pehelta tha, aaj kal ye internet se travel karta hain woh bhi firstclass!

Manishji aap ye dekhiye aap iss tarah ki duniya mein rehe rahe hain, jahan iss tarah ki technology aa chuki hai..
aur ek choutha aapko bataun

aaj kal toh, jo aapki puuri khujeli hain woh facebook pe upload ho jaati hain, aapko showoff ki khujeli ho, aapko apni hosiyaari dikhani ho, aako koi line padh ke khujeli uthi ho.... aap apni saari khujeli facebook pe share kar sakte hain!
aap ye dekhiye, aapko agar genuine khujeli bhi ho, toh aap aaraam se din bhar facebook pe baitiye, kuch mat kariye bas scroll karte rahiye.. aap kaa kaam ho jayega.

Manishji, shuru mein ye baat kisi ko maalum nahi thi, kayi logon ko facebook pe baith baith ke 1 TB khujeli ho chuki hain... - said Vishwa Bandhu Gupta


DAMN IT VISHWA BANDU.... I am here for writing a serious blog, and you have made a mockery of this place... :-x

Anyways guys don't mind this M.....F....., As I have committed in my last blog that I would write stories to illustrate different "Why" questions that I have explored from time to time. I want to write a story about "Why are we curious"...but not today, I am not able to think after this mess created by Vishwa Bandhu.... ll catch-up in the next blog!

XO XO :)

Woh aa gaya.. dekho, Woh aa gaya!

Yes! Narbhakh! is back, in the frame of human beings living on the planet earth and indulging in some form of illusion called time, its been more than a year since I last wrote on this blog. But in the frame of the blog it is the next instant there was nothing in between...

You might be repeating the title of the blog in your mind and before you guys show a middle finger to the blog, I should quickly get to something interesting. ammm... oh market markets... we might be on the verge of another recession, ummm.. And and euro might spilt, Obama will lose... Pakistan has the balls to challenge US... So we might be on the verge of another world war... US is already stuck in Afghanistan... Oh drop it, I have never been able to sustain my interest on the goddamn blog, why would anyone else be interested.

So, I have decided that this time I would sustain my interest in blogging. And I believe to do that I need to find a motivation that does not decay (oops is there a such a motivation on earth?) . Frankly, I don't know. One of my very thoughtful friend pointed out that there are two types of people in the world: one - who are concerned with the question "Why", and other who are concerned with the question "How". And he said I am a 'Why' guy. Although I hate such classification, I think it is just intellectual masturbation to oversimplify things and believe that we understand the world. It doesn't last long. But, I do think a lot about the 'Why' question, and no matter what happens in life I never stop. So here is a motivation, in the last blog I had explained my understanding of "Why does recession happen?", I guess I will use stories and answer the different "Why" question on this blog. This should sustain!

What do you guys think?

Not about the 'sustaining the blog thing', that's my problem, but about "two types of people in the world?" :P

20k on sensex - Part - II

Alright, as promised in the last post, this is the second story. I have already boasted a lot about being in the second economic cycle of my career, I will assume people are well aware of the context.

As an amateur trader I bought some share and took some exposures in the futures and options. Within no time sensex was at 20k (December 2007) and I was making over 50% returns on my portfolio. All my beliefs were suddenly transformed, I discarded all former beliefs of safety and continuous saving for the future, which perhaps my Dad had taught me by example. I thought share market is where people become rich. Though I was warned about the downside all the time, but I had only seen market going up in my life thus far, and I thought I knew everything about the world.

However, I often asked myself a question, "What is the value I am creating in the world, that entails me to this kind of money in my job or otherwise?". And frankly no matter how I justified it, I knew there was a loop-hole in each explanation. Simply because -How can a mere graduate sitting in an air-conditioned terminal create so much value? If I compared my efforts to a farmer who is toiling in the sun to produce food grains, I felt he might be more useful to this world than I am. (No-offense to people making big bucks on a terminal :D, I am only presenting a perspective)

I had asked this question to my boss, and to others, whom I considered to have wisdom. Somehow, I didn't find an satisfactory answer. The answer came to me when the markets crashed, and it went all the way down to 9k :). In fact this continuous downturn transformed my question itself. Now I wanted to know "why does recession happen?" I started searching answer to my new question desperately.

The answer that I have arrived thus far is elucidated by this small story:

There was a small village in which there were only two families of Ram and Shyam. Both families complemented each others needs. Shyam's family produced wheat, rice, vegetables, cotton, cloth, etc. The other family tamed animals and produced milk, meat, utensils, furniture, etc. Both families used to exchange excess of their produce with each other in a barter system. Shyam being an intelligent guy introduced concept of money to do the trade. Rather than exchanging good directly, money made trade more convenient. The price of the goods were to be decided in the same ratio as they were earlier exchanged subject to availability. Eg. if 1/2 Kg of rice was exchanged for a 1 Litre of milk then price of rice will be 10 Rs/Kg and price of milk will be 5 Rs/Litre. However Shyam being the intelligent guy who understood these calculation, took Ram into confidence and fixed price of good to favor himself. Eg. He priced rice at 11 Rs/kg and milk at 5 Rs/Litre.

Initially both the families started off with 1000 Rs each so that trade could start. And with time slowly Shyam started getting richer (Meaning he held more cash than Ram did). However Shyam did not stop, he continued amassing cash. There came a day when ram was not left with a single penny. That day Ram realized that there is some "jhol" in the market. From that day onwards he stopped giving goods to Shyam in exchange of currencies. In a single moment Shyam wealth of Rs 2000 became zero, because it was only paper afterall.

So next time you see people getting paid more than the value they are creating (including yourself), You should know that another recession is just round the corner. And if you don't believe me, wait a little :P

20k on sensex makes me nostalgic....

Now that the sensex is back at 20k, I am feeling nostalgic. I am one of the luckiest person in the world, in-fact most of the my batchmates too are in the same category. We all are visiting second economic cycle of our life and we are in the center of it. And all this has happened in a period of less than 3 years. Any other generation would have spent over 10 years to visit 2 economic cycles.

I started my career at Lehman Brothers. My relatives and family friends in my hometown were always confused about the company I was working in. They used to refer to Lehman as "Ameriica ka bank hain, bahot paisa deta hain". Some called it "layman brothers" others "Leemaan Brothers" and some creative people made it "Rehmaan Brothers" :)). As the fate would want it, in the months to come Lehman Brothers featured in the most relished daily of my hometown "Dainik Bhaskar". And everyone recognized the bank immediately. But all this is the context, the observed stories are as follows:

Story one

I left Lehman Brothers in April 2008. I know you would want to know why I did such a thing. And no matter how smartly I devise my reasons, I will be far from the reality. I guess Karl Marx has described this reality quite beautifully:

"What is great glitters, its glitter arouses ambition, and ambition can easily have produced the inspiration, or what we took for inspiration; but reason can no longer restrain the man who is tempted by the demon of ambition, and he plunges headlong into what impetuous instinct suggests: he no longer chooses his position in life, instead it is determined by chance and illusion."

And this

"But it is not only ambition which can arouse sudden enthusiasm for a particular profession; we may perhaps have embellished it in our imagination, and embellished it so that it appears the highest that life can offer. We have not analysed it, if you read this, shout not considered the whole burden, the great responsibility it imposes on us; we have seen it only from a distance, and distance is deceptive."
- Karl Marx, 1835, Reflections of a Young Man on The Choice of a Profession

But the story does't end here:

When I left Lehman in April 2008, everyone said "this guy has gone mad, he has not seen difficulties in life and does not understand importance of money." My tauji's driver was shocked to here that I have left a respectable job for a teaching job in a coaching institute. He was worried about my living expenses, he asked me "Bhaiya! mumbai seher bahut mehengi jagah hain, kitene din aise chala paoge?"

However, 5 months later Lehman went bankrupt, and the news was in "Dainik bhaskar" too. This time every one said: "Kya intelligent ladka hain, sahi time pe nikal liya". Some of my brother's friend asked me "Abe tujhe kaise pata chala ki Lehman bankrupt hone wala hain?" :P



PS: A better version of this story, comes at the end of of the movie "Charlie Wilson's War".

Second story to follow :)

The Chillars

Long time, no see... I have been off blogging for quite sometime and no matter what justification I give, the truth is 'no one reads it anyways' :)

But here I am, back with a vengeance, I don't care about the readers, I write for myself :P

I would like to start my blog by introducing you to the topic 'The Chillars', which refers to people who are miser beyond tolerance of any normal human being. Please do not confuse the topic with general chillar people, which we all are at times.They are 'The Chillar',

So how does one recognize 'The Chillar'

1. They never have chillar money when the amount is small, 'abe chillar hain kya?'

2. They never have enough money in the wallet when the amount is big, 'abe abhi de de, mein tujhe baad mein detaa huun?'

3. They suffer from amnesia selectively, when they have to return you some money.

4. They behave as though they don't care about money, whereas that is the only thing they care about.

Although, we all would have done all the above once in a while but what makes a person 'The Chillar' is when it happens perpetually until eternity, without the exception of a single instance. Whenever I have come across 'The Chillars' I have felt deep resentment for them. I felt frustrated because I thought they are smart enough to get away with all their chillargiri.

Interesting though, is the fact that, things that are least talked about are the things most noticed by the people. I had been noticing one of 'The Chillar' for quite some time now. He had been annoying me, and I wondered how come he gets away with it. But today I lost all patience and I let out the pressure by speaking my heart out. And I was amazed to find out that everyone shared a similar opinion of him, or even worse.

Precautions:

1. Never go out with 'The Chillar'.
2. If at all one has to go out with 'The Chillar' because of reasons beyond ones control, he should ensure that 'The Chillar' is not leaving his wallet behind.
3. Avoid a situation in which you owe anything to 'The Chillar' to the extent possible.
4. And if at all you end up giving a credit to 'The Chillar', let it go.... :P

The art of creative copy!

Creativity is a gift which is bestowed upon a few in the world. I don't know why god has created thousands of intelligent or in fact extremely intelligent people in the world but he is apprehensive of creating a lot of creative people. The reason is perhaps in "khuda ki marzi" or to say "Bhagwan ki maya". Anyways being an IITian I have mastered the art of creative copy. Our degree is a proof of our mastery over creative copy. If anyone asks me what sets IITians apart from rest of the world, I would answer, it is the art of "creative copy"

What the fick is this art of creative copy???????

Its simple you copy, yet no one one comes to know it was a copy.....everyone thinks it is a product of a great analytic, synthetic, and a creative mind. It is quite useful in various context, from resume to examination, from interviews to client meetings, from goal setting in your organization to writing a SOP for MBA application, from BTech project to any other project report, from impressing a person to cracking a joke in your group of friends......etc etc

Life becomes easy and tension free, the moment you are faced with a new challenge just find collateral which is good enough to copy.

The realization of true value of "creative copy" happened to me in a moment when I saw MNIK. It was a moment of truth for me. I never imagined the same art could be exploited to create a blockbuster movie which grossed over 250 million Rs on day one. Karan johar did it ...... the maestro of "creative copy" :)If you want to do the same here are some tips!

Watch all the recent super-duper hit movies

Movie 1: Taare zameen par - Protagonist should suffer from a rare and mysterious disease and should have some extraordinary capabilities. (SRK suffers from Asperger's syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism that complicates socialization, yet he is extremely intelligent and can "repair almost anything")

Movie 2: 3 idiots: Protagonist helps everyone and uses his extraordinary capabilities to innovate in the pursuits. (SRK innovates only once in the entire film when there is water logging and doesn't seems to innovate when faced bigger challenge of meeting the president)

Movie3: Munna bhai MBBS: Protagonist helps people against all odds & fights for a cause. Ultimately creates a movement with huge fan following. & the heroin should fight for the injustice done to her beloved ones.

Movie 4: Slumdog Millionaire: There is something about protagonist from slums, who ends up getting all the media attention in the end.

I am sure there are other movies which I have missed here but these are all the hit movies I have seen....... I guess this much should help! Any more additions to illustration above are most welcomed :)

Long live creative copy!

Here is how you have fun if you don't have a job or work to do!

Step 1 : get youself my version of long island ice tea

Recipe Narbhakshi LIIT (to be read long island ice tea)

You need

1 tea bag (preferably lipton yellow label)

2 teaspoon sugar

a dice of lemon

loads of ice

60 ml Cointreau (http://www.cointreau.us/#header, you must be above 21 to visit this site, if you are not I m really sorry)

Boil tea bag and 1.5 teaspoon of sugar in small quantity of water, when tea looses color take the water in a sleazy and sexy glass. Squeeze the lemon juice into the glass & add the dice of lemon so that it sinks to bottom (So that one cannot see that dice has been squeezed :P, topup with ice and add 60 ml Cointreau, ya I know but u gotta grow up kid before you add Cointreau.

Step 2: Arrange your home workspace as if you are working on something serious yet having fun (Something like this)

Step 3 Take a pic and use it to write a blog

Atleast you have produced a blog, useless I know ....but anyways when did you ever do something useful!

Now that the drink is over and you can see the squeezed out lemon...... it 'high' time I stop blogging ......

PS: Pun intended

Life in campus & beyond!

I miss college, those days were the best days of my life.......I passed out of my college in 2007.I live near campus and I happen to visit campus quite often. Every visit I would remark at-least once "Kya yaar kya din the!" But last time I visited I asked my-self what has really changed so much in life? Is it because I have to earn my own bread now or it is because IITB offered amazing facilities & environment which are not available to me now. All this and more wasn't convincing enough. And I firmly belive there is not much outside..... most of things are inside( My blog "relativity")


So what has changed inside? or to say what in world troubles me today which wasn't there in the campus? The one thing my campus offered me was freedom. I had tasted true freedom for the first time in my life. My parents were happy now that I was in IIT, they didn't bother much with my grades. My friends in campus were least concerned about who I am and how I perform in academics or otherwise. And even I didn't care because I thought worst part of my life is over. Everyone one around me was relaxing, someone by playing computer games, some in sports for hostel/institute, participating in impromtu, learning guitar, rock music, singing, movies, organizing festivals/events, publishing news letters, gyming, chatting in the hope to make a galfriend, some indulged in academics & research, etc. etc. etc.....but believe me everyone was relaxing. So even I started relaxing with no competition that I could be forced into. I did cross-country in my first year, then started learning basketball, I was in H-13 team and I served water to all my team-mates :) The fredom was amazing, it was a life in a new world. I slept only when I was utterly exhausted and woke only when I could sleep no more. Everyone carried a smile on their face, we would laugh our heart out on petty things. Fun was always available, we had to just locate something/someone funny and their would be friends around to share a laughter.

I remember the enthusiasm and energy each one of us carried. Everything was positive. Even failing in a subject popularly called facka/farra was funny. Everyone seemed to work very hard in whatever they did and no one ever recieved a penny for their contribution. I used to get 1500 rs as my monthly pocket money which sustained my mobile and bike all inclusive. That 1500 bucks were enough to buy me all the happines in the world.

College life which seems like a distant dream, came and went. Freedom is scarce or to say it exists only in few spaces on the globe. When we were free all of us did all the different things. Some studied some didn't, some took up research project some took up social cause, Some were creative some were exceptional in sports, some were brilliant organizers others were brilliant leaders, students took up different responsibilities and created difference in the life of other students, some were only bird watchers some had courage to go and talk to gals who visited campus during MI, some went around the city drinking n smoking some preffered their rooms and movies on their comps. But each one was unique and so was each ones story.

Today all those unique people around me are doing limited number of things. The list could be summed up into three words CAT, GMAT, CFA. Oh start-up is the new boy on the block. We are back to where we were. The same world where competition is the soul driver. Whether we are doing well in our job is determined by what our boss thinks of us. Whether we are doing well in our life is determined by the my pay cheque Vs pay cheques of my peer. My own self worth is determined by what others think of me. If I fail in CFA or CAT its not funny anymore. Either I am superior or I m inferior....their is no way I could be just myself. No body seems to relax, "Kal job hain , parson CAT hain , sala iss mahine mein koi chutti nahi hain."

I envy some my batchmates who realized that freedom is a function of ones hard work. They defined their area of hard work and made sure they had opportunity to continue to work hard in their space. Today they relax when they work hard, and I suffer when I work hard.

An amazing Poem!

I came across this amazing autobiographic poem of John D. Rockefeller

"I was early taught to work as well as play,

My life has been one long, happy holiday;

Full of work and full of play-

I dropped the worry on the way-

And God was good to me everyday."

Rockefeller is often regarded as the richest person in history. For many of his competitors, Rockefeller had merely to show them his books so they could see what they were up against, then make them a decent offer. If they refused his offer, he told them he would run them into bankruptcy, then cheaply buy up their assets at auction.

Rockefeller spent the last 40 years of his life in retirement.His fortune was mainly used to create the modern systematic approach of targeted philanthropy with foundations that had a major effect on medicine, education, and scientific research.

I was suddenly reminded of Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Andrew Carnegie.... all the richest people in the world have had one thing in common, they did everything to wash away competition, leveraged the monopoly and finally turned billion of dollars towards philanthropy. Did they do it to acquire the wealth from the riches and gave it away to poor?? or they feared being remembered as self centered monopolist, so they took shelter behind philanthropy....or they simply realize life is not about making money but about creating value for the fellow human beings
:)

How to make a critical profession choice!

Karl Mark in his writings has once described how a Young man should make his professional choice. This is a summary of “Reflections of a Young Man on The Choice of a Profession”. I recommend the original one. This one should give you some perspective in a glance.

Right Choice	Wrong Choice
Source of inspiration
Choice of position in the society Idea whose truth is thoroughly perceived Value for society / mankind Opportunity to get closer to Perfection in ones own sphere	Product of a moment which another moment can destroy Emotions, Imagination Self-deception and delusion Idea which might turn out to be false later
Perception & Judgement
Considered whole burden of profession Analysed responsibility & examined outcomes in cold blood Based on profound observation and experience	Fantasies & illusions Embellishment of profession Based of pure reason Chance dependent
Personal Attributes
Talents & bend of mind for the profession Possess capacity to do justice to the chosen position in society Physical constitution which is suited for the profession (Eg. Lifestyle, etc..)	Illusion about talents Based on personal feeling but haven’t demonstrated the capacity Physical constitution which is not supported by the profession (Eg. Comfort in life, etc.)
Society or Environment
Act independently in his own sphere of influence Approved by parents and experienced people	Mere servile tool in the entire value chain Profession that demands reprehensible acts as perceived by society

Is it media or is it population, wtf???

Hamare desh mein insaan ki value nahi hain ....... I have been using this line for quite sometime now. My mind boggles at the thought of what will happen if human beings continue to grow the way they are growing. I remember in one of osho's book he says "the will of human race to live is breaking and it is evident in the fact that we have weird things like AIDS, homoseuality, etc. etc. which didn't exist forever." When I read news these days I am always reminded of this line. Somehow this line makes more and more sense to me. Recently diseases such as SARS, Bird flu, and now swine flu ....etc, etc have led me to wonder whether world was always like this or this is a natures response to excessive human population on earth.

Some of the news headlines I came across today.....

67 YSR fans die of shock, son appeals for restraint
WTF???? 67 people die because of their leader's death???

12 killed in landslides triggered by heavy rains in Mumbai

Five more swine flu deaths take India's toll to 111

Trains late again, WR blames it on trespassing on tracks

TOI reports "Around 10 persons either get hurt or die in train accidents everyday on the Western line alone." Everyday???

that makes the total number approximately 20 because mumbai also has another central line.

Total 109 people people die ...of no particular logical reason!
Is it media or is it population, wtf???