The Answer

There are no answers. Only choices. (From the movie Solaris)

Posted on February 18, 2011   5:54 am


Hegel on Knowledge

Reading “The Phenomenology of the Spirit” by Hegel. Find it fascinating. While, I have myself often taken an intellectual position of not trusting what I do know, or what I can know. I have been wary of error. Hegel points out beautifully, that this lack of trust itself cannot be trusted. It presupposes quite a […]

Posted on July 15, 2010   10:28 am


The ‘real’ secret

“The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for the rest of your life. And the most important thing is, it must be something you cannot possibly do.” — Henry Moore

Posted on June 20, 2010   10:31 am


Landscapes of my mind

The emotional landscape of my life is a different universe than the intellectual landscape. The rules that apply in one break down in the other. The principles that define one are meaningless in the other. What is well-formed in one is warped in the other. They are different universes – neither opposite, nor the same. […]

Posted on May 25, 2010   10:34 am


Jonjhua

Surely we are asking the wrong questions. Why are we alive? Why do we exist? What is the purpose of life? What’s the point? What is going on? Why do we die? What is reality? I have figured out – the right question to ask is Jonjhua. Jonjhua we alive? Jonjhua we exist? Jonjhua purpose […]

Posted on May 20, 2010   10:37 am


I am not inspiring

I have been often told that I am “inspiring”. As a communicator, leader, coach – I am able to paint pictures and tell stories with an infectious passion which leaves people “spellbound – sometimes with goosebumps” (quotes from a participant in a workshop). However, the truth is – I am not inspiring. I am inspired. […]

Posted on May 11, 2010   10:10 am


धन्यवाद् प्रेमचंद ! :-)

मुंशी प्रेमचंद से मेरा साक्षात्कार बचपन में ही हुआ था। शायद, ‘हीरा–मोती‘ की कहानी से। तब से, प्रेमचंद मेरे प्रिय बन गए। उनकी अनेकों कहानिया, उपन्यास मैंने पढ़ डाले। उनके लिखने में कोई ऐसा जादू था, जितना पढता, उतना ही ह्रदय बाग बाग हो जाता। उनकी जीविका भी पढ़ी। कैसे एक साहित्य के मार्गदर्शक, एक महान लेखक का जीवन दुःख एवं आभाव से भरा पड़ा था। कहते हैं, मसीहा को अपने देश में कभी नही पूजा जाता। प्रेमचंद आज विश्व–प्रसिद्ध हैं। उनकी कहानियो एवं उपन्यासों का अनुवाद अनेको भाषाओँ में हो चुका है। उन्हें हिन्दी साहित्य का एक अविलम्ब चिह्न माना जाता है। परन्तु अपने जीवान काल में, न तो उन्हें प्रसिद्धि मिली, ना ही सम्रिध्य। अपनी सरस्वती प्रेस को चालू रखने में ही उनका जीवन गुज़र गया। प्रेमचंद शब्दों में निपुण थे। अपनी भाषा, अपने लिखने के तरीके से, वो ऐसा समां बांधते, कि लगता उनकी कहानियो के पात्र कागज़ से निकल कर आपके सामने खड़े हों, व आपसे बातें कर रहे हों। उनके सभी पात्र असली थे, कोई भी बनावटी न था। उनकी कहानियो ने मुझ पर एक गहरी छाप छोड़ी। आज भी, उनकी पुस्तकें मेरे पास हैं। मैं प्रेमचंद का आभारी हूँ, उन्होंने मेरे जीवन के कुछ क्षण बहुत ही यादगार बनाये। धन्यवाद्!

Posted on May 9, 2010   10:39 am


Fake

How easily our lives get swept away by the fake world of borders and stock markets, advertisements and sports, being good-looking and looking good, the evening news and the morning newspaper, the talk shows and the reality tv, the national elections and the international ones, the wars and the freedom struggles. How easily we make […]

Posted on May 3, 2010   10:41 am


Poetry

Like all kids, I was a born poet. I was naturally gifted to see the rainbow in the oily puddle in the road. Then – my language improved, I started articulating better, became aware of subtle nuances of communication, geometrically expanded my vocabulary and… promptly gave up on poetry. What if I got my poetry […]

Posted on March 28, 2010   10:44 am


On Writing

The greatest respect an author can have for his public is never to produce what is expected but what he himself considers right and useful for whatever stage of intellectual development has been reached by himself and others. -Von Goethe

Posted on March 28, 2010   10:42 am