The train was speeding at high speed, the scenery around us was a blur, the lights in the train glowed to a bright blue, the humanly conversation was fading into the whir of the wheels and as we approached another non-decrepit station where we wouldn't stop, I put a blanket around Anjali, she seemed to be so deep in thought that she didn't notice that it was getting colder. I was thinking of the trains and the passengers, we were suspended in this train, far away from the thoughts of the others.
"There is something really romantic about a train journey," I said with nostalgia on my mind.
She was far away, and still thinking, "I suppose you could say that."
"Take for instance, this thought that there is no destination," I said trying to get her attention.
"But there is a destination."
"If there weren't then would we still travel in the train," I said still trying to wake her up.
"I suppose then this would be suspended animation," she said finally thinking.
"The train by all means seems like medium to get to a place, however to the contrary, its a tool with its own personality and fixtures that make it up."
"That is correct."
"Well, how often have we seen that with equipment, it is built to last and perform a certain activity, over and above its lifetime, if the equipment is taken care of then the equipment performs well past its life time."
"Certain nostalgia about living with equipment that loves you back, isn't it ?" she said knowingly, though I knew she was just beginning to understand my fascination with new equipment.
The first piece of equipment that I ever owned was a hand held video game, I remember, PacMan, these funny little creatures that gobbled up everything and had to scurry around from other equally menacing looking predators. I owned the game for over 4 years and I think my fascination with equipment and understanding of it started from there. PacMan was around the ubiquitous "theory of survival", we all eat others to live and run from creatures that try and eat us in order to preserve our species.
"Do you see that lady in the pink ostentatious suit sitting and chatting with her friends ?" I asked nonchalantly pointing to no one in particular.
"She is dressed like the peacock ready to charm the peahens."
"See, that is the typical Punjabi lady, they dress to flaunt their money," I said knowingly now and she smiled at me knowing that I was a Punjabi too.
"I don't see you dressing up to charm feathers off though."
"I have function on this Earth and abide by it, every human being is sent to this earth with a certain genetic code built into them. It's the concept that machines are built on, difference being that human beings have pleasures to distract them, while machines run on true concept."
"Interesting, so that lady in the Pink Suit was brought to this Earth with "Ostentation" code ?" she asked slightly more interested now.
"Do you think that she is truly what you see, she is probably covering up for her inadequacies, which would imply that her code would be "Cover Up".
The point that I made to her was pedagogic and could well have been taught in a structured form in a philosophy class. The "Cover-Up" lady continued her rapid fire conversation with her friend, they were talking in Punjabi, the kinds that made city goers like me salute her skill at the language, Anjali was beginning to listen in too though she understood very little of the language, curiously when there is curiosity there is learning. Her skills at being an attentive listener not withstanding she had this innate art of being structured in her thoughts, well read and creative, she not only excelled at her work but also formed bonds with friends and family that lasted for eternity.
It was indeed interesting that I could continue to talk to her and not get bored, my prolonged presence in her life had given me a sense of purpose as also a sense belonging, as far as I could think I hadn't formed a long lasting bond like this, so was it possible to modify the genetic code bred into our head, I decided to give it further thought and quietly went back to reading an art magazine that we had purchased before our departure, this magazine had all kinds of articles, there was one that interested me and I started reading it. The propensity for human beings to romanticise about their creations is unparallelled, the sculpture I was staring at was built like a monument in its miniature form, the curves on it developed from the mind of the artist, every artistic creation was a thought process in the artists mind.
"She is wearing some nice earrings, and a gold necklace to match," Anjali said taking my attention away from the magazine, "I wouldn't think of buying that jewellery even if I had the money to buy it," she was always very prudent in her buys.
"Well, she could be you in another world."
"And how's that ?"
"What if she did everything that she didn't do, like eating fat food, wearing designer jewellery, moving around in flashy cars and relating to false friends."
"How could she be me, if she didn't do a single thing I do ?"
"If we are the creations of a larger mind in the Cosmos, then it is the Yin and Yang, the two sides of a coin that must and do exist together, each nothing without the other though diametrically opposite," I must have sounded like I had thought about this, however I was thinking even as I was talking, "so in all probability there would be more of you depending on your likes and dislikes, the point being that your friends and family that you relate to are your own and we together form a world that is different from the world that they form with their friends and family."
Anjali understood this immediately now and when understanding dawned on her, it brought a smile to her face, it always did when she understood an abstruse point that I was trying to make, I didn't do this deliberately but it so happened that my thoughts became clearer to myself as I shared it with her. Cosmos had a philosophical term for it, it was called "Parallel Universe," and Anjali being a keen reader related to it immediately.
To me, this sharing of thoughts with her was akin to moving from lateral knowledge to frontal knowledge, thoughts that came directly from the front as I moved further in life. My notepad was always ready with me to jot down points that came rapidly into my mind and nowadays it was always overflowing. The art of assimilation had dawned me, when Arun had shared "Zen to Done" with me, a remarkably small book but filled with tit bits about how to manage life professionally,
"The Things That Matter The Most Should Never Be Left
At The Mercy Of The Things That Matter The Least."
--- Goethe
Nowadays I followed the policy that could be briefly summarized as below :
1. Collect
2. Process
3. Plan
4. Do
"Doesn't seem like that is a tough thing to do," Anjali was peeping into my little notebook.
"Actually all the collection happens in this notebook, everything that I know from A to Z for the past week, month, year is collected in this book."
"Seems to me that the assimilation is the harder part ?"
"It is, because knowledge comes to us from all sides and as we start to move forward from the front too and pretty rapidly too."
"I barely manage to write my notes in Outlook at work,"she said meekly, I knew it was feigned as she wanted me to continue talking.
"Smarty pants, don't tell me you don't plan, you do a fabulous job of it."
"I manage," she said with a wink.
"Peace On Earth, Peace Of Mind."
"There is something really romantic about a train journey," I said with nostalgia on my mind.
She was far away, and still thinking, "I suppose you could say that."
"Take for instance, this thought that there is no destination," I said trying to get her attention.
"But there is a destination."
"If there weren't then would we still travel in the train," I said still trying to wake her up.
"I suppose then this would be suspended animation," she said finally thinking.
"The train by all means seems like medium to get to a place, however to the contrary, its a tool with its own personality and fixtures that make it up."
"That is correct."
"Well, how often have we seen that with equipment, it is built to last and perform a certain activity, over and above its lifetime, if the equipment is taken care of then the equipment performs well past its life time."
"Certain nostalgia about living with equipment that loves you back, isn't it ?" she said knowingly, though I knew she was just beginning to understand my fascination with new equipment.
The first piece of equipment that I ever owned was a hand held video game, I remember, PacMan, these funny little creatures that gobbled up everything and had to scurry around from other equally menacing looking predators. I owned the game for over 4 years and I think my fascination with equipment and understanding of it started from there. PacMan was around the ubiquitous "theory of survival", we all eat others to live and run from creatures that try and eat us in order to preserve our species.
"Do you see that lady in the pink ostentatious suit sitting and chatting with her friends ?" I asked nonchalantly pointing to no one in particular.
"She is dressed like the peacock ready to charm the peahens."
"See, that is the typical Punjabi lady, they dress to flaunt their money," I said knowingly now and she smiled at me knowing that I was a Punjabi too.
"I don't see you dressing up to charm feathers off though."
"I have function on this Earth and abide by it, every human being is sent to this earth with a certain genetic code built into them. It's the concept that machines are built on, difference being that human beings have pleasures to distract them, while machines run on true concept."
"Interesting, so that lady in the Pink Suit was brought to this Earth with "Ostentation" code ?" she asked slightly more interested now.
"Do you think that she is truly what you see, she is probably covering up for her inadequacies, which would imply that her code would be "Cover Up".
The point that I made to her was pedagogic and could well have been taught in a structured form in a philosophy class. The "Cover-Up" lady continued her rapid fire conversation with her friend, they were talking in Punjabi, the kinds that made city goers like me salute her skill at the language, Anjali was beginning to listen in too though she understood very little of the language, curiously when there is curiosity there is learning. Her skills at being an attentive listener not withstanding she had this innate art of being structured in her thoughts, well read and creative, she not only excelled at her work but also formed bonds with friends and family that lasted for eternity.
It was indeed interesting that I could continue to talk to her and not get bored, my prolonged presence in her life had given me a sense of purpose as also a sense belonging, as far as I could think I hadn't formed a long lasting bond like this, so was it possible to modify the genetic code bred into our head, I decided to give it further thought and quietly went back to reading an art magazine that we had purchased before our departure, this magazine had all kinds of articles, there was one that interested me and I started reading it. The propensity for human beings to romanticise about their creations is unparallelled, the sculpture I was staring at was built like a monument in its miniature form, the curves on it developed from the mind of the artist, every artistic creation was a thought process in the artists mind.
"She is wearing some nice earrings, and a gold necklace to match," Anjali said taking my attention away from the magazine, "I wouldn't think of buying that jewellery even if I had the money to buy it," she was always very prudent in her buys.
"Well, she could be you in another world."
"And how's that ?"
"What if she did everything that she didn't do, like eating fat food, wearing designer jewellery, moving around in flashy cars and relating to false friends."
"How could she be me, if she didn't do a single thing I do ?"
"If we are the creations of a larger mind in the Cosmos, then it is the Yin and Yang, the two sides of a coin that must and do exist together, each nothing without the other though diametrically opposite," I must have sounded like I had thought about this, however I was thinking even as I was talking, "so in all probability there would be more of you depending on your likes and dislikes, the point being that your friends and family that you relate to are your own and we together form a world that is different from the world that they form with their friends and family."
Anjali understood this immediately now and when understanding dawned on her, it brought a smile to her face, it always did when she understood an abstruse point that I was trying to make, I didn't do this deliberately but it so happened that my thoughts became clearer to myself as I shared it with her. Cosmos had a philosophical term for it, it was called "Parallel Universe," and Anjali being a keen reader related to it immediately.
To me, this sharing of thoughts with her was akin to moving from lateral knowledge to frontal knowledge, thoughts that came directly from the front as I moved further in life. My notepad was always ready with me to jot down points that came rapidly into my mind and nowadays it was always overflowing. The art of assimilation had dawned me, when Arun had shared "Zen to Done" with me, a remarkably small book but filled with tit bits about how to manage life professionally,
"The Things That Matter The Most Should Never Be Left
At The Mercy Of The Things That Matter The Least."
--- Goethe
Nowadays I followed the policy that could be briefly summarized as below :
1. Collect
2. Process
3. Plan
4. Do
"Doesn't seem like that is a tough thing to do," Anjali was peeping into my little notebook.
"Actually all the collection happens in this notebook, everything that I know from A to Z for the past week, month, year is collected in this book."
"Seems to me that the assimilation is the harder part ?"
"It is, because knowledge comes to us from all sides and as we start to move forward from the front too and pretty rapidly too."
"I barely manage to write my notes in Outlook at work,"she said meekly, I knew it was feigned as she wanted me to continue talking.
"Smarty pants, don't tell me you don't plan, you do a fabulous job of it."
"I manage," she said with a wink.
"Peace On Earth, Peace Of Mind."
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