Life Experiences by Tilak

The film reminded me of my hometown. A small place near Kolkata. A place that produces many state level table tennis players. To these people in my native place, table tennis is not a game; it's a path to freedom. Freedom to enjoy the life people in bigger cities take for granted. The players are fighting hard to achieve a state level status and then look for government jobs that offer stability and pension. The struggle of the characters in the film represents what the millennials in the smaller towns of India are going through. These towns are exposed to the world thanks to internet and satellite television, but have to live under restrictions imposed by their not so open minded earlier generations. It's ironic that the world is changing so fast but many of the smaller towns are still trying to live the life that ceased to exist long back. It is becoming an eternal struggle. And for the ones who escape such traumatic circumstances are lucky. But then there are many who ar...

To most, it's just a green patch of land Where noisy children and adults who refuse to grow waste their time. To many, it's a place that leads to no where To many, the ground is where one goes to gossip and eat light evening snacks To me, it represents hope. The running boys and girls represent the fight of the youth against the process of ageing... The hope that the children can run away from the terrible and boring future that awaits them in the form of routine. To me this ground represents the urge of mankind to remain humane and not become another robot. To me this ground is a sanctuary that preserves innocence as children and adults play, laugh and have a good time. To me, this playground and the ones like this are the oases in the desert called urban life. It's an attempt for us to be alive and kicking. To me, this ground is the gun in the hands of a solitary soldier waiting patiently in the trenches of life. To me this ground is life....

Smartphones and Apps are inseparable. But what is creating trouble is that now there is beginning of an era where too many apps and shrinking mobile spaces are creating turbulence in the happy married life of smartphone and apps. So what's the way forward? Possibility 1: Big daddies like Google and Microsoft will own all the apps in future and they will be offered through cloud like the email and pics. So consumers will not have to download the app on their phones but log in to Google or Microsoft account to use these apps. Possibility 2: The apps themselves go on cloud and offer to free up space in the smartphones of the consumers. Incentivise the consumers with more space through referrals or ads Possibility 3: Apps tie-up with smartphone makers and subsidise the space in mobile handsets in exchange for exclusivity or permanence. For example, a 64 GB phone could be offered at the cost of a 16 GB phone but the app that sponsors the space stays in the phone and not be deleted...

I was reading Mahabharata, one of the greatest epics ever written. There are so many things I find still relevant today as they were during the rule of the Kurus. One of the things that caught my mind was the succession plan and the way kings retired in those days. They handed over the reins of the kingdom to the heir and retired in the forests amidst austerity. In other words, you slowed down the machine called human body by forcing it to consume less, to lose yourself in search of spirituality and you offered yourself in the company of people who were of your age. Then happened consumerism. The thirties became the new twenties and the forties became the new thirties. So on and so forth. And thus humanity's struggle with age to look younger and sexier began. The rise of cosmetic world overshadowed the spiritual world. We may now be a fine looking corpse today. But it is assured that we will be corpses one day. We still have not found a solution to that. Consumerism has led us...

I find you beautiful not because you are good looking I find you beautiful because your eyes share the same pain I see in my own I find you gorgeous because you wear the look of a fellow traveller longing for the train to arrive in the station soon I find you irresistable because I see the fountains of joy that soothes my heart in your eyes as you look at me I find you stunning because you are imperfect and scarred just like me Let's share this life Whatever little is left of it Let's laugh and cry together Let's celebrate the scars and toast the time together as finally we have the chance to be with each other Let's not give up now Let's not wait another lifetime to quench the thirst our souls feel for each other Comeon let's approach the future together Like a pack of wolves chasing a prey And let's feast on moments we conquer  for ourselves...

I'm tired of this eternal conflict Between dreams and reality Between fantasy and facts Between what I want from the world and what the world wants from me I want to run away from all this Go to a place where I can be me Not the images world believes I am I'm tired of this pretence.... Why is it so difficult to find the simplest things in life Pleasure , love and tranquility? Why can't the soul be drenched with fulfilment? Why can't my soul be light like a feather Floating freely from place to place Garnering experiences the heart seeks? Why can't I just play in the rain like a child for hours? Why do worries bow my head down? Why can't I find solace in the company of the beloved The one who torments my waking moments and dreams Too many conflicts and too many hurdles Too many riddles and unfinished puzzles Corroding my soul with endless worries Killing me from within like termites .. I desire the forbidden fruits I long for the pilgrimag...

I keep reading so many articles talking about how artificial intelligence and robots are going to take away our jobs. I feel on the contrary it will make our life simpler. For centuries we have domesticated cows buffaloes and donkeys. We have used them to do the hard work needed to plough the fields, to carry goods etc. Now we will domesticate robots. We will use them to do our boring mundane work while we enjoy movies books and the finer things in life. So may be many years later we will have robot fairs the way we have fairs for camels and cattles today. We will own these robots and train them to do the work we do to earn money and we will control them and they will earn us our salaries. Seems like a good thought on the weekend... Hope you are having a blast....I'm sure enjoying.... cheers