chaotic order

"Man's search for Meaning" - a book by Dr Viktor Frankl Most of us float through life without an existential crisis. In a way, it is a boon; for not many can survive the pangs of being stripped bare of all possessions - material, social and psychological. Biologically, a species is built for survival. An organism will persist in preserving its cellular integrity as far as it physically possible; but once that threshold is crossed, it gives itself away to mutation and irrevocable obliteration. But with Man, evolution is experimenting with a new way of being. There is a self-conscious element within him that is both a participant and an observer in the world he lives in. Over thousands of years of gradual and catastrophic changes, the inner life of a Human being has assumed several roles in different dimensions; to the extent that the proverbial “ghost in the machine”, as Arthur Koestler, phrased it, is now stands viscerally divorced from the physical self to a point th

American railroad has played an important role in the growth and prosperity of the United States. The founders of the nation realized very early that an effective system of transportation across the vast breadth of this continent is indispensable to preserve economic, social and political stability. The History of American railways is a saga by itself, and it is not the purpose of this essay to get into its details. The movie I am about to review is based on a period in Railway history, when a paralyzed economy was cramping its growth; and more so - throwing people out of work. Tennessee Williams wonderful play "This property is condemned" was turned into a movie by Sydney Pollack in 1966. Pollack is one of my favorite directors. His ability to direct and produce stories with a Human touch and sensibility without too much of fun fare or drama; capturing the essential essence of a relationship and explore its nuances without prejudices and opinions is the hallmark of this

Before you read this, I would want to make my point very clear that I hold the institution of marriage in highest regard. Not only has it been one of our spectacular evolutionary successes to adopt monogamy (as far as possible), and nurture strong ties as a family; but the very tapestry of man cultural history is woven with this fabric of genders collaborating and fostering a long standing relationship between themselves. Man’s transition from a Hunting battlefield to a settled agrarian community needed this paste of marital union to hold together the insatiable energies that could potentially be let loose in a growing economic, political and cultural climate that a stable life entails. Except for a few stray stunted communities around the globe, almost every known human habitation has a custom that resembles the ties of marriage. And that by itself, is a testimony to its universal archetype. However, a young lady in England married herself a few weeks back. Yes, you read me right!

I was reading in the Newspapers today about Obama’s credit card being invalidated during his visit to a restaurant with his family, and how he had to ask Michelle to pay through her’s. This is an extraordinary instance in the practice of democratic values that makes the United States of America one of the truest representatives of democracy as a form of enlightened governance. The fact that the President had to pay for his dinner is a tacit acknowledgement that he is a citizen like anyone else there; and secondly, the freedom of the system to block his Credit card for non-usage, and the restaurant conveying that information to him without fear of retribution is an acknowledgement of mutually agreed laws; and thirdly, the President , taking no offence , requests his wife to pay – shows the character of his Presidency and tacit acknowledgement that he is as much a citizen as he is the President of a powerful country that values its integrity and honor. The concept of democracy is a f

On my way back from the health club , I was tuned into a NPR podcast, where a Trained Mortician and embalmer was being interviewed on the nature of her profession. She was asked on what should change in the 'Cremation industry' today; to which her answer was quite extraordinary. She replied :" I wish families would be there when I push the body into hot fire. Most of the time, I do it alone with no family members around. They are either uncomfortable, or at best pay mechanical lip service to the dead. What I would want to see is more personal involvement in the ritualizing of death, and not delegate it to a professional company to do the job.." As a species, we have an unique attitude towards death. The fact of the matter is that we frankly do not know how to treat a dead body. Do we bury it, cremate it, throw it to the vultures, allow to it rot - there is absolutely no unanimity on this fundamental truth of life. None of our animal cousins seems to have to this c

We were walking back from the library. He is a psychiatrist living in an apartment (a posh Condominium...) very close to my community. Both of us keep bumping into each other in the same aisle, looking for books on medieval Christian theology. That’s how we got acquainted. He has a pretty decent practice including a couple of celebrities as his clientele. A simple man, very well read with a deep interest in Eastern mystical traditions. Many a beautiful Saturday have been spent, if I am in Atlanta, having lunch together and talking about the evolution of Man’s vision of Godhead, its transition from Polytheism to Monotheism, and the heretic traditions of Western philosophy. He said “Bala, one of the things that intrigue me about mystical writings is the emphasis on: “Don’t live in the past or the future, live in the present”. Whether it be Boethius, Aquinas, Eckhart, Boehme, Shankara, Buddha or Rumi - all of them seem to stressing this point. But you know, as a psychiatrist, I find t

There are only two kinds of readers for Stephen Kings books - There are some who love him; others hate him. I find myself vacillating between the two. I have never been a real lover of any fiction that does not pay its due regard to language, structure or fails to sensitize the reader to something beyond mundane emotions. The typical pulp fiction that ones finds proliferating all around (especially in airports) have never attracted me; and if it did, I have never got beyond  the first twenty pages of such a book. I would have read around twenty of King's novels, and I must say, not all of them have held my interest till the end. Apart from occasional flashes of brilliance here and there, most of them are pretty pedestrian in execution, written with clear eye to achieving quantity than quality. To some, however, Stephen's king's works are masterpieces of supernatural and dark literature. Well , I have to agree that his sense of the abnormal is unique in that genre; and the

The Women in Adi Shankara’s life - a perspective… In the annals of Indian mystical tradition, the name of Adi shankaracharya stands almost unique, resplendent as a beacon light that shines with gleaming intensity among the vast heap of superstitions, beliefs, commentaries and religious faiths, which have found fertile soil in the excruciating heat and other worldly attitude of the Indo-Gangetic plains. Eighth century India was a teeming mess. Centuries of oppressive priestly class misinterpreting philosophic insights of Vedanta; propitiated by a kingly regimen who needed the active support of its priesthood to maintain social order (read as a class distinctions…); thousands of varied sects, only different from each other in verbiage and dialectical nuances; and a growing sense of atheism and iconoclastic undercurrents – almost stultified any progress in thinking and advancement expected out of such a glorious cultural heritage as India had. When religion becomes mechanical and bere

Isidor Isaac Rabi, a nuclear scientist and a Nobel Prize winner for physics in 1934, as a student was sent by his mentor Leo Szilard to talk to Enrico Fermi at his home about the possibility of using nuclear fission to split neutrons. Fermi replied with a caustic “Nuts!!!” it’s a Remote and risky possibility with chances of less than ten percent…” Leo Szilard never forgot Rabi’s quiet reply to this dismissal by the Great Fermi: “Ten percent is not a remote or risky possibility if we may die of it….” Rabi went on to assist in splitting the atom.                                                                                                                    From Leo Szilard’s papers.... “There is hardly anything for me to do in office, I reach my desk at 9 A.M sharp, work on a few bugs, or develop a minuscule part of a code for some time, attend conference calls at regular intervals, make my presence felt with a few perfunctory and reasonably intelligent remarks, take regular bre

There are few arenas around the world, excluding the Manchester arena and O2 Arena (both in England) that can boast of the kind of glory that Madison Square Garden Manhattan possesses. Situated in the heart of Mid-town, the power nerve of New York, this 820,000 square feet facility has hosted some of the iconic personalities, Musical events and festivals of the twentieth century. It is in these hallowed enclosures that the legendary Mohammad Ali lost in fifteen rounds to George foreman - a fight that will be resonate in history as 'one that defined professional boxing, and assured Ali's immortality; it was here that John Lennon, performed to a resounding ovation before he was shot down by a mad man; it was here that Elvis Presley, the youth icon of the flower age, drove his high strung audiences to overwhelming waves of ecstasy in four house full performances; it was here that Michael Jackson celebrated his thirtieth year as a magical artist, when excerpts from his career wer

Chapter 2 Verse 40 of the Bhagavad gita has an interesting sentence: SWALPAMASYA DHARMASYA TRAYATE MAHATO BHAYAAT: Freely translated , I means : " Even a little effort towards inward alignment and integration with ones vocation in life - leads to immense peace, harmony and relief from fear" Now this word Dharma is a very rich, yet a very simple term in religious literature. The Egyptians called it "Maat" , or order, Chinese "Tao", Greek "Logos" - almost every seminal civilizations developed a term that spoke of one's inner disposition or nature. All of them point to an inner harmony of parts within the whole. Modern Psychology also emphasizes the need to accept one's role and position in society, and the less we strive to become somebody else other then what we are; happier and peaceful would we be. Curiously the division into castes or any other hierarchy was not originally based on inequalities, but merely recognizing the natur

Yet another masterly verse from the Geeta - the Song celestial uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet atmaiva hy atmano bandhur atmaiva ripur atmanah Freely translated: "One can only understand and uplift oneself through the prism of one's personality. For all that one knows is but oneself, which is both a friend as well as a foe" The seventh chapter, titled "Sankhya yoga" - the origins of Duality, has this rather enigmatic exhortation in its fifth verse. In chapters preceding this, the Master has slowly been churning the intellectual and emotional curiosity of Arjuna; and then, abruptly, in the middle of these important series of verses, he throws the ball back to Students court. His intention in this pithy verse is to say: All this talk of philosophy, morals, ethics are meaningless if one does not begin with the basic question "Who am I?", or put differently "who is aspiring to change whom?”. No matter how much indoctrination is ac

It was on a cold winter evening in 1764, when Edward Gibbon sitting atop the marshes of Capitoline hill; the citadel of Rome , pondered upon the greatness of Roman civilization - its rise, decline and fall; the faint chorus of evening vespers gently floating into his ears from a distant past - that helped him conceive his magnum -opus of six magnificent volumes on Roman history, "The Decline and fall of the Roman empire". The hill itself was the apex of Roman domination between 278 B.C to 468 A D; its pompous kings ruling a majority of the known world from its ornate palaces and gilded thrones; its laws were commandments; its morals, divine injunctions; its commerce, the bloodline of nations; its arts and culture, the standards against which non-Roman's judged themselves - such was the power, munificence and grandeur of Rome- the Capital, and the significance of Capitoline hill - its apogee. As I stood before Capitol building in Washington DC, the epicenter of power,