Month: April 2010

Everybody Draw a Buddha Day

The Buddha in California
The Buddha in California
The Buddha’s birthday is coming up soon. It is on the day of the full moon in May. This time around it is on 27th May. So let’s just all draw a Buddha. Since my drawing skills are somewhat primitive, I will go hi-tech. I post this picture — one that I had taken years ago in California. Now if someone would please start a Facebook page for “Everybody Draw a Buddha Day” — just to keep abreast of the competition here.

The End of Work: An Essay on the Dawning of the Post-work World

“The progress of civilization can be measured by how many people are available to not do any work. The trend has been that of an increasing number of (as well as a larger percentage of) people that don’t have to work. The lower the percentage of people in it that work, the better off the civilization.” Continue reading “The End of Work: An Essay on the Dawning of the Post-work World”

Life is All About Choices — and Paradoxes

Life is also about the paradox of choice. Economists obsess about choice because at the heart of it all, we have to choose among competing wants since we are bound by limits. Being able to choose freely is a good thing but even with choice, you could have too much of a good thing. Continue reading “Life is All About Choices — and Paradoxes”

General Patton’s Speech

Recently I was reminded of General Patton’s speech to his troops. I have been pondering the matter of urban educated Indians and their apparent apathy towards participating in the political process that fundamentally affects the way India is and how it is going to be. India lacks effective leadership. Continue reading “General Patton’s Speech”

Extraordinary Claims Investigated by the Profoundly Stupid

Would you believe it that there are newspapers that report total bs without an apology? Here’s one from the newpaper DNA with the rather puzzling slogan “Read the world” : a yogi has gone without food or water for 65 years. That’s an extraordinary claim. But it does not stop there. There are “scientists” who are seriously investigating the claim. That the more extraordinary bit. Continue reading “Extraordinary Claims Investigated by the Profoundly Stupid”

Keep Observing, Wondering, and Asking Why

My Dear Abhishek,

It gives me great joy to write a letter to you which you will understand – although you may still have to ask your mom or dad to read it out to you, and explain some bits. My previous letters to you will have to wait till you grow up a bit more.
Continue reading “Keep Observing, Wondering, and Asking Why”

Rajan Parrikar’s Pictures from the Mojave Desert

Light and Shadow at the Trona Pinnacles .(Click to see the whole lot.)

My friend Rajan Parrikar’s recent photo shoot in the Mojave Desert. He calls it Light and Shadow at the Trona Pinnacles.. “During a recent visit to Death Valley in California’s Mojave Desert, I overnighted in the desert town of Ridgecrest to shoot at the nearby Trona Pinnacles. This atmospheric locale has served as a setting for several well-known sci-fi movies and commercials. The basin with its Trona Pinnacles, the adjacent Searles Lake salt pan serviced by an unlikely railroad, and flanked by the Slate Range to the east and the Argus Mountains to the west, evokes an ambience that is at once enchanting, eerie, and alien.” Continue reading “Rajan Parrikar’s Pictures from the Mojave Desert”