Tag: Indiblogger

A Country worth Exploring

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Which is the closest country to Australia? If you answered New Zealand, you are wrong. If you answered Indonesia, you are wrong again. Papua New Guinea is the closest country to Australia. Papua New Guinea (PNG), is an independent country that occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean north of Australia. Its capital, located along its southeastern coast, is Port Moresby. The western half of New Guinea forms the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua. Papua New Guinea achieved its independence in 1975 following almost 60 years of Australian administration. PNG is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state. The country has a population of about 8 Million people, has a per capita GDP of $2,283 and is classified as a developing nation by the IMF.

Some interesting facts about PNG:

  1. Papua New Guinea is only 3.7 kilometers away from Australian soil at its nearest point
  2. Papua New Guinea and Indonesia share the island of New Guinea which is one of the world’s largest islands.
  3. It is one of the very few places on earth which lie close to the equator where places at higher altitudes experience snowfall.
  4. PNG is one of the most ecologically and culturally diverse countries.
  5. The world’s only known poisonous bird, the Hooded Pitohui (Pitohui dichrous) is native to Papua New Guinea.
  6. Even until the 1950’s cannibalism and headhunting were rampant in Papua New Guinea.
  7. Until 1933 the country used sea-shells as its national currency. Post that, it switched to the Papua New Guinean Kina (PGK).
  8. 852 languages are listed for PNG, of which 12 have no known living speakers
  9. The highest point in the Independent State of Papua New Guinea is Mount Wilhelm (4,509 m).
  10. PNG is fantastic for birdlife with the famous birds of paradise and 750 different species to look out for. There are tree kangaroos, wallabies but no other real mammals.
  11. Many species of birds and mammals found on New Guinea have close genetic links with corresponding species found in Australia (e.g. kangaroos and possums)
  12. The Great Barrier Reef extends from Australia to almost the edge of Papua New Guinea
  13. The Japanese army suffered their first land defeat in the Pacific War (part of WWII) in 1942 in PNG

If you are interested in visiting PNG the following links might be useful to you:

http://www.pngtia.com/

http://wikitravel.org/en/Papua_New_Guinea

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/papua-new-guinea

http://www.papuanewguinea.travel/birdwatching

http://www.tropicalbirding.com/australasia-tours/new-guinea/papua-new-guinea/

http://world.new7wonders.com/?n7wn-finalist=great-barrier-reef-australia-papua-new-guinea

I will leave you with a couple of videos, one of PNG and one on Birds of Paradise.

Sources:

Article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papua_New_Guinea

http://www.traveller.com.au/have-you-visited-australias-closest-neighbour-papua-new-guinea-ghfi04

http://www.10-facts-about.com/papua-new-guinea/id/898

http://www.factsking.com/countries/papua-new-guinea/

https://papuanewguineacasestudy.wikispaces.com/Learn+More+about+Papua+New+Guinea,+Fun+Facts!

http://travelpost.noble-caledonia.co.uk/articles/papua-new-guinea-interesting-facts-travel-tips

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird-of-paradise

Photos:

http://missionpng.com/PNGScene.htm

https://pucpng.wordpress.com/

http://www.globaldivingadventures.com/expedition-papua-new-guinea/

Note: This post has been written for IndiSpire Edition 116: ‘Choose a country you don’t know much about. Now read up/ research about it. And tell us something interesting about it. Can be anything – history, politics, music or whatever tickles your fancy.  #DiscoverACountry’

Mirror mirror on the wall who is the most ritualistic of them all?

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Question Mark

It has become fashionable these days to question anything and everything related to beliefs and sentiments of Indians, especially anybody of knowledge or way of living handed to us by our earlier generation. Sadly it’s the Indians who indulge in this activity more than westerners. ‘In this age’…. Wow, I like the phrase, it makes me feel like mortality has been conquered, Planets unknown until recently have been colonized, India has become the richest and the most equitable country in the universe, Elephants and Apes are signing in Opera Houses, Humans have stopped unleashing hell on each other in the name of ideology and men have started giving birth to babies. None of the above have become true and the fact is that this age is not much different from the by-gone ones.

It seems to me that to some us anything that our elders taught us is ritualistic, burdensome and not relevant anymore. Going to a place of worship on an auspicious day…. That’s too ritualistic. Touching the feet of our elders… that is so uncool. Living in harmony with nature…that’s not relevant to this age. We are quick and proud to declare that each one of these is just a solace to fight our fears and insecurities. We are one hundred percent sure that our ancestors were delusional crackpots who made our life miserable by making us dance to the tunes of meaningless rituals. ‘To Hell with the Rituals.’

Well, let’s look at some of the super-cool episodes from the rational life and ultra-modern age of ours. When a bunch of friends want to meet, the place that we choose is most often a bar and we can’t discuss about the happenings in our life without gulping a few glasses of alcohol. Does this not sound like a ritual? When a bunch of youngsters want to travel bike from one place to another, they have to ride without wearing helmets, have to over speed on the roads and honk horns like hell. Does this not sound like a ritual? Any new movie has to be watched on the day of its release and we have to perform abhishekam to the hero’s cutout wasting either our or our parent’s hard earned money. Does this not sound like a ritual?  Smoking has become so integral to the act of colleagues taking a break from work for a chat, that the session is popularly called as ‘Sutta Socializing Session.’ If this is not a ritual what else would you call as a ritual?

Oh let’s not forget our trips to malls and shopping therapies every single weekend. How about evening after evening spent watching IPL, ISL and Pro Kabbaddi matches? How about a ‘Facebook Like’ for every random post by our friends and ‘Updates on Twitter’ for every trivial action of ours? How about compulsory selfies at get-togethers? What about the mother of all modern day rituals – Valentine’s Day Celebration? Isn’t showering lover or spouse with cards, gifts, flowers and lavish dinners at upscale restaurants on one particular day every year a ritual?

The fact is Beer Bash, Valentine’s Day Celebration and Over Speeding on Roads are as much ritualistic as visiting a place of worship or fasting for religious reasons. The last two are rituals that have been handed down to us and the first three are the ones that we ourselves have added to the list. Nothing more and nothing less. The reasons attributed to each one of them may vary. The demographics of the population indulging in each of these activities may vary as well. Value systems, aside each of these rituals is a method to the madness for traversing through the chaos called Life. The Indian way of life is very flexible. After all we are not a nation that restrict our political sphere to only two political parties. We have hundreds of languages and multiple religions. We have as much choice possible in most issues that are important to us. What matters is that each one of us rationally chooses a way of life that is meaningful and provides satisfaction to us. What is even more important is not to mock, ridicule or look down upon the way of life that is suitable to another person. Let’s make ‘Mutual Respect to Each Other,’ the foundation for our ‘Indian Way of Living.’

Note: This post is written for IndiSpire – Edition 115: ‘We Indians give too much importance to rituals…visiting a temple on a particular day, fasting for religious reasons…are these relevant in this age? Or they are just a solace to fight our fears and insecurities? #rituals’

My Blogging Story

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I created my first blog on ‘Blogger’ platform and named it as ‘Eastern Sputnik.’  Sputnik means ‘travelling companion,’ since I was interested in travelling and am from the eastern world I gave the above said name to my blog. A colleague of mine mentioned to me at that time that the name does not make much sense; however in order to avoid going in a tangent, let me skip that discussion. My first post was ‘Religion – Should we Believe in it or not!’ I continued publishing posts on this blog though only very sporadically; in all I published only 11 posts from March 2007 to May 2010 and I had only 2 followers, both of them my friends. Then I completely forgot about blogging.

After a long hiatus I decided to get back to blogging. But instead of continuing at my blogspot blog, I decided to create a new one at WordPress (based on the advantages that WordPress offered over Blogspot). I named the blog as ‘Yogi’s Blogosmos’ a combination on Blog and Cosmos. I posted my first post ‘Success’ on October 19, 2014. I use this as a personal blog to post personal narratives, book reviews, free-verse & haiku poems and photos. I have posted 105 posts including this one and so far I have 91 followers. One of the biggest motives of starting a blog is to get into a habit of writing. But soon I realized that not everything that I write is fit to be posted. Hence I started maintaining a journal to scribble whatever comes to my mind and then I decided on which ones to post to my blog.

Based on a friend’s advice, I enrolled in IndiBlogger to popularize my blog. At the start of the year I decided to use the prompts posted in ‘IndiSpire’ to write blog posts. After religiously writing based on these prompts, I found that some of the prompts are not to my liking and are not in my interest areas. These days I check the IndiSpire prompt every week and if I find that interesting then I publish a post based on the prompt like this post which is based on IndiSpire edition 114: ‘Tell us your blogging story. When did you start? Why did you start? Everything.’

At the beginning of the year I made a resolution to publish at least two blog posts a week. I have been falling back on that target. Discipline is still a big issue when it comes to blogging or maintaining my journal. I am happy with the progress that I have made so far but I also realize that there is a long way to go. Blogging has given me a platform to publish my thoughts and helped me to improve my writing skills. As a result of trying earnestly to improve my writing skills, this year I had my first piece of published work in an anthology. I have come a long way on my writing journey which has been an enjoyable and exciting one so far.

Education System

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Education System in India a mass stereotype transportation system (MSTS). All through the school years you are made to believe that getting on to the ‘Professional Education’ Express is your life’s only mission. When you do discover that ‘‘Professional Education’ Express is actually a ‘Professional Education Passenger Train’ that carries millions to unsure destination, you are made to take the ‘Masters Express is awesome’ bait. And so on and on it goes every year for every individual entering India’s Education System. At the end of these ‘Rides of Illusion,’ you are left with the realization that you had boarded the wrong trains and have reached the wrong destination and detours are going to be costly and enervating.

Regarding grades: well I would like to brush it all aside as a hyperbole, but it does what it is supposed to do. However the fact that the focus of education system is not a balanced one, some of the people who are well suited for real life might not get high grades. Examples: The first guy to open his own firm (a successful one) from my school batch consistently finished in the bottom third of the class in 10th and 12th; the first guy to become an AVP from my college batch was not in the Toppers list; the first guy to become an AVP from my MBA batch was one of the last few to get placed on placement day. Agreed this is only the professional side of the story, but you get the gist of my message. I can still quote examples of people who are successful in all walks of their life but their grading during school or college would not have served as a leading indicator for their current success.

Note: This post has been written for Indiblogger’s Indispire edition 109: ‘Education system of India is more focused on bookish knowledge rather than practical knowledge. Still students are judged on basis of their report card. Give your opinions on this subject.’

 

Happiness

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Happiness is an eternal quest. Happiness is a mirage. Happiness is like passing clouds. There are two kinds of happiness: Happiness that we derive by doing the things that we like and happiness that we derive by doing the right things irrespective of whether we like it or not. Happiness is not a one-size fits all suit. The activities that lead to happiness in one stage of our life will not lead to happiness in a different stage in life; it might look outright absurdity too. Happiness can’t be expressed well with words but we can recognize moments when we were/are happy (if we are not evaluative or critical).

While I am sleeping do I actually know that I am sleeping? The moment that I try to gauge my level of happiness or if I am happy at all, I am no happier. Happiness can be achieved by being in the moment. Happiness is the fuel that drives life forward. Without happiness, that sense of well-being, what is the point of the pursuit called life? It is better to identify the unique set of activities and things from which we derive happiness than being driven in pursuit of the social stereotypes of happiness. Enough of the philosophical rhetoric on happiness.

Now to the practical aspect of how I experience happiness in my daily life. To me happiness is series of little moments scattered across my entire lifetime. My pursuit of happiness is as unique as me. Below are the list of things/ activities that give/have given me happiness at different times:

  • Unexpected rain on a summer day
  • A sip of water post a bite of chilly
  • Patience to laugh at my own follies
  • The wag of tail by man’s best friend
  • Strange sounds of feathery vagabonds
  • Extended slumber sessions on a holiday
  • The roses that blossom in my rose plant
  • A timeless statue smiling at me in vanity
  • Reading a favorite book at a leisurely pace
  • Kind words by my wife in times of distress
  • Playing a prank on my sisters and friends
  • Unspent money in the wallet at month-end
  • Eternal race of endless waves on the seashore
  • The moment a favorite dish melts in my mouth
  • Pretending to lose to my child in a boxing match
  • A cocktail of music that takes me on a time travel
  • An endless road inviting to an unexplored journey
  • Walk on the seashore while enjoying dawn or dusk
  • Droplets of water hanging on to a leaf like dear life
  • A game of cricket with old buddies on a lazy Sunday
  • The radiant smile of my child after a hard day’s work
  • The aroma of freshly baked bread as I walk past a bakery 
  • A cold water bath of hot day and hot water bath on a cold day
  • A favorite movie whose dialogues that I can remember by heart
  • Stumbling upon an old friend in a crowded market in a new city
  • The new language scripted by my daughter when she started talking
  • As a young boy, holding my parents hands when we went out for a walk
  • The tiny dot of light turning the endless canvas called sky into infinite shades
  • A fraction of heat from the tea mug that seeps into my palm on a cold morning

 

Note: This post has been written for Indiblogger’s Indispire edition 108: ‘What does happiness mean to you? Do you go looking for happiness?’

Pirates in the Ocean called Democracy

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“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the people discover they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy–to be followed by a dictatorship.”  ― Alexander Fraser Tytler (Scottish advocate, judge, writer and historian)

“Government! Three fourths parasitic and the other fourth stupid fumbling.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land

“The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.”–Albert Einstein

Hindi Saying: “Dhobi ka kutta, na ghar ka, na ghat ka’” which roughly translates to “Neither here, nor there.”

The political class of this country has to take care of the people at the bottom of the pyramid (at least once in a while) because they form the bulk of the voting population; these people basically sign the politicians’ appointment order to rule the country. The politicians worship the rich men of this country because they generously fund, albeit without much transparency, the political parties. The Tax paying population is actually in no man’s land with nobody to care for them. In fact the maxim for the tax paying population could be: ‘I Pay Taxes Therefore I Am.’ If a history book is to be written about Independent India’s achievement, the tax paying population would be mentioned just in the footnotes: ‘All the achievements of this country were funded by the country’s generous, unsuspecting and helpless tax payers.’ The only reason that we ever matter to the country is because we pay taxes, Period. Our true existence is for politicians to use our tax money to indirectly pay incentives to the poor people to elect them. It’s a good old carrot and stick approach: The politician get the carrot and the taxpayer gets the stick!

The tax payer is the poor soul caught between hell (inflation) and high water (government) that ensure that his or her hard earned money is used lesser and lesser for his or her own well-being with each passing year. The Indian Taxpayers are like the poor oxen used by a farmer to plough his barren land. The farmer (Politician) knows fully well that his land (Indian Economy) has been rendered barren (in bad shape) by his greed (rampant corruption) and nature (global economic situation), yet he expects that by making the oxen (tax payer) work harder (pay more taxes/ forego subsidies) he can get better returns (continued support from the voting population).

The Indian Tax payer is like the bonded slave of Colonial India. We are bonded for life to pay taxes to the government. We have an eternal duty to pay taxes but no right to ensure that the money that we pay as taxes is spent wisely. We pay taxes and travel in potholed roads but our tax money will used to provide free television for the Needy!!! We pay taxes and endure innumerable power cuts every year while our money is used not to build power plants or public schools or hospitals but in some arcane, utopian and symbolic public scheme that ensures the most votes for the politician who announces the scheme.

The first thing that we should be willing to keep open during our travel in this country using our personal vehicles: ‘Our Purse.’ Why should we, the tax payers pay toll duties at every toll booth? We already pay duties (taxes) to the government every month. And shouldn’t that duty (taxes) that we pay be used to build the roads. Shouldn’t the non-taxpayer who uses his own mode of transport be the one who should pay toll duties? In free India, the Indian tax payer is probably paying more duties/ tributes to the Indian Government Machinery than paid by Indians of Colonial India to their British Masters.

By the time we understand what one type of tax actually means and how much it will offset us, the government roles out yet another tax or cess. Income Tax, Professional Tax, Property Tax, Value Added Tax/ Service Tax, Toll Fees, Excise Duties, Entertainment Tax, Fuel Surcharge, Education Cess, Swachh Bharat Cess, etc., the list of assault on the tax payers income is endless. Just like the omnipresent microbes that threaten the physical well-being of individuals, the government imposed taxes and its bad policies threaten the financial well-being of the taxpayer. What is the success rate of various populistic scheme rolled out by the government? Shouldn’t the tax payer have some say in the way his or her money is spent?

What have successive governments done to broaden the tax net? What have successive governments done to catch hold of the tax evaders? What have successive governments done to bring back black money holed up in tax heavens? What have successive governments done to plug the leakages in the public distribution systems? What have successive governments done to roll back various privileges and subsidies being bestowed upon politicians and parliamentarians? The answers is an EMPHATIC NOTHING.

Politicians mask their incompetence by running media campaigns about how a Good Samaritan has to give up his or her LPG subsidy. The LPG subsidy to the taxpayer is just a drop in the ocean of government spending. The LPG subsidy to the tax payer is like ‘a pimple on an ant’s rear’: It is awfully small compared to various other spending by the government.  Lawmakers, ‘Please address the real issues that are setting back this country before you target the tax payer once again.’ I guess not only in kids’ stories but in real life as well, the greedy owner (government) is hell-bent on killing the goose (tax payer) that lays the golden egg (taxes).

Why does someone who makes above 10 lakhs of income have to forego subsidies whereas parliamentarians with crores worth of personal assets enjoy subsidies and privileges of various kind? Why can’t we roll back various tax benefits given to the largest of Indian companies? How about taxing super rich of the country on any money that they have not used in productive, job creating investments (holding idle) for more than a period of, say five years? Well parliamentarians of India, ‘Please lead by example. Please say no to all the privileges that you enjoy.’ Ultimately what is the difference between the pirates of medieval times who used weapons to loot ships in high seas for their own benefit and modern day governments that use the threat of the law to make taxpayers part with their hard earned money which these governments eventually spend as they wish with absolutely zero accountability?

Note: This post has been written for IndiSpire Edition #100: ‘Gas Subsidy has been ended for people with income more than 10 Lac and prices hiked. What is your take on this decision?’

 

Books I Read in 2015

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I read more than a dozen books in 2015, most of them in the non-fiction category, a couple of them in the fiction category and a couple of Haiku handbooks. Given below are my favorite books among the ones that I read in 2015.

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl: This book is written by Nazi concentration camp survivor and a Psychotherapist Viktor Frankl. He is in fact the founder of third Viennese school of Psychotherapy, ‘Logotheraphy.’  The first part of the book deals with the recollection of Viktor Frankl’s time in multiple Nazi concentration camps through his Psychotherapist lens. The second part goes on to give a brief overview about ‘Logotheraphy.’ According to Viktor Frankl, ‘Life is a quest for Meaning. The great task for any person is to find meaning in his or her life.’ The book is about a man whose soul got enlightened and strengthened by the darkest days of his life and at the most inhuman of places.

Choose Yourself by James Altucher: I read a free version of ‘Choose Yourself’ in 2014. I liked the book so much that when I decided to re-read it in 2015, I decided to buy a copy and then read it. The book is written by a serial entrepreneur who has seen both his hey-days as well as professional abyss. The book is about how to reinvent ourselves, reinvent our goals and career. The book is about how to ‘Choose Ourselves’ and ‘Take Charge of our Life.’ The writing style of the author is completely different from that of most other authors of self-help books; he does not use a paternalistic tone and goes on to state that the world around us has changed and we better change for our own good.

The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt: This book by Social Psychologist Jonathan Haidt is about the origins of positive psychology in ancient wisdom and the applications of positive psychology today. The authors takes ten great ideas from world’s ancient civilization, analyses them using (social) science research principles and synthesizes the lessons that are still relevant to our present day lives.

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams: This book provides a sneak-peek into Scott Adams’ life and the lessons that we can use to improve our lives. While it is very easy to assume that a very successful person like Scott Adams’ might have tasted success from the word go, in reality his life has not been a bed of roses. He has faced a number of failures before and after Dilbert. I liked the fact that most of the chapters are short, crisp and clear. Overall the book is a delight to read and has a healthy mix of success advice, insights from Scott Adams’ life, humor and Dilbertoons.

Springboard by G. Richard Shell: This book is a complete success workbook that is filled with a number of exercises that helps us to reflect on what success is to us and how can we go about achieving it in our life. The book does a very good job of explaining the multi-dimensional aspect of success and the various trade-offs and pitfalls of following the cultural and societal stereotypes of success. The book could serve as a virtual mentor for people who have difficulty finding a real-life mentor.

The 5 Lessons 2015 has taught me

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As I look towards 2016 with hope and optimism for all the opportunities that lie ahead, I am writing this blog post about the five key lessons that that I have learnt in 2015.

Life is Fragile: The havoc caused by incessant rains in November and December 2015 in Tamil Nadu have shown the fragility of life. Nothing is guaranteed. We need to appreciate and be thankful for the good things in our life. The rains also showed the power of the human mind to bounce back after set-backs.

A Good Book is a True Friend: I realized how the saying ‘a good book is a true friend’ is actually true. I spent reading multiple, mostly non-fiction books throughout the year. The more I read, I realized the more there is to read. Books actually gave new perspective on a lot of issues that I have encountered in the past.  In this world full of noise and negativity, books can be a true lighting beacon for the mind.

Life would be just fine without Television: My TV viewing habit has been waning in the last few years. This year I almost avoided TV, viewing it only during dinner time (about 20 – 30 minutes per day). I realized that I did not miss watching television much. I realized that I did not like reality shows (too much artificial drams) and news (too much focus on negative news). I used the freed up time to read books that were of interest to me.

There is happiness to be had in pursuit: I started blogging in late 2014. 2015 was the first full year of blogging for me. As the year progressed I realized that writing is something that I enjoyed. I posted some of the articles that I thought were worth sharing. Finishing an article or journal entry, editing it and the posting it on the blog gave me a sense of momentary happiness. It was a nice feeling to reach these small milestones throughout the year.

It’s no shame to fall; to remain fallen is a shame: A friend of mine once told me a Tamil saying which roughly translates to: ‘It’s no shame to fall; to remain fallen is a shame.’ As the year 2015 progressed, this saying is something that I reminded myself on various occasions when things did not proceed as expected and I was slipping back on my goals. Each time I slipped back on my goals, be it writing journal entries or blogging or my morning walks, I used this saying to motivate myself to get back on the right track.

Note: I wrote this post for IndiBlogger’s IndiSpire Edition 98 topic ‘What are the 5 Lessons 2015 has taught you?’