As a greedy moron, I don't protest. Hoping that I will be spared.

I saw this picture on Facebook. It made me think. (Even if Modi turns out be a genuine pure hearted devta (demi-god). Which I sincerely doubt.) There is something wrong in how most middle class Indians like me think.

Something really wrong.

The current moto of a greedy moron like me seems to be: As long as there is GDP growth, I will turn a blind eye to all injustice. Especially if I am from the majority community with the least chance of being on the receiving end of injustice.

For a while I can keep the point about my morally bankrupt aside.

There are a few logical mistakes even the immoral greedy commoner like me should be aware of, because they could come to bite me:

1. GDP growth is not necessarily Development. For example: More cars do not necessarily mean a healthy living environment for me personally. More high yield cows, does not necessarily mean that hormone laced milk is good for me... I can go on. Growth & development should mean to me, especially if I call my self a citizen of the great India. Just copying US is stupid.

2. When they have killed of the current minority & exhausted their land & resources. They will come for me. I am sure, they can find a way to figure out, how I am anti Indian... maybe my religion, my language, my skin, or maybe just cuz I wrote his blog. This is because the politics of uncivilized capitalism works by living off the blood of the sidelined.

( Kill the Naxals cuz they have the land resources, kill the sikhs cuz the community was getting to powerful in delhi, Kill the muslims cuz that wins ellections....  who will be the next victim.)

And by the way, justice, what is that?

Destiny, free will & all the other good stuff!

Just food for thought. If you u ra busy person, skip this :) .

So, I was reading this article on How the time is right for startups to come and liberate the Hollywood audience, because that industry is dying. Then towards the end I came across this line:

"Whatever people are going to do for fun in 20 years is probably predetermined."

(link to the article)

This line coming from a VC really triggered a light bulb in my mind. Because VCs can be thought of a the very epitome of dog eat dog capitalism. You never associate them with spiritual insights. But I see them as a force fo nature... very much in hukam... especially in tune with how society progresses. So if a VC who takes huge pride in making the right decions, (investing in the right companies.i.e. Free will), can make peace with the the dichotomy of Predetermined & Free will...I have a lot to learn. :)

Sat Kartar.

Understanding the Jap bani

Just wanted to share the most eye opening attempt at translating the Jap bani in modern day English I have ever come across. This is a work in progress project, but these first five articles are worthy of being pronted in gold:

• Understanding Jap
• Pauri 1
• Pauri 2
• Pauri 3
• Pauri 4

Gur fateh.

Fun with Gurbani

We in the Bay area have been involved in some ridiculous amount of fun with Gurbani for the last few months and the group has become our friday evening mainstay. With all of us looking forward to friday everyweek.  Ok, Ok, I know it could just be because of the movie nights, song nights and after veechar parties :)

But still if you are in the Bay area and have some amount of interest in Gurbani, you will love this meetup group: Fun with Gurbani

Oh ya, we also have some amazing langar here too :). 

Shame on Indian Police

Shame. 



What legal steps can we take to stop this kind of ridiculous behavior by goons in the guise of public protectors? ideas anyone?

The problem is not just removing the young man's pride by snatching his dastar (turban), it more so about the high handedness of the system.

The other shameful thing is that whenever these issues come up people make it a hindu vs sikh issue. 


The real issue is that the people in power will never let the common mane stand up for the truth with pride.  


The police should never, be allowed to: 
- Disrespect a persons belief, unless that particular belief is causing harm to others.
- Act differently with rich & poor
- Have different rules of conduct for particular communities 


Lastly they should be limited to use of physical force only in conditions that should be well defined and intended to protect the public, not make the men in khakhi the goons of this new age. 


Sometimes I feel really sad question if India is really an independent country?

Vegetarians of the third kind.

Just a passing observation.

When I was growing up in India, I saw two kind of Vegetarians.

1. Religious veggie: Those who did not consume meat because their religious leader told them so or interpreted their holy teachings as such.


2. Spiritual veggie: Those who wanted to live a more aware life and hence felt the cruelty towards animals can be avoided, since they can live easily on a vegetarian diet.

In both of these cases, they abandoned intoxicants (alcohol in particular) too. The religious people did so, because the leader told them. The spiritual ones did it because they valued their senses and losing control over them was not desirable.

I recently came across a third category of vegetarians: Those who feel either feel empathetic towards animals or have some other global warming theories that convince them to become vegetarian. They dont seem to have any problem in losing control of their senses with intoxicants. I call them the Rational veggies. (Though the intoxication part seems a little irrational to me.)

(Yes i have completely ignored the mom-scared vegetarians who are not so vegi. once they are out of their mom's sight. :)  Actually I fall into another minor subset - roommate veggi "One who is vegetarian for the fear of roommates! JK.)

Coming soon a post on 'Vegan Superpowers' :)-

Epicurean hedonism and startup life

I have been mostly blogging at my other blog (UrbanTurbanGuy) for a while now. But I thought it would be good to cross post this one here. 

About a year ago my roommate introduced me to Epicurean Hedonism. It seemed very different from what my perception of the word 'Hedonism' was. I realized that for a fact only after I spent an in this last year working at a startup and inescapably becoming an Epicurean hedonist.

Before we go in to the story, here are three Epicurian principles for happiness:

1) Friendship: "Of all the things which wisdom has contrived which contribute to a blessed life, none is more important, more fruitful, than friendship"

2) A thoughtful life: "It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly."

3) Moderation/Subsistance: Epicurus advocated living in such a way as to derive the greatest amount of pleasure possible during one’s lifetime, yet doing so moderately in order to avoid the suffering incurred by overindulgence in such pleasure. The emphasis was placed on pleasures of the mind rather than on physical pleasures. Therefore, according to Epicurus, with whom one eats is of greater importance than what is eaten.

Now coming to the startup life:

Well the third point on moderation is easy to understand, since you only make enough to live life in moderation ;). There is the expectation of the big exit, but till then you are working or what you can survie on and you make the best of it. Somehow it is in these resource scarce situations that you I have had the most fun in life. (Those are the stories for later posts.)

Coming to the point of why I wrote this post-
Friendship and a thoughtful life are the two epicurean ideas that stuck with me as emblematic of a bay area startup. You live and die with 5-15 people you work with. You spend countless hours fighting over ideas and then implementing them. There is no escape from understanding each other at a level that you become best friends, if you want your startup to succes. ( In other words if you are not in a dysfunctional startup you will end up with lifelong friends :) ).

More importantly with funding being the constrained you every decision you make has to be well thought through. You are in the game of making bets where the stakes are very high, you feel like Tom Cuise where others think you are writing checks that your startup cant cash (literally and metaphorically). The only way this can work is if you think through every decision deep and hard. Oh and by the way, all the thinking needs to have been done yesterday.

This sense of pleasure, I think, can only be had in the startup world of the valley. ( Especially if tech. is where your passion is.)

- Image via Pottery fan on Wikipedia.

I have no shame in being such a hedonist. 
The question is though is this just a startup thing or just a frame of mind that will manifest in other ways in different life situations?