Photograph

Details of a moment in time, captured for others to see
For the self too, to remember a frame from the past
The combination of the colors that make a piece of matter,
Gain an importance such that it wouldn’t get ever

Reminding me of the time, when I framed the moment
The first rays, directly from the sun
Bringing warmth and light into the earth to make it a day.
Rising from the seas, to the blue sky slowly

Or another one that takes me back in the time,
When I was a child, free of the tensions of the world
Happy, as much as I could be, and filled with energy
Smiling, looking back at the wonderful childhood.

“Classic”-al Music

These days we have grown to like the pop music. It has been very popular in the current times. The top charts, the billboard all are filled with the pop music that we hear around everywhere. This has also made our new generation distant from the classical music. Getting deeper into the world of music leads you slowly to appreciate the finesse of the Classical music of the world.

The classical music has its own beauty. By the classical music I do not mean just our Indian classical music but also the western classical music. There is beauty in its each note. Being played by the instruments that produce the sound naturally through the vibration of the parts of the instruments is just a minor addition to the notes and the chords that are played on. It is an experience that makes them the ‘Classic’. The player has its own part in the music; the emotions of the player are let out by their personal style and their meaning for the music that they play. Making it an ever enjoyable experience for the audience.

The pop music has its way of attraction, the rhythm just gets you in the mind and you follow the tune like the mice and the piper. But the attraction is a limited experience, you get bored and move on to some other new pop. The classical music has been existing for centuries and it has stayed there long enough for the people to know that it is a music that one never grows bored of. Everyone has a taste, but once you hear the Classical Music, it is like the tiger in the forest who has tasted the blood of a human; it won’t get back to eating deer anymore, just like you will not find harmony and melody in the other music of the world. 

Infinity

There are thing that we can only imagine, such as the infinity. To think about something that does not exist in the world is an amazing experience. To the mathematicians, it is a place where the parallel lines meet, where any number of things is divided to no one, and a lot more definitions that altogether mean the same. But the interesting part about infinity is the paradoxes and the philosophies that are related to it.

One such paradox is the Dichotomy Paradox, it is very interesting to think about the infinity that lies within it. It says, to complete a given task, you must first reach to its half, and to complete its half is another task so you must have to complete its half in turn, thus you would have to complete infinite number of such tasks, which is not possible in theory. This is similar to another paradox that says, every two points have a point in between them and thus for a finite distance there exist an infinite points in between. To traverse through the distance would mean to pass through an infinite number of points, which is again not possible in theory. However, there are mathematical solutions to such paradoxes, but there hasn’t been an explanation for the same.

Another interesting theorem is, the infinite monkey theorem, it states that if a monkey hitting keys at random at a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given texts, such as the works of William Shakespeare, the monkey here referring to a machine that randomises the letters that are being typed.

Thinking about the paradoxes and the theorems, is an ecstatic experience to the mind. To imagine the vastness of them, to which there is no limit, boundless. Infinite.

The Choices We Make

How do we decide upon things? A question of importance raised by a friend. Settling on a yes or a no, is the task we face daily on little things as well as the things that matter the most in our lives. Our decision making is a very complex yet interesting process. It is clear, as to every decision that we make leads to a particular future. A future to which when we arrive, we acknowledge the correctness of our decision making in the past. If you can think about the future from the choices you make, and think upon it with a strong accuracy, I believe you would be happy with your decisions.

Every decision that we have to make is always dependent of a number of factors. There are some factors that are important in a particular decision making, and there are many others that have little importance. Our decision making also depends upon the number of factors our brain is able to see through when we decide. It may be just a choice of food you want to order at a restaurant, if you are able to think upon all the different factors that can affect your decision. I believe just after you’ve eaten your meal, you will feel good upon making that decision.

Jotting down important things, is one of the best ways to be smart at your work. Similar, is the case when you are making an important decision. The best way is to write down all the possible factors, things, people that may affect your decision, with the descending order of the strength of effect. This way your brain will have the company of the visual record you just created to think upon your decisions. If you can think openly and freely, you will make the right decision. But there are times when one must decide immediately and it is then, when you must think with calmness; your experience will help.

Night

Haldwani at Night

Night has been a friend of mine for a very long time now. It is the best time of the day for me. The stars come out to twinkle, and there is peace everywhere. Some cities with less pollution give an amazing view of the different constellations in the sky. Watching the satellites moving in the sky, staring at the moon and its craters, from a place where in the daylight, peace is the only thing one wouldn’t find, has a beauty in its own way. The night at a city is the most magnificent time. There are street lights which mark and frame the works of the population. The bigger cities do never sleep, but yet there is a glitter in the night that one might not find in the day time.

The time when I could peacefully write about the random things. This fine time, the mind is filled with thoughts and ideas, and imagination is boosted by the silence. The quietness of the night makes the mind to wonder about the different things of the world. And to break that silence and enjoy music is the most amazing musical experience that anyone could get. Playing the strings of a guitar in the beautiful night, hearing to every note on every string making harmonically, rhythmic sound is the gift of the silence of the night.

The night has always been associated with the devil and the fearsome creatures of the night. The darkness of the night has been very helpful in the creation of the mysteries, myths and the mythical creatures that walk the earth in the night. It has been a source to the creation of a fantasy and fiction that is widely entertained by the world. The night has brought us fear and the thrill.  

Carnival of Joy

The end of the summers is marked with the beginning of the rain. The temperature falls to the standard room temperature and the earth is again a better place to exist. The season also brings the fair into the city. The people who have stayed away from the unbearable heat of the sun are now eager to go and feel the cool and lively season. The fair is one such place people go to. The fair with the crowd, the lights, the music, the snacks, the funny things and the memories is another world of magical experiences.

In the evening, the gates to the entertainment are opened. The time of the day when all work is brought to rest, the fair is brought to life. The colourful lights everywhere, the loud music going on, the adventurous rides and every part of the fair brings a rush of excitement and happiness. There is an enthusiastic joy seen on the faces of everyone in the fair. Looking at the toys being sold by the vendors, reminds me of the toys I had in my childhood, getting a chance to feel them makes a big smile on my face. I get lost in my own memories of childhood, remembering about the rides I would go on, the things I would promise just to purchase a toy. There is a lot of happiness trapped in such a place, ready to charm you with its spirit. The fair comes with all sorts of things, the local culture, the trending customs and experiences, it all reflects the change and the development in the minds of the people. The transformation of the culture in the modern times.

The memories will bring a cheerful smile on your faces. 

Season of the Falling Water

Pouring Heavily

The season of the rain comes with its own set of pleasures and disasters. In the beginning of the season we praise it, for its coming cools our mind and soul from the heat of the summers. As it pours, the drops of water cool the land, the trees and the air. The early showers take the heat from the soil to the sky again in foggy vapours, they bring the life back to the plants that have almost gone dry, cleansing the dust from their leaves and rejuvenating their green, producing a smell that a nature’s lover waits for. It simply is the time when the people want a break from any work that they are doing and long for a chai with some pakodi and a spicy chutney to make it all enjoyable. Another such snack enjoyed in the rain is the roasted corn that grows in the hills. This sweet corn is soft and creamy in texture and is enjoyed to the fullest when eaten on a rainy day, roasted on the wood and flavoured with a salty chutney (harre dhaniyae ka namak). It makes a dull, hot day turn into a day with exciting colours, flavors, and odour.

With the rain there is also destruction and damage. Floods occur, landslides happen, clouds burst, the wrath of the water from the sky is life taking. Chaos is brought upon to the cities and the huge population. The same water that makes a part of the world happy is equally responsible to take the happiness from the lives of many. The balance that the nature maintains to bring happiness and sorrow, unbiased. 

Unforgettable People

Of all the people that I know,
Some exist much long in my mind,
They have a unique persona,
Of which there is no other kind.

                                

One is a smiling face, purely beautiful,

With a glow that keeps your eyes at her,
The wonders of the world seem bleak,

If matched against her altogether.

Another one a jolly friend,
Our tales are to be told with time,
For I have too many memories,
Of him making the trips alive.

The amazing people of my life,
Making my boredom, their prey.
The happiness, which they have brought,
Will live with me, through my days.

Exploring the Cave, Waterfalls

From the Inside

We were very curious to know about that cave that we came across on the Bike Trip. So, on asking around we got some information about the caves in that region. We were surprised to know that we had only found one cave while there were a lot of caves in that area. A pupil from a temple told us about the cave that we encountered. He told us about the size and the depth of the cave, also reminding us about the bats. But we did not know as to when we would have the opportunity to explore that cave.

Extreme Darkness

Two days later, we got the chance again when we came to know that we have our friend back in the city, Himanshu. The three of us, left for the exploration of the cave. It was five on the clock when we made it to the spot. We took photos of the cave while the lights of the bike helped us to see the inside of the dark cave. And after throwing a few stones inside the cave, we went inside. It took us a while when our eyes adjusted to the dark. We were crouching inside the cave, when we realized that it was a cave with a small mouth and a much larger space inside. We stood up and took some photos of the outside world from the cave. We were going deeper when our path leader, Himanshu alarmed us about a bat flying inside the cave. We stopped and could see the bat trying to get near us. It was as afraid of us, as were we of it. So we restricted our cave exploration to the spot.  

Brook

We left the cave and decided to look for some other caves. There were no caves near the roads but as we moved forward on the road we saw some beautiful small waterfalls by the road side. We got on foot and started climbing towards one such fall. As we climbed we saw a beautiful waterfall. It had chilled, foamy water that was producing a refreshing sound as it fell to the rocks below. Enjoying the waterfall we decided to return. The sun had already set. We returned with some beautiful moments.

Biking Adventures with Brother

My brother and I usually are not at home, together, but when we are, we do a lot of trips around the region. My brother, Dhruv had come riding all the way from Gurgaon to Haldwani on his bike, Yamaha R15 recently. Usually he would have come by bus, but this time he brought his bike. So instead of driving, we planned to go riding on his bike. We took no cash, he had fuel left from the earlier journey, and we started off to explore a place that we had only heard of, Amritpur. It is located in the Nainital district of Kumaon, Uttarakhand.

As we departed from the highway to the unexplored areas, we were slowed down by the damaged road. But gradually as we proceeded, the road side cleared to grant us the magnificent view of the river Gaula flowing with its powerful flow of the Monsoon. And moving a bit forward we were glorified with the cool winds of the hills. After a kilometer or so the road was better than what we had experienced. And slowly moving towards the unknown we came across a diversion. While we were thinking of the road to take for today’s exploration we were helped by some travelers. Now we were off to a road which had been recently built.

A few more kilometers passed and we were excited for some adventure. The road was almost free of traffic and as long as we could see the road we saw no vehicles. We came across one or two small villages and then we finally saw an amazing view of the clouds, pouring the waters on the mountain ahead. We stopped to capture the moments. And then we proceeded to a few more amazing photographic spots on the road. Suddenly it started to drizzle and we came across the most awesome place of today’s trip. It was a cave, on a road with no traffic. Our knowledge from the National Geographic and the Discovery Channel stopped us from entering the rocky cave, it was Rainy season and the dark cave would be full of poisonous snakes and insects. And so we ended our exploration by telling each other we would come here again with the necessary equipment to explore the cave. We turned the bike around and took snaps and went to home to tell the tale.

Life & the Earth

The earth that we live in today was not as lively as it looks now. Earth was a part of the sun, and due to the rapid rotation of the sun it was spun out of centrifugal force. It is believed that the earth was a ball of fire revolving around the sun. So being approximately a hundred and fifty million kilometers away from the sun it started cooling. For millenniums it revolved and reduced its temperature to a little above the boiling point of water. Until then there was no water on the earth, and the earth was filled with gases like methane and carbon dioxide. How life came to existence on earth is yet to be discovered but there are two main theories that state the possibility of what might have happened.

Panspermia, this is the theory that most of the scientists believe in. It simply states that life on the earth came from another source, possibly Mars. It may be hard to think but there is evidence that once Mars was a planet with water and thus there is a belief that there was life on Mars. In Panspermia, it is believed that some asteroid struck Mars and led a piece of it containing cellular life (bacteria) towards the earth. Scientists have proof that some bacteria are able to survive in space. Thus it is clearly possible how life would have travelled across the planets of our solar system to reach the earth. Slowly, these microorganisms converted the methane into oxygen and water. But with time, the mightiest evolution happened, the photosynthesis. It led to the creation of plants and trees. It changed the look of the earth from a ball of fire to a green and blue ball of life and water.

Thinking about the different ways in which this could have gone wrong makes me feel even more special. The only planet with intelligent life in the solar system. With such intelligence that they have managed to reach out to the other planets and their satellites. Truly, What a wonderful world!

Music, a Sound from God

Music is the soul of life. Music has an addiction to it. It was not invented by man, it was discovered. Even now, music has its true form in the nature. The soothing sound of the nature observed in the jungles and forests make about the best symphonies known to us. The sweet twittering of the birds in the morning, the sound of water hitting the pebbles in a river, the breeze oozing through the leaves of the trees, the melodious sound of the rain as it touches the earth and many other sounds that are full of energy and are everlasting. When even thinking about them is enough for refreshing the mind, imagine the feeling of its true presence in your ears. Listening to music has always been considered meditation, for it brings our mind in the present where there is melody and harmony to our ears. Forgetting temporarily about the tensions of the past and the future, music helps the mind to escape out into a world of its own.

It is believed that in our culture, the ancient Indian culture, the passing-on of knowledge through generations was done with the songs of knowledge, Vedas. Music, with man’s influence has evolved beautifully. With the duration of time, there had been great musicians in the world. Their contribution to the music has been a blessing to their future generations. Men like Mozart and Beethoven in the west have marked their excellence in music by writing the best symphonies till date. In our country, there had been innumerous musicians with god-gifted sense of music too. With changing times, technology has influenced music to develop the new electric instruments taking music to a whole new level.

 Music is simply vibration, a vibration that is brought back to a mind when it feels joy or sorrow. You hear someone whistling and you know he is happy. Hearing a favorite brings about a mesmerizing sensation in the body.  There is power in music, capable of almost everything. Music is a source of motivation for physical activity. It helps to bring out that last boost of energy you never knew, that existed within. 

Vampires

One of the best fantasies of a teenager is imagining the life, being a vampire. In the modern stories a vampire has a lot of powers. They are like the characters of a love story wherein the story line is modified by the help of the supernatural powers and extraordinary skills. For a teenager this is thought that circles the mind in loneliness. “The things I would do if I were a Vampire” is the thought that comes to the mind when there is sleeplessness in the late hours.

There are actual events in the history that support the existence of vampires. There are stories about a certain time in the region of mountains in Europe when graves were found dug out. There were very strange methods that the people used to find the graves of vampires. They would choose a virgin boy, mount him on a virgin horse, usually black, and would leave them in the graveyard. The grave on which the horse would hesitate to go near would be the grave of a vampire. People would do weird stuff in the name of supernatural. When suspected of vampirism, graves were opened and the bodies were either burned or staked.   

It all started with a story, a novel written by Bram Stoker, Dracula. It was the first story to have featured the blood thirsty creature. With the passage of time, there have been many modifications in the powers and the limitations of the vampire. The Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer and The Vampire Diaries by L J Smith have been a great contribution to the teenage fantasy.

But do they really exist?

Adventure: Soul of Youth

Adventure, travelling, exploring etc. are the words that bring a smile to most of the faces of the young generation along with the tremendous excitation. Travelling gives us the most wonderful and truly great experiences and stories. Talking to people who have travelled, listening to their stories and experiences is just another level of ecstatic experience. They tell you about the people from the different places, their customs and traditions. Even when you sit to tell the stories, you are mentally taken to the same place and you tell ever inch of it in detail. This is something that creates true emotions.

One of the best thoughts that I’ve heard from a traveller is “I don’t drink alcohol. Instead I fill up my car with fuel and explore”. Adventure is the soul of the youth. It has thus been rightly said “Die young, as late as possible”. Travelling is the best exposure that one can get. You learn everything about the place, the people, the customs, the cuisines and, the best part it makes you believe that in spite of all the differences among us, we are all the same.

The photos are just pieces of paper or bytes of data. The story behind the photo is its only value that makes it stay with you forever. The moments are captured in the memory with an everlasting joy. This is just a hint of the amazing experience that an adventure brings. There are a lot of things you could do with the money that you earn. But if you want to buy happiness I guess the best way to do it is to travel the world getting new experiences, meeting people from around the globe, making unforgettable moments and so on.

Bermuda Triangle Mystery

We live in the age of science and sometimes, things happen that cannot be explained by the laws of science that we study in the schools and colleges. There are a lot of mysteries in the world. Unexplained things, places and events that make us believe in the supernatural. There are many things in the world that the Science today cannot explain and among the top comes the Bermuda triangle mystery. 

Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda triangle, as you can see in the picture, is located in the Atlantic Ocean. It has been home to a large number of mysteries that involve the aircrafts and ships getting lost in that particular region. 

The most amazing incident that I know is about a pilot who took off from the islands, from the south of the triangle and was headed towards the giant landmass (Florida). He was on propeller plane which could only go at the limited speed of something around 300 kmph. The distance was so much that he needed to travel for hours and it would mean burning more than 60% of the fuel that he had. On the way through the Triangle he remembered seeing a swirl of the clouds and the shaking of the plane, it took 15 minutes for the clouds to disappear. Meanwhile all his measuring instruments went haywire and he had no clue of his location. On the clearing of clouds he saw his location on the instrument of the plane and it read him being flying above ground. He thought it to be incorrect and suddenly was shocked to see the ground beneath on looking through the window. This made him land his plane at his destination as soon as possible and figure out an explanation for the event that had just occurred. There was none. The fuel in the plane was almost as if the plane had flew for the exact same time the pilot flew it actually which was also confirmed by the flight control taking in the time of flight of the aircraft and its landing. The plane had gone faster than it could go, to cross the triangle at supersonic speeds, with evidence of fuel and time notations.

This is one of the best Bermuda triangle mysteries that I've come across.

Sacred Knowledge of India

There is a lot that we can learn from the ancient Hindu culture and tradition. I am a Hindu and I believe that there is a lot of knowledge that is hidden in our ancient scriptures that we neglect and avoid. Our true mother language, Sanskrit, is the most scientific form of language, which means that it is completely based on rules. Sanskrit is recognised as a religious as well as a philosophical language of the ancient India. With such a great language, there existed an equally great knowledge. Our ancient scripts contains scientific and mathematical knowledge along with the spiritual comprehension.

There are rumours that the Germans wanted to conquer India because they had information about the sacred knowledge India held. I do not know history but it is clear that the Germans are very much interested in the learning Sanskrit. There are almost 1200 schools that teach Sanskrit in Germany. Germans are considered as technologically advanced people. It is thus not too hard to believe that they may have some knowledge from our ancient India.

In our culture, we have stories that contain flight capable machines, the famous Pushpak Vimana. There had been a lot of inventions in India. It is also known that long before the Wright Brothers, Shivkar Bapuji Talpade, an Indian Scholar of Sanskrit Literature and Vedas, had constructed and flown an unmanned air plane in 1895. There are numerous other stories that state that the Indians had invented machines and discovered the mysteries of the nature long before the people of the west. It is due to their own standards of recognition for inventions that the Indians were not accepted as the true masters of their own creation.  There is a bright future if we could imagine the beauty as well as understand the knowledge that our culture has brought to us through generations. 

AfterLife

The Afterlife is one of the things that everyone thinks about.  There are a lot of questions to the mind when we think about death. And the questions remain unanswered. To these unanswered questions we have developed some very interesting theories. The Egyptians believed that the soul lived even after the death. Which is why they left food and goods for the soul to survive the afterlife. The Hinduism believes in the concept of reincarnation; that the body is merely a vessel, and in the event of death the vessel is destroyed but the soul is reborn to a new vessel. Some believe that there is nothing after death. Every religion has its own beliefs.

We all come to an end one day. The history has clearly shown us that not even the greatest of men have not been able to survive the constantly running entity, time. They all lived and died. And thus it is evident that we shall all die. We know what happens to the body when death occurs. But what happens to the mind? We know nothing about.

Today it is fictitious to believe, that we may live till we choose to. We shouldn’t forget that fiction has been becoming reality in this century. The mobile phones that we use were part of a story, Star Wars, a fiction. The possibility is greatly enough now considering the knowledge our race has. The technology that we have today might not be able to live too long but the amazing part of the today’s world is that each day there is something invented, something created, something implemented and something thought upon. With 7.4 Billion people in the world there is huge possibility. The afterlife remains a mystery to which our minds have a great subject to think upon and wonder.

A Thought on our Thoughts

When we are awake and conscious, our brain runs, restless, making up things in the mind. In true words, it collects knowledge from the surrounding and considering the various factors that can affect our thoughts it generates a thought. If you give a little bit of importance and the resources to the mind, it develops an idea upon the thought. A thought can be as simple as, "I want to drive.", now if you can think upon the effort that your brain goes through to generate that thought. It is not just random; you could possibly trace the occurrence of that particular thought in that moment. For that particular thought there could be a very large number of factors that have contributed to the generation of the thought in the mind.

Our brain functions very much like a computer, and we all know that a computer can only respond to some given inputs. Similarly, in the case, our brain must have picked up some input from the surrounding such that it processed out the thought. Being a very complex computer, our brain is able to process the inputs, the signals from our senses like the conscious and subconscious knowledge from the visuals, smells, tastes, feel and sounds. They together help to generate the thought in support from the memory. The thought "I want to drive" may be produced as a result to the person seeing a road or a car or a similar structure, or hearing the sound of a car or hearing something that resembles one, or the smell of his own car. There can be extremely large number of reasons. If you think upon it, you will be able to imagine the vastness of the possibility.

We are truly a magnificent creation. The various things we do and experience are all just amazing. You will believe me if you just think.

Write Rightly

The biggest challenge is what to write about. Most of us have a very good brain, and we develop and pick-up a lot of knowledge from our surroundings. We want to share that knowledge with the world. But a problem comes to us. We sit to think and brainstorm, "What to write about?" and start to get some problems. Ideas start to enter the mind at a high rate. Sometimes this speed is so high that as you begin to write, your mind switches to another topic. Confusion takes you in. You think, "Should I write this?", "I know too less to write on it." or  "I can only write when I have complete and true information".

These are all of the thoughts that came up my mind while I was beginning to write this text. But then I thought more and more and I realised that only thinking is not going to help. You need to begin. Pick a random topic that pops in your mind and start off. Begin with a sentence on the description of the topic and you're off. Write the next two lines in support to the first sentence you wrote. And then recursively write the next two sentences on support to the recently written sentences. As you come to the point where you have written three to four sentences, you will realise that it is very easy. You are likely to arrive at a situation where you have ideas related to your chosen topic but a bit different from the things you have written. Write them too. In fact, write everything that comes to your mind. End, when you believe that you have explained that idea well enough.

The text is written and the task is accomplished. And the mind goes, "Is this good writing?", "Is the topic correct for this text?", "Have I gone in same direction throughout the text?" or the number of doubts that might occur. The final thing to do is to read your text a number of times. It has very great benefits including the one's that clears the doubts that I've mentioned. Reading your currently written text helps you to correct any mistakes.  It has also helps to select a more suitable topic for the text that has just been written.