Look forward to new year!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Happy New Year 2013
Down with muscle tear, hope to recover soon and get back on road:
Look forward to new year!
Look forward to new year!
Monday, October 29, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
Richard Dawkins
It would be dream come true if I can have conversation with him on evolution, but for now I just love the guy for his very true quote :
We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.
Richard Dawkins,
The Root of All Evil", UK Channel 4, 2006
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
I am not proud to be an Indian
So when I was growing up, "Proud to be Indian" was the poem we used to read on daily bases at School. So when we talk about other country, we are proud to be Indian, when I go to other States for visit, used to talk about proud to be the State I belong to (Gujarat), when I go to other Cities, used to talk about proud to be City I belong to (Ahmadabad). Never could understand, where does it really ends... Majority of the time it was just so all confusing..
So Geographic borders are primarily made by Humans, and majorly by highly violent and greedy people who went to wars/battles for their own greedy interest and did nothing to make Human life better. And am I really supposed to be proud of the borders they created? I am not.. In fact, I have major problems with everything human created to control other humans.
I think like many other things (religion, government, etc.), George Carlin cleared up this doubt in matter of seconds (or let's say minutes). Being Indian is not a skill, it is literally f**cking genetic accident. Same way, I don't need to be proud to be 5' 10', Men, Brown or such similar things which are just given to me as part of my birth certificate..
So I think being Indian is just what I am, nothing that I am (or need to be) proud about.
PS: Without any doubt, George Carlin is probably the most meaningful person ever lived. I am not referring to the way he lived, but referring to analyze what he said throughout his life. Considering him just comedian would be biggest mistake you could ever make. His shows should be part of curriculum activities as case study.
So Geographic borders are primarily made by Humans, and majorly by highly violent and greedy people who went to wars/battles for their own greedy interest and did nothing to make Human life better. And am I really supposed to be proud of the borders they created? I am not.. In fact, I have major problems with everything human created to control other humans.
I think like many other things (religion, government, etc.), George Carlin cleared up this doubt in matter of seconds (or let's say minutes). Being Indian is not a skill, it is literally f**cking genetic accident. Same way, I don't need to be proud to be 5' 10', Men, Brown or such similar things which are just given to me as part of my birth certificate..
So I think being Indian is just what I am, nothing that I am (or need to be) proud about.
PS: Without any doubt, George Carlin is probably the most meaningful person ever lived. I am not referring to the way he lived, but referring to analyze what he said throughout his life. Considering him just comedian would be biggest mistake you could ever make. His shows should be part of curriculum activities as case study.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Vegetarian
Was trying to debate with myself : Why am I vegetarian? Would I recommend someone?
Let's start with : Why
It was really mind set
I grew up in strict vegetarian and highly religious family, and such rules were embedded into the mindset. It was quite simple : eating vegetarian is right and eating meat/fish is just wrong.
Then it was religion
There might be some credit to internal spirit (which I mostly call simply guts with experience), but region is just a plain bullshit . I was vegetarian in my early childhood mostly because of religious belief but in early teens I started having serious issues with religion and took me a while before I could finally ditch the whole concept about religion, God and their divine plan.
Then it was culture
(definition: the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture. ) I think I always had a problem with man made stuff - mostly to control human beings. Be it government, religion, society or culture. It does adds some values, but does a lot worse to humanity. Anyways, as was growing up, I become part of the culture around me and challenging the culture never went well with me.
Then it was just habit
Regardless habit is good or bad, it closely follows Le Chatelier's principle, and we mostly resist to the changes. Hence, being vegetarian was just a habit.
Then it was thought of animal cruelty
Yeah, saving the animals, and cruelty. Really? I saw somebody outside the zoo eating the hotdog and holding the poster to be worried that animal should be freed and doesn't have enough space to move. For me, this was quite obvious to laugh about. Well, but when I dig deeper I was no different than him. Showing off avoiding animal cruelty, and living the "civilized" life, where every single of my need causing direct or indirect harm to rest of the animals on planet.
E.g. deforestation to build houses or a industrial factory, destroying amazon forest to build corn for fuel, etc.. list just goes on and on..
It was not very hard to realize that directly or indirectly humans have just become greedy criminal highly consuming species, and every single one of them wants to produce two more!
Then it was confusion and may be regret
Yeah, I did. I think mostly when I was traveling and going for business dinners and ending up with fried or cheese plate, and someone else eating decent cut of salmon fish. It did make me feel really bad that sometime being vegetarian limits your options and that leads to rather unhealthy life style.
Then it was more purity (hope to remain that way)
Learning Gerson was life changing event. Earlier as Vegetarian, had no clue what was healthy. I could be enjoying healthy vegetarian Indian meal at Indian restaurant (cooked to the death and then added butter on top of it), or shopping through isles of Costco (highly processed or barely organic supplies), and having organic juices from isle, and considering living health life. I am not big organic food fan, but seeing what Monsanto does, Organic was not choice, it was a necessity. Fresh-raw/lightly cooked organic veggies, organic fruits, nuts, tons of sprouted beans, boiled sweet/regular potatoes have almost become 90% of my diet.
At the end it still comes down to mindset
I think eating a piece lean meat (or fish) could be much more healthier than over cooked, over heated, salted and/or fried veggies. And I think in general, specially western culture, veg - meat option are probably not a great idea - e.g. steaks, hotdogs, burger... I still think the Asian cooking style with tons of veggies and hint of meat, still seem to be a better and healthier style. With knowing what I know, I still prefer to be Vegetarian. 99% because of healthy style but 1% is still deep down because of mind set. It is just embedded in my brain's microprocessor in early childhood. I never my see myself eating meat/fish, unless one day it becomes life threatening situation.
So just wanted to see how far I can take this 1% of mindset. E.g. the person eating insect happens to claim the same things, why we are not eating insects - just mindset. How far it can go? Why we are not eating dogs/cats/rats? and brings up even bigger question: why not humans? Is it just a mindset? Religion and government has no problem killing humans as soon as someone comes on their way. (if you kill the cow, next thing you do, is you make the burger..). Well, I know I am way off crossing my humanity limits and being really disgusting, but hey, I thought killing fish/deer was also cruel and disgusting, but it still happens (actually for millions, it is a hobby..)
Would I recommend someone to be vegetarian
Nope, not really. But I definitely would recommend to understand all aspect of your life style (budget/location/traveling), and build set of rules to get best out of it. As vegetarian, I still built set of rules for myself and I could apply in pretty much all condition I have been to or plan to and I would still end up in OK state.
Let's start with : Why
It was really mind set
I grew up in strict vegetarian and highly religious family, and such rules were embedded into the mindset. It was quite simple : eating vegetarian is right and eating meat/fish is just wrong.
Then it was religion
There might be some credit to internal spirit (which I mostly call simply guts with experience), but region is just a plain bullshit . I was vegetarian in my early childhood mostly because of religious belief but in early teens I started having serious issues with religion and took me a while before I could finally ditch the whole concept about religion, God and their divine plan.
Then it was culture
(definition: the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture. ) I think I always had a problem with man made stuff - mostly to control human beings. Be it government, religion, society or culture. It does adds some values, but does a lot worse to humanity. Anyways, as was growing up, I become part of the culture around me and challenging the culture never went well with me.
Then it was just habit
Regardless habit is good or bad, it closely follows Le Chatelier's principle, and we mostly resist to the changes. Hence, being vegetarian was just a habit.
Then it was thought of animal cruelty
Yeah, saving the animals, and cruelty. Really? I saw somebody outside the zoo eating the hotdog and holding the poster to be worried that animal should be freed and doesn't have enough space to move. For me, this was quite obvious to laugh about. Well, but when I dig deeper I was no different than him. Showing off avoiding animal cruelty, and living the "civilized" life, where every single of my need causing direct or indirect harm to rest of the animals on planet.
E.g. deforestation to build houses or a industrial factory, destroying amazon forest to build corn for fuel, etc.. list just goes on and on..
It was not very hard to realize that directly or indirectly humans have just become greedy criminal highly consuming species, and every single one of them wants to produce two more!
Then it was confusion and may be regret
Yeah, I did. I think mostly when I was traveling and going for business dinners and ending up with fried or cheese plate, and someone else eating decent cut of salmon fish. It did make me feel really bad that sometime being vegetarian limits your options and that leads to rather unhealthy life style.
Then it was more purity (hope to remain that way)
Learning Gerson was life changing event. Earlier as Vegetarian, had no clue what was healthy. I could be enjoying healthy vegetarian Indian meal at Indian restaurant (cooked to the death and then added butter on top of it), or shopping through isles of Costco (highly processed or barely organic supplies), and having organic juices from isle, and considering living health life. I am not big organic food fan, but seeing what Monsanto does, Organic was not choice, it was a necessity. Fresh-raw/lightly cooked organic veggies, organic fruits, nuts, tons of sprouted beans, boiled sweet/regular potatoes have almost become 90% of my diet.
At the end it still comes down to mindset
I think eating a piece lean meat (or fish) could be much more healthier than over cooked, over heated, salted and/or fried veggies. And I think in general, specially western culture, veg - meat option are probably not a great idea - e.g. steaks, hotdogs, burger... I still think the Asian cooking style with tons of veggies and hint of meat, still seem to be a better and healthier style. With knowing what I know, I still prefer to be Vegetarian. 99% because of healthy style but 1% is still deep down because of mind set. It is just embedded in my brain's microprocessor in early childhood. I never my see myself eating meat/fish, unless one day it becomes life threatening situation.
So just wanted to see how far I can take this 1% of mindset. E.g. the person eating insect happens to claim the same things, why we are not eating insects - just mindset. How far it can go? Why we are not eating dogs/cats/rats? and brings up even bigger question: why not humans? Is it just a mindset? Religion and government has no problem killing humans as soon as someone comes on their way. (if you kill the cow, next thing you do, is you make the burger..). Well, I know I am way off crossing my humanity limits and being really disgusting, but hey, I thought killing fish/deer was also cruel and disgusting, but it still happens (actually for millions, it is a hobby..)
Would I recommend someone to be vegetarian
Nope, not really. But I definitely would recommend to understand all aspect of your life style (budget/location/traveling), and build set of rules to get best out of it. As vegetarian, I still built set of rules for myself and I could apply in pretty much all condition I have been to or plan to and I would still end up in OK state.
Litmus test
Wish I could learn something from Peter Diamandis and apply his thoughts to my life. It would be really helpful to have something like inexpensive pocket health checker .
Anyways, future being future, was just trying to find a true litmus test of everyday life. I think complete health checkup or blood test is not affordable on daily basses and weight scale, BMI, waist size are great indicator but doesn't change that fast.
I think in general litmus test of life quality can be boiled down to how well you are doing in:
restroom and bedroom
(when I am talking about bedroom I am not just referring to sleep :)
I guess work-financial stress, relationship, overall health, eating habits, exercise, tiredness, pretty much all are going to affect above two in very dramatic sense. When I see a significant change in above two, I reevaluate my current life and commit to the change in 72 hours period.
Anyways, future being future, was just trying to find a true litmus test of everyday life. I think complete health checkup or blood test is not affordable on daily basses and weight scale, BMI, waist size are great indicator but doesn't change that fast.
I think in general litmus test of life quality can be boiled down to how well you are doing in:
restroom and bedroom
(when I am talking about bedroom I am not just referring to sleep :)
I guess work-financial stress, relationship, overall health, eating habits, exercise, tiredness, pretty much all are going to affect above two in very dramatic sense. When I see a significant change in above two, I reevaluate my current life and commit to the change in 72 hours period.
I run
Not that I consider myself athletic now, but I grew up in India pretty much playing no sports. I sucked at Cricket - never played, never watched and so never bothered about it with exception of probably a game or two in early 2000. To certain limit, that does eliminate your options of getting interested in sports in India. Also indulging myself in studies and work, was another big reason (or excuse).
Fast forwarding to 2005, I really started enjoying running, could run about 2 to 3 miles, but that was about it. Gym was also fun, but didn't last too long. Became slacker and within 6/7 months back to where I was.
Fast forwarding to 2008, working for myself, 100% traveling and late night fast food dinners made me 210 pounds (from 150 in 2002) in 2010 January, with waist size of 37 (30 in 2002). That was life changing event, some time you just don't change till it gets worse enough ... Anyways, foundation was formed, priority was changed. I made lifetime commitment that I will change - for myself and for my family. The only question left was how...
Started rigorous exercising, changing diet plans, cutting on traveling, and a lot more.. Hit the first major road block in less than 2 months. I was doing ski on Feb 6th 2010 (I guess it was my 2nd or 3rd lesson), and lost control, and there it goes. Major accident and ended up completely ruining my ACL in right knee. After more than 2 years, I think that was just best thing happened to me - personally, financially, health wise and changing the life priorities.
I could not run/jump, not even walk for more than a mile in 2010, so decided to go for ACL reconstruction on March 21st, 2011. Undergoing, intense physical therapy, and took me a while to recover as I was not athletic to begin with. Even now, I can not sit at one place for longer than 30/40 minutes or would experience some amount of pain for a minute or so.
Anyways, I started running in January of 2012, .5 miles, made it to good 1 to 2 miles by mid of February. I was once traveling in March 2012 and 24 hr fitness was quite far, so I ended up going the hotel's gym and they only had treadmill. By end of week, I almost could run to 3.1 miles. Woo-ha, I pass through the plateau which I had in 2005. It was the time to take it to next level.
March 17th, 2012 : 5k
April 7th, 2012 : half marathon
Not sure how far it will go, but hope to keep it up as much as I can.
Fast forwarding to 2005, I really started enjoying running, could run about 2 to 3 miles, but that was about it. Gym was also fun, but didn't last too long. Became slacker and within 6/7 months back to where I was.
Fast forwarding to 2008, working for myself, 100% traveling and late night fast food dinners made me 210 pounds (from 150 in 2002) in 2010 January, with waist size of 37 (30 in 2002). That was life changing event, some time you just don't change till it gets worse enough ... Anyways, foundation was formed, priority was changed. I made lifetime commitment that I will change - for myself and for my family. The only question left was how...
Started rigorous exercising, changing diet plans, cutting on traveling, and a lot more.. Hit the first major road block in less than 2 months. I was doing ski on Feb 6th 2010 (I guess it was my 2nd or 3rd lesson), and lost control, and there it goes. Major accident and ended up completely ruining my ACL in right knee. After more than 2 years, I think that was just best thing happened to me - personally, financially, health wise and changing the life priorities.
I could not run/jump, not even walk for more than a mile in 2010, so decided to go for ACL reconstruction on March 21st, 2011. Undergoing, intense physical therapy, and took me a while to recover as I was not athletic to begin with. Even now, I can not sit at one place for longer than 30/40 minutes or would experience some amount of pain for a minute or so.
Anyways, I started running in January of 2012, .5 miles, made it to good 1 to 2 miles by mid of February. I was once traveling in March 2012 and 24 hr fitness was quite far, so I ended up going the hotel's gym and they only had treadmill. By end of week, I almost could run to 3.1 miles. Woo-ha, I pass through the plateau which I had in 2005. It was the time to take it to next level.
March 17th, 2012 : 5k
April 7th, 2012 : half marathon
Not sure how far it will go, but hope to keep it up as much as I can.
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