Kabir's Dohas

I've always loved hearing Kabir's dohas. Especially Shekhar Sen's rendition of them. The problem though was that I could never fully understand the dohas because of my limited knowledge of the dialect in which they are spoken. I'd get an idea of what they were saying, but never the exact meaning.

I found a site this morning that explains these dohas. They're just wonderful to read. Simply constructed, yet with such deep messages. A soothing balm for our often troubled souls.

Click here to read them along with their explanantions.

Save the Environment. Go Locasexual.

I love Slate! :)

http://www.slate.com/id/2202431/pagenum/all/#p2

A Life is Lived in an Instant

Just came across this super article about how life must be lived for the now. I often balk at these modern ideas of retiring at 40 and early retirement to move to this fancy house on the beach you've built for yourself.

40 is too late. What if I don't make it to 40? I don't mean to be fatalistic but it's a possibility. It's a lot of thoughts like this that have changed the way I live my life. I live for the "now". Earlier, I would spend hours and hours thinking about whether I should say something to someone, labour over how the other person would react, what the other person would think of me if I said what I wanted to and all kinds of other useless thoughts. Today I ask myself one question, 'If I were to die the next moment, would I say/do what I wanted to?'. The answer isn't always yes. But it makes my life a lot simpler. No doubt, there are times when I look back and think how stupid it was to say or do what I did, but people make mistakes. I try and learn from them. No regrets.

I'll shut up now. Go read.

Tinkering

I spent a good part of yesterday tinkering on the Internet. Here's what I discovered through my Internet guru, Mandar:

1. Foxmarks: If you use Mozilla, you can save your Bookmarks (a.k.a. Favorites for IE users) online using Foxmarks. What that means is that you can import your bookmarked links from your office computer to any other computer (or vice-versa) without having to visit any of the many many bookmarked links again. Basically, you're Bookmarks are accessible no matter which computer you work on. Such a boon! Sorry if you're already familiar with this stuff, I'm a bit of a novice here.

2. Del.icio.us: A great place to post links that are interesting, but may not be bookmark-worthy. Again, very very useful.

3. RSS Feeds: I finally understood, somewhat, RSS feeds and how I could use them. I'm currently experimenting with an RSS feed from the BBC Football website. You can see it in the column on the right below the hit counter. Quite interesting.

I am also a recent convert to Firefox and I love it! Three cheers for Firefox 3! :)

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Apparently, the Internet is changing the way we think. And they may be right.

Read more about it here.

Link via: Inkscrawl

Running Without Music

I don't particularly enjoy listening to music on my outdoor runs because I worry about pulling the headphone wires out while I run. It's a distraction I can do without when I'm trying desperately to finish a 10 km run.

After reading this article, I now know why. Apparently, I have an associated concentration style. :) I love these little words that researchers come up with!

Cheats!

I had the time to sneak a peek at the Hindustan Times this morning and I chanced upon an article about how FMCG companies are reducing the contents of biscuit, food and detergent weights to keep prices the same. They're just trying to lull us consumers into thinking that things are the same. It's unbelievable.

And I'm not talking about shady little outfits that have their workshops in some random slum and employ child labourers. These are supposed to be, ahem, 'well-respected' organisations. Hindustan Unilever, Britannia and Nestle to name a few.

Maybe somebody should take the CEOs of these companies with their families to an amusement park, charge them an entry fee and then tell them they won't be able to go on the big roller-coaster because it's not included in the entry fee only once they enter the park. Maybe then will they understand how subversive, deceitful and unfair their 'strategies' are.

Companies call them grammage adjustments. I call it cheating. You're trying to con your consumers into thinking that prices haven't gone up. You're trying to sell less at the same price without letting me know.

Click here to read the article.

An addition :)

From her blog, I think she's a full-on foodie. Some wonderful writing and thoughts. Meet Chiffonesque.

Do visit when time permits.

Additions to the list

I've updated the list of blogs I visit often. The new additions are:

1. Inkscrawl
2. The City Life... and travels beyond
3. Simply Complicated

Obese? Your employer suffers

If you're in Japan, that is. Employees have to go through compulsory 'flab-checks'. Overweight people get a fitness and diet plan. Excessively obese people have to go to the doctor.

All this to cut down soaring medical costs.

No I didn't make this up!

Meditation Works. So Says (Neuro)Science.

Apparently, we now have scientific evidence that meditation is good for us. While I don't meditate myself, some of the things in the article I read really struck me.

It said that we indulge in 'too much frantic doing' and 'not enough being'. I completely agree. Most times when I've felt stressed are when I've focused too much on getting someplace (physically or otherwise) where I'm not. When I've been obssessed about getting to the destination rather than just enjoying the journey.

In fact, that is one of my many life philosophies now. The journey has become the destination.

A Mind Reader?

Arrested for thought crimes. Other people knowing about your dreams. Bush's cronies in Homeland Security know how you feel about your annoying neighbour.

Just maybe. If the wrong people get their hands on this!

A device that can read minds apparently. Sort of cool. And sort of scary even.

Worth Reading

Here's a post written by a friend of mine, Alexys. Really nice.