Wednesday, September 06, 2006

A Brainy Entangle

Can a brain transplant change the complete character of a person?

Everyone who has studied basic high school science knows that the brain dominates most of our day to day activities.Any stimulus we receive from the external world is analyzed and stored and then utilized at a later date from the brain.We all acknowledge that the brain literally dictates everything from how we perceive the society to how we interact with people.

So all in all we agree that the brain defines us as an individual, it defines our basic character and also the way we react to situations.

Coming back to my original question… can a brain transplant change the way we think, act and perceive the world around us?

If yes then to ensure world peace all we need to do is catch hold of all the terrorists and transplant their brains with that of normal peace loving citizens.
:-)
Is it really that easy?
Or on the flip side can we transplant the brian of a lion with that of a dog and watch a sea change in behaviour?????????

There may be a lot of ethical issues related to such ‘Brain Transplants’.

Is it possible to surgically change a few knots in the brain and make a person behave differently?

Hmmm… lots of questions about the brain and no concrete answers…

Friday, July 28, 2006

Allah ke bandhe

Here are the lyrics of an awesome song....
Wont talk much abt wht listening to this song does to me...U have to close your eyes and listen
to this song...

Its beauty in all its simplicity...

Toota Toota Ek Parinda Aise Toota
Ke Phir Jud Naa Paaya
Loota Loota Kisne Usko Aise Loota
Ke Phir Ud Naa Paaya
O O O O Toota Toota Ek Parinda Aise Toota
Ke Phir Jud Naa Paaya
Loota Loota Kisne Usko Aise Loota
Ke Phir Ud Naa Paaya
Girta Hua Woh Asma Se
Aakar Gira Zameen Par
Khwabon Mein Phir Bhi Badal Hi The
Woh Kehta Raha Magar
Ke Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega

Kho Ke Aapne Par Hi To Usne Tha Ud Naa Sikha
Kho Ke Aapne Par Hi To O O O
Kho Ke Aapne Par Hi To Usne Tha Ud Naa Sikha
Gham Ko Aapne Saath Mein Lele Dard Bhi Tere Kaam Aayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega

Aa Aa Aaa
Tukde Tuke Ho Gaya Tha Har Sapna Jab Woh Toota
Tukde Tuke Ho Gaya Tha Aa Aaa Aa
Tukde Tuke Ho Gaya Tha Har Sapna Jab Woh Toota
Bhikre Tukdon Mein Allah Ki Marzi Ka Manzar Paayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Toota Toota Ek Parinda Aise Toota
Ke Phir Jud Naa Paaya
Loota Loota Kisne Usko Aise Loota
Ke Phir Ud Naa Paaya
Girta Hua Woh Asma Se
Aakar Gira Zameen Par
Khwabon Mein Phir Bhi Badal Hi The
Woh Kehta Raha Magar
Ke Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Feel better?
:-)

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Muzikaaalllll Indiyaaaa.......

Have you ever noticed or rather keenly observed the musical scene in India? You tune in to any Indian radio frequency or any TV channel playing out Indian music and it is predominantly music from movies!!!!!! You might find a stray sprinkling of some pakistani group or an euphoria here and there, but not enough.

What is it about music and movies in our country? The whole gamut of musicians ( read that as the whole range of music directors, singers, guys who play instruments etc) are recognized by a complete nation only if they sing/ compose or do something for a movie.. And when I say a movie it cannot just be any movie... it has to be a complete recognizable”Apna Bollywood flick”

We have a great talent pool of music directors ranging from AR Rahman, Illayaraj Shankar Ehsaan Loy etc to the great RD Burman in the past. So what happened? Why have all their best been only for movies?Are our musicians guilty of not looking beyond the confines of a movie? I’m just curious to know in what way movies govern the musical talent of our country. Even if they do end up making individual music albums... they don’t last as long or to be put plainly they just don’t sell enough…

Take the case of someone like Bombay Jayshree, she is a classical singer and has been rendering great songs for ages but it took a ‘Zara Zara’ or a ‘Vaseegara’ for the whole country to sit up and take notice of her.Bismillah Khan is just fine, but ironically he would fade in popularity when compared to an Anu Mallik.

If you observe any other Non Asian country, the scene there is just the contrary... you have a lot of people churning out albums, the dependency on movies to make their music big is just not prevalent.

Now here is the catch, people in India are definitely buying Music albums by Shakira, Guns and roses etc,so again, its not that we do not appreciate music not linked to movies.

So do we appreciate our music makers more when they are in a filmi setting rather than an individualistic setting ?

Or .............
Do we need to relate to Indian music in particular in a more movie like setting?

Or..............
is it something about the visuals that attracts us more to music from movies? Does that explain why a Shakira CD would sell more than an Illayaraj or Rahman CD?

Monday, January 23, 2006

PARITRANA- Is this finally the true long awaited "For the people,by the people and of the people"?

I was a bit shocked when I read the news a group a 5 IITians have floated a political party called Paritrana in Jodhpur. The first thing that came to my mind was “Are these guys out of their minds?” and don’t blame my line of thinking, each one of them has enough credentials to earn a big pay packet and pass the rest of their life like us (complaining about the way the situation in India is but not really bothering to do anything). But if you think deeply enough its just not the comfortable pay packet that they have given up… its much more than that. It’s a life time of pointing fingers at others which they have given up which if u ask me is the most difficult thing to do in our society as it stands.

Paritrana is made up of:

Tanmay Rajpurohit (National President)
B. Tech (Aerospace) IIT Bombay, MS (Aerospace) Georgia Tech. USA, MA (Economics)NewYork, USA.

Ajit Ashwalayan Shukla (National Vice-President)
B. Tech (Mechanical) IIT Bombay, M. Tech. (Mechanical) IIT Bombay.

Amit Beesen (National Vice-President)
B. Tech (Mechanical) IIT Bombay.

Santhanagopalan Vasudev (Chief Advisor)
B.S. (Physics) Kansas, USA, M.A.(Economics) UIUC, USA.

Chandrashekhar (National Treasurer)
B. Tech. (Computer Sc.) IIT Kanpur.

Dheeraj Kumbhat (National General Secretary)

Clearly having an array of degrees after your name does not necessarily make the political party the best but it definitely paves a ray of hope that something different and something concrete could happen here. It sounds,looks and feels like straight out of the movie "Yuva" .

The whole concept is idealistic and a highly audacious move in a country like ours where an IIM graduate was murdered for thinking straight.

It stands a risk of sounding more like a dream, but I hope this is where their motto “May you be as tough as rock” from the Rig Veda comes into the picture. I for one hope that this party succeeds in making a mark on the country unlike the others.

The guys are proposing to tour a few cities in India. Only time will tell whether these rocks can withstand the slow erosion in the nature of our current political set up.