I found this beautiful

Mountain
stars

eyes
in the

open
do

-Cid Corman

So, I'm trying to fathom what?

Phew.. the whole world around me seems deeply motivated to be engaged in self-talk, self-beliefs, self-propagated-routes, a self-world. There is big 'I' staring at me from all directions.

What would the world be like if humans actually never had the power of speech ;) Tricky eh?
What would die first? Ego?

It's amazing what a few minutes of silence can do to the mind.

Yet, humans, being the intelligent lot would have the Webster series for visual and hand cues to communicate.

But what would happen if we did not have the power to see?

I'm pondering on it.......
Imagine the whole world just "L i s t e n i n g" :)
......
.....
......

So did you hear the universe talk to you now?

Love her, Listen to her, Ponder on her and you will learn all the truths that you ever wanted to know.

I have been to heaven

Yes. It is true :)

The past few years, my encounters with carnatic music made be walk the path of learning it. Nothing mattered. What really mattered was the immense peace and contentment I derived just croaking S P S. Everyday, I escape into the blissful world of carnatic music. Today I felt I was in heaven. After a long struggle, I thought I got my Sarali varasai right!

I have made many journeys to heaven before. My transporters are Bombay Jayashree, Aruna Sairam and ofcourse by music teacher!!! But it is a completely personal expereince when you can transport yourself :) There is oozing joy, an unstoppable bout of happiness, an undying smile, there is peace, there is oneness, and a humble thanks. I owe it all to my very patient and dedicated music teacher.

Cosmic Fudge Factor

Religion is being used as a Cosmic Fudge Factor to transmute reality and make it fit our paradigm of the world. We feel cozy with our habituated beliefs and want to recollect a Golden yester era.

I'm compelled to compare this with Einstein's famous Cosmic fudge factor which he incorporated into the General Theory of Relativity to be agreeable with the eternal universe concept. This factor could be given any value to suit our experience with the universe. Einstein himself never liked this but there were a few Big Bang cosmologists who became quite fond of it and when Georges Lemaitre proved it wrong, the community of astromers had become so attached to the fudge factor that they attempted to tweak the model to fit the universe's exapansion but still represent the eternal universe.

Thus we still try to hold on to our Religious Cosmic Fudge Factor tweaking them to atleast brush the entry line of science but still uphold the cozy feeling of some miracle yester world. Nobody want their beliefs questioned since they have breathed and grown with it all their life. But how else can there be understanding without questions?

We have this wonderful opportunity of living in the age when scietific exploration and discovery is at it's best...where we can apply physics and math to understand the beautiful universe and not be plauged by the fear of 'Gods must me angry with us.' Isn't it perfect to a part of this age where we are well equipped to understand the universe and thus be a proponent of change? We have to be *in* change, *through* change, to be *the* change.

Ubi dubium ibi liberats

So it's another science book and striven with Greek and Latin!! It seems like the Greeks and the Romans were the only ones who explored every facets of the universe and tried naming them :)

I stumbled upon this very interesting quote -'Ubi dubium ibi liberates' - Where there is doubt, there is freedom. It sounds very cool.... alright given, I have no clue of the exact pronunciation ;)

Another one from Einstein (though not in latin) - 'When I'm judging a theory, I ask myself whether, if I were God, I would have arranged the world in such a way.'

Yeah, yeah..my mind is urging to put in a conclusion too..so here it is -
Ut in nuto reputo simplex - When in doubt think simple :=)

Ahh.. I see it

The universe is a simple puzzle and each of us are born to provide part solutions to it :)

Maybe the big bang would halt and everything would start going back into the primeval-atom as we solve its mystery.

Aarthi

Aarthi understands infinity. She has immense patience, unbounded affection and a blissfully calm face. A great conversationalist, who can stun you with her questions and answers. She knows all about Harry Potter. She can churn out names of almost all characters in the book. She says she at times walks to school since she enjoys walking. When asked about music, she says she only knows 'S R G M' but goes ahead and sings the entire song 'Vara Veena'. She is eager to learn and is the most earnest listener. Oh, Aarthi by the way is a 5 year old Thinker!

It all started when... 'Aarthi I am talking to Rashmy aunty. So could you please wait until we are done?' 'No, no she is not Rashmy aunty. She is Akka'.

Later, I venture out to talk to her. She was now sitting with Siddu engrossed in deep converstaion. Siddhu introduces both of us and we continue the conversation. She started talking about her school. Siddhu asks her about her best friends and is eagerly waiting to count him in.

Aarthi quotes 2 names.
Siddu says - That's it?
'Yeah one more - Simran.'
Now Siddhu gives vent and explicitly questions - 'What about me?'
'Oh but you are not in my school.'
'So how does that matter?'
'Umm..(I see her avoiding to talk about the age difference)..ok.. but but you are old'
'So what? Tell me, what do you think is my age?'
'Umm... 100'
'You think I am **100**?'
'Umm... maybe infinity. Ok somewhere between 100 and infinity.'
I was stunned and asked her- 'So you understand infinity? I have no idea of infinity. Could you please explain'.
She stops eating, prepares herself for the task and says - 'You see it is a very big number. It is huge. Thisssssssssss huge. Actually bigger than that.'

Thus began my friendship with Aarthi.

For the rest of the evening she sits by me and talks about her friends and books. I see her being happy and follows me everywhere. I was deeply touched and the happiness was so immense that I had tears in my eyes. Since I am a character too who passionately ends up talking about books, it was a strange experience to find a wonderful person who shared the same thoughts.

When we are ready to part I see her suddenly feel very sad. She decides she wants to come home with me. Sadly it's late into the night and her mother does not give into her patient pleading. Aarthi decided to take my phone number and computer address (read as email) and gave me her contact number. She informs me that she would call me the next day and she wants to know what happens if 'You don't there'. Her mother interepts it and convinces her that she could leave a message, if Rashmy cannot answer the call. Aarthi explains the same to me patiently - 'If you don't be there, I leave a message ok... Do call me.'

So we parted promising to meet again.

Life feels stunningly wonderful after meeting Aarthi. I feel this rush to see her again and be with her. She came into my life out of nowhere and made it even more enriching. Aarthi is now my youngest friend.

Fermat's Engima

The last few days I've be captivated by the book 'Fermat's Enigma' written by Simon Singh. It has been a journey into the depths of what the mathematicans world thinks. Here are a few snippets from the book to set you thinking -

Everything is Number
-Pythagoras

Immortality may be a silly word, but probably a mathematician has the best chance of whatever it may mean.
-GH Hardy

God exists since mathematics is consistent. Devil exists since we cannot prove it.
-Andre Weil

Basically it's just a matter of thinking. Often you write something down to clarify your thoughts, but not necessarily. In particular when you've reached a real impasse, when there's a real problem that you want to overcome, then the routine kind of mathematical thinking is of no use to you. Leading up to that kind of new idea there has to be a long period of tremendous focus on the problem without any distraction. You have to really think about that problem - just concentrate on it. Then you stop. Afterwards there seems to be a kind of period of relaxation during which the subconscious appears to take over and it's during that time that some new insight comes.
-Andrew Wiles