Tuesday, November 4, 2014

On Nazi Ideology ( Read any Fundamentalist Ideology)

On Nazi Ideology ( Read any Fundamentalist Ideology)

"There are people who will kill and maim with tranquil conscience, under the influence of words and ideas of those who are certain that they know perfection can be reached.

If you are truly convinced that there is some solution to all human problems, that one can conceive an ideal society which men can reach if only they do what is necessary to attain it, then you and your followers must believe that no price can be too high to pay in order to open the gates of such a paradise."

Isaiah Berlin, A Very Old Man, who has lived thru almost the entire 20th Century

 

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Self Image !

Grandson, ......you revere heroes and loathe bastards, but who among us is not the "most heroic and most bastardly''?

Second Grandma, Page 397, Red Sorghum, 



by Mo Yan 

Friday, September 5, 2014

Travels & Insights

We traveled from Dar es Salaam to San Francisco on 22nd Aug 2014.
Landed at Amsterdam on 23rd morning. Our travel agent has told me to go to a transfer desk at Amsterdam, since we have a "paper ticket"

But the transfer desks are unmanned ! It is uncomfortable. All the simpler chores of life seem to have been 'de-humanised'. Side-effects of economic prosperity.
The human "labour" has become too expensive OR the well-fed humans do not wish to take on such repetitive tasks.

Communication is 93% non-verbal.

We live in a world ( Africa and Indian subcontinent ) where human's are almost always on hand to assist -with a smile -mostly. That is comforting : you react to the confidence and warmth with which the information is presented. You feel cared-for.


Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Carmel at Sea

On Sunday (31st Aug 14) we went on a long drive. From San Bruno to Monterey and Carmel at Sea - south of SFO.
Being a long weekend the highways were crowded.

we had visited Monterey in 2003, eleven years ago. It was a sleepy town, then.
It has developed into a bustling town, mostly populated by retirees.

We then went on to see Pebble Beach, a gated area which includes very exclusive houses and estates and a very exclusive Golf Course. Pay $10 to enter and drive along a red marked road. 
You do see some breath taking sights- homes and ocean. 


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