Weight management and my paranthas

Last updated on: February 14, 2008 at 7:03 pm By Desh Kapoor

Ever since I went to work in my first job and stopped playing, my girth and weight expanded. I have always been fond of eating good food - specially the Indian home cooked - so it is rather tough for me to leave that. I have reduced my intake but there still remains a substantial amount on my plate when I start my meal. I have tried to lose weight and I did for a few months by cutting off on my food intake and also exercising everyday. But that regimen of eating little and ONLY healthy is really unrealistic. Also, I do not want to enter into that arena of specialised factory created special foods that look and taste like normal food but are low fat - for they will be so un-natural that if I dont die of heart attack, I will die of toxicity! I feel that there is a case to be made for moderation. But only so much moderation. After that your exercise - and regular, though even little (say, like 30 minutes) - should be able to handle your weight control. I want to move toward that paradigm. That is more realistic on the longer term basis and also makes your life as a thin six-pack ab guy worth living. After all, what is the fun in having six-pack abs but missing out on a morning breakfast of paranthas and managing it with just a small bowl of chemically treated cereal.. just for your low weight? Read more

Today's Song: Khilona Jaankar by Rafi

Last updated on: February 14, 2008 at 6:25 pm By Desh Kapoor

Khilona Jaankar from the movie "Khilona" sung by Rafi (Music by Laxmikant Pyarelal & lyrics by Anand Bakshi) Anyone who has ever liked Hindi movies would have felt rather emotional at this song and the emotive rendering on the screen by Sanjeev Kumar. He was a great actor but his outstretched hands in the song and those few notes with the voice just pluck at your heart strings. Read more

Last updated on: February 14, 2008 at 4:03 pm By Ryan Hoselton

Guys,please envy the gift that I have received for today, A day of: SILENCE REMOTE AND TELEVISION(very important that you get the combination 🙂 COUCH I am a very simple man with very simple needs...nothing very expensive!!!!..but the above, all of you will agree are "priceless"... Read more

Last updated on: February 14, 2008 at 7:06 am By

hmmm, sun glasses Read more

Is Science doing a Makardhwaj?

Last updated on: February 13, 2008 at 11:24 pm By Desh Kapoor

There is an incredible and unbelieveable tale in the life of Hanuman - the Hindu deity. Ram and Lakshman have been captured by Mahiravan and are being held captive in Patal - lok or under the seas. When Hanuman goes to free them he is faced by a part-monket and part-fish (kind of like a mermaid) creature. His name is Makardhwaj. Makardhwaj tells Hanuman that he is Hanuman's son! Now, Hanuman is supposed to be celibate. So, there is no way he could have had a son. "How is it possible?" he asked. Here is the process: ...when Hanuman had extinguished his burning tail in the ocean, unknown to him, a drop of his sweat had fallen in as well. Swallowing this sweat droplet, a fish then becomes pregnant. This is discovered when the fish is brought to Mahiravana's kitchen for cooking. Mahiravana raises the child.. To say that someone didn't even know and he gave birth to a son sounds so outlandish that everyone laughs at such tales. Well, no more. Now the scientists are developing methods to create eggs and sperms in laboratories. They are working on creation of artificial gametes. These will help the scientists understand how the real eggs and sperms are made and also help understand the issues of infertility such that even sterile men and women could have biological parents. It involved creating sperms and eggs from any body tissue providing the DNA - like a stray skin. Read more

Today's Song: Kaise Manaoon Piyawa by Mukesh

Last updated on: February 13, 2008 at 8:33 pm By Desh Kapoor

Kaise Manaoon Piyawa from the movie "Char Diwari" sung by Mukesh (Music by Salil Choudhari & lyrics by Shailendra) If there was a song exclusively made for Mukesh, this was it. No one could have sung this song like this! Mukesh's voice has a natural music of its own due to his nasal touch (which he uses well), and his intrinsic simplicity gives a touch that is very difficult to replicate. It almost shows his naive/simplistic self. This song brings that out. Read more

Last updated on: February 13, 2008 at 7:21 pm By

I am doing the following : http://www.pakspectator.com/fell-in-love-with-democracy-this-valentine-day/ Read more

US Army Recruiting and the changing morals

Last updated on: February 13, 2008 at 7:09 pm By Desh Kapoor

I have had a lot of discussions with people who uphold the primacy of morals. I really think Morals are subjective listings of things that a bunch of people believe in "a" space and "a" time. They change in time and in space. What to Mr. X is Moral, to Mr. Y is blasphemous and vice versa. Similarly, what to a South African was moral in 1950 became immoral in 2000! Another dimension that affects morals is context. Stealing or telling lies may be immoral, but upheld in an attempt to save life of an innocent. As we consultants are fond of saying.. it all "Depends"! This ad is a good reflection of the changing nature of morals. Today the US Government would have been sued over this ad for sexual discrimination. But in another time, it was meant to be a patriotic statement! Today, the incentives are money (sign on bonuses) and higher education. Here is a list of incentives for the recruits. But it was always not so platonic. This illustration may be offending today, but at one time it was the main ad for more recruits to World War I. Read more

Blind Man Painting: Blasphemy of thought to creation process

Last updated on: February 13, 2008 at 4:54 pm By Desh Kapoor

There is usually this controversy or thought in many religions/traditions that physical representation of God or deities - commonly termed "Idol Worship" - is blasphemous or looked down upon (Islam and Arya Samaj, for example, are two such traditions). - But is the physical representation any different from mental representation? - Is seeing any different from imagining? - Do eyes see or is it the brain? These are important questions. We know that eyes are just the "front-end" (using IT terminology) if you will, and brain (nerves and lobes) are the "back-end" in the process of seeing. The input into this process was always deemed to be an external stimulus. However, if brain could conjure up images without the help of an external stimulus, then it would mean that the creation is actually in our minds (not the physical locii of the lobes and nerves). Well, here is an interesting case of a person who was blind from childhood who PAINTS! Not just with great understanding of light effects but also perspective in his paintings. In fact he was put to test in Florence, Italy to test his understanding of "perspective" in his drawing and he came off fine. (Tip from Vidhi, a Drishtikone reader) When put under an MRI, and asked to draw, his brain lit up in areas of visual cognition while he was imagining things to draw. Something that was hitherto said to only happen in sighted people. So, is physical representation important or is the imagination and really the thought itself the beginning of the blasphemy associated with Idol Worship? The thought of God is the origin of a picture painted or Idol made of God. One takes that thought and conjures up reams and reams of paper called scriptures asserting holiness and another takes the Idol and sings thousands of songs to it asserting commune. Both criticize the other. What is the difference? To uphold thought (and therefore knowledge) at a higher plane than Idol Worship or artistic rendition to that thought is, in my humble opinion, an exercise in egotistic one-up-manship. Nothing more. Such people have neither understood the mechanism of thought-to-creation process nor the truth about "God" and Its creation. Read more

Tweets his way out of Yahoo

Last updated on: February 13, 2008 at 2:43 am By Desh Kapoor

There are many ways social networks are used. For dating, friendships and not so legal activities to start with, and then for politics etc. Twitter - which doesnt do a whole lot for the owners (no revenue model really), but excellent viewership and interaction has been used the most innovatively! The politicians are using it (John Edwards used it well). I use it to tweet drishtikone's blog feeds so everyone can follow them. But this is one use that I could not have thought of - this guy Ryan Kuder of San Jose was laid off by Yahoo today. Read more