The First Impression!

Something Interesting I found whilst I was doing my usual purposeless web surfing! Solomon Asch is a psychologist who pioneered the study of impression formation. He conducted an experiment where a bunch of people were divided in 2 groups. Both the groups were asked one question.

Group A is asked:

John is envious, stubborn, critical, impulsive, industrious and intelligent. In general, how emotional do you think John is? (Circle your answer.)

Not emotional ~ 1 ~ 2 ~ 3 ~ 4 ~ 5 ~ 6 ~ 7 ~ 8 ~ 9 ~ Very emotional

Group B is asked:

Mike is intelligent, industrious, impulsive, critical, stubborn and envious. In general, how emotional do you think Mike is? (Circle your answer.)

Not emotional ~ 1 ~ 2 ~ 3 ~ 4 ~ 5 ~ 6 ~ 7 ~ 8 ~ 9 ~ Very emotional

The Results:

Folks in group A marked John as a very emotional person. Most rated him as 7 or 8.

Folks in group B marked Mike as a not so emotional person. Most rated him as 3 or 4.

The Twist (if you haven’t found out already)

John and Mike - both were described using the same 6 characteristics! The only difference is that the order of the characteristics was reversed. The first characteristic for John is envious and the last one is intelligent. Where as the first characteristic for Mike is intelligent and the last is envious.

Because envious is an emotionally loaded characteristic, most people marked John as being emotional. And because intelligent is not emotionally loaded, most people marked Mike as not being emotional.

So, Always , the FIRST impression is the best impression! Nothing serious bout this post. Found it worthy of posting. Don't accuse me of plagiarism! I have given you the bibliography!! :)

Is this the end of an Era or the beginning of a legacy?

The above sight is one of a kind in the world. -The LTTE cemetery. The world will never again see an organisation so badacious, insurgent and stalwart like the LTTE. The SriLankans are rejoicing their moment of freedom, but as a responsible Tamil, I would like to analyse the Lankan scenario right from the beginning.
Let's get a bit of history first. The dimunitive island, at the base of India was under kingdomatic rule for many years, mainly by the Sinha rulers, Cheras, Cholas, Pallavas, etc.,. The advent of Tamils into Lanka grew prominence when the Britishers decided to infiltrate the island because of its rich tea, cinnamon,rubber,sugar and coffee plantations. Thus Lanka happened to have a considerable number of Tamil inhabitants.
But within a few years of the British departure in February 1948, Sinhalese politicians were banging the drum of ethnic chauvinism. Sinhala became the island's official language and discriminatory laws affecting entry to university and the civil service alienated moderate Tamils. Their were denied education as well as basic amenities. Velupillai Prabakaran was one of the very many, who were affected by these inhuman acts. He was a revolutionary right from his school days.Unable to rein in his activistic nature, he started the LTTE in 1974, with the primary motive as the creation of a separate Tamil State in the north and east of Sri Lanka.
Prabhakaran was one of the best leaders the world has ever witnessed. A single leader commanding the entire organisation for a period of over 30 years is truly amazing. I was reading bout his leadership on a Tamil daily, and every line kept amazing me. His word had so much respect amongst his commandos. A single nod from the leader, and the entire 'black tigers' (the suicide bombing wing of the LTTE) were ready to sacrifice themselves for the cause. Before the Iraq war, LTTE had the most suicide bombing incidents recorded in entire world history.
Their modus operandi was one of the best planned. Mr.Prabhakaran was believed to have operated from Madras(now Chennai). It was here that he designed the famous LTTE crest, a roaring Tiger atop two crossed rifles and a halo of bullets set against a blood-red background. The Tiger was the cherished symbol of the Cholas.
The discipline in the LTTE camp was nonpareil. There were strict implications on the use of tobacco and alcohol. They were completely banned from their camps. All LTTE commandos were supposed to wear a cyanide vial on their necks, to use in case of capture. Celibacy was strictly practised. Prabhakaran was also a devotee of Hollywood. He watched action movies for inspiration, often using them as a training tool in Tiger camps. And he cited the Legendary Clint Eastwood as his favourite.
The Tamils were made sure to get the best of education in many foreign countries. The LTTE had members in many foreign countries including Netherlands and the UK. The foreign Tamils were the believed to be the primary source of finance for the community. An Anti-government group, to have its own ground force, Air force and navy is fascinating for many. The LTTE credits the formation of the Air Tigers air-wing to Vythialingam Sornalingam, a graduate in Aeronautical Engineering from a reputed university in India!. The LTTE's brain power was well planned out, and was unmatchable.
One of the main reasons the LTTE was branded as a major terrorist organisation in India was the Rajiv gandhi killing in 1992. Though the killing of a country's former Prime Minister can never be justified, the reason for this outrageous and infuriating act was the sudden decision of the Indian Government's IPKF to turn to attacking the LTTE when the purpose of its formation was to protect the Tamils. In an LTTE press conference, Prabhakaran said that the incident was 'tragic'.
Form the procurement of weapons, to the maintenance of secrecy and hierarchy, the LTTE almost benchmarked the standards for even a national Army. They had once run a mini-government in Kilinocchi making it as their de-facto capital, with Prabhakaran as the chief.
There are numerous disputes concerning the death of the leader. The primary reasons for doubt being his possession of an ID card, and the government's claim that he was killed when he was trying to escape in an ambulance. Prabhakaran, being such a devoted and nationalistic leader, would never have committed such a cowardly act. He refused to leave Lanka, though he had numerous opportunities for it, in times when the Lankan army surged into their territory. Aware such a daring personality, does not deter the Lankan government's mockery of his death, calling it as an escape.
Whatever might be, let's pray in unison for the well-being of the Tamils in Lanka. Our solidarity in supporting their cause, would be their only source of happiness and consolation in this dreadful phase of time. "We have sowed the seed of an ideal, we grow it by irrigating with the blood of our martyrs. This seed will grow up into a luxurious tree and make our martyr’s dreams a reality." - Velupillai Prabhakan (November 26, 1954 – May 18, 2009) RIP.

De'mock'racy

I hope all of you reading this post have excised their precious vote in the recently concluded parliamentary election. Ever since childhood, I was always deeply interested and enthralled by politics. I used to know all the cabinet and state ministers by heart. My ignorant phase of life!.
As i gained more of the so called "sixth" sense, i slowly lost the interest. In school, I remember studying that India, United States, United Kingdom, were all democracies. Truly, democracy is the best form of government i know of. But, Is the Indian Democracy a well devised system? I have serious doubts while ruminating upon the same.
If we look at the democracies of the UK and US, it is evident that they are very efficient and lucid systems. They have only two political parties, The Democrats and The Republicans.There's very little confusion in the people's minds. When I went to vote this year, I saw a long long list of candidates, with symbols ranging from Cricket Bats to Aeroplanes!. People are not sure of whom to vote, even after entering the polling booth. Every Tom, Dick and Harry seems to own a party in India. But we have to digest the fact that there is no way to minimise the parties in India. :(
In the United States, the Presidential debates are a very decisive factor by which the people decide their vote. Also, the people elect the President directly, unlike the Indian system, where the elected candidates determine the Prime Minister. Our system lacks clarity. People lack clarity. They rarely vote for the candidate. They always vote for the party. For example, even in my constituency, though there were several candidates hailing from here, the person elected was a total stranger to the place. "GOK" the way the electorals think in India.
The Indian politician is a "one of a kind" type. Just moments before i started to write this blog, Mr. Ramadoss was complaining on TV that the EVM's were responsible for his Party's dismal performance in the elections this year. I'll try to quote some of his lines. Translated in English of course. 'The EVM's work with microprocessors and microcontrollers. They can be programmed to work in the way the programmer wishes to. It is possible to record all votes for the same DMK candidate. With a Nation-wide conspiracy, Congress and DMK have managed to cheat in the elections and come to power." Since we can do nothing about our democratic system, let's enjoy lighter moments like these! :)

Midnight Post!

Welcome to the little but wonderful followers of my Blog. It's crossed midnight i guess. I was watching the video of "Jai Ho" some time back, and there came the spark for my next post. :). I basically love movies. I watch atleast a couple of them everyday. I have a contrastive taste in my likings- when people enjoyed the action sequences in "The Matrix", i spent my time watching snail-paced movies like"Driving Miss Daisy'.
I have seen numerous such movies, including awesome ones like"The Green Mile", "Shawshank Redemption", "Forrest Gump",etc etc., It was in that time frame that I acquired a great inclination towards the Academy, as in the "Academy" award, or "Oscar" as it is commonly known. Right from "The Godfather", till "No Country for Old Men" , almost all the "Best Picture" winners were truly "Oscar" material.
But the reason why "Slumdog Millionaire", won so many accolades, including the biggest award in world cinema, still remains a big mystery to me. Competing against "Oscar" material movies like "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and "Frost/Nixon", Slumdog managed to sweep the Oscars. A good movie critic wouldn't regard Slumdog as even a worthy nomination.
Then why the hype? Why the awards. Again comes the dreaded word. -Westernization. For some reason or the other, the westerners seem to love it, when the so called "Third world" countries are shown in such poor light. The same reason why movies like "Blood Diamond" and "Cida de Deus"(City of God) were hyped. Movies with such themes, for many westerners, is a ‘feel good entertainment movie’ .
Now coming to the celebrations. The common Indian lacks self-thinking totally. A British movie showcasing the Slums of India is celebrated so much in our country. We can never witness all these insane happenings elsewhere. We Indians, lack Pride. Celebrate Rahman, Celebrate Resul Pookutty. Don't celebrate Slumdog.
Even the movie title- Slum Dog?? Are people living in the slums Dogs? Instead of hating Danny Boyle, we seem to love him. The Big B was the first to get furious at this. But he backed off, fearing any consequences. Alarming!. Don't we have a Freedom of Speech?
The respect I had for the Oscars is long gone now. As kamal Haasan always says, It's an American Award given for their films". -True- A "cheap", "useless" American award.

Reducation!

Another thing I have been pondering upon for many years now, is the education system of our country. I am not criticising it to the core, cos even I have come through the same system, and I feel that I have benefitted a great deal from it. Just bits and portions of it are ruining the system in its entirety.
India, basically, is an agricultural country. We are known for our agricultural exports too. But I, hailing from a family with agriculture as the main profession, have a clearer idea of what's going on now. A decade back, Nilgiris tea was exported to numerous countries. But, with the advancements in technology, all countries have started cultivating tea, which culminates as a disaster for the local tea industry. It's a similar story for agriculture in general. So what remains as our primary forte? Education. Indian brains power the NASA satellites, the Microsoft operating systems, the Ferrari cars, where not?
Indians are known for their brilliance right from the time of Aryabhatta and Brahmagupta. We gave the world Geometry. We gave the world Algebra. We gave the Zero. In short, Mathematics would be a myth without us. Even now, Indian military has the best technology in the world, better than the Big brother. Our "Bhuvan" makes Google Earth look like mincemeat. But will this continue? Is the Indian youth as intelligent and brilliant as their ancestors? The answer would be a dismal NO.
All of this starts with the primary school education. I have seen schools, without even the basic amenities. Another major misconception of people, is that "Education means Academics and getting marks. Nothing else". This is where we are failing. Is that Education? Academics doesn't form even a fraction of Education. Education is the wholesome development of the individual. Education must train to think. It musn't teach. I recollect a certain scientist who never used to attend class. When enquired about it, his reply was that he didn't want his confine his mind to think within the four walls of his classroom.
We love westernisation so much. Why not follow their way of education too? What you see in movies like the "American Pie" is not the reality. Their education system trains the mind. They have the freedom of choosing their career. On the contrary, in India, particularly in TamilNadu, people know nothing other than medicine and Engineering- the so called 'professional' courses. Most of the parents blindly follow the system, not realising what the child's interests are!.
Most of the teachers, see "teaching" as a mere profession. Once the outlook is such, the system fails. Teaching is the most noblest of professions. I have seen many students, who have the uncanny ability of reproducing even a 1000 page book, by heart, but lack in even basic common sense. Personality and character building scantily takes place. What is the purpose of such brains? We can create dumb robots for that purpose. It'll do whatever we program it to do.
An educational system isn't worth a great deal if it teaches young people how to make a living but doesn't teach them how to make a life.

"You are a Thief"

What a meaningless title for a blog post, U might think. But this is the thought that has been running across my mind since time immemorial. The only think which differentiates one man from another is his originality. But we seem to be living in an age where people want to be reflections and shadows and duplicates of some X,Y and Z. Being inspired is good. But stealing one's work is the ultimate crime one can commit.
First, let's start with music. It's the most precious gift that man has. Without music, the world ll lose its beauty and harmony. Right from Mozart, to the Beatles and today's Corrs and others, all have provided the world with the most lovely music. Music is the language in which we all communicate. When such music is plagiarised, it is so disheartening.
Particularly, in the Indian Music industry, which is proud of giving legendary musicians like the Burmans, Ilaiyaraja and Rahman to the world, plagiarism is a very common aspect. Even more so in the Tamil music industry. Starting from "Isai Thendral" Deva, to today's Harris jeyaraj, plagiarism seems uncontrollable. And these fellows getting accolades for their "original" work is even more dejecting. There is a certain website which lists out the numerous instances where these great music directors shop-lifted music.
If the world must look up to the Indian Music industry, this downtrodden practice must be prevented. Just imagine. Just for the one instance i came to know, in which the Black eyed peas copied their "Elephunk theme" from the Tamil movie "Raghavendra", I insulted the BEP amongst all my friends. If the westerners hear our plagiarised music, imagine the big insult to India in general. Already they refer to the subcontinent and other countries as "third world" countries. We are just reiterating that to them.
Learn how the westerners do it. These are the good things we should learn from them. There are three motion pictures which i know of, which portray Indian music during the runtime. "Lord of War", where the "Bombay" theme music is played, "Accidental Husband", where the Thenali song,"Swasame"and Alaipayuthe's "Yaro Yarodi" are played, and the "Inside Man", where "Chaiyya Chaiyya" is played. In all the three movies, Rahman is honoured in the end credits. They have bought the music rights legally and used it. This is professionalism. This is Gentlemanly behaviour.
We are the proud owners of the Oscar award for music. Let's not degrade the nation with ugly practices like these. It shows India in poor light. I now hope that you have understood the reason for the title of this post :)

The way people have changed!

Hi All,
I am back with Day 2. It went mostly in blogging itself. Boy!I seem to love it.
Tasting Indian food, i always feel, "What do the Westerners eat more tastier?" Seriously, food in India,especially Tamilnadu tastes best. I don't know why people run to Pizza Hut, Dominoes and other crap places to enjoy the worst food at ceiling price.
It has all got to do with the way the common man's outlook of life has changed. Why do we look up to the westerners for everything?? Are they a superior race? Why do we want to dress like them, eat like them, and even sleep like them? Also, I'm not talking like a chauvinist. We cannot dress up in Dhoti and walk around. In today's progressive world, westernization is a must. But people seem to overdo it.
Even the lady in my neighbourhood, who has a little kid, the first word she teaches the kiddo is "mummy"- how ironic. I have always been proud of being a Tamil by birth. First comes mother tongue. Then with English. The richest language in world history, is dying. All because of westernisation. I recollect one of the Tamil Directors who, in his inspirational speech, spoke in similar terms. I am not talking about language alone, I am talking bout tradition in general.
If we ruminate deeply, we'll find that westernisation has spoiled India's common man more than it benefitted him. Are discotheques a part of the rich Indian culture? From Dating to Pre-Marital sex to Drugs to Alcoholism we seem to absorb everything into our culture. But are we taking the good things from them? No.
Since the Big Brother is the common source for our "cultural inspiratons", I'd elucidate taking it as an example. We seem to be inspired from the "rich" American Culture. Why don't we get inspired by their literacy? Their professionalism? Their economy? When 300 million odd people can keep America so ahead from the rest of the pack, why doesn't India, with a population of over a billion, manage to atleast be in that pack? This is where the Indian is failing. If we look at America's work culture, they get paid evry week. They work so hard for the week. And enjoy the weekend to the max. Our guy, enjoys the full week as if it were the American's weekend!
People have stopped living for themselves, and started living for the society. For them, it doesn't matter whether they look good in the mirror. Wat matters is, how they look for the person walking across the street. All this starts in school or college itself. I have seen many people putting on a self-made, so called "stylish" accent while speaking English. What for? May be because of the common adolescent feelings. But still, the practice becomes indelible later on.
There's nothing wrong in being yourself. That's what matters. Putting on a fake mask, just for the sake of impressing the onlookers is a waste of time. Enjoy life as if Noone is watching. Uphold the rich Indian Tradition. Don't succumb to the miseries of westernization. "Never judge a book by its cover", one of my English teachers used to say! That is the proud "Sixth Sense" that the humans are proud of possessing. Reason everything out. That is the purpose of having a brain. That is the purpose of being civilized.

The infamous IPL

Like all Indians, ever since my primary Schooling days, I have been a die-hard fan of cricket. I can still remember the 1992 world cup as if it happened yesterday. It happens to be the first tournament I am able to remember watching. Cricket was then called "The Gentleman's game". And it lived up to it. I always used to wonder why cricketers, unlike footballers or basketballers or other athletes sported full pants whilst playing! The phrase "Gentleman's game" was theonly thing which answered my questions then.
Frankly speaking, Test cricket is the true Cricket. "It tests the true character of a cricketer". Hence the name "TEST" -one of my friends used to say. If you analyze test cricket in a deep manner, you are ought to realize. Where came the inceptions of One day Internationals and T20 internationals?? Man has become so short of time to watch a Test match in entirety is it?? Twenty 20 spoils the essence of cricketin general. Cricket can no more boast itself as the "gentleman's game".
If you have a deeper analysis of T20 you will find that it's not the right playing arena for cricketing greats like Sachin Tendulkar. Noone can question the abilities of the Little Master. Yet the dumb format called Twenty 20 is not apt for the Master himself. Lesser known "swingers", and blokes who know nothing but just throwing the bat at the ball, in the likes of Yusuf Pathan and Kevin Pietersen are those who perform in the crazy format.
Now let us shift our attention to the 'plagiarised' so called, "Indian Premier League". What started as a business propaganda for Kapil Dev and Zee Television called the "Indian Cricket League" laid the foundation stone for the IPL. Fully plagiarised, with the initiatives stolen from the pro 20 South Africa and the ICL, and even the name copied from the Prominent "English Premier League". Also commercialisation of cricket has crossed leaps and bounds with the IPL. It is well known that the BCCI is the richest cricketing body in the world. IPL is just another ploy to make it even richer.
Ever since its beginning, IPL has never been short of controversies. In fact India(BCCI), was the last to approve of the new T20 format, just before the T20 world cup in SA. The bidding of the teams and the players was in hundreds of crores. God only knows how people in the likes of Sharukh Khan, Preity Zinta and a cement company owner manage to have so much of "white currency". I recently went through an article in Arindham Chaudhury's magazine, 4Ps I suppose. In that, the author had dealt with a buried controversy. Why was the IPL moved to SA in the first place?.Though the justifications to the conspiracy theory were not that lucid and clear, it brought out that there was certainly some 'hide and seek' going on.
Cricket's most dreaded fear- The match fixing saga has risen its ugly head once again, stimulated and nurtured by the big money IPL. Thank god, Mr.Gill expressed his concern regarding the "Guess the Over" SMS contest in SET max a week back. The Kolkata Knight Riders team is already under match fixing allegations, as reported by the "fake IPL player", who in turn has made more news than the IPL itself. Advertising has crossed its limits. "DLF maximum", "CITI moment of success", What is all this?? Is it cricket or some TV reality show going on?
Even the world's favourite game, Football, doesn't have all these gimmicks.
Why does this IPL get so much of attention and revenue? The victorious Indian hockey team with the coveted Azlan Shah Trophy, was not even properly received at the airport. IPL claims to develop and nurture young Indian talent. Where? In the T20 format ? Useless. They''ll develop only the so called "Pinch Hitters"and "Sloggers".
The same nation which gave the world, players like Sunny, Kapil and Sachin and glorified cricket, is destroying cricket. How ironic and heart-breaking! :(

The Fascination called Life

Have you ever wondered the purpose for life and how it originated?
I amaze myself almost everyday thinking about that. U may have scientific explanations called the Big bang Theory or even the Darwin's theory of evolution. But still, the very thing called "Life" is a fascination and a mystery. I recently read Dan Brown's "Angels & Demons". In that, the Camerlengo used to say," Science shatters God's world into smaller and smaller pieces in quest of meaning...and all it finds is more questions." How true!!! Science may even give very meaningful explanations to everything. But it just spoils the beauty of nature. Even the rainbow, one of the most beautiful natural wonders, has a simple explanation of dispersion. Science is such. It is the white light. Nature is the prism which enjoys the beauty in it!.
Coming back to life. What is our purpose in this world? Everyday we make considerable advancements in every field. But what for? Did we inherit the earth? I don't think so. We have just borrowed it. Every aspect of life is fascinating. Is there a parallel Universe? Is there a race superior to humans?, which looks down lamely upon us, just like the way we are proud to be "Six sensed" and "Superior" to all the fellow creatures inhabiting the earth. We'll never get answers for all these. Even the mighty "Science" has proven ineffective in answering these age-old questions. The only way for the human race to continue dwelling in the wonderful place called Earth, is to start enjoying their infinitesimal time on earth, rather than worrying about the explanations and reasons behind everything. Don’t be ignorant. Also don't be too well informed. Both are dangerous for survival.

Day1

It's been a long time since i wanted to start writing a "blog". Since many people have blogging as a hobby, I too am tryin my hand at writing one!. Readers pls bear with me :)
Day 1- hmmm. May 16th. Day started off pretty well. Around 7.49 i got up. With my Mom standing with a hot cup of coffee! Wow. What a pleasure it is to drink a coffee without brushing my teeth. :)
Then started the election results fiasco!. This is the third time im voting. And all three tyms the person whom i voted, has lost! :( Pretty bad judgment on my side i suppose. Or is it more revealing of my dark side? I think completely different to an average human. God has designed my grey matter with utmost complexity i suppose! :) Today is the second day after i decided to quit the smoke. Hmmm Goin on well. Can feel the difference :). Actually i planned to get up watching the final episodes of Prison break. But only the 350 mb versions were out then. My broadband has already crossed its limit. So i decided to wait for the 100mb ones.
Seeing my sis's lil kid, i always feel ,"Y cant humans remain the same innocent way the lil kids are". Like the Frooti ad, "Y grow up?" :) Or let Life go back to that happy phase just as in Enigma's "Return to Innocence". Playin with him, time flies. Maybe "that kid" is still in me i guess!
Then I started to watch the Prison Break double header. Wat gud series the westerners make! One of the best TV series made ever, atleast in my opinion. But too bad, the Mastermind Scofield was shown to have died!. :( I cudn bear that. Cursing the writers i went for lunch :)
Afternoons are always lazy for me. My favourite part of the day is the evening! My mind works very freshly at that tym. Ive never been able to decipher the reason till now. I had my cup of coffee(My first Addiction) and headed off to the gym. Gosh i need to reduce weight. I cudn believe the scales today. I was above the year in which the first cricket world cup was held.(Minus the 19 of course :P)! After a moderate workout, and a very minimal dinner, m here to write the first entry for my blog! Ha ha. Thanks for reading. Ill be back tomo!! Goond night.