If I were not restricted by what the society calls righteousness, would I be what I am right now? Do all men have two faces and is one of them uglier than the other? Do we do a lot of things just to keep others happy? Would the world be unliveable, if one fine morning everyone wakes up with a clean mind, a mind devoid of any code of conduct that has been dinned in by scriptures, society, law, etc? Did the most primitive of men have a social set up in place? What benefits are we reaping by adhering to one?
She said, "Hari, human beings, by birth are polygamous. But it is the society that pulls at the leash". I guess I have to agree with that... Don't we ogle at a pretty woman that we see? I am straight, hence, a woman... Feminists don't get offended... Do we really live our lives? And if we do live the way we want to, we become outcasts... I guess the guys who laid out the rules were obsessive compulsive... Why should they then have a code for everything you can imagine... from dictating what you eat to whom you are allowed to marry... And the so called sticklers to these dictums, breach them in the dark... They do not have the guts to do the same thing in broad daylight... Should some one do it, he is stigmatized... Isn't this hypocrisy going to end at all? Or am I wrong in choosing not to follow what has been laid down as customs / beliefs / value system???
Monday, October 22, 2007
Black out...
Technology, especially computers have changed people's lives a lot... Everything these days is automated... Right from the cash out counter in department stores to the check-in terminals in airports... We enjoy luxury even in simple things like automatic doors, power windows for cars, automatic taps in sinks, flushes... This has sometimes made us lazy... Many a time we stand in front of a door waiting for it to slide open... Then with a sheepish smile, we realize that those are not automatic... The human mind always asks for more...
I do not know if this technological advancement is a bane or boon... Neither am I going to be judgemental about it. What bothers me more is the way in which people have changed because of these... Here is a small anecdote that I would like to put forward to show what I intend to convey!!! I can hear what you are saying: "Ahh, yet another anecdote from his life... He never seems to run out of them...".
When I was a kid, if there was a power cut during the day, I always found it out because the fans stopped running... But nowadays, I find out that there is a blackout because the internet stops working... As a matter of fact, the wireless connection camps on to a slower neighbouring connection... And this slow connection speed makes me look at what happened to my cable modem... It is then I figure out that there is a black out... I am not blaming the computers for this... It just gives me an impression that we are with our computers/cell phones for more time than we are with the family or friends that surround us...
These days, the definition of a house has taken a totally new form... Some sort of a superstructure with a roof, a computer and wireless internet connection is all we need. People aren't happy with a wired LAN connection. The next minute, they start looking at deals for a wireless router.
Isn't the world a lot simpler without all these advancements? Or is it a much better place with all these luxuries? I leave it to the reader...
I do not know if this technological advancement is a bane or boon... Neither am I going to be judgemental about it. What bothers me more is the way in which people have changed because of these... Here is a small anecdote that I would like to put forward to show what I intend to convey!!! I can hear what you are saying: "Ahh, yet another anecdote from his life... He never seems to run out of them...".
When I was a kid, if there was a power cut during the day, I always found it out because the fans stopped running... But nowadays, I find out that there is a blackout because the internet stops working... As a matter of fact, the wireless connection camps on to a slower neighbouring connection... And this slow connection speed makes me look at what happened to my cable modem... It is then I figure out that there is a black out... I am not blaming the computers for this... It just gives me an impression that we are with our computers/cell phones for more time than we are with the family or friends that surround us...
These days, the definition of a house has taken a totally new form... Some sort of a superstructure with a roof, a computer and wireless internet connection is all we need. People aren't happy with a wired LAN connection. The next minute, they start looking at deals for a wireless router.
Isn't the world a lot simpler without all these advancements? Or is it a much better place with all these luxuries? I leave it to the reader...
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Journey into the Atlantic!
To add another feather to my cap, there is something that I did for the first time... Sailing and being a part of the crew that ran the ship. A completely different 5 days that I spent sailing in the Atlantic ocean trawling around Long Island.
An International student in the land of opportunities, deciding against a PhD, wanting to graduate with a Masters in December, with just one course to do and lots of time to kill, a little short of funds to make ends meet, resorts to doing a couple of odd jobs here and there to make the few extra bucks... Among the jobs, there was this job of being a Deckhand in the Seawolf, a research vessel belonging to the Department of Marine Sciences, Stony Brook University. There is skepticism about the job that he has agreed to because, he has never handled fishes in his life... He doesn't know if it would be gross to do the job. He doesn't like accepting defeat, defeat here being the fact that he is not strong enough to stand the ordeal... But nevertheless, he decides and takes it on.
The crew was all set to sail out of Port Jefferson harbour on a nice Monday afternoon. Joined by the captain, Steve, two other deckhands, Katy and Tara and the research crew, he witnessed the breaking of the bottle of Champagne. They sailed along the north shore of Long Island (LI), till they reached the Hudson river. It was a nice experience to sail under the bridges of Manhattan, particularly the Brookly bridge. It was nice because that was the first time he got to see Manhattan from the waters. Tara had made some nice chicken, mashed potatoes and salad. One very good thing about the sailor's life is the importance that they attach to dinner. Everyone from captain to deckhand dines together. After dinner, we docked in New York City, a city that neverr sleeps... But we had to because trawling had to start early next morning.
One can easily imbibe discipline by doing jobs like these. The word from the captain was: "Thou shall be out of your bunks at the sound of the engine tomorrow morning". That night, he had a rather disturbed sleep trying to figure out which of the sounds was close to that of a ship's engine starting. At around 6:30, he woke up with a jerk... The engine's sound was definitely something that you can't miss even if you were in the deep sleep phase of the Rapid Eye Movement.
They started moving out into the Hudson river for the first trawl. Trawling is definitely a strenuous job... Getting the trawl lines out, hooking the trawl doors... all needed the brawn that a normal guy does not have. Workouts pay... Trawling happens for twenty minutes and then the catch is brought inside... There came the first catch and with that came his heart into his mouth... The job to be done was pretty simple... The fishes in the catch had to be sorted based on species and size... But his thoughts were in finding out if he would be able to stand the odor and the slime... Surprisingly it was not too reprehensible... Dog fish, winter skates, little skates, Blue fish, Anchovies, Scubs, Squids, Sturgeons, Puffers, Clams, crabs, jelly fish and more... Distinguishing between species and between sexes was another interesting task... Slowly he got used to the business...
The first day of trawling came to an end, but the duties for the day had not... They did not dock for the night... They anchored at about 2 miles from the coast... So the obvious responsibility was to take turns in standing watch. The wheelhouse is a place that geeks would love... especially a communications engineer... The room was full of navigation equipment... Radar, Sonar, Automatic Identification System, GPS devices, etc... While standing guard, one has to keep monitoring the radar for traffic that might be passing by... The captain has to be notified if the course of any other vessel was in line with the ship... One also has to be wary of the fact that the ship does not drift too close to the coast (despite the anchor)... They had anchored along the South shore of LI and the South Westerly presented no threat... The two hours at the wheelhouse should be fun despite the fact that it had been a long day at the sea... CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW at the helm!!!
The second day and the third day of trawling were similar but for the fact that they did not anchor the second night... They were drifting freely... To counter the drift due to the ocean, the vessel was much farther into the ocean...
After three days of strenuous work, the research group got off the ship in Greenport, a dock in the easternmost part of LI, about 45 knots away from Port Jefferson. The ship was running short of fuel. That delayed the start from Greenport next morning... What the crew thought would be smooth sailing back home turned into something a little more adveturous. There was a high pressure in the Atlantic and a low over the Great lakes. This depression had brought with it a severe storm... The sea was rough due to the South Westerly winds... High waves were hitting the deck hard... It was a rather narrow escape because if they had been in the south shore then, they would have had to take the brunt of the merciless storm... It was a ver fast transition that happened overnight... The previous day was all sunny and calm... Without too much trouble, they were able to reach Port Jefferson at about 8:00 p.m.
Well, this trip has taught me many things... Value of money was the first thing that I learnt... To earn 13 dollars, I had to work an hour and it was not easy... Equality of people... I was a deckhand, but the way I was treated was simply stunning... Had it not been for this job, I would have never done trawling, never gotten a chance to overcome my disgust about the clammy feeling that one would have when handling fished... This was truly one nice trip... Hats off to the Seawolf!
An International student in the land of opportunities, deciding against a PhD, wanting to graduate with a Masters in December, with just one course to do and lots of time to kill, a little short of funds to make ends meet, resorts to doing a couple of odd jobs here and there to make the few extra bucks... Among the jobs, there was this job of being a Deckhand in the Seawolf, a research vessel belonging to the Department of Marine Sciences, Stony Brook University. There is skepticism about the job that he has agreed to because, he has never handled fishes in his life... He doesn't know if it would be gross to do the job. He doesn't like accepting defeat, defeat here being the fact that he is not strong enough to stand the ordeal... But nevertheless, he decides and takes it on.
The crew was all set to sail out of Port Jefferson harbour on a nice Monday afternoon. Joined by the captain, Steve, two other deckhands, Katy and Tara and the research crew, he witnessed the breaking of the bottle of Champagne. They sailed along the north shore of Long Island (LI), till they reached the Hudson river. It was a nice experience to sail under the bridges of Manhattan, particularly the Brookly bridge. It was nice because that was the first time he got to see Manhattan from the waters. Tara had made some nice chicken, mashed potatoes and salad. One very good thing about the sailor's life is the importance that they attach to dinner. Everyone from captain to deckhand dines together. After dinner, we docked in New York City, a city that neverr sleeps... But we had to because trawling had to start early next morning.
One can easily imbibe discipline by doing jobs like these. The word from the captain was: "Thou shall be out of your bunks at the sound of the engine tomorrow morning". That night, he had a rather disturbed sleep trying to figure out which of the sounds was close to that of a ship's engine starting. At around 6:30, he woke up with a jerk... The engine's sound was definitely something that you can't miss even if you were in the deep sleep phase of the Rapid Eye Movement.
They started moving out into the Hudson river for the first trawl. Trawling is definitely a strenuous job... Getting the trawl lines out, hooking the trawl doors... all needed the brawn that a normal guy does not have. Workouts pay... Trawling happens for twenty minutes and then the catch is brought inside... There came the first catch and with that came his heart into his mouth... The job to be done was pretty simple... The fishes in the catch had to be sorted based on species and size... But his thoughts were in finding out if he would be able to stand the odor and the slime... Surprisingly it was not too reprehensible... Dog fish, winter skates, little skates, Blue fish, Anchovies, Scubs, Squids, Sturgeons, Puffers, Clams, crabs, jelly fish and more... Distinguishing between species and between sexes was another interesting task... Slowly he got used to the business...
The first day of trawling came to an end, but the duties for the day had not... They did not dock for the night... They anchored at about 2 miles from the coast... So the obvious responsibility was to take turns in standing watch. The wheelhouse is a place that geeks would love... especially a communications engineer... The room was full of navigation equipment... Radar, Sonar, Automatic Identification System, GPS devices, etc... While standing guard, one has to keep monitoring the radar for traffic that might be passing by... The captain has to be notified if the course of any other vessel was in line with the ship... One also has to be wary of the fact that the ship does not drift too close to the coast (despite the anchor)... They had anchored along the South shore of LI and the South Westerly presented no threat... The two hours at the wheelhouse should be fun despite the fact that it had been a long day at the sea... CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW at the helm!!!
The second day and the third day of trawling were similar but for the fact that they did not anchor the second night... They were drifting freely... To counter the drift due to the ocean, the vessel was much farther into the ocean...
After three days of strenuous work, the research group got off the ship in Greenport, a dock in the easternmost part of LI, about 45 knots away from Port Jefferson. The ship was running short of fuel. That delayed the start from Greenport next morning... What the crew thought would be smooth sailing back home turned into something a little more adveturous. There was a high pressure in the Atlantic and a low over the Great lakes. This depression had brought with it a severe storm... The sea was rough due to the South Westerly winds... High waves were hitting the deck hard... It was a rather narrow escape because if they had been in the south shore then, they would have had to take the brunt of the merciless storm... It was a ver fast transition that happened overnight... The previous day was all sunny and calm... Without too much trouble, they were able to reach Port Jefferson at about 8:00 p.m.
Well, this trip has taught me many things... Value of money was the first thing that I learnt... To earn 13 dollars, I had to work an hour and it was not easy... Equality of people... I was a deckhand, but the way I was treated was simply stunning... Had it not been for this job, I would have never done trawling, never gotten a chance to overcome my disgust about the clammy feeling that one would have when handling fished... This was truly one nice trip... Hats off to the Seawolf!
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