Syriana : Another Disturbing Affair.

It looks like not just George Bush and his politicians along with American MNCs are worried about Middle East. Hollywood also is not sitting back, we have had quite a few this year on that volatile region and the 3rd world in particular.
Syriana is another in that line, a politically charged movie of a merger of 2 oil industries set in the backdrop of changing times in the Middle East. The film poses many questions through its characters but most intriguing among them probably is the disillusioned Pakistani teenage worker who falls prey to Islamic militant movements amidst growing unemployment and oppression. It shows how the greed of American oil industries on the backdrop of a power struggle between the two princes of the region has started radical Islam movement in the Middle East providing young men with a feeling of brotherhood in the face of a region they feel has turned its back on them in favour of big business, corruption and power striggles. It is a movie not about good and bad guys, but how bad each one can be.
George Clonney is wonderful as the CIA agent and the other casts also fit it appropriately. Stephen Gaghan is a nice story teller and handles the film quite competently.

Probably this is one of the best movies I have seen in recent months, well, it will be difficult to judge whether this is better than Munich or not. In the end a point to ponder upon is that the vast wealth of the West comes at the cost of people all over the world who will never have a fraction of the comfort those in western countries take for granted. Surely this cannot be the fate of humanity !!!!!!!

PATCHY SNOW

This year the snow here been as fickle minded as the stock exchange. Sometimes there have been long periods with no snow ( of course it was very cold, teparatures going down to -15 degrees or so forcing me to wear the warmest clothes I have ) and then suddenly there was a lot of snow for 2 to 3 days, almost like snowing in buckets !!!!!!

Then came the rain, so the snow did not stay long, but melted away and with that took away my last chance to take some more ski-ing lessons. Well, all is not lost for this year, predictions are that there could be some snow at the end of the month..... let's see.......

Random Hectic Weekends

Last few weekends have been quite hectic for me. Not my style, I like peaceful weekends
where I can sleep long till noon, then debate over a cup of hot Darjeeling tea for an hour or so
whether I should be cleaning my house or not or washing clothes ( hey, don't think I do not do those things ), feel even more lazy, listen to some random music and also try out some innovative ideas to improve my cooking skills. ( my german italian and spanish friends would vouch for me that it is improving )

However, last 3 to 4 weekends have been very different. In one of them, I had been learning skiing in the Italian Alps ( at a place called Brunico at the border of Austria and Italy ), another weekend I had to get up very early ( this is something I hate the most ) to catch a train to Zurich ( btw, Zurich is a very beautiful city, will leave my "abenteur" in Zurich for another blog and since I had lots of fun, I will not complain this time about having to get up early ) and then the last weekend had to come to the lab for work ( trying to debug a code on a Sunday afternoon, that sucks !!!! ) But the way this week has gone, I am pretty sure that I will be here in my office debugging this stupid code and trying my best to produce some results which I have to show in the next group meeting next week.

Oh, How I wish to go back to my peaceful hibernating weekends !!!!!!
I admit this was a very bad blog, I am in no mood now to write a good one .........

Munich in Muenchen

Last week I was watching the movie Munich, yes and sitting in a theatre in Muenchen.

Probably everybody knows what the film is about, so will not describe it here.
I liked the film very much, specially was quite overwhelmed by Spielberg's maturity to address the issue. Spielberg could have easily taken the Jeweish stance while making the movie but he did not, like a true story teller, he presented the facts and situations and asked
the audience to decide for themselves.

There are some memorable parts of the film i would like to point out :

1.The conversation between Avner and the Palestinian terrorist where they both justified why each country has the right to have a homeland

2. The paranoia that permeates the world of spies and assassins has been portrayed wonderfully - to the point where every survivor mistrusts everybody else

3. The depressing last sex scene in which Avner fails to use love as fuel to make love to his wife but has to take help from fear and haunted memories to arouse his passion.

Somewhere I had read about Spielberg's comments regarding the movie :

there are people on both sides, terrorists aren't born terrorists, and blood shed is a cycle that keeps on going and never ends so we need to find another way to respond to terrorism Somewhere inside all this intransigence, there has to be a prayer for peace.

Just a few minor details :

The house where the actual attack took place is Conollystrasse 31 at Olypmiapark, Muenchen, and is owned by the Max Planck Society and has been converted to guest house of the MPS ( nobody wanted to buy that house because of many superstitions, funny how superstition works even in
developed 1st world countries ). MPS got the house at a very cheap price from the Munich Olympic Committee. I was there twice to meet some guests of ours and there is a small memorial in front of the house on which was written a few details about the attack with flowers all around it.

Muenchen, For all those who haven't seen this big village in all its glory.

Every European city whether small or big has its own charm. From the gorgeous cities like Berlin in the east, the memerising Rome and Vienna in the central-south, young and vibrant Barcelona in the west, the solemn and sedate yet beautiful Stockholm in the north to the smallest of cities like Pisa, Firenze, and islands like Lapalma and Tenerife, I have travelled far and quite extensively.
It's now quite some time I have been staying in this beautiful city and slowly perhaps I am falling in love with it. It probably does not have the grandiose architecture which Rome or Athens can boast of, neither the very ancient narrow cobblestone roads with early 20th century gaslights of Nueremburg, Erice or any other very old city, but Munich has a very nice mixture of the old and the new. The city is just the right place for the people who love art with a staggering array of museums, galleries, exhibition halls and not to mention of numerous operas, theatres etc.
Bavaria is souvenir-icon Germany at its postcard best, and the fairy-tale Gothic, Biergarten-filled city of Munich is no exception.
But probably many cities of Europe can offer all those what Muenchen has,however the feature which attracted me the most
was the greenery of the city ---> the vast stretches of the Englischer Garten with the small brook Isar ( well, we will call it a brook, Muencheners call it a river ) flowing through one of the corners are a real soothing site. The city has passed a law that one cannot build higher than 8 storeyed building inside the main city and I appreciate this idea very much. And then what completely stole my heart was the the distinct change of seasons I saw here : nature presents every season in all its glory. Just focus your attention to one tree, keep taking pictures every month and you will see so many different colours of leaves and the bare branches in winter when there are no leaves or completely covered with snow and then the new leaves when spring comes, wow, nature at her very best, I can imagine and feel !!!!!
This change of mood is what I had missed many years, it seemed I had lost this feel for nature, in the last years in the city where I stayed it seemed so un-changing, so monotonous that I was getting fed up with my surroundings. Munich has probably shown me some of the most wonderful colours of nature again, has taught me to fall in love with the beauties around me again --> a feeling which was constantly getting eroded........

Cosmic Vision : Where are we, Where do we go ?

On whose lips the question of realisation of god does not find place ? In many corners of this world you will hear the following : True realisation starts with metaphysical experience of God. Despite being physically with Arjuna, why did Lord Krishna say, "you do not know Me, I am not this physical body". Lord exhorted Arjuna to know Him in His transcendental form from a wise seer. On being urged, Lord Krishna showed His omni-present cosmic form. Thereupon, all despodency of Arjuna was cleared. He was then ready to fight for extirpation of evil-doers and establishment of dharma.
Taoism teaches that we can attain enduring happiness and spiritual enlightenment if we know and live in accordance with Li, the immutable cosmic law the intuitively discernible aspect of Tao.
To me all this has no relevance in this 21st century. Perhaps it had no relevance at any time of the universe. Description of glory and splendour of God in pedantic and ornamental language and imparting some mantra as "Diksha" is not in the least realisation of God.

Our Quest of the Cosmos has started hundereds of years ago by people of the ancient civilisations. Deciphering the history and current status of the universe has led astronomers to startling concepts about its superdense origin, continuing expansion, subtle curvature, and exotic composition and many more.

In Modern culture, the artichoke view of the world, though transformed from ancient understanding, is largely retained. Thus, physicists look for the fundamental particle and cosmologists for the "theory of everything." Some biologists seek to explain all biological phenomena from cells to human cul
tural in terms of the fundamental particles of biology, the genes.

Astronomical observation is entering a golden age, thanks to the converging technologies of computers, microelectronics, fiber optics, lasers, detectors, gigantic mirrors, and space operations. But, of course, it will be stupid to belive that the solution of the problem to the Origin of Universe lies around the corner. And to my belief, if we expect science to answer all these questions of fate of the Universe, existence of God, we still need to go a long way and will have to be patient. Probably the most unhealthy aspect of cosmology is its unspoken parallel with religion. Both are at the stage where they deal with many but answerable questions. The rapt audience, media exposure, big book sale etc have not been seen possibly in branch of science.

But I believe that a day will come when we may be able to unveil the mysteries of this universe and explain to every common person on this earth. For the moment we should probably only be saying to general public :
It is not unlikely that we primates gazing through bits of glass for a century or two will dissemble the architecture and history of infinity. But if we don't try, we will not get anywhere. Therefore, we, who try to look for answers to these questions, do the best we can to fit the odd clues we have into some kind of plausible story. That is how science ( at least non-repeatable ones ) works and that is the spirit in which our cosmological speculations should be treated. We have built ever complex machines only to discard afterwards in the face of improving evidence. The likelihood may be that this revision will occur again and again and again.
And then probably the truth will dawn upon us.

Perhaps this is best written by the great poet :

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken up into

fragments by narrow domestic walls;....

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its

way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;....

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my

country awake