A new year..a new lease of life

As 2005 dawns upon the world, I can't help wonder about some fortunate happenings towards the end of last year.

Desperate to get away from Bangalore during the last week of Dec. 04, a few of us were planning on a trip to Andaman & Nicobar. Being last minute planners, we could only find bookings aboard the ship, but not the flight. Being stuck for 5 days on a ship with everyone's insides coming outside didn't excite me too much making me the only spoke in the wheel. Somehow, inspite of all my friend's enthu this trip got shelved. The other destination we looked at was Sri Lanka, the beachy paradise. This trip too got junked due to the high costs at that time of the year - prohibitive for the rupee earning non-management folks like us ! Finally we tripp'ed to God's own country (Kerala) - a most enjoyable pleasure filled 5 days, but that's beside the point I'm trying to make here.

Every TDH (Tom-Dick-Harry or Thimmaiah-Deepak-Hari) knows the catastrophic events during the last week of Dec. 04. During the weeks preceding the Tsunami disaster, we were very despondent looking at all our travel plans getting botched. Reminiscing about the chain of events that saved us from turning into debris in the Indian ocean, "fate" or "karma" functioning behind every occurrence in our life becomes lucidly apparent. It was just not meant for us to die young ! Though, it is a very sad plight for the lakhs of people who met with watery graves...& their bereaving families, continuing thinking along same lines, these people MUST have been responsible in some remote past for the happenings today. This appears cruel & unsympathetic, but the laws nevertheless function irrespective of what you or I feel. The universe cannot be a chaotic, random system, cause the very fact that it exists proves otherwise. Even a fool can see the connection between events in time & space.

This raises the age old debate of "fate" vs. "free-will". My fate is my own free-will exercised previously - I may or may not know this & hence choose to hide it conveniently under "destiny" that is beyond control ! These appear to be archaic moth eaten textbook fundas until you experience it & reflect on the same - as appears above. There is further complication. Can I accomplish ANYTHING with my free-will ? That is impossible because anything I do always conflicts with somebody else's free will, perhaps in such a minute way as to be indiscernible. How much control did I have in planning my trip ??

As we ignorant humans spend our entire energies planning & preparing for future events it only during these times when all the cutting edge technology cannot save the world that we sit back & think deeper.

Is this blog post meant to be published & read ? Or did I choose to do so explicitly ? The clue perhaps lies in the answer to this question - do the characters in your dream have control over what's happening in the dream ? Do YOU have control then ? If neither, who does then ? In any case, who is the YOU during this phase ? :))

Think....think.....& it will only help you realize the futility of thinking. Experience, experience & words are like fleeting, ever changing reflections on the water !
Post your comments & let me know what you "think" ... :D