running with a dog

where i lived, there a doberman dog, 7 month old, lives..
black, sleek and athletic, she just loves outings in the jungle.  without any shoes, she runs and explores.

used to do 4-5 km runs with her, most of the time without any restraint..  and instead of regular jogging at a regular trot, this doggie would sprint and trot at different speeds - making these barefoot jog actually running with full of possibilities.

its not easy to get an opportunity to run flat out...
and when you run at your fastest, its then you realize your slowest-ness as well...  (i.e. the limits of your speed and strength as well).

there are some road parts (tar paved road) to reach this jungle (mild level), in where there are mud paths.  going that path with 100's of pot holes and levels of wetness, is an adventure in every step.

used to wonder, why other's dont do it.. there is no way i can describe the fun in such run.. thus tough to communicate it to others to encourage them to take it up as well...  so, i just relied on demonstrations of such runs...

and at times, this pup of of 7 months (almost fully grown) would run just a stride ahead of me, and would match my speed without looking back!  if i slowed down, she'd do it too, and pace up as well, effortlessly...

i used to try to figure out how she matches my speed..  is it through my footstep sound (thus judging the length of my stride)... anyway, never could really figure how she did it.

how can you not miss then..  RWAD...

say no to gold to save our national economy!

Was reading news about plans by RBI to make rupee stronger – and to stability indian economy – a new plan is being hatched..  RBI (reserve bank of india) will ask banks to buy back gold from citizens..

Rbi has about 550 tons of gold reserve.  Every year, indian citizens buy (import) almost 1000 tons of gold.  The official figure for year 2012 is 820 tons of gold.  That is the legal figure, which is never correct in indian setting.

Imagine, how much gold Indians would have imported since 1993? 20,000 tons?

What does gold do? Most of it remains in locked up safe/lockers etc.  it blocks all the money as well.  Lets say, 10 grams (1 tola as per indian usage) cost something like rs.30k.  here we are talking about 1000’s of tons!! Imagine, if all that money was spent on education…  since 1993!!

Thus, Govt. should not help to increase demand of gold.  It should sell whatever gold it has..  all the 550 tons of it, and then allow gold to be imported to india as much citizens want to.  Thus breaking its demand, and flood the supply..   along with that, should do campaigns to spread awareness about uselessness of this shiny metal.  Rejecting it as a status symbol and fashion accessory, just the way ‘fur’ clothing was pushed out in the west – as cruelty to animals. 

Warren buffet had quoted, that gold doesn't increase wealth.  (google for detailed article on it)  And in today’s difficult economic times,  Indians and world over people should focus on development, not hoarding.  We will have to learn to deal with our insecurities (which lead to this hoarding behavior in the first place). 

By being less worried about our future, we can make it better for ourselves and future generations!

Regarding suicide exclusion in life insurance

Regarding suicide exclusion in life insurance… the current clause in India is, if the insurance buyer commits suicide, then - Policy is terminated, death benefits is not paid

Who is getting the benefit of suicide here? The insurance company?

Why should a paying customer and their nominee / family be punished for this act? – isn’t suicide a mental HEALTH condition…  which should be viewed as any other HEALTH condition?

Of course, that brings in some questions…

What is the % of people – who commit suicide (in India and worldwide)

Suppose 100 people take insurance, how many die – due to suicide?

The people who committed suicide – how many were leading regular lives – for how many years?  - for example if people who commit suicide seem to have put in average of 10 years of regular life, - then it can be assumed that they didn’t buy insurance with intention of committing suicide…

And now the MOST IMP aspect…

Why is death by suicide is seen as controllable by individual will?  And other causes of death are not considered as out of control?

What about other health risk behaviors/habits not considered in the same light?

Depression or state of depression (heightened sense of helplessness & hopelessness) leads a person to suicidal behavior – it’s not something an individual can claim to have willful control over.

 It would be like claiming – I won’t die of stroke, or heart problems, or accident.  It can happen to anyone, and insurance risk should cover it.   (Some conditions can be set to block people about to commit suicide from buying insurance, i.e. set an immediate time period, and as it is, there are enough safeguards already).  What say?

Why should mental health conditions should be treated as a pariah ? 

Right to have own opinion...

Why we fight over or can have endless arguments over ‘god’ whether it exists or not (cant use he/she right?)

And another is ‘reservation’  - as its known in India – i.e. caste based quota for resources, usually education, job, age limit etc.

Equal rights for women is not as hotly debated – openly, as it seem to have become politically correct – not to discriminate against women.

So, back to god and reservations areguements in india…

The god argument – continues – because, the definition of god is different for everyone.

For example – it will be like arguing whether

Football or cricket is the better sport (for non-indians, volleyball v/s basketball etc can be taken up)

Actually, how is “better” defined is the key – without having objective standards as what makes either sport ‘better’ – it can become an enver-ending discussion.

Similarly, the question, whether reservation (caste based quota) should exist or not – becomes endless argument – because – it fails to addrss its end result…

What is reservation aiming to do? – that I the real question  -what is the goal of this policy?

To bring equality? To give everyone fair chance?

-          Everyone, as in – impact on this generation or future generations as well?

Let me digress here a bit –

If I remember correctly, in the book, “a Connecticut Yankee in king arthur’s court”, the hero gets into an argument with some people – when they discuss – whether increasing the salary and increasing the cost of products they consume at the same time is useful or not.  People / general public feel – increasing salary is good (regardless of cost increase).  Because they have a narrow vision and don’t look beyond.

Similarly, people are obsessed with policy / rules..  if its not being implemented by the machinery / system – which is supposed to do so, then there is no point in having that rule.

For example, banning sale of alcohol (prohibition) wouldn’t make sense, if illegally sale of alcohol is left completely unchecked. 

But, in india, and many other countries as well – there is huge amount of corruption existing in govt. machinery – so, rather than focusing efforts to get that machinery to work properly, newer rules / policies are made.. 

The politicians know, its basically it’s a good technique to fool the public.  So, it wouldn’t be wrong at times to question, whether is it enough to have -  “you can’t fool all the people all the time”..  even if there is a small % of honest people, its enough – mentality should change..  unless the majority practices it, active activism is needed to clean the govt. machinery and work on keeping it clean..  

2 favourite activities

Running and being barefeet are 2 of my favourites...

And since the 2^nd anniversary of my barefoot life is nearing (3 week ahead), I decided to combine these 2 activities, even though its raining regularly.  Of course, an added bonus was, a 7 month old Doberman dog, which is happy to accompany me on this run.  I will write about it later. 

I took a path, through the forest area nearby for this run and its about 2km long.  It’s a mud path, and there are streams of water running through various parts of this path.  Due to my barefeet, I could feel, soft mud, slippery mud, hard mud, grassy mud, watery mud and so on, as I run through them. 

This path, through which I run at a moderate speed, would be impossible to go through with almost any kind of footwear.  There are areas where water levels are ankle deep, and sticky mud filled areas and so on.  I won’t recommend this jogging path to a newbie barefooter, but then I have been almost barefoot 24/7 for last 2 years and toughened up considerably. 

During this run, there are so many unique experiences.  I haven’t met any person in ths forest path stretch so far.  But I never felt lonely… rather, these runs almost feel meditative.  Though I am not running blindly or without care, but with atmost observation of my jogging path and caution.  The dog takes its own route and goes away to explore but makes sure it doesn’t lose me at all… and helping me understand the phrase ‘follows like a dog’ in totality. 

While running barefoot, the forefoot strikes the ground first.  The outer edges of the forefoot (the area just below your 3 small toes) hits the ground and then cushions the fall of the rest of the foot.  When you run through muddy areas, your foot will sink in, and if the ground is wet and soft enough, then mud will push through your toes up… this is a wonderful feeling, which has to be experienced and cannot be described in mere words.  

There is a reason too – as our toes are curved, one part of them do not generally come in contact with any surface, unless our feet sinks in.  thus the bottom part of our toes which are connected to our feet is like a virgin and this mud stimulates that area (now I hope you can imagine the sensation).  

Anyway, even though I run through all kinds of surfaces, I have not gotten hurt so far.  Not surprising to me now, but if someone had told so couple of years ago, I wouldn’t have believed and would have totally argued against it just like you want to…  (and now, see ya later, barefooter).    

And the music never stopped...

A really great movie, ‘the music never stopped’ came out in 2011... i am totally surprised why no one insisted that i must see this movie.. 

The story is based on a neurologist’s case study of a patient with brain tumor.  It’s heavily into American culture of 1950’s and 1960’s... and music bands of that time – ‘grateful dead’ genre...  but even a person with no idea about it will be able to appreciate the emotions this movie generates...

Its basically about a family of 3, parents and a son... there is generation gap, patriotism v/s peace, husband and wife, father and son, and what all it takes to bring about change from a rigidity.  The role of the son is done by ‘Lou Taylor Pucci’, and is outstanding, even though all the actors have done a great job.  On rotten tomatoe reviews, as i suspected, there was accusation of overindulging in sentimentality, but one has to take in the time of that setting, almost 60 years ago... and one of the perspectives is through the emotions of a teenager, who also happens to be sensitive character as well. 

Generally i don’t feel this way, but this movie should be watched by all.  I am surprised why it isn’t a cult already. 

**spoiler alert**  from now on, I am going to write about the story of the movie, so, do not read ahead unless you’ve seen the movie already or don’t mind it. 

Since the story was so un-usual, and the base material was prominently shown as an essay by oliver sacks ‘last hippie’, I googled and read that essay.  It’s a case report by a neurologist, of ‘greg f’, who had a huge brain tumor and which got operated, but resulted in loss of many brain functions.  But when this patient is discussed about music from a certain period (his passionate interest as a youngster), he becomes animated and connected.  (I have observed this on self and in others – when they get into a topic they are passionate about – the person’s communication style changes, they just flow… our brain might be getting into a ‘zone’ as in athletics).

The case study of patient ‘Greg F’ is a dry report in comparison to the movie script. In the case study, the neurologist goes to a music concert with the patient, but in movie, it’s the father of the patient. It would be a good idea to read the case study ‘the last hippie’ and see the movie as well – to realize the vast difference in emotional screen play and academic report.  But many things are studiously taken up from the case study – and the lead actor wonderfully portrays them.  It makes more sense to remember the lead actor suffers from a neurological condition, thus his reactions and expressions would be different from a normal person.  The schism in relationships and how an unusual condition/situation brings out a different perspective of the son, in a father-son relationship of the late 1950’s in USA is brilliantly portrayed.

The mother and changes in her life, empowerment, the doctor’s technical focus, the canteen girl cilia and the lead character’s earlier girlfriend – all are wonderfully shown in detail.  The loss of permanent memory, and how it can lead to the shock of hearing a sad news again and again is another thing to watch out.  This movie, thus, is emotional drama, medial case study, about music, generation gap, peace, and so many things… the title is taken from a ‘greatful dead’ (music band) song, the music never stopped, but probably, the movie ‘magic never stops’ would be appropriate way to describe this movie experience… 

floating ideas...

Few ideas have been floating inside my head... what is the base cause of corruption and inequality in today’s world? Is it marriage? I.e. the institution of marriage...  illegalize it and everything changes.  Individual property would be fine, but there wont be a point in acquiring wealth for 7 genetations of your family...  or your own kid, as there will be now Own kid.. but is it possible? Isn’t it impossible to take out the idea of pair bonding for life from human mind?

Let’s say – make it a legal requirement to get friendship registration... like marriage registration...  How would it pan out? In a society where it happens, maybe it wouldn’t be seen as ridiculous to you as now.

Similarly, there is a story idea lurking here – a sci-fi culture, where every citizen is supposed to get married to an organization / work team / company ...  it wont be just till retirement, it will be life long..  There will be 100’s of movies about people who are absolutely blissful and ecstatic about being with an organization for life...  Hell, you can even add rituals where people tie thread to a special tree to be with that organization for 7 life times...  

(You can extend it by modernizing the new movies by youngsters going thru hell before they can decide which company to be married with..  Till like love, it just strikes them, and they find the PERFECT company... then its all hunky dory for the rest of your life)...

And in between writing all this, i was reading... and wanted to put a quote down here, for no reason... at first.

running was mankind’s first fine art... (chris mcdougall, in ‘born to run’)

After i put the above quote, i started worndering why i did that... it had absolutely no place in whatever i am trying to express... but, as i maybe was trying to connect both these streams of thoughts (trying to figure out the root cause of evil – or insecurity and hoarding and human inequality, along with ultra-long-distance running, i found a connection... just as much fun as you find a way while trekking..  anyways let me not digress.

The point is, is our life a fine art too, or is it a project? Of course, rabindranath tagore’s short story, ‘wrong man in the workers paradise’ kind of sums it up, but i don’t remember it providing any answers/solutions..  how should we live? Free and without measurements or based on rules of the president of obsessessive-compulsive society?

Putting it in such extremes as black & white creates a skewed vision, and the obvious answer would be ‘it should be a golden mean’... but i guess everyone will have a dominating side... control freak v/s liberal artist – just as the old personality divide between introvert v/s extrovert...  with a third dimension of ‘ambivert’ adding up along with it. So there could be a “control artist” as a fuzzy intelligence... 

(i see myself swinging between the 2 extremes without really figuring out how to find the middle path... as i see the precise documentation as useful and at the same time hippie way of no measurements as liberating too... and at times running through the middle path, but every new day it disappears and i have to runn all over to find that path each new day)... maybe i will find an equation or maybe there are no equations..  the argument continues!

Rigid constitutions to unwritten norms...

Why is no one talking about ‘india shining’or india equalling developed countries nowadays? Why does corruption seem to be an everyday normal occurance in the country with the biggest constitution in the world? How can basic human rights be provided to 1.2 billion people of the world? Are we working in a negative way – i.e. focusing on addressing our insecurities and not on developmental pathways ahead?

Ever since independence, formation of policies doesn’t seem to work – but Indians seem hell bent on this as the method to all problems... how will a policy will be implemented seem to be the last thought.  How can India as well as other countries of the world benefit from an analysis on the above?

A rigidly written constitution to unwritten constitutions, or norms – It’s all to run systems smoothly.  Basically, to encourage what should be done and to stop what shouldn’t be done, that is the key to any system. 

What we want to do – v/s what we don’t want – these 2 polar opposites...  often an individual might have such a policy for themselves.  Sometimes families, small groups, (or big groups based on religion), and a whole country, create such systems to make them function at their best.

In india, sonography to determine sex of a child is illegal.  Female foeticide is also illegal and second step to sex determination test. Abortion is illegal in some countries. The war against drugs all over the world (drugs like cocaine, meth) is ongoing since many years.  Lying, stealing, killing, and a huge list of things which are un-wanted / to be stopped behaviour.  But despite a ton of rules & regulations nothing really seem to stop these things.

Cooperation, ethical behaviour, honesty in financial transactions, respect for each other and so on are expected / wanted behaviour.  And with or without rules, these desired behaviours don’t seem to increase. 

So, is there any point in trying to improve the world through any kind of regulations? Or should there be different types of regulations in place? Will a rule which cannot be implemented will be a blade of grass in heavy wind? Or is that the first step anyway? But then, if a rule fails to be implemented – should it be discarded or removed as s rule? What should be the time frame for evaluating whether a rule is democratic or not?

Law of a court, an appealing advertisement, traditional culture, religious ritual, instincts...  so many ways to modify human behaviour... but not 1 perfect way for it.  Maybe that’s the fun of being a human, being a thinking entity!