This jewel of a book would be among the first three on my desert island shortlist. A jewel in its entirety, there are pearls of wisdom in almost every line and verse; wise answers to common questions that cover the entire gamut of the human condition.

The Bhagavad Gita is only a fragment, part of the sixth book of the Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharatha; but a fragment in sixteen chapters.

On the eve of the great battle between the clans that is the central event of the Mahabharata, Arjuna, the great warrior and embodiment of kingly virtue, is despondent and surveys the opposing armies with great sorrow. He thinks of withdrawing from the battle in order to avoid bloodshed, although he knows his cause is just. Arjuna’s divine charioteer Krishna draws up the war chariot between the two armies and speaks to Arjuna about duty, making choices, finding the right path in life, the moral ambiguities of the human condition, good and evil, right and wrong. All of this in magnificently sonorous verse that makes for impressive listening even if you don’t know a word of Sanskrit.

See the YouTube link above for a recitation in Sanskrit with titles in English translation.

For anyone who wishes to read the text, there are many translations in English available. The best version I know of is by Shri Purohit Swami, who was an internationally known writer and scholar in the 1930s, and a close friend of Irish poet WB Yeats. Interestingly, before this stint of international scholarship, in the 1920s Purohit Swami spent several years in India living the life of a mendicant; travelling the length and breadth of the country, begging bowl in hand.

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Went for a bike ride along the Danube today. A very short one. The little bridge across the river is under water and hope there’s relief soon for the thousands of people whose homes are affected. Looking forward to summer…

Our 2 cats are getting ready to move to Hong Kong. And as of last week they both have a chip on their shoulders, literally. Ah the wonders of modern veterinary medicine. Took only a few seconds each and they didn’t flinch when the sliver of a chip was injected into the left shoulder of each. When will humans get them? How convenient it would be to label us like our pets. For example: John Smith, genetically predisposed to adipose and flatulence, no known history of association with terrorists and terrorism, may freely pass national borders without additional security measures or scrutiny, no passports or visas needed… and so on.

“The myths we live by” is a phrase that is commonly used. But what does it mean?

Here, Devadutt Pattanaik beautifully transfers the concept to modern business, international management, globalization, and the clash of cultures. Take a look at this TED Talks video when you have 20 minutes to spare. Well worth the time.

Many thanks to Dinesh for the pointer to this video.

Democratic societies have to protect freedom of speech and allow freedom of enterprise, I presume, however hateful the speech or distasteful the enterprise. But surely a company that sells lifesize female dolls (suggesting an ex-girl friend) for target practice at $99 apiece cannot thrive in a sane society! Who would buy such a ghastly thing? Apparently there are enough people buying to make the website below worthwhile.

http://zombieindustries.com/shop/alexa-zombie-target/

$89.95 – Bleeding Alexa Zombie 
Life-Sized Tactical Mannequin Target
“Bleeds” When Shot!!!

Here’s the website’s rationale for offering the Alexa doll for target practice. Ironically, a Voodoo Witch is on the side of the good guys.

Alexa was from Louisiana and was always drawn to the occult.  She had a wicked mean streak in her and was known for her nasty disposition, especially if she had been drinking.  She also happened to be in love with a young man, but there was a slight problem.. he was married to another women.  When he told her that he loved his wife and could never be unfaithful to her, Alexa became enraged.  She decided to seek the help of a local tarot card & palm reader who also dabbled in Voodoo.  When she told the Voodoo Witch of her plan to break up a loving a marriage.. the witch refused to help her.  That’s when Alexa lost her cool for the last time and crossed the wrong person.  She let out a slew of insults directed at the witch and told her she would get her way one way or another.  That’s when the Voodoo Witch cast a spell of her own.  Alexa never knew what hit her and before she reached her home that evening she joined the ranks of the Undead!

Let’s stop worrying about international terrorism for awhile until goods peddlers of this ilk disappear from our own neighbourhoods.

Lao-Tse says (it is said) that one good turn gets most of the blanket. There was a minor upheaval at 02.03 am this morning and my blanket disappeared, together with the cat that lay on it. As I lay, cold and shivering in the dark, I remembered the great sage’s advice. Get your own blanket!

I therefore rose and fetched my own blanket. Thanks to the wisdom of the ancients, perfect harmony was restored by 02.06 am.

Stood at a street corner bus stop in Vienna at 7.30 am this morning and was moved to make this observation. In the space of three minutes waiting, approximately fifty cars raced by (I couldn’t count them all, they passed by too quickly). On average I computed roughly 1.2 occupants per car, most drivers completely focussed on driving, a few already looking a bit stressed and in a hurry. That’s 100 kilos of humanity per car.

My first car in 1975 was a bottle green first-generation VW Golf that weighed 840 kilos. Today’s Golf generation weighs around 1400 kilos (although they consume less fuel) on average. Most SUV’s and bigger cars weigh in at two tons or more.

If one takes an average modern car to weigh 1400 kilos, then we can assume that in three minutes, on just one street corner in Vienna, I was passed by 70 tons of rubber, metal and plastic complexes (marvels of engineering), carrying 5 tons of commuter following their workaday routines. What does this say about us as an intelligent species? We transport our meat, vegetables, oil and other traded goods more efficiently than this.

Belated good wishes to the Internet, which turned 20 on the 30th of April. This time next year it will have grown to full adulthood and will be given the keys to the world by us, its collective parents. In fact, it was given the keys to the world over a decade ago,while still in pre-puberty. The analogy can only be stretched so far!

Sometime around 1994, an excited computer programmer friend walked into my office and said, “I need your computer for half an hour. Go and take a walk in the park.” I obeyed. When I returned to my office, glad for the refreshing break, he told me to look at my screen. I casually sat down and watched as a few lines in red began to appear from the bottom up. Ten minutes later, I could hardly breathe for excitement. Line by line, a clearly discernible color image had formed on the lower half of my screen. The cave paintings of Lascaux, instantly recognizable, one of the places on my bucket list of things to see before I kicked it. Seventeen thousand year old images brought to my screen in half an hour by a technology I knew nothing about. I was hooked.

For the rest of the day, I sat in front of the monitor and looked at various images from the Lascaux caves, captivated as each image formed in twenty to thirty minutes. A year later, I remember, one of my colleagues phoned down to the same programmer and complained that the network was slow and his pages were taking more than a minute each to load. What does this say about us and our expectations that collectively drive the world? Time to reflect between now and next year this time, when we will symbolically hand over the keys to our future to this kid.

I welcome your thoughts and feedback.