dindu's pool of reality...

Now we know that US economy is headed for a severe stagflation (inflation + unemployment) and $ is going to lose its shine sooner or later, and this situation is going to affect the economies around the world including India. Experts say that this can even resemble the 1929’s Great Depression. Makes me nervous to read and watch. Be cautious everyone! Don’t curse the fate/fortune/religion/god once this systemic failure leaves its rot behind. After reading this thought provoking and hair raising interview of Shankar Sharma (of First Global) you will find that on a fundamental level, this is a result of ‘living beyond one’s means’.

Apart from the interview above, I had another thought provoking/hair raising conversation last weekend with Dindu. Dindu can be very witty at times, though most of the times he is lying ‘vetti’ in his sofa changing TV channels which is his favorite hobby. The 'witty'ness happens mostly on days when he takes bath – which is almost once in a while if not more, and more especially when he goes for his swimming lessons at the local leisure centre. That reminds me of the controversies that follow Dindu wherever he goes. On the first day of his swimming, he came out of the Men’s change room, but while going back landed in the Female change room. He was only a few moments away from being beaten up by the ladies, but apparently they have to remove their shoes/slippers before entering the pool side. This wasn’t all. Next time while trying to swim across the length of pool (which would be around 50 meters) he lost breath in the middle, slipped and fell over a bunch of ladies standing at one corner. One lady caught Dindu by the neck and she could have drowned him in the pool had not the instructor intervened. And as it turned out to be, ‘next time’ was the day we had this conversation.

Dindu was just back from the claws of death. And when a person somehow experiences his death, it makes him even wiser, and takes him nearer to Buddhahood (in his case – Dinduhood). So Dindu and I had this conversation in which Dindu told me about the ten fold principles he envisioned when his head was under the water in the hands of a beautiful woman, who he intends to ask out for a cup of coffee on his next leisure centre visit. Here is Dindu's ten principles of Pool Reality.

1. World is like a huge swimming pool, with different depths, currents, temperatures and cleanliness of water at different places.

2. Boundaries of this swimming pool are very uncertain. At some places this pool is very broad, at some places very narrow. These boundaries are the good and bad, positive and negative, light and dark.

3. We need to be inside this pool whether we wish or not.

4. Our body and mind have limitations – i.e. we cannot hold our breath for more than a limit of time and we cannot stress our body beyond a point.

5. If we try to swim across this pool in a single breath, that might lead us to beating by some group of ladies. That is, we will lose our balance and gasp for breath if we don’t relax and breathe at regular intervals.

6. When we lose our balance, we start sinking in the pool whose depth we don’t know. Then our survival instinct forces us to grasp the nearest possible corner. Sometimes we land in the ‘good’ corner and sometimes in the ‘bad’ corner.

7. There are very few people who swim in the deep water. The places where the depth is less the crowd is more. Advantage of being in the shallow water is that it is safe but there is risk of getting suffocated in the crowd. There is risk of getting drowned and being left alone in the deep water but ‘it is better to be breathless in the pure air than being full of breath in foul air’.

8. Most of the people swim only across a narrow breadth of pool. Their relative position never changes. They swim in circles.

9. It is difficult to swim in a straight line at a single stretch. So every swimmer follows a non linear path as given in the below diagram called ‘Dindu’s Pool of Reality’.10. Basic thing a mortal human being needs to learn is how to stay relaxed and balanced in the middle of deep water. And how to keep breathing!

Dindu thinks that he can liberate this world by making humans understand this ten fold charter. My best wishes are with the tambi.

Meanwhile, I am stuck with a very difficult choice to make. Big dilemma going through my little brain currently - 'To MS or not to MS'.