Nikhil Velpanur

Nikhil v/s NY Times.

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 12:53:13 +0530

A Serious objection to an article written by William J Broad in the New York Times published on Feb 27th 2012 titled ‘Yoga and Sex Scandals - no surprise here’

Dearest NYT Editor,

I find the article ‘Yoga and Sex scandals - no surprise here’ an affront to all rational human beings, and contain some serious allegations that hurt my sentiments.

I request an apology and retraction of the following sentences in specific. I have substantiated my objection in a 2000 word article.

“One factor is ignorance. Yoga teachers and how-to books seldom mention that the discipline began as a sex cult — an omission that leaves many practitioners open to libidinal surprise.”

“if students and teachers knew more about what Hatha can do, and what it was designed to do — they would find themselves less prone to surprise and unyogalike distress.”

So, let me present a different point of view, with some explanations drawing from yogic documentation that i have read and interpreted. It is in the form of an article that i have published on my personal blog.

Dearest reader,

Imagine….

You’re having sex with your lover.

Magical foreplay has left you mighty aroused.

You’re in the middle of pleasurable lovemaking.

As the heat builds, things gets sweatier, approaching the climax.

Time dilation takes over, and then….it hits you.

The most pleasurable sensation you have ever experienced, washes over you in waves.

You go all cross eyed and feel strange sensations of being one with all matter and energy.

You scream the lord’s name (or any four letter word)

That, my friends, is a medium size orgasm.

Don’t know what I’m talking about? You should probably get yourself an orgasm at the earliest. If no one is available to help you out, do use your right hand. Instructions available online.

That orgasm. That bliss. Let us start with examining that for a second. Lets define this as Data point 1 - ultimate bliss.

Statistics, Research and rape cases in Delhi show us that - Sex drives humans.

Apart from procreation, and burning some calories, the only other obvious benefit of sex is to attain bliss.

Ergo, humans are looking for the ultimate bliss.

Sex drives animals too. In fact, sex drives most sentient beings.

(Sorry plants, you would skew my argument by being a (non)fucking outlier)

So, is the ultimate desire - ultimate bliss?

Ultimate bliss, is what enlightenment is all about. Its about being one with the universe.

The term is called mukti, or moksha - which means letting go, liberation.

Where your body ceases to exist as an individual and becomes one with the universe.

The appropriate terminology would be Atman and Brahman.

Atman is you - your soul, your identity.

Brahman is the universe - not the politically incorrect term for the Indian bourgeois.

A really learned sage called Shankaracharya, propagated a pretty cool idea about 1200 years ago. And he had learnt it from his guru who learnt it from his guru, so this must have been at the dawn of time itself.

This idea was called Advaita - non duality.

Where there is no distinction between YOU (atman) and the UNIVERSE (brahman).

If there is no duality, then you are realized, you are enlightened.

So, what are they talking about? Attaining the ultimate bliss.

And there are many ways to do it - meditation, yoga, ayurvedic purification of the body etc etc.

And sex is ONE method to attain the ultimate bliss.

But the only problem with sex is, this bliss lasts for hardly a few seconds. And after you receive your bliss, you’re tired as a dog.

Men especially, who roll over and sleep off.

So, we see that the act of receiving this ultimate bliss isn’t as easy on us. An average human being can handle a few seconds of bliss.

But mukti, moksha, enlightenment talks about entering a blissful state and staying there! :o

Is this even possible? So this brings up a small requirement.

Spiritual evolution.

That is the only way to build up your capacity for this aforementioned ultimate bliss.

The good news is, such preparation and training is available with every faith, religion, and pagan ritual.

The bad news is that - if you have ever been fortunate to have experienced things like prayer sessions, visits to shrines, pilgrimages, rituals etc - that seems to be the only documented way to prepare yourself for this ultimate bliss. And this takes forever - this is anything but an overnight job.

And no - having sex ten times a day will not improve your spiritual capacity. It may however, give you a ripped midsection after all that cardio.

So - if you are spiritually prepared, and become ONE with the universe, you will receive oodles and oodles of ultimate bliss. Data point 2.

Phew. And all of this is JUST one possible way to attain enlightenment. To become a Buddha, so to speak.

If only it were so easy. Sigh.

Some history -

Thomas, the Apostle shows up in Kerala in 52AD. Being a man of god, and a man on a mission, he does not get distracted with the delicious fish curry, unspoiled backwaters and coconut hair oil smeared women of Kerala.

When he meets the first Keralite, he talks to him about Jesus Christ and this new and exciting religion called Christianity. But this Keralite has absolutely no idea who Jesus is, or how Christianity is spelt - in spite of all the head bobbing and general agreement to St.Thomas’s religious pitch, he doesnt even know what the word Religion meant!

And, history continued.

A few hundred years later, Muhamed of Ghazni, during a summer backpacking trip to the subcontinent, met and asked a simpleton on the street if he belonged to a religion called Islam. Naturally the simpleton would not have understood the word Islam or religion, and replied in the negative. Muhamed of Ghazni is reported to have torn his shirt off and turned into the incredible hulk. And so, his band of hulks set out to kill every non-muslim/infidel in this part of the world. And they would have, if not for the brilliant idea of converting these infidels to Islam.

So, my point really is - there was no religion called Hinduism. There were just regular folk hanging around in the subcontinent, and foreigners came and started asking questions about religion and converting them into Christians, Muslims and the like.

So, a bunch of these natives figured that if they weren’t Christian or Muslim or Jewish etc, they were left out of this cool new club called Religion. So they decided to call the religion itself Hinduism, because thats was the Mughal word of the day - Hindus, those infidel rascals who live on the other side of the Sind river.

Hinduism became a religion not out of inclusion but out of exclusion. Data point 3.

The Vedas, Upanishads, Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharata etc - we shall call them ‘The Documents’ - are now cited as the holy epics of Hinduism. Convenient, for purposes of unification and simplicity, but not exactly accurate, as just pointed out.

These ‘Documents’, actually belonged to an era before Hinduism. There were wayyyy more documents, but they met their fate in the following ways -

- Mughal invaders destroyed everything they came across. Bhaktiyar Khilji, to cite just one example of many, burnt down the Nalanda university library, the largest library in historical existence. The library took 3 whole months to burn up completely. So a lot of ‘Documents’ went missing.

- A lot of it hasn’t even been translated into English. And some of them are so complex, they may never even get translated.

- They used to rock the Gurukul system and oral tradition those days. Very few things were written and passed on.

- Some are just lost.

Given that this is pre-Hinduism, everything those days was called ‘Sanatana Dharma’ - which means ‘Way of Life’, or ‘Eternal Truth’.

So all these documents, documented the ‘Way of Life’, or Sanatana Dharma’.

Could this just be a record of the past? Of the prevalent knowledge then? Of the ideas, knowledge and history of those times?

Data point 4.

Yoga, comes from Sanatana Dharma. Yoga is a common term for many many things.

Wikipedia describes it as a physical, mental and spiritual discipline.

What people perceive as Yoga, is actually just a small little part of it - Hatha Yoga and the asanas.

Go buy a Yoga mat, put on your Yoga clothes, and lets do Yoga! Because its so much cooler than Pilates!

So, in the west, Yoga means fitness. It sometimes means charlatans posing as Gurus (very much like the eponymous movie, ‘The Guru’), making sweet love to their Heather Grahams.

But Yoga means a lot of things.

And there are different types of Yogas.

There is Hatha, Bhakti, Mantra, Karma, Kriya, Jnana, Kundalini, Swara, Raja and many others.

Different types of Yoga. Data point 5.

Unfortunately, Yoga, and Tantric Yoga are equated with sex. Theres even a term for it - Tantric sex! If we need to demystify this, lets look at the science.

There are three divisions -

Tantra, Yantra and Mantra.

Same family of science. They rhyme, in case you didn’t notice.

No sex cult stuff yet.

An analogy id like to give is -

Tantra is the technique, or the general idea

Yantra is the drawing of it, the instrument

Mantra is the vocal articulation of it

So ancient ideas relating to ancient science were articulated in these 3 ways.

A tantra, a yantra and a mantra.

Still no sex cult stuff here.

1. Tantra is the technique for understanding and using the energy around you.

2. Yantra means instrument. Simply put, Yantras are diagrams of energy fields and cosmic maps and all of that.

Think of a Yantra as an ancient mindmap. So, to use this mindmap, we’d need a stencil.

The stencils of the ancients contained 5 elements - Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Space.

So they would use equilateral triangles, and lines, and lotuses and zeros - and draw these beautiful energy fields. Yantras were a physical representation of universal principles known to the ancients. Yantras are also called Mandalas and the geometric design were even used in temple architecture to maximize the human benefit of visiting a temple.

3. Mantras are the sounds and vibrations. It is said that ancient language was a mapping of various energy points in your body. So when you say the word ‘Om’, it vibrates something inside your body. When you say a full mantra, it vibrates various parts of you. So it gave you spiritual powers by vibrating your energy centers.

Still no sex cult stuff.

So, Tantra, Yantra and Mantra are three representations of universal science. Data point 6.

We could go into Ayurveda, Cosmology and really deep science here, but thats out of the purview of this argument. The best part about all of this, is that its religion agnostic. Just like how Yoga does not require any religious prerequisite, Tantra, Yantra and Mantra also don’t.

It is useful to learn that the discipline of Tantric Yoga explicitly defines 5 forbidden things -

Sex, Alcohol, Meat, Fish, Money

There are two approaches in Tantra -

The left handed approach that prescribes mandatory use of the 5 forbidden things.

The right handed approach that prohibits use of the 5 forbidden things.

The magnanimous ancients were smart enough to define the left handed approach because one way to transcend a desire is to turn it into a sacred action and offer it to your favorite deity! Pretty cool eh!

So, the overall point here is - Tantra is not sex. And Yoga is not a sex cult.

In closing, id like to borrow a quote from a beautiful book i once read - Tantric Yoga and the Wisdom Goddesses by Dr. David Frawley -

“The Yoga tradition does not reject sexual energy as evil, bad or shameful.

Celibacy is recommended along with spiritual practices only to transmute that energy for usage at another level.

Without proper meditational practices, Celibacy can be harmful because the unused energy can stagnate and cause various physical and emotional problems”.

So,

If someone has lied about his celibacy and gone around having the ‘sexy time’ with unsuspecting devotees, thats not Yoga’s fault.

If someone has painted one large brush stroke claiming that Tantric Yoga is all about sex, thats not Yoga’s fault.

If someone chooses to sue their guru, and allege whatever they want to allege, thats between them and their guru - its not Yoga’s fault.

If someone is practicing the left handed approach of Tantra, and didn’t bother informing his devotees, thats not Yoga’s fault.

Its not Yoga’s fault, and Yoga is definitely not a sex cult.

* the purpose of writing this was to clear up misconceptions, written in the best interests of the truth, and to debate the interpretations thereof.

This was not intended to hurt anyone’s sentiments. Im irreligious, as you can make out.

Small piece that i wrote. If anyone wants to add vocals or...

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 00:02:18 +0530

Small piece that i wrote. If anyone wants to add vocals or extend this into a larger song, i can send you the source file.

The chicken and egg problem. Which came first, and what it means for every entrepreneur.I, Nikhil...

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 19:29:00 +0530

The chicken and egg problem.

Which came first, and what it means for every entrepreneur.

I, Nikhil Velpanur, writer without focus and philosopher without locus, hereby postulate that the Chicken came first.

Yes, before the egg.

In other words, breakfast did not exist in the times when Adam of poultry emerged.
To support this radical theory, i would call your attention to 2 important distinctions.
- Something created by nature - a stone, coal, land mass etc.
- Something created by a living being - another living being, excreta etc.
If the egg came first, calcification of the egg would be a process done by nature. Not the chicken. Which means, when the Chicken procreates, it would need to depend on nature to calcify the egg.
Wheras, if the chicken came first, calcification of the egg would be a process done by the Chicken. Not nature. Which means, the chicken developed an internal system to calcify the egg, which would be a perfectly workable way to procreate.
Chicken 1, Nature 0.
Now that we’re done with Biology, Philosophy and general Chicken science, lets get onto the real stuff.
What does this mean for you - an entrepreneur?
Eve of Poultry developed an internal process to calcify her egg, which would lead to a successful birth and hatching of the baby.With that, she also passed on the internal process to her baby, so that when she’s turned into a Kebab, the baby can repeat the process.
KFC 1, Chicken 0.
In case you didnt get it yet - think of yourself as the Eve of Poultry. And you’ve just been knocked up by the most seductive idea in the world, and decide to take the plunge. Giving birth to your baby does not mean just bringing it into the world. It also means, passing on your internal processes, so that your baby can have babies.
Ergo, a perfectly self replicating chain.
As an entrepreneur, you put a stake in the sand. You gave rise to something.
Do that, make it self sustaining, give it your processes, get the hell out of its way and let it fly.
Like an eagle. Not a chicken, mind you.

The only reason I go home! To put my penguin to sleep! :)

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 23:25:08 +0530

The only reason I go home! To put my penguin to sleep! :)

Making myself a fine pot of espresso. Yum

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 12:13:48 +0530

Making myself a fine pot of espresso. Yum

Is that a heart shaped boil on my palm? WHAT!

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 15:36:28 +0530

Is that a heart shaped boil on my palm? WHAT!

Breakfast at Just around the corner in bandra. Waffles and...

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 11:17:06 +0530

Breakfast at Just around the corner in bandra. Waffles and pineapple juice. Pure cosmetic joy. It tasted like crap.

I’m a bad babysitter. Fed her an empty plate for lunch

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 15:41:44 +0530

I’m a bad babysitter. Fed her an empty plate for lunch

Facebooking. As usual.

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 22:23:47 +0530

Facebooking. As usual.

Stepped out for an eventual lunch at 6pm, hence treated myself...

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:21:15 +0530

Stepped out for an eventual lunch at 6pm, hence treated myself to a good meal! :) ice nd spice feta cheese sandwich FTW!

In an effort to blog more often, I have linked Velpanur.com to my iPhone tumblr app. Stay posted for...

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 11:24:40 +0530

In an effort to blog more often, I have linked Velpanur.com to my iPhone tumblr app. Stay posted for lots of live blogging and pics!

Song created by 140verses.

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 18:42:38 +0530

Song created by 140verses.

"I wage a war everyday. Against no-possibility, against circumstances that always go wrong, against a..."

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 00:56:47 +0530

“I wage a war everyday. Against no-possibility, against circumstances that always go wrong, against a world of people who are waiting in the wings to laugh and say ‘u wont succeed, i told u so’, against normalcy and conformity, against imminent failure. The only thing harder than all of this, is knowing how damn sure people are that you WILL fail. I almost lost my composure there, mister. Just for a second. Thank you for keeping me on my toes, and making me put double my sweat just to have the pleasure of socking u in the face. kthxbai.”

Made by robots.

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 23:46:14 +0530

Made by robots.

10+ reasons why i think nurturetalent.com is a joke

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:01:00 +0530

(also known as ‘Why i think Teaching Entrepreneurship is a cheap trick to rob you of your money’)

I realize im taking on the billion dollar business of teaching ‘Entrepreneurship’. My intention is not to rub anyone the wrong way. Im actually giving them full credit - it takes a smart entrepreneur to identify a lacuna in the market and design a ubercool product to sell and profit from. Because of that, i highly respect Mr. Amit grover, the IIT-IIM graduate from Infosys, Asian Paints and Onida.

1. The word ‘entrepreneur’ is a highly ambiguous, hype induced, buzzword compliant, media fueled word. Lets take a walk down any road in India - you will notice shops lining the road. What do you think the shopkeepers are? Employees of mother earth? If they are not entrepreneurs, then what are they?
In this post, i will use the word ‘entrepreneur’ only to maintain order and not confuse people. Besides im bashing entrepreneurship curriculums, so i guess i need to use the word atleast :-)

2. Entrepreneurship is about managing chaos. When you start a company, there are some basic truisms - you WILL fail, the VC is NOT going to give you money, the customer is NOT going to buy your product, the competition will CRUSH you like a bug, everyone is going to LEAVE you, and you will DIE alone. How you are going to overcome these challenges is the essence of entrepreneurship. A packaged course is NOT a magic pill.

3. The curriculum does not have a ‘Have fun and learn to smile’ module. Its the most basic tenet of entrepreneurship, the one factor that will determine the quality of your journey.

4. The best part about Entrepreneurship is that its a personalized curriculum about life - its about developing a free spirit, and discovering oneself - your limitations, strengths, passion etc. There is so much more to gain from life by starting up a company than just money.

5. I read somewhere (dont remember the author but ill never forget this line)
Entrepreneurs jump off the cliff, and build a plane on the way down.
You learn in adversity, you learn by making mistakes, you learn when you have no choice. Not in a classroom where you can take a snooze sitting in the last bench.

6. There are far too many wannapreneurs. All the industry meets are filled with people asking theoretical questions like ‘How do you raise VC money’ without having an idea or product in hand. From close observation of these trends and people, i have also mentally concluded that they will probably never take the leap. And they are back in the next conference asking the same questions. Everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, and they want to learn. But taking the leap is a wholly different chapter. Since there is evidently a hunger to learn, Full points to a course on entrepreneurship. But zero marks to the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

7. You learn the pros and cons up front. Thats always a deterrent, more than a catalyst.
After 5 years of bootstrapping and failure and failure and failure and some success and some recognition and some more failure and then a little more failure, and some money on the side - if i had known it would be such an arduous climb - i may have never jumped.

8. One thing that has rung true for me everyday - YOU are always the hindrance. Start, bring in smart people, get the hell out of their way. The course has - ‘Human resource management for Startups’? What HR? What people? How will you afford them?
There is no process for hiring with startups. It cannot be taught. Did anyone teach you how to find your circle of friends? Its about finding people your wavelength so that you can all dream together, and work your asses off on making shit happen.
In small lean teams of startups, your challenge is to stay alive, not design ‘team building exercises in resorts’? Once your startup starts doing well, you can hire a kickass HR manager or outsource the entire function even.
Entrepreneurship means learning the art of hiring awesome people that you can delegate to. Does Ratan Tata screw on the bolts of the Nano? Or do maintenance for banking software?

9. Ive spoken to many a million dollar company CEO, and they acknowledge that Intrapreneurship never works. Because of the cushion the company provides, it makes for a little complacency - and a derisked version of entrepreneurship.
My point is - there is so much risk - you cannot teach people to take risks in life.
And my other (more subtle) point is - theres a great market in fleecing big companies by promising them courses on Intrapreneurship. Go forth bro, suck them dry.

10. In the entrepreneurial world - there are no rules. You can break rules, make your own rules - whatever helps you sleep at night. You can do everything wrong, and still make it. And the most successful companies that have been built - have violated normal ways of doing things. Thats what makes them innovative, successful, different, and entrepreneurial.
Sigh. Dont teach entrepreneurs rules or frameworks of ways of doing things. Dont make cookie cutter zombies. Thats just morally wrong. Sigh.

11. My personal problem is that it goes against the madness - its conditioning people.
Stop trying to institutionalize the last free thing in the world - Starting your own company.
(This is just my personal rant, because im an disillusioned old coot - dont take it to heart :-) )

12. Rs.25,000 - That sum would make a great seed investment.

It could get you a Logo + website + biz cards + petrol + food for you to get the fuck out of your house, and go build a bloody business.

Cheers entrepreneurs!

Rock hard, ride free!

The smoke alarm

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:42:20 +0530

The smoke alarm

Video

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 10:54:29 +0530

"Welcomes to all champagne socialists, gucci marxists, limousine liberals and all round publicity..."

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:59:24 +0530

“Welcomes to all champagne socialists, gucci marxists, limousine liberals and all round publicity hungry socialite dogs for todays annual event of ‘enough is enough, lets stop terrorism soundbyte day’”

My TED

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:49:28 +0530

TED. Sigh.

Once upon a time, I had a mental list of things i wanted to do in life.

Be at TED, shortlist at the Booker, Win the Nobel Peace.

The good news is, One down, two to go!

The bad news is, once you taste TED, you convert it into a recurring event on your calendar.

I was introduced to TED by a close friend/colleague of mine, who I started a nonprofit with once upon a time. He used to follow all the talks, and wax eloquent about all the things TED is doing.
So when he sent me the TED fellows application, I started filling it up in all sincerity. With my name and address, and then aided by my short attention span, I forgot all about it, till he reminded me one day before the deadline.

So i hurried through it, knowing fully well it was a shot in the dark and I would never make it anyway - and sent in my application an hour after deadline with an apology note attached.

Two months later, i receive a mail from Logan (who is the goddess managing the TED fellows program) saying -
“We are thrilled to offer you a TED fellowship.
Please reply and confirm that you accept this fellowship”

WTF. Firstly, they accepted me? And secondly, who in the right mind would say ‘No, im sorry logan, i dont accept this fellowship’.
Obviously this must have been a letter sent out in error to all the jokers (namely me) who applied, so before they realize the faux pas, I quickly replied saying ‘I ACCEPT I ACCEPT I ACCEPT’, hoping that my enthusiasm would mask any recanting of this acceptance email.

So, after many somersaults, and tolerating the disbelieving guffaws of my friends/family - I landed up on Nov 3rd for my shuttle to be taken to Infosys Mysore. I should also mention that its my incredible luck that the sum total TED would end up paying for my travel would be Rs.500 ($10). Sigh, why couldnt have TEDIndia be held a little farther than my home!

I landed up hungry, due to a previous agreement with the wonderful pastry chef Kishi Arora who promised a bunch of us Fellows, breakfast on the shuttle. Id pored through the fellows booklet previously and was glad to recognize many of the fellows in our shuttle.

Meeting the TED fellows was the best part of the entire experience for me.

Philosophically, it felt like we’d all hung out in a previous life (mostly around some fire keeping warm in the ice age)

Metaphorically, it felt like birds flocking together.

Actually, it felt f%$king awesome to meet all these amazing people.

It would be impossible to describe all the 4 days without slobbering all over myself, so I shall follow boring convention and bullet point my favorite moments and not so favorite moments.

Like always, the bad news first :-)

Not so favorites -

India Shining - Give me a break! At TEDIndia I got an overdose of India Shining. There were hardly anyone giving us the skinny on what is really happening in India - way too much sugar coating. Much like Africa, India is at an important tipping point. IMHO, there was more to be learnt from the TED fellows than any of the main stage speakers.

Most people speaking would have given any activist worth their salt, the heebee jeebies.

RA Mashelkar - I barfed a little when I saw R.A. Mashelkar, yes, the one and only R.A.Mashelkar, going on and on about the Tatas. An unforgettable mental image was the huge screen behind showing a picture of Ratan Tata, and Mashelkar in front of it glorifying Ratan to high heaven.
Dude, cmon - YOU’RE Mashelkar. Your personal story is inspirational. Your work with the CSIR and Intellectual property is worth a TED talk. Not giving us jazz about the Tatas.
Could it be because of your appointment as a director of Tata Motors? Never mind.

Srivatsa Krishna - I continue to barf. Something disturbs me deeply about the man and his talk. The factual inaccuracies, the incomprehensible slides, the godawful butter that he layered on the audience - sick.
His talk would have worked perfectly for attracting dollar investment from an audience of Foreign investors. Not at TED.
After his talk, i went upto the man and asked him - ‘How does Civil society involve itself with the bureaucracy to grow this country?’ His exact words were - ‘Im wearing a jacket and I cant climb these steps cuz i will get all sweaty. I will take the elevator. Bye’.
Nuff said.

New money - TED is such a cool place, that billionaires, celebrities, and super smart successful people hang out with their guards down. And in such an environment, the norm is that egos are left at home.
Such an environment can be hell to those who are used to a life of ego massages.
It was hilarious to watch such people struggle with existential questions like - ‘Why is no one sucking upto me?’ ‘Im important, look at me look at me’ ‘Pitch me dammit, dont you want a piece of my moneypie’ ‘Talk to me, bask in my awesomeness’
Noticeable was how their behavior would change when you showed a little recognition.

Favorites - in no particular order except the first -

Meeting the fellows. My absolute favorite part of TED. The first thing one would notice is how accomplished each one of them were! These guys were doing everything! CEOs, Photographers, Filmmakers, Chefs, Racecar designers, Writers, Doctors, Professors - these fellows covered every profession, putting the cool into everything mundane about the world!
The one common thread was all these fellows were working on something fundamental and revolutionary. Did i mention how nice each fellow was? I could write pages about each one of them and how much i love them, but im kinda lazy you see.

Sunitha Krishnan - She left not a dry eye in the house. Nuff said.

Kiran Bir Sethi -Beautiful woman - check. Macbook - check. Prezi - check. Revolutionary Educationist - check. Whats not to love about her? After her talk, i went upto her and asked her if i could marry her.
FYI - shes married with 2 children, and if i continue to press, her husband will come after me with his billiards sticks.
If i had joined Kiran’s Riverside school when I was a kid, I would have conquered the universe by now.

Shaffi Mather - a TED fellow and a featured speaker on the main TED stage - true revolutionary. His talk about building a business model around busting bribes was goosebump worthy. Id like a Prime Minister like Shaffi.

Usha Uthup - I understood why shes called a Living legend. Indefatigable energy, she had the whole audience on their feet and dancing. Including Mr.Two left feet.

Abhay deol mentioning Irom Sharmila. Wow, my respect for him went up many notches. Gives us hope that Bollywood can make sense in the hands of people like Abhay.

The TED Parties - Tanking up on an otherwise dry event - the parties were an amazing way to meet other TEDsters with all our guards down. The Afterparties - even better.

Defiling the Infosys ban on vices. Muhahaha. Too much fun. Cannot go into details here, but rest assured, I was upto my old tricks with new friends who brought their old tricks along.

My Pakistani buddies. There was this one moment when we were chilling, and a sudden realization hit us - We cant hang out every weekend, and im not sure whens the next time im going to see them! Very very emotional.

Sandeep Sood closing TED with his song and all we fellows jumping up on stage and singing with him. Now thats a sweet memory - Kodak moment.

In conclusion -

Together we laughed, we cried, we got exhausted, we had a blast, we got inspired, we got motivated, we had such a great time together.

This article is as incomplete as it can get, since i have so much more to say. But then id have to write a book. And did i mention earlier, that im lazy?

Yam

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:44:58 +0530

A soft gnawing in your head reminds you,
that you’re not here to stay, its just a quick stop,
on your way to a destination,
that sends you back to your origin,
the engine wails on a sad note,
regretful that it has to take you with it.
But the lady holding your hand on this stop,
filled with welling tears in her soul,
writhes to let you go, the ignorant lass,
unknowing that she will be on the next bogey,
wasting the chance to flit around,
spreading the cheer among those,
who await their turn,
on the next bogey.