Sabya's Niche

Guys, came back to bore you with my new-found fad of maruti swift. It's now time to practise driving hard whenever I get the time and opportunity. The experienced driver of our family Tata Sumo vehicle is helping out a lot. Although my driving licence is of the year 1989, I've virtually forgotten driving. That's why I've been concentrating on watching the manouevres our driver all the time I ride our family vehicle. Today my confidence has been rather boosted after a moderately successful bout of driving, though in the comparatively less populated streets of nearby Salt Lake.

I'm very excited. We booked a new Maruti Swift LXI car today from Jalan Distributors, Moulali in Kolkata. This is not only the materialization of a dream, it's an aspiration taking shape - a new stage of our life. Our need for the car was there for some time. Then came the planning, the savings (which is still on - mind the EMI's!!), and now the initial steps for purchase. Searched the net and other media. My friends also helped a lot in making the choice. Now the wait begins for a new era in the humble universe of our little family.

Sorry friends, couldn't blog for a long time - partly work-pressure, partly lethargy. Anyway, am back again. Was having a discussion the other day. Some friends were of the opinion that the Indian society is deteriorating in view of the advent of Western culture. I was taking a contrary view. According to me, whatever is happening is for good. A bout of demolition of old attitudes is necessary for a major change in social psyche to occur. Just remember the transformation of a rather ugly caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly - metamorphosis is not only a part but a prerequisite of life. In fact life is change. So the apparent erosion of medieval values is to a substantial extent the result of an attrition between the stretching new skin of civilization and the straight-jacket outer coating of existing social norms. It is welcome to me at least. ... and about the new generation - let them commit mistakes. The intuitive obstinacy of youth is often wiser than the preconceived ethic-...

Sri Ramakrishna, an 'Avatar' as some call him and a well-revered spiritual teacher of Bengal, used to say "Jato mat tato path", meaning literally that there are as many ways (to attain spiritual liberation) as there are doctrines. While studying and practising law, I've felt this in a very wee scale. When one delves into the realm of inner thoughts and reasoning to fully understand and develop a legal point in the mind's eye, one often gets a sort of insight, a flash which not only explains the issue at hand but entire concepts and outlooks. One feels at these moments that full and sustained concentration on any subject ultimately leads to the same rudimentary principles of existence. I know I appear to be unnecessarily philosophical, but believe me, it's my most practical experience.

Six Words of Advice from Tilopa Let go of what has passed. Let go of what may come. Let go of what is happening now. Don't try to figure anything out. Don't try to make anything happen. Relax, right now, and rest.

Purchased a new operating system and using it right now. Microsoft Media Center Edition 2005. It really has the windows xp pro core, of course, minus some advanced networking features which I'll never need in my life. The additional wallpapers and themes are great, apart from having the media center software inbuilt. Since this time it's a legal version ( :P ), I'm getting all updates without having to search for unnecessary cracks! The feeling is great, and I'm on a high right now. Will experiment more and post later!

Guys, a confession to make. I'm on an illegal ms xp pro (sp2) os. Have got only one legal version, i.e. my xp home edition, which is installed in another pc of ours. However, I've decided to switch over to a legal version (sooo honest, am I not?  :P ) . Anyway, was thinking over my options. One is obviously xp pro, which is costlier than both xp home and media center, but has better networking features than both.     Yet, I've heard that the media center edition has xp pro as its core, and the media center software over it, which will save installation of a picture manager (yes, cost is a factor in India, even though I'm an Advocate!).   Hey, why don't you people leave a comment suggesting which one to buy?    P.S. I use my pc both as an office (documentation, email, internet surfing, etc.) as well as for domestic things like dealing with digital pics, listening to music, etc.