Evolution and Hairfall

Disclaimer 1: The phenomenon outlined here may or may not be based on credible science.. Feel free to accept or reject it based on the position of your hairline..
Disclaimer 2: Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks. Please read the offer document carefully before investing.

Those of you who have had the good fortune of seeing me; or more importantly - my shining scalp - in the near past know what has prompted the upcoming revelations...

Nature is without doubt a force greater than any than man can contemplate.. Evolution has taken single celled blobs of protoplasmic jelly and created the homo sapien... Of course, the breed is not uniformly evolved.. We have all encountered numerous homo sapiens less evolved than us.. Some of us have had the sense to meet more evolved members of the species too!

Is evolution subjective? I wish I had wings... Humans are considered higher up in the evolutionary ladder.. Why were the wings clipped off from the birds? Somewhere, few million years ago, creatures branched off into land/ sea/ air categories and evolved accordingly I guess... Sad na? Some of you are probably as sad about the remoteness of the chance of your grandchildren growing gills and surviving underwater... But come on.. Humans with wings would have been really cool!!!

What about non-physiological evolution? Physiological evolution happens in a very functional manner... If I try everyday to jump higher and higher, flap an imaginary set of wings, train my children to do the same, they train their children to do the same and so on.., maybe after a few lakh generations, my lineage will sprout functional wings!! Very nice description of evolution...

Don't mind the expletive usage.. 

Non-physiological evolution is more subjective.. The goal, or direction of evolution is not defined very clearly.. Which is why we have so many viewpoints, languages, religions, branches of science, sport, art & craft, countries etc... Makes life fun.. If we were all evolving uni-directionally, how boring would existence be! 

Point of this discussion is, no matter what the form of evolution, it is definitely a sign of a step forward.. Scientists claim the vermiform appendix will cease to exist in humans in some thousand generations' time... Evolution?! Yeah... :D

During the stone age, when humans were basically monkeys with straighter backs and less body hair, we lived out in the open, well exposed to the elements of nature... We needed that body hair!!! See, monkeys still have them.. They don't build houses with air-conditioning units etc... We don't.. Hence, unless you are related to Anil Kapoor, you have much lesser body hair than the common baboon... Evolution?! Yes!! Congrats... :D

Similarly, the hair on the head... Have you seen Robin Sharma's shining scalp? Now that is a sign of a truly evolved soul... Humans are slowly progressing towards this ideal, and hence, evolved souls experience the "problem" of hairfall... Blame society and its ignorance of true progress for the existence of Dr. Batra! The more your hairline has receded, the more evolved you are! Poor female homo sapiens have a longer way to go.. I hear of the existence of shampoos to stop hair breakage... Hair breakage is not a problem.. It is just an extra step that long-haired, yet evolved being must go through, before they start balding... So chill.. Society shall one day realize that bald is beautiful and treat us with the respect we deserve, for we are the next stage in human evolution! Not Professor X and his mutants.. It is us.. Silent bearers of universal truths, contained in our exposed scalps... 

Cheers!

The Purpose of Arts

I'd answered a question on Quora on this, and some people wanted me to post this on my blog too.. So here it is..

My Background:
I am currently a full time student of the Dhrupad form of Indian Classical Music (The oldest surviving form of Indian Music..). I live in a Gurukul run by the Gundecha Brothers, Padmashree Award winning artists (Padmashree is the 4th highest Civilian honor in India. It's quite a big deal!) learning from them in the traditional Guru-Shishya style of learning.

I also did my BTech from IIT Bombay (passed out in 2013). Yes, I have made a HUGE shift in life. And NO, I did not have any background or prior training in music. I started as a hobby while in IIT, and now here I am.


Okay. Before going into the purpose of art, lets see what the purpose of anything we do is. A broad and universally applicable answer is happiness. We do what we do, because it makes us happy (or atleast we think it does/ will). This happiness could be associated with fame/ popularity for some, money, a huge house etc.., good relationship etc.. Different people have different things they associate with happiness and strive for. Having a tangible material goal is very good and necessary to keep one active and focused in life. But what is it that truly makes us happy?

When I got my JEE results, I was happy. Really happy... There have been many such instances in my life.. When I look back at these instances, after a while I realized that I was happy here, simply because the heat of the moment made me forget all reasons for unhappiness.. For example, when India won the cricket world cup in 2011, I was really happy. At that moment, my grades, pending assignments, arguments with a few people, worries about where my life was headed.. etc.. all dropped out of my head; and I was happy!

In a way, emotions are all relative. Conversely, it can be argued that during my really low moments, I forgot all the good things in life. My point is that, real happiness is not about feeling ecstatic about a certain event in life. Real happiness is in the ability to move beyond these plays of the mind, observe its ups and downs from afar, and live life as a game.. Enjoying every moment inspite of the circumstances.

The arts require the individual to do this exactly. The journey to becoming a true artist is scary. One must confront all his/ her inner demons as a sort of job requirement. When constantly finding ways to express yourself, your thoughts and emotions better, you automatically are on a journey to know yourself better.

In Indian Music, there are hundreds of Ragas (Anup Jalan's answer to Hindustani Classical Music: What is a Rāga? How do we distinguish between different Rāgas?) When I hear each of these different ragas, it has a different emotional effect on me. And the effect of each raga is different each time, depending on my prior mental state, the approach of the artist and other factors, like company, atmosphere etc.. I have never been able to satisfyingly identify or name the emotions that arise in me listening to any raga. I can just observe, and at times, immerse myself in it. The same happens to me even when I am doing my practice and singing myself.

What is happening is, I am being made aware of the different facets and depth of my being in the most objective manner possible. Emotions can be very very intricate at times, and difficult to quantify.. I am now accustomed to observing them, without the entrapping attachments that come with a personal involvement. This enables me to become aware of an existence of my self, beyond petty emotions, and become a true observer to all that is occurring in universe within my mind and without. This leads to the true happiness I spoke about earlier. 

This is also why artists are placed a notch above others, and are respected immensely. They bravely take out the time and efforts to master the grammar and language which they use to create the chosen form of art. And it is truly a form of service to themselves and society.

I urge all of you to engage in some artistic hobby or the other.. It's amazing!

Biking in the Konkan

Imagine riding a bike through that for like 12 hours straight! It is bliss, I tell you.. :D

7 of us took off on 4 bikes from Pune to a place called Dapeli, nestled in between the beautiful Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea. The Konkan belt is amongst THE most scenic routes one can take for a bike trip. And we had amazing weather too! We did get a bit of heat for few hours over the 2 days, but it was very very pleasant for a lot of the trip..

Biking is an amazing thing to do! This was my first long bike trip, and it was one of the best experiences in my life.. One of my good friends who is an amazing musician/ endurance sports enthusiast put it this way, "long distance biking is a kind of active meditation." That may not be a very musical statement, but I tell you, that is one of the truest things you will hear.. 

"Active Meditation" is probably the most brilliant way to describe the experience of long distance biking. It felt like experiencing a beautiful piece of art. Different kinds of terrain evoked different emotional flavors in me, some discrete and tangible, while some very abstract. These would sometimes come up as pleasant recollections of some of the better moments in life with loved ones, sometimes bring visions of previous moments spent in the cradle of nature in all its resplendent majesty and beauty, sometimes a peaceful and somber realization of some particular aspect of life and many more that are very difficult to put in words. The most fascinating thing is that, while biking, your mind is forced to remain fully engaged in the present moment.. Your life depends on it! It just does not wander. All the previous described mental activity occurs as a sort of automatic process where a small part of the consciousness just acts as a witness, and you go through all these subjective experiences in a very very detached state of mind, which sort of frees you from many many impressions. Hence, I say it truly is a meditation!

And after all these hours spent on the road, I can confidently say that biking is only as risky as you want to make it. If you keep your head in place and not attempt unnecessary showmanship, the risk of fatality is no higher than any other means of transport. Yes, on a dark night, and on a thin poorly made path, biking is riskier.. But otherwise not. Oh, and all said and done, it is a bit tiring on the lower back and the region further south, but that is just a small opportunity cost for the immense joy it has to offer. Plus, you could get a Thunderbird-like vehicle designed for ergonomic comfort and save on that too! :D

We stopped for the night at a beautiful beach near Dapeli, swam in the Ocean for a few hours, chilled and relaxed for the night (really deep sleep! :D ) and drove back to Pune the next day by a different and equally scenic route..

All in all, an amazing trip and the beginning of my enthusiasm for biking! I am eagerly looking forward to my next such trip.. :D