Rest-room theories

I do not know why but I always get inspirational thoughts when I use the rest room. Today I was taking a shower when my mind wandered to the concept of life from a purely scientific perspective. This is weird so let me start by putting together a couple of modern day theories and then I'll expound on my thoughts.

Big Bang Theory:
The whole universe came into being from a gigantic explosion (ala BIG BANG) that took place some gazillion years ago wherein a highly dense ball of fire just exploded and spewed matter of all sorts that ended up as galaxies, stars, planets and stuff: the galaxies drifting further and further away from each other due to the force of the explosion.

My theory:
That big ball of dense matter that exploded was a fertilized egg that just started multiplying into the billions of tiny cells that constitute a living being. In other words, what we call our galaxies constitute a gigantic living organism. The drifting away of galaxies could signify the actual physical growth of the organism. If this is true then the probability that there are other similar gigantic organisms existing on its scale is very high.

Many Worlds Interpretation (Parallel Universes):
The universal state is a quantum superposition of several, possibly infinitely many, states of identical non-communicating parallel universes. A parallel universe or alternate reality in science fiction and fantasy is a self-contained separate reality coexisting with our own. This separate reality can range in size from a small geographic region to an entire new universe, or several universes forming a Multiverse.

My theory:
If we look into our own bodies among the billions of red blood cells moving around or the tissue cells floating in it, it is highly likely that there will be at least one cell, which when stripped down to its constituent atoms, will contain at least one constituent atom which in turn when stripped down to its constituent subatomic particles, will contain at least one subatomic particle that hosts life (intelligent or otherwise). This is a universe parallel to ours on a lower scale. And the gigantic organism of which our galaxy is a part of belongs to a parallel universe adjacent to ours on a higher scale.

If we extrapolate this on both sides of the scale that I am talking about, you get infinite parallel universes. Well that's a mind-numbing thought if ever there was one and I am guessing that further enlightenment is just a poop away.

The Pianist

I was on a movie marathon yesterday. I saw four movies back to back, prior to the start of “The Pianist”. This was my way of dealing with depression… getting engrossed in the innate thoughts of the less-minded screenplay writers and moviemakers. But there are occasions when a beacon of light stands out in all the muck and mire of Hollywood movies. “The Pianist” was one such. Adrian Brody’s brilliance in his characterization of Wladyslaw Szpilman brought back hope inside me and lifted my hitherto sagging spirit.



Made by Roman Polanski, the movie is based on the true story of Szpilman, a pianist who lived in Warsaw and his struggle to survive against all odds. For the uninitiated, the Historical Background section on this site http://www.thepianist-themovie.com/pianist.htm will give you a good insight into the life and times of the holocaust victims in Warsaw.

A couple of hours later the movie got over and a brief glance at the clock told me that it was 3:30am. I turned off the lights in an attempt to get some shuteye. But as was the case when I saw a war movie, the images kept running through my head endlessly.

Bodies were scattered everywhere… women, children, helpless old men. All dead…all of them were dead, their faces frozen in a nameless fear. “O what has befallen man! Why has he turned against his own kind? Why?!” But the soldiers never stopped shooting. It was not their place to think. Some of them had hearts and in some remote way they felt sorry for the people they were shooting down. Wrong. So very wrong! But their fingers kept squeezing the trigger, pumping bullets into helpless men, women and children. Chests and heads were exploding, chunks of flesh and bone ripped up and torn out of their bodies... how can they stop? That was unthinkable. To go against the Fuhrer! Unthinkable! They were the superior race! They were not at the other end of the gun barrel!

I got up, went to the kitchen and had a glass of water. Walking back to the bed, I rubbed the back of my neck. The clock read 4:45am. The light switch going off sounded like gunfire.

A woman running down the street gets shot in the back by a Nazi soldier. She falls down on her knees… slowly, ever so slowly… an unuttered cry caught in her throat, dead in its cradle! She bends over until her forehead touches the cold cobblestones and there she stayed as if bowing down to the ruthlessness of the unseen forces that brought such persecution and pain to her and her people.

Szpilman who after surviving the guns of the Nazi soldiers gets caught in another war altogether, the private war that he wages while he hides from the Nazis! Hunger can break a man where guns cannot. The dull ache in the pit of the stomach eventually stops and then comes back again but this time around your head starts throbbing too. That can drive a perfectly sane man to the other side! But what was Szpilman’s secret? How could he survive his mental anguish for years... till the Russians marched into town and drove the Nazis out? And that’s when I see the answer in the form of Szpilman sitting in that dark gloomy room, guns sounding in the distance, a calm serene look on his face as his fingers dance in the air as if floating on piano keys, the notes playing in his head, the rhythm guiding his soul, soothing it. His life, his passion… his comfort!

I looked at the sunlight filtering in through my bedroom window, faintly at first but gaining in strength as the seconds ticked by. The holocaust was a tragedy of monumental proportions, a scar… a blemish on the face of the entire human race. One would think that such a scar would cause us to smarten up, pick up our act and learn from our mistakes. But … look around you… the world has almost but forgotten the screams, the pain… for here we are … at it again… spiraling into yet another tragedy. Its five minutes past six and I could hear the Pianist playing ... the notes swirling through my mind like a whirlwind as I fall into a deep sleep.

Smells like Teen Spirit!

Wild angry guitars were strumming in my ears while Kurt Cobain’s voice swam in my head:

With the lights out it’s less dangerous,
Here we are now, entertain us.
I feel stupid and contagious,
Here we are now, entertain us.

Nirvana: arguably one of the best rock bands that ever came out and that too at a time (the 90’s) when there was a serious dearth in musical talent as far as this particular genre of music was concerned. They had a unique sound that the so-called music industry experts in all their wisdom described as being “grunge”. Although what “grunge” means is, at best, anybody’s guess! What distinguished Nirvana was the voice that sang out the mood of a whole generation:

Here we are now, entertain us… [politicians]!!
Here we are now, entertain us… [shrieking teachers]!
Here we are now, entertain us… [false prophets]!
…
Hello, hello, hello, how low!…
O well, whatever, Nevermind!

The Right Woman

What is it about meeting the right woman that makes an ice-cold, logic-driven man melt like… candle-wax in the grip of feisty flames? Is it some sort of unseen electromagnetic radiation emitted by the woman that warps space and time around her thus imbibing a man with that peculiar floating sensation? Could it be just plain hormone-triggering chemicals, floating around and through her, that trips a man’s unwary sensory receptors sending him to overdrive? Could it be that this whole scenario is really an enactment of a sadistic plot cooked up by unseen forces? Or maybe it’s just a ritual of some sort that a man has to go through before the overlapping veils of ignorance lifts up and clears his vision! I do not understand it yet … but it sure feels good!

Torque

It’s been a month. And I still feel that she’s the best thing that’s happened to me. Let me introduce you to my very first bike. Yup it’s a Karizma!



A 225cc, 17bhp beast-of-an-engine packed in a streamlined body… I christened her Blackbird after the legendary spy plane that broke every speed record in the books and still remains today the fastest plane that ever roamed the skies! (http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/sr-71/).



This babe has got power... loads of it. At the slightest twist of the throttle she surges ahead like a restrained beast. Since the engine is new I usually keep to a max speed of 60kmph. For all you new timers it’s a good idea to run your engine at a low rpm for the first one year or so. After which and if you’ve handled the bike really well (especially while changing gears) this babe would cruise at around 130-140kmph… smooth as silk! I just can’t wait till the day I let her rip!



My friends of course think that I am crazy. Usually, people who are new to riding bikes altogether, start with the smaller bikes… the 100 cc or 135 cc bikes. And here I was, starting it all off with the fastest sports bike in the Indian market. I wouldn’t say that they were trying to discourage me or anything coz they’ve got a very good point. Being a first time rider I would end up making a lot of mistakes especially while changing gears, while braking and the likes which would inevitably cause damage to a new engine. That in turn would mean that the bike will not be all that fast or powerful one year down the line. Granted! And that is why I am extra cautious while taking the bike out! O what the hell, I’m a sucker for speed and I didn't want to wait forever to get a fast bike. A couple of years down the line I plan to buy a 1200cc bike. Oh yes and I believe I’ll be ready for it! But for now I’m content cruising down the highway on BlackBird, my very own crotch rocket!