The last two weekends have been quite hectic with loads and loads of fun. A long ride to Pondicherry for Auroville Marathon occupied a weekend and whole night musical extravaganza - Fireflies Music Festival, the next weekend.
We (I along with Anand) started on Friday afternoon on 2 Royal Enfield classic bikes (I on a 350 CC and Anand on a 500) to Pondicherry. The road was great, Sun was not very harsh, traffic was not too bad either. We reached Cafe-Coffee-Day, Shoolagiri by around 3:30 PM and took our first break for our late lunch and of course a Kaapi-Nirvana. Soon, we committed our first and only mistake by getting into Thiruvannamalai route (the shortest route to reach Pondicherry), instead of taking the Bangalore-Chennai express highway. Distance wise, that's the shortest, but is in a pathetic condition. We could reach Pondi only by midnight, maneuvering the beasts through the potholes (and waterfalls at some places. Yes, right, dry waterfalls across the road).
Saturday, we enjoyed the hard earned rest, by slowly and lazily riding our bikes across the small bylanes of that french town with street names that sound like 'Rue *** ***', stopping at anything that looks interesting (yes, an all female group of students from Mumbai, who are on their architecture study tour, is one of them) and keeping our tummy full. We reached Auroville village in the evening and I joined the Marathon crowd. The crowd was huge, as Auroville Marathon is becoming more and more popular every year, due to its scenic off-road course through Auroville forest.
Sunday, I finished my joyful 21 KM run by 8:30 AM and we were on our way back by 11. From the lesson learnt during our onward journey, we chose a different route (that is 100+ KM longer). The roads were smooth and the ride was pleasant, though we started feeling the heat building bottom-up, by the time we reached the Cafe-Coffee-Day. We reached Bangalore by around 9 PM. That made it an 800 KM ride + 21 KM run weekend.
The next weekend needed a different kind of endurance. Fireflies Music Festival: A big banyan tree, half moon shaped stair case around that (with uneven and stony stairs, as wide as 2 to 4 feet), a few thousand people spend a whole night in open air, on those stairs, while 12-15 bands perform different kinds of music from 6 PM on Saturday to 6 AM on Sunday, under the banyan tree. As we are regulars (didn't miss last 3 years), we were well equipped with food, drinks, mattresses, pillows, sleeping bags etc., and made ourselves comfortable well before the bands tuned their equipment. Rock bands dominated the festival this year. I especially enjoyed one band from Chennai that experimented with Sanskrit Slokas, Flutist in Thermal and a Quarter, Violin by Dr Mysore Manjunath. Being awake whole Saturday night took Sunday completely off my calender, and that made yet another weekend.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Book Review: The God Delusion
-- Richard Dawkins
Though I have been agnostic (more of an atheist) ever since I started reading and having discussions with friends, who have strong opinions (one way or the other) about god, religion, traditions etc.., I never read any authentic work that presents comprehensive research done on such topics. I heard about Richard Dawkins and his The God Delusion in one such discussion at my work (which is very open to such discussions on a dedicated mailing list for people to express their views on anything under the Sun). And, Dawkins instantly made to my all time favorite author list.
Just after turning a few pages, I realized that my romance with this book is going to be a long lasting one. Interestingly, neither there was any bashing on the believer philosophy nor the usage of strong or insulting words, while presenting the work, which is organized almost as an academic book. The book starts with a chapter that calls God a hypothesis, as several experiments were done world over to verify the innumerable claims from times immemorial and how *all* of them failed. It goes on to discuss why there almost certainly is no god by discussing several things from religious scriptures, people's experience, quotes from popular scientists etc.,
After doing a great job in setting a proper foundation, and giving readers a million things to ponder, the author moves on to more interesting and a bit complicated issues like the birth of religion, and what would have made every single human habitat to come up with or believe in and follow one or the other religion, can people be moral with out religion, will the world become chaotic with out any religion etc.,
It concludes with a peek on how subversive can a religion be towards science, how dangerous can absolutism get and discusses some interesting and generally overlooked logical fallacies, again with excellent real life examples.
A highly recommended book. There is enough content to make everyone silently ponder, whether one is a pro-theist, agnostic or atheist.
Though I have been agnostic (more of an atheist) ever since I started reading and having discussions with friends, who have strong opinions (one way or the other) about god, religion, traditions etc.., I never read any authentic work that presents comprehensive research done on such topics. I heard about Richard Dawkins and his The God Delusion in one such discussion at my work (which is very open to such discussions on a dedicated mailing list for people to express their views on anything under the Sun). And, Dawkins instantly made to my all time favorite author list.
Just after turning a few pages, I realized that my romance with this book is going to be a long lasting one. Interestingly, neither there was any bashing on the believer philosophy nor the usage of strong or insulting words, while presenting the work, which is organized almost as an academic book. The book starts with a chapter that calls God a hypothesis, as several experiments were done world over to verify the innumerable claims from times immemorial and how *all* of them failed. It goes on to discuss why there almost certainly is no god by discussing several things from religious scriptures, people's experience, quotes from popular scientists etc.,
After doing a great job in setting a proper foundation, and giving readers a million things to ponder, the author moves on to more interesting and a bit complicated issues like the birth of religion, and what would have made every single human habitat to come up with or believe in and follow one or the other religion, can people be moral with out religion, will the world become chaotic with out any religion etc.,
It concludes with a peek on how subversive can a religion be towards science, how dangerous can absolutism get and discusses some interesting and generally overlooked logical fallacies, again with excellent real life examples.
A highly recommended book. There is enough content to make everyone silently ponder, whether one is a pro-theist, agnostic or atheist.
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