Wrath Of Gods

Picture above is poster of invitation to a religious ceremony in india .  As a statutory warning it says  that whoever  will try to move this poster  will probably have bad luck coming his way .  My friend paras posted this on facebook yesterday . Since they used the term "probably" and since  product we are  building at Signals deals with prediction and probability so I thought I should give it a shot to predict the probability of someone getting cursed with bad luck if He/ She try to remove /Flip this poster .

According to Bayes Theorem

P( Bad luck/Flip ) = [P(Flip/Bad Luck) X P(Bad Luck) ] /P(Flip)

where 

P( Bad luck / Flip) : Probability that you will have bad luck , Given the fact that you fliped the board . 

P(Flip/Bad Luck) : Probability that someone who is unlucky has flipped the board . since  not all the unlucky person got to see the board so this probability is very low . 

P(Bad Luck) : Probability that any random person will have badluck . Since most people in world think that they are unlucky so this  will be very high .   

P(Flip ) = Probability that some random guy will flip the board . this will be low initially since most people don’t give a shit . one way or another . but if you expose it to enough number of stupid people ( like the author of this post  ). they will try it  just to see if it works . but initially it will be very small. 

so now we have this situation 

P( Bad luck/Flip )= [small number X Large Number ] / (Small number which can be large ).

Conclusion : 

There is a high probability that if you are amongst the first one to flip it  God almighty will punish you. but if you are the 1000th person to flip it than may be it wont be that big a deal for god almighty . 

Jai Mata Di

Photo Credit : @paraschopra 

Remembering Aaron

Before I started this blog I used to spend a lot of time on Reddit  . One of my key motivation behind starting this blog was to write something which make it to the home page of Reddit .  It's taking a little monger than my initial estimate. I discovered Reddit  through a amazing blog Raw Thoughts  .Author of that blog was co founder of Reddit. He was and still is one of the smartest guy and one of the most insightful blogger  I know  .  His name was Aaron Swartz . A  teenager in USA who wrote specification of RSS. Worked along side Tim Berners Lee . He co founded Reddit  and after selling it to Conde Nast he became a full time political activist . sometime back he was in news for cracking into MIT Network and putting entire JASTR library in public domain .

  He committed sucide today . 

I was busy working in  my office. Enjoying warmth of direct sunlight on my back when I saw a tweet by Nilesh  My heart sunk . It was like someone has  punched me in my guts . It was hard to believe that Aaron Swartz is dead ,that he is not between us anymore . What is harder to believe is that he chose such a cruel way to say good bye . I went out for a walk,read some tweet till I couldn't read them anymore . I saw that Larry Lessig and Corry Doctrow  has written something about him . There  is a story in NY Times too . World will gradually wake up to the news . I went back to work . In the evening I went for dinner with friends . I was cracking jokes and it was a fun evening . I am back in my apartment  now and I was expecting that I will have courage to read those post now . I was wrong . I still can't look at them . I am writing this as much to distract myself from the objective finality of his demise as to share what I am feeling . sharing part is secondary .This will take sometime to sink in . I don't know how to deal with it.

I am not such a avid reader of Reddit any more. I moved on to slashdot, Hacker News and  now I spend an awful lot of time on Quora . But till this day  Raw Thoughts is my fave blog . the simplicity and depth of his writing is simply out of this world . Achieving such depth at an age of 25 is superhuman . I owe somuch of my learning to Aaron that loosing him seems like loosing your favorite teacher . you thought you had all your life to learn from him but one day ..boom ...he is gone . you are alone in this sea.your lighthouse is vanished .

I won't lie I looked upto him with a bit teenagers-ish  enthusiasm and reverence . When I had long hairs  I used to comb it like him . I followed his advice on book reading and it helped me in reading more than 50 books in a year .  Like him I also posted annual review of books . I must confess that I used to be a bit uncomfortable around gays and homosexuals. Though I respected them as individual and their choices but i was still uncomfortable . It was Arron's post which helped be understand  and deconstruct my thoughts  . Today I have few gay friends and I am totally comfortable around them . His post about smart folks helped me understand why smart people are smart  and His post about Hot  Girls made understand why my dating life sucked . His interpretation of Batman Movie and Toy Story make you look at them in entirely different light .  His most recent series Raw Nerves was amazing . I can go on and on here . Its not necessary  . All I can say is that you should read his blog archive  here . you won't regret it .

In his post on how to believe that you can bring a change in world and in yourself . He mentions this

Growth mindset has become a kind of safe word for my partner and I. Whenever we feel the other person getting defensive or refusing to try something because “I’m not any good at it”, we say “Growth mindset!” and try to approach the problem as a chance to grow, rather than a test of our abilities. It’s no longer scary, it’s just another project to work on.

Just like life itself.

Sadly He himself couldn't hold the faith and left us alone. In a post on this blog i had mentioned that i wanted to meet him whenever i visit USA .    I went to US last year and I dropped an email to him but he didn't responded . I thought may be we will meet some other time . Life is long . I was wrong . Life is uncertain . I won't be meeting him now in this life . I will have to leave one item unchecked in my bucket list .

Thank You Aaron . I am a better person because of your work . You were my hero and I learned a lot of things from you . Goodbye My friend. May your soul Rest in peace .

PS: I wrote this post directly in Blog editor and without any co herence of narration or structure . so excuse me if it seems like a rant to you .  I choose not to write about role of  alleged harassment of aaron which drove him to commit suicide . Am I angry ? Yes  But All this seems so meaningless  now .

Spirit Indestructible

Watch this video and ask this question to yourself

What the Fuck is your excuse ? 

कस्तूरी

वो ही प्रसाद की कामायनी , वो ही बच्चन की  मधुशाला 

वो  ही दरवेश का मदमस्त नर्त्य , वो  ही है रूमी का प्याला . 

वो  ही  सूरज  की  उषण किरण , वो  ही बरखा का घन काला 

वो ही है पथिक की म्रगत्रष्णा  , और उसके परौं का छाला 

वो  है मन की  वो कस्तूरी , जो व्याकुल मुझे कर जाती है 

है क्षतिज पार जो स्वपन लोक , वो उसकी कथा सुनाती है 

मेरे मन की इस सीपी में , वो स्वाति  बूँद बन  आती  है

अब  बूँद बन रही है  मोती , अब मुझको कुछ वर्ष तड़पना है

कभी नींद नहीं टूटे  जिसमे , देखा मैंने वो सपना है  

है स्वप्न सृजन कुछ करने का , जिसका पहले  अस्तित्व ना हो  

जो खुद पहचान घड़े अपनी , जिसमे  " कर्ता " का  भी व्यक्तित्व हो  

पर  देख स्वप्न के रस्ते में , कितने कंकाल लटकते हैं 

जो हैं निद्रा से   जाग चुके  , वो स्वप्न द्रष्टा भटकते हैं . 

आगे ना जाने देते मुझे, वो मिल कर मुझको  खीच रहे. 

है चकित  मेरे दुसाहस पर , निज कायरता पे खीझ   रहे

है द्वंध हो रहा दोनों में , मेरी इच्छा , उनका अनुभव 

देखें जीते रचना मेरी , या हो विजयी उनका भवितव 

कस्तूरी मुझ से कहती है , ना विचलित हो कोलाहल से 

जगती ने  तेरे  पथ  कंटक , सीचे "अनुभव " हाला हल से .

 ये सब जो तेरे शुभ चिन्तक , जो बता रहे हैं जग की प्रथा 

है ज्ञान नहीं , है सत्य नहीं , वो है बस उनकी आत्म कथा 

 वो अहंकार  के घुड़सवार , वो   सुर सरिता में तर ना सके

 था बंद उनका ह्रदय कलश , जीवन का रस  वो भर ना सके .

तेरा साथी इस पथ पर , तेरा प्रेम है , तेरा समर्पण है 

जो खीच रहा हम दोनों को , ये वो अनजाना आकर्षण है .  

कस्तूरी कहती " ओ सर्जक  ! तू  संग मेरे ही  रमण करना , 

में देखूं राह  क्षितिज पे तेरी , तू आके मेरा वरण करना " 

में चला जा रहा क्षितिज और , में आपनी धुन में मतवाला 

ना चुभते मुझको पथ कंटक , ना दुखता पैरों का छाला 

 खड़ी मुस्काती  दूर गोधूली में , वो देखो कस्तूरी बाला  

pic credit : Ekta 

Signals

Dear Readers

This is a long overdue post . some updates are due from my end . I am on to a new adventure. I am finally doing my own startup . Last month, I  along with two of my friends co founded this tiny little company named Signals.

We have big ambitions for our venture. We are trying to build something magical for your smartphone. If you are interested in smartphone and cloud services than I suggest you should sign up for our beta .

We will be documenting  our journey at signals at our official blog Signal Flow . This space will continue with its regular theme of rants , chants and a little bit of wisdom. 

Cheers

Prashant Singh
Co-Founder , Signals . 

भोर का सपना : Dawn ,Dream & Dream Girl

याद तुम्हारी, भोर का सपना ,उन्नींदा अलसाया सा 

रजनी के पिछले पहरों में ,चुपके से वो आया था 

आते देख उसे बगिया में ,पक्षी कलरव करने लगे 

प्रस्फुटित होने लगी कलिकाएँ , भ्रमर पराग रस भरने लगे 

~~~

अरुणोदय की किरण प्रथम वो , पर्दे से छन कर आई थी 

सपने में ली तुमने जब , मादक सी  अंगडाई थी 

आधे  खुले नयन ढकने को ,जब चादर   को खुद पे खींचा था 

सिंदूरी लाली से तुमने ,क्षितिज रेखा को सींचा था 

चादर की अल्हड सलवट वो , प्राची उषा से धुलती  गयी  

निशिगंधा धीरे धीरे ,तेरी खुशबू में घुलती  गयी 

तुम ही  बनती खुशबू सुबह की , इस  अलौकिक  रासायन से 

 स्पर्श मात्र से जग जाता हूँ , तुम आती जब वातायन से 

~~~ 

जब मैं  खोलूं नयन अपने , चंचला विलुप्त हो जाती है 

दिखती नहीं किसी और मुझे , हर ओर नजर पर आती है 

मैं  आँख मीच ,कोशिश करता ,सपने को जारी रखने की 

सपने में दूर कहीं सुनता ,ध्वनी ,  मैं उसके हसने की 

~~~

" है बात मेरे मन में कोई , पर आज ना तुम्हे बताउंगी

तुम जाओ , दिवस व्यतीत करो , कल सपनो में फिर आउंगी "

Photo Credit  : Sharaff 

परिणय प्रश्न

परिणय निर्णय ,कर भी लो अब , कहते हैं परिजन हमको 

प्रेम मिलेगा , साथ मिलेगा , मिलेगा उष्ण भोजन हमको 

उम्र हो रही , कमर खो रही , दिखने लगी सफेदी है 

ये बकरा कब कटेगा आखिर , पूछ रही बलि वेदी है .

मित्र कह रहे , कर भी ले अब , अच्छा  खाता पीता है 

जलन हो रही क्यूँ तू आखिर ,इतने सुख से जीता है .

नहीं आमंत्रित करते मुझको ,उत्सव और त्योहारों में 

 याद  मुझे करते हैं जब , जाना होता है बारो में 

सुख  चिन्तक   पूछते मुझ से , " क्या , तुझको किसी से प्यार है ? " 

" All your Exs  got Married " ,   किसका  तुझे  इंतज़ार   है  ?

करलो शादी ,अभी समय है , योवन की   तुम  पर दृष्टि है ,

करो संतति , वंश बढाओ , ऐसे ही  चलती  स्रष्टि   है . 

निशब्द हुआ सुनता  मैं  उनके , प्रवचनों , सुझावों को 

और  तोलता  हूँ  मैं , अपने जीवन के  अभावों को ,

" खो रहा   परम सुख जीवन का मैं  " वो ऐसा मुझे बताते हैं 

किन्तु निस्तेज नयन उनके , कुछ और ही कथा सुनाते हैं .

उन्हें नहीं है  रूचि  तनिक भी,  सुबह शाम की लाली में 

कोयल के  संवादों  में ,  गुलमोहर की डाली में 

जीवन के ध्येय की जिज्ञासा ,  बेकार के बातें लगती है 

उनकी   विषैली   व्यवहारिकता  , हर बात में मुझको डसती है  

कोई तेज़ नहीं जीवन में उनके , सब कथा कथानक सूनी हैं .

किराने की  दुकान सा जीवन ,और  सपने भी  परचूनी हैं . 

अपनी निष्क्रियता का कारण , वो गृहस्थी को बतलाते हैं 

साथी को ठहरा अपराधी , खुद त्याग मूर्ती बन जाते है 

थकते नहीं हैं  ज़िन्दगी   निबाह  कर के वो ,

चाहे भी अगर   तो  जाये कहाँ चाह कर के वो , 

कहते नहीं मुख से कभी ,पर  हम को है पता , 

सोचते हैं फस गए , विवाह कर के वो .

मेरे जीवन के चिंता में , जो खोये अपनी सुध बुध हैं ,

क्यों नहीं समझते , मेरे इस निश्चय की  , एक वजह वो ही  खुद हैं 

Please Note: This poem was written in part frustrated and part whimsical state of mind. A friend's loose remark ignited this .I don't intend to be judgmental. My apologies in advance if you feel offended.