Purke

Purke (pronounced Poorkay), my father's best friend, came to live with us since his early childhood
and quickly adapted to life in the family. Inspite of all the ruckus he created since
arriving, he won over people with his dedication to the family. Although unqualified,
he took over as a house security guard and had very protective tendencies from early on.

He also showed great interest in well being of the family members. He is not
demanding and and pretty low maintenance. But he has some serious negative
characters, which I think are too late to change. His aggressive nature is helpful in
warding off unwanted visitors and thieves, but also makes him unapproachable and moody.
This makes dealing with him very difficult. He also lacks self hygiene and has no manners.
He would run around bare footed and then jump in the beds or sofas, bringing in dirt and germs.
He also sheds a lot of hair, all our carpet is covered in it.

However, his fondness of the family, specially towards my father, has earned him a good place at home, and this has helped outweigh his shortcomings.

He has been with us for twelve years, basically all his life and is now like a family member.
In fact, he has been providing a much needed moral and mental support for my father, who would
lose a genuine listener to share his emotions without him. Purke provides a good hearty welcome
everytime a family members or guests come home from outside, rare these days where no one cares about one another. This applies to those who he likes, those he does not like, God help them.

But he sometimes goes overboard and does not know when to stop, completely overwhelming people. Thankfully he is not fussed about electronic gadgets, tv or fashion, so it makes him very down to earth kinda character, easy to work with.

By the way, Purke is our dog. Although his official name is Bruno, we rarely use it,
He owes his un-official name to his physical stature, Purke in Nepalese means someone short.
It seems to fit him pretty well as he is both short and stout.

Life Below Zero

I have been watching 'Life below Zero' by National Geographic on Netflix for few days
now and cannot but admire the beauty of simple but hard life in perpetually frozen and
secluded part of Alaska around the Arctic Circle it has portrayed. Few men and women
who have dared to live this kind of completely isolated existence fighting cold, constant
danger - a wrong foot in the thin ice could be your last step,  frozen rivers to commute,
hunt for your food and fish under the icy sheet of the frozen  rivers - the reward
seems to be eternal - something material life can never give.

There is this woman who was living near the tip of Alaska in a small shelter she built
herself and constantly visited by Bears and foxes, broker her leg and had to come down
to 'civilization' to fix it. She can't wait to get back and find out if there has been intruder
at her home or someone or something has slept on her bed. She is completely frustrated
at the mechanical problem with the plane or weather that seems to delay her return back
home. She just can't wait, such is the passion for her place she calls home. And its a
real wilderness.

There is this guy who shunned the cubicle life to live alone near the Arctic circle and
hunts for meat, prepares it himself. The journey to the herd of animals, the gun he uses
- akin to a hammer to a carpenter or computer to an IT nerd, are all part of his daily
life, a smooth survival.

While there are hardly any wilderness left around the globe, people who choose and dare
live this isolated, cold and harsh life are truly rare and part of the vanishing wilderness itself.

The lessons you learn watching these people living in some of the harshest places on the planet
are applicable to anyone's life - to care for the environment, reduce waste, be efficient, watch out
for dangers and be active about it before it gets you.

Mother of all inventions..war.

During a 'blesssing' to a house by a Catholic priest, the familiarity of ritual
became all too familiar, to those done in Hinduism and Buddhism. It is interesting
how the religions all share similar traits, as if they have been built from a
similar mould and then customized. It could also be a plagiarised book of
knowledge, only the original might lie somewhere in the deserts of Egypt.
Imagine a classroom where the students are having a test, one guy is the original,
who is writing down all the answers, while those around are busy copying from him,
then the next one copies the same from the nearby one..hmm, pretty naughty.
The 'blessing' essentially consists of sprinkling 'holy' water to the house, inside out,
and everyone who live there, the goal is to scare away the evil spirit who (might) be present there,
and him, only him, the super Lord can get rid of him, no one else can. The practice
is a copycat of the shaman's in a Brazilian forest, or tribals from the deep jungles,including
the concrete one. It is a common thread that all religions share.

Well the Father was a holy man, talking good, by the book, the holy book.
However we had a quick chat in the family lounge and conversation turned to
my work. I was surprised by his knowledge about the computer systems,
languages and general IT literacy. Just adding on to the conversation, he asked
about the history of all this IT innovation happening around us lately. To my
surprise, I was tracing the source of where it all led to, the wars, the great wars.
It is not a overstretch to think that the German and American war machines
were responsible for the most remarkable innovations we are witnessing, and
enjoying today. The competition to develop the tools that killed, in most efficient
and lethal ways, and the means to support them, are behind all goodies gadgets
we see today, including the 'super' cars. The Internet, all sports cars, Wifi, super
computers and so forth..all owe their inventions to the war machines..kinda weird.
The Father was shaking his head as well, and I was surprised with myself.

But then again, has it always been the same? Do war and innovation hand in hand?

Do they feed each other? What do the human history and progress say about this?

Restored faith in humanity, a little.

During a marketing campaign for a luxury toiletery, my wife had to outsource
making of promotional brochures and flyers, meant for public distribution
at shopping malls. By chance, the work was given out to a charity called
St George Foundation, sponsored by a local bank,  St George.
The work given out was to pack up the materials into the plastic bags,
a tedious task for most, but people would do for money.

When we went to collect the stuff after being informed that work
had been completed, we drove up to their locaiton in Arncliffe, in Eastern Sydney.
To our surprise, we were met by a group of intellectually challenged staffs who
actually complete the work. It was them who carried out the work! They helped us
carry the boxes to the car and load them, yelling out to each other to stack it
properly. The work was of high quality and customer service awesome, we were
really impressed.

What a work of humanity, giving pride to these otherwise marginalized group of
people in our society, sure does restore faith in humanity.

Asian kids are brighter: true myth. But what after?

Tithering on the brink of racism is a debate why the Asian kids do well in schools, compared to the 'natives'. Normal cliches associated with this would be the Tiger moms, the disciplines and so forth, the values that are thought to be 'ingrained' in Asian culture. Statistics prove it beyond doubt.

Top students tend to be of Asian backgrounds, so do the high school mathematics olympians,  college graduates and so forth. But the buck seems to stop there. How many of these kids grow up to be the innovators? Or creators or leaders? The answer would be pretty dismal.

So what's going on? Do the asian kids get surpassed by the others as they grow older? I think the answer is yes. Anwers can be found in every Asian household raising their children. With their Tiger moms and Tiger dads dictating every aspect of their lives and every breathing moment - from what they eat, do, where they go, who they are friends with, when they sleep and wake up, at micro level, little wonder the kids' brains have to do little cognitive thinking. With their parents, grand parents, relatives at standby and disposal for service every second like housemaids, there is no learning of how to be responsible, negotiate, take risks, socialize or show gratitude or make an effort to form good relations. All these courses of social and natural learning abilities are being completely shut up.
Because they are provided whatever they want, more and whatever the parents would have wanted at their own childhood, at very early age, there is virtually no appreciation of how lucky they are compared to the have nots of the society.

Another little wonder the children are in their own space and are growing up as aliens in the household. Glued to their social media, games, and other forms of mild addictions, they might  fulfill their parents' obligations by acquiring good grades at schools, but they are growing up to be isolated from inside, as they have so little experience of how to interact with the world. Tiger parents might be living their lives through their children, but they are rasing self centered, indifferent, socially inept aliens, with little creativity, social skills or empathy for others. Its not surprising to imagine these young people grow up to be the cold blooded and disillusioned individuals. On one hand they are given all the luxury and exemption from having to be responsible for anything since the day of birth, on the other, they are under the piles of expectation from the Tiger parents who are trying to fulfil their own dreams from their offsprings. The affect of these extreme pressure and unnatural up bringing can start to manifest from early teenage, to later where the suppressed volcano starts to erupt.

My observation of the 'native' kids is completely different. They are taught to be responsible, caring, logical and fair. Because less emphasis is put on the academic achievement at school, they are not under the immense unnatural pressure as their Asian counterparts. This can be very visible physically, where these kids seem natural, smiling, open, considerate, whereas the Asian ones are reserved, un caring and socially inept outside their own circle. The values taught early on and consolidated over the years make what they are as adults, no doubt.

You can take the Asians out of Asia, but cannot take Asia out of the Asians. These princes and princesses are raised as if there is no end to the lap of luxury provided by their parents and relatives. The outside world is for the others, the unpreviliged. As these kids grow older, and have to increasingly face and deal with the outside world, something they are rarely taught at home, along with the hindsight to 'think outside the box' they start to falter. So they are good at following orders and doing what they are told, but not able to think, take initiative or lead on their own.  The technical skills they possess, of being able to memorize, will no longer be an advantage as it used to be in the confined walls of schools and colleges.

The end results are open for all to see, in any workplace, organisations, Universities, research labs in the Western world, although the Asian kids appear bright and high achieving they end up not achieving full potential at later life as adults.