Idea #36: Science and Spirituality

Eventually I believe that we will get to a stage where Science and Spirituality are an extension of each other and will not be in conflict with each other. Hence the title of this post is ‘Science and Spirituality’ and not ‘Science vs. Spirituality’.

Today however the situation is different. The two are at loggerheads with each claiming superior positions over the other. It’s becoming another manifestation of human ego and nothing more. There is in fact an urgent need for both these communities to come together and find common ground to work with. In fact I am of firm conviction that only when everyone adopts a ‘moderate’ measure of science and spirituality, will lasting peace and prosperity be created in human society. Hence it’s imperative that these communities should become more and more open minded and embrace each other instead of colluding against each other.

To me science and spirituality are two sides of the same coin. The interesting thing about two sides of a coin is that the sides always look away from each other and never converge at any point, but the fact remains that they are inseparable and incomplete without each other. Similar is situation with science and spirituality.

The starting point of both science and spirituality is ‘observation’. The simple difference is that science “investigates the observed entity” but spirituality “merely observes”. It’s just different approaches and not conflicting approaches. There is no need to claim that one approach is correct/better than the other. What is perhaps more important is that both entities need to recognise this difference and be it the way it is.

While science as a field is broadly well understood and well documented spirituality I may dare say is like the theory of relativity, everyone talks about it but very few understand it.

Spirituality is very often confused with religion. It has in fact nothing, absolutely nothing to do with religion. Religion is about traditions, rituals and belief systems in a very personalised and restricted way. In fact when I think of it now its not surprising that few people understand spirituality because there is absolutely nothing to ‘understand’ in spirituality.

Spirituality actually treads the same path as Science in the sense that Spirituality is also about observation. But this is where the similarity ends and all the confusion and conflict between the two begin.

While science investigates whatever it is observing, spirituality merely observes. Spiritual observation is total and detached. Something is observed because it’s there to be observed, nothing more or nothing less. It doesn’t deal with why, what, how and all the maze of questions that science deals with.

There is one little nuance here though. The spiritual observation leads to revelation of knowledge of what is being observed. It’s as though there is perfect synchronization between the observer’s mind and the observed entity and knowledge flows seamlessly. Again it’s a fallacy to give this kind of spiritual revelation a religious texture and dramatise it with images of gods and beams of light and all that imagery that comes to mind when we think of revelations. Spiritual revelation is a natural, effortless and happens only between the observer and the observed. No flashes of light, no drama and no nonsense.

This is why it’s impossible to ‘prove’ spirituality and spiritual experiences in the ways of science through formulas, equations and logic because the observer is not consciously seeking an understanding of what is being observed but that knowledge is just transmitted as an experience to the observer.

In this context I believe that all major scientific breakthroughs were moments of such revelations. The statement may seem untrue at the outset because you may argue that Netwon arrived at the idea of gravity only when he questioned the fall of the Apple with a ‘why’?

But why did Netwon question only that Apple’s fall, in all probability he would have seen other things falling earlier and staying where it had fallen without flying away! It’s precisely because in those other instances he did not observe and only deep observation precedes knowledge….irrespective of whether it is followed up with question or not.

Well, this is what I think is the truth behind science and spirituality. I will be happy to hear your views.

Idea #35: The Future of Homo Sapiens

Predicting future is always a tricky thing. Mostly we get it wrong and we either sound foolish or pompous in the process, yet it’s intriguing and never ceases to draw our imagination.

Human beings have evolved and developed into what we are today over only a mere 500,000years (if we were to start with early Homo sapiens) .While 500,000years may seem a lot it’s only a speck in the context of overall age of planet earth (around 400,000,0000years)and even smaller compared to the age of the universe(1400,000,0000years). Yet if we were to meet an early Homo sapien today on the streets of a cosmopolitan city like, let’s say New York, most people would think that it’s some chimpanzee that has escaped from the zoo. No one will believe that it’s actually the same us about 500,000years ago. The point being that evolution while being a slow process, changes everything and slowly the original form become unrecognisable and distinct.

So undeniable is the fact that human beings will continue to evolve anatomically and perhaps in other ways too. It’s only anybody’s guess how we will be in the future. With this as the context I am adding my bit to the world of predictions. These predictions are about how human beings will evolve as a species, largely in terms of biological factors. I can’t fix a time frame on when these changes will happen because I am guessing that these changes will occur through natural evolutionary processes of mutation and subsequent anatomical changes.

So here it goes the grand future of Homo sapiens. In the future,

• Human beings will develop the ability to communicate clearly across any distances just through thought (no devices, no embedded microchips, and no electronics...just thoughts)

• Sleep will be an active process, in the sense that we will be very aware/conscious of the entire sleeping duration but this form of sleep will be much more rejuvenating for the body and mind

• We will lose our ability to identify or distinguish colour but our monochromic vision will become much sharper

• Human beings will stop consuming food and we will survive only on air/breath

• The normal human life span will reduce to 25years. Around 21 years will what will be considered as the start of old age

What is your prediction of our future?

Idea #34: Life's Wisdom in Human Anatomy!

The human body is the way it is for more than one reason. It appears that in every physical attribute there is something metaphysical/profound being communicated,

1. Fact: Human species is only one amongst 1,600,000 ‘identified’ species of life on this earth
   
Inference: You are free think that you are indispensable, fact is, you are not

2. Fact: The Human tongue is the strongest muscle in the Human body
   
Inference: Best evidence that we human beings talk and eat too much

3. Fact: The human body is vertically symmetrical
   
Inference: A great metaphor of the need for balance between materialism and spiritualism

4. Fact: The anatomy of the human body is designed to be herbivorous (not even omnivorous)
   
Inference: Go vegetarian, Be natural

5. Fact: No two human finger prints are the same
   
Inference: There is a ‘natural’ place and purpose for everybody and everything

Idea #33: Dosa and Phad Thai Outings

Today I ate at 2 of my (used to be until now) favourite eat outs and was utterly disappointed and dismayed with the deterioration in quality of the food and general standards of these 2 places.

First was morning breakfast at Vidyarthi Bhavan. Personally I abhor people who say anything against the Vidyarthi Bhavan Dosa, it’s a sacrilege in my dictionary. Such is my devotion to the legendary Dosa that they have been dishing out since several decades.

But alas today even I was dismayed by the steep decline in taste and quality. The chutney had become little sour, there was hardly any salt in it and portions of the Dosa was under cooked. Vidyarthi Bhavan has never been known for its idli but today’s idli was especially bad, the coffee was too sweet and the poori crumbled like a papad. It was bad, bad and bad all the way and I told this to Mr. Adiga’s son who was at the cash counter. He did sound a bit surprised but I was surprised that he was only surprised and not shocked and shaken by the feedback, but I do hope he will take the feedback seriously and do something with it. After all I won’t stop eating at Vidyarthi Bhavan based on today’s experience. Nobody’s perfect and everyone deserves a second chance!

Evening I went along with friends to Magnolia, again a personal favourite amongst the Thai restaurants in Bangalore. But it had been quite a while since I had visited them and in fact they have changed from the original location to a new place in Kormangala. Boy oh Boy, it seemed that with the new location everything has changed. I don’t know if they have got the Vaastu of the kitchen wrong or something but the food was badd, to put it mildly. The coconut milk soup which I used to love seemed like a new being that I could not even recognise. The appetizer, main course and everything else that followed was disappointing one after the other and overall we left pretty disappointed.

I don’t know if I have become a better cook or they have become worst but the two outings today left much to be desired.

Quality, more than anything is about consistency, more so in food business!

Idea #32: Triview- UP (2009)

UP is hearty, touching and entertaining, could be pepped around the mid way. Young Carl and Russell are so lovable. 2 thumbs UP to Pixar.

Idea #31: Pati, Patni and 30 Others

It’s sad state of affairs for the King of the Jungle. Apparently there is no privacy policy in his kingdom. We are about 30 people watching him from 10 feet away while the King was ‘doing it’!

Any guesses about the location?

Idea #30: Triview

“Triview” is a new standard/format of reviews. Reviews can be of anything but is written in a micro blogging format, the entire review of what ever is being reviewed has to be completed within a set number of characters, say 140 (since that appears to the world standard for micro blogging nowadays!)

Movies, Restaurants, Books, Web Services, Shopping experiences etc etc……you can ‘Triview’ anything.

An example of how a ‘Triview’ can be, this one is on the recent movie ‘District9’.

Fresh take on alien movies. Powerful depiction of xenophobia and the role of private corporations. Sharlto Copley outstanding. Don’t miss!

We can also express Triviews through charts, icons and other visual mediym. Crisp, Short and Visual are the keywords of the Triview concept.

Here’s how I would rate ‘District9’ graphically in terms of ‘wowness’ and ‘ouchness’.













What do you think?

Idea #29: A Book about Nothing

This is a book with,

• No title
• No content
• Has one question mark in the first page
• And one question mark in the last page
• All pages in between are empty
• There are 31 pages in all in the book
• All sheets are in white color
• The first question mark is in black color
• The last question mark is in white color

You just need to look at one page per day for 15mins and move to the next page on the subsequent day. At the end of 15mins, write down all thoughts that crossed the mind in those 15mins, not in that book but elsewhere.

Ideas in a Trivia #5: Into the Wild

If you haven’t seen the movie “Into the wild”, please do so at the earliest opportunity. It’s based on a very liberating real life story of Christopher McCandless, a young 24 year old college grad who detests the ways of the society, throws away everything and goes into the wilderness in Alaska. The movie tracks his journey that spanned over 2years before he finally reaches Alaska.

This movie triggered a thought that our academic and growing up years which are really the formative years of a human being should be used to do some interesting, non routine things to expose people to rich experiences that will help us develop a very holistic view of the world around us.

Some things that all of us should probably do before turning 30,

1. Work at least 2 years in the armed forces
2. Stay 6 months absolutely alone cutting off all contacts (preferably in wilderness)
3. Stay 6months with relatives, preferably in a big joint family
4. Learn at least one sport very well
5. Learn at least one art very well (music, painting, magic etc)
6. Work 3 months for a company full time for ‘zero’ pay
7. Live with people who have very contrasting background, nature and outlook
8. Live in a village
9. Learn to cook your own food, wash dishes and clothes
10. Practice Meditation (without attaching any religious context to it)
11. Do part time jobs and earn you own school fee for at least 1yr of school or college
12. Make at least one good friendship (platonic) in the opposite sex
13. Be absolutely silent for one full week every year
14. Make friendship with one elderly person
15. Learn about the government and laws of the land

Idea #28: MoDiv

MoDiv is mobile convergence device that acts as multiple devices in one single physical entity. MoDiv can do the following for its user,

1. A mobile phone
2. PDA
3. Music player
4. High end professional camera
5. DVD player (has built in projection device that can project video to larger screen area)
6. Gaming Device
7. Credit Card and Debit card (it can act a credit or debits card of multiple banks in one device)
8. House Key
9. Car Key
10. Bike Key
11. Wireless Internet device
12. A full fledged computing/software dev platform (again using projection based large display device)
13. Passport/Visa device
14. Switch to turn on and off electronic devices
15. Basic health check up device (Height, Weight, BP, Sugar, Heart rate, etc)
16. Etc etc

MoDiv is protected through multiple security layers (biometric, password etc).

Idea #27: I-tag

I-Tag is an I-Phone application. Its primary purpose is to tag phone transactions (Calls, SMS, Email etc), create reports, share information on the social web and observe interesting trends amongst users that could be used as market research information.

Let’s say on an average an individual i-phone user makes or receives about 15 calls and 10 SMS per day. (a conservative guess). This accumulates to around 9000 calls + sms per annum, add around 20emails in a day and the number goes to around 16,000 transactions per annum.

Currently there are around 21milion I-phones that are out there globally. So this translates to around, 3,36,00,00,00,000 I-phone transactions globally per annum.

What if each of these transactions are ‘tagged’, which means after every call or sms, made or received the user tags it, sees reports of the tags, shares it social web and see how other people are tagging there transactions.

Not sure what the nett outcome will be but it may throw up interesting data and trends that could be useful for research.

Idea #26: Uppu, Tuppa, Anna (Salt, Ghee and Rice)

It seems this was MGR’s favourite dish. If that is really true then he must have been a man of simple but great taste for food.

Uppu, Tuppa, Anna translates to Salt, Ghee and Rice and quite literally these are the only 3 ingredients in this dish (apart from the potato chips which is optional, but in MGR’s version chips was a key ingredient)

Here’s how you prepare this humble dish.

1. Take hot steaming rice

2. Add generous amounts of ghee (couple of table spoons for a plate of rice)

3. Add little salt to taste

4. Crush a handful of fresh store bought potato chips (take the spicy version from any of the hot chips store….not packed ones like ‘lays’ etc) and mix it with the rice

5. Eat when its hot and fresh

And there you have it. One of the simplest and tastiest rice dishes, one that was loved by the most famous Tamil hero.

Idea #25: Baby Potato Fry- South Indian Style

This is one of my favourite accompaniments with steaming hot rice or freshly made chapattis. The recipe is simple but the taste is exquisite and lasting.

What you will need...

Baby Potatoes, Oil, Mustard Seeds, Split Urad Dal, Red Chilly Powder, Roasted Channa Dal Powder and Salt.

Method

• Boil or pressure cook whole baby potatoes till it is cooked completely (it should retain shape and not become soggy)

• Heat oil for tempering, add mustard and split urad dal

• When the mustard starts to splutter add the baby potatoes and fry them till it gets a crispy brown texture on the outside

• Sprinkle generous quantities of red chilli powder, a small amount of the roasted channa dal powder and salt to taste and fry for another couple of minutes

• Eat it when it’s hot and fresh of the stove with hot rice and ghee

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy…I made this yesterday and the fact that I am still having it on my mind and blogging about it should tell you something about how tasty this dish is!!

Idea #24: The Mama-Mami Corporation

The Mama-Mami Catering Corporation is a web service that facilities home based individuals to enter catering services without having a commercial unit or establishment.

Let me play out a scenario to explain what this idea is all about. Let’s say there are 5 bachelor working professionals staying in one house in Bangalore. Typically what would they do for food?

Cook their own food, eat outside in office or restaurant or get hold of home delivery person and get food delivered to their place. Each of these modes has a problem or limitation. Cooking their own food is mostly not preferred and working professional don’t have the time, eating in restaurants over long period of time is not healthy and catering services will supply limited options and one get soon bored of it but cannot be changed on a daily basis.

This is where the Mama-Mami Catering Corporation comes in. Imagine you had a web service where you could the following,

1. Go online to a one stop website

2. Look at dozens of meal options provided by various catering services and individuals

3. Look at user ratings for each of the service providers

4. Book the type of meal and the quantity of meal that you need for that day

5. Pay online

6. Get the food delivered at home or pick up from the provider

7. Customise your meal preferences and ingredient used

8. Etc etc

What is USP of this concept?

The USP here is that you are enabling home based individuals and not just hotels or catering units to participate in this service. Think of a housewife who let’s say is an exceptional cook but is not interested in starting a hotel or a commercial catering unit and wants to earn some money working from home but does have any other skills. This person can just create a profile on the website, create menu for the day, limit the number of food orders that she can take on a given day, take advance food orders etc etc.

No big investments, no major wastage and income sitting at home. Now extend this to other things beyond food. Say someone is good at making sweaters, small jewellery, toys, dresses, packaged food etc etc…basically provide a gamut of services thru the web, sitting a home, no upfront investment and highly flexible….that would be the “Mama-Mami Corporation” and this idea is dedicated to all the wonderful home makers of this world!

Ideas in a Trivia #4: The Gandhi Moments

“Gandhi Moments” are milestones in history often centred on a personality that changed the course of a nation or humanity at large, through peaceful and non violent ways of these personalities but resulted in unfortunate and paradoxical violent end of the personalities themselves.

There are 3 distinct episodes from History that come to my mind when I think of the “Gandhi Moments” of humanity.

• The Crucifiction of Jesus, the Christ

Although there is considerably speculation about the factuality of the crucifiction episode most people believe the existence of Jesus and the noble life and ways that he taught. For me personally crucifiction of Jesus was perhaps one of the most painful moments in the history of man kind. But pain always brings out either the best or the worst in us. I think many of the principles of non violence, love and patience that Christianity believes in is hinged on this one moment in Christ’s life. I wonder what would have happened if Jesus took up arms and fought back the Jews and the Romans.

• Mahatma Gandhi’s principles of Satyagraha and Ahimsa

Gandhi’s life can be summarised using his own words, “"There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for."

It is said that when Angulimala, the dreaded killer who used to wear a garland made of human fingers encountered Gautama Buddha he was perplexed, scared and petrified by the peace and tranquillity that radiated from Buddha’s face. So much so that Angulimala gave up his violent ways instantly and became a monk.

Similar was Gandhi’s love and commitment to non violence that an entire British empire was afraid of him.

• Martin Luther King’s civil right movement and “I have a dream” speech

Martin Luther King changed the course of life for Blacks in America and perhaps the world over. He raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and created a new generation of human rights activists who core values were non violence and freedom of rights. Martin Luther King indeed change the texture of the 20th century and I hope he has done it irreversibly.

The sad side to all these ‘Gandhi Moments’ was that each of the personalities involved were either crucified or murdered violently.

This aspect is something that still intrigues me. Why is it that the most peace loving, non violent people in this world met with very tragic and violent deaths? Perhaps it’s because we human beings fear or do not understand the idea of peace and universal love. As strange and paradoxical as the idea may seem, that appears to be the only apparent truth.

Idea #23: Cooking with the Wife- Tips from an Amateur Cook

1. When your wife is cooking, don’t interfere

2. When your wife gives a cooking suggestion, don’t ignore it. They have an uncanny sense of what’s going wrong (and I am not sarcastic here)

3. If your wife messes up a dish, don’t tell her the truth. Being truthful is not a virtue here

4. Over time you will begin to like what your wife cooks, just be patient for the first few years!!

5. Help (not interfere) your wife in the kitchen, it’s the best kept secret of a happy marriage!

Idea #22: Cooking Basics from an Amateur Cook

1. Cooking is therapeutic and this is a little known secret

2. Too many cooks not only spoil the broth but end up squabbling

3. Every ingredient deserves respect. Dare to ignore the salt and it will show its worth

4. Listen to music while cooking and you will never go wrong

5. If you are happy about what you have cooked then you have not cooked it yourself

6. If you cook with love you will dish out something lovely

7. If you are too eager to cook a particular dish you will inevitably mess it up

8. Don’t compare home food and restaurant food. It’s never the same

9. Most people can cook nowadays, don’t think of yourself as a great cook

Idea #21: American Corn Sandwich

I am a bit of an amateur cook. Of course my friends laugh at it because I am a vegetarian, have never eaten meat and have never tasted alcohol. They wondered how anyone can claim to know anything about cooking without eating chicken or drinking beer. I remember one incident when I told my friends that I had cooked superb vegetable biryani. Their uncontrollable laughter did not make sense to me till the time they mockingly said, “Vegetarian Biryani? What’s that?”

I was fittingly shown my place and have not ventured to discuss my cooking skills ever since! But anyways I AM an amateur cook and can dish up decent, largely Indian or Indianised, vegetarian food. I like to experiment and create my own dishes and often dream about creating a brand new recipe that will acquire global fame!! (As an aside, did you know that only 6% i.e. about 400million out of 6.6 billion people are vegetarians globally and of the 400million about 300million vegetarians are in India?)

Anyways, a couple of years ago a friend and I created this “American Corn Sandwich” recipe while playing with some ingredients. It turned out to be fantastic and has become a big hit ever since with many friends, relatives and acquaintances. We have dished out dozens of these sandwiches over the last couple of years. Thought I will share the secret but simple recipe with you.

Here’ what you will need.

Sandwich Bread, Frozen or Fresh American Corn, Green Chilli, Red Chilli Powder, Salted Butter, Eggless Mayonnaise, Dried Oregano, Chopped Coriander and salt.

Method

• Boil frozen Corn for few mins till it becomes soft and fresh but not soggy
• Drain out the water
• To this corn add proportionate amounts of all other ingredients except Butter and Bread!!
• Apply butter to both sides of 2 slices of bread and then spread generous amounts of the corn and spices mix over the bread
• Grill this as a sandwich till both side become crispy and golden brown
• You will be eating one of the best ‘vegetarian sandwiches’ and may seriously consider giving up non veg food!!

I will add a photo the next time I make this sandwich. After all a picture speaks a thousand words, isn’t it? Let me know how it turns out if you happen to make it.

Ideas in a Trivia #3: Soul Soothing Songs..

Some of my favourite soothing songs, I don’t seem to get ever bored with them.

Sri Ramachandra Kripalu



Wey Mein Chori Chori



Bhaja Hu Re Mana



Mharo Pranam



What do you listen to when you are in one these moods?

Idea #20- Unique ID or No ID at all?

Today I went along with a few people to see a friend’s site (a piece of land not a website!!) in a ‘gated’ layout. I remember when I first saw this site a few years ago at the time he had purchased it. We could see all corners of the layout standing at any corner and this layout is spread across a good 20 to 30 acres. The place was barely recognizable for me today with dozens and dozens of houses having sprung up in seemingly no time at all. Forget about seeing all the corners I was wondering if even the corners have been used up to construct houses because it seemed like an endless sea of houses of all shapes and dimension. I mean the place was looking so packed that the stark contrast between the images of a peaceful and vast expanse of land that I had in my mind to the change I saw today was hard to digest.

Anyways, my friend has recently put a barbed fence around his site to protect it from trespassers and that was the primary reason for the visit today. We wanted to take a look at how the fencing has been executed.

My earlier memory of this site before the fencing was that of a corner plot situated at the intersection of two roads and has 3 similar sized empty plots adjacent it. I remember the first time I saw this place without the fence and when the overall layout was far emptier I had this major sense of space in my mind. There is something about space and vastness that creates a sense of awe and tranquillity in my mind. Alas, today amidst the clutter of the layout and the barbed fencing of the site I felt something missing, as though the size of the site had shrunk and as though it was feeling pretty caged and lonely. May be the barbed wires were adding to the drama of my thoughts.

Anyways after this visit we returned home and when I was doing my 9pm prayers this thought about the fenced site came back but led me into a different direction. I began to wonder if human mind is a victim of such boundaries that it has created around itself and how these boundaries are limiting its perception and sight of what may be a different reality if the mind had no boundaries at all.

Ultimately the question is about individual identity. The fenced site because of the fencing around itself had successfully created its individual identity but in the process had become limited, small, isolated and somehow felt like a less happy entity. Similarly I feel our individual identities as human beings gives a sense of ‘I’ness, pampers the ego and probably makes us feel great on some occasions and miserable on most other occasions but more than anything identities limit us.

I don’t know how we would feel if we lose this individual identity, but surely it ought to be different but then how would we ever come to know because “I” don’t exist at that stage.

On a lighter note, perhaps Mr. Nilekani should rethink before giving us all a ‘unique ID’ and should instead try and get rid of all identities that exist today. My guess is that the latter is much harder to come by and Mr. Nilekani has chosen the more doable one :)

What do you think?

Ideas in a Trivia #2- Filmy Protagonists!!

At some level we are all influenced by ‘filmy’ characters in one way or the other. They create subtle but deep impressions in us and often we may find ourselves imitating their ways and thoughts unknowingly. I am not a movie aficionado by any means but do watch my share, thanks to the world of torrents and some kind friends who are generous enough to share the ‘free’ stuff!!

I was thinking this morning about my favourite protagonists from movies and came up with this list of characters that have left strong impressions on my mind. So here it is, my all time favourite protagonist(s) from movies (not in any particular order),

1. Prot from K-PAX
What appeals to me most about ‘Prot’, is the fact that he is in a human form and knows everything about this world yet he is a stranger and everything about our world amazes him

2. Nallasivam and Anbarasu from Anbe Sivam
There cannot be a more contrasting portrayal of human behaviors than Nallasivam and Anbarasu. Also the idea of teaching by conduct not by preaching is very well portrayed

3. Forrest Gump
For his innocence, unthinking obedience and his ultimate love for ‘Jenny’

4. Guna
Kamal Hassan goes overboard in Guna but I guess it required to convey his ‘almost’ divine and deep love for Abhirami

5. Ravi from Kasturi Nivasa
I can’t forget the tragic, melancholious yet unaffected expressions of Dr. Rajkumar in the song ‘adisinodu belisinodu’

6. Tashi from Samsara
My favourite scene in this movie is when Tashi reads a letter from his Master where he asks Tashi, “What is more important: Satisfying one thousand desires or conquering just one...”

7. Davis from 12 Angry Men
For his perseverance, intelligence and keen observations

8. Andy Dufresne from The Shawshank Redemption
His coolness, tenacity and gumption are stuff of legend, one of greatest protagonists of all time

Well, that was my list, at least from what I could recollect. Which movie characters have influenced you the most?

Ideas in a Trivia #1: The Great Mongolian Empire!

I am commencing today a new series that I call “Ideas in a Trivia”. This will run parallel to the current theme of the blog which is around new and fresh ideas for all walks of life.

“The ideas in a Trivia” series will be based on already existing facts, historical incidences and will draw out ideas and lessons that we could use from these facts and trivia. It will be great if you can join my rumblings and add your own!

The first “idea in a trivia” is about the Mongol Empire of the 12th Century AD. Back then the Mongol Empire was,

• The largest contiguous empire ever in history. It was also known as the world empire
• At it’s peak 4 times larger than the Roman empire
• Controlled one fifth of the Earth's total land area
• Was responsible for mass extermination of Persians resulting in a population drop from 2,500,000 to 250,000!!

Well, that was the Mongolian empire then. It must have been a privilege to be a Mongolian in the 12th Century. Let’s see how Mongolia is doing now. Today Mongolia is,

• the 4th most thinly populated country in the world
• 19th in terms of land area
• Ranked 150 on the basis of GDP; 164 in terms of per capita income
• And 106 as in terms life satisfaction and expectancy

Interesting little turn around, don’t you think? So, what’s the point?

Simple actually,

1. All great empires, countries and corporations will inevitably disintegrate into oblivion if they lack continuous, consistent and compassionate leadership

2. There is a certain amount of certainty in the collapse of today’s great powers. It’s not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’