Six Blind Men and an Elephant

Last week I went to pick up my Indian visa. On my way back home, I visited a newly opened eyewear store in downtown. I wanted to check out the price of a new pair glasses with progressive lenses. The sales clerk warned me that it would take a few weeks for my eyes to adjust to these lenses and I would have to turn my whole head to see sideways because there are blind spots inherent with progressive lenses. I smilingly replied, "It would not be a problem because I have no peripheral vision anyways. I have learned to turn my head to see sideways a long time ago."

I reflected on my answer and pondered about the parable of the "Six Blind Men and an Elephant". Even though things might be seemingly apparent to us, we cannot always be certain that we have the whole picture. More often than not we only have 2-D snapshots of the objects from where we stand, at best. When we apply the dimension of time, the same snapshot will look very different at another point on the time axis. This observation totally illuminates the Buddhist concept of "Change is the only constant in life".

As a self-proclaimed problem solver, I always try to add a disclaimer that my solutions are time sensitive. What might work now could be disastrous if applied at some point in the future. My original plan was to settle in the South Pacific at age 50 and lead a more isolated existence because I have lost much faith in humanity, especially in an urban setting. After the bicycle accident in Tonga this March and having returned home to Vancouver for a speedier recovery, my plans have changed drastically. I thought I should attempt to seek love and compassion again.

It would appear that South India has the highest concentration of spiritual gurus who advocate love and compassion. Back in December 2010, I took a virtual journey to South India. For a couple weeks, I visited several South Indian ashrams in my mind. I focused on comprehending the teachings, and meditated most of my waking moments. I came out of my virtual retreat refreshed and my physical health improved; however, I did not experience the love that I was looking for. Hopefully the upcoming South Indian visit will bring me inspirations and perspectives that I sought after in my previous virtual journey.

Lime Squeezers

"If someone tells you that you are a "squeezer of limes" in Hindi, don't be flattered. The idiom means you are a self-invited or an idler. - Jag Bhalla, author of National Geographic's I'm Not Hanging Noodles On Your Ears

When I saw the above statement in an Indian travel guide book, I could not understand why lime squeezers were considered idlers in India. I searched the term "lime juice" on line and got an answer. According to Wikipedia, India is the top producer of limes in the world. Limes are so abundant in India that squeezing limes would be just a way of killing time producing a worthless commodity.

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years of his life in prison for something that he believed in and being vocal about. He must have done a lot of the equivalent of lime squeezing during all those years behind bars for punishment. Another lime squeezer that comes to my mind is Mahatma Gandhi. I have seen many old photos of him reclining. They both accomplished what they set out to do after enduring prolonged period of passivity. I would never know for sure if they aimed to become spiritual leaders and fathers of their nations; however, they certainly epitomized the defiant spirit that is everlasting in their people's conscience.

Many of the important scientific discoveries and inventions also happened during some idle moments. We would not know about gravity if Isaac Newton did not sit idly under an apple tree. Penicillin would not be invented if Alexander Fleming did not go away on holidays and mold had a chance to develop on the bacterial cultures. The list of such examples is long. Modern day people seem to have an insatiable appetite to fill all their waking moments with activities such as working, commuting, listening to news or music, playing video games, chatting, texting and surfing the net.

I think we should set aside some time everyday to be lime squeezers. We might not be productive in the short term or instantly gratified; nevertheless, the world could be a better place as a result of this collective non-action.

Value Added Life

In preparation of my trip to India in September, I was applying for a tourist visa. Even though there is a consulate office in Vancouver, regular tourist visa applications were outsourced to private companies two years ago. After filling out an application form on line, I took the hard copy to the recommended private company for processing. Two visits to the visa office later, my visa application was still not processed. I had a similar experience applying for a Russian visa two years ago. The complex requirements for the Russian visa seemed more palatable since Russia was formerly a communistic country where people's movements were restricted and closely monitored.

I simply could not understand why an Indian visa application could not be processed because the size of the photo was not exactly 51 mm x 51 mm and the background of the photo was not completely white. These visa service companies appeared to be paid for picking bones from eggs. No wonder it was outsourced. What is the practical purpose of making the applications so uniform? From the economics standpoint, the standardization of visa photos is a way of providing business opportunity and employment. It certainly does not appear to improve national security.

Many years ago when I worked as an engineering technician at the City of Toronto, I used to input data for the water distribution system in hope of implementing a mathematical model to the system and identifying problematic areas for infrastructure planning. The work was monotonous but I was determined to complete the project because I believed that my work was worthwhile. However, after running the program a couple times, I realized that the software the City purchased did not have the capacity to handle large networks and my data would probably be shelved like those ancient blueprints in no time. I became very disinterested in my work even though the pay was above average. Surprisingly my bosses still wanted to keep me there despite the issue.

Many cultures place a great deal of importance on occupations. Many people derive their identity from their work. When they lose their jobs or retire, they also seem to lose the purpose of their lives. The answer to question, "Do you work to live or live to work?" is not always apparent to them. What exacerbates the problem is that their work has not been adding much value to the society. One such sector is the financial services industry. The irony is that these "professionals" are also the highest paid workers. They excel at taking advantage of rumours and arbitrages. It is hard for me to feel empathetic for burnt out stocker brokers and deal makers or the workers in that visa office because they have not been leading value added lives.