What time is the 3'0 clock parade?

I ain't looking for praise or pity
I ain't coming round searching for a crutch
I just want someone to talk to
And a little of that human touch
Just a little of that human touch
- Lyrics for Bruce Springsteen's Human Touch
Freudian analysis has faded away as a valid way of studying the human psyche because it paid too much attention to the dark motivations of the human "id" and too little to the simple yearnings of the human soul.
Avoiding loneliness and seeking human warmth is the central motivating tenet of human civilization. Cavemen huddled besides the fire not just because of economies of scale. Being childlike is when you express this need without guile. Childishness is when you let it make you a page three neurotic. To us ordinary mortals it is the seeking and nurturing of friends and families. The evolved answer this need at the highest level- by being one with the world and thus banishing loneliness, root and branch.
In Disney's amusement parks the question that visitor's most frequently ask of park personnel is "What time is the 3'0 clock parade?". The park personnel recognize the question for what it is - yet another tendril looking for human contact and warmth and are trained to answer to engage with civility: "It is best if you take your position by 2 30pm near Jo's for the best view of the parade"

Unsquaring Corruption

The corruption around us and the constant exposition and sensationalizing of corruption by an ubiquitous, always on, intrusive media has an insidious and deep effect on all of us.
We start with decrying the state our country and our society is in. But we know we are as much part of this country and society as anybody else. As a result, the constant decrying of the state around us, in time, sub-consciously manifests itself as self-hate. And in the final analysis it is self-hate that is the root cause of corruption.
I call this phenomenon Corruption Squared.
The uncovering of this phenomenon in my mind has led to a realization.
The way to fight corruption is not to constantly focus on it and constantly decry it. It is to more intensely look at the good that is in our society, our country and in us. This increased scrutiny of the good will unsquare corruption and empower us to strike at the root causes of corruption besides eradicating its most virulent symptoms.
The media would do, I think, a great service to our society and our country if it follows the above recipe.
To begin with however, as an individual, I am going try and unsquare corruption
in my own mind.
Jai India !

Sleepless in Mumbai

Three in the night
The metronome rings empty
At dawn I will be asleep
Now barren, so barren, awake
Faith sleeps. Sleeps besides me.
Shall I mouth a prayer now?
Now when darkness reigns?
I turn. Turn away.
The metronome rings empty, so empty

The power of your future

The past is deadwood.
Yet often it overwhelms.
Consider the guy in Danny Boyle's 127 hours. Trapped under a rock with no help on hand, he flails about and then, giving up, prepares to die in the narcotic companionship of his past- a deadly cocktail of fond reminisces and deadly regrets.
It is only a glimpse of a possible future - in the form of a currently non-existent son - quietly egging him to live that gifts him the courage to brutally cut away the hand that traps him and flee to his future.
That's why I guess the sages ask us to live in the now.
Because our now closes the door to the past and opens a window to the future.
The truth sets you free. Your future fuels that hard-won freedom.

In conclusion here is a ditty I would like to share with you:

Creation

Cold suns light up dawn skies
The heat of the night dissipates
My left shoe bites
The heart's arryhtmia ticks
What's the time?
What's time !?
Poles apart meet
The world collapses
Into the everyday, commomplace
Here, now, everywhere, for eternity