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In to the wild

 

I wacthed this movie “Into the Wild” couple of days back..

Plot
“Into the Wild recounts the life of Christopher McCandless, an actual student-athlete at Emory University, as told by his sympathetic sister. In response to a materialistic, manipulative, and domineering father, McCandless destroys all of his credit cards and identification documents, donates $24,000 (nearly his entire savings) to Oxfam, and sets out on a crosscountry drive in his well-used but reliable economy car towards his ultimate goal: to live alone and off the land in Alaska. Along the way, he loses his automobile to a flash flood, inspiring him to hitchhike his way there after burning the remainder of his dwindling cash supply. Taking an unintentionally circuitous route, he encounters many unconventional individuals on his itinerary as he purposefully trudges onward to his final destination, arriving in the wilds of Alaska nearly two years after his initial departure. He starts living in a “Magic Bus” serving as a shelter for people walking in the area (though in the film there is nobody else). Resourceful, McCandless finds joy in living off the land, and begins to write a book of his adventures. Unfortunately, as the spring thaw arrives, he is cut off from civilization by waterways. As his food supply lessens, he resorts to eating plants. Although he consults a brought-along book about the edibility of plants, he confuses an edible and a poisonous kind, which turns out to be fatal. As he dies, he continues to write, detailing his painful demise as a dramatic denouement to his autobiography.”

The movie is about a guy who leaves the society to go live in the wild.. to live in the moment.. to experience new things.. this is actually many of the things that most of us(well, at least I..) want to do sometime or the other.. I believe we can discover many things, if we are just by ourselves in a remote place.. with no attachments to the external world.. Coz most of the times, our thinking process is disturbed by the external environment.. with other ppl.. with our work.. I believe it would be a great experience just to be by ourselves for some time.. having nothing to do..

Well.. the movie ends with this comment..
“Happiness is only real when shared“..
This seemed to be his ultimate realization of Chris before he died..

This reminded me of my cousin who lived near a beautiful water stream.. I loved visiting him coz we have quaity time swimming and enjoying the cool water.. I was surprised to know that he do not come to the spring if there aren’t any visitors like us.. and I found this hard to understand.. surely, the spring is soo much fun.. and had I being living here, half of my days will be spent there.. And it occured to me, the fun of it actually depends on the poeple you are sharing it with..

But I like to believe, as a person who enjoys his rare moments solitude immensely, that not all the happiness need to be sahred to be real.. Most of the times: yeah, may be.. but there are moments that you can be happy by yourself..

I am soo hoping that I would not come to a simillar blated realization after spending time in solitude ;-)

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By Madushanka
February 21, 2008

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In to the wilderness..

Meemure is one of the most remote villages of Sri Lanka, situated in the knuckles mountain range. It is famous for it’s natural beauty, and the friendly village culture.

You can get all the details regarding the village from my friend Garthee’s blog..

Me, with 8 other friends headed there during a 3 day holiday we got.
Getting there is not quite is easy and the ride is not the smoothest. You have to walk quite a few KMs coz public transport is not available. But it is all worth it, coz the surroundings are simply breath-taking..

We spent 3 days there.. going along streams.. swimming.. playing cricket.. trekking through the forests… and one time; cooking a meal..:-)
It was really fun.. and the experience is unique.. I cannot think of another place that would offer the blend of environmental beauty with an unmatched ‘village’y flavour..

Its one of the coolest trips I’ve ever being and had the greatest times..

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By Madushanka
February 8, 2008

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Observed Sil..

Today was the Duruthu full moon poya day.
For us buddhists, the days that the moon is full are special. We call them ‘Poya’ days..

Our whole family, (mom, dad, sis and me), observed sil today, at the Kalutara Bodhi temple.

When observing sil, we promise ourselves that we will refrain from several things by chanting 8 stanza of pali script that we call ‘8 precepts’.
The precepts goes like this…
1. To refrain from taking life.
2. To refrain from taking that which is not freely given (stealing).
3. To refrain from sexual misconduct (improper sexual behavior).
4. To refrain from lying and deceiving.
5. To refrain from intoxicants which lead to loss of mindfulness.
6. To refrain from eating at the wrong time (by only eat from sunrise to noon, it ensures that all food eaten that day is digested; thus no night time activities).
7. To refrain from all entertainments and using decorative accessories; ie. dancing, using jewelry, watching movies, going to shows, etc.
8. To refrain from using a high, luxurious seats.

And you dedicate the whole day for religous activities and to regulate self and mind.
It is actually a good exercise.. and spending time medicating is always rewarding..

I happened to read a book on Abhi-Dharma today.. which is considered the core part of buddhist philosophy..
In that Lord Buddha has stated that there are 4 componenets that cannot be divided into further.. Only these 4 are really existing, and called ‘Paramartha’.. and all the rest of the world has just a notional existence.

These are Chittha, Chaithasika, Roopa and Nirvana.

Chittha is ‘awareness’.. it is caused by the sensory organs, eye, ear, skin(touch), nose, tongue and mind(imagination).
Chaithasika are other activities mixed with the above ‘awareness’.. They are kind of simillar to the ‘thoughts’.
Roopa is what all the physical objects are made out of.. there are 28 types of roopa.. but only 1 type is visible.. which is called ‘warna dhathuwa (color element)’..
Nirvana is a state of things(mind) without any bad toughts..

I find all this too cmplex to undertand.. let along express in a foreign language like english..
but the above is is the basic idea that I got above the four ‘paramartha’ that the world is made out of.. The Nirvana is the only element that is non-causal.. and hence the only eternal element.. realising that is the ultimate aim of a buddhist.

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By Madushanka
January 22, 2008

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When the music stops…

when the music stops..
would we still glide in a dance..
as the echo fades away..
would it abort in an awkward stance..

when the music stops..
would you still have the zest..
the steps are getting heavy..
would you want a good night’s rest..

when the music stops..
would I still know my step..
will the light in your gazing eyes,
be enough to keep the pep..

when the music stops..
would it make a difference..
well, you don’t really care for music..
but I couldn’t bear the silence..

When the music stops..
might go back, take a seat..
or cling tight, in the silence
can we make our own beat..

when the music stops..
it wouldn’t be for the first time..
poems end, giving in to prose..
not every two words rhyme

Madushanka Soysa

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By Madushanka
January 17, 2008

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Back with school buds.

I met my old school friends last week. 
There were like 50 buggers from my school batch.. We had sort of a meeting.. a reunion like thing at the school.. It was really nice to meet the old folks again.. We went around the school.. recalled the old stories.. and had a good laugh..

I can’t simply believe that it’s more than 3 years now since we’ve left school. Does time fly or what..? And I still feel very happy that we can still get together like this.. and share things.. like not a day had passed from the last time we’ve met..

After the gathering at the school, me and few other school friends headed to the unawatuna beach in the afternoon. 
It was nice. We played a game of water rugby that we created on the spot.. And trust me, playing games you create on the spot is fun.. And it does help your wining chances.. :-)
Our team won the first few games and I don’t think the fact that Me and another friend of my team created the rules of the game had any say in it.. 

Well, it kinda reduces the competitive advantage when the 

other team gets a hang of the game as well.. but hey, there are always new rules and modificatons you can make.. :D

We all had a nice time.. 
Oh I wish these days would last..

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By Madushanka
January 14, 2008

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Too many choices

Last weekend me and a couple of my friends were out to dinner and had a really tough time choosing what to eat. It reminded me few things that came in the book “Paradox of Choice” by Prof Barry Schwartz.

Is having a lot of choices always a good thing..? Well, maybe not always. All of us know what’s good about having lot of choices.. So, what’s bad about it..

We have to make choices every day. It could be something simple like a choice for dinner.. or something important as a career path. The first problem about having many choices is that we spend a really lot of time and other resources in choosing one. And it is never easy to make a decision when the options are many. After all, our brains (at least most of ours’) cannot even add more than 2 numbers at once. So, comparing several options which are good in different aspects is not gonna be a facile task. Plus sometimes the resources spent on deciding are not really worth the outcome of the choice.

Another prob in having too many choices is that the opportunity cost of the choice we are making is going to be relatively high. The opportunity cost in these choices is the good features in other options that we forgo, when we decide on one. In reality, one choice is not going to be better in all aspects than another. So, the good features forgone are going to reduce the satisfaction we get from our choice of action. Imagine yourself making a choice between things to do on a weekend. Options could be studying/working, a game of cricket with friends, a party, a movie, and many more. All these options are having good features, but what if we have to choose only one. No matter what we choose, we are gonna miss the good aspects of the options we did not take. And the satisfaction we going to get from the weekend is going to get subdued by all these other good things that we are not doing.

Our level of expectation goes higher with the number of choices we are getting. Imagine you going out to a pizza place, and the only choices you have are chili chicken and vegetable pizza. Now imagine you having the option to have any topping you want, letting you decide how spicy or cheesy or etc etc you want it. Your expectations are going to be really high in the latter case, now isn’t it? The expectations would rise in such a way that, even a better tasting pizza in the second place would not make you satisfied, sometimes not to the extent even the first place does.

It could be the case that more choices will leave us at a better position. But what we should not forget is that happiness does not result in a rational evaluation of reality. So, sometimes, having to make a decision of a few choices with small expectations would make us happier, than after making the same decision with many options but also high expectations.

Another prob, as Prof Schwartz state in his book is that when we have many alternatives, theburden of responsibility of the decision comes to us. When we don’t have a choice, even though things are not good, we would not feel bad, as we could not have done better anyway. But if we had the choice, and we made a decision that resulted in the current state, we would tend to blame ourselves, and constantly regret the wrong choices we made. Well, isn’t it so much better when someone else has to make all the hard decisions ;-)

Well, I guess these are not actually disadvantages of having many choices, but merely the catch of having freedom to make our own choices. So, the next time you hear an inspirational speech about breaking out of the box and going beyond the limits, think again. Would it be all good?
Take a moment to answer this question.
If you could do anything tomorrow morning (go anywhere, do anything, with anyone etc etc.. no limits, remember), what would you do..?

Ok, stop dreaming now. I bet you thought of a really interesting thing to do, but I believe it wasn’t an easy answer to come up with. Now imagine having to make that kind of decision every morning.

Well, having to go to lectures every morning doesn’t look that bad now, does it.. ;-)
I think limits are important sometimes.. If there were none, it probably wouldn’t be that easy to travel our path of life.

Soo.. I think there could be other catches of having too many choices.. I’m sure you can come up with a few by yoself..

Well, to end this note, here’s a lil advice I read somewhere, for guys when faced with many choices and it is hard to make a decission..
First listen to your, heart…
Then listen to your head…
Then, your wife will tell you what to do…

(No wonder men are happier people :D)

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By Madushanka
January 13, 2008

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What Makes You Different - Makes You Beautiful

Have you ever had one of your own ideas being told to you..?
I mean.. an idea that you thought was yours..

I think I just had that sorta thing happening.

well, when I was a kid of around age 10, I used to argue with my sister what makes things beautiful.. I don’t know what she said.. but i believed back from those days ‘what we see beautiful is what we see different’. I still remember getting examples from the nature to convince my idea.. you know, how we find different looking flowers as beautiful.. etc etc..
And I still believe that.. but I think I managed to get my sister convinced on the idea to a certain extent..

And couple of days back I heard from a friend about this song by BSB titled “What Makes You Different makes You Beautiful”..

I was really surprised to hear that.. I mean, I was thinking only I saw it that way..
Anywho, I have to accept.. I never thought being different made people beautiful when I was 10.. Not sure whether I do so even now..
(I used this joke when asked whether someone is beautiful.. “I know numbers are beautiful.. but people, eh..I’m not too sure”)

I guess, it is actually the differences that make something beautiful. even people..
Coz in the end, what everyone is looking for is a difference..

Anywho, it’s always nice to hear one of your thoughts from another person. Isn’t it.?
Even if it means that you have to accept that the idea wasn’t originally yours..

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By Madushanka
January 10, 2008

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The car race

I’ve added this facebook application for car racing. Thorugh that you can race with your friends, and if you win, you get points, and if you lose, the friend gets points. And with the points, you can upgrade your car.. There’s no real racing as such.. you just click a button and it give the results. Yeah, yeah. it’s kinda dumb.. but don’t worry.. it’s not the game I’m talking about here..

This simple game made me have a glimpse of how people are driven by goals, and pushed by competition.
There were many of my friends playing the same game. And it was interesting to see some aiming to win a new car.. and some aiming to pass their friends in the points ranking..
You know, some were motivated by goals set at specific level by the system.. while others were driven by peer competition..

All in all, it was kind of a nice way to discover people..
I think you can learn more about a person from a simple game, than from 100 hours of conversation..

This made me think more about ‘competition’..
I grew up in a culture where competition is not looked as the best.
I still remember this pali stanza, which had a meaning as the following.
“Losing makes sorrow.. Winning creates enemies. Avoid competition”

But when I look around now, competition doesn’t seem to be such a bad thing.. It drives people to give their best.. And most of things humankind has achived so far, are mainly due to their competitions.. No one undermines the uglyness of the warld war 2.. but aren’t we stil thankful for the inventions resulted from it.. And how much the space war between USA and the early USSR contributed to the developments of astronomy.

Still, I wish we could have achived all these things with out the wars and other competitions.. May be if people were more internally motivated..

After all, as they say, what brings me to my highest potential is when I am competing with my ownself..

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By Madushanka
December 30, 2007

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Netherland and drugs

Couple of days back, we had a welcome party to Rogier, an AIESEC intern, from Netherland.

It started like any other welcome party.. presentations by the newcomer, about himself and his country.

Netherland is a very interesting country. The people there seem to be very tolerant and open minded. In Netherland, drugs are legal, so is prostituition.. homosexual relationships and many things that many other cultures look down in disgust..

Picture this. How would it be, if you could simply go to a mall and buy drugs like marijuana?
What come to my mind is a long queues of disheveled people, waiting for the drug stores to open.. and loads of doped people along the roads..

From what I’ve heard, it couldn’t be far from the truth..
Netherland do not have many addicts. Now, how did that happen?

I think, one major thing that drives people to drugs, is that it makes them feel special. I guess when the drugs are freely available, the speciality really goes away. Another thing is, if you need help getting rid of drugs, you know there are many poeple that you can talk to.. who has gone through a very simillar experience. Coz I think most poeple have tried those stuff sometime in their lives..

I think it was, in a way, a nice decission by the government. This stoped so many people from obtaining the drugs in illegal ways, creating wealth for the criminals and underground gangs..

Whatever the reason is, I lke to believe that, in the end, it is not really the law or regulations that really keep people away from drug adddiction.. It is their self control, self regulation.. If you don’t have those qualities, sooner or later, you are gonna have problems..

may be not just drug addiction.. 
Coz in the end, its not only drugs that you can get addicted to..

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By Madushanka
December 25, 2007

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Happyness..

On my way to work today, I met a happy person..
Well, u r probably wondering how i came to know tht.. lemme elaborate a bit..

In the bus today, a old gentleman sat next to me.. He was wearing a very old fashioned suit, with a tie and all.. and a green and blue hat.. And the fella was singing to himself all d way.. OK now, that ought to be a happy person eh. at an age of 60 if u cna go in a bus singing u can definitely call yourself happy ..

And this made me think about happiness a bit.. and it occurred to me how 2 very different types of happiness are talked about..and pursued..

The first type of happiness is the happiness with letting go.. and the other type, with holding on..
Letting go makes you happy.. If you do not attach your self to people, or things.. u are not much worried.. and that will give you a happy state of mind.. What we see through buddhism is that evrything is changing and fickle.. so, attaching yourself will always cause u sufferings.. hense, letting go will make u happy..
another aspect of this type of happiness involve living for the moment.. not worrying much about future and stuff.. basically growing out of problems to a level so that it wouldn’t bother u anymore..

The second type of happiness is about holding on.. It is about te happiness u gain persuing a dream and achieving goals and stuff..
This quote describe it just right..
“To achieve true happiness, find something u would die for.. and live for it..” Well.. living a vision.. and persuing a dream gives you happiness.. but tht sort of happiness is not continuous.. but tht is the happiness with purpose..

i still dont knw which type of happiness is better or worse… or wht is more lasting.. Both types of happiness is equally tempting.. but i don’t think u can have both..

it’s just a choice i guess..

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By Madushanka
December 11, 2007

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