Religion

The genius of Hinduism, then, was that it left room for everyone. It was a profoundly tolerant religion. It denied no other faiths. It set out no single path. It prescribed no one canon of worship and belief. It embraced everything and everyone. Whatever your personality there was a god or goddess, an incarnation, a figure, a deity, with which to identify, from which to draw confort, to rouse you to a higher or deeper spirituality. There were gods for every purpose, to suit any frame of mind, any mood, any psyche, any stage or station of life. In taking on different forms, God became formless; in different names, nameless.

An excerpt from "The man who knew infinity" by Robert Kanigel.

This is perhaps, the best representation of Hinduism I've come across so far.  I respect the depth to which the author has studied and understood the religion. After all, the book is not about Hinduism but is about a mathematician. A mathematician so religious that the author might have found it impossible to separate the two.  I for one don't know the deep seated ideologies and philosophies of Hinduism, or any religion for that matter. However, what I've come to realize after reading this paragraph is that whoever designed Hinduism was perhaps a genius. Of course the one designer theory is, let me correct it, an assumption. Liberalization and decentralization, what I see as one of the most effective forms of administration was perhaps the sole motto of this designer, letting people be free to choose, amongst other things, even their God. 

Morality, Wisdom and intelligence

About a week or so back, I came across this video on TED and like many of the TED videos, this one was filled with learning. This is not some preacher infused learning I'm talking about. This is the learning that creates a spark.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/barry_schwartz_on_our_loss_of_wisdom.html

Focusing on what's the 'right thing to do' has really helped me attain some clarity in life. How - If we choose to do what's moral and what's right and keep the focus there, a variety of unwanted distractions tend to fade away. Quite a simple thing actually and the distinction between wisdom and intelligence could not have been explained more succinctly or more clearly. Every minute of the video is worth watching.

Buying a car

There are perhaps a thousand websites and articles that'll provide data on 'how to buy a car'. There is so much information that it'll perhaps take months and months of sifting though the chafe to get to the actual grain of information. Add in the variety of choices and the mind goes for a tailspin. Buying a car is a really tough proposition, perhaps only next difficult to buying a home.

It would have been very easy to just abandon my 8 year old compact car and go for an upgrade. The first question I asked was 'why' and I couldn't come up with a convincing answer. Better ride quality, better fuel economy, more space, good looking, better technical gizmos (USB, Bluetooth etc). So I reasoned out all the above points and my existing car fulfilled the most important of these - the ride quality to fuel economy ratio.

So why fuel economy - when I can afford all the petrol I want. It's an environment concern. Moreover, making an engine fuel efficient and maintaining a decent power band is a big challenge. I really like the manufacturers who have taken up this challenge. A decent power band is a relative term, specific to the local market and the driving conditions. For ex: A Honda Civic with a power of 130 bhp may be basic by American road conditions but it's a luxury for Indian road conditions.

Ride quality is also a relative term - Indian road conditions need a car with a higher ground clearance and  a suspension  that absorbs a lot more shocks and vibrations, while at the same time offering decent power. In my experience I've found a power band of 85-90 bhp more than adequate for Indian roads.

So what am I looking at when buying a car:

Fuel economy - 15-18 KMPL
Power - 85-90 bhp,
Ground clearance - 170 mm.
Maintenance - worry free, 10000 km interval.

Now coming to other features - I have driven cars with all the technical gizmos and have realized that I hardly use any of those. Be it steering mounted audio controls, driver height adjustment or the 8 way electrical movement for the driver's seat,  The only value added features that I prefer are  - tilt steering, lumbar support (for long drives) and a 12v electrical outlet (thanks to the abysmal battery life of modern day smart-phones).

I just happened to drive my friend's Honda Jazz/Fit and was mighty impressed with the ride quality, steering response and above all - the fuel economy to power ratio. A car with 90 bhp of power and an EPA of 15 KMPL/60 MPG blew everything away, Of course the Jazz has better space management - I could fit my bike in there if I wanted to. I put my thoughts aside and decided that if I ever bought a car it would be the Jazz, but for now I could live with the Wagon R. Then recently Honda launched the Brio - a small car with the same Jazz engine and I was sold instantly. The brio weighs about 130 kilos/60 lbs less than the Jazz with the same engine and hence a better fuel economy/power ratio. I really loved the car in flesh and decided to buy the car if a need arose.

That need arose when on a recent long drive, I failed to notice that the engine in my wagon R had heated up and I continued to drive without noticing it until the engine stalled. Somehow, I had ignored the temperature gauge. When I took the car for the service, the mechanic listed that the shock absorbers were nearing end of life and the steering response was also nearing end of life. Given that the engine had stalled, he suggested an upgrade. Then I thought about the Brio and it made sense. Without spending a ton of money I could have a decent city car. So I went and made the booking for the bare bones base version. Any add ons, I could choose and put them myself.

I realized that the key to buying anything is to understand the need for that product and not to be swayed by the listed product features in advertisements. We should read unbiased product reviews but if we list down the key features in any product that we as a person want, and then match the product features to our wants - the buying process becomes a lot easier and quicker. Moreover we'll not be influenced by features/gizmos that are not required for us. We should buy what we absolutely need and not something that's there in the market. Buying, of course is a learning process and we should learn about our buying pattern and behavior and always ask the 'why' question.