Author name: tejvan

Competitiveness and detachment

anecdotes /

A few thoughts on the competitive spirit and the philosophy of detachment.

In Sri Chinmoy’s book on Emil Zatopek, he mentions an anecdote.

“Zatopek is sincerity incarnate. He has always given the topmost priority to truth in every aspect of his life. At times, his sincerity has been so soulfully moving. On the eve of the 1948 Olympics, his sincerity reached the highest height. “It was my first competition in Olympic Games and I was surprised to come to Olympic stadium and to read most important things about the Games: ‘Not to win but to take part’. What — not to win? Ah, but I wish to win!”

Emil Zatopek: earth’s tearing cry and Heaven’s beaming smile, Agni Press, 1980

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Belphegor’s prime

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Belphegor’s prime is 1,000,000,000,000,066,600,000,000,000,001: a palindromic prime number with 666 in the middle and 13 0s on either side. It is named after Belphegor, one of the seven princes of hell.

Source: QI

In the western world, the number 13 is often considered an ‘unlucky’ number. But, Sri Chinmoy felt thirteen was a divine number (or words to that effect) – a number with special significance in his own life.

Many significant events in his lifetime became associated with the number 13. For example, his arrival in the West (New York) April 13th.

There are always so many ways of looking at the same thing.

In this case, we might think 13 and 666 are numbers representing ‘ignorance’

Alternatively, we can see the Creator’s hand in every aspect of life – hiding a few secret jokes, even in numbers.

If you take 13 as a divine number, you can see Belphegor’s prime as an example of how World ignorance (represented by 666) is perfectly surrounded by the divine.

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Trick or Treat – no thanks!

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When I was a child I used to enjoy the annual ‘trick or treat’. Our friendly neighbours would give us sweats, chocolate and, best of all, money. As a child, I thought this was great!

trick-or-treat

Now, 30 years later, and I’m on the other side of the door – and I have to admit I’m very bad. On trick or treat night, I turn out the lights and pretend to be out! I feel like a modern day scrooge, because I don’t want to answer the door and give away my Kit-Kats or money.

One of the laws of the universe is – “as you give so shall your receive”. …

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Trick or Treat – no thanks! Read More »

A British Bus-stop

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I was flying to New York and began the journey of 3,000 miles at a bus stop in Oxford. The first person waiting at the bus stop was an immaculately dressed Muslim; he had a dignified bearing, and we exchanged brief smiles. At the other end of the bus stop was a drunkard sitting on a rubbish bin. Intoxicated, he kept trying to catch my attention with a rather leery grin. There were also another two foreign men, drinking alcohol hidden in plastic bags. A wonderful British bus-stop – two teetotalers, surrounded by three drunkards.

Then along came another waif and stray – selling some kind of magazine. He offered to sell it to the drunkard for 20p. The drunkard dug around in his pockets and bought it. Then the magazine seller came to me and offered to sell me a copy for 50p! I wasn’t in the mood for buying a magazine, so I politely declined. Maybe I was put out because he was charging me a higher price. As an economist, I should admire the homeless person’s knowledge of price discrimination and income elasticity of demand. Setting different prices to people of different incomes.

But, I remained unmoved. Despite his protestations, I didn’t buy. My Muslim friend wasn’t interested either. Finally, the bus came and I started the journey to New York.

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The popularity of Indian Cuisine in Britain?

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My good friend from America, Mahiruha works in a grocery store. He asked why the British expats were so keen on Indian cuisine. This is my take on his question.

The first thing that springs to mind – if you grew up eating British school dinners you would better understand the popularity of curry and Indian food.

When I was growing in Yorkshire many years ago (in the days of black and white tv e.t.c.) – we were lucky to get more than a diet of tripe, dumplings and boiled cabbage (and sometimes custard with a horrible skin on it). By, contrast a curry seemed incredibly exotic. I think I tried a mouthful aged five but my taste buds were not acclimatised, and I took a dislike. I never took another curry until aged 18 I had my first curry in a restaurant in Bradford. I ordered an “extra mild curry” – quite nervous about the exotic spices and was pleasantly surprised it was quite tasty. If only we had a bit of curry powder to mask the horrid tastes when growing up.

The only thing is that curry doesn’t mix well with Yorkshire Pudding. If made properly, they are very good genuine British cuisine. …

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The popularity of Indian Cuisine in Britain? Read More »

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