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It’s been a week into the new year and I’ve been seeing numerous “resolution” posts on the blogosphere without feeling the urge to post one myself. What would I say, I wondered—that I need to write or maybe go to the gym more often this year? Would anyone really care? Or maybe it would it be a nice way to create a record that I can reflect on next year?

But that’s when John Mayer’s Vultures started playing on my trusty last.fm stream and the first line of the song struck me.

Some of us, we’re hardly ever here. The rest of us, we’re born to disappear.

It made me realize that it’s not about what I do this year but how I do it; with pride, conviction and the will to make it a success, I hope. So regardless of your resolutions this year, I hope you’re able to remain focused for 365 days and achieve your dreams.

That said, I do want to write and direct at least one film this year and launch a nonprofit organization. So good luck and best wishes for a happy and peaceful 2009. See you on the other side!

Some of us, We’re hardly ever here
The rest of us, we’re born to disappear
How do I stop myself from
Being just a number
How will I hold my head
To keep from going under

Down to the wire
I wanted water but
I’ll walk through the fire
If this is what it takes
To take me even higher
Then I’ll come through
Like I do
When the world keeps
Testing me, testing me, testing me

How did they find me here
What do they want from me
All of these vultures hiding
Right outside my door
I hear them whisperin
They’re tryin to ride it out
They’ve never gone this long
Without a kill before

Down to the wire
I wanted water but
I’ll walk through the fire
If this is what it takes
To take me even higher
Then I’ll come through
Like I do
When the world keeps
Testing me, testing me, testing me

Wheels up
I got to leave this evening
Can’t seem to shake these vultures
Off of my trail
Power is made, by power being taken
So I keep on running
To protect my situation

Down to the wire
I wanted water but
I’ll walk through the fire
If this is what it takes
To take me even higher
Then I’ll come through
Like I do
When the world keeps
Testing me, testing me

Oooooooooooo
Oooooooooooo
Oooooooooooo
Oooooooooooo
Whatcha gonna do about it
Whatcha gonna do about it
Whatcha gonna do about it

Don’t give up give up
Don’t give up give up give up
Don’t give up give up
Don’t give up give up give up

While reading Nina Yiamsamatha’s Don’t Hate on Twitter post recently, I struck upon an analogy that explains why I think Twitter is awesome. Remember the Verizon ads that have a bunch of people following you around to show the ubiquity of their network signal? Now imagine a similar multitude of creative folks with diverse backgrounds and interests always there to instantly give you feedback on thoughts, develop ideas, collaborate on projects, and share interesting content. That’s twitter! Seriously, don’t hate on it.

For all the lives lost in the Mumbai terror attacks of 26/11/08.

Give Peace A Chance - John Lennon

Ev’rybody’s talkin’ ’bout
Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism
This-ism, that-ism, ism ism ism
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

(C’mon)
Ev’rybody’s talkin’ ’bout
Minister, Sinister, Banisters and Canisters,
Bishops, Fishops, Rabbis, and Pop Eyes, Bye bye, Bye byes
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

(Let me tell you now)
Ev’rybody’s talkin’ ’bout
Revolution, Evolution, Masturbation, Flagellation, Regulation,
Integrations, mediations, United Nations, congratulations
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

Ev’rybody’s talkin’ ’bout
John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rosemary,
Tommy Smothers, Bobby Dylan, Tommy Cooper,
Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer, Alan Ginsberg, Hare Krishna
Hare Hare Krishna
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

A google search for “Obama” returns almost 500 million matches, so what’s left to say about the 44th President of the United States of America that hasn’t been said already? Charismatic, suave, determined, unifier, eloquent… I’ll probably run out of superlatives before the list is complete. Hell, even a search for “messiah” has Obama in the top 5 results. The illustration above by artist Patrick Moberg deserves special mention for his poignant representation of the event… seriously, anything is possible! Here are some more memorable pictures from the Obama campaign over the last couple of months.

Billions of dollars have been spent on this election, millions of words written, as many pictures taken and numerous tears of joy shed in response to Obama’s urgent message to usher in a new era of change and hope. Obama resonated with a new America—one that the Republicans were completely out of touch with—a new America that responded with unprecedented enthusiasm to elect its first black President.

Personally, I’ve been in the US for seven years and last night I really wished I could vote for Barack. I like what he stands for—he understands that the world is now globalized more than ever and America needs to reassert herself as a respected hegemony. He challenged voters to restore the American Dream and they responded in overwhelming fashion. As a young guy setting out to build my career, I feel deeply inspired especially given the timing of this historic moment. I recently decided to move back to my home country of India to pursue entrepreneurial projects, reconnect with my roots, and promote social change so we can eradicate poverty and dogmatism. India too faces a defining moment in her history; with a phenomenal 500 million youths under the age of 21, the country needs leadership to leverage and mobilize this massive youth population.

Barack Obama’s campaign is a testament to the tenacity of the human spirit to overcome the most daunting obstacles. Such human beings come around once every generation and I hope Obama’s journey inspires more individuals around the world to rise up and make a difference in their communities. Obama has reminded us of the potential of grassroots campaigns and that we all have a part in creating a free and peaceful world.

The two-year long show is over, now let’s get to work.

GO BARACK YOUR WORLD!

There are few words to describe how brilliant this is! Available here.

“My friends, stop it… my friends. Arrrrrrrrrghhhh!!!!!”

Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. Their aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion. This year’s topic is Poverty.

Growing up and living most of my life in India, I’ve always had a close view of how disparate the distribution of wealth is in the world. The most disconcerting aspect is that most people are there due to circumstance and that it could very easily be me. Yes, I agree I’ve worked hard to reach where I am but much of the world’s poor may go through a lifetime without getting an opportunity to work or display their talents and at most times oppressed due to their lack of resources.

Take for example this recent article about the shocking treatment of the poor in India.

India is changing so fast that it is starting to look like someplace else. Skyscrapers are sprouting. Towns are ballooning. The young date, drink, smoke freely. But many of the people who are making the new India new - from the stockbrokers to the bedecked socialites - are responsible for preserving a certain gloomy element of the Indian past: a tendency to treat the hired help like chattel, to taunt and humiliate and condescend to them, to behave as though some humans were born to serve and others to be served.

Again, not so surprising for me—I’ve seen it happen often and find it deplorable. One can only wonder how long the poor will remain patient and quiet—in India there are numerous stories about mini revolts sparking off in retaliation. We don’t need more strife and internal fighting, even if we can’t make monetary contributions, we should embrace the moral right to respect human life.

One observation that’s amazed me in my travels around the world is that children, no matter how poor their family, still manage to go about their daily chores with a smile and frolic with their siblings and other street kids. It’s that very innocence, that pure pleasure of life itself, that we tend to lose once we’re entrenched in the greedy quest for wealth. I’m not advocating that we donate all our life savings to charity and become ascetics but rather detach ourselves occasionally from our daily pursuits and understand the need for a more equitable distribution of wealth for the world to prosper. Our strength is in our people and right now millions of them are dying in abject poverty.

Dealing with poverty can be depressing but with this video I’ve tried to capture some of the happier emotions that can inspire ourselves to seek out that same unperturbed joy by limiting our needs and contributing our excess towards uplifting the marginalized. The recent financial crisis has taught us many lessons but the most severe being that many countries have been living way beyond their means and for the most part, at the expense of the less privileged. Lifestyles will have to drastically change to fix this mess and I hope we can all evaluate our lives and make a commitment today to make a positive impact on our environment and the people around us. I hope you enjoy the video… please pass it on, and keep smiling!

The song in the video is Bob Sinclar’s “Give A Lil’ Love”, a DJ who “aspires to bring people together by making music with hope and energy, music that can be shared across the world.” Check out “Love Generation” which also has a similar theme. Here are the lyrics for the song in the video:

now you and I
can get together
let us start a revolution
change this world
to what it should be
and forget all this confusion

we could live together
for the sake of love
what are we fighting for
oooh now
we could start heeling today

if we can just learn to give
give a lil’ love
you and I can change the world
live a lil’ love
make it better if we try
show a lil’ love
let your love rain
let it rain down on me

now if we wait and do nothing
then what about their future
how can we look in to there eyes
and say we love our children
we can make it better
feel the love inside
forget foolish pride.

Here’s an action list that can help you get involved. Another great site that I use is Kiva, which helps you make loans to small business owners in third world nations. It involves concepts that I find very inspirational: fortune at the bottom of the pyramid and micro-finance. I would welcome a discussion of similar new business ideas, ones that we can collaborate on and implement collectively.

Nice little bar trick, ehh?!

Yes We Can (Hold Babies) is the international source for pictures of Obama holding babies. There are occasionally some kisses involved, sometimes the babies are a little too old to be classified as babies, and sometimes we just post pictures of Obama standing under a dinosaur (and by that we do not mean John McCain).

And at other times it’s about kids sharing their views on Obama

(hat tip: @jcovert)
(photo credit: hipsdontlie)

I’ve been obsessed with Brooke Waggoner since she released her first EP last year and jumped at the chance to see her given that I missed her the last time. It was my first time at Joe’s Pub and just like Brooke put it, I was expecting something very “pub-sey”. Quite the contrary—reminiscent of a speakeasy, it has a dark candlelit ambiance, velvet walls and couches to lounge on. Brooke was everything I expected her to be and more: beautiful voice, brilliant on the piano, quirky, and cute with a childlike playfulness that resonates in her music—I think I have a crush!

You can download Brooke’s first EP, Fresh Pair of Eyes, free from her website.

The Pines who opened were really refreshing as well… deep, haunting, and Dylan-esque! What’s more, the club played Devendra Banhart in between sets—totally geeked out!

An endearing action-packed animated short from Gobelins l’ecole de l’image.

(hat tip: @naina)