The Gods of the Copybook Headings

Dollar reached 15-month low, while Dow and Gold sets 52 wk high.. headlines are screaming today !

Why are the markets up ? why is the dollar down ? have things suddenly changed from a year before when all hell seemed to break loose ? is there a new emerging world order ? paradigm shift ? or return of the same old habits ? another bubble ?? ..

The headlines and economic times we live through, make this famous Kipling's poem written almost a century ago, still seem so fresh and so amazingly relevant to today's context more than ever before ..

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place;
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four—
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man—
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began:—
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will bum,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

-Rudyard Kipling

Short note : Kipling wrote this in 1919, by which time he had lost his dearly loved son in World War 1, and a precious daughter some years earlier. He was a drained man and England, with which he identified intensely, was a drained nation as well. The reference to "Gods of Copybook Headings" comes from the copy books, that were commonly used in schools in the past (guess no longer !) to practice better handwriting by writing over and over same things by copying from a heading at the top of each page. Most of these headings are famous proverbs, quotes, sayings..very similar to the wisdom presented in this poem.

Related links :

The demise of the dollar - the Oct'09 article in UK's Independent that caused the stir !

The diminishing dollar - similar title, but the Economist says it’s unlikely to turn into a dangerous collapse

US Dollar’s Demise Greatly Exaggerated ... Denial or acceptance

Online Literature

Migration - the birds vs. humans

While researching for my earlier post on migration trends, I found an interesting correlation of how our own human migration patterns seem closely relate to another fascinating natural migration phenomenon by another species on this planet, the birds. (side note : love that hitchcock's movie)

I know you won't believe me unless I put in some convincing facts... so I dug up little dirt on web, and here's where you can see a strong correlation between them, the birds vs. us, the humans.

Why migrate ?

• Mating & Breeding, for birds the main reason is that the climate of breeding area for new chicks is important amen..same for us humans too.


• Greener pastures and abundance of food .. ofcourse, abundance of jobs, greenbacks $$$

Who migrates ?

• Recent research suggests that long-distance passerine migrant birds are of South American and African, rather than northern hemisphere, evolutionary origins. They are effectively southern species coming north to breed rather than northern species going south to winter.


• Recent research on human immigration suggests that long-distance immigrants are of South American and Asian descent, rather than from Northern/Western hemisphere, evolutionary origins. They are effectively Eastern and Southern species coming to West and north.

Timing to migrate ?

• In the period before migration, many birds display higher activity, well as physiological changes such as increased fat deposition - we do observe high activity of individuals before they decide to migrate, not sure of fat deposition ..hmm !


• In species where there is polygamy and with considerable sexual dimorphism, there is a tendency for males to return earlier to the breeding sites than their females. This is termed as protandry. - definitely males seem to land before their females

What threatens the migration ?

• Human activities have threatened many migratory bird species. - ditto here ! greedy corporation's deeds and reckless immigration policies come to haunt many immigrants


• The concentration of birds during migration can put species at risk. Told you ! not to flock to Bay area ! and ofcourse the longlines for visa and green cards !


• Hunting along the migratory route can also take a heavy toll. The populations of Siberian Cranes that wintered in India declined due to hunting along the route, particularly in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Ofcourse, those Talibans ... 9/11, Afghan and Iraq wars did take a toll on immigration !


• Habitat destruction by land use changes and large scale climatic changes is however the biggest threat - same for us, 401k destruction and large scale economic changes !


• Availability of food - sure, availability of jobs

Migration conditioning ?

• It has been possible to teach a migration route to a flock of birds, for example in re-introduction schemes. After a trial with Canada Geese, microlight aircraft were used in the US to teach safe migration routes to reintroduced Whooping Cranes.



• Human - hell, yes, large scale training efforts by certain corporations to build cheap skills can induce forced migration. Good examples are IT training centers setup in India led to mass migration of IT consultants to US

Side effects

• The migration of birds also aids the movement of other species including those of ectoparasites such as ticks and lice (avian flu !), which in turn may carry micro-organisms including those of concern to human health. On the same lines in case of humans, Body shoppers, Criminals and drug traffickers



• Vagrancy - Migrating birds can lose their way and land outside their normal ranges. These can be due to flying past their destinations as in the "spring overshoot" in which birds returning to their breeding areas overshoot and end up farther north than intended. Hello, Canada ! did you know immigrants accounted for 38% of population in Vancouver (wonder what the % of overshoots !).

So, it does seem perfectly natural and in human's DNA to alter our migratory routes to find better breeding grounds and greener pastures.. so while at it, of course keep a watch out for those ever changing (hunting, I mean, immigration) laws. Happy migration ! and remember next time you see a flock of birds flutter by... that could be telling you some thing about where you should go next !!!

Facts source : wapedia

Considering Expatriation out of US ? Beware ..

All immigrants to US are familiar with the agony and uncertainty one's family goes through the long drawn process of naturalization to becoming a LPR (Legal Permanent Resident) and finally to become a Citizen. (click on the image to the right)

Of course, finally when one does become a US citizen - it does seem like you reached goal and things finally settle down.

However, in the back of minds, every such first generation immigrant keeps an eye open to the "Plan B & C" of going back to the home country or else where some day once again to start this all over.

And, it never seemed that it could cause any problems in US to expatriate whenever you wanted. But not so easy any more ..Uncle Sam has put certain new checks to this process of 'expatriation' as well.. so exiting a maze is as difficult as entering it.

On June 17, 2008 a new 'exit tax' law was silently signed into force by former president George Bush, which makes expatriating from US a rather expensive step. The newly passed expatriation legislation imposes a "mark to market" tax on all worldwide assets owned by the "covered expatriate" on the day before expatriation occurs. Under this tax regime, all property is deemed sold on the day before expatriation and total net gains in excess of $600,000 are includable in income and taxed.

So who is considered an expatriate ?

By definition, "covered expatriates" can be either U.S. citizens or green card holders who decide to expatriate and who either had an average annual net income for the five years prior to expatriation greater than $139,000, which will be adjusted for inflation, or a net worth of a least $2 million on the actual date of expatriation.

Green card holders are also considered "covered expatriates" if they have had permanent resident status for at least eight of the 15 years prior to the expatriation, including the year of expatriation.

Related Links :

• Exit Tax for U.S. Expatriates to Become Law ; PWC Link ;
• The flight option in the "fight or flight" decision ;
• Immigration_reverse_brain_drain

Get rid of that mouse and keyboard, finally !

Check this out .. future of Human - Technology interaction

Outcome of research work being done at MIT Media Lab led by Pranav Mistry, a Ph.D student, and one of the winners of this year's prestigious "Young Innovators Under 35 award".

Called SixthSense project, it aims to seamlessly integrate digital information with our everyday physical world, and get rid of the clunky interfaces like mouse, keyboad, screens that exist today.
Here's the Trivia bit : Remember seeing this concept some where else before ? ( hint).

This idea of making a gesture-controlled interface is similar to what was in the Spielberg's famous 2002 movie .

So next time your kid wants to watch a sci-fi flick don't stop .... as you never know, that might inspire the next coolest invention. Till then I will keep clicking on this keyboard..

Related Links
Sixth Sense Project MIT Media Lab 2009's Young Innovator award Winners India Today

Hood to Coast

Another milestone in my running career : Last weekend Aug28-29th, ran "Hood to coast 2009", the mother of all relay races. 197 miles of pure joy or pain however you want to put it. I had the privilege to run on behalf of my adidas corporate group as part of team of 12 runners.


We had a decent finish #20 out of 120 corporate teams with a race time of 25 hrs:39 min:11sec, and I did set my personal best record covering a distance of 14.74 miles. I ran my legs at 8PM (7+mile), 3AM (4mi), next day 11AM (4mi) all with nothing but 2 hrs of sleep during the 28 hrs we were moving from one point to another in van stuffed with six team members.

When we started at Timberline lodge, on top of the Mt.Hood , the oregon's tallest peak, it was a wonderful weather and beautiful scenary. My first race leg was 7.2 miles of knee breaking downhill descent from 1600 ft on Mt.Hood highway 26, then followed by next leg at 3AM on Hwy 30 to St.Helens. That was the creepy portion of run, you couldn't see more than few feet ahead in pitch black darkness. All I can hear are my own foot steps hitting the road, deafening silence, faraway other runner's head lamps.. and your mind start to play games with you. What those piercing eyes looking at you from forest could be ? wolves, coyotes, bears, or blood sucking vampires? what ever it was, ran like hell ! Then we managed to catch two hrs of sleep before we hit the road again for the final run in up hills leading to Astoria. In the end when we were done with all legs, stepped into the freezing ocean waters at Seaside to soak those tired legs, it was heaven !! Ofcourse the beach party and some real food at adidas tent.. worth it all.

It was painful - but hey, no gain without pain right !! I am able to check off one items on my list of "100 things to do before I die". For more about this legendary race, view this video. A total of 49 states and 36 countries are represented this year on Hood to Coast teams.

Apart from self-discovery, this run has been a mainly a part of my “Run for India” campaign to raise funds for my favorite charity, and hope that every step I take ultimately makes a difference to someone’s life in the world elsewhere.