On my rear view mirror

On my rear view mirror is 2013, and boy was it something.

It started off with the hope of something better - landing a Govt job, and comes to an end with the hope of something better - following my dreams. As a personal exercise, I checked on the main events that happened to me over the past 12 months. You are welcome to read what I found out.

In JANUARY, I wrote an exam, cleared it successfully and was called for my first interview for a Govt job.

And so, I spent FEBRUARY dreaming about all the good things that it will bring to my life, especially the chance it'll give me to move back to the south.

By the time MARCH rolled out, I was dumped out of the interview unceremoniously. The dream castles I had built over a month came crashing down, leaving me with nothing, but nightmares.

APRIL turned out to be the worst month in my life till now. Depressed would be an understatement. I took a temporary absence from all social networks and did some soul searching. In the midst of all this, I started BLOGGING again.

MAY saw my best friend for over three years leave town - to join at the same govt job that I had also given interview for. He was in another branch, so it wasn't like he took my job. But the fact that he will get to enjoy the dreams that I so dearly loved pushed me further into chaos.

And out of that chaos was born a thrust - a thrust to push me in a direction that I never wanted to go in. To take risks, and to let go of my conventionalism. Hence, JUNE saw the birth of a new me.

JULY was witness to the efforts that I undertook to explore the opportunities for achieving what I wanted.

And AUGUST brought me back to reality. I realized that I would have to do something completely crazy to achieve what I wanted.

SEPTEMBER was spent brooding over the pros and cons of taking such a crazy decision.

OCTOBER had me struck down with Jaundice, confining me to the bed for most parts of it. But at the same time, it gave me an opportunity to come back to my hometown and do some further feasibility study for taking my crazy decision.

NOVEMBER presented me with a genuine cause, which made my crazy decision look slightly less crazy. And so I put in my papers at the job I had for 40 months, with just the minimum idea on what I'm going to do in the future.

DECEMBER is currently enjoying watching the effect of its 11 predecessors on me. Like I said last week, I'm 25 years old, unemployed, single, broke and living with my parents. It can't get any worse than this [I sincerely hope so].

***

It is the darkest before the dawn. I believe that you have to get used to being in pitch black darkness to be sure of seeing the single ray of light, when it shines down upon you. You'll then follow it out into the sunshine, where you eyes will be blinded by the sudden increase in contrast. When you finally come to your proper senses, you'll notice that it is another struggle. But now, you'll be better equipped to deal with all the crap that life throws at you - cos you know you overcame it once.

***

Looking away from the rear view mirror, I see intertwining paths before me, which run off into the horizon. I don't know how good or bad each path will be to me. I'm like a kid in a candy shop. I want to try each and every one of them. But for now, I've chosen one path, and it is through that path that I'll explore the year 2014.

When, and if, I do a review of 2014 one year from now, I'll look back on 2013, and think "That! That my friends was the turning point in my life." I just don't know whether it'll in a good sense, or bad.

Better late than never (5 things - Week 39)

1. I'm 25 years old. - born on the 26th of December, 1988.

2. I'm unemployed. - left my job on the 9th of December, 2013.

3. I'm single. - as a part of my involuntary celibacy.

4. I'm broke. -  wiser men have deduced that this might have something to do with point no.2.*

5. I'm living with my parents. - mainly cos I don't want to announce pauper status right now.*

But in the middle of all this, I'm happy. The wiser men are still figuring out how that is possible.

***

Yesterday, I went to a friend's home. The last time I was there was some 5 years ago. So, as you can guess, I had a hard time remembering the way. All I knew was the colour of his house and the last turn I had to make before I reached there. This was a journey where you know the destination by how it'll be rather than by a name. Fortunately, I didn't end up knocking on a stranger's door.

But the strange part of the journey was reaching that junction, making that turn, trying to see if that is the correct way to the intended place. You feel your heartbeat revving up, making a significant higher amount of 'dap-dap'. It's a great feeling to have, and one I hope I'll have soon in the journey of Life.

***

I don't know how to say this subtly, so I'm going to put it out there bluntly - it was my birthday yesterday. A quarter of  a century has been spent by yours truly - wallowing in the sorrows, grovelling in the challenges, embracing the victories and pretty much receiving with open arms whatever the world has thrown at me.

When I passed out from college, I had a strong idea of how, what, where I would be at this point in my life. I was supposed to figure out the intricacies of life by now. I was supposed to be doing what I loved. I was supposed to have finally got rid of the 'single' status. I was supposed to be heading into the late 20's era of my life with the confidence of a man, who had it all laid bare in front of him.

But, in reality, at this point of time, none of those have come to fruition. I've had plenty of missed chances and wasted opportunities to reach there, but due to my own contorted convictions and error-ridden judgements, I've had to let them pass by.

And now, I stand here, right now, as confused I was four years ago. The only difference being I know what I want in my life. Like the journey I made to my friend's house, I now know what the place I want to end up at looks like. Even though I'm still working out how to get there, I'm confident of being able to identify it when I pass by it.

And so, here I am. On the journey of life, straining away from the way fate was leading me, forcing myself onto new territories and challenges. This is a direction I wouldn't even have followed in my darkest nightmares a year before.

I took a lot of detours, I was held up at a lot of places, but I'm on the path again - to reach the place I was supposed to have reached by now. Better late than never, I guess.

***

Thank you!!

Well, that's it for this week.

You all have a great weekend.

'til next week.

*exaggerated for effect.

Drawing blanks (5 things - Week 38)

I'm preparing to write about yours truly turning in a quarter century in this world next week.

I'm planning to do a recap of the major things which happened to me over this year as the first post of next year.

I'm going to write the post I missed in this series in early October due to jaundice [post no.27] as a Gandhiji special at the end of next month, when we'll be mourning the 64th year of his passing away.

But I've absolutely no idea as to what I'm going to write today. Such is the irony of the situation.

I tried to write about Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma, the late head of the royal family of Travancore, who passed away on Monday. I tried to write about the various types of cremation techniques used around the world. I tried to think about anything that I could write here, and all I could do was nothing, but to draw blanks everywhere.

That is just what I've. WRITER'S BLOCK. And the best thing about writer's block is that it gives you the freedom to break through your inhibitions and use it as an excuse to write about the crazy, unrelated stuff you've always wanted. And before I end up like the unfortunate blogger in the following picture, here's the round up for this week.

A FEW FACEBOOK PAGES YOU SHOULD CONSIDER LIKING

1. CALVIN AND HOBBES

It is said that you have to as naive as a child to believe the crazy stuff. That is just what Calvin brings to you. A cartoon strip everyday that makes you wonder at the unbridled imagination that this 4 foot genius possesses.

2. Emma Watson

We all remember the cute, little gal we met some ten years ago. Well, now she is all grown up. And my does she look fetching.

3. Chandler Bing's Sarcasm and Joey Tribbiani's Dumbness

If you have watched FRIENDS, you would know what I mean. If you haven't watched FRIENDS, you wouldn't - as simple as that.

4. ROFLindia

LAUGH. Like I had said in the mid weekly post,

LAUGH if it's funny,

LAUGH because it's healthy.

LAUGH if it's ridiculous,

LAUGH because it's infectious.

And this page gives you enough to laugh about.

5. GOD

I saved the best for last. GOD is there on facebook, and he's awesome. GOD hears what we have to say, replies to some of us, and generally puts up posts that tickle your funny bone, while working your gray cells.

***

Well, that's it for this week.

You all have a great weekend.

'til next week.

LAUGH

LAUGH if it's funny,

LAUGH because it's healthy.

LAUGH if it's ridiculous,

LAUGH because it's infectious.

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Thank You (5 things - Week 37)

By the time I push the publish button for this post, I'll be waiting to board my flight back home. It has been a journey of three and a half years in the making. In this long trudge we call Life, these 40 odd months might look like nothing more than a short detour. But it was worth it.

I thought of going in deep about my experience here. But the more I dwell on the memories that have been made here, the more I feel like I'm leaving something significant behind. So, I'm going to keep it short. I'll just point out what I've gained because I came here.

***

1. It might seem confusing, but I learnt more about Kerala by coming over here.

I've never been able to enjoy the wide spectrum of people in Kerala because I lived in the south part of it for most of my life, and most of my close friends were from my area itself. After coming here, I've been in the company of a variety of individuals, from almost every district in my little state. And with a lot of help from them, I got to know the various slang of Malayalam language, the different delicacies that you get at the other places, the difference in behaviour and customs and a lot more.

To put it in a nutshell, I'm going to visit every place that they have told me about in the past three years, because I've fallen more in love with Kerala after coming here.

2. I understood that the stereotyping occurs both ways. 

I've seen enough films in Hindi as well as in Malayalam to know the stereotyping that occurs across the language barrier. To tell the truth, the way south Indians are depicted in Hindi movies, and the way north Indians are depicted in the southern film industries are pathetic. These characters are used as tools for producing 'funny' situations, which are clichéd and baseless.

What I understood after coming here is that in spite of all this, a large contingent of the people here know that we south Indians are more than idli, sambhar, dhoti and a moustache. And I was pleasantly surprised to find that the people here are open, big hearted, kind and wonderful.

3. Life in a METRO is something you've to experience by living in it.

I've been to metro cities before. I've seen the exotic cars, the uber cool people and the horizon full of high rises. But it is a lot more than that. I don't know how to put that in words. Like I said, you've to live in a metro to experience how fantastic it is.

4. I learnt that the weather can be both too hot or too cold.

Coming from a temperate region, the only 'too much' that I had to experience in terms of weather was rain. Delhi broke through the barriers of the highest and lowest temperatures that I've experienced. I've been made terribly uncomfortable by the weather - at 50 deg Celsius as well as at 1 deg Celsius. Even though much worse conditions exist elsewhere in this world, this experience will help me, if there is ever a need for me to be at such a place.

5. I am writing this post.

I've said it many times before, and I'll say it yet again. Thank you Mahavir. I hope he's having a good time in Seoul, in spite of the snow and the cold. It was due to him that I posted something here in March, after a gap of some months - and that was about the cultural shock that I experienced when I came over here. It was due to that post that I decided to write weekly. And so I thank him for pushing me on to this writing spree.

***

So, to wrap it up, for what might be my last post to be published from Delhi for a long time, I would like to say Thank you.

To all you awesome people I had the good fortune to meet here.

To all the wonderful memories that we have made.

To all the highs and the lows,

To all the opportunities and the disappointments

To all the Momo-walas, and the dhaba-walas,

To all the KFCs, McDs and Dominos,

To the Pallika bazaar and the Select City Walk Mall,

To all the gorgeous ladies who had come into my ken.

I say Thank you. Cos you've made the past three years one of the most memorable periods in my life.

Well, that's it for this week.

You all have a great weekend.

'til next week.

Winning the Lottery (5 things - Week 36)

After a gap of nearly 5 years, I put pen to paper, rather finger to keyboard, to churn out a poem - "On his last game".

It was inspired by the unbelievable events at my last game of football. Even I was ridiculously surprised by the fact that I hit four goals. And yes - I chose to neglect the fact that I'll look like some egoistic, self appraising prick for saying that out loud. But like I said, ridiculously surprised. Forget four goals in a single game, I'm pretty sure that I haven't scored that many in an year. Hitting four goals was like winning the lottery for me.

And I am thankful to all those involved in that game for letting me do so at my last game.

Speaking of lotteries and stuff, I was surprised to receive a letter from the Reader's Digest this week, saying that I have been nominated for their annual Sweepstakes, worth to the tune of Rs.50 lakhs. All I had done to get this opportunity was to register at their site at some point in the past; and all I had to do to go further in the Sweepstakes was to reply to this mail at the earliest. And I did just that.

So, as it is, I stand a chance to win up to 50,00,000 rupees in cash. And that spurred me on to think as to what I would do if I won this lottery; or any lottery for that matter.

One day, those are going to be my hands holding the large pile of cash!!

If I win the lottery, I would resign from my job, go back to my home in Thiruvananthapuram, put my feet up on the table, switch on the TV and laze my life around. Since I'm already on course to do that from next week, that too without winning the lottery, I thought of what else I would do.

1. I won't tell anyone I won the lottery.

Why you may ask. It is partly because I don't want people to see me any differently, making me act any different than I do now. It is partly because I'm sure I'll be asked to give treats. It is mainly because I don't do well under scrutiny of the public's eye. It makes me act awkward.

2. I guess it's implied that I won't be giving out any treats/donations.

Like I said before, no treats will be my mantra if I ever win the lottery. I already have given/give a lot of treats without winning it. I don't want to go on doing that for a silly thing like winning a lottery.

And if you won't pray for me to win the lottery without getting a promise of a treat in return, then well, I'm okay with it.

3. I'll resist the temptation to build a huge tower, and fill it with gold coins, so that I can go swimming in it.

Those who have had watched Duck Tales will know what I'm talking about.

This is what I'm talking about!!!

But I won't do that. It is a silly, immature way to flaunt your wealth. And at the rate that Gold sells now, I don't expect my lottery money to buy more than a few hundred coins.

4. I would donate 10% of the interest I get to charity every month.

As I have planned it as of now, I would put 35 lakhs in Fixed Deposit, and the rest 15 lakhs in a normal account. I guess I would earn about Rs.30,000 per month from them. That is more than enough for someone living in my hometown, Thiruvananthapuram. And I'll donate 10% of it, about Rs.3000 to charity every month.

This is not because I'm a humanitarian, but because I don't want to feel guilty. If, at all, there is a process, at some point in time, of adding points for your good deeds, and subtracting points for your bad deeds, I want to make sure that I'm closer to zero.

5. I'll still try to get a job.

Just because I have cash in bank doesn't mean that I'm gonna live my entire life off of it. It was by a stroke of luck/fate/destiny that I got that cash. I could easily lose it again. So, I'll get a job, I'll work my ass off, take all the due plaudits and recognition with pride, and sleep every night a content man.

***

I had also come across this article in quora.com. It was about this guy, who made a fortune with a venture he made by sellling it off to a big MNC, but decided not to flaunt his wealth. He moved to another city, got a normal job and a normal life. In case you want to know how to be wealthy and NOT SHOW OFF, check out his post at

http://www.quora.com/Wealthy-People-and-Families/What-is-it-like-to-be-discreetly-wealthy

***

Well, that's it for this week. Monday'll be my last day at my first job. It's getting weird and confusing and frightening and confusing. I think I said confused before. I think I should just go lie down, thinking about the lottery that I'm gonna win.

You all have a great weekend.

'til next week.

On his last game

With two rolls of bandage on his bad ankle,
And one on the other just to be sure;
With a prayer to avoid another bad tackle,
And one to reduce the pressure.

He steps onto the field, one last time,
Not knowing how well it'll turn out, or how bad;
If his touches are to be crass or sublime,
He knows not, but he vowed to give the best he had.

A single floodlight lit the park with its beam,
Though with more shadows than he would like;
He counted three more on his team,
And four on the other, ready to strike.

There were no referees, no whistles,
No boundaries, no fixed goalies;
These men intent on their battles,
But would forgive him his follies.

After his injury, they knew what this meant to him,
This wasn't just a kick about, but his retribution;
Doc said play again and invite consequences grim,
But here he was, once more before his resignation.

After the formality of a kickoff,
Both teams scored one;
Everyone was getting picked off,
More than him, none.

And then the ball fell to him in the middle,
His roaming eyes fell on a teammate, far wide;
And like a thread through the needle,
He sent the ball to his mate, to his feet precise.

When, with a sumptuous volley, his mate finished,
He knew in his heart it was just the beginning;
And as he moved forward, his fears banished.
The opposition knew, it was going to be a long evening.

One off his heel,
One on the volley,
One after cutting across,
One just toe poked in.

Four beautiful goals really made his day,
It was nothing but a strong display;
If he had to say goodbye, this was his way,
Playing his heart out, come what may.

***

Epilogue

They don't know when he played his first match,
No record books shall note when he played his last;
His history and his fame is all within himself,
But he feels proud and happy, just to have played the game itself.

The Impossible Machines (5 things - Week 35)

I'm a subscriber to the "A Word A Day (AWAD)". What the people at AWAD do is that they send you a word everyday. Just over the past three weeks, I found that there are words like mien, smellfungus, schnozzle and bumbledom. They have been trying hard to increase my vocabulary since 8th September 2007. That's more than six years.

But I've to be honest with you. More than learning new words, their meaning(s) and their usage; what I like most about these words are their etymology - their origins. I love reading about the history of such words, and I usually delve more into it than into the word itself. And that brings us to the mail I received from AWAD this last Thursday, 28.11.2013.

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

Rube Goldberg

PRONUNCIATION:

(roob GOLD-buhrg) 

MEANING:

adjective: Absurdly complex or impractical.

ETYMOLOGY:

After cartoonist Rube Goldberg (1883-1970) who was known for his intricate drawings showing fantastically impractical contraptions to accomplish simple jobs. Earliest documented use: 1928.

****

Rube Goldberg was, like was the norm in those days, a sculptor, an engineer, a cartoonist, an author and a cartoonist. The word "Rube Goldberg" is an eponym for the cartoonist Rube Goldberd, who used to visualize impossible contraptions for carrying out menial tasks through his cartoons.

Most of his machines are the kind of stuff we used to watch Tom and Wily Coyte use in their devious plans to capture Jerry and Roadrunner respectively. Mousetraps being actuated, birds going after crackers, strings being pulled, balls rolling for ages before hitting something, dominoes falling on top of each other, balloons rising up, weights getting shifted and what not.

It must have been great fun for him to devise these ingenious ways. And we can do nothing, but stand enraptured in front of these machines, appreciating the mind behind their preposterous nature.

And this week, we are going through five such "Impossible Machines" that this great man had envisioned.

***

open the image in a new tab in case you aren't able to understand properly

1. The Napkin*

So, you are eating soup and you are repeatedly getting your overgrown moustache dipped in the spoon. What do you do? Cut your 'tash?? GOD FORBID!!

You use "The Napkin". Find out how it works in this following illustration.

2. The Parachute*

I guess the following machine was necessitated by the invention of airplanes. So, in case you  ever in a doomed airplane, or simply falling off a cliff, be sure to use this simple device to keep you airborne, until you can reach land safely.

3. The Mouse Trap*

Too bad that we paid Rs.500 tthose pest control guys last week. We could have used this quickfire method to get rid of the four pawed beasts from our flat.

4. The Alarm Clock*

It's the winter. It's getting cold. The buzzer alarms and phone alarms are being rendered useless thanks to our wish to not get out of the bed. With the "Snooze" option being the biggest hurdle we have to get through, I think this contraption should ensure that we are woken up everyday in time. If a combination of a cannon ball and ice cold water can't get you to wake up, I don't know what will.

5. The Toothpaste Dispenser*

In the half awake/drowsy state after getting up, if you have trouble getting toothpaste out of its tube, then you must definitely try using the following device.

***

Now, I know I said that all these are impossible machines. But if you look at the intention behind these inventions, you'll notice that it is for reducing amount of effort that man has to make in performing menial tasks. And that must be the reason why people actually tried to execute these crazy schemes.

Here is the video of a device called 'The Page Turner'. Never mind the fact that it takes almost two minutes for this device which shall work once, if it works at all. This is a work of pure genius.

View and enjoy!!!

This is all but just one example. For more videos, go to

http://coolmaterial.com/roundup/rube-goldberg-machines/

***

And to end this post, I've the word they sent me today. Even though I'm pretty sure that I won't use the word "blimp" at any place (other than this sentence), I'm all the more amused at the character from whose name this word has been derived.

***

There was an attempt to explore the effects of being too reliant on the modern intelligence enabled devices in the midweek post "Duh!!". So, you can go ahead and read it, if you haven't already.

And that's all for this week. Don't forget to rate this blog at the bottom of this post.

You guys and gals have a great weekend!!

'til next week.

*No birds or animals were ever harmed in the working of these inventions. Well, maybe a few mice were sent to moon, but that's all.

Duh!!

I'm going to be the umpteenth person to voice his opinion on this topic. But since you are already here to read, and since I've already started to write, why not go ahead and discuss "Artifical Intelligence".

But don't worry. I'm not going to bore you with a technical discourse on fuzzy logic, control theory and mathematical modelling - because I'm confident of my abilities to bore you without resorting to technical stuff. :P

As with almost all of the topics that are covered here, this too came out of a situation that stumped me at first. We were watching TV the other night, when the show we were watching introduced this actress as the special guest for the day.

She had acted only in a few Malayalam films till now, but what made her popular was this show on the channel "Mazhavil Manorama". Like I said, no one was able to remember the name of that show. By instinct, my hand went to unlock the screen of my smartphone, so that I could google my answer. It was at this point that a friend of mine asked me a disturbingly valid question,

"What is the need for googling all the answers? We used to watch that show every week. Can't we at least try and remember it by ourselves?"

I couldn't find any plausible reason to not do what he said. And that thought process is what spawned this post. With the plethora of intelligence enabled devices available to us, it is no surprise that we are being slowly converted into their slaves. The usage of Artificial intelligence is harming the natural one.

With the advent of affordable smartphones and inexpensive mobile internet, information about the world is literally at everyone's fingertips. So, if I had to find a word to describe the mobile internet as "cheap" in the last sentence, all I had to do was to google "cheap synonym", so that I'll get to know that "inexpensive" can be used in its place. If I had opted not to access that portal, I would have had to spend a significant amount of time thinking about it.

But, the fact that you can successfully search for an answer in your smartphone prohibits you from using your own intellect. The mind of humans are like light in that respect - always going for the shortest path. And knowing that the chance of finding the answer on the web is 100%, makes it an all too enticing option to pass on.

When I was introduced officially to a calculator in my eleventh grade, my father told me that it was a bad idea. I had to use a calculator as I had to tackle bigger "problems" in lesser time. But my father was right in saying that it'll diminish my own calculating capabilities. The more I leaned on using calculators, the more I found it hard to calculate simple arithmetic operations by myself.

It's in plain sight, to anyone willing to observe, that using such devices makes us dumber. But I am not going to go around advocating a ban on the usage of smartphones. Let me give you an example of why it is good too.

This happened when we were watching a Tamil movie on TV - "Mankatha". There was song sequence, where the protagonists were driving around in the vehicle shown above. I liked that van very much, and said so too. A friend of mine had this to say to that,

"That is the Volkswagen Camper. It is one of their more famous brands. Now, only one factory produces it in the whole world - in Brazil. This is because Camper doesn't meet the safety regulations imposed by many countries. The Brazil factory will also stop production by the end of this year."

Now, at first, everyone was amused to find him giving so many "facts" about a scene we saw for about five seconds. I, being me, challenged him to prove that he was right. I said, "I'll believe everything you say from now on, if all of this is true?"

A quick google search ended up with me accepting defeat. He was right about the Volkswagen Camper.

So this tool can be used to verify facts. But it can do more than that. It can help us learn new facts. This friend of mine was similarly attracted to the vehicle when he saw it at first. So he did a google search and learnt more about it.

And with the advent of affordable smartphones and inexpensive mobile internet, information about the world is literally at everyone's fingertips. You can learn as much as you want.

***

And to come back to that actress and that show. Ten minutes after I had laid down to sleep that night, I had my EUREKA!! moment. I flew down the stairs and into the room of my friend who had inspired me to find the answer by myself. And I said, "Marimayam. It's Marimayam."

And then I danced around the room like a kid who was promised a toffee if he could add 2 and 2 correctly.

I could leave you with that image in your mind. But I ain't that cruel. I'll bid adieu with this quote.

"I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots." - Albert Einstein

Leap of Faith (5 things - Week 34)

We are in the best years of our lives right now. The years between the ages of 20-30 (give or take a few years at the boundaries) has to be the only time in our entire life, when our mind is willingly open to any, all ideas; and our body is right now rugged enough to handle the implications of trying out those crazy ideas.

If you ask me what is the latest crazy idea I've gone ahead with, I would say it was resigning from my job two weeks ago. Not just a job, but the job I've put three of my best years into, so that I can make a career of it. And I was finally beginning to get the rewards that were due to me at work.

I have the confidence of my seniors; I am being handsomely compensated financially for my efforts; I know the place and its workings inside out, so that I can confidently walk in their with my head held high. I had made the safe, secure and successful career that I had set out to, when I came to this city 40 months ago.

Through all this, I was successfully carrying out the motto of being "Better safe than sorry" - something which I was taught from a very early age. To say that I was always afraid to take a risk would be putting it mildly. People who have played any kind of game with me would know that even though I can be competitive, I would never take a risk that I feel is unnecessary.

But then comes a moment in your life, when you have to question even the basic foundations on which it is built. And so, due to one unforeseen circumstance which I had rather not discuss here, I found myself at a cross road. I had to choose between my career and my personal satisfaction. I could keep continuing like I've been doing till now - trying to further my career. It would have been enormously easy to do so.

But now, I'm re-thinking my life in terms of what I want from it, rather than what I'm supposed to get out of it. Society has this habit of letting you know that you are not following the conventional path. It sends out its doomsayers to remind you that you'll end up a failure - that whatever you have done in your life till now will be wasted because you are going to do what it says you shouldn't do. They don't say that, maybe, just maybe, that you are right - that what you've been doing till now was wasting your life, and this decision might make you better.

Now, I'm re-thinking my life. I've had enough of being safe and being in my comfort zone. I'm ready to make decisions that seem plain stupid - heck, they might actually be stupid. I'm willing to put myself and my new found ideas and ideals against the objections of society. I fear no one, but myself. Because the moment I regret my decision, I would lose this battle.

This decision to resign was partly forced upon me by circumstances, but being the eternal optimist that I am, I have found the silver lining in these dark clouds. I am being more spontaneous that I've ever been - making up plans as I go along.

But I can't see where these plans would lead me to in the future. Society has defined a meaning for the word 'successful'. I know pretty well that my probability of being 'successful' in those terms are very low now after this decision.

But I'll happier. No matter what happens, I'll be content with the fact that I bought this onto myself. I'll be safe in the knowledge that it was not an act of destiny or fate, but an act of man - a whimsical act. An act which currently has opened up a world of possibilities to him.

My predecessors have termed such acts as taking the 'leap of faith'. It takes a lot of energy, courage and convincing to make the leap. But once you are in the air, you'll know that taking the leap was the easy part. The hard part is to land safely.

***

I hope that you noticed that I changed the title sequence again. This series has gone from "5 things I learned this week" to "5 things for this week" to just "<Title of blog> (5 things - Week <no>)". Don't ask me why. I haven't thought it through.

Anyways, as for the five things for this week, we'll have a few songs that are currently at the top of my playlist. They are all English. So if you are not into hearing them, sorry. But give it a try. There are a lot of things to enjoy in these musics - the music itself, the voice, the lyrics, the video, the artists. ;)

So, here we go.

1. "Time of your life" - Greenday

2. Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows - Lesley Gore

3. "Good Life" - One Republic

4. "Wake me up" - Avicii

5. "Counting stars" - One Republic

In the last song, there is a line which holds true for me now.

"....Said no more counting dollars

We'll be, we'll be counting stars..."

***

In other news, I finally got to writing out my mind weekly post. "Right next to her". I think you can guess what happens in that, but do read it if you haven't.

And that's all for this week. Don't forget to rate this blog at the bottom of this post.

You guys and gals have a great weekend!!

'til next week.

Right next to her

It must be the effect of watching all those movies, that the first thing I do when I go on a journey alone is to check who my neighbour is - my neighbour as in the person with whom I'm to spent the next few hours with. And everytime, I would wish that the said person would be of the female variety, of an appropriate age, so that I can work my "flirting" skills on her.

In the past three years, the only place I had to go to was home, and since it is quite far away, I had to use the air transport to get there. And in flights, you are placed in a row of 6, split in the middle by an aisle- like you would find in any normal bus. But alas, I had the worst luck in flights, when it came to having a neighbour of my preference. Let me give you an instance depicting my luck in one such journey.

I had been given the middle seat in row 10. As I approached what would be that row, I viewed in disbelief the two women (of European descent!!!) sitting on both sides of that seat. I was so convinced of my bad luck, that I went ahead and sat in the row behind them, thinking that there is no way they were sitting in row 10. After five minutes, the real occupant of the middle seat in row 11 came and evicted me from that seat. And as you can expect, I went and sat in the middle seat of row 10, in between two gorgeous ladies. I couldn't believe my luck.

And by the time, I started believing in my luck, we had landed.

You see, in the 25 odd flights that I've taken  in a period of 3 years, I never ever had the company of a lady. That's the reason why I had so much trouble in believing my good luck

The only other instance of such a situation was when I was on my way back here to Delhi two weeks before. I was waiting in line to check in at the airport, when my ken fell on this beautiful entity. Without speaking a word, heck without even sharing a glance, I knew she had it. She wouldn't make many heads turn, but she had this character that I love in a woman. And at that moment, there was only one wish in my heart.

"God!! Please let her sit right next to me."

And an hour after I started making that wish, you would find me entering the aircraft, making my way to the window seat in row 12. But this time, my eyes were not scanning for the seat numbers, but for her. And I saw her seated at the middle seat, right about at the place where row 12 should be. I couldn't believe my luck, and thanked GOD for doing this for me.

I reached row 12, I kept my bag in the overhead cabin, went past my neighbour in the middle seat, and placed myself in the window seat - with a big frown on my face.

She was in row 11. And by the time the flight took off, she moved to the window seat in that row - right in front of me.

I guess, I should have been more explicit in my prayer. The one above and the lady luck had used the loophole in my earlier prayer to place me right next to her, without actually giving any chance of making contact. I should have wished, "God!! Please let her sit right next to me, in the same row."

Considering that, in that prayer, he could place us in the same row at the seats either side of the aisle, I should have been more specific.

"GOD!! Please let me sit in Seat 12A and she in 12B in the flight no. 6E-316."

I'm pretty sure that, with my luck, there could be a loophole in that statement too.

The last I saw of her was she walking away with the trolley bag, into the night in this capital city. I don't know her name, I don't remember her face; but more importantly, and most probably, she doesn't even know that I exist.

5 things for this week (Part 33)

So, someone among you gave me a 'wtf' rating for the last post. Considering that it was regarding the Indian Space program and its unseen effects on the world, I was expecting only the 'interesting' ratings, like I got for the post no.31.

But I can't blame you. I knew perfectly well that I was only copy pasting the actual letter written by Mr.Ernst. I knew that the most effort that I had to make was splitting that letter into five points. To make up for my laziness in the previous week, I'm coming up with a personal post for this week. You can't say that this has been plagiarized, because no one has yet taken the effort to etch these memories in written words.

I've this friend of mine. He's a pretty decent guy, with a good job, a great life, a wonderful girlfriend and a decent control over the English language. But he has this knack of getting his 'English' all wrong once he is under the influence of alcohol. The following five goof ups are part of some his real life incidents, which mostly happened while he was under the influence of alcohol.

Let's give this friend of mine a bogus name for our convenience. We shall call him, Peter. If it weren't for the drinks Peter had, our gang would have been left short of these wonderful memories. So, here's to his good health.

And I do hope he doesn't do that thing he said he would do if I posted these things here.

So, with that prayer, shall we begin??

Did you know...

1. ...that Peter asked someone why that person was being sad?

Once, during a weekend gettogether, Peter saw this other friend of ours, sitting all alone, in a corner, looking sad. Being the compassionate being that he is, Peter inquired why the friend was being so sad. But his choice of words to express the same were poor.

"Why are you being a SADIST?"

Enough to say, that was enough to lift the spirits of the friend who was being sad.

*There has also been reports, or rather rumors that Peter called Michael Schumacher a RACIST. We all know what he meant though, right?

2. ...that Peter claims that a bookmark is useless thing?

Again, at another weekend gettogether, Peter stumbled upon a book that a friend of his was reading. He saw that there was some colorful thing in between the pages. Peter asked his friend what it was called. The friend informed him that it was called a bookmark. Peter was seeing a bookmark for the first time. Peter then looked at the book, then at the bookmark, then at the book again, and commented to his friend,

"This thing is useless. This BOOKMARK has left no mark in the book."

3. ...that Peter loves "orthodox" drinks?

The weekend gettogethers that I've been talking about are the hub of all kinds of discussion on a variety of topics - from the philosophically significant to the absolutely preposterous. Once we were talking about the religion of Christianity - the teachings, the different sects, etc etc.

Peter was telling us about his experiences on being an orthodox christian. At this time, another friend of ours showed up, with a bottle of whiskey. The pegs were drawn for each interested individual. Someone was mixing the same with water/soft drink. As soon as he got to Peter's glass, Peter picked his glass up and said,

"NO!! No water for me. Just ice. I love ORTHODOX drinks."

*he meant "on the rocks", which means the alcohol is served undiluted, with ice cubes in it.

4. ...that Peter would like to have a mobile with ups?

During another weekend gettogether, Peter was asked if he would pick up a car from Delhi, and drive it down to Gurgaon the next day. Peter was asking for someone to co-pilot with him, but no one was available for the same. Being the maze that the roads in Delhi are, Peter was afraid of getting lost while driving back alone. So, he made a simple enough request to perform the task,

"I'll drive back alone from Delhi to Gurgaon. But someone should give me a mobile phone with UPS so that I can know my way back. My phone doesn't have that feature."

5. ...that the metro entry gate didn't read his wallet?

For a change, let me tell you something which happened when he was sober. This happened at a metro station.

As you would likely see if you were to observe closely, most people walk up to the metro entry gate, and swipe his/her wallet over it, and the gate would open by itself. We were a group of five. Four of us did the above trick, and got to the other side, but were surprised to see that Peter hadn't joined us.

Peter was getting irritated by the machine which wouldn't let him enter, no matter how many times he tried to swipe his wallet on it.

What Peter didn't know was that we all had our metro travel cards in our wallet, and it was those cards, which opened the gates for us.

Peter was thinking that the machine worked by reading the ATM card, and deducting money from it directly. Being a newbie in a ultramodern metro city, Peter was oblivious of the way things worked over here.

***

I know I've been withholding on my mid weekly posts for over two months now - mostly because of the state of my health. I know that this "5 things" series is going bland. I try to bring you something new every week, but it is a bit hard to do so at a consistently high standard. But I will post it every week, even if I know what I'm writing is crap, cos the basic target of this series is to make me write regularly.

Being back to better health, I've a 2 part series lined up for you. Hopefully, you'll have read them by this time next week.

So, till then, good bye.
Have a great weekend!!

5 things for this week (Part 32)

The state of my health, both physical and mental, is questionable at best. With our maid picking up Dengue, we are deprived of her culinary services for the next few weeks. The effort you've to expend to cook food is multiplied exponentially by the decrease in the atmospheric temperature from it's normally acceptable levels. As Delhi is set to have an early winter, with it becoming noticeably cold since last week, we are left with the herculean task of preparing our own food, braving cold water from the pipes, and even colder draughts from the elsewhere.

Well, that about sums up the week for me. I know. Pretty boring, right?

Not for our nation though. It was a huge week for India. No. I'm not talking about Sachin's last international performance (yet!!), but about Mangalyaan - India's first mission to Mars. With over half of such ambitious missions in the past failing to achieve it's target (globally), the success of this venture will significantly increase the trust from other nations in our ISRO. It's a tantalizing prospect for them - both commercially as well as a symbol of national pride.

The project was done in less than 18 months at a cost about 250 crore rupees. One smart fellow calculated its cost per km as Rs.12, claiming that it's similar to what you've to pay for an auto ride in India. Smartasses and unconfirmed asset values aside, it begets a question. What good is such advancement for me?

Off the back of my mind, I can roll off  better communication facilities, the ability to forecast weather with more accuracy, the growth of TV and the Internet and all such modern things.

Okay. So the work of space age enthusiasts has been good for me. But what good would spending money on a mission to Mars to the hungry children of Africa?

This question was not from me, but from Sister Mary Jucunda, a nun who worked among the starving children of Kabwe, Zambia, in Africa in 1970s. She wrote a letter then, asking the same to Mr.Ernst Stuhlinger, Associate Director for Science, NASA. NASA was at that time working on a similar project to send a probe to MARS. Even though he used to get lots of such mails, he replied to her, considering her line of work. That reply is now a legend. In that reply, he elucidates on the need for space exploration, and why it'll be good for those hungry kids in Africa?

I'll be listing out five major points from his reply as the "5 things" for this week, which will give us a better idea of why space exploration is good for mankind.

And for those of you, who would like to read the letter in its entirety, do visit the link..

http://launiusr.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/why-explore-space-a-1970-letter-to-a-nun-in-africa/

So, let's begin the proceedings, shall we?

Did you know...

1. ...that the fund for space exploration is on a budget - meaning it has very specific, limited means of utilization?

The total budget of a nation is fixed. "This money goes to health, education, welfare, urban renewal, highways, transportation, foreign aid, defense, conservation, science, agriculture and many installations inside and outside the country." Only a small percent (~1%) is spent on the space program. "When the funds are finally appropriated by the Government after stringent screening, they can be spent only for the line items specified and approved in the budget" - that is only for space related missions, and not for giving out aid to poor countries. Moreover, the Government has its own fund to give out as an aid for other countries.

2. ...that space exploration can help in solving poverty issues?

"Basic to the hunger problem are two functions: the production of food and the distribution of food. Food production by agriculture, cattle ranching, ocean fishing and other large-scale operations is efficient in some parts of the world, but drastically deficient in many others. For example, large areas of land could be utilized far better if efficient methods of watershed control, fertilizer use, weather forecasting, fertility assessment, plantation programming, field selection, planting habits, timing of cultivation, crop survey and harvest planning were applied.

The best tool for the improvement of all these functions, undoubtedly, is the artificial Earth satellite."

3. ... that the space program helps in the stimulation of technological development?

"The requirements for high precision and for extreme reliability which must be imposed upon the components of a moon-travelling spacecraft are entirely unprecedented in the history of engineering. The development of systems which meet these severe requirements has provided us a unique opportunity to find new material and methods, to invent better technical systems, to manufacturing procedures, to lengthen the lifetimes of instruments, and even to discover new laws of nature.

All this newly acquired technical knowledge is also available for application to Earth-bound technologies."

4. ...that the space program helps in the generation of scientific knowledge?

"There is a continuing great need for new basic knowledge in the sciences if we wish to improve the conditions of human life on Earth. We need more knowledge in physics and chemistry, in biology and physiology, and very particularly in medicine to cope with all these problems which threaten man’s life: hunger, disease, contamination of food and water, pollution of the environment.

We need more young men and women who choose science as a career and we need better support for those scientists who have the talent and the determination to engage in fruitful research work. Challenging research objectives must be available, and sufficient support for research projects must be provided" - both of which are provided by the space program.

5. ...that Ernst Stuhlinger hoped that the space age would end war, and then, begin it all over again?

"How much human suffering can be avoided if nations, instead of competing with their bomb-dropping fleets of airplanes and rockets, compete with their moon-travelling space ships! This competition is full of promise for brilliant victories, but it leaves no room for the bitter fate of the vanquished, which breeds nothing but revenge and new wars."

He has explained in a few words how the world will first embrace space age for good, and how it might end up like it used to be.

***

Balaji Viswanathan. I don't exactly know who this guy is, but he has written very well about the same topic, but mainly covering the fact that the foreign press has been trying to belittle this huge milestone of the Indian Space Research Organization.

Read what he has to say at the following link...

http://balajiviswanathan.quora.com/Indian-Space-Mission-Poverty-and-Closet-Racism

***

Well, that's it from me for this week. Nothing much else to say.

Oh. Forgot one thing. I resigned.

More on that next week though.

Have a great weekend!!!

'til next week.