Generations (12/52)

YOLO - You Only Live Once - was a trend. By the lack of #yolo in social media updates, I guess it is safe for me to assume that the phase has passed. But just today, I was bombarded with not one, but two four letter acronyms.

FOMO - Fear Of Missing Out.

FOGO - Fear Of Going Out.

I fail to understand how my generation missed out on the acronym thing - I guess we were more concerned with omitting vowels from our words and erasing prepositions from our sentences. It was always the need of the hour to convey a higher amount of information at a lesser cost to available resources. That is the reason why our generation shortened "Where are you?" to "whr r u". And I'm pretty sure that the present generation have compressed it further to an acronym by now.

I showed the below picture to someone in the current generation and asked them to identify it. 

With no answers forthcoming, I introduced the Floppy Drive and told that it could hold all of 1.44Mb. The follow up question was unexpected, "What could it hold? Even a picture is of larger size."

It is for this reason that I believe my generation to be the bridge between the old and the new. We are old enough to know what a floppy disk is and how hard it was to use a dial up modem for internet, while at the same time, we are young enough to understand the concept of cloud computing. I first worked on a computer with a 256MB RAM, a 2GB Harddisk and a dial-up internet connection. Now, I own a phone with 8GB RAM, 128GB memory and with two 4G connections.

We know exactly how bad it was to appreciate how good it is now.

***

With all this talk about the Statue of Unity, I happened to find myself in an article, where Sardar Vallabhai Patel was talking about his good friend, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru as follows:

"...It was, therefore, in the fitness of things that in the twilight preceding the dawn of independence he should have been our leading light, and that when India was faced with crises after crises, following the achievement of our freedom, he should have been the upholder of our faith and the leader of our legions. No one knows better than myself how much he has laboured for his country in the last two years of our difficult existence. I’ve seen him age quickly during that period, on account of the worries of the high office that he holds and the tremendous responsibilities that he wields.

…As one older in years, it has been my privilege to tender advice to him on the manifold problems with which we have been faced in both administrative and organizational fields. I have always found him willing to seek and ready to take it. Contrary to the impression created by some interested persons and eagerly accepted in credulous circles, we have worked together as lifelong friends and colleagues, adjusting ourselves each other’s advice as only those who have confidence in each other can."

I wish we had amongst our current crop of politicians, someone capable of having an erudite discourse like above. And I'm pretty sure that the acronym loving present generation is never going to be so descriptive about their buddy - they would probably say something like "He is YOLO."

***

Someone replied to me with IFKR. Hence, the thread for this post.

Thank you (11/52)

Snip snap, snip snap, It's ringing clear,

Combing out, cutting through my month long harvest.

***

Every damn time. Every damn time that I get my hair cut, these two lines getting on in my head. The two lines above are the offspring of a misguided sense of rhyming and a purpose to achieve poetic excellence, inside the mind of a 12 year old me. With a tune of its own when it is sung in my head, I'm pretty sure that this is as close as it gets to the Smelly Cat song by Phoebe from Friends. Because I do remember my friends reading the lines and making a not-so-offended face. Some even complimented.

Speaking of compliments, Narender who was my hair stylist for the day, decided to shower me with some. "Sir, you have such good thick hair. Not so oily as the other people who come here." And if that wasn't enough, "But your face is oily, which gives you a tan. If you use a oil clear face wash, you will become fairer."

Now, let me be frank with you. I don't know how to handle compliments. Even at the most genuine of compliments, I respond with a weak smile, and a quick word to change the course of the subject. It probably has everything to do with my tendency to analyze everything from a critically pessimistic angle. If you still don't believe me, let me tell you that the first thought that went through my head when Ammu said "I love you" to me was "now what is she planning on gaining from this lie?"

I can accept compliments and the like, as long as they are backed up with verifiable facts and figures. For example, I am okay with the following compliments.

•  "Hari, you are really tall." - I am after all 6 foot plus.
• "You are skinny" - I am below my ideal body weight.
• "You act like a child." - Said right after I spent 10 minutes holding a phone high up in the air, so that a short person can't reach it.
• "You are good at football in FIFA." - I do have my fair share of victories off the pitch
• "You excel in Excel." - well, eight years of spreadsheets surely helped.

But at the same time, the following compliments make me queasy,

• "You are looking fairer/darker than the last time I met you." - from every relative I visit once in a blue moon.
• "You have gained weight since the last time I met you." - see above.
• "You look good in this dress." - This makes me question their sense of fashion. Because the first dress that I brought for myself had two tears through the middle with a red background. And I wore it because I thought it would be cool to look like you have been slashed across your chest by Wolverine

Coming back to Narender, I looked up and said "Thanks" with the sort of confidence I usually reply with when someone compliments my height - thanks to the fact that Ammu has been persistent enough in her endeavor to make me accept some of my better aspects. And I am able to say thanks a bit more openly, freely now.

***

You should say thanks too. To that person who cut you in the queue this past week, so that you coffee was delayed. To that car which stopped at the yellow signal, which meant that you had to wait for the signal to turn green. To that person who attended the interview with you, and got that job ahead of you, which is why you are at your present job. To that baby in the lift with you, who captured your attention for a full three seconds, so that you took the wrong turn on getting off the lift.

All these people made sure that you were late to arrive at where you are now. And wherever you are now is exactly where you are supposed to be at this moment in time. It could be intoxicatingly happy, mindnumbingly mundane, or exasperatingly sad - but whatever you have - health, wealth, happiness, time, family, friends, career, love, a clean conscience - it is because you went through the path you have.

So once again, please do thank those whom you thought acted against you.

Petrol, time and a question (10/52)

If the recent chats feel like an assortment of random strips of thoughts, please feel reassured that it's very much intentional. I'm unable to put my mind on any one subject long enough to gather a clear train of thought. I'm unable to add anything worthwhile to these public discussions, and hence I refrain from screaming into these online echo chambers. The topics of #metoo, Sabarimala and more will be discussed, but in due course.

Let's start for today, shall we?

***

Let's assume that there's this unique item in the world called One Of A Kind, OOAK in short. Let's also assume that a lot of economic jargon affects the price of OOAK, but it's controlled by the owner, Mr Z. What's more, let us assume that Mr Z has posted an Ad that he himself stars in, at the exit of every store selling OOAK. 

If Mr Z was expecting a positive feeling towards him, unfortunately, the placement of this Ad had an effect just the opposite of what was intended.

Now, let's assume that the price of OOAK has reached levels never seen before. And we all are finding it hard to accept the same. Every time we remove myself from the store after paying a high price, we are now reminded of just who is responsible.

In other news, there are rumors that Ads with our respected Prime Minister have been made mandatory at all petrol pumps.

***

Having to chose only two out of Time, Money and Friends is an age old adage. And recently, I'm feeling more in agreement with the same.

During the years between 2006-2010, when I was in college, I had a lot of time and a lot of friends, but a very limited amount of money. Yet, we made most of what we had.

Between 2012-2016, the early stage of my career, I had money and time, but lesser number of friends. Yet, we made most of what we had.

Since 2016, I have had money and friends, but time is now of the essence. For any sort of get together to take place, the sun, the moon, the stars and the whims of our bosses to grant us leave have to align perfectly.

But like before, we are to make the most of what we have.

***

Now for helping me sort out my thoughts on the Sabarimala topic, I hope someone can help me with this doubt I am having. It is said that entry of women to Sabarimala was restricted because Swami Ayyappan wants to remain celibate. If that is the case, how are women allowed in all the other temples where they have the Ayyapa Idol. I know temples where the main deity is Ayyapan and where no such restrictions exists. Aren't all the rules supposed to be applied the same everywhere??

Nokia, Sony and Open Mics (9/52)

321<pause>177774447770222<pause>26331222666<pause>6330333277778

 

If you haven't linked the picture with the code yet, it translates to

"Da.. Sir came. Come fast"

Nokia 1100 and its peers were instrumental in fabricating the pioneers in under the table texting. But only people of a certain age will remember them. And yes, I'm old enough to be in that category.

 

Coming from that age, and looking over the current crop of people, I find them to have it easy. They have a whole keyboard to type and a HUGE screen to read from; they can swipe over the letters to make words; they can write the words on screen for the system to type out. The options are many. And this leads us to the lazy ones who have it easy - those who would rather record their voice and press send.

The intention of the chat was not to point fingers, but I'm talking to YOU - you know who you are, and you better not be sending me voice clips again.

***

In other news, I finally brought a PlayStation4 - after half a decade of "Should I or Shouldn't I?". The pointer was pushed onto the BUY side as a result of the sale going on at Amazon, where I got around 10k reduction in the price. Now, as per the history of my luck, they would launch the new version of PlayStation next month. At least that is what has happened with all of my phone purchases till date.

And yes, the rumours are true. I'm using the PlayStation to stream videos on Amazon Prime. But only when I'm taking a food break from playing FIFA - which is a marvel for me. I made the jump from FIFA 13 to FIFA 18 and got to witness what all has changed in one go. And it is a weird feeling to have a legitimate game in your house.

***

Before we wind up for the day, I would like to inform you of something. We had ventured inside a vegetarian restaurant the last Sunday (not this Sunday), and were treated to an unexpected "Open Mic". Unexpected only for us, as they had planned this out. We went into have coffee and vada, and were treated to a good hour of StandUp - which somehow put the idea in my head that I should do it.

I have been told that my online personality is a much better person than me in real life - mostly because you can't get my online self to shut up. If I'm able to channel the same to the real life, I will have something to work with. And instead of having to come up with bits, I'm planning to use my personal brand of self depreciation and life experiences to tickle the funny bone. I even have my opening bit sorted out.

***

"Do you know which kind of babies are weird? The ones who just won't smile at you. You can make all the stupid faces in the world, and they would just keep starring at you unimpressed. I have a nephew like that. And I'm sure what he would go on to become, when he grows up. He will be the one coming to Open Mics like this, to keep starring at the comedian like all of you."

Hopefully, cue laughter. Let me know.

Be Myself (8/52)

"We are two normal people in a normal relationship. There is nothing extraordinary about us. We need to work extra hard to make things special."

I don't remember where I heard that from last week, but it has been resonating in my head for long enough to be the beginning of our conversation today. And it made me want to talk about marriage.

It is really disheartening that the subject of post-marriage relationship is not put under more scrutiny in the mainstream media. Obviously that was bound to happen, with it being the less glamorous cousin of whatever comes before the marriage. It is a sketchy subject to talk about, because any and all ambiguity will be construed to be a reflection of the author's own dilemma.

The first and most important marriage advice that I have received till date is as follows.

"Marriage is always a negotiation. Everything will have to discussed and resolved. From the level of sugar in tea to the speed of the fan in the bedroom. Everything."

And with such levels of negotiation, it is imperative that changes happen in our behavior. If any of my friends are meeting me after a gap of three years or so, they would be surprised to see how much I've changed - not for good or for bad, but for my better half. And she has done the same for me.

But why would you go to the extend of changing two decades of your habit for another person's comfort? Because they are willing to let you be the person whom you thought you never could be. We all grow up with strict instructions on widely accepted norms on behavior and thoughts. We refrain ourselves from expressing ourselves as we want to, for the sake of not having to explain to your family, to the society.

But with Ammu, I can be myself finally. I don't have to hide my thoughts and behaviors, because she would not judge me. I can be weak or strong; vulnerable or domineering; sulk or be spontaneous - it doesn't matter as long as I'm honest with her. And it is not a one way street - she does the same too.

And we find this to be highly liberating. To be able to express yourself without any inhibition is a bliss in itself, and I hope we all can feel the same at some point in life.

***

LAZY AS....PART 2 (7/52)

Why is that one of the many, myriad things which irritate me is when people fail to comprehend something the way I do? And why does the same always surprise me? Is it not a fairly common phenomenon? Or is it because of my inability to wrap my mind around the concept that different people have different views?

At some point of time, have you ever felt happy for someone else, while being sad for yourself? Or have you felt happy for yourself, but sad for someone else? Have you not wished that there would be a single word these?

Are you now wondering why I am on this particular rant? Aren't you a little miffed that it took me 12 days to get back to you after the last time we talked? Or am I being presumptuous in my evaluation of your feelings? Should I bring you a box of tissues?

Will it be enlightening to know that this is the result of one person making fun of my all question chat that I once written? Are you not familiar with the "Is this the Incoherent ramblings of an Incompetent Mind?"? Is this my way of petty way of showing that person that I don't care what they think?

Or is the title unambiguous enough to let you that I'm running short of time and making a hotchpotch? What does the Part 2 in the title mean? Would you like to know more? Have you not wondered what the script writers in Television series do when they run out of ideas and time? Would it be amiss to presume that you have noticed the episodes with a higher dose of flashbacks? Are you still wondering if that is not exactly what I am going to do now?

***

1. Would you like to know the part one of this particular chat? Would you please click on this link to know more?

2. What were my thoughts when the present Government at the Centre came to power four years ago? Would you like to know how I evaluate them by their performance? Can you wait a little longer?

3. How did I propose to my dear Ammu? Would you believe that I made her change her answer online from "I Love You" to "YES", as the latter was the appropriate and intended answer?

4. Would you believe that I actually wrote one chat by hand and posted the pictures online on the first anniversary of writing weekly? Will such a special one be waiting for you at the end of this series?

5. Did you know that in April 2014 I had written a blog titled "Accidents Happen"? Do you know that it was about the perfect mismatch I have ever seen? Would you correctly guess the answer as immensely happy, if you were to ask me how those two are doing now?

***

Are you wondering what is it with me and the number five? Would you be happy to know that it was because I initially started blogging to discuss five points every week? Are you bored of me asking me all these questions?

Mea culpa - (6/52)

"I prefer to make my own mistakes rather than follow your advice blindly."

If I were to request for a show of hands now, as to how many of us have had this thought on a scroller in the Times Square of our minds, as our ears braved yet another onslaught from the We-Know-Better squad, I'm pretty sure that it would be easier for me to count the number of people who have their hands down. Kudos to you and your nirvana levels of patience; or Suppandi levels of stupidity, as the case may be.

I'm now 29 years old (not 30 until I reach thirty - 96 days more). I've had enough experiences through four schools, four years of college, four different jobs and four blissful years of love to say with some authority that I've made some mistakes that I don't want you to make. Of course, I'll never say that I made mistakes. I'll say that I have some advice for you.

Human beings are supposed to be evolved. And the process of evolution was always based on not doing what got the previous batch extinct. Haven't you ever wondered what would have happened, if the first set of parents in this world were not exactly keen on stopping their kids from jumping off a cliff? Evolution was, is and will always be through a flow of information - based largely on previous experiences and extrapolation of the same.

So, if I found out to my detriment, that taking some time to cool off during the first year in college, after two strenuous years preparing for what not, is going to affect my GPA in an irreversible manner, then I am bound by the rules of society to inform of this peril to my successors - if not all of them, at least to those I care about.

Moving on to the case of choosing friends, best friends and more than friends. Over the past 15 years, I've seen love stories and heartbreaks that are yet to grace the silver screens. Being an unsuccessful relationship advisor has helped me in honing my skills of flagging the wrong ones. This, again, made it my duty to warn you.

It is the right of the old to forsake the modern. And my brother always complains that I'm have hit  old age mentally. So, all the new concepts of style and behaviour are, by default, a strain on my decades old nerve paths. I find it hard to rewire myself, and realize that it is easier to refrain you from doing what bugs me.

And it is not like the travel of advice is unidirectional. I have had people give me advice. My earliest memory is from this random guy on the road. I was walking back from school, with a bag full of books weighing me down. He was painting the boundary walls of a neighbour. He asked me to stop, came over and told me, "You are really tall. So, please don't stoop. Walk tall with a straight back. Be proud of your height." That is an advice I took to heart, and have been doing till this day.

I also remember another advice that I took. This senior from college told me in the first week I reached there that it is okay to not score great marks, as you will always get a great job with an average GPA, given the track record of the college at getting placements. He was three years senior to me. He had a GPA lesser than me, and got a great job. When it was time for me, recession hit, and those companies didn't even come to the campus.

This is the hand of fate in action. You might follow my advice to the word, and get a different result. Life is not a science experiment - you can't expect the same result always. There are too many variables. So, I have come to realise, overdue regrettably, that you are the master of your own life. You need to make mistakes at your will to have complete responsibility of your actions.

I have been given enough advice - which have been accepted or rejected, but entirely at my will. Some have led to a thronier path, but I'm glad to put my hand up and say that it is of my own making. And as long as you are willing to do that, I should not be ignoring you for not taking my advice. 

***

If this whole thing feels like a monologue in a play, please rest assured that this was meant to be one. I have written it down, because I wasn't sure how much of this would be relayed to you in a two-way communication. Grappling with my thoughts mid way, trying to piece together your reaction up to that point, so that I can alter my words accordingly might have taken away the idea I want to convey.

I have done a lot of things in the time I've been here. I have the burden of experience to help you. But I understand that it is your decision to ask me for advice, not mine to force upon you.

***

I thought the train of thoughts here was too relevant to be not shared in public. Hence, the feast for you peeping toms. Hope you enjoyed this private conversation.

***

Event-ful week (5/52)

Event One

One evening during the past week, I happened to climb abroad this contraption, which would elevate me to my destination nine stories up on that building. Confined along with me, at that time, in that three-by-three space, where a family of three, including a teenage girl. They were the original occupants, with me intruding upon their familial space.

To say that I stunk would be an understatement. In turn, this made the matter of our elevation a very unpleasant one. As the door was closing on their hind sides, two floors before I had to leave, I could see their torsos swelling with a fresh batch of decent air.

The reason for my foul odour was the brisk thirty minutes walk I took, just before climbing on to the contraption. I was dropped at Edappally Junction after a meeting, and I chose to walk to my place. I eschewed the option of taking a bus, or the more urban habit of hailing an Uber, as suggested by my wifey, who has made Uber travel a routine.

***

Event Two

So after around a decade of dilemma, my parents have finally booked a Honda City. Going to sleep with a decision to book the car, only to wake up with a decision to delay the execution of the previous one was a recurring theme at home. With the car now booked, the question of where to apply for loan was quickly finalized. (SBI, of course!!!). Hearing this, a banker friend of mine, suggested that her bank had an offer for people booking Toyota Cars. When I asked her why this piece of information was relevant, she asked, "Isn't City a Toyota car?".

My palm could not have hit my face any faster.

***

Event Three

How much time does it take to repair a punctured Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350? Around 3 hours.

Around 12pm, I leave home, pushing my fallen beast of 200kg. Over the next sixty minutes, I was turned away by three different puncture fixers saying that they have no idea how to remove the tyre from the vehicle. Eventually, I was pointed in the direction of the Enfield factory workshop.

At the workshop, they say they would  be happy to remove the tyre for me - but for a charge, and that they can't fix the puncture. I would have to take the disembodied wheel to the puncture repair shop, get it fixed, and bring it back - so that these people can help it take its rightful place.

That's how we got the answer as three hours.

***

Event Four

I went through the stuff I've written over the years here. Turns out that like always, the self-depreciating sense of humour in me was the winner for the most read post of "Ormayundo?". So what do I do about that? I went ahead and shared that link again. And WHOA!!! Did I just do that again?? :D

***

Event Five

To end today's session, let me recount something which happened just today morning.

We were on our weekly pilgrimage to the Mall of Lulu, Edappally, and were entering the shrine from the less used second entrance. Ammu was on the seat next to the driver. As soon as the car made the turn into that entrance, she said what has said multiple times to the Uber drivers, "Why are you taking the car in from here? You could have dropped us at the main entrance."

All I could do was look to my left - and stare at her - in disbelief.

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Maybe something in between too (4/52)

Ammu has started her yearly jaunt to master the skill of piloting a gasoline propelled body with four circular extremities, used as a mode of daily transportation. Yes, it is that time of the year folks - the time to keep everyone safe at home - Ammu has started driving lessons. And to keep up with the other traditions of this festival, I've started my own ritual of having food from restaurants for most of my meals this week. 

You see, with lessons in the morning, she leaves home early, so that she can reach office on time after the class. Since I'm predisposed to all my meals being served hot, I'm left to my own devices to materialize something edible from the dosa maavu. And it is a standing ovation to my culinary skills that I've had breakfast from a nearby Vegetarian hotel for five days running. Hence, during the special week, breakfast has been switched from dosas at home to dosas at Aryas. (P. S. Why is every other veg hotel named so?) 

Coming to the similar matter of lunch, like many of you, I prefer to have my lunch being something which was not cooked and packed 5 hours ago. But unlike most of my colleagues, I eschew the office cafeteria and visit the Punjab House on Broadway (two minutes from my office at Menaka) for some tasty and authentic, yet sanely priced Aloo parathas. Hence, during the special week, lunch maintained its status quo. 

Dinner for the weekdays were as follows : Steamed Tapioca with Ammu's special chutney(at home), Steak (meeting a friend after two months), Grilled Chicken (as the same friend came over), Rice soup (at home). Yes, I prefer my rice to be stewing in its own broth, than being drowned in a sea of spices and vegetables. So, the score was evenly poised at 2-2, as we arrived at the Seventh day of September 2018, the Friday that just was.

Eat Kochi Eat is an amazing group of people who go about Kochi and let the world know about the amazing food available at various places. It so happened that they had put up a post on Rahmaniya Kethel's Chicken, which had the two of us scheming as to when to attack the place. What we failed to comprehend was that the same "scheming" was done by a lot of people - the people who had seen the same post as us.

Which brings us to the night of the same day, where the protogonaist duos of our story - hungry as hell - were unable to find a space to park with 500m of the place, let alone get anywhere near the queue formed outside the restaurant.

This was one of those moments in my life, where hindsight epiphanies from a hard lesson taught me what a simple forethought could have.

Lesson No 2: Never visit a restaurant in a hurry, especially when it has just been given a promotion on social media.

Lesson No 1: Try Uber/Swiggy First.

***

WHY I PREFER EATING FOOD FROM OUTSIDE AT HOME??

[aka Why I have food delivered?]

1. Provides Jobs.

When food is cooked at my home, it employs only two people. And since they already have other jobs, this one is not of the paying kind for them. But if I eat roti from outside, I'm helping in making sure that some figurative rotis reach some homes.

2. Saves resources.

The best way to save resources is by making optimum utilization of the same. And that is achieved to a larger extent by consolidating the end use. So, eating food from outside helps in saving resources.

3. Saves time and money.

Compared to the home delivery concept, the act of dressing up, fighting traffic to get to the place, finding a parking space, getting a table, having the food, coming back home fighting traffic again - all with the chance of getting sidetracked into shopping - taxes your time and money.

Now onto the real reason why I gave these flimsy excuses.

***

I know people who are committed to home cooked food. Those who have grown up in such an environment will presume that this is the normal order of society. If they are not willing to adapt/alter themselves based on new information, they will look at the world with a prejudice that will place me on the wrong side of natural law, as far as they are concerned.

So when I'm having food from outside, the fact that there is no direct/indirect discomfort to them is irrelevant. Their presumed notion of social order is broken, and hence they feel irked by it. They might respond by reprimanding or shaming me. That is not okay. And it has to stop.

A step towards stopping such prejudiced behaviour was taken by our Supreme Court this week. Beating the depreciating Rupee and the appreciating Petrol to the punch of the week is the order which states that "Being Gay in India is not a criminal offense."

 

But just decriminalizing is not enough. The first battle has been won, but the war is still on. And for them to walk with pride, we must bury our prejudice.

***

As for what we did when we couldn't get into the place of our choice on Friday, we went to a nearby restaurant and had some parotta & that thing which caused the floods in Kerala. And during the special week, Hotels edged out Home food by 3-2 for dinner.

 

 ***

To right the write things at the right time is hard - 3/52

HALT!!!!

Art thou a consumer of online content??

A lost, lonely soul looking to while away time perhaps.

A purveyor of the virtual media at least

Well, you have come to the right place. Now I ask not much from you. Just please don't concentrate on the meaning of the words as you read the next few paragraphs - just try to hear them out in your mind.

***

It's hard two find someone who is willing to put down they're sells these days. Hour present generation is more interested in clicking the picture off the flour, instead of noticing the beautiful be collecting honey from it. Knight and day, they no know other activity than to will away their time on they're sells. Most would rather be at home in their cell than meat a friend, or weight to sea the son set at the beach.

Ass you can sea from the charade we have had above, one of the bear necessity in mastering the English language is two understand the difference in meanings between similar sounding words. Their will always be someone who feels that this is a pretty basic skill set, acquired in the nascent stage off learning the English language, but to right the write things at the right time is hard.

For example, if you are blindly taking down notes dictated buy your lecturer, without spending considerable effort too discern the same before using the pen, you might make the same mistake Eye have been purposefully making since the Italics began.

***

Even though this was supposed to be the bit before I stumbled upon the big topic for the day, typing out the above sentences made me realize something. There are no red squiggly lines in whatever I have written in Italics.

Which means that the average spell checker would not understand the difference between these Homophones - which means that if I'm not careful, I could be exposed for not having the strong control of this language that I usually flaunt.

We have this English Nazi friend, Ms.Viji. Don't be mislead by the "Ms" in front, she is way over sixty. I meant kilograms.

Well, she has this (nasty habit / great practice) of pointing out the mistakes made by others while wielding the English language. It's a great practice when she is applying it on someone else, and a nasty habit when the guns are trained on you.

Among the trio of us - Vg, Ammu and myself - the one who is at the end of the Nazi's wrath most often is my lovely wife. Since Ammu works in Digital Marketing, she spends a lot of time conversing in English - both in written and verbal formats. So by the time she lets herself free from the throngs of work, her mind switches off the auto-correct feature - which in turn makes her commit more mistakes than is necessary to tick off the Nazi.

So, it was with great joy that Ammu told me this past week that she could kick the metaphorical backside of her friend for committing such simple mistakes in the Insta story that the said person put up for a friends' birthday. The person who got a whupping was of the opinion that "you're" and "your" are interchangeable. All I would like to say to her is that "Your note write".

And it is from this spark that this fire was born. And I would like to thank all the embers involved, for it has helped me write the third part in this package with much joy.

***

So, that's all for this week then.

Have a great weekend!!

'til next week.

Lessons from Crisis - 2/52

Universe >> Milky Way >> Solar System >> Earth >> Asia >> India >> Kerala.

That's the address for my Home State of Kerala.

This year, on 25th of August, this small state of 14 districts was planning to celebrate the harvest festival of Onam. And as you might have already heard, all such plans were cancelled because of the worst flood to hit this side of the country in over a century.

Having received heavy monsoon rains for over two weeks, 35 of the 42 dams in the state had to be opened, which resulted in flooding of the low lying areas. Kerala is known for receiving heavy downpour during this season, but a three fold increase in rain was too much to handle. We experienced first hand the power of water to bring life to a halt.

A death toll of 375+; over 3 lakh people being evacuated from their homes and being housed in over 5000 relief camps across the state; landslides across the state making many areas inaccessible for relief and rescue; entire homes getting submerged in water, soaking every piece of material possession that family had.

My relatives have had water rise up to the roof level of their house, leaving mud on each and every piece of garment they have. I have colleagues who could do nothing but watch helplessly as water engulfed their newly constructed house. I know people who had their entire stock of wares get waterlogged in a matter of hours.

People were stranded in their own homes for days- with no power supply, no clean water, meagre food supply and no knowledge of what was happening elsewhere. To come back from the haunting memories of that trauma would require herculean efforts.

No one in this part of the world knew of a disaster of such proportions, but if you look at the way the entire state swung into action for rescue and relief, you would have been mislead to believe that they handle these situations on a regular basis.

As the water recedes, leaving in its aftermath tales of grief and misfortune, we as a State are determined to rebuild on the positives.

• Like how social media can be a powerful tool in such events, playing its' part in co-ordinating rescue activities and distribution of relief materials.
• Like people setting aside their differences in ideologies - religious and political - to help each other in this time of need.
• Like the Mr.Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram District, trying to get help from UN and WHO, in his own individual capacity and on his own expenses.
• Like the credibility shown by the Media houses to nip in the bud many fake news being spread on social media.
• Like the maturity of the Keralities to ignore the mass hatred shown on social media towards Kerala at the time of distress to concentrate on those who needed their help. And I must equally compliment them for making sure that these comments are not forgotten now.

I can show you hundreds of pictures and stories showing the havoc caused in Kerala. Instead I chose to let you see the following pictures, which lets us know that humanity still exists. 

1. Saying Thanks to the REAL SUPERHEROES. The Fishermen community was in full force at the water logged places, taking the lead role in the rescue operations. Their efforts were, and will never be forgotten.

2. Saying THANKS for the Chopper Rescue. With their home becoming an island, people were forced to climb on to the roof to escape the rising water. And they were rescued by the brave sons of the country using Helicopters.

3. Showing the way forward. The calamity has hit the state during festive season. Even though a decision was taken unanimously to not celebrate the same at the usually grand levels, the following picture from a relief camp reminds us how we used to celebrate - together.

4. Every rupee counts. The magnanimity of an eight year old, Ms.Anupriya in donating her entire savings towards the relief fund overshadows the lack of central aid and rejection of foreign aid. And the response from the company is truly amazing.

5. Techies to the rescue. Not every man can tame the sea, but everyone can help those capable to do so. These brilliant minds decided to help their brethren by making these effective power banks to be airdropped at the rescue locations.

***

The JK (pheno)Menon

When I heard that this person bought a Force Gurkha, I thought WHY??

When he pulled the following stunt by crossing a river using that Gurkha, I again thought WHY??

When he saved dozens of lives and helped in distribution of relief materials using the same Gurkha over the last week, I knew WHY.

Reboot - 1/52

As any IT support guy worth his hardware will tell you, if something is inexplicably wrong with the way things are now, just reboot the entire system. More often than not, things will start writing again.

So, yeah. We are trying to restart this conversation again.

***

It has been over a decade since I first blogged. Thankfully, I was blessed with the power of hindsight to delete them. The rest of the wrecks from that era are lodged in the drafts sections, serving as reminders of what not to write.

I will confess. I've had multiple blogs - trying to crave a niche. There was one in which I decided to document my daily life. It didn't click, but I find that it is working for some people now.

Then there's this blog - where I experimented a lot, and found a lot of joy and acknowledgement. I wrote continously, once a week, for over two years. And it was well received. I was evergreen blessed with regular readers.

This challenged me to make every blog interesting for them. And one of the most interesting blogs I wrote was one in which all sentences were questions. I liked having that challenge over the two years.

*Enter stage right - The year 2015.*

*Exit stage left - Time.*

So, in the first quarter of the year 2015, two monumental things happened - I joined the banking sector, and I got married. Now, people will tell you that working in Banks is hard. Others will tell you that getting married is hard. And I had to work through both.

Now, Ammu is a darling. The only problem I had with marriage is that everyone expected me to be this different person overnight. I was (still am to a large extent) this kid in a guy's body. I was inquisitive but withdrawn; playful but respectful; and always strived to keep maturity at an arm's length, because I thought it didn't suit me.

I chose to believe that I handle situations with a particular charm with these characteristics of mine. But, to be a functional member of this society, I had to make compromises over the last three years, and I'm glad to let you know that a sweet spot has been arrived at.

So the two changes that I went through in 2015 heaped on me enough challenges, to make the thought of being creative on this online platform a chore. That's why I consciously chose to withdraw from my blogging spree.

***

Today is the Eighteenth of August, 2018. My Ammu's age is technically being incremented by one today. So, I started off writing this blog as a gift to her. She loves reading what I write and I love to write for her.

But that's when a grander idea hit me. This will be the first part of a 52 part gift that I will give her for next year.

***

Obviously this blog was supposed to be uploaded one week before. But I chose not to do so, as unrelenting rain led to floods throughout Kerala.