An Unquiet Mind

Giving Space Often Brings Us Closer

Mahendra — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:16:04 +0000

A very good friend of mine is deeply religious.

Neither his religion, nor my atheism came in between our friendship.

Another close friend and relative is deeply spiritual.

Despite my materialistic worldview, we understand each other better than most others do.

Ironical though it may sound, often, the space we give each other to be different from us, brings us closer.

It isn’t affinity of ideology, but the freedom to be ourselves, that often leads to intimate friendships.

Assertive vs. Aggressive: Why It Matters

Mahendra — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:13:53 +0000

This is in response to Atul’s An Aggressive Assertion, in which he delves into the possible differences between the two. As always, his post is beautifully written, but goes off in such a tangent to my frame of reference, that I decided to write here in response.

My interpretation of what Atul is trying to say is that there isn’t really much of a difference between the two, that it is a fine gradient, and the differences are at best, only pedantic. He also explains that his opinion comes from not having experienced assertiveness, as distinct from aggressiveness.

Assertive means self-assured, firm, and confident. Aggression is intimidation, either physical or psychological.

Assertiveness has important psychological, artistic, and philosophical implications.

Psychologically, Assertiveness is a behavioral skill. If you act assertively, you are less likely to be dominated by others in communication and relationships. You are able to say “No”. You do not let others abuse or manipulate you. You are able to ask your boss for a raise if you think you deserve it.

Assertive behavior respects the boundaries of other people. Aggressive behavior does not.

Assertiveness is an important skill in negotiations of all kinds, where aggression can lead to undesirable results.

The entire Romantic Movement in art was because of the assertiveness of the artists who rebelled against the social and political norms that preceded them. Beethoven was being assertive when he spearheaded romantic music through his symphonies. These artists were asserting their individuality, not being aggressive.

Rosa Parks was being assertive when she refused to give up her seat for a white passenger. Gandhi’s non-violent disobedience against the British is the most famous example of assertiveness. Neither Parks, nor Gandhi, were aggressive. India’s refusal to sign the CTBT is assertive, not aggressive.

Fundamentally, from a philosophical perspective, Assertiveness comes from respecting your own and others’ individuality. Aggression stems from not respecting the individuality of anyone else except yourself.

Victor Frankl, Seven Habits, and REBT

Mahendra — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 02:51:19 +0000

“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

- Victor Frankl, in Man’s Search for Meaning

As a Holocaust survivor, Victor Frankl went through some of the most horrific experiences ever known to man. Yet, from within the depths of extreme and severe suffering, he developed insights that helped change the world for the better.

Stephen Covey used Frankl’s insight to develop Habit 1: Be Proactive in his hugely popular book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

More importantly, I think Frankl’s insight is also the building block of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), developed by Dr. Albert Ellis. REBT is a cornerstone of the ‘change from within’ towards serenity and fulfillment.

Here’s a brief clip of Victor Frankl, on the search for meaning, with students at a conference in Toronto:

Xerox trumps Google in Natural Language Search

A Quieter Mind

Mahendra — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 07:15:07 +0000

This blog has been so neglected that I am not even sure if anyone will read this post.

Six months have elapsed since I wrote about the challenges for 2010. It is painfully obvious that blogging is taking a back seat to social networking. However, that is not the complete story.

Time and again, I have mentioned that for me, writing is a vehicle to greater clarity of mind. Which is why I have used this blog as a vehicle to raise issues that made me unquiet. In the past couple of years, this unquietness has faded away and a serenity has taken its place.

I have spent the past several months thinking about whether this serenity is a cynical, nihilistic futility of an existentialist flavor or a true acceptance of the world around me. I am not entirely sure, and perhaps I may never know.

What I do know is that instead of becoming unquiet over how religion is misused for nefarious purposes, or how the spirit of scientific inquiry is lost in today’s education, or how politicians and gangsters are tearing the very fabric of society, I have come to accept that no one can change any of this by blogging about it. There is a quiet acceptance of this within me now, and a realization that there is only one thing I can do, and that is how I conduct myself as a person and raise my daughter as a father.

It is this drive, this force within me to continue to change and fully immerse myself in raising a child that makes me think that my quietness is not nihilistic, but simply realistic.

I wonder if I will blog more if I forget the title of my blog. There are times when I have felt like writing – about positive things, enjoyable experiences, fulfilling adventures – but did not because there was nothing ‘unquiet’ about them. Does this mean I will need to change the title of my blog that I have lovingly built over the years? Now, that thought certainly makes me unquiet.

Road From Democracy to Fascism

Mahendra — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 14:17:09 +0000

The recent storm created by the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra is indicative of a resurgent Fascism as correctly noted by Soli Sorabjee. This rot in Maharashtra is eloquently analyzed by Pratap Bhanu Mehta, which you must read to get a grasp of the situation.

What distresses me to a certain extent is the debate I observe on social networks among the Indian youth frames it as a two-sided issue: either you agree with SRK’s opinion that Pakistani players should be invited to play in India, or you disagree with him and back the Shiv Sena.

The current storm of controversy will abate quickly, but what really matters in the long run is how the debate is being framed.

Whether you agree or disagree with SRK is immaterial and inconsequential.

The Shiv Sena appears to have achieved its goal. From being relegated to anonymity after the humiliating debacle in the elections, they are back in the spotlight.

Their intimidation and utter disrespect of democratic principles has gained a certain legitimacy by being considered worthy of debate. That is the real worrisome trend that matters and has disastrous consequences.

The Real Tablet Revolution

Mahendra — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 06:13:03 +0000

This is the slate I used growing up as a school kid. There was sibling rivalry over whose was shinier or had a larger “screen size”.

They are still used by some school children in India. Millions of them go to school today like this (image credit):

With heavy burdens on their back, no wonder they hate going to school.

When Steve Jobs unveils the Apple Tablet in a few hours from now, I will be part of the thousands who will witness this revolutionary device remotely. But the real revolution in my mind will happen when such devices become mainstays in educational institutions worldwide.

No doubt the tablet will be great for entertainment, gaming, reading, and news consumption. But no other application has a greater, lasting impact, than that which revolutionizes learning.

As Joe Wilcox describes it, a “unified content platform, mixing different media types and live information” holds tremendous potential during the formative young years of our lives.

Imagine a classroom where students had access to live information about any topic under the sun. That is the world I want my kid to grow up in. When that happens, it will be the real tablet revolution.

(Written before Apple iPad launch; cross-posted from Skeptic Geek)

The Avatar (2009) Potpourri: Medium Is Not The Message

Mahendra — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 15:45:36 +0000

Avatar (2009) needs no introduction. The most expensive movie ever made is a testament to James Cameron’s courageous vision of an immersive cinematic experience to out-Lucas the Star Wars legend – an ambition he harbored since he watched it in 1977 as a truck-driver.

Cameron has uplifted the benchmark for Hollywood blockbusters and created a new level of entertainment. Suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride. It will be an unforgettable experience.

The Medium

3D

Should You watch it in 2D if 3D tickets are not yet available? No.

It’s like this. Let’s say you’ve never flown in a plane before and are given a choice of flying business class in the flight next week, or economy today. You will enjoy the economy ride, but you will miss the comfort of business class. From another, more important perspective, it’s a question of experiencing an art form as the artist wished it to be experienced. If artistic integrity matters to you, watch Avatar as Cameron intended you to watch it.

Cameron has likened 3D to the addition of color in cinema, which reveals how integral it is to the Avatar experience. He invented a new generation of high-resolution, maneuverable, 3D cameras for Avatar and persuaded Sony to manufacture it. Read more of the background story here.

The use of 3D in the film is extremely subtle. It never distracts, but simply adds to the immersive experience.

Uncanny Valley

Cameron and Weta Digital’s greatest achievement in Avatar in my opinion is conquering the uncanny valley. The evolution from motion-capture to performance-capture is a milestone in film-making. It took Weta one full year to perfect its algorithms to map the actor’s expressions onto the animated characters without creating the uncanny valley revulsion and actually making them empathetic. You can read more about this behind-the-scenes technology here.

The Message

The Potpourri

Sci-Fi? Yes. Romantic Adventure? Yes. Action/War Movie? Yes. Political Statement? Yes. A Green Statement? Yes.

The movie is all of these packed into a 160-min blockbuster. Leave your fine cinematic sensibilities behind if you want to enjoy the immersive experience. Avatar was not made for art film critics. It was created to awe and it does that exceedingly well.

The Sci-Fi, Romance, and Action-War genres are given full treatment beyond your wildest expectations and imaginations. An alien civilization with its own language, inter-species romance, and futuristic battle spaceships in combat with aliens riding on monsters will leave your appetite for Sci-Fi, Romance, and Action fully satiated.

Anti-War

A moral message of anti-war underlies the movie, but is rendered impotent as the movie uses full-blown action war sequences for the intended purpose of entertainment. Artistic integrity? No. Hypocritical? Yes.

One line in the dialog on “answering terror with terror” almost made me feel that Michael Moore was involved in the script-writing. There are actually only fleeting passages in the movie that actually evoke an anti-war sentiment, the rest of it is where you actually enjoy the thrill of war.

The Green Balance of Life

The only personal review I had read before watching the movie was by Nita, who was moved by its green message that stressed the Balance of Life. I found the green message quite far-fetched, unsubstantiated, and unscientific. I’ve argued before that we need to pull religion out of environmentalism and take a scientific approach if we’re to care about our planet.

The nature-worshipping alien civilization on Pandora practices an occult environmentalism that harks back to mysticism. Such a mindset is actually harmful not just to planet Earth, but to human beings as well. Learning to live with nature requires scientific observation of nature, invention of medicines to treat natural diseases, the invention of disaster-response infrastructure to deal with natural calamities, and so on. It doesn’t mean relinquishing science to live in harmony with nature in caves or under a mystical tree as the aliens do on Pandora.

This nature-worshipping message is delivered to us via a medium of extreme hi-tech engineering. Does the message overrule the medium? In Avatar, the message fails, the medium triumphs. In this case, the medium is not the message.

Blogging Highlights of 2009, Challenges & Thoughts for 2010

Mahendra — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:43:17 +0000

This is a good time to look at the highlights of 2009, and share some thoughts about the future.

Highlights Of 2009

This has been a busy year. 75 posts on An Unquiet Mind in 2009 with about 1,500 comments! 46 posts at MakeUseOf.com and 30 on my newly started tech blog, Skeptic Geek, both of which involve several hours of work. Have I become a writing machine? I hope not.

The biggest news was of course, setting up two blogs on my own domain here.

The most popular series of posts here was undoubtedly the A-Z of Films Meme, now enshrined on its own page at Favorite Films A to Z. Thanks to all of you, for your participation, critique, suggestions, and involvement, that made it so memorable!

Unlike Krish Ashok and Asuph, I am not a good writer of humor. I did take a stab with my own attempts at satire, with Virtues of Politicians, Rulebook for Indian TV News Producers, The Straight Dope FAQ on Indian Elections 2009, and How To Become A Spiritual Guru.

There were two serious ethical inquiries that garnered a lot of feedback and commentary. The look at Religion vs. Gender Equality and Feminism remains one of the most popular posts. In Mentally Challenged, Raped, Pregnant. Abort?, we confronted difficult moral and legal issues surrounding the trial about an unfortunate victim.

Outside the blog, some of you have approached me via email occasionally for technical assistance with blogging, while I have had the fortune of meeting some of you in real life. Blogging has now permeated my real life. Some of you have placed trust in me, and I hope that I have respected your privacy despite solicitations for contact or other information.

The Social Networking Challenge

Blogging may be getting increasingly popular, but among my network of Indian Bloggers, it faces challenges from micro-blogging and social networking. From my blogroll, outstanding bloggers like Gauri (42), Rambodoc (A Twist of Word and Mind), Paul (Café Philos), Shefaly (La Vie Quotidienne), and Ruhi (Time and Again) have become sporadic. Some are active on Twitter, while others don’t use it at all. Some spend a lot of time inside Facebook, while others have recently started using it. Nita (A Wide Angle View of India) who is not into social-networking, is the most regular on her blog. Others, like Amreekan Desi, Priyank, Gauri, Atul, Prerna, Harini, and Poonam are fairly regular at blogging as well as online social networking in one form or another. Very few, like Asuph, seem to be able to strike A Fine Balance between blogging, Facebook and Twitter.

At present, I am pulled in multiple directions online. Apart from my two personal blogs here and my writing for MakeUseOf, I am active on two Twitter accounts (professionally as @ScepticGeek, personally as @Palsule). I also try to keep up with friends on Facebook, and now spend very little time on FriendFeed, once my beloved network.

I read all blog posts from all of you blogger friends, but I don’t spend time commenting on each of them as much as I’d like to do so. One of my goals for 2010 is to seek that elusive balance between my online activities, though I suspect it will always remain a struggle.

Blogging Networks

In my initial blogging days, I was an active blogger with Indian Mutiny, which has now gone into print media. Harsha, who introduced and pulled me to that network, no longer blogs himself. I had put a lot of effort and time into serious blogging for Indian Mutiny, particularly with my posts surrounding the Indo-US Nuclear Deal. Once bitten, twice shy, I have stayed away from networks like DesiPundit, DesiCritics, and BlogBharti.

However, current trends indicate that blog networks will play an important role in acting as a platform to take your blog to a wider audience. Some of you are active on these networks. I confess I am largely uneducated about these Indian blog networks and will appreciate your thoughts in this regard.

Subject Matters That Don’t Matter

Looking ahead to 2010, I see cynicism as one of the challenges for this blog. In my first two years, I wrote substantially on current affairs and politics. I have now realized that blogging about Indian politics doesn’t make an iota of difference to anyone in real life. Why take the time to write about it at all? Hence, at least at present, I don’t see myself writing much about current affairs and politics on this blog, except with satire.

I will continue to engage myself and my readers in fundamental issues within the spheres of society, ethics, democracy, psychology, and law. Writing is a means towards clarity of mind, and these posts and your comments help me refine my understanding of such issues.

A Time For Gratitude

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude for taking the time to read my blog posts, comment on them, disagree with my perspective, teach me new ways of thinking, and sharing your thoughts.

This blog is where an unquiet mind has shared itself, and you, my friends, have often made it quiet again. Thank you.

In Remembrance of 26/11 and Thanksgiving to the Heroes

Mahendra — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 05:45:10 +0000

Warning: A post without structure, theme or composition. Senseless unedited outpouring. Read at your own risk.

Blood, bullets, and deaths. Brutal violence. Screams. Helplessness. Despair. Pain. Courage.

A nation of a billion aspiring to be on the UN Security Council brought to its knees by just ten armed terrorists.

Hundreds died. Thousands wept. Millions panicked. A billion were terrorized.

The killers didn’t distinguish between rich and poor. They did distinguish between foreigners and Indians, Muslims and Jews.

If you think this was insanity, you’re part of the problem. If you think this is simply misguided Religion, you’re part of the problem. This is Evil disguised as Insanity. The gunmen were plucking the flowers and hoping to snatch the fruits of this religious tree. The tree was carefully planted and nurtured by those who were controlling the attackers via phones. Just like it was by those who organized a “rath yatra” 17 years ago.

No method in the madness? There was no method in the response. There was meticulous method in the act. Strategic and careful planning by the perpetrators. Helpless, unprepared, panicked response by India.

Voices of society, columnists, media, bloggers, politicians, and the public louder than the gunshots. The latter achieved their goal, the former didn’t. The latter acted, the former didn’t. The latter didn’t distinguish between the Taj and VT, the former did.

Today, it is Thanksgiving day in the United States. I offer my gratitude to the official and unofficial heroes of 26/11. They were people who acted with reason, in response to the madness around them. Some of them saved many lives. Some of them died. I refuse to believe that they died in vain. Their courage has inspired many people, especially young people. They are saviors of our sanity.

A year later. A fatwa against a patriotic song. The response? A gracious visit by the Home Minister to those issuing it. Zealots from one religion destroying another’s structure, causing mayhem. 17 years later, wounds that have not yet healed. Every religion that has a sizeable following in this “secular” nation has seriously injured it. One man sits in its parliament as the Leader of Opposition, another sits in Pakistan. Does it matter whether the roots of evil grow within the nation or outside it?

But this nation and its billion people continue to believe that religion is actually for the good, it is only misused by a few who are misguided. Continue to nurture the tree, prune it’s misguided branches and it will grow right back again.

Water the tree, nurture it, feed it. Don’t act surprised by the violence, the blood, and the deaths. Don’t blame the gunmen. It was their form of “prayer”, you see? Haven’t we all been taught not to question or doubt another’s form of religion or method of prayer? That is what “secularism” means, right?

Are you protesting about the attack on MLAs or media outlets? You shouldn’t because the attackers were “provoked”. Just like the 26/11 planners & gunmen. You can’t blame one and not the other. Don’t paint nude pictures or draw cartoons of holy figures. Anyone who’s religious sentiments have been provoked have a right to violence.

Want to get votes but have no clue about economics, national growth, infrastructural development, etc.? Religion is your ticket, baby. Either encourage one of them, or claim to embrace all of them. Use it wisely, for it wields enormous power over millions of human beings. They will kill each other for it. Just like they have done so many times, repeatedly.

The intelligentsia? Don’t worry. They will methodically criticize government shortcomings, police inefficiencies, lack of emergency response plans, lack of coordination between security forces, etc. Religion is sacred, it will remain untouched and unharmed, as it has for centuries, even after millions of human beings have been killed by this evil power.

After 26/11, there will be numerous other such dates. There have been many of them over decades, over centuries. Generations have passed, millions of people have died. Religion is the sole survivor. And it will continue to kill, until mankind discovers that Religion is Evil in disguise.

A Personal Milestone

Mahendra — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:20:27 +0000

I am now an editor at Techmeme.

Some online friends connected with me on social networks like Twitter and Facebook already know this, but I was waiting for an official announcement before I wrote about it here. You can also read TechCrunch’s coverage here.

If you’re not in the tech field, you’ve probably not heard of Techmeme. It is a news aggregation site that works for technology news where Google News fails. It is a combination of automated aggregation and human editing.

Techmeme is highly regarded in the tech world, and my boss Gabe Rivera was listed as one of the Top 25 Influential People on the Web by Business Week last year.

The Journey

I took a break from the cubicle farms of the IT industry last year. After spending some time with my baby daughter & family, I switched gears to working online. As most of my blogger friends know, I started writing for MakeUseOf.com as a contributor, and am now a staff writer. I still needed additional work to completely replace my full-time day job routine and have finally reached that goal with this opportunity.

The Change

In some ways, the change from the IT world to the online Media world is like my shift from Mumbai to Pune. A suburban local train getting delayed in Mumbai because of an accident meant being late for office rather than concern for the possible loss of human life. A team member getting sick meant the project getting delayed rather than concern about my team member. A world where I was a slave to schedules dictated by others, constraints imposed by others, filled with competition like in a rat-race. A world saturated with ambition, stress, pressures, politics, performance-based incentives, frustrations, commuting long-distance in traffic, and sometimes, disillusionment.

Pune is serene, laid-back, and relaxed. In my real and online life, I can focus on value, enjoy my freedom, use my judgment. I choose my own topics. I can express myself the way I like. I can use my editorial judgment to decide what to publish or exclude. Clean air makes you think clearly, and the comfort of working from home relaxes you.

The Job

Because Techmeme is so highly regarded, it is always under the scanner and keenly watched; at times, even criticized.

Being a human editor is thus a great responsibility, and one that I hope to carry well. My diverse experience in IT helps to fathom the spectrum of news that Techmeme deals with every day. I have always been reading and following online tech news since the early days of the Internet even before Google came into existence. Over the years, my appetite for information and ability to consume it refined to the extent that I was already researching and curating information for my CxO bosses in my IT job. Now, this hobby of mine is my work.

Can it get any better than this?