Story So Far ...

3 tips to be a better learner

2014-08-26T11:35:00.003-04:00

It was the final exam of his first year in college. Chase walks into the exam room. He is tense, his eyes are red, he hasn't slept the past 2 days. He has been cramming at his dormitory. Just like all the other students, before the exam this was a normal routine. Party hard during the whole semester and then in the end burn the midnight oil and pass the exams. That was his and his friends strategy. He is nervous, but he knows that he has most of the materials that he learned in his head. He flips through his notebook one last time, then places it outside the exam room. He receives the question sheet, silently he gazes through it. For a moment he could not believe, the first question, he didn't know the answer. The second question the same thing. He felt the stress building up and he tenses. He just could not focus on the question. His heart is beating fast. He tries hard to re read the questions, but nothing seems to happen. He doesn't seem to remember and the answers that he rote memorized seems to be very patchy. He could not give a proper explanation nor solve problems effectively. He attempts them half heartedly. After 3 hours, when the final bell rings he hands over his answer sheet and jets out of the room promising himself that he will prepare better the next time.

That summer Chase goes to visit his uncle Jim. His uncle Jim is a neuroscientist and works at a university. Jim gives Chase a warm welcome. He asks him about his first year in college and how he is doing? Chase explains to his uncle about his disaster in the final exam. Jim laughs and says, I use to be like that, but now I know better. There is a better way and there has been a ton of research in cognitive science and neuroscience about learning. We have evidence about what methods work and what doesn't. I will tell you about them over your stay. Now off you go and get some rest.

Chase goes to the guest room and ponders about what his uncle said. He thought, I have always aced exams just by slogging through the nights in the end. May be, it was just that the questions were tough this time. And I could not focus on solving the problems. May be it was just that I had a bad day. And moreover I always retain things in my head if I study in the end.

"Your brain is like a muscle" Jim said the next morning while sipping coffee. You just can't overload it. What happens if you try to lift double your weight the first day at the gym? You will fail. What happens if you keep lifting weights the whole day. Your muscle gets tired and performance goes down. It is the same thing with brain. You can't overload or overwhelm it with information. So, forget learning everything in one session just before the exam, you need to be smart about your studying. How do you typically study for your exams? Chase thinks for a moment and says. Usually I read the text book, I reread it multiple times to make sure that I get the basic understanding. I also highlight the important parts of the text book, so that I can review them later. Then I read through the solutions for the problems given in the book. Jim laughs and says, "well you are making all the cardinal sins of studying". My friend Jeffrey D. Karpicke of Purdue University has studied the learning strategies of students(Karpicke, Jeffrey D., Andrew C. Butler, and Henry L. Roediger III. "Metacognitive strategies in student learning: do students practise retrieval when they study on their own?." Memory 17.4 (2009): 471-479.). He says that their study found that, learning strategies like rereading, highlighting and going through problem solutions doesn't work. What works however is if you can test yourself repeatedly rather than rereading. This retrieval practice is key to learning rather than passive rereading. Also, Kent State University professors Katherine A Rawson and John Dunlosky(doi: 10.1037/a0023956) have found that, relearning with recalls over 3 widely spaced intervals over days helps retention more than cramming everything in one session. What Karpicke points out is this false sense of knowing known as "illusion of competence". Students experience this while studying. Just by reading and rereading they think that they know the subject, when in reality it is not true. And this affects the way they learn. Jim Said, "that is the lesson for now, reading and rereading never works, testing and recall always works. Well I got to go now, I will talk to you later in the evening. You have a nice day".

Chase thinks, "he is right, that is how I felt after reading the text book. As I read it and reread it, I realized I have already read it and I know it. But the day of the exam I just could not recall it ". "Illusion of competency!!!" huh, Chase thought. I think most of the students in my college have that problem then? Next time I better do recall and test based study rather than passive reading. May be read 5 pages and try to recall the material. Then try to solve the problems on my own rather than depending on the solution books.

"Your brain works better with sleep" Jim said as he sat down at the dining table that evening. After studying, a good night of sleep can lead to improved performance the next day(Djonlagic, Ina, et al. "Sleep enhances category learning." Learning & Memory 16.12 (2009): 751-755.). So it is important that you get your sleep before an exam. Adding to that during sleep the neuro toxic materials accumulated during the waking hours is flushed out of the brain (Xie, Lulu, et al. "Sleep drives metabolite clearance from the adult brain." Science 342.6156 (2013): 373-377.). Memory consolidation also happens while you are sleeping. So, in your case because you didn't have a good night's sleep your thinking was impaired. Whatever you studied was not consolidated well enough and lack of sleep affected your categorical thinking. All in all your brain was working like a machine which had its fuel mixed with sugar. No wonder, it showed in your performance. Any way, it is time to go get some sleep. I will see you tomorrow.

"Stress is as real as you make it to be" said Jim as he sat down. He was holding some printouts in his hands. When you are under any kind of stress, for instance you taking the test, your body goes through a fight or flight response. It is a natural physiological reaction to a perceived harmful event or attack that affects your survival. When this happens, logical part of the brain is suspended, blood rushes to your limbs to prepare you for either to fight or to flee from the environment. Sounds familiar? Body releases stress hormones like Cortisol to indicate this. This would have benefited us tremendously when we were hunters and gatherers fighting for our survival in the jungle. Not any more. We don't need that while you are writing a test. He handed Chase the printout and said The authors of this paper Paul, Gina, Barb Elam, and Steven J. Verhulst (A longitudinal study of students' perceptions of using deep breathing meditation to reduce testing stresses." (Teaching and learning in medicine 19.3 (2007): 287-292.)) found that deep breathing helps counteract the effects of Cortisol. What happens when you breath deep is that your body is tricked to believe that it is a false alarm and can go back to its normal state. Scientists have also figured out, it is the way you frame the situation that you can control your stress. Say you can just say, let's find out how much I know about this subject rather than saying, if I get this question wrong, I will fail. You see the difference in how the thinking makes you feel. Chase said yes I see the difference. "Remember diaphragm breathing, it not only helps your test taking but also any situation. It is always good to take deep breaths". Alright, that is enough information for this visit. Remember we have to pace our learning. Else you might either end up forgetting all that I told you or you might end up confused. So let's test your recall. What are the 3 concepts that I told you that has scientific backing?

Chase thought for a moment and said.
1. I should not overwhelm my brain by reading everything in one go. I should pace myself and watch out for illusion of competence.
2. A good night sleep is better than none
3. Under stress our learning and recall is affected. Deep breathing helps control stress.

"That is it my boy, I am impressed", said Jim. You have come a long way. Before you leave tomorrow, I just wanted to emphasize one more thing. It is the zen saying of process over results. At this age you might be thinking passing the exam is the end of it all. So, study once and clear the exam and forget it approach might work. However, I would like to point out that it is the wrong way of going about life. You would be learning every day for the rest of your life. What you should be thinking about is developing a set of processes or habits that will improve your learning ability. There is tons to be learned and sometimes they might overwhelm you. But if you focus on being better at the process of learning you will do good. Good luck to you. I look forward to hear from you".

Fast forward couple of months. It is the final exam of third semester of second year in college. Chase finds himself again in the exam room. This time, he is slightly nervous. But he knows to do diaphragm breathing to control it. He has done multiple sessions of recalled based learning over the course of the semester. He made sure that he got good sleep before the exam. He has tested himself many times days before the exam to make sure that he doesn't suffer from the illusion of competence. He gets the question sheet, He takes a deep breath. He tells himself, alright, let's find out how much I know about this subject today. looks at the first question and says wow, I do know the answer for this one. He chuckles and goes about writing his answer. "Thanks uncle Jim" he mutters as he hands the answer sheet to the proctor.

The Drunkard's Walk

2014-05-28T21:24:00.002-04:00

I usually have a habit of taking notes from the books I read. I think it will be of some use. Sometimes that forces me to re read the book. This is definitely one of the book which I think I will be happy to read the third time. As the title suggests, the book is about randomness. The author starts with how human intuition and thinking is flawed, and how we think we are rational. But in reality we are not. That we think we are the makers of our own destiny. And we even try hard. Beyond that luck or fortuitous circumstances is what makes success happen. Then author goes on to describe how nature is not deterministic but is based on randomness. A drunkard's walk also known random walk is a path that is taken by taking random steps. It has been used in fields like Physics, Chemistry, Biology, etc.
Authors argument is that

"we have to realize that success or failure sometimes arises neither from great skill nor from great incompetence but from fortuitous circumstances. Random processes are fundamental in our every day lives, yet most people do not understand them or think much about them".

This book has made me look at life from that perspective. And it has made me appreciate my success as well as failures.

Cosmos Review Week 5 and 6

2014-04-14T11:28:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I caught up with Cosmos on TV. I watched Episodes 5 and 6. In 2007 I watched Cosmos a personal Voyage of Carl Sagan. So, it took a while for me to get over the comparison hurdle of narrative style of Neil Tyson and Carl Sagan. Slowly, I am warming up to Neil's narration.

Episode 5 was the story about light. Episode 6 was even more complicated. It was about going deeper and deeper. Some of the things that stood up was the way the electrons dance around a proton. Then how a plant absorbs sunlight and carbon dioxide to generate sugar. Oxygen is released as a waste product to the environment. And some other life forms coming up on earth to make use of that byproduct.

I remember in some Indian mythology stories there is a mention of universe inside a universe. So, I think this is what they must be talking about. We live in milky way galaxy. Which is one among so many other galaxies in the universe. And in this earth, there is a whole another universe of life. And if we go further into our body, there is a whole universe of genes and different kinds of cells inter operating. Then we go further down to the level, there are atoms and atoms have their own universe of electrons and how they come to contact with other atoms and how they behave. The whole thing comes to a certain perspective with this.

Episode 5 starts with the chinese knowing about the pinhole and one of the philosophers Mozi writing about democracy and spirit of science. But then Qin Shi Huang takes over the whole country and then destroys the books, or the writings of that time. As a result chinese loose out on the scientific progress. Then the burden of discovery falls on a wise man in middle east known as Alhazen somewhere in the Arab world. He preaches about questioning everything in order to draw the principles of nature. He also discovers the pinhole theory(it was mentioned that Mozi already knew about this). Neil points out that anything that starts with al in science has its origin in the arab world. Like Algebra, Alchemy, Algorithm, Alcohol, etc.

Arabs were also in touch with the civilization in India. So, they were carrying some of their understanding to the other side of the western world. That is how zero reached the western world. Or the so called decimal system which included zero.

From the Arab world Neil moves to Newton who finds a way to split light into rainbow colors using a prism. Newton comes close to looking at it through a microscope, but it doesn't happen. If he had done that scientific progress would have saved something like a century.

Humans had to wait for another 100 years do discover the spectroscopy. Fraunhofer inspects the light through the prism through a microscope and discovers the dark lines between each colors. They were named Fraunhofer lines. That discovery leads to the rise of Astrophysics. From that analysis, we come to know that the universe is made up of same basic elements, and that could be deciphered by analyzing light.

From there we move on to the world of imagination where we are trying to detect Neutrinos. And how the universe contains these invisible particles called Neutrinos which escaped from Big bang long ago. We also come to know that the sunlight that we are feeling during the day have been inside the sun for millions of years in the core. Once they escape, from the core it takes 8 and half minutes to get to us. So, the rays that we are seeing or feeling are ancient at least millions of years old. Such is the story of light.

The universe or the nature is throwing mysteries after mysteries towards us. But slowly, we are deciphering it, understanding it and evolving from it. Every time, I am watching a documentary on science, I am amazed and baffled by it. I get goosebumps thinking about these ideas and how they have shaped us.

The science that we know of now is so incomprehensible. It doesn't make sense. We can't hold so many ideas in our head any more.We need shows like Cosmos to make sense of it. We need a show like this to improve our understanding and where we stand. I am glad that some one decided to remake the show once again and present it to the world. I wish and hope that almost every one watches it. It is seriously one of the greatest shows which compresses 13.8 billion years of history in 13 episodes.

The Theory That Would not Die

2014-04-11T01:11:00.001-04:00

This book is about Baye's theorem. Thomas Bayes first suggested the theorem in 1700s. After his death, Richard Price resurrected it. In the book, there is an idea that probably it was Richard Price who invented it. But the credit for presenting it in a very mathematical way goes to Laplace

The book traces the history of how Baye's theorem was applied in many problems and still it never got the credit it deserved. It talks about the conflict of Frequentists vs Bayesians.

I have been reading up on Baye's theorem for a while. It tends to pop up here and there in the books I read. So, I picked this book from the library to find out what was all the fuss about. It is a good book, but can go slow. The author Sharon Bertsch Mcgrayne, wanted to bring the drama behind each and every story. So, it kind of gets slow.

New Cosmos Series On Television

2014-03-30T20:38:00.001-04:00

Carl Sagan in the 1980s presented a story of our universe called Cosmos. I came across that show somewhere in 2007 or 2008 I think. It was the first time I came across such an elegant way of explaining the story of our universe. It was a 13 episode series. And each episode was a story. Story about how the universe was formed, how evolution happened, how technological revolution happened. For the 1980s it was a ground breaking television show.

Now we are in 2014. The same show has been remade. Premise is the same, but it has also been modified for the present generation. This is being presented by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

I am all excited to see the new show. And I am looking forward to it in.

The show could be found in cosmosontv.com

2013-02-05T10:05:00.000-05:00

Are we just trying to complete a task or are we trying to be creative with that task?

Is there a meaning??

2013-02-05T00:09:00.001-05:00

Not sure where I got this from. Somewhere online I found it and pasted it here long ago. And publishing it today in February 2013.

Has it ever happened that everything is going so fine and well. However there is this feeling of is that it? Or is there more to it. What is the hidden meaning behind this? Or is there any meaning at all?

That is the question I ask myself all the time? And then there are expectations of the other kinds. I have a list of things to do and I expect to finish all of them. However there is a thought which says I can't do it. What is this thought which proposes something. Then there is a thought which opposes it? Why does this happen any way? When you have more questions than answers, then there are more answers to look for. More you look for, more you are lost. For there is no one answer to a question. A wise man once said that when you ask a question, you have already found the answer. For in the question lies the answer or a pointer to the solution.

Our brain is so brilliant that it can create answers which may sound logically true, but can it stand the test of times. That is why Aristotle advised a model of clear thinking. Based on his proposal the modern scientific theories cropped up and they stood the test of times. We found that earth is not flat, nor it is the center of universe. We found that we humans are not godly creations but nature's unique expression of protein assembly. And again the question arises is there any meaning hidden in this big picture. Is there a reason for existence?

The truth is we are alive, we can see, hear, smell, taste, touch. We are organisms interacting with the outside world and making sense of it. Why are we alive? So far the scientifically justified theory is that. We are carriers of a set of protein assembly called genes. However, the body is nothing but a huge assembly of cells and each cell is specialized to do one task. And the body cant live forever. It has a time stamp or death. So, this body has to find a way to pass the genes on. So far the effective way which nature has chosen is sexual reproduction. We have a male and a female and their union produces another body with a mixed set of genes. And in order to do that the body has to find a way to protect itself as well as find a suitable mate through which it can initiate the process of gene passover. In order to do that we have to interact with an external world where the possible mates reside. And thus we have advanced capabilities to interact with the nature through smell, taste, touch, vision, sound. And to decode the signals coming from the outside world we have a brain. So, what ever understanding we have about us and others resides in our brain. If our brain gets damaged, so does our reality and ability to understand. And this brain has enormous ability to create meaning out of pure signals. We see something, basically that is nothing but light entering our eyes and that gets decoded and an object is formed in our brain which is given a name based on whether the object is already familiar or not. If it is familiar then comes all the meanings associated with it. If it is not a new set of meaning is generated. The same applies to sense of touch, sound, smell. Thus we can very well say that our brain is a meaning generating machine a computer which was picked by nature and we have been suitably rewarded so far. We have learned how to tweak and control certain aspects of nature. We moved out of the forest and formed civilizations, invented agriculture, cities, industries, cultures, wars. And all these are nothing but through meanings perceived in our brains. So, by nature there is no meaning but we as humans have created it and have thus become so far the powerful organism ever to walk on this earth. And it is not by sheer strength but through our brains and the meanings it has derived.

Religion-Spirituality Mountain Climb Allegory

2012-07-13T17:48:00.004-04:00

Got it from the wiki entry for Jacob Needleman

Needleman speaks of a mountain that is very high, and being at the top of the mountain is being with God. The base of this mountain is so broad that it extends out to several different climate zones. People in the arctic climate have a tradition about how to climb the mountain, wearing a parka with snowshoes and goggles, etc. The people in the tropical zone teach how it is necessary to wear short pants and a pith helmet with mosquito netting. The people in the arctic, by the time they get halfway up the mountain find that it is warmer than they had thought, so they shed some of their outerwear. The people from the tropics find the need to go back to get a sweater. By the time they get to the top, they're all dressed in a similar way because there is only one top.
The problem Needleman cautions about is when people walk around the base of the mountain arguing with each other about the proper way to dress for the journey.

Believer Vs Non Believer

2012-03-29T11:32:00.003-04:00

Two explorers tramping through a jungle come upon what might be a clearing. The first explorer says, “Some gardener must tend this plot.” The second explorer says, “There isn’t any gardener,” thinking the land has always been a wilderness.

So they pitch their tents and set watch, but no gardener ever appears. The second explorer says, “You see, there isn’t any gardener,” but the first explorer says, “There is a gardener but he is invisible.”

So they set up a wire fence, which would reveal the presence of an invisible gardener, but the wire never moves. They electrify the fence, but no one ever shrieks. They patrol with bloodhounds, but the dogs never howl. At this point the second explorer declares, “Clearly, there isn’t any gardener.” But the first explorer persists. “There is a gardener, but he is invisible, intangible, and eternally elusive.”

Exasperated, the second explorer then asks, “But how does an invisible, intangible, eternally elusive gardener differ from no gardener at all?”

-From the book New Essays in Philosophical Theology

Scientific Models

2012-03-26T12:52:00.000-04:00

They interpret
They give phenomena a name
They enable us to classify the world and phenomena according to logical forms
Through these models we de facto perceive reality.

Top Ten Puzzles of Human Evolution

2012-03-23T20:27:00.000-04:00

New Scientist Magazine 24 March 2012

Why are we so different from chimps?
Why did we become bipedal?
Why was technological development so slow?
When did language evolve?
Why are our brains so big?
Why did we lose our fur?
Why did we go global?
Are some of us hybrids?
Did we exterminate the Neanderthals?
Are there any other hominins left?

What do you do in the morning aka Morning Ritual

2012-03-16T14:03:00.001-04:00

This is my morning routine.

Complete sentence stems (personal journal)
Read a few pages of the book that I am reading.
Prepare a protein smoothie (Whey + bee pollen + blueberries + yogurt + celery + fish oil)
Take supplements (Multivitamin, Vitamin D and C, ECGC, Garlicin, Korean Ginseng)
Breakfast (3 or 4 Eggs, Feta Cheese) -- (Optional)
Prepare my bag (gym clothes, lunch box) to go to work

What you eat + what you do = Healthy

2012-03-16T13:53:00.001-04:00

I follow a website called Mark's Daily Apple

And my understanding so far from this is that

80% of how your body looks is determined by what you eat not the workout you do.
Working out every day is not a good idea.
Coffee and Alcohol in moderation is good.
It is important that you find some time to play.
Eliminate stress.

Goal of education

2012-03-12T11:54:00.003-04:00

To teach

How to think
How to recognize logical fallacies
How to be creative
How to learn

Physical, Mental And Emotional

2012-03-12T11:14:00.002-04:00

If you want to excel in any activity there are 3 areas you has to focus on.
1. Mental
2. Emotional
3. Physical

The war has to be won in the head first. Which is the mental and emotional aspect of it.
And of course physical manifestation will be an extension of this.

Watch your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words for they become actions. Watch your actions for they become...habits. Watch your habits, for they become your character. And watch your character, for it becomes your destiny - Margaret Thatcher

To Do List

2012-03-12T11:10:00.002-04:00

1. Clean up the blog template or change the theme

2. Write at least one article per month

3. Improve my writing ability in the process

Speed Reading Tips

2011-04-29T13:15:00.000-04:00

1. Sit up straight

If you are recline, your mind will think it is time to relax and slow down.

2. Let your fingers guide you
Place your index fingers on opposite sides of the line you are reading and drag them both down as you read. This encourages your eyes to move down, not across, the page, preventing you from lingering on one word for too long.

3. Focus on the negative space
Don't look directly at the words. Instead, look at the white space directly above the line. You will automatically absorb many words simultaneously.

4. Skip the little guys.
Don't waste time on words like "the", "of" and "on". Scan for verbs and nouns; your brain will compute the rest of the sentence.

- Men's Health Article

Morning Pages Week 3

2011-02-23T14:11:00.000-05:00

What was I thinking when I started this whole writing in the morning? So, far what I have gained is nothing. I feel totally blank most of the mornings and what I end up writing doesn't make much sense. It is as if I am repeating the stuff I have read somewhere or I have heard someone talking. Sometimes I wonder am I just a reflector of the knowledge of others? Am I just repeating what people have already said. Where is the originality in my thought? Who am I? A person repeating things that has been already said before. I think this is one of the biggest realization from the morning pages. That I am just another reflector of other's thoughts, who barely has thoughts of his own. The idea of original thinking has gone out of the window. In fact there is no time to do something called thinking in this world. That is why I read and read, thinking that I might get an idea or information from the other sources which will inspire me to come out with thoughts of my own. And what comes out is what has been already said before. In fact this whole blog has been about ideas adopted from others. There is none which I can call my own. They just occurred to me and they just happen to be found here. These thoughts they are not mine. These ideas they are not mine. I am not any of this that you read here.

Well that is the biggest realization so far from the morning pages. I am in the final week now. And the only thing I could not keep up with is getting up a bit early in the morning. I still wake up the same time that I normally do. And surprisingly I find enough time to write the morning pages.

Morning Pages Week 1

2011-02-05T15:01:00.000-05:00

I am almost in the end of the week 1 of morning pages. So, far I have not felt any drastic differences. Getting up early in the morning is still an issue with me. I think I am more on the night owl side than an early lark. So, getting up even at 7 in the morning affects my day. Once in a month and half I have to log in to the office network and check the system. So, that week usually my sleep pattern changes. As I have to get up at 7. This week happens to be the week after that week. And I have been pretty consistent getting up between 7 and 8. So, I have been able to make progress with morning pages. Initial 2 days have been tough, as I was still half awake and my handwriting suffered because of that. And I don't remember what I wrote in them. However after 3 days I was able to write some stuff out which actually made sense. I also observed that once the writing is done I am fully awake and ready to face the world. It feels like a part of my brain suddenly can see the world as a series of sequences rather than a random disconnected events. This happens to me in the morning when I am damn sleepy. And the morning pages has shorten that mode. Most of the writings makes sense and some of it is utter non sense brain noise dump. I will go through what I wrote may be the end of the month and try to see whether I see a pattern. So far I have been able to stick to the exercise. Let the second week begin.

How much time does it take? So far it has taken something like 15 - 25 minutes. I keep writing even though I go blank and write whatever comes to my mind. Sometimes the sentences are bizarre, weird and doesn't make any sense. Then comes a meaningful sentence and then it jumps back to gibberish. Today's morning page was the weirdest of writing of all time. I just wrote gibberish, mindless words. My handwriting looked like a drunk's handwriting. So, I am looking forward for new experiences which morning pages will reveal to me in coming weeks.

A shot at morning pages.

2011-01-31T15:08:00.000-05:00

It was mid of September 2006, I was new to New York. And my favorite pass time was to go to Barnes and Noble and browse books there. While going through the popular book section I came across a book called The Artist's Way. A Book written by Julia Cameron. It was a how to book to connect with the creative part and break away from the artist's block. She suggested 2 powerful techniques to do that.
1. Morning pages
2. Artist's date.

I tested the morning pages concept in 2006. However with time, I lost touch with that practice. All I remember from that experience was the grogginess of the mornings and just doodling.

Recently I read Pragmatic Thinking and Learning. Author of this book, Andy Hunt mentions that morning pages is an effective way to get a core dump of Right brain thinking. His emphasis is that it is very difficult to get hold of the information present in the R brain. And mornings are the times when a person is half awake and that is the time, our R brain thinking will be communicated to us through dreams or symbols. And it would be easy to describe as the memory is very fresh.

So, I have decided to practice the art of morning pages deliberately in the mornings of February as soon as I get up. So, this is the process or protocol that I will be following.

Do this from Feb 1 2011 - March 2 2011 for 30 days.
1. Before going to sleep keep a notepad and a pen next to me.
2. The moment I wake up, I grab the pen and the notepad.
3. Write the date and time, and start writing.
4. The writing can be anything that I feel like writing, it is basically what I feel I write, no stopping thoughts. Just brain dump of what is going on in my head.
5. I will stop when I finish the 3rd page.
6. I note down the time.

On March 3 2011 I will read all that I wrote and may be make sense of it.

I will write a report on this experiment and its effectiveness every week of February.

Keys to the kingdom -- A dancer's state -- A beginner's Mind

2011-01-27T20:15:00.000-05:00

Dancing is fun and fantastic for the mind, body and soul. Last night I was at a salsa social. And the thought that was going through my mind was, I have to make every dance count. Basically I didn't want to go into the auto pilot mode of dancing. What I found out initially when I am in a social is that, I allow the creative part of me to open up. The first few dances are where I find new patterns. For me every dance I do is different, and I dont repeat myself. It is a way I found to express myself in a social dancing.

Some fellow dancers will say that a couple dance is not about you, but about the partner. More than anyone a dance is about you, your personal expression. You can go to all kinds of dance schools and learn a great deal about dancing. However, if you are not finding your own self in this process, you are missing a core part of learning, that is to find a part inside you. The goal is to find that human inside you, who expresses him/her freely in a way you sense the real unique you. I have been wondering a lot about it and wanted to blog about it. Because this is the kind of realization which has set my dancing apart. The dances that I do in the social is always unique and always there is something that I find to express. It may not be an emotion, but it definitely is not common. It is a state where the general rules are broken. Where the rules are in sync with what you are. Where you are present in the moment, interacting with the world as events come to you and you handle it with minimal stress. I use to be stressed a lot about my dancing, but when I actually stopped worrying and started enjoying myself, that is when the real progress happened. It feels as if I have entered a beginner's mind. Where I am open to possibilities, where I allow myself to watch everything that I do or I am going to do through fresh set of eyes.

Announcing death of my salsa blog

2011-01-13T14:12:00.000-05:00

Salsa Bugaloooo that was the name of my salsa blog in rediffblogs. And it was in the domain http://salsablog.rediffblogs.com. Now it is not available any more. And yes I would like to declare it as dead. So Rest In Peace my salsa blog.

There is a cached version of the website in Google. You can find that here Cached Website

So, that is what I have for now. I am not sure whether I will blog a lot about salsa any more. It is a journey which I started long time ago. And now there is no time or energy or enthusiasm to talk about it. However when I feel the time is right I will blog about dance technique called Dunham Technique.

Meanwhile there are other interesting things in life which needs a new way of opening up and being aware. So, I will blog about them. I have been thinking a lot of stuff for this blog. And a 5 minute blog is the method that I found is the best way to keep this space updated.

Happy New Year 2011

2011-01-12T14:34:00.000-05:00

Here is wishing every one a very happy new year 2011.

This year is definitely the year of honing my productive skills. So, a couple of weeks I have been trying to follow a system. As part of that, this blog post is being written in only 5 minutes. Yes that is right. I allow only 5 minutes to finish this post. Of course the editing might take more than a few minutes but the content is produced in a 5 minute burst.

So before I go on ranting about productivity in the future as I progress. I want to do one thing which I have been thinking of doing for a while. That is to ask forgiveness from you. I ask forgiveness from each and everyone. I am sorry, if I have been mean, bad or indifferent towards you. If you think that I have done something to harm you. I am really sorry. Please forgive me. If certain things have happened in your life to which you feel that I have to be blamed. I seek forgiveness from you. If you think I have ignored you, I am sorry. If you think that I have not met your expectations I am sorry.

I am sorry, please forgive me.

year 2011 is the beginning of a new decade. So a very happy new decade everyone.

Four years of this American Life... and an Indian baby shower..

2010-09-13T14:58:00.000-04:00

In the summer of 2005 and spring of 2006 I visited New York City for work. At that time my idea about the american culture or its way of life I could say was zero. For me travelling to America was like this coolest hip thing that could happen to me. I also thought how nice it would be live and work in NYC. And it happened in the summer of 2006. And this summer of 2010 I completed 4 years living in America. And I feel I have now slowly started adapting to this way of life. I remember a friend of mine telling me, when you move to a new country it takes around four years to adjust. I wondered about it. Now when I look back at it. I think that even four years is not enough to say that you understand the way of the world in a new country. Understanding and blending within a culture is easy on a superficial level, not that easy on a deeper level.

Last weekend my room mate from college invited me for his wife's baby shower. The ceremony was in a Krishna temple in New Jersey. Initially I was reluctant about going to New Jersey. But then my friend persisted and kept calling me. So, I thought I must make the trip.

When I reached the temple the ceremony had not started. The ceremony was being held in a hall inside the temple. My friend was in a traditional indian dress. I thought wow, this is a a traditional ceremony. The priest comes from the same area where my friend is from in India. There was indian style sweets, I ate udupi style indian food (a small town in Karnata state in India). For those few hours I felt like I was in India. I am very impressed by the way how some people from India are trying to protect their identity, their culture even though they are in a foreign land. I am glad that I got to see a glimpse of India in America on a Sunday.

New York Salsa Congress 2010

2010-09-02T13:32:00.000-04:00

I have been attending the New York Salsa congress from 2005. In the year 2005 I was this guy fresh from India. I was dancing the On1 style of salsa. And I was mesmerized by the charm of it. That was the time I was in the fan mode. I took pictures with famous salsa celebrities and took a few salsa workshops. I was just another beginner in the scene and I never thought that I will be living in New York City area to tell another story, the story of my dancing. I use to have a blog on salsa. But then I lost the password. So I am unable to do anything in that blog now. So, I have decided to write about my dance experiences in this blog.

Fast forward to 2010 New York Salsa Congress. When I look at the person of 2005 to now, I see a lot of difference. The person at that time was fascinated. The person now is no more fascinated about the congress than he was before. He is more relaxed and has accepted the craziness of the congress. The energy at the congress socials is very high. It is because of the quality of the dancers. And I can actually tap into that energy and ride that wave. Previously it was a bit difficult. Now as a mature social dancer I am more aware about these shifting energies in dancing and accordingly pace myself.

This congress also marks the beginnings of incorporating Dunham technique in my salsa dancing. What this technique has taught me is about grounding yourself while dancing and also using the pelvis muscles. Also some hand movements. I have been taking classes regularly for the past 2 years now. And I definitely see the difference in my dancing. So, tonight I have 2 hours of strenuous Dunham workout class. And then later I will be hitting the dance floor at the NY salsa congress. This is my fifth NY Salsa congress and I am already excited about it.