Thoughts, Opinions, Experiences & Questions

Interpreting Migration

2019-03-11T16:10:00.000-07:00

What is more satisfying to humans - things in comparison or in absolute? Many believe that the relative achievements are much more important to us and generate more happiness. Multiple researchers have suggested this e.g. when students at a top b-school were asked what scenario would they prefer to be in - earning $200k while your batch mates make $100k or earning $300k while batch mates make $400k and an overwhelming majority chose the first scenario. This may be surprising to some but this is not the case of a single, selfish or jealous person but seems to be the general behavior of so called rational humans. Moreover, we can see so many examples of this phenomenon at play around us. Does clocking a 10.5 seconds for a 100 meter dash in a winning race of national athletics championship feel more exuberant or clocking 10.0 in Olympics and finish last?

If this is true, then why do people migrate from low earning societies to high earning ones. Leaving aside the case of forced migration due to war, famine or fear for life, here I am referring to voluntary, economic migration with sheer motive of better earning (and lifestyle?). E.g. migration from Bihar to Mumbai or Punjab, from Gujarat to US or Punjab to Canada and Australia. None of these places are at war or suffering from famine and none of these people are running away for their life.

A person living in top 10 percentile of income in their own 'home' is tempted to go to a society where he is most likely to be in the bottom 50%. A better lifestyle? May be. But more satisfaction or happiness? Apparently not. Then what drives such behavior, generation after generation? If getting pulled down in the social income hierarchy does really give unhappiness then why don't people move back to their happier pasts? If inertia is the reason, then why didn't the inertia stop them in the first place from migrating? Aren't we humans such a mysterious creature!

2016-07-26T15:17:00.000-07:00

What to do with...

All of us at times think about what would be the best way to get the most out of the available resources xyz. In fact, at other times we make a subconscious decision on xyz based on our value system or past experience where we had made a thoughtful choice.

Still doesn't sound familiar? Let's define xyz. XYZ is all the resources a person has got - Time, Energy and Money. Most of our actions use a combination of these - be it me writing this article or you reading this article. We obviously had numerous other options to utilize our resources - check facebook, have a walk, watch a movie, go shopping, go earning.. to name a few obvious ones. On what basis do we decide what action is the best for us? How to make the best use of time, energy and money - assuming we have a limited supply of it, although they can be exchanged for each other e.g. time and energy can be exchanged for money (i.e. the work we do for our living). Had these not been limited, we won't be making statements like I wish I had time for myself/ family/ gym etc. or I wish I had money to buy the latest iPhone/ Ferrari or I wish I had enough energy to go for a walk/ read a book after dinner or climb Mt. Everest.

The below picture tries to explain how we struggle for these three throughout our lives.

The question "what's the best utilization" can be divided into 3 parts - what's best for me in short term/ in medium term or in long term. More often than we realize, there exists a trade-off among these three. What sounds like a good choice in short term could be a disastrous one for long-term or vice-a-versa.

Let see what are the likely choices when we prioritize one of these 3 time frames-

1. Short-term happiness: When we spend (time, money and energy) on activities that give us instant happiness. The characteristic being that they have immediate effect but have little long term impact - apart from may be creating a few good memories. A few classic examples can be - watching a Salman Khan movie, binge eating, drinking alcohol, doing drugs, playing online games (candy-crush, counter-strike, anyone?), going on a world-trip/vacation, going out for a lavish dinner/party/concert or even social service or charity (while expecting nothing in return apart from the instant feel-good). None of these activities is expected to "benefit" you in future - the happiness dies the moment you are done with them. In fact, in long term you might even regret making those choices.

2. Medium-term happiness: When we spend on things with an objective to get happiness over a period of time, though the rate of that happiness may diminish over time and the value of the item too will decrease with time. Examples would include - buying the latest gadgets (smartphone, laptop, gaming console), a new car, a wardrobe makeover. These things will give you happiness over a period of time while you use them (or show them off!) but won't last for long or the happiness resulting from them will go down to negligible - does the 55-inch TV you bought two year ago give you the same happiness it gave when you installed it?

3. Long-term happiness: These are the decisions made while contemplating a distant future, needless to say by compromising on short-term and medium-term happiness - Retirement funds, a house/land which is likely to appreciate in value, activities aimed at making ourselves healthier, fitter or wiser over time (gym, walks, yoga, dieting - if we leave apart the enjoyment part if any).

Type 1 may be labeled as Indulgence/ Enjoyment or Experience, type-2 as Consumption or Things and type-3 as Investment.

While you focus on one, you might lose on the other. In other words - you may want to enjoy today and suffer tomorrow or suffer today with a hope to enjoy tomorrow.

Not surprisingly, most of us don't want to miss on any of the three time frames and strive for a "balance". But is there an ideal mix of the three? Can someone (say, a spiritual guide) find it for us? I don't think so, and on top of that the "optimal mix" is highly dependent on what you "think" is important for "you". Go contemplate, find your optimal mix and make a little more conscious choices in everyday life to align them with your optimal mix. Good luck!

Don't forget to leave your own thoughts below.

3 decades of exploring and still wondering what is it that really matters!

2013-04-10T12:47:00.001-07:00

Is something worth pursuing or worth ignoring? We frequently face this question in our lives. It largely depends upon what we value and how much. But why we value some things more than others? Are we right in doing so or we just 'feel' strongly about it?

The other way around, do all the things that we choose to do or pursue, really matter? Some decisions might seem trivial e.g. whether we choose to get up or snooze, whether we choose to follow traffic rule or jump the queue, whether we stand up or continue to take shit when people around us talking non-sense, whether we celebrate random days as birthdays and festivals or consider them 'just another day'.

In order to know how something matters, one possible way can be to try the available alternatives. For a person like me who seldom celebrated birthdays, it's usually away from any attention or limelight and to ensure that, I used to hide my B'day from social media (fb, orkut and likes), omit the birth date field wherever permitted, and so on. This year I forgot to hide my b'day from fb and realized it only when fb frnds started posting on timeline. I was too late to remove it so I decided not to hide it and see what happens and 'how does it matter' :)

2 days later I have a few numbers: On FB a total of 124 friends (out of 840 in friend list) wished. 5 wished a day in advance, 106 on the exact day and 13 a day late.

I couldn't stop myself from doing simple analytics on these numbers and here are the findings (and inconclusive inferences).

- Though I have around 25% friends in friend list whom I never met (or don’t remember having met them), but among 124 who wished on my wall only 10% are such. So people whom you know outside 'virtual world' are more likely to post?

- I have 21% female friends on fb (as per wolfram alpha facebook analytics) , among wall posters only 15% were female. Does it mean male friends are more likely to post on (my) wall? Really? :(

I was about to pull more statistics (e.g. do married friends post more or singles, do friends in India post more or those abroad et al. But just then came a question "How does it matter?" and I had no choice but to surrender. Ultimately those wishes or posts have no impact on my relationship with those people or for that matter even on cheering up my mood.. Or in other words "it simply doesn't matter!"

So I won't try to analyze any further and thank each one of those 124 for honoring my wall as well as the rest 840-124=716 for promoting cleanliness ;)

Among all these stupid non-sense thoughts and analysis I will keep on wondering "what is it that really matters"

2 Sides of Passion

2011-05-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

Passion is said to be spice of life. It brings excitement, adventure, thrill and uncertainties in life. No doubt, without passion, life would become routine, mundane and dull.

Passion originates from heart and not from thoughtful, logical, intelligent thinking. You don't indulge in much of thinking, contemplation or calculation before pursuing your passion e.g. photography, gardening or cricket. Hence passion allows one to take uncalculated risks. Not surprisingly, passionate people are considered "lively".

But is passion always "good to have"? Something that allows you to take uncalculated risks.

Pardon me for a bit of generalization or stereotyping but it's usually considered that North Indians are passionate people. The recognition of the fact goes as back to the British rule when Army recruited them in large (disproportionate) numbers, thus recognizing (apart from their physical built and abilities) their passionate nature and ability to embrace danger without thinking and fearing much. This is the trait (we may call it bravery) perfectly suited for such a job.

But is the same passion responsible behind the alarmingly high rate of crime in North India also? No doubt there is crime in cities like Mumbai but most of that is organized crime or at least crime with a motive- for money, for living (or luxury living) etc. In fact, there's very less 'organized crime' in North India and here what drives people is the bravery, fearlessness and daring attitude. Hence here most of the crimes are either committed in the heat of the moment or what we call "crime of passion". Aren't rape, road-rage, murder all crimes of passion?

In other words, usually there's a distinction between a common man and a criminal but among the society of 'passionates' this distinction gets blurred. Among the breed of passionates, anyone can get jealous, angry or feel provoked and turn a criminal or beast. I intentionally refrained from citing examples because firstly any average person can himself recall more than sufficient incidents from his own memory or from media and secondly there are too many in my mind and it will be hard to choose a few to cite here.

I suggest you think again before you say "I am a very passionate guy".. may be in response to "introduce yourself" in your next interview.

Socio-economic Structure and Personal Structure

2011-04-10T06:20:00.000-07:00

Everybody is aware of the big story of emergence of the great Indian middle class. If you see Indian society, a large part of the population from the base of the traditional socioeconomic pyramid is rapidly shifting towards the middle of the hierarchy; the reasons can be many- the opening up of the Indian economy, new employment opportunities created by the entrepreneurial spirit of young India, or urban migration et al. The use of 'pyramid' term to represent this society is about to get inappropriate or obsolete. Such a society full of middle class populace 'd better be represented by a 'diamond' structure- bulging from the middle.

Have you ever thought of any correlation between socioeconomic status of a society and the structure of the people of that society?

In fact there seems to be one and a positive correlation which is not just coincidental in the case of India. The people in the new middle class have a great tendency to become diamond shaped themselves, bulging from middle either from front or from back!! Blame it on the lack of fitness awareness, unhealthy lifestyle, fitness being at lower priority than earning money or as faulty a belief as "fat means healthy" or "thin means weak". Another explanation could be the overuse (abuse) of newly acquired affordability of high fat/protein diet even if it doesn't suit their newly acquired sedentary life styles.

India is not alone to witness this widespread shift in waistline. An increase in per capita income usually leads to an increase in waistline of the people. Even in USA during the middle of 20th century, a similar trend was seen and historical evidence shows that such a trend prevails for 1 or 2 generation (around 4 decades) and then the ill-effects of unhealthy practices and perceptions start to show up which force people to think otherwise and check their perceptions, become conscious of lifestyle and food pattern, or simply rethink their priorities. No surprise the current generation in US is one of the most health conscious.

India is also on the same track, it's repeating the history; the only difference being that we are lagging behind by a couple of decades. Indian economy opened up in 1992 and prosperity reached masses in 2000s and an optimistic estimate is that the bulging waist lines would continue till '20s or '30s.

Hope India doesn't take too long to correct it's perceptions and gets saved from the imminent epidemic of lifestyle diseases upon which the healthcare, pharmaceutical and health insurance industry are banking big.

Logic vs Emotions

2010-12-08T10:07:00.000-08:00

Which one of the two is better? Don’t say both are good coz there are situations where often they head-on and one has to choose one of these. For example in matters of love, friendship, religious faith, philanthropy, unethical and immoral but tempting opportunities etc.

In most of our entrance exams or interviews we test logical reasoning but rarely do we test emotional stability.

Which one do you apply or trust more? It’s a no brainer that there has to be a balance. But how? Should every decision of yours be a blend of logic and emotions? But who decides this balance? Is same balance right for everyone?

OR rather than a blend should it be case dependent? That is, let logic be applied in certain cases (e.g. survival, business) and emotions in some (e.g. relationships, religious matters)?

Though even easier is to leave everything to the superior fool; the mind (or brain?) whatever it thinks is right, just do that!! This may not always produce best results but is surely the easiest way out.

Just a thought: Emotions can be influenced (high jacked), can logic be influenced (high jacked)? Even in vocabulary there exists emotional blackmailing but no logical blackmailing!

Greediness vs Austerity

2010-04-21T02:54:00.000-07:00

Is it bad to be greedy? Is it all moh-maya?

A definition of enough money and a justification for its longing is that one needs enough money so that one can live life doing all those things that he truly enjoys, without worrying for money. So money is an "enabler" for bringing enjoyment and happiness in life.

But the trap is that people start loving only the act of making money itself. Anyway, if you can convince yourself that there are no better means of enjoyment in life, stay hungry for money, stay foolish, stay happy collecting money till end!! But how easy is it to renounce the greed or longing for more and more money or in other words, how easy is it to strike a balance? What does it take? Let's look at some examples of people who influenced the world.

Did Gandhi embrace austerity from childhood? He was born to filthy rich parents who could afford to send him abroad for study (a luxury in those days). Till age of 40 or so, he photographed himself in nice, expensive suits. Then suddenly he shun all this and resorted to austerity. Call it self-realization or publicity stunt or way to connect with masses!! (depending upon how much you like Gandhi or his policies)

May be the joy of public admiration is much more than any earthly (oops did I include sex!!) means of happiness!!

Could Buddha become so selfless had he not been born in royal family and enjoyed the royal luxuries in childhood?

Is such a resort to austerity after enjoying pleasures merely an escape from rat-race which one gets fed up with? or is it something really eternal, heavenly blessing?

I believe, It is very difficult to renounce desire for money without enjoying it at least once. Or may be we are tempted to believe this b'coz we don’t know about cases where people resorted to austerity without enjoying riches. May be such people don't exist or they simply don’t hit headlines. We respect those who had achieved something (by pursuing or by sheer luck) and then talked and preached about its meaninglessness!! Paradox? May be!

Importance of failure

2010-04-09T23:02:00.000-07:00

Nobody would disagree that addiction is bad b'coz it is usually associated with narcotics, alcoholism etc. So the word "addiction" is generally perceived in a negative sense, irrespective of the context (addiction to which thing; pleasure, substance, or person).

Why is it perceived to be so? Perhaps b'coz even though you feel pretty elated and high while being hooked to your addiction or while experiencing it but you feel utterly devastated when you don’t get what you are addicted to. And you fear the moment when you wont get what you are badly addicted to. One will do almost anything to fulfill his/her addiction, b'coz craving for addiction is usually very high.

is tea/coffee an addiction? P'bly we know very few addictions; how about lifestyle, power, praise? or cereals, salt? Addiction to internet? How about addiction to so called positive things: meditation, adventurism or even social service? How about addiction to something as positive as success? What could be ill effects of such a habit? Well, I think habit of success makes one weak by not exposing him to ample amount of "failures" which is an essential, unavoidable part of life. So, it makes the "fear to fail" even more deadly. You can imagine someone who tops in his class and fails in an exam; he feels the worst, most embarrassed, most disturbed in the whole class b'coz he was addicted to success; he finds it difficult to handle his own failure, to accept his failure. Will being addicted to success make one averse to risk taking, to undertake steps where chances of failure may be substantial? Will it restrict one from trying new, daring things in life? Won't being averse to risks take out the "adventure" out of life?

And without adventure, life is like a boring journey that you have been told to complete. Someone rightly said "life is not how many breaths you took in life but it's about being through the moments that took your breadth away!!"

When I was a child, say in 1998, my father gave me an article to read from Sunday magazine section of The Tribune newspaper. Main purpose of me reading a full page article in those days was to improve my linguistic skills. The article was about a lady who had always been numero-uno throughout her life; school topper in childhood, then college topper and then university topper. She got the most coveted job at university (a bank job) and even a life-partner of her choice. Problems started later when she couldn't afford to be second to her own husband who was more successful than her; which resulted in a strained relationship and ended up in divorce. It made her more aloof, less social, even though more hardworking. Final blow came at the workplace when she was expected by all to be promoted as head of her department but (perhaps looking at her restricted social attitude) her colleague was given the opportunity. Obviously, she was not at all prepared to handle her failures and ended up being a heart patient and was still recovering in hospital when the article was written.

That day, I didn't think much about story and underlying message but somehow the story got registered in memory. May be today, I can comprehend it better.

So, to develop an all-round personality one must have been through a fair share of failures. I think this has been realized at least by some corporate HRs, whom I heard asking in interviews "Tell me about the greatest failure that you ever had in your life and how you came over it". I think it will be better if we realize the importance of failing, take it beyond preparing responses for interviews and actually start embracing adventurous activities which involve risk of failure.

Mystery of Expecting and Complaining

2010-03-16T04:23:00.000-07:00

You must have seen instances where similar outcomes attract starkly different reactions from different people. For example same marks in an exam (may be 20% or 90%), same results in a sport (like exit in 1st round of French open), or denial of promotion, or even the acts where little efforts have gone into the preparation like not winning anything in a lottery. Though outcomes are identical, yet different people respond to these situations differently; some relish and enjoy, some are indifferent and some complain.

What determines this response? One very simple explanation can be the intrinsic human nature, which varies from person to person depending on up-bringing, socialization and mood etc. But this alone cant explain the whole variation b'coz even the same person can behave differently to two similar outcomes. For example I am very happy when I get (just) passing marks in subject A whereas I feel like crying when I get same marks in subject B. I think one of the major reasons behind this is "our own expectations". I will be happy to get 40% marks if I expected to fail and will get disappointed if I expected to top in the subject. So, can we say, if we want to avoid disappointment and live in a good mood we must have no (or very modest) expectations?

Incidentally, isn't this what Indian mythology (Geeta) conveys "Act without expecting returns"?

And what determines our expectations? For a normal, worldly human being it is very natural to have high expectation where he/she has put in efforts. Without positive expectation, there won't be any motivation to put in efforts! So, expectations are directly related to "our own efforts" and vice versa. So, will it not be wise to restrict putting much effort b'coz it leads to high expectations and hence disappointments (assumption: nobody 'always' succeeds as much as he expected). This will lead to no disappointment at failures and a lot more happiness at little expected successes. I know the chances of success will be far less without effort.

Well, still this is my mantra for being happy and contended and it also justifies my lazy and laid-back approach/attitude :)

Importance of Unlearning

2010-03-09T09:31:00.001-08:00

When you become aware of some convincing fact but still want to ignore, overlook or forget it and believe otherwise, is it always easy to do so? Are you able to unlearn comfortably?

We stress a lot on "learning" but ironically its equally important counterpart "unlearning" is often ignored and seldom talked/discussed.

Lets take one of my favorite examples, the example of faith in God. Once you realize that there's nothing supernatural about God, rather it's just a concept, a thought invented by intelligent human(s) for the betterment (through controlling, disciplining or directing)of society, can you again start believing in the super-natural, continuously interfering (punishing and rewarding) role of God because thinking like this will make life much easier/simpler? Believing in supernatural God will normally simplify your life and lighten your mind by eliminating many "why" (which science couldn't explain till date) and replace it by "GOD planned like that" or similar answers. You can easily get forgiven for your wrongdoings, you can seek blessings, pardon and also draw hope and power. Even you can attribute your failure to the will of that God. For every small or big decision, you won’t have to think, apply your logic but simply follow what (the) God or God-men instructed us to do.

Looking at benefits, reverting back is Not a bad deal even for a purely rational mind, isn't it? But still, reverting back to your earlier faith (or degree/intensity of faith) is not at all easy. That's the problem with unlearning!! Learning may be difficult but unlearning is even more difficult.

Whatever you learnt in your childhood (may be through socialization, up-bringing or culture) is hard to change even when proven factually wrong; e.g. if you belong to North India, you are likely to believe that full-fat milk or ghee is the best source of nutrition. Now when you discover that skimmed-milk is scientifically proven to be equally good for health without giving any extra fat content, you find it difficult to convince yourself and change your food habits accordingly. Similarly, when your discover that ghee is as bad for heart as any hydrogenated fat (aka Dalda), you can't convince yourself but keep your disrespect for Dalda little changed.

We are not able to unlearn easily, which is very essential for making wise, rational decisions in life. Is there any way that we can master the art of unlearning? Will relying on logic rather than intuition or traditional knowledge help?

I am trying to think how to make unlearning easier, any directions are welcome!

Journey vs Destination

2010-03-01T04:37:00.000-08:00

Let's take a simple example of a 400m race. What is most enjoyable for a runner; is it only the last step when he touches the finish line or the whole race when he crosses all others athletes on his way, one by one? Or to further enlarge the scope, is it the final race or the innumerable days of practice that he enjoys the most?

Isn't the process of achieving something more exciting and enjoyable than the achievement itself? I fear many of you might be confused.

Let's take the case of a fighter jet pilot, its almost immaterial for pilot at what altitude or speed he is cruising, he feels the thrill when (and how fast) it's ascending or accelerating. Isn't it?

Let's take another simple example from our lives. Lets take two cases; 1st a person who owns a Mercedes Benz E class or Ferrari since last 5 years and 2nd a person who used to have an old Bajaj scooter, has moved gradually to Maruti-800 to Hyundai Accent to Honda Accord in those 5 years. Who do you think is richer? And who do you think is more likely to be happier and more satisfied?

Isn't it that we enjoy the process of rising/ascending rather than the height/altitude itself?

Is the same not true about our career, status also? Most people would agree that they don't have a goal to have exact 'k' million wealth but they simply enjoy amassing more and more (immediate goal is to have a little more than one has at a time). We try to improve our status, position, bank balance just because we don’t like stagnation. But what exactly are we trying to achieve? Perhaps we don’t even know that or that doesn't even matter because we enjoy the process only!

When there is no real charm for an ultimate goal (b'coz there is actually none), where does this excitement about the process come from? Can this be justified by any logic?

Will it be wise to step aside for a moment and relook at our own journey, methods and goals? What is the driving force of our lives?

A thought to ponder upon "Is life a journey or a mission with an ultimate goal?"

Money=Friction?

2010-02-24T21:57:00.001-08:00

Is it possible to live a good life without money? Probably not. How much money is sufficient to lead a good life? How much money is too much? No answer!!

There are 3 types of people who despise money

1st: Losers; Those who don’t have and also are sure they will never have enough of it. So in other words they are afraid of admitting to themselves that they are losers. So they are just trying to justify their choices, decisions, capabilities, orientations, or even fate.

2nd: Hypocrites; Those who had enough of it and have no charm of it any longer (or at least say so as a fashion statement or to project themselves as gentle, humble, selfless personalities). In other words they traded money for power and respect.

3rd (Unnamed) are supernatural beings who didn't have it but still realized that money is not worth running after. This is a very rare species and it's extremely difficult to distinguish it from 1st category (specially for a skeptic like me)

Can we say "Money is necessary evil" in analogy with quote from physics "Friction is necessary evil", b'Coz you can't live without them and too much is too bad.

I am right!!

2010-02-18T10:12:00.001-08:00

Why is it that whatever you do is right? The customs that I follow are always right. My nation is best. My religion is best. My opinion is right. (implicitly it makes the person who shares some of these similarities better in your opinion than others in the lot).

Did we ever gather courage to question whether you are really right or why is it so?

Well, its never too late!!

It's fine to respect one's own culture or customs but simply because one was born there in a particular caste/region/religion doesn't make that the greatest caste/region/religion on earth. Is there any scope of application of logic in this world full of emotional people who are largely being exploited by shrewd, emotionally intelligent people (you may call them "smart" or "cunning" depending upon which side you belong to and who you have sympathy for)? Isn't it very easy to provoke someone in the name of state/country/religion/god and exploit them?

Won't it be a better world if we have more emotionally intelligent people who don't hesitate to question the validity of any emotion/association/attachment? Isn't it better to keep one's belief to oneself and try to respect/accept/appreciate other's opinion at the same time.

Or is it in the best interest of human race to live in a "leader-follower (exploiter and emotional fool)" mode?

Am I right? :)

Rationality with Empathy?

2010-02-16T02:37:00.000-08:00

Is empathy always good? Well, one would say that like every other thing, it's good when within limit. But now "limit" itself has very personalized form and definition.

And the worst thing is it affects, interferes and even directs your actions and rational behavior even without you realizing about it. Thinking? Disagreeing? Just think of some instance when you discovered about someone in your circle to be from the same school of thought (may be political ideology, (non)religious view, tradition, region etc), doesn’t it suddenly increase your comfort, respect, attachment for that person? Thinking from pure logical point of view, does being from same school of thought make the other person more trustworthy/useful/productive/capable?

Don't we support some sports teams/players based on our idea of region/country/religion/economic status and ignoring the fact which team has got more talent or which team has put in how much hard work?

What if you are conducting an interview, will you be able to control your bias unless you are aware of your natural bias? Very difficult indeed.

Another extreme is when you realize your natural bias and try to defeat the effect of this bias and being over-cautious, become negatively biased.

Is there any solution? How to maintain balance between rationality(or rationalism) and empathy?

Sorry, I don't have an answer :(

I am myself in search of..

Middle path

2010-02-13T06:38:00.001-08:00

Is middle path always the best? Is "non committal" (as I also learnt being a football defender) always good? Or by being non-committal, you are playing too safe to enjoy the tides of life?

Middle path is what even Siddhartha (Buddha) preached. So is by one of the great philosophers (I think Aristotle), when he advocates middle path. Ironically he is "extremely" into proposing middleness. Also he is proposing to be "extremely" in the middle. Isn't it self-negating, self-conflicting and self-defeating?

Should we really live a life without extremes ( extreme love, extreme emotion, extreme passion, extreme anger, extreme hunger, extreme poverty, and also extreme middleness)?

Also. we always have an easier option: to cease being a "thinking" thinker. Don’t control your thoughts, don’t try to give your thoughts a direction. Whatever comes to your mind and appeals you, is correct. Follow it and remain happy. But isn't this approach of unrestrained thoughts potentially dangerous for society? What are terrorists (or fanatics)? Simply put, they are products of uncontrolled extreme thinking process. Isn't it?

Populist art vs Different art vs Bad art

2010-02-11T22:20:00.001-08:00

When novices are bitten by the "differentiation bug", they try to exhibit liking for non-popular art. But what are the chances that they will be able to distinguish between non-popular art and bad art?

Whether there's any bad art that is ever produced? This is another debate altogether!

By the way who decides which art is good and which art is bad; it is only human interpretation and not any heavenly classification. Nothing is absolute good and nothing is absolute bad.

Why is it that majority of Oscar winning movies are not commercial blockbusters? Why is it that Booker prize winning book is usually not read by masses and the book read by masses is not even nominated for booker prize?

Do we really need specialists to opine about art. After all art is meant for appreciation by all, pleasure of all.

But will it really be wise to leave all the judgment power to masses? Won't it make all 'masala' movies (having popular combination of violence, sex and lifestyle) win all the acclaim? Will it not prove the universal applicability of journalism's 3F formula (Food, Fashion, Fornication) for media? Is "wisdom of crowds" not applicable in the field of art?

Frankly, as of now, I am unable to side with either school of thought!!

So should one blindly follow the middle path? Well, wait for my next post on "middle path" :)

Curiosity drives everything?

2010-02-10T02:01:00.000-08:00

Is passion/excitement bound to die out with time?

Don't you remember your excitement on 1st day at job? First victory in elections? First overseas trip? Or first date with your girl/boy friend? Or your first sex? Riding your first bike or car? your first camera or laptop? Or even your first personal diary or first blog?

Why does the joy fade gradually? Are humans programmed like that?

Whatever milestone you crossed/achieved, loses its significance and the one you never experienced becomes your center of curiosity and your top priority.

Is this insatiable desire to explore the fundamental reason behind human intelligence and progress of humankind? May be.

But Are we not losing the joy of relishing our accomplishments?

The bug of being different

2010-02-09T09:51:00.000-08:00

Even more than luxury, riches, comfort is the craving for being different and be recognized these days. Don't you think most of our generation is bitten by a hypothetical bug (let me call this "bug of differentiation"). Can we attribute it to the ever-increasing population and ever-decreasing time/attention left with people to devote to others?

So what we do to attract this attention? Leave apart attention deficit disorder, I m talking of a much milder, socially accepted form of this disease..well I m not allowed to call it a disease/disorder 'coz majority of population suffers from it..funny.. Isn't it? Imagine we stop calling shortsightedness as disorder coz majority of ppl suffer from it!! Lets settle to a "socially acceptable level of desire to get attention".

What all we do for it? Do we like adventure sports because not many do so ? Do we try to listen to old/classical/folk songs that not many listen to these days? Do we try to express a contrarian view in order to stand out in crowd? Are there any problems associated with being different/show different? This issue, I will address in my next post titled "populist art vs different art vs bad art".

Is this desire to be different good for businesses? May be. I hope this category of customers/consumers will constitute the "long tail" in many businesses.

A lazy ass gets going at last

2010-02-09T07:22:00.000-08:00

What would u call a person who takes 2 years to come up with his first blog-post after deciding to go for it and making an account? Honestly words like busy, lazy, slow come to your mind. Choose any of these, i don't have a personal preference for any of these!! If you find a better word, do let me know :)

Is there really a difference between laziness, inertia or lack of initiative? I think all such objectives would describe my behavior when it comes to blogging. Let's see if i get hooked on to it and write regularly.