Blissful Life

2011: The Year of Conversions

2012-01-02T18:00:00.003+05:30

"2011 is the only year I studied both in a school and a college." ~SMS forward

January - Started studying seriously for entrance examinations. Carefree to careful.
February - Turned 18. Minor to major.
March - 12th standard board exam is over. End of English as a subject.
June - All exams done. Time to commit to one very big life decision - college.
July - Enjoy, wait eagerly for college.
August - Join MBBS, marvel at the size of textbooks. +Start the challenge of living without a computer for an year.
September - Make friends.
October - Sleep.
November - Loose sleep studying for internal exams.
December - Rejoice at the failure. Learn from it. And start afresh. This time, it's a happy new year!

---

I have some serious ideas about studying medicine subjects, especially anatomy. It'd be worth another post after I finish the experiments.

The Peace in being Immensely Busy

2011-11-02T21:44:00.000+05:30

To waste not a second, being busy like a bee, was always my dream. But in medical college it's the rule and not exception that you be busy, always.

And I'm finding a strange feel of order and happiness in it.

You wake up, do the record work for the day, preview the day's class, brush, rush through breakfast, ride to college, attend lectures till noon, rush back to hostel, have lunch, rest for 10 minutes, return to college for practical, go straight to library from there, come back half an hour before dinner, take a bath, wash, have dinner and chit chat, start reading till midnight, and sleep. Repeat this for every weekday with occasional inclusion of exercise. And on a holiday you pay back your sleep debt, go shopping, do NGO activity, call old friends, family, go around the town, and sleep tired.

It's not hectic, but there's a continuity, a flow of activities from one to the other, with no time sucking in between. And this flow is addictive, albeit tough to achieve.

And not to forget the mental stretch the textbooks give. It's one great balancing act that brings out your mettle. Medical college.

Why Hazare's demands are hazardous

2011-08-20T07:58:00.002+05:30

Corruption - sucks.
Lokpal - great idea.
Making Lokpal equivalent to monarchy - insanely stupid in the long run.

What we see at major cities is not support for the idea that Prime Minister and judiciary should be brought under Lokpal (for the agitated people don't even know what they are agitated about)
What we see is the stupid mistake every kid learning politics in 9th standard makes - comparing an ideal monarchy with a practical democracy.

Yes, the Lokpal should be formed. But no, it should not be made omnipotent. Because that would be going backwards in history. From democracy to anarchy.

The Lokpal will shake the constitution. So it should be brought in slowly so that the constitution doesn't lose balance and topple over. And you can't afford to postpone eating till the end, no matter how large your tummy is.

Tail piece : People are guillible, especially college kids who hate going to college. But to pursuade those people to vote in favour requires intelligence, which the politicians have. And that's why they think before they leap.

The Past, the Future, and the Mingled Mangled Present

2011-07-14T00:51:00.001+05:30

The school-life has ended but the college hasn't begun. And you have a funny long drawn out vacation.
Saw all the movies in the theater. Had enough fun with friends. And you have 3 more weeks to spend. What do you do?

Here are some things you can do (mostly online)

Mathematics
Read these 4 books recommended by someone who loves mathematics very much.
Knots and Surfaces
Intuitive Topology
Fixed Points
Groups and Symmetry
These books are so well written that despite the enormity of the field they represent, they can be read after high school geometry.
Python
pythonchallenge is an absolute killer when it comes to learning python online. No, it isn't a tutor for python, or any language for that matter. It's a collection of brain teasing programming problems that are best solved with python. And by the time you reach the 4th level, you'll have already made a small application that interacts with the www.
Web designing
There're multiple things to it.
Html : Very basic, absolute necessity.
CSS : This is what makes it 'designing'
javascript (is not java) : that's how you animate css.
jquery : actually a javascript library. But something to stand on its own.
Web hosting
This goes naturally with the other one. Learn how to setup apache on your own computer. Redirect localhost to your self-hosted wordpress blog
Blogging
If you haven't already begun. Start now. I made 9 dollars last month.
Blood donation
It'll take your body one day to get your blood level back to normal. So, do this when you have 2 days to spare.
Take up running seriously
No, I am not serious. Nobody wakes up at 6 during holidays.
Read fiction
Time to catch up in that department, if you had been postponing.
Kite Runner is supposed to make a good read. So is To Kill a Mocking Bird.
Change the world.
This is the easiest of all.

...
1000. Have fun.
Come on, you can't be so nerdy. Jerk off. Do things you can't do later. Have a lot of fun.

----
And that's not all.
There's a stronger reason why I write this. post.
It is to keep me engaged.
To keep me engaged so that I don't think about my closest friends leaving to different places so as to continue their life. No, it's not that I'm sad about it. Just that it makes life a bit uneasy. Yes, I love being alone. But not for long.
I dedicate this post to Nousha who's been pestering me with the request to do so :D. She leaves tomorrow for entrance coaching (to the same place another piece of my heart went 2 years ago) so as to get a better engineering rank. And the dictator there has banned mobile phones. That leaves me like the Argentinian team with Messi in the side bench.
I usually try my best to hide my emotions. Like Roger Federer does. But it's with friends like her that I forget self imposed restrictions and remain the raw, unkempt me.

And to that friendship, I consecrate my childhood.

Any Proof is NOT Proof

2011-05-17T09:19:00.000+05:30

We all ask for proofs. But many of us don't verify the proof.

I'll try to prove that 2=1

a = 1
b = 1
a = b
a² = b²
a² - b² = 0
(a-b)(a+b) = 0
(a-b)(a+b)/(a-b) = 0/(a-b)
1(a+b) = 0
(a+b) = 0
1 + 1 = 0
2 = 0
1 = 0
1 + 1 = 1
2=1 (yay!!!)

Why is it that despite many 'proofs' lying around telling us 2=1 we know that 2 is not equal to one?
Because all the proofs to 2=1 will have some sort of mathematical fallacy in them, like dividing both sides by zero, and knowing that 2=1 is absolutely wrong propels us to try our best in finding how the proof is flawed. Either we find the flaw on our own or we search the internet.

But what about conclusions that aren't obviously false? In these cases anyone with a clear head will try and discover the truth. Those who are undergoing emotional stress cannot and will not.

Assertion: Sai Baba is God.
Reason: Sai Baba does miracles.
Here believers who believe no one in flesh and blood can be God will disbelieve the assertion and therefore discover how the miracles that Sai Baba performs are trivial compared to Criss Angel's Mindfreak
But some believers who just want to buy more crap will instantly make the connection. Miracles = God! They won't wait to verify whether the 'miracles' are magic or not.

Now what will happen when the conclusions are even more convincing? Almost all people will fall, despite how good they were in finding flaws in other claims.

Assertion: Sai Baba is good.
Reason: He does charitable work.
Here the reason seems flawless because everybody can see those super specialty hospitals where treatment is free, those schools, etc. And so, everyone agrees with the assertion.
But what we forget is to see what share of Sai Baba's income actually goes into philanthropy. There is no possible way for me to know that. Searching online only brings up pages like this which suggests that a huge share of his income goes into his castle building activities. And despite knowing how to use a website the Sai Trust has not published its income expenditure details online. Well, I wonder if they have published it offline either because as far as I know they're not required to!
When such a thing happens where the proof is questionable, what I do is to look for clues.
#1) Had they been donating >80% of their income like some outsiders claim, they would gladly publish the details of their income and expenditure considering how hungry they're in trying to convince people.
#2) They're not honest. The very claim of miraculous powers prove the converse.
#3) APJ Abdul Kalam sang praise. (All other big names are politicians, etc whom I need not consider) The missile man of India is widely respected. He has got several honorary doctorates (some 37 of them, the last time somebody counted). But that doesn't immunize him against falling for frauds (Pardon me, it alliterated) And there are other big names who have been silent if not fighting against Sai Baba.
Based on these I would say the assertion that Sai Baba is good cannot be proved with the reason stated.

Putting aside Sai Baba for later, let us focus on how to develop a safe approach towards believing claims. What I have tested and trusted is to start with the assumption that every assertion is false and that all proofs are flawed somewhere. Now, when we try to find that flaw, we may even validate the claim.

And the internet is your friend in that. Because someone might have already taken the pain to debunk this new fat claim you got as an email forward. All you got to do is verify whether the debunking is rational. Wikipedia, though it is criticized by many to be easily manipulated, is the best help in that regard because without a proper source nothing stays there. (All you must do is to read the sources/references/citations)

And this is applicable to everything - god men, fund raisers, urban legends, etc.

All that glitters is not gold.

I Am God

2011-04-27T09:24:00.000+05:30

I decide how I live.
I decide where I go.
I decide what I do.
I decide what I eat.
I decide who I talk to.
I decide what I read.
I decide to be patient.
I decide to be creative.
I decide to be committed.
I decide to be sincere.
I decide to be honest.
I decide to help everyone.
I decide to love everyone.
I decide how I feel.
I decide what I think.
I decide my mood.
I decide my day.
I decide my world.
I decide my destiny.
I am God.

Who are you?

Bubbling in the Dark

2011-04-20T07:29:00.001+05:30

Today is the first demonstration of a huge experiment. An experiment funded, propelled and fuelled by the world wide web.

Breathe.

(There is a huge post coming, if the observations agree with the theory)

Update: It didn't go well. Well, neither did Wright brothers at first.

"April Fool", says India Government to all its Netizens

2011-04-01T06:01:00.001+05:30

In an attempt to not get fooled by any 'breaking news' from my friends (like India forfeiting the world cup, or Swiss banks revealing their accounts), I switched on the tv early today morning and I was crestfallen by what CNN and NDTV were showing in big letters. On a day where people fool each other with pranks, the Government of India has decided to fool all its internet users.

Starting from today, the internet in India will be censored. As in China we will no longer be able to use the internet as we wish, or exercise the freedom of speech and expression over the internet. The Government will be monitoring all internet activities including social networking sites like Facebook and Orkut. This censorship move is a measure by the Government to restrict the activity of Wikileaks, the whistle blower site exposing scams. I knew those nasty people at the Parliament would decide on something like this. They can't even tell Wikipedia from Wikileaks and what this means is that editing an article about the ruling leaders could even land the innocent 'free' editor in jail.

The Government said in its ruling that blogs and self published websites would be censored heavily, and legal action will be taken against any content which may be provocative in any manner whatsoever. This could mean hell for bloggers as they can no longer bash any party or people in their blogs.

But this could be good news for email lovers like me. Because from today fat claims with no citations will be considered as conspiracy or intended public defamation. Nobody can forward those stupid urban legends anymore. No more downloading 10 MB videos showing how bad Pakistanis are. No more wasting time calculating how much MPs earn in India.

There you go netizen, the government tells you, "April Fool"

PS: Please notify me if you spot any sensitive content on this blog. I certainly don't want to go to prison leaving you people alone.

Update: This was an April Fool's post. The internet is useless already.

End of Part 1

2011-03-22T23:40:00.001+05:30

I just finished schooling. And I feel like Harry Potter at the end of The Deathly Hallows.

My school life had been what I believe it should have been. A perfect platform for life, a nice learning experience, and a lot of exposure.

To my juniors,

Here are some of the things I've learned from school.

Do 5 stupid things per day.
Ask 5 answer-less questions per day to 5 different teachers (or to 1 teacher if you are willing to take that risk)
Do not laugh inside the room of the principal.
If you don't actually have an illness, do not skip the morning assembly. Vice principal will be patrolling.
Never note down the time table. Teachers never follow it. Just keep all your books at school. You wouldn't be opening them at home anyway.
Know what day it is, every day. You don't want to go to school on a Sunday. Nor do you want to be in bed at 10 o'clock on a Monday morning. And always wear the right uniform, if you don't want to be standing out from the crowd.
Never be absent (unless you have conjunctivitis). Everything happens on the day you are absent.
Participate in every competition. Just tell your teacher you're attending without asking what the item is. If it's a quiz and you don't know what the answer is, create the funniest answer. If it's a literary item, make the most of the free time and paper you're given. If it's a stage item, just set the stage on fire.(In fact, preparing for some of these items will make you competent for situations that you may face later in your life)
If you don't play at least two games, you're good for nothing. The ground is one place (after the loo) where you're the king and you rein free.
Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. But fortunately at school you're always safe.
Some nights, life sucks. But it'll be alright by next morning.
Some days, life rocks. But it'll be over by the time you open the textbook.
If you are ever going for an excursion, make sure there are no temples in the area where you're going.
Find many reasons why parents meeting is canceled this month.
If you want to score 100%: Just chill out. If you can learn well, you can score cent.
If you really want to score 100%: Forget every word in this post. Our exam system is pretty much screwed up (as on the 22^nd of March, 2011) that scoring 100 is impossible unless you waste a considerable amount of time mugging up the slightest details of your textbook. Stop enjoying creative pursuits in the core subjects (or extracurricular subjects). Learn what you're being taught. Repeat that again and again till you can easily reproduce portions of your textbook.
Set realistic aims for your projects. If you really could make that 3 idiots helicopter on your own, you'd be in a special school. Nobody ever did a project that their seniors hadn't done.
Exams are designed to be hard. If you'll surely pass, write only what you know. If you'll surely fail, copying is fair, provided you learn what you copy.
When you need help, call someone.
When you feel really down, call your best friend.
Try to schedule your birthday on a holiday. It's a lot more healthier and cheaper.
Don't make the following birthday resolution "I'll start learning properly from today onwards". It never works.
Don't think about the future. There's only the present.
If you break test tubes, just throw the pieces away before anyone sees. If you break the burette, you're dead.
Be active in house activities. But know when to slip out of teachers' sight. You seriously don't want to be 'Maveli' (or worse, his assistant) in the theme show.
Choose what your heart says when you are alone, choose what the teacher says when one's around.
Play a lot of "truth or dare" games because you'll soon realize that life's a big dare
Learn from your mistakes.
The best part of volunteering is the food. Ask for it.
Always eat from your friend's plate. Your mom's food, you can always have.
Be sure that the unexpected will happen. If you're singing, the mic won't work, if you're dancing, the song'll stop in between, if you're playing tabala there'll be a gaping hole in its face.
If you don't have a love or at least a crush there's nothing to worry. It just means that you haven't attained puberty, and you have a lot of time left. If you are in love, you know.
Never lose hope. One day she'll say "yes".
But friends, if you don't have friends, at least a handful of them, it means you're not learning one lesson that school must teach you - to connect with people. Remember all those friendship forwards you receive everyday? Make them meaningful.
Do not keep anything for the future (Except may be homeworks, they may be forgotten by the teacher). Because time flies, and you may miss things for ever. If you have nights when you lose breath in your bed thinking of how dear your friends are to you then please, for the sake of love, tell them that.
Finally, have fun. Have a lot of it.
Shatter window panes
Break benches (in teams)
Start a fight (for fun)
Do no pay vehicle fee. Enter the bus without a bus pass
Miss the bus, walk home, try to earn a suspension en route
Hack the main computer in the lab, copy all official photos to your pen drive, put up a status update as proof (remember to log out and clear history)
Sit in another class and see whether the teacher notices you
Increase the volume of the song gradually till its barely audible for the teacher
Push others into the swimming pool. (Keep your watch inside the bag before doing so)
Swap class name boards
Pass chits asking about the teacher's love bite
Conduct polls and debates on who's better - Mammootty or Mohanlal
Form circles and conspire
And do every imaginable thing on earth. If you can't do it in school, you can't do it anywhere else. (From doing business selling pirated version of kaspersky, to digging hole for planting your own tree sapling)

~~And then, one day it'd all end. All your friends excluding none will wave you bye and go away. Some may even go without a glance at you. May be you'd meet them again some day.~~ Hey, that was the story my father wrote. Everyone will be on facebook. If not, they'd keep texting. If they don't you can. And then you'll join a nice college (if you're lucky) and make a lot of friends there. And then you'll decide the climax of the story - you can forget everyone, or do keep in touch.

Syncing Firefox History, Bookmarks and Possibly More Across Profiles

2011-03-18T17:51:00.000+05:30

When firefox fans start installing multiple addons at least one of them will slow down firefox to a point at which they decide to switch to chrome.

Some users find that running "firefox -P" or "firefox -profilemanager" will show a dialogue which can be used to create a new firefox profile (which will function as a fresh installation of firefox)

But then, when you create multiple profiles you run into the issue of syncing history, passwords, bookmarks, cookies...

You can solve this problem using no addon, no plugin, no dropbox integration, no internet at all. The answer is symbolic links.

Linux users must be familiar with symbolic links, but it's available in windows too.
(For those who don't know how a symbolic link is different from a shortcut: If you make a symbolic link on your desktop to a file in a remote corner of your external hard disk, the OS will treat that file as being present on the desktop itself, but the actual location (in terms of magnetic memory) will be, as you guessed, the other device. This works for folders too)

Here's more about symbolic links (and making them)

Now, exploiting it for syncing firefox.

If you are not already using firefox, switch to it.
Start firefox with -P parameter. ("firefox -P")
Create a new profile, named "fresh"
Open the firefox profile directory (Help --> Troubleshooting information)
Backup your deafult profile (if you care about it) (just copy it to a new name)
Copy this post to notepad (or leafpad) and close firefox (I think this's important because firefox won't allow you to touch its files at least while it's alive)
In the directory of the fresh profile find files like bookmarks.html, cookies.sqlite, downloads.sqlite, formhistory.sqlite, permissions.sqlite, places.sqlite, prefs.js, search.json, search.sqlite, signons.sqlite and folders like searchplugins, and the folders of whatever extension you love.
Delete them! (Moving to trash will be wise)
Create symbolic links to the corresponding files and folders in the default profile.

Done!

Now, for making sure you haven't connected the superior venacava to the aorta:

Run firefox, first with 'fresh' profile.
Check that you can access history, etc.
Quit and run the default profile.
Make sure you haven't lost years worth of history there.

Statutory warning: Messing up sqlite files is known to cause irrecoverable damage. But I've been extremely happy with this particular workaround. If you can find the right way using the internet when you're in doubt, you can definitely try this at home.

And, happy browsing.

A Call For Donation

2011-03-17T08:01:00.009+05:30

Read The Hindu : States / Tamil Nadu : Woman gifts daughter sight on Women's Day

It's so very easy to make use of your body after your death. And it may be via donation that you did the greatest deed of kindness in your whole 'life'.

You can call 1919 (toll free, India) to reach the nearest eye bank, and ask them to pick the cornea of your nearest relative (or if you're the dead, make arrangements that your dearest will call the eye bank). Or if 1919 doesn't work checkout this list of eye banks in India. (I was surprised that there was an eye bank even at Dhanalakshmi hospital, Kannur)

Here's an FAQ about Eye Donation

If you want to step it up, and make a pledge, here's an Eye Pledge Form (there's also an eye bank locator under it) where you can pledge your eyes and be a sight ambassador (like I just did)

There's another way you can make use of your carcass. Body Donation. This may be a bit more tough to set up. Because you have to prepare an affidavit before your death and submit it to the nearest medical college. (But burning or burying your body also takes a lot of effort). And do tell this to your grandparents (:P There's no point in running away from the obvious)

PS: A related thought. If they make assisted suicide legal, will they also allow live people who want to die let science make maximum use of their live body by allowing fatal experiments (like observing the regeneration of liver, removing parts of brain, etc) take place? I would die to do that.

Mantras, Positive Self Talks: Motivation at Your Tongue Tip

2011-03-13T20:52:00.003+05:30

We've all had it. Moments of slump, when the whole world seems to be crash landing on you. May be on the eve of an examination. May be while preparing for a very important meeting. Times when you feel let down.

Everyone has those moments of desperation.
And a lot of losers give up at these moments of weakness.

But winners react differently.
They close their eyes, or look straight into them in a mirror.

And they talk directly to themselves:

"I am a winner. I have a dream. I have a vision. And I do everything I can to be there. I am happy. And I am strong. I am invincible. I defeat all troubles that come my way. I finish first. I finish strong. I am a winner. I am a champion, to be precise. I rock. I am awesome. I am the alpha and the omega. I am God!"

They finish telling that (if they can wait till the end) and they are off to slay the trouble they had been facing. And then there won't be anything on earth to stop them.

Confidence is like a nuclear bomb. You set it off, and it gulps everything in sight.

And the detonator is self talk. Tested. Proven.

A Small Guide to Critical Thinking

2011-03-10T07:18:00.006+05:30

Whatever you read, whatever you hear, whatever you think, ask yourself:

Could the opposite be true?

That's all there is to critical thinking.

(Un)happy Women's Day?

2011-03-08T17:52:00.001+05:30

What makes girls today wish they were born as boys?
Why has every Women's Day article I read today focused on the injustice towards women and not on their achievements?
Why do they even have to build a site explaining women's rights in Islam?
Why did I think of founding the sisbro organization (a volunteer organization that helps unaccompanied sisters arriving at railway stations and bus stands to reach safety by sending them authorized brothers seeking nothing but sisterly affection in return for their care)? And why did I have to worry about it being a failure too?

The answer - not soul stirring, not at all surprising, but the most ignored and the least sought out - is that we, as a people or a society, have not grown. How progressive can we expect an average member of a society described by the supreme court as having "low ethical levels and rampant commercialization" to be? We are immature. We are incomplete. We are illiterate. We still lack the mindset, the outlook, and even the vision of a constructive culture.

And above all we are not ready to correct ourselves.
Or to be more accurate, we are not brave enough.

We are not brave enough to:

think about different solutions
question injustice
publicly and outrightly reject commercialization (especially the exploitation of women's sexuality, and men's carnal desires)
swim against the stream (the stream which's been flowing only in one direction from the beginning of time)
break taboos
raise our voice
stop 'giving' equal status to women
let high school students of either gender sit together (I'm particularly adamant about this one. You believe they have their own different set of problems? I believe that's been the problem behind all these problems. Girls and boys may have different bodies, but they do have the same minds. Their problems may be different in appearance, but they're the one and the same. And there's no compromise on this point)
realize that giving birth is not the only work a woman can do efficiently (especially considering the growing population of India)
ask ourself whether it's easier to talk about sex and birth prevention or about rape and sexual abuse.
start accepting what's good in other cultures (especially the western culture. Ya. I know that's gonna make earn me a tag of a pro-western idiot. But there's no denying the fact that many of the problems that our gloated 10000 year old culture faces now, is not at all a menace in the west, because their culture by design eliminates the causes of these)
stop editing and re-editing your comment under this post to conform to 'moral standards' and start changing the world
go and get a life
Most Indians have nothing to think about other than their boring work (which, we don't realize is, not compulsory), and gossips. There are cooler things to do in life. (And when your mind is stretched by a new idea it never regains its original dimensions)

Happy Women's Day, then.

PS: As I say that, I see another steamy song on the tv in which the fingers of the hero grazes over the bare skin of that sleeveless, and probably shameless new actress, and I (even I d:) can't control the animal instincts hard coded into my brain.

Mr Ravi Shankar, I'll Contribute To Your Program, After You Do This

2011-02-04T19:25:00.001+05:30

This is with reference to the claims by the 8-10 middle aged women who wanted a contribution from me towards the 'Aanandotsavam' program to be held by Shri (another Shri?) Ravi Shankar at Kannur on February 15th, 2011.

(Since the whole Art of Living foundation claims to enlighten people and make them grow internally, which is exactly what I try to do with this blog, you can of course consider this article just as one grown out of jealousy. Or you can THINK)

I WILL contribute towards the program, provided you agree to comply with the following requests.

Agree that any breathing exercise can improve concentration up to an extent. And when this happens human mind is drawn away from worries into the breathing pattern. And so, tasks which are done without those worries get done much more efficiently.
And that whatever breathing you teach (with copyright) is not drastically different from this modus operandi.
Agree that since you have got a copyright for Sudarshana Kriya (or whatever) only to prevent commercialization by others, you will allow organizations or people who are ready to teach this free of cost, to do so, without any copyright concerns coming in the way.
Agree to make your income/expenditure balance sheets public and transparent and easy to access (and clear so that my friends in the commerce section will not find it difficult to calculate)
Agree that the spiritual knowledge (that those women said brings mental calm) can be achieved not only through your course (paying heftily) but also from a local library and/or a local guru (because there are so many of them, and they can't be all frauds; if that's the case you'd be the only one who's genuine) at whatever concession fee they offer.
Agree that spirituality sells, like sex do.
Agree that whatever is said in the following sites against you are wrong, baseless and not to be trusted (if possible, with proof):

If you agree with all of these. And still live to see me, I will surely give you the contribution. But don't expect more than Rs. 100. That's all I have in my purse, because Google Adsense isn't paying anything. (And the reason why I still continue blogging is not the hope that I can make a living online, but that there are people who read what I write and I'm obliged to them)

And then there were failures

2010-11-30T04:42:00.002+05:30

What do you do when you start failing to reach your goals? Set the goals low? No way.

Set the preparation higher.

And I've got to prepare.

Re: Generation Y: where is it headed for?

2010-11-17T04:27:00.000+05:30

[This is an email response to this article, which I thought I should publish]

Hi sir,

I'm 17, in twelfth standard. My girlfriend - who's not exactly my girlfriend because she's always responded negatively to my "I love you"s - liked your article in The Hindu (Generation Y: where is it headed for?, Nov 13, 2010) . That's why I read it.

AND YOU'RE BANG ON ABOUT WHAT YOU SAID

If growing up consisted of mental, physical, emotional and spiritual growth; growing up has accelerated, but not all the aspects of it. There's sudden physical growth from the steroid injected chicken we eat everyday. And mental growth, thanks to the immense curriculum. The television and the loads of cheap fiction that's available has seemed to have incorporated all kinds of intense emotions into our everyday lives. And unfortunately only 2 magazines among the hundreds of magazines and weeklies I know has ever published an article about "Emotional Intelligence". Let alone spirituality; which's being looked upon as a post-retirement occupation.

I'm a biology student and can't go without speaking some science.

Mirror-neurons: I see someone doing something, my mirror neurons have already done that a thousand times in my brain. And what if I'm seeing (or more vividly, reading) all kinds of emotional moments (ranging from love through sex to violence) ? They're rewiring our mental make-up. Making us want to experiment.

We've all always remained curious, about everything. Right from birth we looked at others to learn. We assimilated knowledge by looking around.
Personally, I was from my very early childhood exposed to the right things at the right times. I read children's magazines till 6. Then science magazines for children. I saw Disney's Mickey Mouse cartoons. My dad (who's a doctor) used to take me for morning walks and tell me stories. He set up my morals and values. And he also introduced me to spirituality. And by the time I was 13 I had been influenced a big lot by Mahatma Gandhi.
In fact, my early childhood set the stage for me to grow up on my own.
And now I believe I'm strong enough to lead a successful life.

But I was very fortunate.

I don't know into what little monsters will children who are exposed to nothing but rubbish from their infancy evolve into by the time they're 10, or 20.
Yeah, you know. That's what you wrote in your article.

The media have gone awry. There's no way we can disinfect them.

But there's one seemingly simple, but practically doubtable solution: good-parenting.
Parents can always decide what we're exposed to (even in the internet). They can influence our values. They can mold our personalities before anyone even begins to notice us. They can let us prepare for life without getting injured.

Answer: Parental supervision is critical.

And when parents fail, children magnify.

(For good parents we need good grand parents, and so on. This cannot happen. So, we should somehow make our parents good. Education can help. So can media. But media isn't helping, except for some lonely Aakash Mehrotra's. And education isn't proper. So we need some intelligent people to re-evaluate the goals of our school boards and media. But nobody is motivated enough. The government, the least. People who vote, even lesser. We need a Messiah. And ironically, it has to come from Generation Y)

--
Have a blissful life,
ASD

The Strength of Truth

2010-10-02T07:26:00.000+05:30

Answer all questions honestly in the next 24 hours.
And see if that brings any change in your life.

Gandhiji was not superhuman. Then how did he lead India to independence?
Because he used a weapon which was unbeatable.

And we all have that weapon.

Only that we have not tried to use it.

Talking About Sex

2010-09-26T07:50:00.000+05:30

I was first taught about sex neither by my parents nor by my teachers.
The first time I really learned how babies are made was when I saw a porn movie when I was 14. Yeah, even before the advent of Internet.

And till today my parents haven't talked to me directly about sex either. (Though my dad has mentioned several times that it can be an addiction) And mind you, next year I'm 18.

I have had the chance to learn in two schools. But still, none of the 50 or more teachers who've taught me have ever talked about sex. Not even my biology teacher.
Of course the lesson "Reproduction in Human Beings" was much anticipated. But it went away like over-hyped bollywood movies do, without an active discussion. (There were muffled laughs from the corners to welcome a hypocritical lecture)

And even my beloved English teachers who talk about everything on this earth have invariably failed me. Somehow I gathered the courage to tell my teacher that we watched porn (in a relevant context) but she just responded "that's bad" in a surprised manner and walked away. She talked about drugs the next minute. But she wouldn't talk about this drug. I mean, if she had a point, she'd rather make it clear.

By that afternoon the news spread and I was receiving mixed responses from my schoolmates - applauses and questioning looks. As if I had done something. Heroic or great. Obscene or indecent.
Whereas I was standing amongst them, confused. Wondering as to what was so special about the topic I put in. Nobody asked me anything when I told my English teacher about the way I play football, or the way I love my father.

What are these adults shying away from?
Parents and teachers.

Should generation gap be a problem?
Well, it is not. Because though friends talk a bit about sex, they don't actually 'openly' talk.
The little that friends know about each others' problems is the little that comes after multi-filtering through cultural sieves.
SEX???!!! Taboo.

You don't have to worry about me. You don't have to worry about those teens who luckily fall into good company. But there are others who aren't so lucky. They do not get a chance to know anything until they are in a situation where knowing does not matter.

It so happens in the seemingly open but stringently closed society that we are born into.

Maybe you are thinking that your not talking about it makes us less curious.
You are of course wrong.
Not knowing only adds to the curiosity.
And curiosity kills the cat.

Talking about sex only reduces the risks.
It is not talking that multiplies the risk.

But there is no talking. There is only flinching.
The 3 letter word is never used. (Though the 4 letter word is always used)

Adolescence Education Programs were promised.
Well, we never thought any would ever be delivered.
For, who's to deliver it other than you?

Maybe you could answer. What is so special about sex that makes it a topic worth not discussing?

If you're gonna tell me that our culture prohibits us from talking about sex, tell that to the 1 million HIV/AIDS patients in the age group 15-29 from India. And mind you, that data is three years old.

And till you find me a solid reason not to talk about sex, I will keep on using the word loudly and in public.

-
A virgin.

Think Before You Forward: MP Salary in India (Myth Busted)

2010-08-25T21:02:00.000+05:30

There's been a very clever e-mail running around in Indian inboxes for many years. It cleverly exploits multiplication into making people think that MPs are a huge waste of national resources. The mail first is this:

Govt. Concessions for a Member of Parliament (MP)
Monthly Salary : 12,000
Expense for Constitution per month : 10,000
Office expenditure per month : 14,000
Traveling concession (Rs. 8 per km) : 48,000
(eg.For a visit from kerala to Delhi & return: 6000 km)
Daily DATA during parliament meets : 500/day
Charge for 1 class (A/C) in train: Free (For any number of times)
(All over India )
Charge for Business Class in flights : Free for 40 trips / year (With wife or P.A .)
Rent for MP hostel at Delhi : Free
Electricity costs at home : Free up to 50,000 units
Local phone call charge : Free up to 1 ,70,000 calls.
TOTAL expense for a MP [having no qualification] per year : 32,00,000 [ i.e. 2.66 lakh/month]
TOTAL expense for 5 years : 1,60,00,000
For 534 MPs, the expense for 5 years :
8,54,40,00,000 (nearly 855 crores)
AND THE PRIME MINISTER IS ASKING THE HIGHLY QUALIFIED, OUT PERFORMING CEOs TO CUT DOWN THEIR SALARIES.....
This is how all our tax money is been swallowed and price hike on our regular commodities.......

and then it goes on giving a number of pictures of poor people in India and telling 855 crores could do great for them.

The Myth:
There's more than 1 problem in this claim.

Firstly, the calculation of monthly salary is done by adding the real salary + the concessions the MPs receive for their travels or communication (which they of course must do)

The first 3 lines are quite sound.
Monthly salary, expense of constitution, office expenditure which adds up to 36,000 (the real salary)
The daily salary of 500 for parliament days can also be considered in this.
That's an added 15,000 per month taking the toll to 51,000 (though the parliament doesn't happen in every day of every month)

They then add 48,000 to it in the name of traveling concession (6000 km to Delhi @ Rs 8/km)
Quite agreeable. (Though I could still argue about the need for an MP to go to the capital city. Why do we need MPs at parliaments? Can't they sit at home?)

I add that too and get 99,000. Just under 100 k.

But the mail claims the salary to be 266 k by considering the other concessions the MPs receive.
I don't know how they add, but the concession for first class train fare any number of times, business class plane fare 40 times, free calls, free electricity, and even the rent for MPs hostel at Delhi are all added to the equation.
What is the mail trying to do? The real expenditure is just 100 k. It's made to go to 266 k. And that too by adding pseudo expenditures.
Note that the free calls, free electricity units, etc need not be consumed totally. (Of course they would be used up only if the MPs really work for the country)
And why the bloody hell is the MP hostel if not for the MPs to reside free of cost?

And in between the mail just claimed that the MPs have "no qualification" upon which I do not wish to comment at all.

The train & the plane fairs are the only things that could be told as wasteful because the MPs are already being given Rs 8 per km for travel.
And I don't know how they add up to 266 k per month.

But assume that this is really true. That we spend 266,000 per month for an MP.

So, how much is that? How much money do you need to live per month?
50,000? No?
25,000? even lower?
meager 10,000?
So, an MP "spends" 26.6 times an average Indian.
Considering that there are only 550 MPs for a population of a billion, I can without any hard feelings allow them to spend that.
And that too including all those ludicrous "costs" of rent at MP hostel, free calls, etc.

Now the most interesting calculations.
Imagine you earn 25,000 per month.
That's 300,000 per annum.
Now take 500 people like you.
All of you collectively earn 150,000,000 per annum.
And in 5 years you people earn 75 crores!!! (Not so surprised?)
75 crores would also have been enough for all those poor. So you should be thrown out of the country.

Just know that multiplying monthly salary by time and number of people increases it multi-multi fold.

And to the emotion that made this forward a success, the joy that you receive when you criticize politicians and politics.
It shows only your ignorance in hosting these kinds of stupid ideas.
Politics has of course been corrupted, but only as much as anything else has been.
And our constitution still shines as a beacon of knowledge and justice above everything.
And if you are so good in managing the country, why don't you show what you can do?

If politicians are still corrupt it's only because the voters are still fools.

The best argument against democracy has been and will always be a five minute conversation with the average voter.

I Do Not Deserve the Right To Wish You a Happy Independence Day

2010-08-14T22:49:00.001+05:30

I won't wish you a happy Independence Day this year.
Not just this year. Henceforth.
Because unless I begin doing something for my country, I simply do not deserve to wish you.
I was notified of this day coming. By the facebook event which asked me to show my love for my country by setting up India's flag in my profile.
Is this how I should show my love for my country?
I was sure I wouldn't be attending the event. I said myself if at all I uploaded anything to facebook it would be photos of how I served my country this I'day.
But till this moment, I have not did anything worthy to be uploaded under that tag.

I'm disappointed at myself.
I'm disappointed at not being able to do anything for my country.
Sure, I have dreams.
But I live only in dreams.
I have written dozens of essays on the role of students in improving literacy (the last one, today morning).
But I haven't taught a word to anyone. When will I? How long will I be a student, to do that?
Not that I didn't have a chance. There was a woman who sold helmets by the National Highway. Just opposite my house. And she had two children. One girl about 10 years, and her younger brother, my brother's age. I knew neither of them went to school. I knew they deserved school as good as my brother and I. Yet I simply walked past them for weeks. Many a times had my hands reached for the paper and pen in my pocket to teach that little boy something. I even planned giving them an apple and teaching them the letter 'A'.

But I never did these.

And I'm angry about that. There is no point in crying now. Because they've had enough sales here. They've gone.

I could have taught that little boy and little girl something. Anything. Anything would have been valuable for their lives.
But I didn't.
What do I lack?
I dream so much about changing India. About empowering lives. If I can't teach a boy of 6 ABCD, how am I going to change India?

I speak so passionately about how dirty politics is. About how we shouldn't vote on the basis of religion, race, caste. But who am I to say that?

I don't even deserve to be a citizen of a country where people like Nani Palkhivala lived and died for protecting the rights of the people. And I don't wish to be one in a country where his name or the names of the thousands of others like him are not even heard.

I'm such a parasite.

Sure I have published a few posts in this unread blog about changing India. And some essays in school competitions that not even the judges care to read. What do I hope to happen? That all of a sudden all the Indians will get motivated and change themselves reading what I've written?
And who is to change India? My readers?
I ask everyone to change.
But I never did.
And I now realize my mistake.

But I knew my mistakes even before. Just that I won't rectify. I won't change. I will continue to be a dreamer. I will get into a nice profession, fill my purse, and eat unhealthy till I die. I will never feed the hungry. I will never enlighten souls.
I will never bring about the change I always speak so high about.
Because I'm such a loser.

What is the point in fighting hunger through facebook? What's the point in feeding children through clicks? What's the point in filling truckloads of paper with essays about changing India, taking her to the heights of development, etc?
What's the point in blabbering about good leadership when you can't be a leader yourself?
What's the point in thinking about action?
Action is physical. Not mental.

Do I deserve to wish you a happy Independence Day? No. I don't.
Because I don't act.
I can't even promise you that I will change myself. For, if I could I would have done something for my country already. I can only tell you that I will try.

And for that reason I do not deserve to ask you to do something either.
And I do not possess the right to express myself. I must shut up. Now.

Emotion is the Mother of Creation

2010-07-20T20:29:00.019+05:30

Necessity is the mother of invention.
Emotion is the mother of creation.
And experience, it's father.
-
Because experiences make people emotional. You fall in love, you make a tough decision, you break up, you get a gift, ~~you fall sick~~ (no you'd be sick, then), you watch a touching movie, you catch up with an old-friend. All of the experiences in your life come with emotions attached to it. (If not, they wouldn't be called experiences)

And when those emotions are intense, your brain gets a lot of blood. (In other words, you're in the mood)
And your brain is special in that when it gets a lot of blood (the blood, which carries oxygen, the oxygen which helps the neurons think - now you don't want me to begin talking about sodium-potassium pumps, do you?), it begins working efficiently. And very efficiently.

So that words come from tranquility. They just mix up together. And you will wonder whether it was indeed you who did that.

That's how creativity is borne.

Experiences=Emotions=Masterpieces

Use Distractions to Distract Distractions

2010-07-17T18:44:00.000+05:30

I hate it when my brother switches on the television when I am reading.
Reading textbooks is so boring and when there's that funny little scene of the all-time-best-movie on the idiot box there is no question where your mind is.
It's so easy to get distracted when you're doing something boring (even if it's very important)

So what do I do to prevent getting distracted?
More distractions.
I switch on the computer. Play music. Run Pidgin chat client. And then open the book I'm reading as e-book (sorry I didn't tell you I have my textbooks in pdf too. But it doesn't matter, most books are easier to obtain as e-books than paperbacks)
And how does that help?
Now, the way I'm reading is much more interesting than the way I was reading.
I don't even think about the movie on the tv.
And I'm reading with much more blood running to my brain than earlier.
That will keep me alert for even longer too.
(And of course there is the added advantage of being able to access the world wide web any time, to clear any doubt)

Might be necessary disclaimer: This worked for me. But this won't work for most others. Because umph... I display an uncommonly strong control over my mind. :D It is easy to get to porn sites while online. And your mind will urge you to update your facebook status. It takes men of metal mind to succeed in this.
If you want to learn how to control your mind to the point you can safely try this, try this.

Jquery magic

2010-07-15T17:27:00.002+05:30

This is a past post :D

Why Run After Life? Let It Come To You

2010-06-10T19:11:00.000+05:30

You could plan every day in advance. You could plan your life in advance. But most of the fun in life comes unplanned. Even a planned prank works out funny because the person being tricked wasn't prepared (hadn't planned). You watch Federer because though you and I know he'll be showing his class, even God doesn't know whether he'll win.
And school days were never interesting, because you knew your teachers, you knew your textbook, you knew what was going to happen, you knew the future.
When you plan, you may feel comfortable in catching what life throws at you, but you will never feel the fun.
So, if you feel like you aren't having enough fun in your life, don't plan your tomorrow.