Sleep

This article a nice summary on how the practice of sleeping in two bouts  was changed by Thomas Edison, insomnia seen among people these days and ways of recovery.

twisted

She sells sea shells on the sea shore. The shells that she sells are sea shells i'm sure, so if she sells sea shells on the sea shore, i'm sure that the shells are sea shore shells.

Apparently describes the present state while the great ocean of facts is yet to be explored...

2&3

Has been many months that i have been caught up with the numbers 2 and 3. Categorically either even or odd.

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3D experience

The weather is getting chilly every day and it was a cold foggy morning as usual today. My boss is yet to comeback from vacation, so i thought of using this opportunity constructively. Given the fact that i am not home alone for the past couple of weeks, i have a limited freedom to take up my short adventures. Wasting no time i hit at a impulsive decision to watch Avatar and boarded a bus to theatre.

The movie looks good and is a recipe for eyes. Humans being from earth are venturing onto a foreign planet Pandora where the Navis live to secure a precious rock and what follows rest is a typical bollywood theme. A science fiction with other ingredients and bears a slight resemblance to our epics like Ramayana or Mahabharata. The good thing about it is the concept of humanoids, civilization on other planet and the end war. The Navis could fight a enemy which was technically far more superior and the beasts like rhinos and the flying dragons did a good job in the war. The special effect was excellent and so was the 3D. Anytime you could feel a weapon hitting your face, a wild beast jumping at you or a character emerging from or disappearing into the audience.

A good movie for the sake of 3D...

I almost saw the Thief

Our lives are so dependent on electricity. Yesterday my colony had a blackout and i took this opportunity to gaze at the dark ceiling. My balcony doors were wide open to let the breeze come in and gradually i dozed off. The last thing i remember was my FM and head sets throwing out some duets of Kishore and Lata. Ever since i have been at this place, never ever the colonial Dogs had been so chaotic until yesterday. I woke up to their loud cries and thankfully the power was restored by this time and it was unprecisely 1.40 A.M. Smelling something fishy, i came out to my balcony to have a gentle peep. Ofcourse the sky was not falling down and everything looked normal except the four wheeler of my neighbor being driven out and these Dogs howling at it. I assumed these Dogs were pumping in extra efforts just to please their master and i undermined their sixth sense.

Next morning i saw men in Khakee visiting my neighbour and lodging complaints for the vehicle being stolen. I felt sorry for my neighbour but at the same time i took pride in my luck for witnessing such an incident. This incident reminds me of a typical life's paradoxes where one dwells too much in the present and gets to realize the preciousness of a moment after losing it.

Aha

We all have our own 'Aha moments' or 'Eureka moments'. Some of my aha moments are:
The instant i learned to balance a bicycle, when i learnt to swim, when i prepared a manageable chicken dish, day i got my first salary, finding obvious among the non-obvious, admiring feminine beauty etc etc. Basically the moments which leaves you Touched, Moved and Inspired. This piece of article explains the cognitive science behind it and gives a clear realization.

This above article states those which all the confused souls can very well connect with and they need to be aware of. Certainly sambozia had serious intentions of writing something of this sort some day...

TGIF

Be the first to reach at work and start blogging. This is how i want to celebrate my Fridays. World looks different on this day. Food and water tastes different and air around is deceptive. I try to hover around while waiting fastidiously for the 5.30 bell to ring. Next two days are going to be different from the previous five while i will have my own twists with survival stuff. Since the advent of summer, i have changed my loyalty from Aloo paranthas to Rawa onion dosa and i am quite content with it. Some times i bump into stuffs like Lassi , Chocobars or Mango Shakes but i never give them due importance. The tough part is to tolerate my newly appointed maid aunty whose hindi is a bit less ordinary. My flatmate deals with her and myself instead of succumbing to irritation, i prefer to communicate with her symbolically. Time passes by and all equation changes after 48 hours and the story gets different.

Surviving Uncertainity

Events happen and they carry a connotation with them which is left to our own imaginations.These days i am reading 'Fooled by randomness' a book which stresses upon a simple fact. Everything is random and chaos and it all depends on the window we are in.Not an easy read and i am going through it at snail's pace. Events spanning for a shorter duration can have different outcomes than the longer ones.But being rational beings we try to find a pattern in it and we tend to confine ourselves to deterministic boundaries. More the uncertainty involved, more is it thrilling and more strenuous. One example is to compare the adrenaline levels involved in a soccer match against a test cricket match. Probably this is the reason Analysts or Bureaucrats have tough times as they have to deal with issues built on human pshycology in their calculations. But there is a limit to this analysis and predictions and sometimes one has to go by gut feel when things are too uncertain. In due course one should take care not to be a prey to ignorance. This can happen when one deals with lots of variables and finite chances of some slipping out if one is not careful enough. One example of ignorance can be:
In the movie Sholay every time Jay tosses the coin and Viru loses. Viru wasn't a victim of probability but a victim of ignorance which costed him Jay's life in the end. I believe the best one can do is to have his/her actions synchronous with contemplation and chances are that one may hit upon a better alternative while trying to simplifying it.

Some years back, i was listening to a Microsoft Engineer at a seminar in Mumbai. He had said " An Engineer should enter office premises with folded sleeves, to show his eagerness to deal with unpredictable". I was highly motivated and till date i never forget to fold my sleeves whenever i am in a full shirt. Being an Engineer, its our religion to make things look simple no matter how complicated or uncertain they are. We are unlike those theoretical scientists who will make others feel claustrophobic both with their pages of equations and their physical appearances. Neither are we are like poets and philosophers whose job is to make simple things look complicated while writing pages after pages on life, love, sunset, rains etc etc

This and That

I am getting paranoid about the fact that the ideas i write or intend to write are mine or not. Probably they could have been shaped from the grey matter of a book or they could be from various happenings which have creep ed into my sub-conscious mind. In all these instances the ideas aren't mine and i try to branch out on those borrowed seeds of thought. Basically i think of fitting them into two broader categories . They can be event driven or concept driven.

Event driven writings are free flowing where i just pen down by direct observations and my own interpretations. Things like describing a place, describing an event, describing a book, sharing my experiences etc fall in this category. I find it a healthy practice to chain my randomized thoughts and gives me immense satisfaction. At the same time i try not to kill the spontaneity while getting nervous about the interpretations of people on other side of the table. At the end of the day, these kind of writings are great stress relievers where you let go of your brain surges and occasional outbursts.

Concept driven are basically thought driven and where i try to get into a metaphysical level. It's like building castles in air after my vodka sessions. My feel good factor gets elevated and i feel like living in multi-dimensions as a hyper creature while writing for myself. I don't want others to read these stuff, as i too don't know what exactly i am trying to do. The paragraphs would contain nothing other than disjoints in ideas, sentences,utter chaos and lots of adjectives. But then i use it as a tool for dealing with something new and my dynamic range gets stretched. I find the same pattern in me when i meet new people, visit new places, work on something new etc. Honestly i believe this is a trait common to all daydreamers and they can be a nuisance for the society.

Whining Kid

My next door neighbor got a descent kid some months back. The kid has become a center of attraction for all members of the family, and also for other families nearby. Handling this kid is not that easy and one should be stuffed with good amount of phonetics while dealing with this baby. She is catching up with worldly matters pretty fast and is getting more smarter day by day. She understands her food routine and maintains a perfect balance between play and sleep. She comfortably hops from one lap to another without any reluctance. Things like new faces, grazing cows, stray dogs and house insects catches her attention immediately. But somehow i don't share a good equation with this baby. The reason being, she looks at me with unending curiosity every time i carry her and this makes me search for appropriate reasons for her insanity. Many a times she gives a loud cry in my lap and her mood suddenly changes when i pass her to another. This makes me more humiliated. This kid sleeps more during the day and has a habit of going for occasional night outs. Since i share a common wall with her, i usually have tough times on these occasions. My tolerance levels come down and her loud cries makes me insomniac.

This doesn't mean i hate kids. It's just that i should learn to adapt with them and i will like to parent as many kids as possible some day.

Trip to Ganga

The trip was a good opportunity to flex my muscles against nature's tyranny. We started at 3.20 am and reached the destination after 6 hours. Our rafting started at around 2.30pm the same day and it went on for two hours. We made a quick acquaintance with lingos like raft, paddle, rapids. Rapids are places where water flow gets turbulent and makes rafting quite thrilling. Our captain gave us instructions regarding safety, ways of propelling the raft and a lot more. Swimming in flowing waters is much different from swimming in still waters and this is what i realized after swimming hopelessly for 2-2.5Km. I jumped off my boat the moment we received orders for swimming. Initially i crossed a rapid enthusiastically with water splashing over me from all directions and went far ahead. But i had a tough time to move against the flow while waiting for my raft and was getting drifted with the flow inspite of my efforts. The camping was in a scenic place amid the valleys and i earned a perfect good night sleep after watching the moon rise. By the late night water levels had changed drastically and they returned normal the next morning and i still cant figure out the exact reason. We camped there for a night and rafted the next day as well. The snaps attached can describe better. One captures the flower garden on a roadside restaurant 'cheetal grand', the other one captures rafts crossing a rapid called by name 'return to sender' and the third one captures the moon rise in valley.

Nascent Trials

Working on something new has its own pleasures. With no past anomalies encountered, things taste different. I am required to understand a piece of work within a stipulated time which people have taken some months to build. It is generic for people who are used to it and for beginners it's a bit cumbersome. One gets to listen harsh words, the morale gets shattered and one may end up breaking his spine. A few words of Prayer and careful enquiry into your neighbours may help you to navigate through troubled waters. But once you are through, the world seems so different to you. Now you are better equipped to pass on these troubles to your subordinates and gradually you become a man of bigger tummy, lesser mind and unlimited powers. Given the things are with me right now, i don't think i will able to escape this catastrophe.

Work apart i have other stuffs to do for the first time this weekend. I will be rafting in white waters of Ganga and with summer changing its stand, i may carry a blanket on board. Lets see how the adventure goes...

Tiny Hole in Pant Pocket

A long weekend and i was caught up with a sudden desire for roaming around in the streets of the capital before watching Delhi-6. A quick ride to some of the notable places like Purana Quila(for south asian band festival) followed by trips to CC,India gate and CP. After that i sank into the comforts of resting in a dolby theater to watch the movie.

Eversince RDB i had a great respect for Rakesh Mehra and this was the motivation for going to Delhi-6. The movie sounded realistic to me while trying to strike a balance between various happenings. Be it the insane kala bandar spreading panic or the stubborn cows managing the traffic, or the special effects of Hanuman getting airlifted, all these were depicted quite convincingly. But the climax of the movie was beyond my expectations. It was horrifying to see the main protagonist confused between life and death before coming at a decision and many thanks to his lady love. One scene takes you to ether where all the spirit dwells(this place too had technology penetration!) and the next one takes you to ambulance where he fights for his breathe. I dont know whether they lived happily there after or not but certainly i was confused at the end.

Nostalgic Syndrome

Sleep less
Work latenight
Breathe coffee
Cook noodles
Sing your school anthem
Write a piece of satirical prose
Listen to Enigma
Read paulo coelho
Watch hindi version of ghajni and make your memory go bleak
Plan your day in hurry and randomness
Dream of pursuing crazy goals like skydiving, parachuting
Spell out more words of wisdom

Baked Cheese

The country of ours has a great diversity in culture and supported by huge differences in food habbits. Starting from Idli and wada in south to Parantha and tablets(rajma, chole etc) in north.Every time i go home i never miss out on few food items. For me its a change which i always crave for. One of my all time favourite is 'Chena Poda' which translates to baked cheese. The softness and the taste it provides is simply superb and the aroma it carries will prompt you to go for more. Look wise it appears as an orthodox cake when freshly out from oven and one can take a hunch that typical B-day cakes of today are a evolution of it. The beauty of it is its simple, uncomplicated and non-glamorous without any toppings. Over the years it's elegance is still preserved. The Cheese gets a thorough pasting and is pushed into oven after being wrapped with leaves of Teak and those leaves are primarily responsible for the taste and fragrance. Equally important is the oven and the taste gets doubled if the oven is non-electric. Next time i go home i will try to suffice my theories with pictorial evidences.

Height of Ignorance

As per reports hundreds of lives were lost in recent Mumbai attacks and this act of blasphemy has been happening there for the Nth time. Some of our leaders have stepped down claiming moral responsibility... quite interesting at least now they are talking of morality. May be they are just trying to shield themselves from polemic issues and not wanting to subject themselves to lampooning and the agonies of the affected persons still remains unattended. This has been a wake-up call for the foreign ministry of both the countries. Instead of addressing the subtle issue, they are busy libeling against each other and our neighbour is thinking of diverting its troops towards Indian border. Its utterly crazy and such crappy ideas cannot be expected from a democratic government. In a way they are nurturing this ravenous beast and have turned a blind eye to recent bombings in Islamabad,Peshawar and blood shed in Baluchistan. Certainly in the days to come history will repeat and this government will be a mere puppet in the hands of this faceless creature.

Life's Lessons

A forwarded ppt worth sharing and hopefully will help us in preserving some of the idealities in a highly non-ideal world...

My Integrity Shakened

Working on Sundays has a different charm simply because with no enough homo-sapiens around i have all time and concentration of the world to focus on my TFT monitor. More importantly you have some recipes cooked up to tackle your Monday phobias and your week has got started ahead of others. Yesterday in between work i went to a small canteen inside a hospital premises to have food and i was the lone customer at that time. A man in his fifties with a broom appeared and he too sat down with me after discharging his duties for his tea. Out of curiosity he asks me "are you a student here?" A slight altruism and mistrust creeped in me and i didn't bother to tell him about my whereabouts, so i nodded back with a "yes". " First year?" Another big "yes" supported by again a big lie "got admitted this July " ....."which college?" Least expecting this one i took some time to spell out a name and luckily it matched with the one where he was working before taking up a job in the hospital. He went on explaining me about those days on how he had build up reputation there and his rappo with the student and tips good enough for procuring his bidis for the day and many more on faculties, politics etc. In between any question put to me, my answer was in terms of yes or no. In course of time i started to enjoy his talks and asked for more clarifications whenever i felt like. While we parted he gave me a piece of fatherly advice "do read well to live up to your parent's expectations". I was dumb struck and felt heavily embarrassed to see his innocent assumptions built on my blatant lies. My integrity was completely lost at that moment and i could feel the fervency of the just had discussion fading away with a weakness engulfing me. We often tend to go by our instincts and they can be misleading at times. Nevertheless i hope to bump into him some other day and assuming he still remembers my face i will have to gather courage to spill the truth...

Quite Unreasonable but True

You dont have to find reasons to be happy. This was a good revelation from my genesis mates. We need not be happy always though we seek for it all the time. we dont have to be successful all the time in our attempts, though the learnings from it are to be preserved. To come out of vicious loop of reasons and justifications, one has to unreasonable and then only one can attain bliss. Else it gets quite tough to come out of one's own internal rebellion for striving. Haven't thought about it before and will like to add more on this one...