On gossip

"Nothing travels faster than light, with the possible exception of bad news, which follows its own rules." 

-Douglas Adams

Why do we like to gossip? It gives us so much pleasure to talk ill of others. Spreading rumours, back-bitching, and in general defacing a third party fills us with joy and glee. Perhaps it is that we take solace in the misfortunes of others as they help us forget, however temporarily, our own. Maybe we do it to hide our own shortcomings from others, and more importantly, from ourselves. A person with soiled clothes would naturally enjoy throwing mud at others. If one thinks about it rationally though, it would be a much better world if people with soiled attire simple cleaned up their acts instead of seeking to mar others. 

Another leading cause of gossip is idleness. It is a well known fact that people who have nothing to do, babble. after all, an idle mind is the devil's workshop.

On a side note, I watched the movie 'The Invasion' yesterday. It is a remake of the 1978 film, 'Invasion of the body snatchers.' I found the new film to be very enjoyable in the sense that it manages to create a tense atmosphere in the first few minutes and manages to sustain it throughout. What I liked most about it though is the question that it poses, 'would the world really be a better place if human beings lost their primal instincts and became in the real sense, civilized? More importantly, would they still be human?'

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The song for today is 'Hallowed Be Thy Name' by one of the greatest bands of all time, Iron Maiden.

Superb Saturday

Today was a good day. For one thing, there was no class, it's a weekend...duh! Partied with some good friends in the afternoon, had excellent food, and spent some quality time sleeping/ making music/ doing-nothing-particularly-useful. 

Unfortunately, the next week brings with it the spectre of exams. Although I am at a point in life where I have attended so many tests that they are no longer a big deal, this time I have decided to score respectable grades. It will require a little more effort that I usually expend on these pointless ventures, but I believe it will be worth it in the end. 

On an unrelated note, I finally managed to watch the movie 'United 93'. It is the chilling story of the passengers on board United flight 93, which was the only aircraft that missed its target on 9/11. The movie is intense and gripping. And even though we all know its outcome, I still found myself hoping against hope for a non-tragic ending. 

It set me thinking about terrorism and violence. If we are to be called a civilized species, we really should eliminate violence as an option. After all, 'violence is the last resort of the incompetent.' 

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The song for today is 'November Rain' by Guns and Roses.

Revolution, 2011.

Today I read about and watched a very nicely done video on the recent revolution of the Egyptian people. After decades of being suppressed by a dictator, the men, women and children of the great nation took to the streets in a massive yet peaceful protest. On 11th February 2011, the autocratic president, Hosni Mubarak stepped down, unable to hold his own against the people he once ruled. The world watched in awe as history was made, and the consequences of this event are still being speculated upon. 

One thing about this successful revolution that really inspires me and gives me hope is its peaceful nature. The protesters were constantly chanting 'we are peaceful' even as they marched in the thousands. In an age where a still immature human race holds in its tender hands, the weapons capable of its own annihilation, it is heartening indeed to see the power of non-violence. As has been throughout history, once again it has been shown that no amount of force can stand against the united will of a people who thirst for freedom. 

I salute the people of Egypt and wish them, from the bottom of my heart, a bright, prosperous and free future.
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For today, I have picked a song that reflects my feelings on the revolution. It has very inspiring lyrics and uplifting music. Do give it a listen if you haven't already heard it. The song is: "Rise Today" by Alter Bridge.

100,000 Watts of Rock

Today I went to a concert. The Malayalam rock band Avial was performing. Enjoyed it thoroughly. There is something about rock and metal music that is very different from other genres. Instead of being sweet and tickling your senses, this kind of music is intended to assault your very core with pure face-melting loudness. Contrary to popular belief though, it is not noise. In fact, it has the opposite effect of noise. Instead of grating on your nerves and causing you discomfort, this kind of music purges everything else from your mind. It is, in this respect, just as effective as meditation. 

Music knows no boundaries. There is no language barrier here. It is as if every single one of us was born with the ability to enjoy it. I believe that it can be a uniting force across the globe. Music transcends nationality, race, religion and gender. It is pure expression, of thoughts, of emotions, and of everything else that makes us human. Above all, music is pure creativity. I am still resonating from the concert and words aren't really coming forth like they usually do, so I am going to stop now.

The components of creativity.

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.”

-Scott Adams

Today, as I sat in the computer graphics lab for 3 hours and hammered away at the keyboard, I realized that there is a certain creativity involved even in something as logical and straightforward as coding. The code written by two people to do the same thing still contains very noticeable differences. The formatting and indentation of the code differs and in some cases even the very logic used to achieve the result varies vastly. Words like 'elegant' and 'beautiful' are just as applicable to code as they are to poetry. 

So what is it that constitutes creativity? Is it an inborn ability to recognize patterns and shapes where others see none? Is it the skill to generate aesthetically pleasing sequences of words/tunes/colours that takes years to master? Or is it just plain individual thought and its elegant expression? The answer, in my opinion, is all of the above.

Some people are born with an innate ability to spontaneously explode into a process of creation that leaves the mind boggled and frozen in awe. Others work at their art for ages before their thoughts can find a worthy expression on a medium. Some others are creative in the sense that they dare to create things nobody has ever had the courage to think of before.

I believe that there is a logic to creativity, a pattern, a design that follows mathematical laws. I also believe that these laws are so complex that we cannot understand them while in the relatively weaker concious state of the mind. This may be the reason why our imagination seems to be much stronger while we sleep or meditate. 

I once attended a creativity workshop where I learnt a very simple way to be creative. The trick is to find one way to do something and then ask yourself the question 'how else?' multiple times until you have found a unique and possibly beautiful answer. The way this works is that when we approach a task the first time, the left brain comes up with the most logical and straightforward way to do it. We must then urge and cajole the brain into coming up with more and more answers until the left part is out of solutions. It is then that the usually dormant right part awakens. It is the job of this part of the brain to solve things one has never encountered which means coming up with something new and hence being creative.

A simple exercise in creativity would be to find a hundred ways to divide a square into four exactly similar parts. If you get stuck at less than a hundred ways, ask yourself the question 'how else?' Trust me, there are more than a million ways to do it.

A dearth of thought

As I gradually get into a routine, the days start to blur together. The nights seem to vanish in the blink of an eye. The purpose of it all seems questionable. How unfortunate then that almost everything in this civilized world of ours encourages a routine. 'A systematic approach' some call it. Others call it a rut. Everyone knows that it is boring and there is nothing more effective at making a person brain-dead than a routine.

The human mind is a complex, powerful and yet delicate monstrosity of an organ. It must be carefully nourished and regularly exercised in order to achieve peak performance. From the very childhood, as the mind slowly grows and wraps itself around and extends beyond the skull of its host, it craves encouragement. It enjoys challenges and looks forward to solving problems. This natural curiosity and thirst for brain-food rarely survives into adulthood. Education ensures this. Most telling is the fact that many of our greatest scientists and inventors were unceremoniously thrown out of schools when they were kids. 

If the human mind is, on a regular basis, discouraged and forced to conform to a mediocre standard, it initially fights, then resentfully submits and finally accepts its fate and goes into a perpetual comatose state of inactivity. A routine does just this. When one follows the same schedule every day, there is nothing new for the mind to do. Its higher functions are no longer needed and are hence shut down. The human becomes nothing more than a biological machine running a program in infinite loop.

There are ways to break out of this stagnation. Stimulation of the brain on a regular basis becomes an absolute necessity in this conformist world of ours. Individual thought and expression become absolutely critical in an environment which seems to beat all its inhabitants into an unrecognisable pulp of average bodies and even more average minds. This is where creativity comes in.

Midnight oil

I heard about this experiment they once conducted on a mouse. Electrodes were connected to the pleasure centres in its brain and it was taught to press a button which would stimulate them. The result was that the mouse kept pressing the button and eventually died of starvation. Yes, it ignored all its other needs. 

We are more similar to mice than we think. Last night, I sat up till 5 am, composing music on my PC. I ignored my need for sleep until I could no longer keep my eyes open. I was driven by the highest sort of pleasure, the one that comes from creative expression. The result was that I slept through most of today. I got attendance for it though, so I don't mind. 

What is creativity? Where does the drive come from? Why is it so pleasurable? These are questions I often dwell on. I'll be sure to discuss the answers to them in the coming days.

Movie review: The Mechanic.

After not-so-long a wait here's my take on the movie, 'The Mechanic', as promised.

The entire movie revolves around a single quote, "Victory loves preparation", which is conveniently engraved on an exotic looking gun in two languages. Ben Foster delivers a very believable performance and Jason Statham is in his usual badass-for-hire avatar. Unfortunately, the story is not very engaging and neither is the action. It's not that the action is bad, it's really good. In fact, many of the action scenes are gory enough to make an obese man freeze with his popcorn-filled hand in mid air and his jaw very close to the floor. It's just that there are not enough of them. 

Simply put, the gaps between action sequences are so large that the lack-lustre story shows through. It's a good movie to watch if you have nothing else to do, but don't expect much, just sit back, relax, and switch off your brain.

Yesterday's post today.

It has finally happened. The end of the world is near! We are all Doomed! Why else would I have missed posting yesterday? Maybe because I was too damn busy, doing busy-stuff you gullible dim-witted descendants of apes!

Actually I was too busy enjoying myself. Yesterday I was offered to chance to be a productive member of society by delivering high performance. This has multiple effects on me. All of them are good. Being told, in writing, that you are good enough to work for a top company, feels really good. I mean it feels 'I-just-did-weed-while-driving-a-race-car-so-fast-the-world-was-a-blur' kind of good. The concept of a secure future finally sank home to me. The approval from my near and dear ones gave a huge boost to my self-worth. In short, I got this warm fuzzy feeling inside me that made me wonder if I was undergoing a change in sexual inclination. 

What did I do about it? I went and watched what I thought was a bad-ass dude-flick. Yes, I caught 'The Mechanic' last night. I'll write about it in the next post. :P

Smoke signals

Today I learnt how the success in one task can carry over into others. Taking control of a crisis situation and resolving it in a calm and systematic manner was just the shot in the arm that my self-confidence needed. Once I had done that, the rest seemed pretty easy. 

I had a whirlwind of a day today. I am being intentionally vague here. Perhaps I shall talk about this in more detail tomorrow. Perhaps it will just remain a vague reference to an undisclosed incident, fondly remembered by me and me alone. Only time will tell. 

Another thing I noticed today is how hunger, beyond a certain point stops bothering me. I did not have breakfast today so by lunch time I was pretty hungry. Now just for the kicks, I went ahead and skipped lunch as well. Finally my grumbling tummy gave in and stopped complaining. The energy required to keep me awake was taken from my abundant reserves and I functioned normally. I wonder how long it takes for the hunger to come back as starvation. I personally have no desire to experience it, but perhaps it would be a very educational adventure.

Ah, it looks like my thoughts are incoherent now. I should get some sleep. 

The joy of shoe-shining

Today I polished my shoes. Now this is a simple, iterative activity which requires almost zero mental effort. Perhaps this is the reason why I found it so enjoyable. We fail to realize that even when we are sitting idle our brain is constantly working. We are thinking, day-dreaming, plotting to take over the world ...etc and in such manner keeping our brain furiously active. But for some reason, when our body is engaged in a simple task, the brain takes a breather and the result is that we feel relaxed and happy. I am definitely going to do this more often. Being of a naturally lethargic disposition, I have been constantly ignoring the benefits of physical work. This clearly has to change. I now realize that my brain needs some rest once in a while and a very elegant way of achieving this is to polish shoes. In fact, I am now seriously considering a career as a professional shoe-shine. An added bonus is my love for the smell of shoe-polish. It smells sweet and leathery, a very pleasant aroma overall. 

So here's to squeaky clean shoes and rich black polish!

Mind tricks

The human brain and its formidable resident, the human mind, are incredible entities. Their complexity is so immense and their capabilities so extreme that one often doubts whether everything that one experiences might not be a figment of one's imagination. 

I experienced first hand today what the term 'mental gymnastics' means. I had a concious desire to go to class today, but unfortunately, I was unable to coax my body out of bed in the morning. To minimize the guilt from this situation my mind manufactured a dream, a dream in which I was sitting in class just like I wanted to. It's only when the lecturer started teaching English that I realized it was a dream (we don't have English in our syllabus.)

I believe that all living organisms operate on one basic goal, to maximize pleasure and to minimize pain. Guilt is a painful emotion, and naturally, the mind wants to minimize it. This it proceeds to do with whatever resources it has at its disposal. If the body is not willing to take action, the mind creates a virtual scenario to achieve its purpose. Extrapolating this concept can lead to the situation that is painted vividly in the movie "The Matrix." If you haven't seen it, do so now. The concept is very believable and the action is delicious.

So now that I know how proficient my mind is in cheating me, I am going to gain control over it. Meditation seems to be the right way of going about it and this is what I am going to try.

Terrible Tuesday

It's 8 in the evening as I post this. I cannot believe that most of today is already over. Whoever said time travel is impossible should try attending class in my college. They'll never know where all the time went. This is mostly due to the fact that one tends to lapse into a coma within the first few minutes of a lecture. In fact. my memory of the day is shrouded in a thick haze, so much so that I am not even sure if I actually experienced it at all. 

On a completely unrelated note, I noticed yet again today how in Kerala, women are systematically suppressed. The worst part is that it is the women who do most of the suppressing. It is, apparently, culture. Women are supposed to be docile and always step aside for a man, regardless of how much more capable or dedicated they might actually be. I am not a feminist, not by a far shot, but I really do believe that one should be judged, if ever, on one's merits rather than one's sex.

As for my plans for the rest of the day, I have some notes to complete and some algorithms to study. Oh joy!

Chicken Soup

Unfortunately, the hangover from yesterday managed to bleed into today. Needless to say, I did not go to class and spent most of my morning in bed. In spite of this, I was feeling slightly woozy and had aches all over. Finally, I decided that it was time for the ultimate remedy. Chicken soup. Now chicken soup is a miraculous concoction. It is thick and served warm with finely diced pieces of delicious chicken and has never failed to lift my spirits. Fortunately, it still works. Once the brew hit the bottom of my stomach, I was born anew. My throat ceased its incessant complaining and my brain came out of its comatose state. 

I now look forward to a good night's sleep and am confident that I will be able to attend class tomorrow. 

The divine hangover

Remember I mentioned a temple-festival yesterday and how I had decided to be part of it? It seems that I got more than I had bargained for. The festivities stretched all the way up to 2 am in the morning. Very unsurprisingly, when I did manage to wake up today, I realized that I had a splitting headache in addition to many other aches scattered across the topography of my not-so-small body. I can now understand what a person who's been hit by a train feels like, provided that they are still alive to feel it.

Predictably, I spent most of today swimming in and out of consciousness and being generally just as useful as a boulder lying in the middle of nowhere. 

Now I just hope that this hangover does not seep into tomorrow, as I really would like to be able to attend class.  Don't get me wrong though, I did have a blast this weekend, but I guess I am getting too old to be able to bounce back from it like I used to. 

Saturdays are for fun

I love weekends. Especially Saturdays. I don't have class, and I don't have to worry about getting up early the next day either. My usual plans for Saturdays involve having good food (mostly junk) and catching a late night movie. 

I watched James Cameroon's Sanctum today. It's a movie based on cave-diving. The plot is nothing new, a group of cave-divers get trapped in this unexplored cave in the middle of nowhere and have to face many challenges, including narrow tunnels, lack of light and murderous intentions. It's not a great movie, but it's not boring either. Definitely paisa-vasool. 

I watched the movie in the newly opened Q-Cinemas in the Gold Souk mall, Cochin. The multiplex is a standard affair and the tickets are moderately priced.

As for my evening, I expect to spend it staring at idols of gods being carried through the streets where hundreds of people line up with offerings for them. Yes, the T.D. temple festival is on. It's an eight day ceremony and today is the fifth day. Elephants, blazing torches and traditional chendas (drums) are a common sight during this time.

It's not that I have suddenly become religious, I just look at this as an opportunity to meet a lot of relatives and keep the family ties intact. I was not always like this though. I did not give much importance to family. After all, it is not something I chose. Recently though, I have come to realize that more often than not, family is what will be there through thick and thin. It is strange and illogical, but blood is indeed thicker.

Well, that about wraps up the day for me. Hope you have a great weekend as well.

Cheers!

B'day Post

Today is my birthday. It comes around once in 365 days according to the Gregorian calendar. I woke up early in the morning, when the first rays of dawn streamed through my window and hit me squarely in the face! I woke up with hazy but fond memories of the calls and messages that I had gotten at midnight. 

There was a time when I used to believe that every birthday took me one year closer to death. Those were my dark days. Now they are past. I now choose to look at it as a celebration of another year of survival. It's very Zen, I know.

For many of us, birthdays mean gifts, sweets, friends, party...etc. To me, my birthday is the one day of the year when I throw all cares to the wind and have all kinds of fun. I usually like to laze around on a birthday. I don't go to class, I sleep a few minutes (or hours) extra, I go for long drives on scenic routes, I eat tasty food from different places, and I spend time with people that matter most to me. Of course, these things can and are done on other days as well. But doing them on a birthday ensures that at least once in a year, I do things my way.

I am looking forward to having a great day, hope you are too. :)

Cheers!

Hurtling backwards in time...

This is a rant. You may get severely insulted or offended on reading it.

You have been warned.

It pisses me off when one generation tries to enforce their moth-ridden values on the next. Especially when the victim is my generation. 

A recently enforced rule in the state (God's own hell-hole, Kerala) bans students from bringing mobile phones to college. Especially camera phones. (Which is virtually every phone that does anything more than a brick can do.)

The reason? Because some irresponsible people somewhere took some naked pictures of someone on their phone. 

Knives are used very regularly by many people to commit murder and assault and yet I don't see knives being banned any time soon. Why should cell phones be any different? It is my belief that any technology can be put to good or bad use. This is wholly dependant on the disposition of the user. That is no excuse to deprive us normal non-naked-picture-taking folk from being connected to our dear ones.

There are multiple reasons why the previous generation seems to relish the implementation of this draconian rule though. One of them is sure to be jealousy. The rate of technological progress is so rapid now that things the previous generation couldn't even dream of are already in our hands.

Another reason is to hide their own perversion behind a black veil of unquestioned support for so called 'tradition'. Maintaining a 'good' image of the state becomes doubly important when they have nasty secrets to hide. Besides, why is sex or nudity considered so bad? Isn't that the way 'god' supposedly created us?

I have given up any hopes of trying to make the older generation adapt to the changing world. My only relief comes from the fact that it won't be very long until the natural progress of time will transfer control into our hands.

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

-George Bernard Shaw

Here's hoping that the change comes quickly and that we can undo the damage that the short-sighted ones have already done.

Cheers!