Errr...wazzat now?

"Dude, what vegetable is this?" "No bloody idea, man. Must be something unpopular." "Is this even edible?" "Woah, this looks gross!"

 

I paraphrase from common grocery-shopping-talk by the younger generation, innit? How many times do we wonder what half those vegetables granny used to make were; or why a tomato is a fruit; or why the hell are olives good for health? Usually, no idea!

Somehow, with the generation getting more and more adept at technology and science, the science of well being is, ironically, in a vegetative state. I remember my grandmum telling me that whenever the kids at home had an ailment, could be anything – from stomach cramps to a bad personality – her grandmom used to take them to the basement and in classic wizard style mix and concoct portions of cloves and herbs and garlic sticks and everything mysterious into one suspicious looking black ball and shove it down their throats. Surprise of surprises, it works magic and the world is cleared of all its ills. Alas, this suspicious looking black ball recipe never made it as a Dear Diary entry and no one ever knew about it again. Hell, that's exactly what happened to Nalanda. When the Turks destroyed one of the leading universities of the world to massage a false ego, how come it was never rebuilt? All those books in the library that burnt non-stop for months together couldn't really have been the only storehouse of all that information, surely? The professors, students, other academicians, the king; they could have put it back together again. No? Well, clearly not. Same thing is happening to our generation. Just because everything is available so readily and freely on the all-knowing, genius internet, no one bothers to write things down anymore. Says me, as I type this post. Imagine if the internet were to crash to its fatal death tomorrow. No back-ups, no knowledge at the click of a mouse, no answers to Life, the Universe and Everything.

 

Sickening, stupid silence.

 

Knowledge is power. But knowledge without the ability to recall it when it is needed the most – is irrelevant.

***************************************************************************************************************************************

This E-mail message and any attachments are intended solely for the use of the addressee hereof and may contain information that is confidential, privileged and/or exempt from disclosure under applicable law.  Delivery of this message to any person other than the intended recipient shall not constitute a waiver of any right, privilege or exemption.  If you are not the intended recipient, please immediately notify the sender by reply E-mail and permanently delete this message from your system without reproducing or disclosing it to any third party.  While Ocwen Financial Corporation and its subsidiaries take reasonable precautions to prevent transmission of software viruses, we cannot guarantee the same and we therefore disclaim liability for any damage sustained by you or any third party as a result thereof.

*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Keep dancing!

Seemingly unimportant things make the most important of differences. Why do Bollywood movies have songs – to make the rest of the movie easier to digest. Why do artists have eccentricities – to make an excuse for freedom of expression. Why are scientists mad – so that they continuously think outside the box. These additions are necessary to maintain equilibrium and propel growth, even if they aren't at the crux of their being. So there might be a higher purpose to the existence of cities, but at the helm is the all important additions of maintaining administrative matters like roads, drainage, transportation, optimal use of taxes, education, eradication of poverty, health care and the mammoth – infrastructure.

The way I look at it – civic amenities are like great morning sex. If it happens like it should, you'll dance your day through. If I wake up in the morning and electricity is not disconnected, water is available, food prices are in check – I'll be on my way in a jiffy. If the roads are pothole-free and not flooded with rain water because of good drainage systems, pedestrians have footpaths to walk on, drivers have lanes to follow – I'll make no bones about getting to wherever I have to go. If city planning is at its pinnacle and one-way roads are actually helping move traffic faster, the metro lines aren't collapsing on me and there are lesser poor people on the streets – I promise to honk less and smile more. If I don't need to be wary of service or quality when I step into a hospital, believe that higher education is not just a scheme and am insured of the fact that the authorities have done their job in due diligence on companies where I'm placing my life's savings –I'll be happy to help with my share of taxes.

And then when I get to work, I will be composed and relaxed and will not aggressively shove my work down my underlings throat…because I don't feel angry and cheated. I will be productive and powerful and responsible. This is the second most important thing for development – hey snob, do your job! If everybody buckles down and performs his assigned task to near perfection, can you imagine what levels of progress this well oiled machine of a country will achieve? Then the only real problems we will have are the foreign policies, home ministries, terrorism, slowing economies and probably judgment day. But hey, I'm cool with that as long as I'm dancing.

Loving the kms.

There's something about being on the road. It just makes sense...everything clears up, jealousy evaporates, anger dissipates, stress disappears....every sense that spurs negativity just dulls completely.

The open road, the rhythm of the wheels, the background score by the engine, constant gushing of the breeze against the half open windows, the lullaby of the forward motion...it's just you, and the road.

On a metaphysical level, road journeys can alter your thinking, bonding, connection with beings - human or otherwise - and it enriches the core of your existence with education richer than many texts.

Road trips have always been about music and laughter and chatter and small dhabas on the highway for food and controlling of overfull bladders and sometimes even compromising modesty for sheer survival :ie peeing behind the closest bush. Heck, for me, the destination may be something I forget, but the journey there will always be an experience to remember.

I can't wait to do road trips and hitch hike and just take off into the horizon....and the best part about being married is that I always got great company :)

For you.

Breathing is a involuntary action is what they taught me when I was a tiny tot in school....unlike motor skills where your brain is in charge and initiates movement to achieve something...but breathing, it's involuntary.

Today I caught myself actually not breathing while lost in thought. I just stopped breathing. My mind wandered off while it left my body standing by the sidelines of it's racetrack. Of course when my lungs suddenly burst out in tears for air, is when I came to and lapped up a pretty big sip of O2. How can someone forget to breathe? Even when someone is panicking, you will see the calmer person telling them to "breathe...just remember to breathe"!

If you have to 'remember' to breathe, how is that involuntary?
Or is there a deeper moral to be learnt here?

No matter how naturally it comes to you, no matter how easily available the resources are, no matter how basic and essential it is to you - don't ever take it for granted!! When you're buried in work, take time out for your family and friends. When you're too preoccupied with the goings on of life's daily stress, take time out to read your favourite book. When you're too unsure or too insecure or too obsessed, don't forget to breathe. and the biggest lesson of all - do it for yourself.

When the time is right.

Timing.

Timing is a beautiful thing... when it works out :) 

I just watched a movie that lent more than just entertainment to my idle mind this Thursday. It's a movie about a mother, a housewife, who is taken for granted by her husband and children but still learns how to live life on her own terms. She thinks openly, loves freely and lives with blissful abandon while she lays out the cobblestones of her preferred path while still never letting go of the hands of her unworthy family. It gave a much needed backing to my own views about people. Regardless of qualification or communication or interests or intent...everyone around you is worthy. Worthy of your respect. Worthy of a kind word. Worthy of a smile. Worthy of a helping hand. Worthy of your attention.

Everyone deserves to be treated as an equal...respect them for who they are, you will not be disappointed.

People will forget what you did for them or what you said. But people will never forget how you made them feel.

True story.

Karma, baby, I love you :)

This is it. I'm a genius.

Think about this:

A universe is a singular thing.
Every singular thing is a universe.

Before you think I'm smoking something, let me explain...I'm sitting at the cornish right now and I'm looking up at the sky. The dull sky showcases none but one star...I think about how far away it is and how big it is. If the lonely star were ever to just lose it, decide to give up and shrug and fall, how everything in it's path would be destroyed...including me, who's sitting here looking at it. That would be star-suicide. No wonder in our world, suicide is more than just frowned upon here...because you see, when someone commits suicide, they kill all the little universes in their path.

An atom is its own universe. A molecule owns the atoms' ass but is still the molecules' own universe. A cell is its own. A limb is its own. A human body, made up of many limbs, is its own little universe. Self sufficient, self reliant, everything you need, is right there!! The seas, the oceans, the deserts, the cities, the world, the Earth, our solar system, our galaxy, our entire existence...each one singularly one, yet collectively one. wow. #mindblown

You cannot mess with one without messing with the other in some minimal manner at least...no matter how far we are, we're still affecting each other...we still touch each other.

Still a part, even apart.

Bad Ads!

For every cultural (or not) fest in college, we had an event called "Mad Ads"...the ginormously talented group of super intelligent 'cool-guys' in these events would come up with uber creative gibberish that the rest of us mere mortals would laugh at and remember for the rest of our lives. Somehow when these species graduate, they dissipate into dark matter. They NEVER evolve into the people making Television Advertisements, or Television Adverts, or TV Adverts, or TV Commercials, or TVCs...wait..."evolve" points at growing into something better...what's the opposite of evolve? Devolve? Anyway, I'm devolving my thoughts here. SO...yeah, where do these people go? I think the corporate monster chewed them up and spat these ads out.

Look at the ads that are on TV now-a-days!! Sometimes I just want to eat my eyes because they see such horrendous television. With Priyanka Chopra cutsie-ing it up in the "I hate the Chip-Chip" ad....or Sonam I-have-no-intonation Kapoor in the most irritating ad of all time while she pukes out the words "I am just like you". Even when you see some healthy brand-eats-brand competition ads with Samsung and Micromax....ALL the ads on TV are annoying!! It's like we're back in the 90's! Devolving. Again.

I loved the 80's...peppy jingles, sprightly tunes, brightly smiling non-actors over shadowed the bad TVCs...but in today's world, we have no overshadowing; because we're in an eclipse of derailed intelligence.

Note to brands : We are not stupid. Give us back our Mad Ad dudes!!