The value of realization, the realization of value.

The perception of value/worth of things is different for different people. Time for instance is something different people perceive differently. Time flies by on rosy wings when we are with friends, doing things we like barely realizing that each minute feels like a day for a prisoner waiting for his freedom. The difference of perception is rather shameful when in comes to money. The following video explains everything.

Teaching: The way I don't like it.

We had discussions with our friends, asking of their opinion as to how professors should teach and what should be their reaction to low attendance. Their opinion was something like this (if they would become a prof. ) :

• Give loads of assignment, quizzes and make attendance compulsory. Only then will students learn. Penalize for not coming to class.
• Make exams very hard. They should pay for not coming to the class. Attendance should be mandatory, carrying some weightage. Take surprise quizzes when attendance is low.

My opinion differs from both, not for assignments, but in attendance. As far as assignments are concerned, assignments do help understand what you are teaching so the quantity of assignments should be at least that what is necessary to cover each individual topic if not in plenty. The more the better. The problem lies in the second aspect. This is where I stand against many professors, and wannabes, that attendance should NOT be compulsory. The arguments that people give in favour is that

• If attendance is not compulsory, students will not come and hence will not learn.
• I can earn 10 times if I go to industry, so when I teach I want students attending lectures. If they don't then its insulting for me. (Actual reason given by a prof)

All those sound logical, but they are nothing more that hollow statements, carrying no weight at all. Answer these 2 questions and you will know why I dislike compulsory attendance.

1. When you say attendance should be compulsory, you implicitly make a claim that students will not be able to learn without your help. Unless you explain them, they won't be able to figure out what the topic is about. Is that true? I don't think so. There are many students who prefer to study alone. They cannot grasp concepts in a lecture simply because its a lecture. The pace doesn't suits them, the way it is taught, or whatever the reason may be! They prefer to figure out the stuff by themselves. Still many others are able to outperform even without attending a single lecture. What good are you doing by forcing such students to come to class? There are several teaching and learning styles and if they mismatch, its a problem. (refer wiki for the styles)
2. When you assign some weightage or use other methods to force students come to class, aren't you saying it yourself that your way of teaching is not effective enough, not something that students would love to be a part of? Isn't that a fault in your teaching that you are trying to hide by making attendance compulsory. You should instead improve your way of teaching.

Such actions, at least I think, do not suit a teacher. As a teacher, my job is NOT to pester students and make them pay. My job is to teach. You have the study material with you. Any doubts, I will clarify them. Today the strength is low, very good! I can give personal attention to students. You think you can study yourself? Very good indeed. Go do it. All the imperfect responses you make will teach you even more than what I can. You would not just know how to do a thing, solve a problem, but also know several other ways of not doing a thing. What's the point of assigning weightage to attendance. The system is flexible enough to accommodate and suit every students learning style, without leaving anyone at a disadvantage. Fair for both, those who want to "learn" and those who don't want to "study".

That's how it should be. Things should be fair. They should be flexible. From my side its all that I can do. As far as the other side is concerned, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. They are grown up kids, they know what they are doing. I shouldn't make it unfair for anyone.

...from grains lost in time...

Look at that hourglass. Isn't it one of the most...deceptive...thing you've ever seen? There's sand in the upper half, and some in the lower. No one knows where it came from! All is known is that its there. Flip the hourglass and it all begins. A grain passes through the narrow passage (connecting tube). It falls...falls...falls and hits the other side. Then another, and another, and yet another....And all you see are grains of sands falling one after the another, after another! All destined the same. And then falls the last one. What was in the top, is now in the bottom. What was to be future, has become the past and you witnessed it. What now? Flip it again and it starts all over again, all from the beginning.

Sadly enough, life is not an hourglass you can flip to start over again. What was in the top for you to make use of it, you let that fall in front of your eyes, just to realize...its gone. What if I tried to hold it in my hands? It would still flee. There's nothing I can to to hold back time. Time is fleeting, flies sooner than one can imagine. All we can do is live it.

“Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it you can never get it back.” Value time. "Don't count every hour in the day, make every hour in the day count". Its not the grains of sand that are falling, its you! Look beyond the deception!

I, Me and Myself

Me: So finally its time.

Myself: I am glad it is....

Me: So lets start it. Well you know what it would be? Don't you?

Myself: Of course. Lets go with it!

Me: Favourite colour, food, movie, novel, etc, you got the ques...Didn't you?

Myself: Well, colour would be blue, food pizza, movie Black Hawk Dawn, novel none!

Me: Why no novels?

Myself: Well they are quite loooong and by the time I finish reading say about 20%, I am pretty bored. Its better to watch it when they make a movie based on it. Saves a lot of time!

Me: And what about music?

Myself: Music is a different story altogether. Firstly I don't have a so called "best" for music, defined by none of album, artist, genre, etc. I hear nearly all kind of music. Secondly, every song is kind of special to me. Its like, each of them caught my ear, the very first time I heard them. So I now I have a pretty huge collection of songs for all moods which is still growing...

Me: Okay I get it :P So now tell me about your hobbies.

Myself: Hobbies. Well they change over time. Quite a few years back, I used to be a gamer. I still have a bit of that left in me. Then started playing minesweeper and other puzzles. Then started playing guitar and so today, I spend most of my time learning guitar.

Me: :O That's cool. Tell me more about guitar as such.

Myself: Well it started with trying my hands on the guitar of a friend and applying the logic I used on Casio and Viola! I could play something. So I bought one of my own and learnt all things from a website called www.cyberfret.com. Then after the basic knowledge, switched to youtube for lessons and now I just read tablatures using a software called GuitarPro. That's how I learnt. No teacher ;)

Me: So how do you manage all those things?

Myself: Managing all these. for me, is all about following "highest priority first".

Me: :O And do you mind explaining what that means?

Myself: Its like "You wanna do something? Do it!" Who cares about what happens later. Today you wanna do it, so do it. Who knows tomorrow you'd change your mind and wouldn't wanna do the exact same thing, and some time later, you'd wonder "It really would have been wonderful had I done that then...". So bottom line: "Follow your heart"

Me: Don't you think you'd lose the interest in it after some time if you go after it with all that passion?

Myself: Nice point. I have heard many people say "You really shouldn't do all at once. You should save some for the future". But honestly speaking, that's not how I work. That's not how I see it. What's the point of doing things just for the sake of it? If I wanna do something, I'll do it properly, and then later I can do other things, all with the same passion.

Me: So it means you don't have a schedule.

Myself: Absolutely. I just don't like following a schedule. I don't know about promises, but schedules are meant to be broken, or rather not adhere to.

Me: Besides these, how do you spend your time?

Myself: I'd be sleeping, taking a nap, if I am not watching cartoons, listening to music, or maybe studying.

Me: Did I just heard cartoons? ;P

Myself: Well yes you did. What could be better than watching Tom & Jerry, Duck Tales, Tale Spin and many others, and still feel that you're a kid at heart? And when you wanna see something better, anime serves the variety as well. DBZ and bleach were brilliant. I don't watch them over and over again....but watching all of these, with my friends, was a great experience.

Me: One last question. Why do you blog?

Myself: Honestly speaking, blogging is one of the crappiest thing a person can do. Blogs serve no purpose whatsoever unless they are like, news blogs, event blogs, content specific, or meant for a specific thing. So yes, my blogging is indeed a waste of time! But still, Its a nice collection of some thought provoking articles, having some depth, for people who are kind of interested or appreciate such stuff. They are most welcome to have a look at it. For others, maybe you should go somewhere else, where you may get a taste of funny, light-hearted, and other more enjoyable topics! Superficial maybe. That's it.

Me: I think I am done asking....Do you have any to ask?

I: Yesssss. I have a lot to ask. Finally its my turn! Yeeeee.

Myself: :)

I: Which were your favourite computer games?

Myself: GTA:VC, COD4 nd COD5, POP, and DMC. Those are top notch. And burnout too!

I: Okay! Crack a joke!

Myself: NOW?

I: Of course now ;)

Myself: Well I have two in mind. You remember "I missed" one, or "I told you not to go" one??

I: :O Yes I do, Okay then leave it. ;) Here's the next question: Can you dance?

Myself: :O From where did that came? Of course I can't, ball-dancing is a different thing though ;)

I: hehe. Can you sing?

Myself: :O I'm trying to learn singing with the guitar.

I: And can you...

Myself: Okay! You need to stop asking arbit questions ;P

I: :D

Myself: We'll continue with this some other day. You can ask some more arbit questions then, but now I really have to go. I have some important work to do.

I: Okay! Go learn ball dancing. And singing too ;P

Myself: ^-^

I: BTW, I would want to go out for a walk with you, maybe for a lunch/dinner or so. Tell me when you are free.

Myself: Really? You really wanna go? OK then lets go now.

I: But you had some important work...

Myself: Aah. No problem! I can manage that. Screw the work for now. Lets go! :)

I: Yeeee :D

Myself: Me, why don't you join us?

Me: Sure. It would be great to see myself and I with me. After both of you. Btw, we 3 have been together....where have the other two of us been???

Myself: Hmm...Now that you've said it, I wonder what they're up to! They must be somewhere else. Leave'em for some other time. Today its just the three of us....

How to be a good teacher.

To be able to understand that, you first need to know how to be a bad teacher. Consider the following conversation (based on an actual incident):

Student: Sir, I have a doubt. Why can't we...

Teacher: Do you know about X ?

Student: I'm sorry I don't. (with regret) But why can't we do that if we go by this, "...."(tries to explain)

Teacher: Do you know about Y ? (frustrated)

Student: I'm sorry, neither that. I guess the real problem is that I don't know the terms you are talking about.(more regret)

Teacher: How can I tell that when you don't know a thing about anything? What do you do to improve your knowledge? When you want to know about this you got to have a basic knowledge of something. This is not what you expect from a student of your age. (frustration and anger)

Student: ...speechless...(Thinking I really shouldn't have asked him) Sir, do you want me to learn about them first? (tries to withdraw)

Teacher: I just want this to get over with, give you grades and let you go!(extreme frustration)

Student: ...puzzled...

So what went wrong? First identify the following:

1. The student is willing to get his doubts clarified, thereby increasing the frustration.
2. The student is curious to know about things he doesn't know, but asking questions seems to frustrate the teacher.
3. The teacher is unwilling to get down to the student's level and explain.
4. The teacher never answered the real question "why can't we..."
5. Remarks like the last one are rude, outrageous, disgusting and can have a negative impact.

The wrong on teacher's side is that he could have replied in variety of ways and made an attempt to explain the answer. Some are:

• Student: Sir, I have a doubt. Why can't we... Teacher: That's because...
• Student: I don't know about X. Teacher: Okay. So then I need to explain what X is. Well X is nothing but ....
• Student: Sir, do you want me to learn about them first? Teacher: Yes. That will explain why can't we do that. So read about A,B, ...

As we see, the whole idea is not to make the student realize that he knows nothing and he is a fool. The attempt is to first understand where the student has a problem and then try to correct him and explain it to him. If he is unable to grasp that, then present the solution in a simpler way. And if still he is unable to understand, the provide him the grounds and show him the way that he should follow. And not get frustrated over such petty matters. Its in realizing that your getting frustrated or angry will make you less approachable.

Its sad how some teachers just don't realize this. Teaching is an art, and more than that, an art that requires patience and will. You just can't go to a plant and get angry as to why ain't its branches blossomed with flowers and laden with fruits. You have to give it water and wait for it to grow to become a tree. That's how teaching should be. And not just teaching, but many day to day things.

We all must have heard the classic analogy between a potter and a teacher. A potter slaps, changes and bends the pottery from outside but also provides support from the inside, concerned as to not break it, and to give it the right shape. What good are you if you can't provide that support...That's what separates a good teacher from others.

Inspiration: "How to have a fruitless debate" - Ethical Toolbox by Anthony Weston.

The man and a bird.

Greg was the owner of a shop. His' was one of those that provided all sort of goods, and this was one of the reason there always was a rush at the shop.

On one fine day, Greg took a break, went outside and sat on the bench. He was looking at the blue sky when he heard some noise. It was the chirping of a bird. The bird was one of those rare types with red feather and crimson fur dotted red in colour, giving it the most elegant look of all. The bird came towards Greg and sat at some distance away from him. It looked like the bird was scared of Greg. Greg looked at the bird and smiled, then went inside and brought some seeds to feed the bird. He threw them at the ground and waited for the bird to eat. At first, the bird hesitated, but finally came and enjoyed the "gift". That was the first day.

Slowly and gradually, there developed a bond between the shopkeeper and the bird. There was not a single day when the bird came and shopkeeper fed it. The bird became so comfortable around Greg that it didn't felt slightest hesitation in feeding directly from Greg's hands. Greg too, felt some kind of happiness in seeing the bird around him. It hopped and jumped and chirped. It was all so wonderful for the shopkeeper. After so hard a day at the shop, he could feel some sort of peace with ruby, that's what he used to call it.

One day, after working for a long time at the shop, Greg took the regular break, went outside and sat on the bench, with seeds in his hands. He waited for ruby to come. After a long wait, he lost all hope and decided to go back. Just as he stood up, he heard the chirping of a bird in the sky. He looked up and at once recognized it to be ruby. He saw the bird taking a high flight and heading North. He smiled and headed towards the shop. He knew that the bird wasn't going to come back. It had finally decided to go back from whence it had come. Deep inside he felt that happiness, of finally seeing ruby fly high. He never wanted it to sit beside him and live with him. He goes inside the shop, sees a long line of customers, takes his usual place and says "May I help you?"...

Next Post: Something definitely concrete or realistic :O ;)

The secret of happiness...

We all look forth to happiness either in the form of materialistic gains or hedonistic otherwise, but happiness has been something every single one of us has been chasing. And the funny part is that we're never satisfied. We want more and more and more. And in the pursuit of that ultimate goal, we always overlook these small, tiny moments and aspects of life that could possibly result in even greater happiness.

"One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon-instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today" - Dale Carnegie

The secret to being happy is not striving for success in order to gain it. Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. And true happiness needs to be created. If one is always in the pursuit of happiness, one will never find time to live. Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. Following is an excerpt from somewhere.

"First I was dying to finish my high school and start college. And then I was dying to finish college and start working. Then I was dying to marry and have children. And then I was dying to see my children grow old enough so I could go back to work. Then I was dying to retire. And now I am dying. And suddenly I realized I forgot to live".

Call it frustrated desires or whatever, but they express the importance of living in the present, enjoying each moment and cherishing the life given to you instead of chasing dreams. The secret of happiness lies in appreciating those flowers blooming outside your window which you always overlook while dreaming of the magical rose garden over the horizon. It lies in feeling the sweet fragrance of these roses, appreciating their vibrant colours which express the joy of life and understanding their tender form which express the subtlety of the fact. It lies in holding all those things right here in your hands which mean something to you, while you can...

I would at last like to leave you with some food for thought in the form of this excerpt from the story "The Bet" by Anton Chekov. It might not explain what happiness is, but it definitely deserves a place here. Its a beautiful piece of writing, a letter written by a prisoner, showing where he found happiness and where not...

"To-morrow at twelve o'clock I regain my freedom and the right to associate with other men, but before I leave this room and see the sunshine, I think it necessary to say a few words to you. With a clear conscience I tell you, as before God, who beholds me, that I despise freedom and life and health, and all that in your books is called the good things of the world.
"For fifteen years I have been intently studying earthly life. It is true I have not seen the earth nor men, but in your books I have drunk fragrant wine, I have sung songs, I have hunted stags and wild boars in the forests, have loved women ... Beauties as ethereal as clouds, created by the magic of your poets and geniuses, have visited me at night, and have whispered in my ears wonderful tales that have set my brain in a whirl. In your books I have climbed to the peaks of Elburz and Mont Blanc, and from there I have seen the sun rise and have watched it at evening flood the sky, the ocean, and the mountain-tops with gold and crimson. I have watched from there the lightning flashing over my head and cleaving the storm-clouds. I have seen green forests, fields, rivers, lakes, towns. I have heard the singing of the sirens, and the strains of the shepherds' pipes; I have touched the wings of comely devils who flew down to converse with me of God ... In your books I have flung myself into the bottomless pit, performed miracles, slain, burned towns, preached new religions, conquered whole kingdoms ...
"Your books have given me wisdom. All that the unresting thought of man has created in the ages is compressed into a small compass in my brain. I know that I am wiser than all of you.
"And I despise your books, I despise wisdom and the blessings of this world. It is all worthless, fleeting, illusory, and deceptive, like a mirage. You may be proud, wise, and fine, but death will wipe you off the face of the earth as though you were no more than mice burrowing under the floor, and your posterity, your history, your immortal geniuses will burn or freeze together with the earthly globe. "You have lost your reason and taken the wrong path. You have taken lies for truth, and hideousness for beauty. You would marvel if, owing to strange events of some sorts, frogs and lizards suddenly grew on apple and orange trees instead of fruit, or if roses began to smell like a sweating horse; so I marvel at you who exchange heaven for earth. I don't want to understand you.
"To prove to you in action how I despise all that you live by, I renounce the two million of which I once dreamed as of paradise and which now I despise. To deprive myself of the right to the money I shall go out from here five hours before the time fixed, and so break the compact ..."

References: Aah! Just too many.

Some things never age...

This post is about a video I saw quite a long time back. The video is about a couple of pencil-outlined birds escaping from a little girl's drawing, leading us to the life she dreams of. This video is still one of my favourites.

A Thin Line - Part II (On interviews)

This post is a result of my discussion with Gautam Sewani on interviews, or in general, people's expectations during them. Generally, when you go to an interview, you are asked with HR questions like why Company X? Why do you want to be with us? So when you don't show any enthusiasm to join them, they remark that "We can't see that passion in you!".

An example: Gautam himself, Company X interview. Interviewers asked him why did he asked his interview to be postponed. He said that he just requested that if it was possible, kindly shift it as there were clashes. The commen he got: "You have a lot of ego!". Then they asked him why do you want to be with X, which he answered by saying that going for research is not an option to be available to him...so he wants to join them. The comment he got: "We can't see that passion in you!"

Now put me in that situation, press me a little more, and you will hear my opinion on that. Which I strongly believe is right. I may or may not say it directly, depends, but I would definitely mean that "Someone needs to tell you people that you are sounding like fools! You want people who are lunatic or fanatic, you definitely are talking to the wrong guy! C'mon you really don't expect me to say that ever since I was born I have dreamt of being in this company/institution! There is no place that I can be but this. That is not the kind of passion you are looking for. That ain't even true! So do you want people who are rational, who knows how to keep their feets on the ground or people who build castles in the air? I can definitely fool you and show you the passion you're looking for, but don't you want people who are honest?" And when you say it honestly, they are pretty pissed off!

So our(Gautam's and mine) general opinion on this: "If you want to hear the truth, you want honest answers, then you better have the courage to listen to them!"

Now that might have sounded a bit arrogant, but obviously there is a very thin line...

A thin line...

Finally a post that concerns some concrete issues and not lingers in the abstract domain. The whole idea is to put forth an observation of mine. When you do/say something, others can classify it as either behaviour X or behaviour Y. The interesting point to note is that X and Y can be really contrasting in the context of the action. Sounds weird? Well weird it is.

Consider writing style for an example. Forget about books/novels. Many people prefer to write in a style which will force an "average reader" to look up the meanings of the words used, in a dictionary, several times in a line. The justification given by them is that it is a "style" of writing and people are "impressed", when they read it. On the contrary, there are also people who will simply be ridiculed by this because they see it as showing off of your superior vocabulary. We really don't need to go that far in search for an example. We have our own Mr. Shakespeare here to help us. Here are a few of his sonnets taken from here:

• The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
  Is lust in action: and till action, lust
  Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
  Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust;
  Enjoyed no sooner but despised straight;
  Past reason hunted; and no sooner had,
  Past reason hated, as a swallowed bait,
  On purpose laid to make the taker mad.
  Mad in pursuit and in possession so;
  Had, having, and in quest to have extreme;
  A bliss in proof, and proved, a very woe;
  Before, a joy proposed; behind a dream.
  All this the world well knows; yet none knows well
  To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell..
• Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws,
  And make the earth devour her own sweet brood;
  Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger's jaws,
  And burn the long-liv'd phoenix, in her blood;
  Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleet'st,
  And do whate'er thou wilt, swift-footed Time,
  To the wide world and all her fading sweets;
  But I forbid thee one most heinous crime:
  O! carve not with thy hours my love's fair brow,
  Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen;
  Him in thy course untainted do allow
  For beauty's pattern to succeeding men.
  Yet, do thy worst old Time: despite thy wrong,
  My love shall in my verse ever live young.

Now imagine that being sent to you and assess, how much of that entered in your mind. So lets get back where we were. People may attach labels like fake, meretricious or in an extreme case, disgusting, ridiculous, superficial. The reason is that they pay more attention to what a thing/entity actually contains, what the gravity of the situation is, rather than the presentation. They see language as a means of communication of thoughts. There really is no need to make it complex. All Shakespeare wanted to say in these lines could easily be translated to a more decipherable/intelligible form, without compromising on the content and yet produce the same impact.

On the other hand, not using these words/styles or "ornamentations" as I call them could even earn you labels like "inferior literary standards", "boring", etc.

This is just a small example that demonstrates how something as simple as writing style could be looked upon as disgusting at one extreme end and not up to the mark with literary standards on the other. There are many more, all being a victim of this particular perceptional biasing. The problem becomes even more grave when such things are internalized into your personality and they show up every now and then. This is where a realization has to come that there is a very thin line that seperates the classes X and Y we talked about.

Next Post: A thin line - II.

Conflicting Souls.

Conflicting Souls.

Chapter 1: Prologue

It was a dark night. The moonlight swept down from the sky and embraced the woods. The shrieking of the wind, thunderstorm and lightning at a distance signalled that a violent storm was to arrive. In the midst of these, was standing a ghastly figure, at a distance, barely visible. A man shouted "Enough! I can't run anymore" I've given up", and he kneels on the ground.

The figure, wearing a black hat, an overcoat, gloves and boots, slowly approaches the man. No part of his body was visible except his eyes, enraged with vengeance. He said, "Marcus, you forced this upon you. You deserve this. Today, justice prevails.". His hand slowly goes under the coat and brings out a 9mm revolver and points it to Marcus. Marcus, shuddered, looks at Simon and exclaims, "Just do it!" and bursts into tears. After a long gaze, filled with anger, Simon pulls the trigger. A blast of smoke rises from the revolver as the sound of gunshot echoes in the valley, followed by a loud roar of lightning...

Chapter 2: 10 Years ago.

***Preview to be published.***

About me.

I just realized that I have written quite a lot of things without even introducing me. So this is me. Now don't create an image of me based on this without even knowing me. You'll be wrong. I am a typical INFJ. That stands for Introverted Intuitive Feeling Judging. You can get a lot of information on that if you search over the internet. Few are:

• http://www.geocities.com/lifexplore/infj.htm
• http://www.personalitypage.com/INFJ.html
• http://www.typelogic.com/infj.html

This is based on Myers-Brigg typology. At first glance, it really appears weird(all 16 types do), but many things are somewhat true and false at the same time. Anyways, the point worth noting is that INFJ are a rarity. Only 1% of the population has an INFJ personality type, males even more rare(0.5%). That means I am an endangered species [:)].

Anyways, some stats now. I took some tests. The results are as follows:

1. IQ: Lets briefly mention it for the sake of completeness and move on to other more important things. Its 137.
2. EQ: The results show that it is 140, and I am pretty surprised that its only 140. I was expecting somewhere around 160-180, mainly because I find myself exceptionally brilliant at "feeling" others' emotions, which brings up the pros and cons of such a thing. The good part is that you'll never need to tell me what's in your mind and the bad part is you can't hide anything.

Things I want to do in life...I'll explain here what I meant by "I have sense. Now what to do?"(written on the other blog). There are a few things I want to do in life. They are:

• Take care of my parents when they need it and not leave them behind. I believe that no one can ever repay back what your parents have done for you. You can only make an attempt.
• Give my love a flower, preferably rose, or write her something at every occasion she expects, and also surprise her at every possible occasion by the same even when she doesn't expects it, and still hope that not even for once in her life she will complain, "Care and concern....but what is this? When will you do something different? You have been doing that for years...". All I need is to find that person.
• Take each and every person that is close to me for a very special evening, and try to make it memorable for him. I have no idea how to get this done perfectly, usually I do what I feel like doing.
• Help/teach others, if they need it.

And yes, these doesn't require money or surplus time. So I want to do just one thing, which is equivalent to saying that I want to be myself...

So I think I have explained myself in a greater depth than I intended to, quite possibly in a very nice way. I do have flaws too, just like every other human being has. Now in order to know me fully, you'll have to "know" me and not read this. Anyways, thats me. Now back to writing. I'm still thinking what to write!

I Object!

Great people have been giving thoughts, expressing their ideas and telling the world about their opinion of things around them. Opinions of a world as they see it to be, or as they would want it to be. Have we ever asked ourselves for our opinion. Is it always the case that they are right and we are, I won't say wrong, but not correct? I don't think so. We all have our own ideologies and thoughts. Thoughts that define who we are. They may be wrong, they may be right but they are a result of your understanding of things around you. Maybe leaving behind wrong ones is good, but compromising on right ones for no reason and conforming to the pre-existing ones is losing your identity. This is where most people fear to say "I Object!".

People have always been giving reasons for bending rules. Reasons to vindicate their being/doing wrong. They all overlook a plain simple truth. What is right, is right. What is wrong, is wrong. There's no way you can justify the wrong you see in being right and there are no grounds on which you can justify what's right in being wrong. The world consists of two types of people. One who knows what is right and wrong. The other who also knows what is right and wrong. The difference is that one of them stands up for what they believe is right while the other don't. And doing that does not require Herculean strength. The important thing in life is not necessarily to be strong, but to feel strong. Stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone. If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.

There's a huge difference between you thinking that you are right and in you actually being right. And how to know what is right? Well, its a really really complex thing to do. As long as I am right and you are wrong, "I Object"...

Next post: Conflicting souls(Fiction) .

What do you see?

We all have at some point in our life, tossed a coin to make a decision and observed the end result, heads or tails. But how many of us paid attention to the flight? The struggle of one side of the coin with the another....We often see through our eyes ignoring the less prominent aspect, merely realizing the presence and importance of the flip side.

Pick up a pencil and a paper, and draw a circle. What do you see? A circle or a line chasing itself? The tiny space enclosed within the boundary or the infinite space the boundary couldn't contain. Consider the classic example: Given a glass half full of water what do you see? You look at it from a brighter perspective and a broader horizon, to say that it is half full...or from a negative point of view to say that it is half empty. You look it from a deeper perspective and ask yourself what's the difference, or be totally ridiculed and ask how should that make a difference to you? Take another drawing exercise. Plot r(θ)=2sin4(θ). What do you see? Just another polar curve looking like a flower, or a rose instead, if you colour it? "Simple". What do you see? Is it as simple as it looks or you see as (S)+i(mple) to realize that though it is simple, it has a'mple' of ingrained complexity! (Recall: Complex numbers = a+ib)

You see sand castles on the shoreline, or footsteps in the sand. What do you see? You ask yourself who made these or you ask yourself how long will it be before they are gone? Huge walls. What do you see? The impenetrable boundaries or the reason for their existence. What is it they are safeguarding? Take a glass bowl, fill it with water, put some weeds and buy a goldfish to keep in the bowl. What do you see? You look at the setup and admire yourself for creating an aquarium and feel happy, or feel the pain of lonely life you chose for the fish, away from other fishes, away from its natural habitat?

Sometimes life puts you in situations you might need to think differently and see both sides of the coin. What to choose and what not to choose, what to do and what not to do, what is right and what is wrong, depends on only one thing....What do you see...


Next Post: I object!

What is music?

A thought comes to my mind...or I should say a question. What is music? Is it the sound of random vibrations coming out of a person or object? If yes, then what about the chirping of birds and thunderstorms? Is it the smooth flow of miscellaneous tones? Then what about the soothing sound of a flowing river? Is it the progressions on Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian or Locrian? Then what about the soulful voice of a singer? Is it something you like? Something that soothes your mind? Then what about thrash? Ain't that music? Is it something that just enters your heart through your ears? What about wishes, criticisms and random talks? Its not good. Its not bad. Its definitely not something you like. Not something that you hate. Not something you appreciate. Not something you despise. So what is music?

Music, is a companion for your mood. Its not just noises coming out of a body or object. Its the phenomenon perceived by your senses. A long silence is sometimes more melodic than a musical note. Raindrops are more "in harmony" than a choir. The rustling of leaves and the shriek of the wind is more mysterious, maybe terrifying, than a dark passage of music. The sound of waves lashing the shore is more soothing than a soulful song. Even the most random noises can be more like music to someone. It all depends on the mood. Thoughts are a free-flowing river. Music can either be the land on the side that directs the flow or the land in between that perturbs it. Depends on you.

Music is not just chords, progressions coming out of instruments that sounds in tune, based on a fixed theory of scales, following a beat pattern, complimented by a voice. Its something deeper than that. Something more abstract. And that something is hard to describe.... A purely subjective experience! "Music, is a visible thing. Close your eyes. Then you will see." Discover it for yourself.

To the reader: All objections pertain to the question "What is NOT music" and not "What is music?". I hope you'll understand the difference.

Next Post: What do you see.

The beginning.

Finally there comes a time in my life when I decide to create a blog, and mark my presence in the virtual world, which I always despised, still do, and will always stick to that. There's no point in creating an identity that is imperceptible. I'd rather prefer to exist in the real world, which no doubt is far more beautiful than this fleeting and illusory existence.

So yes, there won't be any posts like "I woke up today and found that I missed the class", but instead there would be ones like "I woke up today and realized I had been sleeping for years". And no doubt its gonna be weird! Eternal writings, which I had written earlier or will write will be posted, in a way that's natural for me, free from all the repulsive literary ornamentation. This is an attempt to measure unfathomable depths of thoughts. An attempt to express the darkest of winters, see the mildness of spring, feel the cool autumn breeze and touch the inevitable summer. An attempt to live the change of seasons....

Next Post: What is Music?