2 Degrees Of Knowledge

[Note 1: Hello]

[Note 2: A picture less post :( ]

So, I am with a bunch of friends having a random discussion outside a mall when suddenly the talk turned towards the movie "Paa" for some reason. Now, all of us being good Chennai boys had just barely heard about the movie somewhere and had not ventured to ascertain any more information about it. But then one of us had somehow been dragged along for the movie (yes, there were individuals of the fairer sex in his group) which was why the topic came up in the first place. Then here's how the conversation went....

Guy who went for Paa (GWWFP): Macha, the movie's not so bad da (in a defending manner)

Everyone Else (EE): Oh

GWWFP: Dai, really da...

EE: Oh, Ok

(silence)

EE (Laughter): yedo solla varan paiyan (poor chap is trying to tell something)

GWWFP: It had Paresh Rawal in the movie!

Me(completely out of the blue and for no apparent reason): Oh! Paresh Rawal nice da.. he's an amazing actor!!!!

(This is when EE started to stare at me, obviously with no clue. However for me being from a college that had students from all across the country I was forced to watch a couple of movies such as Golmaal and Garam Masala and to the best of my recollection so were most of the other chaps from Chennai. But unfortunately for me not one of these movies came to my mind at that time or into anyone else's for that matter)

EE(after a slightly longer than required pause) : Yenna UC, xxxxxx ku support ah? Avane kuti ku aga daane poyirkuran hahaha.... (What da UC, why are you supporting xxxxxx? He went just cuz some chicks called him hahaha)

and the conversation continued onto other things

So, what I learnt from this little incident is to always have 2 degrees of knowledge about ANYTHING. One for conversations sake and one for justification. You see, somehow the human mind seems to be programmed to think that having 2 pieces of information about anything in a conversation is enough to make something true! Do test it out!!

Come To The Edge

Come to the edge.

We might fall.

Come to the edge.

It’s too high!

COME TO THE EDGE!

And they

came,

and he pushed,

and they flew.

-Christopher LOGUE

English poet (1926- )

The Thoughts To Success

We all compete regularly in life, sometimes forcibly and sometime willingly. From my own experience, these are the sort of thoughts that go on in my mind during different stages of 'succeeding'. On noticing that they usually form a pattern, I thought it might be a good idea to put them down here..

"Oh Crap! everyone here is so fu***** good at it. Compared to them, I 'm pathetic! Damn, this is bad I got to do something... and fast!!! Ok ok, calm down. Firstly, I got nothing to lose. Might as well just throw myself in the deep end and try my best. If I do well then well and good, else at least I'll know I tried hard. And If they don't like my best then its just too bad..."

"Eh? What just happened?? I was congratulated for doing a good job!! Wooohoo!!! I actually can do something. Hahaha! Awesomeness!!"

"I rule, I rule, I rule!! Muhahahahahha. This has all become to easy now.. how stupid was I in thinking that this was all some hugely complex thing..."

"Damn, such simple tasks. This is getting boring........"

"WTF just happened? I screwed up. Big time :( This is such a huge loss to everyone. Shit, they weren't so simple after all. Why did I get so careless and over confident. Stupid me, stupid me.. hope I get another chance...."

"Ok, now I DEFINITELY can't f*** this up. If I do, I'm screwed.. badly...."

"Hmmmm, hard work but rewarding work. Now I see how to improve. This might take a while. Hmmmm, at least I won't get bored! Now I realize how difficult all this really is and the real level at which these people are. I was so shortsighted initially. Stupid me again, but guess I'm learning"

"Wow, folks are actually asking ME for help now. I must be doing SOMETHING right"

"WHAT!!!!!!! Something New!!?? Noooooooooo, not when I was really getting good at it! Hmmm, but then again maybe this an opportunity to learn new things. Hope I don't make my previous mistakes again!"

... and hopefully its a happy story hereafter :D

Image courtesy- Anita's Blog

The End Of The World Poll

So, there was some talk going on about the world ending in 2012 and all that and everyone around started discussing the apocalypse and all that and then people started discussing the last few days of the world and all that when I innocently asked..

"Dude, what would you do if you knew the world was going to end"

.. and the answer to this question was overwhelmingly similar across so many groups...

Friend 1:"Ob, lose my virginity"

Friend 2:"F*** as much as possible"

Friend 3:"Get laid, what else?"

K-Sama:"Adu ellam nadakadu da, naan iruken ille?"

[Translation: "That N all won't happen, I am there no?]

Yea right, you promised India wouldn't lose yesterday's match, but see what happened? Sachin's 175 all for nothing :|

Friend 4:"I'll build an underground shelter complete with lead

lining to protect me from the radiation that will be caused due to all the unguarded nukes that would go off ....."

Finally! Someone with something moderately sensible to say

"...and then I will invite all the supermodels in the world to come stay with me if they want to be saved from the holocaust!!"

[I hit my head, dumbfounded]

Well, so I guess Sigmund Freud was right after all. Theres no stopping the natural impetus. This last pic says it all :D

[Note:This was asked to a predominantly male group, wonder what the fairer sex would have to say about it.. hmmmm....]

Image courtesy for end of the world image

Image courtesy for the Sigmund Freud image

Dark Circle

Hey All!

What few song's I've made finally found their way to the net

You can listen to them here

Thanks!!

Flattening of the Retail Market

[Note 1: Suck it, I don't mean flattening as Thomas Friedman meant.. I mean Flattening as in 'Flat Anna' as in 'Thassal Gone' as in 'Slept Of' or in extreme cases .. 'Died']

[Note 2: I'm sure many would disagree with this post :) ]

One thing I cannot fully understand is why 'Retail' is becoming such buzz word in India. I feel it'll only undergo one or two boom and bust cycles. Why? .. The Internet...

Internet penetration in India is on the rise. Yes, in the villages too largely thanks to mobile phones, open source software and companies such as FINO and ITC's E-Choupal which are largely bringing the informal and 'undefined' market into the organized sector. Conventional models of internet connectivity and growth based on developed countries won't prove efficient here as the growth in these areas is largely due to the stupendous growth of new technology.

Even in the urban areas not many of us would want to visit the groceries or the Kirana stores for our daily needs when one can simply place an order from work using an online portal and the goods are being delivered right to your doorstep. This might even be possible in the villages due to mobile phone penetration where companies can deliver goods to villages on a bi-weekly basis with almost zero inventory cost thanks to pre orders made by the village dwellers.

Of course it will be a while before companies can achieve economies of scale and this practice becomes widespread, but personally these options are going to become available way before Wall - Mart conquers every street corner. But then again there will always be shops who provide further value to the customer by enhancing the shopping 'experience' making shopping a leisure activity rather than a necessity. Probably a trend that Malls should pay more attention to before they start construction!

So, lets consider that this does happen. Internet enabled services does destroy the retail sector (even the unorganized ones!) . The amount of prime real estate that gets freed up due to this would be major change everywhere!! With shops closing all that area can be put to more productive use.

Ah, well .. but I guess I am but idealizing. I'm sure there will always be unions, communists and probably even local goondas who might stop all this from happening....

Image Courtsey www.indiaretailbiz.com

The Adam And Eve Paradox

[Note 1: This has been explained as a short conversation]

[Note 2: God, here, may or may not refer to K-Sama]

[Note 3: Adam and Eve might be a bit slow in the head]

God:"Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die"

Adam:"Alright!! So you're saying that its evil to eat the fruit of good and evil because then we'll know what is good and evil is and we won't end up eating the fruit?? ^_^ "

Eve:"No dear, he means that if we don't eat from the fruit then we won't know that eating from the fruit is evil!"

Adam:"You're right! But don't we already know that?"

Eve:"Know What? :) "

Adam:"Good and Evil of course dumass :\ "

Eve:"Oh yes we do! But we didn't eat from the fruit yet!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Adam:"Then how do we already know whats good and evil?"

Eve:"Yes yes, very good question!!!! Ooooooh, u'r so smarttt!!! <3>

God: o.O

Picture courtesy: Wikipedia

na na na na

Na nana na

na na nana nana nana

nana na na nana na na

nana na na nana na na nanana na na

I Have The Moon, You Have The Internet

[Note 1: This little piece was inspired by the title of a track by an artist called The Field]

[Note 2: I am no poet and my knowledge of poetry is almost zilch. Do forgive me if I have crossed the line by even calling what I have to present as poetry. But then again, someone told me about there being something called poetic license...]

[Note 3: Just because this piece has anything to do with the net, I hope it is not viewed as 'not classical' enough to be worth writing poetry about]

On this Field of light, the city sleeps, the damned cold wind blows

It soothes the skin, but cuts and burns, through that wretched soul

The cigarette butt is thrown, and now there’s nothing, nothing left to fret

So it’s back downstairs, down to hell, back to that internet

Like a rising star, his dreams took’en flight, bright to burn the sun

No time for compromise, for idle delights, or petty things called fun

But soon the evil that, had got the better, Those creeping little things

That stray through dark, dark alleys, and other living beings

Then one day, he met a man, staring up the sky was he

“The stars are free, don’t you see. Like them must we be!”

And so that little glow, that once shone through, for a moment lit,

With that bright starlight, ‘twas God’s greatest gift, Oh! But until

And so he swore, never before, was he so aghast

That the stately robe, that he used to whore, was but an ill fit mask

He threw them away, only to be, filled with an unknown dread

So he ran, back he went, back to his internet

That mad man laughed, till tear’d his eyes, for he knew that God could see

That man’s greatest boon, wasted too soon, would never set one free

And so he sang, long in the night, until the break of dawn

“Oh you fool, I have the moon, but the net has killed your song”

Image courtesy: http://static.open.salon.com/files/moon1230534473.jpg

In Praise of Idleness

Bertrand Russell in his eponymous essay "In Praise Of Idleness" provided all of us slackers a quote to justify ourselves by. But of course he meant something deeper than what the title misleadingly suggests...

In the essay he delved into what modern society is creating around it. He argues that machines were created to ease our burden and reduce our workload and not increase it, as was happening in the early 20th century. He also stated that "Idleness" was a necessary period of a person's day where he/she could reflect on their actions and take the time of better themselves, be it through meditation, introspection or even the development of arts, crafts and other hobbies. He quite correctly pointed out that the industrial revolution was destroying all that the machines were (theoretically) supposed to aid us in pursuing by taking our load of mundane activities.

.... and this was the trend seen till the 21st century. With industrial production increasing the world over, the number of hours worked per individual was on the rise. As the humungous boilers, furnaces and power plants could not be stopped once they are started they needed people to manage them 24/7.

But then something happened - The rise of the IT Professional. With the ability to have flexible working hours and even the joy of working from home, the IT world is an entirely different reality from that of the industrial age. With companies like Google encouraging their employees to have a minimum of 10% of their time working to spend on pet projects (or even just laze around and wait for inspiration to strike!) Bertrand Russel's Ide(a)l(e) world has started to take shape. Sure there are IT professional who are overworked, but companies are beginning to realize that employees are most productive when they are happy and happy when they can be 'Idle'.... if at least for a while....

Maybe technology and capitalism IS the answer to everything. It is truly a blessing that corporate psychology has been able to justify what Russell spoke of almost 80 years ago to and convince Human Resource personal that letting people do their own thing is the best option for everyone in the long run..