I've got to flush this out of my head, once and for all. Otherwise I might not get any sleep.
Today, was a new low.
I was never so bored in life. I went to work today, stayed 8 hours, and did absolutely NOTHING. And this has been the trend for the past month or so. A few days of heightened activity, and then large swathes of absolute inactivity. And it is most irritating to spend 8 hours in office, just because there might be a chance of some work coming our way here . I now understand what a watchman feels like. And boy, it is one helluva boring job. This whole stupid routine is getting on my nerves. To add to that, I catch a cold due to the inexplicable cold in Pune (the fever too must make an appearance). Anyone heard of 'Climate Change' here?
This whole 1-2-3-4 type routine does not challenge me anymore. More importantly, does not stimulate me. Beat this, I was looking up movie titles and general WWII facts on Wikipedia, just to kill time. The prospect of having to fix my neighbours rather obvious code errors seemed sooo inviting then! If I have to think, I'm sure my team mate can hear the gears grinding due to all the rust!
Point being, this whole mental and physical stagnation is killing me. I realised today, that I am mortally bored. So, point two, what do I do about it? In my present situation, I am quite paranoid, morbid, and rather angry. So I will get some sleep, and think of this tomorrow.
Good Luck! Later...
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The ACTUAL Underpriviliged
‘Taare Zameen Par’ has had a profound influence on me, I won’t deny it. But what I’m going to say, has taken root not from this movie, but actually from somewhere else.
TMZ threw focus on dyslexia, and more generally on the trials under-performing students have to go through. It is common knowledge that children, who don’t score an A+ in school, face a lot of discrimination from peers, and often from parents too. But, a quick search on dyslexia on the Internet reveals a rather stunning and less known fact about the ‘disability’.
It seems that dyslexics, who suffer from reading-writing problems, often have a rare and unnatural ability to think out of the box. That being a primary reason why such unnaturally gifted children are not recognized by our exam oriented society.
When I read this, my mind took a flashback to a seminar I had attended in office on ‘innovation’. That being the buzzword in the industry today, we are goaded by managers to think ‘out of the box’. One of the guest speakers was trying to explain a theoretical framework for innovation. He ended his lecture, with a rather interesting model.
He says that the human race has seen several transformations over our history. It started with the Stone Age. That’s when man learnt to mould stones and flints into weapons and instruments. To use it for hunting. From there, we progressed to the age of Metal. That’s when Man was able to transform and mould steel, and use it as implements, obviously more effectively than stone. Then came the industrial revolution, which brought about factories and assembly lines, the age of Automation. Today, we are in the age of the Machines. We have designed machines, robots and computers to do all our work. We have reached a point where these Machines even ‘think’ (Read AI, distributed intelligence etc.). Thought and logic, the 2 qualities that set us apart from the animals, were also emulated by our machines. So, the obvious question is, where are we headed? What age is next? His theory was this.
To date, we are able to make machines think, perform logical operations, and even act like us. Basically, all our ‘right brain’ activities can be done by these machines. So, up next would be the Age of the ‘left brain’. The age where machines think for us, but the aesthetics, art, creativity takes precedence. These are typically functions of the left half of the brain, and hence the name.
And hence the emphasis on creativity, innovation and OFTB thinking. Now, think of this. The very dyslexics we look down upon are already gifted with this exceptional ‘left brain’ activity. So, it is they who inherit the earth! And people like me have only our right brain to fall back on. So it is our burden to cram books, study hard and pass exam after exam, basically because that is all we are good at!
So, now I think, who is actually underprivileged? And in the coming world order, who will be labouring away and who inherits the earth?
TMZ threw focus on dyslexia, and more generally on the trials under-performing students have to go through. It is common knowledge that children, who don’t score an A+ in school, face a lot of discrimination from peers, and often from parents too. But, a quick search on dyslexia on the Internet reveals a rather stunning and less known fact about the ‘disability’.
It seems that dyslexics, who suffer from reading-writing problems, often have a rare and unnatural ability to think out of the box. That being a primary reason why such unnaturally gifted children are not recognized by our exam oriented society.
When I read this, my mind took a flashback to a seminar I had attended in office on ‘innovation’. That being the buzzword in the industry today, we are goaded by managers to think ‘out of the box’. One of the guest speakers was trying to explain a theoretical framework for innovation. He ended his lecture, with a rather interesting model.
He says that the human race has seen several transformations over our history. It started with the Stone Age. That’s when man learnt to mould stones and flints into weapons and instruments. To use it for hunting. From there, we progressed to the age of Metal. That’s when Man was able to transform and mould steel, and use it as implements, obviously more effectively than stone. Then came the industrial revolution, which brought about factories and assembly lines, the age of Automation. Today, we are in the age of the Machines. We have designed machines, robots and computers to do all our work. We have reached a point where these Machines even ‘think’ (Read AI, distributed intelligence etc.). Thought and logic, the 2 qualities that set us apart from the animals, were also emulated by our machines. So, the obvious question is, where are we headed? What age is next? His theory was this.
To date, we are able to make machines think, perform logical operations, and even act like us. Basically, all our ‘right brain’ activities can be done by these machines. So, up next would be the Age of the ‘left brain’. The age where machines think for us, but the aesthetics, art, creativity takes precedence. These are typically functions of the left half of the brain, and hence the name.
And hence the emphasis on creativity, innovation and OFTB thinking. Now, think of this. The very dyslexics we look down upon are already gifted with this exceptional ‘left brain’ activity. So, it is they who inherit the earth! And people like me have only our right brain to fall back on. So it is our burden to cram books, study hard and pass exam after exam, basically because that is all we are good at!
So, now I think, who is actually underprivileged? And in the coming world order, who will be labouring away and who inherits the earth?
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Death... almost!
Saw a lady almost getting run over by a train. In fact, she would have been split in half if that had really happened.
I was returning home from this test, and was waiting at the slow train platform. Thats when this lady decided to cross the tracks to the fast train platform. She looked mostly like a ragpicker, with a soiled bundle on her shoulders. Somehow, either she missed the announcement (which is quite easy to miss, by the way) or simply didn't see/hear the train coming. At least not until it was quite late.
I was on the other platform and could see this quite clearly. The people on that platform yelled for her to back off - simply step back a few strides and clear the track. But the woman just would'nt budge. you know, thats when i realised what they mean when they say one gets 'transfixed by fear'. You cant think, cant even make a damn movement, which, however, wouldn't take much if you were in your senses. God, that was one scary moment. All I could utter was some gibberish like "Oh Shit, oh.. o... oh Shit, oh Shit, Oh Shit...".
Luckily for her, the people on the fast platform lunged ahead and grabbed her and pulled her to safety. I could see her arch her legs away as the train smoothly glided past where she was standing. Phew!!!
I was returning home from this test, and was waiting at the slow train platform. Thats when this lady decided to cross the tracks to the fast train platform. She looked mostly like a ragpicker, with a soiled bundle on her shoulders. Somehow, either she missed the announcement (which is quite easy to miss, by the way) or simply didn't see/hear the train coming. At least not until it was quite late.
I was on the other platform and could see this quite clearly. The people on that platform yelled for her to back off - simply step back a few strides and clear the track. But the woman just would'nt budge. you know, thats when i realised what they mean when they say one gets 'transfixed by fear'. You cant think, cant even make a damn movement, which, however, wouldn't take much if you were in your senses. God, that was one scary moment. All I could utter was some gibberish like "Oh Shit, oh.. o... oh Shit, oh Shit, Oh Shit...".
Luckily for her, the people on the fast platform lunged ahead and grabbed her and pulled her to safety. I could see her arch her legs away as the train smoothly glided past where she was standing. Phew!!!
Thursday, January 3, 2008
A Quick recap...
So, what did I do in the past few months...
Here is a quick overview:
1. Studied for and gave the CAT examination (and my decent show is all due to the continual help and support from Mihir, thanx a lot buddy).
2. Made my new bestest friend.
3. Lazed around a bit.
4. Worked hard at office to achieve a lot of the goals set to me.
5. Lazed around a bit more at home.
6. Saw a lot of movies, all mostly bad, barring 'Taare Zameen Par'.
7. Slept some more, and didn't exercise at all.
Ummm... well... thats about it. Pretty boring life, eh???
Here is a quick overview:
1. Studied for and gave the CAT examination (and my decent show is all due to the continual help and support from Mihir, thanx a lot buddy).
2. Made my new bestest friend.
3. Lazed around a bit.
4. Worked hard at office to achieve a lot of the goals set to me.
5. Lazed around a bit more at home.
6. Saw a lot of movies, all mostly bad, barring 'Taare Zameen Par'.
7. Slept some more, and didn't exercise at all.
Ummm... well... thats about it. Pretty boring life, eh???
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Another New Year
Posting after a long time, so I;m a bit rusty.
Heralded another New Year in the wee hours of today morning. Washed away the sad moments of the year past, and hope for a better and most importantly a fulfilling new year. Not just for me alone, for everyone in fact.
p.s. @EI... You're right... its was more than a moment... No wonder Sloth is one of the 7 sins... But, i'll make up for it... soon.
Heralded another New Year in the wee hours of today morning. Washed away the sad moments of the year past, and hope for a better and most importantly a fulfilling new year. Not just for me alone, for everyone in fact.
p.s. @EI... You're right... its was more than a moment... No wonder Sloth is one of the 7 sins... But, i'll make up for it... soon.
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