Friday, August 5, 2016

There's a challenge from a blogger's group to write a suicide .story.

That's a challenge I will never take up.
That's because I was a witness to a gory one. If there ever was a suicide story that is twisted and wasteful, this is it. Everybody who knows the real story behind this death influenced the person's decision, one way or the other. Me included.
A suicide is a sad and shocking thing, often getting people to wonder why someone did it.
This person's family wondered. The mother came home, sat with me for a whole day, asking me if I knew anything.
I denied all knowledge .
Wonder where that mother lives!
Wonder if she is still tormented by .mystery of her dear one's death.

If some one commits suicide, everyone is responsible.Every single persson.

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Canine Magic

This brand of magic is for all times. Dogs love you even when you are no longer young. And then we get older and older and really old, and we can still feed dogs and play with them.

There is an old woman in Delhi, a poor one, who feeds four hundred dogs by collecting garbage and selling whatever can be recycled from that junk.She is the living proof of what I am talking about. You can see her picture No matter who you are, dogs love you.
Dogs are our live toys, and we are their heroes.
Truly a win-win situation.

In a confused, crazy, complex world, where it is not enough to survive and fend for yourself, and where we come face to face with greed and mindless craze for controls, these ball of fur roll into our lives, literally and bless us with their warmth.

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Magic in my life to dry up?

Got an opportunity to undergo some tech training.
Am last in the class and trying and still not picking up.
But this is actually the best input I have had as far as I can recall.
Also I am positive and receptive to the negative feedback because I want the job.

But what if the magic has dried up?


I was teacher's pet as well as popular person.
Now, I am the torturer of trainers and soooo not popular. These two situations are not actually bad as they sound. I don't mind being hated. But not being able to work, out of technical incompetence sucks all magic out of life.
Will my brain let me down or speed up? Who knows?

Saturday, July 9, 2016

extremely complicated logic

Luxury on the one hand
Drugs on the other
Technology at one's beck and call.
Keeping up with it with one's limited brains on the other!

These are jut two of the many, many, many things that complicate life today.
Ignore them and you become irrelevant.
Again, how are things going to work in the future?
Looking back, whatever happened to my simple life propelled on by  my simple goals? Simple goals that I always chose to keep secret and private until they seemed irrelevant in this complicated world of ours.
Not that I didn't get lucky or never had good stuff come my way, They did. But right now confusion over reigns the one kg of flesh that makes my brain.
Verdict:
Unpredictable and complicated is life!!!! 
And the confusion is not why the picture is irrelevant. I just happened to like it.

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Logic of a star

A star performer, the darling of young people today has complained that strict rules should be passed on apps that enable everyone to download music. She feels that this reduces the income of musicians.

My response to this is the same that I felt when movie stars begged people to watch their movies in the theatre and not to buy pirated copies
Since I already wrote about that I am putting my repeat response in the form of questions.


Dear darling of the masses,

Aren't you happy and satisfied at the deepest level that hearts all over the world are beating to your music?
Isn't that what performing is all about? Knowing that the song reaches out and resonates in the hearts of friends and foes alike?
Before technology such as recording and copying happened wasn't the income of performers much lesser than what it is now?? Wasn't Mozart really, really poor?
Weren't most stars just local icons then?
Aren't you revered all over the world, and earn millions more, all because of technology?
Do you seriously think you can stop people from downloading music?




Friday, June 17, 2016

Is this magic or logic???

http://www.newsner.com/en/2016/05/they-released-14-wolves-into-a-park-what-happens-next-is-a-miracle-and-proves-that-we-must-take-care-of-our-amazing-planet/

Monday, June 13, 2016

Magical once and illogical now

The loud speaker must, once upon a time, have been a miracle, a beloved broadcasting device and a symbol of holiday fun and entertainment. It must have been invented after the earlier miracle of recorded music came to be. It must have been the wonder of wonders in a sleepy village that set it up for a whole day's musical bonanza for villagers to enjoy during temple festivals.
When I was a kid, my family  lived in an area where many poor labourers had their homes. They celebrated a temple festival, during which they blocked the road with a large white cloth, the size of a cinema hall wall and showed glittering grand films of kings and Gods. We probably got the best view because our home had a terrace and we would sit through the cool night hours watching those films.
Fast forward a good four decades and you have 2016. Every beggar, urchin, every peddler on bicycles selling palm fruit and tender coconut, every house maid, every farmer and  labourer carries music and videos in his or her pocket.

Where is the logic in blaring religious music out on loud speakers when it is no longer required? And not just in village fairs, but on bustling city streets amidst high rises and staggering traffic! Totally no logic here!

Saturday, June 11, 2016

no magic, no logic without internet

watching films back to back because I have no internet.
It started with a dying laptop.
I had downloaded Windows 10, and it stopped getting connected to the internet. I managed to log in after several attempts
Everyday became a battle in which my reputation was injured.
Friends on whatsapp hooted at my 'busy' lifestyle.
Curt messages about urgent requirements from people waiting online for my work etched worry lines on my forehead.
Family members were aghast that I no longer 'liked' their posts and pictures or responded to what they had to say on facebook.

And then, the last ten days, I was totally unable to access the net. The service provider would not help or appear or pick our frantic, repeated calls.
All of a sudden, I got connected.
I swear, I am never moving my laptop from this spot,  nor letting it get switched of or ever closing the browser.

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Logic then and now...sans magic

Reading the play "Votes for Women" by Elizabeth Kobing, about man-woman status in the late nineteenth and  the early part of the 20th century. This play opened in April 1907.
Women got the right to vote in a few years after that. The play talks less about demonstrations and jail time by women who fought for this right, and more about the attitude men and women had for this issue in particular and for social development on the whole.

Many rights have been gained by women. More and more women are 'allowed to study' (not me, I wasn't), 'allowed to work' (i fought hard and long, and was finally allowed), and of course, allowed to buy as many expensive clothes and finery as they could afford to.
Why do my eyes well up with tears? I am someone who moves on, and rarely looks backwards. I am free and independent today, but still all around me, the attitude of men and women towards women's status has not changed. Condescending, acting shocked at anything they don't approve of, staring in a gossipy way at women who walk past...men and women still behave this way.
I just remind myself of some women in corporate today. They know what they want and what they have. They speak without self consciousness. They are focussed, busy, quick in thought and speech, not bothered about their looks and full of energy. May their tribe increase!

Friday, May 27, 2016

The logic behind poor listening

It's hard to listen when we wish to say so much ourselves.

But it's possible to become better at listening if we consider the following
a. People are mostly not interested in that particular thing we are bursting to say
b. That particular piece of information is irrelevant to what is being discussed
c. we have to acknowledge what others say, or they will never acknowledge what we have to say
d. it's a waste to say what we consider to be interesting if most people in the audience are gossips, are people who want to put you down.
e. often things we say to make ourselves feel better, such as, I did so well today, i look good in this dress, my friend is cool, etc manage to make us feel better, but at the same time make people near us feel lousy. So, it's better to reconsider our wish to say nice things about ourselves.

f. Slowly but surely, we can learn to listen better rather than speak our heads off.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Mixing mystery in real life with the magic of reel life

A dog has been howling for the past thirty six hours near my gated community. The sound comes from behind the high walls at  the left corner. I first thought it was a dog from one of the  houses in that corner, and wondered why it was howling so much.
May be they had left it inside the open, gated garage and gone out.
But no, the howling went on and on, and I realized it was coming from the mangroves behind.
Apart from wondering what was happening with that stray caught in the heavy spurts of rains here, I was also reading a suspense story by......wait for it..........G.K.Chesterton.
It's a story called the blue cross, but it's not about dogs or cats or camels.
It's about a silver cross with blue sapphires in it.

The suspense, the build up and the denouement are well done, but having known the author as an essayist in my school text book, I noticed how cleverly the essayist in him had sneaked in to chat with the reader all through a fast moving mystery. He had included many blogger like random observations all through the story. Also, in the style of early twentieth century, the nouns are ambushed by adjectives.
It was a good read. Never knew the author had written a series of detective stories in which the main character is a priest named Father Brown.

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

beyond magic or logic

Increased connectivity means being in touch with all the people you care for, and also coming face to face with very different kinds of people.
Today I stumbled into a woman hater's blog. (misogynist, I know the word, but prefer how straight forward it sounds in English, rather than like the name of some kind of specialist)
This person, a male, hates all women from a particular continent, whom he sees as arrogant and selfish. He probably assumes that women from other continents may be more in keeping with his idea of feminine. 
I read through several of his posts.
He sounds normal, in spite of the hating, generalizing and his focus on what is bad with young women today.
He does have real life tabloid extracted examples of extreme sloppiness, lack of moderation and other flaws that can be found in women of today.
But this is not the problem with just women of today, but such selfishness, arrogance and narcissism are flaws of all human kind today.
I want to offer a better defense, want to tell this young person not to waste time hating, but look at all the great stuff he can do.
He seems so obsessed with hating and seems to be connected with people with other types of hate, people who are against other religions and races, and love only their race and classify races according to their hatefulness.
These bloggers and those who comment on them keep saying that their race is the strongest and the best.
It was weird, but I went through many blogs. Their tone is petty and childish, although there was no violence in any of them.
I guess these men have found a channel of expression for what they truly feel, and the internet is a like a huge outlet for their level of negativity.
I am too stunned and a little sad to read all this.

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Concluding logically that I'm a global citizen

John Oliver appeared in my nightmare, (it was a day dream in which I saw him)

He started talking about online classes I conduct during my night time for kids from other continents where its evening.
My eyes are half closed from fatigue and boredom.
A student ( 14 years old, a dear, charming age) tells me that they discussed 'rap' in school.
I ask him to try rapping and he starts:

Sleep, teacher, Sleep
It's midnight in your country.
Why don't you sleep?



Is it right?
Is it fair?
Should I sit when you stare?

You can sleep
I can chill
Why do we have to go through this?

Actually, a student rapped on in this fashion during my class. I kept a straight face, but felt if John Oliver had watched this scene, and investigated, and discovered that I was on the point of dozing off during sessions, I would be torn apart in his show.
Soon I stopped taking night classes, citing low blood pressure ( my bp is 90-120) as a reason.

Saturday, May 14, 2016

A poem with a twist in logic (hey, the poet is not me but Stewart Macfarlane, ofcourse you must have logically deduced that from its beauty and slang)

Tae think of when ye pour.O whisky is the king of drinks,
Renowned the world o’er,
But here’s a word o’ caution,
There’s a certain combination,
That tastes so very good,
But when it hits your tummy,
And mixes with your food.
That’s when the trouble starts,
For yer pleasure hits overload,
And half an hour later,
Ye’ll suddenly explode.
So there ye are in the pub,
Completely engulfed in flames,
And yer good wife’s dashing home,
Tae lodge insurance claims.
Well now that I have told ye,
Don’t say ye’ve no’ been warned,
So don’t try it oot yersel’,
Or ye’ll soon be bein’ mourned

Friday, May 13, 2016

logic to the rescue

When magic does not happen, logic rushes to the rescue.
For instance, someone's career goes down the drain.. He or she tries to pull every trick from his hat to keep it from sinking,
but fails.
Now if we look at it logically, he may be jobless, penniless and clueless; at the same time he has no crushing responsibility and daily drudgery of uninteresting tying up the loose ends type of work that we have to do every work day. He is like an infant or a house pet that has all the time to snooze, play and watch others suffer.

You may think I am a loser to talk like this about a life that has just lost its mission.
But this is a just the example of a typical situation. It is true that beggars survive on this logic, but it is also true that beggars experience liberation beyond compare.
Now what am I trying to say?
Not that we should throw our lives and beg and be parasitical.
I'm just saying that if we lose something, we can get over the gloom by logically listing out the indirect benefits of loss.
And this is the secret of my calmness through all storms.
Cheers

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Logical and magical world of Korean drama

Just to get some sleep, I started watching Korean movies. Simple plot lines drawn around teenage characters, pretty urban settings, uncomplicated emotional content and above all, the strong musical intonation of an unknown language drew me to these films. 

There were days when I worked night shifts when I could not sleep during days. So I would lie down, place the lap top on my tummy, and doze off  to the twang and the glide of Korean dialogues. 


Recently, I started watching Chinese films, Filipino films and Korean Drama.  Korean drama is well directed, Chinese films have complex stories, while Filipinos act well.
The world of words, brilliant quotes, engrossing articles and riveting stories has found worthy competition in what we view through multi media where most of today's talent pour in their efforts to create alternate worlds inhabited by a variety of people.
It is hard to believe that ideas were once expressed only through speeches, plays and writing. We get access to a lot more through movies, television dramas and social media

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

No logic today

Wanted to delete some of my older posts.

Not for their poor quality, but because I don't even understand them.

What was I thinking?

But believe me, I think deeply. And out of respect for my habitual thoughtfulness, I logged out without deleting those posts.It was some logical train of thought that I failed to capture on paper. A thought so badly expressed that it seems illogical now. An idea so fragmented that I neither recognize or remember it for what it was in my mind.

 Surely people who read them will skip my blog.

Sorry to those who had to read it.But you will not read my 'sorry', because you, of course, are avoiding my blog.
Tata!!!

Monday, April 25, 2016

Logically speaking of bad behaviour and the buts

Bad behaviour is abhorrent. But, I have come to realize something.
I have always avoided interacting with the badly behaved. But it was wrong of me to categorize all such people as one and do that.
Bad behaviour is hurtful. But my habit of judging people just for behaviour was definitely childish.

Behaviour is just one aspect of a person. A person may not have lived in an environment that taught them good behaviour, or may not have the instinct to present themselves to others in a pleasing or unobjectionable manner.
\
But he or she might want to save the world or serve others. Like our nurses and grass root political workers.
 They might not have social awareness,, but might be mindful of rules, like all those who stop at red lights, and pay their taxes.
They might not smile at a neighbour, but might be supporting an extended family.
f I think about it, I do know so many nasty people who worry more about their family than they do about their own health.
A human being is complex. No story about any human can possibly encompass his or her reality fully, but can only capture snapshots of a life. 
I think my realization is going to add a lot of positive vibes to my everyday.
Also I would stop trusting well behaved people and hanging out only with them, as they can be totally useless otherwise.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Sensible, logical me, me, me

Last post I wrote about how I was dysfunctional and could not blog. But the week after that I haven't been blogging for better reasons.
They are,
I am
working on a textbook.
and at the same time,
formatting some files for some other organization, (I might get fired from this assignment, as I am awful at this work)
and at the same time,
trying to get into something totally new, related to scripts of tv shows.
So,

signing off with exhaustion and feeling a whole lot better about myself
yours truly

a currently logical Indian

Monday, April 11, 2016

illogical nonsense and me


So, why was my blog left without entries for such a long time.
I did a lot of stupid things.
a. Stumbled on a hillock and got a thorn thrust into my ankle
b. was sick for over a week because I kept going on hikes with a sore ankle

c. a pregnant lady got scared and stumbled on her car tyre, and fell on seeing my dog, which was a good two hundred metres away, and I let her husband be nasty to my whole family, without cutting him to size right at the beginning. (doctor said she and the baby were fine, the same night, btw)
d. Iocked myself out of my house and climbed into the first floor with the help of a ladder to let myself in
e. fell from my scooter and was injured
I think around that time, I did many more stupid things, but can't remember.
All this happens because I try to do too many things at a time. kinda slowed down and want to do only important things from now on.
Cheers to good sense and less stupidity. I love my dogs snoozing at my feet and all is well at the moment.

Friday, February 5, 2016

Candy crush logic

I finally understood the logic behind candy crush levels.

You got it right, I am a bit slow in many things.

If you want to go to the next level in this game you pay in gold bars. Once the gold bars get over, you can ask your friends for life.  If you don't have friends, you can invite friends. So more people get to play the game. Or you can pay and buy more gold bars, which also come with offers.

Now this post of mine may be read by more people because I used the words candy crush. Great!

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

How to see both magic and logic

Above all, we should look around us, then watch, observe and listen to people around us carefully. Only then we will be able to understand the logic and be startled by the magical outcomes of interaction.
Sometimes we are bombarded by quick comments, easy replies and hasty conclusions, and get carried away by the drama.
Films, novels and drama on television create an illusion that life is made up of important and interesting scenes, and in the absence of such continuous and obvious drama in comfortable middle class lives, we feel compelled to create them for our benefit and that of others.
I benefit a lot by watching people and handle tricky situations carefully, and even when I mistakes that have terrible consequences, my behaviour is close to normal. But I was not always so.
As a young person, my life experiences seemed shocking, upsetting and as badly handled as could be. I wish someone had taught me to watch, observe and understand people. I wish I had taught this to my kids.
I do help a lot of young people to cope with situations professionally, but really wish some one had looked at me, say when I was in college and asked, " What's wrong?" and I had trusted them enough to talk to them.