Preimage

Today I am going to talk about a disease I like to call preimage.
Making out a person just by his first impression is a habit nearly every person has...be it the person working in an MNC, be it the neighbour, be it the shy girl at school, the glass half full guy, 
We all are the victims of this malpractice, and the evil users too...

The first impression of a person (especially a bad one) is stuck so strongly to our minds that even loads of positive work is not conducive of changing that clinging preimage. They don't realize that humans learn from their mistakes and are worthy of a second chance.
Another common disorder that people have and that's even gross is making a preimage on the basis of looks of a person.

When God, in his infinite wisdom created us, he wouldn't have thought that the outer package that he is giving us, would heed so much of importance in the society...the better the outer package, the better the preimage.

A person who may have been your biggest foe may turn out to be gregarious at a later time of your life.
Your best friend is the one that you spent most of your time with and not the one that had the best outer package.

Considering and being aware of what all stupidity, humans are capable of; this one marks out as the most stupid and illogical.

Being on the receiving end sure sucks, and I can tell you by experience, that being on the other end (let’s call him Mr. X) doesn't bring you any awesomeness either.

The biggest damage is done when you have a day-to-day interaction with the other person. Instead of keeping aside the feelings, X colludes his clandestine emotions with workplace ethics. The first impression image affects his judgement, polluting the thought process, and ultimately leading to inevitable fallout between the two, affecting both individuals. Why restrict this discussion to individuals? Infact forming preimage to a group, company, politicians etc, is a common practice that we all see around quite often. Although the image against present-day politicians is a vicarious feeling backed up by clichés, but it’s still similar to the point that I am focussing in one way or the other.

The solution...ha...well avoiding such an experiment and practising discretion is the first advice and secondly, remember the saying:

                                

                                     “Judging a person doesn’t define who they are;

                                                   It defines who you are” 

Bummer!

A girl was arrested on Sunday, for commenting against the bandh observed in Mumbai. Her statement was “People like Thackeray are born and die daily and one should not observe a ‘bandh’ for that.”

Are we living in anarchy? How ridiculous can Maharashtra government get, acting crazy in the wake of Thackeray’s loss. The matter just doesn’t closes here; a friend of hers who liked the comment was also arrested and though they got bailed out in few hours after apologizing, this incident reflects about the methodology of working of the police department in Mumbai. Till I wrote this article, the PD didn’t took any notice of the girl’s uncle condition whose office was ransacked after this incident by a Shiv Sena mob whose major pastime is taking voluntary measures at slightest of provocation. Well done Shiv Sena for yet again proving that nothing can get past you unharmed.

                Some rumours speculate that police deliberately arrested the girls to protect them from getting matter worse. If that’s the case, then congrats to PD for devising a new way to control things around. It’s like buying ten pairs of defective jeans to cut the cost of buying one branded one or getting a plastic helmet for a steel one. A temporary solution can’t waver their adamence.

The suit filed against them was hurting religious sentiments. Seriously??? I am sorry but I don’t see her statement anyway near touching a religious sentiment let alone hurting them. You arrest this individual over a social networking comment and you don’t pay heed to the violence put up by the Shiv Sena workers; this is your discernment. This is the height of illogical judgement.

                Isn’t it written quite clearly in the Constitution of INDIA that every citizen has the right to Freedom of Speech? What do we have to do to exercise our rights without being hampered by a political party whose leader was known to change his political ideologies to suit the mood of the day. Our leaders especially the Shiv Sainiks have such low tolerance that using them to organise riots and bandhs is a walk in the park.

                If the conditions are to be improved, it has to start from this virtual core, the leaders needs to inculcate some tolerance towards religious, emotional and critical remarks. A sound mind, healthy thought process and ability to take criticism (tolerance) are the biggest quality of a leader and we need to see those in our present leaders. I respect Bal Thackeray as a political leader (may his soul rest in peace) and I know his party were bummed by his loss but burning houses and ransacking shops isn’t the solution. Its time to stay calm and build a Mumbai that everyone wants to live in.

Life at Kota!

Well, Kota is one of the few places that I got an opportunity to visit and it certainly is a place that blew my mind away effortlessly with its energy, aura and the way of living. And believe me I am not alone who felt that way.

The students who studied at Kota share a special bond among themselves that reminds them of the golden days they spent at the temple of study. The city is like a honey to the ants for coaching institutes, a way of unstoppable profits to the residents and a treat for the overcharging shopkeepers. But still life can never be more fun...if you have been in Kota once. The streets filled by the students, the air containing the freshness of youth, the institutes bearing tonnes of expectations from the parents are just some of the highlights why it stays not only in the brains but in the hearts. Seriously, if you are a youth and want some flavour in your life, then Kota is the place to go.

      Not exquisitely a place for tourists, but a resident or a student who has there been for long, knows how to use the place for fun...and I know for sure, my fellow students know it pretty well. Be it spending the evening after the exam for a game, be it watching movies, be it strolling the mall, checking the ‘flavours’ at newly opened outlets or any activity that I haven't tried (I would love to know some more), there is something for almost everyone; nerds, foodies, jazzy, nonchalant, romeos (and ofcourse female romeos), rowdies; everyone finds his/her‘s. The fun never ceases and you’ll never feel enervated even if it has been a long, hard day.

            It’s like if you have cherished your life at some point, you must have visited Kota at some stage of your well-planned life. It may be an overstatement but there is a lot of feelings and time gone in writing this article and I enjoyed it as if I was reliving my Kota days again. Every day stood out from the previous day in fun, academic learning, girls etc.

            Enter the city at first and you think ‘How am I going to survive in this unknown city’ and after few weeks, it accepts you like a fat kid accepts a candy from a stranger. At this time your mentality is like ‘Dude, I am never leaving this place’. From being cynical at first, then slowly imbibing and catching up, you become one of the many individuals struck by its cordial hospitality and taken gradually into its welcoming arms. You melt away in the arms like you have been craving for this warmth for all your life.

            The favorite pastime of a Kotan resident is the movies at the cyber-cafes which are sprouted at every nook and corner of the city for the ‘good’ of students. Trust me, there are movies and movies in every folder of every computer of the café. You can go for a never ending spree of great movies one by one and still end up with entirely new collection at another café.

Talking about the highlights; there is a breakfast of fresh ‘pohas’ or ‘jalebies’ to give your morning a brisk start. Sometimes, for a change, tea with ‘pakora’ does the same magic. Since, I had my classes in the noon, so I had the luxury of cherishing these delights even more leisurely.

Then there is the new attraction, the mall. The new outlets included some fancy restaurants, MacD, Fun cinemas and a large space for celebrating specific festivities. Remembering the photo-sessions we used to execute with our hostelmates from time to time makes me nostalgic.

Playing cricket at the roof, flying the kites with hundreds of accomplices at Basant Panchami, visit to parks, really cherishing the holidays are some of the things in my experience that really stands out.  

And yes it was Kota, which among lack of topics, inspired me to write and continue my blog.

            I am thankful that I got a shot at being a denizen of the city and I would be really glad to know if I inspired someone to try the same.

Wake Up!

Recently read this news that Women and Child development ministry has come up with a proposal for making it compulsory for a husband to give half his share of income to his wife. This news brings a smile on your face, isn’t it? Now the women will have better freedom, free from hassles of husbands, maybe improved savings (eh?), no more dependencies on husbands for buying ‘your things’. Has the smile widened??? No!!! More kitty parties, incessant shopping sprees, more friends to join in the leisure-time activities, more to do in their occupied lifestyle etc. The smile must have reached at the max at both ends.
                If yes; then wait! Have you ever given a chance for this thought to reach your brain? Or you just crushed the part of the thought that was reaching for the brain under your larynx. Give it a little thought and you will realize that it’s a sort of reservation again, the same ominous thing that a simple, innocent and non-special general categorized Indian has always dreaded. The previous reservation scheme (General, OBC, SC and ST) still had some logic, but this proposal is like annexing our wallets for a reason that is beyond explanation. I am not saying this because I may be a future victim of this practice, but just because of a simple reason…… it’s ABSURD.  Women Empowerment can’t be achieved at the cost of rendering men penniless.
                It doesn’t just feel right to be deprived of the hard-earned money on the 1^st day of the month. If you do not understand my concern, just imagine yourself in the shoes of the man parting with his half share of income. Applying it to the families where the husband drinks or assaults her wife is 100% justified but thrusting it to every household is largely superfluous.
Besides, there are other factors to look upon; what about the house-husbands? Do they get a share too?
And what about the families that have both partners working; are they too in consideration?

I don't understand what is actually happening under the banner of gender equality. I doesn't feel right; I mean fighting for what is right is one thing but fighting for the right thing that compromises someone's way of life is wrong and needs to be checked upon. The sweet days when men used to work and wives stayed at home and wait for their spouse to return home have already long gone. They started working, we backed them; they needed shares in property. we complied with them; but now this! I strongly disagree. This step is the result of limited point of views in the committee. The ministry needs to brainstorm about the pros and cons of this proposal before handing it out in public. This is a big proposal and may cause tension in otherwise stable Indian households and so demands a lot of discernment.

Gifts of the decade!

You must have heard that some localities rammed and then burned a truck because the truck hit a boy of the locality and they even don’t leave the driver too, without knowing that the accident was the boy’s fault. They not only cause the damage to properties but they traumatize the driver too, maybe for life. What I advise them to think is, that, they can someday be a victim of a similar situation. What will he do at that point? Explain? No. Before he even opens his mouth to explain, he will be severely bruised and scarred for life, for a crime that he may have a minor contribution. These sort of news are a common occurrence but we pay no heed to it.

Using democracy the wrong way, they instantly form groups to stage protests, even if the government is planning a good initiative, but is causing them a little discomfort. An individual now practices only the rights that the constitution has given him, but what about the duties? If you can’t spare a little discomfort for a good cause, then you are not a citizen that India expects you to be. The situation is like this, that everyone wants India to reach the zenith, but no one wants to compromise. If their lives are compromised and they have to concede, they protest violently. It quite disheartening to see the people of India takes violent steps thinking that it’s the only way.

It’s like insensibility and insensitivity are the gifts of the century. It’s sad and quite funny to see that groups fighting each other on an issue as tiny as regulation of loudspeaker in an area. Why don’t they understand that there are other people living too, who need some rest at their homes after day’s hard work? But even ignoring the rules, they blow their loudspeakers out loud on accounts of celebration or religious ceremony. WTF, even god doesn’t want you to cause discomfort to others while praising him.   

                I wake up every morning, hoping that this can be the day, that the ‘mob’ remained inactive, just one day…but NO! a big fat NO as if that’s impossible. As I was writing this column, fresh riots started off in multiple districts; here in Allahabad, the Muslims started a row against the killings of Muslims in north-eastern states. But the protest ended up being violent causing a curfew being imposed in few parts of city. I hadn’t thought that I would get such a fresh example to emphasize my point. This just proves that a mob is like a herd of sheep directed by stimulants fuelled up by riots after riots.

                One of the reasons I can see is the Indian concept ‘Unity in diversity’, backfiring in the backdrop. With the current riots forged between the north-eastern and the Muslims, the stage is all set for bringing the failure to once-thought brilliant concept.

                Wait, my angel part of brain thinks that there is still hope, what a douche!!! I will listen to the devil this time…..there is no hope in living under such pitiful circumstances, where you might be the next victim of let’s say an ethnic, communal, sports hooligans, religious riot; unless the mentality of the riot-mind-infested change for the good.

Think it over!

Read a quote today:

“I think

.

.

.

.

Therefore I am single”

And I was forced to think of the prejudiced thought about thinking. It’s not a covert fact that thinking does takes out a lot of fun of any activity. Instead of thinking it over and over again, if one does give a try to the challenge, it not only shows the brave attitude but gives the person a lifelong experience even if he fails to accomplish the challenge. My philosophy says a challenging life is much better than a risk-free monotonous life. The precious learning that one gets after trying to go for it, instead of holding back the ground is worthless. I have got a perfect example to accentuate my point: There was a friend of mine who liked a girl from his school. He used to see her everyday, but couldn’t muster up enough courage to talk to her or ask her out. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t talk to girls, but his clock stopped working when the girl, say X, was around. Now, the school ended, but there he was, still unable to convey the emotions to her. He still regrets his indecisive state at that time. Had he told X about how he felt about her, what could be the gravest thing that could have happened? She would have said “no” citing some random reasons. But atleast he wouldn’t have the repentness of not knowing what she would have said.

          Thinking is okay till one considers all of the possibilities and consequences of taking a step, but when it goes one-step ahead to a stage where procrastination peeks from behind the door, it’s time to follow the steps below. It’s not like I will tell you to make a pro and con list, but it sure looks like a textbook solution for most of the doubts, isn’t it? I am just kidding; here are some of the points to keep in mind when you are in such turmoil.

1.       Just do it: The best way; forget about the consequences and just step out. Future prospects are the things that stop you from taking a decision, so take it out of the thinking equation.

2.       Think the right way: Really think hard if you really want it and if it actually helps you in achieving your goals. If the answer is yes, then you know what you have to do.

3.       Ask your intuition: These kinds of confusions are really solved by following one’s intuition. There is a saying ‘Follow your intuition and everything will fall into place’. This is as true as gravitation theory. If you are indecisive about something, trying out your intuition isn’t the worst of options.

4.       Discuss with one: Taking advices is not really a thing that most experts would advice. But from my experience, there is a person in every one’s life with whom we feel comfortable such that sharing anything is as easy as slicing butter. Find that person that is most adept about the theme of your doubt and who is understands you enough to provide you with a better perspective. The person can be your lover, closest friend, college mate, hostel mate, parents, sibling or a school mate. And it’s better to take advice from a few individuals only. 

Imagination gone puff!

Read it somewhere on the internet, but it really paints the picture merely from words.

                “9 year old today have Facebook, Twitter, phones, and iPods.

                When I was their age, I had colouring books, crayons, chalk and imagination.”

Well, at first, it may sound absurd, but the truth is that’s what has happened with the human evolution after the introduction of TV’s, Computer and other digital devices capable of showing us what only our naked eye could have shown, a century ago. This may seem rhetoric, but you will realize that just how apt it is when you think about it seriously.

                There were methods to stay creative, knowingly or unknowingly, the brain in way of processing our daily activities found necessary ingredients that helped it stay fit and healthy. But the unhealthy timetable of a person nowadays is either so hectic or so ‘lazy-like’ that it is affecting the brain in a bad way.

We, as kids, used to go to the terraces when the electricity wasn’t there and certainly not worried about when will the electricity be back again…we would do all kinds of stuff, enjoy the calmness beneath the sky, the refreshing breezy air, succumbing to the Mother Nature and yet appreciating the beauty of it. There would be an open exchange of ideas, the thoughts pouring in on the open minds: that’s all you need to get an out of box idea, isn’t it? But, nowadays, the common trend is being engrossed in TVs, video games, playstations, PSPs, Facebook etc. With no time for building their thought process, the probability that they might contribute something fruitful to the society looks a bit diminishing. Why only kids or students, parents too aren’t impregnable by these activities. Nowadays, an average office-going person spends more than a third of his day at his office cubicle and when he returns home, is again entrapped in a bigger cubicle, only this time he has a television in front of him. Some even take their professional work to home.

I am not asking to put a ban on the television etc., it’s true that it’s a way creative people show their skills to the world via the daily soaps, reality gigs, game shows, movies etc but inadvertently they are putting the imaginative bird of the viewers to sleep. Yes, that is arguably true, because your brain can work as much you want it to be, but give it a hint of distraction and it switches itself off. These are acting like distraction and putting our mind away from the real thing for which the brain is made up for. Our brain is not compatible with such long viewing hours of televisions or anything of that sort.

 Now hours of thinking have been replaced with hours of TV sitting, talking face to face with friends has been replaced with communication via social networking. It’s not healthy; neither for any individual’s health nor for the society.  The solution to this remains an enigma.* But can be circumcised by a little awareness from the parents. Being aware of this problem is also a big success while working towards the solution. Giving a limited time to the digital Medias may help too. Earn some time for yourself, and think about who are you, how have you been living? Daydream about what you want. Daydream is actually our brain’s way of getting us to creatively focus on what it is we really want. These solutions may not be easy to follow, but will surely bring your life back to track.

God particle isn’t in the hands of God anymore

The discovery has been finally made. The Standard model of quantum physics holds true. The researches and the hard work put up by Peter Higgs and his team of scientists has finally paid dividends. When Higgs gave the theoretical model of this particle back in 1964, very few accepted it; infact he was mocked. When the science community was expecting the found particle to be the Higgs-boson particle, Stephen Hawking even lost a 100$ bet with Gordon Kane (of Michigan University), that the results would be different. Well, a little heads up for those who are expecting concrete results; CERN says they have found a new particle with 99.999% certainty, it will take some time to confirm the found particle is indeed the much speculated Higgs-boson or not.

                The particle is nicknamed the ‘God particle’ (obviously by non-scientists), that brought the attention of media towards this research and resulted in the jaw-dropping publicity and may have offended some theists due to its nickname.

                To know more about the whole story, let’s take you back a few years back.  A Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was built by CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in 2008 (actually it took about 10 years to be built), at the Swiss- French border near Geneva. Laid in a 27 km length, it was setup to validate the existence of the Higgs- boson experimentally. According to the theory, two 7 TeV proton beams collide to create an environment for observing the Higgs-boson particle. Currently, the LHC can accelerate protons to 4 TeV only, but soon it will be upgraded for optimum work. For getting better results, researches were carried out by two teams working independently to ensure that the results that are going to follow don’t look like a fluke. However, after combining datasets of the two teams, CMS and ATLAS, the results looked consistent and promising.

                It all started when bosons was discovered in the mid 1920s, which are nothing but subatomic particles with integer spin. The bosons is named after Satyendra Nath Bose, who did pioneering work in Bose- Einstein statistics, along with Einstein. The Higgs boson is an elementary boson, having no spin, is believed to give mass to other particles via the Higgs mechanism. According to this mechanism, a particle gains mass in a Higgs field, in the presence of some fundamental particles. One of the fundamental particle is Higgs boson.

                Well! long story short, if the synthesized particle is proved to be the Higgs boson, it will surely be a major breakthrough for science. Plus it will firmly cement the Standard model in science community.

Change the Game

With the advent of EURO CUP-12 and departure of IPL, the tide of entertainment has turned to football once again. The football fever is catching people by surprise. I mean that’s not normal in India where cricket is a religion and cricketers gods. But the time has changed now and the new ‘Gods’ are rising!

When I realized this shift in trends, I was forced to ponder, what on earth is wrong with people of India. What changed? Where is the mob that devoted themselves for cricket? Where are those people of small cities that relied on radios for the latest scores? Where are the toddlers that knew no other game than cricket which they played even in the scorching sun? What is bringing the dismissal of cricket as the ‘major sporting event’?

 The answer lies in the following paragraph.

 One of the major reasons that football is taking over the world is that there is a whole lot more passion in this game. The crowd, the jeering, the Mexican waves, the enchanting, the loyalties; all entwine together to make it an exquisite entertainer. Now, unlike cricket, football doesn’t has to break-off every five minutes, thus the momentum and thrill is maintained. Audience can enjoy 90 minutes of pure athleticism without boredom. Plus the 90 min limit enables one to plan out everything before and after the game. The thrill and excitement knows no bound, and the non-anticipatory action adds salt to the taste. Maybe, the business mindset of IPL’s accounts for the lost interest in the game, or it may be the overdose of it. In all, football gives a totally different feel that is not insured in the willow driven game.  At a teenage level, since it requires not much arrangement; just grab a ball (for starters) and remember few ground-rules, and you are ready to go. It may not be the best choice in the sultry summers of India, but who cares when you have donned a Messi’s jersey and have the ball. The passion driving makes up for the fatigue.

So, don’t be surprised the next time you see the teenagers following up the ‘Change the game’ mantra……because football is the next big thing after cricket that's going to surface on Indian subcontinent soon.

A dramatic end!

Alas!!! Manchester City won the prestigious English Premier League, pretty much to the dislike of teams like Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool (they don’t seem to really care now) and especially Manchester United. To many of the die-hard devotees of MANU, this may be the end of the world. They would have been ready to paint the town red, when Sergio Aguero’s impossible goal in 94’ shattered the hopes and forced the cheerful RED part of Manchester to mourn.  A person active on the fan pages of MANU would be feeling like an idiot that just realized that he has now been blabbering for a whole year and now expecting some respect.

 Now the thing that’s concerning is that, with title in City’s hands,  all the things; the hustles the crazy fans make,  cheering in the stands, the hooting, some dying from forwarding the ‘Mexican waves’…the question worth asking is…..does it really mean anything now. BPL in City’s hands, a team without history, but certainly powerful enough to buy the best footballers, it makes one wonder where is the passion that drove the fans crazy? One might raise his voice against this opinion, since undoubtedly City earned the trophy, they worked hard for it, but it’s not the wins or losses that in the talks in here, but the thrill and pride that the game brings it in itself. Fans make the game and City doesn’t look like they need a fan- base to gain their accomplishments.

                Now with City’s only trophy in their trophy shelf, they will have their heads high, but the truth is that the players know that they were like a mini World XI, assembled in a short time that managed a stopping time grab on the title out of the blue. Many City fans 0will sure find it contentious to swallow but something is surely missing in the triumph. Plus, now being only the 6^th different winner of the EPL, it puts on an added pressure of the expectation of consistent performance. And that according to the pundits may not be as easy as it sounds. The way is too tough for them and being new to ‘the business of defending’, they are like a boy dressed like Santa with a million dollar in the hood, with every hoody bullying him for his share. Defending the title will certainly pave them in hell’s path.

                Well anyways good luck to them and congratulations for the gain. Well, everyone loves competition and a team like United will like to take positives from the season (that’s pretty much they can do now) and hope they get their 20^th title soon.