Yashas Mahajan's Blog, page 15

Word of the Week #296:

Amalgamate

In the winter of 2019, Covid strikes. By the following spring, the entire world has come to a standstill.

Artists, freelancers and daily wagers, like Mr. Grasshopper, are hit first and hit hard. With the entire population stuck indoor, they no longer have any money coming in.

Salarymen and office workers are not spared either. A large number of them, like Mr. Ant, lose their jobs.

Though Mr. Ant did have some savings, the future still looks bleak, as nobody knows when the pandemic would end and when—or even if—people would get their jobs back. As the stock market continues to plummet, so do a lot of Mr. Ant’s investments. Very soon, his saving do not look as reassuring as they did before the pandemic.

As bad as things are for him, Mr. Ant knows they are worse for Mr. Grasshopper.

Mr. Grasshopper never had any savings to rely on; he always spent whatever he made and only lived from one paycheque to the next. Thus, within a week or two, he would run out of money for food and rent.

One day, Mr. Ant calls Mr. Grasshopper over Zoom, the latest fad that was defining the new Covid-stricken world.

Mr. Grasshopper is initially reluctant to take the call. He is ashamed of his situation and is afraid Mr. Ant would just chastise him for not having been cautious.

However, to his surprise, Mr. Ant is compassionate and kind. They both agree that there was no way they could have predicted this calamity or prepared for it enough. Now, all they could do was find a way forward.

After spending a few minutes every day reconnecting with each other, Mr. Ant and Mr. Grasshopper start discussing the ideas they have to work together to find a way out of their financial problems.

Finally, by the end of the week, they have a plan in place. It is a risky plan, but it is the best one they have.

One month into the pandemic, Mr. Grasshopper and Mr. Ant are ready to unveil the fruit of their collaborative effort: “Bugs Just Wanna Have Fun”, a new single recorded entirely over Zoom.

As Mr. Grasshopper had been telling everyone for the past several years, he really was just a viral hit away from really making it, and he did, thanks to Mr. Ant’s friends who helped them with their technical skills and marketing acumen.

Using the money from the single, Mr. Ant and Mr. Grasshopper produce the complete album, It’s A Hard-Bug Life, featuring hits like “Sweet Pupa O’ Mine”, “Another Mite Bites the Dust”, “Born To Flutter”, and “Smells Like Larval Spirit”.

With their friendship renewed and their crises averted, Mr. Ant and Mr. Grasshopper both come out of a catastrophe stronger than they had entered.

Why? Because they come to respect their differences and appreciate what they have in common. They truly care for each other. In the toughest of times, they could trust each other.

Mr. Grasshopper can see how much Mr. Ant respects and appreciates his skills, as he is willing to invest all the time and money he has left into the album.

Mr. Ant, on the other hand, sees that his friend is not as immature as he had earlier seemed.

Together, they are strong enough to handle anything. And that is the moral of A Hard-Bug Life.

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Word of the Week #295:

Fable

We all remember the story of the Grasshopper and the Ant, right?

For those who don’t, let us take a quick refresher.

So, in a suburban neighbourhood live two friends, Mr. Grasshopper and Mr. Ant.

Mr. Ant works a small-time clerical job in a big-time financial company. The works are insane, but the pay is steady and reliable.

Mr. Grasshopper is in a local band. They are just one viral hit away from really making it, as he’ll tell everyone he ever meets.

Despite growing up together, as adults, they find themselves drifting apart.

Mr. Grasshopper complains that Mr. Ant is always working working working. He never has any time to attend the loud, lavish parties Mr. Grasshopper throws after each successful gig, nor does he truly understand and appreciate Mr. Grasshopper’s artistic pursuits.

Mr. Ant complains that Mr. Grasshopper shares no real interests with him, such as his stories about his life with Mrs. Ant and young Ant Jr., nor does he want to discuss long-term investment strategies.

Mr. Grasshopper thinks Mr. Ant is a miserable fuddy-duddy who has lost sight of his youth and has forgotten to truly live his life.

Mr. Ant, on the other hand, thinks Mr. Grasshopper is an irresponsible man-child who refuses to grow up. Mr. Ant firmly believes his friend needs to curb his excesses in life but knows he would not heed to sensible advice

Over time, Mr. Grasshopper and Mr. Ant’s relationship becomes limited to just a half-smile and a subtle nod as they occasionally pass each other in the driveway.

However, this all changes one day, when the suburbs are hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Oh, they are hit hard.

What will happen next? How will Mr. Ant and Mr. Grasshopper make it through the pandemic?

To be continued next week…

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Word of the Week #294:

Renaissance

I now have a black shirt.

Word of the Week #293:

Blinding

So, my wisdom tooth is back at it again.

It hurts… A lot…

And when it does hurt, I literally cannot see straight. I can barely hear anything happening outside my own head. Hell, I had to take three tries to just spell “happening” right in the previous sentence.

This is such a mess.

Maybe I should stop trying to push through the pain and just go see my dentist, see what she recommends. The last time I went, she said, and I paraphrase, “Yes, it hurts. It will hurt for a while. Buck up.”

No surgeries, no pain meds, nothing. Just the affirmation that there appeared to be no abnormality or infection.

Still, it has been two years since then, and it is less and less likely that the tooth is quite normal.

But anyway, I guess there is only one way to know for sure.

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Word of the Week #292:

Foolhardy

Are all opinions made equal?

In our “democratic” society, we are continually hammered down with the notion that every person, every faction, every school of thought should have a place on the table.

But is that really the best solution? Should every opinion offered be treated as equal?

This one time, I don’t have an answer.

History has shown us strong examples of helpful ideas and opinions—which would have changed human civilisation for the better—being quashed because they did not conform with the accepted wisdom of the time.

On the other hand, even today, we continue to see countless deniers of basic logic and fact, may they present themselves as anti-vaxxers or flat-earthers or religious fundamentalists.

Is it presumptuous to believe we are right and people who disagree with us are wrong? 

I mean, I will accept that it would be arrogant to assume that we are incapable of being wrong. But at the same time, it is not wrong to hold strong to what we do know.

At the end of the day, to quote one of my favourite fictional characters:

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Word of the Week #291:

Sculpt

What would I be doing if I didn’t have to worry about the paycheque attached to it?

This question came up during a discussion about socialism and capitalism and human nature.

Would you do what you do right now if you didn’t have bills and loans and this and that to take care of? Food, rent, utilities, healthcare, childcare, the list goes on and on…

Well, most people did come to realise that they wouldn’t want to keep doing what they have to, in this capitalist society that forces them to waste their entire lives simply trying to “earn a living”.

Living should not have to be “earned”. Living is not a privilege. Luxury is a privilege. But the basic necessities required to sustain life should not be a privilege.

However, that is not what we are discussing tonight. I mean, does it really need to be discussed?

No, tonight, we will discuss the fact that when I was asked if would I be doing what I do if I didn’t have to worry about the paycheque attached to it, may response was “yes”.

I like editing.

I like being able to help a relatively inexperienced writer turn their story into a book.

Would I want to keep doing it without getting paid for it? Absolutely.

However, I might want to change who I would do it for or how I would want to do it.

You see, copyediting is not as involved a process as I would like. We only get to improve an existing manuscript to make it ready for market. That is not fun enough for me.

If I could work on fewer projects each month and spend more time and effort on each one, and if I didn’t have to worry about whether my clients could afford my time and effort, I would have been so much happier.

I wonder if I can find a way to make that happen.

I would if… I should start teaching.

Nah… Not yet…

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Word of the Week #290:

Array

I don’t know about other people, but I normally feel very frustrated when I have a series of vital tasks to do.

I mean, that is odd, right?

Shouldn’t life in general be just a series of vital tasks? Isn’t that something normal that everyone has to deal with?

Adults have schedules. That just is adulthood, right?

Say I have 6 tasks to complete at 6 different times. Somehow, the weight of that schedule will drive me too crazy to do or even think about anything else until I can get started with the first task.

And between every two consecutive tasks as well, I will feel so paralysed that I will do nothing else.

And during each break, I just feel like breaking something… or breaking myself… or crying…

THAT is weird, right?

Now, I have long believed that as long as I do manage to get everything done, I have no reason to complain.

However, lately, I am beginning to think otherwise. Whenever a few of these days or weeks stack up, I notice that my lack of attention on self-care begins to affect me.

My hair, my eyes, my knees, my back were all ruined in the same way.

Huh…

What do I even do…

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Word of the Week #289:

Ladyfinger

So, do you guys like tiramisu?

One of the modern culinary classics, right?

And when you think about it, what is there not to like? Some fancy biscuits dipped in a fancy coffee, then topped with some mascarpone and chocolate. Literally, what’s not to like?

Well, yesterday, I came across a restaurant that has tiramisu pancakes on its menu, and that just made so much sense! It sounds like the perfect breakfast dish. Who wouldn’t want to start a day with that, right?

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How happy would you be tackling your day after a breakfast like that?

Incidentally, or actually appropriately, tiramisu translates to “cheer me up”, and I just love that.

When you really think about it, the ingredients of a happy life are so simple and often so obvious.

And yet, so many of us struggle to build or sustain a happy life.

It just seems bizarre to me, sometimes… Why isn’t it easier to be happy?

Well, in my case, I’m not allowed to have caffeine, so…

We play with the hand we are dealt, am I right?

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Word of the Week #288:

Allegiance

You know, I think loyalty is rather overrated. 

In some ways, it could even be considered a fallacy.

Because at its core, what is loyalty?

The way I see it, loyalty is just a special privilege some people feel entitled to based on prolonged proximity.

Does it have any true value?

Sure, everyone wants more privilege, but is it fair? Reasonable? Justified?

People who put too much stock on loyalty just seem inconsiderate to me.

If you’re a kind, compassionate person, would you really need a special relationship with someone to be nice to them?

If that’s the one reason that makes you be nice to people, then you’re really not nice enough, right?

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Word of the Week #287:

Squall

Na, I’m feeling a little under the weather, tonight.

Let’s just take a rain check today, come back next week.