Yashas Mahajan's Blog, page 16

Word of the Week #286:

Chasm

Does it ever happen to you that you return to a place after a few weeks, and you feel like you can’t quite connect with everything and everyone that you thought would be waiting for you when you came back?

And I’m not talking about a disconnect so wide that the world around you would suddenly be unfamiliar. On the contrary, everything seems like it should be similar. There are no discernible, tangible changes. And yet, the disconnect is just enough to be jarring. Enough to make you wonder if everything has changed, or have you.

Now imagine having to move from city to city pretty much every single month of an entire year.

Then, all of a sudden, the first lockdown hits and leaves you stuck in complete isolation in an unfamiliar place for 3 months.

Then you move again and spend another month in isolation.

Then the lockdown ends, and you find yourself suddenly surrounded by a group of people.

Then you visit the place where you were stuck before moving to a third place for another month.

Then move back and find yourself surrounded by a new group of people.

Then another lockdown.

Then more people.

Then again move away.

Then again move back.

Sigh.

Fun.

These have been a fun few years.

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Word of the Week #285:

Overhaul

So, WordPress no longer supports my version of Safari.

That’s a random bummer, right?

I had to post this blog using *gag* Google Chrome. Like, ew…

What do I do with this, now?

I guess I will have to update my OS, right?

Should I, though? It is always such a can of worms, after all, is it not?

If I don’t, one by one, every little annoying thing will just keep passing me by.

If I do, all the applications and other devices I use will have to run along to catch up.

Sooner or later, something or the other will have to be left behind, and something will have to be replaced.

Ugh… It is all a nightmare.

Still, better than using *retch* Chrome, right?

I guess I just gotta do what I gotta do.

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Word of the Week #284:

Par

So, a couple of weeks back, we spoke about the kind of authors that irk me, right?

Well, what kind of authors do I really like, then? What can an author do to make things easier for the editor in general?

Well, first of all, be nice. Easy. Everyone likes working with someone nice, right?

Second, if you’re actually a good writer, you’ll naturally be easier and more fun to work with, right? That way, the editor can really focus on what you want them to do instead of struggling to just parse what you have written.

Third, have some understanding of the editing process and what you should expect from. Understand the different types of editing services available and which one would suit you. If you don’t know, just ask. We’d be happy to tell you in significant detail. This also includes stylistic preferences such as US or UK spellings, single or double quotes, Oxford comma, etc.

This should help you temper your expectations.

Lastly, try to format the manuscript well. This is really not difficult, especially if the manuscript does not contain any images or such. Now, it doesn’t need to be typeset and ready to print already. Clean, consistent formatting goes a long way in improving readability—and by extension “editability.”

This is what I would normally recommend: 12pt, Times New Roman, 1.5 spaced with extra 12pt at the end of the paragraph. Simple. Clean. Consistent.

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Word of the Week #283:

Indomitable

It’s been a long week.

It’s been a strange week.

I have had SO MUCH to do.

Ugh…

I just want to take a nap and wake up 36 hours later.

My eyes are tired.

At least I managed to get everything done as it needed to be done.

Despite how fatigued and overwhelmed I felt at moments.

Despite how unlikely it seemed at times.

Just a little more.

Just a few more miles to go before I sleep.

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Word of the Week #282:

Functionality

In continuation to what I wrote about my “bubble” the other week, another thing that I am proud of is the fact that no matter where I am, how things are going, or what the hell is happening around me, I am able to keep getting things done.

Is that the healthiest and most responsible of things? I don’t know. But it sure as hell is convenient. 

I think when I reach a stage in my life where I have to work 50 hours a week, this ability is going to stand me in good stead.

For now, though, when I am working just 30 hours a week, it lets me be a little more reckless than someone else in my position might be.

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Word of the Week #281:

Habile

As an editor, you know what kind of projects I find the toughest to handle?

It was when the writer is a subject expert—truly elite in their own field—but is really not good at writing.

In a way, it is just heartbreaking, right? Like, we can see the potential in the content, but we also know that the faults in the writing are far too glaring to turn it into a good book within the scope of our jobs as editors.

Over the past few years, I have worked on a large number of manuscripts—probably close to a hundred, by now. And every now and then, I do encounter manuscripts that fall exactly in this category.

And it is always very frustrating to handle these projects, not just because we are dealing with someone who is used to being the best at what they do.

Someone who is highly respected and even revered for their skills honed over several decades.

Someone who is brimming with knowledge that their peers and subordinates could truly benefit from.

Someone who expects to write a book that is far superior in quality than their abilities would allow.

Someone who might been too proud to accept that writing is an entirely new skill that they will have to learn from scratch.

Someone who is so used to being surrounded by underlings and bootlickers that they are unwilling to treat an editor barely half their age as an equal, let alone as a critic.

But hey, what can I do? If I stopped working with people who are rich and successful in their careers, I would never get a chance to be like them.

Plus, no matter how poorly they write, I’m sure some of their expertise will always seep into me, and that is always great.

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Word of the Week #280:

Unflappable

I don’t think I am easily affected by my environment. Even when I am, I can usually regain my composure quite quickly.

Whatever the hell is going on around me, I am usually able to be who I am and do what I want.

Why is that?

Well, for the most part, I tend to live my life in a bubble of my own, doing my own thing, maintaining a thin but clear layer of distinction between the world beyond me and the world within.

It is similar to how the earth’s magnetosphere protects it from solar winds that would otherwise erode its very surface.

How do I do that? Well, I presume it is the usual combination of privilege and escapism, aided by a dash of just sheer selfishness.

However, that is not the topic of our discussion, today. No, instead, we will talk about when things do begin to affect me.

It all began when a new friend of mine—well, I’ve only met this person once, but I am intrigued already—casually asked me in the middle of a random conversation, “So, what does it take to burst your bubble?”

For some reason, that question stayed with me throughout the day, partly because it was a question about myself to which I did not have a real answer, and partly because, well, she caught me when I kinda skipped the question and let me know that she did expect an answer.

So, what does it take to burst my bubble?

Well, the easy answer is that any circumstance extreme enough should affect me, right? If the city I’m living in goes into a complete blackout for something like a week, I would be affected, right?

But, of course, that is too easy an answer.

Also, on the other hand, would I be affected? I spent a whole fortnight in March 2020 with little food, barely enough water, no relief from the heat, no human contact, yada yada yada… Was I affected, though?

I managed to remain in my bubble, which helped me survive that while also creating some of the best art I have created so far.

So, what does it take to burst my bubble? Who can burst my bubble? Has my bubble ever been burst long enough for me to notice?

These are all good questions, right? But they didn’t lead me to an answer.

Somehow, I come back to my earliest question. How do I do that? How do I create a bubble in which I can weather any storm?

I guess it is more than just privilege and escapism, although I am sure that helps. I think the bubble comes from an imperturbable sense of self. When I know who I am and what I want, I can handle anything else.

If that sense of self does get perturbed, if I lose sight of who I am and what I am, I can feel a little lost for a little while.

And then, like the earth if it suddenly lost its magnetism, I too become completely vulnerable to every external hazard.

Luckily, that does not happen very often.

Luckily, there aren’t a lot of things that can make me question myself.

However, every now and then, something—or someone—can slip through this magnetic field of mine and make me wonder, “Wait, who am I?”

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Word of the Week #279:

Daijobu

You know how there are times when you feel like something is not right but you really can’t pinpoint what or why?

And then people will ask you why you’ve been “off” or “down” lately, and you have no real answer.

Why have you been off or down? 

Sometimes, it can just be anxiety driving you crazy, right? Or maybe you are burned out. Or stressed. Or fatigued. Or simply dehydrated. Or maybe it is a weird combination of them all.

Maybe no one single thing is wrong in your life that is making you feel off.

Maybe every single thing is wrong in your life—maybe not wrong enough for you to complain about it or to try something big to fix it wrong enough, but maybe just wrong enough to affect you just a little bit, which keeps piling up day and day, week after week, until you are no longer even sure what was wrong in the first place.

Then what do you do when someone asks you what is wrong? What do you say? 

You can’t possibly complain to them about every little thing that is wrong about every single aspect of your life, right? Who does that? 

No, instead, you will try to fake a smile, maybe feign some ignorance or confusion, and reply, “Oh, I’m fine…”

“No, really, I’m fine…”

“Yeah, yeah, nothing going on…”

“I mean, if something were wrong, would I tell you? Trust me, I’m fine…”

Are you, though?

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Word of the Week #278:

Prophylactic

So, I recently got back into physiotherapy to work on a strained ligament in my knee. Again.

And each time I go into the clinic, I think to myself, “There is no way more of us could not benefit from this.”

We often talk about how people are reluctant to seek professional help for mental health issues, but when I think about it, I wonder if we are just reluctant to seek help in general.

How many people have we heard grumbling about aches and pains and minor ailments, and yet, they barely ever seek professional help to address the root cause.

How often have we heard someone tell us that their loved ones could have been saved, if only the disease had been diagnosed a few weeks or a few months earlier? And yet, do we go for regular, comprehensive check ups.

I feel like our entire understanding of healthcare is backwards.

If I show up to the doctor, the first thing I’m asked is, “What is wrong?”

It makes sense in the current scenario, but it is not the way things should be. It should not be assumed that I waited till something was wrong till I went to the doctor.

Instead, the doctor should run a broad range of diagnostic tests and tell me if something is wrong.

Do I need to eat more veggies? Am I getting enough exercise? Is my sleep schedule good enough? Is there anything I should be doing that I am currently not, or anything I shouldn’t be doing that I currently am?

These are all things that should be discussed with healthcare professionals based on actual personal data, not based on some generalised metrics.

The first time I visited a “good” orthopaedist was an eye-opening experience for me. The guy took one look at my shoulders and knew that I am left-handed, that I write a certain way (I don’t really know if there is a name for it, but a lot of lefties including Obama and Bruce Willis write that way), and that it had led to a muscle deformity in my left shoulder which was making it painful for me to participate in overhead activities such as basketball.

We need to stop treating healthcare as a “disease care” system.

We need to get ahead of the problem and actually work on preventive and holistic healthcare that analyses everything we do and addresses every issue we could expect to encounter based on the lives we have built for ourselves.

I know it is a pipe dream at based, but it seems like something worth dreaming about.

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Word of the Week #277:

Caricature

Sometimes, I feel like writing is… limited.

Sometimes, words are just not enough.

Of course, one could argue that it is my ability to write that is limited. I don’t think I would even deny that.

However, in general, I do feel like writing as an art form is limited.

Not everything I want to express can be expressed when I want to through just words.

The written word can sometimes lack an immediacy.

In some ways, animals have it so much better, right? Their behaviours are built more for expression than communication.

It is not that we do not have access to these expressions. Of course, we do. However, our complex lives can sideline most of our natural behaviours and interactions.

Sure, if you were upset, your frown could express that, but what if there is no one else in the room? How do you broadcast that frown?

A frown-face selfie? That’s dumb.

An emoji? Really, that’s the best you have to offer?

And yet, these are both better than posting a status that reads “Life is not daijoubu.”

Sometimes, words are not enough.

Sometimes, you need more.

Sometimes, you need to reconnect with your ancestral caveman heritage through an expressive—though perhaps rudimentary—piece of graphic art that can truly and succinctly capture the nature and depth of your feelings.

Sometimes, you need a meme.

And I have a meme for you.

Not daijoubu at all…

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