Yashas Mahajan's Blog, page 17

Word of the Week #276:

Stark

Life is… simple. 

I mean, I know that is not what I said last week, but hear me out, now, because I have a new theory.

I think life is simple. I really think it is far simpler than what we make it out to be. And somehow, I think we are unable to accept how simple and clear and obvious it really is, and that is why we find it difficult to comprehend.

Think about it this way. Ask a kid—a young science nerd, preferably one just about to enter into a college—what a tetrahedron is. Maybe ask the kid what a tesseract is.

In all probability, you will find that the kid can give you a precise, eloquent explanation. Either that, or the kid should really not be pursuing a science degree.

However, if you ask the kid to explain what a point is, odds are that you will see some true confusion, followed by a fair amount of floundering and fumbling.

Why is that?

Because a point is a point; that is all it is.

There are no deep, clever layers to the concept. There are no basic components into which you can further break it down. There are no neat 3D models that can help you visualise it.

It is just a point. Simple.

Some people just understand what a point is, and some just don’t; most are somewhere in the middle.

I think that is true for life as well. Most of us are somewhere in the middle.

And I think that is true for people as well.

People are simpler than what we make them out to be.

Now, here, I am talking about what they are, not necessarily what they have been, what they can be, what they could have been, and other such hypothetical versions of their selves.

I am talking about what they are. And what they are is simple. And obvious. And very, very visible.

Just, more often than not, we either see but do not comprehend, or we just choose not to see.

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Word of the Week #275:

Divination

Life is… weird. 

I mean, it really is weird, right?

I’ve spent 28 years trying to figure it out, and it still confounds me.

I’m sure better men who have spent longer time trying the same thing, and with varying degrees of success, but I’m sure even they would agree that life is weird.

You know, there are these video games where the outcomes and the storylines are determined by the choices we make.

FUN FACT: I was working on one such game until COVID came and stalled the entire project. 

Anyway… Have you ever played one of those games?

Well, in many of these games, when you’re about to make an important choice that will significantly affect the storyline or lock you onto a specific path. 

It would be so much easier if real life worked like that too.

And I’m not saying that every time you are about to make a big decision, you should need a warning. Because, you know what, we do tend to be wary of the big decisions and the way they might affect our lives.

Choosing your major, going to grad school, getting married, buying a house: we know these are big decisions that will have a big impact on our lives, and we do take the requisite care while making our choices.

However, more often than not, our lives are defined by the tiniest, most seemingly irrelevant of our choices and decisions.

That is what makes life weird, does it not?

Unintended consequences. Indeterminably interlinked outcomes. 

The things that really change the world, according to Chaos theory, are the tiny things. A butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazonian jungle, and subsequently a storm ravages half of Europe.

Neil Gaiman, Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

Well, how do I handle that?

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Word of the Week #274:

Nebulous

Most weeks when I sit down to write, I have some clear ideas. While I may not have decided exactly what I want to say and how I want to say it, I know what I want to talk about.

But sometimes, all I can see inside my mind is a haze of semi-formed ideas.

Amazing ideas, of course. Ideas teeming with incandescent energy. Ideas urging to combine to create a brilliant new piece of art. But semi-formed nonetheless.

And today is one of those days.

And I don’t know what I want to say and how I want to say it.

But there is gold hidden by rock and sand.
I have to search a little harder now.

Stones, by Barbarossa

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Word of the Week #273:

Expendable

Okay, have you watched A.I.? One of Spielberg’s classics.

When I watched it for the first time, I found it quite eerie and unsettling. All those graphic scenes depicting wanton violence towards poor robots? Very unpleasant.

Of course, as often was the case at that age, my sister only contributed to make things worse.

To begin with, she had me convinced for the next few weeks that I was a robot. Somehow, I had no way to refute that.

And to add to that, she let me know that if I malfunctioned—if I didn’t behave the way I was expected to—I would be decommissioned and replaced.

And, as often was the case at that age, my parents just kinda went along with it.

Probably not the best way to raise a kid, some might argue, right?

Still, I will say that it taught me a lesson that evidently a large number of my peers never learned. 

You see, in my opinion, one of the biggest follies you can make is overestimating your worth. In a relationship, among your friends, in an organisation, in the world.

Always remember that each and every one of us is replaceable. 

We were built that way. 

We are supposed to be replaced when we are no longer functional. The best we can do is keep behaving the way we are expected to. 

If we malfunction, we will be decommissioned and replaced.

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Word of the Week #272:

Extempore

Reading this blog, one might wonder why a professional editor’s posts are so poorly edited.

Right? Right?

Well, to be honest, that is part of the nature and function of this blog… well, the current nature and function of this blog. You see, it has evolved a lot over the years.

Currently, part of my goal with the blog is to maximise the quality of content—both what I say and how well I say it—in little to no time.

I want to sit down and write down what I have on my mind. No preparation, no filtration, no editing. I want to get it out and get it right in the first go.

I believe there is a phrase that a friend of mine mentioned when talking about an industry that I do not understand, but the concept stuck with me: First Time Right.

Some might say this was a rare instance when I was actually listening to what someone else was saying.

Some might have already said it, and maybe I missed it. I’m not sure.

Anyway, I have always been a fan of just winging it, and this is how I prepare for it.

Does that make sense? It does to me.

You see, how do I do something without preparing for it? By already being prepared, right?

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Word of the Week #271:

Aspiration

Sometimes, I feel like the greatest achievement of our generation would be to survive long enough to see post-apocalyptic dystopias become the norm of non-fiction writing.

Word of the Week #270:

Precarious

You know what is really tough? Talking about trauma with people who have had trauma.

Really, it is a very difficult conversation to have.

Just last week, an acquaintance of mine shared her experience of recovering from trauma and what expectations are fair from a person in that situation.

Now, particularly in the latter part, there were some thoughts that I could not agree with. However, how do I say that without sounding dismissing or derisive or accusatory? Especially over text, where it is all the more difficult to express tone?

Plus, it just IS difficult. You can’t talk to someone about their trauma and expect the conversation to be scholastic and cerebral and hypothetical. That’s the point of trauma. It is going to be deep and dark and heavy and destabilising… Often irrationally so…

And yet, how do we come to understand each other if we cannot talk through things?

Plus, just talking to someone who hasn’t been through trauma wouldn’t help me understand someone who has, right?

So how do participate in this tough conversation without demanding answers and explanations from someone who might be triggered by the very mention of that topic?

THAT is where art comes in.

That way, we can let people express themselves at their own pace and in their own comfort.

Support the artists you love. Amplify their voices. Let them be heard.

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Word of the Week #269:

Solicitude

You know what? I really have had a good experience with my bosses.

I know a lot of people—including most of my friends—would have experiences that would make them disagree, but I feel like I have people who would have my back, if something goes wrong.

Like, just last week, my manager asked me to take a look at a project and let her know how long it would take.

It was a tough project, one unlike any we have worked on recently. Still, it was interesting and not too long, so I was confident.

I thought about it for a while before sending a mail: “Three days, but I can do it in two if it is urgent.”

She replied: “Okay. Submit it in four days.”

And honestly, I’ve been so happy ever since.

Nothing better than going into a project with joy, right? It’s good for everyone involved. And yet, I don’t see it happening in enough workplaces.

If you ask me, that’s just bad business.

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Word of the Week #268:

Fallacy

So, I was scrolling through YouTube the other day, as one does on a warm weekend afternoon while waiting for lunch, when I encountered a video about the most common health and fitness myths.

And obviously, as one does, I hit play.

For the most part, I was on board with it, till the fitness “expert” said something that made me flip out.

MYTH #XX: Muscles are heavier than fats.
Clarification: This is false because a pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat.

Like, wow.

That just made me stop.

A pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat.

Such insight.

By that logic, we can derive a few more extremely insightful conclusions. Let’s take a quick look.

Housing in New York is not expensive since a $10,000 flat in New York costs just as much as a $10,000 flat elsewhere in the world.Burj Khalifa is not taller than any other building because one inch of it is the same as an inch of any other building.Litres and litres of sugary drinks are not more harmful to your body than fruits and vegetables because one calorie of sugary drinks is the same as a calorie fruits and vegetables.One Piece is not too long because each episode is just one episode long.My parents are not older than me since they were as old at my current age as I am.

Ugh… I would’ve done more, but this to me is just more infuriating than it is funny.

Stupidity is too infuriating to even be mocked appropriately.

It is just frustrating that we are surrounded by idiots.

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Word of the Week #267:

Vocation

So, I think I have spoken about editing in the past, right?

I do remember mentioning it here and there.

But most importantly, I remember the one time I really spoke about editing as a job, and I remember focusing almost entirely on the positives.

Now, well over two years into the job, I think I can finally talk a little about the negatives.

In my experience as an editor, all the problems I have encountered stem from the author’s expectation.

More often than not, this manifests as a minor inconvenience due to a miscommunication of what the author wants. Maybe wanted British spellings, and I ended up doing American spellings. Maybe they wanted every instance of a foreign word to be italicised and not just the first one. Maybe they don’t like using an Oxford comma, although I do.

Funny thing about Oxford comma: Oxford no longer recommends its use. So, yey…

Now, this level of mismatch is here and easily handled.

The next level is where the author may have expected us to work on stylistic enhancements but only paid us for a basic copyedit.

Like, you get what you pay. Don’t act indignant when you get it when that’s the most you were willing to pay for. Want more? Pay more. It is that simple.

The most annoying part, however, is undoubtedly when an author sends us a pile of absolute nonsense and then loses his mind when we don’t send him back a pristine draft of a genre-defining, paradigm-altering, globally-bestselling masterpiece.

Quite frankly, that is not within our purview.

Really, if I could so easily convert any manuscript into a genre-defining, paradigm-altering, globally-bestselling masterpiece, wouldn’t I do that for my own manuscripts by employing a bunch of poor little ghostwriters like myself and then editing their work over a month every year and then make millions in royalties?

But alas, I cannot do that.

Does that make me incompetent? For a genie, maybe. For an editor, nope.

And that’s what more authors need to understand.

I am not a genie. If you thought I was a genie, surely you have chosen to underpay me for my services.

No, I am an editor—primarily a copyeditor. My job is to remove 99% of the errors in your manuscript. Now, if those errors run in the 10,000s, don’t be surprised to find a document with still 100s of errors.

Know what you want. Know what you are paying for. Know what you will get.

Temper your expectations, for I do not expect your temper.

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