Yashas Mahajan's Blog, page 26
November 12, 2019
Word of the Week #189:
So, I have been thinking a lot about myself.
Surprising, eh?
Well, to be specific, I was thinking about what I want from my life and how far I am from my goals in each aspect. I realised that random, unfocused thinking would lead to no results. I needed a system.
Thus, I did what I do best: I turned abstract thoughts and ideas into numbers.
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Looks pretty, right?
I don’t want to propagate the “Lonely Writer Guy” trope. This was really just the status at that very moment. Matters of the heart can change rapidly, and with little warning.
Money is good. I have as much as I could want, right now.
The rest, well, is a work in progress.
It is interesting, right? And helpful, too. Already, I have begun incorporating significant changes in my life based on this assessment.
I have completely transformed my exercise schedule and my diet. I have begun taking better care of my hair and my eyes.
I know what I want, and I go get it.
I wonder if everyone can do this.
November 5, 2019
Word of the Week #188:
So, I love basketball. I think I have mentioned that a couple of times, here and there.
Still, despite my efforts over the past few years, there are some major deficiencies in my game; and those are quite obvious too, considering my lack of height, athleticism, and any actual training.
My jump shot is unreliableMy defence is weak against bigger, stronger, faster guysMy ball handling is sufficient but by no means stellarI cannot dunk, but just how many normal people can, right?So what would a guy like me do to live out his NBA fantasies? Why, he’d buy a video games that lets him do it, of course.
And, for the first time in my life, I have both an up-to-date gaming device and enough disposable income to buy the latest game less than a week after it released.
It was everything I ever wanted… Pretty exciting, right? Right? WRONG!
Turns out, the wise men and women at the gaming company decided to make the game more realistic, whatever that is supposed to mean.
So, now, we cannot make players who are really tall but can also shoot extremely well, although guys like that do exist in real life.
We cannot make guys who are too tall as well as too fast, although guys like that do exist in real life.
We cannot make guys can be excellent at every aspect of the game, although guys like that do exist in real life.
So, basically, you can never create a player worthy of being considered the greatest of all time. I don’t why I thought that was the very point of a video game…
What do I do now? I have to sculpt a player with balanced stats who can be fun to play with. A jack-of-all-trades kind of guy who could be useful in every situation. And, I thought I had done a good job until I realised my specific set of weaknesses:
My jump shot is unreliableMy defence is weak against bigger, stronger, faster guys, in a league full of big, strong, fast guysMy ball handling is sufficient but by no means stellarI cannot dunk, in a league where a lot of guys can dunkThat just makes me sad…
But, as I kept playing, I realised that despite these weaknesses, I was doing pretty well.
Within one season in game time, I was the most important player on my team, and my stats were pretty good. And yet, I was actually pretty much me.
So, in a way, it was almost like I am in the NBA, which is pretty awesome in itself.
I guess that is the point of a video game…
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October 29, 2019
Word of the Week #187:
One of the many interesting things about my hair is that I can change their parting upon whim.
And, apparently, not every person can do that.
There have, however, been extensive periods of time when I have preferred one parting, changing it only after several months or even years.
Most recently, I changed it last week after a period of almost two years.
Now, in the past, I did not think much of it. I am a whimsical guy, after all. I can change my hair whenever I want to.
However, there is something that has recently come to my attention that may make me look at things a little differently.
You see, I have always been distinctly aware of how asymmetrical our faces tend to be. Just try to flip a photo of yours, and the difference is often stark. But, again, I didn’t think much of it.
However, I have recently learned that the facial expressions of each side of our face are controlled by the opposite hemisphere of the brain. Now, these opposite hemispheres also have different other specialisations.
This means that if you are enjoying a beautiful piece of art, the stimulus will be processed by the right side of your brain, and your reaction would be more prominent on the left side of your face.
So, what does this imply?
This implies that, throughout our lives, we grow up associating certain sides of our faces to certain facets of our lives. We certainly would not notice this, but there are times when we prefer to sit on side particular side of a particular person or view them from a particular angle.
Throughout history, artists have preferred to focus more on the subject’s left side, even more so if the subject is female.
And, as we associate it with others, we do so with our reflections in the mirror as well. We want to focus on certain aspects of our being at certain points in our lives.
Right now, I have two very different jobs: one entirely analytical, mechanical, and learned, and another entirely creative, imaginative, and intuitive. My focus on either can vary significantly, depending on my mood.
The way I part my hair could be an indication of much more than a whim. It could indicate a switch in my professional priorities and herald the beginning of a whole new era.
However, being left-handed, my hemispheres are not well defined, so which era this is supposed to be is not something I can tell.
But what I can tell is that, just one week into it, I already want to flip my hair again.
As I said, I can be pretty whimsical.
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October 22, 2019
Word of the Week #186:
Repetition.
Is it good or bad? How much of it is too much?
When I find a song I love, I will listen to it on loop for literally weeks or months. Never change. Never tire.
If you ask me which was the book I last read, my answer would often be the same: Perhaps Wuthering Heights, or one of my Agatha Christie favourites.
That doesn’t mean I haven’t read anything since I read those, but that I read it again, and I shall continue to do so.
I have a few favourite movies and series. I can often be found rewatching them. Within those, I have a few favourite scenes, and there are times when I just want to watch those, nando mo, nando mo.
Is there benefit to trying new things and expanding your horizons? Absolutely, and, while reluctant, I am not averse to that. It is like travelling. It adds to one’s life.
However, what I gain from reading the same book, or watching the same series, or singing the same song, a hundred time cannot be gained by reading a hundred books, or watching a hundred series, or singing a hundred songs, once.
The pleasure of completely immersing yourself in something, absorbing every ounce of its essence, and watching it become a part of your being is irreplaceable.
The pages of your favourite book, the scenes of your favourite series, the bars of your favourite song, the lips of your favourite girl—all hold a piece of your heart and tell you where you belong.
That is home.
As much as I may travel, I have to come home…
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October 15, 2019
Word of the Week #185:
The human mind works in strange ways.
Whenever we don’t know something about someone, we use their actions to draw inferences, thus trying to get to know them better.
X missed the deadline by two days? He must be lazy.
X quit his high-paying, soul-crushing job without any particular plan? He must be reckless.
X got his hair dyed an alarming shade of purple? He must be wild.
X didn’t show up for karaoke night? He must be fatigued.
However, when we did know the person, we tend to use whatever we do know to explain everything they do.
Suppose X is suffering from depression.
X missed the deadline by two days? Must be the depression.
X quit his high-paying, soul-crushing job without any particular plan? Must be the depression.
X got his hair dyed an alarming shade of purple? Must be the depression.
X didn’t show up for karaoke night? Must be the depression.
And it can work with anything else.
Maybe X has an addiction to drugs. Or has cancer. Or is going through a bitter divorce AND a mid-life crisis… which in turn leads him to drugs, which later causes cancer.
Could happen, you know…
Or, maybe, it is none of that.
Humans are complex.
We barely even understand ourselves. Believing we can understand others is hubris, plain and simple.
Humans are complex. Humans are… stupid.
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October 8, 2019
Word of the Week #184:
Aren’t there times when you think you have everything you need, or that you have done everything you had to do, but there is something that just feels missing?
Maybe you have been packing for a long trip… Maybe you have been running errands all day…
The night has fallen, you feel tired but triumphant, and you just cannot rest your head on your soft, warm pillow and drift into nothingness, but you don’t.
You don’t, because you have that nagging feeling that there is something left. Something is missing.
Maybe you didn’t pack the charger. Maybe you left the clothes in the washing machine.
It happens, right? And, Boy, do I hate it when it does…
But, anyway, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do, right?
Well… I actually did leave the clothes in the dryer.
Gah!
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October 1, 2019
Word of the Week #183:
What is maturity?
How do you define it? Can you define it?
It is easier in other species.
Flowers bloom. Fruits ripen. Insects metamorphose.
In humans, it is not as obvious. We cannot assume a man has truly matured just because he now has facial hair. Why? Because we simply haven’t been bred that way. After all, we can’t make sure immature men never get a chance to mate. Humans would go extinct, right?
Why is it that in humans, losing your true nature is considered maturity.
Fragrance, flavour, colour, and beauty—the hallmarks of maturity in the rest of the biosphere—are somehow seen as immaturity.
Dull and dour do not equal mature.
True maturity lies in being you—as much of you and as good a you as you can be.
Remember who you are.
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September 24, 2019
Word of the Week #182:
Hah…
Every now and then, I will do this.
I will work very hard for a very long, until I cannot work anymore.
If life is a candle, I don’t just burn it at both ends; I slit the candle down the middle, sprinkle some gunpowder over it, and I set the whole thing ablaze.
Needless to say, every subsequent cycle leaves me completely spent.
And, gradually, like the eternal phoenix, I too rise from the ashes, only to set myself on fire once again.
Only, this time, I saw the end coming. I had the time to prepare. I got a chance to pause.
And for once, I did.
Now, I can take a couple of days, refresh my mind, rebuild my strength, return to the peak of my abilities—or as close to them as I can—before I resume the blaze that is my life.
Personal growth, you know.
I am quite proud.
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September 17, 2019
Word of the Week #181:
You must have encountered some of these individuals in your lifetime, right?
People who believe the Earth is flat and static like a plate and the sky covers it like a dome…
People who think they were specifically designed by a supernatural entity to be better than everyone else…
People who argue that the world is not on fire and their actions should have had no consequence.
These people annoy me.
I mean, there is one thing to say you don’t believe in evolution. Maybe you are just too stupid to understand it… And that is okay!
You can be too stupid to understand a topic as complex as evolution and decide not to believe something you do not understand. You choose to believe something simpler and dumber, like the fact that you were built the same way we build Barbie dolls.
You can be too stupid to understand the Big Bang—who isn’t, right—and choose to believe the entire universe was created in six days.
It is okay. It is unfortunate, but it is okay.
However, it does get annoying, beyond a point.
It is one thing to deny a concept you cannot understand, but quite another to deny basic, empirical facts because they do not align with something you have already decided to be true? That is unacceptable.
If you do not have all the facts, or if you cannot understand facts, that is one thing. But to choose to ignore facts because you cannot tolerate an attack on your baseless beliefs? That is unacceptable.
The worst is when such people deny the fact visible to the lay man and question the accomplishments of the men and women smarter than them.
No, we are not trying to defraud you by saying the Earth is round and the sky isn’t solid and vaccinations are important and climate change is real. We are trying to save you, and everything around you, while you sit back and rely on stories and superstitions from the Dark Ages.
If you are stupid, okay. Just, keep it to yourself.
“The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
—Isaac Asimov
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September 10, 2019
Word of the Week #180:
The more I travel, I realise one simple thing: I don’t like travelling.
I mean, I like being someplace nice, but I do not enjoy the act of getting there.
That is what ‘I like travelling’ should mean, right? That you enjoy the journey, not just the destination? Well, turns out, I don’t really like the journey.
Huh… I’m disappointed in myself.
Then again, I have my books.
“My grandfather says that’s what books are for,” Ashoke said, using the opportunity to open the volume in his hands. “To travel without moving an inch.”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake
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