Suresh Chandrasekaran's Blog, page 31

Progress

"It's difficult to say when a Society is progressing." "What's so difficult about that?" I could have bitten my tongue almost as soon as I said this. When will I learn that opening my mouth when in the company of friends, especially when it's a group of them like today, is a sure recipe for disaster? "Ah! So what IS progress, O wise one?" "Well...I suppose if success is achieving your

The power of headlines

You know, one of the things I realized very late in life is the power of headlines in news of all sorts. If you, like me, are the sort to just generally browse the headlines - or what now flashes in 'Breaking news' - without bothering to go through all the fine print, you could end up getting a totally erroneous idea of what is happening in the world. Of course it is all to the good since

Judgmental

I don't know exactly when I started getting judgmental about people. It probably started way back in school. You know how it is - every class has this irritating bunch of people who seem to think that marks below 90% (grades, these days, I suppose but it was all about marks then) do not exist and take it as a personal insult if they score less than 100%. It is too much to expect the rest of us

Lost and floundering

You know, this brave new world of ours confuses me too much. Too often, I find myself totally lost and floundering when I try to make sense of it. (Yeah, yeah, I know you are murmuring, 'Why am I not surprised?') I mean, take this climate thing for example. People are all groaning about our carbon footprint and all. So, I say to myself, 'Great! Now is when folks will be seeking people riding

Too content?

"You know what's the problem with you?" Again! And it had been a long while since I thought that 'the problem' meant that there was only one problem with me and all I needed to do was to sort that out. After the thirtieth time it had happened, each one outlining a different problem, even my optimism was not up to the task. It was going to be a bad day today. It generally is, even with one

I do? I understand?

Whenever there was this Workshop class at school, I used to get all tensed up. Ah, no, it was not only because I could not just sit in the back benches and sleep, as I did in other classes, though that too was a contributory factor. There was this board in the workshop I hear, I forget I see, I remember I do, I understand Jolly good, I supposed, for all the people who had this

Education?

kaRka kasadaRak kaRpavai katrapin niRka adhaRkuth thaga - Thirukkural Whatever you learn, learn flawlessly and thoroughly; and live in accordance to those tenets - Loose translation The thing about Tiru is that, after you have a dose of him, you get a whole new appreciation of how lenient your parents really are. Even if, right from their 'good morning' to their lullaby, their sole litany is

Dealing in absolutes

"I am afraid that Kunal is no good to do unplanned trips with. He is too used to comforts and keeps complaining if things are a bit rough." I was saying when my friend cut me short. "I don't like talking ill of friends like this" Huh? What exactly was that? I mean, yeah, I would not like to go on impromptu trips with Kunal again, and was saying so, but 'talking ill of him'? It is not like

I told you so

There are few pleasures in the world that can compare with the sheer joy of saying "I told you so". Very rare is the person who gets the opportunity to do it and refrains from taking advantage of it. Parents may plead and teachers scream that it is not good manners but, if it comes to a clash between good manners and pleasure, when had good manners ever won? And, remember, it is very seldom

Advice

You know, this advice thing, it seems neither blessed to give nor to receive as far as I am concerned. ('For you, nothing ever can be blessed', you say? And whose fault is it? It is because I am surrounded by people like you...). I mean, like I have never seen that it has been useful to either give the damn thing or to receive it. Of course, I do not mean advice about things like 'How do I