Reality Bites!!

Do you ever get this feeling, when you're doing something, and suddenly realize that you've imagined/dreamt/foreseen yourself doing that exact same thing?.It happens to me all the time. I remember the last time pretty clearly too, an economics test, and when I came to that class, I knew I'd done this before in my dreams(not on the day before the exam)!!. Strange eh?.

Oh!No! I didn't ace the test, I forgot to look at the solutions during my 'dream' run!!. Touching base with reality, got a couple of incidents to narrate!!.

1.The Taxi Ride!!
Me and a friend of mine were returning back after some nocturnal activities, It's 3.30 AM and we're in this cab heading back home. We're quite wasted, and then....

F : I feel like singing.

And launches in to some vague hindi song. I'm quite embarassed(Drunk that I'am) at this, I mean the taxi driver, the nice guy that he is, he probably wouldnt mind, but I felt my friend was taking it a bit too far. But I decided to humor him.
M:Lets save the singing for my place...
F: Whats your fav Hindi song?.
M: Ahh...hmmm....I dont listen to a lot of hindi....well..ok....Pehla Nasha....
F: Ohhh...Nice song....

And launches in to a horrendous rendition of the same. Now, I'm really irritated
M: Will you please stop it, lets not act drunk and crazy.
F: What's your problem?. You should sing when you want to, and thats what I'm doing The driver's ok with it. Yo Man, U're fine with it right, I know I dont have a great voice, but i'm sure you dont mind my singing...

Driver: ( Mumbles)..Yeah..(Actual Meaning-> You drunk #*@*#~, did you have to pick my cab)

And so my friend continues with his....'Pehlaaaaa Nasssshhh.........'.

M: Will you please stop it...
F: You dont like me singing eh?.
M: NO
F: Ok, could you stop the car......
Driver: Gladly....

My friend gets down, in the middle of nowhere, slams the door and walks away singing.

M: Could you drive me to @#$%%^^

And I come home, fix myself another drink, and get in to bed....Strangely, I didnt feel one bit bad about what'd happened. We'd both done what we'd wanted to do!!!.

2. The Interview!!

Now this one's funny, I'm watching this Football game, and the star of the Home team is being interviewed at half time.
MediaPerson:Whats the most important thing to you?
Star : Winning

The Media Person looks at the score board. It reads Home -> 4 Visitors -> 37

M:(Nonchalantly), Which team?

Houston..We have a Situation!!!

My abstract thinking sessions always result in unanswerable questions. For a change, I decided to seek answers to my questions. Ofcourse, its a question of great interest to a lot of us. I picked this up from Minsky' site. It sure is a great read!!

" ...love has to be so,
involving and general,
particular and terrifying,
honoured and yet in mourning,
flowering like the stars,
and measureless as a kiss." - Pablo Neruda

What is Love, and how does it work? Is this something we want to understand, or should we see such poems as hints that we don't really care to probe into it?
Hear our friend Charles attempts to describe his latest infatuation.

"I've just fallen in love with a wonderful person. I scarcely can think about anything else. My sweetheart is unbelievably perfect—of indescribable beauty, flawless character, and incredible intelligence. There is nothing I would not do for her."

On the surface such statements seem positive;. But note that there's something strange about this: most of those phrases of positive praise use syllables like un–', Ô–less', and Ôin-Ôun-Õ', Ô-lessÕ, and Ôin-Õ—which show that they really are negative statements describing the person who's saying them!

Wonderful. Indescribable,
------ (I can't figure out what attracts me to her.)
I scarcely can think of anything else.
------ (Most of my mind has stopped working.)
Unbelievably Perfect. Incredible.
------ (No sensible person believes such things.)
She has a Flawless Character.
------(I've abandoned my critical faculties.)
There is nothing I would not do for her.
------ (I've forsaken most of my usual goals.)

Our friend sees all this as positive. It makes him feel happy and more productive, and relieves his dejection and loneliness. But what if most of those pleasant effects were caused by attempts to defend him from thinking about what his girlfriend says:

Celia: Oh Charles—a woman needs certain things. She needs to be loved, wanted, cherished, sought after, wooed, flattered, cosseted, pampered. She needs sympathy, affection, devotion, understanding, tenderness, infatuation, adulation, idolatry—that isn't much to ask, is it Charles?

Thus love can make us disregard most defects and deficiencies, and make us deal with blemishes as though they were embellishments. We are equally apt to deceive ourselves, not only in our personal lives but also when dealing with abstract ideas. There, too, we frequently find ways to keep inconsistent or discordant beliefs. Listen to Richard Feynman's words:

'That was the beginning and the idea seemed so obvious to me that I fell deeply in love with it. And, like falling in love with a woman, it is only possible if you don't know too much about her, so you cannot see her faults. The faults will become apparent later, but after the love is strong enough to hold you to her. So, I was held to this theory, in spite of all the difficulties, by my youthful enthusiasm.'— 1966 Nobel Prize lecture.

What does a lover actually love? That word ought to cover the one you adore—but if your goal is just to extend the pleasure that comes when doubts get suppressed, then you're only in love with Love itself.

Interesting eh?.

PS: No, I'm not in Love!!

Desi Riddles!!

This is as weird as it gets, I finally manage to write about my Calvin'ary skills, and Voila !! I win a Stuffed Lion at this carnival. Another signal from the heavens?. Been having too many of them lately. Moving on to more serious stuff, my colleague remarked today that
"Indians who come to the US, are either escapists or fatalists".

Let me elaborate a bit. The Escapists are the ones who want to leave the misery back in India and start a brand new life in the land of dreams. Ofcourse, could also be interpreted as making more money. The Fatalists on the other hand, think that whatever's happened was destined to happen. They believe, they were born to come here, and its for their own sweet good!!.

Do we really fall in to these two categories?or is there something more in it?. Honestly, I'm quite scared that I'm a fatalist. Shessh, another coincidence. Scroll down to see what C&H had to say about it.

The Calvin Effect!!

Not a day passes by, without me imagining myself to be Calvin. I'd be considered a 'Nutter' if I carried a Stuffed tiger with me, and for that damned reason I conjure 'Hobbes' out of any object that draws my attention at that moment!!. The last one being a cup of 'Cafe Mocha'. It gives me an incredible high whenever I become Calvin, but then am i trying to retrieve the irretrievable?.
Who cares huh? In my world I'm king !!.

Here's one that I enjoyed

Calvin : Do You beleive in Fate?
Hobbes: You meant that our lives are predestined?
Calvin: Yeah..that the things we do are inevitable..
Hobbes: What a Scary thought.


BTW..I'm getting too philosophical these days....HEEELLPP :)..