Could you do without?

That’s the question that NBC’s Today show special posed to Dennis Kneale from Forbes. He let them take away his cellphone, blackberry and email for a whole week. He lasted 3 days before giving up, teary-eyed. Watch the video to see Dennis’ plight.

In these days of cellphone network congestion, I meet and know a lot of people who depend on not one but two cellphones. Not having both cellphones with them for a whole work week would be quite close to their worst nightmare, I think.

via Sanjay, Gizmodo

JP, over at Confused of Calcutta puts down a few thoughts about blogging, teaching and learning that are well worth the read, as is usual with him.

Most of the times that I do blog (although I admit that it’s become quite a rare occasion these days), I do it pretty much with the one simple reason, the one that I suppose the whole meaning of web log takes up on. I mean, it’s usually late, I’m pretty much slipping out of my computer desk’s chair (the good ole’ faithful recliner that’s been in commission since longer than I can remember) in sleep when I usually put down my ranty, long, admittedly difficult to read pieces simply because I have to get it out of me.

Sometimes the thoughts just need to get out, you know?

At other times, it’s because you’ve got something to say to the people who come looking for you on the web. Something along the lines of “I thought of that too!” Or perhaps you want to post that mystical, all-important question along the lines of “What’s the meaning of it all?” but need to do it in your own way, perhaps in a way that puts down your own twist to the whole sordid mess we euphemistically call Life.

Sometimes, in moments of rare insight and perhaps some amount of clarity, when you can sufficiently organize a bunch of thoughts that somehow relate together in the weird, jumbled up micro-world which revolves around seemingly the same sets of questions and answers, that we call a mind, bloggers like me have the unique (if slightly disturbing) opportunity to put it all down, quotes, questions and exclamations notwithstanding, into the open journal they maintain that they call a blog.

Put it down to be read by their often unwary, unassuming visitors. Where it might ignite a spark, a ray of hope or even a furious debate.

Or even cause the said unwary reader to learn a few things, if not by actual tacit cajoling, then by slapping them around with the prodigal (and oft proverbial – at least of the chatrooms that I used to lurk in) trout.

And if the reader takes the moment to contribute in the discussion that the blog has become then so much the better, because like JP says, the teacher likes to learn too.

And take it from me, and I’ve said this earlier, the true blogger is in it not for the money (payperpost and others would seem to disagree), not for the fame (A-List … Bloggers ?!?), not for the audience, not for even the notoriety (read: fame) itself, but purely because they need to get their stuff out of their minds.

At the risk of repeatedly sounding one-offish, (selfish even?) I say again, I’m doing this, for me.

One Cynapsian gives birth to another. Anil is the proud father of a baby girl on the 6^th of this July. Upon witnessing the proud father and mother with their newborn, yours truly was quite overwhelmed.

I cannot but express my joy upon seeing life reassert it’s all important proclivity for renewing itself. It’s a beautiful sight to behold and one of life’s unique joys.

On this occassion I must tell you, ever Constant (and sometimes insistent) Reader a short fable about a wise man that might have been written by another wise one. (Or so I hope).

Read on…
The fable
A small child, who, as all children of that age are, was quite mystified by the machinations of life itself.

The child took his confusion to the wise man of his village, who, in his own wisdom, had decided to stay aloof from the rest of humanity and lived in quiet seclusion.

The wise man, as all wise men seem to ultimately do, spent most of his time contemplating upon such matters, but was deeply disturbed that a child as small as this one had approached him with a problem that he’d been thinking on all his life.

“Child, life is something that must be experienced to learn more about.”, he said to the child.

“I cannot even begin tell one as innocent as you about life. I learn new things about the meaning of it, every day. I cannot taint a beautiful mind with my own corrupted vision of it.”

“Life is about living. You must live. And learn. If you learn the lessons that life teaches you well, you will grow wise. Do not ponder over never-ending questions. There are no answers to questions such as those in your mind, now.”

“Learn to live the experiences you come upon, with zest, vigor and thoughtful courage and you may someday learn that happiness lies nowhere else but in your own self and your life’s experiences.”

The wise man then retreated into his own domicile and the child left.

The child felt disappointed, he did not feel that his questions were in any way answered in the wise man’s round about speech. He did take the wise man’s words to mind though, and tried to experience life rather than question it.

And many years later, the child did grow into a wise, happy person, indeed.

Or so they say, anyway.

A Moral
Every fable must have a moral and so does this one.

Do not seek purpose. Purpose will find you. Instead, concentrate on enjoying life’s experiences with the zest, and vigor of the small child in this fable. And happiness will find you as well.

Bus?
The title of this post (Another one rides the bus) is an oblique reference to “Weird Al” Yankovic’s parody on Queen’s famous Another one bites the dust. I tend to think of Weird Al’s parody more in the way of Another one climbs on to the bus, where the bus is more of a metaphor for life. But of course I’m thinking of the blue bus in The End by The Doors too, but then, that’s another story for another day.

All my life, I’ve been spoiled by serendipity.

If you don’t get what I mean… here’s an example for you: Ever wondered about the meaning of a word or how a word came into existance and then in a short span of time, have your questions answered for you without
even actively looking for it? That’s serendipity. Ever had a music album that you heard a lot in your teens but never since because you lost it and it became unavailable (and you didn’t really look), and then suddenly, years later, you found it while you were not even looking for it? That’s serendipity for you, too.
I’m just studying coincidences but this really happens to me a lot. Too frequently, and too much more bang-on-target than it should. I read about a concept somewhere and then everywhere I look, it starts to appear. I consciously remember wanting to look up something on the Internet or wanting to download something and a few days later, boom, it’s presented to me on one medium or another.

I’m not really saying that this is the sort of thing that one should depend upon, or even that I do, but it is something of a bad habbit that I’ve picked up over the years.

Some would say that this is just another form of procrastination. I would tend to agree. But what can one do? You can’t really go around hunting around for your smallest whim or fantasy and then force-fulfill
it, can you?

Some would even go ahead and say that all of this is really a big load of bulll; there’s no such thing. To these people, I’d like to point out that a lot of the world’s discoveries and inventions were made this way. For example, penicillin. Arguably one of the most important discoveries in medicine in the past, penicillin was discovered by accident by Alexander Fleming while he was actively working on finding it (or something similar to it).

So was Velcro.

How about … Post-it Notes?

The rings around Uranus?

The effects of LSD, even.

One of the biggest problems with Serendipity is that you cannot, by definition, ever predict that it will ever happen. Which is also why it’s always a pleasant surprise. Take Skype‘s “Skype Me” mode. You never know who might just call.

What’s my point? I’m simply trying to say that you don’t really, necessarily have to sweat the small stuff; it could just come to you anyway. One should concentrate on more productive long-term goals and
actively work towards them.

And then maybe, just maybe, that seagull which flew away could just come back to be with you forever.

Anyway.

Which File Extension are You?

… and made myself a list of all the things that I wanna put down in words and put up on this site’o mine.

And I scared myself. I mean, pants down, naked in public, kind of freaked out, crazy nightmare kind of scared. And this, from a random sampling of thoughts from head in a space of something like 15 minutes. And He calls them Braindumps!

Most of the stuff that I want to write about is just regular stuff that runs around in my head.

The reason why I want to write about it is that because it’s how I believe I think about regular things, only, differently than most people. It’s the way I see things.

Yes, I do believe I’m different.

Not only that, get this, I believe that each one of us, (deep down at least, if you’ve not liberated yourself enough to think about the way you think) thinks differently about all the regular stuff that runs around in our heads.

Anyway, point is, I could keep doing this forever. Putting up what I think, on this site, I mean. You see, I won’t stop thinking. I can’t. I won’t be, if I do. And so, I don’t think I’m gonna stop putting up stuff, either.

So what if no one (in spite of all the pushing I do ) actually comes here and reads anything I’ve put up? Or heaven forbid, has the courage and takes the time and makes the effort to comment! It doesn’t matter. I’m not doing this for you anyway.

I’m doing this for me.

Ever thought about doors? You know. The everyday ones you walk through. Doors. Think about them for a second.

Specifically, think about the fact that you walk through several doors everyday. About the fact that out of a lot of these doors that you walk through, you have to open and close.

Even more specifically, out of the doors that you walk through everyday and the ones you have to open and close, think about the fact that you have memorized, subconciously, how hard to pull or push the door everytime you walk through it and execute the action, nearly the same way, everytime.

Don’t believe me? Ok. Do this. The next time you walk through a door that you do everyday, think about how you opened it and closed it. Think about the familiarity with which you do it. You know which door creaks, which door will close with a loud bang (if you let it), which door requires you to give a really hard push to make it open.

The point is, you for some reason, know how to open and close each and every door that you have in your everyday life, such that

1. It is the most optimum way you can open and close that door
2. You always open and close that particular door in the exact, same way

Don’t believe me? Fine. Try it out. Conciously.

And you know what’s even more freaked out? Door knockers.

Did you know, that every person in this world has a slightly different (and unique !?) way of their own of knocking on a door? Did you know that you can and sometimes do figure out who is knocking on your door (sometimes even ringing your door bell) even before you open that door (or the person walks in) ?

Ever thought about how this happens? My only guess is that the mind not only remembers how each door should be open and closed, but also how each person has their own, individual way of knocking on doors.

Think about it.