Been some time since I posted here last..... been pondering about human relations and life in general a lot lately ..... As our lives become more and more intricately mixed up with work and thus less and less socially, most of us guys "hang around" social networking sites . For me mostly its a way of trying to relate with lives of people from gone by heydays of friendship. But the more I go in the more unsatisfied I become...... why chat ! why not talk ! Of course for some its cheaper, but then again we do not cringe from buying good food or a good 'ol bottle of whiskey do we !!
Why show me pictures of a person on top of an unknown hill with a toothy grin, there's no way to relate to it, no way to actually feel the pain and comradery of having walked all the way up or the exhilaration of being on top appreciating the view of the beautiful landscape.
Also whats with this entire business of people informing me how big our virtual firms/fishtanks/garbage bin/ whatever !! How does that signify a relation ? Most of my good friends just poke me time to time and let it be at that, which is something I really appreciate. It says a lot more than the fake "How are you" 's .
Being a public site , no one ever gives out anything other than obvious information. So what does our contacts reduce to , where are the people behind the pixels ? Perhaps it a subconscious way of building up a nice warm cocoon , rejecting the harsher realities of a life with a lack of a family to eat dinner with , or a simple "bhaat" over chai. Perhaps all we need to do is walk away from this self created trap of going back to warmer memories of days gone by and simply look towards our present relations with people who actually are in our lives or inviting new friends in.
After all, so were we strangers once :).
Any and all thoughts on this are welcome.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
What triggers creativity ?
How many of us are creative? Well at some point all of us are (considering we are all researchers which requires some creative thinking and originality), but here I would like to focus on creativity at all levels, be it music, literature, art, research, cooking or blogging as in this case. LOL.
Question is, what triggers the creative dude in us? Don't shrug your shoulders telling yourself that 'I am not creative. Creativity is for crazy people!'. When you listen to a song and think, it would have been nice if the note was a bit different here, the creative you is working. Even when you appreciate a song as it is, or a piece of art, or nature, or life, the creative you is working subconsciously, but we do not realize it. Reading a book, watching a movie is indulging in someone else creativity thereby synchronizing you creativity with others. If you do not like a movie ( ex. Govinda blockbusters, Rajnikanth... ugh), you do not appreciate the director's creativity and hence you judge others creativity by your creative standards. If you still have doubts about your creativity, I am sure you have done bathroom singing at some point of your life. Well, listening to your own voice in the good acoustics of a bathroom and telling yourself, 'hmm, I am not that bad a singer after all', is appreciating your own creativity.
So, agreeing to the fact that all of us are creative at some level, the question I would like to address here is, which particular emotion in a human sparks the best creative work out of him/her? Happiness, pain, love, boredom, hate or just the passion about something, someone that stirs the creator in you? For example, look at any sportsman, and I feel it is the passion for that particular sport that has got them to what they are. Moving our attention to music, most of the best music has been triggered by either 'love,pain or hatred'. How many songs do we know of that deal with anything other that the above three? The entire rock scenario is surrounded by these feelings. Rock is a way of venting feelings and making a statement, and which other feelings trouble a man more than 'love, pain, hatred'. Same is the case with Blues, mostly venting frustration (and giving you a high). Music helps relieve the pent up emotions, and it is these emotions that pushes creativity out of humans, both knowingly and unknowingly. Just to make myself clear here, 'love, pain, hatred', here can be towards someone or something (like your job, boss, childhood, family, nature). I am sure all of us have been high on Pink Floyd at some point (see creative you).
I have not read a lot of literature to really make a comment on that, but, the limited reading that I have done, again revolves around the same human emotions. Lets try to get an insight into a writer's mind. A writer who had a general inclination towards romance, thinks differently from a writer who writes thrillers. There has to be some particular emotion working behind each of these writers that makes their style statement and instigates them to write about whatever they are best at and they like.
When a person says, I am a poet, a painter, a writer, I think, he/she is partially correct. How can someone be triggered by emotions at all times to be creative? You cannot just be a writer or a painter, or a musician, you can be one who does something else too. Creativity is not like a television, where you have a remote to turn it on. Any creative person needs the right environment and ambiance to let the creativity flow out spontaneously. Sometimes, it can be an incident on the street, a past memory, a conversation, anything that can trigger a beautiful piece of art.
I can go on and on. I guess being grad students, we have mastered the ability (see, we are being creative here too ...lol ) to talk on and on ( until the allotted time for the presentation is up) just about everything under the sky. Would love to hear your thoughts on my thoughts. Judge my creativity with yours :)
Question is, what triggers the creative dude in us? Don't shrug your shoulders telling yourself that 'I am not creative. Creativity is for crazy people!'. When you listen to a song and think, it would have been nice if the note was a bit different here, the creative you is working. Even when you appreciate a song as it is, or a piece of art, or nature, or life, the creative you is working subconsciously, but we do not realize it. Reading a book, watching a movie is indulging in someone else creativity thereby synchronizing you creativity with others. If you do not like a movie ( ex. Govinda blockbusters, Rajnikanth... ugh), you do not appreciate the director's creativity and hence you judge others creativity by your creative standards. If you still have doubts about your creativity, I am sure you have done bathroom singing at some point of your life. Well, listening to your own voice in the good acoustics of a bathroom and telling yourself, 'hmm, I am not that bad a singer after all', is appreciating your own creativity.
So, agreeing to the fact that all of us are creative at some level, the question I would like to address here is, which particular emotion in a human sparks the best creative work out of him/her? Happiness, pain, love, boredom, hate or just the passion about something, someone that stirs the creator in you? For example, look at any sportsman, and I feel it is the passion for that particular sport that has got them to what they are. Moving our attention to music, most of the best music has been triggered by either 'love,pain or hatred'. How many songs do we know of that deal with anything other that the above three? The entire rock scenario is surrounded by these feelings. Rock is a way of venting feelings and making a statement, and which other feelings trouble a man more than 'love, pain, hatred'. Same is the case with Blues, mostly venting frustration (and giving you a high). Music helps relieve the pent up emotions, and it is these emotions that pushes creativity out of humans, both knowingly and unknowingly. Just to make myself clear here, 'love, pain, hatred', here can be towards someone or something (like your job, boss, childhood, family, nature). I am sure all of us have been high on Pink Floyd at some point (see creative you).
I have not read a lot of literature to really make a comment on that, but, the limited reading that I have done, again revolves around the same human emotions. Lets try to get an insight into a writer's mind. A writer who had a general inclination towards romance, thinks differently from a writer who writes thrillers. There has to be some particular emotion working behind each of these writers that makes their style statement and instigates them to write about whatever they are best at and they like.
When a person says, I am a poet, a painter, a writer, I think, he/she is partially correct. How can someone be triggered by emotions at all times to be creative? You cannot just be a writer or a painter, or a musician, you can be one who does something else too. Creativity is not like a television, where you have a remote to turn it on. Any creative person needs the right environment and ambiance to let the creativity flow out spontaneously. Sometimes, it can be an incident on the street, a past memory, a conversation, anything that can trigger a beautiful piece of art.
I can go on and on. I guess being grad students, we have mastered the ability (see, we are being creative here too ...lol ) to talk on and on ( until the allotted time for the presentation is up) just about everything under the sky. Would love to hear your thoughts on my thoughts. Judge my creativity with yours :)
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Open question: How to stop people from SPAMING you !!
Have you ever got one of those forwarded mails telling you to keep on passing the mail so that some where some how you contribute to some fund raiser for some poor family undergoing the most gruesome tragedy imaginable......and being the softy that you are you go on to spam all you friends and family hoping that you bring some relief into the life of people who don't even exist .
WTF !!
Welcome to the modern day HELL called SPAM.
Marking these as spam has become a daily routine in most of our lives and we were happy with google's spam filter .......... that is unless the spam actually comes (and it keeps on coming with a feverish pace ) from someone you really care about, like your friends , your family ? What the hell does one do then ???? You can't mark them as spam since that efectively blocks out (atleast partially ) your contact with them !!
I for myself have always had this huge folder in my google mailbox that keeps all the crappy forwarded stuff I ever got from friends, family etc., etc. I clean it up once a month hoping and praying to god that the next ones don't come from anyone I know ...... Somehow the good lord has'nt answered my prayers yet .
So last week I took an initiative, I told one of my frequent spammers to stop spamming me. Instead of being apologetic the person ( name concelaed due to reasons of privacy ) actually affronted me of damaging our friendship and breaking contact. And I was like WTF !!! Till now I always thought that the physicological reason for "sharing" a spam was the sheer joy of sharing or simply to overcome one's guilt - conscience , in short altruistic pleasures. But now it seems that people living busy lives actually think that by spamming someone they are in fact keeping in touch !! However there can be days/months/years at an end till you actually get a meaningful correpondence from them, and if you ask the reply is simple "I was busy" .
So I propose an open discussion guys .......
" what goes on in the head of a spammer ? " AND " how to stop people from spamming you ? "
WTF !!
Welcome to the modern day HELL called SPAM.
Marking these as spam has become a daily routine in most of our lives and we were happy with google's spam filter .......... that is unless the spam actually comes (and it keeps on coming with a feverish pace ) from someone you really care about, like your friends , your family ? What the hell does one do then ???? You can't mark them as spam since that efectively blocks out (atleast partially ) your contact with them !!
I for myself have always had this huge folder in my google mailbox that keeps all the crappy forwarded stuff I ever got from friends, family etc., etc. I clean it up once a month hoping and praying to god that the next ones don't come from anyone I know ...... Somehow the good lord has'nt answered my prayers yet .
So last week I took an initiative, I told one of my frequent spammers to stop spamming me. Instead of being apologetic the person ( name concelaed due to reasons of privacy ) actually affronted me of damaging our friendship and breaking contact. And I was like WTF !!! Till now I always thought that the physicological reason for "sharing" a spam was the sheer joy of sharing or simply to overcome one's guilt - conscience , in short altruistic pleasures. But now it seems that people living busy lives actually think that by spamming someone they are in fact keeping in touch !! However there can be days/months/years at an end till you actually get a meaningful correpondence from them, and if you ask the reply is simple "I was busy" .
So I propose an open discussion guys .......
" what goes on in the head of a spammer ? " AND " how to stop people from spamming you ? "
Monday, February 15, 2010
10 ways to beat the bloody devil called 'Depression'
1. Plug in your ipods/mp3 players and set out for a long walk. Sing Along with the music and play it loud. This helps drive away depressing thoughts.
2. Call up your best buddy and talk to him/her, or even better video chat. ( Do not even bother to call home. All you are going to do is freak them out.)
3. If it is a matter of lost love, or love never accomplished, Ben & Jerry's, Baskin Robbins, Coldstone.
4. If you complain about catching cold with ice creams, then try hershleys, dove. Have loads of them.
5. For the BAD boys....what if i asked "Sir RUM?" (recall Silencer from 3 Idiots) Oh! yeah baby, nothing works better than drinking like there is no tomorrow!
6. Alright nerds, this one is for you. Pick up a problem from Irodov or Jackson (for physics majors...for the rest of you.....pick up anything you hated most during your masters!) and suck it up until you break the tip of your pen or chew the back completely. Set the alarm and GO TO SLEEP.
7. Govinda. What a Stress buster! Any Govinda movie works wonders for me. Touchwood.
8. Baba Ramdev.
9. Porn. Seriously!. Porn is for teenagers or perverts. I don't fit into any of the categories. Now, you decide for yourself.
10. Get a gang of guys (girls will not be very helpful here), and start discussing the 'Kashmir Issue'. I am sure one of you will end up punching someone else's nose and woo woo...'Depression gone'.
2. Call up your best buddy and talk to him/her, or even better video chat. ( Do not even bother to call home. All you are going to do is freak them out.)
3. If it is a matter of lost love, or love never accomplished, Ben & Jerry's, Baskin Robbins, Coldstone.
4. If you complain about catching cold with ice creams, then try hershleys, dove. Have loads of them.
5. For the BAD boys....what if i asked "Sir RUM?" (recall Silencer from 3 Idiots) Oh! yeah baby, nothing works better than drinking like there is no tomorrow!
6. Alright nerds, this one is for you. Pick up a problem from Irodov or Jackson (for physics majors...for the rest of you.....pick up anything you hated most during your masters!) and suck it up until you break the tip of your pen or chew the back completely. Set the alarm and GO TO SLEEP.
7. Govinda. What a Stress buster! Any Govinda movie works wonders for me. Touchwood.
8. Baba Ramdev.
9. Porn. Seriously!. Porn is for teenagers or perverts. I don't fit into any of the categories. Now, you decide for yourself.
10. Get a gang of guys (girls will not be very helpful here), and start discussing the 'Kashmir Issue'. I am sure one of you will end up punching someone else's nose and woo woo...'Depression gone'.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Is it worth it !
This is a coincidence. I am picking up from where Alu left in the previous post where he was talking about different computational techniques, and as it turns out, I am working on a problem in molecular dynamics (powered by Fortran 90). Got terribly bored of it and decided to write down my thoughts. I am not going to talk about physics (need a break, this semester has been particularly taxing).
It has been almost one and a half years since we have completed out masters, and, the idea of doing a PhD from a university in Europe or the US seemed so alluring then. It was like a dream come true for all of us who wanted to do this and eventually succeeded. Imagine all the facilities, independence, exposure, blah blah .....wow ....I still remember the thrill I experienced and how overwhelmed I was when I read the email that said that you have been accepted and your acceptance letter will reach you soon.
Within a few months, I came to the US. Excited about the beginning of a new life, a bit worried, a little scared, with a mixed bag of emotions I started my life here. It took time to get used to way people talk here, how they react to situations, how you are expected to react to a certain situation, it was a learning curve, very exciting. To add to the excitement came the money factor. I was no more dependent on my parents. I am making enough to live a decent life.
With time you get used to everything around you, the expensive food, clothes, people from all ethnicity, crazy weather, and then one day you realize that all the excitement of moving to a new country has faded away. The honeymoon period is over. The course work pressure keeps building and to top it off you guide keeps expecting more and more from you (and if you are not doing well enough, high chances you get yelled at). I am lucky to have a very understanding advisor, so the this in not an issue with me.
I have crossed this phase, and now that I think of it and analyze my situation, what am I doing here? I am working towards a PhD in a distant land from mine, away from my family, friends, relatives! Look at the situation like this-Let me assume I live for 60-70 years. I have already spent 5 years away from home while I was doing my bachelors and masters. Another 5-6 years to complete my Phd (hopefully), a couple of post-docs (or else just a phd will lead to no where). If I sum it all up,a good 15 years outside family. Now let me assume my parents live till they are 65-75. This means that the maximum duration I can be with them from another 25 odd years (approx), and I the fact that I cannot return home in another 10 years is decided. The reason I am saying this is because now there is no way I can escape the cycle of entering a PhD program and completing my post-docs. Probably I can escape, but I don't think I have to courage! This means, if I go back to India in another 10 years (earliest possible), I would have already spent 1/5th of my life outside my country, and 1/2 of the remaining time I could have spent with my parents (in their lifetime) would be wasted.
I have been thinking about this for quite a while now, but did not know who to share it with. I do not know if such thoughts mean I am going insane, crazy. Am I the only one thinking like this? I am a typical Bengali from a middle class family with lot of strings attached. I am not an american, and I cannot think like them and live like them. I cannot leave my home and not worry about how my folks are! I cannot pretend to be happy when I am not. I cannot bear the fact that my family is missing me. I want to be by my father and help him with the regular household stuff. I want to be with my mother and talk to her about my lows and highs. I want to be with my sister and be her older brother and protect her as she is growing. I do not think sending money and talking over the phone can be called 'looking after your parents'. I see Indian people around me who take great pride in their possessions, and all they have achieved since they landed in America. I see how they complain about how bad the situation in India is, about how the work culture is not good, about how they could never make this much money if they stayed there, about how comfortable life is here, but what they do not realize is how much they are missing out!
I feel I am stuck here. I do not have the courage to quit what I am doing now and start something else all over again. I do not know how others in India would react if I go back without achieving what have I set out for. Will I be called a 'failure'?
and so the question is 'Is it worth it ?'
It has been almost one and a half years since we have completed out masters, and, the idea of doing a PhD from a university in Europe or the US seemed so alluring then. It was like a dream come true for all of us who wanted to do this and eventually succeeded. Imagine all the facilities, independence, exposure, blah blah .....wow ....I still remember the thrill I experienced and how overwhelmed I was when I read the email that said that you have been accepted and your acceptance letter will reach you soon.
Within a few months, I came to the US. Excited about the beginning of a new life, a bit worried, a little scared, with a mixed bag of emotions I started my life here. It took time to get used to way people talk here, how they react to situations, how you are expected to react to a certain situation, it was a learning curve, very exciting. To add to the excitement came the money factor. I was no more dependent on my parents. I am making enough to live a decent life.
With time you get used to everything around you, the expensive food, clothes, people from all ethnicity, crazy weather, and then one day you realize that all the excitement of moving to a new country has faded away. The honeymoon period is over. The course work pressure keeps building and to top it off you guide keeps expecting more and more from you (and if you are not doing well enough, high chances you get yelled at). I am lucky to have a very understanding advisor, so the this in not an issue with me.
I have crossed this phase, and now that I think of it and analyze my situation, what am I doing here? I am working towards a PhD in a distant land from mine, away from my family, friends, relatives! Look at the situation like this-Let me assume I live for 60-70 years. I have already spent 5 years away from home while I was doing my bachelors and masters. Another 5-6 years to complete my Phd (hopefully), a couple of post-docs (or else just a phd will lead to no where). If I sum it all up,a good 15 years outside family. Now let me assume my parents live till they are 65-75. This means that the maximum duration I can be with them from another 25 odd years (approx), and I the fact that I cannot return home in another 10 years is decided. The reason I am saying this is because now there is no way I can escape the cycle of entering a PhD program and completing my post-docs. Probably I can escape, but I don't think I have to courage! This means, if I go back to India in another 10 years (earliest possible), I would have already spent 1/5th of my life outside my country, and 1/2 of the remaining time I could have spent with my parents (in their lifetime) would be wasted.
I have been thinking about this for quite a while now, but did not know who to share it with. I do not know if such thoughts mean I am going insane, crazy. Am I the only one thinking like this? I am a typical Bengali from a middle class family with lot of strings attached. I am not an american, and I cannot think like them and live like them. I cannot leave my home and not worry about how my folks are! I cannot pretend to be happy when I am not. I cannot bear the fact that my family is missing me. I want to be by my father and help him with the regular household stuff. I want to be with my mother and talk to her about my lows and highs. I want to be with my sister and be her older brother and protect her as she is growing. I do not think sending money and talking over the phone can be called 'looking after your parents'. I see Indian people around me who take great pride in their possessions, and all they have achieved since they landed in America. I see how they complain about how bad the situation in India is, about how the work culture is not good, about how they could never make this much money if they stayed there, about how comfortable life is here, but what they do not realize is how much they are missing out!
I feel I am stuck here. I do not have the courage to quit what I am doing now and start something else all over again. I do not know how others in India would react if I go back without achieving what have I set out for. Will I be called a 'failure'?
and so the question is 'Is it worth it ?'
Sunday, April 5, 2009
A query about Windows and Linux
Suppose a computer is having both Linux and windows user accounts. For some reasons, for e.g., say virus, the windows becomes inaccessible. Would the Linux account be still accessible as it's invulnerable to virus..........plz reply.....
...............by Johny Das
...............by Johny Das
Graduate-cooperation Gyaans !!!
Last night after watching "Anuranan" at Tambi 409 and a lot of orkut surfing me and johny bhai came up with this idea during a bhat session.......
A large number of us from IIT-Mad M.Sc Batch 2006-08 are doing their PhD's in seemingly non-connected specialized topics. This will be an attempt to connect us in our common endeavor towards knowledge, LOL . We often work with tools and techniques which are common irrespective of our fields. For example numerical techniques, coding, specialized simulation software, instrumentation softies ...etc etc. We invite everyone to share their experiences and to briefly decribe any and all new techniques they are picking up, just as a archive so that anyone who is learning it later can contact the better experienced guy for specialized queries. However it's essential that scientific discretion is maintained, so that your ideas don't get stollen. We wont like it if someone's shot at NOBEL or FIELDS medal got thwarted :P .
A large number of us from IIT-Mad M.Sc Batch 2006-08 are doing their PhD's in seemingly non-connected specialized topics. This will be an attempt to connect us in our common endeavor towards knowledge, LOL . We often work with tools and techniques which are common irrespective of our fields. For example numerical techniques, coding, specialized simulation software, instrumentation softies ...etc etc. We invite everyone to share their experiences and to briefly decribe any and all new techniques they are picking up, just as a archive so that anyone who is learning it later can contact the better experienced guy for specialized queries. However it's essential that scientific discretion is maintained, so that your ideas don't get stollen. We wont like it if someone's shot at NOBEL or FIELDS medal got thwarted :P .
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)