Guaranteed

So, I'm poetry-impaired. Mostly when I read a poem, in some book or on blogs, I have to be told its significance. It's often hard for me to differentiate the subtleties (often so-called, in my opinion) and I have to re-read even the simpler ones several times. And I still don't get them.

Even so, there are tons of songs and lyrics I like. But there are just a handful of songs that really create that feeling of understanding the first time I hear them. Powerful enough to be remembered and returned to again and again and even to be noted down. What usually happens is that I hear part of the song and there's this gut feeling that I'm going to like it. And then I end up searching for the song, listening to it again and again and reading up its history.

Guaranteed is one such song. I  heard only a part of it when I was watching 'Into the Wild'. And now it is one of my favorites, as is Eddie Vedder.

On bended knee is no way to be free
Lifting up an empty cup, I ask silently
All my destinations will accept the one that's me
So I can breathe...

Circles they grow and they swallow people whole
Half their lives they say goodnight to wives they'll never know
A mind full of questions, and a teacher in my soul
And so it goes...

Don't come closer or I'll have to go
Holding me like gravity are places that pull
If ever there was someone to keep me at home
It would be you...

Everyone I come across, in cages they bought
They think of me and my wandering, but I'm never what they thought
I've my indignation, but I'm pure in all my thoughts
I'm alive...

Wind in my hair, I feel part of everywhere
Underneath my being is a road that disappeared
Late at night I hear the trees, they're singing with the dead
Overhead...

Leave it to me as I find a way to be
Consider me a satellite, forever orbiting
I knew all the rules, but the rules did not know me
Guaranteed

Things I think I'll miss if/when I'm no longer single

1) Playing whatever songs I want to while going to sleep.
2) Staying awake however and whenever I want to.
3) Setting the thermostat to something comfortable for me.
4) Vacuuming at 1 am or baking at 3 am. Because I fucking want to.
5) Traveling or moving to a new place because I like it there.
6) Stealing glances at  and striking up conversations with random women.
7) Wearing whatever clothes I like or going King Kong at home.
8) Avoiding social get-togethers or attending them based on what I feel like.
9) Going on long-runs and not worrying about getting back home on time.
10) Not being answerable to anyone.
11) Not having to wait to use the bathroom.
12) Saving money by not buying useless stuff and getting to choose when to splurge.
13) Getting to choose how to spend my time without worrying about disappointing someone.
14) Not having to negotiate to reach an agreement over everyday things

A Tale of Legendary Libido

Currently watching one of the most funky and weird sex comedies I've seen till now. 'A Tale of Legendary Libido' is a Korean movie and as Korean comedies go,  this one doesn't disappoint. There are tons of moments that leave you wondering -did I just really see that? - and then wishing you hadn't (well, sometimes you do wish to see stuff again. Some women in the movie are, not to put too fine a point on it, smouldering).

The story is about this nice, innocent, thug-punching guy who has problems getting things to work down there, in a village ruled by women. And the women don't exactly make life easy for him (some pretty brutal bullying happens). He gets this magic potion which overcompensates for his past impotence and co-incidentally, all the men in the village are drafted and away for a war. So he's now this virile young man in a village minus its men but full of women who know what they want and will do anything to get it. You get the idea.

So far there have been scenes of a woman discovering a magic dildo, naked people performing synchronized swimming in the village pond, women singing and dancing happily after catching a glimpse of the biggest penis they've ever seen ("I've heard it's five inches." "That is just the head."),  a bunch of women almost raping a man, a scene where the protagonist's peeing puts out a wildfire and cools down the burning sun.....at one point you start wondering whether it's the director who's smoking some great weed or you. I had to pause the movie where the village bartendress (new word!) is seducing the guy with lines like "I've ridden more men than there is hair on your head".

I mean there's only so much you can take in one sitting.  No pun intended.

After Gangnam Style and this movie, Korea suddenly seems like an interesting destination.

Watch this space for an extended review of this fascinating piece of art.

To eat or not to eat

I used to think a person describing and overtly showing her love for animals (like dogs and cats) but then enjoying a nice steak or chicken or sausage, was a hypocrite.

But then I met people lovingly tending to their gardens, talking and taking care of their plants and flowers and being anguished if something happened to them, and then going to the kitchen and chopping and boiling leafy greens and vegetables.

Whether plants feel pain, are conscious, sentient beings is an old query.

Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose tried to find out  the answer and instead raised the possibility that not just plants and animals but all material in this universe has a common law. He showed that like animals, plants and even minerals /metals show similar responses to toxins, stimulants and poisons. In his words,

'Amongst such phenomena, how can we draw a line of demarcation and say, here the physical ends and there the physiological begins? Such absolute barriers do not exist. Do they [his results] not show us that the responsive processes seen in life, are fore-shadowed in the non-life? - that the physiological is related to the physico-chemical? That there is no abrupt break but a uniform and continuous march of law?"

(The Life and Work of Sir Jadis C Bose - Sir Patrick Geddes.)

(Aside: The Vedic concept of Brahman sounds familiar here but I'm not sure if that includes inorganic matter.)

The book and documentary 'The Secret Life of Plants' also showed some interesting experiments but apparently the results were not reproduce-able and hence were discredited.

On vegan forums, one frequently hears an appeal to common sense in response to the above question - how can you not differentiate between the crying and thrashing of an animal about to be slaughtered and the silent, event-less cutting of a vegetable.

But what then of creatures like molluscs, clams, oysters. Where do we draw the line for sensitivity? Who made pain and suffering as the criteria for humans to decide whether it was okay to kill a living being? What if plants and invertebrate animals do feel pain but we just don't have sufficiently advanced tools to detect that yet?

There is a lot of literature out there about these ethical issues.

But because these issues are debatable or perhaps due to a compassion deficiency, the guilt trip approach to veganism does not appeal to me.

For one, I suspect that excess guilt about what one eats could lead to stuff like this.

Also, in many cases I see a selective and convenient application of guilt. To put it crudely, the logic seems to be 'at least we (vegans) kill less than you (meat eaters) do'. Which for some reason doesn't sound very convincing.

For me, the most compelling reasons to adopt a largely plant based diet or to become vegetarian/vegan would be the impact of large scale factory farming methods on earth and the long-term adverse health effects of having meat and animal products as significant parts of one's diet.

Not that being a vegetarian insures against such diseases. It would be interesting to compare the rates of obesity and related complications in vegans vs. vegetarians.

Bringing about behavior change among people to lead them to vegetarianism or veganism might be important. But I wonder if the guilt approach fails to work for others as it does for me.

Nazi Germany had animal protection laws!

I don't think PETA would be happy to find out this piece of history associated with their movement.

Turns out that in 1933 vivisection was banned and another law called Reichstierschutzgesetz (Reich Animal Protection Act) was enacted in Nazi Germany. I read in one ethics course that this comprehensive legislation elevated animals, even lobsters, to a protected status that guaranteed freedom from abuse.

It gets better. From Wikipedia (emphasis mine),

On February 23, 1934, a decree was enacted by the Prussian Ministry of Commerce and Employment which introduced education on animal protection laws at primary, secondary and college levels. On 3 July 1934, a law Das Reichsjagdgesetz (The Reich Hunting Law) was enacted which limited hunting. On 1 July 1935, another law Reichsnaturschutzgesetz (Reich Nature Conservation Act) was passed to protect nature. According to an article published in Kaltio, one of the main Finnish cultural magazines, Nazi Germany was the first in the world to place the wolf under protection.

Who would've thunk!

It's pretty blasphemous in today's world to say anything remotely positive about Hitler and his Nazis. I think I'm going to have some fun next time I talk with one of my vegan friends.

The Joker and the Daodejing

Have you seen The Dark Knight? This post wouldn't make much sense if you haven't seen Christopher Nolan's second installment in the fantastic trilogy. The Joker in this series is, to make a huge understatement, interesting.

But before we go there, here are some selected fundamental teachings of a legendary Chinese philosopher, Lao-Tzu, from the 6th century BC as presented in his primary text, the Daodejing.

From the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (you can just go over the bold text, emphasis mine):

What is the image of the ideal person, the sage (sheng ren), the real person (zhen ren) in the Daodejing (DDJ)? Well, sages wu wei (chs. 2, 63). In this respect, they are like newborn infants, who move naturally, without planning and reliance on the structures given to them by others (ch. 15). The DDJ tells us that sages empty themselves, becoming void of pretense. Sages concentrate their internal energies (qi). They clean their vision (ch. 10). They manifest plainness and become like uncarved wood (pu) (ch. 19). They live naturally and free from desires given by men (ch. 37) They settle themselves and know how to be content (ch. 46). The DDJ makes use of some very famous analogies to drive home its point. Sages know the value of emptiness as illustrated by how emptiness is used in a bowl, door, window, valley or canyon (ch. 11). They preserve the female (yin), meaning that they know how to be receptive and are not unbalanced favoring assertion and action (yang) (ch. 28). They shoulder yin and embrace yang, blend internal energies (qi) and thereby attain harmony (he) (ch. 42). Those following the dao do not strive, tamper, or seek control (ch. 64). They do not endeavor to help life along (ch. 55), or use their heart-mind (xin) to “solve” or “figure out” life’s apparent knots and entanglements (ch. 55). Indeed, the DDJ cautions that those who would try to do something with the world will fail, they will actually ruin it (ch. 29). Sages do not engage in disputes and arguing, or try to prove their point (chs. 22, 81). They are pliable and supple, not rigid and resistive (chs. 76, 78). They are like water (ch. 8), finding their own place, overcoming the hard and strong by suppleness (ch. 36). Sages act with no expectation of reward (chs. 2, 51). They put themselves last and yet come first (ch. 7). They never make a display of themselves, (chs. 72, 22). They do not brag or boast, (chs. 22, 24) and they do not linger after their work is done (ch. 77). They leave no trace (ch. 27). Because they embody dao in practice, they have longevity...

Now, the Joker is shown doing the following in the movie:

• He, self-admittedly, doesn't have a plan. He just does things.
• He doesn't pretend (void of pretense) to be something he isn't. In fact, one of the things he wants to do is to bring out what he believes is the hypocrisy of those around him (by putting them in the worst possible scenarios). He thinks the code and morals talked about by so-called civilized people are merely pretenses, dropped at the first sign of trouble.
• He doesn't do things for money (in one scene he actually burns a truckload of cash). When he is arrested, there is nothing in his pockets but knives and lint. No name, no other alias. No material possessions, no money (free from desires).
• He wants anarchy and chaos, does not want to control the system. Definitely does not want to help life along.
• He believes that the plans and schemes of people to control their little worlds are pathetic. They will fail.(those who would try to do something with the world will fail, they will actually ruin it )
• He goes about outsmarting the police, the Mob and Batman with his apparent flexibility and few if any constraints. He doesn't want to be subservient to the Mob and makes his own place ("This city deserves a better class of criminal. And I'm gonna give it to them.")
• He doesn't seem to want any reward. In one memorable scene, Alfred describes people like the Joker thus : "some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn."
• Obviously, he doesn't linger after his work is done.

Lots of similarities. Just saying.

Setting aside prejudice

Rap music turned me off big time. Much of it still does. Nothing wrong with the art form, it just isn't for me. I don't understand what they are saying most of the time, both the pronunciation and speed are out of my comprehension abilities. It doesn't help matters that whenever a car passes-by blaring loud music, it is inevitably playing rap. Also, newer Hindi music directors have this annoying penchant for adding mindless rap bits to otherwise okay songs. Add to that the reputation that rap artists have for drugs, violence and crime. I started actively turning away from rap.

Eminem's 'Till I Collapse' changed my outlook somewhat though. It's part of the original soundtrack of Real Steel.

I found it to be perfect for pepping up a boring run.

This was followed soon by 'Lose yourself' - another number perfect for running.

The beats in these two songs aren't great for setting a brisk pace. But the words and the way they are delivered more than compensate for the slower tempo. You can't feel sleepy or tired while listening to these.

There's one by Tupac Shakur that I heard in passing in a friend's car. Searching for it now.

Never thought I'll be on the way to becoming a fan of rap music.

Why pretend?

Recently I saw some curious examples of people claiming they liked something. But on talking with them further, it became apparent and some confessed privately, that it was just a pretense. They were either doing it to be considered part of a clique or just seem cool. Or maybe there were other reasons.

Whether we like to admit it or not, the choices we make in music, art, food, sports, movies, TV shows, books, merchandise are often used to judge us (and also used by us to judge others). So some entities in these are accorded a higher value than others. Def Leppard will be considered superior to Bryan Adams. Perhaps a Discovery show better than reality TV. Murakami over Stephenie Meyer. Art cinema over 'mainstream'. And so on.

So there's a kind of a divide. You can look at people on both sides of this divide in several ways. In an empathetic way. Critically. Or just ignore others.

Empathetic way - those who like the so-called inferior things might pretend to like something better because they don't want to be looked down upon. Or they want to be considered part of the 'in' crowd.
It's hard to look in an empathetical way at those who consider their tastes inherently superior, but here's an attempt - perhaps they have a need for self-validation somewhere which is fulfilled over a period of time by associating with something they've been told growing up, is superior.

Looking critically at people is easy - those pretending to like something superior are just wannabes, wanting to make themselves look good in reflected glory (Interestingly, the Gangnam style song has been interpreted as a satire on these kind of people). Those looking down at others are just snobs/pretentious. Then there's this video of the first Starbucks store opening in Mumbai.

Which brings us to- how should one judge a piece of work? Is there an inherent value to things? Or should things be given a value based solely on how they make one feel? If I think a show is crappy, but it's making someone else very happy, should I judge it? Does that kind of work slowly lead to an overall decline in quality (what is quality)? Where does it stop? Or it doesn't matter at all?

(There's a black comedy movie called God Bless America. Deals with something similar.)

In any case, pretending to like something allegedly superior or looking down at someone's tastes doesn't seem right. I don't know. Maybe fans of gossip magazines, reality TV, Salman Khan, Rajnikant, Big Boss fans (the dedicated, genuine ones. Not those who like it ironically) have it right. Perhaps they are the really happy ones. They know what they like and accept it openly. It may be thought of as low quality (what is quality anyway) stuff but it’s theirs. Happiness is to some extent subjective and people do synthesize happiness. So why should it be damned as wrong or inferior. Or should it?

Seneca and Ghalib

What need is there to weep over parts of life? The whole of it calls for tears.
Seneca

qaid-e-hayaat-o-band-e-gham
asl men dono ek hain.
maut se pahale aadamii
gham se nijaat paaye kyuun

qaid-e-hayaat : prison of life
band-e-Gam : bindings/chains of sorrow
najaat : freedom/liberation

The prison of life and the chains of sorrow are actually same(they go together)
Then why should a man expect to be free from sorrows before his death
Mirza Ghalib

Two gentlemen separated by almost 1800 years. The latter probably had never heard of the former. Yet they are expressing pretty much the same idea..

A beautiful way of looking at Time

In his introduction to the Pomodoro technique, Francesco Cirillo gives some context to how he thought about and developed the idea of the method.

He says there are two ways of thinking about time, described by Bergson and Minkowski.

One is the Abstract way. The other is to view time as a succession of Events.

The Abstract way of looking at time creates more anxiety and is counterproductive. Cirillo offers his Pomodoro technique as a solution; it is based on viewing time as a succession of events.

I'm wondering how looking at time in a particular way leads to such a big difference in how one works.

The Abstract way leads to thinking about time in a linear manner - imagine a line in dark space marked at regular intervals with seconds, minutes, hours and so on. This line extends into space in both directions - to infinity (since we don't know when time 'began' or when it will 'end'). You are standing on this line. This is your line. If you look around, the people in your life are on each of their own, similar lines.

And these lines are moving, constantly. Time is constant, elusive, you can't stop it. You are either running or walking or crawling on it, depending on what's happening at the moment (I'll let Einstein tell you why this passage of time seems so relative). Everything you do is measured against this passage of time, secondary to this movement.  This constant  measuring (conscious or unconscious), added to the comparisons made with others around you 'more successful' in managing time creates anxiety. As Cirillo says,

'We lose our élan vital, our vital contact, which enables us to accomplish things. “Two hours have gone by and I’m still not done; two days have gone by and I’m still not done.” In a moment of weakness, the purpose of the activity at hand is often no longer even clear.

What's worse, you don't know when this movement will suddenly stop. The moment to moment transition makes it look like you have an infinite amount of time left but you know at the back of your mind that you have no idea when you will suddenly drop off the line.

As opposed to this, you can measure time in events. Here too, time doesn't stop. However, you are now measuring time in terms of what is happening and what you are doing. Immediately, I can see how this approach leads to being more aware, more mindful (I have to plug my favorite word sooner or later). Perhaps that is the reason why he says this approach does not cause as much anxiety. Instead of fretting about the time passing by, you are now primarily looking at what you are doing with that time. You are actually living in the moment, to use the cliche.

[Reminds me of how a common piece of advice in schooldays was to measure how much was studied instead of how many hours were put in for studies. Of course, the latter way of thinking was also heavily encouraged by some disciplinarians. I suspect its popularity was because of how convenient and tidy it sounds - 'put in 5 hours of study daily' or 'pull an all-nighter' sounds more impressive and awesome than saying 'read and understand two chapters and answer 20 questions'.]

Cirillo has created the rest of the technique based on this concept and other ideas. Quite impressive. I like that the method isn't rocket science. It really reinforces some of the good habits we commonly learn as children and fine-tunes them, while keeping things simple. The simplicity makes it easier to inculcate it into a habit.

Dishes

It's probably weird and very unmanly to say this - but I confess I love washing dishes.

Yes, it's manual labor - a monotonous, unpleasant, unavoidable job that most people dislike and procrastinate on. Some would say it's abominable that humans should have to devote their time to such a mundane, unproductive task even as we have successfully automated other similar tasks. And guess what, I have an effective dishwasher at my place.

So I can't really rationalize why I like doing this task. But I can describe the good parts that I feel make it pleasant for me.

There's the running water. You just have to read a couple of stories in public health magazines about the water situation in some parts of the world to start feeling immensely grateful for something that most people take for granted. I flick a lever and there's potentially unlimited clean drinkable water flowing at the right pressure right inside my house. You learn to value it very quickly. But it gets better - I get water at the temperature I desire! This used to be a luxury available to few people not long ago. That thought occurs to me almost every time I turn on the tap.

Then there's the dishwashing liquid - some really good quality stuff is available out there. Perhaps it's some OCD I have but I love when something that's greasy and grimy comes off clean and shiny with just a few drops of colorful liquid and some easy scrubbing.

Sitting isn't all that healthy, they tell us. So I like to stay upright when I'm working on the computer. Dishwashing adds  to that standing time during the day.

Now, once you zone out of whatever you are doing and focus just on the things in front, you start noticing the small details - the warm water flowing over your hands, the smell of the detergent, the alternating soapy and scrubbed clean feel of the vessels,the grime flowing down the drain, the vessels shining and gleaming, the squeak of the newly clean bowl...the rest of the world fades away and I don't even realize when my internal dialogue starts and some new ideas emerge. I feel this is one of the simplest ways to practice getting into Flow. It really acts as a de-stressor.

To get this kind of experience, as Robert Pirsig says, you have to have the right tools. If any one of these things become a burden or things don't work as they should - the water is sputtering or you have to fill it up from a distance, the soap sucks, the place you are standing in is messy or uncomfortable - it will become very easy to hate the work.

I'm lucky to have these simple luxuries. And I like getting them to work for me.

Easy sweet potato / Yam chutney

1 sweet potato
1 cup Yogurt - plain. Greek Yogurt works too
1/2 cup Roasted peanuts, crushed to little bits and pieces  (using grinder or a belan)
1 tbsp Sugar
Serves 3 or serves 1 person for a week!
Oven

Oil-free recipe!


1. Bake the hell out of that potato. I prefer pre-heating the oven to 400 deg F. Then letting the potato bake for 20 mins in an open disposable aluminium tray (because they are cheap). Make stab wounds into the potato 10 minutes into the baking process.

(Note: I don't know if this helps or hinders the process. Some say it lets the heat get to the very core of the potato. Others say if the skin of the potato stays intact, it heats up better but takes longer.)

If the potato isn't soft enough to be eaten by an 80 year old woman with no teeth, bake it till it becomes that way.

Let cool.

The skin should come off very easily.

Mash it in a bowl.

2. Mix in the yogurt and some water till the consistency becomes thin enough to be at that ambivalent state between a solid and a liquid. You should not have to chew it but not drink it either. Get it? If not, meditate on that state for a bit and come back after you've figured it out.

3. Mix in the sugar and crushed peanuts.

Serve semi-chilled. Add crushed black pepper or whatever herbs or spices you fancy.

Goes with bagels or anything that resembles bread. Can also be eaten just like that.

I think it's good as a post-run recovery food. Full of carbs and proteins and just a little fat from that yogurt.

Before:

After:

It may look like poop. But it ain't poop till the next morning.