Have you ever noticed that your writing grows more impassioned and powerful if you allow your emotions to carry you away... the words seize control of you instead of the other way round, and appear to flow of their own accord, weaving themselves into wonderful verbal tapestries that you could not have created if you had written with a clear mind? On the face of it, your thoughts might have been less coherent, less rational... but when you re-read what you've written, they make perfect sense, and you surprise yourself with your eloquence.
It is said that a calm, composed and rational mind is required for good science, but an intoxicated, untempered mind is what excels at art, music, poetry and other creative pursuits. Order and Disorder. The Left side of the Brain and the Right side of the Brain. Some of the best artists (using the term loosely) in the world have maintained that their more brilliant works were achieved when they were high on drugs or some such thing. From personal experience, I know I will never contradict them. Of course, there are other ways of getting high than drugs or alcohol... I can get "high" on well-written books or poetry, or even a good computer game. Usually I get into these heightened states of mind when I am writing rather than reading, solving rather than framing.
But even as I think these thoughts, an egregious fallacy presents itself. The best scientific breakthroughs have often manifested themselves when the mind is in one of these chaotic highs. I, for one, could never get unstuck from certain points in my research while I was thinking rationally and studiously. The momentary spark of genius that gets you past difficult barriers follows the non-laws of creativity rather than the rational paths of science.
Have I gone wrong somewhere in my assumptions or reasoning? What am I missing here?
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Operation De-Pamper
Living away from home is not for the faint of heart, lazy of body or perfectionist of mind.
Back home, I had two servants, a cook, and of course my Mom to care of my needs at any point of time. Needless to say, I'm quite a pampered brat. I've never travelled by bus within the city more than a single digit number of times. The extent of the comfort I've been kept in struck me yesterday when I did my own laundry and ironed my own clothes, and realized that I haven't done either in over 10 years, and the only reason I HAVE done it before is because my Mom insisted that I at least know how it's done. Makes me almost wish that my Mom had been a stern taskmaster rather than sweet and understanding. Almost.
There are simply so many things to do, that I wonder how people have time to do their own work. I put this down partially to the fact that I like things to be proper and correct... in other words, I am a bit of a perfectionist. Not as bad as my good friend Rahul, but a little, nonetheless. I can't even begin to tell you how much it irks me that I somehow got a stain on my favourite shirt and am unable to remove it.
The other thing is that I happen to be extremely lazy. Physically lazy, I mean. I'm ever ready to read a book or teach a concept or play a game of bridge or chess. But ask me to walk across the room to switch off a light and I'll raise my eyebrows at you. So, doing everything by myself, right from cooking to washing dishes to doing my laundry to keeping all my things organized, is quite taxing on my hardly-used limbs.
The last reason for my lack of enthusiasm for my current predicament is that I've never been known to be a brave person. I'm not the "Bring it on!" kind of guy, I'm the guy who turns to his friend and says, "I have a problem, could you help me out?". Well, at least I'm not so cowardly as to run away from my problems. I face them and ultimately solve them or get around them... usually!
So, being none of the three things I mentioned in the first line of this post, it follows that I should be having an exceedingly tough time here. But that isn't the case either. I've had the good fortune of living in a hostel for the past five years of my life, even though my life was much easier than that of my other hostel-mates because my home was a 25 minute drive away. But still, it has made the transition much smoother for me. I wonder how other pampered kids who have been unceremoniously dropped in a foreign land manage.
The other reason why it's not so hard is that as far as I'm concerned, if I have to do something, no matter how hard or distasteful, I will not turn my back on it. Necessity and Duty are my taskmasters. I hate eating uncooked or un-ground onions... but if I have to eat it at the risk of offending my host, I will eat it without complaint.
Life changes, but never stops...
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Back home, I had two servants, a cook, and of course my Mom to care of my needs at any point of time. Needless to say, I'm quite a pampered brat. I've never travelled by bus within the city more than a single digit number of times. The extent of the comfort I've been kept in struck me yesterday when I did my own laundry and ironed my own clothes, and realized that I haven't done either in over 10 years, and the only reason I HAVE done it before is because my Mom insisted that I at least know how it's done. Makes me almost wish that my Mom had been a stern taskmaster rather than sweet and understanding. Almost.
There are simply so many things to do, that I wonder how people have time to do their own work. I put this down partially to the fact that I like things to be proper and correct... in other words, I am a bit of a perfectionist. Not as bad as my good friend Rahul, but a little, nonetheless. I can't even begin to tell you how much it irks me that I somehow got a stain on my favourite shirt and am unable to remove it.
The other thing is that I happen to be extremely lazy. Physically lazy, I mean. I'm ever ready to read a book or teach a concept or play a game of bridge or chess. But ask me to walk across the room to switch off a light and I'll raise my eyebrows at you. So, doing everything by myself, right from cooking to washing dishes to doing my laundry to keeping all my things organized, is quite taxing on my hardly-used limbs.
The last reason for my lack of enthusiasm for my current predicament is that I've never been known to be a brave person. I'm not the "Bring it on!" kind of guy, I'm the guy who turns to his friend and says, "I have a problem, could you help me out?". Well, at least I'm not so cowardly as to run away from my problems. I face them and ultimately solve them or get around them... usually!
So, being none of the three things I mentioned in the first line of this post, it follows that I should be having an exceedingly tough time here. But that isn't the case either. I've had the good fortune of living in a hostel for the past five years of my life, even though my life was much easier than that of my other hostel-mates because my home was a 25 minute drive away. But still, it has made the transition much smoother for me. I wonder how other pampered kids who have been unceremoniously dropped in a foreign land manage.
The other reason why it's not so hard is that as far as I'm concerned, if I have to do something, no matter how hard or distasteful, I will not turn my back on it. Necessity and Duty are my taskmasters. I hate eating uncooked or un-ground onions... but if I have to eat it at the risk of offending my host, I will eat it without complaint.
Life changes, but never stops...
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
City Vs Rusticity
"I love New York!"
That was the third time I'd heard that sentence from as many people in this last week. And everytime I hear it, it brings a grimace to my face.
Not that I have anything against New York in particular. It's about big cities in general. Having lived in Chennai for almost the whole of my 22 years of existence, I've come to detest rush hour traffic, pollution, and crowds. I feel a disctinct sense of sadness when I watch thousands of people being in a hurry all the time. I hate the rat-race existence that city life reduces us to.
Agreed, living in a city does come with its perks - be it great movie theaters, bowling alleys, restaurants, karting tracks, libraries, or whatever things you are into for which you normally wouldn't find the facilities in a smaller town. However, these things apply to India, not the US. Here even the little town of State College, PA, where I am right now, has everything I can think of that I want, leave alone need.
And this comes free of the hustle-bustle and crowds associated with a metropolitan city. The very atmosphere is cool and relaxed in every sense of the words. I can open the french windows and sit on the patio, with a warm cup of chocolate in my hand. Green grass. Pleasant breeze. Squirrels hopping. Fireflies winking. Trees swaying. The poet inside me feels a sense of satisfaction.
Time. It makes a huge difference when people have time to drink in life. Strangers greet you and take a moment to say a friendly sentence or two. I haven't heard a horn honk on the road this whole week. There are no queues longer than 5 minutes anywhere.
Nature. Grass, trees and bushes everywhere. Some small animals and insects as well. And I mean in the middle of the downtown area. The encroachment on nature's pristine beauty is minimal. There is not a single road that is actually flat - you will be either walking uphill or downhill at any given point of time.
Everybody grates on how slow I am at doing anything: be it eating, sleeping, bathing or walking. Well I can only say that I feel sorry for those who cannot relax and enjoy their food or their nap or their stroll. What is the point in being in a hurry all day, and then doing something wild in your free time in a vain attempt at relaxation? Work hard, party harder? Rubbish. Be relaxed and enjoy every single activity you do. It's healthier.
Cheers,
Prashanth.
That was the third time I'd heard that sentence from as many people in this last week. And everytime I hear it, it brings a grimace to my face.
Not that I have anything against New York in particular. It's about big cities in general. Having lived in Chennai for almost the whole of my 22 years of existence, I've come to detest rush hour traffic, pollution, and crowds. I feel a disctinct sense of sadness when I watch thousands of people being in a hurry all the time. I hate the rat-race existence that city life reduces us to.
Agreed, living in a city does come with its perks - be it great movie theaters, bowling alleys, restaurants, karting tracks, libraries, or whatever things you are into for which you normally wouldn't find the facilities in a smaller town. However, these things apply to India, not the US. Here even the little town of State College, PA, where I am right now, has everything I can think of that I want, leave alone need.
And this comes free of the hustle-bustle and crowds associated with a metropolitan city. The very atmosphere is cool and relaxed in every sense of the words. I can open the french windows and sit on the patio, with a warm cup of chocolate in my hand. Green grass. Pleasant breeze. Squirrels hopping. Fireflies winking. Trees swaying. The poet inside me feels a sense of satisfaction.
Time. It makes a huge difference when people have time to drink in life. Strangers greet you and take a moment to say a friendly sentence or two. I haven't heard a horn honk on the road this whole week. There are no queues longer than 5 minutes anywhere.
Nature. Grass, trees and bushes everywhere. Some small animals and insects as well. And I mean in the middle of the downtown area. The encroachment on nature's pristine beauty is minimal. There is not a single road that is actually flat - you will be either walking uphill or downhill at any given point of time.
Everybody grates on how slow I am at doing anything: be it eating, sleeping, bathing or walking. Well I can only say that I feel sorry for those who cannot relax and enjoy their food or their nap or their stroll. What is the point in being in a hurry all day, and then doing something wild in your free time in a vain attempt at relaxation? Work hard, party harder? Rubbish. Be relaxed and enjoy every single activity you do. It's healthier.
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
A second chance to make a first impression
There is an innate charm in joining a new school or college. It's more than just the excitement of being in a new place or the opportunity to make new friends. I can best sum it up as getting a second chance at making a first impression.
All of us are in the habit of constantly judging people. It is a very human tendency to observe all these small details about the appearance and behaviour of other people and think about how much he/she appeals to you as a person, and as a friend. Everybody has a few personal favourites with respect to the traits we look for, but certainly there are some broad characteristics as well. For example, a heavy Indian accent like "Hai yevrybaudy, hai jaambie. You yenjayed yuvarself today-aa?" is a definite put-off for most of us.
And being intelligent (!) human beings, we are all bothered that other people are judging us as well. Hence we observe people, talk, take mental notes, and constantly try to improve ourselves. There is nothing vain or petty or selfish about making these little changes for sake of being liked better by our fellow human beings. We all want to be better people, more trustworthy, more virtuous, more dilligent and hard-working. Hand-in-hand with these things are the things that make a good impression on other people, such as being more athletic or sophisticated. Ultimately, they all contribute to becoming a better person, and feeling better about oneself, apart from getting other people to like you better.
The problem, of course, is that people have long memories. You may have changed from a pukka sambhar sadam - thair sadam eating Brahmin to a connoisseur of Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Lebanese, Greek, Thai and Continental cuisines but apart from your close friends people will not have noticed.
That was just an example, of course, and I'm not actually saying that people give a damn about your culinary tastes. My point is just that the first impression is the lasting impression. That is why there is a certain allure to going to a new place to live or study. You may have been a complete geek and a dork in your past life; you may have been a failure at studies; you may have been a wimpy loser; but you now have a chance to truly leave all that behind.
The only catch is that it takes a lot of work to be the new you. Few people actually manage to accomplish the change that they swore to bring about.
That said, I'd like to point out the price of making this change.
All things in life are connected. It may be one or a hundred degrees of separation, but ultimately every aspect, every characteristic, every attribute of you is intertwined. You will not realize it at the beginning, but when you change one thing about yourself, you are subtly changing something else. Perhaps something that you did not want to be changed. If you managed to change from a bookworm to a "cool" sports-playing movie-watching swimming-trekking guy, don't be surprised if you find your grades dropping. If you work hard at your written and spoken english, don't be surprised if your home appears too small for you when you go back. If you wanted to get rid of your shyness and improve your skills at interacting with the opposite sex, don't be surprised if the people you always considered your close friends seem to be drifting away from you.
Life is never easy. One can never fully weigh all possibilities and decide upon a course of action without some degree of doubt. After choosing the course of action, accomplishing it is a hundred times harder than choosing it. Smile and take it one step at a time, and hope that it will all turn out for the best.
Cheers,
Prashanth.
All of us are in the habit of constantly judging people. It is a very human tendency to observe all these small details about the appearance and behaviour of other people and think about how much he/she appeals to you as a person, and as a friend. Everybody has a few personal favourites with respect to the traits we look for, but certainly there are some broad characteristics as well. For example, a heavy Indian accent like "Hai yevrybaudy, hai jaambie. You yenjayed yuvarself today-aa?" is a definite put-off for most of us.
And being intelligent (!) human beings, we are all bothered that other people are judging us as well. Hence we observe people, talk, take mental notes, and constantly try to improve ourselves. There is nothing vain or petty or selfish about making these little changes for sake of being liked better by our fellow human beings. We all want to be better people, more trustworthy, more virtuous, more dilligent and hard-working. Hand-in-hand with these things are the things that make a good impression on other people, such as being more athletic or sophisticated. Ultimately, they all contribute to becoming a better person, and feeling better about oneself, apart from getting other people to like you better.
The problem, of course, is that people have long memories. You may have changed from a pukka sambhar sadam - thair sadam eating Brahmin to a connoisseur of Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Lebanese, Greek, Thai and Continental cuisines but apart from your close friends people will not have noticed.
That was just an example, of course, and I'm not actually saying that people give a damn about your culinary tastes. My point is just that the first impression is the lasting impression. That is why there is a certain allure to going to a new place to live or study. You may have been a complete geek and a dork in your past life; you may have been a failure at studies; you may have been a wimpy loser; but you now have a chance to truly leave all that behind.
The only catch is that it takes a lot of work to be the new you. Few people actually manage to accomplish the change that they swore to bring about.
That said, I'd like to point out the price of making this change.
All things in life are connected. It may be one or a hundred degrees of separation, but ultimately every aspect, every characteristic, every attribute of you is intertwined. You will not realize it at the beginning, but when you change one thing about yourself, you are subtly changing something else. Perhaps something that you did not want to be changed. If you managed to change from a bookworm to a "cool" sports-playing movie-watching swimming-trekking guy, don't be surprised if you find your grades dropping. If you work hard at your written and spoken english, don't be surprised if your home appears too small for you when you go back. If you wanted to get rid of your shyness and improve your skills at interacting with the opposite sex, don't be surprised if the people you always considered your close friends seem to be drifting away from you.
Life is never easy. One can never fully weigh all possibilities and decide upon a course of action without some degree of doubt. After choosing the course of action, accomplishing it is a hundred times harder than choosing it. Smile and take it one step at a time, and hope that it will all turn out for the best.
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Saturday, August 06, 2005
One flew over the Atlantic Ocean
I'm flying tomorrow night... to the land of the free, home of the brave (did I get that right?!). So I'm likely to be offline for 4-5 days. Will write about my experiences as soon as I can - I'm sure I'll have loads to say! A big thank you and goodbye to bloggers I'm in touch with by phone... from now on it will be purely through the net.
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
The Scientific Spirit
Sometimes I think I was born to be a scientist or a researcher. I keep coming up with innovative but utterly half-baked ideas. I also have a tendency to forget things under my mentally filed "unimportant" category, earning me quite a reputation for being absent minded. Which, I'm told, is an important qualification for being a scientist.
When I was about 10-11 years old and had just learnt about conductors and insulators, one day I was hanging around the kitchen making sure my Mom got my Pizza topping absolutely right. Then my Mom went to the living room to answer a phone call, and when I heard the buzz of the oven signifying that my Pizza was ready, I wanted to remove it from the oven. So I looked for an "insulator" to protect my hand while I opened the oven door, and picked up a plastic bag that had been lying around. Fortunately my Mom arrived then and gave me a scolding. Oops, I thought, I forgot about the melting point of plastics.
Years later, after I'd learnt that one of the functions of air-conditioners is dehumidification, I dried my hair in front of the A/C, figuring that the rate of evaporation would be only slightly less than using a drier because the air was dehumidified. The next day I caught a cold.
Actually I have a tendency to catch colds frequently. So I repeated the brilliant act mentioned above in order to condition my body to resist colds. Incidentally, it doesn't work.
I don't quite think I will reach the level of Thomas Alva Edison, even though I have considerably more common sense now than when I was a kid (though some might dispute that also!). My cousins swear that I will never make a good manager but I will surely make a brilliant scientist, and encouraged me to abandon my idea of doing an MBA in favour of doing a Ph.D. Even though I have drifted more towards engineering than the pure sciences, I guess research is research. Makes me feel more confident that I am in line, or nearly so, with my true calling.
Cheers,
Prashanth.
When I was about 10-11 years old and had just learnt about conductors and insulators, one day I was hanging around the kitchen making sure my Mom got my Pizza topping absolutely right. Then my Mom went to the living room to answer a phone call, and when I heard the buzz of the oven signifying that my Pizza was ready, I wanted to remove it from the oven. So I looked for an "insulator" to protect my hand while I opened the oven door, and picked up a plastic bag that had been lying around. Fortunately my Mom arrived then and gave me a scolding. Oops, I thought, I forgot about the melting point of plastics.
Years later, after I'd learnt that one of the functions of air-conditioners is dehumidification, I dried my hair in front of the A/C, figuring that the rate of evaporation would be only slightly less than using a drier because the air was dehumidified. The next day I caught a cold.
Actually I have a tendency to catch colds frequently. So I repeated the brilliant act mentioned above in order to condition my body to resist colds. Incidentally, it doesn't work.
I don't quite think I will reach the level of Thomas Alva Edison, even though I have considerably more common sense now than when I was a kid (though some might dispute that also!). My cousins swear that I will never make a good manager but I will surely make a brilliant scientist, and encouraged me to abandon my idea of doing an MBA in favour of doing a Ph.D. Even though I have drifted more towards engineering than the pure sciences, I guess research is research. Makes me feel more confident that I am in line, or nearly so, with my true calling.
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
