Recent insights

A few insights on a couple of things I saw or read about a few months back.

1. Global Warming: IT'S NOT HAPPENING! Fact. From the past 400 and odd years, the temperature has increased by a mere 1 to 2 degrees Fahrenheit. How can you tell that it's going to escalate to about 5! FIVE! Kidding? That too by 2020? Yeah right.

2. The end of the world: Yeah. It's the recent hype. After Roland Emmerich's 'The Day after Tomorrow' and his recent '2012', it's got everyone preparing for Judgement Day. It's not happening. Its all hyped. Mainly because bad news sells. Everyone wants to know what will happen, than what won't happen. For the believers, stop planning your future then.

3. Immigration: It's inevitable. You can't stop people from going abroad and studying or working. It's just for a better life. And not every Indian who goes abroad, loses his culture/traditions.

4. Words and wordplay: I think one of the few things which piss off people, well read in a particular language, is when another wannabe uses a word(or the wrong word) without knowing what it is, or to show off. I find it quite irritating. 'Hear' is not the same as 'listen', 'see' is not the same as 'watch' etc. this point is dedicated to one of my friends. Stop the slang man. It's not cool.

5. Travel: I NEED TO TRAVEL! I'm craving to travel! No time. After dad told me about the Vally of Flowers, I've been wanting to go there. I realized that there's no point waiting for friends for everything. So if noone comes, I'm going alone! I don't want to miss out on opportunities.

6. TV: I LOVE FAMILY GUY, PENN & TELLER, THE SIMPSONS and SOUTH PARK! Simply 'coz they are satires! Must watch shows! Otherwise, I despise the idiot box.

7. I'm writing too much about myself! I don't like it! I'll find out better topics to write about in my next post! :P

A good 18 years

Ah! My first blog and my first post. Tomorrow I turn 19. I'm all ears to the wishes tonight. This entry was pumped by a sudden wish to talk about most of the things that made me go through my life. I craved to turn 18 and when I did, I enjoyed what it gave, for a few months. It's like candy you know. It temporarily satiates you. And then you go on to notice that it harms your mouth. Of course, the cavities in my case are certain wishes or desires that couldn't be fulfilled, certain people I need not have met and certain incidents that could have been avoided. This is more about a certain 7 topics which I felt sharing with my readers. It's pretty long! Haha.

1. Academics - Well, I'm extremely happy with what academics has given me and what I've contributed to it so far. I have studied good subjects taught be people who are aware of their knowledge. As of now, I am keen on Psychology. I enjoy Literature too. Literature is a subject which, in my opinion, is to be read and discovered, not taught. I'm doing my bit of research to both. Math was despised, but then I realized that I can't live without it. I'm doing my best to like the subject.

2. Institutions - I've studied in the best of institutions the country can offer. Starting from a good school, a good residential institution which was well equipped of both facilities and minds and a good college. People despise Christ University because it's strict. I enjoy it as I've been in stricter schools before. i also intend to study abroad, perhaps Harvard, Yale, UCLA, Berkley, Stanford or Cambridge.

3. Friends - THE best part of a teenager's life. Amazing friends in school, some good and pathetic ones in hostel and again, amazing ones in college. I don't socialize much as I prefer to build my relations with the ones I already know. I have desired an ideal company, and I'll wait for the archetype of my wish.

4. Music - My saviour. Rock 'N' Roll, Jazz, Rock, Classics and others. Few rock songs I suggest to my readers. Must-hear.

a) Kashmir, Achilles Last Stand and Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin

b) White Rabbit and Magic Carpet Ride - Jefferson Airplane/Starship

c) Black, Alive, Even Flow and Last Kiss - Pearl Jam

d) Purple Haze, Voodoo Child and Foxy Lady - Jimi Hendrix

e) Maggot Brain - Funkadelic

f) Scarborough Fair, Sounds of Silence, America and Patterns - Simon and Garfunkel

g) Tom Sawyer and The Trees - Rush

h) PINK FLOYD!!

These are some of my most-played and enqueued songs. I have a thousand more to list out. I can't list my favourites as they would be endless.

I once heard this line in a talk show and it struck me quite a bit. In a talk show called "Tedhi Baat" which has Jaspal Bhatti hosting with Shekhar Suman appearing as a different character everytime, Suman had once dressed up like a teenager who's 'pimped' with gizmos, gadgets and the casual American teen attitude. Bhatti commented on Suman's mp3 player. Translating it into English, it said "Youth as of now, use mp3 players and iPods playing loud music to cut themselves off from the world for a few minutes". I agree.

5. Movies - I have a collection of about a thousand and odd movies, half of which I've not watched. I don't watch much of Hindi movies. I prefer English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and movies of other languages. Of about 500 and odd movies which I would've watched, there has been ONE and only ONE movie which had affected me. It's called 'Into the Wild' (2007) directed by Sean Penn starring Emile Hirsch. Perhaps the story is what I've wanted to do once. The idea runs in my subconscious like water. Leave all books, all gadgets and everything aside, pack bags and go away somewhere without keeping in touch. Of course, I don't intend to die without coming back as in the movie. I have felt like running away from all material possessions at times, and I channelize this wish and seek solace in books and music. My favourite directors are and have been Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Quentin Tarantino, Brain DePalma and Martin Scorsese.

6. Books - I've not been much of a book person. I used to read fiction before. Since I've started reading literature, it has changed my outlook. I read non-fiction as of now. Favourite authors? Sun Tzu, Fyodor Dostoevsky (I've just read one book of his and I like the way the authors ideas are inclined) and George Orwell as of now. I look forward to read Sartre, Pushkin, Lacan, Foucault and others. I look to move slowly and not just read to finish and show off that I can read a hundred pages in 20 minutes and stuff. It's either quality or quantity.

7. Religion - I like to know and read about religion. I'm a Hindu, who has friends of all religions and study in a Christian college. I've read about Zen and spirituality. I respect mine and other religions. Science and Religion are two opposing forces as perceived by the world. But they can exist together, and in fact they DO. Watch/read Dan Brown's Angels & Demons to know about this. Great movie. I look forward to knowing more and reading about the Quran, Islam, Judaism and Zoroastrianism.

I end my first post with this. As it was my first, I wanted to start out with an autobiographical piece. I'll talk about more in my future posts. Cheers!

P.S. For people who know me quite well, don't think that I'm a dud and that I've included and posted names and authors for show and blah. I read, enjoy and live life to the fullest. Perhaps you should get to know me better.