http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joCnKrjjL9o&feature=related
Monday, October 26, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
The Dumbification of Our Times
"It is the dull man who is always sure, and the sure man who is always dull"
- H. L. Mencken
Irony. That is how a friend of mine would comment on that quote. Then again, she would do the same for almost anything else that I would do or say. The real irony that I see entrenched within that wondrous quote by Mencken is the fact that the "sure man" referred to is increasingly becoming the "deluded man". There are many today who would let torrents of words flow in an apparent case of what is best described by Carlin himself, "verbal diarrhea". The saddest part is this though - the poor soul himself suffers greatly from delusions of grandeur wherein he's actually edifying the (unwilling) audience while in reality it is naught but a test of their patience and humor. Unfortunately this trend is on the rise and the more I observe it in people, the lighter my bounty of patience becomes. That is the first aspect of the whole matter. The second and even more worrisome side is that (probably related to the first phenomenon) there is a concomitantly observed uptake in the fall of the average man's capacity for intellectual conversation. By which I mean to imply that along with the apparent increase in the dullness of man the surety of his own virtual intelligence has also increased which only goes to highlight Mencken's mockery of the Common Man. While there is always an option for reprieve from the former, Man, being a social animal, has less means of escape from the latter.
I do not profess to be the smartest human or even an exceptionally gifted one. However I do recognize in myself the innate ability for cogitation, introspection, logical deduction as also a fair amount of creativity. No doubt a fair amount of the populace, by sheer force of statistical probability, would needs fall into this category. Barring socio-economic factors which would necessarily influence the amount and quality of education and most importantly the emotional stimulus provided to such a representative person in his or her formative years, there is very little to differentiate a major variation of intellectual prowess within this specific demographic. It is only natural to assume then that when we probe and study the inter-personal behavioral interactions within this section of the population, we should find at least a common level of intelligent exhibition. Disturbingly though I find that this is not the case! At pain of sounding like an intellectual elitist I must express my personal indignation and distaste at the present state of affairs. Let me explain why it should be so in a bit of detail.
In my interactions with a large number of people (and this is an observation wrought over many years) I have seen this need to overly simplify or in cruder terms, 'dumbify' (sic) my own statements so as to avoid the blank stares of inscrutable intent that are flashed back at me. Even if the conversation is germane to a very specific discussion of which the other party might be arguably an expert, I have seen that many people are simply unable to hold a half-way decent intellectually satisfying conversation about it. Or anything for that matter. Of course I do not mean that people should be walking about spouting like scientific journals. That would be plain ridiculous. Is it, however, so preposterous to presume that moderately intelligent people should be able to hold a correspondingly intelligent discourse when the situation should so demand? That the parties of a debate should be fluent in their diction, logical in their arguments and impressive in their flair and emphatic in their effect? Or should the status quo of half-witted, illogical, unordered and incomplete arguments be allowed to pass for the finest intercourse that this generation can produce? This can only be deleterious to the whole intellectual evolution of humankind. Not too long back there was an article I had chanced upon on the Internet - it was a beautifully simple, direct and well-written essay by a 14 year old schoolboy in the early 1920's about his imaginative description of the future. What was most interesting about the article was the large set of comments from readers who were literally amazed at the quality of the prose! In fact most of the comments were humorous quips about how a present day 14 year old would be hard-pressed to even remotely match that quality of writing. Sadly, that is the truth. Now there are people who conveniently brush it off as an undesirable side-effect of the evils of modern day texting/IMing/emailing habits of children. I beg to disagree in the strongest possible terms. Just to provide a simple analogy, I had been reading this wonderful compilation of interviews called 'Coders at Work' and what struck me was the realization that there were as many highly motivated, self-disciplined and talented brilliant programmers in the early 1960's as there are now. Arguably the current generation is even better in terms of absolute abilities as well as sheer numbers, if only for the mind-boggling level of abstraction they operate in. There always have been hostile environments for people indulging in intellectual activities and almost never, ample support. In short, I feel that the whole situation is a continuing degradation of the abilities or rather the interest of the modern generation to learn the Art of Intelligent Discourse. A sufficiently endowed person with enough interest will learn it anyway. So these days I find myself irritated when I have to consciously water down my words and also the tone of my voice merely to pander to the fragile intellect and ego of the listener. This adds an enormous amount of unnecessary indirection, verbiage and bureaucratic inanity into the whole conversation such that in most cases the original purport of the conversation is itself lost. In addition to the brutal wastage of time I find that it is tremendously taxing to have to converse in an unnatural (and to be fair, perverse) manner. As such it is such a wonderfully enriching experience when I meet people I can actually hold a normal conversation with. I enjoy such exchanges tremendously and at times like these I begin to truly pine for the intellectual days of yore when stalwarts like Milton, Shakespeare, Bacon, Mencken, Twain, Pope, Newton, Leibnitz, Kant, Freud, Von Neumann, Feynman, Beethoven, Mozart and innumerable others walked about in their glory. How intellectually starved this present generation is! I call this feeling 'anachronopolism' - the exaggeratedly despondent emotion of the abject realization of having been born in the wrong place and the wrong time! Perhaps I am just an idealist. Perhaps so. Still, it does not change the fact that the ones who are most vocal today are the ones who are sure they are the creme de la creme of our generation's intellectual layer. And yet as Mencken mocked over a century ago, they are the ones most deluded. This cannot bode well for our future as a specie at all.
- H. L. Mencken
Irony. That is how a friend of mine would comment on that quote. Then again, she would do the same for almost anything else that I would do or say. The real irony that I see entrenched within that wondrous quote by Mencken is the fact that the "sure man" referred to is increasingly becoming the "deluded man". There are many today who would let torrents of words flow in an apparent case of what is best described by Carlin himself, "verbal diarrhea". The saddest part is this though - the poor soul himself suffers greatly from delusions of grandeur wherein he's actually edifying the (unwilling) audience while in reality it is naught but a test of their patience and humor. Unfortunately this trend is on the rise and the more I observe it in people, the lighter my bounty of patience becomes. That is the first aspect of the whole matter. The second and even more worrisome side is that (probably related to the first phenomenon) there is a concomitantly observed uptake in the fall of the average man's capacity for intellectual conversation. By which I mean to imply that along with the apparent increase in the dullness of man the surety of his own virtual intelligence has also increased which only goes to highlight Mencken's mockery of the Common Man. While there is always an option for reprieve from the former, Man, being a social animal, has less means of escape from the latter.
I do not profess to be the smartest human or even an exceptionally gifted one. However I do recognize in myself the innate ability for cogitation, introspection, logical deduction as also a fair amount of creativity. No doubt a fair amount of the populace, by sheer force of statistical probability, would needs fall into this category. Barring socio-economic factors which would necessarily influence the amount and quality of education and most importantly the emotional stimulus provided to such a representative person in his or her formative years, there is very little to differentiate a major variation of intellectual prowess within this specific demographic. It is only natural to assume then that when we probe and study the inter-personal behavioral interactions within this section of the population, we should find at least a common level of intelligent exhibition. Disturbingly though I find that this is not the case! At pain of sounding like an intellectual elitist I must express my personal indignation and distaste at the present state of affairs. Let me explain why it should be so in a bit of detail.
In my interactions with a large number of people (and this is an observation wrought over many years) I have seen this need to overly simplify or in cruder terms, 'dumbify' (sic) my own statements so as to avoid the blank stares of inscrutable intent that are flashed back at me. Even if the conversation is germane to a very specific discussion of which the other party might be arguably an expert, I have seen that many people are simply unable to hold a half-way decent intellectually satisfying conversation about it. Or anything for that matter. Of course I do not mean that people should be walking about spouting like scientific journals. That would be plain ridiculous. Is it, however, so preposterous to presume that moderately intelligent people should be able to hold a correspondingly intelligent discourse when the situation should so demand? That the parties of a debate should be fluent in their diction, logical in their arguments and impressive in their flair and emphatic in their effect? Or should the status quo of half-witted, illogical, unordered and incomplete arguments be allowed to pass for the finest intercourse that this generation can produce? This can only be deleterious to the whole intellectual evolution of humankind. Not too long back there was an article I had chanced upon on the Internet - it was a beautifully simple, direct and well-written essay by a 14 year old schoolboy in the early 1920's about his imaginative description of the future. What was most interesting about the article was the large set of comments from readers who were literally amazed at the quality of the prose! In fact most of the comments were humorous quips about how a present day 14 year old would be hard-pressed to even remotely match that quality of writing. Sadly, that is the truth. Now there are people who conveniently brush it off as an undesirable side-effect of the evils of modern day texting/IMing/emailing habits of children. I beg to disagree in the strongest possible terms. Just to provide a simple analogy, I had been reading this wonderful compilation of interviews called 'Coders at Work' and what struck me was the realization that there were as many highly motivated, self-disciplined and talented brilliant programmers in the early 1960's as there are now. Arguably the current generation is even better in terms of absolute abilities as well as sheer numbers, if only for the mind-boggling level of abstraction they operate in. There always have been hostile environments for people indulging in intellectual activities and almost never, ample support. In short, I feel that the whole situation is a continuing degradation of the abilities or rather the interest of the modern generation to learn the Art of Intelligent Discourse. A sufficiently endowed person with enough interest will learn it anyway. So these days I find myself irritated when I have to consciously water down my words and also the tone of my voice merely to pander to the fragile intellect and ego of the listener. This adds an enormous amount of unnecessary indirection, verbiage and bureaucratic inanity into the whole conversation such that in most cases the original purport of the conversation is itself lost. In addition to the brutal wastage of time I find that it is tremendously taxing to have to converse in an unnatural (and to be fair, perverse) manner. As such it is such a wonderfully enriching experience when I meet people I can actually hold a normal conversation with. I enjoy such exchanges tremendously and at times like these I begin to truly pine for the intellectual days of yore when stalwarts like Milton, Shakespeare, Bacon, Mencken, Twain, Pope, Newton, Leibnitz, Kant, Freud, Von Neumann, Feynman, Beethoven, Mozart and innumerable others walked about in their glory. How intellectually starved this present generation is! I call this feeling 'anachronopolism' - the exaggeratedly despondent emotion of the abject realization of having been born in the wrong place and the wrong time! Perhaps I am just an idealist. Perhaps so. Still, it does not change the fact that the ones who are most vocal today are the ones who are sure they are the creme de la creme of our generation's intellectual layer. And yet as Mencken mocked over a century ago, they are the ones most deluded. This cannot bode well for our future as a specie at all.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Out of exile..... yet again!
Naaw, that was just a play on words on one of my favorite tracks by Audioslave. Seriously though the past year has been extremely busy and I have hardly had the time or energy to kick-start my blogging all over again. These days though I have finally been able to negotiate some breathing space (with myself!) and it is about time I got back into the game - both literally and figuratively, if you catch the drift. Hehehe. I have not really been idle or secretive with the goings-on in my life and here is where microblogging has come to my rescue! You can follow me on Twitter (@z0ltanz0ltan) unless, of course, I block you. Hahaha. Seriously, not kidding!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Prologue
As a child I had once read in this wonderful book by Dominique LaPierre and Larry Collins, "Freedom at Midnight", a curious quote uttered by a group of American wanderer sages in Northern India - "Everything is transitory". I just never did feel the meaning of those words till now. I of course understood the purport but perhaps it is one of those rare occasions in life when one has to experience it to truly understand it.
The trials and travails of the past few weeks have indeed wrought about in me a deep appreciation of the wondrous depth of that simple aphorism. Just when one starts feeling smug and even ennuied(sic) with the whole idea of having deciphered the fundamental mysteries of life and its vicissitudes, one gets to savor such a sweet humbling experience. That's life for you.
To my dearest friend, whose last day at her current workplace is today, I just want to tell you that perhaps what happened is for the best and surely you are destined for many more things much greater than what you have achieved already. Take care and never ever look back. With all my love.
The trials and travails of the past few weeks have indeed wrought about in me a deep appreciation of the wondrous depth of that simple aphorism. Just when one starts feeling smug and even ennuied(sic) with the whole idea of having deciphered the fundamental mysteries of life and its vicissitudes, one gets to savor such a sweet humbling experience. That's life for you.
To my dearest friend, whose last day at her current workplace is today, I just want to tell you that perhaps what happened is for the best and surely you are destined for many more things much greater than what you have achieved already. Take care and never ever look back. With all my love.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Fire and water - apt.
Diagnosis: Major sunburn. Crinkly, leathery, scabby, dry, painful skin.
Cause: Four days of gay abandon in the summer sun and saline sea.
Cure: H20
Have fun!
Cause: Four days of gay abandon in the summer sun and saline sea.
Cure: H20
Have fun!
Monday, February 2, 2009
Let's get on with it!
It was probably in my fourth grade that I first learnt the term 'continuum'. It was such a fascinating word that I had to look up the exact definition to satisfy my curiosity. Even so, I daresay that I already had deduced the same, merely from the context. It bemused me no end - its simplicity wrapped in deceptive complexity and vice versa. Imagine a series of events per se which would appear to smoothly transmute and merge into one another - a veritable montage of subtle changes. And yet between any two sufficiently spaced points on this timeline the differences would be more than discernible;in fact to the casual observer, they could appear to be two unrelated events. Even in those early days my intellect could see the remarkable analogy in life itself. We plow through our daily lives with nary a thought about the past or many times even the future. All that really matters to us is the present - its deeds, decisions and consequences. The passage of time sneaks past all but the real connoisseur of introspection. Within a period of time (say, a year) things may have changed the same life beyond recognition and yet it's only at the end of time that the changes can be appreciated or indeed even detected.
One may wonder why I should choose to wax eloquent on the interpretation of that singular term and yet there is a good reason for it all the same. Yesterday was a special day. A simple one and yet one that marks a watershed in my own life. Since my first major relationship ended acrimoniously, I have had this habit of 'mourning' it. A wake if I may so, for the end of the relationship - no matter how easy or hard it may have been, no matter how good or bad . Perhaps it follows from my own principle of belief that I should pay my respects to something that arguably constituted a third of my life. The first time I did this was hard. Harder than anything that I ever had to do. My own self control seemed to be in jeopardy. Indeed for some time it would have been easier to give up and regress to more immediate means of alleviating the pain and yet I knew that would be wrong. It would be a mere emotional palliative. When I did get through that year, I found myself stronger. Emotionally, metaphysically and in terms of my self-esteem. I could truly appreciate and respect myself, unconditionally. Right about this time last year a special relationship - that which in so many ways I had felt would be the one for this mortal lifetime - ended. The questions remained unanswered and that is how it shall remain. That is not important. What really is pertinent is the fact that I knew or rather felt in
my heart that this beautiful journey was over. Who I had believed was my Acushla was not. It saddened me more than anything to witness this love shrivel and die. I had already lost a lover and a friend. Afore I lost all faith in human trust itself, I walked. And I never looked back. I do not regret that and I never will. The beauty of love lies in its free will. Each one makes a decision about what role that love plays in his or her life. Love cannot be coerced and love certainly cannot exist where the mind has pre-concluded the imminence of its end.
A year back it died. I have mourned, suffered, lamented, introspected, raged, raved, purged and paid my due respects. To the relationship that was and to me. Today I begin forth my life anew. Afresh and with no remnants of the past either in form or in intent. I am proud of myself and I am proud that I have the gumption to go forth and fulfill my destiny. About my Acushla, wherever she might be and whoever she might be, I will find her. I know when. To my past - so long and farewell. To all my friends and especially my family who stood by me, never letting me feel the void that was within, I love you all and I am truly grateful. Has this experience changed what I believe in and who I am? No, that would be to accord it far too much importance. If anything, it was eminently forgettable. Call me obstinate or call me naive, I call myself z0ltan. And here's to a fresh start to life. Peace!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
The winter of wry-ters' block is over...
By which I mean to say that this long blogging break is over my brizzles and nizzles.
Good cause to celebrate, aside from this, that is: Mondy Pydon (as the travel agent lady would have it).
Cheerios!
Good cause to celebrate, aside from this, that is: Mondy Pydon (as the travel agent lady would have it).
Cheerios!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Musings on a wondrously appropriate topic at an equally inappropriate time!
What I saw there made me realize that as opposed to the state of
affairs as I had perceived over a decade and a half back - where
social distinctions were based more on the ethnic differentiator,
the situation in the present day is more that of a modernized,
commercialized society where the strata are created based on
financial prowess. This is indeed a momentous time for that small,
quiet, brooding edge of the country for this is the irreversible
change of economic forces that is reshaping the whole social fabric.
I am deeply saddened to hear of people having to sink to low and base
means to make a living, of having to emigrate and work as cheap labor,
to have no access to education in a place where the per capita inflow
of capital would be nothing short of mind-boggling. I am not one to
judge these people for they are but in the same business as me - of
surviving. The only difference is that I am at a different level from
them. Who am I to look down upon them or berate them or empathize with
them? The truth is, I cannot know and never will be able to know what
they have been through, Yes, I have had my own demons and they haunt
me still but they are my bane and I deal with them. Sometimes it seems
hypocritical to be elevated in the plane of abstract sufferings,
ponderings, ecstasy and flight when there are people barely living
with their honor intact. To stave off digression, let me get to the
the main thrust of my opinion - unless and until the nepotism of the
plutocratic oligarchy is done away with for good, I see no hope for
the state or its people. See what happened to Africa? Lessons are hard
to learn when they are on the other side. Maybe you have the will,
perhaps even the strength to do something about it, your 'Enlightened
Nagas' spiel might still evoke passions within some rational people
and yet without a real social mass of dedicated people - day in and
day out, they will be but reduced to burning embers of a once
gloriously iridiscent blaze! So take heed my dear friend. Take good
heed.
Note: Adapted without elision from a communication to a friend.
affairs as I had perceived over a decade and a half back - where
social distinctions were based more on the ethnic differentiator,
the situation in the present day is more that of a modernized,
commercialized society where the strata are created based on
financial prowess. This is indeed a momentous time for that small,
quiet, brooding edge of the country for this is the irreversible
change of economic forces that is reshaping the whole social fabric.
I am deeply saddened to hear of people having to sink to low and base
means to make a living, of having to emigrate and work as cheap labor,
to have no access to education in a place where the per capita inflow
of capital would be nothing short of mind-boggling. I am not one to
judge these people for they are but in the same business as me - of
surviving. The only difference is that I am at a different level from
them. Who am I to look down upon them or berate them or empathize with
them? The truth is, I cannot know and never will be able to know what
they have been through, Yes, I have had my own demons and they haunt
me still but they are my bane and I deal with them. Sometimes it seems
hypocritical to be elevated in the plane of abstract sufferings,
ponderings, ecstasy and flight when there are people barely living
with their honor intact. To stave off digression, let me get to the
the main thrust of my opinion - unless and until the nepotism of the
plutocratic oligarchy is done away with for good, I see no hope for
the state or its people. See what happened to Africa? Lessons are hard
to learn when they are on the other side. Maybe you have the will,
perhaps even the strength to do something about it, your 'Enlightened
Nagas' spiel might still evoke passions within some rational people
and yet without a real social mass of dedicated people - day in and
day out, they will be but reduced to burning embers of a once
gloriously iridiscent blaze! So take heed my dear friend. Take good
heed.
Note: Adapted without elision from a communication to a friend.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
One for all and for eternity
"Regret for the things we did
can be tempered by time;
It is regret for the things that we did not do
that is inconsolable"
- Sydney J. Harris.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
I had been wrong...
It's been long day at work
I haven't thought today
I haven't let doubts trouble me
I've been working without a pause
So I can tell you, I've been happy.
Now the day is done,
And as I let my waiting thoughts in,
What I see is a thousand things,
clamoring for attention inside my head.
I can't sort them out,
but there's One, so amazingly calm.
So beautiful and soft,
I want to simply pick it up.
It's the thought of my dearest friend.
I hope my friend is home by now
And thinking of a happy day spent.
I wish my dear friend is surrounded with
Warmth and comfort, joy and love all through the night,
Until morning shall bring an even nicer day.
I want you to smile even when you're asleep,
So I've asked the night to bring you it's happiest dreams.
I've asked the stars when they look over you at night,
To let you know how dear you are to them.
Now I'm going home, content,
For I've I just heard the Universe whisper a promise to me,
A promise to take care of my precious friend.
I know I do not deserve that but I was wrong the previous time - this is the best honor that I have ever been bestowed with. Not the success of a lifetime nor the peace of a perfectly unequivocal mens could bring me the satisfaction or happiness wrought by this simple and yet elegant and most of all honest mail from my dearest friend.
Nothing at all.
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