diwali week in picture(s)

Happy (belated) diwali to everyone!

my diwali rangoli!!

My unexpected blogging break happened over this one week, owing to various reasons.
Anywho, looking forward to a lot of randomness which has been planned.


cheerio!


~nightflier

charming mika

We had guests at home over the weekend. Amongst them was the most precious 3 year old (mihika becomes mika :D) I have met in a while. 

But (there are always but-s) I am really thick sometimes. Also I work on saturday. Sometimes.

So on sunday morning we tried to strike friendship. We played with boo-boos (soft toy dogs) and the zhu zhu park (where a dog named miss prissy tries to escape her park). But then she had to go out. So she left with the cutest flying kiss.

When she returned in the afternoon, we had to start from scratch. Like 'mi tujha book vachu ka?' (can I read your book?), 'tu kaay vikat aanla?' (what did you buy in the mall). Not that she was territorial, she was just genuinely shy. Of course, her mother told me, that she is the noisiest kid around once the ice is broken.

So totally desperate to make friends 'again', I asked her in the most dramatic tone - aap bahot sharmati ho? (why are you being so shy?). Warmest smile was flashed. And then all her books became my property. She made me read them out to her. We also ate Minnie Mouse's cookies (biscuits she insisted!) And decided Elmo was cute. We also drew each other's portrait :D

Then she also showed me her new 'black' 'sandals' which her parents had to buy her wearing them. She changed into a snow-white tee with matching clips and posed at the door for us. Then she also played tag with the badminton racket.

She again gave us flying kisses and left for another outing.

Some kids are just *precious*. And why did I write this, because I read Upasna's post and it made me miss my new friend :)

~nightflier

*DO NOT*

ALERT : In the language of communication, this post contains negative stuff. 


# *DO NOT* consider the pen/pencil/book/notes I lent you as yours for eternity. It is polite to return it once done using. Either way I have learnt to ask for my stuff back by making you feel embarrassed. 
(Like waiting outside the classroom until you show up and then shamelessly asking for my pen back, in front of everyone)


# *DO NOT* invade my personal physical space or breathe deeply over my shoulder while standing/sitting next to me. Its creepy. And I have no problem giving you that 'legendary stare' of mine. Even if it means getting labeled as a snob/bi***/or whatever.


# *DO NOT* play cute with your girlfriend at a signal and let her honk your bike, in an awkward gesture to cuddle (also applies to the perpetually in hurry random stranger who honks). If there's a RED signal, chances are no one will move till it turns GREEN. Geddit?? And you will end up getting well deserved stares/sneers from onlookers.


# *DO NOT* scold me for practical stuff like 'going for lunch alone', 'without asking you to join' on a VERY BUSY work day. I may just hang/pretend dead in the ensuing conversation (after saying sorry), which might puzzle you.


# *DO NOT* expect me to shower you with compliments or act all goody-goody (with you) just because you praised my clothes/hair/ear-rings/work. I will definitely complement you if similar situation brings forth the possibility/necessity of you deserving a well meaning compliment (not just for the heck of it).
(having said that complements are nice. They do make my day. So thanks for being generous towards me)


~nightflier

most of it is magic

Most of any kind of learning is magic. According to me. You read stuff, scribble it down, try to remember it by associating with random/routine phenomena, speak it out aloud in your head or otherwise.


And then the hiragana you write down everyday, starts making sense. 
It feels wondrous to me. How those random strokes mean 'something'. 

being a show-off :D

And this also makes me think that as a child, learning to write in any language must have felt so *Awesome*! Oh and all my illusions of great handwriting got auto shattered. Hiragana is artistic. Which means I am to have a tough time to reach that 'great handwriting' level. Nevertheless in the age of computing, writing in a 3 line notebook with a pencil, is hugely cathartic. Dont take it too seriously, but I feel wonderful after having written the entire alphabets in a single go, every morning. 


Of course, one can write means, one can read too. Now. It's just that the reading is laborious and halting. I know I will get to the fluency. It's all about practice after all. No ?


Speaking. Ah. The words cloud inside my head. Waiting to rain. Sometimes a line or two sprouts which makes sense. Sometimes, its just mumbling. The Sensei (teacher) is kinder. She immediately fills up for me (us in a group). She gives a 5 star (chocolate) too, if you excel in conversations. Excel here is strictly subjective. If there is just one group performing, of course you win. Yay!


I am the brightest kid in the other sensei's (teacher) session, who enlightens us on the cultural aspects and history of the place. We talk about Samurai and ninja warriors, the food, the films and modern history. Occasionally we watch movies/video clips too. In dimmed light. We shed tears on the nuclear bombing affair. We talk about grave of the fireflies and the phoenix. We start respecting people even more.


Nowadays I write emails in romaji to the sensei, with my doubts. Pretty soon I will be able to read too. And then may be a real Japanese book will happen. For now, I will stick to cartoons. They always have subtitles. #win


~nightflier

Liberated

So for an upcoming official trip, the manager asked my confirmation and without any delay I gave mine. Another colleague, who is younger, said she needs to take permission/s from her family.


Later she asked me, now your bro will get angry with you, na ? Not only did I smile, but I also wondered when was the last time I 'literally' had to take permission from any of my family to do something.


I guess aai-baba let go of a lot of control when they called me one evening after 8.30 and I was still outside hostel. (8.30 pm was our curfew/in time). Of course I was out because, we had lost our way :D
Anywho point is unless something is totally life altering they don't really expect me to spill out my every life move. I think its very courageous of them.
Contrarily, I also feel less pampered on *some days*. And that day I decide to bug them with every tiny bit of my decision making. Right from what to wear, to what subji to buy, to what to eat for lunch :P


I think these things are personal and vary from family to family (person to person). But you grow up and feel liberated when you share and seek permission without being expected of. Ironically the moment you do things because you feel like and not because you have to, you stop being a grown up!


~nightflier

processing death

'To an organized mind death is but the next great adventure.' - JKR


I believe he is been put to rest peacefully in Galt's gulch. A part of me thinks aliens took him away. Another part says he has left behind pre recorded messages for the future apple people.


Wherever he has gone, I am sure that place will be better. The way our world has become.

1955-2011
from - google

And this is not because I have been using his products, or standing in queues (for both - been there done that) since my childhood. I feel the impact because my brain still cannot process death. (earlier when I and KT were crying over the phone, more like 'done shedding tears individually, but sharing the loss' we discussed how inept and weird we are at this - handling of any type of death). 


I feel the biggest loss is the one which you just cannot surmise in words. It feels so personal.
The only way I can imagine of processing this death, is by keeping myself in action. By 'staying hungry and foolish'.


~nightflier


P.S. This is the emptiest Dasara of my life. A happy one to all.
'मन से रावण जो निकाले राम उसके मन में हैं'

skynet (google) of the future ?

Hari Seldon a psychohistorian and mathematics professor predicted the future by studying the behavioral patterns of living beings. He analysed the data in short and his analysis proved beneficial for the foundation's birth and activities in helping the living race sustain.


Skynet on the other hand a self-aware AI system built to aid humans, overpowered them and caused a lot of trouble.

Of course this is all science fiction in popular culture. But if you read In the plex (a book about google) this will feel like a really possible future. Considering google is all about data, studying human behavior over the internet and recognizing patterns, I am pretty sure our future is no less than interesting. Of course I am hoping with all the great possibilities it will be better and not skynet-ish. Though the possibility itself excites me. (HUGE Judgement Day fan alert!) 


With me spending so much time on the net, I am sure the engineers at google will have an algorithm ready to serve self obsessed people like me, about my behavioral pattern :P And I like that possibility even though its hugely prying. But if I gave approval may be they could do it. And that is google's biggest existential crisis. A company run by über geeks, always striving to follow the 'don't be evil' motto.


But all that apart it was a relief to know that the place is run by people whose moral values are like those of montessori kids, who believe in asking questions and working hard to build complex systems to make information relevant, reachable and useful. The sheer technological (mathematical) stuff going on at google is awe inspiring. Some of the ideas and projects going on there make science fiction seem real. And if I am to naively believe that the geeks running the company stick to their value sets, it will be a wonderful future.


A very interesting read. Technology, geekism and management wise. 
Makes me like google, apart from the simple reason, that they have made life easier on many fronts. 
It will not amaze me if google gets hard wired in my system in coming years. Specially, since I have stopped struggling against the wave of the digital revolution and embraced it quite happily.


~nightflier


P.S. Story behind the book - The book was recommended to me almost 2-3 months back. But it's pretty expensive which would have totally affected my monthly book budget. So I joined Tender Leaves, my new library! :D And voila, grabbed it pronto! Had to finish it asap as the librarian himself wanted to read it after me!