Clock!

I like to look at seconds passing away one by one, the tick tock of the wall/desk clock or the changing digits of a digital watch. It is like stopping and watching the time move.
I sometimes stare at the second's needle, or 'hand' as it is generally called, and see if it points exactly to the designated marks on the clock meant for each second. Sometimes it goes out of sync but within the complete round it catches up and becomes in sync with the marks again.
The hour, minute needle are called hands of a clock maybe because their position indicate values of hour and minute of the day. They remind me of traffic policeman showing proper directions to the traffic flow. The hour and minute hand can be like human hands, thick & short means slower and thin & long means faster. The very thin & long seconds hand can work like a tail, always wagging.
The common design of a clock has the hands which move in a circular fashion through the numbers 1 to 12 that have been arranged in a circle. In fact many people can tell the time by just looking at the position of the hands even if the numbers were removed, which is what some clock makers exploit to come up with innovative and stylish designs.
As a kid I couldn't understand why we kept those pointy needles moving in circles with numbers from 1 to 12 arranged in a circle, on walls and on the dressing table. I did know it is useful and shows time but it was only after my father taught me that one has to multiply every number by 5 to get the minutes, I understood how to look at a clock. In those days I like digital watch/clock better only because I didn't have to do the multiplication with 5 but I think in few months time I got accustomed with the clock with hands as well.
The numbers in a clock are arranged in a circle, so every hand crosses every number many times, i.e., same time happens everyday or twice a day. Metaphorically speaking, time always returns. It moves in circles, hence it feels like it's giving us second chances. Maybe it is because earth rotates on its axis which is a circular motion, so day and night cycle happens.

P.S. - Even a stopped clock/watch shows correct time twice a day, one can't do anything about that time, but still one can claim its not completely useless!

Wikileaks and the Whistle Blower

The Wikileaks are all over the news. People are talking about it, its a sensation, something that has never happened before. But it has now. Does that mean this was the right time for it to happen? Is any time right for leaking confidential government information?
Suppose a person who doesn't know about surgery is shown a team of surgeons performing operation on a person. This person may freak out looking at the blood covered organs and flesh, thinking they're killing that person, while in reality they're trying to save that person. They may or may not succeed but they're trying. Wikileaks is showing such a person the confidential transactions that haven't reached a consensus or conclusion and may be ambiguous. It is a surgical operation that has been exposed to the wise and the otherwise people and it may have unexpected repercussions. Yes, damage might be done, but how honest has the US government, or for that matter, any government ever be? The bigger question, does a government have to be transparent to people who may not understand the situation, or some secrecy keep the situation in control and things running smoothly?
The only saving grace is that wikileaks has been well organized and information is being released in a well planned manner. The whistle blower has successfully shown the finger to the US government even if the government is able to curb the whole wikileaks thing completely at this moment. And now the whistle blower will pay the price, and his punishment is being decided, about which the authorities are still undecided.
The most crucial question we must ask ourselves now is that why has secrecy or deception become such a crucial component for smooth functioning of anything these days? Is it because technology makes it easier to keep track of people, events, information flow that some things have to be deliberately hidden or are we growing more paranoid and distrustful every passing day?
The US government has been keeping tabs on everything that's going on in the world, they want to be a part of everything! Why do they have to be such a control freak? They play their "white man's burden" game with fine subtlety that many don't notice. I hope the whistle blower has taught them a lesson that being self-proclaimed leaders of the world, they should know better and be more transparent. So much for diplomacy!

Facebook comment

Abhishek is delighted to see her comment on his facebook status. He promptly replies to her comment. Little conversation happens, pleasantries are exchanged, ending in Abhishek's comment to which he expects her reply. He waits in anticipation, switching to the facebook tab every few minutes. After a few hours, at 4 am, he realizes she won't reply.
"Ah, screw it! I should have known better. I mean, why do I behave this way? Why should I expect a comment from her? Okay, she responded to few of my comments, but that's common courtesy, right?" Taking a deep breath, "Alright, from now on, I won't behave like an ass and waste my time on these silly online conversations."

Next morning, he gives himself the same peptalk. He opens facebook first thing, due to habit.
He sees her comment below his comment from previous night. Few comments are exchanged, ending in Abhishek's comment to which he expects her reply. He waits in anticipation...

Same Pinch

Meeting an old childhood friend feels so lovely!
Me: "Hey buddy, how've you been?"
Friend: "I've been good. How've you been?"
Me: "I've been good! Same Pinch."

Future is gonna be better than the present

I'm a passive being, lazy by nature. Hence, since my childhood I've capitalized on my observational skills and limited my active involvement. My observational skills grew with me, but without proper experience, active involvement, all one ends up having are assumptions, some work well, many don't. One of the assumption, though based on similar observations I made over many occasions, isn't reliable but has been immensely useful to me.
I never realized I had been following this one rule all my life till now: "Future is gonna be better than the present". Patience came easy to me, and with all that pessimist exterior to dissipate my fear, I always felt optimist within, but the best  part is that it was quite encouraging that there are no limits to imagination and dreams.
As a kid I used to fear many things, like deep water, heights, being on a speeding vehicle, eating curd, syringes, ghosts, strangers, being on a stage etc. But none of the grown ups I knew had any of my fear, which made me assume that as one grows up, things get better, that one becomes stronger and overcomes such fears. So, my fears didn't bother me much and with time, I grew over most of them!


We all want to believe that future is gonna be better than the present, but sometimes even the wisest person has doubts. One looks forward to holidays, exciting projects, meeting someone one likes but probably not a monotonous or highly stressful lifestyle with almost no interest in one's work or vocation, or turmoil relationship. Sometimes getting up for school used to be difficult and I'm sure for most of us getting up for work everyday is quite an effort. Future can't always be better than the present, but the thought itself can be powerful enough to make it happen. Starting the day with a happy thought, a strong resolution to make things better or experiencing something new, a perpetual willingness to welcome tomorrow into ones life will make every day a life experience.

I have always had this image in my mind, of myself when I'd be an adult. Sure I'm not quite like my imaginary future self as of now, which can only mean one thing, that there's still room for growth. And when you dream of better life, better self, your inclination moves you towards that future.

We need space

Yesterday night while walking to my room, I realized that I was the only one moving. The trees (even the leaves were still), the shrubs, the street, the street lights, everything was still. Later while walking across the area outside the canteen, I saw empty chairs and tables, and knew that somebody must have been sitting there till few hours ago. It came to my mind that places empty at night are occupied at some time during the day, and vice versa.

We people need space to live, to move around, to get together and spend time together. Same is the case with animals. As humans, we have specific place for specific purpose and it makes things convenient and easy to live.
Imagine living like a tree, stuck at one place, everything you need is supplied to you but you can't move, in fact you don't have to move because there is no reason to move! This is different from being captured in a cage because the person/animal/bird in a cage does move around in the enclosed space available.
Sometimes huge space is liked as in case of a big bungalow, but the same is detested in case one has to walk some distance to do some work or get some work done. Little space such as my room works great for me, except for doing exercises.

Many animals mark their territories, be it for hunting or living. We do the same, we have a fixed residence, a definite route to workplace and back, few other places one visits etc. Different kind of spaces mean different to us. For me, being in open space like a football field after a long time feels liberating, being in a closed space like one's room feels comforting.

Genghis Khan raided and plundered many lands and their wealth. The notion has always been that once the land is captured, anything on it belongs to the conqueror. The interesting thing here is that a person can keep his land or his property on the land that may belong to someone else only by paying something in return for his ownership!

"How much land does a man require" by Leo Tolstoy, a must read in this context.

Name : In Daily Life

Most often the first sentence a person learns while learning a language is "My name is Abhishek" or "I am Abhishek" which I experienced while doing an introductory course on Basic Japanese. While meeting new people, we give them our name while introducing ourselves, and they call us by our name.

A person's name is supposed to reflect his/her personality, but often we see that's not the case. The process of naming a baby is quite an interesting activity. The birth date, time, place etc. and various other factors are taken into consideration and astrology is applied.

Interestingly, I've seen people calling their pets with the name to which they respond to the best. Sometimes, that works in case of a new born baby as well!!

Name defines a location, or a place. We learn routes in a big city by keeping in mind the (name of) landmarks on the way. Even the directions have name: north, east, left, right etc. One goes out to meet friends and decide to meet at a specific place, like CCD, McD, Dominos (names of eating places) etc. at some common location in the city, say, city center or hitech city (name of locations in a city).

The important thing to notice is that names originate from the language the people use to communicate. We don't use numbers or images as names, but words that can be easily spoken, heard, written and read.


Each and everything we see around us has a name, hence we can interact and associate with it. Without names, writers would fail at writing stories/articles, remembering things would be a difficult and tedious task, and would eventually lead to chaos.

P.S. - Sometimes when I hear name of someone close to me, and that name doesn't refer to that person, then at least for a moment, my mind thinks about that person! For my brain, name is like a pointer to the persona and memories of that person.