In relation to...

Well, after a long time, I have found something worthwhile to write about. The holidays are kind of an oxymoron for me right now. They are both boring and entertaining. Feel like running away to some place and enjoy. But then, even that would become boring after a couple of hours or so. Being the kind of introvert I believe I am, I've decided to be something more sociable a.k.a an ambivert. Seems like the GRE classes are finally getting on to me, seeing that I've started using complicated words while talking and my friends are finding it hard to understand :). Being an ambivert is not so difficult. You simply need to talk to people (be rather verbose!) when you feel like it. All the other times, you could switch back to the same old introvert-like behaviour! The best place to start is,  indeed, friends. I've been trying my best to do that, and have, let me be honest, had moderate success. Trying to get out of your cocoon is not so easy as it is to write about it, take my word for it.

Then after a few more tries, I took a break and started thinking about human relations. I was almost immediately wondering why every relation has to have a name. Why do we need to justify ourselves and the world about the kind of relation that prevails between two people? That was a rhetorical question, and I certainly don't expect an answer from any one. I once had a conversation with a friend which was something to this effect.

"Well, bro, I don't believe in friendship."

I was a bit surprised and I asked for an explanation. And the explanation was good (bit rich coming from me, right!)

"Simple, people tend to strike that chord and use you. I don't like being used. If I like someone, I'd rather call them my siblings than friends. The sound of friendship freaks me out."

Indeed, this kind of perspective on his part has led to a petty paradox in his social life, we all usually choose to ignore that.

Then, I realised that, I don't believe in naming relations. Seriously, how can you blanket the intricate levels of comfortability and closeness under a single common noun friend? Every relationship is unique. Period. I don't think this even needs an explanation. You can't say that an acquaintance is actually a friend. This perspective of mine leads to a complicated scenario where you find it hard to explain to people. But then, we can always live with that. Any day! And anyways, who cares what people think! :) Seriously, I feel it insulting if you call someone who's very close to you just a friend (and yes, no matter how may adjectives you add before that, it still sounds the same.) So, simple concept. Stop naming relationships between people. For all we know, they might end up completely different from your expectations. :)

Rock On!!!

P.S. : For more details about that friend of mine, contact me. :) (I'm sure he's not gonna like it!)

Me v/s Ignorance

People tell me 'Ignorance is bliss', and for once, I would like to take their word for it. Ignorance indeed seems to be bliss. I am the kind of person who believes in knowledge for the sake of knowledge. That is, the only reason you can have knowledge is to have it. A bit confusing, I know, but it's easy to get over. Why do we study? (Study, as in, acquire knowledge...) You may have several reasons, but, for me, it's just one... I want to be knowledgable. Period. Let me give you examples. I am very knowledgable about medicine (thanks to Robin Cook and Michael Crichton, besides that, if I'm interested about something, I look it up on the Internet...). So much so that, I could get into a decent level of talk with a doctor about any kind of medical procedure. Then, there is law. I can reel off legal procedures in the US in my sleep (thanks to John Grisham and the Internet again...). Not that I'm compaining or bragging, but it certainly is discomfiting.

Recently, I've made an important observation (for me at least). Everything I know, seems to have some use ater some time. I can easily elate after the event that, I needed to know that thing because of this! I can't remember them off-hand, but happens pretty often with me. Some are pretty trivial, but still, my intuition seems to know what I need to know. What disconcerts me is, is it really a good idea to have so much knowledge? I don't know in what kind of situations this knowledge is gonna help me. If I were to guess wildly, I'd say they'll help me in writing a book :). Still, as long as I'm playing "what if", I'd indeed like to have all the knowledge I can get, for the sake of being knowledgable.

I'd like to believe that Ignorance is bliss, but knowledge according to me is more blissful and powerful.

I rest my case :).

Of Silly Mistakes..

There are many things I like to think about. There are some memories of mine which I ruminate over (don't get me wrong here, I'm no cattle), and can't stop smiling. Yesterday, while attending my GRE class, I was reminded inexorably of my old self from 10th grade. Looks like I haven't changed much :). Let me first tell what I think about doing stuff to prepare for GRE. The questions are essentially dumb, especially the quant(that's what we call the Quantitative Reasoning section..) ones. Then there's this part called verbal. The words are so complicated that, I wonder if we are actually gonna use them in our daily life (even in the US...).

So, the incident. We were discussing rates in the Quant class. It's supposedly an important topic for GRE. The questions were word problems. Incidentally, I'm good at those. So, I was trying to arrive at the answers ASAP (and look cool! :)). I did about 2 out of 3 answers correctly. Then, I realise that I was going wrong because I was hurrying and making some silly mistakes. That reminded me of my 10th grade days.

During those days, I was one of the people who care a lot about marks (It was the 10th std, important see). Actually, I was not much concerned about marks. It was the people around me. I believed, and still do, that doing our work is important. If you deserve marks for what you did, you get them automatically; you need not worry about that. I have always been in a hurry (my high school friends can testify that :)). So, even during those times, I used to hurry up during exams too, ending up committing silly mistakes. There was this co-ordinator of ours, a good man. He used to keep telling me to take my time with things and not commit such silly mistakes. One day, I got onto his nerves and despite all his saying, committed loads of mistakes in the paper. He flew off his handle and told me off like never before. He then told the whole class about this "habit" of mine and told them to call me "Silly-mistakes-Munaf". That got onto my nerves and I decided not to hurry again. Of course, I did not succeed in that as such, it did help me while giving the board exams where I managed to keep my cool and use all the time. Then, of course I left school for bigger and better things. I met this co-ordinator after a year or so, in a bus and he actually asked me - "Do you still commit those silly mistakes??". I was dumbfounded and just smiled at him.

So, now, I've decided to keep my cool even for this small period before and during my GRE. I just hope I'll be able to do that :).

Adiós Amigos!!

Don't mess with me!!

Well, seems like I've got a lot of time to waste now that I'm free from exams. And worht mention here is that, the guy who supposedly reads my fortune (Today's Fortune column :)) has been fired, is getting married and is on a strike all at the same time for a couple of weeks now :), can't help laughing out loud.

I like listening to music. Actually, I'm so much into it that I try to make out and remember all the lyrics of the songs I like. That has had an adverse affect on my blog, obviously. Whenever I try to write something original, the lyrics closest to the meaning of what I'm trying to write surfaces in my mind and I end up waging a mental war to prevent such lyrics from creeping into my blog. The actual reason behind that temptation is that, it's easier to copy-paste lyrics :).

Recently, I was reminded of the time I went to school in Kurnool. I studied my 1st to 5th grades there. There was this interesting incident which makes me laugh everytime I think about it, although I barely remember it. There were many actually, but this one stood out because I was heroic in it :). 

I guess I was in my 3rd grade or something, I don't remember exactly. Those were the days when I was very gullible and almost a cry-baby :) (C'mon, now, I was just about 8 or something.). So, I used to go to school in an auto-rickshaw (yeah, the ones that are crammed to the brim with school kids :)). So, there was this fellow who was elder to me (was in his 8th grade I guess.), and he was possibly called Sarath. He was like the bully of the worst kind and somehow, he was also good at acads. So, he was the culprit here. He used to tease me a lot. I don't even remember what he used to say. I used to be on verge of tears every single time he started off on me. Feels funny now, if he were aroung now, I'd have simple thrown some profanity and might even have gotten into fisticuffs :).

So, one fine day (or not so fine, I might say :)), the day starte off regularly for me (at least I believe so!). I was on my way to school in the auto (Sarath's house was en route from my home to school) and we had to pick him up after me. Then, he got started. I was on the edge now. And then, we were hardly a couple of blocks away from his place when I was fed up. I'd had enough. I told the driver to stop the auto, got down, picked up my bag and walked away. Not to school, but home :). Ironically, my sis was in the auto and did not oppose to it. When I reached home (oh, I knew the route..), bag and all, my Mum was totally upset, you know, all the stuff of over-reacting and all. I got a long telling-off which I managed to shake off immediately :). The driver of the auto also got a good tell-off. Then, it was the turn of Sarath. I made sure he got told off by his Dad :).

One good thing about this incident was that I became strong after this happened. Not that, Sarath was still teasing me, he'd stoped doing that (not on purpose, at least). I never tried such hare-brained stunt again, though. It was an intersting experience though. I still do that, if I don't like something, I just try to change it, if not, I move away from it.

I still don't know why I suddenly "felt like" sharing, but it was fun indeed!

P.S.: Well, let's hope that India is set free from the clasps of terrorists. I convey my deepest condolences to those who lost their lives in the Mumbai attacks last night. May their souls rest in peace, God grant their families strength. I hope as always, this is the last terrorist attack that happens in the world. And hats-off to all the police force and military for keeping us safe.