Di Wa Lee

The evil Ra Wang joined his fist to palm and muttered ‘I bow to thee master. You are God lee!’ as he took his last breath lying outside his fort at Liangzhou. His 9 other heads looked on in confusion until all his 20 eyes shut for good. Lord Rang smiled with a glimmer of divine forgiveness in his eyes. His ‘arm of god’ move had done the trick, killing the demon who had kidnapped his wife.

He then handed over the kingdom to V.B.Chang, the younger brother of Ra Wang and headed back to his kingdom at Anyang in Northern China. Lord Rang was going home after serving a penance of 14 years of exile. During course of which, he along with his brother Lax Ming and wife Xi Ta toured innumerable jungles of southern China, lived a life of abstinence and sucker punched innumerable monsters. 

When the news of Lord Rang’s return reached home at Anyang, celebrations were in the air. And so were fireworks. The scent of gunpowder and incense filled the air as households brewed lavish feasts with generous amounts of Ajinomoto. The streets were adorned with Chinese lamps of all shapes and sizes. From little spherical red lamps to gigantic Dragon shaped lanterns, the city was a staggering display of lamps and light. Children and elders alike, gathered and chanted Di wa lee, we’re happy our king has returned. 

The festival would go on to be known as Diwali, the festival of lights. And till this date, Chinese fireworks fill the skies, Chinese lamps fill streets and Chinese flickering lights twinkle at homes, even in India. To be more specific, especially in India. The only thing, left Indian about Diwali was the legend around it. So I thought of doing the honours. Now let’s take it all the way by exchanging boxes of chicken Manchurian and wishing each other Di wa lee!

What's on your mind, what's happening, etc.

Social media has very often been projected in many ways. But here, the point I’m trying to make is how social media actually makes us altruistic.  And no, I’m not talking about those pictures you can share to save an elephant’s life or that like button you can hit to kick a corrupt police officer. I am talking about how social media has made every event and moment in our lives worth sharing.

When you see a beautiful landscape, you no more sit back and enjoy it as the selfish you in the pre-social media era would. Instead you incessantly click pictures to show the world how beautiful the scenery is. Such is our unselfishness that we don’t just show them one or two pictures but 700 pictures of the same place. And we don’t stop at places. We know the sufferings of those who can’t enjoy the same delicacies as us, so we instagram their pictures, add a filter and click pictures of coffee to help them overcome the boredom inflicted by 700 pictures of the same place.

We are so inclusive even in our celebrations that when the football team we support scores, we don’t just selfishly celebrate at home, we celebrate with the world by tweeting “YESSS!!!“  or putting up a facebook status like ‘What a goal!!!’ Or even better, we like or comment on such statuses to join the party. We are now in an era where we like things we used to merely acknowledge before. That’s how concerned we are about other’s feelings.

Some people take benevolence to another level altogether by helping their toddlers and pets express themselves and share their experiences (or what is believed to be their experiences) through specially opened accounts for them. The other day a friend’s 2 year old son replied to one of my tweets. The kid has grown so fast! Now if only, my friend would.

Our compassion breaks all boundaries and touches an all new high when we even acknowledge the needs of stalkers. While walking into a restaurant, we just don’t walk in. We put up updates on Foursquare as a noble gesture. Because we understand that stalkers too, have feelings.

Inclusiveness is the key in today’s world. Meeting one person does not make us forget the rest of the world. We continue chatting with the rest of the world on our smartphones after greeting that person. Our lives are not just our lives, they are several parallel Big Boss/Big Brother shows that play non-stop on computer and smart phone screens across the globe. And it is our duty to do everything possible to keep it entertaining and fun as a service to mankind.

Now that I’m done with penning down my personal views, I will go ahead and do a selfless act of shouting about it on all possible social media. Thanks for reading. Please join the selflessness by sharing.

Me

Since when did I turn a deaf year to the tides.
Since when did Sunset become a stranger.
I don’t remember our last conversation.
But since when did I stop talking to me?

Was I running behind dreams
or fighting my insecurities?
Either way, I was stuck in a vicious circle.
But why did I turn a deaf ear to me?

Friends became facebook profiles
and numbers I never dialled.
I have no complaints, I was always a loner.
But I wonder when I ‘unfriended’ me.

Lethal agreement

Srijith hereafter referred to as 'I' or 'me' as the case may be, is as of now and or ticked off by the overusage of words in or and legal documentation and hereby expresses dismay at the verbose and loquacious agreements (with additional clauses in brackets to accentuate the complexity) and is pissed off at the usage of in and or instead of punctuation marks to lengthen sentences with no reason whatsoever and herewith agrees not to agree to anything hereto.

Further, I admits that he, time to time, is in complete awe and admiration of the art of documenting clauses that lis pendens if and of complicate and make redundant, sentences and trap one in a verbal labyrinth hereof therefore causing the Reader to hereby forget the beginning of the sentence as and of s/he reaches the end of the clause herewith.

Me solemnly agrees that any unencumbered lis pendens herewith is unencumbered. It is further agreed upon that despite the innumerable inexplicable clauses mentioned herewith and the extent of valuable time conspicuously consumed in vain whilst reading and or writing the above, anything and or everything aforementioned remains subject to change.

An unconscious effort

Have you ever wondered how stories help kids sleep? Even ones that make no sense, whatsoever. Sometimes you can make up stories and watch them sleep away happily. The funny part however, is that we continue doing it even once we grow; at least I do. Perhaps we don't get someone else to read out stories or don't even read them ourselves. We just form pictures in our head that follow to form a story, again one that makes no sense whatsoever. And then in due course of time, we'd be snoring our way to glory.

Recently I was trying to draw such pictures in my mind and in turn doze off. I was dead tired that day as I had been travelling the whole day. Surprisingly, I found that it was easier for me to imagine a picture when I was physically and mentally drained as compared to several earlier occasions where I had failed. What caught my attention was the fact that it was actually easier to imagine pictures when the mind and body were tired.

It got me thinking about how conscience actually hampers our imagination. We all experience that its easier to come up with more creative thoughts and better jokes when we're with our best of friends and not in front of say, bosses. Isn't that because we're less 'conscious'? Isn't it precisely why kids come up with the most creative thoughts. In fact the most creative of people are those who remain child-like despite showing the world they've grown up. We all have sensed our brains thinks wilder when intoxicated. It's rather fascinating how a tired brain seems to work more than an alert one.

I found one probable answer in Aldous Huxley's essay, the doors of perception. It states-
In one of his studies eminent Cambridge philosopher, Dr. C.D. Broad states "The function of the brain and nervous system and sense organs is in the main eliminative and not productive. The function of the brain and nervous system is to protect us from being overwhelmed and confused by this mass of largely useless and irrelevant knowledge, by shutting out most of what we should otherwise perceive or remember at any moment, and leaving only that very small and special selection which is likely to be practically useful."Quite a revelation. Isn't it.

That might answer why the less conscious brain opens up more to imagination. But having said that, how do we channelise our thoughts and remember or note them, if not through a conscious mind? Well, there goes yet another confusion of a restless mind.

The pursuit of pain

The heart pursues pain wholeheartedly

makes me wonder why such vehemence

Every low in life is just an excuse

to unleash a chain of pain

You scratch open old wounds

Just to feel the heart bleed again

and then wonder why it wouldn't heal

and yet don't realise, it didn't come uninvited

Happiness causes such discomfort

The absence of turbulence is scary

The heart once heavy, clears all dilemma

and makes everything rest in pain

The truth is pain is a friend for life we can't live without

If it doesn't find you, you find it

Nothing to say

It’s surprising but as the year comes to end, I just realised that I've had nothing to post in months. My life has been through so much; good and bad phases. A lot has happened in this period. Still I find it hard to believe I couldn't come across a thought or an observation to bring up here.

One of my writer friends and a senior at one of my earlier companies once was discussing about the joy of writing and how he would go about it. During the conversation, he told me that an effective way to get around a ‘writer’s block’ is to write about it. So here I am, writing about ... well, nothing.

Isn’t nothingness strange? I guess it is a key emotion that we never acknowledge. It could take forms of bliss and later on, boredom. But it certainly forms an essential part of our lives, doesn’t it? It could make you see the beauty of life and miss it at the same time.

Incidentally, nothingness could also be a big void in a train of thoughts. The mind probably works like a train and you need to take out one thought in order to let another come and play. So probably getting out the nothingness might make way for somethingness. I really hope that made sense.

Now that I really have nothing to write about and have probably stopped to make sense, I'd just conclude by saying that there might be many more similar writings on ‘nothing to write about’ coming up. Anyways, here’s hoping I wouldn't need any.