The right to be Stupid

Yea, you read that right. I am defending, nay advocating, your right to be stupid.

Of the many names I have been called, the word ‘stupid’ included, I have also been called an elitist – in the snobbish sense. I don’t mind it that much. What an elitist is to an ‘attitude problem’ is what an ‘eccentric’ is to ‘weird’. Is Steve Jobs a snob? Fuck Yea. Modesty isn’t really a virtue either of us believe in. On a side-note I do think Steve could learn something from me.

We think that a lot of people, things, rules, methodologies etc etc are stupid. A lot of them probably are. Some are a matter of perspective. I personally aid natural selection by criticizing and mocking stupidity. I will make fun of you. Laugh at you. Yet, I will respect your right to be stupid.

I am not defending stupidity in itself. I am defending the right to be stupid. There is a distinction between the two. I can disagree with your idea of God but I sure as hell cannot stop you from praying five times a day. The church can call you stupid for believing that the sun is the center of the universe but it must not have the right to punish you for your beliefs or acts. If others are want to buy the same belief that it is their prerogative.

The right to be stupid is an inherent part of the personal liberties that most societies recognize. Only when it encroaches on the right of other individuals  you have a right to complain. In many cases it is the majority which decides what is stupid and what is not. If such beliefs were to percolate to every individual then not only is there no diversity in a society but there is also no debate. There are times when there simply is no one right answer and when there is, quite often, they have changed. Perhaps the most stupid of all things is the belief that one cannot ever be wrong.

The Right to be Stupid encompasses even acts of stupidity (not ideas which as mentioned above, are matter of belief and perspective). Ignorance can be criticized but not penalized by any individual. Natural selection takes care of it. Why must you not then penalize stupidity, ignorance, greed or any such trait on a personal scale?

It is because we, as individuals or society, have no right to encroach on the liberties of any other individuals. Regardless of the veracity of your assumptions. The concept of a superior individual does not exist. If you disagree then you must extend the principle to the concept of a superior race and in effect fascist ideologies. It is not to say that there is no disparity amongst us be it in our thought processes, moral code, physical abilities but which of those does give one a right of superiority?

The only right one gets by the virtue of birth is the right to do anything he wants. It is not as much a right as it is the lack of any restriction. As we evolved we decided to progress as a group. A group of a species if you may call it. Now progress was simply not possible if we do not respect other members of the group. To what extent does one respect the other members is what is to be debated. Certain laws, such as ones which forbid fraud, limit the scope of your activities to aid the group (and hence the individual) to progress. Certain laws, such as freedom of expression, recognize the fundamental nature of the individual. How to weigh the individual versus the group is another debate. It has been approached at different angles at different lengths. Hitler believed in the concept of a race as a group and hence didn’t care about the freedom of an individual not part of that group. One could view laissez-faire capitalism grants full freedom on the economic scale while socialism is at the other end of the spectrum.

I believe that regardless of your views you must grant everyone the right of thought and personal action. Inefficiency troubles me. Though not as much as the thought of the loss of personal freedom.

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Don’t Use Internet Explorer

Reasons why no one should use Internet Explorer v6.0

It can kill you. That is what all the security experts seem to be saying.

It makes my websites look uglier than what they actually are.

It is 2010. The world is going to end in another two years and you should experience tabbed browsing at least once.

Cats don’t like this browser. You Tube agrees too. You can no longer watch videos of cats dancing on You Tube

You will soon not be allowed to watch any videos on You Tube.

You don’t wanna be called stupid – Just because of what browser you use.

It renders pages slowly. Really Slowly.

That is when it renders them at all.

It can damage your computer. Literally.

The internet would be much more beautiful if designers didn’t have to waste their time fixing CSS bugs.

The world would be a more productive without it.

People at nic.in use it.

People at Microsoft don’t use it.

Microsoft asks you not to use it.

It does not support HTML 5

For certain products standards compliance is necessary.

Mosaic deserves more love in the ‘Ancient Browsers’ category.

Internet Explorer is the technological equivalent of Air Line food jokes.

Go download a different browser. Download it now

The internet begs you.

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The End of a Week

If you’re a computer geek enthusiast you probably don’t get up at 8:00 in the morning. You definitely don’t get up that early if it is a freaking friday or saturday or any day when you don’t have to go to work or school. I got up at 8:00 am last Friday and that, dear friend, has changed my world.

I attributed this change to the fact that I am now a grown up and all that. I am 21 after all. I am doing an internship in an effort to educate myself on that world where they wear crisp cotton shirts and silk ties. I’ll be graduating in another 5 months or so. I think I should be adequately prepared. To confidently and enthusiastically go out  there and say ‘WHADDUP bitches!?’  to all those men and women in crisp cotton shirts and silk ties. Oh but I digress. This post has nothing to do with my internship but my naivety.

On a side-note, do not ever shout out ‘WHADDUP bitches’. Anyone who wears a suit finds such a question insulting. They expect everyone, interns included, to know that the only thing above the pantry-room is the ceiling. They also expect me to know that they are neither my homies nor bitches. You’ll learn bitching learn what and who the bitch is. That said my internship is actually fun.

That Friday morning was historic in its deviation from history. I think I actually heard birds chirp on a weekend after getting up. I felt that I had effectively been granted knighthood in that kingdom of the wise. After all I was 21. Going to work 5 times a week. I had worked for a couple of weeks and had successfully controlled every single urge to hear Kimya Dawson sing ‘I wish I was a tree’ on speakers. I had taken up a gym membership. I had even changed my ring tone! I thought that I had arrived. That I was finally ready. Yea, all that because I got up at eight in the morning discounting the fact that I had actually slept thirteen hours.

I signed a blog pact.

Every week me and my two room-mates have to blog at least once. Financial penalties have been incorporated to ensure the sustainability of such a pact. Now, the thing is one of my friend is so prolific a writer that he churns out posts faster than Sachin makes runs. I kid you not. Three blog posts this week. The other is so verbose a person that he has more to talk about than Arunadhiti Roy has issues to take up. Actually that is not the thing. The thing is that I only have a few hours to go before I hit the deadline. Memories of that Friday morning, which seemed to herald the rise of a new world order, no longer evocate feelings which resonate with me anymore.

Yes, I want to be productive. Yes, I like blogging and the pact has ensured that I did. Yet, something feels amiss. I’ve been to my gym in less than three times in the last week. I forget to polish my shoes and have my breakfast in a cab. I don’t have the energy to watch a movie at night or sit and work for hours. The best I could come up with today was a plan to go clubbing tonight. I am here blogging instead. Things that I took for granted seem to have been replaced by a list which starts with doing dirty laundry. I had envisioned a semblance of order in the hustle-bustle my life was. I am now a passenger – on a conveyor belt.

Like a rivulet merging into a great sea. Coalescing into an entity with no boundaries. With waves invigoratingly intense. With salt that adds to pain. With salt that adds flavor.

It is not that I fear unchartered depths. It is the only place the big blue whales can call home.

It is the cognizance of turbulence that precedes such phase shifts that is disheartening.

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Blog Shifted

Heya folks

Blog’s been moved over to http://www.adityaanand.com

I have previously mentioned the restrictions with wordpress.com and ultimately decided to buy some hosting and domain and shift to wordpress.org Should give me some more room to stretch er.. my blog?

If you subscribe to my blog then please change the location to http://adityaanand.com/blog/?feed=rss2 or http://adityaanand.com/blog/?feed=atom (Atom)

Ofcourse, I would like that you rather visit my blog and be greeted by the K2 theme which though disturbingly common, is something which I like and something that you will have to do with for the short term. Till I go out there looking for themes which are not all bling-blang and which do not use every colour in the world only because they can be used. I could also go out there and edit my style sheets and stuff, but the ‘but’ actually would be some subtle excuse for my laziness. So do excuse me. Enjoy new things like the search and the commenting system and click on the ‘older’ button, if you enjoy seeing things like those,that is.

Catchya there!

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Randomness

Leaving for Bombay day after tomorow. What will I be doing for the couple of days before I finally leave for Dubai? Many things. The most significant of which being- Clubbing, my dear. Clubing. Bombay is the place to party. A place where you can even get a Taxi or Auto at 4 am when the only words you have to mutter are – Powai, Hiranandani. In Delhi it would be the luckiest day of the year if you find any transport at that time. Then starts what looks like an Auction house at Christie’s.

“Vasant Kunj.”

“Baitho.”

“Kitna?”

“300 de dena”

“@!#!@#!@#!@# Kya???”

“Bhai raat ka time hai”

“@#!@ 70 !@#!@#”

“!@#!@”

“!@#”

…..

When you ultimately settle for something like 135 Rs you realise that students are going to school, DTC buses are up and the auto stand is full. You go back, haggle a bit ‘Bhaiya, ab toh din ho gaya’ lots of exclamation marks and others symbol follow and a finally new rate is agreed upon.

I hate digressing. Brevity though, was never my forté.

Dubai, here I come again. Life is gonna be all in High Definition Format on 30″ screens. It was getting boring with all that static in the All India Radio version.

Thing of the Day: R0535 4R3 R3D v10le75 4R3 81U3, 1337 P037ry 5uck5, if you don’t get this you suck too. ( Roses are red, violets are blue. Leet poetry sucks, if….)- A friend’s status message.

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रापचिक

यार हिन्दी मे लिखने में तोह बैन्ड ही बज जाती है । पिछले बार जब मैने लिखने की कोशिश कि तोह इतना तंग हो गया था कि पूछो ही मत । मैने देवनागरी में लिखने में जितना पसीना बहाया उतने में तोह पता नहीं कितने तालाब ही भर जाऍ । उस के ऊपर से मुछे कुछ स्वरों को कैसे कैसे लिखा जाता है यह बात समझ ही नहीं आ रही थी । अंत में प्रतीक ने मुझे बताया कि मैकिन्तौष पर ‘विकल्प’ बट्टन का पर्योग करने केलिए कहा अौर अभिषेक ने गूगल पेजेस  इस्तमाल करने कि सलाह दी । हालाकि गूगल का approach  ज्यादा intuitive है, मैं मैक पर लिखने का अभ्यास करना चाहता हूँ अौर साथ-साथ हिन्दी में लिखने का भी । ( इस वाक्य को जरा ध्यान में रखियेगा )

हालाकि मैं अपने दोस्तों से अच्छी अौर शुध हिंदी बोल लेता हूँ ( ऐसा मैं समझता हूँ या समझना चाहता हूँ ) पर मुझे हिन्दी लिखनि बिल्कुल नहीं आती । दीर्घ अौर ह्रष्व मात्राअों कि गलतियाँ बहुत होती हैं । अौर यह बात सोचने में भी कि ‘ं’ लगेगा या कुच्छ अौर । उफऽऽऽऽऽ

हर भाषा कि अपनी स्वतंत्र पहचान होती है । जैसे मैने आापको जिस वाक्य को ध्यान में रखने को कहा था, उसे देख लिजीये । उसमें अँग्रेजी का प्रभाव इतना है कि मैने जब उसे लिखा था तब सोचा था कि अगर उस वाक्य में वोह दो शब्द के बदले उनके हिन्दी पर्याय डाल दूँ तोह वह वाकय ठीक हो जाएगा, लेकिन बात तोह यह है कि उन दोनों के लिये हिन्दी शब्द ही नहीं हैं जो उनकी जगह ले सकें ! उसी तरह से जैसे हम कैहते हैं - I didn’t go to the movie only. यहाँ ‘ ओन्ली’ का प्रयोग अनुचित है अौर आपको कोई भी अँग्रेज नहीं मिलेगा जो कभी ऐसा कहेगा । लेकिन हमें आदत है बोलने अौर सुनने कि – ‘ यार मैं तोह पिक्चर देखने ही नहीं गया’ इसीलिये हम ‘ ही’ के जगह only लगा देते हैं । अगर सच में जरुरी है तोह हमें ‘at all’ का प्रयोग करना चाहिये । इस लिये ना ही हम हिन्दी ठीक से लिख पाते हैं अौर नाही अँग्रेजी । वोह कहते है ना – ना घर का ना घाट का ।

यह सब मैने पहली बार तबसे गौर करने कि कोशिश कि जब मेरे एक दोस्त ने मुझे बताया कि उसे कहा गया है कि उसे महाविद्यालय का ‘प्रारम्भिक’ कोर्स में नाम लिखवाना पङेगा अौर वह उच्चतर कोर्स ग्रहण करने योग्य नहीं था क्योंकि उसकि अँग्रेजी किसी दूसरे भाषा के प्रतिपेक्ष से लिखी हुई लगती हैं । ‘एम आई टी’ में स्वीकृति के बाद एक निबंध लिखना होता है जिस्के आधार पर हर किसी को दोनो मे से एक कोर्स करना पडता है । हालाकि मैं मानता हूँ कि हर किसी कि भाषा ऐसि नहीं होति है ( जैसेकि मेरे दोस्त का कोई अौर भारतीय दोस्त जिसे दूसरे कोर्स करने के लिये कहा गया । ) मैं बस इस बात को दर्शलाना चाहता था कि मेरे दोस्त – जिस्की अँग्रेजी खुद काफी अच्छी थी गलतियाँ करते हैं । मुझे एक दो अौर उद्धारण देने दीजिये । हम संस्क्रत में ‘ अस्ति’ शब्द का प्रयोग ‘ है ‘ शब्द की तरह करते हैं जबकी  ऐसा करना सत प्रतिशत ठीक नहीं होगा । जैसे – ‘ मेरा नाम अादित्य’ गलत है लेकिन ‘ मम् नाम: आदित्य अस्ति’ अौर ‘ मम् नाम: आदित्य’ दोनों ही ठीक हैं ।

मुझे तोह यकीन ही नहीं हो रहा कि मैने इतना कुझ लिखा है । भले ही बहुत ज्यादा समय लगा हो, लेकिन मुझे इस चीज कि आदत हो रही है, अौर इस ही बात को सोच के थोडा मजा भी आ रहा है ।

लेकिन हिन्दी को किसी संगङक पर लिखते वक्त ऐसा लगता है जैसेकि आपने अपनी मर्सिडीस को बेच कर किसी ‘नौ-कोनीय’ पैये वाली अौर दर्जनों बैलों से संचालित बैलगाङी में सवारी कर रहे हों ।

जो भी हो, हिन्दी में ‘रापचिक’ लिखने का मजा हि कुछ अौर है ।

गलतियों के लिये क्षमा चाहता हूँ । काफी थक गया हूँ अौर इसे वापस से पढा भी नहीं है । ऊपर से ऊ जैसे स्वर को लिखने में एक साथ तीन बटन एक साथ दबाने पडते हैं । यार समझा करो ।

भले ही इसे लिखने में वाट लग गयि हो लेकिन तब भी पहली बार मैने एक दिन मैं दो लेख प्रकािशत किये हैं । है ना मस्त बीङू ?

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Itch

If all your life you walked with only one leg, how would you feel if you had to walk with two legs? You will probably hate the idea of it, you will be faster with your single leg; even though you know that it would be better if you used both your legs.

I type fast, fast enough by standards of many people around me, things like not looking at your keyboard became trivial long back. All these years I knew that one day I would have to change the way I type though. Denial they say is not a river in Egypt, it is a freaking ocean. So how do you save yourself from drowning in it? By finally starting to  touch type using all your fingers when your fears were brought into prominence again on Karan’s blog. But old habits, die hard. Muscle memory dies harder. It takes a lot of self restraint to stop your ring finger from not encroaching upon the territory of the z button which is rightfully the little finger’s.

That my dear friends is not all. Misery they say comes in more flavors than any ice-cream parlor offers and lady luck, the bitch that she is, likes giving me sundaes for free.

My last post was actually meant to be in Hindi and written using all my fingers. Trust me, doing wither of them is hard enough on its own. With both of them together, you would rather think of drowning in the Bihar floods (I can swim) or smell your stinking socks ( Ok, but not more time than I can hold my breath ).

I don’t know where did I develop this penchant for embarking on grand projects that fail so pathetically that they put things like Microsoft and their voice recognition technology to shame.

Thing of the day: God got Virgin Mary pregnant by magic, he doesn’t play by the rules- Katherine Heigl (Izzie Stevens, Grey’s Anatomy).

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Argggggggggggggh

That is what every fermi of my body wants to scream.

There have been times when I have thought about a subject for hours and days and finally blogged about it.

There have been times when my posts have been saved as drafts for ages.

There have been times when I have discarded entries or simply closed my edttor.

But never, ever- never ever- have I been so  so mind numbingly so frikkin’ly irritated by a blog post.

Rusted Locks. Bihar Floods. Stinking socks – images that are cropping up in my mind. They are supposed to be analogies and metaphors.

Yeah I am in cannot-think-of-sane-things mode.

The post in question? Is this very post.

More about this when I am stable enough to figure out what floods in stinking socks and lusted rocks in Bihar mean.

Thing of the day: Gravity is a myth. The earth actually sucks. Or  would you rather trust individuals famous for having apples or bananas fall on their heads.

Filed under: Personal, Random, Uncategorized

Orkut

I pasted this on my Orkut ‘About Me’ profile yesterday. Thought you may like it. 

(EDIT: I wrote this myself, just in case you wondered where I did I ‘paste’ it from. Oh and if you are among those who came across this page while looking for  ‘about me orkut’ or ‘orkut profile cool’; all I ask you to do is – erggh leave it. You can visit my Orkut profile here.)

Half my brain cells are speculating the repercussions of not filling this section. The other half is sleeping, having plotted things transcending human comprehension all day. The working half is still assessing what would happen if I do not join this perpetual race to be among the coolest of orkut profiles, would it be termed blasphemous or sacrilege? Will writing be easier than the contemplation and deliberation? Should I be sleeping like most other adults as it is three am? Or should I, like other teenagers, be surfing porn websites, or talking to their boyfriends or girlfriends, or changing their MSN nicknames to cooler things. Changing their display pictures to the few pictures that hide their flat chests, grotesque noses, disproportionate behinds and short height and what not; so that they get complemented as they simultaneously chat with three other people. They’ll get their ‘beautifuls’ and ‘awwsums’, it would be rude for people not to do so. The human race is obliged to pump Helium into already inflated egos.

I am not expected to quail away and not exercise all my acumen, every bit of humor, sarcasm, and wit I posses. It is uncool to not try your best to be cool.The third most uncoolest thing to do after ‘wnna b fran4 casual sex’ and photos of Brad Pitt for display pictures. What if someone visits and reads my profile and then thinks that I am dyslexic? What if he (or or what if she is a ‘she’?!) scraps me that I should be banned from Orkut and calls me pea brained and that it is filled with african-grade dung instead of the cerebro spinal fluid?

Should I be replying and tell the ignorant portion of their cerebrum that it is a politically incorrect statement to make about Sudan. Do they know that half their I-met-you-once-at-that-refugee-camp friends die before they can accept their ‘friend requests’, because of no electricity to run computers?

Murphy, my spiritual guide, tells me that ‘if anything can go wrong it will’. What if i intentionally choose to keep this field blank and try to be uncool? Was he told in school that two negatives make a positive? Was he so brilliant that he never attended school, or was he brilliant because he never attended school? What if two negatives, clash with a third negative (in accordance with Murphy) creating an infinite loop? Will I be able to procrastinate time itself till Murphy decides what is going to happen?

If time does not really stop, then does it imply that Murphy was wrong? Does that mean that anything that can go right will go right (was that a lot of thats?). Will I rise to find myself in my Las Vega Condo with Katherine Heigl and Elisha Cuthbeth wearing a crown labelled ‘The Master of the Orkut’ ? Will I still want to unceremoniously obliterate ‘About me’.If Murphy was right, which I bet he was, will time stop? Would I have prevented the apocalypse? More importantly, will I be remembered for that? Famous enough to have official Orkut communities established in my name? Will the aliens save us? Will their females be hot? What if they are all androzygous? What races will we produce when we mate with them in that case? Will they let me name them ‘Adinosauraii’?

If nothing like this happens, would I be blamed for the depressing sad suicidal little existence you live? Is it my fault that your assignments ain’t completed because you were busy thinking of a hundred futile ways to impress your cute neighbor? That you pooped in your pants while trying to fart silently? Is it my fault that the earth the way it is? Maybe partly. Go, get your daily dose of Social networking. Keep feeding your alter egoes. Say ‘hey wssa’ even if you met them precisely 74.545 seconds back. Or are are you part of some propaganda to render IMs obsolete? Keep scrapping till they give you the ‘coolest social networker of the year’ award because you have more scraps than you can count; Orkut is your illusionary sanctum from the angst and misery you are drowning in, you know it. Do not blame my over-worked, caffeinated half of brain cells. I do digress and have a flair for the hyperbole.

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Good things & other good things

You know what feels good? Writing a post in the normal way. That would be using internet on your laptop and writing all this sitting with legs outstretched. While I still think it is unusual to use GPRS for the same on a mac as one’s primary connection (and only), but then nothing unusual would not make for normal. It took me a lot of effort to connect to the internet, a lot. There was nothing wrong on the settings from my side, nothing at all. Those wretched bastards made excuses which deserves another post. May their bosses give them hell, who in turn be troubled by their wives and may their children continuously pester them for expensive things.

This has strengthened my determination to set up an India-Mac community blog. People interested can mail me or leave their views in comments. Prateek (whom I must thank for helping out with the connection settings too) has agreed for the same. We do know about everyone being busy, but even if you contribute some articles, something is better than nothing, innit? I think I will start work on this after I complete my internship. This would be on 18th. 20th night is reserved for going to Ahmedabad. The morning of 21st reserved for buying and reading the one. I will be traveling eight hours each way so that I can read the book the day it is released. I could have got it the next day, but who wants that. If you think that I am among those crazy Potter maniacs, then FYI- I am one and proud to be one. Yeah so I should start the blog some-where around that.

Gotta go, just downloaded two eboks that I have been looking for a long time. I literally asked every bookshop in India, and there ain’t many bookshops in Dubai, no kidding. They charge as if you are not buying Hitchhikers Guide To Galaxy but looking for a ride to to the International Space Station. The books are the two that Jo wrote for charity. If anyone needs any of the HP books (including the extra two) then ask

A toast to mankind for inventing things like EDGE, GPRS, Mobile Phones, ebooks, and Harry Potter!

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