Myriad thoughts on a million things
Life
Life‘ville’ !
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‘Farmville’ is the new thing on Facebook with tons of people playing the game. I’ve been on it for some time now. I am currently at the level 15! (That’s like the mid stage of the game). The more one plays the game, the more hooked one gets to it. It got me thinking that the designers of the game must know the human psychology quite well. How else can a game about repetitive planting, ploughing and harvesting become the new fad with almost everyone on Facebook?
Come to think of it, the game is very much like life itself. You have to start from scratch with basic stuff (Level 1 with basic seeds and land). You have to gain experience to get to the next levels. The little incentives that keep you going on (and get through the repetitive planting, ploughing & harvesting parts) are the new things that you can plant and buy with each new level that you gain. Isn’t that very much like life, where one keeps at the regular routines just to get to the next level in life so that one can get the little incentives it offers(like the bigger house, bigger car, bigger TV, etc)?
And that’s just not it, in ‘Farmville’ you have neighbours and neighbours’ neighbours whose farms you can visit. ‘Farmvillers’ can usually be seen checking out everyone’s farms (and of course helping them out) and wondering how some of them have pets, trees and decorations that their levels don’t offer! Very much akin to life, people with neighbours / friends at a higher experience level (or higher station in life) are recipients to special gifts that are only available to the people with the higher levels of experience.
Well, like life the game definitely is… and I guess that’s what keeps people hooked to it. Oh, gotta go now… my ‘super berries’ are ready for harvesting! J
Your Internet Presence
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I was reading an interesting update from silicon India. It said that 42% people in offices spy on their colleagues! Here is the link for the article
It got me thinking about how we leave a very personal imprint on the internet that is just waiting for anyone and everyone to look up. Social & professional networking profiles, blogs, tweets… there is so much out there about you that people have access to in order to know you better (if not spy!)
It made me also think about the impact of personal opinions that one expresses on the net on the way potential employers view you. I know of some recruiters who look up networking profiles to get a better understanding of the candidates that they shortlist. I’m not sure it’s a widespread trend now, but I’m sure it is catching up fast. Some people may blog/ comment about work that they are doing in an unflattering manner (maybe in jest)… does that mean they could be overlooked by recruiters? How careful should one be with their personal content, comments and profiles on the net? Sometime ago I read about a teenage girl in UK who got fired because she made a FB status update that said she was bored at work! There’s even a ‘youtube’ video about ‘how your FB profile could get you fired’.
These examples may be a little extreme, but I can’t help wondering if this explosion of online action with networking, tweeting, blogging is slowly and steadily blurring the lines between who we really are and who we pretend to be at work.
WAR iN PEACE time!
2I got shot 8 times and lived to tell the tale. One can probably never say that in real life…. But with Paint ball all is possible!!
Paint ball is a relatively new phenomenon in India, so some of you might not know what it really is… for those who do know, please skip the next para!
Paint ball is a simulated battle game. Participants are divided into warring teams, given some armour (as in paintball proof vests), face masks, guns and some ammo (as in pellets made of paint). The paint bullets are organic, washable and edible (though please do not try and eat it because they taste horrible… and don’t ask me how I know!). There is a paintball arena, usually it is artificially made with various obstacles… but the one we went to was 100% natural with bushes (some with real thorns!) , boulders and the works. Participants run around, trying to shoot each other, dodge paint bullets and try to keep alive.
There are of course certain rules to the game. Gear to be worn at all times in the arena, no shooting at less than 15 feet range, if you got shot once, you’re dead and you need to raise your hands and walk out of the arena once you’ve used up your ammo (each person gets 20 paint bullets).
But hey, when it’s a bunch of newbies, who cares about the rules! Sometimes people get so excited that they shoot at their own team mates, shoot at near range and generally give the referee a tough time! It’s a little close to the real thing, because paint bullets hit at close range do sting and leave nasty blue black bruises. I thought I got shot 5 times, but as the day passed, I discovered more and more blue black bruises all over the body. So far I’ve discovered 8… J
People hide behind the bushes/ boulders/ inflatable obstacles and mark their preys. It’s a little bit like Quake… hide and shoot…dodge and run…made me want to shout out a gruff ‘Humiliation!!’’ every time I got a close surprised hit!
Its great fun and also a great stress buster! There’s nothing like expending your frustration on all things unfair by rampaging around and shooting anything in sight!
In Mumbai, you can play paintball at Yuyutsa’s (an adventure sports company) arena in Thane (in the beautiful hills of Yeoor). A game of about 20 minutes would cost you Rs 250 and you have to play a minimum of 2.
Different kind of problems
1A few minutes of telly watching in canada and one would get to see multiple adds on debt counselling, bankruptcy help, help with bad credit history and cash for jewellery! I mean I know there’s a global meltdown and people across the world are adversely affected… but this?!
Apparently this is ever quite so normal here…. People going bankrupt all the time, not being able to control their credit spend. From what I understand, medical costs can often spiral and cost people their livelihood. It’s quite the experience listening to cash man’ Joe go on about being able to give you instant cash for your jewellery and Mr. Aggrawal (attorney at Law) encourage you to file for bankruptcy in order to get out of your debt trap! (He even had a gujju chick intone in gujju how it is marvellous to get legal help from a gentlemen who can speak in her very own language!)
I thought emerging economies like India had problems… of population, of poverty, of development. And that our more developed counterparts had at least the livelihood issues figured out. But I guess everyone has problems… only different kinds.
The Real Moment of truth: People will do anything for Money
7As you might have gathered by now the three things I enjoy and write most about is going places, reading & TV shows!! So here’s a second blog on a TV show that is airing currently on star world. It’s called the Moment of truth and it runs with a tag line – ‘is there an Honest American left?’
For those unfamiliar with the show, let me lay out the format….The premise of the show basically is that Participants are asked to take a polygraphic test of 50 personal questions before the show. They don’t know if their answers to those questions are true or false and during the show 21 of those 50 are picked and they are asked to answer them as true/ false. If they get correct answers for each of their questions they can win up to half a million US dollars.
I’ve seen some episodes of the show and have realized that its popularity is hinged on the fact that participants are washing their dirty laundry in public and who doesn’t love some gory details of personal indiscretions?! It’s not so much of the viewer greed for gossip and need to pry into the personal lives of individuals they don’t know that bothers me so… it’s the readiness with which participants, for the greed of Money, answer questions that undoubtedly scar their relationships with their loved ones.
They are shows in which participants have agreed to cheating on their spouses, regretting marrying their spouse, hating their parents, stealing money, peddling drugs, Sleeping with over 100 partners and what not. It surprises me that people would be ready to hurt their families and friends through their gory disclosures on national television in order to make some easy money.
It’s not as if these people don’t know that they would b expected to answer these questions. They’ve already been asked the questions…! They come with full knowledge of what they are going to have to reveal and they are ok with it!! And this show is wildy successful in the US. People who have been shared the dirtiest secrets have become like celebrities…. Not only have they won money, they’ve become household names… chat show hosts are asking them to come over and share their dirty secrets in more details. Jeez. It saddens me that people support this kind of thing. Are these lessons we want to propagate to masses and to our kids? It’s ok to say whatever, hurt who ever, as long as you make lots of money!
I cannot think of another prime time show that destroys our social fabric more and yet no one seems to be saying anything/doing anything about it.
Smoke free partying…. Finally!
0October 2nd dawns and India is to go smoke free! Yayyee… finally!! Smoking is going to be illegal in all public spaces. Those include pubs, restaurants, stations, movie halls etc. (any place that requires more than 20 people to congregate in a closed space)
The effective implementation of this ban would enable non smokers to finally lead a normal life! Being a non smoker in a group with smokers is like suffering from some kind of handicap. When you crinkle up your nose, they look at you sympathetically (like they might be sorry that you’re missing the fun) and try and make you comfortable with a ‘I hope it’s not bothering you too much’.
It’s even worse when you’re at a pub…. With that much smoke holed up in a room, it doesn’t matter that you don’t smoke, the tar is already making its home in your lungs and you’ve lost a few years of your life. A few hours in the smoky pub and you know every inch of your clothing and hair is going to smell of the dank smoke. I have almost become unsocial and don’t feel like hanging out with friends in pubs/disc because it would take too much effort to sit in a smoky room for a few hours and feel like you’re having fun. I even tried a silent protest wherein once I sat in pub with a handkerchief tried around my face and nose… but I had to give that up due to insistent friends who couldn’t bear to be seen with someone who was looking like the Taliban.
I was there in the UK when it went smoke free last year (2nd July 07). And even with the Smokers raising hue and cry about it, a large majority heaved a relieved sigh. The government even reported that within 2 months of the ban, the sale of tobacco products had fallen 21%! In the UK, the usual pub wouldn’t be more than a few square meters big (atleast in the city I was in) and before the ban I would often just choke walking by one of open doors of the pub! Since it became smoke free, I found that I was more willing to hang out in them and really enjoy myself!
In most countries, and Wikipedia cites over 25, smoking in public places is banned. I can’t wait till it happens in India and hope that we are able to implement it. Non smokers can finally have a life and not feel like the outcasts!
Apparently Bhutan is the only country which has banned the sale of tobacco products. I don’t know why more countries don’t follow suit. I mean if it is illegal to kill yourself, then why is it ok to kill yourself (and others in the closed spaces with you) slowly?
Standing Babas!
9I’m currently reading Gregory David Robert’s ‘Shantaram’. It’s an interesting book, albeit slow and meandering, but interesting none the less. For me, having stayed in Mumbai for a bit, it is especially more interesting as it chronicles many fascinating things about Mumbai that I did not know / have never heard of. One of these being the Den of Standing Babas!
When I read the bit about them in the book, I was really intrigued! Babas or Sadhus as they are commonly known in India are religious men who renounce everything material in their search for nirvana. The book records that the standing Babas are men who have taken a vow to never sit down. They do everything standing up (sleep, eat and yes, even their number 2s! They do that in a sitting chair position, not taking the weight of their feet). They are of a belief that if they suffer enough pain in this lifetime, they would have repented for their sins and would be able to escape the mortal cycle of seven births and be one with god (as in get moksha). The book shares that there is a place in Mumbai where these babas come together, share kashmiri hash and walk around/swing to devotional music in a mesmerized smoked up haze.
Shantaram also chronicles how these babas endure crushing pain, where in the beginning their legs start to swell up (due the blood not being pumped properly) with their veins jutting out and then over time how their legs become thin sticks with only a transparent film of skin on them. A really moving picture… but I was not sure whether the den of the standing babas really existed or if they were a materialization of Robert’s fertile imagination. I didn’t think they really existed because I could not believe that humans could be capable of enduring such torment for the promise of something that might not really be there.
So I did some research on the net on them and found that they really do exist! There is a now some info available about them on the net… I think they became some sort of celebrities after their mention in Shantaram. I found a few entries by visiting firangs on travel sites that asked about info where one could find the den of standing babas!! (One query mentions that he had read about the adventures of Shantaram and wanted to do a list of things that Robert’s had done in the book!) Their new found stardom has the ‘standing baba’; now even defined in Wikipedia. But for me the one conclusive proof that they do exist came as a you tube video by a Music channel anchor Shenaz interviewing some of these Babas. Check out the video.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojeR1fOKv_A
It’s amazing how these people, and young people at that (one baba in the video is just 35 yrs old) have given up everything in this world and are enduring a life time of incredible pain in their faith of a better afterlife. Makes you wonder….Would God rather reward humans who inflict self pain (and contribute nothing much else to the world, society, the people they live with) with nirvana and have normal people who are just trying to be good honest human beings bound in trails of earthy life before they are allowed in his realm?
Hmm… that is the eternal question of afterlife I guess. We’ll probably have to wait till someone makes the superest ever Super Computer (something like the ‘Deep Thought’ from ‘Hitchhikers Guide the Galaxy’) before we can come by the answer to ‘Life, the Universe and Everything’. Ha!
Instinctive Racism or Thought Through Typecasts?
4It’s been some time since I read Malcolm Galdwell’s ‘Blink’. At the time when I read it, I thought it was an eye opener. I especially liked his stories/ examples on how instinctively, without even knowing it, we make decisions about people, races, and things in the blink of an eye. In the book, some of his stories highlighted how black people in the US experience instinctive racism due to the type cast expectations/ views that white people have of them.
I didn’t think of the book again till a few days ago. I follow the show ‘Are you smarter than a 5th Grader’ that is currently being aired on star world (mostly because it makes me feel smart…. You have to see the Indian version to realize that the Indian level of required competence for the show is really much higher than the American) Jeez…! There I go blinking and type casting. Sorry.
So anyways, like I was saying I watch the show quite regularly and one day Alana (the one black kid that is part of the 5 member class) gave two wrong answers to consecutive questions. And of course the participant who was banking on her answer to stay in the show had to leave. It got me thinking…the show definitely has a way of fixing some answers and getting the kids get some of them wrong (it would appear very unnatural if they got everything right every time) and I started to notice which kids got how many wrong answers… and viola! For every wrong answer by a kid, Alana got more answers wrong. Was it coincidence? Was Alana not as smart as the other whit kids? Or were they making Alana get the maximum answers wrong because there is a general belief that black people are not so smart? I even started to notice that contestants tended to pick Alana early in the game, as they expected the easy questions early on.
It made me think of ‘Blink’… because I’m not sure if the producers of the show planned on doing this or instinctively every time they were decided who would get answers wrong, they think of Alana.