Nation of Rebels

iPod's are cool. So is hanging out at CCD and Barista. Watching F1 is for the knowledgeable and different and if you watch cricket, you are just a conformist, being manipulated by the media and the sponsors of the game.
It is this kind of "counter-culture" thinking that Heath and Potter question in their book titled "Nation of Rebels". They take you though the arguments given by the counter-culture activists(like hippies etc.) for using organic food, environmentally friendly cars etc. Then they very lucidly explain how these arguments are not what they are put out to be. That is to say that the very desire of humans to be different is the cause of consumerism.
Let's take F1 and cricket, for instance. People watch F1 because they think that cricket is too much sponsors and too little fun. So, to be different, let's watch F1. Whereas the matter of fact is that F1 is so highly dependent of sponsors that the chances of that being manipulated is much higher. However, such arguments are never put against F1 purely because it is different.
Nation of Rebels is like the blue pill in this matrix of too many ideas. For once, one is put face to face with plausible explanations for the way things are. Why people watch totally non-sensical soap operas and why fashion comes and goes? How are we being manipulated not just by the big corporations but also by activist organisations(and probably more so)? These are some questions that we all probably never think of but when faced with the explanations, the answers seem so glaring and the questions so important that none of them can be ignored. So I suggest to anyone who has the will to learn about the bitter realities of this world to read this book.

Corridor Cricket

The exact date of the conceptualization of Corridor Cricket is hazy but it happened sometime in January 2007. Ujjwal and Ady(Uncle) are the pioneers of this game.

The Setting

A "Nilkamal" plastic chair is used as the wicket. The chair is placed in the center of the corridor. Just a few paces from it must be a perpendicular aisle where an optional fielder(sometimes two) stands. Here the audiences may also sit and watch the exciting game.

The Rules

Gully cricket players might find the rules familiar but there are certain differences.

• A batsman is out only by the following ways:-
• Bold
• Catch Out
• One-Tip-One-Hand: Note here that any fumbling of ball whereby the catch is not caught directly after the tip without the use of any other thing than a hand is counted as not out.
• If the ball hits the wall directly
• If the ball hits the player below the waist three times(not necessarily in succession).
• For every successful hit, the batsman gets a run.
• The team making higher number of runs wins the game.
• The game must be played under corridor lights only. Any game during the day is strictly prohibited.

I'll post some pictures to make things clear, but I hope you get the general idea(oops, I hope Aakash does not read this ;).

Winning is Not an Option out Here!

It is a necessity. India is not a country where one can say that "at least I tried" or "I have found 10000 ways of not making a bulb". Nope! The kind of stigma associated with defeat and the desperate necessity of success in everything that one does ensures that the only those who tread the beaten path are rewarded. The world is so ruthless for the one who makes his own way that sometimes I wonder if its worth at all. I am sure that this question nags many other people. And the most apparent solution is to go somewhere where such an attitude(that of doing something new and innovative) is praised. I think that this is the main reason for the exodus of talented people from India. They say that nowadays things are changing. With booming economy, there are a lot of opportunities. I ask is there any room for innovation anywhere? The answer is a simple no. For all the big corporates that exist in India, none really is involved in any form of innovation. The reason? Well pursuing innovation is a risky business. And in this land of the conventional, such a thing is totally taboo.
I sometimes wonder what would have happened if Thomas Edison was born in India. Would he have emigrated and become a great scientist or would he have remained here and become a trader in lanterns?(Oh, I am sure he would not have invented the bulb because that required 10,000 failures!)

Sunscreen

Sunscreen by Baz Luhrmann is probably one of the best songs that I have heard. It is more of a lecture on what one should and should not do, but don't get deviated by my language to describe the song. It is a wonderful song to listen to and more so if one has the opportunity of hearing it with video. The song has a very somaish effect on the person who is listening. Hear it to believe it! Besides my thanks to Gunjan for making me hear this song for the first time.

Have Fun!

Now that's a message! Especially so if it comes from one of the most respected(and feared) professors around. The idea is simple, one cannot be best in something until he enjoys what he is doing. But when such a message comes from an experienced professor at his farewell, it makes one think. At least it did that to me after the farewell of Prof. R.N. Biswas, who I would call a perfectionist(how many 70 year old profs. have gutsto ask students for mistakes they make so that they can improve upon them?). I mean, for the first time I understood the importance of enjoying things that you do and doing things that you enjoy. I realised the amount of perfection it can bring and the amount of energy it can make one have. And after all, isn't life about being happy?