Sorry, use the right word please!
Time matters and it matters more when you are fully aware. Could work in your favour. Or not. While waiting for somebody to arrive, you are aware of how bored you are. While watching a little-known movie that turned out to be spectacular, you are aware of how astonished you are. The basic difference between these two scenarios is the chemicals releasing in your brain. Waiting can be one of the most boring activities of all and yet, we spend a major part of our lives waiting for something to happen. In our anticipation lies our excitement. On the other hand, when you are watching a great piece of cinema, you are in the moment and are aware of how awesome visual treats can be. Although you are seated outside of the screen, you find yourself immersed in what’s happening inside the screen.
The general limit for a feature length film is 90 minutes or so. Of course, there are movies that last over two hours as well. Just like there are songs that cover more than four minutes. However, what’s interesting about good cinema is it stretches the concept of time. Think about it. If you don’t like a movie, you would have spent less time on it. Let’s say it was 110 minutes long but that’s it. You wasted only 110 minutes or so on it. But if you liked a movie that was 100 minutes long, you are going to spend much more time on it later, either through reading about it on the internet or spreading a word of recommendation amongst your friends and family.
Japanese language, like the German tongue, has a trove of words that can’t be expressed otherwise. For example, there is something called tsundoku for those who hoard books but don’t get around reading any of them. I collect books too but I won’t call myself a tsundoku because I don’t know why I collect books really. If it’s for the pleasure of having books which I can relish later, then it’s still fine. But it’s for the sheer shameless pleasure of collecting books just for the heck of it, then I make a terrible tsundoku. On this vulnerable note, has it ever happened to you that you start reading a book and you like it so much that you are worried that you might finish it and then will have nothing else to do but deal with the emptiness of your existential crisis? If yes, that’s the third category of tsundoku which we both belong to.
Content, like the fear of coronavirus, is everywhere around us. All you’ve got to do is pay attention. The first principle should be focused on finding yourself in your content; you ought to resonate with your content. Or else, you will be a clone of those you admire and that is the worst thing that can happen to your creativity. People in their early 20s reach out to me asking how to write better. They think I’ve cracked the code and I have to tell again and again that I’ve cracked the code only for myself. They will have to figure out for themselves. I often end up advising them to read and learn more. The masters of this field exist so that we can know by heart what it means to open our eyes. But it doesn’t mean that we only see what they show. It’s our duty to create our own vision and set our own language. There is a clear distinction between inspiration and instinct.
Words fascinate me. How they travel from one place to another, influencing people’s way of thinking and expressing, is remarkable. As you already know by now, I am obsessed with trivia and it recently struck me — I have an old habit of googling for the origin of words — that Kadar (of Arabic origin; remember Kadar Khan?) and Kedar (of Sanskrit origin; another moniker for Lord Shiva) both mean the same: powerful or strong. Amazing, isn’t it? Two names hailing from two different geographies that not only sound similar but also mean the same.
One of the main problems with online/offline discourse today is we don’t use the correct word for anything anymore. We just say stuff without acknowledging the impact our vocabulary has in perpetuity. Perhaps we don’t trust anything so we end up using the superlative at all possible scales. Why else would our generation depend so heavily on words like best, awesome, epic, lit, etc. to describe some of the most banal events? On a serious note, forget the nice parts, we don’t know the difference between two evils either. Which could explain why we are not sure whether we should call what happened recently in north Delhi. Some want to stick with ‘riot’ while others insist on ‘pogrom’. As mentioned earlier on this blog, India has a long sustained history with the R-word. As far as the P-word goes, perhaps the Jews must hold the moral authority on whether it applies here or not.
Do we even know whether we are hungry or thirsty? I am talking about people like me who spend most of their waking hours sitting at one spot, either on a chair or a bed. We are hardly moving, so why exactly should we consume more than two meals a day? We are hardly working, at least physically speaking. From various angles, one can clearly see and say that we are stuck. We walk with a purpose of allowing our phone to count our footsteps. It’s pathetic if you really think about it. The most basic of human maneuvers are treated as epitome of achievements. We want to sweat but not stink. We want to be lazy but not unfit. We want to drink water but aren’t sure whether we are thirsty. We look out of the window and wonder why is that pigeon not flying, especially when it’s one of the fastest birds in the world. Why can’t it just fly without looking drunk? Sorry, we are weird sedentary creatures.
I hate entitled people, particularly the parents of kids who don’t teach their offspring the downside of entitlement. But the holy grail of my wrath is safe in the hands of those who waste time. Wasting time is the worst of all wastage. We don’t have an endless supply of time so it’s necessary we make the most of what we are endowed. Anybody can die anytime and hence, doing only what we feel like doing is one way to look at this problem. However, it’s not always practical. Sooner than later, you’ll have to adjust to the vagaries of your environment. And you will find yourself wasting your time with those who aren’t even aware that they are wasting theirs.
If you too don’t like your voice, there is science behind it: you are a very good listener. The sound you create from your mouth reverberates inside your body and what you hear is not exactly what others are hearing. Yet, with this knowledge in my pocket, I want to come up with a podcast. It will be a bit different from the popular ones though. Instead of inviting 3-4 people to discuss a topic, I will be speaking alone. Yes, just me. Venting and ranting on a subject for exactly 9 minutes. Why 9? Because nobody should tolerate my voice for 10 minutes.
He: “I love you.”
She: “I abhor you.”
He: “But why?”
She: “I don’t know. I just love how ‘abhor’ sounds.”
