Meaning in life?

I've been reading lots of articles on the web lately. Most of them through pocket.com. When I finish one, I see links to several more and then go on to read some of them. Hours of timepass, if you know what I mean.

Fake Stories of Success and Recovery

I've done this many times before, and today I was at it again. I have a compulsive need to search for effective ways to treat or manage anxiety. I've been doing this for almost 10 years now.

Searching the web, I've read more articles and blog posts about anxiety than I can remember. I've read hundreds of success stories of people who apparently fought their way out of the mess that is anxiety and related disorders.

Getting nostalgic about... nostalgia!

It started when I was in college. By this time of the year, right around Diwali, a strangely nostalgic feeling would come over me. I could never point out what was I really getting nostalgic about, but I felt it anyway. It was poignant, as all nostalgia is, but it was also something else. It was beautiful.

Song Memories

I feel a really good blog post coming on and I'd better write it down before it fades away like a dream does after you wake up.

A Forgotten Picture

I would like to show a picture that I clicked more than 6 years ago using a smartphone camera. The phone was a Nokia E63, that was very closely a Blackberry knock-off. It was a very good phone of its time and I have good memories of it.

Back Home!

Well, a much delayed announcement as I've been back home for about three weeks now. 
Dubai was nice, overall anyway. But I was rather busy the most of the time, and lazy while I wasn't while I was there. That explains why I didn't even add a second post about my 'experience' in Dubai. No excuses, just plain lazy. I spent much of my free time watching YouTube and TV.
I went around a little bit and saw some nice things and places, though. Here's a link to my Google photos album if you'd like to see some photos. Dubai and Abu Dhabi

The Dubai Experience

Hello Everyone! :-)
I am in Dubai these days. Arrived here in the last week of July on a 2-month work-related visit. Out of the country (and my comfort zone), it has been an interesting experience so far. 

Having heard of Dubai's glamour and all things flashy, I'm finally getting to see the real Dubai as a commoner. Well, on the ground the picture isn't quite as colourful as tourism promotion commercials would have you believe. It's a city like any other: lots of super-markets and malls, well-built roads and pavements, buildings packed as close as possible, and huge crowds of hardworking common men and women going about their daily lives. 

The Force Awakens. Indeed!

I went to the latest Star Wars movie last evening. Like thousands others, I too had been waiting eagerly for the release, and wouldn't have missed it for anything.
Now come the obvious questions: how is it? (duh!), tell me more about it, etc, etc. Here's what I think of it, but I'm not about to give away any spoilers. Read on.

Remember this music-player?

Remember this?

A Plausible Solution.

As I mentioned in my last post, I often waste away a lot of my time sitting in front of the TV or my laptop, or even my phone. The general idea is to do 'nothing' as a means of recharging my batteries after a week of hard-work. But sitting idle does not work for more than a few hours. After that the lack of doing nothing except for staring at illuminated screens, eyes glazing-over, only adds to the lethargy and boredom.

Boredom.

When I'm not working, I'm often looking for something 'interesting' to do. It could be something to watch on TV, something to explore about on the internet, something to write, make, design, think-up/think-through, whatever. It could be anything, as long as its something that would snag and hold my interest. However, most of the time when I'm bored to death, I just can't settle on what this interesting thing should be. Because in that moment everything feels not 'exciting enough' for some unknown reason. 

Melancholy

Melancholy is good. Even though they won't quite admit it, most people enjoy melancholia more that the happy stuff. It's almost like a drug.

You take some and it gives you a bitter-sweet pain. But it's 'pain' and not 'happy', so you feel bad and sorry for yourself. It's so tempting, even addictive, to stay in that mood. You mildly feel like a victim, so the pressure to shake it off and dive into work, or take care of people, etc etc weakens a little bit. You tell yourself that you can slack off and do nothing. Even when you do manage to break out of this cycle of self-pity and inertia, you secretly crave to get back to it whenever you can. 

Photographs on Paper: the Old Fashioned Way.

Do you remember the times when photographs were seen on paper and not on back-lit screens? Many of us were quite young when we had to wait a few days to actually 'see' the photos from our latest vacation, a school farewell party, or an annual fest at college. Photos almost exclusively existed on paper. They were lovingly arranged in an album and stored away safely. When our friends and family wanted to see them, we couldn't just magically send them off: we had to meet in person. As the photos were passed around, stories behind them were shared, along with smiles and laughs, compliments, comments, often over some tea and snacks, in person and not expressed with emojis. We actually met and shared what we felt and thought to each other directly about the 4X6" (mostly) rectangles. 

A Word on Being 'Passionate'.

*Warning*

Intended sarcasm (and some cynicism) ahead. Proceed at your discretion.

How often have you heard people gushing about how 'passionate' they are about something? I'm sure you hear it quite a lot. Sometimes to the point where you can't help but wonder about the reasons why everyone else seems to be so very passionate, except yourself. You might have even wondered whether you apparent deficiency of it makes you a cold-hearted machine that simply can't feel the passion that apparently comes so naturally to everyone else. 

So Long, and Thanks for all the Inspiration!

We all loved him, and we loved him straight from the heart. An outstanding scholar, devoted teacher, brave-heart, passionate leader, and yet uncommonly down-to-earth and kind. Not to mention immensely popular. He truly was the proverbial 'rockstar'.

I've been a 'fan', like millions of others.

'Serial' Obsession.

We have all seen our mothers, aunts, sisters, and friends crazy for their favourite TV series. Almost of the elder ladies we know watch Indian soaps: the ubiquitous saas-bahu dramas, the one-good-lady-pitted-against-the-world types, besides a few other varieties. 

Now I'd like you to take a moment to recall the times you've joked, even mocked them for their obsession with these shows. I'm sure there have been times when you've shaken your head in disbelief at how deeply they relate, empathize, love, or hate the characters. They revel in their joy and cry with them in their times of despair. They cheer for them in their difficult times and curse in disgust for the evil character who is making their favourite heroine's life miserable. I could go on describing the relationship they have with these characters, but you get my drift, I think.

A Homestay Review

This is a review of the Chilipili homestay. We had a wonderful time there and I recommend it to anyone looking for a cozy place smack in the middle of a coffee plantation and more or less isolated from everywhere else. If that's good enough for you, then you might as well stop here. If you are curious about the details and pictures, read on.

Hiking

Wife and I just got back from the movie 'Wild'. It was about a woman who suffers through a lot in life and then sets out on a 1000 mile hike to find her strength. You can easily find and read the details online. 
As one might expect, the movie was all about the hike: the physical challenges, the dangers of hiking alone through woods, remote towns, and deserts, and experiences with people along the way.

A Pleasant Surprise!

For the past few days I've been strangely craving for some 'open' space. As in under open skies, some fresh air, and some green grass and trees, you get the drift. I thought I'd have to go someplace like Bannerghetta park or Nandi Hills to get any of the scenery I wanted to see. There is no such place close to where I live in Bangalore.

Or so I thought.

Home Alone - I

Wify left on a two-week official trip to the states this morning. That leaves me home-alone, with more time than I know what to do with. On the flip side, it gives me an opportunity to catch up with certain things that I've been meaning to do but just didn't have the time for, and do some quiet thinking on some others.

This is going to be a series of posts to share my experience of being alone at home, along with finding out if I really can keep my promise of doing justice to 'things I wanted to do', or simply waste the time away on TV, web surfing, and sleeping.