Alternate Reality

Reality, is sometimes not very real.

It’s just too easy to be in the good books of others: Just say ‘yes’ and keep listening to them.

Nobody actually bothers to check what they say. Both factual accuracies and logical accuracies. They just say what comes to their mind at that instant and expect that to get into Vedas! And the very next day, they say something totally different and still expect you to agree to it. Sometimes you agree because you yourself don’t know anything about the subject being discussed or you think by agreeing, the conversation might end faster! Especially when you are talking to your spouse, boss, parents, relatives, customers, vendors, colleagues – you get the drift – everybody.

“You know what is the best investment?”
“What?”
“Investment in Land. The land value keeps going up all the time”

You can’t really disagree to that. Unless you consider the sub-prime crisis, or the inflated land values based on perceptions. But then he continues.

“You know what I did?”
“…”
“I bought some land in the outskirts of the city”
“Oh”
“I took a loan for the full value, unlike others who take a partial loan”

There are two ways to react in that situation. One, tell him that taking a loan when he had enough money to buy the land by himself was the stupidest thing he has done ever in his life, considering the interest he needs to pay over time. That’s it, he would start talking about the origin of money, basics of economics and investment best practices for the next one hour. If you still don’t agree, your relationship ends there. Which is not very interesting. So, you politely nudge him –

“What is the rate of interest?”
“These rates of interest keeps fluctuating, you know. But even if you consider all the interest, I am still at a profit as the land value has doubled today”
“But you could have saved some money by paying for it upfront right?”
“That’s what I thought, but one of the bank managers, who is my friend actually, agreed to give the whole amount on loan. You know how hard it is go get a loan, and that too for the full value”
“But what did you do with the money you wanted to invest?”
“I bought another piece of land nearby, and both the properties are worth two times today”
“What an excellent idea – but anyone wants to buy it at that value?”
“Well, not now but let us wait for some more time – you know the area needs to develop a bit and some approvals need to be taken”
“The plot is not approved?”
“Well, its actually a long term investment. There is no point in selling immediately. I am planning to buy one more piece of land, I am looking for a loan”
” !! Nice investment strategy”
“If you want, I can introduce the broker”
“No, thanks”

That’s the way a relationship develops. Even better, if you take the number of the broker and buy a land very next to his land. Both of you become close relations and bonded for eternity!

So, with so many instances like the above happening in real lives, one gets bored and frustrated. And then talk about entertainment – both the TV and Newspapers produce content in-between advertisements. And those advertisements are actually more interesting than the content!! One tries Orkut, but is not able to go beyond 300 scraps even if a friend volunteers to donate scraps like scrap1, scrap2, scrap3,… etc, and in spite of two bogus accounts you have created to scrap to yourself! 🙂

It was at this point that I was introduced to Blogs. I found this medium to be an excellent way of escaping reality – It has become an alternate reality today and I am thankful to all my fellow bloggers who have not only been patient with some of my posts (Like Theory of beauty, for example!) but have also encouraged me, educated me, argued with me in this blog as well as their blogs. And some have also awarded me! So, I am passing on the awards.

I am passing the golden pan award to the following bloggers: Nita, Poonam, Raj, Axinia, Atanu Dey, One Blue Sky, Dhiren, Ketan, Vikram (An academic view of India), Chrysalis, Maami, Jabberwock.

I am passing the coolest bloggers award to Vishesh, Indrani, Sandhya (Maradhi Manni), Ashwathy, Vimmuuu, MSR, Oorja, Solilo, Rambler, Kokonad, Jarvarm, Achupichu (Ambi), Uniquely Priya, Smitha, 18,000 RPM, Lightning Strikes Everyday, Meditation Photography.

I am passing the Addicting blog award to Amit (Mashed Musings), Indeyah, Kanagu, Rakesh Vanamali, IHM,  Sakhi, Sahaja, Nimmy, Mathew, Reema, Brownphantom, Kislay, Heartcrossings, Ces’t La Vie, Doing Jalsa and Showing Jilpa, A common Man.

Destination Infinity

One small request: Disagree and contest more in the comments section, as all of you unanimously did with the Theory of Beauty post 🙂 .And yes, wishing you a Responsible and Happy Independance day.

Blog Etiquette

 

I have received the above awards (The Cup, Butterfly and Proximidade awards from Nita and Premio Dardos award from Renu) and as per Blog etiquette, I need to pass them on to fellow bloggers.

So, I give the Premio Dardos award to the following people:

1. Diary of Think Tank (Rahul): This is a blog hosted in Rediffiland, and the kind of writing he does is quite thought provoking. Excellent writing.
2. A Wide Angle View of India (Nita): A responsible Blogger who writes lot of unbiased views on serious topics. One of the blogs, where the comments can go up to even hundred, and hence a very healthy discussion happens on most topics.
3. 1000 Petals (Axinia): I have always wordered how someone born in Russia and brought up in East Germany and Austria can write on Eastern philosophy so well! She also writes on great people from Russia, Germany and also India.
4. An Alien’s thought’s about our planet (Raj): His analysis of major issues goes really deep and he does not hesitate to call spade, a spade.
5. Sit, Relax and Watch (Raman): He has this ability to write articles on so many different subjects, and yet, extract some morality out of it!
6. Meditation Photography (Suresh): Balanced perspectives with a touch of philosophy. And some of the best photographs, I have seen in his blog.
7. I love life So I Explore (Prerna): Interesting and frank analysis.
8. Nivi’s Space (Nivi): Some of her stories, are really good, especially when she conveys some message through them.
9. The life and times of an Indian Home Maker (IHM): Though I don’t subscribe to all of what is conveyed, her perspective on sensitive issues is too good!!

 I give The Cup to the following people:

 

1. Whatever Matters!!(A Bhutanese Blogger): You would definitely like to know the happenings in this near to perfect place, from a near to perfect Blogger. This blog is innocently blissful!
2. Awakening(Suchitra): Though she has stopped writing, you could always visit her site for the poems.eg. http://suchithewriter.blogspot.com/2008/09/perversion-of-poetry.html I have never read poetry written like this! Also read the ‘Muktha’ short story on her last post.
3. Daily Blog Tips (Daniel): An expert on SEO and things like that. His question answer series is very popular (In fact, I learnt how to link, from him!)
4. Maami’s Weblog: Be it her stories, her articles or anything else, it is just excellent. I have never seen an account on Chennai so beautifully written.
5. Jabberwock (Jai Arjun): If you are thinking if there is much of Indian writers writing in English, visit this site. You could get an interview or review of almost all the English books published in India!
6. Soliloquy(Aditya): While his writing is not extraordinary, his commenting is. He can argue on any point, persistently and convincingly!!
7. My Story ISB and Beyond(Ram’s Abode): A classical music treat, especially some of his lengthier articles on the nuances of Carnatic music.
8. Punchinello’s Chronicals: This author, has a very balanced sense of analyzing the society and everything else that matters in the United States.
9. Arjun Somanchi’s Blog: If it is about perspectives – he’s definitely got the right one. Nice articles that give you the alternate (truer) perspective.

I give the Butterfly award to the following people:

 

1. Doing Jalsa and Showing Jilpa (Krish Ashok): Humour, can never get better than this!
2. Mashed Musings (Amit): When he doesn’t write about Bollywood, he writes great stuff – but the number of awards at the Avant Garde, should tell more about him.  
3. 18,000 RPM (Dinesh Babu): He writes on normal topics. But makes the stuff so interesting to read. His proposed story for ‘Robot’ was really good.
4. Su (Sri Harsha): What ever he writes, he writes with authority. Even the comments. When he comments on other sites, he puts a lot of effort into it.
5. The Light Shines the brightest (Vishesh): Too mature for his age! He writes long poems with some exceptional implications and understanding (And he himself knows that his poems are long!)  
6. Rinksnbitts (Renu): A Blogger who not only writes responsible things, she also comments responsibly.  And she speaks her mind straight.
7. Straight Drive: I was impressed initially by his cricketing posts, but now following his entire blog. He writes frankly.
8. Redifining Oblivion (Rakesh): His pursuit of meaning and purpose of life through travels, book reviews etc. is evident in his blog.
9. My Experiments in Kitchen (Sahaja): The only cooking blog I follow. Her blog teaches the simpler dishes like Semiya upma and the likes, which are practical, more popular and easy to cook. She can read and understand Sanskrit – a rarity.
10. Anniyan (Pavan): I just read one of his articles – On the Aethist’s point of view on God, and was mighty impressed. Keep going!

 

Destination Infinity