Need for the caste system - i

A friendly Brahmin giving a watercooler sermon;

- Drona saw Ekalavya misusing his amazing talent on a dog

The last of Embarrassments

[At Bengaluru airport]
[Lady at the counter] : Oh, your ticket has been booked in the name of Mangalore
[I]: Yes
[Lady at the counter] : Mangalore :-) :-)
[I]: Yes
[Lady at the counter] : Mangalore is a place name. No? :-) :-) :-)
[I]: Yes
[Lady at the counter] : Your place name is given in the ticket.
[I]: ...
[I]: Mangalore is my second name.
[Lady at the counter] : Oh, don't mind. I thought it was a mistake.

Closing the blog

May be because of my less intelligence I'm bored. The motivation for this blog was to improve my English skills. By my own assessment I have been a spectacular failure in that objective. I don't like my own words. And five years is too long a time for that project and it has to be scrapped.

Thank you readers and thank you for your comments! I'll keep this blog open for one more day so that you know that I'm closing it.

On the streets of Shanghai

Iranian: Where are you from?
I: ...
Iranian: I thought you are from Pakistan.
I: ...
Iranian: Yeah, India and Pakistan, the same...You have Kashmir ... the same ...he he he
I: ...
Iranian: Yes, I'm from Tehran
Iranian: Yeah, It's bad in Iran. I mean it's not bad. It's good. But yes, it's bad sometimes.


Chinese Muslim*: Are you Musalman?
I: ...
Chinese Muslim: Naga? (... I didn't get this clearly)
I: ...
Chinese Muslim: India... There are Musalmans in India.
I: ...
Chinese Muslim: I'm a Musalman.
I: ...
Chinese Muslim: Yes, Chinese.

[Not many incidents. That's disappointing.]

*Muslims are the flavour of the season in Shanghai. Almost everybody talked about people who don't eat pork. Nobody talked about people who don't eat beef. They even showed interest in Muslim presence in India.

Devolution - ii

So the teenagers who indulge in risky behaviours are in fact more matured than those who don't?

"We were surprised to discover that risk-taking was associated with more highly-developed white matter – a more mature brain,"

Additionally, it has been shown that the period of mid-adolescence (ages 15 through 19) is the time when teens are more likely to begin high-risk behaviors such as drinking, abusing drugs or driving recklessly.

Things still gets worse for non-risk taking teenagers. The researcher further rubs salt into wound by stating that risky behaviour drives early brain development if it's not the other way round. Both ways not much respite for non-risky teenagers.

Berns says more studies need to be done to determine if early brain development predisposes someone to engage in risky behaviors, or if the risky behavior drives the maturation of the brain

.

I thought at least there was some respect from that angle for those years. Now even that is gone.

Via Science Daily

Death of a talking topic

Eye Doctor: Here is your new prescription. You need to add cylinder too.
I: You see I'm wearing under corrected glasses. I think I'll continue with this.
Eye Doctor: But why do you want to wear under-corrected glasses? You would have loss of vision.
I: My previous doctor suggested that I should never go for the exact power lenses. The under corrected glasses would in fact keep the eye power constant. I'm satisfied with it all these years so I would like to continue with it.
Eye Doctor: But those glasses don't have cylinder too.
I: I'm aware of this part. The one before my last doctor had asked me to add it to the lens. However, I started getting headaches after that. My last doctor told me that was not required. Probably, I should stick with my present prescription.
Eye Doctor: No, you shouldn't get any headache. But if you are not willing you can continue with the old prescription.
I: My eye power hasn't changed all these years. I think I should continue with that.
Eye Doctor: But...after 21 years, your eye power won't change much anyway.
I: It won't?
Eye Doctor: No, it won't.
I: ...
Eye Doctor: So, I suppose this is not required and you'll continue with your old prescription.
I: No, I think I'll go with the new one.

Devolution

One of my friends said one can't measure his own fall. We can neither gauge nor can talk to our own selves. We need to be pointed out. Another said the fall should not be checked. It has to be allowed to reach its logical end and that is the only way for a new starting point. I would propose, every fall creates its own starting point. And when it reaches its logical end there is absolutely nothing left to live.