morning boy's letters on serious matters and commentary on funny things aplenty
Tell us about your first day at something — school, work, as a parent, etc.
Something?
I tried sending newsletters for the first time, a couple of days back.
What happened?
It looks like I did not conform to a certain template that makes my newsletter non-spam!
Yes, you have to conform, only then Shri Gmail will allow your precious words to reach the legit inbox. Otherwise, you and your words are destined for spambox.
Have you ever performed on stage or given a speech?
Often. No. Many times. But all that feels alienating now.
A few nights back, in succession, I dreamt of tunes. Musical dreams. Unique ones. I remembered one upon waking. And played it on my tongue for Juhi, for the fear that I would forget.
And forget I surely did. What I played, the short bit, was song-worthy. My assessment of course.
Dream of tunes!
What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year?
No no no no no!
I am not going to list these events. Listing is a necessity and a pain, all the same. And then the horror of recounting positive events!
I discovered Richard J Murphy on Youtube. And I happily watched 2 of his videos today. And he is so so so good in explaining a lot of things.
Watching good videos is a positive event?
Do check him out.
What are your feelings about eating meat?
Feelings are typically unpleasant.
But lions also eat meat. They do the killing themselves. They are the gods for their prey, in a way. Sometimes, gods fail but they succeed on enough number of occasions. So yeah, they do the killing.
Typically human meaters do not do the killing. It was a skill once well-spread. Now much less so.
I read somewhere that because of the fashion of meating there are places that have become lakes of pig-shit and humans have slipped into these lakes and drowned and died too.
Current? This moment? These 15 minutes?
People who encourage me through their efforts in pursuing my ideas, my curiosities?
My current most favorite people are those who made such a thing and made it possible for me to buy.
Amazing!
Meeting? The question must also state the time-limit for such a meeting, isn’t it?
I would like to meet many historical figures; is that greed?
Okay, I would like to meet Gutenberg, and if the meeting extends for years I don’t mind.
What is your favorite place to go in your city?
Couple of kilometers away from my residence, there is this huge garden with a long stretch of pathway paved with hard clay, and shaded with huge canopies of trees on the sides of this pathway. I haven’t done sprints there but I have had walks on different occasions.
What’s the first impression you want to give people?
I never thought about this.
But now that I am compelled to think, I want to give this impression:
We can have a good conversation and we can walk long while talking.
The trouble is I often meet people in places where I find them sitting and sipping and eating.
Worn by Sofi Thanhauser (Astonishing)
Chip War by Chris Miller (Astonishing)
I like these histories better than other kinds of histories.
There must be a place in some world where you can be a teenager for the longest time. That’s where I would live. With my friends.
It wasn’t called a subject.
I liked talking, playing, showing off, watching her face and getting good scores.
Invent a holiday! Explain how and why everyone should celebrate.
Say it is called National Fiction Reading Day. Will you read all day and meet friends to celebrate all that you read during the day?
That prompts me to ask, what is ‘celebration’? Reading all day? Or the partying following and connected to the fact that you read all day?
What are your favorite websites?
I can’t reveal it just like that. But Amazon is one since it allows me to look at plenty of book titles of all sorts.
Mind you Amazon isn’t the first in the list.
In fact, the first in the list isn’t even a website strictly (though there is a website to talk of), if I were to judge it based on how I use it.
If you could be made to interact with or query a database directly, and the amazing results show on your screen without a URL, the database becomes your favorite site, or website.
What historical event fascinates you the most?
‘the most’ in the above question ruins the question but helps me answer with something anyway.
All of history, all the events, down to the smallest ones, if sufficient details are available or accessible, offer plenty to be fascinated with. How much time do we have to go through them in sufficient details, go through our lives in sufficient details and survive all the same?
Rana Sanga’s personal physical condition, his arsenal, and his battles to defend and expand Mewar… A few years back, when I recounted all of that on a leisurely trip to Kumbhalgarh, I found myself in an unshakeable thrall!
Meanwhile, the historical event in my context is my exchange with a bot which throws fascinating titles of books at me to wonder and explore. Mind you, the event isn’t over. And there are plenty of titles that the bot hides from me, waiting for me initiate another query…
Be curious, be ready to ask a lot of questions, don’t mind playing at any time of the day.
Is that enough to be a kid at heart? I think so.
How much would you pay to go to the moon?
Considering the risk, the ones, who plan to make me go to the moon, must pay me a very handsome amount.
I love moon without being there.
What makes a good neighbor?
What all make a good neighbor?
That looks like a lot.
Who remembers all such things?
May be the first time I was made to put my signature on a dotted line, and the realization that this signature can make things happen.
Don’t I feel like a grown-up when I feel guilty?
Or, when I have to handle the fuss before taking a big decision? What would be a non-grown-up’s way of handling the fuss before taking big decisions? Fuss, or the handling of it makes one grown-up I guess. In which case, I grew up long long long back. But I do not remember the first time, as asked in the question. I can tell though that some moment of fuss while taking a decision preceded the moment of the first time I was made to put my signature on a dotted line, and the realization of the power of that signature.
I don’t know, am confused what exactly constitutes a grown-up. Foolishness abounds.
How much is million dollars?
I have 3 ideas at the moment dominating my thoughts:
I would give a million dollars to myself. Million dollars isn’t sufficient, or is it?
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