Month: August 2018

The amount of information that is available in the world today that we are unaware of is a phenomenon that astounds me so much, it’s difficult for me to find the words to express the sentiment.

New person has followed blog.

And is unknown to me. Such a nice feels.

Found this joke of an article: https://thewire.in/government/ugc-wants-all-universities-to-ban-the-sale-of-junk-food-on-campuses

I am currently eating Cup Noodles and some Lays. Why does UGC care about all this now? Funny business.

I think picking toiletries is the toughest task any male has to undertake. Scratch that. Any person.

I go into the store and I am perplexed at all the choices. There are too many choices. Today, I had to pick shampoo, soap, and toothpaste. Standard. 5 minute job.

But exam time. So naturally I wanted to waste more time in the store.

So I looked through all the options once. First round done. I turned away and got distracted by Oreos.

I consumed the Oreos, but it was the Oreos that consumed my memory. I had no memory of all the options I had. So I gave it a once-over. Second round done. This felt like exam revision only.

Then I decided to segregate. Shampoo first. Some 50 varieties they had, okay? And different sizes also. How am I supposed to predict how much shampoo I will use? Why so many sizes in the hostel store? No need.

So I decided to buy a big bottle. And decided to buy one according to hair type: normal. (my hair is dry but I’m too embarrassed to admit that to myself.) Sadly, that reduced the number of options to 40.

I was tired.

So I decided to choose soap.

Soap also some 50 variants they had. First I had to figure out if I wanted bar soap or body wash. Then I had to figure out scent that I wanted. Then I had to figure out if I had brand preference, or “skin type” preference.

Too much work.

So I decided to choose toothpaste.

See this was easy. They had Patanjali and Colgate. I have brand loyalty. So I picked Colgate. That too some Salt thing. Yum.

This soap and shampoo thing was a conundrum.

I walked out with the cheapest things in the shop so now I have Kesh Kanti shampoo and Sandalwood Soap.

I am going to smell like sanskaar for one month.

Watch out Gujarat. Mosranna is no longer NRI.

The most amount of physical activity I do during exams is walking to the washroom.

That is incredibly, incredibly sad. Wow.

Just think about that for a minute. Let me paint you the picture.

My physical exercise during examinations is realizing I need to pee, walking 50 metres to the toilet, peeing and walking 50 metres back. Maybe, 10 times a day?

That’s 1 kilometre covered in walking to the toilet guys.

I walk 600 metres to go write my exam and come back.

And 400 metres at most, per meal.

It appears that the importance of the washroom in my life can no longer be understated. Today, it provides me relief, an arena for me to do my vocal exercises and tune my baritone, and the opportunity to shed calories (in more ways than one).

Man, juvenile humour is the best.

Mosaranna out.

Haila we have somehow reached 50 blogposts. Are we proud and/or happy? Not one bit. Why? Because we are writing 7 blogposts a day almost once a week. Too much thinking and too much typing for one day. Hand cramps happen off.

There’s this amazing value to repetition that is intangible. I can’t explain it, but if you notice, this blog has a recurring pattern: I will crib about not writing, I will write, then I will crib about curd rice or rasam, eventually I will make some funny musings, and then I will stop writing.

That cycle repeats itself. It’s programmed in my brain. I actually want to do a statistical breakdown of how many of my posts mention rasam (and, in what contexts.) I will develop the code to do this for me. I’m too lazy to read my own posts and search for these words.

Similarly, I enjoy electronic music because of how repetitive it can get. I was explaining this to someone the other day – and that repetition, it’s what gets my brain going. It’s why I really love listening to things on loop while working. Not the same song, maybe, but definitely the same playlist.

That way your brain subconsciously enjoys what it’s listening to, while not impacting the way you’re working.

At this juncture, it’s crucial to explain how useful wireless technology is. I did not understand how much I would love it till I received a pair, but wireless headphones are the greatest thing mankind has invented. I’m calling that today. I can listen to stuff playing on my laptop while going for a walk to fill water and I think that is beautiful.

I can listen to stuff on my laptop while lying on my bed! Without wires.

I love it.

Okay also here is scientific explanation for why our brains love repetition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzzmqUoQobc

In continuation of this e-mail thing.

Today I received an e-mail that started off with “Dear Mosaranna”, and I cried. I have half a mind of writing back to my friend saying this has caused emotional trauma, but the tears are purely of joy because I am uncertain of when I can eat good mosaranna again. 😦

I also have half a mind to change the name of this blog to Mosaranna’s Musings. Maybe when I’m older and have more sophisticated thoughts aside from “How many hours can I spend on my bed today?”

Imagine the evolution. Curd Rice Daily to Mosaranna’s Musings: The Evolution of an NRI who embraces his Kannadiga self.

Wow. I’d buy that book.

Tell me if you want a signed copy now itself. Otherwise you will have problems later. Then don’t come crying saying “Oh but we are your friends please give us signed copy.”

I am not Congress party. I will not show this favouritism.

Thinking of writing this book.

So I scrolled full e-mail and it ends with Uppinkai.

*whimper*

*tears*

I really need to get some home food in me soon. But you know what the worst part is! I’m not homesick. I just want access to that food. I wish I had a kitchen. Would’ve 100% made food.

 

I think e-mails are the greatest form of social communication that are available to mankind. Granted, receiving a letter still gives me more happiness, but it’s rare that people actually take time out to send letters.

Hence, I will do a millennial thing (wow, I’m using youth lingo), and compare the joy of receiving a letter to the joy of e-mailing.

I still recall how overjoyed I was at registering for my first e-mail account. Back in the day, Yahoo! was still the top search engine and the default on Internet Explorer if you used Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo Messenger. My grandfather had a Yahoo! account, and as a consequence, considering that he was responsible for my technology education, I ended up getting one too.

That sequence of events is one I remember very, very clearly.

So, it’s 2003/04, right? And Tata’s chilling in Dubai on what I think is his second trip to the city. We’ve just come back from a walk, and I’m drinking juice on the green sofa we have (which my parents would have really not appreciated), and watching Magic’s Greatest Secrets: Revealed, while it’s being recorded on a VHS Tape on AXN. Post that, we opened up the laptop, and I got around to doing some Typing Tutor. I detested it, but I pretended to enjoy it because it gave me a chance to play around on the laptop – which, at that age was all I wanted. I think Typing is one of those things my generation picked up pretty automatically, as opposed to the previous generation learning from a typewriter and immediately adapting those skills to the keyboard layout we have today. But that’s for another time.

On that day, Tata decided it was time for me to get an e-mail ID. I was so pumped. I could do so much (I didn’t know what, but the excitement of something new was real.) We opened up Yahoo! and he asked me whether I wanted a “yahoo.com” ID or not. I rejected the idea instantly. Then I saw a “yahoo.co.uk” option. Being the Anglophile I am, there was no way I wasn’t going to get me one of those. So I did. And that’s where my interwebs journey began.

A couple of years later, my dad moved to India, and he was on Gmail – so for the sake of convenience, I decided to open an account there as well. This was back when Gmail had the “XXXX GB of space (and counting….)” advertisement on the sign-up page – to try to get us to sign-up. I fell for the bait, hook, line & slinger. And Gmail opened up my world like nothing else had.

My first RuneScape account (of 5), my Club Penguin, my SoundCloud. Everything was linked to it. I didn’t get many mails back then – just a lot of GTalk chats. But every single mail was one I spent time reading.

Which brings me to my point. Nowadays, I don’t read half the mail I get. Because it’s useless spam I’m unable to unsubscribe from. Like Jabong.

I bought 1 pair of shoes 5 years ago for a classmate’s birthday. And I haven’t been able to unsubscribe from “Summer Stylezz” since. My life, man.

So receiving e-mails from people makes me really happy. Especially ones I need to communicate responses to in order to continue the conversation. I’m happy to report I have two e-mail friends, whom I no longer WhatsApp (except for “When can we meet?” or “Are you buying me idli today?”).

If you want to be a part of this clique, I invite you to send me an e-mail. The ID is tejasrao11@gmail.com

Go for it!

It’s exciting to procrastinate writing a daily blog. It’s also very tiring, mind you, but it’s exciting because sitting down to write offers me a chance to think about how wonky my week has been that I haven’t given myself enough time to type, what, 100 words or so on this digital space that is mine.

I have no excuse.

It took me a prolonged period of time to understand what Independence Day actually meant. As an NRI, I don’t think you fully learn to appreciate Indian history – in any sense, pre-colonial, and post-colonial, unless you study in an Indian school – and I wasn’t one of those NRI kids.

My History lessons focused on personalities – I ended up learning about the lives of Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Napoleon, and so on, while slowly picking up the context and constructing a timeline around when they were born. It helped me understand a bit of how the world developed. I thought I’d have to work significantly harder after moving back to India, but my school ended up teaching me Ancienct Greek and Roman History, and not much about India per se. After which I dropped History altogether.

Essentially, for an extended period I was ignorant about the circumstances that caused a day like “Independence Day” to be “celebrated”. What was worse, was that coming from the UAE, you celebrate “National Day”, which is sort of like a Foundation Day where each Emirate leader decided to come together and put aside their differences. It seems pretty peaceful to a kid. No revolutions, very little bloodshed in the process. Just a commonality of vision.

And, for a very, very long time, I felt that most countries were “birthed” the same way, so to speak.

That began to change when I slowly figured out how ignorant I really was. I couldn’t identify national leaders, couldn’t identify my own national identity. Today, I’ve learnt to scoff and understand that I find the “nationalism” business (it is a business to me) a little overrated. But when I was in 11th, I found it really confusing. Especially having lived here for 4 years (at the time) – I didn’t understand why exactly I couldn’t identify with these things.

So, I read. Which seemed like the only answer to the confusion in my head. I think my mum was equal parts confused, equal parts proud because I started picking up heavy non-fiction books around 12th especially.

My reading solved very little, initially, to be very frank. Yeah, sure, I now had a more concrete timeline of events, but not much else.

To me, Independence Day was still this day flag hoisting happened, I sung my national anthem, ate some sweets, and then went home to watch “Gandhi” (the Ben Kingsley movie), because of course, that was one of the only English movies every single channel would choose to run. My other picks were either Swades or Chak De! India.

Exemplars of the national spirit.

But other fond memories I associated with Independence Day were things like visiting my grandmother’s old college – because I used to inevitably be in India everytime on Independence Day. I’d fight with them about what to wear, because all I wanted to wear was something comfortable. (That I had worn 109482 times on the trip already.)

Anyway, I digress.

Today, I’ve learnt Independence Day has become this day of over-enthusiasm. Over-enthusiasm both in terms of “patriotism” and in terms of the criticism people choose to establish against the country. It’s this mass day where one half of the population believes it’s the best day to tell India exactly what remains to be achieved, while the other half of the populace believes nobody should tell India how to live her life.

And that’s the problem, for me.

I think experiences like nationalism and patriotism and these concepts are things that occur differently to different people. A country is an identity that is thrust upon you when you are born – and you choose to embrace it (or not) as you grow and change. It shouldn’t be something that is forced, nor something that is given a singular direction. No one group or community should ideally be allowed to dictate how a person chooses to celebrate his or her identity.

And this is true across all forms of identity – not exclusive to Independence Day.

I know that sounds supremely idealistic, but it’s what my brain believes.

The crucial thing to remember however, is that History has taught us the identity of a few national leaders – so much so that we often forget the others who participated in the Independence struggle, and what their stories are. Rani Gaidinliu is an excellent example (thank you, 3000.)

On Independence Day, it’s a useful reminder that a lot of people had to fight for our freedom from colonial rule.

And a useful reminder that there are certain freedoms guaranteed to us as a result.

How you choose to celebrate and find your national identity is something unique to you. Just try not to hurt people in the process, is all.

Additionally, on Independence Day, it’s probably useful to remember that being a colony had lots of pros and cons. India would’ve been very different without the Brits – and recognizing that has helped me in some ways. Maybe it’d help you too.

Happy Independence Day, folks.

I love how diverse people are, because it means that there’s always something to learn from the people you interact with. Subjectivity can be a beautiful thing, and a cause for a lot of overthinking and analysis – especially if you don’t enjoy irritating people (generally speaking), but you end up realizing how differently people respond to different situations, and I think that’s phenomenal.

Wow, that was a very long sentence.

My friendships with people develop so distinctly from each other. Meeting new people, for me, is such a unique experience, and I’m so privileged to be in a position that allows me to continually get that feeling.

Aside from all the gossip one can offer, the distinctive circumstances in which every individual develops means that there is constantly something to pick up from the people around you.

I find that pretty amazing.

I also find it really, really cool that friendships are so different from each other. You could have a friend that you sit with in silence, or one that you’re continuously talking to. You could have friends who share the same experiences as you, or friends who are vastly different in their tastes and expectations.

You could also be one of those people who enjoys their own company so much, it’s immaterial to you how many people are around you – I know I’m sometimes one of those.

All of this just makes me gasp in awe. I’m not entirely sure why.

 

My sleep cycle has gone for a complete toss, but that means that I have more waking hours to think about things I want to rant on and ramble about on this blog.

It’s pretty strange that society becomes a barometer for things that you want to do after a while. That’s a loaded statement, so I’ll take a bit to explain what my brain is thinking right now. People come to a place like University with very very different ambitions: some are here with defined, tangible goals, for example, and some come along for the ride. University’s one of those places people come to figure out what they want to do (which is also overrated), but to enjoy themselves and spend time with things they enjoy.
A lot of this is driven by a person’s background.

Somehow, though, University culture is very very good at streamlining everyone’s ambition to ultimately be the same thing. I don’t think that’s exclusively blame that lays on students, but considering I’m only a student right now, what I think is that as people, we’re very judgmental of people who are different from us/come with a different set of goals. I could be one of these people too – I’m not going to deny that I do judge people. But I’m wondering to what extent that impacts them.

For a lot of people it becomes difficult, in a sense, to fit in, when you’re thinking of doing different things post University. And while University is great place to figure out exactly what you want to do, it’s also an excellent environment to destroy your dreams and tell you that what you want to do is far too different from the course you’re studying.

It makes it seem like your life is just restricted to this University campus and to everything you do within this University/related to the thing you’re studying.

That’s when it’s important to remember you’re a person outside of this identity college crowd has cast on you. It’s why taking a lot of time off is important, and it’s important to remember you have a life left after you exit college as well. If you don’t figure things out now, you’ll figure things out eventually. And if you don’t, do your own thing man. Do things that make you happy.

I know this sounds really preachy but I’m quite disgruntled with how much pressure my juniors take. I don’t remember feeling so pressurized in my junior years. Remember to breathe, kids. You still have a long time left at University and this place can crush you if you take too much pressure.

Be your own person and do your own thing. Life’s way too short to ascribe to someone else’s measure of happiness or success.

I think I’m done preaching.

My sleep cycle really needs to get back on track, I have exams in 4 days.

Also hey! This is my 250th post on this blog. Who would’ve thought.

It’s remarkable that people today find detailed responses to their messages “rare” and “nice”. I find it super intriguing that people go out of their way to appreciate what I think, would be an ordinary response to a question, or asking a question and being interested in something someone is saying.

Maybe we’re all too caught up in our own world.