Author: Tejas Rao

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.

 

One of my friends this evening told me that she was going to read every post on this blog. When I asked her why, she said it was fun for her. That touched me.

I’ve never really written anything on this blog to be read by other people, or to seek mass appreciation for the insight I offer into my  brain here. It is, however, nice to see that people relate to the content I’m posting up – whether it’s my travails with cold water, or my inability to sleep because of the fact that I have work pending.

Speaking of,

I use Google Keep to keep track of things I need to do, and I recently switched over to Evernote. While migrating, I was taking a look at Notes I hadn’t deleted on the Google Keep application, and I realized that I’ve had the same “Weekend Plan” note stuck since April 27th.

That isn’t too much of an issue, because I could’ve discarded that note.

The thing is, I haven’t done any of those things yet. And they’re all pretty important. Not time-bound, but important, personally and professionally.

I’ve got about 24 hours left in my weekend, of which, 10 are devoted to sleeping.

That leaves me with 14 hours to clear about 12 weeks worth of “Weekend Plans”.

Sometimes, I do believe, I need a life.

Also fun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU

A readable version of this: https://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html

https://t.co/CK37VulKQD

Read.

I have this really weird habit where I find it impossible to save people’s numbers on my phone if I don’t know their full names. Nobody on my phone, as a consequence, has only their first name saved, or only their last name saved, or, has their contact saved with their nickname.

This bothered some people a few years ago, because apparently it was a sign that I’m not close to them. I found that really intriguing, and that got me thinking about how people have different expectations for affectionate behaviour.

I should explain that a little more clearly, but basically, my brain realized how subjective everything was.

Truly, if we’re close, I’m saving your full name on my phone because I find it easier to recall and share.

And also because my brain is really weird with these things.

This morning, I visited the gym before I got started with my day – in a bid to free myself up to do whatever I pleased as the day progressed. Contrary to popular belief, this just made me incredibly sleepy, and I didn’t really get much done over the course of the day: it wasn’t one of those instant lifestyle changes that made me feel energized and ready to conquer the world.

I’ve often wondered why it’s harder to build up a fitness habit than most others. It’s something that needs daily dedication and commitment, and a lot of investment monetarily and emotionally. It’s also one of those strange things that’s very result oriented and process driven, which forms the basis of several people’s lives.

Having been to the gym for a month every evening, switching up to a morning session, I ended up observing several things.

I feel like the gym is a place where habit and a person’s social class become extremely obvious. It’s quite terrifying, but it got me thinking about how unaffordable having hobbies and passions can be. In today’s world, it’s almost like the “hobby” market is sold as requiring a bunch of equipment or running the risk of serious injury. In the morning, I saw people at the gym without shoes, with a bunch of blisters and red soles as a result of walking on the treadmill – and I understood the privilege of having the opportunity to purchase a pair of shoes whenever they wore out or I felt they had lasted their mileage.

This is possibly true of other hobbies as well – to enjoy playing an instrument, you need to purchase an instrument, to enjoy reading, you ought to purchase books and build a library. To enjoy drawing, you need to have paper and the finest tools stationery stores have to offer. Suddenly it feels like the focus of the hobby has been extended to the market the hobby intersects with. The worst part is that it’s also led to this really strange situation where people compare hobbies and decide they’re better off than someone else whose interests are a little more diverse than theirs.

That’s odd to me.

But going in the morning, the crowd at the gym is so different. For starters, they’re much older. People who come in the morning to my gym are far older than the evening crowd – they seem like professionals who have set routines in place, unlike us “youth” who will do things at our whim and fancy. Moreover, they seem far more serious about their routine. Everything was set in stone – breaks were timed, the music was selected, and the weight increments were defined. It felt, serious. 

To someone who is trying to go to the gym for fun – to basically achieve “weight goals” as a by-product of other things, this was strange. There was suddenly pressure to get done with my workout – because if I didn’t I somehow contributed to the slowing of the whole gym and slowing everyone else’s progress.

It was a very weird morning.

 

Today, I chilled with one of my friends. That was the highlight of my day.  While chilling with said friend, I realized that in 3 years of my time at Law school, my happiest memories were all from things that had happened professionally – entirely in relation to my time as a Law student or as someone attached to the Law.

As someone who is trying really hard to break that “attached-at-the-hip” relationship situation I have going on with “work” in general, taking that time to literally sit with someone and have a fun face-to-face conversation while looking at cat photos is something I’m going to remember for a very long time.

I think I’m probably going to spend more time looking at cat photos. There’s something very calming about how majestic their poses are. I’m wondering now if I’ll ever be able to pull off a pose like that.

But seriously, it affected me a fair amount that I couldn’t think of the last face-to-face conversation I had had with someone where “work” didn’t crop up as some part of the conversation. That’s a very weird thing. So it’s time to remedy that.

Also, I’m not sure if I’ve updated you about this but our washing machine has now been out of service for over a week. First year me would’ve washed his clothes three times by now. Fourth year me has piled up 2 bags of laundry and has GNLU Event shirts to survive in for the entirety of next week.

Considering the time I am awake at, I could actually end up going to the gym today in the morning. Before class.

If I manage that, I believe I am entitled to some cake as celebration.

Massive shoutout to 3000, who has surprised me in the craziest way possible.

 

 

It’s strange how research work is never looked at as being a creative endeavour. And I mean this in the nicest way possible. But doctrinal researchers aren’t given the same creative status empirical/development researchers are, and I think that’s a very horrible thing.

The thing about research is that it takes you need to think academically about something – which I believe is a challenge in itself. Doctrinal research does this thing where it’s able to present a topic through a unique, fresh, never-seen-before lens, when it’s published. Yet, somehow, that’s never looked at as “creative”.

I take issue with the fact that we’re narrow as a society about what we think is a creative task and what isn’t. People argue that discursive writing is different from creative writing, and that if you aren’t “creating” in a traditional sense, nothing you do requires a creative side of your brain to do well at.

That’s a little fallacious to me, because in my head, everyone is continuously creating in their heads. And academic research is this really interesting creation because it projects a unique argument onto individuals and provides them with fresh perspective about a topic. The writing of an academic work is in itself a creative task, and that’s something that needs to be appreciated a little more.

The lack of appreciation for researchers has even led to a service where people can write thank you notes to researchers. Imagine.

This is legit: https://www.brightfocus.org/send-thank-you-note-researcher

Some really fun friendship developments.

I’ve decided to make it a habit to drop personal texts to people on their birthdays. If nothing, it’ll help me stay updated about people’s lives – and understand how diverse my school batch really got.

Also, I feel like it’s a really good way to begin conversation with people who aren’t in Law school – the kind of conversation I have begun to enjoy more.

Considering it’s friendship day, I’d just like to thank everyone who puts up with the friend that is me – I’ve learnt a lot from each of you, and the data I’ve collected from our friendship will be useful in preparing my dissertation: “Friendships: A Study”, which will feature social commentary on friendships in the millenial, Internet age.

And a lot of GIFs.

This week will feature more consistent writing – because it’s a week where I’m going to write whenever I have thoughts, and not wait for the end of the day to type out things on this platform.

 

I was wondering if the Old Spice deodorant advertisements – which I find absolutely hilarious, could be construed as being sexist. And if, so, what the implications of sexist advertising is.

That’s when I read this brilliant piece:

http://www.bandt.com.au/advertising/sexism-advertising-fine-long-men

Which is super weird. I don’t think we recognize as often how implicit sexism takes place, and whether these kind of things actually end up creating gendered notions within people’s minds.

Further, I find it tougher to figure out whether humour that is sexist shouldn’t be enjoyed.

Quite a bit to think about. But for now, sleep.

 

A junior today stopped me and spoke to me about how I managed to do so much. I found that terribly strange, because I don’t particularly think I do very much at college. I just do stuff I like.

Turns out, I like a couple of things.

But I think that that’s viewed really weirdly in an enclosed atmosphere like a residential campus. It seems like pressure can get to people here far quicker because of how you’re surrounded by the same individuals all the time.

Breathe, kids. Breathe.