Author: Tejas Rao

So there’s this insane scene in The Social Network which pretty much characterizes exactly how I’m typing this out. It’s that scene where Mark’s broken up with his girlfriend and he first comes up with the idea to use the ranking algorithm to create facemash. He blogs about her and then begins to post blog updates as and when thoughts pop into his head, as he crashes into drunken excitement. There’s this rush on his face as he types and he takes a sip of beer.

This is exactly what I am right now. Minus the drunken excitement and the break-up. It’s dark, my only source of light is a table lamp. My roommate is asleep. I don’t have WiFi access so I’m using hotspot, and I have an idea that’s mostly going to keep me awake all night. I’m super excited.

Let’s see if I can carry through with it.

I’m also wearing super comfortable clothes so life is pretty swell.

*sips chaas*

Today, when I was at the gym (yes, that’s a thing now), I saw this kid roller-blading for the first time. Her father bought her these extendable skates and brought her to the “rink” (which is basically just newly constructed/clean granite), and slowly helped her fix up the laces, pad up, and held her hand as she “walked” her first steps. And then he left her hand when they came around the second time. She fell. Promptly.

I know I described a beautiful, emotional scene, but the father laughed. And I cracked a smile too.The girl got back up immediately and smiled at her father. She knew this was going to happen – and wanted to make sure he knew she was right all along.He ran to her and picked her hand and they started right where they had left off. Walking across the rink.

In about 30 minutes, that kid was attempting to skate backwards. I loved that scene. It felt like it was straight out of a Bollywood moment, but took me straight back to my childhood.

Here’s the deal. My parents thought I was a multitalented rockstar when I was born. So they kept sending me to classes – in the hope that I would find my one true passion in one of them. I spent days taking vans to different classes, and had the time of my life being pampered by receiving class after class.

The only one I didn’t like was UCMAS. Thankfully there were enough reward certificates to keep me motivated, and the 2007 Cricket World Cup (yes, that one) was ongoing, so it was super fun.

I essentially got a pair of roller-skates when my feet were growing rapidly. So we bought one of those where you could mess around with a slider and they’d fit you for 5 shoe sizes (UK).

What is it about shoe size systems that they’re different? Why on Earth are units of measurement different around the world? We really need one metric.

But I digress.

A couple of people tried teaching me to rollerskate, and I used to dream of being able to skate with the wind in my hair. I even carried my skates to Abu Dhabi in an attempt to have a champion rollerblader in my Jayant Uncle teach me to work the darned things. He spent a week trying to get me to muster the confidence to try alone.

Then I did. After lots of screaming at a high-pitched voice I decided to go alone. And it was super fun. I did feel the wind in my hair.

That lasted a minute.

I then fell.

The same result as every second time I got onto a bicycle (my knees have scars) and when I went ice-skating.

Did I get up? I don’t remember.

My next memory is eating cupcakes at home. There is a clear memory lag, which means I  obviously must’ve slipped unconscious and been carried in Jayant Uncle’s arms to some haven that is cupcake land.

Mmm. I want cupcakes now.

Yet here I am, with an orange.

Curdrice out.

 

 

 

There’s this song, “Youngblood”, by 5 Seconds of Summer, that I absolutely cannot get out of my head.

Speaking of music, I recently discovered that there’s musical theory based on this concept called entrainment. Entrainment is when your heart beats in synchronization with a piece of music that you here. It’s the concept that drives electronic dance music artists to continuously produce music that’s at 120 BPM (best explained in the movie We Are Your Friends).

It’s also supremely interesting that there’s actually Scientific application to this. There’s a band called Marconi Union that created a track called Weightless that works to calm the mind. It’s rhythms apparently put people into a state of “biting sleep”.

I’ve also heard people use it for therapy. There’s much more to read up on this, but I think it’s pretty darn cool that this exists.

Curdrice out.

 

 

All attendance systems are flawed.

Calm down. Breathe. This is not an attack on an institution in specific, but a sharp critique of what attendance systems really are.

If you’re in the foreign and you are reading this blog (which is highly unlikely), you might ask: but what is this system of attendance you speak of?

I’ll explain.

An attendance system, for the purposes of this post, is any educational setup that penalizes students for not attending class. These penalties could be in the form of a prohibition on writing exams, a deduction in marks, or a fine. Conversely, an attendance system could potentially be any system that rewards students for making it to the classroom: whether by way of marks, or awards, or anything else.

The purpose of educational setups is pretty straightforward: impart education, assess, and award people with degrees or diplomas. Bright-eyed, starry students come to Universities expecting an education – the quality of which they assess/expect based on which  University they’re attending.

The fallacy of an attendance system, is that from day 1, it creates additional pressure to attend classes, versus incentivizing students to internalize that attending class for the pure pleasure of attending class and learning something new and of their interest is sufficient. The harm that creates is measured best by the number of students to drag themselves to class when they’ve pulled all-nighters (irrespective of the reason why they’ve pulled an all-nighter). Sitting in class for how many ever hours, and being forced to pay attention after a night of no sleep can create long-lasting impacts on student development.

And there’s an easy rebuttal here: ask students to manage time better and to sleep more.

But that’s not the point of an educational setup, is it? University is where several students “discover” themselves, or whatever that is. It’s where they use the freedom of being away from home to participate in activities they have been curious about, or to spend time how they desire to spend time. Impinging upon that would be restricting freedoms.

Additionally, another harm created by incentivizing students to come to class is that they will always associate the educational experience with a reward or a punishment, and therefore, be unable to qualitatively assess the education they are receiving. For example, a kid will be satisfied he made it through 5 hours of classes, irrespective of the fact that he learnt absolutely nothing interesting.

That is mildly problematic because it marginally diminishes the value of education in the eyes of the student. It does this by creating rewards outside of “knowledge” in the mind of the kid.

But that’s just students.

For faculty, they’ll never actually be able to assess how good their course is. Considering classes are compulsory, a large portion of kids will be attending to ensure they do not get penalized. That diminishes the faculty’s interest in ensuring that everyone enjoys the class – because they realize that some students are here only for “attendance”.

This is dangerous on two levels.

One, faculty are no longer incentivized by the system to innovate. What I mean by this is that it will take extremely motivated faculty to come up with a new course plan or a new method of teaching to keep kids engaged in the classroom.

Is it a role of faculty to keep students engaged in the classroom?

Yes, because engaging classes can lead to more interest and greater imparting of knowledge.

Two, faculty will no longer interact with the class on the same plane as they would without the attendance system. Considering that some students are attending class not for course content, faculty are less likely to be teaching at the same level as they would with a class that was 100% interested.

It’s why mandatory courses also ought to be restricted. The same argument runs there as well.

This problem largely exists at University. By senior classes in school, students begin to recognize they can actually enjoy classes (because you’re around your friends and you’re learning fun things). Considering University courses are often specialized and chosen out of interest, it’s quite terrible that the same idea can’t be carried forward.

Attendance is just one culprit of this.

I haven’t thought this out entirely and I’m sure there’s more to add, but all of these thoughts hit me in the washroom this morning, so you’ll have to excuse any logical leaps I’m making.

 

 

Things that remind me of home include beanbags, texture painted walls, and the smell of Comfort fabric conditioner.

Having unpacked the day I arrived, I vowed to myself not to use any of my freshly laundered clothes until I absolutely needed to. I wanted to exhaust the clothes I had left behind on campus, and some stuff I carried from Bangalore before actually wearing clothes that had been in the washing machine in Dubai.

I recognize that the above paragraph oozes “luxury” and “privilege”. I’m well aware.

But the purpose behind that promise was to prolong the scent of Comfort in my cupboard, hoping it would waft it’s way to other clothing items (I’ve been let down by Science once more).

The promise lasted all of 10 days.

I had to slip into these incredibly comfort-able shorts (hahahaha pun), and as I did, my mind traveled a few kilometres to the couch I lounged on at my parents house. While it was far too small to occupy the giant I have become (both in width and in length), I stuck my legs out and slithered my head to rest in what has to be the most comfortable sleeping position.

It was too tempting.

So tempting, that I slept for an hour in the afternoon I was meant to depart for Ahmedabad, without any sense of the packing I had left myself to do.

Anyway.

The smell of Comfort reminds me of home. If you’re looking to buy me a present, please send across some fabric conditioner.

Thanks in advance.

 

Today, one of my fresh friends (which means they’re someone I met recently, and not an ode to their deodorant), observed that I live my life according to a lot of rules. That took me by surprise.

If you’ve known me before my “University” stage, you’d completely agree. My life was driven by routine in high school, especially senior secondary. I lived from class to class, came home, loafed on my couch, and got to my studies fairly quick. It was just that I allowed myself time to play FIFA a fair amount and get carried away. Nonetheless, sleeping had fixed durations, and eating had specific times.

But I came to University and stopped being a creature of habit. I began to do things in the moment – because I felt like it, and stopped being rigid about how I felt when things I set in mind didn’t work out. Earlier, I used to let emotions overwhelm me. If I set goals for the day, it would piss me off no end if I went to sleep without finishing them. I sort of got into University and became, well, chill. If something didn’t happen and it wasn’t urgent, it was something I could do tomorrow. And so on. Being in charge of the way you spend your time can lead to a lot of change for people – and for me, not having supervision about how I spent my time, meant I surfed the internet way more.

And worked, of course (my parents are reading this).

So it caught me off-guard when someone told me I lived life by rules. Here I thought I had become chill.

I thought about it for a while, and I realized that aside from me beginning to procrastinate, not much else had changed over the years. Yes, I don’t have a schedule for life any longer, but I still enjoy planning things. Yes, I’m comfortable with a deviation in plans, but it needs to be for a specific purpose. But most importantly, unexpected changes in plans and unexpected news can make me very frustrated when I’m in a “zone”.

My mother can attest to the fact that when I set myself to work, I can be the most painful person to be around. I will set myself up to have everything I need within arms reach and not move from any location until (a) the tool I am using runs out of battery power, and therefore I need to move closer to a wall socket, or (b) I have completed everything I needed to in a single sitting. I sometimes forget meals as well (which is hilarious).

I will make limited conversation, but will reply to texts, and I usually float off into a world of my own while working.

So if you tell me something I don’t expect, it pushes me off-guard a fair amount.

Which basically means I still life live with (a) expectations and (b) plans.

Turns out the observation was fair.

I’m not too worried about the fact that I live by rules, because it doesn’t affect me too much when my daily schedule changes (unless I really have someplace to be). But, I still do let me emotions overwhelm me when someone tells me something new.

And it’s terrible because I ask a lot of questions in general – very specific ones. So, fresh news can lead to a bombardment of questions to an individual that all sound very passive-aggressive.

That’s something to work on, eh?

(all of this stemmed from a conversation about how I like finding new music)

(wow, my brain thinks.)

Curd rice out (and hopefully going to sleep?)

I’ve been watching too many food videos.

I adore food. Some people eat to live, but I’ve always lived to eat. While I’m mindful of the food shortages that prevail in this world, and how fortunate I am to have been born into a family that could provide for me, I enjoy eating food.

And now I’m dieting. I find it ridiculously difficult to cut down the kind of food I eat – since I like fast food, and junk, and I enjoy exploring different cuisines, so I’m attempting to regulate the portions of these foods I eat. Maybe that’ll work. Don’t ask me why I’m doing it, or follow up on how it’s going. I’m unlikely to ever respond, because I’ve sheepishly given up on the diet within a week.

Coming back to what I started off wanting to write about, I’ve been watching too many food videos. And there’s so much food to eat and share and bond over. It looks so good also.

I wish all of it could just ship to Gujarat.

Negative feedback is toughest to receive when it’s vague, and obscure.

Remember that when you tell someone you don’t like something they’ve done, or worst, something they’ve made. When someone creates something, and has the courage (because it does take courage to put yourself up for judgment), to show you their work, they’re trusting you to tell them what’s on your mind.

It’s okay not to say anything positive. It’s perfectly fair for you to say “no, that’s not quite right”, or “woah, you took all that time to make this?”, and it’s valid for you to not enjoy something made by someone.

Just remember to articulate it a bit better than “I didn’t like it”. Here’s why. Anyone who creates will want to know how to make things that you appreciate. Everyone has subjective views on things, so someone creating exclusively for you, would like to know what works for you, and what your tastes are like.

The only way for them to find out is if you tell them why you didn’t like something.

Take the other scenario. What if they’re creating for the public? Maybe you’re not the greatest critic, or the leading expert in the field they’re creating in. But, opinions always help. Someone’s more likely to work on finer details if you explain to them that what they’ve done doesn’t sit right with you for a particular reason.

Unreasoned, negative feedback, has to be, hands-down, the most depressing thing I’ve seen.

my
blood
has
been
replaced
by
ink
my
fingers
turn into
keystrokes
and
fountain pens
my
head
is
filled
with
words
and
my
arms
are
full
of
books
and
acts
and
thick paper
that
longs
for
the
touch
of
my words.

 

There’s not much to say, so here’s something I wrote as a child:

Ebenezer Scrooge is the protagonist of the novel, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. Ebenezer Scrooge, at the beginning of the novel is a cold-hearted, tight-fisted miser who despises the thought of Christmas.

With the plot changing so quickly, there is always a reminder of Scrooge’s character in the middle. Dickens utilizes the setting of Christmas Eve and the cold weather in comparison to Scrooge’s inner coldness

Charles Dickens first describes Scrooge as a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone.  A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! He was hard as a flint, from which no steel had ever brought out generous fire. This whole description shows us that Scrooge was a man who was hard to negotiate with. It shows us that it was hard to see generosity with old Scrooge.

Scrooge’s inner coldness is described as to make his lips turn blue and his eyes turn red.

The elements of the weather which Dickens uses are the increasing cold, darkness, fog, rain, snow, sleet, hail and wind. Each element symbolises a person’s character in some way or the other. The cold symbolises what a cold- hearted person. The darkness symbolises a person who is shady, sly and lonely person. The fog shows us the character of a person who is not very straightforward and to the point. The winds, snow, hail, sleet and rain shows that a person’s thoughts, words and deeds cannot be interpreted by others.

Scrooge’s character unfolds in this manner; he was cold as a stone. A cold- hearted person, who had an improved opinion of himself and drives away 2 people who come asking for donations with nothing. As the book goes on, the cold keeps increasing, as to show the inner coldness of Scrooge increasing. The growing darkness shows us that Scrooge’s miserly ways were deeper into him. He was insensitive to other people’s needs. The intensifying fog shows us that he did deeds for a different purpose. He kept his door open to keep an eye on his clerk rather than to welcome people into his home on the merry eve of Christmas. The winds, snow, hail, sleet and rain shows that Scrooge’s thoughts, words and deeds could not be interpreted well by others. The growing fog shows Scrooge getting hateful because he despises Christmas, so wherever there is a mention of the fog it shows the readers that Scrooge continues despising Christmas. All the actions described show Scrooge’s miserly ways

When the ghost of Dead Marley arrives, Ebenezer Scrooge is scared, but the first thing he says is, “How now? What do you want with me?”  Dickens writes that he said this caustic and cold as ever. This means that after Scrooge was out of the mode of a bit of warmth in his heart, he was back to his cold ways.

On Page 12, Para 3, Dickens shows the weather as, ‘Foggier yet, and colder! Piercing, searching, biting cold.’ The very upcoming action of Scrooge shows us his response to the thought of A Merry Christmas. At the sound of the Christmas Carol, Scrooge seizes the ruler with a burst of energy and anger.

On Page 3, Para 2, Dickens writes that external heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. This shows us that if the weather was warm or cold, Scrooge would be the same old person. No warmth could make his heart warm and the cold made him stay the same old cold-hearted Scrooge.

However, it is interesting to note that there is no mention of the weather when Dead Jacob Marley’s ghost arrives. This tells us readers that Scrooge was in the comfort zone with Marley and grew a bit warm hearted there.

If my Math is correct, I could have a productive year of writing still.

I’ve had a strange day. Classes were swell, but I zoned out during class for 5 minutes and was bombarded with intriguing thoughts. I reckon having a little time off can change the amounts you think about things a fair amount. Being alone with your thoughts in a silent classroom is crazy. I’m going to try to avoid that. Maybe just “not” zoning out will help. We shall find out.

I’m being a bit lazy I feel. There’s a couple of things that I have to do but I’m procrastinating them badly. I am, however, enjoying the World Cup like it’s nobody’s business, and managing to read a lot. That’s nice.

On campus, there’s not much to report, really. The power shut off for about 30 minutes in the boys hostel – which means boredom, naturally hit its peaks. I think it’s also the first time my neighbours actually came over to interact with me.

That’s about it. At some point I’m hoping I get to write stuff that’s more engaging. For now I’m going to enjoy England v. Colombia. And then get to work. For a while. Maybe.

Curdrice out.

 

“Oh oh”

I’m hoping readers of this blog are well-versed with Lana Del Rey’s music. If not, my reference lyrics may be viewed here.

Poor humour aside. I’ve had a pretty good break away from University. Away from most things, to be honest. I decided actively to stay away from everything I had considered “routine” at college, because I wanted a proper break from what my life is like in Gujarat. Finished up an internship in Bangalore, spent some time with really good friends, made some new ones, and ate a lot of great food.

Headed to Dubai, met my best friend, chilled with new friends, and of course, spent tons of time with the family. Haven’t been able to actively spend time with them over the last year since I was a bit preoccupied with a competition I was working on, so this was quite swell. What made me very happy was that I made them both laugh multiple times over the course of this trip. There’s some simple joy right there.

I’m back in Khakhraland, and, well, not much has changed. Except for that fact that for the next one month I’m the senior-most person on campus. Which is,  new, to say the least. Never thought I’d feel more senior than I did back in 12th. It also means people are now familiar with my presence – the Security Guards around campus, several mess staff. It’s nice. Talking to them is always a pleasure.

My first day of class was not terrible at all. From what I had heard I kept expectations at the minimum, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was awake through all lectures, and had pages filled with notes at the end of every single one of them. Naturally I have created judgments about each professor, but I shall let those pass for the time being. It’s only my first week. Everyone deserves a chance to show their true colours.

Maybe they’ve made judgments about me too. I wonder if they know my name, hmm.

Aside from that, college appears to have switched to an online attendance tracker. Which is also weird. I’m undecided on how I feel, so you’re likely to receive a large post about this attendance thing when I make up my mind. Here’s your warning.

Another quick bit about summer though, I managed to catch up to reading pace and I’m now 2 books ahead of schedule. Lots of blog reading about books helped. I plan to do statistical breakdown of my reading too. If you’re ever intrigued, please do check out Pages With Tejas, my book blog thing.

In a befuddling series of events I went to the gym for 15 days. It felt nice, so I’ve signed up for a gym close to campus. If that’s something I can change about myself this semester, I’d be happier. Please put prayers that I don’t feel lazy.

Goals for the semester: Read. Write. Gym. Sleep. Write. Draw. Music. Repeat.

Considering doing some volunteering work close by as well.

I’m hoping I can write everyday again. I’ve missed it.

I’ve also missed you, my 5 readers (hi Amma, Appa, Ajjis and Tata). If there’s anyone else reading, hello to you. And welcome.

Good luck surviving my brain.