Philosophy?
Since the beginning of time, I… nah. Not since the beginning of time, but for the last couple of years anyway, I’ve done a lot of thinking about the universe, the larger picture and all that jazz. I’ve come to some conclusions. Here are a few of them, if anyone’s still reading.
In the words of Iron Maiden, “What you see is not real”. What we see and perceive, in my opinion, is not really what “exists”. Our perception is limited by our senses. We can perceive only three spatial dimensions. We feel time pass. We can’t say that there are only three dimensions of space and one of time. There could very well be many more spatial dimensions, more of time, and dimensions of a completely different parameter. We feel that we are moving in space and time. In reality, we could be moving in a lot more “things”.
A small note here. I find it impossible to discuss the universe without using vague terms like “things”. My apologies here.
What we perceive is a “component” of reality in what I shall call “our perception domain”. All the laws that humans make explain happenings in our perception domain. If the laws work under all the prescribed conditions in our perception domain, they will be valid for the component of any event in reality in our perception domain.
We are not yet in a position to explain all of what happens in our perception domain. Unless we expand our perception domain by a phenomenal amount, we will not be able to realise our dream of formulating a GUT (Grand Unified Theory). Remaining humans as we are now, we can design the component of the GUT in our perception domain. If we do, indeed, design a full-fledged GUT, we won’t be “us” anymore. We’ll be evolved life forms and not Homo Sapien Sapiens anymore.
There might not be life outside Earth in our perception domain, but there might be life outside our perception domain. Don’t think of outside as in outside in space though.
Damn, my mind’s doing flips. Think it’s time to go to bed.
Thoughts
Was just wondering… has anything you do become so mechanised that you have no recollection of having done it?
Parking my cycle has become such a routine thing that I have no memory of having parked it. As a consequence, I end up late for my classes. It takes me an average of 3 minutes to locate my cycle every single time.
Does this happen to you as well?
Ethics
I was waiting in line for lunch at the mess the other day. It was 1:00 p.m. I had a class at 1:30 p.m. and the line showed no signs of moving. Why, you might ask. Simply because some people believe that posession of a friend in the queue gives them something like a wild-card entry into the line. I was getting late for my class. I could stand this no longer! I walked up to the next guy who cut the line. Here’s how the convo with him went: “Please go and stand at the back of the queue.” “No.” “This just isn’t right. The line’s been stagnant for quite some time now because people have been cutting the line.” “No! I won’t go! I have a class at half past one.” “And I don’t?” “Okay. Maybe you have a class as well. But I’m not moving.” “Why?” “I don’t want to give you a reason.” “Look at me when I’m talking to you. Be civil and go to the back of the line.” “I’m not going to the back of the line.” So… here’s my question. What is to be done? I’m not the type that’ll get violent. I’m not the type that’ll swear, but I still believe that everyone has a right to justice. I wasn’t able to get this chap to budge. All I could do was go up to his table after he’d got his food, and tell him that if he can’t be a decent human being, he’s never going to get anywhere in life. I could see no effect of these words on him, though. Like I asked earlier, what IS to be done? Are people who have some moral standards to speak of doomed to live their lives behind wrong-doers? Sid.
Part 2
The four of us made a run for the main road, where we were told we would get a cab to Balligunj Circular Road easily. Actually, we weren’t running. We were wading through knee-deep water!
This was kind of fun. What wasn’t so much fun, though, was the fact that there wasn’t a single cab to be found on the road. One chap in an Ambassador asked us for 150 bucks, and his license plate didn’t even have a yellow background.
We were screwed. We didn’t know which direction Balligunj was in, and there was no one on the road that we could ask! All we knew was that we had to go to Balligunj for dinner, and then to Mirza Ghalib Street to Hotel Green Star.
We walked into a lonely lane, where we found a cab! In broken Hindi, we told him where we wanted to go. He said we had to pay 10 bucks more than the meter charge. No problemo! We were soaked to the skin. We just needed to eat, and then sleep.
The moment we got into the cab, a chap walked up to the cab, yanked open the driver’s door, and threatened to have him beaten up. He accused the driver of refusing to take someone to some place. The driver denied these charges. The other chap told the driver that he was going to have him killed the next day, and then walked away.
The car waded through dark alleys and streets. The meter seemed to be ticking quite normally. We got a call from Mayank Kedia, one of the guys at Hotel Green Star, telling us that the guy at the hotel wanted to shut he hotel for the night. We told him we’d be there soon.
We got to an eatery at Balligunj and were just gorging on rotis and sabzi, when Mayank Kedia called again. I picked up, and informed him that we’d just started eating. He screamed at me saying that he wasn’t waiting for us, and that we could find our own accommodation. I handed over the phone to Squid Prabhu, who’d been handling the previous conversations with Mayank. Turns out that Mayank had organized food for us at the hotel, and was mad that we’d gone elsewhere to eat. The line was unclear, so Squid hadn’t heard when Mayank said he’d arranged food. Squid pacified Mayank and said we were coming pronto.
We gobbled the rest of the food and hopped into the waiting cab. It was still pouring. The driver didn’t know where Mirza Ghalib street was, so he spoke to the hotel owner for directions. The hotel owner screamed at him for coming to Balligunj. The driver explained that that was where he was told to go.
Finally, we reached Mirza Ghalib street. We waded into the hotel. There was no electricity. We were soaking wet, and so were our change of clothes. We did some chatting and hit the sack all wet at 2.
We woke up at 10 the next morning and spent the whole day in a musical shop, picking up musical instruments for our hall music room. We blew 92000 on one day! On the hall budget! It sure was fun!
At about 6 in the evening, Habba told us that all trains back to Kharagpur had been cancelled on account of the rains, and that buses weren’t safe. We took a bus to Howrah just to be sure. Habba was right. We were wondering what to do, when Kedia said there was a Mumbai Express train that we might be able to catch. Four of us went to get tickets, while the others went for a walk on the Howrah Bridge.
Out of the four of us, two of us waited at the booking counter, while two others went to the enquiry counter. In about half an hour (it was 9:30 now), we got a call from the two at the enquiry counter saying they’d got tickets on a train that left at 9:34, which was waiting on platform 21.
We made a run for it. The problem was, we couldn’t see a platform 21! We found out from some helpful passers-by that platform 21 was in the new station which was adjacent to the station we were in. We broke into a run. We hurriedly waded through not water, but hordes of people. We met the others in front of the train just as it was about to chug away. What an end to a most crazy trip!
I’m Back
First off folks, I’m really, really sorry for not keeping in touch over the past couple of months. I didn’t have a comp in my room, and the comps at the computer center, Takshashila, are Solaris operated. That’s reason enough for me not wanting to go there!
So much has happened over the past two months! Wouldn’t know where to start if I blogged about it all! Maybe I’ll just blog about my trip to Kolkata.
Wednesday afternoon. End of midsems! Some people were planning on making a trip to a place called Chandipur (Orissa) so they could drink. I decided I wouldn’t go. I wanted to unwind for a day at least. Ended up watching 4 movies at a stretch.
Had a really lazy night. Fast forward to about half past two the next afternoon. We had just started watching American Pie 2 on someone’s computer when I got a call from one of the people who had gone to Chandipur. Four of them were going to Kolkata to watch Sunfeast Open tennis matches. A few of us decided that we would join them.
Four of us bought express train tickets to Kolkata. We were told that there’s one leaving in 3 minutes, and we could catch it on platform 6 if we ran. Run we did, and boarded the train. It started moving. There was just one problem. We seemed to have boarded a local train (whose ticket cost, incidentally, is half that of an express train). We were wondering whether to jump off the train and get into the express train waiting for us on platform 5. Before we could reach a decision, the train was moving at full speed.
We reached Howrah in three and a half hours. It was half past seven now. The other four had reached Netaji Indoor Stadium. It took them half an hour by cab from the station. Sania was up 6-5 on Klosen in the first set. There was to be another match after this one. The four of us decided to join them at the stadium.
We decided to take the steamer. The stadium was across the Howrah. Some place called Babuighati. By the time we got onto the steamer, it was pouring cats and dogs. There were four of us- Pradipta Bannerjee (Habba), Siddharth Prabhu (Squid), Vibhav V (Vishal), and me (Giant Squid). We ran to get tickets, but the chaps at one gate sent us to another gate. By the time we got into the stadium, we were soaking wet. Sania was still playing. She was 4-1 up in the second set if I remember right. We had bought 100 rupee tickets, but the turnout was really low, so we ended up sitting in the VIP stall!
There were 8 of us now. We were screaming like madmen. I guess we probably were madmen!
The match got over 15 minutes after we arrived. Three out of four of the chaps who had already got there decided to leave. Four more people were arriving at Kolkata, and they were booking a hotel for all of us. These three were joining them at the hotel. Habba was leaving with his cousin sister. That left four of us watching the double’s match- Squid, Vibhav, Akhil Naru, and me. The match was between Shikha Uberoi, Melinda Czink and Nicole Pratt, Anastasia Rodionova.
Vibhav was sitting next to me, and pointed out to me how cutely Czink did her warm up. I had to agree 😉 .
We waited the whole duration of the match, hoping we’d get an autographed tennis ball or something, but my presence in the group ensured that no such thing happened. I’ve never brought good luck!
It was 12 a.m. when we walked out of Netaji Indoor Stadium. It was still pouring cats and dogs. A couple of rooms at Hotel Green Star were booked for us. We hadn’t eaten dinner. A local told us that we’d find food in the dhabas of Balligunj Circular Road. After this is where the trip got crazy…
To be continued…
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